Believe it or not, all warning signs are necessary because people can be very foolish. The reason there is a warning on bleach telling you not to drink it is because someone tried to drink it. The library’s warning not to stick your hand in the book return is there because someone tried to stick their hand in there and got it stuck. Also, if a house has a “Beware of Dog” sign, please beware of the dog. What about warnings from God? Today we shall study Genesis 19 and hear a warning from God about lingering in our sin. Let us consider this morning the following:
- Sin will be Punished (1-14). We were told in Genesis 18 that the “outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave.” The angels told Lot that “the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it” (13). The sin of Sodom was grave and included pride, but the primary reason for their destruction was that they “indulged in sexual immorality and purposed unnatural desire” (Jude 1:7). But let us not fool ourselves into thinking that only the “bad sins” will be punished. God tells us that all sin will be punished (Rom 6:23). Your sins may seem more respectable, but they are no less deserving of God’s wrath. Sodom serves as a warning of what is going to happen to the ungodly (2 Peter 2:6).
- Do not Linger when God says Go (15-21). Lot was a righteous man who was “tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard” (2 Peter 2:8). Lot, however, lingered when the angels told him to leave “lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city” (15). Why was Lot reluctant to leave Sodom even as its demise was near? It is because, even though his soul was tormented, Lot had grown comfortable in Sodom; even to the point of letting his two daughters marry men from Sodom. Let us consider this as a warning from God to be careful not to let the world allure and entice us. We must not be reluctant to flee our sin?
- God Preserves the Righteous (22-29). God was merciful to Lot. The angels told Lot to flee to Zoar because, “I can do nothing till you arrive there” (22). As soon as Lot arrived in Zoar, “the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven” (23). God was merciful because He remembered His promise to Abraham (29) and for His sake ensured Lot’s survival of Sodom’s destruction. This is an example of how God is able to rescue the godly from trials (2 Peter 2:9). This is also an example of the importance of interceding on behalf of others in prayer.
- It is Important to stay Alert (30-38). Lot was a complex person. At first Lot was afraid to escape to the hills (19) and begged to be allowed to go to Zoar. Then, Lot became afraid to live in Zoar and “lived in the hills with his two daughters…so he lived in a cave” (30). Lot’s wife had died when she looked back as they fled the destruction of Sodom. This section is included in the story to show us that actions have consequences. While Lot had fled the sexual immorality of Sodom, it had survived as his own daughters were sexual immoral with him. The result is that the nations of Moab and the Ammonites entered into the world and would become a thorn in the side of Israel (see Zephaniah 2:8). Let this be a warning to stay alert at all times.
Jesus has freed us from the bondage of sin (Rom 6:6-7). Our mission is to bring the love of Christ to a hurting world. We must do so with God’s wisdom because—while the world is hurting—it is also alluring. We are given a warning in 1 John 15-17 that we must not love the world.
First Baptist Scott City, MO 