Turn back to Genesis 14. Genesis chapter 14. Melchizedek. Melchizedek. Now, there is a lot in this chapter. This is rich. It's rich. I could spend a lifetime and
not exhaust this chapter. Just speaking of Melchizedek,
to speak of him is to speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this
chapter, we really see the first war that goes on now between
these kings, these different nations. You know, last week we looked
at Lot and his choice to go down towards Sodom. He looked at that
well-watered plain and it just drew him. And he took it. Well, now he's been taken. He's
been taken captive. And Abraham finds out and he
goes and rescues Lot. And after he comes back, he meets
this Mysterious person. This person who has no pedigree.
No genealogy that they can find. And they were big on genealogy.
They couldn't find any. And then Abraham offers tithes
unto this man. Now the first three verses, and
there were just a lot of hard names there to pronounce, so
I told Frank to pick up in verse 8. But there is a political conflict. And then there is a rebellion
that happens, and it's squashed. Four kings go up against five
kings, and the five kings are defeated by the four kings. And
Sodom, being one of those defeated, was taken captive. Lot, of course,
being in that group, was taken with them. And there's one person
who escapes and tells Abraham of what's happened. And Abraham
in verses 14 and 16, he gathers up 318 men. He's going up against four kings. And in the reading I was reading
today, these were some big nations. These were some thousands of
people. It's amazing. But He gathers
up 318 men born in His house, His servants. He doesn't go out
and get recruits. He gets His servants that are
born in His house, trained by Him, and goes and fights this
battle. I mean, there's just so much we could stop and just
make a message out of. But we'll never get through this. And if you'll notice in verse
17, it is called the slaughter of the kings. It's called that
in Hebrews 7. We'll look at Hebrews 7 in a
little bit. Well, who slaughtered those kings? Abraham and 318
men slaughtered those kings. Now, what can be done when the
Lord is with someone? If the Lord is with just a group
like this, It's amazing what could be done. Look what He did
with the twelve disciples. Turned the world upside down
with twelve disciples. Paul said, we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us. We're more than conquerors through
Christ. In ourselves, we cannot whip a flea. In Christ, we cannot
be defeated. Now first I want to look at,
I'm not going to jump straight to Melchizedek yet. Abraham,
I want us to look at Abraham as a type of Christ here in this
portion of Scripture. It says that he left Hebron.
Hebron is called, stands for fellowship. He left the place
of fellowship where he fellowshiped with God. And he goes into battle It says, listen, he goes into
battle. He would take those 318 men and
himself. He doesn't look at this whole
thing and say it's not impossible. He takes those men. And you know
what he goes after? For the first time it says this,
his brother. It didn't say his nephew. All
up until now it said he went after his nephew. But here, Look in verse 16. And he brought
back all the goods and also brought again his brother Lot. Isn't that beautiful? He didn't
go get his nephew. He went to get his brother, his
chosen brother, his brother in Christ. He went to get him. That's
what he went to do. Now listen. Our elder brother
came from glory. He came from glory. And He came
from glory to do what? To rescue us from sin. To restore
all that was lost. That's why He came. He did not
come to make an attempt at saving us. He came to save. Abraham
knew and had no doubt that he was going to get his brother.
And he was going to bring his brother back. You don't even
read of a hint of Abraham doubting whether he can get this job done
or not. No, he just gathered his 318 men. He said, let's go.
Let's go. Let's go get my brother. And our elder brother has come
to get us and to save us from sin, from Satan, the curse of
the law, and self. Save us from our own selves.
We were captive of all of the above. And our elder brother
came into this world to save us from these things. Our Lord
had to do battle with the Prince of Darkness. He had to do battle
with Satan. He must slay that old dragon,
the devil. He must conquer him. He must
conquer death, hell, and the grave. And He's going to do this
by the sacrifice of Himself. He's going to do this by dying.
That's how He's going to do it. And He's going to rise again
the third day. But He's got to conquer death,
hell, and the grave. He must defeat all our enemies
and bring us to home. And He's going to bring us home
spotless. Abraham returned all the goods.
Christ is going to return all the goods when this is over with. When it's over with, all the
goods. He's going to be totally returned. And Abraham was what? Successful. It doesn't say that he returned
a lot. He returned all of the women,
the children, all that were taken, all the goods that were taken,
all of it. Abraham returned every bit of it. It says over, look
over in Isaiah, Isaiah 42. You have to give me a minute. I bought a new, used Bible. And the pages are sticking together. Over in Isaiah 42, Behold, my
servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth,
I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
unto the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and a smoking flask shall he not quench. He
shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail. Our Lord shall not fail. Our Melchizedek shall not fail. When he came into this world,
he came on a mission and he was successful. He is the successful
Savior. He shall not fail. Like Abraham. Abraham brought it all back.
And so did our Lord. Our Lord is going to deliver
up the kingdom and there is not going to be one person missing
that was chosen of God. Not one, not one. And the Lord
Jesus Christ redeemed all God's children, and He redeemed all
God's children. Listen, now He did it by Himself.
Abraham took his 318 serpents. Our Lord did it by Himself. He purged us from our sins. Over
in Hebrews 1. Every last one shall be saved. Not one shall be left in the
land. Not one. that Abraham restored all that
was lost over there in verse 16. All that was lost, Abraham
restored it. Our Lord Jesus restored all that
was lost in Adam. And much more. Much more. We are going to be absolutely
awed and amazed when we stand in His presence and see all that
He restored and all that we have in Him. What a day. What a day
that will be. Abraham also now is an example
of all who believe. Of all who believe. First of
all, he has a war to go fight. He has a warfare to take care
of. Here he is in Hebrew. Place of fellowship. You know
he had gone down into Egypt. You know the story. And he came
back. He came back to the house of
Bethel where the altar was and then he came over here in the
last verse of chapter 13. Then Abram removed his tent and
came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and
built there an altar unto the Lord. Place of fellowship. Worship.
Fellowship with God. But something's come up now.
There's a warfare to be fought. He's got a brother in trouble.
I'll tell you this, when one bodily member hurts, the whole
body feels it. The whole body feels it. So he's
going to go take care of his brother. He didn't rest very
long, did he? He didn't rest very long. We
have a battle to fight. We have a war to engage in. He was not indifferent to the
sufferings of his brother. Not at all. We will always, always,
be engaged in spiritual warfare, either inwardly or outwardly,
we will always, until we lay this body in the grave, be engaged
in a warfare. Always. And he loved Lot as a
brother in Christ. This is not just his nephew now. This is his brother in Christ.
We know that by the Scriptures. Lot was called a righteous man. He loved him as a brother in
Christ and he went to help him and to rescue him. Abraham was truly his brother's
keeper. Christ is truly his brother's
keeper. He's our keeper. He's one who
keeps us safe and he's one who will take us home. And Abraham
believed God against all odds. He believed God against all odds.
He gathered his few servants and went against four kings that
had just whipped five kings. And defeated them. Defeated them. By what can be done by a man
that believes God. Abraham believed God. And he
acted on it, didn't he? He acted on it. That Abraham trusted the Lord
to provide. Listen to this. And the king
of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, the souls. And
Abraham, you take the goods. You take all the goods that you've
captured. You keep them for yourself, Abraham.
That's a lot of goods he captured now. He said, you keep these
for yourself. Now listen here. Listen to this
man. And Abram said to the king of
Sodom, I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord. I have dedicated
it to Him, the Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth,
that I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet. Not even
a shoelatchet. And that I will not take anything
that is thine, lest thou should say, I made Abraham rich. Abraham has what he has because
when he brought all those things back, I gave him all the goods.
Abraham said, no, I don't want even a shoelace. Not even a shoelace. Abraham trusted the Lord, Jehovah,
Jireh. The Lord will provide. He trusted
the Lord to provide. He was not tempted like Lot.
Lot who looked down at Sodom and the plains of Jordan as well
watered, it just drew him. But Abraham, here's an opportunity
for Abraham to be rich. In Christ, we are as rich as
we need to be. And we are as rich as we'll ever
be. We cannot be any more rich than we are in Christ. All things
are yours in Christ. Oh, if I could get a hold of
that. If I could get a hold of that. He trusted the Lord. And then Abraham confessed before
the King of Sodom that the Lord, Jehovah, and this is the Lord
Jesus Christ, to be his provider, to be his Savior, to be his salvation. He confessed that. He confessed
that. He said, I'll not take a thread
or even a shoelace. I'll not take anything lest you
say you made Abraham rich. The Lord will provide. He's my
Savior. God has become my salvation.
He's my salvation. Abraham would not take the glory
to himself for this battle that belonged to Christ. He wouldn't
do it. And believers will not do that.
Believers want Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to have all the
glory. All the glory of salvation belongs to Him. Abraham said, I'm not going to
take it. Don't you recognize me? Don't do that. Don't do that. This battle was
won by the Lord. The victory and the outcome was
already determined. The Lord delivered this battle.
Salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. You're not
going to pay me for this salvation. You're not going to recognize
me for it. The Lord did it. The Lord did it. He's our Savior. He's our Redeemer. He's our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption. He's our everything.
He's our all in all. Abraham said, you're not going
to do that. And of course, we see Lot's bad choice. We looked at it last week. He
made a bad choice and now it came home to roost, didn't it?
