1.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our
Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The message from God’s Word this 10th
Sunday after Pentecost is taken from Genesis 18:20-32, it’s entitled, “What Kind of God is This?” Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
CS Lewis, the great 20th
Century Christian writer and defender of the faith writes this about prayer in
his book, “God in the Dock: “Praying for
particular things always seems to me like advising God how to run the
world. Wouldn’t it be wiser to assume
that [God] knows best? On the same
principle, I suppose you never ask a man next to you to pass the salt, because
God knows best whether you ought to have salt or not. And I suppose you never take an umbrella,
because God knows whether you ought to be wet or dry… The odd thing is that [God] should let us influence
the course of events at all. But since
He lets us do it in one way I don’t see why He should let us do it in the
other.”
3.
We’ve all had the experience of
talking to a stranger on the telephone. You don’t know anything about the
person. You don’t know what kind of day the person’s having. You also can’t see
the person’s body language when you talk on the phone. You watch your words
carefully. You’re on pins and needles as you try to conduct business with this
stranger. It might be important business such as insurance claims, stock
transactions, health-care needs, or a host of other critical matters. It’s not
easy to speak with someone you can’t see, is it?
4.
You know, when you stop to think
about it, you can’t see God either when you pray. Does that create some uneasy
questions? What kind of God is he really?
What kind of God is this that we pray to each day?
5.
In our text from Genesis 18 Abraham
is speaking to God. Abraham knows that our God is a God of justice. God is
talking about destroying two wicked cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. But Abraham
asks, “Will you sweep away the righteous
with the wicked? . . . Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the
righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike” (vv
23, 25). Abraham knows God would never do such a thing. He’s a just God. Abraham
knows that in that justice God will punish sin. Abraham doesn’t try to defend
Sodom and Gomorrah. He doesn’t try to rationalize away their sin. He doesn’t
make excuses for them. In fact, he doesn’t comment at all on their sin. He is
speaking to God, who is just. God hates sin. He punishes sin. Abraham is praying
to God for those who may live in Sodom and Gomorrah who are righteous, not
for those who have sinned. God will punish the sins of people. Abraham knows
it.
6.
When we speak with God our Heavenly
Father, we should know just what Abraham knows. God hated the sins of Sodom and
Gomorrah. Don’t rationalize away your sin by saying, “I’m not as sinful at the people of Sodom and Gomorrah” or by
saying, “I’m not as sinful as other
people I know.” Don’t make any excuses for your sins either. Don’t try to
make some lame defense. God is a holy God. He hates sin. He hated the sin of
Sodom and Gomorrah. He hates our sins too. He hates our pride and
thanklessness. He hates our greed and selfishness. He hates our foul language,
gossip, our failure to worship Him and serve Him only, and our lustful
thoughts. He hates it when people live
together outside of marriage and commit adultery. He hates our sins just
as he hated the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. His justice demands the same for
you and me as sinful people. Abraham pleaded with God for the righteous in
Sodom and Gomorrah. He knew that God would punish the wicked. God did
then, and he will now too.
7.
Remember when you were a kid and you
knew you’d done what your father told you never to do? He was going to find
out. You knew your mother would tell him. She told you that you should tell
him, and you knew you had to. You knew he’d be angry. You were afraid. You knew
there would be punishment. You also knew something else. You knew he loved you.
He would punish you in love. He would forgive you. He would still love you. So
you took a deep breath and told him.
8.
Abraham knew the same about his God.
There’s another side to the Almighty. He’s just. He’s also gracious. He’s a God of both Law & Gospel. How well
Abraham knew that. God had just affirmed the promise he’d made to Abraham. He
would have a son in a year. God had forgiven Abraham before too. God had heard
Abraham speak to him before. He had listened. So now in faith Abraham speaks
with God boldly. He pleads to God because he knows the heart of God. God is
just. Even in his justice he thinks about mercy. Abraham is bold to ask. He’s
not bargaining with God. He’s praying in faith to a gracious God to have mercy
on his nephew Lot, his wife, his sons, his daughters, and their spouses. He
pleads until he’s asking for only 10 righteous people. Only 10, the number in
Lot’s family.
9.
Notice that God never loses his
patience with Abraham’s prayers. He never stops him. Abraham says, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak”
(v 30). The Lord is never angry with Abraham. He listens, and he answers
according to his mercy, his grace, his love. The gracious God listens to
his child Abraham pray to him. God never tires of it. Never.
10.
And, God will never tire of hearing
you either. He will listen. For he loves to hear from his children. You
can’t ask too much, too little. You can’t come too much. You can’t try his
patience with your pleading. He will listen. He will answer in his time
and in his way.
11.
Abraham comes in faith to a gracious
God. God promises not to destroy the city for the 10. He would keep his
promise. He saved Lot’s family, the righteous ones, in those wicked cities from
the hellish destruction that is still in evidence to this day.
12.
You have a gracious God who has
saved you too. In his justice God demanded punishment for sin. In his justice
he threatened you and me with death now and eternally. But, in God’s justice he
also thinks upon his mercy. He acts to rescue you and me just as he did Lot and
his family. The punishment of a just God is going to fall on this sinful world.
God never wanted it this way. Here we see the heart of God. He acts to
rescue you and me from a hellish destruction. He sends his Son to the
rescue. His grace is so great that he satisfies his own justice by punishing
not you and me for our sins, but his own Son. That is what was happening
on the cross. God was being a just God. In the cross we see the justice of God.
Sin must be punished, so God punishes his own Son instead of you and me. His
Son takes our place. His Son takes our punishment. His Son takes all we
deserve. In doing so we are rescued from the hellish destruction of a just God.
13.
In Jesus Christ you are the
righteous ones. Jesus’ righteousness is your righteousness. Because he was
righteous for you, you are righteous too. On the day of your Baptism you were
clothed with Christ. On the day of your Baptism you were clothed in Christ’s
righteousness. When God looks upon you, he sees his Son. He sees perfect righteousness.
Soon on the Last Day, when God comes to complete his justice on the earth, he
will rescue his righteous ones from that punishment as sure as he did Lot and
his family.
14.
This gracious God has come to your
rescue. This gracious God will listen to you as you come to him to confess your
sins. We come knowing the holy and just God with whom we speak. We also
know that like our forgiving, earthly father, we have even a
greater, forgiving, heavenly Father. He loves to hear from you.
15.
To what kind of God do we talk? We
talk with the just and holy God just as Abraham did. He destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah for their wickedness and threatens the same for all who live in sin. Abraham
knew something else about this God. His nature, his very being is love, an undeserved
love that he wants to pour out on you and me, on all. We know that. We have
been on the receiving end of that grace, that undeserved love. We know it every
time we look at the cross.
16.
You know to whom you’re talking. He’s
your gracious God, who with all patience, love, mercy, and kindness listens to
you. You know you can come anytime. You know you can come about anything. You
know it because you are looking at the cross. You know the God to whom you are
talking. This is the kind of God we
worship and believe in. Amen.
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