Well, I want you to turn with
me in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 14. Genesis chapter 14. This is not intended to be a
Genesis series, but I started out with that scripture in the
New Testament where Christ tells the Pharisees that the scriptures
are they that testify of him. What are the scriptures about?
They're about Christ. Why are they about Christ? Because
Christ is how God saves his people from their sins. It's in Christ
that we are saved from our sins. It's in Christ that we have peace
with God. So this is the purpose of this
series. It's looking at the scriptures
testifying of Christ. And in a sense, it's a series
that will go on for the rest of the time that I might be called
to preach. You know, every message should
be from the Scriptures that testify of Christ. I don't want to preach
anything else other than Christ. For Paul said, I'm determined
to know nothing amongst you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Every Scripture, as Spurgeon
said, every Scripture is like a signpost leading to Christ.
You must find it, get on that road and look for Christ. And
when you've found Him, seek Him, follow Him, Okay, so this is
what we're doing. So we're going to skip some bits
that we've been looking at. We're going to skip. the covenant
God made with Noah, and the rainbow that God gave Noah as a sign,
and when he built an altar there was a sweet-smelling savor. All
of these things picture the Lord Jesus Christ. You read Ephesians
5 verse 2, talks about Christ being a sweet-smelling savor.
That's what God smelled. When Noah built his altar after
the flood, a sweet-smelling savor. The blessings of Shem and Japheth,
and the curse on Ham. We're gonna miss those out. The
Tower of Babel, All of those things, and we're going to come
to Abram. Abram, why has he got two names? Abram, to start with,
A-B-R-A-M, and then later Abraham. The reason? Abram is childless. His wife Sarai is barren. Abram,
childless. Abraham, he's given that name,
the father of a great multitude. I will make of you a great multitude. All the nations of the earth
shall be blessed in you. And Abraham is an example of
faith. Abraham is called in the scriptures
the friend of God. Even though he's a sinful man,
And the scripture never hides the imperfections of its heroes,
if I can call him a hero. The scripture never hides the
imperfections, for it knows that we all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not
one, only our Lord Jesus Christ. Only him, everyone else is flawed. Job, that one, so head and shoulders
above his brethren, in terms of the righteousness that men
see, and yet, when he saw himself in the light of God's holiness,
I am vile. I abhor myself. I've seen now,
I had heard, but now I've seen, and I repent in dust and ashes. You see? Abraham is is sinful
yet. He's called the friend of God
and he is an example of faith the the supreme example in the
scriptures of faith and Justification when Paul writing the epistle
to the Romans in Romans chapter 4 he's talked about the righteousness
of God Which is not from the law for by the works of the law
no flesh shall be justified in his sight But there is a righteousness
the righteousness of God is revealed which is by faith of Jesus Christ
that Faith of Jesus Christ, which leads to the justification of
his people. Paul then goes on in Romans 4 to talk about it,
and in that chapter, who does he use as the example? Abraham.
He talks about Abraham. Abraham is the one. And all believers,
all believers, as we read in Galatians chapter 3, all true
believers, who are the children of Abraham? The Jews? No. Those that have the same faith
as Abraham. All believers are the children
of Abraham. This is what Paul writes to Galatians,
Gentile believers. You are the children of Abraham.
Why? Because you have the same faith as Abraham. And you're
blessed with Abraham. You, Gentiles, who have the same
faith as Abraham, says Galatians, are blessed with Abraham, our
father Abraham. Galatians 3 verse 9, blessed
with him. Abraham was a man chosen of God. Why did he do what he did? Because
God chose him. Not because he was better than
anybody else. He came from a family of idolaters. His father was
an idolater. He lived in Ur of the Chaldees
amongst idolaters. The flood had happened, the world
was overpopulated again with the children of Noah, and sin
was rampant again you know as I said it doesn't hide in any
way that the sin of those that it talks about in the scripture.
So why was Abraham the friend of God? Because he was chosen
of God. Oh, people say, I don't like
that. It's so unfair. It's what the scripture says.
He was chosen of God. He was called of God to come
out of Ur of the Chaldees and to go where God told him to go.
