A "Lot" Of Trouble - Sodom And Gomorrah

A Lot of Trouble

Gen. 13:5-13; 18:17-32; 19:1-11, 24-28

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A. The Course of the man—Lot (Abraham’s nephew)

There came a time when they had to separate. (this place ain’t big enough for the both of us.)

Abraham did something very unselfish…gave him the best land…land which had been promised to him, rather.

Look at Lot’s course: The course of the man

13:10 lifted up his eyes toward Sodom

12 pitched his tent toward Sodom

19:1 sitting in the gate! Living there!

Ps. 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not…

Lot was:

1. Weak in his devotions

Abraham had an altar, Gen. 13:5 says Lot had flocks, herds, tents.

Abraham had devotions 19:27…He knew that the Bible would keep him from sin, and sin would keep him from the Bible!

Abraham knew to keep short accounts w/ God.

What you get here in 3 services a week is not enough. You can only ride on someone else’s spiritual coattail for so long. Sooner or later you have got to develop that personal, intimate, one on one, daily relationship w/ God.

Weak in his devotions…

2. Worldly in his desires

Gen. 13:10 says that Lot chose Sodom because it reminded him of the land of Egypt…that he had been saved from! (World)

Lot asked, is this a good place to raise cattle, but he should have asked if it was a good place to raise kids!

“Make money”, not “grow spiritually”… “feed me”, not “be fed”

“Serve myself”, not “I, myself, can serve God.”

He became worldly in his desires. It was a very worldly city of sexual promiscuity and homosexuality which quickly follows promiscuity!

Jesus said, “remember Lot’s wife”—she was worldly too, she looked back at what God had saved her from…longingly! There goes my home/possessions/friends/but also her lifestyle…even if she wasn’t practicing their ways, she was comfortable around it…her heart was still in Sodom, and even worse, Sodom was still in her heart.

And how about you? You’re straight, but are you comfortable being in sin-filled situations and places? What’s the difference between allowing it on our TV’s and allowing it in our bedrooms?

They were worldly Christians who vexed their righteous souls staying in that place.

3. Wrong in his decision

Gen. 13:11 3 key words… “then Lot chose”

God allows us to choose our own path…but He doesn’t allow us to choose what destination that path will lead to.

God will allow us to choose anything we want, except for the consequences, we can’t choose those! As a matter of fact, we have to live w/ the consequences of our choices.

Every decision we make, to at least some degree, affects the direction of our future.

For the most part, our decisions are determined by our desires.

Ill.—pastor/raised by mother not to go to movies/he didn’t…because it was against the rules/his friend was raised the same way/when they became teens, friend said, it’s Sunday night, let’s skip church, and go to the theatre/ “no, better not”/ “oh, come on!”/they decided to go their separate ways, the one to church, the other to the theatre/the one who went to church became a successful pastor/other moved to Hollywood and eventually became a successful producer

One day that Pastor was in L.A., preaching a mtg. He decided to call his old friend. They got together. His friend said, “you know, several years ago when we were teens, I skipped church to go to the movies” “I remember,” the pastor said.

“Little did I know that on that night, we were prophetically choosing our life’s work.”

Decisions may seem small at the time, but you never know where those roads will lead.

Our teens need to think twice before they attend that party. Because you never know when you’ll make a decision that will change the course of your life forever.

Dance/car alone together/rebel against parents

“then Lot chose…” and he lived forever w/ the consequences of that worldly-minded decision!

Lot was weak in his devotions/worldly in his desires/wrong in his decision…

4. Wrecked in his demise

Here’s a man that the NT says was saved, and yet in the end of ch. 19 we find a wrecked Lot getting drunk, committing incest w/ both of his daughters, and the result of those relations was his daughters each giving birth to leaders of enemy nations (ammonites/moabites) that would plague Israel for years to come…oh, the power of a single decision!

That was the course of the man…

2. The Curse of the society

We should try our best to be positive about the future of America…we should strive to be optimistic…but we need to be realistic. Nothing is more “real”istic than the Word of God, which makes it very clear that Sodom’s sins will reap Sodom’s doom.