Remembering Sodom

  1. INTRODUCTION

    1. There is not a material trace of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah on earth, and yet they are universally remembered as the standard of sin and God's wrath and judgment.

    2. Let us remember what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah so that we may not forget the lessons that God taught the world at that place.

       

  2. SIN AND PUNISHMENT AT SODOM

    1. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were exceedingly sinful.

      1. The cities were located in the well-watered valley of the Jordan (Gen. 13:10), but "the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the LORD" (Gen. 13:13).

      2. When God took notice of these cities, He said, "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave" (Gen. 18:20).

      3. The men of Sodom were certainly guilty of many kinds of sins, but Scripture specifically describes their sin of homosexuality.

        1. The angels that went to Sodom saw this firsthand (Gen. 19:4-5).

        2. In 2Peter 2:6-7, Peter said that Lot, while living in Sodom, was "oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men."

        3. Jude was more specific when he wrote that the men of Sodom and Gomorrah "indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh" (Jude 7).

          1. Jude compared them to angels who "abandoned their proper abode" (Jude 6).  Compare this to Paul's description of homosexuals in Romans 1:26-27:

            26For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

          2. By "strange flesh," Jude indicates that these men in their gross immorality pursued unnatural, perverted lusts, which is the essence of homosexuality.

    2. God sent two angels to assess and punish Sodom and Gomorrah.

      1. God and the two angels came first to Abraham (Gen. 18).

        1. They appeared as three men, but their true identity is revealed in the context of the passage. Such an appearance of God is often called a theophany by theologians.

        2. They first foretold the birth of Abraham's son (vv. 1-15), and then God told Abraham of the imminent destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (vv. 16-21).

        3. Abraham pleaded for Sodom, and God declared that He would not destroy the city if He found at least ten righteous persons there (vv. 22-33).

      2. When the two angels came to the city, the Sodomites proved their wickedness (Gen. 19:1-11).

        1. Lot took the angels into his house for the night, but the men of Sodom demanded that "the men" come out.  Notice Genesis 19:4-5:

          4Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; 5and 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."

        2. In an effort to appease the Sodomites, Lot offered his two virgin daughters to them, but they refused. Notice Genesis 19:9:

          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.

        3. The angels then struck the Sodomites with blindness, yet they continued to seek the door.

      3. The angels saved Lot and his family (Gen. 19:12-23, 26).

        1. They instructed Lot to take his family out of the city before it was destroyed, and they were not to look back.

        2. When Lot told his sons-in-law, they thought he was jesting, and the Scriptures do not say whether his sons, his married daughter, or her husband escaped.

        3. The Scriptures do say that Lot escaped with his wife and two unmarried daughters, but his wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.

    3. Sodom and Gomorrah were utterly destroyed from the earth.

      1. The destruction is described in Genesis 19:24-25:

        24Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, 25and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

      2. In the morning, Abraham looked down into the valley where the cities had been and saw that "the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace" (Gen. 19:27-29).

         

  3. THE LESSONS OF SODOM

    1. God intended for the children of Abraham to learn from Sodom's destruction.

      1. Consider God's reasoning for telling Abraham about the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:17-19:

        17The LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?  19For I have chosen him, so 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 upon Abraham what He has spoken about him."

      2. It is evident that God wanted Abraham's descendants to learn what happens to those who do not keep the way of God by doing righteousness and justice.

      3. Today, we who are Christians are the descendants of Abraham by faith (Gal. 3:7-9, 29).  Therefore, let us learn the lessons of Sodom.

    2. Sodom demonstrates both the justice and the wrath of God against sin.

      1. In the Scriptures, Sodom stands as the standard of sinfulness, and its judgment is the outstanding example of the punishment God brings on sinners.

      2. In passage after passage, the Scriptures use Sodom and Gomorrah as a reminder and a comparison for sinful people and nations (Deut. 29:23; 32:32; Isa. 1:9-10; 3:9; Jer. 23:14; Lam. 4:6; Ezek. 16:46-63; Matt. 11:23-24; Luke 10:12; 17:29; Rom. 9:29; 2Pet. 2:6; Jude 7; Rev. 11:8).

      3. The lesson is not that God will rain fire down on any and every sinner or sinful city, but rather it is that God will ultimately render severe judgment and punishment upon sinners who will not repent.

    3. Sodom shows the difficulty of being righteous in an exceedingly sinful environment.

      1. Lot was a righteous man, but he was "oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men" (2Pet. 2:7).  Obviously, his choice to live in Sodom was unwise (Gen. 13:12-13).

      2. Evidently, Lot lost part of his family to Sodom's corruption.

        1. If all of his family had been righteous, then there would have been enough to spare the city (Lot, his wife, at least two sons, at least one married daughter and her husband, two unmarried daughters, and two betrothed sons-in-law) (Gen. 18:32; 19:8, 12).

        2. However, the city was destroyed, which indicates that some of his family was sinful.

      3. Notice that Lot was accused by the Sodomites of "acting like a judge" (Gen. 19:9).  This is the same accusation made by homosexuals today against those who expose their sinful behavior to the truth.  Preachers of the truth are considered by them to be judgmental hypocrites.

    4. Sodom is the standard of evil, but there are still some who are worse than Sodom.

      1. Jesus identified wickedness that exceeded even that of Sodom.

        1. When Jesus sent out His twelve apostles to preach the message, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 10:7), He said that for any city that rejected them and their message, "It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city" (Matt. 10:15).

        2. Notice the Lord's words to Capernaum, which rejected Him, in Matthew 11:23-24:

          23"You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.  24Nevertheless, I say to you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you."

      2. Therefore, it is worse to reject the Son of God and His message than it is to participate in the deeds of Sodom.  If Sodom's sin resulted in utter destruction from the earth, what will be the result for those who do worse than Sodom by rejecting the Lord (2Thess. 1:8-10; Heb. 6:4-8; 10:26-31)?