Genesis Part 28 | Pastor Paul McGee

God, thank God, thank God, Hallelujah, thank you.

We love you Jesus, we love you. Jesus.

You may be seated tonight. Got just a few announcements

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And also, again, unless something changes, which it can,

it may. Don't forget, camp registration

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because you don't want to be late for that.

All right? Amen.

We're going to be turning to the book of Genesis tonight.

Book of Genesis. And we are in chapter #14 And

I'm probably you can stand. I'm going to read just a few

verses of Scripture and I'm going to allow you to be seated,

as is the case sometimes, and continue reading from where I

left off here this evening. It's Genesis chapter #14 and

we're going to try our our pronunciation.

All right, so we got kings and we got places and we got people.

It's not a genealogy, but nonetheless.

All right verse number one that came to pass in the days of Am

Rafael king of Shinar Arrok king of El Azar Cheddar la Omer king

of Elam entitled King of nations that these made war with mere

king of Sodom, the Versa king of Gomorrah, Shanab king of Adma

and Shim Ember King Zeboin the king of Bella which is Zor.

All these were joined together in the veil of Sedan, which is

the salt sea and we'll be able to pronounce some more of those

names here in just a moment after we pray and you're seated.

God, I thank you tonight, God, for the Lord, the ability to God

have mobility to come health of body to be here.

I pray God that you would touch us afresh.

The Lord our minds, our hearts. Let your word be open to us.

Help us to find a place, God, a place, Lord of invitation.

God of what you would have God into our lives.

Cleanse us, O Lord, wash us anew, make us whole.

God, you have to bring the Lord, enlightenment, revelation, God

direction. Lord, I pray, Lord, a word of

help from this eternal word, the lovely name of Jesus Christ, and

I pray. I love and thank you for it in

Jesus name, Amen. You may be seated as I continue

with verse #4. All right, and we'll trade off

and let each one read as we go. No, I'm joking as we go alone.

Amen. 12 years they served Chederla Omur.

In the 13th year they rebelled, and in the 14th year came

Chederla Omur, the kings that were with him and smote the

Rethaeums in Ashtaroth, Karnain and the Zuzheens in Ham, and the

Emems in Shiva in Karathem, and the Horites in their mounts here

unto El Paran, which is by the wilderness.

And they returned and came to in Mishpat, which is Kadish, and

smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the

Amorites that dwelt and has Zazon Tamar.

And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah,

and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboem, and the king of

Bella. The same is Zoar.

And they join battle with them in the valley of Acidum with

Chedorla Umar, the king of Elam and with title king of Nations

and am Rafael, king of Shinar and Arroch, king of El Azar. 4

kings with five. I gotta pause, all right.

And the veil Acidim was full of slime pits.

Slime pit. Why couldn't there be more words

in here like slime pits? I could say slime pits.

I know what that is. I can that rose off the tongue

easy Slime pits and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell

there and they that remain fled to the mountain and they took

all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their vittles.

Again, if you look that word up, I've looked it up before.

I used to call it victuals, but it's vittles.

That's how it's pronounced. It's in the dictionary and went

their way, you know, because listen, I had to look up a lot

of stuff to know how to pronounce.

I'm here to tell you right now, we, I'm say Genesis all day

long. That's where we're at in the

book of Genesis. Amen.

So that's our introduction to this.

So this, to say the least, this chapter has been challenging.

It's just not been pronunciation either.

All right, This chapter has been challenging for me personally.

All right, again, it's not a genealogy.

It is, it's it's a narrative, it's a story.

So we're like, man, we're all about that, right?

When you come to something in scripture, that's a story.

And I might be able to listen to that relate to that.

You know, I can read that, you know, a story, but it's not just

like any story, right? It's it's like you got all it's

like some ancient war chronicle that's going on here in the

scripture. You know, sometimes about

everybody likes their little devotional books that, you know,

brings a little thought out and you know, this isn't this is not

like a daily devotional. All right, you would probably

already gave him said, let's go to John 10 and read Jesus web

and be done with it. All right, so this is not like

some little devotional passage where it's like left and right.

We're extracting all kinds of application out of this

particular chapter. For one, again, look at all the

names that we are littered with, of King's names and and place

names and people's names throughout here.

