Lessons from Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.799 --> 00:00:07.750 I hope that at some point some of you had an opportunity to build a 2 00:00:07.870 --> 00:00:15.509 model, maybe a little car or a plane Diorama. These can be fun, 3 00:00:16.109 --> 00:00:19.670 but not only are they fund but they help us to remember something that 4 00:00:19.829 --> 00:00:25.339 we see very often in the Bible, even in history, that God uses 5 00:00:26.140 --> 00:00:34.060 small events as models of bigger things. They show us, they help us 6 00:00:34.060 --> 00:00:39.850 to understand what that that bigger thing is, and today we're going to look 7 00:00:39.850 --> 00:00:46.609 at one of those in Genesis Chapter Nineteen. We hear here, we see 8 00:00:46.850 --> 00:00:55.119 a model, an example of God's judgment and his salvation, of his power 9 00:00:55.320 --> 00:01:02.000 to bring judgment against sin and his power to save a from sin, except 10 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:07.629 that the scene that were about to read about happens not on a desk but 11 00:01:08.109 --> 00:01:15.230 in a whole city, and the model, the example that is there, 12 00:01:15.310 --> 00:01:21.780 the thing that it points to, is also much greater. It encompasses the 13 00:01:21.939 --> 00:01:26.700 world itself. It's a sad story in many ways because it re minds us 14 00:01:26.739 --> 00:01:32.969 of the sin that we face in this world, but there's also much light 15 00:01:33.170 --> 00:01:34.569 in the darkness, and I so I hope you will see that as well. 16 00:01:36.689 --> 00:01:40.689 So let's turn to Genesis nineteen now, and here God's word. I'm 17 00:01:40.730 --> 00:01:55.439 also going to read after that some verses from Hebrews Chapter Twelve. So Genesis 18 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:06.909 Nineteen, versus one through twenty nine. The two angels came to Sodom in 19 00:02:06.950 --> 00:02:10.430 the evening and lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When lot saw 20 00:02:10.509 --> 00:02:14.669 them, he arose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the 21 00:02:14.789 --> 00:02:20.219 earth and said, my Lord's please turn aside to your servants House and spend 22 00:02:20.259 --> 00:02:23.939 the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go 23 00:02:23.139 --> 00:02:28.099 on your way. They said no, we will spend the night in the 24 00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:31.810 town square, but he pressed them strongly. So they turned aside and entered 25 00:02:31.889 --> 00:02:36.129 his house and he made them a feast and baked on love and bread and 26 00:02:36.689 --> 00:02:42.009 they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, 27 00:02:42.210 --> 00:02:45.479 the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the 28 00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:52.039 last man, surrounded the house and they called to lot, where are the 29 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:55.039 men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may 30 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:00.310 know them. Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut them 31 00:03:00.349 --> 00:03:04.669 after him and said, excuse me, I beg you my brothers, do 32 00:03:04.789 --> 00:03:07.830 not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not yet 33 00:03:07.909 --> 00:03:12.310 known any man. Let me bring them out to you and do to them 34 00:03:12.349 --> 00:03:15.659 as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come 35 00:03:15.740 --> 00:03:20.819 under the shelter of my roof. And they said stand back, and they 36 00:03:20.900 --> 00:03:25.500 said this fellow came to sojourn and he has become the judge. Now we 37 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:30.250 will deal worse with you than with them. Then they pressed hard against the 38 00:03:30.370 --> 00:03:35.169 man lot, and he drew and drew near to break the door down. 39 00:03:36.810 --> 00:03:39.250 But the men reached out their hands and brought lot into the house with them 40 00:03:39.289 --> 00:03:45.199 and shut the door. And they struck with blindness the men who were at 41 00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:47.840 the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore 42 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:53.280 themselves out groping for the door. Then the men said to lot, have 43 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:58.870 you anyone else here, sons in law daughters or sons daughters, or anyone 44 00:03:59.189 --> 00:04:02.150 you have in the city? Bring them out of the place, for we 45 00:04:02.270 --> 00:04:06.590 are about to destroy this place because of the outcry against its people has become 46 00:04:06.710 --> 00:04:11.460 great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. 