Good seeing everybody. Rescue
too, I believe the Lord was with us there. He seemed blessed. I was blessed. Clay brought a
wonderful message. We talked a lot about the second
one. I got to listen to it on the
way home. It was real hard to pay attention though. It was
a rare reception, I think. Maybe it was 80 miles an hour
to do that. I was trying to slow down so
I could hear better. But it was wonderful. And I told
him, I said, you bring either one of those Tuesday, if you
like. I'll be just fine with me. Brother Bob ain't with us
this morning. Vicki had her surgery, but she
got to go home Friday. And she's needing a little more
attention than what they had expected, but she seems to be
doing well. So hopefully he'll be with us Tuesday. And then
some of y'all know Bill Silva up in Rescue. He runs the audio
and stuff for them, audio visual. Been a faithful man there for
a long time. I have wonderful news. He will be with the Lord
today. Probably is already. He had a
wreck on the way to services Friday. And they think he had
a heart attack or something and then fell off his motorcycle.
But he was riding his motorcycle, wind in his hair, made him happy
on the way to hear a word about his Redeemer. And he saw his
Redeemer. That's precious, isn't it? They
got him on life support now. They said there's no brain activity.
And to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord
if you're his. And he loved the person. So I'm thankful for that. That's good news. The Lord does
not save someone and them not know that they need saving. That
they're kind of bad, that they need help. Or they might need
a little flotation device in this thing. If he saved them,
they know that they were saved from something. There's no confusion,
and they don't forget it. They don't rise above. That's
what Rahab the harlot, Simon, Peter, the Lord kept them right
where He wanted them. Here in Genesis 18, we're going
to see a story, a story of judgment, of sin, and of intercession. Genesis 18. Oh, you're all right, come on
in. I like standing up comedy. And
there's a fellow one time that got up to go to the restroom
in the middle of it. And they said, go ahead, we'll wait. And
everybody kind of chuckled. Well, about three and a half
minutes later, and he was just looking. They didn't know whether
to laugh or not. I thought that was hilarious.
Welcome. Genesis 18 is what we'll be.
Genesis 18. Genesis 18 verse 17. And the Lord said, Shall I hide
from Abraham the thing which I do? I do. It's not the thing that he did.
It's not the thing he's going to do in the future. It's what
he is doing. What he is doing. seeing that Abraham shall surely
become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed in him." Is he going to hide this thing that
he does, that he's doing from Abraham? What thing? That's what we're going to look
at this morning. Judgment. Judgment. Intercession. That's not hid from him. It's
not hid from us because he raises it up in Abraham's heart to intercede.
for this judgment. It's not hid to him. It's revealed
in him. That's the sweet stuff. That's the good stuff. I'm going
to give it all to you up front. Judgment's coming. And inside the heart
of a believer, the Lord does a work, and they require mediation. They need a substitute. They
need a redeemer. And they cry that for others.
They do that. And the Lord said, for I know
him, and he will command his children and his household I
intend to do that. I want to do that. I want to
pray as Abraham prays in this text. And I might and I might
not. If you say, I want to come to
church with you, you might, you might not. Maybe you will, maybe you
won't. The Lord says, I know him. He
will. Now can he declare what's going
to happen? You bet. How so? He makes it happen, doesn't
he? If they're faithful, they're
made faithful. And I hope he gives us enough good sense to
ask him to make us faithful. because we ain't. I ain't. I pray the Lord makes me diligent
because I'm lazy. I pray he gives me faith because
I feel like I'm full of unbelief. I pray he gives me a message
because I ain't got enough good sense to ask him for one. He
said, I know him, he will. Command his children and his
household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord
to do justice and judgment. This ain't going to depart from
then. It's not going to be just cheesecake and balloons and a
birthday party all the time. There's going to be justice and
there's going to be judgment. Those will go hand in hand. And the
Lord, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has
spoken of him. And the Lord said, because of
the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin
is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have
done altogether according to the cry of it. which has come
unto me. And if not, if not, I will know. The Lord speaks in a way you
and I can understand. He became a man like us. He speaks
to us like us so we can understand. Does that mean that he's not
down there knowing what's going on? Is he going to find out?
