Father, sometimes your word says things to us which are hard for us to get our mind around,
not so much because we can't understand them, but because we recoil to some extent from these
teachings and do not like them. They threaten us. Maybe they even seem wrong. And so, Father,
we come to one of those Bible passages today. We know, Father, that even when you confront us,
you confront us to connect. And you know, Father, what we're like. You know the different ways that
we evade your truth and your word. So we ask that you would have mercy upon us who are gathered here
and those who are watching online and participating online, that the Holy Spirit would fall with might
and power and deep conviction upon us so that we might receive your word, Father, that we might
once again fall in love with you, with your beauty, your grace, your mercy, your kindness,
and that we would once again rediscover the wonder of the gospel, that it would form us and shape us.
And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.
Amen. This morning, we're going to discuss, we're going to look at the text that describes the
destruction by God of Sodom and Gomorrah. I was talking to somebody this week, about several
people this week about it. And one of them said that he wasn't, couldn't quite remember what
happened in that text. And I just told him that it's a text that you get the word sodomy from.
And it's also the text that foreshadows hell. And he went, oh, but that is the text that we're
going to look at this morning. I'm also very conscious that it's Pride Month. And I just want
to say to anybody who's here or anybody who might be watching online, that we didn't, I didn't pick,
Daniel Avitan and I didn't pick this text just to sort of say there to those who are celebrating Pride
Month. Those of you who know me, I actually have a hard enough time remembering that Christmas is
coming or that Mother's Day is coming up or anything like that. We just try to pick texts that are going
to be, nurture the congregation. And part of what we want to do here is we want to preach the whole
books of the Bible. And we want to, I also want to make sure that we both look at Old Testament texts
and New Testament texts throughout the course of the year. And we just decided it would be good to go
through the story of Abraham, sort of not really thinking that Sodom and Gomorrah would be the story
that we would look at during Pride Month. And I know some people would say that it's not a good time
to look at Pride Month during, looking at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah during Pride Month.
And I guess all I would say is that people who would say that to us would also say that it's never a
good time to look at the text. So we're going to look at the text. So if you have your Bibles,
the text will be on the screen, but if you have your Bibles, it's always good. You can check
as well. And normally I don't give you an outline of where I'm going, but I'm going to give you a
very brief outline of what's going to happen this morning as we look at the text. First,
we're going to look at the story so that the story is clear. Second, we're going to look at the issue of
the sins that are involved. Then we're going to look at the problem of God's judgment. And then we're
going to look at the gospel and the hope that it brings. So that's where we're going. So let's go.
Get your Bibles. And if you turn in them to Genesis chapter 19, verse 1, and we're going to go through
this. I'm going to pretend that there are scenes in a play or a movie or a story. So scene 1,
verses 1 to 3 is scene 1, and its title is Foreboding. Here's how it goes.
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.
When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said,
My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then
you may rise up early and go your way. They said, No, we'll spend the night in the town square.
But Lot pressed them very strongly. So they turned aside to him and entered his house. And
Lot made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Now, just a couple of things very briefly about that. First of all, as I talked about it just a
tiny bit last week, because this story of Sodom and Gomorrah is in a sense a two-part story,
and we looked at the first part last week. Probably the best way to understand angels,
and sometimes they're called men, is they're angels. In a sense, they have avatars, so to speak.
The angels have avatars. They appear and are, to all intents and purposes, men, but they're like an
avatar. Those of you who know games and stuff like that, that's maybe a way to help it, and movies,
but they're angels. The second is not as immediately obvious in English, but in the original language,
there's clear foreboding. Lot is terrified. He's worried when he sees the men come in. He knows
what's going to happen. And so in the original language, he can't, he's really urging them to
not spend the night in the square. And even when he says you can eat and then leave early in the
morning, he's hoping that the two men can come in, nobody notices, and they can leave so early in the
morning that nobody notices. So there's a sense of deep foreboding in the first scene. Scene two,
verses four to five, the city sins. Look at verse four. But before they lay down, right, so they've all
eaten. Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people
to the last man, surrounded the house, and they called to Lot. Where are the men who came to you
tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them. In other words, that we may have sex with them.
You'll notice here in the text that it'd make a great emphasis to make it clear that it's all men.
And as I interpreted, know it, it's to have, to sexually know them. It's not clear in the text
whether it's going to be rape, or whether it's going to be just that you can party, because isn't
this how everybody would like to live their lives? And some of you probably now start to see some types
of ways that this text is, should maybe be sort of interpreted in different ways. We're going to
talk about that when I get to sins at the end of the, at the end of the story. Scene three, the sinful
alternative. In fact, we could even say the shocking sinful alternative, verses six to eight.
