p. 291 | THE LESSON OF LOT by D. L. Moody

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 1, 1880

THE LESSON OF LOT.

By D. L. Moody

Now, if we let the Lord choose for us, he will choose better than we can for ourselves. But Lot wanted to choose for himself. I will venture to say, when he left Abraham, if you had talked to him about going to Sodom, he would have said: “Oh, no! Go down into Sodom? Do you think I would take my wife into Sodom? Do you think I would take my children down into Sodom—into that great city, with all its temptations? Not I!” But he pitched his tent toward Sodom—he looked toward the city—and it was not long before his business took him in there. He went down there perhaps to sell his cattle, and found there was a good market. Some of the leading men wanted him to go down there. He could make a great deal of money—could make it faster. When a man pitches his tent before Sodom, and looks in, it won't be long before he gets in there, tent and all.

His business took him there. “Business must be attended to—a man must attend to his business, you know.” “But then, it will be ruin to your family.” “Oh, well! I am going to get money, and then get out of it. When I get enough to retire, I will move back, and live on the plains of Abraham. But I must attend to my business first.” Many a man puts his business before his family. Business must be attended to, to get rich, let the consequences be what they will—let ruin and desolation come upon the family. I must accumulate wealth while I have the opportunity. Undoubtedly Lot reasoned in that way, as a great many people reason now.

Now he ought to have kept out of Sodom. He ought to have stayed on the plains, with the tent and altar; because all the time he was in Sodom we never hear of his having an altar there, nor of his calling on the God of Abraham. He was down there trying to make money, and not to worship.

In the sight of the world, Lot was one of the most successful business men of all Sodom. If you had gone in there a little while before destruction came upon it, and inquired about the place and its leading men, they would have told you that Lot, the nephew of Abraham, was one of the most successful men in all Sodom. He held office. We find him sitting at the gate, and that is a sign that he was an officer. Perhaps they made him a judge—a good, high-sounding name, “Judge Lot.” It is a good title. The world honored him—Sodom honored him; they liked him very well. Then he would have reasoned in this way: “Don't you see, I have got an influence by coming down here.” He was a man of great influence in the sight of the world—immense influence. They would have told you that he was one of the most influential men in all Sodom. He owned, perhaps, the best corner lots, and he may have had his name on them. If they had had a Congress in those days, he would have been a very popular man to send to Congress. He would have been “The honorable Mr. Lot, of Sodom.”

He was a man the world delighted to honor; for it delights to honor that kind of a man—a man of great influence! But I want to call your attention to one thing—he was there twenty years and never got a convert. That is a man of influence! Look around, and see where the worldly Christians are. How many souls are they winning to Jesus Christ? Are they the men that are building up Christ's kingdom? I tell you, those men are doing more to tear it down than any other class.

Lot was so identified with Sodom, and so much like the men of Sodom, that when he came to testify for the God of Abraham, do you think they would take his testimony? Not a word of it. Mrs. Lot, his wife, moved in the very highest circle, probably. If she rode out, she had the very best turnout. If they had theatres in those days, you would have found her at the theatre. Her children, of course, were in the world, and they had to be like the world. Of course, they danced. They were what you call dancing Christians, theatre-going Christians. If a nice opera comes along on the prayer-meeting night, they are all there—they are not at the prayer-meeting. Ah! you smile; but the church is full of them to-day. We have our Lots. Twenty long years he stayed down there in Sodom; and when the messengers of God visited him, what did they find? I would be ashamed to read it to you; it would bring a tinge of red to your cheeks. A child of God down there in Sodom! A child of God in such a dark place as that! It had been a long time since Lot had seen any messengers from Heaven. When he was back on the plains with Abraham, with the tent and altar, they visited the tent, and he was quite familiar with them; he had often seen them talking to his uncle. But he had been down there in the mists and fogs of Sodom and had not seen those angels. But late one afternoon two of them made their appearance at the gate. He was there, sitting in his place of office, and he knew them. He invited them to his house. Most of you know what took place. The Sodomites rose up against them. Lot tried to quiet them, and they mocked him. “This stranger coming here to dictate us?” Where is his testimony? They didn't receive it.

Men tell us they want to get influence over the world, and are going to reach the world in that way. Do they reach it in that way? Do worldly Christians reach the world? The world reaches them, and pulls them down. They don't pull the world up. It is the separated man—it is Abraham, with the tent and the altar—that is out of the mist and fog of Sodom, that is going to do Sodom good; not the men down in Sodom, living like Sodom. Separation is what we want to-day. We want the men of God to come out from the world.

And these two men found such a horrible state of things, they said to Lot: “Have you got any other children in Sodom besides these two daughters here in this house?” And they found that two of his daughters had been given away to the Sodomites. Think of it! He had got rich—got money—Sodom’s money—but two of his daughters had to be given to those Sodomites—those men living in such awful sin, and such awful wickedness. What do we see to-day? Fathers and mothers giving their daughters to ungodly men, drinking men, gambling men, licentious men, men whose hearts are as black as hell; but they have a little money, and hold a little position, and drive fast horses. Professed Christians! And that is the worst of it—Lot professed to be a servant of the most high God, living down here, in Sodom.—D. L. Moody.