He don't know which way it is? Of course not. Of course not. He's saying those balances are
going to come in. They're going to be weighed in
the balance. I want to have justice and judgment. That's what's going
to happen. Well, that has to be a time for
that. He's going to do justice and judgment at the appointed
time. This is going to happen physically
for Sodom and Gomorrah, but for every one of us, there's an appointed
time. You're going to meet your maker. He knows what he will do. He
doesn't need to physically go down there to Sodom and Gomorrah
to gather information. He knows all things, but he gives us a picture.
God looks upon sin. He will visit it and it will
be dealt with. Don't think for a moment that
because a sin goes unpunished, it's been forgotten. It will
be dealt with. It will be. We can hide our heads
in the sand like ostriches and act like stuff never happened.
I was thinking of Joseph and his brothers. Seventeen years
between them throwing him in the pit, throwing blood on that
coat of many colors, selling him off into slavery, until they're
starving to death, coming down to Egypt for coin. They're bowed
down in front of this fella that's the boss. He's got different
clothes on now. He's grew a beard. He's got some wrinkles. He's
got some wrinkles over 17 years. Especially serving the Lord. He'll wear you out. He'll look
different. Do you think in their minds, they're like, man, this
could be our brother. You think they're thinking that?
Oh, like a thief in a knot, he met him, didn't he? He revealed
himself to them. Their sin was revealed. It was
there. It was just covered up. Oh, He revealed it. The sins
of Sodom went on for years and years and years and decades,
living it up, and the Lord dealt with it. Not a moment too soon,
not a moment too late. In His time, as He saw fit, which
was right, He dealt with it. What was this cry from Sodom?
Gil said it could have been the cry of Lot, crying out because
of this wicked world around I'm gonna set us up knock us down
this morning. Okay, so you just you just hold on to the ride.
Let's see what happened Why would lot not leave? And Sodom and Gomorrah wicked
place did he have to do business with wicked people was he all
around it Why didn't he just leave? Why didn't he pack up
and go? Why didn't he lead his children and his household and
say now come on now we're gonna serve God we're not gonna stay
here. You ever thought that? I have. Why didn't he just do
that? Easy to say it Where do you live? Where do I live? This whole world
is Sodom and Gomorrah. If I moved to Mars to colonize
it, I'd pollute Mars. That's what this world is. There
was a crime going out, and it could have been from a lot, but
it was from them too. I thought of this. Turn over
to Genesis chapter 4. Genesis 4, verse 9. Cain had killed Abel. because
of the gospel, because of him. There was a division in the house
of Cain and Abel because of Christ, how God saved sinners. Cain killed
his brother. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Genesis 4 verse 9, Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy
brother? And he said, I know not. Am I
my brother's keeper? Better be careful talking back
to the Lord. And he said, what hast thou done?
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth. unto me from the ground."
This sin that was committed, it cried unto the Lord. Does
His people cry to Him? His children cry to Him. We petition
Him, the sin cries to Him. That's not a pleasant cry, is
it? That's a painful cry. Painful cry. Let's turn over
to Ezekiel 16. What was this cry? The sin of
Sodom and Gomorrah that the Lord heard. We know that it was manifested. They had sinned, they were unregenerate,
and the Lord had left them to themselves, and this came out
as homosexuality. That's what it came out as, it
manifested. It is wrong. That is wrong. I'm gonna set you up, knock you
down, remember it, before we go getting all hoity-toity. Hang
on with me. Homosexuality is wrong. That
needs to be said. It needs to be taught. I used
to look somebody in the eye one time, and I told them that abortion
is wrong, and that was the last time I ever preached to them.
Maybe it'll be the last time somebody hears me, and the last
time gospel ever goes into their ears, I don't know. But it's
wrong. Homosexuality is wrong. The Lord says so. It's an abomination
to Him, and someone needs to tell people that. It's so. I'm
not a homophobic. I'm not gay-bashing. I'm not
looking down my big old religious nose at somebody else. It's a
sin against God, and it will not go unpunished. People need
to hear that. When the basic truth, when just
the unknowingly ignorant people, but they have God's Word, when
that's not proclaimed, and especially when the gospel's not proclaimed
from a pulpit or in someone's home, this is what happens. When home isn't like faithful
Abraham that commanded his children in his household, saying, now
this is what God says. Now if you don't like it, don't listen
to it no more, pack up and go. But in this house, we're going
to do what he says, and this is what he says. This is what
he says. Things grow out of control when that happens. Read Romans
1, the Lord took his hand off of them. One nation under God,
look at our nation. This is urgent, isn't it? What's
the root cause of that? That's wrong. God says so, and
I may get my brains bashed in in this generation from saying
that, and so be it. It's wrong. What's the root cause?