Lot went out to the men at the entrance. He shut the door after him and said, I beg you, my brothers,
do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man.
Let me bring them out to you and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men,
for they have come under the shelter of my roof.
Now you have to pause. This is a, I mean, there's a smidgen of courage, but what Lot is suggesting is
a terrible evil. But some might say, you know, George, here's a second here. Aren't you sort of,
like, the text doesn't say that Lot's like an evil guy. Like, aren't you sort of trying to impose
your moral framework on it? Like, doesn't the Bible text valorize or make Lot into a type of a hero?
There is a certain amount of courage to what he did, which the Bible, in a sense, would give credit to,
but very, very little. But it's going to be very clear by the end of the story that he falls under God's
judgment as well. It's a different type of judgment than the judgment that happens to Sodom and Gomorrah,
but it's very clearly a judgment from God. The other thing is, is if the Bible ended at Genesis 19,
so that all you knew was Genesis chapter 1 to Genesis 19, then in fact, you'd have to conclude
that the Bible is giving us this narrative as something to show that Lot did a good thing.
But the Bible doesn't end at Genesis 19. And in fact, at a literary level, as I've shared before,
the Lord of the Rings is made up of six books. And if you just read book one and then didn't read
the rest of it and interpreted the Lord of the Rings just from having read the first book,
you wouldn't understand the book. You have to read all six books. And if you read all five books
that make up this story, you'll see that what Lot has described, or what he is offering to do,
is very, very, very clearly denounced as evil in the other books.
The other thing is, as at the end you're going to see that Lot is spared, this particular judgment,
this should be something that worries us. Because it is, in fact, a text that foreshadows
the fuller biblical doctrine of hell, of the fact that every human being will appear before the judgment
is the fuller biblical doctrine of the human being will appear before the human being will appear.
But on the way to that final judgment, there can be, in a sense, more proximate judgments.
And if Lot is spared, that shows the bar is very low.
Like really, really, really, really, really, really, really low.
And this doesn't show anything about God's indifference to evil.
It does communicate to us something of his great mercy and patience.
You're going to hear me say this several times throughout the sermon,
because it's, in fact, a very important way to understand the text.
There's a wonderful part in the introduction to morning prayer,
which is just a summary of three different Bibles.
It's said three times in the book of Ezekiel, and it's summarized in morning prayer.
And it goes like this,
God takes no delight in the death of a sinner,
but rather that they will turn from their wickedness and live.
That's what gives God delight,
is that when we turn from our wickedness and live.
And that's going to be how you have to understand
what's going on in this particular text.
But scene four is verse nine,
and the title for scene four is Canadians are present,
which might be a bit of a surprise to you,
but look at what happens in verse nine.
So Lot has offered his daughters,
and in verse nine,
the men around the house say,
verse nine,
stand back.
No, sorry,
but they said,
stand back.
In other words,
Lot, get out of the way.
And they said,
now they yell out,
this fellow came to sojourn with us,
and he has become the judge.
Now we will deal worse with you than with them.
Then they pressed hard against the man,
Lot,
and drew near to break the door down.
That's the very Canadian response,
isn't it?
How dare you judge me?
Like,
how dare you use your morals to judge me?
How dare you?
Like,
I'm the average Canadian.
Like,
what are you guys doing?
You're the ones who are hateful.
You're the ones who don't believe in diversity.
You're the ones who don't believe in inclusion.
You're the ones who don't believe.
How dare you?
And that's exactly what they say in the text.
Canadians are present.
Average Canadians.
Scene five.
Deliverance and explanation.
Verses,
to begin at verse 10.
But the men,
the men slash angels,
reached out their hands
and brought Lot into the house with them
and shut the door.
And they struck with blindness
the men who were at the entrance of the house,
both small and great,
so that they wore themselves out,
groping for the door.
Then the men said to Lot,
have you anyone else here,
sons-in-law,
daughters,
or anyone you have in the city,
bring them out of the place.
For we are about to destroy this place
because the outcry against its people
has become great before the Lord,
and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.
Now, the word blinding is a lone word
from another language,
not from Hebrew.
And what the lone word means is blindness.
So some of you who watch certain types of movies
and read certain types of books
and maybe who've had certain experiences
are familiar with flashbang grenades,
where there's a very, very bright light
and a loud noise
which temporarily stops people
from being able to function,
and it confuses them.
And it's a similar type of idea here in this word.
The idea is that there's been
an exceptionally bright light
that blinds them with the light.
It's very interesting.
They're in darkness
and they're blinded by the light.
And because they're blinded by the light,
they're not able to find the door
and pursue the evil
that they want to pursue.
We also see here
the explanation of God's judgment.
