1 00:00:00,984 --> 00:00:03,987 Genesis 18:22 through 33. 2 00:00:04,671 --> 00:00:07,440 So the men turned from there and went towards Sodom. 3 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:09,392 But Abraham still stood before the Lord. 4 00:00:09,392 --> 00:00:13,263 Then Abraham drew near and said, Will you indeed sweep away the righteous 5 00:00:13,263 --> 00:00:14,397 with the wicked? 6 00:00:14,397 --> 00:00:17,033 Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city. 7 00:00:17,033 --> 00:00:17,550 Will you then 8 00:00:17,550 --> 00:00:20,837 sweep away the place and not spare it for the 50 righteous who are in it? 9 00:00:21,421 --> 00:00:23,306 Far be it from you to do such a thing. 10 00:00:23,306 --> 00:00:24,107 To put the righteous 11 00:00:24,107 --> 00:00:27,110 to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked. 12 00:00:27,327 --> 00:00:31,398 Far be it from you shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just. 13 00:00:31,948 --> 00:00:34,501 And the Lord said, if I find it Sodom 50 righteous 14 00:00:34,501 --> 00:00:37,487 in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake. 15 00:00:37,587 --> 00:00:41,041 Abraham answered and said, behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, 16 00:00:41,341 --> 00:00:43,159 I who am but dust and ashes. 17 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:45,528 Suppose five of the 50 righteous are lacking. 18 00:00:45,528 --> 00:00:48,498 Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five? 19 00:00:48,498 --> 00:00:51,501 And he said, I will not destroy it if I find 45 there. 20 00:00:51,801 --> 00:00:54,654 Again he spoke to him and said, suppose 40 are found there. 21 00:00:54,654 --> 00:00:57,690 He answered, for the sake of 40 I will not do it. 22 00:00:57,957 --> 00:01:00,960 Then he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. 23 00:01:01,044 --> 00:01:03,063 Suppose 30 are found there. 24 00:01:03,063 --> 00:01:05,065 He answered, I will not do it if I find 30. 25 00:01:05,065 --> 00:01:06,032 There. 26 00:01:06,032 --> 00:01:08,401 He said, behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. 27 00:01:08,401 --> 00:01:09,919 Suppose 20 are found there. 28 00:01:09,919 --> 00:01:12,922 He answered, for the sake of 20 I will not destroy it. 29 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,726 Then he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again. 30 00:01:16,743 --> 00:01:19,529 But this once suppose ten are found there. 31 00:01:19,529 --> 00:01:22,165 He answered, for the sake of ten, I will not destroy it. 32 00:01:22,165 --> 00:01:23,366 And the Lord went his way. 33 00:01:23,366 --> 00:01:26,753 When he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. 34 00:01:27,137 --> 00:01:30,140 Genesis 19:27 through 28. 35 00:01:30,273 --> 00:01:32,041 And Abraham went early in the morning 36 00:01:32,041 --> 00:01:34,561 to the place where he had stood before the Lord, 37 00:01:34,561 --> 00:01:37,097 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward 38 00:01:37,097 --> 00:01:38,214 all the land of the valley. 39 00:01:38,214 --> 00:01:40,467 And he looked, and behold, the smoke of the land 40 00:01:40,467 --> 00:01:42,152 went up like the smoke of a furnace. 41 00:01:46,022 --> 00:01:47,056 Well, good morning, and 42 00:01:47,056 --> 00:01:51,111 welcome to the weekly gathering of Christ Community Chapel, if we haven't met yet. 43 00:01:51,144 --> 00:01:52,412 My name is Ken. 44 00:01:52,412 --> 00:01:55,431 I'm one of the pastors here, and I'm really glad you're here. 45 00:01:55,582 --> 00:01:58,368 And I'm glad to be here to spend some time 46 00:01:58,368 --> 00:02:01,688 with you, to go through the passage that we just heard read. 47 00:02:01,704 --> 00:02:06,559 We are in the midst of a series entitled Promises Made, Promises Kept, 48 00:02:06,559 --> 00:02:10,079 and in this series we are looking at the life of Abraham 49 00:02:10,079 --> 00:02:13,466 in the Book of Genesis to see the promises that are made 50 00:02:13,466 --> 00:02:16,469 and kept in Jesus. 51 00:02:16,669 --> 00:02:18,054 So we're gonna get started here in a moment. 