Genesis 19: 17 As soon as they [the angels] had brought them [LOT AND FAMILY] out, one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!" 18 But Lot said to them, "No, my lords, please! 19 Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it--it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared."
21 He said to him, "Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of.
22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it." (That is why the town was called Zoar.)
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.
31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth.
32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father."
33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, "Last night I lay with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father." 35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab ; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi ; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.
ILLUSTRATION: THE TRAGEDIES OF LIFE. The recent tragedy that blazed across the Texas morning sky recently serves as a stark reminder that all who live do so on the fringe of eternity. In the earliest press conferences, the stunned NASA officials who tearfully spoke of Columbia’s horror were not reticent to remind the watching world that the tragedy would not stop adventures into space. In fact, the tragedy actually spurs the survivors of the team on to continue with greater vigilance and excellence.
Regardless of your opinion about the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, you would have to admit that it was a tragedy and a trauma for the three known survivors.
TRAGEDIES HAPPEN. YOUR CHARACTER DETERMINES HOW THE SUBSTANCE OF A TRAUMA DIRECTS YOUR LIFE. A LARGE EVENT HAS ENERGY TO PROPELL YOU, TRUE, YET THE DIRECTION IN WHICH IT PROPELLS IS MOSTLY UP TO YOU.
A NATURAL REACTION TO TRAGEDY/FAILURE/LOSS IS TO WITHDRAW, TO REDUCE. That shows up in the characters of our study today.
(Gen 19:19 NIV) Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die.
THE FIRST FOCUS OF LOT WAS: “I CAN’T”
(Gen 19:20 NIV) Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it--it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared”
THE FIRST FALLOUT OF I CAN’T: COMPROMISE
Gen 19: 21 He said to him, "Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of.
23 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it." (That is why the town was called Zoar.)
THE FATAL FLAW OF ‘I CAN’T’ --IT TIES UP GOD
LOT HAD A BEND TOWARD LITTLE. (Zoar means “little”)
SURPRISE! DIVINE BEHAVIOR IS NOT NATURAL!
c.f.) General Joshua at the tabernacle immediately after the defeat at AI (human), contrasted with King David’s worshipping after the death of his son (with Bath-sheba) (not natural)
(Gen 19:19 NIV) Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die.
(Gen 19:30 NIV) Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.
IN EACH MOVE, LOT’S MOTIVATION WAS FEAR.
It was fear for the angels’ well being, not hospitality, that motivated Lot to invite them over night.
It was fear that caused Lot to wrongly offer the compromise of his daughters as an appeasement to the mob that appeared at his door.
It was fear of change that made Lot almost late in leaving the city. “when he hesitated”…the angels took him out.
LOT WAS AFRAID TO MAKE A LIFESTYLE CHANGE
His wife’s hesitancy made her infamous,
“Remember Lot’s wife”-JESUS
Lot’s issue was to still be in a ‘city’. Lot the Urbane one. He and his family had earlier been abducted in a military raid on the city, and had been rescued by his uncle, Abraham. Even then, Lot stayed in Sodom. The bible tells us in Hebrews that Lot was considered to be a righteous man, and that the behavior of the people of Sodom vexed him. There is a horrible silence where it does not tell us he acted on his vexation. [MAYBE OUT OF FEAR] In fact, Scripture reveals to us that Lot assimilated into his culture, becoming a leader in Sodom. Lot’s thinking over time took him to the place where he believed he could not live away from a town. Living in sin will blind you to true reality, and cause you to start believing a lie.
LIFEPOINT: has fear of lifestyle change blinded your thinking into believing a false reality?
FEAR WILL ENTICE YOU TO NEGLECT RESPONSIBILITY
Lot did not again arrange marriages for his girls
What capacity to reach the people of Zoar!
The testimony of Lot and girls
FEAR WILL MOTIVATE YOU TO MISS THE BLESSED OPPORTUNITY
Lot was afraid he could not live in the mountians, but the irony is, he had spent years living a prosperous life in the mountains with his uncle Abraham. If he had gone to the mountains as the angel(s) had said, God would have provided again, perhaps to restore to prosperity.
