“Behold, the LORD is coming out of his place,
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
And the mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.
All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?”
Was everyone in Israel sinful? Had all that lived in Judah rebelled against the LORD? Not all who lived in Judah were living sinful lives, but when God unleashed judgement on Israel, all then living in the nation suffered. The only thing that held back the hand of God was the presence of a few godly souls. But even their presence had dwindled to become such a tiny minority that the hand of God would no longer be stayed. The godly had protected sinners from judgement, until their lack of open commitment to the LORD allowed judgement to fall.
When God destroyed Sodom, His angels spared Lot—and they would have spared his entire extended family if those who belonged to Lot had but heeded the urgent warning that Lot delivered. Peter speaks of the Lord’s mercy to His own when he writes, “If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority” [2 PETER 2:4-9].
The angels of God extended mercy to Lot. However, mesmerised by the position he had acquired in Sodom the deluded saint hesitated and attempted to bargain with the LORD when God warned him to flee Sodom. He sought to make only a halfway effort to obey God’s warning. Even then the angels made a concession to him, saying, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there” [GENESIS 19:21-22].
We cannot know the number of souls within a nation that constitute a critical mass that is able to halt the judgement of God, nor can we know the reason God would entrust the fate of a household, the fate of a church, or even the fate of a nation to a few souls who look to Him in faith. What we do know is that in the absence of godly souls there is little to hold back the judgement that mankind brings on itself. Contrasted with that knowledge is the certainty that God is gracious, refraining from judging wickedness if some few souls intercede for those facing judgement. Though the world may not recognise God’s goodness and His gracious character, we who are the redeemed of Christ know the grace of God and the goodness with which He treats all mankind.
You may recall the account of God’s judgement of the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah. What is often overlooked is that the LORD agreed to halt judgement if even a few souls were found to look to Him. Here is the account as recorded in the first book of the Bible. God determined to destroy the cities because they were so wicked. As the angels sent to destroy the cities passed the place where Abraham was tented, they were graciously entertained by Abraham.
During that time, God blessed Abraham, announcing that despite Sarah being elderly, even well past menopause, would nevertheless have a child. After giving this promise, the men set out for Sodom, and Abraham accompanied them for a distance. We’ll pick up the account at this point. “The LORD said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, 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 to Abraham what he has promised him.’ Then the LORD said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.’
“So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. Then Abraham drew near and said, ‘Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?’ And the LORD said, ‘If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.’
“Abraham answered and said, ‘Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?’ And he said, ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.’ Again he spoke to him and said, ‘Suppose forty are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of forty I will not do it.’ Then he said, ‘Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.’ He answered, ‘I will not do it, if I find thirty there.’ He said, ‘Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.’ Then he said, ‘Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.’ And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place” [GENESIS 18:17-33].
Whatever else you may draw from the message today, hold in mind that if you are a worshipper of the Risen Lord of Glory, your presence at this time is crucial for the eternal welfare of lost people about you. Never forget, as one who follows the Risen Lord of Glory, you have opportunity (and obligation) to tell your colleagues, your neighbours, and your family of the salvation that is found only in Christ Jesus the Lord. Though they may not necessarily be aware of the significance of your presence, your lost family members and your lost friends are more dependent on you than they could ever know. God has given you a critical role that you are to perform in your daily world where you have a significant measure of influence—influence far out of proportion to your presumed importance in this dying world.
Though what I have just said is true, know that you have an even greater impact on the broader society—your presence holds back the hand of God. Our society is under judgement. One need not be a Bible-believing, God-honouring follower of the Risen Lord of Glory to realise this to be true. What is not always understood is that those saints who look to Christ as Master, those dear souls who pray for Christ’s glory, those beloved people who are redeemed and who pray for mercy for the nation are the one thing standing between divine judgement and mercy. But what happens when there are no longer enough engaged souls standing between judgement and mercy?
DIVINE JUDGEMENT, AND WHY IT FALLS —
“Behold, the LORD is coming out of his place,
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
And the mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.
All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel.”
[MICAH 1:3-5a]
Judgement upon all the earth is pending. God warns that He shall judge mankind, pouring out His wrath on the earth. You may recall how Peter, looking back to the first universal judgement of the earth, warns of the pending judgement. Writing people who worship the Son of God even though suffering for daring to believe that Jesus is God, Peter writes, “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” [2 PETER 3:1-7].
