especially today, since we don't have a crash, it's really important that you don't distract your neighbor by talking to them or doing anything like that. And just pay good attention and help us all out today. What we're going to look at this morning in Genesis chapter 18 is the idea of intercession. An intercessor is somebody that stands between. It could be like this, say a parent. is estranged from a child. Something's come into that relationship that's made it difficult for that parent and that child. But there's another child in the family, and he's an intercessor. He would go to the parent, he would go and try to reconcile and get those things right. An intercessor, specifically what we're looking at, is somebody that stands between God and His wrath against mankind. You know, God is an angry God. The Bible speaks about that. God is a jealous God. And God is a powerful God. And if it wasn't for intercessors, guess what? Moses would have been the father of the people of Israel, almost. Because Abraham would have been, but Moses in that lineage, God would have destroyed all the people and just kept Moses and made a great name through Moses. The Bible says that. But Moses was a great intercessor. In Exodus 32 verse 31, when God wanted to destroy Israel because of their sin, they made that golden calf. And when Moses was up there on the mount, and God said, hey, I'll just take care of these people. But Moses got on his knees and prayed to God. And he said, Oh, this people have sinned, a great sin. They've made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou will forgive their sin. And there's a pause. It's the only time that I'm aware of, maybe it's elsewhere in the Bible. It's the only time that I'm aware of in the Bible where there's a pause. There's this line. And if not, he says, Blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. Now he's talking about the Lamb's book of life. And he's saying, God, if you're just going to destroy these people, then just I so desire you to do this that God just take my name out of that Lamb's Book of Life. That's powerful prayer. This man's an intercessor. This man stands in the gap. He's willing to get there and to stand in the place of the wrath of God. You know, the wrath of God is right there coming on the children of Israel. He steps between and says, Oh God, please, please don't destroy this people. You know what? God expects there to be intercessors. In fact, in the Bible, there's several times where there's expressions of surprise from God when there's nobody to intercede. There's nobody to pray. Isaiah 64 verse 7. It says, there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. It's kind of surprising. I mean, there's none that stirreth up himself and says, hey, look, I'm going to be that person that stands in the gap. I'm going to be that person that intercedes and prays to God and says, God, we need your blessing. We need your power. And begins to seek God for that. Isaiah 59, verse 16. It says, and he saw that there was no man, God saw this, and he wondered that there was no intercessor. Isn't that interesting? I mean, God's looking for somebody that'll step in to that place. Ezekiel 22, 30, I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it. Then it says, as I heard it preached, and this is the passage God used to call me to preach, But as Tom Farrell said, the four saddest words in the Bible are the end of that verse that says, but I found none. You think about it, today as God looks at Free Baptist Church, does He see an intercessor? Does He see somebody that steps into that place of prayer for God's people? You know, Samuel said it this way, he said, God forbid that I should sin against God in ceasing to pray for you. As a great prophet of God that was responsible for that ministry, he said to the people that he was praying for, God forbid that I should sin against him and ceasing to pray for you. He saw it as a vital part of his ministry. And in the early church, when the church began, the church was born in prayer. I mean, as they're praying, that's when the Spirit of God came and the church began. It says in Acts 1 verse 14, these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and married the mother of Jesus and with his brethren. Christ has gone back up to heaven and he said to his disciples, tarry ye here in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. And they came back to that upper room and they began to pray and they began to pray and they began to pray. And it says in Acts 2 verse 1, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. We know they're praying. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they're sitting. And if you read the book of Acts, I mean, there's prayer, prayer, prayer. You read the epistles of Paul, Paul often said about his prayers, how he's praying and interceding for those to whom he was ministering. In fact, prayer was such a priority that when they needed deacons, they appointed them, but they said, You know, they needed help in the church, and so they appointed these men that would be servants in the church. But when they spoke about their ministry, they said it this way in Acts 6, 4, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Isn't that interesting? Preaching, we know from the New Testament, preaching is the priority. That's the problem with a lot of churches today that have made a performance the priority. The stage is the priority. They give 10 minutes to preaching. They give 15 minutes to preaching. It's all about the praise and worship, but it's very little about the preaching. That's not biblical. The Bible is very clear that preaching is to be the emphasis of what we do when we get together. But what about