And there's something that's important
that you need to know.
Those of you who aren't familiar
or don't remember what happened
in the story just before this,
the story that happened just before this
is very significant for two things.
I mean, more than two things,
but two things for the point of view
of what we're doing here
is that in the story before this,
the Lord and Abraham have a conversation.
The Lord decides to reveal to Abraham
that he's heard that there's great evil in Sodom.
And so that the Lord is coming down to Sodom
to see for himself, so to speak,
whether in fact the great evil is there.
And it's very important
because it's communicating
that the Lord isn't like anger driven.
He's not thin-skinned.
He doesn't have temper tantrums,
that he's driven by justice and truth.
And so he goes down to see
whether in fact it's true
because he's not going to do,
if he was to judge
and they weren't really guilty,
then he would be guilty of injustice.
But God is driven by justice and by truth.
And at the same time,
the dialogue between Abraham and God,
because in the story,
Abraham intercedes for the city.
God says to Abraham,
I'm going down to see how bad,
whether or not Sodom and Gomorrah
are as bad as they say.
And Abraham instantly knows
that if God goes down,
Sodom and Gomorrah is doomed.
And so Abraham intercedes for Sodom and Gomorrah.
And, but now we see
that they've come and seen for themselves.
In a sense, it's the straw
that broke the camel's back.
And they announce that there's going to be God's judgment
and that therefore they have to leave.
Scene six, more Canadians are met in the story.
Look at verse 14.
So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law
who were to marry his daughters,
up, get out of this place,
for the Lord is about to destroy the city.
But he seemed to his sons-in-law
to be jesting.
Now, why is this more Canadians?
I don't watch a whole lot of Netflix comedy specials,
but from what I know,
if I was doing a special,
I got up to the front and said,
how many of you were worried
about the last judgment?
And everybody would laugh.
Right?
I'm sort of thinking a lot
about how God's going to judge everybody
and we're all going to go to hell.
Everybody would laugh.
That's the Canadian response.
And part of the story is,
it's a very profound part of the story,
if you think about it,
because it,
and this is going to be this
and the next little bits
are very important things
for us to think about.
All in the story,
the story forms us for this.
I mean, gosh,
the world just seems so stable,
doesn't it?
And how could something suddenly happen?
I mean,
you know,
you think about it,
that night,
as these two men slash angels
entered the town,
the townsmen and others
were thinking about
how they were going to put
their kids to bed.
They were maybe counting
the rest of the day's take.
They were making their supper.
They were thinking of the party.
Maybe they're thinking of the trip
they're going to do tomorrow.
They're thinking of the business deal.
Life is going on as normal.
The powerful are powerful.
The weak are weak.
The city is right there.
It seems very, very stable.
Life is going to go on.
And the idea that something
could happen that would end
all human life
just in a moment,
it seems completely
and utterly preposterous,
as it does to us.
A couple of Saturdays ago,
70% of Ottawa people
didn't think that by the end of the day
they would be without power.
And for those of us
who lost power
for an extended period of time,
it's unsettling
at a very psychic level
for the world not to be stable.
Scene 7,
Difficulties in Believing.
Look at verse 15.
As morning dawned,
the angels urged Lot,
saying,
Up, take your wife
and your two daughters
who are here,
lest you be swept away
in the punishment of the city.
But Lot lingered.
So the men seized him
and his wife
and his two daughters
by the hand,
the Lord being merciful to him,
and they brought him out
and set him outside the city.
And as they brought them out,
one said,
Escape for your life.
Do not look back
or stop anywhere in the valley.
Escape to the hills,
lest you be swept away.
Lot had difficulties believing it.
He sort of believed it at night.
I mean, good grief.
He's...
He...
You think about it.
It's dark in the house.
There's men screaming and howling.
They're probably cursing
and they can't find
and they're banging
and they're making lots of noise.
And he's...
And it's dark.
And these two men
did this weird thing
with this blinding light
that blinded people.
And it's...
And the cursing
and the unsettledness
goes on for a long time
and it's night
and you feel very, very fragile
and it's easy to believe
in something like the judgment.
But then daylight comes.
And you look at your favorite tree
and you look at your garden
and you look at your walls.
And if any of you
have ever been to the Holy Land,
even those parts of the Holy Land
that are most dry and desolate,
there's a beauty to them
and you look out
and it just looks like
everything's very stable
and it's hard to believe.
It would be as if
by the end of this sermon
you feel a bit convicted
about the reality of hell,
but it's hard to maintain
that reality.
You go outside,
you get a coffee,
you drive your car,
the roads are stable.
It's hard to continue
believing such doctrines.
It's very psychologically true.
Scene 8.
Mercy to the blind.
