The Friend of God

You might not know this, but it gets really hot up here on baptism day because that water is heated. And so it gets a little warm up here. So I'm going to forego the jacket, and I'm sure you won't mind. Take your Bibles and let's turn to Genesis chapter 18 as we continue the saga of our man of faith, Abraham. before we look at the text let's uh let's bow for a word of prayer father we're thankful again for your goodness and grace to us especially as we've witnessed the baptism of stevie craig we're thankful that you have given us the the gospel that we might believe and be reconciled be rescued from our sins.

We thank you that you command us then to follow you without reservation and to be a part of the people of God. Now, Father, as we look into your word, we pray that you would help us to understand, help us, Lord, to change, help us to become people who live by faith and who believe your promises and who believe what you say you will do. Help us now, we pray, as we look into this text of Scripture for your glory and our good.

In Jesus' name, amen. From a distance, God is watching us, or so sings Bette Midler in a popular song that came from the 90s. Is that how you see God? Centuries ago, after eating a dinner with his disciples, Jesus began to teach and to encourage them. At one point he said this to them, You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends.

For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. According to Jesus, a friend is someone that you open your heart to, someone who knows not just what you're doing, but why you're doing it. And as those who trusted Jesus as their only hope, those who have cast their all with the Lord Jesus Christ, according to Jesus have become the friends of God Now in the text that we have before us chapter 18 of the book of Genesis we see that Abraham is a friend of God as God opens his heart to this man In fact I don know if you knew it or not, but Abraham is the only figure in the Old Testament who has the title friend of God.

It's mentioned in the book of Isaiah. As Isaiah talks to Israel, he says, But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 7, Abraham is called the friend of God. And one more time in the New Testament, in James 2, verse 23, he's identified as the friend of God. And God opens his heart to his friend Abraham in this chapter.

He speaks to Abraham about promise and judgment. He tells him of hope and life, death and destruction. So let's look together at the text, shall we? First 15 verses, Genesis chapter 18. And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him.

When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree while I bring a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourself. And after that, you may pass on since you have come to your servant.

So they said, Do as you have said. And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, quick three seas of fine flour knead it and make cakes and abraham ran to the herd and took a calf tender and good and gave it to a young man who prepared it quickly then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them and he stood by them under the tree while they ate they said to him where's sarah your wife and he said she's in the tent the lord said I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife, will have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, After I worn out and my Lord is old shall I have pleasure The Lord said to Abraham Why did Sarah laugh and say Shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old Is anything too hard for the Lord At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.

But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid. He said, no, but you did laugh. Well, let's stop there for a moment. The narrative begins with a statement that the Lord, that is God himself, Jehovah, appeared to Abraham at his residence. Now, Genesis never really tells us how God spoke to or appeared to Abraham, except in one case that we have seen in Genesis chapter 15, where it says that he appeared to him in a vision.

Here, he appears as a man, one man of three that visit Abraham. Now, later we find out that two of those men are angels. Look at verse 22. This drop down to verse 22, where it says, so the men turned from there and went towards Sodom. But Abraham still stood before the Lord. And if you jump over to chapter 19, verse one, it says the two angels came to Sodom in the evening.

So two of those visitors are angels. The other. And it slowly becomes apparent as you go through this. I don't think Abraham knew it right away, but it becomes clear to him as they continue in their conversation. one of those men is God himself is the Lord how do I know that because when you look at verse 10 it says what the Lord and there how is Lord spelled all capital letters whenever you see that in the Old Testament Lord in all capital letters that means Yahuwah Jehovah that means that's his personal name that's the personal name of the covenant God of the Old Testament The Lord.

You see that in verse 10. You see it in verse 13. If I can find it. The Lord said to Abraham, Abraham, Abraham, why did Sarah laugh and say? You drop down to verse 22 and it says that Abraham stood before the Lord. And so you see that one of those three visitors is the Lord himself. and you know it's the Lord because in verse 13 he knows Sarah's inner dialogue he knows what she's thinking and saying to herself right and then in verse 14 he claims to have supernatural power because here he says by this time next year I will visit and she will have the son that I promised you And so all the indications are and evidently Abraham picked this up slowly but surely through the whole visit, that one of these persons is the Lord.

