Sermon Title: The Blessedness of True Prayer (Genesis 19:1-26)
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived. (Genesis 19:27-29)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
When Abraham arose the following morning after his divine encounter with God, he saw the result of God’s fiery judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah; and completely accepted the outcome in the knowledge that God remembered his prayer.
In fact, his acceptance of the outcome did not only happen after the fact, but rather, during his intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah which God used to transform him to become more like Him.
True prayer is the divine endeavor that connects us with the living God; and brings with it the deepest blessings that comes with being in right relationship with Him.
In fully embracing the Sovereign Will of God, Abraham was considered to be in right relationship before Him.
Abraham knew that God is merciful; and yet, he also understood that no sin would go unpunished.
He abandoned his fundamental familial need in favor of God’s transcendent standard of holiness.
Abraham prayed selflessly in surrendering himself to the heart of God in the matter of saving the righteous; and was blessed for his willingness to pray, not according to his carnal desires, but rather, in response to the standards of God’s holiness.
Such is the blessedness of true prayer.
True prayer results in the blessed joy of divine partnership with the Lord
In that divine encounter, God invited Abraham to participate in His Sovereign Will and Holy Work, promoting His Righteousness by responding in judgement to the wicked and the suffering they caused.
It was in that encounter God deepened Abraham’s reality to the immutable and unreserved standard of His Holiness – in a partnership that served to draw Abraham closer to the Lord.
In that closeness, it is evident that Abraham’s intent to intercede for Sodom indeed had bearing on God’s time of judgment upon that offensive city.
Had Abraham not approached God, the destruction of Sodom, and Gomorrah, would have happened sooner.
This is both a fascination, and mystery – that our participation in the Lord’s Work may result in His delay of judgment, and His hastening of blessings.
To this, the Apostle Peter taught in 2 Peter 3:9-12a:
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.
Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.
Bear this in mind always.
When God invites us to participate in His Kingdom Work, He does remember us.
And He does remember our prayers.
Do we pray in accordance to our carnal desires?
Or do we pray in accordance to His Holy Character and Sovereign Will?
Is prayer self-serving? Or is prayer for the purposes of His deliverance and His ultimate Return?
Divine partnership with the Lord is framed by living “holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”
How excited are you about the “day of God” which heralds the return of our Lord Jesus Christ? (Ref: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 5:2, Titus 2:13, Revelation 22:12, 22:20)
Just as Abraham stood before the Lord and delayed His Righteous Judgement; we must stand before Him and pray for the hastening of His Glorious Return – with hearts yearning only for things above.
For in this, is found the clearest evidence, if indeed, we are bound for His Coming Kingdom having truly received God’s Salvation and gift of eternal life.
True Prayer enables us to be aligned with God; which is an important part of
the Spirit’s Work of Consecrating and Sanctifying us.
The heart and will of God is the foremost and central reason for true prayer.
In that divine encounter as he interceded for Sodom, Abraham was so aligned with God that he manifested His mercy and righteousness.
Even then, much as he had compassion over them, Abraham knew that Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction was inevitable.
Which is why - to pray is to consciously and conscientiously bear the character of God.
Only in this striving are our hearts open to the Holy Spirit’s work to further set us apart from the world, and transform us to bear the image of Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour. (Ref: 2 Corinthians 3:18)
Never expect for a change in circumstances after you pray; because the foremost and fundamental purpose of prayer is the change of your character towards becoming holy as God is holy. (Ref: Leviticus 11:44)
In fact, the key indicator of divine transformation is the absence of anxiety, along with the unmistakable presence of God’s transcendent peace.
The Apostle Paul gives us this precise instruction in Philippians 4:6-7:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Your circumstances may not have change, but it does not matter.
For in Christ, the change in your character would begin manifest the required fortitude and resilience of faith for you to inherit the Kingdom of God; and that is why we pray with thanksgiving - for the ever-increasing assurance that when we remain in our Lord, nothing else matters.
True Prayer focuses our heart on the Will of God and prepares us for what is to come.
God remembered Abraham and delivered Lot from His Righteous Judgment that saw to the utter decimation of Sodom and Gomorrah.
As Abraham’s heart was divinely transformed through intercession for his wicked neighbours, the Lord was essentially preparing Abraham for what was to come.
This is not up for discussion: the wicked cities would be destroyed, and only the righteous would be saved.
Through 2 Peter 3:12b-13, the Lord is, likewise, preparing us for what is to come:
“That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
True prayer is a deep blessing because it focuses us on the Will of God; and prepares us for the return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and His Coming Kingdom.
If we walk before the Lord - just as Abraham did - with our hearts completely surrendered to Him, and utterly willing to serve Him in advocating His standard of holiness, we are actually hastening the day when the world is delivered from every suffering, oppression, and wickedness with the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is who, and all, we need.
When you have surrendered your life to the Lord Jesus - never hesitate; and never look back.
Remember Lot’s wife.
We either give everything to the Lord, or nothing at all.
There are no gray areas in the Christian life.
You are either completely in Christ, or absolutely out of line with Him.
Christ is our everything; our greatest treasure.
