sin

Saying you live in Sodom would be about like saying you named your kid Judas. Sodom is known most by its immorality. There has been considerable discussion about the nature of the sin which caused Sodom to be destroyed. But do we know anything about the city itself? Have there been any artifacts from this city? 

Where Is Sodom in the Bible? 

The city of Sodom is primarily found in the Book of Genesis, particularly chapters 18 and 19. It is often paired with Gomorrah, as both were destroyed as an act of God’s judgment. In Genesis 18, God reveals to Abraham his plan to focus upon the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham attempts to negotiate with God—asking if it can be preserved if even a handful of godly people are present. God agrees, but the problem is that no righteous individuals are found there. Genesis 19 is an explanation in story form of their wickedness. As that chapter closes, we read this: 

The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

Sodom continues to appear throughout the Bible but not as a standing city. Instead, it is mentioned only as a reference point for Israel. Israel’s wickedness is often compared to that of Sodom—invoking a memory of God’s judgment upon that place. Jesus even mentions it to highlight the wickedness of Capernaum. Jesus says, “If the miracles I did for you had been done in wicked Sodom, it would still be here today.” 

Sodom, then, is known for its wickedness throughout the Bible. But what do we know of the city itself?

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The reality of sin and why Good Friday is good news.

We intellectually know God hates sin but loves us, but sometimes, we water down God’s hatred of sin or let that hatred bleed into what we assume he thinks of us.

Satan is the accuser (Rev. 12:10), and something that he constantly puts us on the stand for is being a human in a fallen world. We are taught to feel guilty for so many things that, quite frankly, come with the territory of being a limited being in a broken world.

We live in temporal bodies that are constantly breaking down. We live in a world that is full of toxins and fumes. And even if that weren’t true, we still wouldn’t be perfect.

And the good news is that God isn’t surprised by any of it! This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do everything we can to overcome sin. But it does mean that we shouldn’t feel guilty for things that aren’t sins but are the result of merely being human.

This is such a relief. We don’t have to be embarrassed by things out of our control, and we certainly don’t have to be embarrassed by the way God made us. We can draw near to him instead.

Here are 5 things God is not surprised by:

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Avoiding sin today (Ephesians 4:27) to avoid God’s judgment one day (2 Corinthians 5:10) is the best way to live today (cf. John 10:10). Doing what God will reward in heaven builds with “gold, silver, precious stones” on earth; refusing what he will condemn in the next life is refusing “wood, hay, straw” in this life (1 Corinthians 3:12).

If you knew you had only today to use the temporal for the eternal, what would you change? I cannot promise you that this is your last day on this planet, but I cannot promise you that it is not.

Here’s the problem: “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). As a result, “truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter” (v. 14).

One of the reasons why men and women struggle with lust or anger is because they feed those emotions continually throughout the day. It’s difficult to avoid illicit sex and outbursts of anger while continually watching media programs that promote them.

As a matter of fact, many cases of sexual violence can be traced directly back to pornography. What we embrace eventually embraces us. "The more we follow that which is good, the faster and the further we shall flee from that which is evil" (Matthew Henry).

Like many who mourned pastor Tim Keller's passing, I never met him in person. Also, like many others, he served as a mentor from afar. I could talk for days about the ministry insights I learned from him, but those are not the most important. Through his sermons, books, articles, and interviews, I gleaned an approach to following Jesus and engaging the people around me with the Gospel.

While this list could be much longer, these are the three most important lessons about following Jesus from Dr. Tim Keller.

As we noted yesterday, God’s judgment against our sins is certain. But sins also bring their own consequences. The “just penalty” for them “always pursues” those who commit them.

Infidelity destroys marriages; pornography damages the brains of those who consume it. When we eat “forbidden fruit,” its inherent poison sickens us. You can mark it down as an inexorable law of the universe: sin “always pursues the transgression of the unrighteous.”

According to Scripture, “secret” sins do not exist: “God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). The psalmist said of God, “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence” (Psalm 90:8).

Dwight Moody was right: Character is what you are in the dark.