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[0:00] Good evening. Good evening. Tell y'all a little story before we get started.! Which I think all of us could relate to that.

[0:33] But she went on to say, I don't know why He left me here. And I told her, I said, I'm not God, but I can tell you why I think He left you here. It's because I need a chaperone.

[0:45] He does not want me walking on this earth with no supervision. So, that's why I think He left her here. But anyway, I'm glad that He did.

[0:58] Amen. Good to be back in the house of the Lord tonight. We'll be almost all the way back to the very beginning. We'll be in the book of Genesis tonight, chapter 18.

[1:11] Genesis is one of my favorite books in the Bible. You all are well aware now, James is my favorite book. Genesis probably comes in a close second.

[1:23] Genesis is foundational to the rest of Scripture. I told you all last week when we were downstairs meeting that anything you're wondering about in the Scripture, if you read it in the light of Genesis chapter 1 through Genesis chapter 11, you'll have a much better understanding of it because those chapters are foundational to the entire Bible.

[1:50] If you want to know about sin, you want to know about mercy, you want to know about the promised Messiah, you want to know about any number of things, you can find all of that in the first 11 chapters of Genesis.

[2:02] If you want to know why we're still in the shape that we're in. Years later, I mean millennia later, here in 2025, you find that in Genesis chapters 1 through 11.

[2:15] So the book of Genesis is very, very good. I spent about 54-55 weeks teaching the entire book of Genesis when Missy and I used to attend over at Boone's Creek, a church there in Gray.

[2:29] And I thoroughly enjoyed that, but I'll be honest, even doing that for over a year, you can't glean everything out of Genesis that's there. And I'll never glean out of the few verses we're going to read tonight out of chapter 18 in Genesis.

[2:44] And much has happened throughout the book of Genesis. Like I say, we're all familiar with Genesis 1 through 3. We should be familiar with Genesis 4. All the way up to chapter 6 through 8 with the flood and all that's going on.

[2:57] Chapter 11, we see the Tower of Babel and everything that went on there. How God confounded the people and dispersed them to go and do their own things in their own sections of the world.

[3:10] And so on. And then we get to Genesis 12 where God calls Abram. And He calls Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees and tells them to go to a land. Didn't tell Abram exactly where that land was.

[3:22] So Abram went out completely in faith that God knew what he was doing. God didn't give him a map. Nor did Abram ever ask for a map. He simply trusted in God. But we read about several different things in the next few chapters.

[3:35] We read about Abram and of course his nephew Lot. And how they were striving. Their herdsmen were actually striving with one another.

[3:46] We read about a war. We read about Melchizedek. We read about all kinds of things. Anyway, we get to this section in chapter 18 here. Chapter 18, God shows Himself to Abraham.

[4:01] Abram's name has been changed to Abraham by this point just a few chapters before this. And He shows Himself to them. There's three visitors that show up. Two angels.

[4:12] And we find out the Lord Himself shows up. And we know that from what the Scripture tells us. Now there are people out there, mainly a bunch of liberal progressives, that will try and tell you that Abram's ideal of God was one of the tribal gods.

[4:31] Because he came out of the land of Ur and he did. And that was a very pagan area, pagan nationality. They were heathens. They were polytheistic, believing in many gods.

[4:42] And they will try and convince you that this was Abraham's thought of who God was. But folks, Abraham knew who God was. He knew exactly who God was.

[4:53] He knew who the God that called him out of Ur was. And he was trusting in that God. So when you hear people, they're supposedly Christians that make those statements.

[5:04] That's not true. That's not true in the least. Abraham was well aware of whom God was. But anyway, we find these visitors here.

[5:14] And Abraham, he says, let me prepare a feast for you. So he goes and prepares a meal for them. They sit down. They talk for a while. And of course, the promise is reiterated to Abraham and Sarah that God will send them a son.

[5:30] That son will be Isaac. And he's going to fulfill his promise. All this we find here in Genesis 18. But towards the end, right before we get to where we're going to be reading from, we're going to pick up in verse 22 here in just a moment.

[5:47] It says that God's going to go to Sodom. And he's going to see if the cry out against Sodom is really what he thinks that it is.

[5:57] Now, folks, God didn't have to go there. God already knew. God is God. He is omniscient. He knows it all. And I thank God that he does. We talked about that in Sunday school a little bit this morning when we were talking about patiently running the race that is set before us.

