Good morning, how y 'all doing? Awesome. Hey,
wanna take the opportunity? We have a few new
folks here today. Just wanna say welcome to Hosanna.
We're so glad you're here to worship with us.
And if you're joining us online, we wanna say
welcome to you too. We're so glad you're here.
Now, I am Pastor Nathan, and this morning, we
are gonna be looking at one of the most famous
Bible stories in Scripture. It is the story of
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. This account
has some of the most disturbing narrative elements
to it. In most of scripture, this story has attempted
sexual assault. It has potential sex trafficking,
mass death, destruction, materialism, hypocrisy.
And then in verse two, no, just kidding, guys,
just kidding. But it does have all those things.
It's a very difficult piece of scripture, but
the story is drama and action and tension and
fire and sulfur and brimstone, angels, salt,
judgment, and the wrath of God. But the story
is here in scripture because it paints a very
clear understanding, a very clear picture of
how God feels about sin, how God feels about
wrongdoing, wickedness, evil, and injustice.
But this story is also simultaneously a story
of salvation by faith, reinforcing what we understand
biblically, the truth that we are saved by faith
and nothing else. That's a truth many of us go,
yeah, of course, we believe in that, we understand
that, yet sometimes we can struggle with believing
that when it comes to people that maybe do something
that's very, very terrible. do something that's
considered absolutely atrocious in our society,
and we could wrestle with the fact of saying,
oh yeah, but they believe God. We're going to
see today a reminder that if you have faith in
God, true faith in God, you are saved no matter
what. Not that sin is excused and not that you
avoid consequences of sin in this world, but
still. God's grace and God's mercy even goes
beyond ourselves. And so we're gonna be looking
at both the free gift of salvation and the consequence
of sin simultaneously in this story about the
city of Sodom, the cities of the plain, and this
man Lot. But first, we're gonna pray, we're gonna
worship, and we're just gonna praise God, amen?
Let's do that. Father God, we love you, Lord.
We're so grateful even for pieces of scripture
like this, God. There are a lot of uncomfortable
topics here. And yet, Lord, your word doesn't
water down truth. And we're grateful for that,
Lord. I just pray, God, today as you speak to
us, Lord, if there's anybody here in our room
or watching online, Lord, anybody that's come
to this sanctuary, hearing the word of God preached
today, Lord, if they don't know you, that they
would hear the very clear, very loud warning
about the judgment to come upon sin. Lord, your
word assures us and tells us, Lord, That judgment
is coming upon this world. That the time is short.
And God, for those that don't know you, it's
the wrath of God they will experience. But God,
at the same time, Lord, in this world that is
really under the control of Satan today, God,
your grace, your mercy, your forgiveness and
salvation have worked and have worked through
so many lives, God. So many of us here today,
Lord, are people who know the salvation, that
free gift that you offer to those who put their
faith in you, God. And we're so grateful. And
Lord, I pray today you would remind us, God,
that if we trust in you, we are forgiven. Lord,
as we trust in you, God, your promise that you
will not kill the righteous the way you kill
the wicked in judgment, Lord, that we can hang
on to that. But Lord, also that we would carry
that understanding to those we have a difficult
time believing are saved. God, in all of you
are glorified, and we ask that you be glorified
today, Lord, in our gathering. Be glorified in
your word, and be glorified, God, as we praise
your holy name. We love you. We thank you for
everything. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We are in Genesis chapter 19. I have to give
a quick disclaimer here. You know, we're going
to be talking about some very intense... stuff,
very difficult topics that may be uncomfortable
for some, and so I just want to give you that
disclaimer up front. Some of the content here
may be inappropriate for children, so parents,
I will let you decide what to do with that, but
some of the content is going to be pretty...
pretty real. And so I just wanted to say that
up front. But it's here in the Word of God for
a reason. So we're going to walk through this
chapter, and we'll be walking through tactfully,
but I'm not going to water down what the Scripture
is saying. So... We are here in chapter 19 looking
at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And
this story wraps around really an individual
named Lot. We were introduced to this man, Lot,
back in Genesis chapter 11. He was a part of
the family of Abraham. He's in the ancestral
line of Shem. And he was actually Abraham's nephew
who left the city of Ur when God had told Abraham
to leave the city with his family. And so he
was one of the people that had left. Abraham's
brother was named Haran, and Lot was his son.
So that's where we first got introduced to Lot.
And then the next time Lot came up was in Genesis
13. Genesis 13 was the story of the dispute between
Abraham's herdsmen and his flocks and Lot's herdsmen
and their flocks. And if you remember, there
was a famine in the land. Abraham, who was Abram
at the time, had gone down to Egypt with his
family because there was a great famine in the
land. And while he was there in Egypt, he had
told his wife to lie, say, you're my sister,
so nobody takes you from me. And guess what?
Pharaoh took her from him. to be a wife in his
household. But as the custom was for the day,
Abraham was given many riches and stuff and camels
and servants, and he was just loaded down with
wealth in return for what was his sister. And
then when God judged Pharaoh's household and
Pharaoh found out that it was actually Abraham's
wife, he said, Nathan translation, what's up
dude, why'd you do that? And then he said, get
out of here, and he sent him on home. So at that
point, Abraham and his family went back to the
Holy Land, now just loaded up with riches, and
Lot was a part of that blessing. So when they
got there, there was just too much land for their
sheep. Abraham, knowing that the land was his,
regardless of what happened with it or whether
he gave it away or not, he knew that the land
was promised to him. So what he did very graciously
is say, hey, Lot, we're having this problem.
You pick. Wherever you want to go. You get the
pick of the land to take your flocks. And so
the scripture tells us there that then Lot made
a decision that was more based on materialism,
what he thought would be more material, a greater
material blessing to himself than spiritual blessing.
