Good morning. How are you all doing today? Excellent.
Hey, we'd like to start by welcoming anybody
that's joining us here in our sanctuary for the
very first time, or if you're joining us online,
welcome. I am Pastor Nathan, and today we're
going to be talking about why and how we are
all called to be intercessors when it comes to
prayer. I want to ask you a question. I want
you to think about it. Do not share your answers,
okay? But if we were to read a transcript of
all your prayers over the last week, what percentage
of those prayers would be for personal needs?
Lord, help me with this test. I need a job. I
need a healing. Versus what percentage of those
prayers would be for everything else? Now some
of you might go, well, I'm not sure, I'm not
sure. You know, the idea of praying for personal
things, those are legitimate things to pray for.
We're called to ask God to bless us and to help
us in those things. But when we look at the Lord's
Prayer, and this is when the disciples asked
Jesus, can you teach us how to pray? What Jesus
did when he started out with the Lord's Prayer,
the very first thing he did was talk about or
pray about the honor and the purpose of the Father.
That was the first thing he prayed, and it's
a great example for us to follow in our prayers,
where the very first thing he opened up with
as he was gonna talk to God about needs, and
he was teaching us, he talked about God's name
being honored as holy. We understand that as
hallowed be your name. He talked about your kingdom
come, and he talked about your will be done.
That is a fantastic place to start any prayer.
And then after that, As we look at that Lord's
Prayer, it was then we prayed for our own needs,
right? Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive
us as we forgive others. And deliver us from
temptation. The reason I bring that up is the
idea today in Genesis, we're going to see a fantastic
example of intercessory prayer from Abraham.
We're going to see the how and the why. We're
going to see the motivation behind this type
of prayer. And really, when it comes to the prayers
of God's people, they should start with, really
should be centered on what God is doing in the
world around us. You see, as Christians, we are
called to be radically other -focused people,
and yet our nature is so quickly so quickly causes
us to focus inward and just focus on ourselves.
God wants us to talk to him about our needs,
but he wants us to be focused on the needs of
everything around us like he is. He wants us
to care about other people like he does. He wants
us to be praying and thinking about one another
the way he does for us at the right hand of the
Father. We should be praying for God's name to
be glorified, obviously granting grace and showing
mercy to lost friends and family. We should be
praying for our neighbors and lost nations and
the missionaries that are in those nations. Obviously,
we should be praying for the church. praying
for your church, Hosanna, really that God would
always be glorified here, because that was really
the impetus behind so much. We want God's name
to be lifted up. We want God to be glorified
in our world, and so we pray for all of these
elements around us. Praying for others is the
thing called intercessory prayer. The whole idea
is that you are interceding on behalf of someone
else. Now, some people look at intercessory prayer
and they think that it's a special thing that
only certain people are gifted to do, right?
And I've heard that before. It's like, oh, they
have the gift of intercession. I personally disagree
with that. I think every single believer is called
to intercede in prayer on behalf of others. And
so the reasons and the heart behind this type
of prayer is what we're going to see in today's
text. We're going to be in Genesis 18, verses
16 through 33. And what we're going to read here
is a model for us to follow as we endeavor as
God's people to be interceding prayer warriors.
But first, we're going to worship him because
God is glorious. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we
love you. We're so grateful that you sent your
son to die on the cross for us. Lord, the greatest
intercession that has ever happened was you interceding
for us. How you stepped into our place. You shed
your blood. You paid our price that we could
be reconciled to the Father. And so, Lord, as
your people, it just follows that, that as we're
wanting to live emulating you and your character,
that we would be intercessors as well. But Lord,
so much of this type of prayer is really a reflection
of our heart. And God, we want our hearts to
be like your heart. We want to see the world
the way you see the world. We want to care about
the lost the way you care about the lost. Lord,
we want to understand the calling we have as
believers in this world to be lights on a hill,
to shine the glory of the gospel so that those
who don't yet know you can be saved before judgment
comes. So Lord, today I ask you that you would
just speak to us about our call, about the why
behind our need to pray, and that God, we would
be properly motivated to intercede on behalf
of others to you and praying for our nation and
our government and our president and Congress
and nations around the world, our coworkers,
our friends, our family, and all of that in addition
to our own personal needs. So God, be glorified
today. Be glorified in our life. Be glorified
in our church. We love you. We worship you. It's
in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we are
in Genesis chapter 18. We're going to be looking
at verses 16 through 33 this morning. And as
I said in the opening, intercessory prayer is
what we're going to be looking at here in this
section of Genesis. And intercessory prayer,
it's just simply the act of praying on behalf
of others. It's something that our Lord Jesus
is doing for you and me right now and has been
doing since he ascended into heaven and sat at
the right hand of the Father. One of the most
comforting things is to know that our Lord, our
Savior, prays for us 24 hours a day, interceding
for us, praying to the Father, please, Father,
don't strike past underneath now with a lightning
bolt. I died for that sin, right? You know, he's
praying for blessing. He's praying for the Holy
Spirit and the work of the Spirit in our lives.
It's just a wonderfully beautiful thing. And
we get to example that. We get to emulate that
as God's children in this world. And so the whole
idea in our prayers, as we were talking about
the Lord's Prayer earlier, is when we're praying,
we want to open up with just praying for God's
glory. Just praising him for who he is, right?
Because that is what sets the table for us when
we pray. A lot of the things we pray for as people
might feel impossible. And we just talked about
that last week as God confronted Sarah and said,
is anything impossible for the Lord? And so when
we pray, we start with, Father, you are holy.
Your name is wonderful. You are almighty. You
can do all things because that deals with the
question, is anything impossible for the Lord?
