Gen #22 - The Gospel Acc to Abraham #12 - "Is There Anything Too Hard for the Lord?" (2) (Gen 18-19)

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We turn our attention to God's Word.
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If you have a Bible, and I hope you do, take it and turn with me to Genesis and chapter 18.
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Genesis chapter 18, Genesis chapter 18, as we continue on our sermon series that we've been in for quite a number of weeks now,
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Genesis chapter 18, and this afternoon, we're gonna cover a large chunk of scripture, a little larger than I normally would, but it's one story, and it just didn't feel right to try to bring it up, and so that means
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I will, health warning, have to be somewhat quickly at points, but I hope that it will still be beneficial to you.
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Genesis chapter 18, from verse 16 to 33 is where we'll read. We're actually gonna read right through to near the end of 19, but just a nice short reading, verses 16 to 33.
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If you grabbed one of the Bibles that we give away, that's on page 13, in those red hardbacks that we give away, and by the way, if you don't have a
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Bible, that's our gift to you. Please keep that. Genesis chapter 18, beginning in verse 16, and as is our custom here at Redeemer, as we come to God's Word, if you're able to do so, can
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I invite you to stand with me, out of reverence for God's Word, as we read it. Genesis chapter 18, beginning in verse 16.
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Brothers and sisters, these are God's words. The men got up from there, and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off.
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Then Yahweh said, should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
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For I have chosen him that he will command his children, and his house after him, to keep the way of Yahweh, by doing what is right and just.
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This is how Yahweh will fulfill to Abraham what he promised him. Then Yahweh said, the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious.
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I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up before me.
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If not, I will find out. The men turned from there, and went towards Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before Yahweh.
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Abraham stepped forward, and said, will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are 50 righteous people in the city?
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Will you really sweep it away, instead of sparing the place, for the sake of the 50 righteous people who are in it?
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You could not possibly do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.
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You could not possibly do that. Won't the judge of the earth do what is just? Yahweh said, if I find 50 righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.
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Then Abraham answered, since I have ventured to speak to my Lord, even though I am dust and ashes, suppose the 50 righteous lack five.
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Will you destroy the city for lack of five? He replied, I will not destroy if I find 45 there.
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Then he spoke to him again, suppose 40 are found there. Then he said, I will not do it on account of 40.
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Then Abraham said, let my Lord not be angry, and I will speak further. Suppose 30 are found there.
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He answered, I will not do it if I find 30 there. Then he said, since I have ventured to speak to my
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Lord, suppose 20 are found there. He replied, I will not destroy it on account of 20.
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Then he said, let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak one more time. Suppose 10 are found there.
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He answered, I will not destroy it on account of 10. When Yahweh had finished speaking to Abraham, he departed, and Abraham returned to his place.
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The grass withers, the flower fades, but this word of our God will remain forever. Join with me as I pray, ask for the
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Spirit's help, and we get to work in God's Word. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this day.
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It is another wonderful opportunity to gather to worship and to be together as your people, and we pray that as we hear you speak to us now through your
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Word, that you would help us, that we would hear your voice, that we would hear you clearly as you speak to us.
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Father, this is not an easy section of Scripture. It covers themes that might be difficult for us, themes that might be challenging.
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And yet, Father, because we know it's your Word, we know it's profitable. And because it's your
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Word, we also know that in some way it points us to or prepares us for the hope we have in Jesus.
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So, Father, help us that we would see that as we come to your Word even now. And Father, as it's our custom to pray for another body in our area, we thank you for our friends at Cornerstone Christian Church.
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We thank you for yesterday and the great time that they had with their Cornerstone lectures, just what a great time of fellowship and instruction that was.
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And we pray for their body as they gather to worship later on this evening.
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Pray for their elders and pastors, pray for their deacons, pray for all their leadership, that you would bless them, strengthen their labors, pray for Pastor Quentin as he gives leadership to that body, that he would do so in your power and in your strength.
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Father, honor the work of their hands as they seek to honor you. And may that be the case with us even now as we open your
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Word. We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Please be seated.
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Well, this is part two of a message that I started last week that I gave a simple question as a title.
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Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Is there anything too hard for the
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Lord? For those of you who maybe weren't here last week or missed the message, allow me to bring you up to speed.
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Operative word being speed here. I'm gonna have to move very quickly because I have a lot to say and a very short time to say it. Genesis 18 and 19, if you remember from last week,
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I said is one big unit. It's one story with one unified message. And at the heart of this one story is the question that comes up in chapter 18 and verse 14.
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Hope you've got it open in front of you. Genesis 18, 14. Simple question. Is there anything impossible, literally too hard or too wonderful, for the
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Lord? Is there anything too impossible or too hard for the Lord?
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That's the big question that looms over chapters 18 and 19.
