The Problem of Sodom

Well, what do you do when you call the A team and they call in the

B team well You think fast and you consider what you had already said today, and you go well we were in there supposed to be in the

Old Testament in the evening and So what could we do in the Old Testament that might sort of flow together with what?

We did in Sunday school this morning, and so I thought you know what why don't we turn to Genesis chapter 19

I'll return to Genesis chapter 19 and if you weren't with us this morning in Sunday school we broke up into groups and we

Discussed how to give a biblical response to think through Giving an answer and the day in which we live in light of the fact that we live in a culture

That far faster than any of us in this room. I think could have ever imagined it could happen has

Has turned what was once good into evil and what was once evil into good?

many of us See it coming saw it coming, but I figured it would just be a problem for my children or my children's children

But the reality is once the foundations crumble The speed can at which a society can depart from truthfulness and from righteousness can be absolutely

Amazing many of us have commented those of us who are have a little bit more of the white in our beard or lack of anything on the head

We have commented on the fact that things are changing so fast in fact I have tried to keep in mind the fact that the younger generation the brother

David's generation back there Change is the norm for them

They don't know what it's like to have a society that is not undergoing rapid fundamental and foundational

Change that introduces a lot of complications in the way that people think it really does

And it's gonna be a challenge to us to communicate in the future unchanging truths to people whose lives

Have always been marked by rapid change That is one of the challenges that we must face as a body of Christ in this place and as the body of Christ all across Western society faces the same thing

One of those areas obviously is the wholesale promotion as not only an equally good but even a better kind of lifestyle that of Homosexuality now down through the years that has been considered to be an evil it's easy to understand why until our day a society recognized that children were something that is good and not having children was something that was bad as You may know for a society today in today's medically enhanced world what

I mean by that is is is the infant mortality rate is considerably lower than it was in the not -too -distant past and Certainly only a couple hundred years ago the infant mortality rate was much higher much much higher magnitudes higher

Than it is now in industrialized countries in Western civilization and so even today

Your average woman needs to have on average 2 .1 children I'm not sure about what the point one child looks like but 2 .1

children To maintain a society at its current level 2 .1

children you can't just have two Because there are things like wars and accidents and things like that 2 .1

will maintain a population at a steady level But most industrialized countries today are well below 2 .1

United States is at 2 .0 Most European countries are 1 .8 or below Russia 1 .5

and No country that we know of in modern times is actually survived that kind of a birthrate

Somebody else will take over because your population will simply disappear within a number of generations

Now those countries have now begun to realize this and they're now offering tax incentives and things like that to try to Encourage people to have children amazing thing, isn't it at the same time?

They're trying to undercut parental rights They are encouraging people to have children It's a strange thing.

You see the problem is why should people have children if there's no

Transcendent value to human life if we're not creating the image of of God If there's nothing in the future to worry about passing on our culture.

I mean Western culture hates itself A Western culture, we're just those terrible horrible people who've been taught to hate ourselves

We've never done anything good in our entire lives and neither do any of our forefathers and those terrible horrible white guys

It's found in United States of America. They're the worst people never lived So why should we pass on our culture anybody we should be ashamed of ourselves, right?

That's what we're taught So why children why worry about passing on a culture or anything like that?

And so even if you offer tax breaks I mean, that's a pretty cheap way of trying to get people to have children then expect they're going to invest themselves in those children

Be good parents those children and so on and so forth. And so it's it's really not working

But you see societies have always understood that a man and a woman can produce children

That's normally how it works But a man a man can't produce children a female a female can't produce children three men or three females it doesn't work that way and Even today in the absolute profanation of marriage called gay marriage and oxymoron if there ever was such a thing

You cannot have children without a third party it's just not possible even with all the medical advances we have it still takes a man a woman to make a baby and So we face a society

With its moral foundations washed away Engaging in all sorts of Incredible behavior and people ask us.

