We're going to be in Genesis
chapter 14 and the first verse of chapter 15 today. If you want
to turn to Genesis. I'm kind of reluctant to read
all through these names again, but we have to get the context.
And Genesis 14 is about, predominantly it's about a fight, a war that
occurred. And so let me just give you a
sense of what happened here. There were four kings, starting
with this verse 1. It says one of them's name was
Ketolaomer. And there was another one named
Amrephel, and another one whose name was Elam, and so on. And
these four kings fought against five kings, and they had subjected
these five kings in their cities. And then in the 12th year, the
five kings rebelled, and they fought back against them. And
so when they rebelled and the four kings fought against the
five, the four kings overcame them. And the king of Sodom and
Gomorrah were part of those five kings that fell. I'm going to
pick it up here in verse 10. The vale of Sidon was full of
slime pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell
there. And they that remained fled to the mountain. So people
are scattered all over the place. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah
have gone to this place where there's slime pits. That was
their downfall, at least the end of it. And the rest of the
people were just scattered wherever they could to the mountains.
And so in verse 11, these four kings, Ketolaomer was the first
name there. He says, they took all the goods
of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their vittles and went their
way. Their vittles are their food, their supplies. So the
kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell, and everything they had was taken
from them by these other kings. And then verse 12, "...and they
took Lot," these first four kings, "...they took Lot, Abram's brother's
son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods." They took not only
Lot, but also his goods, and they departed. Now, just get
the picture in your mind if you would. Abram is dwelling in this
land. There's this huge battle. Four
kings with five? It sounds like everybody in the
whole land is fighting against each other. And it's interesting
that Abraham doesn't really do anything at first. He just lets
these people fight. I mean, who are they? They're
just people of this world and there's fighting going on in
the world all the time, isn't there? Jesus said in Matthew
24, you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you
be not troubled. The end is not yet. And then
before the flood in Noah's day, it says that the earth was filled
with violence. So violence and fighting and
wars amongst the inhabitants of this earth have occurred throughout
history. It's not uncommon. It's very
common. And if they're not physically fighting or using weapons to
kill one another, they're doing it with words. There's constant
bickering going on in the world. One group against another group.
Each of them with a man-centered philosophy fighting against each
other. Neither one of them giving honor
and glory to God. No one has the truth. But they're
trying to establish the truth by their argument, by their reasoning
one amongst the other. That's characteristic of the
world we live in. Abraham, like, he doesn't seem
to be affected. He's neutral in that battle.
There's a phrase, he didn't have a dog in that fight. If you have
dogs and you want to prove your manhood or something, you get
a big strong dog and your dog's better than the other guy's dog,
get the dogs to fight it out. Abraham didn't have a dog in
that fight. He didn't have an interest in the fight between
these four kings and the five kings. At least not until they
took Lot. Then something happened. That's
what we read here in the next verse. after they took Lot, who
had already begun to live in Sodom, and they took all of his
goods, they departed. And verse 13, 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
of Aner. So the Amorite, whose name was
Mamre, had a brother named Eshcol, and another brother named Aner.
And these three dwelt in the same area that Abraham dwelt.
And they were confederate with Abram. That means that they were
aligned in their mutual guarding of one another's goods and they
were friends. So when Abram and these guys
that were with him in that area, 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. Doesn't sound like a large group,
but it's a pretty large company. You imagine, they probably had
camels and who knows what else. They were traveling on foot,
traveling with whatever weapons they had. They didn't have guns
in those days, no bombs. Just had swords, spears, rocks,
sticks, whatever they, you know, shepherd's staffs, things that
you'd use to just, you have to, it's hand-to-hand combat here.
This is not, this is a real battle. And so God had given Abraham
all these servants, but he took an interest in the war when his
brother was taken. That helps us understand this
scripture, doesn't it? Abraham, God had given him all
the promises. God had given him the land by
promise. God had blessed him with all the promises in Christ.
And his brother Lot had received a blessing through Abram. And
now Abram sees that Lot is taken even though Lot had foolishly
gone and dwelt in Sodom amongst the wicked and was taken and
all of his goods were taken. Abraham rose up and he went and
pursued after them. And God blessed his efforts,
says in verse 15, And he divided himself against them, he and
his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah,
which is on the left hand of Damascus. And notice, And he
brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother
Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. He brought
back everything. That means that God blessed Abram's
fight. He blessed the battle. And we're
going to look at that in a minute. And so that's the physical, that's
the historical context. Abram goes out to save, to rescue
his brother Lot. And he rescues him and brings
everything back from these wicked men. He even, in the process,
brought back, he rescued the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And verse 17, notice what the king of Sodom did. The king of
Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter
of Kedoleomer and of the kings that were with him at the valley
of Shevi, which is the king's dale. That's the place where
the kings, I guess, We'd call it their place, the Kingsdale.
And Melchizedek, which we looked at last week. Melchizedek, King
of Salem. His name means King of Righteousness.
