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The Blue Letter Bible

Chuck Smith :: Sermon Notes for Genesis 19:26

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"THE CONQUENCES OF COMPROMISE"
I. LOT WAS A VERY WEALTHY MAN. HIS FLOCKS AND HERDS BECAME SO GREAT HE COULD NO LONGER STAY WITH ABRAHAM.
A. The scripture describes him as having great substance.
1. Abraham and he had come to that point that they had to part company.
2. Abraham left the choice of the land up to Lot. "You go one way and I will go the other."
3. Lot chose the lush plains of the Jordan Valley.
GEN 13:12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain.
B. It is here that we read, "He pitched his tent toward Sodom." It is a dangerous thing to pitch your tent toward Sodom.
1. In the next verse we read:
GEN 13:13 But the men of Sodom [were] wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
2. We somehow have a strange attraction toward sin.
3. We find it rather fascinating.
4. There is a dangerous curiosity about evil.
5. I can remember as a young minister when a group of older ministers went to a strip joint in Los Angeles on the pretext that we need to know what we are preaching against.
6. Paul exhorted us that we should be wise toward that which is good, and simple toward evil.
7. He tells us that:
EPH 5:12 It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
B. There are always those who like to play with fire, and hope that they will not get burned.
1. They like to live on the edge.
2. Their goal is to see how close they can live to the world and still maintain their fellowship with the Lord.
3. The scripture warns us:
JAM 4:4 That the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
4. We are told,
1JO 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
5. Paul warned young Timothy to:
2TI 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: He warned him of the...
1TI 6:9 temptations and snares, and the many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
6. As we move on in Genesis when we get to the story of Joseph we find him fleeing from the house when his master's wife tried to seduce him.
C. The big lie of Satan is that you can find fulfillment in sinful living.
1. You can find excitment and pleasure, but never fulfillment. You can find happiness, but never joy. I find it interesting that they call it the happy hour, never the joyful hour. Our ladies rightly call their Friday morning study, Joyful Life.
2. The ultimate end of the sinful life is always destruction.
3. We are told in Hebrews that Moses:
HEB 11:25 Choose to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
HEB 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he took into consideration the final consequences.
a. We are told here that the pleasures of sin are short lived.
b. That to align yourself with the people of God will bring eternal glory.
II. THE NEXT TIME WE SEE LOT, HE IS LIVING IN SODOM.
A. As in the Psalm, it so often begins with walking in the counsel of the ungodly, then moves on to standing in the way with sinners, and finally you are sitting in the seat of the scornful.
1. Once you turn and begin to move in the direction of Sodom, it always seems to be progressive.
2. We see in this, the seductiveness of evil.
3. It so often begins innocently enough. You look toward the plains of Jordan and they seem very attractive.
4. She smiles at you at the water cooler, and she seems attractive.
5. You pitch your tent toward Sodom. You find a way to be at the water cooler when she is there. You even put the water in the cup and hand it to her.
6. Then Lot moved into Sodom, and one day you find yourself in bed with her.
7. That surely was not your intention when you first smiled and were attracted by her beauty.
III. I WANT YOU TO SEE WHAT LOT LOST IN SODOM.
A. The reason he had to separate from Abraham is because of his great wealth.
1. When he was forced to flee from Sodom, he had no more than the clothes on his back.
a. He was stripped.
b. He had nothing.
2. He lost his family to the immorality of the city.
a. He might have been strong enough to withstand the temptations of Sodom, but his children were not.
b. His righteous spirit may have been vexed by the way the people lived, but his children got caught up in the life style of Sodom.
c. You are in danger of seeing all of your children destroyed because of your own compromising.
d. I do not know about you, but my children's salvation is as important to me as my own.
e. He tried to warn his children of the coming judgment, but they just mocked him.
f. He even lost his wife in the judgment.
1. The command not to look back could very well be in a figurative sense, rather than physical.
2. Looking back on the old life with a longing.
3. This was the case of some of the children of Israel in the wilderness they began to look back longing for the old life in Egypt.
4. As Peter wrote:
2PE 2:20 For if after you have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, if you are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse for you than the beginning.
5. On the south end of the dead sea, Dr. Kyle discovered under Mt. Usdom a strata of salt 150 feet thick just above it there is a strata of marl mingled with free sulphur. At the proper time God kindled the gases and there was a great explosion, the salt and sulphur were blown into the air, so that it literally rained fire and brimstone. It could be that as Lot's wife looked back, even hanging back and reluctant to leave, she was covered by a pillar of salt.
3. In the next sordid scene we see that the two daughters that escaped with Lot had also been lost to the morals of Sodom.
B. We might well conclude that his venture toward Sodom ultimately cost him everything. His wealth, his reputation, his family.
C. The story of Lot is a tragic story indeed. Why did God put the story of Lot in the Bible?
1. For a warning to those that might be attracted by the lifestyles of Sodom.
2. Paul wrote that these things all happened to them as examples for us, and they were written for our admonition.
D. If a man falls into a trap unknowingly, that is a pity.
E. But if a man has been warned over and over that Satan has set a trap and is luring you into it, and you still becomes ensnared, that is folly.
F. Dr. J.Addison Alexander has penned this warning, There is a time, we know not when, A point we know not where, That marks the destiny of men To glory or despair. There is a line by us unseen, That crosses every path; The hidden boundary between, God's patience and His wrath. To pass that limit is to die, To die as if by stealth; It does not quench the beaming eye, Or pale the glow of health. The conscience may be still at ease The spirits light and gay; That which is pleasing, still may please, And care be thrust away. But on that forehead God has set, Indelibly a mark; Unseen by man, for man as yet, Is blind and in the dark. And yet the doomed man's path below May bloom as Eden bloomed; He did not, does not, will not know, Or feel that he is doomed. He knows, he feels that all is well, And every fear is calmed; He lives, he dies, he wakes in hell, Not only doomed but damned. Oh! where is that mysterious bourne By which our path is crossed; Beyond which, God Himself hath sworn That he who goes is lost. How far may we go on in sin? How long will God forbear? Where does hope end, and where begin The confines of despair? An answer from the sky is sent; "You, that from God depart, While it is called today repent, And harden not your heart." Many a person has awakened to the reality that their little excursion into Sodom, as Lot, cost them everything. Home, possessions, wife, children, reputation, and oft times their soul.
Sermon Notes for Genesis 19:22-24 ← Prior Section
Sermon Notes for Genesis 22 Next Section →
Sermon Notes for Revelation 1 ← Prior Book
Sermon Notes for Exodus 3:1-4 Next Book →
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