The Destruction of Sodom
Text: Genesis 19:1-29
Core Idea: In Sodom, we see sin’s corruption, in Lot, we see God’s compassion, and in Abraham, we see the power of intercession. God still judges evil, but He also remembers mercy. Then, let’s respond today with repentance, gratitude, and renewed intercession – trusting that the God who saved Lot is still saving now.
INTRODUCTION
Well, we’re back in the Book of Genesis – tracing how God’s plan of salvation began. And three weeks ago, we saw God letting Abraham in on His plan to destroy Sodom to reveal that He’s both just and compassionate – that He will punish evil but also hear the cries of the oppressed. When Abraham heard this, he was deeply troubled: “What about my nephew Lot? Will God destroy the righteous with the wicked?” So, he pleaded with God in Genesis 18:23-25 by saying, “Will You sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Far be it from You to do such a thing! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” And to his amazement, God said He would spare the city for just ten righteous people. And that is where we left off. Now, as we turn to Genesis 19, the story takes a dark and sobering turn. What we’re about to read is not a comfortable passage – it’s unsettling and even painful. Yet through it all, we see both the seriousness of sin and the steadfastness of God’s mercy. Then, with that in mind, please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 19:1-29 – and let me read this for us.
1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” 3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom – both young and old – surrounded the house. 5 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.” 6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” 9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. 10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door. 12 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, 13 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.” 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. 15 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.” 16 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. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “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!” 18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! 19 Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it – it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.” 21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.) 23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah – from the LORD out of the heavens. 25 Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities – and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace. 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.
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
Let me share three things from this passage:
· THE SIN OF SODOM
· THE COMPASSION OF THE LORD
· THE REASON FOR HOPE
1) THE SIN OF SODOM
Verse 1 tells us that the two angels arrived at Sodom while Lot was sitting at the gateway of the city. Now, the city gate was where leaders gathered to make decisions – which suggests that Lot most likely had become a respected figure within Sodom. He was no longer a visitor passing through – he was one of them. And because of that, Lot knew exactly how wicked the city was. So, when the angels arrived, he insisted they stay with him rather than spend the night in the open square. In fact, the Hebrew wording implies that Lot dragged them to his house away from danger. For a moment, everything seemed fine. But then, verse 4 says, “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 wasn’t the action of a few bad individuals – it was the spirit of the entire city. Wickedness wasn’t the exception – it was the norm. Now, because they demanded to have sex with the two men, the traditional understanding has been that the greatest sin that led to Sodom’s destruction was homosexuality. Jude 7 says, “Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” Yet other parts of the Bible give us an even wider lens. For example, God says in Ezekiel 16:49-50, “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before Me.” All that to say, Sodom’s downfall was not caused by a single sin, but by a city that had become morally bankrupt, socially unjust, sexually perverted, and spiritually rebellious. Pride replaced humility, greed replaced compassion, lust replaced love, and rebellion replaced reverence. Sodom didn’t just reject what was right – it rejected God Himself.
Now, let me pause here for a moment. As much as I don’t want to single out the sin of homosexuality unfairly, I also don’t want to minimize it. The Bible is clear that homosexual practice, like every form of sexual immorality, is sin because it goes against God’s good and perfect design for human sexuality. Romans 1:26-27, “Women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” And if that wasn’t clear enough, Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” I don’t have a whole lot of time to unpack this today – maybe I’ll do that another time in the future. But these verses remind us that homosexuality, like all sin, belongs to the old life apart from Christ – a life that He redeems us from through the cross. Some have tried to argue that Sodom’s judgment was not about sexual sin but merely about violence or inhospitality. But Scripture is clear: all sexual behavior outside of God’s design (one man and one woman in covenant marriage) is contrary to His will. This includes adultery (sex outside of marriage), fornication (sex before marriage), pornography, lust, and every distortion of what God created to be holy. Now, the reason I emphasize homosexuality is not because it’s the worst of sins, but because it’s one that our culture no longer recognizes as sin at all. The moral compass of society has shifted. What God calls sin, the world calls identity. What God defines as rebellion, the world celebrates as freedom. But our standard shouldn’t move with culture – it must stand firm in the Word of God. At the same time, we must speak the truth with compassion, not condemnation. The goal is not to shame anyone, but to invite everyone back to God’s design and grace, for none of us stands innocent before a holy God. We’re all broken – all in need of His mercy. But in Jesus, there’s hope and a new life. Now, we’ll move on from this for now, because the main point of Genesis 19 is not about one specific sin, but about an entire city that turned its back on God. Still, if any of you want to talk more or wrestle with these truths, I’d be glad to listen to you. So, come and talk to me after.