prayer? These men said, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. That means that the priority for them was they're not going to preach until they pray. I mean, they're going to get their time with God before they get up to declare the word of God that they saw that as the priority. There was a great preacher in London back in the middle of the 1900s. His name was Martin Lloyd-Jones. He wrote a book called, it's entitled Revival. It's not really a book he wrote. It's a compilation of sermons that he preached back in the And he said, surely no one should need to be convinced today that nothing short of a mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God is adequate to deal with our situation in this mid-20th century. Here's the vital question. Have you seen the desperate need of prayer, the prayer of the whole church? I shall see no hope until individual members of the church are praying for revival, perhaps meeting in one another's homes, meeting anywhere you like and praying with urgency and concentration for a shedding forth of the power of God, such as he shed forth 100 and 200 years ago and in every other period of revival and of reawakening. And then he said this, there is no hope until we do. You think about that. What we need in Lone Head is revival. We desperately need it. What we need in Edinburgh is revival. What we need in Scotland is revival. If the hope is that there's gonna be some people that get together and begin to pray and get serious about seeking the face of God, what is the hope? What's the hope today? Because I don't, I know a very few people that are very passionate about seeking the face of God. I mean, let's just be honest. How many people do we really know that are real prayer warriors that have a dedicated time every day or a priority every day that they're going to spend time with God seeking the face of God? We need intercessors. You know, we look around and say, why is Christianity the way it is? Well, where's the prayer warriors? Where's the people to stand in the gap? Where's the people to seek the face of God for his blessing and his power? And so this morning, do we care enough? about the needs in our community? Do we care enough about our family? Do we care enough about God's desire to work in our day that we take it to God in prayer? Are we willing to be that intercessor that would be that person of prayer? Abraham, this morning, Genesis 18, is our example. And we're gonna take him as an example. We're gonna look at things about his life that made him a prayer warrior, and he was. He was one of those men that were mighty with God in prayer, just like Moses. And with him as our example this morning, We'll get some things, some truth that will help us to be the intercessors that God wants us to be. Let's pray. Father, now as we come to this time, I pray the Spirit of God to give incredible grace to us. Father, we know that you desire to speak to our hearts today. Father, we know in our minds that we need to pray more, that the need is great. But Father, the burden of praying has to be the Spirit of God just burdening our hearts and saying, there's a need, and we step into the gap and pray. Father, it could be a child this morning that the Spirit of God speaks to their heart about being an intercessor that makes a difference. Certainly, Father, you could speak to us as adults, we need to be praying. And Father, we need to be seeking your mercy, and we are, Lord, we are praying, but we need to pray more. And Father, we need the power of God. So I pray, Spirit of God, help me as I preach today. I pray that you'd help me and guide me and strengthen me. And I pray, Lord, that you would speak to our hearts and that every heart, no matter young or old, that you give us grace to hear the voice of God speaking to us today. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, the first thing that we see about Abraham is that Abraham walked with God and an intercessor walks with God. And as you look back at the Garden of Eden, you look at what God did when God created the garden. God created man to have fellowship with him. God put man in a garden, but God would come down and he would walk with man. And so Genesis 3, 8 speaks about in the cool of the evening, God came down to walk with Adam and Eve. Enoch, the Bible says in Genesis 5, 24, and Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. That's awesome. I mean, this man had such a close walk with God that God would come down physically and walk with Enoch. And one day God says, hey, just come home with me for all eternity. Enoch walked with God and he was not. Now in our passage, we see Abraham walking with God physically. He's physically walking with God. Verse 16 says, and the men rose up from fence and looked towards Sodom, and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And so who are these men that Abraham's walking with? He's walking with these three men, and who are they? Genesis 18, verse one says, and the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. So it's the Lord. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door. He bowed himself toward the ground and said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and watch your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And so God came to Abraham. I mean, marvelous story. Can you imagine? I mean, this is a pre-incarnate appearance of God. This means that God had not taken on flesh yet and become a child yet. Jesus Christ had not been born. But the Lord Jesus appears to Abraham. The word for it that theologians use is Christophany. It's appearance of Christ bodily before his taking on flesh, okay? Does that make sense? There were thousands of years before the cross and the life of Christ, but there Jesus is. He's come and he's come to Abraham and he's got two angels with him. These two angels are gonna go into Sodom and we'll read about them if you read Genesis chapter 19. But Abraham is walking physically with God. You know, I want to ask you this morning, how's your walk with God? How well do you know God? Is there a sense in your heart? I mean, of what the song says, the song in the garden, I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses and he walks with me and he talks with me. There's, an intercessor has that physical walk with God that is right with God. 1 John 2, 6 says, And he that saith he abided in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Somebody that's going to walk with Christ has to walk the walk of Christ and be in a place of obedience to God. But there in that place of obedience, there's that communion that we have with God. And so we find Abraham walking with God. But what I like as I look at this, it's not just that Abraham had this desire to walk with God, it's that God shows his desire to walk with Abraham. You find in verse 17, it says, And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do? Isn't that interesting? God's coming to judge Sodom. And so he's on his way to that place. Lot is there. But he stops, and he visits with Abraham on his way. And as he's going on to Sodom, he stops and thinks. And the word of God records it for us, saying, should I reveal to Abraham the judgment that I'm going to bring upon this place? You know, sometimes God does hide things. God doesn't reveal everything to us. There was a time we read in the Word of God where Elisha, a great man of God, has something happen where there's this woman that has had a child that was a child that was a miraculous child that God allowed her to conceive, she and her husband, because of her being very kind to a God's servant. And they had a prophet's chamber where Elisha stayed at their home. And so God gave him this child, but the child became sick and died. And this woman came to Elisha, and she comes writing very quickly to Elisha. In 2 Kings 4.27, when she came to the man of God, to the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, came near to thrust her away. And the man of God, Elisha, said, let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her, and the Lord hath hid it from me and hath not told me. So Elisha says, God, you know, he's close with God. God reveals things to Elisha, but Elisha said, God has hid this from me. And so the Lord, you see the Lord thinking, should I reveal this to Abraham or should I not? But he chooses to reveal it to his prophet, Abraham, what's gonna take place. You know, has there ever been a time where God's revealed something to your heart? In the same way. It might be you're reading the Bible, and all of a sudden, it's like something makes sense. You never saw it before, and you get excited about it. And you want to tell somebody about it and say, you know, this is great. I've never seen this. Sometimes my wife and I will do this. Something will stand out to her in the word of God, and she'll come to me and say, have you ever seen this before? You know, this is neat. This is something that God opened to my heart. Or you're reading the Bible, or you're sitting in church, and all of a sudden, something makes sense. And God has seen fit to open your heart to something that you haven't seen before. That's a wonderful thing. God does that with those that are intercessors. God begins to perhaps, as in this case, he's considering, do I reveal to them and put the burden on them of what God's wrath is going to be against, in this case, the ungodly? Are you listening to the Lord? But then God blessed Abraham's walk, verse 18, He says, should I, should I reveal this to him? Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. Well, we talked about this morning. Okay. And Psalm one is actually in my notes and I didn't know we were going to go through Psalm one this morning because I didn't, I didn't realize that Mr. Schor is going to have to stay and watch Mac and we'd have to have that study this morning. But God's blessing, we learned this morning, is not dependent upon just random chance. In other words, you can say, if that was the case, well, he's that way because God's blessed him. Or he's that way because God hasn't blessed him. And make it like, well, it's what God's doing. But what we learned this morning as we studied Psalm 1, is that any of us can have God's blessing. We talked about, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. So he's not hanging out with the wrong crowd, the wicked people, the people that are mocking God, and laughing at God, and despising God. But he loves the word of God. His delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law doth he meditate day and night. And that he's blessed because of that. You know, as we look at Abraham, As God looked at Abraham, he said, he's going to be a great mighty nation. But it's because God knew that Abraham was walking in the place of God's obedience. Remember Cain and Abel, those two brothers? Abel's sacrifice was accepted to God. Cain's sacrifice wasn't accepted, and he became upset. And he said, he's upset at God. What did God say to him? He said, in Genesis 4, 7, if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. He says to Cain, Cain, just do what's right. If you want my blessing, do what's right, obey me, offer the correct sacrifice, and Cain, I'll receive it. and you'll have my blessing. And so an intercessor is somebody that is walking in a place of obedience to God. The Bible says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. I can't be an intercessor if I've got sin that's in my