Stand Before the Lord

Abraham’s Hospitality and Sarah’s Laughter

Well, this morning, we continue on in Genesis chapter 18. We'll be looking at verses 16 through 33 together this morning. Next week, there'll be a guest preacher, Brian Labossiere, who is, I guess we should say Labossiere, I always say Labossiere, it just sounds so fancy.

He'll be coming to preach for us. I know him through the New England Reform Fellowship. He's a wonderful man, servant of the Lord, and I'm sure it'll be a wonderful message. And then the following week, we'll begin Genesis chapter 19.

So we'll have to do a good job trying to keep this in mind over the next two weeks as we head toward Lot and Sodom in Genesis 19. But this morning, we're looking at Genesis 18, verses 16 through 33. Last week, we saw the Lord, along with these two messengers, these two angels, that's how chapter 19 begins.

We saw these three strange visitors, these three men, visit the tent of Abraham. We saw how Abraham rushed around to signal his great honor to have the Lord present with him, his great desire for the Lord to stay, his great need to be able to minister to the Lord, and so he set a feast before him.

We saw him rushing around. We could picture him panting, clattering after his wife and his servants to get everything together, running back to the tent in the Terrible in Three. Please don't leave just yet.

Just a little bit longer on that calf. We're getting the butter churned. Some extra milk's coming your way. It's the Abrahamic rush, which we tend not to know in our morning devotions or our evening devotions, but I think we all do the Abrahamic rush on a Sunday morning, at least if you have little ones like me.

No, that's the wrong shoe. You forgot the goldfish. Get that in the car. We, too, have to rush around in our preparation to meet with the Lord. However, we consider this visit was not so much for a meal.

It wasn't even really for Abraham's sake. It was for the sake of Sarah. Sarah also, like Abraham, had laughed in her heart at the promise of God. And so, like Abraham, the Lord came to strengthen the faith of Sarah, for indeed this covenant, though we call it the Abrahamic covenant, was also made with Sarah.

We saw that in chapter 17. And so the Lord visits, and though he's addressing Abraham, he does so with an earshot of Sarah, and then he completely addresses Sarah. He would have her remember verse 15, no, but you did laugh.

And when Isaac comes along, this will be the child named after this laughter. So both Abraham and Sarah will be reminded of the Lord's faithfulness, despite the seemingly impossible odds. How could it be that God would bring forth life effectively from the dead?

And herein we see the mystery of our faith. Now this morning, we see the narrative shift back to Abraham. So really, from verses 8 through 15, the attention's all drawn towards Sarah, and we get a hint of why the Lord stopped by the tent.

But now, as we begin verse 16, the narrative is shifting back toward Abraham. As the Lord turns to the cities of the plain, the cities of the Dead Sea, we find this great contrast being introduced. And it's a contrast that will carry throughout the rest of Scripture.

We have the coming of salvation being put forth. In other words, God has come to the tent, and he's reassured his promise that a seed will come from Sarah. Of course, we know from Galatians 3, this is ultimately speaking of the true son of Abraham, the true seed of promise, Jesus himself.

So here we have the coming salvation of God put forth, and right next to that, we have the coming judgment of God put forth. Wherever we have salvation, we also have, emblematically, judgment. And these two are intertwined throughout the biblical storyline.

The promised seed is right next to the destruction of Sodom. This morning, we'll see three things. We'll see in verses 16 through 33, the purpose of God, the posture of Abraham, and a principle, a principle of our faith.

So purpose, posture, and principle. And the first thing we notice, the purpose of God, we find in verses 16 and following, is God inviting the intercession. God is inviting the intercession. Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way.

And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing? Since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him, for I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteous righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him.

Abraham notices that the Lord has finished confronting Sarah's doubt. And as they rise from this tent door under the terebinth tree's shade, they look toward Sodom on the Dead Sea plain, and they begin to head toward it.

Abraham is being a very gracious host. It would have been customary to honor an important guest by following them out, quite a distance.

Actually.

The more honorable they were, the farther you would go with them. If you're very casual in our culture, it doesn't mean you're dishonored, but the most you'll get is a walk to the front door. Very rarely will you get a walk to the car, but Abraham would almost be getting in the car and say, You can drop me off in about half an hour.

