The Story of God: Enough is Enough

“Enough is enough!” You ever heard yourself say that? Every felt that way? Ever lost patience with someone because of their defiant, foolish or sinful behavior?   Of course you have… And if you have, then you might have some idea of what we are going to discover today as we look at God’s judgment upon the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.   That’s where we find ourselves in the story of God in Genesis 19, where God came to the place where He said, “Enough is Enough” and then rained down judgment the most evil people who ever lived.

How did God come to the place where He said, “Enough is Enough?” Last week, we saw how God visited Abraham and told him: “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” After the Lord shared this, we then witnessed as Abraham made a passionate plea to spare the city for the sake of at least 10 people who were righteous. Here now is where we pick up the story, with the investigation of the outcry:

The Decadence of the People: 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. “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.” 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. 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.”

Like Abraham, the first thing Lot does is offer hospitality to these men.  He does not want these men to stay in the streets. Lot feared for the men’s safety and convinced them to accept his offer. His hospitality was not so much to refresh his guests but to provide them protection for the evils of the city. However, it doesn’t take long for the evil of the city to come to them. In fact, the narrator tells us that all the men from every part of the city of Sodom came and surrounded the house.

This scene reveals the decadence of Sodom. These men wanted to abuse Lot’s guests for their own detestable purposes. The contrast with Abraham’s encounter with these men is clear.   Abraham welcomed and served them so as to send them away refreshed. The men of Sodom wanted to use and abuse these men for their own sinful desires and then discard them as trash.

So what happens next? Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.  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.”

Lot tries to get on their good side. He calls them friends, the Hebrew word is actually the word for brothers. He appeals to their kinship because he knows that if they have their way, his guests will die. At this time, however, he doesn’t know the true identity of his guests. Next, he plays the moral card: “Don’t do this wicked thing.” And then out of desperation or out of fear for his own life, he offers his daughters in their place.

But the men of Sodom are defiant. They have no respect for Lot, his morals or his God. “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.

At this point, the defiance and wickedness of these men was enough for Lot’s guests. Enough was enough! They were convinced by Lot’s actions, as misguided as they might be, that he was worth saving. They were also convinced by the actions of the men of Sodom that they needed to put an end to their evil. So we read verses 10-11, But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.  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. Genesis 19:10-11

With this encounter you would think that their evil intent to abuse these men would be more than sufficient to pass judgment on Sodom. But homosexual gang rape was not the only indictment against Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember, the outcry was so great against them and the sin so grievous. Was this their only sin? Not by a long shot. In fact, Sodom and Gomorrah serve as the poster child for sin in Scripture. So what were the sins of Sodom? Well, there were many. Ezekiel describes some of them:

‘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.’ Ezekiel 16:49-50 Arrogance… Gluttony… Apathy! Their apathy bore fruit in a lack of compassion for the poor and needy. In essence, they were epitome of selfishness. They refused to protect the vulnerable. They refused to lift a finger to care for orphans and widows. Not only that but they did what was detestable in the eyes of God.

Now if this indictment wasn’t bad enough, Jeremiah adds to the list: And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that not one of them turns from their wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.” Jeremiah 23:14  Adultery… Deception… In league with the Wicked. These were the reasons for the outcry against them. They were totally corrupt and detestable in God’s eyes. They cared for no one but themselves. Enough was enough. Their decadence was about to become their undoing.

And so we have the Decision of the Angels: 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, 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. 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. The decision has been made. The men of Sodom showed no mercy. Now they would get no mercy. But before God destroys Sodom, the angels give Lot one last chance to save anyone else connected with him. So Lot goes to his betrothed sons-in-law and pleads with them to leave Sodom. How do they respond? They refuse to take Lot seriously. They think he is joking.

This is a sad commentary on Lot’s son-in-laws. But it’s also a sad commentary on Lot. Somehow, Lot had no moral clout with them. Long ago he had compromised his moral influence. How? He never lived by faith under the blessing of God like his uncle Abraham. Instead, he chose to pursue the prosperous life Sodom offered. The way he lived wasn’t all that different than the people around him. He may not have been as sinful as the men who came to his door that night. But his the sons-in-law saw nothing in his life to take him seriously.  Could the same be true in our culture today? Are we so much like everyone else in our culture that they might refuse to take us seriously?

