0:00 Abraham had 318 servants, they were not warriors, they were not soldiers, but Abraham went to rescue Lot. The king of Sodom had been defeated by all those kings, but Abraham as a man of 0:21 faith, he's amazed, I don't know how in the world he did it. He went to those kings who had captured Lot and all those people, and he brought back not only Lot and all the things he had stolen, but also all the stuff they had stolen, stolen from Sodom, with 318 servants, 0:41 not soldiers. I would really like to know how that happened, one day when I get to heaven I'm going to ask Abraham, how did you do that? It must have been a tremendous miracle that God did, with 318 servants he goes and defeats all those kings and brings back all the kings, 0:56 all the money that they had stolen. You read that at the end of Genesis 14, take some time to read it. When you read scripture, do what I do, use your imagination and picture yourself in that situation. That's the way to read scripture and see how could he have done 1:15 it, how could he have gone and with 318 servants and defeated all those kings with those armies and brought back all that money. God must have helped him in some wonderful way. The advantage of my using my imagination when I read such scriptures is that it helps me when I'm in a similar situation, 1:35 I'm reminded of that situation. I say, well, God will help me too in this situation. So it's tremendous. God has given us the power of imagination to help us in the study of scripture. So when Abraham came back with all these goods and he thought, boy, what a lot of goods I've got. In those days the rule in battle was, it was all accepted by all kings, that when you win a battle, all the goods that you win are yours. 2:03 That is your reward for winning the battle. You see that in many times in the kings when David won a battle and the property all became his of the enemies. And so David, when Abraham defeated these people and he had won this battle, the property was his. 2:25 And then there is a very interesting story there. And then it's a very interesting story there. Maybe I should turn to that to show it to you. Turn to Genesis 14. Because this has a link to Zacchaeus. Because Zacchaeus is called the son of Abraham. And now you'll understand why he's called the son of Abraham. 2:53 And it says here in Genesis 14, Abraham heard, verse 14, 14, Genesis 14, verse 14, heard that his relative had been taken captive. He took his 318 men born in his house and he divided his forces. Imagine like an army general dividing these 318 people and going after how many kings? 3:17 See verse 1, the king of Shinar, the king of Elam, and the king of Elam, and the king of Elam, all these 4 kings, the other ones who defeated Sodom and took away all his goods. He went after them, pursued them, as far as Dan, and he divided his forces and defeated them, verse 15, and pursued those enemies. 3:40 And verse 16, he brought back all the goods that these kings had taken. It must have been a supernatural miracle. Like you read sometimes in the, when the Israelites went and fought with their enemies, the Lord would do some supernatural miracle and send hailstones from heaven and defeat them or something like that. 3:59 Something like that must have happened. There's no other way that Abraham with 318 servants could have defeated five kings. And he came back and he brought back all the goods, brought back his relative Lot, and also the women and the people. 4:14 And he was, he must have been a little proud naturally. Of course, giving the glory to God, definitely. But saying, thank God I could save my relative nephew and all this stuff. And then, look at the love of God for Abraham. 4:31 God loved Abraham so much, and God has always hated pride. Even in the Old Testament, he hated pride because that is contrary to his nature. And he saw that Abraham was getting proud, and he was getting covetous. When he got all, he was already a rich man, and he was covetous that he could get some more money. 4:49 And God wanted to save him from his pride, and he wanted to save him from his covetousness. So what does he do? God speaks to another servant of his called Melchizedek, who is down there in another place praying. And Melchizedek does not know Abraham at all. 5:04 But he was a godly man, and he was praying, and God speaks to him. Melchizedek, I want you to do something. I've got a servant of mine called Abraham out there. You don't know who he is, but he's in that particular place. 5:14 I want you to go there. And I don't think he told Melchizedek, God told Melchizedek anything of all the story. He just say, go to Abraham and say these words to him. Melchizedek was a man who listened to God, because later on we read in the Bible that Jesus is called a priest after the order of Melchizedek. 