And so we read in Genesis 13 verse 11, it tells
us Lot chose the entire plain of the Jordan for
himself. Then Lot journeyed eastward and they
separated from each other. Abram lived in the
land of Canaan, but Lot lived in the cities on
the plain and set up his tent near Sodom. Now
the men of Sodom were evil, sinning immensely
against the Lord. And then it goes on, after
Lot had separated from Abram, it goes on with
the story there. But that's where we get our
first indication about what this city Sodom was
like, right? The character, what the people there
were known for. It says they were evil, sinning
immensely against the Lord. And that sin means
that their behavior, their lifestyle, their actions,
their activity was all stuff that was against
the character of God, was contrary to God's will.
It was abject disobedience to what God would
want for his people. Now when it says that Lot
separated from Abram there, that word separated
means to break something off. But the idea is
that it implies a severing or a damaging of a
relationship. So this argument between Abraham
and Lot resulted in a damaging of their relationship
and then Lot went to do what he wanted to do.
The word separated also refers to a person who
lives only for themself. So both things we see
in Lot, that relationships were damaged and that
he chose to go do what was most beneficial to
him rather than what was in line with God. And
so he went away, he moved away from his uncle,
therefore he moved away from the godly influence
there in the family with Abraham. And then symbolically
and quite literally practically, he created distance
between him and God. This is what the picture
of Lot moving to Sodom was. There in Genesis
13, it told us that he pitched his tent near
Sodom. So he was close to this evil and wicked
place, but wasn't technically a part of it yet.
Then in Genesis 14, we have the story of the
four kings from the east. They come down. They
conquer the five cities of the plain. They take
all their possessions. They take all the people
captive, and this included Lot. It says in Genesis
14, 12, They also took Abram's nephew Lot and
his possessions, for he was now living in Sodom,
and they went on. So Lot had gone from living
near Sodom to living in Sodom, and the result
of being a person with a godly background, getting
this close to sin, now he's lost his freedom,
he's lost his possessions. as God's grace often
does, or God's grace often does. We see him have
Abraham run up with his army to rescue all the
people, rescue all the possessions, and it tells
us in Genesis 14, 16 that including with all
the people and all the possessions he rescued,
it specifically says he rescued his nephew Lot
and all of Lot's goods. That's the last time
we hear of Lot until now, Genesis 19. And so
read with me Genesis 19, verse one. The story
opens this way. Now these two angels are... Two
of the three visitors that we read about in Genesis
18, if you remember, it was these three visitors
came to Abraham's tent. Abraham went into a big
flurry to welcome them, to treat them with great
hospitality. And then we come to know that it's
the Lord and two angels that were those three
visitors. So after the meal, Abraham walks with
them as they're heading towards Sodom again.
And then the two angels go on ahead of the Lord
as Abraham has this conversation we looked at
last week with the Lord. And really in that conversation,
Abraham's concern was God. You're the judge of
the world. You have to do what is just. And so
you're not going to destroy the righteous with
the wicked, are you? And so he went through this
whole negotiation process. Lord, if there's 50
righteous there, you won't destroy the whole
city for the sake of the 50 righteous. And God
said, no, I won't. And then Abraham, realizing
the place he was talking about, went, uh, 45,
40, 30, 20, 10? But God very clearly illustrated
to Abraham there, look, the righteous will not
fall under the judgment that I drop on the wicked.
And so, then we get to this chapter, these two
angels now arrive in Sodom, and what bums me
out here about Lot is apparently after the rescue
from the four kings, Abraham rescues everybody.
After they're traveling back home, and then the
indication is when Abraham was met by Melchizedek
and he had that whole moment with Melchizedek,
it seems to infer that all the people that had
been coming down with him were there. And so
it's likely Lot observed that whole interaction
between Abraham and Melchizedek. But then after
all of that, Lot still went back to Sodom. And
so we find him here now sitting in Sodom's gateway.
And that detail about the gateway tells us that
Lot is even more... more ingrained into the society
and culture of Sodom than he had been before.
The reason why is the gateway of a city in ancient
times was equivalent of the civic center here
in modern days. It was where the city council
met. It was where the judges met. It was where
the important people of the city came together
to judge disputes, to take care of their civic
meetings, and really to oversee all the people
that came in and out of the city as government
officials of the city. So what that tells us
is Lot now had gone from near the city to living
in the city to now being a part of the leadership
of the city. Lot's story is a story about the
steady progression of compromise in one's life.
Instead of staying close to his godly uncle,
and staying close to the influence that that
whole life was all about there, he instead chose
to get close to Sodom. And then he got a little
closer, and then a little closer, and a little
closer. Now, Sodom has already been clearly defined
for us as a place of great evil and great wickedness.
And yet, this is where Lot chose to go live and
to go work and to be close to. What we're going
to see through this story is that his closeness
to this place and his slow inclusion into this
place compromised his witness. It compromised
his morals. Lot is a picture of what the compromised
Christian life looks like. Now, if you know the
story of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot, you might
say, Christian, come on. We're gonna read some
really terrible things that Lot did here, but
I wanna set this foundation before we go through
the story so we understand what is taking place
here. In 2 Peter chapter two, Peter the apostle
is making a case for the truth that God's judgments
will not fall on the righteous, okay? And he
says this in 2 Peter chapter two, verses six
through nine. He goes on, if he, speaking of
God, reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
to ashes and condemned them to extinction, making
them an example of what is coming to the ungodly,
and if he rescued righteous Lot, distressed by
the depraved behavior of the immoral, for as
that righteous man lived among them day by day,
his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless
deeds he saw and heard. Then the Lord knows how
to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the
unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.
So the context of telling us that the Lord knows
how to rescue the godly from judgment, the context
is Lot. So what that's telling us is that Lot
is considered by God in his word a godly, righteous
man. Now you need to hang on to that because
We understand from Genesis and the rest of scripture,
the whole concept of salvation through faith.
That in Genesis 15, it tells us that when Abraham
believed God, it was credited to him as righteousness.
Meaning his belief. I believe God is real. I
believe in who you are. I believe in what you
say. I believe in your judgments. I believe in
your promises. That God says, great, I see you
as sin free. Your faith has cleansed you of sin.
Your faith in me is what allows me to see you
as perfect and righteous, right? Well, Lot being
called righteous in 2 Peter tells us that he
believed in God. He believed in God's promises.