52 00:02:18,054 --> 00:02:22,041 But before we do that, I want to look back briefly to last week's message. 53 00:02:22,041 --> 00:02:25,829 If you were here, you heard Pastor Joe preach on God's faithfulness. 54 00:02:26,546 --> 00:02:27,330 When we give up. 55 00:02:28,531 --> 00:02:28,882 And I bring 56 00:02:28,882 --> 00:02:31,885 that up because last weekend was a big weekend for my family. 57 00:02:31,885 --> 00:02:36,322 We had a family wedding on Saturday and then a family reunion of sorts on Sunday, 58 00:02:36,322 --> 00:02:40,643 and it wasn't a typical family reunion because my family isn't a typical family. 59 00:02:40,643 --> 00:02:43,646 We have a lot of brokenness, a lot of conflict. 60 00:02:44,297 --> 00:02:48,601 But on Sunday, for the first time in 21 years, 61 00:02:48,952 --> 00:02:51,955 I saw members of my family come together. 62 00:02:52,338 --> 00:02:55,041 It was an amazing thing to see and such 63 00:02:55,041 --> 00:02:58,261 such a testimony to God's faithfulness. 64 00:02:59,329 --> 00:03:01,798 So when Pastor Joe says, never stop praying, 65 00:03:01,798 --> 00:03:05,752 nothing is too wonderful for God, I say, Amen to that. 66 00:03:06,502 --> 00:03:08,271 Amen to that. 67 00:03:08,271 --> 00:03:10,523 All right. That was last week. 68 00:03:10,523 --> 00:03:12,058 Let's talk about this week. 69 00:03:12,058 --> 00:03:15,061 Well, in this passage, we see the Lord 70 00:03:15,411 --> 00:03:18,648 preparing to address the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. 71 00:03:18,681 --> 00:03:21,234 He's planning to destroy these cities. 72 00:03:21,234 --> 00:03:23,603 And Abraham is interceding. 73 00:03:24,771 --> 00:03:25,071 So I'd 74 00:03:25,071 --> 00:03:28,074 love for you to follow along as we work through this text together. 75 00:03:28,191 --> 00:03:29,993 You can pull it up on your phone and your Bible. 76 00:03:29,993 --> 00:03:34,130 If you're using a Bible that we provide, it's pages 12 and 13. 77 00:03:34,614 --> 00:03:39,235 And again the passages Genesis chapter 18, verses 22 through 33 78 00:03:39,719 --> 00:03:43,439 picks up again, chapter 19, verses 27 and 28. 79 00:03:43,439 --> 00:03:44,807 And while you find your way there, 80 00:03:44,807 --> 00:03:48,027 let me give you our three points to guide our time together. 81 00:03:48,027 --> 00:03:48,778 Here they are. 82 00:03:48,778 --> 00:03:51,781 Number one, it's not what you'd expect. 83 00:03:52,732 --> 00:03:55,735 Number two, it's worse than you think. 84 00:03:56,252 --> 00:03:58,972 And number three, it's better than you could imagine. 85 00:03:58,972 --> 00:04:01,007 It's now you expect. It's worse than you think. 86 00:04:01,007 --> 00:04:02,692 It's better than you could imagine. 87 00:04:02,692 --> 00:04:04,827 Let's start with that first one. Not what you'd expect. 88 00:04:04,827 --> 00:04:08,748 There are some aspects to this passage that are a little curious, aren't there? 89 00:04:10,583 --> 00:04:13,503 First of all, it's not necessarily who you would expect. 90 00:04:13,503 --> 00:04:14,270 In this passage. 91 00:04:14,270 --> 00:04:17,640 You have Abraham, who's just a few chapters removed 92 00:04:18,241 --> 00:04:22,045 from being a moon worshiper from a family of idolaters, 93 00:04:22,045 --> 00:04:25,131 and now we see him standing before God, the man 94 00:04:25,131 --> 00:04:28,134 with a massive promise, 95 00:04:29,068 --> 00:04:30,303 not who you'd expect. 96 00:04:30,303 --> 00:04:31,487 It's also not necessarily 97 00:04:31,487 --> 00:04:36,409 what you'd expect in this exchange between Abraham and God. 98 00:04:36,409 --> 00:04:39,412 It almost reads like a negotiation 99 00:04:39,746 --> 00:04:43,383 with God seeming to change his mind. 100 00:04:43,383 --> 00:04:46,369 It's a little odd. 101 00:04:46,703 --> 00:04:51,240 I was an attorney for about a decade before I moved to full time ministry. 102 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:52,442 And let me tell you, 103 00:04:52,442 --> 00:04:55,862 Abraham, if he's negotiating, this is not a good negotiating tactic. 104 00:04:56,245 --> 00:04:57,030 Okay? 105 00:04:57,030 --> 00:04:58,948 Let me tell you how settlements don't work. 106 00:04:58,948 --> 00:05:00,900 Hey, I'm going to pay you $50,000. 