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Lot's Lingering Legacy
Genesis 11-19
Skip Heitzig

Genesis 11 (NKJV™)
1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.
3 Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.
7 "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.
9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
10 This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.
11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
12 Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah.
13 After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
14 Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber.
15 After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg.
17 After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.
18 Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu.
19 After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.
20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug.
21 After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.
22 Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor.
23 After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah.
25 After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.
26 Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot.
28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there.
32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.
Genesis 12 (NKJV™)
1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
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.
5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
9 So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.
10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11 And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, "Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance.
12 "Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, 'This is his wife'; and they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13 "Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that Imay live because of you."
14 So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.
15 The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house.
16 He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19 "Why did you say, 'She is my sister'? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way."
20 So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.
Genesis 13 (NKJV™)
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.
3 And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
4 to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.
5 Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents.
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.
7 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.
8 So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren.
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."
10 And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar.
11 Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.
12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.
13 But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD.
14 And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are--northward, southward, eastward, and westward;
15 "for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.
16 "And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.
17 "Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you."
18 Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD.
Genesis 14 (NKJV™)
1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations,
2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
3 All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).
4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him came and attacked the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim,
6 and the Horites in their mountain of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is by the wilderness.
7 Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and attacked all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon Tamar.
8 And the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and joined together in battle in the Valley of Siddim
9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar--four kings against five.
10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled; some fell there, and the remainder fled to the mountains.
11 Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way.
12 They also took Lot, Abram's brother's son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and they were allies with Abram.
14 Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
15 He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
16 So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.
17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him.
18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.
19 And he blessed him and said: "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave him a tithe of all.
21 Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself."
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth,
23 "that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich'--
24 "except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion."
Genesis 15 (NKJV™)
1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."
2 But Abram said, "Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"
3 Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!"
4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir."
5 Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be."
6 And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
7 Then He said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it."
8 And he said, "Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?"
9 So He said to him, "Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.
11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.
13 Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
14 "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
15 "Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.
16 "But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."
17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.
18 On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates--
19 "the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites,
20 "the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 "the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
Genesis 16 (NKJV™)
1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her." And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.
3 Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.
4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, "My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The LORD judge between you and me."
6 So Abram said to Sarai, "Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please." And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.
7 Now the Angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
8 And He said, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai."
9 The Angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand."
10 Then the Angel of the LORD said to her, "I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude."
11 And the Angel of the LORD said to her: "Behold, you are with child, And you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, Because the LORD has heard your affliction.
12 He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man, And every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."
13 Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, "Have I also here seen Him who sees me?"
14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
Genesis 17 (NKJV™)
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
2 "And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."
3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying:
4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
6 "I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7 "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
8 "Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."
9 And God said to Abraham: "As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
10 "This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised;
11 "and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12 "He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.
13 "He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 "And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."
15 Then God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16 "And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her."
17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?"
18 And Abraham said to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!"
19 Then God said: "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
20 "And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
21 "But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year."
22 Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
23 So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him.
24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26 That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael;
27 and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Genesis 18 (NKJV™)
1 Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day.
2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground,
3 and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.
4 "Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
5 "And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant." They said, "Do as you have said."
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes."
7 And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it.
8 So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.
9 Then they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" So he said, "Here, in the tent."
10 And He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"
13 And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?'
14 "Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."
15 But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. And He said, "No, but you did laugh!"
16 Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way.
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?
19 "For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."
20 And the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,
21 "I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know."
22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD.
23 And Abraham came near and said, "Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24 "Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?
25 "Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"
26 So the LORD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes."
27 Then Abraham answered and said, "Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord:
28 "Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?" So He said, "If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it."
29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, "Suppose there should be forty found there?" So He said, "I will not do it for the sake of forty."
30 Then he said, "Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?" So He said, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."
31 And he said, "Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?" So He said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty."
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."
33 So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
Genesis 19 (NKJV™)
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."
3 But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house.
5 And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally."
6 So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him,
7 and said, "Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly!
8 "See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof."
9 And they said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them." So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.
10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
11 And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.
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.
20 "See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live."
21 And he said to him, "See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken.
22 "Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar.
24 Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens.
25 So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
28 Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace.
29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.
30 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.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Crash & Burn

Some names summon noble thoughts. Other names evoke cautionary feelings. Lot is in the second category. Though he had everything he needed for spiritual success, his priorities were clearly fixed in the temporary pleasures of this life. Though the New Testament calls him righteous (see 2 Peter 2:7) because of his simple faith, his life could have been so much more. As it stands, Lot’s best years were squandered and fruitless.

We've all had to learn a few lessons the hard way, but it's far better to learn from someone else's mistakes. The Bible is full of stories we can glean from--positive and negative--about what to do and what not to do. Satan was filled with pride. Lot became complacent. And Achan let greed steal his blessing. Join us for Crash & Burn as we learn to fly by looking at the lives of those who fell.