Verse 16.
Sorry, verse 18, I should say.
Verse 18.
And Lot said to them,
O no, my lords,
behold, your servant
has found favor in your sight
and you have shown me
great kindness
in saving my life,
but I cannot escape to the hills
lest the disaster overtake me
and I die.
Behold, this city
is near enough to flee to
and it's a little one.
Let me escape there.
Is it not a little one
and my life will be saved?
One of the angels said to him,
Behold, I grant you
this favor also
that I will not overthrow
the city to which you have spoken.
Escape there quickly
for I can do nothing
until you arrive there.
Therefore, the name of the city
was called Zoar.
It's a very, very subtle thing,
but in verse 16,
if you look,
you'll see
that what's happening to Lot
is purely because of God's mercy.
But in verse 19,
Lot thinks it's because
he's found favor.
As if something about him,
I mean, how could God judge me?
You know, like,
you know, like,
you know, I'm married,
you know, I have a degree,
I'm Canadian,
you know, I'm a good guy.
How could God judge me?
I found favor.
I could see how you can judge,
you know, those bad people,
you know,
I don't know,
the guys who vote for Trump
or, you know,
some of those, like,
you know, billionaire tech giants
or something like that.
I could see how you could judge them,
but look at me.
And so there's a fundamental blindness
about Lot,
and it's even seen
in the difference between Abraham.
I mean, Lot doesn't realize
that his standing,
the mercy comes
because of Abraham's
intercession for him.
And Abraham intercedes
for the whole city
that God would spare it.
But what Lot does
is whine
because he doesn't want
to be inconvenienced.
And so he's blind,
but God still shows mercy.
He doesn't show mercy
because Lot's going to get a pass.
Lot's going to be judged.
See, God takes no delight
in the death of a sinner,
but rather that he might turn
from his wickedness and live.
A season of not being judged
is because God desires us
to repent.
The reason texts like this
are in the Bible
is because God desires us
to turn to him for mercy
and hear that he has provided
a savior.
Now a very sobering part,
scene nine,
the judgment of the Lord.
Verse 23.
The sun had risen on the earth
when Lot came to Zoar.
Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah
sulfur or brimstone
and fire from the Lord out of heaven.
And the Lord overthrew those cities
and all the valley
and all the inhabitants of the cities
and what grew on the ground.
But Lot's wife behind him looked back
and she became a pillar of salt.
The language is communicating
that it's not just that,
it's not as if God is cruel
and Lot's wife just happened
to glance over her shoulder
and then bam.
No, no, no.
She's not walking towards freedom.
She's not in the city for protection.
She's standing outside of the protection
looking back.
Probably thinking my husband, Lot,
is a fool to believe these people.
Like, look how beautiful everything is.
Like, nothing's going to happen.
Like, I don't want to live
in this crappy little city.
Like, I have this wonderful house.
I have servants.
We have wealth.
We have possessions.
We had to leave it all behind.
And so she's not in the city.
And the destruction
and the judgment of God
comes upon her.
Scene 10.
Mercy and answered prayer.
Look at verses 27 to 29.
And Abraham went early in the morning
to the place where he had stood
before the Lord.
That's in the chapter just before.
And Abraham looked down
towards Sodom and Gomorrah
and toward all the land of the valley.
And he looked and behold,
the smoke of the land
went up like the smoke of a furnace.
So it was that when God destroyed
the cities of the valley,
God remembered Abraham
and sent Lot
out of the midst of the overthrow
when he overthrew the cities
in which Lot had lived.
Almost always in the Old Testament,
when you see the word remembered,
it means receive mercy.
And it was God showing mercy to Abraham
and Abraham's intercession for Lot
that Lot was spared
the destruction of the brimstone
and the fire.
So you see Lot's answered prayer.
You see God's mercy.
Scene 11.
Destabilizing fear.
Verse 30.
Now Lot went up out of Zoar
and lived in the hills
with his two daughters.
For he was afraid to live in Zoar,
so he lived in a cave
with his two daughters.
So what's going on here?
One moment.
Didn't Lot just say,
I'm afraid to go to the hills,
let me live in the city,
and now he's afraid to live in the city,
so he goes to live in the hills?
It's not an inconsistency in the text.
It's the destabilizing,
the lack of,
you see,
one of the, you know,
a couple of years ago
we went through the book of Proverbs,
and I suggested to the staff
that we called our sermon series
How to Be Square.
They didn't like it.
That's fine.
They were wiser than me.
But the fact of the matter is
that the Bible
will teach you how to be square.
It won't teach you how to be hip.
It won't teach you how to be cool.
It won't teach you how to be popular.
It's going to teach you how to be square.
How to be a square.
