First thing I want you to see is this, and we're going to read
through this entire chapter in bits and pieces because I don't
think there's anything that we can really leave out of this to
give you the entire story of just exactly what's happening.
But the first thing I want you to see is the moral perversion
of Sodom. The moral perversion of Sodom.
And first of all, I want you to look at the prevalence of
Sodom's sin verse #1 we already read, but it says this in verse
#2 And he said, Behold, Now talking about Lot, my Lords,
turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all
night. By the way, that's the first
mention of the word house in the Bible.
Lot moved into Sodom and bought himself a house in that city.
So turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry
all night, and wash your feet, and you shall rise up early and
go on your ways. And they said nay.
But we will abide in the street. All night.
And he pressed upon them greatly, and they turned into an
in unto him, and entered into his house.
And he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and
they did eat. Now God sets a limit to human
wickedness, beyond which His judgment is inevitable.
And God had passed a verdict upon that city and upon its.
Culture all the way. Back in Genesis chapter 13.
But the wickedness was everywhere, and it's not that
that one or two. Debased individuals were
sneaking around at night and doing things that were that were
immoral or or ungodly, and they were doing it in private behind
locked doors. It was an accepted way of life.
And lot more than anybody else, being that he was a leader in
that city, knew exactly what the moral perversion was in the city
of Sodom. Now.
He probably had become one of Sodom's high officials, a member
of of what you consider to be the legislator no less.
He was. He was.
His responsibility was upholding the principles of that city and
protecting the filthy privileges of its people.
What a place for a professing believer.
I can't imagine that Lot ever thought that he would be in a
position like that. On the first day he just cast
his eyes towards Sodom and looked at that well watered
plane and thought, this is where I want to raise my cattle and
raise my family. This is where I want to settle
down. Sure, there's Sodom over there
and sure it's a wicked city, but I'll never find myself there.
And the next thing you know, not only did Lot of Lot pitch his
tent towards Sodom. The next thing you know, he was
in the city, he bought a house, he made his residence there, and
he became a leader in that city. And as a leader in that city,
his job was to uphold the laws that would allow the filth of
that place to carry on unpunished and without reproof.
That was that was how far the morality of Sodom had tainted
the values and the judgement and the sense of right and wrong of
a backslidden child of God. There Lot sat, dressed in all of
his official robes, surrounded by filthy minded men, accepted
by them because now he spoke their language and and he
condoned their practices and above all, he had made the
connections with all of those people in that city.
So there sat Lot smiling and laughing and agreeing with all
of the things that were happening, probably being torn
up on the inside because he knew and, and, and if we didn't have
this in the Bible, it would be hard for us to stomach, hard for
us to comprehend the fact that Lot was righteous and just.
But that's what God calls him. It would be hard for us to call
him that. But he wasn't a righteous man
and he was a just man. And I can't imagine that as he's
outwardly accepting and outwardly enjoying all the
things in Sodom that is inside was not being torn up.
Because he was backslidden and he knew it.
Suddenly he was startled by the appearance of these two angels.
They had appeared to Abraham, Abraham as men just a few days
before, but now probably because Lot had no understanding, and
his mind had been so warped that he would not have known who they
were except they came to him as angels.
And they came to Lot's door as angels.
And Lot excused himself from where he sat in the gate of the
city, and he hastened to go out and meet those visitors, and and
offer them the hospitality of his home.
Abraham had a tent, Lot had a house.
Abraham was a Pilgrim, Lot was a citizen.
Abraham, when the angels visited him, they gladly accepted his
hospitality. These With Lot, they were very
curt. They didn't want really to even
go into Lot's house until he pressed upon them greatly.
The Bible says nobody knew better than Lot the kinds of
things that went on at night in the streets of Sodom and they.
Said, no, that's fine, we'll just spend the night in the
streets. And Lot said you can't stay
there. I don't know if Lot was afraid
that they were going to see the, the the debauchery and, and, and
everything that was debased in that city.
I don't know. But he was urgent and he was
insisted. And as a member of the city
administration, he knew all too well about the crime and the
corruption that stalked the city of Sodom at night.