He believed in who he was. That Lot was saved.
And he was saved by faith. But the important
detail 2 Peter 2 tells us is that Lot was righteous
while he lived in Sodom, right? It said that
that righteous man lived among them day by day
and he was tormented. He was not okay with the
sin that he saw and heard there. Now as we go
through this chapter, some of you may have a
problem with that and we're going to deal with
that. But I need to ask you an important question.
Are Christians capable of sin? Absolutely. Are
Christians capable of every sin? Are Christians
capable of the deepest, darkest, most vile sins?
We are capable. We are capable of all sin. Paul
said in Romans that my sin -fallen nature lives
alongside my born -again nature. And so what
that tells us is that sin in the life of a believer
is not what determines your salvation. Now, yes,
James talks about if you're truly saved, you're
gonna make those intentional decisions to obey
God, but the Bible is very clear that we still
stumble, we still sin, right? Now, we aren't
saved by what we do or don't do. Now, Again,
can what we do or don't do demonstrate whether
or not we likely know the Lord? Yeah, the Bible
talks about that. But ultimately, at the end
of the day, you and I, not a single one of us,
have the authority or the ability to accurately,
definitively judge someone's heart. We can't.
Because we don't know, right? Now, that doesn't
excuse sin, or that doesn't mean the consequences
of sinful decisions won't affect us in this life,
but what it does do is give us hope that as believers,
that when we stumble, when we backslide, when
we compromise, we're not lost, we're not cast
off. This is why I believe in this church, our
stance on salvation is once you are saved, you
are always saved. You cannot lose your salvation.
Why? Well, Ephesians says that when you are saved,
the Holy Spirit seals you as a guarantee of your
inheritance. If you could lose it, it's not much
of a guarantee, is it? No. And so, that's the
background here, right? This is the background
of Lot as we go through this story, which it's
gonna be very tough to stomach here, but as we're
gonna see, though, Even though we are saved by
faith, the reality is that the closer you are
to sin, the closer you are engaged with or living
close to or even participating in, the more likely
you are to make very, very wrong decisions as
a Christian. You'll make decisions that harm
yourself, that harm others. You'll make decisions
that deeply grieve the Lord. And you'll make
decisions that wreck your witness and give They
give non -believers the place to call you a hypocrite.
That's the challenge. A lot of Christians were
saved by faith, but there's Christians out there
that then go on and they live their life the
same way that their unsaved friends and family
do. They go on and live their life the way they
did before they were saved. Now again, we don't
have time to get into the whole theological discussion
in James and whatnot, but the reality is the
more you pitch your tent near sin, the greater
likelihood your morals become corrupted and you
start making really, really bad decisions. But
we have to be very careful looking at those decisions
of people and then going, you aren't saved. You
lost your salvation. There is no way because
we're gonna see something very different in the
story of Lot. So back to verse one. When Lot
saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed with
his face down to the ground and said, my lords.
Turn aside to your servant's house, wash your
feet, and spend the night. Then you could get
up early and go on your way. No, they said. We
would rather spend the night in the square. But
he urged them so strongly that they followed
him and went into his house. He prepared a feast
and baked unleavened bread for them, and they
ate. So that word Lord there, when he says my
lords, that's that word Adonai. that we've talked
about before. The word Adonai simply is a word
referring to somebody very important. You know,
it's not necessarily a direct and only word for
God. It's a word to say, you know, manager, boss,
CEO, right? It's the, you're somebody with authority
and importance here. And so obviously, Lot sees
something about these angels that was important.
And it says he bows down as Abraham did in Genesis
18 when the Lord and the angels showed up. Now,
does he know there are angels at this point?
I don't think so. And there's a reason for that,
but when the Lord and the angels showed up in
Genesis 18 to Abraham, I believe that he knew
it was the Lord and the angels. One of the reasons
I believe that is because Abraham was close to
the Lord. Abraham had seen the Lord a couple
times. Abraham had a relationship with the Lord,
so when the Lord appears in his life, it's like,
Lord, I know you. Here you are. Lot, the opposite.
Didn't walk close to the Lord. The Lord had never
appeared to him, let alone angels and all that.
So I believe that he was just, these are somebody
important. Maybe they looked a certain way. They
had an air about them, but I don't think he knew
they were angels. But notice Lot's heart here.
Living in Sodom, being a part of the government
of Sodom, he still cares about strangers. He
fears for their safety because he knew how wicked
Sodom was. He knew the evil and just the sin
that was there, and so he immediately stops them
at the gate as they're coming in. He invites
them into his home, which is just a picture of
that hospitality that his uncle would demonstrate.
But then they reject the offer. No, that's okay.
We're just visiting. We're just passing through.
We want to stay in the square where visitors
would normally stay. But he urges them so strongly.
Why? Because he knew what happened to strangers
in Sodom. He knew what would happen to them if
they stayed in the square, especially as night
fell, and so he's like, no, please. You don't
understand what this place is like. Please come
to my house. And then he makes this feast for
them, and something I never noticed before, but
it says he prepared a feast and baked unleavened
bread for them, and they ate. Now, unleavened
bread means that there's no leaven in it, that
the bread doesn't rise. And to me, I just saw
that that was foreshadowing the exodus of Israel
when they were leaving Egypt because it says
that they had to make unleavened bread because
the exodus was coming so fast they didn't have
time to wait for the bread to rise. And it's
a very interesting, similar picture here where
judgment is about to fall on this place. And
even though Lot doesn't know it, he makes this
bread that, you know, we gotta hurry up and make
this because my guests are here and so on and
so forth. Now, verse four. Before they went to
bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young
and old, the whole population surrounded the
house. They called out to Lot and said, where
are the men who came to you tonight? Send them
out to us so that we can have sex with them.
Now verse four there, it tells us it's the men
of the city of Sodom, so it's just the men, both
young and old. That word young there includes
minors. So it's all the males in the city, young
and old, the whole population. That word there
is referring to the entire population of men
in the city. They surround Lot's house and they
start demanding that he send these visitors,
these guests out so that they may have sex with
them. They're not even hiding the intention.