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Outline

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  1. He Followed a Champion (Genesis 11:27-31; 12:5)

  2. He Faced Challenges (Genesis 13:1-9)

  3. He Formed Choices

    1. By Looking (Genesis 13:10-11)

    2. By Leaving (Genesis 13:12-13)

    3. By Living (Genesis 14:12)

    4. By Leading (Genesis 19:1)

    5. By Lingering (Genesis 19:12-16)


Study Guide

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Connect Recap Notes: October 23, 2016
Speaker: Skip Heitzig
Teaching: "Lot’s Lingering Legacy"
Text: Genesis 11-19

Path

Some names summon noble thoughts. Other names evoke cautionary feelings. Lot is in the second category. Though he had everything he needed for spiritual success, his priorities were clearly fixed in the temporary pleasures of this life. Though the New Testament calls him righteous because of his simple faith (see 2 Peter 2:7), his life could have been so much more. Instead, Lot squandered his best years, leaving a fruitless legacy. Pastor Skip unpacked Lot’s legacy in three phases:

  1. He Followed a Champion (Genesis 11:27-31; 12:5)
  2. He Faced Challenges (Genesis 13:1-9)
  3. He Formed Choices
    1. By Looking (Genesis 13:10-11)
    2. By Leaving (Genesis 13:12-13)
    3. By Living (Genesis 14:12)
    4. By Leading (Genesis 19:1)
    5. By Lingering (Genesis 19:12-16)

Points

He Followed a Champion
  • Lot crashed and burned in phases. He began following Abraham on an adventure with God, but slowly drifted toward disobedience.
  • God called Abraham out of Ur, a prominent and polytheistic culture (modern-day Iraq). God is not satisfied to be one among other gods.
  • The death of Abraham’s brother (Lot’s father, Haran) affected the family. Abraham and Sarah took Lot in and brought him up.
  • After his brother’s death, Abraham was up for adventure: he wanted to get away. He traveled along the Euphrates River to Canaan, then Egypt, and back to Canaan.
  • Lot was always with Abraham. He followed a champion of faith—the “father of all who believe” (Roman 4:16, NLT)—through all the ups and downs of his faith.
  • Learning by watching someone's life beats reading a book or hearing a sermon. A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
  • Probe: Discuss the importance of having a mentor—a positive figure—in your life. Do you have one? If not, who could be one for you? A mentor should be someone with faith, wisdom, and experience.
He Faced Challenges
  • There were no conflicts between Abraham and the neighboring tribes (the Canaanites and Perizzites). Instead, conflict arose between Abraham and Lot.
  • Family members from both biological and spiritual families disagree. Don’t be surprised when there is friction in God’s family.
  • Any time you live in proximity to others, there will be conflict. What matters is how you handle it.
  • Abraham and Lot’s herdsmen argued in public over land and possessions. The neighboring tribes watched to see how these men of faith would handle conflict.
  • Probe: Discuss how we should resolve conflict with fellow believers (see Matthew 18). Share relevant examples from your own experiences.
He Formed Choices
  • Lot’s life journey was characterized by the choices he made:
    • By Looking: like Eve, Lot was driven by his senses. The eyes long for what the heart loves. Lot based his choice on what looked best materially, not what was best spiritually.
    • By Leaving: When Lot left Abraham, he left a place of strength. He was on a tragic trajectory, making choices in the flesh for the flesh. He relocated near Sodom, the city of worldly desires.
    • By Living: Lot originally looked with longing toward Sodom, but he eventually took steps to live there. This confirmed his move away from God and toward sin.
    • By Leading: Not only did Lot live in Sodom, but he gained a level of prominence there, becoming a city leader. He followed the opposite path of God’s counsel in Psalm 1:1 by walking in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the path of sinners, and sitting in the seat of the scornful.
    • By Lingering: Lot lingered too long in Sodom. When the city was about to be destroyed, the angels had to lug him out. He had become deadened to the urgency of evil and deaf to the message of exit.
  • Probe: Discuss the power and consequences of choices—good or bad. Why do many people stay in sin for so long?
Practice

Connect Up: Discuss how your life, actions, and choices reflect Christ. Is your life a living witness or is it lacking witness? How can you correct bad choices? Where does God come in?

Connect In: Like Lot and Abraham, members in the body of Christ will face conflict. When conflict comes, pray about it, seek reconciliation, and learn from it. Discuss times you’ve been in conflict with other Christians. How did you resolve the issue?

Connect Out: Lot's senses habitually took precedence over his spiritual decisions, and though he lost much of what was important in his life, his soul was saved. How can we use the story of Lot to discuss the gospel with unbelievers?

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to this teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque. We pray that God uses this message to strengthen your faith. When He does, we'd like to hear all about it. E-mail us at mystory@calvaryabq.org. And if you'd like to support this ministry financially, you can give online securely at calvaryabq.org/giving.

Though Lot had everything he needed for spiritual success, his priorities were clearly fixed in the temporary pleasures of life. As we continue our series "Crash and Burn," we learn that his best years were squandered and fruitless. Now, please open your Bible to the book of Genesis as Skip begins the message "Lots Lingering Legacy."

Would you please turn in your bibles to the book of Genesis, chapter 11. Genesis, chapter 11. Once upon a time, there was a duck. And this duck loved flying in formation with his duck buddies, going north and south in their cycles through the year. And as they were flying north in formation, and they're quacking it up and flapping it up, the duck decided to go down to a barnyard where there were some domestic ducks and eat corn.

