Notice again, Lot’s approach at the very beginning, how he subtlety changed what he was told to do. The angels said, take them out! Now Lot changed that to preaching to them. I get the very distinct impression that they told him, “grabbed them by the hand and take them out.” It is a difference between come and go. That is, come with me. In the same way that the angels had to do with Lot. They did not preach to him. They grabbed him by the hand and yanked him out of town. That is what the angels expected Lot to do.
Apparently Lot thought that his preaching was going to have some good occur as a result of it, and yet there is a difference. He preaches to them “get out,” but what does he do? He lingers. Lot does not follow directions very well, does he?
You can see that Lot, though he was a man of great faith, there was not enough faith, not living faith, not faith that really trusted God, but faith that he equivocated all the time and interpreted what was said in way that he felt was best for himself.
Notice the difference in their prayers. Abraham appeals to God to spare the people of the city, Lot on the other hand, not considering the saving of his life is enough, request that he be able to continue to live in the valley, in the plain, and that they spare a small city. Would you call that trading on the mercy of God? Would you call that tempting God, pushing Him to the very limit? Well, I would. Abraham’s prayer was an appeal for mercy and grace for others. Lot’s is an appeal for self-indulgence. He pleads for his own way, right to the very end.
Now I do not know what it was that was motivating Lot. Maybe it was his feelings for his wife, because she, from every indication, was very deeply involved in the city, much more than Lot was. Whatever his motivations were, God is showing very clearly that they were not entirely devoted to God, and I think that we can say, that they were carnal.
This was not his whole life, of course, but I think as we move along here you are going to find that this statement seems to catch the essence of what was a dominant characteristic in this man's life. It is the characteristic of a person who is not really focused on the Kingdom of God. Remember Jesus said, "Seek you first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things shall be added unto you"? Lot was not focused like his uncle, Abraham, was. Do you not think that a person who was really focused on the Kingdom of God and was living in the city of Sodom, and two angels (which we are going to see very clearly that Lot knew that these men were angels) came to you, and you were really focused on the Kingdom of God and they said, "Get out!" would you get out?—or would you linger? Does that not begin to tell you something about him. It does begin to tell you something about him because he was a man who was distracted. He was distracted by other things or interests that catch the eyes and, thus, the attention. He lingered—remember that phrase.
Does that not indicate to you a separation? The godly are delivered from the trial that might indeed cause them a great deal of harm—maybe even take their lives—but they are separated away from those who are set for judgment.
And then Lot argued with them. "No, I don't want to go to a mountain, it's too scary there, let's go to this other place, this little city, Zoar." So the angel says, "Okay, hurry up."
So God yanked them out. Could God spare their lives in the midst of what appears to be something like an atomic, hydrogen destruction? Surely He could, but that's not what He wanted them to do. He wanted them to get out! Flee the area. He didn't expect them to live through that kind of destruction.
We are seeing here already that there is a hesitation—they are lingering—there is something in the city that they enjoy; they liked living there. And so, they dally, they delay. The angels have to take them by the hand and lead them out of the city.
