God's Judgment Upon Sodom

Genesis 19 and God’s Judgment on Sodom

Turn with me, please, to Genesis chapter 19, the book of Genesis chapter 19. Before we look at this text of God's judgment upon the sinfulness of man, let us ask once again for his guidance as we look to his Word.

Our gracious Heavenly Father, once again we turn to your Word and we would ask that by your Spirit you would give us understanding and indeed you would give us remembrance. So as we have opportunity to speak forth your truth to our culture and to our land, we will remember your Word.

We will be good students of it, sharp instruments in your hand that you might honor and glorify yourself. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. It is a text that has given its name to an entire sinful behavior.

Genesis 19 .1 says, Now the two angels came to Sodom. And so we have the name Sodom and Gomorrah. It is a given amongst Bible students, at least conservative Bible students in our day, that what we have here is a discussion of God's judgment upon sinful sexual behavior on the part of the men of Sodom.

But we must recognize that in our day, in almost any level of higher education, whether it be a local community college, university, wherever it might be, if you were to dare to respond to a challenge where someone would say, Well, where does the Bible condemn homosexuality?

If you were to say something about Genesis 19, I can assure you, in the vast majority of contexts, you would get a condescending chuckle, a pat on the shoulder possibly, and, Oh, you benighted person.

You must come from the mountains of West Virginia. Because no one really can possibly believe any longer that that's what Genesis 19 is about. It has been shown to be about, well, at that point you'll get a lot of different answers.

It's been shown to be about not giving hospitality. It's been shown to be about gang rape. It's been shown to be about anything but the precious central dogma of man and his rebellion in Western culture.

And that is what it actually is about, homosexuality. And so we want to look at this text. We've looked at it in years past, but I have to remind myself, I remember preaching on this text and I started thinking about it and it was it was many years ago.

And we still have the freedom to say these things. I honestly don't think we would have the freedom to broadcast this sermon in most European countries and probably in Canada either. But we still have that freedom here.

How long we will have it? I do not know. I do not know. But while we have that freedom to speak forth the truth, we need to remind ourselves that our commitment to a godly understanding of sexuality and maleness and femaleness is not something that is merely, as we will frequently be told, some kind of tradition or even some kind of inbred bigotry amongst conservative Christians.

The biblical text, taken as the biblical text, very clearly indicates God's condemnation of this behavior. And it doesn't matter how many people stand up at the Oscars tonight and talk about being homosexuals.

It's not going to make it right. It's not going to make it acceptable in God's sight. And so we look at the story and we walk through it and make some further comments, once again, simply to confirm in our own minds that we are not simply people who are repeating what we've been told without looking at the biblical text.

There is no way to look at the Bible as an entire revelation from God and not see its message on this subject. There simply isn't any way to do it. Now, I could have brought a stack of books this high, and I haven't bothered to keep up with the new publications, to be perfectly honest with you, because it's all rehashing old arguments.

But I could bring a stack of books this high, saying that I'm wrong about this evening. I will simply point out one thing. I've had the opportunity three times now of debating leaders in the movement promoting homosexuality as being compatible with biblical Christianity.

Three times. One of them, a practicing homosexual. The other two, well-known people. You see them on television all the time. Published authors. The debates weren't even close. They could not possibly, on any level, be considered to have even been competitive.

They were total destructions, because there is no way that that side can sit in a situation where there is equal time and survive meaningful cross-examination. It can't be done. The biblical testimony is clear.

Let us take a look at what it says. Now, we know from before this, we know what happened in Genesis chapter 18. And we also remember that if we think back in our text and our thinking, if we think back to Genesis chapter 13, there is this odd statement about the evil of Sodom and Gomorrah.

And so this comes back to our attention. If you look at Genesis chapter 13, verse 13, it's just mentioned. And then it's not expanded upon. But, now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against Yahweh.

That's what Genesis 13, verse 13 says. The men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly. Not the inhabitants of Sodom. The men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against Yahweh. So, there's something that's said right off the bat, but it's not expanded upon.

Then, in Genesis 18, we have Yahweh and the two angels. They come walking by the Oaks of Mamre. And in Genesis 18, you know that God says, well, shall we let Abram know about what we're going to be doing?

We're going to make a great nation of him, so let's tell him what we're going to do. And then you have the back and forth between Abram and Yahweh. Well, what if you find 50 righteous men? Well, Abram knows there's not 50 righteous men in Sodom.