The place he was King of was Peace, King of Salem. He brought
forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High
God. That's a very important statement
there. The King of Righteousness, also
the King of Peace, who is the priest of the Most High God,
he comes out to meet Abram with bread and wine after the battle.
And blessed Abraham. Now what is bread in scripture?
What is the bread of life? Jesus said, I am the bread of
life, didn't he? And when he broke the bread at
the Last Supper, he gave it to his disciples, he said, take.
eat this is my body broken for you and the wine he said he took
the cup and he said take this cup drink ye all of it All of
you drink it. This cup is the New Testament
in my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
So the bread points to the broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ,
which he offered himself to God in obedience, and the wine points
to his shed blood, which makes atonement for our sins. Remission
of sins means God has taken the payment of his blood and on the
accounting of God's justice has blotted out all of our sins. That's the remission. He brought
the bread and wine signifying these things, the broken body
and the shed blood of Christ as the food and drink of faith. Christ's broken body and his
shed blood is what we live upon in this life. It's how we live. Like food, we eat it. Why? Because
our bodies will die if we don't eat. And like water, we drink
it. Well, we eat the bread and drink
the wine of Christ's body and blood to live before God. It's
our satisfaction. It gives us satisfaction. Like
it gives God satisfaction. Jesus said, when you eat my flesh
and drink my blood, I dwell in you and you in me. There's a
deep communion between us and Christ when we, by faith, take
part of and live upon Him in what He did for us. And so this
is what the high priest. The, not a, but the High Priest,
Melchizedek, who is the King of Righteousness, the King of
Peace, did. He brought this to Abram. He brings this to all
of God's people. Remember, Abram was just... God didn't write these things
just for Abram's sake. Romans 4, 23 and 24 says, these
were not written for his sake alone, but for us also. And so when God writes this in
scripture, he's writing it for us, that we might see the life
of every believer in the life of Abraham. He goes out, he fights
this battle, God is with him, delivers the enemies into his
hand, and then he meets the high priest who gives him bread and
wine and blesses him. And so we do. So the Lord gives
us victory in the battle, and he blesses us through Christ.
We live upon him. And then he goes on. In verse
19, "...and Melchizedek blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram,
of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth." God is
the possessor of heaven and earth. It's all His. It's all His. How many times in scripture have
you read that? All that is in heaven and earth
is thine. David prayed, as Solomon said,
he says, we give to you only what's yours. You gave it to
us, that's why we're giving it to you. And in Romans chapter
11, verse 33 through 36, it says that all things are of God. Oh,
the depths of the wisdom, both of the riches and knowledge of
God. How unsearchable are His judgments.
Who hath first given to Him, and it shall be given back to
Him again? No one. God is always the giver
only. God doesn't receive anything
from us but what He first gives to us. So He's the possessor
of heaven and earth. And the possessor of heaven and
earth sent His high priest to bless Abram, who had come back
from this battle. And, Melchizedek goes on, and
he says this in verse 20, and he said, And blessed be the Most
High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.
And he gave him tithes. Abraham gave Melchizedek tithes
of all. That means he gave him a part
of what he had. He didn't give him a part of
the spoils of the war, he just gave him from what was Abraham's
before. He gave him a tenth part of all
that he had. because it was His, and you can't
give away what God has given us by promise. You just can't.
It's all God's to begin with, and whatever we have is His,
and it's our privilege and blessing to be able to give whatever we
have been able, are able to give to God in return, especially
our thanks and broken in a contrite spirit which God gives to us,
and this faith by which we come to God and honor Him that Christ
has done all for us to His glory and our salvation. That's what
we bring back to Him. We look to Christ and we come
to God in worshiping Him. And then in verse 21, Notice
the king of Sodom speaks up again. I don't know if he was standing
there when Melchizedek did all this stuff. I doubt that he was.
The king of Sodom has a proud man. Notice what he does. The king of Sodom said to Abram,
give me the persons and take the goods to thyself. Now Sodom, this guy came back
from nothing, right? Abram had just rescued him. And
now he speaks like it's all his. Give me the persons and you take
the goods. It's mine to give to you, Abram. God, the possessor of heaven
and earth, was the one who had given everything to Abram. And
how does the king of Sodom presume to think that he can give to
Abraham? And Abraham said, notice how
he said to the King of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to the
Lord, the Most High God, the Possessor of Heaven and Earth.
To lift up his hand means he has resolved in his heart and
sworn by God, he says this, 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 should say, I have made Abram rich. You see,
Abram understood how wicked men think. First of all, he rescues
this guy. He shows the appreciation. He's
going to give him the goods and take the people. But it wasn't
his to give or take anyway. It was Abram's now. He had taken
it and recovered it. But he does. He speaks presumptuously.
And then, he has a secret motive that he's going to make Abram
rich, and so Abram will become subservient to him. This is the
way our hearts are. They always have an ulterior
motive, don't they? We have some secondary motive
behind everything we do in our own sinful nature. And so the
king of Sodom is the king of wickedness, isn't he? He's the
king of man's religion. He's the king of perversity.
