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I’m going to invite you to Genesis. Chapter 18 and 19 is where we’re at together today. Genesis chapter 18 and 19. And we’re going to deal with the excitement of Sodom and Gomorrah today. So if you’re familiar with that story, really, it’s the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and we’re going to be talking about escaping Sodom and Gomorrah. And so as you get to Genesis chapter 18 and 19, I want to just lay the background here by referencing a completely different passage. Uh, in the Gospel of John. In John chapter 13 to 17, you have the last hours Jesus spent with his disciples. John 17. The last moments that we find with Jesus before he goes to the cross. And what’s interesting in John 17, what he chooses to do is actually pray for his church. He prays for you and for me, and I don’t have time to get into all the prayer. But I think one of the things that’s very helpful is to look at John 17 honestly as the Lord’s Prayer. I know when someone says, What’s the Lord’s Prayer? You’re used to quoting Matthew six, right? Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You know, we often refer to that as the Lord’s Prayer. That is not the Lord’s Prayer, that is the disciples prayer. The disciples came to Jesus and asked Jesus, how do we pray? And Jesus taught him how to pray.
That’s the disciples prayer. If you want to know the Lord’s Prayer, John 17 is where you really see the heart of God as he’s praying for you. Jesus is praying for us. John 17 and in verse 14, I don’t have time to read it all, but in verse 14 I want you to see this. He says, I have given them your word, talking about the church, his people. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. Just as I am not of the world, I do not ask them to take them out of the world, but you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth as you sent them into the world. So I have sent them into the world. You know, we’re going to be dealing with the the sinfulness of Sodom and Gomorrah and the destruction it brought. But I want you to know God’s heart for his people in and around the area of Sodom. Gomorrah is the same heart he carries for us today. And when you read John 17, what God is interested in is not just protecting you from bad things. Like you can read John 17. It looks like some Christians could read this and be like, Jesus wants to keep me safe from the ickiness, right? So I need to hide myself and hunker down and and protect myself.
That’s God’s prayer. That’s not what God’s praying. Here is God’s understanding. He he’s created his church to live on mission in this world. And it’s going to be difficult to be light in darkness. But as you move through this world, God wants to see you honor him in all things to be holy, to be set apart, to demonstrate what it means to to honor God in your life. And so that’s what Jesus is. Prayer for his people is not not that just you will stay from bad things, right? But but more than that, you would be able to live on mission for his glory. Finding the joy of the Lord. As you live in the darkness of the world, that’s God’s heart for his people. And you know, when I want to read a passage like this, I’m often reminded that for God’s people, we don’t just typically outright just reject the Lord, right? Usually to walk disobedient from this or not, to live this out. It’s not because we just downright reject God. It’s because we get either discouraged or distracted. In fact, in John 18, that’s exactly what you you discover is right after this Jesus is crucified, his church scatters. They got discouraged and and got distraught and they ran away. And the same can be true for you that God calls you to walk in this world, transformed in him, knowing that the world wants to conform you to it, the world wants to pressure you.
And the way that that looks is like they just when you disagree with them, they scream louder in your ear over and over. And sometimes that can wear you out. But but rather what God desires us for us to do is focus on the joy of what it is to know him and to live that out in the world. And that’s what Jesus’s prayer is, is that regardless of what the world does or doesn’t do, your joy rests in Jesus. And as you remain fixed on that, who you are in Christ and what God has called you to, you’ve got a greater purpose to live for than just the the mundane of of what life or what people say life should be about in the world. And just for your own pleasure and your own glory and your own self, all that dies with you. And it takes advantage of others to be frank. But when you align your life with the Lord, you live for his glory to the blessing of others. And it’s something that endures for eternity. And that’s Jesus’s prayer for his people. And that’s important to to consider as we get into the idea of Sodom and Gomorrah, because I find sometimes people just leverage Sodom and Gomorrah as a way to, like, cast stones at other people rather than examining their own heart.
