II. IT PORTRAYS A DETERMINED IN THE SESSION TO SPARE THE WICKED 23-33
23-33 = Abraham's intercession for Sodom.
Explication: in the entire series of intercession, Abraham's prayer is based upon the righteousness, the justice of God. Abraham never asks God to forgo his judgment on Sodom. He never implies that God would be unjust should he bring about the destruction upon that sinful city. Abraham is asking God to act on the basis of his divine justice which entails that the righteous be spared. He is teaching us a great lesson that we've forgotten today in a land of anarchy and lawlessness, i.e., that God's perfect justice requires him to punish evil.
A. THE INTRODUCTORY PROPOSITION 23
Explication: an appeal to the character of God, to his righteousness. See Ex 34:6-7; Ps 146:8-9; etc. The universal acclaim and acceptance and acknowledgment of God in the Old Testament is that he is the righteous God.
Amplification: a general concern for divine justice not just simply trying to save his nephew laughed.
B. THE INCONCEIVABLE PROPOSAL 24-26
It is Specific, 24
Explication: literally, in the midst of the city. 50= size of a small city, Amos 5:3?
It Is Unthinkable, 25. The divine character is marked by an unfailing constancy: the cosmic judge is a righteous judge. He cannot act differently.
The Condescension, 26
C. THE INTENSIFIED PROCESS 27-32
27-28= the 2nd plea
His Humiliation, 27
His Persistence, 28a
The Harmony, 28b
The Shortest Request, 29
The Conciliation, 30
The Daring Politeness, 31
The Final Petition, 32
Application: this leaves us with the situation: because the Lord God allows the cities to be spared even if 10 righteous individuals are found, does it follow that he is unjust when he allows holy men to suffer and die? In his commentary on this verse Calvin gives us the useful reminder that God's determination to preserve Sodom if only 10 righteous men can be found, is not a perpetual rule that the righteous will never suffer. We must consider this text here in the light of such other passages as 1 Pe 2:19 (17-23); etc
It is the true disciple who must take up his cross daily and follow Christ. It is true disciple who understands, recognizes, accepts and applies the truth that the disciple is not above his master and that because the world crucified his master, therefore the world will hate him and will attack him vigorously. The disciple is not above his master!
The true disciple knows that God's perfect justice constitutes an act and act of separation, of separating the righteous from the unrighteous, an act that will be fully revealed at the final resurrection -- -- -- even if righteous man now suffer when the wicked are judged. Brothers and sisters let us all ways remember that God always acts according to his character and his promise that he will never leave us or forsake us.
Exhortation: Fix our eyes upon Christ alone, upon the cross of Christ of Christ alone, rejoicing in the divine substitution of Christ for us, the just for the unjust, the righteous for the unrighteous, for while we were dead in our sins and walking according to the commands of the prince of the power of the air, Christ died for us; etc. Observe the cross! Behold the cross! Behold the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world, being impaled there, placarded before our very eyes undergoing ultimate suffering and punishment for us! Behold the cross! See their the wonderful Jesus, the lovely and most excellent eternal son of God, God Incarnate in sinless perfection, so bloodied, bruised and battered beyond recognition that we esteemed him not, to lead us to the father.
Behold the cross! At the highest point (or nadir) of his humiliation, suspended by vicious nails and by his covenant love for his people. Thus we sing " Alas, indeed my Savior bleed, and did and my sovereign die,
when he developed his sacred head for such a worm as I”.
Abraham wrestles with God for him to bring about his secret will, Dt 29:29, which contains his unalterable decree by which he has foreordained all things that come to pass. Yes, this decree is unknown to us, for the most part, and we should not pry into the this holy forbidden territory. However, we know that the faithful prayer of the saints is the means by which God often and usually brings about his desires, enacts his purposes and unfolds his plans. Saints pray confidently knowing that the Lord God uses our intercession to unfold his purposes in redemptive history.
D. THE IMMEDIATE PARTING 33
Abraham ran out of numbers; the Lord had nothing more to say.