Nope, I've got that out of the way. Now let me
go in to pray for God's will in this world, save
the people that I just don't think could ever
get saved, and all of that type of stuff as we
intercede. Now, the idea of intercessory prayer
and all prayer really is praying that God does
what only God can do. How many of you have prayed
for somebody to get saved before? Yeah? If your
hand didn't go up, we're going to have a counseling
appointment after. Okay, no. And how many of
you have prayed for so long that you thought
it would never happen? You know, I don't want
to put my mom on the spot here, but I prayed
for my mom for 10 years to get saved. and I would
tell her about church and stuff, and she's like,
no, no, that's fine for you. And for 10 years.
Now, did I have my moments over the course of
those 10 years where I said, I'm done, I'm giving
up? Yeah, I did. And then I would get back to
it, and guess what? 10 years later, my mom got
saved. Praise God, you know? But that's what
interceding is, is you're praying on behalf of
others. You're praying on behalf of their needs,
and really, it's praying God's will. in this
world because it is God's will for mankind to
be saved. It is God's will for the gospel to
go forth. It is God's will for people to take
the gospel out. And so we pray for those things
when we pray. Father, you're awesome, you're
amazing, you're holy, you're almighty, nothing's
impossible for you. So then let me pray for your
will to be done in this world. Let me pray for
these people to be saved and this to be changed
and, you know, all that type of stuff. But Genesis
18 is a picture of this type of intercessory
prayer that has the right focus, it has the right
motivation, it has the right purpose. And so
that's what we're going to dig into today. And
this comes right after what we just saw in the
last chapter with, or earlier in this chapter
with Abraham having a meal with these three guests
that show up to his house. We saw how Abraham
went into a flurry to be hospitable and to hope.
to these people. And we know that these people
was the Lord and two angels, which we're going
to see as we go forward through this section.
Now the Lord and the two angels there were there
to remind Abraham again about the promise that
he's going to have a son and that it's going
to be through his wife. The other reason for
that is that Sarah had not yet heard or believed
in the truth that she was going to bear a child
at her age. And so we talked about that last
week, how the Lord knew she was eavesdropping.
He said it. She laughed. And then he confronted
her on that laugh. And as you remember, it was
in verse 14 of Genesis 18. He said to her, is
anything impossible for the Lord? And that's
just such a serious question. And it doesn't
record here that he even waited for her answer,
right? Because then right after that he goes,
at the appointed time I will come back to you
and in about a year she will have a son. Now
again, he's talking with Abraham here knowing
she's listening. But then at the end of this
whole section here we read that God confronts
her. Why did you laugh? She goes, I didn't laugh.
And then God very gently but very firmly goes,
no, you did. Right? And so then from there, we
get into the section we're walking about, or
looking at today. The meal is over. Verse 16,
it then tells us in Genesis 18, the men got up
from there and looked out over Sodom. And Abraham
was walking with them to see them off. So the
phrase there, looked out over Sodom, that, if
this was a movie, this is where the soundtrack
would go. Dun, dun, dun. This is the ominous
section. The eerie music comes on at this point
because Sodom is going to be the subject of the
next section of Scripture here as God is going
to judge that very wicked place. And so you just
had this wonderful meal. You had this wonderful
fellowship. You had this correction time. And
then now we're moving on to this place. Now it
was very common in the time of hospitality that
when your guests would get up to leave, you would
escort them out. Now, unlike today, it wasn't
like escort them to the door, boom, slam the
door. Okay, I'm so glad they're gone, right?
You would walk with them. And so the place where
this has all taken place here is just a few miles
east of what is today known as Hebron. The city
of Hebron in Israel is this place that we read
in Genesis called Mamre, where Abraham's at,
right? He was there by the oaks of Mamre, and
that's where he has settled. Now, there is a
town today in Israel that is considered the traditional
site of where this conversation might have taken
place. It's a place called Benin Aim, and it's
three miles east of Hebron, as I said. What's
really interesting is if you go into, I spend
far too much time in like Google Earth. And you
could like zoom down and get a 3D image of stuff
from ground level. It's pretty cool. So I went
to Benny Naim and I looked and from that town,
you could see down into the Jordan Valley exactly
where Sodom is thought to be and where Gomorrah
is thought to be. Pretty interesting. So Abraham's
here with them looking down on this place of
wickedness, this place where his nephew's living.
And then God is about to tell him something very,
very ominous, very, very scary. It's interesting
or quite sad to know that this is the last time
Abraham's gonna look upon this part of the valley
and it not be destroyed. The next time he looks
down this way is in chapter 19, verse 28. And
it tells us that as he looked down towards Sodom
and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, he
saw that smoke was going up from the land like
smoke of a furnace. Thousands dead. These cities
wiped out. And so, here they are, verse 17, then
the Lord said, Should I hide what I'm about to
do to Abraham? Did the Lord not know what he
was going to do? He's omniscient. He's all -knowing,
right? Of course the Lord knew. These things
are recorded here for our benefit because the
next couple of verses here are going to give
us a glimpse into the mind of God. A glimpse
into his mind so that we understand the intentional
purpose behind what God shares with us and what
he doesn't. It's very important. Have you ever
had that place where you're like, God, if you
just told me what was next, everything would
be fine, right? God, just tell me what's gonna
happen in six months or one year, and God doesn't
tell you, and sometimes you're like, oh, it's
so frustrating. And sometimes we might feel that
God is just like, ah, no, I don't wanna tell
you. It's just an off -the -cuff kind of decision
he made. But we see here that God's intentional
about what he shares with us and what he doesn't
share with us. And because God is intentional
in that, if God hasn't shared something with
you, it's intentional and for a very good reason.
