How Should The Reality of God’s Imminent Justice Affect How We Live?

God’s Covenant Kindness and His Coming Justice

Over the next two Sundays I’m going to be finishing up my preaching series on the life of Abraham. But instead of moving forward to Genesis 24, which starts to get more involved with Abraham’s son Isaac, and the events in his life, I’ll be finishing up this series on Abraham’s life by going back, and preaching on two passages that I skipped over temporarily a couple weeks ago, that highlight God’s justice.

When we started this series, back in Genesis 12, we saw how God called Abraham to leave his old country. Abraham was asked to follow God’s Word, trusting that God himself would provide him and his descendants with significant blessings. And because Abraham believed God, he left his old life behind. And he traveled with his wife, Sarah, and his nephew, Lot, to the land of Canaan. After a few years, though, Lot separated from Abraham, to live near Sodom and Gomorrah – two cities that were materially prosperous, yet were infamous for being wicked. We saw this back in Genesis 13. Then not too long after that, in Genesis 14, Abraham rescued Sodom and Gomorrah from some political trouble with foreign kings and their armies for the sake of his nephew, Lot. But then, for multiple chapters after that, Sodom, Gomorrah, and Abraham’s nephew, Lot seem to disappear from discussion.

Instead, the text focuses for a time on the development of God’s special covenant relationship with Abraham, and the particular promise of a son. This is especially the focus earlier in Genesis 18, in the section right before this morning’s text. Two angels and the Lord himself, appear to Abraham in the form of men. And the Lord promises that Sarah will give birth to a son named Isaac. And you might remember, a few weeks ago I jumped over the second half of Genesis 18 and chapter 19, in order to more closely follow the events related to Isaac’s birth and childhood. But now, at last, we’re going to go back, and cover two sections that we missed, that related to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

So if you haven’t already, please turn with me to Genesis 18. I’ll be reading verses 16 through 33 this morning. But before I read from God’s Word, let’s pray that God would work in power through the preaching of His Word this morning. Please pray with me:

[Pray and Read Text]

Living Today in Light of Tomorrow

In the late 1990s there was a television show that ran on TV called Early Edition. And the basic idea of the show was that every morning, a man named Gary mysteriously received tomorrow’s newspaper today. The newspaper essentially predicted the future. It told about the crimes and events that were going to happen over the course of that day. And so in this show, as Gary woke up each morning and read the newspaper headlines about imminent airplane accidents, kidnappings, and similar things, he made it his mission to try to prevent these tragedies from happening. The news he received about imminent disaster had a profound impact on how he lived.

Now, I don’t imagine that any of us wake up each morning with a newspaper like that. We’re getting to the point where some of the younger people in this room may not even know what a newspaper is. But even though we aren’t given special knowledge to know what God has specifically planned for the day ahead of us, He has revealed some important news to us concerning the future of the world. One of the recurring themes that the Bible draws attention to, is that a day of judgment is coming. A day is coming in which God will carry out his justice against all the evils and errors of mankind.

This day of judgment is mentioned often in the Old Testament. As an example, Isaiah 66:15 says, “For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the Lord shall be many.” But this isn’t just an Old Testament idea. We see multiple examples of this in the New Testament as well. 2 Peter 3:7 says, “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” I’ll read one more, 1 Thessalonians 5:2 – “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”

Warnings like these are the closest thing we have to receiving a newspaper from the future today. And we’re faced with the question – what are we supposed to do with this knowledge? How should our awareness of God’s coming judgment affect our activities right now, in the present? There are a number of ways that this knowledge is meant to impact men and women of faith. But today in our text we’ll consider Abraham, who’s highly regarded throughout Scripture for his faith – we’ll specifically consider how he responded, by faith, to the news of God’s coming judgment against the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And we’ll reflect on three key ways that our response should be similar to his.

First, like Abraham, we should affirm God’s insistent justice – that he has the authority to penalize evil, and that he’s right in his judgments. Second, we should respond by offering up intercessory prayers – we should pray on behalf of those who aren’t right with God, as the day of God’s judgment draws near. And then third, we should understand and appreciate God’s immense mercy. Again, news about God’s coming judgment should compel us toward these three things – to affirm God’s insistent justice, to offer up intercessory prayers, and to appreciate God’s immense mercy. We’ll work through these three points together.

Affirm God’s Insistent Justice

So first, we are to affirm God’s insistent justice.

In the first half of Genesis 18, we saw that the Lord and two of his angels had visited Abraham, by taking on the form of three men. And now, in verse 16, we’re told that these men went out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And as they’re heading that way, the Lord considers his special relationship with Abraham and he decides to reveal his plan to bring imminent judgment against the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. In verse 20, the Lord says, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, (verse 21) 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.”

