Genesis 19.1-3-Lot's Sell Out to the Cosmic System of Satan
Thursday February 2, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 19:1-3-Lot’s Sell Out to the Cosmic System of Satan
Lesson # 93
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 19:1.
This evening we will begin a study of Genesis 19, which is one of the saddest and most disturbing chapters that appear in the Bible.
The reason for this assessment is that it presents for us a graphic picture of how low the sin nature in unregenerate men, who are living in disobedience to the will of God, can stoop in their conduct.
In Genesis 19:1-11, which we will study this evening, we have the record of a blatant manifestation of the moral and immoral degeneracy that was rampant in Sodom.
This manifestation provided confirmation for the two elect angels sent by the Lord on a fact-finding mission that Sodom was indeed wicked and worthy of destruction.
In this passage, we see that Lot has gone from living on the borders of Sodom to living in the place and being politically involved in the city.
This indicates that he has sold out to the cosmic system of Satan since the city of Sodom was governed by evil.
In this section of Genesis, we see the depravity of Lot, a believer, which is manifested in that he offers up his engaged virgin daughters to a mob of gay men as bargaining chips in order to, spare the two angels from the mob’s desire to rape them!
In Genesis 19:12-29, we have the record of the destruction of the cities of the plain, Sodom, Admah, Gomorrah and Zeboiim.
Also, in this passage we see the disintegration of Lot’s family and the deliverance of Lot and two of his daughters from this destruction.
Genesis 19:30-38 records the incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters that came about in order to preserve the family line.
This evening we will study Lot’s sell out to the cosmic system of Satan.
We will see that he has attempted to compromise with the devil’s world, which will result in him losing his family, business and status in life, providing us a warning here in the church age.
Genesis 19:1, “Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.”
Genesis 19:2, “And he said, ‘Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.’ They said however, ‘No, but we shall spend the night in the square.’”
Genesis 19:3, “Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.”
In Genesis 19, we see the end of a downward progression in the life of Lot since Genesis 13:12 records that Lot “moved his tents as far as Sodom.”
Then, we see him “living in Sodom” according to Genesis 14:12 and finally we read in Genesis 19:1 that Lot was “sitting in the gate of Sodom.”
Henry M. Morris commenting Lot’s downward spiral, writes, “Here is a man who had participated in one of the highest callings ever given by God to men, one who had been at hand to experience with Abraham marvelous revelations and deliverances from God, and yet who now was right at home in the midst of the life of one of the most wicked cities that ever disgraced the earth” (The Genesis Record, Baker Book House, page 345).
Lot is out of the “geographical” will of God meaning he is not in the geographical location that God has designed for him to be.
Lot should have been with Abraham and not in Sodom and because of this, he is in great danger.
We’ve already seen in Genesis 14 that because Lot was out of the geographical will of God, he was taken as a prisoner in the war between the Eastern Coalition from Mesopotamia and the Dead Sea Coalition.
Lot suffered the consequences for not being in the place that the Lord wanted him to be.
Therefore, it is clear that Lot has not learned his lesson.
In fact, he and his wife and family have fallen in love with Sodom since it was very prosperous and beautiful place, the best the devil had to offer humans.
Lot stayed in Sodom because he loved the devil’s world, which believers are prohibited from doing.
1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
1 John 2:17, “The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
“World” is the noun kosmos and is used of a vast system and arrangement of human affairs, earthly goods, godless governments, conflicts, riches, pleasures, culture, education, world religions, the cults and the occult dominated and negatively affected by Satan who is god of this satanic cosmos.
This system is promoted by Satan, conformed to his ideals, aims, methods, and character, and stands perpetually in opposition to God the cause of Christ.
This world system is used to seduce men away from God and the person of Christ and is anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-Bible, and very anti-humanity though it often appears as humanitarian as part of Satan’s masquerade as an angel of light.
Satan has incorporated into his system of world rulership as many material distractions as possible.
Affluence, the increase and spread of wealth, communication and technology are factors, which, from one point of view, are very beneficial to the devil's control of mankind.
We see that Lot is distracted by the pursuit of materialism and wealth because he loves money and affluence as demonstrated in that he remains in wicked Sodom.
We are not be friends with this world which amounts to hostility to God and His aims (Jam. 4:4); nor are we to love the world, for loving the world and its things chokes out our ability to love God (1 John 2:15-17; Matt. 6:19-24; Mark 4:18-19).