47 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:15.740 So lot went out and said to his sons in law who were to marry 48 00:04:15.819 --> 00:04:18.259 his daughters up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about 49 00:04:18.300 --> 00:04:21.939 to destroy the city. But he see to his sons in law to be 50 00:04:23.019 --> 00:04:29.129 jesting as morning dawn the angels. The angels urged lot, saying up, 51 00:04:29.529 --> 00:04:32.009 take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept 52 00:04:32.050 --> 00:04:36.889 away in the punishment of the city. But he lingered. So the men 53 00:04:38.050 --> 00:04:42.040 seized him and his wife and his daughters by the hand, the Lord Being 54 00:04:42.120 --> 00:04:46.000 Merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 55 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:48.959 And as they brought them out, one said, escape from Your Life, 56 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:54.550 Esp escape for your life, do not look back or stop anywhere in 57 00:04:54.629 --> 00:04:58.949 the valley. Escape to the hills lest you be swept away. And Lot 58 00:04:59.029 --> 00:05:01.509 said to them, oh no, my Lord's behold, your servant has found 59 00:05:01.509 --> 00:05:06.110 favor in your sight and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, 60 00:05:06.980 --> 00:05:11.860 but I cannot escape to the hills lest the disaster overtake me and I 61 00:05:11.860 --> 00:05:15.500 die. Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it's 62 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:19.019 a little one. Let me escape there, is it not a little one? 63 00:05:19.060 --> 00:05:24.410 And my life will be saved. He said to him. Behold, 64 00:05:24.449 --> 00:05:28.290 I grant you this favor, also that I will not overthrow the city of 65 00:05:28.329 --> 00:05:31.370 which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till 66 00:05:31.410 --> 00:05:35.000 you arrive there. Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar. 67 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:41.360 The Sun had risen on the earth when lot came to Zoar. Then the 68 00:05:41.480 --> 00:05:46.519 Lord reigned on Sodom and Gomorah. Soulfur and fire from the Lord Out of 69 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:50.069 Heaven and he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of 70 00:05:50.189 --> 00:05:56.069 the cities and what grew on the ground. But lots wife behind him, 71 00:05:56.629 --> 00:06:02.829 looked back and she became a pillar of salt. and Abraham went early in 72 00:06:02.870 --> 00:06:06.899 the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord and he looked 73 00:06:06.939 --> 00:06:11.740 down towards Sodom and Gomorah, toward all the land of the valley, and 74 00:06:11.899 --> 00:06:15.220 he looked and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke 75 00:06:15.300 --> 00:06:20.009 of a furnace. So it was that when God destroyed the cities of the 76 00:06:20.089 --> 00:06:26.410 valley, God remembered Abraham and sent lot out of the midst of the out 77 00:06:26.529 --> 00:06:30.290 of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which lot 78 00:06:30.410 --> 00:06:38.000 had lived since the reading of God's word in Genesis Nineteen. Let's turn to 79 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:55.310 Hebrews twelve. Now Hebrews Twelve, verse twenty two. I want to read 80 00:06:55.350 --> 00:06:59.389 this passage to you because it is a reminder to us of the city to 81 00:06:59.550 --> 00:07:04.259 which we have fled, like lot fled, we also have fled to a 82 00:07:04.379 --> 00:07:09.740 city to escape the judgment of God, and that city, that heavenly city, 83 00:07:09.860 --> 00:07:15.089 is described here. It is one that we do not yet reside in, 84 00:07:15.290 --> 00:07:21.129 in with our bodies, but we are nevertheless citizens of a place that 85 00:07:21.290 --> 00:07:29.449 the Lord has prepared for us. And here is what the scriptures say. 86 00:07:29.529 --> 00:07:32.639 He was twelve, verse twenty two. But you have come to Mount Zion 87 00:07:32.759 --> 00:07:38.040 and to the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to 88 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:43.480 innumerable angels and festal gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled 89 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:46.870 in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the 90 00:07:46.910 --> 00:07:50.670 spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a 91 00:07:50.750 --> 00:07:56.389 new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better, better word 92 00:07:56.430 --> 00:08:01.459 than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is 93 00:08:01.500 --> 00:08:05.500 speaking, for if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them 94 00:08:05.660 --> 00:08:11.420 on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from 95 00:08:11.459 --> 00:08:18.970 Heaven at that time his voice shook the earth. He's speaking here about when 96 00:08:18.970 --> 