And Abraham is not going to deal with him. He has nothing to do
with him. The only reason he went out to
fight was not to rescue Sodom, the king, or his people. It was
to rescue Lot. And so it wasn't the king of
Sodom's to give. It was God's. And God said, you
just keep it. It's the reward God has given
you in this life, but I have nothing to do with it. God has
given me eternal inheritance. Why would I seek any possession
on this earth, especially from the king of wickedness? We don't
seek our riches from men on earth. We look to Christ and find the
riches of God's grace in Him. God says in Scripture, if you
have food and raiment, food and clothing, just be content with
that. Godliness with contentment is great gain. That's what faith
teaches us. And when we have the robe of
Christ's righteousness clothing us before God, what higher riches
do we need? We have the sparkling jewels
of his obedience of love to God to save his people from their
sins. We need nothing more than what God has given us in Christ. And then he says, Abraham adds
this, I'm not going to take anything from you, except, he says, speaking
of the young men, this man Mamre, Einar and whatever his name was
back in that other verse, that he lived with, those people that
went out with him, Einar, Eshkol and Mamre, he says, let them
take the portion of the men which went with me, Einar, Eshkol and
Mamre, let them take their portion. Their portion is in this life,
not mine. I have God's provision in Christ. Remember when Esau
was hungry and he saw Jacob cooking that porridge, whatever it was,
and he wanted some. He was hungry. He says, give
me some of that red stew. And Jacob says, I will, but you
give me your birthright. And Esau says, what good is my
birthright going to do? I'm going to die of hunger. You
can have it. Take it all. Jacob valued that
eternal inheritance in Christ above everything. And Esau despised
his birthright and was ready to trade it for a bowl of soup.
And then later on when Jacob and Esau met again after Jacob
was coming back from Syria, after serving his uncle Laban for 20
years for Rachel and Leah and his children, And he's coming
back and he meets Esau and Esau says... Jacob had prepared this
gift for Esau. He says, take it. And Esau says,
why? I have everything I need. I have all that I need. And Jacob says, no, you take
it. I have all things. He gave him everything in this
gift. He gave him the gift because
Jacob knew he had everything in Christ. And so that's what
Abraham is doing here. Let them take it. Not me. I want nothing to do with the
riches of this world. When I have the riches of Christ,
whatever God gives me, that's what I'll have. It's not that
we don't have things. We obviously have them, but we
use them to the glory of God. That's the point. Whatever we
have is to God's glory. And so I want to look at some
of these truths here that God has given us in his word by this
entire scripture. First of all, Abram went after
Lot when he had heard that he had been taken captive. And he
gathered his servants and went to war to his brother. One thing
is certain in this life. There's two things going on in
this chapter I want you to see here. warfare and reward warfare
and reward because the next verse in Genesis 15 one says this after
these things after this battle and after the blessing from Melchizedek
and after the attempted buying off of the king of Sodom with
the goods that was what Abraham brought back after these things
the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision saying fear
not Abram Notice the two things here. The warfare and the reward
are addressed. He says, I am thy shield and
thy exceeding great reward. Now, one thing is clear in this
life. We're going to have warfare as
God's people. Warfare. Remember Romans chapter
7? I call it the Roman War. The
Apostle Paul describes the inner fighting that he has with his
old nature. The good that I would I do not,
but the evil which I would not, that I do. I find that in me
that is in my flesh there is no good thing. O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me? He's fighting an enemy. Who shall deliver me? from the
body of this death. He's speaking about his old nature.
The warfare begins within when God gives us his new nature.
As I heard Pastor Todd Nyberg say correctly, we don't even
know we have an old nature until we're given a new nature. That's
when it becomes apparent. Paul said in Romans 7, he says,
I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came,
When God showed me by His law what I was before Him, guilty,
condemned, helpless and hopeless apart from Christ, then I died. I died to all legal hopes of
helping myself and I had to look away to what God said in Christ. That warfare is the warfare we
fight as Christians. That's where the battle really
is. It's on the inside. But Abram went after Lot because
here we see a brother in Christ, Abram, going after Lot. Another
brother. Remember Galatians 6 where it
says, if you see your brother overtaken in a fault, pray for
that one. Lest you also be overtaken. Look
at that scripture with me. This is what Abram did. He went
after Lot to rescue his brother. We also are given this mandate
in scripture to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law
of Christ. Look at Galatians 6.1. Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself. In other
words, don't cast rocks at him. Don't drag him before the judge
and say, see we caught him in adultery, let's see what we can
do to destroy this man now. Before the law, you're not the
law giver, you're not the judge of the law. You're supposed to
do this, if you see a man overtaken in a fault, you are to, you which
are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ." And as we looked at that several,
maybe a few months ago, I believe that's what Jesus was indicating
to his disciples when he took off his clothes, got a towel
and a basin of water, the Son of God, and stooped and washed
the disciples' feet. And he told them, as you've seen
me do, I'm your Lord and Master, you do to one another. You wash
one another's feet. You bear one another's burdens.
