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Have you ever waited a long time for a blessing? Maybe it was marriage or children, maybe it was entrance into ministry, retirement, whatever you've been waiting for. What did you feel once you got it? In some ways, before you achieved it, it sort of seemed like life would just sorta stop once you got there. We wouldn't have put it that way while working towards it, but it does kinda feel that way, doesn't it? You achieved your goal! Now what? God still has more for you to do. It turns out that once you got married you didn't just ascend into heaven. Once you got your goal, you didn't find total security. You've gotten the blessing, but you still have to trust God. 

Well, this is the chapter that Abraham has been waiting for since chapter 12. Thousands of miles traveled, over two decades of waiting, two kidnappings of his wife, and two countries nearly destroyed because of it, here we are, the birth of Isaac! The promise is fulfilled! But life keeps going. The need to trust in God's working is more needed than ever. And if one thought that being asked to be patient was hard, oh just wait until we look at what is in store for Abraham in the next two chapters. 

Today, we are going to look at our two points: God provides His promises AND God protects His promises. 

God Provides His Promises

In our first section, we see the fulfillment of God's biggest promise so far, a son born to people far too old to have children. Notice how often the same words or concepts are repeated in these verses. "as he had said...as he had promised...at the time which God had spoken...as God had commanded him...God has made" this is a very God-focused fulfillment. This birth doesn't happen without God. There was nothing that Abraham and Sarah could have done to make this happen. Truly, they have kinda done everything to make this *not* happen. I mean, Abraham gave away the key to this promise, Sarah, at least two recorded times, and as we saw from the previous chapters, he had placed her in danger of that many other times. This is grace upon grace. 

To help sell the God centeredness of this even more, Moses reminds us why this had to be done by God. Abraham was 100 years old. Sarah disbelieved the promise the first time, laughing at the very thought. Because of that, God tells them to name the child "Isaac" which means "laughter." Now, every time she calls her son, she will be reminded of the fact that God does incredible things. He does things that take you from unbelief to disbelief. 

And aren't you glad He works that way? It's not up to us to be perfect or pull it off. It can be easy to beat on Abraham and Sarah for their lack of faith, but honestly, we can all point back to moments in our lives for weak faith, so to beat on them too much causes us to miss the point which is God works mercifully. Yes, Abraham and Sarah haven't been shining examples at this point of stellar faith, but neither am I! Aren't you glad that God doesn't need elites? He carries you along! 

And yet, we see them both obedient to what God says. They did, in fact, trust him, and they did, in fact, do what they were supposed to after he was born. But the hard part was yet ahead. 

God Protects His Promises 

As we head into the next section, we begin to see the family drama surface. Abraham has another son, doesn't he? Yes, they have been waiting for Isaac, but Abraham and Sarah aren't the only one's impacted by his arrival. Hagar and Ishmael enter the stage for the last substantive time. As one scholar put it, "Abraham is caught in the predicament that polygamists always experience: he ultimately must show preference for one child over another." (Matthews, 269).You'll notice as we go through here, the name "Ishmael" is never spoken by Abraham and Sarah. Sarah just calls him the son of a slave. 

The drama begins upon the celebration of Isaac's weaning, with Ishmael laughing or mocking Isaac. There is division in the commentaries whether this is laughing *at* or laughing *with* Issac. But in any event Sarah sees something that she doesn't like. There can only be one heir, and we need to be clear that it isn't going to be Ishmael. Scholars point out that the word that she uses here translated "cast out" has the connotation of "get rid of" and is the same word that is used of casting Adam and Eve out of the Garden (Matthews, 269). 

Now Abraham doesn't want to do this. Illegitimate or not, Ishmael *is* Abraham's son. And this is well before the time of homeless shelters or really any sort of easily accessible economic opportunity. It's not like Abraham can just drop her off at the Hilton. In the end, she is going to get a skin of water and a loaf of bread. 

We would start to criticize Abraham for listening to Sarah again, but God steps in and of all things, agrees with Sarah! Indeed, the plan is to have Isaac be the heir, but that doesn't mean that Ishmael gets nothing. God still has a promise for Ishmael, because he is Abraham's son. Abraham is going to have to release Ishmael to God's care. In some way, this is practicing for what God will ask him to do in the next chapter. There is going to be nothing to stand in the way of Isaac being the heir. 

