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I said last week that this was 
going to be APG 13 sermon. 

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You can probably see why already
given the nature of the passage 

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that Brandon just read. 
This is a tough passage. 

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Genesis chapter 19 is, in my 
opinion, one of the most 

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challenging chapters in the 
entire Bible. 

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It, it, it, it has some of the 
most disturbing imagery, some of

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the most disturbing things that 
are happening. 

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And, and the city of Sodom 
became so infamous and and so 

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despicable that that God wiped 
them out. 

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And all of the kind of 
subsidiary towns that were part 

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of their dominion and part of 
their sway. 

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So infamous that the city of 
Sodom became the byword among 

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the people of Israel for 
hundreds and hundreds, even 

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thousands of years, of how not 
to be of the worst a city could 

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possibly be. 
The worst that a culture or a 

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community or a civilization 
could possibly be. 

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To be equal to or worse than 
Sodom was to be in line to be 

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destroyed by the Lord, just as 
Sodom had been destroyed by the 

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Lord. 
One of the challenges of this 

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passage is at for, for us in 
21st century America is the way 

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Genesis chapter 19 has been 
wrongly interpreted for many, 

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many, many years. 
And it goes back many years, not

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all the way back to the 
beginning, but it goes back many

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years. 
And so we often hear this story 

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wrongly. 
And it's important that we hear 

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it rightly. 
And I'm going to explain that a 

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little bit later, but I want to 
get, I want to get into to kind 

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of the, the meat of what the 
real sin of Sodom is. 

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Why did God destroy Sodom and 
Gomorrah? 

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Because God did. 
God wiped them out completely 

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from the face of the earth. 
God wiped them out so thoroughly

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that there are still debates now
among archaeologists of where 

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the city really was because it 
was absolutely obliterated by 

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God's own hand. 
So let's talk about this. 

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The real sin of Sodom is 
prosperous and is a prosperous. 

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They were boy, I got the one of 
the most important slides. 

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It's up there twice and I got 
the grammar wrong. 

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Prosperous. 
Now I did get it right. 

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They were prosperous and 
arrogantly cold hearted. 

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That's the sin of Sodom. 
We miss it in Genesis chapter 19

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because what we see in Genesis 
chapter 19 is kind of the end 

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result of how bad, how far off 
track a culture and civilization

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can become when they are 
prosperous and arrogantly cold 

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hearted. 
But we know this is the real sin

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because hundreds of years later,
God speaking through the prophet

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Ezekiel, is addressing his 
people and his people, the 

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nation of Israel. 
They have been in covenant 

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relationship with God for 
hundreds of years, since the 

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time of Abraham himself. 
And they got so bad as a nation 

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that God sent a Pagan empire, 
the Babylonian Empire, to come 

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in and wipe out the nation of 
Israel, to sack the capital city

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of Jerusalem, to destroy the 
Temple, God's own house on 

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earth, God's physical dwelling 
place on earth, and to deport or

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kill almost all of God's people,
the Israelites, take them into 

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captivity in Babylon or kill 
them. 

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Or kind of the the least 
influential, the least 

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threatening, the least powerful,
the least of the people were 

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left there just to work the 
ground because they were no 

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threat to the empire or to the 
people around them. 

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And God, through his prophet 
Ezekiel, one of his prophets, 

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through Jeremiah and Isaiah as 
well, but at this point, through

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his prophet, Ezekiel is 
explaining to his people why 

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this happened to them. 
Ezekiel is speaking to God's, 

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God's people in exile in the 
Pagan empire of Babylon and 

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telling them, This is why this 
happened to you. 

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When when the Babylonians came 
and threatened, you said no, no,

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no, no, no. 
We're God's chosen people. 

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We are a superior people. 
We are a superior nation and and

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God will never allow us to be 
destroyed. 

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And God allowed them to be 
destroyed and they're in exile. 

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The prophet Ezekiel comes with 
God's own words to say This is 

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why this happened to you. 
And in that prophecy, which is 

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the book of Ezekiel, is long and
very depressing. 

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Just, you know, if you want to 
jump into it, go for it. 

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It's a tough book to read. 
But God goes through and 

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compares his people, Israel, to 
other nations and other 

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civilizations that God had 
previously wiped out. 

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And one of them is Sodom. 
And this is what God says about 

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Sodom and why he destroyed it, 
as he is comparing his own 

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people, the nation of Israel, to
Sodom and that civilization. 

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This is what God says. 
This was the guilt of your 

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sister Sodom. 
Just calling Sodom their sister 

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would have been enough to set 
their teeth on edge. 

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What do you mean? 
Sodom's our sister. 

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Sodom's that evil city that you 
wiped out years ago. 

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And God says, yeah, you're just 
like your sister. 

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She and her daughters had pride,
excess of food and prosperous 

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ease, but did not aid the poor 
and the needy. 

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We're going to start in the 
middle. 

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Excess of food and prosperous 
ease. 

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It's a way of saying you're 
wealthy. 

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They were wealthy and they were 
prosperous and they were 

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complacent and had an arrogant 
disregard for the needs of the 

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folks that weren't benefiting in
their civilization. 

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The poor and the needy, they had
plenty. 

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They could have shared, they 
could have helped. 

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But they said who cares? 
It's their problem, not my 

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problem. 
Me and my family are OK, We're 

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doing all right. 
Who cares about them? 

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They had an abundance of 
resources but couldn't be 

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bothered to help the poor and 
the needy. 

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So they were prosperous. 
They were prosperous and they 

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had pride. 
They had pride, see, in their 

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prosperity. 
Sodom and Israel at this time 

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that they were in exile, they 
could have said, hey, we're 

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prosperous. 
Why are we prosperous? 

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We're prosperous because God has
blessed us with with prosperity.

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Let's bow down and humble 
ourselves before God and do 

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things God's way and give honor 
and reverence to God in the way 

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we live as well as with our 
words as well as with our ritual

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acts of worship. 
But instead in their prosperity,

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they said we're prosperous 
because we're great. 

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We are awesome. 
We are an exceptional 

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civilization. 
We're prosperous because we have

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we work harder than the other 
people around us. 

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We're prosperous because we're 
smarter. 

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We're prosperous because we have
the best civilization. 

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We're prosperous because we have
the best education. 

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We're prosperous because we're 
strong and, and, and, and, and 

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have an excellent military. 
We're prosperous because we're 

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better. 
There's just something better 

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about us. 
That's how we got all of this 

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stuff. 
That's how we got all of this 

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stuff. 
And if these folks over there 

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that are poor and needy want to 
share in this prosperity, well, 

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they just need to be like us and
then they'll be prosperous too. 

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Pride. 
They attributed their prosperity

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to their exceptionalism. 
We're the best people. 

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We're God's people. 
We're the shining city on the 

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hill. 
We are the nation that all other

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nations should envy and want to 
be like. 

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And if you want to share in what
we have, you just need to be 

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like us. 
So their prosperity did not lead

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to humble gratitude before God. 
It led to pride that elevated 

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them in their own eyes over the 
people that were around them. 

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And that kind of combination 
prosperity combined with pride 

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leads to a careless, cold 
hearted indifference to the 

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people around them that were in 
need. 

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The poor and the needy didn't 
get it, didn't get anything. 

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They're poor and needy. 
It's probably their own fault. 

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Let them suffer. 
It's just a sign that they're 

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not living the right way. 
It's the sign that God doesn't 

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approve of them like God 
approves of us. 

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It's the sign that they just 
need to get their act together, 

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pull themselves up by their 
bootstraps and do what they need

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to do. 
Or it's just a sign that they 

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just aren't as good as we are. 
Maybe they've got the wrong skin

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color. 
Maybe they've got the wrong 

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speak the wrong language. 
Maybe they've got the wrong 

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background and the wrong 
ancestry. 

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Maybe they've got the wrong 
philosophy. 

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Maybe they've got the wrong 
religion. 

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Whatever it is, it's wrong and 
they're on their own. 

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And it's not my job to take care
of them. 

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Not my job. 
This was the guilt of Sodom. 

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This is why God wiped them out. 
The very next verse sums it up. 

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They were haughty and did 
abominable things before me. 

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Therefore I removed them when I 
saw it. 

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God said this cannot stand the 
word haughty there. 

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It's the same root as the word 
pride in the previous verse that

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abominable things. 
This is important because the 

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mental and spiritual attitude of
prosperity combined with pride 

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and a callous, cold hearted 
indifference to the poor and the

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needy leads to all manner of 
abominable activity. 

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When you go through the the Old 
Testament and look at the places

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where that word abominable is 
used, it's used for every type 

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of sin that the Bible labels is 
really, really bad. 

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Ezekiel uses this word a lot. 
I'm not even going to try to say

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it in Hebrew, partly because I 
can't remember it in Hebrew, but

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we don't need to talk about 
that. 

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But he uses it a lot, and 
Ezekiel uses it almost 

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exclusively to refer to adultery
and idolatry as abominable 

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things. 
Ezekiel labels them adultery and

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idolatry, which Scripture pairs 
over and over and over again. 

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But we know there were other 
abominable things going on in 

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the city of Sodom. 
There were other abominable 

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things going on in the city of 
Israel. 

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And there is a certain thing in 
that passage in Genesis that has

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been lifted out and highlighted.
It's been misnamed and turned 

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into the thing that Sodom did 
wrong. 

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And we got to take a minute and 
look at that because the 

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cultural push in this direction 
is so strong that if I don't 

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push back against it explicitly,
then then I'm not doing my job 

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here. 
When I'm preaching today the 

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abominable things, some folks 
say that the sin of Sodom is 

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homosexuality or was 
homosexuality. 

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I got to say, homosexuality is 
not even mentioned in Genesis 

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19. 
You say, pastor, pastor, those 

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angels came in the form of men 
and the men gathered to have sex

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with them. 
That's homosexuality. 

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That's not homosexuality. 
That's gang rape. 

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You get that? 
This is, this wasn't people 

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engaging in homosexual behavior.
This was a group of men coming 

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to rape two people. 
And to insist that homosexuality

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was the sin here is to say that 
if the angels had been women, 

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this wouldn't have been a big 
deal. 

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God would have said, oh, well, 
that's not that bad, they're 

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just raping women. 
And I don't think anyone 

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believes that. 
I hope no one believes that. 

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I'm surely don't think anyone 
here believes that. 

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00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:43,320
But that's the implication. 
To say that if the guests, the 

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visitors had been women, that 
the sin wouldn't have been as 

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bad somehow implies that raping 
women is not as bad as raping 

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men. 
This is an abominable thing. 

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00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:00,360
This is it's an abominable 
thing. 

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When 2 strangers come to town. 
And Lot, who's a judge, he has a

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leadership role in the city of 
Sodom. 

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He knows how dangerous this city
is for these men. 

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So he says don't sleep in the 
square. 

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That would have been the normal 
thing. 

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Don't sleep in the squared. 
Come to my house and he gets to 

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the house and he feeds them. 
So now they have the, the, the, 

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the right of hospitality of 
guest protection. 

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00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:26,720
Anyone here fan of Game of 
Thrones? 

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00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,600
If you're, if you're a fan of 
Game of Thrones, you understand 

216
00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:35,120
one of the big pieces in Game of
Thrones was, was, was salt and 

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bread. 
When you visit someone's house 

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and you get salt and bread and 
now you have the protection of 

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00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,200
that household. 
George RR Martin didn't make 

220
00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:46,760
that up. 
That's an ancient tradition and 

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00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,560
it's a very powerful tradition. 
And Lot was trying to protect 

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these men by bringing them under
his protection. 

223
00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:55,080
But his protection didn't mean 
anything. 

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00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:59,560
That's how far the city had 
become, how far down the road of

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detestable thinking, how cold 
hearted and arrogant that they 

226
00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:07,320
had become. 
And Lot wasn't free from this. 

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00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:13,280
Lot's solution was to offer his 
daughters to be raped instead. 

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00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:16,640
Take my daughters, they're 
virgins. 

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00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:22,440
Do with them whatever you want. 
Just don't attack my guests. 

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00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,800
Some people defend Lot and say 
that they that the value of 

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00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:33,240
hospitality is so high, such a 
high value, that it's a better 

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00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:36,560
thing for his family members to 
be raped than for his guests to 

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00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:38,560
be raped. 
I'm not going to. 

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00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,960
I'm not going to hold that up as
a virtuous act on Lot's part. 

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To me, it's just a sign. 
I mean, Lot chose to live there.

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00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:51,720
Remember, this was the city Lot 
chose to live next to and is now

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00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:53,880
living in. 
This is the city that Lot looked

238
00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:55,880
at and said, oh, this is a good 
place to raise a family. 

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00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,600
Yeah, I want my kids growing up 
with these kids and learning how

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00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:03,560
to act like these kids, act and 
think like these kids. 

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00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,640
This is what Lot raised. 
He chose this. 

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00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:16,040
He chose this, so this 
detestable thing and, and in the

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00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,240
eyes of ancient peoples, when 
the story was first written and 

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00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:24,640
story was first told, the gang 
rape of guests in violation of 

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00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:28,880
all of the deeply held rules of 
hospitality is about as 

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00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:32,040
detestable a thing as anyone 
could imagine. 

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00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:40,400
The fact that it was men rather 
than women doesn't make a 

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00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:46,000
difference. 
This is what this is. 

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00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:51,440
This is when we talk about, you 
know, slippery slopes, when a 

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00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:56,280
culture and a civilization 
embraces their prosperity with 

251
00:15:56,280 --> 00:16:00,320
an attitude of pride, saying 
we're so wealthy because we're 

252
00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:04,320
exceptional, and then becomes 
callously indifferent to the 

253
00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:08,560
poor. 
The Scripture tells us there in 

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that society and in that 
culture, eventually nothing will

255
00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:18,320
be unthinkable and every awful 
thing will be done and embraced 

256
00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:23,120
by the community. 
And everyone had embraced it. 

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00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,040
Scripture tells us every man, 
young and old in the city came 

258
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:30,200
to Lot's house that night. 
Do you hear echoes here? 

259
00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,280
I hope you hear echoes here. 
If you've been listening to 

260
00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:37,960
these Genesis sermons for a 
while of back in in, in early in

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00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,560
Genesis chapter 4, chapter 5, 
when Cain killed Abel and God 

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00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:43,080
said to Cain, where is your 
brother? 

263
00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:45,240
And Cain said, am I my brother's
keeper? 

264
00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:50,280
Cold hearted indifference. 
He just killed his brother, but 

265
00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:54,600
he didn't care. 
In Genesis 6, just before the 

266
00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:57,840
flood, when God says the 
thoughts and inclinations of 

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00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:02,520
every heart was always evil all 
the time, and so God wiped them 

268
00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,839
out. 
And here in the city of Sodom, 

269
00:17:06,319 --> 00:17:10,240
the thoughts and intention of 
everyone's heart was always evil

270
00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:13,040
all the time, and so God wiped 
them out. 

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00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:19,240
It's the same pattern over and 
over and over again that humans 

272
00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:25,960
repeat somehow without getting 
the message, somehow without 

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00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:30,400
getting the message of the real 
sin of Sodom was prosperous, 

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00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:34,000
being prosperous and arrogantly 
cold hearted. 

275
00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:38,600
Having all of that blessing, 
saying it's because I'm great 

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00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:40,920
and who cares about the people 
that don't have it. 

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00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:47,160
God will not tolerate that. 
And that's why this is so 

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00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:49,720
important. 
Why this is not a matter of just

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00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:54,760
theological nitpicking and, and,
and, and, and it's not a it's 

280
00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,040
not a question of, you know, 
political correctness here. 

281
00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:02,720
This is extraordinarily 
important for us as God's people

282
00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:06,720
and the body of Jesus Christ and
the world today in 21st century 

283
00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:11,160
America day today to understand 
why this is so important. 

284
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:14,600
The story of Sodom and Ezekiel's
prophecy. 

285
00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:19,800
These are warnings, and if we 
mislabel the sin, we miss the 

286
00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:23,880
warning. 
If we mislabel what the problem 

287
00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,680
really was, we fail to grasp the
warning. 

288
00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:31,480
And the warning is this. 
The cultures and civilizations 

289
00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:36,640
that are arrogant in their 
prosperity and take pride in 

290
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:40,120
their prosperity and become 
indifferent to the needs of the 

291
00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:44,200
vulnerable and the needy and the
poor around them, God will not 

292
00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:50,880
tolerate and God will eliminate.
It's the closest you're ever 

293
00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:53,240
going to see me get to a fire 
and brimstone sermon. 

294
00:18:56,120 --> 00:18:59,320
But God gives these warnings for
a reason. 

295
00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:04,160
There is a reason why over and 
over and over again in the 

296
00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:08,560
Scripture, the city of Sodom is 
used as a byword because that 

297
00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:12,960
culture, that civilization was 
the very antithesis of the 

298
00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:17,440
Kingdom of God. 
It was the opposite of what God 

299
00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:21,520
intends for all of His people to
live and how all of His people 

300
00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:25,080
should live. 
And if we miss that warning, 

301
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:31,800
particularly when we live in the
most prosperous nation in the 

302
00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:38,360
history of the world, If we miss
that warning, we run the risk of

303
00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:42,400
being like Lot, moving into the 
city of Sodom and failing to 

304
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:46,160
have any impact at all on the 
culture and the spirit of that 

305
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:51,520
city as one of God's chosen 
people, one of God's called 

306
00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:55,840
people. 
Lot had no impact there, none 

307
00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,360
whatsoever. 
Not on his wife, not on his 

308
00:19:58,360 --> 00:19:59,960
daughters, not on his 
son-in-law. 

309
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,320
He had no impact on the people 
of the city outside of his 

310
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,240
family. 
He became Co opted by the 

311
00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:13,840
culture and his family, although
they didn't die that day, were 

312
00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,120
destroyed as well. 
We'll talk about that in a 

313
00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:20,000
minute. 
We've got to see the warning so 

314
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,560
that we don't miss the warning, 
so that we can be the faithful 

315
00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:26,720
witness and provide the 
testimony and seek the Kingdom 

316
00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:29,320
of God rightly in the midst of 
this prosperity. 

317
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,000
Sodom is the polar opposite, the
antithesis of the Kingdom of 

318
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:38,080
God, and part of our 
responsibility of the church and

319
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:42,760
being salt and light in the 
world is to be an influence in 

320
00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:46,760
our communities and our culture 
and our civilization so that we 

321
00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:52,160
do not descend into the city of 
Sodom, which we could, which we 

322
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:54,560
could. 
God rejects and destroys 

323
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,280
cultures and communities and 
nations that are prosperous and 

324
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:00,760
arrogantly cold hearted toward 
the poor and the needy. 

325
00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:05,720
That is clear over and over 
again throughout the scripture. 

326
00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,840
This warning is personal as well
as social and this is important 

327
00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:13,560
we we have a in the United 
Western Christianity is tends to

328
00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:17,840
be very, very individualized. 
We it's hard to escape that I 

329
00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:22,280
can't I best I can do is to be 
aware that it's a thing that 

330
00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,360
that we talk a lot about 
individuals getting saved and 

331
00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:27,000
are you saved? 
Are you going to heaven? 

332
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:28,920
Am I saved? 
Am I going to heaven? 

333
00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:34,280
God was addressing a 
civilization here, a city, a 

334
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:37,360
community, a group. 
But there's a personal level to 

335
00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:40,120
this. 
There's A and the personal level

336
00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:43,160
is I got to check my 
temperature. 

337
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,880
I got to see, am I being more 
influenced by the world's 

338
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:51,200
culture around me or am I 
influencing the culture of the 

339
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,760
people around me? 
Am I being drawn along in the 

340
00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,040
current, or am I pushing against
the current? 

341
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:01,440
Am I intentionally living out 
the values and the ways of the 

342
00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,320
Kingdom of God? 
Or am I simply accepting as 

343
00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:07,720
normal what's happening around 
me because that's the way 

344
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,680
everyone's doing it and it seems
to work? 

345
00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:16,000
There's a personal level to 
this, but this is the warning is

346
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:21,440
social. 
Those two angels were sent not 

347
00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,720
to punish a person, but to wipe 
out a civilization. 

348
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:29,400
Ezekiel wasn't speaking to an 
individual. 

349
00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,720
Ezekiel was speaking to a nation
in exile. 

350
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:40,680
And the warning is not just for 
individuals to straighten up and

351
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:45,960
fly right, but for cultures, for
cities, for communities, for 

352
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:53,440
nations to return to the Lord 
and to exercise within their 

353
00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,560
cultures and communities and 
civilizations and nations the 

354
00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,680
values of the Kingdom of God, 
the Lord our God. 

355
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,400
So what do we do in all of this?
How do we respond? 

356
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,880
How do we respond? 
Well, we got to check our GPS. 

357
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:11,800
I'm going to ask your 
forgiveness. 

358
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:13,840
We're going to figure out where 
we are, if we're going to figure

359
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:17,720
out where we are on the spectrum
of the Kingdom of God or Sodom. 

360
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:20,200
Which city are we heading to? 
Are we heading to the New 

361
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,200
Jerusalem or are we heading 
towards Sodom? 

362
00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,520
We got to check our GPS. 
Forgive me, I'm about to give 

363
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:29,080
you an awful pun and I feel the 
need to ask your forgiveness 

364
00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:33,320
upfront for that. 
Our God positioning system, I 

365
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:39,560
know it's lame, but it works. 
So we're going to check our GPS.

