Revelation: Witness, Judgment, and the Throne

Greater Responsibility, Greater Culpability

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2014-03-23

Synopsis: John Weaver expounds Lamentations 4:6 to show that Jerusalem's punishment exceeded Sodom's because her sins were greater, having been committed against greater light and privilege. The principle is that greater responsibility brings greater culpability—those with more knowledge, blessings, and opportunities face stricter judgment. Applications warn that New Testament believers have even greater advantages and thus greater accountability.

[John Weaver] Today I want you to open your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Lamentations chapter 4. Lamentations chapter 4. And we're going to be looking at verse 6. Lamentations chapter 4 and verse 6. The title of the message is, The Greater the Responsibility, the Greater the Culpability. You will understand that momentarily. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. So look in Lamentations chapter 4. We're going to read just one verse, that is verse 6 for right now.

[John Weaver] Where Jeremiah says, for the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom that was overthrown as in a moment and no hands stayed on her. Now we're looking at the book of Lamentations. The word Lamentations or the act of Lamentations is from the ancient custom of composing and singing Lamentations over deceived friends. David composed Lamentations over Saul and Jonathan in 2 Samuel chapter 1 and over Abner in 2 Samuel chapter 3.

[John Weaver] In early times this practice also was applied to cities and to countries, especially in relationship to their fall and judgment. Now I won't get into whole lamentations, we're coming right back there, but I want you to go to Jeremiah chapter 7 to begin with, and let me just show you as Exactly what I'm talking about. Singing these lamentations over countries and their fall and their judgment. So Lamentations chapter 7 to begin with and verse 29.

[John Weaver] Note if you would, God says this. Jeremiah 7 verse 29. Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places, The Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. So God says, since I've rejected you, there's not going to be anything but judgment. So you need to take up a lamentation. Now look in Jeremiah chapter 9. And we'll begin at verse 9 and then skip down to verse 17. Jeremiah 9, and look if you would please at verse 9. God asked, Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord?

[John Weaver] Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? So he's talking about Jerusalem. Skip down now to verse 17 and watch what he says. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for cunning women, that they may come, and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion. How are we spoiled?

[John Weaver] We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation. Why? For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. Speak, thus saith the Lord, even the carcasses of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them."

[John Weaver] Now, if you want to turn to the book of Amos chapter 5 in verse 1, if not, I'll just quote it for you. God says this concerning Israel. Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. So lamentations then were sung, not just over dead friends and family members, but over cities and over countries as well. Someone has said, well, that the Book of Lamentations is a memorial dirge that was written on the destruction and the humiliation of Jerusalem.

[John Weaver] It is indeed a cloudburst of grief. It is a river of tears and a sea of sobs. It has been called rightly an elegy written in a graveyard. There are only five chapters in the Book of Lamentation. Each of these chapters is a poem, and each poem then pictures the destruction of Jerusalem from a different perspective. For instance, chapter one reveals the effects of sin, the people in captivity, and the acts of oppression, starvation, tyranny, and scoffing. When you get to chapter 2, you see the destruction of Jerusalem as an act of God's wrath against the sins of the people and their impotency to avert that wrath. When you get to chapter 3, you see the deep sufferings of God's people in the midst of general distress and yet their ability to perceive the justice and the mercy and the compassion of God. When you get to Lamentations chapter 4, you see the punishment for the sins of the people and their leaders. And finally in chapter 5, you have where the Lord is intruded to remove the distress and the disgrace of His people.

[John Weaver] Now if you look back to Lamentations 4 and verse 6 again, since this verse occurs Under the general heading, the punishment for the sins of the people and their leaders, I want to emphasize one particular truth. Look in verse 6, where Jeremiah says, for the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom that was overthrown as in a moment, no hands stayed on her.

[John Weaver] Now, to me, this is a very amazing statement. And yet at the same time, it illuminates a wonderful, yet what I would call a very dreadful truth. Notice, if you would, that Jeremiah is saying that the punishment of Jerusalem was greater than the punishment of Solomon and Gomorrah. So you're forced then to ask yourself this question. Why was Jerusalem punished so strenuously? We all know the wickedness and the perversity and the depravity of Sodom and Gomorrah. We also know that they deserved exactly that which they received, utter destruction. So you have to ask this question. Was Jerusalem more vile and wicked than Sodom?

[John Weaver] And the answer is yes. Jerusalem was more vile and wicked than Sodom. In fact, many times in the Bible, God refers to Jerusalem as Sodom and Gomorrah or Sodom and Egypt. Let me show you. I want you to hold Lamentations 4, but look first in the book of Revelation chapter 11 and verse 8. Revelation 11 and verse 8. Note, if you would, What the Bible says, Revelation 11 and verse 8, we're talking about the two witnesses that have been killed. And the Bible says this, Revelation 11 and verse 8, and their dead bodies shall lie on the street of that great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Well, where was our Lord crucified? Jerusalem. Now, did you hear what God says? That Jerusalem is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. Well, I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32. We're going to look at several passages. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32. Here's what God says about Israel. Notice, if you would, Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32.

[John Weaver] very interesting passage God says Deuteronomy 32 in verse 32 for their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah their grapes are grapes of gall their clusters are bitter he's talking about Israel so he says their vine is the vine of Sodom and they're the fields of Gomorrah if you would turn right over to the book of Isaiah chapter 1 Isaiah chapter 1 And look at verses 8 through 10, Isaiah chapter 1, beginning there with verse 8, and we'll read through verse 10. It's interesting how many times God refers to Jerusalem and to Israel as a whole as solving the morrow. Notice Isaiah chapter 1, verse 8, and the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. What Isaiah says, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant. We should have been a Sodom and we should have been made like unto Gomorrah. Now watch verse 10. God is speaking to the rulers of Israel and he says, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom.

[John Weaver] Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. And he's talking to Jerusalem. He's talking to Israel. Look in Isaiah chapter three. beginning there with verse 9 Isaiah chapter 3 verse 9 he says this concerning Israel he says the show of their countenance doth witness against them and they declare their sin as Sodom and they hide it not One to their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

[John Weaver] Say you to the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall leave the fruit of their doings. But note, if you would, they declare their sin as Sodom. They hide it not. Then if you would turn to Jeremiah 23. And look at verse 14, Jeremiah 23 and verse 14. Another interesting passage. Jeremiah 23 verse 14 God says I've seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing they commit adultery and walk in lies they strengthen also the hands of evildoers that none doth return from his wickedness there all of them unto me is Sodom and the inhabitants thereof is Gomorrah so over and over God refers to Judah and Jerusalem particularly as Sodom and Gomorrah now I want you to understand that Jerusalem committed not only physical sins, but spiritual sins as well.

[John Weaver] Let me give you something to ponder. Spiritual sins are greater than physical sins. I understand that all sin is against God. You remember when David committed adultery with Bathsheba. He had Uriah the Attack killed with the sword of the children of Ammon. But he said in Isaiah 51 in verse 4, against thee and against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. So he was understanding that his sin was primarily against God. Yes, he sinned against Bathsheba. Yes, he sinned against Uriah. Yes, he sinned against their family, his family. He sinned against the whole nation. That is true. But he is saying primarily that sin is against God. But I want you to understand this. Spiritual sins or directed specifically against God. So when you think about idolatry, and blasphemy, hypocrisy, and many other spiritual sins, they target God directly. They not only assault and assail His person, but His attributes as well.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. Do you really know what the sins of Sodom were. Now, it is true that sodomy is a sin and it is from Sodom that we derive the name of that particular sin. But there were a multitude of other sins in Sodom and Gomorrah as well. And I want you to know that when God lists the category of her sins in the book of Ezekiel, He does not even mention the sin of sodomy. I want you to look. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 16. Ezekiel, chapter 16. And I want you to note particularly now how God is knocking not only Judah and Jerusalem, but Israel and Samaria. Remember, Samaria was the capital of the ten northern tribes, and Jerusalem is the capital of the two southern tribes. So look what he says. Let's begin reading Ezekiel 16, verse 44. Ezekiel 16, verse 44.

[John Weaver] Behold, everyone that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. Now look what God says about not only Judah and Jerusalem, but Samaria and Israel. He says, Thou art thy mother's daughter that loatheth her husband and her children. And thou art the sister of my sisters, which loatheth their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to note right now, he's not just simply talking about physical adultery, but he's talking about spiritual adultery. Look in verse 46. And thine elder sister is Samaria. Samaria, she and her daughters, that dwelleth by left hand. And thy younger sister that dwelleth at thy right hand is Sodom and her daughters. So here is Judah sitting in the middle. On the left hand is Samaria. On the right hand is Sodom. Look, if you would, at verse 47. He's talking about Judah and Jerusalem.

[John Weaver] Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations, but as if that was a very little thing, thou hast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters." Did you hear what God has just said? God has just said that Jerusalem and Judah were greater sinners than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Wow. As wicked, as vile as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain were, Judah and Jerusalem's sins exceeded their sins.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to remember something before I go any further. I want you to remember the declaration of Jeremiah in Lamentations 4 and verse 6 where he said that the punishment of my people, that is the punishment of Jerusalem, was greater than the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now if I were to ask you what was the sin of Sodom, most everyone is going to answer sodomy. Well, sodomy was certainly included in Sodom sin, but there was far more to their sin than that.

[John Weaver] So let's look at verses 49 and 50 and find out what their sins really were. He names them. Remember now, he says that Jerusalem has done worse than Sodom in verse 49. He says, behold, this was the iniquity of our sister Sodom. Pride, fullness of bread, An abundance of idleness was in her and her daughters. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor needy, and they were haughty and committed abomination before me.

[John Weaver] Therefore, I took them away as I saw good." Wow. I want you to note the sins that God particularly lists in relationship to Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain. He talks about their pride, their fullness of bread, their idleness, their haughtiness, their hardness toward the poor and the needy. And God says because they were haughty and proud and rebellious, therefore I took them away as I saw good. So I want you to pay close attention to the fact that in this passage, God does not even list sodomy as one of their sins, although we know it really was. But he begins with pride. Pride, guilt before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Pride says God will not judge me. Pride says I will not be held accountable. Pride says I will escape. Not only pride, but fullness of bread. They had plenty.

[John Weaver] They had everything they needed. They were haughty. They were selfish. They did not consider the poor and the needy. And then he said this, the abundance of idleness. Wow. You know, we have an old adage, an idle mind is the devil's workshop. And that comes from this passage. But if an idle mind is the devil's workshop, likewise are idle hands. When you have nothing to do. That's why it's wise to say busy, and especially busy in the things of God. But yes, God says, I dealt with Sodom and Gomorrah and those cities of the plain as I saw good.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to remember something. God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain in a moment. What is it that Jeremiah says in Lamentations 4 verse 6? Look back there just for a moment. Then we're going back to Genesis. But I want you to pay attention to what he says. Look in Lamentations chapter 4 and verse 6. He's talking about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and he says this. He says, For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom that was overthrown as in a moment and no hand stayed on her. So, let's go back in our Bibles, if you would, to Genesis chapter 19. And let's begin reading there with verse 12. Now, I want you to observe how God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. We'll read through verse 25. Genesis chapter 19, beginning there with verse 12. Watch carefully. Genesis chapter 19, verse 12.

[John Weaver] And the men, that is the angels, said unto Lot, Hath thou here any besides, son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters? And whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxing great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.' And Lot went out and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. And when the morning arose, when 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. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon the hand of his wife and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto him, and they brought him forth and set him without the city.

[John Weaver] And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, O not so, my lord. Behold, now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shown unto me in saving my life. And I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil take me, and I die. Behold, now this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one. Oh, let me escape thither, is it not a little one?

[John Weaver] And my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, and I will not overthrow this city for which thou hast spoken. haste thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. Now watch, the sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord reigned upon Sodom and Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord from heaven, and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

[John Weaver] I want you to note something. Solomon and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain were overthrown in a heartbeat. It was instantaneous. It was sure, it was sudden, and it was solemn. One moment they were alive, reveling in their sins and their pride and their haughtiness, and the next moment they were dead and facing the judgment of God. So how did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain instantaneously?

