As in the Days of Noah - As in the Days of Lot

References: Genesis 18 and 19; Ezekiel 3:18-21; Luke 13:3, 5; Luke 17:26-29; Romans 1:21-32

We cannot be delivered from what we like, no matter how wrong or harmful it may be. For that to happen we must come to hate it as much as YHWH, Jehovah God does. In time we will come to see it as not only all right, but even a good thing. This is what is referred to as a reprobate mind.

In the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah this was the state of society and government. There was no respect for the Lord or the guidance He provided establishing safe parameters in which they could truly enjoy good life. The citizenry demanded the “right” to do what they wanted, when they wanted, and how they wanted.

Their response to the righteous-- those who desired to live in right standing with God and enjoy His blessings?

(1) Condemning the convictions of others who would dare to disagree with their positions and ways of living.

“Who are YOU to judge US?” becomes a slogan. Born-again Christ-followers are not called to condemn, but we are commanded repeatedly in Scripture to be in effect “fruit-checkers.” “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:” Galatians 5:21-22a. If none of those are evident, then the person is horribly off-track and on their way to destruction.

(2) Threatening them.

(3) Cursing them.

(4) Calling them names in order to set them apart negatively.

In essence they take the position that no one has any right to talk or be heard unless willing to accept what they believe.

(5) Irrational hatred.

(6) Violence, including perverted physical attacks.

Do you recognize the mind-set? They are virtually the same as we see in the so-called Progressives today. Those whose lives are corrupt tend to form alliances with others whose lives are also corrupt, yet perhaps in different ways. Regrettably there are many who have infiltrated the Body of Christ in order to lead believers away. When it comes to the ministry, some are sent (by God) and some just went.

God is very patient, having put up with the wrongful ways of men for thousands of years. Yet He himself stated back near the beginning that His Spirit will not always strive with man. When the downhill slide passes a tipping point, then God will allow the destruction of an individual, city, nation, or as has already happened once nearly all the population of earth. He knows where the pathway leads, and gives every reasonable opportunity for men to escape the inevitable consequence of their choices, not willing that any should face destruction.

There are five lessons to be learned from the life of Lot’s family and his encounter with the two angels:

(1) There was a warning given of coming destruction

His uncle Abraham was warned, and negotiated God down to what he thought would be a safe number of righteous in order to stop the destruction. What Abraham did not know was that half of Lot’s family had already accepted the corrupt ways of the twin cities.

America and the world have been given, and still are being given countless warnings to wake up and smell the coffee.

(2) There was a revelation of how the righteous could escape from the destruction, if they would obey

(3) There was an opportunity given to warn the rest of the family

In Lot’s case only two of his daughters and his wife listened, and all four of them finally had to be taken by the hand and nearly dragged out of ground zero.

(4) A plan of escape was given

(5) The destruction in Lot’s situation and in Noah’s situation were the same, involving elements of nature in the extreme

We are merely a hair-breadth from the edge of the cliff today. How much more delay we will be permitted remains to be seen. How much more we can push things before the game is over? My response is another question: why would any sane person even want to chance it?

“Except you repent (repentance is the activity of reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to change for the better), you will likewise perish.”

A word of caution to the born-again Christ-follower:

When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.