And but God’s desire is for his people to move in this world to make a difference. And so point number one in your notes is this godly living blesses others and you could add to it and glorifies God, right? Uh, godly living is about blessing others and honoring the Lord. And and you see this in Genesis 18, the second half of Genesis 18, if you remember where this how this story begins. Genesis 18 A couple angels and the Lord visit Abraham and Sarah, and there they stop, and they visit with Abraham and Sarah, but they’re on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah, and their purpose is to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. They haven’t told Abraham. This yet. But in in getting to Abraham in verse 19, it says something interesting about Abraham. It says, for I have chosen 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. And so it’s saying, look, God has chosen Abraham. It’s a it’s an act of God’s grace. It’s not because of Abraham being great. It’s because God’s great. We’ve I’ve said this, I think every week I hope it’s stuck with us that Abraham was a pagan man and a pagan land from a pagan family worshipping a pagan god with a pagan name.
That’s who Abraham was. But God intervened by his grace, rescued Abraham. But this gave Abraham new identity, new purpose, new value, new life, new new meaning to what he was doing. And so Abraham, by faith followed the Lord, and it transformed him. And God says to him, this isn’t supposed to just be with you. It’s supposed to work through you, that when you understand the richness of who God is and you see his love when you when you know that God didn’t owe you anything, but he still gave you his grace, you’ve never experienced a love like that. We see the full extent of it today, and knowing Jesus became flesh died for us. And that kind of love compels you to want connect to God more, but to honor, honor him with your life as he is honored you with his life. And so this is what I’m saying with the life of Abraham, that Abraham would reflect that not just to his house, but to the next generation and to or not just excuse me to himself, but the next generation and his household. And then he says it like this. It looks like this doing righteousness and justice. You’ll see this phrase reflected over and over throughout Scripture that when when the gospel transforms your life, it it also lives through your life. It becomes a tangible expression.
Like I could tell you right now, the way you’re choosing to live your life is a demonstration of what you ultimately worship, what you honor, where you find your worth, where you find your identity as a human being. The decisions you make are based on that. And so it’s saying, for someone who’s found their identity in God, this is how it should look. It should play out in a way of righteousness and justice that you you use your life and the things God has given you to bless those around you. In fact, God’s judgment is repeated over and over in Scripture when when God’s people neglect to do that. One of the most famous passages I think, that that speak about this is Micah six eight. He has shown you, oh, man, what’s good and what the Lord requires of you to do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with God. So the gospel transforms our life and the way that we live. And and so Abraham, he’s now in this position where he’s wrestling with that because, well, he’s he’s about to find out what’s going to happen to Sodom and Gomorrah, like God, how do you want me to influence the places and the people around me? And in verse 30, you see in this, this story that God, if you read from verse 19 on to verse 30, God is saying to the angels, there’s a dialogue with the angels.
Should we say to Abraham where we’re going moving on to Sodom and Gomorrah for destruction. And they’re they’re having this discussion. They decide to tell Abraham and Abraham, and hearing that, he asks God a question about this. My God, you’re going to bring judgment. And because he knows he’s received God’s grace and he wants to learn about how how God works in the midst of these situations. And I love this dialogue because of what it teaches us, one about God’s people and how we are to live in this world, but also about God Himself. How God is both just and God is both merciful. And Abraham asked these questions, and it reveals not only Abraham’s heart, but also the character of God. And Abraham asks, okay, God, if you’re going to go destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, what if there’s 50 righteous people? Will you destroy? If there’s 50 righteous people? God says, no, okay, what if there’s 45? We destroy if there’s 45, and God says, no, okay, what if there’s 40? And Abraham continues that pattern in verse 30, it says this. Then he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose 30 are found there, he answered, and I will not do it if I find 30. There he said, behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose 20 are found there. And God answered, for the sake of the 20, I will not destroy it.
Then he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak against. But this once suppose tener found there, and he answered, for the sake of the ten, I will not destroy it. And the Lord went on his way. When he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. So here’s what it’s recognizing for us one. The struggle of honoring God and the complexity of life. Right. Abraham is trying to understand, okay, Lord, where is your heart in this? Is it is it just about destroying people? And you discover that’s that’s not God’s heart at all. God is incredibly patient. In second Peter three nine, it tells us God is long suffering towards us, not willing any to perish, but all come to repentance like God doesn’t owe us anything. God can completely judge us at any moment because, well, he’s holy. We’re not. He’s not obligated to give us anything. And so the fact that we have today is an act of his grace, God’s grace and love. And so Abraham is learning about the nature of the Lord, and so are we, that God doesn’t emotionally just blow his lid and say, that’s it, I’ve had enough, right? But God is patient, long suffering. In fact, we’ve seen this in Scripture. We talked about it even with the idea of of Noah and the ark that God for hundreds of years warned the people in Noah’s day.
