GENESIS: BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING

Transcription

1 GENESIS: BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING Sodom and Gomorrah: Predicting the Unpredictable Dr. Leon L. Sanders

2 GOD TO DESTROY SODOM GENESIS 18:16-19:29 God tells Abraham He will destroy Sodom Object lesson for Abraham to teach his descendants Live for God and live Live for self and die Sin of Sodom is great and has consumed the valley If unchecked it will consume the entire land God will give the people one last opportunity to repent

3 ABRAHAM INTERCEDES FOR THE RIGHTEOUS Abraham thinks God will destroy the righteous with the wicked; so, he bargains with God to spare the valley if ten righteous people found The events of the Flood are still fresh in the collective memory: Sin and God destroys everyone Same legalistic thinking as we discovered in our study of Job Forgotten is the mercy of God in sparing Noah and his family Remember the Wheat and Tares, display of God s mercy (Mt 13:24-30)

4 HOW CAN GOD ALLOW EVIL IN THE WORLD? Fallacy #1: God is responsible for evil God is not responsible for evil (Ja 1:13-15) God does use evil to produce good (Ro 8:28) This ignores the fact that man is sin; thus, is evil (Ro 1:18-31) Fallacy #2: A loving God would not allow evil Loving God made the world and man, without evil (Ge 1:31) Satan and man desire(d) to be evil (Ge 3:4-6) This requires that man not have a will which would make God responsible for evil (See Fallacy #1)

5 HOW CAN GOD ALLOW EVIL IN THE WORLD? Fallacy #3: God limits man s freedom which promotes evil Man is either a slave to evil or a slave to Christ (Ro 6:15-18) Freedom is rejection of God s knowledge of right and wrong (Ro 1:18-20) in order to revel in the flesh (Jude 6-8) God gives privileges and responsibilities, not freedom (Ge 1:26-30) Fallacy #4: Loving God would not punish evil Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pr 1:1-7) Correction warns the sinner to repent (Pr 3:11-12; 3:11-12; 15:10; 23:13-14)

6 HOW CAN GOD ALLOW EVIL IN THE WORLD? To demonstrate: His unchanging righteousness His love in warning man of his sin, and its consequences Man s total lack of control Over events Over others Over himself Man s absolute need of a Savior to Overcome the world Overcome one s own flesh

7 JUMP NOW TO SODOM The two angels arrive in Sodom Lot sees the strangers at the gate and invites them to his house Men of Sodom see the visitors and invite them to a party Lot seeks to protect the strangers by sacrificing his daughters (Where did he learn this behavior?) Strangers have to protect Lot, striking the men with blindness

8 JUMP NOW TO SODOM Lot warns his sons-in-law of impending doom offering them safe haven by fleeing with him; they reject his offer Lot reluctant to leave Sodom and dragged out by the angels Lot begs to flee to Zoar rather than to the mountains as ordered Lot s wife drawn back to Sodom and dies in the conflagration Lot ends up in a cave with two incestuous daughters

9 WHY WAS LOT INEFFECTIVE? Lot was righteous (2Pe 2:7-8) Distressed by people s sensual conduct Tormented his righteous soul over their deeds and words Lot could not convince anyone to leave with him and lost his wife also while his two daughters could only conceive of the basest of plans to obtain their ends: sons Was Lot, the first missionary, wrong to live there?

10 WHY WAS LOT INEFFECTIVE? Lot is nothing more than a picture of each of us in this world We are called to be in this world but not of this world (1Co 5:9-10) We are not to be yoked with unbelievers; yet, Lot sat in their gate participating in their government based on his world view (2Co 6:14) The world will reject us as we live in God s Word but Christ prays for our imputed righteous souls (Jo 17:14-16) We are tormented by the evil deeds of this world, daily, and seemingly as ineffective as Lot in winning souls; thus, how can I condemn him without condemning myself first? (Mt 7:3-5)