He knows the city. Well, what if there's 40? And you have the back and forth. Well, what if there's 10? And, well, if there's 10, then I'll spare the city. And then in chapter 19, the angels come to Sodom.

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. And he said, now behold, my lords, 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. 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, men of the city, the men of Sodom, 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 who have not had relations with men.

Please let me bring them out to you and do to them whatever you like. Only do nothing to these men inasmuch 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 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 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. The Lord will destroy the city. But he appeared to his son-in-laws to be jesting. Then morning dawned.

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.

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 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, we know the story. We have read it many, many times. But I want to walk through it slowly and carefully and take note to what is actually said.

So that if you have opportunity, this would be one of a number of texts, Genesis chapter 19, Leviticus 18, Leviticus 20, and then the New Testament, Romans chapter 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, that I would go to if you actually have the opportunity to sit down with someone and to look at what the scriptures actually say on this subject.

Lot, Hospitality, and the Men of Sodom

Now, the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. So, Lot obviously was in the higher echelon of the society because it was the elders of the city who sat in the gate of the city.

That was a position of honor and we know that Lot had come to Sodom. He had chosen that direction to go. He had looked out over the plain and it looked like a good place to go. And he was a wealthy man, relatively speaking.

And when Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. He recognizes something about these men. He has not been so long in Sodom that he has lost all of his spiritual perception.

Though certainly he has been oppressed by the time he has spent there. Even Hebrews 11 tells us that. He sees there is something special about these men and he 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. Now, do you see something odd about this? There is something odd about it. Instead of the men approaching the elders of the city and Lot being one of standing there, he comes to them and he immediately tries to bring them into his house.

And then what does he want to do? He wants them to rise early and go on their way. Lot knows the character of the city in which he lives. And Lot knows the danger that these men are facing. He wants to get them in as quietly as possible.

He is showing them hospitality. This was necessary to the custom of that day and age. This was not an overly populated place at the time. And it was customary to show hospitality to others. In fact, it is interesting, one of the revisionist ways to get around Genesis 19.

There are books out there that you will see and they will direct you to Ezekiel chapter 16. Beginning in verse 48 it says, 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. I could show you a book written by a pro-homosexual author and he quotes this and says, See, what is the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?

They had much, they had abundant food, careless ease, but they were arrogant and did not help the poor and needy and that is why God destroyed them. And he quotes Ezekiel chapter 16 verses 48 and 49. He does not quote verse 50.

Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before me, therefore I removed them when I saw its abominations. Toivah, the very description that is used of homosexuality in the Mosaic Law. When you read anything promoting this abomination before God, you should really read the context.

But those types of books are out there, those people are there that say, See, here is a scholar that said this and they will actually make argumentation where they assume you will not bother to read the next verse.

And you know what? For a lot of the people they are writing for, they won't. It will be up to you to explain that. The point here is that Lot showed hospitality. Lot showed hospitality to the angels. They said, however, verse 2, No, but we shall spend the night in the square.

That would have been disastrous, of course. And they knew that. It was a test of Lot. They knew the character of the city. They were about to see it with their own eyes, shall we say. And notice Lot's response.

Yet he urged them strongly. He knew that they could not stay there, lest they experience something terrible. And the something terrible would not be the men of Sodom showing up with gifts and putting out checkerboards to play checkers with them.

It was not the hospitality wagon. Remember years and years ago. I never saw these. But my parents would talk about when you moved into a neighborhood, they would have what was called, was it the hospitality wagon?

Is that what it was called? Welcome wagon. Welcome wagon. Thank you. The welcome wagon. And the people would come along and they would... Who said that anyway? Oh, okay. One of our elderly men. Yes, indeed.

Because we don't do that around here in Arizona. No, but back east especially. That would happen and you'd get to know your neighbors, actually know who your neighbors are. What a strange concept it is.

And that's not what was going on. That's not what was going to happen. And so Lot urged them strongly. He would not give up. So they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread and they ate.

And so Lot thinks, okay, I think I might have been able to get these guys in here without anybody seeing. There weren't that many people around. So this might work. If I can give them a good meal tonight, show them hospitality, send them on the way first thing in the morning.

