Righteousness Matters
Genesis 18:16-33
May 4, 2014
Well as you know we are studying through the book of Genesis.
It is the gospel according to Moses.
Moses is leading the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land,
And a vital part of their education
Is a true understanding of the gospel of God.
No one is ever saved apart from the gospel.
Paul says, “It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”
And so it was imperative to Moses the great preacher
To give his people an accurate understanding of the gospel.
Moses is telling that gospel through specific characters.
And in certain individuals Moses has chosen to reveal the gospel message.
• Adam showed us the devastating effects of sin.
• Abel showed us the importance of true worship.
• Enoch showed us the value of walking with God.
• Noah showed us the destructive reality of judgment.
• And now Abraham is showing us the truth of God’s salvation.
Abraham was a man chosen by God.
• He was a man who greatly enjoyed the grace of God.
• He was a man who was justified by faith in God.
• And he was a man whom God used as an example of what He wanted from His children.
And so now through Abraham we are learning about
What the life of faith looks like.
And this morning we learn about God’s desire for righteousness.
If you’ve had the opportunity to defend your faith very often
You know that one of the biggest critiques of those who believe that we are saved by grace is that we are accused of preaching license.
When we come out and say, “I believe we are saved by grace alone through faith alone”
Or when we come out and say, “I believe that believes in the Lord are totally secure in their salvation”
Almost instantly someone who is enslaved to legalism will attack and say, “They just believe you can get saved and then live however you want.”
They accuse us of giving people a “get out of hell free” card
And equipping people with a license to sin.
Now in fairness, there are those who preach such a truth.
In fact Jude warned against them.
Jude 3-4 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
There were people who in fact did sneak into the church
And preach that grace meant you could live however you wanted.
Peter saw them too:
2 Peter 2:1 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”
There are people who deny the Lord
That is to say they deny “the lordship” or authority of Christ
They see Jesus as a Savior who can keep you out of hell,
But not as the sovereign Lord that you should obey.
And through this distortion they do in fact turn grace into a license to sin.
They are false teachers
They are false apostles
They are apostates
They heretics of the highest order
But because of them, those of us who have such an affinity for grace,
Are often lumped into that same category.
BUT THAT IS NOT WHO WE ARE.
We believe what the Bible teaches,
Which is that man is saved by grace through faith,
And that grace comes with the expectation of holiness.
Paul defended this reality the strongest in Romans 6
TURN TO: ROMANS 6
Now if you will notice that chapter 5 ends with a summation statement:
(5:20-21) “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Paul has just reminded that the purpose of the Law was never salvation.
The purpose of the Law was condemnation.
The Law came in to expose sin in your life.
And once sin was exposed, grace came in to bring salvation.
It reaffirms the truth that our salvation is by grace, not of works.
But there are those who loved the Law
So they accuse Paul of preaching license.
(6:1) “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?”
The question was simple.
• If grace increases with our sin, then why not sin all the more?
• Why not just multiply sin so that grace will increase in our life?
But Paul’s answer is emphatic
(6:2) “May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”
And when you continue in the chapter you can see Paul’s argument.
• We died to sin.
• When we came to Christ we repented of sin.
• We recognized sin as the enemy.
• We came to Christ to be freed from sin.
Why would we now be looking for a reason to go back to it?
(READ VS. 3-7)
That is Paul’s point.
In Christ we were finally freed from sin,
There is no way we would ever go back to it.
And if you look further down in the chapter
You come to the application portion.
(READ VS. 12-14)
If you had any confusion as to whether grace is a license to sin, Paul pretty much squashed it right there.
You are under grace
Grace is greater than sin
Where sin increases, grace increases
BUT GRACE IS NOT A LICENSE TO SIN
While God does give a great grace, He still expects righteousness
And it is important that neither Abraham,
Nor those who follow him fall into this trap.
And to make sure that Abraham understands the importance
Not only of imputed righteousness, but also practical righteousness, God has a vivid reminder.
That reminder is none other than Sodom and Gomorrah.
No story in Scripture more accurately depicts
What God thinks of unrighteousness.
This story was so extreme that the name Sodom and Gomorrah became synonymous with destruction and the supernatural wrath of God.
This judgment would be the judgment by which all others are compared.
We know that God will not destroy the world by water again.
It is now being reserved for fire.
The Judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah
Became a foretaste of that judgment.
And the primary purpose of this judgment was a warning to God’s people.
Moses didn’t include this story as a warning to a wicked world (though it surely is) Moses included this story as a warning to the Israelites.
This story was to teach God’s people of
The importance of righteousness and the danger of sin.
When we were lost, we certainly learned the necessity of righteousness.
