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Sin is a great trapper. Do you know what a trapper does? A trapper hunts in a seemingly passive way. It would seem that all they do is place traps down and hope animals walk into them, but there is a lot more to it than that. They observe animal tracks, place the trap in such as way that it is disguised. Food is carefully chosen to attract the animal. The prey is sized up to be sure to get the right cage, and of course the trapper places it when they know they won't be seen. It is a very active and effective process. Get the animal to go where it wouldn't go normally by offering it something it wants in a place that looks perfectly safe. 

Sin works the same way. Sin offers you something that looks good and useful. It seems safe, without consequence, and entirely reversible. It's like the mechanic who got addicted to drinking break fluid; he can stop whenever he wants. But this is the fundamental lie of sin. It can give you want you want, no, what you *need* without consequences. Sin doesn't share. It only takes. And that is what we are going to see today as we focus on the fate of Lot in this chapter. We will look at two points: Sin will imprison you, so don't accommodate it. and God's Grace will free you, so embrace it.  
### Sin will imprison you, so don't accommodate it

Let's take a look at Lot. How did this happen?! How did we go from nephew of Abraham to the guy known for offering up his daughters to be violated? Well, like most sins, it started with one choice. J.C. Ryle in his book *Holiness* makes this point. It all starts when Lot decides to leave Abraham for the fields of Sodom with no thought to what this might do to his soul: "He thought of his worldly profit, and not of his soul." (208). Lot looked at Sodom, with all of its wickedness, and only saw the grass and what that could mean for his flocks. "Hey, we need food, and if a compromise with the world is needed, so be it." The trap was set and the bait was material prosperity. It was clear what this city was known for. God looks at homosexuality with great wrath and judgment. Yet Lot doesn't seem to think that this is a big deal, and sets up to live there without consideration of this. It's not like he is going here with the idea of being a missionary. 

Where does this leave us? Am I saying that anyone who chooses to live in California is like Lot? No. But what I am saying is that we need to think about what our decisions are going to do to our souls before we think about what it will do for our savings. Be intentionally Biblical in your choices. Why do you watch what you watch? Read what you read? Post on what you post? Are you doing those things because you kinda fell into them? How are your daily choices in life affecting your soul? It has been well said, "Live by design, not by default." When you live by default, you are just accepting the choices that someone else has made. Maybe those were good choices, and maybe those choices are even still good, but the only way you know that is by comparing them against God's Word. 

Why stress this? After all, most decisions once you've made them you can go back on. If you start watching a show that isn't good you can stop. You can move to an area and then move out! Why place such scrutiny on your life?

The answer is because you can get used to sin. Let's go back to Lot. At first, he just pitched his tent outside the city limits at the end of chapter 13. In chapter 14 he was carried off by the warring tribes of the Canaanites because he moved to living inside the city. We can calculate how long he has been living in the city by what is happening in Abraham's life. Chapter 15 is the covenant with Abraham and the promise of a son, and then twenty plus years later we get to chapter 17. This means that Lot has been living in Sodom for the better part of two decades plus! Now, in chapter 19, when the angels come to Sodom, Lot meets them while he is sitting at the gate! 

Sitting at the gate is a significant detail. The gate of a city was like having a seat at city hall. You are there because you are in some kind of leadership position. In order to be placed in leadership as an outsider in a city, Lot has had to be doing some compromising and looking the other way. He didn't get here condemning the city's sin. Further, as we will see later, Lot's daughters are due to be married to the people of Sodom (v 14), so the ties to the city are tightly woven. 

It seems as though Lot has carved himself a pretty good life here in Sodom. Good grass, urban living, and a seat at the government table. It looks like Lot got it all. However, as one scholar notes, "One may say that, if people crave the best of this world along with the world to come, they may receive neither. One's loves often betray one's loyalties" (Ross, 365). We are going to see exactly this play out when it is time to choose.  

Lot has invited the two angels to stay in his home, and this has not escaped the notice of the men of the city. They announce what they plan to do: violate Lot's guests. Now, Lot here at least holds up the ideals of hospitality. Being kind to strangers was a big deal in Israelite culture, and protection of guests rated highly in Lot's mind. All good so far! You don't want to bring people into your house and then expose them to danger. He goes out to confront them and tells them that their actions are wicked (although, note the fact that he calls them "brothers."). Again, bold! 