00:08:22.649 the Lord gave the Law Mount Sinai. At that time his voice shook the 97 00:08:22.730 --> 00:08:26.560 earth, but now he has promised yet once more, I will shake not 98 00:08:26.759 --> 00:08:31.720 only the Earth but also the heavens. This phrase yet once more, indicates 99 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:37.200 the removal of things that are shaken, that is, things that have been 100 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:43.110 made in order to the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, 101 00:08:43.190 --> 00:08:48.950 let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus 102 00:08:48.990 --> 00:08:52.950 let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our 103 00:08:54.070 --> 00:09:07.820 God is a consuming fire. So what are Sodom and go Morah models of? 104 00:09:09.330 --> 00:09:15.210 What are they examples of? Well, they are examples of the judgment 105 00:09:15.730 --> 00:09:20.450 of God. They are examples of the judgment of God that will come when 106 00:09:20.450 --> 00:09:26.120 Jesus returns and, as Hebrews describes, the things that are now will be 107 00:09:26.440 --> 00:09:33.080 shaken, shaken and undone. There is coming a time when this world will 108 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:37.240 be judged like it it was judged in this tiny place in Sodom and go 109 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:43.870 Morah. It will be judged everywhere. The scriptures point to this in a 110 00:09:43.870 --> 00:09:48.830 number of places, and will consider one from second peters. We come to 111 00:09:48.950 --> 00:09:54.179 the end of the sermon, but for now what I'd like to do is 112 00:09:54.460 --> 00:10:00.100 look through this story with you and consider that judgment that God pours down, 113 00:10:00.139 --> 00:10:03.700 this punishment, as he calls it, Um, for their sin. It's 114 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:07.409 a judgment that came upon them, it's a judgment that will come in the 115 00:10:07.490 --> 00:10:13.090 end of the world and it is the judgment that fell upon Christ himself when 116 00:10:13.129 --> 00:10:18.809 he took the punishment for our sins. And from all this we are several 117 00:10:18.889 --> 00:10:22.000 things that we can learn, and so we'll reflect on those together tonight. 118 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:30.200 But let's walk the our way through this story. First, when Genesis Nineteen 119 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:35.750 begins, we see that things seem off, something's not quite right. The 120 00:10:37.190 --> 00:10:41.230 angels come to Sodom in the evening and lot is sitting in the gate of 121 00:10:41.350 --> 00:10:48.110 Sodom by himself. This is a place, a common gathering area, a 122 00:10:48.190 --> 00:10:54.620 place where judgments are made and businesses done, people meet. No one's there. 123 00:10:54.700 --> 00:10:58.500 It reminds me of the you know, perhaps the old western, where 124 00:10:58.100 --> 00:11:03.659 the guy comes into town and tumble weed rolls past and you go saw us, 125 00:11:03.820 --> 00:11:07.409 is not going to be good. That's what's going on here. Lot 126 00:11:07.929 --> 00:11:13.970 is gives them. More indication of this when he manages their expectations, as 127 00:11:15.009 --> 00:11:18.370 people say today, and he rushes them. He says, my lawyers, 128 00:11:18.409 --> 00:11:20.679 please turn aside to your servants house, spend the night, wash your feet, 129 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:24.000 then you can rise up early and be on your way. Nice to 130 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:28.200 see you. Let me help you get out. Why is lot in such 131 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:33.149 a rush? They in fact say no, no, we're going to we'll 132 00:11:33.190 --> 00:11:35.269 just stay here in the Public Square. What could be wrong with that? 133 00:11:37.309 --> 00:11:41.870 You can imagine perhaps lots heart starting to race a little bit. And then 134 00:11:41.909 --> 00:11:48.299 we see his concern. This is a bad place, an unsafe place. 135 00:11:48.379 --> 00:11:52.500 There's a little detail in the text that perhaps you noticed. That the this 136 00:11:52.659 --> 00:11:58.419 is in verse thirteen. The angels say we are about to destroy this place 137 00:11:58.779 --> 00:12:05.529 because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord. Sodom and 138 00:12:05.730 --> 00:12:11.850 go mora are so bad, not just in the eyes of Abraham but in 139 00:12:11.929 --> 00:12:16.120 the eyes of their neighbors, against people that don't serve God. They look 140 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:20.759 at Sodom and go moron shake their heads and say that is a place you 141 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:24.360 do not want to go. This place is evil. When we go to 142 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:30.350 