SHALL NOT THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH DO RIGHT?

Transcription

1 1 Dear Friend, this is a transcript of a sermon preached by Pastor Jeremy Tan from the pulpit of Amazing Grace Baptist Church Singapore. We are committed to expository preaching because we believe it is the most effective way to expose, explain and expound the Holy Scriptures. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, [Jesus] expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke 24:27). Through careful systematic and sequential exposition, the preacher is able to declare unto you all the counsel of God (Acts 20:27), and Christians are blessed with a regular, well-balanced diet of God s Word. Expository preaching also helps us to have a high view of Scripture. We wish to extend a warm welcome to you to join us in our church services for a time of uplifting worship and helpful Bible study, which will bring rejoicing and refreshment to your soul. Do visit our church website at or write to us at amazingracebc@gmail.com. SHALL NOT THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH DO RIGHT? Genesis 18:16 33 When Abraham saw three men approaching his tent, he quickly invited them to his home. He offered them rest and refreshment from the heat of the day, and he prepared a modest meal, which turned out to be a lavish feast. For his gracious and generous hospitality toward the strangers, Abraham received a blessing. He had entertained angels unawares (Hebrews 13:2). Two of the men were angels, and the other was the preincarnate Christ. During the visit, the LORD said to Abraham that he and Sarah would have the son of promise within the year. The custom in the ancient Near East was for women to stay inside the tent, but Sarah heard the announcement of the LORD because He had addressed it to her. However, she laughed in her heart. How could she have a baby? She had waited a long time, 23 years, for the promised son. Her husband is now 99 years old and she is 89. Their old age and her barren womb made it humanly impossible for them to have a child. But God heard her laughter of unbelief and said, Is any thing too hard for the LORD? Even though she denied her laughter, God graciously overruled her unbelief and repeated His promise. So the theme of Genesis 18:1-15 is the power of the sovereign God to do the impossible. Now we come to the second part of the chapter (Genesis 18:16-33). This passage has most frequently (and legitimately) been treated for its emphasis on intercession; the predominant theme of the whole section, however, is justice. (Allen P. Ross, Creation & Blessing, p. 347). The second part of this chapter is about the righteousness of God as the Judge of all the earth. There are three main points in our outline. I. The Introspection of the LORD. Genesis 18:16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

2 2 At the end of their visit, the heavenly guests stood up to leave. Their next destination is Sodom. As the host, Abraham accompanied them for some distance. Along the way, God raised the question of whether to conceal from Abraham what He was about to do. Genesis 18: And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? This is the introspection of the LORD. Introspection is the act of examining one s own actions or inner thoughts. There is the view that God engaged in a soliloquy that was spoken loud enough for Abraham to hear. Another view is that The narrator records God s internal dialogue for the reader, in order to explain the true nature of the discussion that follows. This dialogue between the Lord and Abraham is for Abraham s benefit, to challenge him to act wisely and nobly for justice. (Genesis: A Commentary, Bruce A. Waltke with Cathi J. Fredricks, p. 268). We do not know if the LORD s introspection was audible or silent, but in His internal dialogue, we find three reasons why God revealed to Abraham His imminent judgment against Sodom. First, God regarded Abraham as His prophet, even as a friend. In Isaiah 41:8 God called Abraham my friend. This unique epithet is repeated twice more in 2 Chronicles 20:7 and in James 2:23. In Genesis 20:7, God revealed Abraham as the prophet to Abimelech, and that he can intercede in prayer for the heathen king. To Abraham, God announced the birth of Isaac a year hence. Now at this time, God revealed to him the imminent destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Revelation, after all, is what God gives to His prophets. Thus we read in Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. Secondly, God intended for Abraham to become a great and mighty nation that would bring a blessing to all the nations of the earth. So before destroying Sodom in His judgment, God let Abraham know the reason why this nation would not be blessed. Abraham had blessed Sodom once, when he delivered the city from the four eastern kings. But now utter destruction loomed. No more blessings for the wicked city. The third reason is in the next verse. Genesis 18:19 For I know him, that he will command his children and 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. That God knew Abraham means that the patriarch stood in a special relationship to the LORD. As the prophet and friend of God, Abraham would teach his descendants about God and how to live before the LORD as His covenant people. God said that Abraham will command his children and his household after him. We recall in Genesis 17:23-27 that Abraham obeyed God immediately to have himself and all the males in his household circumcised. Abraham obeyed God in the selfsame day that the command was given to him. God knew that he would keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment. Thus, the destruction of Sodom is the lesson to the patriarch and his descendants that God will judge sinners, just as He had judged all the unrepentant people that

