Playing With Fire
Genesis 19:1-38
Message #10
We’ve got to get serious here today – sin brings destruction, and living with sin, even if we are not part of it, can eventually turn on us – to our own destruction. Our church culture has largely gotten away from dealing with sin. We’ve become much more concerned with what people want and don’t want to hear, and sin is certainly in the don’t want to hear category.
But sometimes, we’ve just got to look at the results of sin head-on, and it is good for us to be reminded that sin is destructive and ultimately deadly. And periodically, we need to be rocked back on our heels about the seriousness of sin; otherwise, we can become immune to it, which is exactly what Lot did. And although God did save Lot, living with sin still completely destroyed his life.
We left Abraham talking with the Lord overlooking Sodom and Gomorrah, and as Abraham interceded with the Lord on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham said in Genesis 8:25(b) (NLT), 25…Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” And Abraham is about to learn just how absolutely true that is. The Judge of all the earth must do what is just and right, but we also see God’s incredible grace and mercy toward Lot and his family.
Remember, Lot is Abraham’s nephew. He had traveled with his Uncle Abraham, he had lived with him, and we’ll find out as we go through that he had put his faith in the Lord. He had put his faith in God through his relationship with Abraham. However, Abraham and Lot had gone their separate ways back in Genesis Chapter 13.
Genesis 13:12 (NLT)
12 So Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot moved his tents to a place near Sodom . . .
Lot moved toward Sodom. Lot was setting the direction of his life toward Sodom.
Later, in Genesis Chapter 14, war broke out in Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot and his family were taken captive. Abraham mobilized an army to rescue Lot, who (unfortunately) immediately returned to Sodom.
And now, the two angels who had been with the Lord have now reached the gate of the city of Sodom.
Genesis 19:1 (NLT)
1 That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed with his face to the ground.
To “sit in the gate” of the city was to sit in a place of prominence. And so Lot (now prominent in the city) was sitting at the gate when these angels (in human form) arrived at Sodom, and Lot rose to meet these two strangers. One commentator wrote that these angels may have looked like young men in their prime, and so Lot wanted to reach them before anyone else did – for their own protection.
Genesis 19:2 (NLT)
2 “My lords,” he said, “come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way again.” “Oh no,” they replied. “We’ll just spend the night out here in the city square.”
This was a customary offer to travelers at the end of a day, and it was customary to accept (which Lot expected). But these visitors strangely said no thanks. We’ll just spend the night out in your nice city square. But Lot knew he could not let that happen.
Genesis 19:3 (NLT)
3 But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate.
We do see some righteousness here in Lot in trying to keep these strangers protected. But ultimately, living in the midst of this environment is going to bring destruction to Lot and to his family.
And it didn’t take long to start.
Genesis 19:4-5 (NLT)
4 But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house.
5 They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”
Last week we said the ultimate sin of Sodom was complete moral depravity. But today, we face head-on the sin that seems most prominent in bringing that complete moral depravity. Leviticus Chapters 18 and 20 say that homosexuality was a common part of the lifestyle of the Canaanites and that the people of God must avoid it at all costs. Leviticus 18:27 says, …This is how the land has become defiled.”
And the land had become so defiled that the city of Sodom had descended into the gang rape of male visitors as a type of “welcoming party,” and the original language here implies that every man in the city was part of it.
In our culture, every type of sexual sin is forced on us (either covertly or overtly) to accept through every possible method at every possible moment. And the sin that Sodom is most famous for is being forced on our children as early as Kindergarten with curriculum specifically designed to groom our kids, to experiment with, and fully embrace homosexuality (but that is only the current goal). We know the powers that are currently doing that and already planning the exact same forcing on our culture of the acceptance of pedophilia because the pushing of sexual sin is a continual slide into more and more sexual depravity.
I can’t use any other example but pornography, but it’s so much worse than that. Pornography in our culture starts with the swimsuit model. And then it goes to Victoria’s Secret. And then it goes to topless pictures. And it goes to full nudity. Then it goes to full heterosexual sex, and then it goes worse and worse and worse and worse. And that’s exactly what happens to a man or a woman who starts that process. It has to get worse. It’s the sin nature. This is what happens with sexual sin, with sexual depravity. This is what happened in Sodom.
