Turn to Genesis 19. Lessons learned from Lot's life,
or lessons learned from Genesis 19. We can learn lessons from a bad
example as well as a good example. Good examples, we learn what
to do. Bad examples, we learn what not
to do. And we learn what not to do here in chapter 19. We
learn some of these lessons. There are some very important
lessons here for us to learn out of this chapter. Here is
kind of an overview of what we'll look at. We will see in this
chapter, in verse 14, how a believer's testimony can
be destroyed. They laughed. When he told them
it was going to burn, that the city was going to burn, it seemed to them as one that
just mocked. They just made fun of him. He
had no witness for them. His word carried no weight. And then in verse 16, we'll see
that the Lord is merciful. He's merciful. He will not forsake
the righteous. He will not forsake the righteous.
In verses 17 through 20, we will see how much unbelief is still
in those who believe. He lingered. He lingered. And when they told Him where
to go, He told them where He wanted to go. We'll see that
in a minute. Sad. And then verse 22, the righteous
cannot be punished with the wicked. God will not punish the righteous
with the wicked, even if they're like Lot. And verse 26, don't
look back. Don't look back. I know a man,
that's all he does is look back. Every time I talk to him, there's
one particular thing he's always looking back on. He said, don't
look back. I was going to burn it up. And
then last of all, verse 29, God remembered Abraham. and delivered
Lot. And this is a beautiful picture
of Christ. God remembering Christ and delivering
us for Christ's sake. Forgiving for Christ's sake. Now let's look at this man Lot.
Lot was Abraham's nephew. He left Ur of the Chaldees when
Abraham left. When God called Abraham out,
Lot packed his bags and he left everything behind also. He went
with his uncle Abraham. Lot believed the gospel. Now,
if this is the only record we had here in 19, we probably wouldn't
believe that this man believed the gospel. But I'll show you
over a second, Peter, this man believed the gospel. This man
believed the gospel that Abraham believed. Same gospel. He learned the gospel from Abraham,
his uncle. God revealed these things to
Abraham. I have no doubt Abraham gave them to Lot, told them to
Lot, and Lot believed. It's evident God did a work of
grace in the heart of Lot. He believed the gospel. Lot was
a just man. Let me read this to you over
here in 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 2. In 2 Peter chapter 2, in verse
6, he says, And turning the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, he condemned them with an overthrow,
making them examples unto those that after should live ungodly,
and delivered, and this is how God speaks of This is how the
Lord speaks of him because Peter is speaking under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God. And this is how he speaks of
him. Just Lot. Now, when you read his life,
is there anything, anything that Lot has ever said or done that's
written that you'd call him a just man? We don't have one good thing
written about him other than the fact he left her with the
Chaldeans and went with Abraham. But the man did nothing. But
we're not justified by what we do, are we? Justified in Christ. And He delivered just Lot, vexed
with the filthy conversation of the wicked, for that righteous
man, that man made righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ, that
righteous man dwelling among them and seeing and hearing,
He vexed His righteous soul. He tormented His righteous soul
from day to day with their unlawful deeds. He didn't have to. He
didn't have to. He could pack his bags up and
went back to Abraham. It would have been best if he had sold
his herds and his business and whatever he had acquired here
and went back to Abraham and said, this is where I want to
be. This is where I want to be. But he didn't. He vexed his righteous
soul day to day. But he was a just man. He was
a just man. He was justified. by grace through
faith in Christ just as we are. Justified. Cleared of all charges.
This man was. His sins were washed away by
the blood of Christ just as ours. Just as ours. Word of God there says he's a
just man. The justification of our souls has nothing to do with
our lot in life. It has to do with our lot in
Christ. That's what it has to do with. It has to do with our
being in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not the things I do in this
life that justifies me. It's what the Lord did on my
behalf. And even the faith that receives
it is given of God. It's a work of God. This just man lot, this righteous
man that we read of over there in Peter, made a bad choice. He made a bad choice. All choices
come with consequences. They all come with consequences.
He fell into this trap. These are lessons for us to learn. He fell into this trap of looking. Abraham said, Lot, we're not
going to fight. Now you choose wherever you want to go, and
I'll take what's left. You know, Abraham could have
said, Abraham had a choice there. Abraham could have said, I'm
going to go this direction, Lot, you take the back side of this
mountain. But Abraham's portion was God. His portion, his joy,
was the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lot looked, and he saw the
well-watered plains of Jordan, and he said, I'll take that place.