That’s why you have Methuselah in the Bible. Remember that Methuselah, who lived over 900 years, his name translates as after him comes judgment. And it’s a demonstration and a warning to people that you need to turn to the Lord and God prolonged methuselah’s life longer than anybody as a warning to the world. God is incredibly patient for hundreds of years before he brings judgment. And I would say that that tends to be the nature of God, that he’s patient with us, but also he’s holy and he’s just. And so Abraham is learning about this. And so Abraham is learning about asking the question, uh, through, through through the judgment of what if there’s 50 people, right? What if there’s what if there’s 40 people? What if there’s 30? What if there’s 20? What if there’s ten? But also you’re learning about the humility of Abraham because Abraham realizes I’m not God and I don’t fully understand, which is why you see this, this humble posture in the way Abraham is asking these questions. God, I’m not asking this in order to, to, to, to be judge over you, but God, I I’m learning about you as I’m learning about this situation. And so he’s he’s asking these questions to discover both the justice and mercy of God and how that works in this world. And so Abraham is engaging in this. And then it goes on in verse 29, and it reveals something to us about about the grace of God.
And Abraham made known what you discover when when God goes to Sodom and Gomorrah is really there’s one righteous person. That’s what it says in Scripture. There’s one righteous person, and his righteousness is only by grace, but it’s lot. And in Genesis 19, verse 29, I know this is the next chapter, but it kind of skips ahead as a as a way of declaring how Abraham, the righteous of God worked in Abraham’s life, impacted other people. And it says in chapter 19, verse 29, so it was that when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which lot had lived. So it says, look, there weren’t ten righteous people, but God found one. His name was lot. And because of Abraham’s concern for the well-being of others, especially lot, God rescued lot. God pulled lot out of out of that situation. Um, but but in a bigger picture, really, this this story of Abraham is revealing as to what’s happening in the life of Abraham versus the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember, we talked about this the last couple of weeks in chapter 17 and 18. You have this practice of circumcision, which I know is a wonderful topic to discuss among, uh, among the crowd. But you have Genesis chapter 17 and 18 talking about circumcision, and then chapter 18 and 19 talking about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And I said to you, it’s not a mistake that the story that precedes the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is the story of circumcision. And the reason is because these two situations kind of demonstrate what it is to have a life surrendered to the Lord, and what it is to live a life for for yourself, for your own glory and your own pleasure, as if you were God. And in chapter 17, we talked about the idea of circumcision being this picture of of all of you being dedicated to, to the Lord. You know, I could have offered suggestions to God out of all the things that we could do as as human beings, to show dedication right. In the Old Testament. We don’t have to the old covenants been fulfilled. So circumcision isn’t taught in the New Testament, but but under the Old Covenant, when they would go through circumcision like I could have suggested to God, you know, a tattoo or an ear piercing or a shave your head bald or something, something other than the circumcision. But why is circumcision? I think circumcision is a way of communicating that God wants all of your life, even the most personal, intimate parts of you given over to him. To let God shape who you are because God has created you for his reasons, his intentions, his purposes.
And when we live our lives for his glory, it’s to the benefit of others, to the to the glory of God. But when we live life for our glory, it’s to the destruction of others, to the honoring of ourselves. And this is what you see in the story of Abraham versus Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, it’s not to say Abraham lived a perfect life. We’re seeing him grow in the Lord over these chapters. But what what you find in this story is how in Abraham aligning his life with the Lord, how that extended into another community that was utterly opposed to who God was, and there was one who found their life rescued, and his name was lot. And so here in the story of Abraham, you see how one person given over to the Lord becomes a blessing to others. So his, his family and to even this neighboring town, at least this individual who was his nephew that lived in the neighboring town. But point number two, in your notes, is this word worldly living is destructive for the soul. Worldly living is destructive to the soul. And in chapter 19 of Genesis, this story then starts to unfold. Dealing with the the person who is lot and said, the two angels, the angels that had just previously visited Abraham. The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.