Well, why do you believe the things you believe? They may not have a reason for the way they believe it's well because I like Ellen There's your moral thinking of the modern

American. I like Ellen. She tells good jokes and she's gay Therefore homosexuality is good.

That's the kind of thought process that many people have One of the first encounters we have with the sin of homosexuality is found in Genesis chapter 19

You may recall it was not that long ago in the evening services that we read through a Genesis 18 19 and 20

But it is amazing the ways that people have to get around any

Text of Scripture and so I want to work through Genesis 19 very briefly this evening. We don't have a lot of time to do it but work through the text and address a couple of the ways that people have found to get around this so that When you do have the opportunity if this is a text that you choose to address

That you will be able to do so in a proper fair and meaningful fashion.

What do I mean by that? When you do proper and sound exegesis when you allow the text to speak for itself

That's God speaking when you don't do exegesis that's you speaking When you only do a surface level citation of a text of Scripture that can just be your tradition that can just be your feelings

But when you actually listen to the text and allow the text to speak for itself Then you can honestly say here is what the ancient text says here is what

God himself is saying So let's take a look at Genesis chapter 19 Now the two angels remember this is after the three which were the two angels and Yahweh himself met with Abraham and Abram has has

Basically bartered with God if you can find ten righteous men Abraham knew there probably wasn't ten righteous men in all of Sodom and Gomorrah Which tells us something about this in fact?

I just want to remind you that before we read Genesis 19 just keep one verse in the back of your mind over five chapters earlier in Genesis 13

We read these words now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against the

Lord That's Genesis 13 That's way back there

Lot knew this before he went there and when you see lots wife dead and Lots future son -in -law's dead by the end of the chapter

This is what happens when you choose You you know

The land is evil, but you decide to go there anyways for Well reasons we're not exactly certain of but it it would seem that lot had a lot of the world's possessions

Something to keep in mind, so that's the background the men of Sodom doesn't say the people of Sodom It uses the specific word for the male gender

Genesis 13 13 now Genesis 19 now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom When lot saw them he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground

They said now behold my lords Please turn aside into your servants house and spend the night and wash your feet, then you may rise early and go

On your way, please notice that 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 men of Sodom surrounded the house Both young and old all the people from every quarter

And they called a lot and said to them 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 who have not had relations with man Please let me bring them out to you and do to them whatever you like Only do nothing to these men and as much as they have come under the shelter of my roof

But 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 So they pressed hard against lot and came near to break the door

But the men reached out their 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 if they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway Then the two men said the lot whom else have you here a son -in -law and your sons and your daughters

Whomever you have in the city Bring them out of the place where you're 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. The Lord will destroy the city

But he appeared to his sons -in -law to be jesting When morning dawned the angels urged lot saying up take your wife and your two daughters who are here

Or you'll 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 have brought them outside one said escape for your life

Do not look behind you and do not stay anywhere in the valley escape to the mountains or you will be swept away

Lot said to them. Oh, no, my lord's now behold Your servant has found favor in your sight and you have magnified your lovingkindness, 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 May behold this town is near enough to flee to and it is small.

Please. Let me escape there Is it not small that my life may be saved? 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 the town was called Zoar The Sun had risen over the earth

When lot came to Zoar then the Lord rained 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 and 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 He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley and he saw and behold

The smoke the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace Thus it came about when

God destroyed the cities of the valley But God remembered Abraham and sent lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which lot

Lived so there's a story let's go through it and see if we can understand what is being said and Respond to some of the objections that are often made to our understanding of this text

The two angels come to Sodom as lot is sitting in the gate of Sodom They are the two from the three that had met with Abraham They had been sent down to see if the outcry that had risen the

Lord's ears was true direct observation of the behavior of these men

Lot is sitting in the gate of Sodom that is a position of leadership To sit in the gate is to be one of the leaders

So obviously a lot has a lot of stuff which he did we know he did that's why he chose to go that direction

It had been friction between lots men and Abraham's men that had led to the division and so lot

Has a lot of stuff maybe that's why he had been allowed to be there even though he was different than the men of Sodom When lot saw them he recognized they were not sodomites.

