An Upper-Downer Day, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. God delays judgment when there is a righteous remnant present. Notice what he has said about Sodom and Gomorrah. If there are 10 righteous there, I won't judge you. God delays judgment if there is a righteous remnant. So we talk so often about God judging America. You realize that God may delay His judgment if there is a righteous remnant here?

And that would be us. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. You see, Abraham could have been called out of Ur of the Chaldees when he was 20 years old. He and Sarah could have had Isaac when he was 25. God isn't going to do that. God is going to do it in a way that there's no mistake that it's God's hand.

That's why they're waiting. And so consequently, he expects them to believe the promise. And his reason for it is anything too difficult for the Lord. At the appointed time, he said, I will return to you at this time next year and Sarah shall have a son. Sarah denied it, however, in saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid. He said, no, you did laugh. That wasn't funny to God. You doubt me.

We'd never do that, would we? Think of the promises to us. Romans 8 28. As a believer in Jesus Christ, all things work together in your life for good. That comes right from God. I can't tell you how many of you told me there's no way this is good. There's just no way. God's wrong about this. Really?

You see, really? He makes promises like that. He not only makes promises like that, but he makes promises no matter how lonely and how separated we feel to never leave us or forsake us. He'll always be there. He won't budge.

Even when me move, he won't. He promises in the Sermon on the Mount to meet our daily needs. He said, I'll meet your needs. Oh, no, he won't. He's not meeting my needs.

This isn't any good either. He also promises us that we will never be tempted beyond what we are able to withstand. You realize that's a promise from God? When you're facing a temptation, you're facing a very familiar pattern of sin in your life. Don't for a moment say this is a too great a temptation for me.

Because it's not. God has promised that he would not tempt you beyond what you were able to withstand. He's promised to keep us forever, that we have eternal security.

Once you were in my Father's hand, he said, no power on earth can take you out. And yet so many of us have such trepidation. I don't know if I'm going to go to heaven. I just don't know what's going to happen to me. You see, God expects us to believe his promises, no matter how difficult they seem to us.

That's what happened with Sarah. Because nothing is too difficult for God. But think of this, what an upper, upper day this is. I mean, the promise is not only made now, but the idea is, wait, I just had the privilege of serving the Lord. You see, Ad and I, a meal with two angels or two beings with them. We'll find out their angels in a minute.

And he's just told Sarah, she's going to have the child the next year. You can't get a better day than that. That has to be the best day they had since they left Earth at Chaldees. And then it becomes a different kind of day.

It becomes a downer day. Wow. Well, verse 16. And then the men rose up from there and they looked down towards Sodom, that whole valley of Sodom and Gomorrah.

At this time, it's fertile. He's up, in a sense, on a bluff looking down over the whole valley. And it says that they looked down towards Sodom and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. He just thinks, what a day, what a day, what a day we're going to have. And he's just walking with them. And then the Lord begins to speak.

And he's speaking to sort of no one, but probably to the angels. And he says, shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do? Since Abraham will surely become great and mighty nation and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

For I have chosen him in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him. The Lord reveals his plans to his people. And he just says, should I let Abraham know what is going to happen and reveal my plans? Now these plans are God's plan for judgment.

He said, should I let Abraham know this? God reveals his plans, even judgment. Think of God revealing his plans of judgment to us. Read Daniel, Ezekiel, all the lesser prophets. Read the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus Christ. Read the revelation to John at the end of the Bible. And what does God reveal to you and me? Judgment is coming.

Judgment is coming. The question is, when God reveals his plans to us, what should we do? We should do what Abraham did. Abraham prays.

That's what we should do. You see, there's so much talk in the world we live in about end times. And I really fear that what I hear from so many Christians is because of the end times. Could this be the end times? Could this be it?

Could this be it? And it's almost like we want to say, get them, God. Get them all.

Get them. What is wrong with us? These people are going to receive the judgment of God. We should be praying for these people. That's the point. That's what Abraham does.

He knows what's going on. Verse 20, and the Lord said, the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great and their sin is exceedingly grave. That's not the outcry from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. That's the outcry against the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, from all the people that they victimized.

