Jehovah's Just Judgement

Jehovah's Just Judgment, Genesis chapter 18, beginning with verse number 16. Then the men rose up from there and looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? For I have chosen him in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteous and justice, in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him.

And the Lord said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry which has come to me, and if not, I will know. Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, Wilt thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city, wilt thou indeed sweep it away, and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

Far be it from me to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from thee, shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly? So the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account. And Abraham answered and said, Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, wilt thou destroy the whole city because of five?

And he said, I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there. And he spoke to him yet again and said, Suppose forty are found there. And he said, I will not do it on account of the forty. And then he said, O may the Lord not be angry, and shall I speak, suppose thirty are found there? And he said, I will not do it if I find thirty there. And he said, Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose twenty are found there? And he said, I will not destroy it on account of the twenty. Then he said, O may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once, suppose ten are found there?

And he said, I will not destroy it on account of the ten. And as soon as he had finished speaking to Abraham, the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place. Genesis chapter 18 gives us a very familiar story. I'm sure that most of us today could tell you a little bit about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and how Abraham would beseech the Lord on behalf of the righteous that were there. And today's story tells us a lot about who God is and how God acts. And so we're going to look at the purpose of God.

That's point number one. The problem in Sodom is point number two, and the plea of Abraham is point number three.

By looking at those three points, we'll understand that Jehovah's judgment is always just, because God is holy. Therefore, whatever God does, He does right, because God is righteous. First of all, the purpose of God.

You need to notice two things. Number one, the context, and number two, the conversation. First of all, the context.

As you recall, in Genesis 18 verse number one, there were three men that appeared at Abraham's tent. Two of them were angels. One was the Lord Jehovah. We talked about that last week. And Abraham would busy himself by serving these three men. He did not recognize at first that they were angels or that one was Jehovah, and he would serve these men, and God would come to Abraham with a purpose, two purposes.

One was a message for Sarah. The other was a message about Sodom. For Sarah, she would bear a son. For Sodom, they would be sentenced to judgment. Psalm 19 verse 9 says that the judgments of the Lord are righteous altogether. Whenever God passes judgment upon an individual, upon a city, upon a nation, it's judgment based on His holy character. Judgment based on His righteous character. You see, Abraham needed to know the purpose of God. Abraham needed to grasp what God was going to do, because Abraham would be required to pass that on to future generations.

I'm here to let you know today that my generation is not so good at passing on the true character of God to the next generation. We need to make sure that people understand who God really is and how God responds to sin. In Genesis 18 and Genesis 19, it tells us a lot about the purposes of God, because you see what God is going to do is use the prayer of Abraham, listen very carefully, to accomplish His providential purposes. That's important for us to understand. Because Genesis 18 helps us understand how our prayers fit in to the providence of God.

I mean, if God has set everything in motion as He has, according to His decree, and God has predetermined everything to happen as it's going to be, then why should I even begin to pray? Why pray thy will be done if God's will is going to be done no matter what I pray? Genesis 18 answers that question for us so that we come to grasp with how God uses the prayers of His people to accomplish His purposes. So that's the context. There was a message Sarah needed to receive. God can do anything, and there was a message that Sodom was going to be destroyed, meaning that whatever God does is always righteous, and true, and pure, and holy.

So we move from the context to the conversation. God has a conversation with Abraham. Now this is fantastic. The men get up to leave, and Abraham is walking them on, and they're carrying on a conversation, and the Lord says, I wonder if I should tell Abraham what I'm about to do. I wonder if I should reveal to him all that's going to happen. Not as if He was going to withhold anything from Abraham, but just to set the stage for what was about to happen. And I want you to notice something about this conversation.

Why does God reveal to Abraham what He's going to do? Because He would use the prayer of a righteous man to accomplish His purposes in sparing the righteous in the city. So God would come to Abraham, because Abraham was a faithful, faithful servant of His. He would commend his household. He would commend his children, and God says, I can trust Him.

Can God trust you? Can God trust you to pass on that information? Can God trust you to give to your children what you need to know, or what they need to know, that they might live in obedience to God? I have never seen so many parents afraid of their children as I see today in America. They're so afraid their children are going to turn away from them. They're so afraid their children are going to turn away from the Lord, so they don't even talk about things of God to them for fear of what might happen.

We need parents who will command their children in the ways of God, teaching them the truth of God, saying, thus saith the Lord, thus we do. So Abraham was a friend of God. I ask you, are you a friend of God? Can He trust you with the valuable information to be passed on to succeeding generations? Just contrast Lot with Abraham. Lot was not obedient to God. He was a righteous man. He had a secure salvation, but he didn't live in obedience to God, whereas Abraham lived in obedience, and God would bless him over and over and over again, because God blesses the obedient spirit, the obedient heart.

