Genesis 075 – The Power of Prayer

Genesis 075 – The Power of Prayer

By Dr. Andy Woods – 04/10/2022

Genesis 18:22-33

 

Good morning! If we could, open our Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 18, and verse 20 (Gen 18:20). Seeing all the children leave for camp Sunday makes me want to leave with them. So Gabe, can you come up and preach today and I’ll just go right back there. What’s that? Gabe left too, okay. Genesis chapter 18, and verse 22 (Gen 18:22), the title of our message this morning is “The Power of Prayer”. I don’t know everything there is to know about God, but I do know this much, prayer changes things. Does anybody in here agree with me on that? And we have a tremendous example of that right here in our passage in Genesis. As you know, we’ve been moving through the book of Genesis verse by verse having already covered part one of the book, chapters 1 through 11, featuring four events: Creation, Fall, Flood, National Dispersion.

GENESIS STRUCTURE

1. 1. Beginning of the Human race (Gen. 1‒11)
   2. Beginning of the Hebrew race (Gen. 12‒50)

1. 1. Genesis 1-11 (four events)
      1. Creation (1-2)
      2. Fall (3-5)
      3. Flood (6-9)
      4. National dispersion (10-11)

1. 1. Genesis 12-50 (four people)

1. 1. 1. Abraham (12:1–25:11)
      2. Isaac (25:12–26:35)
      3. Jacob (27–36)
      4. Joseph (37–50)

But the important thing of important things is a promise is developed of a coming Messiah in those chapters. But the tension is through what nation is God going to birth this Messiah and God says, don’t worry about that I’ve got it worked out I’m going to create a new nation:

Genesis, 12‒19 – Abram’s Early Journeys

1. 1. Unconditional promises (Gen 12:1-3)
   2. From Haran to Canaan (Gen 12:4-5)
   3. In Canaan (Gen 12:6-9)
   4. In Egypt (Gen 12:10-20)
   5. Abram and Lot Separate (Gen 13:1-13)
   6. Reaffirmation of Abram’s promises (Gen 13:14-18)
   7. Abram Rescues Lot (Gen 14:1-24)
   8. Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 15:1-21)
   9. Hagar & Ishmael (Gen 16:1-16)
   10. Circumcision (Gen 17:1-27)
   11. Sodom & Gomorrah (Gen 18-19)

The nation of Israel and I’m going to begin that new nation with the man named Abraham and he is a very important figure in biblical history and so we have been working our way through the life of Abraham as of late and we’re in that section there that we call the Sodom and Gomorrah story, historical account.

Genesis 18‒19 – Sodom & Gomorrah

1. 1. 1. Visitation (18:1-15)
      2. Prediction (18:16-33)
      3. Destruction (19:1-38)

It started with a visitation where the pre-incarnate son of God and two angels showed up at Abraham’s tent and he hosted them and they re-confirm to him that through his son to be born named Isaac this great nation leading to Jesus would be a reality and then, in the process of this visitation a prediction is made, verses 16 through 21 (Gen 18:16-21), of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, a very wicked city and it’s there and we’ve studied it last week, that God says, shall I hide from Abraham what I’m about to do concerning Sodom?

1. Prediction – Genesis 18:16-33
2. 1. 1. Prophecy (Gen 18:16-21)
      2. Intercession (Gen 18:22-33)

And the answer is no, because Abraham is such a pivotal character and through him will come a special nation, the nation of Israel leading to Jesus. Given who he is, I can’t hide from him what I’m about to do and so, Abraham has what we might call inside information at this point. He knows that an entire civilization primarily consisting of four cities is about to be wiped from the face of the earth through divine judgment and that is problematic to him and so he starts to pray. I’ll explain why it’s problematic to him in just a moment. But verses 22 through 33 (Gen 18:22-33) record that prayer; it’s what we call a prayer of intercession, where he is praying on behalf of somebody else and so, here’s the outline that we’re going to try to follow today and I’m going to talk through this outline briefly and I’m going to come back at the end and make some observations for us concerning prayer and God’s nature. 4:44

Intercession Genesis 18:22-33

1. Circumstances (Gen 18:22)
2. Communion (Gen 18:23)
3. Intercession (Gen 18:24-32)
4. Conclusion (Gen 18:33)

It begins with the circumstances and you see that they’re in Genesis, 18, verse 22 (Gen 18:22), it says: Then the men… Now, those would be the two angels. Abraham doesn’t know they are angels at this point, it says: Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom… So two of the angels left and went to Sodom and one stays. We don’t know they’re angels yet, Abraham doesn’t know they’re angels, but in the very first verse of the next chapter we know that they’re angels at that point, because it says now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening. So they left and went to Sodom and Abraham is left with one angel, who he doesn’t know is an angel. In fact, we’ve tried to argue that the angel that he’s now talking to is not an ordinary angel but the angel of the Lord. A Theophany, a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus before the manger. You look at the second part of verse 22 (Gen 18:22) and it says: while Abraham was still standing before the LORD… That’s a hint, right? He’s standing in front of this man that is the angel of the Lord. Arnold Fruchtenbaum writes:

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 316-17

“Verse 22 gives the circumstance, beginning with the two angels: And the men turned from thence, meaning from God and Abraham, and went toward Sodom. As for the third member: but Abraham stood yet before Jehovah. God’s visible form stayed behind, and Abraham was standing before God’s visible manifestation in human form.”

