Follow not Lot’s path but Abraham’s path
Genesis 19:1-38
Good morning. Happy Sunday. Today’s message has two parts; the first part is when Lot lived in Sodom, how his soul was distressed every day and how his life ended up so shameful. The second part is even if he was underserved, but how God remembered Abraham and rescued him in the middle of the destruction of Sodom. Lot’s case is not a good example. It seems it would be better not to mention it in the Bible, but instead, only Abraham’s life. Nevertheless, why did the Bible record Lot’s case? What does God want to teach us through his life? Through this message, may God bless us to learn about Lot and God’s mercy even to him.
Part 1. Lot’s life in Sodom.
In verse 1, the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening. When Lot saw them, he invited them to his house. But look at verse 3, how did he serve them? It says, “he prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate”. Bread without yeast is hard to chew. It is not tasty. He had a wife and two daughters. He could serve them better if he wanted. This is compared to what Abraham treated his guests in chapter 18. Abraham prepared a meal: some curds by using the finest flour, milk, and a choice tender calf. How could their treatment of the guests be so different? In Mamre, people were not wicked. Abraham lived in peace. He continued to experience God’s grace. He was growing day by day spiritually. He and God had a good friendship. So, his heart was rich. He had room in his heart to serve others warmly. However, Lot’s circumstance was different. 2 Peter 2:7 says Lot’s righteous soul was tormented day after day by the wickedness he saw and heard. Since he lived with wicked people in Sodom, his soul was oppressed every day. He barely kept his faith. He did not have much room in his heart to serve others.
In verse 4, before the two men had gone to bed, who came to Lot’s house? All the men (both you and old) from every part of Sodom came to his house. They said, “Bring them out to have sex with us”. They came to enjoy homosexuality. They did not feel shame about their sins. They openly wanted to commit such a sin. In chapter 18, God said the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great. I will go down and check if the outcry is true or not. They proved the outcry was true.
In verse 7,8, Lot tried to protect his guests from them. He said, “my friends, do not do this wicked thing.” Then, he suggested that he would bring out his two virgin daughters. He told them, “do what you like with them”. What is wrong with him? in common sense, who is going to give their daughters to let evil people rape them? He was very influenced by sexual perversion in Sodom. His soul was very sick. He could not think clearly what is right and what is wrong.
At this point, we can think about why Lot chose to live in Sodom? Did he come there to preach God? Or did he come there as a missionary or bible teacher? According to Genesis 12:10, he saw the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. The land was so good. He could not deny it. Thought he knew the people of Sodom were wicked, he thought life in Sodom might give him a nice successful life. He did not think about God nor his soul. He might think as long as I kept my faith, everything would be all right even in Sodom.
Now let’s look at how God helped him. In verse 12-13, shall we read verse 12-13? “The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.” The angels shared with Lot why they came to Sodom; mainly destroy the city. But at the same time, they were sent to find anyone belong to Lot: Lot, his wife, daughters, sons-in-law, and anyone (friends…) to save from the destruction. The angels saw how Sodom was sexually immoral with their own eyes. There were no ten righteous people. Now they would destroy Sodom. However, before doing so, first, they wanted to find and save any righteous men in the city.
This is God’s heart toward sinners. Even if he decided to punish Sodom, yet he wanted to save some God-fearing people. In the book of Jonah, the people of Nineveh were wicked like the people of Sodom. God decided to destroy the city. But at the same time, he cared about their souls. So, he sent the prophet Jonah to preach the coming of judgement. Surprisingly, when they heard of God’s destruction, all the people from young and old, fasted and repented. When God saw what they did, he changed his mind that Nineveh was not destroyed.
But what about the people of Sodom? In verse 14, Lot went out to his two sons-in-law. He told them, “Hurry, the LORD is about to destroy this city”. But they thought he was joking. They did not fear God. They did not care God’s warning. If they took Lot’s words seriously, they could be saved. They also might go out to others like the people of Nineveh. Then, the whole city might fast and repent. God might change his mind when he saw their repentance. However, the sons-in-law thought Lot was joking. The opportunity of salvation was given to them. Yet, they refused God’s invitation.
This also shows how Lot did not have any spiritual influence over people. His words did not have any power even to his two sons-in-law. If he really lived a godly life, God-fearing life, his sons-in-law might see and in this critical moment, they might believe what he said. But in Sodom, as he lived a compromise life, his words had no spiritual influence on others at all.
Now in verse 15, it was the coming of dawn, around 5 or 6am. About last midnight, Lot heard about God’s judgement on Sodom. At least 6 hours have passed. But he still did not leave the city. What was he doing? In verse 15, the angels urged him, ‘quick, hurry or you will be swept away’. In verse 16, he still hesitated. Why did he hesitate? Why didn’t he run from Sodom immediately? He had no desire to leave. He did not want to give up his material possessions. He did not want to believe that God would really destroy Sodom.
What should God do? Look at verse 16. Shall we read it together? “When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.”. The angels could not wait any longer. They could say to Lot. ‘Ok, it is your decision. Do not blame us.’ But instead, they grasped Lot’s hand and the hands of others and led them out of the city. They almost by force dragged him and his family.
What does the Bible say about the angels’ actions? It says “for God was merciful to them”. Lot was unwilling to get out of Sodom. He was deeply rooted in the world. He did not want to leave. He could not leave by himself. In a sense, he deserved to perish. However, God was gracious to him. The angels forced him to be out of the city. This was God’s mercy.