And you can find peace in that, right? Verse
18, as God is asking this question, he then reasons
or shows us the reasons why he's gonna share
with Abraham what he's gonna do in Sodom. It
says, Abraham is to become a great and powerful
nation and all the nations of the earth will
be blessed through him. So that first reason
there is because there's a purpose that God has
with Abraham that knowing what he's gonna do
in Sodom pertains to. The second reason in verse
19, he says, for I have chosen him. so that he
will command his children and his house after
him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what
is right and just. This is how the Lord will
fulfill to Abraham what he promised him. So these
two reasons where God says, should I tell him
about what I'm gonna do in Sodom? And he goes,
yeah, I think so. Why? Because I have a plan
and purpose for Abraham, and a large part of
that plan and purpose is gonna come through him
teaching his kids, teaching his family to follow
the way of the Lord, which is defined for us
here. So if you're ever like, what is the way
of the Lord? It's right there, doing what is
right and just, okay? Now, that first one, he
says Abraham is chosen, right? That word in other
translations simply means that God knew him.
It's the idea that he recognized Abraham for
who he was, and he was treating him in a very
special manner. That's what means he chose him,
right? The emphasis is that I chose this person
to do a very special thing through. I have a
very special covenant relationship with this
individual to do something and to be something.
very important to my plan of salvation for the
whole world. And so, telling him what's gonna
happen in Sodom has something to do with that,
as we're gonna see in a moment. Now, every Christian
is called to spread the gospel. Sadly, according
to statistics, depending on where you look, some
say it's less than 5 % of Christians actually
share the gospel. And that's pretty dismal, right?
it's unfortunate because if 100 % of the Christians
shared the gospel, just imagine what we might
see in the world, you know, and the effect of
that. But I'm not here to guilt trip all of you
on that. I'll let the Holy Spirit do that. But
the idea is because Abraham is going to be this
man who is a people are going to come from that
are going to carry the torch of God as God's
people and who he is and what he wants for the
world, I need to show him the consequence of
denying what is right and what is just. It's
important for him to know that. You see, it's
important for us to understand the consequence
for people not knowing the Lord. That should
be a motivation behind us to share the gospel.
And we can all put ourselves in positions where
if we had a loved one in a situation and they
were about to... be seriously harmed or die,
right? And you're like, I would do everything
I can to get there, to save him, to rescue him.
Well, that idea, having that type of concern
for the lost is why God is showing or gonna tell
Abraham what he's doing in Sodom. I want him
to be motivated by this destruction to see what
God's justice will mete out. for those who reject
him, because that is supposed to be a motivator
for us to get out and tell people about Jesus,
especially loved ones, coworkers, people close
to you. Do you think they might not go to hell
if they die without Jesus? They will. It's guaranteed.
And that should be a motivator behind us to say,
hey, I've got to tell you. I love you. But I
need to warn you, and that's such an important
part of what this thing intercession is called.
We're interceding on their behalf. God, please
open their heart. God, please, you know, make
the soil fertile. And then you go plant a seed.
Or you go harvest the seed, or you water the
seed, whatever it is. But there's this motivation
behind it that God is needing to show Abraham
so that Abraham then does what he's called to
do with all the urgency and intention and passion
that he needs. So there was that first reason,
his purpose, and then that second reason was
I've chosen him to teach his kids to walk the
way of the Lord, to keep the way of the Lord.
Now, I love how God defines that, right? Doing
what is right and just. Now, doing what is right
there means holding to a standard for everything.
The standard is God's standard, right? We hold
to that. We don't back off. We don't go, well,
I agree with this part, but I don't agree with
this part, so I'm not. We hold to his standard.
That is what doing what is right is. We might
also use the word righteousness, living righteously,
doing what is righteous. It's the idea of following
God's standard because God's standard is right,
period, in every instance. And then he uses this
word just, which is interesting because it just
simply means what is fair. What is without favoritism,
self -interest, bias, or deception. But again,
according to God's standard because he is God
Almighty. The idea here is that Abraham had a
parental responsibility. to teach his family,
to teach his kids the way of the Lord. This is
who God is. God is right and God is just. This
is who he is in our life. This is how we interact
with him. This is how we be the people he's calling
us to be for the sake of the mission that all
people would be blessed through our family. This
was his mission to teach what was right and just.
Now the fallacy, I just want to address this
real quick here, the fallacy that some Christian
parents might have where they say, well, I send
my kids to a Christian school or I bring them
to church once a week and we go to youth group
and so I don't need to be involved in their spiritual
development. Which is more common than you would
think. There's little to no discipleship in the
house. There's little to no devotion time or
worship time. The idea is, no, I'm gonna leave
that to the professionals. I'm like, if you guys
think I know what I'm doing, wow, you know, I've
tricked you real good, right? The professionals,
right, the youth pastors, them, they're gonna
be the ones that are gonna raise my kids spiritually
and, you know, that's wrong. That is absolutely
wrong. The first place for spiritual development
for your children is in the home. The people
that have the first responsibility for the upbringing
of children in the Lord is mom and dad. And I
know there's many cases in the world where there's
only a mom or only a dad. You still have the
obligation, the responsibility to lead your child.
Some of the stats I looked up on this just to
get an idea. In a very broad and general sense,
one study found that When it comes to the 100
% of a kid's time just living, right, this includes
sleeping and everything, 17 % or 16 % of that
time is spent at school. So 16 % of their time
is being educated or indoctrinated in schools
depending on where they're at. And he said, now,
if you add spiritual education into that, like
youth group, that accounts for 1 % of a child's
time. The other 83 % was everything else, which
was the bulk of being at home, being around mom,
being around dad, being around the family, right?
Who do you think has a greater influence on your
kids? You do. You do. Mom and dad, you do. Youth
ministry and Christian schools and all that,
they are supplementary to what you're doing.
That's why here at Hosanna, I was taught when
I was in youth ministry, and I still carry that.
and encourage Pastor Rick, who's our youth pastor,
to do that. It's like, we supplement what the
parents are doing in the home. We come alongside
the parents. We're not in opposition to the parents.
We're to come alongside them to help them disciple
and raise their kids in the Lord. Now, that is
very difficult when a kid's coming to youth group
and the parents aren't saved and are actively
trying to tell their kid, you can't go to youth
group, right? That's a difficult situation, but
that's not what the study is about, okay? The
idea is that it's supplementing supplementary.
