Turn with me, please, if you
will, in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 14. We're looking at some of the
things which we read about Abram. We began with the text in Isaiah
41 in verse 8, where God speaks of Abraham, my friend. And I would remind us of Paul's
words in Romans 15 in verse 4, for whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience
and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. What we have
seen and what we will see, the Lord willing, is that Abram's
life in this world, though he was the friend of God, was one
of peaks and valleys. This is true of all of God's
children. And to think that it will be
different is to misunderstand completely the message of the
Bible. to believe that this world will
be a friend to those who know Christ, that going through this
world as a pilgrim and a stranger will be an easy road. Peter wrote to those in his days,
Though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. And we have already seen in a
previous study when the scripture says that God did tempt Abram,
that temptations in the word of God are both temptations to
evil and temptations which concern the testing of our faith, the
testing of God's children. Now, there are three things tonight
that I'm going to speak about from this chapter 14. The first,
the first mention of war, the first mention of war in the scriptures. If you notice in verses one and
two, just the first few words of verse one, and it came to
pass. And then in verse two, that these
made war. This is the first mention in
the Word of God of war. But that doesn't necessarily
mean that this is the first time that man had gone to war in this
world. Because what we see here is that
somehow there were five kings who had in subjection four other
kings. And they were in subjection for
12 years, if you notice in verse 4. It says, 12 years they served,
Teter Ahlulmer, in the 13th year they rebelled. These four, these
five kings, rather, kings of cities, Sodom and Gomorrah and
three others, These five kings were in subjection to these four
kings for 12 years. Somehow, somehow they had to
put them in subjection. Somehow they had to conquer them.
So there could have been wars before this, but this is the
first time in the scriptures that we have war mentioned. And then immediately we're going
to see in this chapter, there is another war. Because we all
know how that Abram takes his forces and goes and conquers,
defeats these four kings. How do wars come about? How do
wars come about? Well, the Apostle James in the
New Testament tells us this. From whence come wars and fighting
among you? Where do they come from? That's
a good question, isn't it? Where do they come from? Don't
you wish that man would think about this world? How is it that there are wars
in this world? From whence come wars and fighting
among you? Come they not hence, even of
your own lusts that war in your members? In other words, wars
come about because of sin. come about in this world because
of sin. Men lust and covet something
which is not theirs, and so they fight, they go to war to take
what is someone else's. And a nation, remember, when
we say men do this, individuals do this, as James said, from
whence come wars and fighting among you, Come they not hence
even of your own lust that war in your members." In other words,
a man, he sees something that's not his and he wants to take
it. But a nation is just a number
of individuals. And the nation's war, the same
cause as an individual takes something that's not his. And
isn't it sad tonight to think of all the wars, now it's been
approximately 4,000 years since Abraham lived, approximately. Isn't it sad tonight to think
of all the wars that we have on record in those 4,000 years? The Lord Jesus Christ, he spoke
of wars and rumors of wars taking place until the end. President
Woodrow Wilson, when he was encouraging our country to go to war, World
War I, remember one thing he said? This is the war to end
all wars. Well, we know how that turned
out. It was soon, just a few years
later, a Second World War that was even worse than the First
World War. We look tonight, those of us
who know Christ as our Lord and Savior, we look forward to the
fulfillment of His promise of coming again. And when He comes
again of ushering in new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. We live in a world wherein dwelleth
sin. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
comes again and there's a new heaven, a new earth, it's going
to be one in which righteousness dwells. And only then, only then
will this world be free from sin, which produces wars. It is only then that the scripture
will be fulfilled. Isaiah 48 and verse 18, peace
as a river and righteousness as the waves of the sea. That's
when that scripture is going to be fulfilled. When Christ,
the Prince of Peace comes again. Abram, word comes to him that
his brother Lot has been captured. If you look in verses 12 and
13. These four kings, they came,
and they conquered, and they took, the scripture says, they
took all the goods of Sodom, verse 11, and Gomorrah, and all
their vittles, and went their way, and they took Lot, Abram's
brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and deported And
there came one that had escaped and told Abram, the Hebrew, for
he dwelt in the plain of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eskel,
and brother of Aner. And these were confederate with
Abraham. When Abram heard that his brother,
notice that in verse 14, he was his nephew, but he was his brother. We know this from the New Testament.
