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Take your Bibles, please, and turn to Genesis chapter 19. Maybe the most disturbing chapter in all the Bible, Genesis chapter 19. Today we want to look at God rescuing Lot and the issue of Sodom and Gomorrah.
This is frankly a beachhead passage because it speaks so clearly of the sin of homosexuality. You can imagine those that would disagree with such a view would have to attack the salient points of Scripture that teach opposite of what they might believe.
As you know, we've been going through a series, lies about homosexuality and what does the Bible say so that we can have clear thinking about the topic. You might want to run from the topic, you might not like the topic, but it needs to be dealt with and the topic is at hand in our society today.
We have to understand what the Bible teaches so we can, A, think clearly, B, know how to preach the gospel rightly. Genesis chapter 19 is the passage of Sodom and Gomorrah, and this is one where it is pre-Mosaic law.
This is before Sinai, so that makes it very important. It's very detailed and extensive, and that makes it also important. And it's regularly cited in Scripture, frequently in the Minor Prophets and in the New Testament, this passage is discussed.
Now when we come to this passage, or maybe we should put it this way, when liberal scholars come to the passage, they will say, it has nothing to do with homosexuality, but they give two other options.
Option one is rape. This is a discussion of rape, gang rape. And maybe there's some truth to the fact that it is about rape, but it's not gang rape, it's homosexual rape. But the one that's the most popular these days is that this has nothing to do with homosexuality.
The liberal scholars would say it has to do with being inhospitable, a lack of hospitality. Harry Wogan said, this is the crime in hospitality that cries out to God for vengeance. John Boswell, quote, the original moral impact of Sodom and Gomorrah had to do with hospitality.
James Nelson, quote, contemporary biblical studies persuasively indicate that the major theme of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and the concern of the writer were not homosexual activity as such, but rather the breach of the ancient Hebrew hospitality norms.
And probably the most well-written, most widely known influential proponent of this hospitality view is D. Sherwin Bailey. And in his book, Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition, he basically says that the word to know, yada, is used over 900 times, and most of the time it means to be acquainted with.
And so the sin that is discussed in Genesis 19 is the sin of inhospitality or unhospitality. How do we solve these problems? Well, the best thing you could do is you just get your Bible open and you read your Bible because it's very self-explanatory.
And we know here at the church that the best way to study is in context. So let's take a look at chapter 18 first, then we'll look at 19, and then we'll go to the New Testament passage in Luke to see if this topic is relevant for today, just how relevant is the passage.
So we'll go through Genesis 18, then to 19, then to Luke 17. All right, 17, 18, and 19. Luke 17, Genesis 18 and 19. Abraham in chapter 12 has been granted by God an unconditional covenant. And this great covenant from God has been granted to him, and yet he faltered.
He failed in Genesis chapter 16 and tried to produce what God had promised. And Hagar was the child that was born, but Hagar was not the child of promise. Or excuse me, through Hagar was not born the child of promise.
Ishmael was not Isaac. And here in Genesis chapter 18, soon after God reiterates His covenant in chapter 17, we have some visitors show up. So let's just quickly go through 18 because we want to spend most of our time in chapter 19 this morning.
And the Lord appeared, Genesis 18, 1, appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him.
Guess who's coming for dinner? When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.
As we know, one is God himself and the other are angels. And we're going to see a play between Genesis 18 and 19, a foil. How does Abraham welcome visitors? How does Lot welcome visitors? Verse 4, let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree while I bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves and after that you may pass on since you have come to your servant.
So they said, do as you have said. And Abraham just lavishes, just home cooking, wonderful hospitality, service, ministry. And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, Quick, three sieves of fine flour, knead it and make cakes.
And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man who prepared it quickly. And he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
As one writer said, this is a tornado of activity. He is running quickly and he is serving. He's a rich man. He could have all his servants take care of it, but he knows the importance of these three gifts.
These three, not gifts, but they are gifts, but these three visitors. Now some people think these three visitors are the Trinity. That's kind of far-fetched. One is the Lord we'll see and the two other are angels.
I think he knows one is the Lord and the other two are heavenly visitors. I think you'll see that as it's unfolded. Verse 9, they said to him, Where is Sarah, your wife? And he said, She is in the tent.
