Genesis 19:30-38 "Lot's End"

Good evening, Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Thank you for joining us this evening! Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 19. Genesis 19:30-38 tonight… closing out the chapter.

In Genesis 18-19… we have been looking at God’s judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah…

The LORD told Abraham… in Genesis 18:20 “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,”

Many victims were brutally violated by the depraved people of Sodom, Gomorrah, and three other ‘cities of the plain’… where the cries of distress… the lamentations against them rose to a level of complete vileness… where there were not even ten righteous in the city of Sodom.

The LORD sent two angels to visit and men, young and old… from every quarter of the city, tried to beat down Lot’s door to know them carnally.

Utter depravity… thus God was just to judge.

And judge He did… Lot’s family was slated to be the only one’s sparred, but many in Lot’s family thought he was only joking about God’s impending judgment… and would not leave the city.

If one’s witness is compromised, people… even those close… may not heed the saintly words of warning as sincere.

As Lot, his wife and two daughters were led by the hand out of the city…

Though warned by the angels to not look back… Lot’s wife did and was turned to a pillar of salt.

She likely woke up that day… hearing the common sounds… the workings of the city that she had grown accustomed to…

Sodom was her home… where life and comfort… and prosperity was anchored for her.

And now she was fleeing… and without at least two daughters and their husbands…

It would seem this sudden departure of all that was familiar was much for her… and she looks back… which was an indication of where her heart was.

And the problem is that the heart will make a convert of the mind.

If one is not willing to let go of the world, and look forward to following the Lord… their heart that is set upon old ways will lead them back to the world…

And they will become unfruitful… or apostate… like Demas who forsake Paul, having loved this present world.

Proverbs 4:23 states, “Keep [or guard] your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”

And this was Lot’s wife’s failure. Even though she was led by the hand by an angel (and God’s leading doesn’t get much clearer than that)…

As angels led her away from the thoroughly wicked city of Sodom… she looked back.

Some of the smartest people in the world… even people who know the Lord… make some of the dumbest and most sinful mistakes… when their heart is divided or set upon the world.

When Jesus taught on His Second Coming… He said there will be many people who’s hearts are set upon the world… they will go back for the goods in their homes instead of fleeing the city…

And Jesus said in Luke 17:32 “Remember Lot’s wife.”

Remember the tragedy of one who lost her life because her heart was set on the world… thus she disobeyed the command to not look back in V17… and she was turned to a pillar of salt.

Jesus didn’t say “Forget lot’s wife” he said remember…

For anyone who is struggling with the ways of the world… put Luke 17:32 on you mirror… and ‘Remember the tragic end of Lot’s wife’ who heart was set on the world.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth”… but He didn’t intend for us to be that salty.

We are to be like salt… preserving this ball of dirt… a healthy sprinkle of salt… but not a pillar of salt.

After Lot’s wife fell… Lot and his two daughter’s fled to Zoar… meaning “smallness”… a small city of the plain that was set to be destroyed by brimstone and fire, but sparred per Lot’s request.

Lot was told to escape to the mountains, but he said he could not… ‘lest some evil overtake him and he die.’

So he and his daughters went to Zoar… which is where we pick up… and we see the closing account of the life of Lot… in a message titled, “Lot’s End.”

Let’s pray… and then read our account for this evening.

In reverence for God’s word, if you are able, please stand as I read our passage.

Genesis 19:30–38 “Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave. 31 Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” 35 Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.”

Praise God for His word. Please be seated.

So… Lot pleaded to go to Zoar and not to the mountains in the previous scene… and now in V30… Lot leaves Zoar and dwelt IN the mountains… in a cave nonetheless.

Now he’s a caveman… I’m not sure if that’s progress or digression considering he was formerly in Sodom. Probably progress.

But what happened in Zoar?

We don’t know how long they were in Zoar. It was V23 when Lot entered Zoar.

Then we saw a parenthetical interaction between the LORD and Abraham…

And now just in V30… they are already saying, ‘sayonara’ to Zoar.

We do read in V30 that Lot was “afraid to dwell in Zoar.”

What was he afraid of? Were not told. We can wonder. We can imagine.

Maybe his senses were starting to come to him… and he sees similar wickedness in Zoar as in Sodom… and he’s afraid of God’s judgment also falling on Zoar.

Maybe he was feeling the same oppression in Zoar that he felt in Sodom.

