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Voddie Baucham - Abraham Intercedes for Sodom · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: You know, we all have those songs that mean very
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  Speaker 1: significant things to us, and I've probably told you this before,
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  Speaker 1: but In Christ Alone is one of those songs for me.
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  Speaker 1: That's the first song I ever learned how to play
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  Speaker 1: for my family in family worship. That's the first song
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  Speaker 1: I ever learned how to sit at the piano and just,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Anyway, that's one of those that means a
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  Speaker 1: great deal to me. We've come to the end of
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  Speaker 1: Genesis chapter 18 as we examine the life of Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: as we learn from the life of Abraham. And as
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  Speaker 1: we have gone on this journey and as you've paid
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  Speaker 1: attention on this journey, you'll remember and you'll recognize that
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  Speaker 1: this is a different kind of look at the life
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  Speaker 1: of Abraham. What we are accustomed to is the moralistic
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  Speaker 1: look at the life of Abraham. What we are accustomed
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  Speaker 1: to is looking at the life of Abraham and basically
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  Speaker 1: hearing this. Here's what was good about Abraham. Go work
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  Speaker 1: real hard so that it can be good about you too.
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  Speaker 1: Here's the principle that we learn from the life of Abraham.
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  Speaker 1: Go and apply this principle so that God will smile
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  Speaker 1: on you too. As opposed to understanding the life of
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  Speaker 1: Abraham as the New Testament understands the life of Abraham.
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  Speaker 1: Not as moralisms to help Christians go out and work
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  Speaker 1: harder to earn something that cannot be earned, but really
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  Speaker 1: as a picture of of what a life of faith
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  Speaker 1: looks like and really as a foreshadowing of what is
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  Speaker 1: to come in Christ. The life of Abraham is a
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  Speaker 1: picture of the faithfulness of God in bringing about what
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  Speaker 1: he promised in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. The
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  Speaker 1: fall has occurred and God says... I told you in
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  Speaker 1: the day you eat of that fruit, in the Hebrew
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  Speaker 1: it's a wonderful play on words, dying you shall surely die.
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  Speaker 1: I told you that. The day you eat of the fruit,
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  Speaker 1: dying you shall surely die. And you will. You are
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  Speaker 1: going to die. And unless something was done, you would
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  Speaker 1: die in judgment, complete and utter separation from God. But
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  Speaker 1: in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, the gospel is proclaimed.
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  Speaker 1: In Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, the proto-Evangelion is referred
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  Speaker 1: to as the first proclamation of the gospel. There will
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  Speaker 1: be enmity between the seed of the woman and the
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  Speaker 1: seed of the serpent. And the seed of the serpent
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  Speaker 1: is going to bruise him on the heel. But he's
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  Speaker 1: going to crush the head. Of the serpent. And from
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  Speaker 1: that moment on, there is this enmity between the seed
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  Speaker 1: of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And
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  Speaker 1: the serpent tries desperately and diligently to get rid of
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  Speaker 1: the seed of the woman. And immediately, that happens in
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  Speaker 1: chapter 3. What happens in chapter 4? In chapter 4,
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  Speaker 1: there's murder. The seed of the woman is murdered. Murdered.
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  Speaker 1: The seed of the serpent says, I know how to
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  Speaker 1: deal with this. I get rid of the seed of
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  Speaker 1: the woman, I win. I get rid of the promised seed,
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  Speaker 1: I win. Let's kill Abel. I win. No, you don't.
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  Speaker 1: Next chapter, here comes Seth. You don't win. And time
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  Speaker 1: after time after time, that's what he tries to do.
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  Speaker 1: I've got to get rid of the promised seed. What
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  Speaker 1: does he try to do in Egypt? Egypt. Kill off
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  Speaker 1: the promised seed? That's what he tries to do. This
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  Speaker 1: slaughter of children is about killing off the promised seed
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  Speaker 1: and inherit. What does the seed of the serpent try
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  Speaker 1: to do again? Let's kill off the promised seed because
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  Speaker 1: the promised seed is the answer. Here's what's ironic. The
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  Speaker 1: devil looks at the Bible and says, the promised seed
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  Speaker 1: is the answer. We've started to look at the Bible
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  Speaker 1: and say, Acting more like Abraham is the answer. Working
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  Speaker 1: harder is the answer. Earning righteousness is the answer. The
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  Speaker 1: devil says, I got to kill the promised seed because
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  Speaker 1: he's the answer. You and I have been duped by
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  Speaker 1: this moralistic teaching of our day into believing that That
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  Speaker 1: the leadership principles in the Bible or the moralistic principles
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  Speaker 1: in the Bible, those are our answers. That's how we
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  Speaker 1: defeat the devil. Just work harder and try harder to
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  Speaker 1: be like the heroes of the faith. And we continue
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  Speaker 1: to run around on the hamster wheel. Failure after failure
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  Speaker 1: after failure. When the promised seed has already come and
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  Speaker 1: done his work and victory is ours. So when we
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  Speaker 1: look at the life of Abraham, do we see the
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  Speaker 1: hamster wheel? Or are we merely going back and tracing
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  Speaker 1: the steps of the providential victory that is ours in Christ?