And so we see the prevalence of Sodom sin, but also the
pollution of Sodom sin. Now verse #4 the Bible says, But
before they lay down the men of the city, even the men of Sodom
compass the city, that the house round both old and young, all
the people from every quarter. And they called unto Lot, and
said unto him, Where are the men which came into thee this night?
Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
Supper with these angels was hardly over when there was an
uproar at Lot's door, and he knew exactly.
What that meant, I'm sure he had seen it happen many times
before, when people had showed up as visitors.
And Sodom, every filthy man of Sodom, had come with their
hellish passions burning. It was the vilest, the most.
Degraded the unholiest demand that can possibly issue from the
lips of men. But it wasn't only turn turn
over to Ezekiel chapter 16. It wasn't only their homosexual
desires that polluted Sodom and caused it to stink in the
nostrils of God. There's a few passages that
mention Sodom and obviously we are well aware of the fact that
that that homosexuality is what is associated with that city.
But there was a lot of things that God hated about Sodom.
And in Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse 49, God is, is essentially
saying that Israel is, is, is going to, to bring judgment upon
themselves because of the way that they were living.
And he says this in verse #49 Behold, this was the iniquity of
thy sister Sodom. Pride, fullness of bread and
abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters.
Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
And they were haughty and committed abomination before me.
Therefore, I took them away as I saw good Sodom was polluted
beyond the the the mercy of God. And I'll tell you what our
culture is is not far behind our culture whitewashes.
Sin. Oh, we call, we, we call a
drunkard an alcoholic. We call a thief a kleptomaniac.
We call somebody that that that commits adultery.
We say that, well, they had an affair, right?
The, the, the person who indulges in the vileness of
sodomy. We say, well, they're gay,
right? God's word strips aside all of
those euphemisms and he exposes sin for just exactly what sin
is. God's abhorrence of sexual
perversion is well documented in the Old Testament.
In fact, when somebody was accused and and and convicted of
homosexuality, the punishment was that they were to be put to
death. In the Old Testament.
Not only that, but the fact that God destroyed with fire the city
that gave sodomy its name. God hates that perversion.
And it's not just the homosexuality, it's all of these
other things that he mentioned. And I think foremost because he
mentioned it twice here in Ezekiel chapter 16, is the
pride, the haughtiness of Sodom and Gomorrah.
They were throwing it in the face of God.
So we see the pollution of Sodom's sin, but also back in
Genesis chapter 19 and verse #6 we see the persistence of
Sodom's sin. A lot went out at the door unto
them, and shut the door after him, and said, I pray you,
brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold, now I have two daughters
which have not known man. Let me, I pray you, bring them
out unto you and. Do ye to them as is good in your
eyes only, and to these men do nothing.
For therefore they came, for therefore came they under the
shadow of my roof. I think it was a pretty brave
thing for a lot to put himself between the strangers and his
and these men that were outside this mob.
But imagine a believer, a friend of Abraham who's a friend of
God, who had been a Pilgrim, a man who had once had a tent, the
same way that Abraham did, a man who had confessed Abraham's
faith. Imagine such a man calling the
scum of Sodom brethren. But that's what he called them.
And I think Lot at least had a little bit of that righteousness
left in him, at least had a little bit of that justness left
in him. And he realized that these men
were angels and he had to protect them at all costs.
That's how far the unholy morality of Sodom had warped
Lot's sense of values. He was desperate, and perhaps he
thought that his position as a leader in the city would buy him
a little bit of sway with that mob.
But he stood there with his back to the door, facing the mob, and
somehow he made himself heard over the clamor of all of these
men. But oh, the shame of it.
He offered his own daughters. To these men, if they would just
leave him and these strangers, these visitors, alone.
And as is always the case for a Christian who tries to make
himself a part of the world, the world scorns him.
And that's exactly what they did to Lot.
They started to to to holler back at him.
Verse #9 And they said, stand back.
And they said again, this one fellow came in to sojourn, and
he will needs to be a judge. Now.
Will we deal worse with thee than with them?
And they pressed sore upon the man, even LON, and came near to
break the door. You don't even belong here.
That's what they started to tell a lot.
Oh, he's. One of them until he tries to
stand up to him, until he tries to, until he tries to do
something that they don't like. And you're not one of them
anymore. You don't belong here.
