by: Joel Brassfield

Earlier in Genesis chapter 19 we saw that God came to Abraham as a man, and He gave Abraham a test. God presented Himself as an opportunity for Abraham to minister to Him. We saw that Abraham passed the test by becoming the servant of these men. In this section of Scripture we will see that God is also going to give Sarah a pop-quiz.

Let's pick it up in Genesis chapter 19 verse nine.

"Then they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" And he said, "There, in the tent."

This is the introduction to the test, and it begins with a question. That's the way all good tests begin. I want you to notice that God uses Sarah's new name. He did not call her Sarai. What does that tell us? It tells us that Abraham is not the only one who received revelation into the true character of God. For Sarah, God was her El Shaddai. Sarah now knew that as God promised something, He is able to provide it.

So, Sarah is in the tent listening in on the conversation and the stranger speaks…

"I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself.

Here we have a new revelation - it's time for the promised child to be born. Who spoke that revelation? Think about it very hard. You might be tempted to say God. We know it was God, but Sarah and Abraham did not know that yet. God has not yet revealed who He is. Well, you might say, "Wait a minute! He knew Sarah's name!" Yeah, but so what? Abraham was a very famous man in that part of the country. Remember, he was the great war-hero of Genesis chapter 14. Anyone who came into that region would have known who Abraham and Sarah are. That doesn't prove anything

Listen gang, enter into this context - "it's time for the promised kid to come", so says a man. In Abraham and Sarah's eyes, this is a man speaking prophetically for God, and I want you to see Sarah's reaction. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"

This is one of those times when you and I need to enter into the context. Think about Sarah for just a minute, how long has God Himself been promising that baby? It has been decades! And in all that time God has not provided a baby. Now this man shows up who not only says that a baby will be provided, but he also sets the date. Abraham and Sarah have had God Himself face-to-face with them promising this kid: "I'm gonna give you a kid… I'm gonna give you a kid... I'm gonna give you a kid." And it's been decade after decade after decade. Now some man comes along and says, "By the way, this time next year, you'll have that baby!"

How many of you know that an unfulfilled promise can crush your hope. How long can a man live without hope? How many of you know that when you have no hope you will slip into doubt? When you slip into doubt you will slip into cynicism - a negative, critical mindset. That in turn will produce bitterness, and that in turn will produce malice. This is where Sarah is, gang. She is on the downhill slide, but, don't you and I dare judge her. Would we have been able to respond any better? Year after year of unfulfilled promise, this little lady has heard it all.

Let's just think about her, embrace her my friends. She's in that little tent and she's maybe cleaning up after making those cakes for those three men. She looks down as she picks up the pots and she sees her withered hands. She sees the age spots that are now dotting that once soft and creamy skin. Maybe she turns over and sees the mirror and that mirror tenaciously attacks her as she sees the gray head that is thinning, where there was once that long, flowing black hair of the Middle East. Maybe she looks down as she sees the wrinkling bags under her eyes. Can anyone blame her? "Who is he kidding? I mean, this body is almost dead!" Then she maybe bends over to put the pots away and as she bends over the arthritis hammers her knees and her back. Finally, the reality of life as she knows it proves too much for her to respond in faith, and she instead reacts in mocking laughter and unbelief.

Abraham had laughed once too. He laughed back in chapter 17, but his was the laughter of incredible joy that sprang from faith. We know this about Abraham from Romans chapter 4 verses 19-21. "Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform."

So let's get the context of what is happening here. When God came to Abram and told him he was going to have a child Abram looked not at his old, worn-out body, he looked at what God was going to do. Sarah, on the other hand, looked at her old, worn-out body and she laughed at what God could not do.

At this moment, Sarah doesn't seem to have too much faith. She is so consumed with what she sees physically that she cannot see spiritually. Her faith was gone. My question to you is this: Have you ever been there? Has life ever hit you so hard that you cannot see God? In those tough times of life when you can't see God, God still sees you. In those tough times of life when you need a Father, but cannot come to that Father, that Father will come to you. This is the truth that Sarah needs to learn right now, and it is the great truth of 2nd Timothy chapter 2: "If we are faithless"… life has hammered me and I just can't trust my God… but, "He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." In those times when we can't trust God, God still trusts us, and He will not abandon us. This is what God does with Sarah, and He brings her some more revelation.

"And the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear a child when I am so old?'" Did you see it? Did you see what God did? Probably not. The only way to understand verse thirteen is to go back and read verse twelve. What did it say about Sarah's laugh? She laughed to herself. It was an inward laugh. God turned to Abraham and asked why Sarah just laughed. He read her mind! Who alone can read your mind? God alone. What does Sarah now know? This is God setting the date! She now knows that this was not just some man setting the date for the birth of her promised son, but it was God Himself. He had promised a son many times, my friends, but this was the first time He set the date. I want you to notice something here; there is no rebuke for Sarah's lack of faith. God is not chiding her. He is not beating her up in any way, shape of form. He is confronting her unbelief, with a gentle call to faith. Look what He says, "Is anything too difficult for the Lord?" In other words, "Sarah sweetheart, I can do this. You are not Sarai anymore. You are a woman of faith, so exercise your faith. You are a woman who believes, so believe your beliefs, hang in there."

Look what God does in this further response. I want you to think with me about what God could have done. We learn a lot when we think about not only what God did, but what God didn't do. Think about this, what could God have said to her at this point? "You don't trust Me? You dare to mock the Living God with that laughter? That's it, you're out! The promised child comes from another woman." God could've done that and He would have been justified in doing so, but that's not our God! My friends, that's not the nature of our God.