this place, harm comes to us. Outcry has come up before the Lord 143 00:12:30.710 --> 00:12:39.710 and he is going to destroy the wicked. Well, we see exactly what's 144 00:12:39.710 --> 00:12:43.549 going on. Law invites them into their house, he gives them something to 145 00:12:43.629 --> 00:12:46.940 eat, but before they lay down. This is in verse four. The 146 00:12:46.059 --> 00:12:50.139 men of the city, the men of Sodom, young and old, all 147 00:12:50.299 --> 00:12:58.929 the people to the last man, surround the House. This morning we considered 148 00:12:58.090 --> 00:13:03.129 that mob. There's another mob coming for Jesus, with torches and lanterns and 149 00:13:03.289 --> 00:13:13.720 weapons. Similar thing here, a mob of men, people surrounding this house. 150 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:20.799 A scary situation, a terrifying situation, and it gets worse. They 151 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:28.870 want to do unspeakable things to these men too. Lots guests, but you 152 00:13:28.909 --> 00:13:33.629 might say at least they're inside lots home. But we quickly discover that lots 153 00:13:33.710 --> 00:13:39.269 home is not much better than what's outside is home. At first things seem 154 00:13:39.389 --> 00:13:43.340 good. He's willing to protect them. He goes outside the door, he 155 00:13:43.419 --> 00:13:48.059 shuts the door behind him. He tries to plead with the crowd, but 156 00:13:48.139 --> 00:13:52.899 then we see he's willing to give up his own daughters to appease this mob. 157 00:13:54.419 --> 00:14:00.090 Where are these poor souls supposed to go for protection, for safety? 158 00:14:01.370 --> 00:14:05.129 He says, I can't it. Don't do these things. These men are 159 00:14:05.129 --> 00:14:11.120 under my roof, under my protection. What about your daughters? Lots, 160 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:18.840 home is not a very safe place for them anyway. Wickedness all around. 161 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:26.669 And then these wicked men respond to lots pleadings with these xenophobic accusations. Foreigner, 162 00:14:26.909 --> 00:14:31.509 alienen you who came to dwell in this place. You don't belong here. 163 00:14:31.789 --> 00:14:37.269 What does lots status as a resident alien, as a traveler, as 164 00:14:37.309 --> 00:14:39.620 a sojourner, as a man with a home, have anything to do with 165 00:14:39.659 --> 00:14:46.779 their vile actions? What does his status have anything to do with the wickedness 166 00:14:46.820 --> 00:14:52.620 that they want to perpetrate upon him as household, as guests? Nothing, 167 00:14:52.700 --> 00:14:56.529 of course. It's just all about power. These men want power. They 168 00:14:56.529 --> 00:15:01.889 are grasping at anything that they can use to excuse their wickedness, or perhaps 169 00:15:01.929 --> 00:15:09.279 not even excuse it, just simply get what they want. When God made 170 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:15.559 mankind, he make us to live together in peace he may. We were 171 00:15:15.559 --> 00:15:20.470 supposed to be people that loved one another as we love the Lord. But 172 00:15:20.629 --> 00:15:28.870 what we see here in this city is violence and despicable actions and fighting and 173 00:15:28.190 --> 00:15:37.259 false accusations and and and everything that, pretty much anything you can imagine evil 174 00:15:37.580 --> 00:15:39.820 that when you'd go on in a place. We see it happening right here, 175 00:15:41.700 --> 00:15:48.539 at this moment. Then comes the rescue. Just as things are about 176 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:52.970 to break totally out of control. The men pull lot inside and shut the 177 00:15:52.090 --> 00:15:56.649 door, and then, by the power of God, they strike the men 178 00:15:56.809 --> 00:16:00.090 near the door with blindness, it says, both small and great, so 179 00:16:00.289 --> 00:16:07.320 that then they a war themselves out groping for the door. I don't know 180 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:11.120 if I'm just well hesitates you. I don't know if I'm supposed to love 181 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:15.679 this part of the story or not, but I do. This reminds me 182 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:21.710 of those scenes and so many kids movies where the bad guys are trying to 183 00:16:21.870 --> 00:16:25.549 get the little kid and then the little kid gets the victory and the bad 184 00:16:25.629 --> 00:16:29.149 guys end up looking like fools. It reminds me, actually, a little 185 00:16:29.149 --> 00:16:32.070 bit of one of the Psalms we read. We're David says they built a 186 00:16:32.269 --> 00:16:37.340 pit for me and then they fell into it themselves. There is a sort 187 00:16:37.340 --> 00:16:42.980 of joy injustice, we might say. Of course it's doesn't mean it's not 188 00:16:44.059 --> 00:16:49.490 sad and horrific as well, but there is a holy joy in seeing God 189 00:16:49.889 --> 00:16:56.169 set things right, in seeing these men doing everything they can to breach this 190 00:16:56.370 --> 00:17:03.680 entrance and God in a moment makes them blind and now they're pathetically just scratching 191 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:08.000 around for the door. It's both, on the one hand, hilarious and 192 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:18.069 also deeply sad. That's something with what justice often is. There's satisfaction and 193 00:17:18.230 --> 00:17:23.230 seeing things set right, but of course tragedy that things ever went wrong in 194 00:17:23.349 --> 00:17:33.019 the first place. What comes after this? Next these angels, Lots Guess. 195 00:17:33.059 --> 00:17:36.940 They inquire about his family. It's another instance we see in the scriptures 196 00:17:36.980 --> 00:17:41.019 of the Lord Saving families. They tell lot to be like a noah. 197 00:17:41.380 --> 00:17:45.369 Go gather in your people, if there's anyone here in this city, gather 198 00:17:45.529 --> 00:17:48.569 them in so that we can get them out. But as sons in law 199 00:17:48.690 --> 00:18:02.599 think he's joking. Sons in law think he's joking and and they stay happily. 200 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:10.200 Lot listens to the warning. He listens to the warning and and in 201 00:18:10.279 --> 00:18:15.990 the morning he gets up and he goes. But before we notice that pause 202 00:18:17.069 --> 00:18:25.710 and notice one thing, that lot didn't just run out that night. He 203 00:18:25.869 --> 00:18:30.660 stayed until morning and it was the angels who actually woke him up and said 204 00:18:30.019 --> 00:18:34.500 get up it, awake, get your wife, get your daughters, get 205 00:18:34.579 --> 00:18:40.779 out of here, because the punishment of the city is coming now you think 206 00:18:40.819 --> 00:18:42.690 at this point, having seen what the angels have done to the men, 207 00:18:44.130 --> 00:18:48.130 having heard their warning, having lived in this city for some time now, 208 00:18:48.890 --> 00:18:52.130 he would leave, probably should have left a long time ago. What does 209 00:18:52.170 --> 00:18:56.599 it say? He did? He lingers. Brothers and sisters, this is 210 00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:03.240 this is sin. Right, this is what sin looks like. We hear 211 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:07.960 the warnings, we see the warnings, everything's flashing of us. You're about 212 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:11.069 to drive off the cliff and we said, maybe just a few more feet. 213 00:19:11.309 --> 00:19:15.269 Right. It's it's sad, it's funny, it's tragic, it's ironic. 214 00:19:15.789 --> 00:19:22.470 Sin, sin is it's bad. It perverts our understanding of things, 215 00:19:22.509 --> 00:19:27.339 it makes us unable to see, it makes us do stupid things like lingering 216 00:19:27.619 --> 00:19:33.660 here in the in the moments before the judgment of God. But how many 217 00:19:33.700 --> 00:19:37.740 people do you know, and perhaps you can point to yourself, have heard 218 00:19:37.859 --> 00:19:41.529 the warnings of God before? I have heard the words of Jesus that one 219 00:19:41.529 --> 00:19:45.210 day he will come again to judge the living in the dead. And how 220 00:19:45.289 --> 00:19:49.289 many people do you know even today say a little bit further, a little 221 00:19:49.289 --> 00:19:52.329 bit longer, I want to do what I want to do. I have 222 00:19:52.569 --> 00:19:56.920 time. How many of you have said that yourselves? Does God really care? 223 00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:06.400 Can I take this sin? Maybe not so seriously. When you hear 224 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:10.910 yourself saying those things, when you see and hear other people saying things, 225 00:20:11.029 --> 00:20:15.829 know that that itself is a kind of blindness, a blindness and a hardness 226 00:20:17.549 --> 00:20:22.500 that sin creates. And so we can praise God for what he does in 227 00:20:22.579 --> 00:20:26.059 our lives and what he does here in lots life. The men, it 228 00:20:26.180 --> 00:20:30.220 says. The next is is a verse. Sixteen after he lingered, the 229 00:20:30.339 --> 00:20:36.089 men seized him and his wife and the two daughters by the hand, the 230 00:20:36.250 --> 00:20:41.650 Lord Being Merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside 231 00:20:41.690 --> 00:20:45.569 the city. It almost seems if lot, it almost seems as if lot 232 00:20:45.730 --> 00:20:52.920 is incapable of saving himself, doesn't it? Plenty of opportunities to get out 233 00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:56.160 of the city, plenty of warnings to get out, plenty of rescue moments 234 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:03.309 and and and threats of Judgment. He seems unable to do it. And 235 00:21:03.470 --> 00:21:08.029 so God does it for him. He takes this family by the hand, 236 00:21:08.190 --> 00:21:12.710 through the servants, these these angels, and he walks them outside the city. 237 00:21:12.990 --> 00:21:18.859 There and yet even still, boy, seem a lot still kind of 238 00:21:18.980 --> 00:21:21.740 bargaining with God. Do I have to really go all away to the hills. 