So he ate corn and he stayed for an hour. And then he stayed for a day. Then he stayed for a week. And he stayed for an entire month. At the end of the month, his buddies were long gone. He decided that life's pretty good here. And he stayed the entire summer away from his friends enjoying his new environment.

Well, when his friends were flying in formation-- this time they were heading south for the winter-- they flew overhead. And he looked up. And he saw them, recognized them, heard them quacking it up. And a thrill of excitement came to him. With a great flapping of wings, he managed to take himself into the air and start ascending. But he could get no further than the top of the barn because the food had been so good, life had been so awesome that he had grown, well, a little bit heavier.

Later on when they were going north again, he saw them and that same thrill came to him. But again, he could not ascend. When they headed south months later, same thing. He would always look up and that thrill was still there. But eventually, as time went on, that duck didn't even look up. Didn't even notice.

What's the moral of the story? It's simple. Fat ducks can't fly. Or to put it in more applicational terms, if you get too comfortable, you won't be able to fly high enough or go far enough. And you can miss the adventure.

Some of us have grown content with far less than we should. We think things like, this is good enough. Life is nice enough. I'm spiritual enough. We've sacrificed enough. I've prayed enough. I've read enough. And enough is enough. We grow complacent.

In today's story in Genesis 11, the duck in the story is a man by the name of Lot. He once flew in the wild in formation with Uncle Abraham. But as time went on, he didn't even look up. He didn't even notice that it was time to move on. And he stayed back.

Over the years, I've told you about a book and quoted from that famous Eugene Peterson book. It's called A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. It's a good book. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. If Lot would have been the author of that book, his title would be A Long Disobedience in the Same Direction, because Lot crashes and burns. But it's a slow crash. It's a slow burn. He just makes one little choice after another, little choice after another, little choice-- and eventually, the duck gets fat and cannot rise above the filth of the barnyard.

So we're going to look at Lot beginning in Genesis 11. We're going to cover a lot of ground, so I'm going to be filling in the gaps in between the texts that we read. But I want to look with you at Lot's life in three stages. And first is that he followed a champion. That's Uncle Abram, or Abraham. He goes by two names because the name gets changed.

So let's look at Genesis 11. Would you look with me at verse 27? The story begins "This is the genealogy of Terah. Terah begot Abram." His name will be changed later to Abraham, one and the same. "Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. And Haran died before his father, Terah, in his native land in Ur of the Chaldeans."

"Then Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai." Her name will be changed later to Sarah. "And the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, the father of Iscah. But Sarah was barren. She had no child. And Terah took his son, Abram, and his grandson, Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law, Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. And they came to Haran and dwelt there."

Now, go down to chapter 12 and look at verse 4. "So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan."

Here's the story. Abram, a.k.a. Abraham, was called out of a pagan culture, polytheistic-- that is, they worshipped many gods-- culture. The town was called Ur of the Chaldeans. It wasn't a podunk little village somewhere in Iraq. It was THE town of the ancient world, 300,000 residents, known for advanced studies in mathematics and astronomy. And the capital of that Mesopotamian region called Sumer was Ur of the Chaldeans. But it was pagan nonetheless. It was polytheistic nonetheless.

God wants to call Abram out of a polytheistic culture, get him alone, and reveal Himself to him. And He does this for a very good reason. And that is because if you have noticed anything in your Bible, you notice that God doesn't tolerate rivals. Or God is never satisfied to be one god among other gods, and you know why that is. Because there are no other gods. They're all fake. There is only one true and living God, and God is about to reveal Himself in a covenant to Abram. So He calls him out and Lot goes with him.

Now, to add to the story, there is a tragedy that pushes its way into the family. Abram's brother dies. Or from Lot's perspective, his father dies. It says that he died before his father. Haran died before his father, Terah. That could mean one of two things. Either he died in front of his dad while his dad was watching him die, which would have been a shock. But that's a possibility.

Or it could mean that he died chronologically before his father died. It could just simply mean that. Either way, there's a death in the family, either way, Lot has just lost his father, a terrible shock to him. And that just gives us insight into the family life, because nothing affects a family like a death.

One night, I got a phone call from my father to tell me my brother had died in a motorcycle accident. After the shock of that moment comes the cloud that settles over the family for months. That's something of what it was like to be Lot in this story. Plus, there's something else. Did you notice that Sarai, Abram's wife, is infertile? She can't have children. So here you have a childless couple and you have a fatherless child. And because of the ancient culture and customs of that day, Abram and Sarai took Lot under their wing. So wherever Abram goes, he will go as well.

And God is calling Abram out. And I bet when He said, Lot, you're coming with us, I bet Lot thought, Yes! He was up for the adventure. He wanted to get out of town.

And again, I can only speak from my own experience after my brother died, after we went through the funeral, after we worked through all of his things, I remember saying to my mom and dad, I got to get out of town. I took a three-month trip across the United States and Canada in my pickup truck just to get away and to clear my head. So I bet Lot just thought, yeah, I want to get out of town. I'm up for the adventure. And so they go.

