Sunday
Morning Bible Study
March 25,
2007
Introduction
Abraham had been hanging out at his tent during the heat of the day when
three strangers had approached. Abraham
served them a fine meal and it turned out that one of the three was the Lord,
and the other two were angels. The Lord
hung around after the meal to talk with Abraham while the two angels made their
way down the hills toward the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah. The Lord told Abraham that judgment was going
to be coming on these wicked cities.
Abraham had this interesting discussion with the Lord, asking for the
Lord’s mercy if there should be some righteous people living in the cities. Their discussion ended with the Lord
promising not to bring judgment if they could find ten righteous people in Sodom.
It is now the evening of that same day when the angels reach the bottom of
the hills and enter the city of Sodom.
Genesis 19
:1 Now 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 he bowed
himself with his face toward the ground.
sitting in the gate – among other things, the city gate was like
city hall, it was where the leaders of the city hung out.
As we retrace the life of Lot, we saw him come into
the Promised Land with his uncle Abraham.
When Abraham got sidetracked from God’s purposes, Lot
followed Abraham where he got a taste of worldly things down in Egypt. When they came back from Egypt,
they had prospered so much that they realized that they needed to go their
separate ways because the land wasn’t big enough for them to keep their flocks
and herds together. Abraham gave Lot
the choice of where to go. You can get
an idea of what influenced Lot:
(Gen 13:10
NKJV) 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.
Lot based his decision on what he saw (which is not
always a good thing)
Lot liked the area of Sodom
because it reminded him of Egypt.
And so in Lot settled down close to Sodom
(Gen. 13:12)
In chapter 14 we find Lot living “in” Sodom.
Now, in chapter 19, Lot is “sitting in the gate”,
the notion is that Lot is considered one of the leaders
of Sodom.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Lesson
The world and influence
Was it wrong to live in Sodom? Was it wrong to be a leader in Sodom? Is it wrong to live with “worldly”
people? Is it wrong to be a leader or a
boss in secular society?
The issue boils down to this – who is going to influence who?
God doesn’t want His people to be totally isolated from the world. He wants us to be salt and light. He wants us to be an influence on the world
around us.
Joseph was sold to be a slave in Egypt. He lived in an immoral society, but remained
a moral man. He ended up becoming the
number two man over all of Egypt
and he became the one who influenced the Egyptians. Joseph saved the known world through his position
in Egypt.
Daniel lived in an incredibly worldly situation, in the capital of the
Babylonian empire. Daniel also rose to the
position of being the number two man in the empire. Daniel became an influence in his society,
being used to direct wicked Nebuchadnezzar towards worshipping the God of
heaven and being used in the lives of Belshazzar and Darius.
Where does the influence flow?
Do you affect your world or does your world affect you?
Are you in the world or is the world in you?
:2 And he said, "Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's
house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go
on your way." And they said, "No, but we will spend the night in the
open square."
Lot offers the same simple hospitality that Abraham
did, washing their feet.
The angels initially turn down Lot’s hospitality,
but perhaps this is due to their mission, to find out if Sodom
is as bad as the reports have been.
:3 But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house.
Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Lot knew he didn’t want these fellows spending the
night in the open square. Lot
knew how wicked the people of Sodom
were. (2Pet. 2:8)
unleavened bread – matstsah –
unleavened (bread, cake), without leaven.
This is the first time we read of “unleavened bread” in the
Scriptures. The next time will be in Ex.
12:8, as Israel
is preparing to flee Egypt
at the Passover.
:4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom,
both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house.
The angels aren’t going to have to spend the night out in the open square
to find out about the inhabitants of Sodom. The people from all over the city are going
to come to them.
:5 And they called to Lot and said to him,
"Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we
may know them carnally."
We get our word “sodomy” from the wickedness that went on in the city of Sodom.
Lesson
Homosexuality
The Bible clearly calls homosexuality a sin.
The world wants to tell us that a person is born as a homosexual. If you believe a person has been born
homosexual, keep in mind that science has not proven this. You will hear from time to time about some
discovery that might prove it, but you never hear the final result of the
study.
The Bible indicates that homosexuality is something that a person chooses
to do.
It is not any worse than adultery or stealing. But it is still a sin.
Old Testament:
(Lev 18:22 NKJV)
'You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.
New Testament:
(1 Cor 6:9-11 NKJV) Do you not know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,
nor sodomites, {10} nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. {11} And such
were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Does God love a person who is caught in homosexuality? Absolutely.
God loves sinners. God loves sinners
so much that He sent His Son to die on a cross to pay the penalty for their
sin.
God wants sinners to come to Him. He
wants sinners to turn around. He can change our lives.
I’ve known people who were caught in the trap of
materialism, and He’s changed them.
I’ve known people who were caught in alcohol and drug abuse,
and He’s changed them.
I’ve known people who were caught in pornography and
heterosexual sin, and He’s changed them.
I’ve known people who were caught in homosexuality, and
He’s changed them.
If you will turn to Jesus, He will forgive you and change you.
:6 So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut
the door behind him,
:7 and said, "Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly!
:8 "See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please,
let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do
nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow
of my roof."
Some say that Lot is simply being a good host, protecting
his guests at all costs.
But no matter how I look at it, I don’t understand what Lot
is doing. He’s willing to sacrifice his
own daughters to this angry mob. This is
disgusting. This is wrong.
:9 And they said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one
came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse
with you than with them." So they pressed hard against the man Lot,
and came near to break down the door.
Would you say that Lot has influenced his world, or
that the world has influenced Lot?
:10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot
into the house with them, and shut the door.
The angels rescue Lot from the angry mob.
:11 And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with
blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the
door.
The Hebrew word for “blindness” is only found here and 2Ki. 6:18, and in both places it doesn’t seem to be
physical blindness as much as mental confusion and disorientation.
