I have come to that conclusion as well, partly through reflecting on Abraham's argument with God. Abraham argues with God until they agree that the city will be spared if there are 10 righteous people. If you count up Lot, his wife, his daughters, whatever household servants or extended family they had, it probably comes to 10. And the city wasn't spared. So I suspect that Lot was indeed saved for Abraham's sake.
That is probably one of the four or five most remarkable stories in the bible, or at least in the OT.
So the Lord drops by the home of His buddy Abraham just to "do lunch." No other reason.
whenever God paid a visit to anyone else, it was always to levy some kind of heavy command or punishment or something like that.
But here, the Lord is just there to do lunch and jibber-jabber a while. He had nothing for Abraham to do. Just killing a bit of time with His buddy.
Oh, and He mentioned He hadn't forgotten about that favor He'd promised about a son for Abraham and Sarah. Then He joshed with Sarah a bit about it.
Finally, the Lord decides to let His buddy Abraham in on His own future business. The Lord reasoned, "Abe's my BFF...why shouldn't I tell him about my business?"
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. -- John 15
The first remarkable thing is the uncertain way the Lord expressed what He of course knew He would ultimately do.
The Lord spoke about Sodom to Abraham in terms of "I heard" and "if it's true," as though He wasn't omniscient, or as though His angels were unreliable reporters.
But by speaking in uncertain terms rather than absolutes, the Lord was giving Abraham an opening to continue a back-and-forth dialog. The Lord was giving Abraham room to express an opinion.
And this is even more remarkable--Abraham actually admonished the Lord. Certainly he was respectful and cautious in his wording, but Abraham said in essence, "I don't think your idea is a good one, Lord, because if you do things that way, it will look bad on you."
And the Lord actually
accepted Abraham's advice! Wow.
Of course, the Lord knew what He was actually going to wind up doing--he wouldn't find 10 righteous men in Sodom (especially since righteousness is only credited through faith in Him). But He let Abraham have a feel-good moment...just because they were buddies.