The Power of Position
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What do we know about God?
What do we know about God?
God is
++Omnipotent _All Powerful_
++Omniscient _All Knowing_
++Omnipresent _Everywhere Present_
Can we do anything to stop or hinder God’s purposes?
Can we do anything to stop or hinder God’s purposes?
1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.
2 And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place!
13 For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.”
16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”
18 Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords!
19 Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die.
22 Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
The Power of Position
This biblical recording would typically have the heading
++Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
++Sodom’s Depravity
++God Destroys Sodom
++God Rescues Lot
The focus
++Wickedness
++Judgment
++Mercy
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;
7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked
God’s justice is anchored in a known standard of conduct
God’s justice is anchored in a known standard of conduct
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
God’s standard is known in everything He has created
God’s standard is known in everything He has created
19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
We were not created
++To be ungodly
++To be unrighteous
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
We are made
++In the image of God
++To be like him
++To be godly people
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
God has provided no one an excuse for ungodliness
God has provided no one an excuse for ungodliness
14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,
God’s legal standard did not begin with the Law
God’s legal standard did not begin with the Law
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
The law was given
++Not only to reveal God’s standard
++To confirm them in us
++As a witness to what we already know
This story does not begin here
Life presents Choices
Life presents Choices
4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Lot chose to follow Abram
Lot chose to follow Abram
Abram had little to offer
++His name ment High Father _He had no heir_
++His wife was barren
++He was old
++But a Promise
3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Abram walked in God’s Favor
Abram walked in God’s Favor
1 Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South.
2 Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
Lot benefited from His connection to Abram
Lot benefited from His connection to Abram
6 Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.
Abram Gave Lot a Choice
Abram Gave Lot a Choice
9 Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”
Lot saw two choices
++Left
++Right
He did not see the third choice
He did not see the third choice
He did not see the option of
++Staying with Abram
++Working through strife
He chose
++A well watered land
++The good life
++Less work
For fifteen years
++Lot live in Sodom
++Lost all that he had
++The wickedness of the city had consumed all that he had
1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Judgment was coming
Judgment was coming
5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;
7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked
The Power of Position
The Power of Position
17 And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing,
18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
Abraham stood in the way
Abraham stood in the way
23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
32 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”
Lot’s family was in the way.
Lot’s family was in the way.
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place!
13 For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
His son in laws and sons
++They mocked him
++The would not come
His wife and daughters were in the way
His wife and daughters were in the way
15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.”
16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”
The inconvenient journey was in the way
The inconvenient journey was in the way
19 Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die.
Lot was in the way
Lot was in the way
22 Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
God was trying to get Lot into position
God was trying to get Lot into position
The Right Position
++Place of safety
++Place of strength
++Place of deliverance
God is trying to move us into position
God is trying to move us into position