Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction & Review

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been learning how God graciously chose a man named Abram, who at the time was 75 years old, to leave his father’s family & place where his father was buried, to go to a foreign land that God would show him.

God also promised Abram that God would make of him a great nation.

Abram packed up his wife, all his possessions, his nephew Lot and went out not knowing where he was going.

God showed Abram where to stop and Abram built an altar and worshiped the Lord there in the land of promise.

Famine Abram went to Egypt, lied about Sarah.

God had blessed Abrams herds a flocks as well as his nephew Lot’s herds and flocks.

The servants argued over the grazing areas.

So Abram told Lot to choose where he wanted to settle, so they could each have their own space.

Lot chose the best pastureland for himself in the territory of Sodom.

But Sodom was an exceedingly wicked place.

The war over Sodom, Abram’s daring rescue of Lot.

Abram’s worship, tithe and blessing from Melchizedek.

After that great victory, God appeared to Abram again and promised him this time his descendants would number as the stars of the sky!

And the Bible makes the most amazing statement on Abram’s faith in God in Genesis 15:6 “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”

10-11 years go by, Sarah is impatient & hatches a plan w/ Hagar to “help God out.”

Now Abram has a problem, his wife isn’t happy and Hagar isn’t happy and Abram is stuck in the middle.

Hagar flees, God sees her distress and cares for her.

13 long years go by and it seems God didn’t talk to Abram during that time.

When Abram was 99 years old, God came back and appeared to him again and God said: “I am El Shaddai, Almighty God, walk before Me and be blameless.”

God restored Abram and renewed His covenant with Abram.

God changed his name from Abram which means ‘exalted father’; to Abraham which means ‘father of a multitude’.

God promised nations and kings would come from him and Sarah.

God ratifies his covenant with Abraham by commanding Abraham and all males in his family & all male servants 8 days & older to be circumcised.

God personally appeared to Abraham at his tent with two angels to again promise Abraham that he and Sarah were going to have a son by that time next year.

Sarah laughed when she here this news because she was 89 by this point and Abraham was 99! God promised them they were going to have a son together and name him Isaac, who’s name by the way means laughter!

We ended last weeks story with the Lord and his two angels leaving Abraham and Sarah’s home and Abraham got up and walked with them to send them on their way.

1. Tell the story

Today’s story comes from the key points of Genesis 18:16-22:19.

Setting

Over the course of Abraham’s story, we can see his relationship with Almighty God growing and deepening and maturing; even though Abraham was not perfect and made many, many mistakes in his walk with God.

As Abraham was walking with the Lord after His visit to their home, we get some insight into the mind of God.

God recorded His thoughts as He strolled along with Abraham: Genesis 18:17–19

17 “Should I hide my plan from Abraham?” the Lord asked.

18 “For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.

19 I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just.

Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.”

(NLT)

This is an amazing statement from the Lord and reveals how God viewed His relationship with Abraham as one of love and trust!

That’s what God desires in His relationship with all of His children who have entered a faith relationship with Him.

Then God told Abraham “I have heard the great outcry from Sodom & Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant.

I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard.

If not, I want to know.” (vs.20-21

NLT).

It’s important to note that God already new that Sodom & Gomorrah were terribly wicked.

God is sovereign and omniscient which means He knows everything.

But God reveals Himself to us in human terms so that we can understand who He is.

Back in our story when Abraham & Lot parted company; we learned that Lot chose to take his family and flocks and settled in Sodom.

The Bible made one comment at that time that gave us a hint of the problem of Lot’s choice: “But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked & sinful against the Lord.”

(Gen.3:13).

Now the two angels turned away from the Lord and Abraham and they headed off to Sodom and the scene splits into two sections with the Lord & Abraham in one scene and the two angels in the other.

We’re told about what happened with the angels in Chapter 19 who appeared as men with the Lord and their encounters with the wicked men of Sodom and how they rescued Lot and his family.

Let me pause in our story for just a moment to tell you...

What they found in Sodom was outrageous, egregious, disgustingly gross sin against God.

We also learn how deeply that sinful environment impacted Lot’s views toward sin and how deeply his character and conscience were compromised.

Because of the nature of the sin and the shocking nature of Lot’s actions, we’re not going to discuss this this morning in this context with children present.

However, you would do well to read about in God’s Word in Genesis 19.

It mirrors what is taking place in our own beloved country and the level of sin & compromise in America rivals what we read in Gen. 19.

God will not be mocked & judgment is certain unless we repent!

So let us return to the other scene with the Lord and Abraham.

At the Lord’s comment to Abraham, that He was going to examine the wickedness in Sodom, it stopped Abraham in his tracks and he stood before the Lord.

Abraham began to intercede for his nephew Lot and his family and their circle of influence.

He began by asking the Lord an honest question:

“Would you destroy the righteous with the wicked?”

One of the things Abraham had learned about God by his own experiences was that God is a merciful and gracious God.

So Abraham asked God: if you found 50 righteous people, surely you wouldn’t destroy the place and people if there were 50 people there trying to do what it is right.

Abraham appealed to God’s character: “Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so the that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

(Gen.

18:25).

Abraham was not questioning whether or not they deserved judgment, clearly they did.

But Abraham had personally rescued them in chapter 14 and had compassion on them.

These were not just unknown, faceless, nameless pagans Abraham didn’t know.

These were his neighbors, people he had sacrificed to rescue.

God said no Abraham, if I find 50 righteous people there, I won’t destroy them.

Abraham must have doing some calculating in his head, thinking of people he knew there including Lot.

People he thought were good people.

So he asked the Lord what if you only find 45 righteous people?

Would you destroy them if we were short 5 good people?

The Lord said “No Abraham, I won’t destroy them if we’re short by 5 and only find 45.

Well this exchange between the Lord and Abraham goes from 50, to 45, 40, 30, 20 all the way down to the 10.

It almost sounds like a football announcer calling a long run, he’s at the 50, the 45, the 40, the 30, the 20, down at the 10 yard line!

As I read this exchange, I marvel at Abraham’s boldness, his courage and his audacity to ask God about this.

But it is the kind of honest, frank discussion that people in a love & trust relationship have!

They are not afraid to have hard and difficult conversations.

As a matter of fact, it is what God had just recorded for us of His thoughts about revealing to Abraham His divine plans and His expectations of Abraham, that Abraham would keep the way of the Lord, and do righteousness, justice and teach this way to his children.

(Gen.18:19).

God was not offended by Abraham’s honest discussion about this.

When God’s people pray on behalf of the lost, their intercessions have great effect and we see God’s incredible willingness to be gracious and merciful to sinners.

He will often spare wicked people for the sake of righteous people.

Abraham was doing what the Lord Jesus would speak of several thousand years later in Matt.

5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”

He was acting as God’s divine agent to preserve right living in a world filled with evil!

Well the Lord walked on to see what to do about Sodom & Gomorrah and Abraham returned to his home.

As I mentioned, chapter 19 will reveal God was unable to find even 10 righteous people or for that matter even 5.

Sodom & Gomorrah was utterly & completely destroyed by the righteous, just hand of God.

The Bible tells us the Lord (Jesus); rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom & Gomorrah and the cities of the plain where Lot lived.

I’m reminded of the truth found later in God’s journal through the sweet Psalmist of Israel David in

Psalm 14:1-3 “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.

2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.”