[00:00:01] Welcome to the River Church podcast. We're all about bringing the life, hope and love of Jesus to everyone around us. For more information, check out our
[email protected] okay, I'm going to read it myself now. And we keep our eyes on it and just look at the one that just gets you there, you know? So Psalm 11, 4, 7. It says in the new living translation, but the Lord in his holy temple is in his holy temple. The Lord still rules from heaven. He watches everyone closely, examining every person on earth. The Lord examines both the righteous and the wicked. He hates those who love violence. He will rain down blazing coals and burning sulfur on the wicked, punishing them with scorching winds. For the righteous Lord loves justice and the upright will see his face. Which one jumps at you? Anyone? Quickly, what line did you say?
[00:00:57] Line three. What does line three say? He watches everyone closely. He observes everyone on the earth. That actually jumped at me as well. I must say. That was my one. Anybody else? Thank you.
[00:01:12] The Lord is righteous. He loves justice. Thank you. I hear an echo here. Thank you.
[00:01:18] The upright will see his face.
[00:01:21] What a promise.
[00:01:22] What a promise.
[00:01:25] What a promise.
[00:01:28] What a promise that the upright will see his face.
[00:01:34] Sorry, bear with me. That's just me speaking in tongues to my father and just expressing and just connecting because it really just touches the deep depth of me.
[00:01:43] So it's just my way of connecting the spirit. But yes, the upright, the righteous will see his face. Any other line that jumps at you?
[00:01:51] Anyone that has not been said?
[00:01:57] The one about the burning sulfur, Karen, isn't it like literally, where's that one now? On the wicked, he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur. You're like, what?
[00:02:10] God is love? You know, you begin to ask that question, but what is the truth? That's the word of God. That's what's going to happen. My husband was saying he examines the righteous. Yes, that's the one. That one that just says, God is watching me.
[00:02:26] That's the one. So, Father Lord, as we have come into your word, I ask this morning that we will know you better, that our hearts will continually draw to you, that we will stay in you. That God, we would also receive of you this morning what you would want us to do, who you would want us to be in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:02:47] So the topic I have. Thank you everyone for jumping in. I love the shout out. Thank you. The judge of all the earth is this topic I have today. And I think we know that as a church, we have been on a Series, isn't it? Who knows that?
[00:03:00] Who knows the title of the series? I think the Teacher in Me is coming out today. Who knows the title of the series?
[00:03:06] Eyes on the. Okay, tell me then, the Greatest Story.
[00:03:11] It's the Greatest Story. That's not, it's not on the board, actually. I got you. Okay, it's there, it's there, it's there, it's there.
[00:03:16] The Greatest Story. And what we've been doing with this series, let me tell you, let me tell you, we have not been trying to look for moral lessons. If you noticed, we have not been doing that whilst we can do that. And in fact, the scripture, we have this today, Genesis 18 to 19, very long. We're not going to read all of it, but if you go into those, those chapters of Genesis, there are so many moral lessons there, but we're not looking at that. The question we have been asking really through this series is what is God revealing about himself as he unfolds his great story of redemption? That's the question we have been trying to answer. And so I'll take us through, you know, a summary. Just quickly, some of the sermons we've heard in this series. We have had the fall at the Garden of Eden, remember that? And we saw judgment follow it. Literally. God said, this will happen. That will happen because you've done this. Get out of here. You know, and we've also seen the people in Noah's time, isn't it, who also then were in sin and very unrelentless in sin. And God sent a flood, isn't it? And used Noah's act to preserve those he wanted to preserve. We've also seen the Tower of Babel. We've seen what happened there, isn't it? And it goes on. And then we saw even Colin share with us last week or two weeks ago, rather that God makes covenant promises to Abraham. You know, we see from the beginning of days a theme that we continue to see today. What is the theme? That people fall, that, you know, there's rebellion, steady, you know, from Eden all the way to this point. And we see that sin persists, even systemic evil that we begin to see in the days we live in. So we're going to look at the story of justice, mercy, rescue that we can find in the Bible. And we're going to unpack that story together.
[00:05:02] So this is the story, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Who knows that story? Anybody? Okay, thank you very much. I'll give you just a very short summary. But the Story is a story of a city. You know, they were living in sin. Literally, the Bible says that they were living in sin against God. The Bible even says that there had been outcries. So if you go to Genesis 13, there had been outcry by the people. Like literally this city, they're really, you know, committing sin and misbehaving and just doing things as if, you know, they don't. They don't know God and they don't know what is right. So even from Genesis 13, there had been an outcry. And so in Genesis 18 and 19, God was now, you know, going to sort of have a look and say, you know what? It's time for judgment.
