Well, if you take your Bibles now and turn with me to Genesis chapter 18. This evening we continue in our series, walking by faith with Abraham. And we're in that latter half of this whole section, mainly chapters 16 to 22, where the focus is on God's fulfillment of the promise of a people, of a seed, of an offspring to Abraham. And if you remember last time, as we were looking at the first half of this chapter, the Lord shows himself to be the faithful friend of Abraham, a friend who is personally present and intimately fellowshipping with him, even eating a meal with him, and a friend who is faithful to him, to remind Abraham and Sarah of his word, his word of promise, also a word exposing their unbelief, and also reminding them of his great power. And in this way, the Lord upholds and encourages his people. Well, the remainder of this chapter, what we see is the Lord as a friend who discloses his plans and his character to Abraham. So follow along with me. We'll start there in verse 16 and read to the end of the chapter. So here now, God's holy word. Then the men sent out from there, or set out from there, remember that's the Lord and the two angels, and they looked down towards Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him. that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. Then the Lord said, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know. So the men turned from there and went towards Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said, Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the 50 righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked. Far be that from you. Shall not the judge of the earth do what is right, what is just? And the Lord said, If I find at Sodom 50 righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake. Abraham answered and said, Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the 50 righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it if I find 45 there. Again, he spoke to him and said, Suppose 40 are found there. He answered, for the sake of 40, I will not do it. Then he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry and I will speak. Suppose 30 are found there. He answered, I will not do it if I find 30 there. He said, behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose 20 are found there. He answered. For the sake of 20, I will not destroy it. Then he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose 10 are found there. He answered, for the sake of 10, I will not destroy it. And the Lord went his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. Amen. Let's pray. Fathers, we come to your word once again. We ask that you would open our eyes, that we would behold wondrous things out of your law. Most of all, Lord, that we would behold you, that you would reveal yourself to us, what your true nature and character is. And in beholding you, we would not remain the same. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Throughout the centuries, People have come to sections of the Old Testament like this, episodes of God's just judgment, and they've misconstrued them and misunderstood them. They view God as cruel, as unjust, as capricious, and out of control. For example, in church history, you may know the name of the Gnostic leader, Marcion. He wrote a book called Antithesis, or Antitheses, I should say. And he set out supposed contradictions between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Listen to how the church historian Nick Needham describes Marcion. He says, Marcion taught that the Old and New Testaments were in total opposition to each other. The Old Testament God was this dimmy urge, a cruel and unloving being, and Judaism was an evil religion, a religion of law and works and self-righteousness, where the New Testament, by contrast, was the book of the Supreme God, the Heavenly Father revealed by Jesus Christ, and it taught a totally different religion of grace and faith and freedom. The problem is, Marcion, the Gnostics, and those who think this way have misunderstood God. In fact, what they've done is remade God into their own image. They've thought of God in a way that he's altogether like man, one who has passions like man, fits of rage, tantrums. It's more like the Greek gods than the true God. And this is an example of that, they would say. The reality is they understand neither true justice nor true mercy. That the one true and living God is a holy God who is completely just and is also full of mercy and compassion at the very same time. And he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The God of the Old Testament is the same God as the God of the New Testament. And this is an important thing for Abraham to come to understand the very nature and character of God. And therefore it's also important for us to understand. So this evening I want us to consider the revelation of both God's justice and mercy in this passage. We'll see first the revelation of God's justice and mercy through information. verses 16 to 21, and then the revelation of God's justice and mercy through intercession, verses 22 to 33. So first the revelation of God's justice and mercy through this information. Now you remember God came to Abraham and Sarah to their tent and were welcomed in. Abraham showed hospitality, they had a meal together, but now the meal is over. The promise of blessing through a promised child has been reaffirmed, and now it's late in the afternoon, and Abraham's visitors prepare to set out to Sodom and Gomorrah. And as they began to depart, we read something curious. What is it? That the Lord deliberates whether to tell Abraham his plan. Notice again verse 17, where he says, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do? Well, some think that maybe he's speaking to the other two angels, some that he's speaking to himself. Either way, the