The next day, Abraham gives Hagar just a little bit of food and water for the journey and sends her on the way. One scholar noticed that the Hebrew saves giving Ishmael to her for the very end, almost drawing out the emotional weight of waiting until the very end to hand over Ishmael (Matthews, 272). This is obviously very difficult but, as one commentator points out: "Abraham learns that (due to his own mistake, 16:4) the divine purpose at times can be an unpleasant task" (Matthews, 273). Abraham would never have to be in this heartbreaking position had he not decided what he did back in chapter 16. 

It is amazing how often sin can have multiple consequences. We thought that the problems that Abraham would suffer were confined to chapter 16 with sending Hagar away that time. But this wouldn't end with a fight between Hagar and Sarah for who was going to be the wife. Now it is going all the way to who is going to be the son. 

The consequences also descend onto Hagar and Ishmael, the true victims in this. Around 14 years ago, she thought herself to be the queen, but now she finds herself wandering around in the desert with a loaf of bread and a skin of water which quickly run out. 

You just never know how long sin's consequences can last. I heard one story of a couple that worked through infidelity in their marriage. Many years later, one spouse developed dementia, and all they could remember was the sin not the reconciliation. I can't imagine what that must have been like to watch a sin resurface like that. 

Sin is awful, but God is good. He begins to make good on His promise at the darkest part of Hagar's experience. The water is gone, the bread is crumbs, and Hagar assumes the end is upon them. In an absolutely heartbreaking scene, Hagar assumes her son is about to die, so she leaves him under a bush with the idea that at least she won't have to watch her son die. And it is here that God hears. God heard the cries and responded. He shows her a place where she can have water. From there, God fulfilled his promise to Ishmael, too. He got married, and became a great nation, just as God said He would.  
 
Now God comes through here, but what happens when it looks like from our perspective that He doesn't. Not every desert child is rescued. Why? What about when God doesn't seem to protect His promises? 

The answer to this question is not emotionally satisfying, but it doesn't have to be in order to be true. These are the questions you need to wrestle with now to be prepared when tragedy strikes. 

The key to answering this question is the larger perspective, particularly the vastness of future time. Here is Isaac. In the course of his lifetime he has two sons, and that's about it. Even in Genesis, the story of Isaac is remarkably short. He only gets like three chapters, considering that we have been banging the drum on this kid for the last ten, it seems kinda anti climatic. 

But the reason why he is important is Who he ultimately produces, Jesus Christ. In that sense, he was very important, but in and of himself, he doesn't seem all that consequential. There is no way for Isaac or Ishmael for that matter to see that this is the plan, but if they could, playing a large part in bringing the Savior into the world would be an honor. 

We never know where we are on God's timeline. Any individual tragedy that we have in our lives is truly impossible to know *exactly* why we are going through what we are. The key is not knowing why but knowing Whom. We will see that play out in greater detail in chapter 22, when Abraham has to be willing to let another son go, this time having to hold the knife itself. 

I'm sure the disciples thought that all hope was lost when Jesus was on the cross. Imagine their joy to find that it was exactly that tragedy that saved them and the rest of the elect! 

So what do we take away from this passage? 
Learn to trust God not His blessings. It's a very subtle shift, and sometimes it seems as though I am asking you to be a wet blanket. "We got a massive inheritance!" "Well, you still can't relax because after all, God could just take it away!" That's not the attitude that I want you to have. 

I want you to have the same attitude that Elon Musk has when he finds out he made another hundred million dollars: "Oh, that's nice." Appreciate the blessing, but know that you are already provided for. Celebrate from a place of already-at-rest. Let the blessings find you sleeping in your Father's arms. 

You know, the funny thing about ultra billionaires is what they do once their survival is guaranteed. They will never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from ever again. They couldn't spend all of their money if they tried. They seem to either start looking horizontally, beyond themselves, wondering how they can help, or they start looking vertically wondering if they can find something beyond all of us. 

I'm actually not surprised that billionaires get into rockets. Who wouldn't want to see if God is up there? Of if He isn't, than what might be? 

The fun thing for you all, is you can skip all the work that it took for those guys to get to that point! Becoming a billionaire the likes of Musk or Bezos requires a great deal of continual work. Anyone who says being a billionaire is easy has never looked at Musk 120 hour a week schedule. 

But you can skip that. God provides for your survival. He keeps His promises to you to never leave you So you can now look horizontally to see how you can help others. No, you can't donate billions of dollars to change the world, but you can change the world for a elderly person in need of a visit at the senior center. 

Most importantly, you can, and should, look vertically, and unlike the billionaires mentioned so far, you do know what is out there. And you can spend that time not in rocket design meetings, but worshiping the God that they are so desperately looking for. 

