I am Pastor Nathan and this morning we're gonna be looking at the sequel to chapter 13 of Genesis
We're gonna be in chapter 14 look at verses 1 through 16
where
Abram went from a doubting self focused faith in Egypt to giving his giving Lot his nephew the choice of
Wherever he wanted to go in the promised land
Where to take his flocks in the land of Canaan there and their separation was a very peaceful separation
We saw that in Abram's life. He was being very altruistic in his faith
Trusting in God's promises that the land would go to his descendants. And so there was no worry on his part
About giving Lot the option to take whatever part of the land he wanted because Abram knew
Because God promised it it was definitely gonna go to his descendants no matter what and so Lot chose the Jordan River Valley
We read in Genesis 13
He went down into this very verdant lush plain green grass well watered a place that on the material level
looked amazing a place that was gonna be awesome for his flocks and
He went down there, but it tells us ominously that he pitched his tent near Sodom a
Place that was very evil and very wicked and full of wickedness and then in contrast Abram settled peacefully in Hebron
Which was in the promised land where he then worshiped God at his newly built altar
Now the whole process of the story of Abram and then today especially we're gonna see that when we live for God
expressing the character of God
Especially God's devotion to the well-being of others and that would be all of us
We then display a very others focused humility
That allows God to lift us up and what I mean by that is when we live and operate
Knowing that we deserve nothing nothing is ours. It's all God's and yet
We walk in faith trusting his promises God could bless us knowing that it's not gonna go to our head
You see James chapter 4 verse 10 says humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you
when we serve the Lord with
That altruistic heart we find ourselves finding peace that surpasses all understanding
Because we know that God loves us. We know that God cares for us
We know that God is going to take care of us
And so trusting in God and his promises and living and acting accordingly
Really shines the glory of God to a very dark world
It has so much to do with our witness and when we walk according to our faith in him and our trust in him
It allows our witness to flourish and in that God then promises
He honors his promises to take care of his children and to bless his children as we're gonna see him honoring his promises to Abraham
It allows us to trust God with all that we have
to be very altruistically generous to those in need and
Our faith in God and his promises allows us to also move to make
Sacrificial decisions for the well-being of others
in all of this
It's us living according to the example of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit
That is what we are called to do in our lives. This is what we see in the life of Abraham
John chapter 15 verse 13 says no one has greater love than this to lay down his life for his friends
And the question to all of us this morning as we go through this portion of scripture is does your faith
prompt you allow you to give up and risk
Everything in service to God and his people
Do you believe in him so firmly that you will take?
sacrificial risks with your possessions with your life with your time
Knowing that if God has promised it's gonna come true
Does your faith lead you to not worry about your future and how your decisions might affect it?
Yes, we're called to be wise and to make decisions, but God is the one who holds the future in his hands
Do you trust him with it?
Does your faith prompt you to put it all on the line to do the right thing?
The godly thing the Christ like thing even if the cost is great
Today we explore what altruistic living looks like as Abraham goes from being willing to give up
Being willing to give away what God had promised him to his nephew Lot in full faith that God would return it
To being willing to risk his own life and his own well-being to rescue Lot from the consequences of his own decisions
Because after Egypt after the renewal of his faith in Canaan we see now that he trusted God fully with his family
With his possessions and even with his life. Let's pray father
We love you. We thank you God so much
For your hand in our life
God we thank you Lord for our salvation. We thank you for your promises
We thank you for giving us your word that we would know you and those promises
And God we ask that as your people you would continually work in our lives
To cause us to have faith in you more to trust you more
God that we would be people that wouldn't grasp for what we have thinking that it's our
Wisdom that's gonna protect it Lord, but that we would handle what we have knowing it all belongs to you
And that we are simply stewards of what you've given us
And so help us God to be others focused in our faith
To really be devoted to what is best for others God and being willing to
Sacrifice and to give of what you've given us Lord that that others would be blessed
Lord we trust you with everything help us to trust you more
And God we understand that all we have is from you and so God we just want to praise you this morning
The very breath in our lungs is a gift from you
The ability to do the jobs we do is a gift from you the resources we have to to pay our bills is a gift
From you Lord. It's all yours
And God we thank you for all of it. We praise your holy name and ultimately God and most importantly
We thank you for saving our souls
That because of your work and what you did we have the hope of heaven and paradise forever in eternity with you
We praise you. It's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen
We are in Genesis chapter 14 looking at verses 1 through 16 this morning and just as a quick recap, you know after
Leaving Egypt we read in that story a couple weeks ago that abram
And his nephew lot they became very wealthy
from that one of the unintended effects of abram lying or making his asking his wife to lie about
Her being his sister was that pharaoh just dumped all sorts of wealth onto abram and his family there
And so they left
Egypt after that fiasco resolved itself just loaded with with riches
And so this abundance unfortunately became a point of division
Between them because as they got back to the land of canaan there wasn't enough room for their their flocks
They both had massive flocks at this point. There wasn't enough
