Rev. David Holwick B See illust #2929
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
January 8, 1995
Genesis 18:17-33
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I. Making changes.
A. Women are noted for changing their minds.
1) Right now we are focused on changing bad habits.
2) Think of the changes you have made in your life (or want to).
3) The older we get, the less confident we are.
B. Can a person change God?
1) By definition, God is unchanging. He cannot change.
2) Yet the Bible is filled with instances where people
challenged God, and win.
II. The paradox of intercessory prayer.
A. Most of our prayers ask God to change things.
1) This is perfectly legitimate. Jesus tells us to.
2) But it does raise some sticky questions about God.
B. Problems with prayer.
1) Does prayer change God's will?
2) What happens when we don't pray?
3) What if God wants one thing, and I want another?
4) Does God limit his power and authority by answering prayers?
C. God is sovereign, yet prayers are effective.
1) These two concepts shouldn't fit together.
a) What seems to be a contradiction is actually a paradox.
b) Our limited minds will never be able to figure it exactly.
2) God has factored our prayers and His sovereign desires into
one plan in ways that we cannot fully understand.
III. When God seems to change his mind.
A. The impact of an intercessor.
In "The Grace of Giving," Stephen Olford tells of a Baptist
pastor during the American Revolution.
His name was Peter Miller and he lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.
He also enjoyed the friendship of George Washington.
In Ephrata also lived Michael Wittman, and evil-minded sort of
guy who did all he could to oppose and humiliate the pastor.
One day Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced
to die.
Peter Miller traveled seventy miles on foot to Philadelphia to
plead for the life of the traitor.
"No, Peter," General Washington said. "I cannot grant you the
life of your friend."
"My friend?" the pastor replied. "He's the worst enemy I have!"
"What?" cried Washington. "You've walked seventy miles to save
the life of an enemy?
That puts the matter in a different light.
I'll grant your pardon."
And he did.
Peter Miller took Michael Wittman Back home to Ephrata - no
longer an enemy but a friend.
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1) Abraham intercedes for Sodom (and Lot) in Genesis 18.
2) Moses intercedes for disobedient Israel in Exod 32.
a) King James says God "repents"! Exod 32:14
3) Jesus is greatest intercessor. 1 Tim 2:5
a) Our situation changes from condemned to freed.
B. In these situations, is God really changing? No.
1) God doesn't "shift" like shadows or politicians. Jam 1:17
2) Balaam wavers, God does not. Num 23:19
3) He does not change at all, which is good for us! Mal 3:6
IV. God is not unchanging like a rock.
A. Rocks don't respond to their environment.
(This is why they make good pets)
1) God is more like a thermometer, which rises and falls as the
temperature changes.
[clarify - he doesn't come down to our level, but his will
is already adjusted to what our response is.
[Thermometers don't change in that they are always in sync
with what is going on.
[By being in sync doesn't mean God approves of all we do:
his will may include judgment as well as blessing.]
2) He is unchanging, in that he will always do the right
thing. Gen 18:25
3) Prayers cannot and will not ever cause Him to deviate from
who he is.
B. But God can be moved emotionally.
1) He chooses to enter into relationships with us.
2) He is affected by our choices and actions, obedience and
disobedience.
3) God acts, but his actions for us will always correspond
to the changes we make in ourselves. Ezek 33:13-16
4) Not God, but WE change.
V. How God brings about change.
A. Abraham and Sodom. Genesis 18
1) God informs Abraham of his concern over Sodom's sin.
2) God waited for Abraham to respond, and affirmed Abraham in
his evaluation of the situation.
3) It appears that Abraham haggled with God.
a) Actually, God is drawing him out.
b) In this way Abraham could learn how to depend on God's
righteous and merciful character.
4) God was true to his nature: he judged the city for its sin
but did not punish the righteous with the wicked.
B. Like God, we need to be motivated by our highest ideals.
1) Have a moral approach to life.
a) Does this action of mine honor God?
2) Live in concert with God.
a) Get involved within God's will. Don't be passive.
b) Social concern.
1> The welfare of others is a high priority with God.
2> It should also be for us.
Mother Teresa is world-famous for her work with the poor
and dying of India.
But she did not set out to help the poor.
For over twenty years she taught the wealthiest children in
Calcutta, India.
Everyday she overlooked the impoverished slums and the people
living in the streets that surrounded the well-to-do
neighborhood in which she worked.
She was perfectly content with her life.
Until one night she was walking home and heard a woman crying
out for help.
Realizing the seriousness of the woman's condition, Mother
Teresa rushed her to the nearest hospital.
At the hospital she was told to sit and wait.
She knew the woman would die without immediate medical attention
so she took the woman to another hospital.
Again medical treatment was denied.
The woman belonged to the wrong social caste.
In desperation, Mother Teresa took the woman to her home.
Later that night, the woman died in the comfort of Mother
Teresa's loving arms.
That night Mother Teresa resolved that this would never happen
again to anyone within her reach.
She decided that she would devote her life to easing the pain
of those who suffered around her.
Whether they lived or died, they would do so with dignity.
She would personally do everything in her power to see that
they would be treated better than they had ever been treated
in their entire lives, with the love and respect that all
people deserve.
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c) Prayer and intercession.
d) Seek to know God's will and nature better.
C. Ignorance is bliss.
1) We don't know what God's specific will is.
a) Therefore, live as if you can influence it .
b) In a very real sense, we can.
2) Rigid determinism is wrong.
a) Your efforts can make a difference.
b) Don't just sit back and let life push you along.
c) Get God working on your side!
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Much of sermon is adapted from the article "Does Prayer Change God's Mind?"
by Lance Hartman, Discipleship Journal #80, March/April 1994, page 36.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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