Good morning. How are you all doing today? Praise
God. I am doing fantastic. And I do always want
to take the opportunity to welcome anybody. If
you're joining us here in our sanctuary for the
first time, or if you're watching us online for
the first time, welcome. We're so glad you're
here to worship with us. I am Pastor Nathan,
and today we are going to be taking communion
as a part of our service. And so in the room
here, we will be passing out communion as a part
of the close of our service. But if you are watching
online, please get your communion emblems ready
to be able to participate with us at the end
of service. Today we're going to be finishing
up Genesis chapter 19, looking at the effect
of hypocritical living on the legacy that we
leave with our children and the next generation.
You see, as we've been studying the story in
Genesis 19, we've been looking at the life of
this man named Lot. And if we only had the Old
Testament in Scripture, we didn't have the New
Testament, I don't think any of us would have
imagined from his story that Lot was considered
a righteous man. a true believer saved by the
grace of God. But as we've looked in a couple
past studies in 2 Peter 2, it tells us there
three times that this man Lot, this compromising,
conflicted man, was considered righteous. And
we know that word is referring to God looking
at somebody through their faith and going, you
are saved, you are clean, you are with me, you
are righteous. Now, although he was distressed,
it tells us, and tormented by what he had seen
and heard while he was in Sodom, although he
was revolted by everything that had taken place
there, Sodom, the spirit of that place, had penetrated
his soul enough to the point where his morals
had been watered down, to the point where his
passive acceptance of all of the sinful things
that took place there came to characterize who
he was, as he was a man who saw the evil, didn't
like it, but didn't really engage to do anything
about it or say anything about it. And Sodom
itself is a picture of the world we live in today.
You know, we live in this place where taking
responsibility for how your own actions affect
others is dismissed by many people. You know,
our culture today is, you know, I'm going to
live this way, I'm going to do this, and if you
don't like it, it's your fault. If it affects
you, it's your fault. In fact, even if it is
hurting or harming you, you have to accept me
because I've decided to do what I want to do.
Mankind really has done that from the beginning
where mankind puts what I want, what gratified...
gratifies me the most, what sates my desires
the most, is above any concern for how the pursuit
of self harms those around us. Worse, there's
many true believers in the world today who know
better, who profess to have knowledge of the
truth, belief in the truth, who know the harmful
effects of sin and the ultimate result of sin.
They still, however, put self -comfort and self
-convenience above concern for the effect of
sin in their own life, their family, and the
world around them. And they do this, much like
Lot, by being internally distressed, internally
tormented by the sinful things they see in the
world around them. But they say nothing in response.
They really do nothing in response. Instead of
challenging or confronting those things in love,
they just kind of like, well, you do you. It's
okay if you want to do it. I'm going to live
a different way. Or even worse than that, some
believers will secretly satisfy their flesh just
a little bit by trying to live as close to Sodom
as they can without participating in it. But
when they do that, when we do that as the church,
the warning that is in the gospel of Jesus Christ
is weakened. The warning is watered down. Our
witness is compromised. Now that is just looking
at the man a lot and the effects in his own life
and the world around him. But a significant tragedy
takes place when a believing parent lives this
way. When they live in such a way where they
profess Christianity, they go to church on Sundays,
they go to small groups, and yet in the home
they live a compromised life. They live a life
which looks way more like Sodom. than it does
like heaven. And when they do that, that spiritual
complacency that they are demonstrating gets
passed to their children. The conclusion of Lot's
story in our text today really highlights the
very sad reality of not finishing well in our
race of righteousness. And the result of really
not doing or saying anything about the evil ways
of the world around them Instead, just passively
accepting that instead of following the example
and living according to the example of Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Savior. He is the one who
is the perfect example we are to follow, not
the world. And the example we leave to our kids,
our families, the people around us have such
a profound effect that we need to stop being
people who live passively but live intentionally
in righteousness. Amen? Well, we're gonna pray,
we're gonna worship God, and we're gonna start
with just loving him first before we get into
the word today. This is a very strange piece
of scripture to tie into communion, but God already
showed me how to do it, so I'm excited about
that. And I just pray today we would see the
grace, the mercy, the love, the forgiveness of
Jesus Christ, amen? Let's pray. Father, we love
you so much. We're so grateful that you sent
your son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for
us. Lord, it's because of that we have the possibility
of being changed, of being different. Lord, we
know that the way we live has such a profound
effect on those around us. God, those that are
parents, Christian parents, Lord, that will say
things like we know our kids watch what we do,
but we won't necessarily live like we believe
that. And God, the bad decisions we make, the
bad examples we leave, God, those things get
passed on to the next generation. And then, Lord,
in many cases, the next generation will then
take what we've taught them and go even farther
with it. Lord, when it's godliness and righteousness,
we example and lead and teach, Lord. God, it's
so amazing to see when the children we have influence
on, Lord, take that and run with it. But the
compromise and the conflict, Lord, just destroys
lives. I pray, God, today you would remind us
of the importance of our witness, the importance
of teaching and training and exampling godliness
in our families. Lord, that we would be people
who would finish the race well. God, Lot's example
is what happens when we don't. Lord, may we learn
from this as we look at his example and then
contrast that with the right example that you
left for us, Lord. We love you so much. We worship
you. We praise your holy name, God. Lord, we
know you're here with us, God. We ask that your
spirit would overflow out of us, God, and bless
us today. Lord, we ask that you be blessed. In
Jesus' name we pray, amen. Okay, guys, we are
in Genesis chapter 19, and when you study through
the Bible, The Bible gives us all kinds of different
portraits of people, right? We see heroes, we
see villains, we see good people, bad people.
