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If this is your first time joining us here

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at Hosanna Christian Fellowship,

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whether you're here in our room or online,

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we want to say welcome to all of you.

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We're so glad you're here to worship with us today.

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I am Pastor Nathan and this morning we are going to be

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finishing our study of Genesis 14,

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looking at Abram's encounter with this very mysterious

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figure named Melchizedek.

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Now what we'll be looking at today

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is a very limited interaction,

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and it was really the only interaction recorded

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in scripture for us with this man named Melchizedek.

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And so what we're gonna learn today through this really

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is how to respond to success with humility.

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And then next week we're gonna be taking a little bit

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of a deep dive into who Melchizedek is,

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the different ideas and theories of it

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because I know a lot of you always ask that question

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and so we'll be dealing with that next week.

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But for today, to give you guys the background

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of where we're gonna be looking at,

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we studied this last time where what happened

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right before this encounter with Melchizedek

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was one of the greatest covert military operations

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in all of history.

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In Genesis 14 verses one through 16,

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we read how the area of Sodom and Gomorrah,

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the Valley of Sidim, which was south of the Dead Sea,

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was a place populated by five cities,

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Sodom and Gomorrah and three others,

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and they had been under the control of four kings

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from the east over in the Mesopotamian area

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for about 12 years.

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And during those 12 years they were subject to those kings,

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they would pay tributes to those kings,

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but in the 13th year it told us that the people there

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rebelled against that rulership.

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Now the other detail that makes this story interesting

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was that it was this area of Sodom and Gomorrah

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where Abram's nephew Lot decided to go settle

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when Abram was like, hey look, your flock is huge,

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my flock is huge, our businesses can't expand here,

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you decide where you wanna go.

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We read that Lot chose the place that looked great

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on the outside but was unfortunately corrupt

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and wicked on the inside.

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So when they rebelled against these kings,

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the four kings came with their armies

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to reconquer this area, and the leader of these four armies

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was a guy named Cheddo Leomer,

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and he led the nation of Elam,

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and there was three other kings and nations with him,

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and so they came and they invaded the area of Sodom and Gomorrah,

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they conquered the five city states that were there,

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and then they took all the people captive.

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They took all the stuff, all the material goods,

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I mean they looted the whole area to make a message,

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to make a statement, don't rebel against us.

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We're strong, we're powerful, and so then they started

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to leave the area heading back north

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and the way back to Mesopotamia,

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and we read there that one of the people they captured,

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one of the hostages was Abram's nephew Lot.

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And so Abram was notified by a survivor of the attack

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who came and tracked Abram down and told him,

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Abram, your nephew Lot has been taken captive.

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Well Abram then rallied up his 318 trained,

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loyal, committed servants, and then the three Canaanites

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that Abraham had a treaty with,

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got some of their men as well,

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and he went and chased down this army,

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a very small army of 318 plus men

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against the army of four major kings and major nations.

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Well the scriptures record for us

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that Abram had a resounding victory,

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routed the entire army, and not only did his small army

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rescue every single hostage that was taken

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by these four kings, he also recovered

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all of the material goods that had been looted

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by these four kings.

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And so on his return home you can imagine

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that Abraham is the hero, General Abram who had gone

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and rescued all the people, conquered these kings,

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spec ops, seal team six, whatever you wanna call it,

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he did something great, and he was probably being celebrated

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and congratulated and just thanked

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by the people he rescued.

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But on the way home he met this mysterious person,

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person named Melchizedek.

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Now it's so easy for us in our lives,

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after putting forth great effort,

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after expending our knowledge and our training,

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and all of these things to achieve a great success,

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it's very easy for us to then wanna take the credit

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ourselves, because after all it was my effort,

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it was my skill, it was my training, my knowledge,

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and so therefore I do deserve the credit

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for these types of things, and there's nothing wrong

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with a sense of doing a good job,

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there's nothing wrong even with somebody acknowledging you

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for doing a good job, but as believers,

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we have to be very careful because the bigger

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the achievement, the bigger the success, the bigger

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the victory means that the bigger the temptation will be

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to take the glory for yourself and away from God.

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You know, Luke said in chapter 14 verse 11,

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or Jesus said in Luke 14, 11,

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for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

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and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

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That is one of the most important foundational lessons

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for all believers to learn, that it is our God above

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who grants us victory, all success is his,

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all glory is his, all honor is his,

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and when we, as his people, remain in that mindset

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knowing that he's given us the hands to work,

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the brains to learn, the skills to employ,

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it's all from him.

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When we keep that mindset, we remain humble people

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whom God can lift up and exalt without worry

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that we're gonna become puffed up and full of ourselves.

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That is what we're gonna see in the story today with Abraham,

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but first let's pray, and then we're gonna worship

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our Almighty God, Father, we love you.

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We thank you, God, for who you are and what you've done.

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We thank you for what you're doing, Lord.

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God, everything from the very beginning is because of you.

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The universe exists because of you.

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We exist because of you.

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Lord, you gave us the brains to learn and to grow

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and to discover.

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You gave us the air in our lungs that allows us to be alive

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to even do things, Lord, and so God, really,

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every success that we would ever accomplish is yours.

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Every victory is yours, and yet God, the world and our flesh

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and Satan tries so very hard to get us to take the credit

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for ourselves.

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Lord, the sinful, wicked ways around us work so hard

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that those things would be attributed

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as the reasons for success, but God, we want you to be

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the one that has the glory in all things, at all times.

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So God, today, speak to us in the story of Abram

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coming back from a major, major significant victory, God,

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as we see him being approached by two different kings

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with two different points of view

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on how they should be responded to,

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and God, may we learn the lesson that Abram learned

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to respond the way he responded

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when you grant success to your people.

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Lord, we wanna worship you because you are everything.

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You are worthy of everything.

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You are, you're it, God, and we praise you, Lord,

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for the lives that we get to live for you.

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We lift up your name on high.

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We bless you, Lord.

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It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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We are in Genesis chapter 14.

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We're gonna be looking at verses 17 through 24 this morning,

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and the setting of the story we're looking at today

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is a place called Kings Valley.

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That is a place today understood to be about two and a half

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miles south of Jerusalem where the Kidron

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and the Hinnom valleys connect,

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and so you're like, what does any of that mean, okay?

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There's a valley on this side of Jerusalem.

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There's a valley on this side,

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and those valleys go south.

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They eventually connect into this place

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that is known as Kings Valley,

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and it was here in this valley that Abram and his men

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are met by two kings on their way back

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returning from their great victory.

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These two kings are a great contrast of response to victory.

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They couldn't be more different from each other.

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One of these kings is going to look at Abram's victory

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merely as an accomplishment of man

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that deserves some type of earthly reward.

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The other one is gonna look at this victory

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as an act of God, a grace of God, a blessing of God,

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and then he's going to offer a heavenly reward for that,

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and so the question in today's study

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is how did Abram see his victory?

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Let's read in verse 17.

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After Abram returned from defeating Chedoleomer

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and the kings who were with him,

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the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Shavev Valley,

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that is the Kings Valley.

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Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine.

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He was a priest to God Most High.

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He blessed him and said,

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Abram is blessed by God Most High,

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creator of heaven and earth,

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and blessed be God Most High

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who has handed over your enemies to you.

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And Abram gave a tenth of everything.

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Then the king of Sodom said to Abram,

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give me the people, but take the possessions for yourself.

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So as we study through Genesis,

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we don't know a whole lot about these two kings.

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Really, just what's recorded here

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tells us as much as we know about them

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in the book of Genesis, the king of Sodom,

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we've looked at him already

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as we studied the battle that took place there.

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He was likely the most influential,

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powerful king of those five cities

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down south of the Dead Sea.

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Sodom likely being the largest

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or most prosperous of those cities.

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So as the king of Sodom,

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he was kind of at the top of the heap there.

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We make that connection or make that assumption there

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is because when the Bible is referring

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to these five cities down in this area,

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it often refers to them by Sodom or Sodom in Gomorrah.

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It refers to this whole area

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and these five city states that were down there

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by the largest or most powerful or most influential one.

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And so the king of Sodom was likely

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a very, very powerful guy among his contemporaries

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down there in the Valley of Sidum.

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We also know that he was probably very brave guy

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or extremely confident in himself

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and very likely very arrogantly confident in himself

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because earlier in Genesis it says

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when these four kings came in with their armies,

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the king of Sodom had rallied the five cities,

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got all their armies together

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and actually proactively went out to meet this army.

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And then the Bible tells us that Sodom was evil

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and the people there were sinning immensely.

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And so we could make a connection

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that the king of Sodom was likely the same

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because I'm sure some of you have heard that phrase before,

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as the leader goes, so does the organization.

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And so the city being as wicked and evil as it was

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was very, very likely a reflection

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of the leadership of that city.

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So that's what we're told about the king of Sodom.

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Not a whole lot, but a few details.

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And then we get to this guy named Melchizedek.

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Now Genesis 14 is one of the two places

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in the entire Old Testament

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where we see this guy named Melchizedek mentioned.

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Here in Genesis 14 it tells us that he is the king of Salem.

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Now in Psalms chapter 76 verse two,

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it tells us very clearly that Salem is Jerusalem, okay?

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It's the same city.

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This is Jerusalem before it became the holy city,

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it became before it became the place of God's temple,

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before it became the place of the kings of Israel and Judah,

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it was this city known as Salem.

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But at this point in Genesis 14,

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Salem is just another Canaanite city

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in the land of Canaan, okay?

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So it also tells us that this Melchizedek

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is not only the king of this city,

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00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:03,680
but he was also a priest to God most high.

259
00:12:03,680 --> 00:12:06,340
That is a very, very important detail.

260
00:12:06,340 --> 00:12:07,800
Now the way it's described there,

261
00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:11,280
it's describing God in a very particular way.

262
00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:16,280
That phrase God most high in the Hebrew is El Elion.

263
00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:19,360
That is a phrase used in Hebrews to,

264
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:21,800
or in the Hebrew language to describe God

265
00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:24,800
in the context of his bigness, right?

266
00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:29,040
The God Almighty, the God that is just big and up there

267
00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:30,840
and can destroy everything in a second,

268
00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:35,840
it's referring to the immensity, the infiniteness of God.

269
00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:38,840
And it's emphasizing his exalted status

270
00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:40,480
that he is above all things,

271
00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:43,660
which is why it's rendered God most high.