Back to the story. Can you imagine the terror of this moment as an angry mob surrounded the house – shouting demands and pounding on the door? But Lot boldly stepped outside and pleaded by saying, “Friends, don’t do this wicked thing.” For a moment, he looked courageous – a spark of righteousness in a dark place. But then he said in verse 8: “Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them.” How could any father even say such words? Now, in that culture, hospitality was sacred in that hosts were expected to protect their guests at any cost. But even then, what Lot did was morally twisted and deeply wrong. What this shows is just how compromised Lot had become. He had lived in Sodom so long that its values had seeped into his soul – and his moral compass, once pointed toward God, was now shattered. So, instead of crying out to the Lord, he tried to solve the crisis on his own – and he failed. That is what sin does. It dulls our sense of right and wrong. It distorts our judgment. It desensitizes the heart. What once shocked you now feels normal. What once grieved you now amuses you. Lot thought he could live near sin without being affected by it – but he was wrong since sin is never neutral. Pastor Adrian Rogers said, “Sin thrills, then it kills. It fascinates, then it assassinates. It will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” Friends, we live in a culture much like Sodom – one that celebrates sin, mocks holiness, and calls evil good and good evil. What once made us blush now makes us laugh. What once broke our hearts now entertains us. But before we point fingers, we need to examine our own hearts: How far have we drifted? Have we begun to call “normal” what God calls “wicked”? Have we started to tolerate what we once would have resisted?” Brothers and sisters, no one drifts into godliness. You don’t become more like Christ just by attending church, praying before meals, or watching Christian content online. Spiritual growth requires intentional surrender. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me.” That means daily dying to comfort, daily resisting compromise, and daily anchoring your life in truth. The truth is that we’re weaker than we think, and the pull of the world is stronger than we realize. Unless we actively resist, sin will draw our hearts away from Christ. Brothers and sisters, don’t let that happen to you. Don’t flirt with sin. Don’t let culture redefine what God has already made clear. Guard your eyes, your thoughts, your speech, your habits. Parents, don’t assume your children will drift toward godliness – the current of this world is too strong. So, be vigilant – all of you. Cling to Christ. Anchor yourself in His Word, for the only way to stand firm in this stormy world is to hold fast to the unshakable truth of God.
2) THE COMPASSION OF THE LORD
This was a horrifying moment: the men of Sodom were pounding on the door – ready to break it down. But just as chaos was about to erupt, the angels intervened. Verse 10 says they reached out, pulled Lot back, shut the door, and struck the men with blindness. Then, they turned to Lot and said in verse 12, “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.” This is such a powerful moment because it reveals something about the heart of God: His desire is not only to judge sin but to save sinners. The angels could’ve just said, “Lot, take your family and run!” But instead, they invited him to bring others along. Even in the shadow of judgment, there was still an open door of mercy – in that God was still giving people a chance to turn back. So, Lot rushed out to warn his sons-in-law. But verse 14 said, “His sons-in-law thought he was joking.” They laughed. They didn’t take him seriously. Why? Maybe they thought the message itself was ridiculous – “Judgment? Really? God is going to destroy this city? We’ve lived here our whole lives, and nothing like that has ever happened.” But maybe their reaction says more about Lot than about them. Maybe they thought, “Lot, where is this coming from? You’ve never talked about God before.” Or worse, “You? Talking about judgment? You live just like us.” His words carried no weight because his life lacked integrity. His witness had been compromised. And that’s a sobering truth for us. When believers live no differently from the world, our message loses its power. You can’t warn others about a fire if you’re still sitting beside the flames. You can’t call people out of darkness if you’re still comfortable in the shadows. If we want our families, children, and co-workers to take our faith seriously, our lives must reflect the truth of the gospel. Then, let me ask you: Would your life draw people to Christ or push them away? If you were to share the gospel today, would others listen because they’ve seen something genuine in you? Or would they laugh because your life looks no different? Our holiness matters – not just because it pleases God and brings joy to our hearts, but because it makes Christ beautiful to a watching world.