But one of the reasons that I believe... gives
credibility to the Bible being true is how honest
the Bible is about the failures of those people
who would otherwise be called righteous people
in the Bible. You see, if you were trying to
make up a story about a God who, if you trust
in him, he changes your life and everything's
better, and you were trying to get the world
to believe in that story, it reasons that you
would only tell of the glowing victories of those
who trusted in that God. You would tell a story
about, look how bad this person was, and then
they trusted in this God, and boom, their life
was perfect after. That's how heroes and those
that are positive and good are typically portrayed
in stories, especially among the cults. But the
Bible is very open about the failures about those
who are considered God's people. Men like Lot,
who the Bible tells us he's righteous, and yet
we read stories as we've been reading in Genesis
19 that really don't paint that picture, but
yet he is considered a righteous person. And
the transparency that the Bible has on the lives
of godly people who make terrible, terrible mistakes
really supports the case that the word of God
is an honest work. That it's honest in what it's
telling rather than dishonest. And again, Lot's
story is a big example of that. And so just the
brief recap for those that may have not been
with us before. When Abraham, then named Abram,
left his hometown of Ur with his family, Lot
was one of them that was with them. Lot is the
nephew to Abraham. And so they traveled 800 miles
to the land of Canaan. And through the story
that's primarily told about Abraham's life, we
see Lot, this character, a slow progression away
from godliness. A slow progression whereas he
leaves the family, he leaves his uncle Abraham
and the influence there and ends up getting close
to this place called Sodom which is a very wicked
and evil place. And so on the night that the
Lord God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, we saw
Lot who had moved closer and closer and closer
to this city now as a leader of this terrible
wicked city. This guy who was called godly and
righteous in 2 Peter 2 tried to offer his two
virgin daughters to this mob of all the men in
the city that had surrounded his house who wanted
to homosexually rape these two angels who had
come to visit the city whom Lot had brought into
his house for protection. So godly, righteous
Lot thought it was preferable to hand his daughters
over to the sexual violence of this mob rather
than handing over these visitors in his house
because if he handed over the visitors, it would
tarnish his reputation, it would tarnish his
honor. And we go, how can anybody make a decision
like that? Yet Lot did. And really it's the picture
of how far Lot had fallen. since his original
arrival into the promised land, which was so
far that in the middle of Genesis 19, we find
that as the angels are telling Lot, God is gonna
judge this place, God is gonna destroy this place,
that the two angels literally had to drag Lot
out of Sodom with his wife and his daughters
before the destruction came. And then as they
drug him outside, they said, flee to the mountains,
and you'll be safe. Now, whimpering, fearful,
faithless Lot begs them, please let me flee to
the town of Zoar. It's closer than the mountains,
and I'll live if I get there. Now, they allowed
him to do that. They graciously granted that
request and allowed him to go to Zoar. Now, I
think Lot wanted to go to Zoar instead of the
mountains, one, out of fear for his own life,
but two, Zoar was like a mini Sodom. And Lot
had been so ingrained into the culture of Sodom
that he was a very materialistic man. He was
big on his position and his power and his authority
and his business and his stuff that he wanted
to go there rather than flee up into the mountains.
So they grant his request. He ends up in Zoar.
Sodom and Gomorrah is wiped out along with the
other towns that were there in the plain. And
you can imagine the people in Zoar just a handful
of miles away Firestorm, fall from the skies,
whether it was a meteor shower or comets breaking
up or whatever it might be, but then the impacts
on the earth and the explosions and the screams
and the rumbling of the ground as this whole
plane was destroyed by God. Now we know that
Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt as
they fled because she looked back on Sodom, regretting
that she's gonna lose out on her stuff. Her material
things, her house, her goods, her riches, and
even in the face of God's judgment, she was still
longing for those things, and she ended up getting
judged because of that. This is where we're picking
up the story today in Genesis 19 .30, where now
we have Lot, his two daughters living in Zoar.
Everything in Sodom and Gomorrah is gone, destroyed.