But then we get to verse 8 where Lot offers up his daughters. This is an unmitigated failure. But Sodom taught him that sexual misbehavior isn't that big of a deal. As a city leader, he doesn't want to disappoint the citizenry, but he can't allow this wickedness to move forward. He has at least that. But he tries to find a middle way. Maybe the people can have their lusts satisfied, guests protected, and as always, there will be a little damage. That is very twisted thinking. You don't get there in a week. This is twenty years of Sodom thinking. One thing that one scholar points out is that Lot doesn't even pray. While he doesn't know it yet, there are angels just on the other side of the door! How many times do we pass on our most able weapon of prayer (Rick Phillips, 641)! 

Do you remember being shocked at behavior? I mean, we shake our heads at Pride month and the rainbows everywhere, but it has stopped being surprising. Well meaning Christians have even talked about this sin being just like all the others. Sin is sin, we say. What is about to happen here to Sodom tells us that there are categories of sin. God hasn't turned every city into the Dead Sea. Romans 1 sees this sin as contrary to nature and the final stop of a mind that has turned against God. Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:18 sees sexual sin of any kind as a sin against the body unlike other sins. We can't forget that. Our culture, even some churches, are trying to downplay that. We can't. 

So how do we properly see sin like this as heinous without making the opposite error of assuming that our sin is no big deal, even if it isn't *as* bad? 

I would encourage you to think of sin the same way you think about cancer. When someone tells you that they have been diagnosed with cancer you lean forward with concern, and if they are a family member, you make sure that they are pursuing every avenue possible to get rid of it. You would never say to them, "Well, millions of people get cancer every year." You take it seriously. Sin is no less dangerous. Are there degrees of sin? Yes, just like there are degrees of cancer. Brain cancer will kill you very quickly, but skin cancer can kill you too if you ignore it. The longer even a small skin cancer sits there the longer it takes to recover. And while I don't want to stretch this analogy too much, sin works much the same way. The longer you let it sit without repentance, the harder it is to get rid of it. 

Let's go back to Lot for a second to see how that works. Lot has been comfortable in Sodom for a good twenty years now. This was an outgrowth of a short-sighted decision to move away from God's blessing (albeit hidden blessing) towards something that he could see. To repent of that decision two weeks in would involve just pulling up the tent poles and moving back home. Nothing gained, nothing truly lost. 

Now, what does it look like for Lot to repent of this sin currently surrounded by Sodomites? Well, this would be taking his life into his hands. It wouldn't be offering his daughters, it would be going down fighting (Belcher, 143)! Assuming he survived that, it would be leaving behind his daughters' future husbands, the loss of his leadership position, his house, and really his entire way of life!  

So what do we take away from this? How do we resist accommodation of sin? Well, we have to see a vision and gain a love for righteousness. We accommodate sin because often we feel that we need something sinful in order to be ok. All you need is what is contained in the first question of the Heidelburg catechism:  "What is your only comfort in life and in death?"

"That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to Him, Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him."

There is no freer person on earth than the person who understands and lives that. 

Lest we think that, "Well, wrestling against sin isn't worth it because the wicked are always doing better than I am!" Read Psalm 73, and you will see that the Bible has already anticipated and dealt with that question! 

It has been said that there is nothing more threatening than a man with nothing to lose. I would say that there is nothing more peaceful than a man with nothing left to gain. If you have Christ, even death itself is gain (Phil. 1:21 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."). Grasping that is what gives you the freedom to stay out of the trap. 

Once you have embraced that freedom, preach that freedom. We can come away from this chapter assuming that if someone has fallen into the sin of Sodom that there is just no hope for them, but that isn't true. In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, we are given a list of sins that keep you out of heaven, a list of cancers, if you will, that will kill you. Included on there is homosexuality along with greed. What is the solution? "But! you were washed." There is hope for the greedy and the gay. Homosexuality is no more unchangeable than greed is. Because the power isn't in the sin, it is in the Savior. Now, it may be that turning away from a sinful pattern of decades will take a long time. Sometimes God will remind us to be dependent on Him by allowing us to struggle a long time with the consequences of our sin. But we don't need consequences removed in order to be ok. We need our sin removed from God's sight. 

In Christ, we have exactly that. So if you are struggling with these desires, be honest. Come to Christ. He is the only one powerful enough to not only forgive, but overcome your sin. This isn't going to be an easy process. This is not a magic pill. It is a promise for Christ to walk with you taking you as you are but not leaving you as you are. Let me assure you, just like Lot, you can't have sin and Jesus. Both are going to make you choose. Sin doesn't share, and neither does Jesus, blessedly. Jesus wants all of you. 