Spend time in worship of that God, and you, too, will go from unbelief to disbelief. 

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​
Organized people talk about the power of habits, the things that you do everyday without having to really think about them. Most of us don't have to have a check list that includes brushing your teeth at night because that is (hopefully) an established habit! Using the power of habit can be an amazing force for good if you have developed good habits. A habit of exercise, Bible reading, and prayer will make for an incredibly healthy life. 

But the power of habits can work in the opposite direction as well. What is your habit when you are scared? Do you jump into over planning mode? Do the opposite and run and hide? Distract yourself? Indulge in a sin? 

At the beginning of this study through Genesis, I said the the first 11 chapters could be summarized "Who God is." Creator, Judge, Provider, Promise Maker. I then said that the chapters about Abraham could be summarized that God is faithful to the scared. 

At the end of chapter 12, we saw partly how I got to that conclusion. Abraham (Abram at the time) was walking through Egypt, and he was afraid that the Pharaoh would want Sarai and be willing to kill him for her. To cover for this possibility, he made her tell the half-lie that she was his sister. No murder required! Just pay a bride price. 

Now, God delivers him from this stupid idea after Sarai gets kidnapped, basically, rescuing not only Sarai, but the promise that a seed would come through her to Abram. Can't have a kid with Sarai if Sarai is married to the Pharaoh, right? 

Well, we moved on through the rest of the chapters 13-19 and we might conclude that Abraham is finally over this fear. After all, he's been personally visited by God on a number of occasions, most recently over lunch where he not only heard the promise again but was given an exact delivery date on that promise, one year from then! He also went on a daring raid in chapter 14 where he took on a bunch of armies that stole his nephew! He doesn't look scared anymore! 

He certainly does look brave, until we get to chapter 20, that is. Here we see with disappointment that Abraham seems to have one specific fear: having his wife stolen from him after his murder. And he doesn't seem to be able to give this one up, even despite the glorious promises made to him, particularly the promise that all those who curse Abraham will be cursed, and the promise that he would have a son by Sarah in the coming year. What's worse, as one scholar points out, Abraham puts "the very Promise... in jeopardy, traded away for personal safety. If it is ever to be fulfilled, it will owe very little to man." (Ross, quoting Kinder, 370). In other words, Abraham puts Sarah, the only channel for THE blessing that they have been waiting decades for RIGHT as it is about to be fulfilled, in danger to preserve himself (Ross, 370). 

Now, lest we come down too hard on him, we will see that we often do the same thing. In our outline we will look at a couple of points: You don't have to steal what you have in Christ
and While God is faithful, our decisions are not consequence free.

You don't have to steal what you have in Christ 

Let's start with our passage. The set up is clear enough. Abraham is journeying around the land, and he comes to a place called Gerar. Near as we can tell, this is a little under ten miles away from Gaza, a location we have all become a little more familiar with in recent months (Matthews, 251). Abraham enters into the place and tells Sarah to, once again, pretend to be his sister. Abimelech (whether that is his name or title isn't completely known), decides that he wants her for his harem, and marries her. 

Total disaster, panic mode! The son of promise is supposed to come from Abraham through Sarah, but now Abraham has just given her away. We have already seen the total chaos that it caused when Abraham had children by Hagar, and we saw that God wasn't just going to accept any child conceived by Abraham. It had to be Abraham AND Sarah for it to count! Abraham blows it right at the end. It is like watching a football player run all the way towards the end zone, and right at the end, because he was showboating drops the ball and loses the game. It is bad enough when it happens to the player and they aren't at fault, but come on, Abraham! This is a totally unforced error. 

Do you look back on times like that? How many times you fumbled the ball in your own life? It kinda makes you wonder how you got this far in life at all. We can all think of little things that we've done like that. Looking around for your phone while you're talking on it! But what about those times in which you've REALLY messed up? What brings us back? 

If we were writing this story as a movie today, how would we resolve this conflict? We would probably write this as a daring rescue movie, where Abraham, seeing his error, goes on the ultimate mission to break into the harem, rescue his wife, and flee the pursuing armies! We would write it where Abraham is the hero, figuring out how to un-mess up his life.

But that isn't the story God writes. God intervenes. God has made a promise to keep Abraham and Sarah safe to deliver on his promise. Despite Abraham trying to secure this on his own, he blew it up. God steps in to rescue and does so via dream. 