We know what Paul said in Romans 1
Romans 1:16-18 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”
And we learned about the importance of God’s imputed righteousness.
That when we place our faith in Christ, His righteousness is imputed to us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
But the thing you and I and all of God’s people must understand is
That if God desired righteousness from you when you are lost, Then certainly He desires righteousness once you are saved
And that will become clear even as we begin this story this morning.
Here we do not yet have the destruction of Sodom,
But merely God’s decision to tell Abraham that it is coming.
And in these verses the true purpose of the story is made clear.
And that purpose is so that Abraham will unequivocally know that
RIGHTEOUSNESS MATTERS.
Let me show you that this morning.
3 things you need to know about righteousness.
Righteousness is:
#1 EXPECTED OF SAINTS
Genesis 18:16-19
These four verses really explain to you with little doubt
Why this story is recorded in Scripture.
Sodom and Gomorrah wasn’t destroyed for Abraham’s sake.
They were destroyed because of their sin.
But the story is preserved for the sake of Abraham and his descendants.
This event was recorded for a teaching lesson to Abraham.
(17-19) “The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”
That really makes the purpose clear doesn’t it?
God wants Abraham to know about what He is about to do
And why He is about to do it.
Because above all else God wants the importance of righteousness
To be etched deep in Abraham’s mind.
WHY?
“so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice,”
• Certainly God would want Abraham to tell his children about grace
• Certainly God would want Abraham to tell his children about faith
But here it is revealed that God wants Abraham
To tell his children about righteousness.
And why is righteousness so important?
“so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”
Now that is interesting.
• God has already made the promise to Abraham…
• God has said the promise is yours…
• We’ve already seen God protecting that promise…
And then we get this statement that sounds very conditional.
God has made the promise, but here it sounds like
If Abraham’s descendants fail to keep the way of the Lord,
Then God won’t fulfill the promise.
So that begs the question:
DOES SIN THWART THE PROMISES OF GOD?
Does the sin of God’s people cause Him to renege on His promises?
That is a fair question.
(Incidentally, those who hold that you can lose your salvation unequivocally believe this)
Will God revoke all that He has promised if God’s people sin?
Paul dealt with this issue.
Romans 3:3-4 “What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, “THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED.”
Speaking of Israel’s sin in temporarily rejecting Christ:
Romans 11:11 “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.”
Romans 11:25-29 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation — that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
So does the sin of God’s people cause God to revoke the promises?
(that is what it looks like here in Genesis)
And the answer is “NO” but it does delay them.
What happened to Moses’ congregation when the sinned and failed to enter the Promised Land? Did God revoke the promise?
No, but it was delayed for 40 years.
What happened when the children of Israel practiced idolatry in the Promised Land? Did God ban them from it forever?
No, but they were removed for 70 years.
What happened when the Jews rejected Jesus? Did He ban them forever?
No, but the promise of their restoration was delayed.
Acts 3:17-21 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”
Throughout Scripture sin delayed the fulfillment of God’s promises.
IN SHORT – RIGHTEOUSNESS MATTERS.
It is expected of the Saints.
God expects those who are His children to be holy and righteous.
1 Peter 1:13-16 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”
1 Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification;”
And God expects them to be righteous “so that the Lord may bring upon [them] what He has spoken about [them].”
When Jesus was washing feet in the upper room,
And Peter didn’t really want Jesus to wash his feet, what did Jesus say?
John 13:8 “Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
Peter was clean because he had a bath.
But he still needed practical righteousness to enjoy the blessing
Righteousness matters.
• God expects His children to be holy in their behavior.
• God expects His children to walk in righteousness.
• God expects His children to be just.
And so He purposely shares this story with Abraham
So that he will fully understand that righteousness is not optional.
We don’t claim grace simply so we can live in sin without repercussion.
We understand that it is grace that allows us to live holy.
• If you are a child of God, you do not have a license to sin.
• If you are a child of God, He expects you to “keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice”
After seeing what God will do to Sodom and Gomorrah for their lack of righteousness, that truth will be clear to Abraham.
Righteousness Matters
Righteousness is Expected of Saints
Righteousness is:
#2 EXAMINED BY GOD
Genesis 18:20-21
We talk about the importance of righteousness.
But really, why is righteousness so important?
Namely because righteousness is what God is looking for.
And that is seen in what God was examining Sodom and Gomorrah for.
“The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.”
• It was Sodom’s sin that was angering God
• It was Sodom’s lack of righteousness that was provoking God
WHAT WAS THEIR SIN?
(everyone says homosexuality)
And it is true that homosexuality was a grave sin of Sodom,
And one exhibited even toward the angels of God.
But that wasn’t Sodom’s only sin.
Ezekiel 16:49-50 “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. “Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.”