This behavior was apparently so normal. so widespread,
so accepted among the men in the city of Sodom
that the whole population came out. It's like
this city, the men in this city were pleasure
vultures just waiting for their next victim to
show up. And so when a victim would show up,
they would just swarm onto the person. Now, I
have to address something here to get into this
because the most common understanding of the
story of Sodom and Gomorrah and the sin of Sodom,
the most common understanding is like, oh, it
was homosexual intent, homosexual intimacy, right?
That is the most common understanding. That is
a part of it, but it's much broader than that
here in Sodom. However, There are many in the
world today, especially those that are pro -LGBTQIA+.
I think that's all the letters. And they're pro
that. Even Christians, people in the church,
they say, no, no, no, we're affirming of that.
And they'll look at the story and they go, this
story isn't about the homosexual activity. This
is about the inhospitality. That the men of the
city of Sodom were not being hospitable to these
visitors, and that's why God judged it. And so
we're going to walk through that here real quick.
But with the biblical creation narrative of God
created them man and woman, and then he bound
them together in marriage, and so marriage is
between one man and one woman. Add to that God's
creative mandate to procreate. which only a man
and a woman could do, and their call to multiply
and fill the whole earth, all of that which is
supported by biological reality, the concept
of anything deviating from that, anything deviating
from that, was and is sinful, because it is contrary
to God's design, okay? Now, among the many sins
that Sodom had, is the sin of homosexuality.
What I mean is what you're going to see is these
men of the city want to then take these male
to them, they appear as men strangers, and have
sex with them. Men having sexual relations with
men is and was prohibited by Scripture. It always
has been because it goes against God's creative
design and intent. Now, Leviticus chapter 18,
verse 22, it says it this way, and it's very
clear. You can't argue against this. Speaking
to the men of Israel, it says, you are not to
sleep with a man as with a woman. It is detestable.
Detestable is rendered in other translations
as an abomination. That word detestable, that
word abomination, is referring to a vile, shameful
action or habit or condition or person. It's
something that, for something to be detestable,
for something to be an abomination, it means
that it's to be regarded with, and this is the
Hebrew definitions of these words, to be regarded
with disgust, horror, or outrage. That's very
intense language. Very intense language. And
a lot of people in the world today, especially
a lot of Christians, unfortunately, they go,
oh yeah, but that's the Old Testament. We're
not under the Old Testament anymore. Okay, well,
let's go to Romans chapter one, verse 26. Paul
is addressing here in Romans chapter one, when
people turn away from God, right? Not being obedient
to God, not doing God's will. This is what happens.
And in verse 26, he says, for this reason, the
turning away from God, God delivered them over
to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged
natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
The men in the same way also left natural relations
with women and were inflamed in their lust for
one another. Men committed shameless acts with
men and received in their own persons the appropriate
penalty of their error. So both the Old Testament
and the New Testament condemn homosexuality.
It says it is not God's will, it is not God's
purpose, it is not God's plan. So yes, as a believer,
you can boldly and confidently and lovingly say
this is sin to the Lord. I don't care how the
culture accepts it now. I don't care about legislation.
God's word says it is wrong, and we can comfortably
say that as Christians. But it's not just homosexuality
that violates God's intention and design for
sexuality, okay? See, sometimes what the church
does, and this has happened over the years, is
the church will focus on a sin, and that'll kind
of become the poster child sin above all other
sins, right? And so over the last 20 years, there
was a lot of times where the church, as we were
dealing with this cultural shift in regard to
homosexuality, they go, oh my gosh, that's so
bad, it's so bad, it's so bad, and those people
should go to hell, and blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah. And they lifted up that as that's the major,
major sin, but you know, adultery, we're not
gonna, well, yeah, that's bad too. Sin is sin.
So we're not to lift one up above others and
make it like, you guys are going to hell, but
yeah, adulterers and liars, you're fine, you
could get saved. We're not to do that, right?
But I bring that up to say this, that it's not
just homosexuality that is prohibited or called
detestable or defiling in God's word. Leviticus
18 talks about incest, sex between family members,
sex with animals. It talks about adultery, which
is having sexual relations with someone who is
not your spouse, regardless of whether they're
male or female. It talks about sex with children.
And it says all of these things are detestable.
They're defiling. They're wrong. So when a culture,
and this is what I think has happened in Sodom
here, when a culture decides that the goal of
sexual intimacy is self -gratification, the goal
of it is my own pleasure, and they decide that
my pleasure is what defines what is moral and
immoral when it comes to sexual intimacy, well,
the result of that is, well, if it feels good,
it must be right. And there's nothing wrong with
it. The problem with that is different people
in weird ways will go, this feels good. I think
this feels good. Therefore, it must be right.
And that's not how you determine morality. Pleasure
is not the ultimate goal of sexual intimacy.
It's one of the blessings, right? I mean, God's
very clear in his word. You're married, enjoy,
have fun. But that's not the goal. And the morality
of sexual intimacy, it's not defined by what
we want, what we think feels good. It's defined
by God, not us. And so when God says, male to
male sexual relations, detestable. God gets to
define that. But that's not the only one. Here's
all these other categories because anything that
violates God's intention and design, one man,
one woman, procreate, multiply, fill the earth,
anything that violates that is detestable according
to God's word. Now, on top of the homosexual
intent we see here in Sodom, we also see a whole
slew of other things that were just detestable.
One, we have attempted sexual assault here. Sexual
violence, right? What the whole population of
Sodom is essentially saying is send these two
men out to us that we can gang rape them across
all the population of the men of the city. That's
foul. But that's what they're asking here. We
know that the angels appeared as men. The people
apparently thought they were men because they
said send these men out to us. And they wanted
to do this really horrible thing. The entire
population. Young and old. It's disgusting. And
everybody was okay with it. The whole population,
the men of the city were like, this is what we
do here. This is okay. Everybody was okay with
it except Lot. Now, before we move on from that,
I will say again that those that are very pro
-LGBTQIA+. And they support that and they're
affirming of that in the church. Like I said,
a lot of times I'll look at the story of Sodom
here and go, no, no, no, the sin was a lack of
hospitality. And they'll say that to sidestep
the male -on -male sexual intimacy component
of the story and the violence of the narrative.