He looked, he lusted, and then he took. That's what
Achan did, wasn't it? When he stole that piece of gold
and hid it in his tent, he looked, he lusted, and then he took it. And that's nothing more than
the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of
life. It rose up and took a hold of
him. It took a hold of him. The same way it did Adam. And
he went towards Sodom. And he pitched his tent, it says,
towards Sodom. And then he wound up inside him.
And he wound up as one of the political leaders there. He was
sitting at the gate. This man ended up with a position
there inside him. And no doubt he became, you know,
he was a prosperous man. And he was in a prosperous city.
This was a prosperous city at this time. But he made a bad,
bad choice. And his choice affected his whole
family. You know, choices don't just
affect us. Everybody, I mean a broad range of people, they
affect them. Our choices always have consequences. They always affect others. And
this is where I want you to look at verse 14. And Lot went out
after the angels had told him, you know, to get out of the city
and get your family out. And Lot went out and spake to
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-laws. He had
no testimony anymore. He destroyed it. He destroyed
his testimony because of his company with the ungodly. In
his everyday conduct and business, and here's where he lost it. He had no place to take his family
to worship anymore. He had no one to gather with.
No one to gather with. Not Abraham. God was revealing
things to Abraham. He left the one that God gave
the covenant and promises to. They had no place to worship,
no place for sacrifices, none of that. None of that. He just took his family away
from every bit of that. He neglected worship and the
way of the godly, and his testimony became dead. He seemed as one that mocked. No respect from his family whatsoever
in what he had to say. No respect. And it dawned on
me today, as I was reading this, it was a Sunday, I preached from
John 15. Every branch in me that bears
not fruit, he said, my father will take it away. And I thought,
there's one of them, Lot. You don't hear any more about
Lot after this. Pretty much gone. He's like that. He's like that
branch that bear no fruit. And he's finally taken away.
Even though he delivered out of this city, he's not going
to die with the ungodly, but he's finally removed. And notice
here in verse 16, he lingered. God sent two angels from heaven. They came into this place. Told
him what was going to happen. And he lingered. After being
told that the city would be destroyed, he lingered. If I told you the
building was on fire right now, would you linger? He knew who these men were. At first, he didn't. But he learned
who these men were. He learned that these men were
a sin of God. And this city is going to be burned up. And he
lingered. His attachment to whomever and
whatever was so strong that he lingered. He lingered. I tell you what, if the Lord
says, escape for your life, if the Lord says, get out, we don't
linger. We don't linger in false religion.
We don't linger in sin. We flee from it. Flee! He said
the wrath to come. This is why sinners left to themselves
will not come to Christ. This is why they'll not come
to Christ for life. Even after being told the house is on fire,
they cannot let go. They cannot let go of these things. They can't do it. They linger.
They can't let go. We just saw the story of that
rich young ruler talking to the Lord of glory. And the Lord said,
just go sell what you have and come follow Me. You have riches
in heaven. He couldn't do it. And a lot
here was lingering, lingering to the point where they finally
had to take him by the hand, him, his family, and his daughters,
and take them out of that house and take them out of that city.
If we are to be saved, we are to be saved, we must let it all
go or burn with it all. It's one or the other. You let
it all go or burn with it all. Mercy is shown to this man. God
sends these men to him. Yet he lingers. He lingers. But thank God for sovereign mercy. Thank God for His powerful mercy. Thank God for His mercy. Verse
16, the Lord being merciful unto him. He sent these two men, these
two angels to him. Told him what was going to happen.
