Fire and Brimstone 2.0

Big Idea:

Tension: Why does God save Lot from the just destruction coming for Sodom and Gomorrah?

Resolution: Because, out of his mercy, he has chosen him.

Exegetical Idea: God saves Lot from the just destruction coming from Sodom and Gomorrah because, out of his mercy, he has chosen him.

Theological Idea: God saves sinners from his just wrath because he has mercifully chosen them.

Homiletical Idea: God saves us from God because he of his merciful election in Christ.

Outline

Intro: Why do we preach on tough passages?

1. It’s God’s Word. And ultimately, God decides what is being preached and when. He is the one who put one passage in front of the other and put you in the spot in the pew you are in right now.

2. We never can have good news if we don’t read the bad news. If we never take the time to see the low points of sin, then we will never get to take the time to see the high vistas of God’s grace.

Review the Plot

Background of Lot

Abraham prays

God visits Lot, Lot shows hospitality

Men try to kill Sodom

God saves Lot, despite his resistance

Lot sinks into the depths of his soul, drinking himself to death, and his final disgrace comes with his daughters

Sodom and Gomorrah was under God’s Judgment

The end of the line for Sodom; Sin is progressive. What happened here is simply the conclusion of a long trajectory of wickedness.

Lot has of course taken them into his house because he knows what would happen if he would have left them out there alone. So it is implied that this is not the first time this mob goes after strangers, the difference is that God will not put up with their cruel abuse of sojourners any longer. It ends tonight, he says.

What was the sin of Sodom specifically?

Violence

Inhospitality

Homosexuality

SHCC Statement of faith. “What is Marriage? Marriage is a unique display of the gospel in a loving, covenant union of one man and one woman. God gave sexual intercourse to this union alone; anything else is a deviation from God’s design for sexuality and marriage alike. (Genesis 1:27-28 ; Romans 1:24-27 ; Ephesians 4:22 -33)”

So of course we believe that homosexuality falls into this definition, but we also believe adultery, pornography, lust, fornication, cohabitation and every form of sexual immorality and deviance are out of accord with God’s will. As God’s poeple on this earth, we are here to announce to eveyr single sinner, “repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. We are here to announce salvation. You cannot, of course be saved unless you are condemned first, but the empahsis, the point of our preaching is that every person, no matter how fallen they may be, is eligible for the grace of God through Christ.

We reject the false association of the world that if you reject our lifestyle, you reject us. We believe it is possible to passionately love people, to want the best for them, to care about them, and to say that the way you are going leads to death.

Now, as hateful as the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is to God, and it is horrendous, and it is awful and wicked, there’s something worse, isn’t there? (Matthew 11:21-24). Which means if some of you think you are saved by your own self-righteousness, by your own acts of goodness, if you think that God will let you into heaven because you have earned it, if you sit here week after week hearing the preaching of God and you still harden your heart to the message of the gospel, you will suffer a worse fate than Sodom and Gomorrah.

Matthew 11:21–24 ESV

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

God gives people every chance to repent (2 Peter 3:9; Rom 2:4-5),

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Romans 2:4–5 ESV

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

yet, sooner or later, God will tell every sinner, “this ends tonight.” Sooner or later, every evil deed will meet its end. God will not put up with evil forever (Romans 1:18-23)

So my question is, how can we be saved from this end? How can we have hope? And for that, I think we need to look at Lot. Because if Lot was saved from the fate of Sodom, then maybe the same way that Lot was saved is how we are saved. So how was Lot saved?

Well, I think we can say with pretty good confidence that Lot was not saved by being an especially morally upstanding person.

Lot moved “as far as Sodom” but then moved in to Sodom. He was a worldly person, always sitting between the world and God, always wanting to have it both ways.

Lot did show hospitality to the strangers, but when the people came knockign at his door, he offered up his daughters instead.

Lot “lingered” so they had to grab him by the hand

Lot tried to negotiate with God, still trying to have it both ways.

After the destruction of Sodom, Lot apparently slips into alcoholism, neglecting his fatherly responsibilities. Sure, it wasn’t his fault his daughters did what they did, but it they knew what would happen.

So why was Lot saved?

Abraham’s Prayer - Even though Abraham’s prayer didn’t specifically mention Lot, the subtext was that God would preserve Lot in the city. This is what 19:29. It says God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out.

Christians, never ever underestimate the power of prayer for your lost friends and family members. 1 Tim 2:1

Abraham’s prayer was that God would save, specifically, the righteous. (18:24-33)

Righteousness that comes by faith. (Gen 15:6 )

Abraham is assuming that there is someone in the city, namely Lot, who was saved by faith just like he was. Lot had faith. And therefore God counted him righteous, not on the basis of any good works that he had done, but solely on the basis of the sacrifice that Christ would make.

This “righteousness” is righteous by a very specific standard, namely the standard of the covenant. What Abraham is asking is if God will surely destroy someone who is righteous by the covenant with the wicked.

So we see here that Lot is saved because he is accounted right by the covenant.

We see in this passage that Abraham has a covenant with God, and it is fair to assume that Lot is saved because he is under the covenant as well (Gen 18:17-18)

All Christians are saved by a covenant made with God. And this is because the covenant stipulates that God will bless us if we are obedient to him.

Of course, none of us are obedient to him, and therefore, all of us are under a curse.