[6:12] God knows what's around every bend and every curve. And every, you know, every crook and every nanny in our path. God knows all about it. So he didn't have reason to go there.

[6:23] No more than he had reason in Genesis chapter 11 when it said, let us go down. Let me go down here and see what these people are doing. He didn't have to come down. Right. He already knew what was going on.

[6:35] But anyway, we find this in the end right before we pick up where we're going to be reading from here. Is that judgment has been pronounced against Sodom and Gomorrah.

[6:48] Now, we all know the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. I've told you all it is more than just sexual sin, though. There is much pride in those cities. Much, you know, we're going to do our own thing.

[7:00] They were snubbing their nose at God, which is prideful. And the same thing that the world is guilty of nowadays. Just having pride. I don't need God. I don't need the Bible.

[7:11] I don't need Christianity. I don't need this and I don't need that. That's the prideful statements that the world makes now. And the world stays in trouble because of that attitude.

[7:23] So, all this being said, we'll pick up in verse 22 and read through the end of the chapter of Genesis chapter 18. Verse 22, And the men turned their faces from them and went toward Sodom.

[7:36] But Abraham stood yet before the Lord. And Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city.

[7:48] Wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked.

[7:59] And that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee. Shall not the judge of the earth do right? Now, you all remember what I said about Abraham knowing who God was?

[8:09] That statement right there proves that it wasn't some God out of hundreds or thousands of gods. He refers to God as the judge of all the earth.

[8:21] He knew who this God was that he was speaking with here. Now folks, this is the first recorded instance, what we're reading tonight. This is the first recorded instance in Scripture of intercessory prayer.

[8:33] That is exactly what Abraham is doing here. He is intercessing on behalf of the righteous that may be found in Sodom and Gomorrah and three other cities of the plain.

[8:45] He's intercessing on behalf of the righteous. But folks, his love for those righteous and his concern for those wicked is what's at the forefront of his mind.

[8:57] He is intercessing on behalf of those people, the righteous and the wicked alive, that God spare those cities. And he's requesting that God do so.

[9:08] So whenever someone tells you, or whenever you hear some far-flown preacher or teacher say that intercessory prayer isn't really a thing amongst Christians, that's a load of baloney.

[9:20] We intercess all the time. We've been praying for Sister Sheila here recently. Actually, ever since we started attending this church, we've been praying for Sister Sheila.

[9:30] We are intercessing on behalf of her. We're asking for God to show mercy. We're asking God for a miracle. When I would call or text Brother Mike, when my own wife was in the hospital, when she was sick and down, I was requesting intercessory prayer on her behalf.

[9:48] That's exactly what intercessory prayer is. So don't let any of these liberal fools out here tell you that there is no such thing as intercessory prayer. When that's really and truly, that's mainly what we do as Christians, is intercess on behalf of those who are hurt.

[10:04] We intercess on behalf of those that are in need, on behalf of those that are sick, those that are, whatever the case is with them. But we intercess also on behalf of those which are lost, those that can't pray unto God themselves, unless it's a cry out for mercy unto God.

[10:20] We intercess on their behalf. How many loved ones do you have that you beg God to save their soul? How many loved ones do you have? How many brothers or sisters do you have? How many children or grandchildren have you prayed for and beg God to show them their need for Him?

[10:35] And beg God to show them the door of salvation that they have available in Jesus Christ. You are acting as an intercessor on their behalf. Hallelujah. They even started preaching here.

[10:48] So don't let anybody fool you into thinking there's no such thing as intercessory prayer is what I'm getting at. And don't let anybody fool you into thinking that Abraham didn't really know the God that he was praying to or the God that he was speaking to.

[11:00] Face to face here in this account. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

[11:15] And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes. Peradventure there shall lack five of the 50 righteous.

[11:26] Wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there are forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spoke unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there.

[11:39] And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto him, Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Peradventure there shall be thirty found there.

[11:50] And he said, I will not do it if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. Peradventure there shall be twenty found there.

[12:00] And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. Peradventure ten shall be found there.

[12:12] And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the Lord went his way, and as soon as he had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned unto his place.

[12:24] So back to verse twenty-two in Genesis eighteen. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went towards Sodom. But Abraham stood yet before the Lord.

[12:35] Now as I said, in the small introduction that I give to this, judgment had been pronounced against Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain.

[12:45] And these men, it says, they turned their faces from thence, and went towards Sodom. This must have been a somber moment for Abraham here. Knowing what laid in wait for Sodom, and knowing not only that, but also knowing that his own kin was in that city.