239 00:21:21.779 --> 00:21:23.220 It's just a little city of God, Y'all. Well, see God 240 00:21:23.420 --> 00:21:29.579 exasperated. Go to the little city. You're outside of the judgment. God, 241 00:21:29.779 --> 00:21:34.970 it seems, is determined to protect this man, despite his sinfulness, 242 00:21:36.089 --> 00:21:41.130 despite his blindness. God has set his promise on him and he's going to 243 00:21:41.250 --> 00:21:49.839 save him. This is what God does for us. He brings us out 244 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:57.960 of judgment by the power of his own strength. He brings us out so 245 00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:07.190 that we would not die having come out from judgment, having died to Sim 246 00:22:07.390 --> 00:22:15.509 through the death of Christ. Should we sin having been brought out of that, 247 00:22:15.710 --> 00:22:18.779 having been saved by God? Does this give us a reason to take 248 00:22:18.819 --> 00:22:23.740 sin lightly? By no means. It means we should take it all the 249 00:22:23.779 --> 00:22:29.619 more seriously, knowing what we've been saved from, knowing the blindness we've been 250 00:22:29.660 --> 00:22:32.970 brought out of. These are some of the lessons that we ought to take 251 00:22:33.130 --> 00:22:41.490 from this passage. Let's consider a few others. One here that we see 252 00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:47.160 in Genesis nineteen is the will of God. We see what God hates and 253 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:53.200 what God loves. What God loves is hospitality, people living together in peace, 254 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:59.670 trust and union with in families, attentiveness, to God's word, his 255 00:22:59.869 --> 00:23:07.309 promises. God loves repentance, Turning Away from sin. What does God hate? 256 00:23:08.869 --> 00:23:18.220 Sexual perversion, craven desires inhospitality, dissensions, strive, violence, cruelty, 257 00:23:18.059 --> 00:23:23.660 hard hearts. Knowing the will of the Lord in these very clear ways 258 00:23:23.779 --> 00:23:29.410 helps us to know how to look for good and where to look for good 259 00:23:29.529 --> 00:23:34.930 because, remember, our hearts are exceptionally evil in their in their sinfulness. 260 00:23:37.609 --> 00:23:40.650 Satan loves to trick US, and knowing the will of God better is a 261 00:23:40.769 --> 00:23:45.519 good thing, so that when we see good in our world and in ourselves, 262 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:48.359 we give thanks to God, we rejoice, we metitize it. On 263 00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:53.519 these things we seek to increase them. But where we see evil we learn. 264 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:56.910 We ought to learn to hate it, to turn aside from it, 265 00:23:57.029 --> 00:24:02.589 to protect it, not to linger in it and say maybe it's not so 266 00:24:02.789 --> 00:24:06.829 bad. And then, of course, when evil overtakes us, when sin, 267 00:24:07.069 --> 00:24:10.339 when we fall into sin, we ought to repent, we ought to 268 00:24:10.779 --> 00:24:17.339 turn away towards the salvation of the Lord. A second lesson I think that 269 00:24:17.460 --> 00:24:22.059 we ought to learn here is that when people turn away from God, this 270 00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:26.569 is what happens. When we turn away from God, who is good and 271 00:24:26.690 --> 00:24:30.769 perfectly righteous, and holy. This is what happens, and this is important 272 00:24:30.769 --> 00:24:36.609 to remember, because we sometimes think that by going out on our own, 273 00:24:36.609 --> 00:24:41.519 away from God, that's where we find freedom. By going away from God, 274 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:44.640 by going away from his word, by going away from his people, 275 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:49.279 that's where we find freedom. But let the story be a warning to you. 276 00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:56.470 This is what happens when people go their own way. It's not freedom, 277 00:24:56.910 --> 00:25:03.829 it's not freedom, it is a kind of slavery. Here in Sodom 278 00:25:03.829 --> 00:25:07.180 and go Mora, no one is free. Lots not free, his daughters 279 00:25:07.180 --> 00:25:11.460 aren't free, the angels aren't free, not even the men outside, who 280 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:18.660 are so clearly enslave to their own lusts. This is what happens when men 281 00:25:18.859 --> 00:25:25.890 turned from holiness