Genesis 19:15

On account of his hospitality and godliness, Lot was saved out of Sodom when all the country round was punished by means of fire and brimstone, the Lord thus making it manifest that He does not forsake those that hope in Him, but gives up such as depart from Him to punishment and torture. [Genesis 19:15-26, 2 Peter 2:6-9] For Lot's wife, who went forth with him, being of a different mind from himself, and not continuing in agreement with him [as to the command which had been given them], was made an example of, so as to be a pillar of salt unto this day. This was done that all might know that those who are of a double mind, and who distrust the power of God, bring down judgment on themselves and become a sign to all succeeding generations.

When the angels who were sent to destroy Sodom desired to expedite the task with which they were charged, they first had concern for their host, Lot, that, in consideration of his hospitality, they might deliver him from the destruction of the imminent fire.Hear these words, you who close your houses to strangers; hear these words, you who avoid a guest as an enemy. Lot was living in Sodom. We do not read of other good deeds of his. The hospitality alone occurring at that time is mentioned. He escapes the flames, he escapes the conflagration for this reason alone: because he opened his house to strangers. Angels entered the hospitable house; fire entered the houses closed to strangers.
Let us therefore see what the angels say to their host on account of his services of hospitality. “Save your life in the mountain,” the text says, “lest perchance you be included.” Lot was indeed hospitable. And, as the Scripture has borne testimony to him, he was hidden from destruction when the angels had been hospitably received. But he was not so perfect that immediately on departing from Sodom, he could ascend the mountain; for it belongs to the perfect to say, “I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence help shall come to me.” He therefore was neither such that he should perish among the inhabitants of Sodom, nor was he so great that he could dwell with Abraham in the heights. For if he had been such, Abraham would never have said to him, “If you go to the right, I will go to the left, or if you go to the left I will go to the right,” nor would the dwellings of Sodom have pleased him. He was therefore somewhere in the middle between the perfect and the doomed. And knowing that it is not appropriate with his strength to ascend the mountain, he piously and humbly excuses himself saying, “I cannot be saved on the mountain, but, behold, this city is small. Here I shall be saved; and it is not small?” To be sure, when he entered the small city of Zoar he is saved in it. And after this he went up into the mountain with his daughters.
For there was no possibility of ascending from Sodom into the mountain, although it is written of the land of Sodom before it was overthrown, in that time when Lot chose it as his dwelling place, that “it was as the paradise of God and as the land of Egypt.” And yet, to digress slightly, what similarity does there appear to be with the paradise of God and the land of Egypt that Sodom should be compared fittingly with these? Now I think it is in this way: before Sodom sinned, when it still preserved the simplicity of the unstained life, it was “as the paradise of God,” but when it began to be discolored and to be darkened with the stains of sins it became “as the land of Egypt.”
But since indeed the prophet says, “Your sister Sodom shall be restored to her ancient state,” we inquire also whether her restoration also recovers this, that she be “as the paradise of God” or only “as the land of Egypt.” I, at least, doubt if the sins of Sodom can be diminished to such an extent and its evils purged to the point that its restoration be so great that it be compared not only with the land of Egypt but also with the paradise of God. Those, however, who wish to establish this will press us especially from that word that appears added to this counterpromise. For the Scripture did not say “Sodom will be restored,” and stop, but it says, “Sodom will be restored to its ancient state.” And they will assert strongly that its ancient state was not “as the land of Egypt” but “as the paradise of God.”

Let us flee like Lot, who feared the crimes of the people of Sodom more than their punishments. A holy man surely, he chose to shut his house to the men of Sodom and flee the contagion of their offenses. When he dwelt with them, he did not come to know them, for he did not know their outrages and turned away from their disgraces. When he fled, he did not look back on them, for he did not desire to associate with them. The one who renounces the vices and rejects the way of life of his fellow citizens is in flight like Lot. Such a person does not look behind himself but enters that city which is above by the passageway of his thoughts, and he does not withdraw from it until the death of the chief priest who bore the sin of the world. He indeed died once, but he dies for each person who is baptized in Christ’s death, that we may be buried together with him and rise with him and walk in the newness of his life. Your flight is a good one if your heart does not act out the counsels of sinners and their designs. Your flight is a good one if your eye flees the sight of cups and drinking vessels, so that it may not become envious as it lingers over the wine. Your flight is good if your eye turns away from the woman stranger, so that your tongue may keep the truth. Your flight is a good one if you do not answer the fool according to his folly. Your flight is good if you direct your footsteps away from the countenance of fools. Indeed, one swiftly goes astray with bad guides; but if you wish your flight to be a good one, remove your ways far from their words.