Were the Sodomites Really Wicked? || Genesis 18:23 - 19:11 || Session 33 || Verse by Verse Bible Study

In this verse by verse Bible study session, we journey through the compelling Biblical narrative of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Abraham's attempt to negotiate with God unveils profound lessons for us all. Join in as we dissect the intricate dance between faith, sin, and righteousness, revealing that our deeds alone do not define us in the eyes of the Almighty God. This episode takes you through the paradox of living amidst sin while holding fast to faith, as illustrated by Lot's life in Sodom. We explore the delicate nature of God's forgiveness and the heartening simplicity of repentance, reassuring you that salvation is always within grasp. Join our spiritual expedition that promises to fortify your understanding of Scripture and bolster your relationship with God, as we offer a fresh perspective on these timeless tales of judgment, mercy, and redemption.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:18

Welcome to today's session of Reasoning Through the Bible. We're in Genesis, chapter 18. We're to the point where God has appeared to Abraham and has told him that he was going to wipe out the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham asked the question will you destroy it if there's righteous people there? And we'll go ahead and read, starting in Genesis 18, verse 23.

Speaker 1 0:43

Abraham came near and said Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city. Will you indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of 50 righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from you. Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly so?

Speaker 1 1:11

The Lord said If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account. And Abraham replied Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. Suppose the 50 righteous are lacking five. Will you destroy the whole city because of five? And he said I will not destroy it if I find 45 there. He spoke to him yet again and said suppose 40 are found there? And he said I will not do it on account of the 40. Then he said oh, may the Lord not be angry and I shall speak only this once. Suppose 10 are found there. And he said I will not destroy it on account of the 10. As soon as he had finished speaking to Abraham, the Lord departed and Abraham returned to his place.

Speaker 1 2:19

In this section, abraham is told that God's going to destroy the city of Sodom. And Abraham, are you going to destroy the righteous along with the wicked? And he starts at 50, then he goes to 45, then 40, and they have this little conversation. So, steve, is it the case here that God is sort of like a vendor in a marketplace that we can start at a high price and we can just bargain with him until he gets down to the one we like?

Speaker 2 2:46

I think it does give an explanation of the type of relationship that Abraham had with God for him to be able to carry on a conversation like with him. But no, he's not. He's entertaining Abraham. We talked about in our last session that this was a teaching moment, that God was explaining to Abraham what's going on. Because he said after all, abraham is going to be a blessing to all the other nations. I'm going to reveal to him that I'm fixing to destroy these cities and why I'm going to destroy them. But in this I think we can see Abraham negotiating this down to 10, because I think he has in his mind that that's how many are in part of Lot's family. Is there's 10 members of Lot's family and as the story progresses that we'll see in a little bit, it's not even, it's less than 10, not even all of Lot's family are taken out or get out. That's kind of the background, I think, why maybe Abraham stopped at 10. He said, okay, that will at least cover my nephew a lot in his family.

Speaker 1 3:47

What I would respond to this is this is not a bargaining session. First of all, through this entire session, god never changes his mind. If you look at it carefully, abraham is just asking questions Would you do it for 50? Would you do it for 50? Would you do it for 45? God is merely just saying yes every time, or I would not every time. Therefore, god isn't changing his mind here, from 50 to 45 to 40. No, no, abraham's just asking the question.

Speaker 1 4:19

I submit for consideration that Abraham could have gone down to one and said Lord, would you destroy the city even if there was one righteous person? I think God would have said no, I wouldn't destroy the city if there's one righteous person, because that is the character of God that's presented in the entire rest of the Bible. What are we told? We're told that in Thessalonians that God will not pour out his wrath on his children. The only people that are considered righteous are the ones that have repented and put their faith in the Lord. If people have repented and put their faith in the Lord, he's not going to destroy the city. Again, we talked last time about this Jonah going to Nineveh many places where God pulls out the people before he destroys it. What happened to Noah and the ark? Noah was the one righteous person because he repented and God saved him and his family and destroyed the rest of the earth Over and over again. The character of God is such that he doesn't destroy his children. As long as his children are in that city, he won't destroy it. As we're going to see, he pulls out Lot, because Lot was considered righteous.

