Untitled Sermon (3)

Worldly achievements alone will never be enough to satisfy our souls. But it's my hope tonight that we see through a relationship with Jesus. We can be fully satisfied.

If you have your bibles we are going to spend the majority of our time in Genesis chapter 14 and later on we will also be reading in Hebrews chapter 7.

Last week we read about Abram building an altar to honor God and we are going to continue looking at his life.

At this point in the bible he is still known as Abram but we will see later on God give him a new name of Abraham and we all know Father Abraham and we have these kids songs about him.

So there's a good chance that I am going to say Abraham because that's the new name he will receive. I just want to make sure that you guys know we are talking about the same person.

Lets pray and dig into the text.

Im going to describe the scene instead of reading all these names because I will butcher them. But in Genesis 14 we see the first recorded earthly war. I threw a map of the war in the slides so you guys could see all the areas that were covered.

There was 4 kingdoms that joined together for this war and the leader of these 4 was a man named Kay Do Lay Oh Mar. Thats not a common name today, we will call him Kay Do for short.

Kay Do leads this group against another 5 kingdoms that included the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, it was 5 in total but those will be the 2 to remember.

Based on numbers alone you would think ok 5 vs 4 the group of 5 has the advantage.

But all throughout military history you see numbers isn't always the deciding factor.

So king Kay Do leads this group of 4 to attack the other 5 on their turf and pick up in verse 10.

10. Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell into them. But those who survived fled to the hill country.

It’s believed based on their lifestyles, they were not prepared for war. Clearly they werent prepared for war; they were fighting on their turf and fell into the tar pits.

We know from scripture Soddom and Gomorrah were not great places to be. We read in chapter 13

'Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord . '

Genesis 13:13

We read also in 13 Abram and his nephew Lot had a beef then Lot moves near Soddom. Their kings fled and they are attacked by this invading army.

11. Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply, and departed. 12. They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he was living in Sodom. 13. Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner, and these were allies with Abram.

How many of you guys have siblings?

Have you guys ever had arguments? Maybe you guys pick on each other.

You don't let anyone else mess with them.

We are defensive over our people; we can even defend them when they are in the wrong.

Lot chose to move there and it was well known the behavior of the people there. This isnt the only time in scripture where we see Sodom get defeated.

Lot chooses to live in this sinful place and we know there are consequences for sin.

So even though the last thing we read they separated over a dispute Abram still chooses to do something about Lots capture.

14. When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

It doesnt specify how many people were in Kay Do’s army but it was made up of four kingdoms and they were going through conquering places so it was probably a significant force.

Abram had 318 men with him. Keep in mind Abram didn't start this fight.

He was an observer letting everyone do their own thing.

The issue is brought to him. So he could have sat by and said Lot had to solve his own problems.

But Abraham is compassionate and goes out to rescue him.

15. He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. 16. He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.

This wasn't Abram’s fight but he stepped up, God was on his side and led his people to fight the battle. It's over 160 miles they travel to accomplish this.

They defeat king Kay Do and his forces and we see this really interesting interaction that we will break down.

17. Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20. And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Theres alot to unpack there and we will come back to those verses in a moment but lets continue on and read how Abram responds to the victory.

He gave him a tenth of all. 21. The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the people to me and take the goods for yourself.” 22. Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, 23. that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 24. I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.

So Abraham gives Melchezidek a tenth of all that they took from the battle.

Its seen all throughout history whenever one nation conquered another, they took all their stuff. Because they were the winners.

Alot of you guys play sports and if you win something and get a trophy, its yours. You sacrificed something and worked hard and get rewarded for what you accomplished.

Because the king of Soddom had this worldly mindset “thank you for baliing us out, you can keep the stuff but give me back my people” he acknowledges Abraham had a right to the possessions.

But first thing we see Abraham do is give a tenth of it away.

That leads to our first point tonight which is God Demands our Worship.

We have a time in our service if youre here on Sundays where we collect money for the church and call it worship through giving.

We hear it referred to alot in church settings as giving a tithe.

That looks different in context between old and new testament but the heart behind it is not giving a certain amount but in being a cheerful giver. It’s one of the ways that we worship God.

Anytime we give of our time, talents, and treasures to further His kingdom we are worshipping God.

If we are followers of Christ we are called to give these things, willingly and joyfully.

If we give out of necessity but then get upset about what we give up that’s not being a cheerful giver and we have missed the point.