He was blessed of God. Blessed. Do you know how? Oh,
he had loads of cattle and sheep. No, that's irrelevant. That's
incidental. That's absolutely incidental.
God's people all are blessed whether they've got lots of cows
and sheep or they've got nothing. Whether they're as poor as John
Warburton was in his early days preaching the gospel or whether
they're as rich as Abraham was in the height of his riches.
The reason they're blessed of God is blessed is that man to
whom the Lord imputeth not his sin. Blessed is that man whom
the Lord calls and causes to approach him. That's true blessing
If you want to know what's true blessing in this world, there's
all sorts of things that can happen to you, and some you think
are bad and others you think are great and good, but don't
forget this, the greatest blessing of all is to be called of God. The greatest blessing of all
is to be given sight to see the things of God. In a world full
of blind people, spiritually, to be given sight to see. When
everybody around, natural men, cannot receive the things of
the Spirit of God for their foolishness to them, to be given sight to
see these things. That is blessing indeed, true
blessing indeed. He was tried by God, because
God takes us on a journey through life. And it's not all smooth,
it isn't all a bed of roses, there are trials, there are difficulties,
there are heartbreaks, there are sorrows, there are illnesses,
there are all of the effects of the curse and of the fall.
Tried. He was a sinful man, as I've
already said, but through it all, he was kept, as God keeps
all of his people. How does this account of Abraham,
and it's a long account, it begins in Genesis chapter 11, verse
27, when his father begat Abraham, and it goes on until chapter
25 and verse 8. That's the account of the living
days of Abraham, and then he's mentioned again and again and
again in the scriptures. This account of Abraham, from
all those chapters, 1127 to 25 verse 8, How does this account testify
of Christ? This is what we're looking for.
These scriptures, these are they that speak of me, said our Lord
Jesus Christ. How does this testify of Christ? In this. This is how. How can
a sinner commune with God. How can a sinner commune with
God? We're, because it's the first
Sunday of the month, and it's different people's practice in
different fellowships, some have communion every Sunday, and I
think there's maybe a strong argument for that, but anyway,
for convenience, for as it becomes a habit, but we try to hold communion
on the first Sunday of the month, which I think is what a lot of
people do. The communion service is about
communion with God. It's communion. You know, it's
instituted in the Last Supper where there was Christ with his
disciples. The night before he went to the cross, that night
there, there was communion. There was bread and wine, and
he instituted the Lord's Supper. And what the communion service
represents in symbol is the basis of the atonement. What's the
atonement? Break the word down. At-one-ment. Making sinners,
sinners, and God who is holy, at one. at one. Can you get your head around
how great a thing that is? How staggering that idea is,
of sinners and God who is holy, who dwells in unapproachable
light, being made at one, the atonement. It represents the
basis of the atonement. It represents the basis of acceptance
with God. When I die, I know I'm going
to die. and men and women in general
live all their lives whether they admit it or not in the fear
of death for they know it's appointed to man to die once and then comes
the judgment what does that mean We must meet God. We must all,
says the scripture, stand before the judgment seat of Christ to
receive the things done in the body, to be judged for what we
are. And there will be those who will
be judged out of the books, meaning, symbolically, the record. God
has a record of what everyone is like in terms of sin. And
everyone will be judged out of those books, but there is another
book, which is the Lamb's Book of Life. And there are names
in the Lamb's Book of Life of those that Christ has redeemed. From before the foundation of
the world, He's the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
They're the elect of God, whom God chose, a multitude which
no man can number. and they're accepted by Him.
And they will stand before that judgment seat of Christ, not
bearing their own sins, for He has borne them. Not standing
there for the fire of the judgment of God to fall on them, for the
fire of the judgment of God has already fallen on Him in their
place. They're standing on burnt ground.
The forest fire cannot burn there anymore. It's already burnt.
The fuel is used up because Christ has made satisfaction to the
law of God. And this is what it's about.