3 3 perished in the worldwide Flood. Abraham lived to the age of 175, so he was able to instruct his son Isaac for 60 years, and to teach his grandsons, the twins Jacob and Esau, for the first 15 years after their births (Genesis 25:7). Abraham would teach them about the judgment of the righteous God against Sodom. Notice in the last statement of Genesis 18:19 that God s fulfilment of His purpose for Abraham is linked to obedience. Here we find the sovereignty of God and human responsibility. Both are finely poised, but God s sovereignty always takes the priority. Think of Abraham s faltering faith when he fled to Egypt, and his agreement with Sarah to have a son through Hagar. The flight to Egypt and the fathering of a son through the Egyptian handmaid threatened God s promise and purpose for Abraham. Abraham and Sarah were entirely responsible for their faithless decisions, and there were consequences; but God, in His sovereignty, overruled their unbelief. Obedience to God is our responsibility, and we are blessed when we obey Him; but God s sovereign purpose will always be accomplished. After the Lord had shared His introspective thoughts with Abraham about His imminent judgment of Sodom, we see next II. The Investigation of the LORD. Genesis 18: And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. God heard the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah. But the cry of the twin cities is not the cry of the righteous. Instead, it is the cry of the wicked as they lived for their sins. God judged their sin as very grievous. We find the same word translated cry in Genesis 19:13, where the angels said to Lot that the cry of them [the Sodomites] is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. That God would destroy the city means that the cry of Sodom is not from the righteous. God said to Abraham, I will go down now, and see. This statement does not imply that God lacked knowledge, and that it was necessary for Him to collect evidence. In Genesis 11:5 we have the same expression of God toward to the rebellion of the people at Babel. God came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. We recall that God confronted Cain with a question, Where is Abel thy brother? Cain spurned the opportunity to confess his crime and said, I know not: Am I my brother s keeper? Then God said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother s blood crieth unto me from the ground (Genesis 4:9-10). God knows every deed that is done. In James 5:4 the same truth of God s omniscience is declared. God knows about the unjust employers who cheat and withhold the wages of their workers. Thus, for God to go down and see is a figurative expression that He thoroughly investigates the crime before passing sentence. When God intended to investigate the sins of Sodom, He is declaring that His administration of justice is based on full and accurate information. Next, we note the posture of Abraham.

