When God’s Patience Runs Out – Part 2

Hi, I'm Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to serve as your Bible teacher every day on this great radio station.

On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Look now at verse 24. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. What does the story of God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah have to say to us today? I think this passage is always relevant, but it's especially relevant for us in our country right now. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress.

You know, people today often argue that the Bible is outdated, but Scripture teaches that God's truth is always relevant, no matter what the current culture says or how unpopular the truth may be. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress presents a timeless lesson about God's judgment from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Do you ever watch the news and wonder, how long will God allow all of these things to continue to happen? When you see the open rebellion against God, the brazen displays of depravity, it makes you wonder when He's going to stop all this nonsense. Well, in our study today, I want to show you a biblical story in the book of Genesis, chapters 18 and 19. In this section of Scripture, we'll discover what happens when sin runs its ugly course, because at some point, God's patience does indeed run out.

Tragically, this colorful moment in history has been repeated many times over with the same results. And of course, it's a warning for all of us. We dare not play games with God's patience. Well, gratefully, God has provided a clear and rational means for receiving His grace and mercy. And in my new book, Walking by Faith, I address this comforting subject and more.

This is one of the last times I'll mention this special offer. So today, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'm going to send you a copy of Walking by Faith. It's the one I wrote for you while preparing my sermon series. Both my teaching series and my book are brand new, and you won't find these resources anywhere other than right here at Pathway to Victory.

Now, we'll give you more details right after my message today. But right now, I'd like you to turn to Genesis chapter 18. Let's pick up the message I started on Monday's program called, When God's Patience Runs Out.

If you have your Bibles, turn to Genesis chapter 18, as we discover what happens when God's patience runs out. Look at verse 20. The Lord said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. So the two angels go down to Sodom to judge the city. Now, look at their encounter with the residents of Sodom, beginning with verse 1 of chapter 19. Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.

What does that mean? The gate is where people came for justice. This is telling us that by this time, Lot had become a judge in the city. And so these visitors come to Lot, and when Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.

Perhaps he sensed there was something different about these visitors. And he offers them a place to stay. Come and stay, spend the night at our house. They say, oh no, we don't want to trouble you.

We'll just stay outside, sleep on the streets. And Lot said, not in this city you won't. And so they acquiesce, and they stay with Lot and his family. Now look at this, verse 4. Before they lay down that night, the men of the city of Sodom, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. And they called to Lot and said to him, where are those men who came to you tonight? Bring them out so that we might rape them, so that we might sexually assault them. So perverse had the city of Sodom become that when the residents of Sodom saw two new faces, fresh faces, their first thought was, let's sexually assault these people.

It was unbelievable. Now, I said earlier, homosexuality isn't the only sin that God condemns and judges. But make no mistake about it, even though there were other sins, this is the sin that brought God's ultimate judgment. The Bible clearly teaches in both the Old and New Testaments that homosexuality is an abomination to God. Have you ever heard people say, well, Jesus didn't say anything about homosexuality.

Of course he did. In Matthew 19, he said, here is God's plan for sex. A man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife. God made them male and female and the two shall become one flesh. He said, here's God's standard and it's for your good.

I thought up sex, here's the way it operates. It's best used between a man and a woman in the security of a marriage relationship. And by saying, here is God's standard, Jesus is saying any deviation from that standard is wrong.

This is the perfect standard. Jesus never talked about bestiality either, but he didn't have to. It's a deviation from God's standard. He never mentioned pedophilia. He didn't have to. It's a deviation from God's standard.

It's a man and a woman in a marriage relationship. That's how he designed sex. By the way, the clearest denunciation in the New Testament is found in Romans 1 verses 26 to 27. Now, some of you listening aren't going to like this, but this is the word of the Lord if you believe all scripture is inspired. Listen to verse 26 of Romans 1. For this reason God gave them, who? People who have rejected the truth of God. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions, for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural.

Underline that. And in the same way also men abandoned their natural function with the woman and burned in their desire toward one another. Men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. What are those due penalties that people who practice homosexuality receive? Some people think it's talking about a physical penalty, certain kinds of illnesses. And perhaps that's what Paul says. There are physical consequences. But I think he may have something else in mind here as well. There are not only physical consequences, there are spiritual consequences as well.

Listen to this. Paul is saying that homosexuality is not only the cause of God's judgment. In some cases it is the result of God's judgment. Look at verse 24 of Romans 1. Therefore God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. God gave them over because they rejected the knowledge of the true God. Part of their judgment was God let them go. He let them follow their own desires that resulted in this degradation.

Now I'm going to keep saying this for everybody listening. Homosexuality is a grave sin just as adultery and unbiblical divorce and greed and injustice. All sin is sin. And there is no sin, including homosexuality, that is beyond the forgiveness of God. Every sin can be forgiven. But before you can receive God's forgiveness, you have to admit that you need God's forgiveness. Can homosexuals be forgiven? Can adulterers be forgiven? Of course they can. But to receive God's forgiveness, they first have to admit that what they're doing is wrong and that they need God's forgiveness.

Anybody can be forgiven for anything. What happened here? Lot, horrified that they want to assault these two visitors, offers them an alternative.