reality is he doesn't expect someone else to answer, for he answers himself in what he says. And in answering, what he does is gives weighty reasons why Abraham must be informed about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, why he must come to understand both the justice and the mercy of God. The first reason is found there in verse 18. seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. See, he's going to be this mighty nation. and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. Father Abraham is the beginning of this great and powerful nation of Israel. Abraham, of course, is the father of Isaac, who's the father of Jacob, who's renamed Israel, and from him come the 12 tribes. And as the head of this mighty nation, it's vitally important that he be clear on the justice and mercy of God. See, Israel was a nation. It was not just to be like any other nation in the world. It was a select nation, a chosen nation. Not because they were more numerous than any other nation. They weren't, they were the least. Deuteronomy chapter seven tells us it's because the Lord set his love upon them. No other reason that he chose them. But Israel was chosen to be a holy nation, to show his great power, his great might, his wisdom, his justice, and his mercy. That's why Israel's going to be then a blessing to other nations. It's to be a nation that reveals God's character to the surrounding nations. In fact, this is why in Exodus 19, you remember when they come to Mount Sinai, God says that Israel is to be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. That doesn't mean that everyone all of a sudden becomes a Levite. But what it means is that the nation as a whole is to serve in this priestly function. What's a priest to do? In a sense, a priest is one who represents God to others and others to God. So in a sense, the nation of Israel should be interceding for the other nations as well as representing God and his character to them by the way that they obey God's laws, by the way that they live as a nation that is filled with God's justice and mercy. And so that's why it's so important. If this is their role, they're to be different from these other nations, then it's imperative that it begins with the Father. of the nation, Abraham. And Abraham, through whom the blessing is to come to the nations, must understand why particularly this one nation, Sodom and Gomorrah, will not receive blessing. So that's the first reason, because of what great nation will come from Abraham and its role. But the second reason is found there in verse 19. For I have chosen him that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. You see, Abraham must teach true justice and righteousness to his descendants so that the Lord may bring what he has promised to Abraham. Abraham is described here as, again, chosen by the Lord. Literally, the language means, I have known him. In other words, again, it's the Lord has set his love upon him. He's not chosen because he's better than others. He's chosen because God sets his love upon him. And now he has this important responsibility. Just a side note. This is how the gospel works. This is the order. It's first grace, then works that flow from grace. God sets his love on Abraham, then gives him responsibility. It's the gospel grammar. So Abraham has his responsibility to take what he learns here from God of both God's justice and mercy, his righteousness and his justice, and he's got to teach it to his children, who in turn will teach it to their children. And this is so that God will bring about this great blessing that he has promised the people of Israel. They need to remain distinct. They need to remain separate, a holy nation from the other nations. Not just distinct in the fact that they're born or descended from Abraham in a physical way, but distinct in that they live, as it says in that verse, the way of the Lord that God gave to Abraham. So it means Abraham has to teach, command his descendants, including this promised child, Isaac, that's to be born. He must teach him the way of the Lord. What does it mean to do righteousness and justice? Let's think about those two words. Isaac must be taught by Abraham what righteousness is. One commentator defines it this way. Righteousness is a way of living in community that promotes the life of all its members, a life promoting social order and recognition of God's rule. A righteous person rightly orders community according to God's law. So what that means is those who are in positions of authority will not use that position in a self-centered way. They're not going to extort or oppress others for their own gain, but they're going to use their authority for the good of those under their authority. That's true for all authority on the earth. God's the one who's the source of all authority, and he delegates authority in different spheres. fathers and mothers over children, husbands over wives, those kings or those in authority in a government over their subjects. And that authority is to be used in a way that's righteous. But they also must know justice. Again, this commentator says, a just person restores broken community, especially by punishing the oppressor and delivering the oppressed. punishing the sinner and delivering the one being sinned against. If someone was in the community here, for example, and was actually committing multiple murders, a serial killer, let's say, bringing unjust death, then what should be the cry of our community? For justice, for that to be stopped, ceased, the murder to be apprehended, and that there be a restoration of order. Justice restores order, and that the consequences that are appropriate for the murderer would be meted out by the appropriate authority. And according to God's word, that would be the death penalty. God is saying to Abraham, as the head of this nation, "'You