In this lesson, we examine Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction. Why did God judge these cities? Why did God spare Lot? How do we today compare to these ancient cities? This account in Genesis has much to tell us of God’s holiness, justice, and mercy.
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to Abram God took part in a treaty ceremony with Abram but what was so striking about this ceremony what was different about this ceremony as might happen normally yes Dwayne very good thank you Dwayne passing through the animals which was a way to say if I break the Covenant let me be destroyed just like these animals where only God walked through so by doing that he was affirming a unilateral Covenant an unconditional Covenant one that he was taking full responsibility to keep it was not based on Abram’s performance if it didn’t matter then what Abram did for God to stay true to his promises to Abram then what was the point of circumcision my circumcision yes or what it was just a a sign a reminder of that that Covenant and there we’re going to see later on in the Old Testament more about how it’s going to a mark of the set of Partners of Abraham’s descendants and of the Hebrew people but primarily it is a sign of the Covenant that Abram was to pass down to his descendants and one should be reminded of this Covenant reminded of my faithfulness of the Covenant and you’re going to have a physical sign on yourself and on your descendants circumcision was not we emphasized this last week it was not a prerequisite for the Covenant nor is it necessary for Abram to be made righteous what was it that made Abram righteous is Faith right he believed the Lord and God accredited it to him as righteousness and this way Abram became the father of all who believe by faith and are made righteous all who are saved including us today we are saved just like Abraham was now does this mean and I didn’t explode this specifically last week but perhaps it was implied does this mean that we are inheritors of the abrahamic Covenant are we inheritors are we heirs the abrahamic Covenant it may seem a little bit difficult to answer right away there are aspects of God’s covenant with Abram that cannot apply to us that do not apply to us since we are not Abraham’s physical descendants we are not Israel nor are we guaranteed the physical land of Israel like his physical descendants were though we will be rulers of God’s Millennial Kingdom based in Jerusalem when that comes however we must understand the ultimate promise of the abrahamic Covenant all these blessings that were given to Abraham they Climax and one specific statement from God or promise from God which is said explicitly in Genesis 17 7 where God says to Abraham I will establish my Covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an Everlasting Covenant to be God to you and to your descendants after you so while there are physical aspects the abrahamic Covenant that we cannot inherit the spiritual aspects we obviously do inherit God says I my Covenant is to be your God the Covenant I’m making the Everlasting Covenant is ultimately to be your God and to be gone to your descendants God says I choose to be your God I choose to reveal myself to you and give you the faith to believe in me and this has nothing to do with your own Merit it’s unilateral Covenant and if we believe in and love Jesus Christ this is what we have inherited Galatians 3 29 makes the connection between us and Abraham very very strong because it says this if you belong to Christ then you are Abraham’s descendants heirs according to promise so Abraham’s descendants do include his spiritual descendants he was a father of many nations not physically but spiritually we are Abraham’s offspring and therefore inheritors of the Covenant of blessing Abraham’s God is our God has unilaterally chosen that for us some other quick clarifications of last week’s lesson we spoke briefly at the end of class about the connection between Abram’s Covenant ceremony and circumcision or Abraham’s Covenant ceremony circumcision and the work of Christ it is right for us to see Christ in circumcision circumcision was not only a sign of God’s unilateral promises to Abram it’s also a picture of the Gospel said a little bit about this last week parts of us according to the gospel must be cut away the cutting way of the outer flesh is really to show our need for our inner selves to be circumcised our hearts must be circumcised the sin there must be cut away but how how can we be circumcised in heart what can accomplish this for us and what does God do with our sin he can’t simply hide it it must be paid for so God’s son himself had to be cut off to make for us new hearts in order to accomplish The Cutting away in our hearts to put to death sin in us and to give us eternal life this is also why we don’t need to circumcise anymore the sign has already found its ultimate fulfillment in Christ and therefore it’s unnecessary like the other pictures of the Old Testament that find their fulfillment in Jesus that being said it’s not accurate to say I think that Abram’s treaty ceremony is a picture of the work of the cross I had said something to the effect last week but on further reflection I want to say something different since the whole point of the ceremony that is walking through the split animals in Genesis 15 is that it’s unilateral not based on Abram’s performance it doesn’t make sense for us to say that God had to suffer the penalty for Abram’s breaking of the Covenant on the cross because the whole point of the ceremony is that this Covenant is unbreakable Abraham can’t do anything to break the Covenant that’s why only God walks through but as we said there is another aspect to it that is Gospel related that is that God takes full responsibility for the Covenant God’s the one who’s totally going to keep it and that’s what he’s done with us as heirs according to the promise through Christ also I wanted to say just to re-emphasize something that we touched on a little bit at the end of last week’s lesson well it is true that some of God’s covenants or agreements with man involve blood and sacrifices not all of them do the davidic Covenant for example where God promises that David’s descendants will sit on the throne of Israel it’s not sealed in blood however anytime there’s a promise related to Cleansing or covering for sin you can be sure that death and blood are involved as Hebrew 9 22 says and according to the law one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness so I wanted to mention those things any comments or questions related to last week’s lesson all right well we turn our attention now to Sodom and Gomorrah Infamous cities described in Genesis understand that this