Scripture Reading: Genesis 19
they turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 19. Genesis chapter 19, as we finish out the chapter, we notice this morning verses 1 to 11 and how those verses pertain specifically to the biblical view of homosexuality. Well, it is not right to neglect the remainder of this chapter as it's full of practical application and instruction for the Christian. You can learn a whole lot about these final days of Sodom, or this final day of Sodom, and the instruction given to Lot, and the various circumstances connected with that.
And I'll just pick up reading in chapter 19 at verse 12. Then the men said to Lot, Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, take them out of this place, for we will destroy this place. because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, Get up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city.
But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city. And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him. And they brought him out and set him outside the city.
So it came to pass when they had brought him outside that he said, Escape for your life. Do not look behind you, nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed. Then Lot said to them, Please, no, my lords.
Indeed now your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life. But I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Please let me escape there.
Is it not a little one? and my soul shall live. And he said to him, See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens. So he overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain. And he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like 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 had dwelt.
Amen. Let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father, we pray for the Spirit to guide us now. We pray that you would help us to learn the lessons we are supposed to from this passage of Holy Scripture. Our God, we pray that you would just bless our time together, bless our worship. May we truly glorify you, our great God, never forgetting the reason we assemble on the Lord's Day Sabbath.
And Father, we just pray as well that you would give us a genuine zeal for holiness and for righteousness, a genuine desire to walk spiritually and to truly live in a manner that is consistent with the Holy Scripture. We ask for your grace now and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Introduction
Well, we remember this morning the investigation of Sodom's wickedness, verses 20 to 33, and then the confirmation of Sodom's wickedness in chapter 19, verses 4 to 11. We saw the extent of the wickedness. that it was everybody in the city. And we see as well the specific wickedness was homosexuality. The men of the city wanted to take these two visitors, these two angels, and they wanted to know them carnally.
Now this evening I want to consider four observations from the remaining portion of the passage. First, the deliverance of Lot. Secondly, the demonstration of God's wrath. Thirdly, the meditation upon Sodom's wickedness, and fourthly, the repetition of Sodom's wickedness.
There is another account in the Old Testament that is very similar to this. Unfortunately, Israel did not learn this lesson. For several centuries later, the men of Gibeah fell into a like practice, and we'll see that in just a few moments.
The Deliverance of Lot
But first of all, the deliverance of lot, and there are several things to consider here. Notice that he would give up his daughters to stem the tide of wickedness against his visitors. This was not a very charitable thing to do. not a very godly or kind thing to do. Certainly it was driven by a righteous motivation to protect his visitors, but to sacrifice his daughters to an angry mob simply does not exhibit a consistent and godly life practice.
And then we notice in verse 14, when he goes to speak to his married daughter's husbands, he obviously had two daughters that were unmarried, the ones he was willing to give to the men of Sodom, but then he had other daughters that were married. And so when he goes to his family, he tells them that we must leave the city, and he appeared to them to be joking. This doesn't speak well of a consistent and a godly life. I realize Peter speaks favorably of it.
He is in Christ. He is a legitimate believer. He will be, or he is in heaven, and we will see him. But he, like all of us, had his issues, had his remaining corruption.
And so these two glaring errors in this account leads us to consider two clues in the text that highlight why it is this way. The first was, verse 1 tells us, he was sitting in the gate of Sodom. He was sitting in the gate of Sodom and basically the gateway was the public square of the city where the elders sat. Public meetings were held and legal disputes were adjudicated.
That Lot was here suggests that he was a respected member of the community. Remember, Sodom is an exceedingly wicked town, but nevertheless Lot is in the gates. Lot is in a position of esteem and prestige. And then notice as well, in verse 2, it says that he was, or he invited the angels, please turn into your servant's house and spend the night.
Remember, initially, Genesis 13 tells us that he pitched his tent near Sodom. Now he's a homeowner in Sodom. The tent near the city wasn't enough. He has taken up residence within the city.
He purchased property, he has a house, and he is dwelling there. Walt, he says, Lot has exchanged his tent, formerly pitched near the city, for a house in Sodom. So as we survey this, and as we get especially to some of the other interesting portions, we need to remember his life was not marked by consistent godliness. We need to learn from this.