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And really what Moses, as he writes, wants us to learn is that the God who speaks is more than capable of fulfilling what he says.
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Again, I'm not gonna preach my entire message from last time, but I'm gonna put up the points on screen from the last message because in the last message we have three truths about our
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God for whom nothing is impossible. And we said that nothing is impossible, number one, for the
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God who communes with his people. 18, the
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God who draws near to his people, who communes with his people. But also nothing is too hard for the
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God who not just communes with his people, but secondly, he confirms his word. So not only does he draw near to his people, not only does he engage in fellowship with his people, he also confirms his word.
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And finally, we saw that there is nothing too hard for the God who confronts our doubt.
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He loves us way too much to leave us in the place of doubting and confusion and questions.
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Not that it's wrong to ask questions, and I said that last week, that there is a type of asking questions that God encourages us to have.
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But when questions turn to, I just don't believe you, God loves us enough, and he is willing enough to confront us in our doubt.
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And so that's what we learned about God last week, as we saw that indeed nothing is too impossible for him.
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That's true when it comes to his word of blessing, as was the focus in the last passage, but as we come to this rather large section this afternoon, we're going to see that that is equally true when it comes to his words of warning and his words of judgment.
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The God who speaks is more than able to fulfill what he says.
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As you know, every message I preach, I like to have one big idea. If you don't remember anything else I say in the sermon, I hope that you remember that.
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Here's my big idea for this week. The God who blesses his people is also the
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God who will certainly judge the wicked. The God who blesses his people is also the
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God who will certainly judge the wicked. Let me just warn you up front, this is not going to be one of the more happier, more life -affirming sermons you will hear in your life.
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I'll just say that up front. This is a heavy chapter, and it's by design that way.
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God, in his providence, puts this here because we need to know this. And so, like I said, this is going to be tough.
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This is not going to be easy to hear at points, but my hope is this, that as we work our way through this passage, what you won't—what
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I pray you don't hear is a message that prompts you to try harder and do better.
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Now, if you've grown up in church like I did, church people are really good at telling you to try harder and do better.
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We are experts at it because that's the bent of our human hearts. The bent of our human hearts is always towards trying harder and doing better and thinking that we can earn what it is that God so clearly asks of us.
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That's what I hope doesn't happen today. What I hope you hear is this, that, yes, this is who
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God is, and this is what he does, and yet, if I am in the Lord Jesus Christ, that shouldn't terrify me.
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That should comfort me. So, yes, this message will get sobering at points, and I'm going to say some things that might be a little difficult to hear.
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But again, I don't say them so that you turn inward. My hope is that as you hear them, you'll turn upward to the
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God who is indeed faithful. Well, for the rest of our time, like I said, I have a lot to say this afternoon.
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So, for the rest of our time, I want to consider three sobering insights into the
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God who judges sin. Three sobering insights into the
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God who judges sin, and my hope is that as you see these insights, again, two things will happen. Number one, you will see sin for what it is, but that you'll also see the grace of God for what it is.
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That once you see the magnitude of the problem, you'll give
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God all the glory for the magnitude of the solution he gives.
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So, three sobering insights into the God who judges sin. Like I said,
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I'm gonna move at breakneck speed at points, so please do your best to keep up if you can. If you can't, I apologize.
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The sermon will be up tomorrow, so you can listen to it at 0 .5 speed. For now, three insights
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I want us to get from this passage, and real quickly, point number one. The first insight we learn in this passage is about the
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God who reveals his will. The God who reveals his will.
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So, we pick up right where the last scene left off. Look at verse 16. So, verse 16 says, the men got up from there, the men who had come with two
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Abraham, excuse me, these three men, one of whom we know is Yahweh, and two angels, as we'll see in a moment. The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom.
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So, from where Abraham was, it was clearly kind of an elevated place where he could look down and see where Sodom was.
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Sodom was down in a valley. It was in a plain. So, they get up and they look over Sodom, and it says that Abraham was walking with them to see them off.
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As he's walking with them, God starts to speak. So, look at verse 17.
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Then Yahweh said, should I hide from, what I'm about to do, excuse me, from Abraham?
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He says, should I hide what I am about to do from Abraham? Before I go any further, isn't it something that God appears to Abraham, which is big enough, we talked about that last week, that he comes, and not only does he come, he communes with Abraham, that he's willing to do this, and yet, not only is he willing to do that, he is willing to disclose, if you will, government secrets of the kingdom of heaven to this guy called
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Abraham. He really doesn't have to do this. God is under no obligation to discuss what he's about to discuss with Abraham.
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He could have just carried on and gone about his business, but yet, in his goodness and in his mercy, he chooses to.
