Let's ask the Lord to bless our time in his word. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you because your Holy Spirit is here accompanying us, illuminating us, making us more like Christ. And we pray, Lord, on this day that you would sanctify us even more, that your scripture would do its work in our hearts so that we would regard you in a better light and in a better light over and over, Lord. because our sin encroaches and it regrows. Father, trim back those hedges that we would thrive instead as righteous people. Sanctify us today. Bring us closer to yourself. Understand something of your personality that perhaps we may not have considered before. Give us strength against our sin. Take away any distraction, any desire to be elsewhere, and instead focus us on you increase our love towards you and let us hear from you this day. In your name we pray. Amen. You know, if we were able to go to a geographic location and climb a mountain and find upon the top of a mountain this great eternal temple and within it the great being of the universe, the eternal one, that we would have an audience with him and talk to him and ask him a question. What would they be? Those questions. Maybe, why is there evil? Why did you make me? Or why the world? Why didn't you do it this way or that way? Or maybe we would simply get there and we would be worshipping Him. Maybe we would encounter Him and we would feel a deep desire to render worship to Him, to bow our heads, to bend the knee towards God. Or perhaps we would simply experience tremendous fear in the same way that the disciples did when they encountered Jesus and His power to control the winds and the waters. Or when Isaiah encountered God in the temple in Isaiah chapter 6. Any of those things could be possible for this grand, fantastical, and nearly unimaginable event wherein we would encounter the divine. But the encounter that we find before us today in Genesis chapter 18 is quite different from that. It's unique in many ways that we will be observing today. And it represents an opportunity for us to see the kind of work that we Christians do and the kind of work that God has already done for us. We are going to be reading Genesis chapter 18, verse 16, on to verse 33. It's the whole chapter. It's a long reading. It's the whole rest of the chapter. But I think it's good to read this whole thing and understand the thrust of what the author wants us to understand. Let's read it. Genesis chapter 18, verse 16 through 33. It says this. Then the men rose up from there and looked down towards Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. The Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. For I have chosen him so 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 upon Abraham what he has spoken about him. And the Lord said, the outcraft of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great. and their sin is exceedingly grave, I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to me, and if not, I will know.' Then the men turned away from there and went towards Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. Abraham came near and said, Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are 50 within the city. Will you indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the 50 righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from you. Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly? So the Lord said, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account. And Abraham replied, now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. Suppose the 50 righteous are lacking five, will you destroy the whole city because of five? And he said, I will not destroy it if I find 45 there. He spoke to him yet again and said, suppose 40 are found there. And he said, I will not do it on account of the 40. Then he said, oh, may the Lord not be angry and I shall speak. Suppose 30 are found there. And he said, I will not do it if I find 30 there. And he said, now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord. Suppose 20 are found there. And he said, I will not destroy it on account of the 20. Then he said, oh, may the Lord not be angry. And I shall speak only this once. Suppose 10 are found there. And he said, I will not destroy it on account of the 10. As soon as he had finished speaking to Abraham, the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place. Many different details here that we would like to investigate and talk about. And in fact, I've divvied up this passage into three again. I think it's the best way to see the thrust of the story. So the first section is called deliberation, deliberation. The second section is called investigation. They rhyme so that it's easy to remember, right? Deliberation, investigation. And then finally, the third point is intercession. I'm not sure that one rhymes. I think it does. Investigation. deliberation, investigation, and intercession. The third one does not rhyme, but that's why you'll remember it. It says here in Genesis 18, Verse 16, if you recall, this is the hinge that reminds us of the last message that we did. Then the men rose up from there. Who are the men? Well, the men are the ones that are mentioned in chapter 18, verse one. Now the Lord appeared to him by the Oaks of Mamre. Three men. The Lord appeared to Abraham. among these three men in some way that is actually a bit more mysterious than might initially be concluded. The men rose up from there and looked down towards Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. Now Yahweh, in verse 17, this begins our section of deliberation. Yahweh reveals to the author Moses his own thoughts. This passage, 17, 18, and 19, is not spoken out loud. We get to hear God's thoughts here, his own personal deliberation. Now, this is what's interesting about this. Does God think in order? Is not God fully aware of all