Maybe he’s thinking ‘if I’m going to start all over… why make the same mistake as dwelling amongst the unrighteous…

Ps 84:10 states, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

Is something like this rolling around in Lot’s mind. He’s dwelling once again with the wicked… and he’s afraid of them… and now heads to the mountains where he was originally instructed to go by the angels?

Maybe so.

Lot formerly was drawn to Sodom over several chapters in Genesis.

First pitching his tent facing Sodom in Gen 13.

Then dwelling in Sodom in Gen 14.

Then serving in the gates of Sodom in Gen 19.

Maybe Lot was afraid of getting drawn into becoming part of… and having position in… another wicked city.

The people of Sodom turned on Lot in Gen 19… they tried to break down his door… they threatened to do worse to him than their intentions for the angels… they mocked him saying “he keeps acting as a judge.”

They were tired of his standards and his judgments.

Maybe Lot was afraid the people of Zoar would turn on him… just like the people of Sodom.

Peter wrote about how God 2 Peter 2:7–8 “… delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—”

Was Lot afraid Zoar was going to be a repeat of Sodom?

And Zoar was indeed a wicked city that would have been judged.

Lot advocated to go to Zoar… and one angel in V21 stated, “I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken.”

Zoar would have been overthrown with fire and brimstone had it not been for Lot.

It was one of five ‘cities of the plain’… as V25 titled the cities.

Zoar was listed in Genesis 14 as being one of five cities in league with Sodom.

There was Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar.

These cities were later used as examples and warnings of God’s judgment…

Jeremiah 50:40 “As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah And their neighbors,” says the Lord, “So no one shall reside there, Nor son of man dwell in it.” (Jer 49:18 is similar)

Deuteronomy 29:23 “‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’”

Zoar was not listed because it was sparred per Lot’s request.

When Israel was backslidden… God inspired Hosea to write: Hosea 11:8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.”

And God indeed intended the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah and their neighbors to be an example against wickedness.

2 Peter 2:6 declared God turned… “the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;”

Jude 7 “… as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

God hates sin… and so very early in the history of Israel… during the life of Abraham… and before the birth of Isaac…

God set forth an example… meaning a figure, a copy… for all wickedness… that God is set apart from darkness.

And His people are supposed to be as well.

We are to be holy as God is holy. We are to have no communion with darkness. No fellowship with evil.

God gives plenty of boundaries in scripture… and we don’t have to accept and be joined with even believers who are choosing to live in sin.

Paul wrote to “not keep company with sexually immoral people”… specifically believers.

It would be nice to think that Lot learned this lesson… and now feared the Lord… thus he could not stay in sexually immoral Zoar.

But judging by what happens in the cave… I’m not sure that is the case.

I’m not sure how many of you have ever lived in a cave before…

Quick show of hands… any former cave dwellers out there?

None? … We all live in houses?

Well… I can’t say that I’ve lived in a caver either… but I imagine it to be not so ideal… not so packed with creature comforts… kind of dank and dark…

And that’s where sin so often it leads us… into the dank and into the dark where it’s not so comfortable.

Just imagine how much different the end of Lot’s life would have been had he NOT chosen to dwell in Sodom.

But here it is… Lot’s final story… in the dank, dark cave…

… and it gets so much more weird and worse.

Take the dank and dark cave and tie a bow of incest around it… and that’s the end of Lot’s story.

So sad… and such is the way of sin.

vv31-33 Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

Have you ever watched a movie that had the craziest twist at the end that leaves you scratching your head and asking yourself, “What just happened? I didn’t see that coming?”

Well… such is the case with ‘Lot’s end.’

And not just his, but what’s left of his family… just his two daughters… and we now behold the effect of degradation that living in Sodom had on them…

And the effect of living in a compromised home… with their mother’s heart set on Sodom… how this effected them as well.

Lot’s eldest daughter has this exaggerated notion that there is “no man on the earth.”

That was not true. Where did that come from?

Were they not just in Zoar? Surely Zoar was inhabited by people… including men.

In V30 she mentions the ‘custom of the earth.”

What was the custom of Sodom? Incest?

Most near east cultures regarded incest as wrong. Lev 20:12 would later describe it as perversion and the offenders were to be put to death.

But… who knows what the custom of Sodom was? Perversion was normalized where a stranger visiting Sodom was a target for all the men of the city.

If that was normal… incest could have been status quo.

And so… the eldest daughter has this deranged idea based upon the custom of the land… to get Dad drunk and then have sexual relations with him to impregnate themselves.

