Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: The story of Lot in Genesis is better than any Hollywood blockbuster. Picture this: a man flees a city on the brink of catastrophic destruction, grabbing his family and running for their lives. His wife looks back to gaze upon everything she's leaving behind in a city stained by sin and instantly becomes a pillar of salt. He then escapes with his two daughters, who later deceive him into unthinkable acts to get what they believe has been unjustly taken from them. So what happens next?

I'm Steve Schwetz, and in this study on Thru the Bible, our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee walks us through the shocking and sobering experiences of Lot and Abraham. Stories that serve as warnings for believers everywhere.

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Heavenly Father, thank you for strengthening our faith as we study your Word. Lord, we ask that you would provide for those who live in challenging places. Grow our faith in you as our Savior and Provider. And we ask this in the name of our great Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Steve Schwetz: Well, we're off to Genesis 19 on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: My friends, today we return back to the 19th chapter of the book of Genesis. We are going to pick up at verse 6.

Now, this is the chapter in which we see what we have called an example of blasted Christian life. This is an evidence of what today could happen to many believers, and it does happen to many believers.

This man Lot had gone down into the city of Sodom. He did not realize it was the kind of a city that it was. I'm sure of that. But he got down there and found out that perversion was the order of the day. And he brought up his children, his sons and his daughters in that atmosphere.

Now, when he looked down there, and you will recall we saw that he pitched his tent toward Sodom, he looked down there, he saw the lovely streets and boulevards and parks and public buildings, and the folk on the outside, but he did not see what they really were.

Now the sin of this city is so great that God is going to judge it. God is going to destroy the city. Now let's draw a pretty sharp line here. There is today a gray area where there is a new attitude toward sin today. And it's not really as black as we once thought it was. And the church today is compromised till it's even pitiful.

Right now, the press is reporting in Southern California that we have a church made up of those that are homosexuals. And the pastor of the church, lo and behold, is also one. They all admit it.

Now, may I say to you, the lesson of Sodom and Gomorrah is a lesson for this generation. Now, God's not accepting this kind of a church. The idea seems to be today that you can become a child of God and you can continue on in sin. God says that's impossible. You cannot do that. And this city of Sodom is an example of that.

That you cannot continue in sin. This idea today that you can be a Christian and go on in sin is a tremendous mistake and especially make light of it as I judge it's being made in this particular case.

Now, that's what they were doing in Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, God destroyed these cities. Now, don't say we have a primitive view of God here and we have a better one today because even after all, Jesus received sinners. He sure did, but when he got through with them, he had changed them.

The harlot that came to him was no longer in that business. When she came to God, she changed. That's the thing that happened to other sinners. A publican came to him, and he left the seated custom. He gave up that which was crooked, and he came to the Lord.

Now, I'll begin reading at verse 6, and probably I should do it without comment. "And Lot went out at the door unto them and shut the door after him. Now the men of Sodom were outside the door asking if these guests that he had, that they be turned out to them." Verse 7, "And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly."

That's the way Lot looked at it, and he'd been down there a long time. And it wasn't new morality to him, just old sin. Verse 8, "Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man. Let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you and do ye to them as good is in your eyes. Only unto these men do nothing, for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof."

When a man entertained a guest, in that day, he was responsible for him. And the thing was that he was willing to make this kind of a sacrifice to protect them.

And they said, this is what that crowd outside, "Stand back." And they said again, "This one fellow came into sojourn, he'll needs be a judge." You see, Lot was advancing in the political area there. "Now will we deal worse with thee than with them?"

And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand, pulled Lot into the house to them and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

And if they hadn't, of course, Lot and these men would have been destroyed because that was the thought of these men.

"And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides, son-in-law, and thy sons, thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxing great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it."

And Lot went out, he spoke 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.

Now this man Lot here is in a very bad situation. He'd spent years now down in the city of Sodom. He'd learned to tolerate this sort of thing, although he calls it wickedness. And he saw his sons and daughters grow up, and they apparently married among the people of that day.

And when the time came, and Lot got this word from the Lord to leave the city, he went to his sons-in-law, and he said, "Let's get out of here. God will destroy this city." They laughed at him. They ridiculed him.

I suppose they knew that the week before he'd invested a little money in real estate there. And they said, "We know you. You are wrapped up in the city of Sodom. This is your home. You have apparently applauded these things and approved of them."

Do you see this man out of the will of God in this place? There's no witness for God. He didn't win anybody in this city. And when you go down to their level, friends, you don't win them today either. And that's being demonstrated, I think, in this hour.

Now this man Lot, frankly, I would have agreed with Abraham that he wasn't saved, but you remember Peter, in 2 Peter 2:6 and 8, says this righteous man vexed his righteous soul. I tell you, he never enjoyed it down there.

Now, he's going to leave the city. Can't get anyone to leave with him except his wife and two single daughters. When the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot saying, "Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of this city."

"And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, upon the hand of his wife, upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto him." You see, here's a man that was God's man in spite of everything.

And if I only had the book of Genesis, I'm not sure I would believe that Lot was saved. I'd agree with Abraham. But since Peter calls him a righteous man, and this man had become that way because he had followed Abraham, he believed God, and he had offered the sacrifices.

And the Lord being merciful unto him. God had extended mercy to him. And he believes God, and he gets out of the city.

Now, it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, "Escape for thy life. Look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed."

And even Lot didn't want to leave. Lot said unto them, "Oh, not so, my Lord. Behold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight. Thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou has showed unto me in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me and I die."

He'd get out of the city, but he couldn't make it to the mountain. And now he says, "Behold now, this city is near to flee unto." A little place called Zoar, and that's where he went.

You see, he came out of Sodom, but this man didn't come clean even out of that, and of course, he got into a great deal of trouble at that particular time.

Now, God destroyed the city of Sodom. And we're told two things here. One concerning his wife and the other concerning his daughters. The one concerning his wife is that she looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Now, that I think has been greatly misunderstood. Why in the world did Miss Lot turn and look back? Well, I think the reason is twofold. She turned and looked back, first of all, because she did not want to leave Sodom. She loved Sodom. She loved Lot, too, but it was a lot of Sodom that she loved. And she didn't want to leave.

I think she was a member of the country club, the sewing club, and the Shakespeare club, and the fact that there wasn't a club in town that she wasn't a member of. She just loved these little get-togethers in the afternoon, and I'm not sure but what they met and studied religion. They had a nice little religious club.

Oh, she was right in the thick of it all, friends. She didn't want to leave. Her heart was in Sodom. Her body walked out, but she surely left her heart there.

Now that is a tremendous lesson for us today. We hear a great deal, and I hear a great many Christians who talk about they want to see the Lord come, and they're not living like it.

On Sunday morning, why, it's difficult to get them to leave their lovely home. And Sunday night, they are not going to leave their lovely home because they love TV too. They've got a color TV, and they're going to look at the programs on Sunday night because they have some good ones, and they want to see them. They're not going to church.

Now, when the Lord comes, friends, you're going to leave the TV. You're going to leave that lovely home. You're going to leave everything down here. I just have one question to ask you. Will it break your heart to leave all of this down here?

I've asked myself that question many times. I'm not anxious to leave, I'll be honest with you. I'd love to stay. I have my loved ones. I want to be with them. And I have friends, and I want to be with them. And I have this program, and I want to be with it. And I'll be very frank with you. I hope the Lord will just let me stay here. But I also want to be able to say, when he does come, I don't want to have a thing down here that'll break my heart to leave. Not a thing.

I love my home too. But I'll be honest with you, I just as soon go off and leave it.

May I say to you, Miss Lot turned and looked back. That's one of the explanations. And then the other is just simply this. Why did she look back? She didn't believe God. God says, "You leave the city and don't look back." And Lot didn't look back. He believed God, but Miss Lot didn't. She did not believe God. She wasn't a believer. And so she didn't really make it out of the city. She's turned to a pillar of salt.

And I'm not going into the story of the two daughters. That's as sordid as it can be. Frankly, Lot didn't do well in moving down to the city of Sodom. He lost everything except his own soul. And you know that's a picture today of a great many people that won't judge the sins in their lives.

And they're saved but just so as by fire. And you find that the Lord has said, in a very definite way, to some of these folk that have put all their eggs in a basket like this. God says that if you won't judge your sin down here, he will judge it. And apparently, that was the case in Lot's story.

Now, I want to leave this chapter, but I want to leave it by looking at Abraham. What did Abraham think of all of this? Well, let me read verses 27 and 28 of Genesis 19. "Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord. And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and behold, and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace."

Now, when Abraham looked down there, I think his heart was sad. I'm not sure whether he knew Lot had escaped or not. He probably learned about it later on. But when he looked down there, he probably was sad because of Lot's sake. But Abraham hadn't invested a dime down there, and when judgment came, it didn't disturb him one whit because he wasn't in love with the things of Sodom and the things of the world.

You remember what we're told today: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." I have a message that I give periodically, and the title of it is "Sightseeing in Sodom." And I attempt to look at Sodom through the eyes of Lot himself. And he sure had a wrong view of it. And Mrs. Lot, she fell in love with it.