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  Speaker 1: Because God is faithful to his word. And nowhere perhaps
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  Speaker 1: is this more prevalent and more important than here at
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  Speaker 1: this juncture. Because we're about to see some things that
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  Speaker 1: if we don't understand this metanarrative, if we don't understand
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  Speaker 1: this big picture, we'll misinterpret these things. We'll misinterpret what's
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  Speaker 1: going on between God and Abraham here. And if we
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  Speaker 1: moralize this, we not only fall into the trap of
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  Speaker 1: works righteousness, But if we moralize this particular passage that
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  Speaker 1: we're looking at at the end of chapter 18, we
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  Speaker 1: pile on top of works righteousness this sense of man-centered
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  Speaker 1: word of faith idolatry. Let me show you what I mean.
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  Speaker 1: Genesis chapter 18, beginning in verse 16. Then the men
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  Speaker 1: set out from there, and they looked down towards Sodom.
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  Speaker 1: And Abraham went with them to set them on their way.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I
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  Speaker 1: am about to do? Seeing that Abraham shall surely become
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  Speaker 1: a great and mighty nation. And all the nations of
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  Speaker 1: the earth shall be blessed in him. For I have
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  Speaker 1: chosen him that he may command me. his children and
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  Speaker 1: his household after him to keep the way of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord
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  Speaker 1: may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. Then
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  Speaker 1: the Lord said, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah
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  Speaker 1: is great and their sin is very grave, I will
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  Speaker 1: go down to see whether they have done altogether according
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  Speaker 1: to the outcry that has come to me. Well, the
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  Speaker 1: end of verse 21. I lost the phrase in verse 21.
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  Speaker 1: And if not, I will know. Verse 22. So the
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  Speaker 1: men turned from there and went towards Sodom. But Abraham
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  Speaker 1: still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said,
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  Speaker 1: Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
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  Speaker 1: Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city. Will you
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  Speaker 1: then sweep away the place and not spare it? for
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  Speaker 1: the 50 righteous who are in it? Far be it
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  Speaker 1: from you to do such a thing, to put the
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  Speaker 1: righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous
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  Speaker 1: fare as the wicked. Far be that from you. Shall
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  Speaker 1: not the judge of all the earth do what is just?
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  Speaker 1: And the Lord said, if I find at Sodom 50
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  Speaker 1: righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place
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  Speaker 1: for their sake. Abraham answered and said, behold, I have
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  Speaker 1: undertaken to speak to the Lord. I who am but
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  Speaker 1: dust and ashes. I love that phrase. Just dust and ashes.
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  Speaker 1: Just decorated dust. Suppose five of the 50 righteous are lacking.
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  Speaker 1: Will you destroy the whole city for the lack of five?
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  Speaker 1: And he said, I will not destroy it if I
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  Speaker 1: find 45 there. And he spoke to him and said,
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  Speaker 1: suppose 40 are found there. He answered, for the sake
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  Speaker 1: of 40, I will not do it. Then he said, oh,
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  Speaker 1: let not the Lord be angry and I will speak.
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  Speaker 1: Suppose 30 are found there. He answered, I will not
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  Speaker 1: do it if I find 30 there. He said, behold,
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  Speaker 1: I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose 20
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  Speaker 1: are found there. He answered, for the sake of 20,
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  Speaker 1: I will not destroy it. Then he said, oh, let
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  Speaker 1: not the Lord be angry and I will speak again.
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  Speaker 1: but this once. It's the last time, God. What about 10?
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  Speaker 1: Suppose 10 are found there. He answered, for the sake
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  Speaker 1: of 10, I will not destroy it. And the Lord
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  Speaker 1: went his way. when he had finished speaking to Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: and Abraham returned to his place. We're coming to a
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  Speaker 1: crescendo here. There's a couple of crescendos here in the
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  Speaker 1: life of Abraham. And again, that one we all know
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  Speaker 1: and so look forward to in the life of Abraham
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  Speaker 1: is that moment with Isaac. But this is another one
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  Speaker 1: of those crescendos. This is building up to the destruction
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  Speaker 1: of Sodom and Gomorrah. And as we build up, there
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  Speaker 1: is this scene here that intensifies the pathos of the moment.
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  Speaker 1: As we move toward a crescendo, Abraham figures out what's
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  Speaker 1: about to happen. You're going to go destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?
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  Speaker 1: There's a parenthetical statement here that's understood. It's not written
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  Speaker 1: in the text, but it's understood. You're going to go
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  Speaker 1: destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? where Lot lives? That's the understood
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  Speaker 1: parenthetical statement here. He's not worried about Sodom and Gomorrah.
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  Speaker 1: Abraham's not saying, oh, I love Sodom. I love Gomorrah. Surely,
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  Speaker 1: surely you will spare that wonderful city that I love
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  Speaker 1: so much. No, that's not what's going on here. Abraham's saying,
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  Speaker 1: I love Lot. And that's where Lot lives. That's what
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  Speaker 1: this interaction is about. This interaction is about Lot. This
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  Speaker 1: interaction is about Lot being spared. This is not about
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  Speaker 1: those twin cities. This is about that young man that
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  Speaker 1: Abraham loves. He's not so young anymore, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: that Abraham loves. That's what this is about. But the
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  Speaker 1: judgment of God is coming, and there is this interaction
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  Speaker 1: within the context of the judgment of God. And if
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  Speaker 1: we're not careful, we miss what's going on here. If
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  Speaker 1: we're not careful, we think that this is somehow about
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  Speaker 1: bargaining with God. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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  Speaker 1: This is not about bargaining with God. If we're not
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  Speaker 1: careful here, we think that this is somehow about the
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  Speaker 1: righteous rescuing a city. This is not about the righteous
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  Speaker 1: rescuing a city. This is about the judgment of God,
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  Speaker 1: and there are several truths that we see here about
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  Speaker 1: the judgment of God. The first is this, that the
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  Speaker 1: judgment of God is revelatory. The judgment of God is revelatory.