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. (Job 1:21a)
“For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” (1 Timothy 6:7)
Apart from Christ, we can do nothing, much more, prepare for what is to come.
Without Christ, God’s holy and righteous wrath would most certainly overtake, and kill us. (Ref: Genesis 19:19)
Lot was right – we have absolutely no ability nor means to flee from God’s judgment on the wages of our own sin.
Only by faith in Christ may we remain in Him and He, in us – that we do not suffer His Holy Wrath.
Christ warning to us in John 3:36 is clear:
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”
To which, the Apostle Paul taught in 1 Thessalonians 5:9:
“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Lot and his daughters may have fled successfully to Zoar, but that was not enough to deliver them from the acts of perversion and immorality that followed when his daughters slept with him. (Ref: Genesis 19:30-36)
Are you prepared to “give up everything” (Luke 14:33) to follow Jesus?
Are you engaged daily in the Sovereign Will of the Lord in true prayer?
Are you prepared for His Return?
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord, grant me wisdom and resolve to completely accept the outcome of each of my prayer – in the knowledge that I belong utterly to You and that You remember me.
In every prayer, I ask that You transform me into the likeness of Christ.
As I connect wholly with You, Lord, bring me into right relationship with You.
May I be selfless in prayer, surrendering myself to Your Heart; and blessed in embracing Your standards of Holiness.
Thank You for the blessed joy of divine partnership with You, my God; that through my life and prayers, Your Holy Spirit would draw me closer to You; consecrating and sanctifying me in the sacred work of promoting Your Righteousness and preaching Your Gospel to a world in sin and darkness.
Lord, You remember me; and remember my every prayer.
Help me pray only in accordance to Your Holy Character and Sovereign Will.
May my prayers never be self-serving and wicked.
May my prayers lead me to a life of holiness and godliness in Your Sight and before the world; that my heart would be completely aligned with You, and grow in increasing anticipation of Christ’s ultimate Return to in-break Your Eternal Kingdom.
Change my heart, O Lord, that I may bear Your Righteousness and Holiness clearly before a wicked world.
May I be utterly focused on Your Sovereign Will; as Your Spirit work freely in my life – preparing me to meet Christ my Lord and Saviour, and for life everlasting in Your Coming Kingdom.
Lord, by Your Grace, I do look forward to “a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13); increase my faith in You, and set my heart wholly on the true reality – that is, Your Eternal Kingdom.
Lord Jesus, come!
You are who, and all, I need!
I declare that nothing in, and of, this world matters to me.
I surrender my life utterly to You.
Change my heart, O God!
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.
28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived. (Genesis 19:27-29)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
When Abraham arose the following morning after his divine encounter with God, he saw the result of God’s fiery judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah; and completely accepted the outcome in the knowledge that God remembered his prayer.
In fact, his acceptance of the outcome did not only happen after the fact, but rather, during his intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah which God used to transform him to become more like Him.
True prayer is the divine endeavor that connects us with the living God; and brings with it the deepest blessings that comes with being in right relationship with Him.
In fully embracing the Sovereign Will of God, Abraham was considered to be in right relationship before Him.
Abraham knew that God is merciful; and yet, he also understood that no sin would go unpunished.
He abandoned his fundamental familial need in favor of God’s transcendent standard of holiness.
Abraham prayed selflessly in surrendering himself to the heart of God in the matter of saving the righteous; and was blessed for his willingness to pray, not according to his carnal desires, but rather, in response to the standards of God’s holiness.
Such is the blessedness of true prayer.
True prayer results in the blessed joy of divine partnership with the Lord
In that divine encounter, God invited Abraham to participate in His Sovereign Will and Holy Work, promoting His Righteousness by responding in judgement to the wicked and the suffering they caused.
It was in that encounter God deepened Abraham’s reality to the immutable and unreserved standard of His Holiness – in a partnership that served to draw Abraham closer to the Lord.
In that closeness, it is evident that Abraham’s intent to intercede for Sodom indeed had bearing on God’s time of judgment upon that offensive city.
Had Abraham not approached God, the destruction of Sodom, and Gomorrah, would have happened sooner.
This is both a fascination, and mystery – that our participation in the Lord’s Work may result in His delay of judgment, and His hastening of blessings.
To this, the Apostle Peter taught in 2 Peter 3:9-12a:
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.
Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.
Bear this in mind always.
When God invites us to participate in His Kingdom Work, He does remember us.
And He does remember our prayers.
Do we pray in accordance to our carnal desires?
Or do we pray in accordance to His Holy Character and Sovereign Will?
Is prayer self-serving? Or is prayer for the purposes of His deliverance and His ultimate Return?
Divine partnership with the Lord is framed by living “holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”
How excited are you about the “day of God” which heralds the return of our Lord Jesus Christ? (Ref: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 5:2, Titus 2:13, Revelation 22:12, 22:20)
Just as Abraham stood before the Lord and delayed His Righteous Judgement; we must stand before Him and pray for the hastening of His Glorious Return – with hearts yearning only for things above.
