Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Jan 6th, 2024 The Saturday Morning Post – The Burden Of Abraham

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

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

“And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.” (Genesis 18:20-33)

Good morning. It’s obvious that Abraham was concerned for his nephew Lot, who was living in Sodom. But besides Lot, what if Abraham was concerned about the souls living in Sodom too? Is Homosexuality more wicked, and unforgivable than the sins committed by Nineveh?

“Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” (Jonah 1:1-2)

“And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.” (Jonah 3:4-10)

Abraham did not have the same attitude as Jonah who hopped on a boat headed in the opposite direction. Maybe God sent Lot as a witness to the people there, just as He sent Jonah. Jonah gave Nineveh the Word and they repented. Maybe, even though Lot went, he did not give the people of Sodom the Word. Do we make the same mistake that Lot may have? Do we, like Jonah, have the let them die and go to Hell attitude? Do you ever watch a video of the second plane flying into the World Trade Center? Do you see the flames bursting out the far side of the tower, and think about those terrorists who will spend eternity in those flames because they trusted in a little stone idol, with a crescent moon on it’s chest, and not the Lord Jesus Christ. God has given us the command to go…

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

And what do we do? We can run the other way. We can be indifferent. Or, we can go. I think that Abraham had a burden, not only for his nephew Lot, but also those who would perish forever.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2Peter 3:9)

What about you?

Peace.