The Lord said, I will surely return to you about this time again next year, and Sarah, your wife, shall have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years.
The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I am worn out and my Lord is old, shall I have pleasure? The Lord said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh and say, Shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old?
I mean, this post-menopausal age, it says of her three descriptions. Do you notice old, advanced in years, past the age of childbearing? Only God can read minds and, of course, the Lord is now reading Sarah's mind.
Verse 14, Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid.
He said, No, but you did laugh. We have the promise of God to Abraham reiterated. I love the passage when it says, Is anything too hard for the Lord? That word is marvelous. That word is wonderful. We use the exact same word in Isaiah 9, 6, the same root.
His name shall be called Wonderful. And as my, I want to call him friend, S. Lewis Johnson, says, There is nothing too wonderful for him whose very name is Wonderful. Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Chapter 17, The Lord promises Abraham a child through Sarah. And now that promise stated in the first person again is given. Verse 16, Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom.
And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
For I have chosen him, literally, I've known him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.
Then the Lord said, Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, note this for later, and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me.
And if not, I will know. Doesn't this anthropomorphic language, I'll go down to see, I'll inquire, doesn't it sound like Tower of Babel, where the Lord came down to see? Every time this language is used so far in Genesis, there's all kinds of bad activity going on, nefarious activity, and the Lord goes down to check it out personally, a personal interest God has in such activity.
So the men turned, verse 22, from there and went towards Sodom. Those are the two angels, our messengers, that are off to Sodom. We're going to learn about them in chapter 19, but let's finish this chapter.
But Abraham stood still before Yahweh, and Abraham drew near and said, Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? And now I don't think we have haggling here, but we have Abraham asking God, God being merciful, suppose there are 50 righteous within the city, will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the 50 righteous who are in it?
Oh God, please, far be it from you, if there are 50 righteous people, don't destroy the city. Verse 25, far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked.
Far be that from you. Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just? Only time in Scripture that's found, the judge of all the earth, the sovereign Lord. The Lord said, if I find at Sodom 50 righteous in the city, Abraham has compassion and the Lord has grace, I will spare the whole place for their sake.
Abraham answered and said, Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I am but dust and ashes, suppose five of the 50 righteous are lacking, will you destroy the whole city for lack of five? I will not destroy it.
If I find 45 there, this is a whole city, remember. And he spoke to him and said, suppose 40 are found there, he answered for the sake of 40, I will not do it. Then he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry and I will speak, suppose 30 are found there, I will not do it if I find 30.
Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, suppose 20 are found there, for the sake of 20, I will not destroy it. Then he said, oh, Lord, do not be angry, oh, let not the Lord be angry and I will speak again, but this once, suppose 10 are found there, for the sake of 10, I will not destroy it.
And the Lord went away, we had finished speaking to Abraham and Abraham returned to his place. Remember, the angels have gone to the secret mission and now God with Abraham discussing how many righteous people are in Sodom.
By the way, what was the right number? How many to be exact were the righteous in Sodom? 10? Five? We're going to find out the answer is three. At the end of the day, we have Lot and his two unmarried daughters and that's it.
Genesis chapter 19. Now, as we read Genesis chapter 19, I want you to know a couple of things before we do some exposition. Four segments and you can see the segments, they all have to do with time. Introducing time reference.
Do you see it in verse 1? In the evening, that's the first section. The second section is found in verse 15. As morning dawned. Verse 23 is the next section when the sun had risen. And then the final section in verse 27 and following early the next morning.
And here's the thing, there's more words at the beginning section than the middle, than the end. The sections get shorter as time goes. It's almost making you as you read it, feel the pace of what's going on.
We're going quickly to judgment. There's lots of talk at the beginning. At the end, not much dialogue. The very end of the destruction of Sodom, there's no dialogue at all. You're going to feel momentum.
You're going to feel like this is going someplace fast as you listen to the words or read them in Genesis chapter 19. The other comment before we get into the text, hospitality was important back in those days, especially to people who were aliens, especially people who were disadvantaged in society.
Because Israel was a stranger in Egypt and God loved them. So, Leviticus 19, you shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you and you shall love him as yourself. For you, Israel, were strangers in the land of Egypt.