It's the basis of acceptance. It's the basis of the difference
between these dreadful words of those that for whatever reason,
in their religion, or in their atheism, or whatever it is, think
that they're alright for eternity, think that they're alright, think
that there's nothing to answer for, and he will say, depart
from me, you who work iniquity, I never knew you, depart from
me, go into everlasting damnation, go to that place where there
is weeping and gnashing of teeth, these are terrifying, sobering words. These are the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ, but to his sheep he will say,
enter, ye blessed of my Father, enter into that which has been
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And thinking of
these things, when we partake of bread and wine, it's not just
some ritual, it's a reminder of the basis of our atonement,
of our acceptance with God. And these are precious moments,
aside from the world. precious moments. Sweet the moments,
says that hymn. Sweet the moments, deep in blessing,
which before the cross I spend. Precious moments. Oh, you say,
what about the Jews and their acceptance with God by the law
and the animal sacrifices? Isn't that what the Old Testament's
about? They're all pictures of Christ. every single one of them. They're no different. Rightly
received by those that undertook them, under the Mosaic law, under
the Mosaic regime of temple sacrifice, if they looked to what they were
symbolizing, what they were typifying, it was all picturing Christ.
And this same thing, the basis of effectual atonement. You know, it's alright to talk
about atonement, but you need an atonement that is effectual.
What does that mean? An atonement that gets the job
done. An atonement that works. Not an atonement that doesn't
work. Don't you get annoyed when you order something online and
it arrives and it's rubbish, it's not fit for purpose. It
never should have been sold as fit for purpose. And all the
trouble that you've got sending it back. You want the The atonement
of Christ is an effectual atonement. It has accomplished its purpose.
So then, here in Genesis 14, we see Christ, pictures of Christ,
graphically. We see, let me just quickly tell
you the story, there's Abraham and Lot have gone into the land
that was promised them that they were told to go to and you remember
in chapter 13 there's a division between Lot and Abraham, their
herdsmen were arguing about the pasture and Abraham said this
is not good so Lot you take your choice and Lot looked and he
saw the lush plains around Sodom and Gomorrah and he said oh well
I'll go there that looks like prosperous living and Abraham
said I'll have what's left and he stayed where he was Lot went
to Sodom, and set up home in Sodom, and before long was in
the city, that evil city. Don't forget throughout it all,
Peter tells us in his epistles, do you know how he describes
Lot? Not that wayward backsliding Lot, which is what religion would
tell you, do you know what it says? Righteous Lot. Righteous
Lot. just lot. His soul was vexed
by the evil that he saw in Sodom and Gomorrah all around him.
It must have felt for him living then very much like it feels
living here in this country, in this society, in this day.
Everything that was once regarded as evil and perverted is now
regarded as normal and healthy and happy and everybody's supposed
to, and if you don't agree with it all, you know, you're in danger
of getting locked up and you're not fit to look after children
and you're not fit to be a school teacher and you're not fit to
do all of these things. That was the society that Lot moved
to, but Abraham stayed away from that. And there was war between
the kings of the plain the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and the
other ones all around there was war and Abraham just let them
get on with it I mean there he was he was prospering he had
quite a household with him and Lot was captured and his family
were taken into captivity and somebody came somebody escaped
and came and told Abram verse 13 of chapter 14 of Genesis He
told Abram that his brother had been taken captive. Verse 14,
And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he
armed his trained servants, born in his own house, 318, and pursued
them unto Dan. And he divided himself against
them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued
them unto Hobar, which is on the left hand of Damascus. That's
a city that exists today in Syria. And he brought back all the goods,
and also brought again his brother Lot. He was actually his nephew,
but you know that he's his brother's son. And his goods, and the women
also, and the people. Abraham rescued Lot. Do you know,
even in that, even in that, there's a lovely picture of Christ. Lot
was in Sodom, righteous man, enticed by worldly prosperity. Is that not what we're subject
to? Enticements, worldly enticements? Oh, you know, what does it prove?
Oh, you're not a child of God. No, no, no. We're sinners. All
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Lot, that righteous
man, that just man, that justified man, was enticed by worldly prosperity. And Abraham, blessed of God without
that worldly enticement, heard of the capture of his nephew,
of his brother's son, and went out to rescue him. With only
318, such a small force, but in the hands and purpose of God.
Don't look at the numbers. Don't be afraid of the numbers.
