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I. THE RIGHTEOUS NEED TO BE HASTENED.

1. In what?

(1)  In matters of obedience to their Lord.

(2)  In coming out from the world.

(3)  In seeking the good of their families (ver. 12).

(4)  In general quickness of movement in spiritual things (vers. 17, 22).

2. Why?

(1)  The flesh is weak.

(2)  Perseverance is difficult.

(3)  Sodom has a sluggish influence.

(4)  When our worldly occupation is incessant, and takes up most of our thoughts, we are hindered from decision.

(5)  Idle leisure is still worse. Men with nothing to do in the world seldom do anything in religion.

3. By what means?

(1)  By reminding them of their obligations, their opportunities, and the days already wasted.

(2)  By leading them to consider the flight of time and brevity of life.

(3)  By warning them of the sure ruin of their impenitent friends.

(4)  By setting before them the fact that delay in duty is sin, and leads to other sins.

II. THE SINNERS NEED TO BE HASTENED.

1. Sinners are very slow, and apt to linger.

(1)  They have settled down in the Sodom of sin. Like the sluggard, they desire "a little more folding of the arms to sleep."

(2)  They are bound by many ties to the City of Destruction.

(3)  They do not believe our warning (ver. 14).

(4)  They trifle with our message when they dare not contradict it.

(5)  Delay is Satan's grand device for their ruin.

(6)  Procrastination baffles our persuasions. Delays act like bales of wool dropped over the wall of a besieged city to deaden the blows of a battering-ram. Felix quieted his conscience by the idea of "a more convenient season."

2. Our business is to hasten them.

(1)  We must be in earnest ourselves, as these angels were.

(2)  We must also be patient, and repeat our pleadings.

(3)  We must be resolute, and lay hold on their hands.

3. We have many arguments with which to hasten them. May the Holy Spirit make them see —

(1)  Their imminent danger while lingering.

(2)  The sin of loitering when God commands them to escape for their lives.

(3)  The fitness of the present above any possible future.

(4)  The uncertainty that any available future will come.

(5)  The supreme necessity of immediate decision with some; for it may be "now or never" with them; they will "die in their sins" if they do not hear the voice of God today.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

WEB: When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, "Get up! Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city."