Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Genesis

Genesis 18:16-33 07/14/02

Intro: Mrs Sanford was a DVBS teacher who taught her DVBS class that the Holy Spirit speaks to us and through us today as He did to the prophets in the OT. We only need to be still and to seek His presence. One young boy in the class rushed home and tried it out  in order to see if his teacher was right.

 'Don't bother me mom' he said 'I'm going up into the attic to try one of Mrs. Sanford's experiments.'  The mother knowing her son, awaited his return with some trepidation. 'Well it worked' he announced cheerfully as he came downstairs. 'Mrs Sanford said if you thought about God a while and them made sure you weren't mad at anybody and then asked God to tell you something, He would. Sometimes you'd hear it like a little voice and sometimes you would just feel it.'

 'What did you ask him, Buddy?' 'Well you know mom I did want to go swimming today...' 'Oh Oh' thought the mother who had just nursed Buddy through measles. He's going to tell me God says he can go swimming. Now what am I supposed to do?
'So I asked Him' continued buddy. 'And I heard Him just as plain. He said, 'No Buddy, not today'. His mother was ashamed she had doubted God. She thought that God would never really talk to Buddy, such a young boy.

     I believe we miss a lot of what God says to us because we think like Buddy's mother did that we are not important enough for God to speak to us. I also think that we miss a lot of what God says to us because we  think He only reveals big and important things, like telling Abraham he was going to wipe out Sodom and Gomorra.

     But the truth is, God is concerned, even about a little boy who wants to go swimming. And God is concerned about what you are experiencing in your life as well.
 
He wants to talk to us but
       -we are often too busy to quiet ourselves before him
       -we believe God only talks to the super Christians,
       -we feel God really isn't interested in our problems.

     If we think any of that, we would be wrong. And being wrong will hinder a close, intimate relationship with the Lord because
        -we won't go to Him when we should.
        -we won't ask Him what we ought and
        -we won't believe he cares...when he does. And
        -we will miss out on what it means to be friends of God.

     What we will learn this morning is very simple. Friends talk to one another. And God's friends talk to God.

Read: Genesis 18:16-22

     Abraham, the Lord and the two angels began to walk toward Sodom. The Lord speaks to the two angels concerning his plan to inform Abraham of what is about to happen. And understand, Abraham was walking with these men and heard their conversation.

     In this conversation the Lord reveals two things...

First: The Lord once again makes reference to the covenant, the promises made to Abraham. He did this perhaps to prepare Abraham for what he was about to hear. That although judgment would come to the wicked, the righteous, God's people would be saved. Don't we need to be reminded of that..that regardless of what we see in the world around us, and how bad it gets, God loves His people and watches over them, He keeps his promises to them and in the snd will save them?

Second: Abraham was challenged to teach his children about the Lord and what it meant to live for Him. Abraham was not to count on Sunday School teachers, youth leaders or Pastors to teach right and godly living to his children...and neither should we.

     That is our job mom and dad and it must be a top priority.  If we don't make it a top priority, when parents forget or are too lazy or too compromised with the world to  teach and be an example of godly living and making Christ honoring choices in life, God is forgotten and the morality and spiritual lives of our children are corrupted.

 We will see that when we examine what happens to Lot and his daughters at the end of ch. 19. Want a few practical examples now?
     -How about you and your children sleeping in on Sunday morning and not coming to worship service because you were out late on Saturday night.

     -How about telling your children to lie for you to someone on the phone.

     -How about gossiping or speaking badly about another Christian..or the pastor, especially when your children can hear.

     -How about watching TV shows or movies that glamorize sin and your children know it...or watch it with you.
 
     You see the Lord was reminding, challenging Abraham and each of us here this morning, that when you are a friend of God, you will do everything you can to direct your family in the way of the Lord, so that they too might become friends of God.

    Next, notice that it was God who initiated the conversation, and it was a conversation, a dialogue between two people. We just don't speak and pour out our hearts to God. Wonder of all wonders, God speaks and reveals his heart to us. What did God tell Abraham as they walked together? That he has heard the cries for justice and has seen the great sin of the people living in Sodom. It should be very comforting to know that God hears the impassioned cries of those who are oppressed, of those who are sin's victims, of those who suffer injustice.

