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Voddie Baucham - The Defeat of Five Kings · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: An indefinite future of continuing to work on your job,
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Speaker 1: or if you're one of those individuals who, for whatever reason,
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Speaker 1: has been spared from all that and feel like you're
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Speaker 1: able to rise above it, regardless of the effects and
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Speaker 1: the impacts on our lives, the big difference for all
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Speaker 1: of us in all of this is one of perspective.
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Speaker 1: And there are two types of perspectives. One type of
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Speaker 1: perspective is the individual who has a, what I call
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Speaker 1: the one kingdom perspective. And that one kingdom perspective is
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Speaker 1: basically this. And you can be a lost person or
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Speaker 1: a safe person and have a one kingdom perspective. The
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Speaker 1: lost person has a one kingdom perspective that basically says,
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Speaker 1: everything is the here and the now, and I am
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Speaker 1: utterly dependent upon you. my government, utterly dependent upon my
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Speaker 1: leaders or whatever. And even the safe person can have
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Speaker 1: that perspective. But the safe person's one kingdom perspective is
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Speaker 1: tweaked a little bit. And the safe person's one kingdom
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Speaker 1: perspective basically doesn't say, well, I'm utterly dependent on, you know,
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Speaker 1: this world and my leaders and I look to them
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Speaker 1: and them alone. The safe person with the one kingdom
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Speaker 1: perspective tweaks it by saying, well, I'm dependent on my
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Speaker 1: leaders and this system, but I'm going to ask God
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Speaker 1: to give me the kind of leaders upon which I
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Speaker 1: prefer to be dependent. It's still a one kingdom perspective,
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Speaker 1: which we're still trying to make this our one kingdom,
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Speaker 1: but we just want God to be the one who
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Speaker 1: makes it and shapes it into what we want it
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Speaker 1: to be. Then there are those with a two kingdom perspective.
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Speaker 1: And that two kingdom perspective that comes to us in
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Speaker 1: its full-orbit understanding, really from the reformers, is this. I
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Speaker 1: belong to the kingdom of God. I just happen to
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Speaker 1: live in the kingdom of man. Jesus is still king
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Speaker 1: of kings and lord of lords. He still rules and
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Speaker 1: he still reigns, regardless of what happens in the kingdom
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Speaker 1: of man. And if things go the way I like
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Speaker 1: them in the kingdom of man, praise the Lord. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for a respite from the struggle. If things don't
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Speaker 1: go the way that I like them in the kingdom
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Speaker 1: of man, praise the Lord. Thank you for reminding me
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Speaker 1: that this is not my home. Amen, somebody. This is
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Speaker 1: not our home. This is not as good as it gets. Well,
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Speaker 1: what does that have to do with Genesis 14? I'm
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Speaker 1: so glad you asked. Genesis chapter 14 is really the
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Speaker 1: tale of two pilgrims. One, Lot, trying to find a nation,
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Speaker 1: and one, Abram, trying to become one. And it's all
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Speaker 1: about perspective. And we see that here in Genesis chapter
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Speaker 1: 14 as we look at the tale of these two pilgrims.
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Speaker 1: Look with me beginning at this first verse here. Look
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Speaker 1: at the first movement. In this first movement, we get
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Speaker 1: a picture of the culture in which these individuals lived.
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Speaker 1: In the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, and I
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Speaker 1: know we have a lot, I believe we have what, nine,
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Speaker 1: ten pregnant women in the church now? We usually hover
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Speaker 1: around that ten or so range now. just all the time.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes we go up a little, sometimes down a little.
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Speaker 1: But right now, I believe we've got somewhere around nine
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Speaker 1: or ten pregnant women in church. And I know for
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Speaker 1: those of you who are pregnant, you're always in the
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Speaker 1: market for new biblical names. And boy, we got some
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Speaker 1: here today. So in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar,
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Speaker 1: and Ariok, king of Elassar, and Keter- Kedar-Leomar, king of Elam.
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Speaker 1: And Tidal, king of Goyim. These kings made war with Bera,
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Speaker 1: king of Sodom. And Bersha, king of Gomorrah. Shinab, king
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Speaker 1: of Adma. Shemeber, king of Zeboim. And the king of Bela,
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Speaker 1: that is Zoar. So if you're looking for names, those
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Speaker 1: are just some really nice names in there. And all
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Speaker 1: these joined forces in the valley of Shittim. That is
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Speaker 1: the salt sea. Or really the dead sea there in
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Speaker 1: the Holy Land. 12 years they had served Keter Leomar.
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Speaker 1: 12 years they had served Keter Leomar. But in the
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Speaker 1: 13th year they rebelled. So you have these kings who
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Speaker 1: are serving the big king, For 12 years. And after
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Speaker 1: 12 years, they got together and they said, you know what?
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Speaker 1: We just don't need to pay tribute to him anymore.
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Speaker 1: I think if all of us got together and said
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Speaker 1: that we weren't paying tribute to him anymore, that he'd
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Speaker 1: probably get off our backs. So in the 13th year,
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Speaker 1: they rebelled. In the 14th year, Keterleomar and the kings
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Speaker 1: who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in
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Speaker 1: Ashtaroth the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shevel Kiriathim,
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Speaker 1: and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as
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Speaker 1: far as El-Paran, on the border of the wilderness. Then
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Speaker 1: they turned back and came to En-Mishpat, that is Kadesh,
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Speaker 1: and defeated all the country of the Amalekites and also
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Speaker 1: the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazazon Tamar. So 12
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Speaker 1: years they have to pay tribute to this king.
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Speaker 1: And if you got to
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Speaker 1: be the big king, other individuals paid tribute to you
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Speaker 1: so that you didn't march on them. These four kings
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Speaker 1: got together and said, We're going to band together and
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Speaker 1: we're going to agree. All of us, we're not going
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Speaker 1: to pay tribute. We're going to rebel. They did that
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Speaker 1: in the 12th year. Year later, the great king comes
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Speaker 1: with more kings with him and whips them all. You
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Speaker 1: don't want to give me my tribute? I will come
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Speaker 1: and take my tribute. So that's the lay of the land.