In the Bible, God is merciful to many undeserving people. For example, king David had Uriah killed to cover his hidden sin: adultery with Uriah’s wife. Though his conscience condemned him day after day, he did not want to repent. He hesitated. He said, in Psalm 32:3, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. He deserved to be punished. But God was merciful to him. When he saw David could not repent by himself, he sent the prophet Nathan. Nathan challenged David and pointed out his sin directly. Then, finally, by God’s grace, David sincerely repented that he was forgiven.
Now look at verse 23 – 25. As usual, the sun has risen over the land. Everything is normal; morning dew, sunlight, chirping birds, .. People were preparing for the day. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere what happened? “The LORD rained down burning sulfur – destroying all the living thing and vegetation”. God rained down burning sulfur. It is fire from heaven. It is toxic. Everything was burned to death and overturned. All the living people were destroyed as well as the vegetation.
The land of Sodom was well watered, like the garden of God, like the land of Egypt. But when God destroyed the land, it became a wasteland. Verse 24 emphasized ‘the LORD’ twice. It stressed that the destruction was not a coincidence. It came from God.
Why did God destroy Sodom? 2 Peter 2:6 said if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly”. Homosexuality is sin before God. No matter how people say it, even if it is legal, in the eyes of God, it is a terrible sin. God destroyed the people of Sodom as an example of what will happen to the ungodly. Who are the ungodly today? Revelation 21:8 says, But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.’ The ungodly
will be punished and thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Then, how can we live a goldy life? How can our soul not to be tormented day after day? Verse 17 says “flee for your lives”. We must leave from Sodom. We must flee to God and to Jesus”. Practically, we must come to the words of God daily, meditate on his words day and night, and also pray, that our soul can be refreshed and strengthened.
Look at verse 19. Lot’s wife looked back. Why did she look back even though she was told not to look back? In Luke 17, Jesus mentioned her. In Luke 17, he said, On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Based on what Jesus said, she looked back because her treasure was in Sodom. She missed her possessions. As a result, even though she was saved from the destruction of Sodom, but she became a pillar of salt. I am wondering what if Lot did not live in Sodom? His wife might not die.
Part 2. God remembered Abraham.
Now look at verse 27-29. Abraham got up early next morning and returned to the place where he had talked with God. Then, he looked down toward Sodom and saw dense smoke rising from them. He was very worried about Lot. He was wondering what could happen to Lot.
Look at verse 29. Shall we read the verse? “So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.” While God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the catastrophe. Lot hesitated to leave from Sodom. He was not willing to get out of the city. If the angels did not do anything to him, he might be swept away too. But verse 29 says God remembered Abraham, remembering his intercessory prayer in the previous chapter. In chapter 18, when God shared his judgement plan with Abraham, he began to pray to God. He and God talked back and forth; it was very personal. Abraham said to God, if you find fifty righteous people, are you still going to destroy Sodom? Then God said, ‘No, if fifty are found, for their sake, I will destroy it.’ Then, Abraham continued to ask God, I am nothing but dust and ashes, but what about 45, 40, 30, 20, 10, each time God patiently heard Abraham’s prayer and answered him kindly. Now, in the middle of the catastrophe, God remembered Abraham’s prayer that he rescued Lot.
The Bible says like Lot, we were once under the wrath of God. We were doomed to perish like the people of Sodom. But God remembered someone like Abraham who did intercessory prayer for us. Especially, God remembered Jesus who intercedes for us. Because of him, God saved us from our sins.
Today, God is still looking for someone like Abraham, who prays for others. Isaiah 59:16 says, God saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; In Isaiah’ time, God already decided to punish Israel because of their ungodly life. But he was still looking for someone who did intercessory prayer for them. Why? Because he does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to have eternal life. That is his mercy to everyone. If we understand his heart and pray to him for our bible students and UD campus, he will be pleased with us and remember our prayers and save many young college students by his mercy.
Lastly let us look at Lot and his two daughters. They fled to a small town, Zoar. But in verse 30, Lot was afraid of staying at Zoar. Probably he saw the people of Zoar doing the same homosexual sins, very worrying that God might destroy them too. So, he moved to a cave. I was wondering why he didn’t move to his uncle Abraham? It seems the best option for him at that moment. In Genesis 15, when he was taken as a captive, Abraham risked his life and rescued him. Now, as he saw the destruction of Sodom, he must take this as God’s sign: turn back to God. In Luke 15, a prodigal son, left his father with lots of money, but he wasted all his money and became broke. Then, he sensed it was a sign for him to go back to his father. So even if it was shameful, he decided to go back to his father, going back to his father means going back to God.
But Lot made another mistake. He decided to stay surrounding area of Sodom. His soul was so sick that he could not make the right decision. While he and his two daughters lived in a cave, his two daughters did perversive things. They made his father drunken and slept with him that they gave birth to two sons, Moab, and Ammon, the main enemies of Israel in history.
Lot’s life ended up so shameful. His beginning was good. He and Abraham were not much different. But when he chose for material gains in Sodom, when he sought for this world than God, he produced shameful fruits even losing every material he had loved so much. In the meantime, Abraham struggled to live by faith, even if he had his own shortcomings and weaknesses. Then as a result, God blessed him as a father of many and his wife as a mother of many. He grew up even to be a God’s friend. Through him, all people on earth were blessed. It is clear what kind of life we should live in this world.
In conclusion, it seems to be better if the Bible did not record Lot’s story. Yet, it was written for us as a lesson, as a warning, what will happen to us when we walk on Lot’s path. He chose the life of Sodom hoping it might give him a good life, however his soul was tormented day after day, his wife died and produced shameful fruits in the end. In the meantime, when Abraham chose God, he grew up as a blessing to all the people including Lot. May God help us make a decision not to follow Lot’s path but Abraham’s path.