Speaker 1 5:35

Even if Abraham would have gone down to one and said Lord, would you do it if there's even one righteous person? Of course he stopped at 10. But I think God would have said, no, I'm not going to destroy it if there's even one righteous person. Of course he stopped at 10, but I think God would have said, no, I'm not going to destroy it if there's even one. Now I think this, steve, gives us a clue as far as end times prophecy. Are God's children, the church, going to go through the great tribulation period? And I say no. Is God going to pour out his wrath on the earth, even if there's one righteous person? Here? I would say no, simply based on passages like this and in Thessalonians God's not going to pour out his wrath on his people, he didn't pour out his wrath on his righteous children in Sodom. He didn't pour out his wrath on his righteous children in Noah and the flood, and he's not going to do it in the end times.

Speaker 2 6:26

Comments on that. I think you're right on that. These are good examples to refer to as we talk about that, and we're going to see a little bit more in these chapter 19, of how it comes about that Lot is taken out of there and the reasons why these cities are going to be destroyed. But the conversation between God and Abraham is also, I think, to show that there was not many righteous people there considered righteous that it for sure was less than 10. It's a lesson to us to show that God isn't doing something just out of a rash decision and that he is considering the condition of the cities themselves. The question could have come up if we had the scripture that God went down and we had the story of. Well, I wonder how many other righteous people were there. He only saved Lot's family. Well, through this conversation that we have with Abraham and God, we know that there is no other other people. It was only Lot and his family members at least, that were taken out of there.

Speaker 1 7:36

In the next chapter we're going to find out exactly how wicked these people are and deserving of being destroyed. We can also assume a few things based on God's character in other places. First of all, in 2 Peter it talks about this exact passage and it says there that God was not going to destroy Sodom until he had gotten Lot out of there. That's the point is because he looked down and he saw this righteous man, lot. Not because of anything Lot did, we're going to find out. Lot's a sinful man, just like all of us, but he had faith. That's why he's considered righteous, because Lot had gotten guidance from the Lord. Then the sin around him bothered him. That's what it says in 2 Peter. The other thing we can conclude based on God's character in other places God never destroys a city until he has sent a message in.

Speaker 1 8:28

We don't have everything that God ever did recorded in the scriptures. The scriptures record some of the things God did, the things he wants us to know, but God always sent prophets in. I mean, look at Isaiah. Isaiah is a long series of prophecy to nations around Israel. He sent Jonah into the nations around them. God sends a prophet in before he sends judgment. I submit that God probably sent a prophet in here and they refused to repent. That's God's character in the entire rest of the scriptures.

Speaker 1 9:01

This passage also tells us that Abraham cares for people. Abraham had rescued these same people from Sodom when they had gotten kidnapped. Now Abraham has this heart for these people, even though he knew they were sinful. Steve, I find that interesting here. Abraham had an idea of how sinful these people really were, but yet he intercedes here before God for them. He says God, is there a way to spare the city? Knowing that they're sinful, he still pleads before God to stop their destruction. Steve, I've seen Christians that are exactly the opposite, that see somebody out there that sin and they get hateful and they want to see those people's destruction. I find that a lot of times the heart of Abraham for I mean, the people of Sodom were very evil, but yet God had a heart for them and so did Abraham. Abraham is sitting here interceding for them. Is it possible for the Christian to pray for sinful people that?

Speaker 2 10:08

God would not destroy them and to have a heart for them to do that. The knowledge of how sinful the people were go back to chapter 13, whenever Abraham came to Lot and said you choose which way you want to go and I'll go the opposite way. Lot chose the plush area on the plain there where those cities were, of Sodom. It says in 13, 13,. It says now, the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord. It was even known back then, when Lot was going down there, that this Sodom was an area that was full and a city that was full of sinners. So again, this isn't something that has just kind of been built up shortly. This is something that they have been active in before they were even taken away by the kings. Abraham rescued them. They had been at this sinful way for many, many years, decades possibly.

Speaker 1 11:10

If we today see people around us that are in gross sin, that possibly have even hurt us emotionally, but they're in gross sin, can we pray for them? And can we pray that say God have mercy on these people? Is that a prayer that the Christian can pray today?

Speaker 2 11:27

It is a prayer that we should pray. We should want everyone to come to salvation through Jesus Christ. We're told through one of Peter's epistles that God desires that all would become saved. How can we have anything less than want people to become saved as well? Yeah, it's something that we should pray for on a continuing basis that everyone come to the Lord Jesus Christ and have salvation in him.