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  Speaker 1: Remember last week we talked about special revelation versus general revelation?
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  Speaker 1: Through general revelation, we just get this picture that there's
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  Speaker 1: a God, that there's a creator. There's a creator. The
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  Speaker 1: heavens declare the glory of God. You look out and
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  Speaker 1: we see a picture. There's something out there. There's something
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  Speaker 1: bigger than me. There's a creator out there. But if
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  Speaker 1: you'll remember, we said you got to go from general
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  Speaker 1: revelation to special revelation if you want to go from
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  Speaker 1: there's something out there to the God of heaven is
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  Speaker 1: out there. And he made the heavens and the earth.
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  Speaker 1: He revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ, provided, preserved,
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  Speaker 1: protected for us, that revelation in the Bible. You got
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  Speaker 1: to go from general revelation to special revelation there. But
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  Speaker 1: there is something else that's being revealed here. The judgment
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  Speaker 1: of God reveals something about the nature of God. But
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  Speaker 1: if you don't have revelation connected to judgment, we have
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  Speaker 1: no idea what's being done. Let me see if I
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  Speaker 1: can explain. There are horrible, destructive things that happen all
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  Speaker 1: the time, all the time. And there are those individuals
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  Speaker 1: who always try to find God's hand of judgment in
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  Speaker 1: every negative thing that happens. And it's difficult for us
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  Speaker 1: to do that. For example, you know, Hurricane Ike comes
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  Speaker 1: up and Hurricane Ike is destructive. It destroys the homes
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  Speaker 1: of all sorts of people. Well, do we turn around
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  Speaker 1: and say, well, see, there's the judgment of God. Was it?
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  Speaker 1: How do you know? You don't know unless God reveals
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  Speaker 1: specifically that this is an act of judgment. Otherwise, it
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  Speaker 1: could be one of the very normal, natural circumstances that
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  Speaker 1: are a result of the fall in general. We live
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  Speaker 1: in a fallen world. So hurricanes come. Earthquakes come. People die,
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  Speaker 1: some earlier than others. Most people get sick, then they die.
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  Speaker 1: You ever thought about that? Most people don't just walk
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  Speaker 1: in front of a bus. Most people get sick, product
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  Speaker 1: of the fall, then they die. Plagues come. These things happen.
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  Speaker 1: But unless we have a specific word from the Lord...
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  Speaker 1: We don't know if this is for us to understand
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  Speaker 1: as the judgment of God. So when God is doing
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  Speaker 1: something in order to bring about judgment and wrath, he
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  Speaker 1: reveals that so we don't have to wonder, we don't
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  Speaker 1: have to guess. Nobody sits around and goes, you know
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  Speaker 1: that flood thing with Noah? I wonder if that was
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  Speaker 1: the judgment of God. Nobody wonders that. Why? Over 100
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  Speaker 1: years of preaching, it's coming and it's judgment. Here, Sodom
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  Speaker 1: and Gomorrah, nobody wonders. You know that Sodom and Gomorrah thing?
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  Speaker 1: The fire, brimstone, just kind of, I wonder if that
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  Speaker 1: was the judgment of God. Nobody has to ask that question. Why?
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  Speaker 1: Because it was revealed from God that this was judgment.
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  Speaker 1: What we just read in Jeremiah 19. When God inflicts
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  Speaker 1: this on his people, when his people are carried away,
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  Speaker 1: when they are killed by the sword, nobody has to wonder, huh,
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if Israel's being judged right now. Why don't
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  Speaker 1: you have to wonder? Because he sent his prophets so
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  Speaker 1: that you would know that this is the judgment of God.
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  Speaker 1: Ananias and Sapphira. In case you're wondering if that stuff
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  Speaker 1: happens on this side of the cross, yes, it does.
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  Speaker 1: Acts chapter five. How do we know that Ananias and
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  Speaker 1: Sapphira Being killed right there in church was the judgment
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  Speaker 1: of God. Peter kind of helps us on that one.
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  Speaker 1: He looks at her and he says, hey, behold, the
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  Speaker 1: feet of the men who carried off your husband. They're
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  Speaker 1: going to carry you off too. Why? Because this is
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  Speaker 1: the judgment of God and it's being announced. There is
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  Speaker 1: another judgment to come. How do we know that there
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  Speaker 1: is another judgment to come? Two things. Number one, it's
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  Speaker 1: been announced. Amen? You can't read the book of Revelation
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  Speaker 1: without saying, you know what? There's judgment coming. Amen? Hallelujah.
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  Speaker 1: Praise the Lord. God is going to judge the world again.
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  Speaker 1: So number one, we know because it's been announced. And
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  Speaker 1: number two, we know because God's got a track record. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: He's got a track record. So the judgment of God
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  Speaker 1: is revelatory in that sense. We understand a bit about
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  Speaker 1: who God is because he reveals to us when he
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  Speaker 1: brings his judgment. He reveals to us that this is
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  Speaker 1: an act of judgment. This is not just natural disaster.
