Abraham Pleading for Sodom
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
Here we have one of the Bible's most clarifying messages on prayer. We suggest several things in a general way. The sub-topics will discuss the Scripture study verse by verse.
1. The attitude of the one who approaches God. There is so much these days of almost arrogant and even flippant approach to God that we need to consider deeply this prayer approach of Abraham's. Mark several statements:
(1) Abraham drew near (Genesis 18:23). This we may all do, God's Word says, "Let us draw near * * in full assurance of faith." Our God has made it possible for us to come into His presence and to come near to His side. We should not feel that we are shut out from God. Rather we are urged to come before Him.
(2) Abraham drew near with boldness (Genesis 18:23). He said, "Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?" We too may come boldly. "We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmity, * * Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace."
When we come to the Father through Jesus Christ our Daysman, we may come without fear and trembling. We have a right to approach Him through a new and living Way, even through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
(3) Abraham came pleading God's faithfulness and honor (Genesis 18:25). It is a wonderful aid to prayer to come to God standing upon His character and honor. We may rightly plead His honor and justice, His holiness and righteousness, When we have some definite revelation of God in His Word, or some definite promise of Scripture we may come with double assurance,
(4) Abraham came with all humility of spirit (Genesis 18:27). He said, "Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes." Here was a man who strongly felt his own nothingness and unworthiness. He was one of God's noblemen; and yet he pled only his unworthiness. He certainly did not come; in any worth of his own. He knew that such a course was folly. Had he pled his own life of service and integrity, God would, no doubt, have told him that any worthiness in him was by virtue of His Divine bestowal. With men. Abraham was some great one, with God he confessed himself but dust and ashes.
(5) Abraham came with importunity (Genesis 18:32). The once more of Genesis 18:32 includes the other pleas which went before. Abraham did not rest his case upon his first approach and request. Each time God granted him favor, he seemed to use it as a basis for greater favors. We need to learn to ask, seek and knock to keep on in prayer until we have prayed to victory.
2. The power of prayer in approaching God. One of the greatest prayer verses in the Bible is this one which goes back to the prayer we are studying today, And "God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out." In close proximity with that is this correlated Scripture "I cannot do any thing until thou be come thither." Thus, it was Abraham's prayer which afforded the human basis for Lot's deliverance. And because of Abraham's prayer the destroying Angels could do nothing until Lot was outside the city of Sodom.
Let us not, in the light of these Scriptures imagine that prayer is a lifeless, powerless waste of time and energy. Prayer does things. When Christians grasp the hand of God, they grasp the power that brings things to pass.
I. A FAR-REACHING QUESTION (Genesis 18:23)
As Abraham drew near to the Lord in prayer, he said, "Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?"
1. Here was a question which revealed Abraham's love for his kith and kindred. No one will for a moment doubt that as Abraham spoke he had in mind his nephew Lot, and Lot's wife and children.
Family ties are not to be despised. Have you not read how Christ said to a young man, "Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee"? We also read that children, "Learn first to show piety at home." And so it should be. We want none of that Cain spirit which hauntingly says, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
2. Here was a question which becomes exceedingly important in view of Christ's imminent Coming. When the Lord said, "As it was in the days of Lot thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed," did He include Abraham's query? As Sodom was about to be burned Abraham asked, "Wilt Thou destroy the righteous with the wicked?" As the Lord's Coming draweth near and the Tribulation vials of wrath will e'er long be poured forth, we ask, "Wilt Thou destroy the righteous with the wicked?"
Will the same dire judgments which befall the wicked, befall the saints? To us this seems utterly impossible. We could easily understand how they could pass into the beginning of the throes of that hour when mankind seems to be reaping the results of his own works; when, however, God begins to pour out His wrath it is simply impossible for saints to be judged with the ungodly.
We have passed out of judgment into life. God hath not appointed us to wrath. We are speaking of the wrath that shall fall upon the wicked. We are aware that there is a judgment of the believer's works, whether he has done good or bad. Lot might suffer the loss of his works because they were Sodom-centered, however Lot could not feel the force of the fires of Sodom upon his person. Whatever there may be of "suffering loss" to saints who have been inveigled into a union with Sodomites, they cannot pass under the condemnation which befalls the wicked.
II. A SECOND FAR-REACHING QUESTION (Genesis 18:25)
1. From Abraham's viewpoint it was unjust to destroy the righteous with the wicked, and with plaintive voice Abraham pled, "Wilt Thou destroy the righteous with the wicked?" Certainly we should always bring our standards up to the Divine standards. We know that the Lord will do right. If, however, we see God doing that which in our minds is not right, we may come into His presence to seek to discover God's standard of judgment.
