Genesis 18 “The Judge of All the Earth”
Intro: Rhetorical Question: A question asked not to gain information, but to make or reinforce a point.
Boss: If you keep showing up late for work, do you really think there won’t be a consequence?
Spouse: Is it a really a good idea to eat that 4th piece of deep-dish pizza? Coach: Do you guys even want to get better?
**Purpose of Rhetorical Questions: Persuade us, motivate, clarify, and help us move in a particular direction.
2 Rhetorical Questions: 1 Is anything too hard for the LORD? (NO!) 2 Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just? (YES!)
-These 2 questions persuade us: Nothing is too hard for God, and God always does what is right!
-Let’s consider these together and take them with us this week as we seek to follow Christ!
Context: Life of Abraham, the “man of faith” (ch 12-25)
-Called out of Ur and God has made a promise to Him—to give him the land and all nations blessed through him
-Sometimes Abraham responds in faith, others times he responds in fear and folly.
-Repeated CYCLE of PROMISE AND PROTECTION.
-Last week: Gen 17, Abraham is 99 and God restates the promise and assures that next year Sarah will have a son.
–TODAY: God speaks to Abraham and his wife Sarah in the visitation of 3 angels.
–BIG IDEA: Nothing is too hard for God, and God always does what is right!
1. NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR GOD! (18:1-15)
-3 Visitors for Abraham (1-8)
-LORD appears to Abraham (1), but 3 visitors show up (2)
-Theophany or Angel representing God, and two additional angels
-Abraham shows a generous hospitality and respect to the 3 visitors (2-8)
-Promise of Sarah Giving Birth Restated for Sarah to Hear (9-15)
-The angels ask about Sarah, who is in the tent, and apparently eavesdropping (9, 10b)
-God promises that Sarah (90 years old!) will have a son in the next year (10)
-We are reminded how humanly impossible the situation is (11)
-Sarah laughs in unbelief (12)
-God reproves the unbelieving laughter of Sarah (13-14)
-Rhetorical question: Is anything too hard for the LORD? àNo! Nothing is too hard for God.
-Sarah lies about her actions, and God reproves her (15)
*KEY TRUTH ABOUT GOD: NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR GOD!
-God can make a 90-year-old woman pregnant! He can make a spiritually dead person alive. He save a whole nation in slavery.
- GOD ALWAYS DOES WHAT IS RIGHT (16-33)
-New Topic: The Coming Judgment of God Upon the Wicked City of Sodom (16-33)
-The angels are heading to Sodom (16), but before this, God reveals to Abraham his coming judgment (17-19)
–OBSERVE: We can know TRUE things about God and He has chosen to reveal these things to His people
–TODAY, we can learn real things about God, our world, ourselves, future in the Bible.
-Sodom and Gomorrah (and cities of the plain) are VERY wicked (20-21)
-The angels will get a firsthand account of this—though of course God already knows
–Commentators: God inviting the prayer of Abraham here in v 21
-Abraham pleads for the city of Sodom—where his nephew Lot and family reside (22-33)
–Abraham, ‘What about the righteous who live there? Will they die too? What if there are 50 righteous there?
-Far be it from God to just destroy the righteous along with the wicked! (23)
-Rhetorical Question: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” àYES! God always does what is right.
-KEY MOMENT: God always does what is right! He never does anything wrong
-Because that is true, Abraham can make his plea for the righteous in Sodom.
–NOTICE: God is “JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH”
-Everyone will stand before God, who is the judge of all the earth.
-Even if a criminal says, ‘not my judge’ doesn’t change the circumstance of judgment.
-Abraham’s pleading for mercy and God’s gracious response (26-33)
-50, 45, 40, 30, 20, 10 righteous people and God’s gracious response.
-Abraham does not recognize the utter extent of the evil in Sodom
KEY IDEA: God always does what is right!
*SUMMARY: Nothing is too hard for God and God always does what is right. - CROSS: God’s power and justice on display
We need not laugh in unbelief, like Sarah, but can joyfully trust and rejoice in our God is powerful and righteous.
-At the cross we are reassured of both God’s great power and his majestic righteousness.
1 At the cross, we see ‘nothing is too hard for God’
-Power of Sin, Satan and Death
-Cross if the power of God for salvation: 1 Cor 1:18
–Ps 18:17 “He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.”
2 At the cross, we see ‘God always does what is right.’
-DIVINE DILEMMA: God must punish sin, but we have sin.
-At the cross, Christ is punished for us and we are shown mercy: Rom 3:21-26
-God is “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ” Rom 3:26
III.APPLICATION: These truths about God matter today!
Unbeliever: God is powerful enough to save you in the gospel, place your faith in.
-Be warned, He always does what is right: He will judge you for your sins unless they are forgiven in Christ
-Today, can be the day of your salvation!
Believer: Takes these rhetorical questions with you and preach them to yourselves this week!
PRAYER: We can pray boldly and trust fully.
– Pray boldly: God is powerful enough to answer our prayer!
–Is anything too hard for the LORD?
-Lay out all your requests and seem them in light of that truth.
– Trust God fully: God is righteous to answer them in the way that is best.
–Shall not the judge all the Earth do what is right?
-Preach this to yourself as you wait for God to respond.
-PREACH the rhetorical questions to yourself while you pray.
STRUGGLE AGAINST SIN: We can strive in His power and rest in His grace.
–We can strive in His power: God is powerful enough to help us when tempted—1 Cor 10:13
–We can rest in His grace “grace of God has appeared…training us to renounce ungodliness” (Titus 2:11-14)
-PREACH the rhetorical questions to yourself while strive for holiness.
ENDURING TRIALS AND HARDSHIP: We can endure trials with joy and delight in God’s good plans.
-As Christians, we endure many hard and perplexing trials.
–We can endure trials with joy knowing this: ‘nothing is too hard for God’:
-He can deliver us from the trial, or through the trial
-We can delight in God’s plan, even if we don’t grasp it: “God always does what is right”: (Rom 8:28)
-PREACH the rhetorical questions to yourself while endure hardship.
CLOSE: As you go about your week, take these 2 rhetorical questions with you. Preach them to yourselves!
1. Is anything too hard for the Lord?
2. Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is right?
