Genesis 19:36 – Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

Genesis 19:37 – And the first born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

Genesis 19:38 – And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

Hey all, new blog time today… as it was in the days of Lot. Well, Jesus Christ said when he was coming back that the state of the world would be like it was in the days of Lot. So we can look at the life and times of Lot and learn a lot (no pun intended!) and get a huge reality check. Because Lot was a righteous man, yet somehow it all went so wrong, when we look at Lot’s life we see the anatomy of a disaster, and see so many pitfalls to learn from.

Lot’s story is in Genesis (mainly between the end of Genesis 12 to Genesis 19), he actually went around with Abram, Abram (who became Abraham) left Ur of Chaldees and came into Canaan as God had commanded him. But we see in the story of lot of Abraham communing and fellowshipping with and obeying God, but we also see deafening silence on the part of Lot. Lot is a type of a worldly middling believer today, someone who never quite obtains the promises, someone who wastes out. A bit like the man of God in 1 Kings 13, who was a man of God, but a lion got him, all because he didn’t solely listen to and obey the clear command of God, but got deceived and distracted and ultimately destroyed. It seems Lot very much “piggy backed” Abraham’s walk with God. And once they were split up, Lot’s life quickly turned for the worse. Out on his own, Lot’s walk did not hold up. It was Abraham who actually believed God and obeyed God and whom God used and blessed… but Lot was different. We never see Lot in close communication with God, but instead we see a carnal believer, Lot didn’t have the eyes of faith and obedience that Abraham had, and it resulted in a very different not only life trajectory, but a trajectory that echoed down generation after generation in his family’s line. Your sin, your disobedience, your lukewarmness, not might, it WILL cost your future generations. Look how badly it cost Eli, all because he didn’t actually just deal with his son’s wickedness. Because the number one thing to learn today is that Lot had two children, Moab and Ammon. This same Lot, who started out at Abraham’s side, had kids, the nations from which would end up mortal enemies of Israel, lost, deep in darkness and sin, at enmity with God… they were godless, heathen, wicked nations. Lot’s sin and disobedience just magnified and magnified as history went on.

When God got Lot out of Sodom before he destroyed it, the city of Zoar, which was also to be destroyed, was spared for Lot’s sake, because it was only a “little” one. Typical Lot! How many times is the catchcry of Christian disaster something that starts with something being only “little” or “innocent” or “not a big deal”. Lot was a compromiser, and compromise is a Christian killer. There is no compromise to be made between a believer and the world, between the believer and sin, between a believer and the devil… just as Jesus has no concord with Belial. It is good to be black and white, to have absolutes, to be definite. Look at Naboth, Ahab wanted him to sell his vineyard, but Naboth did not, and it cost him his life. Naboth realized what God had given him, and what he had to give his sons… Naboth clung on, and did as God commanded, because they weren’t supposed to sell out. You have to realize the enemy wants you to sell your vineyard. God has given believers many precious gifts, so many, both now and in the future, a huge vineyard which each believer has, which we probably do not even begin to realize the scope and importance of. Satan is after it, after all, he is a thief, a robber, a murderer. Ahab offered Naboth something in return, a garden of herbs, but why would you ever trade out a prosperous vineyard for a small garden of herbs? It’s a bad deal!? But a deal many Christians make with the world, and ultimately with Satan. Selling out on what is truth, selling out on their Bible, selling out on the old paths, the old, proven, tried, tested, trusted, true ways of God. Do not compromise, God right in Genesis 1 separated the light from the darkness, and light is just as separate from darkness today. Are you a child of the day? Or are you a child of the night? God has given us things like his word, why on earth would you trade that in? Is the truth for sale with you for the sake of your lust or pride or short term temporal gain?

Jesus Christ said to remember Lot’s wife. Where was she when the angels arrived in Sodom? She wasn’t at home with her husband, she wasn’t around, she prepared no meal. No doubt she was out carousing with the women of Sodom getting her fix of pleasure, living for herself. Having her own time, pursuing her dreams and needs and wants. She wasn’t devoted to Lot or her family, because nor was she devoted even more importantly to the Lord God. She loved Sodom, her children and her life was assimilated there entirely, her heart belonged there. Lot should’ve led his family in the opposite direction to Sodom, but instead he took the first road there when opportunity presented itself. And he lost his family, beginning with his wife. She was messing around in Sodom. Lot didn’t start in Sodom… but he got closer and closer… he chose to pitch his tent near Sodom firstly, but later on we find him living in Sodom! Why!? Because of his cattle, he was after wealth and money far more than after raising a godly seed. And he in fact didn’t have godly seed, he exchanged that for a few years of prosperous trade and traffick, which was all annihilated by fire and brimstone in an instant. Talk about a poor investment! Talk about a poor trade to make… sacrificing your seed to the devil in exchange for a brief bit of pleasure, fame and fortune. If you pitch your tent towards sin, towards the world, sooner than later you’ll be neck deep in it. As the Bible says, you can’t take fire into your bosom and not be burned.

