John K. Jenkins Sr - Don't Look Back

Let me set the stage for you, and then we're going to tell the story and read through this 19th chapter of Genesis. In chapter 18 of Genesis, the previous chapter, God goes to Abraham. Y'all do know who Abraham is, the father of the faith? God told him he would be the father of a great nation; he started the Jewish nation. God says to him, "I'm going to destroy Sodom because their wickedness has come up before me." As a matter of fact, in chapter 18, it says this: the sin of Sodom was very grave . It was indeed a very grave sin, and God decided He was going to wipe out Sodom . He told Abraham, and the reason He told Abraham is that Abraham had a nephew and his family who were staying in Sodom. Have I confused you yet? Let me try a little harder. Abraham makes an appeal to God, saying, "If I can find 50 righteous people in Sodom , will you spare the city?" And God says, "Yes." He then asks, "How about if I can find 45?" God says, "Sure." He continues, "What about 30?" and goes all the way down to 10. "If I can find 10 righteous people, will you spare the city?" God says , "Yes." That 's the end of chapter 18. If you find 10, I'll spare the city.

When we pick up chapter 19, it starts off with two angels who have been sent to Sodom to destroy it. This tells us that between the end of chapter 18 and the beginning of chapter 19 , they couldn't find 10 righteous people. As we continue through these verses of chapter 19 , I'm telling the story. Whatever God speaks to you, write it down. Y'all got me? I'll give you my subject at the end. So, verse number one of chapter 19: now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. Let me stop right there ; I know that's a very important point. At the gate of every city is where business was conducted. It's where the politicians hung out, the smart people. It's where discussions were held, debates went on, and business was transacted . It was the normal hanging-out place for Lot, who was in the city at the gate of Sodom.

Verse 1: When Lot saw them , he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. He said in verse 2, "Here now, my lords, please turn into your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise early and go on your way." They said , "No, but we will spend the night in the open square." But he insisted strongly, so they turned into him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. Y'all with me so far? So these two angels came into the city ; Lot met them at the gate and invited them into his house. In fact, he strongly insisted that they not spend the night in the open city square but rather to come to his house.

Verse number 4: Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter surrounded the house. They called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally." I heard somebody say, "Break it down." Let me break that down for y'all. Two strange men who happen to be angels come into the city . The depravity and sin of Sodom was so bad that when they saw these two strangers coming into town, they decided they wanted them. Y'all know what I mean? I need to define that. What we need to understand is that sexual sin is never satisfied . If y'all all say "Amen" together, nobody will know that you know what I'm talking about. It always wants more. In this case, the depravity of these men, who were homosexuals , was such that they wanted these men in the house . As we will see later , God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin.

I'm extremely troubled that the politicians in our state and community are pushing hard for these changes. Thank you, 17 people. The bigger problem I have is that most Christians see nothing wrong with it . We think that people should be able to live how they want to live . Yes, people can live however they want to live , but we don't have to endorse it and present it as though it's an acceptable thing to do . Now, that's not what the gist of this message is about, but I just thought I'd throw it in for free, just to let y'all know that we are campaigning to speak to the politicians of our day that we don't agree with redefining what a family looks like by human efforts . For those of you who think it's okay , I encourage you to go get our series in the bookstore where we taught in Bible study, piece by piece.