He's following after them. This is a form of great honor. So Abraham is walking alongside the Lord, if you can picture it. We don't really know if these angels are in front or behind, and clearly the Lord is talking.

He's talking in a way that Abraham will be able to hear him. Now remember, the visit had been for the hope of Sarah, and now the whole narrative is shifting and it will carry us into chapter 19. It's now about the doom of Sodom.

So again, hope is right next to doom. Salvation is right next to judgment. But we find that the Lord will not simply pass by Abraham, not without treating him as a friend and more than a servant. The Lord in John 15 said with His disciples, No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends.

We see that with Abraham here. He's not a servant that is going to be kept in the dark. He's just told what he has to do, when he has to do it. Now the Lord, remember Abraham is the friend of God, according to the Old Testament.

Now God is going to actually bring him into what he's doing. Verse 17, Shall I hide from Abraham what I'm doing? This is a clear indication that the Lord is going to prompt Abraham. This is a clear indication the Lord wants to open up a dialogue, a conversation.

And as a friend, speaking to a friend, He expects Abraham to now understand His purpose, but not just to understand it as a servant, but to actually respond to it as a friend. So He's inviting this dialogue that we'll see unfold.

For instance, if I was walking with you, and you were to say to me, I can't hide what I'm going to do, Ross. I cannot hide it any longer. I want to bring you in on it. I'm quitting my job.

I'm cutting off ties.

I'm moving. Would you expect me to say, well, thanks for letting me know? Of course not. You just brought me into this knowledge, and now you're expecting a response. Ross, I'm not going to keep this from you any longer.

This is what I'm about to do. And you're expecting me to respond to it. Have you really thought this through? What does your wife think about this? You're expecting a dialogue, and so it is with the Lord.

Shall I hide from Abraham what I'm doing? He's prompting a response. Now, before we actually look at the response, notice what the Lord attaches to this unveiling. This is all within earshot of Abraham, verses 18 and 19.

Shall I hide what I'm doing from Abraham, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation? And all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him, for I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him.

So notice that the Lord gives three bases. Since Abraham will become Israel, basically, a mighty nation. That's the first basis. Since Abraham will become Israel. Second, since Israel will bless the nations of the earth, Israel being the true.

Israel of God.

Third, since I have known him. There's a threefold reason here as to why God is going to unveil his hidden purpose to Abraham. Since Abraham will become Israel, since Israel will bless the nations, since I have known him.

Now, the verb, to know, here, speaks of the deepest relationship. It's the same verb used for a husband knowing his wife. So in that physical expression of what signifies a completely unique and exclusive relationship, the Lord has known Abraham, fully known Abraham.

Not in a way that he knows others, but in this relationship that is unique, this covenantal relationship. Remember last week, our great point was God is infinite, but also intimate. He's saying, because I've known Abraham, and then that knowing itself contains a number of callings.

What did God's knowing of Abraham lead to? Why did God know Abraham? In order that he may command his children and his household after him, to keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice.

This is in part why God has come to know Abraham, not for his sake only, but for the sake of the generations to come, the generations that would be molded and influenced and called upon by this great example of faith in God's promise and in God's power.

So Abraham himself, then, must keep the way of the Lord, which is a calling to disciple others to keep the way of the Lord. Abraham himself must do justice and righteousness, which is a calling to disciple others to do justice and to do righteousness.

And all of this is conditional to the great promise of the covenant, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him. That was a point, we won't uncover it, we won't rehearse it again this morning, but some weeks ago, we made the point about the conditionality of the Abrahamic covenant.

If you remember, we spoke about, at length for several weeks, the dimension of promise and the dimension of the flesh, both contained within the Abrahamic covenant. And here, in chapter 18, we see this signal of conditionality, and it's bounding toward ethnic Israel and what will unfold in the plan of redemption.

But notice that all that God is going to require of Abraham is that which God is going to provide for Abraham. Whatever the Lord attaches as, from our point of view, conditional to his knowing of us, is that which is brought about by virtue of him knowing us.

