Genesis 18:23-33

            {Prayer}

            “All for one, and one for all.” Anyone know where that phrase was made popular? … The Three Musketeers. The full quote is “Never fear quarrels, but seek hazardous adventures. All for one, and one for all. All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall.” This is easily a motto for loyalty, sacrifice, and unity. It sounds noble. It sounds fair. It sounds right. Everyone is standing together and everyone is looking out for each other.

             But … what happens when no one stands up? What if no one is worthy? What if the group needs saving but no one is righteous enough to do it? Then what?

            This is the kind of moment Abraham is stepping into in Genesis 18. God has revealed to Abraham that judgment is coming upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham has heard of the horrible things that had been going on there. The conversation Abraham has with God is not to condemn God for wanting to destroy the wicked but rather to intercede for the righteous.

Full of faith and deep compassion, Abraham steps up to the LORD and asks the question that every believer, every sufferer, every parent, and every pastor will eventually ask: … “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? … Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Gen. 18:23, 25).

Abraham appeals to who God is. We believe, teach, and confess that God is love. We see this all over the Bible. Lamentations 3:22 says, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases.” Jeremiah 31 God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Isaiah 54, God again says, “my steadfast love shall not depart from you.” 1 John 4:16 specifically says, “God is love.”

But Abraham also knows that God is just, that He is fair and impartial. Abraham even brings this up. He says, “Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you!” (Gen. 18:25).

God responds to Abraham saying, “Alright Abraham, I’ll make you a deal. How about this? If I find fifty righteous people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake” (18:26 NLT).

“Alright. That works.” Abraham takes this as a win. He has boldly stepped up and questioned the God of the universe and lightning bolts didn’t come down from heaven and kill him on the spot. Saying to God, “I know I’m but dust and ashes and you can return me to them easily and whenever you want, but what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?” (18:28). “I will not.” “But what if there were 40, or 30, or 20, or what if there were 10 righteous people?” God says, “I will not” and then leaves. As God leaves, Abraham too returns home.

There’s this silence to the end of the chapter. God leaves, Abraham leaves. So what happens next? Is God going to destroy the city or not? Well, to know what happens you have to keep reading into chapter 19, but I’m pretty sure you can guess what happened. Because there were not 10 righteous people, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.

What if this were to happen today? What if God said He was going to destroy Salem, or Iuka, or your town? Would God find 50, 40, 30, 20, or even 10 righteous people?

It’s easy to look at Sodom and be like, that’s their problem. But the thing is, their problem is our problem. We don’t have to look far to find sin. We just have to look around, or better yet … look within.

Would God find righteousness in our homes or in our marriages? Would God find righteousness in the things we say when stressed, or in what we consume when no one else sees? What about the silence we keep when we should speak … or the words we wish we could take back?

The problem of Sodom isn’t just Sodom’s problem. It’s a human problem. Scripture is clear: “None is righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10). “All our righteous deeds are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). And Solomon asks, “Who can say, ‘I am pure and without sin’”? (Proverbs 20:9). The answer is no one.

If God judged us based on our righteousness, none of us would stand, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Abraham boldly pleads with God as one who trusts in God’s mercy and justice. His prayer foreshadows the far greater Mediator to come. Abraham does so, not to excuse sin, not to say that the people of Sodom are not that bad. No, Abraham stands between the guilty and the Judge to plead for mercy. And yet, Abraham’s prayer has limits. Abraham stops at 10. Abraham knows and believes that God has a plan. A plan that is higher than anything he could understand. Abraham is a type, a foreshadowing, of someone greater.

Abraham standing between the guilty and the Judge is preparing us for Jesus. However, Jesus doesn’t plead for the righteous to save the wicked … He instead offers Himself in place of the wicked.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (5:21). Abraham was praying for there to be at least 10 righteous people in Sodom so that the city would be spared. And while Abraham was thinking about his nephew Lot’s family, the reality is … no one in Sodom was going to be found righteous.

Jesus, the Righteous One Abraham was hoping to find wasn’t there. At just the right time, Jesus would enter the world. The Judge come and be judged.

Betrayed in the Garden, condemned by religious leaders, handed over to Pilate, Jesus was judged by all. The people mocked Him. The thief beside Him sneered at Him. Yet on the cross, mercy and justice met. Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34), and then did far more than pray for them. Jesus took the punishment of all sinners of all time by becoming sin for us.

This is the great exchange. The righteous One takes the place of the unrighteous so that the unrighteous might receive His righteousness. You see, Jesus didn’t come looking for only 10 righteous people to spare a city … He came knowing that none are righteous. Jesus came to save. In Jesus, the Judge becomes the condemned, so that the condemned might be declared righteous. All our sin was placed on Him and all His righteousness is placed on us.

This is where the Three Musketeers’ motto becomes more than a slogan. It’s not just a phrase in a story but it’s the good news of the Gospel. All for One … and One for All.

All for One … all the sins of the world, your sins and my sins, were laid on the One.

And One for All … The perfect righteousness of Jesus is now given freely to all who believe.

Jesus stood in the gap for you, not because of anything righteous in you, but because He is the Righteous One who gave Himself for sinners.

And now He stands risen and exalted on high, still interceding for you. As Hebrews 7 says, “He always lives to intercede for them” (7:25b). Even when you feel like your prayers falter, even when your faith feels weak, even when you feel unworthy … Jesus is still praying for you, still standing for you, and still saving you.

So today, go in confidence, not in yourself but in Jesus. Go in the name the One who was judged in your place.

Go with joy for you are forgiven.

Go with peace for your Redeemer lives.

Go with hope for you are declared righteous in Christ.

The cross has declared it, the resurrection has confirmed it. All for One – all sin was laid on Him. One for All – all His righteousness now covers you.

In Christ alone, the One who stood for all, you now stand … righteous, redeemed and loved. Amen.

The peace of God, that surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.