You came in to Sojourn and somehow you ended up as a judge.
Who do you think you are to try to tell us what we can do and
what we can't do? You're not one of us.
That's what always happens. For somebody who goes off into
the world, oh, it's great. They're your friend.
They want you to succeed. They want to do everything for
you until you try to stand up and tell them something they
don't like, and they don't even know who you are.
They're not your friend. The devil is not your friend.
The world is not your friend. The unholy morality of Sodom was
a persistent thing. But then I want you to see the
punishment of Sodom's sin. Verse #10 But then the men, the
angels, put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to
them, and shut the door. And they smote the men that were
at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great,
so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
Here's these men knocking the door down, babe.
The Bible says they almost broke the door down trying to get
inside Lot's house. These angels open the door long
enough to grab a lot and yank him into the house and close the
door. And then these men were struck
with blindness to the point where they were groping around
trying to find the door. And though this?
Unholy immorality of Sodom was not to be punished by their
laws. It was certainly punishable by
the laws of God. And if society is not going to
punish that form of behavior, then you can bet that God will
punish that form of behavior in lot.
'S case the angels acted and there comes a point in the
rising tide of wickedness where God acts, and it's a very
dangerous thing to sin with arrogance and with persistence
against the laws of God. And oh, if that was the only
thing that ever happened to the men of Sodom, I think they would
have been happy that they were struck with blindness.
But little did they know that a greater condemnation and a
greater punishment was coming to their city because of their
wickedness. And so we see the moral
perversion of Sodom, but also I want you to see the mental
pollution of Sodom the first thing.
And then and, and really the sad part of this whole story, first
of all, is that it corroded Lot's faith.
It corroded Lot's faith verse, verse #12.
Now we've already, we've already looked at this to an extent, but
now we see it even more obviously in Lot's own life.
The spotlight swings from the the filthiness of Sodom to the
situation that existed in Lot's own family.
How sad the situation is in verse #12 The men said to Lot.
Hast thou hear any besides son-in-law, and thy sons, and
thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring
them out of this place? These men, these angels had come
to warn Lot to get his family out of Sodom because God was
going to destroy that place. And he said, who do you have
here that's with you? Do you have sons?
Do you have daughters? Do you have sons in laws?
Grab them and get them out of here because the judgment of God
is coming. Verse 13 For we will destroy
this place, because the cry of them is waxing great before the
face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.
And lot went out and. Spake unto his sons in law,
which married his daughters, and said, up, get you out of this
place, for the Lord will destroy this city.
But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
I was sad to see that a man were not for the Bible making it
clear to us that Lot was a just and righteous man.
We'd probably never had accused him of such decency, backslidden
and perverted by the wickedness with which he surrounded
himself. I think what we're giving here
is a glimpse into the torture that Lot faced every day when he
was surrounding himself with the wickedness of the world.
Turn over to Second Peter, chapter 2.
See this. This shows what the philosophy
of Sodom had done to the thinking.
Of a believing man we cannot keep taking in the world's
ideologies without becoming tainted ourselves and that's
exactly what happened to Lot and the Bible says in second Peter
chapter 2 and verse number six and turning the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an
overthrow, making them an insample into those that after
should live ungodly and delivered just locked vexed with
the filthy conversation of the wicked for that.
Righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing,
vexed his righteous soul from day-to-day with their unlawful
deeds. I don't think we would ever
accuse Lot of being a righteous and a just man if God had not
said that he was a righteous and a just man, because the way that
he lived his life certainly did not prove that.
But it just goes to show you that a man can be backslidden, a
man can be outside of God's will, but his soul is going to
be vexed every single day that he's living in that wickedness.
And so it corroded Lot's faith, but also it corrupted Lots
family. Verse #15 And when the morning
arose, then the angels hastened a lot, saying, Arise, take thy
wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed
in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men
laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and
upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being
merciful unto him. And they brought him forth, and
set him without the city. And they came to pass, when they
had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy
life. Look not behind thee, neither
stay thou in all the plane. Escape to the mountain, lest
thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh not
so, my Lord. Behold, now thy servant hath
found grace in thy sight, and thou has magnified thy mercy,
which thou has showed unto me in saving my life.
And I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me
and I die. Behold.