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I love the Psalms, as you all know, and when I was reading this passage, a passage from the Psalms came to me, if you're taking notes,
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Psalm 25 14, one of my favorite verses in the Psalms, Psalm 25 14. It says, the secret counsel of Yahweh is for those who fear him, and he reveals his covenants to them.
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For those that God is in relationship with, he doesn't just oblige to tell them things.
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He likes to tell them things. You all know the special place in my heart that Matthew Henry has as a commentator, commenting on that, this passage.
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He says this, quote, those who by faith live a life of communion with God cannot but know more of his mind than other people, though not with a prophetic knowledge, yet with a prudent and practical knowledge.
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They have a better insight than others into what is present and a better foresight of what is to come, at least as much as they need for their guidance and for their comfort.
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And we kind of see an example of this here with Abraham. Abraham was moved into something that he wouldn't have known otherwise, but God is gracious enough to tell him.
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Part of what God's going to tell him is what he's already told him. So verses 18 and 19, he reminds him of the fact that he has promised that he will be a great and powerful nation and that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
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Those of you who've been here through our study in Genesis, you've seen God say this again and again and again and again.
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But I want us to consider something that I haven't talked about in a while, but bear with me with this for a moment. You remember that I always say, in fact, it's in your study guide, that the original audience of the book of Genesis is this generation of Israelites who live on the plains of Moab.
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They're about to go into the land of promise, and they're hearing the law of God really for the first time. They're the primary audience here.
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For a moment, put yourselves in their shoes. They're about to go into this land.
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Oh, by the way, their parents' generation said they couldn't, and God judged them and left them in the wilderness, quite literally.
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Well, now here they are. They're about to go into this land. You can imagine the fear and the trepidation that they feel.
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Can we do this? Can we enter into this land? And then imagine hearing these words in verses 18 and 19.
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Abram is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.
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For I have chosen him that so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the
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Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what he promised him.
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You can just imagine the comfort that would be of God's people. They were not an accident of history, disconnected from God's plans as they were there in the wilderness.
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What could comfort them more, this very nation that's being described, than to know that God had basically called all of this?
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That God had set them apart and that he would fulfill his promise because that's what he told his friend,
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Abraham. Okay, Kofi, that's all great. That's all good.
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Wonderful. What does that have to do with me? Well, I'm glad you asked. Here's the connection.
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If you are sitting here today and you are in Christ, if he has taken hold of you by his love and his grace and his mercy, if you are indeed one of his, then you have the knowledge of God's will too.
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Kofi, seriously, really? Yeah, I believe you do. Fellows who've been coming to our
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Ephesians Bible study, remember Ephesians 1 .9? Ephesians 1 .9, in Christ, he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ.
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You see, in the gospel, God's good and glorious purposes are no longer a secret.
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Now, let's be clear. You may not know what's gonna happen to you tomorrow. You may not know what's gonna happen to you a week from now.
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But you can bet the farm on this, if you will. That you, if you're in Christ, you are loved.
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You are known. And the Bible promises that if you are in Christ, God makes all things to work to our good.
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You might not see that in the moment, and God doesn't have to tell you in the moment how that will happen.
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But if you are one of his, then you know by experience, and you should know from his word at the very least, that he indeed makes all things work to our good.
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And so, even in this passage, we see the God who reveals his will to his people, who keeps no secrets from his people.
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So, we see the God who reveals his will to his people. That's the first insight we get about God from this passage.
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And so, we ask our question again. Is there anything too hard for the Lord? No, not for the
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God who reveals his will. And secondly, not for the God who can be interceded with. Not for the
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God who can be interceded with. I have to admit, as I was studying this week, this section gripped me in its simplicity.
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As I read it, I just couldn't be let go of it. And I found that as I was trying to write myself clear and think about how
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I wanted to communicate what's happening here, I was struggling. So, I can only pray I do this wonderful section justice.
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Come back to our conversation here, back in Genesis 18. The reason why this conversation is happening finally gets made clear in verses 20 and 21.
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So, Genesis 18, 20 and 21. Then Yahweh said, the Lord said, the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense and their sin is extremely serious.
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I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to me.
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If not, I will find out. Long time listeners to our series in Genesis.
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Does this sound familiar? Where have we heard this language of God saying
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He's going to go down and look at something that shouldn't be happening? If you need a little help,
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Genesis chapter 11, verses 6 and 7. Remember the building project that happened in Babylon, or Babel, technically?
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Genesis 11, 6 and 7. Yahweh said, if they have begun to do this as one people, all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
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Come, let's go down there and confuse their language so they will not understand one another's speech.
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If this is meant to sound like that, it's because it's meant to sound like that. This language, by the way, doesn't mean that God didn't know what was happening.
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He says as much. He says, the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense and their sin is extremely serious.