Sitting in the gate is a place of influence. Everyone had to walk through the gate to get into a city, and usually the people at the gate were the leaders of the community. And so a lot is in that position. When lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, My Lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way. And they said, no, we will spend the night in the town square. But he pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread. And they ate. But verse four. But when? But before they lay down the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, 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. 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. Um. In the beginning of this story. We start. We start to see lot’s character unfold in somewhat. It looks like a godly way. In fact, lot is a little bit of a confusing figure in the way he tries to, let’s say, attempt to honor the Lord in his life.
It just referred to him as righteous in Genesis 19 verse 29. But I think it’s important to see the kind of righteousness that that lot lives in this passage. I mean, what you see in the beginning, in Genesis chapter 19 is a lot as a person of hospitality, just like Abraham in Genesis 18. But the uniqueness of lot’s hospitality is different than Abraham’s. You remember in Genesis 18, Abraham saw the angels coming. He went and told Sarah, and they prepared a meal, and they didn’t prepare any meal. They took all day preparing a meal. Here you find in Genesis 19, lot wants to be hospitable. He doesn’t even tell his wife that that these visitors are coming. It’s as if to say the wife’s not even interested in participating. In fact, she’s not even really named in the story other than, say, she’s Lot’s wife. And then and in a moment, she’s going to be turned into a pillar of salt. But lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt. That’s all it said about her. But she’s not participating in the hospitality. And even the type of hospitality is unique. Abraham above and beyond lot. He just makes unleavened bread, which means bread that doesn’t have to take time to rise, bread that you can make quickly. But nonetheless, lot is hospitable to the people, to the point when he invites them to his house, he goes outside and tries to stand up for them.
When the people of the community want to come and take advantage of them. And so lot is offering himself as this go between to for the protection of these two people, which he doesn’t know her angels yet. He doesn’t find that out until after verse nine. But lot’s trying to to care for them, right? So it looks like it’s demonstrating godliness. In fact, in second Peter two seven talking about lot, it said God rescued righteous lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked. But here’s what’s interesting about lot with lot’s distressed. Some translations say torment. I don’t necessarily think the torment or the distress is happening in the community beyond him. What I mean is lot’s living in a place of darkness. And yes, it’s frustrating for him to live in a place of darkness. But but even more than that, I think the distress and torment is internal in lot because as you read on in the Life of Light, you find that lot. While it may look like he’s honoring the Lord here and care for people, he may just be practicing what’s common in the culture and the culture. The expectation that day is if you saw a stranger in need, you would help. That’s why Abraham did it in Genesis 18. But Abraham went above and beyond.
Abraham honored them greatly in how he cared for them. Lot’s doing common hospitality, which could just simply be cultural. And the reason I say that is because of what you read. As the story continues, it says in verse eight, after lot goes out and begs the people not to take advantage of these two angels, says, behold, here’s what lot offers. Instead, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let let me bring them out to you and do to them as you please, only do nothing to them, for they have come under the shelter of my roof. How despicable does a place have to be where someone logically thinks that that is a good option, right? Like let’s let’s go plan B, maybe they’ll go for this. This is a better choice and a lot decides I’m going to have an issue through it again. Lot decides to to to make this offer uh, to to his daughters, which is horrific, right? I mean, we can look at that today and be like, that is not a good option. That is a terrible choice. For a lot to do that. But it’s revealing of just how corrupt Lutz Hart is, right? That the torment is not just beyond him, but within him. What does it look like to honor God? And it was at this moment that the angels finally say, step back, we’re going to destroy this place.
Like this is everything here is just terrible. Like what’s being offered, what’s happening here. And then verse 14, knowing that the angels are going to destroy this place, lot goes on to warn people, look at this. So lot went out and said to his son, son in law’s who were to marry his daughters up, get up of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city. But he seemed to his son in laws to be jesting, meaning they’re laughing at him. So verse 15, as the morning dawned, the angels urged lot, saying, up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city. But he lingered, so the men seized him, and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, Lord being merciful to him. And they brought him out, and set him outside the city. Here’s what it’s saying. A lot may have given the appearance of godliness, but the world is certainly in him. And could you imagine, verse 14, how this would have looked a lot. Sons. Right. He’s helping these angels. He find out the land is going to be destroyed. And he goes into his sons and says, run away for the sake of the girls. Like run away right there. Angels are coming. Grab your families and go. And the men laugh at him. And here’s why they laugh at him. Because this is the same guy who just tried to offer his daughters up to people to destroy them, right? And how can they take that serious? How can they turn around and say, lot, you were just about to offer these girls up and they would have been killed, and now you want us to run away with them because, well, they’re going to be killed.
