Faith Recovers: Genesis 14:8-16

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 14.

Genesis 14 · chapter mention

We're going to be reading verses 8 through 16 this morning.

If you're new with us, and many of you are, we praise God for all our visitors who have come this summer.

Welcome.

We're glad you're here.

We're doing a sermon series this summer on living by faith lessons from Genesis.

And we're looking particularly at the life of Abraham, and we're learning a lot.

You know why?

Because Abraham learned a lot.

Learn from people who learn.

Okay?

Don't follow people who don't learn.

And there's a lot of them.

Put your eyes and your heart on people who are teachable, who know how to repent, who know how to trust God.

Such a man was Abraham.

Let's pick up the story.

The word of God.

Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Adma, the king of Zeboyam, and the king of Belah, that is Zoar, went out.

And they joined battle in the valley of Siddham with Cheddarlomar, king of Elam, Tidal, king of Goim, Amphrael king of Shinar, and Ariok, king of Elisar, four kings against five.

Now the valley of Siddam was full of bitumen bits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country.

So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way.

They also took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, and went their way.

The one who had escaped, but one who had escaped, came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eschel and Anar.

These were allies of Abram.

When Abram heard that his kinsmen had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen of them, and they went in pursuit as far as Dan.

And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus.

Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his kinsmen, Lot, with his possessions, and the women and the people.

This is the reading of God's perfect, powerful, holy word.

Let's pray.

Holy Spirit, would you please open our eyes?

Open our ears.

Open our hearts.

Would you make us teachable?

Would you just make us teachable, humble people who hear you when you speak through your word by your spirit?

And that'll be enough.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

So we left Abram, because his name has not yet been changed to Abraham.

We left Abram living according to the promises of God.

Lot had settled in Sodom, a wicked city.

And though we need a little historical background before we dive into the main lessons before us this morning.

Genesis chapter 14 is not only the first recorded war in the Bible, but also history.

Genesis 14 · chapter mention

There's a lot here.

A confederation of four kings from the area of the Euphrates, many miles away, headed by this chief, tribal, some have likened him to the Napoleon of his day.

Keda Lomar and three other chiefs are raging war.

These four tribes, alliances, are now coming after five kings in the area of Canaan.

And these five chiefs in Canaan had been paying tribute to Big Brother for 12 years.

And they got tired of it.

And they said, you know, we've had enough of this.

And so they did, and there was a war.

A lot of people involved in this war.

Archaeologists have given us some help and understanding about this.

A man, a Palestinian archaeologist, Nelson Gluick, investigated the very area where these battles took place thoroughly and reported this.

I found that every village in their path had been plundered and left in ruins, and the countryside had been laid waste.

The population had been wiped out or led away into captivity.

For hundreds of years thereafter, the entire area was like an abandoned cemetery, hideously unkempt, and all of its monuments shattered and strewn in pieces on the ground.

There was a lot of bloodshed in this war.

There was a lot of terrible consequences as a result of this war.

Okay, I want you to understand.

Abram's just not going after a little raiding party.

These were bad dudes.

Alright, just a little bit of appreciation for what we're going to read about Abram.

And so we read in the text, chapter 14, verse 11.

So this large army, the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions, and they went their way.

Oh, by the way, they also took Lot, Abram's nephew, and all of his possessions.

Got it?

This is what's going on.

Genesis 14, verse 13.

Genesis 14:13

But there was one who had escaped.

This one who had escaped somehow.

Well, we know it's not, there's never just a somehow.

Okay?

There's never just a somehow.

This lone fugitive found Abram.

It was the providence of God.

God led this fugitive.

Somehow he found Abram.

And he told, he reported what happened in that battle.

And that's what the rest of the story is about.

Verse 14.

When Abram heard, those are important words.

When Abram heard what happened, he went forth with his trained men, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

They pursued them over a hundred miles.

This was a rigorous battle of pursuit.

Now keep that in mind.

318, okay, that sounds like a nice home security team, which is what he had.

But they're going up against the Goliath of their day.

Chapter 14, verse 16.

Then he brought back, he recovered all the possessions and Lot and his family.

Take that in.

I mean, this would have made quite a movie.

I don't know if there's ever been a movie about this.

There could be.

It sounds like, does it remind you a little bit like Gideon's victory we read about in the book of Judges?

Gideon starts out with 32,000 men.

That's a pretty good sized army.

And then God says, no, you have too many.

If I send all of you, you're going to think that you did it.

And so they are reduced to an army of 10,000.

God says, that's still too many.

I'm going to take you down, I'm going to boil you down to 300.

And you're going to know that it was me who gave you the victory.

You're going to know that it was only by my power that you defeated that army.

It seems like God does these kinds of things often, I notice.

For good reasons.

Because we can too easily take the credit.

We can too easily think, well, it was my resources.

It was my strategic thinking.

No, it wasn't.

It's never because of those things.

It's never because of those secondary things.

It might be with them, it might be through them, but it's never because of them.

Got that?

It's always Him.

It's His power.

It's His victory.

And He gets the glory.

So I only have two points.

I'm shorting you today.

But they're pretty simple, basic, but I hope you remember them.

The first point is the lesson.

We must take note of the things that have been stolen from us, our lives.

We must take note what has been stolen.

Stolen property.

That's why Andre and Caroline read that passage from John chapter 10 a few minutes ago.

John 10 · chapter mention

The thief, we know who the thief is, right?

We know who the thief is.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

It's good to be reminded of that sometimes.

Because maybe we forget.

And maybe maybe we are too quick to just write off our losses.

Do you do that sometimes?

Do you just kind of write off your losses?

Well, there's nothing I can do about it.

There's nothing I can do about it.

I just have to bite the bullet.

This is what it's like to live in a sin-cursed world.

It's gone.

What would you say maybe something if you had some more time to think about it?

Oh, it's just gone.

And it's usually not an it.

It's usually more personal.

He, she, them.

Verse 14.

When Abram heard that his family had been taken captive, he did something.

He took action.

Man.

He did not respond this way that maybe I know I have done before, probably you.

Well, that's just the way it is.

He didn't become apathetic and he did not become judgmental.

And it's so easy to go either of those ways when we lose things that are precious to us.

He didn't become apathetic.

Well, you know, what can I do?

This fugitive tells me that it's a huge army.

I've got 318 men.

Come on, I can't do this.

Lord, this must be an assignment for somebody else.

How many times do we think that?

How many times do we think this must be an assignment for somebody else?

Because I don't think this is for me.

He didn't go apathetic, but he didn't get judgmental either.

And if you've been following along in the sermon series, you know he could have, right?

What could he have said?

I tried to tell him.

Lot.

But he was so greedy.

He was so greedy.

He was so immature spiritually.

I mean, come on, he made his bed, now he's got to lay in it, right?

You ever think that way?

I do sometimes.

That's not what he did.

He didn't say Lot is getting what he deserves.

Abram demonstrates his walk with God.

He's taking on the very character of his God as he walks with his God.

And that's what we've seen so far in the sermon series.

He's taking on the character of God as he walks with God.

How do we know if we're walking with God?

That's the question for the moment.

And if you say, well, because I'm in the Bible every day.

Okay?

I mean, I read the Bible often.

Because I pray every day.

Because I go to church.

That does not necessarily mean that you're walking with God.

Jesus spent a lot of time and expelled a lot of words and breath, rebuking the people of his day, the Pharisees, who were in their Bibles all the time.

And who loved their prayer life and love going to worship.

Don't fall for that line.

How do you know if you're actually walking with God?

You're going to take on the characteristics of God.

You're going to take on the heart of God.

As Paul says in Romans, you're going to actually become more conformed to the image of Jesus.

Don't ever be content because I'm doing my religious devotional exercises.

No.

You may be just as critical after you do that as you were before.

You may be just as angry afterwards.