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These are pictures that the Bible uses to explain things that we as humans would not naturally understand. But the picture is meant to communicate something, which is this.
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That it had come to God's attention in a way that was unavoidable.
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That something was happening in this place called Sodom and Gomorrah. Of course,
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He knew exactly what was happening. But this is the difference between knowing something. You all know this is by experience.
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It's one thing to know something is happening. And it's another thing when you can't avoid knowing something is happening.
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Well, this is that. And this language that God uses in chapter 18 verses 20 and 21 is supposed to communicate this idea that God has seen it.
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And again, Noah says in verse 21, I will go down and see if what they have done justifies the cry that comes up to me.
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This is going to be just. Nobody can accuse God of, well, you acted on hearsay.
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No. God says, no, I'm gonna go see it for myself. What I'm about to do.
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He essentially says, I do not do on a whim. We know from verse 22 that the means that God is going to use to find this out is he's going to send these companions to hit these companions who traveled with him.
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These two other beings, they're going to go on to Sodom. Now, here's
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Abraham. Abraham has just heard this. Abraham at this point could say any number of things.
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I'm not gonna lie. If I were Abraham, I'd say something along these lines. You know what? I am glad I did not choose the land of Sodom.
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When it was me and Lot and we had to pick, I'm real glad I didn't pick that place. If my wife were here, she probably knows what
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I'm about to say next. It's a shame to be you. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
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I use that phrase a lot in our house. Not at my wife, by the way, not at my wife. But just,
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I'll see people do stuff and I'll just be like, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. That's the,
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I mean, you can kind of see this. Lot, of all the places he could have gone, he decided to go there. Now look at what's happening to you.
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But Abraham, thankfully, is not like me. No, it said Abraham steps up and he speaks up.
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Verses 23 and 25. So it says, Abraham stepped forward and said, will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
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You've got to appreciate the brazenness of this moment. Abraham, at this point,
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I think he keenly is aware who's standing in front of him. And yet Abraham doesn't say,
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I should just leave him to it. He knows what he's doing.
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Let him take care of that. No, he says, no, okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
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This isn't said, but it's implied. I know you better than this. This is not how you operate.
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And it's worth noting, Abraham doesn't argue the sinfulness of Sodom and Gomorrah. He doesn't say, God, it's not so bad over there.
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Hey, I mean, you know, I live here. I can tell you a few things, but it's not that.
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He doesn't try and argue it. He doesn't argue it.
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He doesn't downplay it. As we'll see in chapter 19, reports are not exaggerated. It's not a great place.
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But what Abraham does instead is not to argue the sinfulness of Sodom or to downplay it.
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No, he doesn't appeal to the goodness of Sodom because it'll become apparent in a few moments that there is no goodness in Sodom.
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No, he appeals to what he knows about God. He knows that God is righteous.
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God is good. And God is just. I mean, after all, at this point, he's been walking with God about 25 years.
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25 years of walking with God. I would hope after 25 years of walking with God, I would have learned a thing or two.
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And I have to believe that that's the case for Abraham. He knows that God is not given to violent temper or irrational anger.
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His knowledge of God, as it were, fuels his intercession. Why? Because he knows who's in Sodom.
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His nephew, Lot, and his family are there. He's like, even if the whole city's bad,
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I know they're not bad. And so rather than being apathetic about what happens to Sodom, it makes
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Abraham into something of an intercessor in this moment. And so from verse 23 right down to 32,
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I won't read it because we just did. There are six rounds of back and forth that happens. I put them in a study guide so you can just see how it breaks down.
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Back and forth, back and forth. We say, suppose there's this number. And God is gracious.
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No, I won't destroy it for that. This number, this number. It's interesting. He stops at 10. We'll see in chapter 19.
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How many people get out of Sodom? Four. And I'm not one to speculate when it comes to the
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Bible. Just, I think the plain stuff the Bible says is fascinating enough. But I do wonder, and I ask myself this question.
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If Abraham had kept on going, what would have happened? Now, we know he doesn't.
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But before we go on, there's one more thing that's astounding about this whole scene is Abraham is basically pleading the case for the righteous in Sodom.
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God doesn't rebuke Abraham for doing this or even try to put him in his place. There are other times when people try to say things about God, and God puts them in their place.
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Book of Job, anyone? Right at the end, they talked and talked and talked and talked. Said all kinds of things about God.
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And God finally said, okay, now I'm here. Say something. But he doesn't do that here.
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Doesn't say a word to stop Abraham. He's like, no, I would spare it for this much.
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I would spare it for that. We'll see if his requests work in a little bit.
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But as I read this, and I read this with gospel colored lenses on,
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I can't help but look forward in my Bible to another intercessor, to another person who makes pleas to the
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Father, another person who appeals to God on the behalf of people who don't really deserve it.