I am the Lord your God. For orphans, for widows, for strangers, for visitors, you were to be kind to them. You were to love them. You were to have a special self-sacrificial love for them. And now we move to Genesis chapter 19.
It's an important passage. I almost don't like to read it because I know what's in there. It reminds me kind of of a root canal, to be honest with you. You think I've got to read this passage. It's like having a root canal scheduled tomorrow morning at eight in the morning.
Just the sin that's there. But you're going to see that God judges sin. God is merciful. God keeps his promises. And that a child could read this and know what the sin is all about. And it has nothing to do with a lack of hospitality.
The two angels, verse one, came to Sodom in the evening. Remember they were sent out by Yahweh. And Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth.
My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house. Spend the night, wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way. No, we'll spend the night in the town square. Now you're going to see the foil between chapter 18 and 19.
Abraham is going to be a wonderful host. Lot is only going to be a bee host. We know who these visitors are. Lot doesn't. Now if you ask yourself the question, how far from Mamre down to Sodom? If it's the north side of the Dead Sea, they've got about a 25 mile walk.
If it's the south side where we think it is, it's about 40 miles. They're supernatural beings. To get that far, to get that fast. To go that fast. And where is Lot? Well, he's at the gateway. This is where all kinds of public things happen.
Seems like he's just plugged into society. He might have been a leader, but he's right there in the middle of the community. This is where decisions were made. This is where the big shots went. And he's sitting in the gateway.
Lot's in the city. Abraham's out in the country. His social status, maybe he makes civil decisions. Certainly he's not going to have any influence on anyone morally. Some say he's coexisting with wickedness.
And there he is in the city. So far, cities in the Old Testament. Cain built the first city. We've got Babel with its tower. Abraham's told to leave the city. So far, city life isn't so good. And these angels show up, and Lot is sitting at the gate among them.
He gives some hospitality, but Abraham runs. He hurries to greet them. He says, I found favor in your eyes. And Lot doesn't do all that. Verse 3,. But he pressed them strongly. Why? Because he knew what was going to go on outside if they stayed outside all night.
You sleep on the street around here, we know what's going to happen. So they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread. And they ate. Lot insisted.
It's the same language, I insist you stay here, as we're going to see momentarily where the people outside the door insist that the other men come out to please them. Abraham persuades the Lord's mind, persuades him to change his mind.
Lot's persuading these supernatural beings. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, and all the people to the last man surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, Where are the men who came to you tonight?
Bring them out to us that we may know them. Notice, young and old, when it says here, all the men of the city, young and old, all kinds of men, maybe Lot thought, if I get you inside fast enough, no one will notice.
But they were noticed. And the men come. And what does the text say? They surround the house. And here we have a lot of broad-minded, tolerant people surrounding the house. And we want to know these people.
Now the word know does mean to be acquainted with in the right context. But it also means something else. Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, Genesis 4 .1. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch, Genesis 4.
Genesis 4 goes on to say,. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth. So depending on the context, know means either sexual intimacy know, or it means to be acquainted with.
And the text says, Bring them out to us, that we may know them. Young and old, this kind of depravity, this kind of corruption, has affected older people, younger people, and everyone in between. And they surround the house to the last man, one translation has it.
You don't surround a house to try to get to know people. There are bad intentions here. And they don't even wait Bring them out! Shameless, repugnant, sinful, evil. Genesis 13, it said, The men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.
And there's some irony here. We want to know those men, and Lot doesn't even really know who they are yet. He doesn't even know their messengers from God. He doesn't know their angels. Now for those people who think this has nothing to do with homosexuality, they say, Yada, to know, means to become acquainted with.
So the people surround the house, men, older and younger, surround the house. Bring them out because we want to have a chat with them. We'd like to have some social time with them. We'd like to do some fantasy football with them.
Talk. I mean, on the face of it, it just sounds so dumb, fanciful, crazy. I agree that 15 times of the 948 instances of the verb Yada, only 15 have to do with sexual knowledge. But if you go to verse 8 to just skip ahead for a little bit, I have two daughters who have not known any man.
Lot is not trying to say, I have some daughters who have not been acquainted with any man ever. They just stay inside the house all the time. They've never been introduced to a man, period. It doesn't mean that.
