Being the Blessing

Introduction

Read Genesis 18:16-33

Genesis 18:16–33 (ESV)

Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 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.” Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 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.”

So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 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? 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?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 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.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 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.” 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.” 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.” And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Here we have an interesting dialogue between Abraham and the Lord.

The Lord is getting ready to execute judgment upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And it seems that the Lord asks Himself whether He should bring Abraham into this knowledge.

The narrator records this own self-reflection not because God doesn’t already know the answer to this, but to show us why God chooses to give Abraham this information. God wants Abraham to be a blessing to the nations, and therefore, He wants Abraham to be aware of what is going on around him.

If Abraham is going to be a blessing to the nations, then there are things he needs to know and do in response to this information.

Be the Blessing by Recognizing God’s Righteous Judgment

God is letting Abraham know of His act of judgment against Sodom.

God has chosen Abraham to be a blessing to the world around him.

If he is to be a blessing, then he needs to recognize that the world and the nations around him stand as sinners before a holy God and therefore stand under the righteous wrath of God.

The People of God are Called to Recognize God’s Holy judgment against Sin

God wants Abraham to know of His own righteous character and this world we live in is not in right relationship with Him.

Abraham has received God’s grace by his faith in God, but the rest of this world is living under the just judgment of God. And Abraham must not take this grace for granted.

He must not forget that reality of God’s holiness simply because He has received God’s grace.

This is why so much of Jesus’ own teaching, directed to His disciples, included teaching on Hell and God’s Judgment.

Jesus wanted His disciples to always keep in mind the reality of life apart from His grace.

We do not hold to the doctrine of Hell and Judgment because we get some kind of gleeful response to telling people they are headed there. Some people think the church just enjoys the thought of people going to hell.

We do not teach the doctrine of hell because its what we enjoy. We have to teach it because it is true. Those who die without living by faith in Christ will die apart from Him forever in judgment. And it is important for us to remind ourselves of the urgency of the situation we find ourselves in. Not just for ourselves, but for our neighbors, coworkers, and even our own families who live apart from Christ.

The judgment may or may not come soon, but it will come for everyone. And unless we understand this situation, we will never be the blessing to others God is calling us to be.

Be the Blessing by Instructing the Next Generation

Therefore, we are called to lead others to a saving knowledge and love and faith in the Lord Jesus.

Look at why God wants to tell Abraham this news:

Genesis 18:17–19 (ESV)

The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 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.”

As God is preparing to give Abraham and Sarah their own family, God wants them to see the need of passing on what they know of God to their child and descendants.

The reality of God’s righteous judgment against sin should change how we lead and teach our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

This idea that we just need to let our children be whoever they want to be without giving any kind of guidance and teaching about God and how He meant for life to be lived is not a kind and compassionate philosophy.

Eternal life and death are hanging in the balance. If we are going to be a blessing to the nations, it begins by being a blessing at home. And the way we are a blessing at home is by lovingly yet firmly sharing with our own families of the need to turn to Christ in faith and repentance from sin. If this reality isn’t seen in our homes, then it becomes harder to share the truth of God’s Word to those who hear what we are preaching and yet see our own families depart from the truth.

Deuteronomy 6:1–7 (ESV)

“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

God will continue to command His people to pass on the truth to future generations so they can be the blessing to the nations around them.

Of course, this does not guarantee our children will follow what we teach. But they won’t even know what the truth is if we do not teach them. And we do not simply want to teach, we want to show them by the reality of our own faith and repentance in our lives.

The reality of God’s judgment against sin should affect how we pass on the truth of God’s Word to the next generation and how we share with them the need to live by faith in the finished work of Christ upon the cross.

Be the Blessing by Interceding for the Lost

God is also opening Abraham’s eyes to see beyond his own circumstances.

Abraham and Sarah have been focused on their own inability to have a child, and God is getting them to focus on the infinitely worse situation of the people and cultures surrounding them.

While they are concerned, rightfully so, about their own situation, God wants them to know of the dangerous spiritual reality of those who live in opposition and rebellion against Him.

If Abraham is to be a blessing to the nations, he must care about what is happening to the nations.

So God informs him about the judgment that is about to come upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

Of course, Abraham is concerned about the cities, but he has a vested interest in those cities.

He has a beloved nephew living there who is going to be greatly affected by what God is about to do.

So Abraham begins a series of intercession to God.

Abraham pleads to God on behalf of Lot, but also pleading for the cities as well.

It appears that Abraham is trying to get God to change His mind about destroying the cities.

He asks God that if he finds 50 righteous people, will He still destroy the city.

Of course, God’s answer is no He would not.

And then Abraham reduces the number by 5.

Abraham is pleading for mercy for the city based upon the righteousness of a few people that are there.

Of course, God is not changing His mind. If there were actually those righteous people there, God would not destroy the city.

And as we will see next week, God does not actually change his mind about destroying Sodom. God hears the cries of sin coming from the city and still judges the city for its sin.

Abraham’s prayer was not about changing God’s Mind.

Abraham’s prayer was about God inviting Abraham to see beyond himself and to change his own heart about the people he is living with.

And of course, God knew who Abraham was pleading for. He knew Abraham’s heart was pleading for Lot.

As we will see, God hears Abraham’s prayer, even with the imperfect way that Abraham intercedes for Lot, and God chooses to rescue Lot anyway.

The fact that God rescues Lot rather than abstaining from justice against the city might suggest that Lot was not one of the righteous people that would have stayed God’s hand.

But God chooses to answer Abraham’s prayer for his nephew.

God’s plan has always been to show mercy and grace to those who receive Him by faith and to pour out judgment and wrath upon those who remain in willful rebellion against Him.