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I can't help but think of another intercessor who's always heard, who's pleased to the Father, always meet the answer of yes, whose appeals are always successful.
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I can't help but think of the one that the Bible says that, Romans 8, 34, he's at the right hand of God interceding for us.
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I can't help but think of Hebrews 7, 25, that says that he always lives to make intercession for those who come to God through him.
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Hebrews 9, 24 says about him that he has entered into heaven so that he might appear in the presence of God for us.
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I can't help but see Christ's intercession as I look at this. I don't think this is an allegory. I think this was a real event.
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And I don't usually allegorize this passage. But you can't help but see the principle of an intercessor who is heard by the
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Father as you read these words. And the reality is that Christ intercedes for us.
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He pleads our case with the Father, not just with words. But if you're taking notes,
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Hebrews 7, 16, he does so on the basis of his very life. And so I have to pause and say for more for the
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Christians in the room, if you are indeed a believer, rest in that intercession.
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There is one who sits in heaven and he is pleading for you.
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He is pleading your case. Even, not even, even, especially when you mess up.
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He is pleading your case before the Father. And guess what? He is never not heard.
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And so I ask again, is there anything too hard for the Lord? Not for the God who reveals
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His will. Not for the God who can be interceded with. And thirdly, and here we're going to take a little more time.
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I kind of rushed through the first two. Nothing is too hard for the God, number three, who judges justly, yet completely.
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Who judges justly, yet completely. Think of this as kind of a screenplay that's developing in chapters 18 and 19.
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As we end chapter 18, the scene as it were fades to black.
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And we find ourselves in the next scene in chapter 19, in the city of Sodom. So look at verses one and two.
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The two angels entered Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in Sodom's gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them.
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He bowed with his face to the ground and said, my lords, turn aside to your servant's house.
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Wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can get up early and go on your way. No, they said, we would rather spend the night in the square.
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After all, I mean, they are here to investigate. So what better place to investigate than in the town center where everything happens?
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But for a moment, once again, does this sound familiar? Two men turn up at someone's house, essentially.
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The person asks, hey, stay with me. They kind of say no initially and then say yes.
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If this sounds like how chapter 18, those of you who were here, that sounds like how chapter 18 began. It's because this is
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Petain began. This is, again, writing under the inspiration of the spirit. But he's clever in how he crafts this narrative.
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He's not making it up, but he's highlighting the similarities to create a contrast. Think about it.
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The form of address is the same. He calls these men, my lords. The demonstration of reverence with bowing, same thing from chapter 18.
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The offer of hospitality, same thing from chapter 18. The initial attempt by the men to kind of make like we don't want to accept this is the same.
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In fact, verse three, he says, but he urged them so strongly that they followed him and went into his house. He kind of pleaded them and they're like, okay, we'll go.
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It's just like chapter 18, except for one big difference that you're supposed to notice. The big difference is, and it's a big one.
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Yahweh's not here. God is conspicuous by his absence.
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Whereas in chapter 18, God himself came and communed with Abraham. In this case, God is not here.
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And that's supposed to clue you in that this is not going to be that. This is not going to be the same as chapter 18.
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This is going to go very differently. End of verse three says, he prepared a feast and baked unleavened bread for them and they ate.
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Unleavened bread wasn't exactly gourmet dining. It's kind of what you made when you were in a hurry.
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It's not what you make when you've got distinguished guests in the building. That being said, they accept it.
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Verse three says, and they ate. They had no problem, they ate it. But our guests have not gone unnoticed, unfortunately.
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Verse four, before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population surrounded the house.
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They called out to Lot and said, where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have sex with them.
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This is where this text starts to go sideways. This text gets ugly, both to read and to interpret.
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All kinds of questions start to fly around. Was this the reason that God was so mad at Sodom? Was it this particular sin?
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Does the fact that this, which by the way is the first mention of any kind of homosexuality in the Bible, some say there's one in the
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Noah account with his son. That's debatable. This is the first clear one. Does this single out homosexuality as a worse sin than other sins?
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Is there some kind of tie -in with Genesis 6? Sons of God who came down and slept with daughters of men, regardless of how you take that.
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There's all kinds of fun questions that theological nerds like me can spend hours on trying to figure out. Allow me to say this.
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I don't believe that Moses is intending to give us a comprehensive view of this most tricky issue of homosexuality.
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I don't think that's his point here. I think if you put all of that weight on this text, that doesn't work.
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There are much clearer passages, even in Moses' writings, which again, if this were a different sermon, we'd take time to look at.
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That being said, I don't think it's random he mentions this. And for this,
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I want you to turn to a passage in the New Testament that I think will help us make sense of why Moses highlights this in this story.
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Keep something here in Genesis 18. Go with me to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1.
