Genesis 19D (2011) We ve been in our study of Abraham and Lot and Sodom for sometime now

Transcription

1 Genesis 19D (2011) We ve been in ur study f Abraham and Lt and Sdm fr smetime nw In fact it s been s lng, we may have lst sight f what Gd is actually at wrk ding thrugh these tw chapters First, we knw that Gd set abut t destry Sdm and Gmrrah t set an example fr future generatins f hw Gd will judge sin Secndly, we knw Gd invited Abraham in n this plan t instruct Abraham cncerning Gd s character and nature, s that Abraham might instruct future generatins f Israel Third, we knw Abraham respnded as Gd intended, praying fr Gd t spare the righteus, and Gd agreed t Abraham s request Then we watched as Gd did everything He prmised, yet He still wrked His plan exactly as He intended while maintaining perfect justice The city was destryed, the guilty received punishment, the righteus were rescued, and Gd kept His wrd with Abraham Meanwhile, we als learned a great deal abut the man Lt We came t see him as a man f faith wrn dwn by his assciatin with the sinful wrld As a man living a life f cmprmise and suffering great lst as a result, bth in this wrld and in the next And we witnessed Gd dealing with Lt as a Father deals with His children He brught discipline and allwed the cnsequences f Lt s sin t rest upn him and his family But nevertheless, Gd shwed mercy t Lt in keeping with His character and His prmise t Abraham Thrugh these events we als cme t see a simple picture f hw Gd will deal with Jewish and Gentile peple in His plan fr salvatin 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

2 Genesis 19D 2 Just as Gd befriended the man Abraham, Gd has entered int a cvenant with the descendants f Abraham, the Jewish peple Gd will remain true t His prmises t that peple And just as Lt, the Gentile relative f Abraham, was blessed by his assciatin with Abraham, s will Gentile peple be blessed by their trusting in the prmises Gd delivered t Israel And just as Gd brught judgment against the sinful cities f Sdm and Gmrrah, the Lrd prmises t bring judgment upn the wrld upn His return And just as Gd rescued the few righteus in Lt s family frm the cities prir t their destructin, likewise Gd prmises t rescue the few righteus Gentiles prir t the cming wrld judgment And just as the rescue f Lt s family was accmplished by the ministry f angels, s will the rescue f the righteus in the future day, as Paul describes: 1Th. 4:15 Fr this we say t yu by the wrd f the Lrd, that we wh are alive and remain until the cming f the Lrd, will nt precede thse wh have fallen asleep. 1Th. 4:16 Fr the Lrd Himself will descend frm heaven with a shut, with the vice f the archangel and with the trumpet f Gd, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 1Th. 4:17 Then we wh are alive and remain will be caught up tgether with them in the cluds t meet the Lrd in the air, and s we shall always be with the Lrd. We call this cming rescue f the Gentile church the Rapture r the Resurrectin Having seen the Lrd s faithfulness in delivering disbedient Lt frm the destructin f Sdm and Gmrrah, we gain all the mre assurance that the Lrd will keep His wrd fr ur sakes We ended with Lt s wife having lked back and having turned t salt Her true heart was expsed, and she suffered destructin like the rest f Sdm And thus Lt s family has been reduced t just Lt and his tw daughters, a wrldly family alne in the wrld with nthing But what f Abraham? 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

3 Genesis 19D 3 Our stry began with the Lrd s meeting with Abraham and Abraham s cmpelling prayer S nw that the city has been destryed, what has Abraham learned? Gen. 19:27 Nw Abraham arse early in the mrning and went t the place where he had std befre the LORD; Gen. 19:28 and he lked dwn tward Sdm and Gmrrah, and tward all the land f the valley, and he saw, and behld, the smke f the land ascended like the smke f a furnace. Gen. 19:29 Thus it came abut, when Gd destryed the cities f the valley, that Gd remembered Abraham, and sent Lt ut f the midst f the verthrw, when He verthrew the cities in which Lt lived. Just the previus day Abraham had prayed t the Lrd t spare the city if ten righteus were fund Obviusly, Abraham s intent was t save Lt and his family But Abraham s prayer requested that the entire city be spared Saving the city was simply Abraham s way f accmplishing the gal f saving Lt Here we are n the fllwing mrning, and Abraham awakens early t see what will becme f the cities He walks t the edge f his encampment, t the same place he had prayed with the Lrd And as Abraham lks dwn int the distant valley, he sees thick, black smke ascending like the smke f a furnace This isn t a small think wisp f smke n the hrizn This is a huge billwing clud f smke rising frm an impssibly ht furnace Even frm this distance f ver 20 miles, Abraham can see it clearly Well, if Gd wanted t teach Abraham a lessn abut hw Gd respnds t sin, we can say missin accmplished 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

