“And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door,” Genesis 19:1-11.
“And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;),” 2 Peter 2:7-8.
“Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground,” Genesis 19:24-25.
“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire,” Jude 1:6-7.
Throughout the ages, the Lord in mercy has graphically pictured for mankind what lies ahead for those who defy Him and His law.
There is no clearer example of this than the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah and the fate that followed their detestable wickedness. The Lord Jesus informs us that mankind, unchanging and unchangeable in its defiance of God, will plunge itself back into the inquiry of the cities, whose ashes serve as a reminder of the wrath of God.
“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed,” Luke 17:28-30.
We are witnessing today a global descent into the awful mire of sodomy and its correlated wickedness.
It is not only on the streets that this is seen but parliaments have shown their endorsement and approval of this rebellion. Worse still, ‘Christendom’ has embraced it. Only a handful of churches and denominations throughout the world have determined to see and call this practice an ‘abomination’, which is the Lord’s definition of it!
“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination,” Leviticus 18:22.
“If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them,”Leviticus 20:13.
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient,” Romans 1:26-28.
Nation after nation has in the last 50 years or so, espoused this evil. Here in the United Kingdom, as in other western societies, it has been enshrined in law as a legitimate and acceptable lifestyle and any who dispute such a status will find themselves in conflict with the ‘status quo’!
Everywhere, those who love the Lord and His righteous ways, like Lot of old, are ‘vexed’ with this acceptance of the moral plague creeping relentlessly across the world. The distress of believers daily grows as more and more of this depravity is foisted upon society.
Many have asked, ‘Can it get any worse?’ For an answer to that question, I believe that we have but to turn to the account of Sodom given us in Genesis 19 to see something of the stages of its development before its destruction under God’s wrath.
1. The sins of Sodom distinguished its citizens as more wicked than others.
“But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly,” Genesis 13:13.
There are degrees of sin amongst men. All sin will bring God’s wrath upon those who die in that state of rebellion. However, the retribution that will fall upon the sodomites will, in keeping with how the Lord perceives their sin, exceed the damnation other sinners suffer!
There were many sinful cities in the land of Canaan in the days of Abraham, but the perverted ways of Sodom drew the Lord’s angry attention.
The justice of the Lord may be seen in that before judgement came examination!
“And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know,” Genesis 18:20-21.
Assessment
As Christians, we accept the assessment of the Lord of the evil of sodomy. Irrespective of today’s approval of this odious lifestyle, we rightly protest against it and seek to warn those, politicians, churches and citizens generally, deceived into thinking it is a manner of behaviour to be admired and supported.
Sadly, at the ‘sodomite pride’ marches, there can be seen parents with very young children, many of whom have been made to sport badges and symbols supporting that of which they, in their innocence, know nothing of.
Shame on such stupid and moronic parents! What a judgment awaits such who have taught their offspring to honour that which God hates!
Ought to know better
Tragically, such behaviour has been found amongst those who ought to know better. A brief look at Lot will see just such folly. It led unto the loss of his wife and family and the obvious corruption of the two daughters who ran from the doomed city with their father. The closing verses of Genesis 19 record that distressing truth!
While Genesis 13 records the sinfulness of Sodom, yet Lot did not share the Lord’s abhorrence of its people and practices.
Following a dispute amongst the herdsmen of Abraham and Lot, Abraham counselled a separation of the two groups. He generously gave Lot the right of choice.
“And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left,” Genesis 13:8-9.
Lot made his decision based upon the judgment of the carnal perceptions of his heart.
“And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom,” Genesis 13:10-12.
The very next verse shows the great divergence of his opinion from that of the Lord. We have already quoted this verse.
“But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.”
True believer
Now we know that Lot was a true believer, though of shallow grace. Peter says of him: “And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds)” 2 Peter 2:7-8.
Peter is inspired by the Holy Ghost to use two words to describe Lot. They are ‘just’ and ‘righteous’. Both of these closely related terms can only be employed of one who is a saved, a pardoned and justified sinner who is accepted of God as righteous.
And yet he was carried away with the apparent superior benefits offered to those living in the vicinity of Sodom.
He was very sadly deceived by the judgment of his covetous eyes!
The sodomite lifestyle appeals to those who would be free of the holy restrictions of God’s laws. It is that folly which prophetically was shown to be the desire that would break out amongst the nations to an unprecedented degree in the last days.