section of Genesis does not merely give us arbitrary details about God judging certain ancient cities they just happened to mention Sodom and Gomorrah and they were destroyed no the example of Sodom and Gomorrah is one to which the Bible is continually going to make reference is going to keep going back to these cities and talking about them or comparing other cities to them Sodom and Gomorrah become bywords names that instantly bring to mind extreme sin and perversion and God’s necessary and holy judgment we must realize however the accounts of these cities and their Doom was given specifically for our instruction so let’s not miss out on what God has for us in this section of Genesis this morning as we learn about the original Sodom and Gomorrah I pray that you will be moved to Godly fear of the one of the Holy Holy One with whom we have to do I also pray that you’ll be moved to Glad thankfulness when you see the loving heart of God that saves his righteous ones from judgment that was my goals for today a lot to share with you so please hold your questions and comments till the end I want to make sure we have enough time let’s pray before we go on Lord God I pray that you would give me the ability to explain clearly and explain well this great section of your scripture Lord I pray that we would see you as more beautiful more lovely more worthy of worship because you are and we just want to behold you rightly in Jesus name amen we’ll be looking at two main sections of scripture today but before we get there I want you to turn your Bibles to Genesis 13.
it says where Sodom is mentioned I don’t know if it’s the first mentioning but it might be the first mentioning one of the first son has mentioned when Abram and lot are about to split so I want us to read about that if you recall Abram’s servants and lot servants were quarreling because they had gotten so big both of their attachments of servants and livestock have gotten so big that they were beginning to cool with one another about the land so let’s pick up the account in verse 8 of Genesis 13.
we’ll be down to 13. 13 verses 8 to 13.
so Abram said to lot please let there be no Strife between you and me nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen for we are brothers it’s not the whole land before you please separate from me if to the left then I will go to the right or if to the right then I will go to the left lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the Valley of the Jordan that it was well watered everywhere this is before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah like the garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar so a lot chose for himself all the Valley of the Jordan and lot journeyed Eastward thus they separated from each other Abram settled in the land of Canaan while lot settled in the cities of the valley and moved his tents as far as Sodom now the Minnesota were Wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord all right we’ll stop there some quick observations of this text what land did lot shoot for uh did lot choose for himself that’s right all the Valley of the Jordan all the value of the Jordan what did law notice about this land that made him choose it it was well watered and there’s a number of descriptions about how well water it was like the garden of the Lord like this very well watered section of Egypt but then notice this information set off by dashes right after it says the land was all watered it says this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by grammatically inserting this information right after saying the land was well watered what is the author implying yes Julie that’s right something must have changed because that’s a qualifying statement this land was well watered oh by the way this is before the Lord destroyed sodoming implies that something had changed in the area it might not be the same or it’s not the same by the time the Israelites are moving in into that land now what is the Valley of the Jordan well let’s learn a little bit of topography here’s a topographical map of Palestine and hopefully you can see it just a little bit even with the glares the green does not represent vegetation it represents low elevation and the Browns and the yellows that’s higher elevation with white being the highest can you guess where the Jordan Valley is well maybe maybe you’re able to see it but we would want something that looks low elevation where’s the Jordan Valley in relation to the geography of Israel not the left side actually that would be that would be where Abram ends up settling because lot is going to Journey East Jordan Valley is this whole section on the eastern part of Israel this whole section of green I don’t know if you can see it there but it encompasses the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea it’s the whole Eastern section of Israel along the border of Jordan the Jordan Valley today called the Jordan Rift Valley it runs along Israel’s entire eastern border the river the Jordan River begins at the top of the valley above the Sea of Galilee flows into the Sea of Galilee then flows out of the Bottom of the Sea of Galilee towards the Dead Sea where it ends now is the Jordan Valley well watered today like the garden of the lord well let’s take a look at another image hopefully you’re able to see it so there’s the Dead Sea there at the bottom and it’s kind of dark there at the top but would you say that the Jordan Valley is well watered today certainly not all of it right you can’t really see the Sea of Galilee because of the the way the image appears with the projector but it’s nice and green around that’s that section so where’s the Dead Sea though it’s all brown so certainly it’s not well watered and except for maybe one part not well watered today now where exactly are Sodom and Gomorrah then or where were they we don’t know for sure but we do know that it was in this Valley the Jordan Valley and probably somewhere around the Dead Sea archaeologists have suggested a number of different sites for Solomon Gomorrah two in particular one on the Northeast section of the Sea of or the Dead Sea and one in the Southeast section digs in these areas have yielded surprising amounts of Ash layered in the soil huge amounts and bits of pottery that were obviously affected by sudden and intense Heat and morph the pottery in such a way that it wasn’t just like a slow burning heat Source but a sudden flash of heat we’ll talk more about the archeology of these cities and trying to identify where Sodom is in the upcoming Sunday school class this summer but for now just know that Sodom and Gomorrah were probably around the Dead Sea now even before lot sets out for Sodom Moses tells us about the city’s character Sodom