Sunday, June 6, 2021

God’s Timeline – Part 27 Abraham Pleads for Sodom

 

God’s Timeline – Part 27

Abraham Pleads for Sodom

Pastor Bruce A. Shields

House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org

Online Audio Files | HOF Church Facebook | Truth Digest Facebook

 

This Document is a Sermon Outline, you may hear the full audio of the actual sermon by following the link Online Audio Files located above for this, and other Full Sermon Audios.  For a complete list of Sermon Outlines, visit TruthDigest.org or Truth Digest on facebook; for our Official Church website, visit PS127.org, or find us on Facebook at House of Faith Church

 

SERMON INTRODUCTION (2021 A.D. = 5781 Jewish Calendar Year)

 


-         Creation Week (Approximately 4000 B.C.)

o   Adam, Eve, and the Fall

 

-         Cain and Abel

o   Evil Fills the World

 

-         Noah Did All God Commanded Him

o   The Flood 2400 – 2300 B.C.)

o   God’s Covenant with Noah

 

-         Noah’s Sons and Ham’s Sin

-         Nations of Noah’s Sons

-         Tower of Babel

-         God calls Abram (2090 B.C.)

o   Abram and Lot part ways

o   Rescue of Lot

-         The Lord’s Covenant with Abram for Isaac

o   Hagar and Ishmael Born (2101 B.C.) Abram 86 years old

o   Sarai and Isaac (2088 B.C.) Abraham 99 years old

-         The Three Visitors

-         Abraham Pleads for Sodom

 

SCRIPTURE READING

Genesis 18:16-33

“When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

 

20 Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

 

22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but the Lord remained standing before Abraham. 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare[FORGIVE] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

 

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

 

27 Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”

 

“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

 

29 Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”

 

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

 

30 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”

 

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

 

31 Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”

 

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

 

32 Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

 

He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

 

33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

 

 

        I.         SHALL I HIDE FROM ABRAHAM WHAT I AM ABOUT O DO?

a.      Abraham WILL SURELY become a great and powerful nation

                                  i.      Because the Lord chose him

                               ii.      Because the Lord “said” it WILL be

                            iii.      And all on earth will be blessed through him

1.      Because it is through Abraham the Messiah will be born

2.      The Savior of humankind

 

 

b.     I have chosen him

                                  i.      When God chooses, He also enables

                               ii.      When God says, it WILL be

                            iii.      When God commands you, you ARE capable, either because He gave you the ability at birth, or He enabled you for the task, either way, if the Lord tells you to do something, you are 100% capable of doing that thing.

 

 

c.      The Lord states His Law of receiving blessings

                                  i.      “He {Abraham} will direct his children and household to KEEP the way of the Lord BY doing what is RIGHT and JUST, SO THAT the Lord will bring Abraham what He has promised.”

 

                               ii.      Remember the Law of Blessings we have seen throughout Genesis!

1.      Command given by the Lord (i.e. Don’t eat of the tree)

2.      As long as you obey the command you are righteous (Allowed to receive the blessings of living in the garden and never aging)

3.      As soon as the command was broke, they were DIS-obedient and lost all the blessings of the garden

 

                            iii.      The command given here to Abraham is directing his children and household to KEEP the way of the Lord BY doing what is right and just.

 

                             iv.      By doing this, the Lord will reward the righteous behavior with fulfilling His promises to Abraham.

1.      What if Abraham didn’t direct his children or household? He would have ruined everything by being disobedient, and the Lord would not have been able to fulfill His promise.

 

2.      What if Abraham DID direct his children and household, but some of them were NOT doing what was right or just? That would not affect the promise, because the command to Abraham was to direct them (or teach them), once he did this, he obeyed the command.

 

3.      Each of us will be held accountable for our own actions by the Lord

 

   II.         SODOM’S SIN IS SO GRIEVOUS THEY MUST BE DESTROYED

a.      The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous the Lord was going to see firsthand

 

b.     The two angels went ahead to Sodom

 

c.      But the Lord remained standing before Abraham (LIT)

 

III.         ABRAHAM PLEAS FOR SODOM…REALLY FOR HIS NEPHEW

a.      We know Abraham loves his nephew

                                     i.      He brought him when he first started his journey

                                  ii.      He helped him start his own tribe

                               iii.      He tried to overlook his nephews stealing, but eventually realized their tribe could not live together and asked him to leave

                                iv.      BUT, he still loved him, and years later when Abraham heard Lot had been captured as a prisoner of war, Abraham gathered over 300+ men to rescue Lot (and the others)

                                   v.      Now Lot knows the Lord’s plan to destroy Sodom, so when he pleads for Sodom, knowing they are evil and wicked, he is really pleading for his nephew.

