Genesis 18-19

[SPEAKER_01]: Good morning, everybody.

[SPEAKER_01]: My name is Barrett Moore.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm one of our pastors here at first free.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to start this service with something a little bit different than we normally do.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that is a disclaimer that we're going to call today a PG-Thirteen service.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going through Genesis today.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be in Genesis eighteen.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that means is that Genesis eighteen is pretty normal.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be pretty standard.

[SPEAKER_01]: But as we get into Genesis nineteen, they're going to be some pretty sexual themes that we're going to get into today.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to learn from it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be great.

[SPEAKER_01]: But that does mean if you have little ears sitting with you up to your discernment, it may be a good time to bring them down to kid connection, let them have that Sunday downstairs.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then if you're someone who is specifically triggered by themes of sexual assault, we're going to get into that today as well.

[SPEAKER_01]: So it's going to be a tough service.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be a good one though.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so I would like to if you would allow me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray.

[SPEAKER_01]: That'll give a moment for anyone to step out if you feel the need.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then for those of you who maybe just want to step out for the second half of the message, that's also totally fine.

[SPEAKER_01]: So let's pray and then we'll get started.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, dude, look, thank you so much for this morning that we get together and for preserving this word that we get to read and God, we pray that even as it's difficult as it's, it's rightfully heartbreaking to read some of these stories.

[SPEAKER_01]: God, we pray that, I mean, we thank you and we praise you for preserving it.

[SPEAKER_01]: That we get to learn from it and we pray especially for those that may be sensitive to some of what we're going to read today.

[SPEAKER_01]: God, that you would, you would comfort them, that you would be with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: and that every single one of us would be here today, seeing people the way you see them.

[SPEAKER_01]: God, Jesus name heaven.

[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we got a lot to get through today going through two chapters.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to jump right in this morning.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we are back with Abraham and at this point Abraham and Sarah.

[SPEAKER_01]: As of last chapter, they were renamed.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were Abraham and Sarah.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now Abraham and Sarah.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to meet with them on top of a mountain.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then in chapter nineteen, we're going to launch down to a valley underneath this mountain.

[SPEAKER_01]: We kind of have two stories.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to go back and forth today.

[SPEAKER_01]: So eighteen

[SPEAKER_01]: Start with Abraham and Sarah on top of the mountain.

[SPEAKER_01]: They were just renamed because God has reminded them of the covenant that he has made with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: God has told Abraham many of you, even if you're not a Christian, if this is new to you.

[SPEAKER_01]: One, if you're a guest today, we're so glad you're here.

[SPEAKER_01]: But even for those of you who maybe don't know the Bible, don't claim Jesus.

[SPEAKER_01]: You've probably heard a father Abraham.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's the father of three of the world's most major religions.

[SPEAKER_01]: And him and his wife have been promised by God, you're going to have a son.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is actually already after they've kind of had this story that Pastor Tex talked about last week where they take a slave.

[SPEAKER_01]: They kind of try to force their way through.

[SPEAKER_01]: They think maybe God's not going to keep his promise.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe he doesn't mean it the way we thought he meant it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they kind of force their way through.

[SPEAKER_01]: They have this other kid, Ishmael, and God comes back again and he says, no.

[SPEAKER_01]: You and Sarah are going to have a flesh and blood kid of your own.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is going to be the one I bless.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll take care of Ishmael, but you are going to have a child.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's where we meet them on top of this mountain in Hebrew today in Genesis eighteen verse one.

[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mama.

[SPEAKER_01]: One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day, he looked up and noticed three men standing nearby.

[SPEAKER_01]: When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground.

[SPEAKER_01]: My Lord, he said,

[SPEAKER_01]: If it pleases you, stop here for a while.

[SPEAKER_01]: Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet.

[SPEAKER_01]: And since you've honored your servant with this visit, let me prepare some food to refresh you before you continue your journey.

[SPEAKER_01]: So as we begin, it appears to me that Abraham recognizes these individuals.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's important to note that in the previous chapter,

[SPEAKER_01]: God comes.

[SPEAKER_01]: He tells Abraham you're going to have a son and he says within one year.

[SPEAKER_01]: So if we follow that timeline from what we're going to hear in just a moment, we know that this could only be at maximum three months from the last chapter.

[SPEAKER_01]: It could be much shorter.

[SPEAKER_01]: It could be days weeks, but at maximum, it's been three months since God last spoke to Abraham.

[SPEAKER_01]: So whether he recognizes him visually, whether

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a spiritual sense.

[SPEAKER_01]: He seems to know who he's talking to immediately.

[SPEAKER_01]: His intuition kicks in, he knows this is God.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he dives right in, wants to take good care of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: He, you notice like he's in a hurry.

[SPEAKER_01]: And just a moment, he's going to start preparing and he prepares himself.

[SPEAKER_01]: Abraham is a rich man.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's got a lot of money.

[SPEAKER_01]: He has these massive flocks of animals incredibly wealthy.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he chooses, I'm not gonna ask the servants to go get the food.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'll go get it, then my servant can cook it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he's in a rush.