One of the things that you and I need to learn about our God is that He longs to bless us. He longs to bless us more than we long to be blessed. The glorious truth is that when He sets His eyes of favor upon you, He will go to any length to see that that favor is fulfilled. Want proof? How about the man named Jonah? Remember the story? In chapter one God told him, "Arise, go to Nineveh… I want you to preach a message there." The Ninevites are wicked, wicked people and Jonah doesn't want to go. So, he takes off 180 degrees in the opposite direction. Now, if you were God what would you have done? "That's it! Jonah you're out. Somebody else is going to Nineveh and get the blessing!" But, who had God set His favor upon? Jonah! Who does He intend to get the blessing? Jonah! So God goes after him like a hound dog to a fox… chasing him down with the storm, with the crew of that ship, with the fish… swallows him up, hauls him over to Nineveh and then upchucks him onto the shore. Then what does God say to Jonah? "Arise, go to Nineveh." What would man have said to Jonah? "Alright kid, I'm giving you a second chance, don't mess it up!" Man would have reminded Jonah of his failure. There is no reminder of any failure in God's Word to Jonah. All He does is repeat the very same thing that He said the first time, and He treats Jonah as if he had never, ever sinned.

Look at Genesis chapter nineteen verse fourteen. What does God say? "At the appointed time, I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." That is exactly what He said in verse ten. God treats Sarah as if she had never, ever laughed. Isn't that awesome!

However, Sarah had a second reaction to God's promise. In verse fifteen Sarah denied saying, "I did not laugh." In essence Sarah is calling God a liar. Now, when you or I deny a statement we do not outright deny it, we usually make excuses. If we were listening in on Sarah's conversation with God I imagine she probably would have said something like this: "A chuckle, maybe. A little hee-hee, haw-haw, maybe. But, laughter? Oh no God, You are mistaken. I didn't laugh."

Now, right here we could do what the Church does and focus in on what Sarah did. "Look at what Sarah did! Bad Sarah, bad Sarah!" Listen my friends, God is not so much concerned about what you do as He is with why you do what you do. His intent is not behavior modification. His intent is complete revolution inside of you. He deals not so much with the behavior but with the motive. He gives us that hint right in the verse. What does it say? Why did Sarah do what she did? "Sarah denied it however, saying, 'I did not laugh'; for she was afraid."

We need to talk about this issue of fear. How many of you know that fear is a good thing in the economy of God? Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…" Many of us are Christians today because it was the fear of God that brought us into Christianity. We recognized we were lost, we recognized we were destined to Hell, and the fear drove us to God. Fear is a good thing! But what does that Proverb says about fear? It says that fear is the beginning. It's only the beginning. Listen, several years ago I taught this and someone came up to me afterwards and chastised me for saying it. So do you know what I do now? I say it even louder, because it is truth. The fear of God is kindergarten. It is the ABC's of the economy of God. It's the basics. It's the 2 + 2 = 4. Fear is a given. We're talking about an Omnipotent, Powerful God who can squash us like an ant. We all know that! But, the thing we don't know is that this Omnipotent, Powerful God who can squash us like an ant wants to hold you on His lap! "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge", but 1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear… the one who fears is not perfected in love." So, if the fear of God is kindergarten, what is high school and college? The love of God!

At this moment Sarah is not understanding and embracing the love of God that He IS for her. Grammatically, we should of said, "Sarah is not understanding and embracing the love of God that He HAS for her." However, 1st John 4:8 does not say, "God has love." It says, "God is love." I don't think we understand this so let me give you an illustration in human terms.

If I said to you, "I have coffee." Then you can come to me for coffee. But, what's the problem? When I give you some of my coffee I now have less coffee than I had before. So, what happens is that I am going to start looking at the character of the person asking me for coffee, because I don't want to have less coffee. So, who am I going to give coffee to now? Only to those people who deserve it. However, if I said, "I AM coffee." Then you can come to me for coffee in whatever state you are in. I can give you coffee and I will have no less coffee than I had before. Since, I am free to give you coffee without having any less than I had before then what am I going to do with my coffee? I am going to freely give it to all of you. Do you see the truth? God loves you not because of who you are and what you do. God loves you because of who HE IS! That means you can come to Him freely at anytime - for that coffee. But, if you understand this and you have messed up in your life, and you think that love is something God has, then you are not going to be deserving of what He has, and you are going to run from Him instead of to Him.

I wish I could tell you how many times I have people in my office that this has happened to. People who have stumbled into sin and they don't run into the arms of God, they run away from Him because they think they are no longer worthy. I have seen it over and over in the lives of young women. They make a mistake and lose their virginity and instead of running into the arms of God where it is safe, they have said, "How can He love me now?" They end up running away from God and into more and more sin, all because they didn't know of His love.

This is right where Sarah is. She is in the sin of unbelief. God says, "You laughed, darling." However, instead of running into His arms and saying, "You're right God. I laughed, but I want to come into Your arms and be embraced by Your love", she doesn't trust Him. She doesn't know who He is and she runs from Him and falls into more sin and lies to protect herself. Please understand this, when we don't understand the love of God our sin will lead us into more sin. In Sarah's case, the sin of unbelief sent her into the sin of lying about her unbelief.

