world. Eph. 2:4 tells us God is “rich in mercy.” But, God also must be just. Hasn’t our age portrayed God as a benevolent, permissive parent who merely winks at our sin and escapades into evil. In the end, He’ll let everyone into heaven, or almost everyone except for a few particularly heinous evil people like Hitler or Osama Bin Laden.
Our Scripture this morning, takes us into this interplay between mercy and justice in the heart of God. And, in the midst of it, Abraham models for us a faith that intercedes for others in prayer. First we need to do a bit of a fast forward in the Abraham story.

Please open your Bibles to Genesis 17. The opening sentences remind us of the waiting and the promise.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers." (Gen 17:1-2)
The promises to Abram have been multiplying for 24 years about being given the land of Canaan and making of him a great nation. Now things intensify in the year before the miraculous birth of a son, Isaac. In God’s declaration that He is “God Almighty,” we have the third synonym for God given in the Abraham story, in the Hebrew, El Shaddai. Previously, we’ve had:
            El Elyon– “God most high” (Gen. 14:19) and
            El Elroi– “God who sees” (Gen. 16:11).
As the promises grow, the revelation of the dimensions of who God is also increase. In this chapter then, along with additional promises, the covenant of circumcision is commanded and Abram’s name is changed to Abraham. Abram meant, “exalted father.” Abraham means, “father of many.” Sarai’s name is changed to Sarah, meaning “princess.”

Now, sometime later that same year, chapter 18 opens with three visitors, two of whom turn out to be angels and the third is the Lord himself as we see in the later dialogue. This is probably a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God. While the chapter begins with, The Lord appeared to Abraham..., in the beginning, Abraham doesn’t know these three men are anything more than strangers for him to welcome. There is the annunciation of the birth of a son, Isaac, about this time next year (10). Sarah, overhearing, laughs a laugh of incredulity and then lies to the Lord, saying she did not laugh. In this lie, in a moment of spectacular promise and revelation, we see the imperfect humanity and the imperfect faith God chooses to still use.

Then, in what almost seems like an afterthought, He fills Abraham in on the coming judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Here we pick up the reading: 18:16- 33.

THE MERCY OF GOD
Then the Lord said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know"  (Gen 18:20-21).
Of course God already knows. But this depiction in human terms tells us that God investigates, learns the truth before ever sending judgment. You have here the sense of the cup of iniquity filling drop by drop until it spills over and must be dealt with. This is not a harsh, vindictive, punitive God. He is more the surgeon who knows He must remove the cancer to preserve civilization. And, in a moment, we’ll get a picture of just how bad things have gotten. In fact, 2 Pet. 3:9 mentions that God is so reluctant to execute judgment that some question that there will never be a judgment. But Peters says:
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

As Abraham negotiates with the Lord, we see God’s mercy again. Abraham starts with What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? (Gen 18:24). And, he negotiates the numbers down to 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, and finally when the Lord tells him that for even ten righteous people he would withhold judgment, Abraham gets the message of how bad things are. While Abraham’s intercession on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah may have been simply motivated by compassion, remember his nephew Lot is living in Sodom. So, I’m sure that is also on Abraham’s mind.

It is likely that these two cities contained several thousand people. With only ten people following the Lord, God would spare the cities. This says something important about the preservative power on society of people following the ways of the Lord– the salt Jesus spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount (Mtt. 5:13). In this I hear a call for us to penetrate this world to allow the redemptive power of God flow into the darkest corners of the earth through us. We aren’t called to isolate ourselves from the world or to retreat from intimidating manifestations of evil. As Becky Pippert points out in a memorable way in her book, Out of the Saltshaker, we have to get out of the saltshaker if we’re going to change the world.

INTERCESSORY PRAYER
Abraham’s negotiations are a great image for intercessory prayer. As the two angels turn to go down to Sodom, we read, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord (Gen 18:22). Intercession is when we pray for others, literally an intermediary or someone standing in the gap between that person and God.. While the cities cannot be spared, Abraham’s nephew Lot and family is spared.