[John Weaver] They never knew what hit them. What did Jeremiah say? He said, the judgment of the daughter of my people is greater than the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. You see, the destruction of Jerusalem was not like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem two major times. The first time he came against Jerusalem was in 605 B.C. The second time he came back in 586 B.C. The first time he came, he left the city standing. He merely made the city a tribute city and he received tribute and he took prisoners. However, he made Zedekiah king, and Zedekiah rebelled and revolted against him and sought to Egypt for help. And so when Nebuchadnezzar had to come back a second time, he was going to make sure he did not have to come back a third time. I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 52, and I want you to look. at what the Bible tells us concerning the destruction of Jerusalem in 586. Look in Jeremiah, chapter 52, and let's begin reading there with verse 1.

[John Weaver] Jeremiah 52, verse 1. Jeremiah 52, verse 1. The Bible says Zedekiah, the king of Jerusalem. Zedekiah was 1 in 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Amutul, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Joachim had done. For through the anger of the Lord, it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, now watch carefully, in the ninth year of his reign, In the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all of his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

[John Weaver] Let me just stop right there. I hope you've already noticed now the siege of Jerusalem lasted nearly two years. OK, it started in the ninth month or in the ninth year of Zedekiah and didn't end until the 11th year of Zedekiah.

[John Weaver] Now watch verse seven, verse six. Let's read verse six. And in the fourth month, And the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so there was no bread for the people in the land. Then the city was broken up, and all the men of the war fled and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden. Now the Chaldeans were by the city roundabout, and they went by the way of the plain." Well, you can read the rest of it yourself. The truth of the matter is, when Nebuchadnezzar came back He besieged this city for two years.

[John Weaver] He was going to make sure that there were no more revolts, so there was going to be a total destruction of the city. The walls were going to be broken down, the palace was going to be destroyed, the temple was going to be destroyed, and thus famine and pestilence and wild beasts and even the sword stalked the city.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn right on over, if you would. We're coming back to Lamentations, but turn right over to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 14. And I want you to see the four sword judgments that God decreed against Jerusalem. Look at Ezekiel, chapter 14 and verse 21. And all of these came to pass, by the way, Ezekiel 14, verse 21. Watch carefully. God says, for thus saith the Lord God, how much more when I send my four sword judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword and the famine and the anointing of beasts and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast. Now, God said I'm going to send four sword judgments against Jerusalem. Famine is going to be one of them. Sword is going to be one of them. The pestilence is going to be one of them. He said, I'm just going to cut you off.

[John Weaver] That's all there is to it. So the anoints and beasts, all of it is going to come against Jerusalem.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to come back in your Bibles to Lamentations chapter four. We already know that God says one of the judgments that he's going to send is famine. We already read in Jeremiah chapter 51 there about the destruction of Jerusalem, and or 52 it was, and the famine that stalked the city. Well, let's begin looking and see how bad it really was. Lamentations chapter 4, let's go back to verse 6. He says, For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hand stayed on her. Now watch.

[John Weaver] Her Nazarites, you remember the Nazarite vow? Her Nazarites were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was of sapphire. This is how good-looking and well-filled out these young men were. Ah, but look in verse 8.

[John Weaver] Now, what are they like? Their visage is blacker than a coal. They're not known in the streets. Their skin cleaveth to their bones. It has withered. It has become like a stick. So they're starving to death. Their skin is withered, just barely clinging to their bones. Look what he says in verse 9. They that be slain with a sword are better than they that be slain with hunger.

[John Weaver] For these find a way stricken through want for one of the fruits of the field. So Jeremiah said at least when the Babylonians got you with the sword, you died quickly.

[John Weaver] Now you're in the city and you're starving to death and it's a slow death. How bad was the famine? Well, let me just tell you. The famine was so harsh that murder and cannibalism were rampant. I want you to look. Look in verse 10. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children. They were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. So mothers killed, cooked and ate their own children.

[John Weaver] May I remind you that the devastation of Jerusalem lasted for nearly two years. What did Jeremiah say back in verse six concerning Sodom and Gomorrah? Look at it. He says that was overthrown as in a moment and no hand stayed on her. When you get to the destruction of Jerusalem, hands stayed on Jerusalem. Human hands, wicked hands, vile hands for two years.

[John Weaver] Now you have to ask this question. Why did Jerusalem suffer more than Sodom? The answer is, obviously, because her sins were greater. I want you to look back or turn right over to the book of Ezekiel 16 again. Ezekiel 16. I want to go back to verses 47, 48, we read these earlier, but I want you to see them. Ezekiel 16, verse 47, verse 48, he's talking about Judah and Jerusalem.

[John Weaver] He says, Yet thou hast not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations. But as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, and thy daughters." So God says the sins of Jerusalem were greater than the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, why were they considered greater?

[John Weaver] There are many individuals that will say sin is sin. Well, I understand that all sin is wicked and vile and abominable. Yet, there are some sins that are more wicked and more grievous and more heinous than others. How can that be? Well, just stop and think. If a man steals, God requires restitution. But if a man murders, God requires the death penalty. So, murder obviously is a greater sin than theft. Kidnapping is a greater sin than theft. There are some sins that are greater than others. Now, I want you to understand this principle. The principle is the title of the message. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. The word culpability is from the Latin, and it denotes one who deserves censure. or condemnation. Here's what God is saying. The more opportunities we have, the more advantages that we have, the more blessings that we have, the greater our responsibilities. The greater our blameworthiness, the greater our censure, the greater our culpability. So the more advantages and blessings that you have, It equals the fact that if you're condemned, you deserve greater condemnation.

[John Weaver] Now, let me just show you. Suppose. You woke up in the morning and bought a morning paper. And here's the headlines. Ron Brown captured robbing the First National Bank. What? That can't be true. I know Ron. He's a Christian. He's a believer. He sat in church with us for years. That would be bad. That would really be bad. But let me tell you something worse. What if you woke up in the morning and got the morning paper and it said, Pastor John Weaver arrested for robbing the First National Bank. Now, wait a minute. He's a Christian, he ought to know better. He deserves condemnation. But me? I've taught you for, I've preached for 49 years. I've taught right and wrong. Do you think that my condemnation should be greater than his? Well, of course. Why?

[John Weaver] Because of my position of authority, responsibility and trust. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability.

[John Weaver] Now, without turning there, let me just point this out. If you will take the time to read Leviticus chapter 4. In Leviticus chapter 4, you're going to find that different sacrifices are demanded by God based upon a person's office, lot, or responsibilities. For instance, the Bible tells you in Leviticus chapter 4, verse 3, that if a priest sinned, he had to bring a bullock to the Lord for a sacrifice. A bullock.

[John Weaver] Say an oxen, a young oxen. Okay? If the entire congregation of Israel sinned, the entire congregation was equal to the priest. So in verse 13, they had to bring a bullock as well. If an individual ruler sinned, according to verse 22, he had to bring a kid of the goats, a male. Now, a male goat is not nearly as valuable as a bullock. Why is God saying the priest had to have a greater sacrifice? The whole congregation had to have a greater sacrifice. A ruler had to have a lesser sacrifice. And when you get to verses 27 through 32, if one of the common people sinned, then they could bring a kid of the goats or a kid of the lambs or the sheep, and it could be a female. It didn't have to be a male. In other words, their sacrifice was of less value than that of the ruler. And the ruler's was less value than that of the whole congregation of the priest. What God is doing is arguing there for us, from the greater to the lesser, and He's showing that the greater the responsibility, the greater the advantages, the greater the blessings, the greater the culpability.

[John Weaver] God required a greater sacrifice from those who were in positions of responsibility. Wow. Why? People who have more light, more knowledge, more blessings, more advantages, are more culpable. They deserve a greater condemnation. They're more criminal in their actions. That ought to tell you something about our politicians. That should tell you something about our elected officials. They're more criminal. It's bad enough when an ordinary, everyday citizen does something like they're doing, but it's even worse when they're doing it.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you some scriptures very quickly. I want you to turn to the book of James, chapter 3, verse 1. I want to tie this together for you. Look in the book of James, chapter 3 and verse 1. Very interesting statement. James 3 and verse 1. Look what James writes. James 3, verse 1. He says, my brethren. Be not many masters. Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation, what? Be not many masters, why knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation, the greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability, the greater the advantages, the greater the blessings, the more responsible and the more culpable you are. Look in your Bibles to James 4 and verse 17. James 4 verse 17.

[John Weaver] God says, Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. Wow. You know to do good and you don't do it? To you it is sin.

[John Weaver] Now I want you to go in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. And let's begin reading there with verse 40. And we'll read through verse 48. Luke 12. I'm just trying to show you this one principle to explain Lamentations 4 and verse 6. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. So look in Luke chapter 12, beginning there in verse 40.

[John Weaver] Our Lord teaches, and he says this, Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when you think not. Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make rule over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him rule over all that he hath. Now watch. But and if that servant say in his heart, My Lord, delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men, servants, and maidens, and to eat and drink, and be drunken, The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. Now, I want you to note how our Lord makes application of this truth.

[John Weaver] Watch carefully. And that servant who knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not And did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. And whom men shall have committed much, of him they will ask them more."

[John Weaver] Now what did God just tell us? If you know to do right, and you have the opportunity to do right, and you don't do right, Condemnation says many stripes. He that is ignorant and does wrong, God said he'll be beaten, but just with a few stripes. Why? He didn't have the knowledge. He didn't have the light. He didn't have the advantages. He didn't have the blessing. Then he said this to him, much is given, much is required. I want to tell you something, folks. Adultery, fornication are bad, wicked and wrong. It's bad and wicked for anyone to do anything like that. But when you hear pastors falling into that sin, it's even more wicked and more vile because they are more responsible and it's more criminal on their part. Too much is given, much is required. There's a vast difference between a sin of ignorance and a deliberate sin. There's a vast difference between someone who sins from an office of trust and responsibility and opportunity than from someone who holds no such office or trust.

[John Weaver] I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Numbers chapter 15. I'll quote this again before I close. But look at Numbers chapter 15. Look what God says. Numbers 15. Notice, if you would please, verses 29 through 31, numbers 15 versus 29 through 31. Watch carefully, we're still enunciating a principle here. Numbers 15, beginning there with verse 29. God says you shall have one law for him that sent it through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel or for the stranger that sojourneth among them.

[John Weaver] So it doesn't matter who you are. If you sin through ignorance, God says, I understand that. Watch verse 30. But the soul that doeth all presumptuously, that is against light and against knowledge, whether he be born in the land or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among the people, because he despised the word of the Lord and broken his commandment. That soul shall be utterly cut off.

[John Weaver] His iniquity shall be upon him. Wow. So there's a difference between an ignorant sin and a deliberate sin. Well, let me ask this question. What advantage did Jerusalem have over Sodom and Gomorrah? What advantage did she have over anyone else or any other country? What actually made the sins of Judah and Jerusalem more heinous, more vile, more wicked and greater than the sins of Sodom? Well, Romans 3, verses 1 and 2, let me just quote it. You can write down Romans 3, verse 1. What advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit is there in circumcision? Here's the answer.

[John Weaver] Much in every way, because that under them chiefly were committed the oracles of God. They had the law. They had the word of God. Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 6-8. Deuteronomy 4, verses 6-8. Deuteronomy 4, verse 6. Watch what God says concerning His law, His commandments, His judgments. Deuteronomy 4, verse 6. God says, Keep therefore and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations. which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who have God so kind to them, as the Lord our God is in all these things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that has statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?"

