In Genesis chapter 19, I want
to read this chapter to us. It's a little bit lengthy, but
I want to read it. It's an amazing chapter, and there's one little
phrase in here that I want to look at this evening and consider
with you. Genesis chapter 19, this is concerning the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains. And there came two angels to
Sodom at evening, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. And Lot,
seeing them, rose up to meet them, and bowed himself with
his face towards the ground. And he said, Behold now, my lords,
turn in, I pray you, unto your servants' house, and tarry all
night. And wash your feet, and ye shall
rise up early, and go on your way. And they said, Nay, but
we will abide in the streets all night. And he pressed upon
them greatly, and they turned in unto him, and entered into
his house. And he made them a feast, and
did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they
lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed
the house round, both old and young, all the people from every
quarter. And they called unto Lot and
said unto him, Where are the men which came in unto you this
night? Bring them out unto us, that
we may know them. And Lot went out at the door
unto them, and shut the door after him, and said, I pray you,
brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold, now I have two daughters,
which I have not known man. Let me, I pray you, bring them
out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes, only
unto these men do nothing. For therefore they came under
the shadow of my root. And they said, Stand back. And
they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will
needs be a judge. Now will we deal worse with thee
than with them. And they pressed sore upon the
man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men
put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and
shut the door. And they smote the men that were
at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great,
so that they wearied themselves to climb the door. And the men
said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son-in-law, and
thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the
city, bring them out of this place. For we will destroy this
place, because the cry of them is waxing great before the face
of the Lord, and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot
went out and spake unto 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-law. And when the morning arose, then
the angels hastened, Lot saying, Arise, take thy wife and thy
two daughters, which are here, lest thou be consumed in the
iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men
laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and
upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto
them. And they brought him forth and set him without the city.
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad,
that he said, Here the Lord, I guess, is speaking to Lot,
Escape for thy life. Look not behind thee, neither
stay thou in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest
thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, O not
so, my Lord. Behold, now thy servant hath
found grace in thy sight. And thou hast magnified thy mercy,
which thou hast shown unto me, in saving my life. And I cannot
escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die. Behold, now this city is near
to flee unto, and it is a little one. O let me escape thither. Is it not a little one? And my
soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I
have accepted thee concerning this thing also. that I will
not overthrow this city for which thou hast spoken. Haste thee,
escape thither, for I can do nothing till thou become thither. Therefore the name of the city
was called Zor, insignificant. The sun was risen upon the earth
when Lot entered into Zor. Then the Lord reigned upon Sodom
and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire, from the Lord out of
heaven. And he overthrew those cities,
and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and
all things that grew up on the ground. But his wife looked back
from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham
got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before
the Lord. And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward
all the land of the plain. And behold, and lo, the smoke
of the country went up as the smoke of a great 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 dwelt. And Lot went
up out of Zorah, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters
with him. For he feared to dwell in Zorah.
And he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn
said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is no man in
the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth.
Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with
him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made
their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went
in and lay with her father. And he perceived not when she
lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow
that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight
with my father. Let us make him drink wine this
night also, and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve
seed of our father. And they made their father drink
wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay
with him, and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she
arose. Thus were both the daughters
of Lot with Chal by their father. And the firstborn bore a son,
and called his name Moab. The same is the children of the
Moabites unto this day. And the younger she also bore
a son, and called his name Ben-Ammai, the same is the father of the
children of Ammon unto this day." Sort of a sad story, isn't it? There's a little phrase here
in the midst of all this reading, and it's really amazing to me,
and it's found there in verse 16. And while he lingered. What an
amazing statement that is. He lingered. He lingered. Isn't that amazing? Somebody said there's patterns. for you and I to imitate good
patterns, good examples in the Scriptures. There are examples
that we should not imitate, and Lot here is one of those examples. He lingered. When you consider
where this man was, he was right in the midst of a city that was
ready to be destroyed, and yet the Scripture says he lingered. right under the eyes of these
angels that was ready to get him with a hand and pull him
out. And he lingered. This portion of a lot's history
is fearful. But the end of it is heartbreaking.
And that's what I want you to consider with me this evening.
This little phrase here concerning this man, he lingered. Now, what was this man? If you and I would say this afternoon
that it was evident that he was an unbeliever, that he was an
ungodly man, an ungenerate man, then we'd sure be wrong, wouldn't
we? Because we can find in the New Testament what kind of a
man this was. And this makes this statement
about him, he lingered, more amazing and mysterious. I want
you to turn. I want you to hold Genesis 19.