Well, let's pick up the story. You find Abraham as the scene opens, sitting in the door of his tent, and he looks up and sees through the hazy waves of the heat of midday three men standing nearby and as is the custom of the day he ran to them and offered them hospitality that's what you did in those days yet he's far more hospitable than normal he goes way beyond what is normal hospitality he says to them i'll give you some water for washing your feet and i'll give you a what does he call it a morsel of food for them and some shade to rest but then he hurries off and notice it talks about him running and hurrying and getting things together he wants to be hospitable and he doesn't give a morsel of food he prepares a feast for them by the way he also sees himself as a servant in their presence he addresses the leading man if you will oh lord not not the lord of his name but oh sir is the word that's used there now here is the friend of God here is the friend of God he is certainly gracious not because of himself but because God's grace has transformed him as we walk with Abraham through these pages of through the pages of his story we see the grace of God first of all reaching him in verse 12 and the grace of God walking with him even in his failure so that here is a man touched by the grace of God and is transformed in his character. Of course he's hospital.

But you will notice, if you keep reading the story, if we read just this big long narrative, you will see the difference in the reception of the visitors with Abraham as opposed to their reception in Sodom. And I think Moses has drawn that contrast. Abraham hurries and gets a great feast for them, whereas when they arrive at Sodom, they're threatened with sexual assault.

You can't get any more of a contrast than that, can you? And so Abraham has been touched by the grace of God. Now God does something extraordinary here. He actually shared There's a meal with Abraham. Now you remember, to sit down at meal with someone, to sit down at a meal with something is the highest form of fellowship. OK?

That's why when we gather for the Lord's table, we have to have all our differences taken care of. Because to eat together in biblical language is to truly be one, is to truly have fellowship, is to share your life. And God here, in the person of however he appears, sits down and eats with Abraham. This is the only man in the entire Old Testament that God does this with.

For example, Gideon sees the representative of God, sees God, the angel of the Lord, who in my estimation, as you read the text of Old Testament, the angel of the Lord is the Lord. When Gideon meets him, he prepares a meal. What does God do with that? He consumes it as a sacrifice. When the parents of Samson meet the angel of the Lord and they prepare a meal, what happens?

It's consumed in a sacrifice. That's what he does in the instances where he meets with people and they prepare a meal. He consumes it as a sacrifice. This is the only instance where he sits down and eats with a man, with Abraham. He is indeed the friend of God. And this is the only time and the last time that God ever does that. until Jesus comes and we eat with Jesus every time we meet for communion.

By the way, total sidelight has nothing to do with this sermon. Does that ever strike you as, wow, we really have something great going for us here that they didn't have in the Old Testament? We can commune with God in a way that they could not. All right. Well, as they sit there eating, you find out that they're not just passing by. They have a purpose in stopping here.

And they ask, it says all three of them ask, Hey, Abraham, where's your wife? Where's Sarah? And Abraham responds, What? She's in the tent, implied where the women are supposed to be when we're around eating. I think that's part of the custom of that day. You didn't eat with the visitors.

You made, ladies, that's the way it was. You made the meal and then you sat in another room. Okay, sorry about that, but that's the way it was. So she's where she's supposed to be. But what is she doing She listening And the Lord makes this extraordinary statement About a year from now your wife Sarah will have the son that I promised you Look back at the previous chapter, verses 15 and 16.

But God said to Abraham, As far as for Sarah your wife, you shall not call her name Sarah, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she shall become nations. Kings of peoples shall come from her. He makes it clear to Abraham, however long it was before this visit, that Sarah was the one who's going to have the child of promise.

