Monday July 2 Gomorrah.
The Conclusion
Verses Gen 19
Last week God through His angels
warned Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. You might
remember we talked about the importance of Intercessory prayer, as illustrated
by Abraham when he heard about the pending destruction. He had a concern for the people, and especially
his family.
He persisted in prayer, leaving his honest
questions and requests in God’s hands who knows far more than he does. But in
his prayers Abraham was also an example to us in his specific requests. We left
with the thought that we don’t really know exactly how God answers our prayers
of intercession. Sometimes in ways that we don’t recognize right away;
Sometimes in ways different but better than we anticipated; Sometimes he
answers them we just don’t know it. Others times, they are not answered and we
must say humbly, “God’s ways are higher than our ways and we walk by faith not
by sight. Someday we will understand.”
Now briefly
this week I want to center our thoughts on the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah
and learn about judgement and what it is that keeps righteous people a witness
until the end. Sodom and Gomorrah were
sister cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul. If there is a bomb that falls on
one, it falls on the other. Gomorrah, the lesser known of the two is judged
equally. No one is more at fault than the other.
There was
warning back in the Old Testament days are there are warnings repeated today.
Living in judgment is the result of ignoring those warnings. At Christ’s return
it will be too late to do anything about it. Don’t be lulled into spiritual
apathy. Do you have the assurance of salvation? If God’s judgment falls this
week are you prepared to go to heaven. If you are not sure contact me.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues July 3 Uninhibited Pleasures
Verses Gen 19:1-11
The Lessons of Uninhibited Pleasures
The divine messengers arrived in
the city and meet Lot. They were perfectly willing to stay in the city square
overnight, which was a common practice in that day. Lot insisted they must stay
with him, like Abraham showing hospitality to strangers. It was also likely
that Lot knew of the danger and what would happen to them if they stayed in the
city square. No one in the right mind would think of sleeping in Central Park
in New York or in Loren Park in Minneapolis.
But what happened next turns our
stomachs. Lot and his guests have dinner and then "all the men of the city
from every part" came to Lot's home. This was not some gang of degenerate
men. This was the general make-up of the entire community. These men wanted to
engage in homosexual acts with these men. They wanted to rape them!
This one incident is enough. This
was all the angels needed to convince them that the charges were true and Sodom
was deserving of destruction. Things were so bad that the only way to bring healing
was to remove these towns.
Rampant homosexuality was just one
of the evidences of the perverse nature of the society. There were other
charges, as you might read in EZEK 16:49-50“‘Now this was the sin of your
sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned;
they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable
things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
The people of Sodom and Gomorrah
lived their lives on the basis of their impulses, selfish lusts, unconcerned about each others, pornographic
lusts. Later Isaiah uses Sodom as an example of lack of shame in their willful
sin. There was an example of a society
that not only sinned, but promoted it, and flaunted it and took pride in it.
Sound familiar? There was no fear of God.
And in our society we have become
anaesthetized against the very sins for which Sodom was destroyed. We laugh at
things that used to make us blush. Instead of extolling the virtue of God's
marriage ethic in the Bible, we now view that as only one option - and not
necessarily the best option. Quick divorce, life partnerships, homosexuality -
all of these are paraded as being natural and desirable. Yet they are condemned
by God. Their appearance on our streets and on our televisions is symptomatic
of the power and grip of sin that abounds in human life still.
How often do we build prisons to
protect our society and rightly so? They are crowded and overflowing. But when
you take some individuals away you find a dozen more taking their places.
What do you do when the whole society
is run amuck with uninhibited pleasures and evils? To try to do so is like
stamping out a gasoline fire. The more you stamp, the more it spreads.
Unrestrained
pleasures escalate to a point when evil is called good. Take heed lest your
lusts become your master.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds July 4- Unexplained Persecution
Verses – Gen 19:9-12
The Lessons of Unexplained Persecution
Today is the Birthday of our
Nation. We not only recognize the freedoms we have but the hardships our
forefathers went through to see their offspring enjoys the benefits of their
sacrifices. So far God has preserved our society. Live in righteousness even in
a time when unrighteousness seems to rule.