[13:02] His nephew Lot, and Lot's family was in that city. Now you can say what you want to about Lot. We can have whatever opinions we want to about Lot. But the Bible says that Lot was a just man.

[13:13] We find that written in the New Testament, whether you like it or not. The Bible says that he was just. He was just in the eyes of God. Granted, he had no business in Sodom. He had no business sitting in the gates of Sodom, which shows that he had gotten quite a name for himself within that city.

[13:29] He was actually passing judgment in that city. He had climbed up the ladder in that city, and held a little bit of prestige in that wicked city. But these men, these angels, they had turned their faces from thence, according to the Scripture, and they had started trotting off towards Sodom.

[13:45] And Abraham knew why they were going, but the Scripture goes on to say in verse 22, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. This ever is the posture of intercessing for people, the posture of a man standing before God.

[13:58] This is the posture of a man that is getting ready to plea a case before Almighty God. Abraham stood before the Lord. He was standing in the gap, so to say, between God and Sodom.

[14:10] He was making intercessory prayer for Sodom, and for his family that was there, for everybody that was there, saying, Lord, if there be 50 there, would you spare the place? Lord, if there be 45, if there be 40, if there be 30, if there be 20, and he finally gets down to 10.

[14:26] But Lord, but the Lord in His mercy says, through each of these times, if there be 50, 45, 40, all the way down to 10, I will not destroy the place. Folks, this was a show of the mercy of Almighty God.

[14:39] This was a show for the concern of the righteous for Almighty God. God is concerned about your life. God is concerned about my life. God is concerned about salvation.

[14:49] God is concerned for the lost. He is concerned for the saved. He is concerned about His creation. Hallelujah! He is so concerned that instead of staying up in the heavens, He is descended to earth here.

[15:03] He is descended to His man Abraham, whom He called out of Ur. He is descended to this man. He is descended to a lowly estate, and taken on human form to converse with this man, with Abraham here.

[15:17] Folks, that's the kind of God that I want to serve. I don't want some far off God. I don't want some God that wants nothing to do with me. You and I are nothing more than specks of dust in this universe, but God Almighty has concern for us, and He wants to hear from us.

[15:33] He wants to hear from His children. Here is Abraham having a wonderful conversation with Almighty God, and this shows the attitude of prayer that we should have toward God, and it shows God's attitude toward His people when they pray.

[15:49] Hallelujah! It shows that God hears our prayers, but He not only hears, He considers our prayers, and He answers our prayers. Now, we all know, even from the end of this account that we read here tonight, we all know that judgment still fell upon Sodom.

[16:04] We all know that judgment still fell on that city. God ran down fire and brimstone, according to what I read in Genesis chapter 19. God still brought judgment down on that city, but Abraham left this conversation with two things in mind.

[16:19] He left this conversation when he went back to his place, knowing that God was just in everything that He did, and knowing also that God was merciful. And I praise God that He is just, and I praise Him that He is merciful.

[16:33] The greatest picture that we could ever have of the justice of God, and the righteousness of God, and the mercy of God can be found on a cross, on a hill called Calvary, with the only begotten Son of the Father, hanging there, suffering, bleeding, and dying, on behalf of sinners.

[16:52] Sin must be punished. It must be punished. Because God is holy. And because He is just. And because He is righteous. It must be punished.

[17:04] And Jesus Christ took the punishment of everyone who would repent of their sin and believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He took their punishment upon Himself. He took the wrath of God upon Himself.

[17:15] He took everything upon Him that you and I could have life. Amen. That you and I could live. That you and I, as the Scripture says, could be made the sons of God.

[17:27] We could be made sons of righteousness. We could be sons and daughters of the Most High King. Jesus Christ did this thing for you and I. He did it on behalf of sinners. I've coined it many times.

[17:38] I'll coined it again. But God committed His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Not while we were justified. Not while we were righteous.

[17:48] But while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He died for us. Hallelujah. He died for me while I was yet a sinner. Knowing I would be a sinner.

[17:58] Knowing I would be a rebel. Knowing that I would break the commandments. Knowing about my iniquities. Knowing about my transgressions. Knowing that I would deserve hell. Christ still died for me.

[18:09] That I wouldn't have to go to that awful place. And that, my friends, is love. And that is mercy. Mercy that is undeserved. Mercy that none of us deserve.

