I know we sing that often but
it's one of our favorites of course. We could do that standing if
you like. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's face. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, Lose all their guilty states. Lose all their guilty
states. Lose all their guilty states. And sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty states. The dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as thee, wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away, wash all
my sins away. Though vile as sea, wash all
my sins away. Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious
blood Shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be safe to sin no more. E'er since, by faith, I saw the
stream, Thy flowing wounds supply. Redeeming love has been my theme,
Then shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die. In this poor, list'ring, stammering
tongue, Lie silent in the grave. Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save,
I'll sing thy power to save. Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. Thank you. Turn to 2nd John. 2nd John. There's only one chapter. 2nd John. the elder unto the elect lady
and her children, whom I love in the truth and not only, but
also all they that have known the truth for the truth sake,
which dwells in us and shall be with us forever. Grace be
unto you, mercy and peace from God, the father and from the
Lord Jesus Christ, the son of the father in truth and love.
I rejoiceth greatly, and I found of thy children walking in truth,
as we have received a commandment from the Father. And I beseech
thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee,
but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This
is the commandment, that as ye have heard from the beginning,
ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered
into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose
not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Whosoever transgresses and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrines of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For
he that biddeth him Godspeed is a partaker of his evil deeds.
Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper
and ink, but I trust to come unto you and speak face to face,
that our joy may be full. The children of the elect sister
greet thee. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we're thankful
for this chapter of Scripture. Father,
we're thankful that you have opened our eyes and hearts to
the truth. And Father, that we know the truth and we know who
the truth is. And Father, we ask that you just
continue to keep us in that truth. And Father, we ask that you continue
to watch over us, watch over this congregation, Lord, ask
that we continue to watch, that you continue to watch over our
pastor, Father, to support him and to bring the messages that
you would have us to hear through him. And Father, we ask that
you watch over us during the week when we're away from each
other, Father, and have us long to be back in touch with one
another, together with one another, and to hear the gospel again
the next time the churches open, the doors are open, Father, we
ask that you just continue to watch over and care for us in
Christ's name. Let's sing 296. all the way,
my Savior leads me. 296. O the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my God? Heavenly peace, divinest
comfort, here my faith in Him to dwell. For I know what e'er
befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befall
me, Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread. Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul a thirst may be, Gushing from the rock before
me, Lo, a spring of joy I see. And gushing from the rock before
me, Blow a spring of joy I see. O the way my Savior leads me,
O the fullness of His love, Perfect rest to me is promised In my
Father's house above. When my spirit, clothed mortal,
Winked at flight to realms of day, This my song, through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. This my song, through endless
ages, Jesus led me all the way. Thank you. Good morning. Let's be turning to Genesis chapter
14. In this chapter we're introduced
to the mysterious figure of Melchizedek and we're shown what he does
for Abraham. Now typically when we read a
small passage like this we don't, it's easy to miss its significance,
it's easy to miss what the Lord is showing us here in these few
verses concerning Melchizedek's coming. And most of us familiar
with the Scriptures, having heard the Gospel preached at some point,
you've heard of Melchizedek, and you know at the very least
that Melchizedek is a type of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You're familiar with that most
likely. And that's because of how he
is spoken of in the Scripture. And in the Scripture we see him
used to give us, to describe a pattern of Christ's priesthood,
his eternal priesthood. But when you see what this man
does for Abram, it becomes ever so clear, at least it does to
me, that this Melchizedek is the very Son of God pre-incarnate,
before Christ came in the flesh. And we see Him interpose His