272
00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:46,880
Now we don't know how this Melchizedek

273
00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,500
came to be a priest of God, it just tells us that he was.

274
00:12:50,500 --> 00:12:52,560
And this is where the mysteriousness

275
00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:53,680
of this character comes from,

276
00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:55,800
because he just appears on the scene here,

277
00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:57,560
and then he's gone.

278
00:12:57,560 --> 00:12:59,680
And that's it, that's all we really see of him

279
00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:01,820
outside of him being mentioned another time,

280
00:13:01,820 --> 00:13:04,320
one other time in the Old Testament.

281
00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:06,560
Now when it comes to the identity of this guy,

282
00:13:06,560 --> 00:13:09,500
there are a lot of different interpretations and ideas.

283
00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,360
One of the interpretations is that this guy Melchizedek

284
00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:17,320
was simply a human, he was an actual man

285
00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:20,680
who was a Canaanite living in the land of Canaan

286
00:13:20,680 --> 00:13:25,120
who happened to be a priest of the one and only true God.

287
00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:28,800
That he was not only that priest of God,

288
00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:33,760
but he was also the actual literal king of this city Salem

289
00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:37,160
that would become known as Jerusalem in the future.

290
00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:40,680
Now those that adhere to that interpretation of him

291
00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:45,020
will also say that he is a picture of Jesus Christ,

292
00:13:45,020 --> 00:13:47,320
that he is a type of Jesus Christ

293
00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:49,720
that we see later on in the New Testament,

294
00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,240
but that he represents the reality

295
00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,320
that God's offer of salvation,

296
00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:57,380
the offer of people knowing him

297
00:13:57,380 --> 00:14:00,740
was from the very beginning open to both Gentiles,

298
00:14:00,740 --> 00:14:03,180
which the Canaanites were, and Abram,

299
00:14:03,180 --> 00:14:06,640
and the Jewish people who would eventually come through him.

300
00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:08,040
One of the other interpretations

301
00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:11,200
that was kind of an older Jewish thought about Melchizedek

302
00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,020
is that he was actually Shem, the son of Noah,

303
00:14:15,020 --> 00:14:16,640
that he was still alive at this time,

304
00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,680
and he was this priest king who knew God

305
00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,880
and was honoring God there in the land of Canaan.

306
00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:25,880
Some say he was an angel,

307
00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,840
and some say in the most prevalent interpretation

308
00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:30,680
is that this Melchizedek

309
00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:34,300
is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.

310
00:14:34,300 --> 00:14:37,280
We call it a Christophany in the pictures

311
00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:38,720
of where we see in the Old Testament

312
00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:41,520
what is Jesus, or God the Son,

313
00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:42,920
the second person of the Trinity,

314
00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:47,520
appearing before his incarnation in the New Testament.

315
00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,160
Now we're gonna walk through all that next week, okay,

316
00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:52,320
and talk about the implications of all that

317
00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:57,320
because really, at the end of the day,

318
00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:01,440
it doesn't matter too much who you think he is,

319
00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,800
but there are ramifications on what it means.

320
00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:09,600
Hebrews chapter seven really explains the significance

321
00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:14,320
of who he is in context of him being a priest

322
00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:16,060
and a king at the same time

323
00:15:16,060 --> 00:15:20,160
because that is something that definitely prefigures Christ.

324
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,320
This union, incidentally, of him being a priest and a king

325
00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,700
was a very unique thing in the law of Israel.

326
00:15:26,700 --> 00:15:30,840
It wasn't permitted for kings to also be priests

327
00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:32,280
or priests to also be kings

328
00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,060
because it was kind of looked at as a conflict of interest.

329
00:15:35,060 --> 00:15:37,980
But this Melchizedek, who existed before the law,

330
00:15:37,980 --> 00:15:40,640
before the law of Moses, before the temple,

331
00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:43,560
we see here is a priest king.

332
00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:46,260
This reality is what moved King David to write

333
00:15:46,260 --> 00:15:49,360
in Psalms 110, which is the only other mention

334
00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:51,120
of Melchizedek in the Old Testament.

335
00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:54,300
He writes a verse there that we're pretty familiar with

336
00:15:54,300 --> 00:15:56,720
where he says, you are a priest forever

337
00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:59,680
according to the pattern of Melchizedek.

338
00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:03,120
Other translations say according to the order of Melchizedek.

339
00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:05,480
And of course, this is a prophetic verse

340
00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:07,760
looking forward to Jesus Christ,

341
00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:12,720
who is our high priest after the pattern of Melchizedek.

342
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:16,400
And that pattern is what Hebrews seven gets into in detail,

343
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,760
primarily being the fact that Jesus,

344
00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:21,620
unlike the Levitical priests,

345
00:16:21,620 --> 00:16:23,880
is both a priest and a king,

346
00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,120
like this one guy we see very briefly here in Genesis.

347
00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:29,220
So, as I said, we'll get into that next week

348
00:16:29,220 --> 00:16:31,160
and the implications of all of that.

349
00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:32,320
But for the sake of this study

350
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:34,400
and the sake of the story here,

351
00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,100
what we see here is a king from Salem

352
00:16:37,100 --> 00:16:41,440
who has a significant way of responding to Abram

353
00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:43,400
and representing God himself.

354
00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,720
And that is the God-fearing point of view

355
00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:47,120
when it comes to success.

356
00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:48,720
And then we have the King of Sodom,

357
00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:52,520
which is the secular or worldly point of view

358
00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:54,040
and response to success.

359
00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:56,000
And what we're gonna see in this story is

360
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,680
how Abram responds to both points of view

361
00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:00,300
and how that applies to us in our lives.

362
00:17:00,300 --> 00:17:02,640
So, the first one it gets into here

363
00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:04,080
as it introduces the King of Sodom,

364
00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:06,400
it immediately goes into Melchizedek

365
00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:09,400
and tells us what he does as he greets Abram

366
00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:11,240
coming back from his victory.

367
00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:12,960
So, in verse 18 of Genesis 14,

368
00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,400
it tells us that Melchizedek, King of Salem, arrived

369
00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:17,440
and brought out bread and wine.

370
00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,600
Now, the first thing that this king does

371
00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:24,100
when he meets Abram on the way back from his victory

372
00:17:24,100 --> 00:17:26,520
is bring out refreshment to refresh Abram,

373
00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:28,200
to refresh his men.

374
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,920
But some people see a greater symbolism

375
00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:32,080
in the bread and wine there.

376
00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:34,720
There's a couple different things that this could be.

377
00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:39,720
Bread and wine is seen by some as a recognition of royalty.

378
00:17:40,380 --> 00:17:42,820
That when bread and wine was brought to somebody,

379
00:17:42,820 --> 00:17:45,300
it was somebody recognizing that there's a royalty

380
00:17:45,300 --> 00:17:47,060
or an authority in this person.

381
00:17:47,060 --> 00:17:49,500
Not necessarily that they were in higher authority,

382
00:17:49,500 --> 00:17:51,020
but a recognition of position.

383
00:17:51,020 --> 00:17:54,380
What I mean by that is in 1 Samuel 16, 14,

384
00:17:54,380 --> 00:17:58,000
when King David's dad, Jesse, was getting David ready

385
00:17:58,000 --> 00:17:59,940
to send him to see King Saul

386
00:17:59,940 --> 00:18:01,540
after he had been anointed king,

387
00:18:01,540 --> 00:18:04,180
it tells us there that he got his donkey ready

388
00:18:04,180 --> 00:18:06,580
and actually sent bread and wine with him

389
00:18:06,580 --> 00:18:08,520
to present to the king.

390
00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:09,780
So some people look at that and they go,

391
00:18:09,780 --> 00:18:13,140
oh, bringing bread and wine was a recognition of authority.

392
00:18:13,140 --> 00:18:16,220
And people look at that as Abram's name being lifted up,

393
00:18:16,220 --> 00:18:19,660
as God had prophesied that he would do with Abram.

394
00:18:19,660 --> 00:18:22,480
Others go, it's just food and drink.

395
00:18:23,820 --> 00:18:26,260
But then of course we know that bread and wine

396
00:18:26,260 --> 00:18:29,140
are what Jesus offered to his disciples

397
00:18:29,140 --> 00:18:30,820
as part of the Lord's Supper, right?

398
00:18:30,820 --> 00:18:32,400
There was the bread that he broke and he said,

399
00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:34,260
this is my body given for you.

400
00:18:34,260 --> 00:18:35,500
And there was the wine offered

401
00:18:35,500 --> 00:18:38,680
that represented the blood of the new covenant.

402
00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:41,300
And in Jesus' case of offering the bread and wine,

403
00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:42,740
he is the king of kings,

404
00:18:42,740 --> 00:18:45,260
but his offering of the bread and wine

405
00:18:45,260 --> 00:18:47,580
was a recognition of the sacrifice

406
00:18:47,580 --> 00:18:48,660
that he was about to make.

407
00:18:48,660 --> 00:18:52,460
And so some people connect that to the sacrifice Abram made

408
00:18:52,460 --> 00:18:54,420
and going to risk his life and whatnot.

409
00:18:54,420 --> 00:18:57,380
And there's definitely a prophetic connection to that.

410
00:18:57,380 --> 00:19:00,000
But regardless of where you stand on that,

411
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:01,920
what we see here is this King Melchizedek

412
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,740
expressing his goodwill and his generosity to Abram.

413
00:19:04,740 --> 00:19:06,980
He's being hospitable, he's being welcoming,

414
00:19:06,980 --> 00:19:09,220
he's being ministerial to him.

415
00:19:09,220 --> 00:19:12,540
And so the bread and wine is essentially this picture

416
00:19:12,540 --> 00:19:15,740
that he lays out this banquet for the conqueror

417
00:19:15,740 --> 00:19:17,820
of the four kings of the East as he comes back.

418
00:19:17,820 --> 00:19:20,980
And so Abram and his men get to be refreshed from that.

419
00:19:20,980 --> 00:19:22,740
So he's given this gift of bread and wine,

420
00:19:22,740 --> 00:19:25,180
and then he's also given the gift of blessing

421
00:19:25,180 --> 00:19:26,060
from Melchizedek.

422
00:19:26,060 --> 00:19:30,220
Verse 19, it says he blessed him and said,

423
00:19:30,220 --> 00:19:32,500
Abram is blessed by God most high,

424
00:19:32,500 --> 00:19:35,180
creator of heaven and earth.