And we can't get past what the text says. I don't
care what the culture is doing. We can't get
past what the text of God's word says. But yeah,
I will concede that of course it is not very
hospitable to homosexually gang rape visitors
to your city. So yeah, you're right. The sin
of inhospitality was a part of it. Now, moving
on to verse six, right? We go, that's terrible.
It gets worse. Lot went out to them at the entrance
and shut the door behind them. He said, don't
do this evil, my brothers. Look, I've got two
daughters who haven't been intimate with a man.
That means they were virgins. I'll bring them
out to you and you can do whatever you want to
them. However, don't do anything to these men
because they have come under my roof, under the
protection of my roof. What? This is a man we
just established was considered godly and righteous?
while he was in Sodom, right? It wasn't after.
Some people go, well, he got saved after. 2 Peter
2 makes it very clear. It was while he was there,
tormented by what he had seen and heard. Now,
even here we see that Lot isn't fully ingrained
into the culture of Sodom because he goes outside
and he pleads with them, right? Don't do this
evil, my brothers. That word evil there, he's
characterizing what they're doing as evil and
wicked. He's calling it out for what it is, but
the don't do this, my brothers, it reads like
he's out there with a weak, apologetic, meek
pleading, like please, please, please, brothers,
come on, guys, don't do this. Come on, this is
too much. This is wrong, right? He's not out
there boldly saying this is evil. This is wicked.
This is not okay. He's out there kind of mewling
around them hoping that they would pass on by
his house. It's likely when we see this in Lot
that Lot was the Christian, the believer that
lived in Sodom who just looked the other way
at all of the evil and wickedness that they did
in this city. He was likely the type of Christian
that says, hey, you know what? As long as I'm
not participating in that, whatever they do is
fine for them. He was a Christian that had the
idea of like, look, you do you, and that's between
you and God, and wouldn't say anything about
it, wouldn't stand up for righteousness, wouldn't
do any of that. And like I said, we know he didn't
agree already, 2 Peter 2 .8. That righteous man
lived among them day by day. His righteous soul
was tormented by the lawless deeds that he saw
and heard. But this might have been the first
time in the entire time he lived there that he
actually said it publicly. We don't know that.
That's speculative, but it could be. And we're
going to see that it could be because of the
way they respond to him. So then he does something
as horrible and as detestable as what these men
are trying to do. Look, take my two daughters.
You can do whatever you want to them. Okay, I
don't care how anybody wants to frame this. He's
trying to sex traffic his daughters to the men
of the city. It's trafficking. And it's trafficking
by their dad, who's supposed to be the one to
protect them and love them and keep them safe.
Now, was this a decision born of panic and great
stress? I mean, maybe. That's not hard to see
that as a possibility, but there's no justification
for this. It's terribly evil and terribly wicked.
And you go, how could Lot rationalize this, right?
How could Lot go, My honor and hospitality is
of greater priority than the protection of my
daughters. It's a completely irrational thing.
And scripture doesn't tell us his thought process,
right? So we have to kind of deduce and we could
look at his story that as Lot was once a man
who lived close to his godly relatives and he
was surrounded by their culture, he then looked
towards Sodom, then went down there and pitched
his tent in Sodom, then he was living in Sodom,
and now he was a government leader in Sodom.
So he's just completely surrounded by their culture.
And what did that do to him? compromised his
own morality. His ability to go, this is disgustingly
foul, was dulled, was compromised. That's not
an excuse. But again, when we look at this and
we go, we know God considered him righteous.
That at some point, Lot believed in God and believed
in God's promises. It's hard to read this. But
we have to understand that his righteousness
is not based on his actions. He's making a very
poor, very evil, very wicked decision right now.
But his salvation was by faith. It's his distance
from God, however, his closeness to sin that
has dulled his ability to make the right choices,
to behave righteously. That's what sin does to
us today. It's hard to have a satisfied peace
in our hearts at a man like this being saved.
We read this story and we go, oh, our lot was
a godly, righteous man. It's hard to have peace
with that, right? But Lamentations 3, 22 and
23 says this. Because of the Lord's faithful
love, we do not perish. For his mercies never
end. They are new every morning. Great is your
faithfulness. How great. is the Lord's faithfulness
to us. When we are faithless, he is faithful.
That in this man Lot's life, that through faith
he's exercised, at some point God attributed
the future work of Jesus Christ on the cross
to him, granting him salvation. That through
his faith at some point, the blood that washes
us clean of sin, that allows God to see us blameless
and spotless, he applied to this man Lot. How
great is the Lord's faithfulness? We have to
remember verses like this before we cast stones
at Lot. Because when we're ready to cast stones
at Lot or people that we know or have professed
salvation and then we see some horrible, wicked,
evil decision in their life, they do something
terrible, we have to be careful about casting
stones because which of us is without sin ourself?
None of us. But what happens in situations like
this is the devil gets us to think this way.
Yeah, but your sin is not as bad as their sin.
And in the flesh, I go, yeah. But God doesn't
say there's levels. Sin is sin. And sin is going
to keep you out of heaven. Sin is gonna send
you to hell. It doesn't matter the degree. Because
our righteousness compared to God's righteousness,
the Bible says, is a filthy rag. But still, Lot
being righteous, his witness is shallow, ineffective.
He's supposed to be salt of the earth and he
has no effect because look at verse nine. Get
out of the way, they said. Adding. This one,
referring to Lot, he came here as an alien, but
he's acting like a judge? He kind of was. He
was a city leader. Now we're going to do more
harm to you than to them. You know what that
threat was? We're going to bring you out here
and pass you around. They put pressure on Lot,
and they came up to break down the door. Lot
has no credibility to these people when it comes
to what is right and what is wrong. He has no
authority. They don't have any respect for him,
let alone his beliefs. Why? Because although
he was saved by faith, he was living as a hypocrite.