Don't ever take comfort from large numbers. You know, all
those people that are taking comfort that they're in mega
churches with thousands of people. Oh, how deluded. How utterly
deluded to take comfort in great numbers. No, not at all. Only
318, and he went to rescue his brother. The elect of God are Christ's
brethren. He calls us his brethren, his
brothers. His brethren from eternity. Because
he loved his people with an everlasting love. But his people, due to
the fall, are captive. They're captive by sin. They're
under the dominion of sin. They're in the thrall of sin,
under the dominion of Satan. But Abraham went out. Abram,
sorry I keep calling Abraham, he's not that yet. Abram went
out to rescue his brother, our Lord Jesus Christ, went out of
glory. He laid his glory aside. He who
was in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but laid his glory aside and came and was obedient and
subjected himself, came as a man that he might rescue his fellow
men, his brethren. Colossians 2 verse 13 says, and
you, you believers, being dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision
of your flesh, totally captured in the thrall and the captivity
of Satan, he hath quickened together with him, having forgiven you
all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross." And look what he did,
having spoiled principalities and powers. Abraham defeated
those kings. He militarily conquered them.
It says our Lord Jesus Christ militarily defeated the enemies
of his people. Having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly. He dragged them
in chains. He's captured them. He's overcome
them. The one who is the persecutor
of the brethren, the accuser of the brethren, our Lord Jesus
Christ at Calvary has captured him. has overpowered him, has
entered into the strongman's house and taken the strongman
captive, triumphing over them in it. By grace, he saved and
restored his brethren. And because of that, we are,
as Romans 8 says, more than conquerors. Abraham conquered. In Christ,
we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. In this, Christ
is portrayed. This testifies, why is this in
the scriptures? To tell us a story. to tell us
a story just for the historical interest of it. No, it's in the
Scriptures to testify of Christ. Now, Abram not only is a picture
of Christ in rescuing Lot, but Abram also pictures believers,
and that's what I want to focus on for the rest of our time.
Look in verse 17. So Abram has has captured, has recovered his
brother and all the goods of the people of Sodom, and the
king of Sodom is very grateful to him. You know, you may wonder
why is a man like Abram helping somebody who is king of such
a terrible place? And the king of Sodom went out
to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chederulema
and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Shaveh,
which is the king's dale. So the king of Sodom is coming
to meet Abram to give him thanks for what he's done. This is brilliant,
you know, we don't think of Abram as a kind of a triumphant military
man, but he was. In the hands of God with his
318, he absolutely turned this war around, he captured those
kings. Because irrespective of what
Sodom was like and the king of Sodom was like, his brother lived
there. His brother lived there, so he went and he rescued his
brother. And the king of Sodom comes out
to meet him. The king of Sodom is very grateful
to Abram. The king of Sodom is about to
offer him all sorts of goods. But in verse 18, before the king
of Sodom could get to him, and Melchizedek, King of Salem brought
forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High
God. And he blessed him, and said,
Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven
and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered
thine enemies into thine hand. And he gave him, that is Abraham,
gave Melchizedek tithes of all. And the king of Sodom said to
Abram, Give me the persons and take the goods, have whatever
you want. 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've promised God,
he says, that I will not take from a thread, even to a shoelatch
it, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest
you should say that he, the king of Sodom, has made Abram rich,
just apart from the things that they've eaten. He was going to
offer him all the worldly goods he wanted. You know the thing
that attracted Lot? You're going to be so rich for
what you've done. For what you've done you're going
to be so rich, but before, because he's a child of God, before the
king of Sodom could get to him, before then, he meets with Melchizedek. When we're faced with this world
and its enticements, what's going to keep the true child of God
from being what we call hook, line, and sinkered by this evil
world? There's all sorts of things that
flash and sparkle, and we're hook, line, and sinkered, you
know, the hook's in there, they've got us. What's going to keep
the true believer from keeping all these things in perspective?
Is it not a sight of Christ and his glory? and of eternal realities,
and the basis of our atonement, there was a chorus, I was trying
to remember it. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his
wonderful face, and the things of the world will grow strangely
dim in the light of his glory and grace. I don't know about
the source of that chorus, but nevertheless, the sentiment is
exactly what I'm trying to say. the things that the world, the
things that the king of Sodom is about to offer Abraham, Abram
will grow strangely dim in the light of God's glory and grace.