107 00:05:00,900 --> 00:05:03,152 They agree. Okay, now, how about 45? 108 00:05:04,253 --> 00:05:05,788 Great. 40. 109 00:05:05,788 --> 00:05:08,157 30, right? 110 00:05:08,157 --> 00:05:11,160 It's not a good negotiating tactic. 111 00:05:11,177 --> 00:05:14,180 But then again, this isn't a negotiation. 112 00:05:15,381 --> 00:05:16,466 I don't want us to miss this. 113 00:05:16,466 --> 00:05:20,720 This is actually an appeal to God's character. 114 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,272 Look with me. Chapter 18, verse 25. 115 00:05:23,272 --> 00:05:24,657 This is what Abraham says. 116 00:05:24,657 --> 00:05:28,344 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous 117 00:05:28,344 --> 00:05:32,248 to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked. 118 00:05:32,248 --> 00:05:34,167 Far be that from you. 119 00:05:34,167 --> 00:05:34,917 What's he saying? 120 00:05:34,917 --> 00:05:37,920 God? This you wouldn't do something like that. 121 00:05:38,071 --> 00:05:38,604 You wouldn't. 122 00:05:38,604 --> 00:05:41,724 You wouldn't put the righteous to death alongside the wicked. 123 00:05:41,724 --> 00:05:44,727 That's not who you are. 124 00:05:46,829 --> 00:05:48,648 By the way, 125 00:05:48,648 --> 00:05:50,066 as Abraham intercedes. 126 00:05:50,066 --> 00:05:52,285 And I want you to miss, this is personal for him. 127 00:05:52,285 --> 00:05:56,305 He has family in Sodom, his nephew lot, and his family. 128 00:05:56,305 --> 00:05:57,023 They live there. 129 00:05:58,458 --> 00:06:00,626 So as Abraham intercedes for the city, 130 00:06:00,626 --> 00:06:03,629 he's thinking of his family. 131 00:06:05,331 --> 00:06:08,000 And in fact, God didn't need to even tell Abraham 132 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,003 what he was going to do, but he decides to do just that. 133 00:06:11,003 --> 00:06:15,658 In the preceding verses before the passage you heard read, God makes that clear. 134 00:06:15,658 --> 00:06:18,661 He is going to share this with Abraham 135 00:06:19,228 --> 00:06:22,648 because God wants Abraham to know who he is, wants to know his character. 136 00:06:22,648 --> 00:06:25,651 Abraham is appealing to God's character. 137 00:06:28,438 --> 00:06:30,706 But it might not necessarily 138 00:06:30,706 --> 00:06:33,142 be what you expect in what happens next. 139 00:06:33,142 --> 00:06:38,147 Because God, this God of mercy and and goodness and grace, 140 00:06:38,598 --> 00:06:42,468 that God destroys the city just levels. 141 00:06:42,468 --> 00:06:46,255 It reduces it to rubble and ash. 142 00:06:49,342 --> 00:06:52,345 What kind of a God would do that? 143 00:06:53,579 --> 00:06:55,348 That leads to my second point. 144 00:06:55,348 --> 00:06:57,567 It's worse than you think. 145 00:06:59,185 --> 00:07:01,020 I'm just going to put this in simple terms. 146 00:07:01,020 --> 00:07:04,073 Sodom is an absolute horror show. 147 00:07:05,541 --> 00:07:08,361 The stuff going on in that city absolutely awful. 148 00:07:08,361 --> 00:07:10,346 It's referenced in preceding chapters. 149 00:07:10,346 --> 00:07:12,115 Wicked, great sinners. 150 00:07:12,115 --> 00:07:14,400 The sin of the city is very grave. 151 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:16,369 And in fact, the passage we didn't read that 152 00:07:16,369 --> 00:07:19,856 sits between the passages that we did, which we're going to get to here 153 00:07:19,856 --> 00:07:23,543 in a minute, puts the depravity of this city on gruesome 154 00:07:23,943 --> 00:07:26,929 display. 155 00:07:27,780 --> 00:07:28,531 And spoiler alert 156 00:07:28,531 --> 00:07:32,068 God can't even find ten righteous people in the entire city. 157 00:07:32,068 --> 00:07:35,071 Not even ten, not even ten. 158 00:07:38,057 --> 00:07:41,060 God's not having a bad day here 159 00:07:41,727 --> 00:07:43,563 in wake up on the wrong side of the bed. 160 00:07:43,563 --> 00:07:46,549 He's not being petty or arbitrary. 161 00:07:48,267 --> 00:07:51,170 This city is a horror show 162 00:07:51,170 --> 00:07:55,374 of violence, of sexual assault, of depravity and God and His holiness. 