But that's where you have stability
from the Bible.
An ability to assess the world,
to be wise,
to see what's what,
to deal with reality,
to roll up your sleeves
and deal with the real world,
to not be confused
by the arrogance of the proud
and the claims of the unjust,
and not to be mistaken
by moral relativism
when we need moral clarity,
and not to be afraid
of every bump in the night.
That's why there's a constant message
in the Bible
that to come to the Lord
and to know His mercy
is to be delivered from fear.
That even the fear of the Lord,
the knowledge of who God is
and a clarity about knowing who He is,
the effect of that
is to minimize your fear
and anxiety
that you have in life.
And so Lot,
and this is going to fit in
with the other type of thing
which is about to happen,
which is very tragic,
and then we'll get to
some of the other things,
is that Lot is,
Lot is just,
he's not safe,
he's not happy in the city,
he's not happy in the hills,
he's just not happy.
He's afraid in the hills,
he's afraid in the city,
he's just afraid.
And then in conclusion,
the Lord's other judgment.
Verses 31 and following.
So Lot's in the cave
with his two daughters
and the firstborn daughter
said to the younger,
Our father is old
and there is not a man on earth
to come into us
after the manner of all the earth.
Come, let us make our father
drink wine
and we will lie with him
that we may preserve offspring
from our father.
So they made their father
drink wine that night
and the firstborn went in
and lay with her father.
He did not know
when she lay down
or when she arose.
The next day,
the firstborn said
to the younger,
Behold,
I lay last night
with my father.
Let us make him
drink wine tonight also.
Then you go in
and lie with him
that we may preserve
offspring from our father.
So they made their father
drink wine that night also.
And the younger arose
and lay with him
and he did not know
when she lay down
or when she arose.
Thus both the daughters
of Lot became pregnant
by their father.
The firstborn bore a son
and called his name Moab.
He is the father of the Moabites
to this day,
the day of the book,
this book was written.
The younger also bore a son
and called his name Ben-Ami
and he is the father
of the Ammonites
to this day.
The Moabites
and the Ammonites
became the ancient enemies
of Israel.
The Moabites
worship the god Moloch
where you sacrifice
your infant
to the god.
This is also
the lord's judgment.
One of the ways
that sometimes
the lord judges us
here on earth
or we start to begin
to experience
the lord's judgment
is that the common grace
that he bestows
that stops us
from our worst desires
that pulls us back
from that
that God,
the image
it's found
in the New Testament,
the image is if
there's a constant current
that we have
and it's like a boat
on a river
with a current
and the boat
is securely tied
to the dock
and the river
is like our sinful passions,
our passions
to be like God,
to do whatever we please,
to not have anybody judge us,
to just be narcissistic,
to be selfish
and there's this constant pressure,
this constant flow
but common grace
keeps the boat stable
and tied to the dock
and one thing
that sometimes happens
is it's as if God
unties the ropes
that ties the boat
which is you
to the dock
and allows the current
to take you
and batter you
and that's what's seen
here in this text
and it's a judgment
from God.
Now,
some of you
might have said,
George,
you know,
that's a very interesting story.
It's a terrible story.
In some ways,
George,
I think you should be ashamed
that you would even believe it
or uphold it.
You know,
George,
I think you read a story
like that
and it encourages violence
against the LGBTQ plus community
and gets homophobic
and frankly,
George,
I think you and others
are misinterpreting it.
It's very obvious
that the men
are either bisexual,
they're not homosexual,
it's not talking about lesbianism,
it's in fact,
George,
probably what it is,
it's heterosexual men
desiring to do something like this
and,
you know,
we know better today,
we know better about orientation
and stability
and health
and just everything
about this text,
George,
is just wrong.
A couple of things
in response
very briefly.
The same-sex sexual knowing
in the text
is definitely
not the only sin
in the text,
but it is one of them.
The rest of the Bible,
because it's,
this text is commented on
in Isaiah,
it's commented on in Jeremiah,
it's commented on in Ezekiel
and it's commented on
in the New Testament
and from these other places
we see that it's,
there's this,
this among the other sins
of Sodom and Gomorrah
are a lack of hospitality,
of rape,
of oppression,
of adultery,
of making lying
seen as a virtue,
of acting in a way
to enable crime,
of arrogance,
of being unrepentant,
and of oppression
of the poor.
But in that list,
the same-sex sexual knowing
is also present.
It is one of the sins
that led to the judgment
of the city.
And then some people
might say,
but George,
you see,
this is the whole problem.
You know,
George,
why is it that the Bible
thinks that things like that
are like the worst sin
and you're just giving
heterosexuals
and others a pass
because,
you know,
like,
but I'm just going to,
those are all,
in a sense,
good comebacks,
but they're mistaken.