was already known as the city of what kind of people extremely sinful it says exceedingly Wicked and sinners against the Lord wait don’t those mean the same thing why the repetition that’s right it’s to show the extreme nature of their sin it’s for emphasis remember repetition in the Old Testament and even the New Testament a lot of times it’s just for emphasis extremely Wicked now let’s jump to Genesis 18. that’s what we’re going to spend the majority of our time the Lord has confirmed his promises to Abram Abraham now in various ways and tells Abraham that the patriarch will have a son through Sarah in one year in the beginning of chapter 18 the Lord himself visits Abraham with two angels this is the Angel of the Lord God himself appears to Abraham God appears as a man we won’t read the beginning section so I’m summarizing it for you God appears as a man and eats a meal that the hospitable Abraham has prepared how can God who is Spirit who later says no one can see my face and live how can he appear to Abram how can he appear as a man how can he even eat something because if you eat real food that means you must have a real body God here has flesh and Bone how’s that possible well many biblical interpreters see this encounter as an example of a theophany or christophany that is this is an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ this is God’s son meeting with Abraham only the sun is the mediator between God and man therefore it makes sense to see this appearance as the Son of God in a temporary but real human body conversing with Abraham this is Christ now God the son tells Abraham that Abraham will have a son at about this same time next year and then God tells Abraham what God is about to do concerning Sodom and Gomorrah and that’s where I want us to read together look down to verse 16 we’re going to read to verse 33.
chapter 18 verse 16.
then the men rose up from there and looked down towards Sodom and Abraham was walking with them to send them off the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham what I’m about to do since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed for I have chosen him that he may command his children in his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and Justice so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him and the Lord said the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great and their sin is exceedingly grave I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to a doubtcry which has come to me and if not I will know then the men turned away from there and went towards Sonam while Abraham was still standing before the Lord Abraham came near and said will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city will you indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the 50 righteous who are in it far be it from you to do such a thing to slay the righteous with the wicked so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike far be it from you shall not the judge of all the Earth deal justly so the Lord said if I find in Sodom 50 righteous person or 50 righteous within the city then I will spare the whole place on their account and Abraham replied Now Behold I have entered to speak to the Lord although I am but dust and Ashes suppose the 50 righteous are lacking five will you destroy the whole city because of five and he said I will not destroy it if I find 45 there I spoke to him yet again and said suppose 40 are found there and he said I will not do it on account the 40. and he said oh may the Lord not be angry and I shall speak suppose 30 are found there and he said I will not do it if I find 30 there and he said now behold I have ventured to speak to the Lord suppose 20 are found there and he said I will not destroy it on account of the 20.
then he said oh may the Lord not be angry and I shall speak only this once suppose 10 are found there and he said I will not destroy it on account of the ten as soon as he had finished speaking Abraham the Lord departed and Abraham returned to his place let’s start our analysis this passage with some observational questions as he is about to leave Abraham our Lord says something curious shall I hide from Abraham what I’m about to do it’s a rhetorical question no he’s not going to hide from Abraham what he’s about to do what is the reasoning that God mentions for not hiding his plans from Abraham that’s right we see the word since there and we also see the word four so we’re getting some purposes for it I think we can summarize in this way God’s going to reveal his plan to Abraham because God has chosen to bless Abraham says I’ve chosen to make his name great chosen to make him a great nation I’ve chosen to cause him to be righteous I’ve chosen him therefore I’m going to tell him what I’m doing I’ve chosen to bless Abraham therefore I’m going to tell him what I’m doing now what does God say he is about to do what does he specifically say he’s going to do well he’s not speaking so much about the New Covenant right now but that is true Carol that is something that’s going to be expanded on more as we go through the scriptures God’s saying something about Sodom right Sodom and Gomorrah what does God say he’s going to do that’s right it says I’m just going to go and observe it I’ve heard this outcry about their sin I want to go see for it myself see it for myself now when God says this notice the question that Abraham asks will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked God didn’t say he was going to destroy Sodom what has Abraham assumed if he’s asking that question wasn’t he’s assuming that God’s going to find it to be just as bad as he’s hurt just as bad as the outcry is and that judgment will come and therefore he’s going to appeal to God about that judgment when Abraham asked God this question he gives God a theoretical situation Suppose there are 50 righteous people in Sodom will you destroy those 50 righteous along with the wicked by asking this second question Abraham is making an appeal to an aspect of God’s character which aspect I hear Whispering it what is it his his Mercy may be a little bit related but specifically his Justice right because he says at the end of that that appeal shall not the judge of the all the Earth deal justly it’s not right for you to treat the righteous and the wicked are right the same that would be unjust but you are just God God says back when he says will you destroy 50 righteous along with all the wicked he says I won’t if there are 50 righteous in the city I will not destroy anyone in the city I’m not sure where the city at all but Abraham doesn’t stop there he asks about the same situation with slightly less people starting at 45 and 40 and 30 eventually getting down to what number 10.
