Let's take our Bibles for a few
minutes. Turn with me to the book of Genesis
chapter 14. Genesis chapter 14. In this passage of Scripture, I'm going to start reading in
verse 10 in just a minute, but what I'd like to do is to just
tell you what has happened. And the reason that I'd like
to tell you is there's quite a few names of these kings, not to butcher them. Actually, what has happened is
the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah with a few other kings have actually
rebelled against some kings that had them in subjection. And the
kings that were the ruling party came to battle with the kings
of Sodom and Gomorrah. And when they actually went to
battle, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and their allies took
a beating. And so we pick up, I'm going
to start right there, knowing what's happened. They went to
battle and they lost the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. And so
starting in verse 10, it says, In the vale of Siddon was full
of slime pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and
fell there. And they that remained fled to
the mountain. And they took all the goods of
Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's
son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. And
there came one that had escaped and told Abram the Hebrew, for
he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite brother of Eshcol
and brother Aner. And these were confederate with
Abram. And when Abram heard that his
brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants born
in his own house, 318, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against
them, he and his servants, by night, and smoked them and pursued
them unto Hobah which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he
brought back all the goods and also brought again his brother
Lot and his goods and the women also and the people. And the
king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the
slaughter of Cheruleomer. and of the kings that were with
him at the valley of Sheba, which is the king's dale. Then Melchizedek,
king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. He was the priest
of the Most High God, and he blessed him and said, Blessed
be Abram, of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth,
and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine
enemies into thine hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and
take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of
Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the Most High
God, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take
from a thread even to a shoelatchet. and that I will not take anything
that is Thine, lest Thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich. Save only that which the young
men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me,
Haner, Eshcol, Mamre. Let them take their portion."
Now, in this passage of Scripture, This is the first time that we
find mention of bread and wine in all the Scriptures. The elements that our Lord was
pleased to use in the Lord's table. Bread and wine. First
time it's mentioned right here. These elements Bread and wine
were brought by Melchizedek when he met Abraham from the slaughter
of the kings. The king of Sodom, the king of
Gomorrah and their allies rebelled against their captors. Well,
Lot was living in Sodom. Abram's brother's son, it says
also his brother, was taken captive by the king of Elam. Abraham heard about it. He took
318 men and there he went and slaughtered the kings that held
captive the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, their allies, Lot and his family. Now there's a lot in that passage
of Scripture. I was looking at that passage
of Scripture and I could see in that passage of Scripture,
I could see Abram, Abraham, a picture of Christ. I could see there
was Lot, his family captive, and here's Abraham coming with
His men, 318 of His men, our Lord, the power of His glorious
shed blood to come in and rescue and save the captives. Picture, here's Lot and all of
those things. Pictures there of God's elect
came and took them. I can see the Gospel in that. But that's not what I want to
look at tonight. I want to look for just a few
minutes when Melchizedek, and we're going through the book
of Hebrews right now, Melchizedek. And I'll tell you, there's some
beautiful and glorious truths I think, that I may have seen
concerning Melchizedek and the glorious picture of the everlasting
priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We've talked about that.
I began yesterday to contemplate. Here's Aaron. Aaron is a picture
of Christ. You take Aaron and he goes in. He's got those stones of a high
priest. He's got those stones on his
shoulders. Six tribes on one shoulder and
six tribes on the other. And he's got twelve stones on
his breastplate. Every stone has got the name
of one of the tribes of Israel. And he goes in and he represents... There's Aaron. There's Aaron.
A picture of Christ. Now here's Melchizedek, and there's
much speculation. I know there's much speculation
on who Melchizedek really was. And the more that I read about
him, the Scripture does not say exactly. But the more I read,
I seem to think, and this is just my thinking, This very well
could be, I think it probably was, the Lord Jesus Himself before
His actual incarnation into this world. The Lord came to Abraham
with two angels when He went into Sodom. Remember that? That was the Lord
that was with Him. And Melchizedek very well could
be the Lord Himself. But as I was thinking on Lot,
is a picture of Christ. Aaron is a picture of Christ. Melchizedek is a picture of Christ.