Because the scriptures say that Lot was a just man. Just as Abraham
was a just man, justified by the imputed righteousness of
Christ. That's the only way anyone's ever justified. So was Lot. And I know he was his kin in
the flesh, but it says here, his brother. His brother. 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. He pursues these four kings,
and then as you read on, you find that he divided his men,
like Joshua, we read later in the book of Joshua, he will do
the same concerning Ai, remember? He divided his troops, and men
still do that. Generals they still fight wars
in the same way and he attacked at night Abram did when they
were unsuspecting probably didn't have a watch and so they had
the advantage and The scripture says in verse 16 that he brought
back all the goods Lot and all the people notice that and he
brought back all the goods and and also brought again his brother
Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people." So the
first thing we see in this chapter tonight about Abram and his life
is that there was a war, and he was involved in it. Not by
choice, but he was involved in war. And you know, we live, even
though we're children of God, we live in a sin-cursed world. And we live in bodies that still,
the tabernacle in which we live, we still have an old nature that
wars against the new nature. And as long as we live in this
world, there's going to be peaks and there's going to be valleys.
and we're going to go through them, and he's promised that
when we go through them, he will not leave us, he will not desert
us. Remember that scripture, Isaiah
43, I believe it is. 43, and the first couple
of verses here. I brought a message from this
recently, and one of you told me that's my favorite passage
of scripture. Well, I can certainly see why.
But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he
that formed thee, O Israel. Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire. See, you're gonna go through the river. You're gonna walk
through the fire. He's not promising us that we
will be exempt from these trials, but when thou walkest through
the fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God. Now the second thing,
back in Genesis chapter 14, the second thing I want us to notice
is, that the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram. When he came
back from the war, came back victorious, bringing all of the
people that he had recovered and all the goods, the scripture
says in verse 17, and the king of Sodom went out to meet him
after his return from the slaughter of Chedorah and of the kings
that were with him. He had fled, this king of Sodom. You look back, if you will, in
verse 10. During the battle, this king
fled. It says in verse 10, and the vale
of Siddam was full of slime pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah
fled. Here they were in the battle.
What kind of a commander is that? Well, that was the kind of commander
the king of Sodom was and the king of Gomorrah. In the midst
of the battle, they took off. They fled, and they that remained
fled to the mountain. And then after everything was
over, the battle was over, they were gone, the invading army
was gone, then they returned, and he returns to his city, Sodom,
the king of Sodom. Now, he goes out to meet Abram,
and he makes a proposal to Abram. Now this man was a wicked man.
Now we know that because if you look back in chapter 13, when we saw that Lot chose the
good land, the fertile land, the well-watered land, that he
pitched his tent, the scripture says, towards Sodom in verse
12. And then we are told, but the
men of Sodom, and we may be sure the men of Sodom, the king of
Sodom, the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the
Lord exceedingly. So here comes this king and he's
a wicked man, exceedingly sinful. And he makes a proposal to Abraham. Notice that in verse 21. The
king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take
the goods to thyself. He didn't know Abram. He didn't know Abram. And he
sure didn't know anything about Abram's God, who is the possessor
of heaven and earth. Notice that in verse 22. Abram
said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up mine hand unto the
Lord the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth. Everything
in this world is his. Everything. This man was a wicked
man. He knew nothing about Abram,
knew even less about Abram's God. Abram didn't need, he didn't
want anything that this wicked king could possibly give him. He did not, we read that scripture
from whence come wars. Well, Abram didn't go to war
out of lust. He didn't go to war because he
saw something that was someone else's and he coveted it and
went to take it by force. That's not the reason that Abram
went to war. It had nothing to do with lust.
He didn't go to get something that was not his. His motive,
his one motive was only to rescue his brother. When he heard that
his brother Lot was taken, and the things of Lot, then he goes
to rescue him. And evidently, he made a vow,
because he told this king, when he made this proposal, give me
the persons, and you just take all of us four. It's all yours. You just have it all. And Abram
said, I don't want any of it. I've lift up my hand unto the
Lord, the Most High God, the Possessor of Heaven and Earth."
Obviously, Abram made a vow. When he took off with his men
to go to rescue Lot, he made a vow to the Lord, and his vow
was that he would not take anything if the Lord would give him victory. You know, making a vow. I, my advice is not to do it. Not to do it. But I know this,
in Ecclesiastes 5 and verse 5, Solomon said this, Better is
it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow
and not pay. Do you remember that judge? That
judge in the book of Judges that vowed the first thing, God if
you give me victory the first thing, the first person that
I see when I return, I'll offer it as a sacrifice unto thee."
And God gave him the victory, and you remember the first one
he saw? His daughter. His only daughter, if I remember
right. Solomon said, Better is it that
thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not
pay. Abram said, I've lifted up my
hand to the Lord, and I'm not going to take anything, not even
a shoelace, not even a shoelace. I believe that Abram went in
the spirit of Jeremiah 17 in verse five, which says, thus
saith the Lord, cursed. Cursed is the man that trusteth
in man. He didn't go trusting in man.
