Genesis 14:1-24

[0:00] Praise the Lord. Cool. You can turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 14. 14, yes. Today's theme is battle and blessing.

[0:12] Battle and blessing. We will read the chapter, and we'll dive in.

[0:25] A lot of the first half is just this account of this battle. If you get a little lost, don't worry, we'll go back and look at it. We won't spend a lot of time in the battle because we want to get to the meat of the chapter.

[0:40] But this is the setup. In Genesis chapter 14, verse 1. And it came to pass in the days of Emraphel, king of Shinar, Ariok, king of Elessar, Chateleomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of nations, that these made war with Bira, king of Sodom, with Bersha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Adma, and Shamibar, king of Zeboam, and the king of Bila, which is Zoar.

[1:07] All these were joined together in the Val of Sidim, which is the Solsi. Twelve years they served Chetuleomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

[1:18] And in the fourteenth year came Chetuleomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims, and the Ashtaroth, Kiranim, and the Zuzims, and Ham, and the Emims, and Shavah, Kirathim, and the Horites, and the Mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness.

[1:38] And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Malachites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazes on Tamir.

[1:50] And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Adma, and the king of Zeboam, and the king of Bila, the same as Zoar. And they joined battle with them in the Val of Sidim, with Chetuleomer, the king of Elam, and with Tidal, king of nations, just in case you forgot.

[2:07] And Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Ariok, king of Elessar, four kings and five. And the Val of Sidim was full of slime pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain.

[2:24] And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

[2:36] 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.

[2:47] And these were confederate with Abram. 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.

[3:00] 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 he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

[3:19] And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after the return from the slaughter of Chaterleomer, and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Sheba, which is the king's dale. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God.

[3:37] 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.

[3:48] And he gave him tithes of all. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And 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, and I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldst say, I have made Abram rich.

[4:17] Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Einar, Eshkol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion. And Lord, we look forward now to our portion, the portion you have for us in your word, Lord.

[4:32] We pray that you would just open this text to us. Why is it in the Bible? Why do you want us to know about this battle? Why are we to hear the sequence of events? What is it that it puts in front of us, Lord, regarding the promise of God and the faith of Abraham?

[4:47] We pray that you would give us insight and wisdom according to your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. So this battle between these four kings, or I'm sorry, yeah, these four kings that come against, well, the land of Canaan, essentially.

[5:01] We say the five kings that were confederate with the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, but it's actually other nations as well. And if we look on this map briefly, we can kind of get a picture of what's going on.

[5:14] So the kings with Chadal-i-Omer, they are in Mesopotamia. Remember where Abram came from, Earl of the Chaldees, from Babylon. This is where they are confederate together.

[5:27] And they have had under their tribute for the last 13 years or 12 years, this area of the land of what we would call the land of Canaan and those within it. At this time, the king of Sodom and Gomorrah and then their confederates decide they're gonna rebel.

[5:43] We're not gonna pay tribute longer. And it appears to work. They have kind of a year of reprieve. Hey, we've rebelled. Nothing's happened. Well, then in the 14th year, boom, here comes, here comes the king with his four other kings.

[5:58] And so they come in from the north and they're coming down through on the east side of what would be the land of Israel. The interesting thing is they almost exactly encompass the borders of what is today Israel.

[6:13] And what we're gonna see is even in this, the Lord is preparing for his future people to be there because they're gonna wipe out and they're gonna set back some of these other nations from their political power.

[6:27] The Amalekites, the Horites, all these people as they come down through and reestablish their dominance here. And then they come into Sodom and Gomorrah, which is by the Dead Sea in that area.

[6:41] At that time, the five kings think, aha, we can take them. And they go out to battle. Doesn't work out so well. They become captives to these four kings.

[6:52] And then this guy comes to Abram. And we'll look into that as we get to it. But that's where this is happening. Here's a more topographic map where you can see this is zoomed in on the Dead Sea. And that is the Valley of Siddam.

[7:06] So in that area would be Sodom and Gomorrah. And then Zoar, which is the city where Lot will run to. When the angels come, say we're gonna wipe out all of these five cities. He says, oh, well, let me go to Zoar.

[7:17] If you remember that word Zoar means insignificance. He says, let me go to this little city. And so he spares that one. But the rest are wiped out. So that's the setting for this chapter as these kings come into this area.

[7:35] I'm not gonna go through all the meanings of their names. Aren't you glad? Learned from that. No. Some of their names are interesting. Look at it on your own.

[7:46] We're gonna look at the names of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. The other ones, like Tidal King of Nations, Armifel, King of Shinar, Chetle-Omar, King of Elam.

[7:58] I think Elam means eternity. He's the king of eternity. There's kind of this picture almost with some of the names. One is like the key of dark sayings or hidden sayings. It's almost this counterfeit picture of God's kingdom.

