A heart for the nations
Genesis 18:22-33
Romans 12:9-21
Well, I am sure we have all heard the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Even non- believers know something of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Most people rightly associate the story of Sodom and Gomorrah with God’s judgement as He reigned down sulphur and fire from heaven and destroyed these cities.
Some people rightly associate this story with Lot and his wife, and remember that as Lot and his wife fled the burning cities, Lot’s wife turned and looked at the life of sin she was leaving behind, and instantly she turned into a pillar of salt.
Some people rightly associate this story with homosexual sin, since it was rife in both these cities and this is where we actually get our word, “Sodomy” from.
And yet, as we will see today, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is actually, first and foremost, a story of God’s mercy.
Before God reigned down sulphur and fire from heaven on these cities, as always, we need to look at this story in context, we need to look at what happened before God sent his judgement.
The first thing we must know about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is this:
1. God wanted Abraham to know what he was going to do before he was going to do it.
Look at Genesis 18:17 with me:
The Lord said “shall I hide from Abraham what I am going to do”?
Now remember, God didn’t need Abraham’s permission to do anything, the earth is His and all that is in it, He created all things, he doesn’t need permission from anyone to do anything, he doesn’t even need to explain to anyone why he does what he does. He is God. He chooses to do what he likes, and thankfully, God doesn’t let us know why he does what he does all the time. And yet here, before he reigns judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah, he allowed Abraham know what he was going to do.
He didn’t hide from Abraham what he was about to do.
Friends, God works in ways which we just don’t understand, God rarely reveals to us, what he is going to do each day, until he does it.
So why, on this occasion, did God let Abraham know what he was going to do?
Genesis 18:18-19 gives us the answer.
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him
Remember from previous weeks:
God had chosen Abraham to be a blessing to the nations.
God had chosen Abraham to not only be a great and mighty nation himself, but to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, and so God was going to show Abraham through the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, how that promise would be worked out.
God wanted Abraham to know what he was going to do the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, because he wanted Abraham to see how he was going to keep his promise to him, especially the promise that through him, all the nations on the earth would be blessed.
So that is the first thing we need to know about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah- God wanted Abraham to know what he was going to do before he did it, and secondly, we need to know this about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
2. God acted against the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because the outcry of injustice within the cities was great.
Look at Genesis 18:20 with me:
Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,
We can assume that the outcry came from those who were victims of injustice within those cities. Perhaps it was the outcry from those who had been physically or sexually assaulted, perhaps it was an outcry for those who had been abused, perhaps it was an outcry from the weaker in society who had been taken advantage of those in power. And because the authorities within the cities were also corrupt, the outcries were falling on deaf ears, and yet God still heard their cry and because God is just, loving and merciful, He heard their cries and he was the one who brought justice.
God’s judgement came as an act of mercy for those who had been unjustly treated.
Abraham knew that God’s impending judgement on the wicked was just and necessary. This is why, when Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, he never pleaded on behalf of the wicked, but he pleaded on behalf of the righteous, those who walked with God.
Listen to his plea from verse 23
Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
In other words, Abraham knew that God was just in destroying the wicked, but he also knew he would be unjust to destroy the righteous, and so he pleads, for the sake of the righteous to hold his judgement on the whole cities Sodom and Gomorrah.
And God in his mercy, after, Abraham bargains with God, agrees for the sake of just 10 righteous people who live in the city, to spare the whole city, if indeed he were able to find just 10 people who lived in that city who were walking with the Lord.
Let me just say that again, for the sake of 10 righteous people, God would have spared thousands of wicked people judgment that day, which brings me to the third thing you need to know about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah
3. God’s heart was first and foremost, at heart of mercy to save people
God could have easily have said to Abraham that he would have individually taken the 10 righteous people out of the city and then destroyed the rest of them. But he didn’t- He said for the sake of just 10 righteous people who lived in that city he would spare the thousands of wicked people, perhaps in the hope that one day, they would walk with Him again.
Friends, God’s heart is to save people from their sins. God’s heart is full and overflowing with mercy, he is just wanting to give people chance after chance to turn from their sin, and turn to him, he was willing to spare the majority that day, for the sake of the few.
God’s heart is so fixed on saving people from sin, that he literally had to drag Lot and his family from the coming judgement. In Genesis 19 we read that before God reigned down the fire and sulphur, he sent two angels two save Lot and his family. And yet even though these two angels went to get Lot out of there, he lingered, and so the angels had to literally drag them out of there.
Look at Chapter 19 verse 16 with me:
16 But he (Lot) lingered. So, the men (angels) seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
This is just one example of just how merciful God is.
God didn’t need to save anyone in the city to keep his word. The angels could not find 10 righteous people and so God could have destroyed Lot and his family too, but he didn’t. His heart is to save.
Lot lingered, he didn’t take the angels seriously, he was asleep at the wheel, and God could have just left him to suffer the consequences for his apathy, but he didn’t, God was merciful to him and literally reached down to save him.
Wow, what a wonderful picture of the gospel.