[00:05:47] I've had enough, you know, and all of that. And so he had first visited Abraham, which is a story you should sit on so many things to pick from that story.
[00:05:55] And then he was now saying, and let's go there and see what he was saying.
[00:06:00] Genesis 18, 1821.
[00:06:03] Let's look at that. If you don't have your Bible, I got it on the screen for you. And he says, should I hide my plan from Abraham? So he was already about to do this, and he said, should I hide my plan from Abraham? Verse 18.
[00:06:15] Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him so that he would direct his children and his household after him to keep of the Lord by doing what is right and just so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.
[00:06:37] Pay attention to that later when you go home, read Genesis 18 to 19 and understand that. But something I saw there is the expectation that God has of Abraham, of fathers, of all of us. But today is not Father's day.
[00:06:53] But it's a very powerful one that stuck at me as well, you know. So he says in 1920, then the Lord says, the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.
[00:07:15] So in my mind I'm thinking God literally comes to Abraham, tells him what he wants to do, and then says, I want to go and see. And then I remember that God is omniscient, isn't it? He knows everything.
[00:07:27] He's everywhere. Why is God saying, I want to go and see? He already knows what we're doing. That's why that scripture says he examines you see what I took you there. Some of the reasons I took you to some. He sees us. But you know, what I realized is that God, even though he had all the information and all the details, he wanted to make it plain that I am a just God.
[00:07:52] I am, you know, relatable.
[00:07:57] I want you to see the heart and see me. I'm open, I'm transparent with what I'm about to do. Even though I'm your God and your maker.
[00:08:07] And so we see that there was divine investigation happening there. God literally going to have a look and investigate. But what does that investigation tell us, Church? That God's judgment is never rash, that God is righteous.
[00:08:24] That God is righteous and that investigation and that judgment is what is just.
[00:08:32] I'm telling you, that's the God we serve. And I know that we saw that thing about fire, must have thought, what is this? But it's just the fact that there is good and there is bad and there are consequences for both. It's just the truth.
[00:08:44] And with God, we are only on one side. You know, the Bible says that the person who is unstable, you know, who is neither hot or cold, what happens, it says it's pits the person out, meaning you've got to take a side. And we take a side with the Lord. Isn't it on the right path?
[00:08:59] And so we see that as a holy, fair, just God who is even accountable, despite being God. I love that. I love that I could pick his brain sort of. That's what I loved. That, you know, he could share what he wants to do. But with us, that's the kind of God that you and I serve. And so we then move quickly to see what then happened. So that's the first thing I saw, investigation, divine investigation that reveals to me that God's judgment is never rash. It is righteous investigated. And it is just now we go on to see Abraham then approaching him and saying to him in these verses, he says, then Abraham approached him and said, will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
[00:09:41] What if there are 50 people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the 50 righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing. Imagine the conversation. I was so gripped. I was like, you know, I've read this again and again. But again, just like Abraham, really, so I can tell God, far be it, you know, for you to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous with the wicked alike, far be it from you will not the judge of all earth do right?
[00:10:12] That was Abraham to God.
[00:10:15] Will not the God, the judge of all earth do right? Do you know that Abraham did not stop there? God said to him, If I find 50 righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.
[00:10:31] What a God.
[00:10:33] Literally the God who loves people. Who loves his people.
[00:10:37] And so Abraham did not stop. And I thought to myself, that's like a Jackie, I'm sure, very much like me, like God. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait. What if you find 40? What if you find 20? He literally went that way. He literally went all the way. And because of time we can look at it, but he went all the way and kept on asking, asking and investors. So he says, may the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once. You see that in verse 32, just once more, let me speak. What if you find only 10 literally? I want you to just think about the God that we can approach in such a way. Focus more on the God so that when you go home today, you remember the God that you serve, you know? And he said, for the sake of 10, I will not destroy it.
[00:11:22] And the Bible says when the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left.
[00:11:27] God left, then Abraham returned home.
[00:11:30] Something there about how God left, then Abraham left. But that's another topic for another day. Abraham begins this negotiation and bargaining with God to change his mind. But it was more than that. It was mediation.