4 Genesis 19D 4 Abraham will have an indelible memry f the kind f respnse that unchecked depravity prvkes frm Gd And undubtedly he taught this lessns t all his children But what else was ging thrugh Abraham s mind as he stared int that clud f black smke? What happened t Lt? It s likely that Abraham didn t knw Lt s dispsitin, at least nt at first and maybe never S as Abraham stares at the smke, he wuld have cncluded that Gd didn t find the ten righteus, and s the cities were destryed And this is abslutely true Gd didn t find ten righteus fr there were nt ten t be fund And as Gd prmised, He destryed the cities But what Abraham desn t knw is that Gd still gave Abraham the desires f his heart cncerning Lt Irnically, Abraham has received what he desired but he desn t knw it Yet He des knw that Gd has dne exactly as He prmised And because f Abraham s prayer, the wrld knws that there was nt even ten righteus in these cities S by His prayer Abraham cntributed t Gd s purpses in helping cmmunicate the abslute depravity f these cities I wnder if Abraham was resentful r angry at Gd? The text desn t tell us, but I believe v.29 is included in the narrative t make sure we leave the stry with the right perspective Mses says Gd remember Abraham, meaning Gd understd Abraham s heart and acted t shw favr (r grace) t Abraham 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

5 Genesis 19D 5 Gd rescued Lt, which is all that Abraham wanted But Gd wanted Abraham (and us) t remember nt the rescue f a few righteus but rather the pwerful judgment fr the verwhelming number f sinful This was the intended lessn f Sdm And this is the memry Abraham carries away frm this mment Perhaps ne day Abraham eventually learned that Lt was saved by Gd s gdness But what if Abraham never learned f Lt s rescue? Wuld that lead yu t think less f Gd s gdness? Have yu ever cnsidered that at times Gd may have answered yur prayers in ways yu never knew? Perhaps yu received exactly what yu wanted, even if it wasn t exactly what yu requested And perhaps Gd did that wrk in secret, t His glry and withut infrming yu? Perhaps He was preventing us frm taking pride in ur participatin r perhaps He simply wanted us t learn a different lessn Be careful abut assuming that we will always be the audience fr Gd s handiwrk in respnse t ur prayers Even if we dn t see the final result, we can trust Gd is at wrk fr His glry and the gd f His name Our prayers dn t change Gd, but they always have impact, whether n urselves r thers And we must be prepared t ffer them withut expectatin f a direct, visible answer In fact, smetimes it may appear that ur request were denied, as was the case fr Abraham in this mment, when in fact they were granted Even if we hear nthing back frm Gd, it desn t mean that Gd failed us, since His timeline is usually much lnger than ur patience 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

6 Genesis 19D 6 Yesterday, I ran int an ld high schl student wh was part f the yuth grup I led in the early part f this decade. This student has had a rugh life since high schl graduatin, hked n drugs, in and ut f truble, kicked ut f his hme. My heart has grieved fr him whenever I have received updates abut his life ver the years. Yesterday, I ran int this same frmer student, and he was clean and sber, a huge smile n his face and a new cmmitment t fllw Jesus with his life. Talk abut a day maker! The next day I was cleaning ut sme ld files in my church ffice and interestingly enugh, I fund a prayer request list frm a student grup frm six years earlier, and it included a request frm that same yung man wh I had met the previus day. I had cmpletely frgtten why I held nt this prayer list. "Dear Gd, help me t walk in yur ft steps. Let me understand what is right and wrng. Gd give me the wisdm and bedience t d the right things. Help me t thing thrugh the cnsequences f my actins. I knw hw much I mean t yu Lrd and I want t grw clser t yu. Thank yu fr yur frgiveness and understanding Lrd. In yur name, Amen. After 6 years later, it lks like Gd has answered this simple prayer f a high schl student. As we grw in ur walk with the Lrd, we learn that we are really pr judges f Gd s plan We just dn t have a big enugh picture; we can t see everything Gd sees and we can t understand everything Gd knws We have n understanding fr hw a certain event will impact the future f all things Gd is accmplishing Like the apstle Peter wh rebuked Jesus at the suggestin that Jesus must be betrayed and die Peter thught that was a terrible idea, but he had n idea hw gd an idea that truly was We dn t understand these things, but Gd knws all things And s we are tld t trust Him knwing He is gd 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