[18:20] None of us have ever done anything to deserve the mercy of God. We have done plenty in our lives to deserve the wrath of Almighty God. But He shows mercy. And He shows mercy all throughout these verses that we just read.

[18:34] For 50, I will not destroy it. For 45's sake, I will not destroy it. For 40's sake, I will not destroy it. And it gets all the way down to 10. Now if you consider this 10, and you consider what we find in Genesis chapter 19 about Lot's family.

[18:51] We know that Lot and his wife were in Sodom. We know that he had two unmarried daughters because he told the men that surrounded their home there in the city, he said, I have two virgin daughters.

[19:03] So we know that he had two daughters that were virgins, that were not married, that had never been married. So that's four people right there. We also know that he had sons. And he had sons-in-law.

[19:14] So he had at least two daughters. And they had husbands. That's four more. And he had sons. At least two sons because it's pluralized. That's 10. So it makes me wonder if he wasn't pleading on behalf of those.

[19:28] But little did he know. Little did Abraham know what kind of mess Lot's family had gotten themselves into. Because you also read in Genesis chapter 19 when he went out to give the warning.

[19:41] Flee this place. The wrath of God's coming. Get out of here. Flee the wrath of God. It says that his sons-in-law mocked him. They mocked him. They laughed at him.

[19:54] So, little did Abraham know this. But I would dare say he was counting on those 10 being Lot's family. I don't know that for a fact. But if you take those numbers, it all seems to add up to me.

[20:07] But, regardless, he was intercessing not only on behalf of them of whom he thought was righteous. He was intercessing also on behalf of those that were unrighteous.

[20:19] And folks, Jesus Christ is the greatest intercessor that any of us could ever dream of having. He is the one that intercesses for you and I.

[20:29] If we've been saved, born again, He is the one that's standing in the gap. He is the one holding the wrath of God off of us. He is the one that has made claim unto us. He is the one that has purchased us by His own blood.

[20:42] We are not our own. We have been purchased with a price. And that price being the blood of Jesus Christ Himself. Verse 23, Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

[20:55] Folks, this is not Abraham accusing God. This is Abraham asking a legitimate question. Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked? In other words, he knew exactly how just Almighty God was.

[21:11] And he was appealing to the justness of God in saying this. Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Be it far from thee is what he says in the later verses.

[21:22] Be it far from thee that you would do this thing. He's not accusing God. He's not accusing God of being unjust. He's not accusing God of being a murderer. He's not accusing God of any of these things.

[21:34] He is simply seeing exactly how delicately the mercy of God is and the grace of God is balanced. And the mercy of God.

[21:45] He's seeing how delicately those two things are balanced in asking this question. And God gives him the answer. He gives him the answer several times. For this many sake I will not destroy it.

[21:58] Folks, that gives me great comfort knowing that the justice of God is in perfect balance with the mercy and the grace of God. If that were not the case, if the justice of God outweighed the mercy of God, you and I would both be in a heap of trouble.

[22:15] We would all be in trouble if that was the case. But they are perfectly balanced. And they are balanced because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is what balances those scales.

[22:27] He is the one that took the just punishment that you and I deserve upon Himself. And He is the reason that grace is shed unto you and shed unto me.

[22:37] He is the reason that grace is given unto everyone and anyone that will repent and believe the Gospel. It is Christ and Christ alone that we receive the grace of Almighty God.

[22:48] Abraham here intercessing on behalf of these people. Folks, don't give up intercessing on behalf of your lost. Don't give up intercessing on behalf of your sick. Don't give up intercessing on behalf of anyone that you've been praying for.

[23:02] I don't care if you've been praying for them for a week or for ten years. You keep on praying. God hears those prayers. God heard everything that Abraham said here. Abraham even made the statement, I am but dust and ashes.

[23:15] But God still listened unto Him. You and I are nothing but dust from the earth and God still takes the time out of His day to listen unto whatever His children had to say.

[23:27] Hallelujah! He wants to hear from us. But folks, we must do like Abraham. We must realize who we are and what we are before God.

[23:38] We are but dust and ashes. He was recognizing His insignificance. I'm talking about in the grand scheme of the universe. In contrast to stars and moon and sun and oceans and everything else that you can think of.

[23:55] He was referring to His own insignificance. And He realized that. And He was recognizing that. And realizing that He was recognizing His dependence upon the God whom He was speaking to here in this Scripture.