Now this city is near to flee unto you, and it's a little 10.
Let me escape thither, is it not a little one?
And my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I
have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not
overthrow this city, for the which thou has spoken, haste
thee escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou
become thither. Therefore, the name of the city
was called Zoar. The Sun.
Was risen upon the earth, when Lot entered unto into Zohar.
Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and
fire from the Lord out of heaven.
And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the
inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew up on the
ground. But his wife looked back from
behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he
stood before the Lord, and he looked towards Sodom and
Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and be held
in. Lo, the smoke of the country
went up as the smoke of a furnace.
And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the
plain, that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the
midst of the overthrew, when he overthrew the cities in which
Lot dwelt. We have Lot.
He's been convinced that he needs to get out of the city,
but now he has to go back and walk out into the streets and
and visit the houses of his children in the various parts of
town. Can you see?
A lot hurrying through these darkened streets, dodging the
groveling hands of these blinded, fierce human wolves
that were still ravaging upon his door.
The Bible says that they were trying to still find the door of
his house even blind urging his children and telling them about
the imminence of the doom that was coming upon them if they
didn't get out of the city. But notice Lot's worthless
witness. He ran from house to house.
He woke up his children. He got them together and he sat
them down in the living room and he told them what what what he
had been impressed what had been impressed upon him by these
angels about the imminent doom that was coming upon Sodom.
And he described the judgment that it that was coming.
But the Bible says in verse 14 but.
He seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
So there he went, I think with tear blinded eyes.
Walking back through the streets to the place where he had come,
knowing that he had failed his own family, knowing that his own
sons in laws wouldn't even follow him out of the city.
His. Testimony had fallen on deaf
ears, and his daughters, married to the men of Sodom and no doubt
corrupted by all of their wickedness in the same way, said
they wouldn't come. They had.
The mentality of Sodom and they were unable to receive that
spiritual truth and Lot, with years of backslidden sliding
behind him, had no spiritual power whatsoever.
He was. Unable to carry conviction with
his words. And we can see the influence
that Sodom had on him. Even a man who, as the Bible
tells us, was a man who knew righteousness and knew the power
and knew the potential of God's judgment, the Bible says while
he lingered. Can you imagine the mindset of a
of a man like Lot who knew what God was capable of?
Who knew that when God said he was going to pronounce judgment
and then he was going to destroy those cities, he knew that God
was telling the truth and knew that God had the power to do it.
And. Yet still the Bible says.
While. He lingered Verse. 16 Can you
imagine these men lay hold on him and and lay hold on his wife
and and that and grab the hands of his two daughters?
And you can just picture the scene.
Here's Lot being dragged out of the city by these angels, the
whole family just dawdling, taking their time on the way.
His wife wanting perhaps to sort out her jewelry and take with
her what she can. The daughters trying to grab
everything that that meant something to them in that city
of Sodom and trying to grab that on their way out.
Lot. I don't know what he was doing,
but the Bible says that he lingered, knowing that God's
judgement was coming. But it's.
Incredible how dull A backslidden person becomes the
spiritual truth. And that's exactly what had
happened to Lot. How ready?
He was to stop the angels had hardly dragged lot clear of the
city, and he began to protest about how difficult it was going
to be for him. I don't want to go to the
mountain. Can't go to the mountain.
Something bad might happen to me in the mountain if I go there.
Hey the. Angels told him get out of the
city and go to the mountain where you'll be safe.
They say I. Can't go to the mountain there.
There might be. Dangers in the mountain.
Something might happen to me there.
Please let. Me, go to that city.
The mountain was a fortress compared to the flimsy cities of
the plain that that that the the judgment of God was already
hanging over. Besides, God hadn't saved him
from Sodom to put him out in the wilderness or put him in the
mountains and let him die. He was sending him there to
protect him, but the mentality of Sodom cannot comprehend a
truth like that. And then that brings us to Lot's
wife. She was a nameless Sinner.
We don't know Lot's wife's name. It's only Lot's wife.
That's all we're ever given about her.
She appears on the stage of history just about long enough
to disappear again. She's only mentioned three times
in the Bible, 2 times right here in Genesis.