[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to make it right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they say, all right, they said, do as you have said.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Abraham ran back to the tent and said to Sarah, his wife.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hurry, get three large measures of your best flower and meet it into dough and bake some bread.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then Abraham ran out to the herd and shows a tender calf and gave it to his servant who quickly prepared it.

[SPEAKER_01]: when the food was ready, Abraham took some yogurt and milk, and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he's got a sprint.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's going all out, rolling out the red carpet, trying to take good care of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And you notice here in our next verse, as they Abraham waited on them in the shades of the tree.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they're eating this feast.

[SPEAKER_01]: He lays it out.

[SPEAKER_01]: He knows who they are.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's taking good care of them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's even like standing off to the side.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's ready to grab plates of refill water.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's giving them everything.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they then say,

[SPEAKER_01]: Wear Sarah, your wife.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's our first clue that something kind of special is happening here, because they know his wife and they know her new name.

[SPEAKER_01]: Wear Sarah, your wife of visitors asked, she's inside the tent, Abraham replied.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then one of them said, the same promise they were given in the last chapter, I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son.

[SPEAKER_01]: So again, one more reminder, the covenant that God has said, this isn't a spiritual thing, this isn't a parable, you and Sarah will have a flesh and blood son by this time next year.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna come back, you will have a son.

[SPEAKER_01]: And if we know the Abram was just recently told this news, previously it was just Abram who heard it in our last chapter, if we know that Abraham heard the news, then the reminder may have been for someone else.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sarah.

[SPEAKER_01]: was listening to this conversation from the tent.

[SPEAKER_01]: Abraham and Sarah were both very old at this time and Sarah was long past the age of having children.

[SPEAKER_01]: So she laughed and importantly, she laughed silently to herself.

[SPEAKER_01]: So in her mind to herself and says, how could a worn out woman like me enjoy such pleasure?

[SPEAKER_01]: I love that.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm twenty seven and I feel worn out.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would have worn out women like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master, my husband, is also so old.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah left?

[SPEAKER_01]: She doesn't think I can do it, why did Sarah left?

[SPEAKER_01]: Why did she say, can an old woman like me have a baby?

[SPEAKER_01]: Is anything too hard for the Lord?

[SPEAKER_01]: I will return this time next year and Sarah will have a son.

[SPEAKER_01]: So can you imagine being in Sarah's shoes in that moment?

[SPEAKER_01]: You're just like sitting there, maybe doing the dishes, you're clean it up from dinner.

[SPEAKER_01]: You hear him say you're gonna have a son.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, yeah, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: It's been decades at this point.

[SPEAKER_01]: They've been waiting and waiting and waiting and they're like,

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not gonna happen.

[SPEAKER_01]: She's doing, I mean, anything exactly how we would have done it.

[SPEAKER_01]: She's acting exactly as any one of us would.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sarah was afraid, so she denied it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Saying, I didn't laugh.

[SPEAKER_01]: And what's funny about that is it's not necessarily a lie.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sarah thinks she's telling the truth.

[SPEAKER_01]: She's like, I didn't laugh.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the Lord said, no, you did laugh.

[SPEAKER_01]: I find these verses so funny and almost encouraging in a way because they are so human.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just so real.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's exactly how any one of us would have handled it.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're nearly a century old.

[SPEAKER_01]: They've been waiting.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so they do what I think it may be natural.

[SPEAKER_01]: They start to reinterpret or try to re understand or try to look at it another way.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe God meant it in the spiritual sense.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe he just meant like, it's going to be a child that we saw.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they go and have, hey, God, they have itch meal through her.

[SPEAKER_01]: And they try to find a way to make it working God again, says, no.

[SPEAKER_01]: You will have a son, and so just like, hey, Gar last week, we know that she runs out to the wilderness.

[SPEAKER_01]: God brings her back comforts her, like only he can.

[SPEAKER_01]: She comes back, Sarah needs to learn the same lesson that, hey, Gar learned that God sees her.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so she laughs, and God says, I see you.

[SPEAKER_01]: So here's the lesson for us is that God sees and God hears and God knows.

[SPEAKER_01]: That can be really comforting if your Hagar can be terrifying if you're Sarah.

[SPEAKER_01]: When we want to hide, when we wish God hadn't seen it, when we wish we hadn't done it, it's terrifying because God sees and God knows.

[SPEAKER_01]: But when you're lost in the wilderness, when you feel like you're out of hope, when you feel like no one cares, and you feel like no one's there for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: God sees, and God knows.

[SPEAKER_01]: And now, it's Abraham's turn to learn the same lesson.

[SPEAKER_01]: What does God see?

[SPEAKER_01]: What does God know?

[SPEAKER_01]: So God lets Abraham in on why they've really come.

[SPEAKER_01]: why they're really here to visit.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it's because they're set to destroy two cities to the east as a result of those cities wickedness.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the men got up from their meal and looked out towards Sodom in the Valley as they left Abraham went with them to send them on their way.