Love one another as I have loved you. That's what we're to do. So Abram rises up and he goes
after his brother Lot. He sees him overtaken by the
wicked, the king of wickedness, the king of perversion, the king
of religion in this world. And he rescues him, by God's
grace. Because in this life we have this warfare going on, don't
we? Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10. I want you to see. Now, in Abram's case, it was
a physical war. But in our case, it's not a physical
war at all. And our weapons aren't physical
weapons. We're not out marching in the
streets against this cause and that cause as Christians. That might come as a shock to
you, but we don't go out and march against political causes.
Even those causes that are probably righteous causes against abortion,
against whatever. That's not our mandate. Our weapons
are not carnal. He says in 2 Corinthians chapter
10, look at this. For though, in verse 3, he says,
for though we walk in the flesh, in our physical body, we do not
war after the flesh, not after fleshly things. For the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, they're not material, they're
not physical, they're not of this world, they're not man-made,
they're not man-upheld. But they're mighty through God.
Our weapons are of God. They're spiritual weapons. They're
from heaven. They're His creating. His upholding. Mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds. And what does this fight do? Well, casting down imaginations
and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God. And bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ. You see, the fight is up here. It's in our mind, which is in
scripture called our heart. What we think about the truth
is the way that we behave ourselves. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh, Jesus said in Matthew 12. So whatever we
think in our heart, that's what we say. And God has given us
His heart. He's written the gospel on our
heart, the truth of Christ and Him crucified. We see how God
is honored and magnified in what Christ did. And we're saved and
God is glorified. And that's what we preach. That's
what we teach. That the gospel, the truth of
God from heaven casts down imaginations, vain imaginations of men. It
overcomes the philosophies of men when the Spirit of God applies
it to the dead, spiritually dead, and the spiritually blind, and
the ignorant, and He gives them light and life by His Spirit.
So that's what our weapon is. It's God's Word. Look at Ephesians
chapter 6. It turns out that in Scripture,
warfare is a very prominent thing. How many times in the New Testament
do you read where Paul addresses the believers as soldiers? Soldiers
of Jesus Christ. In Philemon chapter 1 verse 2,
he addresses one of the saints there. He says, a fellow soldier. Well, Paul didn't carry a sword.
He didn't have any spears and slingshots in his baggage, at
least there's no mention of it. No knives, no weapons like that.
What was his weapon? The truth of Christ. Because
if you cut off someone's leg or arm or poke out their eye,
that's not going to change them. You haven't overcome anything.
All you've done is hack off some physical thing. What you need
to do is strike to the root of the problem. And the only one
who can do that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the weapons that
he's given us for that is the gospel. And so in Ephesians chapter
6, he says, in verse 10, I know this is familiar, he says, Finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His
might, not your own might, but in His might. And how can you
be strong in his might? Well, he goes on. Put on the
whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. You see, all the warfare in this
life is really just the breaking out of violence of men and the
lusts of men's flesh and pride and all these things, fighting
and violence. It all stems from man's sinful
heart. In Titus 3.3 it says, you were
sometimes hateful and hating one another. That just describes
us as we are naturally. But he says, the underlying motivation
for all that are the wiles of the devil, because the devil
uses his deception to get us to think about things in the
way that is contrary to the truth. And now he says, you need to
take the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand. against
the wiles of the devil. Verse 12, for we wrestle not
against flesh and blood. Abraham did, but that's because
it was a physical thing that pointed to a spiritual truth.
That's the way that God wrote the Old Testament. We don't wrestle
against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. Because that's where the wickedness
is. Spiritual wickedness is in high places. It's in the highest
places of the governments of men. Every government in the
earth is a place of spiritual wickedness, according to God's
Word. Why? How do you know that? Because
Christ isn't held there. Christ's truth isn't proclaimed
from there. Man's way of thinking is proclaimed there. But God
uses it nevertheless in His own good pleasure, because the wrath
of man shall praise Him. But listen to this in verse 13.
Wherefore, this is what you are to do as a believer, take unto
you the whole armor of God. Well, what would that be? Well,
He's going to say that you may be able to stand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand." You see, Christ is the
only foundation that any preacher can lay. We don't really lay
Christ as a foundation. But in 1 Corinthians 3.11, Paul
said, there is no other foundation that is laid but Jesus Christ.
