Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
Speaker: If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Speaker: Welcome to Growing Grace. I'm so glad you're listening today. Today I want us to look at Genesis 14. i don't know if this ah chapter has ever stood out to you, but it's really good because it describes how Abraham had to go and rescue his nephew Lot.
Speaker: Have ever had a family member that you were agonizing over them, you love them so much, and yet they were taken captive? Maybe not by an aggressive regime like a Lot was, but by, let's say, failure or fear, maybe fear of rejection, maybe worry or criticism, anger, pride, depression, alcohol, drugs, pornography, sexual immorality,
Speaker: perfectionism even, materialism. I mean, the list could just go on and on. There are all kinds of strongholds or addictions, and it is so heartbreaking when we see um some in our family get caught up in that.
Speaker: You know, each Christian has at least three enemies that they encounter on spiritual battlefields like those mentioned above. the devil and his demons, the world system and the flesh. By the flesh, I mean self-centered living, those three.
Speaker: And so the zip ties or the chains used by these three enemies to bind family members, it can limit their ability to escape. And if they're going to escape, they're going to have to be rescued.
Speaker: They need others who love them and care about them who will say, I'm going to help them to find freedom in Christ. But how? Well, I think Abraham models how to rescue a family member taken hostage in this chapter of Genesis chapter 14.
Speaker: His nephew Lot was forcefully taken in a skirmish that was not really directed against him personally, but he was certainly in the wrong place, which was Sodom, at the wrong time.
Speaker: So let's follow Abraham's footsteps of courage and see what God will say to us today. You know, when i see the opening verses here, I think about how we need to resist.
Speaker: You know, James 4, 7, James 4, 7 says that we should resist the devil and he will flee from us. Sometimes I don't think people are actually resisting.
Speaker: I think we become more passive, rather than you know being vigilant and saying, I'm going to protect things. And so anyway, I think that's what I see in these opening verses.
Speaker: But it says, in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Ariok, king of Elessar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goem, these kings made war.
Speaker: with Bera, king of Sodom, Bersha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Adma, Shimeber, king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela, that is Zoar, and all these joined forces in the valley of Siddam, that is the Salt Sea. 12 years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the 13th year,
Speaker: they rebelled. So let's just stop there. You see, these four kings were coming against ah this coalition of five kings.
Speaker: And what was happening was ah the eastern kings had been ah you know dominating these others for 12 years.
Speaker: But finally, In year 13, they decided, we're going to rebel. We're going to push back. We are starved for freedom. And the book of Judges tells the sad story of life under the rule of ruthless oppressors.
Speaker: If you ever want to know what it's like to lose your freedom as a people, just go to Judges sometimes. It tells that same story over and over again. And the Lord was one of the ones that said, okay, if you won't sin, then I'm going to hand you over to the oppressors.
Speaker: But let's see what happens next in verses four through seven. I think in these verses, there's this revealing, a revelation of the motivations that were behind this war, and behind all these enemies and so forth. So what was the bottom line in this war?
Speaker: Well, in verse four for the five kings, it was simply freedom. Freedom from oppression and endless taxex taxation. For the four kings that came against the five kings, it was about continued control and dominance.
Speaker: But for Abraham, it was all about rescuing his family, his family member Lot. I think there's a spiritual lesson in verses four through seven as to when the battle intensifies from an enemy.
Speaker: As long as we do what they want, pay what they demand, then all go smoothly. But if one tries to break free from bondage, then be prepared for an attack from an enemy.
Speaker: They eliminated any of the possible supportive groups first that were going to maybe assist all of these different kings. And so that's what's happening in verses four through seven.
Speaker: But the battle with the four kings from the east, it did not go well. Here is a brief summary of the casualties of the war. Listen to verses 10 down through verse 13. says,
Speaker: it says now the valley of sium was full of bitum pits and as the kings of sodom and gomorra fled some fell into them And the rest fled to the hill country. So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions and went their way.
Speaker: They also took Lot, the son of Abraham's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom and his possessions and went their way.
Speaker: Then one who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eskel and of Aner.
Speaker: These were allies of Abram. So here's what's happening. You know, there's this review of the devastation that's just taken place. There's been a war happening.
Speaker: Four kings, five kings. They battled against one another. The four kings have come against the five kings because the five kings have said, we're tired of being subjugated by these four kings. And so their motivation was, we're looking for freedom.
Speaker: And so look at what happens, though. Some were running away in verse 10. Some were falling into these pits that were in that part of the country. ah Some were being robbed.
Speaker: They were taking their possessions. Some, like Abram's nephew, Lot, were even taken hostage. And some were trying their best to escape.
Speaker: You know, Jesus said that the devil comes to do three things with his victims. In John 10, 10, he said that the thief comes only to kill to steal and to destroy.
Speaker: So those are some of the devastation things that were happening back then. We know that we see all around us in our society. We see it perhaps in our extended family, maybe even in our immediate family, some of the devastation that's taking place.
Speaker: So if they're going to be freed, are they going to be able to be free by themselves? Or will it take someone who's not being held to come to their rescue?
Speaker: Let's listen to verses 13 through 16. Then one who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eskol and of Aner. These were allies of Abram.
Speaker: When Abram heard that his kinsmen had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.
Speaker: And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus.
Speaker: Then he brought back all the possessions and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions and the women and the people. So what's going on here?
Speaker: you know what What's happening is Abram said, we need to do a rescue operation. But notice that he had to first learn about the need, right? So the first thing that has to happen is there must be communication of the need for rescue.
Speaker: Do you know of a family member? Do you know of a friend? Do you know somebody that you work with? Do you know somebody that lives down the street who spiritually they've been taken captive by the enemy? Maybe by the devil. Maybe by something that some friends have gotten them into.
Speaker: Maybe it's their own decisions. Maybe the flesh. But nevertheless, word has come to you They're in bondage. What will you do next? Well, look at what Abraham chose to do next. Once he heard the communique that said, hey, Lot is in trouble.
Speaker: He's been taken against his will and he's being held as a captive. Next, he started saying, you know what? I cannot rescue Lot by myself.
Speaker: So there was cooperation with others who could assist with the rescue. Did you catch how many trained men that ah Abram had that were in his household? 318.
Speaker: three hundred and eighteen So just think, Abraham has been training a lot of men to serve and to work with him, to help him with the cattle and so forth. So he trusted these men.
Speaker: But I thought it was interesting how he wanted to get these men to help him to rescue Lot. He knew he couldn't do it alone. But notice also verse 14 would tell us, if you're going to launch a rescue,
Speaker: then you're going to have to have compassion. Does it bother you when other people are held captive? Or would you say, you know what? They got themselves into that. It doesn't matter.
Speaker: I think Abram, he was not responsible for the actions of Lot. Lot chose to live in Sodom. Lot chose to be around certain kinds of people that put him in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Speaker: But I think Abram still felt a deep sense of love for Lot. And so he thought, you know what? We're going to have to pull this off. But what are the needs in order to pull off a rescue operation like this? And so they began to make a plan.
Speaker: He divided his forces against them by night. He thought, we're going to do a surprise attack at night. We're also going to come at different angles. So he and his servants, it says, defeated them.
Speaker: But what else did it take? It took courage. Don't you know it took courage? So I believe his courage came from his faith in God. Courage to even attempt such a rescue against a coalition of, well, let's face it, five kings.
Speaker: So five kings are working together. And so what would happen? Well, then also the commitment to carry out the rescue. You know, it says they pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus.
Speaker: Do you know how far that was? They pursued the enemy 150 miles before he was able to finally rescue his nephew Lot.
Speaker: You know it takes commitment to say, I'm in this until we can carry out the mission. I want to rescue my my family member. In his case, he was saying, I want to rescue my nephew Lot.
Speaker: And so notice how he didn't quit until he came he was able to complete the operation to rescue him. We know this because of what verse 16 says.
Speaker: Then Abram brought back all the possessions and also brought back his kinsman Lot with his possessions and the women and the people.
Speaker: So I thought that's amazing that he does this, he pulls this off, but it took traveling long distances. It took inconvenience, it took time. you know He couldn't be there with his family, couldn't be working with his cattle and so forth. Like all of these different things were all happening, but it's all about he wanted to see those who were in captivity experience the freedom.
Speaker: that he was enjoying. And so they were taken against their will by this coalition of kings. And so then he was gonna have to say, okay, we're gonna have to go and rescue them.
Speaker: And they were able to do it. I believe that God helped them to gain the victory as they attempted the rescue mission. But then let's go down to ah the final point of our study for today, verses 17 through 24.
Speaker: When Abraham comes back from the battlefield, back with all of these who had been taken hostage, he was met by two kings upon his return. One, the king of Sodom.
Speaker: The other, the king of Salem. The king of Sodom saw the victory as a human feat. Way, that's way to go, Abraham. You and your 318 men, you pulled it off. You did a great job. You were so courageous.
Speaker: but the king of Salem saw it as a divine work. Let me read this passage and then just sort of put it in slow motion as we bring the message to a close.
Speaker: Verses 17 to 24. After his return from the defeat of Chedor Laomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Sheveh, that is the king's valley.
Speaker: 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.
Speaker: And Abram gave him, this king of Salem, a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom, Verse 1. 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 Blessed, you should say, I have made Abram rich.
Speaker: I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eskol, and Mamre take their share.
Speaker: So let's put it back in slow motion and let's listen to how Abram is trying to give glory to God. Notice that he declines all of these spoils from the battle.
Speaker: He wasn't in it for the money. He wasn't in it for material goods. Remember what Abram was in it for. He wanted to rescue Lot. His was a concern for his life, for his soul, for his well-being.
Speaker: But notice that um after the battle, that one of them was refreshing in what he brought. Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine.
Speaker: Notice that he also was blessing. He was blessing, and I think that blessing was was needed from the depletion from the battle in verse 19, when he says, 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.
Speaker: So you see what he's doing? He's giving God the glory. This king of Salem is saying, God was the one who helped you win that victory, wasn't it Abram? And he said, Abram, may God bless you.
Speaker: And so look at what Abram does. It's sort of an unusual thing. Abram gives to this king of Salem, this king Melchizedek, he gives him a 10th of everything.
Speaker: Some biblical scholars even see within this man a foreshadow of the Lord Jesus Christ, where we give our tithes and our offerings to the Lord.
Speaker: But then notice in verse 24, what is it that he says, I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten and the shares of the men who went with me.
Speaker: Isn't that neat? Whenever you see a leader who appreciates the troops that fought for the victory, that was one, the troops that fought for the freedom,
Speaker: It's like he didn't take their sacrifices for granted. He wanted them to know that he appreciated all that they had done. I hope that you also will show law enforcement and show ah people who are in the protection of our country, let's say our military, to show them your appreciation for all that they do, those who protect our borders and so forth. I'm just so grateful for those who help it protect the freedoms that we enjoy each and every day.
Speaker: But, you know, maybe you would never have to go through something like this. You know, when my wife and I were going to the mission field, we went to a place called ah the Missionary Learning Center.
Speaker: And so there they told us we were going to have something called, well, contingency training. We had never been through contingency training. We assumed that contingency training was all about the lectures, all about the PowerPoint presentations. So we were just, you know, absorbing it all, taking notes and so forth.
Speaker: When all of a sudden, unexpected, a group of armed men suddenly came into the building where we had gathered, screaming in another language, and eventually taking one of our missionaries bound with a zip tie.
Speaker: And we're all left wondering when they lead him out, we thought, what just happened? I mean, all of us just instinctively, you know we we hit the ground and we covered our wives and we we were so, our our hearts were pounding and we were thinking, what is this all about?
Speaker: When finally everything settled and the armed men were gone, the missionary, unfortunately, that was zip tied, he was gone. And we all got up there and we we were trying to make sense of all this. We were in shock.
Speaker: Nothing like this had ever taken place in our lives. And so then the leader comes back to the podium and says, I'm sorry, we needed to do a role play.
Speaker: of what it would be like if you were ever on a mission field somewhere around the world and suddenly armed men burst into your church, burst into your Bible study meeting and took one of your members captive and hostage and so forth.
Speaker: I don't think I'll ever forget that experience. Man, was it ever stressful and and almost frightening because we didn't really know what was happening. All of these men, they had you know ski masks on and they had camo. They were wearing camouflage that like they were in the military. They were carrying what appeared to me to be guns.
Speaker: Thankfully, nobody fired a gun. But I mean, they definitely were holding guns. And then one of our missionaries was blindfolded and zip tied and taken out. Like I said, all of this was just so that we would be prepared.
Speaker: I think it's necessary because there are mission fields around the world where we have missionaries and it's very dangerous. So they have to be prepared. They have to know what to expect.
Speaker: But in similar ways, I think sometimes we need preparation, like Genesis 14, verse, We need to be prepared. What should we do if ever we have someone in our extended family, someone in our community, a neighbor, someone that we care about at work, that we see them go down?
Speaker: They're taken by an addiction, like I mentioned earlier. Remember some of those things that I read off there? You know, pride or depression. Maybe it's alcohol, drugs, pornography, sexual immorality or materialism.
