"LOT'S DETOUR INTO WORLDLINESS" Genesis 19:18-22

There are many people that start out with a good family, some good friends, and good fellowships..Then something causes them to Detour into Worldliness…Sometimes it is Prestige, Sometimes it is Power, and Sometimes it is just Plain Pride…But when one DETOURS into Worldliness…It is DEFINITELY ALWAYS ATTRIBUTED TO SIN…Let’s look at Lot and His Detour into Worldliness.

I. LOT REFUSED GOD'S PLAN (18)

"And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord."

What a strange want of faith and fortitude, as if He who had interfered for his rescue would not have protected Lot in the mountain solitude.

Acts 10:11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: 12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. 14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. 15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

            1-God’s  Plan for Power

            2-God’s Plan for Provision

            3-God’s Plan for Promotion

II. LOT RATIONALIZED GOD'S PLAN (19)

"Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die."

He saw the destruction so near, that he imagined he should not have time sufficient to reach the mountain before it arrived.  He did not consider that God could give no command to his creatures that it would be impossible for them to fulfil; but the hurry and perturbation of his mind will at once account for and excuse this gross oversight.

1-Lot Rationalized His Disobedience

            2-Lot Rationalized His Demeanor

            3-Lot Rationalized His Direction

III. LOT REPLACED GOD'S PLAN (20)

"Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live."

Probably Lot wished to have it for an inheritance, and therefore pleaded its being a little one, that his request might be the more readily granted. Or he might suppose, that being a little city, it was less depraved than Sodom and Gomorrah, and therefore not so ripe for punishment; which was probably the case.

            1-Replaced God’s Will

            2-Replaced God’s Word

            3-Replaced God’s Way

IV. LOT REVEALED GOD'S PATIENCE (21)

"And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the chich thou hast spoken."

How prevalent is prayer with God!  Far from refusing to grant a reasonable petition, he shows himself as if under embarrassment to deny any.

Ps 145:19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

            1-God is Longsuffering

            2-God is Loving

            3-God is Longing

V. LOT RECEIVED GOD'S PROMISE (22)

"Haste thee, escape thither, for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar."

It was God's purpose to spare Lot and his family.  The work of destroying Sodom could not, therefore, be begun, till they had left the city.

            1-God Delivered Lot

            2-God Destroyed the Land

            3-God Demanded Loyalty