v.7 – just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire

Devotional:

The story of Lot and his family as found in Genesis 19 is one of the saddest and most troubling stories in all of scripture to me. The nastiness of human depravity is on full display as things unfold inside the city gates of Sodom and Gomorrah. God had enough of the wickedness so He acted mercifully to the world and destroyed the cities before their evil could spread any further.

Jude, unlike most who teach or comment on the saga of Sodom and Gomorrah today, makes specific mention of “surrounding cities”. We don’t know much about the surrounding cities or as Genesis calls them “those cities and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (Genesis 19:25), but we do know they were destroyed.

There was, in a very real sense, collateral damage from the sins of Sodom. Everyone has experienced the truth that sin always has collateral damage. In my life, the decades-long shadows of shame that loom over my life from the sins of my youth are an example of the collateral. In our world, we can see the devastating effects of men rejecting their role as fathers and its generational impact. We can see the destruction of marriages due to the consumption of porn and sexual impurity which ravages true love and robs couples of authentic intimacy. We have seen countless times that financial impropriety has long- lasting effects on families, cities, and even nations.

Sin always has collateral damage and it should not be taken lightly. God obviously takes sin so seriously that He “destroyed” His own Son on the cross of Calvary to defeat it. For as
horrible as Sodom and Gomorrah’s fate was it was only but a foreshadowing of what Jesus was to experience by subjecting Himself to the wrath of God on our behalf. Yes, sin has collateral damage and we should seek holiness in all things.

“If Christ has died for me – ungodly as I am, without strength as I am – then I can no longer live in sin, but must arouse myself to love and serve Him who has redeemed me. I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best Friend. I must be holy for his sake. How can I live in sin when He has died to save me from it?” – Charles Spurgeon

We should take seriously our appetites for the sins of the flesh, confess them to Jesus, and trust Him to give us the strength to walk in holiness. In the areas of our lives in which we have not handled our sin in this way, we should run to the throne of God’s grace, repent and believe He has forgiven us because He has through Jesus!

As a pastor and a friend to you I want to be sure that like Jude, I highlight the severity of sexual sin. We are all bent toward sexual sin in some way because we are all “carrying fire close to our chest” (Proverbs 6:27). There is nothing capable of producing more shame, robbing more joy or destroying more lives than sexual immorality. When speaking of sexual sin, Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30). Jesus is pointing to the idea that chasing the fulfillment of sexual desires outside the healthy and holy ways given by God to us through His Word, will leave us in a place that we never intended to go for a lot longer than we want to stay.

For every one drug addict or alcoholic that I’ve counseled over the years, I have counseled 20 people trapped in sexual sin. In my opinion, the negative impacts throughout history of people practicing sex outside of God’s design of one man and one woman for one lifetime, are simply immeasurable. If today you find yourself cuddling up to a secret sexual sin or fantasy I implore you, like James, Jesus’ other brother, writes, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:17).

Read that verse again carefully. It doesn’t say confess your sins only to God, it says confess also to one another. When it comes to sexual sin – or any sin for that matter – the chances that what is kept secret can be healed in secret aren’t very good. This kind of sin has to come out into the light by confessing to a trusted person who walks with the Lord. This kind of confession begets the question, “Do you want to be healed?” and I hope your answer is a resounding “YES!!!” If so, run to healing through the powerful bond of confession and repentance. This is an active way to let sin know that you will not be at peace with its presence in your life. Now, you may still be tempted at times but being tempted by sin and cuddling with it are pretty different things.

Take the time today to make the call to a trusted friend who is a believer or a Christian leader in your community and bring what has been hidden in the dark into the light so you can be free in Jesus’ name!

REFLECTION:

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart. Are you harboring a secret pet sin? If so, who can you confess it to today?