Speaker: There's so many different things that can can take a person that we love, and it's like they're bound. And Jesus said that he came to set the captive free.
Speaker: There are spiritual ah forces at work that are trying to limit people's freedom. But when we come to faith in Christ, suddenly it's like the Lord comes in and he cuts the zip tie. He breaks the chains and he begins to give us the freedom. That's what salvation is all about.
Speaker: And maybe just as someone who's not familiar with the whole process and not familiar with biblical ah principles and truths and so forth, you may look at a church as though it's all about just religion.
Speaker: It's all about traditions and rituals and routines and so forth. But friend, may I assure you, it's about way more than that. It's about people being free, people being free from sin, being free from the consequences of sin, being free from the power of sin, being free from the consequences of sin.
Speaker: There are so many things that I think the Lord Jesus does every single day. They're kind of like in a spiritual world, but I can just assure you that as a pastor, I see how real those things are.
Speaker: These things that I mentioned about fears and depression and so forth, they are real. They're real struggles, just like we face a real enemy. A lot of times we get confused and we think that other other people are the enemy.
Speaker: They're not the enemy. No, the enemy is hidden. The enemy is like the world system that's trying to brainwash our kids. The real enemy is a spiritual foe called the devil. And there are demons that are at work. But in Christ, we're given armor.
Speaker: It's like spiritual armor, such as loincloth of truth. Truth. breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the helmet of salvation.
Speaker: We have a sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. We have a shield that God places within our hand called the shield of faith. And so all of these things are necessary whenever we're living in a broken world that's fallen, that's ah pushed around by so many different things. And Who is ever gonna set a marriage free from what is destroying the marriage, that self-centered living?
Speaker: Only the Lord, only the Lord. You know, when I wake up in the morning, one of the things I do in addition to putting on the armor of God, one of the things I also do is I say, i am crucified with Christ.
Speaker: It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. And I think we need to daily say to the Lord, Lord, please help me spiritually be put to death so that I'm not making decisions out of the flesh so that today I'm making decisions in Christ. I'm making decisions in the power of the Holy Spirit. So God can help you.
Speaker: God can help those who are around you, who are being held captive to all these different forces that are at work. So I hope when you read a passage of scripture like Genesis 14, that you won't just think about some of those ah aggressive regimes that were being, which by the way, Elam and Shinar and the Hurrians and the Hittites, where were they from? Well, they were from Iran and Iraq and Turkey.
Speaker: But who who really was behind all of that? Well, of course, the enemy. Satan was behind that. And you know the world system was behind that. And so we have to say, okay, if the flesh is my enemy, if the world system and and all of these kind of things that are trying to lead my kids astray and brainwash them, if that's the enemy, and if the spiritual foe, the devil, Satan is the enemy, then I need to know how to fight. And I certainly need to know how to rescue.
Speaker: And so I want you to know that the gospel of Jesus Christ will set the captive free. Jesus said, he who knows the truth, that the truth will set you free.
Speaker: And so let's pray and ask the Lord to guide us as we are on mission with him today. to try to set those free who are held captive by sin, by Satan, by the world that pushes them around and by the flesh. Let's pray together. Lord, I'm so glad that you place passages like Genesis 14 in our Bible. And even though it's about an ancient war,
Speaker: We can see that really there are principles involved there, how to cooperate with others so that we can rescue others. And I see in my own mind easily how we work with other Christians. We cooperate with our church.
Speaker: Our church cooperates with other churches in how we help do mission work around the world. It's amazing. all the ways that you guide us, but it's all about your mission and how you want people to experience true spiritual freedom that filters down into daily life.
Speaker: And so, Lord, we're so grateful for all that you do for us. We thank you, Jesus. that you overcame the enemy on the cross. He threw everything he could to try to make you sin and disobey the Father. But Lord Jesus, you obeyed the Father, even to your very last breath. And that's why your sacrificial death on the cross overcame every every strategy that the enemy has.
Speaker: And so we serve a risen Savior, and a triumphal Savior. And so we're so glad, Lord, that you're the captain who leads our army. So lead us as we go through the rest of our day, as we go through the rest of this week. Help us to look around us and see those who need to be rescued, just like Abraham chose to get involved and to rescue Lot.
Speaker: I pray that we would be involved in outreach and say, who can I help with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that sets the captive free? In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Speaker: Well, thank you so much for listening, friend. i pray that God will bless you as you go through the rest of your day.
Speaker: This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.