But so this is almost like a war chronicle.

I mean, we have, we have kings that are marching.

We have alliances that that are forming that are being made

among kings and among places. There's battles that's raging

here. There's spoils that's going to

be taken from from those who who lose and the victors are going

to be taking those home. But behind all of this conflict

that we see in the first few verses of this chapter, there's

also, I believe a, a, a spiritual revelation to this

chapter as well. And it really comes down to this

or what I believe the overarching thing of this

chapter being put after Genesis 13, before Genesis 15.

The overarching picture is it's going to come down to really

just two kingdoms. It's going to come down to just

two kingdoms really in this chapter.

And there's going to be 1 decisive choice that Abraham's

going to make that every individual that lives on the

earth has to make. All right.

And so this chapter, I know we read it, but it it's more on the

surface. It's not just about war, but

it's also about worship. It's not about just captives and

those being taken captive. It's also about character, all

right, And it's not just as we'll see you here in a little

bit even about this further degradation or failure or fall

of lot. It's also again highlighting,

even as we looked at some last week, the faith of Abraham.

Remember, Abraham has such a, a stamp of faith on his life that

it's whenever you get to the New Testament Scripture, it talks to

us, it talks to the New Testament how we should walk in

the steps of his faith. So he has such that stamp of

faith upon him that he's used as an example for New Testament

believers that that's the type of faith you should pattern or

emulate your life after. And so the first 12 verses here,

oh, how exciting they are. Amen.

The 12 verses of this chapter, there's a lot of, there's a lot

of political instability that's going right on here within the

region of, of Israel and, and really within the region of the

plains of Jordan, which is where Lot had settled, which is where

Sodom and Gomorrah are. And so there's these four very

powerful Eastern kings, we might call them led by one by the name

of Cheddar La Omar. I mean, how many times you want

to say that, right? I mean, he had problem in

kindergarten writing his name. There's so many syllables in

that. He's, he's, they've been

dominating him. And these other 3 kings have

been dominating some other kings and regions.

The Bible tells us they've been doing this for 12 years.

They've been dominating. But in the 13th year, the

Scripture says that there's these 5 kings of the Jordan

Valley or the plains of Jordan, Sodom, Gomorrah, and some other

cities that are named and kings that are named, that on the 13th

year, they decided, you know what, enough is enough.

We're tired of being under the thumb of this king and these

others. And so we're going to rebel,

including the king of Sodom. We're going to rebel.

And as a result of that, guess what happened?

War, right? War then ensues.

And so the world of this generation of this time, at this

moment, they're really operating off of fear.

They're really operating off control because they've been

able to control a lot of other regions, cities and kings

through their power for 12 years, as it would typically be

for 12 years. King Chedorla Omar and those

that are with him have kept these other kings under a thumb

of oppression basically by making them prepay tribute,

right. They they give them some type of

tribute, whether it be through so much of their crops or money

or silver and gold or other things.

They pay tribute to these other kings for the sole reason, and

this is common even in just old history, they're going to pay

tribute for the purpose of receiving protection, right?

If anybody else would come to fight against them, it's like,

you know, we've already paid. We've already paid the hit men

off. We paid them, you know, every

month. So we have them on our side.

They can come and help fight along alongside of us.

So what they were paying this tribute for, it wasn't

necessarily they just had some type of voluntary generosity.

Oh, we just like you so much, we're going to pay you money.

No, they, they are, it's a coercion, a force, a force for

survival that they are doing with paying their tribute.

It's the way that they survive. It's the way that they have

protection. And so in many regards, it's

it's how the world still works today.

I mean, let's get on us. Someone's always wanting to give

some, some other country, some other place, something, the

value for the purpose of maintaining peace.

There's always this exchange. What's the bargaining chip,

right, For protection or for peace?

I mean, whenever you even look at some of the Conchords and you

look at the United Nations would be a great one, right?

You, you mess with one, you've messed with them.

All right? They kind of, that's just the

way it is. And so that they're just

maintaining peace by whatever they can give.