And I want you to turn over to Luke chapter 17 because she's
mentioned there as well. And one of the shortest verses
in the Bible, Luke chapter 17 and verse #32 Jesus was the
context here of Luke chapter 17 is that Jesus was teaching them
to be ready for the Lord's coming, which is really the
same, same as being ready to meet the Lord.
You need to be ready to meet God when you die.
But the Bible says in Luke chapter 17 and verse 32,
remember Lot's wife. Remember Lot's wife.
Now this is the only person that Jesus specifically said to
remember that word. Remember is used a lot of times
in the Bible. But hey, remember when this
happened and remember when that happened, and remember when I
did this and remember he said that a lot, but he only said one
time to remember a person. He said remember Lot's wife.
That's a pretty good indication that there's a reason we ought
to remember her, and sadly, it's for a bad thing.
She's to remember to be remembered as a warning, not as
an example, But in at least four ways, I think Lot's wife is a
warning to all of us in regard to being ready for the Lord's
coming. The first one is that she
disobeyed. She was warned not to look back.
Don't look back at the city. I don't know why God didn't want
them to look back. I don't know why God didn't want
them to see what was happening or, or, or or glimpse their home
or whatever else, other than the fact that it was a wicked place
and he didn't when he had them going forward for him into the
place where he wanted them to go to get away from all of that.
Don't look back at those things. I think it's more of a, an
example to us and it was for them at the time.
But she looked back, she disobeyed and she was destroyed.
Disobedience will always result in your destruction.
The second thing is that she had her affections in the wrong
place. Hey, she had an affection for
Sodom, and so she looked back. It's important for us that we
guard our affections. Don't let them become attached
to unholy things, or they'll destroy you.
Whether it's in a marriage or whether it's in being too
interested in earthly pursuits. Whatever it happens to be, her
affections were in the wrong place and it destroyed her.
Third thing is that she had vision trouble.
She let her eyes look at the wrong thing.
Hey, many people have found that to be true, and watching TV or
the Internet or movies or other unholy things, guard what goes
into your eyes or it will destroy you.
The fourth thing about Lot is that she was a poor steward of
the spiritual privileges that she was given.
Hey, she heard God's message from the angels of God.
She was there in the house in Genesis 19 when the angels were
giving them the warnings, but she didn't heed it.
Privilege alone cannot save you. You might grow up in church, and
many times that happens. I fear that young people grow up
in church hearing the message of the gospel over and over and
over and over and over. And they think that because they
had the privilege of growing up in church that automatically
they're saved. Automatically they have that
spiritual privilege. And that's not the case.
She was turned into a pillar of salt because she disobeyed and
turned around and look back at that city.
And although that pillar has been lost to the ravage of time,
nobody knows exactly where Lot's Wife pillar is.
But there is actually, if you put the picture up there, a
shrine that stands as a memorial.
It's just a, a, a, a, a, a pile of salt that looks like Lot's
wife. And it's the highest thing in
that whole area that you can see.
It's called Lot's wife, and there she is, still standing
today along the coast of the Dead Sea as a reminder of what
happens when you disobey God's word.
Could you imagine what Lot must have thought his wife turned
into a pillar of salt? Could you imagine how the the
thoughts that must have gone through Lot's mind to know that
the only thing that he was finally escaping with was his
wife and two of his daughters, others that had stayed there.
At least two others had stayed in the city of Sodom.
His sons in law, any of the grandchildren that they had, all
of them stayed in Sodom. And of the three that he was
escaping with, one of them disobeyed and turned into a
pillar of salt. How sad.
That's what sin brings. That's a destruction that comes
upon us, a Christian who is backslidden.
And it says, though the Holy Spirit was sickened by the sins
of Sodom, he pauses in the middle of this story long enough
to talk about Abraham. And in chapter 19 of Genesis we
read in verse #27 And Abraham got up early in the morning to
the place where he stood before the Lord, and he looked towards
Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain to be
held. And lo, the smoke of the country
went up as the smoke of a furnace.
And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the
plain, that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the
midst of the overthrow. When he overthrew the cities in
which Lot dwelt, Abraham hadn't lost anything.
In fact, he hadn't even lost a night's sleep.