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Speaker 1: That's the background, if you will. That's the culture in
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Speaker 1: which these men lived. And oftentimes, we don't pay attention
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Speaker 1: to the culture in which they lived, the background in
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Speaker 1: which they lived, and it's hard for us to comprehend
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Speaker 1: or understand the decisions that they make. Now look here,
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Speaker 1: beginning at verse 8, this next paragraph brings in the
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Speaker 1: first pilgrim, Lot. Then the king of Sodom, the king
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Speaker 1: of Gomorrah, the king of Adma, and the king of
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Speaker 1: Zeboiim And the king of Bela, that is Zoar, went
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Speaker 1: out and they joined battle in the valley of Sidim
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Speaker 1: with Keterloimar, king of Elam, Tidal, king of Goyim, Amraphel,
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Speaker 1: king of Shinar, and Ariok, king of Elassar. Four kings
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Speaker 1: against five. Now the valley of Sidim was full of
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Speaker 1: bitumen pits or these tar pits. And as the kings
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Speaker 1: of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they don't even tell you
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Speaker 1: how the battle went. Amen? They went out to fight.
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Speaker 1: Last sentence, they were going out to fight. Five of
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Speaker 1: them against four. Next line, as they fled... Some fell
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Speaker 1: into these bitumen pits and the rest fled to the
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Speaker 1: hill country. So the enemy took all the possessions of
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Speaker 1: Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions and went their way.
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Speaker 1: Then verse 12, here's what's interesting. You're not going to
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Speaker 1: pay tribute anymore. So what are we going to do?
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Speaker 1: The big king says, you're not going to pay tribute anymore.
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Speaker 1: I will come and I will take the tribute that
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Speaker 1: you owe me. So at the end of verse 11,
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Speaker 1: they come down and they take all their provisions and
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Speaker 1: And their possessions, and they go away. Because it's all
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Speaker 1: they're after, right? Just provisions and possessions from those who
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Speaker 1: are paying tribute. Now look with me, if you will,
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Speaker 1: to verse 12. They also took Lot, the son of
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Speaker 1: Abram's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions,
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Speaker 1: and went their way. They have a fight with four kings.
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Speaker 1: These four kings who are not going to pay tribute anymore.
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Speaker 1: Or five kings, rather, who are not going to pay
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Speaker 1: tribute anymore. They come down, they defeat these kings, and
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Speaker 1: they take their tribute. But while they are taking their tribute,
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Speaker 1: they also take Lot. who, when last we encountered him,
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Speaker 1: has pitched his tent near Sodom. Now he just went
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Speaker 1: on ahead and lived in Sodom. These kings who are
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Speaker 1: in rebellion, they take the tribute that they owe. Lot
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Speaker 1: is different. They come and they take Lot away. They
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Speaker 1: don't take the other kings away. They want those kings
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Speaker 1: to stay where they are and continue to pay tribute.
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Speaker 1: But they take Lot away and all of Lot's possessions.
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Speaker 1: And so here we see the fate of Pilgrim number one.
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Speaker 1: Pilgrim number one is not like Pilgrim number two. Pilgrim
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Speaker 1: number two, Abram, It's basically looking to become a nation
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Speaker 1: because that's what God told him. I'm going to make
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Speaker 1: you a great nation. Lot is looking to belong to
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Speaker 1: a nation. And usually we jump all over Lot. Usually
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Speaker 1: we just jump on him with both feet and it's
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Speaker 1: all about Sodom and Gomorrah and it's all about their
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Speaker 1: sin and it's all about him sort of being seduced
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Speaker 1: by their sin and getting there because of the sin
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Speaker 1: in those nations. Let me tell you, we need to
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Speaker 1: be careful about that. And here's why. We know that
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Speaker 1: there is wickedness in Sodom and Gomorrah. But here's what
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Speaker 1: we also know. That in this time and in this
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Speaker 1: culture in which he lives, there are kings who are
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Speaker 1: demanding tribute from people. Either you pay them tribute as
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Speaker 1: a king who is independent yourself, or you belong to
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Speaker 1: a kingdom who's paying them tribute, or you're in trouble.
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Speaker 1: Lot's there in Sodom under the protection of the king
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Speaker 1: of Sodom. Could it be that he was seduced by
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Speaker 1: the sin there in Sodom? And I believe absolutely that
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Speaker 1: Lot was ultimately seduced by the sin there in Sodom.
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Speaker 1: But I don't think that automatically means that Lot went
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Speaker 1: from pitching his tent near Sodom to living in Sodom
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Speaker 1: because of the sin that was in the city that
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Speaker 1: had drawn him in. There's nothing in the text that
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Speaker 1: says that. In fact, when you look at the text
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Speaker 1: in its context, what makes more sense is not that
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Speaker 1: somehow he was seduced by the sin of Sodom, but
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Speaker 1: that he was seduced by the protection of of Sodom.
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Speaker 1: He's there under the protection of this king of Sodom.
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Speaker 1: But all of a sudden, he's also related to another
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Speaker 1: individual who's not under the protection of this king and
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Speaker 1: not under the protection of any other king. We'll see
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Speaker 1: that in a moment. So he's taken away almost as
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Speaker 1: though he's a hostage. Almost as though he's a hostage.
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Speaker 1: Now let's look at Abram's situation, draw some contrast between
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Speaker 1: the two. Look at verse 13. Then one who had
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Speaker 1: escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew who was living
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Speaker 1: by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of
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Speaker 1: Eskel and of Aner. And here's what's interesting. He came
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Speaker 1: and told Abram the Hebrew. All of these other individuals
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Speaker 1: are identified and they're identified by the nations over which
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Speaker 1: they are kings. Or these individuals are identified by the
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Speaker 1: people group to which they belong. These guys come and
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Speaker 1: tell Abram the Hebrew. How many of those are there?
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Speaker 1: Just him. Just him. He doesn't have a son. This
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Speaker 1: name is a Hebrew word derived from the name of
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Speaker 1: his people, but he's already identified as an individual, as
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Speaker 1: a separate individual. He's already identified really almost as another king.
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Speaker 1: He's Abram the Hebrew. You've got all of these other
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Speaker 1: people groups around. He doesn't belong to any of these
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Speaker 1: other people groups around. He stands alone. And he's Abram
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Speaker 1: the Hebrew. He's the only Hebrew. And he stands alone.
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Speaker 1: So the first distinction between these two pilgrims is there's
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Speaker 1: one pilgrim who's looking for a nation. There's another pilgrim
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Speaker 1: who's looking to be a nation. That's the distinction between
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Speaker 1: these two. So you have Lot who's looking for protection
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Speaker 1: from individuals who are sinful individuals. So he's casting his lot,
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Speaker 1: pardon the pun, with sinful individuals. The first two kings listed,
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Speaker 1: by the way, their names are derivations of the Hebrew
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Speaker 1: word for wicked. That's where he's gone. That's where he's
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Speaker 1: looking for assistance. That's where he's looking for shelter. Because
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Speaker 1: he's not thinking independently. He's not thinking about being a nation.
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Speaker 1: But don't blame him. He's not the one to whom
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Speaker 1: God has come and said, I will make of you
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Speaker 1: a great nation. That's not his promise. He's just looking
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Speaker 1: for a place to belong. He's looking for a place
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Speaker 1: to fit in. Abram's not looking for a place to belong.
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Speaker 1: He's not looking for a place to fit in. Abram
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Speaker 1: belongs to another kingdom. In fact, Abram belongs to a
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Speaker 1: kingdom that he can't even see, that he can't even discern,
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Speaker 1: that he can't even understand. Abram belongs to a kingdom
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Speaker 1: that is yet to come. Does that sound familiar? There
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Speaker 1: is a kingdom that is yet to come. And there
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Speaker 1: is one who is yet to come who will establish
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Speaker 1: this kingdom that is yet to come. So by faith,
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Speaker 1: Abram believes that he belongs to a kingdom that is
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Speaker 1: yet to come. But he also believes he belongs to
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Speaker 1: a kingdom that is yet to come that is greater
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Speaker 1: than any kingdom on the face of the earth. Do
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Speaker 1: you believe that? Do you believe that you belong to
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Speaker 1: a kingdom that's yet to come? Or do you think
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Speaker 1: American is all you are? Do you believe that your
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Speaker 1: future is actually tied up in what happens in the U.S.
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Speaker 1: of A, 50 states plus Puerto Rico? Is that really
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Speaker 1: what you think? That that's what you're tied up in?
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Speaker 1: Or do you believe that you're belonging to a kingdom
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Speaker 1: that is yet to come? What kind of pilgrim are you?
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Speaker 1: Are you a pilgrim who gets down in the dumps
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Speaker 1: when this kingdom doesn't look like your kingdom? Newsflash. It
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Speaker 1: ain't your kingdom. I would have said it's not, but
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Speaker 1: that's not strong enough. It ain't. This is not your home.
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Speaker 1: Don't be surprised when it doesn't look like it. It's
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Speaker 1: like you going over your in-law's house and sticking your
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Speaker 1: lip out because their paint is not the color you like.
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Speaker 1: It's their house. You don't like it? Go to your
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Speaker 1: own house. Abram sees himself as belonging to a kingdom,
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Speaker 1: a kingdom that he's never seen, a kingdom that is
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Speaker 1: yet to come. And secondly, secondly, and here's why he's
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Speaker 1: not enticed. Abram sees himself as belonging to a kingdom
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Speaker 1: that is greater than any kingdom on the face of
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Speaker 1: the earth. And if you belong to the kingdom of God,
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Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what time period you live in. You
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Speaker 1: belong to a kingdom that's yet to come, and you
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Speaker 1: belong to a kingdom that is greater than any kingdom
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Speaker 1: on the face of the earth. Do you believe that? See,
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Speaker 1: it's harder for us to believe that than it is
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Speaker 1: for anybody else in the world. We have the privilege
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Speaker 1: that very few people in the history of mankind have
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Speaker 1: ever had. We belong to the world's, not just greatest superpower.
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Speaker 1: Right now, we belong to the world's only superpower. Hear me.
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Speaker 1: Hear me when I say that again. Right now, we
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Speaker 1: belong to the world's only superpower. There are some of
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Speaker 1: you in here and you've earned a few more gray hairs.
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Speaker 1: And you can remember, if you've earned a few more
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Speaker 1: gray hairs, when you had to go, when you were
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Speaker 1: in school, you had these bomb shelter drills. You remember that?
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Speaker 1: I see some heads shaking here. You remember that? We're
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Speaker 1: all scared that the Russians were going to drop the
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Speaker 1: big one. And so kids had to learn how to
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Speaker 1: go get under their desk or go to a safe
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Speaker 1: place in the school just in case anybody ever bombed us.
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Speaker 1: The Cuban Missile Crisis. You remember the Cuban Missile Crisis?
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Speaker 1: Wasn't around during that time, but I heard about the
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Speaker 1: Cuban Missile Crisis, and everybody's so afraid that the world's
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Speaker 1: other great superpower was somehow going to attack, and we'd
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Speaker 1: be in great trouble. Let me take you back even further.
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Speaker 1: Let me take you back to World War II. In
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Speaker 1: World War II, the world's great superpower was Germany. We
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Speaker 1: tend to forget that. We were not the superpower. Germany
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Speaker 1: was the superpower. Many of us cannot comprehend that. Many
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Speaker 1: of us, all we know is this world where the
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Speaker 1: United States of America has always been the only superpower.
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Speaker 1: most of the world has no idea what that feels
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Speaker 1: like to be able to sit here and say the
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Speaker 1: only way that our folks can be defeated is if
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Speaker 1: a whole bunch of other folks join together against us
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Speaker 1: nobody can take us one-on-one by the way that's not
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Speaker 1: true On paper it's true. But there have been a
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Speaker 1: whole lot of people in the history of the world
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Speaker 1: like Rome who felt just like that. And all of
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Speaker 1: a sudden here they come. But what if you lived
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Speaker 1: in a world or in a part of the world
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Speaker 1: where you weren't a citizen in the world's only superpower.
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Speaker 1: Here's what's interesting. It would be a lot easier for
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Speaker 1: you to depend on God. I want you to know
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Speaker 1: that our privilege and our prosperity make it more difficult
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Speaker 1: for us to have the kind of faith and the
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Speaker 1: kind of perspective toward God that we ought to. And
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Speaker 1: one of the reasons that we are so dependent on
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Speaker 1: this government of ours. One of the reasons, there's a
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Speaker 1: lot of reasons, but one of the reasons that we're
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Speaker 1: so dependent on this government of ours is because we've
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Speaker 1: been coaxed into that dependence and away from our dependence
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Speaker 1: upon God. That's the difference between Lot and Abram. Lot's
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Speaker 1: been coaxed into dependence, but Abram believes that he's part
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Speaker 1: of a nation that is yet to come and that
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Speaker 1: the nation that he's part of is greater than any
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Speaker 1: nation the world has ever seen. And so because of that,
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Speaker 1: he acts differently than Lot acts. Look at what happens here.
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Speaker 1: Verse 14, when Abram heard that his kinsmen had been
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Speaker 1: taken captive, he led forth his trained men born in
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Speaker 1: his household, 318 of them and went in pursuit as
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Speaker 1: far as Dan. Stop right there. There are two things
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Speaker 1: that are absolutely amazing there. Again, Abram's living like he's
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Speaker 1: going to be a nation. Lot's living like he's trying
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Speaker 1: to find one to belong to. So because Abram's living
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Speaker 1: like he's going to be a nation, he's got 318
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Speaker 1: men who are trained in his household. Trained for what?
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Speaker 1: To fight like you're defending a nation. 318 of them
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Speaker 1: that are trained in his household. And what does he do?
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Speaker 1: As we say here in Texas, they posse up. What's
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Speaker 1: interesting is this. Abram and Lot split and they go
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Speaker 1: in two different directions. But you remember why? Because both
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Speaker 1: of them were so, in the theological term that I
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Speaker 1: taught you last week, filthy, stank, nasty, rich, okay? They
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Speaker 1: had so many flocks and herds and servants and so
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Speaker 1: much wealth that the land could not contain them both.
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Speaker 1: That's why they split. So basically, Lot, just a chapter ago,
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Speaker 1: had as much resource as Abram has here and now.
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Speaker 1: But in this very short time that he's become dependent
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Speaker 1: on another nation, he no longer has resources to protect
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Speaker 1: himself or anyone else. That's what dependence will do for you.
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Speaker 1: That's what not recognizing that you're a pilgrim will do
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Speaker 1: for you. You begin to look to others and not
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Speaker 1: to look to God, and all of a sudden, when
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Speaker 1: there is a need, you're looking horizontally instead of vertically.
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Speaker 1: Abram's looking vertically. We'll see evidence of this later on,
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Speaker 1: but let me just show you. Right here, there's evidence
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Speaker 1: that he's looking vertically and not horizontally. Abram's not looking
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Speaker 1: horizontally because remember, there are four kings who just whipped
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Speaker 1: five kings. Y'all remember that? So we don't just have
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Speaker 1: four kings. We got four kings, including Keterlehomer, who's the
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Speaker 1: big king, who brought other kings with him, defeated all
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Speaker 1: of these people on his march down south. Then Sodom
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Speaker 1: and Gomorrah get together three other kings, and they go
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Speaker 1: against four kings. There's five kings against four. These four kings,
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Speaker 1: one of them being the big king, defeat the five kings.
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Speaker 1: And Abram takes 318 men and says, let's go get them.
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Speaker 1: He's not looking horizontally, folks. I asked Terry Cole this morning,
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Speaker 1: I said, Terry, how many chairs in here this morning?
25:15
Speaker 1: He said, I don't know, about 320. And he didn't
25:18
Speaker 1: know why I was asking him. He was trying to
25:20
Speaker 1: figure out, don't worry about it. That's just perfect. 320
25:24
Speaker 1: chairs in this room. Lot had 318 trained warriors in
25:30
Speaker 1: his home. One for every chair in this room, save two.
25:38
Speaker 1: And that's who he took to go get his kinsman, Lot,
25:44
Speaker 1: from four kings who had just whipped five. He was
25:50
Speaker 1: not trusting in horses and chariots. He was trusting in
25:55
Speaker 1: the Most High God. Look at the next part of this.
26:03
Speaker 1: By the way, I want you to see that there's
26:06
Speaker 1: Eschol and Aner as well. And here's a point that's
26:10
Speaker 1: important for us. Abram is independent, but he has allies.
26:19
Speaker 1: Abram is independent, but he has allies. Here's what we
26:22
Speaker 1: don't see. We don't see this picture of a two-kingdom
26:26
Speaker 1: mindset that basically says, well, no, I just belong to
26:29
Speaker 1: this kingdom over here. I don't want to have anything
26:31
Speaker 1: to do with the other kingdom or anyone in the
26:33
Speaker 1: other kingdom. No, he's independent, but he has allies. He
26:38
Speaker 1: has allies. We're independent, but we have allies. We don't
26:43
Speaker 1: just isolate ourselves from the world. We have allies. We're
26:48
Speaker 1: independent individuals who are trusting in God and in God alone.
26:55
Speaker 1: But we recognize that we live in another kingdom. We
27:02
Speaker 1: have allies. And those allies that we have are gifts
27:05
Speaker 1: to us from God. Amen? And that's what Abram has.
27:11
Speaker 1: He has allies who are gifts to him from God.
27:14
Speaker 1: And these allies don't even belong to his kingdom. Let
27:20
Speaker 1: me tell you something. Do you know that our God
27:24
Speaker 1: has frequently used lost people in order to help his people?
27:34
Speaker 1: I know sometimes believers, you know, they get this sort
27:36
Speaker 1: of attitude out there, you know, and we want, you know,
27:39
Speaker 1: our plumber and our dentist and our, you know, everybody's
27:43
Speaker 1: got to be a believer, have the exact same theology
27:45
Speaker 1: that we have, or they can't be our this or
27:47
Speaker 1: our that or whatever, you know, our mechanic, our everything.
27:51
Speaker 1: We want everybody to be a believer, everybody to be
27:53
Speaker 1: part of our kingdom. If you're not part of our kingdom,
27:56
Speaker 1: then you can't change my oil. Because I'm a Christian.
28:02
Speaker 1: I'm a Christian. And I don't even want my hall
28:04
Speaker 1: changed by Christians. Really? Boy, we're really going to fulfill
28:11
Speaker 1: the Great Commission like that, aren't we? You can't say amen,
28:16
Speaker 1: you ought to say ouch. God can use people who
28:24
Speaker 1: don't even belong to our kingdom to be a blessing
28:27
Speaker 1: to us. In fact, if you're honest, God has used
28:32
Speaker 1: people who don't belong to our kingdom, to be a
28:35
Speaker 1: blessing to you. Anybody ever been robbed before? I've been robbed.
28:49
Speaker 1: Been robbed a number of times. I told you I
28:51
Speaker 1: grew up in South Central Los Angeles. I robbed. That was, yeah.
28:55
Speaker 1: We didn't ask people if they'd been robbed. We asked
28:57
Speaker 1: them when's the last time they'd been robbed. Here's what
29:02
Speaker 1: I know. Somebody kicks in your door and a policeman
29:06
Speaker 1: comes who doesn't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,
29:12
Speaker 1: you're not going to go outside and say, excuse me,
29:15
Speaker 1: can you go get me a saved officer, please? No.
29:21
Speaker 1: You're going to say, thank you, Lord, for this individual
29:25
Speaker 1: who's your minister to me even though he doesn't even
29:28
Speaker 1: belong to our kingdoms. See how ridiculous that other mindset
29:34
Speaker 1: can be? There are individuals who don't belong to our
29:40
Speaker 1: kingdom who do things to bless you every day that
29:42
Speaker 1: you don't even know about, you don't even think about.
29:49
Speaker 1: So Abram's independent, but he has allies. He has allies.
29:55
Speaker 1: Here's what's interesting. Lot's dependent, and evidently he doesn't have
30:00
Speaker 1: any allies. Here he is down in Sodom. He's completely
30:09
Speaker 1: immersed himself in Sodom. He thinks he's protected because he
30:14
Speaker 1: belongs to a kingdom with a king, with fighting men.
30:17
Speaker 1: And he ends up all by himself, taken away with
30:25
Speaker 1: everything he owns. Abram's independent, but he has allies. That
30:32
Speaker 1: ought to be our attitude. Not to become completely immersed
30:35
Speaker 1: and dependent upon this world, this kingdom in which we live.
30:41
Speaker 1: Which will leave us high and dry. But to be
30:44
Speaker 1: independent and accept those allies whom God gives us. Look
30:49
Speaker 1: at what happens next. Verse 15. And he divided his
30:54
Speaker 1: forces against them by night. He and his servants and
30:57
Speaker 1: defeated them and pursued them to Hobot, north of Damascus.
31:03
Speaker 1: Then he brought back all the possessions and also brought
31:07
Speaker 1: back his kinsmen Lot with his possessions and the women
31:11
Speaker 1: and the people. Hold on. He goes to get Lot,
31:16
Speaker 1: but he also goes and gets back the stuff that
31:19
Speaker 1: was taken from Sodom and Gomorrah. So not only do
31:25
Speaker 1: we see that God can use people who belong to
31:28
Speaker 1: this other kingdom to be a blessing to us, but
31:31
Speaker 1: God can also And will from time to time use
31:34
Speaker 1: us to be a blessing to people who don't belong
31:36
Speaker 1: to his kingdom. In fact, that's the way they ought
31:42
Speaker 1: to think about us. I don't know those people. I
31:47
Speaker 1: don't understand those people. Matter of fact, truth be told,
31:52
Speaker 1: I really don't like those Christians. But I just can't
31:55
Speaker 1: help but respect the fact that from time to time,
32:02
Speaker 1: They blessed me. Almost wish they wouldn't. It would help
32:06
Speaker 1: me not like them. Look at verse 17. Now the
32:13
Speaker 1: mysterious Melchizedek shows up and we get a greater insight
32:17
Speaker 1: into Abram's attitudes and actions. After his return from the
32:22
Speaker 1: defeat of Kedar-Leomar and the kings who were with him,
32:28
Speaker 1: the king of Sodom went out to meet him at
32:30
Speaker 1: the valley of Sheba. This is the king's valley. And Melchizedek,
32:36
Speaker 1: king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was
32:40
Speaker 1: a priest of God most high. And he blessed him
32:43
Speaker 1: and said, blessed be Abram by God most high, possessor
32:47
Speaker 1: of heaven and earth. And blessed be God most high,
32:50
Speaker 1: who has delivered your enemies into your hand. Here's what
32:54
Speaker 1: you need to understand. Abram had victory because God delivered
33:00
Speaker 1: his enemies into his hand. By the way, we'll see
33:02
Speaker 1: this later on, won't we? We'll see this later on
33:08
Speaker 1: when there's another victory that is won by an individual
33:11
Speaker 1: who has an army. God says, your army's too big.
33:16
Speaker 1: Thin them out. You remember that? Who am I talking about, kids? Kids?
33:26
Speaker 1: All right. God fends out Gideon's army so that what?
33:34
Speaker 1: Everybody will know that the victory was from the Lord.
33:39
Speaker 1: Abram goes out with 318 men so that everybody will
33:42
Speaker 1: know that the victory is from the Lord. Here's what
33:45
Speaker 1: I also want you to see. Abram went out and
33:48
Speaker 1: the king of Sodom didn't go with him. Why? The
33:56
Speaker 1: victory was from the Lord. So what does the king
33:59
Speaker 1: of Sodom see? The king of Sodom sees you go
34:03
Speaker 1: out in your flesh and you got five kings against
34:05
Speaker 1: their four. You get whipped up one side and down
34:09
Speaker 1: the other, all your stuff taken away. Lot goes out
34:12
Speaker 1: with 318 men, defeats all them, gets his kinsmen back
34:16
Speaker 1: and oh, by the way, brings the stuff that you
34:18
Speaker 1: couldn't protect with your five kings. All to the glory
34:24
Speaker 1: of God. Here's another thing we see. Abram is not
34:35
Speaker 1: as alone as he seemed. Abram is not as alone
34:41
Speaker 1: as he seemed. If you're reading Genesis from the beginning
34:47
Speaker 1: up to the point where we are now, all of
34:51
Speaker 1: a sudden, by the time we get here, there are
34:53
Speaker 1: a couple of things that you think. The first thing
34:55
Speaker 1: that you think is this. Abram's all by himself and
34:59
Speaker 1: he's the only one that God has. Newsflash, not everybody
35:03
Speaker 1: from the ark is dead. We often forget that. Shem,
35:11
Speaker 1: for example, lived 600 years. He was 98 when he
35:18
Speaker 1: went on the ark, which means he lives another 502
35:22
Speaker 1: years after the flood. Abram is not alone as you
35:27
Speaker 1: think he is. Also, the descendants of Shem and Ham
35:33
Speaker 1: and Japheth, they're there. They've heard about the things of God.
35:36
Speaker 1: Abram is not as alone as you think he is.
35:38
Speaker 1: And just when you think that it's just him and
35:41
Speaker 1: no one else, all of a sudden, here's Melchizedek. And
35:44
Speaker 1: our first question is, where's he come from? The Bible
35:47
Speaker 1: doesn't even tell you. We don't know where Melchizedek came from.
35:51
Speaker 1: Here's what we do know. He's a priest of the
35:54
Speaker 1: Most High God. God's always got a remnant, folks. He's
35:58
Speaker 1: always got a remnant. He's the priest of the most
36:02
Speaker 1: high God. And he praises the most high God and
36:09
Speaker 1: properly announces that it was God himself who brought this
36:13
Speaker 1: victory for Abram. Abram's not as alone as you think.
36:18
Speaker 1: And we're not as alone as you think. Oftentimes we
36:20
Speaker 1: have a tendency to think that Elijah syndrome. It's just us.
36:25
Speaker 1: Everybody else has bowed the knee to Baal. We'll help
36:28
Speaker 1: you if that's what you think. We're not as alone
36:31
Speaker 1: as you think. And that's good news. Amen? But let's
36:35
Speaker 1: get us what happens. The next part of this. And
36:39
Speaker 1: Abram gave him a tenth of everything. Abram paid a
36:44
Speaker 1: tithe to Melchizedek. He gave him a tenth of everything. Huh. Huh.
36:54
Speaker 1: I thought tithing was part of the law. Well, you
36:56
Speaker 1: thought wrong. There was tithing before there was a law.
37:03
Speaker 1: Abram understood this long before the law. And he paid
37:08
Speaker 1: a tithe. He paid a tithe to Melchizedek. Why? Why
37:12
Speaker 1: pay a tithe to Melchizedek? You got all these other
37:15
Speaker 1: kings out there. You come back, the king of Sodom
37:18
Speaker 1: is there. Do you pay a tithe to the king
37:20
Speaker 1: of Sodom? No, you don't pay a tithe to the
37:22
Speaker 1: king of Sodom. Melchizedek wasn't a part of the fight.
37:25
Speaker 1: Why are you paying a tithe to Melchizedek who wasn't
37:27
Speaker 1: even a part of the fight? Because he's a priest
37:29
Speaker 1: to the Most High God. That's why. Abram's giving a
37:33
Speaker 1: tithe to God through the priest. He's not giving a
37:37
Speaker 1: tithe to a king to curry any favor. Also, Melchizedek
37:44
Speaker 1: is the king of Salem. That's kind of a shortened term.
37:51
Speaker 1: He's the king of Jerusalem. And by the way, Jerusalem,
37:57
Speaker 1: the end of that word from which we get Salem,
38:00
Speaker 1: it's that Hebrew word that all of us know, shalom.
38:04
Speaker 1: Shalom means peace. Melchizedek is the king of peace. The
38:13
Speaker 1: author of Hebrews refers to the priesthood of Christ being
38:17
Speaker 1: superior to that of Melchizedek. We see in Melchizedek a
38:21
Speaker 1: foreshadowing or a type of Christ who is known as
38:25
Speaker 1: the Prince of Peace. Eventually, Melchizedek's throne will be sat
38:35
Speaker 1: upon by another king. That king is David. Jesus is
38:43
Speaker 1: the root of David. When all things are consummated, there
38:54
Speaker 1: is a new Jerusalem and Christ sits on the throne
38:59
Speaker 1: there forever. So what do we see here at the
39:05
Speaker 1: end of Genesis chapter 14? That it's all about Jesus.
39:12
Speaker 1: Have we said that before? It's all about Jesus. It
39:20
Speaker 1: all comes back to Christ. There's foreshadowing and there are
39:26
Speaker 1: types and all of these things. And they all come
39:28
Speaker 1: back to Christ. Here's the other thing. The king of
39:35
Speaker 1: Sodom said to Abram, give me the persons but take
39:38
Speaker 1: the goods for yourself. But Abram said to the king
39:41
Speaker 1: of Sodom, I have lifted my hand to the Lord
39:44
Speaker 1: God most high, possessor of heaven and earth. that I
39:48
Speaker 1: would not take a thread or a sandal strap or
39:53
Speaker 1: anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have
39:56
Speaker 1: made Abram rich. I will take nothing but what the
40:00
Speaker 1: young men have eaten and the share of the men
40:03
Speaker 1: who went with me. Later, I'm sure, let Aner, Eskel,
40:08
Speaker 1: and Mamre take their share. In other words, the king
40:14
Speaker 1: of Sodom says, you've done something for me, let me
40:16
Speaker 1: do something for you. Quid pro quo. Abram says, I
40:22
Speaker 1: lifted my hand before God. In other words, he made
40:24
Speaker 1: a decision beforehand. And his decision beforehand was what? His
40:28
Speaker 1: decision beforehand was to stay independent. Thank you for your gesture, king.
