Sodom and Gomorrah

Introduction

Outline

1. Arrival in Sodom (Gen 19:1–3)

2. Assault by the Men of Sodom (Gen 19:4–11)

3. Escape from Sodom (Gen 19:12–22)

4. Destruction of Sodom (Gen 19:23–29)

5. Lot and His Daughters (Gen 19:30–38)

6. God’s Justice in the Past (2 Peter 2:1-6)

7. God’s Justice in the Present (2 Peter 2:7-11)

Please read Genesis 19:1-3. Lot displays hospitality to these angels. Why do you think he does this?

Ancient Israelite custom was to show hospitality to strangers. The Didache talks about this practice existing for early Christians as well. This was unique to followers of God as other religions and people groups often didn’t practice this type of great hospitality. He does this because it’s the right thing to do, but as MacArthur alludes to, and to protect them from the wicked people in the city itself.

Genesis 19:1–3 CSB

1 The two angels entered Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in Sodom’s gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them. He bowed with his face to the ground 2 and said, “My lords, turn aside to your servant’s house, wash your feet, and spend the night. Then you can get up early and go on your way.” “No,” they said. “We would rather spend the night in the square.” 3 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.

Lot greets his guests and honors them by bowing to them. MacArthur draws out the idea that Lot had rose to prominence within the city. He had gained many possessions and resources during his time with Abraham and was wealthy - however, all of that wealth and blessing had led him to a wicked city.

Sometimes people interpret power, possessions, and positivity as signs of God’s blessing on someone’s life. Is this always true?

No! Earthly comforts don’t automatically mean that someone is in right standing with the Lord. We read that God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Some people are blessed with lots of money but they do terrible things while others are not blessed with lots of money but are great Christian people. We can’t look through an earthly lens to view a heavenly gift. Lot was rich, but he was in a wicked place and was being corrupted by outside influences.

We know that we are living in a wicked world. Regardless of where we live, we are surrounded by sinners because we ourselves are sinners! How can we fight against temptations to go along with idolatry and unrighteousness?

Romans 12:1-2 share with us that we must have a renewed mind. If we are surrounded by ungodly people, we are probably going to be influenced by them to some extent. We can fight against this by surrounding ourselves with Christlike people who encourage us to dive into the Word and live a Christlike life even in difficult times.

Please read Genesis 19:4-11. Why does sin make us do silly things like what Lot and Abram do in the early part of Genesis with their family members?

Abram gave his wife to the Pharoah because he was afraid of being killed. Lot offered up his daughters to the mob because he was afraid for his honor - if the visitors had been harmed it would’ve reflected poorly on his honor in the eyes of the city. Fear makes us do silly things because it gets our eyes off of what is right and onto ourselves and our idea of what we need most.

Genesis 19:4–11 CSB

4 Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house. 5 They called out to Lot and said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have sex with them!” 6 Lot went out to them at the entrance and shut the door behind him. 7 He said, “Don’t do this evil, my brothers. 8 Look, I’ve got two daughters who haven’t been intimate with a man. 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 the protection of my roof.” 9 “Get out of the way!” they said, adding, “This one came here as an alien, but he’s acting like a judge! Now we’ll do more harm to you than to them.” They put pressure on Lot and came up to break down the door. 10 But the angels reached out, brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11 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.

We read in this passage a disturbing scene begin to unfold. The city of Sodom was blinded by sexual immorality - just as many in our world are as well as we will study later tonight. We read that the people were driven by their own lusts and desires… Whenever we are driven by our sinful urges, are our actions godly? No, they are self-serving more often than not. We see in these verses a serious problem for Lot. Either he succumbs to the mob and the visitors are harmed which will harm his image in the eyes of the city or, as he suggests, the mob can take his daughters and abuse/kill them so that he can maintain his honor and standing. Living next to evil is never a good thing because it will always bring about a cost to us - the day of reckoning had come for Lot. He was in the web of vile circumstances and he suggests a way out that illustrates that his moral compass had been severely distorted.

Why are people in our world so confused about basic moral situations like sexual immorality and the protection of children?

Because we have not only lived in sin but we are practicing sin left and right all around us. How can we offer a Biblical corrective to our culture on such issues? We can stand on the Word! Standing on the Word will likely make you unpopular to the world.

