Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 18. Genesis 18, verse 16. Genesis 18, 16. So I had two very unusual experiences this week while I was preparing this sermon. The first was the way that the text unfolded during my study. Let me explain that a little bit here. So I've been in the church my whole life, some years, and I've been teaching adult classes for about 30 years. I've been preaching now for these past five years. I went to a Christian college. I went to seminary. I share that to make this point. It's fairly rare anymore that I am aghast by my study, that I sit there going, wow, I did not have any idea. Oh, every time I study, I learn something new. Every time I study, I'm encouraged in my faith, confirmed in my faith, convicted in my sin. Every time I study, I am blessed. But it's rare that the study leads to a completely new understanding of something. It's always a blessed week. It was an interesting week as I wrestled with this text. A text that for years had been something of a head scratcher for me. What's it doing here? Why is it here? And this week the spirit illuminated my mind and helped me to see how it fits together. So that was certainly an interesting experience. The other unusual experience this week, I spent, oh, six to seven hours on Wednesday prepping the first draft of the sermon and on Thursday could not find the file. In this day and age, it's pretty rare that you lose computer files anymore with autosave and everything else. So I take that as a sign the Spirit didn't like my first draft of this sermon, so we're going to hope and pray that this one is acceptable to Him. Let's do that right now. Spirit of God, this text before us is a strange conversation and it leaves us scratching our heads. But you were there. You remember how this conversation unfolded. You can recall Abraham's tone of voice, the look on his face. You alone can reveal to us the proper understanding of this exchange between God and man. Please bless my efforts that they will be faithful and true to your word and that only your message will be heard. and fill us with knowledge and understanding and wisdom. Let this be instructive in our lives that we might be conformed to the image of the One who saved us, even Jesus our Lord. Amen. Now, I said Genesis 18-16, and keeping your finger there, I want you to look back at the beginning of Genesis 17. Go back to Genesis 17 verses 1 and 2. I fear that if we don't have Genesis 17, 1 and 2 in our heads, we are going to wander aimlessly in Genesis 18. Genesis 17, 1 and 2. When Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly. I have never met a person from my parents' generation who cannot recall vividly exactly where they were when they heard that President Kennedy had been killed. Most of us can remember exactly what we were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001. So can you imagine for a moment that this meeting that Abraham has just had with God would not be clear in his mind, would be seared into his memory in a way that nothing else could possibly be. God spoke to him, appeared to him. There's not one of us that can imagine what Abraham experienced that day. And think about the ways that might have gone down Did God come with a fearsome, spine-tingling whisper? I am God. I've lost my microphone. There we go. I am God Almighty. Did He come with a clap of thunder? I am God Almighty! Did he let the hills roll with his voice so that it thudded in Abraham's chest? How did he appear? I don't think it matters much. It was memorable no matter how it was done. But more than that, as surprising as this is going to be, I'm going to make the argument that more than the appearance of God, There's something else that is in Abraham's mind. The words of God. The message of God. The content of that meeting is what matters. That's what's spilling around in Abraham's head. Think about what God said to him. Walk before me and be blameless that I may. so that I can, in order that I might establish my covenant with you." There were stipulations. All that Abraham longed for, that covenant, the promise of offspring, a lot of offspring. It's everything Abraham ever wanted, but it has stipulations. All that Abraham wants seems to hang in the balance. It is impossible to imagine that he was not obsessing over God's stipulations. What does God want of me? What must I do? What does it mean to walk before God? And how can I be blameless? Every day since that meeting, Abraham has been reminded of the covenant. For every day since that meeting, he has been healing from the covenant sign, circumcision in the foreskin of your flesh, a sign which God set out as a stipulation, which Abraham acted upon immediately. Is that it? Is that all that the Lord requires of you, O man? Circumcision? Though many of Abraham's biological descendants would take that view, it's hard to imagine he did. There was comfort in the covenant sign. It was implemented. He was marked. He was Yahweh's chosen man. But still, Yahweh, I want to walk before you. That was an interesting sound. Oh, my. We have a creature in our dropped ceiling. Let's hope it stays up there. It's going to be a challenge, but I'm going to ask you to ignore it, and let's pay attention to God. Where was I? Yahweh, I want to walk before you. It's why I left Ur, my country, my culture, my family. And walking before you, that's kind of what I've been doing these past 25 years. Going where you tell me to go, worshipping you, calling upon your name, tithing to your priest Melchizedek. Yahweh, I want to walk before you and be blameless so that you will establish your covenant with me, so that you will make my name great, so that you will make me the father of many nations, and so that all the peoples of the earth, all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through