But look in 2 Peter. Chapter 2. 2 Peter 2. Because this is a passage in
the New Testament that clears up what this man Lot was. We know he was Abraham's nephew. Abraham's brother's boy. But
what was it? The Holy Spirit tells us here
in 2 Peter 2. And look in verse 5. God spurred not the old world,
but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and turning
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with
an overthrow, making them an example unto those that should
live ungodly, and delivered just Lot. Now that just doesn't mean
he was the only one that lived. That describes his character. He was a just man. Vexed with
a filthy conversation of the wicked, and verse 8, for that
righteous man, dwelling among them in sin and urine, vexed
his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. Now we find out about this man
that he was a man of faith. You say, Bruce, why do you say
that? Because there's only one way to be justified. We looked
at that this morning, didn't we? And that was by faith. There's not a just man upon this
earth that doeth good and sinneth not. But here the Bible says
this man was just. He was just before God. How can
a man be just before God? By faith in Christ. And the Bible
says here that he was a righteous man, for that righteous man How
is anybody said to be righteous? Well, it's by faith in the righteousness
of Christ, isn't it? Abraham, his uncle, was also
a righteous man, just like Lot. How was Abraham righteous? Abraham
believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness.
So here we have a man of faith. He was a man who believed that
the Son of God was coming. You and I look back and say,
He's come, don't we? We look at Him today as the Lamb
slain upon His throne. All these Old Testaments looked
to Him as He was to come. And they had His righteousness.
They were justified by faith in Him. So Lot was not a lost
man. He was a believer in the Son
of God that was to come. He is a just man and He was a
righteous man. And Peter tells us something
here that shows us that Lot had grace in his heart. For there
in verse 8, that righteous man dwelling among them in sin and
urine, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful
deeds. He was a man who lived among
the ungodly. Some of the most ungodly people
this world has ever known. And yet he was a righteous man
himself. Now that's grace, isn't it? You
take a man and save him Let him go in among the ungodly and not
be ungodly himself. That's grace. That's grace. But
something else Peter tells us here that further shows the grace
of God in this man's heart. He vexed his righteous soul from
day to day. David said, rivers of water run
down my eyes because they don't keep your law. They don't believe
in the Lord. It vexes me. I'm vexed with their
filthy conversation. But you know how many people
at first are vexed with open sin? But it's not long where
it doesn't bother them anymore. But here was a man that continued
to be vexed day after day after day. He was vexed. He never got
over it. And there must have been grace
in his heart to go day after day to be vexed as he was. But he says even more than that.
He says that his soul was vexed. His very heart was vexed. Anybody can cry out against sin,
can't they? Potiphar's wife did that. I bet
Judas did that when he went out. If you don't repent, you're going
to perish. But he didn't have that in his heart, did he? But
this man did. His soul was vexed when he saw
the filthy conversation and the filthy deeds of those that were
around him, the ungodly. So what do we think about this
man? Well, he was a godly man. He was a justified man. He was
a redeemed man. He was a man that was called
and justified by faith in the Son of God. He's a man who had
the life of Christ in his soul. That's who this man was. I think
this makes it more amazing than when we read this statement here
in verse 16 that he leaned. Lot lingered. Secondly, consider
this about this man. Consider all he knew at this
present time. And then we'll see. It's amazing
that it was said of him that he lingered. He knew the abominable
condition of this city. There in verse 13, these angels,
the cry of them, they said, is waxing great before the face
of the Lord. And he knew this by experience,
didn't he? And yet he lingered. Ain't that amazing? He knew the
awful judgment that was coming upon this city because he heard
these angels repeatedly say, We will destroy this place. The Lord has sent us to destroy
this place. And yet he lingered. He knew
that God was faithful to His Word. He was Abraham's nephew. He believed in God's faithfulness.
If God said, I'm going to destroy it, he knew this place was going
to be destroyed. And yet the Bible says here,
he lingered. Lot believed these angels, the
dangers that they warned him of. We know that he believed
them because When they said, Go to your sons-in-law, your
sons or your daughters, and warn them, the Scripture says that
he went out and warned his sons-in-laws and spake to them and said, Get
up out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this place.