John Staut said this, "Unbelief is not a misfortune to be pitied." There are Christians who say, "I just can't trust God. It is hard to trust God." Are we to give them compassion? Yes. Are we to love them? Yes. Are we to be patient with them? Yes. However, they also need to understand that their unbelief is sin. We often look at them as someone to be pitied. John continues saying, "unbelief is a sin to be deplored. It's sinfulness lies in the fact that it is contradicting the Word of the one true God and is therefore contributing falsehood to Him." In essence, when we fail to trust God we are calling God a liar, and that is sin. It doesn't change the fact that it is still hard to trust God sometimes.

I want you to see the character of our God. Do realize of course that right here God could have hammered Sarah for lying? I mean, it's one thing to sin through unbelief, but now she is stepping deeper and lying about it, sin more sin. God could have hammered her. But the character of our God is so gentle, so gentle. "No, but you did laugh."

Then what happened? We don't know, it doesn't say. Doesn't that bug you? We don't know what happened next. Did she sit there and defiantly stare? Did she bow her head in shame and in repentance? We don't know. All we know is apparently God left her alone in silence.

So, what was the end result? Fortunately we have other Scriptures. Sarah received faith and she repented. We know this from Hebrews 11:11, "By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised." Sarah's mustard-seed faith was magnified. My friends, the issue is not great on our part, but a little faith in a Great God who will magnify it.

Back to Top

The Key to Intimacy with God Genesis 18:17-19 Back to Top

by: Joel Brassfield

In our continued study of the life of Abraham we have come across the very first intercessory prayer in the Bible. It is found in Genesis chapter 17 where God says to Abraham, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do…?” In this passage of Scripture we get a glimpse into the heart of our God - He longs to share Himself with us!

Why would God want to share Himself with us? Think about this, three separate times in Scripture Abraham is referred to as the friend of God. God longs to share Himself with us because He does not keep things from the ones that He loves. Honesty, disclosure, intimacy, and self-revelation are the rights to intimate friendship. God does not keep things from His friends.

The next logical question then becomes what does it mean to be a friend of God? When God spoke of Abraham as His friend, He used the Hebrew word ahav. The word ahav means trusted comrade. The idea here is what Proverbs would call ‘the friend that sticks closer than a brother’. This is the kind of friend that God decides to reveal Himself to.

God chose to reveal Himself to Abraham and invite him into this thing called prayer. However, there were some conditions of this prayer. The first condition is that Abraham has a favored position. We find this in verse 18 where God says, “Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.” God called Abraham and put His favor on him. He poured out His blessings on Abraham so that His blessings would flow through him.

The second condition of this thing called prayer is found in verse 19. God continues, “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 first condition is the favored position and the second condition is the practice of that position. In other words, Abraham lives according to the life which he has received. Life came in… life goes out. He doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk. He lives what he believes. His life walk is pleasing to God because he is learning to do God’s will in God’s way.

God does not share the deepest recesses of His heart with just anyone. He desires to share Himself with those who are going to love and cherish Him for who He is and what He is about. Does this mean that God will not reveal Himself to those who aren’t following hard after Him? Does this cause you a problem that God would withhold the deepest recesses of His heart from you? Let’s think about this, it shouldn’t cause you a problem. Look at your own relationships. Do you share the most intimate recesses of your heart with those who will trample your heart under their feet? Would you share those things with those who will not cherish and respect you for who you are and what you are about? The answer to that is an emphatic ‘No’! You wouldn’t do that! Why? Listen, you are a person, and there is an alarm that sounds every time someone would derive and devalue you. The alarm goes off! You get this feeling, ‘this isn’t safe!’ You know intrinsically that you are a person, and inherent to your personhood is the right of personhood to be respected and valued. That is why you guard your heart and choose with your will to only share your heart with those who love and cherish you and what you are about.

Please understand, my friends, God is the ultimate Person. He is only going to trust the secrets of His heart to those who love and cherish who He is and what He is about. His desire is to share Himself with His children who will then grow up into adulthood as the friends of God. He longs to share His heart with the body of Christ. God is available to every single child of God and He will give of Himself to you as much as you are willing to receive of Him. Back to Top

It seems that the key to understanding the purpose of Genesis 18 and 19 is not to focus on Sodom and Gomorrah, but to focus instead on the dynamic going on between God and Abraham. These are two people who have embraced the same passions. A God, and a child of God who has become the friend of God, named Abraham.

Ephesians 1:7-10, says when you come to understand God you also come to understand the world. You begin to see the world through God's eyes, and that is kind of what happened to Abraham. He began to see the carnality of Sodom and Gomorrah through God's eyes, and because he knows the mind of God, he has also come to know the character of God. Now when those two things come together, the carnality of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the character of God, it follows that the judgment of God is coming. But Abraham has not only learned the mind of God, he has also learned of the heart of God. He now has a passion for the glory of God, but it is balanced with a passion for the groan of man. This leads Abraham to play the role of mediator and stand in the gap. He prays for the glory of God, but also for the groan of man, and in this way he is functioning just like Jesus.

So Abraham prays to God, he speaks plainly and directly. He speaks persistently to God asking Him if He will destroy the righteous with the wicked. He asks if God will spare the city if 50 righteous people are found and God says, "Yes". Then he asks if only 45 are found will the city be spared and God says, "Yes". He keeps on asking God, what if only 40 are found and God answers that the city will be spared. Abraham asks Him what if only 30, and then 20, and finally 10 righteous people are found, will the city be spared? And God answers, "Yes". And Then God leaves.

