Couldn’t Find Ten?

Today’s Passage – Genesis 17 – 19 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – Matthew 11 – 12; Proverbs 6; Psalms 26 – 30

Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – Psalm 25

Read the “0106 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read previous posts from this passage –“Don’t Look Back,” “Abraham Did a Little Walking With God, Too,” “The Prayer of a Friend,” and “God Knows You.”

26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which [am but] dust and ashes: 28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for [lack of] five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy [it]. 29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do [it] for forty’s sake. 30 And he said [unto him], Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do [it], if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for twenty’s sake. 32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy [it] for ten’s sake. (Genesis 18:26-32)

This is a very sad story. God informs Abraham that He is going to destroy Sodom because of all of the wickedness that filled the city. Abraham was obviously very concerned because his nephew Lot and his family lived there. Instead of just intervening for Lot and his family, he pleads that God spare Sodom based upon the number of righteous people that live there. He actually haggles with God, eventually reducing the number down to ten. God promised that if He found ten He would not destroy Sodom. Abraham was relieved because surely there had to be at least ten saved people in the city. Lot’s family alone may have numbered more than ten (see Genesis 19:12 – 15). He had a wife, two unmarried daughters, and at least two married daughters who likely had their own children.

Sodom did get destroyed, however, because God did not find ten people within the city who were saved. God did spare Lot and his two unmarried daughters, but the rest of the city along with most of his family were destroyed when God rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom. How sad! Lot was definitely a saved man (2 Peter 2:7), but he had very little influence for the Lord upon the people around him, including his family.

What about you, Christian? If you had lived in Sodom in that day; or if God was threatening to destroy the city or town that you live in today, would He find ten righteous people living there? I fear that many of us are just as poor in our testimony as Lot was. If we are going to reach our cities for Christ we are going to have to live the Truth as well as preach the Truth to our friends, family members, and neighbors.

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18 – 20)

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)