So these are the circumstances through which this tremendous intercession is about to take place. 7:00

So we move away from the circumstances to the communion.

Intercession Genesis 18:22-33

1. Circumstances (Gen 18:22)
2. Communion (Gen 18:23)
3. Intercession (Gen 18:24-32)
4. Conclusion (Gen 18:33)

The intimacy between Abraham and God and you see that there in verse 23 (Gen 18:23) it says: Abraham came near and said, Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?… Now, this expression “Abraham came near” that is all about worship. Arnold Fruchtenbaum says:

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 317

“In verse 23, Abraham began by drawing near to God: And Abraham drew near, and said. Drawing near often has the concept of worship. Abraham was already standing near God but now took on a posture of worship.”

Very interesting that Abraham’s first move was not to get an answer from God via prayer, but to experience worship with God and intimacy with God, which by the way, is your highest calling as a human being. It’s your highest calling as a Christian. Your highest calling as a Christian is not what you will do for God but it’s your intimacy with God. That is God’s highest desire for us and we are so focused on what we’re going to do for God and what answers we’re going to get from God, that we forget that all of those other things flow out of initial intimacy with God. Abraham wanted to be intimate with God, he wanted communion with Him, he wanted worship unto God. This is why in the final judgment Jesus will turn people away. It says in Matthew, 7, verse 23 (Matt 7:23) in the final judgment after all of these religious people are sort of showing up at the final judgment, pleading their self-righteousness before God as unbelievers, which is the only thing you can do as an unbeliever, as you get religious and you try to earn your way into God’s presence. Matthew, 7, verse 23 (Matt 7:23) says: Then I will declare to them, I never knew you; LEAVE ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS… In the final judgment the issue is, did you have a relationship with me or not? Did you know me personally or not? There’s not any evaluation here about what you did in terms of success for God. It’s did you know me personally. The book of John chapter 15, and verse 5 (John 15:5) in the upper room Jesus says to eleven disciples: I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing… One of the greatest revelations that ever came to me in my Christian life is the revelation or the insight, I should say, that my job as a Christian is not to produce fruit. There is no Bible verse that says, get out there and produce fruit. What it says is you bear fruit. Not produce fruit, you bear fruit and how does fruit, which is of a lasting impact, how does it come through the life of the child of God? It’s as simple as a branch in the natural world remaining in the vine, you know, the branch doesn’t sit and contemplate what kind of fruit am I going to bear? How much am I going to bear? What am I going to do? It just stays connected to the vine by way of fellowship and the fruit comes organically, the fruit comes spontaneously, the fruit comes naturally and this needs to be emphasized over and over again because in our sin natures, in terms of pride and self-sufficiency, we think it’s our job to get out and produce for God and God never calls us to produce. He calls us to abide, remain and then the fruit will be born spontaneously, naturally. You don’t have to spend your Christian life wondering what you’re going to do? How many people are you going to reach? Who are you going to disciple? Countless questions, how many chapters of the Bible do I need to get through today? The calling of the Christian is to abide and remain with Christ by way of fellowship and what chapters of the Bible you’re supposed to understand today and who you’re supposed to reach and what kind of ministry you’re going to have, God will take care of that in His time. You just fulfill your job by being with Jesus. Stay intimate with Jesus and all these other things that we’re so focused on will have a tendency of working themselves out. That’s why you see so many things in the Bible such as in Matthew, 6, verse 33 (Matt 6:33): Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and all these things… In other words, all these other things will be added to you. What are the other things? What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? What are we going to wear? What are we going to put on? Don’t focus on that, focus on seeking kingdom priorities in your own life, intimacy with God and all these other things will naturally come. You’ll notice that Abraham has his priorities right here as he is seeking communion with God rather than an answer to prayer. The prayer that he’s going to pray is very important, but it’s not his initial priority. His initial priority is intimacy with God and from that now is going to flow intercession. 13:27

