Genesis 19:1-38: A Heart for the Wrong City

Introduction

My first Mardi Gras experience - After that experience I can’t get my mind around what Sodom and Gomorrah had been like.

One of the most famous stories in the Bible. Even if you’re not very familiar with the Bible, chances are you’ve heard of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In the Bible, a picture of judgment. Mentioned over a dozen times.

A city in a region of lush and plenty… A city that was irresistible to Abraham’s nephew Lot. Remember, Lot moved to the outskirts of the city, but by the time we get to Gen. 19, he’s living in the midst of a city that was exceedingly wicked.

A city that offered Lot and his family so much, so much that was appealing and enticing. Sodom and Gomorrah said to Lot: whatever your heart craves, you can have it here.

Lot lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, but the real problem was that Sodom and Gomorrah lived in the heart of Lot. YET… there’s an unexpected twist in this story.

You’re not a resident of Sodom and Gomorrah, but it could be that Sodom and Gomorrah resides in your heart.

It could be that your heart is set on the wrong city. Your heart longs for what this world offers you: be the god of your own life, go after what your heart desires, live for your own truth, etc.

Easy to forget there’s a heavenly city worth living for that will satisfy your heart in far greater ways than the Sodom and Gomorrah’s of the world. How do you know if your heart is set on the wrong city? 3 ways:

Story

The two messengers enter Sodom in the evening… (Foreboding: You know nothing good happens in the dark… Street lights come on you go home...)

Lot at Sodom’s gateway… where the leaders of city gathered. Could Lot be a leader in Sodom? Wealthy and respected in this city of sin?

Hospitality: invites the guests to his home. But, you know this isn’t going to go well. “We would rather spend the night in the square.” Lot is insistent because he knows what’s going to happen.

Lot has a tormented soul… (2 Peter 2:8) Lot knows God’s desires yet he can’t give up his own desires. He struggles inwardly. He KNOWS he lives in an evil city, but he can’t leave it… Many of you live with a tormented soul. The pull of the sin of this world so strong yet you know God has something better for you.

Different feast than what Abe made… Unleavened bread… Hebrew Hot Pockets… Eat, sleep, and get out of here. Lot KNOWS what’s going to happen if these messengers stick around.

Then it happens… Before they go to bed… every man in the city, young and old, surround the house. Beat on the door… “Send them out so we can have our way...” Perversion ingrained in every heart of every man in Sodom. No wonder God came to judge the city.

Unbelievable: Lot wants to protect his guests - rule of hospitality - So he does what’s evil. Offers his virgin daughters to the perverse men. (See Lev. 19:29) Lot’s heart just as sinful as the men of Sodom. (Gen. 12 - Abe willing to sacrifice Sarah. Now, Lot willing to sacrifice his daughters.)

The men: “Who do you think you are? You’re a foreigner!” Lot loved the city, but the city didn’t love him. The world doesn’t love you either. Lot is CANCELLED! The mob isn’t going to bargain with Lot… You can’t bargain with evil. You can’t compromise with evil. Sin doesn’t want to compromise with you… Sin wants to consume you.

The messengers of God pull Lot inside the house, shut the door, and strike the men with blindness. ESV: “they wore themselves out groping for the door..” So perverse that they don’t even stop to consider their blindness. They keep groping trying to fulfill their desires.

Angels: “Get your wife, your daughters, and son-in-laws. Time to go.” Sons-in-laws wouldn’t leave… thought Lot was joking.

Daybreak: “Get your wife and daughters… Let’s go...” vs. 16: BUT Lot hesitated… Moses showing us Lot’s heart. Even knowing Sodom would be destroyed, he’s slow to leave.

vs. 17… “Because of the Lord’s compassion for him...” Why does God care about Lot? Why does God care about you? Why are you a recipient of God’s grace? The messengers grab their hands… brought them out… God did that for some of you…

“Run for the mountains! DON’T LOOK BACK!” Sounds like Mark 13:14. If you think about it - Sodom and Gomorrah a preview of judgment to come…

But no… Lot asks to go to Zoar… “I can’t make it to the mountains, what about this small place?” God says yes and protects Zoar from destruction on behalf of Lot… BUT vs. 30… Lot is afraid to live there. He didn’t think it through… Likely, Zoar a lot like Sodom, wicked. Ends up living in a cave… And TERRIBLE SIN. Daughters in a cave with their dad, don’t see any hope of marriage and family, so they get their dad drunk and sleep with him so they can have children. If only Lot would have listened to the messengers.

Then it happened… The judgment of God. Fire rains from heaven on this place that Lot had at one time looked at afar and thought, “It’s like the Garden of Eden.”