40:39
Speaker 1: My men can eat because they needed to eat. My
40:44
Speaker 1: allies can take whatever they want to take. But you
40:49
Speaker 1: will not make me rich. I serve the most high
40:53
Speaker 1: God and I'm not going to put myself in a
40:55
Speaker 1: position where I have to serve you. Never, ever, ever
41:03
Speaker 1: am I going to put myself in a position where
41:05
Speaker 1: I have to serve you. But does this mean he
41:09
Speaker 1: doesn't have a servant spirit? No, he just served the king.
41:14
Speaker 1: He just went and got the king's stuff. Abram's not
41:17
Speaker 1: saying I'm not going to serve you. Abram's saying I'm
41:19
Speaker 1: not going to be put in a position where I
41:21
Speaker 1: have to serve you. The only one he has to
41:27
Speaker 1: serve is the most high God. This is rich, folks.
41:36
Speaker 1: You talk about a two kingdom perspective. You talk about
41:40
Speaker 1: these two different pilgrims. You talk about us and our
41:43
Speaker 1: day and our time. I'm never going to put myself
41:48
Speaker 1: in a position where I have to do anything to
41:50
Speaker 1: serve you. Those of you who know anything about all
41:54
Speaker 1: of the stuff and difficulties of these last days and
42:00
Speaker 1: things that I've written and things that have been picked
42:02
Speaker 1: up in CNN and the LA Times and everywhere else,
42:06
Speaker 1: trying to make a huge deal, mountain out of a
42:09
Speaker 1: mold hill, I had one thing to say and one
42:11
Speaker 1: thing only during this whole election cycle. Here's the one
42:13
Speaker 1: thing that I had to say. that the evangelical community
42:19
Speaker 1: made a huge mistake when it attached itself to a party.
42:25
Speaker 1: Because when you attach yourself to a party, then you
42:29
Speaker 1: have to accept whatever they give you and you have
42:32
Speaker 1: to help your party win instead of holding your party's
42:36
Speaker 1: feet to the fire using the Bible as the only standard.
42:40
Speaker 1: When you attach yourself to a party, you are basically
42:43
Speaker 1: a one kingdom kind of person. You've put all your
42:47
Speaker 1: marbles in this kingdom, the kingdom of the earth, and
42:49
Speaker 1: you've said to the particular party, we belong to you,
42:53
Speaker 1: we're with you, we're back you no matter what. We
42:55
Speaker 1: can never ever say that. We must be like Abram
42:58
Speaker 1: who says, I will never put myself in a position
43:01
Speaker 1: where I have to serve you. If God uses you
43:07
Speaker 1: to bless me, praise God. God uses me to bless you,
43:10
Speaker 1: praise God. God uses you to bring some things about
43:13
Speaker 1: that God in his providence desires to bring about, praise God.
43:17
Speaker 1: But I will never yoke myself with you and I
43:20
Speaker 1: will never ever be dependent upon you and I'll never
43:23
Speaker 1: put myself in a position where I cannot speak God's
43:26
Speaker 1: truth to you because I've become you. That's our attitude.
43:34
Speaker 1: By the way, that's different than the attitude that says, oh, no,
43:38
Speaker 1: I'm a Christian. I belong to another kingdom. I can't
43:41
Speaker 1: have anything to say or anything to do with politics.
43:47
Speaker 1: I belong to two kingdoms for now. One's going to dust.
43:54
Speaker 1: The other one's going to be here forever. But for
43:56
Speaker 1: the time being, I belong to two. And I'm independent,
44:02
Speaker 1: but I can have allies. And I have allies so
44:08
Speaker 1: that as the kingdom of God calls upon me to
44:11
Speaker 1: do whatever the kingdom of God desires done within this kingdom,
44:16
Speaker 1: I can do it. And if my allies are with me,
44:18
Speaker 1: praise God. And I have allies so that if the
44:23
Speaker 1: kingdom of this world decides that it wants to try
44:26
Speaker 1: to infringe upon the kingdom of God, God can even
44:29
Speaker 1: use people in that kingdom to thwart the plans. That's
44:36
Speaker 1: our attitude. We're pilgrims. We're sojourners. And our attitude says this.
44:44
Speaker 1: We belong to a kingdom that we can't even see.
44:51
Speaker 1: We belong to a kingdom that is yet to come.
44:57
Speaker 1: And we also belong to a kingdom that is greater
44:59
Speaker 1: than all of the kingdoms on the earth put together.
45:06
Speaker 1: As a result of that, we're independent, but we have allies.
45:10
Speaker 1: And even those allies are allies that God in his
45:12
Speaker 1: providence brings into our life. Not allies that we go
45:15
Speaker 1: and try to seek out strategically so that we can
45:18
Speaker 1: make things happen. God brings about those alliances. Any victory
45:24
Speaker 1: that we gain is from the hand of the most
45:26
Speaker 1: high God. Any defeat we suffer is from the hand
45:29
Speaker 1: of the most high God. Why? Because God rules and
45:35
Speaker 1: reigns in the affairs of men. And you and I
45:38
Speaker 1: must have the attitude that says, I will serve you
45:42
Speaker 1: in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, I
45:46
Speaker 1: will never, ever, ever put myself in a position where
45:50
Speaker 1: I have to serve you. Because the only one I
45:56
Speaker 1: have to serve is God. It's God. That's our attitude.
46:10
Speaker 1: That's our attitude. So not only do we see this
46:14
Speaker 1: two kingdom perspective, but we'll end with this. When we
46:18
Speaker 1: look at these two pilgrims, we see a two kingdom
46:20
Speaker 1: perspective when we look into the life of these two pilgrims.
46:23
Speaker 1: But there's another foreshadowing that's happening here. And here's the
46:28
Speaker 1: foreshadowing that's happening here. Lot goes and gets himself in
46:32
Speaker 1: trouble in the city of sin. He gets taken away, captive.
46:42
Speaker 1: And Abram goes and redeems him. What's that a picture of?
46:54
Speaker 1: You and I got ourselves caught in a city of sin.
46:59
Speaker 1: By the way, we were born in that city of sin.