Now the writer, who's Moses, gives us some information at this point. Sarah's listening to this whole conversation behind the tent door. And he reminds us that Sarah and Abraham are both old and he also adds the detail that Sarah as the Hebrew reads literally no longer experienced the cycle of women all right so in other words Moses wants us to get it clearly in our heads that the possibility of having children is utterly impossible for this couple utterly impossible for this couple.

There's no way. There's no way they can have children. And then he adds what Sarah said and did. And notice this is what she says to herself, and she laughs to herself. In other words, she's saying, yeah, right. This old woman and that worn out old man can't possibly have a son.

That's just impossible. And It was. Well, of course. You know, when you have the Lord sitting at your table, he already knows what you're thinking. She's not in the room, and he already knows what she's thinking. By the way, the Lord's always sitting at your table, so don't think you can hide anything from him.

He already knows what you're thinking, too. So he says, he knows what she's thinking. He knows that he laughed to herself. and so he said why why did sarah laugh i mean it not like he ignorant because obviously he knows no one can hear laughing she laughing to herself and she talking to herself And he says even why she saying it impossible to bear children Then he makes a remark that will set us back on our heels.

This is a remark. The remark that he makes at this point, we all know it. We all know what God can do. Do you notice what he says? is anything too hard for the Lord? Answer? No.

Nothing's too hard for the Lord. No, he's the creator. That ought to set us back on our heels and change the way we think about the world and our God. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. Sarah, of course, because she's afraid, denies what she says. Why did you laugh?

Why did she laugh? He goes, no, I didn't. That wasn't me laughing. Uh-uh, not me, right? And I believe we need to read God's response in a gracious way. Yes, yeah, you did.

You laughed, right? Because she's not the only reluctant person here, right? When you look at chapter 17, what do you see with Abraham? What's he doing? He's saying, after God had told him that Sarah was the one to bear him this child, in verse 17 of the last chapter, it says, then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, right? And said to himself, shall a child be born to a man who's 100 years old?

Shall Sarah, who's 90 years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. God said, no, but Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac. You see, she's not the only reluctant one in this deal, right? She's reluctant, but he says nothing is too hard for God. It is possible for this to happen, because nothing's too hard for me.

Now, what's the whole point of this narrative, okay? What is the whole point of this narrative. I think it's this. God expects you to believe that he will keep his promises. God expects you to believe that he will keep his promises. Now who are the first to hear this story This is a question I always ask when I studying these passages because I always got to ask the question why is this passage here What the point Who are the first people to hear this story Israel.

And where were they going when they heard this story? They were headed to the promised land. Their existence, their future was all staked on the promises of God. God would take care of them through all of their travels, and he would deliver them to a land for them to possess, a land promised by covenant to Abraham. so this is about them believing the promises of god by the way this is why i think god gets so angry with them when they're standing at the side of the jordan and they go in they spy out the land they come back and say we can't do it after all of this has been said in their hearing right is anything too hard for the Lord.

Right? That's why he's so angry, because they have a whole history of God keeping His promises. God expects you to believe that He will keep His promises. But again, this wasn't just recorded for them. This is recorded for us today. As the New Testament says, these things were written down for us.

And the Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, referring to the Old Testament, in all scriptures God breathed and is useful for teaching, convicting, correcting, and training in righteousness. This is for us. What does God want us to understand? God says he will keep his promises. Sarah's faith was weak. Looking at the circumstances, I don't know about you, I would think it was impossible to have a child. she looks at her circumstances but god said he would keep his promise because he is not limited by the circumstances do you see that she's her faith is based on her circumstances god says my power is not i can do anything listen here's the essence of faith and and by the way all of the narrative we've seen has tested abraham's faith now sarah is being tested all right HERE'S THE ESSENCE OF FAITH, BELIEVING WHAT GOD HAS SAID WHEN LOOKING at impossible circumstances.