[John Weaver] What advantage do they have? They have the law of God. They have the word of God. They have the truth of God. May I remind you of Ephesians 2 verses 11 and 12. Let me just quote it for you. Listen, what Ephesians 2. Paul writes these Ephesians and he says, Wherefore, remember that you being in times past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision of the flesh made by hands, that at that time that you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope but without God in the world. What did Israel have? The law of God. They had the covenants. They had the ordinances.

[John Weaver] It was in Judah, at Jerusalem, where the tabernacle and the temple were located. It was in Judah, at Jerusalem, where God revealed himself in the Shekinah glory. It was in Judah at Jerusalem where you have the teaching priests and the Levites. It was in Judah at Jerusalem where you have the ordinances and the ceremonies and the sacrifices and the law. The priests and the Levites, as well as all the people, turned their backs upon God. The sins of Jerusalem were not sins of ignorance. There were sins of presumption. They were deliberate, premeditated sins against light, against truth, against all the advantages and opportunities and responsibilities that they held. Do you understand?

[John Weaver] David's prayer request in Psalm 19 and verse 13, when David prayed. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. and let them not have dominion over me, then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. He called it a great transgression to commit presumptuous sin. So it's one thing to sin ignorantly and unwittingly. It's quite another thing to sin knowingly, willingly and premeditatedly and presumptuously against God and his word.

[John Weaver] Now let me just quote this again. I told you I was going to quote it. Numbers 15. Don't turn there. Verses 29 through 31. God said, You shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel and the stranger that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth all presumptuously, whether he be born in the land or a stranger, the same reproaches the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from his people. because he has despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off, his iniquity shall be upon him. That's why James 4 and verse 7, James says, Therefore to him that knoweth do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. Jerusalem knew to do good.

[John Weaver] They had all the advantages. They had all the opportunities. They had all the blessings. And therefore, would God judge them? Jeremiah rightly said, the sins of the daughter of my people, the punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment. No hands stayed on her. Let me make just a couple of quick applications. The first one is this. If Israel had all of those advantages and blessings in the Old Testament, what do we have in the New Testament? How are we blessed with the Word of God, with opportunities, with advantages, with knowledge, with truth, with light, with responsibilities? We have a far greater responsibility of doing good to others and honoring and glorifying God and worshiping God now in truth and reality than they had in the Old Testament. Yet at the same time, we face a greater culpability.

[John Weaver] For our Lord said, to whom much is given, much is required. We know more. We've been taught more. We have more light. We have more knowledge. Therefore, we have more responsibility. And when we sin, we will incur a greater culpability. Even as Christians, I'm not talking about losing our salvation, but I'm talking about being chastened by God.

[John Weaver] The truth of the matter is, folks, we have far greater blessings and advantages than Israel did. One last passage. I want you to turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. I want you to watch this. 2 Thessalonians 2, and I want us to begin reading with verse 10, but 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 10, I want you to understand that when one sins against knowledge and against conscience, And against truth.

[John Weaver] He's placing himself in a very dangerous predicament. And if you can do this consistently and constantly, then something is dreadfully wrong with you.

[John Weaver] Second Thessalonians, chapter two, look in verse 10. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, why are they perishing? Because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saying. They hated the truth. They wouldn't have the truth. Watch. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. If you can turn your back on truth. If you can turn your back upon Christ.

[John Weaver] And his so great salvation and his word you're in a very precarious situation. The proof that we've ever savingly believed is that we will continue in faith. The proof that we've ever savingly repented is that we will continue in repentance. We'll continue in faith and trust and obedience to the Word of God. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. It's an awesome thing to think we'll give an account for what we know. And if you try to tell me, well, it's best then that a man stays ignorant. Oh, no, because then God's going to judge you for remaining ignorant when you could have had truth and could have had knowledge. You can't sin against God and escape. I'd rather have the knowledge to be right and do right. than to be ignorant and do wrong and still be judged by God. It's only His grace and mercy that gives us truth and light and blessings. But once He gives them, what a greater responsibility that we have. And when we sin against that truth, we deserve a greater censure.

[John Weaver] We have a greater culpability. Because of the advantages that God has given us. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee. We thank you for your word, for your truth, for your blessings. And we ask, Lord, that you would indeed teach us and help us to see and understand all the advantages, Lord, that you've given us. Oh, Lord, may we not despise them. But may we use them for your honor and your glory, and to serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear, and to maintain our obedience to thee in every area of our lives. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

Greater Responsibility, Greater Culpability

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	42914013360
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Revelation: Witness, Judgment, and the Throne
Genre	Sermon
Date	2014-03-23
Dictation Name
Book	Book 140: Revelation: Witness, Judgment, and the Throne — Chapter 7
Source Timed Segments	70

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Text

Reading Lamentations 4:6 and introducing the title: the greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability.

Scripture Reading — Lamentations 4:6

Today I want you to open your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Lamentations chapter 4. Lamentations chapter 4. And we're going to be looking at verse 6. Lamentations chapter 4 and verse 6. The title of the message is, "The Greater the Responsibility, the Greater the Culpability." You will understand that momentarily. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. So look in Lamentations chapter 4. We're going to read just one verse, that is verse 6 for right now.

The Nature of Lamentations

Lamentations were sung over deceased friends, cities, and countries; the book is a memorial dirge on Jerusalem's destruction.

Where Jeremiah says, "For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment and no hands stayed on her." Now we're looking at the book of Lamentations. The word Lamentations or the act of lamentations is from the ancient custom of composing and singing lamentations over deceased friends. David composed lamentations over Saul and Jonathan in 2 Samuel chapter 1 and over Abner in 2 Samuel chapter 3. In early times this practice also was applied to cities and to countries, especially in relationship to their fall and judgment. Now I won't get into whole Lamentations, we're coming right back there, but I want you to go to Jeremiah chapter 7 to begin with, and let me just show you exactly what I'm talking about. Singing these lamentations over countries and their fall and their judgment. So Lamentations chapter 7 to begin with and verse 29.

Note if you would, God says this. Jeremiah 7 verse 29:

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 7:29

"Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath."

So God says, since I've rejected you, there's not going to be anything but judgment. So you need to take up a lamentation. Now look in Jeremiah chapter 9. And we'll begin at verse 9 and then skip down to verse 17. Jeremiah 9, and look if you would please at verse 9. God asked, "Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord?"

"Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" So he's talking about Jerusalem. Skip down now to verse 17 and watch what he says. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for cunning women, that they may come, and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion. How are we spoiled?" "We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation. Why? For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. Speak, thus saith the Lord, even the carcasses of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them."

Now, if you want to turn to the book of Amos chapter 5 in verse 1, if not, I'll just quote it for you. God says this concerning Israel:

Scripture Reading — Amos 5:1

"Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel."

So lamentations then were sung, not just over dead friends and family members, but over cities and over countries as well. Someone has said, well, that the Book of Lamentations is a memorial dirge that was written on the destruction and the humiliation of Jerusalem.

Overview of Lamentations' Five Poems

Each chapter pictures Jerusalem's destruction from a different perspective: effects of sin, God's wrath, suffering with hope, punishment for sins, and plea for restoration.

It is indeed a cloudburst of grief. It is a river of tears and a sea of sobs. It has been called rightly an elegy written in a graveyard. There are only five chapters in the Book of Lamentations. Each of these chapters is a poem, and each poem then pictures the destruction of Jerusalem from a different perspective. For instance, chapter one reveals the effects of sin, the people in captivity, and the acts of oppression, starvation, tyranny, and scoffing. When you get to chapter 2, you see the destruction of Jerusalem as an act of God's wrath against the sins of the people and their impotency to avert that wrath. When you get to chapter 3, you see the deep sufferings of God's people in the midst of general distress and yet their ability to perceive the justice and the mercy and the compassion of God. When you get to Lamentations chapter 4, you see the punishment for the sins of the people and their leaders. And finally in chapter 5, you have where the Lord is entreated to remove the distress and the disgrace of His people.

Jerusalem's Punishment Greater than Sodom's

Jeremiah states Jerusalem's punishment exceeded Sodom's, raising the question of why.

Now if you look back to Lamentations 4 and verse 6 again, since this verse occurs under the general heading, the punishment for the sins of the people and their leaders, I want to emphasize one particular truth. Look in verse 6, where Jeremiah says, "For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom that was overthrown as in a moment, no hands stayed on her." Now, to me, this is a very amazing statement. And yet at the same time, it illuminates a wonderful, yet what I would call a very dreadful truth. Notice, if you would, that Jeremiah is saying that the punishment of Jerusalem was greater than the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah. So you're forced then to ask yourself this question. Why was Jerusalem punished so strenuously? We all know the wickedness and the perversity and the depravity of Sodom and Gomorrah. We also know that they deserved exactly that which they received, utter destruction. So you have to ask this question. Was Jerusalem more vile and wicked than Sodom?

Jerusalem Called Sodom and Gomorrah

Scripture repeatedly calls Jerusalem Sodom and Gomorrah, indicating her spiritual and physical wickedness.

And the answer is yes. Jerusalem was more vile and wicked than Sodom. In fact, many times in the Bible, God refers to Jerusalem as Sodom and Gomorrah or Sodom and Egypt. Let me show you. I want you to hold Lamentations 4, but look first in the book of Revelation chapter 11 and verse 8. Revelation 11 and verse 8. Note, if you would, what the Bible says, Revelation 11 and verse 8, we're talking about the two witnesses that have been killed. And the Bible says this, Revelation 11 and verse 8,

Scripture Reading — Revelation 11:8

"And their dead bodies shall lie on the street of that great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified."

Well, where was our Lord crucified? Jerusalem. Now, did you hear what God says? That Jerusalem is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. Well, I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32. We're going to look at several passages. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32. Here's what God says about Israel. Notice, if you would, Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32.

Very interesting passage. God says, Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 32:32

"For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter."

He's talking about Israel. So he says their vine is the vine of Sodom and they're the fields of Gomorrah. If you would turn right over to the book of Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. And look at verses 8 through 10, Isaiah chapter 1, beginning there with verse 8, and we'll read through verse 10. It's interesting how many times God refers to Jerusalem and to Israel as a whole as Sodom and Gomorrah. Notice Isaiah chapter 1, verse 8, "And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city." What Isaiah says, "Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been made like unto Gomorrah." Now watch verse 10. God is speaking to the rulers of Israel and he says, "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom."

"Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah." And he's talking to Jerusalem. He's talking to Israel. Look in Isaiah chapter 3, beginning there with verse 9. Isaiah chapter 3 verse 9, he says this concerning Israel, he says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 3:9

"The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, and they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves."

"Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings." But note, if you would, they declare their sin as Sodom. They hide it not. Then if you would turn to Jeremiah 23. And look at verse 14, Jeremiah 23 and verse 14. Another interesting passage. Jeremiah 23 verse 14, God says, "I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah." So over and over God refers to Judah and Jerusalem particularly as Sodom and Gomorrah. Now I want you to understand that Jerusalem committed not only physical sins, but spiritual sins as well.

Spiritual Sins Greater than Physical

Spiritual sins directly target God and are more heinous; David recognized sin is primarily against God.

Let me give you something to ponder. Spiritual sins are greater than physical sins. I understand that all sin is against God. You remember when David committed adultery with Bathsheba. He had Uriah the Hittite killed with the sword of the children of Ammon. But he said in Psalm 51 and verse 4,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 51:4

"Against thee, and against thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight."

So he was understanding that his sin was primarily against God. Yes, he sinned against Bathsheba. Yes, he sinned against Uriah. Yes, he sinned against their family, his family. He sinned against the whole nation. That is true. But he is saying primarily that sin is against God. But I want you to understand this. Spiritual sins are directed specifically against God. So when you think about idolatry, and blasphemy, hypocrisy, and many other spiritual sins, they target God directly. They not only assault and assail His person, but His attributes as well.

