Genesis chapter 19. I'm going to read a good portion of this
chapter, about 30 verses. I need to read it in order for
us to see the message. Lessons learned from the life
of Lot. Genesis 19, 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 he bowed himself
with his face toward the ground. And he said, Behold now, my lords,
turn in, I pray you, into your servants' house, and tarry all
night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go
on your ways. And they said, Nay, but we will
abide in the street 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, encompassed 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 to
thee 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 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 came they under
the shadow of my roof, 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 find 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 wax
and grape before the face of the Lord. And the Lord has 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
him. 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, Escaped for thy life, look not behind thee, neither
stay thou in all the plain. Escaped to the mountain, 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 into, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape there. 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 there, for I cannot do anything till thou become thither. Therefore the name of the city
was called Zor. The sun was risen up upon the
earth when Lot entered into Zor. Then the Lord rained 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, that which grew up on the ground,
and that which 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 beheld, and lo, the smoke of
the country went up as 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 into which Lot dwelt. What can we learn from this?
What can we learn? The scriptures tell us that these
things were written as examples for us, for our learning. It's not entertainment. Nothing
is written in the Word of God for entertainment. It's written
for instruction. Our learning, and we may know Here's what we are going to see.
We are going to see how believer's testimony can be destroyed. We are going to see that the
Lord is merciful. He will not forsake His own. He won't do
it. And we'll see how much unbelief
is still in those who believe. And we will see that the righteous
cannot be punished with the wicked. Did you catch what the angel
said? I cannot, I cannot do anything until you're out of here. My,
my, my. What way did I get to that? And
then he says, don't look back. The angel says, do not look back. And then last of all, I'm going
to close with, God remembered Abraham and delivered Lot. And
how this is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. How
we are delivered and forgiven for Christ's sake. God remembered
Abraham and delivered Lot. Now Lot was Abraham's nephew. And Lot became rich. And Abraham
became rich. And their herdsmen, as he read,
they were bickering. And so they separated so that
there wouldn't be any family trouble. Wouldn't you like that?
Abraham said, we don't need this. We don't need family problems.
We don't need any bickering. He said, you just take and notice.
Abraham said, you lift up your eyes or you take whatever you
want. I'll take what's left. If there's not an attitude to
mimic, You take whatever you want, I'll take what's left.
Because if you and I have Christ, we have it all. We have it all
if we have Christ. So Lot lifted up his eyes and
he looked over Jordan. He saw the well water plains
of Jordan. And he said, I'm going to go
down that way. Got him, didn't it? Got him. It got him. And he said, I'm gonna go over
there. We'll just go down there. And then after he got down there,
he pitched his tent towards Sodom. Whatever you're looking toward,
that's usually where you'll end up at. And that's where he ended
up. Now Lot believed the gospel.
He believed the same gospel Abraham believed. He learned the gospel
from Abraham. And he believed it. Now why do
I say that? Now if all we have is what Moses
wrote of him, we would think he was a lost man. We wouldn't
think he was a saved man. There's nothing commendable about
Lot. I don't think there's anything ever said about him commendable.
But turn over to 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter chapter 2. I'm going to
start reading in verse 4. For if God spared not the angels
that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into
chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, and spared 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 after should live ungodly, and delivered just a lot. Vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked, the filthy lifestyle of the wicked. He vexed his soul. For that righteous man, that
righteous man dwelling among them, and seeing and hearing,
vexed his righteous soul. from day to day with their unlawful
deeds. The Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust until the
day of judgment to be punished." Lot was a just man. Not by his deeds. He didn't do one thing to justify
himself. Lot was justified by the grace
of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ just as Abraham
was and just as you and I are. That's how he's justified. That's
why he's called Just Lot. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
put away his sins just as it has put away our sins. That's
why he's called Just Lot. That's why his soul is called
Righteous. It's the righteousness of Christ. It's not because of
his relationship to Abraham. as the Jews thought. No, it's
his relationship to Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. The justification of our soul
does not have anything to do with what I do or don't do. It
has everything to do with what the Lord Jesus Christ did in
my place. That's where my justification
comes from. Solely from God. We see that
in a lot. And this just man made a bad,
bad, bad choice. Bad choice. And remember this,
and I know that if you've got any age on you at all, you know
this is true. All choices have consequences.
They all have consequences. Make your choices slowly. Make
them slowly, because they can last a long time. All choices
come with consequences. He fell into the trap of looking. Looking. Abraham didn't look.
Abraham didn't look around and say, hmm, you go that way. I'm going to go this way. I'm
the oldest. I'm the eldest. I get to choose first. I tell
you, Abraham said, you go and take whatever you want because
Abraham knew this and felt this. I have enough. If I have Christ,
I have enough. You just take what you want.
