As we see sin abounding around us, we are reminded that as it was in the days of Lot, or as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be in the days of the coming of the Son of man. You might have heard much about particular prevailing sins of those days, but what may not be pointed out is that one of the features of those days was the lack of fellowship that either Noah or Lot were able to have with other children of God. Both were entirely alone in their immediate environments. Sure Abraham was alive, but he was not where Lot was. Sure Noah had his family, but even his own son Ham turned out to be an enemy of God. The point is, that in the days of Lot and Noah though places of community worship may have been full, they will not have been full of those who trusted God; and as a Christian in these times you must expect the same. Churches could possibly be full, but for prophecy to be true, they simply cannot be full of Christians! Going even further than that, we are obliged to question if there can even be any Christians left in the churches these days? Those who are Christians may well have all been marginalized out by now! At the very least, fellowship with significant quantities of other believers just will not be available and should not be expected, therefore Christians today are left with finding all of their sustenance in Christ alone, which far from being a bad thing, is the way it has been in generations such as this that have come before us. Noah had his family, and that was it; Lot had his family, and that was it; but even in his family his wife was apostate, and his daughters conceived wicked devices. This was all the godly human fellowship that each of these men had, which amounted to very little. This little human fellowship is what turned each of these men back to seeking out only in the person of Christ, that which will sustain their souls. If we are not experiencing it now, this is what we are to expect to come as the days of Lot and the days of Noah come upon us to the full.
Noah was a relatively unheard preacher of righteousness (2 Pet 2:5); and though carnal with little testimony against sin, Lot was vexed by it (2 Pet 2:8). Neither of these men were well heard nor loved by their generations. Lot did what he could to compromise and paid dearly for it, but even that gained him no fellowship. Neither of these men were loved as famous preachers, both were despised by the multitudes simply because they were children of God. How then do we think we ought to have famous, beloved and well-heard preachers in our day? There might be some generally unknown preachers who are men after God’s own heart out there, but to become famous and beloved in days like unto the days of Noah or Lot one simply cannot preach that which is true. ‘Big name’ preachers of today will have gotten their ‘big names’ by compromise and falsehood.
‘Big names’ have big budgets, and big budgets require big support from men. Neither Noah nor lot had this ‘big support’ because men did not support what they were doing, men condemned it. To have big support to acquire the big budget needed to garner the big name one must be a big ear tickler. Ear ticklers will be popular at this time, but because men are different, there must be different brands of ear ticklers to capture the range of belief systems through the whole spectrum of the seven churches in Revelation. There will be ear ticklers that appeal to Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis and Laodicea, but through it all we are to remember that this is the way it was prophesied to be, and therefore it can be no other way.
These things may concern us but they ought not distress us, they should simply remind us that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. When you look around and see the evil and wickedness abounding both in and out of the church, know these things: 1) Sin defiles and must ultimately bring this present evil world to its rightful evil end, 2) There is a victory which is found in Jesus Christ alone.
1 Cor 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.