Now, let me ask you a question. Do you really know what the sins of Sodom were? Now, it is true that sodomy is a sin and it is from Sodom that we derive the name of that particular sin. But there were a multitude of other sins in Sodom and Gomorrah as well. And I want you to know that when God lists the category of her sins in the book of Ezekiel, He does not even mention the sin of sodomy. I want you to look. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 16. Ezekiel, chapter 16. And I want you to note particularly now how God is knocking not only Judah and Jerusalem, but Israel and Samaria. Remember, Samaria was the capital of the ten northern tribes, and Jerusalem is the capital of the two southern tribes. So look what he says. Let's begin reading Ezekiel 16, verse 44. Ezekiel 16, verse 44.

The Sins of Sodom Listed in Ezekiel 16

Ezekiel 16:44-50 lists Sodom's sins as pride, fullness of bread, idleness, haughtiness, and neglect of the poor—not mentioning sodomy—and declares Jerusalem worse.

"Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter." Now look what God says about not only Judah and Jerusalem, but Samaria and Israel. He says, "Thou art thy mother's daughter, that loatheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite." Now, I want you to note right now, he's not just simply talking about physical adultery, but he's talking about spiritual adultery. Look in verse 46. "And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters." So here is Judah sitting in the middle. On the left hand is Samaria. On the right hand is Sodom. Look, if you would, at verse 47. He's talking about Judah and Jerusalem.

"Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters." Did you hear what God has just said? God has just said that Jerusalem and Judah were greater sinners than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Wow. As wicked, as vile as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain were, Judah and Jerusalem's sins exceeded their sins.

Now, I want you to remember something before I go any further. I want you to remember the declaration of Jeremiah in Lamentations 4 and verse 6 where he said that the punishment of my people, that is the punishment of Jerusalem, was greater than the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now if I were to ask you what was the sin of Sodom, most everyone is going to answer sodomy. Well, sodomy was certainly included in Sodom's sin, but there was far more to their sin than that.

So let's look at verses 49 and 50 and find out what their sins really were. He names them. Remember now, he says that Jerusalem has done worse than Sodom. In verse 49 he says, "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me." "Therefore I took them away as I saw good." Wow. I want you to note the sins that God particularly lists in relationship to Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain. He talks about their pride, their fullness of bread, their idleness, their haughtiness, their hardness toward the poor and the needy. And God says because they were haughty and proud and rebellious, therefore I took them away as I saw good. So I want you to pay close attention to the fact that in this passage, God does not even list sodomy as one of their sins, although we know it really was. But he begins with pride. Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Pride says God will not judge me. Pride says I will not be held accountable. Pride says I will escape. Not only pride, but fullness of bread. They had plenty.

Sodom's Instant Destruction vs. Jerusalem's Prolonged Siege

Sodom was overthrown in a moment; Jerusalem endured a two-year siege with famine, sword, pestilence, and cannibalism.

Now, I want you to remember something. God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain in a moment. What is it that Jeremiah says in Lamentations 4 verse 6? Look back there just for a moment. Then we're going back to Genesis. But I want you to pay attention to what he says. Look in Lamentations chapter 4 and verse 6. He's talking about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and he says this. He says, "For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment and no hand stayed on her." So, let's go back in our Bibles, if you would, to Genesis chapter 19. And let's begin reading there with verse 12. Now, I want you to observe how God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. We'll read through verse 25. Genesis chapter 19, beginning there with verse 12. Watch carefully. Genesis chapter 19, verse 12.

"And the men," that is the angels, "said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters? and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it." And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, "Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city." But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. And 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." And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

"And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?)" "And my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar." Now watch, "The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground."

I want you to note something. Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain were overthrown in a heartbeat. It was instantaneous. It was sure, it was sudden, and it was solemn. One moment they were alive, reveling in their sins and their pride and their haughtiness, and the next moment they were dead and facing the judgment of God. So how did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain? Instantaneously.

They never knew what hit them. What did Jeremiah say? He said, the judgment of the daughter of my people is greater than the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. You see, the destruction of Jerusalem was not like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem two major times. The first time he came against Jerusalem was in 605 B.C. The second time he came back in 586 B.C. The first time he came, he left the city standing. He merely made the city a tribute city and he received tribute and he took prisoners. However, he made Zedekiah king, and Zedekiah rebelled and revolted against him and sought to Egypt for help. And so when Nebuchadnezzar had to come back a second time, he was going to make sure he did not have to come back a third time. I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 52, and I want you to look at what the Bible tells us concerning the destruction of Jerusalem in 586. Look in Jeremiah, chapter 52, and let's begin reading there with verse 1.

Jeremiah 52, verse 1. Jeremiah 52, verse 1. The Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 52:1-7

"Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign,"

now watch carefully,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 52:1-7

"in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land."

Let me just stop right there. I hope you've already noticed now the siege of Jerusalem lasted nearly two years. OK, it started in the ninth month or in the ninth year of Zedekiah and didn't end until the 11th year of Zedekiah. Now watch verse seven, verse six. Let's read verse six. "And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain." Well, you can read the rest of it yourself. The truth of the matter is, when Nebuchadnezzar came back he besieged this city for two years.

He was going to make sure that there were no more revolts, so there was going to be a total destruction of the city. The walls were going to be broken down, the palace was going to be destroyed, the temple was going to be destroyed, and thus famine and pestilence and wild beasts and even the sword stalked the city. Now, I want you to turn right on over, if you would. We're coming back to Lamentations, but turn right over to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 14. And I want you to see the four sore judgments that God decreed against Jerusalem. Look at Ezekiel, chapter 14 and verse 21. And all of these came to pass, by the way. Ezekiel 14, verse 21. Watch carefully. God says,

Scripture Reading — Ezekiel 14:21

"For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?"

Now, God said I'm going to send four sore judgments against Jerusalem. Famine is going to be one of them. Sword is going to be one of them. The pestilence is going to be one of them. He said, I'm just going to cut you off.

That's all there is to it. So the noisome beasts, all of it is going to come against Jerusalem. Now, I want you to come back in your Bibles to Lamentations chapter four. We already know that God says one of the judgments that he's going to send is famine. We already read in Jeremiah chapter 52 there about the destruction of Jerusalem, and the famine that stalked the city. Well, let's begin looking and see how bad it really was. Lamentations chapter 4, let's go back to verse 6. He says, "For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hand stayed on her." Now watch.

Her Nazarites, you remember the Nazarite vow? Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire. This is how good-looking and well-filled out these young men were. Ah, but look in verse 8.

Now, what are they like? "Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick." So they're starving to death. Their skin is withered, just barely clinging to their bones. Look what he says in verse 9. "They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger." "For these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field." So Jeremiah said at least when the Babylonians got you with the sword, you died quickly.

Now you're in the city and you're starving to death and it's a slow death. How bad was the famine? Well, let me just tell you. The famine was so harsh that murder and cannibalism were rampant. I want you to look. Look in verse 10. "The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people." So mothers killed, cooked and ate their own children.

May I remind you that the devastation of Jerusalem lasted for nearly two years. What did Jeremiah say back in verse six concerning Sodom and Gomorrah? Look at it. He says that was overthrown as in a moment and no hand stayed on her. When you get to the destruction of Jerusalem, hands stayed on Jerusalem. Human hands, wicked hands, vile hands for two years.

The Principle: Greater Responsibility, Greater Culpability

The more advantages and blessings one has, the greater the blameworthiness; illustrated by Levitical sacrifices and James 3:1.

There are many individuals that will say sin is sin. Well, I understand that all sin is wicked and vile and abominable. Yet, there are some sins that are more wicked and more grievous and more heinous than others. How can that be? Well, just stop and think. If a man steals, God requires restitution. But if a man murders, God requires the death penalty. So, murder obviously is a greater sin than theft. Kidnapping is a greater sin than theft. There are some sins that are greater than others. Now, I want you to understand this principle. The principle is the title of the message. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. The word culpability is from the Latin, and it denotes one who deserves censure or condemnation. Here's what God is saying. The more opportunities we have, the more advantages that we have, the more blessings that we have, the greater our responsibilities. The greater our blameworthiness, the greater our censure, the greater our culpability. So the more advantages and blessings that you have, it equals the fact that if you're condemned, you deserve greater condemnation.

Now, let me just show you. Suppose you woke up in the morning and bought a morning paper. And here's the headlines: "Ron Brown captured robbing the First National Bank." What? That can't be true. I know Ron. He's a Christian. He's a believer. He sat in church with us for years. That would be bad. That would really be bad. But let me tell you something worse. What if you woke up in the morning and got the morning paper and it said, "Pastor John Weaver arrested for robbing the First National Bank." Now, wait a minute. He's a Christian, he ought to know better. He deserves condemnation. But me? I've taught you for, I've preached for 49 years. I've taught right and wrong. Do you think that my condemnation should be greater than his? Well, of course. Why?

Because of my position of authority, responsibility and trust. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. Now, without turning there, let me just point this out. If you will take the time to read Leviticus chapter 4. In Leviticus chapter 4, you're going to find that different sacrifices are demanded by God based upon a person's office, lot, or responsibilities. For instance, the Bible tells you in Leviticus chapter 4, verse 3, that if a priest sinned, he had to bring a bullock to the Lord for a sacrifice. A bullock.

Say an ox, a young ox. Okay? If the entire congregation of Israel sinned, the entire congregation was equal to the priest. So in verse 13, they had to bring a bullock as well. If an individual ruler sinned, according to verse 22, he had to bring a kid of the goats, a male. Now, a male goat is not nearly as valuable as a bullock. Why is God saying the priest had to have a greater sacrifice? The whole congregation had to have a greater sacrifice. A ruler had to have a lesser sacrifice. And when you get to verses 27 through 32, if one of the common people sinned, then they could bring a kid of the goats or a kid of the lambs or the sheep, and it could be a female. It didn't have to be a male. In other words, their sacrifice was of less value than that of the ruler. And the ruler's was less value than that of the whole congregation or the priest. What God is doing is arguing there for us, from the greater to the lesser, and He's showing that the greater the responsibility, the greater the advantages, the greater the blessings, the greater the culpability.

God required a greater sacrifice from those who were in positions of responsibility. Wow. Why? People who have more light, more knowledge, more blessings, more advantages, are more culpable. They deserve a greater condemnation. They're more criminal in their actions. That ought to tell you something about our politicians. That should tell you something about our elected officials. They're more criminal. It's bad enough when an ordinary, everyday citizen does something like they're doing, but it's even worse when they're doing it.

New Testament Confirmation

Luke 12:47-48 teaches that knowledge increases accountability; Numbers 15 distinguishes ignorant from presumptuous sins.

Now I want you to go in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. And let's begin reading there with verse 40. And we'll read through verse 48. Luke 12. I'm just trying to show you this one principle to explain Lamentations 4 and verse 6. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. So look in Luke chapter 12, beginning there in verse 40.

Our Lord teaches, and he says this, "Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers." Now, I want you to note how our Lord makes application of this truth.

Watch carefully. "And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."

Now what did God just tell us? If you know to do right, and you have the opportunity to do right, and you don't do right, condemnation says many stripes. He that is ignorant and does wrong, God said he'll be beaten, but just with a few stripes. Why? He didn't have the knowledge. He didn't have the light. He didn't have the advantages. He didn't have the blessing. Then he said this: to him much is given, much is required. I want to tell you something, folks. Adultery, fornication are bad, wicked and wrong. It's bad and wicked for anyone to do anything like that. But when you hear pastors falling into that sin, it's even more wicked and more vile because they are more responsible and it's more criminal on their part. To whom much is given, much is required. There's a vast difference between a sin of ignorance and a deliberate sin. There's a vast difference between someone who sins from an office of trust and responsibility and opportunity than from someone who holds no such office or trust.

I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Numbers chapter 15. I'll quote this again before I close. But look at Numbers chapter 15. Look what God says. Numbers 15. Notice, if you would please, verses 29 through 31, Numbers 15 verses 29 through 31. Watch carefully, we're still enunciating a principle here. Numbers 15, beginning there with verse 29. God says, "Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them."