Now, even though it's a supplementary thing,
we still take that mission extremely important.
It's huge that we invest in that, and we do as
a church. It's why we have a building down the
street for our Hosanna kids, right? It's why
we have a youth ministry down the street. It's
why we invest in having a full -time staff youth
pastor so that he can minister to the kids, but
that's still supplementary to what parents are
supposed to be doing in the home. Now, what's
too common is that a lot of Christian families,
statistically, aren't discipling their kids in
the home actively, and then they only bring them
to youth ministry once in a while. And I think
that can cause problems, right? A lot of parents
today in the church, they want to bring their
youth into the sanctuary, right? And I think
that's great, right? Youth, if you're here, you
know, you're hearing the word, God bless you.
But my personal opinion is the best place for
junior hires and high schoolers to be is in youth
ministry. That is the best place for them to
learn because the whole thing is geared to their
life, their place, their struggles, their issues.
It's all for that. And so that's my little soapbox
there, my little plug for youth ministry, right?
It's just parents. highly encourage you to take
advantage of youth ministry. And I understand
there's all kinds of issues and difficulties
with that, but the statistics say this, that
among Christian, born -again, evangelical families,
I'm talking about families who, you're not questioning
their faith, they're solidly Christian, attend
church once a month. That's the statistic today.
The vast majority attend once a month. Now, Most
of your faces I see every week, so praise God,
right? But in the church as a whole, it's once
a month. So if parents aren't discipling their
kid in the home, and they only bring them to
youth ministry once a month, what type of spiritual
effect is that ultimately going to have? Very
little. It works, but it's very little. And so
the idea here is God is establishing this idea
that Abraham, your call to bless the whole world
comes through you teaching your kids to live
the way of the Lord so that then they teach their
kids and so on and so on and so on. So God is
like, look, Abram, I've called you to this, or
Abraham, I've called you to this. You're to lead
and you're to teach. And that doesn't just mean
like, okay, sit down, we're having a lecture.
This is the other challenge that exists in a
lot of Christian families in this world where
the idea is Abraham is to be to his family and
to his kids, watch how I live. Watch what I prioritize.
Watch how much I live or don't live holiness.
And then let's sit down and read the Bible and
let's have devotionals and all that type of stuff,
right? See, when I was in youth ministry, one
of the things I would struggle with a lot is,
you know, in discipling the kids. And, you know,
some of these kids were from Christian families
and families in the church, you know. And, you
know, I'd be talking to the kid about this or
that and we'd be in a Bible study or something.
I'd say, yeah, this is, you know, this is what
God says to do and this is how you're supposed
to react. And that's not what my dad does. Well,
let's focus on the word right here, you know?
Because if you're not exampling it at home, where
your kids are most of the time, they're not going
to take it serious anywhere else. So anyways,
off that soapbox. We'll go over more of that
on Father's Day and Mother's Day. All right.
But basically, the idea here with Abraham and
his family is God ultimately desired his people,
the people of God, to be people of righteousness
and justice. They were to be people that the
whole world would look at and see these are people
of righteousness and justice. They lived righteousness.
They were just people because they were reflecting
the character of the God that they are proclaiming
to us. For example, Leviticus 19 .18. It says,
do not take revenge or bear a grudge against
members of your community, but love your neighbor
as yourself. I am the Lord. Why does God want
us to do that? It's because we're a witness to
the people around us. We're a witness to the
world. People are watching. We know that. People
are always waiting for the Christians to stumble
so they can pounce on that and go, see, you guys
are a bunch of hypocrites. We're going to stumble.
So let's not stumble on purpose. and just add
to the problem, right? So God wants us to be
a witness, and this is why he's going, okay,
I need to tell Abraham about what I'm going to
do in Sodom, because of his mission. His mission
to be a blessing to the world, and that mission
coming through his family, and him teaching his
family to live what is right. And this came all
the way down through the generations. In Matthew
chapter 5, verse 38, Jesus was talking to the
people, and this is what he says. You have heard
that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth. But I tell you, don't resist an
evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you
on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
It's hard to do, especially if you're, you know,
I got my self -pride and someone strikes you,
you're like, I'm gonna strike you back. But he
says, turn the other cheek, right? And it's like,
okay, I could reason that. As for the one who
wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let
him have your coat as well. Okay, I could do
that. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go
with him too. Hold on, Lord. That's walking for
two miles never gonna happen, right? I don't
like hiking. But his idea here is we're not the
ones to be meeting out justice. We're the ones
to be meeting out love and grace and mercy, right?
Give to the one who asks you. Don't turn away
from the one who wants to borrow from you. For
you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor.
and hate your enemy, but I tell you, love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Why? So that you may be children of your Father
in heaven. So we as believers here in this world,
we're called to example God. We're called to
walk in righteousness and stand in righteousness.
And so as the world is watching you and your
behavior, it's so that they see the character
of the God we're proclaiming to them. That's
why our behavior and our witness is so important.
Each one of us is an example of what God wants
to do with all of us. The salvation, the love,
the restoration, all of that. And that's great.
We're called to preach that gospel, but that's
only one half of the gospel. You see, when we're
out in the world, we can't just say, hey guys,
God loves you. They go, sweet. So you need to
get saved. Why? We need to give people the entire
gospel. And so God is like, okay, Abraham, you're
out here to teach righteousness and justice.
You're to be people of righteousness and justice.
But I need to show you this over here so you
understand what's at stake in how you live and
what you say. We're called to be people who extend
grace and mercy, but we're also called to warn
people, to share the consequences of refusing
the righteousness of God, refusing the justice
of God, and that's what Abraham was about to
watch. He was about to watch what his father
in heaven would do with the incredible sin of
Sodom. Why? So that as he was teaching his family
about what righteousness and justice is, they
would be able to say, here's an example of God
meeting out justice on sin. This is why you want
to walk the way of the Lord because there's salvation
in him. He would understand that it's God. is
the one who's gonna punish sin. God is the one
who is just. We're supposed to be people who
are living righteousness and justice. We're supposed
to be preaching the gospel about who God is,
but we're to warn them about what the judge of
the world will do if you refuse him. So this
whole intent was to burn into their mind and
their heart through generation after generation
after generation what would happen to the people
who refuse righteousness and justice. And Sodom
and Gomorrah was was a place that was everything
opposite of what was right and what was just.
