The sermon by Jason Dohm focuses on the themes presented in Romans 9:14-29, discussing God's sovereignty, mercy, and judgment. It draws parallels between the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and God's judgment on Israel for their centuries of rebellion. Dohm emphasizes that God's rights as a creator are absolute, akin to a potter's control over clay, and uses this analogy to illustrate God's authority to show mercy or execute judgment. The sermon highlights the dual nature of God's vessels: vessels of wrath prepared for destruction and vessels of mercy prepared for glory. By citing Isaiah and Hosea, Dohm underscores that God's mercy extends beyond deserving individuals, incorporating both Jews and Gentiles into His people. The sermon warns against the desire for 'fairness' as humans conceive it, stating that God's just nature requires judgment against sin, but His mercy through Christ provides salvation. Dohm concludes by urging listeners to reflect on the amount of spiritual light they have received and to avoid complacency in their faith.

The sermon text for today is Romans 9, 27 through 29. For context, I wanted to go to Genesis 19, but I was told no. So instead, we'll go back to verse 14 of Romans 9. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?

Certainly not. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God who shows mercy. For the scripture says to the Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you, and that my Name may be declared in all the earth. Therefore, he has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens.

You'll say to me then, why did he still find fault? For who has resisted his will? But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As he says also in Hosea, I will call them my people, who are not my people, and her beloved, who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, in a place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they shall be called the sons of the living God." Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved, for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth. And as Isaiah said before, unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom and we would have been made like Gomorrah. Let's pray.

Oh, Father, we encounter hard truths when we experience and seek to understand the sovereignty of God. Give us soft hearts and open ears. Holy Spirit, do your work among these people To receive the message you have prepared for us. We commit this time to you in the name of Jesus who is Christ. Amen Title of the sermon this morning is considering Sodom and Gomorrah Paul brings us to a consideration of two cities that God wiped off the face of the earth.

In a moment of time, there was a day when the sun came up, There were two great cities who had descended into all sorts of sin and wickedness. And by the time the sun went down, they didn't exist. God closed out a long period of time with patience and forbearance against these men, women, and children. And He rained down fire and sulfur on these people. And at the end of the day, no member of these cities was left alive.

The question for us is this, is really your assignment for the sermon. You ready for your assignment? To really understand what was that? On that day when the sun came up with two great cities and God decided that His patience was at an end for those men, women, and children. So He rained down fire and sulfur on them so that not a single one of them remained.

What was that? I challenge you to get your mind fixed on what that was. Now, where are we in Romans chapter 9? Paul has been teaching us about the rights of the Creator. If God or even a person creates something, what rights does that creator have over the thing that was created.

And Paul is teaching and arguing that the rights of the creator are absolute and unchallengeable. The creator has all of the rights over the created thing, and no one can take those rights away from the Creator. They are absolute. They are unchallengeable. He asked this question in verse 21, this is Romans 9.21, Does not the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

It's a rhetorical question, which means that the answer to the question is so obvious that you don't need to take up time and space with the answer because everyone will intuitively know instantly know that the answer is yes of course the potter has the power and the right over the clay to make whatever he wants from the clay it's his clay and in this instance the potter even made the clay It's greater than just going into the potter's workshop. Actually, if you take the analogy as far as it really is with the things that it represents, God made the clay. It's even His clay. Paul went on to further develop that thought. The vessels of dishonor are vessels of wrath.

He's going to pour his anger against corruption and sin into those vessels of dishonor. And the vessels of honor are vessels of mercy. These vessels, instead of pouring his anger out against the sins of those vessels, he's going to do exactly the opposite of what they deserve and he's going to pour his mercy into those vessels and make them be for his honor. God has particular purposes for fashioning each kind of vessel for the vessels of wrath. God wants to show his fury against evil and falsehood.

Aren't you glad there's a God in the universe who's angry against evil and falsehood? Do you want to live in another kind of universe? And who wants to make his power known. And so he patiently endures their rejection and rebellion. He wants to make his anger against wickedness and falsehood known.