425
00:19:35,180 --> 00:19:38,180
Now this is a initial fulfillment of the promise

426
00:19:38,180 --> 00:19:40,780
that God gave Abram back in chapter 12.

427
00:19:40,780 --> 00:19:43,540
If you remember there when Abram was in Ur

428
00:19:43,540 --> 00:19:47,460
and he was just being an Urite and living as an Urite,

429
00:19:47,460 --> 00:19:50,860
God called him, called him to the promised land.

430
00:19:50,860 --> 00:19:53,940
And it said there in Genesis 12, verses one through three,

431
00:19:53,940 --> 00:19:56,660
the Lord said to Abram, go from your land,

432
00:19:56,660 --> 00:19:59,020
your relatives and your father's house,

433
00:19:59,020 --> 00:20:01,140
to a land that I will show you.

434
00:20:01,140 --> 00:20:04,660
And here is the promise, I will make you into a great nation.

435
00:20:04,660 --> 00:20:06,380
I will bless you.

436
00:20:06,380 --> 00:20:10,580
I will make your name great and you will be a blessing.

437
00:20:10,580 --> 00:20:12,240
I will bless those who bless you

438
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:14,580
and I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt

439
00:20:14,580 --> 00:20:17,180
and all the peoples of the earth are on the earth

440
00:20:17,180 --> 00:20:18,860
will be blessed through you.

441
00:20:19,940 --> 00:20:22,960
So here as Melchizedek is blessing Abram,

442
00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:25,300
we see the initial fulfillment of that promise.

443
00:20:25,300 --> 00:20:28,180
Abram is being blessed as he is also

444
00:20:28,180 --> 00:20:31,900
simultaneously had been a blessing to others.

445
00:20:31,900 --> 00:20:33,940
I imagine the people that were taken hostage

446
00:20:33,940 --> 00:20:36,540
by the four kings when they got rescued,

447
00:20:36,540 --> 00:20:38,900
I imagine they felt pretty blessed.

448
00:20:38,900 --> 00:20:41,400
And so Abram had been a blessing to them.

449
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:45,060
Now, the promise in Genesis 12 also seems to indicate

450
00:20:45,060 --> 00:20:48,980
that Melchizedek himself is likewise blessed

451
00:20:48,980 --> 00:20:51,700
because he is blessing Abram.

452
00:20:51,700 --> 00:20:54,040
Those who bless you will be blessed.

453
00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,460
So what is this blessing that he keeps talking about?

454
00:20:56,460 --> 00:20:58,260
What is this word?

455
00:20:58,260 --> 00:21:00,500
Here in the Hebrew, the word blessing

456
00:21:00,500 --> 00:21:03,680
means to be spoken of very highly,

457
00:21:04,940 --> 00:21:07,740
to be exalted, if you will,

458
00:21:07,740 --> 00:21:10,740
to have your name and your reputation lifted up

459
00:21:10,740 --> 00:21:13,040
and presented for all to see.

460
00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:15,140
Well, that falls in line exactly with what Abram

461
00:21:15,140 --> 00:21:19,480
was promised in Genesis 12, that your name will be made great.

462
00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:21,060
So Abram is being praised.

463
00:21:21,060 --> 00:21:23,100
He is being lauded in that sense,

464
00:21:23,100 --> 00:21:25,800
that you are blessed by God most high,

465
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,580
where the idea is that God is saying,

466
00:21:28,580 --> 00:21:31,720
Abram is well done, good and faithful servant, right?

467
00:21:32,700 --> 00:21:34,700
So he says, God is blessing you,

468
00:21:34,700 --> 00:21:38,220
and then he refers to God again as that phrase, God most high,

469
00:21:38,220 --> 00:21:41,660
the big, almighty, huge God that's up there.

470
00:21:41,660 --> 00:21:45,020
And then he calls him the creator of heaven and earth.

471
00:21:45,020 --> 00:21:47,100
The phrase heaven and earth in Hebrews

472
00:21:47,100 --> 00:21:50,020
was a Hebrew way to say everything.

473
00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:53,980
Everything in heaven, everything on earth.

474
00:21:53,980 --> 00:21:57,220
He is the creator of everything.

475
00:21:57,220 --> 00:22:01,420
And this recognition, this response, this blessing,

476
00:22:01,420 --> 00:22:04,540
it's in contrast to how the king of Sodom responds

477
00:22:04,540 --> 00:22:07,380
to Abram, who would give no blessing to Abram,

478
00:22:07,380 --> 00:22:09,840
who would receive no blessing.

479
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,420
He would just pretty much ask for what he thought

480
00:22:12,420 --> 00:22:14,820
was still his, and we'll get to that in a moment.

481
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,020
But Melchizedek, Abram, you're blessed by God most high,

482
00:22:19,020 --> 00:22:21,880
who is the creator of heaven and earth.

483
00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:23,200
If you have an older translation,

484
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,780
that word creator might be possessor instead,

485
00:22:25,780 --> 00:22:27,900
and that's another way the word can be rendered.

486
00:22:27,900 --> 00:22:29,620
So what he's saying here is he's like,

487
00:22:29,620 --> 00:22:33,460
Abram, you are blessed by God most high,

488
00:22:33,460 --> 00:22:36,220
the eternal, almighty creator of everything,

489
00:22:36,220 --> 00:22:37,900
but he's also, you're being blessed by the one

490
00:22:37,900 --> 00:22:39,940
who is the possessor of everything.

491
00:22:39,940 --> 00:22:41,700
Everything belongs to him.

492
00:22:41,700 --> 00:22:43,740
He is the one to whom all things belong,

493
00:22:43,740 --> 00:22:45,420
both material and immaterial.

494
00:22:45,420 --> 00:22:47,360
This is the God who's blessing you.

495
00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:52,360
This blessing Melchizedek is giving him is grounded

496
00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:54,920
in this God to whom all things flow,

497
00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:57,600
and from all things flow, the creator,

498
00:22:57,600 --> 00:22:59,880
the possessor of the universe, the almighty.

499
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:03,080
Why do you think he's telling that to Abram?

500
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:05,840
Well, put yourself in Abram's shoes.

501
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:09,480
He just had this great victory,

502
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:13,480
pretty lopsided victory if you look at the numbers.

503
00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:16,480
He rescues his nephew Lot, which was his

504
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:18,640
real purpose in going.

505
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:20,200
What else did he get?

506
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:25,200
Five cities worth of hostages and all their stuff.

507
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,920
That's a pretty significant victory.

508
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:30,400
That's a pretty significant accomplishment there,

509
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,560
and it might be easy, and it was actually normally,

510
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,880
very normal that when a army would conquer another army,

511
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:41,840
the spoils of war were theirs by right.

512
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,640
That it was your reward, it was your stuff.

513
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:46,760
You got to loot the city, you got to take everything

514
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:48,800
that was theirs, and there was no sense of,

515
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:49,640
oh, don't do that.

516
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:51,320
It was like, no, you conquered.

517
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:53,960
You get it all, it belongs to you.

518
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,680
But in this blessing, Melchizedek is reminding Abraham

519
00:23:57,680 --> 00:23:59,400
who is the possessor of all things.

520
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:04,640
He was reminding Abraham who all things already belong to,

521
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,760
so that Abraham wouldn't miss the point

522
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:12,760
who the stuff belongs to and who gave it to him.

523
00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:16,040
That is the idea here.

524
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,000
So he says, look, God Almighty, God Most High,

525
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:20,240
he's blessing you, Abraham.

526
00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:24,800
And he's the one that is the possessor of all things.

527
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:26,680
And on top of that, verse 20 again, he says,

528
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,160
and blessed be God Most High who has handed

529
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:31,280
over your enemies to you.

530
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,960
So again, Abraham, your name is being lifted up,

531
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:37,680
you're being spoken well of by God.

532
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:39,540
God is saying well done, right?

533
00:24:39,540 --> 00:24:43,100
The God that is above and over everything,

534
00:24:43,100 --> 00:24:47,580
he is recognizing you for doing a good thing.

535
00:24:47,580 --> 00:24:50,180
The one who owns everything, all that stuff you got

536
00:24:50,180 --> 00:24:51,780
already belongs to him.

537
00:24:51,780 --> 00:24:55,060
And his name, blessed be God Most High,

538
00:24:55,060 --> 00:24:58,140
his name is even to be lifted higher because why?

539
00:24:58,140 --> 00:25:01,820
He is the one who handed your enemies over to you.

540
00:25:01,820 --> 00:25:04,740
Melchizedek understood something that the King of Sodom

541
00:25:04,740 --> 00:25:08,060
didn't, as we'll see in the King of Sodom's response,

542
00:25:08,060 --> 00:25:11,700
that Abraham's victory, Abraham's success,

543
00:25:11,700 --> 00:25:14,500
not just this one, but all victories that he would have

544
00:25:14,500 --> 00:25:19,500
and ever will have were victories from God.

545
00:25:19,700 --> 00:25:22,480
That the success was granted to him by God,

546
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:27,480
it was from God, and therefore he is to be praised.

547
00:25:27,780 --> 00:25:31,360
His name is to be lifted up for every success,

548
00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:32,220
for every victory.

549
00:25:32,220 --> 00:25:35,260
Abraham, don't miss this point here.

550
00:25:35,260 --> 00:25:39,940
This great victory you did while absolutely impressive

551
00:25:39,940 --> 00:25:43,140
in man's eyes and wow, what a big thing you did,

552
00:25:44,180 --> 00:25:46,260
don't let it go to your head.

553
00:25:46,260 --> 00:25:48,020
Don't take the credit.

554
00:25:48,020 --> 00:25:50,100
Remember who your God is.

555
00:25:50,100 --> 00:25:53,220
Remember who gives you everything you've ever been given

556
00:25:53,220 --> 00:25:55,960
and remember who gave you victory.

557
00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:57,420
It is God Almighty.

558
00:25:59,300 --> 00:26:01,900
God handed them over.

559
00:26:01,900 --> 00:26:04,300
That very language in the Orangier language

560
00:26:04,300 --> 00:26:06,300
is speaking as if God's like,

561
00:26:06,300 --> 00:26:08,380
you know those people in that army?

562
00:26:08,380 --> 00:26:09,220
They were mine.

563
00:26:10,660 --> 00:26:13,340
That stuff that they took, yeah, it belongs to me too.