They were not from that area He rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground maybe there was something about them that spoke of purity in the same way that Abram had recognized when

These three visitors had come to him that there was something special about them

But notice what he says Now behold my Lord's please turn aside into your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet

Then you may rise early and go on your way now in this day the demonstration of hospitality was extremely important There weren't a whole lot of people

There weren't a lot of motel sixes along the way you had to show Hospitality to people is it was part of the very custom of the land once you gave your your bond of protection to someone we

See later on when he says don't do this evil thing They've come under the roof of my house That was a sacred bond when you had given your word to someone to protect them

And that's still the way it is in many Eastern cultures to this day I remember reading a book about a

Navy SEAL team in Afghanistan a number of years ago that became separated and They were in a huge firefight and two of the three seals were killed

They killed about a hundred and eighty of the enemy in the process. You don't mess with seals But the one that survived ended up in a in a tribe there and the tribe chose to give him shelter

Once they had done so every person in that tribe was now by oath

Committed to the protection of that one man and so that kind of thinking still exists, but notice that's not the only thing

That's going on here Notice what he says then you may rise early and go on your way lot is worried

Lot is concerned Lot realizes these men Well lot thinks these men don't know where they are

Don't know the danger that faces them because notice they said however No, but we shall spend the night in the square.

Oh What? lot realizes what goes on in that city square at night and so He not knowing that they already know is

Notice it says yet. He urged them strongly He doesn't want them staying there because he knows what's going to happen if they do and So they turned aside to him and entered his house

And he prepared a feast for them and bacon lemon bread and they ate it seems That what he's trying to do is to get them in as quickly as possible

Without being seen feed them take care of them and get them out in at dawn

Probably because not too many people be around at dawn Because they're up late at night doing their thing and that's his plan

So he prepares the feast them bacon lemon bread. They ate but before they lay down The men of the city the men of Sodom do you notice that The men of the city the man doesn't say the people

It's nothing about women here at all Twice it repeats the male gender.

These were men Who came to the house the men of the city the men of Sodom Surrounded the house.

That means there wasn't five or six of them Both young and old all the people from every quarter so the scripture is telling us that this group that gathers outside of lots home and Lot probably didn't live in some shack he had a lot of the world's goods and So it's a big group and They represent the young and the old it's not just a bunch of young guys out on a tear

They're old men here middle -aged men poor and rich and middle -class

Artisans and bakers all the quarters of the city are represented by this male group and And they called to lot and said to him where are the men who came to you tonight?

Word had gotten out Somebody had seen maybe they could even tell that lot was trying to hide them trying to take them through the back roads

Bring them out to us that we may have Relations with them now you need to understand the

Hebrew word that is found here is just simply yada. It means to know and There are people who will tell you well

This is the local welcome wagon. They've been old enough to remember the welcome wagon I'm not even old enough to remember the welcome wagon, but mr.

Cat. Mr. Calhoun says he remembers the welcome wagon I appreciate your willingness to how about you brother break remember? Okay.

All right good Used to be now. I I don't know if it ever really happened much here in Phoenix, but back where I came from People would be born and live and die in one place most everybody from Phoenix came here from someplace else but back east

Everybody knew everybody else you actually knew who your neighbors were a strange odd thing and and so when someone did move into a neighborhood you'd have the welcome wagon and the people would get together and they come over to Your house and they didn't reduce themselves and they bring food and stuff like that And it was called the welcome they come to get to know the new person in the neighborhood

And there are people who would say that's that's all that's going on here The men of Sodom are are greeting these folks.

You see they want to be hospitable to them. That's all that's happening here You're you're evangelical

Bible translations like the NIV. It says have sex with them and NESB have relations with them.