We need to make sure that we are seeking, by the grace of God, to be faithful, to be upright. not to be so enamored with the Sodoms of this world that we'll pitch our tent near it and then buy property and live within the city walls themselves.
The Exhortation to Flee
Notice in verses 15 to 17, there is an exhortation to flee. It was an announcement of destruction because the outcry against them had grown great before the face of the Lord and He purposed to destroy the city. I mean, it's very clear and very obvious what is going on. As well, it was to be an escaping for one's life.
This was a life and death time. This was not the time to play games or to enter into something with a bit of a, sort of a levity or a lightheartedness. They were not to look behind them, nor stay anywhere near the plain. They would be destroyed if they failed to comply.
That's the exhortation to flee from the city.
The Lingering of Lot
And that brings us to consider the lingering of Lot. Notice what it says in verse 16. And while he lingered, As a general rule, my brothers and sister, when God says, I am going to destroy your city, get out. You don't linger.
You don't waste time. You don't think about it. You don't ponder. You don't consider what you're losing.
You simply act in obedience to the Lord God most high. And while he lingers, Lingering Lot stands as a testimony in the pages of scripture to each and every one of us not to linger in like manner. Why did Lot linger? It's an incredible statement because he knew the wickedness of the city and he knew the certain destruction of the Lord that was coming upon the city.
Hopefully as you're reading this, you're saying, Lot, you shouldn't do this. Lot, do you realize what's happening? See, brethren, when you read your Bibles, you're to think like that. You're to get into it.
You're to read it as if it really means something. You're to stop for a moment and say, wait a minute, Lot, what are you doing? Pastor Crawford was telling me that he just preached in Baltimore, or he went to Baltimore looking at a possible move there for church planting. He visited a church plant in Philadelphia, and he said to me, oh, you'd love it there.
It's all black. One of those places when you preach, they're right there with you. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Say it, brother. Tell me, Lord, have mercy. And when you preach in a black audience, that's the way it is. There ought to be something of that when you read your Bible.
Wait a minute. Why are you lingering? What's the matter with you lot? Go!
When God sends angels and tells you to leave, you leave. Why would he linger? Well, three. Suggestions, two of these, or one of these, the first comes from J.C.
Ryle. He has an excellent treatment of this section in his book, Holiness, and it's on Enlight Linger. The first, this is what Ryle says, is that it stemmed from his wrong choice earlier in life. It stemmed from his wrong choice earlier in life.
Children, young people, kids. The decisions you make now will affect you in the years to come. You remember back in Genesis chapter 13 when Lot was with his uncle Abraham. We read in Genesis chapter 13 at verse 8, Abram said to Lot, Please let there be no strife between you and me and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brethren.
Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.
And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. and they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord." Right there, a light bulb should go off over our heads.
We should all say, that is going to come back to bite him. That is a problem. When you pitch your tent near a very wicked place, there will be effects in the long run. In Genesis chapter 14, Genesis 14 at verse 12, they also took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
Lot lingered probably because of this earlier choice. And Ryle develops this, and I believe beautifully.
Wrong Choices and Their Consequences
He says, make a wrong choice in life, an unscriptural choice, and settle yourself down unnecessarily in the midst of worldly people, and I know no surer way to damage your own spirituality and to go backward about your eternal concerns. This is the way to make the pulse of your soul beat feebly and languidly. This is the way to make the edge of your feeling about sin become blunt and dull. This is the way to dim the eyes of your spiritual discernment till you can scarcely distinguish good from evil and stumble as you walk.
So the choices that you make early on, the choices that you make today, will have ramifications in the future. And while he lingered, probably considering how good it was there, why would he want to leave his home? Why would he want to desert that property? Why would he want to go when the Lord had been so good to him, even in the midst of this wicked city?
Royal goes on to make the pertinent application with reference to choices we make, with reference to residence. Where will we live? Will we live in a place where there are no good churches? Will we live in a place that is punctuated by sin, depravity, and evil?