[SPEAKER_01]: Should I hide my plan from Abraham, the Lord asked?

[SPEAKER_01]: importantly for Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation.

[SPEAKER_01]: And all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the Lord told Abraham, here's why we're here.

[SPEAKER_01]: I've heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah because their sin is so flagrant.

[SPEAKER_01]: So this could be an outcry from people living in Sodom and Gomorrah who have been the victims of this flagrant sin that God says.

[SPEAKER_01]: This could be people surrounding them.

[SPEAKER_01]: This could be people that have gone through the cities, but there's been an outcry.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone has heard about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's something terrible going on in these cities.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the other men turned and headed toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham.

[SPEAKER_01]: And importantly, God already knows the fate of these two cities.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right?

[SPEAKER_01]: For God, this is a foregone conclusion.

[SPEAKER_01]: He knows where the story is going to end.

[SPEAKER_01]: So the important question for us is why did God say this?

[SPEAKER_01]: Why has God having this conversation?

[SPEAKER_01]: And I would urge us that I believe it's because there is something about God's character, that Abraham has to learn.

[SPEAKER_01]: God says that if Abraham is going to be the leader of the nation, he's setting up from, if he's gonna be the leader that he needs him to be, he needs to understand that God is just so that Abraham and his family and his children's children will be just.

[SPEAKER_01]: He needs him to learn something about God's character.

[SPEAKER_01]: So God actually walks with Abraham to this Eastern outlook.

[SPEAKER_01]: Remember, they're on the mountain.

[SPEAKER_01]: These cities are in the valley.

[SPEAKER_01]: And we know today you can actually calculate from Hebrew where they live.

[SPEAKER_01]: They go to this lookout.

[SPEAKER_01]: The horizon on a clear day would be about sixty miles out.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Solomon Gamora, historically, would have been about thirty miles from this lookout.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you can imagine, if you've ever been on top of a mountainer in a really tall skyscraper, you're looking all the way out, you can't see the details, but you can see the cities and you imagine for Abraham.

[SPEAKER_01]: In that moment, looking at this city and being hit with the way that everyone there is getting wiped out.

[SPEAKER_01]: feeling the weight of like that entire place.

[SPEAKER_01]: God is saying he's going to get rid of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Abraham feeling the weight.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he's almost on the verge of panic.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says Abraham approached him and says, well, you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked.

[SPEAKER_01]: His concern is that God is not going to be just.

[SPEAKER_01]: Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city will you still sweep it away and not spare it for their six.

[SPEAKER_01]: Surely you wouldn't do such a thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, God, I know you.

[SPEAKER_01]: You wouldn't do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no way you can do this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Destroying the righteous along with the wicked.

[SPEAKER_01]: Why would you treat the righteous and the wicked exactly the same?

[SPEAKER_01]: Surely you can't comprehend it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You wouldn't do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Should not the judge of all the earth do what is right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord replied, if I find fifty righteous people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake.

[SPEAKER_01]: the Abraham spoke again, since I've begun, let me speak further to my Lord, even though I'm but dust and ashes.

[SPEAKER_01]: From here, Abraham continues to push from fifty to forty-five.

[SPEAKER_01]: What if there are forty righteous people?

[SPEAKER_01]: And then from forty, I guess he's feeling like he's on a roll, because he just jumps to thirty, and then he jumps to twenty, and then he jumps to ten.

[SPEAKER_01]: Finally, Abraham said, Lord, please don't be angry with me if I speak one more time.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was talking a lot.

[SPEAKER_01]: Suppose only Tanner found there, and the Lord replied, then I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.

[SPEAKER_01]: When the Lord had finished his conversation with Abraham, he went on his way and Abraham returned to his ten.

[SPEAKER_01]: So why does the conversation need to happen?

[SPEAKER_01]: Will Abraham need to learn something?

[SPEAKER_01]: We also need to remember God chose to have this conversation.

[SPEAKER_01]: God came to Abraham to tell him something and something for you to look into on your own time.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're not gonna get into it today, but it's interesting.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's actually pre-solid archeological evidence for a literal Sodom and Gamora in the location that they would be.

[SPEAKER_01]: To this day, no one has ever lived in that location because it is still like naturally, there's just so much sulfur in the area.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's near the dead sea, if you know the dead sea.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's some interesting archeological evidence there.

[SPEAKER_01]: You should look into it.

[SPEAKER_01]: But God is still making it clear that these two cities he is judging them, but he will not judge them unjustly.

[SPEAKER_01]: He promises, if there are even ten people I will spare them.

[SPEAKER_01]: You are correct Abraham.

[SPEAKER_01]: I would not wipe out the righteous and the unrighteous equally.

[SPEAKER_01]: I am going to judge them.

[SPEAKER_01]: So our second point for today.

[SPEAKER_01]: is that God is and will only be just.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what Abraham needs to learn.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's what we need to be reminded of.

[SPEAKER_01]: God is and will only ever be just.

[SPEAKER_01]: So when Abraham intercedes for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, that was coming from a good place.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was seeing the weight and the hurt that could be caused.