564
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:17,940
The King of, yeah, they're all mine, I'm the creator.

565
00:26:17,940 --> 00:26:19,880
So when you went out to do the right thing,

566
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:21,780
to do the godly thing, to do the honorable thing,

567
00:26:21,780 --> 00:26:25,000
go rescue your nephew, you weren't chasing down the riches,

568
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:26,440
you weren't chasing down the possessions,

569
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:28,100
you were just going to do what was right

570
00:26:28,100 --> 00:26:31,320
and God said, yeah, and I handed it over to you.

571
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:33,080
That is the right place to recognize

572
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:35,440
when we have victory over our enemies,

573
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,600
when we have successes in our life,

574
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,920
that it is God the one who is handing it to us.

575
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:45,520
And that is what helps us stay in a humble mindset

576
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,360
after success.

577
00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:49,640
To not get puffed up, to not be like,

578
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:51,240
well gosh, I'm pretty good.

579
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,400
Wow, I'm pretty smart.

580
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,240
Man, that was a pretty genius idea I put out there

581
00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:59,000
to close that business deal.

582
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:00,640
And God's always right there to say,

583
00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:03,560
yeah, who gave you the brain to think of that idea?

584
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:05,360
Who gave you the mouth to speak it?

585
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:08,200
Who gave you the feet to get to that business meeting

586
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:09,840
to speak that idea?

587
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,640
Don't forget to give God the glory.

588
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:18,960
Now, in verse 20 again, we see Abraham's response

589
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,000
to this blessing.

590
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,880
Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest of the most high god,

591
00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:29,200
the implication here is that Abraham understood,

592
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:32,640
he believes the same God that I believe in.

593
00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:36,560
That God most high he is talking about,

594
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:38,400
that's the God I know.

595
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:39,680
That is the God that spoke to me.

596
00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:43,040
That's the implication here that Abraham understood.

597
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:44,320
And so as he's being told,

598
00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:48,600
Abraham, you are being blessed by God most high.

599
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,960
You are being given a blessing.

600
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,440
You are being given everything

601
00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,000
that you have by God most high.

602
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:02,040
You are given the victory by God most high.

603
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:02,880
What does Abraham do?

604
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,000
Verse 20, he gave him a tenth of everything.

605
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,800
Now that word tenth there in the CSB,

606
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,280
it's translated tithe and other translations

607
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:14,760
and that's exactly what it is.

608
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:19,760
When we hear the word tithe, that word means a tenth, okay?

609
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,080
So Abraham here in response to this blessing

610
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:26,440
and this admonition and this encouragement from Melchizedek,

611
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:28,000
he gives him a tithe.

612
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,360
He tithes to Melchizedek.

613
00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:34,360
And he says that he gave him a tenth of everything.

614
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,360
Some people go everything of what?

615
00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:41,000
Is it only referring to the spoils of war that he just got?

616
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:43,080
Some people go, yeah, that's what it's referring to.

617
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,040
A lot of translations will render it that way

618
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:48,480
where they'll say Abraham gave a tithe of all the spoils.

619
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:50,680
Or Abraham gave a tithe of all the stuff

620
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:52,760
that was captured in battle or the plunder.

621
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:54,320
But there's other people that go, no, no, no,

622
00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:57,040
the language here of everything is everything.

623
00:28:57,040 --> 00:28:59,880
So it's referring to Abraham, all his assets,

624
00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:03,840
everything Abraham owned and now just increased

625
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:05,400
that he gave a tithe to.

626
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:07,640
There's some debate on that and I'm not gonna take a stance

627
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:09,560
but render that how you will.

628
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:11,560
The point is is he tithed.

629
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:13,160
He tithed.

630
00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:17,160
Now this is the first mention in scripture.

631
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:22,160
In scripture of a tithe, of giving a tenth.

632
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,280
So it's pretty significant.

633
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:27,720
Again, this is before the Mosaic law.

634
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:29,360
This is before the temple.

635
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:31,320
This is before the Levites existed.

636
00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:32,800
This is before all of that.

637
00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:34,400
We see the first mention here

638
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:36,880
of giving a tenth here in Abram.

639
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:41,560
Now what we see here is Abram recognizing and acknowledging

640
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:46,480
that everything he has and has been given is God's.

641
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,400
Right, Melchizedek, don't forget this.

642
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,120
Abram's going, yes, I acknowledge that.

643
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:55,840
That is what this giving is in response to here.

644
00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:57,920
Not only the stuff but the victory.

645
00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:00,040
He's responding to God's graciousness.

646
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:01,560
He's responding to God's gift.

647
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:04,280
He's responding to everything that God's given him.

648
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:05,960
Specifically, if you look at it this way,

649
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:10,520
he's responding to the increase he's just received from God

650
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:12,680
by giving back a tenth.

651
00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:17,280
And his tithing to Melchizedek is tithing to God's representative

652
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:19,000
or the one who is a priest of God there.

653
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,800
And so we know that later on that tithes were given in Israel

654
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:24,880
to the priest serving in the temple, right?

655
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:27,880
But it wasn't like here, priest, this is tithing to you,

656
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:29,360
meaning your God.

657
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,400
The idea was is that you're the representative

658
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:32,760
of God most high, God almighty.

659
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:35,320
And so I'm bringing my tithe in to you

660
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,160
in honor and offering to him.

661
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,080
Now, but again, this is before the Mosaic law.

662
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:44,760
This is before temple worship, before all of that.

663
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:46,200
So the question that came up to my head

664
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,520
is where did 10% come from?

665
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,240
Why is it tithe, the 10%, is it because

666
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,840
that's what the word meant and so well, it means tenth.

667
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:55,680
We're gonna stick to that.

668
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:57,680
Did they invent the word tithe because somebody said

669
00:30:57,680 --> 00:30:58,640
it should be 10%?

670
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:02,920
Well, that's, why isn't it 12% or 15%, right?

671
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,480
Where did this 10% come from?

672
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,520
If you're wondering, we don't know for sure.

673
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:13,040
We're not exactly sure where, we just see it happening here.

674
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:15,640
But again, the Bible shows us things, it teaches us things

675
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:19,440
and we develop our patterns and we follow the examples

676
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:22,600
of things here and so Israel ended up codifying this

677
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:26,400
in their law later on that you gave 10% of your increase,

678
00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:28,560
right, your first fruits.

679
00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:32,760
But the concept of giving to God, the concept of honoring

680
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:36,200
him, worshiping him and giving back to him what he's given

681
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,600
to you actually starts in the very beginning.

682
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,520
You guys remember the story of Cain and Abel, right?

683
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:44,720
The whole story of Cain and Abel was that they were doing

684
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,080
what they do and then they brought an offering

685
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,760
from what they earned in that sense, sheep and grain.

686
00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:54,240
They brought that offering to God in a sense of honoring

687
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:57,880
him and worshiping him and that whole story tells us

688
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:02,200
that at the time of Cain and Abel, this concept of giving

689
00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:04,640
an offering to God was already known.

690
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:07,680
It was already understood, they knew to do that.

691
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:12,000
Specifically because when God accepts one and not the other

692
00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:14,600
and Cain gets all upset about it, we see God saying,

693
00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:18,120
look, if you just do what is right, you do what you know

694
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:20,880
you should be doing, we won't have a problem.

695
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,200
So there was already an understanding of giving to God

696
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,280
in worship and honor of him was a thing to do.

697
00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,480
Now what's interesting to me is we go back to the garden,

698
00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:33,000
we see Adam and Eve in the garden and God said,

699
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,520
here's everything, it's all yours.

700
00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:40,120
It's all yours to enjoy, have fun, partake,

701
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:41,720
it's just do whatever you want with it

702
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:43,280
because it's all for you.

703
00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,520
This was the situation that God had created in the garden.

704
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:52,520
But he said, but there's one little piece that is not yours.

705
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,920
Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

706
00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:02,520
It's almost like God was saying, look, 90% of everything

707
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:07,520
is yours but this 10% belongs to me.

708
00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,440
Not you, you are not to take it, you are not to have it.

709
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:11,520
What did man do?

710
00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,920
90's not good enough, I want 100.

711
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:17,760
I want all of it.

712
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:20,760
And so they sinned, they partook of the fruit

713
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:23,360
and then sin entered the world and everything fell apart

714
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:26,600
and then the very first kids we have recorded,

715
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:29,960
we see that this idea of giving back to the Lord

716
00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:32,520
and offering is already instituted.

717
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:35,760
Now, this is just my personal opinion here

718
00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:40,080
but I think the idea of offering back to God

719
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:42,760
was instituted after the fall

720
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:44,600
because God wanted to make sure

721
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,680
that we would always remember,

722
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:52,800
always remember that everything we have is from him.

723
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,280
And when God says this part is for me,

724
00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:58,960
that we are not to violate that

725
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:01,400
because how dare you think that all of it's yours

726
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:03,000
when actually all of it is his

727
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:04,880
and he's letting you keep most of it.

728
00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:08,240
And so that's my personal opinion

729
00:34:08,240 --> 00:34:09,800
of how this was instituted here

730
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:12,880
and so we know that offering was in place already.

731
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:14,360
Then when we get to the flood,

732
00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:17,920
we read how Noah got all the animals on the ark,

733
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:19,520
God brought the animals and then he said

734
00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:23,040
he also took seven pairs of the clean animals.

735
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,200
After the flood subsided, he got out,

736
00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:27,920
he built an altar and he offered these animals

737
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,920
as burnt offerings, what does that tell us?

738
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:33,960
That the idea of what was an acceptable clean offering

739
00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:35,840
and what was not an acceptable offering

740
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:39,160
was already understood by Noah.

741
00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:42,800
The idea of building an altar and presenting that to God

742
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:45,480
was already understood as a means of worship

743
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:47,080
and a means of honoring God.

744
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:49,680
So it's not difficult for us to go then,

745
00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:53,760
he probably taught that to his sons, right?

746
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:57,120
And then of course we saw how the nations went out,

747
00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:00,160
one of the lines ended up being God's people

748
00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:02,760
and the other ones became the Gentile nations of the world.

749
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,120
We looked at how down through history,

750
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:07,080
people started deviating in their worship

751
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:09,760
and creating false gods and doing all this stuff.