So, Lot’s home was surrounded by men who were committed to gang-raping the two men Lot had brought into his home.
So, now we read this in Genesis 19.
Genesis 19:6-7 (NLT)
6 So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him.
7 “Please, my brothers,” he begged, “don’t do such a wicked thing.
Again, Lot shows a sign of righteousness here. In fact, three times in the New Testament, Lot is called righteous.
But that “righteous” does not mean perfect or even that Lot had any big signs of righteousness. It seems clear Lot was seen as righteous because he did have faith in God, just as Abraham and Noah did. BUT Lot had none of the righteous actions of Abraham or Noah, and his life is going to end in a sad story of destruction.
And we see the beginning of his tragic end in verse 8 of Genesis Chapter 19.
Genesis 19:8 (NLT)
8 Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.”
Whoa! Lot, this is unbelievable.
Some say Lot knew these men would not violate his daughters because his daughters were engaged, and the law of this land made the rape of an engaged woman punishable by death, but it completely ignored the rape of men.
Interestingly, our son David said that in Afghanistan, their sexual culture and laws today are very similar to this. Women are protected, but it’s accepted and even planned to sexually abuse young boys and men. In fact, when a family in Afghanistan has a son, they often set their first son aside as their sexual enjoyment. That’s from the devil. That’s pit of hell stuff. And it still goes on today.
So, Lot tries to satisfy this sexually violent mob with his own daughters, which is reprehensible, and it is not whom this mob wants.
Genesis 19:9 (NLT)
9 “Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge! We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door.
First, the mob says, “how dare you judge us” for our sinful sexual desire, and then Lot is threatened with violence if he doesn’t accept the sexual demands of this mob. Does any of that sound familiar?
Fortunately for Lot, we read what happened next.
Genesis 19:10-11 (NLT)
10 But the two angels reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door.
11 Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside.
And that is enough – the city of Sodom has been “playing with fire” for too long, and they are about to get burned. The judgment of God must fall upon sin, or God cannot be God. And the reason that we are found righteous in Christ is not because the judgment of God hasn’t fallen on our sin; it’s because the judgment of God has fallen on our sin on Christ in our place. But that makes God completely righteous because the judgment for our sin has been meted out, has been poured out. But we escape it by it falling on Christ in our place, and then Christ exchanges his righteousness for our sin, as 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21 says.
Genesis 19:12-13 (NLT)
12 Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. “Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” they asked. “Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else.
13 For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it.” (the TIME has COME)
And the next verse seems to imply that the fiancés of the daughters that Lot tried to feed to this mob may have actually been part of the mob.
Genesis 19:14 (NLT)
14 So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters’ fiancés, “Quick, get out of the city! The Lord is about to destroy it.” But the young men thought he was only joking.
That’s the problem with our view of sin, isn’t it? We somehow think that God is only joking about the consequences for our sin. If you would say, “I’ll be all right. God loves me,” he does love you. But he’s first holy and just and righteous, and he must judge sin.
“Yeah, but I have Jesus,” you might say. I know you do. And we are a once saved, always saved theology people. We believe that if you’re truly saved, then you are truly saved. The problem is that if you are continually living in sin, the Bible questions whether you are saved. That’s the truth. But once you’re saved, you’re good to go. And then you can say because of Jesus, I don’t want to sin. Or I’m not going to sin. Right?
But typically, a believer who is caught up in sin will laugh at the idea that God’s judgment may fall on him. There are consequences to our sin. Even for believers who will get into Heaven, it doesn’t mean there are not consequences to our sin. There are! And we don’t take them seriously enough. If we did, it would affect our decisions.
We believe all the stuff that we like in the Bible, and we tend to kind of skip over the part about the judgment of God upon our sin.
And even though we are saved by grace, and even though his grace is new every morning, and in Christ, there is forgiveness for every sin, does that mean we should have a lax attitude as believers to sin? We should not! If we believed God’s judgment upon our sin more, wouldn’t it change some of the decisions we make?