And so he just patiently puts up with, endures their rejection of Him and their rebellion against Him. For the vessels of mercy, God wants to make known the riches of His glory through the exercise of His mercy. Can you think of a better way for a God of mercy to make the riches, the inexhaustible riches of His glory known than to take this group who deserves one thing and not only erase what they deserve, but give them the exact opposite of what they deserve in the exercise of his mercy. This is just putting the riches of his glory on display. Paul went on to say that these recipients of God's mercy would be of both Jews and Gentiles.

He quoted two portions of Hosea to explain this mercy of God. People who are not God's people are brought into His people. This is just a pure act of mercy. They don't deserve to be His people. They actually deserve to be outside of His people, but contrary to what they deserve, the opposite of what they deserve, he brings them into his people.

Pure act of mercy. People who were not loved become the objects of God's love. They don't deserve his love. He should not love them based on who they are. He shouldn't love them based on who they are, but because of a pure act of mercy, not only does he cancel what they deserve, he gives them the exact opposite of what they deserve.

Pure act of mercy. And people who had been rejected become children of the living God. Again, it's just a pure act of mercy. It would be enough if he brought them and made them slaves into his house, but he doesn't do that either. He actually makes them sons and daughters with an equal share in the inheritance.

Now Paul follows that with two quotations from the book of Isaiah. So that brings us to today's text. God, we ask for your help. Thank you for your Word, which corrects sensibilities that are so strong in us, but they're not right. Often they're not right, and they need to be calibrated with truth and reality to your revealed word so that we see you as you really are and we see ourselves as we really are.

Thank you for this text of Scripture. Use it God. Please use it. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Well let's begin by looking at this first quotation from Isaiah, which is verses 27 and 28. So hopefully the Bibles are still open to Romans chapter 9 and follow along as I reread 27 and 28. Paul continues, Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth." So here's his first quotation from Isaiah. God had promised Abraham that he would make Abraham's descendants as abundant as the sand on the seashore.

And God kept that promise. Of course He kept that promise. He keeps every promise. Listen to God's promise in Genesis 22, 17. This is God speaking to Abraham, making promises to Abraham in Genesis 22, verse 17.

God says to Abraham, Blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies." That's a prophecy, meaning God is foretelling in Genesis chapter 22. He's saying things that wouldn't be true for centuries, but we have the historical record. Did God make good on the promise? Yes, he made good on the promise. He made Abraham's descendants like the stars of heaven, or as the sand which is on the seashore.

He turned this one man, and at the time a childless man, into the father of nations, and multiplied his descendants into the millions and millions. But though God did make that promise and keep that promise, through the prophet Isaiah, God says what he is going to do to this great nation in response to their rejection of him and their rebellion against him over centuries. So there are a couple, let me unpack that quickly. God did say he would multiply them, make them like the sand on the seashore. He did that.

But then for centuries and centuries and centuries they rejected him, worshiped other gods, rebelled against him, fell into all kinds of wickedness. Read the Old Testament. And so this is not God responding to a bad day, week, month, year, decade, century. Please understand this. The judgment of God that is foretold by Isaiah the prophet is not in response to a bad day, or week, or month, or year, or decade, or century.

It is his response to hundreds of years of the people rejecting him and living in rebellion to him. Hating the things that he loves, living that out, loving the things that he hates, and living that out. Now a comment about these quotations, these two quotations from Isaiah. They're double translations. So That makes it tricky to work with what we have here.

What do I mean by that? I mean, Paul is quoting the Septuagint. What in the world is a Septuagint? The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew. So, God gave this prophecy to Isaiah.

Isaiah records this prophecy in Hebrew, the language of the Jews. In Paul's day, the the language of the world, the language of the educated, the language of the nations was Greek. And so The Hebrew Old Testament had been translated into Greek so that it was accessible outside the borders of Israel, widely in use in the time of Jesus and the time of Paul. Paul is quoting the Greek translation of the Hebrew. Are you reading the Greek translation of the Hebrew?

No, you're reading the English translation of the Greek translation of the Hebrew. Well, are you reading the Greek translation of the Hebrew? No, you're reading the English translation of the Greek translation of the Hebrew. It's a Double translation. Hebrew to Greek.