He's the foundation. If we stand on Christ, we can't
fall. But if we don't stand on Christ,
if we trust in our own strength or in our own goodness and righteousness,
like the Jews did, who would not submit to the righteousness
of God, they were proven to be ashamed. They fell. The stone
of Christ and Him crucified became for them a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense. But to us which are saved, It's
the power of God and the wisdom of God. But here he says, So
take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to
stand, withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand, because Christ is our foundation. Stand therefore,
having your loins, your most sensitive parts, girt about with
the truth. Put the truth on. the truth of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the truth, God's truth about
how he's glorified in his work, God's truth about how the Lord
Jesus rules over all and is the judge of all, and having on the
breastplate of righteousness. Not my own righteousness, because
we have none in ourselves, but the breastplate of Christ's righteousness. Nothing can penetrate that. Remember
Romans 8? God, He throws down the challenge,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? I dare you. Go ahead, step forward. Who is going to lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. And
who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Not only
died, moreover, He's risen again. Not only risen, but He reigns,
He says. And not only is He reigning, but He's interceding according
to the will of God to bring about the complete salvation of all
for whom He died. That's why no one can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect. Ever since they were God's elect,
no one could lay anything to their charge, because Christ,
before the foundation of the world in God's purpose of grace,
had already been slain for them. If God is for us, who can be
against us? So we put on the breastplate of Christ's righteousness. That's the only way we can appear
before God. We know it, and we believe it,
we hold to it, and we put it on. This is my only protection
against the wiles of the devil. We don't point to our own goodness. We never look back and say, well,
I remember I used to be this way, now I'm that way, and look
how much I've improved. Or like every person I've met
since we've come to this area who's come in to the library
and said, well, they're down and out, and they always come
to me and say, well, I really need to get my life together. Well,
that's obvious. But what are you going to do?
Can't you see that your life now simply is a testimony to
the fact that you cannot get your life together? Why don't
we accept God's testimony of our sinfulness and our impotence? Instead of saying, well, you
know, I've fallen, I'm as low as I can go, but I think I can
somehow get this all together again. No, you can't. That's
the whole point. Learn what God is teaching you
through the experience of your life and from His Word. There's
none righteous. The testimony of the law is to shut every man's
mouth, to shut us up in the prison of our own unbelief and helplessness,
so that Christ becomes all of our salvation in our thinking
and in our trust. And so he says, he goes on, not
only the breastplate of righteousness, but put on your feet this, the
preparation of the gospel of peace. In the way you go, in
the life you live, in what you say, in what you do, in how you
think, let it be the gospel of peace. What God has done to reconcile
sinners to himself in the death of his Son. And proclaim that. Verse 16, above all, above all,
taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to stand, I'm
sorry, be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
In 1 John 5, verse 4, it says that by faith we overcome. I may read that to you exactly
how it's written there, 1 John 5. I'm going to come back to
Ephesians, take a little detour here, 1 John chapter 5. He says,
1 John 5, 4, "...for whatsoever is born of God, or whosoever
is born of God, overcomes the world." That life in us that
God created when He gave us birth by His Spirit through the preaching
of the Gospel, giving us faith to believe that Gospel, that
faith that He's given to us overcomes the world. That's an amazing
thing. And this is the victory that
overcomes the world, even our faith. So he says here, Above
all, take in the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Darts are meant to
put you to death. They would thrust through animals
with a dart. This is a deadly thing. And the
devil throws them and faith goes pew. Quench that fiery little
dart. How? What does faith do? How
does faith quench darts? Well, because faith says, Christ
is all my salvation. And we're going to look at another
scripture here to expand on that. But go on, verse 17, and take
the helmet of salvation. I like it. It's all pointing
to Christ and His salvation, isn't it? We gird our loins with the truth,
breastplate of Christ's righteousness. Our feet with the gospel are
prepared. And we have the shield of faith in Christ the Lord and
now we have a helmet of salvation. We cannot be overcome here because
the Lord fights for us. And notice this in verse 18.
This is what Abraham was doing. Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all the saints. So Abraham
went after Lot and rescued him because he went with the truth
of the gospel. And that's what we see. Look
at Revelation chapter 12. And I'm not going to read all of
this that precedes verse 11 in Revelation 12, but I encourage
you to sometime. It's talking about how throughout
history there was this great battle that developed, that culminated
in the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and He overcame Satan
then at the cross and cast him out of heaven. And the woman
in chapter 12 is the church who gave birth to the Lord Jesus,
the child, the man-child. But in verse 11 In verse 10,
I mean, it says, And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven
after the Lord Jesus ascended on high and threw Satan out.
He says, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom
of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our
brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and
night. Don't you hear Romans 8.34 there?
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, and the
judge of all in the court of heaven made a decision, and he
said, all the accusers are silenced. And he gave his decision, and
he pronounced the decree, and they were all driven out, like
in John chapter 8, when those accusers of the woman taken in
adultery, they just left in silence, condemned by their own conscience. And Christ stands victorious
in heaven, and the accuser of the brethren is cast out. And
then he says in verse 11, And they overcame him, those who
are on the earth, by the blood of the Lamb. That's how we overcome
the wicked one. We didn't do anything in that,
did we? The Lord Jesus Christ overcame. We point to what He
did. 1 John 3.8, this is the reason he was revealed, this
is the reason he came into the world, to destroy the works of
the wicked one. And so many other places like
that. The Lamb of God, that's the way we overcome. And by the
word of their testimony. What is the word of our testimony?