And she packages this ideas as though it were noble… “to preserve the lineage of our father.”

Like they would be doing him a favor… ‘we’ll ensure the family line continues.’

What’s noticeably absent in this proposal… is there’s NO prayer… NO seeking the Lord… NO angel leading them.

This is a carnal idea based upon the “customs of the earth.”

And if you are forming ideas and letting the ‘customs of the earth’ guide you…

I’m not sure you find yourself in a cave with a bottle of wine and sinking this low.

But… do not those who are led by the customs of the earth in this day and age find themselves in some fallen ways?

How many of us have seen friends walk away from the Lord… to live by the customs of all the earth?

They forsake the word of God… and believe it’s ok to live how one wants… even sinfully and in ungodliness… even when the word teaches clearly against their sin of choice.

Jesus taught in Matthew 7:13–14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

There are many who reject the difficult way of taking up one’s cross and following Jesus Christ.

They choose the broad way… where anything goes… which is according to the customs of all the earth.

And that path leads to destruction… which we are reading about in Lot’s end.

Now… beyond Lot’s daughters emulating the ways of the world… I would suggest that the issue first started at home.

In the context of Satan working against himself, Jesus said in Matthew 12:25 “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.”

And Lot’s house was divided. Lot was described by Peter as righteous… who’s righteous soul was tormented by seeing and hearing the lawless deeds of Sodom.

And Lot’s wife’s heart was set on Sodom… where she looked back to the world… and was turned to a pillar of salt.

And everyday, Lot’s daughters would go home to an environment where Lot was bothered by the city, but would not move his family out… which was compromise.

And Lot’s wife had values closer to what was in Sodom. The Bible doesn’t tell us where Lot met his wife, but he didn’t have a wife before moving to Sodom.

Maybe she was a native of Sodom… which would make sense given her difficulty in leaving sin city.…

The original sin city… not Vegas.

When a child grows up in a home where mom and dad are not united by biblical standards and walking with the Lord… where one parent leans towards the world…

The children will often follow the parent in compromise because the ways of the world are easier.

Jesus said narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life. Few go that way.

So… if you’re parenting kids and in your home is one parent who is in compromise… you as a godly parent better be working extra hard to counter act the negative influence… or you’re likely to lose your kids to compromise and the customs of the earth.

Be praying fervently for your kids. “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16)

Teach your kids that our citizenship is in heaven… the earth is not our home… heaven is our home.

Teach your kids the holy scriptures… don’t rely on church to teach your kids. We have your kids 1-2 hours a week if that…

What are you doing the other 120 waking hours a week with them?

Proverbs 22:6 promises, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Train them in God’s ways.

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

Do they observe this in your life?

Teach them how there is a tendency to drift away from the Lord… so they must be very careful to meditate upon and keep salvation in the forefront of their minds.

Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”

We don’t know what kind of home life Lot’s daughters had, but given what they do according to the ‘customs of the earth.”

I think it’s safe to say that Sodom and Lot’s wife were the greater influence.

And that Lot sowed to the wind in choosing to dwell in Sodom… and he truly reaped the whirlwind.

Don’t let that be true of your home as well.

The whirlwind may be smaller than Lot’s, but any whirlwind is destructive in the home of the righteous.

So… Lot’s end begins with living in a cave… which what a contrast that was to Sodom which was a bustling city… sinful… but Luke 17:28 testified of days of Lot that… “They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;” …

It was a progressive cavillation until God destroyed them all.

And now Lot is in a cave and his virgin daughters get him drunk.

Which… it’s wild to me that wine made the list of things Lot wanted to take in leaving Zoar.

Did he not see how much destruction was caused by drunkenness in Sodom? He had to observed people who at the night grew long… and the drink flowed… the decisions declined into lawlessness.

I imagine many of the men who visited Lot that final night in Sodom… who tried to break down his door were under the influence of drink…

Not that the Bible explicitly states it… but look up any modern statistics and how drinking and violence and sexual violence are strongly correlated.

And he has wine… and he drinks a lot of it to the point he can’t remember laying with his eldest of his last two living daughters.

How drunk must one get to be at the point of drunkeness?

Alcohol induced blackouts typically occur around a blood alcohol concentration of .20% which… depending on body weight is about 6-10 drinks in about 2 hours.

So… Lot is putting them down here… and drunkenness is sin according to scripture…

Ephesians 5:18 “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,”

Romans 13:13 “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry [orgies} and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.”