And it wasn't so much on what he did himself,
right? We don't see that Lot was going out, participating
in these gangs that were trying to get all the
visitors to the city. But what we do see, or
what we can assume here, is that he was a hypocrite
by how much he condoned their evil. by passively
accepting it through inaction and silence. That's
one of the biggest problems with the church today
in a broad general sense. We've lost our voice.
Many in the church have said, I don't want to
speak against evil in the world. I just want
to retreat back to just let me have my relationship
with God. I'm saved, I'm regulating me, and that's
all I need to do. And so we don't speak into
the atrocities in this world. And then they go
on, and they get worse. And some Christians like
Locke go, well, as long as I'm not participating
in that, so I don't need to say anything. And
then when the time comes where you finally step
up and you go, hey, that's evil, they laugh in
your face. Are you kidding me? Who are you to
tell me what's right and wrong? Christian, you're
drinking the same alcohol I am, partying at the
same parties, doing the same drugs. How about
you cheating on your spouse and you're gonna
try and tell me what's right and wrong? And so
they just cast him off. What you have to say
means nothing to us and how badly do we diminish
our witness to others and diminish the glory
of God when we live as hypocrites, whether it's
through action, being, participating in things,
or through inaction. We can only watch sin so
long and not say a word about it. How was I going
to finish that thought? If we expect people to
take our faith serious, we have to say something.
Now, it doesn't mean be a belligerent jerk. It
doesn't mean be an obnoxious punk. We share in
love and we share in kindness. But the longer
you don't say anything, the less impact your
witness is gonna have on those people that are
participating in those things. Now I get it,
some of us are in places where we can't say anything,
we can't walk away, whatever, like you're in
a secular workplace and they're like, you can't
use the name Jesus and you can't talk about religion
and then you got coworkers that are involved
in all manner of sin and stuff and you can't
just walk away and all that. I understand that.
God has you there for a reason. Pray, seek the
Lord on how you're going to be a light there.
But nobody was forcing Lot to stay in Sodom.
He was choosing to stay there. And he was compromised
as a result of it. Verse 10, but the angels reached
out and brought Lot into the house with them
and shut the door. They struck the men who were
at the entrance of the house, both young and
old, with blindness so that they were unable
to find the entrance. Then the angels said to
Lot, do you have anyone else here? A son -in
-law? your sons and daughters, or anyone else
in the city who belongs to you. Get them out
of this place. For we are about to destroy this
place because the outcry against its people is
so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent
us here to destroy it. Now, here's one of the
interesting objections to Genesis 18 that I've
heard people say. Because again, we've just established
very clearly that rot, wow, lot. Lot was righteous,
okay? But in Genesis 18, Abraham's going, you
won't destroy the city if there's righteous there,
right? And God goes, nope, I won't destroy it
if there's righteous there. And well, if Lot's
righteous, he's in Sodom. God said he wouldn't
destroy the city if there were righteous there,
but he didn't say he wouldn't destroy the city
if he got the righteous out first. I won't destroy
it if there's righteous there. 50, 45, nope.
But there's one. Okay, he's out. Boom. Abraham
was correct. God would not kill the righteous
along with the wicked. Abraham was correct. The
judge of the whole earth would do what was just.
And so the angels. God steps in to do what Lot
wouldn't do himself, to protect his daughters.
No, come back in here. He steps in to protect
Lot himself as much as he didn't deserve it.
And then they strike the men with a physical
blindness that is just a physical example of
their spiritual blindness, the darkness that
is within them. And he says, okay, look, God
said to Abraham, he's gonna go down there and
check it out. We're here, we checked it out,
get out. We are gonna judge this place. Verse
14, so Lot went out and spoke to his sons -in
-law who were going to marry his daughters. Get
up, he said, get out of this place for the Lord
is about to destroy the city. But his sons -in
-law thought he was joking. Joking, right? Now,
I want you to think about this. If these sons
-in -laws are part of the men of Sodom and the
whole population of the men of Sodom came out
to gang rape these angels and surround Lot's
house, And they were a part of that. And yet
Lot's okay with them marrying his daughters?
And that also takes bisexuality off the table.
It's also on the list of things God condemns.
Now again, we see the cost to Lot's witness here.
They didn't believe him. Why should they? It's
not like Lot really thought that judgment would
fall on sin. I mean, after all, if sin was that
bad, why did you... Why are you staying here
in Sodom, right? They were the sons -in -law.
They had to have some relationship with the family.
But more than that, if your God is real and what
you say about sin is so real, why are you allowing
us to marry your daughters? Do you see the effect
your witness has, parents, on even what you just
turn a blind eye to in your kids' lives? Now,
of course, when they're adults, they're going
to do what they want to do. And hopefully the
foundation has been laid that they make the right
choices. But in this culture, these girls were
likely still minors. And so it cost his witness.
He had been so passive about sin and wickedness.
Yes, he was internally tormented. Yes, he was
just so disturbed by what he saw and heard. But
nobody in the city seemed to know that he was
disturbed by it. Let alone had been warned by
him already. It seems like this is the first
time and his complacency had damaged his credibility.
Verse 15. At daybreak, the angels urged Lot on,
get up. Take your wife and your two daughters
who are here or you will be swept away in the
punishment of the city. But he hesitated. Hesitated.
Because of the Lord's compassion for him, the
men grabbed his hand and his wife's hand and
the hands of his two daughters and they brought
him out and left him outside the city. As soon
as the angels got them outside, one of them said,
run for your lives. Don't look back and don't
stop anywhere on the plane. Run to the mountains
or you'll be swept away. So what we see here
is through this night, this hectic, stressful
night, this gross sin and stuff coming down,
we get to what is the dawn here or daybreak.
And this picture just is establishing a very
common biblical picture of salvation. You see,
at the birth of Jesus, when Zechariah prophesied
at his birth in Luke 1, verse 78, he says this.