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​I had originally planned to just go straight into this text this morning, but as I thought about this over the weekend, I realized that there is a lot of confusion, personal feelings, and complicated relationships surrounding this issue. This is to say nothing of a relentless social media machine filled with a spectrum of people ranging from well-meaning but misinformed to malicious and misleading. 

I'm hoping that we can spend just one sermon sorting out some of this. 

This sin has been placed in the worst possible realm: politics. Politics cannot solve for this issue, and the only place that can is theology. So as we spend the next few minutes thinking about this, I would encourage you not to think in terms of personal experience or culture wars. Let's think about this like Christians, Christians who love our Savior and His Word and desire to communicate that to a lost and dying world. 

Some might say, "Well, why argue from the Bible? People don't believe in it! Wouldn't it be better to point to things we can all agree on like the example of nature, or human flourishing?" The problem with that argument is we surrender the only weapon we have for this problem. Affirming LGBT issues isn't a problem of logic. It is a spiritual problem. You aren't going to move people away from their sexual expression simply because birds and bees don't act that way. Arguing on anything except "Thus says the Lord" will eventually shown to be weak. 

The Lord is real. He has spoken to us in His Word. We and the rest of the world ignore this to our peril. This isn't so that we can own the libs but so that we can convert them to Christ. 

Let's begin by saying clearly that homosexuality is a sin. The action is a sin, and the taking that on as one's identity is a sin. 1 Cor. 6:9-10 clearly identifies the action as something that bars from heaven, yet the next verse tells us that such were some of you. It is something that not only needs to be left behind, but can. It is something that Christians no longer identify with. There are no lying Christians just like there are no gay Christians. There are just Christians who have been washed. They may struggle, but they are clean before the Lord if they have put their faith in Christ. 

Ok, with that introductory statement, let's go over a few things that people have argued at a popular level. There is no way to cover every crazy statement made online, but I think there are a few that we can look at that will provide us with some good additional teaching as well beyond this issue. 

One of the most common arguments that I have heard is, "Well, the condemnation of this is an Old Testament idea. And even in those handful of strikingly clear New Testament passages against this, Jesus never spoke against it. So since Jesus didn't say it, it doesn't matter for us today." This line of thinking comes from two places, a misunderstanding of the nature of the Bible itself, and red-letter Bibles. 

Let's talk about the Bible. In 2 Timothy 3:16 we find, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." What is that first word there? All! All of the Bible that we have before us comes from God Himself. Paul isn't writing his own opinion, He is writing the Words of God (2 Peter 3:16). So if Paul talks about homosexuality being a sin, it is the same as Jesus saying it. Jesus is God, all Scripture is breathed out by God, Paul is writing Scripture, ergo, Jesus is saying it. 

I lay some of the blame for this argument down on red-letter Bibles. These are the ones that put the words of Jesus in the gospels in red text. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, so don't feel bad if your Bible does this. Just think of it as an opportunity to remember the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture. I saw on the Babylon Bee that there is a new Bible coming out that has all the words of the Holy Spirit put in black text. All this to say, every word of your Bible is important. The words that Jesus spoke when He was on earth aren't any more holy or authoritative than the rest of the Bible. 

Speaking of the Bible, some may say, "Well, still, the clearest prohibitions against homosexuality are in Leviticus, but in that same book, people are told not to eat shrimp (Lev. 11), so why do you accept some parts of the Bible but not others?" Once again, this reflects a misunderstanding of the Bible itself. Lest we look down on the world for arguing this way, let us remember whose job it is to teach them. 

Yes, Leviticus condemns shrimp (to say nothing of bacon) eating and homosexuality. But the reason for why Christians are able with joy to eat these things is because of what is said in the New Testament. Acts 10 clearly lays out for us God's repealing of these laws. The laws were put in place to create a distinct people in the Jews. The Jews needed to be a separate people who wouldn't mix with the rest of the world's population (called the Gentiles) until the birth of the Messiah, who was to be a Jew. The promise that the ultimate descendant from Abraham's would be Jesus needed to be preserved. It needed to be clear that that promise would be fulfilled. So God made a lot of laws, clothing, washing, and yes, food eating, to keep them separate. Now that Jesus has arrived, that purpose is no longer needed. The food laws are repealed (Jesus Himself said so in Mark 7, not that Acts 10 isn't enough!), but the clear witness of the New Testament, as we have already covered, is that God still sees sexual perversion as that. 