That's the purposes of God. From there we go to the problem in Sodom. Two things I want you to see. Number one, the character of their sin, and number two, the consequences of their sin.

The text says very specifically that their outcry is great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. The word for outcry is a word used in Genesis 4, verse number 10, and James chapter 5, verse number 4. It's a word that expresses the cruelty, listen very carefully, of sin upon others. Did you get that? It's a word used to express the cruelty of sin upon others. That's why in Genesis chapter 4, verse number 10, the Lord God said, the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the grave. So we see the character of the sin was an outcry to God, and it was exceedingly grave.

That means it was heavy. That means it was burdensome. Society was burdened because of the sin. The whole city was being weighed down because of the homosexuals who lived in the city. It's a horrendous lifestyle. God condemns it. So what does he say? I'm going to go down. Why would God go down? If God is on mission and knows everything, and God is omnipresent, is everywhere, why would God use the phrase, I'm going to go down? Folks, whenever God uses the phrase, I'm going to go down and check it out, that means he's really serious about what he's doing.

It's an anthropomorphic statement that expresses God in human terms that says, I'm going to go down, and I'm going to scrutinize them, so they are without excuse. So you know and I know that I saw everything they did. I was aware of every immorality that they committed, every act of sin that they were engaged in. I knew, and they are without excuse. And the consequences of their sin? The consequences of their sin were devastating. We'll read about them in Genesis chapter 19. We'll spend several weeks in Genesis 19 understanding what exactly happened and why God did what he did upon that particular city and surrounding cities in that area.

But God would go down to help them to understand, and Abraham to understand, that he knows everything. The consequences of their sin. The consequences are not stated in Genesis chapter 18, but in verse number 20, yeah, in verses 20 and 21, but down in verse number 23, you understand Abraham understood that when he says, he came near and wilt thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? He knew about God. He knew God was going to destroy the city. He knew that God was holy and that he was not going to exist with unholy man.

He knew that the two could not coexist together. He knew that God was going to enact judgment. He knew it. And that will lead us to point number three, the plea of Abraham.

The plea of Abraham. And five things I want you to see. Number one is his approach. The text says Abraham came near. Abraham came near. Remember James chapter four, verse number eight? Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Abraham came near to God. It's a word that expresses the sincerity of a heart when it comes to worship and commune with his father. Many people today don't see God answer their prayer because they refuse to draw near to God. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10, verse number 22, let us draw near with a sincere heart.

Many of us, I'm afraid, don't draw near with a sincere heart. We draw near with a deceitful heart. We draw near with unconfessed sin in our hearts, expecting God to hear and to answer our prayers, but we don't draw near with a sincere heart in purity and in faith and in truth. Hebrews 4, verse 16 says, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. It was an approach of submission. It was an approach of worship. That's how he came to God. He knew what God was going to do and so he would come with a submissive spirit.

And number two, I want you to see his appeal. His appeal was based on the righteous character of God. Suppose there are 50 righteous. God, you're righteous and if there be 50 righteous in the city, Lord, won't you spend or spare them? Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly? Psalm 145, verse number 17 says, the Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his deeds. Listen very carefully. He did not focus on what he wanted. He focused on who God is. Listen, when you go to prayer to God, you always go based on who God is, not what you want.

Very important principle to understand. And he went and would appeal to God based on the fact that God was righteous and that God was holy and that God was just and God will always deal justly, not unjustly. He will always deal righteously. The third thing I want you to see is his attitude.

His attitude. Down in verse number 27, now Abraham answered and said, now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. See his humility there? What an attitude. I mean, Abraham was a friend of God. Abraham was chosen by God. Abraham was a father or was going to be a father of a multitude of people. Abraham was a popular man, but he would know that in God's eyes he was but dust and ashes. We go to God and we go with such arrogance and such pride. We go to God thinking that because we're one of his, that he should automatically listen to us.

We go to God with a flippant spirit, God, how you doing, man, what's up, dude? That's how we speak to God. That's in our heart, not with the attitude of, Lord, I am nothing. I am worthy of nothing. I deserve nothing. And whatever I do get from you, it is because you are gracious and merciful to me. That's how he would plead with his God. His attitude was one of humility. His approach was one of submission. His appeal was based on the character and the righteousness of God Almighty. Knowing that God is righteous, that God wouldn't do anything unjust.

Next time you go to God, say, God, I know you're righteous. I know you're true. I know you're holy. Therefore, God, I'm coming to you to enact your holy will in my life. That's a whole different prayer than going to God and saying, God, I've got to have this and I've got to have that and please give it to me now.

I need it. If you believe that God can do anything, and that was last week's lesson, then you can go to God based on his character and trust him to do the right thing for you every single time. The fourth thing I want you to see is the assurance. The assurance. Though Sodom was destroyed, Abraham made six appeals. If there be 50 righteous, will you spare the city? God says, yeah, I'll spare the city for 50 righteous people.