things? Isn't he omniscient? Does he not apprehend all things at once? Yes, of course he does. He is omniscient. He is God, and all of reason and logic are encapsulated in him. He has it all captured already. He's done deciding and deliberating. But in the same way that if we were to ever try and communicate to an ant, what kinds of things would we do? Well, we lay down scent trails for an ant, and that's what they understand. They communicate through scent. Or if we talk to dogs, we have to use snacks to get them to sit or stay or, or. or heal, those sorts of things. We have to communicate through them through this sort of intermediary way. Now, would the dog then assume, oh, well, this human speaks exactly the same way I do. They must offer snacks to each other in order to communicate. Maybe a dog would assume that. Maybe ants think that humans communicate through scent. We leave scent trails. I tell my wife, never mind. So we think this way. How do we communicate through scent? Do humans do that? Maybe subconsciously we do that, but not in the same way that an ant does. And if an ant were to assume that human beings communicate through scent, or a dog assumes that we communicate through barks or whistles or with snacks, the dog and the ant would both be incorrect. Now in the deliberation of God, we cannot assume that God's condescension and communication to have us understand his deliberation is the way that God operates as God. We know God is omniscient. But in this passage, he is anthropomorphizing something that he has done, a deliberation that he has done, in order for us to better apprehend the communication of this story, the point of this story. So God in his self is truly doing this honestly. He is deliberating, he is thinking, he is determining something. But he is omniscient and beyond us. So he has done this in a way that we can understand. If he were to simply present this as if he were God in the fullness of his divinity, it would be too much for us. Our brains would explode. But here he gives it to us in a dog treat form so that we can understand it. The Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do? Should I tell Abraham what I'm gonna do right now? As God considers and looks down at Sodom and Gomorrah, will I tell him what I'm about to do? Which is, well, the story hasn't told us what he's about to do. But these are the reasons that God presents for what he does next with Abraham. Verse 18, since Abraham will surely become a great nation, a mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed, should I not tell Abraham what I'm going to do because of the fact that I have, that he is going to be the one who brings blessings to the nations? Should I tell Abraham what I'm gonna do? And how will he bring blessings? For I have chosen him so that he may command his children. Now, how is Abraham going to bring blessings? How is this nation going to be a mighty nation? Because God has chosen him to do so. So God, in his determination about, well, should I reveal to Abraham what I'm going to do, takes into consideration the fact that he has chosen him to be a great nation. What does that mean? It means Abraham is a VIP. Now, if the President of the United States calls you and tells you, listen, I want to tell you something. I'm about to launch a full-on attack. to the nation of Afghanistan. So I wanted to let you know before that happens. What would you think about yourself? Well, you would say, well, why on earth are you telling me this? You would think I must be some kind of a very important person. There must be something vital about my input or about my knowing this. Why is he telling you this? Why would the president communicate to you this? because you're important, because you're special. In some way, shape, or form, anybody who knows the action of a state-level power, like the president, before that action takes place, there must be something special about him. The president does inform the people about certain things that he is about to do before he does them. Why? Because the American public, well, the president is subject to the American public. We need to be informed. And if you are informed of high-level security secrets of that nature, then that means that you must have some sort of important position within the government. Why on earth would God tell Abraham what he's about to do? Verse 19, for I have chosen him so that he may command his children and his household after him. to keep the way of the Lord by doing two things, righteousness and justice." Now, this phrase is incredibly important in the Old Testament and then onward into the New. But why would God tell these things to Abraham? We are enlightened by this in John 15, 15. The Gospel of John 15, 15 gives us a clue as to why on earth would God talk to us about such a high consequence action that he takes. John 15, 15. It says here, No longer do I call you slaves. And this is Jesus speaking to his disciples. For the slave does not know what his master is doing. but I have called you friends. For all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. How on earth, how in the universe, would the God of all righteousness and good call us friends? Why do you call someone a friend? You call someone a friend because they've treated you well. You call someone a friend because maybe they bought you a burger. Maybe they helped you move. Maybe they were there for you in some difficult time. Maybe they let you borrow money and never charged you for it. Maybe they helped you in a final exam. Maybe they shared their notes with you. Maybe they've just been good to your family. Maybe they're good cooks and they've invited you over. Who knows why you would call someone a friend? Why would God call us friends? What good have you done for God to call you a friend? What would justify God calling you a friend? What could you have given God