Notice he doesn't want them out at night. And he figures it will probably be safe at the crack of dawn. In other words, it looks like there's something that goes on in Sodom and Gomorrah in the darkness at night.

And normally when people are out carousing and doing things at night, they're not up at the crack of dawn. You don't see them up at the sunrise heading out on their jogs or bike rides or whatever else it might be.

So I don't think they had bikes back then. Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom. Now, do you think that our writer here stuttered? Just had a, oh, I just so like writing the word men that I'll repeat it twice.

There is a reason why, in verse 4, he wants us to know. On Shea, the men, the men of the city, the men of Sodom. It was the men who surrounded the house. They surrounded the house. Lot had failed to get the angels into his home unnoticed.

It would have been difficult to do one way or the other. But they surrounded the house and then notice the description given to us of this crowd. Both young and old, all the people from every quarter.

In other words, every part of the city's population of men is represented. Young men, old men, middle-aged men from every quarter. It wasn't just one part of the city showed up. It was all the city. You see, the destruction that is going to be reigned is utter and complete.

No one survives. And the text is indicating to us it was a just punishment. Because this wasn't just a small minority that were involved. Every part of the city, every element of the city's population is represented in the men who surround Lot's house.

Now, that means that the word had to go out. That means, hey, we saw two strangers, two men going into Lot's house. Get the word out. And so the young men would run. The old men would walk. And the word goes to the entire city.

And they all know where Lot lives. And so they surround the house. The men of the city, the men of Sodom. 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.

We may yada. Yada. Now, yada is a Hebrew term that in the vast majority of the instances where it appears in the Old Testament, simply means to know. To know the fear of the Lord. It's the simple word to have knowledge of.

And so there are people who will tell you, Lot had insulted them. He had snuck them away. And he had not given them the opportunity to get to know these guys. I mean, they wanted to be hospitable. They wanted to talk to them about how wonderful Sodom is.

And maybe they'd like to set up shop there and move in. That's all this is about. But, of course, yada has other meanings. And most modern Bible translations will be accused by revisionists of bias here, of course.

And you should know. You should be aware as a Christian. We can't dodge this stuff anymore. You should know that the word here can simply mean know. But every word is defined in its context. It's defined in its usage.

And the vast majority of conservative Bible translations do, as the New American Standard does here, and say, have relations with them. Why? Because the context says so. The context makes it very clear that what they want to do is a moral evil.

This very same term is used later in Judges when, in a similar situation, except in regards not to homosexuality, but to, in essence, a gang rape that takes place. Again, same context, similar situation going on.

The term yada is even known. When Adam knew Eve, she brought forth a son. And so it is a term that, in the proper context, refers to sexual relations. And when the men surround the house, they command Salah.

They don't invite the men to come out. They say, Lot, bring them out to us that we may know them. We may have relations with them. Now, Lot did not understand the men to be asking for the opportunity to get to know these two men.

Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him. Every word in this text is purposeful. Every word needs to be taken at face value in the sense that this is one narrative, this is one story.

And the first words out of his mouth are, Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. The word for wicked, ra, in Hebrew means wicked. Sometimes we have to repeat these simple things. He did not say, Please do not act in an inhospitable fashion.

Please do not act in a way that might someday be considered to be somewhat out of the norm. No, Lot knew exactly what these men wanted, and he knew what it was. He knew it was wickedness. 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 as much as they have come under the shelter of my roof.

Now, immediately you go, Oh, wait a minute. What do you mean when it says have not had relations with man? Same term, yada. That does not mean that they had never known that a man existed. So, obviously, yada is not being used here in some type of mental knowledge.

Here, the text proves, in Lot's words, that we're talking about sexual behavior. There's no question about it. It's right there in the text, and you need to be aware of that. Now, of course, the first question that crosses everybody's mind is, Well, I'm glad Lot wasn't my dad.

Now, there are some, there are some conservative biblical commentators that say, Yeah, this just demonstrates that, you know, Lot may have had faith in God, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Lot was a wonderful guy.

I mean, he obviously chose to go the wrong direction. There's obviously some character flaws in Lot's experience, as the rest of the text will point out. He even hesitates. He's clearly connected to his stuff, but it's possible.

If we want to maybe bend over a little bit to give Lot some credit here, it's possible that he was well aware of the fact that they would have no interest in this, that he was trying to buy time. It's possible.