He went to war trusting in God. And in the Psalms, I think he
went in the spirit of this verse as well, where the psalmist said,
some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we, we will remember
the name of the Lord, our God. Look with me in 2 Chronicles
just a moment. We'll come back here in just
a second, but look over in 2 Chronicles in chapter 14. Asa was a king, king of Judah,
and he's being invaded by a tremendous army. I mean, a large number
a hundred thousand thousand army. And notice what he says in verse
11. And Asa cried unto the Lord his
God. You know when you cry, the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. I remember
reading one time years ago, cold prayers asked not to be answered. They do, they just ask not, we
need to be sincere and fervent in prayer. And Asa cried unto
the Lord. Cried unto the Lord his God and
said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many
or with them that have no power. Asa knew that the battle is the
Lord's. That he's the one who has the
power and he can deliver with a few soldiers or with a great
army. Do you remember when Jonathan
and his spear holder went up and fought the Philistines? When
all the Israelites were cowed down and afraid And Jonathan
told his spear holder, he said, let's go up and if God gives
us the victory, well. And those two men climbed up
and they routed the army of the Philistines so that the regular
army of the Israelites could come up and take the spoil. That's
what Asa's saying here, isn't it? That with thee, Lord, whether
there be many or with them that have no power, Help us, O Lord
our God, for we rest on Thee. And in Thy name we go against
this multitude, O Lord. Thou art our God, let not man
prevail against Thee, so the Lord smote the Ethiopians. Isn't it wonderful to be able
to rest in the Lord? That's what he said, isn't it?
O Lord our God, for we rest on Thee. We've turned this over
to Thee, we've placed this in Your hands, and now we're resting
on Thee. Now, Hannah, about this matter
of Abram going in the Spirit, trusting
in the Lord, Hannah later, and we saw this Sunday in the Bible
study, in her praise, she made this statement. She said, the
Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. It was the Lord who made Abram
rich. He wasn't made rich by this wicked
king, not at all. It was the Lord who made him
rich. rich. And I try to encourage
myself and everyone else to trust in God's providence. God knows
what is best for you. He knows what is best for me.
When you set your sight on, especially on riches and things like that,
it seems like so much in the last several years has been promoted
in so-called Christian churches, you know, about wealth. That's
God's business. He'll take care of that. I mean,
you put Him first and serve Him, honor Him with your substance,
glorify Him, and God'll take care of the wealth or the not-wealth. And He knows what is best for
each and every one of us. It's wonderful to be able to
rest in this truth, isn't it? God's in control. And He is working
all things after the counsel of His own will. Now let's go
back to Genesis 14. Here's the third thing that I
want to mention. We've looked at the first mention
of war. We've looked at the king of Sodom
who went out to meet Abram. Now third, the king of Salem. The king of Salem came out to
bless Abram. Verses 18 through 20. And Melchizedek,
king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was a
priest of the Most High God. 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 thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. The King of Salem. The first
thing that I call our attention to in these three verses is this. Did you notice how many times
the name of the Lord is mentioned? The Most High God. Three times. Three times. In verse 18, he
was the priest of the Most High God. Blessed, verse 19, blessed
be Abram of the Most High God. And verse 20, blessed be the
Most High God. This immediately reminds us that
the scriptures reveal that God is a triune being. There's one
God and yet he exists in a trinity of persons, the Father, the Son
and the Holy Ghost, and all are equal. The Father is not more
God than the Son. The Father is not greater than
the Holy Spirit. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ
was here in the flesh, and this sometimes confuses people, He
says, My Father is greater than I. But remember, He's speaking
there as Jehovah's servant come in the flesh. No, there are three
persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each
one is eternal, each one is omnipotent, each one is omniscient, each
one is omnipresent, each one is immutable. The glorious God,
God Almighty, the Most High God. And yet we know that it is only
God the Son who by taking into union with his person our nature,
that is, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, that he became
the visible Jehovah. God is spirit, and you cannot
see spirit. He became flesh, was made flesh
rather. He's a visible God. He that has seen me has seen
the Father. That's what he said. And it is as God manifested in
the flesh that he accomplishes all of God's purposes. Think about creation. That's
one of God's purposes. Who created all things? What
does it say in John chapter 1? By Him all things that are made
were made. What about providence? In Him
we live and in who? In Christ we live and move and
have our being. And in salvation and redemption,
it is the blood of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, that
He has purchased His church. So that's the first thing we
see here, by the mention of the Lord God. The Lord God, Most High God. Now, the King of Salem, who is
Melchizedek, we read this about in the New Testament, in Hebrews
chapter 7 and verse 3. Now listen. It tells us that
Melchizedek was made like unto the Son of God. Some people have
tried to teach and do teach that this was the Son of God. No,
this was one made like the Son of God. This wasn't the Son of
God. He was made like the Son of God. He's a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ, just as Abel's lamb was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ
before this. Just as Noah's ark was a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ before this, even so now Melchizedek
comes on the pages of Scripture and he is made like unto the
Son of God. He's a type. And let me give
us three ways in which he serves as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. First, He serves as a type of
Christ in what is said about his genealogy. Now, in the book
of Genesis, which is full of genealogies, this man appears. And in Hebrews, we read, without
father and without mother. Now, that doesn't say that he
didn't have a father and he didn't have a mother. It just says that
we are not told. We're not given his genealogy.