So he believed it was going to be destroyed. And yet the Bible
says here that he lingered. He lingered. And boy, he saw
the anxiety. He saw the anxiousness, if you
receive it, of these angels upon their faces, speaking to him
and saying, Get out of here. The Lord's going to destroy this
place. And yet he still lingered. Arise and take your wife and
your two daughters, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of
the city. And yet he lingered. Now, can you and I go back to
the Bible and find any indication before this time of why this
man would linger? What would cause such a just
man, such a righteous man, such a believer to linger? What would
cause him to do this? Well, I want you to turn back
over to the 13th chapter of Genesis with me and look in verse 5.
Genesis chapter 13 and verse 5. I think probably if we trace
this man's history, we can see where his trouble started. You
know, when you and I, something happens in our life
sometimes that causes us to linger Sometimes we can go back a while
before that and we can find the same thing that happened to this
man. Some choices someplace that began to take us down the road
that finally we lingered. I want you to look here in the
13th chapter and look here in verse 5. This is where Abraham
and Lot had to separate because their cattle and their servants
had increased so greatly. In verse 5, and Lot also, which
went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents, and the land
was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for
their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.
And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abraham and the
herdsmen of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanites and the Perizzites
dwelt then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let
there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, between
your herdsmen and my herdsmen, For we be brethren. Is not the
whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee,
from me. If you take the left hand, I
will go to the right. If you depart to the right hand,
then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and
beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere
before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden
of the Lord like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zor.
Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed
east, and they separated themselves one from the other. Abraham dwelt
in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the city of the plain,
and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked
sinners above all before the Lord exceedingly. Now what do we see here him doing
in this passage? We see him making a choice, don't
we? He chose the well-watered plains. But the well-watered
plains were next to Sodom. And if we'd be honest about it,
there's a direct correlation between this choice that Lot
made of these well-watered plains and his finally lingering. And I think this is why the Spirit
of God puts this in here, as He did, that you and I can read
it and use Lot as a beacon to be careful when we make our
choices in this life. One thing we know about this
choice, we can almost say this, it's speculation, but I think
it's a certainty, really. It wasn't made by faith. It wasn't faith that looked upon
the well-watered plains and said, that's what I want. That's not
the nature of faith, is it? Here's the nature of faith. Godliness
with contentment is great gain. We never read that he prayed
about this decision, do we? We never read that he sought
the Lord or even sought Abraham's advice. It was a decision made
by the eyesight. He looked and he saw the well-watered
plains. And he began to think, no doubt,
I can prosper. My cattle can prosper. My servants
can prosper. But here was the whole problem. He thought about the needs of
his body. He thought about the flesh. But
he forgot about the needs of his soul and the souls of his
family and the souls of his servants. That's the mistake that Lot made. It was a decision made by flesh. And what does the Bible say about
flesh? The lust of the eyes? It's never satisfied, is it?
It's never satisfied. Lot thought of this worldly profit
and forgot the true nature of the need of his soul. Secondly, look here what happened.
Lot mixed with wicked men. He mixed with wicked men when
there was no need for it. Look here in verse 12 of chapter
14. We read there in verse 12 of
chapter 13 that he pitched his tent toward Sodom. But look here
now in chapter 14 and verse 12. And they took Lot, Abraham's
brother's son, who dwelt inside. He dwelt in Sodom. He pitched
his tent toward Sodom, and now we're told here that he dwelt
in Sodom. Why did he move inside of Sodom? We don't know, do we? Isn't it
strange that sometimes when we make one bad choice, it leads
to another bad choice? Has that ever happened in your
life? It happened with him. He pitched his tent toward Sodom,
and now we find him dwelling in Sodom. The Bible gives no
reason. Maybe it was his wife. We can blame them for a lot of
stuff, can't we? Maybe it was his wife. Maybe it was his daughters. Daddy, I love it in that place.
I love the lights. I love the action. I love the
excitement. Let's get out of this country
and move into town. We don't know why he did it.
But the Scripture says here that he dwelt in Sodom. Maybe it was
for business reasons. But boy, he can't justify moving
inside of Sodom for business reasons. He was a rich man. He
didn't have to mix with these sinners. But the Scripture says
he did. I can't think of a single reason
to make a choice like that. But that's what Lot did. And
notice this. There in chapter 14, if you're
familiar with this chapter, this is where Those kings came in
and took the king of Sodom and some of his people and they got
Lot and captured him and kidnapped him and took him away and Abraham
had to go fight a battle to rescue him. That's something else about
this decision that Lot made. I bet Abraham wasn't surprised
when someone came running to him and said they took Lot and
his daughter and his wife. I bet he wasn't surprised. I
bet he was saying to himself, I was afraid this would happen.