In Jesus Christ, there is complete forgiveness for sin. There is no sin that cannot be forgiven, except for the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit which is the prolonged rejection of the conviction of God (meaning you die as an unbeliever – you die rejecting God). But shouldn’t we still have a reverent fear of the judgment of God that must come upon our sin? If we do, it will help us make better choices.
If you are truly a believer, what I am talking about right now is not about your salvation unless you aren’t really saved, you just think you are because you repeated a prayer or something. (The prayer works if it works. It works if you’re sincere and if you start following Jesus, then you can know it works.) Even if you set the salvation circumstance aside, sin brings consequences. Sin in a believer’s life brings consequences. And the longer we choose to live in sin, the greater the consequences. And we don’t get that as the Church anymore. We don’t really understand that if I continue to live in this sin, there is going to be a consequence that I’m not going to like. Right? We need to get back to that.
Genesis 19:15–16 (NLT)
15 At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!”
16 When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful.
When Lot still hesitated . . .
Seriously, Lot? Are you kidding? Why are you hesitating? What part of all this are you not getting?
Again, if we believed that we would truly experience the consequences of sin in our lives, we would sin less.
Have you ever shared with a believer who is living in sin the need for them to flee to God before the consequences of their sin fall on them, and then they blow you off and go right back to living in their sin, not concerned at all about the judgment of God?
Could it be because we’ve downplayed God’s judgment so much that we no longer fear the consequences of our sin?
And so, verse 16 says, the angels GRABBED Lot’s hand and his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, BECAUSE the Lord was merciful.
Lot was a righteous man because he had put his faith in the God of Abraham, and God was doing everything he could to save Lot. And we know for sure Lot was saved by God’s grace because it certainly was not by his own good works, that’s for sure.
Genesis 19:17 (NLT)
17 When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
And again, Lot’s response just blows our minds.
Genesis 19:18–22 (NLT)
18 “Oh no, my lord!” Lot begged.
19 “You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die.
20 See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.”
21 “All right,” the angel said, “I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village.
22 But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means “little place.”)
What’s amazing is this city (Zoar) was in the same general area as Sodom and very probably influenced by Sodom. It seems Lot still wanted to live in a similar environment as the one God is about to judge.
And what is even more amazing is that the angels let him.
But remember, sometimes the consequences of our sin is God giving us what we ask for!
So, the Lord is saving Lot, but Lot’s downfall is still coming.
Genesis 19:23–25 (NLT)
23 Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon.
24 Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.
25 He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation.
Guys, God’s judgment on sin eventually comes full strength. As sure as God is God, his judgment upon sin must come. For those of us who have been identified with Christ through faith, then we are under the shadow of Jesus Christ, and the judgment of God has fallen on him in our place. God must be righteous, so judgment must fall.
And then, Lot’s wife gets an un-honorable mention in the story.
Genesis 19:26 (NLT)
26 But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
This was not a casual glance back toward Sodom because God’s judgment did not come until Lot was in Zoar. Lot’s wife tarried. She longed for Sodom. She turned back – as if to go back. And the phrase “pillar of salt” probably refers to the type of judgment rained down from God (burning sulfur). God made a way of escape for Lot’s wife, but she couldn’t leave the clutches of the sinful environment that she lived in. She refused the way of escape.
(1 Corinthians 10, verse 13 assures us that God makes a way of escape out of temptation.)
Genesis 19:27–29 (NLT)
27 Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord’s presence.
28 He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace.
29 But God had listened to Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.
God did just what he promised. He saved the righteous out of the judgment. This is a New Testament theology – judgment will fall, the righteous will be saved. But it doesn’t mean (if you’re in the righteous will be saved category) that you can’t still destroy your life. You still can destroy your life, and sin will still destroy your life.
But Lot wasn’t done destroying his life and his family’s life.
Genesis 19:30 (NLT)
30 Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.
This is exactly where Lot told the angels he didn’t want to go, but he was afraid of the people in Zoar, so he ran for the hills.