Because of our God's merciful compassion, the
dawn from on high will visit us. To shine on
those who live in darkness in the shadow of death
to guide our feet to the way of peace. And we
see this motif throughout scripture that when
dawn arrives, that's when salvation comes. And
it's when dawn arrives that the angels drag Lot
and his family out of the city. They grab their
hands. It's like each angel had two hands, right?
It's like a chain of people running through the
city. Pre -dawn, still dark, little bit of light,
running from their house, running through the
city gate, getting outside. And Lot, hesitates.
Why? It doesn't tell us specifically, but it's
likely because in the moment of leaving it all
behind, he realizes, I'm leaving it all behind.
I'm leaving behind the life and the possessions
that I had built and acquired in Sodom. He probably
liked the prosperity. Obviously, that's where
he went when he first left Abraham. He liked
the comforts, the prestige of being a judge in
the city, a leader, of course. But all of that
had desensitized him to the depth of the wickedness.
And that's what happens the more we're exposing
ourselves to sin. We get desensitized. What once
made us go, oh my gosh, that's horrible. We're
like, oh, well, that's terrible. Oh, that's bad.
Then it becomes, well, you know, as long as I'm
not doing it. And then it gets all the way to
the place where the people of God start to fight
for the rights of wickedness. But he hesitated.
That's what sin does. It causes us to hesitate
when God says, give that up and follow me. Nonetheless,
he was God's child. So verse 18, but Lot said
to them, no, my lords, please. Your servant has
indeed found favor with you, and you've shown
great kindness by saving my life. But I can't
run to the mountains. The disaster will overtake
me, and I will die. Thank you for saving my life,
but I'm afraid you can't save my life. See how
deluded you start thinking when sin's in your
life? I can't run there. Look, verse 20, this
town is close enough for me to flee to. It's
a small place. Let me run to it. It's only a
small place, isn't it? So that I could survive.
Do you see what he's doing here? The city he's
going to flee to is a city called Zoar. It's
one of the five cities on the plain. It's like
a mini Sodom. And this is what we do, right?
God says, flee that wicked sin. That's terrible.
And we go, right, God, I'm out of here. But can
you let me still stay with the small sin? Come
on, let me go there. That's big sin, but this
is a little itty -bitty sin. That doesn't matter,
does it, Lord? It's a bit exasperating. Lot's
been saved and he's doubting God's ability to
save and then he wants to go to this place, but
this is what blows my mind. God grants his request.
He said to him, all right, God's speaking to
the angels here. I'll grant your request about
this matter too and will not demolish the town
you mentioned. Hurry up. Run to it, for I cannot
do anything until you get there. Therefore, the
name of the city is Zoar, which means little.
The sun had risen over the land when Lot reached
Zoar. Now, here's what's interesting. God said,
I will not destroy the city if the righteous
are there. Lot, in his weak, pathetic faith,
is like, I can't run to the mountains. Let me
go to Zoar. And because there was a righteous
one there, God did not destroy that city. It
just shows us the preserving effect that Christians
are supposed to have. We're the salt of the earth,
right? Our job is to go somewhere and be in a
preserving effect. Now, I think Lot is terrible
at that, but God said, you're righteous because
you had faith in me, and because you were there,
I'm not going to wipe out that city. Just the
grace of God blows my mind. Verse 24. Then out
of the sky the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah
burning sulfur from the Lord. He demolished the
cities, the entire plain and all the inhabitants
of the cities and whatever grew on the ground.
But Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar
of salt. Now there are a number of naturalistic
explanations for the cataclysm here that we don't
have time to get into. But it's very clear what
it says here. Out of the sky the Lord rained
burning sulfur. Now is that a meteor? Could be.
Is that a comet? Could be. Is it just burning
sulfur falling from the sky? Could be. See, the
point here is not how it happened. The point
here is that it was a work of God. God did this.
God is the one who brought this judgment. And
he brought it through some type of natural thing
that happened. Meaning burning sulfur, it's a
real thing. But it rained from the sky and destroyed
everything. The people, the cities, all the vegetation.
Cataclysm. But Lot's wife looked back. Why was
she turned into a pillar of salt? Well, that
word looked, it's not a glance, right? We all
do that. It's really annoying when, you know,
we see a fire truck on the road or police, right?
We all get to, like, slow down and look. No,
it wasn't that type of glance. The word look
means to look intently at or to regard with pleasure.
She stopped, turned, and gazed on Sodom with
a regretful, longing, lingering look. Why? Same
reason Lot hesitated. Family, pleasure, stuff,
material goods, her security, right? We're going,
what is it that caused her to turn into a pillar
of salt? Well, Jesus tells us in Luke chapter
17, verse 31. This is what Jesus says, speaking
of the final judgment. On that day, a man on
the housetop, whose belongings are in the house,
must not come down to get them. Likewise, the
man who is in the field must not turn back. Remember
Lot's wife. Whoever tries to make his life secure
will lose it, and whoever loses his life will
preserve it. Why did she linger? Because her
security was in the stuff. Her security was in
the money and her house. Her security was in
the prestige and her security. I'm a wife of
a judge. Her security, she thought she was secure
in all the things that her husband had brought
up, what had been built up in their lives, the
possessions. Well, guess what? On the day of
judgment, none of that's going to save you. None
of that will save you. Your house, it's going
to burn like everything else. Your bank, your
bank account, your money, it's going to burn
like everything else. Chapter 19, verse 27. Early
in the morning, Abraham went to the place where
he had stood before the Lord. He looked down
towards Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of
the plain, and he saw that smoke was going up
from the land like the smoke of a furnace. So
it was when God destroyed the cities of the plain,
he remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of
the middle of the upheaval when he demolished
the cities where Lot had lived. We can only imagine
what Abraham was thinking here, right? He had
pleaded with God, you won't destroy the city
if there's righteous there, right? And God had
made it very clear, no, I won't. Abraham comes
back to the very site where he had that conversation
with the Lord, looking out. And obviously, destruction
has happened. Now, speculatively, we don't know.