me. Lord, you didn't repeat that last week when you were here. Back in 17, 1 and 2, you left that out. Is that significant? Are you no longer going to bless all the peoples of the earth through me? Why is that not repeated? Could you forget a meeting with God? Could you forget if all the longings of your heart, all the desires of your life hung on some stipulations? Could you possibly set those out of your head and put them aside for even a moment? That's why I wanted to go back here. Because while a fair amount of text has passed, not a lot of time for Abraham has passed. And the conversation that's about to unfold is rooted in that conversation. Those are the words echoing through Abraham's mind, and they need to be the words echoing through ours. Walk before me. and be blameless. Now back to this text, chapter 18, verse 16. Then the men set out from there. These men are the mysterious visitors that we met last week. In the next scene, in chapter 19, we learn that two of them are angels. The third has already identified himself as the Lord Himself, as God. and they looked down toward Sodom. Abraham lived in the highlands, Sodom was in the valley below, but the moral implication is probably intended. They looked down on Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." There it is. There's that detail that was left out in 17, 1 and 2. The Lord here is either speaking to these angels before they've left, or it's something of a soliloquy. He's just thinking out loud. Either way, it's meant for Abraham to overhear, and by extension for us to overhear. And what does Abraham hear? Among other things, that in him all the nations of the earth are to be blessed. How, Abraham has to be asking, is that going to happen? Verse 19, 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, so that the Lord may. Again, a stipulation, a conditional statement. But here we get a little bit more. that they would be doing righteousness and justice. Now a bit more of this concept of what it means to walk before the Lord and be blameless is filled in. Abraham is reminded also that he is to pass these things on to his offspring, that it's not just Abraham who is to walk before him and be blameless, it is all those who would descend from Abraham. Which is you and me if you are a believer in Christ? The praise song this morning did a beautiful job. What's the lyric in there? One star he saw has been lit for me. That is the New Testament concept. It is not the biological descendants of Abraham that are Abraham's, but those who are of the faith of Abraham. In other words, what Abraham learns here is to pass on to his offspring. In other words, we're to learn it. It's a lesson for us. Picking up in verse 20, then the Lord said, Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is very grave, 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. God never meets out his punishment arbitrarily. Genesis goes to great lengths to emphasize that the all-knowing God still investigates things. He goes down to Eden before he passes judgment on Adam and Eve. He saw all the evil on the earth before he flooded it in the time of Noah. And here he investigates the accusations against Sodom. The point is not that God doesn't know things and needs to learn them. The point is to illustrate to us that God does not issue punishment that is unjust or undeserved. He is patient with his punishment, but when it comes, it is well earned. Verse 22, so the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. If you are one inclined to make notes in your Bible, this is a place to make such a note. Draw a double-headed arrow. Take the name of the Lord and take the name of Abraham and switch them. Reverse them. The oldest manuscript evidence available suggests strongly that the most probable reading of this text is as follows, but the Lord still stood before Abraham. This is so important that I've noted it in the bulletin on page 13, if you'd like to look at that note. The Lord still stood before Abraham. That is a shocking and stunning statement. And it is easy to imagine how in the centuries some copyist thought he was protecting the glory of God, thought he was doing God a favor, correcting the text and switching those two. Because in the language of a court, The one who does the standing before is subservient too. We stand before the judge in a court. The judge is in control. The judge is the authority. And we are under him or her. But God stood before Abraham. That's why it's so shocking. The Lord still stood before Abraham. But when we see that that's how it should be, then the rest of it begins to make more sense. For there is another shocking thing about this text. It is the first time that a human initiates a conversation with God. Oh, God has spoken with many people already in Genesis, but never has the human initiated that conversation. Why was Abraham so free? Why did he feel like he could speak to God in that way? Why did he think that he could challenge God's justice? It's because God prompted him to do so. The divine presence, the theophonic character standing before him, took a position of deference to Abraham. By his body language, by his position, showed him, Abraham, it's your turn. I've told you what I intend to do. Now what do you think about it? So we read this in verse 23. Then Abraham drew near and said, Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked. Far be that from you! Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just? And the Lord said, if I find at Sodom 50 righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake. It's worth pausing here. There are plenty of examples in the scripture where the righteous do suffer along with the wicked. When Jerusalem was flattened, it was not because of Jeremiah's sin, but Jeremiah still suffered. Many righteous people suffer because of the wicked around them. That cannot be the point of this. This is not ultimately about God's justice. Oh, it does make references to God's justice. But ultimately, finally, there is something else in view here. And it's Abraham's response that we need to be looking at. Abraham answered and said, Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who imbut dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there. Again he spoke to him and said, Suppose forty are found there. He answered, For the sake of forty, I will not do it. Then he said, Oh, let not the Lord be angry and I will speak. Suppose 30 are found there. He answered, I will not do it if I find 30 there. He said, behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose 20 are found there. He answered, for the sake of 20, I will not destroy it. Then he said, O let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there. He answered, For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it. And the Lord went his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. This is God's Word, the only infallible rule for faith and for practice. Let those who have ears to hear, hear. So what does it mean to walk before God and be blameless? This was God's instruction to Abraham. But more than that, it was what Abraham was to pass along to those who would come after him. You and I are to learn what Abraham learned here. You and I are to walk before God and be blameless. So what do we learn about what that looks like from this passage? First, before we answer that question, let's just make clear that the passage really is about that issue. It's about that topic. Look back briefly at verses 17, 18, and 19. Chapter 18, verses 17, 18, and 19. The Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 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. There it is. That's the whole reason for this soliloquy. This is why God is revealing these things to Abraham. So that he may command his children. So that he may understand what it means to do righteousness and to do justice. Now this is not going to be the sum total of all righteousness and all justice. God doesn't ever pour out everything upon us at one time. He reveals things in bite-sized chunks to us. But this is one of the first lessons and therefore one of the most important for Abraham to learn on this subject. God wants him to do this, to learn this, to know this, so that it can be passed along to all who would come after Abraham. Now God knew what God was going to do. God knew the fate of Sodom. God knew what was ahead. This is not really about getting Abraham's input so that God can then act. God's deference toward Abraham, standing there before Abraham, letting Abraham be center stage and take charge of the conversation. It wasn't so that God could learn something, but rather so that Abraham could. It's not unlike what we see in the garden when God queries the couple. He knows the answers. It's for their sake. that they need to answer. And Abraham knows that God is not waiting on him to figure out what is just. Abraham's rhetorical question in verse 25, "...shall not the judge of all the earth do what is right?" Abraham already knows that God is going to do the right thing. So they both know this isn't about justice in the end because that will be dealt out. It's about Abraham's attitude toward the people of Sodom. It's about Abraham's heart toward his neighbors. Love God, love your neighbor. Abraham, what do you think about Sodom? This comes through, perhaps, Most clearly there in verse 22, as I've already said, the Lord stood still before Abraham. This passage is often presented as a passage on prayer, and it does say something about prayer. And my placeholder tentative sermon title last week in the bulletin was Intercession. But as I wrestle with this more, I realize that ultimately, finally, this really isn't so much about prayer. Yes, Abraham is praying. Yes, he is asking for something from God. Yes, this is a prayer. But it's principally about Abraham's attitude in that prayer, what Abraham wants in that prayer. The second thing we need to address is the that clause, the stipulations of the covenant. Had Abraham failed in this test, would the covenant have failed? God says to Abraham, walk before me and be blameless, that I may establish my covenant. If Abraham failed in this test, would the covenant have failed? Yes. Yes. It's clear from the text. that Abraham has to handle himself rightly. Now many of us are dumbfounded by that. I personally am shocked at the number of preachers I've heard preach, writers I've read, who say that the Abrahamic covenant is unconditional. I find that hard to accept. After all, We've already read, we've seen a couple weeks ago, the condition of the circumcision that's in the covenant. And how God Himself says in chapter 17 verse 14, "...any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people." He's broken my covenant. There's clearly a condition, a stipulation. And by the way, for all the correcting of theology that Jesus does, He never once corrects their view on circumcision. In fact, in all the Gospels, circumcision is mentioned three times. One time, Jesus uses it as an illustration about what is righteous on the Sabbath. The other two times, Luke makes sure we know that John the Baptist was circumcised on the eighth day. And Luke makes sure we know that Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. so that we would know that he was a covenant keeper. So that we would know that he was righteous in the eyes of the Lord. Absolutely there's a condition and another one is walk before me and be blameless. If Abraham fails this test, the covenant fails. By the way, the author of Hebrews picks