THE PENALTY FOR WICKEDNESS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”

“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”

But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.

Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

“Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.”

They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!”

But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”

When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.)

By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Genesis 19:1-29

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Up to this point in Genesis, we have met people and places that most people know even if they aren’t well versed in the bible.

Adam and Eve are well known for being the first man and woman but also for doing wrong when they ate of the forbidden fruit.

Eden is known for being a garden paradise where the first couple lived.

Adam’s son Cain is well known for murdering his brother, Abel.

Noah is well known for building the ark and surviving a great flood with his family and many animals onboard.

Abraham is well known for his faith and the Lord making him the father of the Israelite nation.

And then there are the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah which are at the center of today’s message, places that were famous for all the wrong reasons.

In Genesis 18, we read where God, who appeared in human form to Abraham, sending two of His angels, also divine figures in the flesh, to check out the city of Sodom because He had heard of the wickedness there.

The scriptures tell us that as the angels enter the city, they were greeted by Abraham’s nephew, Lot, who shows them the same special hospitality that Abraham had when they came to him. At first, we see that the angels decline the offer but then agree after Lot persists in his invitation.

Once at Lot’s home, it didn’t take long for the evil of Sodom to reveal itself for we read that "all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house” before calling to Lot saying:

"Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."

The scriptures tell us that despite Lot’s pleas for them to leave, which included an offer of his own virgin daughters, they refused and even threatened to attack him before he is rescued by the two angels who pull him into the house and then disable the men outside by blinding them.

Well, at this point the angels had seen enough and were prepared to destroy Sodom, Gomorrah, and everyone within, everyone except Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family who they would spare. We see the angels telling Lot and his family to "flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!"

With the mountains some distance away, Lot convinces the angels to allow him and his family to escape to a nearby town (later known as Zoar) instead and gained permission. And so it was. Lot and his family fled while God rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah. It appeared that Lot and company had avoided judgment but we read where Lot’s wife sins in disobedience and looks back against the orders of the Lord’s angels, paying the price by turning into a “pillar of salt”. Her inability to follow the Lord’s guidance cost her and dearly.

In the end translation, Sodom, Gomorrah and Lot’s wife ended up being remembered for all the wrong reasons and through this story, we find God’s Word teaching us several lessons:

First, wickedness will be punished by the Lord.

Whether it’s individual wickedness (i.e. a person’s sinful disobedience in not obeying the Lord’s command like Lot’s wife) or collective wickedness (i.e. the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah), the Lord will punish those who are wicked. He will not tolerate blatant sinfulness carried out in His sight.

Second, homosexuality is an abomination to God, no matter what the world might say.

We’re told Sodom and Gomorrah are wicked but we’re not told why until we get to the text in Genesis 19 which highlights the men of Sodom lusting to have sex with Lot’s two male guests. As punishment, God destroyed them and the city because of their illicit sexual behavior.

Over the past several decades, there has been increasing debate over the homosexuality issue and Christian living. The Bible is very clear that homosexuality is not acceptable to God and since God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all one in the same, then homosexuality is wrong no matter who it is placed before within the Trinity.

Third, God stays faithful to His promises.

God had made a special covenant with Abraham, blessing him and his family and it was this promise that ensured Lot and his family would get out of Sodom and Gomorrah before the destruction came. God stayed true to what He said to Abraham because He never goes back on His Word.

In closing, think about our world today and ask yourself if there are any modern day Sodoms or Gomorrahs, places that might warrant God to once again bring down judgment and bring a penalty for wickedness. One can only wonder what the Lord thinks when He looks down upon the world He created and sees just how much sin has been embraced over righteousness, so much so that people who do espouse for the ways of the scriptures are condemned and muted.

Our scriptures show us that God can and will take action when needed and no one should be so foolishly bold to underestimate His absolute hatred for wicked living. If they do, the burning sulfur could be falling on them next.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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