For the Sake of Ten

Introduction

Trolley Dilemma video

The ethical dilemma...

What do you do if there’s no right or wrong answer?

Is it right to do a little wrong to stop a bigger wrong

The lesser of two evils

What about the opposite?

Would you let a criminal escape justice to stop an injustice?

That’s why we start with innocent until proven guilty, right?

If I said, 5% of all convictions are wrong and someone goes to jail for something they didn’t do...

Would we be better off letting everyone out of jail so no innocent people are punished?

Or is the collateral damage just a necessary evil of making sure we punish those who are guilty?

Today, God is going to place Himself in a moral dilemma, and Abraham is going to be asking the questions...

YouVersion: For the Sake of Ten

We’re in Genesis 18:16-33

Genesis 18:16–19 (ESV)

16 Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

So the preincarnate Christ and two angels leave

Abraham walks with them

This was customary - like driving someone to the airport and saying final goodbyes

They are headed to Sodom - they have some very important work to do!

God asks a rhetorical question here

He knows He will have this conversation with Abraham, but wants us (readers) to contemplate the situation

He wants us to understand His thinking

What is He thinking?

1. I have chosen Abraham - if God was only concerned with what He was doing, He wouldn’t need people

But He chose Abraham for a purpose

2. The purpose is to keep the way of the Lord - Abraham’s duty was to help people understand and follow God better

3. Abraham is charged with doing righteousness and justice - A human is being charged with righteousness and justice

See any room for problems there? Humans are really bad at determining righteousness and justice.

Look at how polarized our country is:

Abortion, civil rights, homosexuality, gun control, transgender ideology, COVID restrictions, police policy...

That’s because when humans get to decide what’s right and wrong, we never seem to be able to figure it out!

If Abraham is going to keep the ways of God, specifically in areas of righteousness and justice, God needs to show him

Here’s the situation Abraham is brought into:

Genesis 18:20–21 (ESV)

20 Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

The world is calling out against Sodom and Gomorrah

I’m sure angels saw their sin

I’m sure people prayed to God about them

I’m sure that even creation itself cried out to God because of what their unnatural sins had done

Here’s the thing:

God isn’t literally going down to find out if the cries are true

Sometimes we ask the question, “Couldn’t God just do this...”

Often times, God does things for our benefit

Here’s what we see here:

God wants people involved in what He is doing

This doesn’t only apply to Abraham

Or even the all-stars of the Bible

It applies to us today

Jesus told His disciples:

John 14:12 (ESV)

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Also...

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God involves Himself in the affairs of man

He interferes with our own selfish work to make us better

If God wants us to do good works, how do you think he does that!

For Abraham He speaks directly to him to give orders

For us, we have the Holy Spirit working in us

He gives us knowledge, discernment, Spiritual gifts, and even the words we use to share the gospel

All that happens because God specifically wants us to be His own

He’s not just doing everything for us

He changes us so we can do things with Him!

It’s an amazing thought, really

Henry T. Blackaby: “What a comfort to know we are not out on our own trying to make a difference in the world, but we have been chosen, appointed, and sent by the King of kings and the Lord of lords to be his ambassadors of light ! We go on his authority, his power, his strength, on his terms, and with his protection. We are sent bearing a message of hope in a hopeless world.”

That’s what discipleship is all about

Jesus came to earth, walked with people, modelled behavior, and sent them to do the same

How do we replicate that?

(TW+K4)xD3

TW - You actually spend tim with people

K4 - You are intentional in engaging in Kavanah

Scripture

Prayer

Love

Worship

D3 - Exponentially repeating the process

God wants us to work with Him, so we should do it!

So let’s see how God works with Abraham:

Genesis 18:22–23 (ESV)

22 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

I find this very interesting

First, the two angels (or men) walked on toward Sodom, but the Lord stayed behind

And Abraham asks Him, will you kill the righteous as you kill the wicked?

God is both just and merciful

Let me read the passage before this again:

Genesis 18:20–21 ESV

20 Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

Where in that passage does God say anything about sweeping away Sodom and Gomorrah?

This makes it seem pretty clear to me that Abraham knows what justice looks like

Sodom and Gomorrah are sinful places - he’s seen it with his own eyes

His nephew lives there

Abraham is personal acquaintances with the king of Sodom

Remember when he rescued Lot, the king of Sodom said give me the people back and you keep the stuff

Abraham said “no” I don’t want anyone thinking you made me rich, God makes me rich

This was when he met Melchizedek and gave him a tenth of everything...

Anyway, Abraham knows what’s going on down there

He also knows they deserve God’s wrath

God is a God of justice

But Abraham knows something else about God too:

God is also a God of mercy

As Abraham communicated with God, he speaks to what he knows about God: “You are just and You are merciful”

We can learn this lesson ourselves:

Prayer speaks to who God is

As we speak to God, we should do our best to know who God is

This is done primarily through Scripture, and also through other elements of relationship

We should remind ourselves of who God is, and then speak

We should never assume the things we believe or know of the world supersede who God is

That way we pray for God’s heart and not our own

So Abraham presents something of a Trolly Dilemma to God:

Genesis 18:24–26 (ESV)

24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Abraham already established God won’t destroy the righteous with the wicked

Now, it becomes a questions of numbers

Exactly how many righteous people does there need to be for God to spare the sinful city?

What I love about how Abraham asks, is that he remains bold but humble

Prayer should be humble and confident

You can do both at the same time

James tells us:

James 4:10 (ESV)

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

We always have to remember who God is an who we are

But that doesn’t mean self-deprecation

Hebrews says:

Hebrews 4:16 (ESV)

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We are allowed to be real with God

We are allowed to ask for things and question things and stand before His presence

We should do both

Now watch Abraham whittle this down:

Genesis 18:27–31 (ESV)

27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.”