There are some out there who make the argument that the great evil of Sodom wasn't actually carnal immorality but rather arrogance and lack of concern for the poor. Now, I can appreciate this argument because it at least comes with a Bible verse, specifically Ez. 16:49 "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy." Look out, they've got a Bible verse! Worse yet, they've got a point! So what can we learn here? 

Well, first, yes, Sodom was also arrogant and didn't care about the poor. As one scholar points out, sins don't typically occur by themselves. In fact, to think of homosexuality being the only sin of Sodom wouldn't be faithful to Romans 1. The central sin of Sodom is idolatry, worshiping something else other than God, themselves (Phillips, 645). Idolatry is the root, and sexual sin is the rotten fruit. 

All that being said, are we saying that this perversion *wasn't* occurring in Sodom? No. Jude 7 clearly tells us that it was sexual immorality. 2 Peter 2:7-8 tells us the same. Romans 1 also tells us that this sort of sin is a sign of being judged by God for severe idolatry. It in itself is an abomination, but this obviously isn't the only sin at play here. 

Let's take a couple more here, and these are moving into more of the slogans that we see everywhere today. If you don't think about them too hard they seem perfectly logical, but even short slogans are based on some understanding of truth.  

For example, let's take "Love is love." This is saying that love is valid no matter who the members are in that relationship from a gender perspective. This is one of those arguments where if you leave the Bible behind you aren't actually equipped to deal with this one. Saying "love is love" basically means that there is no actual definition for it. It is abandoning any sort of authority and that is precisely the problem! The best you could say in response would be, "Who are you to define what love is," and they could say the same back to you. 

However, if we look to the scriptures, we can see what love actually is, and it isn't warm fuzzies. It isn't a feeling, really, at all. It is an action. True love points people to Christ, and anything that would hinder this process is by definition not love. 

Let's take a look at one more, from that theological powerhouse, Lady Gaga, "I was born this way, so I can't change." The first half of that statement actually is correct. We are all born sinners. But the second half isn't true. As Kevin De Young once said something to the effect of, "Yes, you were born this way, but the good news is that you can be born again another way."

Some of us will find a greater proclivity to some sins rather than others. For some, that is going to be same-sex attraction. For others, it is going to be lying, or anxiety. I have never struggled with same-sex attraction, but I have struggled a lot with anxiety and fear. While it has gotten less and less in my life, I still deal with anxiety and have to seek the Lord for help with that. For others, that is going to be Same Sex attraction. There are some who have been completely delivered from it, and there are others who see progress, but it is still a fight. But the fact that they opposed these desires at all and seek God's help in fighting against them, that should be celebrated an encouraged. A desire even without acting on it is still sinful. Coveting is the desire to steal, as Butterfield reminds us. But the Lord can forgive coveting, and He can forgive disordered desires, as well. 

Let me close with an encouragement to you if you are a Christian who wants to reach out to your neighbor or family member who confesses a homosexual identity, or maybe you are here today and this is your struggle. Let me start by reminding all of us that this identity isn't true. It may be what they think, it may be what they practice, but that is not who they are. It is the sin they struggle with. As Rosaria Butterfield put it recently in an interview (which you can find here: https://www.christianpost.com/news/rosaria-butterfield-gives-advice-for-witnessing-to-gay-friends.html), "Learn to hate your sin without hating yourself." Don't identify yourself with your sin. Yes you are a sinner, but you are not that particular sin. Hate the sin, and then run to the Christ Who will rescue you from that sin. While it is a serious sin, it is not a sin that puts you beyond the reach of God. Remember 1 Corinthians 6, "such were some of you." This can be something that Christ puts behind you. 

Also remember, Christian, what you are calling the person who identifies this way to do. Those who have been wrapped up in this lifestyle are called to walk away from more than just a sexual act. They are often leaving behind friends, lovers, their culture, their very (in their mind) identity. So welcome them into your lives; they are going to need it. Be patient with them. Your job is to love them and point them to Jesus. Let God handle the effect of that and the timing of it. If the Lord should bring them to Himself, then welcome them into the Christian world. Welcome them into marriage, if the Lord should bring the right person into their lives. Again to reference Butterfield, Lifelong celibacy isn't the only future for the ex-homosexual. The creation mandate is for everyone! The full Christian life is for everyone. Welcome them into the pattern of worshiping Christ and serving His people. Yes, the storms of temptation may rage, but remember who is in the boat. Christ died on the cross for the sin of homosexuality. He deserves to have the good news proclaimed to the homosexual practitioners He died for. And since you don't know which ones they are, I guess you'll just have to evangelize all of them. We must be honest and tell them that one cannot live this lifestyle and be a Christian at the same time. They need to repent, but we need to give them the glorious good news that Jesus can help them do so. 

