The Woe of Worldliness

Even when there is repentance, when there's a turning from sin, we still sometimes pay lots of consequences. Forgiveness never negates the consequences of sin, never does. And so the Bible spends a lot of time emphasizing what happens if someone decides to go their own way and turn against the will of the Lord. That's why we have spent so much time in Genesis chapter 19, learning how not to turn away from the Lord, how not to follow the world, how not to live a life of compromise, but to live a life that would honor the Lord Jesus Christ and bring glory to His name.

So this morning, as we look at the woe of worldliness, two things you're going to want to notice. One is the tragedy of transgressions, and number two is the counsel for Christians.

Let's look at it together, Genesis chapter 19, verse number 30. And Lot went up from Zoar and stayed in the mountains and his two daughters with him. For he was afraid to stay in Zoar, and he stayed in the cave, he and his two daughters. Then the firstborn said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come into us after the manner of the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father. 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. And it came about on the morrow that the firstborn said to the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father. So 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. Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

And the firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. And as for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-Ami. He is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day. The tragedy of transgressions. Number one, upon Lot personally.

Number two, upon Lot's family. And three, ultimately, those results. Okay? First of all, upon Lot personally, the woe of worldliness is seen in his decisions.

His decisions. Lot was a man who did not make intelligent decisions. He did not make intelligent decisions because he did not base them on God and His Word. He based them on his own lifestyle. And it seems that every time Lot made a decision, he made a wrong decision or he made a bad decision. Ever since Genesis chapter 13, when his eyes looked upon the luscious plain of the Jordan and said, I'll take that land, Abraham, that's where I want to go. The moment he made that decision, the moment he left Abraham, the moment he left the one who walked with God and who was a friend with God, the moment he left the godly influence in his life, he began to make worse decisions.

They got worse. They didn't get better. Lot made a decision to go to Sodom and live in Sodom. He married a woman. He had a couple of daughters. They were probably in their middle teenage to late teenage years by now.

So for a number of years he had gone on living without any really tragic consequences in his life. He had enjoyed the passing pleasures of sin and thought that everything was going to be okay. And then all of a sudden his whole world collapses in just a matter of hours when two angels come to his house and tell him he needs to leave because God's going to destroy the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. And he would leave. He would have to be dragged out of the city. His wife would die. They would go to Zoar.

That's where they are now. And then they move from Zoar to the mountains. We see them once again making a bad decision. Lot made many bad decisions, but he made them because he didn't consult the Lord. He made them because he didn't look to the Lord. Remember Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. I'm sure many of you haven't memorized. It says this, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Anybody know Proverbs 3, verse number 7?

Proverbs 3, 7 says this, do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Why do you trust in the Lord with all your heart? Why do you lean not into your own understanding? Why? Because that's all evil. That's why. It's all evil. Turn away from evil. And then it says in verse number 8, it will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones. If you're the kind of man that fears God and longs to serve Him and trust in Him, there's going to be healing to your body. There's going to be refreshment to your bones.

There's going to be peace in your life. But Lot was a man who didn't experience much peace. Peter tells us that his soul was tormented day and night by the weakness of Sodom. And even though he made a decision and enjoyed the passing pleasures of sin, when he put his head on his pillow at night, his soul was tormented because of what was taking place in the city that he wanted to live in. It says in verse number 30, Lot went up from Zoar and stayed in the mountains and his two daughters with him, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar.

Well, wait a minute. Isn't this where he asked to go? The angels told him to flee to the mountains. He said, I can't go to the mountains. Please, there is a little city. It's Zoar. Let me go there.

And the angels gave him his request. And he went to Zoar. Now he's afraid to stay in Zoar. Why? Is he afraid because of the wickedness that's there? Is he afraid that that city is going to be destroyed? God promised that he would not destroy that city. What caused him to fear? Listen, my friend. Whenever you don't trust the Lord, you will live in fear. And you'll make a wrong decision. He made a bad decision. You say, wait a minute. God told him to go to the mountains in the first place.

Yes, I know. But that was before. That was before. When he was leaving Sodom. And now he wants to say, well, maybe God still wants me to go there, so I'll go there without ever consulting God. Lot just presumed that he could just go to the mountains now and just do whatever he wanted to do and live in a cave. But he never consulted God. He never went to God and asked Him, Lord, what do I do here? And as we have said, Lot was not a man who would spend his time consulting God. It is not true that we make our decisions based on fear more so than anything else.

He was afraid in Zohar. We make decisions based on our finances, based on our future, based on our feelings, based on our friends, based on our family, but very few times do we make decisions based on our faith in God. Think about the decisions you've made this past week. Were they based on your faith in God or were they based on your feelings or your friends or your family, your finances, your future, or even your foes or your fears, but not your faith? And that's not trusting in the Lord. And Lot finds himself making his decisions based on his fears.