[8:13] You know, here comes this kingdom to own the land of Canaan, in a sense. And God's gonna wipe them out with just a few guys and set up the leading into what will be his kingdom.

[8:28] But Psalm 46 kind of gives a picture of the way the Lord looks at this. In verse 6, the Lord says, the text says, The heathen raged. The kingdoms were moved.

[8:40] He uttered his voice. The earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord.

[8:50] What desolations he has made in the earth. He makes wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in sunder. He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God.

[9:03] I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. So the premise for being still is God's got it handled in every way, shape, or form, doesn't he?

[9:22] So we're gonna actually pick up over after this battle. So as we saw, they come down through. They come down the east side of the Jordan River, the east side of the Dead Sea.

[9:36] And they make this loop. And they come up to where the kings are confederate. These five kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. And the kings there, real quick, in verse 2, the king of Sodom, if we look at his name, is Bera.

[9:51] That means son of evil. And the king of Gomorrah, Bersha, his name means with iniquity. So you have these cities, you have this confederation being led by these men, the son of evil and one who's with iniquity.

[10:04] Sodom means burning, and Gomorrah means submersion. So the son of evil in a place of burning with him of iniquity in a place of submersion. The interesting thing is when they go to battle against these guys, we jump over now to verse 8.

[10:21] And there went out the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admon, the king of Zeboam and the king of Bela, the same as Zoar. And they joined battle with them in the Val of Siddam. Hey, there's five of us against four of them.

[10:35] They're going to be tired out. Their numbers are going to be a little weak. They've just come through battling all these other guys, the Rephaim, the Zuzims, and all these other people. So let's go take them.

[10:48] And so they go out to battle against them. And it says in verse 10, And the Val of Siddam was full of slime pits. And Siddam, it just means a plain or exactly that, a level place in this valley.

[11:00] It 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 if we look real quick again on our map, you can see how it's very level.

[11:12] And the mountains would just be the highlands, the higher elevation there, as they're down in this lowland fighting in the Val of Siddam. And it says it's full of slime pits. And the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, they flee.

[11:24] And a number of them, the text, the way it's worded is, fell into the slime pits and died. And the word slime there is the same, you know, where Noah covered the ark in and out with pitch.

[11:35] Moses' mother, she's going to cover the little basket that she puts him in in pitch. It's that same thing. And so here you see these guys are dwelling in such lavish ease and iniquity.

[11:49] They don't even know the terrain of the area they live in. They're going out to battle completely unprepared. They actually flee into their own slime pits, which is kind of comical and sad all at the same time.

[12:01] And verse 11, And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, the kings there, the four kings, Chateleomer and his confederates, and all their victuals, and went their way.

[12:15] So why this battle? Why is it put here in front of us? Why do we need to read that? It could just start, you know, and Lot was taken captive by some kings, and Abram, he's going to go rescue him. Well, again, I think because as you look at the actual terrain and the map and the navigation force that was set by these kings, what do you see?

[12:35] You see God is like just stepping them through all of these different tribes and peoples. We're going to get to eventually here now. They're going to lose, shall we say, their strength.

[12:47] The kings from Mesopotamia, because Abram's going to go and beat them. They're no longer going to have control of this region. Sodom and Gomorrah, God's going to take care of them.

[12:57] We're going to see his mercy here as he gives them another chance, but eventually he's going to wipe them out. Why? Because God has a plan for his people in this land, and he knows the influence that they can and can't handle.

[13:09] Remember, by the time they come back out of Egypt into the land of Canaan, there's a bunch of tribes there. But a lot of the ones that could have been there aren't. Sodom and Gomorrah, imagine if Sodom and Gomorrah had been left to grow and to thrive in this area.

[13:24] What it would have been like by the time Israel comes out of Egypt. And so the Lord has his plan to take care of some of these tribes and nations. But the effect is that they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their victuals and went their way.

[13:41] And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom and his goods and departed. Remember from chapter 13, we saw that Lot did what? The first thing he did was he lifted up his eyes.

[13:53] The second thing was he chose for himself. And the third thing was he pitched his tent towards Sodom and Gomorrah because it looked like Egypt. He had a taste for the things of the world.

[14:05] And now number four, here's dwelling there. Lot dwelt there. And dwelling in the world will always lead to captivity. Always. How much did they take?

[14:16] They took everything. They took it all. They took all the goods and all their victuals and went their way. Trials in our lives reveal true stability.

[14:27] Right? What is true stability? Well, the world gives the illusion that wealth and power give stability. But true stability is found when a life is built upon an unmovable source.

[14:38] So trials reveal what things are stable and what are not. Well, how do we know that? Well, Scripture tells us in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus gives the parable.

[14:50] It's about those who hear my words and do them. And those who hear my words and don't do them. Those that hear them and do them have a stability.

[15:02] Therefore, whosoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. Something stable, immovable. The rain descended. The trial came.

[15:13] The trial proved what? Because you're going to have the house that's built on the sand. The house that's built on the rock. They look the same. Right? Until the trial comes. And the trial reveals stability.

[15:24] The rain descended. The floods came. And the winds blew. And beat upon that house. And it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And so here are these men living in Sodom and Gomorrah.

[15:37] Lot living there. Probably thinking, well, he's not his uncle. I was going to say, old Uncle Abram. They're probably about the same age. Whatever. Abram's out there in a tent. Living out there. I mean, it's going to tell us he has 318 trained servants ready for war.

[15:53] Well, if every one of them has a family associated with them, and then there's other people not trained for war, I mean, you're looking at like 500, 800 people in this tent city that Abram has.

[16:05] I mean, that's messy. You know, that's a lot to take care of. You know, we like to watch the old Andy Griffith shows. True Confessions. And it drives me nuts when I see them driving down the, this is a fake streets a lot, right?

[16:20] But driving, driving down the streets and they're dust, they're dirt roads. And you see the dust billow up. And I think, I cannot imagine what it must have been like inside their homes. There's no screens.

[16:31] You know, it's just dust, dust, dust. Must be filthy. I cannot imagine dust billowing in. And so you think of all these people living out in the wilderness together.

[16:43] And so here's Lot living in what appears to be security. He's comfortable. He's secure. He's surrounded by all these kings and these nations. And just like that, it's taken out because it's not true stability.

[16:54] Hebrews tells us in chapter 12, And this word, yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

[17:28] True stability cannot be shaken. And so our faith, Abram's faith, the trials that come into our lives, they're to shake us. They're to shake the things in our lives so that we may then prove to ourselves, God can prove to us, Hey, that's stable.

[17:44] That word in your life, that is stable. It's not going anywhere. That the body of Christ is stable. It's filled with a bunch of unstable people.

[17:56] But the Holy Spirit in us makes it have stability and unity. It's not going anywhere. The Holy Spirit, that down payment, the earnest of our inheritance, that is stable.

[18:06] It's not going to go anywhere. I can fall in sin and rise back up again. And guess what? God hasn't failed and he's not left me. There's a stability there.

[18:17] And then lastly, Peter, in 1 Peter 1, verse 23-25, he says that we, the stability that's in us, we're born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides, is stable, immovable forever.

[18:34] For all flesh is grass. And all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower thereof shall fall away. I cut my grass yesterday. I didn't leave one special holy piece sticking up.

[18:47] I wasn't like, oh, that's that piece of grass. No. Actually, the ones that are left sticking up, I chase them down. I can't believe I missed that. You know, when you go and get those, so that they can all be leveled. All flesh is grass. None of us have anything special.

[18:59] Like a flower, maybe a different fragrance, maybe a different look, but it all fades away. But the word of the Lord endures forever. This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

[19:13] And so here's this picture right from the start, where Lot has chosen something very unstable and very unwise. And he's now captured. And Lot was taken. And there came one that had escaped, verse 13, and told Abram the Hebrew.

[19:31] This is the first use of the word Hebrew. Remember back in where we had the genealogy of Shem leading into Abram's life.

[19:44] Genesis chapter 11, verse 14, talks about Selah. Selah lived 30 years and begat Eber. Eber's kind of an important guy.

[19:57] The middle of chapter 10, we see him again when it's talking about Arphixad, Shem's son. The Arphixad, in verse 24 of chapter 10 in Genesis, he begat Selah, and Selah begat Eber.

[20:09] And so Eber's pointed out to us a few different times, and Eber's contained in the word Hebrew. It just means to be from beyond, the place from beyond. So Hebrew just means one from beyond.

[20:21] Now, it could have been that that name was given to him by the Canaanites that are in the land at this time, because he is from beyond the other side of the river. He's from beyond over in Mesopotamia, dwelling within this area.

[20:35] But he's also one from beyond that, you know, he looked for a city whose builder and maker was God, didn't he? But there came this one. I was thinking about this. So you have Abram, who is untouched by this whole thing that's happening.

[20:49] The world's going to battle, and nobody seems to really care about him. They're just like, whatever. What's this guy off in the desert? But one comes and tells him, why him? I mean, Abram's no big guy in the sense that he's 318 trained men.

[21:03] Why him? Because that's what the world does. Whenever there's a crisis, what do they do? They go to the only place there's actually truth and stability. They come to the church whenever there's a crisis. So we're going to turn back to God now.

[21:15] God help us. I was looking at some footage from the storms that came through the D.C. area last night. That's where Lily, my daughter, is up there. And a tree fell down on a car.

[21:27] Not theirs, but a friend's. And I was watching some footage, you know, that someone had recorded on their phone. And they're like, wow. And then they're like, oh, God. Oh, God.