I would be remiss in my appointment as one who speaks the mind of the Lord God if I were to fail to warn those who hear my voice that God must judge wickedness. And mankind is fallen, mankind is wicked. How dreadful is the account of that judgement as the Lord reveals what is coming upon the earth. After detailing the judgements that shall be unleashed during the Great Tribulation, we are told of the response of the hosts of Heaven when the final judgment is unleashed in that day.
The Revelator has written, “The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.’ And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,
‘We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
who is and who was,
for you have taken your great power
and begun to reign.
The nations raged,
but your wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,
and those who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.’”
[REVELATION 11:15-18]
However, there is judgement now. Certainly, the wicked shall not always prevail, but the righteous cannot drift into casual sin with impunity. Peter warns followers of the Lord Jesus, “It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And
‘If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’”
[1 PETER 4:17-18]
The Lord holds all mankind to account. The lost know that judgement is coming, though they often shove that knowledge far from their mind. And they are fully aware that they deserve what they are about to receive, though they frequently argue that they aren’t that bad as they attempt to excuse their failure to honour God as God.
The righteous often ignore that the Lord will discipline them, holding them to account. One writer has challenged Christians that have begun to drift, by pleading with the redeemed to think, “Have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.’
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” [HEBREWS 12:5-11].
Make no mistake: Because God loves His child, He will discipline that child. What God expects of His child is clearly outlined in Scripture. Even more pertinent to the matter is the knowledge that God places His Spirit in the individual who is born from above and into His family. Thus, the redeemed saint of God has written evidence of the Father’s will for that saint, and the redeemed saint has the Spirit of God directing the child of God into the path that will honour the Father. We have no excuse for doing what we want rather than doing what honours the Father!
Perhaps one might argue that they don’t know what the Lord expects of them. Scripture makes it clear what God expects when He reminds us through His servant Micah, who wrote,
“He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
[MICAH 6:8]
The Lord GOD, Father of all who are born from above by faith in His beloved Son, expects that His people will act justly and be just in their actions. He expects that His redeemed people will love kindness, showing mercy just as He has shown them mercy. And He expects His people to walk humbly with Him as the Lord their God.
As the LORD directed Isaiah, the court prophet, to pen the prophecy that bears his name, we read this exciting promise given to the people of God. “A people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left” [ISAIAH 30:19-21]. Thus, a voice guides the one who belongs to the Lord!
That is precisely what the redeemed people of God are told when the Apostle writes, “Brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” [ROMANS 8:12-17].
The Lord’s wrath is pictured in our text, and frightening though His anger may seem as we read those words, the reality is undoubtedly far worse. There is a passage recorded in the Apocalypse that is almost unimaginable. The Revelator is writing of one of the judgements that is to be poured out upon the earth during the days of the Great Tribulation. As he describes one of the judgements, he writes, “When [the Lamb] opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand’” [REVELATION 6:12-17]?
It is unimaginable to think of people begging for mountains to collapse on them rather than face an angry God. We can’t fathom such fear that would cause people to plead for boulders to crash down on them because they realise that they are about to face the white-hot wrath of the Living God. And if this seems unimaginable, it must be because we have never permitted ourselves to know God. We have deluded ourselves with a caricature rather than kneeling before the True and Living God.
SURRENDERING THE TEMPLE TO WICKEDNESS —
“[God’s wrath] is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?”
[MICAH 1:5]
A congregation is a fragile entity. Though it is the household of God, and though He has pledged that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, a congregation can defect from pursuing righteousness, can deviate from standing firm in the Faith once delivered to the saints. Certainly, we witness the congregation at Laodicea moving steadily away from the firmness required of a congregation of the Lord.
The Risen Lord of Glory rebuked this church when He commanded John to write a pointed missive to the congregation. John was charged by the Risen Lord to warn the Laodicean congregation, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” [REVELATION 3:15-19].
The old warrior, though identified as the Apostle of Love, was compelled to struggle on behalf of churches that were susceptible to destruction through tolerating just a little bit of evil. You will remember how we warned of one individual who managed to assert himself as a leader in one of the churches. John wrote, “I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church” [3 JOHN 9-10].
Jude, the half-brother of our Lord, was constrained by the Spirit to urge the churches to struggle for the Faith. He wrote, “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” [JUDE 3-4].
In his final letter to have been included in the canon of Scripture, you will recall how the Apostle Paul warned Timothy, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” [2 TIMOTHY 4:1-5]. Alas, that dark day appears to be fully upon us today.