asked to fill withhold judgment on the whole city for the sake of just 10 God says he will withhold judgment you will not destroy anyone if there are 10 righteous people there at this Abram says no more and the Lord departs let’s ask some more interpretive questions Why does Abraham make these requests on behalf of Sodom if Sodom is such a wicked City certainly that has to be part of it that has to be part of it or perhaps the main part of it that he knows his nephew lie it lives in Sada he’s concerned about his nephew I think you can also make the argument that he has compassion on the people of Sodom he’s interacted with some of them before remember when he went to rescue lot he also rescued some of the I think the people in property of Sodom and there’s just a sympathy for those people you can make that argument but certainly Abraham is concerned about lot after all he did rescue a lot before so this is not something he’s like oh it’s my relative whatever no he cares about a lot and at the end of this account at the end of chapter 19 and at this account of uh Sodom that’s not the end of the chapter of 19. but the end of this account about Sodom it says this it came about when God destroyed the cities of the valley that God remembered Abraham and sent lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which lot lived so that verse tells you why God Saves lot it’s because of Abraham it’s because God has a covenant with Abraham because God listens to Abraham’s intercession and therefore he saves lot so Abraham cares about lot and therefore he makes intercession for the city of Sodom now God says the reason he will visit Sodom is to see if the outcry he has heard about the city is accurate but we know that God is omniscient he does not need to personally visit anything to know about the place so why does God then want to personally visit Sodom what’s the point what will God accomplish with a personal visit certainly on the one hand it’s about lot because we’re going to see as we read the next section it’s a very personal rescue it’s a very compassionate and tender Rescue of lot in his family but also what we see God doing here is very consistent with the way that God tests the way that God tests people even when we talked about job remember we said I’m gonna or it looked like from the outside perhaps that God is testing job to see what job would do but God already knows what job would do but what does he accomplished by testing people he shows that person and he shows anyone around that person what’s really in their hearts so God is going to do something similar with Sodom by personally visiting the City by personally showing everyone what’s really going on in Sodom people will know just how Wicked the city is well they’ll know whether it’s wicked and just how bad now Abraham asserts that God does not treat the righteous and the wicked alike that’s the whole basis of his appeal but isn’t that true does God treat the righteous and the wicked alike or is that untrue what do you think yeah really right there are certain Graces that he does give to everyone right but there are also certain things that he only does for the righteous so in answering this question though there is an aspect yes where God is going to do the same for everyone it is true that God does not treat the righteous and the wicked alike in fact that was one of the central questions of the Book of Job that’s why job was up in arms he’s like I don’t understand God is punishing the righteous but he’s letting the wicked go unpunished that doesn’t make sense to me it’s true that God does provide good things for both the righteous and the wicked it’s also true that both the righteous and the wicked will experience hardships in this world it’s true that God gives everyone or god holds everyone in the earth accountable for turning to him believing in him repenting obeying God but God does not treat the righteous and the Wicked the same as Proverbs says God is opposed to the proud yet gives grace to the humble that’s a big distinction right the proud I’m going to oppose them I’m treating them differently than I treat the humble now we may not always see how God is opposing the proud or how God is giving grace to the humble but we know that he is this was the lesson of job or one of the lessons this principle is even clearer when it comes to the Judgment of God Abraham asserts it would be contrary to God’s character to sweep away the righteous along with the wicked in judgment and that is completely true in fact we see that principle on display many times in the scriptures where’s another place where God brings judgment but he makes a distinction between the righteous and the wicked where else do we see that in the Bible the flood right very clear example God doesn’t say well the whole world’s Wicked and sorry no I just have to get rid of you too no he says I’m going to protect Noah I’m going to take the righteous man I’m going to take his family I’m going to preserve them from this judgment and I’m gonna destroy everyone else what’s another example can you give you a more specific explanation ah great that’s a great example so we talked about Caleb and Joshua and the Israelites in the wilderness remember the spies go into the land they bring back a bad report but Caleb and Joshua say no come on we got the Lord on our slide we can go take this land but the Israelites don’t listen to them and they refuse to go into the promised land so God judges Israel he says I will not let any of you go into the promised land except Caleb and Joshua didn’t say sorry guys the rest of your group they messed up so you can’t go in either he says no you were righteous I will not curse you with this judgment you will go into the land but not the rest of the Israelites we see other examples Rahab and Jericho right we hear about rahab’s faith later in the New Testament she’s not destroyed along with the rest of people she and her family are specifically preserved because she believed in the Lord or the plagues of Egypt right God judges the Egyptians but he withholds those judgments from the Israelites makes a distinction doesn’t send those plagues on the Israelites even when the Israel or Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians and the Babylonians