The focus here should not be on Abraham questioning God. The focus should be on God answering Abraham. God's brief affirmative answer in verse 26 is what encouraged Abraham to ask for more! God's answer to him in verse 28 empowered Abraham. In verse 29 God's answer to Abraham emboldened him to ask even more. These are the educating steps God used to take Abraham from baby steps, to toddler, to teen, to become ever bolder in his petition for God's mercy. It seems that God truly is more ready to give than we are willing to ask. And many don't want to ask for fear of disappointment. The letter of James says we don't have because we don't ask.

This passage will confuse you if you look at Sodom and Gomorrah as the primary focus. Because in the end the cities are destroyed and you might wonder why God even had Abraham interceding for people who ultimately died. It would seem that God never intended Abraham's prayer to deliver that city.

There are five specific purposes for prayer:

1. This passage is not about Sodom and Gomorrah, but about Abraham and God. It is a teaching for the family of God only, much like the teaching of the doctrine of election and freewill. It is only for you, not for the lost. It is about what God has taught Abraham. He was taught to have a passion for people that he never had before. God wants to instill that same passion for the lost in us. The first purpose for this prayer was to gain passion for what God has passion for. It's to make every one of us His friends.
2. It's to gain the peace of God experientially for Abraham (Philippians 4:6-7).
3. Prayer focuses the power of God on a specific person or place.
4. Prayer affects God's timing (2nd Peter 3:11).
5. God wants to partner with you to participate in His labor, in the glorious unfolding of His plan for the redemption of man and the establishing of His Kingdom. Back to Top

By: Joel Brassfield

Up until now our study of prayer, found in Genesis chapter 18, has been rudimentary. Today we are going to dive a little deeper. However, let's review briefly what we've seen so far regarding prayer.

The first thing we learned was that the cause of prayer is God Himself, see verse 17. God is the initiator of all true prayer. This type of prayer always gets answered because it is God's will. It is a guaranteed answered prayer! Next, we learned about the crisis of prayer - presumption. A presumptuous prayer is one that is initiated by man, which may or may not get answered by God. There are two reasons why this type of prayer might get answered. First, we just happened to be praying inline with God's will at that time. Second, God answered it, even though it began with us, because He is so gracious. We also learned about the communicants of prayer which are God, His children and His friends. Lastly, we saw the two conditions of prayer. The first is a favored position (verse 18) and the second is a faithful practice of that position (verse 19). Abraham proved himself to be a trusted friend of God and God further revealed Himself to Abraham.

Today we find the content of prayer (see verses 20-23). The content of this prayer begins with a proposal of God to Abraham. The proposal God makes is that condemnation is coming!

And the LORD said, "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know." Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the LORD. Abraham came near and said, "Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?"

Please understand in this Scripture that God is condescending to Abraham's level. God is condescending to Abraham's language and understanding. Why do we say that? Well, look at the passage. God basically said, "I'm gonna go down and check things out for Myself. I've heard this cry… if it's really bad I'll know; if it's not that bad then I'll know that too." Listen, God is omniscient. He knows everything! He does not need to go check things out. He needs to investigate nothing! So, what is the point in God telling all of this to Abraham? The whole reason God is doing all of this is because He wants Abraham to know what He knows. He is bringing Abraham into Himself. Let's look at this again.

In verse 20 God said, "The outcry of Sodom… is great." In verse 21 God said, "…if they have done entirely according to its outcry…" Then in chapter 19 verse 13 the two angels say, "…their outcry has become so great…" God is trying to get our attention by using this repetition of the word outcry. He does not want us to miss what is being said. This is an amazing, unexpected choice of words. Why? Think about the city of Sodom for a minute. Skip ahead to chapter 19 and let's take a peek.

The two angels go to Sodom and look what happens. Lot comes out and says, "Look my lords, turn in to my house, stay there all night, wash your feet, rise up early and then get out of here." Is that what you normally say to your guests? Then Lot pressed upon them greatly because they said, "No, we'll just stay all night in the street." "No, you can't stay outside on the streets. You've got to come inside; you've got to come inside." Lot urged them greatly to come inside. In the city of Sodom it was not safe to be outside. Look in the following verses.

Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them."

The word 'relations' in the Hebrew is the word for sexual intercourse. Tune in to this thing gang because this is incredible. It says, "the young and old men", which means what? If you have the young men and the old men then you've counted all the men. But, then it goes on to say, "…all the people from every quarter". Now, that's a very interesting point that is usually missed by most readers. Most people think of homosexuality when they think of Sodom. However, that is not what the Scriptures say. The Scriptures say, "…the young and old men, and all the people", which would include not just men, but women too! So, all the men and all the women of the city have circled the house and have stated, "We want to have sexual relations with these two men."

What does this tell us about the city of Sodom? This is a vile, wretched place! I would put it this way, it was a perpetual orgy of elicit sex, unbridled lust, rapid homosexuality, and many of us would be tempted to say that these people are acting like animals! But, don't you dare say that. Don't ever slander the animal kingdom like that.