752
00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:12,840
But what we do know through looking back

753
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,560
and looking into ancient cultures and archeology and stuff

754
00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:19,160
is in all of these cultures, the Sumerians,

755
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:23,160
the Babylonians, the Akkadians, the Assyrians, all of this,

756
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,640
all of those cultures had many false gods

757
00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:31,640
and understood that you give offering to those gods.

758
00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:34,800
It was just a part of culture.

759
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,920
They somehow knew that.

760
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:39,240
It came from somewhere.

761
00:35:39,240 --> 00:35:41,400
Now of course in most of those cultures

762
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:42,880
that were worshiping all these false gods,

763
00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:46,960
it was wrongly placed, but still there was the idea

764
00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:50,240
of that you bring offering to that which is deity.

765
00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:52,880
Abram grew up in Ur.

766
00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:56,560
We studied back then that Ur was a major center

767
00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:57,440
of moon worship.

768
00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,520
They actually had at the top of their ziggurat

769
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:03,200
the temple to the moon god, Nana.

770
00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:05,240
So Abram having grown up in this culture

771
00:36:05,240 --> 00:36:10,240
knew that yeah, you take offerings to that which is deity.

772
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:16,440
Now Abram had been introduced to the one true and real god

773
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:17,880
by God himself.

774
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:21,920
Abram now knew that all that stuff is false, it's fake.

775
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:26,320
But the idea of that you give offering to deity

776
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:29,120
was still a part of his concept.

777
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:31,520
It was still part of the culture.

778
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:33,400
It was still a part of what went all the way back

779
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:35,800
to the beginning when everybody truly did worship

780
00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:38,080
and know the one true god and him alone.

781
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:44,080
And so Noah gives, Abram is now giving the idea,

782
00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:47,640
and so it's likely that this concept of giving offerings

783
00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:50,760
and stuff, it was just understood.

784
00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:52,320
We don't have any recording where God said

785
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:53,720
this is what I want you to do.

786
00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:56,240
We just see the examples of it in scripture, right?

787
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:00,680
Now the idea of 10%, nobody knows for sure.

788
00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:04,840
There are some interesting ideas that in the early cultures

789
00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:08,680
everybody did everything on a base 10 system, right?

790
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:12,000
Everything is based on fives and tens and so on and so forth.

791
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,400
And so in a base 10 system people said

792
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:16,840
what's the least I can give?

793
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,320
One tenth, right?

794
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:20,400
That's conjecture.

795
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:24,120
And then the Sumerians anyways had a base 60 system,

796
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:26,720
but go Google that if you're interested.

797
00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:30,840
The point is is that tithing, the offering was recognized

798
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:35,000
as paying homage to one who is superior.

799
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,480
It was the inferior paying homage to one

800
00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:40,400
that was recognized as superior to themselves.

801
00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:45,400
Now in pagan cultures the giving, the homage, the offering,

802
00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:47,880
even if it was a 10% thing,

803
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:50,200
was a means of getting what I want.

804
00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:55,480
It was a means of appeasing that God so I don't get killed

805
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:57,560
so that I don't have misfortune in my life.

806
00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:01,400
It was a selfish means of manipulation

807
00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:02,800
so that I could get what I want.

808
00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:06,400
But in Judaism and then ultimately in Christianity,

809
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:09,200
the idea of giving to the Lord,

810
00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:13,680
to the Lord is a response of obedience.

811
00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:15,520
We don't do it to earn anything from God.

812
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:16,760
We don't do it to earn his favor.

813
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:18,480
We already have his favor.

814
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:20,200
And so the practice of giving,

815
00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:21,640
going all the way back to here,

816
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:26,040
Abraham recognizing that you are representing God most high

817
00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:27,600
and God most high has blessed me

818
00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:31,320
and God most high has given me everything I have.

819
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:35,000
The response is how could I not give back to him

820
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:40,000
in recognition that all of it is his anyways?

821
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:45,440
And so in Judaism and Christianity this developed,

822
00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:48,240
this idea of giving in response,

823
00:38:48,240 --> 00:38:49,800
giving out of obedience,

824
00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:52,680
but really giving out of gratitude and thankfulness.

825
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,680
And so this is what we see in Abram's example here.

826
00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:59,000
Now what this means is that Abram's giving of a tithe

827
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:03,560
to God's priest or God's representative Melchizedek

828
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:08,560
was Abram giving thanks and recognizing the God

829
00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:13,680
that Melchizedek represented as a priest of that most high.

830
00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:17,320
And as I said earlier, I believe that Abram had understood

831
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:21,120
the God you're talking about is the same God I serve,

832
00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:25,080
except Abraham knew him as Yahweh, the Lord.

833
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:29,280
Melchizedek apparently knew him as El Elyon, God most high.

834
00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:30,760
And so we'll deal with that with a little bit.

835
00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:35,320
But this whole idea of honoring and recognizing

836
00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:37,140
and expressing gratitude and giving,

837
00:39:37,140 --> 00:39:39,320
it's the same today in the church

838
00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:41,480
when we talk about tithing or offering.

839
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:42,760
It's the same idea.

840
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:46,360
Like God does not need our money.

841
00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:48,520
God doesn't need our time.

842
00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,340
God doesn't need our talents.

843
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:53,240
Right?

844
00:39:53,240 --> 00:39:55,120
I mean did he need any of us in the beginning

845
00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:57,140
when he said let there be light?

846
00:39:57,140 --> 00:40:02,140
No, but God teaches us and examples for us

847
00:40:05,020 --> 00:40:09,900
the idea of giving because it's a response to I recognize

848
00:40:10,860 --> 00:40:12,420
who he is.

849
00:40:12,420 --> 00:40:16,620
I recognize that everything I have is his.

850
00:40:17,500 --> 00:40:20,840
And that he's asking me to steward most of it.

851
00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:24,060
But when we don't do these things

852
00:40:24,060 --> 00:40:26,020
with it's our time, our talents, or our money,

853
00:40:26,020 --> 00:40:30,280
what we're communicating is that no, it's mine.

854
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:31,240
It belongs to me.

855
00:40:31,240 --> 00:40:33,460
I get to dictate what is done with it.

856
00:40:33,460 --> 00:40:36,360
And we're gonna see that in the King of Sodom in a moment.

857
00:40:39,660 --> 00:40:42,880
So verse 21, that's where we come to the King of Sodom.

858
00:40:44,340 --> 00:40:47,300
So Melchizedek does this awesome blessing, speaks to him.

859
00:40:47,300 --> 00:40:50,740
Abram's like oh my gosh, here's my offering to the Lord

860
00:40:50,740 --> 00:40:52,900
in recognition of who he is and what he's done.

861
00:40:52,900 --> 00:40:54,980
And then the King of Sodom said to Abram,

862
00:40:54,980 --> 00:40:58,280
give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.

863
00:40:59,620 --> 00:41:02,260
That's it, that's all we got about King of Sodom's response.

864
00:41:02,260 --> 00:41:03,840
One little short sentence here.

865
00:41:04,740 --> 00:41:08,220
It's not even a Abram, thanks for the rescue.

866
00:41:09,460 --> 00:41:12,300
There's no thanks, there's no recognition,

867
00:41:12,300 --> 00:41:15,300
there's no blessing, there's no honor given to Abram

868
00:41:15,300 --> 00:41:18,900
as in like hey good job, there's none of that.

869
00:41:18,900 --> 00:41:21,940
There just seems to be the attitude of hey cool,

870
00:41:21,940 --> 00:41:25,120
you rescued me but I'm still a king.

871
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:27,940
So I'm gonna command you to do what I want you to do.

872
00:41:27,940 --> 00:41:30,860
It doesn't even say he asked Abram.

873
00:41:30,860 --> 00:41:34,060
He said to Abram, he dictated, he commanded.

874
00:41:34,060 --> 00:41:36,460
Give me the people, you keep the spoils.

875
00:41:38,620 --> 00:41:41,980
Maybe when he observed Abram give a test to Melchizedek,

876
00:41:41,980 --> 00:41:44,540
he's like oh here's my chance to get my stuff back.

877
00:41:45,940 --> 00:41:48,580
But the contrast is very obvious between Melchizedek

878
00:41:48,580 --> 00:41:50,580
and the King of Sodom.

879
00:41:50,580 --> 00:41:55,540
Melchizedek greets Abram with refreshment,

880
00:41:55,540 --> 00:41:59,420
with sustenance, possibly a recognition of yeah,

881
00:41:59,420 --> 00:42:03,060
you're God's kid, you're doing what he's called you to do,

882
00:42:03,060 --> 00:42:04,780
you're in the land he's called you to,

883
00:42:04,780 --> 00:42:06,900
you have the authority to do this, whatever.

884
00:42:06,900 --> 00:42:09,580
But Sodom, King of Sodom gave nothing,

885
00:42:09,580 --> 00:42:11,180
not even a thank you.

886
00:42:11,180 --> 00:42:14,060
Melchizedek said you are blessed by God

887
00:42:15,660 --> 00:42:19,060
and God be blessed because he gave you this victory.

888
00:42:19,060 --> 00:42:21,100
Sodom, no acknowledgement of God,

889
00:42:21,100 --> 00:42:22,860
no acknowledge of anything, instead he just says

890
00:42:22,860 --> 00:42:24,260
look, give me my people back.

891
00:42:25,620 --> 00:42:28,600
As if he had any place to dictate anything.

892
00:42:29,540 --> 00:42:32,940
Melchizedek said Abram, God gave you that victory.

893
00:42:32,940 --> 00:42:35,500
Thus, all that stuff and those spoils you got,

894
00:42:35,500 --> 00:42:37,500
God gave that all to you.

895
00:42:37,500 --> 00:42:39,820
The idea is Abram recognized who's in control

896
00:42:39,820 --> 00:42:41,220
and where it all comes from.

897
00:42:42,420 --> 00:42:46,700
King of Sodom apparently still thought that the people

898
00:42:46,700 --> 00:42:50,540
and the stuff was his to give, even though it had all been

899
00:42:50,540 --> 00:42:52,260
taken away from him like that.

900
00:42:53,580 --> 00:42:56,420
Even after hearing Melchizedek tell Abram

901
00:42:56,420 --> 00:42:58,900
that God gave him the victory and that by extension

902
00:42:58,900 --> 00:43:01,020
all the spoils of that war was his,

903
00:43:01,020 --> 00:43:02,700
the King of Sodom still thought

904
00:43:04,340 --> 00:43:06,940
that he got to dictate what was done with it.

905
00:43:08,100 --> 00:43:11,540
Instead of being a man who's now going oh my gosh,

906
00:43:11,540 --> 00:43:16,540
God, you are real, God, you gave me a kingship

907
00:43:16,540 --> 00:43:18,740
and you gave me a city and you gave me all the stuff

908
00:43:18,740 --> 00:43:21,340
and we used it for wickedness and God,

909
00:43:21,340 --> 00:43:23,740
I see now that we're judged for our wickedness

910
00:43:23,740 --> 00:43:27,020
and I'm so sorry, God, you are the God that owns everything

911
00:43:27,020 --> 00:43:28,300
and creator, it's all yours.

912
00:43:28,300 --> 00:43:30,780
Nope, he's still saying give me what's mine.

913
00:43:32,780 --> 00:43:33,780
Give me what's mine.

914
00:43:35,620 --> 00:43:36,460
Verse 22.

915
00:43:37,980 --> 00:43:39,500
But Abram said to the King of Sodom,

916
00:43:39,500 --> 00:43:42,380
I have raised my hand in an oath to the Lord,

917
00:43:42,380 --> 00:43:44,220
God most high, creator of heaven and earth,

918
00:43:44,220 --> 00:43:46,940
that I will not take a thread or sandal strap

919
00:43:46,940 --> 00:43:48,940
or anything that belongs to you

920
00:43:48,940 --> 00:43:52,540
so you can never say I made Abram rich.

921
00:43:52,540 --> 00:43:54,820
I will take nothing except what the servants

922
00:43:54,820 --> 00:43:57,380
have already eaten but as for the share of the men

923
00:43:57,380 --> 00:44:00,980
who came with me, Anor and Eshkol and Mamre,

924
00:44:00,980 --> 00:44:03,820
those are the three Canaanites that Abram had a treaty with,

925
00:44:03,820 --> 00:44:05,220
they can take their share.

926
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:08,500
You see the Bible talks about the world,

927
00:44:08,500 --> 00:44:10,540
the flesh and the devil.

928
00:44:10,540 --> 00:44:12,420
That is always coming against us,

929
00:44:12,420 --> 00:44:14,180
the world being the system around here

930
00:44:14,180 --> 00:44:17,220
that is like devoid of God and selfish and me first.

931
00:44:17,220 --> 00:44:22,220
Our flesh, our sinful flesh which is definitely me first

932
00:44:22,220 --> 00:44:24,860
and then devil, the devil who is ultimately the first guy

933
00:44:24,860 --> 00:44:26,860
who said me first is now trying to get all of us

934
00:44:26,860 --> 00:44:29,140
to think me first all the time.

935
00:44:29,140 --> 00:44:34,140
Those three things will always want to take the credit

936
00:44:34,380 --> 00:44:36,580
for anything good that happens in our life.

937
00:44:37,780 --> 00:44:39,540
We'll always wanna take the credit.

938
00:44:39,540 --> 00:44:43,980
The world, your flesh wants to say I made you rich.

939
00:44:45,820 --> 00:44:49,020
I made you rich, I made you successful, I made you smart.

940
00:44:50,100 --> 00:44:52,580
Your flesh especially, you put in all this time to learn,

941
00:44:52,580 --> 00:44:54,500
you're the one who earned that, it's because of you,

942
00:44:54,500 --> 00:44:56,340
your success is all yours.

943
00:44:57,700 --> 00:45:00,220
Then of course when we have victory and success,

944
00:45:00,220 --> 00:45:02,620
the world, the flesh and the devil is like look,

945
00:45:03,540 --> 00:45:07,880
you get to keep all the spoils, just give me what's mine,

946
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:10,620
give me your honor, worship me a little bit

947
00:45:11,900 --> 00:45:13,460
and then look, I'll give you the riches.

948
00:45:13,460 --> 00:45:16,460
Isn't that what the devil did to Jesus in the wilderness?

949
00:45:16,460 --> 00:45:19,100
See all the kingdoms of the world, just worship me,

950
00:45:19,100 --> 00:45:20,300
I'll give you all of it.

951
00:45:22,300 --> 00:45:24,220
And the world will always want to do that,

952
00:45:24,220 --> 00:45:27,100
say keep it, you earned it so it could get a hold on us

953
00:45:27,100 --> 00:45:30,660
and if we listen to that and we go yeah, I did earn that.

954
00:45:30,660 --> 00:45:34,020
I did work, I shouldn't have to give that up.

955
00:45:34,020 --> 00:45:37,100
Well then what happens is the poisonous contagion of pride

956
00:45:37,100 --> 00:45:39,340
begins to take root in our lives.

957
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:45,740
Abram is telling the king of Sodom, look,

958
00:45:45,740 --> 00:45:49,140
if it comes through you, if it comes from you,

959
00:45:49,140 --> 00:45:53,380
if it comes because of you, I want nothing to do with it.

960
00:45:55,240 --> 00:45:59,020
I don't want money from you, I don't want accolades from you,

961
00:45:59,020 --> 00:46:03,780
I don't want even congratulations from you, why?

962
00:46:03,780 --> 00:46:07,620
So that you will have no place, no standing

963
00:46:07,620 --> 00:46:10,340
under any circumstances to take credit

964
00:46:10,340 --> 00:46:11,600
for what God has done.

965
00:46:13,380 --> 00:46:14,940
God is the one that deserves the credit.

966
00:46:14,940 --> 00:46:17,060
Now we have to take that same stand.

967
00:46:17,060 --> 00:46:19,860
It's a hard stand sometimes, because sometimes it means

968
00:46:19,860 --> 00:46:21,380
walking away from something that we go,

969
00:46:21,380 --> 00:46:23,380
oh that might be really good, you know?

970
00:46:25,620 --> 00:46:27,740
Someone says look, just stop talking about Jesus

971
00:46:27,740 --> 00:46:29,180
and you'll get the promotion.

972
00:46:30,540 --> 00:46:32,140
Why?

973
00:46:32,140 --> 00:46:34,020
So that they could say it wasn't Jesus that gave you

974
00:46:34,020 --> 00:46:35,760
that promotion, it was us.

975
00:46:37,620 --> 00:46:39,800
And sometimes the decision we have to make in that moment

976
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:43,180
is no thank you, you can keep your measly promotion.

977
00:46:44,220 --> 00:46:45,820
Because I'm a child of the king.

978
00:46:47,820 --> 00:46:50,300
And so Abram makes this stance.

979
00:46:51,620 --> 00:46:55,700
This stance that is saying look, I'm not gonna accept

980
00:46:55,700 --> 00:47:00,020
the world's way, I'm not gonna accept the gifts offered

981
00:47:00,020 --> 00:47:02,420
from the world, I'm not gonna do any of that.

982
00:47:03,380 --> 00:47:05,380
Because if I do, then I'm gonna be poisoned

983
00:47:05,380 --> 00:47:08,540
with the temptation to think I earned it.

984
00:47:08,540 --> 00:47:10,960
It was me and my skill and my effort.

985
00:47:12,020 --> 00:47:14,780
We'll be tempted to shift our trust

986
00:47:14,780 --> 00:47:18,540
and our faith in God into ourselves.

987
00:47:18,540 --> 00:47:19,680
And it's subtle.

988
00:47:20,700 --> 00:47:22,140
There are a lot of Christians that are like,

989
00:47:22,140 --> 00:47:26,100
oh no, I fully trust God, except in these areas of my life

990
00:47:26,100 --> 00:47:28,460
where they lean on themself.

991
00:47:28,460 --> 00:47:31,460
And they take the credit in those areas of their life.

992
00:47:31,460 --> 00:47:33,620
You do that, your witness will be tainted.

993
00:47:35,220 --> 00:47:37,420
You do that, your flesh will be inflated

994
00:47:37,420 --> 00:47:39,420
and pride will be birthed in your life.

995
00:47:40,740 --> 00:47:44,500
Instead, instead of being like the king of Sodom

996
00:47:44,500 --> 00:47:47,900
who lost everything and is still going, it's mine,

997
00:47:47,900 --> 00:47:50,540
I get to dictate what I do with it.

998
00:47:50,540 --> 00:47:52,560
Or to be like Abram that says look,

999
00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:56,100
every success is attributed to God.

1000
00:47:56,100 --> 00:47:59,200
Every victory is attributed to God.

1001
00:48:00,420 --> 00:48:03,100
We have to do that because that's how we guard ourselves

1002
00:48:03,100 --> 00:48:04,720
against getting puffed up.

1003
00:48:05,820 --> 00:48:06,660
It's all God.

1004
00:48:06,660 --> 00:48:09,340
You may be incredibly skilled and incredibly talented

1005
00:48:09,340 --> 00:48:11,820
and incredibly good at what you do

1006
00:48:11,820 --> 00:48:13,940
and you put in the fourth in the effort

1007
00:48:13,940 --> 00:48:15,780
and things work for you and you're successful

1008
00:48:15,780 --> 00:48:17,780
and that may all be true.

1009
00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:21,500
But you gotta give the glory to God.

1010
00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:24,420
You gotta give the praise to God.

1011
00:48:24,420 --> 00:48:26,700
You gotta give the honor and the accolades to God

1012
00:48:26,700 --> 00:48:28,120
lest you be puffed up.

1013
00:48:30,500 --> 00:48:33,660
It's when we remain in the proper mindset

1014
00:48:33,660 --> 00:48:38,660
with what we have, what we've earned,

1015
00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:42,500
the successes we've gotten, the accomplishments that we have,

1016
00:48:42,500 --> 00:48:46,580
when we stay in that mindset that all of it is of God,

1017
00:48:46,580 --> 00:48:48,820
from God, because of God.

1018
00:48:48,820 --> 00:48:51,220
When we stay in that mindset that nothing I have

1019
00:48:51,220 --> 00:48:53,260
is mined by right.

1020
00:48:53,260 --> 00:48:55,840
Mined by birth, mined by effort.

1021
00:48:56,740 --> 00:48:58,580
We stay in a place of humility.

1022
00:49:00,460 --> 00:49:03,440
And especially in the face of our salvation, right?

1023
00:49:04,380 --> 00:49:08,780
God saved us from hell, death, the grave.

1024
00:49:10,180 --> 00:49:11,900
We're still working that out in this life

1025
00:49:11,900 --> 00:49:15,100
but one day we're gonna be in heaven forever with God.