So here is the miracle of Christianity, here is the reason why Lot and Abraham themselves were abler to be accounted right by the standard of the covenant, becuase Christ came and bore the curse for us. We get the blessings of his obedience, and he gets the curse of our disobedience. (2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13-14).

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Galatians 3:13–14 ESV

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

This is why we are saved by grace. The covenant that we have with God ought to condemn us, but God keeps the covenant with us.

So now, how did Abraham, and therefore Lot, get into this covenant with God?

God chose them. (vs. 19)

Almost every translation here says “chosen” except KJV, NKJV

Root word is “know”, but in this context “know” means “chosen.” To some extent the meaning of words are determined by their context. For example, we use love in differnet contexts. So we can see that when God is the subject and there is a personal object, the meaning of this word is almost always “chosen”. See, for example, Amos 3:2

Amos 3:2 ESV

“You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

The real question is does God choose us because he knows we will choose him, or do we choose him because he chose us? In other words whose choice caused the other? And the answer to that is crystal clear in 18:19. God chose Abraham so that Abraham would be obedient. God’s choice causes Abraham’s, and same with ours. It is just as Jesus ays to his disciples in John 15:16

John 15:16 ESV

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Now, what this means is that all that God has promised to do for Abraham, all the land he’s going to give him, all the blessings, all the counting him righteous according to the covenant, the Messianic seed, everything that God has for Abraham is done not because of anything in Abraham, but purely because of God’s grace. God doesn’t give this to Abraham on credit because some day he will obey. Rather, God chose Abraham to lavish on him all the wealth and the goodness that he could muster, and it is the choice of God that led Abraham to obedience.

And we can see that God certainly did not choose Lot because he knew Lot would choose him. Look again at 19:16. The city here is about to be Destroyed, everything is about to go down. And does Lot choose to go? No, it says he “lingered.” They literally grab him by the hand and pull him out of the city against his free will and he is saved.

Abraham was saved because he was chosen, and Lot was saved because he is chosen.

Objection: How can you make sense of that emotionally?

Objection: Now we want to say, well that’s not fair, but really that’s not our call. Because God says in Ex 33:19 … In other words, God says to us, “Mind your own business.” It is my job to save, it is your job to believe. After quoting Exodus, Paul says in Romans 9:16...

Exodus 33:19 ESV

And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

Romans 9:16 ESV

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

But, behind this, there is a deeper reason why Lot is saved. And we see that reason in 19:16, namely God’s mercy, and we even saw that in Ex 33:19, God saves because of prayer, because of justification by faith, because of his gracious covenant, becuase he has chosen us, but underneath all of htis is his mercy.

Or as Ephesians 1:4-5 says, “In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ” and again in Ephesians 2:4, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved.” Or as 1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” From God’s choice to God’s rescue, everything is because God has loved me. Christians, all of our salvation from eternity past to eternity future, from God’s sovereign election to the glories or resurrection are purely because of the love and the mercy and the lovingkindness of God.

Ephesians 1:4–5 SBLGNT

καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ, προορίσας ἡμᾶς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς αὐτόν, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ,

Ephesians 2:4 SBLGNT

ὁ δὲ θεὸς πλούσιος ὢν ἐν ἐλέει, διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἀγάπην αὐτοῦ ἣν ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς,

1 John 4:10 SBLGNT

ἐν τούτῳ ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγάπη, οὐχ ὅτι ἡμεῖς ἠγαπήκαμεν τὸν θεόν, ἀλλʼ ὅτι αὐτὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀπέστειλεν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἱλασμὸν περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν.

Ephesians 1:4–5 ESV

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

Ephesians 2:4 ESV

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

1 John 4:10 ESV

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Here is the love of God, that he knew we were wicked sinners, he knew that we were like Lot dilly dallying around in Hell, he knew that were were like Lot trying to compromise with the world, He knew that we were like Lot. And yet, when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, he loved us and sent his Son to die on the cross for us. That he chose me long before I every chose him. He was crucified for me, long before I called out to him. He ascended upon the tree, and ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. He grabbed me by the hand and he did not let me go and will not let me go.

Application

Pride: So how does this matter to me? I am well aware that this sermon may be particularly jarring if you struggle with pride. Because there is absolutely no room for boasting after a sermon like this, is there? This is a humbling, terribly confronting sermon. Because God has basically said to us one and all, “That salvation that you ahve been so eager to take credit for, that was all me. It was me who snatched you when you were dilly dallying in the streets of Sodom. It was me who brought you out of the flood of fire. It was me who saw you and came and sought you. It was me who had mercy on you, not you who had mercy on me. As Psalms 46 says, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Relief: But while this is, and ought to be incredibly humbling, it is also incredibly relieving, isn’t it? Because salvation does not depend on me. just think about how much relief comes from that statement. I am saved by grace through faith. I am not saved because of my good works, I’m saved by his good work. I’m not saved because of the strength of my faith, I’m saved by the strength of his faith. He didn’t love me because he knew I woudl love him, I love him because he loved me. I didn’t go seeking Christ, Christ came seeking me. And when you realize that God came and sought you, that he bought you, that he caught you and will not let anyone snatch you from his hand, you are set free from pride, from worry, from anxiety, from guilt, from shame, from horror, from wrath. You’re just set free because Jesus chose you.

Conclusion: My own testimony