In summary, we don't need to rage at them. We don't need to lie to them. We don't have to be scared that the truth of the gospel will irreparably harm them if it is presented in love. If they know where you stand, you don't have to restate it every meeting. If you've lied to them, then you need to repent and give them the gospel. God is sovereign in His salvation. Rest in that. Lift them up in prayer. Talk about it when it lends itself, and pray for their soul. You just never know what God will do. 

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​God has now risen from lunch and is on His way to be personally involved in judgment. We all can think that we understand something at first glance, but we can't. God is the only one who can do that, but He is still deliberate and careful in His judgments. 

Let's get a couple potential misconceptions out of the way first. To start, God is not ignorant *at all* about what is going in in Sodom and Gomorrah. It is obvious that Abraham is well aware of what is happening in that city, because all God said was, "I'm here to see this alleged wickedness for myself," and Abraham immediately assumes that God is going to utterly destroy the city. If Abraham is aware of what is going on there, God is, too. 

Scripture is clear on God's knowledge of the world. Proverbs 15:3 says, "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good." He is not only aware of everything but is involved in everything, right down to making the grass grow (Psalm 104:14). God knows what is going on in His world. 

The second potential misunderstanding is Abraham is the one who convinces God to be potentially nicer to Sodom and Gomorrah. I think this passage is here to actually show that God is more merciful than Abraham is. 

So, like we looked at last time, if God is neither ignorant of the situation nor being made more merciful by Abraham's interaction, then why is this passage here? 

Let's answer that question together as we finish up the outline from last week. God is personally involved in blessing and judgment, and judgement is avoided and blessing obtained by keeping the way of the Lord.

God is personally involved in blessing and judgment

God rises from lunch and sets out towards Sodom and Gomorrah with the two angels and has an interesting interaction with everyone along the way. God turns to the angels in earshot of Abraham and asks in a telling way, "Should I tell Abraham what I am here to do?" Then He gives a couple reasons for telling Abraham. The first is that the fate of nations seemed to be tied to how they interact with Abraham, so it seems fitting to let Abraham know when something big is about to happen to one of them (Ross, 350). The second reason is that Abraham has given given God's word to pass down to the following generations. He has given Him the path that everyone should walk in being obedient to God. In the next chapter, we will see what happens when people don't walk in that way. 

What should we draw from this? This is not a secret conversation. God is putting this in the Bible. If this were a movie, God would be breaking the fourth wall here. He is, as it were, staring into the camera looking at us and saying, "Do you want to know what happens when a nation spurns my covenant? Do you want to know what happens when you go your own way?" God doesn't tell you something for no reason. Warnings are real. 

Have you ever seen those videos featuring this crushing machine? It is a couple of metal drums with with dull teeth on them. You see them spinning around, and you can kind of imagine that this thing is powerful and dangerous. Then someone throws in this big metal barrel. You watch the thing for the first few seconds and nothing really happens. The machine keeps whirring, but the barrel just seems to roll along with the machine. You begin to thing that the guy is going to have to adjust the position of the barrel, but then one of those teeth get a bite. Suddenly, the barrel is flattened and squeezed right through those drums as if it was made of cardboard. Now you look at this thing with a lot more respect. You knew it was dangerous in theory, but now you know, in a visceral way, what it is capable of.  

Now, it is the understatement of the century to say that God is way more powerful than a trash shredder. In fact, we just spent all of last week saying that nothing was too hard for the Lord. That works the other way, too. There is no place to hide from God. There is no magic word or spiritual power that you can wield to stop Him. God is above all law; He is the definition of righteousness. You can't hide from Him. He already knows everything that has been done, everything that has been thought. 

And yet, God is coming down to earth in human form to look at it "first hand." Why? I think this is meant to display how God approaches justice. God isn't going on second-hand information. God doesn't have an itchy trigger finger just *waiting* to blast Sodom at the first accusation. He is not a rage monster ready to fly off the handle at the first little thing that goes wrong. He is very deliberate, considered, and, by any standard, just. 

