ALL THAT GLITTERS IS SALT, NOT GOLD (GENESIS 19:1-26)
My good friend from Northern California while we were studying at the seminary was hopping mad when he heard people say that the 1989 earthquake was a sign of God’s displeasure at and judgment on San Francisco, also known as the homosexual capital of the world. When the 7.1 Richter scale earthquake hit San Francisco in the summer of 1989, people died, buildings shook and a bridge collapsed; however, a student wrote an article in the student newspaper declaring God’s judgment upon the homosexuals of San Francisco and California for the hedonistic people, sinful lifestyle and weird thinking that were part of the West Coast.
My friend, whose parents, siblings, nephews and nieces were in San Francisco, went ballistic. As the editor of the student newspaper, he wrote an editorial cautioning against rushing into judgment, extolling God’s love for sinners and reminding readers of the spiritual impact of Californian pastors like Chuck Swindoll, John MacArthur and Chuck Smith, the quality education he received at Biola College, the effective ministries of parachurch groups like Campus Crusade and World Vision that were based there and godly Christians in California who attend the numerous churches there every week.
Indeed, the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 is a shocking passage to read and even tougher to teach and apply. Many Christians are uncomfortable with the content, the language and, especially, the ending of the text. Some others, unfortunately, have taken the text and the opportunity to gloat at the behavior, the condemnation and the destruction of homosexuals!
The situation in Sodom and Gomorrah is more complicated than merely a single issue. It is about the corruption of normal man and woman relationship (19:5), the outbreak of violence in people to people relationship (19:9) and the evil in fallen man’s heart toward God (19:13).
Earlier in Genesis 13, Lot foolishly chose a prosperous city for residence based on its busy surroundings, appealing landscape and fertile land but he ended up in a morally low society, a spiritually bankrupt place (Gen 13:10) and a politically dangerous situation. Abraham had to rescue his stubborn nephew when the kings of the east invaded Sodom (Gen 14:12). In Genesis 18, God promised Abraham that He would not destroy Sodom if even 10 righteous people were in it.
Why was Sodom and Gomorrah judged? How are we to respond to temptation in an immoral, irreligious and irreversible environment? What should we do when wrong is considered right, the spiritual climate is hopeless and when judgment is imminent?
Separate Yourself Before Sin Strikes
19:4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” 6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” 9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. 10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door. (Gen 19:4-11)
In the November 1987 Reader’s Digest, Betty Wein retells an old tale she heard from Elie Wiesel:
A just man comes to Sodom hoping to save the city. He pickets. What else can he do? He goes from street to street, marketplace to marketplace, shouting, “Men and women, repent. What you are doing is wrong. It will kill you; it will destroy you.”
They laugh, but he goes on shouting, until one day a child stops him. “Poor stranger, don’t you see it’s useless?”
“Yes,” the just man replies.
“Then why do you go on?” the child asks.
“I was convinced that I would change them. Now I go on shouting because I don’t want them to change me.” (Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, Craig Brian Larson)
Were there 10 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah (18:32), as Abraham had hoped? In the end Lot was the only righteous resident and closest to a normal person in Sodom.
Would you live there? Start your family? Mingle with them? Lot believed he could handle the people, the lifestyle and the environment. Today many people think they can handle alcohol, drugs, sex and anything bad, unhealthy or harmful without being burned, serious consequences and disastrous results. Lot’s life was inadvertently changed - tested, torn and terrorized by his neighbors.
Why had God not destroyed California cities like San Fernando Valley, the pornography capital of the world, San Francisco, the gay capital of the world, and other crime and sin capitals of the world? No one is safe. Tony Campolo said, “If God is not going to judge this generation, He will have to apologize to Sodom.”
Let me suggest why the Lord has spared us, how we can still save the communities in our society today and what we can do to make an impact even when destruction comes.
Christians are the salt and light of the world, the conscience and voice of a society, people who should stand out like a sore thumb. They shine in the dark, walk in the light and do the right thing. Sadly, Lot resembled his neighbors. In offering his daughters to the repulsive crowd (Gen 19:4-8), he behaved just as weird as the people around him.
In the end, Lot’s speaking out was ineffective (Gen 19:9). Why? Lot just wanted to avoid trouble, so he said to no effect: “This is no good,” “Here’s a better way” and, of course, “Not under my roof!”
How are you different from the world around you? Are you walking in the counsel of the wicked? Standing in the path of sinners? Or sitting in the seat of scoffers?
