THROUGH THE BIBLE: Genesis 1..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So Genesis chapter 19, I'll be reading from the ESV. 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 your servants' 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 whom 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, brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out 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 with, now we'll deal worse with you than with them. Then they pressed hard against the man lot and drew near to break the door down. And the men reached out their hands and brought lot into the house with them and then shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so they wore themselves out, groping for the door.

Then the men said to Lot, have you anyone else, sons-in-laws, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in this city, bring them out of this place, for we are about to destroy this place. Because the outcry against this 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-laws, who were to marry his daughters, up, get up out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city. But he seemed to his sons-in-laws to be jesting. As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, Up, take your wife and your daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the judgment of the city.

But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought them out to 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.

And Lot said to them, oh no, my lords, behold, your servant has found favor in your eyes and you have shown great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot escape to the hills. Let the disaster overtake me and I die. Behold, the city is near enough to flee and it is a little one. Let me escape there. It is not a little one and my life will be saved.

He said to him, behold, I grant you this favor also and I will not overthrow the city. which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zohar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zohar.

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the valleys and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. But Lot's wife behind him looked back And she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord. And he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and towards all the land of the valley.

And he looked and behold, the smoke of land went up like smoke of a furnace. So it was that when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent light out of the midst. of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. Now Lot went up to Zohar and lived in the hills with his two daughters for he was afraid to live in Zohar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters and the firstborn said to the younger, our father is old.

There is not a man on the earth to come in us after this manner of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine and we will lie with him. that we may preserve offspring from our father. So they made their father drunk that night, and the firstborn went in and lay down with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father.

Let us make him drink wine tonight. Then you go in and lay with him. that he may preserve offspring from our father. So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.

The firstborn born a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called him Ben-Ammi. He is the father of the Amorites. to this day.

Amen. This is the word of the Lord. It is sometimes that we come across in our reading of the Bible where we come across passages like this where we find quite sensitive themes and in fact even some sins that we find quite embarrassing even to talk about. or to think of. I think this is one of the advantages of going systematically through the Bible, because if it were up to me, I wouldn't choose this passage to preach on, especially the last portion of this passage, but it's in the Bible.

And 2 Timothy says that all Scripture is God-brief and it's profitable. So therefore we know that the Lord has it here for a reason and we can all profit and be edified by it. Last week, our brother Nelson took us through Genesis 18. We were introduced to three men that had come to visit Abraham. We found out later on that the three men, in fact, one was Yahweh, one was God, who had come to Abraham to visit with him, to talk with him, because Abraham was deemed as his friend.

The other two were angels. Now the Lord shared two things that are very important for us to know with Abraham, because he was his friend. And the first was that this time next year, Sarah, his wife, would bear a child to him. Finally, after 24 years, God would, in his own time, bring to fruition the promise of an offspring to Abraham from his own loins by his wife Sarah. But the other thing God told Abraham, as his friend, was that he had come to look at the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, because their outcry had reached him, and his intention was to destroy these cities under the wrath judgment of God.

Abraham reverently yet boldly intercedes on behalf of these cities in hope that God would relent in sending his judgment. God listens to Abraham and agrees even if there were 10, he works his way down from 50 righteous to 40 and brings it down to 10. If there were 10 righteous people in these cities, God would relent from sending his judgment of destruction upon this city. And Abraham in his heart always knew that God of all the earth would do what is right. So chapter 19 is really a vindication of God's judgment and of him pouring out his wrath upon these incredibly immoral cities.

Our chapter starts this morning with God sending two of his angels into the city of Sodom to see with their own eyes the level of iniquity in this city Not long after they arrived, Lot greets them. He was waiting at the gate of the city. And he greets them and insists that they come with him and spend the night with him. Showing hospitality was obviously customary in this time, in this day, and Lot needed or wanted to be hospitable to his guests, but he strongly urged them to stay the night was beyond showing hospitality, I think. No doubt he knew what the character of the city was and the level of immorality and sin in the city.

So I think more than likely Lot was concerned for their safety. His plan was to bring them into his home unnoticed and then he would ask them, as we see in the passage, early in the morning to leave. Early in the morning, probably before any of the residents of the city would have woken up to realize that he had visitors. The things don't go according to Lot's plans. The angels agree to spend the night after he insisted, but Lot doesn't get them home unnoticed.

Before long, We're told all the men of the city turn up, surround the home, demanding that Lot will hand over his visitors to them. Why? So that the men can have indecent physical relations with them. This city was so steeped in sin and depravity. Paul explains this to us in Romans 1.

He says there, that such people exchange natural relations for unnatural ones, being consumed with passion, committing themselves to acts, shameless acts, with one another. Devoid of any decency, these sodomites were committing sins that were an abomination and detestable in the eyes of God, and beloved, they still are. Inflamed with unnatural lusts, they cry out to the men to be sent out. Now the highest duty of a host in the ancient Near Eastern custom was to protect his guests at all costs, even if that meant to risk his own life. He was obliged to do it.

So Lot courageously comes out and begs the men, don't act so wickedly. Lot was a righteous man. Peter tells us his righteous soul was tormented over their lawless deeds or over the lawless deeds of his countrymen. But what this righteous man does next is appalling. Rather than trusting God in the situation, Lot proposes the men of Sodom take his own daughters and to do with them as they please as long as they leave his guests alone.