Oh, we're going to hit where we live now. What's the root
cause of that sin? Is it different than something
else? Is it different than your sin? It's so easy for us to look
at other people underneath the law and judge people by the law
instead of judging ourselves by the law. It's so easy to look
at someone else and judge them by the Word of God instead of
judging ourselves by the Word of God. And because someone else
struggles with the sin that we don't have the struggles with,
we can say, I can't believe they'd do such a thing. How could Lot
live down there? I ain't got no problem leaving there. Pack
up. It's time to move. I moved a whole bunch. One more time
ain't gonna hurt me. It's easy for me to say that. But then
if someone's going through the same sin, same struggles we have
with ourselves, somebody's an alcoholic, I can say, oh, buddy,
keep praying. Lean on the Lord. That's easy,
isn't it? But if it's a sin that we don't currently struggle with,
currently, because our Bathsheba hasn't showed up yet, oh, it's
so easy for us to look. But what's the root cause of
that? What's the root cause of alcoholism? of people not disciplining their
children. What's the root cause of homosexuality? What's the root
cause of pedophilia? Of all these things, what's the
root cause? Ezekiel 16, verse 49. Ezekiel 16, verse 49. Behold, this was the iniquity
of thy sister Sodom. Pride. Pride. The Lord hates six things,
yea, seven, and the very first ones Now, how could pride be
the source of that? That's what it is. That's what
it is. It's plainly on display. I was
hoping to preach this last month. It's plainly on display for a whole
month on billboards. We passed them the whole way
from rescue back down here. It's pride month. We're proud.
You ain't lying. They're telling more truth than
the person that's looking down their nose at them. The Lord said, He saith unto
them out of thy own mouth, Will I judge thee, thou wicked servant? Judas said, Lord, is that I?
He said, you said it. So says you. You said it. We're proud. You said it. You ain't lying. Behold, this is the iniquity
of thy sister Sodom. Pride, fullness of bread, and
abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters. Neither
did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. They was
lazy, they full of bread, had plenty of means, but they were
proud and there's no gospel preached to the poor. Verse 50, Ezekiel
16, 50. And they were haughty. What's
haughty? Proud. What's their sin? What's
the root of all this? It begins with pride and it ends
with pride. Is that plain? That's what the source of it
is. And committed abominations before me, therefore I took them
away as I saw good. I saw good, he dealt with it.
Turn over just a couple pages. Ezekiel 18, verse 20. Ezekiel 18, 20. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The son shall not bear the iniquity
of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity
of the son. The righteous of the righteous shall be upon him,
and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. What's that
mean? One-on-one. One-on-one. One-on-one. You will
stand before the Almighty God of heaven and earth, your Creator,
And you will either stand alone, one-on-one, only in your merit,
only in your decision, only in your job well done, and perish. Or you'll stand in Christ, who's
already bore our sin and our shame and our guilt. And we'll
stand there in His merit, on a life I did not live. We'll
stand there in His decision-making, on a willfulness that I didn't
have. We'll stand there in His job well done, in a death that
I didn't die. That's called substitution. He's
already stood there for us at Calvary and in that tomb, but
we're going to stand there in front of him. People need to
know that. They need to know that what's
going on in this world is not just a preference. It's sin. It's wrong. That needs to be
told plainly. This earth was flooded once because
of sin. Everybody died but those in the
ark. once because of sin. Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed
with hellfire and brimstone from heaven once because of sin. But
for you who believe, Christ died once because of sin, to put it
away. Because of the sins of those
he was made one with. It says in Hebrews 10, for by
the offering of one hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
It's put away. How are folks going to know that?
