Duncan Sills - February 22, 2026
Why would God judge?
Genesis 18:16 - 19:38 This story is not light-hearted or sanitised. Would God’s word be good if it sugar coated the reality of evil in our world? Abraham and his relatives had to learn about God’s justice. How do you make sense of the men of the city who aggressively force themselves on the angelic men? How do you make sense of Lot’s terrible decision to offer the mob his daughters instead? God hates sexual violence. He will defend the victims because he hates injustice. Abraham must learn that nations and peoples have group identities and are accountable to God together. God destroys the unrighteous city yet he also has undeserved mercy on Lot. Why? No one ever deserves God's mercy, but God has made merciful promises to Abraham and his family, which includes Lot. Perhaps the most understandable part of this story is how reluctant people are to escape God’s coming judgement? It meant leaving their old life behind. It meant not looking back. Isn’t it tempting to think God will never hold this world to account? Isn’t it true that clinging to our past often prevents us from moving forward into God’s grace? For more about Christ Central Church Portsmouth visit: https://christcentral.church Or via socials: www.facebook.com/christcentral.ch www.instagram.com/christcentralchurchportsmouth To connect with us email: hello@christcentral.church or give us your details at https://www.christcentral.church
From Series: "Genesis - God's people in God's plan"
The Bible has clear instructions in parts, but most of it is story. Stories of people messing up. Stories of people discovering God’s grace. Stories we can learn wisdom from. The middle bit of Genesis tells the story of three generations who discover what it means to be God’s people in God’s plan for his world. And they don’t always get it right. Their stories include: marriage problems, death and grief, parenting struggles, choosing a spouse, sexual immorality, deception, reproductive ethics, unjust employers, relationships that distort God’s design, the strength of friendship, birth, infertility, abuse, betrayal, forgiveness, aging, value of life from womb to tomb, loneliness, racism, politics, war, buying land, wealth management, and learning wisdom from all the ambiguity of ordinary life trying to trust God in a fallen world. We face many issues in life where we have to ask: What does it mean to be God’s people in this? What’s God’s plan for it?