4 4 Genesis 18:22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. Abraham stood yet before the LORD. According to the scribes, the original text read, The LORD remained standing before Abraham. This expression of God s condescension was so great it seemed blasphemous to the scribes. If their note on the original is the correct reading, it suggests that the Lord is challenging Abraham to play the role of a righteous judge. (Waltke, p. 270). In other words, it seemed that God stood still for Abraham to question His application of justice. Was Abraham doubting God s judgment of Sodom? Was he challenging and obstructing the authority of God? How could this be? We will propose an answer in our next point. But before we proceed, we note that God sent two angels to Sodom. Why two? We noted in our study that some commentators are tempted to see the three heavenly visitors as the Persons of the Trinity. But the more reasonable answer is that two witnesses are required under the Mosaic Law to confirm a crime involving capital punishment (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15). God gave the Law to Israel, so here He is applying His own rule. III. The Intercession of Abraham. While the Sodomites were filling up their lives with grievous sin, utterly oblivious to God and His judgment, Abraham stood with God and interceded for them. In the remaining verses of this chapter, we have the remarkable conversation between God and Abraham. Abraham s intercession is the first of its kind in the Bible. Even more remarkable is that God allowed Abraham to entreat Him with longsuffering. It would be easy to say that this prayer comes near to haggling, but the right word is exploring : Abraham is feeling his way forward in a spirit of faith (superbly expressed in 25c where he grasps the range and rightness of God s rule), of humility, in his whole mode of address, and of love, demonstrated in his concern for the whole city, not for his kinsmen alone. (Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary, p ). Now let us get into the dialogue and learn from Abraham as he interceded with the LORD for the people of Sodom. Genesis 18: And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? We all know that Lot and his family lived in Sodom. But Abraham s argument for sparing Sodom is not merely for the sake of his nephew. Rather, it is based on the righteous character of God. Abraham desired for God to have the glory, and God would not be glorified should the righteous perish along with the wicked! Genesis 18:25 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? Now here is the answer to the question of why Abraham stood before the LORD. The question could be read as a challenge to God, but sound theology demands it be read as a deliberative prayer asserting faith in God s just character and as a conduit for the divine

5 5 fulfilment. (Waltke, p. 270). In other words, when we intercede for lost people with God, we do so with the knowledge of God s just character, confident that His judgments are always perfect and righteous. To the people of Sodom, and to the unregenerate mind, nothing is more offensive than the judgment of God. They reject God as their judge, or they lay claim to the convenient but unbiblical idea that God is love, God is kind, and so He will never sentence people to hell for their sins. Then there are those who misunderstand the doctrine of election. When arguing their case against sovereign election, they fail to recognize the foundational truth of Abraham s question, Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? To them, it is pointless to pray for the salvation of lost people since God had chosen His elect people before the foundation of the world. Worst and bordering on blasphemy if not already so, those opposed to biblical election insist that God is unfair to arbitrarily choose people for salvation without free will. But is God unfair? Does God make arbitrary decisions to save whoever He chooses? What does arbitrary mean when it is applied to a righteous, sovereign God who is just in all His ways? Abraham s rhetorical question settles all the arguments against God s sovereign election: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? We are all born with the sin nature of Adam that rebels and disobeys God. As sinners, we are hell-bound. Our problem is believing God and obeying Him. Man is duty-bound to obey God and believe the Gospel, yet he is sin-bound that he will not. Thus for God to save anyone, it is only because of His grace, and not human free will, which is depraved and sinbound. God cannot be accused of injustice. None of His elect people deserves anything from Him, but He chose to be gracious and merciful to them. For the rest, He applies proper justice. Either way, God has the sovereign right to all His choices; and as the righteous Judge, He is never unjust in any of His decisions. So now we return to Abraham s question about fifty righteous people. Genesis 18:26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. Abraham persisted. Genesis 18: And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. Before he continued to implore with God, Abraham expressed his deference and humility. [I am] but dust and ashes. Genesis 18: And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty s sake. 30 And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty s sake.