In fact,
the matter is that
the Bible never says
that same-sex sexual knowing
is the worst sin.
In fact,
actually,
the Bible does tell you
what the worst sin is.
Right?
Those of us who know
our Bible,
what often causes
a problem of conscience
in the New Testament
is the unforgivable sin
is the sin
against the Holy Spirit.
not same-sex sexual knowing.
And what that sin
is a person
who's become so proud
that they never repent.
They're completely immune
to whatever God tries to do.
They're immune to the truth.
They're immune to conscience
in such a way
that they're just immune
and they can no longer repent.
They can no longer hear the truth.
And that's the worst sin.
In fact,
actually,
in ancient Christian teaching,
which would still be
the mainstream of Christian teaching,
sort of summarized
in the seven deadly sins.
In the seven deadly sins,
the sexual sins
are the least deadly.
And the most deadly is pride.
But it's still a deadly sin.
But it's definitely not
making any claim
that it's the worst sin.
And anybody who says it
is a Christian
that just doesn't know
anything about it.
And then some might say,
but George,
you know,
we know way more about it.
We know about identity
and we know about
stable identities
and we know that we have
to do types of things
that help us to define,
help us to be stable
in our identity.
And I guess I'll say this
just very briefly,
and if you want to know
more about it,
I highly recommend you read
the writings of Sam Albury
or Rosaria Butterfield
or my friend Christopher Yuan.
But the fact of the matter
is that the Bible
is not reductionistic.
It's a very hard thing
for the world to understand.
The world is always
trying to reduce us.
And the Bible
is not reductionistic.
Human beings aren't reduced
to their sexual desire.
The Bible never reduces
human beings.
They don't reduce
human beings to their race.
That's not even
a biblical concept.
They don't reduce
human beings
to economic forces.
The Bible never reduces
human beings
to how much money you have.
It never reduces
human beings
to your sexual desire.
or politics.
It doesn't reduce you.
The Bible upholds
the fact that human beings
are angular
and made in the image
of God.
And we sing
and we dance
and we have friends
and we make money
and we have businesses
and we listen.
And the Bible celebrates that.
The Bible never reduces us
to define us
in categories of...
Heterosexual
is not a biblical concept.
In fact,
it's against the Bible.
Heterosexual
is an attempt
to define you
by your sexual desire.
It's an attempt
to reduce you
to what you desire sexually.
The Bible doesn't
accept that for a moment.
The Bible's not reductionistic.
And does this text
teach you
that we should hate
the LGBTQ plus community?
It teaches
the exact opposite.
What's the heart
of the text
is that Abraham
intercedes
for the city.
What the text
is teaching you
is to intercede
for people.
For me to intercede
to people.
Not to hate them
but to have compassion
and love them
and to pray for them.
The people
that from whatever
your point of view
you think
are farthest from God
and if you have
a sense in your spirit
that some people
are really far from God
that's also a leading
of the Holy Spirit
for you to intercede
for them.
The text shows
the model in the text
is Abraham's intercession.
The opposite of hatred.
And does the text
pick on the LGBTQ?
Plus community?
No it doesn't.
My friend
Christopher Yuan
is very very brilliant
on this.
And I just have to talk
about it very very briefly.
But the Bible points
that there is
two paths
to holiness
for human beings.
And holiness
isn't the same thing
as barrenness.
It doesn't mean
being sterile.
It's
the holiness
is
holiness conveys
the idea of purity.
I see God
is this
all pleasure
comes from God.
Joy comes from God.
Beauty,
love,
truth,
justice,
mercy,
creativity.
They all come from God.
Holiness is to become
more and more gods.
Not to become
more like a god
but to belong
to the triune god.
To get closer
to the triune god.
So holiness
provides this idea
of purity,
of holiness,
of integrity,
of dignity,
of freedom,
of wholeness,
of being truly yourself
because you're truly
now one with God.
It's an image
of beauty
and of grace,
of life
and of love,
of truth
and of goodness,
of justice
and of mercy.
And the Bible says
there's two paths
to holiness.
And one path
is a path
that every single
human being
walks on.
and it's a path
of singleness.
That there's a way
of being single
which is a way
of beauty
and of freedom
and holiness
and loveliness
and creativity
and compassion.
And most people
don't choose
to be single
for their whole life
or even for a large
chunk of their life.
Some people do
but many just discover
that the path
of singleness
which is a way
towards holiness
is the way
that they will walk
till they die.
And others like me,
I was single
for a long season.
I've been married.
That's the other
path to holiness
of one biological male
married to one
biological female.
It's another path
to holiness.