[24:11] You and I must realize who we are and who we are speaking to. A low view of the Bible will produce a low view of God. A low view of God will produce a low view of salvation.

[24:24] And folks, there is nothing to look at in a low view as far as those same things go. The crown jewel of heaven gave His life that you and I wouldn't have to die and go to a place called hell.

[24:35] God Almighty had this plan in place before the foundation of the world was ever laid that you and I wouldn't have to die and go to that awful place. Hallelujah. He is the God of this universe.

[24:47] He is the Creator of this universe. He's spoken all into existence. Everything that we know and everything that we see, He has spoken into existence. Now granted, we've got man-made things, but we've used the things that God has supplied us with to make those things.

[25:03] He is the God of this universe and we need to reverence Him as so. That be far from the verse 24. Per adventure, there be 50 righteous within the city, but they'll also destroy and not spare the place for 50 righteous that are therein.

[25:21] 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.

[25:32] Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Notice that question mark there. And He's speaking unto the judge of all the earth. He is speaking unto God Himself.

[25:43] He says, Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Knowing good and well that the judge of all the earth would do right. And God shows him just how right He will do in His answers unto all these questions that Abraham has here when He says, I will spare these cities on behalf of just a handful of righteous people.

[26:05] We don't know for certain how many people were in these cities, but we can rightfully assume that it was just a handful that Abraham was asking God to consider not sparing, or to spare those cities.

[26:20] To spare destruction upon those cities. Just a handful of people. The most he requested was 50. The least he requested was 10. How many made it up? Four.

[26:33] And then Lot's wife turned around. And that four turned into three. She had her chance. And she blew it.

[26:45] Why? She was too wrapped up in the things of Sodom. Too wrapped up in that city. Maybe she'd been hanging around with Lot's sons-in-laws too much.

[26:59] They'd rubbed off on her the wrong way. Either way, she was not one that made it up completely alive. Four left, but only three made it to Zoar. Zoar was the fifth city in the plain.

[27:11] It was spared. It wasn't destroyed. God destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah, and four other cities. But He spared Zoar. Why? Because Lot needed somewhere to go. Scripture don't tell us that, but that's where Lot went to.

[27:23] And He went to Zoar. And then He went up into a mountain just outside of Zoar. And we won't get into all that. But, God spared. And God still spares to this day.

[27:36] I thank God for His patience. I thank God for His long-suffering. God could close this thing out right now and be just and right in doing so. He could have closed it out 20 years ago if that had been the case.

[27:49] I wouldn't be standing here before you saved right now. If the line had been drawn 20 years ago. He could have closed it out 50 years ago. Or 100 years ago.

[28:01] Whatever the case is. But God is just and God is merciful. And God gives space for repentance. God gives ample opportunity for people to repent of their ways and to turn unto Him.

[28:14] And He tells Abraham here over and over, I will spare these cities. I will spare these cities. For just a few righteous people's sake, I will spare these cities.

[28:26] He says, Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? The answer to that is a simple and profound yes. The judge of all the earth shall do right.

[28:36] And Abraham knew that. Abraham, listen, Abraham here was not trying to change God's mind. There is no changing the mind of God. What is there is there.

[28:47] You cannot change the mind of God. It's an impossibility. But, we can make intercession. We can make intercession on behalf of, like I've said, our sick, our shutting, our loss.

[29:04] We can intercess on behalf of all these people. And God's mind will not change. He is still not slack concerning His promises. As some men would count slackness.

[29:15] Not willing that any should perish. But that all should come to repentance. This is His will. That all should come to repentance. So when we intercess on behalf of the lost, it is God's will that they be saved.

[29:30] That's not to say that they will be saved any more than it was to say that just because Abraham was asking God to spare these cities, that God would spare the cities. Because we know from the scriptural account that wasn't the case.

[29:44] Why? I've already said it. Sin must be punished. And sin was overflowing in these cities. But just for a few righteous people's sakes, God would have spared them.

[29:55] And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. Not just their homes. Notice that.

[30:05] I will spare all the place for their sakes. For the righteous sake. What do the righteous do? What are we to do? We are to go into all corners of the world and to preach the gospel to every living creature.

[30:19] God expects His people to do that. God expects us to tell the world of His goodness, of His glory, and of the glory of the kingdom that's promised to come. He expects us to share the gospel with a lost and fallen world.

[30:33] So He would spare these places just like He spares the world around us. Just like He spares nightclubs and bars. It's like He spares strip clubs.