What's the difference? What's the difference? That's
what I'm working on. Lord willing, in two weeks, I'll
preach on that. Melchizedek. Here he was. And he came. to Abraham. And he brought, verse 18, bread
and wine, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God. Melchizedek came and appeared
to Abram, bearing the very elements that we eat and drink tonight. in remembrance of our blessed
Lord. Melchizedek became a king and
a priest. And the Scripture says in verse
19, when he came to Abram, he blessed him. And he said, Blessed
be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. Now there's something amazingly
wonderful about this meeting, about those elements, about Melchizedek
coming and approaching Abraham. Abraham did not approach Melchizedek. None of God's elect approached
him first. He must come to them in power. He must draw them. No man seeks
after God as the first cause. Almighty God is the first cause.
You know that. Well, here is Melchizedek bringing
these tokens of our Lord's sacrificial death. The first time that those
elements or ever spoken of. Isn't it amazing? Wonderfully
amazing. Here's Melchizedek. You know,
a fit type of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to one of His own
with bread and wine. And our Lord, before He leaves
this earth, will eat this last supper and will give to his disciples
bread and wine. He'll tell them, this is my body,
this is my blood shed for you. These are the fit symbols, the
tokens that proclaim the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ. when Melchizedek came to Abraham
with those elements, blessed him. Oh, what wonder took place
in that meeting when Melchizedek blessed him. Blessed be Abraham
of the Most High God. possessor of heaven and earth,
and blessed be the Most High God which hath delivered thine
enemies into thine hand." And it says, Abraham gave him tithes
of all. Now let me tell you what is the
wonderfully blessed truth that is set forth in those elements
that was brought by Melchizedek. Almighty God Revealed to Abram. Substitution. Abraham believed God. Melchizedek
came with those elements. Turn to Genesis 22. Now, this
is in Genesis 14. Genesis 22. A while later, here was that
blessed priest, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God,
approached Abraham with the symbols of substitution. What did Abraham know? What did
Almighty God teach Abraham? Genesis 22, verses 1 to 8. It came to pass after these things
that God did tempt Abraham and sent unto him, Abraham. And he
said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon
one of the mountains. which I will tell thee of. And
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass,
and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son,
and claimed the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up,
and went unto the place of which God had told him. And on the
third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar
off. And Abraham said unto his young
men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad. will go yonder
and worship and come again to you." Boy, you know what I'm getting
ready to read. You talk about faith. When Melchizedek came and he
brought those elements of bread and wine, think how long ago Almighty God
was pleased to reveal substitution. There was the Lord on the very
night in which he was betrayed. He took bread and wine and he
took it and broke it and gave it to him. He said, this is my
body broken for you. It's my blood. Drink ye all of
it. And here, hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of years before, Melchizedek walked up to Abraham. And he brought bread and wine.
And Almighty God taught Abraham something. He taught him something
of substitution. I know he did. I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood
of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he
took the knife in his hand And they went both of them together.
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, My father.
And he said, Here I am, my son. He said, Behold the fire and
the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham
said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. Whenever that boy was on that
altar. I don't doubt for one second
when Abraham, by faith, believed God. When he told him, when the boy
asked him, here's the fire, here's the wood, where's the lamb? Abraham,
without a doubt, saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and
His substitution. the elements of that bread and
that wine spoke volumes. God Almighty teaches
His people of the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here was Melchizedek that walked
up and approached Abraham before Aaron was ever brought into the
priesthood. There was Melchizedek first.
The elements of bread and wine, a fit picture of the substitutionary
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember this. When he came
to Abraham, Almighty God had seen the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Abraham believed God. Bread and
wine. Tonight as we eat, may the Lord
be pleased to teach us afresh. Somebody would say, well, that's just bread and wine. If Almighty
God blesses to our memory the glorious substitution of our
Savior, we will admit they are tokens.
their symbols. It's a piece of bread and a little
cup of wine. But oh, what we remember in the
substitution of our Savior that put away our guilt. He who is
the King and the Priest of the Most High God. May the Lord be
pleased to cause us to by faith, to remember by faith, not merely
a I know that many people will acknowledge that there is a Lord
Jesus Christ. I know that. The devils admit
that. But that I can, by faith, believe
that He put away my guilt. Where is the Lamb? God will provide
Himself. Abraham saw that priest and knew. There is the substitute. There
is the Lamb of God. if the men will come forward.