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  Speaker 1: This is not just haphazard. This is a specific act
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  Speaker 1: of judgment. This is a specific moment where I am
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  Speaker 1: making a proclamation about who I am and about how
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  Speaker 1: I deal with sin. Listen to this from Calvin. Seeing
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  Speaker 1: that God here takes counsel as if Considering a doubtful matter,
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  Speaker 1: he does it for the sake of men. For he
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  Speaker 1: had already determined what he would do. But he designed
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  Speaker 1: it in this manner to render Abraham more intent upon
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  Speaker 1: consideration of the causes of Sodom's destruction. He adduces two
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  Speaker 1: reasons why he wishes to manifest his design to Abraham
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  Speaker 1: before he carried it to execution. The former, the first reason,
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  Speaker 1: that he had already granted him singularly honorable privilege, and second,
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  Speaker 1: that it will be useful and fruitful in the instruction
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  Speaker 1: of posterity. Why does God let Abraham know that this
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  Speaker 1: judgment is coming? Number one, because the position of honor
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  Speaker 1: that he's already given him, he reveals this to him.
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  Speaker 1: And secondly, because it will be useful and fruitful for
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  Speaker 1: future generations. Look at this. Beginning verse 17. The Lord said,
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  Speaker 1: shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do?
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  Speaker 1: Seeing that, a couple of things. Number one, Abraham shall
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  Speaker 1: surely become a great nation and all the nations of
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  Speaker 1: the earth shall be blessed in him why for I
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  Speaker 1: have chosen him God's doing this to reveal himself not
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  Speaker 1: because Abraham deserves it but because this is what he's
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  Speaker 1: determined to do for Abraham I have determined that Abraham
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  Speaker 1: is going to be a great nation I have determined
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  Speaker 1: that Abraham is going to be the father of many nations.
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  Speaker 1: And because I have determined it, and by the way,
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  Speaker 1: here's this phrase that hasn't been used thus far as
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  Speaker 1: it relates to Abraham, and it puts the finest point
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  Speaker 1: possible on what's going on in the life of Abraham.
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  Speaker 1: The finest point, in case anybody was wondering. In case
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  Speaker 1: anybody was wondering if there was any merit in the
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  Speaker 1: life and the character of Abraham, he removes it by
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  Speaker 1: putting a fine point on it. He says, for I
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  Speaker 1: have chosen him. That's why. Not because Abraham is wonderful. Now,
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  Speaker 1: we've already known that. We should have known that. Abraham
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  Speaker 1: goes to Egypt. We see he's a dirty, rotten scoundrel
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  Speaker 1: when he goes to Egypt. Tell him you're my sister.
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  Speaker 1: He gives away his wife. in order to save his
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  Speaker 1: own skin. He's a dirty, rotten scoundrel. He commits adultery
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  Speaker 1: with Hagar in order to try to help God along
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  Speaker 1: in bringing about this promised seed. He's a dirty, rotten scoundrel.
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  Speaker 1: We've already seen this. So Abraham's not getting this word
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  Speaker 1: from the Lord because somehow he is this wonderful, pristine
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  Speaker 1: individual who has no sin. No, God makes it clear.
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  Speaker 1: Abraham's going to be a great nation. the father of
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  Speaker 1: many nations, because I have chosen him. So I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to reveal to him what I am about to do
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  Speaker 1: in Sodom and Gomorrah because I have chosen him. This
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  Speaker 1: is part of Abraham becoming what God intended for him
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  Speaker 1: to become. There's a second reason, and don't miss this.
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  Speaker 1: He's very clear about this. That he may command his
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  Speaker 1: children and his household after him to keep the way
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice. By doing
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  Speaker 1: righteousness and justice. In other words, God says, I'm telling
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  Speaker 1: this to Abraham, number one, because of the position that
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  Speaker 1: I put him in. But secondly, I'm telling this to
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  Speaker 1: Abraham so that he can communicate to generation after generation
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  Speaker 1: after generation. Don't play with God. Don't play with God.
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  Speaker 1: And if you wonder who God is, just remember Sodom
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  Speaker 1: and Gomorrah. Don't ever forget. Don't forget, as though the
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  Speaker 1: flood weren't enough. We're just a couple of generations this
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  Speaker 1: side of the flood. And now we have another moment
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  Speaker 1: that God gives specifically to Abraham. And specifically the text says,
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  Speaker 1: so that he can communicate to his children. So that
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  Speaker 1: he can communicate to his household after him. So that
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  Speaker 1: generation after generation after generation will know the judgment of God.
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  Speaker 1: Will know the seriousness of God, the holiness of God,
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  Speaker 1: the wrath of God. Folks, do we believe in the
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  Speaker 1: grace of God? Absolutely we believe in the grace of God.
