There is a judge of all the earth, and I'm not talking about personal preferences. I'm not talking about my raising versus your raising. I'm talking about we better be studying this book and find out what he has to say, because there is going to be a test. I don't care if you've been to Christian school, public school, or Happy Acres Home School, the famous question of all students everywhere is, is this going to be on the test? Well, there is going to be a test, and it's going to be on there. Genesis chapter 18, Genesis chapter 18, look at verse number 20. This will overlap just a little bit with last week, but not much at all. We're going above and beyond, if you will, where we went last week. We looked last Sunday at verse 23, the first line, and Abraham drew near, And the Lord really helped me. I hope and pray that He did you. If you got a portion of what He dealt with me about, I'm thankful for that. But we're going farther. And let me tell you right up front, this is a heavy text. This is not light. This is not something that you'll put on a Helen Steiner Rice greeting card, okay? We're talking about a city being burned with fire and brimstone. But it's as much God's Word as Lamentations 3 that says His mercies are new every morning. And we've got to hear it. Look in verse number 20, And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is coming to me, and if not, I will know." Let me just say a very brief word here. I do not know, as I've studied and read and meditated and read what other men have said about this passage, I do not know if God had hid the evilness of that city from himself, and that's why he had to go down and see if it was as bad as the reports he was getting, or if he is teaching the lesson of he never executes judgment until he has looked at it from all angles. Either one of those explanations of that verse gives us a beautiful view of God. He is not hasty in His judgment. He is not hasty in His wrath. And that's a good lesson for us when we are in a position of authority, whether that be apparent, whether that be a civil authority, to be as fair and as God-minded as we can possibly be. Either explanation shows us an amazing view of God. Verse number 22. And the men, that's the two men, well actually still three, these men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom. But just as I showed you last week, Abraham intercepts and says, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. And Abraham drew near and said, Please get a hold of this. Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city. Wilt thou also destroy and not spare that place for the fifty righteous that are therein? that be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth, Do right. Go with me now to verse number 32. If you're a Bible student, you know that what transpires after this is Abraham and God literally negotiating and taking the number down from 50 all the way to where we are in verse 33. And he said, this is Abraham, Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. He said, I'm going to say one more thing. Peradventure 10 shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. Verse 33, And the Lord went His way as soon as He had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned unto his place. Would you hold your finger there because we are coming back. Would you go all the way to the book right before Revelation, the book of Jude. Would you go to the book of Jude, please. And verse number 7, Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh. It's been mentioned, I believe, at the camp meeting, when you see that word strange women, strange flesh, that sort of thing, it's not talking about someone who is physically odd, he is talking about someone that is very different from what God intended for it to be. In the Proverbs, when he talks about a strange woman, he doesn't mean she's like Cyclops in Greek mythology and she has an eyeball up here or snake hair. Okay, he's not talking about creepy. He just says she's different from what I intended women to be. And when he says strange flesh, he says in Romans chapter 1, it's men with men women with women going against what God intended for it to be. And that's what he's talking about. So look in verse number seven, giving themselves over to fornication, going after strange flesh, and are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Now go to your left to the book of 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter two, verse number four. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, we believe that happened before creation when Satan led an uprising, a rebellion. He was second in command to the Godhead. The Bible tells us in Ezekiel he had a built-in pipe organ. He was God's crown jewel of creation, but that wasn't enough for him. He wanted to be the top dog. And I'm not being irreverent toward God, I'm being irreverent toward Satan, because he doesn't deserve any reverence. He wanted to be in the top position. And look in verse number, the middle of the verse, but he cast them down to hell, delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment. And spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. Verse 6, And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample. unto those that it should after live ungodly." Verse number 7, "...and deliver just Lot." vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, verse number 8. For that righteous man, listen to me carefully, if we did not have verse number 7 and verse number 8, and all we knew about Lot was the ending of his story that comes up in chapter 19 of Genesis, we would have no reason whatsoever to believe that he was born again. But what the Bible tells us here in 2 Peter, that righteous man dwelling among them and seeing and hearing vexed, there's that word again, his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. Go back with me now to Genesis chapter 18. Look in verse number 25. I'm going to read the whole verse. My text comes from the last line of the verse. That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that the righteous should be as the wicked. That be far from thee, look at the last line, shall not the judge of all the earth do right. Listen to me carefully. We live in an age, and it is astounding to me that it is as prevalent in an area like Western North Carolina and the upstate of