In other words, it's never beyond what Augustine would pray, Lord, ask what you will, but grant what you ask. In other words, I have nothing to offer unless it's from you. No fruit to bring unless it's fruit that you've sown and you've watered and you've brought.

John Calvin says, in a certain way, God honors himself and his gifts in us. For what does he commemorate here except his own gifts? And therefore, he traces the cause to himself, not to the merits of Abraham.

For the blessing of Abraham flowed from no other source than the divine fountain. And so it is with all of God's people. Now, in verses 20 and 21, we see this unveiling of the Lord's turning towards Sodom.

And this is what he's unveiling to Abraham. Remember, this is what he's prompting Abraham to respond to. The Lord said, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to me.

And if not, I will know. Twice in these verses, we have this word, outcry. The outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah. The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah. The scream for God's justice. And we're immediately drawn back to Genesis 4.

Remember what God said of Abel's murder. The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. In other words, there's a scream for justice. Something corrupt and horrific has taken place.

And we see these outcries take place throughout Scripture. Exodus 2, of course, is perhaps the greatest example. The children of Israel groaning under their bondage in Egypt. And they cried out. We read in Exodus 2, their cry came up to God.

And God heard their groaning. Isaiah 5 -7, he looked for justice, but behold, oppression for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help, an outcry. Sodom's sins have been filling up. Like we read about the Amorites, their iniquity filling up.

And God has come now, and he's set his face toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities on the plain, and the limit is at the precipice. And for the sake of his long-suffering mercy, he's been restraining his judgment, but now the limit is fast approaching.

And as we'll see in chapter 19, the wonder is not that Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed so suddenly and so completely. That is not the wonder. The wonder is that any nation so bent on godless rebellion is spared for even a moment.

That's the wonder. The wonder is not the judgment. The wonder is God's grace. That's the wonder. God's long-suffering, long-persevering, his desire that none would perish, but that all would come to repentance.

It's that long-suffering that is the marvel, the wonder here, not the judgment. Psalm 133, If you, Lord, should mark iniquity, O Lord, who could stand? How could any nation stand? How could any city stand?

It's all of grace.

We see here, we see in here the reports of horrific deeds. We see the celebration of perversion all around us, especially here on the coast. We have at every turn the lauding of our Western death culture.

We wonder if our prayers and our laments and our vexation and our grievances ever heard. And what do we have here in Genesis 18 but the fact that God hears. God hears. He doesn't come down bumbling and aloof as though this was all unbeknownst to him.

He's been hearing these cries. Even if no one else hears these cries, God hears.

God is attentive.

Calvin says, this is back from Genesis 4, it's good for us to know that when our own suffering, which we silently endure, goes into the presence of God, oppression and silence do not hinder God's judgment.

God hears.

We have brothers and sisters this very morning who are suffering silently, tempted, perhaps despairing. Is God hearing? Maybe in underground churches in South Korea or Beijing. Maybe in parts of the Middle Eastern culture where honor killings would take place if the faith was to be known.

And there's secretive gatherings of those who have trusted Jesus for salvation and worship Jesus as Lord.

And does he hear? Does he hear the suffering?

It's so silent and the oppressors are so boastful and so powerful and so easily able to do whatever they will. Is God present? Is God there?

Does he hear?

And here we see in Genesis 18, he hears. Abraham is under no illusion. When he hears that God is now setting his face towards Sodom and Gomorrah and he's going to go see if the outcry matches the reality, in other words, it's a way of, in a condescending way, saying, my judgment is always meted out perfectly.

I don't do something arbitrarily and regret it after the fact. My justice is perfect. And so Abraham knows enough about Sodom to say, well, if you're going to go see if the outcry is real, the outcry is real.

He knows automatically this means judgment is going to come. He said back in Genesis 13, the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord. Remember in chapter 14, when the king of Sodom offered the spoils that were really owed to Abraham and said, you know, release the men, but take the spoil for yourself.

And how did Abraham respond? Largely because of Melchizedek's intervention. He wanted nothing to do with it. He didn't want to be tainted by the spoil of Sodom. It shows you he was very aware of just how corrupt and depraved Sodomite culture was.

But that was decades ago.