life. I've got to walk a life of obedience with God. And so Abraham had that. God blessed Abraham's walk. And then God had confidence in Abraham's walk. It says in verse 19, for I know him that he will command his children in his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. Do you see those statements that God made about Abraham? I know him that he will, they shall keep. As God looked at Abraham, God saw somebody that was going to toe the line. There's somebody that was going to go on pleasing God, obeying God, keeping their children in subjection to God. You know, Abraham's life bore this out. feared God, and when God said to move by faith to a foreign land, Abraham didn't balk and say, you know, how could I do that or worry about where he was going? The Bible says in Hebrews 11 verse eight, by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, he obeyed and he went out not knowing whether he went. Would you guys obey God like that? Imagine kids that God said to you, I want you to move to another country. He doesn't tell you where. He just says, this is what I want you to do. I want you to prepare, pack up your things, get ready to go. Would you have a heart that would so obey God that you'd say to God, God, OK, whatever you want me to do, God, that's what I'll do. If that's where you want me to go, OK, God, that's where I'll go. Abraham was like that. So fear God that remember when God said to sacrifice his son that Abraham did that Hebrews 11 17 says by faith Abraham when he was tested or tried he offered up Isaac and he that received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said that in Isaac shall they see be called Abraham remember couldn't have children until he was old He was 100 years old when God gave him the son, the son that he'd been waiting for. God had told Abraham a long time ago, I'm gonna make of you a mighty nation. And he's waiting and he's waiting and he's waiting for God to give him a child and it takes so long and finally God gives him Isaac. Can you imagine how much Abraham loved his son Isaac and cared about him and then God says, Abraham, I want you to take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest and go up to this hill and offer him as a sacrifice to me. The Bible says that Abraham got up early the next day, and he started that journey, and for three days, he journeyed toward this hill. He gets to the hill, they're going up the hill, and his son turns to him and said, dad, I see the wood, I see everything else, but where's the sacrifice? And he says to his son, son, God's gonna provide a lamb. And they get up to the top, and the Bible doesn't tell us the details about how this took place. It just says they built an altar, and Abraham bound Isaac his son and put him on the altar and he raised the knife to slay his son. Now there was, in heaven perhaps we'll understand Isaac might have been such a wonderful son that he obeyed his dad even at the point of being sacrificed. Do you think that's incredible? That's certainly a picture of Christ, isn't it? That he obeyed the father to the point of sacrifice? But that's dedication to the Lord. We want to be an intercessor for God. What kind of confidence does God have in us? As God says to us, you know, look, that television program, that's not a good program. That video game is not a good video game. Those friends aren't good friends. That dress isn't good dress. Those places aren't good places. And the spirit of God begins to speak to us and say, look, I want you to stop going there. I want you to stop doing that. Does God have any confidence in us this morning that we're going to obey him? That's an intercessor. An intercessor is somebody that walks with God, that has that close fellowship with God, and sin hinders that. Disobeying God's Spirit as the Spirit of God speaks to us, that hinders that fellowship. And so, an intercessor walks with God. The second thing in our passage that an intercessor waits on God, an intercessor waits on God. Abraham waited to listen to God and what God was saying about Sodom. It says in verse 20, it says, and the Lord said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievous. See, God had come down because this city had such a stench about it. It was so reprobate against God that God, and God's telling his servant, his servants there, he doesn't know that the judgment's coming until God reveals it to him. But he's saying to Abraham, Abraham, Sodom is a very wicked city, and the stench of that is coming up to me. Proverbs 15 verse 3 says, the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. See, God doesn't just see the good things that we do as we seek to serve God. God sees everything. There's nothing that is hid from the eyes of God. There's things that might be hid from other people's eyes. They may not know about that, but God, not only the Bible says knows everything we do, he knows everything we think. God sees perfectly. And so his eyes saw this. As we look at Sodom, Sodom is a very wicked city, even today, the name Sodom immediately, even to unbelievers' minds, brings to their mind wickedness. And certainly that was the case in that day. But as God looks at Scotland, does God see anything different? As God views our day-to-day, does He see much that would be that different from the ungodliness of Sodom? You know, our world says, and certainly Scotland says, living together. Partner. I mean, partner sounds like a nice term. I mean, it used to be something that was a very respectable term, but nowadays, it just means you're living with somebody in sin. The Bible says about living together, God calls it fornication. That's what the Word of God says. Hebrews 13, verse 4 says, Marriage is honorable in all, in