And then the view of Abraham. You can sightsee in Sodom with Abraham. He lost nothing down there. Or you can go through Sodom with the Lord and see it as he sees it. And it's too bad that the church is not looking at the sin of Sodomy. I don't think it's any greater today than it's been in the past. But there is today a tremendous percentage of our population that are homosexuals, engaged in perversion. And today we speak of it in a more candid manner than we ever did. In fact, what I'm saying right now, 10 years ago, I might not have said on the radio. But this is something today that's right in our midst.

Now, what's to be the attitude of the Christian toward it? Well, even Lot in his day, he said, "You're doing wickedly." And God judged it. Isn't that enough for the child of God to know you can't compromise with this type of thing? This is a sin. And to indulge in it, and then to say, "Well, this is a sickness." The same thing is said about the alcoholic. Sure, he's sick. Of course, he's sick.

But what made him take that first drink and continue to drink until he became sick? Sin did it, friends. Sin is the problem, and this is a sin. It's so labeled in the first chapter of Romans. God says, "He gave them up."

So Genesis 19 is a pretty important chapter for this present generation that we are living in today, and we need to recognize that.

Now I come to the 20th chapter of the book of Genesis. And the 20th chapter actually seems like the fifth leg on a cow. It just seems to be that necessary. And what we have here is something that you feel like you'd like to leave out, and you wonder again, "Why is this chapter put in here?" Well, it's put in for a very important reason, friends. Abraham and Sarah are going to have to deal with this sin before they can have Isaac, before they can have the blessing.

And may I say to you, until you and I are willing to deal with the sin in our life, there's no blessing for us.

Now, I'm going to just hit the high points of chapter 20. I'm reading verse 1 now. "Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, 'She's my sister.' And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah."

Now what you have here is something that is quite interesting. Do you think Sarah was beautiful? Well, she's almost 90 years old, and she's beautiful, friends. Not many can qualify in this particular department. That's one thing that I note here.

And then Abraham is actually getting pretty far south in the land. He's gone beyond Kadesh Barnea, where the children of Israel came up and wouldn't even enter the land. Now he's gone down to Gerar, which I don't think he should have done, but be that as it may, he lies about Sarah again.

Now I want you to hear his confession because that's the thing that makes this chapter important and reveals the fact that Abraham and Sarah cannot have Isaac until they deal with this sin that is in their lives, and it goes way back.

I'm reading verse 11 of chapter 20, and this is a remarkable passage of scripture, friends. Will you hear it? "And Abraham said," and he's talking now to Abimelech, who is greatly disturbed that he would do a thing like this, lie about his wife. "And Abraham said, 'Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will slay me for my wife's sake.'"

Now you see, again, he's not trusting God. He felt like he's moving down into a godless place, and he finds out that Abimelech apparently has a high sense of what is right and wrong. And he puts a tremendous value upon character and that sort of thing, and apparently a man who knew God.

Now will you notice, poor Abraham doesn't look good by the side of Abimelech here. Now I'm reading on in verse 12. "And yet indeed, she is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife."

Now you see, he lets it all out now. He says, "To tell the truth, it is half a lie. She is my half-sister, and she is my wife."

Now verse 13. "And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, 'This is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me. At every place, whether we shall come, say of me, he's my brother.'"

Now when they started out, you see Abraham didn't have complete trust and confidence in God, and he and Sarah made a pact that anywhere they went, and it looked like Abraham might be killed because of his wife, that Sarah would say, "He's my brother." And that would keep Abraham, so Abraham and Sarah thought, from being killed.

Now they made that little agreement, and they used it down in Egypt, and here they have used it again. Now that sin must be dealt with before God is going to hear and answer his prayer in sending a son. Isaac will not be born till this will be dealt with.

And again, let me repeat, how many Christians today that won't judge sin in their lives, and there's no blessing in their lives. I frankly believe that in many of our fundamental churches today, if we could get the believers there, those that are in places of leadership, if they would confess their sins, now not publicly, but if they would deal with the sins that are in their lives, I believe we could have revival.

And I don't believe there'll be any blessing until, friends, this is dealt with. Now will you listen to Paul over here in 1 Corinthians 11? And this is a pretty important passage. Paul says, "But let a man examine himself. So let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we're chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world."

And blessing, friends, is being withheld today from the church and from the lives of many believers because we won't deal with a sin in our lives. That's a tremendous lesson, a great spiritual lesson here in the 20th chapter of the book of Genesis.

Now next time, we're going to see this long-looked-for event, the birth of Isaac. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: That's a great teaser for our next study. So hop aboard as the Bible bus makes our regular stop at your corner. Until then, if we can help you find a resource to deepen your own study of God's Word, you can also download our app or visit TTB.org or just call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can help you out. I'm Steve Schwetz, and as always, I'll meet you back here as together we make our way through the Bible.