Graze land for him. And so this division came up between lot's herdsmen and abram's hers herbs herdsmen
Arguing about that and so abram very graciously said okay lot
Just decide where you want to go pick the land you want to go to and if you go right i'll go left if you want to go
Pick the land you want to go to and if you go right i'll go left if you go left i'll go right
And so lot chose his land and then they separated to different locations
But when they parted there's an uh, there's a inferred
Time of calm and peace that happened right lot went his way and dwelled next to saddam abram and his way down to
Hebron and so we see that the there was a peaceful resolution here as abram just trusted god with the promised land
He didn't have to grasp and hang on to it. He just said lot pick what you want and i'll go the other direction
And that was just a picture of abram living by faith
And lot however living by sight because lot chose the land he wanted to go to based upon what would be the most materially
Adventitious to him rather than what would be the most spiritually advantageous to him and his family now
Just to recap that we saw that in genesis 13 verses 10 through 13 and it said this there
Lot looked out and saw that the entire plane of the jordan as far as zoar was well watered everywhere like the lord's garden
In the land of egypt this was before the lord destroyed saddam and gamora
So lot chose the entire plane of the jordan for himself
Then lot journeyed eastward and they separated from each other abram lived in the land of canaan
But lot lived in the cities on the plane and set up his tent near saddam now the men of saddam were evil sinning immensely
against the lord
That's the backdrop to the story we're looking at here in genesis 14 because those verses in in genesis 13 showed that lot made a choice
based upon what was um
Like I said materially advantageous to him. He said this is going to benefit me the most materially
It's going to be good for my flocks good for my money good for my you know possessions
and he went and then
Pitched his tent next to a very wicked and evil place, you know wickedness and evil and sin
It is not something a child of god should try to get close to
We shouldn't try to get near it rather. We should run from such things is what the bible tells us
Instead a lot of children of god are tempted to see how close we can get to wickedness and evil
without participating of course
You know and and we justify these things by by well, it's going to be materially advantageous to me to do so
What this looks like is sometimes believers will cheat on their taxes
They'll make up reasons why that's okay. Sometimes believers will conduct dishonest business and you know
Well, you know, but that's just how we do it in our in our industry and and they'll get as close as they can to sinful activity
without
um
Being a sinful person in their own mind, but the problem is is every time we do that
Is every time we do that we eventually get swallowed up into the world we get swallowed up into those sinful practices
Jesus talked about this in um
Luke chapter 12 verses 13 through 21
He told a parable there about the rich fool and if you remember this parable he started out in verse 15
Saying he then told them watch out and be on guard against all greed because one's life is not in the abundance of their possessions
And he went on to tell this story about this guy who was very wealthy and he goes man
I got so much stuff that I need to build bigger barns and bigger barns and bigger barns to hold all my
material possessions and he came to trust in those things
He said i've got so much money so much wealth so much stuff that I don't have to worry about anything
And then in verse 20 of luke 12 it says this but god said to him you fool
This very night your life is demanded of you
And the things you have prepared whose will they be?
That's how it is with the one who stores up treasures for himself and is not rich towards god
You see the most important thing in our life here on earth is our relationship with god
Our relationship with god is what determines our or lack thereof is what determines our future after we live this world
Now there is a reality here on earth where we have to
Work so we can eat and pay our rent and pay our bills and and do all that and that's all well and good
But oftentimes we find ourselves trusting in those things at the exclusion of god thinking well i've made a good
Career plan so i'm set i've got good investments so i'm set i've made these decisions so i'm set
Nothing is going to go wrong in my life
The problem is is we don't know the future
Only god knows the future and and the question is always then why do we find it so easy to trust our future into everything?
But god
The story before us is the contrast between lot
Who chose to be close to wickedness because of the material benefit to himself looked great
Contrasted with abram who chose to trust in the lord's promises and stayed close to the altar meaning he stayed close to his lord
And the worship of his lord and we're going to see the the results of both of those decisions today
So genesis 14 verse 1 read with me
It says in those days king am frail of shinor king ariak of elisar
King cheder leomer of elam and king title of goim waged war against king berah of sodom
King bursa of gamora king shinab of adma king shemember of zeboim and
As well as the king of bella that is zoar
All of these came as allies to the siddim valley that is the dead sea
And they were subject to cheder leomer for 12 years, but in the 13th year they rebelled
So what we have here is is setting up some of the local political
National things taking place in the land here and we read of these four kings from the east
Coming against these five kings that lived just south of the dead sea now at some point these four kings had come in and subject
Subjected these five cities to their rule and so these five cities kind of became
Like vassal states of these four kings from the east
Now these five cities two of them were very familiar with sodom and gamora
They each had their own king and based upon what we know about sodom and gamora
Is it's likely all five of these cities were the same had the same debased
Wicked sinful evil culture that we're told that sodom and gamora had
So they were all located at the bottom of the dead sea here and as we pick up the story in genesis 14
We read about this coalition of these kings now
You know oftentimes when we're reading through stuff like this. It's very difficult to unpicture where things are right?
We read about you know all these different things that we're reading about
We read about you know all these different lands and saddam valley and zoa and all this stuff
And it doesn't really land with us
And so I tried to take time to make maps for you guys
But I realized that if you're in the back you're not going to be able to read any of the labels back there
And so please make sure you get the notes. Okay
But so we understand kind of what's taking place here that map up on the screen shows us these four eastern kingdoms
That banded together to subject the five cities south of the dead sea
The first one was chedro cheddar leomer of elam. That was the king there cheddar leomer. That's where cheddar cheese was invented
no
No, no, no
But elam was in modern iran so you guys kind of get an idea of where it was at on the map there
Okay, amphreel of shinar. That was the land that babalon was found in the the south side of the mesopotamian area there
And so that is today modern iraq
Eriak of elisar there's disagreement on where that is it was either up in turkey or it was in the northern part of the mesopotamian valley
This is where the hitites came from and then you had this guy named title of goem
That was a group of people called the hurrians that were in the south of turkey northern syria and northern iran
And so this coalition had come together to subject to these five cities
That are called the cities of the plains south of the dead sea so that they could control trade routes
And all this kind of stuff right pretty pretty typical stuff has happened over the history of mankind
And then it tells us here in this opening that for 12 years they were subject to them
But in the 13th year they rebelled against them and then verses five through seven just gives us a
response the response of these four kings it almost gives us like their tactical battle plan and and we're going to talk about why does
God give us these types of details in the scripture, but let's read through it verse five of genesis 14
In the 14th year chedoleomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the refaim
in ashtroth karname the zuzim in ham the emim and shavekirithim
And the hurrites in the mountains of seyr as far as el-paran by the wilderness anybody lost yet
Okay
Then they came back to invade en-mishpat. Oh, yeah, okay
I know where that's at that is kadesh and they defeated the whole territory of the amalekites as well as the amalekites
Who lived in hazazan tamar?
Yeah, okay, so there's no point of references here that we can see on the map today
But in the past in ancient times there were these places and so
Like I said maps for me they they helped me understand
What's going on they help bring the bible to life for me and they really help us to understand the battle plan of these people
So I got more maps from you. Okay, so this pic that's going up the screen now is just going to show you
Kind of the the battle plan of the different groups, you know
They all came together at the euphrates and then they that little light blue line is kind of their march down through the promised land
To get to the cities that they were attacking and then so we're zooming in here
Down to the Dead Sea area and what we see is a bunch of cities that you can't read there on the screen
That are the places that are listed here in genesis. And so I'm going to go to those real quick
The army of these four kings came down from the north and and traveled south and it says they first attacked the refaim
in ashtaroth karname
Ashtaroth karname is a city that's at the top of that map
It's just 20 miles to the east of the sea of galilee if you've ever been to israel
And it says that they defeated these people called the refaim who are the refaim
Well, the first mention of the refaim is here. They were a pre israel population of
Giants that lived east of the jordan river
The refaim are described in deuteronomy chapter 2 verse 20 as strong and tall as the anacheme
You go great. I don't know what the anacheme are either. So let's talk about that
The anacheme are described for us in numbers 13 33
When israel is wandering and they finally get to the promised land and they send in the spies. You remember that story?
Those spies came back and they said no, there's giants there. We can't go in
Well, the giants in that land were the anacheme
Okay, and it says that they went into the land. They saw these people that were the nephilim
So now we understand where these giants came from. They were descendants of these great warriors of old pre-flood
And the spies said we were like grasshoppers to them
The description is that these these were giants. These were very huge and huge giants
The description is that these these were giants. These were very huge and tall people
Now we get a further description on what they are
The anacheme and the refaim are are similar people, right?
The refaim were east of the jordan giants. The anacheme were west of the jordan giants that lived in the land
now 40 years later
from israel sending in the scouts
They wandered the wilderness because they were too afraid to go in 40 years later
They're heading into the promised land again and it's going to tell us in joshua that they
Battled with a king named aug king aug of bashan now in in joshua 12 4 and 13 12
It tells us this about king aug that he was the last of the refaim
He was the last giant in the land east of the jordan
And this is what it tells us about him. His bed was 13 feet long and six feet wide
What that means is he was between seven to 12 feet tall
Big dude, right giant and then obviously
We have goliath later on coming from the philistine lands and stuff and a lot of people believe that he was a remnant or a descendant of these people
So we have these refaim that are attacked first in the northern east side of the holy land, right?
They are just like the anacheme who are the giants that were in the promised land when israel got there later on and so what we're being told
Is that these giants were first attacked by these kings from the east?
Then they travel further south and defeat the zuzim and ham and the emim and shaveh
Pyrethane so those are two areas directly south along the east side of the
Dead sea there and then we go who are the zoom him and who are the emim?
They are giants
Deuteronomy chapter two tells us that the word zoom him was the
zoom him was the um amirite word
for refaim
And emim was the moabite word for refaim, right? This is what it says there deuteronomy 2 10
The emim a great and numerous people as tall as the anachem had previously lived in that land
They were also regarded as refaim like the anachem though. The moabites called them emim. Okay
and then deuteronomy 2 verse 20
Says this too used to be regarded as the land of the refaim the refaim lived there previously though the ammonites called them
Zamzumim a great which means physically huge and numerous people tall as the anachem
So there's giants. Okay, there's giant people there now when they defeated king ang and it told us he was the last of the refaim
That's why there's no giants anymore. Okay, they got wiped out
So the refaim the zuzim the emim big people
giants possibly 10 feet plus tall all down the east side of the jordan river sea of galilee
So this was the first peoples that the four kings from the east wiped out
Then it says they went down to the horites in the mountains of seyr
The horites were an ancient people ancient people group if you can put that image back up, please
They they lived in the mountains that were south of the dead sea. No the last image
The last image the first one there you go right there see that brown area. Those are the mountains of seyr
That is the land that became edam
Edam was where esau went with his people
And his people came from there edam. It's where that famous city of petra is you guys have seen that rock city
That was in indiana jones, right?
This is that land there was a people there according to genesis 36 called the horites
That were descendants from a man named seyr the horite so the mountains of seyr, okay
The kings wiped those people out or came down and battled them
And then it says they went all the way down to el piran that is all the way down at the bottom of the screen
At the tip of the gulf of akaba, you know in the red sea when you see it on a map
It has two bunny ears, right?
One of those bunny ears is the gulf of akaba and so it was a town on the edge of the wilderness there the
wilderness being to the left of that
And so then it says they chased
Uh battled all these people all the way to end mishpat, which is kaddesh
That is a town that was right in the middle of the wilderness area there today. It's called kaddesh barnea
This was a location of many of the significant events in the history of israel
One being kaddesh was where israel stopped to send in the scouts
And when the scouts came back and said we can't do it. There's giants in the land
They turned back into the wilderness for 40 more years
Kaddesh is also the place where moses
Struck the rock out of anger when the israelites were thirsty misrepresenting the lord
And then they went to hazan tamar, which is they traveled back north towards the dead sea to a place
We know today as engedi. It's a place you can visit if you go to israel
It's on the west side of the dead sea and we know that engedi is hazan tamar because it tells us in second chronicles 20 verse 2
So why are we being told all these details?
right
It's because god wants us to understand the well planned and well executed strategy
Of these worldly kings as they were coming in to put down this rebellion of the cities of sodom and gamora
They actually did a very very very tactical thing in wiping out everybody around them
So that when they attacked sodom and gamora
There were nobody that they could call on for reinforcements all the people around them had been wiped out
The dead sea was north of them so they couldn't flee that way
And so these kings had a very very good plan meaning they were very
Very organized. They were very tactically brilliant. Right? These this was a smart army of people with these four kings
And so then verse 8 we get into the next part the actual attack on the five cities
Then the king of sodom genesis 14 8 the king of gamora the king of adma the king of zeboeam and the king of bellis
That is zoar went out and lined up for battle in the sedim valley
Against king chedoleomer of elam king title of goin king empriel of shinar and king ariak of elisar
Four kings against five now the sedim valley contained many
Asphalt pits and as the kings of sodom and gamora fled some fell into them
But the rest fled to the mountains and so the sedim valley is today
A area south of the dead sea some believe it was once underwater
It was actually a southern part of the dead sea. But today it's just a
A dry area where there's some asphalt pits and all that. Can we put up that picture?
So we're zoomed in now, okay
This is where those five cities of the plane were if you go there today
You'll see those little green areas. They're different kind of
Pits and stuff that they're doing there
But it was once a part of the dead sea now what you don't see is on the right side there
There's the five cities sodom was the northernmost then you had gamora and then you went down from there to the five cities of the valley
So what we see here is that these five kings of the plane they go out they line up for battle
They know the army's coming and then they get defeated in the sedim valley. Okay, others called it the salt valley
Josephus actually in his writings called this whole sea the dead sea the asphalt sea
Because in that area and even today there's asphalt pits tar pits that are bubbling up out of the ground with these
Real thick tar that is then used to make asphalt
It was also a thing called bitumen in the in the old stuff
So you might read bitumen in some of the older translations of the bible
But the point is is that these four kings showed up they came down from the north where engedi was
Fought these five kings defeated them and then the five kings started to flee and run away
Now you might read there. It says that it was only the kings of sodom and gamora that fled
You think what about the kings of zozo? Zohim and zoar and all that other stuff. Well
In other places in the bible such as genesis 19 and deuteronomy 29
We read that when when you see the term sodom and gamora
It's kind of an encapsulated term to write about
Sodom and gamora, it's kind of an encapsulated term to refer to that whole area
So all five cities of that area are kind of included in what we say in sodom and gamora
Um deuteronomy 29 actually refers to the judgment taking place at sodom and gamora and then it includes zebo iman
Zoar, I believe genesis 19. It tells us that god destroyed all the cities of the plane
So when we see this phrase sodom and gamora, we know it's referring to everything there
And as you can imagine when we get to the destruction of sodom and gamora and god rained fire from the heaven
From the heavens what would happen if there was all this tar and asphalt bubbling up out of the ground?
It was just a conflagration. So
Genesis 14 11
The four kings took all the goods of sodom and gamora and all their food and went on
They also took abram's nephew lot and his possessions for he was living in sodom and they went on
So now we're getting to the meat of the story, right?
These four kings come to put down this rebellion in the place that lot went to live, right?
It says earlier that he pitched his tent next to it. But did you notice a detail about lot there?