That's just that's just a tradition well Yada can mean to get to know it can mean just to have knowledge of certain events and things like that But when

Adam yada'd Eve, she had a child So there's obviously other senses of the term yada

And obviously the context tells us exactly what is going on Because what's response is not the response that has ever been offered to the welcome wagon

Notice lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him and Said please my brothers do not act wickedly now

Whatever is going on here lot recognizes that there is wicked intent on the part of this large

Group that has surrounded his home. That's why he closes the door behind him And that's why he says do not act wickedly now that may have been unwise on his part because Whenever you identify as wicked the behavior of men who want to do this

You know what the way they behave hasn't changed in Oh 14 to about three thousand four hundred years

They don't like being told that this is this is wickedness and in fact This is behind almost everything we see going on today including the open blatant activity of the

Homosexual movement in our country to take away our right to say that is wicked

So much so that you may recall during the proposition 8 race in California That you may have seen a video where there was an older lady

She had a cross in her hand probably a Roman Catholic lady But a group of homosexuals not only knocked the cross out of her hand and stomped on it

But they stood around and remember what they were yelling at this little old lady shame shame shame

Because you see those who experience shame in their hearts

Every day because they are so Busy suppressing the knowledge of God and the conscience that is constantly bearing and tearing away at them

They don't want anyone reminding them of what they have to go through every day

And so they project upon others that which they experience in themselves every single day

Lots that do not act wickedly and what's the response? Oh Who is this man?

He's coming as an alien already. He is acting like a judge Now we will treat you worse than them

That's the reason but then we have this odd thing It's hard to really like a lot a lot

Because he says I have two daughters Who have not had relations with man, please let me bring them out to you to do with them.

Whatever you like Only do nothing to these men as much they have come under the shelter of my roof.

Well one way to understand that is that's exactly what lot was offering to do not an overly sanctified response, but in that day and age

Women were not valued the way that men were now some have suggested and it's possible that maybe

What knew these men real well? Maybe a lot was trying to buy some time and Maybe a lot realized they don't have the slightest interest in my daughters at all and they're perfectly safe Possibility.

I don't know. All I can tell you is it didn't accomplish much because they simply said stand aside and Immediately attacked him as an alien

Acting as a judge judge not lest you be judged. Everybody knows how to quote that one And now we will treat you worse than them

So they pressed hard against lot and came near to break the door. It's obvious now what they have in mind

Even when they said we will treat you worse than them This tells us what yada means this is a group of Homosexuals and they want the young men that have been brought into the home

Verse 10 but the men reached out their hands and brought lot of the house with them and shut the door now

The only way I can see that happens is That there's something miraculous here. I mean something miraculous is about to happen.

So it shouldn't be overly surprising But something tells me angels are probably fairly physically strong if they choose to be so I Mean if the angel of the

Lord could kill what was it? 180 ,000 aetherians Something along those lines

Something tells me getting lot in the door and closing the door You didn't want your fingers in the way when an angel closes the door

But then they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness Both small and great.

I think about that for just a moment. Oh Yes, there is great spiritual application.

We made here the blindness of these men a a Supernatural event takes place think for a moment if you were in this group you had been perverted by the lifestyle this city and You're at this group and you think this is great and how dare this man tell us what to do

We're gonna get into this place. He can't keep us out forever. And then the lights go out at first you stop and And and and you might you might lose your balance and fall over Especially if you're in a group it and you step on someone and but but then maybe you hold yourself up But then you start hearing

Cuz I don't know about you But if my sight all sudden disappeared, I wouldn't be silent about it.

Hey, I I can't see The guy next uses I can't either

It's black. I can't and you start feeling there was you can tell people are feeling it and There's cries and shrieks

I Don't know about you But that's it for me, but have you ever thought about the last phrase of this verse?

So that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway the turn that's used in Romans chapter 1 about homosexuality is

God gave them over Paul uses it as an example of the utter twistedness of the creator creation

Relationship so much so that that which is created says I don't care how you've made me. I Reject you completely and God gives them over.