Listen, when God made animals He gave them something called instinct. Animals live according to instinct. Instinct very simply means that animals know what is best for them. However, God did not make man with instinct. God had a much better plan. Instead of instinct man was created to have an intimate relationship with the Living God. Man does not need instinct when he has the Living God inside of him. However, what did man do with his relationship with God? Man turned his back on God and therefore he lost God. Well, since man does not have instinct and now he no longer has God, he does not have a guide. I love what Major Ian Thomas said, "Have you ever seen a horse drunk in the gutter puking all over itself?" You see, a horse knows better than that instinctively! It's only stupid man, apart from God, who will end up destroying himself. Don't ever slander the animal kingdom and say, "Human beings act like animals." Please speak correctly; human beings act worse than animals!

This is what is going on in the city of Sodom. Man has now entered into the very worst judgment that he can enter into. This is a heavy word; God punishes sin with more sin! What? Am I saying that God makes us sin? No, don't ever hear me say that. What I am saying is this, God will remove the restraint. It's like a wild horse that wants to have its way, and you drop the reigns and let that horse have his way. That is what Romans chapter 1:18-32 teaches us. "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks... Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts… God gave them over to degrading passions…God gave them over to a depraved mind…" One of the most fearful things God has given us is a free will, and the freedom to use it. Mankind left to itself is the epitome of Sodom and Gomorrah - an entire city in a perpetual orgy.

However, when God looks at Sodom and Gomorrah what does He say? In threefold repetition, God used the word 'outcry'. There is a twofold meaning behind this word 'outcry'. We will see the first one today. It is the cry of violation. It is the cry of a creation that has gone awry. A creation so mutated and distorted from its original purpose and design that the very nature of its existence screams to and at God and all that He is. Now my friends, none of us can fully appreciate this reality because we have all been birthed into this distortion and it is all that we know. We weren't here when it was in its original, beautiful creation. So, let's take a look back into Genesis and gain some semblance of understanding from Father's Word into what the world was like back in the Garden of Eden. Think about it…

It was designed by the Designer Himself. What does that mean? It means that it was a creation that was the extension of God Himself. So fully was it an extension and manifestation of Who He is that when He looked at it He said, "Good". When He created the sun and the moon He said it was "Good." When He created the dry land and all the plants, He said it was "Good." When He created the animals and all the insects He said it was "Good." Then, when God created man He said, "Very Good!" Why? Because man was created in God's image, so who was God looking at when He said, "Very Good?" He was looking at Himself! We are the mirrors of God! We are the only ones who can display His Personhood.

Ponder the creation of God, run with me on this. It radiated the very essence of God, which means it was full of light and full of love and full of peace and full of righteousness and full of joy! Now, let your Father's Word-informed imagination wander and wonder of how it must have been in those days…

The bee had no sting! The lion and the tiger ate grass! Do you realize that the lion and the tiger did not have incisor teeth? How many of you know that incisor teeth do not work very well on a blade of grass? Incisor teeth are the product of the fall of man. That means you and I really don't know what a lion and tiger look like, because they would have had chewers like a cow! Isn't that amazing?! Porcupines' quills were soft! The dreaded mosquito ate sap from leaves! It has to be that way! They had to eat, and they weren't eating blood. So, they must have been sap-eaters. Men could swim with the alligator and the moccasin. Would you want to do that today? Men and women were naked. Please understand there are many scholars who believe that men and women were not just naked, but that they were clothed in the light of God. Many of us believe that man's flesh actually radiated light. It was a radiating nakedness. Cool!

I can't imagine all of this, because I don't live in it. I can't imagine a lion eating grass. I can't imagine swimming with an alligator and a moccasin. I can't imagine men and women naked. It seems weird. It's beyond our ability to imagine, but it must have been fantastic. I can't imagine a married couple sharing the same house with no selfishness, no critical spirit, no negativity, no arguing, no manipulations, or no attempts to control! Can you?

Then came the rebellion! Don't call it a 'fall', the Church has got to wake up and use correct terminology. A 'fall' makes it sound like we slipped. Oops! It's not an "oops", it was a rebellion! And in the rebellion then light became darkness, peace yielded to conflict, security was lost and replaced by fear, joy was perverted to sorrow, love became hatred, acceptance turned to rejection, and life eroded into death. This is the world we were birthed into my friends. We experience first hand, what we were never created to experience. It's true for all of us.

Have you ever experienced hurt in this world? Have you experienced rejection? Has your heart been wounded? Have you experienced death in your family? Have your dreams been crushed? Is your body aging? As all of this stuff comes at us do you know what goes on inside every one of us? Our spirit, made in the image of God, screams, "This is wrong! This not what we were created for! This is distorted! This is mutated! This is in violation against all that God is and all that I was created for in His image!" The very essence of this scream, this cry of violation, ushers a call to the nature of God to respond against the distortion with the radiant Holiness of all that He is and vanquish it!

The Psalmist captured this in Psalm 74, "How long God, how long will barbarians blaspheme, and enemies curse and get by with it? Why don't You do something? How long are you going to sit there with Your hands folded in Your lap?" Or how about Psalm 83, "Keep not silent O God, hold not your peace. Your enemies are making a tumult and those who hate you have lifted up their head." Listen to this one, Psalm 94 (Petersen translation), "God, put an end to evil. Avenging God, show Your colors, judge the earth, take your stand, throw the book at the arrogant. The wicked are getting away with murder, how long are you going to let this go on? They brag and they boast and they crow about their crimes. They walk all over Your people God, they exploit and abuse Your precious people. They take out anyone who gets in their way and if they can't use them, they kill them. They think God isn't looking. They think Jacob's God is out to lunch. Well, think again. You idiots, you fools! How long before you get smart? Do you think the One who made the eye doesn't see? Do you think the One who shaped the ear doesn't hear? Do you think the trainer of nations doesn't correct? God will never walk away from His people. He will never desert His precious people! Rest assured justice is on its way!"