Intercession Genesis 18:22-33

1. Circumstances (Gen 18:22)
2. Communion (Gen 18:23)
3. Intercession (Gen 18:24-32)
4. Conclusion (Gen 18:33)

It says in verse 23 (Gen 18:23): Abraham came near… Is that describing you in your walk with God? James, 4, verse 7 (James 4:7) says: Draw near to God and he will draw near unto you… I mean, is that a priority for you? Because not much is going to happen in your Christian life if that is not a priority. Abraham came near and said, now here comes the concern that he has: Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?… He has this revelation of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and he wants to know, are you going to wipe out, God, in this destruction the righteous with the wicked? I mean, first of all, why would you even care? Well, he cares about that because of Genesis, 13, verse 12 (Gen 13:12), where we learn that Lot, I think Lot was his nephew, Lot began to pitch his tent toward Sodom and he ultimately, Genesis, 19, verse 1 (Gen 19:1) rose to a position of authority in Sodom, because there it describes Lot sitting at the city gates and Abraham is concerned about Lot, his relative, what is going to happen to him. So you’ll notice that Abraham in his prayer life was concerned about other people. Isn’t it interesting that when we pray, we have a tendency to focus on what we want and what we need. I don’t see that necessarily here in Abraham, I see him here as focused on other people, which by the way, is the definition of joy, right? How do you walk in joy? J stands for Jesus, O stands for others, Y stands for yourself, keep them in the right order and you’ll walk in joy. Take the Y and export it to the front and you misspelled the word and joy disappears. The most joyful people are those who give themselves away for a cause greater than themselves. You see this selflessness in this man Abraham and this now becomes one of the greatest intercessory prayers that you find, recorded anywhere perhaps, in the entire Bible. 15:53

In the book of Ephesians chapter 6, and verse 18 (Eph 6:18), Paul the apostle talks about different types of prayer, different kinds of prayer. There’s not a one size fits all formula for prayer. In fact, Jesus specifically tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, don’t go into babbling repetition in prayer as do the pagans. You don’t go mindlessly before God repeating a formula. Different circumstances call for different kinds of prayer. What kind of prayers are there? There’s prayers of supplication, asking God to supply a need. There’s prayers of praise, where you just want to praise the Lord. There’s prayers of thanksgiving and there’s also prayers of intercession, where you’re praying on behalf of another and that’s what Abraham is doing here with respect to Lot and so now the intercession starts and it starts there in verses 24 through 26 (Gen 18:24-26) where Abraham says this to God:

Intercession Genesis 18:24-32

1. 1. 1. Fifty (24-26)
      2. Forty-five (27-28)
      3. Forty (29)
      4. Thirty (30)
      5. Twenty (31)
      6. Ten (32)

Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?… Hey! Lord, you’re going to wipe out this entire civilization. What if there’s fifty people there? And you’ll notice, if you go down to verse 25, the basis of Abraham’s appeal is from the character of God, he says: Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike… Abraham knew something about God’s character and his nature and that’s what tailored and informed his prayer life. The better you understand God as revealed in the Bible, the more intelligently and with more wisdom you’ll pray. If you don’t understand God’s nature and if you don’t understand God’s character and there’s only one place to learn of those things, it’s in this book, the more you will ask amiss, as the book of James says. You have not because you ask not and when you ask, you ask amiss, you ask outside of the parameters of God. 1st John chapter 5, and verse 14 (John 5:14) indicates that God answers according to His will. You can’t understand the mind of God or the will of God or the character of God until you understand the word of God and Abraham obviously was a great student of God’s nature and God’s character and that forms the basis of his prayer here. You look at the second half of verse 25 (Gen 18:25) and it says this, famous line: Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?… I don’t know what you’re going to do Lord in this circumstance, but I know at the end of the day that you’re just and you’re fair and you’re equitable and let me let you in on a little secret here, if I can. There are going to be things in your Christian life that you will not understand. God will not explain to you every circumstance in your life. There are things that will happen to you that you will not get. There are things that will happen to you that you don’t understand. There are things in the Bible that remain perplexing to me, a mystery to me, to this very day. I know because people ask me questions. Questions I can’t answer. I try, I try to give an educated guess but there’s just not enough information, you know, what happens to aborted children? Do they go to heaven or hell? What happens to those who can’t believe and die without Christ? Do they go to heaven or hell? I think I have an inkling on it, I have a few scriptures, but I just don’t have an authoritative answer to many things and so what keeps me sane at the end of the day is I know who God is. I know that He is fair. I know that He’s just. I know that God is love and if I understand that about his nature and character, I can rest on that without always demanding an answer. I go back to the end of verse 25 frequently in my Christian life. Things that perplex me I just have to say well, will not the judge of the earth, do what is just? Famous, famous saying. You ought to underline that cause you’re going to need it at certain times in your Christian pilgrimage. 21:06

God though gives an answer to the fifty in verse 26 (Gen 18:26): So the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account…  And I think at that point Abraham is saying, Wow! Let’s test the limits of this. I mean, how deep does this grace go? And let’s go now for another number. I mean, he said he’d spare because of fifty, let’s go down five people and you come to verses 27 and 28 (Gen 18:27-28) and it says: And Abraham replied, Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes… One of the things that you see standing out in this prayer is Abraham understood the creature creator distinction. God is God and Abraham is not God and it’s true with us, right? God is God, we are not God. Now, we were deceived in Eden into thinking we’re gods, but we’re not gods, we’re creatures and that’s how God needs to be approached. He’s omniscient, we are not, He’s omnipresent, we are not. He’s omnipotent, we are not. I mean, what are we at the end of the day? We’re just dust and ashes. Psalm, 103, verse 14 (Psa 103:14), says: For He Himself knows our form; He is mindful that we are nothing but dust… Don’t get too high of an opinion of yourself, because you came from the dirt did you know that? Genesis, 2, verse 7 (Gen 2:7) says: Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person… Now, when original sin happened God says, oh by the way, one of the consequences of that is you’re going right back to the dust from which you came. Genesis, 3, verse 19 (Gen 3:19) says: By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return… And if you don’t believe that’s true, you just look at yourself in the mirror and you’ll see yourself a little bit more dusty than you were last year. There is an interesting Hebrew word play taking place here. Arnold Fruchtenbaum says:

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 317

“The basis of the plea is in verse 27: Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes. In Hebrew, dust and ashes is a play upon words, because they sound almost the same: aphar and epher.”