How can we tell folks? How are they going to know of
God's holiness, of mankind's proud look, of God's pride? We want to be seen of men. We
want our faces out there. I want everybody looking at me,
and you want everybody looking at you. I know, I think, I do. How are they going to know about
that? Somebody's going to have to tell them. How are they going
to know about the Lord of salvation? Save us from ourselves. God's
going to have to tell us. Turn over to Luke 10. He's going
to send a preacher, isn't he? Somebody's going to have to tell
you. You don't know what you don't know. And we don't want to hear it
either, do we? I know. I know. I know. What? No, you
don't. Somebody's got to tell you. Luke
10. Luke 10, verse 1. After these
things the Lord appointed other 70 also, and sent them two and
two before his face into every city and place, whether he himself
would come. Therefore he said unto them,
the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers
into his harvest. Go your ways, behold, I send
you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, don't bring
your pocketbook, You don't need your wallet, nor script, nor
shoes, and salute no man by the way. You make haste, and into
whatsoever house you enter, say first, Peace be to this house.
That's how Paul always started his letters, wasn't it? Peace
be unto you, from the God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not just saying peace, peace be unto you. And he tells them
who peace is. And of the Son of Peace there,
and if the Son of Peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it,
and if not, It shall turn you away. The wrath is going to turn
you away. That's some hippie coming out here talking about
peace. Get him out of here. Somebody's coming out here talking about
the Lord and judgment and sin. No, no. I'm busy. I got something else to do. And
those ones that receive you, verse seven, and in the same
house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give. For
the laborer is worthy of his hire. Don't you feel bad about
eating They give you something to eat, you just go ahead and
eat it. Go not from house to house, don't get full here and
say, I'm gonna have dessert over there and I'm gonna go over here
and eat, get me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. No, no, no,
you don't take advantage. You take what's worthy of your
hire, but you don't take advantage. Verse eight, and into whatsoever
city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things that are
set before you. And heal the sick that are therein.
How you gonna heal the sick? Saying unto them, the kingdom
of God has come nigh unto you. You tell them about their great
position. Go preach the gospel. That's what it is. Go into these
cities, preach the gospel. Are you sick? Are you lame? Are
you haught? Are you blind? Are you deaf?
Are you dead? He's the great physician. Heal
them. Heal the sick. Say unto them, the kingdom of
God has come nigh unto you. Is that good news? I've offended
God and he's turned his back on me. Well, Christ did something.
He interceded for his people. The kingdom of God's come to
you. You can't go to it. It's coming to you. That's good
news. That's good news. Verse 10, but in whatsoever city
ye enter, they receive you not. What's that mean? They won't
hear your words. They won't give you no food. They won't give
you nothing. Beat it. Go your way, go your ways out
into the streets of the same and say, even the very dust of
your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding, we ain't just
gonna leave, but you understand something. Be ye sure of this,
that the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you. Ooh, is that two-edged
sword? You've already come in the presence
of him, and you're gonna meet him again. The kingdom of God
has come nigh unto you. When the lights go out on the
road to hell. Everybody likes that old Bible
thumping, don't they? Let's turn them lights off real
quick. If I go tell somebody what you're doing is wrong, you
sinned against God, bow to Him. I say, leave me alone. The kingdom
of God has come down to you. I can wipe my feet off. Verse 12, but I say unto you
that it shall be more tolerable in the day for Sodom than for
that city. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Boy, it's easy for me. There's
just things I don't tolerate in this world. It's just I can't
bear it. It's wrong. I don't want nothing
to do with it. Oh, how much easier it's going to be in the day of
judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than it is for those that have
the gospel brought to them and they don't care. Those that have
the gospel to them and they won't receive the word. Those that
have the gospel to them, they won't even give them a drink of water. They
won't feed them. Get out of my house. Get out
of my city. And it's not disagreeing. You
think, how many cities those men walked through, those 70s
walked through? And they said, well, no, that's what they're saying, right? That's
good. I'd go sit over there. There's a difference between
not fighting against and not disagreeing and receiving. And
receiving. Oh boy, there's love there. It
ain't, this is the routine. This is the mechanical motion
that we go through. This is what we do. And we do
this and we give you that and we take this and we show up and
we listen really good. No, there's love. That's between
not disagreeing and going through the motions of playing and loving
somebody. They loved them. Why? Because
Christ was in them. God healed the sick. That's what happened.
Be more tolerable than Sodom. That's us. You know that? We're
proud. We did not receive this in our
old nature before God saved us. We might have been copacetic.