Speaker 1 11:55

If we have people around us church members maybe that commit sins. We should have a broken heart for these people. We should not rise up in hatred towards them. We should pray God's blessing and mercy upon them. We should pray that God guides them back to the truth Maybe not God's blessing necessarily, but we should pray God's hand of guidance is on them and God's mercy is on them. That's what Abraham's praying for is God, don't destroy them, don't punish them, even though he knew they were very wicked. I find that Abraham's heart was great towards these people. I think that's probably a good example for us to pray for the sinful people and not have hatred against them. Now, as church leaders, we always have to deal with sin. That's a different issue, but we should deal with it with a broken heart and with a cold blood and a level head, and not raise our anger.

Speaker 1 12:47

Let's go ahead and move on to the next chapter, Genesis 19. In Genesis 19, verse 1, says this Now, the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. So, Steve, it says here in this verse that Lot was sitting in the gate. What is the significance of Lot sitting in the gate of?

Speaker 2 13:14

Sodom. It shows that he was an elder of the city or some sort of an official, because that's where the official sat. All the business, main business and commerce was done at city gates. We see in other areas we saw in the book of Ruth that when Boaz went to negotiate with her next of kin, initially that was done at the city gate. We see in other scripture that things happen at the city gate. It shows that now Lot has moved from living next to Sodom to living in Sodom. Now he's sitting at the city gate as an official of the city itself. We see a progression of Lot as he is living there in Sodom.

Speaker 1 14:03

He's gotten comfortable being around these people in the city. If we take this to today many Christians, we may feel like we're living in Sodom. A lot of the things around us are just evil a lot of times For the Christian that's trying to be righteous and trying to live, for myself, a righteous life. What is the risk for Christians today if we get too comfortable living in a godless society? What's the risk?

Speaker 2 14:38

The risk is is that the godless society affects us and we become doers of some of those godless things that happen. I think there's another lesson the original reason that lot went down there changed. He got sucked in to the worldly ways. Does that ever happen with us?

Faith, Sin, and Righteousness

Speaker 1 14:49

In the city is the place still today, is the place to make money. It's the place where you can have a business, you can have a wealthier life, a lot of times raise your standard of living, but I submit that sometimes it's better to be poorer and live in a righteous place, or at least a evil place, than it is to move into Sodom, because that's exactly what happened, as we're going to see, by Lot moving into Sodom. It affected him and his family, because, being around all the evil, the natural human tendency is for us to be drawn into that and to get callous towards it. I know, steve, I try best I can to live my life according to the scriptures, but we live in a world that just doesn't line up with that. Things that used to bother me a lot now seem small and it seems like every year comes along there's an even greater kind of sin that we never thought of before. It just gets worse and worse in our towns and our cities and our culture. So, my Christian friend, live your thought, life and your meditations in the scriptures and not in the world around us, because if we get too comfortable being in the world around us, then someday we'll wake up and find ourselves sitting as an elder in the gate of Sodom and not being bothered by it. Because, second Peter says he was bothered by it but he wasn't bothered enough to leave. He was bothered but it didn't bother him enough to get his family out of the city, the wicked city, so that his family wouldn't be sucked in to all the evil With this.

Speaker 1 16:28

A couple other notices here in this verse one, the word angel just means messenger. So these were two messengers of God. We know they had supernatural abilities because they're about to destroy the city. They had some ability to make decisions about when that's going to happen. But on the other hand, they must have appeared as men because of how the people of Sodom treated them. We have here heavenly beings that had the power of heaven given to them by God, but they appear as men. I'd just like to point that out because that's one of the critical things that's going here Again. When the Lord Jesus Christ appeared, he appeared as just a man. He was 100% human, but he was also divine and heavenly. That precedent is set throughout the Old Testament, steve, if you could go ahead and read Genesis 19, starting in verse 2 and going down to verse 11.

Speaker 2 17:21

And he said Behold my lords, please turn aside into your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet, then you may rise early and go on your way. They said, however no, but we will spend the night in the square. Yet he urged them strongly so that they turned aside to him and entered his house, and he prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread and they ate. Before 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, and they called to Lot and said to him when are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we might have relations with them. But Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him and said Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.