There's two things I want you to notice about Lot's choice.
First of all, as it concerned those who loved him, it became
a burden to Abraham and his house. I wonder if Lot thought, well,
my decisions are my own. What I do is not going to affect
anybody but just me and my family. But that wasn't what happened.
Abraham had to fight a battle to get him back. Abraham put
his own self at jeopardy and the members of his family and
his servants at jeopardy. He was so worried about his nephew. Don't you wonder sometimes if
people that you love and sometimes the Lord's children, when you
see them making bad choices, You just wonder, and you want
to go up and just grab them and shake them and say, don't you
realize what you're doing to me? Don't you realize you're
worrying me sick? Abraham was pleading to the Lord
for Lot not to be destroyed. And the next morning after Sodom
was destroyed, Abraham got up early in the morning, was looking
out over the cities of the plain, wondering, will I see my nephew? What's happened to my nephew?
I tell you, nobody's an island, are they? Nobody's an island.
We don't live out here by ourselves. Things that we do, the decisions
we make as children of God are going to affect so many people.
I talk to pastors all the time, and almost every time you talk
to them, you get off on this. Oh, I've got somebody in my congregation
that's just, they've worried me sick. They're just worrying
me sick. And I often think of Hebrews
chapter 13, I think it's down around verse 13 or 14, where
the Apostle Paul instructed the believers to submit to those
that have the rule over you. Submit yourself to your pastors.
For they watch for your souls, that they may do it with joy
and not with grief. For that's unprofitable to you. I was talking with a dear friend
of mine, a dear pastor friend of mine the other day. Well,
he was over here. Him and his wife came over here.
Nobody showed up to worship with him. But he said, you know what
bothered me more than anything? One of them went shopping. They
took off on the Lord's Day, Sunday morning to go shopping. And he
said, this breaks my heart. The decisions that people make.
can really hurt those who love them. It grieved Abraham's heart. Something else concerning lost
choice, how it affected him. I think you can see this man
start downhill when he chose those well-watered plains. Because
the decisions that he made from there on just don't make any
sense. And let me give you an example
of that. When Lot was kidnapped by these kings and Abraham went
and delivered him out of their hands, he came back to Sodom,
what a perfect opportunity it would have been for Lot to have
said, I'm not going to move back in Sodom. I'm going to take this
opportunity. I'm going back out in the country
or I'm going with Abraham. Abraham come back here and the
king of Sodom said, I want to give you a lot of things. And
what did Abraham say? I'm not taking anything from
you. Not even a shoe latching. And Abraham left the place. Why
didn't Lot go with him? Why didn't Lot say to his wife
and his daughters, this is our opportunity? God has sent me
a warning about being kidnapped and I'm going to take this serious
and I'm leaving with Abraham and you guys are coming with
me. I wonder why he didn't say that. You know, sometimes when
we get in a place like this, We lose a lot of discernment,
don't we? We lose discernment, moral discernment. We can see this, and you can
look at verses 6 through verse 8 that I read to you there in
the 19th chapter, and I don't know how anybody could excuse
lost conduct. Telling these wicked homosexuals,
that I'll bring my daughters out. You can abuse them. Do with
them what you want to do with them. Now, I don't care how you
look at that. Somebody may spiritualize that
and say, well, look at it this way. I don't care how you look
at it. That's wrong, isn't it? That is just wrong. And this
was a just man, a righteous man, a man who loved the Lord. And
what would compel a man to make a decision like that and say
such things unless his discernment And his understanding began to
be darkened. But we can trace his lingering,
I think, all the way back to the choice that he made to choose
those well-watered plains. And boy, I tell you, Lot's life
became one of concern to himself and fear and alarm. I've noticed
this again as I was reading this 19th chapter. Can you imagine
the alarm? I mean, bloody thangs were, get
out of here! God is going to destroy this
place. Get your family, whoever you
can find, and get them out of here. The alarm that was in his
soul all night long. Somebody might say, well, a man's
a Christian. He's a believer in Christ, and
he's in Christ, and he's in Christ forever. And no great harm is
going to come to him. He'll never be lost again. And
don't we bless the Lord for that? Oh, we worship Him and we praise
Him for that. And I love what the Lord Jesus
said here in the 19th chapter. And here in the 22nd verse, here's
what He said, I cannot do anything. till you are brought out of here. I cannot destroy this city with
you in it, lest I destroy you. And the Lord said, I will never
destroy one of my own. And we rejoice in that, don't
we? But you know, brothers and sisters, I tell you, a true child
of God, if he is not careful, he can bring his life into a
situation and a place where his mind is full of nothing but alarm. John Bunyan used to say, the
Lord will never lose His people, not a one of them. But he may let them think that.