163 00:07:55,374 --> 00:07:57,894 He cannot and will not let that lie. 164 00:07:57,894 --> 00:07:59,545 He must address it. 165 00:08:03,266 --> 00:08:06,269 But it's not just the city. 166 00:08:06,752 --> 00:08:07,470 It's not just a city. 167 00:08:07,470 --> 00:08:09,739 It's a lot to 168 00:08:09,739 --> 00:08:11,457 let me let me give you a profile of lot. 169 00:08:11,457 --> 00:08:14,243 The man. All right. So you know who we're dealing with. 170 00:08:14,243 --> 00:08:15,228 All right. 171 00:08:15,228 --> 00:08:15,995 Chapter 13. 172 00:08:15,995 --> 00:08:17,096 Genesis says that 173 00:08:17,096 --> 00:08:21,617 lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 174 00:08:21,617 --> 00:08:25,588 So he moved into the city of wicked great sinners. 175 00:08:25,972 --> 00:08:29,392 Most commentators believe that he was a man of great influence in the city. 176 00:08:29,392 --> 00:08:31,577 He didn't just live there, he flourished there. 177 00:08:31,577 --> 00:08:34,580 He was respected there. 178 00:08:35,298 --> 00:08:38,217 When he received the angel sent by God to destroy the city, 179 00:08:38,217 --> 00:08:39,418 he takes them to his house, 180 00:08:39,418 --> 00:08:44,490 probably to prevent them from being sexually assaulted and killed, which 181 00:08:45,141 --> 00:08:50,062 once they're at his place, this depraved mob forms outside to do exactly that. 182 00:08:50,062 --> 00:08:56,252 And lot, in a display of hospitality, offers up his unmarried daughters instead. 183 00:09:01,707 --> 00:09:03,859 Then, when he learns that the city's going to be destroyed, 184 00:09:03,859 --> 00:09:06,746 he goes to his future sons in law, tells them, we got to get out. 185 00:09:06,746 --> 00:09:08,281 City is going to burn. What do they do? 186 00:09:08,281 --> 00:09:09,632 They laugh at him. 187 00:09:09,632 --> 00:09:10,383 They laugh at him. 188 00:09:10,383 --> 00:09:12,301 They don't even believe him. 189 00:09:12,301 --> 00:09:14,520 That's that's how compromised his testimony is. 190 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:18,140 They just laugh at him and then it's time for him to go. 191 00:09:19,525 --> 00:09:21,561 Lott himself lingers in this city. 192 00:09:21,561 --> 00:09:24,564 They basically have to drag him out. 193 00:09:27,183 --> 00:09:28,918 This is a guy who chose to exist 194 00:09:28,918 --> 00:09:32,038 closer and closer and then finally within the wickedness of the city. 195 00:09:32,038 --> 00:09:34,373 And then when it was time to go, he didn't want to. 196 00:09:34,373 --> 00:09:37,376 That's a lot. 197 00:09:39,662 --> 00:09:42,565 And it is easy, 198 00:09:42,565 --> 00:09:45,201 and it is comfortable 199 00:09:45,201 --> 00:09:47,820 to look at lot 200 00:09:47,820 --> 00:09:50,940 as a spectator to his sin, and just shake our heads. 201 00:09:51,774 --> 00:09:52,942 The things that he's done. 202 00:09:55,378 --> 00:09:56,612 But here's the really tough part. 203 00:09:56,612 --> 00:10:00,600 It's not just the city, and it's not just 204 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,603 lot, it's you and it's me. 205 00:10:03,686 --> 00:10:06,689 We are worse than we think. 206 00:10:08,691 --> 00:10:11,877 I mentioned that I practiced law for a while before moving to ministry. 207 00:10:11,877 --> 00:10:13,045 I was a civil litigator, 208 00:10:13,045 --> 00:10:16,382 so I didn't get into the criminal stuff, but I saw plenty of awful things. 209 00:10:18,150 --> 00:10:19,368 I saw theft, 210 00:10:19,368 --> 00:10:23,389 broken promises, I saw fraud, I saw companies ruined, 211 00:10:23,389 --> 00:10:26,392 I saw pensions stolen, I saw lives destroyed. 212 00:10:29,812 --> 00:10:32,815 You know what I learned? 213 00:10:33,649 --> 00:10:36,652 Our capacity for wrongdoing 214 00:10:37,353 --> 00:10:40,339 really only limited by our circumstances, 215 00:10:40,473 --> 00:10:43,459 by the opportunities that we have. 216 00:10:46,729 --> 00:10:48,564 And our ability 217 00:10:48,564 --> 00:10:51,834 to rationalize and to self justify what we do is 218 00:10:51,834 --> 00:10:54,837 just about limitless. 