Sodom and Gomorrah

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.

Genesis 13 · chapter mention

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

Ezekiel 16 · chapter mention

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

Ezekiel 16 · chapter mention

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

Ezekiel 16 · chapter mention

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

Genesis 19 · chapter mention

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.

2 Peter 2 · chapter mention

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

2 Peter 2 · chapter mention

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

Luke 17 · chapter mention

mentioned there as well. And one of the shortest verses

in the Bible, Luke chapter 17 and verse #32 Jesus was the

Luke 17 · chapter mention

context here of Luke chapter 17 is that Jesus was teaching them

Luke 17 · chapter mention

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,

Luke 17 · chapter mention

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.

Genesis 18 · chapter mention

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

Genesis 18 · chapter mention

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.