God speaks to His people and gives them insight into things so they can pray. In the rhetorical question God is depicted as asking himself, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” And as God continues on saying, For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, (Gen 18:19).
There is a challenge for all of us parents– directing our children to keep the way of the Lord.
Here we can see why Abraham is elsewhere in Scripture referred to as “the friend of God” (James 2:23). But it also reminds us of Jesus’ words in John 15:14-15,
You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

 

Interceding on behalf of others is so important. There are those who don’t know God who need someone to stand in the gap for them. There are those overwhelmed with their struggles who need help in bringing their burdens to the Lord. I have often known the incredible blessing of being on the receiving end of fervent intercessions. Let me tell you of just one that comes to mind.

This was a number of years ago in another church. I faced a terrible crisis with some individuals in the church family involving sinful behavior. Thus began three days of some of the most intensive counseling I’ve experienced, meeting with one, then the other,  and on and on. Wrestling with screwed up thinking, rationalizations, delusions of the enemy, anger, intense emotions, and strong wills is exhausting. I kept thinking, “I wish I had more time to pray about all this and sort things out”– but I was just on the run, reacting to the brush fires. Then when I did try to pray, I only felt more overwhelmed as I thought of all the ramifications and fear would strengthen its hold on my heart. Yet, again and again, exhausted with all the counseling and dealing with all the strong feelings, I would seem to have a word to share with the person before me in that situation along with the Spirit’s presence. I was amazed. I literally felt carried along through that crisis. And in the end, hearts were changed to be obedient to the Lord. Then, a few days later, after the worst was over, I received a letter from Ruth, whom I knew from our former church. She wasn’t a member of our church, but she came to our prayer group faithfully. Now Ruth had what I considered a gift for intercessory prayer. She often had stories for our prayer group of being called by the Spirit to intercede on behalf of someone. She would drop everything and devote herself to intensive prayer– often for hours. In her letter she told me she felt the call of God to uphold me in prayer for those three specific days– the time corresponded to the breaking of the crisis to the end. If I remember, she even fasted for a portion of that time. Of course, she had no way of knowing what was happening and was 2,400 miles away. I’d been gone from that church for over a year. But I have no doubt in my mind that Ruth’s intercessions were needed for the Lord to win the battle we were waging.

Tony Snow served until this past summer as the president’s press secretary. He had colon cancer in 2005 and then this last spring, tumors were found in his abdomen leading to more surgery and chemotherapy. Tony is a Christian. In an article that appeared in Christianity Today, he writes about the blessings he’s found in “the valley of the shadow of death.” In that he mentions being the recipient of intercessory prayer.
“When our faith flags, He throws reminders in our way. Think of the prayer warriors in our midst. They change things, and those of us who have been on the receiving end of their petitions and intercessions know it.

“It is hard to describe, but there are times when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel a surge of the Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others have chosen, when talking to the Author of all creation, to lift us up– to speak of us! This is love of a very special order.”

 

SODOM AND GOMORRAH
Finally, in the end, even though God is merciful and He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), judgment must come. Let’s continue our reading now with Genesis 19:1-11.

This has to be one of the most chilling scenes in the Bible. Note that Lot is sitting in the gateway. This implies he was on the ruling council, for this is where city government took place. He had prospered, turning a blind eye to the evil and perversion. While the dominant note here is of unrestrained lust and sexual perversion, the sins of Sodom involved much more. Ezek 16:49-50 gives further insight. This is the Lord speaking:
"'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

To find such a graphic depiction of all this in the Bible we might find rather shocking. But it is not here to serve prurient interests. It is the most detailed account we have in the Bible of the need for God’s judgment. Elsewhere, when we are told God sent judgment, generally we are simply told that they were evil and wicked– sparing the details. But here, we are given a little insight into the heart of God– both His compassion and ultimately the need to remove the malignancy of sin out-of-control. So Sodom becomes a prototype, mentioned 28 times in the rest of the Bible from Deuteronomy to Revelation, for understanding this aspect of a loving, merciful God reluctantly doing what has to be done for the good of humanity. We can imagine for other times judgment fell, a similar love, care, concern, and seeking of an alternative came into play from God’s end.

The depravity is incredible. This does not just involve a few bad people– it is a cancer that has infected the community. The Scripture stresses this in saying all the men from every part of the city of Sodom–  both young and old –  surrounded the house (Gen 19:4 ). And the extent of the perverted passions of this homosexual gang is revealed in that, even after the angels struck them blind it did not stop them, but (as the RSV translates it)  they “wearied themselves groping for the door”(11).  Can you imagine being struck blind not stopping the passion driving their perversion?

Yet, God in His mercy, and probably in response to Abraham’s intercessions, does save Lot, his wife and two daughters from the impending destruction. When you think of Lot offering his two virgin daughters to be sacrificed to this gang wanting to rape his two angel guests, one wonders if Lot should be saved. When Lot speaks to his daughter’s fiances about leaving with them, they only laugh at the idea, thinking he was joking. And, Lot is reluctant to leave so that the angels need to forcefully lead them out. But Lot still doesn’t get it– he negotiates for a neighboring city rather than fleeing to the mountains as the angels have said.

The rest of the story speaks well for itself.

READ 19:15-29
CONCLUSION
I’m afraid much of our world has gotten as cavalier as Dr. Sproul’s Old Testament class, thinking we can make our own rules and it is no big deal if we come up short. But, God has built a moral law into this world. We cannot ignore it without grievous consequences. We cannot redefine it to our liking any more than we can change the law of gravity. God’s laws are foundational to the universe, human relationships, and our relationship with Him. They involve our eternal salvation. All this is spelled out in the Bible for us, just as Dr. Sproul spelled it out for his class in the course syllabus.

Yet, we all fall short. God in His mercy sent His only Son to take the punishment for our sins that we deserve. As long as we are in Him, trusting in Him for our salvation, we will not receive the judgment we deserve. Praise God for His mercy and grace. And, we never want to get far from the cross, for that keeps us in touch with the reality and seriousness of our sins.

Judgment is coming to our world. Sin must be punished. Let us, like Abraham, let this knowledge drive us to our knees in prayer, interceding for all those who are not in Christ, for their salvation. There is much for us to do prayer-wise in bringing our world back to God. I’d like to close with Eph 6:10-13.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

...but Abraham remained standing before the Lord (Gen 18:22). Will you stand as an intercessor?
On this reformation Sunday, we remember Martin Luther taking a stand against the corruption in the church and standing firm on the teaching of God’s Word. On trial for his life, he refused to back down, saying:
“...my conscience is held captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe, God help me. Amen.
            “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.”

He’d spoken these words in German. Now the counsel asked him to repeat them in Latin. He was sweating under the strain. A friend called out, “If you can’t do it, Doctor, you have done enough.” But Luther repeated the affirmation in Latin and as he repeated the last words, he threw up his arms in the gesture of a victorious knight, and walked out of the dimly lit hall.

Let’s join in Luther’s great hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” Join the battle for others and for this world through intercessory prayer. The battle is spiritual and must be fought with the Spirit.

 

 

Robust Faith: Sermons On Abraham
VII. "We've Grown Accustomed to His Grace”

Read Genesis 18

1.  If Abraham had not extended hospitality to the three visitors, this whole story could have had a very different ending. (Gen. 18:2-5)  Read Romans 12:13, 1 Peter 4:9, and Hebrews 13:2.
            Share some time when an act of hospitality by     you or someone else was very        meaningful or important.

 

 

2.  What was Abraham’s reaction to the promise of a son in Gen. 17:17?  What was Sarah’s reaction in Gen. 18:12?  The Lord makes the comment in vs. 14 “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” 
            Have you ever had a similarly hard time in believing a promise of God?  Share          with the group.

 

 

3.  Why did Sarah lie about laughing? (vs. 15)  Do you think that is often the reason behind lies?   Any Examples come to mind?  Read John 8:44 to find the origin of lies.

 

4.  How many times does Abraham plead for the righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah?
 (vs. 23-33) _____________

Who do you think Abraham is hoping to save? 
 Why do you think he doesn’t just ask God to save them specifically?

 

 

Without Abraham voicing it, the Lord knew the underlying cry of his heart and granted a rescue or Lot and his family.  (Gen. 19:15 & 16)

 

5.  Abraham passionately intercedes for others.  Share a time when you had an overwhelming desire to pray for someone or when someone prayed for you at a critical time in your life.