Please understand something here, sometimes this gets us thinking that God is going to 'rise up in wrath and judgment'. That is a lie. God never rises up in wrath and judgment. God is not a rage-aholic. He is not like so many of our earthly dads. Let me try to explain with a word picture. If you have a gas stove with adjustable burners you can crank the flames up and also crank the flames down. Many, many of us think that God is this real peaceful guy until somebody does something wrong and then He rises up in anger and wham-o! That's not God! God is always on the hottest heat. He is always at full heat. God is hot all the time with the righteousness of His glory. The book of Hebrews says, "God is a consuming fire." It doesn't say, "God becomes a consuming fire sometimes." He is always red hot, highest temperature. It is the Holiness of His essence emanating from Him and it burns up all that is against Him. However, it is a controlled burn, controlled by God's patient love. We can rest assure that when God allows a controlled burn in someone's life it is because God knows that man is so determined in his sin that he has crossed the point of no return. Listen, God gave the Amorites four hundred years to repent! That is patience! Now, the whole while those four hundred years are going by God is at full heat, but it is controlled by His patient love. It says in Scripture that He is giving them four hundred years to "fill up their sin". In other words, to reach the point of no return. At that point, the burn is going to happen.

This is what is going on in Sodom and Gomorrah. They have cemented themselves in sin. They have reached a point in their lives, with their free will, they are saying, "I don't want you God." At that point what can you do for them? Nothing!

God's burn is controlled by His patient love, and it is also controlled by His purpose. Now, I'm about to teach you something that you will never understand. Isn't that exciting? God's purpose is His Sovereign determination to do what is best and right according to His perfect plan. We will not understand this, but we are going to teach it anyway. Ready? Let me give you the example of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter five.

What happened to Ananias and Sapphira? Well, they are believers in the growing Church. They have some property. They decided in their will to sell the property, which they did. Are they free to do that? Sure, they are. It's their property, there's nothing wrong with that. Then they decided to give some of the money to God. There's nothing wrong with that either. So, they go and they give some of the money. Are they free to choose how much they want to give? Sure they are, it's New Covenant giving. However, they said they gave more than they really did. In essence, they said, "We're giving you all the money from the land we sold." Yet, they kept some for themselves. Now, stay with me. Where they free to keep that money for themselves? Sure they were! What's the problem then? It's very simple, they lied! Then, as soon as they tell Peter, "Here's all the money" the Holy Spirit tells Peter, "They are lying." Peter then says, "You're lying" and the Holy Spirit goes WHACK, and they're dead!

Listen, you and I have done a lot worse than what Ananias and Sapphira did. How come God does give you and me one final WHACK? The reason is God's purpose. You see, there was a purpose for whacking them. If you read on in Acts it says, "And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things." Please understand, Ananias and Sapphira are in Heaven. They didn't lose their salvation. They are children of God. God just brought them home early. Are you with me? I don't understand that! I've done a lot worse than tell a lie, and yet I'm still here. Why does He do that with some and not with others? It's His purpose.

I look at the story of Ananias and Sapphira and I say, "Where's the grace?" It bothers me. I don't understand it, but it's the purpose of God. I think He was showing us that we better do things His way. Do you think they heard?

The cry of violation is the cry of the distortion of the world that goes out against God. It cries out to the Holy nature of God to respond to that distortion and vanquish it. God has heard the cry and He wants Abraham to hear the cry too. Now, there is another cry that balances this cry and we will get to that next week.

Let's appropriate this, enter into the heart of God, share His longing to restore.
Listen to Ezekiel 33:

'As I live!' declares the Lord God, 'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?'

It's the groan of Romans 8:23 - the groan of a creation that longs for God to restore the world to what it was created to be. It's what God wants. Isn't that what you want, too? This is what God is doing with Abraham, that's what all of this is about. "Abraham, do you hear the cry, son? I've heard the cry. Do you hear the cry?" If you and I hear the cry what are we going to do? We're going to pray! That's exactly what is happening with Abraham!

Do you realize this, God never told Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? Did you hear that? He never told him that He was going to destroy it! All He did was say, "I've heard the cry." What does Abraham say, "I know the nature of God. If it's that kind of cry, God's going to do something. If God's going to do something, I had better get in on it. I'm going to get into His heart and I'm going to pray."

Father, I pray right now for each and every heart here, that we would hear the cry of a world that is distorted and mutated, and that we would respond back to You with the same heart that You have. Not looking at a wicked, wretched world going, "Oh vile! Oh wicked! Oh disgusting!" No, no no, but that we would pray with the same heart that You have. Father, there is a cry going out. Will You hear the cry, Father? Will You respond to the cry? We want to pray the way that You have revealed with Your heart - turn, turn and live. May we pray that way, may we look at the world that way, may we share Your heart. No self-righteousness, no condemnation, no judging, but just a heart that longs to redeem. Father, transform all of us. In Jesus' Name. Amen and amen. Back to Top

Bad Choices      Genesis 19   Back to Top                       

by Joel Brassfield

We’ve been studying the life of Abraham because we want to learn to live by faith which is what we are all called to do.  We can look at Abraham and learn from him.  Hopefully we can avoid a lot of the trouble he got into by not living by faith.  This is a preventative study. 