Now, to clarify here, Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities near (what we now call) the Dead Sea. God doesn’t specifically mention here what those evils are that the people there were guilty of. We’ll be exploring that more specifically next week, in Chapter 19. But the intensity of evil rose to such a degree that people crying out in distress, on account of Sodom and Gomorrah’s wrongs. It’s even possible that one of the people crying out may have been Abraham’s nephew, Lot. And so God, he reveals himself here as the judge of the nations, and he gets involved to carry out justice against the inhabitants of these cities. And God shows us certain attributes of what his perfect justice looks like.

For one thing, God helps us to see that his justice is a watchful justice. For every outcry against the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, God has been listening. He has heard the weeping of people scarred and scandalized by their rampant immorality. Nothing has escaped his attention. Hebrews 4:13 describes God’s watchfulness, when it says: “…[N]o creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” His justice is watchful.

God also reveals here that his justice is a principled justice. God isn’t erratic or unpredictable in the way he doles out punishment. He doesn’t penalize people, simply because he finds them annoying, or because he dislikes their personality. But as we see in verse 20, God intends to punish Sodom and Gomorrah because he has heard the outcry against them and because “their sin is very grave.” It’s clear here that God’s judicial concern is directed against sin – against distinct violations of his perfect moral standard: unfaithfulness toward God, idolatry, profane speech, infrequent worship, disobedience to parents, murder, adultery, theft, dishonesty, and envy. These sins are the kinds of things that God’s justice is categorically and consistently directed against.

But in addition to this justice being watchful and principled, God also reveals that his justice is a deliberate justice. In verse 21 when God says he’ll investigate Sodom and Gomorrah to see if these cities are sinning – it’s not because God is uncertain. He’s already seen and spoken about the gravity of their sin.

Rather, here in Genesis 18:21, God is showing us how deliberate and responsible his justice is – and he does this in a humanly relatable way. In the same way that human justice involves a process and an investigation, God allows Abraham to see the thoroughness with which He investigates. And in the same way that legal charges among God’s people needed to be confirmed by two witnesses – this was a rule that God later gave his people, in Deuteronomy 19 – God himself operates by this standard, here. He sends two witnesses to Sodom and Gomorrah who will judicially confirm the guilt of those cities. God’s justice isn’t emotionally unstable or haphazard – it can’t be charged that God makes decisions impulsively, without having all the evidence. The slogan of his justice isn’t shoot first, ask questions later. Instead, God shows Abraham, and he’s confirming to us, that his justice is deliberate, so that we can be all the more confident that his justice is reliable and right.

This doesn’t mean that God’s justice will always be intuitive to us. There are parts of it you and I will need to learn from His Word. After all, students in school don’t know algebra, history, and biology innately. These things must be taught to them. And in a similar way, we should expect that there are certain aspects about goodness, justice, and God that won’t come naturally to us, but that we’ll need to learn and wrestle with.

Abraham himself was likely still learning and processing things about God’s justice, here in Genesis 18. And Abraham remains standing there before the Lord, in verse 22, as two of the men there, the two angels, head toward Sodom (which, by the way, is where we’ll find them next week, at the start of Genesis 19).

But you have to remember, here, the news of Sodom’s upcoming destruction wouldn’t have been easy to accept! Especially since Abraham had close family living there – his nephew Lot! And yet, Abraham doesn’t demand for God to forget about his justice, and to call this whole destruction thing off. He doesn’t critique God’s consideration of the death penalty for Sodom and Gomorrah. Instead, there’s every indication here that Abraham recognizes that sin needs to be penalized like this. He shows agreement here that crimes committed against the Giver of Life deserve to be punished with death.

But this conviction – that God is just – doesn’t prevent Abraham from crying out for God to spare Sodom. In fact, interestingly enough, Abraham’s confidence in God’s justice is what emboldens him to pray this way.

Because even though the vast majority of Sodom is decidedly wicked, Abraham knows that his nephew Lot, despite some of his foolish decisions and compromises, is still a God-fearing man. Just as Abraham was counted as righteous, by believing the Lord, back in Genesis 15:6 – it would seem here that Lot was graciously counted as righteous, because of the righteousness that comes by faith. Later in the Bible, in 2 Peter 2:7, Lot is described as a righteous man, who was greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked.

And as Abraham considers his nephew Lot, he supposes – perhaps there are other righteous, God-fearing people in the city. Perhaps God, in his justice, will withhold his punishment from the city, in order to spare the innocent.

So as the Lord of the universe places his hand on the red button, preparing to fire the nuclear missile of his judgment, Abraham appeals to God’s justice, and asks God to spare the city. In verses 24 and 25, Abraham asks, “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?”

