A SALTY STORY

He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth

ABRAHAM’S STATE

Genesis 18:2 ESV

He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth

ABRAHAM’S SALUTATION

Genesis 18:3 ESV

and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.

CHRIST CONVERSES ABOUT . . .

GRACE

Genesis 18:3 ESV

and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.

GRACE IS SEEN IN . . .

CHRIST PARTAKING OF MEAL

The meal with Abraham was an exercise of spiritual intimacy. To dine with Yahweh at the table was and is the ultimate honor any mortal could have in this world. the covenantal function of this meal was to restate the promise of a son through Sarah. What better way could there be than the familial intimacy of a meal to communicate the close relationship on which the promise was based. Later the same day, when the two angels departed for Sodom, the Lord stayed behind with Abraham, and they talked face to face as the Lord explained what was to follow (cf. vv. 16–33). Such intimacy! Significantly, Abraham received the title “friend of God” (; cf. ; ). A friend is someone to whom you open your heart. A friend is someone you understand and who understands you. Abraham and God were friends.

We should note that four hundred years later the Lord held a covenantal meal with the family of Abraham on the eve of the fulfillment of the covenant of the Law (cf. ). We should note even more that the new covenant was celebrated with a covenantal meal when Jesus took the cup and said, “This cup … is the new covenant in my blood” ().

Hughes, R. K. (2004). Genesis: beginning and blessing (p. 254). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Hughes, R. K. (2004). Genesis: beginning and blessing (p. 255). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

CHRIST COVENANT PROMISE

The Lord reassures Abraham of his covenant.

If you still don’t believe this is Jesus notice that Sarah is behind the Lord when she laughs to herself and the Lord asks Abraham why did Sarah laugh to herself.

Genesis 18:10–11 ESV

The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.

Why does the Lord wait to fulfill his promise? He waits in order to shape our faith us to do His will.

Genesis 18:14 ESV

Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

There is one more portrait of grace. Notice that the Lord doesn’t set Sarah on the sideline for her sin of unbelief.

Genesis 18:15 ESV

But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

Instead, he purposes to work in-spite of her sin. God’s sovereign purposes will be accomplished whether willingly such as Mary’s virgin birth or in-spite of in the case of Sarah.

GUILT

THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH HAS COME TO CONDEMN

THE CAUSE OF CONDEMNATION

Genesis 18:20 ESV

Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,

Ezekiel 16:49–50 ESV

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.

EZEKIEL 16:49-50

THE LORD IS NOT CAPRICIOUS IN HIS CONDEMNING

Genesis 18:21 ESV

I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

ABRAHAM PLEADS FOR THE GUILTY WITH GRACE

Genesis 18:22–33 ESV

So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Those who have experienced grace meditate grace not justice for the guilty.

This story teaches us that the Lord is not in a hurry to destroy cities and people because even just a few righteous people can make a difference in a city.

SODOM: A PLACE OF RECOMPENSE AND RESCUE

Sodom receives it recompense because their are no righteous people are found except for Lot. Wickedness had permeated this city from the oldest to the youngest according to . In the midst of their wickedness there was still an opportunity of grace. However, those blinded by sin see deliverance from God’s wrath as a silly bed time story or a religious joke not worthy of consideration.

Lot receives the rescue he needs. Listen to Peter’s commentary on Lot and his Sodom experience.

2 Peter 2:6–9 ESV

if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

Notice that Peter called Lot “righteous” three times so that his readers could not miss it. He also described Lot as “distressed”—literally, “worn down” by the filthy lives of the Sodomites—and tormented or continually tortured (imperfect tense) in his “righteous soul.”

2 Peter 2:6–9 ESV

Obviously righteous does not mean perfect! We must understand that Lot was righteous in a way comparable to that of Noah and Abraham. Scripture affirms that Noah’s righteousness had come by faith: “By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (). And the Scripture says of Abraham, “And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (). Yet both these men were flawed, as Noah’s drunkenness and Abraham’s expediency with Hagar and later with Abimelech demonstrate.