So it doesn't matter who you are. If you sin through ignorance, God says, I understand that. Watch verse 30. "But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him." Wow. So there's a difference between an ignorant sin and a deliberate sin. Well, let me ask this question. What advantage did Jerusalem have over Sodom and Gomorrah? What advantage did she have over anyone else or any other country? What actually made the sins of Judah and Jerusalem more heinous, more vile, more wicked and greater than the sins of Sodom? Well, Romans 3, verses 1 and 2, let me just quote it. You can write down Romans 3, verse 1. "What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?" Here's the answer.

Jerusalem's Advantages and Presumptuous Sin

Jerusalem had God's law, covenants, temple, and priests; her sins were deliberate, not ignorant, making them greater.

"Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." They had the law. They had the word of God. Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 6-8. Deuteronomy 4, verses 6-8. Deuteronomy 4, verse 6. Watch what God says concerning His law, His commandments, His judgments. Deuteronomy 4, verse 6. God says, "Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?"

What advantage do they have? They have the law of God. They have the word of God. They have the truth of God. May I remind you of Ephesians 2 verses 11 and 12. Let me just quote it for you. Listen, what Ephesians 2. Paul writes these Ephesians and he says, "Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." What did Israel have? The law of God. They had the covenants. They had the ordinances.

It was in Judah, at Jerusalem, where the tabernacle and the temple were located. It was in Judah, at Jerusalem, where God revealed himself in the Shekinah glory. It was in Judah at Jerusalem where you have the teaching priests and the Levites. It was in Judah at Jerusalem where you have the ordinances and the ceremonies and the sacrifices and the law. The priests and the Levites, as well as all the people, turned their backs upon God. The sins of Jerusalem were not sins of ignorance. They were sins of presumption. They were deliberate, premeditated sins against light, against truth, against all the advantages and opportunities and responsibilities that they held. Do you understand?

David's prayer request in Psalm 19 and verse 13, when David prayed, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression." He called it a great transgression to commit presumptuous sin. So it's one thing to sin ignorantly and unwittingly. It's quite another thing to sin knowingly, willingly and premeditatedly and presumptuously against God and his word.

Applications for Believers Today

New Testament believers have even greater blessings and thus greater responsibility; rejecting truth leads to strong delusion; we must continue in faith and obedience.

They had all the advantages. They had all the opportunities. They had all the blessings. And therefore, would God judge them? Jeremiah rightly said, the sins of the daughter of my people, the punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment. No hands stayed on her. Let me make just a couple of quick applications. The first one is this. If Israel had all of those advantages and blessings in the Old Testament, what do we have in the New Testament? How are we blessed with the Word of God, with opportunities, with advantages, with knowledge, with truth, with light, with responsibilities? We have a far greater responsibility of doing good to others and honoring and glorifying God and worshiping God now in truth and reality than they had in the Old Testament. Yet at the same time, we face a greater culpability.

For our Lord said, to whom much is given, much is required. We know more. We've been taught more. We have more light. We have more knowledge. Therefore, we have more responsibility. And when we sin, we will incur a greater culpability. Even as Christians, I'm not talking about losing our salvation, but I'm talking about being chastened by God.

The truth of the matter is, folks, we have far greater blessings and advantages than Israel did. One last passage. I want you to turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. I want you to watch this. 2 Thessalonians 2, and I want us to begin reading with verse 10, but 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 10, I want you to understand that when one sins against knowledge and against conscience, and against truth. He's placing himself in a very dangerous predicament. And if you can do this consistently and constantly, then something is dreadfully wrong with you.

Second Thessalonians, chapter two, look in verse 10. "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." They hated the truth. They wouldn't have the truth. Watch. "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." If you can turn your back on truth. If you can turn your back upon Christ. And his so great salvation and his word you're in a very precarious situation. The proof that we've ever savingly believed is that we will continue in faith. The proof that we've ever savingly repented is that we will continue in repentance. We'll continue in faith and trust and obedience to the Word of God. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. It's an awesome thing to think we'll give an account for what we know. And if you try to tell me, well, it's best then that a man stays ignorant. Oh, no, because then God's going to judge you for remaining ignorant when you could have had truth and could have had knowledge. You can't sin against God and escape. I'd rather have the knowledge to be right and do right than to be ignorant and do wrong and still be judged by God. It's only His grace and mercy that gives us truth and light and blessings. But once He gives them, what a greater responsibility that we have. And when we sin against that truth, we deserve a greater censure.

We have a greater culpability. Because of the advantages that God has given us. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee. We thank you for your word, for your truth, for your blessings. And we ask, Lord, that you would indeed teach us and help us to see and understand all the advantages, Lord, that you've given us. Oh, Lord, may we not despise them. But may we use them for your honor and your glory, and to serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear, and to maintain our obedience to thee in every area of our lives. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Greater Responsibility Brings Greater Culpability

Summary: Those with more knowledge, blessings, and opportunities face stricter judgment when they sin.

Evidence: The title and repeated emphasis: 'The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability.'

Jerusalem's Sins Exceeded Sodom's

Summary: Despite Sodom's notoriety, Jerusalem's sins were worse because she sinned against greater light.

Evidence: Ezekiel 16:47-48: 'Sodom thy sister hath not done... as thou hast done.'

Spiritual Sins Are Greater Than Physical Sins

Summary: Sins like idolatry and hypocrisy directly assault God's person and attributes.

Evidence: Spiritual sins target God directly; David said, 'Against thee only have I sinned.'

Presumptuous Sin vs. Sin of Ignorance

Summary: Deliberate, knowing sin incurs greater judgment than unwitting sin.

Evidence: Numbers 15:29-31 distinguishes ignorant from presumptuous sin; David prayed against presumptuous sins.

The Severity of Jerusalem's Judgment

Summary: Jerusalem's two-year siege with famine, cannibalism, and destruction was far worse than Sodom's instant overthrow.

Evidence: Lamentations 4:8-10 describes starvation and cannibalism; Jeremiah 52 details the siege.

Accountability for Knowledge

Summary: To whom much is given, much is required; knowing to do good and not doing it is sin.

Evidence: Luke 12:47-48; James 4:17.

Key Arguments

Jerusalem's punishment was greater than Sodom's because her sins were greater.

Summary: Jeremiah declares Jerusalem's punishment exceeded Sodom's; Ezekiel confirms Jerusalem's sins were worse.

Evidence: Lamentations 4:6; Ezekiel 16:47-48.

Sodom's sins included pride, fullness, idleness, and neglect of the poor, not just sodomy.

Summary: Ezekiel 16:49-50 lists Sodom's sins without mentioning sodomy, emphasizing social and spiritual pride.

Evidence: Ezekiel 16:49-50: 'pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness...'

Spiritual sins are more heinous than physical sins.

Summary: Spiritual sins directly target God; David acknowledged his sin was primarily against God.

Evidence: Psalm 51:4; discussion of idolatry and blasphemy.

Greater knowledge and privilege increase culpability.

Summary: The Levitical sacrifices required greater offerings from priests and the congregation; James 3:1 warns teachers of greater judgment.

Evidence: Leviticus 4; James 3:1.

Presumptuous sins incur greater judgment than ignorant sins.

Summary: Numbers 15:29-31 prescribes different treatment for ignorant vs. presumptuous sin; Luke 12:47-48 teaches proportional punishment.

Evidence: Numbers 15:29-31; Luke 12:47-48.

Jerusalem's advantages made her sins presumptuous.

Summary: Jerusalem had God's law, temple, and priests; her sins were deliberate, not ignorant.

Evidence: Romans 3:1-2; Deuteronomy 4:6-8.

New Testament believers have even greater responsibility.

Summary: We have more light and blessings than Old Testament Israel, so our culpability is greater.

Evidence: Application section referencing Luke 12:48.

Rejecting truth leads to strong delusion.

Summary: Those who persistently reject truth may be given over to believe a lie.

Evidence: 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.

Scripture References

Lamentations 4:6

Context: The key text: Jerusalem's punishment greater than Sodom's.

Jeremiah 7:29

Context: God commands lamentation over Jerusalem's rejection.

Jeremiah 9:9, 17-22

Context: Call for mourning women to wail over Jerusalem's destruction.

Amos 5:1

Context: God takes up a lamentation against Israel.

Revelation 11:8

Context: Jerusalem spiritually called Sodom and Egypt.

Deuteronomy 32:32

Context: Israel's vine is of the vine of Sodom.

Isaiah 1:8-10

Context: Rulers of Jerusalem addressed as rulers of Sodom.

Isaiah 3:9

Context: They declare their sin as Sodom.

Jeremiah 23:14

Context: Prophets of Jerusalem are as Sodom and Gomorrah.

Psalm 51:4

Context: David's sin was primarily against God.

Ezekiel 16:44-50

Context: Sodom's sins listed; Jerusalem worse than Sodom.

Genesis 19:12-25

Context: Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Jeremiah 52:1-7

Context: Siege and destruction of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 14:21

Context: Four sore judgments against Jerusalem.

Lamentations 4:8-10

Context: Famine and cannibalism in Jerusalem.

Leviticus 4

Context: Different sacrifices based on responsibility.

James 3:1

Context: Teachers will receive greater condemnation.

James 4:17

Context: Knowing to do good and not doing it is sin.

Luke 12:40-48

Context: Parable of faithful steward; much given, much required.

Numbers 15:29-31

Context: Distinction between ignorant and presumptuous sin.

Historical References

Nebuchadnezzar's sieges of Jerusalem (605 and 586 B.C.)

Context: The first siege left the city standing; the second resulted in total destruction after a two-year siege.

Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

Context: Instantaneous overthrow by brimstone and fire as judgment for their sins.

Important Quotes

For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment and no hands stayed on her.

Significance: The central text establishing that Jerusalem's judgment exceeded Sodom's.

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

Significance: Lists Sodom's sins, emphasizing social and spiritual pride rather than sodomy.

As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

Significance: God's declaration that Jerusalem's sins were worse than Sodom's.

My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

Significance: New Testament warning that teachers face stricter judgment.

And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.

Significance: Jesus' teaching on proportional accountability based on knowledge.

For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Significance: The principle that greater privilege brings greater responsibility.

But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

Significance: Distinction between ignorant and deliberate sin with severe consequences for presumption.

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Significance: James' concise statement on the sin of omission for those with knowledge.

Discussion Questions

Why does God consider Jerusalem's sins greater than Sodom's, and what does this teach about the relationship between knowledge and accountability?

Context: Based on Ezekiel 16:47-48 and the principle of greater responsibility.

How does the list of Sodom's sins in Ezekiel 16:49-50 challenge common assumptions about what made Sodom wicked?

Context: Pride, fullness, idleness, and neglect of the poor are highlighted.

In what ways do spiritual sins (idolatry, hypocrisy) directly target God, and why are they considered more heinous?

Context: Discussion of spiritual vs. physical sins.

How does the prolonged suffering of Jerusalem's siege contrast with Sodom's instant destruction, and what does this reveal about God's judgment?

Context: Lamentations 4 and Jeremiah 52 describe the siege.

What does the Levitical sacrificial system teach about varying degrees of responsibility and culpability?

Context: Leviticus 4 prescribes different sacrifices for priests, rulers, and common people.

How should the warning of James 3:1 affect those in teaching or leadership roles today?

Context: Teachers will receive greater condemnation.

What is the difference between a sin of ignorance and a presumptuous sin, and how does Numbers 15:29-31 inform our understanding of God's justice?

Context: Distinction between ignorant and deliberate sin.

In light of Luke 12:48, what specific responsibilities do New Testament believers have that exceed those of Old Testament Israel?

Context: Application of greater blessings and accountability.

Applications

Recognize the weight of spiritual privilege

Summary: Believers today have greater light and blessings than Old Testament Israel, so we must live with heightened awareness of our accountability.

Evidence: Application section: 'We have a far greater responsibility... we face a greater culpability.'