I Mentioned to some of you this morning just this week a female judge in Australia Gave permission for a sex change operation for a 10 year old boy 10 years old

Surgically mutilate the boy's body and then put him on a regimen of hormone drugs for the rest of his life

At 10 years of age given over That's where our society is and these men the lights go out and They're still

Trying to get in the door that is being given over you say boy.

Do we ever see this? Yeah Travel to San Francisco during gay pride week sometime

They got nothing on Sodom and Gomorrah Nothing, they keep trying

So the two men said to lot Who else have you here son -in -law and your sons your daughters?

Whomever you have in the city bring them out of the place where you're about to destroy this place Because their outcry has become so great before the

Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it Judgment is coming Lot knows that this is wickedness.

It's a lot went out. Can you imagine was like? Walk out the door.

Here's the men in the city blinded Still looking for the door and you walk between them and you're silent because they're they don't know where they're touching

And you get outside of the range and You go find your sons -in -law You say them up get out of this place.

The Lord will destroy the city. They weren't righteous men

But he appeared to his sons -in -law to be jesting Lot yeah Yeah, sure.

Yeah, God's gonna destroy the city. I bet you there's a great -looking city I mean,

I wonder if there was a Sodom strip, you know We've got a place similar to this not very far away

But morning dawn the angels urged lot saying up take your wife and your two daughters who are here

Or you'll be swept away in the punishment of the city But he hesitated why why

I can the only thing I can imagine If he was a man of great means

I'm sure this house is a beautiful house Sure, he had a lot of possessions. There's no question

His wife loved her stuff. His wife loved her stuff.

He hesitates and you know what? It's not because of his goodness or his righteousness or anything else because of what the

Lord has said to Abraham The men seized his hand the hand of his wife and hands of his two daughters for the compassion of the

Lord was upon him They brought him out and put him outside the city When they brought them outside one said escape for your life

Do not look behind you do not stay anywhere in the valley escape the mountains or you'll be swept away The lot said them.

Oh, no, my lords Now behold your servant has found favor in your sight and you have magnified your love and kindness Which you have shown me by saving my life, but I cannot escape to the mountains the disaster will overtake me and I will die

I'm not really sure what he means by that is is he frightened by being in the wilderness? Had he become such a city dweller that he didn't think he could survive on his own

Now behold this town is near enough to flee to it as a small. This is Zohar Please let me escape there that my life may be saved

He said to him behold I grant you this request also not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken Hurry escape therefore.

I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore the name of the town was called Zohar the

Sun had risen over the earth and lot came to Zohar and Then please know again the context here the word

Lord in all caps is the word Yahweh the name of God and Yahweh had walked with Abraham by the

Oaks of Mamre Yahweh and these two angels Had eaten with Abraham and then

Yahweh with whom Abraham walked sent the two angels on Now keeping that in mind notice what verse 24 says then

Yahweh reigned on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone fire from Yahweh out of heaven

So it would seem that you have the Yahweh who has spoken with Abraham Who has taken who has appeared as a theophany?

reigning fire and brimstone out of Yahweh in heaven upon the cities

Sodom and Gomorrah fire and brimstone now. We don't know what that is, but I can guarantee you one thing it does its job it destroys

Judgment comes and it comes on everyone there.

I am sure there were non -homosexuals in Sodom and Gomorrah. I Evidently lots future son -in -laws who never became son -in -law

Were probably not homosexuals They weren't in the group that was outside the house and yet judgment fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah and Overthrew them and destroyed them

He overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants all the inhabitants of the city young and old little children destroyed

And what grew on the ground? This was a complete destruction But lots wife from behind him

Looks back. She became a pillar of salt. She was so attached to the things of this world

Sodom and Gomorrah seemed to be a place That had everything had the blessings of God evidently a fertile valley

People came there and they brought their possessions with them and so there there was a thriving economy sound familiar which brings us to one of the excuses

That is used to get around this situation. I told you there are a number of them. We don't have time

To look at all of them, but there's one of them that I did mention this morning in Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 48

We read as I live declares the Lord God Sodom your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom She and her daughters had arrogance abundant food and careless ease

But she did not help the poor and needy Now if we stopped right there, you can see why someone would quote that and say, huh?