Here's the fact of the matter though, that we'll see in our

story. They're doing this even if it

means compromise on their part. But the Bible says that in the

14th year, Cheddar La Omer and the other kings that are in

alliance with him, they make their their way down to this

region of the five kings down here in the plains of Jordan.

They're making their way down there, right, because they have

rebelled against them and they're no longer pay pay paying

their tribute. So they make their way down

there. And on their way to that

location, you know, they pick fights with a few other

individuals. And the Bible describes to us

some of the other list of peoples that they have fights

with along the way and they conquer.

The Bible says that they come against some of the Refines and

the Zuzin and the memes and the Horites.

And those names may not mean much to you, but if you were to

start to trace some of these names and there are other

variations, we come to find out the the refaems and the Zuzins

and the memes, all of these are those are giant like people,

right? Giant like people.

And again, giant like people wasn't just the fact that they

were tall, but that they were bullies and tyrants and all this

others type of stuff. So each one of them that they're

going along, as they're travelling down to where they

want to get to men, they're plucking and off that stronghold

and they're doing away with these giants and they're

conquering those idolaters and that Pagan tribe.

They're stomping on and just snuffing out.

And so in the wake of their March to where they want to be,

they're leaving, they're leaving a body count behind them.

They're they're conquering the Amalekites, they're conquering

the Amorites. And so as they approach this

region of 5 kings, they have left a trail of victory, trail

victory behind it. So you got to start to think

about being one of of the five kings in the area of the plains

of Jordan. Whenever they see these men

approach, they got to look behind them and see everything

that they just conquered. Just getting to where they're

at. So you understand that the, the,

you know what, the sense of fear, what could come up on BMC

and just the record of what they accomplished just to get where

they are. And so the Bible says then that

these five local kings in the Jordan plane rise up and among

them are Sodom. Among them is Gomorrah.

And so they rise up to fight against these others that have

come down that they used to pay tribute to.

And lo and behold, we're not really surprised they lose.

Yeah, they lose. They have this long trail.

I know they have this long trail victory that has followed them.

And they're victorious now even once again.

But in this, in this victory that they have over the five

kings of the Jordan plains, Sodom and Gomorrah in these

different cities and peoples and goods are taken away.

And we then remember, oh, Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom.

And Lot, according to Scripture, is also swept up and taken

captive in this victory. He's taken, Sodom's taken.

The possessions of Sodom are taken.

The Bible specifically says that the possessions of Lot are

taken. And so here's the fact of the

matter, though. When we read this in Scripture,

as we get a little further into this, that Lot was taken in this

capture because he was living in Sodom at the time that it was

captured. Now, why is that important?

Because the last time we saw a lot, he had just pitched his

tent towards Sodom. But now the Bible's going to

tell us that he dewelt in Sodom. He's captured from Sodom because

he had become a dweller of Sodom.

So if you don't want to be taken in Sodom's capture, don't be

swallowed up with Sodom's ways. Hey, man, I, I, I don't know if

the story would have been different had he never become a

dweller of Sodom. This whole battle, this whole

capture thing could have taken place and he would have been

able to slip out, perhaps by the skin of his teeth, so to speak.

But that doesn't happen now because he's made full on

association, full on association with Sodom.

And when you associate with Sodom, you get Sodoms, huh?

You get the vengeance that comes to Sodom.

Amen. And so notice the transition

then that again, that's happened a lot of life.

Just in the last chapter in verse #12 of Genesis 13, he

pitched his tent toward Sodom. Now he dwells in Sodom.

Remember, whenever he looked toward the plains of Jordan, he

says that there looks like the garden of the Lord and the land

of Egypt. You remember that?

That's what he thought. That looks good.

Remember that looks like, that looks like striking a good

compromise. That looks like all the

materialism and everything that Egypt had that that also looks

like the garden of the Lord. That looks like where I want to

live, where I can live in both worlds.

That looks good. And he ends up not just pitching

his tent, but also the welling there.

And that which looked like an opportunity he finds out really

comes to be his oppression. And that is always, if we can

just take that and make a little parallel for sin right now,

let's just state emphatically that that's always the way of

sin. It looks opportune, but it ends

up being oppressive. Starts as a glance.

It ends as your residence. What began as a compromise for

Lot ended up being his captivity.