that he would win his favor? What could you have done for God to say, this one is one I want to hang out with. This one is one I want to have him around me. What on earth would cause God to want us in his orbit? Nothing more than this. The passage says, verse 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give to you. This I command to you. that you love one another, that God himself has chosen us to abide with him, not through our own merit, is the fundamental truth of God's revelation. And we see this also in the story of Abraham, because there is nothing in Abraham that would have made him worthy to be chosen. And just the same God says about Abraham, verse 19, for I have chosen him so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice. And that is why God chooses to reveal to Abraham his intention and what he will do. That is how we are also made privy to God's plans. Why do you think God has told us these state-level secrets? Why has he revealed to us the top-secret documents of his revelation? Because he has made us friends. Because he has drawn himself near to us through the redemption in Christ. Because he has elected us and forgiven us in such a way that we are made worthy of it. not through our own merit or our own inherent goodness, but through the intermediary of Christ. So the deliberation of God is concluded here, and he decides to speak to Abraham. And in verse 20, he begins the investigation. Verse 20, And the Lord said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great. and their sin is exceedingly grave. The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah, why would God intervene in such a place? Because he has heard the outcry. He's heard the clamor for justice. Which is interesting because Abraham is the one in verse 19, 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 Abraham and his descendants are commanded to do righteousness and justice which are two Hebrew words. One meaning the essence of justice, one meaning that there is a rule, an instruction of fairness across the land. Not equality, but fairness in the sense that everything gets what it deserves. But also good decision making, fair decision making. So righteousness and justice, two things that combine together form what a good government ought to be. Sodom and Gomorrah are not representative of that. And the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah has to do with what Abraham is supposed to do, what he's supposed to counteract, what his descendants will be doing in the future. To replace the injustice and the evil of Sodom and Gomorrah is the duty of Abraham and his descendants of Israel. But because that is not happening yet, God has to go in and do justice. So this great clamor of the people, what are the sins that they're confessing? What are the sins that they're saying are going on in the city? In Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 49, we get a glimpse of this. Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 49. It says, behold, well, let's read 48. As I live, declares the Lord God, Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister, Sodom. She and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease. She did, but she did not help the poor and the needy. That's not the sin you expected of Sodom and Gomorrah, is it? It has a more notorious sin attributed to it. But the first sin attributed to Sodom and Gomorrah is they had arrogance, abundant food, careless ease, and did not attend to the poor and needy. So who are the ones clamoring for justice? The poor and the needy of Sodom and Gomorrah. Thus they were haughty and committed, and here is the word, that signifies the kind of sin that you will normally associate with Sodom and Gomorrah. Thus they have were haughty and committed abominations before me, therefore I removed them when I saw it. Which is sexual sin. Abominations is a typical word used in scripture for sexual sin. Which is everything you can think of in terms of the deviancy that occurs even now even nowadays, homosexuality, promiscuity, fornication, all of that. So to God, those were the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, a lack of care for the poor and abominations. So in the same way that God went down to investigate the sins of the people before the Tower of Babel, and in the same way that he noticed the violence that was going on before sending the flood, So then, too, God goes down to investigate Sodom and Gomorrah. I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to me, and if not, I will know." Now that makes you think. When you weep towards God, when you direct your cries toward Him, does God care? If God even cares for Sodom and Gomorrah, and if you know the story, there's no one in Sodom and Gomorrah who cares anything about God. No one loves God there. Their outcry is simply one of suffering, not for God to intervene per se. It's simply one of suffering. But when the children of God cry to God, do you not think that the Lord would come down and investigate as well? Again, we speak in anthropomorphisms. The Lord does not have to investigate per se. He knows already. But for us to understand that concept, we have to put it in a human sense. Does the Lord investigate? Yes. Does he look? Yes. He's not an unmoved, all-seeing eye atop a pyramid. The Lord is present with his people. The Lord hears the weeping of his saints. He hears the suffering. He hears the clamor for justice. He senses your pain and knows it better than anybody. He is not unfeeling and unmoved by what troubles you and what ails you. He comes near to investigate and to hear your crying. He has not left you alone, brother and sister, to suffer in loneliness. The Lord God does not simply reside on his throne, unmoved by any of the suffering and clamor of his people. Indeed, he comes down and looks and investigates and