And this just blows my mind. Lot says don't rape these two men. Instead, I have two daughters. Take them and rape them if you would like to. But just don't rape these men. Can you imagine any father doing that with his daughters?

That shows you how perverse Lot had become after living in a perverse city for so long that immorality had definitely rubbed off on him. You know what they said? They said we don't want your daughters. We want these two men. And in fact, we want you too.

We want to rape you as well. At this point, the angels have had enough. Verse 11, they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

Talk about being touched by an angel. They got the wrong kind of touch from the angel. But that wasn't the limit of God's destruction. They delivered this warning to Lot. Look at verse 12 and 13. The two men said to Lot, whom else have you here? A son-in-law and your sons and your daughters and whomever else you have in this city, bring them out of the place, for we are about to destroy this place because of their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.

The angels announced what they were about to do. How did Lot's family respond? They scoffed at the idea. They laughed at the idea of God's judgment. That's the way unbelievers today respond.

And what happened here is very, very descriptive. Verse 16 says that when Lot heard that, he hesitated. When he heard Sodom was going to be destroyed, he hesitated in fleeing Sodom and he made a deal, or tried to, where the angels said, angels, I'll get out of Sodom, but can't I live close by, just in a neighboring town? I still have a taste for Sodom in my life. I still am tantalized by the sin here. Can't I stay just close to sin without actually being in sin? He's like so many Christians today.

They claim they want a new life in Jesus Christ, but there's some private sin in their life, some habit, some addiction, some relationship. Lord, surely you don't mind this little thing in my heart that I hang onto myself. It gives me such happiness. And Lord, you want me to be happy, don't you?

No. No, that's the sign of a fleshly, a carnal believer. And so, even though he hesitated, verse 16 says, the angels seized his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was upon him, and they brought him out and put him outside of the city. Look now at verse 24. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. This is the first mention of fire in the Bible, and it's related to God's judgment.

Fire and brimstone. And he overthrew those cities and all the valleys and all the inhabitants of the cities what grew on the ground. You know, a lot of people speculate how this city, all five of them were destroyed. Some people speculate there may have been a volcanic eruption. Or perhaps an earthquake that released certain hydrocarbons into the air, and lightning came at the right time and caused a combustion, and an explosion, and fire and brimstone rained down. There's some archeological evidence from that area that that actually happened. But Moses really doesn't tell us to have it happening, but he tells us who. This was not nature, mother nature. This was God himself pouring down his promised judgment.

Look at verse 27. Now Abraham rose early in the morning and went 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 saw and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. He could see the smoke still rising to the air. When I read that passage, I think about what happened in our country on 9-11. Remembering how just an hour's time those planes struck the World Trade Center, the tallest buildings in the world, and reduced them to rabble in an hour's time. It was a sudden destruction of that city, New York City.

Weeks after that, just a matter of weeks after that happened, our family was on a plane landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York. It was at nighttime, and we could look out the window and see giant searchlights where the World Trade Center had been, and that huge hole in the ground, and we could still see the smoke and debris, the dust rising into the air. That's what the end times are going to be like, by the way. Revelation 18, we read about the destruction of the great center of commerce in the world, the city that will be known as Babylon, and in an hour that city is completely destroyed and the people of the world lament, fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great. What does the story of God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah have to say to us today? I think this passage is always relevant, but it's especially relevant for us in our country right now. Let me close today with three timeless principles from this story. First, one is about sin's influence.

Write this down. Bad company corrupts good morals. Bad company corrupts good morals. Make no mistake about it, Lot was a believer. The Bible refers to him consistently as that righteous man Lot. He was a believer, but he was an immature believer. He was a fleshly believer.

Because he was immature as a believer, he was easily influenced by others. You see him pulled into sin over a period of time. In Genesis 13 we see him living on the outskirts of the city of Sodom. When we get to verse 14, he's now living in the city of Sodom. By the time we get to chapter 19, we find him as a judge in the city of Sodom. He gets more and more involved in Sodom. You know, Psalm 1 says, Blessed, happier those, who do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, who do not stand in the path of sinners, who do not sit in the seat of the scoffer, and yet Lot did all three.

And he became more like the Sodomites instead of the Sodomites becoming more like righteous Lot. You know, Chuck Swindoll has a great illustration of this. He says, imagine it's raining cats and dogs outside, and you decide still to go work in your flower bed, and you put on white gloves to work in the mud. What happens to those white gloves? Real simple, they become muddy. Every time they will become muddy, but never in a thousand years will the mud become bloody. Oh, the mud impacts the glove.

The glove doesn't impact the mud. It's the same with people today, and ungodly people. You hang around an immoral person long enough, and guess what, you begin to think and act immorally.

Hang around an angry person, Proverbs says you'll become more angry. Hang around somebody who scoffs and mocks at the things of God, and you'll become a mocker and a scoffer. 1 Corinthians 15, 33, bad company corrupts good morals. And that leads to a second truth about a Christian's responsibility. God does want us to impact our culture, and this principle is this. Believers are to act as preservatives in a corrupt world. One reason God left us here on earth is to push back against evil. Not that we're going to ultimately win.