And next time we'll see that they victimized them in all different kinds of ways. And he says the outcry has come. God said the same thing when he was talking to Cain after he murdered Abel. And God said to Cain, he said to him, your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.

Same idea. Now Abraham knows what's going to happen. God is going to judge Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham knows those people. His nephew lives there. His wife. You see, he knows those people, but he knows a lot more.

He knows them. Then the men turned away from there and they went towards Sodom while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. It looks like they're going to execute the judgment. And now Abraham is just standing with the Lord. And you just wonder, what is he thinking?

What is he going to do? Well, it becomes obvious. Abraham came near and he says to God, will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Wow. That's prayer. You see, not only does sometimes the Lord take the initiative to commune with his people and that the Lord expects his people to believe his promises because nothing is too difficult for him, and the Lord reveals his plans even of judgment to his people, but the Lord responds to the intercession of his people. And that's what happens here. Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Now, there's a problem here, I think. I think Abraham has a different definition of righteous than God does. Abraham has the definition we have.

Would you judge those cities with all those good people there? There are a lot of good people there, but that's not righteous. See, to God, righteous means, and Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. You see, a righteous person is a person who believes and honors God. That's from God's point of view. Abraham was thinking about it a little bit differently. There are a lot of good folks down there, I think, interestingly enough.

Now, he begins his request, and you got to love him for this. Here's what he says. Suppose there are 50 righteous within this city. Will you indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of 50 righteous who are in it?

Wow. Now, these cities have thousands of people, so he's pretty sure the cities aren't that good. But 50, 50. You can find 50 good people in New Orleans. You can find 50 good people in Las Vegas.

50. The response floors them. He then goes on and says this to the Lord. Far be it from you to do such a thing to slay the righteous with the wicked so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from you, he said, shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly.

He's making a good point. If there are righteous there, why would you judge them? After all, you're the judge of the whole earth.

Now, watch. He's probably expecting a rebuke from the Lord, even question the Lord. But watch what the Lord says. The Lord says, if I find in Sodom 50 righteous within this city, then I will spare the whole place in their account.

There you go. You ask for 50. If there are 50 there, it's all spared. Notice, the wicked are spared too.

We'll spare everybody 50. Abraham's thinking, wait a minute. That was too fast. He just responded immediately to what I said. So Abraham replied, now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, though I am but dust and ashes.

I know who you are and I know who I am. But suppose the 50 righteous are lacking five. Will you destroy the whole city because of five?

I mean, now notice, he's using a backdoor approach. Because if you think about it, if you weren't going to destroy it for 50, but there's only five, in the end, you end up destroying it not over 50, just over five people. God says, look, Abram, I can do the math. I will not destroy it if I find 45 there. Well, that was awful quick. He spoke to him yet again and said, suppose 40 are found there. And he said, I will not do it and kind of 40. Wow. Then he said, oh, may the Lord not be angry.

I think, wow, you're kind of pushing here. May the Lord not be angry. And he said, and I shall speak, suppose 30 are found there. And he said, I will not destroy it if I find 30. Notice how he interacts directly and honestly with the intercession of Abraham.

God reacts that way. He said, now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, suppose 20 are found there. And he said, I will not destroy the account of 20. He's like, wow. Then he said, oh, may the Lord not be angry. And I shall speak only this once. You see, from his point of view, it's like this.

He's responding way too quickly for this. He said, suppose 10 are found there. He said, I will not destroy it on account of 10. And as soon as he had finished speaking to Abraham, the Lord departed and Abraham returned to his tent. Wow, 10, 10 people.

How does it get to that? Well, you've got to think that he's thinking, I know for sure Lot's there and his wife. There are two daughters and their fiancees. That's six. Lot has a lot of servants, and I've met a lot of pretty nice people down in Ron Sodom. Ten's got to cover it.

You see, there's got to be 10. So Abraham thinks he's done something. Abraham believes, like, I think I've been able to save the cities.

But of course he didn't. You see, that happens so often, by the way, when we pray. So often when we pray, we don't change God.

We change in the prayer. You see, Abraham is admirable here. He understands the judgment of God.

He understands how devastating that would be. So notice, his downer day, his upper day drove him to praise. His downer day drives him to prayer. Same day, he's in prayer, and he is trying to intercede the best that he possibly can. We know that the judgment ends up coming. His day starts with a visit from the Lord. It ends up when he realizes that his neighbors are going to be judged by God.