It’s interesting that Lot didn’t return to Abraham, isn’t it? This was Lot’s chance to be restored, to be reconciled to God and to his family in Abraham. But Lot still couldn’t make the right decision, and things are only going to get worse from here – much worse.
Genesis 19:31–36 (NLT)
31 One day the older daughter said to her sister, “There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can’t get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children.
32 Come, let’s get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.”
33 So that night they got him drunk with wine, and the older daughter went in and had intercourse with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
34 The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, “I had sex with our father last night. Let’s get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.”
35 So that night they got him drunk with wine again, and the younger daughter went in and had intercourse with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
36 As a result, both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their own father.
Incest was wrong in all Eastern cultures – even the pagan cultures. This was a slide into a depravity of sin that was equal to the environment Lot was saved from. His daughters were certainly influenced by the sin of Sodom and probably by their dad’s offer of them to the mob. Lot’s choices had brought he and his daughters to this. Lot had created his own end.
R. Kent Hughes says
With cruel irony [Lot] himself carried out the shameful act he had first suggested to the men of Sodom. Lot had effectively allowed Sodom into his daughters’ souls.
It doesn’t get any worse than that.
Genesis 19:37–38 (NLT)
37 When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites.
38 When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.
The Moabites and the Ammonites became enemies of Israel. They became cut off from God’s people. However, again, in an act of immeasurable grace:
Ruth was a Moabite.
And through Ruth came King David
And through King David came King Jesus
And so, God was able to bring good out of even this atrocity.
However…
The Life of Lot should scream to us about the dangers of us living with sin.
The Life of Lot should scream to us about living surrounded by sin and thinking we are safe.
The Life of Lot should scream to us about the consequences of us living in sin.
And seeing this picture of God’s judgment on sin should cause us to think twice before we play with that fire.
But sometimes, we’ve just got to look at the results of sin head-on, and it is good for us to be reminded that sin is destructive and ultimately deadly. And periodically, we need to be rocked back on our heels about the seriousness of sin; otherwise, we can become immune to it, which is exactly what Lot did. And although God did save Lot, living with sin still completely destroyed his life.
We left Abraham talking with the Lord overlooking Sodom and Gomorrah, and as Abraham interceded with the Lord on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham said in Genesis 8:25(b) (NLT), 25…Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” And Abraham is about to learn just how absolutely true that is. The Judge of all the earth must do what is just and right, but we also see God’s incredible grace and mercy toward Lot and his family.
Remember, Lot is Abraham’s nephew. He had traveled with his Uncle Abraham, he had lived with him, and we’ll find out as we go through that he had put his faith in the Lord. He had put his faith in God through his relationship with Abraham. However, Abraham and Lot had gone their separate ways back in Genesis Chapter 13.
Genesis 13:12 (NLT)
12 So Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot moved his tents to a place near Sodom . . .
Lot moved toward Sodom. Lot was setting the direction of his life toward Sodom.
Later, in Genesis Chapter 14, war broke out in Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot and his family were taken captive. Abraham mobilized an army to rescue Lot, who (unfortunately) immediately returned to Sodom.
And now, the two angels who had been with the Lord have now reached the gate of the city of Sodom.
Genesis 19:1 (NLT)
1 That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed with his face to the ground.
To “sit in the gate” of the city was to sit in a place of prominence. And so Lot (now prominent in the city) was sitting at the gate when these angels (in human form) arrived at Sodom, and Lot rose to meet these two strangers. One commentator wrote that these angels may have looked like young men in their prime, and so Lot wanted to reach them before anyone else did – for their own protection.
Genesis 19:2 (NLT)
2 “My lords,” he said, “come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way again.” “Oh no,” they replied. “We’ll just spend the night out here in the city square.”
This was a customary offer to travelers at the end of a day, and it was customary to accept (which Lot expected). But these visitors strangely said no thanks. We’ll just spend the night out in your nice city square. But Lot knew he could not let that happen.