I don't know. But it's possible that what he does is he realizes that these men are never going to accept that. He's hoping to find some way of appeasing them, but if he wanted to appease them, he should have realized he should not have ever used one particular word that he had already used.

Evil. Because one thing that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt to me that he is talking to a group of homosexuals is their reaction. Because notice what their reaction is. 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. All I have to do is turn on my computer, my iPad, my phone, whatever. Go to YouTube and just watch some videos, as I have, of how homosexuals deal with criticism of their position, especially in groups.

And I go, There's a snapshot of what happened outside of Lot's home. That night. Here's a picture. Some of you saw it just in the past, I don't know, a year and a half? A group of Christians got in the wrong neighborhood in San Francisco.

The police had to be called to form a cordon to escort them out, as things are thrown at them, and they're yelled at and screamed at. And, of course, if someone had bleeped everything out, it would just be bleep, bleep, bleep all the way through, with shame intermixed but I hear them saying already he is acting like a judge how dare you judge me.

Do we not hear that over and over and over again why is it that homosexuals are so sensitive to judgment. I will tell you why it is and no one can possibly dispute this. It's because every single day they live suppressing the knowledge of God and twisting their own nature and they know what shame is they live with it and when you come along all you're doing is reminding them of what they have to deal with every single acting like a judge.

Now we will treat you worse than them. Treat you worse than them. Oh I guess this isn't the welcome wagon is it you see the text makes it clear what's going on here. So they pressed hard against lot and came near to break the door.

But the men the angels reached out their hands and brought lot into the house with them and shut the door. They struck the men who are at the doorway of the house of blindness both small and great so they weary themselves trying to find the doorway.

Now you have a miracle here angels can do things like that. But what absolutely should grab you and make you sit back in horror is the last part of the verse. Think with me. Picture this situation your mind you have this crowd.

We don't know how many there were. We don't know how big Sodom Gamorrah were. They couldn't have been all that huge population wise. This is early on in human history. But you've got this crowd and all of a sudden quite literally the lights go out.

Now if I was standing here and all of a sudden my eyesight failed that would be a shocking thing. I think I would probably stop preaching. I would I would ask for some assistance. But what if we all lost our sight at the same time.

It wouldn't take very long for us to figure out what happened what. I need some help. I can't see either. Not neither cannot it would. It would have taken a matter of seconds for these people to realize we're all blind.

Can anybody see no response. Now my friends if that what would be the immediate rational response of any human being at all. Here we were. We're trying to get to this door to have relations with these men.

And we're now all blind. You think we might want to stop. You think it might be a good idea to stop what we're doing. We've all gone blind. We can't see anything anymore. That is what any human being.

You would stop and you would consider what's going on. How can we all of this has never happened. We've never heard of a we've all gone blind at once. Maybe something's going on here. Maybe we should stop.

But you know what is amazing here. They don't stop. They weary themselves trying to find. Thousands of homosexuals have died from AIDS and other related diseases in this world. And yet when I drove by it half an hour ago the gay bar on Indian school was still open.

You see Paul described it as being given over the restraint that God normally exercises in common grace given over even cells trying to find the door. You know why. A small tiny percentage of our society no more than three percent is getting uber rights to the point where our freedoms will be trampled upon so they can have uber rights.

You know why. They never give up fighting for them. It's their life. They don't have any kids to worry about. It's their life. From morning till evening. They're suppressing that knowledge. It's their life.

And so those who get involved in the politics oh my they are. They never get weary. They just keep going. And you and I we've got lives to live. We don't want to think about this stuff. Buried themselves trying to find the door.

Now you know the rest there does seem to be some kind of we could learn a lot. I think if we had time to discuss it we could learn a lot by thinking about lots attachment to his stuff seen in his wife.

She looks back. She's judged. The sons-in-law don't seem to be have much in the way of spiritual insight. Living in Sodom is not easy. It does not breed a sensitive spiritual nature. Know that God brings judgment.

The Judgment of Sodom and the Holiness Code

Interestingly enough verse 24 says Yahweh. The Yahweh who was walking with Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre. Rains fire brimstone from Yahweh to heaven down upon Sodom and Gomorrah. There is a very important Trinitarian text there that becomes more fully expanded.

I think an application in the New Testament. But you have destruction. And though loving-kindness is shown to lot into his family the angels do not go back to warn these people. There were no prophets sent for 30 days.