Now let's go on verse #13 I don't know why I put my glasses

up. We got some reading to do.

Never did even finish. Verse #12 I don't believe.

And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in

Sodom, his goods, and departed. Verse 13.

And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the

Hebrew, for he dwelt in the plain of Mamrie the Amorite,

brother Eschol, and brother of Ener.

And these were confederate with Abram.

And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he

armed his trained servants born in his own house, 318 and

pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against

them, he and his servants by night, and smote them, and

pursued them unto Hoba, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again

his brother Lot and his goods, and the women also, and the

people. So when we read verse #12 how

they took Lot and all his goods, our minds are left lingering on

Lot and his predicament and what he had done, what he has chose

thus far in this story. But when we get to verse #13 our

attention is turned from Lot now to Abram.

All right. Not just Abram.

But there is a contrast here now between the captured Sodom and

the plain of memory that Abram had chose that isn't captured,

that isn't decimated, that he went and resorted to after Law

had his first choice of what he desired, and what he wanted for

that matter. It reverts in contrast, the

plain of memory again, this place that Abram also built

another altar. Because again, if we back up

again, when we look at what's captured, what wasn't, we're

looking at a man who went to a place alterless and a man that

went to a place and constructed an altar.

Right now they are in totally different flip flop sides of the

coin. But no, this is the first

mention of Abram as Abram, the Hebrew, Abram the Hebrew.

And I know a lot of times we talk about the Scripture, we

talk about the Israelites. Sometimes we call them Hebrews,

the Hebrews. And when we do, we're really

talking to them about like a nation, right?

The Hebrews, the nation of Israelites, the Hebrews.

But we can't be talking about a nation right here because the

only one man here right now, he's had no children.

There's been no many descendants, all right.

They did not exist at the time, but it was used for just a

solitary person, Abram, the Hebrew, much like today, that

you would use another word for somebody almost as a nickname.

You know, there's no big ears over there.

You know, whatever characteristic it is that puts a

thumbprint on someone's life and they have a nickname.

You know, my dad has nicknames for all of us kids.

You know, it's Erde or Jean. It's Poo, Robert Eckerdon, Fuzzy

Susu nickname, The Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of

the Old Testament, which goes back hundreds of years.

Even before some of the things that we have that our Bibles are

translated from translates the Hebrew, that word as the man

from the other side, the man from the other side because

Abram is different. Abram is separated.

Abram has set himself apart. He doesn't belong to the old

Sodom and Gomorrah world system as the Lot had, not Sodom, not

as a Lot has chosen. Remember Abram, Yes, he had his

roots in adultery. His father did, he did, his

family did. But remember, he separated

himself from Earth. He separated himself from his

household. He separated himself from his

family, both place and people. We're talking about someone that

is a man from the other side and someone came to Abram and they

informed him they wanted him to know what happened to Sodom and

Gomorrah, predominantly what happened to Lot, his nephew.

And Abram. He has the confederacy of of

cities too, that he's kind of got in good graces with and they

form a confederacy together that he lives around.

And upon hearing the news of his nephew Lot, the Bible says that

Abram, and I think this is important.

Abram armed his trained servants.

The Bible says there were 318 trained men that was born in his

own house. They were trained servants.

But at this moment in time of hearing what happened, Abram

arms his trained. Let me say like this, Abram

weaponized his trained servants. Let me tell you sometimes what

we get wrong. Today we weaponize untrained

ones. We, we put things in people's

hands that they don't even know how to function with what's been

given to them. And sometimes we cut the legs

off of them and like, shame on you.

No, it's shame on us. They never been trained.

But Abram put he armed his trained his trained servants.

Amen. He note, though, this is

important. It's not that he heard the news

and then he trained them. It's not that he heard of this

great calamity says all right, boys, let's go in training for

the next six weeks and then we'll I tell out here, we'll do

something about this. No, that wasn't the mindset of

Abram. He wasn't scrambling to prepare

for the battle. He already had men that were

trained. They just need to be armed.

All right. He didn't allow his opponents to

to to have all of this victory that had came and followed them

to intimidate him or intimidate the success of his trained men.

No, Abram had a forethought. He he might just be sitting in

the city. He said, you know what?

