1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,200 Just a reminder, I mentioned last week that this weeks 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:07,240 message would be a PG13 message and you're going to understand 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:11,200 why just from the language that that we hear and the Genesis 4 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:15,280 reading and not going to be graphic, but I am dealing with 5 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:19,480 some topics that are mature in nature and I just wanted to give 6 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,320 folks a heads up about that. I think these things need to be 7 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,880 preached on even though sometimes they are. 8 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:30,360 They are hard to say and hard to hear and maybe uncomfortable to 9 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,400 hear, but they're in the Bible. They're part of our Scripture. 10 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,600 And I think we need to hear these messages from our Father 11 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:41,080 as well as the ones that are a little more happy, happy joy, 12 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:45,680 joy kinds of messages. So Genesis chapter 19 versus 1 13 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:48,000 to 13. We're skipping a little bit 14 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:53,520 ahead in the narrative and Genesis 18, angels are sent from 15 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:55,520 God. They visit Abraham, they tell 16 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:59,480 Abraham we're going to go and destroy the cities of Sodom and 17 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,920 Gomorrah. Abraham pleads for and bargains 18 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:04,879 for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. 19 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:07,040 We're going to talk about that. Not next week. 20 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:08,680 I'm going to be gone for a couple weeks. 21 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:10,680 We'll talk about that when I get back. 22 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,040 But we're jumping ahead because in order to really understand 23 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:18,680 Genesis chapter 18, we need to understand Genesis chapter 19. 24 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,280 And so we're going to start there and then back up and get 25 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,000 Genesis chapter after 18. But let's read today. 26 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:29,440 The 2 angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting 27 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,560 in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up and 28 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,160 met them, bowed down with his face to the ground. 29 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:39,360 My Lords, he said, please turn aside to your servant's house. 30 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,840 You can wash your feet and spend the night, and then go on your 31 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,600 way early in the morning. No, they answered, We will spend 32 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:50,600 the night in the square. But he insisted so strongly that 33 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,040 they did go with him and entered his house. 34 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:57,240 He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and 35 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,960 they ate before they had gone to bed. 36 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:04,440 All the men from every part of the city of Sodom, both young 37 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:08,280 and old, surrounded the house. They called out to Lot. 38 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:10,960 Where are the men who came to you tonight? 39 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,440 Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them. 40 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:18,080 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him, 41 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,400 and he said No, my friends don't do this wicked thing. 42 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,360 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. 43 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,280 Let me bring them out to you and you can do what you would like 44 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:32,400 with them. But don't do anything to these 45 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,720 men, for they have come under the protection of my roof. 46 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:37,960 Get out of our way, they replied. 47 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:40,920 This fellow came here as a foreigner and now he wants to 48 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:44,520 play the judge. We'll treat you worse than them. 49 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:49,040 They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break 50 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:53,480 down the door, but the men inside reached out and pulled 51 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:56,120 Lot back into the house and shut the door. 52 00:02:56,640 --> 00:02:59,800 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, 53 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,520 young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the 54 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,000 door. The two men said to Lot. 55 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,520 Do you have anyone else here, sons in law, sons or daughters 56 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,520 or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? 57 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,840 Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. 58 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:23,320 The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that He 59 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,800 has sent us to destroy it. That is Genesis chapter 19. 60 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:31,400 Now hear these words from Ezekiel chapter 16. 61 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,000 This was the guilt of your sister Sodom. 62 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:40,120 She and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous 63 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,560 ease, but did not aid the poor and the needy. 64 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,520 They were haughty and did abominable things before me. 65 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,720 Therefore I removed them when I saw it. 66 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:54,440 May the Lord add to the His blessing to the reading and the 67 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:59,880 hearing and living of His Word. We're talking today about the 68 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:05,280 sin of Sodom and the real sin of Sodom, our culture, and it's 69 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,520 been, it's been present in our culture and in in churches for 70 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,560 for many, many years. Not from the very beginning, but 71 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:15,520 for many, many years have have highlighted a particular aspect 72 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:21,399 of this story, misunderstood it and made that specific thing 73 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:24,840 what has been called the sin of Sodom. 74 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:29,840 But the real sin of Sodom, The reason that God destroyed the 75 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:33,600 cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and other towns and villages that 76 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,240 were around them and part of their sphere of influence and 77 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,440 under their authority. God tells us about in Ezekiel 78 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:43,320 chapter 16, and he's very, very explicit about it. 79 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:45,440 This was the guilt of your sister Sodom. 80 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:50,240 She had pride, excess of food and prosperous ease, but did not 81 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:55,960 aid the poor and the needy. The real sin of Sodom is 82 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:00,480 prosperous is is that they were prosperous and arrogantly cold 83 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:04,080 hearted. They were prosperous and 84 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:08,640 arrogantly cold hearted. And that attitude and mindset 85 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:13,200 and way of living is what led them to eventually do all of the 86 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:17,440 abominable things that are covered in that more general 87 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:24,640 word in Ezekiel 1650. But the real sin was in their 88 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:27,880 prosperity. They were arrogant and cold 89 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:30,120 hearted to those who were in need. 90 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:32,760 Now we're going to break this apart. 91 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:37,200 First looking at Ezekiel chapter 16 in a little bit more detail, 92 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:40,440 and then I'm going to talk about why it's so important that we 93 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:42,760 get this right. And then at the very end, what 94 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:44,720 we can do. But I just want you to kind of 95 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:47,080 know that progression. We got to look at what the sin 96 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,520 is, why it's important we get that sin right, and then what we 97 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,000 can do in our current context in response to these scripts, 98 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:56,720 captures. Going to break it down. 99 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:58,560 This was the guilt of your sister Sodom. 100 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:02,600 She and her daughters had pride, excess of food and prosperous 101 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,640 ease, but did not aid to the poor and the needy. 102 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:06,960 We're going to start in the middle. 103 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:10,800 This excess of food and prosperous ease is kind of the 104 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:15,000 linchpin here. It's the thing that led to the 105 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,400 other thing, the other things being a problem. 106 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:23,600 So excess of food is, is a way of saying they were wealthy. 107 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:28,520 The city of Sodom and its surrounding areas were wealthy. 108 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,320 They were incredibly prosperous. We already knew that because 109 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,760 when Lott and Abram were, were looking out over the fields and 110 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:38,880 the lands and the areas and, and Abram said, Lot, we need to 111 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,320 split up because we're bumping into each other. 112 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,320 You pick which area you want and Lot look down at the Jordan 113 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:48,080 Valley where the city of Sodom was and saw how good the land 114 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:49,880 was and said, I'm going to go there. 115 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:52,800 Then we're told then that he pitched his tents near Sodom. 116 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:56,040 By Genesis 19, he's living in the city of Sodom. 117 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,800 It was a prosperous area, agriculturally rich, probably 118 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,680 rich in trade as well. They had a lot of extra stuff. 119 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:10,520 And, and, and at most points in history, we live in such 120 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,400 prosperity today. We don't quite see it this way 121 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,840 anymore, but at most points and places in history, having an 122 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,680 excess food of food was a sign of significant wealth. 123 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:24,320 If you had more food than you needed, you were wealthy. 124 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:29,520 And that's where Sodom was excess of food and prosperous 125 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:31,560 ease. That that phrase, prosperous 126 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:35,600 ease meant that they were indifferent in their prosperity. 127 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:37,640 And we're going to come back to that in a little bit. 128 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,200 So they were prosperous. They had more than they needed. 129 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,760 They had an excess of food. And there are two ways in 130 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,560 general that you can respond to prosperity, to economic, 131 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:51,400 financial, material prosperity. One of those ways to respond is 132 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:55,200 gratitude. My God, thank you for blessing 133 00:07:55,200 --> 00:08:00,960 me, blessing us with more than we need, with humility and with 134 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:04,440 gratitude, recognizing where your good things come from. 135 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:09,680 The other way is the way Sodom responded and that civilization 136 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:14,680 responded, which is with pride. We have all of this prosperity 137 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:19,000 because we're great. We're just, we are exceptional. 138 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:22,720 We are better than the surrounding nations and 139 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:26,000 surrounding cities. There is just something special 140 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,960 and wonderful about us. We're smarter than they are. 141 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:33,280 We work harder than they do. We have earned this prosperity 142 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,000 because we have worked for it and we are just that good. 143 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:40,360 That's why we have more than other people do. 144 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:44,720 Pride. Their prosperity did not trigger 145 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,560 humility in them. It triggered pride and they 146 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:53,320 leaned into that, that sense of we have it better because we are 147 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,600 better. We have more because we are 148 00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:00,920 superior. Our nation, our country, our 149 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:05,160 culture and civilization is just an exceptional nation, country, 150 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:09,200 culture and civilization, and that's why we have so much more. 151 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:13,640 We've earned it. And if you want to share in our 152 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:19,240 prosperity, all you need to do is be like us, and you too will 153 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:23,840 be prosperous and can live in sort of prosperous ease in this 154 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:27,400 world. And that's how Sodom responded 155 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:33,360 with pride, with pride. And because they were 156 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:37,120 prosperous, and because they responded to their prosperity 157 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:41,640 with pride rather than humility, that led them to be indifferent 158 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:44,520 in their prosperity to the needs of the poor. 159 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,720 And even though they had all of the resources that they needed 160 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:51,480 to do it, even though they could have done many things to help 161 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:55,000 the poor and the needy, they just said no, Nope. 162 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:59,120 If they want what we've got, they can work for it like we 163 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,640 did. If they want what we've got, 164 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,760 they can become like us. We have. 165 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,640 And we don't know what they necessarily said was superior 166 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:11,360 about them and work ethic or skin color or culture or 167 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,600 civilization or history or religion. 168 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,120 But it was their pride. They were. 169 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:20,480 It's because they were great. And then if people are poor and 170 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:22,880 in need, well, it must be that there's something wrong with 171 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:25,000 them. And it's not my concern. 172 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:29,200 That's their problem. Who cares if they're suffering? 173 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,320 Who cares if they are in need? This was the sin of Sodom. 174 00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:38,440 This was the sin of Sodom, Ezekiel continues. 175 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:41,920 And this is actually God speaking directly speaking to 176 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:44,320 Ezekiel and through Ezekiel to his people. 177 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:46,400 We'll talk about that a little bit more in a moment. 178 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,480 But God sums it up this way. They were haughty. 179 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:53,320 That word haughty there has got the same root as pride in the 180 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:56,280 previous verse. So reemphasizing their pride. 181 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:58,520 And they did abominable things before me. 182 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:01,480 Therefore, I removed them when I saw it. 183 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:04,360 That phrase, abominable things in Hebrew. 184 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:06,480 I'm not going to give you the Hebrew word for two reasons. 185 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:09,600 One, I can't pronounce it, and two, I can't remember it. 186 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,320 But I do know this. I do know this. 187 00:11:14,680 --> 00:11:18,800 It's a, it's a, it's a general word for awful, despicable, 188 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:22,080 terrible things. And it's used throughout the Old 189 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:25,440 Testament in a number of different ways. 190 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:28,280 Ezekiel uses it a lot in his book. 191 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:34,080 He uses it a lot in his book and it it's a catch all term for 192 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:37,560 awful things. Ezekiel uses it primarily to 193 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:42,800 refer to idolatry and adultery, which are often linked in the 194 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:44,720 Bible, Old Testament and New Testament. 195 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:48,080 That's how Ezekiel uses it. But it's used for all sorts of 196 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:52,400 other sins and bad things that that people are taught not to 197 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:54,200 do. Don't do these things. 198 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:59,160 So the progression that we get here in Ezekiel from God's own 199 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:04,240 mouth is that in their prosperity, Sodom responded with 200 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:09,240 pride and became indifferent to and cold hearted toward the poor 201 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:11,840 and the needy, the vulnerable that were among them. 202 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:17,040 And that attitude of prideful, prosperous arrogance and 203 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:21,080 indifference is what opened the door for them to eventually 204 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,600 engage in all sorts of evil kinds of things. 205 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:30,240 And what we see in Genesis 19 is, is kind of the end result of 206 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:34,720 that as as a quick snapshot of this is how bad it got. 207 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:41,560 So those specific acts that we see in Genesis 19 alone aren't 208 00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:43,800 the reason why God destroyed Sodom. 209 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:47,480 They were, I had a teacher somewhere along the way, 210 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:48,720 actually I've mentioned her before. 211 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:53,360 Her name's Kimberly Butler and and she talked about in sin 212 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:58,840 there's difference between roots and fruits and and the fruit the 213 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:04,080 the root of Sodom's sin, the root of their sin was there in 214 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,560 their prosperity. They were proud, arrogant and 215 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:09,320 indifferent to the needs of the poor. 216 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,800 And the fruit of that sin were the despicable things that we 217 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:18,160 see just a few of them there in Genesis chapter 19. 218 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,400 All right, And we're going to talk about those in just a 219 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:22,880 minute. But this is the sin. 220 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:28,280 This is the sin, the sin that's often labeled as the reason why 221 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:32,040 God, the thing, the reason it's often given as to why God 222 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:35,840 destroyed Sodom is, is supposedly the sin of 223 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,160 homosexuality. Homosexuality is not even talked 224 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:43,640 about in Genesis chapter 19. We're not seeing the men of the 225 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,920 city engaging in homosexual activity. 226 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,800 We're seeing the men of the city gathering to gang rape 2 guests, 227 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:56,800 and to suggest that the sin that God destroyed them for as 228 00:13:56,800 --> 00:14:01,160 homosexuality is to suggest that if guests, if the angels had 229 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:04,760 appeared in the form of women rather than men, then if his sin 230 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:08,600 just wouldn't have been as bad. If the men had gathered to rape 231 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:10,560 two women, well that wouldn't be as bad. 232 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,800 I don't think anyone here believes that that somehow 233 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:21,160 raping women is is less evil, less despicable, less abominable 234 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:25,080 than race raping men. Rape is evil, period. 235 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:29,520 And the men, both young and old, every man of the city had 236 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:33,840 gathered outside of Lot's house to rape the two guests that were 237 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:40,120 staying in Lot's house. And that was the fruit of the 238 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:45,360 sin of pride and cold hearted indifference in the midst of 239 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:49,720 financial prosperity. Is what that what led to that 240 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:56,680 The real sin of Sodom was that they were prosperous and 241 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:01,160 arrogantly cold hearted. And in their prosperous, 242 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:06,840 arrogant, cold heartedness, they eventually normalized something 243 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:12,600 as awful as gang rape of people. And so God wiped them out. 244 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:19,760 God wiped them out. So why is it so important that 245 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:23,280 we understand this rightly? It's important that we 246 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:25,560 understand this, right? This is not a question of just 247 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:31,800 theological nitpicking or, or, or exegetical hair splitting. 248 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:36,040 There's a reason why these stories are in the Bible. 249 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:40,800 And if and the reason, the reason is simply this, the story 250 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:44,520 of Sodom and Ezekiel's prophecy are warnings. 251 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:47,880 And if we mislabel the sin, we will miss the warning. 252 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:52,920 These are here for a reason. They're not. 253 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,320 They're not there. I mean, there were a lot of 254 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:58,720 things that happened in the ancient world that didn't get 255 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:00,360 written down in the book of Genesis. 256 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:04,200 This one got written down. It's there for a reason, the 257 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:07,680 story in Genesis 18 and 19, and it's there as a warning. 258 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:12,240 And God emphasizes that in Ezekiel, the context of Ezekiel 259 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,520 making his prophecy is this. So Sodom. 260 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:19,080 After God destroyed Sodom, Sodom became a byword. 261 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:23,640 Sodom was a shorthand reference of saying as evil as it gets, 262 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:28,600 that a city, a nation, a culture or a civilization were as evil 263 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,440 as it gets, and God destroys nations, cities, cultures that 264 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:35,600 get that evil. That's what Sodom became a 265 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:38,920 byword Sodom. The people of Israel looked down 266 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:41,120 their noses at Sodom. They judged Sodom. 267 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:43,920 They stood in arrogant contempt over Sodom. 268 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:48,480 And then this awful thing happened among God's chosen 269 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:50,720 people and the nation that God had given them. 270 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:55,160 They became so far off track that God sent the Pagan empire 271 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:58,720 of Babylon in and they conquered the nation of Israel and they 272 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:02,600 conquered the city of Jerusalem and they sacked Jerusalem and 273 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,680 they destroyed the temple, God's physical dwelling place on 274 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,800 earth. And they they did one of three 275 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:10,720 things to the people that were left in Israel. 276 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:12,800 They killed a whole bunch of them. 277 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,440 They deported a whole bunch of them, took them into exile to 278 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:20,079 become slaves in the empire of Babylon. 279 00:17:20,319 --> 00:17:23,319 And the few people they left behind, they left them behind 280 00:17:23,319 --> 00:17:26,680 because they were so weak and so much not a threat. 281 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:28,400 They just left them there to work the ground. 282 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,720 And that's what happened to God's chosen people, God's 283 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:40,720 nation, Abraham's descendants. And while they're in exile in 284 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:45,240 Babylon, God sends them a prophet, Ezekiel, to tell them 285 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,760 why they're in exile in Babylon. They're going, why aren't we 286 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:50,200 here? We thought God loved us. 287 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:51,880 We thought we were God's chosen people. 288 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:53,560 We thought we had divine protection. 289 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:57,000 Does this mean God is faithless? Does this mean our God is weak? 290 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,040 Is that why we got conquered by Babylon? 291 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:02,080 Are their gods stronger? Is our God too weak? 292 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,040 Is our God faithless? And God says through Ezekiel, 293 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:09,640 no, you're here because you became like Sodom. 294 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:15,080 You became like Sodom. And he compares them to other 295 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:18,600 cities and other civilizations that God had also destroyed as 296 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:20,520 well. But we're talking about Sodom 297 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,480 today. And that's why God calls them, 298 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:28,000 says to them, your sister Sodom, he's addressing his people, says 299 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:32,440 you're like your sister Sodom. You're just like that alone. 300 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:37,840 See, being called Sodom's sister would have been a huge insult to 301 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,040 all of the folks Ezekiel was talking to. 302 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:42,880 But God said, you're just like your sister Sodom. 303 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:50,840 You're prideful in your prosperity, and you've become 304 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:53,600 cold, heartedly indifferent to the poor and the needy. 305 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:58,640 That's why I wiped out Sodom, and that's why I sent you into 306 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:02,160 exile. Sodom is a warning. 307 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:05,200 Ezekiel's prophecies are a warning. 308 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:09,320 Throughout the New Testament, you hear Sodom raised repeatedly 309 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:16,720 as the epitome of what God does not want from his people and 310 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:18,760 from the nations and cultures of this earth. 311 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:24,480 And if we mislabel the sin of Sodom, then we miss the warning. 312 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:29,040 And if we miss the warning, then we fail to be the sort of 313 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:33,040 witness that God calls us to be and wants us to be as his people 314 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:38,840 in this world. It's so crucially important that 315 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:45,440 we get this right because, well, we'll talk about the because 316 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:50,160 Sodom is the polar opposite, the antithesis of the Kingdom of 317 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:54,000 God. When we pray thy Kingdom come, 318 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,680 thy will be done on earth. It is in it as it is in heaven. 319 00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:00,960 We are praying that the Kingdom of God overthrows the kingdoms 320 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:03,680 and cultures of this world, including the kingdoms and 321 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:07,880 cultures that are like Sodom. It is the opposite of what God 322 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:10,440 wants. God rejects and destroys. 323 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:16,360 Cultures, communities and nations that are prosperous and 324 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:19,600 yet arrogantly cold hearted to the poor and the needy. 325 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:24,640 God says I will wipe that from the face of the earth. 326 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:31,880 It will not endure. I'm going to get back to the 327 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:33,760 warning being personal and social. 328 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:36,000 I was realizing when I was preaching it earlier that I put 329 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,240 that in and doesn't make sense to talk about it here. 330 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,160 I'll talk about it later, very soon. 331 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:47,800 What do we do? So what do we do if, if this is 332 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:51,040 a warning, if these scriptures are in there as a warning to us 333 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:54,960 and to all peoples of the earth throughout history, what do we 334 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,920 as God's people do? Now we'll talk about, I should 335 00:20:57,920 --> 00:20:59,520 have just said it. Now, we'll talk about the 336 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:02,400 warning being both personal and social, because there's a way to 337 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,400 respond to this warning that is at a personal level. 338 00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:09,800 So we've got to see where we are in our prosperity. 339 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:13,360 We've got to see where we are in our prosperity as individuals, 340 00:21:13,360 --> 00:21:15,760 as families. But there's a social component 341 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:17,560 to this. And in fact, in this passage, 342 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,680 the social component vastly overwhelms the personal 343 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:26,240 component because God didn't go to Sodom to destroy an 344 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:28,720 individual. God destroyed a civilization in 345 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:32,960 a in cities. God didn't send Ezekiel to 346 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,480 preach to a person. God sent Ezekiel to preach and 347 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:41,040 prophecy to a people, to a nation, to a civilization. 348 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,800 And so we need to see the warning at the personal level, 349 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:50,640 yes, but also at the level of our cities, our communities, our 350 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:54,280 nation, and our civilization. And So what do we do? 351 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:57,880 We got to check our GPS. Now at this point, I'm going to 352 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:02,640 beg your forgiveness in advance for a very lame pun that I am 353 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:07,280 about to inflict upon you. So if we imagine 2 cities, the 354 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,840 city of Sodom and the New Jerusalem, which comes down from 355 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:14,080 heaven, and when Jesus establishes his Kingdom, we read 356 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:17,360 about in the Book of Revelation, 2 cities, and we got to know 357 00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:19,440 whether we're heading toward one city or the other. 358 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,600 We got to check the GPS, right? We're on our road to one city or 359 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:24,320 the other. We got to check the GPS. 360 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:27,880 In this case, our GPS is the God Positioning System. 361 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:32,200 Forgive the pun, I know it's lame, but it works, right? 362 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,800 It works. Our God Positioning System, 363 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:39,920 where are we according to God? So let's take a look at it 364 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:45,080 according to that metric that God gave us through Ezekiel. 365 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,440 Are we prosperous? Are we arrogant? 366 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:53,720 Are we cold hearted? Are we prosperous, arrogant or 367 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,480 cold hearted? Well, one by one, are we 368 00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:58,120 prosperous? Yes. 369 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:01,440 Check. No questions asked, period. 370 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,320 If you're sitting in this room, you are prosperous. 371 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:07,400 If you're standing in this room too, if you're in this room, 372 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:12,000 frankly, if you're living in this county, if you're living in 373 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:16,000 this state, in this nation, you are almost certainly among the 374 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:21,320 prosperous people of the world, even at our our poverty, and I'm 375 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,960 not trying to say this again, this is not an excuse to be 376 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,080 colder, indifferent to folks that are poor and in need in 377 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,880 this country. But poverty line in the United 378 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,600 States is wealthy in most places in the world. 379 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,520 It just is. If you've got a refrigerator 380 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:41,640 with food in it and it's more food than you need for today, 381 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:44,400 you're wealthy. If you've got a television, if 382 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:49,880 you've got a car, if you own a house, if you've got healthcare 383 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:53,160 provided for you either through private insurance or or or 384 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,280 government supplemental kinds of insurance, you are wealthy. 385 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,240 If you have education provided for you through taxpayer 386 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:03,280 funding, you are wealthy. You have access to resources 387 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:04,600 that most people in the world don't. 388 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:09,720 We are prosperous. There is almost no way to live 389 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,440 in this country and not live in prosperity. 390 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,680 So we're just going to check that box and say everything 391 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:17,560 going forward. We got to acknowledge this. 392 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:21,960 We are living in prosperity. We are part of the most 393 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:26,320 prosperous nation in the history of the world and we're living 394 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:27,960 right smack in the middle of it here. 395 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,120 And when God looks at prosperity, he's not going to 396 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:34,360 look at Meigs County and say, oh, well, you know, I compare, 397 00:24:34,360 --> 00:24:37,680 if you compare them to Franklin County or Cuyahoga County, 398 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:42,160 they're not that prosperous. But God doesn't play those 399 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,520 games. God looks at the whole world, 400 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:48,160 something like 2/3 of the people in the world. 401 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:54,000 Like, like how many is that? 4 billion people live on less 402 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:58,680 than $2.00 a day, period. And you have to get all of your 403 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:00,720 food, all of your healthcare, all of your medicine, all of 404 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:04,320 your housing, every, all of your drinking water out of that $2.00 405 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,000 a day. That's where most people live. 406 00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:13,920 We're prosperous. Question is, are we arrogant in 407 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:17,920 our prosperity in this country? And again, we got to look at it 408 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:22,200 personally, look at it socially as well, because at this point, 409 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:24,920 we have a choice in this country. 410 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:28,440 We're prosperous. We got to choose. 411 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:31,440 Are we going to respond to our prosperity with arrogance or 412 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,680 with humility? Are we going to respond to our 413 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:35,080 prosperity saying, you know what? 414 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:38,800 America is just an exceptional nation, greatest nation in the 415 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,760 history of the world, better than all the other nations out 416 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:43,960 there. A bad day in America is better 417 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,800 than a good day anyplace else. Why are we prosperous? 418 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,920 Because we work harder. We're the shining city on a 419 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:53,480 hill. We are just better than other 420 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:59,040 countries. Or are we going to look at our 421 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:03,240 prosperity and receive our prosperity and say God has been 422 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:09,720 gracious, God has been merciful, because we know that Jesus died 423 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:14,400 for every living, breathing human on this planet, and none 424 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,280 of us is any better than any of them. 425 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:21,400 We are all sinners, all sinners in the eyes of God, and the only 426 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:24,360 hope we have is through His mercy and His grace. 427 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:28,880 And our God has blessed us with so much more than we need. 428 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:33,440 And it can't be because we earned it. 429 00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:36,160 It must be because God is gracious. 430 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:45,360 Those are those two perspectives are light years apart. 431 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,920 In biblical terms, they are kingdoms apart. 432 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:52,960 One is the Kingdom of the New Jerusalem. 433 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:58,760 One is the Kingdom of Sodom. Do we respond to our prosperity 434 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:06,880 with arrogance or with humility? And are we cold hearted or will 435 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:12,160 we choose to be compassionate? If we choose to be humble, then 436 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:14,240 it's much easier to choose to be compassionate. 437 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,600 If we look at the great tremendous blessings that we 438 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:22,800 have and say God has given us so much more than we need and it's 439 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,480 a blessing, it's a gift from God, not that we earned it. 440 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:28,200 It's a gift from God. Then we can look and say, how 441 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,920 can I share this? How can I help my sisters and my 442 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:36,200 brothers who God blessed with less, Maybe God blessed me with 443 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,960 more so I would get to enjoy the blessing of sharing it with 444 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:44,600 them. And that's why I have more that 445 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:46,080 we can choose to be compassionate. 446 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:50,400 We can choose to say God has blessed me with so much, God 447 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,720 must want me to share it. God has blessed this nation with 448 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:56,120 so much, God must want us to share it. 449 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,360 There is a particular moral philosophy out there. 450 00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:01,640 It's been there for years. I can't remember which old dead 451 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,520 guy said it, but I and I think he's got he's on to something. 452 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:09,880 I should look this up because we get to reference the specific 453 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:14,400 person. And I don't know that you can 454 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,280 live in absolutes, absolutes. It's really tough to draw 455 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:19,800 absolute lines. But he phrased this in the form 456 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,240 of an absolute. And he said that any time a 457 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:25,600 society, a culture, a civilization is trying to make a 458 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:31,280 decision about a certain policy or practice or plan to ask the 459 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:35,080 question, is it good for the poorest people in our society? 460 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:39,000 And if it's not good for the poorest people, then it's not 461 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,080 good. Now, I don't know on an absolute 462 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:45,120 basis whether that can be said to be true every single time. 463 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:52,520 But what a way to look at policies and plans and programs, 464 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,520 whether they're in the school system or in the city or in the 465 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:59,920 state or in the country, and ask, will this be good for those 466 00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:03,480 that are the most poor, the most needy, the most vulnerable among 467 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,840 us? And if not, is it really good? 468 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:13,880 Is it really good? We have been given tremendous 469 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:20,800 prosperity and two choices. Will we respond to that 470 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:23,680 prosperity with arrogance or with humility? 