the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. So the world lifts it up, not that big a deal living together. No, it's fornication is sin against the Holy God. Our world says, you know, abortion, but God says murder. I told my daughter about late term abortions, you know, and it's shocking to, you know, to hear that. that a child could, partial birth abortion, that a child could be partly born into this world and have, and I don't want to be too crude this morning, but basically have its brain removed? I mean, you think about what kind of a society are we living in where you can take a baby from the womb and kill that baby? I had somebody tell me about what happened when somebody took medicine to abort a baby and coming into the scene of what had taken place. It's a crime scene. It's a child that has been murdered. The Bible says in Exodus 20 verse 13, thou shalt not kill. What does God think this morning in heaven about all the babies that are being put to death here in Scotland? Our world says gay. Yeah, that's a nice term. It used to mean happy. Our world says gay. God says that which is unseemly. He says that in Romans chapter one. In Leviticus 18 verse 22, he says, Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination. Now God's not going to change that. God doesn't say, well today society says it's fine. God says it's sin and the stench of that sin is going up before the Holy God. Our world says white lies. Isn't that it? I mean, we talked on Thursday night with the kids, and it used to be liar was a bad thing. I mean, if somebody's a liar, you'd look at that and say, that's an awful thing. But nowadays, it's white lines. White lines. God says, liar. Revelation 21.8, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters. Now, that list is not a good list, is it? I mean, we look at that list and say, whoremonger, somebody that is enslaved to sexual sin and seeking that constantly, that's not good. Somebody that's a murderer, that's bound to kill people, that's not good. And in the same list at the end of it, and it says, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Our world says entertainment. But I stood at a golf tournament Two days ago, well, a guy that was in the Wicked movie that I even hesitate to name because it's so vile. Just think of the worst movie you've ever heard about in the past year, and you probably think of the one that he was in. And there's these two girls getting ready to get his autograph. They're so excited to have him come by and sign their book. And I said to my boys, I said, when those girls have those magazines signed, do not get that person's autograph. Because they don't know the golfers from the amateurs that are playing, and some of the amateurs are people that are popular people, but this man is a very wicked man, and our world applauds it, and they say entertainment, and I saw an advert for a new television series called Lucifer this past week, and you look at that, and the world says entertainment, and God says wicked thing. Psalm 101 verse 3 says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. And if God were to come down today, God would say this, Benjamin, he would say to us, Free Baptist Church, the stench of this society is coming up before me. We ought to stop this morning and understand God is not caught up with modern times. God's not enamored with our life. Our life is nothing to God. looks at it and he sees defilement. God looks at it, he sees the wickedness. And so we got to stop this morning and listen to God's complaint. We got to get our ears in tune and hear God saying this morning, this grieves me. But then Abraham waited to witness God's judgment. Verse 21, he said, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which has come unto me. And if not, I will know. See God's in heaven, but bodily he's going to come. He's going to go to that place and he's going to see exactly what has taken place. And we know what he does, what's going to happen. Those two angels are going to walk into Sodom. They're going to knock on the door of Lot's house and the men of the city are going to gather around and they're going to desire to rape these men. That's how wicked Sodom was. And Lot, this is how wicked Sodom is, Lot comes out and says, Hey, don't do that wickedness. I've got two daughters that have not known men. You can have them, but don't rape these men. That's how wicked this society was. May I tell us this morning that a 39 year old man was raped in the last two weeks in Edinburgh. Should we stop and go, you know, that's sounding a lot like the Bible and what it spoke of when it spoke of Sodom and Gomorrah. I had a young man, 14 years old, say the most vile and obscene things while I spoke to his friends. I think I told you about it a few weeks ago. I saw him again yesterday. We're coming very close to those days of Sodom and Gomorrah. I mean, to be honest, we're there. We're there in entertainment. We're there where the depravity of men's heart is, where you can honestly say every imagination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually. And so you look at it and say, you know what? God's coming, God's wrath is coming. So Abraham's taking it in, he's thinking about it. You know, God's wrath is coming. But Abraham waits when judgment is imminent. Verse 22, it says, and the men turned their faces from fence and went towards Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. And you look at Abraham, Abraham had a close walk with God. Abraham wasn't like Sodom. Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom. Abraham didn't. Abraham was a God-fearing man. And he's looking at it and he says, you know what? God's right. That is a wicked city. God's right. It deserves to be judged. And if we were honest today, we'd stop and we'd look at Scotland and we'd say, you know what? Yeah, it's wicked. If we're going to look at it through God's eyes, we're going to see it as it is. It is very wicked. It deserves the wrath of God. God's judgment is coming. But as Abraham takes that in, there's something in his heart that goes, but I care about people that live in Sodom. And I would think this morning that we could stop and think, you know what? This is a wicked society. You know what? God's wrath is coming against this society. But in our hearts, there ought to be something in our heart that says, you know what? But I care. I care about this society. Is there anything in our hearts this morning that says, you know what, I do, I care. I want to see these people get saved. I don't want to see them go to hell. I don't want to see their life damned. Do they deserve it? Yes, just like I did. The Bible says there's none righteous, no not one. That's Pastor Ben, and that's everybody included, isn't it? And the wages of sin is death. God's wrath is coming. In fact, the Bible says that the wrath of God abideth on you if you're not saved. If you're not born again, it's like you're on death row, and you've been sentenced to eternity in hell. It's just waiting for the execution to take place. It's just waiting for the sentence to be enacted. I mean, it's there, it's done, and there ought to be something, again, in the heart of a believer that cries out and says, Oh God, please spare this person. Because this city is gonna be destroyed, but Lot is there, and he's a relative of Abraham's. And Abraham's burdened for his nephew, and burdened for his family. And so this whole discussion begins, and we're not gonna get into the discussion today, we'll carry this on to next Sunday. But in the discussion, Abraham says, God, if there's 50, God, if there's 45, God, if there's 40, God, if there's 30, God, if there's 20, God, if there's 10. And again and again, God is saying, okay, If there's that many in that city, I'll spare the city. I'll spare it. And it's because there's a man that cares enough to stand in the gap before the Lord and say, God, mercy, mercy. You know, just like in Numbers chapter 16, God's judgment has come. And in Numbers 16, verse 46, Moses said unto Aaron, take a censer and put a fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them. For there is wrath gone out from the Lord, the plague has begun." And God's judgment is coming. Can you imagine, if you're the leader of the children of Israel, and the judgment of God is coming, and people are dying, and they're dying, and they're dying, and you've got to do something, what are you going to do? You're going to get on your face before God and say, Dear God, please, And he's running with this incense to show worship towards God, holiness towards God, intercession towards God, so God's judgment would be stayed. You know, this morning, here's the sad thing. God's judgment is coming, and believers are sitting down, and they're watching the telly, and they're going click, click, click, click. And they're doing their sports, and they're doing their family, and they're so caught up, and we can get so caught up in everything of life that we're doing nothing about the fact that there's people on their way to hell. And the wrath is here. And I can't wake our hearts up this morning, but God can. And we need to ask God, God, please, I pray, wake my heart up. Help me to understand that God, your wrath is here. There's a passage in 2 Thessalonians chapter one. It says, the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. And from the glory of His power. Is that scary at all? That God is poised that the judgment of God is so close. Do you know, I don't know today how close you are to eternity, but you're close. What is our life? It's even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Just like that breath you saw this morning as you walked outside, we're into the cool autumn temperatures and you can see your breath. It's there and it's gone. It is so short, so short. You're so close to the wrath of God. Picture Lot. Lot is sitting in that city having his normal day and everything's normal. There's nothing that in Lot's life would make him think, today's the day of the judgment of God. The fire of God is gonna fall from heaven today. Oh, it's time to repent. It's time to get right. It's time to get out of Sodom. There's nothing like that. There's nothing like that. And interestingly, Lot's life is going to be spared. His wife will be taken. She becomes a pillar of salt. That's part of the story. Lot and his two girls get away. That's it. God would have spared the city if there were 10 righteous. But you know what? There wasn't 10. They weren't there. And so it's Lot and his two daughters. But get this. If Abraham hadn't been in this place of prayer, the wrath of God would have fallen on Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot and his girls were to perish. But Lot didn't know that. He didn't know. You know, there's a story. Remember that prophet that prophesied against Israel, he wanted to? Balaam hired Balaam, this prophet of God, to curse the children of Israel? And he hires him, and he goes to curse him, and he says to him, Balaam says to Balaam, the king, Balaam says, I can't say anything other than what God gives me to say. And so every time he goes to curse Israel, he actually ends up blessing Israel. But God said, don't go with Balak to Balaam. Balaam went anyway. And he gets on his donkey and he's riding along, and that donkey sees an angel of God about to kill Balaam. The donkey sees it, but Balaam can't see it. He's about ready to walk into that judgment of God, and