And so why does God do this? Why does God want
to do this? Why is God saying Abraham needs to
hear this? Well, one of the big objections you
might get when you share your faith with people
and you try to warn them, you say, look, without
Jesus Christ, it's hell forever. You may have
heard this before. How could a God of love send
anybody to hell? Right? You ever heard that before?
Why would a God of love? That's not just. That's
not fair. Right? That's the question that people
come out with. And so what God wants Abraham
to learn here as he sees this and ties it into
what he's going to be sharing with the people,
is that if anybody would ever question what God
thinks of sin, If they would ever question what
God thinks of a rebellious, unjust, perverse
culture, just so you don't understand, yes, God
is love, yes, God is grace, yes, God is mercy,
but he's also just. Now, verse 20. Then the Lord
said, so he's reasoned, and now he's like, okay,
I'm going to tell Abraham. The outcry against
Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin
is extremely serious. extremely serious, right?
In the Hebrew, that means characterized by causing
severe pain, severe suffering, and incredible
sorrow. We might use words today like atrocious,
right? That was an atrocious act, which is where
we get the word atrocity. When we read about
things happening in Africa right now where Christians
are just getting round up and just getting murdered
countlessly, we go, that's an atrocity. Or when
any group of people is focused and there's this
great slaughter and suffering, it's an atrocity,
right? He says their sin is this. Their sin is
causing extreme sorrow, extreme suffering, extreme
and severe pain. And so he says, I've heard the
outcry. from these people. That word outcry is
a word that references people who are being brutalized
and the cry they would rise up for salvation,
to be saved, the cry of the oppressed. It was
a word used of when Israel was in Egypt and they
were under the yoke of the Egyptians and they
would cry out, like, please set us free, right?
It's the people that are suffering abuse, suffering
hurt, and all this stuff. And so he goes, The
outcry against Sodom, it's immense. Now, when
we typically think of Sodom and Gomorrah, often
the most common thing that we think of, or what
is their sin? The most common thing we think,
the most common thing we, whoo, common thing
we think. is that their sin was primarily sexual,
right? We get into chapter 19, we see that the
men wanted to take the angels that were visiting
and rape them, and it's a whole messed up story
there when we get to it, but it wasn't just a
sexual thing. The idea was that the whole state
of things in Sodom was a very terrible, moral...
social corruption. There was an arrogant, cavalier
disregard for basic human rights and a cynical
insensitivity to the sufferings of others. Now,
yes, sexual perversion was a huge part of that,
and we'll see that in the next chapter, but the
idea is what was happening in Sodom was that
people were being abused and raped and taken
advantage of and hurt and beat and robbed and
all of this stuff, and they would be Just cast
out like trash and people on the street just
broken because they've been abused and everybody
else in the city is going, glad I'm not them.
And walk right by. Or I don't know, here's something
crazy to think. Wow, that's terrible. Let me
pull out my phone and video it. Does that sound
familiar? That's our world today in so many ways.
These atrocities happening all around us and
yet as a culture we think we're so enlightened.
Mankind has never been so free, right? We've
never been so like full of knowledge and all
this stuff and yet how many millions and millions
of children are being trafficked around the world
for disgusting use? The sin here was pervasive.
Pervasive. Theologian David Wells said, he was
talking about how our world is very much like
this today, and this is what he said. He goes,
there is violence on the earth. The liberated
search only for power. Industry despoils the
earth. The powerful ride roughshod over the weak.
The poor are left to die on street grates. The
unborn are murdered before they can ever see
the rich and beautiful world that God has made.
The elderly are encouraged to get on with the
business of dying so that we might take their
places. The many forms that violence takes in
our world today provide stunning reminders of
how false have been the illusions about freedom
with which we have for two centuries been enticed
in the West. The world is terrible. There's a
lot of good in it. That mainly comes from those
who know the Lord and are trying to help. But
the sin nature is through every atom of humanity's
body. And the more we try and just forget about
these wicked things and go, oh, look how enlightened
we are. Look how advanced we are as a people.
And it's like, there's more slavery in the world
today than there ever has been in the history
of mankind. It's just not public. And so this
is the picture of Sodom. And so yes, sexual perversion.
but so much greater than that. So verse 21, the
Lord says, I will go down to see if what they
have done justifies the cry that has come up
to me. If not, I will find out. So again, you
go, does all knowing God not know? Right? Hey
bro, I gotta go check it out. It's like, you
created the universe, right? Obviously he knows.
Right? He's omniscient. We discovered that when
he was talking to Abraham and Sarah laughed within
herself within the tent. He's like, I heard her
laugh. He knows all things. But again, for Abraham's
benefit and for our benefit, he's speaking in
terms that address our concerns. Right again,
when we're sharing the gospel with people and
we're talking about the reality of hell and the
reality of salvation and God loves you and he
wants to save you and they bring up the why would
a God of love do that? How can God do that? Does
he know everything about the situation? Does
he know every detail? It's like if God is all
knowing, of course he does. But here, just in
case that was a thought in Abraham's mind, well,
have you been there? He's like. I'm going to
go check it out. I'm going to make sure that
when I judge this place that it's going to be
based on full and accurate and thorough and right
information. See, God's judgments aren't cavalier.
They're not willy -nilly. They're not whatever
word you want to use for that, right? He's not
up there like Zeus in the Greek pantheon who
was just bored and throwing lightning bolts down
at people, you know? God's judgments are absolutely
accurate. And why is he telling him this? Because
he wants Abraham to know that if and when I judge
this place, it's going to be absolutely just.