According to Ezekiel, Sodom had:
• Arrogance
• Worldliness
• A lack of compassion
• A brashness in sin
• Abominations (homosexuality)
Sin was dripping out of that place and it was crying out to God.
So God was going on a search.
(21) “I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
What was God going to examine?
Their sin
God was going to Sodom to examine
If their sin was as bad as it had been reported.
And that was what He wanted Abraham to know.
See, Abraham had received grace upon grace,
Now he needed to know the outcome of those who reject it.
Hebrews 10:26-27 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.”
God is looking for righteousness
And those who don’t have it are destroyed.
RIGHTEOUSNESS MATTERS
It is Expected of Saints It is Examined by God
#3 EXEMPTED FROM JUDGMENT
Genesis 18:23-33
Many people read this section of Scripture
And come away pretty well amazed at the audacity of Abraham.
But I’ve got to be honest, Abraham appears pretty humble to me here.
He’s adamant that he nothing but “dust and ashes”
• Abraham isn’t rebuking God
• Abraham isn’t correcting God
• Abraham isn’t counseling God
Abraham is just trying to get a grip on who God is.
Abraham just wants understanding of
Exactly what God’s standard is in judgment.
And namely the question is this:
Can the sin of the wicked secure the destruction of the righteous?
If there are 50 righteous in Sodom will they die simply because of the sin of the wicked?
• If there are 45?
• If there are 40?
• If there are 30?
• If there are 20?
• If there are 10?
God if only 10 righteous people live in Sodom,
Will the sin of the wicked secure their judgment?
And the answer from God is “NO”
In fact, the opposite is true.
(32) “Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.”
This is a true reality of Scripture.
The presence of the wicked does not bring destruction to the righteous,
But rather the presence of the righteous preserves the life of the wicked.
Let me give you a few more verses.
1 Corinthians 7:12-14 “But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.”
Do you see the point there?
A household that would otherwise be under the wrath of God is in fact sanctified, set apart as holy, simply because of one righteous person there.
Matthew 13:24-30 “Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”
Why are the children of the devil not plucked out and destroyed immediately?
Because that might put the wheat in danger.
And God is not about to risk collateral damage on His children.
If we can sneak peak into the next chapter, notice what the angel says to Lot:
Genesis 19:22 “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called Zoar.”
God would not even reign judgment on Sodom so long as Lot was there.
The presence of the righteous served as protection even over the wicked.
Now, in a modern sense, that is good news for people like us
Who live in a nation that loves iniquity.
• America today has embraced abortion, the murder of innocent children…
• America today has embraced marijuana the addiction to substances…
• America today has embraced homosexuality, an abomination to God…
• America today has embraced greed, a form of idolatry…
• America today loves lewdness and fornication and sex and pornography and filth and all other types of unholiness…
And many have often speculated, “Why has God withheld His judgment of America for so long?”
And the answer is obvious – because of the presence of the righteous.
It is God’s church in the midst of America that has preserved her life.
The righteous serve as a protection for the wicked.
THE POINT?
RIGHTEOUSNESS MATTERS
• Righteousness is the only preservative our culture has
• Righteousness is our only defense against the judgment of God
• Righteousness is what God is looking for
• Righteousness is what God expects
And God is driving that home to Abraham.
• Abraham, look at what I am doing to those who are wicked…
• Abraham, look at the only thing that will save them…
• Now, Abraham – teach your children!
Now let me take this one step further for you this morning.
We live in a day where the emphasis is
Seemingly always placed on faith.
We hear people talk a lot about the importance of faith today.
And I certainly am not knocking the importance of faith.
Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
Faith matters.
But why is faith so important?
Because if you will remember faith is the only currency God accepts.
And what is it that God trades for faith?
Righteousness
Genesis 15:6 “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
Faith is important – vitally important
BUT DON’T MISS WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
Faith is important because faith is the means
By which we obtain righteousness.
IT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT MATTERS.
You have to have it in order to please God.
• It is what He demands
• It is what He expects
• It is what He searches for
• It is what He protects
• It is what He preserves
• It is what He requires
Faith is the currency, Righteousness is the prize.
And friends, that does not stop after salvation,
In fact that is the point of salvation.
When Abraham believed God, righteousness was imputed to him.
But imputed righteousness is not all that God desires.
God also demands practical righteousness.
God made you holy in His sight, now He demands that you live holy.
So if you have never trusted in Christ, YOU MUST,
For He is the only way to obtain righteousness.
And if you have trusted Christ and obtained righteousness then live in it.
Practice it
Walk in it
Romans 6:12-14 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
And by all means command your children to do the same.
We never turn the grace of God into a license to sin.
Instead we honor the grace of God by turning from sin.
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