He said he had heard that many children of God had come down
to their deathbed and died in darkness before they entered
that everlasting kingdom of light. Well, that's a scary thing, isn't
it? It was said of Abraham in his
old age when he died, he gave up the ghost and died in a good
old age, that old man full of years, and he was gathered unto
his people. But here's the last recorded
words of Lot. And it's not only sad, but it's
alarming, isn't it? What's said of Lot? He's mentioned
only one time in the entire Old Testament after this. And it's
just a reminder of this incest that he had with his daughters.
I imagine there are Christians who are just like Lot. Lot had no fruit. He bore absolutely
no fruit in Sodom. His own sons-in-law mocked him. His wife seemingly had little
or no confidence in him. She turned back. And why his
daughters were provoked to lay with their father and make him
drunk is beyond me. But it's obvious that he lost
all influence. And I imagine he lost it by moving
in among the ungodly and day after day having his soul vexed. One man said, there may be Christians.
who have made such a mess of their life and have abused their
liberties and squandered their influence that they affect no
one's life for the better. They affect nobody's life for
the better. As far as spiritual and eternal
things are concerned, the world would never have missed them
if they weren't in it. Lot's sons-in-law, his daughters,
and his wife. He seemingly had little or no
influence over them. And he could not even deliver
himself. He had to be dragged out of this
city, let alone deliver others. Somebody said this also. If it
reaches the time or place that I have no influence over others,
That they want even so much as consider my cry to escape this
city of destruction. I pray to God that it be not
the cause of me. He languished. He languished. You probably read this little
article by Spurgeon. Let me read it to you again.
It's in our bulletin. Fear has its place. Happy is
the man that feareth always. Proverbs 28, verse 14. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning and the foundation of all true
religion. He is happy who feels a jealous
fear of doing wrong. Holy fear looks not only before
it leaps, but even before it moves. It is afraid of error,
of neglecting duty, of committing sin. It fears ill company, loose
talks, and questionable policy. He who foresees evil and escapes
it is happier than he who walks carelessly on and is destroyed. Fear of God is a quiet grace
that leads a man along a choice road of which it is written,
No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go upon it. In both senses he that feareth
always is made happy. Solomon had tried both worldliness
and holy fear, and one he found vanity and the other happiness. Let us not repeat his trial,
but abide by his verdict. If you and I would avoid Lot's
alarm, if we would avoid lingering, brothers and sisters, let's live
our lives in the fear of the Lord and be in that fear all
the day long. I hope these are good instructions
for all of us. Our Father in Heaven, gracious
Father, we thank you, Lord, for these beacons. It helps us. It puts in us anxiety
to be careful. And Lord, give us grace to fear
you more. Let us be like Abraham, seek
your face, seek your guidance. Let us be content with you, our
great reward. Lord, we don't know what temptations,
what trials may be before us, but we know one thing. You've
taught us this. We're as unstable as water. We're
weakness itself. Lord Jesus, uphold us. Don't
let us bring ourselves into the state poor Lot was in, his mind
full of alarm and fearful. Oh, Lord, keep us. Help us to
live for your glory. Help us to live that we'll be
a help to others and not a hindrance. That we may not come into the
place where we would linger in a critical time. Thank you for
this, dear people. Thank you for their patience.
Thank you for their hearing. Would you be pleased to watch
over all of us this coming week? Meet with us, Lord, if you'll
let us meet again the next time we desire your presence. Bless the families of those that's
gathered here. Bless their children, their grandbabies.
Oh, Lord, visit our homes. Visit our homes at late at night,
in the night hours, in the night seasons. You're often doing this
at midnight and the early hours of the morning. Oh, let us find
you. Visit us. Let us find you precious
to our souls. Win and woo our hearts. This
world is so attractive to us. We confess it. The things of
this world, the pleasures, the temporal advantages. Oh, Lord
Jesus, how easily we'll go astray if you don't keep us. Be near
those who have gone astray. Be near those, Lord, that have
made choices that have affected their lives and their families'
lives. Oh, be gracious and pity them and deliver them. We ask these things for our dear
Savior's sake. Amen. Well, remember Wednesday night,
all of you would like to.