It might have been okay. I didn't disagree with it. Asphyxia's
fine. Yeah. I know five points of Calvinism.
Mm-hmm. No, that's fine. That's spitting in God's face
if you don't receive him. and take him into your home,
into your heart, because he has to come in. You don't knock on
the door, he kicks that door down, and he shows up, and if
he loves first, you're going to love. It's out of love, and
he'll give you life for it. We made the truth of God a lie.
We said, well, we're just, he ain't that just, he ain't that
holy. I mean, he ain't punished us yet. If he was mad, he'd have
done something. And man really ain't that bad. Mommy and daddy
wasn't that bad. They was good people. Weren't
they sweet? They were sweet people that despised
God. They hated God, and they believed
in their own works, and they were going to stand in judgment
on their own because they did something. That ain't so sweet. God doesn't
say so, does he? Apart from your mother and father. Paul told
us, and we're on our way to first Corinthians. We'll turn to Romans.
Romans 1. I'm just heartbroken. I think
of how many messages I've listened to and I didn't pay no attention
to. How many times I had the gospel from youth right in front
of me and I didn't care. And I paid no mind to it. Lord
has to bring us. He has to give life and I won't
ever, that guilt and shame won't ever leave me while I'm in this
body of death. I'll know what I am. I know what
I've done. I know what I run away from. and that keeps me
calling to Him. It's a lie. Come into my home. I'm going to feed you, wash your
feet, and trim your toenails if I have to. I don't care. Come,
Lord. Come. Whatever it takes. Here in Romans
1 verse 25, speaking of those that are turned loose, the Lord
took His hand off of them. Romans 1.25, Who changed the
truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature
more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. That's the problem.
They worship the creature, not the Creator. They could be themselves.
They could be proud in themselves. They could be proud in a man.
They worship a man and not the God that man preaches. For this
cause, because of that. For this cause, verse 26, God
gave them up to vile affections. Even their women did change the
natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise
also the men, leaving the natural use of a woman, burned in their
lust one towards one another. What do I come about? Proud.
Proud. Serving the creature more than
the Creator. Bound to man, not bound to God. Bound to self.
Selfishness. That's pride, isn't it? I'm proud
in me. I'm proud about me. 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. 1 Corinthians 6. Paul condemns all these things.
Pride's the root of it. Well, I've just got too much
stuff to do. I can't come to the Lord. Or he's not... I'm
too big of a sinner for Him to save me. That's self-righteous
pride. You think you can better yourself
to a point where He will save you. That's what that is. It's
taking the Word of God and making it a lie. 1 Corinthians 6, verse
5. I speak to your shame. It is
so that there is not a wise man among you, no, not one that should
be able to judge between his brethren, but brother goeth to
law with brother, and that before unbelievers. Y'all taking each
other to court, you're suing people, you're suing your brethren,
and unbelievers are watching this. Now therefore it is utterly
a fault among you because you go to law with one another. Why
do you not rather take the wrong? Why do you not rather suffer
yourselves to be defrauded? Pride's a problem, isn't it?
Nay, you do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren. And that
your brethren. I hope I never have to sue nobody.
I'll make some people think I'm going to. I've been threatened
to be sued myself a couple times. That ain't no fun. It ain't good.
Don't do it. You're at fault. Don't do it.
It's wrong. And that your brethren. And against your brethren. And
against your own brethren. and those that believe Christ.
Verse 9, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Does that
cover the basis? Did it get you on at least one
of them? Maybe one. What's the source of all that
pride? Verse 11, and such were some of you, who we pray for. But, but, that's where the gospel
begins. Everything we are, all the sadness
and sin and ruin that we are, but God. But you are washed,
you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. How are we washed? How are we sanctified? How are
we justified? In the name, by being in the Lord Jesus. And
all that work, all that work of salvation is completely performed
and done by God. The Spirit of God comes to our
hearts and does it. We're His workmanship. How does this come
about? What happens when we sin and
sin and sin and sin and sin, and this old flesh we're still
dwelling in? We need intercession, don't we? Back in our text here
in Genesis 18. The Lord does not save someone
without making them know they need to be saved. Not helped,
we need saved. We don't need a crutch, we need
new legs. I don't need a pacemaker, I need
a new heart. He makes us know that. He makes
us know that. And He intercedes for us still.
