Lost In Lust Series

Tell the Story of the text....

There are a variety of lessons in this text, and I can only cover a few in the allotted time.

1) Homosexuality is a terrible sin The bible houses dozens of cross references to this very unpopular fact in our country.

Romans 1:26-28 "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper..."

Jude 1:7 "just as Sodom and Gomorra and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire."

Today we have homosexual pastors pastoring homosexuals. We have homosexuals being told that "God made you that way." The first good news I’ve seen in awhile a transsexual man who became a woman through surgery has finally dropped the bid to become a pastor of a Methodist church.

There are forces in nearly every denomination lobbying for homosexuality to be accepted in the church. But as long as I live and breath it will never be accepted here.

The lesson that must be taught is the lesson of the gospel.

**Homosexuality, and sexual impropriety is a sin and __all__ sin demands the death penalty of hell. But God so loved the homosexual, the adulterer and the fornicator that he sent his one and only son so that whoever would believe in him will not perish but instead can have everlasting life."***

The message of the Bible is clear. "Repent and be baptized in the name of Christ."

Choose life must be our battle cry!

2) Living in an unrighteous culture dulls our own sense of righteousness.

When you see verse 8 you cannot help but realize that Lot Himself, a righteous man had been so long in the company of sinners that he was unable to discern good and evil in it’s entirety.

In keeping with Eastern Custom he had the highest responsibility to take care of his guests. That was a form of unwritten law - in a land where hospitality was key to life. But Lot’s righteousness had been spoiled because he lived in close connection with a sin stained society.

Remember Peter says Lot was a righteous man! And Genesis 19:9 gives the idea that he has repeatedly rebuked them for their sin - to no avail!

We also have been made righteous in Christ but we live in a Godless society. This nation under God does not by and large submit to God. Remember that. And pay careful attention to the watchdog groups that do help to guard your righteousness.

It is not impossible to life in godliness and holiness in America, but it is impossible to do so without the aid of other Christians around you. That is the way it has always been in any society, and the way it will always be until the end when Christ comes and sets up an eternally righteous kingdom.

So then, one overriding message in the text is that we lose our ability to know and do rightly when we accept known sin. Lot failed to live up to his duty as a father to his daughters, and later on we see the result of the godless culture on his two daughters who apparently have no qualms about getting their father drunk so they could get pregnant by him! You know they had no guilt because the names they gave these children "Moab" means "of his father" and "Ben-Ammi" means "son of my people". Both names seem to memorialize and flaunt their sin.

Closely related to the second is the third, but there is a difference in relationship the Second was "2) Living IN an unrighteous culture dulls our own sense of righteousness." And the third is ...

3) Being Part of an unrighteous culture decreases our power & witness.

Look at v14, where his sons-in-law wouldn’t listen to his pleas.

Look at 26 where his wife perished

and finally look at verses 30-38 where his daughters commit incest with their own father!

Lot lost his family not just because he moved into sin city, but because he became a part of it and failed to protect his family from it. Earlier in chapter 13, Lot was merely pitching his tents in proximity to Sodom, here he’s sitting in the gates of the city, having bought a house downtown. Recognize of course that, there is no evidence of involvement there - only that he now lived in town.