[21:37] That's who they turn to. That's who they yell out to as they're watching this destruction. You know, they're not like, oh, my word. Christian science and humanism. Ah, you know. No. They yell out to God because it's in every man that that is our creator.

[21:52] And so here the world is coming to Abram saying, hey, did you know about this? And when Abram heard, and I like this, that his brother. He said, that's my brother. He's like, well, no, it's not.

[22:03] It's your brother's son. He's like, no, that's my brother. He heard that his brother was taken captive. He armed his trained servants, born in his own house, 318, and pursued them unto Dan.

[22:17] So we see what? He's prepared. He's prepared for battle. Abram lives in a state of preparation. And he's like, hey, my brother is taken captive? Yeah, but Abram, Lot.

[22:30] Lot left you. Lot hasn't written. He doesn't call. He doesn't visit. And he's off in the world. Do you know the stuff he's doing that he's involved in? I mean, he's liberal. You know, you don't want to.

[22:41] He's like, that's my brother. Because eventually we're going to find out that scripture is going to tell us that Lot's soul, righteous soul, was vexed daily. So this is a brother. And so he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, 318, and pursued them unto Dan.

[22:58] Remember our map. So Abram's dwelling in the area of Hebron, which is kind of over near Salem or Jerusalem. And then he's going to travel all the way north to the furthest northern part of what will be the land of Israel to Dan.

[23:12] And that's where he's going to meet these guys. 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.

[23:26] Hobah means a hiding place. He pursued them to the hiding place. So we see what? He had a plan. Abraham had a plan as well. He divided himself against them and his servants by night.

[23:38] So he was prepared, and then he had a plan on how he was going to go rescue his brother. And he persisted. He pursued them. He continued to pursue them all the way to Damascus.

[23:50] And he brought back all the goods. Him and his 318 men. Makes it sound like it's only 318. But we're going to find out at the end of the chapter, he had a couple other guys confederate with him. Still, nothing in comparison to this army.

[24:03] And he goes in and just takes them out. And he brought back all the goods and also brought again his brother, Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

[24:15] And Lot said, man, Abram, what a fool I've been. Can I come back and live with you? Can I come into the land of promise? No thank you. Nothing. Just Lot's right back into Sodom.

[24:26] I mean, all this effort, Abraham risks his life, puts his reputation and his life and the life of the people with him on the line, goes after his brother who's living in the world in a place of compromise, rescues him.

[24:40] Nothing. There's a young man who calls me. I say he's my crisis friend. He only calls me in a crisis. Whenever I get a call from him, you know, I know.

[24:51] It's like, hey, how's it going? And, oh, man. And he does the same stupid things over and over and over. It's like, wait, isn't this the same person you were with?

[25:02] Yeah. I got back together. Why? Well. And so he runs to the Lord. He runs to the church. What do I do? And I tell him every time.

[25:12] I'm like, dude, you need to be in fellowship. You need to be in the Word. The symptoms in your life are because your relationship with the Lord is just, yeah, I know. I know I need to be. And everything will kind of work out.

[25:23] God has rescued his butt, like, I don't know how many times. And he goes right back to it. I haven't heard from him in two or three months. So probably another month or so and we'll be due.

[25:34] But I pray that, you know, he'd wake up. That he'd wake up to the fact, man, that God is so gracious in his life. These are not problems. These are, this is God's grace rescuing you from your own choices.

[25:47] But we have this picture here, you know, of Abram with this love for his brother. Proverbs 17 says, a friend loves at all time and a brother is born for adversity. So, you know, those of you who have brothers, your brother is born to give you adversity.

[26:01] No, that's not what it means. It kind of looks like that. But, no, he's born for times of adversity and a friend loves at all times. So you see the heart that we should have. It doesn't say what type of friend or brother that you're supposed to love at all times or bear with them in their adversity.

[26:19] Oh, well, you know, if it's Alvin, I'll bear with him in adversity. But if it's this other guy who drives me nuts, yeah, no. Micah 7, 18, I like this because it kind of gives the Lord's heart towards these situations.

[26:36] Who is a God like unto you? That pardons iniquity and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. You know how hard it is to pass by a transgression done to you?

[26:48] Very hard. Very hard. Because we feel it deeply. And we think, well, that person. And here we see the Lord passing by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retains not his anger forever because he delights in mercy.

[27:02] God can't wait to give mercy. And when we looked before at mercy and judgment, what is the only situation mercy can exist in? The only context, environment, that of judgment.

[27:14] So there has to be a judgment against something for mercy to exist. So God delights in mercy, which means where sin abounds. Grace did much more abound, doesn't it?

[27:24] God is looking for opportunities to show mercy. There's a picture here, I believe, of how we're to battle on behalf of our brothers.

