And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. (2Peter 2:7-10)
WHEN GOD DESTROYED THE CITIES OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH, how could a servant of God be in that place and be called: Just Lot?” Righteous man? Righteous soul? God had told Abraham to leave his place and his kin and go to a place God would show him. He obeyed the Lord….sort of: except that he took his nephew along with him. They traveled at a snail’s pace and took their animals with them. The wealth of both men increased until their herdsmen were quarreling over the pasture land and water. At last, Abraham and Lot separated. Abraham said to Lot:
IS NOT THE WHOLE LAND BEFORE THEE? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. (Genesis 13:9-13) These were not your ordinary sinners. They were “exceedingly” sinners.
LOT HAD SOME GOOD UPBRINGING. He had learned from his Uncle Abraham, but his learning was selective. Lot chose not to learn the deeper things of Abraham. That’s why Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom. When it was time to pitch their tent in a new field of grass and a source of water, Lot always moved in the direction of Sodom.
ONE DAY LOT LOOKED UP AND HE COULD SEE SODOM IN THE DISTANCE. Not long after that, Lot and his family are pitched at the city limits of Sodom. He was a good business man. He was a good mixer. He knew how to say what he knew people liked to hear. Before long, Lot was a member of the city council, one of the boys. He didn’t know what he was getting into. He didn’t realize he was going to lose everything he had, including his wife. She loved it! She was a natural-born socialite.
Jesus said of her: Remember Lot's wife. (Luke 17:32) It’s the second shortest verse in the Bible. Her soul was not vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. Perhaps she never heard as much filth as did Lot.
THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT WE ARE ALL SINNERS, but we are not all equal sinners. In this story we see that some activities and people are more sinful than other activities and people. We are not all equal sinners in God’s sight. When God talked to Abraham about the land he was going to him and his descendants, God said this: And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. (Genesis 15:15-16)
GOD KEEPS TRACK OF PEOPLE AND PLACES and measures them. Abraham was a sinner, but God was going to give him land that belonged to people who were greater sinners than he was. Abraham was a sinner but he was not as great a sinner as the Amorites.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. (2Corinthians 11:15)
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:12) In Hell, everyone will not be on the same level because they will be judged according to their works.
HOW CAN IT BE SAID THAT LOT WAS A JUST MAN and yet he was clearly a sinner? In his heart of hearts, Lot was not with these wicked people. Their conversation and wicked lifestyle was offensive to him. The judgment that fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah came out of an attitude of pride (Ezekiel 16:49) but it was the words and actions of that pride that vexed the soul of Lot and that offended God.
And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;(Gen 18:20) And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. (Genesis 19:15-16)
Here is a just man, a righteous man, whom God is going to rescue from certain doom in the burning city, he is so helpless that the angel has to do more than be present.
The angel must take him by the hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters and pull them out of the doomed city. Although he could get these two daughters out of Sodom, it was harder for him to get Sodom out of the daughters.
It is not clear if he had two daughters or four daughters. He may have lost two married daughters in the fire. If he only had two daughters, the sons-in-law were fiancés of his daughters and not full-fledged husbands. Lot had no influence on these men and they died in the fire. Ω
Read Through the Bible in a Year
MAY 30, 2018 – WEDNESDAY
A.M. 1Chronicles 28-29 P.M. John 11:47-57
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
Good Memory Verse:
For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. (2Peter 2:21) (Write verses on scraps of paper and put in your pocket like President Abraham Lincoln did.)
Song for Today:
Until Then (3:40) – (Janet Paschal & Gaither Group)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbiAVnADFfg
You may need to turn off the song when finished to avoid something else you do not want to hear.