Speaker 2 18:09

Now, behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man. Please let me bring them out to you and you do to them whatever you like. Only do nothing to these men inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof. 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 the lot and came near to break the door, but the men reached out their hands and brought lot into the house with them and shut the door. They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

Speaker 1 18:52

Wow, steve, that's a very ugly story, one of the most ugly ones in the entire scriptures. Let's kind of walk through this. Lot had started out, as we said, in a tent outside of town and now here in verse 3, he has this house inside town. He's joined the culture of Sodom. 2 Peter 2 says Lot was bothered by Sodom but, as we said a while ago, he wasn't bothered enough to get his family out of there before this. Then in 2 Peter 2, verse 7, it calls Lot righteous Lot. So, steve, how can we call Lot righteous here? We touched on it a while ago. But he does this horrible thing here of offering his daughters to these men who are trying to come in and rape these visitors, and the whole thing's just ugly from start to finish. Nobody in the story, I guess, other than the heavenly visitors, have any grounds for righteousness, and I guess the daughters, at least at this point, are innocent, but lots are not. How could God have this in his Bible?

Speaker 2 19:55

It's an example of how one is reckoned righteous. The only way that he could have been found righteous is by having faith and belief in Yahweh. Through that God reckoned that to him as righteousness. In our time, it's faith in God, in Jesus Christ, second person of the Godhead, Through that we're found righteous, through Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 20:20

If I ask the question, how can Lot be considered righteous? Because 2 Peter 2 says righteous Lot, even though here he offers his daughters up to be raped by these men and molested by them. This is how horrible can you be? It's a legitimate question. How could Lot be considered righteous? It's also a legitimate question to ask how could King David be considered righteous when he committed adultery and committed murder to cover up the adultery? Those are legitimate questions. How could these people be considered righteous? It's also a legitimate question to ask how in the world could I be considered righteous after all the stuff I've done? And my friend that's listening how can you be considered righteous after all the stuff you've done?

Speaker 1 21:05

Now, if you're true with ourselves, you and I, if we look ourselves in the mirror first, first thing in the morning, and through clear eyes, we're going to realize that we can't be considered righteous after all the stuff we've done, because before a holy God, all are sinful. Romans 3.10 says none is righteous, no, not one. No one can stand before God and claim righteousness of their own account. But that same book, romans, the very next chapter, chapter four when we have faith in Christ, we're considered righteous. The love of God will overcome even the evil that I've done and even the evil that you've done and even the evil that Lot does here, and consider us righteous before God because we have faith in him.

Speaker 1 21:54

How was Abraham considered righteous in 15.6? Abraham believed God and it was counted as righteousness. Remember, abraham lied twice about his wife, which could have got his wife hurt or molested. Also, god considers those who have faith to be righteous people. How does he consider Lot to be righteous? By faith, those who repent and trust God are considered righteous. Notice here that the people of Sodom Don't repent and don't have any consideration towards these righteous visitors that have come. They're trying to molest them. They're trying to sexually molest them. It turns into a riot, steve. Isn't that the sense that we have?

Speaker 2 22:40

here. Yeah, when we see Lot offer up his daughters, these are men of the city who want to have sexual relationships with the men visitors that have come into town. It's very clear that's here. It's an immoral sexual act that they want to have with these men. It's immoral by biblical standards and it's immoral by natural standards as well.

Speaker 2 23:04

Lot, I think offering up his daughters is a way for Lot to shake them and say that what they're wanting to do is so immoral and that they shouldn't do it that Lot would even offer up his daughters to them. But they have the exact opposite reaction. They press in on Lot and say we're going to assault you, we're going to sexually assault you to the point that the two angels inside have to reach out and pull Lot back in to the house. I know there's discussions about Lot offering up his daughters. In a way, I think that he's offering them up to prove a point to them that what they're wanting to do is such a wicked, wicked act. There's no real expectation on Lot's part that they're going to follow through with him offering up his daughters. I think it's just something that Lot's trying to show them how wicked the act is that they want to do, but they completely ignore it and even press further on into it. We get through that example. They truly were wicked in what they were wanting to do Any and all.

Speaker 1 24:10

Sexual molestation is gross evil. It's even greater evil when we realize who this is against here, because in verse one it becomes obvious to Lot immediately that these were messengers from heaven, that these were heavenly beings. Lot immediately recognizes them when he first sees them. Oh, these are men from God, these are men from heaven. He bows down before them. The sin here of these men in Sodom was so great that they were even trying to sexually molest a heavenly, pure, holy thing. They were trying to molest a holy being. That is such a horrible thing. It's just unthinkable. What does this tell us about how God's people view things, compared to how lost people view things? I mean, I would hope that our listeners would have some respect for a holy object, a holy being, but these people were so debased that they were wanting to sexually molest something from heaven, and that to me is just almost unthinkable. About how evil it would be.