Sodom hasn't gotten any better. Maybe Abraham, though, living as a neighbor decades on, had become rather jaded to the evil in his midst. I mean, it's enough to focus on the pressures and difficulties of just getting through daily life.

Here is Sodom and Gomorrah, this depraved, odious society, at the feet of Sarah and Abram every morning and every night. When they rise up, when they go down, there's at their feet a world of bondage and corruption and injustice.

And you wonder if day after day, year after year, decade after decade, perhaps they themselves have forgotten or grown accustomed to that world. As long as it's out there, it's OK. Life continues on, sitting by the tent, grazing animals, milking goats, tending to the household, chastening servants and exhorting them at their work.

But at their feet is this world of rebellion and abuse, much like you and I today. Now, we're less insulated than we used to be. When I grew up, my parents wouldn't really know where any of the neighborhood kids were until it was dinner time.

We were somewhere in the neighborhood. And when we came home after dinner and we're getting ready for bed, the windows were open, the doors were unlocked, every house was like that. I don't think I could sleep if I had even a window open.

If I were in my parents' neighborhoods today, it's not even a bad neighborhood. We're less insulated today than we used to be. We don't let our kids wander back and forth to the playground or around the neighborhood.

But even for us, it's as though the world is carrying on. And God is not aware, He's not intervening at the injustice that is constantly coming across the airwaves and the headlines and the Apple News updates on our phones.

And the whole world, of course, carries on as though God is not. Or if He is, that He is removed and He's distant and He's uncaring. Or if He is caring, it's in some general, weak, or ineffectual way.

We don't see that here. There's an outcry and God is attentive to it. And though He's long-suffering, there's a limit. There's a line. There's a dividing point. So when we're reading Genesis and we're understanding something about the character of God, we, of course, have seen again and again that He is a God who is long-suffering.

He's a God that pursues Hagar when no one else will. He's a God who is abounding in mercy and generosity and patience. He perseveres with His sinful and stubborn people. But here, and especially in chapter 19, we also see a God who moves in fury.

He's a consuming fire.

His ear is ever open to the outcry.

He avenges His holiness. He judges the corruption of the earth. So we hold together both a gentle shepherd who's just been so intimate and playful with Sarah, oh, no, but you did laugh.

Remember that you laughed.

He's burying them up in this unfailing love, a mercy that's been renewed every single morning. But also, every single morning, there's an outcry going up and God's fury is boiling. He's an infinitely holy judge and there's no shadow of darkness.

He's going to sweep away the wickedness in Sodom because He is God and He is holy. And He will not indefinitely allow men and women and children to spurn His patience and His mercy and His compassion.

It is the kindness of God that He intends to lead people to repentance. But that kindness is not an open door. That kindness is not without its own limit. That's why we always call for sinners to repent while God is near.

You don't know how perilously close you are to that limit if you haven't been found in Christ. This is all part of the purpose of God. He wants Abraham to know Him, not only in the gentleness and the intimacy of that feast, of that fellowship by the tent, but also in the fact that He is a judge who is righteous and holy.

It's His purpose to draw Abraham into a response so that Abraham himself might begin to reflect the character of God's mercy in the face of judgment. Perhaps you find it very hard to square God's mercy with His judgment, His goodness and love with His wrath.

And if you don't find that hard, you probably don't even know the issues. It's incredibly hard to understand these things comprehensively as they're presented in the Scriptures. It's a very difficult doctrine, the love of God.

But of course, the most important part of the answer is the reality and the numbness that sin brings about. When we fell, it wasn't just our actions or our attitudes that fell, it was also our minds, our ability to know things rightly and accurately as Adam would have known it.

Part of that numbness is true even in the Christian life, even when you've been illuminated to the grace of God and you're aware now of who God is and what sin is and why Jesus had to come and die for sinners.

Even then, we're still numb, still jaded, still only half-hearted toward the sin in our lives and the sin around us. You must remember that when you're trying to cope with the holiness of God's judgment.

If you could see the depth of sin with unveiled, untainted, unbiased sight, you wouldn't just cope with God's judgment, you would beg for it. If you could see the depth of sin with unveiled, unnumbed understanding, you would ascend with the cries of the saints on high, how long, oh Lord, how long, oh Lord?