Let me say that again. Believing what God has said, looking at impossible circumstances. Faith is not, listen to me now, faith is not believing the impossible with great sincerity. That is not faith. Now this is how many, if Abraham and Sarah were alive today, okay, right? This is how faith would look to us, not to us, but to many people today, okay?

The televangelist is on the television. You're watching his televangelism show, right? And he says, we have a Sarah on the line. So he answers the phone. You hear this woman's voice. Yes, my husband Abraham and I have been trying to have a baby for years, and we just haven't been successful. could you pray that God will give us a child, that we'll get a baby?

And he says, Sarah, I see that God, I believe that God will give you a child. I know he will. You just believe it, you claim it, and you will receive it. And that would be faith by today's definition, right? Impossible. But if you're sincere, that's faith.

That is not faith. What is faith? taking God at His word. It would be foolishness for Abraham and Sarah to believe that they could have a child. It would be absolutely foolish for them to believe that. No matter how sincere, that's not faith. But what?

God had promised this couple a child. And He said what? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Answer, no. Therefore, believe me, you're going to have a child. They heard what God said and they believe it.

Now let me ask you a question. Are you a reluctant believer here today? Are you a reluctant believer? God will keep his promises. God will keep his promises. Believe it or not, you have to live by faith every single day. you facing chronic pain and the horizon looks bleak is god working for your good or is He not Your faith can be awful weak sometimes but do you believe Him?

Your marriage is hard and you want to ditch it, but Jesus promises joy if you follow Him in obedience. Is He going to keep His word? Is He going to keep His word? you have the opportunity to make more money than you ever thought possible man you've got this opportunity where you are going to make tons and tons of money well is jesus serious when he says nothing but heartache comes from hoarding that money and exuberant joy comes from giving it away okay do you believe that right how about this one there's eternal life and unending joy if you believe in Jesus prove that prove it has anybody come back from the grave to tell us that no why do I believe it God said it God said it.

That's faith. And the Apostle Paul writes for us in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, for all of the promises of God find their yes in Christ. How do I know God's going to keep His promises? Look at Jesus. That's how you know. That's how you know.

He says in Romans 8, When he talks about all these things that happen to us in our life, all the tragedy and the heartache and the death and everything that comes in our life, and God's working for our good, how do I know it? Because he says, how will he not also, along with him, with Jesus, give you all things? He's given you everything in Christ. Why do you think he's not going to take care of the rest?

It's all guaranteed in Jesus. God will always keep his promises and he expects you to believe that he will keep them. Let's go on. Second scene of the story, verse 16. Then the men set out from there and they looked down toward Sodom And Abraham went with them to set them on their way 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 towards Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drawn near and said, will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city, will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the 50 righteous who are in 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 fares the wicked far be it from that from you shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just the lord said if i find at sodom 50 righteous in the city i will spare the whole place for their sake abraham answered and said behold i've undertaken to speak to the lord i who am but dust and ashes suppose five of the 50 righteous are lacking. We destroy the whole city for lack of five. And he said, I will not destroy it if I find 45 there.

Again, he spoke to him and said, suppose 40 are found there. He answered, for the sake of 40, I will not do it. Then he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry and I will speak. Suppose 30 are found there. He answered, I will not do it if I find 30 there. He said, behold, I've undertaken to speak to the Lord.

Suppose 20 are found there. He said, for the sake of 20, I will not destroy it. Then he said, oh, let not the Lord be angry and I will speak again. But this once, suppose 10 are found there. He answered, for the sake of 10, I will not destroy it. And the Lord went his way when he had finished speaking to Abraham and Abraham returned to his place.

Here we are, the meal ends. The group heads in the direction of Sodom with Abraham showing the way. He knows the country, so he shows them the way. Takes them to the highway that will get them there. At this point, the narrative actually gets us inside the mind of God. It gives us his inner dialogue so that we can hear it And he says shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation 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, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. He debates whether he should let Abraham know about his plans for Sodom. And of course he does. He's going to tell him Abraham is the friend of God.