471 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:27,400 Will we respond to that prosperity with a cold hearted 472 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:32,960 indifference or with compassion? And those are the choices that 473 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:37,640 we have before us. The real sin of Sodom is that 474 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:41,880 they responded to those choices with arrogance and cold hearted 475 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:46,400 indifference and that opened the door for all manner of evil in 476 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,120 their lives. All manner of evil. 477 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:55,720 And here's the thing, Lot was saved from the destruction and 478 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:59,160 most of his family were saved from the destruction not because 479 00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,520 Lot was good. We're told at the end of this 480 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:10,400 chapter that God saved Lot to honor Abraham because Lot was 481 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:16,280 Abraham's nephew and God saved Lot out of respect and to honor 482 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:19,280 Abraham. Lot. 483 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:24,600 Lot who knew the promise. Lot who knew that his 484 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:28,400 relationship to Abraham made him part of God's promise to be a 485 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:30,920 blessing to the whole world and got moved. 486 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:33,640 Lot moved into Sodom and had zero impact. 487 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,800 His impact was so minimal. His family, he and his family 488 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:45,720 became like Sodom. So they're, you know, so the 489 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:48,040 people come and they say we want to rape these guys. 490 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:54,240 And this is and I, the gang rape of strangers, of guests who've 491 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:58,240 been given the privilege in the position and the protection of 492 00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:02,320 hospitality. The people that showed up at 493 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:07,360 Lot's house came there to do rape, and that was the 494 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,640 abominable thing. Whether that was a rape of men 495 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:12,800 or rape of women, it was gang rape. 496 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:18,280 And Lot's response was thankfully not here. 497 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:23,160 Take him to protect himself. Thankfully it wasn't that. 498 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:26,400 But did you hear what Lot told him? 499 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:31,120 Take my daughters, take my daughters, They're virgins. 500 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:35,520 Rape them. This was Lot's response. 501 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:42,240 Then as they were fleeing the city, Lot goes to tell his sons 502 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:44,520 in law they're well, future sons in law. 503 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:46,400 The men his daughters were going to marry. 504 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:48,560 Hey, God's going to destroy the city. 505 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,280 We got to get out of here. They had such little respect for 506 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:52,320 him. They just laughed at him. 507 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:54,320 That's what the Bible, they laughed at him. 508 00:31:54,800 --> 00:32:01,040 Stupid, crazy old man. And so Lot flees with his 509 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:05,080 daughters and with his wife. And as they're leaving the city, 510 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:11,480 his wife, the city that was so far gone, every single man 511 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:14,200 showed up at Lot's house in that city, young and old. 512 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:18,160 And his wife looks back at that city with longing. 513 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:23,680 She didn't just turn around to see what was happening, she was 514 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,320 looking. I don't want to leave this 515 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:32,520 behind. And God took her life and they 516 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:35,200 flee to another city and then lots of fray there. 517 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:37,560 So they flee, takes his daughters up into the mountains 518 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:41,520 and his daughters now in the mountains with their father. 519 00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:45,480 Everything they've known has been destroyed, saved by the 520 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:49,640 angels from being gang raped. And they find themselves going, 521 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:54,280 you know what, we're up here. Dad's dad's messed up. 522 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:57,160 He's a drunk now with everything that's going on. 523 00:32:57,280 --> 00:32:59,520 Mom's dead. We don't have any husbands. 524 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,600 We need someone to take care of us when dad's gone. 525 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:05,040 We need kids. We need sons. 526 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,880 And what their solution is? They raped their father. 527 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:15,480 One daughter says I'm going to get dad drunk tonight. 528 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:17,480 When he's passed out, I'm going to have sex with him. 529 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:20,880 Second daughter did it the next night. 530 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,160 And if you don't think that's rape, just flip it. 531 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:28,600 What if Lot had said I'm going to get my daughter drunk and 532 00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:31,800 have sex with her tonight? Everyone knows that's rape. 533 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:34,000 It's rape when it goes the other way too. 534 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:41,880 The very thing that was the abominable thing that was being 535 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,760 threatened to them, they did to someone else. 536 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:52,800 The real sin of Sodom. That's just the fruits of it, 537 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,600 the root of that. How do daughters get to the 538 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:59,400 point where they're willing to do something like that to their 539 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:01,440 father? How does a father get to the 540 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:04,640 point where he's willing to send his daughters out to be raped 541 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:10,960 because of pride in the midst of prosperity and a cold hearted 542 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:15,719 indifference to the vulnerable and the needy? 543 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:20,920 That's how you get there. And that's the sin that we are 544 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:24,600 warned against and that we are called to live and preach and 545 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:28,960 teach against as we live out the values of the Kingdom in this 546 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,840 world. In Jesus name, Amen. 547 00:34:32,679 --> 00:34:33,120 Amen.