Then Lot’s wife… She hesitates… Imagine… running from Sodom, yet she stops. She looks back. She sees her city, her possessions going up in flames… She lingers, and she pays. She’s swept up in the judgment of God. Her body becomes a pillar of salt. (She didn’t heed vs. 17 - “Don’t look behind you...”) Later, Jesus would say, “Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to make his life secure will lose it...” (Luke 17:27)

Abe looks too… From a different vantage point. From the place where he and the Lord spoke together in Genesis 18, Abe watches as Sodom and Gomorrah go up in flames. BUT… Moses tells us why God rescued Lot. vs. 29… “He remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of he middle of the upheaval...” Abe’s prayer was powerful and effective.

Lot had his heart set on the wrong city. How do you know if your heart is set on the wrong city?

You want to be saved but not separated.

Lot wanted grace. He didn’t want to be destroyed in Sodom. But, he hesitates. He wanted salvation, and he also wanted Sodom.

Let’s be honest… that’s us. We want salvation. We want to know that our eternal destiny is secure. We want heaven, but we also want the evil of this world.

So, we hesitate. We hesitate to listen to God’s voice. We hesitate to obey. We hesitate to do what we know is right because the pull of Sodom in our hearts is so strong.

We want salvation, but we don’t want our lives to change. We don’t want God’s desires. We want our desires. We want blessings without obedience.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-stops-mcdonald-s-drive-thru-during-police-pursuit-after-n1273532 Couldn’t escape because pull of chicken nuggets was too strong… God has offered you a way of escape from a life of sin… but the pull of sin is too strong for some of you.

You want to stay close to what God will judge.

Lot: “Don’t make me go to the mountains. I’ll never make it… let me stay close.

How many of you have tried to bargain with God to stay near what was comfortable to you rather than follow God’s will for you?

“Let me stay close to Sodom...” Sodom was going to be a distant memory, but Lot didn’t want to leave the area, and he paid the price. He ended up in a cave with his daughters resorting to heinous sin in order to preserve the family line. God offered Lot better, but he didn’t want it.

Many of you don’t want better either. God has called you to better but you want to stay close…

God has called you to flee from sin (1 Cor. 6:18, 1 Tim. 6:11, 2 Tim. 2:22), yet you stay close to people who lead you in the wrong direction.

Still close to the same people that pull you into sin.

Still close to the same influences.... media that leads you into sinful thought patterns.

Still close to the same temptations… You’ve done nothing to flee.

God has called you out. He’s called you to be close to Him, but you choose to stay close to what God opposes.

You keep turning back to what you know destroys.

Lot’s wife had to turn back.

So do you. You’ve sang the song, “I’ve decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back,” but you keep turning back knowing the consequences.

You keep running back to that relationship that you know isn’t what God has for you. You keep running back to the pornography. You keep running back to the gossip, the pride, the self-centeredness, the hatred… Name your sin.

You even tell yourself, “This is the last time… I won’t do it again...” Yet, you keep turning back. Why? Because your heart is in Sodom, and Sodom is in your heart.

This passage reveals the heart of Lot - and tragically, many of us have hearts that are a lot like Lot’s. We want God, but we want the world much more. We want the benefits of being a child of God, but we don’t want God’s will to interfere with our sinful desires.

Confess! Put yourself in the place of grace!

Repent of loving the world far too much and loving God far too little. Your love for the world will never work out for your good.

What’s amazing is that the Apostle Peter calls Lot righteous… Righteous? How? Lot seems anything but righteous. Why would Peter call Lot righteous? (2 Pet. 2:7)

The same reason why God calls you righteous: grace. Note again: vs. 16 - God’s compassion for Lot. God chose to set His grace on Lot, and God chose to answer Abe’s prayer (vs. 29).

Abe in some ways serves as a mediator for Lot. He prays that God would spare lives in Sodom, and God spares Lot. Abe looks like Jesus, the true mediator. 1 Timothy 1:5

Lot isn’t righteous, but God makes Lot righteous. Just like God makes you righteous as well - through faith in the true mediator - the One who lived, died, and rose again for you.

But, God sets His grace on you not so you might stay the same. He sets His grace on you to change you. He sets His grace on you so you might know that there’s a better city.

Hebrews 11:9-10 - A heavenly city. Which city are you going to live for? Live for Sodom and you might find temporal pleasures but you will be consumed with the consequences of sin. Or, decide to follow Jesus with no looking back and discover the joy of living for a better city who’s King is Jesus.

Judgment is coming. BUT today is a day of grace.