Caleb Chancey: If you
Joel Brooks: have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Genesis 18. It's also there in your worship guide, Genesis 18 and 19. We're gonna look at one of those inspirational New Year's resolution type text as we look at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Hopefully, it's a, a story that you'll be inspired by, you know, to become a better person, lose a few pounds. It actually is a great text for us to look at at the start of the new year, because you do find within it, I think, a vision for who we should be as a church.
But I didn't grow up hearing the story this way. I can remember, my pastor saying from the pulpit, people do things today that would make the people of Sodom and Gomorrah blush. And, and then he would go on to list, such sins like the evils of Petra or Striper, which were the Christian rock bands of the day. The evil of having Cabbage Patch Dolls. Did y'all know those were evil?
Apparently, they have demonic names, I was told. Of course, you can't listen to ACDC, all children, devil children, or things like that. And in my eyes, I would just I'd roll my eyes as I heard the pastor say this, because as a teenager, I actually had a good eye roll. And, and even after that, when he named real sins, usually sins that were about sexual immorality, I would listen to them, and I'd say, yeah. I mean, those are sins, but would it really make the people of Sodom and Gomorrah blush?
I mean, when I'm reading this story of Sodom and Gomorrah, it's actually kinda hard for me to imagine anything worse than what's happening here. If anything, Sodom and Gomorrah would be watching our sins saying, keep going. You'll get to where we are eventually, but, but not yet. Sodom and Gomorrah is a terrible place. The story we're about to read is just horrible.
We're actually not gonna read chapter 19, because otherwise, it would take the entire time for us to read both of these chapters. But in that story, you find sexual exploitation. You find attempted gang rape, not just trying to gang rape men, but trying to gang rape angels. And then you have God raining down fire and brimstone destroying 2 entire cities. The situation looks to be about as bad as you could get, but we need to ask the question, what is this story actually teaching us?
Why are we looking at it this morning? And once again, I believe it's a story about what God has calling our church to be in the year 2020. It's a great text to start the new year. Before we read, let me just remind you of where we are in Genesis. It's been a few weeks and about a 100, you know, sugar cookies ago.
But if you remember where we last left off, it was in Genesis 18 and you had the 3 visitors, the 3 angels or actually 2 angels and one being the angel of the Lord or the Lord himself coming and visiting Abraham and saying, this time next year, Sarah will have a child. Sarah laughs. The Lord calls her out on it. She says, I didn't laugh. He goes, you did.
And once again, she goes, I I no. I didn't. He goes, you did. And then the story ends. And this is where we we pick up is right after that.
Genesis 18, we'll begin reading in verse 16. Then the men set out from there, and they looked down towards Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
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 him. Then the Lord said, behold the out cry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave. I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know it. So the men turned from there and went towards Sodom.
But Abraham stood before the Lord. And Abraham drew near and said, will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city. Will you sweep away the place and not spare it for the 50 righteous who were in it? Far be it for you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked.
Far be that from you. Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just? And the Lord said, if I find at Sodom 50 righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake. Abraham answered and said, behold, I've undertaken to to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose 5 of the 50 righteous are lacking.
Will you destroy the whole city for for lack of 5? And he said, I will not destroy it if I find 45 there. Again he spoke to him and say said, suppose 40 are found there? And he answered, for the sake of 40 I will not do it. Then he said, oh let not the Lord be angry and I will speak.
Suppose there are 30 found there? And he answered, I will not do it if I find 30 there. And he said, behold, I've undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose 20 are found there? He answered, for the sake of 20, I will not destroy it.
Then he said, oh, lord, let not the lord be angry. I'll speak again, but this once. Suppose 10 are found there? And he answered, for the sake of 10, I will not destroy it. And the Lord went his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
This is the word of the Lord.
Connor Coskery: And it's to your house.
Joel Brooks: Pray with me. Lord, we ask that you would open up your word to us, and that you would write it on our hearts, that we would see your heart for this city that we live in, for the law set around us. That the evil and the sins of our own hearts would be exposed. And, Lord, that we would lean wholly on Jesus who is our high priest interceding on our behalf. Father, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and be remembered no more.
But Lord, may your words remain. We pray this all in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Alright. So if you were to go to New Orleans and walk down Bourbon Street, or if you were to walk down the strip in Vegas, and you were to say the words, it's like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Everyone around you who heard it would know exactly what you meant. You you really You wouldn't need to explain anything. And it wouldn't matter if these people grew up in church or not. They would be familiar at least with with the expression or the general story of Sodom and Gomorrah because Sodom and Gomorrah has grown to be more than just a historical story. It's become a symbol.