and you have these righteous prophets who are appealing to God to bring Israel to repentance God says no I have to judge Israel but I will preserve you even in the New Testament we have the parable of the wheat and the tares right the explanation of that Parable the Believers the tares there the sons of the devil and you have these Farmers or these these sermons Servants of the farmer who say oh do you want us to go gather the tears somebody put them in your in your farm he wants to gather them up get rid of them he says no why not don’t gather the tears yeah Rob why not why can’t they do that exactly exactly says you might accidentally rip up some of the wheat I will not let that happen let them both grow together and then I will take the wheat first gather that preserve that and then I will destroy the tears and then we also see this in the end times even in the last days in the days of tribulation we see this principle listen to Listen to Revelation 3 verse 10 this is spoken to the faithful Church of Philadelphia God says Christ says because you have kept the word of my perseverance I also will keep you from the hour of testing the hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the Earth furthermore Revelation 18 Verses 4 and 5 this is God speaking about his judgment on Babylon the wicked City and its Wicked system God says this in Verses 4 and 5 of chapter 18. I heard another voice from Heaven saying come out of her my people so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues for her sins are piled up as high as heaven and God has remembered her iniquities so this is the just character of God indeed far be it from God to sweep away the righteous with the wicked in judgment he is too good for that he is too just for that again and again in the scriptures we see God makes a distinction between the righteous and the wicked especially in judgment he will not destroy the righteous along with the wicked and then if as if it weren’t clear enough there’s that section of scripture from second Peter which we’ve looked at before remember that section of false teachers it mentions the angels in the days of Noah who sinned and then also mentioned Sodom and Gomorrah second Peter 2 4-10 at the very end of that section after talking about how God judges those Wicked Angels Wicked people but preserve Noah and preserve lot it says this this is verse 9.
then the Lord knows how to rescue The Godly from Temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment and especially those who indulge the Flesh and its corrupt desires and despise Authority that’s amazing I think that just shows the great heart of God he is faithful to make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked especially in judgment now someone might say well what about the Christians who get killed along with unbelievers in natural disasters didn’t God treat them the same way there didn’t he allow both the perish and a judgment well I understand as I’ve already said I’m not saying that God never allows harm or hardship to come to come to Believers he does but we know it’s for good and glorious purposes Romans 8.
but we we cannot say what is and what is not a judgment of God unless God specifically tells us you can’t look at a natural disaster or somebody losing in a war and say God is judging that Nation you don’t have the ability to say that I’ve said before and I want to say again we must understand God does not communicate his approval or disapproval of us at all through circumstances he only communicates it he communicates to us through scriptures otherwise we would never know what God was really saying because sometimes the righteous are being tested with trials sometimes the wicked are being granted merciful provisions if they simply look at circumstances they wouldn’t know what God really thought if the scripture identifies something as a specific Act of judgment you can be sure in that judgment God will be careful not to sweep the righteous away along with the wicked anyways that’s important principle I wanted us not to miss that but back to Genesis 18.
one other question what is with this drawn out request from Abraham to God I mean as you listen to it maybe some of you started to laugh because it seems a little bit silly verse 15 then 45 and then 40 Abraham is so so hesitant to speak and perhaps it even sounds a bit tedious couldn’t Moses would just skip to the end go to the end of the interception where Abraham intercession where Abraham asked God what would he do if there were 10 righteous in the city but that’s not the way that God wanted to record what happened God wanted God wanted us to see each step of the intercession 50 then 45 then 40 then 30 then 20 then 10.
why well think about cities putting the estimates from secular historians and archaeologists of City sizes around 2000 BC but to be around where this episode is taking place between 2000 and 1900 BC cities are thought to have ranged in population from about 10 000 to about 65 000 people now that could be wrong but that’s what modern estimates are ten thousand to sixty five thousand people depending on the location what does it say about such a city ten thousand sixty five thousand people if that City only contains 50 righteous persons not 50 people who say they believe in God but 50 actually righteous people who love God and Obey him what does that say about the city it’s pretty wicked that’s pretty wicked I mean even if there are only ten thousand people and there were 50 righteous that is less than one percent but if it’s more than that thirty thousand forty five thousand people then that looks even more wicked that city is Thoroughly apostate and corrupt what does it say about God however if he chooses to spare such a city for the sake of 50 righteous people what’s that Roy extremely merciful wow he’s going to spare the whole city he’s not gonna put any judgment he’s going to stay patient exceedingly with the whole city just because there are 50 righteous people there that is so merciful so merciful of God but then you drop that number by five if you drop that number by five how does the city seem now there are only 45 righteous people in the city it’s extremely Wicked but even more wicked than before say there’s not even 50 there’s only 45.