7 Genesis 19D 7 Finally, the stry f Lt includes a final, sad ftnte Gen. 19:30 Lt went up frm Zar, and stayed in the muntains, and his tw daughters with him; fr he was afraid t stay in Zar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his tw daughters. Lt ges t Zar, the small city he requested as his sanctuary But in ne verse, we re tld he prmptly leaves fr the muntains after all We can easily imagine why Lt grew afraid while trying t start again in Zar Zar was the nly city in the valley t escape judgment S when the ne surviving family frm the ther cities wanders int Zar, hw d yu think the city ppulatin respnded t them? Undubtedly, they reacted quite negatively t their presence They prbably assumed they were cursed and feared the same judgment might fllw them t Zar The angels had tld Lt he shuld escape t the muntains, but Lt wasn t practiced at listening t the vice f the Lrd And s he fund his way t the muntains the hard way There is a certain irny t Lt s situatin He rejected the nmadic life f his uncle Abraham because he preferred the lush, easy life f a city But nw that his sinful chices have caught up with him, he is living in caves, an even wrse existence than when he enjyed the wealth f a nmad The pursuit f the wrld may achieve shrt-term benefits, but it inevitably leads t lngterm lsses When we remain in the curse Gd sets fr us, it may appear t be a sacrifice - and in a sense it is 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

8 Genesis 19D 8 But in the lngterm it grants us far greater reward and in the meantime, peace S Lt and his daughters retreat t the muntains Can yu imagine hw pitiful they must have appeared N pssessins, n future, destitute and rejected by the very peple they sught t live amng Fr Lt s daughters, the calamity is even greater Yung wmen in that day hped fr ne thing abve all else: t be married T be withut a husband and sns was a fate wrse than death, because it led t a life f pverty and shame But here they are in a cave, rejected by the nly city and the nly peple they knew...r s they thught S the daughters make ther plans Gen. 19:31 Then the firstbrn said t the yunger, Our father is ld, and there is nt a man n earth t cme in t us after the manner f the earth. Gen. 19:32 Cme, let us make ur father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve ur family thrugh ur father. Gen. 19:33 S they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstbrn went in and lay with her father; and he did nt knw when she lay dwn r when she arse. Gen. 19:34 On the fllwing day, the firstbrn said t the yunger, Behld, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tnight als; then yu g in and lie with him, that we may preserve ur family thrugh ur father. Gen. 19:35 S they made their father drink wine that night als, and the yunger arse and lay with him; and he did nt knw when she lay dwn r when she arse. Gen. 19:36 Thus bth the daughters f Lt were with child by their father. Gen. 19:37 The firstbrn bre a sn, and called his name Mab; he is the father f the Mabites t this day. Gen. 19:38 As fr the yunger, she als bre a sn, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father f the sns f Ammn t this day. The firstbrn hatches the idea She states that there is nt anther man n earth t unite with them in marriage 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

9 Genesis 19D 9 We knw she didn t meant his literally, since she just left Zar and knws there are men there What she means then is there are n men left in their wrld wh wuld want them The men f the ther fur cities in the valley are gne And the ne remaining city will have nthing t d with them S fr these wmen, it appears that there are n men left in the wrld But what she s really saying is there are n men left in the wrld we knw and lve The wrld f the valley Because there are men in Abraham s husehld, back in the heights These daughters are nw suffering in the shadw their father created fr them He raised them in Sdm, and s that is all they knw As the saying ges, yu can take the girl ut f Sdm, but yu can t take the Sdm ut f the girl As Christians, we shuld recgnize the principle at wrk here in Lt s family Their plan was simple enugh Our sin will have cnsequences beynd ur wn situatin We bring cnsequences upn thers as well, and thse cnsequences can extend int later generatins Get dad drunk, and when he has lst his senses, they enticed him int an incestuus encunter First the lder and then then the yunger n successive nights The text makes a pint f emphasizing that Lt knew nthing f the events 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.

10 Genesis 19D 10 The shame rest squarely n the daughters, since Lt did nt knwing participate, but Lt desn t escape withut sme culpability Obviusly, he raised these daughters and chse t live in an envirnment where they culd develp int such mrally crrupt wmen And he agreed t becme drunk...twice Lt will have plenty t answer fr, and as he stry cmes t an end in Scripture, he has becme the Bible s pster child fr the wrldly and disbedient saint Did yu ntice hw similar Lt s accunt is t the accunt f Nah? Nah was a righteus man by faith rescued frm a disaster brught upn the wrld fr its extreme sin After the event, Nah becmes drunk and is taken advantage f by his children The utcmes f these tw accunts are als similar Each stry brught us t the cnclusin that Gd s judgment didn t slve the prblem f Adam s sin Bth Nah and Lt retained their sin nature even after the judgment had passed The prblem f sin still awaits a slutin, ne fund nly in the cming Seed Messiah Secndly, each episde ended in ffspring wh bear the brunt f Gd s anger In the case f Nah, the cursed ffspring were the Canaanites, wh later caused Israel t play the harlt In the case f Lt, the daughters give birth t tw bys wh funded tw f Israel s greatest enemies in Scripture, the Mabites and the Ammnites In bth the stry f Nah and f Lt, man s sin gave rise t a future cnsequence fr Gd s peple, which Gd ultimately turned t gd in chastising and disciplining His peple 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni ( May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.