He woke up in that morning and he went out and he looked and he
saw Sodom and Gomorrah burning. Now, when the Bible says that
God remembered Abraham, do you remember what Abraham had done?
And then actually it's in chapter 18, Abraham had begged
God that he wouldn't destroy the city of Sodom and Gomorrah if he
could find 10 righteous. And the reason why Abraham was
asking God not to destroy the city if he could find just 10
righteous is because he thought Lot probably had at least enough
of an influence that he would have an influence over his
family. And he knew that he had sons,
and he knew. That he had daughters, and he
knew that he had sons in laws and he knew that he had
grandkids. And at the very least, if just
ten of those people were righteous, if Lot had been able
to win just 10 people in his family, then perhaps God would
not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and perhaps a lot would be
saved. And on that morning when Lot,
when Abraham went out and stood in the exact same place where
just the night before he had met with God himself and had this
conversation with God, he looked and he saw the cities on fire
and the smoke rising up out of those cities.
But God remembered Abraham, and he saved a lot alive.
Lot might have stood where Abraham stood.
Instead, he was now a fugitive, A refugee, a Vagabond on the
earth. Nothing except the clothes on
his back and not even his whole family with him.
Oh, how sad that it is. And if what has happened wasn't
bad enough already, God finishes the corrupt story of Lot's
family for us to understand how thoroughly sin destroys in verse
#30 And Lot went up out of Zohar and dwelt in the mountain, and
his two daughters with him. For he feared to dwell in Zohar.
And he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
And the first born said unto the younger, Our father is old, and
there's not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the
manner of all the earth. Come, let us make our father
drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed
of our father. And they made their father drink
wine that night. And the first born went in and
lay with her father, and he perceived not when she lay down,
nor when she arose. I came to.
Pass on the Morrow that the first born said unto the
younger, Behold, I lay yesterday night with my father.
Let us make him drink wine this night also, and go thou in and
lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our Father.
And they made. Their father drink wine that
night also, and the younger arose and lay with him, and he
perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.
Thus were both the. Daughters of lot with child by
their father. And the first born bear a son,
and called his name Moab, the same as the father of the
Moabites unto this day. And the younger she also bare a
son, and called his name Benami, and the same as the father of
the children of Ammon unto this day.
Boy. These sad verses tell the story
of the mentality of Sodom. So.
Thoroughly absorbed by Lot's daughters that they found it
impossible to even reason normally, they show us Lot
drunk, dishonored and his daughter's behaving in a way
that have what would have won the applause of any dirty minded
man in Sodom. The older girl made a
proposition to her daughter and they got a lot drunk and.
By the way, this is a great reason to stay away from alcohol
lot. Didn't.
Even know what was happening. Oh, I could could you imagine if
lot had any perception of the reality of what was going on in
that situation? But that's the that's the the
result of of drink. And how?
How rotten it is. There was no.
Thought of God, no knowledge of his word, no, no concern for his
will. There was no prayer.
There was no thought that what they were proposing was morally
wrong. Her, she and her sister, this
this oldest daughter of Lot and her sister were just completely
immoral. They were spiritually dead.
They thought like pagans, which is exactly what they really
were. And so they acted upon this plan
that they had conspired. There was no shame, there was no
no sorrow. There was no sense of sin.
No. Concept of the holiness of God
just downright wickedness as. Though their behavior was
perfectly normal, which of course it was for Sodom, and
that's where Lot had raised his children, Lot's decisions were
coming back to haunt him, and yet he didn't even know what was
going on. And as a result, Moab and Ammon
were born, and two nations that became bitter enemies and
persistent enemies of the nation of Israel.
It would be difficult to decide whether or not Lot was truly a
saved man by reading his story in the Old Testament.
There is nothing that gives us any indication that Lot even
knew the Lord, let alone that he was a righteous and a just man.
He chose the lower, the carnal, the worldly path.
He left the path of fellowship and and left the faith of the
earliest possible moment. And from everything that we read
about Lot, he was never restored to fellowship.
He made no mark for God. His family ended in disaster and
the last we see of him in this story, he's drunk and
dishonored. But that's what happens when you
make the decisions that leads you away from God and into the
world. We're not for this brief but
remarkable statement that we find that Peter wrote.