it’s even more wicked than it was but on the flip side how does God appear if he spares the city for the sake of 45 then it’s even more merciful and so on same with 40 same with 30 and each number down it’s like with each new threshold the character of Sodom appears darker and darker while the righteousness of God Appears brighter and brighter it’s almost like the audience can’t believe what they’re hearing they’re like wow I couldn’t believe that he would do it for 50. but for 45 for 30 that doesn’t even make sense to me I have to hold your comment to the end sorry by the time we get to 10 we should be beside ourselves at the climactic mercy of God in the face of utter wickedness 10 righteous people in the midst of a whole city of tens ten thousand or sixty five thousand God will spare all of them just for the sake of that ten that’s ridiculous or it may seem that the way but it’s actually just amazing it’s the amazing mercy of God I think that’s what’s going on here well let’s see what happens God has made this promise to Abraham if I find 10 righteous I won’t destroy the city but let’s see what God actually finds let’s look at chapter 19.
I will read verses 1 to 29.
starting in verse one now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom one lot saw them he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground and he said now behold my Lord’s please turn aside from into your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet then you may rise early and go on your way they said however no but we shall spend the night in the Square yet he urged them strongly so they turned aside to him and entered his house and he prepared A Feast for them and baked unleavened bread and they ate before they lay down the men of the city the Minnesota surrounded the house both young and old all the people from every quarter and they called to lot and said to him where are the men who came to you tonight bring them out to us that we may have relations with them but lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him and said please my brothers do not act wickedly Now Behold I have two daughters that have not had relations with man please let me bring them out to you and do to them whenever you like only do nothing to these men and as much they has they have come under the shelter of my roof they said stand aside furthermore they said this one came in as an alien and already he is acting like a judge now we will treat you worse than them they pressed hard against lot and came near to break the door but the men reached out their hands hands and brought lot into the house with them and shut the door they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness both small and great so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway then the two men said to lot whom else have you here a son-in-law and an and your sons and your daughters and whomever you have in the city bring them out of the place for we are about to destroy this place because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were to marry his daughters and said up get out of this place for the Lord will destroy the city but he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting on morning dawn the Angels urged lot saying 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 so the men seized his hand and the Hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters for the compassion of the Lord was upon him and they brought him out and put him outside the city when they had brought him outside one said Escape for your life do not look behind you and do not stay anywhere in the valley except to the escape to the mountains or you will be swept away but lot said to them oh no my lords Now Behold your servant has found favor in your sight and you have magnified your loving kindness which you have shown me by saving my life but I cannot escape to the mountains for the disaster will overtake me and I will die now behold this town is near enough to flee to and it is small please let me escape there is it not small and my life may be saved he said to them or he said to him behold I grant you this request also not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken hurry Escape there for I cannot do anything until you arrive there therefore the name of that town was called Zoar the sun had risen over the earth when lot came to Zoar then the Lord reigned on Sodom and Gomorrah Brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven and he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground but his wife from behind him looked back she became a pillar of salt now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley and he saw and behold the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace thus it came about when God destroyed the cities of the valley that God remembered Abraham and sent lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which lot lived okay a long section we don’t have time to look at it in all its detail but let’s note a few aspects what details in this account show the pervasive wickedness what’s one detail yeah Julie yeah questions right that’s a that’s a good observation Julie I think indirectly it shows that they’ve had a bad influence on lot because that’s certainly a wrong thing to do a lot you should not be trying to appease them with your daughters but it also shows just how insistent they are because he said there’s no way I can satisfy them maybe I can halt them a little bit by giving my daughters to them what else what else shows their great wickedness yeah Danny yeah you think like you’ve just been struck blind doesn’t that mean something to you but no they’re they’re too too into their lust what else there are a number of other details as well I mean their sin is so manifold they are adulterous lusters they are going after someone who is not their spouse and looking for sexual fulfillment they desire to commit homosexual acts they desire to rape they resent being rebuked by lot they threaten a lot with even worse treatment than what they have planned for the Angels and the whole city is represented in this mob