Lot's wife is gone, their mother is gone, and
all of it being an example of God's judgment
on sin and disobedience. So now we read verse
30. Lot departed from Zoar and lived in the mountains
along with his two daughters because he was afraid
to live in Zoar. Instead, he and his two daughters
lived in a cave. Now we're not told what he was
afraid of when he got to this place, Zoar, but
something made him afraid enough to leave the
city and to go live in a cave. Now speculatively,
we could say maybe he was afraid of the people.
Because again, Zoar was like a mini -Sodom, and
so maybe he got there and then went, wait a second,
I know what my town did to strangers when they
showed up in the town. They wanted to do these
horrible things to them. Oh no, people here are
looking at me very weird, right? Maybe he was
afraid that the place was gonna be judged, right?
Because he had a very weak faith. He didn't walk
close with God, so even though the angel said,
it'll be spared for your sake, Lot may have been
thinking, oh, this place is just as bad as where
I was from. They're going to judge it. I better
get out of here. Maybe he was afraid of the people
because the people were like, hey, I had some
friends in Sodom. Why did you get out alive?
We don't know what it is ultimately, but what
I do find interesting is that when the angels
took him out of Sodom and told him to flee, that
he didn't return to his uncle Abraham. I firmly
believe that if he returned to his uncle Abraham,
Abraham would have welcomed him right in, right?
Kind of like the prodigal son, if you will. Welcome
home. I'm so glad you're out of that place. Matter
of fact, you know, I saw the meteor shower destroyed
as well. I'm so glad you're home. You see, there's
a picture that Abraham might have been concerned
about his nephew Lot earlier when God had told
Abraham, I'm going to destroy this place. And
Abraham's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, like,
you're just and you're holy. And, you know, if
there's someone righteous there, you're not going
to destroy the place with the righteous there
as well, will you? And speculatively, we think
that, you know, Abraham knew that his Lot nephew
was there. Probably knew that his nephew Lot
had made a profession of faith in God, and so
he was thinking, you know, I don't want him to
get killed. That's speculative as well, but it's
likely. Now, instead of going home to Abraham
where he knew he would be welcomed, he instead
goes to this place, Zoar, and now he's afraid
of Zoar. Now, Donald Barnhouse said, when a man
is out of the will of God, he is haunted by the
boogies of his own imagination. We call that
paranoia. Right? I can't go home. They're going
to reject me. Go to Zoar. Oh, I can't stay here.
They're going to do terrible things to me. And
everywhere he looks, he's seeing things that
he's afraid of. He's being driven by fear. His
decisions are being driven by fear. And so whether
it was guilt or shame or pride or a combination
of all those things, he had become a fearful
man. And not knowing God very well, Not for any
other reason that he chose not to be close to
God. The reality of his own sinful compromise
and the reality of what happened, he was scared
of what could happen. So his metaphorical descent
into sinfulness and then that leading to fear
and possibly depression and isolation and compromise,
just how he was isolated from his family, we
now see the physical reality representing that
where he's now living in a cave. Now you have
to understand, this is Lot who had wealth and
riches and a position of power and reputation
and all of these things that he said, you know
what, these are so valuable to me, I'm going
to kind of put my godliness on the back burner.
Now it's all gone. He's lost everything. And
he's sitting in this cave. Now scripturally,
caves are often connected to or seen as tombs,
right? Abraham ends up buying a cave in Machpelah
to serve as the tomb for his wife. It ends up
being the tomb where he is buried. And, you know,
caves we see in other places that represent the
place of finality or the place of death or the
place of separation, right? We ultimately know
that it was a cave that Jesus Christ was buried
in after his crucifixion. Now, we'll get to later
that as Lot... His story ends in a cave. Jesus
Christ walked out of that cave, walked out of
that tomb, and we're going to be celebrating
that in a few weeks here at Easter. But here
in Lot's story, we see that after all these riches
and all this wonderful stuff that he thought
was the most valuable thing in the world, now
he's spiritually entombed. Not that he's lost
his faith, but he's in this place that represents
his spiritual degradation. That he has fallen
so far from the Lord at this point that he's
just living a death -like existence. Now, Lot's
compromise and Lot's corruption didn't just have
consequences on him. It had major consequences
on his family as well. As I mentioned earlier,
that as he was fleeing, his wife longed for the
worldly material things of Sodom so much that
she looked back, even though the angel said not
to, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.
