Sin Doesn't Share, Part 2

Photo by Nicolas Picard on Unsplash
Have you ever told someone how to do a particular task but they insist on doing it some other way? Even though no other way exists to do that task, they insist on relentlessly attempting to do that which isn't right. Kids do this all the time, don't they? We have sayings like, "If at first you don't succeed, do it the way mom told you to do it." How much easier our lives would be, eh? 

But we can't judge them too harshly because we often find ourselves in the same boat, don't we? God tells us explicitly how to live and even what to do when we don't do it right and still we resist Him. We can see this on full display here with Lot on his way out of Sodom. 

Last week, we took a deep, hard look at how Lot got into the situation that he got into. We found that even a man given the grace of God can still get terrifyingly used to evil such that he would use it himself. God is merciful, however, and is still committed to not sweep away Lot with the rest of the city. God begins the extraction process, but Lot seems to be doing his best to not cooperate with the process. This is extremely frustrating to watch, but there is a lot that we can learn here, as we finish our sermon from last week with point two: God's grace will save you, so embrace it. 

Ok, so when we last left this story, the whole city of Sodom was trying to break down Lot's door so they could have their way with the guests AND violate Lot for trying to stop them. The only way that they could be stopped was the angels striking them with literal blindness. That didn't stop them from trying, but it did stop them from being successful. God's examination of Sodom is complete, and destruction is coming.  

You would think that this would be enough to convince Lot and his family that it is indeed time to pack up the bags. What could possibly be left in Sodom for them? The whole town is against them now, so Lot's political career is over. And certainly after an event like that, you would think they are ready to flee the town immediately! Plus! The whole thing is about to be destroyed anyway by God Himself! The angels have him warn his sons-in-law, but they don't take that warning seriously. You can feel the tragedy in that, but the real tragedy is in verse 16. 

Lot lingers. 

It is one thing for sons-in-law who haven't seen God work to distrust, but Lot has seen what God can do. Lot just watched angels blind a whole town and those same beings are telling him it is time to get out of doge, but Lot lingers. J.C. Ryle spent a whole chapter on just that verse in his book Holiness. Lot just doesn't want to leave. Do you see how imprisoning sin is here? There is absolutely no future here for Sodom. Doomsday is literally here. But Lot doesn't want to let it go. 

What sins have a grip on you like that? What is the thing that you say, "Yeah, I know, I need to stop doing that," or "Yeah, I know, I need to start doing this." Why are you lingering? Is it because you don't believe judgment is coming? It is. Is the world just that charming to you? God could burn up this system at the end of this sermon, or years from now, but that destruction is coming. Why are you waiting? My old seminary professor put it like this: "No good can come of loving a society so morally bankrupt that it awaits the swift judgment of God—if not temporal judgment, certainly at the end of the age." (Ross, 365) In that, Ross brings up the point that God may not wait until the end of days to bring judgment locally. I've known guys so hooked on pornography they were unable to consummate their marriages. Don't take God's grace for granted. If you are hearing this and God hasn't brought consequences on your sin yet, then this is the time to move it! Leave it behind! 

Next in verse 18, we learn not to negotiate with it. Lot has been lingering and holding up the process here. The angels have to drag them by the hand, place them outside the city and say, "Ok, you're out of the city, but you need to get up to the hills quickly. I can't start until you're gone." And then Lot starts trying to negotiate with the angels! There are a couple of different opinions on why Lot is doing this. One thought is that Lot doesn't trust that God will wait, so he tries to negotiate a lesser distance to go. The other opinion, which I find more persuasive, is that Lot is trying to get some compensation. One scholar put it this way, "...Lot pleaded for a little city for himself. Lot thought that, if the Lord was going to destroy Sodom, then perhaps he would grant him something in consolation." (Ross, 361). Lot has gotten used to the city life, and he thought that he would just die in the hills. If he could just have this little city (Zoar means little), that would be fine. Now, Zoar was on the destruction list, too. Yet, true to God's mercy, He won't destroy it for the sake of one righteous guy, Lot. 