precious blood in the salvation of sinners. When He came, He
interposed His body, His flesh, His blood to save His people
from their sins, to deliver us from death. Now I want to first
show you how that Melchizedek is a type of Christ according
to Scripture. And then we'll see how Melchizedek
is a type of Christ according to his action here, what he does
in this text. So, there's no doubt that this
man Melchizedek is an important figure in Scripture. We know
this because later on he's used as a pattern that describes our
Lord's priesthood. But this man, he comes out of
nowhere. He just suddenly appears. We've
never heard him mentioned before. We don't know what city he comes
from. It says Salem, so people tie him to Jerusalem, you know,
that way. But he's here for a few scriptures,
and then he disappears without ever being mentioned again until
we find his name mentioned in the Psalms, one Psalm, and in
Hebrews, the book of Hebrews. Now if this man is a type of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, how so? Who is this Melchizedek? There are some old Jewish writers
and old Christian writers that say this man is Shem. that he
is the son of Noah, who was on the ark. And if you do the math,
you could see Shem was definitely alive at this time. Shem was
still alive, as was Eber, who they say the Hebrews got their
name from. And there's some others. Our
facts said in between them, in Salah, they were alive, but probably
at the end of their lives at this time. But Shem was alive. But the scriptures actually leave
it a mystery. The scriptures don't give us
anything that would lead us to believe this is Shem. And I don't think it's Shem or
Eber or any of those men that were there at that time that
are related closely to Noah there. Now some believe that he was
a real king, alive at this time. Others say he's the pre-incarnate
manifestation of Christ. He's the Son of God come in the
flesh. One thing we do know for sure, this man is a strong and
powerful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't let that be any
doubt in your mind, that this man is a type. And I think by
the end of this message, you'll see this man is the Lord Jesus
Christ, pre-incarnate, the Messiah, pre-incarnate, the Son of God
before he came as the Christ in the flesh. And so, let me
give you a few scriptures that show that he is a type of Christ. We're told in Hebrews chapter
7 verse 3 that he is without father. without mother, without
descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. So when Paul wrote Hebrews, he
did nothing, he wrote nothing to dispel the mystery, but actually
adds to the intrigue of who this man Melchizedek is. He acknowledges nobody knows
where this guy came from. And when we read the scriptures,
you'll see, where'd this guy come from? Who's he? What is
he doing here? How did he get into this picture
here? We don't know his ancestry or
genealogy, and you know the Jews, they love genealogies. If they
would have known this man's genealogy, they would have recorded it.
They would have made it known to us. We don't know when he
began and we don't know when he ceased to be on the earth. But here's this man who in a
strange land, the land of Canaan, occupied by the sons of Canaan
and Ham, And we thought that there was one man in Canaan at
this time who was chosen of God, called of God, blessed of God,
that man being Abram. And here's this fellow who is
Melchizedek, Paul calls him, Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest
of the Most High God. That's who this man is called
by Paul in Hebrews 7.1. Now, when we look at Christ,
we know the man, Jesus, had no earthly father. We know that
the Son of God has no mother. Jesus is the eternal Son of God,
having neither beginning of days nor end of life, just as the
Heavenly Father. There's no beginning, no end.
He is. He is God. And so the Son of
God is co-equal with the Father. And just like we wonder when
we look at Melchizedek, who is this man? Well, concerning Christ,
the Jews were told, marveled. saying, how knoweth this man
letters having never learned? How does he know the things that
he knows? He never studied with us. He
didn't go to the synagogues. He didn't learn anything with
us. And yet, same way, here's this
man Melchizedek. How does he know these things?
How is he the priest of the Most High God? And once you understand,
well, and Christ said to them, he answered them saying, my doctrine
is not mine, but his that sent me. His that sent me. This man Melchizedek is sent
of the father. He's sent of God here. And once
you understand what Melchizedek did for Abraham, you'll know,
yeah, this man was sent of God. He was sent of the father, just
as Christ was sent to the father to save his people. to show the
grace and mercy of God in delivering his people from death. That's what our Lord did for
us. He saved us from our sins and from the wages of sin. Well,
Melchizedek is sent to save Abram from death and from ruin. Now,
something else we notice about Melchizedek is his name. The
name Melchizedek is, by interpretation, King of Righteousness. That's
what his name means, King of Righteousness. Who is our King
of Righteousness? Who's the King of Righteousness?
