The Sin Greater Than Sodom: Rejecting the Grace of God and His Righteousness

"And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day." (Matthew 11:23)

Capernaum, now in ruins

Jesus had performed mighty miracles in many large cities.

Yet the people, the Israelites, the men and women under law, refused to believe on Jesus.

The same especially held true for the religious leaders, who were committed to Moses, yet refused to recognize that "The Prophet great than" he had arrived. (Matthew 21:31)

This verse is astonishing though, if we really permit what Jesus is telling us to settle into our hearts.

If Jesus, the Holy, Only Begotten Son of God, had performed His miracles in Sodom and Gomorrah, the hellish profligate cities overrun with sexual perversion, then those cities would have been saved.

Why?

Because then God our Father would have found righteous people.

Remember the standard which Abraham had offered to God when he had plead for Sodom and Gomorrah?

"And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes." (Genesis 18:26)

God was looking for righteousness, not sin.

There was only one righteous man in the city of Sodom: Lot, the nephew of Abraham:

"15And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city." (Genesis 19:15)

and

"[God] delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)" (2 Peter 2:7-8)

What was happening in all the cities where Jesus was ministering?

They rejected Him, His grace and His gift of righteousness!

Self-righteousness is an offense to God, worse than any other sin, even sexual perversion like homosexuality, adultery, or even transgenderism.

Consider God's damning remarks toward Israel before the Babylonian captivity:

"48As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. 49Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." (Ezekial 16: 48-49)

and

14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 18: 14)

Paul laments for his Jewish brethren, because they were still trying to establish their own righteousness by works, rather than by faith:

"1Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." (Romans 10: 1-3)

For these reasons, God was especially severe to the Israelites. In effect, when anyone thinks that they can keep God's standards through their own efforts, they are in fact rejecting God's standards, since they cannot be kept:

"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6)

It's important for us to recognize that there is no sin that can stop God's grace in our lives.

Except the sin of rejecting God's grace and trusting in our own righteousness--and that sin exceeds the abysmal, officious evil of Sodom and Gomorrah!