How can the word of our testimony overcome? Is that where you stand
up in church and say, well, I used to be this, that, and the other,
and now I'm this, now I'm this other stuff? Is that the word
of our testimony? No, the word of our testimony
is the testimony God has given concerning His Son, which He
has made ours, personally, by this God-given faith. It's the
gospel. Isn't it true that the gospel
is the power of God to salvation? Isn't it true that to those who
believe that Christ is the wisdom and power of God? 1 Corinthians
1, 23 and 24. And look at this in a couple
of verses here in Romans chapter 8. I want you to see a couple
of verses. Romans chapter 8 says this. Verse 1 in Romans 8, There
is therefore now no condemnation. We just read how God, the Lord
Jesus, cast every accuser out of heaven, the accuser of the
brethren. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. We don't depend on the flesh,
we trust Christ. That's the testimony of God's
Spirit, isn't it? the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that the
Spirit of God points to, the serpent lifted on the pole in
the wilderness. Look to Him, Christ and Him crucified. For
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death. The Law, the Spirit of
Life. What's that? It's the Gospel. It's the rod of God's strength. Remember how Moses in Exodus
17, when that army came against Israelites and tried to attack
them. And he sent Joshua down in there and they fought against
them. And as long as Moses lifted up his hands, then Israel prevailed. But when his arms grew tired,
he let down his arms and the enemy prevailed. Look at Psalm
110, and see how this relates to the Gospel. Psalm 110, he
says this. In verse 1, the Lord said unto
my Lord, this is David speaking, Jehovah, the Lord God, said unto
my Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, Sit thou on my right hand until
I make thine enemies thy footstool. When Jesus ascended to heaven,
he said, sit down here, right here on my right hand, and rule
over this universe, and bring every child of God to glory through
the gospel. and subdue every enemy. He says
in verse two, the Lord shall send the rod of thy strength
out of Zion. What is Zion? That's the church
of God, where Christ rules. It's the kingdom of God. What
is the rod of his strength? That's the gospel, the power
of God unto salvation. The rod of his strength overcomes
every barrier. The weapons of our warfare aren't
carnal. We preach Christ and Him crucified,
the truth from heaven, the spiritual things of God. And God, by His
powerful, by His almighty Spirit, raises the dead, gives life to
the dead and sight to the blind and ears to the deaf and saves
those who are plagued in the uncleanness of their sin. The
Gospel overcomes death, sin and death. by the power of God's
Spirit. The Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. The
Gospel comes in power, and the Spirit of God applies it, and
He overcomes every enemy. He points us to Christ and gives
us that faith to believe Him. This is the warfare, and the
Gospel is our only weapon. As we saw in Ephesians chapter
6, it points us to Christ, His righteousness. What shods our
feet, what covers our feet, leads us on our way. Our helmet of
salvation is what the Gospel declares to us. It's in Christ.
The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. It's all speaking
about the same thing. The person and work of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. How He sits on Heaven's throne
to accomplish His will. Now I want to take you to 2 Chronicles
again. I love this chapter. Because
there's a good reason, and I know you will like it too, because
you've heard it before, but it's worth repeating here. When I
was a child, like Hurley and Taylor and others, I loved to
hear the Old Testament stories about how God would save his
people from their enemies. I liked to hear that. I liked
to hear about David, who was nothing but a shepherd boy, that
was able to take a bear and a lion and kill the lion and the bear
because God enabled him to do that. When the lion and the bear
had a lamb in its mouth, he smoked the lion and he smoked the bear. That just drew in my mind a picture
of what kind of a man was this David God was the one that was
giving him that strength. And then when David went out
and fought Goliath and threw one stone with a sling and God
took that stone and drove it into the skull of this giant
and he fell down on his face flat dead. And then David rises
up and takes his own sword and chops off his head and lifts
his head up. And all of Israel wins the battle
that day through this one man, David. Speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ, by His death on the cross slew all of our enemies. I love
that. Now here in 2 Chronicles chapter
20, the enemies of God's people are come out against them. In
verse 1, it came to pass that after this also that the children
of Moab and the children of Ammon And with them other besides the
Ammonites. So a bunch of people besides
the Moabites and the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah. The king. Now a king is a wise
person. That's why he was made king.
And he's a brave person too. But I want you to notice what
this king does. Because today there's lots of
people who claim to be rulers over men. And I want you to compare
what you know about them to what this man does and see if you
can trust men who don't act like this king. Listen, he says, and
so these came out against Jehoshaphat to battle because he was the
king. God describes it as them coming against just this one
man, Jehoshaphat. Then there came some that told
Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee
from beyond the sea, on this side Syria, and behold, they
be in Hazaz on Tamar and in Jedi. And Jehoshaphat feared and set
himself to seek the Lord. The Lord knows what a man is
thinking. God just tells us he was afraid. But because he was
afraid, what did he do? What did Jehoshaphat do when
he was afraid? He sought the Lord. And he proclaimed
a fast throughout all Judah so that the people also would seek
the Lord. And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help
of the Lord. Even out of all the cities of
Judah they came to seek the Lord. What did the King Jehoshaphat
tell the people to do? Seek the Lord. We are in trouble. This great army is against us. We need to seek the Lord. He was afraid. Seek the Lord,
he told them. Do you find a ruler today that
tells you that? Do you know of any man today,
in all the earth, who is in the place of government, who speaks
these kinds of words, I'm afraid, seek the Lord. And you too? And Jehoshaphat stood in the
congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before
the new court. And this is what he said, Oh,
Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? Notice
how Jehoshaphat, he understood and he believed that God was
God in heaven. Not only in heaven, he said,
and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen?