He informs Abimelech in no uncertain terms that he better give Sarah back to Abraham! Abimelech tells God that he didn't know that he was doing anything wrong, and God, being gracious, knows and kept him from sinning in that way. Nevertheless, Abimelech HAD to return Sarah, which he promptly does the next day (8-9). Abraham gets a real tongue lashing from Abimelech. Abimelech is rightly angry for Abraham tricking him like that to almost commit a sin that was evil even in pagan eyes (Matthews, 256)

What is amazing is Abraham's response. First, it assumes that he was in fact guilty of what he is accused of: lying in a terrible way. All he can really do is offer up excuses as to why (Ross, 373). Number one, he was afraid that there was no fear of God in this country. That shouldn't matter. God doesn't only work if you believe in Him. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, whether you are an atheist or Christian. Number two, it actually is kinda true that Sarah is his sister. Come on, Abraham.

But number three is almost bitter. First, Abraham says in Hebrew, "When the gods caused me to wander." The verb is plural. Abraham is either diluting his theology to accommodate Abimelech's view of God or maybe even Abraham is questioning who God really is (Matthews, 257-8). Secondly, he reveals that this has been a pattern for a while (Matthews, 247)! Ever since they left he's been pulling the old, "she's my sister" line. Hey, lying worked before without a problem. Let's keep going with it. 

Sadly, what this means is Abraham has been committing this sin and thereby dishonoring God, putting his wife in danger, suffering a needless troubled mind on his part and hers, all for something he already had guaranteed: safety. God promised from the beginning a land, seed, and blessing, but Abraham just couldn't believe it. 

While God is faithful, our decisions are not consequence free.

What's worse, his actions have had consequences for people. After Abimelech gives back Sarah, and offers gifts as proof that Sarah was untouched, Abraham prays (the first time we see prayer explicitly mentioned in Genesis, according to Matthews, 259) and there is healing and fertility restored to the people! That is a pretty large consequence for a lie! 

God was faithful, yes, but that doesn't mean that Abraham could sin without consequences. We saw what happened with Hagar. Now we see what happens to the poor people of Gerar. They are blessed in the end, and no permanent harm done, but wow, sin is awful, isn't it? 

So what can we learn from all of this? 

 Sin will not disqualify you from God's promises to you, but boy can you make it hard on yourself and others by trying to steal what you already have in Christ.

Wrong beliefs are going to send you to wrong action every single time if you really believe them. Now, sometimes it looks like that wrong action works out, but that doesn't justify it. Getting money via theft doesn't justify it. Abraham probably pulled this "she's my sister" stunt a number of times (see verse 13) (Matthews, 247), but that didn't make it the right thing to do. 

Thinking that you save yourself by your own personal holiness ignores the perfect holiness you have in Christ and makes you miserably anxious and constantly needing to prove to yourself and others that you qualify for heaven. Not only do you already have the approval of literally the only Being in the universe that matters, but you make everyone else feel like pawns in your salvation project. You have the righteousness of Christ. Relax!   

Thinking that you are able to control the souls of your children is another thing that can keep us up at night. I haven't been the parent of an adult yet, but I can extrapolate that after being able to solve all of their problems more or less for a couple decades, I might begin to believe that I can truly change them if I need to and that is God's area. He told me to proclaim to them the works of the Lord when we sit down, rise up, and walk along the way, and that's all I need to do. I'll do it to the best of my ability because of my love for Jesus. And because of my love for Jesus, I will put my children into His hands, but they are so much more capable than mine. 

You have God's written word, a blood-stained cross, an empty tomb, and the sacraments that you can use every other sense you have to perceive the truth that God has forgiven you of your sins, will bring you to heaven, and do what is just and right in the world. What else do you want? 

You have more advantages than Abraham did. Abraham didn't have the whole picture. Yes, he heard directly from God face to face, but that was a handful of times stretched out over something like forty years. You hear from God every single time you open God's Word. 

"Yeah, but it was a personalized word to him!" Ok, two things. 1) That matters surprisingly little when the fulfillment of that promise isn't given for twenty years. You have the advantage of seeing how God works in the totality of Abraham's life in twenty minutes. Nothing in Abraham's life went quickly or easily. His faith had to operate on hilariously less than yours does. 2) You HAVE been given a personalized promise that goes WAY beyond real estate and family size. Christ promises to each of you that He is working all things to your good (Romans 8:28), provide for all of your actual needs (Matthew 6:25-34), and that He will be with you until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). And, oh, by the way, AFTER that end of the age is a place of blissful paradise where you will live (Rev, 21-22) that Christ Himself is preparing for you (John 14:2) in such a way that you can't even conceive (1 Cor. 2:9). And that is prepared—and if only I could look at each of you in the eye and say this with your name—for you, brother and sister! And that was only the first six promises that came off the top of my head when I was writing this. There are so many more! This is your good news! This is the gospel for you, now will you believe it or not? Will you live like that is true or not? There's hardship if you don't, and there is joy if you do. It really is that simple. You don't have to steal what is yours. You don't have to sneak food out of your own fridge. Just enjoy it. 