[SPEAKER_01]: If there are righteous people there who get caught up in it, he's wondering, God, are you gonna be just?

[SPEAKER_01]: God, do you see?

[SPEAKER_01]: God, do you know?

[SPEAKER_01]: And God, after promising him, yes, I do see, I do know.

[SPEAKER_01]: I think the underlying principle he wants Abraham to catch is this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Abraham, I God, don't dislike sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: I hate it.

[SPEAKER_01]: God doesn't dislike sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't find it inconvenient.

[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't find it.

[SPEAKER_01]: God hates sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: with a righteous anger.

[SPEAKER_01]: God sees us hurting each other.

[SPEAKER_01]: He sees people hurting themselves.

[SPEAKER_01]: He sees us hurting people made in the image of God.

[SPEAKER_01]: People that he loves and he will not accept it.

[SPEAKER_01]: God hates sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: He wouldn't wipe these people out because they messed up or they made a mistake.

[SPEAKER_01]: They are being wiped out because God is being just.

[SPEAKER_01]: That is the character that Abraham is learning.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so we then snap to his nephew, Locke.

[SPEAKER_01]: Also, a rich man, earlier in the story, Abraham and Lot actually end up separating amicably just because they are both so wealthy.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're both doing so well.

[SPEAKER_01]: They have so many animals, so many people on their team and employees and servants.

[SPEAKER_01]: They have so many people.

[SPEAKER_01]: They have to split up just because they need more land.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Lot ends up going down to Sodom at one point, Abraham actually rescues Lot from war, brings him back to the outskirts of Sodom, and we snap to the beginning of nineteen.

[SPEAKER_01]: with lot in the van.

[SPEAKER_01]: That evening, the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sod.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lot was sitting there and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them, just like Abraham.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then you welcomed them and bowed with his face to the ground.

[SPEAKER_01]: My Lord, he said, come to my house, my house to wash your feet and be my guest for the night.

[SPEAKER_01]: You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so just like Abraham, it appears here rather than recognizing them, he may not recognize these individuals.

[SPEAKER_01]: Possibly he does, but it seems like he may actually just be thinking, hey, y'all aren't from around here, are you?

[SPEAKER_01]: You're showing up at night to this city.

[SPEAKER_01]: You don't know where you're at.

[SPEAKER_01]: So he's like, you should stay with me tonight.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the angels, they say, oh, no.

[SPEAKER_01]: We'll just spend the night out here in the city square.

[SPEAKER_01]: I imagine it like someone coming to LA or New York and they're like, I'm just gonna sleep in time square.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're like, no, yeah, you cannot do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: This isn't that kind of place.

[SPEAKER_01]: So a lot insisted and at last they went home with him.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread, made it without yeast and they ate.

[SPEAKER_01]: But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and they surround the house.

[SPEAKER_01]: They shouted to Lot, where are the men who came to spend the night with you?

[SPEAKER_01]: Bring them out so that we can have sex with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And this is our first look at the true wickedness of Son.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is the moment you see why God would take the action that He's about to take.

[SPEAKER_01]: Knowing nothing other than that there are two strangers coming into town, the men take the action that we are going to rape them.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's what they deserve.

[SPEAKER_01]: They are outsiders.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's all they know about them.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the action they take.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we see the wickedness of Sodom, but in this moment, we get the first taste of how Sodom has affected Lyme.

[SPEAKER_01]: So a lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him.

[SPEAKER_01]: Please, my brothers, he begged.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't do such a wicked thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Look, I have two virgin daughters.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let me bring them out to you and you can do with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can do with them as you wish.

[SPEAKER_01]: but please leave these men alone for they are my guests and are under my protection.

[SPEAKER_01]: They are under my protection.

[SPEAKER_01]: The two guests in my house are under my protection, not my daughters.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lot has been so indwelled by the culture of Sodom.

[SPEAKER_01]: He has become so the only way to describe it is he has become numb.

[SPEAKER_01]: He just simply does not see the sin anymore.

[SPEAKER_01]: So rather than the evil of, oh no, these are my guests, he says rape my daughters.

[SPEAKER_01]: The women I've raised their entire lives, I was trusted to protect rape them instead.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then the angels

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, not yet, the men outside, they say stand back, they shouted.

[SPEAKER_01]: This fellow came to town as an outsider.

[SPEAKER_01]: Now he's acting like our church.

[SPEAKER_01]: So then they look to lot.

[SPEAKER_01]: They're like, hey, you're not from around here either, dude.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're not from around here either.

[SPEAKER_01]: You don't get to talk to us like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: They say, we'll make it even worse for you than those other men.

[SPEAKER_01]: They lunge towards lot to break down the door and then the angels at this point, if they weren't known already, they make themselves known.

[SPEAKER_01]: because the two angels reach out, they pull a lot into the house, they physically grab him into the house, they bolt the door, then they blind all the men young and old who are at the door of the house.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they gave up trying to get inside.

[SPEAKER_01]: Meanwhile, the angels questioned a lot.