Abraham knew that Lot was in Sodom, and there contrary to the Lord's will. Abraham also knew that Lot was of a different fiber than the Sodomites. In fact, the Spirit afterward bore witness, that Lot vexed his righteous soul with the filthy conversation of the wicked.
As Abraham saw it, Lot was God's man, and he could not, therefore, be judged under Sodom's judgment. Therefore the appeal of the patriarch was on the basis of righteousness and not on the basis of mercy. Abraham pled honor and justice, and not grace and favor.
2. From the sinner's viewpoint, mercy, based upon the Blood of Christ is all he has to plead. Sodom could not plead: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Justice in righteousness called for Sodom's destruction. Had Sodom sought the staying of God's hand against her she could only have followed the course of the Ninevites, and in contrition and repentance have cried for mercy. This Sodom would not do.
The sinner cannot plead for the justice of the court, for his sins merit eternal death. He can, however, on his knees, prostrate before the Lord of grace, plead the Cross of Christ as God's satisfaction for his sins, and thus sue for mercy.
III. AN ETERNAL DIFFERENCE (Exodus 11:7, l.c)
1. God makes a difference between the righteous and the wicked. When Abraham pled for Lot on the basis of justice and righteousness in dealings, he pled along lines of God's every dealing.
In after years when God announced the death of the first-born in every home of the Egyptians, and the safety of every first-born in every home of the Israelites, He said, "That ye may know that the Lord doth put a difference." God's difference in dealings was not, however, based on demagoguery and not upon the Divine prerogative to do as God wished to do.
God's wrath to the one was based on a just reward for unrighteousness. God's mercy to the other was based upon a sacrificial lamb. That is, in reality, God made no difference. Both the Egyptians and Israelites were sinners, both had to die, therefore, inasmuch as the wages of sin is death.; And both did die, only the eldest son in Egypt actually died, and the eldest son in Israel died in a substitute, the slain lamb.
2. What then is the basis of God's righteousness in separating between the righteous and the wicked; in slaying the one and sparing the other: in sparing Lot, and destroying Sodom? The difference was made upon the basis of a sacrifice. Lot was under covenant relationship with God. The blood of the covenant secured him.
When Abel was received and Cain was rejected it was because one came to God under token of the slain firstling and fatling of the flock, and the other came with fruit from the cursed earth which had no Calvary forecasting.
When Balaam stood with his hand upon the altar of sacrifice he could not curse Israel, for God, by reason of the blood of remission beheld no iniquity in Israel.
Here is the great distinction between saints and sinners, it is the distinction of the one being under the Blood, and the other being without the Blood.
IV. DOES THE PRESENCE OF THE RIGHTEOUS IN ANY COMMUNITY HOLD BACK DIVINE JUDGMENT? (Genesis 18:24; Genesis 18:26)
1. The basis on which Abraham pled for the staying of judgment against Sodom. Abraham said, "Peradventure there be fifty righteous * * wilt Thou * * not spare the place for the fifty righteous?" To this the Lord gave accord. Then Abraham reduced the number of his plea until he cried, "If there be but ten righteous, wilt Thou not spare the city for the ten's sake?"
Did Abraham again approach God on a Divinely-planned basis for mercy? We believe he did. First, he made sure of Lot's safety by pleading that the Lord should not destroy the righteous with the wicked. Afterward Abraham sought to insure the sparing of the city itself upon the basis of the presence in Sodom of from fifty down to ten righteous.
2. Does God hold back judgments for His elect's sake? We believe He does. Let us consider. Christ said, "Ye are the salt of the earth." Salt is for savor, it is also for preservation. God's wrath poured out upon the ungodly must of necessity effect the believers. There is no city nor village where the righteous and the wicked do not jointly possess properties, and all kinds of temporal interests. To. destroy the one is to effect the other.
We almost shudder to think what the world will be like when all of the godly are taken out. Where is he who would care to live in a land where Christ is hated and wickedness runs riot? There is a deep meaning in the presence of the righteous anywhere, and a town, or city, or land may highly appraise the value of spiritual saints.