When Melchizedek met Abram and brought forth bread and wine,
the things of this world grew strangely dim. We're going to
take bread and wine later on. That's why I've called this message,
and I'm conscious I'm sticking my neck out because I can't see
any other commentator that says this, and I've looked at some
impressive ones, and maybe I'm getting it wrong, but I think
I have warrant for this because Christ tells us to look for the
things that concern him. And so I've called this message,
Abram Takes Communion. Abram takes communion when Melchizedek
brought out bread and wine because Christ in the type of Melchizedek
came to Abram to strengthen him with heavenly grace to shun the
enticements of the world. Did you hear what I said? Melchizedek
Christ, in the type of Melchizedek, came to Abram to strengthen him
with heavenly grace, so that strengthened with heavenly grace
the things of this world would grow strangely dim in the light
of that glory and grace. And in verse 18, when Melchizedek comes, it is
like other instances in the scripture. Think of Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego. You know what happened to them?
They were thrown into the fiery furnace. And Nebuchadnezzar was
so angry with Daniel and his friends and their opposition,
the opposition to his decree about what you should worship
you will be thrown into the fiery furnace and heat it stronger
than you've ever heated it before heat it as strong as you can
get it I think the seven times means heat it as perfectly as
it can be heated and Nebuchadnezzar looks forward and peers in and
he says I see three men walking in there but there's another
one with them and Nebuchadnezzar says the other one that's with
them is like unto the son of He comes to them at the time
of need. Christ comes to his people at
the time of need and shows us the things of eternity that the
natural man cannot see. He comes to his people. How does
he come to us today? How does he come to you and me?
He comes in ministry. In the ministry of his word.
In the fellowship of his people. Encouraging one another. You
know the emails that pass between all these friends who now, many
of whom we've not met face to face, many of them, but you know,
the emails that pass. There's good, solid fellowship
in the things of Christ. In His Word, He comes to His
people. He comes by His Spirit. He ministers the things of Christ.
We see the things to do with our peace with God. We face another
week of worldly temptations. But here we are, met this Sunday
morning. Christ meets with us here. especially
as we partake of the bread and wine and we remember because
why are we to do it till he comes again this do in remembrance
of me what about me in remembrance of him coming in a body that
must be prepared that his people might be made righteous with
God they might find that righteousness that we're to follow without
which no man shall see the Lord it reminds us of our eternal
position of security in Christ and the foundation of that, which
is the broken body and the shed blood. Why? There must be satisfaction. The justice of God must be satisfied
if we're to have peace with God for eternity. And this reminds
us of our eternal position. Melchizedek then, he's the king
of Salem, verse 18, and he's priest of the Most High God,
and he brings bread and wine long before Christ instituted
the Lord's Supper, before Paul passed on what he had received
of the Lord concerning communion. Abraham, I believe, takes communion. But who was Melchizedek? Turn
over to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 7. Let me remind you, I know
we've looked at these passages before, but let me remind you,
Hebrews chapter 7 and the first four verses. For this Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning
from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, to whom also
Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation
king of righteousness, and that, 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 a priest continually.