You've missed it The whole point of this is 19 has nothing to do with the issue of homosexuality

It's the way these people treated travelers violation of the code of culture and It says right there.

They were arrogant They had abundant food Careless ease, but they didn't help the poor and the needy now

There's we dare not pass by the fact Sodom Gamorrah sounds a whole lot

Like Western culture today. We have so much more than any generation before us has ever possessed

We are like kings and queens In the amount of food that we have and the homes and the clothing

We don't realize what it's like to have lived in preceding generations, but you see that's not where Ezekiel ends

Because the next verse says thus because of their abundant food because of their careless ease because that they didn't concern concerned about anybody but themselves thus they were haughty and Committed abominations before me.

Therefore I removed them when I saw it Abominations Toeva That which is an abomination in God's sight in both

Leviticus 18 Leviticus 20 a man who lies to the man Toeva Abomination, I have seen books written by pro -homosexual authors that only quote

Ezekiel 16 48 and 49 They don't quote 50 assuming

I would imagine that most of their readers aren't going to look it up. Anyways, and So they can accomplish their desire

Sodom and Gomorrah Become a watchword the very term sodomites

Has entered into our language with certain meanings all going back To what this chapter is talking about.

There is no question about what happened here, but it is important to recognize that the culture that created this kind of abomination this kind of Distress self -destructive behavior was a culture filled with creature comforts

They had an abundance of food and isn't that exactly what we see?

in our day Why is it that? marriage and children

Raising a family so unimportant to the next generation

All it seems to matter is I've got my car and my computer and my cable

TV and my iPod and my iPhone It's all about me me me me

No recognition of the sacrifices of generations before us that we might have these things no

Thankfulness to the God who gives these things no I'm old these things and in fact the government needs to give me these things.

I can't afford it myself What an attitude And does it

Really surprise us then that that has given rise to this self -indulgent behavior

Where I don't need to worry about children you see folks Homosexuality is the basest form of selfishness.

It's a basis for a selfishness. It's loving me It's loving the mere image of me

See everybody in this room has been married for any period of time at all. You know that other one is other than you and it's different than you and Changes you

Well sexuality is loving a mirror Not wanting to be changed.

It's absolute selfishness Is it any surprise then? When we look through history when does homosexuality really rear its head in those nations that become established?

and turn their back Upon God Turn their back upon morality

Have so much stuff that they become indulgent Self -centered history tells us no nation that has ever looked with approval upon this behavior has ever survived

That shift in viewpoint. So as Genesis chapter 19 relevant.

Well certainly is Is it the only text that's relevant? No, there are many others

You need to know about the Holiness Code in Leviticus 18 through 20 Need to know the context

Romans 1 first Corinthians chapter 6 There are key texts. We need to look at the folks.

We live in a day where this is all around us We have to think it through and we have to be ready to give an answer.

That is biblically true non -compromising and yet communicates to a society of people who have had their heritage as Being creatures of God stolen from them they think they're but the random result of cosmic chance

We have a message for them that they need to hear we need to communicate it with clarity. Let's pray together

Indeed our gracious Heavenly Father. We thank you for your word and the preservation of it down to the centuries

As we look at this difficult text of judgment We recognize your holiness and your judgment must fall and we recognize were it not for your grace.

There go any one of us May we as redeemed sinners?

Speak your truth Not as ones who see ourselves as better than anyone else but as recipients of your grace, may we find that proper line as We speak your truth and may you bless

Your gospel as it goes forth bring repentance to our land we pray before it's too late