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I'll do my best to be quick with this here. Romans chapter 1. As you're turning there, if you know the book of Romans, Romans 1 .18
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to 3 .20 is kind of the bad news section of the book of Romans. Here's the human problem.
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And it's not good, to put it mildly. Well, this is how he starts this off. Romans chapter 1.
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Give you a minute to get there. Romans 1 and verse 8. Romans 1 .18. This is what God's word says.
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For God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
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Since what can be known about God is evident to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made.
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As a result, people are without excuse. Simple enough. God's wrath is revealed from heaven against the sin of man in the face of God's clear revelation of himself.
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Simple enough. Well, how does man respond to that reality? Well, Paul basically boils it down.
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He says it's idolatry. So 21 to 23. For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude.
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Instead, their thinking became worthless and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal
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God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four -footed animals, and reptiles. In other words, man basically says we will not worship the
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God who can be known. We will create gods of our own. And so as a result,
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Paul says God's judgment comes on the wicked and it comes in three phases. I'll try and be quick with this.
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Phase number one, there is this perversion of the creation order that's manifested in sexual immorality.
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So 24 and 25. Therefore, God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity.
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That's kind of a junk drawer term for all kinds of sexual immorality. He's not singling out any at this point.
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So whether we're talking about, let's use some modern examples, adultery, whether we're talking about, whether we're talking about pornography in our day and age, whatever form of sexual practice that is outside of God's design, that's what he has in mind with this junk drawer term, sexual impurity.
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So he says, God delivered them over in the desire of their hearts to sexual impurity so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.
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They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served what has been created. And I think in context, what he means there is themselves instead of the creator who is praised forever.
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Amen. So phase one, you see this perversion of the created order. It's still in keeping with the created order, but it's been twisted.
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The purpose that God made it for, that God has designed sex for as a expression of love in the context of a covenant union, that's been twisted and distorted now to serve self.
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That's phase one. Phase two is not just a perversion of the created order.
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Phase two now becomes a rejection of that created order. So Paul now amps the argument up, verse 26, for this reason,
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God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
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The men also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.
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Now we've gone from just perverting the creation order to now just rejecting it outright.
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And that finally leads, verses 28 to 32, to a complete abandonment leading to divine judgment.
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So Paul ends, and because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over.
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He gave them up to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.
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They are filled with all unrighteousness, greed, evil, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice.
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They are gossip, slanderers, God -haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, invents of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful.
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Although they know God's just sentence, that those who practice such things, the things in 28 to 31, deserve to die.
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They not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.
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Okay Kofi, what does this have to do with Genesis 19? Very simple. I think Romans 1 helps us to make sense of what was happening in Sodom.
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Sodom's wickedness had so progressed beyond just idolatry, beyond just the perversion of the creation order, beyond even a rejection of that order, to now where they were in this place of just abandonment, that they were ripe for divine judgment.
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The mention of homosexuality here, this is just my take, you don't have to agree with me, but my take is that this is not mentioned, come back to Genesis 18 by the way, this isn't mentioned in Genesis 18 just because it's gross.
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That's not the point. The point is that the kind of high -handed sinfulness that was symptomatic of Sodom had led to this moment.
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There had been such a rejection of God, a rejection of the creation order, a perversion of the creation order, that led to a rejection of it, and now
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God says, fine if that's what you want, I will hand you over to that, and the end result of that will be righteous judgment.
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Now, I know what some of you are thinking, okay, Kofi, if you, like, the big point of this section, does this have anything to teach us about that subject and the ongoing cultural conversation with that?
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I do think it has one thing. Now, for what it's worth, if you picked up the study guide,
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I put a couple of print resources this week that help to answer this passage and several others and give us a well -rounded biblical view on that subject.
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I highly commend those to you. Let me just leave you one thought and we'll come back to Genesis 19. When a culture not just tolerates sexual perversion and practices that are against God's created order, when a culture celebrates, not just tolerates, excuse me, but celebrates sexual perversion and the rejection of the divine order, that's a culture that you're supposed to look at and say, this is not going to end well.
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Now, let me, let me not be more negative than I need to be, because the reality is, while that is also true, and at times
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I think the church has been guilty of this, we can be guilty of treating that sin as though it is an unforgivable sin.
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And I want to pause and say, actually, God's Word makes it very clear the only sin that cannot be forgiven is continued and willful rejection of the gospel of Christ.
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I'll put my cards on the table. I believe homosexuality is a sin, because, I'm sorry, I read the
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Bible and I was very plain about that. And yet, I also believe, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, I wish I had time,
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I can't read it, but I also believe that it's possible for someone engaged in that lifestyle to find hope in Christ, to find meaning in Christ, to find salvation in Christ, and for that not to be their identity anymore.
