Spurgeon on Homosexuality: “Brought Hell Out of Heaven on Sodom”
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Bible Study – Lot Delivered from Judgment
Lot has returned from trying to persuade his two married daughters and their husbands of the impending doom. They mocked him in the same fashion that the world mocks Christians today. Since they can not see the doom coming – it does not exist in their minds. Forever the fallback of the secularists – prove it!
The angels spend the night in Lot’s home, then awaken him at dawn.
15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
Apparently Lot was “lingering” (vs. 16) – something many people do when presented with the Gospel. They delay leaving their old, sinful life, because they, like Lot, fail to see the gravely perilous situation they are in. We also see that Lot is being delivered, as we are, because of the Lord’s mercy. Not for anything that Lot did – and not for anything that we do.
17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:19 Behold now, Thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified Thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
The map at right shows the approximate locations of the “cities of the plain.” Some scholars believe they were farther north, but the location is not germane to this study.
Lot – still the carnal believer – is terrified of being homeless. His weak flesh still has control over his actions. He feels that if he were too far from “civilization” he would not be able to live. He asks to be granted sanctuary in the “little” city of Zoar.
23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; 25 And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
Many archeologists have attempted to locate the remains of these cities. I find that rather ridiculous, because the Lord “overthrew those cities.” Working in my garden, I often turn the top layer of soil and its weeds completely over. When I go back a few weeks later, the weeds underneath are all dead. If that could happen in my garden in just two weeks – how could something the the Lord completely destroyed still remain after thousands of years? Most experts now agree – that Sodom and the “cities of the plain,” are now what is known as the Dead Sea. They were completely destroyed. The Lord “overthrew” them – even turning them upside down, as one dumps out a garbage pail!
26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
NO MAN, HAVING PUT HIS HAND TO THE PLOUGH, AND LOOKING BACK, IS FIT FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD. LUKE 9: 62
27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord:
28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt. Genesis 19: 15-29
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Leviticus 18: 22
ALL sexual behavior outside of the God ordained marriage between one man and one woman is sin – gay or straight, plural, animal, whatever – including all fornication and adultery among “straight” people. Christians – when you are intimate with someone- you are permanently joined to them. Only God can separate that. Sexual sin is sin against your own body – and sin against God.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith He, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is One Spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6: 15-18
The Lord Jesus Christ could not have been more clear on this subject –
Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Matthew 19: 4-6
If you are struggling with sexual sin – no matter if it is homosexuality, pornography, adultery, or fornication – it is the same sin of lust. Jesus can deliver you from this sin, no matter how heinous and unforgivable you feel. You may feel that you are beyond redemption. Jesus came and died to save sinners! If you are truly repentant, and truly want to be delivered – you can be delivered. Do you long to be pure? You can be – just like the thief on the cross next to Jesus. It’s not too late for you. . . repent now, and turn to Jesus Christ.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Psalm 51: 7-13
Bible Study – Two Angels Visit Lot
In our last devotional, Abraham has interceded for his nephew Lot, after the Lord has revealed to him the impending judgement of Sodom. We learned two things – that the Lord desires the faithful to know His plans, and that He is receptive to the prayers of His saints. As we enter this lesson – the Lord has left communing with Abraham, and the two angels that had accompanied Him continue on towards Sodom.
1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
Lot “sat in the gate.” meaning he had a position as a civic leader. Lot arises and bows with his face towards the ground in the Oriental custom. [far different from when Abraham prostrated himself to the ground at the appearance of the Lord]
2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, 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 ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.
Lot, the carnal believer, lives among these people and knows it is not safe for them to remain in the streets all night.
3 And he pressed upon 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.
They relent and enter Lot’s home and eat a meal with him. Yet another example of angels having the ability to take on the appearance and function of human flesh. These are not disembodied spirits!
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
Many so-called “gay Christians” try to claim that the issue here is hospitality, not homosexuality. This defies all logic. For what possible reason could a hundred or so men have to bang on the door of someone’s home at night? Here is Sodom and Gomorrah, just a few miles from Hebron, Abraham’s home, and Jerusalem, Melchizedek’s home – and the stench of evil is so great that it has reached unto God in heaven! (Gen. 18: 20-21) Only 400 years since the profligate wickedness of the entire world was destroyed by Noah’s flood!