We seem to have this confederacy.

Everything seems to be well, everything things fine.

But you know what, he understood he didn't live in the perfect

world that although there may be no battle today, there could be

a battle tomorrow. And so I'm not going to wait

until the battle comes to us to get ready.

I'm going to ready men now pre adventure when there is a

battle, which there will be if you live this life, when there

is a battle in the future, we're not trying to figure it out.

We got it figured out. All we got to do is arm the

people that are trying. Well, let me tell you something.

The days that we are living in, this thing's not getting better.

It's getting worse. And it shall be.

You know where we need to be in preparation mode now.

Don't wait for the battle to come to you.

Prepare for the battle now. Be prepared now so that when the

hour comes, all we got to do is put the Armory into your hands

of trained men. Trained women.

Don't don't, don't start. Well, you know, it's getting

real bad. I'm start going to put some of

this word in my heart, my mind. I'm going to start reading my

Bible now. I'm going to start understanding

what's going on. No, no, no.

Don't you wait until we're on the verge of a peace treaty that

will reveal the Antichrist to start putting that self inside

of you. You become a trained person.

Now you read that, you invest, that you hide it upon your heart

so that then we can just weaponize a people that's

already trained don't want the, we don't want the the tail

wagging the dog. We want the dog wagging the

tail, see with that. But we're not being proactive,

we're being reactive. We do that with a lot of things

in our life, right? Then we start praying hard when

troubles come, that's reactive. How about preparing with prayer

just in your life so that when the problem comes, you've

already been trained. Don't allow the problem have to

be your trainer for prayer. Trained men not going to be

intimidated. But I mean, listen, if he had a

bunch of trained individuals, you realize how intimidated they

could have been by the trail of victory of the other kings, huh?

If they didn't know how to stand, if they didn't know how

to March, if they didn't know how, if they didn't know any of

that, you realize how intimidated they could have

been? Their battle would have almost

been over before it was even started because no one would

want to go. They'd have no sense of

confidence because there'd been no trading in order to instill

that confidence in them. You give somebody a gun for the

first time that's never held a gun.

And they're kind of like, huh. Yeah.

But you give it to someone that's done this for 30 and 40

years, honey, they know exactly what they're doing.

They tear that thing apart, put it back.

Why? Because they've been trained,

huh? Listen, I don't want you all

fumbling around with the Apostolic doctrine just because

something came up and you need it.

We're going to teach it on Wednesday nights and on Sunday

mornings. Hopefully you'll get it so that

whenever the opportunity comes and you need it, you're not

fumbling around. Amen.

Why have glory? This was a challenging chapter.

Just deal with me here a little bit.

So he's he's, he's weaponizing, he's weaponizing these men.

And I believe God honors, I believe God honors readiness.

He honors discipline and discipleship.

One of his calls of New Testament scripture is that they

would make disciples. You know what that is?

Training. That's training.

Now, the 318 that don't seem like a massive number, but it's

a faithful number of people that went through the process, went

through, if you will, the program that Abram had for them

to be from untrained to trained. So Abrams trained men, no doubt,

and along with some of those of this confederacy that Abram is a

part of, they went in pursuit of these other kings.

They are chasing these 4 kings from the eastern region and they

have started now here, they're in the plain of Jordan.

Now they're S here. They're they're in the plain of

Jordan. They're at the South end of the

Jordan. They're they're down here by the

Dead Sea and they chased him. Look at the Bible says all the

way up toward Dan. Now this place is going to be

called Dan later in Scripture. But Moses is able to piece this

together and give us a little Intel early here because there's

the popular saying in Scripture. Well, they went from Dan to

Beersheba. Well, that meant from north to

South of Israel. Dan was the northernmost point

in Israel. These guys have been down South

in Israel around the Dead Sea, and they have pursued them all

the way almost to the northernmost part of the land of

318. And whatever else they had a

part of this confederacy have chased them to the northernmost

part of the promised land. And Abram pursues the enemy.

And this gets me. Even the Bible says they were.

They even did this at night, says they did it.

And even at night he divided his forces and at night he defeated

them. And he retrieves a lot.

He gets his nephew back, He gets his family back.