It doesn’t make any sense. Right. And so they’re laughing at lot because his relationship to the Lord can’t be taken seriously. It’s very much compromised. And how he wants to to honor God to the point when the time finally comes for the for the city to be destroyed, a lot lingers. And what it’s saying is lot loves what he has. Lot loves where he lives, and he wants to stay in that pleasure. The angels have to grab him by the hand and drag him out. And it tells you in verse 29 why they do that. It’s the concern of Abraham. Lot’s heart is given over to the world. And so you see this, this tension in the life of of lot that even coming to his sons to say to you, us as believers, you cannot transform what you’re already conformed to. Right? Does that make sense? So like in terms of being a Christian in this world, if you look just like the world, you’re Jesus is not going to influence it. And it’s because the love of the world is too much in you.
God calls you to be holy, separate other. And the encouragement to us in this passage too is when God leads your life, don’t delay. All right, lots lingering. But if God’s calling you to something to reject something to make your life completely different, other holy, separate for his glory, then let your life follow that. Don’t delay in that. And here you see in the story where lot is subjugating himself to the things of this world rather than the things of God. And can I tell you, when we talk in terms of living a godly life, this is not look at Sodom. Sodom is bad. Therefore you be good, right? It’s bad to be bad. It’s good to be good. Don’t be bad, be good. But rather what it’s saying is when you see the destruction of what life is and you see the goodness of God made known, the grace of God revealed in your life, give your life to him. The result of that relationship is a life that’s glorifying to the Lord and a blessing to others. Christianity is not about stop being bad, start being good. Christianity is about making your life completely different, rejecting these things, running from it, and saying, God, you made you made me for a purpose. And how can I live that out to honor you as you’ve given your life to honor me? I want to know you more.
Right. And so the works that Christians do isn’t isn’t because isn’t to earn God’s love. It’s because we’ve received God’s love. And this is where lot needs to go. And he’s reflecting really the heart of Sodom and Gomorrah, the reason God’s bringing the destruction, even even a godly person here, rather than walk with the Lord, the one godly person in the land is walking contrary to God. So the question then is why? Why does God destroy Sodom? Why does God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? Um, you know, you might just off the cuff, have a quick answer to that, but can I tell you the answer is a little deeper than just behavior? I told you in the beginning, your behavior is a reflection of what you truly believe. And so the answer isn’t God destroyed them just simply because of a behavior, but rather God brings judgment on them because of what’s resting in their heart. That’s demonstrated in their behavior. And in Exodus chapter 16 or excuse me, Ezekiel 16, it identifies this. It talks about the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. It says, behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, excess of food and prosperous ease. But look at this did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me, so I removed them when I saw it. So here’s what’s saying. First, it starts with a deeper idea of what was going on in their heart before it starts talking about the particulars of their behavior.
But it’s saying their life was blessed. They had an abundance of what they needed. And it talks about that, right? Excess of food and prosperous of ease. They had things around them, but what did they do with it? Rather than use it to bless other people, they use it to take advantage of other people and they hurt the people around them. Remember I told you in the beginning that God’s interest is in justice and righteousness? How we live that out in our lives to do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God. God’s judgment over and over in Scripture is is against people who who continue to take the things that God has given them and rather than use it for his glory out of a relationship with the Lord, they use it for their own glory, to the detriment of people around them. What they had wasn’t enough for them, and so they were taken advantage of each other in order to get more. And so God brings judgment upon them. It says in verse 50, they were haughty and did abomination before me. Now more particularly, this outworks not just in taking advantage of one another, but exploiting one another sexually. That is what you see in Scripture. In Genesis 18 and Genesis 19. It says in both places that there was an outcry in the land, which means oppression, that they’re oppressing one another.