Being deliberate and considered is key to justice. Have you ever had a situation come up that looked like you could judge it instantly? There was a video going around recently of a man who was summoned into court over an alleged suspended license. He was told to appear via Zoom to discuss this suspended driver's license. When he comes up on screen, you can see that he is driving a car while on a Zoom call to a court talking about a suspended license! Granted, he was just pulling into a parking lot when he answered the call, but still. The judge looks at the papers in front of him displaying that the man indeed is still currently suspended. The judge sits quietly for a about thirty seconds shuffling through some papers while the stunned man sits motionless in his now parked car. He tries to say something, but is cut off and told to wait. After all this the judge tells the man that he needs to turn himself in to the local jail by 6 pm that night for driving while suspended. The video went around Twitter, and everyone had a good laugh. 

Until the rest of the story came out about a week later. It turns out that the man had a suspended license in the past, but it was reinstated two years ago. Some person in the government forgot to change the paperwork to reflect that, so all the judge had to go on was the old information. And the only reason why he was driving in the fist place was he needed to get his wife to a doctor's appointment on what he believed to be a reinstated license. Perhaps if the man was allowed to speak they could have uncovered that! The whole story changes, doesn't it? 

God doesn't have details like that miss Him. He is fully aware. And yet He shows us here that He takes the time to personally witness for Himself what is happening. That is a good Father. 

Now, Abraham wants to capitalize on this and opens with a statement, "Surely you won't sweep away the righteous along with the wicked, right? That would be unjust!" And this is a principle that God agrees with. He would spare judgment on people who deserve it in order to preserve the righteous. Now, notice how high Abraham starts! I can imagine Him thinking, "Ok, in order to make sure that God agrees with this, I'll start at fifty. Surely that will be enough righteous people to outweigh the rest of the sin." And, to Abraham's surprise, God agrees! 

But I think at verse 27, Abraham realizes that there probably aren't 50 righteous people in the city. Abraham is probably thinking, "Ok, can't come down too far. Might lose the ground I have. Let's test this out by lowering it by five." Again, God agrees. Abraham keeps doing this until we are all the way down at 10 people! God is willing to stay the judgment of the most wicked city in history for 10 righteous people! As one scholar put it, "It is apparent that although he pleads with God at the beginning on the basis of justice (v. 25), he ends by appealing to the grace of God" (Belcher, 141). 

Does it surprise you that God would spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for 10 righteous people? If it does, than let this passage comfort you. The same God that comes to meals is the one in charge of the brimstone. 

Now, I want to be careful here. God is very merciful, but as we will see in the next chapter, God's holding back judgment has an end. Do you know why that is? It is because God is love. That may sound strange to you, as it did me when I first heard it. But listen to the logic of this thought. I first heard it from a preacher named Paul Washer who said that the most terrifying verse is "God is love." His point can be best illustrated by a bear with her cubs. How do you bring wrath on yourself from a mama bear? Mess with her cubs. What will a father do who loves his daughter? Some of the kindest, gentlest people whom you would trust your own children with can be killers if you break into their house at night and threaten their kids. 

Why? Love. The same motivation for God to withhold punishment is the same motivation to bring it. Why is God visiting Sodom and Gomorrah? Because people are crying out against it. Young men were victims in the city. It is clear as we get into the next chapter what the city is willing to do to new comers. I think what we see in chapter 19 is hardly the first time it has happened. God hears the cries of people. And He will answer. And it is terrifying when He does. 

We shouldn't take the fact that He didn't drop a bolt on them immediately as proof that God was ok with it. In fact, as we will see in chapter 19, He doesn't bring down judgment until Lot and his family are out (which ended up being Lot and his two daughters.) God spared the city for *three* righteous people.

Judgement is avoided and blessing obtained by keeping the way of the Lord.

Now, any mention of Sodom, Gomorrah, and judgment will spark in many minds our own country. Indeed, June has become a month long celebration of the homosexuality that brought on the brimstone to Sodom and Gomorrah. God promised not to destroy the righteous along with the wicked, but that doesn't mean that the righteous are free from suffering. The final third of Genesis is all about Joseph who suffers injustice after injustice on himself. But God never lost sight of him and was indeed working through those very injustices to bring about salvation from starvation. 

The same is true for us. America has committed all the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah and more. We've killed ten times more of our own citizens through abortion than Hitler did. What are we supposed to do as American Christians? What do we take away from this passage? 

Well, we are supposed to listen to Abraham in verse 19. He is supposed to pass down the way of the Lord. We are to do righteousness (upholding God's standard) and justice (acting on that standard) (Ross, 350). These things are defined for us by God, not culture. Never underestimate the power of a people obedient to God. 