Read it again
For he was living in Sodom
Back in Genesis 13 12. It says but lot lived in the cities of the plane and set up his tent near
Sodom
But now we find a lot living in
in Sodom
This place of great wickedness and great evil and and just great debauchery and you know
Oh boy lot, how's that decision working out for you?
You know, you've just been invaded the town's wiped out
All the people are taken all your possessions have taken and and think about it lot made the decision to move there based upon his material
Possessions of what would be most materially advantageous to us
This is going to be best for my business if I go live next to this evil wicked city
And now everything's taken away from them
Not just his possessions
But it also says lot was taken and in those days to be taken as a captive of an invading army meant you were going to
Be a slave meant you were going to be a sacrifice to their gods something of that nature
Now the idea here and again going back to look how well
Put together these armies of the east are look at their brilliant tactical plan
But for lots sake what we're seeing here is now the the application is simply this as I said it earlier
The world will always swallow you up when you decide to commingle with it
Lot started near Sodom and then we find them living in Sodom
some people like to
Will sometimes date Christians will date non-christians and they think oh i'm gonna get them saved right? We call that missionary dating
Right, you're on a missions trip to save that you know that guy or that girl that you know
You shouldn't be dating and i'm gonna save them
Guess what happens every time?
You end up falling into sin with them not the other way around
That's why the bible says flee from sin get as far away from it as possible don't get close to the line
Don't try and dance right there because if you get close to the line you will eventually find yourself living in sin
And so stay away
Now verse 13 it says one of the survivors came and told abram the hebrew
Who lived near the oaks belonging to mammary the amorite the brother of eshkol and the brother of anor
They were bound by a treaty with abram when abram heard that his relative had been taken prisoner
He assembled his 318 trained men born in his household and they went in pursuit as far as dan
So again hebron or abram was living in a place called hebron which was just west of the
Dead sea and he pursued them north all the way to the place called dan
So what we have here is this army comes through wipes out everybody goes into the valley defeats the five kings
The five kings flee and then that army is leaving to go back home. Well, they came down from the north
So they're going back north following the roads back to the eastern mesopotamian area
Meanwhile back over in the land promised by god
Among the pagan inhabitants is just abram chilling and living his life
And then one moment
One day this
Ragged out of breath
Possibly wounded person stumbles into hebron and it says one of the survivors came and told abram so came into the area
Where's abram? Where's abram?
I need to tell you your nephew lot was taken
And we go where's abram?
I need to tell you your nephew lot was taken and we go how did why does that person want to come seek out abram?
How do they know to seek out abram?
Now this is conjecture, but it's very likely that his lot was over there living in the plains
He was talking about his uncle abram
Maybe saying some good things maybe saying some bad things. Oh, yeah, he's foolish
He let me take this whole plane for my flock, right? But whatever it was
I was not going to tell you what happened in the land because they knew who abram was and so one of the survivors of this battle
Tracks down abram to tell him what's going on here
It also tells us that these three
Amorite people
Mamrie the Amorite who was the brother of eshkol and the brother of anor they also lived in this land because you remember
Abra went down to live by the oak of
memory
So it was this famous tree
But why is it telling us that detail?
Well having a treaty meant that these three amorites and abram had a hit a commitment to support one another
To live peaceably among one another even to support one another militarily if it came to that
Now it doesn't tell us that these three guys necessarily went with him to battle, but why is it mentioning this treaty?
I believe it's simply this because what we're going to see abram do is leave his possessions
Leave his home leave the rest of his family to go chase after this army
And he does so without any worry that he's going to lose any of it
One because god promised that the land is going to go to his descendants
Two because he has this treaty with his other people
We see abram now seeking peace with people
And that is what a christian is supposed to do blessed are the peacemakers
Right, that's what the scriptures say
That as believers we live in this world. We're not supposed to be
antagonistic and angry and in and just fighting with people we're supposed to be the ones bringing peace preaching the
The prince of peace bringing the gospel to people and living in this world as sojourners
That we're just passing through and that's what abram did when he got to hebron
Hey guys, I know you're amorites. I want to tell you about my god and stuff, but i'm gonna live here and they go
Wow, you're got a lot of stuff. You're pretty powerful great. Let's make a treaty
And so now abram could just peacefully take off and go chase after lot and trying to save him from his own decisions
It says abram grabbed his 318 trained men born of his household
That means that these trained men were family members. They weren't outside servants that came in these were family
These were the most loyal people he had the most dependable
Now you can imagine
Again, this is conjecture
But the army of four different kings from four different nations was probably a little bit bigger than 318 people
Not a stretch to assume that right
It doesn't tell us that they they
Like were greatly harmed in the battle just as they came in that wiped everybody out and they wiped out the cities and so
It's very possible that much of their army was still intact and yet abram takes
318 guys to run after them now when it says that they were trained it means that they were highly skilled
Highly skilled so what are they going to do? They're going to go fight
So these 318 men is like seal team six, right? These are the best
Operators, these are the most talented people and they run off and go after the army
This is where we see the altruistic living of abram's altruistic faith
You guys remember that word altruism was being devoted to the well-being of others
Having faith and trust in god allows us to be more focused on others than ourselves
The example of jesus christ, excuse me was being more focused on others than himself
Excuse me was being more focused on others than himself. It says that he laid down everything
So that we would be saved. That's what altruism is
You imagine this this survivor of the battle runs up to abram abram
This army came through they took lot and all his stuff
abram could have been like
Lot made his bed. Let him lie in it
He chose to go there
That was a wicked place and he said well i'm gonna take my family and my flocks and everything to go
Go live next to this wicked place. He he's got his cake. Let him eat it, right?