This chapter of Genesis 19 is all about Lot.  Only three short passages are about Abraham.  Abraham got up in the morning and looked at Sodom and Gomorrah.  He saw the smoke and that the will of God had been done.  There's an incredible insight here because we remember Abraham wrestling with God about the 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 righteous men, and how he passionately prayed that God would spare the city.  He's got a passion for God and a passion for people.  Then God ended the conversation, the prayer was over, and Abraham went home.  The next morning he gets up, and he is silenced.  We don’t read of him tossing and turning, no anxiety.  He put it in the hands of God and let it rest, knowing that God was going to do what was right.  When he got up in the morning and saw the smoke, he doesn’t say anything.   He is a silenced man.   How many know that the glory of God will silence a man?  Silenced by the holiness of God.  Remember Isaiah saw the holiness of God?  Moses?  Peter?  All those guys were silenced by the glory of God. 

The rest of chapter l9 is all about a guy named Lot.  We need to take a break from Abraham and deal with Lot.  Why?  Because we live in the same world that Lot lived in.  There is a fallen world out there that seeks to enslave us.  This isn’t the Garden of Eden we’re living in, it’s a jungle.  There is also a foe out there who seeks to use the world system to enslave us and to destroy us.  Keep this in mind, “the enemy hates you”.  He’ll do anything he can to destroy you, your kids, your spouse, everything about you.   Major battle lines have been drawn, and what makes it worse than all is that every one of us has flesh which wants to cooperate with the world and the enemy.  We’re children of God with some rotten flesh, and the flesh is going to try to trip us up and get us to act contrary to who we are and act like who we used to be.  I hope you see this is what we’re facing every day of our lives.  There is danger out there, DANGER!!  If you’re not aware of the danger you’re going to fall.  The Spirit of God made it very obvious that the people of God need to be warned.  We don’t go looking a lot at the Devil, or the world, or sin.  We look at Jesus, but this is one of those days that God says to look at that other stuff.   So the idea today is DANGER! 

We all need to be warned of the unholy trinity: the world, the enemy and our flesh.  We are all one step away from being burned and that hurts!  I don’t want to be burned, and I don’t want you to be burned either. 

We’re going to look at a man named Lot and call him “A Righteous Man Who Lost”.  Remember 2nd Peter chapter 2?  God called him a righteous man, which means he was just like us, saints.  He had put his faith in God and God said RIGHTEOUS!  But he didn’t live like it.  Now, who does that sound like?  A righteous man who didn’t live like it?  It sounds just like you and me. 

There are two observations that we will look at.  First of all, Lot was in Sodom.   Lot was living in Sodom, but also we’re going to find, Sodom living in Lot.  We’re going to see a man living inside the mess and the mess is going to get inside the man.  If you play with the world, the world is going to play with you.  If you play with sin, sin is going to play you. 

Chapter l9 verse 1.  “Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom”.  This is a technical Old Testament phrase, “sitting in the gate”.  It meant that Lot was a community leader.  The city gate is where all commerce took place.  People who sat in the city gates were the leaders and judges, the authorities, the main business men.  So, all the commerce and problems of society were dealt with in the city gates.  One writer even proposed that Lot was the mayor of Sodom, which is very possible.  Lot could be thought of as the Old Testament Jed Clampett of his day, the “Rags to Riches” story of the local boy who made it big.  Lot made it big by hanging on the coattails of Abraham.  Wherever Abraham went, Lot went.  In the land of Ur, God called Abraham to a new land, and Lot went with him.  Abraham makes a stupid decision living in the Promised Land.  There was a famine and Abraham didn’t consult with God, but decided he should go down into Egypt, and Lot went with him.  In Egypt, God blessed the socks off Abraham, even though he was disobedient.  He lied, and he shouldn’t have been there in the first place, but God blesses him.  When he leaves Egypt he is a rich man.  So who else got blessed?  Lot did.  In fact, they were so blessed that when they came back to Canaan they had a lot of wealth, a lot of sheep and they settled in the main crossroads of the land at that time.  So, they got even richer and richer.  Finally it came a time where two rich people couldn’t live together because there wasn’t enough land.  So, they separated, remember the story?  Then there was the whole Chedorlaomer thing.  The five King alliance came down and wiped out Sodom, and wiped out all the region of the land of Canaan, and they took Lot with them.  What did Abraham do?  He didn’t see the size of the army, did he?  He saw his nephew, and he was a hero!  What makes a hero?  Somebody who will use all the resources he has to come to the aid of another human being and deliver him.  Abraham, with three hundred and eighteen men, wipes out the five army alliance.  Who did that?  That was God!  Abraham comes home a conquering hero, and all the people in the land of Canaan got delivered from the Mesopotamian Kings because of Abraham, which indirectly was because of LOT.  Abraham would not have gone and fought that fight if it weren’t for Lot.  No, he was living in the hill country.  He would have let the world take care of itself.  But the world got delivered because Abraham delivered a child of God.  Do you see that?  So, does the area of Sodom owe a lot to Lot?  Sure, they do.  So, when Lot moves into Sodom, Lot banks on this thing and he moves in like a celebrity!  But now he is out on his own, and when you’re on your own you walk into woe.  Please understand this, Lot is a blessed guy, but why is he blessed?  Because he is hanging out with a righteous guy!  Everybody hear this, especially young people.  Pick your friends carefully.  Hang around righteous people, people who walk with God.  You will enjoy the spillover effect from them into your own life, even when you’re not walking with God.  If you separate from godly people, you will be on your own, and you don’t have the resources to tackle the unholy trinity. 