219 00:10:56,572 --> 00:10:59,575 We are worse than we think. 220 00:10:59,792 --> 00:11:01,794 And if you're honest, you know that, don't you? 221 00:11:04,797 --> 00:11:07,233 And right here, right now, for some of you, 222 00:11:07,233 --> 00:11:10,219 you can think of something you wish you had never done that makes you cringe, 223 00:11:10,219 --> 00:11:13,222 that makes your stomach turn just thinking about it. 224 00:11:15,708 --> 00:11:19,261 And we rationalize and we justify and we make excuses. 225 00:11:19,261 --> 00:11:22,048 And we pointed other people and we say, well, at least we're better than they are. 226 00:11:22,048 --> 00:11:25,051 Shoot, you might be doing that with a lot right now. 227 00:11:27,887 --> 00:11:30,322 But the things that live in your head, that live in your internet 228 00:11:30,322 --> 00:11:33,592 history, that live in your heart, the things that nobody else knows about 229 00:11:34,143 --> 00:11:36,629 but you, 230 00:11:36,629 --> 00:11:39,498 what about those things? 231 00:11:39,498 --> 00:11:41,717 What are the times we choose to just drift 232 00:11:41,717 --> 00:11:44,720 along in the cultural current? 233 00:11:44,987 --> 00:11:48,107 Looking like speaking like acting, like spending. 234 00:11:48,107 --> 00:11:52,078 Like the culture in which we sit just like a lot. 235 00:11:55,014 --> 00:11:56,732 So much so that when we finally do 236 00:11:56,732 --> 00:12:00,753 take a stand, when we speak up, we are disbelieved or just dismissed. 237 00:12:00,753 --> 00:12:03,739 Just like a lot. 238 00:12:05,658 --> 00:12:07,526 So much so that when we're 239 00:12:07,526 --> 00:12:10,679 challenged to flee from our sin, the thing that we're doing that 240 00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:15,901 we know we shouldn't be doing, we linger just like a lot. 241 00:12:19,371 --> 00:12:22,374 Are we really so different? 242 00:12:24,710 --> 00:12:26,912 Listen, there are so many voices. 243 00:12:26,912 --> 00:12:29,398 So many voices, sometimes most loudly. 244 00:12:29,398 --> 00:12:32,401 The voice right here for each of us, telling us we're okay. 245 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:37,022 We're not okay. 246 00:12:37,022 --> 00:12:38,841 We are worse 247 00:12:38,841 --> 00:12:41,844 than we think. 248 00:12:42,628 --> 00:12:45,331 And God and His holiness, he cannot. 249 00:12:45,331 --> 00:12:47,249 And he will not let that lie. 250 00:12:47,249 --> 00:12:50,553 He didn't in Sodom, and he won't here and now. 251 00:12:52,404 --> 00:12:53,756 That city worse than you think. 252 00:12:53,756 --> 00:12:55,157 Lot worse than you think we are. 253 00:12:55,157 --> 00:12:57,059 Worse than you think that city faced judgment. 254 00:12:57,059 --> 00:12:58,878 Lot was facing judgment. 255 00:12:58,878 --> 00:13:01,881 We are facing judgment. What do we do? 256 00:13:01,997 --> 00:13:04,200 Well, hang with me because it does get better. 257 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,203 Okay, so that that's my third point. 258 00:13:07,620 --> 00:13:09,872 It's better than you can imagine. 259 00:13:09,872 --> 00:13:11,490 Better than you can imagine. 260 00:13:11,490 --> 00:13:12,691 Let me ask you this question. 261 00:13:14,343 --> 00:13:17,329 Why is Lott rescued? 262 00:13:17,897 --> 00:13:20,900 Why does God choose to save this guy? 263 00:13:24,653 --> 00:13:25,738 Two things going on here. 264 00:13:25,738 --> 00:13:28,073 Two things mercy 265 00:13:28,073 --> 00:13:30,259 and a promise. Mercy and a promise. 266 00:13:30,259 --> 00:13:33,062 Let me show you in chapter 19, verse 16. 267 00:13:33,062 --> 00:13:35,581 We didn't read this, but I want you to see it. 268 00:13:35,581 --> 00:13:36,649 This is what it says. 269 00:13:36,649 --> 00:13:39,652 This is verse 16, but he, meaning lot, lingered. 270 00:13:39,718 --> 00:13:42,621 So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters 271 00:13:42,621 --> 00:13:45,624 by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him. 272 00:13:45,774 --> 00:13:47,092 And they brought him out. 273 00:13:47,092 --> 00:13:50,095 And set him outside the city. 274 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:52,531 Lot did not deserve rescue. 