Guard against presumptuous sin

Summary: Deliberate sin against known truth is especially dangerous; pray as David did to be kept from presumptuous sins.

Evidence: Psalm 19:13; Numbers 15:30-31.

Embrace the responsibility of knowledge

Summary: Rather than avoiding truth to lessen accountability, we should seek knowledge and obey it, trusting God's grace.

Evidence: Closing remarks: 'I'd rather have the knowledge to be right and do right than to be ignorant and do wrong.'

Continue in faith and obedience

Summary: The proof of saving faith is perseverance; we must continue in faith, repentance, and obedience to God's Word.

Evidence: Application: 'The proof that we've ever savingly believed is that we will continue in faith.'

Beware of rejecting truth

Summary: Persistent rejection of truth can lead to strong delusion; we must love and receive the truth.

Evidence: 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.

Serve God acceptably with reverence

Summary: Use God-given advantages to honor Him and serve with godly fear.

Evidence: Closing prayer: 'may we use them for your honor and your glory, and to serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T15:13:28Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T04:21:30Z

Clean Transcript

Greater Responsibility, Greater Culpability

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Today I want you to open your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Lamentations chapter 4. Lamentations chapter 4. And we're going to be looking at verse 6. Lamentations chapter 4 and verse 6. The title of the message is, "The Greater the Responsibility, the Greater the Culpability." You will understand that momentarily. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. So look in Lamentations chapter 4. We're going to read just one verse, that is verse 6 for right now.
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Where Jeremiah says, "For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment and no hands stayed on her." Now we're looking at the book of Lamentations. The word Lamentations or the act of lamentations is from the ancient custom of composing and singing lamentations over deceased friends. David composed lamentations over Saul and Jonathan in 2 Samuel chapter 1 and over Abner in 2 Samuel chapter 3.
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In early times this practice also was applied to cities and to countries, especially in relationship to their fall and judgment. Now I won't get into whole Lamentations, we're coming right back there, but I want you to go to Jeremiah chapter 7 to begin with, and let me just show you exactly what I'm talking about. Singing these lamentations over countries and their fall and their judgment. So Lamentations chapter 7 to begin with and verse 29.
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Note if you would, God says this. Jeremiah 7 verse 29: "Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath." So God says, since I've rejected you, there's not going to be anything but judgment. So you need to take up a lamentation. Now look in Jeremiah chapter 9. And we'll begin at verse 9 and then skip down to verse 17. Jeremiah 9, and look if you would please at verse 9. God asked, "Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord?"
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"Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" So he's talking about Jerusalem. Skip down now to verse 17 and watch what he says. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for cunning women, that they may come, and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion. How are we spoiled?"
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"We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation. Why? For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. Speak, thus saith the Lord, even the carcasses of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them."
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Now, if you want to turn to the book of Amos chapter 5 in verse 1, if not, I'll just quote it for you. God says this concerning Israel: "Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel." So lamentations then were sung, not just over dead friends and family members, but over cities and over countries as well. Someone has said, well, that the Book of Lamentations is a memorial dirge that was written on the destruction and the humiliation of Jerusalem.
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It is indeed a cloudburst of grief. It is a river of tears and a sea of sobs. It has been called rightly an elegy written in a graveyard. There are only five chapters in the Book of Lamentations. Each of these chapters is a poem, and each poem then pictures the destruction of Jerusalem from a different perspective. For instance, chapter one reveals the effects of sin, the people in captivity, and the acts of oppression, starvation, tyranny, and scoffing. When you get to chapter 2, you see the destruction of Jerusalem as an act of God's wrath against the sins of the people and their impotency to avert that wrath. When you get to chapter 3, you see the deep sufferings of God's people in the midst of general distress and yet their ability to perceive the justice and the mercy and the compassion of God. When you get to Lamentations chapter 4, you see the punishment for the sins of the people and their leaders. And finally in chapter 5, you have where the Lord is entreated to remove the distress and the disgrace of His people.
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Now if you look back to Lamentations 4 and verse 6 again, since this verse occurs under the general heading, the punishment for the sins of the people and their leaders, I want to emphasize one particular truth. Look in verse 6, where Jeremiah says, "For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom that was overthrown as in a moment, no hands stayed on her."
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Now, to me, this is a very amazing statement. And yet at the same time, it illuminates a wonderful, yet what I would call a very dreadful truth. Notice, if you would, that Jeremiah is saying that the punishment of Jerusalem was greater than the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah. So you're forced then to ask yourself this question. Why was Jerusalem punished so strenuously? We all know the wickedness and the perversity and the depravity of Sodom and Gomorrah. We also know that they deserved exactly that which they received, utter destruction. So you have to ask this question. Was Jerusalem more vile and wicked than Sodom?
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And the answer is yes. Jerusalem was more vile and wicked than Sodom. In fact, many times in the Bible, God refers to Jerusalem as Sodom and Gomorrah or Sodom and Egypt. Let me show you. I want you to hold Lamentations 4, but look first in the book of Revelation chapter 11 and verse 8. Revelation 11 and verse 8. Note, if you would, what the Bible says, Revelation 11 and verse 8, we're talking about the two witnesses that have been killed. And the Bible says this, Revelation 11 and verse 8, "And their dead bodies shall lie on the street of that great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." Well, where was our Lord crucified? Jerusalem. Now, did you hear what God says? That Jerusalem is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt. Well, I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32. We're going to look at several passages. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32. Here's what God says about Israel. Notice, if you would, Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32.
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Very interesting passage. God says, Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32, "For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter." He's talking about Israel. So he says their vine is the vine of Sodom and they're the fields of Gomorrah. If you would turn right over to the book of Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. And look at verses 8 through 10, Isaiah chapter 1, beginning there with verse 8, and we'll read through verse 10. It's interesting how many times God refers to Jerusalem and to Israel as a whole as Sodom and Gomorrah. Notice Isaiah chapter 1, verse 8, "And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city." What Isaiah says, "Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been made like unto Gomorrah." Now watch verse 10. God is speaking to the rulers of Israel and he says, "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom."
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"Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah." And he's talking to Jerusalem. He's talking to Israel. Look in Isaiah chapter 3, beginning there with verse 9. Isaiah chapter 3 verse 9, he says this concerning Israel, he says, "The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, and they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves."
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"Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings." But note, if you would, they declare their sin as Sodom. They hide it not. Then if you would turn to Jeremiah 23. And look at verse 14, Jeremiah 23 and verse 14. Another interesting passage. Jeremiah 23 verse 14, God says, "I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah." So over and over God refers to Judah and Jerusalem particularly as Sodom and Gomorrah. Now I want you to understand that Jerusalem committed not only physical sins, but spiritual sins as well.
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Let me give you something to ponder. Spiritual sins are greater than physical sins. I understand that all sin is against God. You remember when David committed adultery with Bathsheba. He had Uriah the Hittite killed with the sword of the children of Ammon. But he said in Psalm 51 and verse 4, "Against thee, and against thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight." So he was understanding that his sin was primarily against God. Yes, he sinned against Bathsheba. Yes, he sinned against Uriah. Yes, he sinned against their family, his family. He sinned against the whole nation. That is true. But he is saying primarily that sin is against God. But I want you to understand this. Spiritual sins are directed specifically against God. So when you think about idolatry, and blasphemy, hypocrisy, and many other spiritual sins, they target God directly. They not only assault and assail His person, but His attributes as well.
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Now, let me ask you a question. Do you really know what the sins of Sodom were? Now, it is true that sodomy is a sin and it is from Sodom that we derive the name of that particular sin. But there were a multitude of other sins in Sodom and Gomorrah as well. And I want you to know that when God lists the category of her sins in the book of Ezekiel, He does not even mention the sin of sodomy. I want you to look. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 16. Ezekiel, chapter 16. And I want you to note particularly now how God is knocking not only Judah and Jerusalem, but Israel and Samaria. Remember, Samaria was the capital of the ten northern tribes, and Jerusalem is the capital of the two southern tribes. So look what he says. Let's begin reading Ezekiel 16, verse 44. Ezekiel 16, verse 44.
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"Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter." Now look what God says about not only Judah and Jerusalem, but Samaria and Israel. He says, "Thou art thy mother's daughter, that loatheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite."
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Now, I want you to note right now, he's not just simply talking about physical adultery, but he's talking about spiritual adultery. Look in verse 46. "And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters." So here is Judah sitting in the middle. On the left hand is Samaria. On the right hand is Sodom. Look, if you would, at verse 47. He's talking about Judah and Jerusalem.
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"Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters." Did you hear what God has just said? God has just said that Jerusalem and Judah were greater sinners than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Wow. As wicked, as vile as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain were, Judah and Jerusalem's sins exceeded their sins.
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Now, I want you to remember something before I go any further. I want you to remember the declaration of Jeremiah in Lamentations 4 and verse 6 where he said that the punishment of my people, that is the punishment of Jerusalem, was greater than the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now if I were to ask you what was the sin of Sodom, most everyone is going to answer sodomy. Well, sodomy was certainly included in Sodom's sin, but there was far more to their sin than that.
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So let's look at verses 49 and 50 and find out what their sins really were. He names them. Remember now, he says that Jerusalem has done worse than Sodom. In verse 49 he says, "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me."
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"Therefore I took them away as I saw good." Wow. I want you to note the sins that God particularly lists in relationship to Sodom, Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain. He talks about their pride, their fullness of bread, their idleness, their haughtiness, their hardness toward the poor and the needy. And God says because they were haughty and proud and rebellious, therefore I took them away as I saw good. So I want you to pay close attention to the fact that in this passage, God does not even list sodomy as one of their sins, although we know it really was. But he begins with pride. Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Pride says God will not judge me. Pride says I will not be held accountable. Pride says I will escape. Not only pride, but fullness of bread. They had plenty.
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They had everything they needed. They were haughty. They were selfish. They did not consider the poor and the needy. And then he said this, the abundance of idleness. Wow. You know, we have an old adage, an idle mind is the devil's workshop. And that comes from this passage. But if an idle mind is the devil's workshop, likewise are idle hands. When you have nothing to do. That's why it's wise to stay busy, and especially busy in the things of God. But yes, God says, I dealt with Sodom and Gomorrah and those cities of the plain as I saw good.
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Now, I want you to remember something. God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain in a moment. What is it that Jeremiah says in Lamentations 4 verse 6? Look back there just for a moment. Then we're going back to Genesis. But I want you to pay attention to what he says. Look in Lamentations chapter 4 and verse 6. He's talking about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and he says this. He says, "For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment and no hand stayed on her." So, let's go back in our Bibles, if you would, to Genesis chapter 19. And let's begin reading there with verse 12. Now, I want you to observe how God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. We'll read through verse 25. Genesis chapter 19, beginning there with verse 12. Watch carefully. Genesis chapter 19, verse 12.
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"And the men," that is the angels, "said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters? and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it." And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, "Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city." But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. And 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." And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
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"And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?)"
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"And my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar." Now watch, "The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground."
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I want you to note something. Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain were overthrown in a heartbeat. It was instantaneous. It was sure, it was sudden, and it was solemn. One moment they were alive, reveling in their sins and their pride and their haughtiness, and the next moment they were dead and facing the judgment of God. So how did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain? Instantaneously.
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They never knew what hit them. What did Jeremiah say? He said, the judgment of the daughter of my people is greater than the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. You see, the destruction of Jerusalem was not like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem two major times. The first time he came against Jerusalem was in 605 B.C. The second time he came back in 586 B.C. The first time he came, he left the city standing. He merely made the city a tribute city and he received tribute and he took prisoners. However, he made Zedekiah king, and Zedekiah rebelled and revolted against him and sought to Egypt for help. And so when Nebuchadnezzar had to come back a second time, he was going to make sure he did not have to come back a third time. I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 52, and I want you to look at what the Bible tells us concerning the destruction of Jerusalem in 586. Look in Jeremiah, chapter 52, and let's begin reading there with verse 1.
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Jeremiah 52, verse 1. Jeremiah 52, verse 1. The Bible says, "Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign," now watch carefully, "in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land."
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Let me just stop right there. I hope you've already noticed now the siege of Jerusalem lasted nearly two years. OK, it started in the ninth month or in the ninth year of Zedekiah and didn't end until the 11th year of Zedekiah.
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Now watch verse seven, verse six. Let's read verse six. "And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain." Well, you can read the rest of it yourself. The truth of the matter is, when Nebuchadnezzar came back he besieged this city for two years.
