Genesis 19

This is the first of a two-part study on Genesis chapter 19, which is about God's judgment on the exceedingly wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the tragic consequences of Lot's spiritual decline.  Lot, though a believer in God, evidently worked harder at being "The Friend of the World" than being "The friend of God, as his Uncle Abraham is called (see Lesson 42).

A study of Lot is important because many Christians attempt to live on a "Lot level" of spirituality.  They do not deny their belief in Christ, but neither are they "sold out" for Him, which they consider "too radical".  The tragedy is that the lukewarm, double-minded, compromised Christian does not experience the joy of his salvation.  Lot's life demonstrates this more than perhaps anyone in Scripture, for his life ended in one of the lowest conditions imaginable for a believer.  His life was almost completely wasted.  He was saved, "yet so as by fire" (I Corin. 3:15).  He was a compromised believer, an ineffective leader, and a powerless witness (in this first half of Genesis 18).