WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.160 Now, let's read together from Genesis chapter 14. 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:09.279 First book of the Bible, Genesis 14. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:17.839 In the days of Ampraphel, King of Shinar, Ariach, King of Elasar, Kedor, Lyomer, King 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:22.800 of Elam, and Tidol, King of Goim, or that's King of Nations. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:28.280 These kings made war with Barah, the King of Sodom, Bersha, the King of Gomorrah, Sheenab, 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:34.840 the King of Admach, Shemeber, King of Zaboyim, and the King of Bela, that is Zohar. 00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:39.719 And all these joined forces in the valley of Sidim, that is the Salt Sea. 00:00:39.719 --> 00:00:45.480 Twelve years they had served Kedor, Lyomer, but in the 13th year they rebelled. 00:00:45.480 --> 00:00:50.200 And in the 14th year, Kedor, Lyomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:58.159 the Refi'im and Ashutoroth, Karnaeim, the Zuzim and Ham, the Emim and Shavei, Curiothaim, 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:03.519 and the Horites, and their hill country of Sayyir, as far as El-Paran on the border of 00:01:03.519 --> 00:01:04.519 the wilderness. 00:01:04.519 --> 00:01:10.920 Then they turned back and came to Enmishpot, that is Kadesh, and defeated all the country 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:17.719 of the Emilokites, and also the Emorites who were dwelling in Hazizonte Mor. 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:21.560 You got that? 00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:27.239 Then the King of Sodom, the King of Gomorrah, the King of Admach, the King of Zaboyim, and 00:01:27.239 --> 00:01:33.239 the King of Bela, that is Zohar, went out and they joined battle in the valley of Sidim 00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:40.319 with Kedor, Lyomer, King of Elam, Tidal, King of Goim, Amphrafel, King of Shinar, and Eriach, 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:44.000 King of Elisar, four kings against five. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:49.519 Now the valley of Sidim was full of bitumen pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:53.799 fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country. 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:59.079 So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and 00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:04.280 went their way, and they also took Lot, the son of Abram's brother who was dwelling in 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:08.759 Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way. 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:13.759 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:18.560 Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshkol and of Anir. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:20.639 These were allies of Abram. 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:26.799 When Abram heard that his kinsmen had been taken, Lot, he led forth his trained men, 00:02:26.799 --> 00:02:32.599 born in his house, three hundred and eighteen of them, and went and pursued as far as Dan, 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:37.919 and he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:42.039 and pursued them to Hobach, north of Damascus. 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:47.079 Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back the kinsmen, his kinsmen, 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:51.440 Lot, with his possessions, and the women, and the people. 00:02:51.440 --> 00:02:55.360 After his return from the defeat of Kedor, Leomur, and the kings who were with him, the 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:00.360 king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shavay, that is the king's valley, 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:05.920 and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. 00:03:05.920 --> 00:03:12.480 He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed him and said, blessed be Abram by God Most 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:18.039 High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered 00:03:18.039 --> 00:03:22.799 your enemies into your hand, and Abram gave him a tenth of everything. 00:03:22.799 --> 00:03:28.000 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:33.359 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted my hand of the Lord, God Most High, 00:03:33.359 --> 00:03:38.039 possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything 00:03:38.039 --> 00:03:39.519 that is yours. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:45.400 Plus you might say, I've made Abram rich, I will take nothing, but what the young men 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:51.160 have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, let Anir, Eshkol, and Mamre take 00:03:51.160 --> 00:03:52.400 their share. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:56.200 This is God's holy word. 00:03:56.200 --> 00:04:01.640 This past week and this week, Sunday nights, we are looking at a couple stories about Lot, 00:04:01.640 --> 00:04:04.400 Abram and Lot, Abram and his nephew Lot. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:10.640 And we saw last week that Lot and Abram were standing in the Promised Land, and they were 00:04:10.640 --> 00:04:13.000 going to divide the land up. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:15.960 And Abram said, you can take anywhere you want to live, Lot. 00:04:15.960 --> 00:04:22.480 And Lot lifted up his eyes, looked at Sodom and Gomorrah, and chose that place, because 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:25.639 he said it looked to him like the garden of the Lord. 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:30.759 And so we learned last week that the problem with human beings, the essence of sin, is that 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:35.480 the eyes of our heart are broken, and that they're ultimately self-centered, and that 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:42.039 we lift up our eyes, we look out at things in this world God has made, and we want things 00:04:42.039 --> 00:04:44.759 more than we want God himself. 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:50.480 And so we see something, a creaturely thing, and we say, if I had that, that would be like 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:53.279 the garden of the Lord to me. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:58.360 And we choose, we choose a garden that God did not want for us. 00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:03.240 And when we do that, we poison our life, and that the real problem with us is that we're 00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:07.520 so self-centered that we want the garden of the Lord without the Lord himself. 00:05:07.520 --> 00:05:13.680 And so theologians and Bible students for 2,000 years have said at the heart of what's 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:18.879 going on right here in every single one of us is a self-centeredness that really becomes 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:24.199 an envy, and there's an envy of God himself. 