Thousands of years later, we would be justified in concluding
that Lot was not even a Christian, but here he was.
That's the life of a backslider. May God deliver us from a life
like that. And may we, as the Bible says,
remember Lot's wife. Now, let me give you this
quickly as we close, and I just want to touch very, very briefly
on this, but turn back to Genesis chapter 18.
Because not only do we see the moral perversion of Sodom and
the mental pollution of Sodom, but if you take a step back, I
want you to look at the man who pleaded for Sodom, Genesis
chapter 18 and verse #22 and the men turn their faces from fence.
These are the same men that met with Lot the next morning, these
angels. But these men turned their faces
from fence and went towards Sodom.
But Abraham stood yet before the Lord.
And Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou also destroy the
righteous with the wicked peradventure?
There be 50 righteous within the city.
Wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the 50
righteous that are therein, that be far from thee?
To do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked,
and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from
thee. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? And the Lord said, If I find in
Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I'll spare all the
place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said,
Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which
him but dust and ashes. Peradventure there shall lack
five of the 50 righteous. Wilt thou also Wilt thou destroy
all this city for lack of? Five and he said if I find there
40 and five, I will not destroy it.
He spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure, there shall
be 40 found there. And he said, I, I will not do it
for 40 sake. And he said unto him, Oh, let
not the Lord be angry, and I'll speak.
Peradventure, there shall be 30 found there.
And he said, I'll not do it if I find 30 there.
He said, Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the
Lord. Peradventure there shall be 20
found there. And he said, I'll not destroy it
for 20 sake. And he said, Oh Lord OO, let not
the Lord be angry, and I'll speak yet, but this once per
adventure 10 shall be found there.
And he said, I'll not destroy it for 10 sake.
And the Lord went his way as soon as he had left, communing
with Abraham, And Abraham returned unto his place.
Abraham interceded before the Lord to have Sodom and Gomorrah
spirit from judgment, if there can be found 10 righteous.
He started at 50 and I think he thought that lot probably had a
good influence over the people that he was around.
Hey, I know that place is wicked but I know lots there and I
know. Lots of righteous man, and he's
a just man. And it wasn't all that long ago
that he and I separated and he pitched his tent towards Sodom.
And I know that he bought a house there and I know that he's
sitting in the gates of the city.
But I'm sure that lot has an influence on the people that
he's around. And certainly there's got to be
50 righteous people in Sodom because of lots influence over
them. Certainly he's there doing the
Lord's work in Sodom. And he started to think about it
and he said, well, maybe, maybe not, maybe there's only.
Maybe there's only 45. Maybe he hasn't done everything
that he should have done. And, and, and maybe there's not
50, maybe there's 45. Will you spare it for 45?
And the more he talked, he said, God, I, I don't deserve to even
come and ask you these things. And, and please forgive me for
asking, but perhaps there's only 40 and then 30 and then 20 and
he finally got got God all the way down to 10 people.
If there's just 10 rights is God.
Will you spare the city of Sodom and Gomorrah?
Perhaps a lot hasn't been the influence that he should be, but
certainly he's won his family to the Lord.
Certainly they're still following the Lord in the city
of Sodom. Will you spare the city for 10
people? God said he would.
Unfortunately Lot hadn't even influenced 9 other people in
that city. What a shame on Lot.
I think it shows that Abraham stayed out of that wicked place.
He didn't even realize that there weren't 50 righteous in
Sodom. That's a that that that that's a
good indication that Abraham stayed as far away from that
place as he possibly could. He didn't know how debased and
he didn't know all the. Debauchery that was happening in
Sodom and Gomorrah. And he?
Thought that there was probably 50.
People that would be righteous. Finally, he got it all the way
down to 10. He loved his family and he had a
heart for the people whose destruction was imminent.
He knew that Sodom and Gomorrah was about to be destroyed.
And he said, God certainly, if you can.
Just find 10 people please. Will you spare that city?
Lot is there and I know lots of righteous man.
Please don't destroy the city. Abraham went to.
God, on behalf of this wicked place, he pleaded for Sodom, He
interceded before the Lord. How we should be like Abraham
when it comes to the laws who are doomed around us?
How many? People in this city are on their
way to hell. How many people in this nation
are are are are just throwing their sin in the face of God?
