1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,560 Now, will you notice, the Lord said, Shall 2 00:00:04,560 --> 00:00:07,560 I hide from Abraham that thing which I 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:07,960 do? 4 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:11,360 Now, up to this point, the Lord has 5 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:14,500 not revealed to Abraham what he's going to 6 00:00:14,500 --> 00:00:16,320 do with Sodom and Gomorrah. 7 00:00:16,460 --> 00:00:17,700 He's going to destroy them. 8 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,540 Shall he hide from Abraham that thing which 9 00:00:21,540 --> 00:00:22,180 I do? 10 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,340 And will you notice the reason now God's 11 00:00:25,340 --> 00:00:27,140 not going to hide it from Abraham. 12 00:00:27,140 --> 00:00:32,120 Verse 18, Seeing that Abraham shall surely become 13 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:35,080 a great and mighty nation, and all the 14 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,140 nations of the earth shall be blessed in 15 00:00:38,140 --> 00:00:38,580 him. 16 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,980 Now, Abraham's going to have a tremendous influence. 17 00:00:42,660 --> 00:00:46,620 He's going to influence multitudes of people, and 18 00:00:46,620 --> 00:00:50,020 succeeding generations will be influenced by him. 19 00:00:50,380 --> 00:00:53,640 And that's true right here today on this 20 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:54,140 radio. 21 00:00:54,140 --> 00:00:55,640 We're talking about Abraham. 22 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:57,920 He's influencing all of us, friends. 23 00:00:58,500 --> 00:00:59,540 We can't avoid it. 24 00:00:59,940 --> 00:01:02,320 Now, God says, I better not hide it 25 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:05,100 from him, because he'll get a wrong impression 26 00:01:05,100 --> 00:01:05,600 of me. 27 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:08,840 Verse 19, For I know him, that he 28 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,420 will command his children and his household after 29 00:01:12,420 --> 00:01:15,060 him, and they shall keep the way of 30 00:01:15,060 --> 00:01:15,560 the Lord. 31 00:01:15,860 --> 00:01:18,300 This man Abraham, by the way, had discipline 32 00:01:18,300 --> 00:01:22,580 in his household to do justice and judgment 33 00:01:22,580 --> 00:01:26,600 that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that 34 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:28,920 which he hath spoken of him. 35 00:01:29,460 --> 00:01:32,120 Now, he said, I better tell Abraham. 36 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,600 And the Lord said, Because the cry of 37 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:39,280 Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their 38 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,060 sin is very grievous, I'll go down now 39 00:01:43,060 --> 00:01:46,220 and see whether they've done altogether according to 40 00:01:46,220 --> 00:01:48,400 the cry of it which is come unto 41 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,860 me, and if not, I will know. 42 00:01:51,100 --> 00:01:54,060 In other words, God is saying now to 43 00:01:54,060 --> 00:01:58,520 Abraham, Abraham, I know the situation there, but 44 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:00,400 I'm going down to investigate. 45 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,720 And God never does anything hurriedly or hastily, 46 00:02:06,340 --> 00:02:08,800 and I'm going to destroy the city. 47 00:02:09,500 --> 00:02:11,900 It's a good thing God told Abraham this, 48 00:02:11,980 --> 00:02:14,260 because Abraham would have got a wrong impression 49 00:02:14,260 --> 00:02:16,520 of God, and that is that God was 50 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:20,420 rather dictatorial than dictative, and that he was 51 00:02:20,420 --> 00:02:24,240 one that apparently showed no mercy at all 52 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,880 or consideration of those that were his. 53 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,380 Abraham would have really had a distorted and 54 00:02:31,380 --> 00:02:32,860 warped view of God. 55 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:36,640 And so what happened was that God lets 56 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:38,900 him know now what he's going to do, 57 00:02:39,220 --> 00:02:41,960 and Abraham has the time now to turn 58 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:43,440 this over in his mind. 59 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:45,880 And it's a good thing God told him, 60 00:02:46,060 --> 00:02:48,240 because he did have a wrong idea of 61 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,940 God and of Sodom and Gomorrah. 62 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,860 He was wrong about many things, and that's 63 00:02:53,860 --> 00:02:56,100 one of the reasons that God is telling 64 00:02:56,100 --> 00:02:58,020 us as much as he tells us. 65 00:02:58,380 --> 00:03:00,400 A lot of things that he doesn't tell 66 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:02,040 us, but he's told us enough. 67 00:03:02,540 --> 00:03:05,200 Though a man be a fool and a 68 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:07,840 wayfaring man, he needn't err therein.