Genesis: AUTHORITY
The Lesson Of Lot: Genesis 19:1-29
Pastor John Weathersby
Sunday April 16, 2023
Notes/Not a Transcript
Today, we’ll see a great lesson in Lot. We’ll look to our 2 Peter 1:19, more sure word.
2 Peter 1:19 (ESV)
19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
While we know Lot didn’t have the Word and the law, we do. And we can understand the truth of Lot in the light of our Lamp and learn the lesson of Lot for life.
Genesis 19:1–29 (ESV)
God Rescues Lot
1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth
2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.”
Lot’s position “sitting in the gate of Sodom” would imply that he’s risen to status in Sodom – the man who chose to camp near Sodom. Let’s look back a few chapters to Genesis 13
Genesis 13:7–13 (ESV)
7 and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.
9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”
10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other.
12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.
13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.
Sodom had a reputation; see verse 13. Yet, this is where Lot wanted to be. Near the fertile land, willing to compromise perhaps, thinking he’d be near the sin but uninvolved. Flirting with sin and temptation is a bad-bad thing for us, church.
Consider,
James 4:7 (ESV)
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Does that sound like inching as close as possible to sinful temptation and resisting with effort? Submitting ourselves to God means we seek His will for us FIRST, as primary consideration over every other care. Did Lot consider God? No, he considered fertile ground. Imagine this story of Lot had said to Abraham, whatever God wills for me – would Sodom have looked as good? Resist the devil. Does this sound like marching to a town described by Genesis 13:13 where the men are WICKED and great sinners against God?
How about 2 Timothy 2:22,
2 Timothy 2:22
22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
What is fleeing? What are youthful passions? These believer are questions to ponder and pray through.
Will you do that?
Was Lot doing that? Was he meditating day and night on the things of God?
He didn’t have this word described in 2 Peter 1 as the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention.
I’ll leave you with a Proverb as we consider the lesson of Lot.
Proverbs 4:14–15 (ESV)
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of the evil.
15 Avoid it; do not go on it;
turn away from it and pass on.
Genesis 19:1-3 (ESV)
1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth
2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.”
3 But he pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Lot bows himself down. He knows there is something about these guests, like Abraham with the three holy men a chapter ago. He desires to bring them to his home and care for them as honored guests.
They allude that they’ll stay on the streets, us knowing the warning of Genesis 13:13.
Genesis 13:13 (ESV)
13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.
We can know the city is generally (and generally known as) wicked, but soon we’ll learn how wicked. Ezekiel provided some commentary here:
Ezekiel 16:48–50 (ESV)
48 As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.
49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease but did not aid the poor and needy.
50 They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them when I saw it.
So he brings them in with great hospitality. Scripture has a lot to say about hospitality. Job *, who may have lived around the time of Abraham (measuring wealth in animals and things, not gold, sacrificing over talking to a priest… defends himself as not having hidden sin.
Job 31:32 (ESV)
32 (the sojourner has not lodged in the street;
I have opened my doors to the traveler),
1 Timothy 5:10 (ESV)
10 and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.
Leviticus 19:33–34 (ESV)
33 “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Hebrews commands:
Hebrews 13:2 (ESV)
2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
The angels perhaps test Lot’s hospitality and he (Lot) insists they stay with him. Recall the conversation between Abraham and God on whether there was even one righteous in Sodom.
Genesis 18:20 (ESV)
20 Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.
5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.”
This city is rampant in sin. “the men of the city” this is the tempo and heartbeat of the place, full of sexual immorality:
Leviticus 18:22 (ESV)
22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
Leviticus 20:13 (ESV)
13 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
So they’re looking to rape these men. This is the Sodom of Genesis 13:13.
6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him,
7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.
8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”
9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.
10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.
11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.
Lot steps outside with a closed door behind him and offers up his daughters to his crazed mob, and finally, they push through. By God’s grace, the angels strike the men with blindness.
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place.
13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
He works to collect his family, his daughters, and their betrothed. And they’re laughing, the future sons-in-law.
15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”
18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords.
19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.
20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it, not a little one?—and my life will be saved!”
21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
Lot’s obedience is slow. This is another Lesson of Lot, the call of the world leaves him thinking that what he sees (the safety of a great city) is best for him. When God, by his grace, calls him out, Lot tries to fight back in.
God Destroys Sodom
23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
The Lesson of Lot is one on concentration and directing your affections. They need to be driven, not ridden.
We’ve seen Lot in 13:10, looking at Sodom as a great choice
We’ve seen him get near to Sodom 13:11-12
We’ve seen him moving INTO Sodom 14
We’ve seen him at the Gate 19:1
We’ve seen him with betrothed daughters 19:4
We’ve seen him willing to give those daughters to the men of the city 19:8
This results from playing with sin and following affections, not driving them.
The specifics and types of sin are sins, but the path to them is always the same.
Consider that more sure word we have.
2 Timothy 2:22 (ESV)
22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
What is fleeing? What are youthful passions? These believer are questions to ponder and pray through.
James 4:7 (ESV)
7 Submit yourselves, therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
This is the Lesson of Lot, live lives submitted to God, resist the devil.
Lot’s story and Sodom are historical, but don’t let the lessons miss you. Let’s close in Matthew 11:23,
Matthew 11:23 (ESV)
23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Our Lord encourages that we take on the lesson of Lot. Church, flee youthful passions, pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace – ALLONG with those who call on the Lord.
The Christian life is to be lived together, by God’s grace, for His glory – until Christ returns.
We celebrate the truth of
Hebrews 7:25 (ESV)
25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
Praise the Lord for the Lesson of Lot.
Pray, Observe, Apply.
