4) Brazen homosexuality was widespread everywhere. It was just out in the open - it was brazen; no one tried to hide it, no one was ashamed of it.
5) Aggressive sexual violence. The city was lawless. There's no restraint, people just did what they wanted, and sexual violence was frequent.
Look what's going on in our nation right now - it's a very big problem! Notice that the sexual perversion was intergenerational, “young and old came”, so it was affecting the younger generation. The older generation have failed to preserve the young, and by their lifestyle, they've now given permission to the young to then get involved in these things.
6) Finally, there was a widespread resistance, and reaction to, truth.
He's saying: listen, it's in our culture, that if someone comes into my home, I've got to look out for them, and protect them - so please, please stay away. Don't come here. This is wicked to do this.
They said: oh, you come and live among us… and you're judging us now. They accused him of being ‘judgemental’. They accused him of being ‘intolerant’, and then they said: we're going to deal to you!
It's a terrible thing - they were resistant to truth. They reacted, and they accused him, when he spoke out honestly. They accused him of being judgemental and intolerant. The Bible is very clear that if we practice sin... I'm not talking about a life where you're struggling with issues, and you're working hard to try and overcome them, and you have occasional drops back, and you're in a journey of growing - that's normal. That's just what everyone walks through, and God provides grace to cover all of that. We're talking about those who practice sin - in other words, they stop resisting it. They just tolerate it in their life.
The Bible describes 10 different categories of sin that will exclude us from the kingdom. Here they are…
1 Corinthians 6:9 – “Don't you know the unrighteous (those who are not living right or practicing sin), shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived: neither fornicators (people involved in sexual sin); idolators (a person who's covetous is an idolator); nor adulterers, nor homosexuals or sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor abusers, nor extortioners (they manipulate people) will inherit the kingdom of God”.
He doesn't single out one thing. He just says: these are all the kinds of things that will stop you entering the fullness of what God has for you, and he includes in there - excessive alcohol, including gluttony. The Church gets wound up about homosexuality, but what about gossip? Homosexuality is mostly ‘out there’, but gossip is right here! Gluttony? You know, people get into these things, that becomes their hobby horse, and what's behind it is a prideful heart - a heart that's haughty and arrogant, and looks down on others, judging what's going on in their life. That's the very thing that God identified was the core character, not only of the City of Sodom, and this is what led to its downfall.
Given enough time, if you have pride, a haughty attitude, and a lack of care for the poor, and you're preoccupied with yourself… given time, any nation will corrupt, and dysfunction, and fall apart. So, he's saying that all the things you saw in that city were the consequence of the rapid deterioration from the core issue - which is a heart issue! It's always a heart issue.
Notice the thing they accused him of... They said: this man came here, we invited him in, he came and stayed in the city… and now he's judging us! Notice that he hasn't judged them. He just said: this is wicked behaviour! He wasn't even talking about the sexual thing. He was saying that to come into my home, and take the people out, that are in my protection - that's wicked behaviour! And they said: oh, you're ‘judgemental’ and ‘intolerant’.
So, I want to talk a little bit about ‘tolerance’, because this is an issue that's a very big problem right now. It's a growing issue today. Tolerance means to have sympathy for the beliefs and practices that are different (and conflicting) with my own. It means to have respect for a differing viewpoint and lifestyle. I'm not hostile to you, because you have a different belief - I actually treat you with respect. It means the willingness to let people express a different opinion without fear of retaliation. It doesn't mean that you agree with them, or approve of them, at all. You can live your own life, but you can still disagree.