They are sort of equal, dust and ashes, that’s who we are. Yes, we’re made in God’s image. Yes, we’re valuable. But it needs to be counterbalanced with other biblical teaching that we came from the dirt and we’re going right back to the dirt. We’re in no position to demand things from God and you move there into verse 27, actually verse 28 (Gen 18:28) and he says: Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five… Now we’re down to forty five. So he’s dropping five, I think I said he dropped ten earlier, I may have misspoke. He dropped five. He’s testing the limits of grace here. How deep is the grace of God? Suppose a fifty righteous are lacking five, will you destroy the whole city because of five? And then you get God’s answer verse 28 (Gen 18:28): Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five? And He said, I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there… So you won’t destroy the fifty that were there, you won’t destroy the forty five that were there. How deep is this? Let’s keep exploring. 25:35

So he gives another number here in verse 29. Now you wonder why, and I don’t mean to be overly stereotypical when I say this, how Jewish people are such tremendous negotiators? I mean, it goes right back to how their whole nation started with this patriarch, Abraham. You go to verse 29 (Gen 18:29) and he drops five more and he says in verse 29: He spoke to Him yet again and said, Suppose forty are found there?… So we’ve gone from 45 to forty and then God gives an answer… And He said, I will not do it on account of the forty… Now he gets really brave, because he doesn’t just drop five, we’ve gone from fifty to forty five to forty. Now let’s go down ten. I mean, if God is going to keep agreeing with these increments of five, maybe He’ll agree with an increment of ten and so now the number of righteous living in Sodom goes from forty to thirty and interestingly you find that recorded in verse 30 (Gen 18:30) and it says there: Then he said, Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak… Notice the humility there. He doesn’t see himself in a position to be demanding anything. After all, he’s but dust and ashes and he’s recognizing that God at any point in this intercessory prayer, has the right to shut off the grace that is coming to Abraham. But Abraham in spite of this is bold. I mean, this is bold. He knows there is a chance that God could become angry, he knows that there’s a chance that God won’t listen to him because he’s but dust and ashes. But he has boldness in prayer and if there’s anybody that deserves the right, not deserves but I should say, has the right to be bold in prayer, it’s you as a Christian, because Jesus paid the consequence for our sin debt and opened the channel to God. Hebrews, 4, verse 16 (Heb 4:16) says: Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence… Says, some translate it with boldness… So that may we may receive and find grace for help at the time of our need… Because of our standing in Jesus Christ we have an ability to go into God’s presence with boldness, not on our own account but what Jesus has done for us, and we go in with confidence and we appeal for God’s grace, much like Abraham is appealing for it here, because Abraham had a need and so do we. We have all kinds of needs and God says come to me with boldness with those needs. Verse 30 (Gen 18:30) again, it says: Then he said, Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?… So now he’s drop ten and God gives an answer, end of verse 30… And He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there… And then he sticks with ten again and so now the number goes from thirty down to twenty and you see that in verse 31 (Gen 18:31): And he said, Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?… So now he’s sticking with the numerical drop of ten. We’ve gone from forty to thirty. From thirty to twenty and God gives an answer end of verse 31: And He said, I will not destroy it on account of the twenty… Well, if God is that gracious, let’s just go for the gusto. Let’s drop this down to ten and see what God says. Verse 32 (Gen 18:32) is a description of that, it says: Then he said, Oh may the Lord not be angry… See, he’s not presumptuous. He’s not self-righteous. He’s not saying God I did this, so you’re obligated to do that. He’s approaching God with reverence. He’s approaching God with respect, but at the same time he knows that God is a gracious God. Then he said, Oh may the Lord not be angry and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?… God gives an answer, it’s at the end of verse 32: And He said, I will not destroy it on account of the ten… Now, I read this and I say why don’t you go for five? Why don’t you go for eight? Why does he stop at ten? Cause now the intercession stops and I think there’s actually a logical answer, Abraham stopped at ten here, because ten was sufficient to cover the size of Lot’s household. That’s what he’s concerned about, is his relative lot in Sodom that’s about to be decimated. So ten was his magic number. 31:30

Arnold Fruchtenbaum writes:

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 317

“Abraham stopped at ten, because he assumed that would be sufficient because of the size of Lot’s family, since Lot’s total household at this point did number ten: Lot; Lot’s wife; Lot’s two sons (Gen 19:12); his two married daughters (Gen 19:14); and his two sons-in-laws (Gen 19:14); and finally, his two single virgin daughters (Gen 19:8).”