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​We are going to talk about hope today. We are going to do that today because we are Christians, and it is the one thing that we truly have that the rest of the world does not. I am not talking about hope as some sort of wish or platitude that you put on a coffee mug. But I am talking about *real* hope. Hope that follows you into the ICU and beyond. This is the sort of hope that cannot be bought or earned. It is a hope that can only be given to you as a gift, because the promise of this sort of hope would be utterly outrageous to offer unless it comes from God Himself. Because, as it turns out, the hope we have isn't a silver lining or a place we will live in someday. Our hope is Christ Himself, and I hope that our time together will be one of worshipping Him and reveling in that hope together. 

I've chosen this passage today because it reflects where I think all of us to some degree where we are today. We lost a great man this week. My task here isn't to try to get us to stop grieving. That's not what this passage calls us to do. This passage calls us not to grieve, *"as those do who have no hope.*" We do have a hope, so our grief is different. It is with sobs and smiles. Tears of joy and pain. One Scholar put it this way: "the hope that we have as Christians does not ignore pain but redeems it." (James Grant Jr.).

Let's explore this together. 

First, this is a letter that Paul is writing to the church in Thessaloniki. Here in this passage Paul wants to help correct a misunderstanding the church had about the return of Christ. You see, like Christians are supposed to, they anticipated the imminent return of Jesus, but they were confused about something. They thought that if you died before Jesus came back, then you would miss Jesus' return! 

Paul, even in stating their question, is here to give them the correct and comforting answer. Notice how he refers to the dead in verse 13 as "asleep." This isn't Paul being cute or coy. This is Paul living in the realest reality. I've been to many funerals where the casket is open and often hearing how people say, "Oh, it just looks like they are asleep." This is said with obvious pain because the expected next line, "but of course they aren't. This is their state forever." 

Paul disagrees with that. Here is why Christians should have hope and this is why he calls the dead "asleep," because they aren't going to stay that way forever. Verse 14 starts with "for," meaning what Paul is about to say here has direct implications for the worry present in verse 13. Christians believe in Christ who died and rose again. We worship a living Savior! He really did die, and He really did rise again from the dead. Leon Morris put it this way, "It is significant that he does not speak of Jesus as ‘sleeping’, but says he died. Christ endured the full horror of that death that is the wages of sin and thus transformed death for his followers into sleep." It happened on a Sunday morning just as real as this one. It is a Person with whom we lodge our hope, not an idea. Christianity is not a philosophy of belief that gets you through the moderately tough stuff. I don't need Jesus to get me through my next traffic jam. I need Jesus to carry me over the threshold of death. Because that is what is going to happen to me and everyone I love. So don't give me some high-brow metaphor of new beginnings. Don't give me other religions who can only point to the full graves of their founders. Give me the promise that the Son of God will raise my body one day because His body has already been there and done that. 

That's what Paul tells grieving families. Jesus isn't leaving their fallen behind. God will bring them with Him. What other promise do you have that goes beyond death? The highest promise that we can give is a lifetime guarantee—good for only as long as you live. Once there is a grave in the picture, the promises stop. But not with the Lord. The promises are only getting started. 

Paul strengthens the promise in verse 15 by reminding us that this is a word from the Lord. Paul isn't writing a children's fiction that ends with, "And they lived happily ever after." Paul isn't an overeager salesman making deals that he isn't authorized to make. Paul is speaking with the authority from God who says the dead are not going to be left behind. In fact, when the Lord comes again, the dead are the first in line! 

Let's now look at this scene in verse 16. Like, prepare yourselves for this image. We have been studying Genesis this year, and we are all pretty familiar with Genesis 1 at least. We see the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters, and suddenly God speaks, "Let there be light," and there was light. Does any of that sound familiar reading verse 16? God Himself leaves heaven with a cry of command, "Let there be life!" And the dead rise! And there was life! 

Do you know anything else that makes that kind of claim? This is the hope that we have. And by the way, when the Bible uses the word "Hope," it isn't saying it like we do today. We say things like, "I hope it doesn't rain on our picnic" knowing full well that it can rain. When the Bible says "hope," it means, "this is absolutely for sure what is going to happen." I don't know why you would ever say this, but it would be like saying, "I hope I get taxed this year." It is going to happen. This glorious image that Paul has just painted for you is real and sure. 