But this last part of the story, verses 30 through
the end of the chapter, we're going to see the
effect of his compromise. We're going to see
the effect of his corruption on his daughters.
and really learn that how spiritual shallowness
in parents is often duplicated and even amplified
in their children. Look at verse 31. Then the
firstborn said to the younger, our father is
old, and there is no man in the land to sleep
with us as is the custom of all the land. Come,
let us get our father to drink wine so that we
can sleep with him and preserve our father's
line. Now, I think in the Hebrew, there's a bracket
there right after this that says, ew, gross,
right? I mean, Lot's story, right? Just when
you think his story has gotten worse, it gets
worse. But this is a godly, righteous man according
to the Bible, right? So what we see here is the
daughters. Going, hey, let's sleep with our dad
because dad doesn't have a son and there's going
to be no one to carry the family line here and
the family name. And so, you know, the custom
is that we would go off and get married to other
families. But, you know, all of this is there's
no mom. Dad can't have any more kids. And so
what this is is incest, right? Sexual intimacy
between family members. Now, it's interesting.
You look into the ancient cultures, the Near
Eastern cultures like the Mesopotamian cultures
and the Hittite cultures predominantly. Incest
wasn't widely accepted. There were some cultures
that were known for it, but in a lot of the Mesopotamian
and specifically the Hittite cultures, it was
forbidden. Like they even knew it was a bad thing
back then. The Code of Hammurabi, which is the
laws of the Mesopotamian Valley, in those laws
that have been discovered, incest is completely
forbidden. In the Hittite culture, not only was
it forbidden, but it was punishable by death.
And so there was this sense that this type of
thing was not okay, right? Like it needs to be
written in the law, but it was written in the
law so that they knew it was not okay. The Hebrew
culture we read in the Bible goes on to explicitly
forbade any of this type of relationship between
fathers and daughters or fathers and daughters
-in -law. And you read all about that in Leviticus
18 and Leviticus 20, where it tells us that in
the Hebrew culture, incest was punishable by
death as well. along with adultery was punishable
by death, homosexuality was punishable by death,
bestiality, which is sex with animals, punishable
by death. Why? Because these things were an aberrant
perversion of God's intent for human sexuality.
Now, whether or not the culture in Sodom believed
it was wrong or not, it doesn't tell us. But
we can imagine with how Sodom is described to
us as so evil and so wicked, and then the picture
of all the men of the city coming to rape these
visitors, we can imagine that there wasn't a
lot in Sodom that they considered wrong. Now,
what we do see here, and it's very interesting,
is that Lot's daughter's motivation is not sexual
in nature. It's economic in nature. And what
do I mean by that? Their idea here is to preserve
their father's line. You see, in ancient times,
ownership of land, ownership of goods, ownership
in general was tied to the father's name. The
women in those times, they didn't have rights
that women have today. They were considered...
deeply loved family, but as far as legal rights
were concerned, women were kind of treated like
property, right? And sold off into other families
and to make deals. And so the only way that ownership
of family assets could travel was through sons,
because it went from the name of the father to
the name of the son and so on and so forth. Now
that could indicate that these girls coming up
with this idea are somehow motivated by the idea
of possibly maintaining and recovering all of
their materialistic stuff. We know the mom was
so materialistic that she looked back and was
turned to a pillar of salt. And so the idea of,
like, we need to preserve father's line because,
you know, then we could get our stuff back. Maybe
we could, you know, go somewhere else and say,
I'm Lot of Sodom and get position and fame and
power back. We're not sure about that. Again,
that's speculative, but. Jewish tradition says
this, that the girls, these two girls thought
that the whole world was destroyed. Jewish tradition
says that these girls thought that them and their
father were the last people on earth. And so
the daughters were going, well, we got to repopulate
the earth and dad is the only male. And so let's
come up with this really, really foul thing to
do. But I reject that because of the fact that
they were just in Zohar. Full of people, right?
So they couldn't have thought they were the last
people on the planet unless something else happened
that's not recorded, but it's not recorded, so
likely not. But did the daughters believe that
what they were doing, even though it was economic
in nature and all that, did they believe it was
wrong? Did they believe it was not the right
thing to do? Well, the fact that they had to
get their father drunk to do it indicates to
me that they had an understanding that it was
wrong. That father, if he was sober, would have
otherwise said, no way. And yet they were like,
we have to get him drunk to do this. And so what
that tells me is they knew what they were doing
was wrong. And I'm sure with the idea of Abraham
and the other side of the family, that they understood.
And I believe it's within the heart of humans
to just go, ew, that's not right. And so they
sinned intentionally. Regardless of their motivations
or reason of doing so, this was sinful for them
to do. Let's read on. Verse 33. So they got their
father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn
came and slept with their father. He did not
know when she lay down or when she got up. The
next day, the firstborn said to the younger,
look, I slept with my father last night. Let's
get him to drink wine again tonight so you can
go sleep with him and we can preserve our father's
line. That night they again got their father
to drink wine, and the younger went and slept
with him, and he did not know when she lay down
or when she got up. This is a dark, wrong, perverse
incident. Ironically taking place in a dark cave.