and refuse to repent. Things get bad, really bad. 282 00:25:27.769 --> 00:25:32.490 This also teaches us where sin leads. Sin Leads to more sin, it 283 00:25:32.529 --> 00:25:37.039 leads to violence, it leads to shame and it leads to judgment. To 284 00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:41.160 the scriptures warn about this very clearly in many places in this is one of 285 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:47.319 them. God Judges Sin. He doesn't wink at it, he doesn't ignore 286 00:25:47.319 --> 00:25:51.910 it, he doesn't think it's no big deal. God Judges Sin. If 287 00:25:52.029 --> 00:25:55.869 you are living your life in sin, if you are living your life winking 288 00:25:55.950 --> 00:26:00.069 at sin, ignoring sin, thinking it's no big deal. Know that God 289 00:26:00.190 --> 00:26:04.500 does not think that way and that God is a righteous judge and that when 290 00:26:04.579 --> 00:26:11.220 people eat, when people and even his own law cries out and says this 291 00:26:11.299 --> 00:26:15.940 is wicked, God will judge. That's what he wants us to understand from 292 00:26:15.940 --> 00:26:23.730 this passage. God May permit sin in order to bring judgment on people, 293 00:26:23.769 --> 00:26:29.569 in order to accomplish a greater good, but God never excuses it or calls 294 00:26:29.609 --> 00:26:34.680 it okay. Yes, God maybe slow in some ways to judgment as we 295 00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:40.279 perceive things, but the Bible tells us that this is not so that we 296 00:26:40.279 --> 00:26:45.119 can stay in our sin, but so that we can have time to flee 297 00:26:45.160 --> 00:26:49.349 from him. You know what a teacher calls it when you have an overdue 298 00:26:49.349 --> 00:26:56.430 assignment and they're giving you time before you turn it in, a grace period. 299 00:26:56.630 --> 00:27:02.660 Right, a grace period, they're giving you grace before judgment falls. 300 00:27:03.339 --> 00:27:07.339 And now the great now the grade that will be or the the the assignment 301 00:27:07.460 --> 00:27:14.099 will be graded. We are living before the return of Christ. In a 302 00:27:14.380 --> 00:27:19.049 grace period. We are living in a time where God is extending to all 303 00:27:19.170 --> 00:27:22.130 of us, to you, to me, to our neighbors, to our 304 00:27:22.170 --> 00:27:30.640 family members, the opportunity to flee the wrath to come. He Sends People 305 00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:34.279 Out, a messengers, to preach this word, to say there is wrath 306 00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:38.880 coming, wrath coming for a sin. Flee it, run away from it, 307 00:27:40.279 --> 00:27:44.910 turn away from it. But we have to understand that, just as 308 00:27:44.990 --> 00:27:48.710 in Sodom and Gomorrah and other times Noah and other examples we can point to, 309 00:27:49.990 --> 00:27:56.390 in the Lord's wisdom, these grace periods come to an end, and 310 00:27:56.589 --> 00:28:00.539 that's not just true for this one, the whole city, but the whole 311 00:28:00.579 --> 00:28:03.660 world. God has promised a day when, one day, his son will 312 00:28:03.700 --> 00:28:07.900 return, and when he does he will punish the world in its sin with 313 00:28:08.140 --> 00:28:15.529 fire and with judgment without alect. To turn with you to Second Peter Chapter 314 00:28:15.690 --> 00:28:21.730 Two and read a few verses from here. It's important that we let these 315 00:28:21.890 --> 00:28:29.559 warnings impress upon our hearts and that we know how to respond to them. 316 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:41.109 Second Peter Chapter Two, let's begin at Verse Four. The scriptures say, 317 00:28:41.309 --> 00:28:45.910 for if God did not spare angels when they send but cast them into hell 318 00:28:47.069 --> 00:28:51.509 and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment, 319 00:28:51.589 --> 00:28:55.900 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald 320 00:28:55.940 --> 00:28:59.940 of righteousness, with seven others. When he brought a flood upon the world 321 00:29:00.140 --> 00:29:04.660 of the God ungodly, if, by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorah 322 00:29:04.740 --> 00:29:11.289 to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what 323 00:29:11.450 --> 00:29:17.849 is going to happen to the ungodly, and if he rescued righteous lot, 324 00:29:18.210 --> 00:29:22.049 greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked, for is that righteous man 325 00:29:22.210 --> 00:29:26.839 lived among them. Day After Day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over 326 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:32.880 the lawless deeds that he saw and heard, then the Lord knows how to 327 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:40.349 rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day 328 00:29:40.390 --> 00:29:47.069 of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and 329 00:29:48.069 --> 00:29:56.420 Despise Authority. So you hear what the scriptures are saying. This is really 330 00:29:56.579 --> 00:30:02.140 clear, isn't it? If God did this and purposefully did it in as 331 00:30:02.180 --> 00:30:06.940 an example, do you think you will escape the righteous judgment of God when 332 00:30:06.980 --> 00:30:15.130 he comes at the end of days? You will not. But the good 333 00:30:15.250 --> 00:30:18.410 news is that if he can rescue Noah and if he can rescue lot, 334 00:30:18.849 --> 00:30:26.960 he can also rescue you. The very, very important question, then, 335 00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:33.279 is how can I be saved? HOW DO WE GET OUT OF DOORS? 