You may be just as impatient.

You may be just as untrusting.

The only way we know that we're actually walking with God is we're actually taking on his character.

Abram surely did.

And that's why he manned up in that battle.

Compassion.

He had compassion for his nephew.

Unbelievable.

And you know what happens when you have compassion for people?

You pray for them.

You don't just criticize them.

You don't judge them.

You pray for them.

And you're grieved for them.

And your heart is broken for them.

Compassion, the most frequently mentioned attribute of Jesus in the Gospels.

Forty sometimes it's said in the Gospels that Jesus looked with compassion.

He looked at people.

He noticed people.

He didn't just walk by them or walk over them or go around them.

Compassion requires looking and listening.

It requires that we stop what we're doing.

A willingness to be interrupted.

Compassion is not something that we work up, friends.

I've tried that at times, many times.

I can't work it up.

It comes down.

From heaven, like Jesus, who came down to show us and to teach us and laid down his life for us to rescue us.

That's what compassion, that's where compassion starts.

It seems like Jesus always had time to notice.

As busy as he was, sometimes we're not especially good at that, are we?

Stopping what we're doing, a willingness to be inconvenienced, just to look and just to listen.

No, we're not naturally good at this.

None of us are.

If we're compassionate, it's because we're learning from our Savior.

If we're compassionate, if we're growing in our ability to be compassionate, it's because our hearts are being trained by God to be more like His heart.

That's a beautiful thing.

Compassion starts in the heart.

Compassion starts by looking at God's heart, and then you look at others' hearts.

And what's the last step?

Then you look at your heart.

Compassion starts by looking at God's heart.

And then looking at other hearts that God puts in your life.

And then I look at my heart.

And I say, well, wait a minute.

Does my heart break for the things that breaks God's heart?

That's just the way it works.

This kind of looking requires time, yes, but it also requires energy.

Am I ready?

Am I willing to take this on?

Because sometimes we all know it's easier to not really look and not really notice.

Isn't it?

Isn't that one of our biggest sins?

I think so.

It's like I I can't afford to slow down.

I've got to keep moving.

There's a lot going on.

Jesus says, Tom, slow down.

Look, listen.

Be in my word.

I want you to see, I want you to be shaped by my heart.

For others' heart.

John chapter 10, verse 10.

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

Do you notice the progression there?

It starts with larceny and it ends with murder.

The enemy will gladly steal from you whatever he can, larceny, things.

But he's never content to take your things.

He wants to take the higher prize.

He doesn't want just your things.

He wants you.

He wants your life.

He wants your family.

He wants your relationships.

He wants your, you could say it all kinds of things he wants.

There's a progression.

We are able to slow down enough to look and to listen and acknowledge when he gets our attention.

To acknowledge what has been stolen from us.

That takes a lot of emotional energy to do that.

I have found.

It takes a lot of emotional energy to acknowledge what's really going on around me and not pretend that things are better than they are.

I have found, as a pastor who's done a lot of counseling, many, many Christians would rather pretend that things are better than they are than to face what's really going on.

The other temptation is to just kind of numb ourselves.

That's another option.

One option is just to pretend.

Oh I don't I don't see that.

Or just to numb ourselves.

To cushion ourselves with a comfortable life.

So that we're distant from broken, bruised hearts, people that God loves.

Friends, Jesus doesn't want that for any of us, either one.

Jesus today would say to you, don't numb your heart.

He would also say, open your eyes.

Because there's a lot of hurting people all around us.

There always will be.

And some of us we don't have to look very far.

Some of us we just have to look down the hallway to the another bedroom.

Some of us maybe just have to actually look across the bed to the other person.

It could be close.

It could be distant.

Doesn't matter so much the where, but are where the look is taking us.

A spiritually struggling friend stolen property.

A family member who's under addiction.

A family member who is just losing hope.

Is there anybody here?

Who doesn't have that going on in your life?

Is there anybody here who doesn't know someone that you're close to, that you love deeply, and you see that they're just getting lost?