But there is a very crucial detail left at the end of that verse 16. This is for the dead "in Christ." What does that mean? A person is "in Christ" if they are united with Christ, and I choose that word carefully. Like I said at the beginning, this isn't some sort of philosophy that you just mentally assent to. You would not say that I was united with my wife if all I did was acknowledge her existence. That does not make a marriage. Promising to see her on weekends doesn't make a marriage. Being united to my wife means shaping my life around her. She is always in my calculations as I make any decision. And it works the other way around, too! This works the same way with Christ. In fact, one scholar went so far as to say, "Believers are so united to Christ that their own life is his, and his life is theirs. This includes not only forgiveness but also resurrection." (James Grant Jr.)

Being united to Christ isn't promising Him weekends. It is a surrender of your life to Him. It is having every decision being shaped by your relationship with Christ. 

But why should you do that? Jesus didn't die and rise again as some sort of display of ability to impress you. Jesus died and rose again because that is what it took to rescue you. Our sin was an act of high treason against the God of the universe, Jesus Himself. The very justice of God demanded satisfaction. You cannot commit a crime like that and it just be let go. We have a name for judges who do that: Corrupt. God cannot be corrupt. It is against His nature, but He wants to deliver us from the only appropriate punishment for the highest crime in the world, eternity in hell. So God sends His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our substitute. He absorbs all the punishment aimed at us in His death, and provides us all the perfection we need in His sinless life. But if He had just left it there, if there was no resurrection, then we would conclude that Jesus' sacrifice wasn't enough. If He is still in prison as it were, then the sentence still wouldn't have been fully served. But Christ did rise. He did pay the penalty so that God can be just and can justify you. 

So if you have been united with Christ. If you have surrendered your life, turned from your sins and put all your trust in Christ, then this chapter's hope is for you! If you die before Christ comes, well then, Christ will come get you first! Your body will be reconstituted and raised from the grave you were put in, you will be awakened, as it were, from sleep. And if you happen to be alive when Christ returns, well, then you will join the rest! Again from Morris: "We should not overlook the fact that believers will be caught up with them. There will be a reunion with Christ, but there will also be a reunion with the friends who have gone before." But the real hope is to meet the Lord to dwell with Him forever. 

That's where the real hope is. It isn't going to a nice cloudy place in the sky. Your hope is way bigger than that. If all you want is a nice place to live, then go get a realtor. If you would like to behold the face of God, the eternal fount of all joy and peace, and dwell forever in the light of His glory that outshines the sun, well, you'll need Christ. And the good news is that He offers Himself to you today. This isn't a clean yourself up program. This is a "I need to be cleaned up" program. Christ said, let all who are weary and heavy laden come to me, and I will give you rest. He didn't say, "Let the weary strengthen themselves, lay down their burdens and then come to me." You need help! He will give it to you. Just ask. 

Now, since all of that is true, verse 18 encourages us to encourage one another with these words. This is our hope. 

But as I close, am I saying that this hope only exists at the end? Christ offers everything to you, but you have to die first to enjoy it? Not at all. If we really spent some time thinking about what we have just looked at here, it would change how we live our lives in everything, wouldn't it?

It's a silly example, but it makes the point, somewhat. When I was on my way back from Togo, we had a connecting flight through Paris. We had already been flying for six hours just to get here, and it was another roughly ten to go. I was very ready to get home, and they were very ready to get this flight going. It seemed as though there was a mile of people ahead of me, as I was in near the back of the plane. Well, I got to the front of the line (finally) and my ticket beeped red. Not good. I was sent to another desk, with another line, while I watched the rest of the flight board. I got to the front of that line, got things sorted, rejoined the now much shorter line to get on the plane when my ticket beeped red again. I was sent, again, to that other desk, with another line to get that sorted, again. My chest was getting tight. I had been pretty easy going up to this point. But I was beginning to think that I was going to miss this flight because some computer somewhere said I didn't exist. 

Do you know what would have calmed me greatly? If the pilot of the plane came out and said, "I'm not leaving without you." I would have patiently waited in that line again.

It turns out that you are more obedient when you know that your destination is assured. 