366
00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:46,920
Where are we positioned? 
Are we, are we positioning 

367
00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:50,640
ourselves according to God's 
values and God's call in our 

368
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:52,360
lives? 
Are the culture's values and the

369
00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:54,320
culture around us call on our 
lives? 

370
00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,960
Are we prosperous? 
Are we arrogant? 

371
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:04,080
Are we cold hearted? 
And we can think about that as 

372
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,080
individuals, but it's important 
that we think about it as a 

373
00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:11,720
culture and as a civilization, 
as well as cities and counties 

374
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,720
and countries. 
Are we prosperous? 

375
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,880
Are we arrogant? 
Are we cold hearted and 

376
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,240
different to the needs of the 
poor and the needy? 

377
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:27,720
Because if we are, we will be 
wiped out eventually, 

378
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:31,080
eventually. 
So let's let's walk through it. 

379
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:36,360
Are we prosperous? 
Yes, yes, the United States 

380
00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:38,800
again, the most prosperous 
nation in the history of the 

381
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,000
world. 
It is. 

382
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:46,720
It is true that that even those 
living at the poverty line in 

383
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,760
the United States are wealthy 
compared to the standards of the

384
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:55,360
rest of the world. 
There is no denying that we are 

385
00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:57,600
prosperous. 
If you have a refrigerator with 

386
00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:01,920
food in it in your house, you 
are among some of the wealthiest

387
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:05,480
people in the world. 
If you own a house, you're 

388
00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:07,360
really among the wealthiest 
people in the world. 

389
00:25:07,360 --> 00:25:10,560
If you own a house and a couple 
of cars, you're among the 

390
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:15,520
wealthiest people in the world. 
We live in a prosperous nation. 

391
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,120
There is no doubt about that. 
There is no escaping that. 

392
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:23,440
And when, when God looks at 
wealth and prosperity, God does 

393
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:26,960
not see the lines that we draw 
on the map and say, oh, well, 

394
00:25:27,120 --> 00:25:29,160
yeah, I know. 
But they were living there. 

395
00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:31,880
And they're not nearly as 
wealthy as those folks in LA or 

396
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:35,280
Chicago or Dallas OR, you know, 
New York. 

397
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:42,040
God looks at the whole world, 
all of his people, everywhere. 

398
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,760
So, yeah, we're prosperous. 
What about the arrogant part 

399
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:50,000
here? 
We can be arrogant if we choose 

400
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,720
to be. 
We can wave the flag of American

401
00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,960
exceptionalism and say that the 
reason why we're so prosperous 

402
00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,200
is because we are just that 
good. 

403
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,200
You know, we work harder, we try
harder, we're smarter. 

404
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,360
We've got all of this amazing 
culture and history and 

405
00:26:06,360 --> 00:26:10,760
civilization behind us, and we 
have what we have because we are

406
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:15,040
awesome. 
That's the road to Sodom. 

407
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:23,200
Or we can humble ourselves and 
choose humility instead and say,

408
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:25,600
my God, you have blessed us with
so much. 

409
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:31,200
We know that we're not better 
than any other flesh and blood 

410
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:35,520
people on this earth, but you 
have blessed us richly. 

411
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,120
Show us how to share this 
blessing. 

412
00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:43,520
Show us how to use the 
prosperity you've given us to 

413
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:48,600
lift up the poorest of the poor,
to defend that most vulnerable 

414
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:53,560
of the vulnerable, to care for 
the needy both down the road and

415
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,720
on the other side of the world 
to the best that we can. 

416
00:26:58,000 --> 00:26:59,480
We'll never fix all the 
problems. 

417
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:00,840
We'll never solve all the 
problems. 

418
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,560
We'll never care for every 
single person that's poor or 

419
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:08,640
needy, but how can we do a 
little bit better next year than

420
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:13,640
we did this year? 
That's a choice that we have in 

421
00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:16,600
our prosperity. 
We can respond with arrogance or

422
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:22,400
we can respond with humility. 
And then are we cold hearted or 

423
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:24,000
will we choose to be 
compassionate? 

424
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,800
We have choices in these. 
We were if we were, if you were 

425
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:31,840
born into the United States, you
were born into prosperity. 