[SPEAKER_01]: To me, this seems like a moment where maybe the angels, this is just bear it more speaking.

[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder if the angels are kind of telling a lot, hey, we know what you just did.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because they say, do you have any other relatives here in the city they asked?

[SPEAKER_01]: Get them out of this place.

[SPEAKER_01]: Your sons in law were about to meet them.

[SPEAKER_01]: sons, daughters, or anyone else, for we're about to destroy this city completely.

[SPEAKER_01]: The outcry against this place is so great, it has reached the Lord and he has sent us to destroy it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So just like Abraham, they tell a lot, here's what's going on, here's why we're about to do it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lot has just seen them witness what Sodom is.

[SPEAKER_01]: He has witnessed it with them.

[SPEAKER_01]: This is why we're destroying it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So a lot rushed out to tell his daughters, Fiyan says, quick, get out of the city, the Lord is about to destroy it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So in that moment, I had wondered if the angels are telling a lot, hey, these weren't even your daughters to give away anymore.

[SPEAKER_01]: These women have already been engaged.

[SPEAKER_01]: They are already someone else's.

[SPEAKER_01]: On top of the evil you've done, they weren't yours in the first place.

[SPEAKER_01]: He goes to tell the sons and laws, and how did they respond?

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, young men thought he was only joking.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Sarah laughs at the idea of life.

[SPEAKER_01]: the sons and laws laugh at the idea of death.

[SPEAKER_01]: Both of them laugh at the idea that God is telling the truth, that God is righteous, that God's going to carry out what He says He's going to carry out.

[SPEAKER_01]: So how does Lot respond?

[SPEAKER_01]: He goes, tells them, they say, all right, yeah, you're crazy.

[SPEAKER_01]: How does He respond, knowing the city is about to be destroyed?

[SPEAKER_01]: He goes back to sleep.

[SPEAKER_01]: At dawn the next morning, the angels became insistent.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hurray, they said, take your wife and your daughters who are here, get out.

[SPEAKER_01]: Right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city.

[SPEAKER_01]: They are saying, lot, we have waited.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have told you, you have to go.

[SPEAKER_01]: You have to go.

[SPEAKER_01]: Get out.

[SPEAKER_01]: When lot still hesitate.

[SPEAKER_01]: Another translation says he's lingered.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just processing.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't give it up.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't leave whether it's his home or his money or the comfort he can't get rid of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so when he hesitates, the angel seized his hand.

[SPEAKER_01]: They physically grab him in the hands of his wife and two daughters and they rush them to safety outside the city for the Lord was merciful.

[SPEAKER_01]: And that's amazing because the Lord had already been merciful.

[SPEAKER_01]: the Lord had given them a warning.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then he warned them again.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then he won't even let them have the consequence of their sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: He physically drags them out of Sodom.

[SPEAKER_01]: He physically drags a lot out of Sodom.

[SPEAKER_01]: And in that moment, we realize they're going to have to drag Sodom out of Lot.

[SPEAKER_01]: He can't give it up.

[SPEAKER_01]: He can't leave.

[SPEAKER_01]: when they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, run for your lives and don't look back or stop anywhere in the valley.

[SPEAKER_01]: Escape to the mountains or you will be swept away.

[SPEAKER_01]: At this point, they've already been more than patient.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lot says, oh no, my Lord.

[SPEAKER_01]: You've been so gracious to me.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's shoulder-coded.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's laying in on thick.

[SPEAKER_01]: You've been so gracious to me and saved my life and you've shown such great kindness, but I can't go to the mountains

[SPEAKER_01]: Disaster would catch up to me there and I would soon die.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's saying, I'm an old man.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm scared.

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't get to the mountains before you guys hit it before you guys hit the button.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to make it far enough.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to get caught up.

[SPEAKER_01]: But then we learn maybe there's an ulterior motive here.

[SPEAKER_01]: See, there is a small village nearby.

[SPEAKER_01]: Please let me go there instead.

[SPEAKER_01]: Don't you see how small it is?

[SPEAKER_01]: Then my life will be saved.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's so small.

[SPEAKER_01]: You've already saved me, it's just one more small thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just give me that little piece.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know if angels can get frustrated, apparently they can, because they're like, all right, I will grant your request, I won't destroy the little village, but hurry, get moving, escape to it for I can do nothing until you arrive there.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's explained by the village was known as Zoar, which means little place.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so something important to catch here,

[SPEAKER_01]: is that the angel states, I will not destroy the village.

[SPEAKER_01]: As in, he would have destroyed the village if Lot hadn't asked.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because it's also an evil city in the plains.

[SPEAKER_01]: God is going to wipe out the whole of the plains, but Lot wanted to keep it.

[SPEAKER_01]: God had called it evil.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lot had said, but it's so small.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want to make sure everyone hears that.

[SPEAKER_01]: God called it evil.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lot said, oh, but it's nothing.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a little bit.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not that big of a deal.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's just a little bit.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just give me that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lot reached the village as a sun was rising over the horizon.

[SPEAKER_01]: Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.