and we can’t say it’s literally every person in the city because job sons-in-law are not there and that’s not the sense that’s that’s meant here but people from every section of the city every quarter every age group every social station have surrounded the house and made these perverse demands and as Danny said even when struck blind they still try to try so hard to get in and then speaking out of the mob but just the job Sons not Job Lots sons-in-law they won’t believe lot when he says the Lord is going to destroy the city no I don’t think so you gotta be joking thoroughly thoroughly Wicked God wants us to see that but what other details in this account show God’s overwhelming Mercy to lot yeah Roy yeah yeah that is such a beautiful picture of God’s intimate care they take a lot and his wife and his daughters by the hand and lead them out of the city when lot hesitates what else yeah they say go get your relatives go get all the people that you love and that you care about and tell them to get out of the city in many ways that they’re they and God through them are being merciful and kind they one lot they want a lot of the Judgment they rescue a lot from the mob by pulling him inside the house and striking the people with blindness and they urge a lot three times to leave the city and when he won’t they take him with their own hands and then when lot requests to flee to a small town instead of the mountains they Grant him that request how many righteous people turn out to be in the whole city of Sodom I wouldn’t say zero because we have in the New Testament that that lot is confirmed as a righteous man but probably just one you might be able to argue four because they say well what about his wife and his daughters but they don’t actually show very righteous Behavior Lot’s wife turns into a pillar of assault the daughters don’t do anything here but in the next section they’re essentially going to rape their father we do see a lot acting righteously yes he stumbles too but he is showing Hospitality to the angels He wants to protect them from the men of the city he rebukes the men in the city for their wickedness he seeks to save his sons-in-law’s lives so in the New Testament lot is commended as righteous but we don’t see that for anyone else the city of sun was more wicked than could possibly Be Imagined not even 10 righteous there was one and yet even though God said I Must Destroy the city says I will preserve my righteous I will get him out of the city I will rescue him God showed himself faithful to his promise into his own character not to treat the righteous and the wicked alike now some may object that it was cruel for God to judge Sodom and Gomorrah this way not just then the surrounding cities of the valley he obliterated them with fire killed them all some claim this is inconsistent with a god of love a god of goodness he would never punish anyone with death or hell my God would never do that well how do we respond to such a claim foreign yes God is a God of Justice and he shows his Justice and his great anger over sin his wrath and it would be unjust it would show God to be deficient in character if he did not act in judgment God is too good and we said this about the flood but just to remind you God is too good to let rampant wickedness go it injures his great heart to see men and women harming one another continually and all the way that sin harms people for God to sit down Alibi and to do nothing would be so unloving however God is the judge of the universe what judge will retain any sense of Honor if when confronted with the great crimes of evil he gives a light punishment an inadequate punishment or even no punishment at all if human judges were to do that what would we do with that if they gave an inadequate punishment or no punishment what would we do with those human those human judges what that’s right we get rid of them we say you’re no longer going to be a judge or maybe they go to jail you have transgressed how much more God the perfect judge shall not the judge of all the Earth deal justly just as Abraham says two final points we all have heard about Sodom and we’ve just read the account again but how do we compare to Sodom are we better are we just as bad we might say well I never tried to rape anybody I never tried to commit homosexual acts I must be better right well before we can answer accurately that question of how we compare to Sanam we need to ask are all the sins the same before God for our sun sins some sins worse than others well the answer to that question is yes don’t be confused they’re both true all the sins in one sense are the same before God and yet in another sense they are not the same I’ll start with the latter one first on the one hand not all sins are the same before God in the Old Testament law makes us abundantly clear some transgressions required sacrifices and reparations to the harmed individual other offenses require death you did certain sins you would be put to death doesn’t matter if you want to offer sacrifice it doesn’t matter if you want to pay money no it must be put to death different sins require different punishments this can only be that because some sins are worse than others or listen to this specifically from numbers 15. numbers 15 verses 27 to 31.
we see another distinction it says also if one person sins unintentionally then he shall offer a one-year-old female goat for a sin offering priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who goes astray when he sins unintentionally making atonement for him that he may be forgiven you shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the alien who sojourns among them but the person who does anything defiantly whether he’s a native or an alien that one is blaspheming the Lord and that person shall be cut off from among his people because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his Commandment that person shall be completely cut off his guilt will be on him so the distinction there unintentional versus defiant sins both sins and then Jesus says this in the New Testament Luke chapter 12 verses 47 to 48.
