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I. CONTRASTS.

1. Abraham at Mature. Lot in Sodom.

2. The peaceful entertainment in the tent of Mamre. The disturbed hospitality of Sodom.

3. The purity of country life — the corruptions of the city.

4. Abraham's prayer for others — Lot's prayer for himself.

5. Sodom was destroyed — Zoar was saved.

II. THE VALUE OF INTERCESSORY PRAYER.

1. TO pray for others a duty.

2. To pray without discouragement.

3. Its value to others.

4. Its value to ourselves. Our religious life will register itself in prayer.

III. THE RELATION OF GOOD MEN TO THE WORLD.

1. They are "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world."

2. Cities and nations attain to true greatness and permanence when they have righteous men in them.

3. With their decline, they decline; and with their extinction they perish. Sodom was safe so long as Lot remained in it.

IV. LESSONS:

1. The unselfishness of a religious life.

2. To live near to God.

3. To make the right use of religious knowledge.

4. To run our prayers along the line of God's character, and to base them upon Divine precepts and promises.

5. That prayers may be denied in their letter, but answered in their spirit.

(Lewis O. Thompson.)

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KJV: And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

WEB: The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh.