One of the most disgusting events that I’ve ever read is found in our passage of Scripture this morning.
Read Genesis 19:30-38
How in the world did this family end up in such a mess?
How in the world did they end up living in a cave in fear?
How in the world did Lot have such a dysfunctional family?
How in the world 2 daughters come up with a scheme to get their father drunk so that they could sleep with him?
How in the world could Lot get so drunk that he didn’t know he was having a sexual relationship with his daughters?
How in the world did Lot end up in such a mess?
One word—choices.
—Something each of us has in common. Every single day... every single moment we make choices.
—What to eat. What to wear. What to say. What to do. How to act.
—You’ve made a thousand choices before you arrived here this morning!
—A choice to argue with your wife. A choice to yell at the kids. A choice to spend some time with the Lord in prayer. Choices.
The choices you make today are the ones you’re going to have to live with tomorrow.
No one ends up in the mess that Lot’s family found themselves in all at one time.
Over the years there was a bad choice here, a wrong decision there, and all of these have piled together to create a world of mess.—Choices.
Fortunately for us, the Bible has recorded some of the choices that Lot made over the years. As we look back through time, we will see that the choices he made yesterday are the one’s he’s living with today.
Look back just a couple of verses to Gen. 19:15.
Angels had come to him to warn him of the coming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Listen to the choices he made.
read vs. 15-17
In vs. 18-22 Lot argues with the angels and persuades them to allow Lot and his family to flee to the nearby city of Zoar instead of fleeing to the mountains.
Read vs. 23-26
Did you notice the choices he made?
vs. 16 "he hesitated"
What would make him hesitate? Why would he want to wait...
He hesitated because he wanted to stay.
His heart was still in Sodom. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave even though the angels warned him of the city’s coming destruction. As the leader of his family, his love for this sinful city was shared by his wife as well. The angels warned them to flee the city and not look back. But she couldn’t resist. As burning sulfur rained down from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot’s wife’s heart burned with desire for her wicked home. And though she was so close to God’s safety and deliverance, her ties to Sodom were too strong.
Vs. 26 "she looked back and became a pillar of salt"
How did they end up so attached to this sinful city?
How did Lot end up with a wife who would disobey the warnings of an angel?
How did they end up in this mess? Choices!
As we look back through time, we see that the choices he made yesterday are the one’s he’s living with today.
At the beginning of Ch. 19 we read in vs. 1
Read vs. 1
—Lot is sitting at the gate... which means that he had become an important member of Sodom. The ruling officials would take their place at the gate of the city.
—While he’s seated there, 2 angels arrive at Sodom and Lot welcomes them into his home and prepares a meal for them.
Listen to what happened as night fell over the city.
Read vs. 4-5
This was a sick and perverted city filled with wickedness.
—What kind of a city is it that would beat on the door of someone’s house demanding that they send out their guests so that this gang of men might rape them?
—What kind of city could be filled with such wicked men—from the oldest to the youngest—that they would sin so greatly against the Lord?
—Before we get too shocked by their city, what kind of a culture do we live in that demands we call two homosexuals living in sin a marriage
—Or a culture that calls the killing of a partially born child while it is still in a mother’s womb pro-choice
—Or glorifies pre-marital sex, and violence, and pornography on every television show, movie, and song that has come out lately?
Is America much different from this wicked city?
But as these evil men are pounding on Lot’s door, listen to the choice that he made in verse 6...
Read vs. 6-8
Has this man lost his mind?
—What kind of a man would call these people, "friends"?
—What kind of a father would offer his two daughters to a gang of rapists?
—What about saying, "Over my dead body are you going to hurt the people in my house."
—What about calling upon the Lord to send His angels to blind these wicked men?
That’s what the angels ended up doing! As the crowd moved forward to break down the door the angels pulled Lot inside and struck all of the men with blindness. He’s in the presence of angels but the only choice he could think of is to offer up his daughters so that these men could do to them whatever they wanted.
How could he be so foolish?
What would cause someone to think this way?
How could the wickedness of this city make its way into this man’s mind?
How did he end up in such a mess? Choices
As we look back through time, we will see that the choices he made yesterday are the one’s he’s living with today.
—Looking back in time we come to realize that Lot hasn’t always lived in Sodom.
—In fact, as you turn to Genesis 13:11-13 we learn of some more of Lot’s choices.
Read Gen. 13:11-13
—vs. 12 Lot made a choice
—Lot pitched his tents near Sodom a long time ago.
—Before he ever chose to live in Sodom, he decided to pitch his tents near Sodom.
—He must have heard how wicked the city was.
He must have heard how the men of Sodom were sinning greatly against the Lord.
News of their evil probably spread as quickly as news travels in Washington Parish.
—And Lot must not have wanted any part of this wickedness, but instead of turning away from it, he decided to move dangerously close by.
He moved as close to the fire as he could without getting burned.
He didn’t live in the city, but he pitched his tent just as near as possible.
Well, the end result of this decision was that Lot found himself in the midst of a war. Two warring groups of kings were fighting in the valley and in chapter 14 verses 11-12 we read...
Read Gen. 14:11-12
How did Lot end up a prisoner of war?
How did he go from pitching his tent near Sodom to actually being a resident of Sodom?
How did he end up in this mess? Choices.
As we look back through time, the Bible records one more choice that he made.
—The choice that started him down the road of wrong choices.
—The choice that seems very minor compared to the rest that he had made.
—The choice that he made which would be the choice that he had to live with for the rest of his life
Let’s look at the choice...
Before we read Gen. 13:5-10
Let me tell you about Lot’s life before this defining moment.
—Abraham, who we are familiar with, had a brother by the name of Haran.
—Haran was Lot’s father who passed away while Lot was still young.
—It seems as though wherever Abraham went, Lot went also.
They left Ur of the Chaldees together
They arrived in Haran together
They traveled to Canaan together
They ended up in Egypt together
Then they settled in a place near Bethel together
—Abraham didn’t have any children of his own at that time so Lot must have been treated as the son he never had.
—Over time, Abraham became very wealthy.
In Gen. 13:5 (read)
Lot had become very wealthy as well
And then in Gen. 13:6-7 we read
It’s usually not a good idea to go into business with family members and here we find that Abraham’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen begin to quarrel because the land could not support them.
And so in vs. 8-9 Abraham offers a solution.
Read Gen. 13:8-9
Abraham had been good to his brother’s son.
Lot should have appreciated all that his uncle had done for him.
He should have been gracious and said, "No, uncle, you decide—you’re the elder, it is because of God’s blessing on you that I have prospered as well—whatever you decide that will be fine with me!"
But instead of making the right choice, Lot made a choice that he thought would best benefit him.
He did as many in our society do today... He looked out for number 1!
Read Gen. 13:10-11
Lot chose what was best for him.
He chose to be selfish.
He looked up and saw that the plains of the Jordan were well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt and he chose what was best for him.
—It didn’t matter that the right thing would have been to give that land to his uncle.
—It didn’t matter that the plains of Jordan were filled with wickedness because of Sodom and Gomorrah.
—It didn’t matter that he hadn’t asked the Lord for wisdom about the choice that he should make.
—He looked up. He saw. And he wanted what he thought would be best for him.
But because of that one selfish decision, because he decided to look out for #1, he made a choice that he would have to live with forever.
Because he selfishly chose the plains of Jordan, he ended up with Sodom and Gomorrah as well.
Because he chose to pitch his tents near Sodom, he ended up a prisoner of war.
Because he chose to live in Sodom after Abraham delivered him from captivity, he ended up serving that city as one of its leaders.
Because he chose to think like the people of Sodom, he ended up being willing to offer his daughters to a gang of rapists.
Because his love for that city was so strong, he ended up with sons-in-law who laughed at his warning to flee the city and a wife who couldn’t resist looking back.
Because he didn’t want to completely obey the angels, he ended up in a cave having incest with his two daughters and fathering their children... Children who would become the Moabites and Ammonites—enemies of Israel for ages to come.
Lot ended up in the mess that he was in because of the choices that he had made.
No choice was insignificant. No choice was minor.
Someone once said, "We are the sum total of all of the choices that we have ever made."
A selfish choice here + a choice to disobey there + something noone knows about then =
where you are today.
How in the world did you end up in the mess that you’re in? family member is in?
How in the world did you end up on the verge of a divorce?
How in the world did you end up an alcoholic/drug addict?
How in the world did you end up with this much debt?
How in the world did you end up with all of these family problems?
How in the world did you end up addicted to pornography or gambling?
How in the world did I end up in this mess that I am in?
—It didn’t happen all at once.
—You don’t become an addict over night.
—Your marriage doesn’t fall apart in one day.
But it’s a series of choices. As we look back in time, we see...
a selfish choice (the plains of Jordan)
an unwise decision (pitching our tent near Sodom)
ungodly solution (offering our daughters to rapists)
love of the world (hesitating when its time to flee)
lack of faith (disobeying angels and trying to compromise)
outright sin (sleeping with daughters)
——————————The choices you make today——————————
————are the ones you’re going to have to live with tomorrow.————
Some of you may not be in a world of mess right now, but you’re making choices that are leading you in that direction.
—You’re pitching your tents near Sodom.
—You’re getting dangerously close to sin because you think you can handle it.
Let me tell you now—You Can’t Handle It.
Someone once said that "Sin will take you farther than you ever wanted to go and it will keep you there longer than you ever wanted to stay."
Before you know it you’ll be in a world of mess without a clue how to get out.
You keep playing around with sin, making unwise and ungodly decisions, and before you know it, you’ll be just like Lot.
—Your life will be ruined.
—Your family will be ruined.
—Your relationships will be ruined.
—Your future will be ruined.
All because of one bad choice.
How many churches have been destroyed because of one bad choice?
How many families have been destroyed because of one bad choice?
How many nations have been destroyed because of one bad choice?
——————————The choices you make today——————————
————are the ones you’re going to have to live with tomorrow.————
Listen to what the word of the Lord says to you today...
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Deut. 30:19-20
The Lord sets before you a choice today.
What choice will you make today?
Life and the blessing of God or
Death and destruction with the devil
Obedience and blessing
Disobedience and cursing
Looking out for number 1 or
looking to glorify Jesus—the One and Only
The choice that you make today matters a lot.
The decisions that seem to be no big deal matter a lot.
Whether you chose to love the Lord, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him matters a lot.
What choice will you make today?