Even though it's thought we are thousands of years removed from this story, we still know about it, and we know what it means. It's a symbol about a God who judges. A God who sends down fire and brimstone on a wicked society. And that's true. Absolutely.
That is true. That is what this story is about. But you do have to ask the question, why exactly was this city seen as so wicked? What what were the sins of the city in which God rained down the fire and brimstone upon them? Most people, they assume when they just hear the word Sodom and Gomorrah, that the sin was sexual immorality.
That these were sexually depraved people. And I will grant you this. It is hard to find a more sexually depraved people than what you read in chapter 19. When you actually see that angry mob of people trying to beat down a door in order to get to Lot's guest, in order that they might gang rape these 2 men that are there. It is a horrific scene.
And so surely when you read there, like okay you cannot get a more wicked and more heinous scene than this. This is the very picture of evil. This is why Sodom and Gomorrah have become iconic over the years. And as a result of this sin, that's why Christians and non Christians alike know all about the sin of Sodom. The sin of Sodom is a sexual sin.
In particular, it's it's homosexual sin. After all, that's why homosexual sin is even called sodomy. So is this why God rained fire down upon this city? He would have had every right to, for those sins. But I don't think that's why God rained down fire on the city, is for the sin of sexual immorality.
That might be one of the that might be one of the sins that's there, but it's not the underlying sin underneath it all. Twice we read that the Lord is judging this city because he has heard the city's outcry. He says I've heard the out cry of the city and he's going down to check to see whether the the cries that he have heard, if it's correct or not. Now throughout scripture, when God hears an outcry, it is typically the outcry of the poor and the outcry of the oppressed. And with that in mind, listen to how Ezekiel describes the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah.
In Ezekiel 16 verse 46, we read these words. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease. But, they did not aid the poor and the needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me, so I removed them.
Listen to that again. This was the guilt of your sister, Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease. But they did not aid the poor and the needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me, so I removed them.
So what was the great sin of Sodom? We just read it. It wasn't the sexual sin that was there. It was, well, they ate a lot of food. They had a comfortable life.
They were proud, And they neglected the poor and the oppressed around them. No matter how many times I read through that, it still hits home every time That Sodom was judged because in their prosperity, they had become insensitive to the suffering of others. They had a arrogant disregard for the basic human rights of people. You wanna know how a society can get to a point where they're trying to beat down a door in order to to gang rape a couple of people? You wanna know how you can get there?
Pride. Pride. An arrogant disregard for basic human rights. Once you throw that out the window, it opens up all types of doors to evil. So this outcry that the Lord has heard and he's going to check on is the outcry of the poor.
It's the outcry of the oppressed. It's the outcry of people who are not being treated with any basic dignity that is theirs as being image bearers of God. And so if you wanna know the character of God, God is the one who hears the cries of the poor and the oppressed, when no one else hears their cries. And as a church, as Redeemer Community Church, if we want to reflect his character in this city, we have to have that same heart towards the poor and the oppressed. Listen to how the Lord, Jesus, he describes the judgment of Sodom in Luke 17.
He says, likewise just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rain from heaven and destroyed them all. So, even Jesus, when he's describing the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, he doesn't describe sexual sin there. What he describes is what looks like an ordinary life. I mean look at the activities that he describes.
Says they were eating and drinking. Raise hands. How many of you ate and drank this week? Alright. Everybody here, you ate and drank.
Alright. Buying, selling, planting or building, that's just describing work. How many of you works this week? He's describing ordinary life. Jesus is saying, ordinary life can be done to the rebellion of God.
If it's done out of a heart of pride and a neglect of the people He loves dearly, the poor and the oppressed. Ezekiel says that the people of Sodom were haughty. Such a good word. Haughty. I mean, we just always use pride, but it says haughty here.
To be haughty thinks that you are better than other people. You are better than other people and you deserve more than other people. So as a result, haughty people, they they don't have thankful hearts because why would you ever want to give thanks for something that you actually think you worked for or that you deserved? A haughty person thinks they deserve the car, the drive, the house they live in, the job that they have. Why would you ever thank God for something that you believe you were owed?
Now, I've been chewing on this for weeks. And, I've I've asked myself the question, am I haughty? Do I think I deserve the life that I live? And the And as I was just chewing on this, my answer actually startled me. The answer's no.
I I don't think I deserve the life that I live. I actually think I deserve better. I actually think I deserve better health. I actually think I deserve, to be more appreciated, more respect. I think I deserve more money.