You add that up that equals, according to my old math anyway, that equals ten and the intercession stops and you get the conclusion of this, verse 33 (Gen 18:33):

Intercession Genesis 18:22-33

1. Circumstances (Gen 18:22)
2. Communion (Gen 18:23)
3. Intercession (Gen 18:24-32)
4. Conclusion (Gen 18:33)

As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the LORD departed, and Abraham returned to his place… With these visions and these Theophanies that Abraham is having, they don’t go on continuously the way you think they would do when you read the biblical story. There are starting points and stopping points to all of them. Back in Genesis, 17, verse 22 (Gen 17:22) we read: When He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham… There was a season of cessation of communication. Abraham was very privileged to actually hear directly from God but it wasn’t something that was going on all of the time and so he returned to his place. Where is his place? Abraham’s place was probably the Oaks of Mamre, where he had been sojourning, an actual geographical place as we’ve studied earlier in the book of Genesis. These are actual people here, folks. These are actual places, these are actual areas of geography that can be identified. We’re not reading here “Veggietales”. We’re not reading here “Jack and the Beanstalk”. This is why it sometimes troubles me to hear preachers preach and they say, you know, in the story of Abraham, in the story of Adam and Eve, and I’m always wondering what that word story opens up to in the mind of an unbeliever or in the mind of a child where they think this is just fiction. Nothing could be further from the truth. These are actual historical events and historical people, you will see Abraham in Matthew chapter 1 in the lineage or the genealogy leading to Jesus Christ and if Abraham and everyone else in that genealogy was not an actual historical figure then neither was Jesus. So be very careful about the use of the word story. I think a better understanding of it is in the historical account, because the youth of today have been so brainwashed through public education that they think that real history takes place in the classroom. That’s where the real history happens and the people of the church, you know, they’re involved in stories. No, we’re not. Everything that’s mentioned in the Bible can be validated geographically, historically, culturally, etc… So Abraham returned to his place. 35:25

So it’s noon and we’re finished, right? No, not quite. We want to, very quickly, develop from this some principles of prayer. Concluding thoughts concerning prayer, I see five in this historical account:

Concluding Thoughts Prayer

1. 1. 1. Power (Jas. 5:16b)
      2. Specificity
      3. Boldness (Heb. 4:15)
      4. Humility (Gen. 18:27)
      5. Persistence (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 18:1-8)

(1) The power of prayer. Prayer works. Prayer is effective. Prayer changes things. Prayer moves the hand of Almighty God. James chapter 5, and verse 16 (James 5:16) says: A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much… Prayer availeth much. Jesus in Luke, 18, verse 1 (Luke 18:1) and this is how it’s translated in the New King James version, it says: He spoke a parable to them, that men always… Not sometimes… Men always ought to pray and not lose heart… Some versions say, they ought to pray and not faint. I don’t know about you but I spend a lot of my life struggling with how I’m going to solve my own problems instead of going to the Lord immediately through prayer. Think of the wasted energy that we expand trying to manipulate life, instead of going directly to the Lord. Abraham had this problem, the civilization is going to be wiped out, which is going to include his relatives and he doesn’t really do a rescue operation, he doesn’t try to solve the problem in his natural self, he goes right to the Lord and the first thing he does when he goes to the Lord is he fellowships with the Lord. He’s in intimacy with the Lord and then he begins to pray. He does all of that before putting his flesh into action. You know, the Bible talks about the arm of the flesh and it says, the arm of the flesh is weak. The flesh can only accomplish so much but the power of prayer that can move the hand of Almighty God. Abraham obviously believed in the power of prayer. Second principle that I see here is:

Concluding Thoughts Prayer

1. Power (Jas. 5:16b)
2. Specificity
3. Boldness (Heb. 4:15)
4. Humility (Gen. 18:27)
5. Persistence (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 18:1-8)

(2) Specificity. He is praying in a way that is specific. I mean, you see that there with these numbers. He starts with fifty, a concrete number. Then he goes to forty five, then to forty. So he’s been dropping five and then he gets very brave and he goes down to thirty, which is a concrete number and then he gets down to twenty, which is a concrete number and he gets down to ten, which is a concrete number and he gets the answer he was looking for and the intercession stops. I’m not seeing generalities here, I’m seeing precision and I would encourage you in your prayer life, when you come unto God through prayer, which is one of the great privileges we have, because of the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you become more specific in your prayer. More focused in your prayer, because if there’s not some kind of specific reachable goal, how would you ever know if the prayer has been answered? So that there’s nothing wrong with praying for, Gosh! I’d like to see that family next door saved. Well, why not why not mention their names? Why not mention their kids’ names? Why not mention all of the kids that come over to visit with their kids? Why don’t we mention their names? I mean, why are we so nebulous in everything? Why do we deal with God in generalities constantly? Abraham doesn’t do this; he’s very, very specific. The third principle that I see is (3) Boldness.

