Genesis 18

1 Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2 And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, three men stood by him: and when he saw them he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward the ground, 3 And said, My Lord, Now if I have found favor in your sight, Please do not pass by your servant: 4 Please let a little water be brought to wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5 And I will bring a piece of bread, and comfort/stay your hearts; after that you will pass on: for this reason you came to your servant. And they said, Do as you have said. 6 And Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, Quick! Prepare three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes on the hearth. 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and brought a choice, tender calf and gave it to a young man; and he hurried to prepare it. 8 And he took curds, milk, and the calf that he had dressed and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

• God appears in all the chapters of the Holy Scriptures.
• God desires our company.

• Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.

• Revelation 3:20-21Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will feast with him, and he with me. 21 To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne.

9 And they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 10 And he said, I will definitely return to you according to the time of life; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door that was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it stopped to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I have become old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13 And the LORD said to Abraham, Why has Sarah laughed at this, saying, Will I truly bear a child, who am old?

• God knows our inner thoughts (1 John 3:20).

• 1 John 3:20… God is greater than our minds and knows all things.

Nothing is too hard for God

14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah will have a son. 15 Then Sarah denied saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And he said, No; but you did laugh.

• God made time. He is never late.
• He plans for when we are ready.
• God confronted Sarah about her lie because He is truth (John 14:6).

16 And the men rose up from there and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. 17 And the LORD said, Should I hide from Abraham what I am doing; 18 since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him? 19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they will keep the way of the LORD, to do rightness and justice so that the LORD may bring on Abraham what he has spoken to him.

• God knows us; He knows what we will do.
• God tells His friends what He is doing.

• John 15:15 From now on I do not call you servants because the servant does not know what his lord does: but I have called you friends because all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

20 And the LORD  said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry that is coming to me; and if  not, I will know. 22 And the men turned their faces from there, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham still stood before the LORD. 23 And Abraham drew near and said, Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous persons in the city: will you destroy and not spare the place because of the fifty righteous that are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked: so that the righteous and the wicked are treated the same, that be far from you: Does not the Judge of all the earth do right?

• God hears the cries of people.
• In Genesis 11 God said the same thing. ‘Let us go down to see the tower that the sons of men build.’
• Our righteousness is a righteousness that comes by faith rather than works.

• Hebrews 11:6 Without faith it is impossible to please him.

God is the judge of all the earth; He does what is right

26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous in the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.  27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord though I am but dust and ashes: 28 What if five are lacking from the fifty righteous: will you destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there 45, I will not destroy it. 29 And he spoke to him again, and said, What if there are forty found there?  And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 30 And he said to him, Oh do not let the Lord be angry, and I will speak: What if there are thirty found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken on me to speak to the Lord, What if twenty are found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.

• He spares many for the sake of the few.
• God is not angry when we plead for others.

32 And he said, Oh do not let the Lord be angry and I will speak just this once: What if ten are found there.And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. 33 And the LORD left as soon as he finished communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned to his place.

• Abram realized that by counting Lot and family that there should be ten righteous persons in Sodom.

                                   Genesis 19

1 And two angels came to Sodom at evening; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and seeing them, Lot rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; 2 And he said, Behold now my lords, Please come into your servant's house and stay all night, wash your feet, and rise up early to go on your ways. And they said, No; we will stay all night in the street. 3 And he urged them strongly; and they went with him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread and they ate.

• Notice that the angels are not of this earth; they are beings from ‘outer space’ yet there was no spacecraft!
• The Bible tells us that angels live throughout the universe.
• The word ‘angel’ means messenger.
• Alien ‘sightings’ and all the aliens in entertainment are weaving ‘strong delusion.’ A continual barrage of suggestions that a harmful force is coming from ‘out there,’ is setting up the world to fight against Christ when He returns to earth.

• Genesis 28:12 And he (Jacob) dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

4 But before they lay down the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5 And they called to Lot, and said to him, Where are the men that came in to you this night? Bring them out to us that we may know them.

• Hearts that do not commune with their Maker cannot be satisfied.
• These men who surrounded Lot’s house threatened homosexual rape.
• This is the point where God draws the line with evil. God also destroyed the Benjamites for this (Judges 19:20).

• 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.

• Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

6 And Lot went out the door to them, and shut the door behind him, 7 And said, I beg you, brothers, do not do so wickedly. 8 Look now, I have two daughters that have not known a man; Please let me bring them out to you and do to them as you wish: only do nothing to these men; for that is why they came under the shadow of my roof. 9 And they said, Stand aside! And then they said, This man came to visit, must he always judge: now we will deal worse with you than with them. And they pressed hard against the man, Lot, and came near to break the door. 10 But the men put out their hand and pulled Lot into the house to them and shut to the door. 11 And they struck the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

• They kept coming even when struck blind. Lot should have protected his two daughters.
• God doesn’t sacrifice innocents.

• 2 Kings 6:18 …Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, Please strike this people with blindness. And he struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

12 And the men said to Lot, Do you have anyone here besides these? Son in law, your sons, your daughters, whoever you have in the city, bring them out of this place. 13 For we will destroy this place, because their outcry is great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD has sent us to destroy it. 14 And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law, who married his daughters and said, Up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But to his sons in law he seemed to be joking.

• God heard the cries and sent help by destroying evil.
• God gave warning before destruction.

• Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

God is merciful

15 And when the morning arose the angels hurried Lot saying, Get up, take your wife and your two daughters that are here so that you are not consumed in the punishment of the city. 16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, and of the hand of his wife, and of the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful to him: and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 And it happened when they had brought them outside that he said, Escape for your life; do not look behind you or stay anywhere the plain; escape to the mountain, so that you are not consumed. 18 And Lot said to them, Oh no my Lord: 19 Behold now, your servant has found grace in your sight, and you have magnified your mercy that you have showed to me by saving my life; I cannot escape to the mountain. Some evil will overtake me and I will die:

• God was preserving their lives at that very moment. Will He not continue to do so?
• This lack of faith is like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Acts 4:33 says, “and great grace was on them all.”

• Psalm 36:5 Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and your faithfulness reaches unto the clouds.

20 Behold now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape there, (is it not a little one?) and my soul will live. 21 And he said to him, See, I have accepted you concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. 22 Hurry, escape there; for I cannot do anything until you are there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.  23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot entered Zoar.

God rained fire and brimstone at sunrise on those following evil

24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

• The word Greek word for ‘brimstone’ ‘theion’ means God’s fire. This was BC1898.
• God will do this again in the future. Revelation 8:5, 7 reveals of the heavenly side of this judgment.
• Remember that the author of life is holy. Evil is a choice.

• Psalm 11:6 On the wicked he will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a burning wind: this will be the portion of their cup.

27 And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: 28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain and saw, and behold, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. 29 And it happened when God destroyed the cities of the plain that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities where Lot dwelt. 30 And Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the mountain, and his two daughters with him because he was afraid to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

• We are told that God spared Lot because of Abraham.
• Going to the mountains had been God’s original instruction to Lot, ‘flee to the mountains.’
• Just like Jonah ended up going to Nineveh anyway.

31 And the firstborn said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him so that we may preserve seed of our father. 33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he did not perceive when she lay down or when she arose. 34 And it happened on the next day, that the firstborn said to the younger, Behold, Last night I lay with my father: let us make him drink wine tonight also; and you go in and lie with him so that we may preserve seed of our Father. 35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he did not perceive when she lay down or when she arose. 36 So both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 And the firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab/from her father: the same is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Benammi/son of my people: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

• Were there no men left on earth? In Genesis 14 Abraham had 318 men in his employ trained for war.
• Lot reaped what He sowed by raising his daughters in such a godless environment. Train up a child IN the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6).
• Children do what they see others do, not what we say. TV is a great hindrance because of the power of what is seen with the eyes.
• God’s grace is astounding. The human race has been doing wickedness since the Garden of Eden.
• God patiently works to bring back to Himself those who will.

• Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

• James 3:2 … in many things we all offend.

• John 1:16 And of his fullness we have all we received, and grace for grace.

                           Genesis 20

1 And Abraham journeyed from there toward the south country and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur and visited in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, Behold, you are a dead man, for the woman that you have taken, she is married to a husband. 4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, will you kill a righteous nation? 5 Did he not say to me, She is my sister? And she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.

• Abraham failed to trust God again. Abraham failed to protect Sarah again. In BC 1921 Abraham let his wife be taken into the harem of a heathen king. It is now BC 1897. After 24 more years of seeing God’s faithfulness, He still didn’t trust God enough to say that this stunningly beautiful woman was his wife.
• Did God abandon him for this lack of faith? No, God protected Sarah.

God knows the facts

He withheld Abimelech from sinning against Him

6 And God said to him in a dream, Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart; I also withheld you from sinning against me: I did not allow you to touch her. 7 Now therefore restore the man his wife for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live: if you do not restore her, know that you will certainly die, you and all that are yours. 8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their ears: and the men were very afraid.

• God gives clear instructions. He warns. He protects His people.
• Life is about eternal life and eternal death.
• Notice that Abraham failed but Abimelech came to know God better. God doesn’t leave it up to us.

• Psalm 105:14 He allowed no man to do them wrong: he reproved kings for their sakes.

9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, What have you done to us? How have I offended you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done things to me that should not to be done. 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What did you see that you have done this thing? 11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me for my wife's sake. 12 Besides she really is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And it happened when God caused me to wander from my father's house that I said to her, This is your kindness that you will show to me; every place where we come, say of me, He is my brother.

• Abraham thought God was not there but God is at work everywhere. He is everywhere for all.
• In 1 Kings 19 Elijah thought he was the only servant of God left but God told him, I have reserved for myself 7,000 in Israel.

14 And Abimelech took sheep, oxen, menservants, and women servants, and gave them to Abraham, and gave him back his wife Sarah. 15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you: dwell where it pleases you. 16 And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver: look, he is a covering of the eyes to you to all that are with you and with all others: by this she was reproved. 17 So Abraham prayed to God: and God healed Abimelech, his wife, his maidservants; and they bore children. 18 For the LORD had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

• God healed them all.
• Verse 18 teaches us that God is sovereign over conception.
• He has not deserted creation but is present everywhere, overseeing all things—in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).
• He is working all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

• Matthew 12:15 and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all.

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SUMMARY: Genesis 18-20

• Nothing is too hard for God
• He is the Judge of all the earth
• He only does what is right
• He is merciful
• He judges when man won't return to Him
• He knows the facts
• He kept Abimelech from sinning against Him