There will be no possibility to go, that wasn't
fair. No, it was just. It was fair. That was
biased. No, it wasn't. I know everything about
what they did, and I know just every detail about
the situation. They refused me. They refused
everything. And justice has fallen on sin. Now,
of course, he knew that when he got there, the
cry would absolutely justify what they had done.
But again, just so Abraham knew it would be a
completely righteous and just judgment. Eh, if
not, I'll find out. So, verse 22. Then the men
turned from there and went towards Sodom while
Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Abraham
stepped forward and said, Will you? really sweep
away the righteous with the wicked? What if there
are 50 righteous people in the city? Will you
really sweep it away instead of sparing the place
for the sake of the 50 righteous people who are
in it? You could not possibly do such a thing
to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating
the righteous and the wicked alike. You could
not possibly do that. Won't the judge of the
earth do what is just? This is the beginning
of his intercessory prayer, right? The rest of
that was all intro to this, okay? This is where
we're gonna see Abraham praying in an intercessory
way and where we could learn how we do this,
how we get the heart to do this, how we should
operate with this. And the first thing we notice
there is that as the two angels walked away,
he was still standing there with the Lord. And
then it says, Abraham stepped forward and said,
all right? That idea stepped forward is to draw
close. Now, applicationally, we should know that
the closer we are to God, the more our hearts
are going to be like his. And that's a foundation
of intercessory prayer, right? The more our hearts
are like us, the more selfish our prayers are
going to be. The more our hearts are like his,
we're gonna find ourselves being way more concerned
about other people and what's happening to their
lives and what's happening around us. And that
is really the foundation of intercessory prayer,
really the foundation of all prayer. But this
idea of praying on behalf of others, it's about
being close to God. You see, while Abraham was
there close to God, Lot was way over there in
Sodom, right? Lot, who Peter calls righteous,
So there was righteousness within him. There
was something within him where God said, hey,
I've granted you the idea of salvation and that.
He was still living amongst the sinners and it
tells us he pitched his tent there and then he
moved in. Next chapter we're gonna find out he
was a leader in the city. But what's not recorded
anywhere in scripture is that righteous lot was
there going, God, please save my city. There's
no recording anywhere that he was interceding
on behalf of Sodom and the people there. No record
of that. He's way over there in sin, living in
the place of sin, while Abraham's right here
standing before the Lord. And who's the one that's
gonna pray for the salvation of the place? Now,
we see that Abraham judges that. It's not really
that he's so much like, save that city. He's
like. Are you gonna wipe out the whole thing
even if there's righteous people there? Because
that doesn't line up with your character, God,
right? The righteous, the ones who are living
the way you want, the ones who have committed
to you, the ones who believe you, you're not
gonna judge them with the wicked, are you? Now,
this idea here comes from this concern that Abraham
has about God's reputation. What was the first
thing Jesus told us to pray? Father, hallowed
be your name. My greatest priority is your glory.
The greatest priority is your glory. May your
name not be tarnished and sullied in any way.
What is Abraham concerned here? If you kill the
righteous with the wicked, well then everybody's
gonna be able to point the finger at you and
go, see? It doesn't matter if you're saved. God
is still going to drop the hammer on your head.
And that's what Abraham's concerned about here.
He's concerned that God's glory would be tarnished
here. Donald Barnhouse said, the longer one remains
in the presence of God, the more proper perspective
he gains on the world, and all that is therein.
You see, we don't have to go wallow in the mud
to understand the wickedness of the world. We
don't have to go be a part of sin to understand
the wickedness of sin. If we just stay close
to God, we study his word, we're gonna have a
proper understanding of what the world is and
what the people in the world are because the
Bible teaches us that. And then sure, most of
us could just remember who we were before Christ
and we know all we need to know about that. But
as we're close to God, walking with him, studying
his word, we get enough insight into all these
things, but our heart gets molded into his where
we start to have a compassion. To at least start
to think about what's gonna happen and how's
that gonna affect your glory, God. Intercessory
prayer, the second thing, requires that we appeal
to God based on his character and his glory.
This is an extension of that. Abraham calls him
the judge of the whole earth. Aren't you going
to do what's just? You want me to teach my family
what's right and just. You want to teach my family
to walk with the Lord, and I'm going to do that.
But God, I'm worried that if you do this and
there's righteous people there, it's going to
tarnish that. It's going to tarnish who you are.
It's going to tarnish the picture of what you
want people to know about you. And so he appeals
to God's mercy. Would you really do this if there
was 50 righteous there? And then he gets a little
full of himself, I think, and he goes, certainly
it's not. possible for you to do that, right?
At least that's how I read that. But the idea
here is, God, I'm concerned about who you are
and that your glory is tarnished, right? Start
there. God, you're amazing. You're awesome. You're
holy. You're just everything. And God, I want
your name lifted high above all things. So God,
I know judgment's coming, but I'm praying on
behalf of all these horrible, wicked people.
Lord, I know when your judgment comes, just don't
do anything. Lord, I don't want your name to
be sullied. And an intercessory prayer requires
that we maintain the right perspective on things,
who we are in the context of who we're praying
for. Look at verse 26. The Lord said, if I find
50 righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will
spare the whole place for their sake. Now, I
think that was the moment where Abraham went,
dang it, I started too high. I know there ain't
50 righteous people in that place. Then he answered,
since I have ventured to speak to my Lord, right,
well, I've already put my foot in it, so let's
keep going. Even though I am dust and ashes,
suppose the 50 lack five. Will you still destroy
the whole place for the lack of five? Now, the
idea there is Abraham's going, look, I'm dust
and ashes. I have no place. I'm not better than
them. I'm not saying, you know, I'm this big
spiritual person. You need to listen to me. I
understand that the place that I'm praying for
you to save right now, if there's 50 righteous
or 45 righteous, I understand they're horrible,
wicked people. But so am I. I'm a sinner. I'm
a sinner, and so I'm gonna keep pleading, interceding
for them with the understanding that, yeah, you
are a holy God, you are almighty, you can do
whatever you want and judge whatever you want,
but I'm gonna pray for this wicked place because
I know I'm wicked too. And I know you saved me.