426
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,600
If you moved to the United 
States from a place that was 

427
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:36,960
much poorer, you moved into 
prosperity. 

428
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:43,520
We're not going to change that. 
But we can decide. 

429
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:48,400
Will we be humble and will we be
compassionate when we look at 

430
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:52,840
those who are vulnerable, in 
need and in need and, and blame 

431
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:59,360
them for their situation? 
Or will we say, what can we do 

432
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,240
to lift them up, to care for 
them, to love them? 

433
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,040
There's a moral philosophy. 
I can't remember. 

434
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:10,720
I cannot remember which one of 
the old dead guys came up with 

435
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:19,920
this, but they said in their 
conception of how good worked in

436
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:24,000
the civilization, they said if a
thing isn't good for the poorest

437
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,840
people in the civilization, then
it's not good. 

438
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:30,400
I don't know if I could ever. 
I don't know if you can. 

439
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,880
Drawing hard and fast absolute 
lines is always risky business. 

440
00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:39,920
I think that's a great way to 
think about things in our 

441
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:43,800
communities and our counties and
our school systems and our 

442
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,960
culture and in our country. 
When we're walking in to our 

443
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:49,600
neighbour's house or when we're 
walking down the street or when 

444
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:53,840
we're walking into the voting 
booth, say, is this good for the

445
00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,480
folks that are the most 
vulnerable and the most needy? 

446
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,240
And if it's not, is it really 
good? 

447
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:06,000
Is it really good? 
Again, we can't. 

448
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:10,760
We are prosperous. 
We are prosperous. 

449
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,400
So we got to choose. 
Are we going to be humble and 

450
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,760
compassionate or are we going to
be arrogant and cold hearted? 

451
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,480
The real sin of Sodom is they 
chose arrogance and cold 

452
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:26,120
heartedness and Lot didn't 
escape it. 

453
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:29,760
The rest of the passage in 
Genesis 19 is this. 

454
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,800
As they're fleeing the town, Lot
goes to his sons in law. 

455
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,400
And Lot had such little 
influence and impact on his sons

456
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,040
in laws that when he told them 
that the God was about to 

457
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,440
destroy the city that they 
needed to leave, they just 

458
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,640
laughed at him. 
Crazy old man. 

459
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,120
So Lot took his wife and his 
daughters and they were fleeing 

460
00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:55,520
the city and his wife loved 
Sodom, no knowing exactly what 

461
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,160
Sodom was. 
His wife loved Sodom so much 

462
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:04,760
that she turned around and was 
longing to return to Sodom and 

463
00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:09,280
God took her life. 
So it was Lot and his daughters.

464
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,160
They fled to a small town 1st 
and then Lot was afraid there 

465
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,360
and so they fled up into the 
mountains and Lot's daughters 

466
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,720
said, Dang, I probably should 
have said that in church. 

467
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:28,040
Rats said we're out here in the 
mountains. 

468
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:34,000
Our fiancees are dead. 
Our dad has us up here in the 

469
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,400
mountains. 
We don't have any kids. 

470
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,600
Dad's not Dad's a drunk. 
He was. 

471
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:45,640
We need someone to carry on 
after us. 

472
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:49,640
We need kids. 
So what did Lot's daughters do? 

473
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,760
They raped their father. 
They got him drunk. 

474
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:58,360
They had sex with him to get 
pregnant so they could have a 

475
00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:01,720
family of their own. 
If you don't think that's rape, 

476
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:06,760
just flip it around. 
If Lot had said my daughters 

477
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:12,920
need kids, I'll get him drunk 
and I'll sleep with him, it's 

478
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:17,720
rape. 
His own family doing exactly the

479
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:22,640
same thing that those men were 
doing to the angels or wanted to

480
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:29,400
do to the angels. 
Every heart, every thought 

481
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:35,520
inclined to evil all the time. 
Just after having seen the city 

482
00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:41,320
be destroyed, they said the best
solution to our problem is rape.

483
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:49,760
Detestable things, all manner of
detestable things, become very 

484
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:56,280
real possibilities and actual 
realities when we commit to a 

485
00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:01,400
life of arrogant prosperity and 
cold hearted indifference. 

486
00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:06,160
That's the real sin of Sodom. 
That's the culture and 

487
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:10,000
civilization and mindset that we
as the Church of Jesus Christ 

488
00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:15,480
are called to stand against and 
live against and love against in

489
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,360
Jesus name, Amen. 
Amen.