Lot’s life also teaches us more important things. Like the importance as Jesus said, of being born again. Because we see in Genesis that Lot was a judge in Sodom. We know from 2 Peter that Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the Sodomites. So evidently he was trying this level best to clean up the place a bit. Adding a bit of judgement to the city, trying to make the Sodomites behave better. But ultimately, the Sodomites were always going to be Sodomites. It’s why the Bible uses unclean animals like dogs and pigs to illustrate a great spiritual truth regarding our nature. You can wash a pig, but it’ll go back to wallowing in the mire, you can wash and clean a dog up, but he’ll still go back to his vomit. It’s their nature! And that was the nature of the people in Sodom. Changing their behaviour, cleaning up their act, “Christianizing” them… was a huge waste of time… but Lot in Lot’s own wisdom was hard at it. But… unless a person is born again, they will never break free from their sinful nature. You are unclean, unacceptable before God, and going to hell unless you repent of your sin and get saved by believing in Jesus Christ, who will forgive you and come to live in you, creating something clean and holy in you distinct from your unclean flesh. He can and will give you a new nature, freedom from sin and darkness. Today, churches emphasize cleaning up the exterior, but they don’t deal with interior, God however wants to change a man and a woman inside, which then affects the outside… but religion just changes the outward while the inward stays dead and unregenerated. It’s not enough to stop doing wrong, you have to be forgiven, washed, cleansed, made new in Christ Jesus. Lot was wasting his time pandering to these Sodomites… they didn’t give a rip about him either, they had no regard for him at all despite his best efforts to reach compromise with them. That’s the problem with compromising with unbelievers and ungodliness, because ultimately they still won’t like or respect you. Samson messed around with Philistines for friends, and they stabbed him in the back, cheated him and trainwrecked his marriage. Read the way the men of Sodom talked to Lot with their wicked demands! Look at how they behaved, young and old. Don’t try and “Christianize” people as Lot tried, it’s a waste of time… unless they are made new, unless they are made a new creature in Christ… they will always be a dog or a hog, no matter how much you’ve tried training them otherwise… you’d do better to tell them the truth, they need to repent of their sin and be born again of the Spirit of God. We ALL need to be born again of the Spirit of God. Lot just had no spiritual eyes, he lacked wisdom from above.

The times of Lot were sexual perversion and filth, and so we see that today. The men of Sodom wanted to have sex with the angels. Talk about perverse! But so today, we see a very sensual version of Christianity, emphasizing intimacy with God, and emotional mystic connection and union based on warm fuzzy feelings, worship that consists not of the truth of the word of God… but on man’s intellect, man’s efforts, on dancing, on ungodly music (oh yes, with a Christian “face” to it). There is no morality anymore, in Genesis 19 it was the men of Sodom who were sexually filthy, but in Judges 19… we see that this behaviour was going on in the tribe of Benjamin! It was no longer just going on in the world, it was in Israel! Sexual immorality has barged into church, into Christianity, it is rife, it is bringing great reproach to Jesus Christ’s name… the walls have been broken down, the gates have been burned as men and women have sold out on truth, stepped away from the truth, backed off what is good and right in favor of compromise… just as Lot did. All because Lot wanted good trade, he loved money, he wanted popularity, acceptance, friends… he wasn’t content with a lonely Abraham like life, living in a tent out in a plain by himself. He had too many needs, wants and desires to obey and follow God. And consequentially he lost out massively, he had no real walk with God, he was out of God’s will, he didn’t even know how to talk to God, look at his conversation with the Lord in Genesis 19. And we see no more of Lot after this chapter, because his life was wasted by the time his daughters were finished with him. Lot is a perfect type of a worldly middling lukewarm Christian today. He was overcome, not an overcomer. While Abraham was fellowshipping with God, Lot was in Sodom… God didn’t talk to Lot. Lot missed out on what really counted, and what was really fulfilling in life. Everything Lot invested in was temporal, and all his investment disappeared in the brimstone and fire that rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah.

Lot didn’t even have power to influence others. His wife didn’t listen to him. His sons in law thought he was being an idiot when he was telling them that judgement was coming and to get out. He came off to his sons in laws as an idiot! Often as a true believer you will get rejected or mistreated, but you will be feared, and your word will hold weight if you follow God. Look at Herod with John the Baptist, Herod greatly feared John, and put a lot of stock in what John said… even though Herod was a wicked man. Look at Jephthah in Judges, all his brethren kicked him out, but when the going got tough, they said… fetch Jephthah. Even the wicked kings feared men like Elijah… they knew that these guys had power and what they had to say carried weight. But Lot’s word held no weight. People won’t respect you for your compromise, if you disobey God, even in the “little”, you will lose out. You want to be a Christian who can influence others for God, who can lay hold on promises, who can know God’s will. God’s will was a mystery to Lot, because Lot was living by his own sight, we don’t see him offering sacrifices to God, or fellowshipping, or praying, or anything. You don’t have to end up like Lot, trying to have the best of both worlds, and missing it all entirely. And surely you don’t want to have kids like Moab and Ammon, not to mention in the way they were conceived, seed sown in disobedience and compromise. Lot went from Abraham’s friend, to having descendants who were mortal enemies of Abraham’s descendants through Isaac. Moab and Ammon were terrible nations, godless, wicked… and it all can be traced back to not the failure of Lot, but the sin of Lot. Lot’s life is laid bare for us to pull apart, God has given us the record of his life so we don’t need to be like Lot was in the days of Lot. Be an Abraham instead as the days of Lot tick by.

Blog Blessing Christian Compromise Disobedience Faith God Gospel Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Jesus Christ Lord Salvation