[00:11:45] He was representing something that we had not seen all the while in the previous falls. If you notice in Garden of Eden, there was nobody pleading for anyone in Noah's Ark, it was build an ark, put them in, this is it.
[00:12:00] And so Abraham was showing us a posture, but not just a posture, but a picture of what is to come.
[00:12:09] That's what he was showing us. Literally interceding for the people. He was mediating. And it was not just an ordinary mediation, it was a covenant backed mediation. Remember what Colin said to us that God had given Abraham literally promises, you know, promises of land descendant blessing that all nations be blessed through him. All of that. Like literally we have something going. And I can leverage covenant and I can speak and I can pray and I can request.
[00:12:38] So literally interceding for the people, the righteous people in the land we actually see. And like I said, we see that. But what I also see is that representation of a priest. Do you see? Which will eventually see in who our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:12:52] It's such a beautiful story, you know. And so we then realize and what I love the Most about it is that God does not dismiss him, but invites him to have that intercession. So I saw investigation in the first bit. Now I see intercession in the second bit. That's what I see in the second bit, where I see someone standing in the gap, you know, for others to say, ah, let destruction not come to them.
[00:13:23] So when I was preparing and preparing and I thought about the, you know, the power of intercession and all of that, but even more the power of the covenants that we are under. A great, a greater covenant. We don't bargain from outside. Abraham actually, even with all of that covenants he had on promises, he was bargaining from outside. Take it or leave it. Yes.
[00:13:44] We intercede from inside. We intercede from the finished work of Christ.
[00:13:48] Yes, thank you, brother. We intercede from the finished work of Christ what he has already done. So we have power that we can leverage and we need to leverage it. So Abraham spoke to God as a servant. We see him approach him as sons and daughters.
[00:14:03] We approach him rather as sons and daughters. And Abraham stood before judgment. We, we stand before God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Let him come boldly and ask, where are the intercessors in this room? Do I have any more? Any intercessors in River Church? Intercessors?
[00:14:19] Only one or two? Three, four. I get it. Thank you for putting your hands up. But I understand it.
[00:14:27] When I was preparing, I really sensed that Lord was saying, I'm looking for intercessors.
[00:14:33] Pray because I am listening.
[00:14:36] Don't think that evil is taking over.
[00:14:39] Pray. There's a reason I had that conversation with Abraham. So there's a reason I'm putting the nudges in your heart church and all of you will have a burden for other people. He says, pray, stand in gap because it counts. He says, you matter. He says, but your prayers even matter more. I'm telling you, you can actually leverage and win and gain ground for the kingdom and in prayer. And if you're here, you're a tired intercessor or you're a retired intercessor.
[00:15:08] God has brought grace this morning. I'm telling you, I really sensed it yesterday. He has brought grace. He has brought power since revive. Wake up again and come into that place. Come and be with me like Abraham for that issue, that family member, whatever it is, come and stand in gap again. He says, my strength will meet you in your weakness. New grace is available. Fresh oil is available and we receive it in the name of Jesus.
[00:15:39] Amen.
[00:15:40] So we see that Divine investigation, we see all of that, and it's a blessing. But what we then see even more is that this divine investigation, this divine intercession by Abraham, which is pointing us, you know, to the big picture of how Jesus stands in gap for us as a high priest, isn't it? We also see that he reveals God as approachable, as loving.
[00:16:05] So it's not just that wicked judge, you understand?
[00:16:08] He's not. He's a loving judge. It's just the way even on earth, you take someone to the court of law, you don't just get judges say, boom, five years, you know. No, they are hearings, you know, one of them. No. Okay, let's hear any other evidence. And you see, and then now explains, even when they want to rule the law, you know, the judgment, they now explain because we have found this on the count of days. You know, I didn't study. I wanted to study law, but I didn't make it through that classroom. But, you know, but I understand that they have to take them through that breakdown so that, you know that this is what is happening, isn't it? Yeah.
[00:16:42] And so we see a God that shows us grace, even though he's just. And he sees all the reasons why, but he still shows grace. And that's what we could see, you know, with Abraham's intervention. Let's go for that so that you can see what I'm saying.
[00:16:57] So Abraham's intercession, you know, now goes further now. You know, he left and then the angels went into Sodom and Gomorrah to go and do what God wanted them to do, which is go and spy the land. Go and see. Come and tell me what's happening again. For real? For real. So that before we do what we want to do, you know, we're sure. And then they went in, they got into the land. You know, they had said that Sodom and Gomorrah, you know, had a lot of sexual immorality, oppression of the poor. Like, think of the highest levels of sin, you know, so much so that even the angels that God sent were almost going to be raped.