Well, he did. And he started looking around. Then he started lusting. Then he took. He took off in
that direction. The lust of the eyes, the lust
of the flesh, and the pride of life is still in us. It's still
in us. It's not dead. To show you that life or choices
have consequences, Adam chose and look at us now. He chose
to eat of that fruit. If ever a time that free will
was exercised, that was then. We haven't had a free one since. Well, it went towards Sodom,
and it finally ended up in Sodom, a wicked, wicked place. My, so
you read that where they came and they wanted to know those
men, they were going to rape those men. It says both small and great.
The whole city was turned over to it, the whole city. And that you'll notice here also
that his choice, his choice affected his whole family. It never really jumped out at me
until I was reading this here recently, that he went and talked
to his sons-in-law that married his daughters. They burned up in that place.
God burned up. He burned some of His family
up in that place. Our choices affect our family.
Our choices always have consequences and they always affect somebody.
Always. When He went to speak to His
sons-in-laws, listen to this in verse 14. 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. He seemed as one that mocked
unto his sons-in-law." They laughed at him. They said, Are you kidding?
Are you joking? It was just as if he was making
a joke. And the reason that happened
is because of his company that he started keeping with the ungodly,
his everyday conduct out there in life and trading and whatever
he was doing there in Sodom. No place to worship with his
family. He took his family to a place
where there was no place to worship. He left Abraham who worshiped
God, who built an altar, offered the sacrifices, he left that.
He left it. He neglected the worship in the
way of the godly, and his testimony became as one did. They laughed at his testimony.
No respect No respect from his family whatsoever. And then notice here in verse
16. Here it shows you how much unbelief is still in us. They
told him he was going to destroy that city. But it says he lingered. He lingered. You know, we are
told to flee to Christ, aren't we? And we are to flee to Christ
always. Not linger around and say, well,
there's no well to it. Flee to Christ. We're told where
to flee. But he lingered. After being
told it was going to be destroyed, he lingered. His attachments
to whomever and whatever had a death grip on him. He still
had family in there that didn't want to go. He had sons-in-laws
and the daughters that were married to them. And I know he didn't
want to go. He wanted them to come out with
him. But listen, when it's time to go, it's time to go. That's where he made his living
all these years, and his wife. I know no doubt there's some
turmoil going on here, some real turmoil going on here. But God
is about to burn that place up. You know, we stand in the pulpit
and we have it on God's authority. We tell them that God's going
to burn this world up. But people still linger, don't they? They
still linger. Don't linger. He that loves mother,
father, sister, brother more than me is not worthy of me. And if God ever puts that to
the test, you'll find out how difficult that is. And this is why sinners left
to themselves will not flee to Christ. We will not leave this. If God leaves us alone, we will
not leave this stuff. We'll hang on to it. Hang on
to it with a death grip. Christ said, you will not come
to me that you might have life. They would have come to him if
they could have had a new car, a new house, a new job. I can stand here, I can get on
the radio or television, and I can say, the Lord said if you'll
come to Him, He'll give you a new house. That's why preachers stand
there and promote this mansion. Mansions in the sky, because
people come for mansions. Most people don't live in stuff
like that. But to come to Christ, that you
might have life, People don't want that. Christ said, you will
not come to me that you might have life. That's why sinners left to themselves
will not come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Even if the house is
on fire, they won't do it. And that rich young ruler I spoke
about earlier, it says he went away sorrowful because he was
very rich. Couldn't do it. Couldn't let
it go. could not part with it for life. We're not talking about living
a long time now. We're talking about the life
of God. We're talking about the quality of it. It's the life
of God. If we are to be saved, we must
let it all go. We have to let it all go. Mercy. Mercy shone to him, yet
he lingered. But here we're going to see sovereign
mercy in verse 16. I tell you, you and I, I know
that you and I who believe the gospel, we're glad, we're happy
for sovereign mercy. We see it here. We see the mercy
of God. We see the power of God. The Lord being merciful unto
him. He's merciful. He's going to grab him by the
arm and take him out of there. But the Lord being merciful unto
him. Well, there was sure nothing commendable about him. Mercy doesn't look for anything
commendable. It doesn't look for that. If any of us wind up in glory,
it will be because the Lord was merciful unto me, unto you. If that's where we wind up, it's
because He's merciful. Fetching grace. That's what this
is. Fetching grace, like Mephibosheth. Fetching grace. If it were not
for the mercy of God, we would die with the rest of the ungodly,
wouldn't we? We'd die with the rest of them.
How true is this Psalm, Psalm 23? Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life. God's goodness and
God's mercy followed Lot all the way into Sodom. And it kept
him. He's called a righteous man.
That's what the Word of God says about Him. He's a righteous man.
Righteous soul, just. You say, where in the world? In Christ. And those angels, taking Lot
and his family by the hand, Look at this. It says, "...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. They just
grabbed him by the hand." Because they're sitting here. They're
not wanting to go. They're standing here in this house. God is about
to destroy this place. He's going to turn it to ashes.