He finds himself in a cave in the mountains. But the tragedy of transgressions moves on to his daughters and sees the escalating influence of a man's life because of his inability to lead his family. It says in verse number 31, the firstborn said to the younger, Father is old and there's not a man on earth to come into us after the man of the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine. Let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father. The oldest one has a concern. The concern is that we must not be able to make the family continue.

You see, in those days, it was a reproach upon a woman to be barren. It was a reproach upon a woman not to have any children. That's why it says over in Genesis chapter 30, when Rachel bore Joseph, God hath taken away my reproach. And over in Luke 1, 25, Elizabeth said, the Lord dealt with me to take away my reproach among men. It was important to the women of those days to perpetuate the family line. But these daughters, listen carefully, these daughters were concerned primarily with themselves and not with their God nor their father.

And that is idolatry. They were involved in looking toward themselves. This is what we need to do. This is what we need to have. We cannot continue to bear the reproach of man. So what do they do? They begin to rationalize their sin. There's no man around. There's not a man for miles. So we've got to do something. We've got to take matters into our own hands. If not, we're going to become old maids and we don't want to do that. So therefore, this is what we can do. We can lie with our father. We can conceive and we can continue on the family line and we will make a name for ourselves.

We will have to bear the reproach of man. And so they began to rationalize in their own mind what they could do. There was no other man around. Oh, come on. Be realistic. No other man around? They just left Zohar. I'm sure there were men there. You mean to tell me there was no other man on the earth that they could end up being married to? God wants you to perpetuate your family line. God wants you to have children. But there is a specific means by which you are to have children and that is within the family unit, within the marriage bounds.

And these people, these two daughters, they weren't even close to getting married, but they could rationalize their sin. They could come up with a plan that would remedy their negative situation. People do that all the time. Whenever we begin to rationalize sin, then we begin to strategize our sin. And they have strategy. We can rationalize just about anything in our own minds to accomplish what we want to have accomplished in our lives. And what do they do? They committed incest. The Bible is very clear in Leviticus 18 about what God said about incest.

We don't need to go into great detail about that. The Bible is very clear. This is wrong. You can't do that. But they wanted to do it. Why? Can I give you two reasons? One is Sodom was in them, even though they didn't live there anymore. That way of life had become so ingrained in them that they thought like Sodomites. They thought like the world. They could begin to rationalize things like the world. All of a sudden, even though they didn't live there, Sodom lived in them. Listen, the more you hang around with the world, the more you're involved with the world, the more you begin to think like the world.

The world was in these women. They began to think like Sodomites. It's okay. Number two, not only did they think like Sodomites, but they had the influence of an ungodly father.

Remember back in Genesis 19? He wanted to offer his daughters to the homosexuals. He wanted to compromise their virginity for the sake of these two men that were in his house. He offered his daughters to the men of the city. An amazing scenario, but that was the father. That was his influence in their lives. He didn't have the godly influence in their lives. He didn't teach them how to make godly decisions. He didn't teach them how to trust the Lord. He didn't teach them how to wait upon the Lord.

So why should they wait upon the Lord? Why not hurry into some incestuous relationship that they might be able to conceive and bear children? Why not? Our father made decisions on the spur of the moment. Why can't we? Our father lived in Sodom and enjoyed the life of Sodom. Why can't we live that kind of life and enjoy that kind of life? Fathers have tremendous influence in the life of their daughters. And so therefore, these daughters followed the example of their father. But they could play on what?

Dad's weakness. They knew his weakness. He had a drinking problem. He liked to find wines. So they could play on dad's weakness in order to accomplish their sinful purposes. And it worked. The tragedy of transgressions. The consequences, the continuing consequences of sin. We see it upon Lot personally with his decisions. Upon Lot's family with his daughters. And number two, with his descendants.

With his descendants. Look what it says down in verse number 37. And the first bore a son and called his name Moab, meaning what?

From my father. The second one, Ben-Ami, meaning a son of my people. These two nations, the Moabites and the Ammonites, were born from Israel. Have had terrible relationships with those in Israel ever since then. In fact, it was the Moabites who opposed the march of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. And Balak, the king of Moab, was one who hired Balam to curse Israel in Numbers chapter 22. When Israel was on the way to Canaan. And after Israel settled in Canaan, Scripture reports periodic uprisings and wars between Israel and these two nations.