And you see that they're growing more and more under the influence of the enemy and the power of his grip.

It can be a marriage that's falling apart.

It can be our devotion to the Lord.

Do you remember in Revelation chapter 2, the church at Ephesus?

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

What were they guilty of?

The Spirit says, I have a beef with you.

Paraphrasing.

I have a beef with you.

You've lost what?

Your first love.

When you came to Christ, you were full of joy and you were full of energy for the Lord and you wanted to work for the Lord and you wanted to trust him and you wanted to walk with him.

And the Lord says, I notice you've cooled off quite a bit.

I've noticed that.

Have you?

And how many times do we have to say, actually, no?

Why?

I've been too busy.

I've been too busy doing my spiritual disciplines.

I've been too busy saying my prayers.

Friends, that's not an acceptable answer.

He said, you become lukewarm.

You've lost your first love.

Has the enemy stolen your first love?

Has the enemy stolen your hunger for the word of God?

Has the enemy stolen your heart for lost people who need Jesus?

What has he stolen?

That's the first point of this morning.

Do you ever hear the voice of the enemy saying, I've got your stolen goods, and you can't have it?

Have you heard the enemy say, I've stolen your hope?

And maybe you can't quickly identify other areas, but maybe he's saying, I've stolen your hope.

Have you noticed?

You're not living with much hope.

Have you noticed?

Where's your hope?

Is it just like a stack of cards that just falls down with every circumstance it changes?

What is he stolen?

This whole first point is this is about stolen property.

Stop, look, and listen and pray and ask God to show what's worth going after.

Have you noticed something missing lately?

Do you hear the voice of Jesus speaking to you right now?

By the power of His Spirit, through the preaching of His Word, saying, get up and go after what's been lost.

Second point, simple, we must look to God for the courage and the wisdom to go after what's stolen.

We must look to God, God alone, for the courage and the wisdom to go after what's stolen.

Abram did.

Joshua did.

You remember Joshua, right?

When Joshua was taking over from Moses.

How'd you like that assignment?

All you leaders in this room?

I mean that seriously.

A lot of your leaders.

A lot of you are here in Washington because you're either being trained to lead others, or you are leading others.

I tell you, I wouldn't want that assignment, Joshua got.

Are you kidding?

All these grumbling, critical, seemingly never thankful?

Like over a million, easily.

Joshua, I'm giving you this assignment.

You lead these people.

Joshua.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

Chapter 1.

He says, Be strong and courageous, Joshua, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore that their fathers to give them.

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you.

Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

This book of the law shall never depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous.

Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Three times.

Is that because Joshua was such a slow learner?

I don't think so.

He needed to hear it again and again.

Joshua, be strong and courageous.

The challenge is great.

But your God is greater.

I want you to believe that, Joshua.

Gospel faith takes risk.

Gospel faith commits resources like Abram did.

Yes, this was very inconvenient for Abram to put it all in the line.

All of his servants, all of his family, really.

He was putting it all in the middle of the table.

All of his chips were in.

If something happens to him, his family's gone, his wife's gone.

He pursued over a hundred miles.

That was a long time in those dusty climates.

He went at night.

Wisdom.

Recovering stolen property requires wisdom and courage.

But he was walking with God.

And God gave it to him.

And he goes at night.

Man, what a risky move this was.

And they surprised, it was a surprise attack, and he divides his men.

He's got strategy.

He divides his men, he gives the orders, and they overtake this vast army.

How in the world?

David told us when he defeated Goliath.

It's not by sword or spear.

The battle is the Lord's.

It was then and it always is.

The battle is the Lord's.

But we have to take up our weapons.

And we have to be willing to be inconvenienced.

And we have to be walking with God.

Not perfectly, but authentically.

The battle is the Lord's.

It always is.

Paul Miller says that Jesus possesses, Jesus alone possesses this kind of strength, power, and also compassion.

He says, usually tender people lack strength.

Usually strong people lack gentleness.