275 00:13:52,531 --> 00:13:53,732 This guy's resume is filled 276 00:13:53,732 --> 00:13:57,987 with compromises and mistakes and some truly horrific stuff. 277 00:13:58,637 --> 00:14:01,640 But God extended mercy to him nonetheless. 278 00:14:03,592 --> 00:14:06,595 Mercy, but also a promise. 279 00:14:07,229 --> 00:14:10,649 A promise that God made to Abraham to bless him 280 00:14:10,649 --> 00:14:13,969 and to bless all the families of the earth, including his own offspring. 281 00:14:13,969 --> 00:14:15,137 That number the stars. 282 00:14:15,137 --> 00:14:19,341 God walking through the covenant, all affirming this promise. 283 00:14:20,876 --> 00:14:23,879 So then in chapter 19, verse 29, 284 00:14:24,780 --> 00:14:28,100 so what it says so was that when God 285 00:14:28,701 --> 00:14:31,670 destroyed the cities of the valley, God 286 00:14:31,670 --> 00:14:35,274 remembered Abraham and sent lot out. 287 00:14:35,958 --> 00:14:36,926 What did he remember? 288 00:14:36,926 --> 00:14:39,929 He remembered the promise 289 00:14:40,412 --> 00:14:41,997 Abraham, who's interceding for the city, 290 00:14:41,997 --> 00:14:45,000 who's interceding for lot. 291 00:14:45,267 --> 00:14:49,221 And then lot comes up underneath this promise that was made to Abraham. 292 00:14:49,221 --> 00:14:53,158 It's like an umbrella that was extended over lot and his family. 293 00:14:56,328 --> 00:14:59,331 Make no mistake, 294 00:14:59,481 --> 00:15:03,652 lot being rescued has nothing to do with his merit or performance 295 00:15:03,652 --> 00:15:07,406 and everything to do with God's mercy and God's 296 00:15:07,740 --> 00:15:10,743 promise. 297 00:15:11,627 --> 00:15:14,630 You could say, well, that's great for lot. 298 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:16,916 What does that mean for us? 299 00:15:16,916 --> 00:15:20,753 I mean, Lord, had Abraham interceding, he had the umbrella of the promise 300 00:15:20,786 --> 00:15:21,387 God remembered. 301 00:15:21,387 --> 00:15:25,741 Abraham sent the angels to yes, destroy the city, but to bring lot out. 302 00:15:25,824 --> 00:15:27,743 Yes, lot had mercy and a promise. 303 00:15:27,743 --> 00:15:32,448 Friends, we have something so much better, so much better. 304 00:15:34,917 --> 00:15:36,602 We have God himself coming 305 00:15:36,602 --> 00:15:40,439 in the person of Jesus, the only truly righteous person that has ever lived. 306 00:15:40,439 --> 00:15:43,592 The only person that can actually meet the standard for escaping 307 00:15:43,592 --> 00:15:46,578 God's judgment. 308 00:15:50,366 --> 00:15:52,651 Joe talked last week about flipping the script. 309 00:15:52,651 --> 00:15:55,888 God loves to flip the script while the script flips a bit here, 310 00:15:55,888 --> 00:15:59,792 because in this, in this beautiful inversion of the passage 311 00:16:01,677 --> 00:16:05,581 and an incredible display of mercy, you see Jesus, who's that one righteous 312 00:16:05,581 --> 00:16:11,370 man, Jesus, who was judged like Sodom so that the wicked could be rescued. 313 00:16:11,453 --> 00:16:14,456 Like lot. 314 00:16:16,191 --> 00:16:16,742 Jesus 315 00:16:16,742 --> 00:16:20,763 the righteous, destroyed for the sake of the wicked. 316 00:16:20,763 --> 00:16:25,167 All of that sulfur and fire that was brought down on the city 317 00:16:25,918 --> 00:16:28,320 multiplied a thousand fold, a million fold. 318 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,757 That's what came down on the shoulders of Jesus on the cross 319 00:16:31,757 --> 00:16:34,877 judgment, not for his sins, but for ours. 320 00:16:34,877 --> 00:16:40,249 Not just for a city, but for every single one of us, giving Jesus what we deserve. 321 00:16:40,249 --> 00:16:43,619 Every thought, every word, every action, every compromise, 322 00:16:43,619 --> 00:16:46,188 every time we just drifted along, every time we cut a corner, 323 00:16:46,188 --> 00:16:49,742 every time we said it's okay when it wasn't okay, son. 324 00:16:49,742 --> 00:16:50,275 Jesus. 325 00:16:51,410 --> 00:16:52,011 It's not on us. 326 00:16:52,011 --> 00:16:54,530 It's on him. 327 00:16:54,530 --> 00:16:56,448 Mercy. 