He gets the people of these other cities back and their

goods and all these goods back. But here's the fact of the

matter, concerning Moses or not Moses, we're not there yet.

Amen. That's Exodus.

But nonetheless, here's the motivation of Abram.

His motivation wasn't gain like, oh, I'm going to get all these

spoils. Yeah, we're going to get

everything that they took, plus we're going to get the spoils

from these kings. That wasn't his motivation.

His motivation was rescue. It wasn't goods.

It was rescue. Get the people.

Get my nephew back because in reality, here's a man remember

he's on that growth trajectory and process.

He's he's growing in his relationship with God.

And I believe this is a telltale sign of a man whose heart who is

desiring to walk with God. It's not about the goods, it's

about the people. And he uses his strength to save

and not to self-serve himself with just put more riches up on

the riches that he already had. Now look, let's continue in

verse #17 here, all right? I've turned a page here in my

Bible, got all wound up up here, then got us in Samuel.

We're not that far yet. Verse #17 And the king of Sodom

went out to meet him after his return.

So this is, this is Abram coming back home to the plains, to the

area of the plains of Jordan, bringing Lot and those back home

and the king of Sodom on their trip down.

The king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from

the slaughter of Chederla Omur and of the kings that were with

him at the valley of Shiva, which is the King's Dale.

And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine,

and he was the priest of the Most High God.

And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most

High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the

Most High God, which have delivered thine enemies into

thine hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

Let's just pause and savor the fact that 500 years about,

before there was ever a law about tithing, someone was

tithing. For that matter, let's savor the

fact that pagans even tied to their Pagan temples.

Just save that for a moment. And the king of Sodom and verse

21 and the king of Sodom and said unto Abram, Give me the

persons. It's the king of Sodom, give me

the persons and take the goods to thyself, Abram.

And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand,

and to the Lord, the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and

earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet,

that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou should

I say I have made Abram rich, save only that which the young

men have eaten, the portion of the men which went with me.

And there S Cole and Mamrie, let them take their portion.

There's a pivot in the story here.

This is the hinge. Everything swings on in my

estimation. This is the heart of the whole

passage right here, because after Abram's victory, he's met.

Coming to meet him are two vastly different kings that are

approaching him. After his victory.

There is the king of Sodom that approaches Abram.

And remember whose people according to the last chapter,

were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.

The Scripture says we have that king approaching on one hand,

and on the other hand we have the king of Salem, what would be

known as the king of Jerusalem, the king of peace, Melchizedek,

whose very name Malek Zek means king of righteousness. 2 kings,

2 vastly different kings. And so now Abraham is standing

among 2 kings that are giving him two offers, 2 kings with two

offers. And Abram has a choice.

The king of Sodom is saying, hey, you retrieved a lot of

goods that were taken from us. You take, you keep those goods.

Keep as much as those goods that you want, Abram.

I mean, you ain't got them anyway.

Keep those goods that you have retrieved.

The only thing I asked for is the people.

Melchizedek comes. He offers Abram bread.

He offers him the fruit of the vine.

He offers him blessing. Blessed is Abram of the Most

High God, the possessor of heaven and earth.

He even blesses the Lord. Bless the Lord, bless the God

the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth.

And he really doesn't ask for anything in return.

He's giving him bread. He's eating through the vine.

He's giving him blessing. Ask for nothing in return.

And it's in this moment. And I would say it wouldn't take

a rocket scientist. But you know what?

The world system and sin and all that's very deceptive.

In a moment, Abram has a choice to make.

Do I get all the goods and let him have the people, or do I

receive the bread and the fruit, the vine and the blessing?

And he's not even asking for anything in return?

He discerns the difference. The reason why I know is because

he turns to Melchizedek and he gives, he gives to Melchizedek

tithes of all. One king is really offering a

compromise. You take the goods, I take the

people, but the other, follow me here, the bread and the fruit of

the vine. He's offering him communion,

Compromise or communion, Von Rad observed and said this.

He said Abraham bows only to Machesdek in a story that is

filled with kings, 5 kings against four, this king name,

that king name, this king name. But there's only the bowing,

there's only the acquiescing, if you will, to one of those kings.