Now, time was running out – which is why the angels said in verse 15, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” But then verse 16 gives us one of the most shocking lines in this whole story: “He hesitated.” Why? Why would Lot hesitate when judgment was moments away? Maybe he thought about the house he built, the possessions he accumulated, and the memories he made. Maybe he thought about his reputation – the life he had worked so hard to establish in Sodom. This scene reminded me of the ending of The Lord of the Rings. After all his trials, Frodo finally stood at the edge of Mount Doom, holding the Ring – the very thing that nearly destroyed him. He knew what he had to do, for he came all this way for this very moment. But when he looked at the Ring, he couldn’t let it go. Instead, he whispered, “The Ring is mine.” And rather than casting it into the fire, he clung to it – until Gollum, in his obsession, took it from his hand and fell into the flames. This scene captures the human heart so perfectly because that’s what sin does. It doesn’t just shape our behavior – it reshapes our desires. It whispers to us, “Keep me. You need me. You’ll be empty without me.” It blinds us to its danger and convinces us we can’t live without it. And unless God’s mercy intervenes, we will cling to the very thing that’s destroying us.
Verse 16, “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.” Lot didn’t save himself – God saved him. The angels didn’t wait for him to act – they grabbed his hand, pulled him out, and led him to safety. Isn’t this what God has done for us as well? When we lingered in sin, when we hesitated to leave our old life behind, God took hold of us. He didn’t stand at a distance – waiting for us to find our way out. He reached for us, and He pulled us out when we could not save ourselves. Ephesians 2:3-5 says, “All of us lived at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.” Then, 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!” Doesn’t that sound a lot like repentance? To repent literally means to turn around – to leave sin and run toward God. It’s to say, “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back.” Then, in essence, God was saying to Lot, “Don’t stop halfway. Don’t look back. Don’t cling to what I’ve called you to leave. There’s nothing for you there.” You can’t follow Christ while facing Sodom. You can’t walk in freedom while holding onto your chains. And yet, Lot still hesitated. In verse 18, he tried to negotiate: “Can I just stay in this small town instead of fleeing to the mountains?” Even after being rescued, he tried to manage grace on his own terms. Honestly, if I were God, I might have said, “Are you serious, Lot? After all that I’ve done for you? Stop complaining and just obey!” But that’s not how God responded. Instead, He allowed it. He patiently met with Lot where he was. Isn’t that true for us, too? How often do we linger when God says, “Flee”? How often do we offer Him partial obedience instead of full surrender? How often do we say, “God, I’ll follow You – but can I just keep this one thing?” And yet, He still leads us out, still covers us with mercy, and still holds us by the hand.
Now, not everyone responded to God’s mercy the same way. Verse 26, “Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” She didn’t look back out of curiosity but longing. Her feet had left Sodom, but her heart never did. Now, we’re not told exactly why she turned into a pillar of salt – but all scholars agree that this image serves as a warning to us all. In fact, Jesus Himself said in Luke 17:32-33, “Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.” In other words, it’s all or nothing. Half-hearted obedience is disobedience. The truth is that you can sit in church every Sunday, sing the songs, and even nod through the sermon – but if your heart still belongs to the world, you’re in danger of becoming like Lot’s wife. You might look like you’re following Jesus, but your heart still longs for Sodom. Then, let me ask you: What’s your “Sodom”? What are you tempted to look back to? Is it comfort? A habit you don’t want to surrender? A relationship you know isn’t honoring to God? A secret sin you’re still trying to manage instead of repent of? Friend, hear this clearly: Jesus doesn’t just save us from the fire – He saves us for joy. He doesn’t just pull us out of judgment – He sets us free to live with purpose. Then, don’t linger in compromise. The safest place to be is not in comfort, but in obedience. So, come to Him today. Let His mercy take hold of you – and don’t look back.