There's only one that we call the King of Righteousness, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. As it says in the scripture,
but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. We know, we see the righteousness
of God. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Jeremiah said, this is his name
whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Because he's our righteousness
by his death on the cross where he justified his people from
their sins. And because he did this, what
is the name of his church? This is the name wherewith she,
shall be called the Lord our righteousness." He's the King
of our righteousness. God raised him from the dead
because he satisfied the Father. He satisfied the law which was
against us. He satisfied the justice of Holy
God perfectly. By his life, therefore, we live. We're alive unto righteousness.
We're alive unto God. We're sanctified of the Father
because of Christ, because of what he's done. He's made unto
us the very righteousness of God. Thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. In righteousness,
perfect righteousness. And then what follows Christ's
death and resurrection? Peace, peace with God. Because you are righteous before
God, we have peace with God. God's not angry with us anymore. We have peace with God, and that's
exactly what we read concerning him, because he's our righteousness
and peace with God. His name Melchizedek, by interpretation,
King of Righteousness, and after that, also, King of Salem, which
is King of Peace. That's what Salem means, peace.
He's the King of Peace. He's the King of Righteousness,
the King of Peace. In Christ, righteousness and
peace have kissed each other. I mean, when you just see that,
just seeing those scriptures, how can this man be anything
but the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, come here, pre-incarnate,
before he came in the flesh? So we've been justified freely
by the grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and
therefore, in another scripture, being justified. By faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So we see
here, he has no beginning, no end. We see this man is the king
of righteousness, the king of peace, just like our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. And again, our Savior is our
high priest forever. And as he is righteous forever,
we are righteous in him. He's our righteousness forever.
So Christ, our high priest, sacrificed himself to the Father, and by
that eternal sacrifice, reconciled us to holy God. And we're told
that this man's priesthood is nothing like the Aaronic priesthood. In the Aaronic priesthood, they
were but men who were themselves sinners. They had to first make
an atonement for their own sin before they could make an atonement
for the sins of the people. Well, Christ has no sin. And
the priests of Aaron died. They died, but Christ now liveth
forever. He was raised of God and he liveth
forever. And we're told in Psalm 110 verse four, the Lord hath
sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. And so in the scriptures in Psalm,
that one time where his name's used again, God is likening,
he's saying that his Christ is after the order of Melchizedek,
an eternal priesthood. That's a lot of weight in those
scriptures that testify that this man Melchizedek is not only
a type of Christ, but even more than that. And you'll see that
he is. So without a doubt, Melchizedek
is definitely a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. but not in word
only, not in word only. John said in his epistle that
he came not by water only, but by water and blood, meaning he
didn't just fulfill the water of the scriptures that were written
of his types and types only, but he interposed his precious
blood to both sanctify and justify his people. through the water
and the blood, that blood redemption of our Savior through his death
and resurrection. He delivered us. Now this brings
us back to Abram in Genesis 14. Now war had broken out in the
land of Canaan. There's war gone. These kings
are on a campaign causing all kinds of havoc and turmoil and
ruin of people. And it's going throughout the
land of Canaan. And just for context, Let me just say in Genesis
14 verses one through three, it says, it came to pass in the
days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Ariok, king of Elisar, Chedor-Leomer,
king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations. The first couple
of names are Babylonian, Babylonish names, they're Babylonian names.