[27:35] To those that are captured in the world. Those that are in a place of burning with iniquity. That are submerged by the son of evil. So there's a picture of how we're to battle.

[27:46] And we see that in Ephesians chapter 6. 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.

[27:57] So we're to battle. And as I was looking at the text for this week. And then in Ephesians. And looking at the armor of God. And wrestling not against flesh and blood. I always think of that in context for myself.

[28:11] It is really selfish. I wrestle not against flesh and blood. The enemy comes against me. Trying to get me down. But I stand in the word. I stand in the spirit. So that I'll feel better and do better. But I think this battle is for one another.

[28:25] It's for our brothers. Because we're going to eventually find out. That we're to pray always. Making supplication in the spirit. For all saints. The focus isn't me.

[28:36] It's you. I'm to battle for your sake. And we saw that Abram. What did Abram do? Well we saw he was prepared. Right? And Ephesians 6.13 tells us to be prepared.

[28:50] It says to take unto you the whole armor of God. That you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all. To stand. Be prepared. Take unto you the whole armor of God.

[29:01] So that you are prepared to stand. To be stable. Abram was also planned. And we need a plan.

[29:12] Ephesians 6.10. Finally my brethren. Be strong in the Lord. And in the power of his might. What is the plan? Well my plan is to be strong in the Lord.

[29:23] And in the power of his might. Not mine. And Abram. He persisted. He was prepared. He had a plan. And then he persisted. He followed them.

[29:34] Ephesians 6.18. Praying always. With all prayer and supplication in the spirit. And watching thereunto. With all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

[29:45] There's prayer and perseverance. More alliteration. I didn't even have to add them in there. Always. Persevering. For what? All saints. So like. This battling.

[29:56] Is on behalf of one another. It's on behalf of our brothers. And he prevailed. And we will prevail. In the spirit. Ephesians 6.13.

[30:07] And then also verse 16. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God. That you may be able. To withstand in the evil day. And having done all. To stand.

[30:18] Above all. Taking the shield of faith. Wherewith you shall be able. To quench all the fiery darts. Of the wicked. You will prevail. We will prevail. I can prevail.

[30:29] For who's. On whose behalf. On your behalf. You can prevail. On your brother's behalf. Lot will be rescued. Abraham is going to intercede for him.

[30:41] Again. When the angels come down with the Lord. And the Lord says. Shall I hide from my servant Abram. What that which I'm about to do. He tells him. I'm going to go down. And destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And the other cities.

[30:52] And Abram again. Intercedes. On behalf of his brother. Does Lot ever know that? Maybe. Does Lot care? Doesn't seem to. Does Lot end well?

[31:03] No. But you know where Lot is now? He's in heaven. Abraham. Persisted. His whole life. I believe. In. In battling on Lot's behalf.

[31:14] And Lot is a righteous man in heaven. So you might not see the fruit. Of that battle. This side of eternity. But there may be. A brother in heaven. You may be just the person.

[31:26] God desires to use to deliver a brother. It may be you. But will we like Abram? Are we going to prepare for that? I don't got time for that. Do I look at.

[31:36] And I do. And I realize this. Looking at this. Do I look at. In the war. The battle in the spirit. All for myself. And I think of it often. That I do. And it's true.

[31:47] You know. God has not given us a spirit of fear. But a power and love. And a sound mind. Great. I can take that to myself. In times of fear. But I can also apply it to you. In prayer. And trust that God will hear that. 1 John 5.16 says.

[32:00] If any man sees brother sin a sin. Which is not unto death. He shall ask. And he. God. Shall give him life for them. That sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death.

[32:11] I do not say that you shall pray for it. But only the Lord knows what that is. And until then. We keep praying and battling. James 5 says. Brethren. If any of you do err from the truth. And one convert him.

[32:22] Let him know. That he which converts the sinner. From the error of his way. Shall save a soul from death. And shall hide. A multitude of sins. Interesting.

[32:33] Brethren. If any of you. Do err. You know. Not go out and get the sinners in the world. But if you. Err. Go after him. Don't gossip about him. Don't call your friend.

[32:44] Be like. You know. We need to pray. Because let me tell you what happened. I didn't know that. I know. Call someone else and tell them. So they can pray. Right. We don't do that. We go to him. And we go to the Lord.

[32:56] And if we spent more time talking to the Lord. About our brother. Instead of talking to our brother. Or to others about our brother. I think we would see. Like Abram.

[33:08] More victories. So. That was a pretty interesting. Portion in there. Right. God just puts this picture. And he's like. Hey. Here's Abram. Walking in faith.

[33:18] And walking in the promise. Because Abram. Up and. Scoots up the. The land of Israel. Through the whole land. Says. Yeah. Let's just go take them out. All right. They wiped out all these other guys. But we're going to go get them.