must teach your descendants "'the way of righteousness and justice, "'and the nation must be one that exercises both, "'because you are my people and I am your God, "'and I am the God of righteousness and justice.'" Well, notice how it puts it. There's this phrase, or these two words, so that, right? You must teach them these things, so that, The Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. This revelation of God's justice, his mercy would be the means to preserve God's people so that the ultimate seed promise could come from them. The one who would be the blessing to all the families of the earth. So you have the Lord here deliberating with himself and even answering his own question, and he's answering in the affirmative. Should I tell Abraham? Yes, I should. So he does. That's why it goes on in verses 20 to 21, where he tells Abraham, we can say the Lord discloses his plan. to Abraham, he says, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me, and if not, I will know. So he says that after his deliberation, he says that to Abraham. And what we see is Abraham is being informed by God. And what you see here, here's the Lord deepening his friendship with Abraham. Remember what we said, Friendship is about this opening of the heart. The Lord reveals his plan and opens his heart to him, as it were. Remember what we saw last time from John 15, 15, where Jesus says, no longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my father I have made known to you. And so the Lord is revealing this information to him. On the one hand, he reveals his justice. It's a revelation of the Lord's justice. Notice he begins by saying the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and very grave. Sins are committed in this city. So grievous, he says, that there is an outcry. And that word outcry is used two times in these two verses. What's an outcry? The language describes this cry of the oppressed, of those who are sinned against, those who've been brutalized. The point is there are people in Sodom and Gomorrah who've been greatly sinned against, and they're crying out, where is justice? Where is life? All we know is oppression, the oppression of the murderer, the rapist, the selfish leaders who steal and rob. This is our life, and they're crying out. This same word, outcry, is what's used later in the book of Exodus for the oppressed widow and orphan. They give an outcry of the injustice and oppression that they experience. In fact, it's the very same word that's used in Genesis 4 for Abel's blood. When Abel is murdered, his blood gives an outcry from the ground. A cry that goes up to the Lord. and it's from those who are being sinned against there in Sodom, and the Lord is saying, he hears. He hears that outcry. This is an important lesson for us. It teaches us that the Lord hears the outcries of his creatures, of all his creatures, and all that he has made. This is Sodom and Gomorrah we're talking about. Any cry that goes out because of being sinned against, he hears. He's not a God who turns away. He's not a God who is deaf. He does not say, well, that's your problem. But he hears the cries of his creatures. He hears the cries of his people. And God says to Abraham that he has heard the outcry from Sodom and points to how he is a God of justice who seeks to restore right order. He also points to the reality that Sodom's sin here is not only sexual immorality, which is what they're known for, and that's horrific enough, and we'll see that in the next passage in chapter 19, but the language here points more to the brutal oppression and the bondage aspect of their sin. Sadly, those two things often go together. In our own day, in our own world, those things go together in human trafficking, as you know, a great and grievous sin. That is an outcry that goes up before the Lord even today. And so, this is part of what's happening. In fact, the language that's used later by the prophets to describe the sin of Sodom actually is emphasizing more of this kind of oppression than even the sexual immorality. For example, the prophet Ezekiel, when he's talking about the sin in Israel, the sin in Judah, and what they're doing. He says this, Ezekiel 16, 49, Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, excess of food, prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. Now certainly it can refer to sexual abuse and other kinds of oppression as well. But I want you to see that there's sin of oppression in this way leads to the outcry that comes. But notice the other thing that said by the Lord, verse 21, I will go down to sea. Now this is a curious language. Why does God need to go down to sea? He's everywhere. He sees everything. This, again, is clearly anthropomorphic language, right? That means it's language as though he were a human, though he's not a human. Scripture does that at times. It talks about how God bears his holy arm, though God doesn't have an arm. And so it's that kind of language. It's not as though God does not know. It's not as though he has to go and investigate. So why does he say this to Abraham? Remember, he's revealing to him his justice and his mercy. And so he's communicating truth by the statement that Abraham needs to learn. And what is that truth? That God's judgment is not based on misinformation or mere supposition. That the Lord's judgment is always righteous and just based on full and accurate knowledge and information of what has taken place. He himself, in this language, the way it's put, personally knows all that takes place. You see, when God judges, he knows with certainty the sin, the crime that has taken place, and God exercises his judgments justly, rightly, and righteously. So you see, he's teaching Abraham what justice looks like. but he's also revealing to Abraham his mercy in this passage. Notice what it says. I'm going down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know. That language, that they have done altogether according to the outcry, that word altogether could also be translated that they've made a complete end. That's curious. I will go and see if they've made a complete end according to the outcry. Another way of putting this, have they come to the fullness of their iniquity? This is the very same language that he used with Abraham back in chapter 15. You go to chapter 15 and verse 16 when he talks about his descendants going down into Egypt and then coming back, part of what he says is, and they shall come back here in the fourth generation for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. That's the same language. Their sin, their iniquity is not yet complete. It hasn't come to a full end. What's the point of this language? That God is not one who exercises judgment hastily, But God is filled with compassion and mercy, and he's a God who's slow to anger. Slow to anger. See, in Genesis 15, God actually gives the Amorites how much longer? Another 430 years before he enacts his judgment. That's kind of patient, isn't it? He's slow to anger. He's giving them room to repent. And that's a revelation of the mercy of God, even in the midst of him talking about his justice. God is saying that with Sodom and Gomorrah, if he brings judgment, it is because they have come to the complete end of their iniquity. That it is beyond the patience, beyond that mercy in that sense. And God has given them time to repent. Time to understand that God exists, to understand his kindness. Think about it already in the Abraham narrative. It's not as though Sodom has not experienced the grace of God at all. Of course they do in the common grace sense of just being able to live and move and breathe. But recall what happened in Genesis 14. Who rescued whom? God sent Abraham, well Abram was what he's called then, but Abram, with his 318 men to rescue Sodom and to bring them all back. That was a mercy of God. That was the grace of God. And it's not as though they've never heard about the Lord, about Yahweh. After all, remember the king of Sodom overhears the words of the king of Salem. And not only that, When Abraham doesn't take anything from Sodom but returns it all, he said in the hearing of the king of Sodom, the Lord, Yahweh, is the one who enriches me. So it's not as though they haven't heard. They've had grace upon grace upon grace shown to them. But now the outcry has come to its height. They refuse the grace of God. They refuse to repent. They continue to spurn the true and living God, sinning against him, oppressing one another, and now their iniquity is about to come upon their own heads. Yes, the Lord is patient. Yes, the Lord is slow to anger. But there is an end to his patience, a just end, and justice must be served. So what we have here is the revelation of the justice and mercy of God in this disclosure to Abraham. The question to us this evening is, is this the God that you know? See, it's easy for us to be skewed in our thinking about God because of our own sin or the culture around us, the culture that says, oh, God is a God of love. He'll never punish sin. That's the God of the Old Testament. You know, there was a book that was written not too, I guess the last 20 years, Love Wins. And that's the idea in it. Oh, there's no judgment to worry about. All that gloom and doom, that's what fundamentalists and persnickety people believe in. But what does the scripture reveal to us about our God? That he is a God of justice and mercy. He is a God who will bring a day of judgment. That day is coming, a day of reckoning where all people must come before the judgment seat of Christ. That's a New Testament phrase. 2 Corinthians 5.10, that God himself, remember what Paul said there on Mars Hill, the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead, and that appointed man is Jesus Christ. There is a real judgment coming where we must all give an account of the words, thoughts, and deeds that we have done before the living God. Has that sunk into your own heart? That God is not a God who will just sweep sin under the rug? That he won't just turn the other way and say, oh well, sin's not that big a deal. but that every single sin will have to be given an account for and he will justly, righteously punish every single sin. Christians, one question that I ask you is this, are you teaching your children the justice and mercy of God. Abraham is commanded to teach his descendants the justice and mercy of God. Are you teaching that to your children in the way that you parent? Are you taking sin seriously when you see it in your children, or are you saying to yourself, I'm just too tired to deal with that? Are you seeking to reflect the holiness and righteousness of God to your children in your own life? And are you also reflecting that he is a God of mercy? In other words, are you patient with your children? Or do you enact your punishments for disobedience immediately without any time or room for repentance? You see, we're called to be image bearers, especially we who are Christians, to reflect the character of God, that our God is a God who is a God of justice and mercy. It's important for Abraham to teach his descendants and it's important still in the new covenant because the Lord's way has not changed. It is not as though God is not holy anymore. Christianity that's devoid of holiness and of the pursuit of righteousness is no Christianity at all. But it actually diminishes both the mercy and the justice of God. So beloved, you see here the revelation of God's justice and mercy through information that's given to Abraham. But we also have in this passage the revelation of God's justice and mercy through intercession. And that's verses 22 to 33. I'm not gonna go through every verse in the same way that we have. But notice this. Notice first Abraham's bold intercession before the Lord. In verse 22, what we do notice is that the angels go on, it says, and then it says, Abraham stands before, he still stood before the Lord. Now, the Masoretic scribes of the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible, they note that this is actually changed. It actually should read this. The Lord stood before Abraham. The Masoretes, they didn't like to have anything that seemed like it was putting the Lord down. And usually you say that the one that's the lesser is standing before the one that's greater. And so they changed it. But the actual text reads, the Lord stood before Abraham. And why is that significant? Significant because it's as though the Lord stands there. Even almost we could say to provoke Abraham to prayer. He stands there, he stays there for a purpose. You see, Abraham has received this information from the Lord just before this, and now the Lord is waiting for Abraham to respond. And that's what Abraham does. It says he drew near to the Lord, and we see that he prays, he intercedes on behalf of Sodom. Let me just make this application to us, that we should consider how the Lord sometimes brings information to us in his providence for what purpose? to encourage us to come to him in prayer with that information. Now the information doesn't come to you randomly. We have a sovereign God and he gives it to you so that you will bring it to him in prayer. Now there's many lessons we can learn here about the way Abraham prays. I'll just note a few. Notice first that there's both humility and boldness in his prayer. Humility in the way he addresses God. It's not with brazenness, it's not with demand, but it's with this humility. Notice again, verse 27. Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. That language of dust and ashes, it's the language of how God created man from the dust of the ground. It's a reference to creation. Abraham, you see, understood that he is but a creature coming to his creator. So he comes with humility. He's not coming demanding. But he's coming humbly requesting. We also hear Abraham say multiple times, oh, let not the Lord be angry and I will speak. But notice he speaks. So yes, he comes with this humility, but he also comes boldly because he actually makes requests. And this is how we're to come. Yes, with humility, recognizing our place. as creatures, as sinful creatures, but also as children of God, redeemed in Christ. And so we come humbly but boldly, recognizing that God is a God who delights to hear the prayers of his children and to answer them. Notice not only do we see boldness and humility, we also see persistence. He doesn't make this request once or twice, but six times. 50, if they're 45. If they're 40, if they're 30, if they're 20, if they're 10, right? He's persistent in this prayer. But let's think specifically about his concern, his request. Verses 24 and 25 really are the heart of this passage. where he says, suppose there are 50 righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the 50 righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fares the wicked. Far be it from you, shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just? Do you hear his concern? Now, it's fascinating, the basis of his request is the character of God is just. You're the judge of all the earth who's just. Aren't you gonna do what's just? That's the basis of his request. That's his assumption, that's his bedrock, that God is just. And Abraham then pleads that Sodom be spared based on the justice of God. How does that work? You see, his concern is that God not sweep away the righteous with the wicked. Because that would be unjust. to give the punishment to someone who did not deserve it. But as he goes on in his requests, we actually see an interesting, I would say deeper concern, what's underneath these requests as he goes from 50 to 45, all the way down to 10. There's a sense in which he's getting to the fact that there is this presence of the righteous among the wicked. If there's even 10 righteous people among the wicked, What's the deeper concern here? It's not only that the righteous not be swept away, but it's a concern that the righteous might be in the midst of this wicked people to act like leaven and a light to draw them away from their wickedness and to bring them to repentance, to turn and to trust the Lord, in a sense. What's fascinating is that the Lord says that even if there were 10 righteous people, he would not destroy the whole of Sodom and Gomorrah, but let it remain. That's fascinating. Because what that means is those 10 could affect change with the blessing of God. Those 10 could stand showing the way of the Lord, the way of righteousness and justice in the midst of a sea of injustice and wickedness and sin. So there is a concern here for the righteous that they not be swept away, but I would submit to you there's also a concern that the wicked might become righteous in Abraham's intercession. Now, we have to come from his bold intercession to his ultimate realization. He understands that God is a God of justice and mercy. That God, even if there were only 10, would spare and have mercy on the whole for the sake of the righteous. That God is not an unreasonable God. But he also comes to understand that there are not 10 righteous people in Sodom. And so that it is just for God to destroy wicked Sodom and wicked Gomorrah. that God and what he will do is completely just. And as the judge of all the earth, he will do what is right. He will always do what is right. This is what he comes to understand. The question again for us is, do we realize this about the one true and living God? Both his justice and mercy in these ways. Do you realize in one sense that part of the reason that God has told you his plans, what he's going to do, is so that he might provoke you to pray for those who are lost in their sin and wickedness? That's why he told it to Abraham, provoking him to pray. Just as Abraham pleads for Sodom not to be destroyed, he calls us, we who know more than just a city that's going to be destroyed by fire, but the whole world. We've been told, you've been informed. And my question is, as we have this information given to us to provoke us to pray, is that what we do? Are we a people, a church that prays for the lost the way that Abraham prayed for Sodom and Gomorrah? Do you see the importance then of gathering as God's people to intercede for the lost? That prayer meeting is not just a ritual that we do. As we heard tonight, it's part of the spiritual warfare we're engaged in. It's part of the way that we are to walk in the way of the Lord. We are called to intercede for the lost, that God might be merciful to them. And Christian, do you realize the importance even, we could say, of your presence among the lost? Could it be that our very presence here is part of the reason that God is not sending his judgment today upon Macon, Georgia? Do you realize the importance of your walking with the Lord and walking in holiness after the Lord, the importance it has upon this place? And do you realize why it's so important that Christians be present in places where there are no Christians? That's why missions is so important. It's not the only reason, but it's a huge one. That the judgment of God not fall upon these nations that have no righteous among them. That we would be among them. That we would be willing to go, yes, even to die, for the sake of those who are still in their wickedness, that they may hear the words of life, repent and believe, and become part of the righteous. That is what this text is teaching to us, at least in part, isn't it? That's what you see in Abraham, the intercession, the mercy, the recognition of the real justice of God. But this begs an important question, doesn't it? Who are the righteous? Who are the righteous? Who in the world can say that they are righteous? How can we be the righteous? Who are the righteous that Abraham is talking about? After all, we know that since the fall, everyone is born sinful and wicked except for the Lord Jesus. Every one of us has in some way oppressed another human being. Every one of us deserves the full weight of the just wrath of God. That's why we need to remember what God said about Abraham earlier in Genesis 15 verse six, that Abraham believed the Lord and it was counted to him as righteous, righteousness. You see that there is righteousness that comes through faith in God, faith in Christ, faith in the promised Savior, the seed of Abraham that blesses all the families of the earth. It is a righteousness that's apart from the law. It's a righteousness that comes to us through Christ. That's what makes a person today, since the fall, counted among the righteous. That you've placed your faith in the God who has spoken The God who redeems, the God who has given the one and only way for sinners to be made right before God through his son. These are the ones who are the righteous. And God surely will not sweep away the righteous with the wicked. But that begs another important question, doesn't it? How in the world can a God of complete justice and holiness show any kind of mercy to sinful, guilty people like us? How is that possible for him to do that and still be just himself? You see, this is why it's so important that you have a right understanding of the gospel. This is why it's so important that Abraham understand God's justice, that he is not a God who just sweeps sin under the rug. We need to understand that the only way that a sinner could be counted right before a holy God is if someone else comes and takes the punishment that their sins deserves. That if justice is truly served. And that is what the fullness of the promise to Abraham is all about. That through your seed there is a seed to come to bless all nations because he's the one who will execute God's justice and mercy. God's justice through mercy. God's mercy through justice. And that one, of course, is Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham who comes to take the place of any who will place their faith in him. And this is what happens at the cross. As the hymn writer, as the psalmist says, it's at the cross. That's the place where justice and mercy kiss. because Jesus comes and says, I will be counted as the oppressor. I will be counted as the sodomite, as the rapist, as the murderer, as the disobedient child, as the thief, and I will be counted as that one, and I will take the full wrath of God that these sins deserve, so that you, O God, can be just in justifying them. That's the gospel, justice and mercy in the one God. So brothers and sisters, we have such a savior who was crushed for us so that we can truly be as Abraham was and is a friend of God. Is he your friend today? Do you know this God? not a God that the world tells you about, a truncated God that's either loving or just, but the God of the scriptures, revealed to you once again in this word, the God of perfect justice and perfect mercy. Amen. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank you that you are a God who does not remain far off, but you are a God who draws near. and you are the God who has revealed yourself to us once again in your word and in your son, that you are the God of justice and mercy. Lord, as we are confronted with who you are, transform our hearts even more. Transform us from one degree of glory to another, that we would be again sharpened to recognize your glory as the God of justice and mercy, and we would be those who would reflect and teach that justice and mercy ourselves. And we would trust in what you provided in your son. Do this, oh Lord, we pray, for Christ's sake, amen.