45? Sure. 45, Abraham. How about 40? Sure. I'll do it for 40. Lord, I know. How about 30? 30 it is. Lord, would you spare it for 20? Yes, Abraham. If there are 20 righteous people in the city, I'll spare the city. Lord, how about if there be 10? 10 righteous people, will you spare the city? And God said, yes. You see, God assured Abraham each and every time, yes, I'll do this, yes, I will. If there be 10 there, I will spare that city, Abraham. You see, the principle of his prayer was answered, was it not?

Because God did not punish the righteous. He spared them. There were only four. We'll talk about that in weeks to come. But, have you ever asked yourself the question, why did Abraham stop at 10? Why did he go to five? Why did he go to four? He knew that Lot was married and had two daughters. Why did he say, Lord, if there were four righteous people, will you spare the city? Why did he stop with 10? I'll answer that in more detail in weeks to head, but let me give you just a little bit of a hint, and that's under our last point, the application.

The application, number one, number one is this, the impact of Lot, or should I say the lack of impact by Lot.

Why did Abraham say, Lord, if there be 10 righteous there, will you spare the city? Lot's been there for a while. Lot's a righteous man. I'm sure that Lot is going to have some kind of impact on the city. I mean, after all, he's married, he's got a wife, he's got two daughters. There's four. If each of them just reached out to one other person, that would be eight, and I'm sure Lot's done more than that, because he is a righteous man, therefore, there's got to be at least 10 righteous people in the city, but there wasn't, so the application comes, and this is really next week and the week after sermon, is the impact of Lot, where was it?

Where was his impact in the world, which leads me to ask this question, where is your impact in the world? If God came to you and said, I am going to destroy Los Angeles and the surrounding communities, would you say, oh Lord, if there be 50 righteous people in the city, would you spare the city? Would there be 50 righteous in LA? I think there would be. I hope there is. But you see, where is your impact? If God says, I'm going to destroy your place of work, you say, well Lord, if there be 10 righteous people there, will you spare it?

Would God spare it because of your impact? In the ability to affect people positively for the things of the gospel, by way of application, you've got to ask yourself the question, what kind of impact do you make in your family, in your community? Number two, the intercession of Abraham.

The intercession of Abraham. We learn a lot about what Abraham did, and we've got to ask ourselves the question, what is our attitude toward God? What is our attitude? Is our attitude one of humility? Do we go to Him in dust and ashes? It's the broken and contrite spirit that God doesn't despise. God is looking to those kind of people, the kind of people that tremble at the authority of His word, Isaiah 66, verse number two.

God is looking for those kind of people. So Abraham teaches us a lot about our attitude when it comes to intercession. How do you make your appeal to God? Do you appeal to God based on His righteous character, or do you make your appeal to God based on what you want for your own convenience in your life? Lord, I want this out of my life. I don't want these problems anymore. Is that basing your request on God's character, or on your wants? Remember, God always answers prayer so that the Father will be glorified, right?

John 14, 13. He always answers prayer so that the Father will be glorified, and so what is the greatest way for God to receive the glory? That's how your prayer will always be answered. Do you ever even approach God? Abraham did. Maybe some of you never even approach Him, except when you come to church on Sunday and bow with us in corporate prayer. Do you approach Him each day? Do you go on your hands and knees before the throne of grace, beseeching Him? Abraham did. He was a man of great intercession.

First recorded prayer in the Bible, Genesis 18, and it's a prayer based around the character of Almighty God and how He would enact His justice upon mankind.

We can learn a lot about how we need to pray based on what Abraham did in Genesis 18. And thirdly, by way of application, you can look at the impact of what?

It was very, very minimal, if at all, any. You can look at the intercession of Abraham and realize how we need to pray, but you need to look at the invitation to sinners, the invitation to sinners.

You see, man is never without excuse. God always invites man to come to Him. Even at the very end of the Bible, as God closes out the book of Revelation, He gives one final invitation, because He wants sinners to come to Him. He wants a sinner to turn from his ways, his wicked ways, and come to Him. I ask you today, have you received the forgiveness of sins? Has God saved you from your sin? You see, in Revelation 22, I know my time is gone, I'm sorry, but in Revelation 22, the list is not inclusive.

It's representative. You'll find another list in Revelation 21, another list in 1 Corinthians 6, and another list in Galatians 5 of those who are excluded from heaven. It's representative, people who love their sin, and that's why the invitation is given to those who are sinners. Today, if you've never repented of your sin, never given your life to Christ, you can do so today. You can do so today, and as Lot and his family were able to be spared from the wrath of God upon that city, so you too will be spared from the wrath of God.