You rule not only in heaven, but you even rule over all the
kingdoms on this earth. God, our God, he prayed to God. The king here, who was afraid
and sought the Lord, prayed to the sovereign God over all in
heaven. He said, Aren't you God? Don't
you rule over heaven and all the heathen? And in thine hand
is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand
thee? Notice how Jehoshaphat just gives
all. He ascribes to God. He credits
God with all power and sovereign rule in the earth and in heaven. Because it's the way it is. It's
true. But he's recognizing that publicly and in his heart he
believes it. It's not like words in order
to get something to happen. He's not trying to manipulate
God. He's pouring out his heart that God would save him. He says,
verse 7, "...Art not thou our God?" who didst drive out the
inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gave it
to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever." He reminds God of
his friendship with Abraham. That it was because of Abraham
that God gave the land to them. He doesn't plead his own righteousness
here. Verse 8. And they dwelt in it. They dwelt
in that land you gave them. And they have built thee a sanctuary
therein for thy name, saying, If when evil come upon us as
the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this
house and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house, and
we cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.
This was a place they had built for the Lord to dwell in. It
was called a sanctuary. What is a sanctuary? A sanctuary
is a place where God, in His grace, appears to men and teaches
them that He is their God and reveals Himself to them. And
that's the place that they went in order to find a refuge and
pray to God in order that God would save them from their enemies.
In Jeremiah 17.12 it says, A glorious high throne from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary. God's throne where Christ sits,
conquering all of our enemies, our sin, and Satan and this world,
is the glorious high throne where God sits. And that's the place
of our sanctuary. So when Jehoshaphat stood in
the sanctuary, it's teaching us that believers look to Christ
on his throne, trusting that he's sitting there having conquered
our enemies by his own blood. And that's the way we come to
him. In our need. The sovereign God. The ruling
Christ. Who overcame our enemies by his
own blood. And then he says this. In verse
10, and now, Jehoshaphat's praying to God. He says, Now behold,
the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, Mount Seir, whom
thou wouldest not let Israel invade when they came out of
the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and destroyed them
not. God didn't let Israel attack Moab and Ammon and the Edomites
then. He said, not when they were in
the wilderness, but he said, Behold, Jehoshaphat speaks to
God, he says, Behold, I say, how they, that we didn't attack,
how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession,
which thou hast given to us to inherit. Lord, do you see what
the wicked are doing? They're trying to cast us out
of the blessing that you gave to us. And now listen to this
man who was the king in Judah. He speaks to the people of God
as a man in need, a man afraid of his enemies, but seeking God.
And listen how he prays honestly. Oh, our God. Wilt thou not judge them? If
God doesn't judge our enemies, we have no power. God made the
decision in the court of heaven, and that decision, because he
received Christ for his people, is the decision that overrules
all things at all times. God's judgments in this earth
are for his people. Wilt thou not judge them? For
we have no might against this great company that cometh against
us. This is a strange thing for a
king to say. Who would you see on this earth
who's a king of any country, a ruler of any country, or any
city or state, say, we don't have any strength? That president
or governor or senator would be immediately cast out of office. What do you mean we don't have
any strength? That's not the way we talk in America. No, we always
say, we're Americans. We can do this. We can overcome
this enemy. Isn't that the way you hear it?
But not this king. This king says, this is the truth. We have no strength against this
enemy. This great company that comes
against us, neither know we what to do. I don't even know what
to do. I'm the king. I don't even know
what to do. But listen to what he does do.
This he does know. But our eyes are upon thee. We're
looking to see what you're going to do, O our sovereign God, who
gave us this inheritance and drove out the enemy, who sits
on the throne in the place of our sanctuary where we go for
help. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in time of trouble. And so this warfare
we're constantly in in this world drives us to the end of ourselves. And Paul said, when I am weak,
then am I strong. That's when God gets the glory,
when we have no power and we seek the Lord and say, I don't
have any strength and I don't know what to do, but I'm looking
to you to see what you're going to do. What did you say, Lord? What am I expecting? I'm expecting
that Christ is going to win, that every enemy is going to
be subdued, that all of his people are going to be saved, that we're
always given the victory in Christ, even though we are a sheep. delivered
to the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. I am persuaded
that neither death nor life, nor things present nor things
to come, nor any other creature, height nor depth, principalities
or powers, nothing can separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's what we're persuaded of,
and that's where we go in time of trouble, when sin overcomes
us. And it does, doesn't it? The
psalmist says in Psalm 94, 17, and 18, My foot slippeth. But
when I said my foot slippeth, the Lord held me up. And in Psalm
65, 3, Iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions,
thou shalt purge them away." God is sitting on the throne.