And so I'm gonna pray that you save them too,
that you don't wipe this whole place out, but
instead, if there's any righteous people there,
keep the place whole. He replied, God replied,
I will not destroy it if I find 45. Then he spoke
to him again, suppose 40 are there? Like, gulp.
How about 40? I will not do it on account of
40. Probably took a deep breath. I'm totally
dramatizing this thing. Let my Lord not be angry
and I will speak further. Suppose 30 are found
there. He answered, I won't do it if there's
30. Then he said, since I ventured to speak to
my Lord, suppose 20. I will not destroy it if
there's 20. Then he said, let my Lord not be
angry. I will speak one more time. Suppose 10
are found there. And God answered, I will not
destroy it on account of 10. We see this humility.
We see this posture of, I recognize what I'm
asking. I'm recognizing, you know, who you are,
God. I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I'm
pleading with you on behalf. I'm not coming here
with any type of arrogance or whatever. I'm but
dust. And then going, oh my gosh, I started with
50. That was a mistake. So do -do -do -do -do
-do all the way down. Yes, God's my friend. This
is what allows us to have this dialogue and this
conversation, but he's still Lord. And we see
reverence in his prayers. Praying period, including
intercessory prayer, comes with that we know
we're coming to the holy God of the universe.
We're not coming to just our buddy. Yeah, God
wants to hang out with us on the couch, as I
said last week, but he's also Lord. He's God
Almighty. And so he's like, God, I'm just...
I'm humbling myself to pray for this. Now, what's
interesting is Abraham could have been like,
hey, look at Sodom. Yeah, I risked my life for
those punks. I remember the four kings took them
all and I chased those four kings up north and
I defeated the whole army and then I gave them
back all their stuff. And they continued to be
this way? Smite them, oh mighty smiter. That's
kind of how we pray sometimes, right? That's
our intercessory prayer. Smite them, oh mighty
smiter. But his prayers, like, spare the whole
city, including the morbidly perverse and wicked,
for the sake of the righteousness, so that your
name isn't tarnished. I read this quote. It says,
a man who has himself received mercy seeks to
secure mercy for others. Can you pray for the
worst of the worst in this world compassionately?
God, just, if there's any way, if there's any
way, if there's any possibility, save them. And
I think of, what are they called? Pedophiles.
My prayer for pedophiles is God, drop a meteor
on their head. Kill them. Right? Traffickers,
all this stuff. But the heart of intercession
and the heart of God is, I hope they get saved.
Because that would change everything. That would
stop them. That would stop the victims, right?
As he's looking at Sodom, he's going, all the
rapists and all of that stuff. He's saying, God,
if it brings you glory and it protects your people,
don't destroy them. That's a hard prayer. But
it comes with a place of understanding that a
Christian is no better than any other person
when it comes to the guilt that we have for sin.
We're no different than anybody's sinful tendency,
as terrible as it might be. The difference is
we're saved. That's it. And so we're called to
have this heart of compassion. God, if you saved
me, I know you could save them. But still, he's
in this context here of the judgment, you know.
And so intercessory prayer requires that we remain
persistent and persevere in our praying. We keep
praying. As I said earlier, how many of you prayed
for someone to get saved for a long, long, long,
long time? Can you pray the same way for someone
that you thoroughly believe in your heart of
hearts? God, please wipe them out and send them
to hell forever. Can you pray that same prayer?
God, please save them and persist in that prayer.
And we see that with Abraham. 50, 45, 40, 30,
10, all the way down. God knew how many righteous
were in Sodom. He knew what he was gonna do.
He knew that he was gonna be absolutely right
and just in going there. He knew what he was
gonna find. He knew how he was gonna judge the
place, but he had this dialogue with Abraham.
And my question is, why? Abraham, I want you
to know. my judgments will not fall upon the
righteous. This is why we're a pre -tribulation
church. I don't believe God's judgments are going
to fall on the righteous. I don't. I don't think
it lines up with this and many other passages
in Scripture where we see God's character. That's
why I think God's going to take the righteous
out of the world and then tribulation is going
to fall. Now, yeah, there's going to be people
who get saved during that time. Different class
of people at that point. Different group of people.
But again, I'm not here to jump on that soapbox
either. But we see very clearly here what God
is saying to him is, my judgment's not going
to fall upon the wicked. Now, does that mean
bad things never happen to the righteous on this
earth? No, of course not. Remember when the Tower
of Siloam fell on the people and everybody's
like, oh, who sinned that the tower fell on them?
And Jesus is like, nobody, the tower fell because
there's a thing called gravity, right? And so
we can't over -spiritualize or under -spiritualize
the issue here, but what I see in this is God
wants Abraham to be sure, right? I'm gonna go
teach my kids and my family all about righteousness
and justice and I want to tell them God is absolutely
just and God is absolutely right. And so, 50?
45? All the way down to 10. I believe at this
point Abraham was like, I get it. You will not
judge this place unless it is absolutely 100
% appropriate. And when you do, there will be
no question of whether it was just and right.
And so he stops. Now I did ask myself the question,
why did Abraham stop at 10? There's no real...
answer on that. It doesn't say. I read one commentator
go, maybe Abraham knew that between Lot and his
wife and his kids, it was nine. So, and he was
like, I'm not really sure about Lot right now.
So I don't, I don't know. That's speculation.
But the idea is that he persisted. He persisted.
He persisted. Now, verse 33, it says, when the
Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he departed
and Abraham returned to his place. The thing
I want you to notice there is it says when the
Lord finished speaking with Abraham. Not when
Abraham was done speaking to the Lord. Sometimes
when we're praying, we can get this idea of like,
God, you need to hear everything I have to say.