James 4:4, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
Abraham was a friend of God but Lot was a friend of the devil’s world, selling out to it and compromising with it, thinking erroneously that he could serve both God and money.
Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Unlike Abraham, Lot found his security, significance and satisfaction in life and contentment in the cosmic system.
Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Lot has sold out to the devil’s world, choosing affluence, his business over his relationship with the Lord and God’s people (i.e. Abraham) resulting in the loss of his family, business and possessions!
Genesis 19:1, “Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.”
In Genesis 18, these two angels were described from the human perspective as “men” but here in Genesis 19, we have them described from the divine perspective and are thus called “angels.”
The writer of Hebrew reflects on these two perspectives.
Hebrews 13:2, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
Bruce K. Waltke makes the following comment regarding Lot sitting in the gate of Sodom, “A city gate was usually made of monumental edifices shading the narrow passageway and side chambers of the city entrance. Here the elders and officials sat on stone benches to adjudicate legal matters and discuss local affairs. The gate was the physical symbol of collective authority and power. Lot’s presence here suggests that politically he has become one of the Sodomites, if not a leader among them. Curiously, Lot is alone at the focal point of communal life, suggesting that he alone is concerned about the community’s interests and well-being. The events that follow substantiate this. Though politically one with them, theologically Lot remains distinct” (Genesis, A Commentary, Zondervan, page 275).
We must remember that Lot came to Sodom as a wealthy man.
It seems that he had not lost anything in the war between the Eastern Mesopotamian Coalition and the Dead Sea Coalition since Abraham recovered all the loot that was taken.
This deliverance by his uncle would have given Lot a position of influence in the city.
Therefore, Lot’s popularity and power was derived from his relationship to Abraham.
Peter states that Lot was a “righteous” man meaning a believer who was oppressed and tormented by the immoral behavior of the Sodomites.
2 Peter 2:4, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment.”
2 Peter 2:5, “and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.”
2 Peter 2:6, “and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter.”
2 Peter 2:7, “and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men.”
“Oppressed” is the verb kataponeo (kataponevw), which is in the causative direct middle voice indicating that Lot “caused himself” to be oppressed by the immoral conduct of the Sodomites because he chose to live among them and be politically involved with them.
Thus indicating that the suffering of his soul was brought about by his own bad decision to settle in Sodom against the will of God.
2 Peter 2:8, “(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds).”
2 Peter 2:9, “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.”
Some commentators believe that Lot sat in the gate in order to intercept visitors and protect them from the violence of the mobs.
Based upon the conduct we see later in the chapter among the Sodomites, this was more than likely the case.
Genesis 19:1, “Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.”
Genesis 19:2, “And he said, ‘Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.’ They said however, ‘No, but we shall spend the night in the square.’”
Although Lot fails miserably in dealing with the situation to follow, his hospitality at least demonstrates his desire to do righteousness and manifested him as a believer in the midst of unbelievers (cf. 2 Pet. 2:6-8).
The fact that the angels politely refuse Lot’s hospitality in order to sleep in the city square was not unusual in the ancient world since the climate permitted such a thing.
The angels politely refuse Lot’s hospitality because they have been sent by the Lord on a fact-finding mission to confirm if the inhabitants of Sodom were in fact wicked and worthy of being destroyed.
Genesis 19:3, “Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.”
Notice that Lot is preparing a meal for the angels and not his wife suggesting that she did not share the same hospitable character as her husband, manifesting that she was an unbeliever.
Her death recorded later on in the chapter indicates.
It is significant that Lot baked unleavened bread and is the first mention of leaven in the Bible, which many times in the Scripture symbolizes evil doctrine or practice corrupting God’s people.
Although, Lot was tormented by the evil practices of the Sodomites, he still remained in the place possibly thinking he could change them.
But more than likely, he remained because he loved the affluence of the place, its beauty, and his position politically.
He remained because he was willing to tolerate the evil, thought it bothered him and so he compromised.
Lot should have been evangelizing, which appears, he wasn’t.
If he did evangelize then he should have left the place once the Sodomites rejected the gospel message.
As a result, his family was totally under the influence of evil in Sodom resulting in their destruction in the end except for two daughters.
Lot has not removed himself in his soul from the wickedness of Sodom because he is in love with the place and his position.
Thus, as a result he won’t remove himself geographically from the place.