LOT: A DEFEATED RIGHTEOUS MAN

2 Peter 2:6-9 (KJV)

⁶ And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

⁷ And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:

⁸ (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

⁹ The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

COMMENT

Lot a nephew of Abraham, connected with his uncle and followed him to Canaan where both lived in tents. He shared the promises and blessings that his uncle received from God. The separation came as a result of a quarrel by his servants and those of Abraham.   Abraham resolved the contention by asking his close relative Lot, to choose to move either to the right or to the left and whichever side he moved his uncle would move to the opposite side. That amicably solved the problem and as soon as Lot moved away to the fertile lowlands of Sodom, God began to speak to Abraham.

In Sodom, Lot was eventually accepted by the residents of the place. He even became an elder in the city. All what was happening in the city affected him and his family.

Today’s world has become the modern Sodom and Gomorrah. People are openly getting involved in terrible sins and they are proudly saying they are progressive. They don’t care about what the word of God says. They even claim that God does not disapprove their evil actions. They claim they are born gay and the human rights advocates and some misguided religious leaders support them. All righteous men and women are terribly bothered, but God in his wisdom has a way of delivering them out of the temptations just as he removed Lot from the doomed city.

Like Lot, in most cases, we find ourselves in situations of defeat despite the fact that we are righteous. Thanks to God because when we committed our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and because of his action on the cross, we were made righteous. We are   the true righteousness of God and that is our identity. God has promised not to leave or abandon us. Unless we denounce Christ and Christianity in public, our names are still written in the book of life.

Lot had many problems in Sodom. It was very difficult to get out of the city. His daughters were engaged to be married to boys from the city and Lot even tried to get them out with his family but it was impossible. The previous evening the city men had tried to attack the angles that came to rescue Lot but lost their sight in a miracle. They were lusting after the angles but God fought them by making them blind.

Getting out of the city in the morning, the Angels had to force Lot and his family out. Even getting out of the city of sin, not all escaped. Lot’s wife disobeyed the order not to look behind. When she turned to see what was happening, her body turned into a pillar of salt.

Although a righteous man, Lot escaped but lost part of his family. He had no wife of many years and nothing is mentioned about his servants and property.

Lot, although was a defeated man, he was righteous. The scriptures under reference call him righteous (holy) and not a sinner. Not that he did not, at all commit any sin, but God declared him righteous on the faith account of his uncle Abraham.  As a human being, he is not capable of making himself  righteous but God by his grace and the account of the faith of his uncle is able.

In Romans 4:3, the bible says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”( kjv)