God’s plans never changed as far as all this was concerned.

While God’s mind was not changed, He did invite Abraham to pray for and intercede for both his nephew and for the lost city. Abraham is being used as a blessing as he is praying for the city and for his nephew.

Somehow, both God’s unchanging nature, and His call to pray and to intercede for those around us, work in perfect harmony with one another.

God will not change His mind about pouring out judgment upon the wicked. But God has chosen to work through the prayers of His people, both to change His people’s hearts towards the Lost, and to use those prayers to impact the stubborn rebellious nature of the lost to draw them to Himself.

God invites us to pray to Him so we can join Him on His mission to seek and to save the lost that surround us.

Who is God placing on your heart this morning that you know needs to be reached with the Gospel?

It might be someone who has never received Christ by faith.

Or it might be a fellow believer, who like Lot, has got himself mixed up with the wrong crowd and who is spiritually far away from their Savior who needs to be brought back.

Either way, God is inviting you to be a part of His plan to rescue them and that starts with our prayers of intercession for them.

Be the Blessing by Receiving True Righteousness

One final point here, is that Abraham is praying for God’s mercy based upon the presence of the righteous in the city.

Again, I think we might even infer that Abraham was not even confident that his own nephew would have fallen into that category. He knew what his nephew was like and his worldly character.

But whether it was praying for God’s mercy towards Lot because of his righteousness, or because of the presence of other righteous people, what we see here is that no one is actually righteous enough to earn the mercy of God.

Here’s the reality, none of us are actually righteous enough to keep God’s wrath and judgment from coming upon us. No matter how good we think we are, it will never be good enough.

But this is where Abraham’s offspring will be the blessing that the nations so desperately need.

While we cannot be righteous enough, someone from Abraham’s descendants was perfectly righteous for all of us.

And it is the righteousness of this one that can actually keep God’s judgment from destroying us.

This perfectly righteous one, this seed of Abraham’s line, the seed of the virgin Mary, Jesus Himself, lived the only perfectly righteous life.

And having lived in perfect obedience and righteousness before His Father, took upon Himself the wrath of His Father against the sin of the world.

Judgment is coming against the world and against all sin. Judgment and condemnation is awaiting all those who have not believed in the only Son of God.

But John 3:17

John 3:16–18 (ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Jesus came to be the righteous One who would keep God’s judgment from coming upon us and we can find salvation by putting our faith and trust in Christ alone.

Have you experienced salvation by placing your faith in the only Righteous One who can cover you with His blood?

If not, today can be the day of salvation for you if you respond to His call to follow Him in faith and repentance.

And if you have, who are you praying for to experiencing this same salvation that you have experienced by faith? Who is God leading you to share what you know of Jesus so they too can be rescued from the judgment that is coming?

And parents and grandparents, are we seeking to share what we know of both the goodness and the holiness of God with our children and grandchildren so they can also have the knowledge necessary to turn to Christ in faith and repentance? Our kids may or may not choose to believe themselves, but let it not be said they do not believe because we have not intentionally taught and showed them the reality of God’s love and holiness in our lives and in our homes. Let us be a blessing to the nations as we seek first to be a blessing to those in our homes!

Lord’s Supper

As we gather to partake of the Lord’s Table, let us come before God in a spirit of repentance and thankfulness.

Just like Lot and those of Sodom, we once stood condemned by our own unbelief and sin. And yet, because of Christ, the righteous One, we can be saved from the just and righteous wrath of God.

The observance of the Lord’s Supper is our opportunity to remember the sacrifice our Lord has made on our behalf as we seek to live in the new life He has given to us and as we look forward to the day when we get to see Him face to face when He returns to take us home to be with Himself.

We are going to spend a moment reflecting on our own sin and spend time confessing our sin to God the Father and asking Him to continue to cleanse us and make us to be more like Christ.

ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, We have sinned and strayed from Your ways like lost sheep, We have followed too much of the desires of our hearts, We have offended Your holy laws, We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done. But You, O Lord, please have mercy upon us. Spare those who confess their faults, Restore those who are repentant . According to Your promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord: And grant, O merciful Father, for his sake, That we may live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of Your holy Name. Amen.

The Bread

On the night of the Lord’s Supper, the Lord took the bread and broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying that this was His body which would be broken for us. His broken body is the physical demonstration of God’s love for us to pour out His just and righteous wrath towards our sin upon His perfect and blameless Son.

As we pass the bread this morning, spend time in gratitude for the act of grace and mercy that Christ has demonstrated for you as we continue to confess our sins to our holy and loving Creator.

1 John 4:10 (ESV)

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The word Propitiation means to stand in the place of someone else. Christ stood in our place and took God’s Wrath, that was reserved for us, and received it upon Himself and upon His perfect and sinless body.

Let us take and eat this bread in thanksgiving for the infinite and marvelous grace of our Savior!

The Cup

In the same way, Christ took the cup of wine and told His disciples that this wine is the blood of the new covenant which is poured out for us. Because of His blood, forgiveness for sin is possible and available to all who would place their faith in Christ.

As the juice is passed this morning, let us turn our eyes away from ourselves and spend time in intercession for those we know who need to be covered by the blood of Christ so they too can experience the forgiveness of sin and freedom from the wrath and judgment of God.

Hebrews 9:22 (ESV)

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. Christ shed His blood so that He would not only take God’s Wrath away from us, but so He could provide forgiveness and righteousness to His people. Without His blood there would be no entrance into the presence of God.

Let us drink in worship and in gratitude for what Christ has provided for us. But let us also drink knowing what Christ has made available to all those who have yet to believe and repent.

Let us take and drink in remembrance of Him.