...because something hit me hard the other day that I wanted to share. And it began with Peter....
2Pe 2:6 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;
2Pe 2:7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked
2Pe 2:8 (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);
And somebody on twitter asking how Lot could be righteous with HIS backstory. So let's hop back a bit and discuss this story.
First of all, Lot had a bit of a selfish streak...
Gen 13:8 Then Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.
Gen 13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left."
Gen 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
Gen 13:11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other.
But he soon found that all was not right in the cities of the Jordan Valley, particularly his new home base of Sodom...
Gen 18:20 Then the LORD said (to Abraham), "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,
Gen 18:21 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."
And the next day, God sent two angels to bring Lot and his family out from Sodom, as the Lord couldn't find 10 righteous people, but only six...
Gen 19:14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
Oops, make that four. And really, Lot wasn't proving himself by his actions...
Gen 19:7 ...and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.
Gen 19:8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof."
So, let's start totaling this up. Lot acted in self-interest, which got him into this mess. He was afraid, and let fear make him do reprehensible things. His family leadership was severely suspect, and would get worse. And finally, he himself was slow to do what he had been told...
Gen 19:15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city."
Gen 19:16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
On top of that, he tried to bargain his way into staying in his comfortable life...
Gen 19:18 And Lot said to them, "Oh, no, my lords.
Gen 19:19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.
Gen 19:20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there--is it not a little one?--and my life will be saved!"
Plus, he was afraid of what people would say about him- or do to him- because of his saving faith:
Gen 19:30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.
And if you know the story, you know this fear and loneliness led him down some bad paths... (and if you don't, read Genesis 19:31 to the end of the chapter for the gory details). Which gives us fear, failure to lead, failure to get moving, pride, desire to backtrack...
Kind of sounds like us. Though he's an extreme example, Lot did the same things we would have... maybe even that we do. So where does the righteousness come in? Well, that's the part I had been missing all these years... remember this?
Gen 18:20 Then the LORD said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave...
The outcry. Who was crying out against them? Most of the town's previous victims (Lot's own actions tell us this wasn't an isolated incident) didn't have access to God. Abraham was some distance away- had he known what S and G were like, he would've warned his nephew. That leaves one man. One righteous man.
Lot prayed down the destruction of Sodom.
Jas 5:16 Confess faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much.
Lot had two things going for him- he had saving faith and was a prayer warrior. Righteousness if only in our thoughts and actions, is nothing- filthy rags. We need to be cloaked in the righteousness of Christ.
Zec 3:2 And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?"
Zec 3:3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.
Zec 3:4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments."
I've been listening to David Jeremiah's series on David. And at the story around Bathsheba and Uriah, we see David, the man after God's own heart, go from laziness to lust to lies to deception to murder and finally to great wrath- only to be humbled when he saw the mirror looked at him. But guess what else David and Lot- and we too, only if- had/have in common? Saving faith and the ability to pray. And that's how we acquire righteousness.