South Carolina, East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Northeast Georgia. It is astounding to me that this thought process is as prevalent in what by all means is the We call it the buckle of the Bible belt, but it is literally the epicenter of God's truth that has been brought to this area, preached in this area, and is still held by so many in this area. There are ungodly unscriptural views of God and His judgment for whatever reason. I think the opposing forces of darkness have brought those in, but it is appalling. And I shared this in the 10 o'clock hour, and I told Ms. Gloria, I said, I'm going to say it again. She got to go to camp meeting Thursday night, and Brother Brian McBride preached out of Psalm 144. You ought to go home and read the chapter. Read Psalm 144. And I had never heard it applied that way in my life, but he was spot on. He was preaching what life will be like when God is in control. And it's just amazing. He dealt with humanism. He dealt with socialism. He dealt with the economy. He dealt with our homes. He dealt with everything about living and what matters in life. when God is on the throne and when God is in control. And after Ms. Gloria and I stood right back there in fellowship for five or ten minutes, she said, Preacher, it really just boils down to this. Read your Bible. And I thought, I wish I had said that somewhere in my past. What is life, Brother Matthew? Read the Bible. Peter tells us in 1 Peter that His Word has given us everything that pertains to life. and godliness. If it's beyond the scope of life and godliness, if it's just personal preference, I use the silly example of what color car you want to drive. Listen to me carefully, and this is offensive to some people. They think they're so spiritual, they pray about this sort of thing. If you want a red truck, get a red truck. If you want metallic blue, get metallic blue. Now, I'm not saying mortgage your life for the next 72 years, okay? I'm not saying that. But I'm saying, if it doesn't matter about life and godliness, just get out there. If you want moose tracks, get moose tracks. If you want mint chocolate chip, get mint chocolate chip, okay? Just don't eat so much that you clog your arteries. You see what I'm saying? The flavor doesn't matter. The volume of what we take in matters. If it matters to God, then it needs to matter to us. And we have lost the view of the fact, listen to me carefully, that God is a judge. The next time you see me, and if you've got more husbands than the woman at the well, and more tattoos than somebody in California, say amen. Okay, or you fell into a tackle box and you're just everything, you know, you're just pierced from one end to the other. You are welcome at Progress Baptist Church. We're gonna tell you about Jesus. We're gonna tell you that he loves you too much, that you don't have to find your self-worth in a tattoo and yet another piercing. Say amen. We're gonna love you. So understand all that. But here's my point. You know what I believe. You know what I have preached to you going on seven years. If you come in here next week and she's gone and I've taken up with somebody and I'm standing here in a muscle shirt, now that's a scary thought. and Bermudas and flip-flops, and I'm going, Jesus is the coolest thing this side of the French Broad River. Let's get down with Jesus right now. If I go that crazy, okay, you've still got a Bible. And there is still a judge who is going to yank me up by the seat of my pants sooner or later. Here's the problem. It's usually later, and we think we've got away with something, and we go from bad to worse. Say amen. And so, there is a judge of all the earth, and I'm not talking about personal preferences, I'm not talking about my raising versus your raising, I'm talking about we better be studying this book and find out what he has to say, because there is going to be a test. I don't care if you've been to Christian school, public school, or Happy Acres home school, the famous question of all students everywhere is, is this going to be on the test? Well, there is going to be a test and it's going to be on there. And I better be finding out what he says about me treating you. And I better be finding out what he says about me being a daddy. And I better be what he... Do you know how many times he talks about children's children in the Bible? It would do me well to study what God says about the children's children and see what my role is as a grandpa. We better be getting a hold of what God's Word says. So I want you to look, and here's the title of the message, and it really is the message in a sentence, Brother Morgan, the judge of all the earth will do right. Abraham put it in the form of a question. I'm going to turn that around and put it in a statement, and I want every one of us to know the judge of all the earth will do right, and we're not going to get away with the silliness and the carelessness that we are approaching. Brother John taught about the king in Daniel who went and got the holy things, maybe at one point just because it was a token of their God, and he wanted to put it with the tokens of other gods, but he got so used to it that before everything was over, he was drinking wine out of them. And if he had any respect to begin with, I've never heard it put that way, but it was a good thought, if he had any respect to begin with, he got so familiar with it that he lost that respect. And I'm afraid we do that with the things of God. Go with me, look in verse number 25. Let me just give you a disclaimer. Not everybody who's going to hear what I'm about to say is going to like it. I don't even like saying it, but it's true. Look at verse number 25. Who is Abraham concerned about and who is God focused on? The righteous. You see what I'm saying? Did God send his son to die for the sins of the whole world? Yes, he did. Does he love the sinner down in the worst part of Hendersonville or Asheville or living in a trailer park and doing ungodly things? Does God love that person so much that he sent his son to pay their sin debt? Yes, he did. And I will knock on their door. I'll step over God knows what to tell them about Jesus. I've done it and I want to do it some more. But let me tell you something, there is a time when His mercy runs out. And we don't preach that very often, and we don't like to think about it, and we'd rather meditate on the verse that the pastor sent out this morning, His mercies are new every morning. There is an end to the mercy of God. Verse number 25 and following, he is concerned about the righteous. He doesn't say one thing about the evil or the wicked. They have gone so far. They have given themselves over, is what Jude and Peter said. And we know in Romans chapter 1, when you have been given over to that, there is no turning back. We don't say it often. But you've got to understand something, God is a judge and His focus right now, He says, the Spirit and the Bride say, come, let Him who is a thirst come. Let me tell you something, His mercy is going to come to an end and He will focus all of His attention on the righteous. And the wicked will be turned into hell. I want you to look at some verses. Go to Psalm 4. No, you know, I'm going to save you the time. I wrote it down. Psalm 4, 3, But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself. If in your heart you're doing everything, you're walking with God, you're striving to be a godly man, a godly husband, a godly daddy, a godly young person, a godly boy, you've got a heart for God. You say, Brother Raines, what does it mean to be godly? It's not hard. If I said to one of these boys, you need to grab a tiller, and put it on some hard South Carolina clay and let it yank you around the yard for the next two hours. You're walking, y'all stay with me, don't get upset at me, you're walking a little feminine. You need to learn how to walk manly. Y'all with me? I know what part of the country I'm in and I know that that's a, oh, no, that's just his genetic makeup. No, it's not his genetic makeup. He's been petted and pampered. I would say don't, be manly, manly. It's an adjective. Walk, or an adverb, walk like a man. Womanly. Godly. Be like God. He has set apart Him that is godly for Himself. Look in Psalm 917. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget God. I want everybody to go to Psalm 34. I want us to read these on the page in your Bible. Psalm 34, verse 15. If you've got a child near you who can't read or is just learning to, I'd love for you to hold your finger and let them see these words on the page. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open under their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. That's not a view of God we are reminded of very often, but it is an accurate view of God. The righteous, that one that has put their faith and trust in Christ alone to be made righteous and to be reconciled to God. His tender eyes look on that one and he can't do enough for him. But that wicked person, yes, he has made a way of salvation, a way of reconciliation and restoration. He has made that way. But when you reject that, his face is against you. Brother Mickey Cofer preached a message on the wrath of God going on a year, it was last August during our Tuesday night services and just preached on the wrath of God. And that is hard to listen to where his wrath, he is going to put, this is what the Bible says, he's going to put the wicked in a winepress and stomp till the blood runs. My point is God's focus. And Caitlin, Matthew raised that child and let them know that God's focus is on the righteous and he has set the standard of what righteousness is and therefore he knew that we could not attain it and that's why he gave us, we talk about Jesus and his sacrifice and we sing about Calvary and we rejoice. All of that tells me that God is angry with the wicked every day and I needed a substitute. And that's why I don't understand the careless approach that many of us have to living for Jesus in 2017. Brother Fred, if we saw ourselves as the helpless, hopeless sinners that we really are, we'd be consumed with a passion to love Him and to live for Him. God's focus. is on the righteous. He's made a way for the unrighteous, but He's taking care of the righteous man. But go back to your text in Genesis chapter 18, Abraham's forcefulness. There is a spirit in our day today of bringing God down. We call Him the man upstairs. They call Him the big guy. Boy, my skin crawls when I hear somebody, we ought to be on our feet. or on our face before Him, giving Him reverence and honor for who He is. So that being said, there's something about Abraham's forceful approach with God that's just a little bit, oh Abraham, are you going to ask Him again? But see, here's what we fail to remember. Abraham's righteousness had been imputed unto him because he believed in the Lord. So God and Abraham were reconciled. And therefore, Ms. Gloria, Abraham had no qualms whatsoever. And he also knew how merciful God had been to him. And he had no qualms whatsoever interceding on somebody else's behalf. And I say to you with a lost spouse, I know the focus was on the righteous. I'm not contradicting myself. If you're a thinker, you're going, preacher, you just said he wasn't worried about the evil. He wants to give the evil man a way out. His mercies are new every morning. But those evil people in Sodom and Gomorrah better be thankful that Abraham was trying to help find ten to spare the city. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And when you're praying for a sinner, Whether that's a child, a spouse, a parent, a neighbor, a co-worker. You have every God-given right to bombard heaven, to shake the gates of hell. The Bible says the gates of hell will not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. That is not the church in a defensive position. It is the church in an offensive position. And we have every right, Ms. Tammy, to bombard the gates of hell. Whether that child is saved or lost, God knows, but to go boldly before the throne of grace and say, God, would you give her another day? Would you give her another opportunity to call on you? Would you send somebody her way who would just slip her a little tract? And it stirred that heart that has heard the things of God. Abraham's forcefulness. Look in the text again. How many did he settle for? Ten. I've got to preach it. Lot's failure. There's Lot and his wife. The Bible says in chapter 19, Lot had sons. The Bible says in chapter 19 of Genesis, Lot had sons-in-law. The Bible says that Lot had two unmarried daughters still living in the house. Church, count up the family. If Lot had reached his family, that city would have been spared.