This Lot’s end… ends in a variety of sins… drunkeness… fornication… and incest.

If it were not for Peter writing that Lot was righteous… most would think Lot was an unbeliever… for he does not end his life well.

So he get’s black out drunk… and then on the next day…

vv34-35 It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” 35 Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

So… the same sins are repeated two nights in a row…

But there is another lesson in these verses and that is the importance of one sibling… especially an older sibling in how they influence their younger siblings.

And this older sister make a terrible suggestion… again wrapped in a warped sense of nobility… “that we may preserve the lineage of our father.”

Older siblings… be a model for your siblings.

And all siblings… test the words of your siblings against scripture. The younger sibling could have said, “No… I will trust in the Lord to preserve our family line. I will not take this into my own hands… and sin against my father and the Lord.”

I wish we read something like that in these verses, but we do not… both sisters were corrupted by Sodom… by the customs of the earth… and by the compromise of their father… and the worldliness of their mother.

And they get Lot drunk again… and from these sinful nights… both sisters get pregnant… and their offspring become two sinful nations… who become enemies against Israel.

Closing out in vv 36-38…

36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.”

Moab and Ben-Ammi were Great Nephews to Abraham. They were distant blood relatives to the people of Israel.

But they became enemies of Israel.

One of the most famous accounts was with Balak and Balaam:

'Fearing that Israel might conquer his land, King Balak of Moab waged war against the Hebrews (Num 22-24 and Jos 24) and hired the Mesopotamian diviner, Balaam, to pronounce a curse upon Israel.

Of Ammon Judges 10:9 “Moreover the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.”

So… from Lot’s sin was born two sons… who formed pagan nations… who proved to be hostile to the Israelites.

And so ends the account of righteous Lot… the nephew of Abraham who left with Abraham to go to a distant and unknown country… which was a journey of faith for Abraham.

Lot lived a life often in folly acting by sight and not by faith… seen as he chose the land near Sodom… and then dwelt there… and his life ends with one of the most sour notes in scripture.

The scholars Thomas wrote: “There are lives recorded in the Bible which have well been called beacons. There are men like Balaam, Saul, and Solomon, who started well, with every possible advantage, and then closed their careers in failure and disaster. Such a life was that of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. … There is scarcely a life recorded in Scripture which is fuller of serious and solemn instructions for every believer.”

And if there could be one sentence… or one final story describing how your life ended… how would you write your end?

I doubt you would choose Genesis 19.

Probably you would choose something like 2 Timothy 4:7–8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

2 Timothy was Paul’s final epistle and chapter 4 was his final chapter before he was martyred.

It was his swan song… making those verses that much more significant… to the point what would your final sentence be… to close out this life before entering eternity.

Paul ended well… fighting the good fight of faith… and anticipating rewards at the Bema Seat of Christ.

Lot’s life… it ended in tragedy… and we can learn from both accounts.

But look… don’t forget that God’s grace and mercy was all over the account of Sodom.

God willing to spare the city, even for the sake of ten righteous.

The issue wasn’t with God… the issue was with the unrighteousness of the city.

God grace and mercy was seen in Him sending angels… and leading Lot’s family by hand out of Sodom.

How many of us have been led by hand by angels or entertained angels unaware…?

God’s mercy and grace is all over our lives… and in this day and age.

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

That’s the heart of God. He wants you to believe… to walk with Him in life… and to close our your course well.

So as we close… meditate upon this as we close in song… where do we see ourselves in this account?

Am I looking back like Lot’s wife… heart set upon the world?

Am I tolerating sin and not fleeing from it like Lot? Am I hearing the course jesting at work, and tolerating it… or do I turn from it?

Sometimes being light is not just what we do, but what we don’t do.

What does the fruit of my family look like? Are my kids inclined towards God or the world?

And if they love the world more than God… how are you going to fight for them?

We looked at several verses tonight about praying and being in the word… and leading them… training them up.

Let’s end our lives like Paul… looking forward to the reward… fighting the good fight… and let’s begin that fight in our homes… if you’re not doing so already.

Worship team come.

Again… let’s sing this final song… praising God for His grace and love and knowing that there’s no chain of sin that can bind us.

We are set free by faith in Christ… and abiding in Him. Let that be your swan song.

Let’s pray!

If you need prayer for anything, we are here to pray with you before you go.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’”

God bless you as you close out this week ahead.