They pull up stakes. They migrate along the Euphrates River to the west and to the south through modern day Iraq. They come to the area of Haran. They work their way south into the land of Canaan. That's the promised land, Israel. They then leave Israel and go down to Egypt because there's a famine in the land and Abraham lacks faith. They come back from Egypt, back to the promised land, the land of Canaan, and the story picks up in chapter 13. Please look at verse 1 of chapter 13.

"Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the south." Look at verse 5. "Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents."

You could sum up Lot's whole life in two words. He was "with Abram." That's his whole life at this point. When Abram stops, he stops. When Abram goes, he goes. If you were to have met Lot on the road, you'd say, "Hey, what's your name?" He'd say, "My name's Lot." "Really? What do you do?" He would say, "I'm with him. I follow this guy. Wherever he goes, I go."

Now, why do I bring this up and why is it important? Because I want you to see the advantage that Lot had in following a champion of faith. That's Abram. Abram will be called "the father of those who believe," "the father of faith." Yes, his faith was imperfect. But the advantage of Lot to be so close and watch up close the decisions and lifestyle of a man of faith is incredible. He was able to watch a man called by God, a man obeying God, a man fall down, falter in his faith, recover from that and move on, all of that of inestimable value.

I just want to impress upon you the incredible value of the godly relationship of a mentor. If you are a young believer and you can attach yourself to an older believer in the faith who has walked obediently before the Lord, it will pay dividends the rest of your life. They will hold you up when you're weak. They will speak into your life with affirmation. They will hold you accountable. They will be available in a crisis.

Think of the disciples. They had Jesus 3 and 1/2 years. They got to hear Him and see Him close up as He healed people, as He prayed. They got to watch all that, hear it in their own ears. Think of Paul watching Barnabas, who encouraged Paul to get into the ministry. Aren't we glad for Barnabas?

And then think of Timothy and Silas, and Aquila and Priscilla, and a host of others who were up close with Paul watching him. In fact, Paul will write in 1 Corinthians 11, "Follow my example as I followed the example of Christ." Don't you love that? Hey, I want you to watch what I do, as I am trusting Jesus Christ. I'm following Him. You follow me and watch what it is to be a person of faith. That's a mentor. That's Abram to Lot. Lot followed a champion.

Watching a life is better than reading a book. Watching a life is better than hearing a sermon. And here I am preaching a sermon. But I'll tell you, to see faith lived in a life, it's close up. It's better than concepts far off. Abram was, for Lot, like a buoy, kept him tethered.

Let's go to the second stage of Lot's life, from following a champion to facing challenges. Verse 6 of chapter 13 gives us the challenge. We're told this-- "Now the land was not able to support them that they might dwell together, for--" or because-- "their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land. So Abram said to Lot, 'Please, let there be no strife between you and me, between my herdsmen and your herdsmen For we're brothers.'" Don't you love how he elevates his nephew to the same status? "We're brothers."

"Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, I'll go to the right. If you go to the right, then I will go to the left."

Now, I want you to note here that there is no conflict between Abram and the Canaanites who dwell in that land. There is no conflict between Lot and the Canaanites who dwell in the land. No, the conflict is between relatives. The same family. That's where the conflict lies.

I grew up with three brothers. Three older brothers. I was picked on a lot, which explains a lot. When I was growing up, I also had neighbors, like we all did. I don't remember any conflict with any of my neighbors. I remember plenty of conflicts with my brothers, and that's because we lived close together and were experiencing the same things and were in a tight little house. And fights break out.

But I gotta tell you, sometimes I will talk to Christians who get so discouraged that there's disagreements in the Church, in the body of Christ. We're believers. Shouldn't we get along? Yes, we should. But we're a family. We're a family. And this is normal stuff that happens in a family. We're siblings. It's called sibling rivalry. I don't know if it was a Scottish or an Irish wag who said, "To dwell above with those we love would certainly be glory. But to dwell below with those we know, well that's another story."

And it is. There is no conflict between Abram and the Canaanites, Lot and the Canaanites. But there is between the herdsmen and, hence, Abram and Lot. That's where the conflict lies. You'll also notice why they are fighting. It's because they've got stuff. In their travels, they have done business. It has been profitable business. Their stuff has grown to more stuff. There is more employees on the payroll. There is more animals that they're traveling with. And so stuff has grown. There's nothing wrong with stuff, but understand stuff always complicates relationships. It does.

They need more room for their stuff. Now, most of us can relate to this in that whenever you move from one house to another house, it's when you realize how much stuff you have. And you will say, I didn't know we had this much stuff. And some of it's not all that important. Some of it's in boxes and you open the box and go, yep, that's my stuff. And you close the box. And you will never see it again until you move again.

But stuff complicates relationships. I can prove it. Try to get rid of her stuff. Try to get rid of his box of stuff and he'll say, excuse me. That's my stuff. Yeah, but we don't need it. Oh well. It's mine.

So they have stuff and the stuff now complicates the relationships. There's another problem. Did you notice what it says in verse 7? It's written as a footnote but it says, "The Canaanites and the Perizzites dwelt in the land." Get the picture. They're having a fight with each other as brothers and outsiders are watching it happen. They have an audience. They have an unbelieving audience. The world is watching us.