3) THE REASON FOR HOPE
Verse 24 tells us that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by raining down burning sulfur on the cities. Judgment came just as He promised. Now, at this point, someone might ask, “Then what was the point of Abraham’s prayer? Did he pray for nothing?” In fact, I wonder if that’s exactly how Abraham felt when he woke up and looked toward Sodom. Verse 28, “He saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.” From his view, it must have looked like total devastation. Remember, Abraham didn’t yet know that Lot had been saved. All he could see was destruction – the very city he had pleaded for was reduced to ashes. So, you can imagine the heaviness in his heart. Isn’t that how intercession often feels? We pray for our children, our friends, our church, our city – and sometimes it seems like nothing changes. We plead with tears, but the situation looks just as dark. The ministry of intercession is often agonizing because we don’t always see how or when God will respond. But verse 29 tells us something important: “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.” Even though Abraham couldn’t see it, God had answered his prayer. Notice it doesn’t say, “God saved Lot because of Lot’s righteousness” or even “because of His mercy.” It says, “God remembered Abraham.” Now, this doesn’t mean that God had forgotten and suddenly recalled his name. No, it means God acted on His covenant promise. He was faithful to what He had said. The basis of Lot’s rescue wasn’t Lot’s worthiness – it was Abraham’s prayer. His intercession didn’t save the whole city, but it did save a soul. Lot was spared because someone stood in the gap for him.
And that’s what we need to remember when we feel like giving up – when we think, “There’s no hope for this person, this situation, or this city.” God hears the prayers of the righteous, and He will act on behalf of those who intercede. Lot never cried out for mercy. He didn’t even realize how close he was to destruction. But he was saved because Abraham prayed for him. That’s what intercession is: standing in the gap for those who can’t or won’t cry out for themselves. It’s appealing to the mercy of God on behalf of those who don’t yet see their need for Him – and the same God who remembered Abraham still remembers His people today. Now, you may not see the results right away. You might feel like your prayers are not being heard. But this passage reminds us that our prayers are never wasted – our labor is not in vain. God hears. God remembers. And in His perfect time, He will move. This is the reason why we can hope, even when the situation seems hopeless. The truth is that none of us is here by accident. Every believer in this room is here because someone prayed for you. Maybe it was a parent who wept for you. Maybe a friend who refused to give up. Maybe a grandparent who is now with the Lord, but whose prayers are still bearing fruit. I can say for myself that I’m here because my mom earnestly prayed for me. And I’m sure many of you could say the same. But if you can’t think of anyone specific who prayed for you, take comfort in Romans 8:34, which says, “Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Friends, Jesus Himself is praying for you. He’s the greater Abraham – the true Intercessor who stands before the Father, pleading for us. And because of Him, we can have hope. All that to say, if you’ve been rescued through the prayers of others and the intercession of Christ, extend that same ministry to those around you. Pray for the lost. Pray for the hurting. Pray for those who don’t yet know the Lord – because who knows? Your prayers might be the reason someone is rescued tomorrow. It’s said that George Müller prayed for the salvation of five friends. The first came to Christ after five years, the second after ten, the third after twenty-five, the fourth near the end of Müller’s life, and the fifth after Müller’s death. So, let me ask you: Who is God calling you to intercede for today? Don’t underestimate what God can do through your prayers. You may not see it now, but God is always working behind the scenes.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, in Sodom, we see sin’s corruption, in Lot, we see God’s compassion, and in Abraham, we see the power of intercession. God still judges evil, but He also remembers mercy. The question is, “Will we run toward His grace or look back toward our old life?” Let’s respond today with repentance, gratitude, and renewed intercession – trusting that the God who saved Lot is still saving now.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) What stands out to you most about Sodom’s sin? In what ways do you see our modern culture reflecting Sodom’s condition – calling “evil good and good evil”? How can we tell when we’ve begun to grow desensitized to sin? What are some warning signs of a drifting heart?
2) Verse 16 says, “When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand.” What does that teach us about the nature of grace and salvation? Why do you think Lot hesitated even when judgment was near? What parallels do you see between Lot’s hesitation and our own struggles to obey fully?
3) Abraham didn’t see the results of his prayer right away – how does that mirror our own experiences in intercession? Who has God placed on your heart to intercede for – someone who doesn’t yet know Christ, or a believer who’s wandered?