https://esv.literalword.com/?q=genesis+19
Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Thursday, 21 November 2024:
Genesis 19:1, 15-16, 26, 36 – Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom…. 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, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city…. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt…. both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.
The story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is both shocking and tragic and should serve as a warning to Christians today against being influenced by society rather than confronting ungodly culture as ambassadors of Christ.
The New Testament tells us Lot was a “righteous” man who was greatly distressed and tormented in his soul by the sexual perversion and lawlessness he saw in Sodom. (2 Peter 2:8) Genesis 19:1 says Lot “was sitting in the gate of Sodom,” which likely means he was a town leader, at least active in community affairs and well-known. However, despite his anguished heart and apparent influence within the community, he seems to have had no significant impact on Sodom’s morality. On the contrary, he and his family were complicit with, and corrupted by, Sodom’s depravity.
Warned by the angels of the God’s imminent judgment and destruction of the cities, Lot tried to subsequently warn his son’s-in-law (presumably Sodomites), but they thought he was only joking (v14), which says something about Lot’s daily convictions and about what he had communicated to his family and community on a regular basis concerning sin. Furthermore, Lot had become so attached to Sodom that the angels had to physically kick him out of town, “the Lord being merciful to him.” During the destruction, his wife disobeyed the angels, looked back and died. Finally, although Lot’s two daughters survived, they had been so corrupted by Sodom they subsequently got their father drunk and slept with him in order to get pregnant by him! How could a “righteous” man allow such things to happen?
- 1 Corinthians 10:11-12 — Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
- Romans 15:4 — For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction.
- Romans 12:1-2 — I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
- Proverbs 12:26 — The righteous is a guide to his neighbor, But the way of the wicked leads them astray.
- James 4:4 — You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God
Lot’s story should serve as a warning to us. It is not enough for us to lament the sins of our culture, we must counter and confront the sins of our culture and not simply to protect our families and preserve society but to reveal the need for salvation through Jesus Christ. Salvation from what? From God’s wrath and judgment. Serving as Christ’s ambassador during times such as these is a tremendous responsibility – do not be complacent! Remember, silence is consent. Lot may have been vexed, but he wasn’t valiant against the sin of his day. Many Christians today are in the same boat.
- Ezekiel 3:17-21 – “Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”
Are you having a greater influence on your culture than your culture is having on you? Are you remaining pure and ministering to the needs of others in your community while boldly proclaiming the Gospel in this age when so many people need to know Jesus? Are you discipling your children and next generation Christians to faithfully follow Jesus in order to leave a legacy of faith?
- 2 Corinthians 7:1 — Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
- Jude 1:17-23 — But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
- Matthew 28:18-20 — And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
- Psalm 71:18 — So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.
Genesis 19:7 — I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.
The word sodomy comes from this biblical account of the city of Sodom. The word sodomy originally applied to homosexual sex. In the U.S., sodomy was considered illegal for everyone until the beginning of the 21st century. In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sodomy laws were unconstitutional. Over the years, with increased social acceptance of homosexuality, the word sodomy has lost it’s original meaning, and many liberal teachers have suggested that the real sin in Sodom wasn’t homosexuality but rather inhospitality and rape. However, this account does address homosexuality which is abhorrent to God according to the Bible:
- Leviticus 18:22 — You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
- Leviticus 20:13 — If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
- Romans 1:26-28 — For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Jude 1:7 — …just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
- Genesis 2:24 — Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
- Mark 10:6-9 — But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
- 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 — Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
- 1 Timothy 1:8-11 — Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
- 1 Corinthians 7:2 — But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
Not only does the Bible condemn those who unrepentantly practice homosexuality; the Bible also condemns those who condone such behavior:
- Romans 1:32 — Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
- Leviticus 19:17 — Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor directly, or you will share the guilt of their sin.
- Leviticus 5:1 — If anyone sins in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity….
- Proverbs 24:11-12 — Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
- Isaiah 58:1 — Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.
“I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.” The challenge for Lot as it is for us today is for those who don’t acknowledge the Sovereignty of God, wickedness is undefinable, or at best, subject to current public opinion. Without God, who is to say what is wicked? What makes any form of sex inappropriate, whether it be adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia, bestiality, etc.? What makes anything right or wrong, good or bad? Increasingly today, society is guided by a “statistical morality” rather than God’s sovereign word and will. We take national polls, and whatever the majority says is right becomes the acceptable norm. “What does everyone think?” is a standard doomed to degradation and destruction. God has called us, not just to speak out on issues but to proclaim the Gospel, to lead people to Christ. There is no other hope for peace, justice, and security. Many people are involved in politics, but very few are sharing Christ. No system will ever be so good we don’t have to be. The heart of man’s problem is the problem with man’s heart. With all power and authority, Jesus has commissioned us to be His ambassadors and ministers and messengers of reconciliation. Be faithful to your calling today. Don’t be like Lot who was vexed but not valiant.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 21 November 2024: Do three things today: 1) Resolve not to be entertained by anything (TV shows, social media, web-sites, etc.) that makes light of what God considers abhorrent, including sexual immorality; 2) Lovingly but boldly speak out against accepted sin around you, and 3) commit to sharing the complete Gospel with at least one person today.
- Psalm 101:3 — I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.
- Philippians 4:8 — Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
- 1 Timothy 4:7 — Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;
- Romans 12:2 — Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
- 1 John 2:15 — Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Matthew 5:28 — But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
- Ephesians 5:11 — Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
- Matthew 24:14 — And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
- Mark 16:15 — And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”
- 2 Timothy 4:2 ESV — Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 