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:27.520 You know, Adam and Eve had everything they could have possibly wanted in the Garden of 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:31.159 Eden, everything, and it wasn't enough. 00:05:31.159 --> 00:05:32.279 They wanted something more. 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:35.199 They were envious, and they were envious of God himself. 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:39.439 They said, you know, I don't just want the garden you gave me, I want to be the God of 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:43.799 the garden, and so they wanted God's divine life. 00:05:43.799 --> 00:05:48.079 And so at the heart of what's wrong with all of us is that, this self-centeredness that 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:56.359 turns things in this world into Eden, into replacing God's garden with other things and 00:05:56.360 --> 00:06:00.400 putting ourselves as the God of the center, each garden. 00:06:00.400 --> 00:06:07.360 Now Lot looked out last week, I'm going to have to drink a lot of water tonight, sorry. 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:15.120 Lot looked out last week, and he saw Sodom and Gomorrah, he said, you know, I don't 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:17.160 need old-timey religion. 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:18.160 I don't need God. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:20.120 I've got a great CV. 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:21.800 I've got really good prospects. 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:23.840 I know how to make money. 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:26.519 I can move to Sodom and Gomorrah, and I can get rich. 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:28.079 I can do it myself. 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:29.639 I don't need the old traditionalist stuff. 00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:31.959 I don't need religion. 00:06:31.959 --> 00:06:33.399 That's what he said. 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:36.039 And this week, that story carries on. 00:06:36.039 --> 00:06:39.959 We knew last week already that Sodom was doomed to judgment, ultimately. 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:45.719 And we see Sodom under judgment this week, and in both passages we learn that if you look 00:06:45.719 --> 00:06:52.199 for paradise on your own terms, if you look for paradise on your own terms, it'll poison 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:54.240 your life. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:56.879 And that's what happens in sin. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:02.199 And so we see the next steps tonight, this very wonderful passage we read, very strange, 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:06.240 lots of hard names, but it's about some of the same things. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:07.240 And so let's think about that. 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:14.959 We're going to see the little king, and then the big priest king, and then finally Abram's 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:20.800 choice, and that's going to help us see what Abram and Lot teach us tonight. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:22.439 So first, the little king. 00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:29.840 All right, if you read through the Abram story, it's really focused on Abram and his family. 00:07:29.840 --> 00:07:35.960 And then all of a sudden you come to Genesis chapter 14, and it expands very widely. 00:07:35.960 --> 00:07:42.920 And all of a sudden we read about nine kings and international affairs and a big old war 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:44.240 that's taking place. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:50.639 And so there's a very sudden genre change into international military campaigns. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:56.639 And that means that I think the writer is trying to say Abram in the meantime has become 00:07:56.639 --> 00:07:58.680 an international figure. 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:03.079 He's become a big player in the scene in the land of Canaan. 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:06.839 And here, here's the, I don't know if you call it all the details of exactly what's 00:08:06.839 --> 00:08:12.120 happening in this war, but what is happening is that there are four kings from the region 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:14.439 Babylonia. 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:19.319 Ceredo Leomur is the big one, and then he's got three other guys underneath him, and they 00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:24.680 have subjugated all the little regional kings around the Dead Sea. 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:28.319 So that's both in the Promised Land and just outside of the Promised Land. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:31.159 The king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah are a couple of those. 00:08:31.159 --> 00:08:35.879 So there's the big Babylonia kings and then the little vassal kings. 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:40.679 And the little vassal kings around the Dead Sea have been servants of the big Babylonia 00:08:40.679 --> 00:08:44.720 kings for a long, long time, 15 years. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:48.200 And all of a sudden the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and these guys, they 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:50.220 say, you know, we're going to break away from Babylon. 00:08:50.220 --> 00:08:51.480 We're going to push back. 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:52.960 We're going to fight back. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:56.440 And so they revolt against the Babylonian kings. 00:08:56.440 --> 00:09:00.920 And the Babylonian kings say, well, we need to go put these guys in their place. 00:09:00.920 --> 00:09:06.720 And so the Babylonian kings raise up an army and they go to the Dead Sea and they destroy 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:08.360 all these little vassal kings. 00:09:08.360 --> 00:09:09.879 And it was easy. 00:09:09.879 --> 00:09:13.120 And we read that the king of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their people, they fell into all 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:16.520 these tar pits trying to get away from the Babylonian kings. 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:18.759 It was all a big mess. 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:24.879 And in the midst of it, Abram's nephew Lot just so happens to get captured. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:28.000 So Lot and his family are taken away. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:33.240 Now remember last week we said, if you were here, we talked about how Abram gets called 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:34.240 to the Promised Land. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:40.439 And the first thing that happens is he goes straight down to Egypt and then his wife becomes 00:09:40.439 --> 00:09:42.360 a slave of Pharaoh. 00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:44.199 So the people of God are enslaved by Pharaoh. 00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:47.080 And then to get the people of God out of slavery, God does what? 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:48.759 He sends a plague. 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:53.160 And then because of the plague, Abram's able to take his people out of Egypt. 00:09:53.160 --> 00:09:56.520 It sounds a lot like something that's going to happen later, the Exodus story. 00:09:56.520 --> 00:10:02.400 And then the very next story, this story, all of a sudden Babylon captures one of God's 00:10:02.400 --> 00:10:04.280 people, Lot. 00:10:04.280 --> 00:10:07.040 And now Babylon's got a hold of Lot. 00:10:07.040 --> 00:10:08.840 And Lot's got to be one of God's people. 00:10:08.840 --> 00:10:10.360 He's got to be a rescued from Babylon. 00:10:10.360 --> 00:10:16.800 And so Abram goes to rescue his nephew from these Babylonian kings. 00:10:16.800 --> 00:10:19.519 Now here's the point. 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:21.600 The text is very specific. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:28.480 Abram takes, it tells us 318 men, verse 14, very specific. 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:35.080 Now if you've got five Babylonian kings, four Babylonian kings coming from the land of Babylon, 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:40.440 the great kingdom, the oldest kingdom, they had more than that. 00:10:40.440 --> 00:10:42.240 They had a lot more than that. 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:45.879 And you see, you should, when you really think about it carefully, you should see there's 00:10:45.879 --> 00:10:51.720 a reason he tells us, there's 318 men because there is no way on earth that a guy with 318 00:10:51.720 --> 00:10:56.639 men should go conquer the four Babylonian kings. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:10:58.320 And yet he does. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:00.120 And he saves his nephew. 00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:05.399 And the point of the passage is to say Abram has become a king. 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:08.560 God had called him out of Babylon and promised him, you're going to be great. 00:11:08.560 --> 00:11:09.560 You're going to be a great man. 00:11:09.560 --> 00:11:11.320 And I'm going to make you into a great nation. 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:12.720 And it's happening. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:17.840 And Abram's become this great international figure who now has eclipsed the Babylonian 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:20.039 kings. 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:24.919 There are nine kings in the story so far. 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:27.159 And Abram has the smallest army. 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:28.759 He's just a clan head. 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:31.559 And yet it's saying he is greater than them all. 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:35.200 God has made him greater than every single one of them. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:36.279 He's greater than Pharaoh. 00:11:36.279 --> 00:11:37.639 He's greater than Babylon. 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:39.519 He's greater than Sodom. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:46.759 And the point of the passage is to say he's totally eclipsed. 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:48.960 Abram is a very great king. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:52.159 He's got the power to defeat Babylon. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:53.439 And he does it. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:12:00.160 And then all of a sudden Melchizedek walks in the room and Abram is eclipsed. 00:12:00.160 --> 00:12:05.400 The text turns our attention to Melchizedek and says, who's Abram? 00:12:05.400 --> 00:12:07.320 Melchizedek is everything. 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:11.000 He becomes the center and the main figure, the great king. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:12.400 Melchizedek fades. 00:12:12.400 --> 00:12:13.400 He's seconded. 00:12:13.400 --> 00:12:14.400 He's dwarfed. 00:12:14.400 --> 00:12:15.400 He's upstaged. 00:12:15.400 --> 00:12:21.640 If you look with me down to verse 17, look at how strange Melchizedek's entrance is 00:12:21.640 --> 00:12:22.640 in this passage. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:31.439 It says that in verse 17, after Abram defeats Kedor Leomor, the Babylonian kings, the king 00:12:31.439 --> 00:12:37.080 of Sodom went out to meet Abram in the valley of Shavay, the king's valley. 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:41.399 Now verse 18 to 20, if you have a Bible, you can see are all about Melchizedek. 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:46.199 But if you just cover that up with your hand, it says the king of Sodom, verse 17, went 00:12:46.199 --> 00:12:49.000 out to meet Abram in the valley. 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:55.480 And then look at verse 21, and the king of Sodom said to Abram. 00:12:55.480 --> 00:13:00.679 So if you cover up the whole Melchizedek section, it makes total sense. 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:05.639 The king of Sodom went out to meet Abram in the valley, verse 17, verse 21, and the king 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:07.759 of Sodom said. 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:10.879 But yet there's this interlude. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:14.320 The king of Sodom came out, but there was Melchizedek. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:20.000 Abram, the great victor over everybody, came out, but there was Melchizedek. 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:21.600 And so Abram is eclipsed. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:23.000 He's seconded. 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:25.920 He's the great king, but he's not really. 00:13:25.920 --> 00:13:31.160 And so we see here that this great king becomes a little king as soon as this strange figure, 00:13:31.160 --> 00:13:32.520 Melchizedek, comes to the show. 00:13:32.520 --> 00:13:35.040 Now here's what we learn. 00:13:35.040 --> 00:13:43.560 Genesis 14 I think shows us that when you come to the Bible into the Old Testament, you 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:50.799 can't come to the Old Testament simply looking for help with your faith, simply looking for 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:56.839 help on a personal level with self-improvement and even self-improvement when it comes to 00:13:56.839 --> 00:13:58.839 your Christian faith. 00:13:58.839 --> 00:14:01.599 In other words, you come to the Old Testament and you see that there are a lot of great 00:14:01.599 --> 00:14:03.959 examples, and Abram is one of them. 00:14:03.959 --> 00:14:09.879 Here we have a great example of what happens when God blesses somebody. 