These people surround the gate, surround the house, and they want to have sexual relations, homosexual relations with these angels. And you think that's as bad as it gets. Lot is not saying, Oh, I'm going to give you my daughters so they can be acquainted with you.
Keep your finger here in Genesis 19. Would you just turn to Jude quickly? Jude mentions this passage, and Jude helps us understand that the judgment is not for inhospitality. The judgment is for homosexuality.
As we learned last week, we're thankful that God forgives all kinds of sexual sins, heterosexual, homosexual, of the mind, with the body. But we've been doing this series because the world is bringing this to our doorstep, and we can't run from the topic of homosexuality.
What does the Bible say for the thinking Christian? It has to be what I think, what I feel, what I am taught. That cannot be what we believe. What does the Bible say? Look at Jude, verse 6. If you've got a computer there, it's Jude 1, 6.
And the angels, who did not stay with their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under a gloomy darkness until the great day of judgment. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued a natural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Pursuing a natural desire. That is the homosexual activity in Sodom and Gomorrah. Now let's go back to Genesis chapter 19. Will Lot dissuade the mob? Can he talk the mob out of it? Remember, God was talking to Abraham, are there righteous people in the city?
And we're going to find out the answer. Genesis 19, 6. Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him and said, I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Yes, there is the plea from Lot.
He's trying to defend his houseguests and the hospitality was important in those days and you would try to protect your houseguests up to the point of your own life. That's true. Don't do this wicked thing.
God flooded the earth because of wicked people, Genesis 6 and 8 says. My friends, my brothers, don't do this. It's amazing. He says, my friends, my brothers, come on, I'm part of you. We're all the same city here.
I'm one with you. Don't do this. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. It doesn't just mean to be acquainted. Let me bring them out to you and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men for they have come under the shelter of my roof.
At my own expense, I'm to protect these people. So instead of saying, take me, he says, why don't you take my daughters? Somehow exchanging the protection of his family for the protection of the two visitors.
And he makes it enticing, more enticing. They're virgins. Do whatever you want to them. How weird, how bizarre. That's exactly what sin is. It's crazy. I have to protect you because I'm giving hospitality to you.
You're under my roof. But now I have to not protect my own daughters. Doesn't Moses say in Leviticus, you should not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land become full of depravity.
Lot, I think has accepted Sodom in his heart. And he's trying to be a mediator, but he's a bad mediator. He could have said, take me. By the way, his daughters never forgot this. As we'll soon sadly find out.
Verse 9. But they said, stand back. Get out. Move aside. That's the first thing out of their mouths. This fellow came to sojourn, Lot. Now he's become a judge. Now we'll deal worse with you than with them.
We're going to rape you too. Then they pressed hard against the man, Lot, and drew near to break the door down. You, Lot, you self-righteous, know it all? Goody two-shoes now? I think the judge of the universe will do right.
The judge of the earth will do right. The angels have seen enough. They've heard enough. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. And they, the angels, struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out, groping for the door.
The young and the old again included to show you how inclusive these sinful people were. And now the angels dramatically intervene for Lot. And they blind these people. Now the only other time that this blindness occurs in the Old Testament is 2 Kings 6 where there's kind of a blindness where you can't see straight is kind of the idea.
Elisha prayed to the Lord, strike these people with blindness, so he struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. 2 Kings 6 .18. And it doesn't mean complete blindness, but a partial blindness and you're mentally confused.
You don't know what to do. Distorted vision. You see things falsely. That's the idea. You think that would stop them trying to get into the door, but it doesn't stop them at all. They just keep trying and trying and trying, but they can't make it in.
They want to know the men, but they don't know where the door is. Then the men said to Lot, Have you anyone else here, sons-in-law, sons, daughters or anyone you have in the city? Bring them out of this place, for we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against his people has become great before the Lord and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.
Remember Genesis 18. So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law who were to marry his daughters, betrothed to the daughters, not consummated yet. You can think of Mary and Joseph. Here were the potential sons-in-laws betrothed to those two virgin daughters.
Get up out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city. But Lot is so imbibed the culture, he seemed to his sons-in-law to be what? Jesting. That's just a joke. It's a sick joke. We're going to destroy this place.
That's why God sent us. Finally the visitors tell us who they are. They have a mission and that mission is to destroy the city. Lot's testimony is so bad, they thought it was a joke. As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot saying, verse 15, Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.