This world is ultimately going to implode. God's going to judge it. The Lord's going to return. But we are to be a preserving influence to push back against evil so that people have longer to hear the gospel. 2 Thessalonians 2 says there is a restrainer of evil in the world today.

Who is that restrainer? He's the Holy Spirit of God. And where is the Holy Spirit of God? He's in the lives of believers. The Holy Spirit through your life and my life acts as a preservative in a corrupt world to give the world longer to hear the gospel. And that's why it's so important that Christians take public stands against sin.

We take public stands against abortion, against injustice, against immorality of every kind. Not that we're going to save the world by doing that, but hopefully we can give the world a little longer to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and be transformed inwardly. The third truth here, and this is so important, has to do with God's patience. God eventually says enough. God's patience eventually runs out.

You know, there is a fascinating verse to me in Ecclesiastes 8.11. Solomon said, because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed immediately, the sons of men are fully to give that which is evil. In other words, what Solomon is saying is because people don't get struck down immediately when they sin, people make the mistake of confusing God's tolerance with God's mercy. God is long suffering, but there's a time when God says enough. Don't make the mistake of confusing God's mercy, God's patience, with God's tolerance for sin. Just because consequences don't come immediately doesn't mean they won't come ultimately.

We need to hear this as a nation, first of all. You know, when God was talking to Israel, he used the example of Sodom for them to consider. Listen to Ezekiel 16, 49 through 50. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. That's interesting, isn't it? She didn't help the poor and the needy. Thus, they were haughty and committed abominations before me.

Therefore, I removed them when I saw it. Isn't that a great description of America today? Arrogant, prideful. We've got the greatest military in the world. We've got the greatest economy in the world.

We can do whatever we want to. America's number one arrogance. We don't realize that in a moment, in an instance, God's judgment can come. Just because it hasn't come for 250 years, the history of our country doesn't mean it's not coming.

Don't confuse God's mercy with God's tolerance for sin. America is going to collapse one day. I don't care what any political party tells you. It is going to collapse. I'm going to preach a sermon later this year on why America is not in Bible prophecy.

You want to hear the short version of the sermon? Because we're not going to be there in the final seven years. We're not going to exist. That doesn't mean we just give up.

We ought to push back. We ought to pray for revival. But America is going to collapse. I don't know how the collapse is going to come. It may come from an external invasion from Russia or China. It may be a terrorist attack.

It could be a rot from the inside. It could be a pandemic. It could be a financial catastrophe.

It could be just a complete breakdown of our government. But it is coming. Like Ruth Graham, the wife of the late evangelist Billy Graham said, if God doesn't judge America, He's going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. What applies to nations apply to our lives as well. Don't confuse God's mercy in your life with God's tolerance for sin. Don't think because you haven't experienced severe consequences yet, you won't experience them at all. If you're living in rebellion against God right now, if you've not asked for His forgiveness, there's only one reason you haven't experienced those consequences. God's giving you another chance, perhaps the last chance, to receive His forgiveness. God said to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 33, 11, as I live, says the Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but I desire that the wicked turn from His wickedness and live.

Turn, turn from your wickedness, for why will you die? It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what sins you have committed. No sin is beyond the forgiveness of God. And that's what the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ are all about. It brings me tremendous joy to realize that right at this moment, a man or a woman I've never met before is placing their trust in Jesus Christ for the very first time.

Congratulations. Today you have become a member of God's forever family. In the time remaining, I'd like to thank all of those of you who have given generously to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. In many respects, you have made it possible for these spiritual moments to occur. I'm thinking of a recent note I received from Cindy in Alabama who wrote, Pastor Jeffress, I was saved as a young girl, but strayed for years. I renewed my faith four years ago.

I read your books and watch your TV program every single day. Your messages help me so much, and I want my friends and family to have the same peace and assurance that only comes from faith in Christ. Thank you for helping me understand how to share my faith with others. Cindy, your words really encourage me. This is what Pathway to Victory is all about.

Men and women who are truly walking with God are ambassadors for Christ. And so when you give generously to Pathway to Victory, you can be sure that your gift has a positive ripple effect, reaching families far beyond your own hometown. And so if it's been a while since you've given to Pathway to Victory, or maybe your pattern of giving has been thrown off during the summer months, please take this occasion to reach out. Your gifts truly make a difference. Plus, I'm prepared to send you a thank you gift to your home. It's a copy of my brand new book on the life of Abraham called Walking by Faith. Now here's David with all the details.

Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You're invited to request a copy of the brand new book from Dr. Jeffress called Walking by Faith, When You Give a Generous Gift to Pathway to Victory. Here's our toll-free phone number, 866-999-2965, or visit online at ptv.org. And when you give an especially generous gift of $75 or more, we'll also include the complete Walking by Faith teaching series on audio and video discs.

Plus, we'll send along the companion study guide. But time is running out to take advantage of this offer, so get in touch right away. Call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. You could also send your request by mail. Here's the address. P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. One more time, that's P.O.

Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Next time, we'll look at one of the most defining moments in Abraham's life, when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son. Join us for the message, Our Greatest Test. That's coming up Wednesday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.