That's what He said in 2 Peter. He turned it to ashes. And they're not wanting to go,
and I know this because they've been living there in a relationship,
but they've got family there. And so those angels, what do
they do? They just grab them by the hand. They grab them by the hand and
just take them out of there. Because they've been commanded
to do that. I tell you, if God commands your salvation, you're
going to be saved. You're going to be saved. You're
going to be saved God's way, you're going to be saved. So they took Lot and his family
by the hand and took them out of that city. Brethren, that
was an act of mercy. That's an act of sovereign mercy. It was the Lord's mercy that
led him out with Abraham. It was the Lord's mercy that
kept him while he was in Sodom. And it's the Lord's mercy that
brought him out of that place. It brought him out. And as the
angel says to him there in verses 17 through 20, he said, Escape
for thy life, look not behind thee. Flee, flee the wrath to
come. That's what he's telling him,
flee the wrath to come. It's coming. Judgment's coming. The Word of God's full of it.
Judgment's coming. And the only safe place is Christ,
not the church. That's Christ. A lady told me
once some years ago, she goes, I know I need to get back in
church. No, you don't. I said, no, you don't. You don't
need to get back in church. You need Christ. You need him. I tell you, you mess the church
up. You'd just be a problem. That's what you'd be. Flee to Christ from the wrath
to come. He's the only safe place for
sinners. And don't look back. You and I haven't left anything,
have we? Paul said, I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ. Everything, he describes before
he says that, what he was a Pharisee, the Pharisees, he had it all
together, he thought. And he says, I count every bit
of it as loss. It's loss. That's all it is,
loss. Nothing good about it at all. So don't look back on those things.
Paul said, forgetting those things which are behind and looking
forward. Looking forward to what? To the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the mark. He's our end. and flee to the mountain. He
was directed a place to flee to, the mountain. You and I are
directed a place to flee to, Christ. What does he do? He argues with him. He says,
there's a little city over here, let me go over in that city.
There's evil beast out there and I got my family and they'll
kill us. They'll kill us. Oh, my soul. Well, the angel said, well, go
ahead. All right, go ahead, go over to that little city. You
know they ended up running him off. They were gonna kill him over that
little city. You know where he ended up at? If you'll read verse 30,
and Lot went out of Zor and dwelt in the mountain. He ended up
there anyway. Sometimes the Lord lets us, He lets us go do stupid
things so we can find out where the safe haven really is. Sometimes. Now, no punishment for the righteous.
In verse 22, Haste thee escape there, for
I cannot do anything till thou become hither. I cannot do anything. I cannot
destroy this place until you've taken out of it. This world is
preserved right now because the elect of God are in it. God cannot
bring and will not bring total destruction on this earth until
all his sheep are saved and taken home. I can't do anything until
you're safe. Don't you love that? That angel
has the power. He's got the power and he's got
the authority of God behind him to burn that place down. But
there's one man One. There's one. One righteous man in that city.
And that city is preserved and cannot be burnt down until that
one righteous man is delivered. Until that one righteous man
is safe. Once he's safe, it's done. They burn it. God has saved that
last sheep. And He takes us out of this world.
That last one is taken out. He's going to burn it down. He's
going to turn it to ashes. That's what's going to happen. And then verse 29, I'll close.
God remembered Abraham. Well, you see in verse 26, his
wife did look back and look what God did. He turned into a pillar
of salt. He told her not to look back. She looked back with regret. Her heart was back there because
she had family back there. And I know you're saying, I don't
understand that. You and I don't know the heart.
God knew her heart. God knew her heart. And when
she looked back, it was just like, oh, I want to live there. I don't want to live out here.
I want to live there. I want to be there. She did what she was told not
to do. God turned her into a pillar of salt. Killed her right there. But then it says, God remembered
Abraham. Just as God remembered Abraham as his friend, as his
son, as his servant, the covenant that he made with him, Even so,
God remembers Christ, His Son, His Servant, which He's called
in Isaiah 42, and that covenant that He made with Him concerning
all His elect. Because of that, God has called
you out. Because of that, God has saved
you. If you believe the Gospel, if you believe on Christ, you
love Christ, you follow after Christ, and the reason that happened
is because God remembers Christ. And for Christ's sake, he's called
you. For Christ's sake, he's forgiven you. And for Christ's
sake, he's taken you home. Christ said, I go and prepare
a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, you
can bet on this. You can be sure of this. I'm gonna come and get
you again. I'm gonna come and receive you myself. That where
I am, there you may be also. God remembered Abraham and delivered
Lot. And for Christ's sake, God saves
sinners. And He's going to deliver them
from the wrath to come. And it's coming. It's coming. All right. Those are lessons
that we can learn from the life of God. And we need not forget
them. Okay, Lionel.