GOD DESTROYS SODOM AND GOMORRAH

Genesis19:1-38, Key Verse: 29

Part I: The People of Sodom (1-11)

1. Read verses 1-3. How did Lot show hospitality to the 2 angels? 

2. Read verses 4-11. How did the people of Sodom treat Lot and his guests? What can you learn here about Lot's relationship with the people of the city?

Part II: Do Not Look Back (12-38)

3. Read verses 12-22. What did God's servants decide to do about Sodom? How did Lot respond to the angles' warning and urgent push to leave? Why did he finally go? Where did he want to go? Why?

4. Read verses 23-29. What happened to Lot's wife? To Sodom and Gomorrah?

5. Read verses 30-38. What was the problem of Lot's daughters? What was the tragic fruit of this family? What can you learn from contrasting of the faith and lives of Abraham and Lot?

GOD DESTROYS SODOM AND GOMORRAH

Genesis 19:1-38, Key Verse: 29

“So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.”

Sometimes in the course of life and the day to day struggle, we give up our hope and prayer for challenging bible students who are like Lot. When we pray for North America to become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, we may doubt that our prayer will contribute much and we want to give up. We may doubt that the Lord even hears our prayers. But the Lord does not drop any of our prayers for our bible students, family members, campus students, our society and all nations without fail. It is because the Lord is pleased with intercessory prayer. Today we study Genesis chapter 19 with the title, “God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah.” This chapter shows God’s righteousness who judged the sinful city of Sodom and Gomorrah. May God have mercy on us and help us to pray for the salvation of our bible students and our neighbors who are living just like Lot.

Part I: The People of Sodom (1-11) 

Look at verses 1-2. The two angels arrived in Sodom in the evening. They met Lot, who was sitting in the gateway of the city. Modern cities and towns don’t have gates but just signs that say, “Welcome to Glen Ellyn.” The gate of an ancient city was a meeting place like city hall where important officials met to do business. Apparently, Lot held an important political position in Sodom. Perhaps he was a city councilman or even served a term as mayor. 

When Lot saw the angels, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground and invited them to his home to spend the night. When they went with him, Lot prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast. Abraham killed a tender calf for them, but Lot prepared for them a simple supper of unleavened bread. And no one in his family helped him. Where were his wife and his two daughters while he was entertaining the guests? Perhaps they were out doing their own thing. They did not respect him that much. 

Look at verses 4-5. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” This is perversion, city-wide. At first, only few men were like this. But when the city did not fight against homosexuality, soon, all townspeople, young and old, fell victim to this sin. Now they formed a huge community among themselves, and did it openly. As soon as they heard about these two men with angelic faces that took lodging in Lot’s house, the news spread so quickly like a duck on a June bug.

Then all men from every part of the city of Sodom - both young and old - surrounded the house and demanded Lot to turn the strangers over to them because they wanted to sexually abuse them. I am sure that this case is not an isolated case but this was their way of life. It is too scary to think about and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Whenever travelers came to this town, the townspeople treated them in the same way. When people were molested and mistreated like this, they cried out in anger, sorrow, frustration, and bitterness, and that cry had reached to God in heaven. 

It is really amazing that Lot who was called a righteous man in the Bible, wanted to live in the city like this. 2 Peter 2:7-8 says that Lot, as he lived among them day after day, was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men. He was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. Lot could not call 9-1-1 to get the Sodom and Gomorrah Police Department because the whole unit including their sheriff was at the door trying to break in. He cannot call his congressman to complain of this sinful act because his congressman would say, “Sinful act?! What are you talking about! For your information, this is what you call an alternative lifestyle!” 

Lot could not even call the local priest because he would probably say, “Well, Brother Lot, you have to accept everybody, God is love.” He should not have lived there, or left that area a long time ago. But he still stayed there. Why? This passage gives us some clue to understand his mindset. First, he said to them, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.” With friends like this, who needs enemies? He knew that what they were doing was wicked. But he never tried to correct them. Instead, he wanted to get along with them, calling them “my friends,” and occupying a high political position. Even he had his two daughters pledged to marry two Sodomites. He wanted to establish his life firmly in Sodom. The singer Tony Bennett once wrote a song called, “I left my heart in San Francisco.” Lot would write the original version called, “I left my heart in Sodom-Gomorrah.”

Second, he offered them his two virgin daughters instead of the two angels. His desire to protect the two angels was praiseworthy, but his method was unthinkable. As he had lived in Sodom, he was so influenced by the Sodomites’ lifestyles and way of thinking that now he was doing the same thing the Sodomites would do. Originally, he just wanted to enjoy the city life like that of the Egyptians, so he chose to live in Sodom. But as he lived there, he was influenced by the Sodomites continually, that now he was becoming like the people of Sodom. Lot’s offer was not appealing to the Sodomites. They angrily said to Lot, “We’ll treat you worse than them,” and kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. Bang! Bang! Bang!

Part II: “Do Not Look Back” (12-38)

Look at verses 12-13. “The two men said to Lot, ‘Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it." The angels rescued Lot, and struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness so that they could not find the door. Like when Clark Kent turns into Superman, the angels revealed their true identity and told Lot to get all who belonged to him out of the city. 

Find them, call them, text them, post to their Facebook page, but get all of your people out of the city now! What was Lot’s response? Look at verse 14. “So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, ‘Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.” First, he told his sons-in-law about this, but they thought he was joking. Second, he himself hesitated to leave the city. 