: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!
:13 "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."
The angels reveal their mission to Lot.
:14 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.
I know that not everyone is going to listen to us when we talk about God.
But I can’t help grieve at what happens here. Lot’s witness to his
sons-in-law is so tarnished that they don’t take him seriously.
Lesson
Witness = words + example
People around us are going to be influenced by two things in our lives:
1. The words we say
2. The life we live
Some people say that they don’t need to talk much about the Lord but they
just let their life speak for them. I
don’t think the Lord expects us to be silent – we need to speak up.
(2 Tim 4:2 NKJV) Preach the
word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all
longsuffering and teaching.
Some people are good at talking about the Lord, but their life is all
messed up. This is just as much of a
problem as the person who never speaks up.
(Mat 5:16
NKJV) "Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in
heaven.
You may talk a lot about the Lord, but if your friends see you still caught
in drugs, getting angry all the time, hooked on pornography, or having a lousy
marriage, I don’t think they’re going to take you too seriously.
Jesus is in the business of changing lives.
People need to hear that their life can change.
People need to see that your life has changed. It’s not that God can’t use an imperfect
person, but don’t hinder God’s work either.
When my witness is all of one and not the other, my witness loses its edge.
:15 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."
:16 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.
For some reason there seems to be reluctance in Lot
and his family to leave.
Are you ready to leave?
When the trumpet sounds and we are caught up to heaven, will you regret
leaving?
I remember years ago seeing a cartoon of a couple of guys up in
heaven. One guy had his head in his
hands, and the other guy was telling a third person, “He’s depressed because
it’s eight o’clock and he’s missing
the TV show “Love Boat””
And yet with God’s mercy, even though Lot seems
reluctant, God still rescues Lot.
:17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them 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."
The city of Sodom was thought
to have been somewhere in the valley of the Dead Sea.
Lot is warned to get out of the valley and up into
the mountains.
:18 Then Lot said to them, "Please, no, my
lords!
:19 "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.
:20 "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."
I wonder why Lot doesn’t think about running to Abraham? Abraham lives in the mountains. Yet Lot would rather
stay close to Sodom. He doesn’t seem to want to get too far from Sodom.
Now think about it – God has sent angels to rescue you and your family, and
God is now going to let you die in the mountains?
This is the kind of inconsistent logic that comes out of a life that’s
struggling to trust God.
There are times beloved when we can get caught in the sins of this
world. It might be something like greed,
it might be something like living a life filled with material things, it could
be an addiction to drugs, alcohol, or sex, it could be a life of anger and
bitterness.
Jesus died to save us from our sins.
When He says to turn from our sins, why should we argue with Him?
:21 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.
:22 "Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive
there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
Zoar – Tso‘ar – “insignificance”,
this is the “little” city, Zoar.
:23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot
entered Zoar.
:24 Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom
and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of
the heavens.
Just what happened? It might have been volcanic. Others suggest an earthquake, perhaps lightning
igniting gases in the area. It could
have simply been supernatural.
:25 So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the
cities, and what grew on the ground.
:26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
There is a strange formation at the southern end of the Dead Sea,
a mountain of salt 700 feet high and 5 miles long, possibly a result of this overthrow. It’s too much salt to be explained by
evaporation from the Dead Sea.
We often think that Lot’s wife turned to salt, but
perhaps she just became covered with salt from this event.
The angels warned them not to look back (vs. 17).
But it seems that Lot’s wife just couldn’t let go of
the influence that Sodom had become
in her life.
You could take Lot’s wife out of Sodom,
but you couldn’t take Sodom out of Lot’s
wife.
Jesus said that the times of the end would be similar to those of Lot,
and He said to remember Lot’s wife (Luke 17:28-33).
In these last days the warning is clear – don’t get so caught up in the
things of the world that you get caught in the judgment that is coming. Can you let go of the world?
:27-29 Abraham is watching
:27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood
before the LORD.
:28 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.
:29 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.
Abraham’s prayer resulted in God rescuing Lot. Don’t quit praying for people you know who
are living in Sodom.
:30-38 Lot’s family
:30 Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the
mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in
Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave.
Lot finally decided to take the angel’s advice
seriously. The angel said to go up into
the mountain, and that’s what Lot decides to do.
:31 Now the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and
there is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the
earth.
Lot’s daughters are afraid that the whole world has
been destroyed.
:32 "Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with
him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father."
:33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went
in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she
arose.
:34 It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger,
"Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine
tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage
of our father."
:35 Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger
arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she
arose.
:36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by
their father.
:37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab;
he is the father of the Moabites to this day.
:38 And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he
is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.
We have the origin of the Moabites and the Ammonites – they were descended
from Lot’s incestuous relationship with his own
daughters.
Moab
= “from the father”; Ben-Ammi = “son of my people”
The Moabites and Ammonites would settle on the eastern side of the Jordan
and would be enemies of the Israelites.
The capital of Jordan
today, Amman, gets it’s name from
these people.
Lesson
The life of compromise
It seems to me that Lot’s life is a picture of the
life of compromise.
I can’t understand a willingness to sacrifice your family like Lot
offered to do.
When it comes time to leave the world, he’s reluctant to go.
It’s the life of compromise that says “please, no my lords” (vs. 18).
It would seem to me that if two angels show up to rescue your family, you
ought to do everything they ask.
Yet Lot seems to feel it necessary to only go part
way.
Lesson
The effects of compromise
Compromise comes with a high price.
Lot started as a wealthy man and ends up in a cave
He loses his wife
Lot’s lifestyle has polluted his daughters – he had
been willing to give them to the angry mob in Sodom,
and now they’ve committed incest with their father.
This is the last we hear of Lot.
Are you ready to leave Sodom?