The context of Lot's life as a father. is a very
dark context. And that is what all this is set
in, because even though we've postulated maybe
they were thinking this or thinking that, we
still have to come back to and go, how could
Lot's daughters, knowing this was wrong, still
think this was a good idea? Right? I mean, maybe
we could go back to Zoar. Let's go back there
and just start a life and rebuild. I mean, there
were options, but for some reason, they came
to this option. That this is the way to rebuild
our father's life, our father's family, and then
by extension, our family. Well, we have to understand
that this story, this whole story of this man,
Lot, is about the fall of a righteous person.
The effects of a righteous person getting closer
to sin than they are to God, and how that corrupts
their morals. Now, this particular part of the
story, this is after the destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah, this is after Lot lost everything,
and then this is the conclusion of Lot's narrative.
This is the end of his story. No more in the
Old Testament about him. This story is gonna
end on a very dark note, and this is his legacy
that he has left behind for us. Now, as I said,
Lot's an example of what happens when a righteous
person compromises. They end up losing everything,
whether it's here or in the big picture, they
lose everything. The Bible tells us that those
who trust in riches, well, when you die, the
riches don't matter, do they? Your gold doesn't
go with you. Your house doesn't go with you.
Your bank account doesn't go with you. Your retirement
and your investments, those are meant to be left
behind to take care of your family that hasn't
moved on yet. But Lot, he was putting his trust
in all those things. But worse beyond that, is
his example of living led his daughters to follow
the same path into sinful compromise. His example
taught his children to sacrifice what is right
for what is most beneficial. You see, their moral
compass was completely corrupted as well. And
this is the result of their dad's example. Life
in Sodom, I believe, had repeatedly demonstrated
the reality to Lot's little girls of how wine
and sensuality work together. You see, Sodom
was a place of deception and manipulation and
taking advantage. Sodom was a place where my
pleasure, what I want, was first above all things.
I don't care how it affects anybody else. I'm
going to go after that. And so it's very likely,
very likely that wine and getting people drunk
as a means of getting them to do what you wanted
them to do was something they saw all the time.
Lot not only was a rich man there, but he was
a leader in the city. So it's likely he had business
dealings with people all the time. And so it's
just the likelihood that they were exposed to
this type of thing is very high. Now, not only
did they see this stuff, but then their dad,
who may be in the home, was like, hey, girls,
we don't do that. This is terrible, sinful stuff,
right? It says he was tormented. He was distressed
by what he saw and heard. But every day, he still
went out and did business with these people and
still went out and participated in their government.
And there's a real possibility that the kids
are like, Dad, if this is so terrible, why are
we still here? Dad, if this is so bad, why are
you in partnership? Why is your business partner
one of these horrible people? And yet, he was
a type of man that was like, I don't participate.
I don't do the sins that they're doing, but he
said little enough about it where he became a
leader in the city. That tells us that, sure,
he might have believed sin was sin in his own
heart, but he couldn't jeopardize his position
by standing against righteousness. No, no. He
couldn't jeopardize the success of his business
by standing against unrighteousness and wickedness.
He couldn't do that. He couldn't give up his
reputation by being one of those Christians,
right, that's just always telling people they're
in sin. He couldn't affect his bottom line by
standing up for righteousness. And so we don't
do that, but we're not going to say anything
else to the culture we live in. That's incidentally,
as Mari was sharing, is one of the issues with
abortion in our culture. There's so many leaders
in the church and churches that are like, oh
no, that's wrong, but we're not gonna engage
in that. We're not gonna talk about that because
it might affect our church attendance. I'll tell
you right now, and if this offends somebody,
then I'm sorry, but if standing on the word of
God causes you to not wanna come to church here,
I'm sorry. See you later. I will always stand
on the word of God, no matter what. If... Well,
this isn't in the notes, so I know I'm going
to go off on that soapbox. The word of God is
everything. Standing for what the word of God
stands for is everything. And Lot being an example
of a man who was like, I'm saved, but I'm not
really gonna rock the boat, if you will, it ended
up affecting his daughters. His lack of a backbone
in regard to righteousness, his deaf ear and
his blind eye to the social abuses and the sexual
abuses of this place taught his daughters that
righteousness wasn't really important enough
to take a stand for. Taught his daughters that
what was of personal benefit, what was enriching
to me, my family, us, was more important than
doing what was right and godly or standing against
wickedness. It taught his daughters that what
God wanted in regards to how we live, how we
do business, it was merely a suggestion, not
a command. And then really what they ultimately
learned from their dad is, well, if such depravity
is to be tolerated, then the practice of it can't
be that bad, right? And this is what we see them
doing. On top of all of that, Lot's daughters
had witnessed his life of sacrificing what is
right if it means survival. I mean, think about
it. Just assuming they got to Zor and left the
same day, the night before, they couldn't forget.