1026
00:49:15,100 --> 00:49:17,180
He did all of that.

1027
00:49:18,540 --> 00:49:20,320
And yet we'll still think, yeah,

1028
00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:24,580
but I get to negotiate with that thing in my life.

1029
00:49:24,580 --> 00:49:29,580
That area of my life that we don't have a place to negotiate.

1030
00:49:29,700 --> 00:49:32,260
God has purchased us with his precious blood.

1031
00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:36,460
But like the king of Sodom, sometimes we're like,

1032
00:49:36,460 --> 00:49:39,260
hey cool, you saved me, awesome, give me what's mine.

1033
00:49:40,420 --> 00:49:45,100
Here, I'll offer you this measly little thing as a thanks.

1034
00:49:46,580 --> 00:49:47,680
And you miss the point.

1035
00:49:47,680 --> 00:49:50,400
Like I said earlier, Abram didn't go chase the army

1036
00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:52,520
because he wanted to get rich.

1037
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:54,080
He went to save his nephew Lot.

1038
00:49:54,080 --> 00:49:56,400
He was just simply doing the right thing,

1039
00:49:56,400 --> 00:49:59,480
doing the godly thing, putting the needs of others

1040
00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:02,520
above his own as the Bible teaches us.

1041
00:50:02,520 --> 00:50:04,120
How did God respond to that?

1042
00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:05,640
Handed him total success.

1043
00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:09,480
And in this case, handed him all the spoils

1044
00:50:09,480 --> 00:50:10,680
and all the people.

1045
00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:15,640
But when offered to keep some of it,

1046
00:50:15,640 --> 00:50:20,640
given from the world, Abram's response to the king of Sodom

1047
00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:23,640
declared the same thing that his tithes to Melchizedek did.

1048
00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:26,360
God deserves the praise.

1049
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:27,800
God deserves the glory.

1050
00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:30,080
God deserves the honor for everything.

1051
00:50:31,040 --> 00:50:34,240
Not me, not you, not us, ever.

1052
00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:36,480
To God be the glory.

1053
00:50:36,480 --> 00:50:39,360
We are not the authors of our own success, God is.

1054
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:42,360
And you might be saying, well how come then people

1055
00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:44,480
who aren't saved have great success?

1056
00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:46,280
You have great success.

1057
00:50:47,720 --> 00:50:51,880
Really, in the vapor of this life facing eternity

1058
00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:55,520
and hell after, you think they have success?

1059
00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:56,480
They have nothing.

1060
00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:05,920
In Abram's oath here, he's now understanding,

1061
00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:09,560
he's having an enlarged understanding of who his God is

1062
00:51:09,560 --> 00:51:14,560
because he says, look, I've made an oath to the Lord.

1063
00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:18,080
That's Yahweh.

1064
00:51:18,080 --> 00:51:21,000
That's the God that Abram knows right now,

1065
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:23,480
this personal God who spoke to him personally

1066
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:24,760
and said, hey, I'm gonna do these things

1067
00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:26,320
and follow me and trust me.

1068
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:28,840
And this personal God that he knows,

1069
00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:31,280
he goes, I've made an oath in the name of the Lord.

1070
00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:35,440
Then he goes, the God most high,

1071
00:51:36,760 --> 00:51:39,320
who maybe he's now being introduced to you

1072
00:51:39,320 --> 00:51:41,960
in a unique way from Melchizedek who's going,

1073
00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:43,320
I'm a priest of the God most high.

1074
00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:47,960
And he's going, oh, I just learned a whole new

1075
00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:50,560
scope of who my God is.

1076
00:51:50,560 --> 00:51:52,200
And then he says, creator in heaven and of earth,

1077
00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:53,600
the one who made everything,

1078
00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:55,840
which is an understanding that they both had.

1079
00:51:57,120 --> 00:51:59,400
Abram's view of God is just expanding here

1080
00:51:59,400 --> 00:52:01,640
and he's exalting his name, he's lifting up his name,

1081
00:52:01,640 --> 00:52:03,880
he's proclaiming his name, and he's defining

1082
00:52:03,880 --> 00:52:06,040
who his God is to this king of Sodom who's going,

1083
00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:08,920
hey, take what I'm offering you.

1084
00:52:08,920 --> 00:52:09,800
Are you kidding me?

1085
00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:14,240
I've made an oath to the God who loves me personally,

1086
00:52:14,240 --> 00:52:16,480
who cares about me deeply.

1087
00:52:16,480 --> 00:52:18,360
The God who is so much bigger and more powerful

1088
00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:20,720
than anything you could ever think or imagine.

1089
00:52:22,360 --> 00:52:24,360
The God who owns all that stuff you think

1090
00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:26,680
you have the right to give, who owns the people,

1091
00:52:26,680 --> 00:52:28,880
he created them, who owns you?

1092
00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:32,680
And you won't even acknowledge him.

1093
00:52:34,440 --> 00:52:38,840
This refusal by Abram to allow Sodom to bless him

1094
00:52:38,840 --> 00:52:41,520
in this way, it was just Abram's declaring

1095
00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:43,840
a total, total dependence on God.

1096
00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:48,520
He knew the name of God, he lifted it high

1097
00:52:48,520 --> 00:52:52,120
and to allow the world and the flesh

1098
00:52:52,120 --> 00:52:55,320
to take credit for his success in any way,

1099
00:52:55,320 --> 00:52:58,080
he knew it would just poison his soul.

1100
00:52:58,080 --> 00:53:03,080
So at this moment, we see Abram standing in the king's valley

1101
00:53:03,080 --> 00:53:08,080
as a victorious yet humble king.

1102
00:53:10,080 --> 00:53:12,080
That is, he's the one that's been given the land,

1103
00:53:12,080 --> 00:53:13,960
he's the one that's gonna be a progenitor of a people,

1104
00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:16,080
he's the one that's been just learning

1105
00:53:16,080 --> 00:53:18,080
to just follow God and understand it's all his

1106
00:53:18,080 --> 00:53:20,720
and nothing's mine and we see God going, yeah,

1107
00:53:21,800 --> 00:53:23,080
and I'm gonna lift you up.

1108
00:53:25,680 --> 00:53:27,480
He's making this militant statement of faith

1109
00:53:27,480 --> 00:53:29,880
against the perspective of the king of Sodom.

1110
00:53:29,880 --> 00:53:32,280
There is nothing the world has or can't provide

1111
00:53:32,280 --> 00:53:33,520
that is of any value.

1112
00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:37,160
God is the provider, God is the one who blesses,

1113
00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:40,160
God is the one who gives and takes away.

1114
00:53:42,600 --> 00:53:45,640
So we see Abraham here is humbling himself,

1115
00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:49,760
lowering himself that he would lift up the name of the Lord.

1116
00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:52,400
We open with Luke 14, 11.

1117
00:53:53,520 --> 00:53:56,280
It said, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled

1118
00:53:56,280 --> 00:53:58,880
and everyone who humbles himself will be humbled.

1119
00:53:58,880 --> 00:54:02,000
And everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.

1120
00:54:03,800 --> 00:54:05,960
I think the king of Sodom may have exalted himself

1121
00:54:05,960 --> 00:54:06,800
quite a bit.

1122
00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:09,440
Oh boy, did God humble him.

1123
00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:12,000
And he still didn't get it.

1124
00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:14,640
Yet Abraham here is being lifted up

1125
00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:16,640
as he humbles himself before the Lord.

1126
00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:18,160
First Peter five, six, and seven says,

1127
00:54:18,160 --> 00:54:21,000
humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God

1128
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:23,280
so that he may exalt you at the proper time

1129
00:54:23,280 --> 00:54:26,840
casting all your cares on him because he cares about you.

1130
00:54:26,840 --> 00:54:29,240
The right and proper response to every success,

1131
00:54:29,240 --> 00:54:31,680
every victory we have in our life is praise God.

1132
00:54:32,720 --> 00:54:35,200
Praise God, he gives us the talents, the abilities,

1133
00:54:35,200 --> 00:54:37,520
the brains as I mentioned, to think, to learn.

1134
00:54:37,520 --> 00:54:39,440
He gave us the hands, the feet,

1135
00:54:39,440 --> 00:54:41,880
everything to accomplish, everything we accomplish.

1136
00:54:41,880 --> 00:54:44,640
And so recognize that, have a humble mindset

1137
00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:48,640
and say, okay God, it's all yours, all glory to you.

1138
00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:52,800
Because when God gives us a victory and gives us a success,

1139
00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:56,920
it is truly us being blessed by God.

1140
00:54:56,920 --> 00:54:59,640
Not we who are blessing ourselves.

1141
00:54:59,640 --> 00:55:02,280
It's not us who earned it, it's God who gave it.

1142
00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:03,960
Always stay in that mindset.

1143
00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:06,640
And we demonstrate our belief and our understanding

1144
00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:11,640
of that mindset when we bless him through our obedience,

1145
00:55:11,640 --> 00:55:13,400
when we bless him through our trust,

1146
00:55:13,400 --> 00:55:15,240
when we bless him through our faith.

1147
00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:17,880
His name is lifted high in all of that.

1148
00:55:17,880 --> 00:55:20,880
So reject everything the world has to offer you.

1149
00:55:20,880 --> 00:55:23,240
Reject every opportunity the world wants to take

1150
00:55:23,240 --> 00:55:26,400
to shift the credit off of God even a little bit.

1151
00:55:28,360 --> 00:55:33,360
And as the word says, those who humble themselves

1152
00:55:33,360 --> 00:55:34,520
will be lifted up.

1153
00:55:36,320 --> 00:55:39,600
God himself said in his word, humble yourself,

1154
00:55:39,600 --> 00:55:41,360
and I'll exalt you at the right time.

1155
00:55:42,480 --> 00:55:43,600
But don't try and do it yourself

1156
00:55:43,600 --> 00:55:45,480
because you'll mess it all up.

1157
00:55:45,480 --> 00:55:46,760
With that, let's pray.

1158
00:55:48,080 --> 00:55:49,800
And then we'll move into our baptism.

1159
00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:51,840
And then we'll move into our baptism time this morning.

1160
00:55:51,840 --> 00:55:53,320
Father, we thank you so much.

1161
00:55:54,480 --> 00:55:56,720
God, your word is so amazing, so encouraging.

1162
00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:01,760
And Lord, we are so not humble people.