What happens when Lot wants to
protect the innocent, and the godly? He is threatened with persecution. He is
threatened with violence. He is rejected by the very people he wants to help
Lot is standing for right and justice as far as the protection of the visitors
are concerned and says no I will not allow this sin to occur.
People do not like to have
authority of God or God’s ways in their lives. Who are you to judge us? We will
treat you worse than them. And they were responding in mob violence against someone
bringing a different message than they want hear.
Each week we can read about
Christians in other lands who are suffering and beaten and even put on fire for
their faith. The last 3 Sundays were there reports on Yahoo News of churches
that have been bombed or burdened with fatalities in Nigeria, Kenya, and Sudan.
The Middle East has seen an uprising in terrorists who bomb churches and
persecute believers.
When Lot conveyed the message of
the angels to his family, urging them to escape God's wrath, many thought he
must be joking'! Here he was with the most important and most urgent message of
all, yet all they could was laugh. The moment we treat God’s message lightly,
and reject the truth of the grace of God, one is brought under condemnation.
God gave the people a change to hear and see a witness. He gave to them truth
and even loved ones pleaded with some to be saved from the coming destruction,
but the response was hardened hearts mockery and rejection.
If a person sees a house on fire,
turns in the alarm and does everything he can to rescue the occupants, he is a
hero. But when a Christian warns the alarm about people going to Hell and wants
to rescue the people he is ridiculed, rejected. In some countries jailed, have
their businesses burned and run out of town as seen in Pakistan.
What keeps us from telling our
neighbors and friends? Is it the fear of not being liked, misunderstood,
claimed to be narrow minded or judgmental. When all the while what constrains
people to face persecution, unexplained is the love of Jesus Christ and the
passion not to see people experience the wrath of God but find forgiveness and
salvation from the judgment that is coming.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs July 5 Inevitable Punishment
Verses Gen 19:15-29
The Lessons of Inevitable Punishment
After the bombs were dropped on
Japan people all over the world were stunned.
They couldn’t image such total destruction. The God bombing
of Sodom and Gomorrah was talked about thousands of years later because
destruction was go quick, complete and in a since could have been avoided if
people would have listened.
There are
three warnings we leave with. One is the constant vigilance we need to take
when our society is influencing us all around with popular values instead of
Godly truth. One man was going around warning people of sin and was confronted,
“Why do you keep screaming and preaching like that when no one listens to you?”
It is so I will be prevented from them changing me.”
If nothing
else keep God’s truths in front of you. Continue to read your Bible. Continue
to stand for things you know are right and against things you know are wrong.
Even in a pluralistic society that rejects many things Christians believe, if
for on other reason than you will prevent society from changing you into it’s
mold.
It is interesting that this chapter
presents Lot as a respected resident of Sodom. Previously, we had seen him
pitch his tent toward the place; now he is in it, as a citizen of this evil and
wicked locality. The pull of Sodom was clearly too much for Lot. We must be
careful that we pitch our tent in the right direction, with our backs, and not
our faces, towards sin.
What bothers me wasn’t so much the
intercession of Abraham as one who loved God and was concerned righteous, but
the implication that Lot was righteous. Was he the one Abraham thought of?
Indeed he was righteous enough to protect them men from homosexual rape, but
how then do you explain the fact that he was willing to sacrifice his virgin
daughters to the immorality and disdain of the society. They were also engaged
to be married. What type of character does that say about Lot? Or what does
that say when this is the most righteous you can find in the city? How could he
even suggest such a thing as this? I read of a man last week in another city of
America arrested because he needed drug money and offered his two year old
daughter to men for sex. What do you do with such people?
As the society becomes more
perverse even the righteous lower their standards. Human sinfulness by
definition infects and rots the fabric of the whole community.
When the fire and brimstone came
burning down upon the city, his wife turns back to either mourn for the city,
or seek possessions she left behind.
