II. THE WICKEDNESS OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH
A. Sodom and Gomorrah were places of such immeasurable evil and sin that God utterly destroyed both cities (Gen. 19).
1. In those cities were all types of wickedness, including the predominant sin of homosexuality.
2. Their sinfulness was so complete that not even ten righteous souls could be found there, for which God would have spared the cities.
3. God "rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire” (v. 24) so that when Abraham looked down toward the cities the next day, "he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace” (v. 28).
B. With that event of God’s wrath, Sodom and Gomorrah became synonymous with sin and judgment.
1. The writers of the Scriptures often made references to these cities in their efforts to illustrate the wickedness and destinies of those who sinned against God.
a. To Israel, God foretold the condition of their land if they forsook His covenant: "All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and in His wrath” (Deut. 29:23).
b. In the song of Moses, the nations that were enemies of Israel were described in this way: "For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters, bitter” (Deut. 32:32).
c. Isaiah described Judah’s coming destruction as being nearly as complete as that of Sodom and Gomorrah, and he even addressed Jerusalem in terms of those wicked cities in Isaiah 1:9-10 – "Unless the LORD of hosts had left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom, we would be like Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah.”
d. Isaiah used the figure of Sodom again to describe the sinfulness of Judah and Jerusalem in Isaiah 3:9 – "The expression of their faces bears witness against them, and they display their sin like Sodom; they do not even conceal it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.”
e. The wickedness of Jerusalem is similarly described in Jeremiah 23:14 – "Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: the committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; and they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
f. The figure of Sodom is again used to describe the sins of Judah in Lamentations 4:6 – "For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were turned toward her.”
g. Ezekiel used the figure of Sodom extensively to describe God’s punishment of Israel throughout the context of Ezekiel 16:46-63.
h. The apostle Peter used the example of Sodom and Gomorrah to prove that God will punish the wicked and preserve the righteous (2 Pet. 2:6).
2. In each of these passages, the references to Sodom and Gomorrah make strong points so that the reader can clearly understand the depth of sin and the severity of punishment in each situation.
III. WHAT COULD BE WORSE THAN SODOM?
A. Jesus also made such comparisons, but He 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. Likewise, Jesus said of the city of Capernaum, which had rejected Him and His message, "You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless, I say to you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you” (Matt. 11:23-24).
B. We must appreciate the gravity of the Lord’s words in these passages.
1. For the cities that Jesus identified, their offense was considered worse than that of Sodom.
2. If Sodom’s sins were so grave that the wrath of God destroyed the city from the earth, then what punishment must await those who have committed the offenses of Capemaum?
C. Exactly what did Capernaum do that deserved such a stern rebuke? The answer is that the people rejected the Son of God and His message.
1. This is the offense that the Lord declared to be less tolerable than the reprehensible sins of Sodom.
a. Those cities that rejected His apostles likewise rejected the Lord, for "it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you” (Matt. 10:20).
b. Also, when Jesus sent out the seventy, two by two, He said, "The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me” (Luke 10:16).
2. Consider this: Could there be anything worse than rejecting the Son of God?
a. Jesus is:
i. The Almighty God (Rev. 1:8);
ii. The Preeminent One (Col. 1:15-18);
iii. The fullness of God (Col. 1:19; 2:9);
iv. The One through whom all things were made (John 1:1-3);
v. The revelation of grace and truth (John 1:17)
vi. The declaration of God to mankind (John 1:18)
vii. The greatest extension of God’s love to the world (John 3:16);
viii. The One who allowed the shedding of His own innocent blood so that we, being guilty of sin, could live in His glory for eternity.
b. Who are we to reject Him? All sin carries the weight of eternal condemnation, but to have rejected the generous offer of God’s love through Christ will haunt lost souls for eternity.
c. This is also the reason for Peter writing the following about those who fall away from the Lord: "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, ‘A dog returns to its own vomit,’ and, ‘A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.’” (2Pet. 2:20-22)
IV. CONCLUSION
A. So then, considering the glory, grace, and love of the Lord, can we not still rightly say that to reject the Lord Jesus is worse than the sins of Sodom? Indeed, it is, and the punishment of those who reject Him is a fearful thought.
B. Therefore, let us hear His word and accept it, receiving as the benefit the salvation of our souls with the Lord for eternity.