Look at verses 15 through 16. “With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.’ When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.” Even though the angels waited, Lot hesitated to leave until the coming of dawn. The angels told him, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” It was urgent. But still, Lot hesitated to leave the city. 

Why did Lot hesitate to leave the city? It was because he simply could not give up all his political positions, his businesses, his stocks, the jokes he told about crazy drivers on the Sodom-Gomorrah express way, the huge amount of money in his savings account, and the opportunities he had in Sodom to have fun and experience constant new things. He was not able to decide between heaven and hell. 

Probably, he was packing as much as he could carry, but still, it was not enough. Simply, he could not leave. His life, his hope and future had been embedded in the city of Sodom firmly that simply, he could not pull them up and leave. So finally, the angels grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city. Literally, they dragged them out of the city because the Lord was merciful to them. 

The angel said to them in verse 17, “Flee for your lives. Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” Lot and his two daughters obeyed this direction, and escaped from God’s judgment successfully. But verse 26 says that Lot’s wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt. Today in the region of the Dead Sea, there are salt formations that look like a woman carrying a basket on her head. Geologists call these “Lot’s wife.” 

When I went to Israel last January, the tour guide mentioned that the remains of Sodom and Gomorrah are now located on bottom of the Dead Sea. When I went swimming in the Dead Sea, the concentration of salt is so high, that I could float with no effort and not a single plant or fish could live in the area. I think that the failure of Lot’s wife is a great warning to all those who want to escape from the coming wrath of God. As we live as the believers of Christ Jesus, we should not look back on what we have left – our old sinful way of life- just looking back at it and yearning for it can destroy our spirituality. 

Let us move the discussion up for a moment from Lot’s time to today’s time. Sexual immorality is prevailing in our campuses and our society, and this moral corruption naturally leads to sexual perversion. The homosexual people are legalizing their lifestyle, and try to educate the students from elementary school to college, that this is just an alternative lifestyle. They not only do this sinful thing themselves, but also promote it in the society, so as to make the entire society like Sodom and Gomorrah. Surely, we should not put our hope in this world as Lot did. We should not try to settle in this world with homes and securities. Our home is in heaven. 

The destruction is coming moment by moment. We must flee for our lives. Don’t look back as Lot’s wife did, or you might be killed. Instead, we must become holy people who obey God fully and keep his covenant. We must be a kingdom of priests by teaching the word of God to many lost and suffering people in the world. We must live our life as Bible teachers all the days of our life. Today, we must flee from the coming destruction by making our heart’s decision to be Bible teachers and a kingdom of priests and holy nation. “Flee for your lives. Do not look back! Do not stop in the middle.”

Let’s read today’s key verse 29 all together. “So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.” In chapter 18, Abraham pleaded for Sodom so earnestly; he lowered the required number of the righteous to ten; he never mentioned about Lot’s name in his prayer. But God knew why Abraham was praying so earnestly, and even though there were not ten righteous people in Sodom, God rescued Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the city where Lot had lived. By Lot’s own faith and righteousness, he could not be saved from God’s judgment. But because of Abraham’s prayer, he was saved. James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” 

As far as Lot’s daughters are concerned, the passage went on to tell how they became card carrying Sodomites. In order to solve their marriage problem after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, they committed incest with their father and gave birth to sons, bad seeds, who later became enemies of God's people - the Moabites and the Ammonites. What a tragic life Lot had! He never would have imagined life in Sodom would end this way! If he had any idea of the end result of his compromising life, I’m sure he would never have taken that path.

But Abraham held onto God’s promise, and stayed in the place where God called him to be even at great cost. He had the joy of spiritual growth, and eventually, grew to be God’s friend. He became a source of blessing for many people. But Lot wanted to enjoy the city life, and material possession. Out of this desire, he compromised, and decided to enjoy both God and good things of the world. But eventually, he lost everything. He lost his material possession; he lost his city life, instead, he came to live in a cave like an animal; he lost his wife; he lost God’s blessing, and he lost even his two daughters; he produced enemies of God for generations to come. 

Jesus says, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35) Lot lost everything, but Abraham gained everything. Abraham and Lot, they are the two metaphors that reveal to all Christians how we must live our lives as believers. If Lot were an unbeliever, we could easily say that the end of the unbelievers’ life is so terrible like this. But when we realize that Lot was called a righteous man, we are really alarmed! The believers’ life can be as bad as that of Lot if they compromise! 

Modern day, Lot’s lifestyle is absolutely prevailing. When a Christian boy lives like Lot – saying that he believes in God, and pursuing the things of this world, he is praised in the believers’ society. But if a Christian boy takes Abraham’s way of life, giving up his life in the world, cutting off human ties, and living for God’s purpose alone as a Bible teacher, other Christians and even family members persecute him and do everything to stop him. 

Conclusion: Today we know that the absolute majority of believers in our society take the way of Lot, and their life is full of blame. It is no wonder that more than 85% of believers’ families have been broken. They produce really bad fruit in their life like Lot, too shameful even to talk about. Let’s pray that we may follow Abraham’s footsteps of faith so that we can grow up according to God’s plan and we may be used as a source of blessing for many. May Jesus Christ have mercy on us and bless us to live not like Lot but like Abraham in this sinful and compromising generation!