This is terrible, yet we see the mercy of God on full display as page 84 of our text shares with us. God pours out his grace on this situation and demonstrates His divine mercy rather than allowing Lot’s silly action to bring about harm on innocent bystanders.

Please read Genesis 19:12-22. God extends mercy to Lot. How does Lot’s past impact others in these verses?

We see that Lot’s future son-in-laws think that he is joking around because they do not follow him. He had lost his credibility in the eyes of others because he had benefitted greatly from the “wicked” people of this city as an elder of the city. Now he is calling everyone here wicked and evil? That seems very hypocritical. Because of Lot’s past, other people perish because they refuse to believe his message of the coming judgment. Our actions and words have consequences, friends!

Genesis 19:12–22 CSB

12 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, 13 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 to destroy it.” 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. 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.” 16 But he hesitated. Because of the Lord’s compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters. They brought him out and left him outside the city. 17 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 plain! Run to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” 18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords—please. 19 Your servant has indeed found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by saving my life. But I can’t run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die. 20 Look, this town is close enough for me to flee to. It is a small place. Please let me run to it—it’s only a small place, isn’t it?—so that I can survive.” 21 And he said to him, “All right, I’ll grant your request about this matter too and will not demolish the town you mentioned. 22 Hurry up! Run to it, for I cannot do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city is Zoar.

We see in these verses that God is bringing about His divine judgment and destruction upon these wicked people. We know that God will bring about His divine judgment on the world one day in the future. We read in the final 2 verses that God grants Lot’s request and brings about great mercy and grace. Kenneth Matthews shares this, “The divine timetable for destruction is temporarily suspended for the outworking of divine grace.”

Think about that statement for a moment. Isn’t that how things are in our world right now? We are living in a period of grace, whether people realize it or not. We know that God at any moment would be just to bring about His divine justice on our wicked, sinful world, yet He doesn’t. Why is this the case? Why does God not bring about His wrath against sin right now?

Because there is still work to be done. Because there are still more yet to hear the Gospel. Because He is still extending His grace and love towards sinners. There is still time, but that time is running out, just as it was for Lot and the people in Genesis 19.

MacArthur notes on page 86 that many people think that we have full control over our environment and destiny. Why do so many people feel this way? Is this true according to the Bible?

It makes us feel good! We love being in control… Yet, we see in the Bible that this isn’t true. We read in Scripture that God is the One who reigns as King of creation and He is seated on His throne. He is in control. This should bring about comfort to our lives. Romans 8:28, Isaiah 41:10, Proverbs 16:9 and Proverbs 19:21 all speak to this truth. The Lord is in control. Once we realize this truth and walk by faith in His Word and plan, then we find our truth purpose and meaning.

Please read Genesis 19:23-29. Is God’s judgment fair?

In one word, yes. Yet, we can’t fully understand the severity of our sin in the eyes of God. That is due to the truth that He is utterly holy and we simply are not. We are sinners. We can’t grasp why sin brings about this type of reaction from God.

Genesis 19:23–29 CSB

23 The sun had risen over the land when Lot reached Zoar. 24 Then out of the sky the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah burning sulfur from the Lord. 25 He demolished these cities, the entire plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. 27 Early in the morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 He looked down toward 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. 29 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.

Disobeying God’s commands brings about serious consequences. We see this for Sodom regarding their sexual immorality and we see it with Lot’s wife turning around and looking at the destruction and turning into a pillar of salt.

God brings about divine judgment and this is in the form of sulfur - Isaiah shares with us that this type of punishment is directly attributed to God’s judgment against wickedness.

Please read Genesis 19:30-39. Once again, we see people disobey God’s command and take matters into their own hands. Do people continue to do this? Are there repercussions from this chapter in future generations?

Yes, there are. The people of Israel battled the offspring of Lot and his daughters for generations to come. People continue to take matters into their own hands rather than trust in the Lord’s plan and guidance and timing. We see this with Abram, Sarai, and Hagar as they worked together to come up with a plan and the offspring was Ishmael. Ishmael was not the son of the promise of Genesis 12 and following. That son is Isaac. Yet, they took matters into their own hands and there has been consequences ever since between the offspring of Isaac and the offspring of Ishmael.