Genesis 19:3 (NLT)
3 But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate.
We do see some righteousness here in Lot in trying to keep these strangers protected. But ultimately, living in the midst of this environment is going to bring destruction to Lot and to his family.
And it didn’t take long to start.
Genesis 19:4-5 (NLT)
4 But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house.
5 They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”
Last week we said the ultimate sin of Sodom was complete moral depravity. But today, we face head-on the sin that seems most prominent in bringing that complete moral depravity. Leviticus Chapters 18 and 20 say that homosexuality was a common part of the lifestyle of the Canaanites and that the people of God must avoid it at all costs. Leviticus 18:27 says, …This is how the land has become defiled.”
And the land had become so defiled that the city of Sodom had descended into the gang rape of male visitors as a type of “welcoming party,” and the original language here implies that every man in the city was part of it.
In our culture, every type of sexual sin is forced on us (either covertly or overtly) to accept through every possible method at every possible moment. And the sin that Sodom is most famous for is being forced on our children as early as Kindergarten with curriculum specifically designed to groom our kids, to experiment with, and fully embrace homosexuality (but that is only the current goal). We know the powers that are currently doing that and already planning the exact same forcing on our culture of the acceptance of pedophilia because the pushing of sexual sin is a continual slide into more and more sexual depravity.
I can’t use any other example but pornography, but it’s so much worse than that. Pornography in our culture starts with the swimsuit model. And then it goes to Victoria’s Secret. And then it goes to topless pictures. And it goes to full nudity. Then it goes to full heterosexual sex, and then it goes worse and worse and worse and worse. And that’s exactly what happens to a man or a woman who starts that process. It has to get worse. It’s the sin nature. This is what happens with sexual sin, with sexual depravity. This is what happened in Sodom.
So, Lot’s home was surrounded by men who were committed to gang-raping the two men Lot had brought into his home.
So, now we read this in Genesis 19.
Genesis 19:6-7 (NLT)
6 So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him.
7 “Please, my brothers,” he begged, “don’t do such a wicked thing.
Again, Lot shows a sign of righteousness here. In fact, three times in the New Testament, Lot is called righteous.
But that “righteous” does not mean perfect or even that Lot had any big signs of righteousness. It seems clear Lot was seen as righteous because he did have faith in God, just as Abraham and Noah did. BUT Lot had none of the righteous actions of Abraham or Noah, and his life is going to end in a sad story of destruction.
And we see the beginning of his tragic end in verse 8 of Genesis Chapter 19.
Genesis 19:8 (NLT)
8 Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.”
Whoa! Lot, this is unbelievable.
Some say Lot knew these men would not violate his daughters because his daughters were engaged, and the law of this land made the rape of an engaged woman punishable by death, but it completely ignored the rape of men.
Interestingly, our son David said that in Afghanistan, their sexual culture and laws today are very similar to this. Women are protected, but it’s accepted and even planned to sexually abuse young boys and men. In fact, when a family in Afghanistan has a son, they often set their first son aside as their sexual enjoyment. That’s from the devil. That’s pit of hell stuff. And it still goes on today.
So, Lot tries to satisfy this sexually violent mob with his own daughters, which is reprehensible, and it is not whom this mob wants.
Genesis 19:9 (NLT)
9 “Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge! We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door.
First, the mob says, “how dare you judge us” for our sinful sexual desire, and then Lot is threatened with violence if he doesn’t accept the sexual demands of this mob. Does any of that sound familiar?
Fortunately for Lot, we read what happened next.
Genesis 19:10-11 (NLT)
10 But the two angels reached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door.
11 Then they blinded all the men, young and old, who were at the door of the house, so they gave up trying to get inside.
And that is enough – the city of Sodom has been “playing with fire” for too long, and they are about to get burned. The judgment of God must fall upon sin, or God cannot be God. And the reason that we are found righteous in Christ is not because the judgment of God hasn’t fallen on our sin; it’s because the judgment of God has fallen on our sin on Christ in our place. But that makes God completely righteous because the judgment for our sin has been meted out, has been poured out. But we escape it by it falling on Christ in our place, and then Christ exchanges his righteousness for our sin, as 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21 says.