But let’s be fair to Lot. His would be sons-in-law were also apart of this godless culture. No one in Sodom took God seriously. Like then, we live in a time where few people take God seriously. Sure, they’re okay with a God who is good, kind and loving. They are even okay with a God who is merciful. But if a merciful God exists, then there has to be room for divine justice. If there is no evil or no sin… there’s no need for mercy.

“Talk to me about a loving God, not a judging God.” “Talk to me about a God who would never hurt anyone.” “But tell me about a God who would send people to hell… you’ve got to be joking! Don’t talk to me about a judgment day. I can’t believe in a God like that. I won’t believe in a God like that!” THIS IS THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE: We live in a day when people scoff at the idea of a Holy God who looks at evil and says, “Enough is Enough.”

Lot’s sons-in-law thought he was joking. But God’s Word does not joke about the coming day of judgment. Listen to how Peter describes our day from 2 Peter 3. He writes: Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?…  

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

There is a day coming when God will say, “Enough is Enough” and He will judge everything and everyone. He has the last word – whether we take His Word serious or not. But until that day, there is hope. For God is merciful…

In fact that’s what we see next with the Deliverance of Lot: 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.” 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.

The Lord was merciful to Lot and his family.   God was merciful to Lot even when he hesitated. Here’s where we get to see the gospel in this passage. Lot’s hesitation tells us a lot about Lot. First, it tells us that he suffered with the same complacency that characterized the inhabitants of Sodom. There’s no urgency in respect to the coming judgment. “Surely I have time. What’s the hurry?” Second, it tells us that he was reluctant to leave his life behind. This is why he chose to live in Sodom in the first place. He’d made a nice life for himself there. To go with the angels meant leaving everything he’d centered his life around…. And this last picture of his hesitation… well, it reveals something else about Lot. And that is he struggled with trusting God’s messengers… He felt more secure in a city full of wicked people, then risk going outside the city with these two angels.

So what did the men do? “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.” This is a great picture of God’s mercy. He could have said to Lot, “That’s it! You love this wicked city more than me… You love your life more than me… You refuse to trust me to rescue you? You can stay and if you want.   But God didn’t say or do that.

Instead, God saved Lot even though Lot wasn’t sure he needed saving! And isn’t that a lot like so many people today? It’s truly amazing the grip this world can have on us.  In fact, many people today are no different than Lot. You’ve heard them say: “I’ve got time, what’s the rush.” “Someday I will trust in Jesus. But not now.” Or maybe you’ve met someone who is reluctant to come to God because he or she thinks that following God means giving up the life you’ve carved out for yourself. So you have a hard time letting go and trusting God with the life He offers.

But look at what God does here with Lot. God saw fit to redeem a guy that had little if no redeeming value. Why? Because God is merciful… So take heart. We all have people like Lot in our lives. Maybe, you’re like Lot. SO HERE’S THE GOOD NEWS: If you’ve ever been reluctant about trusting in Christ – if you’ve struggled with the grip this world has on you; take heart. Because if God wants to rescue you, rest assured, He will never let you go until He brings you safely home to Him. He did this for Lot and his family and he’ll do it for you…

And that’s what we see now in verse 17, Lot and his family are rescued:  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!” But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! 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. 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.” He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.)

With Lot out of harms way judgment begins with The Destruction of Evil: By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.  Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

“Enough is Enough.” And with swift and thorough justice God destroyed all the wicked people of both Sodom and Gomorrah. No one was left. No living thing was left. And to this day, the plains of Sodom and Gomorrah cannot sustain life. The ruins of these cities sit silently reminding all that there’s a limit to God’s patience for mankind’s sinfulness.  These ruins sit silently warning us that there is still a day coming when God will judge the earth saying, “Enough is Enough!”

But what shall we do till then?  How do we respond to God’s Word today?

1. Take God Seriously: We have a Holy God who hates sin and the evil that destroys lives. A day is coming when He will say, “Enough is Enough.” But until that day comes we have the opportunity to be the messengers of mercy to a world in danger of judgment!

So let us keep ourselves pure, let us not grow complacent, let us hold the things of this world loosely, and Let us be the hands that lead others to safety with God.

2.  Don’t Hesitate:  If you think you have time, don’t be so sure.  God’s Word tells us that God will return at anytime.  In fact, we don’t know the day or the time.  But He will come to judge.  If you’ve been reluctant to put your trust in Him.  Remember, that God’s Word says that today is the day of salvation.  He wants to forgive you and secure your future with Him.  Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Enough is Enough.  Please don’t let those words be your legacy.