[SPEAKER_01]: He utterly destroyed them along with the other cities and villages of the plain wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like many of us, lie is not holy corrupted.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's a righteous man.

[SPEAKER_01]: The New Testament actually tells us, he's a righteous man.

[SPEAKER_01]: They record him as a righteous man.

[SPEAKER_01]: He is not corrupt.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's not completely rotting within.

[SPEAKER_01]: He's not corrupt, but he is corrupted.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sodom has sunk its teeth into it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not fully unrepentant sin, but he isn't holy.

[SPEAKER_01]: One of my favorite teachers, John Mark Comer.

[SPEAKER_01]: If you've never heard of him, you can read every book he's ever made.

[SPEAKER_01]: He says that if you don't believe in the Christian tradition of sin, have a kid.

[SPEAKER_01]: And for anyone in the room, you're like, yeah, I get that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I have a fourteen month old year old.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's crazy.

[SPEAKER_01]: Fourteen month old, there you go.

[SPEAKER_01]: And she's getting just big enough where you start to realize, oh yeah, this is just in all of us.

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, there's just something in our nature that you just want to cause entropy.

[SPEAKER_01]: You just want to throw some stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: You want to break something.

[SPEAKER_01]: You want to take your socks off.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're just like you.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's something in you that needs to mess something up.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so this last week, my wife and I.

[SPEAKER_01]: We went on a trip to California with our daughter, Juniper.

[SPEAKER_01]: And Juniper's crazy.

[SPEAKER_01]: She had a great time.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was awesome.

[SPEAKER_01]: We haven't had like a real vacation in a while, so we took one.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's been a few years.

[SPEAKER_01]: We go out and see the Sequoia.

[SPEAKER_01]: It was beautiful.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the whole time, just the nature of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot of walking.

[SPEAKER_01]: We were in San Francisco for a little bit going to the National Park.

[SPEAKER_01]: a lot of her sitting in a stroller.

[SPEAKER_01]: So she's in a stroller a lot.

[SPEAKER_01]: She had a car a lot of the time driving back and forth to places.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we try to give her these moments where she can like get out and stretch her legs.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the day we're coming back, she's kind of, she's a little fussy.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the end of the vacation and she's experienced a lot of new stuff.

[SPEAKER_01]: Her little brain is probably going crazy, mile a minute.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so she's especially antsy.

[SPEAKER_01]: We drive her to the airport for two hours, you wait in line, you sit her in an airplane and then we hit our connection in Chicago.

[SPEAKER_01]: And at this point, Juniper is really antsy.

[SPEAKER_01]: So we say, all right, we're going to kind of, if you've ever been to an airport where there's a closed off terminal, we kind of, or a closed off gate, we kind of put our suitcases and block off some of the exits, and she just has all these empty seats, and she's running through it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to show you a video of what happened with it.

[SPEAKER_01]: So just behind me is a desk, I can't let her get to, and I go, right, left,

[SPEAKER_01]: Turns around and goes, oh, all right, I can't go there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Watch what she does.

[SPEAKER_01]: And there we go.

[SPEAKER_01]: And right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And left.

[SPEAKER_01]: And she's done.

[SPEAKER_01]: All right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so first off, if I took a video of it, y'all, she's already done that like ten times, you know.

[SPEAKER_01]: That was that had been the whole hour.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there's something in any her that I'm telling her, hey, yeah, you can't go here.

[SPEAKER_01]: And she does a little walk back and she looks at it.

[SPEAKER_01]: You even see her eyebrows kind of furl, which is awesome.

[SPEAKER_01]: She's like, maybe if I go fast.

[SPEAKER_01]: And she goes again.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I show that video because Adam's sitting in the airport and I'm thinking of the message for this Sunday.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm watching Juniper keep doing this little turn back and turn back.

[SPEAKER_01]: And I just think, man, this is how God sees us.

[SPEAKER_01]: God's telling us like, yeah, you can't go back there.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can't do that.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not going to be good for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not going to be what's best for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: God knows better and we're still like, well, what if I try anyways?

[SPEAKER_01]: What if I do it again?

[SPEAKER_01]: What if I do it differently this time?

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the same thing we see with lots of wife.

[SPEAKER_01]: But lots of wife looked back as she was following behind him and she turned into a pillar of salt.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's very strange verse.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's all we get.

[SPEAKER_01]: There's no more explanation.

[SPEAKER_01]: She hasn't really been in the story too much up to this point, but you get one verse.

[SPEAKER_01]: Some people have interpreted this as maybe she's a pillar of salt like she's crying.

[SPEAKER_01]: It means her tears.

[SPEAKER_01]: But the way the story is about to go is we finish.

[SPEAKER_01]: I'm convinced I think she's that's it.

[SPEAKER_01]: That is God saying, all right, you're done.

[SPEAKER_01]: And so then you might ask the natural question of why popcorn seasoning?

[SPEAKER_01]: Why salt?

[SPEAKER_01]: What does that have to do with anything?

[SPEAKER_01]: And another scholar, he puts it like this, a pillar could also be translated as a century.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a watchtower.