After a full day, they finally get to Zoar, and God rains down fiery judgment on Sodom. Note how absolutely comprehensive this judgment is. Verse 25, the city, all the valley, all the inhabitants, and even down to the plants that grew in the ground (the very thing that drew Lot to the city in the first place), it was all destroyed. J.C. Ryle comments that we should never forget how much God hates sin. It is right there in verse 25. How crazy are we to not take God seriously.  Crazier still must we be to be given an opportunity to escape such a fate and not take it. 

And then we have Lot's wife. We meet her just long enough to see her turn into a pillar of salt! Why? It is because, contrary to the angel's divine instruction, she looked back on the city. This isn't the sort of look that would happen to behold the drama of divine destruction. This is a look of longing. She was pulled out of this place of sin, but she missed it. Her heart was still in the city, so her body became like it, full of salt. Matthews points out that Sodom becomes the Dead Sea, a place of salt where nothing grows (242). 

Don't look back and long for your sin. Leave it behind, and take your heart with you. 

And when you take your heart with you, remember that your sin lives in there. Whenever there is massive judgment that falls in Genesis, it seems as though sin slips into the suitcase. Noah built this big boat, left all the unrighteous people behind, but when he exited, sin survived the flood. The same thing happens here. 

As we head into the sordid tales of verses 30-38, we find that Sodom survives in the hearts of Lot's daughters. They want to have offspring, and for some reason assume that the only way to do that is to obtain offspring from their father. Now, at the very least, the daughters realize that even Lot is not going to go along with this plan willingly. They are going to have to get him blackout drunk in order to pull this off (Matthews, 245), which they do. The angels saved him from being exploited by the men of Sodom, but the women of Sodom eventually used him, nonetheless. 

What a tragedy. 

That's the last we ever hear from Lot. The two children that are born from this disaster become the enemies of Israel for well over 1500 years. 

This whole thing began with Lot wandering away from Abraham for greener grass so that his massive wealth could be sustained. Twenty years later he is in cave having conceived his own grandchildren who will be thorns in the sides of his family descendants for thousands of years. 

How do you come back from that? 

Well, to get that answer, we need to look at the one time Lot comes up in the new testament, 2 Peter 2:7. How does Peter evaluate Lot? He calls him "righteous Lot." Excuse me? Peter, did you forget the "un" to make it be "unrighteous"? No, Peter meant to say that, as he calls him "righteous" two more times. Was Peter wrong? No! The Holy Spirit inspired that. So how on earth after becoming mayor of Sodom, offering his daughters up to the crowds, and getting so drunk he couldn't even remember conceiving his own grandchildren not once but twice—in a row? 

The same way you are considered righteous. The grace of God. God was obviously doing something in Lot's heart, because according to Peter, Lot hated what was going on in Sodom. But just because you have some righteous impulses doesn't mean that you aren't capable of major sin. But just because you've committed major sin doesn't mean that God can't still make you new. 

Don't take God's grace for granted. Watch over your heart, because your sin is there, but don't stop looking to God's grace to wash you clean. That is what we are confessing as we come to this the Lord's Supper. God's grace and God's grace alone makes you able to come and partake of this blessing. The bread tells us that our bodies which should have been broken eternally for our sins are made whole. Jesus' body was broken in our place. The juice, symbolizing the blood of Christ poured out in substitute for our blood. This gospel picture points to the reality that makes us righteous. 

So if you are here today holding onto some sin, I command you to let it go. Its end is destruction and only wants to take you with it. And if you are here today and say, "Oh, that's already happened. My life is absolutely ruined. I'm right there in the cave with Lot." Then come to the God who made Him righteous. Don't take his mercy for granted, don't think its not enough, it is! The only person you need to be made clean for is God, and He has provided you this way. Don't ignore it. Don't stop being grateful for it. If it took sticking you in a cave for the rest of your life so you weren't destroyed by the Sodom of your sin, than praise be to God. 

And if you are here today thinking, "Wow, I'm glad I didn't mess up like that." Take heed lest you fall. If you were spared the consequences of sin, if you were kept from the mistakes of others, than you have great reason to be grateful to God. No one has a boring testimony. If you were pulled from sin at an early age, than you have much to praise God for. 

Don't take that mercy for granted. It'll keep that sin in your heart at bay. Let's pray.