Paul’s stern warning was an iteration of a warning that he had delivered earlier, writing, “The Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth” [1 TIMOTHY 4:1-3].
The foregoing review detailing the deviation of several congregations from the Faith of Christ the Lord is given in acknowledgement of the fragile character of congregations exhibited with the passage of time. At first vibrant and committed to the Faith, congregations tend toward retreat from that initial ardent commitment to the Master with the passage of time. As congregations age, a desire for personal comfort, for ease without the possibility of conflict begins to take hold of the mind of the congregants. They may continue conducting religious activities, but they become focused on creating an environment that encourages acceptance by those of the world rather than seeking to honour the Lord Who redeemed them. Without intervention by the Living Saviour to revive the people of God, churches will pass into terminal senescence.
Something like that had happened to the Jews at the time Micah was writing. God’s wrath was being poured out on the earth. Judgement was being meted out. And the Lord was clear in stating that the reason for His wrath being poured out was the sin of His own people. God’s people brought judgement on the land. The wicked were suffering because of the sin of the people of God!
Focus on that FIFTH VERSE of the text. God asks, “What is the transgression of Jacob?” And He answers, apparently without waiting for the people to ponder the answer to the question, “Is it not Samaria?” Then, the Lord swiftly switches His focus to Judah, asking, “What is the high place of Judah?” Again, answering so quickly that those hearing the question would not have time to answer, “Is it not Jerusalem?”
Jeroboam had turned Israel away from serving the Lord to follow their own devices almost as soon as the ten tribes had broken away from the Davidic Kingdom. God sent a prophet to Jeroboam with the message that he would rule over ten tribes, though He would not give him the reign over what would become the Kingdom of Judah.
We have an account of all that was taking place in the Book of First Kings. Perhaps you will recall that ten tribes were torn from the Davidic Kingdom, which was then under the reign of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. The LORD gave Jeroboam rule over these tribes. This was because Solomon had allowed Israel to begin to worship pagan gods, adopting the ethics and morality of these false gods [see 1 KINGS 11:29-39].
Despite God’s goodness to him and the divine promise that he would have an uninterrupted reign, Jeroboam was fearful that the people would want to reunite with Judah. Rather than trusting the promise of God, Jeroboam attempted to act on his own. He made calves, presenting them as the gods of the people and situating these idols in Dan and Samaria. He also built temples meant to replace the Temple of the Living God in the minds of the people and he appointed feasts intended to compete with the festivals God had appointed [see 1 KINGS 11:29-39].
Jeroboam secured his reign; but at what cost? The people no longer distinguished between what God had commanded and what they were doing. They substituted religion for faith which appropriates God’s power. It is much the same thing that happens to this day when we no longer seek God, seeking instead, mere religious activity. When the fire of God no longer falls, we too often attempt to generate excitement through song and dance. We want to create a spectacle rather than trust that God’s Spirit will fall in power when we have sought and met with the Risen Saviour. In effect, we too often erect our own golden calves in the form of elaborate buildings, or in the form of denominational leaders who usurp the authority of the Son of God, or through dramatic religious acts to awe the unwary. In this, the transgression of Jacob remains with us to this day.
And what of the high place of Judah? The people had almost unconsciously transferred allegiance from the LORD God to the Temple where they went to worship. The Lord spoke through Jeremiah to rebuke the people concerning this transfer of allegiance, writing, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ‘Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.”
“For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever” [JEREMIAH 7:1-7].
The people had ceased trusting the LORD whom they professed, trusting in the Temple they had built. “We shall not be overthrown,” they boasted. “God is with us!” Like German soldiers who trusted they were doing God’s work as they promoted a godless regime, wearing belts that were buckled with the insignia, “Gott Mit Uns.” Let me say very clearly that God is with those who stand with Him. We don’t coerce God to do our will; we witness what He is doing and we stand with Him there!
I have lived a long time, and I have witnessed far too many of the great ministries of past years that attempted to live on the proceeds of past investments. Rather than seeking fresh oil, they attempted to harbour the spiritual blessings of days gone by. I pastored a church that imagined they were demonstrating the power of God because in an earlier generation the congregation had held forth the message of life. When I was called, they had dwindled to a small group that was offended by all the first-generation Canadians that were moving into the neighbourhood. They did not want these foreigners to take over what they had built, never understanding that God was already withdrawing His blessing. I warned the people, but they were insistent that the church would never die because God needed them. That church no longer exists; a congregation of immigrants has taken over their building and is preaching the message of life in that place. But the old pioneer heritage group is long gone, never to be revived.