So they probably came down from the north country to help Chedor-Leomer,
who's probably a little closer and had the rule, to help him
reassert himself of his dominion over these kings of the plain,
who are mentioned in verse two, that these made war with Bera,
king of Sodom, and with Bersha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king
of Adma, and Shemeber, king of Zeboam, and the king of Bila,
which is Zoar, which is kind of funny because Zoar means insignificant. And it's so insignificant, they
didn't even give us this king's name. It's just the king of that
place there. And so all of these were joined
together in the Vale of Siddam, that Valley of Siddam, which
is the Salt Sea. So in other words, this is a
flat place, a good place for war, where the cities of the
plain were located, which today is probably covered over with
the Salt Sea, the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea there is probably
covered it all over there now. And so these cities of the plain
had broken away from the rule. They would pay tribute to this
Chedor Laomer fella here. And so they're coming down to
secure his rule, because really all they do is take that tribute. They just take from them. They
don't burn the cities. They just take what was owed to them, and
they leave. They left there. And Lot, because
of where he lived, which was in the vicinity of Sodom, he
got taken up with them. There's no indication that he
was part of this, that he was fighting in this war, he had
no beef in it, but he was there, he was a rich man, and they took
him and all his belongings with them. And this is the only reason why
Abram even gets involved. And that's a good thing to note,
just about when we see all kinds of things going on, Abram didn't
involve himself or insert himself in any way except that lot was
taken. And that's the only reason why
Abram even got involved here. And he did so with a modestly-sized
army, 318 men, which at the same time as being modest, it's actually
pretty impressive that there was 318 men living in that army. in his, under his tents, under
his rule and auspices. 318 men that could go out to
war, that he led out to war, not including all the other people
that were there. And there was a couple other
fellows that went with him that were confederate with him. which
we'll see their names later. It's not really that important.
But Abram goes out there in pursuit of these four kings that defeated
the five kings, and he catches up to them, and he defeats them
so that he takes back, he recaptures the goods and the people, and
he takes the spoil of those kings that belong to those four kings.
He takes that also now. So he takes everything back to
himself. Now this brings us, now we're
all caught up to the most important part of this chapter here. What Abram did is pretty impressive. It's impressive, but he's about
to be deceived. He's coming into a great trial,
a great difficulty where he could be brought under the power of
that wicked king of Sodom. Now this king of Sodom, his name
is Bera, and Bera means son of evil. This is a wicked man. We know the reputation that Sodom
has. This is a wicked, filthy, vile
king, son of evil. This man is a servant of the
evil one at a minimum. In verse 17, Genesis 14, 17 says,
And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return
from the slaughter of Chedorlehomer and of the kings that were with
him at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale. Now, I don't think this king
was going out to meet, to face Abram militarily. I don't think
that's what he was doing, but this evil man intended to take
Abram with a very enticing offer, a very enticing offer that would
have drawn Abram into league with this man's wickedness, had he accepted his offer. He
would have been drawn in there. Look down first, before we read
anything else, at verse 21, Genesis 14, 21. And the king of Sodom said unto
Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. Militarily, I know if you've
given the men he could easily just remount an army and come
and take back everything He just gave you so you'd be without
it anyway, but I think there's something more sinister in that
I don't know if he was gonna do that or that was his intention
But were to look at this When you look at this in light of
Christ's temptation in the wilderness, then you see just how evil and
sinister this man's offer is in this thing. Turn over to Luke
chapter four. This is where our Savior is tempted
at the beginning of his ministry. This is where he's tempted in
the wilderness by the devil. Luke 4 verse 5, and the devil, taking Christ
up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of
the world in a moment of time. Now, Abram has just executed
a brilliant military victory. That's not easy to pull off with
some men who are instructed in a few things. to defeat four
kings in their armies who just defeated five kings. That's not
an easy thing. And so he executed this brilliant
defeat of them. And so Abram's on a high mountain. If I had just done that, I'd
be thinking some pretty high thoughts of myself. And he's
on a high mountain right now, this Abraham. this Abram. And the devil said unto him,
all this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, for that
is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will give it. Now, Bera, king of Sodom, is
offering Abram all the goods of his kingdom, as if they were
even in his control to give them. They weren't, but he's offering
him a peaceful way out of this thing. And the devil said to