Verse 22, And the men turned their faces
from thence, those three that came and visited Abraham, the
Lord, and two of his angels, and went toward Sodom. But Abraham
stood yet before the Lord. What a privilege. I need to remember
that more. When we pray, whether it's in
public or it's in private, you're standing before the Lord. You
imagine if the heavens opened up and this whole world was shut
up and you were pulled out and said, speak on behalf of these
people. Is there something different
when we stand in public and pray on behalf of believers? Is there
something different whenever we pray in our homes? Is there
something different when we're all by ourselves? We say, Lord,
help me. Lord, be with my children. Lord,
be with these people. Apply it to their hearts. I'm
accountable for their souls, Lord. Be with them. Teach them
something. Save them. Is there something
different? Standing before the Lord. That's who we're standing
before. That's who we're pleading to.
Whenever I'm preaching, Or you're teaching at your homes, or somebody's
teaching online, whatever. Give your thoughts. You better
remember who you're speaking on behalf of. I hope I don't forget that. Verse
23, and Abraham drew near. This is Christ. He's the one
that can stay in the presence of the Father. He's the one that
can draw near to the Father and make intercession for us, isn't
it? But this is also the man. We learned something from him.
Abraham drew near and said, Will thou also destroy the righteous
with the wicked? Peradventure, there'll be 50 righteous in the
city. Will thou destroy and not spare the place for fifty righteous
that are therein? Fifty people. You know what we
call that in local assemblies of God's body on this earth?
That's called a big church. They got fifty people. Woo! The
Lord's worked mightily in that town, isn't he? Abraham said
fifty. If there's one local assembly in that place, would you say
the whole city of 250,000 to 2 million, there's all kinds
of estimates, big town, big city. Would you save one if there's
one local seminary? If there's 50 righteous people,
would you save them? I pray I could have a heart of Abraham, the
heart of Christ. I struggle with this greatly. I do not pray for
my enemies as I ought. I do not pray for those that
despitefully use me, the ones that either hate me or I hate
them or whatever it is. If the Lord saved them, do you
think the relationship would be different? No matter where
I go, because I've lived it, Everywhere we've moved. Government
officials, ooh. Tax collectors, ooh. Regulators,
I gotta get permits for stuff, ooh. My old man fights those
things, don't it? My old man doesn't pay attention
to those that the Lord set to rule over me. It's for my good.
In Afghanistan, they had a little tiny earthquake, killed 6,000
people. I hate them hurricane straps we had to put in that
house when we rebuilt it. Then the winds blew, and I said, I
don't mind them hurricane straps. What if God saved that one that
was so bad inspecting our home up there in New Jersey? Would
our relationship be different? Am I praying for that person
that God would save them? Or am I going to hurry up and get
off my property? Would it be different? Would
the relationship be different? Verse 25, Be it far from thee to do
after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and
that the righteous should be as the wicked, Be far from thee,
shall not the judge of the earth do right? This isn't a guilt
trip. He's not trying to coerce the Lord. It's a declaration
of the heart that knows the judge of the earth shall do right.
Abraham's crying out, shall not the judge of the earth do right?
What a comfort that is. Is that comforting to you? It's
like a moan. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Of course he will. If he's made
us right, we shall be righteous forever. He shall do what's right. He's holy. He's just, he's pure. He's not like us. Verse 26, and
the Lord said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city,
then I will spare all the place for their sakes. I'll save that
whole city from destruction because I have some people there. I won't
burn that place to the ground. I won't bring the judgment they
have coming immediately. We'll spare them over for a few
more years because of those 50. And Abraham answered and said,
Behold, now I've taken upon me to speak to the Lord, which am
but dust and ashes. This friend of God, this one
who walked with God, he'd come and visit him in the person right
there. He wasn't presumptuous. Peradventure, there shall lack
five of the fifty. Will thou destroy the city for
lack of five? And he said, the Lord responded,
If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy. Abraham the
man said, Out of that fifty, if there's a local assembly,
Lord, and there's five wolves among them, I don't know their
heart. I couldn't know their heart,
Lord. What if there's 45 there? Would you spare the city for
45? That's what Job did. He raised his children up. He
woke up one morning, he said he sent and sanctified them,
rose up early and offered burnt offerings according to the number
of all of them. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned
and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. He
made intercession for his children. He didn't, of course they sinned.