Moving to the same mountain later, however, after the open opportunity would not recapture a prior promise
LIFEPOINT: Delayed obedience … is not obedience
Aside: sometimes you can press God and get what you want. Sometimes the worst thing you can have happen is to have your own way.
Illus: the twilight zone episode where the man gets three wishes, the last one being Hitler in the bunker.
IF YOU ARE NOT TRANSFORMED, LIVING IN LITTLE WILL LEAD YOU TO LESS.
(Gen 19:14 NIV) So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, "Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!" But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
(Gen 19:30 NIV) Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.
–the root of the Hebrew word for cave is “naked” that is, having nothing
The Lot who went to Sodom was a wealthy rancher, with herds & servants. He was a man who walked with God, who had a young family and a bright future. The Lot who left Sodom was a man whose light weight lifestyle had made his spiritual impact on those close to him seem like a ‘joke’. He fled from there an impoverished, fearful widower. He was now the single parent of two girls who had lost their fiancées when their way of life was literally obliterated.
Living with sin will slowly strip you of your stuff, trample your treasure and parch your purest pleasure-your relationships.
Thinking determines belief; belief incites expectation; expectation forecasts attitude; attitude is what motivates behavior. It is behavior that creates outcome. (John Maxwell)
LIVING IN LITTLE, STAYING IN SMALL CAUSES PEOPLE TO
SETTLE FOR THE WAY THINGS ARE-TO BASE THEIR LIVES ON THE LOW LEVELS OF CIRCUMSTANCE AND CUSTOM.
ILLUS: John Maxwell and the man who went to the fortune teller (45 years of misery, then you’ll get used to it)
(Gen 19:31 NIV) One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth.
The girls chose to settle for what was, to make do with what was convenient-rather than believe God for what was right.
Faith does not deny reality, but believes beyond perceived reality.
REMEMBER, JUST BECAUSE A THING CAN BE, DOES NOT MEAN IT SHOULD BE.
BASING YOUR LIFE ONLY ON CIRCUMSTANCE AND CUSTOM WILL RESULT IN YOUR DESTINY BEING DIRECTED BY SIN.
WHEN YOU START IN SIN, YOU LAUNCH ITS CAREER-AND THE CONSEQUENCES CAN BE PROFOUND
The offspring of this conspiracy to commit two counts of aggravated sexual assault and incest (the modern charges that would apply) were two nations of people that would become the enemies of God’s people, and the major influence in their perversion of worship (idolatry). Ultimately, the destruction of the nation of Israel and the dissolution of a promise of God “a nation of priests to bless the world” was accomplished. It all started when a fearful mindset of ‘living in little’ was not transformed.
Thinking determines belief; belief incites expectation; expectation forecasts attitude; attitude is what motivates behavior. It is behavior that creates outcome.
AT THE TIME OF THIS WRITING, THEY KNEW OF MOAB AND AMMON, BUT HAD NOT INTERACTED WITH THEM AS ENEMIES, YET.
(2 Ki 23:13 NIV) The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption--the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the people of Ammon.
You have heard me say it before, thought to belief to expectation to attitude to behavior to performance. Listen to it another way,
James 1: 13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.
ANYONE HERE WANT TO MOVE? BEEN LIVING IN LITTLE, SETTLING FOR SMALL? READY TO CHANGE YOUR DIRECTION?
STOP SIN IN YOUR LIFE. YOU NEED TO MOVE OUT OF “LITTLE”, AND NOT LEAVE A FORWARDING ADDRESS.
QUIT BASING YOUR LIFE ON CIRCUMSTANCE AND CUSTOM, GET OUT OF SATYING IN SMALL, BEING MENTALLY NAKED.
ALTERNATE CONCLUSION INCLUDES: This church not
‘living in little’. NOT THE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE, BUT THE SIZE OF THE PEOPLE. –The difference in a great church and a not great one is the size of the people, not always the size of the congregation.
