Genesis 19-Sodom and Gomorrah

ME

If you are a guest- oh man, I’m sorry your first day is Sodom and Gomorra. This is awkward.

AW Tozier “What comes to your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you”.

Savior? Judge? Oppressor? Creator?

What are the character or attributes that you consider when you consider God?

Justice? What happens when God says, “NO MORE?”

Lot didn’t think of God’s divine justice when he thought of God. So he lingers when told of Sodom’s impending doom. He weighs his creature comforts against divine judgement and can’t decide. He can’t imagine God is really going to judge this place.

Contamination.

If the air is contaminated, it doesn’t matter how pretty the scenery is, you can’t stay there. It will contaminate you and infiltrate your lungs and body.

We don’t think it matters, but time and time again, God says to be ruthless in eliminating the contamination. He tells Joshua to eliminate the customs and sometimes people who will lead you astray.

Proverbs 20:19

Proverbs 22:24-25

2 Corinthians 6:14-16

1 Corinthians 15:33

He might have thought he would remain strong.

He might have thought he would convert them to love the lord.

YOU

English Standard Version (Luke 17:22–37)

And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” 37 And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

Jesus gives us a dire warning to examine the things around us. Are we looking back? Are we surrounded by the vultures, yet unaware that death surrounds us? And what is this talk about Lot and his wife? Are we going on with life as if it is all under control- things are just like this. Nothing ever changes. God never judges?

Today we are going to look at one of the great warnings of our day. A famous story that has lessons for us today. The story of Sodom and Gomorra is the story of cities that lived life as if they were in control of all things.

GOD

Lot is the Nephew of Abraham. He followed his uncle as his uncle followed God. Some of his desire to follow God rubbed off, some didn’t. He left his uncle so that he could find more success. He took some of the flocks that his uncle had given him and went to a better land, yet one that was dangerously close to some wicked cities. (Remember that word wicked- it was the reason God judged the world with a flood in Genesis 6 with Noah. Now we will revisit Lot, who hasn’t been hanging out with his uncle. In fact, he has moved dangerously close to a bad crowd.

Last week we left with two angels walking towards the city of Sodom and that is where we pick things up today.

Genesis 19:1–29 (ESV)

1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth

The city square was where all business and trade happened. Sodom didn’t have a wall, only an arch and likely booths for merchants. That Lot was sitting there tells us he was comfortable around these people and involved in the goings on of the governing and trade in the city. He was no longer a shepherd, but lived in comfort in the city. Sat in the shade and didn’t work the ground anymore like Abraham was doing.

2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.”

He, like Abraham, notices something about these guys that is different. He also knows he must get them out soon. He knows what happens to visitors, yet he is fine hanging out with the movers and shakers. He’s gotta get these guys out asap though.

3 But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. This is a wordplay on a word that is about to come up. There are several wordplays in this text. Remember, this story was curated and told by a skillful author, not simply dictated. Every word was inspired for you to hear.

4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house.

5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” Yada- it means sex. The author has already used this euphemism several times in earlier stories.

6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him,

7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.

vs. 7- my brothers. Lot thinks he is one of them. What does this say about him. He thinks he is godly, yet he hangs out with people who are clearly wicked and opposed to God. He doesn’t think he is being contaminated, so let’s see if he is.

ILL. - Muddy gloves, not glovey mud. (use a teen)

Lot thinks he is not gonna get muddy by hanging out with these guys.

“Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future”

You can have non christian friends, but you should have FELLOWSHIP and do life with people who are on your similar journey.

This didn’t happen in a day for Lot. He was on a slippery slope. He slowly moved towards a life that had no problem with Sodom. Conversations outside the gate. Accept the first invite and look the other way. Move to a house, but lock your door. Keep telling yourself that you are not like them and you are making a difference, even though no one is changing and your aren’t actually talking about God or training...

8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

Good news- this would have shocked the reader back then as much or more than us. Virgins were prized and protected.

These daughters were betrothed or engaged, which means it is a capitol offense to have sex with them. Yet Lot, sees the wicked sins and tries to offer a less wicked sin. He sees homosexuality and rape as evil yet giving his daughters over to somehow be less depraved. He knows it isn’t good, but he doesn’t see the absolute depravity.

The sins here are many- not just homosexuality. Rape, being inhospitable to strangers and homeless is definitely cultural no-nos. Two things that God has set clear boundaries on- sexuality and how we treat the down and out and both are being corrupted. This is wickedness.

9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down.

10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.

Now the angels are asserting control.

Watch Lot’s reaction as he loses control. He is going to try and hang on to this life he’s made- even in the midst of wickedness.

11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place.

13 For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

This is the same root as Isaac. There is a theme here that correlates laughing to faith in God. Abraham laughed and obeyed- these sons laugh and carry on with disobedience. They die.

Remember Noah. His family willfully followed. Lot’s family will not. They like it.

Now we are seeing the big picture. This story is not just about getting Lot out of Sodom. It is about getting Sodom out of Lot. That is much harder.

15 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

Lot is not having a good showing. Why is God even bothering to save this guy— we are going to find out. The one thing is clear to the Hebrew reader 3000 yeas ago and to us- Lot doesn’t deserve to be saved. He is not a hero.

17 And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.”

18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords.

19 Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.

20 Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!”

21 He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

22 Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

They are dragging him out tooth and nails and he still negotiates to go to a city and not the hard life of the hills. If he goes to the hills, it will be too hard and he might die. Meanwhile, angels from heaven are dragging him out of his house while literal fire and brimstone from heaven are destroying everything he sees.

25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Josephus mentioned you could still see her pillar to that day. This means one of the salt columns was likely mythologized into Lot’s wife

(Perhaps show a salt picture)

Lot’s wife looked back. Doesn’t seem like a capitol crime. But she couldn’t help it. They had built a life of comfort. They never thought it would change. Yet here they are.

27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.

28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

YOU

1. Remember Lot’s Wife- Don’t cling to things that won’t last.

Your job, your house, your way of life, your gym membership, your video games, your movies and TV. They all go away. Don’t sell your soul to hang on to a lifestyle that will vanish one day.

Working to the bone to provide for your family, only to lose them.

Hitting the soccer fields and baseball fields so that your kid can get a scholarship, yet you sell your soul. You forsake relationships and even your church in the process.

The first and foremost lesson of sodom isn’t about homosexuality. It is about the slippery slope of loving this life at the expense of the next one.

If the Lord rescued Lot, He can and will rescue you!

English Standard Version (2 Peter 2:4–10)

5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

God made Lot holy, not because he was good, but because he heard the prayers of Abraham and because in faith- he followed. Even though he was reluctant and went kicking and screaming- he went. God is gracious. He loves us.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 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. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

God is still a Holy God. we should take him serious.

We will all be judged. But today you have a choice. Receive the gift of righteousness. You are not righteous because you are good or moral. In the Bible, we receive righteousness, we don’t earn it.

WE