Sermon Series - Genesis 19 - Don't Look Back!

After visiting Abraham, the two angels head to Sodom to save Lot and his family, but trouble ensues.  Lot fails to lead well, and lingers in the city until it is almost too late. Utter destruction follows and more consequences due to inaction comes to fruition.

Bear your shield to protect your family. Listen to the Lord...and Don't Look Back!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Hey there, true believers. Welcome back to the Fairy Shield Podcast. I'm your host, Ron Scheffler, and we're getting back into our sermon series in Genesis, Genesis chapter 19, this episode. Before we get into 19, though, last time we left off Abraham, he was at the Oaks of Mamre, and the Lord came down with two angels, and they sat and had fellowship with him, told them they were going to have a son, and then Abraham pleads for Sodom, right, if you remember how the story goes. So let's get into Genesis chapter 19. We'll start off with verse one, going through verse 14. First off, here we go, verse one. 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 man 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 any 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. Okay, so the two fellows are the angels, right? Um that approach Lot and what a mess that we've read already. But let's get into this. I want to ask a question how is your faith and your culture in this world living in you? Are they at odds? You know, in other words, you have a base level of faith that still has lots of the world, but your culture inside of you that is not necessarily following your faith, following God's word. Is your culture choking out your faith or making it stagnant? Look, Lot lived in a terrible area and that affected him. And let's take a look at him. You know, first he was a judge in that city. Now typically judges sat outside the city gate and witnessed business or legal transactions, provided faithful advice. He was also hospitable and righteous. I mean, look at how he bowed to the figures approaching the city. He knew something was up with these approaching strangers. He could tell that they were not from around here, if you will. And he was deemed righteous. Even though he chose to live where he lived, the Apostle Peter described Lot as such in his self-named book, Second Peter chapter 2, verses 7 and 8. We read this. And if he rescued Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked, for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard. Lot was described as righteous by the Apostle Peter. And also Lot had a lot going on for him on the faith side, if you will. You know, there's so much positive talk about him. Now then, while Lot disagreed with the immoral choices that Sodom partook in, he also grew comfortable with the lifestyle that Sodom gave him. I mean, he received money from the city to be judge to be the judge. He was a leader of the town and well known. He enjoyed popularity. And also my guess is that he did not provoke or prophesy in the town. Nothing to prove this, but it seems that if he did, he may have been run out of town with the way the people were so ruthless, like what they just talked about. Like who is this guy now, right? And they were pressing against him. Lot's leadership and righteousness should have rubbed off on some townsfolk, and perhaps it did in some cases, but for the most part, an immorally decayed society prevailed in day-to-day living. As it states in 1 Corinthians 15 33, bad company corrupts good morals. In my opinion, Lot grew lazy in his faith fight. This certainly seemed that it was a losing battle against Sodom. The people chose what they wanted. They chose evil over God. If you have children in your house or plan to have kids one day, you need to have the light of Jesus in your home as you raise them. The love of Jesus in your house. Now there's no guarantee that your children, when they become of age, will follow. But I guarantee that if you don't have the light in your house at all, there is going to be trouble for sure. You need to protect them. Need to bear the shield for your children because they don't know the things, the experiences that you know. One day they will look back and think like you were doing right by them or that you were smart enough, right? But when they're young, you need to hold that shield for 'em. Because their peers, their culture will entice them. Some teachers will try and coerce them to think and believe in worldly things, which will drag them into a different and ugly mindset. Look, my adult children are not perfect by any means. They've made mistakes growing up just like myself. And I don't expect them to be perfect either, but one of the things that my wife and I did strive for was that they did not have a borrowed faith. We wanted them to own their faith, their own relationships with Christ. So yes, our children aren't perfect, but either are we. But I know that they know and love Christ now. It's all worth it. For you young parents. Hang in there. You know, sometimes we'll overhear our kids on the phone one way or the other, and we'll just hear, hey, thanks for sharing that. Praying for you. Yeah, love you too. And my wife and I'll just look at each other and think, man, it was all worth it. All the hard work, the long hours of parenthood, we do it all over again. But if you don't promote worship of the Lord in your home, you will miss out on so much potential blessings. You know, if you live in an area that says like, you know, the old saying slogan, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. The reality is that really that's not funny. But as believers, we need to stay on guard. We need to protect ourselves, our minds, our eyes from the common enemy, from