And he lingered. It's like messing around, just
fumbling around, trying not to leave. And the Lord is merciful
to him. The Lord is merciful to this
fruitless believer. This branch, this fruitless branch,
the Lord is merciful. Oh, how merciful. How merciful
the Lord is to us. If any of us wind up in glory,
If we wind up in glory, it's because the Lord was merciful
to us. We would linger too. We would
linger too. It would surprise us. It would
break our hearts to realize how much attachment
we still have to these things. It would. The Lord is merciful. Lord, be merciful unto him, and
the Lord is merciful unto us. If it were not for his mercy,
we would die with the rest of the ungodly. We would burn with
the town. We would burn with the most ungodly
if the Lord was not merciful to us. If he did not just take
us by the hand and lead us out, take us out of the city. How
true is that psalm in Psalm 23? Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, even in Sodom. Even a lot
in Sodom. Oh, it followed Him. It followed
Him, didn't it? Those angels taking Lot and his
family by the hand, take him out of that city, was an act
of mercy. Pure, sovereign mercy. That's what it was. And I thought
about this as I was writing this note. You and I. had better hope
that God violates our natural wills. Our natural wills. But we'd perish. We'd perish. If He did not reach and take
us and make us willing in the day of His power, do a mighty
work, a mighty work, a work that's as mighty as it was in creation
when He said, let there be light. The same kind of power it takes,
the same kind of power that raised Christ from the dead, it takes
to bring me and you out. darkness and translate us into
the Kingdom of His dear Son. It takes that same kind of power.
It was the Lord's mercy that led him out with Abraham. It
was the Lord's mercy that kept him in Sodom. It was the Lord's
mercy that took him out of Sodom. It's the Lord's mercy that he
was preserved in Christ. It's the Lord's mercy. But look
how much unbelief is still in this man. And it is still in all of us. It raises its ugly head from
time to time. Here in verse 17, And it came to pass, when they
had brought them forth abroad, and he said, Escape for thy life,
run, hurry, move along, look not behind thee, neither stay
thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain, lest thou be
consumed. the wrath to come. Doesn't the
Scripture tell us that? Flee the wrath to come. We are to flee to Christ. Listen.
We are to flee to the Lord Jesus Christ from the wrath to come.
He is the only safe haven for sinners. But flee to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Flee from sin. Flee from every
appearance of evil. Flee to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And don't look back. What do you have to look back
for? As I said, I know a man, he just
constantly talks about one incident in his life and he looks back,
I've told him before, forget it. Forget it. You and I cannot bring back one
second, but the Lord can put away all of it. And we're not
taking it with us. He says, don't look back. Don't
look back and mourn over this city. Don't look back and regret
leaving it. Don't look back. Don't look back. Once having put your hand to
the plow, the Scripture says, don't look back. Paul said, forgetting
those things which are behind. There are some things we just
need to forget and flee to the mountain. He
was directed, listen, to a place to flee to for safety. This was
God's command for him to flee to the mountain? There's a mountain
over there. Flee to the mountain. God's not
going to burn that mountain up because Lot's going to be in
that mountain. He's going to take his servant up there, his
son, Lot, to a place of safety. And look what he does. And he
prays to be allowed to flee to what? A little city. I don't want to go to that mountain.
God said go to that mountain. I don't want to go to that mountain.
I'm afraid some evil will overtake me. That's what he was afraid
of. He was afraid to flee to that mountain that some evil
would overtake him. That's what he was afraid of.
He still wanted to go to a city. He still wanted to go to a place
of comfort. And I'm sure his wife was in
on this. His wife and his family, he's looking at them. And he
didn't want to take them to a mountain, to a wilderness. He wanted to
take them to a city. Well, he got in trouble for that
the first time. Oh, just do what the Lord says.
Flee to Christ. Don't go anyplace else. Flee
to Him. And all will be well. You know where he ended up at?
He said he went to Zohar, didn't he? Look in verse 30. Elah went up
out of Zohar and dwelt in the mountain. He ended up there anyway. The Lord said, all right, all
right, go to Zohar, go ahead, go to the little city. And you
know what he said here? He said he dwelt in the mountain
and his two daughters with him, for he feared to dwell in Zohar. I don't know what scared him.
He may have thought once he got to Zohar that these men are just
like the ones that left. This place is going to be burned
up. It doesn't matter where you go, it's going to be burned up
sooner or later. You know, sin is sin no matter
where you go. Sinners are sinners no matter where you go. But he
wanted to go over to that little city because he didn't want to
go to a mountain. He was afraid. He was afraid.
He didn't trust that. This is what happens. This is
what happens when you neglect the place of worship. This is
what happens when you neglect the Word of God. This is what
happens when you leave the Lord's people. You become afraid. And when the Lord speaks, you
really can't discern it. The Lord's telling him, go to
the mountain. And he's saying, I'm afraid. I'm afraid some evil
will overtake me. Well, the Lord's not going to
direct you to do that. He's sending you to a place of
safety. God says, plead with Christ for
refuge. Don't go somewhere else. Don't
try to hold on to anything else. And then we come to verse 22.