Sitting there at home, seeing dad bringing these
guests, oh, hi, guests, let's make a meal for
you. Mob on the door. And hearing dad go, take
my daughters. Do whatever you want to them. Can
you imagine those girls? What? What'd you just
say, dad? Just terrible. But they had just witnessed
this. They had witnessed their dad willing to
send them out to this horrible, horrible situation
if it meant survival, if it meant protecting
his house or his honor or his reputation. Well,
his daughters are now simply employing the same
morally deficient survival mode decisions as
they've watched their dad do his whole life.
So even though they had to get him drunk to do
it. And even though they knew what they were
doing was wrong, well, it's going to be beneficial
for our family. So it's really not an issue of
right or wrong, is it? It's an issue of, is it
good for us? Now, to address Lot, he may have
been drunk, but he's still culpable for what
he did. You see, he wasn't apparently drunk to
the point of being unconscious and being forced
by his daughters. He He was drunk enough to not
remember what he did, but he was still able to
function. He was still able to perform in the
task. And, you know, for those of you that have
had a history, right, I have a lot of history
of partying and drinking and all this stuff.
And when I read this story, I was like, oh, yeah,
I know the difference between being blackout
drunk and you're passed out to drunk enough to
not remember what happened last night, but you
still were able to function, right? It's not
something I'm glad I know, but still. I know
it from my experience. And so he was able to
do the deed. He was able to function. But he's
still guilty. Even though he doesn't remember
it, he's still guilty, right? Just as any father
today in the same situation wouldn't be like,
well, you know, my daughters gave me a beer last
night. Nope, shucky darn. You'd be like, no way.
It's sinful. It's wrong. As we've come to the
end of Lot's story, as I said, this is the last
mention of Lot in the Old Testament. He's of
no further importance to the history of salvation.
And this is the legacy he leaves behind. There's
no record of his death. There's no record of
a moral turnaround, right? A big moment where
he recommitted his life. There's none of that.
There's just a sad story of a righteous man.
saved by grace, saved by faith, pulled into the
world because the things of the world were of
greater priority to him than the things of the
Lord and him finishing his race very, very badly.
And so verse 36 is the epilogue to the story.
So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by
their father. The firstborn gave birth to a son
and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites
of today. The younger also gave birth to a son,
and she named him Ben -Ami. He is the father
of the Ammonites today. Now, today to a degree,
but far more so in ancient cultures, the naming
of children was an incredible honor. Incredible
honor. It was usually the honor and the responsibility
of the father of the children to name their kids,
typically. But Lot's abandonment of responsibility,
especially as a parent, that we've seen through
his whole life, now as a parent again in a weird,
grotesque way, his irresponsibility, his abandonment
of that is highlighted as the daughters are the
ones who name their sons. And the names just
forever immortalize his legacy. Moab, guess what
Moab means? From my father. For the rest of his
life and the life of his daughters, my grandchild
is named Moab. Dad did it. How disgusting, right?
That was his legacy. Guess what Ben Ami means?
Son of my paternal kinsman. Son of my male family
member who is a father. And he was reminded of
that for the rest of his life. He was reminded
that his daughters made this decision. He was
reminded. that his daughters got those morals
from him as their father. Now, Moab's people,
if you picture the map of Israel, right, here's
Israel, here's the Dead Sea. The Moabites were
down here to the southeast. The Ammonites were
up here to the northeast of the Dead Sea. And
it's just really interesting. Like, the Ammonites,
they're populating the area, or populated the
area that today is now known as Jordan, right?
The capital city is Amman. Just after Ammonites.
Really interesting. But these two nations, they
became great enemies of Israel, both when Israel
was just wandering before they got into the promised
land and after. You know, we read stories in
the Bible like where the king of Moab hired a
guy named Balaam to curse the Israelites, right?
The king of Moab, these people that came from
Lot's daughter trying to curse Israel as Israel's
just wandering through to the promised land.
Now, you guys all remember the story. Balaam
was called to curse, was said, hey, the king
of Moab said, I'll give you tons and tons of
money, go curse Israel. Balaam's like, sweet,
money. What's interesting is tradition says that
Balaam was a non -Jewish prophet of God. I didn't
know that. That's really interesting. I was like,
non -Jewish prophet of God? Well, yeah, God talked
to people that weren't Jewish. Job was one of
them. Job's three friends, right? But he goes
in and he opens his mouth and he blesses Israel.
The king of Moab's like, dude, that's not what
I asked you to do. Do it again. So they do it
again, sacrifice 14 animals on seven altars.
Balaam goes, bless Israel. King of Moab's like,
bro, like you're not doing what I asked you to
do. Get out of here. I'm not paying you any money.