So he reveals to him what he intends to do to the city. He's going to investigate and see if the outcry of evil is as great as it appears. Now we might struggle with the question of why does God say, I will go down to sea? Doesn't God know everything? Of course he does. But this is a way of telling us that God does not inflict judgment willy-nilly.

He carefully investigates the charges before he takes actions. And by the way, guess what else he has with him? Two witnesses. Okay? Two witnesses. What's the point?

God's not just a furious God. Right? He just doesn't lose his temper. He tells you why he reveals this to his friend Abraham in verses 17 through 19. He says, I've shown grace to Abraham with this promise of blessing. I'm going to make a great nation out of him.

And I have known him. Verse 19, I have chosen him is how it's translated. But I have known him is literal. Now, of course, the knowing means choosing. It has the idea of knowing someone intimately. and he's saying, I have to tell him because he is the special recipient of my grace. And because he is the object of my love, I will reveal to him my justice and my righteousness in the way I deal with Sodom, and then I expect him, what?

To teach his children and his household righteousness and justice after witnessing what I'm going to do. now it looks like when you get to the end of verse 19 it looks like god's blessing depends on their obedience and all the way through here we've seen that god unilaterally blesses abraham we get to He says, now here's what I expect from you. And now he says, I expect these things from him and his household. Why does he say that?

I like what one writer said it, and I couldn't come up with a better way of saying it, so I'm just going to read it to you. He says this, first came grace, as God said of Abraham, I have chosen him. Abraham was not chosen because of who or what he was, but so that he might become what God wanted him to be. after grace there must follow obedience through which grace reaches its goal divine choice does not remove the need for divine command yeah he's chosen why so he'll be what god wants him to be and god will move him in that direction and he says i expect him to teach his household, his family, about my justice.

Well, somehow, and I'm not sure from the text how he does it, the Lord, Abraham Waleh is the Lord. In other words, the other two go on and he, you know, he kind of stands in front of God, like, I don't want you to go yet, okay, because he's got some questions for him. He has a concern about that town down in the valley. Now listen carefully. Why would he care about that town?

Do you remember a couple chapels, a couple chapters earlier he rescued those people he freed them from their captors he went after them and delivered them he has a concern for this town so he starts to intercede for the town lord what if there are 50 righteous people there will you destroy the righteous with the wicked now given the size of the cities of that day all right that may be half the population Like, in those days, LaRue would be a big city. Okay? So he's saying, what if there's like half of them?

And God says, okay. For those 50. And notice what Abraham says. Lord, you are the judge of all the earth, and you are just. You certainly will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. All right?

Abraham has compassion for those people. He believes that if the righteous remain, there's still hope for the rest of them. But I think he's primarily driven here. He's concerned for justice. You won do to the righteous what you do to the wicked That wouldn be just And the Lord responds by saying if 50 righteous people live in Sodom I'll not destroy it.

And then, of course, Abraham, you know the story. We just read it. Besides, goes through this whole litany. He goes through this whole thing. Okay, what if there's 45? How about 40?

How about 30? Hey, if there's 20, well what about ten will you have mercy if there's only ten what's the point the point is God is a just God not a God of indignant fury who loses his temper and destroys people for no reason at all he seeks justice before he pours out the cup of wrath and what is just don't destroy the righteous with the wicked. What's the point of this part of the narrative?

God expects you to believe that he will execute justice. God will execute justice. Now in our own day, many people think, oh no, God didn't do that. God wouldn't destroy a city like cities like Sodom and Gomorrah. He wouldn't spare them. And people think that way, not because of the goodness of Sodom and Gomorrah, but because they don't believe that evil deserves judgment.

We live in a culture today that hardly believes that there is evil. Right? And that evil should be punished. Over and over we hear the refrain that God is a loving God, and that is true. But that is not the whole truth. This text makes it clear that God is a God of justice and righteousness, and where there is wickedness, he will bring justice to bear.