00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:12.879 And you can come to the Old Testament and say, look, look at what happens. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:18.759 Abram was so blessed by God, he was faithful, and God gave him this ability, this power 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:21.559 with 318 men to do such great things. 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:23.120 Look at what faith can do for you. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:25.120 You can be blessed like this. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:28.600 And there really are great examples of faith in the Old Testament. 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:32.240 Hebrews 11 says, by faith, Abraham did so much. 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:34.480 And so come and look at him and learn from his faith. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:39.720 But when you come to Genesis 14, one of the things you realize is that while Abram was 00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:45.960 a great man of faith, the text is trying to get you to say, but he's nothing. 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:48.120 He's great, but he's not the thing. 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:50.399 He's not what you're looking for. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:53.759 When you come to the Old Testament, you're not looking for great examples of faith, even 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:57.360 though they're there, you're looking for something much more than that. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:04.399 And that's why in the Gospels, in the Gospel of Luke, after the resurrection, Jesus was 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:08.440 walking down the road to Emmaus with some of his followers. 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:11.240 And he turned to them in their misunderstanding. 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:17.760 And he said, the whole Old Testament is about me. 00:15:17.760 --> 00:15:23.920 And he said that the law of Moses, it said that for the rest of the day, he explained 00:15:23.920 --> 00:15:28.640 to them how the law of Moses, that's the first five books, and then the prophets, which 00:15:28.640 --> 00:15:32.920 is the next big section of the Old Testament, and then the writings, which is the Psalms 00:15:32.920 --> 00:15:34.520 and all the wisdom literature. 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:39.399 It said he explained how it was all about him. 00:15:39.399 --> 00:15:42.720 And that means that when you come to this passage, it's no secret. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:49.960 We read it, we sang it in Psalm 110, we read about it in Hebrews 5, 6, and 7, that Melchizedek 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:53.319 is deeply connected to Jesus Christ. 00:15:53.319 --> 00:15:56.759 And that means when you come to Genesis 14, you're at first to say, wow, Abraham is really 00:15:56.759 --> 00:15:57.759 great. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:01.639 And then wait, I don't come to the Old Testament for this. 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:08.360 I come to find Jesus, because Jesus told me that in Luke 24. 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:11.600 And right here when I come to Melchizedek, it's so true. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:12.600 I read it. 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:13.600 He's right here. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:14.600 There's something. 00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:15.600 It's something about Jesus right here. 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:16.600 Now that's the first thing. 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:22.319 Now the second thing, not only do we see the little king and the bigger king, but then 00:16:22.319 --> 00:16:28.120 secondly, then let's look at the big king, Melchizedek, the priest king himself. 00:16:28.120 --> 00:16:35.200 All right, like I just said, it's no secret that the New Testament connects Melchizedek 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:37.399 directly to Jesus. 00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:42.039 Hebrews 5, Hebrews 6, Hebrews 7 makes a lot of that. 00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:47.279 Who is this guy, Melchizedek, that shows up here? 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:55.600 One of the great late biblical scholars, Mike Heiser, Old Testament scholar, he says that 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:59.560 Melchizedek is the most difficult subject in all of the Bible. 00:16:59.560 --> 00:17:03.879 All right, so we got 10 minutes. 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:05.480 We'll get it taken care of. 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:10.120 No, there's so much here we can't say about Melchizedek. 00:17:10.120 --> 00:17:11.120 But what can we say? 00:17:11.120 --> 00:17:12.120 All right, here's what we can say. 00:17:12.120 --> 00:17:13.360 Who is he? 00:17:13.360 --> 00:17:17.240 If you want to go get a job today, some of you are job hunting right now, you've got 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:19.440 to have marketable skills. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:23.680 You've got to have a good CV in this modern world we live in. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:25.200 And that's the same in the Old Testament. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:27.480 There is an Old Testament CV. 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:30.279 And the Old Testament CV is mainly two things. 00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:33.600 Who is your dad and how much land do you own? 00:17:33.600 --> 00:17:37.319 That's really the basic things people are looking for. 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:38.559 He has a CV. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:41.960 You can learn about who they are from their CV in the Old Testament. 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:44.120 Who is this man? 00:17:44.120 --> 00:17:46.039 Hebrews 7, 3 says this about him. 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:47.519 It says it's an argument from silence. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:49.840 He comes to us in Genesis 14. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:57.759 Hebrews 7 says, and he has no family, no father, no mother, no burial place. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:17:59.480 And this is what Hebrews 7 says. 00:17:59.480 --> 00:18:08.359 He says he has no beginning of days or end of days, but he is one like the Son of God. 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:12.079 So we don't know much about him, but he doesn't have a beginning and he doesn't have an end. 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:13.079 That's what we're told. 00:18:13.079 --> 00:18:14.079 He has no father. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:15.799 He has no mother. 