You know, certainly we have to live somewhere where there is sin, depravity, and evil. We'd have to leave the earth and go charter a place on the moon to try and escape all the wickedness. And lo and behold, even then, it would still be wicked because we're there. But there are certainly places more calculated to drag our souls down than others.
And we ought not to take this lightly. We ought to consider, is the place I'm choosing to live, does it have a good church? What about the decision with reference to our life's calling, our profession? Those things we choose to do in order to make money and seek to glorify the Lord in that area.
If it's going to be something that compromises my spirituality, something that compromises my Christian commitment, something that deadens my soul, well, I ought to avoid it. That doesn't mean I have to be a missionary or a pastor. That's not what it means at all. But there are some things that wage war against the soul of a man.
And of course, a pertinent application with reference to the choices that we make in our youth has to be our choice of a spouse. We are told in the Bible that we're not to be unequally yoked. We are told in the Bible as Christians we're to seek out other Christians. We are told in the scriptures that we are not to marry a son or a daughter of Belial.
We are to be consistent in this. We are not to let our emotions or our hearts overrule our heads. We are not to begin to think subjectively when the Bible calls us to think objectively. We are not to put our desires for happiness above the biblical requirement to find a godly man or a godly woman who will aid us and assist us in serving the Lord our God.
It is far too easy to be governed by emotion rather than by principle. It is far too easy to lower the standard. You know, you've got this idea that he or she must be, you know, like a pin-up model. He must be a wonderful Calvinistic theologian.
He must be all these things that you're attracted to. And as time goes on, the bar gradually gets lowered. Well, he said church one time, so that might qualify him. No, no, think biblically.
And I realize for young people, you say, oh, you don't know what it's like. Well, we may not know what it's like in that particular thing, but we certainly know what it's like to read the scripture, to see other experience, and to see other things in our own lives that have been challenging because of bad decisions. A second reason why he may have lingered, the Bible doesn't tell us he lingered for these reasons, but just meditation, thinking through it. A second reason may be because it was a result of living amidst wickedness on a daily basis.
Sometimes that happens. We get desensitized. Now the Bible tells us very well that in 2 Peter that he was vexed day in and day out. He was oppressed, he was greatly troubled, and for that we rejoice and we give thanks.
But put yourself in a life circumstance. It's hard to be holy in the best circumstances. It's hard to be holy when everything is going your way. but plopped down right in the midst of a depraved city, a city described by God as exceedingly wicked. Now, God has seen it all, hasn't he?
For God to say this is an exceedingly wicked city, God knows what he's talking about. God is accurate in his judgments. God knows. He's seen cities come. and he's seen them go.
Very often when we are surrounded by these things, it deadens our spiritual vitality. It deadens our spiritual life. It blunts us. It causes us to be dull.
It causes us to be lethargic. It causes us to be apathetic. We may see the wickedness out there and say, well, what good is it? What difference can I make?
We need to guard against that. A third reason why he might have lingered is because he liked what he had. It's easy for us to say, oh, just go, man. OK, right now, just go.
All of us. Just let's go. Just drive to the backside of Mount Sham, and then we're going to drive up to the parking lot, and then we're going to hike two hours to the top of the mountain. That's the only safe place from destruction.
You're probably thinking, did I turn the oven off? What about our puppies? What about the cat? What about the neighbors?
What about our stuff? What about our comfort? What are we going to eat tonight? Where will we sleep?
What will become of our children? All these things perhaps raced through his mind and it caused him to linger again. We need to remember that when the Lord God Most High sends two angels to tell you to leave, you need to believe Him over your desire for happiness and comfort. So, Lot lingered.
Lot's Request and God's Condescension
Notice, with reference to the deliverance of Lot, his request in verses 17 to 20. This is an amazing statement. Verse 17, the announcement is made. We'll see that in a bit more detail in just a moment.
But notice in verse 18, Then Lot said to them, Please know, my lords. Indeed, now your servant has found favor in your sight and you have increased your mercy, which you have shown me by saving my life. But I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. You hear what he's saying?
I'm used to living in the city. I can't go live on Mount Sham. I don't have a rifle. I don't know how to shoot animals.
I don't know how to live without electricity. If I go to the mountains, God, that is as much destruction for me as if I remain in the city. He's making a deal with the angels at this point. Do you know what the most amazing thing is?