[SPEAKER_01]: So she's turned into a tower of salt and at this day and age, salt would have been a preservative.

[SPEAKER_01]: So then the message becomes really clear.

[SPEAKER_01]: God is saying, she's forever stuck in the half turn looking back as salt.

[SPEAKER_01]: saying, you cannot preserve this place.

[SPEAKER_01]: No peace of this gets to follow you.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's the justice, the righteous anger that God is saying, I won't allow that place to hurt anyone else.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's not allowed to continue.

[SPEAKER_01]: None of it can plant a seed inside of you.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jen Wilkins puts it this way.

[SPEAKER_01]: I am lost wife.

[SPEAKER_01]: Every single one of us is lost wife.

[SPEAKER_01]: I preserve deep within me, a memory of sin's savered in years past.

[SPEAKER_01]: The sins you think back to when you were in high school, you know, like that was hilarious.

[SPEAKER_01]: The sins you think back to and you're like, it wasn't that bad.

[SPEAKER_01]: The ones you think of fondly.

[SPEAKER_01]: God doesn't look at it like that.

[SPEAKER_01]: Because I see my sin, but I do not hate it.

[SPEAKER_01]: not corrupt but corrupted.

[SPEAKER_01]: I feel that's a lot of our stories.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just like them, they understand why Sodom is being destroyed.

[SPEAKER_01]: They understand why it has to go.

[SPEAKER_01]: They understand that this isn't good, but they just want a little bit.

[SPEAKER_01]: They can't let go of all of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just give me a piece of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: They preserve in themselves the sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then we remember Abraham's request from earlier.

[SPEAKER_01]: Abraham got up early that morning and he hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord's presence.

[SPEAKER_01]: He looked out across the plain towards Sodom and Gomorrah and watched as columns of smoke rise from the cities like smoke from a furnace.

[SPEAKER_01]: But God had listened to Abraham's request and kept lot safe from moving him from the disaster.

[SPEAKER_01]: So they were saved because Abraham asked.

[SPEAKER_01]: But there weren't ten people.

[SPEAKER_01]: So Abraham, as he looks at the city, as far as the biblical record goes, we aren't certain if Abraham ever meets a lot again.

[SPEAKER_01]: We don't know if they ever interact again.

[SPEAKER_01]: That's his nephew who he saved, they've lived a lot of life together.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he's looking at the city, and all he can have faith in, all he can trust in is that God has been just.

[SPEAKER_01]: If God did it, if I trust in him, he has been just.

[SPEAKER_01]: There weren't ten people.

[SPEAKER_01]: So let's see how the story ends.

[SPEAKER_01]: It turns out that the angels were right when they said, no, you shouldn't go there.

[SPEAKER_01]: And sin begets more sin and the mother no longer present.

[SPEAKER_01]: The girls that flee with lot, they choose something horrific.

[SPEAKER_01]: Afterwards, left so are because he was afraid of the people there.

[SPEAKER_01]: Turns out it was a bad sitting.

[SPEAKER_01]: He went to live in the mountains with his two daughters.

[SPEAKER_01]: One day the older daughter said to her sister,

[SPEAKER_01]: There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can't get married like everyone else.

[SPEAKER_01]: And our father will soon be too old to have children come, let's get him drunk with wine.

[SPEAKER_01]: And then we will have sex with him.

[SPEAKER_01]: That way will preserve our family line through our father.

[SPEAKER_01]: So that night, they got him drunk and the older daughter went in and has sex with him.

[SPEAKER_01]: He was unaware that she had come or left.

[SPEAKER_01]: The next morning, the older daughter goes to the younger and says, I did it.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's your turn.

[SPEAKER_01]: The younger daughter goes in.

[SPEAKER_01]: That night does the same thing.

[SPEAKER_01]: Lot doesn't know.

[SPEAKER_01]: that she lies or when she leaves, as a result, both of lots of daughters became pregnant by their own father.

[SPEAKER_01]: So sin gets more sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: And it makes you wonder, in the moment where Lot is talking to the crowd in front of his home, when he offers up his daughters, you just wonder if the daughters are up there hearing it go down.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do they hear the mob?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do they hear the banging on the door?

[SPEAKER_01]: Do they hear their father?

[SPEAKER_01]: That father offered them to be raped.

[SPEAKER_01]: and in return they do the same thing to their father.

[SPEAKER_01]: So my question for us, if there's anything positive we can take out of this story, what is it that the world has told you?

[SPEAKER_01]: What is it that maybe this country has told you?

[SPEAKER_01]: What is it that your immediate circle, your friends, your peers have told you is good that God says is evil.

[SPEAKER_01]: What is it that you've become numb to?

[SPEAKER_01]: What is it that, what is it that the sin that you preserve in yourself?

[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, where are you lingering?

[SPEAKER_01]: What's the piece you don't quite want to let go yet?

[SPEAKER_01]: So really quickly, three examples I think of kind of American dream-esque lies that we've been told.

[SPEAKER_01]: One, maybe it's pride.