Oh, we've got to understand that. But listen, God's justice doesn't mean he loses his temper. Like, wow, I'm so tired of these people. Fire. Right? That's not it.

He's going down. He's going to see. He's got witnesses. He's going to see that justice is done. Another writer, of course, I couldn't say it better than this, so I'll read it to you. Another writer put it this way, so long as there are righteous men, the wicked may be pardoned in the hope that good will eventually prevail.

In the absence of any righteous man mercy shown to the wicked would only encourage and reinforce their wickedness Please understand that God is a God of justice and righteousness Do you believe that God is just and will make sure that perfect justice triumphs? Do you believe that? I hope you do. Do you believe that he will indeed right every wrong, every wrong that's ever been committed?

God's going to make sure that justice prevails in every situation. Wow. How then should you respond to this revelation? Well, I think one way is with trust, with faith. God is a God of justice. He'll see that justice is done.

Have you ever been hurt? Have people done evil things to you? Have they? Yeah. Have you ever been work your tail off and got paid just a little bit? Not what you think you should get paid?

Have people talked behind your back? Hurt your reputation? Do you believe that God will make it right? He will. Listen, there isn't one sin that God will overlook. Do you trust God?

Do you trust his justice? Some of you have been sitting here and you said, I've been hurt by other people. My employers have misused me and abused me. Whether it's true or not, God knows and he'll take care of it. Maybe not now, but he certainly will. God is a God of justice.

No sin will ever, there isn't any sin ever committed in the history of the world that God's justice will not deal with. Most of all, that ought to drive you to God's mercy in Christ. Because, listen to me, you know what we do? I believe in a God of justice. and he's going to make sure that what you've done to me will not go unpunished. Well, that's good.

What about you? Have you ever done anything wrong? It's always the other guy, isn't it? What about you? Have you ever done anything wrong? You think God this is what we do we say God go get them Of course me I okay right The things that I done that are wrong you won deal with those will you right I mean you a just God but they deserve punishment more than me right Wrong.

Wrong. Do you think your infractions will escape his notice? They won't. God is a God of perfect justice. That's why. that's why your only hope is jesus in the face of the justice of god oh listen to me if you forget everything in this sermon don't forget this god is a god of perfect justice he won't overlook the infractions of those who persecuted you but he won't overlook your infractions either he won't every infraction has a payment but he's not like Abraham he doesn't just intercede for us you know what he does he actually drinks the cup of wrath that we deserve for our infractions look at Romans chapter 3 would you please for a moment Romans chapter 3 begin reading in verse 21 and when you get to verse 26 when we get to verse 26 pay careful attention to what the scripture says but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law although the law and the prophets bear witness to it the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified, the word justified means, and are declared righteous by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. You are counted righteous as you believe in Jesus. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be what? Just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. He can declare wicked people just and still remain just. Why? Because he hasn't overlooked any infraction. Every infraction has a payment.

And Jesus is the propitiation. He paid for it. You see, God can still be just and justify you. God expects you to believe that he will execute justice alright God is just so goes the story of Abraham, Sarah and Sodom but God never intended it to be just their story it's not a history of his people just for our sake because he reveals his character and he speaks to you, his friends, today.

He reveals himself to his friends, to those in Christ, as the God who will keep his promises even when it looks impossible because he has the authority to promise and he has the authority to fulfill it Do you expect God to keep his promises He reveals himself to his friends as the God who will execute judgment He has the authority to command. He has the power to punish. Do you expect God to execute judgment?

Do you expect him to be just? the story of Abraham is the story of a God who keeps his promises and executes his judgments let's pray Father we're thankful for your great mercy to us in Christ we would tremble in the face of your justice if it were not for the mercy that you show us in Jesus where justice and mercy come together and do not violate your character we thank you that you are a God who keeps his promises Father, we need to live by your promises. Frankly, we don't know them as we should, and we don't believe them as we ought. I ask, Father, that you help us to be people who live in the promises of God.

Help us, we pray, for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.