Genesis 19:12-13 (NLT)
12 Meanwhile, the angels questioned Lot. “Do you have any other relatives here in the city?” they asked. “Get them out of this place—your sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone else.
13 For we are about to destroy this city completely. The outcry against this place is so great it has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it.” (the TIME has COME)
And the next verse seems to imply that the fiancés of the daughters that Lot tried to feed to this mob may have actually been part of the mob.
Genesis 19:14 (NLT)
14 So Lot rushed out to tell his daughters’ fiancés, “Quick, get out of the city! The Lord is about to destroy it.” But the young men thought he was only joking.
That’s the problem with our view of sin, isn’t it? We somehow think that God is only joking about the consequences for our sin. If you would say, “I’ll be all right. God loves me,” he does love you. But he’s first holy and just and righteous, and he must judge sin.
“Yeah, but I have Jesus,” you might say. I know you do. And we are a once saved, always saved theology people. We believe that if you’re truly saved, then you are truly saved. The problem is that if you are continually living in sin, the Bible questions whether you are saved. That’s the truth. But once you’re saved, you’re good to go. And then you can say because of Jesus, I don’t want to sin. Or I’m not going to sin. Right?
But typically, a believer who is caught up in sin will laugh at the idea that God’s judgment may fall on him. There are consequences to our sin. Even for believers who will get into Heaven, it doesn’t mean there are not consequences to our sin. There are! And we don’t take them seriously enough. If we did, it would affect our decisions.
We believe all the stuff that we like in the Bible, and we tend to kind of skip over the part about the judgment of God upon our sin.
And even though we are saved by grace, and even though his grace is new every morning, and in Christ, there is forgiveness for every sin, does that mean we should have a lax attitude as believers to sin? We should not! If we believed God’s judgment upon our sin more, wouldn’t it change some of the decisions we make?
In Jesus Christ, there is complete forgiveness for sin. There is no sin that cannot be forgiven, except for the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit which is the prolonged rejection of the conviction of God (meaning you die as an unbeliever – you die rejecting God). But shouldn’t we still have a reverent fear of the judgment of God that must come upon our sin? If we do, it will help us make better choices.
If you are truly a believer, what I am talking about right now is not about your salvation unless you aren’t really saved, you just think you are because you repeated a prayer or something. (The prayer works if it works. It works if you’re sincere and if you start following Jesus, then you can know it works.) Even if you set the salvation circumstance aside, sin brings consequences. Sin in a believer’s life brings consequences. And the longer we choose to live in sin, the greater the consequences. And we don’t get that as the Church anymore. We don’t really understand that if I continue to live in this sin, there is going to be a consequence that I’m not going to like. Right? We need to get back to that.
Genesis 19:15–16 (NLT)
15 At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!”
16 When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful.
When Lot still hesitated . . .
Seriously, Lot? Are you kidding? Why are you hesitating? What part of all this are you not getting?
Again, if we believed that we would truly experience the consequences of sin in our lives, we would sin less.
Have you ever shared with a believer who is living in sin the need for them to flee to God before the consequences of their sin fall on them, and then they blow you off and go right back to living in their sin, not concerned at all about the judgment of God?
Could it be because we’ve downplayed God’s judgment so much that we no longer fear the consequences of our sin?
And so, verse 16 says, the angels GRABBED Lot’s hand and his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, BECAUSE the Lord was merciful.
Lot was a righteous man because he had put his faith in the God of Abraham, and God was doing everything he could to save Lot. And we know for sure Lot was saved by God’s grace because it certainly was not by his own good works, that’s for sure.
Genesis 19:17 (NLT)
17 When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
And again, Lot’s response just blows our minds.
Genesis 19:18–22 (NLT)
18 “Oh no, my lord!” Lot begged.
19 “You have been so gracious to me and saved my life, and you have shown such great kindness. But I cannot go to the mountains. Disaster would catch up to me there, and I would soon die.
20 See, there is a small village nearby. Please let me go there instead; don’t you see how small it is? Then my life will be saved.”