Now, consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch
Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils." Consider how great this man was. Melchizedek is made of two parts. Melech is king, Tzedek is justice. He's king of justice. He's king
of righteousness. He's king of justification. And he's king of Salem. Salem,
Jerusalem is peace. the place of God's peace. Jerusalem
is the city of God's peace. Salem, he's king of Salem, king
of peace. He's the king of justification,
and he's the king of peace. He's eternal. It says he's without
beginning or without end. He's eternal. Yet he's a man. He's a man. He's made like unto
the Son of God. Now, Arguments go on as to whether
this is actually Christ or a type of Christ. For myself, I can't,
you know, and I'm not going to argue with you, but for myself,
I cannot see who this, I cannot see which human being this could
possibly be other than an appearance of the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus
Christ. Because of which other bag of bones and flesh and blood
can it be said that they're eternal, they're like unto the Son of
God, their king of righteousness and their king of peace. Which
one dwelling in that area in those days could possibly have
that description? I believe this is Christ. But
whether is it Christ In type, or Christ in reality, it's Christ
that met with Abram. Christ met with Abram, the man
of faith. Christ showed him heavenly things. Christ spoke of righteousness,
and how it's established, symbolized by the bread and wine. We read,
later on in the next chapter of Genesis 15, Verse 6, he, Abraham,
believed the Lord. He believed in the Lord. And
he counted it to him for righteousness. What did he believe? He believed
God's promises and their basis. And what was their basis? It
was what was symbolized by Melchizedek's bread and wine. It was substitutionary
atonement. It was the making right of a
sinner with a holy God by a substitute who was counted for righteousness
to that one, just as it is for you and me. As we look to Him,
our Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute, who stood in the place of divine
judgment for us, and bore our sins in His own body on the tree,
and bore that curse, for cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree,
and has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us, it's looking to that that we're counted righteous.
We're counted Perfect in his sight, fitted for heaven. And
consider righteousness and peace. Consider these things. King of
righteousness, king of peace. Righteousness and peace. Do you
want to be just with God? Do you want to be? What was Job's
question? How shall a man be thinking of
these things? You know, how good do you have
to be, as good as Job? Unless your righteousness exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall
in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. How are you going
to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? How
are you going to exceed the righteousness of Job? How are you going to
be just with God so that he says welcome into his kingdom? You
must first be made righteous. And when you're made righteous,
then the result is that you have peace with God. Listen to what
the Psalms say, Psalm 85, and I'm missing out bits for the
sake of time, but I'm not taking anything away from the sense.
God the Lord will speak peace unto his people and to his saints. Mercy and truth are met together. Mercy. God is merciful, but how
can God be merciful to sinners when God says he will in no wise
clear the guilty? He cannot overlook sin. He must
punish sin. The soul that sins it shall...
How can God be merciful to a sinner? The truth of his word says that
he is righteous, but mercy and truth are met together. Those
two opposites are reconciled in the Lord Jesus Christ. in
the bread and wine, because the bread and wine symbolized him. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Is a kiss not a symbol of reconciliation? Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. They're reconciled. The righteousness
of God, which must punish sin, is reconciled to the peace which
God shows in mercy to his people. Isaiah 32 Verse 17, and the work
of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance forever. We could read Romans 3, we're
running out of time, talking about the righteousness which
is by faith, the faith of Jesus Christ, not according to the
works of the law. Second Corinthians 5, 21, you
know it so well, he made him who knew no sin, to be sin for
us, to take on Him the sins of His people, to bear the consequences,
the punishment, the guilt, the lost penalty, to make satisfaction. Why? That we, His people, might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now how is it to
be accomplished? How is it to be accomplished?
He must first be made flesh Hebrews 2 14 for as much then as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood He also himself likewise
took part of the same flesh and blood He became he had to become
flesh and blood a body had to be prepared that through death
Through his death as a man. He might destroy him that had
the power of death. That is the devil Why because
he disarmed him? He disarmed everything that the devil had
against the people of God Christ. his people's representative,
his people's substitute, his people's Messiah, his people's
Christ. He bore it in their place as
a man in the flesh, dying in the place of them. His flesh
was broken. There had to be flesh to be broken
to make satisfaction. There had to be lifeblood shed
from that flesh to pay the penalty for sin, to pay redemption's
price of justice, to make satisfaction so that the law of God which
is offended says enough. Enough, I need no more. It looks
at Christ and says I need no more. Satisfaction and belief
and righteousness, how does that work? All that Christ, all the
ones that Christ has made righteous in his substitutionary work are
brought to know it and to believe it. Do you know it? Do you believe
it? What did he say to the Philippians,
Paul? God, who has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. How
do I know it? Through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. You believe the true gospel.