For in this, is found the clearest evidence, if indeed, we are bound for His Coming Kingdom having truly received God’s Salvation and gift of eternal life.
True Prayer enables us to be aligned with God; which is an important part of
the Spirit’s Work of Consecrating and Sanctifying us.
The heart and will of God is the foremost and central reason for true prayer.
In that divine encounter as he interceded for Sodom, Abraham was so aligned with God that he manifested His mercy and righteousness.
Even then, much as he had compassion over them, Abraham knew that Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction was inevitable.
Which is why - to pray is to consciously and conscientiously bear the character of God.
Only in this striving are our hearts open to the Holy Spirit’s work to further set us apart from the world, and transform us to bear the image of Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour. (Ref: 2 Corinthians 3:18)
Never expect for a change in circumstances after you pray; because the foremost and fundamental purpose of prayer is the change of your character towards becoming holy as God is holy. (Ref: Leviticus 11:44)
In fact, the key indicator of divine transformation is the absence of anxiety, along with the unmistakable presence of God’s transcendent peace.
The Apostle Paul gives us this precise instruction in Philippians 4:6-7:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Your circumstances may not have change, but it does not matter.
For in Christ, the change in your character would begin manifest the required fortitude and resilience of faith for you to inherit the Kingdom of God; and that is why we pray with thanksgiving - for the ever-increasing assurance that when we remain in our Lord, nothing else matters.
True Prayer focuses our heart on the Will of God and prepares us for what is to come.
God remembered Abraham and delivered Lot from His Righteous Judgment that saw to the utter decimation of Sodom and Gomorrah.
As Abraham’s heart was divinely transformed through intercession for his wicked neighbours, the Lord was essentially preparing Abraham for what was to come.
This is not up for discussion: the wicked cities would be destroyed, and only the righteous would be saved.
Through 2 Peter 3:12b-13, the Lord is, likewise, preparing us for what is to come:
“That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
True prayer is a deep blessing because it focuses us on the Will of God; and prepares us for the return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and His Coming Kingdom.
If we walk before the Lord - just as Abraham did - with our hearts completely surrendered to Him, and utterly willing to serve Him in advocating His standard of holiness, we are actually hastening the day when the world is delivered from every suffering, oppression, and wickedness with the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is who, and all, we need.
When you have surrendered your life to the Lord Jesus - never hesitate; and never look back.
Remember Lot’s wife.
We either give everything to the Lord, or nothing at all.
There are no gray areas in the Christian life.
You are either completely in Christ, or absolutely out of line with Him.
Christ is our everything; our greatest treasure.
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. (Job 1:21a)
“For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” (1 Timothy 6:7)
Apart from Christ, we can do nothing, much more, prepare for what is to come.
Without Christ, God’s holy and righteous wrath would most certainly overtake, and kill us. (Ref: Genesis 19:19)
Lot was right – we have absolutely no ability nor means to flee from God’s judgment on the wages of our own sin.
Only by faith in Christ may we remain in Him and He, in us – that we do not suffer His Holy Wrath.
Christ warning to us in John 3:36 is clear:
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”
To which, the Apostle Paul taught in 1 Thessalonians 5:9:
“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Lot and his daughters may have fled successfully to Zoar, but that was not enough to deliver them from the acts of perversion and immorality that followed when his daughters slept with him. (Ref: Genesis 19:30-36)
Are you prepared to “give up everything” (Luke 14:33) to follow Jesus?
Are you engaged daily in the Sovereign Will of the Lord in true prayer?
Are you prepared for His Return?
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord, grant me wisdom and resolve to completely accept the outcome of each of my prayer – in the knowledge that I belong utterly to You and that You remember me.
In every prayer, I ask that You transform me into the likeness of Christ.
As I connect wholly with You, Lord, bring me into right relationship with You.
May I be selfless in prayer, surrendering myself to Your Heart; and blessed in embracing Your standards of Holiness.
Thank You for the blessed joy of divine partnership with You, my God; that through my life and prayers, Your Holy Spirit would draw me closer to You; consecrating and sanctifying me in the sacred work of promoting Your Righteousness and preaching Your Gospel to a world in sin and darkness.
Lord, You remember me; and remember my every prayer.
Help me pray only in accordance to Your Holy Character and Sovereign Will.
May my prayers never be self-serving and wicked.
May my prayers lead me to a life of holiness and godliness in Your Sight and before the world; that my heart would be completely aligned with You, and grow in increasing anticipation of Christ’s ultimate Return to in-break Your Eternal Kingdom.
Change my heart, O Lord, that I may bear Your Righteousness and Holiness clearly before a wicked world.
May I be utterly focused on Your Sovereign Will; as Your Spirit work freely in my life – preparing me to meet Christ my Lord and Saviour, and for life everlasting in Your Coming Kingdom.
Lord, by Your Grace, I do look forward to “a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13); increase my faith in You, and set my heart wholly on the true reality – that is, Your Eternal Kingdom.
Lord Jesus, come!
You are who, and all, I need!
I declare that nothing in, and of, this world matters to me.
I surrender my life utterly to You.
Change my heart, O God!
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.