How many people in this world are?
So. Anti God and want nothing to do
with him. And we should be pleading on
behalf of these people who are doomed and whose destruction is
imminent if they don't accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Never should we rejoice when we find out that a Sinner dies and
goes to hell. Most often it's a repudiation of
our lack of influence on the world.
Anyway, when somebody dies and spends an eternity in hell, Oh
well, that politician, he deserved that.
I'm glad he's getting what's coming to him.
He was a wicked man. I'm so glad that he's spending
his his his all of his eternity in hell.
That's our fault that he's there.
We didn't have the influence that we should have had.
The church has lost the influence that it should have
had over this country and over this world.
How dare we be happy that somebody's spending an eternity?
In a horrible place like that, we should be interceding for the
loss in the way that Abraham did for a lot and for the wicked
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Hey, Abraham knew that those
cities were wicked. God had made it very clear to
him that those places were wicked, wicked places.
And yet Abraham still begged that God would save those cities
if there was a few righteous in there.
There's a lot of lessons for us in this story, many of which
we've already talked about. But I want you to take this away
from the message tonight. You cannot get close to sin and
not be affected. You cannot pitch your tent
toward the world and expect that you're going to come out of the
world unscathed. The more you look at the things
the world has to offer, the more you're going to want them.
And the more you want them, the more you're going to go after
them. And the more you go after them,
the farther you're going to be pulled away from God and the
more you're going to be drawn to the world.
You cannot get close to sin and not be affected.
You cannot expose your family to sin and expect them to grow up
and live for the Lord. I don't know if Lot thought he
was just going to waltz into his sons in laws and his daughter's
house and say hey, this city's about to be destroyed, come with
me. And they were going to believe
him and walk out and just exit the city with him.
But Lot had lost all of his influence over his family
because he let them live in Sodom.
You cannot expose your family to sin and expect them to grow up
and live for the Lord. And lastly is this You cannot
backslide away from God and expect that everything's going
to turn out fine. Lot was a righteous man, and the
Bible says that his soul was vexed every day.
I can't imagine that Lot didn't wake up every morning and think,
What am I doing here? I need to get out of this place,
but I'm going to put on my robes and I'm going to go and sit in
the gate of the city. I'll get everything taken care
of tomorrow. It'll be fine.
And he did that day after day after day after day, until he
had lost everything that mattered.
You cannot backslide away from God and expect that everything
will turn out fine. Just Lot, righteous lot whose
soul was vexed every single day, drunk and dishonored in a cave.
That's where it ends. I don't know what happened to a
lot after that. The Bible doesn't tell us, but
we know this. Not only did he fade away from
history and dishonor, but he fathered two children who became
the avowed enemies of the nation of Israel, God's chosen people
that he brought through Abraham. You cannot backslide away from
God and expect. That everything's going to turn
out fine. You better get it right.
You better do what you can to get your family away from Sodom
and get them as far away from Sodom as you can.
And you know how you get your family away from Sodom?
You stay away from it. If you don't go to Sodom, it's
very likely that your kids won't go there either.
If you do, they'll be right behind you and you'll be so
backslidden you won't even know how to get out of it.
There's some great lessons for us from this story of Lot.
I hope we'll learn them well because the Bible says, remember
Lot's wife and all the things that happened around it.
Backslidden Christians will never have the blessings of God.
Backslidden Christians are never going to have the pleasures that
they're promised when they leave God and go off into the world.
And Lot found that out the hard way, and so will you.
I don't want that for any of you.
Get it right? Before you take another step in
the direction of Sodom, let's pray.
Father, again, we thank you so much for your goodness to us.
Thank you for the lessons that we find here in this story.
If we'd heed these things and look at what happens to somebody
who moves away from God, I think every single one of us would be
afraid to take one step in the direction of the world.
But we get blinded, we get disillusioned, we get tempted,
and we start taking those steps and the next thing you know,
we're completely away from God and completely in the world and
losing out on everything that God wanted for us.
I pray that that would not be the case with any single person,
with any family in this church. God, may you break our hearts
and help us to be in the place that you want us to be and need
us to be so that we can be used by you.
Thank you again for all that you do for us.
In Jesus name, Amen.