Christ has silenced His enemies by His death on the cross. Look
at Psalm 51. I want you to see how David prayed. Now this was
a man, David, who was a king. As I said, he destroyed the bear
and the lion that tried to take the sheep. Here's a man like
Jehoshaphat who was humbled because of the enemy of his sin. And
isn't it God's grace that would look upon our sin as our enemy? Isn't that the height of God's
grace? I find that to be the most comforting thing in all
the world. He will subdue, Micah 7, 18 and 19 say, He will subdue
our iniquities, and you will cast them into the depths of
the sea. But look at Psalm 51. Notice how David prays, like
Jehoshaphat, against his enemy, because he knows that the only
way that he can win against his enemies is if God himself fights
for him. David knew this. He said, when
all of the people of Israel were afraid of Goliath, you know what
David said? The battle is the Lord's. Only
if God wins this battle and undertakes for us will we win. But it's
because it's His that we will win. So he says in Psalm 51,
when he had sinned and he knew it, he said, Have mercy upon
me, O God. He doesn't go out and fight against
men. There's no point in fighting against men. I need to go into
the court of heaven. through the grace of God, by
the blood of Jesus, boldly, and pray as David did. Have mercy
upon me, O God. Notice he doesn't pray his goodness,
he doesn't reflect back upon what he's done in the past. even
about the things God has done through him, he doesn't look
forward to a resolve in the future. He says, according to thy lovingkindness. Have mercy according to thy lovingkindness. What you find in your heart,
your character, Lord, to save sinners for your namesake, have
mercy upon me according to that measure. What you are in yourself. According unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, do what? Blot out my transgressions. Before
God, blot them out, take the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make a full remission of my sins. And then, wash me thoroughly. Thoroughly wash me from mine
iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my
transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." Here's a man
who has an enemy he cannot overcome. Here's a man who needs God to
fight, and he knows his only victory in this battle is if
God himself, according to his loving kindness and tender mercies,
undertakes for his namesake and overcomes my sin before Him.
My problem is with God. Take away my sin. It's against
you. And then cleanse me from it. cleanse me from my sins so
that you can receive me in Christ for Christ's sake as his as his
obedience would give me merit to stand before you I acknowledge
my transgressions just like Jehoshaphat we don't know what to do we have
no strength but our eyes are upon you iniquities prevail against
me Lord as for our transgressions thou shalt take them away look
at one more verse in Psalm 35 First three verses of Psalm 35. Plead my cause, O Lord. Isn't
this what Jehoshaphat did? Isn't this what David did? Plead
my cause, O Lord. Like the advocate before the
court, plead my cause, O Lord. Let the Lord himself be my advocate. Plead my cause, O Lord. With
them that strive against me, fight against them that fight
against me. Take hold of shield and buckler
and stand up for mine help. draw out also the spear and stop
the way against them that persecute me." You see how he's asking
the Lord to do all these things? Lord, you take the shield, you
take the sword, you take the spear, you fight against them
that fight against me. Plead for me, oh Lord, against
them. And then he says this, say unto
my soul, I am thy salvation. And that's what Jehoshaphat said,
Lord, our eyes are upon thee, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Simeon said, mine eyes have seen
thy salvation. And in Genesis 15, when the Lord
said to Abraham when he came back from the battle, I, Abraham,
am your shield. What does a shield do? It's around
about me. Psalm 3.3 says, thou, O Lord,
art a shield about me, a shield for me. And I am thy exceeding
great reward. God himself, not only for me,
but to me. He gives himself to me in Christ. God for me in Christ. Christ
died for my sins. He stood for me before the throne
of God and answered everything. He's my answer and he advocates.
But not only that, he gives himself to me in the gospel. He communes
with my soul. He tells me what he's done and
reminds me of it and keeps me and holds me fast by this faith.
He upholds Me. Every dart of the wicked is quenched
by looking to Christ, by the power of His gospel, because
of the blood of the Lamb. And because of that, we have
no fear, do we? Who can be against us? If God
is for us, who can be against us? That's the wonder. Abraham fought a war. God was
his shield. Abraham refused the reward of
the wicked because God was his reward in Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that in every battle
in this world, in this life, and there are many, days go by
and we look back and we wonder how we survived, but we pray,
Lord, you'd give us this grace to thank you and fall on our
face that you've held us up. Even when it seems as if we've
fallen and our foot has slipped, help us not to abandon our hope
in Christ, but to look to him who can save us even though life
itself is taken from us. Help us to cry in honesty. We
have no strength. We don't know what to do. Give
us this faith, Lord, to say our eyes are upon Thee. That's the
only place our help is. Our sanctuary, our place of safety
and refuge and strength is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who lived
and died for us. and now reigns in heaven and
intercedes, and this is the entire reason for our salvation, and
He is our reward. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus
our Lord. In His name we pray, Amen.