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  Speaker 1: But one of the problems in our culture today is
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: that we try to communicate the grace of God without
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: communicating the wrath and the justice and the judgment of God.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: And apart from that, you can't comprehend God's grace. What
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: are we saved from, by the way? We're saved by
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: God from God. Now go wrap your head around that.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Saved from what? A cross look from God? Saved from
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: a disapproving sigh from God? No, you're saved from the
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: God who smote Sodom and Gomorrah with brimstone and who
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: has a place called hell reserved from the devil and
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: those fallen angels and all those who do not come
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: what we're rescued from. Hell is real. Judgment is real.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: And this is just a foreshadowing and a foretaste. And
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: God says, I'm revealing this to Abraham because of the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: position that I've given him and so that he can
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: communicate to his children and to generations after him who
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: God is. I wonder if we communicate to our children
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: enough how awful And how terrible it is to fall
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: into the hands of an angry God. Not trying to
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: scare our children. We're not trying to scare our children
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: into belief or scare our children. It's only God and
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: God alone who can bring our children to faith. But
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: God has ordained the ends as well as the means.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: And one of the means is stern warnings about the
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: justice and judgment of God. God is not to be
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: played with. Sin is not to be played with. And
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: God reveals what he's about to do so that there
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: is no mistaking what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. What
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: happened in Sodom and Gomorrah was a foretaste and a
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: foreshadowing of the wrath of a holy and mighty God.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: And we must never downplay that. Never, ever downplay that.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: It's ironic that we think that somehow we have to
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: downplay this wrath of God. We have to downplay this
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: judgment of God so that we can somehow uphold his grace.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: You know, in many ways, what we need to realize
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: is that we're like the man who shows the diamond
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: in the diamond store. What does he do before he
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: shows you his diamond? He gets a piece of black diamond.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: And he puts it down so that when he places
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: his diamond on it, the contrast is unmistakable. You want
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: to understand the grace and the mercy of God? Just
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: get a glimpse at who he is and his wrath.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Just get a glimpse of how awesome and how terrible
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: It can be to fall into the hands of a
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: righteous and just and holy God. It's not until we
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: get there that we see his grace, that we see
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: his love, that we see his mercy as we ought to.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: The judgment of God is revelatory. You don't understand how
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: much Jesus loves you unless and until you understand the
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: magnitude of his love Active obedience to God and his
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: passive obedience to God. His active obedience to God demonstrates
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: to us his perfection, his holiness, his righteousness in keeping
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: the law. And his passive obedience to God in laying
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: down his life on the cross and receiving in his
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: body the very wrath of God against sin poured out
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: against him. What do we see in that? What do
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: we see in that? We see the perfection of Jesus Christ.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: We see the holiness of Jesus Christ. We see the
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: beauty of Jesus Christ. We see the magnificence of Jesus Christ.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: And in that light, we see the wrath of God
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: that was absolutely undeserved poured out on the sinless, spotless
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Lamb of God And the judgment of God in that
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: moment is absolutely revelatory. We must not shy away from
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: the wrath of God. We must not shy away from
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: the judgment of God. Because if we do, we're shying
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: away from the beauty and the majesty of the gospel.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Do you not know what you've been saved from? Have
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: you no idea what you deserve? Have you no idea
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: who God is? Have you no idea? Look at Sodom
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: and be afraid. The judgment of God is revelatory, but
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: the judgment of God is also just. It's just. Look
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: at the next part of this. Look at verse 20.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Verse 20 says, then the Lord said, because the outcry
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: very grave, I will go down to see whether they
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: have done altogether according to the outcry that has come
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: to me. And if not, I will know. In other words,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: I will go down and see if they're worthy of destruction.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: It's interesting, in this Hebrew phrase, it's very hard for
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: us to render it, but Abraham has no doubt what
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: was just said. Because in the very next line, Abraham
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: starts talking about the destruction. So Abraham did not understand
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: God to be saying, hey, I'm going to go down
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: there and see if things are really bad, and then
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: I'll think about what I ought to do. No, the
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: phrase that is rendered here to Abraham leaves no doubt.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: I'm going down to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah. And
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: the key word there is sin. It's because of their sin.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Because their sin is great. We see the justice of God.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: By the way, listen to what Craig Keener points out.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: This is a combination of anthropomorphism. Again, that word anthropomorphism
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: means we represent God with human language. And theodicy, or
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: an explanation of divine action. In this story and in
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: the Tower of Babel episode in Genesis 11, in both
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: cases to demonstrate divine justice and fairness, God comes down
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: to investigate a situation before taking action. Does God have
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: to come down and investigate the situation? No. No. But
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: he does this in order to demonstrate his justice. In
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: other words, God is saying just by showing up in
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Genesis 11 and then again here in Genesis 18, just
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: by showing up, God is demonstrating to us through the
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: life of Abraham the kind of God he is. I
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: am investigating what is going on. Nothing is hidden from me.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: So when God acts, he's not capricious at all. It
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: is because there is sin involved. that is deserving of judgment.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: So God's judgment is not only revelatory, but it's just.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Every last one of us deserves death and hell. Nothing more,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: nothing less. That's what we deserve. But thank God that
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: he does not deal with us according to what our
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: sin deserves. Amen? The judgment of God is just. And oftentimes, again,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: and you've heard me talk about this on a number
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: of occasions, we ask the question, why? Why and how
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: would God allow bad things, devastating things to happen to
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: good people? Well, there are no good people. If you
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: or I, if any one of us walks out of
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: this building today and gets struck by lightning and dies,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: it's way, way, way better than what we deserve. Amen.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, who among us would actually sit here and
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: say that if whatever the devastating thing is, you just
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: name whatever the most devastating thing that's ever happened in
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: the world. You just fill in the blank, people who
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: died and whatever. You want to talk about Pompeii. You
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: want to talk about the tidal waves not long ago.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: You want to talk about whatever. Do you think that
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: anyone in this room would sit here and say, boy,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: if I had died in that event, it would have
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: been completely unjust? No. No, if I died in any
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: one of those events, it would have been better than
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: I deserved. The question is not why do awful things
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: happen to good people? The question is why is God
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: good to any of us? That's the question. The breath
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: you just took, you stole from God. I would say
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: you borrowed it, but you're never going to give it back.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: You didn't deserve to wake up this morning. None of
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: us did. So when God brings his judgment, he is
