Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: Welcome to Thru the Bible. I'm so glad that you're here for another great adventure in God's word. Now, in this study, Dr. J. Vernon McGee is going to tell us about how Abraham entertained angels without even knowing it, and we'll also see that the lush, well-watered plain where Lot lived was not all that he had hoped it would be.

I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll hold the doors of the Bible bus open while you climb aboard and find your seat. And while we get settled, let's listen to Dr. McGee share some insights about marriage.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I have a little bit of a—I don't suppose you'd call it a poem, but someone has refined the statement that Matthew Henry made concerning the creation of Eve. And since we're talking now about Sarah, the wife of Abraham, why, I think it's proper to read this at this particular time. Will you listen?

Not from his head that she might rule over him, not from his feet that she might trample on him, but from his side that she might be equal to him, from under his arm that he might protect her, and from under his heart that he might love her. And that, may I say, is the true marriage relationship as given in the creation of Eve, and now we see it exemplified in the life of Sarah.

Steve Schwetz: As Dr. McGee has said before, all great truths of the Bible are relevant in Genesis. And the more time that we spend in this book, the more that makes sense, doesn't it? Before we pray for our study, I want to note that the free notes and outlines that Dr. McGee will discuss in just a moment are available immediately in our app or at ttb.org. Just look for our digital book, *Briefing the Bible*, or call 1-800-65-BIBLE if you'd rather have it sent by mail.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the light of your word, and would you open the eyes of those who are in darkness so that they'll understand and respond in faith to your grace and mercy? Make each one of us strong in the power of your might and by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We're off to Genesis 18 on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, if you have the notes and outlines that we send out, follow along with us. We're in the 18th chapter of the book of Genesis. And as we said last time as we entered this chapter, it seems that chapter 18 and 19 are rather detached from the story of Abraham. You wonder why it's put in here, but it actually is very important in many ways, which we'll have to reserve for a later date to talk about.

But we find in chapter 18, we're with Abraham, and we see here a picture of what a blessed Christian life could be. And then in chapter 19, you can see actually when we go down to Sodom and join Lot down there what a blasted Christian life is. And unfortunately, we have today both kinds among Christians. There are those today that have made really shipwreck of their lives.

They have gotten entirely out of the will of God, and I wouldn't even suggest for a moment they've lost their salvation, but they sure lost everything else. And as Paul says, that they are saved so as by fire. Now, will you notice that we're with Abraham and he's entertaining guests? We left off last time with Abraham having prepared a sumptuous bounty.

He took a little calf, a servant killed it and prepared it, and the chef cooked it up, and they had veal steaks or veal roast, I imagine, and all the trimmings that went with it. They had, we're told here, butter and milk. My, it was a real feast, and these three guests Abraham entertains. And then we find that these guests are royal guests. Later on, we'll find out in the New Testament that it's suggested to us that some have entertained angels unawares. That was Abraham. He didn't know who he was really entertaining.

Now, will you notice verse nine, "And they said unto him, 'Where is Sarah thy wife?' And he said, 'Behold, in the tent.'" It wasn't proper in that day, and as you know, even in the East today, for the wife to come out and be the one to entertain, especially when there were three male guests there. And now they ask about her, they make inquiry.

"And he said, 'I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life, and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.' And Sarah heard it in the tent door which was behind him." Now Sarah had her ear to the keyhole, I think, and she has been listening in. And they discover now, both Abraham and Sarah, that they are entertaining angels unawares.

"Now, Abraham and Sarah were old," verse 11, "and stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore, Sarah laughed within herself, saying, 'After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?'" That is, is it possible that I'll have a son? And she laughs. Now, what kind of laughter is this?

Well, I think this is the laughter that's just too good to be true, that's all. And again, may I remind you that I'm sure most of us have had experiences like that also. God has been so good to us on a certain occasion we just laughed as Abraham did. And then something happened that is just too good to be true, just too good to be true. And that was the way Sarah laughed.

But it frightened her because the Lord said unto Abraham, "Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I of a surety bear a child which am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord?" This is just something too good to be true. It just can't happen to me. "Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed, I will return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."

Then Sarah denied, saying, "I laughed not," for she was afraid. And he said, "Nay, but thou didst laugh." She couldn't avoid the truth here, and she certainly is rather evasive. And now, will you notice verse 16, "And the men rose up from thence and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way."

In other words, Abraham didn't have a front gate, so he walked out with them a little farther than the front gate to bid them goodbye. And as they walked out where Abraham lived, you could look down at Sodom and Gomorrah, the great resorts of that day, and it must have been a very delightful place to be, a beautiful place.

Now, will you notice, "The Lord said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?'" Up to this point, the Lord has not revealed to Abraham what he's going to do with Sodom and Gomorrah. He's going to destroy them. Shall he hide from Abraham that thing which I do? And will you notice the reason now God's not going to hide it from Abraham, verse 18.

"Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." Now, Abraham's going to have a tremendous influence. He's going to influence multitudes of people and succeeding generations will be influenced by him. And that's true right here today on this radio. We're talking about Abraham. He's influencing all of us, friends, we can't avoid it.

Now, God says, "I better not hide it from him because he'll get a wrong impression of me." Verse 19, "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord." And this man Abraham, by the way, had discipline in his household. "To do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him."

Now, he said, "I better tell Abraham." "And the Lord said, 'Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me, and if not, I will know.'" In other words, God is saying now to Abraham, "Abraham, I know the situation there, but I'm going down to investigate."

And God never does anything hurriedly or hastily. And I'm going to destroy the city. It's a good thing God told Abraham this because Abraham would have got a wrong impression of God, and that is that God was rather dictatorial, vindictive, and that he was one that apparently showed no mercy at all or consideration of those that were his.

Abraham would have really had a distorted and warped view of God. And so what happened was that God lets him know now what he's going to do. And Abraham has a time now to turn this over in his mind. And it's a good thing God told him because he did have a wrong idea of God and of Sodom and Gomorrah. He was wrong about many things, and that's one of the reasons that God is telling us as much as he tells us.

Lot of things that he doesn't tell us, but he's told us enough, though a man be a fool and a wayfaring man, he needn't err therein. Now, will you notice what happened? "The men turned their faces from thence and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord." Abraham is now waiting before the Lord. "And Abraham drew near and said, 'Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?'"

Now, what was the first thing that entered his mind? The first thing entered his mind, of course, was Lot. He'd rescued him once; now he's in danger down there. And he's wondering, I think he'd wondered about Lot and his relationship to God many times. But he at least believes he's a saved man, and he's asking God, "What about the righteous?"

And after all, Abraham, I think, would have told you that there were many people he thought in the city of Sodom that were saved, and he couldn't understand God wanting to destroy or that he would destroy the righteous with the wicked. What a picture we have here. He says, "Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city. Wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?"

Now Abraham begins with fifty. He says to the Lord, "Lord, suppose there are fifty righteous down there in Sodom. Would you destroy the city if there were fifty righteous?" And you know that it's quite interesting, will you notice this, he keeps on. "That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked. That be far from thee. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Then may I say that's still a question that many people ask: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" And there's an answer to it. The rest of the Bible testifies to the fact that the Judge of all the earth always does right. Now, whatever God does is right, and if you don't think he's right, the trouble is not with God; the trouble is with you in your thinking.

You're thinking wrong. You don't have all the facts. You do not know all of the details. If you did, you'd know that the Judge of all the earth does right. We are wrong; he's right. "And the Lord said, 'If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.'" And Abraham thought that over.

"And Abraham answered and said, 'Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous.'" In other words, he says if there are 45 there, would you destroy the city for 45? And God told him, "If I find there 40 and 5, I will not destroy it."

Then this makes the man a little bit bold, and he said unto him again, he says, "Suppose there are 40." And the very interesting thing is, God says, "I won't destroy it for 40." And Abraham keeps on bringing him down. He says, "How about 30?" And God says, "Well, if there are 30 there, I still won't do it." And he says, "Suppose that there are 20 there." "I'll not destroy it."

And well, Abraham's overwhelmed now, and he takes another plunge. He says, "Suppose there are 10 there. Would you destroy it if there are 10?" God says, "If there are 10 righteous in the city, I won't destroy it." And we're told at this point, "And the Lord went his way as soon as he had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned unto his place."

Now the question arises, why didn't he come on down below 10? I'll tell you why. At this point, he's afraid Lot is lost. And this disturbs him a great deal, so he's not going to come down any farther. But he could have come down, friends, to one. He could have said, "Lord, if there's one in that city that's righteous, would you destroy the city?"

And you know what God would have said? "If there's one that's righteous in that city, I'm going to get him out of that city because I wouldn't destroy it if there's one righteous there." And you tell me, you say, "How do you know that's the way it would have been?" Because that's the way it worked out. There was one righteous man there. Abraham didn't believe it, but God knew him.

That was Lot. And God said, "Get out of the city," and God says, "I can't destroy it till you are out." Did you know the tribulation, the great tribulation period, can't come as long as the church is in the world? Just can't come, friends, because Christ bore our judgment, and the great tribulation is part of the judgment that is coming.

And that's the reason that the church—this is a picture of it. This is a glorious picture, if you please, and believe me, as we're going to see Sodom and Gomorrah are a picture of the world. And what a picture. And what a condition the world's in today, very much like Sodom and Gomorrah. And that does not mean, friends, the Lord's going to come tomorrow because I don't know and no one else knows, but he could come tomorrow, and this certainly would be in keeping with the condition and the carrying out of the picture that is here. Now, that is blessed fellowship with God. It's a picture of blessed Christian fellowship here with God.