Avenge your people, avenge your holiness, avenge yourself.

How long will you be long-suffering? How long will you show mercy? It would automatically show us something about our hearts. We tend to think because we're so numb to sin that we would show more compassion than God, that we could be more merciful than God.

Oh, if only I was God, I would move in this way. We don't even know the micron of it, we don't. As the saying goes, if I were God, heaven would be empty, hell would be overflowing. We cannot fathom the mercy of God.

God is now prompting Abraham to respond so that he can both affirm the reality of God and his justice and mimic God in his mercy. And that brings us to the second point, the posture of Abraham that God has brought about.

God is drawing Abraham to intercede so that he can reflect the grace that God has been planting in his life. We read, beginning in verse 22, then the men turned away from there and went towards Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.

And Abraham came near and said, would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked? You can picture the scene, can't you? As God has been sharing these things, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm doing?

And then he gives these reasons as to why he's going to unveil it, and then he actually unveils it to Abraham. You can picture that that journey has stopped as God has unveiled this. And now these men, they turn away and they begin to head towards Sodom.

You almost get the picture that the Lord is now, this is why he came, this is where he's going, but he's lagging, he's prompting a response. And what does Abraham do? He doesn't go with them anymore. No longer is he this gracious host just helping them out.

Now he's standing still. You get the sense he's standing against. He's preventing the Lord from continuing on with the messengers. Abraham has not moved. He is standing before the Lord. He's putting himself between the Lord and Sodom.

And notice the first thing he does is give a direct response to the Lord. Would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked? He cuts right to the chase. This is getting to the heart of the matter. As Abraham can see, is there really no one who does good in Sodom?

If you wipe out the city,.

Will you destroy the righteous along with the wicked? And he's reasoning, surely in this massive city of Sodom,.

There are some righteous people.

And should they face your judgment upon the wicked in their midst? And so this is the beginning of Abraham's plea, his posture. He's standing against the Lord, in between the Lord and Sodom, and he's pleading for the Lord's mercy.

Remember that Abraham himself received the mercy of God when he was called out of Ur of the Chaldeans, participating in that godless culture. And God called him by grace. And by that grace now, Abraham is interceding.

Will you not call some by your mercy in Sodom? Now it's very clear in the verses that follow, this standing, this posture is not defiant. It's not arrogant.

It's not indignant.

He's not pretending for a moment that he has God's sight or understanding, or that he would be able to mete out justice.

No, no.

As he's pleading with the Lord, we see this again and again in the verses that follow, he denies himself. He puts himself in a place of abject humility. Verse 27, indeed, now I, who am but dust and ashes, have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord.

Verse 30, let the Lord not be angry, and I will speak. Verse 31, indeed, now I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Verse 32, again, let not the Lord be angry. I will speak, but once more. You see this pleading.

He's very aware that he's in no position to argue with God about justice, but he's putting himself before the Lord to plead for mercy.

What does this show us?

Not only about the character of Abraham, but about the character of God. Abraham has come to know something of God's goodness. That's why he can be pleaded with. Abraham has come to know something of God's patience.

That's why he can be pleaded with. Abraham has come to know something about how much God delights to show mercy, and that's why he can be pleaded with. And so not only does he speak humbly, he speaks boldly.

Look at verse 25. Far be it from you to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked so that the righteous should be as the wicked.

Far be it from you.

Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? You see how not only is Abraham humble, he's bold. And both his humility and his boldness flow from this personal, intimate trust that Abraham has with God.

He knows the character of God. And indeed, he is here reflecting the character of God. This boldness, notice, is coupled with drawing near. You read that, don't you? Abraham came near, he drew near to the Lord as he pleads with the Lord.

So he draws near as a friend to a friend. In humility, but in boldness, he understands the character of God. And next, see how he moves to negotiation. This plea becomes a negotiation. Verses 24 and 25.

Suppose there were 50 righteous within the city. Would you destroy the place and not spare it for the 50 righteous that were in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing as this. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?

So Abraham is now considering the justice of God and does not, even for a moment, make the argument that the wicked do not deserve justice. He knows that they do. We ought to know that they do.