There's a great story, a sad story but true story, about Michelangelo and Raphael. And I mean the artists, not the Ninja Turtles here. The real ones. Both were accomplished artists. Both were hired by the Vatican to beautify the inside of the Vatican. Both were very different kind of artists. One was a painter. One was a sculptor.

But a rivalry broke out between Michelangelo and Raphael. A bitter rivalry broke out. And even though they worked in separate places in the Vatican, it is said that when they passed each other in the hall, they refused to give each other eye contact or even speak to one another. What was ironic about this is they were working for the glory of God while having a fight. Well, people noticed it and talked about it. In fact, all of Rome found out. They were being watched.

Well, in this situation, how does Lot respond? He has to make some choices. He goes from following a champion to facing a challenge to forming choices. He's going to make some decisions. And I want you to follow with me the decisions that he makes and how he makes them.

In chapter 13, verse 10, we immediately notice that Lot forms his choice based upon looks, based on what he sees. Chapter 13, verse 10-- "Lot lifted up his eyes and he saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar."

Lot was driven by his senses. It looked good. He saw that and went, ooh, that's nice. That ought to be for me. Since I can have what I want, that's the best and I want the best. It looked good.

Now, that should remind you of something we just looked at two weeks ago. I think it was two weeks ago. When Eve was in the garden and that tree was hanging there, and it says, "She saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes." The New Testament calls this "the lust of the eyes." You see, the eyes long for what the heart loves. He saw it and it looked so good.

Remember how in the New Testament, Paul says, "We walk by faith and not by--" finish it up-- "sight"? We walk by faith and not by sight. Not Lot. Lot walked by sight and not by faith. In other words, Lot is making a choice based upon what looks good to him materially, not what was good for him actually, spiritually. So he formed his choice by looking.

Let's look at something else. Number two, by leaving. He's looking and now he's leaving Abram. Verse 11 tells us, "Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan. Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent as far as Sodom."

So first he's looking in that beautiful green belt of the Jordan plain and he goes, that looks good. I want it. And so now he's separating and moving toward Sodom in that direction. And why is that a big deal? Look at the next verse. "But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked." It's one thing to be wicked. It's another thing to be exceedingly wicked. It's like wicked turned up to 10. "And sinful against the Lord."

So Lot separates from Abram. It's probably a good day for Abram because he didn't have a guy like Lot hanging around him, which could bring him down. But it was a bad day for Lot because for Lot, Abram was that champion of faith. And Lot could have learned so much. So Lot leaves the place of spiritual strength to move toward Sodom.

I have a question for you. How do you make choices? What values are so important to you that when you make a choice, you bring those values to bear in making that decision? For some people, they make a decision based only upon a job offer. Nothing wrong with a job offer, but if life is all about that, there could be some issues. Some people, it's all about the social life that is available to them. For others, it's all about the material accoutrements that are around them.

Griffith Thomas put it this way. "Even professedly Christian people often choose their home in a locality simply for its scenery or its society or other material advantages without once inquiring what church privileges are there. The souls of their children may starve amid worldliness and polite indifference."

Listen. Lot is on a trajectory and it's a tragic trajectory. Lot is making choices in the flesh for the flesh. So he's looking. He's leaving. Third, by living. He's living. Now, watch something. Go to the next chapter, chapter 14, verse 12. I'm only going to read one verse. So I'm gonna fill in the gap now.

Five kings have joined together in a coalition and they attack the region. And they attack the areas-- the population bases-- and plunder it. And Lot is caught in the crossfire. Verse 12-- "They--" the five kings-- "also took Lot, Abram's brother's son who--" what? What does it say?-- "who dwelt in Sodom." He's living there.

Now remember. Nothing has changed. The men of the city are exceedingly wicked. But he goes from looking to leaving, pitching his tent toward it. Now, he's living in it. You know, I bet if you were to ask Lot, Lot, why are you living in Sodom? Of all places, why Sodom? I bet he would have had a reason, an excuse. I bet he would have said something like, well, there's a lot of advantages to living in a city like Sodom. It's pretty advanced and I've been wandering around the desert for a long time with Uncle Abe. This is good. This will be good for my future. This will be good for my family.

According to rabbinic literature, it says, "When Lot separated himself from Abram, he at the same time separated himself from God. And he chose to settle in Sodom because of his lustful desires." Now, that's rabbinic literature and I don't know if that's true. That's their comments through the years passed down.

And the reason I hesitate there is because when I turn to the New Testament, Peter talks about Lot and he gives him an interesting word. Do you remember what he calls Lot in Peter? He calls him righteous. 2 Peter, chapter 2, it says, "Righteous Lot." Righteous Lot, whose soul was vexed day after day because of the wickedness that was around him. I don't doubt that. It's in the Bible. He was tormented by what he saw. But he lived there all the same.

You know, it's one thing to be in a place, you sort of walk around and you just sort of cluck your tongue. You go, [CLUCK] that's horrible. [CLUCK] Oh, I can't believe [CLUCK]. That's horrible. Pretty soon, because you're still there, you become desensitized to it all. Pretty soon, you don't even cluck the tongue. You say, whatever. This is just the way we-- this is where we live.

