LOT – PART 3 – A LOT OF TROUBLE FOR GOD – FOR ABRAHAM – AND FOR HIMSELF – GENESIS 18 – 19 THE HORRIBLE HOMOSEXUAL SIN OF SODOM - ANGELIC REMEDY
INTRODUCTION – THE LORD AND ANGELS VISIT ABRAHAM AND SARAH
Three men appeared to Abraham and Sarah in their old age to tell them Sarah would have a son. One of these “men” was the Lord and the other two were angels. The Lord God and angels can take on human form and that happened commonly in the Old Testament. When the Lord appears to people in the form of a man, it is called a theophany, such as the man who wrestled all night with Jacob and the 4 men in the furnace in Daniel’s time.
The Lord remained and Abraham pleaded with Him not to destroy the Sodomites, but in the end he had to realise that all was corrupted and destruction was necessary and justified. Sodom was doomed by its own sin. The other two “men” who were angels left – {{Genesis 18:22 “Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham was still standing before the LORD.”}}
We have looked at Lot’s road to failure, that deliberate path he chose to follow when he turned to his own leading and selfish desires. He moved towards Sodom bit by bit, so typical of a man . . . . and this also applies to a Christian . . . . who follows the prompting of his eyes and the flesh as lust moves one directly towards the sinful destruction. When Lot was living with Abram he had the umbrella protection of that great man of God, but when he was set loose, the sinful nature had its way. He wanted more of Sodom, and Sodom became his desire.
In the last message we saw that Lot was caught up in the raid against Sodom and Gomorrah and taken captive. He was mercifully delivered by Abram but went straight back to his own place. It was clear at that stage that Lot was living in Sodom when the raid happened and he was a causality of the raid, but I do feel certain his roots were already firmly in Sodom. He never learned his lesson from the raid and the deliverance. He should never have returned but should have separated himself altogether from Sodom. We now enter into Sodom for the darkest episode in this man’s life (actually there were two).
Two angels visited Abraham to tell him about his future heir through Sarah, but then they moved to Sodom. Sodom was about to be destroyed – {{Genesis 18:20-21 The LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. Gen 18:21 I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry which has come to Me, and if not, I will know.”}}
Abraham pleaded with the Lord not to sweep away the righteous with the wicked, and his numbers went from 50 to 10 righteous people in Sodom but there were not even 10. According to the New Testament Lot was considered righteous even though it is hard to believe.
So far in these recent Genesis chapters we have the two contrasting characters - Abraham and Lot. Lessons from both of them are instructive. Both are referred to in the New Testament. This chapter contains direct statements of fact and some of the worst exposure of sin in the bible. We will tread carefully.
THE ANGELS ENTER SODOM VERSES 1 - 3
{{Genesis 19:1-3 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground, Gen 19:2 and he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night and wash your feet, then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” Gen 19:3 Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house, and he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.”}}
The angels had passed from Abraham on their way to Sodom for the exact purpose of both rescue and destruction – Lot and the Sodomites - and now they met Lot in the gate. The gate of a town or city was the place of respect, greeting and judgment. Judges sat in the gate. What on earth was Lot doing in the gate? That indicated he was now part of the life of Sodom. What was he doing in the gate though? It was a high position and why would these arrogant, hostile, exceedingly sinful people have allowed it? More to the point though, what does it say about Lot who allowed all this to happen? It was compromise of the worst kind.
It must mean the testimony of Lot, if he had one, was so low that he compromised all principles to become as the men of Sodom, but without the homosexuality. It is a woeful state of affairs when a Christian is so far in with sinners of the darkest kind. God is utterly excluded. Later on we will see how the sodomites resented the fact that he had come among them but they sill afforded him the position at the gate. The world will not stand for compromise in one who is supposed to name the name of God. They turn on them though they are many times worse themselves. We only need to look at the media reaction when a person who goes by the name of Christian, sins and that gets exposed in the public arena. The media loves to scandalise people especially if it can degrade God. The media is corrupt, self-serving and agenda-driven.
QUESTION ---> Should Lot ever have been in Sodom? Remember the decision he made in departing from Abram. And if so, then should he have been in the gate? Was it possible to live an uncompromised life for God? I can not accept that it is possible. Lot shows no hint of righteousness.
We can ask of ourselves can we live an uncompromised life when we place ourselves in the bosom of wickedness as an act of free choice. That is what Lot did. He should never have entered Sodom, and if he was troubled, then he should have left, but he had no intention of going anywhere. Often our own failures result from nestling up to the den of vipers. Our failure is always our own fault.
I do not gamble or enter sweeps. Once in the workplace a sweep was conducted for Australia’s biggest horse race, the Melbourne Cup. Because I did not partake in that, they got me to draw out the horses and persons’ names from a bag or box. On the surface it looked innocent enough but the thought of it remains with me decades later. Was it compromise? Was I being a hypocrite in sharing in something I did not accept? This life is not black and white though God’s standard is! It does not take much for us to step into doubtful territory.
[[[“We find Lot sitting in the gate of Sodom, the place of authority. He has evidently made progress; he has “got on in the world”. Looked at from a worldly point of view his course had been a successful one. He had pitched his tent towards Sodom, then no doubt he had found his way into it, and now we see him sitting in the gate, a prominent and influential post.
What a contrast to Abraham but the reason is obvious - by FAITH Abraham lived in a land of promise as in a foreign country, living in tents. Not so for Lot; he sits in Sodom’s gate and gets no mention among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. He looked at things that are seen and temporal, whereas Abraham looked at things that are unseen and eternal. No doubt Lot was saved yet it was by fire for truly his work was burnt up.”]]] (C H Macintosh).
Verse 2 is the display Lot’s hospitality but this is not something special in Lot. It was expected to be a place of hospitality in most of that Middle Eastern world. The function of “the gate” was most critical in those cultures of the time. The gate was where decisions were made, prophets cried out their message to the people, contracts were made, and it was where justice was done with litigation, legal agreements – {{Amos 5:10 “They hate him who reproves in the GATE, and they abhor him who speaks with integrity.” Amos 5:12 “I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, you who distress the righteous and accept bribes, and turn aside the poor in the GATE.” Amos 5:15 “Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the GATE. Perhaps the LORD God of hosts may be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”}} Gates were also used as places for the public appearance of the king and a place for public assemblies.
Considering what Sodom was, I wonder why Lot would get himself involved in all that. Here are a couple of quotes:- I Clement 11 says, [[[“Lot, for his hospitality and his piety, was brought safely out of Sodom, when fire and brimstone were raining down in judgement on all the region round about.”]]]
John Calvin Commentary on the Book of Genesis [[[“It appears from the fact that Lot went out and exposed himself to danger, how faithfully he observed the sacred right of hospitality. It was truly a rare virtue, that he preferred the safety and honour of the guests whom he had once undertaken to protect, to his own life...”]]] Both those commentators tend to be very supportive of Lot but I find it hard to go along fully with them. A man of piety would not be in Sodom in the first place even if he was a man of great hospitality.
Note carefully the angels’ response that they would stay the night in the square. Of all the reasons offered here for that, I think C H Macintosh again has the correct assessment -
[[[“The Lord remained to commune with Abraham, and merely sent His angels to Sodom and these angels did not want to enter Lot’s house or partake of his hospitality. They said, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” What a rebuke! How different a scene when they were with Abraham and they accepted full hospitality.
Here the angels’ words to Lot contain a most unqualified condemnation of his position in Sodom. They would rather abide in the street all night than enter under the roof of one in a wrong position. Indeed their only objective in coming to Sodom seems to have been to deliver Lot, and that too, only because of Abraham, for we read, “And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God REMEMBERED Abraham and sent Lot out of the overthrow . . .” It was simply for Abraham’s sake that Lot was suffered to escape.”]]]
Sometimes God allows us to reach the end of the rope and there we hit reality. The angels finally consented to Lot’s continued urging to come into his house, and it was to land Lot into a lot of trouble for himself. If he had allowed the angels to do their bidding Lot would have been fine in the house, but his own error had to be played out so that it brought trouble upon him. God does that to us I think when we are determined to pursue a particular course of action, and then we have to bear the consequences of that.
What a challenge for us in our own homes. If we offer hospitality, then in what sort of home are we offering it? What might it be that our home contains that visitors do not know about. Maybe if they did know what happens in some of the “Christian” homes, they might prefer to sleep in the street!
LOT IN SODOM’S HEART - VERSES 4 - 11
This section touches on the sin for which Sodom has become infamous. We will look at these events without too much deviation at this time.
{{Genesis 19:4 Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter, Gen 19:5 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 have relations with them,”}}
That is the sodomite debauchery! Young and old came like an infestation of rats. Word passed around quickly so that the lustful hearts of wickedness crowded around Lot’s house and it says “from every quarter”. The whole city was debauched; all the men came, the whole perverted lot of them. The inhabitants knew Lot had two men in his home and thought Lot “was into it” with the men. They wanted their share too of this depravity. That just shows how bad Sodom was, yet Lot could not separate the wickedness of that place from the clear cut morality of God; he did not want to separate. Even the old fellows came.
Lot did want to show hospitality, but the only hospitality homosexuality has is with those of similar perversion. They would have attacked the house to satisfy their degeneracy. It made no difference the two men were visitors. Lust, deep and evil, pursues anyone. Our world is heading that way. Homosexuality is rapidly increasing with full legal protection.
{{Genesis 19:6-7 but Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, Gen 19:7 and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.”}}
It was the abuse of hospitality rather than the act that I believe most concerned Lot. There is such a thing as desensitivity to sin, a numbness and slow acceptance of things that would have caused a former generation to cry from the rooftops. This is a day when discernment is needed more than ever and there is only one standard - the Word of God.
Lot had no discernment otherwise he would have run a mile from Sodom, but because of his allowance of wickedness then he complied with the horrible sin of Sodom. He was a disgrace to a godly testimony. He was not forced to be in Sodom. It was the lust of his own desire.
You will notice in verse 7 the term of address Lot used - “My brothers”. What a term to use and what a revelation of Lot’s condition. These debauched men were not brothers of someone supposed to be righteous. Lot is fooling himself big time. Could a Christian go to the heart of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi-gras (world’s biggest homosexual parade), to some filthy display containing a placard mocking the bible and the Lord and Mary, and address the ones there as, “My brothers?” I would say emphatically, “NO”. It was no trouble for Lot though, who should have been in his tent with his herds and family, in the open spaces and dedicated to the Lord, away from Sodom.
{{Genesis 19:8 “Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man. Please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like, only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof,”}}
We now arrive at one of the most difficult verses in the whole bible. Was Lot prepared to sacrifice the morality of his daughters for the hospitality of the two angels (men)? On face value this looks a monstrous act and it probably was so. Excuses are made for Lot saying his intentions were honourable, as the integrity of strangers and hospitality was more important than the integrity of his daughters. I am going to give you the comments of seven men here that explore this issue. My own mind is established on this. I make no excuse for Lot in any way. I think he is a reprobate man. Even those who confess the Lord, when they are outside His leading, can act in a vile way. I am aware of what the New Testament says about Lot but I leave that for the end of the last message. I think Lot is a disgrace.
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This is not a really convenient place to break the message but I will have to do that. A series of quotations are to follow and to insert them here will make this message too long. I apologise for that but we will be continuing on shortly with this account in the next message.
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ronaldf@aapt.net.au