Why? Because he serves as a type of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ appears
as a man without a father. It says about Melchizedek, without
father or mother. So the Lord Jesus Christ appears
as man without a father, a human father, born of the Virgin. But he also appears without a
mother, the Son of God, as God the Son of God. Some people refer to Mary as
the mother of God. I would never do that. Technically,
I suppose you could make that argument because we read of the
blood the church has purchased with the blood of God. But it
gives the wrong impression to too many people, as though she
were before him, as though she were more than a creature that
he made. It's sad that so many thousands,
yeah, millions of people around the world worship Mary. And it's
nothing more than idolatry. And it's a sure road to hell.
The second way he serves as a type of Christ, he is a king-priest. Notice it says that he's the
king of Salem. He's a king, but he's the priest
of the Most High God. And Paul makes the point in the
book of Hebrews that the Lord Jesus Christ, he came from the
tribe of Judah. He didn't come from the tribe
from which the priest came, that is the tribe of Levi, he came
from the tribe of Judah, which is the tribe of David, the tribe
of the kings. Well then, how did the Lord Jesus
Christ become a priest? By an oath. By an oath. The Lord swore and will not repent,
thou art a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And just as he
had no beginning or ending as far as the scripture tells us,
this Melchizedek, so the Lord Jesus Christ, his priesthood,
has no end. He ever lives to make intercession
for all who come unto God by him. And the third way he serves
as a type of Christ in his titles. The name Melchizedek means righteousness. while Salem means peace. And notice that Melchizedek is
given first because there will never be peace with God unless
it is founded upon God's holiness, His justice being satisfied. Sometimes people will say, well,
you know, I just believe God is too loving to send anyone
to hell. I just don't believe He'll do that. Well, you believe
wrong. Because while God is loving, oh my, we can't even begin to
fathom the love of God, can we? But my friends, he's also holy.
He's righteous. And he, in justice, will send,
will put men into hell who do not know him, his son, whom he
has sent. Look with me in Psalm just a
minute, Psalm 85 and verse 10. He's the king of righteousness,
Melchizedek, king of Salem. So the Lord Jesus Christ is our
righteousness. And here in Psalm 85 and verse
10, the scripture says, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. Now, where did that happen? You
know where it happened. It happened at the cross. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross as the one substitute for his
people, offering the one sacrifice that puts away all the sins of
his people. One other truth would I point
out about Melchizedek, if you look back. One other thing we're
told is, he blessed him. That is, Melchizedek, he blessed
Abraham. Verse 19, it says, and he blessed
him. What is the blessing of Abraham? If you look back to chapter 12,
verse 3 here, Genesis 12 and verse 3, here's the blessing
of Abraham. And I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse them that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the
families of the earth be blessed. In other words, Christ. He's
the blessing of Abraham. All temporal. all spiritual,
all eternal blessings. You know, there are many blessings
in life. A person gets a job, he's looking for a job, and he
gets a good job, a new job, and we say, oh, that's a blessing.
And it is. A person's sick, and they go
to the doctor and prescribe medicine, and they recover, and we, oh,
that's a blessing, and it is. No doubt about it. There's many,
there's thousands. of blessings in this life, contrasted
with the miseries of many. But Christ is the blessing. Now hear me now. Christ is the
blessing of all blessings. Because you could have all of
these other blessings, yea, even possess the world. But if you
don't have Christ, you lose your own soul. He is the blessing
of all blessings, the blessing of Abraham, Christ. Well, I trust the Lord would
bless this word to each of us here tonight. I want to sing
a couple of verses of a hymn before we are dismissed.