I actually think I deserve more than I'm getting. I'm haughty, and I don't think I'm alone in this. Yeah. Y'all all think I'm haughty too. I know.
That wasn't the point. I realized as I said that. No. I think probably most of us think that for the amount of work we do, for the amount of just crud we have to deal with, we deserve better. We deserve better than we are getting.
And so this is why so little of our prayer life is actually spent giving thanks to God instead it's asking things from God because we think we are due those things for the hard work and the life that we are living. And it's also the reason that we tend to neglect the poor and needy, because we think we deserve what they have, but they don't deserve anything. So any of this resonate with you? I know I like the story a lot better, when I was allowed to just judge other people according to the, you know, the evil actions they had. I don't really enjoy reading this when I feel my own life being judged.
When it acts more as a mirror that you hold up. And And you begin to identify with the people of Sodom instead of judging them? Before we move on from from this, I do wanna mention just one particular thing about our call to help the poor and the oppressed. We're being called here to help all the poor. Not just the righteous poor, but also the unrighteous poor.
And this is a sobering truth, but remember, God is condemning Sodom. He says, I will spare the city even at one point says, if there's only 10 righteous people. There aren't 10 righteous people. That means there are not even 10 righteous poor people. Yet, God was gonna destroy the whole city because they weren't caring for the poor.
They weren't caring for the unrighteous poor. The reason I I wanna make sure we understand this is because I think, we all have this grand illusion of what helping the poor is supposed to be like, and what it's supposed to feel like. You know, you you see somebody on the street who's needy, and you give them a meal, and their response is supposed to be something like, thank you so much that, you know, I've been praying that God would send an angel to me, and you are like an angel from God sent to me, and just thank you so much. Maybe you can get that kind of reaction, but often it's not that. Often, I leave angry after I give to somebody.
For the way that I was treated, it actually exposes my pride as I give. I've recently, I gave some money to a Or I actually, I bought Chick Fil A for a lady. She was asking for money. I said, were you hungry? She said, yes.
I said, okay. Well, I'll get you some Chick Fil A. And I got her Chick Fil A Chick Fil A and she chewed me out because I gave her the wrong dipping sauce. And and in that moment, it's like, unrighteous pour. It's an unrighteous poor.
And it is our calling to help them. We don't help the poor because they are righteous. Because they are deserving. Because Jesus did not help us because we were righteous and we were deserving. Every time we help the unrighteous poor, we are reminding ourselves of the gospel in which we believe.
We're living out the gospel. It was because we were unrighteous that Jesus came to be our savior. It's because we did nothing to deserve it. And when we get that and when we've been changed by that, that flows into others. We have a calling as a church to help even the unrighteous poor.
If we don't help the unrighteous poor, it shows that we do not understand God's mercy in our own life. In other words, we're haughty. We're proud. Okay. Back to the story.
Before, going down to Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord tells Abraham what he is about to do. Look at verse 16 again. Then the men set out from there and they looked down towards Sodom and Abraham went with them to set them on their way. And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
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 him. Okay. You don't ask that type of question or say those type of things, if you really don't want to talk to somebody about this. I don't, you know, if if my kids are in the same room with me, I don't tell Lauren, hey Lauren, should we tell the kids what we're gonna do this weekend? I I don't do that unless I've already decided I'm going to tell them.
And then I would even like drop in things like, should we tell the kids about what to do this weekend? How much fun it's gonna be and all these things. I already plant the seeds of how they're supposed to respond. This is what God is doing with Abraham when he's he's bringing up his righteousness, his justice. Abraham's supposed to bless the entire world and he's like, and by the way, do you think I should talk with him about these things?
Of course. This is an invitation to for Abraham to talk with him about this. He's inviting Abraham into a conversation. And then the Lord actually sends the other two people away, so just he and Abraham can be alone. And they can have a very intimate private conversation.
The Lord wants Abraham to do something. He wants Abraham to speak here. What he's inviting Abraham to do is to intercede on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. And what we see here is, for the first time in scripture, the role of a priest. Abraham acts here as a priest.
Now, we've actually had back in chapter 14, there was this, you know, strange priestly character called Melchizedek, who was a priest. But we actually He doesn't really do any priestly function. Here's the first time we actually see the role or the function of a priest. Through his priestly service, he's gonna intercede on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah, and he's gonna become a blessing to the world. At verse 23, we read, then Abraham drew near.