Is that God condescends. God actually says, okay, you can have Zoar. Isn't that our God? Isn't that, in the language of Ralph Davis, vintage Yahweh?
A man lingers, he basically has to be grabbed ahold of, yanked out of his house, and as they're running he says, oh wait, one more thing. If I go to the mountains, something evil might happen to me. Can't I have this city? It's just a little city.
Look at it. It's not anything big. It's not significant. It's not the Taj Mahal, God.
The Lord gives it to me. That's the God whom we serve. Isn't it amazing? I love that statement.
Verse 21, he said, See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar. God actually condescends to blast Lot in this request.
That is truly a testimony to the mercy of our God. In the midst of pouring hell upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord God shows this kind of mercy to His servant Lot. He doesn't slap him. He doesn't say, why did you linger?
He doesn't upbraid him. He doesn't, you know, rebuke him. He simply says, I have favored you concerning this thing also. Truly an amazing God.
Well, that's the deliverance of Lot.
The Demonstration of God's Wrath
Notice, secondly, the demonstration of God's wrath. Verses 23 to 26. It was a devastation of the entire region. Verse 23, the sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar.
It was a day like any other day. The sun rose, people got out of bed, people went on their way, they did their jobs, they cooked, they did whatever men do in a common day. It looked like any other day. Verses 24 and 25 need very little explanation.
The Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, notice, from the Lord out of the heavens. It is conspicuous. The Lord rained it, don't forget, it came from the Lord. God is bringing judgment to bear upon Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain, with the exception now of Zoar, because Lot has requested to live there, and God is merciful and kind to his servants.
The Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom. Verse 25, So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. So God not only killed everybody and everything, but He killed the crops that grew on the ground. It was an utter devastation.
And then we notice in verse 26, Lot's wife.
Lot's Wife: Looking Back
Not only did he make a poor choice in where he would live, he obviously made a poor choice in the woman he would marry. But his wife looked back behind him and she became a pillar of salt. How much of a wretched effect did his wife have on his lingering? How much of a wretched effect did she have on him with reference to moving from being near in a tent to buying a house in Sodom?
Oh, honey, if we buy a house, we can make money. Oh, honey, if we buy a house, we can be comfortable. Perhaps Lot said, yeah, but it's wicked there. He was very mindful of evil and wickedness.
Oh, but honey, she looked back. she looked behind, and she was turned into a pillar of salt. And while I realize that many today think that this couldn't possibly have happened, I subscribe to the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, who used this, again, as historically accurate narrative, and He Himself issued a warning that we are to remember Lot's wife. In that day, he who is on the housetop and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise, the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.
Remember Lot's wife." An interesting or a curious statement of our Lord, if it was just a myth or just a fable. Jesus is cautioning His disciples to remember this woman as an example of one who may be able to take them out of the city, but she can't take the city out of them. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed, one will be taken and the other will be left.
Two women will be grinding together, the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field, the one will be taken and the other left. And they answered and said to him, Where, Lord? So he said to them, Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
So Lot lingered, but he went. She went, but she looked back, and the Lord turned her into a pillar of salt."
Abraham's Meditation on Sodom
And that brings us to consider the meditation upon Sodom's wickedness. Abraham's morning devotions that day, he looked on Sodom as well, but not like Lot's wife. Verses 27 and following are very sober. Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain. And he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. What an object lesson. What an amazing illustration of what Abraham had confessed in chapter 18, shall not the Lord for the judge of all the earth, do what is right." That smoke rising up from the ground testified that certainly there is a God in heaven.
Because God is not mocked. And when a city is given over to wickedness, and a city is given over to evil, the Lord will visit with justice. The Lord will visit with judgment. Abraham meditated that morning on the judgment of God, the justice of God, and perhaps the mercy of God, in fact, that he spared his nephew.
Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain. And he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like 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 had dwelt." As far as we can surmise, Lot and two of his daughters escaped. Some have surveyed this scenario and said, you know, if Lot would have been a bit more consistent, he could have had the ten.
Had he been a more faithful witness? I don't want to get into lambasting Lot. That's another sermon, lambasting Lot. We have lingering Lot and then we have lambasting Lot.