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:19.279 He has no birthday nor burial day. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:20.279 From where does he come? 00:18:20.279 --> 00:18:26.559 And the text tells us here in Hebrews 7, 2, we're told he comes from Salem. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:32.279 And Salem is in the Hebrew text doesn't have vowels originally. 00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:38.639 So if you read it, it'll just say S-L-M, which are the letters for Shalom. 00:18:38.639 --> 00:18:42.799 And so when you come to the New Testament, it says he is the king of peace, Shalom. 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:46.680 He's the king of Salem, this place called Salem. 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:51.120 But one thing we learn here is that he comes, they are standing next to actually Shavay, 00:18:51.120 --> 00:18:52.120 the king's valley. 00:18:52.120 --> 00:18:59.600 And Shavay, the king's valley is right next to the future site of Jerusalem. 00:18:59.600 --> 00:19:02.440 And so this is the king of Salem. 00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:07.200 And that Salem will one day be called Jerusalem, Jerusalem. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:12.519 And so he is the first earliest king we know of, of the great city before it ever was a 00:19:12.519 --> 00:19:18.160 city called Jerusalem, also called the city of Shalom, peace. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:19.480 All right? 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:22.519 So that's a little bit about where he comes from. 00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:23.519 And then what is he? 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:25.319 We're told he's a king. 00:19:25.319 --> 00:19:26.920 Now that's built right into his name. 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:33.680 So Malak Zidek, Melchizedek, means king of righteousness or king of my righteousness. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:35.440 And so here's what we have. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:39.000 We're told he is named my king of righteousness. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:40.079 He comes out of nowhere. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:41.720 He doesn't have a dad or a mom. 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:45.600 He never was born and he never dies. 00:19:45.600 --> 00:19:46.680 His name is righteousness. 00:19:46.680 --> 00:19:49.120 He's the king of the city of peace. 00:19:49.120 --> 00:19:54.160 And at the same time, he is the priest of the Most High God, El Elyon, the priest of God. 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:55.319 We're told. 00:19:55.319 --> 00:20:02.160 And so this is this guy, this interlude who makes Abram look so secondary. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:08.079 He is the priest king of Jerusalem without beginning, without end. 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:10.440 Does it sound familiar? 00:20:10.440 --> 00:20:13.000 Now who is he? 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:17.640 If you look at inter-testamental studies on this, you know, what the Jewish scholars 00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:22.080 were saying about him from the Old Testament before the New Testament, they all thought 00:20:22.080 --> 00:20:27.840 that Malak Zidek most often was an archangel like Michael or Gabriel. 00:20:27.840 --> 00:20:31.880 That's one of the more common readings. 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:36.600 When you come to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews says he's a shadow. 00:20:36.600 --> 00:20:37.600 You don't know. 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:41.359 All of a sudden, Hebrews kind of kicks the door open and lets them light in. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:42.959 And Hebrews says he is a type. 00:20:42.959 --> 00:20:44.719 He's a forerunner. 00:20:44.719 --> 00:20:51.639 He's a prefigurement of one like the Son of Man that was to come, Jesus Christ. 00:20:51.639 --> 00:20:59.559 Now is this the Son of God shown up in the middle of this passage before Jesus, before 00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:02.319 the Son of God would ever take on human flesh? 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:03.319 Maybe. 00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:05.359 I don't know. 00:21:05.359 --> 00:21:06.599 Probably. 00:21:06.599 --> 00:21:14.480 But we know that what Hebrews says is Jesus Christ comes after the order of this man, Malak 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:17.519 Zidek, according to the order of Malak Zidek. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:18.519 Now what does that mean? 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:20.679 And we'll wrap up this point like this. 00:21:20.679 --> 00:21:21.679 What does that mean? 00:21:21.679 --> 00:21:22.679 And it means this. 00:21:22.679 --> 00:21:25.679 It means lots, but just two. 00:21:25.679 --> 00:21:33.480 The first thing it means is that we said last time that the book of Genesis is really headlined 00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:41.319 by Genesis 315, that when sin enters the world, there is a promise from God that one day there 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:46.599 would be a son, a seed that would crush the head of the serpent, that would kill sin and 00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:51.319 death forever, that there's a baby coming, a Messiah that will fix everything that was 00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:52.720 broken. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:56.000 And so we're meant to be in the book of Genesis tracing that. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:57.000 Who is it? 00:21:57.000 --> 00:21:58.000 Who's the seed? 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.000 Is it Abram? 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:00.200 Is it Lot? 00:22:00.200 --> 00:22:01.720 Last week we realized, no, it is not Lot. 00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:04.079 And this week we come and say, but could it be Abram? 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:05.920 Look what he did. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:08.839 318 men, he defeats Babylon. 00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:10.400 He's greater than Pharaoh. 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:11.720 It could be Abram. 00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:16.920 And then all of a sudden, Malak Zidek shows up and we say, no, it's not Abram. 00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:18.880 He's upstage too. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:25.200 And we learn that the Messiah we are looking for must be one according to the order of Malak 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:27.440 Zidek, like Malak Zidek. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:29.360 That's what Hebrews tells us. 00:22:29.360 --> 00:22:30.360 Now what does that mean? 00:22:30.359 --> 00:22:39.919 That's we're looking for a king, a king of peace, a king of Shalom, a king of Jerusalem. 