6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, 7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 8 Behold now, I have two daughters which 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; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
Lot attempts to reason with these savages. Here is proof that the men of Sodom are wanting to violate Lot’s visitors, because Lot offers his two young daughters instead. I assure you that what is going on here has nothing whatsoever to do with the Oriental sense of hospitality.
9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, 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 came near to break the door.
The Sodomites tell Lot to get away from the door, and then deride him as being in no position to judge them, he being a newcomer. They proceed to threaten Lot with even worse things than they had planned for the two angels. With even more aggression, they almost break the door.
10 But the men put forth their hand, and pulled 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.
Through supernatural power, the Sodomites are blinded by the angels – yet Lot is able to leave and seek out his married daughters and their husbands in an attempt to deliver them from the impending doom.
12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. Genesis 19: 1-14
Recall that after Abram had rescued Lot, and the King of Sodom along with him, Abram declined to keep any of the booty he was entitled to as victor of the war. Abram refused to give the “devil an inch,” if you will. Please don’t underestimate the importance of this. From the beginning – God has been separating the wheat from the tares. In the story of Lot, living among the Sodomites, we see ourselves. We are living in a sinful, fallen world, that daily grows in degeneracy. As the evil grows, those that belong to Christ shall grow more and more uncomfortable living in “Sodom.” The Bible tells us that the immorality of the men of Sodom was a great affront to Lot’s sense of righteousness, as he was a believer in the One True God. The Word also says that for the same reason – our souls will be vexed – but that we will be delivered.
As we try to witness to family, friends, and people we just happen to meet, or we have a King like the King of Sodom, or our churches embrace abomination, and we read things like this – “A Christian Finds Acceptance of Homosexuality in the Bible,” and the whole world treats us with scorn as Lot’s sons – in – law did, we can take strength from the following passage, and know in our hearts that the Lord is yet separating the wheat from the tares until the cup of iniquity is full:
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
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:
2 Peter 2: 6-9
Bible Study – Abram and Lot Separate
And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. 2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he went on his journeys from the south even to Beth–el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth–el and Hai; 4 Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
We see Abram and his caravan returning to the Promised Land. Pharaoh sent Abram away with a great deal of riches, in the form of “sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.” Gen. 12:15 These gifts were given to Abram by Pharoah when he was entreating for Sarai. In the above passage, we read that Abram also came away with much gold and silver. Even in backsliding – God’s people are blessed.
Abram has “turned back,” and offered sacrifice. True repentance involves a turning, an identifiable change from the sinful path, back to the straight path. Without the “turning,” or repentance – there can be no fellowship with God.
5 And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. 6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. 7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. 8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be 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 depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.
Abram lays out to Lot, a choice, similar to the choices that every believer must make in their lives. Do we take the hard road, full of resistance and challenges? Or do we take the easy road that will give ease and comfort to our flesh?
Abram and Lot represent the two kinds of Christians. Lot – the Carnal believer, and Abram – the Spiritual believer.
10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. 11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. 12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. 13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.
Lot’s worldly vision – only has eyes for the well-watered plain of Jordan. In his eyes, it is even like the Garden of Eden, and the lush land of Egypt. In his covetousness – he blocks out the reality of the depraved moral condition of the men of Sodom. His desire has overruled his faith.
14 And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. 18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord. Genesis 13: 1-18
This is likely the view that Abram had of the Promised land. Not in any way like the lush, well-watered plain of Sodom that Lot chose. Abram remained in the rocky, stubble filled mountains.
Lot – the carnal believer chose the selfish way, the worldly way. He chose not to separate himself from evil and its influence, rather, he chose to live alongside it; in the same fashion that the post modern Christian does; thereby inviting disaster. Like Lot, when disaster comes, the carnal Christian will fail to see it as a warning from God.
The Vine Vigil 
