Lot's City: Unbridled Sensuality

This is the first in a three-part sermon on Lot, the nephew of Abraham.

In order to understand Lot, we have to understand the city in which he came to live, Sodom. Sodom was a city that enjoyed great material abundance and much leisure, but Sodom was indifferent to the needs of those around her. In its luxury, its citizens were given over to unbridled sensuality which resulted in a universal embracing of homosexuality.

Because of the sin of our first parents, none of us is immune to the potential pull toward homosexuality. Yet this sad truth offers us hope, too, for "Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am chief" (1 Timothy 1:15). No sin is so bad that it cannot be washed clean by the blood of Jesus. No stronghold of a life-dominating, life-defining sin is too strong to resist the power of the Holy Spirit who gives us freedom in Jesus Christ.