Christ offers you far more than a sure connecting flight. This sort of promise truly takes the sting out of death. And if you don't have to fear death, then I'm not sure what can scare you. Raising toddlers is a lot of work. But if I know that my eternity is settled, it gives me a brand new perspective. It is only when I am not thinking that way do I lose my patience. I forget what is important. It doesn't mean that hard things aren't still hard. Losing someone to death is still hard. God doesn't promise to fully dry our tears here on earth. Things still hurt. But what He does give us is something to hold onto in the pain. Christians are not numb people bouncing off things in this world. We feel everything, but God is so good to us, His promises so sure to us, that we can sing next to a deathbed. And if you can sing next to a deathbed, you can serve a neighbor, forgive an enemy, lay down your life, because Christ's grace will enable you with a hope that goes beyond even death. 

To really press that point home, that we have a hope that goes beyond death, let me adapt one last thought from a scholar, Rob continues to have the same hope that you and I do. The living and dead in Christ have—present tense— the same hope. Christ will come. Christ will renew the world. And we will dwell with Him.

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Have you ever told someone how to do a particular task but they insist on doing it some other way? Even though no other way exists to do that task, they insist on relentlessly attempting to do that which isn't right. Kids do this all the time, don't they? We have sayings like, "If at first you don't succeed, do it the way mom told you to do it." How much easier our lives would be, eh? 

But we can't judge them too harshly because we often find ourselves in the same boat, don't we? God tells us explicitly how to live and even what to do when we don't do it right and still we resist Him. We can see this on full display here with Lot on his way out of Sodom. 

Last week, we took a deep, hard look at how Lot got into the situation that he got into. We found that even a man given the grace of God can still get terrifyingly used to evil such that he would use it himself. God is merciful, however, and is still committed to not sweep away Lot with the rest of the city. God begins the extraction process, but Lot seems to be doing his best to not cooperate with the process. This is extremely frustrating to watch, but there is a lot that we can learn here, as we finish our sermon from last week with point two: God's grace will save you, so embrace it. 

Ok, so when we last left this story, the whole city of Sodom was trying to break down Lot's door so they could have their way with the guests AND violate Lot for trying to stop them. The only way that they could be stopped was the angels striking them with literal blindness. That didn't stop them from trying, but it did stop them from being successful. God's examination of Sodom is complete, and destruction is coming.  

You would think that this would be enough to convince Lot and his family that it is indeed time to pack up the bags. What could possibly be left in Sodom for them? The whole town is against them now, so Lot's political career is over. And certainly after an event like that, you would think they are ready to flee the town immediately! Plus! The whole thing is about to be destroyed anyway by God Himself! The angels have him warn his sons-in-law, but they don't take that warning seriously. You can feel the tragedy in that, but the real tragedy is in verse 16. 

Lot lingers. 

It is one thing for sons-in-law who haven't seen God work to distrust, but Lot has seen what God can do. Lot just watched angels blind a whole town and those same beings are telling him it is time to get out of doge, but Lot lingers. J.C. Ryle spent a whole chapter on just that verse in his book Holiness. Lot just doesn't want to leave. Do you see how imprisoning sin is here? There is absolutely no future here for Sodom. Doomsday is literally here. But Lot doesn't want to let it go. 

What sins have a grip on you like that? What is the thing that you say, "Yeah, I know, I need to stop doing that," or "Yeah, I know, I need to start doing this." Why are you lingering? Is it because you don't believe judgment is coming? It is. Is the world just that charming to you? God could burn up this system at the end of this sermon, or years from now, but that destruction is coming. Why are you waiting? My old seminary professor put it like this: "No good can come of loving a society so morally bankrupt that it awaits the swift judgment of God—if not temporal judgment, certainly at the end of the age." (Ross, 365) In that, Ross brings up the point that God may not wait until the end of days to bring judgment locally. I've known guys so hooked on pornography they were unable to consummate their marriages. Don't take God's grace for granted. If you are hearing this and God hasn't brought consequences on your sin yet, then this is the time to move it! Leave it behind! 

Next in verse 18, we learn not to negotiate with it. Lot has been lingering and holding up the process here. The angels have to drag them by the hand, place them outside the city and say, "Ok, you're out of the city, but you need to get up to the hills quickly. I can't start until you're gone." And then Lot starts trying to negotiate with the angels! There are a couple of different opinions on why Lot is doing this. One thought is that Lot doesn't trust that God will wait, so he tries to negotiate a lesser distance to go. The other opinion, which I find more persuasive, is that Lot is trying to get some compensation. One scholar put it this way, "...Lot pleaded for a little city for himself. Lot thought that, if the Lord was going to destroy Sodom, then perhaps he would grant him something in consolation." (Ross, 361). Lot has gotten used to the city life, and he thought that he would just die in the hills. If he could just have this little city (Zoar means little), that would be fine. Now, Zoar was on the destruction list, too. Yet, true to God's mercy, He won't destroy it for the sake of one righteous guy, Lot. 