Let's get you out of town, get you out of danger. Flee. Matter of fact, the Hebrew word for flee sounds like the word for Lot. But he's not doing any kind of fleeing. He's not quick to leave at all. You're going to hesitate if you're Lot.
You're going to linger if you're Lot. Because your life is here. Verse 16,. But he lingered. He didn't flee. He didn't act like even his own name. Flee. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand and the Lord being merciful to him and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
Time's up. God's mercy has to overcome his lingering. As they brought them out, one said, Escape for your life. Mark this. Do not look back. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills lest you be swept away.
And Lot said to them, Oh no, my lords. Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight. You've shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot escape to the hills lest the disaster overtake me and I die.
As Abraham bargained with the Lord, now Lot is bargaining with the lead angel. Oh no, my lord. Don't. Behold, the city is near enough to flee to. This particular city and it's a little one. Zoar means tiny city.
Little place. Let me escape there. Is it not a little one? And let my life be saved. It's all about me. I need to be saved. He said to him, Behold, I grant you this favor also and I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
Yeah, I know you're going to destroy the city, but I've got a particular escape route that I want to go to and the one you're picking isn't the one I'm picking. Just all crazy. How tolerant and patient are these angels.
They're doing what the Lord had said. They're sparing righteous people. I know, God, you've got to judge the city, but can't you make it easy on me? Verse 22, Escape there quickly for I can do nothing till you arrive there.
Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. You could feel the pace picking up. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur fire, our sulfur and fire, from the Lord out of heaven.
No wonder Abraham could see it from such a far distance. He rained down sulfur. He rained down burning sulfur depending on how you want to translate it. Do you notice both times there? The Lord, verse 24, the Lord, God did it deliberately.
God sent it. As God sent the flood, He sent the first rain. This is a kind of rain, but it's sulfurous fire, burning sulfur. Amos 4 .1, I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me.
I don't know. Asphalt, sulfur, gas, lightning, earthquake. I do know this. Will not the judge of all the earth do right? Sodom deserved it. You better believe they did. If there were more than ten righteous, God wouldn't have destroyed the city, but there were fewer, so He destroyed the city.
I just got back from Pompeii and we went there and to see the people that were encased with pumice and some lava and ash encased there just from the volcano at Mount Vesuvius. It had to be like that. Verse 25, and He overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground.
Turned it upside down literally with this eruption. Verse 26, remember what she's been told back in verse 17. What they've been told, don't look back, don't stop anywhere, run. But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back and she became a pillar of salt.
Some people said, well she heard a noise so she turned back just because it was noisy. She was just curious. It has nothing to do with that. She looked back. She gazed. It wasn't a passing glance. McGee said she loved Sodom.
She loved Lot too, but it was a lot of Sodom that she loved. She left her heart in Sodom and she looks back and she's mourning over Sodom most likely and what does God do? You look back at the city that you love and the depravity that's there, burning sulfur and fire going down and all the men and women and other people.
She may have been a Sodomite for all we know. We don't know where Lot met her. Verse 27, Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley and he looked and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.
There were not ten righteous there. And I think Abraham is thinking, Lot's dead. Verse 28, he looked down toward Sodom. Different word than the wife of Lot looking back. Could anybody live through that?
The answer is no. So it was, verse 29, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham. He remembered the covenant. He had already said his affection on Abraham and so he sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
And sadly, I wish that Lot could have taken his daughters out of Sodom but also I wish he could have taken, as one man said, the Sodom out of his daughters. Lot went up out of Zohar and lived in the hills with his two daughters and he was afraid to live in Zohar so he lived in a cave with his two daughters and the firstborn said to the younger, Our dad believes in situational ethics and pragmatism so maybe we should too.
Our father's old and there's not a man on earth to come into us after the manner of all the earth. Come let us make our father drink wine. He wouldn't do it without the wine and we will lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father.
So they made their father drink wine that night and the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose. The next day the firstborn said to the younger, Behold I lay last night with my father.
Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father. So they made their father drink wine that night also and the younger arose and lay with him and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.
Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son and without any shame called his name Moab from the father. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son.