                                vi.      The Lord knows this.

 

 

b.     Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

                                     i.      Won’t you forgive the PLACE for the sake of the righteous?

1.      Of course, He will forgive the place for the sake of the righteous…why do you think there are so many places still standing that should be wiped off the face of the earth?

                                  ii.      Abraham starts with an impossible number of righteous within a wicked city.

1.      Why do I say impossible?

2.      Because if they were righteous, they wouldn’t want to live there.

a.      “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

 

b.     “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” Titus 2:11-12

 

c.      “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” James 4:4

 

d.     “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

 

e.      “Do not love the world or anything in the world.” 1 John 2:15

 

c.      For the sake of the righteous (Abraham’s Nation) the Lord spared Lot’s family

                                     i.      Just as it was when Abraham told Lot to part ways, no where in scripture do we read Lot was righteous.

 

                                  ii.      The Lord did not save Lot and his family because they were righteous, but because Abraham pleaded for him (Prayers of the Righteous achieves much!)

                               iii.      How do we know the Lord saved Lot’s family for Abraham’s sake because of his pleading?

1.      Lot was not righteous (Offered his young virgin daughters to the vile Sodomites)

2.      Lot’s two future son-in-law didn’t follow because they weren’t righteous and thought Lot was joking

3.      So Lot, his wife and 2 daughters were allowed to leave, but they DIDN’T!

4.      After much debate, and being told to leave the city many times, the angels had to physically “take them by the hand and walk them out of the city”

5.      Lot’s wife wasn’t righteous, because she looked back in sorrow to the city she didn’t want to leave and was turned to salt.

6.      Even Lot’s daughters weren’t righteous, because we see that shortly after being rescued from Sodom, they both took turns getting their father Lot drunk, and sleeping with him, both getting pregnant.

7.      NONE of them were righteous!

8.      But the prayers and pleads from Abraham for his nephew saved him from the city

 

CONCLUSION –

We see that Lot’s unrighteous daughters were the mothers of the Moabites and Ammonites. Their God was Chemosh, and they offered human sacrifices to him. This false gods counterpart is Ashter-Chemosh, later called Astarte by the Greek, and later the great goddess of Babylon, Ishtar. The Greeks refer to her as Aphrodite, the Romans Venus. She is the one associated with fertility, sexuality, and war. The pentagram is her symbol (now associated with Satanism).

 

Also referred to as the morning and evening sun.

 

In Jeremiah she is said to be called “the queen of heaven”, sound familiar?

 

This title is also given to Mary, mother of Jesus, by Catholics.

What we can take away from this.

 

Lot and his family were spared because of Abraham’s pleading to the Lord.

 

“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

 

“If I have wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” Psalm 66:18

 

“Your iniquities have caused a separation between you and God, your sins have hidden His face from you so He does not hear” Isaiah 59:2

 

“We know God does not hear sinners, but is anyone is God-fearing AND does His will, He hears them.” John 9:31

 

“Because I called and you refused, because I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention, you neglected all my teachings and did not want my rebuke…they will call on me but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.” Proverbs 1:24-25; 28

 

“He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, his prayer is an abomination.” Proverbs 28:9

 

“He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor, will cry himself and he will not be answered.” Proverbs 21:13

 

“So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.” Isaiah 1:15

 

If you worship idols, you will not be heard Jeremiah 11:11-14 & Ezekiel 8:15-18

 

If you have no faith, James 1:6-7

 

If you live in hypocrisy, Luke 12:1

 

If you are prideful, God will oppose you, James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5

 

If you are self-righteous Luke 18:11-14

 

If you mistreat God’s people Micah 3:2-4

 

And husbands, listen to 1 Peter 3:7

 

“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder (obstruct) your prayers.”

 

This is why the righteous MUST pray for others, because most will not be heard by God.

 

This is why we pray for the lost.

 

This is why we pray, so that the Lord may reveal Himself to those we pray for and they may be saved!

 

 

Next week The Birth of Isaac and Hagar & Ishmael are Sent Away

 

 

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