God’s Timeline – Part 27
Abraham
Pleads for Sodom
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House
of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
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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.
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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