The people of God hear it and are given faith. Through grace
you're saved and by grace you're saved through faith and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And being made righteous
If we are made righteous on the grounds of what Christ has done
for us, what's the consequence of it? Romans 5 verse 1. Therefore,
being justified, being made righteous by faith, by the faithful acts
of Christ, by the faith of Christ, we're made, this is what satisfies
the law of God, but we're given faith, spiritual sight, to see
the truth of it. Therefore, being justified by
faith, knowing by faith that you are just with God, What do
you have? We have peace with God. Melchizedek? Justification. Peace. King of
justice, righteousness, and king of Salem, king of peace. And
what's the bread and wine got to do with it? Did he bring it
forth just for refreshment for the battle weary? Melchizedek
brought bread and wine to these weary soldiers, the 318 of them,
that had accomplished such great things militarily. Did he just
bring them bread and wine to refresh them. No, this was Christ. This was Christ, either in graphic
type or more likely in pre-incarnate appearance in his priestly, kingly
office Priest and king, thou art a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek, says Psalm 110 verse 4. He brought forth
bread and wine. There's no mention of meat, or
vegetables, or water. It's bread and wine. Why did
he bring those things? I believe this, and I think there's
food for your souls in this. I believe that Christ, in the
type of Melchizedek, testified of himself and his atoning work
to Abram. That's what he did. The light
of his glory and grace he gave to Abram. He saw these things
and the things of this world that the king of Sodom was about
to offer him grew strangely dim. What did they matter? Because
he's seen the light of the glory and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He saw the basis of his righteousness
with God. He saw the basis, in bread and
wine, he saw the basis of these things, and Abraham believed
God, and it was counted for righteousness. Remember, it's not his believing,
what he did, that's counted for righteousness, but what he believed
in, what Christ had accomplished. The bread and the wine symbolizes
the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just, we must,
we cannot, I know we're over running time, but if you just
bear with me. John chapter six, just let me read some verses
to you. Verse 48, I am the bread of life. I am that bread of life. He's
talking to Jews about the manna that came down in the wilderness,
the bread from heaven. And he says, your fathers ate
that manna and died. This is the bread. He is the
bread that cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and
not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. Why? Because he'll be justified
before the law of God. This is the bread that I will
give. The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I give for
the life of the world. The world? All the world? Not
all the world without exception, but the world of all nations.
that would be blessed in Abraham's seed. I will make of you a great
nation, said God to Abram. And in you, in your seed, shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed. Are we not members
of all the nations of the earth that are here this morning? And
we're blessed according to that promise God gave to Abram on
the basis of what Christ came and did. Then Jesus said to them,
So the Jews said, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Then Jesus said to them, verse 53, 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. 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. this is the bread which
came down from heaven not as your fathers did eat manna and
are dead he that eateth of this bread shall live forever these
things said he in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum and
he says later on the words that I speak to you He's not literally
talking about cannibalism. He said, the words that I speak
to you, they are spirit, and they are life. These words are
spirit, and these words are life. We remember in the bread and
the wine. That's what it's for. This do,
said Jesus, as oft as ye eat it in remembrance of me. It's to remember. Abraham looked
forward to a body to be broken and blood to be shed. It must
be provided to make atonement for sin. And I wonder, I wonder
if Melchizedek explained redemption to Abraham and used the same
symbols by which we remember Christ's death. This is my body,
which will be broken for you. And this is my blood, which will
be shed for you. I just want, is it going too
far? Is it going too far? I mean, as I said, I couldn't
find any other commentators that said it, but does it not testify
of Christ? Is it not there clearly in the
scripture? Melchizedek is so descriptive of Christ. Who else
could he be? The symbols used were the symbols
that Christ instituted at the Last Supper to remember him.
This is the new covenant in my blood. This do as oft as you
drink it in remembrance of me, the communion symbols, that's
what it was. For Abraham to be made righteous
in believing, he must look forward to a perfect substitute, bearing
his sin and paying its penalty to make satisfaction to the justice
of God. Abraham believed God. Abraham
looked to Christ. He rested in redemption that
was certain to be accomplished. by his seed that was promised,
and he was counted righteous by God. So, all we who follow
Abraham's faith, who are the children of Abraham, because
we follow that faith, we look back in remembrance, as often
as you do this, do it in remembrance of him. And thereby, knowing
this, knowing that Christ has justified us, therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God. Peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, Melchizedek, King of Justice, King of Peace,
Priest of the Most High God. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Amen.