Repent. Or Sodom and Gomorrah will be destroyed. No. As soon as lot steps foot in Zohar what would seem to be the equivalent of a nuclear explosion takes place and the city and every inhabitant man woman child beast and canary destroyed.

Their wickedness had come up before God. It is not surprising then that when we turn to the Mosaic law in Leviticus chapter 20 verse 13 we read these words. If there is a man who lies the male as those who lie with a woman both of them have committed a detestable act they shall surely be put to death.

Their blood guiltiness is upon them now most of you know that many years ago there was a television series called White House and they put out you know how Hollywood is. They put out a episode where the president embarrassed this woman who is supposed to represent dr. Laura by asking you know how much do you think I should get for selling my daughter and raised all the issues in the Holiness code of 18 to 20 that we don't follow today.

Mixing of cloths. I imagine every person in here is wearing some kind of ritually impure cloth polyester or something where you mix fibers. Well the children are supposed to do that. You're supposed to sell your daughter and all the rest of this type of stuff.

Now we don't have time this evening to go through the necessary and hard work of recognizing the fact that there were certain elements of the Holiness code that were specifically about the people of Israel and it made them different from the people around them.

And we we do need to be careful. We need to look at how words are used. If words are you only use one time and we're not sure what they mean. We need to be very careful about those things. But everyone who makes that argument will try to take the Holiness code out of its context and out of the Bible.

What they dare never do is do what we did this morning when we listen to what Jesus said when he quotes in Genesis 1 and 2 and he lays out the creation ordinance regarding the nature of maleness and femaleness.

They never allow that to happen. They never allow application. And they never allow this section of Scripture to have anything other than an immediate application to just the children of Israel in the ancient world.

Even if it becomes applied throughout the prophets as well they won't allow the Bible to be a whole. We interpret it as a whole. And what they'll tell you is okay. Yeah. For the children of Israel there is a man who lies the male of those who lie with a woman both of them have committed a testable act.

They shall be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them. It's a detestable act abomination. What's interesting is that when you look at the Greek Septuagint the Greek Septuagint as most of you know is the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

And it was the Bible of the early church. When you look at this text in verse 13 it uses two words arsonos man coitain coitus sexual union. When we come to the New Testament the Apostle Paul will describe someone that he calls arsenic oasis.

And their revisionist who will say well you know we don't know really know what it means. And it sort of looks there's one contemporaneous use in Greek literature. But it sort of looks like Paul may have been the first one to use.

And Paul knew the Greek Septuagint. There is more than once that he took words the Greek Septuagint and joined them together in his warnings to the Christian Church about the behaviors of the pagan world.

And when you look at Leviticus 2013 there you have arsonos coitain. Paul talks about arsenic oasis. Men who have sex with men that's homosexual. It's right there you have to again separate Paul from his context from the sources he used.

Paul talks about this Romans 1 first Corinthians chapter 6. He says some of you were homosexuals but you've been washed you've been forgiven you've been regenerated you've been changed. So you see there is forgiveness for this sin.

But my friend there is no forgiveness for someone who loves their sin but simply wants to be religious in their sinning. It is quite right that homosexuality is not the worst sin out there. And you Christians you make it sound like the worst sin out there.

I've just never met anyone who begins entire denominations of churches based upon well God made me a liar and so I'm proud to be one. I've never met anyone who said I'm a murderer in my heart and God made me this way and so I want to fellowship with other murderers in heart.

I've just never encountered these people. But I've encountered a lot of people who want to be religious who want to use the name of Jesus. But they so are given over to this sin that their lives are defined by it and they refuse to accept what God's law says about it.

And when you have that you have to speak clearly to it and say that is not Christianity. That is not a saving relationship with Christ. If you will not repent then you are not bowing your knee to him.

As Lord Jesus never say anything about homosexuality. You better believe he did. He said anyone who teaches you to break the least of these commandments will be leased in the kingdom of heaven. He was the fulfillment of this very law.

He took in his own body upon the tree the just punishment for every single homosexual who would ever turn to him in faith and repentance. But at that faith and repentance part that's the problem. He's the fulfillment of that law.

He honored that law. And for you to say Jesus never say anything about homosexuality is to blaspheme his sacrifice on the cross. Don't forget it. Is there any question. I haven't looked at Romans 1. I haven't looked at 1st Corinthians.