Nothing improper about that. Lot's proper about that actually. But did you want it left in Greek? Not me. I don't read Greek.

So it's been translated from the Greek into the English. That's nobody's fault, but it does make a difference because at least a little something is lost in every step of translation. Translation is tricky, and so this is double tricky because it's been translated twice. So we can remove one of those, can't remove them both unless you're prepared to learn Hebrew, but we can remove one of those by going back and looking at it actually in Isaiah chapter 10. So please turn to Isaiah chapter 10.

Isaiah chapter 10. Isaiah chapter 10 We won't read the whole chapter. What's actually quoted is Isaiah chapter 10 verses 22 and 23. Just to nestle this into context, Isaiah chapter 10 begins this way. Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees.

So this is the pronouncement of a woe against unrighteousness. A woe is the proclamation that judgment is coming for something that has been done, for something that has happened. So this is a pronouncement of coming judgment. A woe against unrighteousness. Now look at verse 5.

Isaiah 10 verse 5, woe, pronouncement of judgment, to Assyria the rod of my anger and the staff in whose hand is my indignation." So God is saying in this chapter, Israel, because of your rejection of me and your rebellion against me, I'm raising up a nation and going to bring them down upon you in judgment." But then, he actually makes a declaration of judgment against the nation that he will bring against Israel too. Because then they'll be lifted up in their pride to say, look at what we've done when actually they were just a tool in the hand of God to do his will. So, Assyria is actually going to receive much of what Israel receives at their hands. This brings us to Isaiah 10 verses 22 and 23. This is what Paul quotes in our text.

22 and 23. For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return. The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts will make a determined end in the midst of all the land." So that gives us some of the clarity, I think, to some of the things that become a little unclear when you translate it twice. So this is prophetic.

Isaiah is saying this long before it actually comes to happen, but the fulfillment of it is a matter of historical record. Of this great nation, there was a cataclysmic slaughter at the hand of the Assyrians. And then a large portion of the survivors were carried into captivity. So many didn't survive the Assyrians, but of the ones that survived the Assyrians, a large portion of them were actually carried outside the borders of Israel and made captives within Assyria. And only a small remnant ever returned to the promised land.

And even that, generations later. A nation made from one man, as many as the sand on the seashore, but then because of their rejection of God and rebellion against God, God brings us Syria and there's this cataclysmic slaughter. And even of the survivors, a large portion of them carried into captivity. And then generations later, a small remnant is returned to the promised land. Why?

Because they had their act together? No, because God is merciful. The remnant that actually made it back to the promised land didn't make it back by their own might, and they didn't make it back because they were the great grandchildren of the people that had their act together. They made it back because God determined to keep people alive. God determined to preserve some of His people in spite of what they deserved because He is God of mercy.

God of mercy. Now, Isaiah describes this destruction. Look again at the end of verse 22. The destruction The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. The destruction that God brings on Israel will be an overflow of righteousness.

This judgment was an act of righteousness. It was good what God did there when he upheld righteousness and exercised judgment on unrighteousness. Verse 23 says that God was determined to make an end of Israel as it existed. Why was He determined to make an end of Israel as it existed? Because of their rejection of Him, not for a day, week, month, decade, century, but for centuries, and their rebellion against him.

Does this fit with what Paul is teaching in Romans 9? Yes, it fits perfectly. Israel richly deserved the judgment of God. They had been earning it bit by bit for centuries. God endured with much long suffering.

Do you remember that phrase from last week? God endured with much long suffering. He patiently put up with their rejection of him and their rebellion against him for centuries. And then he showed his wrath and made his power known through their destruction." So this fits right, slots right into Paul's argument, Romans chapter 9. But that isn't all of the story.

God was pleased to make the riches of his glory known by pouring out his mercy on a remnant. So it is the pouring out of his wrath against sin and falsehood, against rejection of him and rebellion against him, but that's not the whole story. He was pleased to make the riches of his glory known by pouring out his mercy on a remnant. Why? Because they had their act together.

No! That's the whole point. Not because they had their act together or they were the descendants of people who sort of had their act together. Nothing like that. It was mercy more than canceling out what was deserved, but mercy extending to the exact opposite of what was deserved.