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: absolutely just. Thirdly, God's judgment is certain. And this is
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: important for us to understand, especially in light of what's
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: happening here with the 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, 10.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: If we're not careful, and especially if we moralize the text,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, this becomes, you know, about
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: Abraham and his intercession. Listen to one statement, for example.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: Listen to how Clark comments on this. And this is
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: just an example of taking that kind of idea, really,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: I believe, too far. Clark says, In other words, Clark says,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: Abraham was working God down to the number that he
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: assumed Lot had in his household so that he could
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: somehow rescue Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, number one, the text
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: doesn't tell us that. That's not what the text is about.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: That's not what this is about. This is about the
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: justice of God. Will God do what is right? Will
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: God do what is just? God says, yes, I'll do
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: what is just. So for the sake of 50, would you? Yeah,
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: sure I would. What about for 45? Sure I would.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: How many of you know God knew exactly how many
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: righteous folks there were in Sodom and Gomorrah? See, the
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: discussion was moot. The point was moot. This is a
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: discussion between Abraham and God about God's justice. Abraham's going, God,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: are you just? God's going, yep, I'm just. God, are
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: you just? Yep, I'm just. God, are you just? Uh-huh,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: I'm just. God's not going... Huh, let me see. Yeah,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: if I find that when I get there, then I, okay,
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: then I won't do it. Then I won't, no. You
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: want to know if I'm just? 50? Sure. 45? Uh-huh. 40? Okay,
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: makes you feel better. 30? Sure, why not? 20? Yeah. 10? Yeah.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Got to go now. Going to wipe the place out.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Glad we had this discussion about my justice. And I'm
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: glad you understand now that I'm a just God. I'm
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: glad you get that now. Well, how can you make
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: that kind of statement? Pastor, you don't know that. You
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: don't get that. Well, you know what? Here's what I
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: do know. Listen to this. There are several things that
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: I want us to get here. Number one, our children
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: understand this. They're already beginning to understand this. I just
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: want to do this for a moment. And children, I
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: need you to be nice and loud for me. All
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: the children in here who've been through Catechism for Boys
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: and Girls, if you've just been through the first 15
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: questions of Catechism for Boys and Girls, you know the
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: answer to these questions that Pastor Votie's about to ask.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: And I want to explain how even the children in
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: this room understand what I'm trying to communicate right now
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: about the nature of God. Children, who is God? God
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: is a spirit and he doesn't have a body like
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: a man. Very good. Where is God? God is everywhere.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: Very good, children. Can you see God? No, I cannot
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: see God, but He always sees me. Very good, children.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: Does God know all things? Yes. Nothing can be hidden
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: from God. Can God do all things? Yes. God can
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: do all things in his holy will. Why do we
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: go through catechism like that with our children? If you
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: understand just those few questions in the catechism, you understand
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: what was not going on between God and Abraham. If
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: you understand the nature of God, God knows all things.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: God's not going down to Sodom and Gomorrah to count
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: righteous people. Nothing can be hidden from God. Can God
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: do all things? Yes, God can do all things in
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: his holy will. If we understand that, we understand the
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: nature of this discussion between God and Abraham. It's not
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: a negotiation going on here. God's not trying to make
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: up his mind about what he's going to do in
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: Sodom and Gomorrah. This is a discussion between God and
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: Abraham about the righteousness and justice of God in spite
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: of what he's about to go and do. Here's a
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: couple of other things that we know. Listen to this.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: 2 Chronicles chapter 20 and verse 6. Rather than turn
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: to all of these, just sort of jot them down
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: because there are several. 2 Chronicles chapter 20 and verse 6.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: Oh Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: In your hand are power and might so that none
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: is able to withstand you. Job 23, 13. But he
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires,
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: that he does. Job 42, 7. After the Lord has
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: the Temanite, my anger burns against you and against your
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: two friends, for you have not spoken of me what
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: is right as my servant Job has. Look at Psalm
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: 115 and 3. Our God is in the heavens. He
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: does all that he pleases. Psalm 135, 6, whatever the
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: the seas and all the deeps. Psalm 147, 5, great
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: is our Lord and abundant in power. His understanding is
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: beyond measure. Isaiah 43, 13, also henceforth I am he.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: There is no one who can deliver from my hand.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: There is no one who can deliver from my hand.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Could Abraham have delivered Sodom and Gomorrah from the hand
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: of God? No. The Bible says there is no one
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: who can deliver from the hand of God. No one.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: Remember that principle of hermeneutics? Narrative is not normative. You
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: remember that? Narrative is not normative. What that means is
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: whenever we read a story about something that happened, What
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: we don't do is we don't go to the narrative
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: parts of the Bible and say, this happened in the story,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: therefore I will build my doctrine from this story. No,
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: you go to the didactic parts of Scripture, the teaching
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: parts of Scripture, in order to understand what's happening in
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: the narrative. Okay? That's what we do. What's happening in
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: the teaching parts of Scripture that are designed to teach
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: on these issues so that we can then go back
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: and interpret what's happening in the narrative. Okay? A great
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: example of that is when we talked about in Acts 10,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: chapter six, and the feeding of the widows, well, you
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: could almost get through from that passage that we just
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: sort of indiscriminately have a feeding of the widows. Well,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: but there's a didactic passage in 1 Timothy chapter five
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: that teaches specifically how the church is to conduct its
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: benevolence towards widows. So you don't go to Acts and say,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: it happened in a narrative, therefore we do it, without
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: going to 1 Timothy five, which didactively teaches specifically what
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: you do in that circumstance, so that then you can
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: interpret the narrative and not the other way around. This
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: is narrative here in Genesis 18. It's a story. There's
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: something that's happening. Do we build our doctrine of God
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: from this interaction between him and Abraham, or do we
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: go to what the Bible says about God and the
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: nature of God so that we can then interpret this
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: conversation between God and Abraham? And that's what we do.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: A couple of more. Isaiah 46, 9. Remember the former
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: things of old, for I am God and there is
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: no other. I am God and there is none like me.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: the things not yet done. Saying my counsel shall stand
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: and I will accomplish all my purposes. The counsel of
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: God will stand. It will not be changed by finite man.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah 32, 17. Ah, Lord God, it is you who
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: has made the heavens and the earth by your great
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: for you. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Listen to this.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: Daniel chapter four, beginning of verse 34. At the end
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: and my reason returned to me and I blessed the
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: most high and praised and honored him who lives forever
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: for his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: earth are accounted as nothing. He does according to his
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: say to him, what have you done? None can stay
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: his hand. Or say to him, what have you done?
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: Matthew 19, 26. But Jesus looked at them and said,
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: with man this is impossible, but with God all things
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: are possible. Luke 1, 37. For nothing will be impossible
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: with God. Ephesians 1, 11. In him we have obtained
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: him who works all things according to the counsel of
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: his will. Now I ask you, Was it a negotiation
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: with Abraham? No. No, unless the rest of the Bible
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: is incorrect. This wasn't a negotiation. This was an anthropomorphic interaction. Remember,
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: we said anthropomorphic is we're talking about God in human terms.
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: We're trying to explain the action of God in human terms. Yes.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: That's what we have here. That's what we have here.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: So does this mean that we don't pray to God?
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: Of course not. It doesn't mean that. Last few weeks
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: in the Heidelberg Catechism, what have we been going through?
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: What Jesus taught us in the Lord's Prayer and what
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: prayer means, why we ought to do it and how
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: we ought to do it. It's absolutely not. That's not
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: what this means. What this means, our attitude in prayer
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: is not if I can find the right phrase or
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: the right people to partner with me, we can twist
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: the arm of God and make him do what we
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: want instead of what he has decreed. That's heresy. That's heresy.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: We've used the illustration before. Prayer is like a boat
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: that is moored to a dock. And the boat's tied
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: to the dock. So here you are. You're on the ship.
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: You're out to sea. And as you're on the ship
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: out to sea, you grab a hold of the rope,
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: and the rope is tied to the docks. If you
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: pull on the rope, does the dock come to the boat,
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: or does the boat come to the dock? You pull
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: on the rope, and the boat comes to the dock.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: That's prayer. Most people think that prayer is, here I
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: am in the boat. I'm going to pull, and I'm
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: going to bring the dock to me. No, the dock
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: doesn't move. God doesn't move. When I'm praying, I'm pulling
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: the boat to the dock, not the dock to the boat.
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: Thy will be done. Thy kingdom come on earth as
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: it is in heaven. That's prayer. I am not trying
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  Speaker 1: to convince the great God of heaven that I have
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  Speaker 1: some piece of information that he's lacking. So that he
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: needs to follow me in this thing and not the
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: counsel of his own will. You hear how foolish that is?
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: But unfortunately, that's how we talk, folks. That's how we talk.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: And when we come to the Old Testament with our moralisms,
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: instead of an understanding of biblical theology, that's actually sometimes
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: how we preach. And so all of a sudden, the
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: end of Genesis 18 becomes an opportunity for the pastor
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  Speaker 1: to say, you just need to be more fervent in
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: your prayer and hold on. What are we doing to
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: be fervent in prayer? We absolutely do. But that's not
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: what this is about. This is about the justice of
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: God being certain. And finally, God's judgment is for the
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: wicked and not the righteous. Hear me, I did not
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: say Bad stuff doesn't happen to righteous people. I said
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: God's judgment is for the wicked and not the righteous.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: That's what he's talking about here. See, if we're not careful,
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: we'll miss that, okay? We'll miss that and we'll think, okay,
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: wait a minute. So basically what this means then is
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: we need to increase the number of righteous people in
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: our city by So that our city will be prosperous
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  Speaker 1: and will not have, and you know, you know that's
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: how people interpret this text. Oh, if we just get
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: some more, if we just get enough people in America praying,
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: then we will see God's favor in America. If we
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: will just get a, because if there were 50 righteous,
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: that's not what this text is about. It's not. It's not.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: Because first of all, we're talking about the specific judgment
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: of God. We're not talking about natural disasters here. We're
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: talking about God saying, I am about to reveal myself
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: through my judgment. Okay? That's what we're talking about here.
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: And secondly, the text makes it very clear that God
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: being just is about the righteous not experiencing judgment. And
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  Speaker 1: that's why Lot gets out. We often forget that. We think, oh, well,
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: Lot went down there to Sodom and Gomorrah. He's a
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: bad guy. Really? Listen to this. 2 Peter 2, verses
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: 4 through 9. For if God did not spare angels
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: the judgment... If he did not spare the ancient world
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: when he brought a flood upon the whole of the ungodly,
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: upon the world of the ungodly, if by turning the
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: to extinction, making them an example of what is going
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: to happen to the ungodly, and if Noah he rescued
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: righteous Lot. How many times you heard people talking about
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: Sodom and Gomorrah and assuming that Lot belongs in the
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: category of the unrighteous just because he lived there? The
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: Bible said he rescued Lot Righteous Lot. Well, what did
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: Lot do to become righteous? Wrong question. Nobody ever does
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: anything to become righteous. You're declared righteous. Amen? And when
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: you're declared righteous, this magnificent thing happens. It is God
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: who works in you both to will and to do
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: his good pleasure. So even when we do those things
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: that are the fruit of righteousness, that's the power of
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: God working in us to will those things and to
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: do those things. So unpuff your chest, please. Greatly distressed
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: by the sensual conduct of the wicked. So how come
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: Lot gets away? Some argue, well, it's just because of
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: Abraham and his bargaining. No, God says Lot got away
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: because he was righteous. Righteous Lot got away. The judgment
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: of God is for the wicked and not for the righteous.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: By the way, that's also true of the final judgment.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Notice that Peter says that this is a foreshadowing of
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: something to come. Revelation chapter 20 beginning verse 11. Turn
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: to that one please. And we'll end with this. Revelation
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: chapter 20 beginning verse 11. Then I saw a great
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: white throne and him who was seated on it from
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: was found for them. And I saw the dead great
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: and small standing before the throne and books were opened.
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: And the dead were judged by what was written in
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: the books according to what they had done. And the
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death
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  Speaker 1: and Hades gave up the dead who were in them.
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: And they were judged, each one of them, according to
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: into the lake of fire. This is the second death,
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: found written in the book of life, he was thrown
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: into the lake of fire. Then I saw a new
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: the first earth had passed away. And the sea was
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: no more, and I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem,
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: coming down out of heaven from God, prepared for a bride,
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: is with man. He will dwell with them, and they
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: will be his people, and God himself will be with
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: them as their God. He will wipe away every tear
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. For
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: the former things have passed away. And he who is
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: things new. Also, he said, Write this down. For these
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me,
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: Without payment. Without payment. The one who conquers will have
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: this heritage and I will be his God and he
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless,
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters,
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: all liars, their portion will be in the lake that
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: God's judgment is for the wicked, not for the righteous.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: Natural disasters, just in the unjust, get those. But when
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: we talk about the judgment of God, in a revelatory sense,
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: and especially in a final and ultimate sense, It's for
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: the wicked, not for the righteous. So here's the question.
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: Who's righteous? The ones declared so by God. Let's read this.
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: We've read it before. We'll read it again. I know
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: I said we were just going to read that, but
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: I'm not righteous. Apart from the finished work of Christ. Amen. Amen.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: Listen to this. We've read it before again, and we
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: just cannot avoid going back to Romans when we talk
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: about the life of Abraham. It's unavoidable. Because in Romans,
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: Paul gives us the roadmap for interpreting the life of Abraham.
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: You cannot avoid it. Romans, Galatians, he gives it to us.
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: You want to know what the life of Abraham is about,
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: read Romans, read Galatians. It's not about moralisms. It's about
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: righteousness through faith. Beginning of verse 19. Beginning of verse 21.
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: from the law, although the law and the prophets bear
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: of God and are justified by his grace as a
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: God put forth as a propitiation by his blood to
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins.
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: It was to show his righteousness at the present time
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: so that he might be just and the justifier of
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: the one who has faith. in Jesus, then what becomes
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law?
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: By the law of works? No, but by the law
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: of faith. For we hold that one is justified by
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: faith apart from works of the law. Or is God
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: the God of Jews only? Is he not the God
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: of Gentiles also? Yes, Gentiles also, since God is one.
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith?
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: By no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law.
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: Who are the righteous who will avoid judgment? The ones
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: declared so by God by faith. We are saved by
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and that
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: to the glory of God alone. How do we avoid
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: the judgment that is to come? Run to Jesus. That's
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: how we avoid the judgment that is to come. Run
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: to Jesus. Cling to Jesus. Trust in Jesus. Hope in Jesus.
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: Live in Jesus. Walk in Jesus. That's how we avoid
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: the judgment that is to come. By being found in Jesus.
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: In Christ alone. In Christ alone, just as we sang,
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: that's the answer from beginning to end. In Christ alone,
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless babe,
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: this gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: he came to save. Till on that cross, when Jesus
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: died the wrath of God was satisfied for every sin
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: on him was laid here in the death of Christ
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: I stand Father thank you for your glorious grace Thank
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: you for your matchless mercy. Thank you for your justice
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: that reminds us of what we've been saved from. Thank
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: you that you did not deal with us according to
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: what our sin deserved. But you have been merciful to us.
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: I pray for every soul under the sound of my
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: voice that if there is one present who has not
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: come to Jesus through repentance and faith that today by
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: your grace they would run to the cross. That today
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: by your grace they would cling to the cross. They
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: would trust in the cross. If there are any here
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: who are trusting in their own righteousness I pray God
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: today that your judgment would bring them to their knees,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: that they would recognize that never under any circumstances will
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: any man stand before you justified by his own works
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: or by keeping the law, but only in Christ alone.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: Thank you for the rest that that brings, for the
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: comfort that that brings. for the peace that that brings,
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: for the hope that that brings, there will be a
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: day of judgment. And the wicked will not escape. And
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: the righteous will not have earned their deliverance. Only, only
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: the righteousness that is imputed to us because of the
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: active and passive obedience of Jesus Christ, will we stand
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: in the day of judgment. Hallelujah. Amen.