Intro:
1. I saw a book advertised the other day called, "The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus Christ." I thought if people really knew the gospel, that's exactly what it would appear to be - Scandalous!
2. Amazingly we find these words in the Bible:
"7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)-- 9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment," 2 Peter 2:7-9
There is stands - Righteous Lot! That seems to be an oxymoron! An oxymoron is "A rhetorical figure in which contradictory terms are combined, such as a mournful optimist."
3. Scandalous Righteousness.
Trans: Gen. 19
I. FIRST, RIGHTEOUS LOT COMPROMISED WITH THE WORLD. 19:1-3
A. His Position. 1a
Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom - this is where public officials sat.
Philips, "Abraham was seen sitting in the door of his tent; in chapter 19 Lot is found sitting in the gate of Sodom. He had risen in the world. He probably had become one of Sodom's high officials, a member of its legislature no less, charged with upholding its principles and protecting the filthy privileges of its people. What a place for a professing believer! Lot was pledged to help keep the laws on the books that enabled perverts and deviates to practice their sins without fear of reproof. That was how far the morality of Sodom had tainted the values, the judgment, the sense of right and wrong of the backslidden child of God.
There Lot sat, resplendent in his official robes, surrounded by filthy-minded men, accepted by them because he now spoke their language and condoned their practices and, above all, because he had the right connections."
B. His Provisions. 1b-3
...When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 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." 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 - even Lot had a new nature and it comes out at times, 19:7,9. - even a carnal Christian cannot be totally dominated by the sin nature.
We can walk according to the flesh, but we cannot be in the flesh:
"8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. Romans 8:8-9
But, "12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:12-13
Trans:Point is Righteous Lot has compromised with the World.
"Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;" Psalm 1:1
"Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." Romans 12:2 (MSG)
"14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people." 17 Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you." 18 "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Righteous Lot allowed unrighteous compromise a place in his heart.
In 1945, communists seized power in Romania and attempted to control the churches for their purposes. Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, who I used as an illustration before about tithing, immediately began an effective "underground" ministry. He was eventually arrested in 1948 and spent 3 years in solitary confinement, seeing no one but his Communist torturers. He was released in 1956, after 8 1/2 years, and he resumed his work in the underground church. He was arrested again in 1959, and sentenced to 25 years. During his imprisonment, he was beaten and tortured. Richard was released in a general amnesty in 1964. Realizing the great danger of a third imprisonment, Christians in Norway negotiated with the Communist authorities for his release from Romania. The "going price" for a prisoner was $1,900. Their price for Wurmbrand was $10,000. In May 1966, he testified in Washington before the Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee and stripped to the waist to show eighteen deep torture wounds covering his body. Pastor Wurmbrand said that he learned a valuable lesson from the brutal prison guards. Richard testified, "As they allowed no place for Jesus in their hearts I decided I would leave not the smallest place for Satan in mine." Lot never learned that lesson...
II. FURTHERMORE, RIGHTEOUS LOT CONDONED SIN. 4-11
A. The Perversion.
1. Of Sodom. 4-7
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. 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." 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! - Lot didn't have to live there...
"49 Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit. 51 Samaria did not commit half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all the abominations which you have done." Ezekiel 16:49-51
They were guilty of Arrogance; Abundance of food [gluttony]; being Apathetic; Abandoning the poor and needy; and of Abomination [sin of homosexuality]...
"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination." Leviticus 18:22
"If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them." Leviticus 20:13
"26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due." Romans 1:26-27
"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," 1 Corinthians 6:9
"9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine," 1 Timothy 1:9-10
America no longer knows what to fear! We fear economic collapse; we fear unemployment; we fear terrorists; we won't get the right man in the White House; we fear natural disasters; China; - we are fearing the wrong thing!
Reminds me of an article I read in a medical journal. It told of the dangers of bird watching. How can bird watching be so dangerous? Because bird watchers are so intent on watching the bird they forget about the crodiles! Many bird watchers had been eaten alive because while they were focused on a bird, a crodile was focused on them! We are focused on everything but God - and He is the One who is coming in wrath!
God is the biggest threat to this Nation!
He is the two ton Gorilla in the room that nobody wants to talk about....
"28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28
2. the Perversion of a Saint. 8-11
a. In Tolerating the Abomination.
"He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD." Proverbs 17:15
He only confesses their "wickedness" when they are about to force themselves on these angels - what about on others?
b. In Treating his daughters contemptable. 8-11
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." 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. 10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 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 - notice the contrast with Abraham, eveytime Abraham is in a crisis he prays, not Lot.
Butler, "Lot's offer shows how low even a [believer] can go in moral thinking when he lives a worldly life. Lot's thinking was seriously messed up by his dwelling in Sodom. Lot's problem was that he had become very desensitized about the wickedness of Sodom. Yes, it continually "vexed" Lot to see day after day the wickedness of Sodom. But it also defiled him."
There use to be a member out her that allowed me to go hunting on his land. Right next door to his land was a Turkey House - it smelled terrible. When I first got out of my car, the smell was terrible, but after being in my deer stand, I could hardly smell it at all. Lot had got so use to sin, that he could offer his daughters to these perverts!
III. THIRDLY, RIGHTEOUS LOT DID NOT HAVE ONE CONVERT? 12-29
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." 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. 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. 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." 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." 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. 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. 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. 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 - notice Lot was delievered from God's wrath in spite of his carnality! Every believer is going up in the rapture!
A. His impact on his Soceity.
If he had lead his wife, daughters, and son-in-laws, and just 4 other people to believe in God, the city would have been spaired! We do not know, if there were any other believers beside Lot - I wonder what God would have said, if Abr had asked Him, if there were just 5 righteous people...
B. His impact on his Sons-in-law.
They laughted at him - thought he was joking!
Griffith Thomas, "His testimony had no power. He had lived too long as one of themselves, without any very real difference, to allow of his message being of any avail. When the testimony of the life does not agree with the testimony of the lips the latter always goes unheeded."
Having said that, these sons-in-laws cannot blame Lot for their unbelief, it was their choice and fault!
C. His impact on his off-Spring.
These daughters are never refered to as believers...
D. His impact on his Spouse.
Was his wife saved? There doesnt seem any evidence for it!
Swindoll, "I'd suggest she was still attached to [her former lifestyle]. She willfullly refused to cut off her emotional ties. All this business of running away and not looking back was awfully extreme, terribly unrealistic...The bottom line of Mrs. Lots philosophy could have been etched on her salt-block tombstone: THERE IS NO NEED TO TAKE GOD SERIOUSLY."
Jesus warned, "Remember Lot's wife." Luke 17:32
IV. FOURTH, RIGHTEOUS LOT CONSENTED TO GET DRUNK. 30-38
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. 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. 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 - this was not his first Rodeo! He obviously had been drunk before and they knew it!
Butler, "This strategy would never have been suggested if Lot had not been accustomed to indulging in drink...It exposed a sinful habit of Lot - he was a man who liked his bottle."
Like Noah, we have a believer getting drunk...
Reveals that righteousness before God is not by doing; works; human merit; etc.
V. FINALLY, RIGHTEOUS LOT COHABITED WITH HIS DAUGHTERS.
At least he refused to do it when he was stone sober!
Con:
1. Scandalous Righteousness - that a compromising, sin condoning, no convert, immorale drunk could be called righteous in the eyes of God is more than most people can take!
How can this be? Especially when you consider the Religious leaders of Jesus day - who were separatist [Pharisee], stood against sin [woman caught in adultery], were agressive in evangelism, were never found drunk, and had a strict moral code - yet were viewed by Jesus as unrighteous! Mt.5:20/Lu.18
2. Put Lots name in Rom. 4:1-
Can you put your name in there? Rom.5:20
God demands 100% righteousness in deeds and desires, 24/7 - and none of us can meet that standard! You say I'm closer then Lot was! But Lot is not the standard - God is! Swim to Hawaai, some with get further but all will drown. So God sent Jesus Christ, who is the only one who ever lived a perfectly righteous life. He died for our unrighteousness and offers us His imputed righteousness by simple receiving it!
Chuck Swindoll, "You're telling me, Chuck, that by simply believing in Jesus Christ I can have eternal life with God, my sins forgiven, [righteousness put on my account], a destiny secure in heaven, all of this and much more without my working for that?"
Yes, that is precisely what Scriptue teaches. It is called grace."
Courson, "Lot Righteous? A guy who calls perverted people his brothers? A guy who offers his daughters to a homosexual mob? A guy who lingers when angels tell him to leave? Lot rightoeus Yes, for that is what Peter calls him [under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit]. How could Lot possible be considered righteous? Because righteousness is imputed solely on the basis of simple faith. I am righteous and so are you if you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is who He claimed to be, and believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead."
PS: Does this mean it doesnt matter how we live? Not as far as being righteous before God! But it does matter - we do not want to follow in Lots footsteps:
(1) We can and should Live righteous life's. Rom.6:1
Piper, "There is a battle to be fought. And it is deadly. "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Be killing sin or sin will be killing you. But what is distinctive about the Christian warfare is that we can only kill the sin that has already been killed when we were killed in Christ. Or to put it positively, we can only achieve practical righteousness, as a working out of imputed righteousness. The battle is to become what we already are in Christ: righteous with the imputed righteousness of Christ."
(2) We can Lose Rewards.
(3) When we live in carnality, we are tormented daily.
"(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds)," 2 Peter 2:8
We can sin - but we cannot sin and enjoy it!
(4) Reveals their are consequences to our sin - the Moabites and Amorites were bitter enemies of Israel.
(5) Demonstrates once saved, always saved. If Lot didn't lose his salvation - then what would it take!
Scandalous Righteousness!
Johnny Palmer Jr
StrugglingThruScriptures.ning.com