Genesis 19:30–38 CSB

30 Lot departed from Zoar and lived in the mountains along with his two daughters, because he was afraid to live in Zoar. Instead, he and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us as is the custom of all the land. 32 Come, let’s get our father to drink wine so that we can sleep with him and preserve our father’s line.” 33 So they got their father to drink wine that night, and the firstborn came and slept with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. 34 The next day the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight so you can go sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.” 35 That night they again got their father to drink wine, and the younger went and slept with him; he did not know when she lay down or when she got up. 36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger also gave birth to a son, and she named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites of today.

Today people continue to trust in their own plans rather than trusting in God’s plan. We read in Hebrews 11 about the Hall of Faith. We read about people who walked by faith and not by sight! This is what God calls us to do daily - to trust in His plan and guidance rather than what we can see and feel and taste.

People in our world are often motivated by fear to do things rather than stepping out and acting in faith. How can we be people who act based on faith rather than based on fear?

We trust in the Word above all else. Whenever we trust in ourselves, we will often fail because we do what’s best in our own eyes or we act from a place of fear rather than a place of trust and faith in the Lord. We must live out Psalm 46:10 and wait on the Lord and acknowledge that He knows best.

New Testament time!

MacArthur transitions to 2 Peter to talk about false teachers and God’s coming judgment upon them.

Please read 2 Peter 2:1-6. Should we expect there to be false teachers in our world? What is coming their way?

Yes we should because the Bible says so. Judgment is coming their way! God is the righteous judge.

2 Peter 2:1–6 CSB

1 There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them. 3 They will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep. 4 For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell and delivered them in chains of utter darkness to be kept for judgment; 5 and if he didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and if he 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;

Discussion about these false teachers - prosperity teachers, health and wealth teachers, and others.

Peter says that these people have brought in destructive heresies… These ideas don’t just impact people here and now, but they can lead people to hell. Why do we have to reject the prosperity Gospel that says that Jesus wants you to live your best life now and for you to be happy, healthy, wealthy, and blessed in every physical respect categorically? Because that’s a destructive heresy. Look at Job. Look at Paul. Sometimes God’s will for your life is not to be healthy. Sometimes His plan for your life is to suffer.

Danny Akin shares this, “Ultimately, false teaching that leads people to an eternal hell can only be rooted in one thing: a denial of the person and work of Christ.”

If you get Jesus wrong, you are on a 1 way road to hell. The false teachers of Peter’s day were denying Jesus. They refused to submit to Christ as Lord. This is how people in our world act today too, we love to say that Jesus died on the cross but we hate to follow Him as Lord. “A lifestyle of ungodliness always stems from rejecting Christ and his redemptive work, regardless of what one claims.”

God brought about judgment in the past for false teachers. The fallen angels couldn’t escape God’s judgment. Noah’s wicked generation couldn’t escape God’s judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah couldn’t escape God’s judgment.

What was so wrong with Sodom? Their depraved behavior. Specifically, their homosexuality and wickedness. God takes sexual immorality very seriously… If God takes sexual immorality very seriously, why do we not?

We live in a world where cohabitation is celebrated and homosexuality is adored. Should we expect God’s applause or God’s judgment? Friends, we should expect God’s judgment based on the way that people are living in our world.

For what it’s worth, sexual immorality includes homosexuality but it’s not limited to it. The BFM 2000 shares this in Article 18, “Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”

Hebrews 13:4 shares this with us

Hebrews 13:4 CSB

4 Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

God will judge the sexually immoral. He will judge the homosexual just as He will judge those who partake in sexual acts outside the covenant of marriage. You want to get evangelical Christians up in arms, tell them that sex before marriage is a sin. I’m not sure where we’ve gone wrong, but that is no longer a majority position in many churches. Thanks to false teachers who have brought in destructive heresies, there are so many false fruits that people in churches believe. God’s judgment is coming on such people!

Please read 2 Peter 2:7-11. What does the Lord promise in these verses?

To rescue the Godly!

2 Peter 2:7–11 CSB

7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold, arrogant people! They are not afraid to slander the glorious ones; 11 however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord.

Standing up against the false teaching of the day will prove costly - standing up for Jesus will cost you something - but on judgment day it will be 100% worth it. The Lord will come to your rescue! He is faithful and true. He won’t forsake you.

Discussion Questions