She had no shame either and called his name Ben-Ami. He is the father of the Amorites to this day, son of my people. Two children from the father and son of my people. And by the way these two peoples will suffer the same fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Surely Moab, Zephaniah says, will become like Sodom and the Amorites like Gomorrah. Genesis 19, friends, has nothing to do with gang rape. It has nothing to do with inhospitality. It has to do with homosexuality.
But is there any lesson for the New Testament church to learn? Let's turn to Luke 17 and we're going to end here. Luke 17, Luke 17. It's almost like you can't leave in Genesis 19. You just feel dirty.
You feel just sick with what sin does and how it thinks. What's the lesson for us as we look there? Of course for our series the last four weeks is don't be bamboozled by people when it comes to Genesis 19 when they say it's not homosexuality.
A simple reading will tell you what it is. But more than that when you look at Genesis 19, what would Jesus say when He uses Genesis 19 to instruct people? And that's what we're going to look at right now.
The Son of Man is compared to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. People are preoccupied in this world. They are caught up in things. We get absorbed or taken up with all kinds of distractions and some good distractions like eating, like drinking, like getting married.
But we need to be ready because Jesus is coming back soon. Horatius Bonar, the prince of Scottish hymn writers said when he put the curtains to bed at night he would say, perhaps tonight Lord. And in the morning he would draw open the shades and see the new day and say, perhaps today Lord.
Luke 17 verse 20, being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come he answered them, the kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. Nor will they say, look here it is, there for behold the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.
The Pharisees might want this political Messiah to come but Jesus' program is so much different. He said to His disciples, the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and you will not see it.
They will say to you, look there, look here, do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in His day. It's not going to be secretive.
People come and claim to be Jesus, don't believe them, all these false reports. I don't care if it's back in those days or these days with Marshall Applewhite or Jim Jones or David Koresh. Why? It's going to be evident, it's going to be obvious, it's going to be instantaneous.
You're not going to need to do a report about Jesus is here. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to another, so will the Son of Man be in His day. What they didn't get is He must first suffer many things and be rejected by His generation or this generation.
What's it going to be like when Jesus returns? What are the conditions at His second coming? Verse 26, just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. Just like Noah's day, what were they doing in the days of Noah?
They were eating, drinking, marrying, and given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Hey, it was business as usual. It was routine of life day in and day out.
It was normal eating, drinking, and then the flood came. What's Jesus' point? Don't get so absorbed in the pursuit of regular life that you forget I'm going to return. Don't get so busy without thinking that I'm going to come back.
By the way, for you Greek scholars, imperfect tenses. Marry, eat, drink. It's just what you do throughout the day. And then God came and destroyed them. And it's going to be like Lot's day. What can we learn about Jesus' return as we study Genesis 19?
There's an example here from history. Sodom helps us understand. Verse 28. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot. The last 45 minutes have just been an introduction to the sermon. Just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating, drinking, all those people in Sodom and Gomorrah, buying, selling, planting, building.
It's not even talking about the sinful things. Not even talking about the homosexual things. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. And look what Jesus is trying to show and demonstrate and make the point.
These people were living in total disregard of God. They're busy. And now it says in verse 30, so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Catastrophe comes. Consider your latter end. Be prepared for when Jesus returns.
Don't be so absorbed that you don't think He's going to come back. Suddenly as Sodom. Jesus will return. He said it. And Jesus is going to come back as sudden as it was in Noah's days and in Sodom's day.
He's going to show back up again. So how do I respond? Verse 31. Here's our response. Jesus is going to come back again. What do we do? Remember that one bumper sticker that was so blasphemous. Jesus is returning.
Look busy. What would Jesus Himself say? On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away and likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back.
Have a wholehearted devotion to Jesus Christ. Be motivated. Don't have a split heart between material possessions and the Lord Jesus. You don't have any time to prepare all these things when Jesus returns.
And not only motivate to turn to God with a whole heart, but remember Lot's wife. What an illustration to holding on to your old life with your old possessions. Remember Lot's wife. Remember she was so close to being delivered.
She was almost out. She was out. She was away from everything that was going to get her in the fire and the sulfur. And she was almost at the end. She got it. But not what she wanted to get. Be prepared for the return of Christ.
That's the idea. You're on the threshold of deliverance but you're not quite out yet. Be prepared. No reservations. And then look what it says in verse 33. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it.
