(Christian Living Sermon) Hillside 10/96
Filename: Election Issues (4)

THE SIN OF SODOM

INTRODUCTION--- No one in this audience needs to be told that homosexuality has definitely come "out of the closet." So-called gays and lesbians have organized pressure groups, one of which is called, appropriately, "ACT UP." Their agenda is bold. They want to be the privileged class, and they pressure the electorate to give them special recognition, and special rights. Many politicians have catered to them, and work to favor them in legislation. The promiscuity that characterizes their lives has, however, brought on them the epidemic of A.I.D.S., and threatens also those who do not follow their life-style.

LESSON--

1. The disgusting characteristics of homosexual practice are evident in the story of Lot.
   
   1. After Lot separated from Abraham, he "pitched his tent toward Sodom." Genesis 13:7-13 "And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle:..... 8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren. 9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left. 10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the Plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as thou goest unto Zoar. 11 So Lot chose him all the Plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. 12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Jehovah exceedingly."
      
      1. If the men of Sodom were "sinners" there must have been a law against their perversions in the Patriarchal dispensation.
         
      2. The choice of Lot was selfish, and not founded on trust in God.
         
   2. The specifics of the sin of Sodom are found in Genesis 19:1-11 "And the two angels came to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth; 2 and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. 3 And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; 5 and they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men that came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 6 And Lot went out unto them to the door, and shut the door after him. 7 And he said, I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly. 8 Behold now, I have two daughters that have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing, forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof. 9 And they said, Stand back. And they said, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door. 10 But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door."
      
2. The sin of Sodom was so great that God destroyed it, and other cities of the plain.
   
   1. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was so deserving and so thorough that it is mentioned as an example in other connections 18 times in the Old Testament, and 8 times in the New.
      
   2. The Prophets of the Old Testament used it to bring indictments against Israel.
      
      1. Isaiah 3:8-9 "For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have done evil unto themselves."
         
      2. Jeremiah 23:14 "In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies; and they strengthen the hands of evil doers, so that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah."
         
3. The righteous kings of Israel used their power to rid the land of Sodomites.
   
   1. During the weak reign of Rehoboam, King of Judah, the Sodomites filled the land. 1 Kings 14:24 "And there were also sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which Jehovah drove out before the children of Israel."
      
   2. Asa, the Grandson of Rehoboam was the first reformer king to rid the land of the Sodomites. 1 Kings 15:12 "And he put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made."
      
   3. Others later did the same thing.
      
      1. 1 Kings 22:46 "And the remnant of the sodomites, that remained in the days of his father Asa, he put away out of the land."
         
      2. 2 Kings 23:7 "And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of Jehovah, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah."
         
         
4. Both the Old and New Testaments show the condemnation of God on the perversions of homosexuality.
   
   1. Old Testament laws against it carried severe physical punishment.
      
      1. Leviticus 18:22 "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."
         
      2. Leviticus 20:13 "And if a man lie with mankind, as with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."
         
      3. Deuteronomy 23:17 "There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel."
         
   2. The New Testament condemns it as a sin which brings spiritual death, and leaves the punishment of it to eternity.
      
      1. Romans 1:24-27 "Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves: 25 for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due." (See also Vs. 32)
         
      2. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 "Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
         
      3. 1 Timothy 1:10 "....law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for abusers of themselves with men, for menstealers, for liars, for false swearers, and if there be any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine;"
         
      4. 2 Peter 2:6 "(God)....turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly;"
         
      5. Jude 7 "....Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire."

CONCLUSION-- The opposition to the bold and brazen "Gay and Lesbian Movement" seems weak and timid, for some reason. To those who oppose this disgusting life-style, the advocates of it charge them with have an intolerant spirit. But, in light of the clear teaching of the Bible, politicians and rulers that favor the homosexual community are not deserving of our support and vote.