Step Away From Worsening Conditions
12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here--sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.” 14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. 15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” 16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” 18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! 19 Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it--it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.” 21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.) (Gen 19:12-22)
The mother of Mencius, the famous Confucian scholar of the Warring States Period, paid particular attention to the education of her son. The young Mencius and his mother at first lived near a cemetery. When Mencius saw people mourning at the burial of their dead, he started to imitate them playfully. He cried loudly, kowtowed nonstop and burned incense like them. Mencius’ mother said, “This is not a place for my son to live.” They immediately moved to a place near a market.
At the next stop, when Mencius saw vendors bragging about what they wanted to sell and making money, he started again to imitate them. He hawked, shouted and bargained like a street vendor. Mencius’ mother said, “This is also not a suitable place for my son to live.”
Again they moved immediately but this time to a place near a school. His mother finally said, “This is a suitable place for my child to live.” It was here that they finally settled down. (Adapted from Best Chinese Idioms Vol. 2, Tan Situ, Kowloon, Hong Kong: Hai Feng Publishing Company, 1988.
Lot was the proverbial frog in the kettle that will jump out of boiling water immediately, but will die in cold water rising slowly a degree at a time. The weird surroundings, the odd behavior and the immoral majority did not hasten his move. He thought he would be fine as long as they do not bother him, as long as he minds his business and the boundaries are clear. It did not occur to him to Sodom was not the right place to raise an upright, a healthy or a normal family
The signs were clear. Lot faced immovable roadblocks and rising opposition not just from without and from outsiders but from within and at home. His sons-in-law laughed at him, his wife loved the world and even he himself vacillated. Lot could not convince his future in-laws (14), his wife or even himself to leave. Ironically, the people of the city told him in vain to leave: “Get out of our way.” (Gen 19:9)
The angels had to bend backward for Lot’s family, yell at them to run and drag Lot out of town literally (19:17). Finally, the angels yielded to Lot’s request to stop when they were safer, though not safely, at the next town (19:19-21). Lot thought like a carnal man: “The problem is not so serious, it’s not so simple to leave and the judgment won’t be so sudden! I can’t leave without my wife, my family is not ready and we have already set the engagement date!”
Smarten Up in the Future
23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from the LORD out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities--and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (Gen 19:23-26)
When Hurricane Andrew struck and devastated the Florida Peninsula south of Miami on Aug. 24, 1992, with winds 165 mph and with gusts stronger than 200 mph, it left a $25 billion bill of damage and a record as the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history at that time.
In the hours before Andrew’s pending eastward inland travel to Louisiana the next day, CNN interviewed (8/26/92) a man about his present and future plans with this question: “How are you preparing for Hurricane Andrew?” The man replied, “I’m moving my family from Louisiana to Arkansas.”
“Louisiana?” the man asked. “Isn’t that a bit far?” The man who planned to move more than 400 miles away answered, “No. When you’re gonna run, you better run far enough!”
The man was right. Hurricane Andrew left 28 people dead in Florida and Louisiana.
The judgment on Sodom could not be prevented or delayed, but the punishment for Lot’s wife could have been avoided. How many warnings did the angels give Lot and his family? Three firm warnings (19:12, 15, 17). At the last warning, how many commands were there? I used to think there were two. Actually, there were four: run for your lives, don’t look back, don’t stop, run to the mountains.
Even then, Lot’s wife looked back and at that point the supernatural protection of God was gone. The Dead Sea region with its rich minerals - petroleum, bitumen, salt and sulfur - rained on her (Genesis, Derek Kidner, Tyndale Old Testament Commentary 135). She not only stayed too long in Sodom and Gomorrah, she left her heart there and here eyes veered naturally, longingly and, unfortunately, dangerously at the city.
Someone once said, “What the mind does not attend to, it dismisses. What it attends to, it considers. What the mind attends to continually, it believes. And what the mind believes, it eventually does.” (Earl Nightingale)
Lot’s wife left the city, but the city did not leave her. It was in her system, blood, world, heart and mind
Conclusion: The Bible says, “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire.” (Deut 4:24) The wicked are blown away like chaff (Ps 1:4). The Bible did not merely admonish us to “avoid evil,” but “Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thess 5:22). Do you love the world? Have you fastened on to the things of the world? Is the love of the Father in you? The road to God is a narrow gate but the road to destruction is wide, so we have to protect and save ourselves from this corrupt generation. Are you holding on to the word of life so that you do not compete or labor for nothing?
Victor Yap
Other sermons in the series and other sermon series:
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