Life is a series of choices
Genesis 13: 5 - 13
· The choices you make today will determine where you will find yourself tomorrow.
· But most of the choices we are faced with in life are incidental.
· But the thought of this message is for the more serious decisions we face in life. Choices that may make a significant difference in our lives and those affected by the choices we make.
· The choices we make can alter our life forever and set us on a course that may last a lifetime.
· There are some choices that have serious consequences, and some, which do not really matter.
· Invariably, what you chose to sow today, you will reap tomorrow. Many people are reaping today the fruit of the seed they sowed in time past.
Nowhere in the Bible was Lot referred to as a righteous man who had any knowledge of God.
Genesis 11: 31 - Lot is the nephew of Abraham, part of a Chaldean a people who were not recorded to have had any knowledge of God.
Genesis 12 - God reveals Himself to Abraham but no record of relationship with Lot.
Genesis 12:4 - when Abraham was leaving Ur, we do not know why he took Lot, or why Lot followed him.
Genesis 13: 10-11 - Lot’s true character beginning to manifest. By right Abraham should have made the first choice. But Lot made a choice, which was to prove to be a terrible choice in the long run.
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread"
"Look before you leap"
What were the choices that Lot made?
1. Genesis 13:10-11. He chose not to seek the will of God before making a choice.
He did not know God so you cannot really blame him.
He made that choice based solely on the lusts of the flesh. "You cannot judge a book by its cover", "not all that glitters is gold"
Matthew 23:27, Jesus was speaking about the Pharisees, hypocrites. White sepulchers. Beautiful outside, but inside full of dead men’s bones!
· choosing a life partner! Do not judge by the cover.
· choosing where to live. Do not relocate because of cost of living. Is God calling you there.
· In choosing a job? Some people choose any job because they are desperate. But even before making that choice, is God in there with you?
2. Lot chose to be driven by greed, selfishness, wanting the best for himself at the expense of his brother.
· A way to love is to love yourself and yourself alone!
· Another way to love is to love your brother as yourself.
· But the supreme way to love is to love your brother more at the expense of yourself! The ultimate love!
3. Genesis 13:13. Lot chose to live in Sodom
· He did not consider where he was going. Sodom, at this time in history was already famous for its immoralities.
· From all earthly standards the choice Lot made was a good one. But he did not consider the spiritual implication of his move.
· It is not the physical location that matters. It is the spiritual positioning.
· Locationally, Lot was going to the best land, but spiritually, his life was far from God. And he was going into a land without God going in there with him.
· There are many places where you may find yourself, which physically or spiritually may be a Sodom.
· We cannot because of sin run away from the world. Sin is all around us. The most important we need to know is that even though we are in the world we are not of the world.
· We cannot afford to live the life that people are living simply because it is the acceptable thing to do. It is acceptable to the world. Is it acceptable to God?
What are the consequences of the choice that Lot made?
Physically and spiritually, Lot was not well positioned, hence it was easy for him to make all the wrong decisions. And he suffered for it.
1. Genesis 19:8 Sin had been deeply absorbed into Lot’s life. Two wrongs never make a right. If you tell a lie, telling another lie will never it a right. In science, (negative X negative = positive). Not so with God.
· Lot had become hardened with the sin of the place were he was living in.
· The more you practice sin the easier it will be for you to live it.
· "It doesn’t matter". "Every one is doing it". "I cannot help myself".
2. Genesis 19: 8 the height of perversion on the part of Lot. How could a father give his two virgin daughters to a mob? That mob would have destroyed those girls.
· Was his desire to protect those strangers enough reason for him to be so heartless?
· These were girls that would be looking to him for protection; rather he was the one that was offering them to strangers.
· Children are the heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is His reward. Children have been given to us to nurture, to guide, to discipline so that they may grow up in the fear of the Lord.
· Even as you care for the physical well being of your children so must you care for their spiritual well being. Lot did not care for these girls.
3. Genesis 19:14. Lot had been too complacent for too long about ungodliness, even if he was not living like them.
· When it was time for him to warn them they just did not belief him. When he wanted to make a stand a stand, they just ignored him.
· To make a difference to someone’s life, you must first decide to be different in your faith and in your conduct.
· You must also use every opportunity to speak against sin - not against the sinner, but against the sinful act. Never forget, God loves the sinner and does not want you to condemn them. But God hates sin and wants you to speak against it.
· We have all been sent as John the forerunner of Christ. We are also the forerunner of Christ. The forerunners of His second coming, and we must warn as many as God brings our way.
4. Genesis 19:16 Lot had lived so long in sin, that he did not want to leave sin.
· Most probably he was even an important man. Gen 19:1, "found sitting in the city gate"
· Apparently he was an important man, with great possession of land and property. So he did not want to leave.
· There is this thing about physical possession, - the more attached you are to acquiring them, the more they will cause you to lose sight of that which is more important. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.
· The only way in which you should regard earthly possession is to be used as a tool, both to make you as comfortable as is godly, (there is a level of comfort that is not godly- where you are so comfortable that you do not need God or you do not need to pray, then you are too comfortable).
· Earthly possession is to be used as a means to an end (to bring glory to God) and not as the end in itself!
· You can be very rich. Abraham was rich, Isaac was very rich, Jacob was wealthy. But your riches should be used for the glory of God.
4. Genesis 19:26, Lot lost his wife because she did not want to give up the past and start a new life.
· Matthew 6:24, Jesus said you cannot serve two masters!
· One reason many refuse to come to Christ is because of the way of life they live. Many believe that a life in Christ is like living in a strait jacket.
· May be we are guilty of letting many people think that the Christian life is full of laws. No, we have been made free from the law and its curse. The Law of Moses was given to us as a School Master. It was not perfect. It was full of "don’t" without telling us the "how".
· The life of a Christian is a life of love, where we are to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.
· It is a life of relationship, relationship to the Lord of the Heaven and the earth, being able to call the God of all creation Father!
· It is a life of authority where, because of the name of Jesus, you have principalities and powers at your command!
· In this World that many are holding unto, there is pain, there is disease, there is bondage, and there is disappointment all around. It is just not worth it!
6. Genesis 19:33 - 36, Lot lost his daughters.
· Spiritually, he lost his daughters. They must have accepted of the immoral values of Sodom.
· Obviously they must have been desperate. But, is desperation a license to sin?
· Many desperate for children will go to the occult.
· Many desperate for husband or wife will marry an unbeliever!
· There are many things we did in the time of ignorance, when we did not know God and we were desperate.
· Inspite os all these, the Lord showed Himself merciful. He took the child of the elder daughter, Moab, and from him brought Ruth, the grandmother of David, 14th in line to Jesus!
We need to consistently seek God’s face that He might direct our decision-making processes