Concluding Thoughts Prayer

1. Power (Jas. 5:16b)
2. Specificity
3. Boldness (Heb. 4:15)
4. Humility (Gen. 18:27)
5. Persistence (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 18:1-8)

As we mentioned back in verse 30 and verse 32 (Gen 18:30-32) , I think it was, God had every right to get angry. Abraham understood that. But he presses on anyway in prayer, that’s boldness. He knows that God is the Creator and he’s the creature, he’s but dust and ashes, but he presses on boldly anyway in prayer and as we have mentioned before, that is your right, that is your prerogative as a child of God back to Hebrews, 4, verse 16 (Heb 4:16): Therefore, let us approach the throne of God with confidence. So that we may receive mercy and find grace… Anybody here needs mercy and needs to find grace? For help… Why do we need to pray for help? Cause we need it Amen? For help at our time of need… Be bold with God, be specific with God. Believe when you pray that God can and will, within His will, give you an answer. It may not be the answer you’re looking for, I’ll show you in just a minute, but God has a way of answering things that sometimes are outside of our little box of doing things. 41:21

One of the greats of church history, I wish I looked this up before I got up here, but he made a statement, I can’t remember if it was one of the Protestant reformers or one of the Wesley brothers, but it was something to the effect of, work as if everything depends on you, but pray as if everything depends on God. God does not bless sloth. He does not bless lethargy. He does not bless laziness. Sadly we can use prayer as an excuse to be lazy. God never says be lazy. So you should work as if everything depends on you, but you should simultaneously pray as if everything depends upon God. Balance. So Abraham believed in the power of prayer; he was specific in prayer; he was bold in prayer; he was also humble.

Concluding Thoughts Prayer

1. Power (Jas. 5:16b)
2. Specificity
3. Boldness (Heb. 4:15)
4. Humility (Gen. 18:27)
5. Persistence (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 18:1-8)

He didn’t act as if God had some sort of obligation to answer any of his prayer requests, because he acknowledges that he’s but dust and ashes, verse 27 (Gen 18:27). God is the creator, Abraham is the created being. He understands the creature-creator distinction, which by the way, is the key point that’s lost in all paganism. All pagan worldviews blur that distinction. Your Bible establishes that distinction and it shows us that that is the basis through which we approach God. So he is a man of humility and the last point that I have here is he’s a man of persistence.

Concluding Thoughts Prayer

1. Power (Jas. 5:16b)
2. Specificity
3. Boldness (Heb. 4:15)
4. Humility (Gen. 18:27)
5. Persistence (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 18:1-8)

I mean, you just see this as he’s working  through these numbers, fifty. He could have stopped there but he went down to forty five. He could have stopped there, went down to forty. He could have stopped there, went down to thirty and twenty and then ten. He is not one of these types of people that just offers up some kind of insipid, weak generality and then quits on God, because he doesn’t get the answer he immediately wants. He kept at it. Is that not New Testament revelation? I mean, didn’t Jesus talk about this in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:7-11? Where he says: Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open… Notice he doesn’t just say, ask, but he says also seek and he doesn’t just say, ask and seek but he also says, knock and then he says, Matthew 7:8: everyone who asks, receives and the one who seeks, finds and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. Or what person is there among you when his son asks for a loaf of bread, will you give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will you give him a snake? So if you, despite being evil… Wow! He’s not very optimistic here about human nature… So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much will your father… Who by the way, does not have a sin nature… who is in heaven give gifts to those who ask him… We all know how to bless our children, we all know how to bless our grandchildren and we’re corrupted with a sin nature and we still know how to do that. How much more is God in a position to answer and bless us when he is uncontaminated by a sin nature? It’s the argument from the lesser to the greater. I mean, if this works, you know, in the natural world, my daughter asks for something, particularly when she calls me Daddy, don’t tell her this, probably nothing I wouldn’t give her. Well, there’s a few things I wouldn’t give her but your heart just opens up and I’m wicked. Aren’t we supposed to approach God, Galatians, 4, as Abba Father? Translated, Daddy. I mean, you think God is just going to shut you down? Not care about what you think? What you say? It’s interesting that when you translate this in Greek it says this, ask and keep asking. Knock and keep knocking. Seek and keep seeking, because it’s describing persistence. It’s not describing discouragement because the answer doesn’t immediately materialize. Now, Jesus Christ taught a whole parable on this in Luke, 18, verse 1 (Luke 18:1). I’ve already read verse 1 earlier, but listen to this parable. It’s in Luke 18. Now, he was telling them a parable to show that at all times, they ought to pray and not become discouraged. Don’t grow faint, Pray. Saying… and here comes the parable… In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect any person… Sounds like a great guy, huh? He probably fit very well on our Supreme Court… Now there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, give me justice against my opponent. For a while he was unwilling; but later he said to himself, even though I do not fear God nor respect any person, yet because this window is bothering me, I will give her justice; otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out… I’ll just give her what she wants to shut her up and then in verse 6, it says: And the Lord said, listen to what the unrighteous judge said, now, will God not bring about justice for His elect who cry out to him day and night… Notice the persistence there, day and night… who will not cry out to him day and night, and will He delay long for them? I mean, if a window can tire out a judge, who doesn’t care about God or man, how much more will your Heavenly Father not grow weary of you, when your Heavenly Father is uncontaminated by a sin nature? I mean, how much higher is God than this judge? Infinitely higher. How much higher are you than this persistent widow? Infinitely higher because you’re God’s very elect. But verse 8 is very interesting, how Jesus concludes this parable, he says: I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly… Listen to this though… However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?…  Because prayer, really what it comes down to, is a matter of faith. When you’re coming before the invisible God, that requires faith in and of itself. You’re asking God to answer something. That requires faith in and of itself. This is no easy exercise concerning faith; this requires faith. So Jesus asked the question, when Jesus comes back will there be faith on the earth or will there be a bunch of people that just gave up? God didn’t do what I thought He was going to do, I quit. I just asked but I didn’t seek and I didn’t knock. I just ask and I seek, but I didn’t knock or I didn’t ask and keep on asking. I didn’t seek and keep on seeking. I didn’t knock and keep on knocking because I just lost confidence. I lost faith and so will there actually be people in prayer when Jesus comes back to the earth? He ends with this interesting hypothetical. 50:37