1163
00:56:04,680 --> 00:56:06,200
God, it's a work of you in our lives

1164
00:56:06,200 --> 00:56:08,040
to create the humility, Lord,

1165
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:09,520
where we don't want the accolades,

1166
00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:12,280
we don't want the fame,

1167
00:56:12,280 --> 00:56:16,800
we don't want anything to come across

1168
00:56:16,800 --> 00:56:19,640
as if it's because of us.

1169
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:24,520
Lord, our sinful flesh definitely wants to do that.

1170
00:56:24,520 --> 00:56:26,720
Our sinful flesh wants to do just like the devil

1171
00:56:26,720 --> 00:56:30,640
and say, I will be exalted above the most high.

1172
00:56:32,920 --> 00:56:34,960
And God, the foolishness of that statement,

1173
00:56:34,960 --> 00:56:36,720
how could you be more high than the most high?

1174
00:56:36,720 --> 00:56:38,840
God is just so silly what he was thinking.

1175
00:56:40,200 --> 00:56:42,400
And yet, God, it was pride that caused it.

1176
00:56:43,920 --> 00:56:45,280
Lord, purge us of pride.

1177
00:56:45,280 --> 00:56:46,560
Help us to be humble,

1178
00:56:47,920 --> 00:56:49,640
especially in our victories and our

1179
00:56:49,640 --> 00:56:52,800
to bless your name.

1180
00:56:54,880 --> 00:56:56,800
That others would come to know you

1181
00:56:56,800 --> 00:56:58,800
as their personal God, Yahweh,

1182
00:56:58,800 --> 00:57:00,800
as the God most high creator,

1183
00:57:01,600 --> 00:57:03,200
possessor of all things.

1184
00:57:06,160 --> 00:57:07,840
That God, we would do as your word says,

1185
00:57:07,840 --> 00:57:15,440
to die to ourself daily, to pick up our cross daily.

1186
00:57:15,440 --> 00:57:16,800
That we would not be known in any way,

1187
00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:18,080
but you would be.

1188
00:57:19,120 --> 00:57:20,080
We thank you so much.

1189
00:57:20,080 --> 00:57:20,920
We love you.

1190
00:57:20,920 --> 00:57:22,880
It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

1191
00:57:24,640 --> 00:57:26,240
Well, you know, one of the ways that we,

1192
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:28,120
as Christians, proclaim,

1193
00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:29,880
lift up God's name when he saves us,

1194
00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:31,120
is the act of baptism.

1195
00:57:32,240 --> 00:57:34,400
Baptism doesn't save you,

1196
00:57:34,400 --> 00:57:35,960
but it's a public profession

1197
00:57:35,960 --> 00:57:37,960
that God has saved me.

1198
00:57:37,960 --> 00:57:39,960
I've put my faith and trust in him.

1199
00:57:39,960 --> 00:57:41,720
And as a public profession,

1200
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:43,560
the reason we do this as a part of our service,

1201
00:57:43,560 --> 00:57:45,880
is so that all of you as the public

1202
00:57:45,880 --> 00:57:47,960
are here to witness this glorious moment

1203
00:57:47,960 --> 00:57:48,920
with our brothers and sisters

1204
00:57:48,920 --> 00:57:50,280
that are taking this step today.

1205
00:57:50,280 --> 00:57:52,040
So I believe we have a couple people

1206
00:57:52,040 --> 00:57:53,320
that are getting baptized today.

1207
00:57:53,320 --> 00:57:54,840
If that's you,

1208
00:57:54,840 --> 00:57:56,920
I wanna give you some quick instructions, all right?

1209
00:57:56,920 --> 00:57:58,040
When I'm done with the instructions,

1210
00:57:58,040 --> 00:58:00,040
you're gonna stand up wherever you're seated,

1211
00:58:00,040 --> 00:58:01,320
you're gonna walk down the aisle,

1212
00:58:01,320 --> 00:58:04,120
and you're gonna go into the back behind the stage, all right?

1213
00:58:04,120 --> 00:58:07,240
If you brought clothes to change into for the baptism,

1214
00:58:07,240 --> 00:58:09,640
we have changing booths back there for you,

1215
00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:11,160
and we have staff back there

1216
00:58:11,160 --> 00:58:12,360
that's gonna watch your stuff,

1217
00:58:12,360 --> 00:58:14,840
we have cubbies for you to put your stuff in.

1218
00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:16,760
If you didn't bring anything,

1219
00:58:16,760 --> 00:58:18,120
and you're just like, I need to get baptized,

1220
00:58:18,120 --> 00:58:20,360
we have some clothes back there for you.

1221
00:58:20,360 --> 00:58:21,960
So if there's anybody else in here today,

1222
00:58:21,960 --> 00:58:24,040
and God has said, you need to get baptized,

1223
00:58:24,040 --> 00:58:26,120
and you're like, well, I didn't bring any clothes.

1224
00:58:26,120 --> 00:58:28,280
Problem solved, all right, we got it.

1225
00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:30,040
And so you're gonna come forward,

1226
00:58:30,040 --> 00:58:30,920
you're gonna get changed,

1227
00:58:30,920 --> 00:58:32,280
and then you're gonna come back out

1228
00:58:32,280 --> 00:58:35,240
and stand right up against the white wall right here.

1229
00:58:35,240 --> 00:58:37,960
Now, Pastor Rick is gonna be in the baptismal,

1230
00:58:37,960 --> 00:58:39,880
doing the baptisms today,

1231
00:58:39,880 --> 00:58:41,960
and so he will call you in one at a time,

1232
00:58:41,960 --> 00:58:43,320
you'll enter into the baptism,

1233
00:58:43,320 --> 00:58:45,080
we'll give you instructions and all that,

1234
00:58:45,080 --> 00:58:46,360
you'll get baptized,

1235
00:58:46,360 --> 00:58:48,600
you'll make that proclamation before the whole body,

1236
00:58:48,600 --> 00:58:50,280
we're all gonna celebrate with you,

1237
00:58:50,280 --> 00:58:51,560
and then you just go ahead and come out,

1238
00:58:51,560 --> 00:58:54,200
you'll go backstage, change back into your clothes,

1239
00:58:54,200 --> 00:58:56,840
and come out and continue to worship with us.

1240
00:58:56,840 --> 00:59:01,000
For the rest of us that are here, we're witnessing this.

1241
00:59:01,000 --> 00:59:02,600
We're witnessing a work in their lives

1242
00:59:02,600 --> 00:59:04,280
that God has done in ours, hallelujah,

1243
00:59:04,280 --> 00:59:06,120
what a glorious thing to celebrate.

1244
00:59:06,120 --> 00:59:07,640
We're gonna be worshiping during this,

1245
00:59:07,640 --> 00:59:10,280
and so I just encourage you, praise God,

1246
00:59:10,280 --> 00:59:14,760
lift up his name on high, because he has saved us,

1247
00:59:14,760 --> 00:59:16,680
he has saved those that are getting baptized,

1248
00:59:16,680 --> 00:59:19,080
and we want the whole world to know that, amen?

1249
00:59:19,080 --> 00:59:21,160
Amen, all right, if you're getting baptized today,

1250
00:59:21,160 --> 00:59:25,880
stand up right now, and come down to the front, awesome,

1251
00:59:25,880 --> 00:59:30,880
don't be bashful, all right, all right, praise God.

1252
00:59:33,560 --> 00:59:35,320
Like I said, just go back and get changed,

1253
00:59:35,320 --> 00:59:38,200
and we will be celebrating this with you guys.

1254
00:59:39,640 --> 00:59:41,200
For the rest of us, I'm just gonna pray again,

1255
00:59:41,200 --> 00:59:42,240
and we're gonna start worship,

1256
00:59:42,240 --> 00:59:44,880
and I'm just so blessed by the Lord,

1257
00:59:44,880 --> 00:59:46,960
and I'm so blessed by this church,

1258
00:59:46,960 --> 00:59:48,660
I'm so blessed by the heart that God has worked

1259
00:59:48,660 --> 00:59:52,040
in so many of you, I see that humility of Abraham

1260
00:59:52,040 --> 00:59:55,720
in so many different ways, but like me,

1261
00:59:55,720 --> 00:59:57,600
all of us, we always have edges

1262
00:59:57,600 --> 00:59:59,280
that need to be scraped off still,

1263
00:59:59,280 --> 01:00:01,560
we always have areas where we get a little puffed up,

1264
01:00:01,560 --> 01:00:04,440
and I just pray God is speaking to you today

1265
01:00:04,440 --> 01:00:05,680
about surrendering those areas

1266
01:00:05,680 --> 01:00:08,120
that you might still be hanging on to.

1267
01:00:08,120 --> 01:00:09,160
Surrender them to him and say,

1268
01:00:09,160 --> 01:00:11,120
God, I don't wanna take any credit in any way,

1269
01:00:11,120 --> 01:00:13,040
be glorified in my life.

1270
01:00:13,040 --> 01:00:14,440
I believe that's a prayer God answers,

1271
01:00:14,440 --> 01:00:17,160
and so God, we ask that you do that.

1272
01:00:17,160 --> 01:00:19,040
Lord, we're here to celebrate the work you've done

1273
01:00:19,040 --> 01:00:20,400
in our brother's lives, Lord,

1274
01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:23,280
they are here to proclaim that they have died to themselves,

1275
01:00:23,280 --> 01:00:26,560
that they have been born again through your spirit, God,

1276
01:00:26,560 --> 01:00:27,740
that they are saved forever,

1277
01:00:27,740 --> 01:00:29,000
and they want the world to know that.

1278
01:00:29,000 --> 01:00:30,400
Lord, that is so awesome.

1279
01:00:31,680 --> 01:00:33,760
And God, yet as we continue in this world,

1280
01:00:33,760 --> 01:00:35,560
we all still have our flesh with us,

1281
01:00:35,560 --> 01:00:37,680
and so we pray God that you continue the work,

1282
01:00:37,680 --> 01:00:40,120
and you complete the work that you began in us,

1283
01:00:40,120 --> 01:00:44,800
that each day, God, we would shed off more of ourselves,

1284
01:00:44,800 --> 01:00:47,240
that there'd be less of us in our life and more of you,

1285
01:00:47,240 --> 01:00:49,320
that you would be lifted high in all things.

1286
01:00:49,320 --> 01:00:51,320
God, we love you and we thank you,

1287
01:00:51,320 --> 01:00:53,440
it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.