Now, Is this about the picture or the reality? I'm drawing on language from past sermons. Not much past. Maybe two back or one back. To go back to what I've been saying throughout Romans 9, Israel is the physical picture which God raised up to point to and teach about the greater spiritual reality.

So Israel, Why did God take one man, Abraham, a childless man, and make his descendants as abundant as the sand on the seashore? He did it to point to and teach about a greater spiritual reality, which is people saved by faith. Called out of a world of corruption to be delivered and preserved. So is Isaiah 10 about this physical picture, the nation of Israel, or about the reality, what God was actually pointing to and teaching about. I think the answer is this, they're related.

I don't think you have to pick between the two. It is about Israel, it's clearly about Israel, the physical picture, but God's dealing with Israel at this time and in this way points to and teaches about how God deals with the human race and individual people within our race, meaning sons and daughters of Adam. How does he deal with our race, the sons and daughters of Adam, who have inherited the nature of Adam? Oh, that's a problem. How does God deal with them?

We learn about it because God raised up a picture to point to and teach about how he deals with the human race. We do deserve the judgment of God because of who He is in His perfect goodness. And because of who we are in all of our corruption and the sin that proves our corruption. God wants to make known the riches of His glory by exercising His mercy. So What you see in Isaiah 10 is what you see in the world because he's been pointing to and teaching about a greater spiritual reality.

That's why Paul uses Isaiah 10 in a letter to Romans, in a letter to Roman believers to explain what they're seeing and experiencing and living out has been pictured, foreshadowed already in the history of Israel. Now, back to Romans 9. And the second quote from Isaiah in Romans 9. So if you haven't already taken your finger out of Isaiah, you might want to leave it back there. Romans chapter 9, verse 29.

Paul continues, and as Isaiah said before, unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom. And we would have been made like Gomorrah. Have been made like Gomorrah. Paul says, as Isaiah said before, or maybe better, as Isaiah foretold in his prophesying, and then Paul quotes Isaiah 1 verse 9. So if you want, I'm only going to quote that one verse.

You can just listen or you can go back to Isaiah 1 verse 9 to get us out of the boat where we're dealing with a double translation again. Let's go back and eliminate one of the translations. Look at Isaiah 1.9. It's very, very close. Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom.

We would have been made like Gomorrah. So the Lord of Sabaoth from Romans chapter 9 is the Lord of hosts. Or as the NASB translates it, and I really appreciate this translation, they're all fine, but I really think this one is helpful. The Lord of armies. The Lord of hosts is the Lord of armies.

The vision is one of God at the head of the armies of heaven. It's meant to be a terrifying vision. It is a terrifying vision. Think of God at the head, leading out front of the armies of heaven. By the way, if you have one angel and he encounters a human, the human prostrates himself.

This is the testimony of Scripture. So now, think of sits at the head of the avenging armies of heaven had left us a very small remnant. We would have become like Sodom. We would have been made like Gomorrah. Don't you dare distance yourself from the we that we see in our text.

We would have been like Sodom. We would have been made like Gomorrah. What does it mean to become like Sodom and to be made like Gomorrah. Total annihilation of the wicked. Oh good, we'll be rid of the wicked.

You are the wicked! You are the wicked! I am the wicked! Every single one wiped off the face of the earth. You wake up in the morning, the sun rises, and then God in his righteousness, upholds righteousness and exercises judgment, and then there's no one left.

My friends, this banner hangs over Sodom and Gomorrah. Death to rebels. Death to rebels. Is that me? Of course that's me.

I know who I am. Is that you? Of course that's you. Don't you know who you are? Sodom and Gomorrah are used in different places, in many places in the Old Testament, and some in the New to represent just this thing.

Let me give you a couple of examples. Deuteronomy 29, 23. Listen to Deuteronomy 29, 23. This is actually at the renewal of the covenant, when God is having the people recite what we'll do if they won't obey him. Deuteronomy 29, 23.