In fact, you see this most specifically with the people that showed up to lot’s house and they said to lot, bring out the angels that we may know them. The word no here is very much dealing with sexual intimacy. In fact, it’s the same word in Genesis chapter three and four, when Adam knew his wife for the first time. It’s this, this description of sexual intimacy, meaning they want to take advantage of of the angels at lot’s house. They’re asking them, bring them out. And no one at this point knows that they’re angels, but they want to rape them. They want to take advantage of them. When you read about the idea of the degradation of society in Scripture and even in the New Testament, the way that Romans lays out is is very interesting. And I don’t I won’t have time to bring this up, but I’ll give you the reference if you want to read it later. Romans 18 to Romans. Uh, Romans chapter one, verse 18 to Romans, chapter one, verse 27. Paul says, the wrath of God is against our disobedience. And it goes on to describe our disobedience. And as it describes it, it describes the the diminishing of humanity, the demise of humanity. And it shows this progression of taking the things that God has created for his glory and us serving and worshiping creature rather than creator.
And then through that start to honor ourselves. And we live life for our own pleasures and our own desires. And in so doing, it begins to influence everything we do. And the last thing it describes in Romans what happens is our sexuality. We see our sexuality as totally belonging to ourselves and for our own pleasure, and we use it for that purpose and therefore take advantage of one another. And God brings his judgment. In fact, in Jude chapter one, verse seven, uh, the author of Jude is writing to a church and he’s saying, there’s false teachers among you, and those false teachers are coming to you and saying, do whatever you want sexually. And and the way that these teachers are teaching, they’re saying this, um, God cares about you spiritually. What you do physically doesn’t matter as long as you know the Lord intellectually and you give your heart to God spiritually. What you do doesn’t matter physically. And so that’s what they’re teaching in the in the book of Jude. And finally, in Jude chapter one verse seven, Jude says, no, that’s not godly. God created you all, all of you for his purpose. And Jude uses Sodom and Gomorrah as the illustration of the destruction that that leads to. So if you want to look at the demise of a humanity, the final slope of our demise is that we get to a place where sexually, we do whatever we want, and that brings about destruction.
So what’s the problem with Sodom and Gomorrah? Well, when people look at Sodom and Gomorrah, some people may have a difficult time wondering why God gets so frustrated. Because according to some of our the way beliefs are shaped today, the way we are taught to think is this if you believe life is about whatever makes you happy, as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else, then you’re okay to do whatever it is that you want. You know God’s here to serve you, to make you happy because life is about your pleasure. And so therefore, you can use whatever God’s given you for your own pleasure. It doesn’t matter how you do that, as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else. In terms of sexuality, the way that we could describe it is it’s your body. Whatever makes you happy, follow your desires. As long as you get consent from someone else, it doesn’t matter, because it’s not harming anyone. And that’s that’s called, uh, excuse me, ethics of consequence. And as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else, it’s okay to do. Um, ethics of consequence is a type of ethic. That’s not the biblical ethic. That’s not what God has for us or not what God says that we should do as his people. But we if we believe that life is just simply about whatever makes you happy, you wake up with your desires and you do what you want.
We have a difficult time seeing why God would hold us to a different. Standard if it’s not what we desire, what we want, because, well, I just exist to make me happy. So the question is then how do you determine if it’s not consequential ethics? How do you determine what’s right or what’s wrong? All of us have a a let’s say, sexual ethic. All of us have boundaries to what we might find acceptable or not acceptable. I’m going to get a little extreme here just because our culture is a little extreme. Uh, to hopefully find a common baseline for us for just a minute. Okay. Um, in terms of sexuality, I’m going to give you three scenarios. And every one of these scenarios, the answer to to them is no. Okay. Just so you know, the answer is no. Um, let’s say this morning we had someone that that was I don’t care if it’s male or female, but 50 years old, someone that’s 50 years old. They come in with an 11 year old, male or female, doesn’t matter to me. And they just say, well, we love each other. We both love each other. We mutually consent to this relationship and we just want to be happy. So therefore we should be able to do what we want to do because it’s my life, my body, you know, I’m 50, they’re 11, but we’re happy and we love one another.
