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“No Kidding”

The whole story surrounding Sodom and Gomorrah intrigues me. There are so many levels of story going on, and all seem to have application to our lives today.

First, there is Abraham’s concern that God was preparing judgment on the sin of Sodom. One of Abraham’s three heavenly visitors, believed to be the Lord, tells Abraham that “the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave” (Genesis 18:20). That’s not some fiery evangelist’s rant. That is God’s assessment conditions in Sodom.

Abraham’s reaction is such a lesson for us.

Abraham doesn’t go on a tirade about Sodom’s sin. He goes into intercession, pleading with God for mercy on the city.

Lot’s reactions are worth noting also.

The apostle Peter gives us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how Lot felt, living inside Sodom with his family in Abraham’s day. Peter writes that Lot was, “greatly distressed and tormented over the lawless deeds he saw and heard” (2 Peter 2:7-8).

Peter describes that the level of sin in Sodom, that eventually brought about the judgment of God, was “the lust of defiling passion and despising authority” (2 Peter 2:10).

Judgment is on the way!

But the most telling of reactions to the impending judgment of God on Sodom comes from Lot’s sons-in-law.

I can only assume from the story that these young men, while citizens of Sodom, were under Lot’s righteous influence.

Listen, I’m a dad with two daughters. God has blessed me with two sons-in-law who love God passionately, but you know I’m still going to pour every ounce of spiritual influence I have into those two young men… for the sake of their future, my daughters’ and my grandchildren.

Lot was doing all he could to invest godliness into his sons-in-law.

But, like the proverbial frog in the kettle, the insidious nature of unrestrained sin in any culture gradually immunizes the soul to the approaching flames of hell.

Satan is a gradualist.

So, when Lot, at the angel’s insistence, runs to warn his sons-in-law to flee the coming judgment of God on Sodom, “he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting” (Genesis 19:14).

“You are kidding us, Lot!”

When sin is condoned and accepted as normative behavior, by a culture or the church, judgment becomes a joke.

The tragedy of the story is that Lot’s sons-in-law stayed in the city and died in its destruction.

We live in an age frighteningly similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah. We can learn from this story…

1. To be distressed and tormented of soul by the rampant sin around us and never coopted into acceptance and complacency, regardless of the pressure to be politically correct?

2. To call on God passionately for His mercy on our nation and the repentance and salvation of the lost?

3. To flee the city… not literally, but certainly to not be coopted into accepting and/or participating in its lustful passions and rebellion against authority?

God, raise up a holy remnant in our day, the Church of Jesus, radiant and without spot, wrinkle or blemish. A beacon in the darkness. A place of safety in the coming storm.

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