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"THE DAYS OF LOT"
GEN 18:20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
I. ABRAHAM'S INTERCESSION FOR THE CITY OF SODOM.
A. The premise of the intercession, it would not be right to punish or judge the righteous with the wicked. Abraham asked: "Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked?" He knew his nephew Lot lived in the city of Sodom.
B. The proposition, "What if there are 50 righteous in the city? It should be far from you to treat the righteous as the wicked. Should not the Judge of all of the earth do that which is right?"
1. The Lord responded that if 50 righteous could be found, the city would be spared for the sake of the 50 righteous.
2. Abraham began to bargain, how about 45, 40, 30, 20, do I hear 10? The Lord finally declared for 10 righteous men the city would be spared.
C. The arrival of the angels at the city of Sodom in the evening, Lot was sitting in the gate of the city and offered them lodging in his home. They declined the invitation at first, but Lot insisted, and prepared them a feast. But before they could bed down, the men of the city of Sodom had circled the house of Lot, young and old alike all of the men of the city. They demanded that Lot send the men out that they might rape them. Lot went out and tried to plead with the men to not engage in this wickedness, that these men were his guests. The men of the city began to turn against Lot for daring to challenge their chosen lifestyle, calling it wicked. And they approached the door to break it down. The angels drew Lot back into the house and blinded the men, so that they could not find the door. They told Lot that if there were any other of his family there to get them out, because they were going to destroy the city. Lot went to his son's-in-law and tried to warn them of the pending judgment, but
they scoffed at the idea of God bringing judgment, and would not listen. In the morning the angels sought to hurry Lot out of the city, they said, to flee for his life, for they could not do their job of judgment until he was safely removed.
II. JESUS IN TALKING OF SIGNS OF HIS COMING FOR THE CHURCH SAID,
LUK 17:24 For as the lightning, streaks across the sky from one end of heaven to the other, so shall it be when I come in that day.
LUK 17:25 But first I must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation.
LUK 17:26 As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be in the days when I come.
LUK 17:27 For they were eating and drinking, marrying wives, and divorcing them, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
LUK 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they ate, and drank they bought, and sold, planted and built;
LUK 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed [them] all.
LUK 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
A. Lets review the days of Lot. They were engaged in business as usual.
1. There was a general acceptance of the homosexual life style.
a. The Vermont Supreme court has ruled that homosexual couples are entitled to the same benefits as heterosexual couples.
b. Many of the major corporations are offering family benefits to same sex partners.
2. The New Jersey supreme court ruled that the Boy Scouts must accept homosexuals as scout leaders. The ruling declared that the Boy Scouts are a place of public accommodation, it cannot deny any person the advantages, facilities or privileges on the basis of sexual orientation.
a. The majority of the scout troops are sponsored by churches, does this mean that churches will also come under the law of discrimination?
b. Churches are also a place of public accommodation, does this mean that we would be forced to hire homosexuals on staff?
c. The irony of all of this is in the fact that as a church if we have a leader that we know has a history of molesting children, and we allow him to continue as an employee, should he molest one of the boys say on an outing, we would be open for a law suit. Talk about a catch 22.
2. In the days of Lot the homosexuals had come out of the closet, and had become aggressive in the pursuit of their life styles.
a. We see them openly in the streets trying to forcibly rape the angels who were guests of Lot.
b. They are unashamed of their sexual perversion, and were ready to aggressively attack Lot, for trying to stop them.
3. How many of you have heard of the Jesse Dirkhising case?
a. Here is what happened, in September Joshua Brown repeatedly raped this 13 year old boy while his gay lover Davis Carpenter Jr. watched. After brutalizing this young teenager for several hours Brown decided to take a lunch break, at which time he stuffed the boy's underwear in his mouth to gag him, he then sealed his mouth with duct tape. Later Carpenter noticed that Jesse was not breathing and called 911. When the police arrived they discovered that the young boy had been drugged and that he died of positional asphyxia.
b. Why has the media been so silent concerning this brutal murder? Had the boy been gay and the attackers heterosexual, you would still be seeing headlines as the news media followed this case, expressing their outrage. You would have heard Clinton calling for stiffer sentences for hate crimes, and how we as Americans cannot tolerate this kind of brutality.
c. Janet Reno would surely add her voice, and promise that the full powers of her office would be brought to bear to see that justice would be done and these men punished to the full extent of the law.
d. Had the murderers been two pastors, you would have been as familiar with the name of Jesse Dirkhising as you are with Matthew Shepard. The media pretends to be fair in it's reporting of the news, but the news blackout on this case is just another sign of their total hypocrisy.
4. I am as interested in the salvation of a homosexual as I am of anybody else. Jesus loves them and died for them. What I object to is their attempt to force me to accept their life style as anything other than sinful in the sight of God.
III. INTERESTING THINGS TO NOTE IN THE STORY OF LOT.
A. Peter in his epistle gives us a commentary on the story.
2PE 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast [them] down to hell, and delivered [them] into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
2PE 2:6 And turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes as He brought His judgment upon them for their sin, and made them an an example unto those that chose to live ungodly lives.
2PE 2:7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy life styles of the wicked:
2PE 2:8 For that righteous man was vexed day after day when he heard and saw their evil deeds and their wickedness.
2PE 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
B. As we look at the wickedness in our nation today, we realize that we have become as Sodom and Gomorrah, the time has again come for God's judgment to fall because of the wickedness.
a. Throughout the whole Bible God tells us of the great day of judgment and God's wrath that is coming on the earth.
b. The question has often been debated, as to whether or not the church will be here to face the wrath of God in His judgment of this sinful world.
c. The premise of Abraham still stands, "Would God destroy the the righteous with the wicked? Should not the judge of the earth be fair?" As long as there are righteous men on the earth the hand of God's judgment will be stayed, but the judgment must come, so God will one day very soon, remove the righteous out of the earth in an event known as the rapture of the church, then the wrath of God will be revealed from heaven against all the unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who have held the truth of God in unrighteousness.
d. I expect that the anti-christian sentiment will continue to grow here in the U.S. and possible persecution as men seek to silent our voices.
e. The media will seek to portray us as hate mongers, and we will be accused as being intolerant, but all of the laws of men cannot erase the laws of God. Sin is sin and the Bible warns us that the wicked will be turned into hell, and all nations that forget God.
f. Our ministry is not motivated by hate, but by love. If I hated them I would keep silent, and gloat over the fact that they are going to spend eternity in hell. It is the love of Christ that constrains me to warn them, even though they turn their wrath of me for doing so.
g. The day I cease warning men of the consequences of sin, I am no longer fit to stand in a pulpit.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
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