[SPEAKER_01]: the feeling that others are less than or less deserving than yourself.

[SPEAKER_01]: Depending on any number of reasons, God's truth is that you didn't make yourself.

[SPEAKER_01]: You're not a hot shot because you've done or earned something, you're valued, which is more valuable than what you earned for yourself.

[SPEAKER_01]: And the value of other people comes from the fact that God says they are created in His image, that He calls them valuable.

[SPEAKER_01]: When we look at other people's sin, we don't see their sin as worse.

[SPEAKER_01]: or more far off than us, we're all infinitely separated.

[SPEAKER_01]: If we've all fallen short, then we don't get to judge other people because they sin different.

[SPEAKER_01]: They just sin different.

[SPEAKER_01]: They don't sin worse.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's greed, believing that you need more, or you deserve more, or you've earned more.

[SPEAKER_01]: That what I've done, I got for myself.

[SPEAKER_01]: God's truth is that we don't deserve any of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Everything we have is a gift.

[SPEAKER_01]: You are borrowing.

[SPEAKER_01]: You are a steward of what God has entrusted you with.

[SPEAKER_01]: You didn't make yourself.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe lastly, there's one we don't hit on a ton.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's gluttony.

[SPEAKER_01]: Believing that everything given to you is for you.

[SPEAKER_01]: That when you get a gift, it is for my enjoyment.

[SPEAKER_01]: That when God blesses me, it's not to be a blessing to others.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's for me.

[SPEAKER_01]: How often have you gotten a bonus at work?

[SPEAKER_01]: And you think, I want to hide and bless anybody with this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's your time.

[SPEAKER_01]: All of my time is for myself.

[SPEAKER_01]: We even call it me time.

[SPEAKER_01]: I need me time.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's mine.

[SPEAKER_01]: Your energy, your money.

[SPEAKER_01]: What if God has blessed you to be a blessing to others?

[SPEAKER_01]: What if it's not all for you?

[SPEAKER_01]: Where have you become numb to a world that's told you God is informative, not transformative?

[SPEAKER_01]: The God is something good to know, you can come to church, you can learn some stuff, doesn't really need to change your life, it doesn't really need to change the way you live.

[SPEAKER_01]: You can basically look at people the same way, you can look down on people the same way, but you've got your fire insurance, you've got Jesus, so you're good.

[SPEAKER_01]: What is it that you're still lingering with?

[SPEAKER_01]: But even in our sin,

[SPEAKER_01]: Even with their blind spots, God will bring good out of our evil.

[SPEAKER_01]: Our final two verses for today.

[SPEAKER_01]: When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moelle.

[SPEAKER_01]: He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moe Bites.

[SPEAKER_01]: When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Benami.

[SPEAKER_01]: He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Aminites.

[SPEAKER_01]: So these people are basically going to be the enemies of Israel for as long as they live.

[SPEAKER_01]: Their mission is going to be to destroy him, sin begots sin, it gets worse.

[SPEAKER_01]: But

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, who else comes from OM?

[SPEAKER_01]: If there's a woman named Ruth, and this woman named Ruth, her story ends with a lineage that leads to a man called King David, and King David leads to a man that's not a man.

[SPEAKER_01]: How we get to Jesus Christ.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even through this moment of sin, God is going to bring the Savior.

[SPEAKER_01]: And importantly, for us, it's a savior that came to save you from something.

[SPEAKER_01]: God doesn't dislike our sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't put himself on a cross because he founded in convenient.

[SPEAKER_01]: God hates it.

[SPEAKER_01]: And he poured out his wrath on his own son so that we could be made right with.

[SPEAKER_01]: Even in our sin, he makes away.

[SPEAKER_01]: So does that cause you to see people as greater than yourself?

[SPEAKER_01]: No matter what, under no conditions, everyone is greater than me.

[SPEAKER_01]: Do you see the gifts you've been given as a way to bless others around you?

[SPEAKER_01]: I pray that this final statement, I pray that it sticks with you.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to think on it.

[SPEAKER_01]: I want you to marinate with it.

[SPEAKER_01]: God hates sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: That means the sin that you hate,

[SPEAKER_01]: and the sin that you do.

[SPEAKER_01]: God hates sin.

[SPEAKER_01]: That means the sin that I hate and the sin that I do.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, dear Father, thank you so much for another Sunday that we kiss it come together and learn from you God, but I pray just as we spoke about that this wouldn't just be something we learn God, but it would be something we do.

[SPEAKER_01]: that love wouldn't be a noun, but love would be a verb, that we would go see people differently and act differently because of it.

[SPEAKER_01]: God, I pray for whoever in the room's heart is turning right now, that you would open our eyes to the sins that we've gotten comfortable with, to the sins that we've gotten numb with, to the anger that we've allowed ourselves to make, okay, God, we pray that you would turn in our hearts, that you would do it only you can do, that you're a Holy Spirit,

[SPEAKER_01]: would lead us where we need to go and make the chance that we need to make so that the world would see you through us, that they would see your love because of the way we love them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus name, amen.