[30:47] He spares pride events. He spares all these things. Why? Because He's a merciful God and He wishes for people to repent. He wants people to repent.

[30:58] And He is giving people every opportunity in the world to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ. But folks, there's a line out there somewhere.

[31:09] There is a line out there somewhere. And once that line is crossed, once our last breath is drawn, that line has been crossed. And there's no more opportunity for repentance.

[31:21] There's no more opportunity to believe. You'll never scream enough for mercy in hell. No one has ever screamed enough for God to be merciful that God showed them mercy in hell.

[31:34] The chance to receive the mercy of God and to escape the wrath of God is now. Now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time.

[31:45] Verse 27, And Abraham answered and said, Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which I am, but dust and ashes again. Here is Abraham recognizing whom he is.

[31:59] And again, we must recognize who we are. I've heard some people pray some awfully haughty prayers in my time as a saved individual. Pray some prideful prayers like they expected God to do something for them because they felt like they had done something for Almighty God.

[32:17] Folks, that is not how God works. God does for His people, yes. And God hears the prayers of His people, yes. But if God don't want to give it to you, that's God's business.

[32:28] If God wants something to happen to you or don't want it to happen to you, that is God's business. He is God and He doesn't need anybody's permission to do so. He certainly don't need mine.

[32:41] He recognizes I'm but dust and ashes. Folks, we are nothing more than dust and ashes. But we were made by a perfect God. And we were the crown jewel of that creation.

[32:53] We were the crown jewel of creation. Now, Christ was the crown jewel. But off creation, those six days of creation, we were the crowning thing that God made.

[33:06] He didn't call the whales or the fish or the birds. He didn't call the monkeys. He didn't call the elephants or the alligators or any other critters out there or any cat and dog that you've ever had in your life.

[33:18] He did not call them to be in fellowship with Him. He did not call them to serve Him. Although they do and can serve Him at God's command. But folks, He created man to do something for Him.

[33:32] He created man to tend the garden. That was to serve God. Adam really and truly, he had priestly duties there in the garden. Is that not what the priests done that we read about in the book of Exodus and the book of Leviticus and over in Numbers?

[33:46] The priests served God. They served Him in the tabernacle. Later on, they served Him in the temple. It was Adam's job to serve God. He was performing priestly duties there in the Garden of Eden.

[34:00] Folks, we are but dust and ashes. But God sees us as so much more than that. We were created from the clay, from the dirt of the ground, but God breathed His own breath into us and gave us life.

[34:17] And then we fell into sin in the fall in the garden when Adam and Eve sinned. We all fell into sin because of them. Paul writes to the church at Corinth and says, by one man death entered into the world.

[34:34] But praise God, it don't end there. By one man we can all be made righteous. By one man we can all be saved. By one man death entered in, but by another man, by the second Adam according to the Scriptures, by Jesus Christ Himself we can all have life.

[34:52] And Jesus says it best Himself in the Gospel of God, have life and have it more abundantly. Hallelujah. Christ died that we could have that us creatures, nothing but dust and ashes could have an eternal relationship with Almighty God.

[35:11] That is one of the most profound things that we find in this whole passage of Scripture tonight. It's the relationship between God and man. A speaking relationship.

[35:22] This is one of the greatest dialogues, if not the greatest dialogue, between man and God that you find. Between someone that was just a man. The greatest one of course is John 17.

[35:35] The high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ. Jesus being fully man and fully God. But, between just a plain old guy that was dust and ashes.

[35:46] And God, this is a wonderful dialogue that the two of them are having here. Peradventure, there shall be like five of the fifty righteous. Will thou destroy all the city for lack of five?

[35:57] And He said, if I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And He's speaking of them again. He said, peradventure, there shall be forty found there. And He said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And He said unto him again, oh, let the Lord not be angry.

[36:10] Folks, again, He is not begging God to change His mind here. And He's not playing God. He's not trying to get God down to a number to where He traps God. That's not what He's doing.

[36:21] I said it before and I'll say it again. He was seeing just how delicately the mercy of God and the judgment of God were balanced. And God was giving him a glorious picture of just how wonderfully it was balanced.

[36:36] Amen. And He said unto him, oh Lord, oh, let the Lord not be angry. Let not the Lord be angry and I will speak. Peradventure, there shall be thirty found there.

[36:47] And He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there. And He said, behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord. Peradventure, there shall be twenty found there.

[36:58] And He said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. 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.