Abraham understands, here: the justice of God ensures that the guilty will be punished, yes. But at the very same time, God’s justice is also what guarantees that the righteous will be rescued and rewarded. Because God is just, He will not and cannot ever abandon those who have been made righteous, through faith. He will never condemn them – for
“there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The legal predictability of God’s justice is good news for those who have been made right with the Judge, through faith in the work of Jesus. As a Christian, God’s justice no longer brings horror, but hope. God is forever committed to the welfare of the righteous. And so it’s right that we, like Abraham, would affirm God’s justice, and appeal to it in our prayers.

Offer up Intercessory Prayer

And as we see Abraham’s intercessory prayers, here in our text – this brings us to my second point this morning. In response to the news of God’s coming judgment, not only should we affirm God’s insistent justice, we should also offer up intercessory prayer.

When I speak about intercessory prayer here, I simply mean that Abraham prays on behalf of other people. That’s what it means to intercede. Abraham is crying out to God on their behalf. In verses 22 through 33 in our text, Abraham goes back and forth with God, asking God to spare the city if a certain number of righteous people can be found in it – first 50 people, than 45, 40, 30, 20, until Abraham finally works his way down to 10. And there are a number of things we should notice about the way Abraham prays.

Pray in line with God’s character

The first thing to notice is that Abraham prays in view of God’s character. Since he knows that God is just – that God perfectly upholds justice, and that he loves it – that’s what Abraham roots his prayer in, in verse 20. And so when Abraham prays, he isn’t saying, “God, because of who I am, because of what I want, please spare the city” – but instead Abraham is praying, “God, because of who you are, because of what you want, please hear my request.” Do you see the difference? Abraham’s prayers don’t primarily revolve around himself. But he forms them in light of the authority and attributes of God.

It’s easy for us to miss this. Tragically, we often try to approach prayer in a man-centered way, without actually approaching God. We draw near to the eternal, almighty king, enthroned in the courts of highest heaven – and astonishingly, all we we’re concerned about is ourselves. But this isn’t what prayer is intended to be. From Abraham’s example, here, we see that knowing who God is should direct how we pray. From the Bible, as we grow more familiar with God and his attributes – things like his “…Wisdom, Power, Holiness, Justice and Truth” – this knowledge of him should affect our priorities and shape our prayers.

Pray in view of your creatureliness

And related to this, Abraham’s example also shows us that that we should pray in view of our creatureliness. On multiple occasions, in this prayer, Abraham demonstrates an awareness of his own humble status, under the authority of his Creator. After God agrees, that he will spare Sodom, if 50 righteous people can be found there, in verse 27, Abraham says “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.”

It’s clear, from this, that Abraham acknowledges his creaturely status under God. He takes the posture of a servant, referring to God as his Lord (his master). And in his prayer, he openly admits that he has no standing in himself, that would compel God to listen. He is “but dust and ashes.” Abraham doesn’t come arrogantly – to make demands of God, or to negotiate with him. But Abraham prays as someone who understands the infinitude of God’s majesty, and who has been humbled under it. And this posture of humility and godly fear is retained throughout his whole prayer. Likewise, it’s right that we would pray in view of our creatureliness.

Pray in line with earnest compassion

But the content of Abraham’s prayer – the reason why he prays for Sodom to be spared – is because he prays with an earnest compassion for sinners. And praying in line with earnest compassion like this is right for us as well.

Now, initially, based on the way Abraham’s request is worded, it may sound like he’s only concerned about the righteous inhabitants of Sodom. After all, Abraham’s opening question for God in verse 23, is “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” But over the course of this prayer, it becomes clear that Abraham isn’t just interceding here for the sake of the righteous. Because his prayer isn’t, “Lord, while you’re destroying the city, please protect the good people.” Instead, over and over again – in verses 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32 – Abraham is very clearly asking God to spare the whole city.

Now, I want to be clear here – it’s not wrong for us to pray and ask God to carry out his justice against evil-doers. The Bible itself gives us examples of these kinds of prayers, in Psalm 69 and Psalm 109. But as we consider that evildoers are faced with the everlasting torments of Hell – with no relief! No escape! – When we consider the continuous horrors of judgment that are coming upon those who have defied God’s law and denied God’s Son, Jesus Christ – shouldn’t this arouse some level of sorrow for their sake? If, in Ezekiel 33:11, God himself says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” – is this something we should find pleasing? If 2 Peter 3 says that “the Lord is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance,” shouldn’t we, in compassion, pray that the ungodly would be given more time to repent, and to be saved through faith in Christ? Shouldn’t the reality of God’s judgment move us to compassion?

