What was he seeing? Proud, arrogant people, who were full of prosperity, but only looking out for themselves, and didn't care for the poor. He saw the homosexuality as well - that was the outcome of the heart condition, and it was incredibly serious. The Bible is very clear, when it comes to the issue of homosexuality. There's nothing complicated about it. It violates God's order, and God's design.
Leviticus 18:22 – “Do not have sexual relationships with a man, as one does with a woman. That is an abomination (or detestable)”.
Detestable means idolatry, something really disgusting in God's eyes. He's talking about a man having a sexual relationship with another man “as he would lie with a woman”, and the word that is used to describe that, in the dictionary, is ‘sodomy’. The word sodomy refers to sexual intercourse - one man with another, anal intercourse. It also refers to various forms of sexual perversion. The name is given to that sin is identified with the City of Sodom.
I've counselled Christians, and I've found that it’s being practiced in marriages. So don't judge and look down on everyone else, get your own heart right. We need to have a heart that's right before God - and so Jesus reveals very clearly in His teaching, the issue of the conduct - that it's disgusting, and it's an abomination to God. However, He said, the real problem is the heart condition that produces it.
Matthew 11:20 – “He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they wouldn't repent”.
He talks about them - Tyre and Sidon…
Matthew 11:23-24 - “And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven in pride will be brought down into the deepest parts of hell, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. I tell you, it'll be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgement, than for you”.
A lot of Christians don't get that one… Capernaum was where Jesus was ministering, in Israel - a city of God's people. Jesus ministered there - preached the kingdom, did miracles, did amazing signs. But the problem was religious pride, and judgementalism, and unbelief. They rejected Jesus. They rejected His supernatural. They rejected the one God sent, and they did it because of pride. It says: “you're exalted to heaven”, and that's the very thing that the devil did. He said: there is a pride, and an iniquity in your hearts; so, when the gospel was preached, and the miracles were done, you still wouldn't change.
He's talking about His people again, He says: when it comes to the day of judgement, and I have the whole City of Sodom in front of me, with all its homosexuals - I'll go easier on them, than on you! It will be more tolerable for them, in the day of judgement, than for you; because, if the works I did in your city, and the teaching I gave there… if they had received that, they would have all turned. The city would still be going.
There are insights into how God judges. God judges according to the amount of light you have. He's simply saying - if you've been given so much, then more is expected.
The City of Sodom is given as a sign, that God will judge sin - and will deal with it suddenly, when people are not looking. The sin of that city was the same as the sin of the people of God - it was the sin of pride, of haughtiness, of self-centredness, of lack of care for the poor; and He said: that's the same city! That's why I called you ‘sisters’; you are same family, the same kind of DNA – and it's not a kingdom DNA. It's a DNA of the power of darkness; and of course, they had some homosexuality. It was rife, right through the city; but He said: if that's all you can see, then you're not seeing that the real issue is the same thing you've got.
It's pride in the heart, that leads to these sins of the flesh, and indulgence in all those kinds of things. When people are very poor, all they've got to focus on is surviving; but when people have got a lot, they start to do all sorts of other things.