[00:17:32] I just want you to understand that if you're worried and sad about the. The whole thing that we see in our world right now, this is Genesis, like way back. And God put us here. We can contend we will win. Jesus already won. We keep praying in the name of Jesus.
[00:17:51] Yes, we keep praying. So they are now here. Lot had tried to even rescue them story for another day. But then in verse 15, he says of chapter 19, with the coming of dawn. The angels urged Lot, saying, hurry, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away. When the city is punished, you're wondering, who is Lot? Lot is actually Abraham's nephew.
[00:18:16] Lot is the gentleman who, when Abraham said, choose one side, he chose by sight. Sorry for another day again. And he went into Sodom and Gomorrah. So he had been living there, and they had gone, but Lot had approached them as he saw them at the gates.
[00:18:30] He saw them at the gate and said, oh, come. Come and stay with me. And brought salvation to himself, but salvation that was layered on whose intercession?
[00:18:40] Abraham's intercession.
[00:18:43] So he said, so they had now come and they're trying to save and say, we're going to do what we're going to do. I mean, we can already see they even tried to do this to us. So we're going to do what we're going to do. But come, come and leave. Come and leave. You know, that's what they were saying to him. But he hesitated. The men literally grabbed him. You know, grabbed his hand, grabbed his wife, grabbed his daughters. Talk about a divine rescue.
[00:19:04] Grabbed him, grabbed the family and literally shove them out. When he hesitated, that's what they did. And as soon as they brought him out, one of them said, flee for your lives. Don't look back, but don't stop anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away.
[00:19:24] We go further and see that. He then says to them, in 24, the Lord rained down. The Bible says the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky of Sodom and Gomorrah.
[00:19:35] He utterly destroyed them along with other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people. So he did all that destruction. But Lot's wife looked back as she was following behind him. And she turned into a pillar of salt.
[00:19:47] Abraham got up early that morning, hurried out to the place where he had stood in the Lord's presence. He looked out across the plain toward Sodom and Gomorrah. And he watched as columns of smoke rose from the cities like smoke from a furnace.
[00:20:02] Bible says in 29. But God had listened to Abraham's request and kept Lot safe, removing him from the disaster that engulfed the cities on the plain. And you know what? Lot and his daughters, they were what? They were saved not because Lot was heroic, but because God remembered Abraham, remembered Abraham, remembered intercession. Remember covenant. It was really covenant, A divine rescue.
[00:20:36] Our God who spares our God who saves our God. Who spares our God, who saves. He's going to spare your child. He's going to spare our land. He's going to spare the people of Dartford. He's going to bring them to him. That is the God that we serve.
[00:20:52] And so even when judgment was necessary, what we saw that. What we saw in that story is that mercy prevailed. He didn't refuse mercy. This is why intercession still matters. And this is why it must continue. Judgment in scripture will, you know, it doesn't cancel God's promises. After this episode with Sodom and Gomorrah, we see Abraham continue. We see God continue his redemption plan.
[00:21:17] Like, literally. Let me show you something. I saw. I know that I need to wrap up. I saw that even after this destruction, Lot and his daughters were now alone. They did some despicable things that I can't speak of now. But they gave birth to Moab.
[00:21:36] Moab is the king of the Moabites. The Moabites is not. Is that not where this woman came from? Ruth. Ruth will have to be in the lineage of Jesus Christ. I don't know if you understand what I'm saying there. That even with all of these things that were happening and God, you know, passing on judgment, a loving God is still thinking, I've got my big plan. I'm going to save my people. They are not going to perish. If they come to me, I will save them.
[00:22:03] That's the God we serve.
[00:22:06] That's the God that we serve. But I see hear a God who does not like sin.
[00:22:14] Let's be clear.
[00:22:15] Let's go home with that. Let's teach our children that he doesn't like it. He's a holy God. Almost wake up every day with that.
[00:22:25] Judgment is real.
[00:22:26] Rescue is gracious.
[00:22:28] Mercy is costly. Honestly, it is what he will give us. He's here for us.
[00:22:34] And so we have the scripture that says. And Peter tells us in second Peter three, I think it says, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise. He is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance. And yet the day of the Lord will come. He's telling us that eventually I will do what I will do. But we've got all the time now, do you see? And maybe we don't really have all the time.
[00:22:57] The end days are even here. More than ever before. We already see those signs that Jesus talked about in John. Go and read them again. So evident I'm even wondering which one has not really come to. Maybe the fact that all the nations, isn't it? We hear of the Lord, maybe that even that. So we better be careful. So Genesis 18 and 19 is not a story of a God who is quick tempered, you know, or eager to destroy. No. They reveal a God who hears the cries of injustice, who investigates before he acts, who welcomes intercession, who rescues before judgment falls. And this story sits perfectly in the greatest story of the Bible.
[00:23:32] A wholly committed God, committed to justice, relentlessly faithful to his promise. What has he promised?
[00:23:40] He will bring it to pass. But that promise, the big promise of redeeming humanity.
[00:23:45] And he gave his son Jesus Christ to see to that.
[00:23:49] I want us to pray three things that came to me. Pray for yourself, Jackie.
[00:23:55] Pray for yourself. I want you to put your hand on your heart and is anybody in the church, we can close our eyes for a minute. Anybody who is in church and saying, I want to repent of my sins. I realize that I'm insane. I'm not doing the right thing. I want everyone to close your eyes because it's a private business, please. So I want you just. I'm here. Just put your hand up just above your head to just say, I'm coming back to the Lord. I want to come back. Thank you Jesus, for my brother. Oh my God. Thank you. Anybody else?
[00:24:21] Thank you God.
[00:24:23] Thank you Jesus, for the souls that are coming back to you. Thank you, God. Anybody else? You have a chance that you're saying, I want to come. Come back to you, Lord. I love you, Lord. I'm sorry I've walked away. No, this cannot be me. I don't want judgment. I want mercy. Oh Father, I thank you for this too. I thank you, oh God, for your. For your souls that are coming back to you. We give you praise. Oh God, you want to say with me, Lord Jesus, I come back to you. I accept you as my Savior. Forgive me of all my sins. Restore me unto you. Restore me unto you. Thank you for dying for for me. And now I am yours. I confess with my mouth that I am yours and you are my Lord and my Savior. From this moment. In the name of Jesus, I am delivered from sin and I walk in light. From this moment.
[00:25:10] Say that. And it is so. In Jesus name I would love to have a conversation with you after the service if you can please come and meet our elder. You know Atilo as well. He'll be glad to pray with you and we can take this further.
[00:25:23] But now let's pray. Oh, can we give God praise for those souls? Thank you, Jesus. Yes, for Restoration.
[00:25:30] Glory to you, God Almighty for restoration. Now let us pray for ourselves. Eyes closed by your hands on your chest. I want you to pray. I want you to pray. I want you to pray. Ah, look at the. The prayer. I want you to pray. I'll tell you, don't look at it. Father, search my heart. Expose anything in me that grieves you. Give me grace to repent quickly and to walk uprightly so I don't grow casual with sin. That's the real prayer. So I don't grow casual with sin so it doesn't become something I'm comfortable with. So, Father, help me. Help me, Lord, I present myself to you. Help me, Father, help me. Search my heart and purge it and show me those areas where it looks like I'm sleeping a little bit. I'm becoming okay with telling this white lie. More lies or gossiping or whatever. Father, help me.
[00:26:17] In Jesus name, Amen.
[00:26:19] Now we are going to do something significant. Hold hands with anybody you are, anybody. Just hold hands. You can even do a straight long line. We are going to pray. Look at the screen. We are going to pray like Abraham. You know those people around you that need the Lord, your friends in uni, your neighbors, your spouse, whatever, your father, your mother, you know, begin to pray. Let's close our eyes and begin to pray now. But just pray out loud. Quickly, Father. Restore them. Bring them to you, O God. Open their eyes. Draw them to Jesus Christ. Rescue them from their darkness. Lord, this is our prayer this morning. Pray out loud. Let heaven hear your intercession. Heaven heard Abraham's intercession. Lord, we pray. We stand in God for those we love. Open their eyes. Draw them to you. Rescue them from darkness. In the name of Jesus. And we will testify. In Jesus mighty name we pray.
[00:27:08] And this last one, we're going to rise. Let's rise and we're going to pray as the church. We're going to still hold hands, but we're going to declare. It's a declaration, so let's do it together.
[00:27:19] Lord, make us a church that does not blend in but shines.
[00:27:27] Use us to lovingly one boldly witness and faithfully draw people to you.