Christ, if thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Now what was it that the devil
was after? He was saying, just give me the
persons. and I'll give you all the riches
of my kingdom. You just give me the people that
you came to save, let them be mine. And you come in here and
I'll remove the veil off of people's hearts that I've blinded them
with and they'll receive you, they'll love you, they'll praise
your name, they'll glory in you. Just give me the people. Just
bow down and worship me and you can have the riches of this world,
it's mine to give." You just give up the people. Give up the
people. Then he didn't do it. Because
there'd be no sacrifice for sin then. But Christ can't be tempted. He cannot be tempted. He is God
and he soundly defeated Satan there at the temptation and on
the cross. He crushed his head. But Abram
is just a man. Abram's just a man and he can
be tempted and he cannot deliver himself and therefore the father
sends Melchizedek. That's when Melchizedek comes,
and Melchizedek interposes himself between Abram and this king of
Sodom. Now, to interpose, it means to
insert or to introduce between parts. It's a term used in chess,
to interpose, it's to come between. to put a piece in between. It's
to interject during a discourse or a conversation. Something
interposes in that conversation. Well, before the king of Sodom
could open his mouth to speak to Abram, Melchizedek appears
seemingly out of nowhere. Here he comes out of nowhere.
Look again at verse 17. in Genesis 14, 17, and the king
of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter
of Chedorlaomer and of the kings that were with him at the valley
of Shaveh, which is the king's dale. Now, Shaveh, it means level
plain. Shaveh means level plane and
if we try to meet the devil on a level plane we will be soundly
defeated. He's much too strong For us,
we cannot go toe-to-toe with him. We will be defeated. We will be destroyed. He'll rend
us like a roaring line devours its prey. We'd be ripped apart. So we don't boast in what we
do or our strength, what we can and can't do, because we can't
do nothing. We can't do anything to save ourselves. But it says
in verse 18, and Melchizedek, so he comes out there to meet
Abram, bam, Melchizedek, King of Salem brought forth bread
and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God. Melchizedek comes in interposing
with bread and wine for Abram to refresh him, to strengthen
Abram before that King of Sodom got a word in with Abram. You
see that interposition. He came right in there before
any words were exchanged, before any offer made, or Abram tied
himself to some, agreed to something he didn't think through or understand
what was going on. And we know exactly who this
bread and wine is. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Redeemer, our Savior, our Shorty, our Substitute, interposed before
we could be destroyed by the enemy. Turn over to John 6. John 6, and let's read a few
verses just to make sure you understand that this bread and
wine is Christ. Verse 33. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said
they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. See, the Father sent the bread
of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who eat him, who feed
upon him, are nourished and strengthened, are given life and light to know
the true and living God. Verse 53. 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Abram, on a level plane, was
not able to withstand that temptation. until he fed upon Christ who
justified him and sanctified him and gave him life. He's picturing what Christ does
for his people. And that's what Melchizedek did.
He gave him bread and wine, which is Christ. Now that's why we
gather here, to hear the word. It's to be served, that bread
and the wine. We're breaking bread. We are
declaring Christ. and you feed upon Christ so that
in Him, that's where we're given life, that's where the veil's
ripped off and we see, oh, this is all about Christ. He's all
my salvation, all my hope, in the bread and the wine, in the
preaching of the gospel there. And so, verse 54, whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father
hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me,
even he shall live by me. You know, when Abram finally
hears this offer after the bread and the wine, It's not Abram
speaking in the strength of Abram, it's Christ. It's Christ that
defends him. He now sees, he has the light
of Christ and Abram speaks faithfully. He speaks glorifying God because
the spirit of God has filled his heart. Christ dwells in his
heart by faith. He's refreshed and he stands
perfected in the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second thing we see here
that Melchizedek does is he blesses Abram with all spiritual blessings,
which is what Christ does for us. Look at verse in Genesis
14, verses 19 through 20. And he blessed him, he blessed
Abram, 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, plural, into thine hand. All right, all
the enemies behind, and the enemy that stood before his face there,
waiting for his opportunity to speak to him. And Abram gave
Melchizedek tithes of all. So Melchizedek interposed the
bread and the wine to justify Abram. And Melchizedek sanctified
Abram with his blessings upon him so that Abram lived in him
by his Lord and Savior. He now stood and was able to
stand in that evil day. You know, Abram was no match
in himself, but in Christ he was made sufficient, sufficient.