it's only the donkey balking at that and pinning his leg against the wall, him getting upset at his donkey, saying, donkey, you know, what are you doing? And whipping his donkey, and God allows his donkey to speak. It's a great story. But that donkey saved Balaam's life. Do you know what? Intercessors can be, if I could put it this way, I know it's not the best animal to compare us to, we can be like that donkey and save people. And it may be today that the only reason that you haven't yet faced the wrath of God is because there's people praying for you. You think about that. I mean, that ought to speak to somebody's heart that God is extending mercy. Why? Because somebody's praying. It ought to speak to our hearts as well that, you know what? We need to pray. It's not in vain today that we're praying for this community. We're asking God to work. God responds as he does in our story here. And so we'll continue this next Sunday. But think about this as we go through the week this week. Am I an intercessor? Do you have a walk with God? I think the average believer doesn't know what it is to spend much time at all in prayer. doesn't really know what it is to really seek the face of God and to see God working in their lives. We need to be men and women of prayer. And by God's grace, we need to understand God's judgment is coming. Let's pray. Father, I praise you for the Word of God and what we looked at in the story this morning. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would speak to hearts. Father, there ought to be a sense in the heart of every person that if we're not right with God, God, your wrath is coming. Father, it's certainly, if we're not saved, that hell is just a breath away, that there's just a step between us and eternity that the need is now to repent and to obey the gospel. Father, as individuals, I pray, please, God, put a burden in our hearts to pray. Father, I pray, increase our prayerfulness. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would just help us to listen, like Abraham did, to the truth that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. and that this wrath is coming. And Father, that it's here and that we need to stand in the gap, that we need to plead the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and beg you for your mercy for those that will repent. I praise you that today in life, anybody that would desire to get right with God, that they can. And Father, I pray the Spirit of God to help us to know how to pray in our day for your mercy and for your grace. Thank you for your help this morning. Bless as we stand and sing. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Our final hymn this morning, I have to find, I wrote it down here, Face to Face is the title. But the page number is 555. 555, Face to Face. Let's stand please as we sing 555. Face to face with Christ my Savior, Face to face what will it be? When with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ who died for me, Face to face I shall behold Him, Far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all his glory, I shall see him by and by. Only faintly now I see him, with a darkening veil between. But a blessed day is coming, when his glory shall be seen. Face to face I shall behold Him Far beyond the starry sky Face to face in all His glory I shall see Him by and by What rejoicing in His presence When our banished grief and pain, When the crooked ways are straightened, And the dark things shall be plain, Face to face I shall behold Him, Far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all his glory, I shall see him by and by. Face to face, oh blissful moment, Face to face to see and know. Face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ who loves me so. Face to face I shall behold him, far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all his glory I shall see him. All right, so glad that you're able to be here this morning. Thank you, girls. You did so well sitting in church. I know it's not easy when you're used to going to the crash, but you guys did so well. Thank you, Kaylee, for your help back there too. And Lord willing, Katie will be back soon. And pray for Mac that he'll continue to get better. This afternoon, two o'clock is our trust service. So be praying that God will bless that service. And it's always good, always good. And just pray God will bless that. And then tonight at six, we're continuing our study of John. I hope you'll come back at six o'clock tonight if you're able to make it for our evening service. No choir tonight since Mrs. Schwartz is not able to be here. We'll start choir up again next Sunday. All right, let's pray. Father, bless your word to our hearts. And I, again, Lord, I look to you and I pray, Spirit of God, awaken our hearts. Father, we ought to be broken to think about the reality of what is around us in this world, that the wrath of God is revealed. It's coming. And Father, it doesn't matter if people know about it. Lot didn't know about it. Lot thought life was fine, but it was about to get very rough for him. It's only the mercy of God because somebody prayed for him that spared him the judgment. Father, we pray that we could have prayer lives like that, Lord, that we would impact those that are under the judgment of God, that we could see them get saved, that we could see them turn from their sin to the Savior, turn from their unbelief to faith in Christ. God, give us compassion. It may be this morning that you're speaking to somebody's heart. I pray, God, they obey. I pray they yield to the authority of God. And Father, burden all our hearts to be the prayer warriors we ought to be. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. In here, Stacey. Come on.