Now remember Abraham was already standing in front of the Lord. So he's already standing in front of the Lord. So to draw near doesn't mean he gets even closer or he's already in front of the Lord. Drawing near means something else. This is actually a legal word.
It's one that can be used in the court of law. Now, if this was written in modern English, we might say something like this, Abraham approached the bench. He approached the bench, and he's about to make his case and plead to the judge to spare Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 23. Then Abraham drew near and said, will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city, will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the 50 righteous who are in it? Now 2 extraordinary things happen here as Abraham says this. 1st is this, Abraham is asking the Lord to spare all of Sodom and Gomorrah. He never even mentions Lot, his nephew. He doesn't say, God before you destroy the entire city, will you take out my nephew and his family?
Would you just spare them? He doesn't do that. He pleads for the entire city. Both of them. And the word spare here is the same Hebrew word as the word for forgive.
Exact same word. He's asking the Lord to forgive. To forgive these people of their sins. He's praying that the Lord would not come down to condemn the people, but to forgive and to save the people. This is a prayer for mercy and grace and forgiveness to fall on all these people.
And I want you to look how bold this intercession is. I mean Abraham, he's standing before the Lord. Meaning he's blocking the Lord's path. The Lord's trying to get to Sodom and and Abraham's like nope. He's like he's standing before the Lord.
He's saying, the only way you're gonna get through Sodom and Gomorrah is actually if if you go through me. This is about as bold as an intercession as you can get. And then he he actually begins to yell at the Lord. Look at this. This is the second extraordinary thing that we see here.
And here really, we we see the basis for which Abraham asked God to spare the city. Verse 25. Far be it from you to do such a thing. To put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fares the wicked. Far be that from you.
Shall not the judge of all the earth do it as just? When is the last time you've interceded for Birmingham like that? A passionate, bold, in your face intercession on behalf of wicked people. This is our calling as a church people. As a kingdom of priests, this is our calling.
This verse 25, it's the pivotal or the hinge verse really in this entire story here. When Abraham yells out, do what is just. Sustentially what it's saying, will not the judge of all the earth do what is just? But here's the question, isn't the Lord doing what is just when he goes to condemn and judge all of Sodom and Gomorrah? I mean, here Abraham, he's appealing to Lord's justice.
But isn't he actually doing justice when he goes down and he destroys this city? I mean, if a judge let criminals go, is that judge just? No. A just judge condemns criminals. So how is it that Abraham here is pleading for the Lord to be just and to spare this city?
Something extraordinary is happening here. And what I think Abraham is beginning to do is he is really pondering something new about the justice of God. For lack of a better term, he is doing some theological exploring with God in prayer here. And it leads him to ask this question. Lord, what if there's 50 righteous people there?
If there's 50 righteous people, will you not spare or forgive the city and not destroy them? And when Abraham is asking this question, what he's trying to figure out is, God, is it possible for the righteousness of a few to cover over the iniquity of many? That's what Abraham's wrestling with. Is it possible for the righteousness of a few to cover over and to protect the wickedness or the iniquity of many. Now Abraham knew that this would happen the other way.
He knew that the sins of a few could affect the whole. His culture grew up in this, that if a father sinned, the entire family shared in the guilt and the blame. Or if your brother sinned, it brought shame and guilt upon you. Sin wasn't nearly as individualistic as we think of it. And you find plenty of examples of this throughout scripture.
One of the most famous is in Joshua 7, where you have this man named Achan. He sins against the Lord by taking some treasure and he hides it underneath his tent. And the Lord punishes not just him, Says you are to kill him, his wife, his children, his livestock, anything associated with him. They all shared in the guilt of their father. And not a person batted an eye when the Lord commanded that.
I know that bothers us, you know, 21st century American culture, because we are the most individualistic society that has ever lived. But most of the world hasn't thought this way. They think much more communal in their sin. They carry that weight together. And what Abraham is doing is he's holding up that.
And he's saying, what if it works in reverse? I know the sin of a few can affect the many. But, can the righteousness of a few be enough to cover to cover the entire city? This is what he's exploring with God as he asks this question. And then the Lord says, If there are 50 righteous people in this city, I will spare it.
And Abraham's heart had to sing. Had to rejoice in that place. He'll spare it. It does work that way. He's not gonna destroy.
There's 50 righteous people. And here he learns something important about God. That God's desire to save people is so great that he will look at just the righteousness of a few and say that is enough. That is enough. I will forgive all of this iniquity, if I could just see the righteousness of a few.
