“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

And 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;

And delivered —just—- Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:

(For that — righteous — man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government.” - 2 Peter 2:3-9

——————————————————————-
BIBLICAL LIVING 101 - Relationship ( Concept of - Conclusion )
——————————————————————

Our study thus far has shown us some extremely powerful things :

1. All relationship is rooted in, and springs out of the Nature of God, Love. We, created in His Image, bear the same capacity for relationships and Love. He, in turn, seeks an eternal individual relationship with each and every one of His children. All He asks of us as “religion” is to love others... more relationship!

2. We relate to the 3 persons of the Trinity in 3 different ways.

We daily depend on the Father for our very existence , provision and protection.

We are married to the Son through the Word, and through His work of redemption for us.

The Spirit indwelling us gives us fruits of character , and gifts of knowledge, power, and wisdom with which the church can bear each other’s burdens and be an edified witness of the Grace and Love of God.

3. Last week, we also hit the off-note of sin that is ever present in our soul. The -effects- of sin are what we feel in our body - disease, decay, aging - but the agent,sin,lurks as we saw last week - inside our mind, playing with, and bending our will to disobey Gods law of Love.

4. The Mosaic Law lays out for us a set of principles that clearly illustrate the loving nature of God. Sin, USES these Laws to condemn us with a sense of how far our behavior is from His Perfection. This is bad enough when we are unsaved... when we are saved, it FEELS even worse !

The Sermon on the Mount elevates the Law to such a lofty ( and correct ) level that we know we can NEVER KEEP IT! !

The Spirit heightens/revives our sensibility to Sin again, to where we OURSELVES are convicted by our own behavior, and Sin of course, is delighted to have more ammunition...

Then there is the battle for holiness that we are asked to demonstrate ...trying to grow up and fly straight while being set upon by tribulations outside, and turmoil inside - What a pickle!

This battle only ends when we die... Since Sin lives in your mind, it only dies when you do- there is no cure for this disease other than the one Christ accomplished on the cross....

Leading us to the wretched condition experienced and agonizingly articulated by the Apostle who speaks for all of us - “ Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?”

Well, all is not gloom and doom, because :-

A. God “declaring” you sin free is different from you “being” sin free. It doesn’t matter if you are guilty if the court declares you innocent. You walk out of that courtroom every time, because Some One has paid for your crimes already. So, as far as eternity goes, you are all set! Hallelujah!

B. Since God KNOWS our condition, it DOES NOT STOP HIM from having a loving relationship with us.

We will look at Lot ( our text this week ) as an example of righteous living in a fallen world. We don’t think Lot was righteous, but Peter says he was ... we have highlighted those areas.

Lot gets a bad rap in general - a dispute between their herdsmen caused him and Abraham to part ways, Lot went and lived near Sodom ( he picked a fertile spot ) where he ended up being kidnapoed during a war and had to be rescued by his uncle, later in life we find him causing worry for his uncle again - as God tells Abraham he is going to Sodom to judge. Abraham prays for the city, but God knows his heart is for his nephew.

Yet there are things about Lot that jump out on a careful reading of the Genesis account ( Gen 13-18 ).

Lot is the first person to meet the angels when they come to Sodom. We are told he was sitting in the “gate” of the city - a place usually reserved for city elders. He also ( like his uncle ) immediately recognizes these angels as very special people indeed , treats them with high honor , and opens his home to them. This is especially interesting as he does not know their mission ( judge the city / save him ) at this time. ( How do we deal with strangers in our home today ?... different topic ... ? )

Later in the night, when they are besieged , Lot even offers up his daughters to save his guests. ( you may think that is or is not too nice ! ). Again, it’s interesting to note that the two of Lots daughters that were still living with him, were still virgins , though He was living in Sodom... ( others had been respectably married off ) proof that he did rule his house well IN SPITE of the environment he was in..

“And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, —which are here—-; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” - Ge 19:14,15

The Spirit through Peter telling us...”For that — righteous — man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.”

The men of Sodom also bear witness : “And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: “. Lot didn’t just keep his mouth shut it seems, he must have voiced his disapproval on at least one or more occasions for that particular accusation of being judgmental to be hurled at him....

Lot listened and he and his daughters, faithfully did everything the angels asked , ( INCLUDING NOT LOOKING BACK ... that was his wife ). He even was instrumental in saving another city ( Zoar ) by asking to be sheltered there - which request was also graciously granted!!!

Why would God save a person like Lot - and destroy the rest of the city so utterly nothing lives there any more? Surely he didn’t deserve it?

The Word has this to say - we present both facets:

“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 dwelt. “ - Gen 19:29

“And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
Behold now, —thy servant hath found grace in thy sight—-, and thou hast -magnified thy mercy-, which thou hast shewed unto me in -saving my life-; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:” - Gen 19:18,19

Grace !! Grace !! Mercy and Favor to Lot for the sake of Abraham also !

Now if God can be gracious to a Lot living in Sodom ( and it is possible to live there and still be declared righteous ! ) - do you think you are in a worse situation?

You don’t sin for at least 8 hrs a day ( sleep ) and are kept fairly busy and occupied the remaining 16. Of that. you show love some of the time, and sin some of the time, but overall - you are ahead of the game ! We know it doesn’t feel like it ... but put your faith in facts and the Word , not on feelings ! The Spirit is happy for us to improve our batting average over time - we have the rest of our lives to do it.

Lot’s days didn’t end that well. He was so traumatized by the event that he left off living with people, dwelling in a cave with his two daughters. They got him drunk and had children by him , Moab and Ben Ammi- fathers of the Moabites and Ammonites. You may point to this and say Lot was instrumental in Israel’s later harlotry ... He wasn’t.

“And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.” - Deut 2:9

“And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. “ - Deut 2:19

God’s grace to Lot is shown, transcending many generations, from Abrahams days to His instructions to Moses more than 500 years later.

So, don’t worry, be happy!

Though the struggle with sin - inside and outside is real - walking with God is not as challenging as we think it is. He has made us free of the consequences of our sin, and - we can minimize the amount of sin we do daily by being smart to recognize what IS sin ( not Love ), and avoid THAT , as opposed to majoring in the minors!

Lastly , doing God’s will is easy- patiently ( fighting our sin ) let us keep striving to do good each day !

Hallelujah!