336 00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:38.150 How do we get out of this world that is condemned to fire and judgment? 337 00:30:40.390 --> 00:30:45.710 How do we escape the righteous judgment of God that is due for sins, 338 00:30:45.990 --> 00:30:48.549 when every single one of us should raise our hands and say I am 339 00:30:48.549 --> 00:30:56.220 a sinner? There's one way or one way only, and that's by God 340 00:30:56.539 --> 00:31:00.940 doing the saving, because, as we see, sinners don't know how to 341 00:31:00.019 --> 00:31:06.329 help themselves. It takes a work, the work, the gracious work of 342 00:31:06.410 --> 00:31:08.650 God, and that is exactly what he has done. He did it with 343 00:31:08.809 --> 00:31:11.450 Nolan when he rescued them, he did it with lot and he does it 344 00:31:11.569 --> 00:31:17.490 for all mankind when he sent his only son to die on a cross, 345 00:31:18.450 --> 00:31:22.640 to take on our sins, the punishment that came on the world at Noah, 346 00:31:22.839 --> 00:31:29.160 the punishment that comes on Sodom and go more here. That's what Jesus 347 00:31:29.279 --> 00:31:38.589 endured, not just across, but the righteous judgment of God reigning down on 348 00:31:38.710 --> 00:31:48.339 him, killing him, but not for anything Jesus had done wrong, but 349 00:31:48.500 --> 00:31:55.220 so that God could offer himself himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, 350 00:31:56.779 --> 00:32:01.609 to establish in Jesus Christ on New Heavens and a new earth and a better 351 00:32:01.690 --> 00:32:08.490 city that we can all run to. So that moving, so that those 352 00:32:08.609 --> 00:32:14.769 scriptures say that when we look to Jesus and turn to him and trust him 353 00:32:14.809 --> 00:32:20.480 and trust his word and his promises of salvation, we will be saved. 354 00:32:22.519 --> 00:32:25.920 We will join him in his resurrection, we will join him in his heavenly 355 00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:31.950 city. Indeed, the Holy Spirit himself will endwell our hearts and build us 356 00:32:31.950 --> 00:32:38.910 up like a living temple in which God himself will dwell. Not a city 357 00:32:39.069 --> 00:32:44.579 that is falling apart, like it's happening here in Sodom and Gomorah, but 358 00:32:44.779 --> 00:32:57.019 a holy, everlasting city that cannot be shaken. That's how we're saved, 359 00:32:58.769 --> 00:33:02.650 by trusting in the word of the Lord, not just the threats of punishment, 360 00:33:04.970 --> 00:33:09.369 but also the promises of salvation. And he will surely do it, 361 00:33:10.849 --> 00:33:15.400 even if it takes seizing you up out of your chair and putting you in 362 00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:19.440 another place. He will do it, and praise God that he does. 363 00:33:20.279 --> 00:33:27.630 And when he does, don't turn back. Don't turn back. Instead, 364 00:33:27.990 --> 00:33:31.190 do what Hebrews tells us. This is Hebrews twelve again, and I'll end 365 00:33:31.269 --> 00:33:37.509 with this. Listen to the great promise here that God makes, even as 366 00:33:37.589 --> 00:33:43.019 he wraps it up in encouraging instructions to us about how we ought to live 367 00:33:43.180 --> 00:33:52.940 our lives in this world. Hebrews twelve versus one and too. Therefore, 368 00:33:52.059 --> 00:33:58.930 since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay 369 00:33:58.970 --> 00:34:02.930 aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with 370 00:34:04.089 --> 00:34:12.840 endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder 371 00:34:14.039 --> 00:34:17.199 and perfector of our faith, the beginning, in the end, the Alpha 372 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:21.480 and no Omega. This is not a race we want on our own. 373 00:34:23.590 --> 00:34:30.469 WHO, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, 374 00:34:30.469 --> 00:34:36.829 despising the same shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne 375 00:34:36.869 --> 00:34:42.019 of God. That's who we have to look forward to, not in Little 376 00:34:42.019 --> 00:34:45.940 Zo r, but the Great Heavenly City, the new heavens and the new 377 00:34:46.059 --> 00:34:52.420 earths, eyon itself. Praise be to God. Let's pray