What do we learn about prayer from Genesis, 18?

Concluding Thoughts Prayer

1. Power (Jas. 5:16b)
2. Specificity
3. Boldness (Heb. 4:15)
4. Humility (Gen. 18:27)
5. Persistence (Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 18:1-8)

(1) Prayer is powerful; (2) Prayer is to be specific; (3) Be bold in prayer; (4) Be humble in prayer and (5) Be persistent in prayer. So we’re done, right pastor? Not quite, almost, because you learn an awful lot here about God’s grace as we read through this story.

Concluding Thoughts God’s Nature & Answers

1. 1. 1. God’s grace
      2. God’s answers

I mean, God was willing to save an entire civilization that was wicked to the core. I mean, when we get into Genesis, 19, you’ll see the wickedness of these people. It’s just off the charts and yet God, in grace, was willing to spare all of it if He could find ten righteous. I hope you don’t have a view of God of hellfire and brimstone. God is hellfire and brimstone in parts of the Bible, but whenever you run into a hellfire and brimstone passage in the Bible, I don’t care where it is, you’ll see His grace also. There’s going to be some hellfire and brimstone in chapter 19. But what do you see in chapter 18? You see that that justice of God, that judgment of God is tempered by the grace of God and as you know, before God sent the global deluge, which didn’t just destroy civilization, it destroyed the whole world, God waited, Genesis, 6, verse 3 (Gen 6:3) one hundred and twenty years, which is about half the length of the United States of America in terms of longevity. Don’t study the flood story and see judgment only. See judgment but don’t just focus on that. See His grace. A hundred and twenty year delay in the midst of some of the most gross wicked activity you can imagine, because God is a God of judgment but He’s also a God of grace. How about the wiping out of the Canaanites? Which we’ll read about in the book of Joshua, at some point. Did you know that before God wiped out the Canaanites, he waited for four hundred years for the Canaanites to repent? People write all these articles talking about how terrible God is, God is a God of judgment, who would want to worship a God like that? The atheists, I’ll tell you, they have a field day with the destruction of the Canaanites. I never hear them quote verse 13 or verse 16 of Genesis 15. I’ve never heard an atheist ever quote these verses. Where it specifically says that God waited four hundred years. Verse 13 (Gen 15:13) says: And God said to Abram, know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years… Verse 16 (Gen 15:16): Then in the fourth generation they… That’s the Israelites… will return here, for the wickedness of the Amorite… Those are the wicked Canaanites… is not yet complete… What this is saying is before God dispatched general Joshua to eradicate the Canaanites, there was a four hundred year grace period. In fact, the Canaanites knew God. Did you know that? God got the message of grace to the Canaanites before they were eradicated. You say, well, Pastor, how do you know that? You just pay attention to what the book of Joshua says, how they went into the land and there was a woman in the land named Rahab, the harlot and read what Rahab the harlot says, in Joshua, 2, I think it is right in there, where she says we know all about your God. We know about how He dried up the Jordan and we know about how He dried up the Red Sea a generation prior to that and how He brought the nation of Israel out of captivity, we know all about Him. How could she know? She’s a Canaanite, cause God got the message of grace to them before the destruction came upon them. That’s God’s nature. Ezekiel, 18, verse 23 (Ezek 18:23) God says: Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, rather than that he would turn from his ways and live?… 1st Timothy, 2, verse 4 (1 Tim 2:4) says: God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth… 2nd Peter, 3, verse 9 (2 Pet 3:9), says: The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance… I hope you’re developing in your mind a balanced view of God. There are those that will only talk about His justice, an angry God and there are those who will only talk about His grace, a weak God, without a backbone or a spine. I’m here to tell you that assembling your doctrine of God is probably one of the highest callings you have as a Christian. To put the doctrine of God together in a way that’s biblically accurate. God is love but he is also righteous. God is righteous but he is also love and I would dare you to find any passage in the Bible that speaks of His judgment that also doesn’t speak of His grace somewhere in the passage and I would dare you to find any passage of the Bible that speaks of His grace but also doesn’t speak of His justice. They go together and you see both of them coming together here beautifully as we learn God is going to set aside the destruction of an entire city, four cities really, if there are just ten righteous.57:10

Of all the things to think about, I think this would be something to contemplate. Paul says in Ephesians, 3, verses 18 and 19 (Eph 3:18-19) that: We may be able to comprehend with all of the saints the width and the length and the height and the depth… Those are dimensions, aren’t they? And to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. How deep is the love of God? How deep does it go? Abraham discovered it went down to ten, maybe more. Paul says it has width, it has length, it has height, it has depth. Amazing the things we can learn about the love of God. One other quick point is God’s answers.