00:22:39.919 --> 00:22:40.919 We're looking for one. 00:22:40.919 --> 00:22:47.399 Remember that there are 11 total kings in this passage and Abram is better than nine 00:22:47.399 --> 00:22:50.119 of them, but there is one that is better than the rest. 00:22:50.119 --> 00:22:56.240 We're being told the order of Malak Zidek means there is a king that is above all kings. 00:22:56.240 --> 00:22:59.279 And you come to the New Testament and you realize, there he is. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:01.519 Jesus Christ is the king above all kings. 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:04.200 He's one after the order of Malak Zidek. 00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:06.240 It's been prophesied for this long. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:07.920 You couldn't make this up. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:09.319 You couldn't write it. 00:23:09.319 --> 00:23:10.799 You couldn't make it up if it was fiction. 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:11.960 It's real. 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:12.960 He really is. 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:16.839 King above all kings, one after the order of Malak Zidek. 00:23:16.839 --> 00:23:21.200 We need one that has no beginning or end. 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:26.879 And we come in and we learn about Jesus Christ, who is the God-man, divine, forever eternal, 00:23:26.879 --> 00:23:29.160 no beginning, no end. 00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:30.160 There's one more. 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:34.759 Secondly, he's also, we learn he has to be the priest king, not just a king, but also 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:36.880 a priest. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:38.920 And we read about that here with Malak Zidek. 00:23:38.920 --> 00:23:45.000 It says that, verse 18, he was priest of God most high. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:47.840 And then he does all these priestly things. 00:23:47.840 --> 00:23:57.240 Now here's the very important point to really, I think, open this passage up in the Old Testament. 00:23:57.240 --> 00:24:02.440 One of the things we see is that the king and the priest can never be both king and 00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:04.680 priest. 00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:05.680 There was David. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:07.960 You know, David wasn't allowed to be a priest. 00:24:07.960 --> 00:24:11.880 There's the line of Aaron, the priest, and they're not allowed to be the kings. 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:16.079 And in the Old Testament, in God's people, God said, these have to be separate offices, 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:17.640 kings and priests. 00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:24.240 There's only one time, one time where we find somebody who is both king and priest. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:28.880 Simultaneously, the priest king, Malak Zidek, and then the New Testament comes and says, 00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:29.920 who's the Messiah going to be? 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:35.720 It's going to be one that's in the order of Malak Zidek, one who is both priest and king 00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:36.720 simultaneously. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:41.440 Could there be a priest and a king, one who does both roles at the same time? 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:44.440 And the New Testament says, yes, it's Jesus Christ. 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:46.920 He is both priest and king. 00:24:46.920 --> 00:24:55.920 Saul got in trouble in 1 Samuel 13 as the king for making sacrifices like a priest, 00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:58.080 and God cursed him for that. 00:24:58.080 --> 00:25:04.800 You come to the song we sang earlier, Psalm 110, and it says that David looked up into 00:25:04.800 --> 00:25:11.200 the heavens and he saw the Lord God speak to his Lord, a second Lord. 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:17.480 And he said, and I saw that Lord as a priest after the order of Malak Zidek in the heavenly 00:25:17.480 --> 00:25:18.480 realm. 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:25.120 In other words, David realized, he said, there is a second Yahweh God, the Father, but also 00:25:25.120 --> 00:25:28.799 the Son standing there, and he is both priest and king in heaven forever. 00:25:28.799 --> 00:25:32.120 He said, I saw him, and he looked like Malak Zidek. 00:25:32.120 --> 00:25:35.640 He reminds me of what I read in Genesis 14. 00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:38.640 And then Hebrews comes and says, oh, that's Jesus. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:39.640 That's Jesus Christ. 00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:41.880 There's five, six, and seven. 00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:53.759 Now in Genesis 14 here, Abram is a weary soldier, a weary warrior coming off the battlefield. 00:25:53.759 --> 00:26:01.880 And he comes to Malak Zidek and Malak Zidek gives him a feast of bread and wine. 00:26:01.880 --> 00:26:08.720 And in the Old Testament, the Levites, the priest would give bread and wine after the 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:09.720 sacrifices. 00:26:09.720 --> 00:26:13.640 It reminds us of the Passover meal, this priestly work. 00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:16.480 And then Malak Zidek blesses Abraham. 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:18.640 He gives him a benediction. 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:22.440 And when you come to the temple in the Old Testament, the priest would share bread with 00:26:22.440 --> 00:26:26.720 you, and then after the end of the sacrifice, he would lift up his hand and bless you and 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:28.920 give you a blessing, a benediction. 00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:30.319 And then you would turn and give what? 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:33.000 You would give your tithe to the priest. 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:37.480 And before the priestly institution was ever invoked here in the Old Testament, Abram 00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:41.440 gives his tithe to Malak Zidek. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:47.640 Now listen, Abram came to this guy, Malak Zidek, not knowing exactly who he was, but 00:26:47.640 --> 00:26:51.000 knowing I want to be blessed by him. 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:53.400 I want to sit at his table. 00:26:53.400 --> 00:26:57.120 I want to drink his wine and eat his bread. 00:26:57.120 --> 00:27:01.920 I want his hand to come over my head and pronounce over me that the Lord sees me and knows me 00:27:01.920 --> 00:27:03.200 and loves me. 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:04.200 He wanted it. 00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:09.559 And he said, he knew that he was standing in the presence of something truly great that 00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:11.759 he could not understand. 