[33:29] Why? I thought. This. This. This kind of blew my mind. Remember back when. Abram went down into Egypt. And he sent. Sarai. Into the court of Pharaoh. Essentially. And it says.

[33:39] And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house. With great plagues. Because of Sarai. Abram's wife. Who's it linked to? Abram. Because God told him. In chapter 12. He said.

[33:50] Abram. I will make you. A great nation. And I will bless you. And make your name great. You will be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless you. And curse him.

[34:01] That curses you. Those linked with Abram. Those that are part of. That fall under. Association with him. And with the promise. God's like.

[34:12] Oh. I need to. I need to step in and rescue. Because this is part of the promise. This is connected with. The promise. I think that scripture in. I think it's Corinthians. This talks about.

[34:23] The believing spouse. And the unbelieving spouse. And it says. If the unbelieving. Does not want to depart. And be willing to stay. Then stay together. Because the children. Unbelieving children. Are sanctified by the believing spouse.

[34:34] What does that mean? My kids are saved. Because I am. No. It means that there is. A carryover. Of an environment. And a blessing. That God. Will have.

[34:46] Naturally. That will pass on. From someone who is. In Christ. Or in the blessing. And so Abram here. He is. He is God's man. He's in the promise. And then it says.

[34:56] But Lot is his brother. And so Abram. Has full assurance. God. I am going to go get him. I am going to go get him. Because I know what you promised me. And you are not going to fail. So I am going to go in there.

[35:06] And I am going to get him. Because I am invincible. Because I am in the promise. And so he goes after him. With these 318 trained men. And in verse 16. He brought back. All the goods.

[35:18] And also brought again. His brother Lot. His goods. And the women also. And the people. He had. Everything. He didn't leave. Anything. And the king of Sodom.

[35:30] I like this. Because where is the king of Sodom? Well if you remember. He ran. And dodged some slime pits. And then went and hid in the mountains. And now you have this picture. I just picture him coming out. In all of his pomp. In all of his ceremony.

[35:41] And the king of Sodom. Went out to meet him. After his return. From the slaughter of Chetleomer. And of the kings that were with him. At the valley of Sheba. Which is the king's dale. So the king comes out now.

[35:53] He's on his way to meet him. And that's the world. The world's going to come and meet us. After a victory. They're going to try and come. And whisper their ideas. But man the Lord's so good.

[36:04] He's always. The enemy must get so frustrated. The Lord intervenes. And he sends first. His man. And Melchizedek. Melchizedek means. My king is righteous.

[36:16] Melchizedek. King of Salem. Or king of peace. Salem. Jerusalem. The land of peace. Meaning peace. Brought forth bread. And wine. He was the priest.

[36:27] Of the most high God. Who is he? Interjected in here. The king of Salem. Seems to be the king of Jerusalem. At this time. Those that are dwelling there. Here comes this king.

[36:37] And he's one of only two. That has this unique characteristic about them. That he's a king. And he's a priest. There's only one other. And that is.

[36:49] Jesus. David. Oh. If I could dwell in the near courts. All the days of my life. David wanted to be his priest so bad. Remember was it. Hezekiah. Uzzah. Uzziah.

[37:01] Uzziah. I think. At the end of his days. He took incense. Into the temple. To burn incense. And they told him. Get out of here. And he persisted. And then he was covered in leprosy. Because the Lord was like.

[37:12] Nope. That's not for you. And so here comes this man. This king. And this priest. And he brings bread and wine. And he blesses Abram. And he blessed him. And said. Blessed be Abram.

[37:23] Of the most high God. Possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God. Which has delivered thine enemies. Into thine hand. And he. Abram. Gave him. Tithes.

[37:35] Of all. Hebrews 7. 7 says. And without all contradiction. The less. Is blessed. Of the better. We're not going to go through all of Melchizedek.

[37:45] That will be for another day. But you can turn to Hebrews chapter 7. Very briefly. Because the Bible. Commentates on itself. Much better. Than I could.

[38:02] So Abram is being blessed. By this man. Who Hebrews chapter 7 says. For this Melchizedek. King of Salem.

[38:14] Priest of the most high God. Who met Abram. Returning from the slaughter of the kings. And blessed him. And we know that. To whom also Abram gave a tenth part of all. First being by interpretation.

[38:25] King of righteousness. Excuse me. And after that also. King of Salem. Which is king of peace. He is without father. Without mother. Without descent. Having neither beginning of days.

[38:36] Nor end of life. But made like unto the son of God. He abides a priest continually. Now is that true? Did this man. Back here in Genesis. Have no father and mother descent?

[38:48] I don't know. I don't know if Paul is just saying. He jumps onto the scene. And we get none of his genealogy. We don't know where he came from. Or what. He's just. Here he is. Another priest.

