Living for the Flesh | Genesis 19:1-14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Postmodernism was a reaction to modernism.  Where modernism was about objectivity, postmodernism was about subjectivity.  Where modernism sought a singular truth, postmodernism sought the multiplicity of truth.” 

--Miguel Syjuco

 

“What is my truth can not be your truth”

--Sharmila Tagore (70’s Bollywood star)

 

“There are no rules when it comes to love. I just try to let love surprise me because you never know who you’re going to fall in love with. When I picture the person I want to end up with, I don’t think about what their career is, or what they look like. I picture the feeling I get when I’m with them.”

--Taylor Swift

 

“I don’t know if people know this yet but I do whatever I want.”

--Bad Bunny

 

“And the one who is instructed in the word is to share in all good things with the one who instructs him.  Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.  And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”

--Galatians 6:6-9

 

God has made it clear in his Holy Word that He does not want humanity to partake in the sins of their flesh. 

 

1. Lot accepted life in Sodom; he was a civic leader, fully enveloped in Sodom’s Culture.

 

“Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had lofty pride, abundant food, and quiet ease, but she did not strengthen the hand of the afflicted and needy.  Then they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. So I removed them when I saw it.”

--Ezekiel 16:49-50

 

There was a steady progression of compromise in Lot’s life. He went from looking toward Sodom (Genesis 13:10), to pitching his tent toward Sodom (Genesis 13:12), to living in Sodom and losing everything when Sodom was attacked (Genesis 14:12). Now, back at the infamous city, Lot sat in the gate of Sodom, indicating he was a civic leader.

–Enduring Word

 

“Then the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them and rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.”

--Genesis 19:1

 

In ancient cities (even New Testament Greek Cities) the judgements for crime were passed down at the city gates.  Typically, townhalls (or what we would call a townhall) would be located at the gates of the city meaning if Lot was at the city gate he would have been a sort of civic leader in Sodom which is why he is at the town hall or place of trial. 

 

Lot is takes residence in Sodom, he works in Sodom and has become a part of Sodom yet he recognizes the wickedness and unrepentance in Sodom.

 

 

“…and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who go after the flesh in its corrupt lust and despise authority.”

--2 Peter 2:6-10

 

“And he (LOT) said, ‘Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.’ They said however, ‘No, but we shall spend the night in the square.’  Yet he pressed them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.’”

-Genesis 19:2-3

 

2. The People of Sodom lived for their flesh. They worshiped their sinful desires.

 

“Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from young to old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them.’  But Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.”

--Genesis 19:4-7

 

Look at what is happening here, young to old, men from every quarter, a mob of people surrounded Lot’s house demanded to have intimate relations with these two men.  The depravity in Sodom is generation.  The celebration of sin, the worship of the flesh, of the self is generational in Sodom—this city is so lost that young and old are participating in this sexually immoral sin. 

 

This word in Hebrew, yada, means “to know.”  It is considered an idiom or a typical phrase in Hebrew that refers to “full knowledge of a person—both inside and out.”   It is more than an acquaintance.  How do we know it is refer to knowing someone sexually?  The same word is used in Genesis 4:1, “Now the man knew His wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain.”  Looking at the context of Genesis 19—in verse 8 Lot says “Now behold, I have two daughters who have not known (yada) a man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them what is good in your eyes; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

 

“The Bible condemns homosexual conduct in the same context as it condemns incest and bestiality (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13). If people decide that pleasure is the true goal of sex and therefore the measure of its morality, then there is no standing to say that incest or bestiality are sin. Then, the standard for sexual morality becomes ‘if it feels good, then do it.’”

--Enduring Word Commentary

 

 

The world, new age, false religions, all teach us that life is centred around us, around our selves, our preferences, our feelings, our emotions.  Our truth is driven by our experience and our modern culture is governed but the compass of “self.”  Sodom, was governed by the compass of “Self” and this is the fruit that came out of a post modern society which sought their own truths instead of THE TRUTH. 

 

God, His word, teaches us to deny our flesh, to bow and worship Him—who is THE TRUTH.

 

“For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries…  Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy by the mouth of two or three witnesses. For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’  It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

--Hebrews 10:26-28, 30-31

 

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay each one according to his deeds.”

--Matthew 16:24-27

 

“Now behold, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please let me bring them out to you and do to them what is good in your eyes; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.” But they said, ‘Step aside.’ Furthermore, they said, ‘This one came to sojourn, and already he is persistently acting like a judge; now we will treat you more wickedly than them.’ So they pressed hard against Lot and stepped up to break the door.”

--Genesis 19:8-9

 

 

3. God saves His people; God will judge those who choose fleshly desires over Him.

 

“But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, from small to great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.  Then the two men said to Lot, ‘Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and everyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place because their outcry has become great before Yahweh, so Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.’”

--Genesis 19:10-13

 

“Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.  For you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.  Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.  On account of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.”

--Colossians 3:1-7

 

“Commit your works to Yahweh And your plans will be established. Yahweh has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil. Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to Yahweh; Assuredly, he will not be unpunished.”

--Proverbs 16:3-5

 

“Only the death of sin leads to a life of freedom”

 – Sinclair Ferguson

 

“I have given God countless reasons not to love me.  None of them has been strong enough to change him.”

–Paul Washer