Sermon Tone Analysis

God Provides An Eternal Priest-King For His People.

By This Priest King His People Are Themselves Made Priests.

TALK SLOW AND CLEAR

Introduce myself and express gratitude (be personal)

Intro: Today we will be looking at Genesis 14:17-24.

The passage just seems like it is a small detour in the life of Abram before God’s covenant with Abram but by looking at all of scripture we will see how this small passage paints a picture for human restoration.

We are going to go back in time just a couple years to 1876.

A very important invention was made at this time, one that if not invented our world would not know how to function today…it was the telephone.

Of course though at that time telephones looked much different than they do now.

You could not play games on them or see someone else’s face.

One major change is now when you call someone you do not have to talk to anyone else besides them.

There was a time when if you wanted to call someone, this call was mediated by a person called an operator.

This is a little bit how a priests in the bible act.

In this illustration the priest is the is the first caller, their sacrifice is the operator, and God is the desired caller.

They could not just go straight to God, there were stipulations that had to be met in order to meet with God.

We are going to see though how God changes how priests interact with him and this passage shows this.

In the context of what we’re reading, the flood happened, then the tower of babel, and then God calls this seemingly random canonite who is actually worshiping other gods.

He tells Abram to leave the place where he lives and he will make him into a great nation.

He goes to Egypt, his nephew gets into some trouble so he goes to war to save him and wins.

He traveling after this war and this is the setting where we are now:

Let’s read God’s holy word together from Genesis 14:17-24 “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).

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine.

(He was priest of God Most High.)

And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.”

But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’”

Pray

1.

A New Priestly Order (v.

17-20)

Sub Point 1-Priest of God Most High

Abram is approached by two kings.

One is the King of Sodom and the other is called the King of Salem.

Both are real kings of real places.

The King of Salem’s name is “Melchizedek” which means king of righteousness and Salem means peace, so this king is the king of righteousness and peace.

He is the king of the area of land that would eventually become Jerusalem.

He brings out bread and wine to Abram, he provides for Abram and then the scripture tells us something that should be put in all caps.

We need to underline, highlight, do whatever we need to so we can see how important this is.

Verse 18 says, speaking of King of Salem, Melchizedek, “He was priest of God Most High”.

Melchizedek is a priest-king.

Saying he is a priest-king is like if someone was both the president of the united states and a governor, those things just don’t work together.

In the Old Testament priests could not be kings and kings could not be priests.

Priests had to come from the lineage of Levi and kings through the lineage of Judah.

So you cannot really be a priest-king.

However, this was before the time of Israel’s sons so this is how Melchizedek was practically able to be a priest-king.

This King of Salem was not the only one who would be a Priest-King though, Jesus would also be a priest-king.

So am I really saying that Jesus is shown here in Genesis when his name is not even mentioned?

Absolutely I am!

How do we know this: Hebrews 7:14-15 “For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek,”.

The author of Hebrews is explaining that Christ is our high priest and king even though he did not come through the right lineage to be a priest.

In the same way, this King of Salem here in the passage is a Priest-King like Christ.

Melchizedek led his people as they submitted to his kingship as Christ leads his people as we submit to his kingship.

You do not have to think too hard about how Jesus is our king.

He gives us commands, he provides for us, he loves us, he teaches us, and more.

We are so thankful for these things but if were not also our priest his kingship would be illegimtiate.

Christ is our priest because he is how we have access to God.

As we mentioned, Israel had to have a Priest to communicate with God and this priest mediated with certain stipulations.

The rules did not change because of Christ, but Christ did the impossible.

The reason priests had to bring sacrifices to be in the presence of God was because of their sin.

A holy God cannot be in the presence of a sinner without his wrath appeased.

That is the gospel right?

Because of our sin we could no longer have a relationship with the Lord because our sin brings wrath.

Christ though took on the wrath of God and became our priest.

Those two verses we read in Hebrews, the verse after those explains this: Hebrews 7:16 (Christ)“who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.”

This verse explains Christ is our priest not because he descended from the right line but because of his eternal life.

He is able to take on the wrath that our sin brings.

We see this in Melchizedek, he is a priest king and so is Christ.

It is as if God was showing a type or pattern of which Christ would follow.

Imagine if in the early 1900s you picked up your telephone expecting to speak to an operator but you just spoke directly to the person you were trying to call.

Then after the call you were told that one day it will be like that, one day you will not need an operator, one day a new technology will come and you will have direct access to the caller.

It is the same way here, God gives a picture of what salvation will eventually look like through Christ.

One day there will be an eternal Priest-King who will follow the order set by Melchizedek.

With a new priest comes a new set of standards, a new kind of law, so when Christ comes this is why the Old Covenant is fulfilled and the New Covenant is put into place.

So through Melchizedek being a priest of God Most High we see how God will eventually save his people and bring a better mediator or as we looked at “take the operator away”.

Sub Point 2-The Blessing

Then we get a blessing from Melchizedek.

“To bless God means to recognize God’s goodness as shown in the bestowal of divine benefits to his subjects”K.

A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, vol.

1B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 150.

Melchizedek starts by explaining how blessed Abram is by God.

This is significant because this was a time where many were polytheists so they worshipped many false gods.

Not to say Melchizedek and Abram were the only ones who believed in one God, but I do have to believe Abram would be extremely encouraged to meet another who trusts in the same God as him.

Outside of his family I do not know how many other believers of Yahweh he knew and it would not be many if he did know some.

So for a King to tell him he has been blessed by the same God both of them put their trust in has to be encouraging.

Melchizedek then praises God for how he has delivered Abram from the hand of his enemies.

He is grateful for God’s word in the life of another believer.

Brothers and sisters, Melchizedek here even so long ago was modeling good godly encouragement.

Even though he may symbolize Christ, he is not Christ.

He is a sinner who has put his faith toward God and repented from his sin.

So after seeing the Lord work in Abram’s life he expresses gratitude for God and Abram.

Brothers and sisters, as it was encouraging 4,000 years ago to Abram, it is still today.

My pastor always says no person is ever walking around over-encouraged.

I encourage you all to encourage others as you see God plainly working in their lives.

And it does not have to be only when they win a war like with Abram.

Ask other brothers and sisters here about their life and see how God has made himself present.

If you have a church that you are a member of or a church that has served you faithfully sometime in your life that is a blessing only from the Lord.

If you have had the great blessing of raising up children to walk in the way of the Lord and now they trust the Lord that is sweeter than honey friends.

I just challenge you to learn more about others around you and encourage them in how the Lord has shown grace in their life.

Of course the biggest way God has shown grace in our lives is through the gospel.

If you are speaking to an unbeliever tell them God’s grace in their life which is the gospel as well.