Who are you to say that we we shouldn’t do this right? Is is is that right? No. Okay. You know, you don’t have to answer this out loud. You should be able to say no to that. Um, what if I give another outlandish example and I said, well, people today, they Americans, we really love our pets, right? So what if someone has this really great relationship with their pet and they they want to take it to the next level and, you know, marry their pet? I don’t even that shouldn’t be even the next level. But, um, they want to marry their pet, right? Is that they the pet loves them. They love their pet can. Are they allowed to do that? Is like like they they love each other, right? Who are you to say to say that that’s wrong, right? I mean, they should be able to do that because, well, it’s their life, their body. That’s what makes them happy. They, they, they enjoy one another. Or what if this will become a story in Sodom and Gomorrah in a minute? But what if a parent decides I want to have a relationship with my my children? Right. Uh, we we want to get married because we love each other. Maybe the the spouse lost their. I don’t know what just happened. Their spouse just lost their, um, their spouse.
And they decide they love their children, want to continue their family, and then they decide, well, we’re just going to get married in that in that family. And they say, who are you to judge? Right? This is this is my body, my right. This is what I, I want to do. So therefore you can’t withhold me. This is my desire. And the question is, is that right? No, but but the bigger question we should be asking is who determines that? Who determines what’s right or what’s wrong? Where does the greatest authority come from? If you say no but they say yes, you got to appeal to something greater than yourselves outside of yourselves, right? You’re you’re not the moral authority. So where do you go? Well, some would say the answer to that is either government or culture. That government writes certain laws and that’s what makes things right or wrong. Others will say, well, it’s culture might makes right. So whatever culture pushes, that’s what we’re to do. We’re to honor that as a as a cultural group and people that don’t believe in God, that’s what they have to come away with. Because there’s no ultimate morality, because there’s no ultimate morality. You just kind of came into existence. And so it’s either government or culture that determines right from wrong. But that’s exactly what makes things like Nazi Germany. That’s the kind of thing that produces slavery and cultures. In fact, um, excuse me, Booker T Washington said this a lie doesn’t become truth.
Wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good just because it’s accepted by a majority. And what he’s saying is, look, government may make laws, but just because government may make laws doesn’t mean it honors the Lord. Just because the government says you should do it or you shouldn’t do it, or you can do it or you can’t do it, doesn’t mean that it necessarily obeys God, but rather for a believer to understand this, that when God calls me to walk with him, it means I give to God all of me and therefore allow God to to align my life for his purposes in creating me. And I use the things God has given me, including my body, for his glory. And so what is it that God desires for me? Can God take my desires? What if I desire something and I really want it? And but in terms of sexuality, they could have argued that. And Sodom and Gomorrah, I desire this. Are you telling me I can’t have it? And the answer to that is yes. Yes. In Matthew 16 verse 24, Jesus says, he who wants to follow after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. There’s a surrendering of your life to who God is, to allow God to shape that purpose. Because God made you for a reason greater than yourself.
Now certainly God gave desires, and when those desires align with him, great. And when they don’t submit. And sexuality is a part of that. There’s certainly pleasure in sexuality, but you don’t necessarily have to even partake of all that to enjoy a relationship with the Lord. In fact, Jesus lived the life of a version for over 30 years, and Jesus lived a fulfilling life. And first Corinthians chapter six, verse 20, it says, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God with your body. So it’s not just simply about don’t do bad, do good, stop doing wrong things. Don’t look at porn. That’s but rather understand God gave your you a life and a body to honor him and the things that you do with it. And to demonstrate that in an attitude of worship. What you do with your body is a means of worship to God, and so to to live your life for for his purpose as a blessing to others, to to follow after the world is the destruction of your flesh and destruction of your soul. Um, James, chapter three verse 14 says this. But if you have selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes from above, but is earthly and spiritual demonic. For where selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder and every vile practice. What he’s saying with selfish ambition is really the desires of your heart can be wrong.
And if you just pursue the desires of your heart, it won’t be for God’s glory and it will take advantage of other people. That’s what he’s saying in James chapter three. So learn to surrender your desires to God’s desires is a reshaping of who you are for his purposes in this world. So point number three in your notes is this then. God redeems. God redeems. Sodom and Gomorrah is a very sobering story. And people. When they read the story, they tend to react one of two ways. Either their heart gets hardened to what God does here, or we become sensitive to what God’s doing here, and we begin to become reflective in our own heart. In fact, this is the way Jesus referenced Sodom, Gomorrah, Gomorrah in the Gospels. In Matthew chapter 11, verse 24, Jesus said this, but I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. Jesus in the first century is looking to the people, the towns where he has performed his miracles. And rather than embrace them, their hearts have become hardened to him. And Jesus is saying, look, we can we can look at Sodom and Gomorrah, and you could talk about them being bad people, and you can try to cast stones at people like this when you read Scripture. But truth be told, one of the best things that you can do as you read through difficult passages of the Bible is to use that as an opportunity to reflect on your own heart.
