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A Crisis of Civilization - Genesis 18-19
A sermon preached by David Holloway

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In 1984 the man soon to be the new Bishop of Durham, David Jenkins, publicly denied the virginal conception of Jesus and doubted his Empty Tomb. There was a national outcry. Then soon after his controversial consecration in York Minister, the Minster itself dramatically caught fire. There was million of pounds worth of damage. What do you think about that? Was that the judgment of God? Or was it just freak lightning that caused the fire? What did the weather people think? Mr C.G.Collier, of the Met Office, said it was ...

" ... really a heavy shower rather than a thunderstorm. It is surprising that it apparently produced such devastating lightning."

What did eyewitnesses think? One said,

"I've never seen anything like it before. There was no rain or thunder. The flashes got brighter and brighter. And they seemed to last far longer than normal lighting would."

But what did the theologically liberal Archbishop of York think - John Habgood - the man who had conducted Jenkins' consecration? He thought it was wrong to connect the fire, I quote, "with some remarks made by a bishop elect on a TV discussion programme." However, another senior Anglican said to me: "It makes you think, doesn't it?"

Now go back centuries - in fact millennia - to the plains of the lower Jordan in Palestine, to the area where you now have the Dead Sea. What do you think was happening with the conflagration you read about in Genesis chapter 19 and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? Was it just a huge volcanic eruption coupled with a major earthquake that released - in the explosion - a lake of oil. This then caught fire in a violent way and produced a great mushroom cloud of smoke and the terrible devastation you read about in Genesis? Was that all that it was - a freak of nature?

And what about Lot's wife? As she stood looking back, was she just covered with some sudden red-hot mass flung from the buried seabed of an earlier and smaller salt sea? Is that how she became what Genesis 19.26 describes as "a pillar of salt"?

Jesus himself, on one occasion, was caught up in this sort of debate. He was complaining to the crowds that they were good at geology and meteorology. But they were not good at making moral or spiritual judgments - Luke 12.56:

"You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?"

But he then went on to caution them about making judgments on natural disasters like the collapse of the Tower of Siloam - Luke 13.4-5:

"Do you think that ... those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Do you see the logic of that? Disasters do not necessarily mean that people are particularly guilty. You cannot say that whenever there is an earthquake, it is because the people in the earthquake zone are very wicked. But - says Jesus (and it is an important "but") - "unless you repent, you too will all perish". Sin can, indeed, lead to disasters. Suffering, however, doesn't necessarily come from sin. But sin leads to suffering, sooner or later - that is for sure.

Back to Genesis - for here the Bible explicitly links the suffering in the plain of the lower Jordan - in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah - to human sin and wickedness. What, then, can we learn from all this that was happening thousands of years ago? Well, to answer that you must now turn to Genesis 18-19. And I want to talk tonight about, first, THE PEOPLE OF SODOM; secondly, LOT'S WIFE; and, thirdly, ABRAHAM.

First, THE PEOPLE OF SODOM

What do you learn from the people of Sodom? Earlier in Genesis we have been told that they were "wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord" (Gen 13.13). Here in chapters 18-19 you read about God's judgment on that wickedness and sin.

So first you learn that God is a God of judgment as well as mercy. This is an important lesson to learn for these days. The God of the Bible is not only a God of love but also a God of holiness. And God's holiness cannot tolerate wickedness. How could it, if God is just? Would it be loving for God to tolerate the actions of Hitler, Stalin, or Pol Pot? Of course, not! Listen to Paul in Romans 11.22: "Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God."

God is kind and stern. Listen to how God himself puts it Exodus 34.5-7:

"Then the LORD ... proclaimed his name [or revealed his character] ... "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished."

What hope, then, is there? For the message of the Bible is that some are guilty in all ways and all are guilty in some ways; and with God a miss is as good as a mile. Well, the New Testament shows that God's kindness is supremely shown in Jesus Christ who died to bear the guilt of our wickedness and sin, in our place. And there is free forgiveness if we trust in him. That is the good news. God's sternness is not the last word. But it is a vital word that many people don't want to hear. There is no place in the Bible for a "Santa Claus" theology, where you say that God is infinitely tolerant and accepting of everything you do, however destructive, demeaning, and in defiance of his commands.

The second thing you learn from the people of Sodom is this. If you are in the middle of a culture or a civilization that is decadent and God-defying, life seems so ordinary and normal - in spite of the fact it is soon going to suffer total extinction. As we heard in our New Testament reading (Luke 17.28-29):

"People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulphur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all."

God gives sufficient warnings of his judgments. But too many, as Jesus said, do not interpret their contemporary world as they should. They think that warnings are just extremist exaggeration. Look at Lot's prospective sons-in-law in Genesis 19.14:

"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."

The third thing you learn is that sexual decadence eventually brings judgment. The great evidence of sin in Noah's day was "violence". You read about that earlier in Genesis and how God judged the world with a flood - Genesis 6.11:

"Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence."

The great evidence of sin in Lot's day, however, was sexual licence - and homosexual licence especially. When Lot was entertaining the visitors that you read about in chapter 19, we are told in verses 4-5:

"Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom - both young and old - surrounded the house. 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.'

So what did Lot do? He offered them his own daughters - verses 7-8:

"No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. 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."

There was obviously heterosexual decadence as well as.

The fourth thing you learn is that the destruction of the people of Sodom is a parable of God's final judgment. Listen to Jude (in the New Testament):

"In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire" (Jude 1.7).