[39:00] From another order. Or was it a pre-incarnate Christ? That's very plausible too. If we go by Hebrews. It's saying that. It kind of seems to say.

[39:11] Not generalizing. It seems to say that he was this. He was one who abides continually. Verse 4. Now consider how great this man was. Unto whom even the patriarch Abraham.

[39:24] Gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are the sons of Levi. Who receive the office of priesthood. Have a commandment to take tithes of the people. According to the law.

[39:34] That is. Of their brethren. Though they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he. Whose descent is not counted from them. Received tithes of Abraham. And blessed him.

[39:46] I like this. That had the promises. And without all contradiction. The less. Is blessed. Of the better. And then it goes on. Further. To talk about how Jesus. Is after the order. Of Melchizedek.

[39:56] He did not come out of the tribe of Levi. He supersedes that. He comes out of the tribe of Judah. Which no priest came from. But then. Psalms. What psalm is it? 110 verse 4.

[40:09] I believe. Says that. Thou art a priest forever. After the order of Melchizedek. Prophesying of the Messiah. So that Jesus then.

[40:20] Did not come from this order. That Aaron came from. The Levitical priest. And he says. Well that's in Abraham's loins. So if Abram. The father of the Levitical priesthood. Gives. Tithes. And is blessed by.

[40:31] Melchizedek. That means Melchizedek. Must be greater than Abram. And if he's greater than Abram. He's greater than all of his kids. And so here. The less is being. Blessed. The better. And. He brings bread and wine.

[40:43] We're going to do communion today. I mean. We have to do communion. Come on. That's the first time you see the bread and the wine. And he brings it for what?

[40:54] The bread and the wine. I think I refer. Refreshing. And refocusing. He refreshes him. After the battle. And to refocus him. Because Abram's going to. Essentially reiterate.

[41:04] To the king of Sodom. The exact same things. That were just said to him. In this blessing. But look how the blessing comes. By way of association. I really like that. And he blessed him and said.

[41:15] Blessed be Abram. Of. The most high God. Not be. Blessed be Abram. By the most high God. But of. The most high God. Abram. You are of the most high God.

[41:25] Don't forget that. Let the bread and the wine. And remind you. And refocus you. Back onto the fact. That you are of the most high God. Abram. You associate with him. Don't associate with this world.

[41:41] To be possessed by God. I don't mean possess. Like possession. Like human possession. But I mean ownership. Because it says. He is the possessor of heaven and earth. Is better than the possessions. Of God.

[41:53] The things he can give us. The king of Sodom here. Is going to. Try to tempt Abram. With many things he can give him. There's a quote.

[42:04] By Francis Brooke. I thought it was Oswald Chambers. Because he uses it. But it's actually Francis Brooke. She wrote. Hymns. And one of her hymns. My goal is God himself. One of the lines is.

[42:14] My goal is God himself. Not joy nor peace. Nor even. Even blessing. But himself. My God. My goal is association. With my God. Not what he can give me.

[42:26] And so Abram tithes. Abram's tithe. His tenth he gives. He's not giving it. Because the king of Salem. Melchizedek needed it. Abram's tithe was not so much. For God.

[42:37] God didn't need that. But it was. To declare to the world. That Abram was. For God. As we're going to see. Going down here. He's going to say. I have lifted up my hand. Unto the Lord. I have already declared.

[42:47] My allegiance. But I've thrown in. With the Lord. Already. I've given tithe to him. That's who I am. Associated with. And the king of Sodom then.

[42:59] Verse 21. Oh he comes out. And he says to Abram. Give me the persons. And take the goods to thyself. Literally means. Give me the souls. And the world. Will always do that.

[43:10] They'll always attempt. To give. Stuff. In trade for souls. I'll say. Hey. I'll give you all this. You just give me the souls.

[43:22] But it's funny. Because. What does the king of Sodom have. At this time? Nothing. It all fell in the slime pits. He's coming from the mountains. Oh Abram. I will give you.

[43:33] If you. You can't give someone. What's already theirs. It's already his. You can't give it to him. And. He that has everything. You can't add anything to him.

[43:44] Abram already has everything. Doesn't he? He's going to say that. He says. I have lifted up my hand. Unto the Lord. The most high God. The possessor of heaven and earth. I have everything already.

[43:56] You can't give me anything. It's already mine. And I will not take a thread. Even to a shoe latch it. Remember how. Degrading it was.

[44:06] To unlatch someone's shoe. Not even the lowest slave. Or the lowest slave would be the one to do that. Not even the lowest of the low servants. Would you make do that? That I will not take anything.

[44:18] That is yours. Lest you should say. I have made Abram rich. You will not be associated. With me. The world. Has nothing to give us guys.

[44:29] But it only takes. It only takes. And it always. Always. Attempts. To trade. The blessings of God. For the stuff that it thinks it can give you.

