‏ Genesis 19

* The destruction of Sodom, and the deliverance of Lot. (1-29)

The sin and disgrace of Lot. (30-38)

1-29 Lot was good, but there was not one more of the same

character in the city. All the people of Sodom were very wicked

and vile. Care was therefore taken for saving Lot and his

family. Lot lingered; he trifled. Thus many who are under

convictions about their spiritual state, and the necessity of a

change, defer that needful work. The salvation of the most

righteous men is of God's mercy, not by their own merit. We are

saved by grace. God's power also must be acknowledged in

bringing souls out of a sinful state If God had not been

merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin. Lot must flee

for his life. He must not hanker after Sodom. Such commands as

these are given to those who, through grace, are delivered out

of a sinful state and condition. Return not to sin and Satan.

Rest not in self and the world. Reach toward Christ and heaven,

for that is escaping to the mountain, short of which we must not

stop. Concerning this destruction, observe that it is a

revelation of the wrath of God against sin and sinners of all

ages. Let us learn from hence the evil of sin, and its hurtful

nature; it leads to ruin. 30-38 See the peril of security. Lot, who kept chaste in Sodom,

and was a mourner for the wickedness of the place, and a witness

against it, when in the mountain, alone, and, as he thought, out

of the way of temptation, is shamefully overtaken. Let him that

thinks he stands high, and stands firm, take heed lest he fall.

See the peril of drunkenness; it is not only a great sin itself,

but lets in many sins, which bring a lasting wound and

dishonour. Many a man does that, when he is drunk, which, when

he is sober, he could not think of without horror. See also the

peril of temptation, even from relations and friends, whom we

love and esteem, and expect kindness from. We must dread a

snare, wherever we are, and be always upon our guard. No excuse

can be made for the daughters, nor for Lot. Scarcely any account

can be given of the affair but this, The heart is deceitful

above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? From

the silence of the Scripture concerning Lot henceforward, learn

that drunkenness, as it makes men forgetful, so it makes them to

be forgotten.