He says, if you don't obey me, then you'll end up saying this, the whole land is brimstone, salt and burning. It is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adma and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and his wrath." These are places, four are actually named here, Sodom and Gomorrah, Adma and Zeboim. These are places that are left totally without inhabitant and even the ground beneath their feet was ruined. You can't even grow a weed after God has finished with the ground that they used to tread before he upheld righteousness and exercised his good judgment. How about this, Jeremiah 50 verse 40.

Jeremiah chapter 50 verse 40, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, says the Lord, so no one shall reside there, nor son of man dwell in it. It's another spot where God is saying through the prophet, I'll make you like them, I'll make you like them, don't reject me, don't live in rebellion against me, I'll make you like them. Again, this is what happens If the perfectly righteous God who sits at the head of the avenging armies of heaven chooses not to leave a remnant. Sodom and Gomorrah is what happens if God chooses not to leave a remnant. My friends, this is fair as humans conceive it.

This is fundamental. If you understand this, Romans 9 actually becomes beautiful, and You stand in awe of the mercy of God. If you don't understand this, Romans 9 becomes something that is just bitter to the taste, and you think God has done wrong. You have to understand this. Sodom and Gomorrah equals fair as humans conceive it.

Sodom and Gomorrah is fair. Okay everybody, here's the system we want. Everybody gets what they deserve. God says, okay, death to rebels. But I'm looking in the book and I'm discovering that I'm the rebel.

I'm looking at the standard, I'm comparing what I know about my thoughts and my words and my deeds. Not for a day or a week or a month or a decade. I haven't had a century yet. And any one of those days you could judge. And on any of those days, pick the best day.

The judgment would have to be guilty, condemned, rebel. The best day. If you don't learn anything from this text, learn this. You don't want fair. The last thing you want is fair.

Fair means no hope. Fair means, okay, here's the system. We all get what we deserve. I helped an old lady across the street today. That is seeing it so radically through human eyes.

Where we've become so desensitized to sin that we think helping an old lady across the street makes up for all that rejection of God and rebellion against God. All the pride that's in our heart, all our smug self-righteousness. God hates that! God will make you like Sodom! I want to remind us of something Paul has already said in the letter to Romans.

Turn back to Romans chapter 3. Look at Romans 3.19. Now we know that whatever the law says, says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Paul is summing up here in Romans 319. Every mouth, quiet!

Don't you dare utter a word against your guilty verdict. He's summing up the argument of why Wherever in the world you were born, in whatever century you were born, you stand guilty before God. Now he's summing up and saying, don't you say a word. You're all guilty before God. Now look at verses 25 and 26.

In 25, you see it starts with whom, so I'm just going to pull Christ Jesus from the end of 24 just so that it makes sense. So that's what I'm doing there. 25 and 26. God set forth Christ Jesus as a propitiation by his blood, by Jesus' blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness. Because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness.

And that He might be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus again I won't repreach that sermon, but a propitiation is a sacrifice to turn away or to appease the anchor anger of God God's fury burns against our rejection of Him and our rebellion against Him. A propitiation is a sacrifice to absorb this fury of God that is coming to us for our rejection of Him and rebellion against Him. Why didn't the perfectly good God who sits at the head of His avenging army make all the earth like Sodom and Gomorrah? What am I asking? Why 6, 000 years of Earth history?

Why did God just kill all the rebels? He almost did it at the flood, right? I mean there's an earth, we don't know what the population of the earth was before the flood. We only know what the population was after the flood. It's eight.

Noah, A wife. Three sons and their wives. That's it. Then why didn't he? Because he was forbearing.

He was waiting. Waiting for what? For the sacrifice that would turn away his anger from the sins of everyone who would place their hope in that sacrifice. That's what he was waiting for. He decided he would endure with much long suffering the rejection of his creatures, the rebellion of his creatures, and he was waiting for that sacrifice that could absorb all of his fury against the rejection of rebellion.

They could soak it all up and turn it all away for everyone who would place their hope in that sacrifice. That sacrifice allows God to be just, death to rebels. God can't be anything else than just. He has to be just. And the justifier of one who has faith in Jesus.