Therefore we must understand that Lot was a believer, though a man of far less character and commitment than Noah and Abraham. Lot had chosen for himself the well-watered plain of the Jordan. He was attracted to the glitz and materialism of Sodom. Even after Abraham delivered him and his fellow Sodomites from the kings of the east, Lot returned to Sodom to ultimately sit in its gates. Clearly Sodom had gotten inside of him. It is probable (though not provable) that he married a Sodomite woman. His daughters were betrothed to pagan Sodomites . Later, while in a drunken stupor in a mountain cave, Lot would fall to Sodom-like sin.

In a word, Lot was a conflicted soul, at the same time both offended and allured by Sodom. He liked the prosperity, the comforts, the “culture,” and the prestige. But he was worn down by the filthy lives of lawless men and perpetually tortured in his righteous soul by the deeds he saw and heard. As such, he is the prototype and paradigm of so many believers today. He is not a caricature, a joke written on the pages of antiquity. Lot is for real and he needs to be rescued.

Lot is tortured by Sodom in s spiritual sense and yet Sodom’s tentacles have to some degree dug themselves into his soul. We see times, in this short story, were he acts godly and godless. He warns others to get out and yet in he lingers and has to be seized and removed by the two angels. How grateful we should be as we consider those times when our gracious Lord has delivered by force from Sodom’s satisfactions. Notice how Scripture describes this action, “the Lord being merciful to him”.

The Lord rescues Lot because he never gives up on his own. The Lord rescues Lot because He never deviates from His plan. This Salty Story ends in a salty way. Lot’s story concludes in unusual and unflattering way. Righteous Lot last Scriptural appearance seems to conflict his title. This is a dark picture. Why would Scripture leave us with such a picture of a man who was called righteous?

Hughes, R. K. (2004). Genesis: beginning and blessing (pp. 271–272). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

and one that shows that Lot did not finish well as far as the Biblical record tell us. However, Lot will be among the many in Heaven not because of works he had done but his faith in work of the one that was to come. Lot is not an example of righteous living but how we are saved by an alien righteousness. Lot life serves to remind us that there is a way out of every Sodom like temptation. Lot’s life serves to remind us that the Great Shepherd will rescue his wandering sheep from nastiest pig pen.

There are several reasons of which I will address in a moment. First let me part the clouds of this dark picture to show you God’s providence. God’s foreknowledge allows him to take what was meant for evil and mean it for good. The actions of Lot’s daughter’s were no doubt devise by their own sinful heart and reflect Sodom’s effect on their life. Their subsequent pregnancy, conceived by sinful actions, bring forth two groups of people, the Moabities and the Ammonities. These two groups at various times would causes great distress to God’s people. However, the Sovereign Lord would use these two groups within his plan of redemptive history. One of the Moabites will be Ruth (), and she is part of the genealogy of Christ. One of the Ammonites will be Naamah (), and she marries a king named Solomon. They have a son named Rehoboam, who is also in the same genealogy. So the lineage of Jesus contains Moabites and Ammonites— people who were born out dark day. My point here is this: There is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, God can’t redeem and use for His purposes— not even in cases of rape or incest. The promise of God is that everything gets wrapped up in His purposes, and— one day, in the distant future— we may well see good come out of something that seems horrible.

Lot’s life serves as an example of how not to finish well. His life stands in contrast to Paul’s life, which serves an exhortation of how we are finish.

2 Timothy 4:7–8 ESV

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

However, Lot will be among the many in Heaven not because of works he had done but his faith in work of the one that was to come. Lot’s life is not an example of righteous living but how we are saved by an alien righteousness. Lot life serves to remind us that there is a way out of every Sodom like temptation. Lot’s life serves to remind us that the Great Shepherd will rescue his wandering sheep from nastiest pig pen.

2 Corinthians 3:11–15 ESV

For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.

1 Corinthians 3:11–15 ESV

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

If Lot could speak to us this morning I believe this is what he would say to us; “ don’t enter heaven smelling like smoke. fight the good fight. run the race. beat your body into submission. pluck out your eye. cut off your hand. do whatever it takes to hear him say well done my good and faithful servant.”

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