No punishment for the righteous. No punishment. The righteous
cannot be punished with the wicked. Haste thee, escape thither, for
I cannot do anything. The angel says, I cannot do anything
until thou become hither. You know right now this earth,
this world, is preserved because of you. That's a fact. It is preserved because of you.
I cannot do anything until you are safe. I can't do it. I've got to read this to you
over in Revelation chapter 7. I have to read this to you. Revelation chapter 7, look in verse 3, saying, Hurt not the
earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the
servants of our God in their foreheads. Don't you hurt. Don't
you hurt. The sea, don't you touch the
sea. Don't you even touch a tree. Don't you even touch a leaf until
my people are safe. A lot. Do you think Sodom and
Gomorrah had any idea? No, they didn't. They had no
idea that the reason why they were allowed to go as far as
they did is because there was one righteous man dwelling in
their midst. There's only one righteous there. And they could not, the angel
said, I cannot do anything till you're safe. You're safe. The righteous cannot be punished
with the wicked. We don't have to worry about
the end of time and all this stuff. We don't have to worry
about all that's going to go on and all the destruction of
this earth. It's going to happen. We're not
going to be a part of it. We're not going to be a part
of it. The righteous cannot be punished
with the wicked. That would be unjust. The Lord Jesus Christ
was punished in our stead. Punished by the law of God. Punished
under the wrath of God. So we cannot be punished. Cannot
be punished. Not at all. The Spirit of God
won't allow it. There's nothing to punish us
for. It's gone. All our sins are gone. And don't look back. He said
you flee and don't you look back. Don't you look back with regret.
Don't you look back with even a remorse over the city. Don't
you look back. He said, you keep going forward.
Paul said, I press forward to the prize. Over here in Philippians
chapter 3. Here is the attitude we are to
have in this matter of moving forward. In Philippians chapter 3. Brethren, in verse 13, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended,
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind
and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press.
I press. I'm not just casually doing this.
You know, this thing of believing the gospel, this thing of being
a believer, it's not a casual thing. Boy, it's a pressing thing. Pressing. I pressed toward the
mark for the prize of the high icon of God in Christ Jesus.
Forget those things which are behind. I messed up. So what? Move forward. Move forward. I know a man that he doesn't
believe the gospel of grace. I went to school with him. We
were good friends. And he did some ornery things. And he tried to go back and make
some amends And I'm sure there's one particular
person that didn't want to hear from him. But he tried to go
back and apologize and make amends and all that, you know, restitutions
and everything. Don't look back. I'm not going
to go back and make restitutions for what Christ has put away.
You know what that is? That's a spirit of works. That's
just nothing more than a legalistic spirit going back and trying
to make restitutions for what Christ has already put away and
taken care of. Don't look back. Don't look back. Forget those
things which are behind. One of them looked back. Lot's wife. She did not want
to leave that place. She did not want to leave. And
it's evident she was not righteous. It only says just Lot. It only
calls Lot the one that was righteous. And she turned around and I guarantee
you her heart was aching. She left all her friends and
all the things that she had accomplished there in Sodom, and she just
looked back and just, oh, her heart was there. Her heart was
still there. Her body was out there, headed
with a lot out to Zorb. Her heart was back there. And
when she turned around and looked, first of all, God said, don't
do it. He said, don't do it. Don't look
back. Boy, we're going to have to take
God serious one of these days. He said don't look back. She did,
and He turned her into a pillar of salt right there on the spot. Everything we have to look forward
to is in front of us. Christ is forward. We look to Him who was slain.
and redeemed us by His blood. And then God, it says in verse
29, God remembered Abraham. God remembered Abraham. Just as God remembered Abraham
as His friend, as His son, as His servant, as the one with
whom He made the covenant, Even so, God remembers Christ, His
Son, the covenant that He made with Him. He remembers His work. He remembers His blood. He remembers
His righteousness. And He will deliver His people
from the overthrow. Oh, my soul, we have been delivered
from the overthrow. For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. Now let me close with Ephesians
chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice and be ye kind one to another tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. The reason you and I are forgiven
is for Christ's sake. When God remembers His Son, He
delivers His people.