[44:43] Briefly. So the world has nothing to give. But only takes. And the world attempts to trade souls for stuff. The world has nothing to add to God's promises.

[44:54] Here's Abram. With everything. Because he's acted in faith. And Sodom. The king of Sodom is like. Well I'll make a deal with you. And lastly. The world attempts to take credit.

[45:05] For the blessing and victory. That come from God alone. They'll always come and take credit. It's their MO. Hey. You know. You couldn't have done that.

[45:15] If. If. With your great skill and ability. You know. Well it's because you're so gifted in this area. And. I'll give you some stuff of this world.

[45:26] Some pride. And. And you just give me your soul. What does it profit a man. If he gains the whole world. And loses his soul. And then. So Abram. He says.

[45:37] I'm not going to take any of that. You're not going to say. The Lord has made Abram rich. Psalm 73. Whom have I in heaven but thee. And there is none upon earth. That I desire beside thee.

[45:48] My flesh. And my heart fails. But God is the strength of my heart. And this is what Abram is saying. And my portion. Forever. And then.

[45:59] Lastly in verse 24. He says. Hey. The only things I'm going to take. Not for me. But. The young men that are with me. What they've eaten. What they have needed for provision.

[46:10] Right. We're in the world. Not of it. God uses the things of the world to provide for us. It's okay. But that's not our goal. And he says. And the portion of the men which were with me. Iner. Eshkol. Mamre.

[46:20] Let them take their portion. And so Abram was confident enough in who he was. So that others be who they were. Like you know what. I'm at a place where. No. I don't need that. But you might not be.

[46:31] And that's all right. God will do that work. You know. Hey man. Want to go. Do whatever this latest movie is. Hey. You want to go and do whatever this latest entertainment. Have you heard this. Have you done this. Ah.

[46:41] That's not me. I don't do that. Because I've lifted up my hand to the Lord. I've got everything I need. I don't need that. Oh. Okay. Hey. If you want to go do that. Knock yourself out. So as we close.

[46:53] We're going to do communion. God blesses what he possesses. Whatever is God's. He blesses it. The world attempts to possess what God has blessed. The world wants to take the thing that God blesses.

[47:05] And well. I want to own that. I want that to be part of what I'm doing. But the blessing of God's never in the stuff. Or even the victory. But in the communion and fellowship. That arises out of walking by faith.

[47:18] In the light of the promise of God. What did Abraham delight in most of all? The guy was a communion and fellowship junkie. Like if he could find opportunity to be with the Lord. That's where he was.

[47:30] And what did we see with communion? Communion came after victory. Victory. With blessing. But before testing. The same with ours.

[47:41] So well Jesus instituted communion before the cross. Yes. But we now on this side of the cross. Do this in remembrance of him. It came after the victory guys. The enemy was defeated on the cross. It comes with blessing for us.

[47:54] And it always comes before testing. But God wants to prepare us. And then lastly. The communion was to refresh. Refocus. And to remind. This do in remembrance of me.

[48:06] So as we partake. Let that be. Let that be your heart. To just receive from the Lord. Refreshing. Refocusing.

[48:17] A reminder. That you've lifted up your hand. Unto the Lord your God. You and I. We've done that. The world has nothing for us. Because we have everything. All they can do is take.

[48:28] All they can do is try and take credit. And take from us. And try and become part of this blessing. And that just messes everything up. But what a beautiful picture of Abram. Standing on something solid. Something that has substance and stability.

[48:43] Father. Just thank you that we are. Able to. Come before you now Lord. And take communion. To remember Lord. To refocus. Back upon.

[48:55] The Lord our God. Possessor of heaven and earth. To be refreshed. To be refreshed. To be refreshed by the Holy Spirit. So that we might be prepared to go to battle on behalf of our brethren.

[49:07] Lord. Lord we want to stand. Having done all to stand. To stand solidly on the word. To be doers. Not just hearers. Deceiving ourselves. But to be doers. So that we can stand on something immovable.

[49:20] And Lord. Then we can say. Like Abram. Who stood solid in the midst of this mess. Sodom and Gomorrah. The kings. The kings defeated. The kings. They think in victory. Lot. And here's this lone man standing there.

[49:32] He knew who he was. And he knew who he belonged to. And Lord. He tithed. Not because. Well. You know. The church needs the money. Or God needs money. No. What he said was.

[49:43] What is mine. Is set apart. Under the Lord. I will associate with the Lord. And the things of the Lord. And Lord. That's what we do. That's why we're here Lord. Lord. We're tithing to you. In the sense that we're here to give you.

[49:54] Of our time and our lives. We're here to say. To each other and to the world. I've lifted up my hand unto the Lord. And I will not draw it back. And so I just thank you Lord. I pray that you would come. And just meet with each of us now.

[50:05] As we remember. Your body and blood.