So he's in it. He's living it. He's righteous Lot. He's tormented by what he saw. He's clicking the tongue. But I got to tell you, his wife and daughters aren't too tormented. Because his wife will be longing to go back to Sodom when she's drug out. And his daughters will marry two men from Sodom who will mock the judgment of God when it comes. So looking and then leaving and then living.

But there's a fourth stage in his making of choices-- leading. Leading. Now I want you to skip way ahead to chapter 19. One verse, verse 1. Nineteen, verse 1. The story of Lot picks up again. He shows up in verse 1 of chapter 19. I want you to notice this transition. It says, "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 to the ground."

Why is that important? Because you know who sat in the gates of ancient cities? Leaders. Only the judges, only the magistrates, only the politicians. People of influence occupied the place of influence, which was the gate. Because at the gate of the city, the entrance is where cases were adjudicated by judges or by elders. And he's one of them. So he's not just a citizen. He's a leading citizen. He's a politician in Sodom. Nothing wrong with being a politician. But there is a problem with being a politician in Sodom. He's a leader. He is a leading citizen of the city.

To put it in the words of David in Psalm 1, Lot had walked "in the counsel of the ungodly." He had stood "in the path of sinners." And now he is seated "in the seat of the scornful." He goes from a resident of Sodom to a representative of Sodom. And as someone pointed out, if you walk in the footsteps of bad advice, you will soon sit among those who give it. There's Lot, man. He's one of the bosses in town.

I can't resist this. Look at the very next verse, verse 2 of chapter 19. Do you see the word "house" there? Lot's house? I point that out to you because this is the very first mention of the word "house" in the Bible. And it belongs to Lot. Abram is out there in tents as a pilgrim. Lot is in a house as a citizen.

And the New Testament thinks that's important because when we get to Chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews, speaking of Abraham it says, "He waited for a city that has foundations whose builder and maker was God." So he's in tents wandering around, waiting for the city of God. Lot's got Sodom and goes, this is good enough right here. So looking, leaving, living. Now he's leading.

And there's a fifth in his choices. And that is lingering. Same chapter, 19. The last set of verses, I promise. Verse 12. "Then the men said to Lot--" This is the showdown at the Sodom corral. This is judgment day. "The men said to Lot, 'Have you any one else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, whomever you have in this city, take them out of this place.'" Get out of Dodge. "For we will destroy this place because of the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord. And the Lord sent us to destroy it."

"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." Can you hear that conversation? Can you hear those young men who think they are so better educated than Lot. Oh! You believe in the judgment of God?

"When morning dawned--" verse 15-- "the angels urged Lot to hurry saying, 'Arise. Take your wife, your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.'" Verse 16 is the key verse. "And while he lingered--" "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 them, and brought them out and set them outside the city."

Please look at that word "lingered" in verse 16. Mahah is the Hebrew word. Mahah And it means "to hesitate" or "to question" or "to be reluctant." So there's Lot being drug out of town, and he's a little bit like, he's not going anywhere. He's like, well, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! He's got some questions about this. He's reluctant to leave. I don't know. I don't know about all this judgement stuff. He lingered.

What a contrast. Lot lingered and the angels lugged him out of town. They had to pull him out, saying, get out of here. What's happened to Lot? He's become deadened to the urgency of separating from the evil that's around him. At one time, he would have been sensitized to it. Now, he's just been there so long he's just deadened to the urgency of, I've got to separate myself from this evil. He's deaf to the messengers that God sends.

And you know what it reminds me of? The pharaoh in the Bible that Moses had the confrontation with-- remember the 10 plagues, the Passover? So there's 10 plagues that fall on Egypt. The pharaoh, the dude in charge, faces the brunt of it. And one of the plagues was the plague of frogs where it says, frogs covered the land. They couldn't walk in the floors of the palaces because they'd step on slimy, squishy, gooshy frogs. The frogs were in their bed at night when they got in. Frogs were in the kneading chambers where they make bread. You open the oven, frogs come out. Frog souffle. Frogs are everywhere.

So pharaoh says to Moses, ask the Lord to stop the frogs. And so Moses says this, "When shall I entreat the Lord so that this plague will cease?" And pharaoh gives the craziest answer ever. He says, "Tomorrow." Tomorrow? We would say, right now, please, would be the time. He says, tomorrow. Really? One more night with the frogs? You want that? Tomorrow.

Sin is like that. Pick your poison, whether it's alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, anger, whatever. Nobody wakes up and says, today I will become one of 12 million alcoholics in America. What they do is they wake up and they say, just one more day. Just one more drink. One more night. I can stop whenever I want to. Just one more day. And then they wake up one day and they see that their whole life is filled with frogs. Tomorrow.

Here's Lot. Here's a guy who stood side-by-side with Abram. Here's a guy who flew in formation with men and women of faith. Here's a man who marched from his homeland to the promised land. Now he's a fat duck.

I know 2 Peter says he was a righteous man. And he was righteous because at some point, he had a faith experience. He believed God. Abram believed God. And it was accounted to him for righteousness. So he must have followed that and said, I'm going to believe, too. But, though he had a saved soul, he had a lost life.

And I know too many people like that. Yeah, they're saved and I'm going to see them in heaven. But their life from here to there-- heaven-- is just wasted. Saved soul. Lost life.