Now the picture changes, and we leave up yonder at Hebron on the plains of Mamre where Abraham dwelt. And now we go down to the city of Sodom where Lot dwells. Now I'm turning now to chapter 19 here, and as I do, I'm reading verse one. "And there came two angels to Sodom at even, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground."

Now these two angels visit Lot in Sodom and announce judgment. They warn Lot to escape. And we find in this chapter Lot leaves Sodom with his wife and two daughters. And then we have the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot's wife turns to a pillar of salt, and then we have Lot's awful sin. We'll hit high points here, but so far we're dealing with the verses as we go along, and we'll stay with that.

Now you have that which is the blasted life. And don't forget it, this man Lot happens to be a righteous man. Hard to believe it; if I had only this record, I wouldn't believe it. But you see Simon Peter in his epistle, he talked about that righteous man vexed his righteous soul. Now he lived in Sodom, but he never was happy down there.

You see, Lot was a tragic day for him when he moved to Sodom. He lost his family. Fact of the matter is, he lost all of them when you look at the total picture, and it's tragic. Many a man today may be a saved man, but by his life and where he goes, where he lives, he loses his family, loses his influence, and loses his testimony.

Now, I know Christians like that. I've been a pastor, and I have in course of time talked to some of the children of some of the leaders of the churches I've served. Hasn't been too long ago that the son of a leader of the church that I served said all he was doing was waiting for his dad to die in order to repudiate everything.

He thought the whole thing was phony, that the Christian life was, and all he could see was hypocrisy and everything. All he was doing, of course, was telling about his home. What a phony his dad must be. And he's lost his son. He's lost his influence, I can assure you, in other places. But I wouldn't question his salvation.

I think the man trusts Christ, but by his life, it's rather a phony sort of a life. Poor Lot, how tragic this is. Now let's look at this, and this is a sordid chapter. We get two of them in the book of Genesis that are really sordid; this is one of them. Now I'll read on, verse two, "And he said, 'Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet.'"

And these men must have had dirty feet, and of course if you'd walk from the plains of Mamre down to Sodom with just nothing on but sandals, your feet would need washing also. But again, I call your attention to the custom of that day which was practiced by those that extended hospitality to strangers. And he says to them, "Ye shall rise up early and go on your ways."

Now Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom, and I can't let that go by without calling attention to the fact that the ones who sat in the gate of a city were the judges. Now this man Lot not only had moved to Sodom, but he got into politics down there and here he is a petty judge sitting in the gate. But he's a hospitable man.

When these strangers came in, he invited them to his home. And they came in. And they were at first, though, reluctant. They said, "Nay, but we will abide in the street all night. We'll stay outside. We don't want to inconvenience you." And they did this for a purpose, of course. He pressed upon them greatly, and they turned in unto him and entered into his house, and he made them a feast and did bake unleavened bread and they did eat.

Now these men have another feast. They had a feast with Abraham; they now have a feast with Lot. And they brought out something here. They said, "We'll stay on the street, sleep in the park." And Lot says, "Don't do that in Sodom; it's dangerous. Your life wouldn't be worth anything if you did a thing like that."

And friends, may I say that maybe Los Angeles ought to change its name to Sodom. It wouldn't be safe for you to sleep on the streets of Los Angeles. In fact, it's not safe to be on the streets of Los Angeles at night. There are many women who live alone, they won't come out to church at night or any program at night.

One dear saint of God told me, she said, "I just lock my door at brother McGee and I do not open that door until the next morning at daylight." Says, "It's not safe in my neighborhood to even walk." Well, the days of Sodom and Gomorrah again, and practically for the same reason. And so they bring this out.

Lot says, "No, man, don't stay on the street. Wouldn't be safe for you." And he pressed upon them, and then they came in. Now notice this awful thing, verse four, "But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter.

And they called unto Lot and said unto him, 'Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us that we may know them.'" May I say this is a sickening scene. To me, this reveals the degradation of this city, the city of Sodom. And this is the name that's been put on that sin from that day to this: Sodomy.

Now there was no attempt made apparently in the city of Sodom to have a church for this crowd and tell them that they are all right in spite of the fact that they practice this thing. May I say to you that the word of God is specific on this, and you can't tone it down. This is an awful sin. Now we're going to see what happens at the home of Lot in the city of Sodom that night. We'll have to wait till next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: Well, like Lot, we live in a world filled with darkness. But in Psalm 34, King David offers hope. He says, "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil." So, as the Lord watches over us, let's be full of faith and prayerful for those who need a savior.

For resources to help you go deeper in God's word or to share Thru the Bible with others, download our app, visit ttb.org, or call 1-800-65-BIBLE. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll meet you back here next time as the Bible bus rolls along. Our story on the Bible bus today is just one step in a five-year journey through the entire word of God. Come along for the ride and you'll study both the Old Testament and New Testament, discovering God's great redemption story. Is this your story too?