Genesis 29 Series

Two weeks ago we looked at Genesis 18 which highlights the relationship between God and Abraham. A relationship that the Scriptures describe as a friendship. That chapter was all about the righteous, the godly, and the friend of God.

This week’s chapter stands in sharp contrast to the previous chapter. Chapter 19 of Genesis focuses on the ungodly, the unrighteous, the enemies of God, whom God would destroy in dramatic fashion.

And this is one of those chapters that my kids call the “rated- R” parts of the Bible. The judgment that God brings down on Sodom and Gomorrah is because of their extreme sexual perversion, mainly their homosexuality, that was rampant in their society. Of course, we get the modern word sodomy from this infamous city’s name because their reputation identified them as a homosexual culture.

Now we won’t be getting into the biblical reasons of why homosexuality is wrong. But if you want to study that on your own, check out these following passages that clearly show that God sees homosexuality as perverse, abominable, unnatural, and outright sin. You can go to:

Leviticus 18:22, 29, 20:13, Romans 1:26, I Corinthians 6:9, and I Timothy 1:10.

These two cities could have been the most wicked cities that the earth has ever seen. But remember who chose to live there? Our old friend Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Abraham gave him a choice as two where to live and grow his family and his business. Lot chose to live close to the wicked city of Sodom and eventually moved right into the city.

Think about this for a moment. Lot chose to move himself, his family and all his workers right into a city typified as a sexually deviant city. Something you can’t isolate yourself from.

On a trip to Washington D.C. the hotel I was staying at happened to be right at the edge of the gay district in the downtown area. The group I was with and I went looking for a grocery store one day and walked right into the heart of the gay district. And nobody had to tell us that we were in the gay district. It was sick. I didn’t want to be there for five minutes. I can’t imagine living there with my family.

But Lot was more worried about making money even if it meant living in a depraved environment. And as we’re going to see, his compromise with the ‘world’ had terrible affects on him and his family. But you know what the strange, and even tragic, truth is? Lot was a believer in God. Lot actually had faith in God.

[Read II Peter 2:6-8.]

Lot was a believer. But Lot’s faith seemed to be extremely week as he compromised himself with the ‘world or the ‘ungodly way of life’ as he lived amongst the Sodomites. Well lets pick up the story of Lot and see where his life in Sodom has taken him. The account starts with the angels that were with God and Abraham making their way to Sodom.

[Read Genesis 19:1-3.]

There’s several things we need to note about Lot here.

- judge, (v9)

- hospitable

- embarrassed by the city

- feared for the men’s safety

But like we said before, Lot’s personal compromise with the world would not only affect

him, but it would affect everyone around him. So the first thing we see is:

Lot’s compromise with the world would affect his guests

[Read Genesis 19:4-5.]

When I read this it gives me a mental picture that’s horrifying. The Scriptures set the scene very clearly. Men of all ages, from all areas of the city, from all socio-economic situations, had one thing in common – their animal-like desires for homosexual relations. And I say animal-like because the text gives the impression that they were going to forcibly take these visitors and have their way with them.

You can see why Lot didn’t want the men to stay in the courts of the city. Lot’s choice to live in such a wicked place put his guests in danger. But not only that:

Lot’s compromise with the world would affect his judgment

[Read Genesis 19:6-8.]

Doesn’t this just make you spittin’ mad? I mean, to give up his daughters to these animals for the sake of being a good host? Now even though that might have been the polite thing to do back then, there’s a huge line that was crossed when you offer your own children to be gang raped for the sake of hospitality.

Lot was so entrenched in the sick culture of the place where he lived that he couldn’t think straight. His compromise with the world affected his judgment even when it came to taking care of his own daughters. But guess what, this angry mob wouldn’t be satisfied with Lot’s offer. So now we see: