Genesis 18:16-33 The Gospel Plea

The Text

Genesis 18:16–33
¹⁶ The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off.

¹⁷ Then the LORD said, “Should I hide what I am about to do from Abraham?

¹⁸ Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.

¹⁹ For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just. This is how the LORD will fulfill to Abraham what he promised him.”

²⁰ Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious.

²¹ I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to me. If not, I will find out.”

²² The men turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the LORD.

²³ Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people who are in it?

²⁵ You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of the whole earth do what is just?”

²⁶ The LORD said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷ Then Abraham answered, “Since I have ventured to speak to my lord—even though I am dust and ashes—

²⁸ suppose the fifty righteous lack five. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹ Then he spoke to him again, “Suppose forty are found there?” He answered, “I will not do it on account of forty.”

³⁰ Then he said, “Let my lord not be angry, and I will speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ Then he said, “Since I have ventured to speak to my lord, suppose twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it on account of twenty.”

³² Then he said, “Let my lord not be angry, and I will speak one more time. Suppose ten are found there?” He answered, “I will not destroy it on account of ten.”

³³ When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

Our God

Let us not treat God as a mathematical formula when it comes to his salvation and his tender mercies

1689.3.4 states "These angels and men thus predestinated and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished."

It is a fool's errand for us mere mortals to figure out what that number is. That is not for us to know nor worry about. God knows that number, for:

2 Corinthians 5:10-15 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

That's the knowledge that God has told us when it comes to the number who is saved. That all will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that we repay for what we have done.

The question is, are you going to pay for your sins or is the one who who sits on the judgment throne already paid for your sins.

Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences.

This is the free offer of the gospel: preach the good news to every creature (Mark 16:15). That is, we have failed to obey the law but God who gave the law has sent his Son to obey, live and die for sinners who failed to obey. Trust in his Son and you will be saved. Else, you will face the wrath of his Son.

We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in outward appearance rather than in the heart. For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.

We preach and proclaim this good news because of the love of God for us and from us, we love our neighbor -- which is the whole world.

The Gospel

We are called to hear the gospel, not once but for all time and live our lives in light of his love for us.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.”

Live in the absolute truth that the Almighty Christ has removed your sin -- past, present, and future sins -- upon himself and died with those sins and buried those sins.

He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Because our sins are not righteousness, they are buried -- "separated as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12). Because Christ is righteous, he cannot stay dead but by the power of the Holy Spirit, he has risen from the dead!

Our Response

The Son of God and the Spirit of God proceeds from God our Father

²² The men turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the LORD

I am not here to teach if this is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Christ -- that's for another teaching for another day.

That is to say, that the Christ and the Spirit proceeds from the Father. I don't care what ESS/ERASers try to tell you -- there is no eternal subordination of the Son to the Father. We do get to use eisegesis--that is, read into--the God ordained structure within marriage and place that doctrine upon Triune God. That's not how that works. The word is abundantly clear that Jesus and Holy Spirit was sent out by the Spirit. For:

John 3:16-17 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

And

John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

That sending of the Son and Spirit from the Father? That started in eternity past, Ephesians 1, where the Father and the Son make a covenant to save his people from their sins. That covenant, unbreakable promise of the infallable, immutable, impassable, infinite Almighty God was then sealed from the infallable, immutable, impassable, infinite Almighty Holy Spirit.

Your salvation is locked in. You don't got to worry about nothing -- your salvation was done way before you were even born,

You cannot worry if you are elect and one of the numbered. All you got to do is believe and trust that Christ has resurrected from dead.

Do you have the Christ? Do you believe and trust the Christ? Then take heart, you are born again!

John 3:14-15 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

and

Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.

In other words:

1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him.

For those called to preach, preach this word. For those who teach, teach this doctrine. For who are born again, live this life and speak about it and teach it your neighbors and children.

Speak the gospel with the sense of urgency, for:

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 Working together with him, we also appeal to you, “Don’t receive the grace of God in vain.” For he says: At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!

Now is the acceptable time and today is the day of salvation! No need to delay. Do it now. Put your trust in Christ--you will be born again and live forever with God and never to perish, free from sin.