You know, in all things, we are more than conquerors through
Christ that loved us. We're made more than conquerors
in Christ. It's all in Christ. On the cross,
our Lord and Savior justified his people through the sacrifice
of himself on that tree when he shed his blood, when he gave
his body for us, and being raised from the dead, we're sanctified
by Him. We live by His life and we have
all the spiritual blessings of the life of Christ given to us.
We have His Holy Spirit who regenerates us, making us to know the things
of God, to understand the mind of God in Christ. so that we
don't go on continuing in those dead things and having confidence
in his flesh. Abram could have had confidence
in his flesh. It's not going to turn me. It's not going to
hurt me if I take these things. I can do it. I'm a godly man.
I can withstand it. No, you can't. You can't. You
can't. He's given us ears to hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches, eyes to see and behold the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ, a new heart that believes, a
tongue that confesses that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Christ. He's my Savior, my salvation,
my all. So Melchizedek's blessings, what
did they do? They gave all the glory to God. All the glory to God for Abram's
victory. And Abram, he received that word.
He heard that word and believed. He heard, this is who gave you
the victory, Abraham. This is God gave you the victory.
He delivered those kings into your hand. And so Abram knew,
it's not me. I didn't do this. God did this.
And so Abram was brought down off the mountain. to behold His
God, to rejoice in Him. And that's what the Lord teaches
you, isn't it? That salvation is of the Lord. It's not of me. It's not my choice.
It's not my free will that saved me. It's Christ who did everything
from beginning to end. The Alpha, the Omega, the Author
and the Finisher. He's everything. The Alpha and
the Omega. He's everything. He's everything
to the believer. He's the one who saves us. God
did it all. Not me. I didn't have any part
in this. I'm just... the happy recipient of his grace
and mercy, bearing fruits of righteousness in me that give
all the glory and praise to our God." So whatever frame of mind
Abram was in as he's, as this King of Sodom's coming out to
meet him, we're not told directly, but one thing we do see is Melchizedek
absolutely interposed. the bread and the wine. He came
right in there, right at that time, and interposed between
Abram and the king of Sodom. And that's what our Lord does
for all his people. Peter said it this way in 1 Peter
1-2, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of blood of Jesus
Christ, grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. It's his work
that he's come in and done for us. And so being blessed of God
by Melchizedek, Abram gave Melchizedek tithes of all. He gave him tithes. Now that's a picture of the believer
who gives tithes of thankfulness and rejoicing and joy giving
all the glory to God who saved us. We rejoice in Him. If you
want to see an example of that tithing of what believers, tithing
of believers looks like, turn over to 1 Peter 1, 7 through
9. 1 Peter 1, 7 through 9. Peter says there that the trial
of your faith, and Abram was going to be tried, he was just
about to be tried by the king of Sodom, and the trial of your
faith being much more precious than a gold that perisheth, you
can have everything, Abram, just give me the people, though it
be tried with fire, might be found, here it is, unto praise
and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Abraham saw
the appearance of Melchizedek. Abraham saw that whom having
not seen, ye love, in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing. Here is the tithe, if you want
to call it that, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Reminds me of when Christ said,
he said, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he
saw it and was glad. Abram was thankful that Melchizedek
came in there and gave him the bread and the wine and set his
heart and mind to know God has given me this victory. This ain't
my stuff. I don't want this stuff that
you're giving me. This is God's victory. It's to his glory and
praise. I haven't earned or deserve none
of it. Receiving, he understood, and
receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. And so we now give God all the
glory, all the thanks, all the praise for what he's done for
us. We don't boast. We don't say, I raised my hand,
I walked an aisle, I said the sinner's prayer, I came to the
altar, I did this or that. Who cares what you or I have