Is Abraham going, well, I really hope my nephew
got his act together. Right? It doesn't tell
us any of that, but we can know this for sure,
that as Abraham was looking out over that smoke,
I believe that what crossed his mind was that
question he asked the Lord. Won't the judge of
the earth do? What is just? And as he's looking
on the smoke and the destruction, it's very clear
God did it. So what is the answer to that question?
Yes, he will do what is just. Everything he's
looking at in this judgment is absolutely just.
All the people that were wiped out, the cities
that were wiped out, everything was destroyed
in that plain except Zoar where Righteous Lot
was. You see, the only righteous person in that
city that we know of was Lot. It doesn't tell
us anything about his kids. Obviously, his wife
turned back. She was judged. Now, the daughters,
we're gonna read next week. It just keeps getting
worse in this family that is so just messed up,
but Lot was righteous. Backsliding, carnal, compromised,
conflicted Lot. Whatever word you wanna use,
he was saved by faith. Even when he hesitated,
the angels grabbed his hand. Do you think God
is going to leave his people here when he drops
judgment upon this earth? No. And we see that
in Lot's life, his salvation was not based on
his actions or his lack of actions. Ultimately,
it was the grace of God and his commitment to
his promises. Now, did he have a strong commitment?
Apparently not. He lived hypocritically. He didn't
stand for righteousness. All this stuff, we would
look at this person and go, there's no way this
person is saved, and yet God says, I saved him.
Why? Because God's salvation is based on God's
will, God's promises, and God's way. It's not
about what we do and don't do. Now again, this
isn't to go justify, do whatever you want. God
knows the person who says, I'm a Christian, but
I don't really believe, and I'm just going to
live however I want, and I don't think it's wrong.
He knows the difference between that person and
the person who goes, I believe God, I trust him.
and I did this wrong thing, and I'm so upset,
and I'm so bummed out that I didn't, God, please
forgive me. God knows the difference between
those two people. You may fake everybody else
here, fake out everybody else here, but God knows
your heart. God knows whether you're truly saved
or not. Now, if you are truly saved, and the
devil is beating you up daily because you did
a stupid thing, said a dumb thing, did a wrong,
sinful thing, and the devil's like beating you
up and beating you up, reject that nonsense.
Because if you have trusted in God and you've
pleaded the blood of Jesus Christ, you are wiped
clean. God doesn't un -wipe you clean when you
have a bad day. You are wiped clean. God sees
you as forgiven. Walk in that freedom. You sin?
Confess it. God, I did this thing. I'm so sorry.
Please forgive me. Help me do better. And then
five minutes later, you go, God, I'm just so
sorry about that sin. And he goes, what sin?
The memory of that sin is as far from my mind
as east is from the west. What are you talking
about, my perfect beloved child? How amazing
is that grace? Don't let the devil beat you up
when you stumble and fall. However, if you're
in here this morning and you know that you're
living a life of sin and you're like, ah, it's
okay, it's no big deal. Don't think you're saved
just because you carry a Bible, you came to church,
or one day you said, yeah, I believe in God.
God knows the difference. Judgment is coming.
Judgment will fall. It is guaranteed. Those that
have truly trusted in Jesus Christ for their
salvation, we will be taken out. If you don't,
you will die like everything else will die in
that time. Let's pray. Father God, your word
tells us that the day is coming, a day burning
like the furnace, Lord, when all the arrogant
and everyone who commits wickedness will become
stubble. Lord, you tell us that this coming day
will consume them, not leaving them root or branches,
God. It is going to be a thorough and complete
and total judgment. But Lord, you also say for
those that fear your name. the son of righteousness
will rise with healing in his wings. You tell
us, Lord, that if we fear your name, Lord, that
we are gonna be free and your word says in Malachi
that we will go out and playfully jump like calves
from a stall. God, this story with as much as
the very difficult issues, Lord, that we had
to look at carries that thread of grace through
the whole thing. And Lord, that really is what
it's all about. Lord, there is such sin in our
world, and yet, God, there is a thread of grace
that runs through all of it for those who call
upon your name. And so, God, for any in this
room and watching online this morning, God, maybe
you've spoken to their heart, Lord. I know you're
speaking to them. God, that they have realized
that they're playing games. They're realizing
that their salvation is false because in their
heart, they know they don't care about doing
right. God, I pray, Lord, even in this moment,
the fear of your judgment, the fear of what's
to come, God, that you're gonna judge sin would
fall upon them, Lord, and that they would call
out to you and say, God, please save me, forgive
me, I'm sorry, change me, truly. And God, I pray
for the believers in this room who, God, are
trying to live a life without compromise. Lord,
we're trying to live a life to obey you and to
follow you, and yet we still have this body of
sin and death with us that just falls constantly.
And Lord, may you encourage those who know you
today that have stumbled, that have fallen, that
have made mistakes, Lord. That even as the devil
would condemn them in their head, Lord, they
would remember your word that says there is therefore
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus and called according to his purpose. Lord,
set your people free from the shackles of shame.
Not so that we could go sin, Lord, but quite
the opposite, so that we could be free to serve
you and to bring other people to this truth of
salvation. We love you, God. We can't do any
of this without you. But Lord, we know that you
died for the whole world so that any who call
upon your name would be saved. Let us be a part
of that, God, because we know and believe that
judgment is coming. There are disgustingly horrible
and wicked things taking place in this world,
Lord. Help us to be people, Lord, with a heart
that we would see people through your eyes, Lord.
Regardless of how wicked the sin is, that we
would see a lost, broken, sinful individual that
could be saved if they just called out to you.
Help us to pray for people like that as Abraham
prayed for Lot and the people in Sodom. Lord,
help us to be committed to that, Lord, because
we believe what is coming. But Lord, in all of
it, we praise your name. We worship you. You
are the God of glory. You are God Almighty. You
are the judge of the whole earth. and you are
the lover of my soul. Thank you, God, for your
work in our lives. Use us, use our church, use
your church worldwide, Lord, to be that light
on a hill in the salt of the earth that many
would be saved. We thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus'
name we pray. Amen. Well, God bless you guys.
Let's worship.