God sent his son Jesus down to this earth to save us from our sins. Jesus could have just stayed on his throne in heaven, just shouting down at us, telling us to watch out for the coming judgment for which our sins deserved. But praise God, Jesus didn’t do that, he stepped off his throne in heaven and stepped into our shoes and dragged us into heaven. He took the wrath and judgment of his father, which we all deserved and he dragged us out of our sinful pits and lavished his mercy upon us. He did this while we were still sinners. He didn’t wait for us to make a move, he didn’t wait for us to wake from our slumber, like Lot, but he saved us before we even had time to give him permission to sacrifice himself for us.
Friends, God is a God of mercy and this is what the story of Sodom and Gomorrah shows us.
The fourth thing that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah shows us is this:
4. God is totally just in his judgement.
Just look at Genesis 18:21 with me:
I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”
Let us just think about this: God had heard the outcry of injustice from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and God surely would have known all the atrocities that were going on, after all he is God, He is everywhere at all times, he knows all things, and yet here he says that he will go down to the cities, observe what is going on and make his own judgment.
I think God was showing Abraham and also showing us, that his judgement is never unjust, and his judgment always comes after an exhaustive amount of mercy has been shown. His judgment always comes after a thorough examination of the hearts, a thorough time of patience, in wanting, desiring people to respond to his mercy.
He wanted to show Abraham and us, that he never takes judgement lightly, he never makes a quick impulsive decision- it is always just and fair.
And yet despite knowing about God’s mercy and judgment through this story of Sodom and Gomorrah, we still may be left asking ourselves this great question.
If God knew he was going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah anyway, what was the point of Abraham pleading with God to save them?
Or let me put this more generally, what is the point of praying if God is going to do what God is going to do anyway?
A question which people rightly throw at me is this:
If you truly believe that God has saved his people before creation – and I do believe that- then why do you bother even telling people about Jesus, since God knows who are his already? Why pray for people’s salvation, if God already knows who are his?
And that is a great question.
Well, the first thing to say is that God cannot lie, it is just not in his nature, and so if God said he would have spared the cities for juts 10 righteous people, he would have saved them. Abraham’s prayer was not in vain, his prayer matched/ aligned with God’s heart to save. Abraham’s prayer was a good prayer. The fact is, there were not even 10 righteous people in the city of Sodom and so the city was not spared.
And so, we should pray like Abraham, we should pray that God would save people, because this is God’s heart. And whether you believe that God doesn’t know who are already is, or whether you believe, like me that God does know who are already his, it shouldn’t change the way we pray for God to save people.
We don’t know whom God has saved or will chose to save, he hides that from us, but we do know that his heart is merciful and he wants to save. He wants to save people from their sins, no matter who they are, no matter what country they live in, no matter what sins they may have committed, he wants to save people, he wants people to respond to his mercy.
And it was no co-incidence that it was Lot’s family, Abraham’s nephew, whom God dragged from the incoming judgment.
God not only answered Abraham’s prayer, that he would have spared the city if 10 righteous were found, but he even extended his mercy by saving a few individuals who were part of Abraham’s family.
God wanted Abraham to pray for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because he wanted to expose Abraham’s heart to the wicked.
Amazingly, Abraham prayed for the wicked to be saved.
Friends, this should always be our call to prayer- that God would save the wicked.
Friends, we should be praying that our enemies should come to know Jesus as Lord and saviour. We should be praying that those who cause so much evil in the world, would come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. Yes, like Abraham, we know that God is just in sending his judgement on the wicked and if the wicked don’t respond to God’s mercy, we know they will face justice, but we also must pray that they will repent of their sins and turn to Jesus.
Friends, since Jesus came to this earth, lived, died and rose again, we no longer avenge ourselves for injustices done to us, but we leave vengeance with the Lord. This is what the apostle Paul commands us to do in Romans 12:19.
Unlike, the days before Jesus lived on this earth, when God ruled through the nation Israel and brought out his justice through the nation of Israel, and also brought his blessings through the nation of Israel, we don’t take vengeance in our own hands, but we leave it to the true Israelite- Jesus, we leave justice with him.
And friends, justice for everyone will either be dealt with at the cross or it will be dealt with in Hell.
For those who have put their trust in the true Israelite Jesus, God has dealt justly with your sins. He has punished his own son for your sins. He has made sure that all your sins have been paid for. All those wicked things have been dealt with at the cross. Jesus dealt with them at the cross once and for all.
But for those who refuse to accept God’s mercy, those who refuse to accept Jesus as their sacrifice, God will deal justly with them on that final day of judgement.
So how are we Christians called to live until that day of judgment?
Well, the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:9-21
We keep doing good, even to those who want to harm us.
We keep blessing others, even if they want to curse us.
We feed our enemy.
We give our enemy water when they are thirsty.
Friends we walk in a different step with the world.
The world may look at us and think we are weak, think we are crazy, the world’s motto would be “dog eat dog”- do what you have to- repay evil for evil and yet God calls us to walk differently, to repay evil with good, to walk in his light- and friends, as we walk in his light, just like Abraham, we will be a light to all around us.
Just like Abraham, we will have a heart that God will save people from their sins and accept his mercy.
Let us pray.