So Balaam goes home and then Balaam goes, oh,
I got an idea to get my money. I'll get Israel
to curse themselves. So he goes back, and he's
going to tell the king all about this, and that's
where we read the story that he's riding his
donkey, and his donkey's on the road, and then
the donkey stops and wants to go this way, and
he goes, stupid donkey, stay on the road. Then
the donkey goes this way, hits him again, stupid
donkey, stay on the road. Now that's when God
opened up the mouth of the donkey, and the donkey's
like, bro, stop hitting me. It hurts. But then
it tells us that that's when God opened up Balaam's
eyes too and he saw the angel of the Lord standing
in the middle of the road. And the angel says,
look, your dumb donkey saved your life. And so
that's all tied into these people, these Moabites
that came from this. Now, I saw a really interesting,
beautiful picture of like a redemption of Lot's
line in this because guess who else came from
the Moabites? Ruth. She was a Moabite. Ruth is
the line that King David came from. Ultimately,
all the way down to our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Just such a neat picture of God just doing this
little redeeming thing there. And really, that's
just a picture that throughout the history of
salvation, it was always God's intent that every
Jew and every Gentile can become a true son or
daughter of Abraham through Jesus Christ. But
closing up here, you know, Lot's ultimate mistake
was this. Although the sinful worldliness of
Sodom tormented his soul, he still chose to live
as close to it as he could. He even hesitated
when it was time to leave at the very end. The
result? Well, God judged that place, judged that
sin, and destroyed the whole plane. It was gone,
but the spirit of Sodom still lived in the hearts
of his daughters. And it lived there because
of his example. You see, the family is the...
first and most fundamental of all human institutions
that have been ordained by God. The family, that's
why it's under attack. That's why the devil attacks
it. That's why it's always being assaulted from
one point or the other because the family is
the primary educational medium through which
godliness is supposed to be taught and God himself
is supposed to be transferred. It's the parents
who are supposed to be teaching their kids who
then teach their kids who then teach their kids.
This is one of the most important aspects of
marriage. We find it in Malachi chapter 2, 15.
God says, didn't God make them one and give them
a portion of spirit? Speaking of couples coming
together. And what is the one seeking? Godly
offspring. It's a mandate of the Lord. There's
been a lot of studies of two -parent Christian
families. Two -parent Christian families. And
in a majority of these studies, the prayer and
the spiritual training is by far done by the
mothers in these two parent Christian families.
Now, moms, thank you. God bless you. Keep doing
what you're doing. We need it. But dads are supposed
to be leading the charge in this. Fathers are
supposed to be leading the charge. If you're
a dad in this room today, you... are the priest
of your home. Isaiah 38, 19 says, a father will
make your faithfulness known to the children.
Ephesians 6, 4 says, fathers, don't stir up anger
in your children, but bring them up in the training
and the instruction of the Lord. That is your
job. Psalm 78, we don't have time to go through
that. Read it on your own. But the whole psalm
says over and over and over again, fathers, teach
your kids so that they won't forget to teach
their kids. And in the middle of it, it says
that they would not forget the works of God but
to keep his commandments. You know what else
Psalm 78 tells us? That Israel forgot the works
of God because the fathers didn't teach their
children. It's huge. The example you leave, the
example you teach, or the example you example,
all has effect on your kids. And one of the greatest
things we could do is say, oh, we're going to
come to church on Sunday, and we're a Christian
family, and we believe in God, and then to go
home and say, instead of a biblical worldview
in my family, you know, we're going to, I'm going
to have a secular worldview in how I do business.
How I talk, right? One of the things that just
cracks me up in a sad way every time is when
I hear a Christian parent go, why is my two -and
-a -half -year -old saying all these bad words?
I looked at my kid and I go, why are you blankety
-blanket saying all these blankety words? And
I'm like, are you kidding me? You cuss around
them all the time. You think your kids aren't
going to pick up on that? The kids are watching.
They're watching. Now, you may not have kids
in the house anymore, but there's still children
around you that you have an influence on, especially
if you're here at church. Our servants in the
children's ministry, I was just encouraging them
this morning. I'm like, you get an influence
in these kids' lives. Now, it's only an hour
and a half once a week. But still, make sure
it's a godly influence. Make sure your example
is one where they will watch and go, oh, that's
how to be a godly person. But it's more than
just having Bible study and devotion time. Like
I said, it's sharing and exampling that Christian
worldview about everything all the time. It's
in the way you live. It's in how you talk, how
you behave. And if you don't do that at home,
then do not be surprised when your presentation
of a secular worldview in the home causes your
kids to reject a biblical one, period. And then,
in many cases, go even farther than you ever
did. Here's Lot going, I didn't participate.
And now his daughters are going, yeah, well,
but then it's not so bad to actually do a terrible
thing. This is all about example, right? Following
the example, setting an example, and the example
for all of our life, we know, is Jesus Christ.
He's the pattern. He's the one we're to be following,
right? Jesus came into this world. He sanctified
himself, and unlike Lot, that sanctification
set him apart from the world. The Bible tells
us that we're in the world, but not to be of
the world, right? Lot could have been over here
with his uncle Abraham in the promised land,
in the world, but not of it. But instead, he
chose to get as close to Sodom as possible, and
he became part of that world. And parents, I
will acknowledge this and say this, that yes,
ultimately, your children will make their own
decisions. But if they make the wrong decisions,
please don't let it be because they learned it
from you. Where do we learn the right example
to set? Jesus. He's the perfect example. He's
the one that we see in his life. He set aside
convenience. He set aside comfort, materialism.