THE POWER OF GODLINESS TO STAY THE HAND OF GOD — We began this message with the reminder that the presence of God’s people can hold back the hand of God from judging a city, or a nation, or a church. I’m speaking to people that love their nation, and you need to know that it is your presence that delays God’s righteous judgement of our nation. You, through your prayers and through your witness and through your godly life, hold back the judgement of God. One can only wonder whether judgement might already have fallen on Canada were it not for the remnant of we few who follow Christ the Lord. Would the United States have already been delivered into the hands of a wicked nation to suffer divine judgement were it not for a small number of dedicated saints of the Lord? While we can never have a definitive answer, the implication of Scripture is that the presence of the righteous stays the hand of God.
We have a suggestion of the vital importance of the godly in times of crisis in an account of a conflict that is provided in the records of the kings. Jehoshaphat, the godly king of Judah, had foolishly formed an alliance with Jehoram, the son of Ahad, the vile toad that had led Israel into idolatry and spiritual desolation. Jehoram was engaged in a growing conflict with Moab, and he drew Jehoshaphat into this alliance, which also included the pagan king of Edom. As these three kings moved toward war, they marched by a circuitous route that exhausted their water supply.
The battle was almost upon them, and the armies were exhausted with thirst. Looming before the kings was certain defeat because of the condition of the troops. Jehosaphat responded to the crisis as godly people do, asking if there was someone who spoke on behalf of the Lord to provide wise counsel. At this point, a servant of Jehoram, overhearing Jehosaphat’s query, answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah” [2 KINGS 3:11b]. Jehosaphat responded to this knowledge, “The word of the LORD is with him” [2 KINGS 3:12a]. And so the three kings, Jehosaphat, Jehoram, and the king of Edom, went down to Elisha seeking deliverance from the danger they were then facing.
Elisha bluntly responded to the presence of the wicked king, Jehoram, by saying, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother” [2 KINGS 3:13a]. At this, Jehoram pleaded with Elisha, arguing that it was the LORD Who had brought them to this point. What is important when we focus on the message I deliver this day is the response Elisha gave to that wicked king. The man of God pointedly said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you” [2 KINGS 3:14]. It was the presence of one godly man, though in alliance with wicked men, that moved the hand of God to deliver the people.
As we witnessed in the opening statements of the message, we understand that had Lot done what he was supposed to have done when he moved into Sodom, bringing even six people to join him in worship of the Lord, assuming that his two daughters and his wife shared his desire to honour God, the Lord would have spared that wicked city. The promise of God’s deliverance is revealed as the LORD received Abraham’s petition.
Again, hear the Word of the Lord. “Abraham drew near and said, ‘Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?’ And the LORD said, ‘If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.’
“Abraham answered and said, ‘Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?’ And he said, ‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.’ Again he spoke to him and said, ‘Suppose forty are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of forty I will not do it.’ Then he said, ‘Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.’ He answered, ‘I will not do it, if I find thirty there.’ He said, ‘Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.’ Then he said, ‘Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.’ And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place” [GENESIS 18:23-33].
Forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, and at last ten—how audacious was the prayer presented to the Lord GOD! How bold is your prayer for Canada? For the United States? For your community? For your family? Have you learned that God is not put off by brazen prayers when you are seeking His glory? Have you presented daring pleas of the God of Heaven? Is the reason we are not audacious in our petitions for our families because we do not believe that our wayward children are that bad? Have we become casual about righteousness because we don’t believe that God will judge us? It is time for us to wake up to again realise the vital importance of our presence as a people belonging to the Risen Saviour.
I believe the Apostle was speaking to us in this day when he wrote these stern words: “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’ Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:33-34].
This was a theme that he presented on several occasions. You may recall how he urged all who follow the Master, “You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” [ROMANS 13:11-14].
I speak to you as those who pursue righteousness, as a people who follow the Risen Saviour—your presence in this dying world is critical. Your presence as righteous followers of Christ even now holds back the judgement of God. The judgement that our nation deserves, the judgement that must surely one day be released, is held back by your presence. But if you cease to walk in holiness and cease to live righteously, what remains for our nation? Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