But whoever loses his life will keep it. You can think of Noah's day. You can think of Sodom's day. Preserving their lives and they lost it. Versus you lose your life for the sake of the Lord Jesus and His gospel.
You gain it all. What happened to Lot's wife because of her incomplete obedience? Judgment's coming. I tell you in that night there will be two in bed. Verse 34. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together.
One will be taken and the other left. There'll be a separation. One taken, the other left. Jesus is going to return. There will be two women grinding. One taken and the other left. And they said to Him, Where, Lord?
Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. You find spiritually dead people. There's going to be judgment. So as I read Genesis 18 and 19, I say to myself several things. One, it's obvious that it's homosexuality that God judges.
Two, when I read the passage, I just can't say, well, this is for the homosexuals and the homosexuals are sinful and they're unrighteous and God's going to judge them. Friends, God judges all sinners and that's why when I read passages of judgment, it just gravitates my heart and my mind to the cross.
It makes me think, okay, if it wasn't for the Lord Jesus, I would be like them. If it wasn't for the Lord Jesus, I would have the heart of devotion that says I want to look back to my life and think about all the things I had before and I'm not ready for the Lord's return.
I love the passage even though it's not mainly for that. It to me pictures everything about God and is initiating sovereign grace. Back in Genesis 19, it says, Take your wife and your daughters lest you be swept away, but he lingered so the men seized him and his wife and the two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him and they brought him out.
What a great picture of salvation because left to ourselves, we linger. We want to hold on to our lusts. We want to hold on to the pleasures of the world, but God has to intervene. If you're a Christian today, you can say to yourself, I'm a Christian today, not because of what I did, because I was like them.
I would linger. I would want to hold on to things, but God interrupted. God intercepted. God is the sovereign one who saved me. That's why Christ had to come into the world. That's why he had to have a body.
Sacrifice is an offering. You have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and in sin offerings, you've taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.
I couldn't do the will of God. I have this propensity for sin, as do you, so Jesus is the one who had to come and rescue us. I deserve fire and brimstone and in a very real way, Jesus receives that on himself, the judgment of God, so we didn't have to.
Let's pray. Father, I think of Genesis 18 and 19 and I think about how you hate sin and hate unrighteousness and then I think to myself, so how could you love me? How could you love these people? We're wicked.
We're sinful and yet you showed your love towards us that you had your son come and die for us. Christ came into the world. He was born. An animal sacrifice wouldn't do for us. We had to have Jesus' sacrifice.
We had to have the incarnation and Father, we would admit that when it comes to Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot, his wife and all the things that we've learned today, that's a picture of us before we were saved and then you rescued us and now Father, we would ask that by your Spirit's power that we wouldn't run back.
We would be wholeheartedly devoted to you and anticipating not what's going on in the past but what's going on in the future that Jesus, the Son, will return. Thank you for Jesus Christ, a perfect sacrifice and to think about the strangest thing of all, Lot's in heaven.
That's an amazing thing. Lot's called righteous over and over in the New Testament and it's not because it's his own righteousness but he had the righteousness of another. Jesus Christ comes to die for people like Lot, like for me and like for these people.
We had to have Christ who was eternally God to become the God-man to atone for our sins. It had to be planned in the eternal covenant. It had to be by a Savior who could conquer death. Father, as we wrap up this series, may we, Bethlehem Bible Church, not be fooled by the world and celebrate sin as something that's righteous.
But Father, also help us not to be self-righteous. We stand before you today completely clothed in the work of another, Christ Jesus. We don't have our own righteousness. We're not better than anyone else.
Truth be told, we might be worse because we know your law and we don't do it. So Father, today we stand as men and women clothed in the righteousness of Christ and we would admit this morning that it is by mercy alone, by grace alone, because you have judged Jesus in our place and his death is sufficient for us.
To obey is better than sacrifice but we couldn't obey. To heed is better than the fat of rams but we couldn't heed. So we needed Jesus to do that. He perfectly obeyed you in our place and then died for all of our sins, including sexual sins.
And Father, if your son's death is great enough to overcome homosexuality, heterosexuality, and everything in between, then we know that you're a great God and we do know that from Scripture. In Jesus' name, amen.