done? All the praise, all the glory is the Lord's. He's given
us faith. He's given us his spirit. He's
given us a circumcised heart that believes and a tongue that
confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord because Christ interposed
his precious blood for you, for you that believe. And once the
king of Sodom opened his mouth, I could just see him. He must
have been so frustrated, like, what is going on? Where did this
guy come from? Now we got to go through this
thing with his bread and the wine. And he was stopped. He was shut up. There was nothing
he could do while this is going on. But once he opened up his
mouth, and Abram answered, he answered, rejoicing in God. He rejoiced in God, and the enemy
fled. So what God did for Abram by
sending Melchizedek, when he did, that's what God does for
us in sending Christ. But of him are ye in Christ,
who is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it's written, he that glorieth
Let him glory in the Lord." And that's what Abram did. When he
heard Sodom's proposal, he gloried in the Lord and said, this isn't
mine. You can have it. Take it all.
I don't want any of it. So let's hear what Abram said,
and we'll be closing up here. Genesis 14, 22 through 24. 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. I believe that occurred
in the serving of the bread and the wine when Melchizedek came
there and he rejoiced in God. He boasted of God before Abraham.
Abraham knew right then and there, God has done this. He was delivered. that I will not take from a thread,
even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take anything that
is thine, lest thou shouldst 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.
Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, let them take their portion. And
so having met Melchizedek, Abram understood and wanted for nothing
more. He had everything. Christ is
all. He was content there and delivered. And that's what our
Lord has given you to know. in Christ, that Christ interposed
his precious blood for me. I don't need the riches of this
world. I don't want the riches of this world. I know the riches
of this world are just sick people to hell. That's not our hope. That's not our inheritance. That's
not our riches. Christ is our all. He's all our
riches. He's all we need. And so rejoice
in Him. You that see that and see the
glory of God and what He's done for you, rejoice. That's your
Melchizedek who interposed His precious blood for you. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, we thank You
for Your grace. We thank You for Your strong
salvation. We thank You, Lord, that by Your
grace we've been made to rejoice and him whom abram rejoiced in
to see his day and was glad to see it lord we're glad we're
glad in you and rejoice in you we're happy to pay our tithes
with the calves of our lips giving thanks and praise and honor and
glory to your name lord because you're worthy you're worthy of
all all praise all honor Lord, we've done nothing. We have nothing
but you in heaven and all that you've given to us to deliver
us from death and destruction. Thank you, Lord. Help us to continue
to hear this word, to believe it, to feed upon the bread and
the wine of our Savior Jesus Christ. And Lord, we pray for
our brethren that you would help us who are sick, us who are weak
and weary and faint. Lord, have mercy, strengthen
us in Christ, gather us together to hear your word and to rejoice
in your salvation. And Lord, we pray if it pleases
you, if it pleases you that you would give us a permanent place,
a building that we may set up and and gather together to hear
your word. We're thankful for this place. We're thankful for what we have
here. We ask that you would give us
a place where you would be pleased to gather your sheep together
to hear your voice, to hear your word. It's in Christ's name we
pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 291, Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah, 291. you O Thou great Jehovah, pilgrim
through this barren land, I am weak, but Thou art mighty, hold
me with Thy powerful hand. Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me till I want no more. Feed me till I want no more. Open now the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing stream doth flow. Let the fire and cloudy
pillar Lead me all my journey through. Strong deliver, strong
deliver, Be thou still my strength and shield. When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside. Air me through the swelling current,
Land me safe on Canaan's side. Songs of praises, songs of praises,
I will ever give to thee. I will ever give to thee. Thank you.