Concluding Thoughts God’s Nature & Answers

1. God’s grace
2. God’s answers

God does answer prayer. James, 5, verse 16 (James 5:16) says: The prayer of a righteous man or woman obviously is powerful and effective and can accomplish much… But don’t always expect the answer that you’re expecting. It could come in a different shape. It could come in a different size. Abraham is pleading here for the city or cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to be spared. God never answered that. He brought judgment as we’ll see in chapter 19 on these wicked cities, but here’s what God did respect or honor. He honored the desire behind the prayer. The desire behind the prayer was the sparing of Lot and his household. So God didn’t answer the prayer that the city is going to be spared, he instead answered the prayer that Lot would receive grace, which he did, because God protected Lot when the judgment fell. In fact, if you just flip the page and look at Genesis, 19, verse 29 (Gen 19:29) as the destroying angel, the angel dispatched from God to destroy the city is getting Lot out of the way, have you read what it says there in verse 29?: So it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the surrounding area, that God remembered… Who?… Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot  lived… We’ve got to get Lot out of here before he’s destroyed. Why would God do that? Cause God remembered not Lot, He remembered Abraham. What did He remember about Abraham? He remembered Abraham’s prayer. So it’s interesting that God brought the judgment, He didn’t answer the prayer exactly the way Abraham thought the prayer would be answered, but God honored the selfless motive behind the prayer, which was the protection of his relative. Arnold Fruchtembaum says it so well he says:

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 317

“Sometimes God will not respond positively to specific prayer requests, but He will respond to the desire behind those prayer requests.”

The power of prayer, one of the greatest prayers of intercession in the entire Bible that I know of. Now, I usually say next week we’re going to get into the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis, 19, but I really don’t know how to tie that in with an Easter message. If somebody knows how to do that, you can email me. So not next week, but the following week we will be getting back to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, but next week is, we don’t even like to call it Easter around here, we call it resurrection Sunday, Amen to that? Where Jesus rose bodily from the grave and we’re going to be talking next week about my favorite guy, Jesus Christ and what makes Him distinct, giving seven points ending with the most well-known fact in history: That the tomb of Jesus is empty; and so we’ll be talking about that next week and then don’t worry, the following week we’ll be getting back to our fireside chat and of course, we talked about the grace of God and the love of God and if you’re here today and you’ve never experienced the grace of God or the love of God, because you don’t have a relationship with the God that made you, we offer over and over again the gospel, which is the truth that Jesus stepped out of eternity into time and bridged the gap that we could never bridge, between sinful man and woman and His holiness and His final words on the cross were it is what? It is finished. There’s nothing left for you to do other than to receive what He has done as a gift and the only way to receive a gift from God, how do you receive a gift from God? That’s a great question. The answer is in Romans, 4, verses 4 and 5 (Rom 4:4-5), it’s all there. You receive a gift from God by faith. If you won’t come by faith, you can’t come. What is faith? It means to believe, it means to trust. The Spirit places a human being under conviction. They’re convicted by God himself of their need to trust in the Savior and they through volition, respond to that conviction by placing their own trust or faith for the safekeeping of their soul into Jesus Christ alone and once that happens, a person, just like that, in a nanosecond, is made a child of God, which once you have that, it entitles you to every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That’s quite an asset list, isn’t it? But it’s entered into by grace. The world of religion has confused people by putting onto people requirements that God doesn’t put on people. He doesn’t ask them to walk an aisle. If people want to walk an aisle, fine, but that doesn’t save anybody. He doesn’t ask them to pray a prayer. He doesn’t ask them to raise their hand. He doesn’t ask them to repent from all their sins, because those are works, aren’t they? What He asks them to do is to trust. You can trust Jesus where you are seated. You don’t have to do anything, because trust is a condition of the heart, and so anybody here that needs to respond to that message, you can do it right now in your own privacy as the Lord places you under conviction. Anybody listening online can do it right now. Anybody listening to this or watching this via archive after the fact can do it right now because it’s a free gift. It is given completely on the basis of grace and so, if it’s something you need more explanation on. I’m available after the service to talk. Shall I pray? Father, we’re grateful for this wonderful account of intercession and the power of prayer. I do pray Lord, that you make us people of prayer, particularly this week, Holy Week, which will culminate in our celebration of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. We’ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and God’s people said, Amen.