328 00:16:56,448 --> 00:16:59,451 That's mercy. 329 00:16:59,451 --> 00:17:01,103 And then a promise. 330 00:17:01,103 --> 00:17:01,820 What's the promise? 331 00:17:01,820 --> 00:17:05,157 Simply this trust in Jesus and live. 332 00:17:05,941 --> 00:17:07,259 Trust in Jesus and live. 333 00:17:07,259 --> 00:17:09,028 Trust in his righteous life. 334 00:17:09,028 --> 00:17:13,015 Trust in his death for your sins and for my trust in his resurrection. 335 00:17:13,015 --> 00:17:14,900 Proving that the promise is good. 336 00:17:14,900 --> 00:17:17,903 We can rely on it. 337 00:17:20,689 --> 00:17:21,890 We have, 338 00:17:21,890 --> 00:17:25,911 in this series reference Romans chapter 568. 339 00:17:25,911 --> 00:17:28,530 It's a good passage. I'm going to read it again this morning. 340 00:17:28,530 --> 00:17:31,517 This is what it says. 341 00:17:33,469 --> 00:17:35,370 For while we were still weak 342 00:17:35,370 --> 00:17:38,390 at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 343 00:17:38,907 --> 00:17:41,693 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, 344 00:17:41,693 --> 00:17:43,228 but perhaps for a good person. 345 00:17:43,228 --> 00:17:44,730 One would dare even to die. 346 00:17:44,730 --> 00:17:47,733 But God shows his love for us 347 00:17:47,850 --> 00:17:52,738 in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 348 00:17:57,659 --> 00:17:58,977 Christian, everything you've 349 00:17:58,977 --> 00:18:03,232 thought you have said you have done, Jesus has 350 00:18:03,232 --> 00:18:06,235 and is now interceding for you 351 00:18:06,418 --> 00:18:08,670 in the throne room of God the Father. 352 00:18:08,670 --> 00:18:11,039 He's saying, I took it as you put it on me. 353 00:18:11,039 --> 00:18:14,042 It's not on them, it's on me. 354 00:18:14,810 --> 00:18:18,447 And then he presents his finished righteousness on our behalf. 355 00:18:18,447 --> 00:18:22,017 Later on in chapter five of Romans, Paul tells us that by Jesus's 356 00:18:22,017 --> 00:18:25,637 obedience, many will be made righteous because of Jesus. 357 00:18:25,637 --> 00:18:29,041 In the eyes of God, we are deemed righteous. 358 00:18:32,761 --> 00:18:34,046 In the umbrella 359 00:18:34,046 --> 00:18:37,616 of God's promise doesn't just extend to lot and a few family members 360 00:18:37,616 --> 00:18:40,652 to get out of a city alive, it extends to all 361 00:18:40,652 --> 00:18:44,456 who would believe for all time to be in relationship forever. 362 00:18:44,456 --> 00:18:46,708 Relationship with God the Father. 363 00:18:46,708 --> 00:18:47,876 That's the promise. 364 00:18:53,248 --> 00:18:54,049 As I was 365 00:18:54,049 --> 00:18:57,903 preparing for this message, I found myself thinking about 366 00:18:57,903 --> 00:19:00,889 funhouse mirrors of all things. 367 00:19:01,657 --> 00:19:03,625 Ever been to a funhouse? 368 00:19:03,625 --> 00:19:05,627 They got those mirrors you can stand in front of them. 369 00:19:05,627 --> 00:19:08,630 They make you look very, very different, don't they? 370 00:19:09,231 --> 00:19:11,283 I like the skinny one. 371 00:19:11,283 --> 00:19:12,167 You get in front of one 372 00:19:12,167 --> 00:19:15,804 and it makes you look actually two skinny, emaciated, wasted away. 373 00:19:15,804 --> 00:19:19,041 You get in front of the next mirror and you're jumbo sized. 374 00:19:20,342 --> 00:19:22,761 And just like those two types of mirrors can distort 375 00:19:22,761 --> 00:19:26,298 our physical view of ourselves, so too, so too, 376 00:19:26,431 --> 00:19:30,302 we can have distorted views of ourselves and of God. 377 00:19:31,019 --> 00:19:34,339 See, some of us can think that we're too far gone to be redeemed. 378 00:19:34,339 --> 00:19:38,160 We've done too much, or that were too insignia for God 379 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:40,045 to even give us a second thought. 380 00:19:40,045 --> 00:19:42,381 It's like standing in front of that funhouse mirror 381 00:19:42,381 --> 00:19:43,982 where you're wasting away to nothing. 382 00:19:45,651 --> 00:19:46,068 Some of 383 00:19:46,068 --> 00:19:49,071 us have a pretty good view of ourselves. 