This world is not going on for ever. There will be a judgment day. God's present judgment is only one aspect of his judgment. God overlooks, in his kindness, many of our sins. But that overlooking won't be for ever. And on that final judgment day, when Christ returns (not this time as Saviour but as Judge) there are going to be some big surprises. Listen to what Jesus told the nice, respectable people of Capernaum. They would have been horrified by the sexual goings on in Sodom. But they rejected Jesus and his teaching. Jesus said:

"If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you" (Mat 11:23-24).

So this teaching about Sodom is for everyone - especially if you think you are good and moral. Thinking you are good and moral but without Christ can be the worst of all states. If you realize you are bad and immoral, you can see more clearly the mess you are in without Christ and so seek his help, his forgiveness and his Holy Spirit. Jesus said that "the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of" the respectable people who reject him (Matthew 21.31). Let move on.

Secondly, LOT'S WIFE

Jesus himself said we must think about Lot's wife. In Luke 17 Jesus referred to the days of Lot and then said in verse 30:

"It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot's wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left."

So what does Lot's wife teach us?

First, she teaches that it is possible to have religious connections and still not be saved. Although she was married to Lot, who was a believer (for all his weaknesses), this woman was clearly not one. So you don't become a child of God and accepted by him just because you are in a Christian family or have Christian friends.

Secondly, Lot's wife blatantly disobeyed God's word. One of Lot's visitors - a supernatural messenger or angel or whoever (and the Bible teaches the reality of angels but doesn't encourage us to be preoccupied with them) - one of these men said (Genesis 19 verse 17): "Flee for your lives! Don't look back." But Lot's wife thought she knew better than God. That is the heart of sin. And she suffered in consequence.

Thirdly, maybe she thought that the good life could come without sacrifice and without effort - so "why all this fuss about leaving Sodom, such an exciting and wealthy place?" Jesus mentions Lot's wife in the context of wanting to "keep your life and not lose it" - that is to say refusing to make sacrifices for him. He says, on the contrary, sacrifice is the way to preserve your life and get what you really want. How true that is. Take a massive problem for the modern world and related to Sodom and to modern sexual decadence - sexually transmitted diseases. The world (and certainly the UK) is facing an epidemic of these diseases.

The Biblical solution is abstinence until marriage (or for life) if you are not married, and then faithfulness within marriage. That is the way literally to "preserve your life". Yes, it is hard - it involves a measure of sacrifice and "losing your life". Many (like Lot's wife) think you can solve this problem without sacrifice. How wrong they are as Uganda has so clearly shown us. That is one African state that has aggressively promoted abstinence education and marital faithfulness; and it is the one African state that is rolling back AIDS. It is an amazing success story. Jesus said, "Remember Lot's wife."

Thirdly, ABRAHAM

What can we learn from Abraham in all of this.

First, learn from Abraham's trust in God. There is something quite awful about God's judgment. How do you think about the final judgment which will be far worse than any present judgment? How do you think about Hell and the fact that people are going there? If you don't have questions, you must be ignorant of the clear teaching of Jesus and the Bible on Hell. It is so stark.

Now Abraham knew that God was indeed a "kind" God. He was loving. He had good purposes for his world. Before God let Abraham know what would happen to Sodom, he repeated his promise of a child to Sarah, although (verse 11 of chapter 18) ...

"... Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing."

And when Sarah could not believe this, God said to Abraham, verse 14:

"Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."

Abraham knew that God was good and almighty - the almighty creator of the universe. So he knew that whatever God was going to do with Sodom it would be right and not wrong. Abraham says in verse 25:

"Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Abraham had confidence in the goodness of God. So he trusted him to do what is right, even though he might not understand all of God's ways.

Secondly, he listened to God. Verse 20:

"Then the LORD said, 'The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.'"

Abraham then had a fuller picture. He heard that God was going out of his way to be fair. God didn't want to judge only on "hearsay".

Thirdly, Abraham prayed. Do you pray for people when the subject of Hell is mentioned; or do you try and argue Hell away? You have the first full prayer recorded in the Bible here in chapter 18 verse 23 and following. It is an amazing prayer. It tells us that God not only goes out of his way to be fair, but he lets mercy triumph over judgment. That is the way, according to James 2 verse 3, with biblical judgment. Abraham prayed for God to spare Sodom if there were 50, then if 45, then if 40, then if 30, then if 20, and finally if there were only 10 "righteous people" in the city of Sodom. Verse 32, God said: "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it." God goes out of his way to be not only fair but merciful.

However, fourthly, Abraham knew that a line in the sand had to be drawn somewhere. He didn't pray, "if there is only Lot, will you save Sodom." He stopped before praying that. The Bible doesn't allow us to say that all will be saved and all will be well and there is never going to be judgment. Was Abraham's prayer for Lot worth it? Will your prayers for your friends and family be worth it? Well, certainly Abraham's prayers had an effect. But they were not answered in quite the way he prayed. For Sodom was not spared, but Lot was. Look at Genesis 19.29:

"when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe."

I must conclude. This has been heavy stuff tonight. But the Bible's teaching on judgment is not to frighten you, or depress you into inaction, like a car's headlights dazzling a petrified rabbit that then gets run over. No! It is for a warning. It is like those warning notices on the motorway when there is ice or fog. If you ignore them and you have an accident, who is to blame?

It seems that God's punishment is that he gives us what we wish - life forever without him. C.S.Lewis suggested, "There are only two kinds of people in the end; those who say to God, 'Thy will be done', and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'"

So the question tonight is simple: "who are you going to be like - for now and for eternity ... the people of Sodom; Lot's wife; or Abraham?" And you become like Abraham by, as the Bible says, turning "to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead - Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath" (1 Thess. 1.9-10).

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