And the one who pronounces the innocency, pronounces you are righteous on the one who has faith in Jesus. Why did Jesus hang on that cross? Because somebody has to die for sin. When God is rejected and when people live in rebellion, somebody's dying for that. Let me give you two applications.

One. Do not convict God of wrongdoing in your mind for not saving everyone. Do not convict God of wrongdoing in your mind for not saving everyone. Friends, that conviction will not stand. It will be overturned by the Supreme Court.

God never does wrong. God always does right. God can Only do right. God is not the problem. We are the problem.

God is the solution. Listen to Psalm 29 verse 10. In a sense, This is a very terrifying verse. Just listen to Psalm 29 verse 10. The Lord sat enthroned at the flood, and the Lord sits as king forever.

Psalm 29, 10. The Lord sat enthroned on the flood. Can you visualize this? It starts to rain. It keeps raining.

The water's rising. The people in the lowlands are swept away. The water is rising. The people up the hill a bit are swept away. The water is rising.

Where is God? He is sitting on His throne. He was enthroned at the flood. It was raining because he was upholding righteousness and executing judgment. Good judgment.

Right judgment. It was an act of righteousness. It was good what was happening when the waters were rising. The Lord sits as King forever. He hasn't changed.

These judgments, like the flood, like Sodom and Gomorrah, like Jerusalem in 70 AD, stand to warn us. Why do we need a warning? Because God is so patient, and God is so good, and we misinterpret his patience and we misinterpret his goodness. We think he is never going to make it alright. He is never going to uphold righteousness and execute judgment, but that's not true.

Does God owe any of his creatures an apology for the flood? No, of course not. Sodom and Gomorrah is the symbol of God upholding righteousness and applying justice. Number two, finally consider what Jesus said when he sent his disciples out to preach and perform wonders which would authenticate the truth of their preaching about Jesus. This is in the ministry of Jesus.

His disciples have been following Him. This is Matthew chapter 10. He sends them out to preach, and with the ability to do wonders that will convince the people that their preaching is true. That was the whole point of the wonders, was so that you would know that these weren't just guys who had an opinion. God was stamping it as true, their preaching as truth from heaven.

Listen to Matthew 10, 14 and 15. Jesus says to his disciples, as he's sending them out to preach and do these authenticating wonders. Matthew 10, 14, and 15. And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.

Go out and preach and do these wonders that I am giving you the power to do that will be God stamped. This isn't the opinions of man, but this is truth from heaven, God authenticating it with these wonders preached. And when people reject you, wipe the dust off your feet. And wherever you wipe the dust off of your feet, It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah who woke up one day and to them it seemed like every other day, but God's patience was at an end and He rained down fire and sulfur on those cities and At the end of the day when the sun went down, those cities did not exist. It will be more tolerable for them than it will be for these people who have rejected the preaching of Jesus' disciples.

Think about that. How could it be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah? We have names for sin after them. Our most vilest sins, we named after those places. The principle is this, the more light rejected, the less tolerable the eternal condemnation.

Are you with me? The more light rejected, God gives light, no thanks, the less tolerable the eternal condemnation. Sodom and Gomorrah had plenty of light to be justly wiped off the face of the earth and eternally condemned. Don't think, oh those poor ignorant people. God wrote right and wrong on their hearts.

And they said no thanks. So they had plenty of light for God to justly wipe them off the face of the earth and eternally condemn them. But they had less light than those the disciples preached to, so it would be more tolerable for them. So let me ask, how does this relate to you? How much light do you have?

A little light? A lot of light? A scary amount of light, a scary amount of light. Paul's giving us words to make us wise. To think soberly about the reality of our own souls, the reality of the privileges that we enjoy.

To make sure we haven't been given all these privileges, and we just go along with the crowd, but we're never born again. God, Thank you for not leaving us alone. Thank you for disquieting me. I remember, I do remember those days, weeks, and months. I was becoming more disturbed, more disquieted as truths dawned on me.

As things came into focus about who you were and who I was and what that meant. God, would you be pleased to use this text of scripture to disquiet some people today? Thank you that you do that for our good. Not so that we would be disturbed, but so that we would be raised from the dead. God may it be so, in Jesus' name, Amen.