And unless
that married couple
die in a car accident
at the same time,
there will be a season
where they will
once again,
one of them
at least,
will continue
on that path
to holiness.
But God provides
two paths
to holiness.
The Bible text here
makes it very clear
that God does not
call you
to heterosexuality
because there's
very clearly
heterosexual sin.
I'm not called
to heterosexuality.
I am called
to love
Louise.
That's what I'm
called to.
To love
Louise
and be one
with her.
And it's a
beautiful path.
It's the path
to holiness.
What about
hell and judgment?
There's not
God
I mean,
God
shouldn't judge.
It's unworthy
of God.
It's
hateful
of God.
George,
I don't even
understand how
you could ever
even believe
in a text
like this.
George,
you should,
this text
is horrific.
The God
that's revealed
in here
is horrific.
It's a whole
other sermon,
but I want
to say a couple
of points.
The first
is that when
we feel
this about
God,
what is
revealed
is not
what's
true about
God,
but the
fact that
we're
confused.
Why am
I saying
is it
revealed
that you're
confused?
You make
moral judgments.
You make
moral judgments
about all
sorts of
things.
If you
can make
moral judgments,
why can't
God?
And if
you refuse
to make
moral judgments,
if you
refuse to
allow God
to make
judgments,
is that
because you
think that
you're God?
And what
about
punishment?
You want
justice and
you want
people to
be punished.
Like, you
know, you
think about
it, and
let's even
take a very
good couple,
let's say
there's two
people and
they're both
two people
very high
up in
Shopify or
some high
tech thing
and they're
both making
a quarter of
a million
dollars and
so they're
making very,
very good
money.
I'm guessing
more than
anybody here
in the room,
but maybe
there's somebody
here this
morning or
watching who's
making more
than half a
million dollars
a year.
And if you
had some
street person
come in and
steal your
watch and
your watch
was worth,
let's say,
$20,000,
would you want
to have them
prosecuted?
Would you,
you know,
I mean,
you're making
half a million
dollars a year
and they
steal a
$20,000
watch?
That's a
lot of
money for
me, but
not a lot
of money
for you.
But wouldn't
you and
most people
even agree
that you'd
be right to
try to have
that person
be arrested
and put in
jail?
So why is
it that you
believe that
people can be
punished, but
you don't
believe that
God can
punish people?
Like, how
do we have
an actual
honest conversation
when you
don't even
realize that
you think you
can do
something, but
God can't do
what you can
do?
And this
text is making
very clear that
in fact, God,
unlike you, is
never going to
be anger-driven
or thin-skinned
or jump to
conclusions, but
he's actually
going to have a
just judgment.
Or even
consider this,
that many
people will
say to me,
many, many
people say to
me, I can't
believe in a
God that just
allows evil to
go on and
it's not
stopped and
it's not
judged.
And then the
very next day
they might say,
especially after
they hear a
text like this,
is I can't
believe in a
God that
judges evil.
Well, one
moment, you
can't have
both.
If you don't
want to believe
in a God that
doesn't judge
evil, and
then you don't
want to believe
in a God that
does judge
evil, it
means you
just don't
want to
believe in
God.
You don't
want God.
You just
don't want
him.
Pick one,
and let's
have a
conversation.
And most
importantly,
what if it's
real?
I mean, a
lot of our
emotional reaction
to this is
as if we're
just inventing
things.
It would be
as if this
theater was
completely and
utterly packed
to the gills,
maybe even
beyond what the
fire marshal
would allow,
and then
somebody all
of a sudden
yells fire,
and there is
no fire, but
they yell fire,
and they yell
it and they get
all hysterical,
and we all get
hysterical, and
everybody's completely
and utterly, and
for many people,
we look at a text
like this and we
just think it's
just religious,
it's not real,
and so to
talk like this
is just like
yelling fire in
a crowded theater,
all it does is
cause death and
destruction, but
what if it's not
like this?
What if it's
more like you're
hiking in an
area where the
roads are very
narrow, and you
hike up and you
see that there's,
you feel a bit of
a trevor, but it
doesn't do anything
to you, and you
look down and you
see that the
bridge has
collapsed, and you
see that it's a
straight way and the
cars are going to
go down and they're
going to come to
that edge of the
bridge and they're
going to go over
the bridge to
their death, and
so you run, you
get down the hill
as fast as you
can and you go on
the road and you
stand on the road
waving your arms
trying to get cars
to stop, because
you don't want them
to go over the edge
of the bridge to
their death.
I want to share
with you, friends,
this text is not
about yelling fire
in a crowded room,
this text is claiming
that it's real.
There is a God
that does exist,
that you and I
will be judged.
