Genesis 19:23

The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar

The lessons of a day

I. THE ABSURDITY OF LETTING SECULAR MOTIVES GOVERN MEN’S CONDUCT. Lot went to Sodom because he thought it a secularly desirable place. (Genesis 13:10.) He went there, and there his own piety was injured, his own children contaminated, and the partner of his own bosom became a victim of Divine judgment. The beauty of his home was his curse. The spirit of Lot is still common.

II. THE INCONGRUITY BETWEEN THE PHYSICAL AND MORAL SCENERY OF THE WORLD.

1. The abnormal state of human society.

2. The necessity of a retributive period.

3. A man’s external circumstances are no true signs of character.

III. THE TREMENDOUS FORCE OF OLD ASSOCIATIONS.

1. The local.

2. The social.

3. The secular.

IV. THE FUTILITY OF HUMAN REASONING CONCERNING THE WAYS OF GOD.

1. God may deviate from the laws of nature; lie cannot from His word.

2. God has deviated from the laws of nature; He has never from His word.

V. THE DETERMINED ANTAGONIST OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT TO SIN. (Homilist.)

The forbearance of God

1. Sunshine and midnight are alike great opportunities of God. They are as the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud to the whole race of man. By their dumb mouths God speaks to us, and their silent movement, without a sound, warns us of His presence, His love, and His providence. It was when God’s servant, weak, failing, and infirm, shattered and broken, in deep sorrow, led by an angel, had placed his trembling foot-steps on the rock; it was then, when he had come safely out of the blazing city, and the lurid fires glared in the sky; when at last, though oh! how long, how lingeringly, the aged patriarch had emerged from his deep trouble; then the sun arose upon the earth.

2. Few characters in the Bible are more full of comfort than Lot’s. Weak in disposition, faulty in his general life, erring after repeated warnings, irresolute even when he stood on the verge of ruin, God was yet willing to save him.

3. In the beginning he showed tendency, distinct and clear. He loved ease, comfort, wealth, worldly possessions, and beauty. He followed disposition. That disposition was not sinful--it was weak. It erred on the side of what multitudes (and those the good) admire--kindness, easiness, gentleness, affability, lack of severity. It was exactly the reverse of the disposition of Abraham. All doubt as to the end of Lot, and his position in eternity, is removed by the verse which declares, on the warrant and in the words of St. Peter, that “God delivered just Lot,” who was “a righteous man.” His escape is called a deliverance, and the act of God is spoken of as a means used to remove Lot from the sinful examples of Sodom and Gomorrha. (E. Monte, M. A.)

The righteous delivered

Thus, in times of public calamity, there is often some little Zoar provided for them that love God, where they are wonderfully preserved from the judgments that fall on their country and their kindred. The Roman armies which surrounded Jerusalem, to execute on it the vengeance predicted, drew off, in an unaccountable manner, as if their design had been to give the Christians contained within its walls an opportunity of withdrawing to a little adjoining city, called Pella, which proved a Zoar to them, from whence they beheld the Roman eagles fly again to the destined prey, to be left no more till they had devoured it. And what is the church upon earth, but a Zoar, a little city (is it not a little one?) spared at the intercession of its Lord? Here the penitent, not yet strong enough to escape to the heavenly mountain, findeth rest and refreshment, and is invigorated to pursue his journey. Hither let him escape, and his soul shall live. But let him bear in mind, that in making his escape, perseverence alone can secure him. “He that endureth to the end,” and he only, “shall be saved.” (Bishop Horne.)