Genesis 18:23-33 (ESV)
Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are 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 fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”
And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?”
And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.”
He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.”
Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.”
He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”
He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.”
He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.”
Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.”
He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
A Theme to Remember:
There is a twofold use of prayer: the one, to obtain strength and blessing for our own life; the other, the higher, the true glory of prayer, for which Christ has taken us into His fellowship and teaching, is intercession, where prayer is the royal power a child of God exercises in heaven on behalf of others and even of the kingdom. (Adapted from Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer)
Words to Remember:
We have sinned, fearfully sinned, and that we may be delivered from it and its consequences, two things are needed – two and not one. The two things are repentance and faith.
–John Dickie