It's amazing. This chapter, though, oozes truth. I don't know if you just see it all there, but it's all within this whole story. There's so much more than just the story. The first thing is that we've talked about already, we should rest in the promises of God.

Nothing's too difficult for him. He's promised it, rest in it, have trust it. Secondly, though, God's purpose is to bless all the nations through Abraham's seed, but not save all from judgment. Judgment will come. Thirdly, we should pray on behalf of a world under judgment. See, the only difference between them and us is the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That's it. There's no other. I pray for them to have the same opportunity to put their faith and trust in Christ that I did.

Why wouldn't we do that? There's something else here, though, you see. God delays judgment when there is a righteous remnant present. Notice what he has said about Sodom and Gomorrah. If there are 10 righteous there, I won't judge them. God delays judgment if there's a righteous remnant. So we talk so often about God judging America. You realize that God may delay his judgment if there's a righteous remnant here?

And that would be us. You see, are we a righteous remnant? You see, God says, I'll delay it. I'll delay the judgment if there's a righteous remnant. He also delayed the judgment on the basis of the intercessory prayer of the believing Abraham. So we should not only be righteous, but we should be praying for our country, praying for the lost to come to Jesus Christ. That's what we should do.

Instead of saying or shaking our fingers at people and saying the judgment's coming, you're going to get yours, maybe we should just pray for those folks. There's one more thing here. Abraham is growing in his faith. He's changing. Abraham is growing. Now, it's taken time, but he is maturing right before our eyes.

And remember something. Abraham had no scripture, none. He only had a few occasional visits from God. And he had to still grow in his faith, and he did. Notice, he is generous and spontaneous when it comes to worshipping the Lord.

As soon as he's in the Lord's presence, he's worshipping. Secondly, he has real concern for others. That's why he interacted with the Lord. And he seems bold to us, brash to us, but he's willing to interact for others because he knows he's safe from the judgment. Thirdly, he's moved from a self-serving sort of passivity. Remember when Sarai came up with the idea of Hagar, the slave, and then Ishmael, the son?

He went along with it. He never even engaged the Lord. Notice now, judgment is coming. He got that from the Lord and immediately gets active and goes to the Lord and prays in intercessory prayer.

But there's something else about it. He's getting a clearer and clearer picture of the Lord. He's not only seeing God as great, but he is seeing God as good. And that's a real big part of your maturation process as a believer.

Bob Diffenbaugh said this. Our first child was, and our only son, died when he was three and a half months old. Several years later while I was in seminary, the question of what happens to infants who die came up in class. And several passages were suggested, but some did not find him sufficient.

Finally, I shared the assurance that we found when we lost our son. While it was comforting to have the scriptures to comfort us, we did not need a text to answer every question. You see, God is far greater than all that is revealed about him in scripture. What a great statement. God is far greater than all that is revealed about him in scripture.

The judge of all the earth will do it justly. That was our confidence. Have you lost a loved one about whose salvation you're doubtful?

Are there problems and circumstances you can't understand? Then rest in this. Our God is all powerful. Nothing is impossible with him. And furthermore, this power is always employed in justice, truth, mercy, and love. What a comfort. What an encouragement to pray. Because our God is not just great. Our God is good. Important to remember. Abraham had one of those up or downer days.

And he was better for the experience. Let's pray. Father, may we learn these two simple truths that when we are having what I call an upper day, a great day, a day of joy and pleasure, a day of satisfaction, that we are moved to thank you. We are moved to worship you. We are moved to honor you, just as Abraham was. Father, when we find ourselves in the downer day, the day where the news we hear is not good for us, when the circumstances we face seem overwhelming, when sorrow and suffering visit us, may we be driven to prayer, to your presence. And when we get there, may we make intercession for others by taking our eyes off of ourself.

Father, I thank you for the upper days of my life and the downer days and that very rare upper downer day. I pray that how I react, both to the good that you give us and the difficulties we face when you withhold your hand, I react as well as Abraham did. Thank you for Jesus Christ who strengthens me to do just that. In his name I pray.

Amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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