21 “All right,” the angel said, “I will grant your request. I will not destroy the little village.
22 But hurry! Escape to it, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” (This explains why that village was known as Zoar, which means “little place.”)
What’s amazing is this city (Zoar) was in the same general area as Sodom and very probably influenced by Sodom. It seems Lot still wanted to live in a similar environment as the one God is about to judge.
And what is even more amazing is that the angels let him.
But remember, sometimes the consequences of our sin is God giving us what we ask for!
So, the Lord is saving Lot, but Lot’s downfall is still coming.
Genesis 19:23–25 (NLT)
23 Lot reached the village just as the sun was rising over the horizon.
24 Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.
25 He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation.
Guys, God’s judgment on sin eventually comes full strength. As sure as God is God, his judgment upon sin must come. For those of us who have been identified with Christ through faith, then we are under the shadow of Jesus Christ, and the judgment of God has fallen on him in our place. God must be righteous, so judgment must fall.
And then, Lot’s wife gets an un-honorable mention in the story.
Genesis 19:26 (NLT)
26 But Lot’s wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt.
This was not a casual glance back toward Sodom because God’s judgment did not come until Lot was in Zoar. Lot’s wife tarried. She longed for Sodom. She turned back – as if to go back. And the phrase “pillar of salt” probably refers to the type of judgment rained down from God (burning sulfur). God made a way of escape for Lot’s wife, but she couldn’t leave the clutches of the sinful environment that she lived in. She refused the way of escape.
(1 Corinthians 10, verse 13 assures us that God makes a way of escape out of temptation.)
Genesis 19:27–29 (NLT)
27 Abraham got up early that morning and hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord’s presence.
28 He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace.
29 But God had listened to Abraham’s request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain.
God did just what he promised. He saved the righteous out of the judgment. This is a New Testament theology – judgment will fall, the righteous will be saved. But it doesn’t mean (if you’re in the righteous will be saved category) that you can’t still destroy your life. You still can destroy your life, and sin will still destroy your life.
But Lot wasn’t done destroying his life and his family’s life.
Genesis 19:30 (NLT)
30 Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.
This is exactly where Lot told the angels he didn’t want to go, but he was afraid of the people in Zoar, so he ran for the hills.
It’s interesting that Lot didn’t return to Abraham, isn’t it? This was Lot’s chance to be restored, to be reconciled to God and to his family in Abraham. But Lot still couldn’t make the right decision, and things are only going to get worse from here – much worse.
Genesis 19:31–36 (NLT)
31 One day the older daughter said to her sister, “There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can’t get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children.
32 Come, let’s get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.”
33 So that night they got him drunk with wine, and the older daughter went in and had intercourse with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
34 The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, “I had sex with our father last night. Let’s get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.”
35 So that night they got him drunk with wine again, and the younger daughter went in and had intercourse with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.
36 As a result, both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their own father.
Incest was wrong in all Eastern cultures – even the pagan cultures. This was a slide into a depravity of sin that was equal to the environment Lot was saved from. His daughters were certainly influenced by the sin of Sodom and probably by their dad’s offer of them to the mob. Lot’s choices had brought he and his daughters to this. Lot had created his own end.
R. Kent Hughes says
With cruel irony [Lot] himself carried out the shameful act he had first suggested to the men of Sodom. Lot had effectively allowed Sodom into his daughters’ souls.
It doesn’t get any worse than that.
Genesis 19:37–38 (NLT)
37 When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites.
38 When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.
The Moabites and the Ammonites became enemies of Israel. They became cut off from God’s people. However, again, in an act of immeasurable grace:
Ruth was a Moabite.
And through Ruth came King David
And through King David came King Jesus
And so, God was able to bring good out of even this atrocity.
However…
The Life of Lot should scream to us about the dangers of us living with sin.
The Life of Lot should scream to us about living surrounded by sin and thinking we are safe.
The Life of Lot should scream to us about the consequences of us living in sin.
And seeing this picture of God’s judgment on sin should cause us to think twice before we play with that fire.