Lot is a fat duck, unable to rise above the filth of the barnyard that he has chosen to stay in day after day and week after week and month after month. And what this shows you, among other things, is the power and the consequence of choice. A single little choice and then another choice and then another choice and then another choice till you have a barnyard that you're in.

It's time to leave Sodom. Not tomorrow. Today. The Bible uses that word a lot-- today is the accepted time. Now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation in the book of Romans. Not tomorrow. Today. Make a choice today to turn your life over to Jesus. Make your choice today to turn your back on what you know you should turn your back on and come under the grace of God. Don't you love that last verse? "The Lord being merciful to him" drug him out of town. The Lord wants to be so merciful to you. And He will, but you have to invite Him in.

Let's close by bowing our heads. And if you don't mind, just close your eyes and just think all the people around you-- just let them go to the side. Just think about you, your life, your choices, good or bad. Your experience for better or worse. Here you are in this moment hearing these words before your God who is merciful, who loves you deeply, dearly, passionately.

He's demonstrated His love at the cross by sending His son. And it was so good. It was so effective that 2,000 years later, believing in Him still works, still saves, still rescues you from your surrounding environment. And you think about your life and you ask yourself the question, do I know for certain that I'm a saved person? Do I know that when I die, I will go directly to heaven? I know that.

Or maybe you're asking-- and I hope you do ask yourself a question-- is this all there is? Is there anything more than what I have already experienced in my life that could be fulfilling and satisfying? And then I hope you'll make the choice-- because it is your choice. No one else can make it for you-- to say "yes" to Jesus as Savior. "Yes" to him as your Lord. It's a simple choice, but it's a life-altering and eternity-altering choice to say "yes" to Him.

I'm going to leave my eyes open. And I'm going to raise my head up, because I'm going to ask you to do something as you're thinking about your life. I want to pray for you if you want to give your life to Jesus. I need to know who I am praying for. So if you are willing right now to surrender to Jesus for the first time, really, in reality-- I grew up in a church, but I didn't, till I was 18, surrender my life to Christ.

If you've not done that personally yet, or if you need to come back to Jesus, whatever choices you made in the past-- today you're not walking with Him, you're not following Him-- I want you to raise your hand. In raising your hand, you're saying, Skip, here's my hand. Pray for me. I'm going to give my life to Jesus or back to Him. God bless you to my right, and you and you. Several of you right over here. Keep those hands up. Thank you. God bless you.

In the back I see hands right there in the middle section. Raise it. God bless you. Yes. Thank you. Anybody else? Raise those hands up. If you're in the family room over there, I see your hand. Yep. I see your hands over there. And right over here to my left. Raise those hands up high. God bless you, right in the middle. Thank you. Anybody in the balcony? Hands up.

Father, thank you. Thank you. Really, Lord. Thank you for how the simple message of the Gospel, whether it's seen in the New or the Old Testament, simple power of choice, how that speaks to us. Thank you for that. Thank you for your Holy Spirit convincing us that we need the God who made us. And it's upon that admission, Lord, that we turn from ourselves and we turn to You. We place our lives in Your hands. Such good hands.

Lord, I pray for everyone who's raised that hand. I pray you strengthen them as they decide to follow Jesus. I pray, Lord, you give them strength to flap and rise above the barnyard and to fly strong and to go far in formation, following You and Your impulses. Give them strength. Fill them with peace. Bring peace to a weary soul. Some have not found it for a long time. Show them that peace. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Would you stand, please? We're closing in a song, and I'm going to ask those of you who raised your hands to do something that I ask people to do often. And that is to get up from where you're standing, even if you're in the family room. Find the door and come stand right up here where I'm going to lead you in a prayer to receive Jesus. Jesus called people publicly. And we're doing this because there's just something about saying, this is the day I did it, man. I came forward at that service and I prayed. God bless you. It might feel a little bit scary to you, but we'll encourage you as you come.

[MUSIC PLAYING] O come to the altar. The Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. O come to the altar. The Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

As people are making their way, some of you have seen this before. You've heard these things before. You've watched as people have done this and, unfortunately, though, you need to be up here. You've just gotten really good at watching it happen around you and just saying, maybe another day. Maybe another day. Like that duck, one hour and then one week and then a whole summer. Pretty soon, he didn't even notice them go by.

The Lord loves you. He loves you. He loves you passionately. He wants to change your life. Let Him in. Give Him control of your life. Let Him have the reins of your life. Some of you, instead of watching this, need to be a part of it. You get up from where you're standing. We'll wait for you. You might be hearing this outside in overflow. You raise your hand up and let a pastor walk you over here. We're going to sing this through another time. We'll wait for you. We'll wait for you. You come.

[MUSIC PLAYING] --the altar. The Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Come to the altar. Ohhhh.

So good. So glad that you came. God bless you.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The smartest choice of your life right now, right here. The best thing you could ever do right now, right here, what you're doing. I want you to hear that. I want you to be encouraged by that. We're not talking about getting religious here. I got religious on Sunday. No you didn't. You got eternal life on Sunday.