But Jesus demonstrates both compassion and strength perfectly.

I want to be more like him.

Where am I weak, Lord?

I mean, I need you for all this, but F.

B.

Meyer, Baptist pastor a long time ago, said this.

Ah, brothers and sisters, have there never come to you the news that you have brothers and sisters that are taken captive?

How then is it that you have not started off long ago after their deliverance?

As I read that this week, I got emotional.

That hit me.

Ah, brothers and sisters, have there never come to you the news that you have brothers and sisters that are taken captive?

How then is it that you have not yet started off even long ago for their deliverance?

Do you hear that?

I do.

Get up.

Look to God for the courage.

Look to God for the compassion.

And go.

Jesus said, I came that they might have life and that they might have it abundantly.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd, yes, does lay down his life for his sheep.

Abram went at the risk of his own life.

Jesus came at the cost of his own life.

One comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but there's another one that came to recover everything that was lost.

And in some mysterious way, none of us will fully understand, in some mysterious way, one day everything we've lost is going to be recovered.

He's going to make all things new.

What are we going to do?

What are we going to do when that day comes?

I think we might just fall to our knees and praise him and thank him for going after the things that were lost.

You, me, John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

He calls his own sheep by what?

Name.

Let's go together.

Let's go rest let's recover what's been stolen.

We're not going to get it all back on earth.

But there are things that we will get back as we go in the name of Christ.

Somebody said loving others doesn't begin with loving, but with being loved.

Isn't that true?

Loving others doesn't begin with, okay, I'm going to love this person.

It begins with being loved and that sinking deeper into our comprehension.

Seeing how much we are loved.

The abundant life, he says, I wouldn't call that your best life.

I don't think this is living your best life.

I think that's kind of it.

It strikes me as a little self-centered.

Oh, live your best life.

It's almost like what comes with that is the idea that you're not going to really struggle.

You know, the spirit, this deceived spirit of the age that you're live your best life.

This is all about you.

It's not all about me.

I think we can do better than that.

I would say live the life you live that most glorifies God.

Live the life that most glorifies your God.

That's your best life.

David fighting Goliath, his own giant, remembering the battle is the Lord.

You remember in 1 Samuel chapter 30, and David and his men were on the run from Saul, and they'd been on the run for about a year.

1 Samuel 30 · chapter mention

And they went out on a raiding mission when they came back to Ziklag, the city, where all their family and possessions were, remember, they'd been stolen.

Remember that story?

And what did David do?

David mustered up his men and said, Let's go.

And they recovered.

There was not one person in their families, any of their families, that was lost.

They recovered their possessions.

You know what it says?

That's at the end of the chapter.

You know what it says in 1 Samuel chapter 30, verse 6?

1 Samuel 30:6

And David was, David's men were turning on him.

As a matter of fact, when they came back to their town and found out that they'd lost their families, they wanted to kill David.

But you know what it says in the beginning of chapter 30, verse 6?

When David was facing all this adversity, he strengthened himself in the Lord.

And you can do that.

I can do that.

He learned how to strengthen himself in the Lord.

My last thing to tell you today: God still recovers stolen property.

But you've got to identify it.

And you've got to acknowledge it.

You need to cry out for mercy and you need to cry out for God's wisdom and you need to cry out for God's courage and go in prayer.

How do we do it?

By faith and prayer.

It does not happen apart from faith and prayer.

God's given us everything we need to rise up and go.

Let's ask Him now.

Father, would you please, would you please meet us right now and give us the courage that we need.

The courage to look within our own fainting hearts, the courage to look out to others who have been stolen or lost in some way.

Give us faith.

Grow our faith right now in this service of worship.

Grow us in wisdom and understanding.

Grow our courage.

By your grace, we're going to go out and we're going to fight battles this week.

By your spirit, we're going to go out with you, and we're going to see you recover things that are precious to you that have been stolen.

We believe that you are mighty, God.

Thank you.

In Jesus' name, amen.