47:02
Speaker 1: We were shaped in that city of sin. We prefer
47:05
Speaker 1: that city of sin. But God, in His providence, sent
47:11
Speaker 1: His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, to ransom
47:18
Speaker 1: us so that you and I might be redeemed, so
47:24
Speaker 1: that you and I might be saved. By the way,
47:28
Speaker 1: there is another foreshadowing. And here's the other foreshadowing. For
47:36
Speaker 1: those of you who think oh, I don't really like
47:39
Speaker 1: this picture or this idea of the Lord using war
47:44
Speaker 1: or fighting and things of that nature. I really don't
47:52
Speaker 1: like that idea. Well, then you really won't like this idea.
47:59
Speaker 1: Revelation 19, beginning in verse 11. Then I saw heaven
48:03
Speaker 1: opened and behold a white horse the one sitting on
48:07
Speaker 1: it called Faithful and True. Wonder who that is. And
48:11
Speaker 1: in righteousness, he judges and makes war. In righteousness, he
48:16
Speaker 1: judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame
48:19
Speaker 1: of fire. On his head are many diadems. He has
48:25
Speaker 1: a name written that no one knows but himself. He
48:28
Speaker 1: is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. And the
48:32
Speaker 1: name by which he is called is the Word of God.
48:34
Speaker 1: You beginning to figure out who this is? The armies
48:38
Speaker 1: of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were
48:42
Speaker 1: following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a
48:46
Speaker 1: sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and
48:50
Speaker 1: he will rule them with a rod of iron. He
48:53
Speaker 1: will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath
48:55
Speaker 1: of God the Almighty on his robe and on his thigh.
48:59
Speaker 1: He has a name written, King of Kings and Lord
49:03
Speaker 1: of Lords. Abram rode in and delivered his kinsmen with
49:11
Speaker 1: 318 trained men. Jesus is coming back one day with
49:17
Speaker 1: the armies of heaven, and he is not going to die.
49:20
Speaker 1: coming back as lowly Jesus meek and mild he's coming
49:27
Speaker 1: as a warrior king to bring ultimate deliverance to his
49:33
Speaker 1: people and upon his ultimate deliverance what does he do
49:39
Speaker 1: He establishes the new Jerusalem, the heavenly kingdom, where we
49:47
Speaker 1: dwell with Him throughout eternity. All of a sudden, we
49:52
Speaker 1: see this picture come full circle of the King of
49:57
Speaker 1: kings and Lord of lords, who is the Prince of peace,
50:01
Speaker 1: foreshadowed in the person of Melchizedek in Genesis chapter 14. Folks,
50:05
Speaker 1: we've said it before, we'll say it again. The whole
50:07
Speaker 1: Bible about Jesus it's about God's redemptive plan in the
50:15
Speaker 1: person of Jesus Christ and what that ought to do
50:19
Speaker 1: for us is it ought to give us great comfort
50:23
Speaker 1: every time you and I sit here and we begin
50:25
Speaker 1: to fret here's what I want to remind you of
50:28
Speaker 1: every time you begin to fret every time you begin
50:31
Speaker 1: to worry every time you get scared Ultimately, here's what
50:34
Speaker 1: you need to remind yourself of. I'm probably in a
50:37
Speaker 1: situation where God has delivered before. Amen? Why does God
50:45
Speaker 1: give us this over and over and over again in
50:48
Speaker 1: the Bible? What is he saying to us over and
50:50
Speaker 1: over and over again in the Bible? Just a few
50:53
Speaker 1: chapters ago, we saw the ark. What did we see
50:55
Speaker 1: in the ark? The deliverance of God's elect. Now what
51:00
Speaker 1: do we see again? The deliverance of God's elect. What
51:04
Speaker 1: do we see over and over and over again throughout
51:07
Speaker 1: the Old Testament? The deliverance of God's elect. Then we
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Speaker 1: come to the New Testament and we see the fulfillment,
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Speaker 1: the delivery, the deliverance of God's elect. But when we
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Speaker 1: look at the book of Revelation, what do we see?
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Speaker 1: There's some code book to try to figure out names
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Speaker 1: and dates and this and that. No, one simple message
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Speaker 1: in the book of Revelation, the ultimate deliverance of God's elect.
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Speaker 1: What are you scared of? What are you worried about?
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Speaker 1: What are you fearful of? And once you name that thing,
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Speaker 1: here's what I want to ask you. Do you think
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Speaker 1: it's going to be able to stand when Jesus comes
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Speaker 1: with fire in his eyes and a sword on his thigh?
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Speaker 1: I don't think so. Because there's nothing in this world
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Speaker 1: that can stand against that. We belong to another kingdom.
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Speaker 1: A kingdom whose fullness is yet to come. We're merely
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Speaker 1: pilgrims passing through this one. Let's be a blessing while
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Speaker 1: we're here. But let's be independent even though we have allies.
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Speaker 1: Let's serve and serve well above and beyond What could
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Speaker 1: even be asked of us? But let's not ever do
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Speaker 1: anything to put ourselves in a position where we're forced
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Speaker 1: to render service. Because the only one to whom we
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Speaker 1: ultimately owe our service is the king of our ultimate
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Speaker 1: coming kingdom. These are two pilgrims. Which one are you?
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Speaker 1: Let's pray. Father, thank you for reminding us today that
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Speaker 1: no matter how bad things may become, no matter how
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Speaker 1: turbulent the economy is, No matter the kinds of policies
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Speaker 1: lie in our future. We serve the soon coming king.
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Speaker 1: The king of kings and the lord of lords. That
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Speaker 1: we are merely pilgrims in this land. Looking for a
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Speaker 1: city whose builder and maker is God. I pray for
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Speaker 1: those under the sound of my voice, Father, who are
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Speaker 1: struggling with fears and doubts. I pray that today your
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Speaker 1: truth would calm our fears. I pray for those perhaps
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Speaker 1: under the sound of my voice who have not come
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Speaker 1: to know Jesus Christ and the pardon of their sins,
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Speaker 1: who have not come to repentance and faith. God, would
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Speaker 1: you cause your truth to resonate with them today? May
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Speaker 1: they recognize that this kingdom will never, ever suffice. And
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Speaker 1: that our only hope is the kingdom of God and
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Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, our soon coming king. Grant repentance
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Speaker 1: and faith, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.