So, now Lot is on his own, in a progress to a mess.  When it comes to Abraham, there might not be perfection but the direction of his life is towards God.  When you are on your own you’ll find little connection to God and that is what happened to Lot. 

In chapter 13 verse 10, they divided up the land.  Lot lifted up his eyes immediately.  Abraham comes to Lot and says we can’t coexist, there’s too much.  We need to separate.  Abraham being older could have said, “I choose this land”.  But he’s learned not to make decisions like that.  He yielded to God and allowed Lot you choose.  Instantly Lot chose Sodom!  This tells us that Lot has been looking at Sodom already.  Where was Lot’s heart?  On the city lights, prosperity, excitement, opportunity!  He was looking at the world, and when the opportunity opened up itself, that’s what he chose.  The text says “he chose for himself”.  He’s going to be headed for trouble.  What did he see when he looked at Sodom.  He saw that the area of Sodom was like the garden of God, which is Eden, but he also added that it was like the land of Egypt.  He saw them as one of the same.  He saw the world and God as the same.  There are two problems here.  First, he couldn’t tell the difference, and second, he thought he could pursue both. 

Look what Lot did, first he looked to Sodom.  Then two verses later, what do we find him doing?  He was pitching his tent near Sodom.  Now watch the progression to the mess.  Next time in chapter 14 verse 12 he’s living in Sodom, and finally in chapter 19 verse 1 he’s sitting in the city gates.  Do you see the progression?  First he is in the mountains with Abraham and God, then he is looking at Sodom, then choosing Sodom, then he goes near it, then he is in it, and then he is sitting down.  I can’t help thinking of Psalm 1, “blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand…, nor sit…”   Do you see the progression?  The Holy Spirit put that there for a reason.  When you entertain the world you will become involved with the world, and you will ultimately become enslaved by the world.  When you are fully in the world you will be far from God, end of discussion, period.  With every progression Lot made, he got further and further from God. 

So Lot took a side road when he saw the delight of the city.  He saw opportunity: cha-ching, cha-ching!  He saw the delight but not the danger.  Like a sea anemone to an unsuspecting fish.  Lot got into the world and he got trapped, and then the world got into Lot.  He was like a sponge and he absorbed and absorbed and absorbed.  He got fat with the world.  He was setting himself up to be squeezed by God, and that is what chapter l9 of Genesis is all about. 

Angels show up and Lot says, don’t stay in the street, get into my house, because Lot knows where he is living.  He’s not caught be surprise, he knows he doesn’t belong there and he’s there anyway.  Don’t think you’re so strong Christian.  If you’re somewhere and know you shouldn’t be, then get out of there!  He was troubled; his soul was vexed, but not enough to get out.  So the men of the city tried to have sex with the angels, and tried to beat up Lot.  So the angels struck them with blindness and got Lot back into the house and then they opened up an angelic can of whoop—you know what!  “Grab your family Lot”.  So, Lot goes to his son-in-laws and daughters house and they mock him when they hear that wrath is coming.  Lot lost his babies when he compromised with the world.  Don’t compromise!  Lot had no influence on those unbelieving sons.  They had no thought of God.  Choose your mate and choose your friends carefully.  Then they go to grab Lot to get out of there and Lot lingers because in his heart he can’t flee.   If an angel tells you to flee, don’t look back!!  Don’t let weak faith tell you that God can get you out of the judgment but can’t get you where you should be.  Lot’s wife doesn’t heed the warning and looks back and flames overtake her and she is encrusted with salt.  Her heart was so in tune with carnality she couldn’t help look back at what she was losing.  Then Lot leaves Zoar, and he isolates himself.  A Christian who is doing something he knows he shouldn’t be doing will isolate himself from friends for fear of being told what he’s doing is wrong.  Careful Lone Rangers!  You need friends to keep you on the path of godliness and righteousness. 

We read further that Lot didn’t seek God to ask if he should go up the mountain with his two girls.  I think if Lot had asked God where he should go, God would have sent him back to be with Abraham.  Instead he makes his own decision and goes in the opposite direction.  He didn’t want to be around Abraham.  As Christians if you screw up in your life, can you go back to the Church and say, “I screwed up”?  Most Churches would slap you up.  Malcolm Smith says elders should do three things.  1.  Guard the flock against legalism, it is cancer.  2.  Instill righteousness and identity into your people.  In other words, instill Jesus in them.  3.  Provide a safe harbor for people to fail while they’re learning to work out who they are.  So Lot couldn’t go home because of the shame and the guilt, but you need to go home in spite of the shame and the guilt to open arms.  Parents make sure you do that for your kids.  When they mess up and it hurts, first hug them and talk later about what they did.  They already know what they did wrong, first love them.  Be like the prodigal son’s father. 

Lot’s daughters slept with the father and had babies.  That was not passion that made them do that, it was faithless impatience and stupidity.  They thought they were up in the mountains and would never have a baby.  They took things into their own hands.  They compromised.  Lot was grieving over all his losses and he looked to the bottle to anesthetize the pain.  After the pain is gone, the enemy hits you with the one-two punch…first the bottle, then the body.  Many people have lost virginity or fallen into adultery through the two avenues of alcohol/drugs and then doing