sees. I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to his outcry, which has come to me. And if not, I will know. This presents to us something interesting, because watch, in verse 22, what happens? Then the men turned away from there and went towards Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. But didn't he just say, I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry? Does that not seem to indicate that the Lord will go down now and investigate? And yet, it seems like he stays with Abraham. And some have said, well, that's because his angels are the ones who go down. And that would be very well evidenced by verse one of chapter 19. Now, the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. So it makes sense, these are just angels, but elsewhere in Scripture, the angel of the Lord is the Lord. For example, when when Joseph encounters the captain of the armies of the Lord, at some points he is named the angel of the Lord. Or when the angel of the Lord announces to the parents of Samson that he will be born, The parents of Samson ask him, who are you? Why do you ask my name? I am, for it is marvelous. It's beyond you. The angel of the Lord identifies himself as God himself. So does the captain of the armies of the Lord. The angel of the Lord can be Yahweh himself. So that does not preclude these angels from being Yahweh himself. And if he has said, I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, it is entirely possible that Yahweh himself goes to Sodom and Gomorrah. So who stays with Abraham? Yahweh himself. How does an author, Moses, of Genesis deal with God's omnipresence? And how do you express this ineffable, mysterious character of God through mystery? I find it fascinating and even beautiful that the Lord God is able to say at the same time, I will go down and investigate at the same time as he stands with Abraham and speaks to him. Never again is the third personage mentioned until much later in the narrative. It's always just the two that go down to Sodom. And never in the narrative is it mentioned, did God go to Gomorrah? And the implication may very well be that the third person goes to Gomorrah to investigate. So that the Lord indeed does go to Sodom and Gomorrah to investigate. Is this the Trinity? Some have said this. Justin Martyr in particular thought that this was a representation of the Trinity. Maybe, but I don't think that that's what the implication is. More likely it is the second person of the Trinity in his full divinity expressing his omnipresence. Because as John 118 says, he has explained him. The son who is in the bosom of the father has made him known to us. Very likely that, I believe, is the case here. The angels are the Lord himself, or at least his presence in the greatest sense of the term. The men turned away from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. Abraham came near and said, will you indeed sweep away the righteous? with the wicked, so begins the intercession. Suppose there are 50. Suppose there are 45. Listen to Abraham's bravery here. He has heard of God's power of the flood, of the breaking down of the Tower of Babel, of the being tossed out of the garden with the flaming sword. He knows of God's power because he has seen God destroy four armies before him. Abraham is entirely aware of the enormity of what he is doing right now, approaching the king of the universe. And even so, with great courage and valor, Abraham stands before the great king. And he says, will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? How can you do this? How can you be just? And so how can God be both just and merciful at once? The intercession of Abraham enters in here, and how can he save these people? Abraham, no doubt, thinking of his nephew, Lot, and his family. No doubt, because he loves Lot, and that's been made obvious through the previous narratives, where he risked life and limb to save him with the tip of the spear and the edge of the sword. When Abraham even gave him the choicest land, Abraham has treated Lot like a son. He loves him. And now to think that God is about to lay down nuclear fire on the house of Lot. Of course this would make Abraham panic. Far be it from you, shall not the judge of all the earth do right, says verse 25. Slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. You can't do this. If there are good people there, says Abraham, so that he intercedes, so that he asks God for mercy, and he goes all the way down. God says, if I find 50 righteous, Abraham replied, Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes, continually deferential, continually humble. Abraham comes up to God with great fear and trembling. Verse 30, oh, may the Lord not be angry and I shall speak. Verse 31, now behold, I have ventured to speak. Verse 32, oh may the Lord not be angry and I shall speak only this once. He gets God all the way down to 10. And if you've read ahead before, that was not enough. There were not even 10 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah for God to spare those two cities. But we have an intercessor and it's evidenced a better one. It's evidenced by the fact that Brea still stands, that La Habra still stands, that Los Angeles still stands, that Orange County still stands. Because any sin that would be attributed to Sodom and Gomorrah, we have tripled, quadrupled, doubled it in any of the cities in which we live. Are there any righteous there? No, there are not. Are there any that seek after God? No, there are not. And not any one of us could be included in any of those groups. We are sinners too. Our houses should have been consumed and burned by the sulfuric lit acid from heaven. We should have been consumed in the great phosphorus conflagration. But the Lord has relented for some reason. we have a better intercessor, even than Abraham. Jeremiah 23, 5-6. You see, it was destined for Israel to make righteousness and