Quick tangent, this is a justification passage for the rapture

In the end times, who is bringing destruction to the earth?

When the sixth seal is opened, lots of bad things happen

Earthquake, the sun goes black, blood moon, asteroid impacts, the sky is rolled up (whatever that means) and islands and mountains are destroyed

This is terrifying destruction that will take place in real life

Look what happens next:

Revelation 6:15–17 (ESV)

15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

All that stuff happens from the wrath of who is seated on the throne and the Lamb

Who is seated on the throne? God the Father

Who is the Lamb? Jesus

The same God who is ready to act here in Sodom with Abraham

When the end times come, do you think God the Son and God the Father will destroy everything the righteous - His Church who is made righteous by His blood - at the same time He destroys those who are unrighteous?

No, that’s not how God works

So that could mean a couple of things:

God won’t follow through - but God always follows through

John saw it, this is a prophecy, this is going to happen

It’s not a warning to come to repentance, it’s been decided

2. There won’t be any righteous people to protect

Christianity has been in decline, maybe there won’t be any believers left

3. There will be a Sodom and Gomorrah situation

God does save Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

It would make sense too then, that God would save His church from destruction in the end times

Perhaps by miraculous preservation, but I believe it will be by rapturing His Church

Hopefully, there will be more than ten people left on earth...

There’s something else I want to point out here though

Abraham has been pretty bold in his questions

Part of that is being very specific - he is even using exact numbers

He’s not just saying, “Can you spare some righteous people?” He is asking for specific parameters

We shouldn’t be afraid to ask God for specific things

Prayer isn’t tossing up requests to see what sticks

Abraham wants to know the details

God, exactly how many are there

Often we like to throw generalities at God

It’s okay to get specific

God please tell me how long I have to endure this season

God please show me exactly what to say in these circumstances

Lord, as we negotiate my salary can I please have $52,643 and 52 cents per year...

God may still say no to your specificity, but you can surely ask

How about this, God align my heart exactly with Yours in this issue

Don’t stop just short, make a complete change in me

Trust me, God can handle your requests

There’s nothing you can ask that He can’t give

And there’s nothing you can ask that He is too afraid to deny if it’s not good

And don’t ever believe you’re bothering God

“Lord, I know You’re busy but could you just listen for a quick sec… then get back to whatever it is You’re doing. Never mind, don’t bother. I’m too small, my desires are too insignificant...”

Don’t, God loves you and has time for you - He wants you to talk to Him

Look at Abraham, even after all that, he’s still talking:

Genesis 18:32–33 (ESV)

32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

So, there’s God’s answer to the trolley dilemma

If there are 10 righteous people in a city, God won’t destroy the rest

Is that enough mercy for you? Is that enough justice?

Maybe you like it, maybe you don’t

Here’s the thing, does it really matter how you feel about it?

Do you think you can do a better job with truth, justice or mercy than God?

Most of think so

We may not say it, but it’s what we do

We often think things ourselves, and assume God would agree or that Scripture must have mistakes in it

How could God allow slavery, how could He allow the Holocaust? How could the Bible say what it does about homosexuality or women? How could God order the death of thousands?

I wonder — how good do you think you are?

Can you only accept what God says if it aligns with what you already believe or what you want to believe?

Will you only stand for what God says if the world around you is ready to swallow it?

There’s something called Dunning-Kruger effect

Most people have false views of their ability

2 software companies analyzed their engineers - asked them to rank themselves

Company A - 32% thought they were top 5%

Company B - 42% thought they were top 5%

Means 27%-37% over-ranked themself

88% of drivers rank themselves above average

How can the vast majority of people be above average?!

In college debate tournament study...

The lowest 25% ranked teams lost 4 out of 5 matches

But before learning their scores, they thought they won 60%

Know who’s most likely to rank themself the most ridiculously high?

The worst performers...

Turns out, if you don’t have the skills to do something well, you also don’t have the skills to recognize when you’re doing it wrong

When people were given a logic test and did poorly

Later were given a mini course on logic

Became far more willing to rank their first performance as horrible

Turns out when we learn a little bit about the basics, we start to see how much we don’t know

Let me ask you this: How many of you are exceptionally skilled at running a universe?

If you’re not good at it, you may simply lack the knowledge and ability to recognize how not-good at it you might be!

That’s why incredibly wise Christians who have studied the Bible and taken honest looks at themselves quickly realize they are better off trusting God than criticizing Him

What’s beautiful about this story, is in the end, God’s justice is exactly what Abraham expected!

And so is His mercy… He’s actually more merciful than expected!

God literally does both!

Even if there are only ten righteous people, He won’t kill them to handle the hundreds or thousands of wicked people in Sodom and Gomorrah

I wonder why Abraham stopped there...

Maybe he assumed, “There’s got to be more than ten righteous people there...”

But there wasn’t

When God rescues Lot, He saved him, his wife and two daughters

God preserved four - and really not his wife - spoiler alert - she’s turned to salt

So just three righteous people in the whole city - and God will save them

God literally saved only three (and they’re not really that righteous we’ll see later...

And He still destroyed two entire cities

What can we learn from that?

God goes to great lengths for the righteous

He also goes to great lengths to handle the wicked as well...

That’s a lesson for the coming weeks

Today, we are the righteous!

Not because we’re great, but because we get to claim Christ’s righteousness

His blood makes us righteous!

Think, if God was so kind that He would spare two sinful cities to protect a few good people, what will he do for you?

Honestly, He’s already shown us

He would send His Son to die for us

Don’t take that radical kindness for granted

Accept that gift, and love God

Allow Him to change your life - when this world sees the next version of what God did to Sodom and Gomorrah...

That gift will be the most precious thing you can think of