In short, if you want to help America, know what God says, act on what God says, and pray for the country. If you can vote, by all means do that. If you can run for office to rule by God's standards, go for it. But all the while, live by God's standards, live not by lies, and pray to the God of justice and grace. Don't worry about God blasting you away with the wicked. Anything that happens to you during times of judgment is under God's watchful eye. Joseph had a lot of hard things happen to him, but it was all part of God's plan to bring him exactly where he needed to be and when. America doesn't need another podcast. It needs you to be obedient to Jesus. 

Above all, preach Christ crucified. That is everything God has to say. 

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For a God who never gets hungry, He sure eats a lot. This isn't because God has been dishonest with us about His needs. God doesn't get hungry or need anything from us. Psalm 50:12-13 put it this way "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?" The expected answer is, "No." God doesn't need to eat something because He doesn't have a body. Even if He did need to eat, He wouldn't be waiting around for us to feed Him because He already owns everything in the earth. 

So why is He eating here? He doesn't need it. This is meant to draw our attention when God does something He doesn't have to do. It means that God is making a point. He doesn't want us to walk away from this passage to say that God has a taste for beef. He is showing Abraham, and us, something special by coming down to eat with Abraham. 

We are only going to get to our first point today: God is personally involved in blessing and judgment. 

In our tour of Genesis, I want us to stare at this point for a minute, namely, the imminence of God, His closeness, His intimacy. This was a point that I had missed in my initial study of this passage, so I greatly owe Dr. Allen Ross for pointing me in this direction for this sermon. It is easy to miss the closeness and intimacy with God in Genesis so far because of all the big things He does. He sets up the world, and then He floods the whole thing. He separates all the peoples by introducing different languages. He brings a plague on all of Egypt. He helps Abraham defeat close to half a dozen kingdoms in battle. He is promising that Abraham will have descendants outnumbering the stars! In the next chapter, He turns the green, fertile fields of Sodom into the Dead Sea with flaming brimstone launched from heaven! 

And then there’s this chapter where He stops by for lunch. 

Our God is not a God who drops care packages through the mail or send judgment via drone. He is personally involved. He operates face-to-face. And we are going to look at that today. 

God is personally involved in blessing and judgment

Once again, here in verse 1, God appears to Abraham. We aren't really told how He has appeared before (except in chapter 15 where He took the form of fire and smoke), but this time we are given a clear picture of how He appears this time: in human form. 

The Lord is clearly one of the men (the One who does all the talking), but who are the other two? Is this some sort of appearance of the Trinity, the three in one? No, the passage itself doesn't support that view. We see in verse 22 (which we will look at next time) that after the meal is done, the three move towards Sodom, but the Lord stops while the other two men go on. Later, in chapter 19, verse 1, we find "THE" two angels arriving in Sodom. The definite article assumes that we would know that it is the same two men who were walking earlier towards Sodom. 

Secondly, contrary to popular books like The Shack, the Trinity is not three separate beings, three Gods. There is only one God. Jesus was clear that He and the Father are One, and that he who had seen Him had seen the Father. There are three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but all One Substance, One Being. Does that break our minds? Yes it does, but it isn't contradictory. We aren't saying there is only one God, and there are also three Gods. We are saying three persons, One God. It's God. It's supposed to be beyond our understanding. 

In any event, God has arrived, and Abraham wishes to serve Him. He acts as a great host, offering a foot wash, shade, and food. He runs around in what one of my professors called, "a tornado of activity" (Matthews, 217). He's running here and there getting everything ready as quickly as ancient technology would allow, and then he stands there like a modern waiter while they eat. 

Now, God could have easily spared Abraham this trouble. He could have created food right then and there. So why? Well, eating someone else's food implies good relations between the two of you. Unless you have some sort of terrible allergy which requires you to bring your own food, you don't bring your own food to someone else's dinner. If you were to invite me to lunch, and I turned it down for no other reason other than I brought my own food, that would be an insult, even in this culture. We train our children to eat even food that we don't like all that much, lest we insult the host. This is even more so in a culture like Abraham's. 

When I was in Togo, the director there told me a story of when they were going into a remote village to do some ministry. The people there were so excited to welcome visitors that most of the village took the day off to prepare this elaborate meal for them. It wasn't much, because it was a poor village, but they put all their hearts into it. The Vapor people sat down, and the director told me, "There were no less than five THOUSAND flies on that meal. I turned to my team," he said, "we are going to eat this. Don't finish your plates (because you'll get more), but you have to eat." As a side bar, that doesn't happen on trips that Americans take, so don't let this story prevent you from coming with me to Togo some day, but this director's attitude illustrates the point we are making here. 