5:36 Yeah, that's amazing. Even in Hebrews 7, Jesus is called a priest after the order of Melchizedek. That's this Melchizedek. King of Salem, he was a king and a priest, verse 18. And he traveled all that distance and brought food. 5:54 That's the first thing he did. He brought some food and gave it to Abraham, because Abraham was tired. Sensible thing to do. And then, he doesn't give a sermon to Abraham saying you should not be covetous. And none of all that. 6:12 He's so gracious and gentle. To me, the way Abraham preached to, Melchizedek preached to Abraham is such a tremendous example of a spiritual way to communicate truth to a man who's going astray. Not by pointing him, see what a covetous man you are, see how you love money. 6:34 No, no, no, no, no. He just says, listen to this, this is beautiful. Blessed be Abraham, who belongs to God, who possesses heaven and earth. He leaves Abraham to meditate on that. My father, my God, he couldn't say my father, he was not his father. 6:56 My God is the possessor of heaven and earth. What is this little few cents you have collected here? A couple of dollars you have collected here from these kings? Are you going to be taken up with this? Remember, you are the son of the possessor of heaven and earth. 7:15 Second, blessed be God, most high, who delivered your enemies into your hand. That is the second problem Abraham was facing. Thinking that I got the victory. And he was proud of that. He was, so there were two problems Abraham was facing, covetousness and pride. 7:34 And see how Melchizedek, a wise preacher, does not hit him directly, you are covetous, you are proud. He puts it in such an indirect way, so that Abraham realizes his covetousness and pride without being directly spoken to. 7:53 That is a great way of preaching, especially if you go and speak to people individually. All those, all of us need to learn how to witness to others. And there is an ideal example of how to witness, not directly hitting at their sin, but pointing to the Lord. 8:12 I've always been blessed by this passage. God is the possessor of the possessor of heaven and earth, let me repeat it. And Abraham meditates on that. And why should I care for these little bit of, these trinkets I've got here. 8:28 God delivered the enemies into my hand, let me never forget it. I didn't get it with my 318 servants, God gave it. And Abraham humbled himself, and he, Abraham gave a tithe of everything to Melchizedek. He said, you're the one, you're a priest, you deserve it. 8:50 And Melchizedek goes away. That's the other thing I see about, wonderful thing about Melchizedek. He gives his message, and he doesn't wait to be appreciated and honored and all, he just disappears. He's an ideal servant of God, who gives your message and disappears. 9:05 He's not waiting for the vote of thanks or any such thing. I've given my message and I'm gone. Those of you who preach the word, I want to encourage you to be like Melchizedek. Be sensitive. Don't try to hit people directly. 9:19 Point people to the Lord, rather than pointing out their sin. This is how Melchizedek, he didn't point out Abraham's sin. He just pointed to the Lord, and Abraham himself discovered his sin. That's the best way. And when finally the king of Sodom came to Abraham and said, verse 21, 9:44 Okay, Abraham, you know the laws of battle. Those who win can keep the goods. So you can keep all the goods for yourself. You can give just the people back to me, the people of Sodom. And see what Abraham says. See the title he uses for God, which he never used before in his life. 10:07 I have sworn to the Lord, God Most High, Possessor of Heaven and Earth. Where in the world did he learn that title? You see verse 19. That's exactly what Melchizedek told Abraham. God Most High, Possessor of Heaven and Earth. 10:23 Abraham got a new revelation of God. And a new title for God. God Most High, Possessor of Heaven and Earth. And he uses that title in verse 22. He'd never used it before. And then he says to Sodom, I have sworn to God, just the few moments before you came, Sodom, 10:45 king of Sodom, before a few moments before you came, a servant of God came and spoke to me. And I saw God as a possessor of heaven and earth. My eyes were opened. I saw my covetousness. I repented. And I decided, I'm not going to love money. 11:00 I'm not going to live for money. You can have everything. I will not even take a thread, verse 23, or a shoelace, or anything, because one day when I become rich and God blesses me, you will say, you made me rich with all the things you gave me. 11:15 And I don't want you to get the credit for what God does for me. Boy, there's something I see there about Abraham. I don't want any human being to think that they made me rich. I will not depend on man for my needs. This is what the Lord told me when I quit my job. 11:33 Don't ever depend on any man to meet your needs. Your Heavenly Father will take care of you, and He's done that all these 60 years. God bless you, God bless you, God bless you.
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