Sermon Tone Analysis

Genesis 18:20-32 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

20So the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very flagrant, 21I will go down now and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has come to me.

If not, I will know.”

22The two men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.

23Abraham approached him and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous along with the wicked?

24What if there are fifty righteous people in the city?

Will you really sweep them away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

25You would never do such a thing, killing the righteous along with the wicked, treating the righteous the same as the wicked.

You would never do such a thing.

The Judge of all the earth should do right, shouldn’t he?”

26The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people within the city of Sodom, then I will spare the entire place for their sake.”

27Abraham answered, “See now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it on myself to speak to my Lord.

28What if there are five fewer than fifty righteous?

Will you destroy the entire city if the number is five short?”

He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

29He spoke to him yet again and said, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

30He said, “Please, do not be angry, my Lord, but I will speak again.

What if thirty are found there?”

He said, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”

31He said, “See now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to my Lord.

What if there are twenty found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

32He said, “Please, do not be angry, my Lord, but I will speak just once more.

What if ten are found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

...Just Once More

I.

The outlook was grim.

Looking at the spiritual condition of the place, that was plain to see.

Last week’s First Reading showed God himself, with a couple of angels, stopping at Abraham’s door for a visit.

One purpose for their visit was to reiterate to Abraham and Sarah the promise that they would soon have the child of promise, who would be the ancestor of the Savior.

That announcement wasn’t the only purpose for his arrival, however.

Between the reading from last week and this week’s reading, God says: “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (Genesis 18:17, EHV).

God’s judgment would soon take place.

Today’s reading begins: “So the Lord said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very flagrant, 21I will go down now and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has come to me.

If not, I will know’” (Genesis 18:20-21, EHV).

He already knew, of course.

In his grace, God showed his personal interest in people by coming down from the throne of heaven to go there personally.

The sin there was great.

When Abraham and his nephew, Lot, split up because of the size of their flocks and herds, Lot looked toward Sodom and saw how good the land appeared to be for his purposes and chose to go there.

Immediately on his arrival in the area the Bible says: “Now the men of Sodom were extremely wicked sinners against the Lord” (Genesis 13:13, EHV).

Lot did not choose the location for his home very well for a believer.

He moved in to their city and, it would seem, adopted at least some of their attitudes.

The chapter after today’s text describes in detail one of the egregious sins of Sodom.

When the two angels arrived there, the men of Sodom wanted to rape them.

Homosexuality was prominent there.

That wasn’t the only sin.

Ezekiel tells of more.

“Look, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: Pride, overindulgence in food, and complacent ease were the way for her and her daughters, and she failed to strengthen the hands of the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49, EHV).

II.

The outlook is grim.

Looking at the spiritual condition of our society, it’s plain to see.

Sodom and Gomorrah are not dissimilar to today’s society.

I last preached on this text nine years ago.

How tame our society would look if you could turn back time, knowing what you know now!

Homosexuality was a problem then, too.

Now, however, the month of June is devoted to flying flags and flaunting as normal what used to be termed an alternate lifestyle.

Courts have asserted that it is normal for such people to be married.

Children are being convinced to undergo hormone therapy and sex-change operations, thinking that the doctors—and God—must have made a mistake when they were born.

The court has said that abortion is a matter that states are to decide rather than the Supreme Court, so ballot initiatives are being pushed to codify in the Michigan court that the killing of the unborn can occur right up to the moment of birth.

Isaiah wrote: “They parade their sin like Sodom.

They do not bother to hide it.

How terrible it will be for them!

Look, they have brought disaster upon themselves” (Isaiah 3:9, EHV).

How easily Isaiah could have been writing about this very time in history!

The same God who put in an appearance at the tent of Abraham could stand in the altar area of this church and announce to us all: “The outcry against... is great, and... their sin is very flagrant” (Genesis 18:20, EHV).

III.

Abraham knew what the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were like.

Their sins were not hidden.

As Isaiah said in that passage moments ago, they flaunted it.

They were proud of their cosmopolitan attitudes.

“Whatever has been is what will be again, and whatever has already been done is what will be done again.

There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9, EHV).

Solomon was absolutely correct.

Sin is nothing new.

Since Adam and Eve, sin has always been around.

The Bible lists exactly the same sins as we see today.

The difference today from my sermon from 9 years ago on this text seems to be the kind of flaunting Isaiah wrote about.

Just as Sodom did, our society flaunts the evil and proclaims it to be good.

In fact, it is considered commendable to tolerate and promote the kinds of evil that were so prevalent in Sodom.

Abraham was not unaware of the conditions in Sodom.

By the time God announced his intentions, Abraham knew who was standing at the door of his tent.

While he wasn’t surprised about the wickedness of Sodom, he was concerned for his relatives who remained there.

“The two men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.

23Abraham approached him and said, ‘Will you really sweep away the righteous along with the wicked?’”

(Genesis 18:22-23, EHV).

The angels left to begin the process of God’s judgment.

Abraham knew that he stood before the Lord.

This was the same God who had just announced that soon the promised seed would arrive who would be the ancestor of the long-promised Savior.

He wasn’t afraid to stand before this God and make his request for mercy.

“Will you really sweep away the righteous along with the wicked?”

Righteous means innocent.

Is anyone innocent?

Is there anyone who is pure and holy?

The Psalmist David admits: “There is no one who does good.

There is not even one” (Psalm 53:3, EHV).

In the eyes of God no one can be called righteous.

But the Lord to whom Abraham prayed is the God of full and faithful love.

He is the God who promised the Savior.