He set aside all of that for what? His children.
We are his children. He said, I'm going to do
what's best for them, even if it costs me. I'm
going to do what's best for them. And the idea
is, especially parents, but all those who have
influence, don't let personal gain, what benefits
most, supersede what is right. Do a business.
There's nothing wrong with having a business.
There's nothing wrong with making profit. There's
nothing wrong with being sickeningly wealthy
if that's what God gives to you in your life.
But if you come to worship those things, and
those are your God, Things are going to be bad.
Things are going to be terrible. So don't put
the personal game before what is right because
your kids and the kids are watching. The best
possible thing we could do for the children,
and the idea is to leave a lesson, the best possible
thing is to teach them that all this world has
is nothing compared to knowing Christ. It's knowing
his word, it's worshiping him, and then show
them what being sanctified looks like, even if
it's hard, even if it's less convenient, even
if it costs you, even if it's a sacrifice. You
see, Jesus himself was tempted in the same way
that we are, to go, you know what, the hard thing
is in front of me, that's gonna be what's best
for my kids, but if there's another way, I'd
like to take that one. We saw that in the Garden
of Gethsemane, right? Father, if there's any
way you could take this cup, any way, I vote
for that. But he said, but nonetheless, your
will be done, not mine. And that is the example
we're to follow. And because he made the hard
choice to do what was best for his kids, we all
have the opportunity to be saved. We all have
the opportunity to have the hope of heaven. And
so that's what this is all about. When I first
started studying this passage, I was like, Lord,
Why is this the passage following on communion
day? I have no idea how to tie this into communion.
And then as we went through it, I saw what it
is. Our kids will remember the life we lived.
And they will model after it in many ways. But
if they remember a life of godliness, there's
a greater chance that they're going to follow
a pattern of godliness. Or at least you will
not be responsible for them following a pattern
of worldliness. Jesus set an example for us in
the cross where he said, I want you to know that
no greater love has man than this, to lay down
his life for those he cares about, those that
are his friends, those he loves. That Jesus said,
look at my example. This is the sacrifice that
I want you to have parent. You may lose the big,
expensive, profitable business deal, but do the
right thing so that your kids don't learn how
to compromise the right thing for the business
deal in their life. Jesus said, I set aside my
divinity, still God, but I set it aside to come
and live like you so that you would be able to
identify with me, that you would know I identify
with you in all the struggles. And then when
he went to the cross to die for us, that was
the greatest expression of love. That was the
greatest expression of sacrifice, and that's
what we celebrate in communion. So we're gonna
take communion now as we close our service because
it is because of him and through him that we
are able to live. It is because of his sacrifice
on the cross that we're able to put faith in
that, and then it says that when we put faith
in him, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within
us and empowers us to live a life of honor to
God. I'm so excited as we're coming forward because,
you know, as Lot, his story ends in a dark cave,
seemingly like hopeless. He was redeemed and
we were all redeemed because Jesus didn't stay
in a dark cave. That as he died for our sins,
took all the wrath, all the punishment for everything
we were going to do and ever will do, that then
he walked out of there, defeating the power of
sin and death. setting us free forever. That's
what we remember in communion. And so in a moment,
I'm gonna invite the men of the communion board
to come forward and we're going to worship while
we pass out the communion. I will ask everybody
that as we pass out the first emblem, the crackers,
that you hang on to them until the men of the
communion board are back up front and then we
will all partake together and we'll do the same
thing with the juice after. So I just pray that
God blesses your life. I pray that God speaks
into your life, and I pray that all of us, especially
those that have kids in the home right now, that
we take very, very seriously the legacy of the
example we live, that we understand the great
effect it can have, and so leave a good one.
Amen? Father, we thank you so much, Lord. Just
bless this time of communion, God, as we're coming
before you to remember what you did for us, the
example you set. Lord, I'm so thankful that you
include these things in the Bible, Lord, where
we see these terrible decisions and these really
grotesque perversions of what is meant to be.
But God, they're all a picture of who we are.
We're all sinners. And those that have put their
faith in you, Lord, we are saved by grace. And
Lord, we know that as we cling to you more, godliness
is going to increase in our life. But the closer
we get to Sodom, Lord, the less we know you and
the less our righteousness that is granted to
us through you will be exampled in our life.
Lord, we want to be good examples. We want to
be good parents. We want to be good influences.
But we can't do it without you. And so, Lord,
we remember today through communion the life
you lived, the death you died for us that we
would be set free. We love you so much. We thank
you in Jesus' name. Amen.