We have now traced the sad history of Cain, and also of “the dwellers on earth” in Revelation. We have seen that the earth is not a safe dwelling place, and yet, alas, how many are building their hopes and desires upon it. How many even of God’s dear people have never seen that it is a condemned world, and under judgment, which will most assuredly fall upon it in God’s appointed time.
It is to Christians who are thus living in the world, and who see no harm in mixing to a certain extent in its pleasures that I would now give a solemn warning, taking as an example the painful history of Lot, the second of the three characters spoken of before.
Lot was the nephew of Abraham, and when Abraham obeyed the call of God to come out from his country, unto a land that God would show him, Lot went with him. (Gen. 12:1-41Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: 2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. (Genesis 12:1‑4).)
And here let us pause for a moment. Is there any call to be obeyed now? Indeed there is. In Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) we find the Lord Jesus Christ in grace saying, “Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And whom does He address? The weary and heavy-laden sinner. Have you obeyed His call? Oh, see to it, that, like Abraham who was called, and Lot who came out with him, you, too, may heed His voice and obey it; and I may say, on the authority of God’s holy word, He will never turn you away. (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37).)
You must do as Abel did, acknowledge yourself to be a lost and ruined sinner in God’s sight; this is your only title to His grace and mercy, for Jesus died to put away sin, and bring to God.
But to return to our subject: Lot went with Abraham, and for a time remained with him. As long as he did so, he was blessed, but a change comes; through a dispute between their herdsmen, they decide to separate.
Abraham having the mind of the Lord, gives Lot the choice of land either to the right, or to the left. (Gen. 13:1-91And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. 2And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. 3And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Hai; 4Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. 5And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. 6And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. 7And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. 8And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. 9Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. (Genesis 13:1‑9).)
It is difficult to believe that Abraham would have given Lot the choice of Sodom, because in verse 13 we are told how wicked the men of Sodom were; it is therefore doubtful whether Lot did look to the right or to the left as his uncle told him. Verse 10 says, “And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.”
Lot seems to have looked straight before him, and because the plain of Jordan was well water and just the place he would like for his flocks and herds, he chose to dwell there.
And did he not choose wisely? In the eyes of the world he did; but oh, how sad it is, he chose, to pitch his tent toward Sodom, near the very people whom God describes here as “wicked, and sinners before the Lord, exceedingly?” (Gen. 13:1313But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. (Genesis 13:13).)
Dear fellow-Christian, may I ask, are you, doing as Lot did? He thought everything of his flocks and herds, and but little of the claims of the God who gave him these riches; and though he was daily grieved at the ungodly conduct of those around him, for he was a righteous man (2 Pet. 2:6-86And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) (2 Peter 2:6‑8)), yet for the sake of his flocks and herds, he stays on until God had to put for His power and in mercy bring him out by force lest he should share the just punishment which falls on those wicked men.
If we as Christians make friends of, and quite happy in the company of unbelievers, are, as James (4:4) says, the enemies of God. How solemn!
We hear of people saying, “But then by our intercourse with them we may help them?” it cannot be; for in 2 Cor. 6:14-1814Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:14‑18). We are told to come out and be separate, and in other scriptures too. It is not possible to do good or to help others if we are disobedient to God’s ourselves, nor can we expect His blessing. The cross of Christ is the barrier between the Christian and the world. (Gal. 6:1414But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14).) How can we who love Him take pleasure in the company of the world that put to death the Son of God?
We do not read that Lot improved the condition of those amongst whom he went to dwell, on the contrary, they appear to get worse.
And now that Lot is settled in Sodom, is he able to enjoy the peace and tranquility he expected? No; for in chapter 14 we read that four kings came up in battle against the king of Sodom, and the four neighboring cities; and Lot gets into sad trouble, for the opposing army is victorious, and carries off the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, taking Lot and his goods too.
Thus God in grace gives Lot a warning, and well would it have been for him if he had then learned his lesson, without needing further chastening at the hand of the Lord.
Abraham hearing of his nephew’s adversity, goes after him, and is enabled of the Lord to deliver him and all his goods, as well as those belonging to the king of Sodom: thus does God deliver Lot out of his trouble. Even after Lot has received this great warning he goes back to live in Sodom, for in chapter xix we read of his being there again; and the two angels find him there when they come as the messengers judgment, to that city and the neighboring ones.
The angels remain in Lot’s house all night, and in the morning they take Lot and his wife and two daughters by the hand, and hasten them out of Sodom, “the Lord being merciful unto him” (ver. 16), lest he should be consumed in the iniquity of the city. Lot lingers, and at last he and his have to be almost dragged out of the city.
Ah how loath he was to leave it; how much he thought of it, and of the new relationships he had formed there. So engrossing do the things of this world become if they are the object of the heart, that they draw it away from the Lord; and when He speaks “once, yea twice,” how slow we are to hear and to pay heed, until the Lord has to speak louder, as it were, by taking them away; for, dear reader, Lot entered Sodom a rich man, but he left it a poor man, his life only and that of his two daughters being spared.
In Lot’s wife we see also a sad lesson; her heart is in Sodom, though her feet are being unwillingly led away from it, and in direct disobedience to the divine command she looks. back and is made a monument of disobedience.
And what had Lot’s intercourse with the men of Sodom done for them? Just look at chapter 19:24, Even his sons-in-law, whom one would naturally expect to reverence what he said, When they hear Lot speak of judgment to come, do not believe him; “he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law.” So now, if we believe the word of God that this world is under judgment, and yet go and make friends with it, our words of warning will seem to them as idle tales, and how can they believe us? And by acting thus, we shall have lost the precious opportunity, never to be ours again, of living for Christ in this scene, and of being bright and shining lights, for Him in this dark world. (Phil. 2:1515That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; (Philippians 2:15).)