Lots days were just as ours are

AS IT WAS IN THE DAYS OF LOT pt.2


Genesis 13:12-13 “Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.”


When last we saw Lot he had been completely taken over by the tolerance for sin that he had permitted in his life and in the life of his family.

He was now a member in good standing in the city of Sodom, as we can see by the fact that he is sitting in the gates of the city, watching and welcoming all who would enter in.

A type of greeting committee or welcome wagon for the City of Sodom Chamber of Commerce, directing new visitors to places of rest, pleasure, trade, safety, and with directions to all the places that Sodom was famous for.

All of us who name the name of God are to be watchmen upon a wall, warning and directing others that have entered in to a place of sin or who are entering in unaware.

In the name of acceptance and tolerance our friend Lot had taken a contrary position instead of warning against the sin of the city, he was now on the sin city welcome committee.

Lot had overlooked sin, in his family, in his business relationships and in his job and was now blinded to the remembrance of a time when his uncle Abraham would lead him in the rightful worship of the true and living God.

In Genesis ch 14 we see the depravity of sin and of the fate of two kings who attempted to escape the conquering forces of even greater darkness.

We all have known folks who for one reason or another just could not overcome their lifestyles. Regardless of the effort exerted they remained bogged down in the mire of the world.

Genesis 14: 10 “And the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there;”

Lot and his family, defenseless against an onslaught of evil were carried away to another land.


We pray for family members for friends and acquaintances that the Spirit of God would work in them to open their eyes to sin, to bring them to their senses and to rescue them from devices of their own choosing.

We see in ch 14 vs. 14-16 where Abraham the uncle of Lot, received news of Lots captivity and took all available measures to rescue the captive and perishing.

How like our Savior in the fact that there is no distance that He will not travel to retrieve those that are His.

And how like the church was the man Abraham as he returned from freeing Lot and those of his family from captivity that he came by the place of peace and was met by the representative of God, one Melchizedek the king of Salem (the ancient word for Peace)

Along with Abraham on that day was not only Lot but other guests as well, for Abraham had invited the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah to travel the road with him for a while.

He had brought sinners to the place of testimony of the Lord.

The kings had experienced the presence of the representative of heaven and yet repented not as they attempted to cut a deal with Abraham that would have brought Abraham and all that he owned into the same bondage as nephew Lot.

Genesis 14: 21-23 “And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. (Can you see your enemy satan dealing in your life for peoples souls in exchange for a short lived pleasure or wealth of an ungodly manner?) And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.”

The wisdom of a Godly man, do not enter into a deal without Godly counsel, and give no place to the devil.

If you do he will surely be back to collect with interest compounded to the point that you cannot repay.

Our Lord knew this and he taught his disciples just that as he told them

John 14:30 ”Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world comes, and he has nothing in me.”

If you willingly allow sin to reign in your bodies, the one who originated sin will have claim to that seed and come reap the harvest at a time of his own choosing.

Matthew 16:26 “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Lot found out the hard way, and so many of us only find out the hard way as we have very few people who will confront sin as it rules in their own lives and in the lives of those they know……..they silence the voice of the spirit as they cower in the act of tolerance and close their eyes to deviant behavior and lifestyles that are contrary to the teaching of the scriptures.

Even as our friend Lot continues to allow tolerance to blind him to the sin of his associations, he remained open to the things of God, ch 19 vs. 1 we see Lot sitting in the gate and recognizing two of the ambassadors of God in the form of angelic beings approaching.

Coming down from his seat, he fell on his face before them and worshipped.

Inviting them into his home for a meal and fellowship during the night stay.

So much like so many who live like a demon from hell all week long and then on that one day attend a worship service and without even a thought of repentance, will hold up dirty hearts and hands as an offering to a Holy God.

Graciously the angels accepted the invitation and experienced the depravity of the human heart first hand.

As the meal was preparing the men of Sodom came to the residence of Lot, demanding that the visitors be turned over to them for the very act of knowing them sexually.

How shameful it must have been for Lot as those he had befriended attempted to collect on some of that seed of tolerance that had taken root in Lots soul.

With no other recourse Lot offered his own unmarried daughters to the men of Sodom in exchange for the demand of the flesh of visitors.

A deal with the devil in full view of God.

The angels in great mercy took away the sight of the perverted visitors to Lots home, and yet with the fires of lust burning in them they continued to search for the entrance to Lots home. Blinded by sin they could not be moved by the warning working in their own bodies.

Lust burning in their bodies demanded a heavy price in the days of Lot and in the days of our lives.

Romans 1:27 “And likewise the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.”

Never be deceived by the homosexual agenda.

The Holy Spirit breathed word of God declares a recompense or payment for the sexually deviant.

The truth of the word of God never changes, but the heart of un-repentant man grows darker by the hour.

Romans 1:21 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

During the long night the ambassadors from above told Lot of their business, and revealed to Lot the intention of God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness.

Genesis 19:14 “And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.”

Lots heart must have broken as he realized the reason for his own family doubting his declaration sent from God.

He surely was struck clearly in the face by the fact that his lifestyle of tolerance to sin had cost him his witness and his credibility to anyone who knew the truth about the man named Lot.

How many times have you Christian had the urging from the Holy Spirit to tell a family member or even a rank stranger of the salvation that is available freely to all through the Savior Jesus Christ.

How many times have you walked away in shame as you knew the truth that even though you claimed Jesus and knew him as Lord, that your credibility was broken in the eyes of those who truly know you and have been witness to your recent life?

How much are you willing to loose for a few moment pleasure?

How many family members or co-workers or acquaintances will be condemned to a sinners hell, because the only one that they may know to be a Christian has been disqualified in their eyes because of tolerance of and acceptance of sin, both in their lives and in the live of those whom they are in contact with.

Have you placed a muzzle on your spiritual credibility simply because you were never told what Paul told a group of Christians at a place called Corinth.

Your mother told you as a child that a person is known by the company that they willingly keep.
That a dog will run with the pack, that birds of a feather will flock together, you have heard them all and they all are true.

1 Corinthians 5:11 “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortion, with such a one not to eat.”

Many of you have been told by some that you trust that those who name the name of God must accept all peoples and all lifestyles, that we cannot judge sin in a man or woman, and that to do so is divisive among families, communities, and congregations.

The Holy Spirit that instructed Paul to write to the Corinthians did not think so.

What are you willing to lose in the name of tolerance?

Lot lost all. Lot lost all. Lot lost all.

Stand up Christian, tolerate sin no more.

A very wise man said “ True tolerance is not a lack of judgment, it is knowing what should be tolerated and refusing to tolerate that which should not be.”

Be not conformed to the world………..you just may loose it all.

THE SIGN OF JONAH

Luke 11 29-30
“And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, “This is an evil generation: they seek a sign: and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.”

Whenever you hear about a character of scripture named Jonah, what do you think of?

Most will answer a man inside of a whale.
Many will scoff at the idea, but the bible says it to be so.

The whale was a vehicle by which God got the attention of a man who was sent on a mission and refused to go in the manner that he was instructed.

The vehicle allowed the man to see the error of his way and to repent from his rebellion and turn back to the task given to him by his God.

Lets examine the story of Jonah the prophet by comparing him to an entity that many claim to be part of.

Whenever we see the story of Jonah, we are looking at a story that is quite similar to the church today, by the way the name Jonah is the Hebrew word for “dove”.

Interesting isn’t it as we will see the prophet doing in his day what the church has been called to do in its day.

Jonah, one of Gods prophets, was given a message to take to a group of people in a far away place, the message of repentance.

Repent or else.

Repent or God will remove your peoples and your city from the face of the earth.

Jonah, hated the Ninevites, he hated them so much that he despised the fact that he had been chosen by God to deliver the message of repentance to them.

The Ninevites were very immoral as they practiced a type of idolatry and ritual human sacrifice.
Many in this nation say that they are religious and have formulated an idea of what God is to them, and yet they deny that God has stated that we will not make any graven image or bow down to such a thing.

Whenever we design a God in our hearts that is different from the God of the entire volume of scripture we have done just that , practiced idolatry.

The God of our vain imaginations doesn’t have to become a carved or graven image, it is vivid enough to create an image that we believe He is, and if that design doesn’t line up with all aspects of His word then we have created a false god.

The Ninevites also practiced a type of ritual human sacrifice.

Very detestable to anyone who believes in sanctity of life.

Whenever or wherever ritual human sacrifice is practiced, a certain type of human is sought out.
The youngest and purest of a population group.

There is no more innocent than the unborn, yes the unborn.

The killing of the unborn is ritual sacrifice, they are innocent victims of selfishness, victims of greed, and victims of a heart that thinks that God will see the murderer and accomplices as faultless.

Abortion is ritual human sacrifice.

The victims are both helpless and innocent.

They are offered to a god of someone’s vain and evil imagination.

A god that allows all.

Jonah was delivered by the whale a distance of three days journey, yet while he was still one days walk away, he began to preach the word that God had given him.
Repent or else in forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown.

Just that simple, Jonah delivered the message and God did the work of causing a heart of repentance to form in the leaders, and in the population.

Jonah had done his work yet he was still angry that God would spare such a group of sinners.
How much like the church was the prophet Jonah.

He was in good standing with a righteous God, yet there was no concern in his heart for the people that he had been sent to.

In Chapter 4 of the book of Jonah we see in verse 2 where Jonah is telling God how thankful he is that He is a God of kindness, merciful and willing to repent from the punishments that all mankind is due
.
That mercy and goodness was a great gift to Jonah, yet he cared not to share it with others.

A couch potato prophet, a picture of a church that is satisfied with all that it has been given, and unwilling to share it with others.
After all they are sinners and will just scoff at the message and I will be scorned and embarrassed.
I will just let them die without knowledge of a Saviour.

Later in the chapter we see where God had prepared a type of shade to protect Jonah from the heat, see the relation to scoffing and scorning that we fear.

All for Jonah, and he was glad.

Spoiled is a better word.

Give me my comforts and do not expect me to suffer for the faith.
A very good picture of the church.

Luke 11 29-30
“And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, “This is an evil generation: they seek a sign: and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.”

Do you wish a quick judgment upon the un-righteous?

Do you despise those who do not live, think, act or worship as you do?

Do you consider that eternity in hell is just as long for them as it would have been for you if you had not repented from your iniquity and willingly received the sacrifice from sin, Christ Jesus.
Have you considered that someone told you about a Holy God, about sin, about judgment, and about the grace of God shown to us in His only Son?

God told Jonah and God has told the church, “And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand;” Jonah 4:11

The inhabitants of Nineveh had never been told the truth.

Has your family, your city, your nation been told the truth?

Romans 10:14 “How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”
Jonah, or Joe, or Bill, or Carol, or Nancy, go tell them that judgment is coming, for all of us.