That's how great God's desire is to save. So the casual observer here, you read through this and just kinda think through the story is about a God who judges with fire and brimstone, who just wants to destroy an entire city. But actually if you look closely at it, you see, God does not want to do this. God is so merciful. He is so gracious.
He's saying, if I just find just a few righteous, I'll spare everybody. We serve a God who desires to save. Well, Abraham, he's emboldened by this. I mean, it's it's like, oh my gosh. These things, well, what if there's not 50?
And I love how he says it. He goes, well what if there's less than, like, 5 less? And God goes, you mean 45? I mean like, you know, Abraham's trying to work these semantics, but God's like, I won't destroy the city if there's 45. And then Abraham keeps interceding.
What if there's 40? I won't do it if there's 40. What if there's 30? I won't do it if there's 30. What if there's 20?
I won't do it if there's 20. Lord, what if there's 10? I won't do it if there is 10. And then he just stops. How frustrating is that, people?
I mean, you're reading the story and it's going down, the climax is building, and then he just he just stops. And Abraham goes back, and then the Lord goes down, and judges Sodom and Gomorrah, and you're like, come on. I I felt a little gypped as I was reading the story, and you get to this, because what's the climax we all want? Lord, if there be just what? 1.
Isn't that what we all want when we're reading this story? What if we were to go down to just 1? What would the Lord's response be? But we don't get there. We also don't know why Abraham stopped.
I mean that's frustrating. We haven't We really don't know. I mean, perhaps he was just scared that he already had asked too much, but I honestly, I don't think that's the reason. Because the Lord's been, like, answering him every time. Yes.
Yes. Almost like, keep on going. Keep on going, Abraham. But he just stops. My best guess is this.
As he is getting down to 10, Abraham likely knows 10 people in that city. You can think of Lot, Lot's wife, Lot's 2 daughters, Their husbands. Perhaps, if there's any kids. Who knows? Or more extended family.
But, he could at least think of 7 right there. And now, he's beginning to put faces with these numbers. And he's thinking, well Lot's righteousness might be good in comparison to the people in Sodom. But it's not a real righteousness. And we'll even see that later that, 3 times you you have the angels grabbing Lot and his family by the hand.
Has to mention it 3 times. They're literally trying to pull him away from the city. And you keep reading, Lot lingers. He doesn't even wanna leave. Of course you have Lot's wife who turns back and she turns into a pillar of salt even as they are leaving.
These were people who did not wanna be ripped from their lifestyle. And I think Abraham, he knew that. He's like, their righteousness, they might be righteous in comparison to others, but they're not righteous like a true righteousness. And then I think Abraham thought even if it was just me, my righteousness is not enough. And so we leave this story with a realization that we need a greater righteousness and a greater intercessor.
As great as Abraham was, he could not adequately intercede on behalf of this city. And so, this story gives us a longing for Jesus. Jesus is the one who is perfectly righteous. Jesus is the one who we know from Hebrews who lives to make intercession for us. Jesus is that great high priest interceding on our behalf.
And this is a high priest who's actually experienced judgment for us. The only reason that God's wrath will not fall on any of us here in this room is because it actually fell on Jesus. Jesus experienced Sodom and Gomorrah. On the cross he received a far worse punishment than we read here in Genesis chapter 19. It was on the cross that the one who was righteous sacrificed himself in order to cover over for the sins of many.
And now, Jesus has risen and he lives to intercede on our behalf. And anytime the devil comes up as our accuser and he tries to condemn us for our sins, Jesus intercedes and says, I know they're sinful, but my righteousness covers them. My righteousness covers them. And there will be no Sodom and Gomorrah for them, because it has fallen on me. Do you believe this, church?
If you believe this, this is your hope. And if you don't believe this, hear me. This is your only hope. There is no other hope than Jesus. No one here is righteous.
No, not one. No one here is better than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Our only hope is in our great high priest, Jesus, our lord. Pray with me. Jesus, you are our high priest.
We are a haughty people, thinking we deserve your grace and your mercy. But, Lord, we are unrighteous and sinful. Lord, I pray that you would expose our sins. All that we might cling to you even more dearly. Jesus, thank you for that beautiful exchange in which you took our sin, and we take your righteousness.
Father, thank you. You who were, not willing to spare your own son, but gave him up for us. Lord, I pray that that gospel, that good news will work deep into our bones, into our hearts, and we'll be a transformed people. And the result will be that we will be a people that pleads on behalf of this city. We intercede strongly on behalf of others.
That we will boldly approach your throne and find grace. And we pray this all in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.