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He was going to make sure that there were no more revolts, so there was going to be a total destruction of the city. The walls were going to be broken down, the palace was going to be destroyed, the temple was going to be destroyed, and thus famine and pestilence and wild beasts and even the sword stalked the city.
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Now, I want you to turn right on over, if you would. We're coming back to Lamentations, but turn right over to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 14. And I want you to see the four sore judgments that God decreed against Jerusalem. Look at Ezekiel, chapter 14 and verse 21. And all of these came to pass, by the way. Ezekiel 14, verse 21. Watch carefully. God says, "For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?" Now, God said I'm going to send four sore judgments against Jerusalem. Famine is going to be one of them. Sword is going to be one of them. The pestilence is going to be one of them. He said, I'm just going to cut you off.
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That's all there is to it. So the noisome beasts, all of it is going to come against Jerusalem.
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Now, I want you to come back in your Bibles to Lamentations chapter four. We already know that God says one of the judgments that he's going to send is famine. We already read in Jeremiah chapter 52 there about the destruction of Jerusalem, and the famine that stalked the city. Well, let's begin looking and see how bad it really was. Lamentations chapter 4, let's go back to verse 6. He says, "For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hand stayed on her." Now watch.
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Her Nazarites, you remember the Nazarite vow? Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire. This is how good-looking and well-filled out these young men were. Ah, but look in verse 8.
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Now, what are they like? "Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick." So they're starving to death. Their skin is withered, just barely clinging to their bones. Look what he says in verse 9. "They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger."
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"For these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field." So Jeremiah said at least when the Babylonians got you with the sword, you died quickly.
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Now you're in the city and you're starving to death and it's a slow death. How bad was the famine? Well, let me just tell you. The famine was so harsh that murder and cannibalism were rampant. I want you to look. Look in verse 10. "The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people." So mothers killed, cooked and ate their own children.
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May I remind you that the devastation of Jerusalem lasted for nearly two years. What did Jeremiah say back in verse six concerning Sodom and Gomorrah? Look at it. He says that was overthrown as in a moment and no hand stayed on her. When you get to the destruction of Jerusalem, hands stayed on Jerusalem. Human hands, wicked hands, vile hands for two years.
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Now you have to ask this question. Why did Jerusalem suffer more than Sodom? The answer is, obviously, because her sins were greater. I want you to look back or turn right over to the book of Ezekiel 16 again. Ezekiel 16. I want to go back to verses 47, 48, we read these earlier, but I want you to see them. Ezekiel 16, verse 47, verse 48, he's talking about Judah and Jerusalem.
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He says, "Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters." So God says the sins of Jerusalem were greater than the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, why were they considered greater?
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There are many individuals that will say sin is sin. Well, I understand that all sin is wicked and vile and abominable. Yet, there are some sins that are more wicked and more grievous and more heinous than others. How can that be? Well, just stop and think. If a man steals, God requires restitution. But if a man murders, God requires the death penalty. So, murder obviously is a greater sin than theft. Kidnapping is a greater sin than theft. There are some sins that are greater than others. Now, I want you to understand this principle. The principle is the title of the message. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. The word culpability is from the Latin, and it denotes one who deserves censure or condemnation. Here's what God is saying. The more opportunities we have, the more advantages that we have, the more blessings that we have, the greater our responsibilities. The greater our blameworthiness, the greater our censure, the greater our culpability. So the more advantages and blessings that you have, it equals the fact that if you're condemned, you deserve greater condemnation.
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Now, let me just show you. Suppose you woke up in the morning and bought a morning paper. And here's the headlines: "Ron Brown captured robbing the First National Bank." What? That can't be true. I know Ron. He's a Christian. He's a believer. He sat in church with us for years. That would be bad. That would really be bad. But let me tell you something worse. What if you woke up in the morning and got the morning paper and it said, "Pastor John Weaver arrested for robbing the First National Bank." Now, wait a minute. He's a Christian, he ought to know better. He deserves condemnation. But me? I've taught you for, I've preached for 49 years. I've taught right and wrong. Do you think that my condemnation should be greater than his? Well, of course. Why?
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Because of my position of authority, responsibility and trust. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability.
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Now, without turning there, let me just point this out. If you will take the time to read Leviticus chapter 4. In Leviticus chapter 4, you're going to find that different sacrifices are demanded by God based upon a person's office, lot, or responsibilities. For instance, the Bible tells you in Leviticus chapter 4, verse 3, that if a priest sinned, he had to bring a bullock to the Lord for a sacrifice. A bullock.
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Say an ox, a young ox. Okay? If the entire congregation of Israel sinned, the entire congregation was equal to the priest. So in verse 13, they had to bring a bullock as well. If an individual ruler sinned, according to verse 22, he had to bring a kid of the goats, a male. Now, a male goat is not nearly as valuable as a bullock. Why is God saying the priest had to have a greater sacrifice? The whole congregation had to have a greater sacrifice. A ruler had to have a lesser sacrifice. And when you get to verses 27 through 32, if one of the common people sinned, then they could bring a kid of the goats or a kid of the lambs or the sheep, and it could be a female. It didn't have to be a male. In other words, their sacrifice was of less value than that of the ruler. And the ruler's was less value than that of the whole congregation or the priest. What God is doing is arguing there for us, from the greater to the lesser, and He's showing that the greater the responsibility, the greater the advantages, the greater the blessings, the greater the culpability.
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God required a greater sacrifice from those who were in positions of responsibility. Wow. Why? People who have more light, more knowledge, more blessings, more advantages, are more culpable. They deserve a greater condemnation. They're more criminal in their actions. That ought to tell you something about our politicians. That should tell you something about our elected officials. They're more criminal. It's bad enough when an ordinary, everyday citizen does something like they're doing, but it's even worse when they're doing it.
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Now, let me show you some scriptures very quickly. I want you to turn to the book of James, chapter 3, verse 1. I want to tie this together for you. Look in the book of James, chapter 3 and verse 1. Very interesting statement. James 3 and verse 1. Look what James writes. James 3, verse 1. He says, "My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation." What? Be not many masters, why? Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. The greater the advantages, the greater the blessings, the more responsible and the more culpable you are. Look in your Bibles to James 4 and verse 17. James 4 verse 17.
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God says, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Wow. You know to do good and you don't do it? To you it is sin.
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Now I want you to go in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. And let's begin reading there with verse 40. And we'll read through verse 48. Luke 12. I'm just trying to show you this one principle to explain Lamentations 4 and verse 6. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. So look in Luke chapter 12, beginning there in verse 40.
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Our Lord teaches, and he says this, "Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers." Now, I want you to note how our Lord makes application of this truth.
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Watch carefully. "And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."
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Now what did God just tell us? If you know to do right, and you have the opportunity to do right, and you don't do right, condemnation says many stripes. He that is ignorant and does wrong, God said he'll be beaten, but just with a few stripes. Why? He didn't have the knowledge. He didn't have the light. He didn't have the advantages. He didn't have the blessing. Then he said this: to him much is given, much is required. I want to tell you something, folks. Adultery, fornication are bad, wicked and wrong. It's bad and wicked for anyone to do anything like that. But when you hear pastors falling into that sin, it's even more wicked and more vile because they are more responsible and it's more criminal on their part. To whom much is given, much is required. There's a vast difference between a sin of ignorance and a deliberate sin. There's a vast difference between someone who sins from an office of trust and responsibility and opportunity than from someone who holds no such office or trust.
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I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Numbers chapter 15. I'll quote this again before I close. But look at Numbers chapter 15. Look what God says. Numbers 15. Notice, if you would please, verses 29 through 31, Numbers 15 verses 29 through 31. Watch carefully, we're still enunciating a principle here. Numbers 15, beginning there with verse 29. God says, "Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them."
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So it doesn't matter who you are. If you sin through ignorance, God says, I understand that. Watch verse 30. "But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him."
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Wow. So there's a difference between an ignorant sin and a deliberate sin. Well, let me ask this question. What advantage did Jerusalem have over Sodom and Gomorrah? What advantage did she have over anyone else or any other country? What actually made the sins of Judah and Jerusalem more heinous, more vile, more wicked and greater than the sins of Sodom? Well, Romans 3, verses 1 and 2, let me just quote it. You can write down Romans 3, verse 1. "What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?" Here's the answer.
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"Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." They had the law. They had the word of God. Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 6-8. Deuteronomy 4, verses 6-8. Deuteronomy 4, verse 6. Watch what God says concerning His law, His commandments, His judgments. Deuteronomy 4, verse 6. God says, "Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?"
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What advantage do they have? They have the law of God. They have the word of God. They have the truth of God. May I remind you of Ephesians 2 verses 11 and 12. Let me just quote it for you. Listen, what Ephesians 2. Paul writes these Ephesians and he says, "Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." What did Israel have? The law of God. They had the covenants. They had the ordinances.
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It was in Judah, at Jerusalem, where the tabernacle and the temple were located. It was in Judah, at Jerusalem, where God revealed himself in the Shekinah glory. It was in Judah at Jerusalem where you have the teaching priests and the Levites. It was in Judah at Jerusalem where you have the ordinances and the ceremonies and the sacrifices and the law. The priests and the Levites, as well as all the people, turned their backs upon God. The sins of Jerusalem were not sins of ignorance. They were sins of presumption. They were deliberate, premeditated sins against light, against truth, against all the advantages and opportunities and responsibilities that they held. Do you understand?
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David's prayer request in Psalm 19 and verse 13, when David prayed, "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression." He called it a great transgression to commit presumptuous sin. So it's one thing to sin ignorantly and unwittingly. It's quite another thing to sin knowingly, willingly and premeditatedly and presumptuously against God and his word.
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Now let me just quote this again. I told you I was going to quote it. Numbers 15. Don't turn there. Verses 29 through 31. God said, "Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him." That's why James 4 and verse 17, James says, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Jerusalem knew to do good.
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They had all the advantages. They had all the opportunities. They had all the blessings. And therefore, would God judge them? Jeremiah rightly said, the sins of the daughter of my people, the punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment. No hands stayed on her. Let me make just a couple of quick applications. The first one is this. If Israel had all of those advantages and blessings in the Old Testament, what do we have in the New Testament? How are we blessed with the Word of God, with opportunities, with advantages, with knowledge, with truth, with light, with responsibilities? We have a far greater responsibility of doing good to others and honoring and glorifying God and worshiping God now in truth and reality than they had in the Old Testament. Yet at the same time, we face a greater culpability.
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For our Lord said, to whom much is given, much is required. We know more. We've been taught more. We have more light. We have more knowledge. Therefore, we have more responsibility. And when we sin, we will incur a greater culpability. Even as Christians, I'm not talking about losing our salvation, but I'm talking about being chastened by God.
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The truth of the matter is, folks, we have far greater blessings and advantages than Israel did. One last passage. I want you to turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. I want you to watch this. 2 Thessalonians 2, and I want us to begin reading with verse 10, but 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 10, I want you to understand that when one sins against knowledge and against conscience, and against truth.
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He's placing himself in a very dangerous predicament. And if you can do this consistently and constantly, then something is dreadfully wrong with you.
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Second Thessalonians, chapter two, look in verse 10. "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." They hated the truth. They wouldn't have the truth. Watch. "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." If you can turn your back on truth. If you can turn your back upon Christ.
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And his so great salvation and his word you're in a very precarious situation. The proof that we've ever savingly believed is that we will continue in faith. The proof that we've ever savingly repented is that we will continue in repentance. We'll continue in faith and trust and obedience to the Word of God. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. It's an awesome thing to think we'll give an account for what we know. And if you try to tell me, well, it's best then that a man stays ignorant. Oh, no, because then God's going to judge you for remaining ignorant when you could have had truth and could have had knowledge. You can't sin against God and escape. I'd rather have the knowledge to be right and do right than to be ignorant and do wrong and still be judged by God. It's only His grace and mercy that gives us truth and light and blessings. But once He gives them, what a greater responsibility that we have. And when we sin against that truth, we deserve a greater censure.
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We have a greater culpability. Because of the advantages that God has given us. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee. We thank you for your word, for your truth, for your blessings. And we ask, Lord, that you would indeed teach us and help us to see and understand all the advantages, Lord, that you've given us. Oh, Lord, may we not despise them. But may we use them for your honor and your glory, and to serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear, and to maintain our obedience to thee in every area of our lives. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T15:13:28Z

Greater Responsibility, Greater Culpability

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver expounds Lamentations 4:6 to show that Jerusalem's punishment exceeded Sodom's because her sins were greater, having been committed against greater light and privilege. The principle is that greater responsibility brings greater culpability—those with more knowledge, blessings, and opportunities face stricter judgment. Applications warn that New Testament believers have even greater advantages and thus greater accountability.