After a full day, they finally get to Zoar, and God rains down fiery judgment on Sodom. Note how absolutely comprehensive this judgment is. Verse 25, the city, all the valley, all the inhabitants, and even down to the plants that grew in the ground (the very thing that drew Lot to the city in the first place), it was all destroyed. J.C. Ryle comments that we should never forget how much God hates sin. It is right there in verse 25. How crazy are we to not take God seriously.  Crazier still must we be to be given an opportunity to escape such a fate and not take it. 

And then we have Lot's wife. We meet her just long enough to see her turn into a pillar of salt! Why? It is because, contrary to the angel's divine instruction, she looked back on the city. This isn't the sort of look that would happen to behold the drama of divine destruction. This is a look of longing. She was pulled out of this place of sin, but she missed it. Her heart was still in the city, so her body became like it, full of salt. Matthews points out that Sodom becomes the Dead Sea, a place of salt where nothing grows (242). 

Don't look back and long for your sin. Leave it behind, and take your heart with you. 

And when you take your heart with you, remember that your sin lives in there. Whenever there is massive judgment that falls in Genesis, it seems as though sin slips into the suitcase. Noah built this big boat, left all the unrighteous people behind, but when he exited, sin survived the flood. The same thing happens here. 

As we head into the sordid tales of verses 30-38, we find that Sodom survives in the hearts of Lot's daughters. They want to have offspring, and for some reason assume that the only way to do that is to obtain offspring from their father. Now, at the very least, the daughters realize that even Lot is not going to go along with this plan willingly. They are going to have to get him blackout drunk in order to pull this off (Matthews, 245), which they do. The angels saved him from being exploited by the men of Sodom, but the women of Sodom eventually used him, nonetheless. 

What a tragedy. 

That's the last we ever hear from Lot. The two children that are born from this disaster become the enemies of Israel for well over 1500 years. 

This whole thing began with Lot wandering away from Abraham for greener grass so that his massive wealth could be sustained. Twenty years later he is in cave having conceived his own grandchildren who will be thorns in the sides of his family descendants for thousands of years. 

How do you come back from that? 

Well, to get that answer, we need to look at the one time Lot comes up in the new testament, 2 Peter 2:7. How does Peter evaluate Lot? He calls him "righteous Lot." Excuse me? Peter, did you forget the "un" to make it be "unrighteous"? No, Peter meant to say that, as he calls him "righteous" two more times. Was Peter wrong? No! The Holy Spirit inspired that. So how on earth after becoming mayor of Sodom, offering his daughters up to the crowds, and getting so drunk he couldn't even remember conceiving his own grandchildren not once but twice—in a row? 

The same way you are considered righteous. The grace of God. God was obviously doing something in Lot's heart, because according to Peter, Lot hated what was going on in Sodom. But just because you have some righteous impulses doesn't mean that you aren't capable of major sin. But just because you've committed major sin doesn't mean that God can't still make you new. 

Don't take God's grace for granted. Watch over your heart, because your sin is there, but don't stop looking to God's grace to wash you clean. That is what we are confessing as we come to this the Lord's Supper. God's grace and God's grace alone makes you able to come and partake of this blessing. The bread tells us that our bodies which should have been broken eternally for our sins are made whole. Jesus' body was broken in our place. The juice, symbolizing the blood of Christ poured out in substitute for our blood. This gospel picture points to the reality that makes us righteous. 

So if you are here today holding onto some sin, I command you to let it go. Its end is destruction and only wants to take you with it. And if you are here today and say, "Oh, that's already happened. My life is absolutely ruined. I'm right there in the cave with Lot." Then come to the God who made Him righteous. Don't take his mercy for granted, don't think its not enough, it is! The only person you need to be made clean for is God, and He has provided you this way. Don't ignore it. Don't stop being grateful for it. If it took sticking you in a cave for the rest of your life so you weren't destroyed by the Sodom of your sin, than praise be to God. 

And if you are here today thinking, "Wow, I'm glad I didn't mess up like that." Take heed lest you fall. If you were spared the consequences of sin, if you were kept from the mistakes of others, than you have great reason to be grateful to God. No one has a boring testimony. If you were pulled from sin at an early age, than you have much to praise God for. 

Don't take that mercy for granted. It'll keep that sin in your heart at bay. Let's pray.