Sermon Tone Analysis

“The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.

When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, ‘My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet.

Then you may rise up early and go on your way.’

They said, ‘No; we will spend the night in the town square.’

But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house.

And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

“But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.

And they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight?

Bring them out to us, that we may know them.’

Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said, ‘I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.

Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man.

Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please.

Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.’

But they said, ‘Stand back!’

And they said, ‘This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge!

Now we will deal worse with you than with them.’

Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.

But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.

And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

“Then the men said to Lot, ‘Have you anyone else here?

Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place.

For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.’

So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, ‘Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.’

But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

“As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up!

Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.’

But he lingered.

So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

And as they brought them out, one said, ‘Escape for your life.

Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley.

Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.’”[1]

God has promised His people that, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” [*1 Corinthians 10:13*].

At issue is not whether believers find themselves tempted as result of compromise—they do, but whether the child of God will seek to avoid compromise or whether he will respond with alacrity when God provides a way to escape temptation.

To explore this greatly needed instruction, I invite you to join me in reviewing Lot’s actions to the warning to flee for his life delivered by two angels sent by God.

The account is found in Genesis 19, and I invite you to turn your minds to review that incident.

*A Believer Settled in Sodom* — Writing the Corinthian Christians, the Apostle warns, “No one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” [*1 Corinthians 3:11-15*].

Reading those words, I think of Lot and his family escaping with only their lives when the city was destroyed by God’s judgement.

His family imperilled because of his choice to live a life indistinguishable from and fully identified with the inhabitants of Sodom, it was only because of God’s mercies that Lot was spared death when the Sodomites were judged.

Lot and his family did escape, but they suffered incredible loss.

Lot illustrates the impoverished life of a half-hearted, worldly Christian, and the cost to a Christian who chooses a worldly lifestyle.

Keep in mind that Lot was a believer.

There is nothing in the record of his life that would make us think that he was a worshipper of the Living God, but he was Abraham’s nephew and he had witnessed the grace of God at work in Abraham’s life.

He was warned by the angels of pending judgement and commanded to flee the city lest he be destroyed along with the inhabitants.

It is not until we have almost read all the way through the Bible that we discover that he was truly a believer when Peter, teaching of the Lord’s power to keep His people from experiencing judgement, writes, “If [God] rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man lived among them day-after-day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgement, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority” [*2 Peter 2:7-10*].

Peter calls him “righteous Lot,” and informs us that he was “distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked.”

He is said to have been disturbed—“tormenting his righteous soul” by witnessing what was going on around him.

All this is said of him, and yet, he was unwilling to distinguish himself from the wicked, leaving the city and its inhabitants.

His relationship to God was apparently not evident to the inhabitants of the city, likely because he had convinced himself that worship was a private matter rather than being a defining characteristic of his life!

Believers seldom jump into sin with eager determination to do evil; rather, they slide gradually into sin.

Certainly, that was the case for Lot.

When tension between Lot’s herdsmen and those of his uncle escalated, necessitating a separation of the two groups, we are informed that when given the choice of where he would go, “Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar” [*Genesis 13:10*].

When he “lifted up his eyes and saw,” this was more than a casual glance.

The original language draws attention to the looking, indicating that Lot took a good look.

In other words, Lot was drawn to Sodom long before he moved to Sodom.

This indicates that Lot was not content to continue living in a tent as he would have to do if he continued travelling with Abraham.

Perhaps he justified his longing by saying that everyone deserves to do better in life, and living in the bustling city would be preferable to living in a tent.

Perhaps his wife constantly complained about her lack of cultural stimulation and the hardship of keeping a tent clean.

Perhaps his children whined that they wanted friends, that they were bored, that they wanted the latest amenities to amuse themselves.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to better oneself.

And there is nothing wrong with wanting to live in a city in order to avail oneself of the multiplied cultural opportunities there.

However, it is decidedly wrong to advance all such opportunities at the expense of serving God.

It is foolish to seek a momentary gain at the expense of one’s spiritual health.

Jesus asked, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul” [*Matthew 16:26*]?

Just so, what is the value of superior education or great wealth if you lose your family and your witness?

Frankly, I would rather learn my ABCs in heaven than spout astrophysics and ballistics in hell.

Lot was longing for Sodom before he ever parted from his uncle.

Shortly after separating from Abraham, we read, “Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom” [*Genesis 13:12*].

This was in spite of the fact that he apparently knew that “The men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners before the Lord” [*Genesis 13:13*].

When we next hear of Lot, he is “dwelling in Sodom” [*Genesis 14:12*].

Finally, he attained some sort of prominence in the city, indicated by the fact that “Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom” [*Genesis 19:1*].

This is emphasised by the inhabitants of the city when they complained against Lot in *Genesis 19:9*: “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge!”

The gate is where the elders sat.

This was where justice was dispensed.

I suppose that had many of our modern church leaders been present at the time Lot was seated in the gate, they would congratulate him for throwing off his fundamentalist past in order to be progressive.

Some listeners are perhaps wondering at this point what’s wrong with assuming leadership.

Can’t a Christian aspire to a position of leadership in the world?

Of course, we should labour to be all that we can be to the glory of God, and we should aspire to glorify God through exercising wise leadership.

However, Lot made no difference in the wicked lives of the people of Sodom.

He was silent, hoping he could enjoy the benefits of living in Sodom without jeopardising his position by being seen as an unyielding fundamentalist.

Lot had jettisoned reason for emotion.

Knowing the outcome of the story, we can see that Lot was not like the godly man described by the Psalmist in the first Psalm.

He had so thoroughly identified with the wicked that he had become like them.

Now, he walked in the counsel of the wicked.

He stood in the way of sinners, and he sat in the seat of scoffers.

Consequently, shortly his leaf would wither, his fruit would rot and he would not prosper.

Perhaps there are some who are arguing mentally at this moment as the message is delivered.

Perhaps you are thinking that we are, after all, appointed to go “into all the world” [*Mark 16:15*], even “to the end of the earth” [*Acts 1:8*].

Perhaps you imagine that Lot went to Sodom as a missionary.

There are many Christians who imagine that by “living a good life” in the midst of wicked people, they are missionising.

However, it is obvious from the text that Lot was not a missionary; he was a candidate to be missionised!

“But,” some will respond, “didn’t Paul go to Rome?

And didn’t Jonah go to Nineveh?”

The answer in either instance and in many other cases is, “Yes!” God also placed Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon and Esther in Persia.

However, the difference is that each of these individuals was sent by God to live in the wicked environs for a specific purpose.

They were obedient to God, howbeit reluctantly in the case of Jonah.