Speaker 2 25:23

Lot knows how the people of the city are. He was bothered by their behavior. He shows that too, and that he presses on these two angels to come and stay at his house to give him hospitality. When they say no, we'll stay in the city square, he goes no, no, no, no, no, you can't do that. After persuasion, the angels agree to go in to his house Once they go in. Agree to go in to his house Once they go in. Lot has the responsibility for protection. Lot knows how evil these men are. He's gone to the point to try and sway them from assaulting the angels by offering up his daughters. That's the view that Lot has of respect and honor for these angels versus these wicked, wicked men that are outside, immoral men who are wanting to go ahead and press in on the angels and pull them out, and even do the same to Lot himself.

Speaker 1 26:23

Many of our modern cities have gotten as bad as Sodom. We are a sex-saturated culture. Oftentimes in our sex-saturated culture we don't see the evil that is all around us all the time. The men of Sodom had the distinction of having the word sodomy attributed to their city, and many of the modern critics that come out of the sex-saturated culture try to say that the word sodomy didn't arise with Sodom. But Webster's Collegiate Dictionary says that the history of the word sodomy came from Latin, which ultimately came from this passage here in the city of Sodom, they were trying to sodomize the men of God. They were trying to sodomize the holy, pure beings from heaven, and therefore this term was considered to have originated in the city of Sodom since ancient times.

Speaker 1 27:20

This is an example of what happens when people give themselves totally over to fleshly lust. This is what depravity looks like. When there's no attempt to have the Spirit of God restrain our fleshly lusts, then any of us could end up like this. The human heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it, says the Bible. If we give ourselves over to fleshly sins, any of us could end up to the place where these men of the city of Sodom and Gomorrah were. The angels here saved a lot. The angels strike the men blind to where, it says, they tired themselves trying to find the door. And, steve, I find a little bit of humor in the tail end of this, in the sense that here were these men that were so given over to depravity, so given over to fleshly lust. They get struck blind. They were not just physically blind, they were morally blind. And they still wouldn't repent. They kept trying to find the door until they were tired. Here's the question I would have Is sin?

Speaker 2 28:32

tiring. It is tiring because it's futile, and trying to do righteousness on your own, to do what's right in your own eyes, is an exhausting experience, because you'll never become righteous in front of God. Never become righteous in front of God. The only way to become righteous in front of God is to have belief and faith in Jesus Christ and his son and the promises that he gives us for eternal life.

Speaker 1 28:56

Just think all these men of Sodom would have had to have done was to fall down on their face and plead with God and say God, I was wrong, I'm sorry, please forgive me. God would have held his hand, not destroyed their city and given them blessings like he does to Abraham and Lot, but they exhausted themselves, trying to find the door, even under God's judgment, of blindness. They were morally blind and they were physically blind. They kept trying to sin.

God's Forgiveness and Salvation

Speaker 1 29:29

It's such a picture of modern culture. It's a picture of us when we continue in sin. We're morally and spiritually blind and we're still wandering around trying to keep on sinning and all we really have to do is stop and say Lord, I'm exhausted, I'm not going to do this sin anymore. Please forgive me, set me on a path of righteousness. He will hold his hand, he will set us on a path, he will clean us up, he'll give us a new set of clothes and he will restore the things that have been taken away. Steve, that's the encouraging part is that we have a God, that even if we've done gross evil, he can forgive us. All we have to do is fall on our face as Lot did in this passage.

Speaker 2 30:12

I'm so thankful that God is that way to allow us a way to become righteous and to have a fellowship relationship with him. It shows how great of a God he is that it's really that simple to repent and believe on him.

Speaker 1 30:29

It is so, my friends, if you've found yourself to be tired of your sin, then God is but a prayer away. If you'll but realize what the Bible says today is the day of salvation then we could spare God's hand in judgment against us. The good news is that Genesis doesn't end here, that Genesis keeps going, and there's wonderful things ahead in Genesis that we can learn from. We trust that you'll be back here next time to help us reason through the Bible.

Speaker 2 30:55

Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.