In fact, in Zephaniah chapter 2, listen to what the Lord God says about Moab and Ammon. Zephaniah 2 verse number 8, I have heard the taunting of Moab and the revelings of the sons of Ammon, with which they have taunted my people and become arrogant against their territory. Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be like Sodom and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah, a place possessed by nettles and salt pits and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them and the remainder of my nation will inherit them.

The tragedy of transgressions upon Lot's family, upon him personally. But listen, ultimately, ultimately you must understand something very significant and that is this, God's decrees. If you miss what I'm going to say right now, you will miss the most important point of Genesis chapter 19. Everything brings you down to one last emphasis and this is it. I want you to think with me for a moment about the most significant Moabite woman. Her name is Ruth. Ruth married a man from the tribe of Judah, his name Boaz.

They had a son, his name Obed. Obed had a son, his name Jesse. Jesse had a son, his name King David. Listen, Jesus the Messiah is from the line of Lot and from the line of Abraham. Through the transgressions and the sinful behavior of one man and his daughters comes the King of Kings. Why does God record this? Why does God go into gruesome detail to describe for us the hideousness of sin? Because the Bible is not about Lot. The Bible is not about his daughters. The Bible is about showing us the marvelous grace of Almighty God in the midst of terrible transgressions.

See that? That's such good news. God overruled it all. God let Lot make his bad decisions. Let him lead his daughters in the way of immorality and into an incestuous relationship to bring about his ultimate purposes. Read Matthew chapter 1, the genealogy of Christ. You got that Moabite woman in there, Ruth. She came from nowhere. She came from the line of Lot. And what did God do? God orchestrated the events of the world to bring about his marvelous purposes. To demonstrate what? That the Bible is about God, his grace, his mercy, his love.

And that no matter how bad your sin is, no matter how bad your life looks, God says, I can take all that and turn it around for my purposes.

And I can bring about my glory and I can do things that you can't even believe that I can do because that's the kind of God I am. And that's what leads us to the counsel for Christians. Three things. Number one, be aware of compromise.

Be aware of compromise. Be aware of the consequences of your compromise. Be aware of what God's going to do in your life if you live in disobedience to his will. Be aware of compromise. If you get anything out of Genesis 19, get that. Number two.

Number two. Not only do you need to be aware of compromise, but you need to behold the consequences. For Lot, his wife, his daughters, his descendants, what do you have? You have decay, you have disaster, you have destruction, you have devastation, you have death. Behold the consequences. Listen.

You'd think that when Lot saw his wife there as a pillar of salt, it would just turn his life around. He'd repent of all of his sin, get right with God, be a godly man for the rest of his life, but it didn't. It didn't. He went on still making decisions without consulting God. He involved himself with his daughters and although he was drunk, he was part and parcel to the whole sinful act. You'd think he would have learned his lesson, but he didn't. Let us not make the same mistake. Let's learn our lessons.

Let's look and see what God has done. Let's read the account and say, God, I don't want to do that. I want to behold the consequences and say, Lord, help me to live in obedience to your word. Beware of compromise. Behold the consequences. And lastly, and not least, believe the Christ. Believe the Christ. Believe his cleansing and believe in his coming again. Believe what Jesus Christ said in his word that he offers life to all. And the life he offers is the supreme life, is the fulfilled life, is the life that wants to satisfy your deepest needs.

Believe in the Christ. Believe in his cleansing. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all of our sin and believe in his coming again. That's the counsel for us. So when we come together to partake at the Lord's table, what are we doing? We are believing in the Christ. We believe that his sacrifice was enough to redeem us from our sin. We believe in his cleansing, that the blood of Jesus Christ, as 1 John 1, 7 says, cleanses us from all of our sin. And we believe in his coming again.

For Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, that as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim his death. Until what? He comes again. You see, we believe in his coming again. And believing those things keeps us on the straight and narrow, keeps us trusting in our God and leaning on our God. And that's the counsel we need to receive. That's what we need to believe in. That's where we need to be as his people. See that? God is so good to take one of the most hideous chapters in the Bible and show us once again his marvelous grace.

Remember what I said to you at the very beginning 8 weeks ago when we started this chapter? I said, look, every time you read Genesis 19, think of Lot and look at your life in Lot's life.

Now let me conclude that for you this morning. Look at your life in Lot's life and see the grace of God.

See it. See the marvelous working of grace in spite of all of the negatives that are there. In spite of all of the sinful acts, God orchestrated his divine will to bring about the Son of God to redeem you from your sin, that you might live in obedience to his will. God wants to show you that even in the midst of the most horrible situations, I can bring about my greatest purposes and greatest glory. Isn't that good? Boy, I tell you, our God is so great to do what only he can do. Who would have ever thought it?

Who would have ever dreamed it up? Nobody but God himself. God is a marvelous grace. Let's pray together.