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And that doesn't excuse some of the heinous things Christians have done to try and expedite that process that only the Spirit of God can do.
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But as Christians, we should be the first ones to say this is not unforgivable, you know why? We have a gospel in which
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God forgives any sin. The only sin he won't forgive is the one of you continually rejecting his way of salvation.
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Let's come back to Genesis chapter 19. So this scene has officially gone way left.
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Verses 6 through 9 don't help matters. Lot went out to them at the entrance and shut the door behind him. He said, don't do this evil, my brothers.
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Look, I've got two daughters who haven't been intimate with a man. I'll bring them out to you and you can do whatever you want to them.
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Can we pause and say, Lot, what on earth are you doing? Here's my theory, take it for what it's worth.
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I think Lot has been around Sodom for way too long that he has unconsciously imbibed some of the values of Sodom.
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I don't think Lot is all the way where they are, but he's been around it long enough that unfortunately he started thinking, you know what, this is what might help this situation.
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Let me do this. He says, however, don't do anything to these men because they have come under the protection of my roof.
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In the ancient Near East, if someone comes into your house, they're as good as family. So essentially, look, these are now members of my family.
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You can't do this. None of the men in Sodom care. Verse 9, get out of the way, they said, adding, this one came here as an alien.
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So they know he's a foreigner, but now he's acting like a judge. Now we'll do more harm to you than to them.
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Again, I'm not really sure what Lot's thought process was, but I do know that this is spectacularly insane, that he's going to offer up his two young daughters to try and fix this situation.
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I also think it's ridiculous on Lot's part, because I'm going to try not to be crass here. It's very clear this crowd have no use for women.
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This doesn't look good. Again, picture this in our screenplay. The crowd is kind of advancing in on Lot, and this is not looking good.
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So his guests take control of the situation. Verses 10 and 11, but the angels reached out, brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
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They struck the men who were at the entrance of the house, both young and old, with blindness, so that they were unable to find the entrance.
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If this were, again, if we're thinking of this like a screenplay, this is the moment where you watch this and think, ah, so it begins.
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Call this an appetizer. Maybe that's not the right word, I don't know, but call it the appetizer for the judgment to come.
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These angels were not here to play games, and with this, judgment is pretty much confirmed at this point.
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But even in this untenable situation where the judgment of God is rightfully about to fall, we still see the mercy of God.
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Verses 12 through 14. Then the angel said to Lot, do you have anyone here, a son -in -law, your sons and daughters, and or anyone else in the city who belongs to you?
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Get them out of this place, for we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against his people is so great before the
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Lord, that the Lord has sent us to destroy it. You got family members?
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You got people you care about? You've got time. You can get them out of here. What patience, what grace is being shown here?
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Verse 14, so Lot went out and spoke to his sons -in -law, who were going to marry his daughters. Get up, he said, get out of this place, for the
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Lord is about to destroy the city. But his sons -in -law thought he was joking.
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This isn't the point of this passage, so I'm not going to labor here long, but I think there's a lesson here. We all know people in our lives for whom everything is a punchline and nothing is serious.
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Everything is a joke. I think a passage like this warns us, sometimes things aren't funny.
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Sometimes, as one of my friends would say, things are as serious as a heart attack. But that's not the point of this passage.
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I'm just going to say that and move on. Verse 15, at daybreak, the angels urged
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Lot on, get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.
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But he hesitated. I don't know what Lot is hesitating for at this point. Have you not seen what is happening?
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I love this next section. Because of Yahweh's compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters.
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They brought him out. And our English translations kind of clean this up. It literally carries the idea of they drag them out.
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So you know what? Time for talking is over. Let's go. They brought him out.
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Again, I don't know what Lot was hesitating for, but God is merciful, sometimes so merciful that he doesn't really leave you much of an option.
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I don't know if that's been your experience in life. I know it's been mine. There have been moments where I was acting a fool and God said, all right, carry on, carry on, carry on.
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And finally, he's like, you know what? No. It's beautiful to see that even in the midst of this judgment,
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God's mercy is extended. Why? Because that's exactly who our God is. The world has this perception of God that he's just a perennially angry old man in the sky.
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But that's not the Bible's conception of God. So yes, God has wrath. God has anger. In fact, we read it. He does.
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But even in his wrath, he remembers mercy the Bible tells us. And even in this instance, he provides an unusual mercy in verses 17 to 22.
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I won't read it, but essentially, they're like, look, we need somewhere to stay after this. Like, don't destroy everywhere.
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Can we have this one city? In fact, Lot describes it. It's a little place. Can't we just go there and they're gracious and say, yep, you know what?
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We'll let you have that. That's fine. And so they go to this city, and there they're safe.