And God, you're going to be, and I'm praying
for this, and I want you to do this, and then,
don't you leave. God acts and moves on his timetable,
not ours. That doesn't mean we don't pray. That
doesn't mean we don't intercede. But God will
always act on his timetable, not ours. Sometimes
he'll tell us what that timetable is. Sometimes
he won't. We already looked at it. He's absolutely
right in whether he tells us or not. But here
we get to 10 and God said, okay, we're done.
Now there's two big truths in this chapter that
really build upon one another. That frame this
whole thing. When we're, gonna go pray for those
that we don't wanna pray for. Pray for the things
we think are impossible, right? This whole thing
is framed on two verses. Verse 14, is anything
impossible for the Lord? No. Verse 25, won't
the judge of the whole earth do what is just?
Yes. Right? Is it impossible for the Lord to
judge the whole earth justly and righteously
and accurately and thoroughly? Is it impossible
for him to do that? No, it's not. So therefore,
never doubt him. When we get into the word and
the temptation comes up, that seems brutal and
unfair. God is just. When we're trying to figure
out how his mercy and his judgment is tied together,
God is just. God is fair. God is right. Period.
End of story. We have to know and trust that
God hears the outcry of humanity. He does. He
hears the cry of the abused, the cry of the trafficked,
the murdered, the wronged, the hurt, the abandoned,
all of it. And I am right there with any of you
who struggle with that because I'm like, God,
how can you still permit this in the world? It's
so heinous. But God is right. God is just. Always.
In all things. And because we know he hears it
all, we know that his word tells us judgment
is coming. Judgment is coming, as surely as God
is right and just. So like Abraham, as God's
people in this world today, we're called to be
people who live the way of the Lord. which is
doing what is right and just according to God's
standard. We are to be people who are passing
that on to our children and our families, and
we're to be people who are then letting all that
spread out as the gospel goes forth, telling
people about how much God loves them, and the
warning of hell. We're called to intercede on
behalf of others. But that intercession starts
with God, I don't want your name to be sullied.
Lord, that's what I'm concerned with, that your
name is lifted high and just in all the glory
that nobody has a reason to point and go, aha,
he's not fair, he's not just. So we draw near
to him. We draw near to him because the closer
we are to him, the more we just, we're gonna
wanna see his name lifted high, but then we do
so, our heart starts to change. We start to have
his heart of compassion, his heart of righteousness
and justice, and we pray things from the perspective
of, God, I'm interceding for the world. Save
them as you saved me. I know your judgment's
coming. And when it does, there's gonna be no
question that it's absolutely right and just,
that you did it based on full information, that
you did it without any ability for anybody to
question you. But until that happens, Lord, just,
we're still in this world. And I want more people
to come to heaven with us. And so, Lord, I'm
praying for these people, I'm praying for these
people, I'm praying for these people. Don't drop
that judgment just yet. My brother isn't saved.
My mom isn't saved. My dad isn't saved. Whoever
it may be. God, I'm praying for them. Please.
We pray for others based upon just bold confidence
in his character. We don't have to question,
will God or does God want to save my family member?
Of course God wants to save your family member.
Does God want to stop this and change? If it's
in line with his character, of course he does.
And you can pray with confidence in those things.
We understand as we're praying that we too are
sinners. So we can't ever put ourselves in a
place of pride to say, oh, that person I'm not
praying for, that person I won't intercede for.
No, we are but dust and ashes. And then we pray
with passionate persistence, never stopping until
the Lord says, okay, all done. And we know that
all done is gonna happen one day. And the way
it's gonna happen is in a blink and a twinkling
of an eye, we're gonna be standing with the Lord.
And that's going to happen. But until that happens,
we need to pray. We need to pray for people.
We need to pray for those that are lost. We need
to pray for the governments and the politicians
and pray extra for them, right? No, but we need
to pray for the criminals and pray for the terrible
people as well as we pray for our own needs.
Because again, that time will come when what
happened to Sodom will look like a gentle hug
compared to what comes upon this earth in tribulation.
And knowing that's coming should be a motivator.
Should be something that motivates us to go,
I've got to walk the way of the Lord. I've got
to share the gospel with people because I know
for a fact that is coming. And the time is short.
So let's get to it, amen? All right, let's pray.
Father. There's a lot in this world, God, that
is tough to fathom. There's so much wickedness
and evil and just atrocities or horrible things.
And God, so many of these things, there's no
way for us to understand why it's still happening.
But God, we have to trust that you are right
and just. God, we need to be people who leave
judgment to you because you are the judge of
the whole world, not us. And so God, help us
to draw near to you, Lord, that as we pray, we
wouldn't just be praying for our needs. Not that
that's wrong, Lord, but we would be people that
have a heart like you. That we would care about
your will being done in this world, which is
that people would get saved. And so we would
pray for people. that we know aren't saved. We
would pray for situations that are contrary to
your glory and your righteousness, Lord. We would
pray for what is right to permeate the world,
Lord, even though, God, we know the story. But,
Lord, you care about people. We should care about
people, especially lost people, because we were
once lost people. So help us, God, to pray with
confidence in who you are, your will and your
way and your character. Help us to be humble
in that, recognizing, Lord, that we're sinners
too. That as people who have received mercy,
we would pray for mercy on others. And that,
God, especially in those situations where there's
things we hate, there might be people we hate,
I pray, God, you would work within our hearts.
To pray for their salvation. Because Lord, it
is only you that is going to fix the wickedness
of sin in our hearts. And help us to pray with
persistence. To not stop, to not give up. To
not let up on doing that until we're standing
before you in glory, God. Because we know judgment's
coming. We know the time is short. God, move
within our hearts to be these people, not perfect
people, but saved people who love as you love.
We love you so much, God, and we thank you. It's
in Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, church,
let's worship.