This offer was disgraceful and unacceptable. Some commentators will try to justify a lot, saying he was righteous and explain their way around it. But brothers and sisters, the fact remains, it was unacceptable and it was disgraceful. But this is just a reminder that righteousness is not sinlessness. Being exposed to the daily evil of Sodom with not even a single family that he, Lot, or his family could socialize or fellowship, truly fellowship with, must necessarily have taken a toll.

Lot's moral compass, I believe, was damaged. But even then, his offer is refused and these men turn on Lot. The angels managed to open the door and drag Lot back in and closed the door behind them. This was a desperate situation and the men surrounding the house, inflamed with sinful lusts, would not relent. And at this point, it is at this point that the angels pronounce blindness upon all the men who surround the home in order to disorient and confuse them.

They're all blind now, stumbling around and stumbling over each other, tripping and falling over each other. You'd think they would come to their senses. You'd think they would walk away, calm down, realise this sinfulness and be on their merry way. But what comes next is incredible. Sin is so devastating to the human soul and mind that even after being attacked with blindness, the Bible tells us in verse 11 that they continue to grope for the door in order to apprehend Lot's guests, in order to satisfy their unhealthy, unnatural, sinful lusts.

Even being blind, they are relentless and they continue until they wear themselves out trying. Sin makes a man a fool. Decision to destroy the cities was now made. But God remembered Abraham and as a result would rescue Lot and his family before he destroys these cities. Lot proved to be sinful.

and he proved to be unwise in his decisions. But God rescues him because despite his own sins and actions, God is ever faithful, and he will always keep his own. The truth remains, Lot should never have stayed in Sodom. What business does the righteous have in a place so steeped in wickedness? Was he an evangelist?

Maybe, but ineffective? What does light have in common with darkness? You see, it all began with the desire of Lot's eyes. Back in Genesis 13, Lot looks over the Jordan and sees a land or a plain that is nice and green, lush, well fertilized, and plenty of water to grow the fruit. And so Lot likes what he sees and decides decides to go is no excuse because in chapter 13 we're told that Sodom was a wicked city.

So Lot knew what he was getting himself into. His moral compass as a result of remaining in that city would become weakened because sin, beloved, always gives birth to sin and eventually it will, it will corrupt good character. Even now when the angels tell him and his family to quickly depart to the hills, we're told Lot lingered. He hesitated. What's there to hesitate about?

The city's about to be burnt to a crisp. Lot, what are you thinking? But the angels seized him and his family by force, against their will, and they take him and his family outside the city. That's mercy. We're told that in the passage.

That's God's mercy. The angels drag them to safety. It's an interesting reminder of, I think, John chapter 6. Jesus speaking to the crowds. He says, no one comes to me unless the Father draws him to me.

Did you know the Greek word for draw is helko? And it literally means to drag or to pull. God saves against the will of the flesh because the will of the flesh is only ever sinful. Lot's been affected and doesn't know how or what he wants, but God knows how to save and protect his own people, despite their own sinfulness. Now Lot, his wife, and their daughter's journey to Zohar, the city of refuge, and upon arriving, sulfur and fire rained down from heaven, we're told, and the lush green, well-watered plains of Sodom and Gomorrah Those planes that were so appealing to Lot's eyes are now utterly and totally made inhabitable and destroyed.

Sin has a devastating effect and Lot's wife had come under that effect. She could not let go. Her heart remained in Sodom and upon looking back she turned into a pillar of salt. Lot's unwise decisions have serious consequences. He loses his wife and we've seen the final portions, well in the final portions of this dark, dark chapter, his daughters have also been corrupted.

The last portion tells us, due to fear, Lot and his daughters have made their residence in a cave near or in the hills. All Lot's flock, all his possessions, now his wife, everything he had ever had or owned apart from his daughters, have been completely lost. But matters are about to get a lot worse. His daughters devised an evil plan to get their father drunk and procreate through him. This behavior was unacceptable and deeply sinful in all generations.

But what do you expect from girls living in such evil and nasty environment like Sodom? The deceit and immorality of Sodom had rubbed off on them. Their hearts had been compromised. One commentator said this, he said, Lot was somehow able to remove his daughters from Sodom, but he was unable to remove Sodom from his daughters. Lot was responsible for his family, and now his actions, well, his actions prove that he failed in his daughter's upbringing.

Both daughters end up bearing children to their father and the irony is that Lot ends up unintentionally doing to his daughters what he suggested the men of Sodom do. The action of this family was just as detestable in the eyes of God as the sins committed in Sodom. In fact, when the law is given on Sinai, the exact same penalty is handed out for those who practice incest and those who practice homosexuality. Both sins are an abomination to God, Leviticus 18, and both sins are still an abomination to God. The result Lot becomes the father of the Moabite people, and he becomes the father of the Ammonite people.

Both these people grow into enemies of Israel, just like Abraham's sin led to Ishmael, who too would become a perpetual enemy of the people of God. There is certainly similarities or a difference between walking in faith and walking in the flesh. In fact, we're told in the book of Numbers that the Moabites encouraged Israel to forsake Yahweh and seduce them into idolatry. The fruit of Lot's sin caused Israel to sin against God. All our decisions, beloved, have consequences.

But in all this, and in the narratives that we read, one thing should stand out above anything else, and this is it. God is faithful. God is faithful. He will always accomplish His plans perfectly, and He will always finally and fully save His own people despite their own sins. Beloved, we're saved not because of who we are and what we have done or what we will do.

We've been saved simply because of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Amen.