Consequences. It came home to roost. But you
know what surprises me? I don't know if it ought to surprise
me, but it should. Lot is said to be a righteous
man, a believer. But you know after this, he still
stayed in Sodom? That's what I thought. When I
was reading this today, I thought, he still stayed inside him. After
he was captured and after all this happened? Abraham said, no, I'm not going
to take anything. That's exactly what he said to Lot. He said,
Lot, you choose whatever you want and I'll take what's left.
What a difference. And then after this happens, After Abraham goes and fights
this battle, and he brings Lot and all the goods back, this
person, Melchizedek, comes on the scene. The last time, the
first time and the last time he does this. That's the reason
I read Psalm 110. He's spoken of in Psalm 110 and
over in Hebrews 7. But this is the first time and
the last time this man shows up in the Bible. as far as making
an appearance, Melchizedek. What a mysterious person. I believe
it's a pre-incarnation of Christ. If you go and read all the things
that concern him, it can fit no other than Christ. And one
of the great blessings here when he blessed Abraham, you know
what one of the greatest blessings was? It's not that Abraham had
the tithes and pitchers, he had Melchizedek. He had Melchizedek. You know, the blessing is not
in the tithes and the pictures. The blessing is having Him. The
blessing is not a picture. The blessing is the person. And
Abraham stood there and had the person blessing him. Melchizedek. And listen, before the law was
given concerning the priesthood and the ceremonies and tithes
and pictures, before that law was given, Before the Levitical
priesthood was set up, before any of that came about, before
any of it was even heard of, Abraham was just starting out. God's high priest shows up. This
man Melchizedek. God's high priest shows up and
who does he meet? Abraham. Abraham. Abraham. That's who he meets.
The priesthood did not start with Aaron. It didn't. It did not start in Leviticus.
The priesthood started with Jesus Christ. He's the everlasting
priest. He's that eternal priest of God. Melchizedek, it said, had no
mother or father. Now, we've been going through
Genesis here, and the genealogies, boy, they don't miss anything,
do they? right down the line. But you come to this person,
this person, no one knows anything about him. Here's what they know about him.
Here's what Moses was moved to write. He is the priest of the
Most High God of heaven and earth. He doesn't just say the priest
of Israel, but he's the priest of everyone that's saved He's
the high priest of everyone that's saved among Jew and Gentile.
These priests are the most high God possessor of heaven and earth. God made our Lord a priest, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He made Him a priest not by a
carnal commandment, but by an oath. Not by a commandment, not
by some law, but by an oath. And I want you now to turn over
to Hebrews 7. Hebrews chapter 7. We'll try
to finish out through here. Hebrews 7. Let me read you a few portions
of Scripture. For this Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the Most High God,
who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings."
Abraham slaughtered those kings, him and those 318 men. And he
blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first
being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that
also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth
the priest continually." You see, there can't be two priests
abiding continually. It has to be a pre-incarnation
of Christ. Now consider, consider now, he
says, how great this man was. This man Melchizedek. Consider
how great he was. Unto whom even the patriarch
Abraham gave a tenth of his spoils. Abraham, in the loins of Abraham,
are all the prophets. In the loins of Abraham is the
kingdom of God. He is the father of the faithful.
Consider how this great patriarch, they held none higher than Abraham. And he says, now consider how
great this man, Melchizedek, was. when even Abraham offered
a tenth part of all that he had to this man. To this man. Let me find my place here. And
verily, they that are of the sons of Levi, who received the
office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes
of the people according to the law that is of their brethren,
though they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent
is not counted from them They can't find any record of him.
They can't find any of it. He received tithes, but he whose
descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and
blessed him that had the promises. He blessed Abraham. Abraham,
this great patriarch, was the one being blessed. Abraham didn't
bless Melchizedek. Melchizedek blessed him. He blessed
him. And without all contradiction,
the last Abraham is blessed of the better. Melchizedek. You
can take time and read this whole chapter. It's rich. Now, he came
and met Abraham. One of the reasons he did this,
first of all, was to refresh Abraham. He came from the slaughter
of the kings. Our Lord always comes to His
children and refreshes them in the battle. He doesn't leave
us alone. He doesn't leave us alone. He's
our refreshment. And that's why He comes and He
refreshes Abraham and He brings wine and bread. Wine and bread. The bread and wine here represent,
no doubt, the broken body and shed blood of our Lord. You say,
but Melchizedek, if he's the high priest, and every high priest
has to have an offering, a sacrifice if he's going to come before
God, if he's going to be God's high priest. Where's the blood? It's flowing through his veins.
Where's the sacrifice? It's standing in front of him.
There it is. He's looking at it. He is the
sacrifice for our sins. His blood is the atonement. And
what does he bring? Bread and wine. That which represents
his broken body and shed blood. Is that not what we take today?