[APPLAUSE]

In fact, honestly, religion has kept a lot of people out of heaven because they feel satisfied by just being a religious person. Now, you're putting your faith in a person, Jesus Christ, who is alive and who will save you and accept you. So those of you who have come forward-- and there's a lot of you, and I'm glad there's a lot of you-- I'm going to lead you now in a prayer. I'm going to say this prayer out loud. I'm going to ask you to say it out loud after me. OK? Say it out loud after me. Say it from your heart. Let's pray together. Say, Lord, I give you my life.
Lord, I give you my life.

Say that. Lord, I give you my life.

Lord, I give you my life.

I know that I'm a sinner.

I know that I'm a sinner.

Please forgive me.

Please forgive me.

I believe in Jesus.

I believe in Jesus.

That he died on a cross.

That he died on a cross.

That he shed his blood for me.

That he shed his blood for me.

That he rose again from the dead.

That he rose again from the dead.

I turn from my sin.

I turn from my sin.

I turn to Jesus as my Savior.

I turn to Jesus as my Savior.

Help me to live for Him.

Help me to live for Him.

As my Lord.

As my Lord.

As my Master.

As my Master.

In Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Though the New Testament calls Lot righteous for his simple faith, his life could have been so much more. How will you make the most of your time on this earth? Let us know. Email mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder. You can give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/giving. Thank you for listening to this message from Calvary Albuquerque.

Additional Messages in this Series

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10/2/2016
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The Cosmic Crash; The Eternal Burn
Isaiah 14:12-17
Skip Heitzig
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Message Summary
One of the starkest truths we find in the Bible is its brutal honesty—it never flatters its heroes, and it never glosses over its villains. It presents the flaws, foibles, and failures of people in every generation. Just as Hebrews 11 is the Hall of Fame, showing the people of faith from the Old Testament, this series will look more at the Hall of Shame of those in the same time period. Why? So we can learn from their failures and not repeat them. In this new series, Crash & Burn, we will learn how to fly by looking at those who fell. But the first "fall" was the worst, making way for every fall thereafter. Today we consider how Lucifer became Satan.
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10/9/2016
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Falling Hard; Recovering Strong
Genesis 3
Skip Heitzig
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After Satan’s own crash and burn, he took his evil scheme from heaven to the earth to which he fell and began to ensnare the first people God made (misery loves company). From this familiar story that most of us know so well comes five lessons that are eminently practical as we deal with life in a fallen world. In this series, we want to learn to fly by looking at those who fell. Adam and Eve went from flying to falling. What does that mean for us?
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10/16/2016
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A Murder after Church
Genesis 4:1-16
Skip Heitzig
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If you think that just attending a worship service is enough to make you a good person, then consider this: the first crime was committed by a mad farmer right after church! The story of Cain killing his brother Abel highlights how dysfunctional the first family was and how sin immediately affected humanity—and still does. Today, we look at the biography of a murderer who went from adoring God to assassinating his brother.
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10/30/2016
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Here Comes Trouble
Joshua 7
Skip Heitzig
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Meet a guy whose name actually means trouble. Achan was an Israeli soldier whose personal action brought a national reaction. When he crashed and burned, he took others down with him—his fellow soldiers, his family, and his country. How can one person do so much damage? And what should be done when we find ourselves in the fallout of failure (our own or others’)? Moreover, can there ever be a bright future for those experiencing such dim circumstances?
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11/6/2016
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A Superhero Loses His Cape
Judges 14
Skip Heitzig
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Some people make us scratch our head in wonder and wipe our eyes in sorrow. Samson was such a man. He had everything he needed to be outstanding, yet he ended his life as a blinded slave in the enemy’s camp. Most everyone knows of his exploits as the superhero of the Old Testament. And even though God used him, Samson could have been so much more. Let’s trace some of the downhill steps Samson took to lose his superhero cape.
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11/13/2016
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Playing the Fool
1 Samuel 26:21
Skip Heitzig
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It’s dangerous business to call the ruler of a country a fool. It would cost one’s life in ancient times. But here’s a case where the king himself admits his own folly. In a single autobiographical statement, King Saul admits his error. Yes, even leaders can crash and burn. Let’s look more closely at the career of a king who ended very differently than he began and see what went wrong. Moreover, let’s try to discover what things he could’ve done differently.
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12/4/2016
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The Four Seasons of Failure
2 Samuel 11
Skip Heitzig
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Our year comes to us in seasons—winter, spring, summer, and fall—as the earth makes its journey around the sun. Our spiritual life can sometimes be the same, especially when we allow sin to intrude. The warm, alluring breezes of temptation can sneak up suddenly and, if acted upon, can bring the cool chill of broken fellowship with God. None of us are immune from enticement but all of us should be informed. Today we see King David’s crash and burn in his battle with lust.
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12/11/2016
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Taking Down a Nation
1 Kings 12:25-33
Skip Heitzig
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It’s bad enough when one person has their own crash and burn. It’s infinitely worse when one person takes everyone down with them. Jeroboam was a spiritual suicide bomber—plunging the nation of Israel into division, idolatry, and eventual judgment. Today we follow the steps he took and the reasons that led to his destructive path in hopes of strengthening our own resolve.
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There are 8 additional messages in this series.
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