There is something there, ten and two daughters. But of course, if you read on, you'd see that even that didn't come out very well. These two daughters were the cause of great sin. The law engaged in it as well.
Paper for the Moabites and for the Anaheimites. Two nations that would continually be at odds with Israel. Zephaniah speaks of them in Zephaniah chapter 2. We'll see God willing this Sunday night.
The Lord takes care of Moab and of Ammon. We'll have a lot of exercise, more of a godly influence. Perhaps he could have affected ten people and saved this city. There's a lot to lay on the moon, I know, but there is something there for us.
We need to be able to affect by God's grace and live in such a manner. We can't change hearts, but maybe the Lord, through our faithfulness, will change the hearts of those whom we are around.
The Repetition of Sodom's Wickedness
Now I want to look finally at the repetition of Sodom's wickedness. Just so you can see, this was not an isolated event in redemptive history. Judges chapter 19. Judges chapter 19.
A very similar situation in many respects, though several hundred years later. And it's punctuated by the reality of Judges 19 verse 1. It came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel. That's mentioned a few times in the book of Judges.
There was no king in Israel, very often connected with that, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. This Levite concubine, he didn't want to stay in Jebus, which is Jerusalem. This is prior to it being the political and religious capital of Israel. He wanted to continue on and go to the city of Gibeon.
He didn't want to stay in Jabez because of the heathen. Let's go to Gibeon where our people are. So an older man takes him in. Verse 18 of Judges 19.
So he said to him, we're passing from Bethlehem and Judah toward the remote mountains of Ephraim. I am from there. I went to Bethlehem and Judah. Now I am going to the house of the Lord.
But there is no one who will take me into his house. Although we have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for myself, for your female servant, and for the young man who is with your servant, there is no lack of anything. The old man said, Peace be with you. However, let all your needs be my responsibility.
Only do not spend the night in the open square. So he brought them into his house and gave fodder to the donkeys, and they washed their feet and ate and drank. And as they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally.
But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, No, my brethren, I beg you, do not act so wickedly. Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage. Here is my virgin daughter and the man's concubine. Let me bring them out now.
Humble them and do with them as you please. But to this man do not do such a vile thing. But the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them.
And they knew her and abused her all night until morning. And when the day began to break, they let her go. Then the woman came as the day was dawning and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was till it was light. When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was his concubine fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold.
And he said to her, get up and let us be going. There was no answer. So the man lifted her onto the donkey and the man got up and went to his house. When he entered his house, he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and divided her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.
And so it was that all who saw it said, No such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, confer, and speak up." Very similar, huh? You'd think they would have learned. knows no particular people groups, not just those dirty rotten Sodomites. In fact, as the writer of Judges is highlighting, the similarities with Genesis 19 demonstrate that new Sodom is in Israel.
Very same pattern that was conducted in Genesis 18 and 19. Very same thing that ultimately led to civil war within Israel. Great ramifications from this event. the action of the attack of these homosexuals, the heel of the host, the action by the Levite, the abuse of his concubine.
Application to the Present Day
Brethren, we live in days that may differ to some degree, but the activity is the same. The wickedness is the same. The desire is the same. And having a proper understanding of the Bible, and having a proper understanding of the law of God, and the gospel of the free grace of Jesus Christ our Lord, Let us pray to the Lord God Almighty that He would use us to propagate these truths, that He would use us to speak these truths for the good of sinners.
For certainly there is no benefit to man living in ignorance of what the Scripture so clearly displays for the good of mankind. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we ask that You would help us to learn the lessons of lingering lot, Help us, Lord God, to respond always to Your Word and to do what You call us to do. And Father, help us to learn the lesson of Lot's wife, not to look back when You call us to flee. Grant us grace, Lord God Almighty, to see ourselves as pilgrims in this land, to see ourselves as citizens of heaven, and not to be so tied down and so fastened upon earthly things. But grant us grace, Lord God Almighty, to be the way You would have us to be.
We learn good things from Abraham, we see his resolve, we see his willingness to respond to the Lord in all things, God. We just pray that you would help us in these things. We ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.