It did for Abraham – it stirred him to earnest compassion. And so Abraham prayed earnestly on behalf of those who were endangered on account of their sins. He diligently petitioned God to spare the entire city, first on account of 50 righteous, then 45, and then onward, all the way down to 10.

And, O, may God make us to be earnest in how we intercede for lost sinners. Let’s plead with God, to give us hearts that cry out for those who are perishing. Let’s not content ourselves with dull, trivial prayers that have no real love or concern for our neighbors. But may God make us to be our church in Mt Pleasant to be a church that is affected by eternal realities, – and help you and I to be driven to pray for sinners, and their deliverance.

Appreciate God’s Immense Mercy

We’ve seen here how Abraham prays in view of God’s character and his own creatureliness, and how he prays with earnest compassion. These things inform how we should offer up intercessory prayers, as well. But there’s one more way that these verses concerning the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah should impact us. They should compel us to further appreciate God’s immense mercy (which is my third and final point).

In our text, there’s not a specific verse, in which we see Abraham dancing around to show how much he appreciates God’s mercy. But there are a number of things that are shown and suggested about divine mercy here, that are worth our appreciation.

For one thing, the patience of God’s mercy is highlighted here. Keep in mind, the grave sins of Sodom and Gomorrah weren’t something new. They had been piling up their crimes for well over a decade – quite possibly longer – since these cities had already been notorious for their sinfulness when Lot first moved there, back in Genesis 13. And interestingly, God had already spared Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction once before, when God strengthened Abraham to win a victory over Sodom and Gomorrah’s political enemies. Even though judicially there was nothing that required God to postpone his judgment, God still chose to bear with these cities over a significant span of time. And from this we see that his mercy was patient.

But even though this is true, we see in our text that this patient mercy of God doesn’t postpone his justice indefinitely. He may delay judgment by his mercy, but he will not cancel it. A coming day of justice is unavoidable for all people, just as it was for Sodom and Gomorrah.

The passage here also shows that God’s special mercy toward the righteous, actually spills over and brings mercy to the unbelievers and sinners around them. When Abraham asks God to spare the whole wicked city of Sodom for the sake of even just 10 righteous people – God isn’t offended by the request. He doesn’t protest, that such an arrangement would run contrary to his character. Instead, God agrees – that if 10 righteous people can be found in the city, for their sake, he will show mercy on the whole city!

And this indicates, then, that when God has a community of believers in a place, who have been made righteous in Christ, through faith – God’s special mercy toward them brings some measure of God’s general blessing and mercy to the people around them. In a very real way, Christians are transmitters of God’s mercy in the places they live and work. This is part of what Jesus meant when he told his disciples, “You are the light of world,” and “you are the salt of the earth.” And for as long as God still has sinners in this world that he intends to save, you can be confident – on account of the special mercy he has for his people – he will continue to show general mercy to all, by upholding the earth and the nations on it.

But in this passage we see not only see that God’s mercy is patient, or that God’s mercy toward Christians spills over to the people around us. We also catch a glimpse of God’s saving mercy, shown to us through His Son. Though, in our text, God shows that he stands ready to spare a city of sinners for the sake of 10 – the pages of Scripture show us that God’s mercy goes further than that. He stands ready to spare sinners, forever, for the sake of 1 – for the sake of Jesus Christ.

And God, in his perfect justice, is willing to do this, because of what Jesus did as our substitute and representative. Jesus was punished in the place of sinners – the death penalty for your sin was redirected from you and laid on him – so you could be forgiven and accepted by God. And because of this, whoever trusts in Christ, and receives the gift of his saving work is brought near to God, and is given the blessing of knowing and enjoying God forever.

In God’s perfect mercy, the good news that’s before us here isn’t just that the day of judgment has been delayed. But God gives us good news – that Judgment Day has been poured out on Christ, in the place of sinners, so that everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be spared. We’ll be forgiven of our sins, and credited with the righteousness of Christ, all through faith! It’s a tremendous gift!

But you and I both know – there are many people who haven’t gotten right with God – people who aren’t clinging to Christ. We know family members, co-workers, fellow-students, neighbors – we know all kinds of people who are persisting in unbelief – who have not been washed of their sins – who are not righteous in the eyes of God. And the day of judgment is still coming. The newspaper headline is in earnest. Disaster is coming.

So let’s be sure that the seriousness and certainty of these things are affecting us. If you haven’t taken hold of Christ, don’t wait! If there are people around you who are unprepared for that day, pray for them! Pray earnestly. Ask for God to be patient. Ask for God to bring repentance. And consider how God may be equipping you to bring his mercy and his message of good news to others.