and that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will will receive many lashes but the one who did not know it and committed Deeds worthy of a flogging will receive but few from everyone who has been given much much will be required and to whom to whom they entrusted much of him they will ask all them all so sins do indeed differ in sinfulness rape is worse than lust sex with an animal is worse than heterosexual sex before marriage sacrificing your children to molec is worse than disciplining them in anger hearing God’s word and then disobeying God is worse than disobeying without hearing God’s word I don’t think we can come up with a precise hierarchy of the severity of sins but no that some sins are indeed worse than others so that’s on the one hand on the other hand lest we think that those lesser sins even what we might think of as respectable sins that they’re not a big deal to God and therefore not important for us to repent of or put to death it’s also true that all sins are the same and go outside all sins are a statement that God is not the treasure worthy of your entire devotion all sin no matter how small they are idolatry they all cause us to fall short of God’s standard of perfection they all make us law Breakers they all carry the same penalty Eternal death in hell gossiping about your boss will send you to hell just as much as murder will complaining about your children merits Hellfire just as much as incest living materialistically without thought of God will condemn you just as much as dedicating your life to blaspheming God and destroying his church James 2 10 for whoever keeps the whole law against stumbles in one point he has to become guilty of all sin is serious before God all sin must be repented of whether that sin is overlooked by Society or condemned by Society any sin will kill you unless that sin was already paid for when Christ was killed on the cross so these two principles operate together some sins are worse than others though all sins are an infinite affront to God therefore while the sentence for any whose sin is Hell forever the severity of that suffering in hell will depend on what kind and quantity of sins they committed both principles are together it’s also true of the flip side as a side note when it comes to the believer’s reward and one sense we all get the same thing another sense we get according to our works we all have eternity with Christ but we will receive greater or less rewards depending on how we labored for the Lord on Earth but let’s get back to our original question how do we compare to Sodom personally communally as a country and one sense we know that we are the same we are the same as Sodom you are just as much law Breakers as they were and we deserve the same punishment it’s only by God’s mercy and saving us and calling us out from the city of Destruction as John Bunyan puts it in Pilgrim’s Progress that we can have any hope when speaking of God’s grace and salvation Paul quotes in Romans he quotes Isaiah 1 verses 9 to 10 which reads unless the Lord of hosts had left us a few survivors we would be like Sodom we would be like Gamora unless we become Heirs of Abraham unless God unilaterally chooses to be our God to reveal himself to us to bless us to choose to love us and to care for us we perish like Harlem be glad that you have such a kind God that you are an heir of the Covenant of Abraham if indeed you are on the other hand our sin is different from Sodom perhaps we are not as sinful but I think it’s more likely that we’re worse can you say what how’s that possible we read it all those details it’s so explicitly Wicked how could we be worse it may seem hard to imagine a more wicked place than Sodom but listen to what God says to Israel and Lamentations 4 6.
This is Jeremiah speaking for the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom which was overthrown as in a moment and no hands were turned toward her how could Israel be worse than Sodom how could they have committed even greater perversions well they did commit a lot of perversions but I think the real reason is this they were God’s special people a people likened to God as his bride and they turn against God and adulterated themselves with other guys they took God’s blessings and they used them as a way to serve the other gods that’s such a great affront they’ve been given so much goodness from God the rejection of God was all the more heinous Israel was worse than Sodom and this is like Jesus what he says to Capernaum and Matthew 11 23 and you capronium you will not be exalted to heaven will you you will descend to Hades for if the Miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you it would have remained to this day nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you Jesus’s own Hometown a place which he ministered and did many miracles it’s worse than Sodom they probably didn’t have the rampant perversity that we saw in Genesis 19 and yet it was worse than Sana why it can only be because the kingdom of God had so obviously appeared among them the light of God has so directly shown upon them through God’s son and they despised him so let us consider our own State then how many blessings do we enjoy from God in this country how prevalent and available is the Gospel of Jesus in our country and yet how great is our communal rebellion and perversion in this country how greatly is sin celebrated in our society despite all the blessings we have we should also examine ourselves personally how much generosity has gone shown you in your life allowing you to enjoy life have friends receive Cove receive Comfort have some measure of good health how often has he made his word available to you by giving you the Bible by being as part of this church and in spite of all that do you still refuse to repent of certain sin habits do you still think of them as too insignificant in God’s sight to Warrant serious mortification or repentance do you still refuse to take God himself as your great treasure preferring the other things of the world as Hebrew 23 says and we would be do well to take this to Heart how will we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation God is too good and too just to not justly judge sin especially the vast wickedness of continuing to Rebel when God has given you and made available to you the sweet Treasure of his son so we should examine ourselves but if you adore Christ this morning Rejoice God himself has rescued you from Sodom just like he rescued lot God has led you by the hand and caused you to do that which you were unable to do he is your compassionate Savior and he has made himself your God that’s all the time we have for today bye let’s look at our memory verse again if you have other comments or questions please see me afterwards next week we talk about Abraham and Isaac here’s our memory verse please read it with me I have two or three weeks more to memorize this verse well start reading together and he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the Earth and as determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him if he is not far from each one of us let’s pray God you are so great all of you are so merciful we see it displayed to a lot into Abraham and yet God we know it is also being displayed to us you have brought us out of Sodom you have unilaterally chosen to reveal and bless yourself to us we did nothing to deserve it and God you just have lavished your care on us lavish your compassion on us Lord thank you thank you for being so lovely thank you for loving us Lord it cause us to love you more help us understand these truths so that we are provoked to just great love of you oh Lord I pray God I know I don’t want people to feel bad when they don’t need to I don’t want them to think they haven’t repented when they have yeah God I pray that we would that each person here anyone who listens to this message will seriously consider their own Hearts before you whether they have slipped into thinking that some sins don’t matter that’s not a big deal oh Lord I pray that we would put all those things off so that we can just enjoy you totally bless the rest of the service today amen