abram could have said that abram could have been like well
I can't get involved and risk my men and my family and then besides I can't risk myself
But this wasn't abram in egypt anymore
This is abram and canaan post egypt
He was not able to give up his humble faith his trusting in god and his promises faith
Is what allowed him to say lot pick whichever land you want
Because I could give this away a thousand times and god is still going to give it to my descendants because god promised, right?
So abram was able to be altruistic with a lot. Let me think about you first not me
That same humble trusting in god faith now is prompting abram
And the way this reads here has prompted him without hesitation to get up and go do the
right thing.
To get up and go rescue his family member.
It didn't matter what Lot had done.
It didn't matter what choices Lot had made.
It didn't matter that Lot was experiencing the consequences of unknown choices, right?
Lot made the choices that were best for his material thing, thinking, I'm going to be
secure here.
How could he possibly have known that they were going to rebel and that the kings from
the east were going to come wipe him out?
He didn't know that.
But he put all his eggs in that basket.
And Abram just gets up and goes and takes action.
Why?
Because it was the right thing to do.
To go rescue his family member.
You see, a lot of times we as Christians could find ourselves so focused on protecting what's
ours that when a situation presents itself to us that is the right thing to do as a Christian,
we start to negotiate.
Well, I don't know if I could give more to that because I have to take care of myself,
my family.
And that's a good and wise thing to do.
But we resist what God is calling us to do.
I'm busy and I have this, so I can't get involved in that outreach.
What God is calling me to and instead of just without hesitation going, God, you said go,
I'm going to go.
God, you said be, I'm going to be.
God, you said give, I'm going to give.
God, you said trust, I'm going to trust.
Instead we want to negotiate.
Well, because we're trying to protect what's ours.
Especially when it comes to possessions and finances and stuff.
Sometimes we know it's just the right thing to do.
God doesn't have to tell us to do it.
It's just the right thing to do and we still find ourselves negotiating.
Like do you really have to pray if you go park in front of a bank and say does God want
me to rob this or not?
Do you have to pray for that?
You don't have to pray for that.
You already know the right thing to do is to not rob the bank.
Sometimes we're like, okay, God's called me to go out and preach the gospel and be a light
to every nation and all that.
And so we go to places and we go, God, do you want me to say anything about you?
You don't have to pray about that, right?
The right thing to do as you're Christian is to tell people about Jesus and so take
tracks, do whatever works for you, right?
There are so many things that we know as a believer based upon studying God's word and
knowing God's character that it's just the right thing to do.
And yet sometimes we'll say, but God didn't tell me.
I'm going to have to sacrifice something that's mine to do that right thing.
And we hesitate.
And that's a lack of faith.
It's a lack of faith because you have what you have because God gave it to you.
And it's all His anyways.
And He wants you to have it or not have it.
He's going to have you have it or not have it.
But instead we go, no, no, no, I made my plans.
I'm securing my future.
I chose to do this and I didn't talk to God about it.
And I'm just so confident in what I'm doing.
And guess what?
An army could wipe it all out in one day metaphorically.
And then what are you going to do?
What we have here in Abram is just him going, it's the right thing to do.
I'm going to take off.
I'm going to go after my family member here.
Now when it says they pursued him as far as Dan, that's all the way at the top of that
red line there.
The red line is the route that Abram possibly took.
Now nobody knows for sure where this Dan is.
And of course a lot of us, we read that and we go, oh, that's where the tribe of Dan was,
right?
Like if you take a trip to Israel, you can actually visit, tell Dan and see their pagan
worship altars and stuff.
It's really crazy.
But the problem is Dan, who was the head of the tribe of Dan, wasn't born until years
later, right?
He was one of the original 12 sons who became the 12 tribes of Israel.
Israel hadn't conquered this land yet.
It wasn't the nation of Israel, so it couldn't be Dan where the tribe of Dan lived.
I point that out because some people argue that online and stuff.
So then what is it?
We don't know.
It's another place that was called Dan.
That's all we need to know.
They went up there.
But it was somewhere north of the Sea of Galilee.
So what that means is Abram and his 318 men traveled between 100 and 150 miles from Hebron
to get to this army.
So what we see is Abram, the shepherd, the wanderer, the man of peace, now become General
Abram because it was time for that.
What does it tell us in Ecclesiastes?
There's a time for peace.
There's a time for war.
There's a time to back off.
There's a time to step in while not sacrificing our beliefs and our values as Christians.
And so General Abram now takes off in hot pursuit of the kings of the East, the Elamites,
the Babylonians, the Hittites, the Hurrians, all these people.
120 miles later, in the northern part of the promised land, possibly in the northern
most point, he catches up to these four kings.
And what we see here, and I see this, is Abram is very much like Christ in this moment.
As Abram was to Lot, Christ is to each and every one of us today.
What do I mean by that?
Abram heard Lot was in trouble.
Regardless if he was in trouble because of his own decisions, Abram heard he was in trouble
and he didn't sit and he didn't stand by and he didn't contemplate.
Is Lot deserving of redemption?
I mean he made some stupid decisions.
Should I go save him?
Jesus didn't sit in heaven wondering whether we deserve redemption either.
The Father said go and he went.
He lived a perfect life.
He went and died on that cross.
We know he had the moment in the garden, right?
Father?
If there's any other way, anything, I vote for that.
But nonetheless, not my will, your will be done.
And what did he do?
He went to the cross.
He knew it was going to destroy him and he went willingly.
The Bible says it was for the joy set before him he went.
The ultimate picture of putting the needs of someone else above his own.
And Abram is doing that thing right now.
He's just like, I'm going.
It's the right thing to do.
I'm going to risk everything.
I'm going to risk even my own life and I'm going to go.
Verse 15.
And he and his servants deployed against them by night, defeated them, and pursued them
as far as Hobart to the north of Damascus.
He brought back all the goods and also his relative Lot and his goods as well as the
women and the other people.
So follow me here.
When Abram left Haran, he was 75 years old, the scripture tells us.
Later on in Genesis, it's going to tell us when Ishmael was born to him, he was 86 years
old.
Scripture also tells us he was 175 when he died.
Now the average life expectancy in Israel today of just a normal Israeli life is about
80 years.
It's different all over the planet, but it's 80 years.
So if you take Abram's life and where he was, he was somewhere between 75 and 86 when this
is taking place, and you math, math, math, what you come out to is Abram is basically
in the equivalent of his late 30s as this is taking place.
Why do I point that out?
Because we often, when we hear Abram, we hear the stories of Abram, we think about the old
dude with the gray beard, right?
We think about old man Abram, just kind of walk in and trust in God, but you know, just,
Abram was a young dude at one time.
He was full of faith and full of strength and full of boldness.
And this is Abram, who's relatively young compared to the lifespan he lives, going out
into fight.
Now it says his servants deployed against them.
I love that.
That's military language, right?
Like now it sounds like we're going to be looking at one of these like military shows
where it's telling us all about the special ops team and their stealth deployment defeating
the four kings of the East.
If you just put yourself there, it's nighttime.
They sneak up.
They jump into this camp, this army that is likely much bigger than theirs.
Cries of confusion and surprise rise up into the sky.
The bad guy's being slaughtered.
And then those that survived the initial onslaught, right?
They fail their morale check.
They flee.
And they start heading up towards Damascus.
They go past Damascus all the way up to Hobah and they're pursued by Abram and it's 318.
And again, I just see it as like it's, this is not seal team six, it's seal team A for
Abram, right?
And there's a boom and they're winning huge victory.
They recover everything.
They recover all the people, including Lot and Lot's stuff.
Why all these details?
Right?
You read a chapter like this and we believe every single part of God's word is there for
a reason.
Like none of it's there by happenstance.
It's recorded for a purpose.
And we go, why is this chapter all about this brilliant campaign of the four kings from
the East telling us about their victories, repeated victories over the giants of the
Transjordan, their victory over the mountain people, their victory over the desert people
all the way up to Ngedi, their victory over the five cities.
Why does it tell us all about that?
And then it gets to Abram and it tells us specifically 318 men.
It doesn't say he grabbed the most loyal dudes in his camp.
No, 318 of them.
Trained men, skilled men.
It tells us about this brilliant ambush and now he wipes them out and recovers everything.
Why these details?
I believe it's because Moses wanted us to see and understand how Abram won his victory
from where his courage came from.
You see, you remember in Egypt, he tried to come up with a tactical plan, didn't he?
Wife lie.
Tell him I'm your brother.
Perfect plan.
Oops, didn't know the future.
Didn't know Pharaoh was going to be interested in her.
And all this stuff just falls apart from that.
But still God says I'm going to bless you with riches.
Go forward.
Why?
God did what he was going to do.
Gets back to the Holy Land, renews his faith, believes now like look, my possessions belong
to God.
Just they're God's and God made promises so I don't have to try and keep my stuff.
Lot go pick whatever you want.
I'm good.
I trust God.
He's taking care of both of us.
And then Lot leaves.
Abram goes about his life, makes peace with the people he's living in, in his particular
area.
Lot, however, is falling more and more into the lifestyle of sin over there.
What I mean by the lifestyle is living amongst those people.
And then now this army comes through brilliantly organized, tactically smart, wipes out everybody
and leaves.
And now we have the same Abram who is humbled in Egypt saying God owns the possessions.
It's God's possession.
He will give it back to me because he's promised now saying, you know what, I can't even trust
God with my family.
I could leave him here.
I got a treaty with these people.
God is good.
And I could trust him with my life.
I'm going to go chase down Lot.
It doesn't tell us here that Abram had any inclination that's like, oh, Superman, I'm
not going to be killed.
He just went because it was the right thing to do.
And I believe he went because it was the right thing to do because of the settled inner peace
that God is God and God has spoke and I believe it.
Now the entire story of Abram's life so far has been about faith.
Faith he left Ur.
Sort of faith.
He stayed in Haran for a while.
Faith he went down to Canaan.
Forgot about his faith and did his thing in Egypt.
Came back, renewed his faith, worshiped at the altars.
Faith God will give the land to my descendants, Lot take whatever you want.
And now we see him going, faith, I'm going to get up, I'm going to go to battle to do
the right thing to save my nephew.
He believed God's word.
And believed God's word, he knew that God was with him.
And that's what we need to believe.
Every day God is with us.
God has promised that in his word.
I believe Abram knew that even if he met defeat, even if he went after the army and he was
killed, that the land would still go to his descendants because God said so.
We see Abram having this kind of faith as it's growing and growing through his whole
life.
Eventually we get to the story of Abram and Isaac.
The son of promise, the one that he was not able to have, he has Isaac and God says, go
sacrifice him on the mountain.
What does it tell us in the book of Hebrews?
Abram knew that God was going to raise him back from the dead if he had to because God
promised that my seed was going to be a blessing to all the nations.
That's the kind of faith God wants us to have.
That's the kind of faith that God wants to cultivate in our lives.
Instead of falling to distrust the way Abram did in Egypt and just shrinking down into
very sad people, Abram was now living in a profound trust, living in boldness in God's
child, standing tall and courageous in the face of what might have been impossible odds,
acting like the king of the land that he was given by the king of kings, the land that
was his by right.
I don't care who you are, I could fight against you because this is God's land.
Again, why such heights of courage and triumphs of belief and faith, such risky actions of
bravery?
Because Abram knew the one true and living God and he knew the one true and living God
knew him and that was all he needed.
That God had spoken, therefore there was no reason to doubt, no reason to have fear, no
reason to let all that stuff in Egypt that took him over ever take him over again.
Paul the apostle said this in Philippians 1 and we'll close on this verse.
Philippians 1 verses 21 through 24.
Paul says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me and I don't know which
one I should choose.
I'm torn between the two.
I long to depart and be with Christ which is far better but to remain in the flesh is
more necessary for your sake.
This phrase to live is Christ that Paul says here, it encapsulated his profound commitment
to Jesus Christ.
It summarized his life priorities, his commitments, his ministry, his motivation, his confidence.
Everything he did was guided by this.
It overshadowed his personal goals, it overshadowed wealth, it overshadowed fame.
Everything was about to live is Christ.
It daily transformed every decision he made.
This is altruistic living when we take the steps of faith based upon the promises that
we say we believe in.
Altruistic living leads us to a growing love for the Lord and a growing concern for others
that will even call us to step out with crazy faith, sacrificial faith, risky faith to do
the right thing because we know it is the right thing to do.
The Bible tells us that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.
Guess what else it can do?
Defeat armies.
It can risk much for others with absolute peace.
That is the faith I believe God wants us to have as his children.
That faith, pray for that faith.
In the process, just watch what God is going to do with your life.
Amen?
Let's pray.
Father God, we love you so much.
Lord as your children, we live in this paradox of our flesh existing with our spirit.
God, where we live in this selfish nature along with the born again nature that is giving
and sacrificial that will give of itself, it will risk its own life even because your
word says, Lord, you demonstrated love.
It said nobody has love like this in the one who is going to lay down his life for his
brother.
Lord, we know that our spirit, the nature we have born of you, God, is one to altruistically
give of ourselves, trusting you.
Give of our time, trusting you.
Give of our resources, trusting you.
To give of ourselves because Lord, we know this life is not what it is all about.
Yes, God, we are called to be wise and to pray and to make plans and to be wise with
what we have.
Yes, God, that is all true.
But Lord, that means that we're called to be wise by seeking your wisdom, not our own.
And so Lord, if any of us are people who have been finding ourselves holding on too hard
to our own thoughts, our own plans, our own decisions, thinking we're set like the rich
fool, that we're good.
But I don't have to worry about anything, Lord, remind us that we don't know the future.
You know the future.
And so when you call us to go, when you call us to do, when you call us to give, when you
call us to be, Lord, may we trust you without hesitation, knowing that you would not be
calling us to those things without knowing that you're going to take care of us in those
things.
And Lord, that even means if you call us into difficult situations that you will give us
the strength to persevere, that you will give us the peace that surpasses all understanding.
Lord, as you call us to step out and talk to that person or that person about Jesus,
Lord, that we do it without hesitation, Lord, knowing that God, even if they spit in our
face, it was the right thing to do because you called us to do it.
Lord, even when we don't hear your word specifically confirmation, but we're faced with a situation
and we know just based upon your word and your character what the right thing is to
do, that we wouldn't hesitate, even at great risk, because we have great faith.
Help us to be better Christians, Lord.
And the only way we're better Christians is when we depend on you more, trust in you more,
rely on you more.
Increase our faith, Lord.
Use us to change this world.
Use us to stand against the evil of this world, knowing that we are more than conquerors in
you.
We love you so much and we thank you.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Well, God bless you guys.
Thank you for your worship.