We should be thankful that we are blessed with opportunities to give, and to make sacrifices for the kingdom.

Because at the end of the day all of those things belong to God anyway. God blesses us with time, talents and treasures. So its a form of worship to give them back to Him.

The world that we live in today is so focused on ourselves and bringing glory and attention back to us. But what does Abraham say here?

“I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, 23. that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

Abram does not desire for his name to be made great in this victory, and does not desire any material wealth that would come from it. Because he knows that the victory comes from God.

If we are giving and brag about our giving to make us look good then we are missing the point. That gift then becomes worthless because we are giving to make us look good.

Jesus talks about giving in Matthew 6

Matthew 6:1-4

' “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.'

So we do not give things in order to seek approval from man, but we give out of joy to worship our great God.

'My soul will make its boast in the Lord ; The humble will hear it and rejoice. '

Psalms 34:2.

So God Demands our worship is the first point. Now lets go back and look at 17-20 and talk about what happened at the beginning of this meeting.

17. Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20. And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

So he comes back from battle to meet with the king of Soddom and Melchizedek king of Salem.

I wasnt very confident about who Melchizedek was before I was preparing to teach this passage, and its one of those things in the scripture that even after studying we are not 100% certain on.

He comes out of nowhere at this point in the story. It says that he is the king of Salem which means peace.

Priests don't usually show up in Genesis. Unlike many people we read of that shows their genealogies with Melchezedik theres no family tree or introduction to him.

He shows up in this moment disappears for thousands of years, later when he is mentioned in Psalm 110 and then gets referenced again in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews.

When the author of Hebrews talks about him, he mentions this story.

Lets look at Hebrews chapter 7 starting in verse 1.

Hebrews 7

1. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2. to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace. 3. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually. 4. Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils.

We can look into Melchezedik and try and make a good assumption about who he was but to be honest we dont have time to get into specifics surrounding him tonight.

But what we can say for sure is that Melchizedek was more than a man, he was a picture, a shadow of someone to come who was greater.

Which leads to our last point. God Delivers His people

Was Abraham perfect? No we read earlier where he messed up in Egypt, and scripture also tells us that he was at one point a worshipper of false gods.

But still we see God make a promise to him about his descendants and this land that would be theirs.

We will see through this covenant that's made with Abram God gives him the new name of Abraham and God blesses him. This begins the history of the people of Israel.

Matthew chapter 1 we see the genealogy of Jesus that starts from Abraham who had plenty of flaws.

When you go down the family tree listed in Matthew was full of people who accomplished great things for God’s kingdom but they all had problems and fell short of perfection.

But God remains faithful in His promise to deliver His people by sending Jesus.

22. 'so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

Thats the title of the message today A Better Covenenant. Because God was faithful to keep His promises through Abraham and delivered a perfect plan of redemption through Jesus.

23. The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, 24. but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.

All the other high priests in the OT had beginnings and endings so they were limited in what they could accomplish because there was a physical end in their death on earth.

Except for Melchzidek who was a picture of what would come in Jesus.

Jesus has no beginning and no ending. In Revelation we see Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last and He reigns for all eternity.

25. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. 26. For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; 27. who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.

How awesome is it to know that Jesus goes to The Father on our behalf to defend our position.

Back in the day when the people looked to men as their high priests. These priests had all these requirements they had to follow, what to wear, how to act when approaching the temple.

They had to make sacrifices to atone for their own sins and would have been struck down if they didnt do it properly.

After making sacrifices for himself then he would do it for the people. This was not a one time thing they had to continue to do this.

But when Jesus came and fulfilled the law and willingly laid down His life for our sins. That sacrifice was sufficient forever.

Thats something that often gets lost on us today because we are 2,000 years after Jesus birth. People couldn't always talk to God. There was a veil separating them from where the priest’s would enter to make those sacrifices.

But when Jesus gave up His life scripture tells us that veil was torn.

'And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. '

Matthew 27:51

That community that was broken between us and God now has a path to reconcile through Jesus that was made perfect forever.

God delivers His people. Through Jesus.

In closing today I hope we remember that we can chase all the material things and wealth and status that this world has to offer, but you never find anything that will satisfy you more than knowing Jesus. If we repent and believe we can follow Jesus and have that relationship with Him.

If you dont know Jesus and have questions about what it means to follow Him. Talk to your small group leader and ask questions.