this up in chapter 8 of the book of Hebrews where he talks about the fact that the weakness, the fault in the old covenant was the people it depended on. The old covenant system could never hold up because it rested on humans who constantly failed it. The author of Hebrews admits that this covenant structure has that fatal flaw. So how can we say that salvation is entirely of God and yet somehow Abraham's response to this test matters? Human illustrations are always a bit risky, but I'll give this one a shot. Consider the good father in the classic sink or swim scenario. A good father does not take his young child to the end of the dock a child who is too young, who is physically not able yet to do the necessary things involved in swimming, or a child who has perhaps had an accident and is in a cast. What kind of good father would take a child in a cast and throw them off the end of the dock? A good father, though, knows his child, knows whether or not he or she will swim, knows they're ready, and knows they need to know, and throws them in. and they're going to swim. Does the swimming matter? Yes, it does. Does the stipulation matter? Yes, it does. Was the covenant ever in doubt? No, it was not. It does not depend on Abraham in and of himself. But the good Heavenly Father knows the work He's doing in Abraham. Knows the degree to which He has prepared him, strengthened him, brought him along. It is, after all, God who works in and through us. Even the faith that we talked about several weeks back in chapter 15 isn't ultimately from us. It is a gift of God. So what Abraham does in this moment absolutely matters. But the outcome is never in doubt. For God has already marked him as his man. The sequence of events is not accidental. That the covenant sign of circumcision is in place first, irrevocably marked as God's covenant man. And now the loving Heavenly Father takes this young child Abraham to the end of the dock and tosses him in knowing full well he can swim. Because he's prepared him to swim. Because he's equipped him to swim. Because he's created in him the ability to swim. Not because Abraham is inherently somehow able to do righteousness. Because the God of righteousness is his God. and is enabling his obedience. Salvation is ultimately by faith. Back in chapter 15, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. We are never saved, we are never made right with God by virtue of how kind we are, how friendly, patient, warm-hearted we are. Salvation is always God's gracious gift, but that does not mean that our goodness, kindness, friendliness, patience, and warm-heartedness are of no consequence. They are of eternal consequence. For through us, all nations of the earth are to be blessed. And through you, Abraham, and through your offspring, all nations of the earth will be blessed. Now one of you are going to point out, probably more than one of you, you're a biblically literate congregation. One of you is going to point out that Paul in Galatians makes the argument that the seed of Abraham, which is a blessing to all the nations, is Christ. Amen. Absolutely. And we must see that. And we will see that. But, if a bride and a groom become one, and the church is the bride of Christ, and if the body and the spirit are two parts of one being, and it is the Spirit of Christ that animates the church, His body, does the world first see the Spirit in you, or does the world first see your body? Does the world first see the Spirit of Christ, or does it first see the body of Christ? We are to be a blessing to all the nations of the world so that they will see Christ. So that He can bless them. So that they will know Him. Christ Himself echoes this command when He says, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. Through you, all nations of the earth will be blessed. Abraham's first test following this latest affirmation of the covenant was his obedience and circumcision. His next test was not about his body, but about his spirit. Will you, Abraham, have the mind of God? Will you think in a godly way toward the nations, toward the unsaved? It's June. You know that. It's the month which was once renowned for its weddings and has sadly been co-opted and become Pride Month. No longer do we celebrate God's design for human love in June, but we flaunt our perversion of human love in June. I don't think that's a coincidence. Nevertheless, imagine this scenario. Imagine Abraham is downtown shopping and a pride parade goes past. Would he shout curses? Would he yell at them, you're going to hell? Or would he bow his head and pray for them? Sodom and Gomorrah were so vile, so evil, so perverted that they have become for all time the very bywords of sexual perversion. But Abraham did not cheer God on. Abraham did not say, yes Lord, so glad you're finally doing this. I'm so glad you're going to go down there and punish them. They deserve it. Abraham did not look down on Sodom from his highland home. and shout into the expanse, you're just getting what you deserve. You brought this on yourself. That would be true. Oh, there are people who stand at the curb and yell at the parade those things, and those things might be true. That doesn't mean that's what should be said. God's concern for his people is that we would not be quick to mete out punishment, but that our first thought would be for mercy, grace, compassion, intercession. Does justice matter? Absolutely. Is there a time and a place for punishment? Certainly. But mercy triumphs over judgment. Where would you be if God's justice and punishment came quickly and expediently? I would be in hell. By God's grace, he delayed punishment. He deferred justice, paving the way for His grace and mercy. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Sadly, not all will. But that's the heart of God. Abraham understood the mercy he'd been shown. Abraham saw the benefit of God's slowness. He had been a terrible pagan in Ur. What if God had judged then? He'd been only half obedient and mostly disobedient when he left Ur but took his family along with him. What if God had judged then? He prostituted his wife to Pharaoh in Egypt. What if God had judged then? He fathered a child, he disbelieved God, and fathered a child by a slave girl who probably had no say in the matter. What if God had judged then? Abraham was a lifelong beneficiary of the mercy of God, and so he sought for God to be merciful to others. I fear that many of us who are swift to implement even a just punishment do so forgetting that our own condemnation to hell would have been just punishment. But the blessing of Abraham's seed, Christ saved us in mercy and by grace through faith. And that, the Bible tells us, was motivated by the Father's love for those whom He would save. So think about it. God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Now, a moment ago I spoke about the illustration of the sexual perversion in Sodom and Gomorrah and how offensive they were. But think about it. They at least had sinned against Abraham. Remember back in chapter 14? When Abraham rescued Sodom from the kings of Babylon? And the king of Sodom disrespected Abraham? Disregarded the risk Abraham had taken to save him? Dishonored Abraham? Sodom had actually committed an offense against Abraham. But the pride parade has committed no offense against you or me. Their anger is directed at the God who created them, not at us. Their perversion is with what God has set forth, not us. So why is it that we respond in anger and vitriol back towards them? Sodom was a vile place that had actually sinned against Abraham. And yet Abraham sought mercy for Sodom. Abraham was marked by God in his flesh irrevocably. He was God's. but he was still responsible to walk before God and be blameless. He was still called to do righteousness and justice. One of the first lessons we see God teaching our father Abraham, a lesson that he was commanded to pass along to his children, us, was a lesson in compassion for the unbeliever, in intercession for the lost. Loving Christ and being loved by Christ means we should share God's compassion for even the most perverse and sinful people. And that brings us to the last thing we're going to address this morning. The very depth of God's grace and mercy. I had lunch this week with a man who asked this question. Can they be forgiven? Now, we were talking in the conversation about all manner of sinners. We talked about mass murderers. Can they be forgiven? We talked about atheists. Can they be forgiven? We talked about Muslims. Can they be forgiven? We talked about Buddhists. Can they be forgiven? And of course the answer is yes, yes, yes, yes. That's the depth of God's mercy which Abraham explores in this passage. God What if there are only 50 righteous? Why 50? Most scholars think that that would have been about 10% of the men in a typical town back then. So if a tithe of the city is righteous, if there's a tithe that's faithful to you, Lord, but what if 10% of the 50 are missing? And God says, I would be merciful. And God, would you show mercy if there were only 40? I will be merciful. What if there were only 30? I would be merciful. What if there are only 20? What if there are only... Why does Abraham stop at 10? No one knows for sure, but most commentators suggest this, that in the ancient Near East, 10 was kind of regarded as the minimum number for a community, whatever that community might be. You may be familiar that later in the scriptures we see this idea that in order to establish a synagogue in a town, there had to be 10 Jewish men in order to establish the synagogue. This 10 seems to be that basically Abraham's kind of drawn the line going, well, if we don't have a minimum community of faithful people, Maybe that might be right. That might be why he stopped at 10. But what if he had gone down to 1? God, would you spare the wicked for the sake of one righteous man? God's answer would be revealed some 2,000 years after Abraham, wouldn't it? If that righteous man exists, and if he is completely righteous, If he is perfect in all of his ways, if that man not only keeps actively all that is required for righteousness, but if he also accepts passively all the punishment that is necessary to satisfy justice, then yes, I would spare the wicked on account of one righteous man. God's just judgment will come one day to every man, woman, and child. But Abraham was to instruct his children and his household, you and me, to do righteousness and justice. And what do we see in the case of Sodom? Pleas for God's mercy, wrangling for God's forbearance, longing for God's patience. Child of Abraham, child of God, Does your heart long for the salvation of the wicked? Is it pleading with God for mercy upon the most vile of sinners? That's the lesson Abraham learned and the lesson he used to pass on to us. It would eventually become the law of God. Love the Lord your God. and love your neighbor as yourself. Let's pray. God, I lack this sort of compassion and concern for the lost. Teach it to me. Teach it to us. Show us how to care for those who are at risk of your punishment. Lord, forestall your justice even a bit longer, that we might learn this lesson, that we might become used by you to be those who intercede for the ones at great risk. Let us be a church that desires to reach the lost, desires to bring them in to obedience and faithfulness to Christ, that by your word proclaimed through us, many might repent and believe Jesus. And so have your wrath averted, that they might bask in your mercy and grace for all of eternity. We pray this in your name. Amen.