Introduction and Text

Reading Lamentations 4:6 and introducing the title: the greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability.

Scripture Reading — Lamentations 4:6

Today I want you to open your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Lamentations chapter 4. Lamentations chapter 4. And we're going to be looking at verse 6. Lamentations chapter 4 and verse 6. The title of the message is, "The Greater the Responsibility, the Greater the Culpability." You will understand that momentarily. The greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability. So look in Lamentations chapter 4. We're going to read just one verse, that is verse 6 for right now.

The Nature of Lamentations

Lamentations were sung over deceased friends, cities, and countries; the book is a memorial dirge on Jerusalem's destruction.

Note if you would, God says this. Jeremiah 7 verse 29:

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 7:29

"Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath."

Now, if you want to turn to the book of Amos chapter 5 in verse 1, if not, I'll just quote it for you. God says this concerning Israel:

Scripture Reading — Amos 5:1

"Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel."

Overview of Lamentations' Five Poems

Each chapter pictures Jerusalem's destruction from a different perspective: effects of sin, God's wrath, suffering with hope, punishment for sins, and plea for restoration.

Jerusalem's Punishment Greater than Sodom's

Jeremiah states Jerusalem's punishment exceeded Sodom's, raising the question of why.

Jerusalem Called Sodom and Gomorrah

Scripture repeatedly calls Jerusalem Sodom and Gomorrah, indicating her spiritual and physical wickedness.

Scripture Reading — Revelation 11:8

"And their dead bodies shall lie on the street of that great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified."

Very interesting passage. God says, Deuteronomy 32 and verse 32,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 32:32

"For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter."

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 3:9

"The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, and they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves."

Spiritual Sins Greater than Physical

Spiritual sins directly target God and are more heinous; David recognized sin is primarily against God.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 51:4

"Against thee, and against thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight."

The Sins of Sodom Listed in Ezekiel 16

Ezekiel 16:44-50 lists Sodom's sins as pride, fullness of bread, idleness, haughtiness, and neglect of the poor—not mentioning sodomy—and declares Jerusalem worse.

Sodom's Instant Destruction vs. Jerusalem's Prolonged Siege

Sodom was overthrown in a moment; Jerusalem endured a two-year siege with famine, sword, pestilence, and cannibalism.

Jeremiah 52, verse 1. Jeremiah 52, verse 1. The Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 52:1-7

"Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign,"

now watch carefully,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 52:1-7

"in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land."

Scripture Reading — Ezekiel 14:21

"For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?"

The Principle: Greater Responsibility, Greater Culpability

The more advantages and blessings one has, the greater the blameworthiness; illustrated by Levitical sacrifices and James 3:1.

New Testament Confirmation

Luke 12:47-48 teaches that knowledge increases accountability; Numbers 15 distinguishes ignorant from presumptuous sins.

Jerusalem's Advantages and Presumptuous Sin

Jerusalem had God's law, covenants, temple, and priests; her sins were deliberate, not ignorant, making them greater.

Applications for Believers Today

New Testament believers have even greater blessings and thus greater responsibility; rejecting truth leads to strong delusion; we must continue in faith and obedience.

Greater Responsibility, Greater Culpability

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	42914013360
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Revelation: Witness, Judgment, and the Throne
Genre	Sermon
Date	2014-03-23
Dictation Name
Book	Book 140: Revelation: Witness, Judgment, and the Throne — Chapter 7
Source Timed Segments	70

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Text: Reading Lamentations 4:6 and introducing the title: the greater the responsibility, the greater the culpability.
The Nature of Lamentations: Lamentations were sung over deceased friends, cities, and countries; the book is a memorial dirge on Jerusalem's destruction.
Overview of Lamentations' Five Poems: Each chapter pictures Jerusalem's destruction from a different perspective: effects of sin, God's wrath, suffering with hope, punishment for sins, and plea for restoration.
Jerusalem's Punishment Greater than Sodom's: Jeremiah states Jerusalem's punishment exceeded Sodom's, raising the question of why.
Jerusalem Called Sodom and Gomorrah: Scripture repeatedly calls Jerusalem Sodom and Gomorrah, indicating her spiritual and physical wickedness.
Spiritual Sins Greater than Physical: Spiritual sins directly target God and are more heinous; David recognized sin is primarily against God.
The Sins of Sodom Listed in Ezekiel 16: Ezekiel 16:44-50 lists Sodom's sins as pride, fullness of bread, idleness, haughtiness, and neglect of the poor—not mentioning sodomy—and declares Jerusalem worse.
Sodom's Instant Destruction vs. Jerusalem's Prolonged Siege: Sodom was overthrown in a moment; Jerusalem endured a two-year siege with famine, sword, pestilence, and cannibalism.
The Principle: Greater Responsibility, Greater Culpability: The more advantages and blessings one has, the greater the blameworthiness; illustrated by Levitical sacrifices and James 3:1.
New Testament Confirmation: Luke 12:47-48 teaches that knowledge increases accountability; Numbers 15 distinguishes ignorant from presumptuous sins.
Jerusalem's Advantages and Presumptuous Sin: Jerusalem had God's law, covenants, temple, and priests; her sins were deliberate, not ignorant, making them greater.
Applications for Believers Today: New Testament believers have even greater blessings and thus greater responsibility; rejecting truth leads to strong delusion; we must continue in faith and obedience.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Jerusalem's punishment was greater than Sodom's because her sins were greater.

Jeremiah declares Jerusalem's punishment exceeded Sodom's; Ezekiel confirms Jerusalem's sins were worse.

Lamentations 4:6; Ezekiel 16:47-48.

Sodom's sins included pride, fullness, idleness, and neglect of the poor, not just sodomy.

Ezekiel 16:49-50 lists Sodom's sins without mentioning sodomy, emphasizing social and spiritual pride.

Ezekiel 16:49-50: 'pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness...'

Spiritual sins are more heinous than physical sins.

Spiritual sins directly target God; David acknowledged his sin was primarily against God.

Psalm 51:4; discussion of idolatry and blasphemy.

Greater knowledge and privilege increase culpability.

The Levitical sacrifices required greater offerings from priests and the congregation; James 3:1 warns teachers of greater judgment.

Leviticus 4; James 3:1.

Presumptuous sins incur greater judgment than ignorant sins.

Numbers 15:29-31 prescribes different treatment for ignorant vs. presumptuous sin; Luke 12:47-48 teaches proportional punishment.

Numbers 15:29-31; Luke 12:47-48.

Jerusalem's advantages made her sins presumptuous.

Jerusalem had God's law, temple, and priests; her sins were deliberate, not ignorant.

Romans 3:1-2; Deuteronomy 4:6-8.

New Testament believers have even greater responsibility.

We have more light and blessings than Old Testament Israel, so our culpability is greater.

Application section referencing Luke 12:48.

Rejecting truth leads to strong delusion.

Those who persistently reject truth may be given over to believe a lie.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.

Scripture References

Lamentations 4:6: The key text: Jerusalem's punishment greater than Sodom's.
Jeremiah 7:29: God commands lamentation over Jerusalem's rejection.
Jeremiah 9:9, 17-22: Call for mourning women to wail over Jerusalem's destruction.
Amos 5:1: God takes up a lamentation against Israel.
Revelation 11:8: Jerusalem spiritually called Sodom and Egypt.
Deuteronomy 32:32: Israel's vine is of the vine of Sodom.
Isaiah 1:8-10: Rulers of Jerusalem addressed as rulers of Sodom.
Isaiah 3:9: They declare their sin as Sodom.
Jeremiah 23:14: Prophets of Jerusalem are as Sodom and Gomorrah.
Psalm 51:4: David's sin was primarily against God.
Ezekiel 16:44-50: Sodom's sins listed; Jerusalem worse than Sodom.
Genesis 19:12-25: Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jeremiah 52:1-7: Siege and destruction of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 14:21: Four sore judgments against Jerusalem.
Lamentations 4:8-10: Famine and cannibalism in Jerusalem.
Leviticus 4: Different sacrifices based on responsibility.
James 3:1: Teachers will receive greater condemnation.
James 4:17: Knowing to do good and not doing it is sin.
Luke 12:40-48: Parable of faithful steward; much given, much required.
Numbers 15:29-31: Distinction between ignorant and presumptuous sin.

Historical References

Nebuchadnezzar's sieges of Jerusalem (605 and 586 B.C.): The first siege left the city standing; the second resulted in total destruction after a two-year siege.
Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: Instantaneous overthrow by brimstone and fire as judgment for their sins.

Important Quotes

For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment and no hands stayed on her.

The central text establishing that Jerusalem's judgment exceeded Sodom's.

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

Lists Sodom's sins, emphasizing social and spiritual pride rather than sodomy.

As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

God's declaration that Jerusalem's sins were worse than Sodom's.

My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

New Testament warning that teachers face stricter judgment.

And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.

Jesus' teaching on proportional accountability based on knowledge.

For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

The principle that greater privilege brings greater responsibility.

But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

Distinction between ignorant and deliberate sin with severe consequences for presumption.

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

James' concise statement on the sin of omission for those with knowledge.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

Why does God consider Jerusalem's sins greater than Sodom's, and what does this teach about the relationship between knowledge and accountability?

[Context]

Based on Ezekiel 16:47-48 and the principle of greater responsibility.

[Question]

How does the list of Sodom's sins in Ezekiel 16:49-50 challenge common assumptions about what made Sodom wicked?

[Context]

Pride, fullness, idleness, and neglect of the poor are highlighted.

[Question]

In what ways do spiritual sins (idolatry, hypocrisy) directly target God, and why are they considered more heinous?

[Context]

Discussion of spiritual vs. physical sins.

[Question]

How does the prolonged suffering of Jerusalem's siege contrast with Sodom's instant destruction, and what does this reveal about God's judgment?

[Context]

Lamentations 4 and Jeremiah 52 describe the siege.

[Question]

What does the Levitical sacrificial system teach about varying degrees of responsibility and culpability?

[Context]

Leviticus 4 prescribes different sacrifices for priests, rulers, and common people.

[Question]

How should the warning of James 3:1 affect those in teaching or leadership roles today?

[Context]

Teachers will receive greater condemnation.

[Question]

What is the difference between a sin of ignorance and a presumptuous sin, and how does Numbers 15:29-31 inform our understanding of God's justice?

[Context]

Distinction between ignorant and deliberate sin.

[Question]

In light of Luke 12:48, what specific responsibilities do New Testament believers have that exceed those of Old Testament Israel?

[Context]

Application of greater blessings and accountability.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T04:21:30Z