They were just like him. They'd come out of his loins.
Didn't think they were sinners. But he don't know the heart.
He don't know the heart. And Abraham didn't know the heart.
And he said, Lord, if there's 50, we'll save it. I'll spare
the city. And now you think about your words, don't you? Should
I ask for more? What about 45? 45. I don't know
the hearts, Lord. Verse 29. He spake unto them
yet again and said, Peradventure, there shall be 40 found there.
And the Lord said, I will not do it for the 40's sake. And
he said unto him, Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak.
Peradventure, there shall thirty be found there. What if there's
thirty? And he said, I will not do it if I find thirty there.
And he said, Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the
Lord. Peradventure, there shall be twenty found there. If there's
twenty people, twenty of your people. And the Lord said, I
will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh, let not
the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet, but this once. Peradventure,
ten shall be found there. Ten. I have a couple million. Ten. And he said, I will not
destroy it for ten's sake. Now you think, who's there? Who
does Abraham know in that city? Lot. Isn't it? His nephew. He called him his brother. They
worshiped together. He half raised him. That's his
only kin. And his niece. His niece-in-law,
Lot's wife. And his great nieces. Them girls
that he had. About ten of them all together.
Did he just come out and say, I pray for Lot? That's what I
said. Lord, for Lot's there. Abraham prayed for that whole
city. That city of wickedness. That city of sin. That city,
if he'd gotten caught down there at 3 a.m., they'd have cut his
throat. And he prayed for him. Said, Lord, will you spare this
city? Because you're right. He prayed, sparing that city
for the sake of the 50, the 45, the 30, the 20, the 10. that there
might be some more saints there that you haven't called out yet.
Well, let your gospel stand in this city another day. There wasn't ten. There wasn't ten. The Lord destroyed
those cities, but He retrieved His own before He did. We'll
look at this in two weeks. If Obi preaches on it next week,
I'm going to preach on it again the week after. Righteous Lot
was not destroyed. Abraham, being a man, didn't
even know what to pray for, did he? I don't know how to pray,
Lord. I don't pray at all. I don't
know what to ask. But the Lord will not forsake His own. And
He sent Him angels in there, two of them. And He brought out
Lot and his two daughters. Three walked out of there. People
fighting. Well, his wife came out. His
wife turned around and turned to salt, too, didn't she? Eight were on
the ark, one was ham. Four walked out of Sodom, one
turned and became salt. So there must be heresies among
you. The Lord was just. He destroyed those cities, but
he's the justifier. And he brought Lot out with them
two daughters. It says in verse 33, And the Lord went his way.
As soon as he had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned
unto his place. Now remember, Abraham didn't
ask for Lot, did he? He just asked for ten. And the Lord left. He wouldn't go destroy that city
right then. He was going to carry out His will, His purpose. And
Abraham went home. He didn't have a full answer.
He didn't have a good answer on Lot and his family, but he had
all the answer he needed. Grace had been given to Abraham
to know that the judge of the earth shall do right, that he's
holy, and he shall not lose one. He doesn't do what's right. What
he does is right, but he has to speak it the way we understand.
Anything he does is right. He's right. And that he had that
comfort and that grace that the Lord gave Abraham was sufficient
for him to go home. Thank you, Lord. I'm going to
get something to eat and take a nap. Did he go around there and tell
Lot? No. Didn't have to. The Lord will
take care of it, won't He? The Lord will do right. He'll
do right. Amen. Father, we thank you for
this hour. Lord, thank you for this Scripture,
you've kept for us this story of salvation and intercession.
Put it in our hearts to plead for this city, Lord, that we
dwell in, for this nation, for this continent, and for all mankind,
Lord. We don't know the hearts of men.
Oh, that you'd save your people, Lord. We know that the righteous
won't be forsaken. Thank you for your word. We can
turn to it and look and read it. Allow us to believe your
promises. I'll be with you, as you promised
you will be, and forgive what we are. Forgive our ignorance,
our laziness, and our pride. We know the trial will be painful,
but take it from us. Allow us to see Christ, the one that's
interceded for us. He's faithful. Be with us this
hour, Lord. It's in Christ's name that we
ask it. Amen.