Lot's children were corrupted by living in the wicked city. The word of the angels in 19:12 indicates that Lot might have had sons as well as daughters. In chapter eighteen Abraham might have considered that there were at least ten people in Lot's family. The angels said to Lot, "Hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord has sent us to destroy it" (19:12-13). Lot had to tell his sons-in-law and his children that God was about to judge that city. But when Lot preached the gospel to them, some would not believe the word from the Lord, thinking that he was joking. Verse 14 says, "Lot went out, and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that jested unto his sons-in-law" (Heb.).
Others of Lot's children had no sense of morality (19:30-35). Look at what his daughters did after they escaped from the city! After escaping from Sodom, Lot and his daughters still had wine with them (19:32). If they had not brought the wine with them, how else could they have had it in the cave where they were dwelling? How drugged they were by the sinful situation in Sodom! When I was visiting some saints in Las Vegas in 1963, they vindicated their living in that city, saying, "It is not wrong for us to stay in this gambling city, because we are here as a testimony for the Lord." I did not argue with them, but deep within myself I said, "If you stay here for some years, your children will have no sense about the wickedness of gambling." Many of the young people today have been drugged. Look at the way they dress: there is no sense of morality or feeling of shame. Many times when I am on the street I have to shut my eyes. For young ladies to be without a sense of shame is to be without protection. Throughout the whole world the sense of shame and morality has been drugged. Because most of the young people were raised in a sinful atmosphere, their senses have been drugged. But if they would come in to the church life and remain in its pure atmosphere for a few months, they would never return to the sinful world. They would be unable to stand its smell.
We live in an evil age and need protection from it. Our family and our children must be protected. We all must escape Sodom and shut our doors to its evil atmosphere. If we do not, our descendants will be drugged. How could Lot and his children have conducted themselves in the way they did after Sodom was destroyed? Because their sense of morality had fallen so low. If we remain in the fresh air, we shall immediately sense the bad smell of immorality. But if we do not discern any bad smell, it means that our sense of morality has been drugged.
Lot himself was barely saved through the overcomer's intercession (19:15-25, 29). Even after the angels told Lot that Sodom was to be destroyed, he still lingered there. He had no willingness to escape from the city, but the angels held his hand and pulled him out. Verse 16 says, "And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city." Lot was not faithful, but the Lord was merciful, pulling him out of Sodom as wood plucked out of a fire.