384 00:19:49,171 --> 00:19:51,323 Too good of a view of ourselves. 385 00:19:51,323 --> 00:19:55,878 We think we're too good to need God, or we've forgotten how much we need him. 386 00:19:55,878 --> 00:19:58,797 It's like standing in front of that jumbo sized mirror. 387 00:19:58,797 --> 00:20:01,617 Let me speak to each of you here briefly. 388 00:20:01,617 --> 00:20:04,620 If you're here and you believe that you're too far gone, 389 00:20:05,187 --> 00:20:07,923 or that you're too insignificant, 390 00:20:07,923 --> 00:20:11,360 don't miss what God did here with lot. 391 00:20:12,144 --> 00:20:15,948 Don't miss what God does time and time and time again. 392 00:20:15,948 --> 00:20:17,432 In the story of the Bible. 393 00:20:17,432 --> 00:20:20,419 The people that don't deserve it, that are too far gone. 394 00:20:23,338 --> 00:20:25,757 Too insignificant. 395 00:20:25,757 --> 00:20:28,277 The God of the Bible 396 00:20:28,277 --> 00:20:30,445 is a God of thieves, adulterers, 397 00:20:30,445 --> 00:20:33,649 murderers, refugees, rejects, pariahs. 398 00:20:33,649 --> 00:20:36,652 That's the God of the Bible. 399 00:20:39,204 --> 00:20:41,423 He's not just for other people. 400 00:20:41,423 --> 00:20:42,741 He's for you. 401 00:20:44,059 --> 00:20:44,993 He sees you. 402 00:20:44,993 --> 00:20:46,345 He he knows you. 403 00:20:46,345 --> 00:20:46,945 He loves you. 404 00:20:46,945 --> 00:20:51,033 He sent his son to die for you so that you could be in relationship with him. 405 00:20:52,618 --> 00:20:54,603 You're never too far gone. 406 00:20:54,603 --> 00:20:57,589 You're never too insignificant for him. 407 00:20:59,458 --> 00:21:02,461 But you here today. 408 00:21:02,628 --> 00:21:04,880 And you think 409 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:06,632 you're in good shape. Too good to need God. 410 00:21:06,632 --> 00:21:09,501 Maybe you've forgotten how much you need him. 411 00:21:09,501 --> 00:21:11,486 Let me just remind you, the Bible's very clear on this. 412 00:21:11,486 --> 00:21:14,306 No one is good enough. 413 00:21:14,306 --> 00:21:17,309 No one safe for Jesus meets that standard. 414 00:21:19,628 --> 00:21:20,729 And it took nothing 415 00:21:20,729 --> 00:21:24,566 less than the death of the perfectly righteous Son of God to pray, 416 00:21:24,950 --> 00:21:27,953 to pay the price of your sin and mine. 417 00:21:31,974 --> 00:21:33,542 So if you're prone to thinking 418 00:21:33,542 --> 00:21:36,962 too little of yourself, the mercy of God and Jesus speaks to you. 419 00:21:38,330 --> 00:21:40,198 If you're here and you think too much of yourself, 420 00:21:40,198 --> 00:21:43,201 the price of the promise speaks to you. 421 00:21:47,456 --> 00:21:48,840 Because it is worse. 422 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:50,842 We are worse than we think. 423 00:21:50,842 --> 00:21:54,896 But the good news of Jesus is better than we could ever imagine. 424 00:21:54,896 --> 00:21:59,818 Mercy to the unrighteous and a promise made and kept 425 00:22:00,869 --> 00:22:02,721 through Jesus. 426 00:22:02,721 --> 00:22:05,724 Would you pray with me? 427 00:22:09,361 --> 00:22:12,347 Heavenly father, you are just so good. 428 00:22:13,498 --> 00:22:16,251 The breadth of your mercy is just staggering. 429 00:22:16,251 --> 00:22:19,254 Jesus, what you chose to do. 430 00:22:20,138 --> 00:22:21,440 Is unbelievable. 431 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,443 We stand in awe of that. 432 00:22:26,061 --> 00:22:29,064 I pray for everyone here today. 433 00:22:31,466 --> 00:22:32,034 That if 434 00:22:32,034 --> 00:22:35,037 if they believe they're too far gone, 435 00:22:35,971 --> 00:22:39,174 Holy Spirit, you'd be reminding them God sees them. 436 00:22:39,174 --> 00:22:42,177 He loves them. He sent his son for them. 437 00:22:42,661 --> 00:22:45,647 They see the mercy of Jesus. 438 00:22:46,314 --> 00:22:49,134 For those of us that forget how much we actually need you, God, 439 00:22:49,134 --> 00:22:54,139 we be convicted and humbled and stand in awe of the price of the promise. 440 00:22:57,392 --> 00:23:00,379 Pray these things in Jesus name. 441 00:23:00,979 --> 00:23:01,346 Amen.