And in fact,
actually, just as if
you discovered that
there were hikers who
could have gone down
to the road and
stopped cars from
going over to their
doom, they didn't do
it, and you would
think they were
terrible, evil people,
so at the end of the
day, if there is in
fact a judgment of
God, and I as a
pastor never warned
people about it, I
would in fact be a
terrible, evil man.
Just in closing,
George, you're
talking like this as
if it's just going to
be something for
other people.
You're sort of like,
you know, Boris
Johnson in the UK
telling everybody not
to, you know, not to
see families and not
to gather.
Meanwhile, you know,
they're all having
big parties.
One rule for you,
for me, and a
different rule for
you, and you sort of
know I want to tell
you this, and I'm
going to include
Shane, I didn't warn
him about this.
Shane's the guy, the
good-looking guy who's
leading the service.
We're both ordained,
and I want to tell
you, and I know
Shane would say
amen.
There's nothing about
either Shane or me
that would mean that
God favors us.
We deserve God's
judgment.
We would not stand
in the judgment day.
Neither of us
would.
The only hope that
Shane and I have in
the judgment day
is that God came
down amidst our
human race, Emmanuel,
God with us.
And he came to be my
representative, and he
identified with me.
And he came to be my
substitute, and he came
to offer an exchange.
And the only hope that
Shane has, or I have,
on the judgment day is
Jesus.
I have no other hope
than that.
There is no other hope
than that.
There is no other hope
than that.
And those paths to
holiness, you might say,
George, I don't know,
those paths to holiness,
you sort of make them
sound good, but they're
too hard.
And let me tell you,
they are too hard.
And paths to holiness,
that's not the gospel.
The gospel is that you
have Jesus, who is your
representative, who is
identified with you
completely, who knows
you completely, who's
your substitute, your
exchange.
He dies in your place.
He offers you a
connection with God.
That's the gospel.
But I can also tell you
this, that it's God's
intention that there are
paths to holiness, and
there are paths to
holiness.
One path is a path of
singleness.
The other was a path for
a season of marriage.
And with Christ, you don't
walk it alone.
There's a presence on the
path.
And there's the hope and
promise at the end.
And it's all a gift from
our Savior.
I'm going to invite you to
stand.
As we draw to a close, if
you are here or if you are
watching and you have never
given your life to Christ,
there is no better time
than now to give your life
to Christ.
There's no better time than
to say to Jesus,
I have never really thought
before that I will one day
appear before you in the
story of Sodom and Gomorrah as
a foretaste of God's judgment
of all human beings.
God, I know that I can't
stand before you in judgment.
I know that I need your
mercy.
And I thank you, Father, that
you have provided mercy in the
person of your Son.
And I ask, Father, that Jesus
would be my Savior and my
Lord.
Lord, I give myself to him and
I ask that he would take me and
that he would never let me go.
And I thank you for your
promise that he will take me and
he will never let me go.
And for us who are Christians, it's
a time to recommit.
Not that we should spend all of
our time thinking about just the
last judgment or hell, but it is
an important real truth about
the real world.
And it's so wonderful that we
can remember this on a day when
we will receive the Lord's
Supper, where we are reminded
that Jesus' death upon the
cross was inaugurating a new
covenant.
To remember his blood shed and
his body pierced and dying.
And that we can receive him as
our Savior and Lord.
And the Lord's Supper is not
only a time to receive more
grace from him, but to recommit
to him.
And to remember that he will
never let us go or forsake us.
That he is our Savior.
And asking him to be our Lord.
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
Father, I ask that you would
gently but powerfully pour out
the Holy Spirit upon us.
We have looked at things which
are hard for us to look at, that
our mind and our heart rebels at.
But Father, we can see in this that
you are reminding us of what the
real world is like.
That you are in fact God.
That you are in fact Lord.
That there is a justice.
There is a day when we will be
judged.
And there is a judgment.
And that our only hope is Christ.
And that people need to know
Christ.
They need to have him as their
Savior and their Lord.
And Father, that you have not
called us to hate people, but you
have called us, Father, to have
compassion.
And intercede.
And we ask, Father, that you would
make us a congregation.
Father, a congregation which shows
forth your holiness, your beauty,
your justice, your love, your
compassion, your mercy, your
kindness, and your intercession for
others.
And that you would help us to put to
death all self-righteousness and
instead make us people who are
gripped by what Christ has done for
us in the gospel.
And that that will be the basis by
which we see the world.
And that as your gospel becomes
more dear to our heart, that we
are shaped for compassion.
We are shaped for mercy.
And so, Father, we ask that you
would do this wonderful ongoing
work in our lives.
And we ask this in the name of
Jesus, your Son and our Savior, and
all God's people said, Amen.