To say, where are you lingering from? Running from what God is calling you to run from in order to run toward what God is calling you to run toward. And just like lot lingered in Sodom and Gomorrah rather than pursue the Lord. And where is God wanting to lead your life? That you’re you’re given over to the things of the world rather than the things of God. That’s why Jesus is saying to the people around him, how is your own heart reflecting Sodom and Gomorrah? And it played out in certain ways physically for them that were dishonoring to God. But so it does in our own life, where we make excuses for, for, for things as if they’re of the Lord when they’re not. But but in the story, it’s also important to see that God God redeems. In fact, at the very end of Genesis, something, something happens that continues perpetuates Gomorrah and Sodom and Gomorrah. Even though Sodom and Gomorrah have been destroyed, the heart of what Sodom and Gomorrah is still rests in lot’s family. And as this place is being destroyed, look in verse 30, you find out just a few verses before lot’s wife is killed. What’s life becomes a pillar of salt that tells us.
And the reason she becomes a pillar of salt is because she turned back to Sodom and Gomorrah. And it’s not saying, look, she just turned her head and then she was destroyed. But rather what is saying is her heart wanted to go back to Sodom and Gomorrah. So she she turned back to Sodom and Gomorrah. She would rather die with that city than follow after God. And so lot’s wife perish. But then his daughters come up with this idea in verse 30. Now lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. And the firstborn said to the younger, our father was old, and there is not a man on earth to come in into us after the manner of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father. Oh, yeah, that just happened, right? Like the daughters decided that it would be a good idea to sleep with their dad. Right? And so lot gets taken advantage of, and and it tells you at the very end of the chapter that out of this verse 37, come the Moabite people and the ammonite people, Moabite people and the ammonite people become a thorn to Israel. But but what you see is a perpetuation of godlessness.
Wanting to use their life for purposes they think are good, but are dishonoring to God. And the result of that is it births, godless people, people that don’t want to follow after the Lord. But but out of the difficulty of this story, there’s something important I think all of us should should know as the Bible unfolds, as that in the midst of darkness, no matter how deep our sin goes, God’s grace can go deeper still. In fact, you don’t see this till several books later. But when you get to the Book of Ruth, the Book of Ruth is a story about a Jewish family that are suffering through a famine, and they decide to leave that land, to go to a place that’s more fertile at the time, which is a land of the Moabites. And when they get there, this Jewish family have have young men, and the two young men marry Moabite women. One of those Moabite women give their gives her life to the Lord. And her name is Ruth. In fact, Ruth, chapter one, verse 22. Naomi, we learn, loses her husband and her two sons. They all die, and Naomi goes back to her land, her homeland, to be near the people that she knows. And it says in Ruth the Moabite, her daughter in law went with her on her return from the country of Moab. And here’s the incredible thing about Ruth’s story. As Ruth became the direct descendant of King David, and from King David comes Jesus.
In fact, when you read the Christmas story in Matthew chapter one, when it deals with the lineage of Christ, Ruth’s lineage is listed there. God redeems this difficult situation. As I say all that to say this to you. God is bigger than your past. But we’ve got to be willing to trust them with our future for him to direct us down that road. Right. We’ve got to trust in him by grace, in what he desires to do in our lives, to understand this world. There may be desires. In fact, people may be screaming at us in our face if we want to do something contrary to what it is that they want. But there is one way to honor the Lord, and that is completely surrendering who I am to him. And in that the Bible tells us there is great joy. No matter where I’ve come from, God can redeem the complexity of my past. God can completely transform my my life, my desires, my heart to walk with him. God’s more interested in where your heart is in him. And when you read the story of Ruth, it’s a reflection to all of us that even even in Genesis, as the story ends with a difficult thing happening in relationship between lot and his his daughters, that God’s hand can still work in that to bring a story of redemption.