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:18.360 And that's because he was standing in the presence of the order of the Son of God. 00:27:18.360 --> 00:27:21.160 He knew it. 00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:24.360 This is exactly what we need, and here's why. 00:27:24.360 --> 00:27:28.880 A priest king. 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:37.080 A king is God's emissary of justice to the people. 00:27:37.080 --> 00:27:42.320 When you break the law, the king brings justice to the land. 00:27:42.320 --> 00:27:45.200 The king establishes the law and orders the land. 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:48.640 The king is the one who brings judgment. 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:53.600 That's the role of the king to establish justice in all the land. 00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:59.919 But the priest, the priest is there for when you break God's law, you break the king's 00:27:59.919 --> 00:28:05.119 command and you cannot stand before the king lest you be judged forever. 00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:07.000 You need a priest. 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:12.000 You need a priest who will bring a sacrifice for you before God and say, and represent 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:15.679 you and say before God, this one is repentant. 00:28:15.679 --> 00:28:17.399 Forgive this one. 00:28:17.399 --> 00:28:20.959 Do not bring the judgment and justice of the king upon this one. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:27.000 Instead, tell the king, show this one mercy, show this one love, show this one grace. 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:29.400 You need a king to establish justice. 00:28:29.400 --> 00:28:30.600 You need a priest. 00:28:30.600 --> 00:28:33.960 Otherwise, you'll never be able to stand before the king. 00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:38.400 What if there could be one that was both priest and king at the same time? 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:44.319 One pastor said it like this, the king is like a strong father. 00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:47.640 The priest like a merciful, compassionate mother. 00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:53.320 In the way God set it up in some ways in the Old Testament, could there be one, one man 00:28:53.320 --> 00:28:54.320 who was both? 00:28:54.320 --> 00:28:55.480 Yes. 00:28:55.480 --> 00:28:59.400 It's Jesus Christ, Hebrews tells us. 00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:05.920 He's the lion of the tribe of Judah, the great strong king, and he's the lamb who can 00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:07.920 take away the sins of the world. 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:09.640 He's both king and priest simultaneously. 00:29:09.640 --> 00:29:12.120 He's both at the same time. 00:29:12.120 --> 00:29:16.680 Look, this is the savior we have. 00:29:16.680 --> 00:29:26.200 If you only have a king, every single one of us as sinners would stand only in just judgment. 00:29:26.200 --> 00:29:33.560 If you only have a king, if you only have a priest, there would be no one to finally put 00:29:33.560 --> 00:29:37.320 all things wrong in the world back to rights. 00:29:37.320 --> 00:29:40.340 You need a king that can bring shalom. 00:29:40.340 --> 00:29:44.799 You need a priest that can get you to stand before the king and write relationship. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:46.600 That's why you need the priest king. 00:29:46.599 --> 00:29:50.439 You need one who is both for you at the very same time. 00:29:50.439 --> 00:30:02.359 In John 17, Jesus Christ lifts up his voice to the Lord and says about the people he was 00:30:02.359 --> 00:30:08.119 about to die for, I've prayed for you. 00:30:08.119 --> 00:30:15.719 We call that the high priestly prayer, meaning he said, I'm doing this priestly thing for 00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:17.240 you before the Lord right now. 00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:18.839 I'm interceding. 00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:22.000 I am bringing you back to God. 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:24.120 I'm preasting for you. 00:30:24.120 --> 00:30:30.360 In the very next passage, he goes to the cross and the king goes and gives himself as the 00:30:30.360 --> 00:30:32.440 lamb the sacrifice. 00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:36.799 The king presented his own body as a priestly sacrifice for you. 00:30:36.799 --> 00:30:38.160 The king is all about justice. 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:40.160 The priest is all about mercy. 00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:45.640 At the point of the cross, justice and mercy kiss. 00:30:45.640 --> 00:30:49.640 They come together and that's our salvation. 00:30:49.640 --> 00:30:52.600 The priest king, one after the order of Melchizedek. 00:30:52.600 --> 00:30:57.600 Now finally, thirdly, Abrams choice. 00:30:57.600 --> 00:31:04.759 At the very end of the passage, verse 21, something happens to Abram. 00:31:04.759 --> 00:31:11.080 And that's that after he has met the priest king, he has seen the need in his life for 00:31:11.080 --> 00:31:14.300 both mercy and justice. 00:31:14.299 --> 00:31:22.000 The king of Sodom says to him, give me the people, take the goods for yourself. 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:27.480 And Abram says to the king of Sodom, I will not take anything from you. 00:31:27.480 --> 00:31:33.119 I promise the Lord lest you think that you made me rich. 00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:39.359 Now what's happening here is that Abram is being confronted with the anti Melchizedek. 00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:41.519 He's that remember, this is the king of Sodom. 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:45.000 We know what's about to happen to Sodom. 00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.119 You see, what's happening here is that the king of Sodom was standing the whole time 00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:52.960 watching what Melchizedek said to Abram. 00:31:52.960 --> 00:31:54.119 And Abram gave a tenth. 00:31:54.119 --> 00:31:55.359 He bowed the knee. 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:58.160 He recognized Melchizedek's greatness. 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:02.599 And now the king of Sodom saying, give me some of that. 00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:03.920 Give me a tenth too. 00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:06.079 Bow the knee to me. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:10.639 In other words, the king of Sodom is saying to him, look, I know that Melchizedek promises 00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:14.280 you a lot and a benediction and a blessing and all these things and justice and mercy 00:32:14.280 --> 00:32:15.280 and all that. 00:32:15.280 --> 00:32:21.200 But if you will give me a tenth, a tithe, I'll give you the world. 00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:27.840 And you see that Abram is standing all over again in Adam's place. 00:32:27.840 --> 00:32:29.960 And the serpent has entered the king's valley. 00:32:29.960 --> 00:32:33.080 And he said, yeah, yeah, you've talked to Melchizedek. 00:32:33.080 --> 00:32:34.880 You know, God's made you these promises. 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:38.920 He's talked to you about his mercy and his justice and his blessing. 00:32:38.920 --> 00:32:42.840 He's given you bread and wine, but if you will bow your knee to me, I will give you 00:32:42.840 --> 00:32:45.000 the world. 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:48.279 Now Abram withstood it this time. 00:32:48.279 --> 00:32:49.279 He did. 00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:52.800 He had a choice and he made the right choice. 00:32:52.800 --> 00:32:58.320 But remember last week he gave his wife away to Pharaoh to save his own skin. 00:32:58.320 --> 00:33:02.200 And a couple of chapters later you're going to read about Abram give his wife away to 00:33:02.200 --> 00:33:06.519 another Pharaoh again to save his own skin. 00:33:06.519 --> 00:33:12.680 And remember that in Matthew's gospel, Jesus Christ stood in the wilderness. 00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:17.480 He stood in the wilderness and the serpent, the king of Sodom came to him and said, if 00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:22.440 you will give me a tithe, if you will bow the knee to me, I will release you from this 00:33:22.440 --> 00:33:23.440 misery. 00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:24.440 I will give you the whole world. 00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:26.839 And Jesus Christ was faithful. 00:33:26.839 --> 00:33:28.759 He was faithful for you. 00:33:28.759 --> 00:33:31.720 And that's why he could be such a great priest king. 00:33:31.720 --> 00:33:38.920 His sacrifice could be so efficacious because he is divine king and righteous priest. 00:33:38.920 --> 00:33:40.680 He did it in every way that we didn't do it. 00:33:40.680 --> 00:33:45.000 He stood up against the serpent, the king of Sodom in every way that we never did. 00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:46.440 And he died for you nevertheless. 00:33:46.440 --> 00:33:48.240 He didn't deserve it. 00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:50.279 And that's why he can be the great priest king for you. 00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:54.759 Now today, tonight, and we'll close with this, we have a choice. 00:33:54.759 --> 00:34:01.480 If you're a Christian tonight, if you're following Jesus, in some senses the whoop and whoop, 00:34:01.480 --> 00:34:07.759 the daily trenches of the Christian life are that in some sense you wake up every morning 00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:15.880 having to stand in this valley and be confronted once again by this choice. 00:34:15.880 --> 00:34:21.559 To be able to stand before the serpent, before evil and temptation and all the things that 00:34:21.559 --> 00:34:29.679 are being flung at you in life and say, I have decided to follow Jesus no turning back, 00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:30.679 no turning back. 00:34:30.679 --> 00:34:37.039 Today, today I am a product and an object of love because of my great priest king. 00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:39.359 I believe the gospel today. 00:34:39.359 --> 00:34:40.719 So I'm not going to eat the fruit. 00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:42.159 I'm not going to follow the serpent. 00:34:42.159 --> 00:34:44.799 I'm not going to listen to the king of Sodom. 00:34:44.799 --> 00:34:46.639 I'm here for the fight. 00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:48.119 I'm here for the fight. 00:34:48.119 --> 00:34:50.960 Abram in this moment, he made the right decision. 00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:52.679 He had a choice. 00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:58.159 And every day in the Christian life we wake up and we have to re-enter the fight that I'm 00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:01.799 not going to give it away to the king of Sodom. 00:35:01.799 --> 00:35:05.319 That I'm here, I'll say it like this, the last word. 00:35:05.319 --> 00:35:10.960 If Jesus, look, if Jesus Christ is really after the order, in the order of Melchizedek, 00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:17.079 meaning he has no beginning or end, he is the king of kings, meaning that every single 00:35:17.079 --> 00:35:22.079 earthly government for all of history is incredibly relative, no matter what happens 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:26.319 in America in 2024. 00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:33.000 If he really is the merciful priest, we're at the cross in him, justice and mercy kissed. 00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:34.640 And he came up from the dead. 00:35:34.640 --> 00:35:37.400 And God said, all authority has been given to you forever. 00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:41.160 Look, that's a big deal. 00:35:41.160 --> 00:35:46.559 You don't get to be, you don't get to say meh about it. 00:35:46.559 --> 00:35:50.000 It's a huge claim that he's after the order of, he's in the order of Melchizedek. 00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:51.000 It's enormous. 00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:53.200 It means he really is the king of kings. 00:35:53.199 --> 00:36:00.759 And that means that we've got to give our life away to him because Abram ate the bread 00:36:00.759 --> 00:36:03.199 and wine of Melchizedek. 00:36:03.199 --> 00:36:07.519 And Jesus comes and says, eat my body and drink my blood. 00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:12.319 Take and eat and follow me. 00:36:12.319 --> 00:36:18.519 Where in your life have you been serving another king? 00:36:18.519 --> 00:36:19.519 Let's pray together. 00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:28.800 Lord, we ask that you would expose us tonight, yet rebuild us, that we would see the great, 00:36:28.800 --> 00:36:38.960 great mercy of the priest king, that we have such a compassionate savior who would let 00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:46.000 death overtake him so that mercy could satisfy justice. 00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:56.079 We thank you when we look at the Bible for the unbelievable mystery in some ways of things 00:36:56.079 --> 00:36:58.079 like Melchizedek. 00:36:58.079 --> 00:37:02.719 And we look at that and see only you, God, could have orchestrated such a history. 00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:05.360 Only you, God, could have written such a word. 00:37:05.360 --> 00:37:10.719 And so help use this, Lord, tonight to strengthen our faith that we would really see how serious 00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:14.800 and real all this is and you are. 00:37:14.800 --> 00:37:18.760 So I pray tonight that somebody would see that and give their life away and that the 00:37:18.760 --> 00:37:23.680 rest of us as Christians would be renewed in giving our life away to you. 00:37:23.680 --> 00:37:24.680 In Christ's name we pray. 00:37:24.679 --> 00:37:45.199 Amen.