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us,” Psalm 2:1-3.
The rest of the Psalm records the Lord’s reaction in wrath and judgment to this rebellion and the declaration that man’s actions will not in the least deflect God from His purpose to establish His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as King over the whole earth.
Doomed
Let all learn that despite the acclaim that has greeted this lifestyle in parliaments and even on the streets of Ulster, it is a doomed crusade!
Undoubtedly it will become more admired and approved within a society that is ever becoming that predicted by the apostle Paul.
I never will weary of quoting these solemn and dreadful words of God’s servant.
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away,” 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
The word ‘fierce’ means ‘untamed, savage’. Does that not most fittingly picture for us the increasing violence seen on our streets!
It is in such an atmosphere of the violation of God’s law that sodomy has emerged and flourishes!
Returning to the Genesis 19 record of the events in Sodom just before its damnation, consider how Lot was treated when the angels of God came to the city to investigate it.
2. Lot was harassed and denounced for resisting the evil and depraved demands of the Sodomites.
We will say little of the base evil of Lot’s response to the demands of Sodomites. But we would have you notice the reaction of them to Lot’s deplorable attempts to stop them in their evil intentions.
“And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them,” Genesis 19:9.
Protests presently permitted
Presently, protests are permitted against sodomites and their parades. However, that will not last. There have been prosecutions of individuals for speaking out in open-air meetings against sodomy. In most cases, I think it right to say, those prosecutions have failed or been overturned.
Sodomy was decriminalised by the ‘Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69’, which received the ‘royal assent’ on 27 June 1969. It has established itself more and more in society and progressively has overturned the standards adopted by former generations from the Word of God, so that the wickedness will continue and will accelerate and become more belligerent toward any who opposite it.
Lot had been tolerated but his views, weak and all as his witness was, are no longer going to be permitted. He is now threatened with violence.
That is coming, Christian.
3. He and his home were attacked by the sodomites.
“And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door,” verse 19. Lot’s rights as a citizen were thus overthrown. He had no ‘right’ to refuse the wicked demands of the sodomites.
That too is coming, Christian.
4. It was heaven’s intervention that preserved Lot.
“But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door,” 10-11.
Second Advent
The return of Christ is prompted by the threat posed to His people, both His redeemed and the surviving remnant of His ancient covenant nation, Israel.
The beloved verses: “And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people; He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm,” 1 Chronicles 16:20-22, though speaking specifically of Israel, nevertheless embody the care and protectiveness the Lord shows toward all His elect.
He will not allow the ever increasing aggressiveness of the ungodly to utterly overwhelm His people. As He intervened in the days of Pharaoh, so He will do again!
Lot was delivered and I do believe that there are aspects of Lot’s unbecoming behaviour as recorded in Genesis 19 which denote developments amongst God’s people at the end of these ‘latter days’.
Just as the virgins in the parable of Matthew 5, ‘all’ slumbered and slept’, even so, all of professing Christians are, to some degree or other, guilty of such carelessness today.
Like Lot, there is a clinging to the world and a reluctance to leave.
“And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city,” Genesis 19:16.
Quite literally, Lot had to be dragged out of Sodom. He had drifted into it. He moved from pitching “his tent toward Sodom,” Genesis 13:12, to taking up residence there. Indeed, from Genesis 19:1, it appears he rose to a position of acceptance for it says he “sat in the gate of Sodom.” That was basically the place where the magistrates of a city met. It is generally agreed that Lot did not hold office but to be able to sit in that area would suggest a degree of acceptance of him by the rulers and of his readiness to mingle with them.
I cannot help but think of those Christians who are ready to sit in councils and in Stormont alongside sodomites and their supporters. They are today’s ‘Lots’!
Distress
That is why the trend, the drift, within our Free Presbyterian Church toward that which was once stoutly rejected, is so distressing. It can only lead to disaster with today’s ‘Lots’ losing their families to sin and being damned under the wrath of God as was Lot’s wife, his sons and their wives!
Christian, heed the warnings, the abundantly clear warnings of God’s Word, and heed the ancient call of God.
“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls,” Jeremiah 6:16.
Do not be as those addressed in the days of Jeremiah!
“But they said, We will not walk therein.”
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
17th September 2024