     God speaks to His faithful followers to enlist their help. You see, God always has a purpose in His conversations with us.
But, we often miss the purpose because we aren't fully engaged in the conversation. Why aren't we fully engaged? Because we are often half hearted in our prayer life.
 
     -We may pray but we don't wait and look expectantly for His answers.
     -We may pray but we don't believe He will really answer.
     -We may pray but we only ask and rarely listen.
     -We may pray but we make it a 5 min. interruption to the other real important things in our lives.

     And once again we wonder why God seems distant and uninvolved in our lives.

     Well, God tells Abraham that He is going to destroy all of Sodom because of it's great and grievous sin.  But, Abraham's wayward but much loved nephew Lot and his family lived in Sodom.

Read: Genesis 18:23-33

     The intimacy of the relationship between Abraham and God not only served as a motivation for God revealing to Abraham His plan for Sodom, it also was the motivation behind Abraham's intercession on behalf of Sodom. While speaking reverently, Abraham speaks boldly, passionately and persistently to God in his intercession. We can learn much for our own times of intercessory prayer from Abraham's example.

Two things in particular:

First: It is here that we catch a glimpse of one way Abraham was to be a blessing to the world. Abraham was a man of great compassion, even for those who are sinful, wicked people. Isn't that eye opening. Usually we think one is spiritual when they are angry with sinful people...righteous indignation..but that should be against the sin, not the sinner.  Certainly Christians grieve over people's sin. But, we are always to have compassion for the lost, for the sinner and pray that they would repent and turn, in faith, to Jesus Christ. For that reason we should be persistent in praying for the lost, especially those we know personally. That God would move in their hearts so that might see Him and their sinful nature. That God might give them the faith to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Second: Abraham not only prays for the lost, sinful people in Sodom, he indirectly prays for his nephew Lot and his family. As they were the righteous Abraham mentions in his petition to the Lord. Did  you know that this is the first prayer of intercession in the Bible. In his friendship with God, Abraham was able to go to God and seek His favor in prayer.

     Think of the power God's people have to change the world...their neighborhoods, their schools, their homes even, if we would be faithful intercessors.  Think of what could be done if we had the same sense of urgency that possessed Abraham? If we came together regularly and corporately and prayed..together. Imagine what God could do.

     Through Abraham's intercession, God said He would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. So, the question comes down to numbers...how many righteous are needed in the town to keep it from experiencing the wrath of a Holy God against the atrocity of sin?

     Abraham may have believed he was bargaining with God. But God used this to teach persistent  intercession on behalf of others. It was also another way God revealed his great mercy and grace to those He would save from the coming destruction. And it can teach us that God will do great things when there are even a few faithful to Him.

     Lets bring this even closer to home.

 A faithful, passionate, and persistent life of corporate prayer will do much to display the grace of God to it's community.

 And a faithful, passionate, and persistent life of personal prayer will do much to display the grace of God to those closest to you as well.

 Do you believe that prayer makes a difference? Do you believe that united corporate prayer can effect much? Then we should have as many people here on Wed. night as we do this morning...by the way...we don't.

Conclusion
     One last thing before we close. I realize that we haven't gotten to it yet but was Abraham's intercession successful? Yes! God did not destroy the righteous with the wicked. Lot and his family were removed from Sodom, saved from God's wrath.

     BUT, God did destroy the city and the rest of the people in it. Why, because God must judge sin and the principal sin in which all others are based is our refusal to be rightly related to God by faith in Jesus Christ. Understand that God does not delight in the sinners destruction, but He is just in doing so because of their sin. And the same fate is in the future for all who refuse and reject faith in God through Jesus Christ.

     The only hope is for God to open their eyes to His gracious act in Jesus Christ's death on the cross for their sins. Believe it and be saved, don't believe it and be condemned to the same fate and those who remained in Sodom.

     Do you want to be one to whom God speaks?
     Do you want to be one to whom God listens when you speak? If that is your desire, and I pray that it is,

         -rejoice that by faith you are God's friend
         -seek God's face, spend time with your friend
         -talk and listen to Him.
 
 And then see what God can and will do...for those who are his friends by faith in Jesus Christ.