justice. But how would that be possible? Because Israel has failed or has it. Jeremiah 23, verse 5. And six, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness. Remember that phrase? from Genesis 18 that we read just recently. He will do righteousness, justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this is his name by which he will be called. This isn't David. This isn't some earthly king. Yahweh, our righteousness. How can it be that this righteous judge would be merciful and just? I don't know if you guys have served on jury duty. Maybe you have, and this would ring familiar. But you go into a courtroom and you see the man who has committed a great crime, or at least alleged to have committed a great crime, and he is on trial. And the family of the victim is sitting in the courtroom as well. Now, the jury lays down a verdict. They say he's guilty. This man has murdered the boy. And the family weeps as the verdict is read. Guilty. And they are astounded and happy, joyous, because justice will be done. And then the judge says, your sentence is a week of community service. Down comes the gavel. Bang. Natalie weeps because the judge has been merciful. And they weep with anger and sadness because justice has not been done. And this judge is unjust. This man has not been punished for a great crime. Evil has prevailed in the courtroom because the punishment has not been set down upon this murderer. God cannot do the same. God cannot acquit someone who is a sinner without them paying the consequence, lest he too be an unjust judge. So then how can this righteous king, how will he reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land without bringing the fire of Sodom and Gomorrah to the planet and wiping out every single human being as we well deserve? Because Jesus in his own person, has absorbed the punishment reserved for the cities and for the people. And in this way, he has preserved for himself a people. That's you and me. That's why you are still alive right there in your chair. That's why you still draw breath. Because that great mercy has been extended to you. unless you do not call yourself a child of God, then your days are not guaranteed to you at all. It says in the book of Hebrews chapter 2, verse 16, Hebrews chapter 2, verse 16. For assuredly, He does not give help to the angel, speaking of Christ, but he gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Who is that? The one who calls himself a child of God? The one who has acquired the righteousness of Christ in their own lives? How have you acquired that? Because you believe in Him. because you are confident in his sacrifice, that it would be applied to your life, because you have repented of your sins and turned from them, and now your life is different, because the Spirit has changed you and motivated you to fight against your sin. If you are not like that, and you claim the salvation of Christ, and yet you persist in your sin, friend, you are not saved. I am not saying that you no longer sin. I am saying that you do not fight your sin. And if you do not fight your sin, then the presence of God is not in your heart and you are in great danger. But He is a Savior. For assuredly he does not give help to angels, but he gives help to the descendant of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. How? To make propitiation he paid with his blood for the sins of the people. For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. In that way, in chapter three, therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. He was faithful to him who appointed him, as Moses also was in his house. For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For you see in Jesus is fulfilled the justice of God through the cross. He has absorbed the due punishment for his children so that we may come to him unashamed, forgiven, restored and redeemed. and one day to be glorified. Sodom and Gomorrah had an intercessor, it was Abraham. And Abraham, well, we'll see next time how that turned out, but you can read ahead if you like. But the intercessor that we have in Christ is one who does not fail, one who is thorough and knows the heart of every man. so that he knows that when he prays for you, he prays, let that boy, let my son, let him overcome that sin that he is fighting now, that he may be strengthened against the pornography, that he may be strengthened against the evil thoughts, that he may be strengthened against the jealousy, the envy. Father, strengthen that boy strengthen that woman for the sadness and depression that she suffers through. Oh yes, the Holy Spirit searches your heart, brother and sister, and knows your troubles and travails, and knows your suffering and your clamor at night. He investigates and searches through you, your soul, your innermost being, more than you know, more than even you understand about yourself. the Lord intervenes, speaks for you on your behalf before the throne of grace, that the hand of the Lord may be upon you. And friend, you who are outside of the courts of God, your entrance may now be claimed because he is faithful and true to those who call on his name. you too can come to his presence and be forgiven and redeemed. And you too may one day join the heavenly chorus as we sing with great joy for that that he has done for us even now and for eternity. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for that redemption. We thank you for your grace. Oh Lord, forgive us because we are a people who often forget the redemption you have bought for us. Bring us to yourself. Make us holy in front of you. Forgive our sins and make us stronger against it. Because like weeds, our sins grow back. It is in our nature. And until you rid us of it completely, we must continue the fight. So then Lord, strengthen us, bring us to yourself. We thank you because you intercede for us. In your name we pray, amen.