PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

A Defeated Righteous Man

The whole world lies in the evil one. This was the solemn concluding word of the aging apostle John. "We know," John wrote to those he called his little children, "that everyone who is begotten of God does not sin, but he who has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the evil one"—1 John 5:18-19.

We are of God! We are not a common people. We believers, the called ones of God, must stand as an anti-testimony to the people of this world. Everything in this world is under the evil one, Satan. But we are of God. Hence, we should have nothing to do with the fallen culture of this age. We must eschew sin, the world, and idols. But there is a danger that we might not maintain our unique status—a terrible possibility that we would leave our sanctified position to become a kind of mockery to the grace of our dear Lord Jesus.

Thus, Lot, the nephew of Abraham, stands as a stark warning to all believers. The Bible says that he was a righteous man (1 Peter 2:7). Yet it is also poignant in its evaluation of the life that Lot lived: "For that righteous man, who settled down among them, in seeing and hearing tormented his righteous soul day after day with their lawless works"—v. 8. He settled down among them. May the Lord have mercy on us that we may not repeat the conduct of Lot in settling down among the people of the world. The Lord Jesus said that we are in the world, but we are not of the world (John 17:11, 14). We are of God! If we settle down in this world, we will experience, as Lot did, the tormenting of our soul by the things which we see and hear.

In this issue of Parenthood, we are reminded of the dangers of becoming as a piece of driftwood, going down into Sodom. Becoming closely associated with the unrestrained morality of the people of Sodom contributed to an uncertain morality in Lot and his family. We believing parents must do our best to educate the moral consciousness within our children that they may escape the degradation that results from accepting the friendship of this world with its corrupting influence.

The Bible is a marvelous book. Alongside of the record of Abraham, it gives us the negative history of Lot. For quite a long time, I did not understand why the Bible included such a negative record. There are certain verses in Genesis 19 that, humanly speaking, I do not like to talk about. But the Lord's divine revelation is economical; not one word is wasted. Hence, every word in the Holy Bible is very important. What then is the purpose of chapter nineteen of Genesis? It is to give us a warning example. I have the strong burden that in this message so many of us, especially the young people, need to see this warning example. We need such an example because today's situation is no better than that of Sodom….

If we read 2 Peter 2:6-9, we see that Peter was much in favor of Lot. In verse 8 Peter referred to him as a righteous man whose "righteous soul" was vexed with the unlawful deeds of the people in Sodom. In verse 9 he describes Lot as godly. Thus, according to Peter's concept, Lot was both righteous and godly. Although we may find it difficult to believe this because Lot's record in Genesis is so negative, we must believe it because the Bible tells us so. If you still say that Lot was not righteous and godly, then I would ask you about yourself. Are you more righteous and godly than he? In a sense, Lot was more righteous and godly than many of us. But although he was saved, righteous, and godly, he was a defeated righteous man.

(a) Passively Brought into God's Way by Others

As we consider Lot's history, we see that he was passively brought into God's way by others (11:31; 12:5), having been brought into God's way by his grandfather and his uncle. His grandfather brought him from Ur of Chaldea to Haran, stopping halfway because the grandfather would not go on. When God took the grandfather away, Abraham, Lot's uncle, took him from Haran to Canaan. Although it is good in the eyes of God that there are grandfathers and uncles who can bring their grandchildren and nephews into God's way, it is not the best to be passively brought on by others. Lot had a very weak start. He did not have an active, positive beginning in spiritual things. Young people, it is not the best to be passive concerning holy things or your following of the Lord. Lot was righteous and godly, but he was defeated because he had a very weak, passive start. His passive beginning was the cause of his eventual defeat.

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