V. ABRAHAM'S ESTIMATE OF LOT'S SPIRITUAL POWER (Genesis 18:32)
1. Wherein we see Abraham's weakening faith in Lot. Abraham began with "Peradventure there be fifty righteous." Then, after the Lord has accepted his prayer and plea, Abraham said, "Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty." The first word, "peradventure," makes our thought stronger. The patriarch began to fear that there might lack five of fifty. Then, in turn he said, "Peradventure there shall be forty," and then, "Peradventure there shall thirty be found." As Abraham prayed the whole career of Lot must have stood before him. At last Abraham prayed, "Peradventure ten shall be found there."
As the Lord said, "I will not destroy it for ten's sake," and as the Lord left as Abraham ceased communing with Him, we wonder if Abraham was altogether satisfied that Sodom would be spared.
2. What is our standard of attainment in soul-winning making others righteous? Before we condemn Lot too severely, let us stop and see if we have done much better. Have we beyond a doubt won others to the Lord?
Many saints are Lot like. They live in the midst of Sodom, but they are salt that has lost its savor. Their lives are not definite in their testimony. Some Christians, we fear, live and die without so much as winning one soul for the Master.
"Must I go, and empty handed?
Thus my dear Redeemer meet?
Not one soul with which to greet Him?
Lay no trophy at His feet?"
VI. GOD'S GRACIOUS LONGSUFFERING (Genesis 18:26; Genesis 18:28-32)
Read just that portion of each verse where God says, "I will spare all the place for their sakes"; or, "I will not destroy it"; or, "I will not do it."
1. God's long-suffering is seen in His allowing Abraham to drop steadily from fifty to ten. That action seemed to say, "As you, Abraham, have dropped from fifty to ten, so have I waited, again and again for any possible abatement in Sodom's sinful deeds."
God, all through the ages, has dealt with great patience toward sinful mankind. He did not destroy Sodom until their wickedness had reached a hopeless condition.
2. God's long-suffering is seen in our day. Once more we can say, "As it was in the days of Lot." The world is hastening toward its greatest catastrophe. It seems that the harvest of the earth is ripe, and yet God waits.
Few of those who know world conditions believe that even God's long-suffering can wait much longer. Soon He must say, "Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: * * for the harvest of the earth is ripe."
3. God's long-suffering has been seen in His patient dealings with His own children. Our God has dealt with us, "Like as a father."
Israel may feel that she is utterly forsaken and destroyed. Not so; her very existence as a nation after twenty-three. centuries of Gentile supremacy is sufficient proof that God will yet bring her back again.
4. God's dealings with the Church gives proof of His long-suffering. Early in the history of the Church it seemed as though Satan would almost subdue her. Even Paul, in his day, said, "I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock."
Later on Paul wrote with sadness, "All they of Asia have forsaken me." He saw the drift as the Spirit bore witness with his spirit. In the Spirit Paul detailed the whole course of the Church age, and even described its closing scenes as scenes of departure from the Faith.
As we see the Church in its apostasy, we find that the Lord once more has utmost compassion. He stands, even now, outside the door of the Laodicean Church, with its accumulation of riches, and yet with its utter neglect of its first love, crying, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock."
5. God's long-suffering is seen in His dealings with the nations. The Gentile nations have, generally speaking, repudiated the headship of Christ. In many places they have openly and wilfully sought to drive God out of their places of authority and power, if not out of their State altogether.
AN ILLUSTRATION
KEEPING UP A SUIT
Abraham was importunate in prayer.
"' Keep up the suit, and it will come to a hearing-day ere it be long.' In a suit at law there are many and grievous delays, and yet the man who has been forced into the court does not dream of relinquishing his case. He urges on his solicitor, and entreats him to lose no opportunity of getting the business settled; but he does not in a pet take the case out of his hands, for he expects that the judge will sooner or later decide the matter. It would be a pity not to continue steadfast in prayer, for it is certain that now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Every hour of importunity brings us nearer to the time when the Judge shall avenge His own elect. To waste all the cost of former tears and entreaties, and to let months of praying go for nothing would be a sad waste of effort. Let us hope in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him, abiding still at the mercy-seat. Has He not Himself said, 'Though [the vision] tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry'?
Sometimes, before we call, God hears us, and while we are yet speaking He answers us. This is to encourage us to a further trust in Him; perhaps to prepare us for waiting times. Frequently the richest answers are not the speediest. Ships may return all the more quickly because they leave a slender lading; and a prayer may be all the longer on its voyage because it is bringing us a heavier freight of blessing. Delayed answers are not only trials of faith, but they give us an opportunity of honoring God by our steadfast confidence in Him under apparent repulses." Spurgeon.