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And now that they're safe, God can finally fulfill his promise of judgment. Verse 23. The sun had risen over the land when
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Lot reached Zohar. Then out of the sky, the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah, burning sulfur from the
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Lord. He demolished these cities, the entire plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground.
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We've seen so many times in Genesis already that God is swift to bless. He is swift to save.
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But here's the big lesson. Don't get it twisted. God is also, if you spurn his goodness and his mercy, he is swift to judge.
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And that's what makes verse 26 just come like a bolt out of nowhere. Verse 26.
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But Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.
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You grew up in church like I did. You've seen the Sunday school pictures. Now we live in 2023. I've seen the memes with Lot's wife, the pillar of salt.
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If you live on social media like I do, unfortunately, you've probably seen them. It's become something of one of those well -known stories.
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But I think sometimes the weight of this gets missed. It wasn't the physical act of looking back that Moses is referring to here as the spirit leads him to right.
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It's this idea of she's looking back with a longing. She liked being in Sodom. I mean, it's very clear from his interactions with Abraham that Lot was a pretty wealthy man.
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He had a lot. And the text seems to supply they made it out with their lives. They didn't bring anything out with them. And you can just imagine.
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She's just like, I've left everything behind. Even with this stunning act of deliverance, it would appear that the angels could get
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Lot's wife out of Sodom, but they couldn't get
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Sodom out of the heart of Lot's wife. I won't push this point long because if you're in our growth groups, we'll look at this passage in Luke 17 this week.
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Jesus will pick up this passage in Luke 17 and basically warn his followers that don't be like Lot's wife.
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Well, you love this world so much you're unprepared for my return. I want to say this and pretty much land the plane on this sermon.
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In our circles and rightfully so, we rightfully prize the Bible's teaching that salvation cannot be lost.
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We rightly prize the idea that those who Jesus saves, he saves eternally, that he holds on to his own and he will bring all of his safe to glory.
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And yet, if we read this Bible and we read it carefully enough, there are way too many warnings like this one.
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And I know it's a warning in Genesis 19 because Jesus makes it a warning in Luke 17. Three words, one of the sober verses in all the
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Bible. Remember Lot's wife. Essentially, don't be so in love with this world system.
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And by the way, when we say love the world, we're not meaning the people in the world. We should love the world in that sense.
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We should love every person that God has made in his image. That's not the world this text is talking about. When the Bible says don't love the world, it's talking about this system.
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Again, I'm not going to labor. I've preached on this before. This system of values and norms and culture, this kingdom that is set up in opposition to God's kingdom.
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That's the aspect of the world we're called not to love. And unfortunately, because we live in this world, we make our business in this world.
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We have families in this world and we enjoy all the blessings that God gives us in this world. The danger can be that we are so in love with this world, especially in the
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West, where we are so comfortable. We are so affluent. We have everything we need. The danger can be we love this world so much that the idea of a world to come that is better than this one doesn't sound all too appealing.
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And if this simple verse in verse 26 teaches us anything, it's that regularly being reminded that this world is not all there is.
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That there is a world beyond this one, that Jesus says you should be preparing treasures for that world.
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Passage like this and a simple verse like this should be a stinging reminder to all of us. Well, like I said, if this is a screenplay, you can kind of just picture it, this destruction that happens.
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Fade to black, pick it up in verse 27. Early in the morning, Abram went to the place where he had stood before the
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Lord. Now Abram was on his own. He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain.
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And he saw that smoke was going up from the land like smoke of a furnace. So it was when
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God destroyed the cities of the plain. He remembered Abraham and brought
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Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when he demolished the cities where Lot had lived.
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Did Abraham's intercession work? I think it did.
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Those beautiful words in verse 29. He, God remembered Abraham's intercession,
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I think worked. And that's why Lot and his family were safe.
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God remembered Abraham. Just like he would remember Israel in the wilderness who would read these words.
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Just like in Christ, he remembers you and intercedes for you and please your case before the
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Father and will safely bring you home on that final day. Is there anything too hard for the
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Lord? I think the answer by the time that we've looked at these two messages and we've worked our way through Genesis 18 and 19, the answer should be very simply, not a thing.
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And Father, we thank you so much that there is indeed nothing that is impossible for you.
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That even in the most unlikely of circumstances, even when it seems as though our backs are up against the wall, there is nothing that is impossible for you.
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There is nothing too hard for you. And Father, we know this because when we were lost in our sin, you saved us.
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You drew us to yourself. And Father, since we know that we are then able to turn around and face a world that needs the good news of Jesus Christ and point others to this
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God for whom nothing is impossible. And so Father, help us that we would constantly remember that we have an intercessor with you.
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That we have one who saves us. The Bible says Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
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We would speak to others as many as you bring in our way. So that they too would be spared from this wrath that is to come.
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Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your gospel. And we ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake.