Presentation 33

Presentation 33

History is full of men and women who have seen their world’s collapse like a pack of cards. All they have sought to achieve and invested their lives in evaporates before their eyes. Incredulity paralyses their minds and numbs their emotions. They are in a free-fall state with nothing substantial to hold on to. Lot was such a man. Unlike Abraham, spiritual realities were not uppermost in his mind. He had made this world his home. He was the sort of person who wanted the best of both worlds.

He did not have a single-minded commitment to God but enough spiritual insurance to get him an “out of judgement free card”. That approach to life will always end in disaster and we need to understand why that is so!

Introduction

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First, consider some of the false assumptions he must have made. “I can live near Sodom and it won’t affect me. I will still be God’s man, I will still worship him”. But with the passing of time he was drawn into Sodom. None of us are nearly as morally strong as we think! The fact that Lot had recently been prepared to broker a deal that would have thrown his daughters into the hands of the clamouring Sodomites indicates the measure of his departure from godliness.

Few of us know the deep flaws in our personalities or how low we would sink were it not for the restraint of God’s grace. Lot assumed he could put his head in the mouth of moral danger and not be harmed by it.

The False Assumptions Made

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Secondly he may have thought, “I can get out of Sodom whenever I want”. But the real problem was not getting Lot out of Sodom but getting Sodom out of Lot. After the battle of the kings, when Abraham rescued Lot and his family along with other inhabitants of Sodom, how had Lot reacted? Did he think, ‘This is wake up call. Sodom is a dangerous place for me to live?’ No he went straight back to the city and continued as before.

And now when warning of impending judgment on the city is given, he is clearly hesitant about leaving. Can you see the grip which the‘spirit of Sodom’ and its way of life had upon him?

The False Assumptions Made

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Thirdly, Lot may have assumed that, “my decision to live in Sodom won’t harm anyone else”. It clearly harmed his wife! When hospitality was given to the angel visitors notice she is not involved in the preparation of food as custom required. Instead it was Lot who cooked them a meal. Why? Was Lot’s wife out of sorts? Was she angry with these two visitors, who spoke about bringing their life in Sodom to an end? All that was important to her was found in Sodom.

On leaving the city, she looked back with lustful eyes. This was no brief glance over her shoulder. As she looked on the city under judgement she was saying, “that is where I want to be. That is where my heart is”. God granted her request and she perished in the judgement.

With good cause Jesus warned his hearers, “remember Lot’s wife” Lk. 17.32.

The False Assumptions Made

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Not only had Lot’s decision to settle in Sodom affected his wife, it affected his daughters. They are not scandalised about having an incestuous relationship with their father. Not only were they reflecting the morality of Sodom but doubtless remembered that their father had been prepared to hand them over to the men of Sodom.

Had Lot lost their respect? They were determined to have a child at any cost. Cleary it is a grave mistake to assume that our spiritual waywardness will not influence the lives of those nearest and dearest to us.

The False Assumptions Made

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Lot’s world collapsed as he recognised that the success he though he had achieved was superficial. At the start of the day of God’s visitation he had sat at the gate of the city in a place of prominence. He had been made a judge. He had public recognition for his achievements – all very satisfying.

But when evening came and he had refused to hand over his visitors to the crowd, it wasthen that the rubber hit the road and theinhabitants turned on him. He was treated with dismissive contempt and swept aside by those he thought he had some influence over.

The Superficiality of his Success

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His little tower of self-importance was beginning to crumble. He may have been a judge in name but he discovered that he had neither the authority nor the influence to restrain the wicked desires of the city’s inhabitants.

So often those who compromise their faith are humoured by an unbelieving world and led to believe that their influence is greater than it truly is. And the day comes when the world is seen in its true colours!

The Superficiality of his Success

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I am sure that Lot persuaded himself, when he settled in Sodom that he could be an influence for righteousness? He believed he could make a difference! Did he think he was making progress, when his daughters were engaged to be married to men from the city? There seems to have been some sort of moral propriety in this relationship - for it was marked by chastity before marriage! In a place like Sodom, Lot must have thought that was quite an achievement!

The Superficiality of his Success

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Clearly his prospective sons-in law had treated him and his moral standards with some respect. But even that apparent success also appears to have been superficial. When Lot tried to warn his prospective sons-in law of their need to escape the judgement of God, they laughed at him. His words carried no weight at all.

Lot spoke earnestly about God and they thought it a huge joke!

The Superficiality of his Success

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It is sad to think that on numerous occasions in the past these men had been in Lot’s home and observed his family life but they saw nothing there to indicate that he took God very seriously. Why should they believe him now? Are our homes like that? When others visit do they sense the fact that God is important to us. I do not mean that we are to preach to them but do they leave thinking that God is honoured in this home?

All of the ‘success’ that Lot had built into his life was wood, hay and stubble. Some writers believe this incident lies behind Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians to build into their lives that which will stand the test of time lest they become spiritual bankrupts who are ‘saved as through fire’ 1Cor 3.15

The Superficiality of his Success

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A final reason lying behind Lot’s collapse is his inability to learn from his failure. When he and his family are dragged out of Sodom, he does not want to go to the appointed place of safety - the mountains - but asks to be allowed to go to a nearby town cf. v18. In other words, he wanted to go far enough to escape immediate danger but also wanted to stay close enough to be able to return to Sodom if the opportunity arose! This decision also provided his wife with a vantage point fromwhich to look back, something that had been forbidden. She turned into a pillar of salt!

The Aftermath of Judgement

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Many today want to be delivered from harm without being fully committed to obedience to God. Why did God agree to Lot’s request to go only as far as Zoar? God sometimes gives us what we plead for in the hope that by living with the consequence we might learn from our folly.

“In the desert they [the wandering Israelites] gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them”. Ps 106v 14

The Aftermath of Judgement

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After asking to go there, Lot could not settle in Zoar. Was he afraid that its inhabitants would turn on him? So he eventually fled to the mountains. His dream has dissolved. His wealth was destroyed. His was wife dead. His self-importance and self respect was shattered. His home was a cave. Everything was in ruins.

I suspect he needed very little encouragement to drink the wine that his daughters plied him with! Escapism in any form must have seemed attractive!

The fact that his daughters then lay with him in order to have children is a sad conclusion to a life of such potential.

The Aftermath of Judgement

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Perhaps the saddest part of this story is that Lot was a prodigal, who made no attempt to go home. His experience did not cause him to humble himself before God and plead for mercy. He does nothing to re-establish fellowship with God. And there is no attempt made to contact Abraham, who had prayed for his deliverance! Lot consigned himself to a spiritual wasteland rather than come back to God. He does not appear again in the Genesis narrative. What was his abiding legacy? The two sons born to his daughters founded the Moabite and Ammonite nations both of whom would endanger God’s people and God’s work, in the years ahead!

The Aftermath of Judgement

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In the unfolding story of Abraham, Lot’s life acts as a foil. Lot failed to fulfil his potential. Lot could not bring himself to share the pilgrim vision of Abraham, who looked forward to the day, when he would enter a different ‘city whose maker and builder was God’. The world is full of prodigal’s like Lot. People who have sought the best of both world’s, whose dreams have collapsed, and yet they are not prepared to come out of their caves and restore their relationship with God.

It is hard to admit that we have made a mistake. But God extends the grace of a new beginning to all such and can empower you to overcome the down-drag of the world. He can help you to step out of the cave and into the richness of his satisfying future for your life.

Do you need to make a fresh start with God?

Conclusion

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