our culture that bombards us daily with things to entice us, to make us trip up. Like Sodom. This isn't some city with a marketing slang, right? Sodom is evil. Sodom is one of those cities filled with terrible lifestyle choices, and it doesn't try and hide that either. And don't get me wrong, there's sinful living all over because people live all over. But some areas just ooze it. And if you live in some of those areas, sometimes things can just come to start to look like the norm, right? Seem to be like, is it really that bad? Or maybe our mindset is, well, it's their life or it's behind their closed doors to each his own. It doesn't make it right. So how bad is Sodom? Well, Lot had these two daughters. The people in the town knew of them, all these guys. They knew where they lived, and I'm assuming that they did not bug them, perhaps because of their high level of evil behavior, bec perhaps because of Lot's standing in the city. I don't know. Yet they picked the two strangers, the two angels, the two men in town, to want to have sex with instead of Lot's two daughters who are virgins. And what the heck is going on with Lot anyways? Offering up his daughters to an immoral crowd. Utter failure here. Guys, protect your daughters. Lot should have taken his family out of there. Not only was it difficult to get Lot out of Sodom, but it was also difficult to get Sodom out of Lot. As we continue on, nineteen, starting with verses fifteen, going to twenty-nine, we read this. 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. Ouch, man. Sorry, that wasn't part of Scripture, that was just Sheffler. 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. And Lot said to them, Oh no, my lords, behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills lest the disaster overtake me and I die. Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it's a little one. Let me escape there. Is it not a little one, and my life will be saved? He said to him, Behold, I grant you this favor also that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zor. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zor, then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, 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 had stood beside the Lord, and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked, and behold the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. So it was that when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. Man, just when you think it can't get worse, it still is. The angels had to drag Lot out of the city, and Lot still lingered. He still tried to plead to go to the next small town, Zor over instead of fleeing for his life to the hills. So entrenched was his spirit to his culture and to the world that he practically preferred to stay in a city that was destined for destruction. And then to go along with Lot, we see Lot's wife had lingering regret upon leaving the city, and boom, she disobeyed. She looked back. The one thing they were told not to do, do not look back, and she does. She turns into a pillar of salt and turns into a memorial of her disobedience. She is forevermore only remembered for her sin and as Lot's wife. No name recorded, wiped out of existence. Man, that's tough. Where is your legacy, folks? And then we end the chapter with this crazy story of incest. Let's read, finish the rest of the chapter, Genesis 19, verses 30 to 36. Now Lot went up out of Zor and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zor. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters, and the firstborn said to the younger, Our father is old, and there was not a man on earth to come into us after the 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 drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father. 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 also, then you go in and lie with him, that we 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 bore a son and called his name Moab. He's the father of Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called his name Banami. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day. Lot's daughters' fiancees are killed in Sodom's destruction, and now they finally fled to the hills and live in a cave. Which is an irony because the angels told him to go to the cave first. They feel that their chances of marrying are now zip. So they have sex with their father. And this is crazy, but why are we surprised at their behavior? Dad was gonna throw them out to the crowd to be ravaged to begin with. The daughter's ancestral behavior is a result of Sodom's influence and a weak father. The results are two sons that become the Moabites and the Ammonites, future enemies of Israel. Future enemies born from God's destruction. What do we take away from this today? Well, don't look back. Let's take a look at the Gospel of Luke chapter 17 verses 30 and 32, which kind of puts a period on the end of this sentence here. Verse 30 again, Luke chapter 17. So it will be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away. And likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed, one will be taken, the other left. There will be two women grinding together, one will be taken, the other left. And they said to him, Where, Lord? And he said to them, Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Friends, do not crave this world, even the best that there is, the best that this world has to offer falls way short than anything God provides for us. Plan for the next life, and don't look back. Okay, so maybe I'm having a little bit of fun there, but perhaps next time you hear that song and think on better things. Keep your eyes fully focused on Christ and don't look back. Till next time, God speed and bear.