Eating is an act of trust. Dr. Ross puts it this way, "A good case can be made at the visitation to eat in Abrahams tent was meant to convey intimate fellowship, and on the basis of such a close relationship, the Lord would guarantee the imminent birth of the child of promise" (Ross, 342). God sitting down to dinner with you tells you that you and He are friends. Because of that relationship, when He tells you that something is going to be done, it will be. It isn't just because God has a contract with you, and is therefore obligated to do so. He is going to fulfill His promise to you because He loves you. Being friends with God should mean that there is very little to fear. 

I remember taking a political science class with a man who was very well connected in Washington many years ago. He told us the story of a friend who had lost their passport and needed a new one. The problem was this friend was flying out of the country the next day. Anyone who has ever had to get a passport done knows that it takes weeks, if you're lucky, to get something like that. But not if you are friends with someone in that office. One phone call was made, and within 24 hours, that friend had a new passport. It pays to have friends in government!

How much more so with God? Don't you just love verse 14? Can you imagine being Abraham and Sarah in that moment? God Himself is talking to you in between bites of bread that you made, and asks, "Is anything too hard for me? I know that you want a son more than anything, and I promise you that son this time next year." 

What do you want from God? Have you really sat down and thought about it? If you could have lunch with God, what would you want your conversation to be? Probably, if we are honest, would initially say something like, clearing of debt, obedient children, better marriage, less pain, the new Mario Kart, and maybe even more episodes of Bluey. But if we were to interrogate those requests for a bit, what we would find is that what we actually want is joy. We think those things will bring it, but they don't on their own. Joy comes from having more of Christ. It is focusing on the Giver, not the gift. 

And that is why Jesus gave us the Lord's Supper. In this chapter, Abraham washes the Lord's feet, but in John 13, the Lord returns in physical form, not to be served, but to serve. He stoops to wash their feet, and in a flurry of activity, He prepares a meal, ultimately symbolizing His sacrifice. He didn't just prepare the bread, He became the bread, as it were. He doesn't just offer us a meal; He offers us Himself. And now, every time we gather together to eat the Lord's Supper, it is a real communion with Jesus. By faith, we eat that supper with Jesus. Just because we can't see it doesn't make it any less real. Paul doesn't call the Lord's Supper a cup of blessing (1 Cor. 10) for nothing. 

Imagine coming to the Lord's Table desiring to be rid of your sin so that you may behold Christ better, and He smiles at you over a table symbolizing His sacrifice on the cross to give you exactly that and says, "Is anything too hard for me? I know the troubles in your life. I gave them to you to draw you here. I am showing you that you don't need a pain-free body to find joy in Me. You don't need the perfect spouse to find joy in Me. You can find joy in Me while being half-starved in a prison camp, because many of your brothers and sisters have. Nothing is impossible with Me." 

Maybe you are thinking to yourself, "Well, that's great for Christians, but there is no way that I can be forgiven." Let the story of Peter set you straight. Peter, one of the top disciples in Jesus' ministry, denied even knowing who Jesus was three times within sight of Jesus at His trial. He thought He was done. But at the end of John, we find Jesus making breakfast for Peter. And it is at that very moment that Jesus assures Peter of forgiveness. He gave Him three opportunities to say, "I love you" to replace the three times he denied. 

Come to that breakfast. Jesus has provided a way to have fellowship with God restored. If you've been wandering, come back. There's a meal for you. If you have been walking with Jesus, be reminded that He desires fellowship with you. Talk to Him in prayer. Hear from Him in His Word. Eat with Him here at the Lord's Table. We aren't trying to toss a note into the clouds hoping Jesus gets it. Jesus has come to Earth with a set table. 

Let me close with this. I heard of a man who would pray everyday at a window in His home. He would sit in one chair, and would place another chair outside the window and said that this was so that Jesus would have a place to sit. Now, I'm not saying that this is the best way to pray, but that man understands what is happening. He isn't talking to the sky. He isn't just spraying words somewhere hoping something sticks. He knows that he is praying to someone Who is listening. Who is personally involved in His life. 

That's true of you. So please, don't deny yourself a meal with Jesus. Spend some time in fellowship with Jesus this afternoon. It doesn't have to stop here. It shouldn't. Pull up a chair. Sit a while. You are sons of God, heirs to the promise of one day sitting with Jesus face to face, to have a meal in heaven.