Vs 27-29 is a testimony to those
who intercede. Because of Abrahams witness and prayer some were saved. Because
of the church willing to give and pray some are saved. Because some are
undergoing persecution for a time, some are saved for eternity. We have an
important part yet to play in world wide witness and encouragement of our
persecuted brothers and sisters in areas that is very hostile to Jesus in
different ways.
How many will be left behind when
Jesus returns? How many keep looking to the attractions of this world and not
ahead to the righteousness of Christ? Revelation speaks of a greater
destruction. It speaks of a needed zeal.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets July 6 Inventive Impurity
Gen 19:30-38
The Lessons of Inventive Impurity
Life changes after there is
destruction. Many will sober up and commitment to righteousness. Many, like
foxhole conversions, will make promises but quickly break them. God was
gracious in saving this family, but it wasn’t long Lot became drunk with wine
and his daughter contrived among themselves to have an incestuous relationship
with him. So how would you answer Abrahams question to God. How many righteous
people the angels find in the city? Was there one?.
Chuck Colson reported that colleges
across the country are starting courses in so-called "porn studies".
Classes on pornography are offered at NYU, Northwestern, Colombia and several
other schools. They watch pornography day after day. Porn stars are popular
lecturers on college campuses. Extra marital and premarital sex is glorified on
afternoon soap operas and prime time television, Focus on the Family reports
that during this week that there is tremendous pressure to get the Dr. Laura
show off the air because she has the audacity of saying Homosexual relationship
are wrong. Sponsors are dropping their endorsements. Lobbyists work to get
special protection for those who engage in perversion while punishing those who
have a Bible in school.
The Bible warns us often. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked what you
reap you shall sow. Although it is a very unpopular theme in our society, the
Bible speaks clearly about punishment and judgement and the destruction of the
whole world.
Jesus used the story of the
destruction of Sodom to give warning of judgement. In Luke 17 he talks about
the importance of being prepared for His second coming. God judged Sodom and
Gomorrah for their wickedness. God tolerated it no longer. There is a limit to
his patience and his longsuffering. Thus far, but no further.
It is that concern that keeps the
church seeking to persuade it’s neighbors and country men that salvation is
found in no other name that Jesus Christ. Just like in the Old Testament they
needed to repent of sin and turn to trust God’s salvation so that is the
message today. Anyone who has not accepted Jesus is great eternal danger and
that the task of bringing the gospel to them is of the utmost importance. Be
like Abraham-pray.
These angels arrived on one day and
before the next day had fully begun the town was destroyed. One moment a new
day was beginning as normal, the next day life was destroyed. One minute men
were getting ready for work, women were getting laundry ready, people were
enjoying their breakfast. The next minute the town had been destroyed beyond
recognition. That is how it will be when Jesus comes. We do not know when God
will say "Enough" but when He does, time will have run out.
Why then
was not Lot and his daughters destroyed along with the whole town, was it
matters of degrees? Or was it the grace of God in doing what God said needed to
be done to be saved. He told them to leave and do not turn back?
What does
he say to you and me. The same: repent of our sin and do not turn back. And
believe by faith in Jesus Christ.
Romans says that "All have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." But God provided an escape -
To stay in Sodom was to be judged and lost. But there was an 'out', an exit, a
possibility of escape. So it is with the Gospel. To remain as we are is to be
under the condemnation and power of sin. But Jesus says 'I am the door'. There
is a way of escape, to something safe, to something better.
The New Testament tells us that
indeed destruction and judgement is coming. We will not escape except in the
plan of God. For there is none that is righteous, All have turned our own way.
In fact if we realize that Sodom was a warning to Korazin and Bethsaida how
much more is it a warning today? They did not have The Word of God. We have a
record of the miracles of Jesus and the teachings of Jesus as well as all the
teaching of the disciples. They didn’t have the witness of the Death and
Resurrection of Christ. Now He has proved He is God’s son by His resurrection.
They did not have the witness of the Holy Spirit. They did not have the witness
of the church in this centuries, nor Christian resources, or schools, or text
books or worship service, or TV and radio stations. If Korazin and Bethsaida
were to be judged more strictly because of their unbelief what about us?
Pastor Dale