But he considers the possibility.

Of there being some righteous within the city. What about them? I know what the wicked deserve and I know that you are just. And you cannot be anything but just. But aren't there some righteous in the city?

Suppose there's 50 righteous. Are you gonna wipe them out with all of the wicked in the city? Abraham acknowledges that God is indeed the judge, not of a few people, not of a culture, not of a people at a certain time or in a certain place, but the judge of all the earth.

And the character of God, Abraham confesses, the judge of all the earth will do right. That is, he will judge righteously. And this becomes the basis for his plea. Far be it from you. Don't slay the righteous with the wicked.

Far be it from you. Justice requires a vindication of the righteous and a condemnation of the wicked. Of course, there are examples of the righteous suffering along with the wicked in Scripture. Sometimes the righteous suffer because of the sins of the wicked.

The cross of Jesus is the supreme example of that, isn't it? And so our faith at its very center has a very deep theology of suffering. It's nothing quite as black and white as saying the righteous never suffer and the wicked suffer.

God only moves in judgment against the wicked and the righteous prosper. If you've ever read the Bible or almost any psalm, you see that often that is flipped. It's the godless and the proud and the arrogant and the blasphemers that seem to prosper.

And Asaph's saying, my foot's almost slipping here. Why do the righteous suffer? There are times when Christians cannot understand this hidden purpose of God. He allows his servants to suffer. If not along with the wicked, then sometimes just from the wicked.

They're just suffering at the hands of the wicked. And at this very place, God's servants, God's people, they look to the cross of Christ. They trust that like their savior in the end, their souls will not be allowed to see decay.

They know that ultimately, they will not share the fate of the wicked. And so they put their trust and hope in God. But other times there are those that perish, not because they alone were in need of judgment, but because in facing a judgment or a trial or a tragedy of God, they're meant to depict to others this judgment, this justice, this fragility of life.

They're meant to be a beacon for others to repent unless they likewise perish. We see that in Luke 13. They were present at the season, and some who told him, Jesus, about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

And Jesus answered and said to them, do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Or those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them. Do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

So here we see another mysterious purpose in the judging hand of God. That sometimes it moves whether upon the wicked and righteous as a beacon for others whose life is a vapor like ours, that they must repent or they will likewise perish.

Do you remember this very thing in Jonah when God had sent the prophet Jonah to awaken the people to his coming judgment? You can picture almost the two angels, right, heading into Sodom.

Here's this coming judgment.

The Lord is about to destroy your city. And what do we read happening in Jonah 3, beginning in verse five? The people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast. They put on sackcloth from the greatest.

To the least of them,.

And word came to the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes, and he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything.

Do not let them eat or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Cry mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and the violence that is made in their hands. So notice what happens.

Here's this oracle of judgment. God is going to destroy Nineveh, this great city, full of the depraved and corrupted sinners. But when that judgment comes, there's an outcry. Not the outcry of their sins that was prompting God's judgment, but the outcry for God's mercy.

We repent, spare us. We don't know if you will, but we're repenting in sackcloth and ashes. Now a new outcry has arisen for repentance and mercy. Can you imagine what chapter 19 would look like if we could take out Nineveh and put in Sodom?

If this purpose of judgment were to stir them to repentance and the outcry of their odious sins became an outcry for mercy, please spare us. And so even in his judgment, the Lord seeks to offer hope and mercy.

Do not forget mercy in your anger. And speaking of Abraham and his character, how different is Jonah from Abraham? When God relents to destroy, relents to destroy Nineveh, we read in Jonah 4, it displeased Jonah exceedingly.

He became angry and he prayed to the Lord. What's Jonah's intercession? Look at this, this is Jonah's intercession. Ah, Lord, was this not what I said when I was in my country? And that's why I fled to Tarshish.

I know that you're a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm. You know, Jonah understands the character of God too, but it doesn't move him to reflect the mercy of God.

It actually hardens him against mercy. He doesn't reflect this merciful, long-suffering character of God in the way Abraham does. He actually hardens himself. He actually begins to despise and dislike the mercy that God shows to wicked people.