6 6 However, Abraham was not giving up. His compassion and sense of righteousness and justice proved him a worthy prophet. Like Jeremiah the weeping prophet who pled with God for Judah, Abraham persisted with God for the sake of the righteous in Sodom. His persistence teaches us to continue praying for our unsaved loved ones. Genesis 18: And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten s sake. 33 And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. From fifty, Abraham reduced the number to ten. We are not informed in the narrative whether Abraham knew the present size of Lot s family. Perhaps he started at 50 to cover his nephew s immediate household. But the LORD s assurance to Abraham that He would not destroy the city on account of ten righteous souls reveals the thorough wickedness of Sodom. The entire city did not even have ten righteous people who obeyed God! Do you believe it? Not even ten! But God said so. Do you believe God at His word? Romans 3:4, Let God be true, but every man a liar. The point is this: God is righteous, and He always does right as the Judge of all the earth. There will not be one person who deserves to be saved, and God does not choose to save him! In the Jewish tradition, the place where Abraham stood and interceded with the LORD for Sodom is a mountaintop village from which the Dead Sea and its surrounding plains are visible. God left Abraham at this place, and the next recorded occasion when Abraham stood at this same vantage point is in Genesis 19: And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: 28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. For now, judgment is coming to Sodom, and calamity is around the corner. The LORD will not appear again until Genesis 19:24, when His judgment rains down upon the two wicked cities. Conclusion In this incident with Abraham, God established His righteous judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. God investigated the accusations against Sodom with perfect thoroughness. He had the testimonies of the angels, who are two objective witnesses. He involved Abraham the faithful, to ensure His fairness in judgment by whittling down the number of the righteous to ten. But there were not even that number; the angels rescued only four persons: Lot, his wife, and their two daughters. Sodom and Gomorrah had no excuse. Like the people living before the great worldwide Flood who had at least 120 years to repent, the Sodomites had their opportunities. After God, through Abraham, had saved them from the four eastern kings, the Sodomites could have repented of their sins and turned to the LORD. Instead, they returned to their wicked lifestyles. Then when the king of Sodom met Abraham after the war, he heard about

7 7 God as Abraham s shield, and that God had given Abraham the victory. So the people of Sodom had no excuse at all. Now let us be clear that not all natural disasters and accidents are necessarily judgments of God. The righteous are not always spared suffering, and even death. In Luke 13 the Lord Jesus Christ pointed out the accident at the tower in Siloam, which collapsed and killed eighteen souls. Were the dead persons wicked? Christ said that the slain were not more sinful than those who lived in Jerusalem. The Lord s point is that except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish (v.5). Those spared are not sinless! Friend, if you have never repented of your sins, and you have not turned to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith as your personal Saviour, today is the day of salvation for you. Today the grace of God is still available to you. But be warned: God s grace will not last forever. When God s grace comes to an end, He will execute judgment; then it will be too late for salvation. Where do you stand before God? Are you a guilty sinner, or are you a forgiven sinner? God is the righteous Judge of all the earth. God s people may be confident that He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. God does not choose the wrong people, and He does not sentence the wrong people. Believers in Christ may be encouraged by the example of Abraham s intercession for others. There are four lessons for us from Abraham s method of intercession (James Montgomery Boice, Genesis: An Expositional Commentary Volume 2, p ). First, it was a modest intercession. Abraham did not demand knowledge of God s secret purpose in election. He did not ask for the identities of God s elect. Likewise, we can pray for unconverted persons without feeling hindered that God does not reveal their ultimate destinies to us. There is nothing in the Bible about praying for the wrong or right persons to be saved! Our Lord Jesus prayed for Jerusalem. He also prayed for those who crucified Him. We are never more like Christ than when we pray for others. Secondly, it was a humble intercession. Abraham did not assume self-importance before God. He did not speak in judgment of God s purpose for Sodom. He did not question God for not saving the Sodomites. Instead, he declared himself as nothing but dust and ashes (Genesis 18:27). Third, it was a persistent intercession. Abraham seems to be forcing God into a corner, so to speak; but God is not pressured. Instead, by allowing Abraham s persistent intercession, God drew him step-by-step to reveal Himself as the righteous Judge of all the earth. We pray with persistence because we know that The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16). Fourth, it was a persuasive intercession. Abraham argued for the glory of God, that God is seen to be righteous as the Judge. When we pray according to God s purpose, our prayers will always be answered. 1 John 5: And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

8 8 The key to answered prayer is knowing God s will, as it is revealed to us in the Scriptures. God loves sinners, so we must not become weary of praying for the salvation of lost people, no matter how sin-hardened they may be. Who are we to know God s secret counsel about His elect? Also, let us who are the fathers be like Abraham, to be faithful and obedient to God, and to keep instructing our households to live in the way of the Lord. Permission: We share our materials with you as a blessing from the ministry of our church. You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by Amazing Grace Baptist Church. Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: Copyright: Amazing Grace Baptist Church Singapore. Website: Used by permission as granted on website.