[37:11] But, folks, there's something else we need to see in this Scripture here tonight. Other than the dialogue that is taking place between man and God. Other than the fact that it is the first intercessory prayer that is taking place on one man on behalf of many people.

[37:30] There's something else we need to see here. God makes a promise here. For ten people's sake, for ten righteous people's sake, I will not destroy the city.

[37:41] Do you know what that means? There weren't ten people that were righteous in that city because that city was still destroyed. How sad is that?

[37:53] How sad is that? Now, like I said, the Bible says that Lot was just. And the Bible also says in the very next chapter, I've already said it tonight, that he had two virgin daughters.

[38:04] He was shining a light of some kind. It may have been dim. It may have just been a flicker. But there was a light of some kind going on. To be in that culture, to be in that kind of wickedness, to be in that sort of sexual immorality in that city, and to have two virgin daughters, there was a light going on from somewhere in Lot's house.

[38:26] It may have been dim. It may have been weak. But there was a light there. But ten righteous were not found in an entire city. Church, what are we doing? What are we doing?

[38:37] Are we sharing the Gospel? Paul addresses the church at Corinth. He said, some people have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. Speaking to the church!

[38:47] I speak this to your shame that some people don't even know about God. Whose fault is that? It's not God's. It's not God's. It's the church's. It's my fault.

[38:58] And it's your fault. We need to be out there spreading the Gospel. We need to be out there testifying about God. We need to be out there telling people that there's a heaven to gain and there is a hell to shine.

[39:11] We need to give people the warning. Not ten people. Not ten people in an entire city were found righteous. And the only reason we know that is because judgment fell.

[39:23] And God promised that it would not if ten were found that were righteous. Verse 33 will be done. And the Lord went His way as soon as He had left communing with Abraham.

[39:35] Abraham. And Abraham returned unto his place. This is like it just ends. It's like, okay. I'll talk to you later.

[39:46] I mean, that's almost the way this ends. Good chatting with you. But folks, Abraham walked away from this conversation with a better knowledge of God, with a better understanding of the justice of God, and with a better understanding of the mercy of God.

[40:04] Knowing that God was merciful. And knowing that God would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. Now, I understand the Bible teaches it rains on the just and the unjust.

[40:15] I understand that even nowadays, earthquakes happen, volcanoes happen, typhoons happen, hurricanes happen, and the just and unjust are affected a lot in those things.

[40:28] But folks, in this Scripture that we are reading here tonight, it simply says, the Lord went His way as soon as He had left communing with Abraham.

[40:38] And Abraham returned unto his place. It doesn't say, Abraham followed, begging more. Abraham followed, saying, Lord, what about eight? What about five? What if you only find two that are out just there?

[40:52] And folks, this shows us exactly how we should leave a prayer with God. We should leave with a better understanding of who God is. We should leave with a better understanding of His justice.

[41:05] And a better understanding of His mercy. And we should leave with a better understanding of just what He thinks about us. As far as Him wanting us to commune with Him. The Bible says, when He had left communing with Abraham.

[41:20] This wasn't just a short, high and high talk that they had. This was in-depth what they were getting into here in this Scripture. But folks, every time that we pray, if we are really getting down to business with God, if we have hit our knees in the we, not ours, and we are begging God to do something, either on our behalf or on behalf of someone that we know, when we rise up from that prayer, we should have a better understanding of whom God is.

[41:50] I believe that's why we don't see Abraham following after God and begging for more answers. He had gotten his answers. And he knew the justice of God. And he knew the mercy of God.

[42:01] And he knew all about the grace of God because of the answers that Almighty God had given him here. And he was content with that. Folks, we need to be content. With whatever answers we get from God, we need to be content.

[42:14] Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, I've learned whatsoever state I'm in there with to be content. Right? Whatsoever state, whether I'm rich, whether I'm poor, whether I'm eating good, whether I'm eating peanut butter and blowing sandwiches every week, and I do eat those, by the way, no matter what our state is, we need to be content with that.

[42:41] If that is God's will for our life, we need to be content with it. Abraham was content with the conversation that he had had with the Lord. He was content with the justice and the mercy of God.

[42:54] We need to be content with the same. Now folks, be intercessors. Be intercessors. Continue doing that. Folks, be intercessors for me. Pray for me.

[43:06]  I need your prayers. I desire, I covet your prayers. intercessors on my behalf. Amen. I appreciate y'all's time. That's the message for tonight. God bless you all.