To this day, we observe the Lord's table, we take the broken bread
and the wine, which represents the atonement. Oh, what a beautiful picture. What a beautiful picture. And
if you'll notice also back there, He is, and over here in Hebrews,
He is what? The King-priest. Saul tried to
do that once. Saul was a king. He was going
to go out to battle, waiting on Samuel to come and make the
offering. Samuel was late. Providentially, the Lord proved
who Samuel was. Or not Samuel, but Saul. So Saul
got tired of waiting on Samuel. So what does he do? He made the
offering. And Samuel came and he said, What are you doing?
You're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to do that
law. There's only one who is the king priest. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the king priest. And you know what it says He's
made us now in Him? He has made us kings and priests
under God in Revelation chapter 5. But He's the King Priest,
and He's made us that in Him. He is King of Righteousness and
King of Peace. Now listen, it's in that order.
There is no such thing as peace without righteousness. He's the
King of Righteousness. It's His righteousness by which
we are saved, and He is our peace. He is our peace. It only belongs
to Jesus Christ. Only to Him. Then He blessed
Abraham. Notice there in verse 19. He blessed Abraham. Abraham didn't
bless him. He blessed Abraham. And listen,
when He blessed Abraham, He blessed the whole family of God in Abraham. Everyone here who believes, you
were blessed. When He blessed Abraham, you
were blessed. You can't bless my hand and not
bless me. When you bless any part of the
body of Christ, you bless the whole body. The whole body. And He blessed Abraham. In Christ,
all of God's children are blessed. Brethren, we're blessed above
measure. One day we'll fall at His feet
and recognize how blessed we are. But we are blessed in Christ. All God's children are blessed.
We are blessed by Him and in Him. And Melchizedek lets Abraham
know, now listen, he lets Abraham know that salvation is of the
Lord. Okay, we're in verse 20. after he met Abraham. And blessed
be the Most High God which hath delivered thine enemies into
thy hand. Melchizedek let Abraham know,
God delivered your enemies into your hands. And that's why just
a few verses down, Abraham said to the king of Sodom, don't you
give me a dime. Don't you give me a dime unless
you say you made Abraham rich because Melchizedek just told
me God delivered. God delivered them into my hand. He delivered. Isn't that the work of Christ is to reveal
to us salvation? Is He not the prophet, priest
and king? Is it not He who reveals to us
how we have delivered from sin and death? That God has delivered
us. And that's what He did to Abraham.
He revealed that to Abraham and He reveals to us that salvation
is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. It is through
Christ our prophet, priest and king, that we come to know God
as our Savior. David said, God has become my
salvation. My Savior. God has become my
salvation. It is through Him that we worship
God. It is through Him that we submit to His rule. It is through
Him that we have all that we have. All blessings flow to us
through Him. Through Him. And Abraham shows
his love and gratitude, and I'll wind this down. Abraham there
in verse 20 shows his love and gratitude by giving a portion
of all his goods to Melchizedek. There was not a law There was
not a law or a commandment that said, Abraham, you have to give
this much. There was not a law. You know
what? When he met Melchizedek, he knew
what to do. He knew. I'm telling you this,
you ever meet Christ, man, a sinner ever meets Christ, that sinner
will know just what to do. You don't have to give him the
Roman's road or the plan of salvation. I'm telling you what, he meets
Christ just like Abraham here. Abraham knew what to do. He was motivated and led by the
love of God. And Abraham acknowledged him
as God's priest, as the Savior. And Abraham made a freewill offering
here. He wasn't constrained to do this.
His arm wasn't twisted behind his back. He wasn't trying to
gain righteousness by doing something like... This was a love offering. A true love offering. Abraham
acknowledged that all that he possessed belonged to him. He said, all of it belongs to
you. He just gave a portion of what was given to him. And he
acknowledges Melchizedek's greatness when he paid these tithes to
him. He didn't pay them to anybody
else. He paid him to Melchizedek. Grace doesn't need a law, does
it? Grace does not need a law. When the love of God is shed
abroad in the heart, it will motivate, it will absolutely
motivate God's children to give of what the Lord has given to
them. It will motivate them. As it says there, there was no,
in Hebrews 7, I'll close. He had no beginning of days,
end of lives, no genealogies. They couldn't find anything out
on Him. Listen. The Lord Jesus Christ
stood as our High Priest before the world began. You've often
heard it said, before there was a sinner, there was a Savior.
Or before there was a sinner, there was also a High Priest.
over the house of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God's high
priest. And He's still the same today.
And to this day, we use the bread and the wine. And we need to
do that here shortly. We use that to represent His
broken body and shed blood for our souls, our salvation. The
Lord Jesus Christ is our Melchizedek. And we are blessed by Him, through
Him, and in Him. We have a priest, a priest, a
high priest to represent us before God, and one who blesses us,
blesses us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly blessings. All right, Mike.