That's Melchizedek, the king of Sodom.

Again he says give me the persons, take the goods thyself.

Literally, that first phrase of the Hebrew is give me the souls.

I see that that that just changes things a little bit.

I'm not just talking about giving me the flesh and the

blood and the bones. Give me that part of man that

will live forever. Give me that eternal part to the

people. Give me the souls or the trout.

It has been, is, and always will be the language of the

adversary. There's only he's, I don't know

if you realize this, but he's really after the same thing that

the Church should be after, and that's souls.

And so the language of the enemy is still the same.

You take whatever goods you want to take, even personally for you

sometimes it's like Raven. You take whatever you want of

this world of Sodom. Just let me have your soul.

You can have the riches, you can have the notoriety, you can have

the fame, you can have whatever it is that you desire.

Just let me have the soul. You, You, because you can't have

the goods in your soul. But you, if you take the goods,

I get the soul. It is the language of the enemy,

and it always has been. He is wanting the souls of

humanity, folks. If he wants the souls of

humanity, how much more? How much more should the Mother,

the bride of Christ, want the souls of the people?

This isn't a battle over getting the bankers and the engineers

and the doctors. It's not a battle over that.

But behind every banker, an engineer and a doctor is a soul.

Yes, it's about getting those that are are on the on the on

the poorest section of town. It's about those that don't have

proper living conditions. Why?

Because it's the soul haven't like I don't I don't you you

keep the goods. You keep the goods.

He says I don't I don't I don't want a thread.

I don't want a shoe latch it. I don't want anything from you

Sodam. I don't want anything for you

pre adventure. You go away and say that I'm the

one that made Abram rich. I'm the one that brought him to

his place of status. I'm the one we understand in

scripture Lord that the Bible even says and Mchezdek even

pointed it out that it was the Lord that gave Abram the victory

even that he got in this battle. Abram says I don't want I don't

want some some Sodom saying I made you what you are not

brought you to where you're at folks, let me tell you your

adversary just wants to have you or his hand over your fist to

tell you he's brought you to this place in life.

You have what you have because you paid attention to him and

and you you invested in the no, no, no, no, no, I'm here to tell

you today I am what I am because I am whose I am.

I belonging to the Lord today. It is by his hand.

We are where we are. I've got what I've got.

I'm living like I'm living. I don't want to.

By no means not a thread or a shoe latchet to be able to tell

the world or hell that they made me what I am or they enriched my

life 1000 times. No, I'm not going to take one

iota. I'm not going to take one

compromise. I'm not going to take one.

You're not going to have that voice in my life, not even a

thread. Not even a thread.

So you can have your possessions, your success, your

whatever image of blessing as long as he can have the souls

and a lot of people have sowed their soul for goods.

Picture Sodom really is a in essence somewhat of a satanic

system because it's souls are for sale right for exchange, the

bargaining tool. But did not Jesus himself say

New Testament scripture? What does it profit a man if he

gained the whole world and lose his soul?

Or what would a man give in exchange for his soul?

But it's littered in Scripture, even in the parable of the

sower, that there would be those that would enjoy pleasures, and

the enjoying the pleasures of this life would be at the

expense of choking out the seed in the ground.

In the parable of the soul, people selling their souls, as

Scripture tells us in Timothy, that they would be lovers of

pleasure more than they would be lovers of God trading eternity.

Moses said he wasn't going to be a part of it.

And I have the right person. I'm talking about the right

person now. Moses said he wouldn't be a part

of it. He said he would.

He would trade living in Pharaoh's house.

He would trade living in Pharaoh's house with all the

benefits of Egypt and the education of Egypt.

He would trade all of that. He would trade all that because

he didn't even want just, even as just to enjoy even the

pleasures of sin for a season. Why?

Because he knew the bargaining tool and that it's not pleasure

at no cost. It's not pleasure at no

exchange. There's something on the table.

It's a soul. It's a soul.

So Abram, he, he says the Bible says he raises a hand.

He's not in class, but it's like swearing an oath.

He raises his hand. I won't have it.

I will not take a thread. I will not take a sandal

latchet. None of this, not the small.

Do you understand that? A thread in a sandal latchet

that that's really small and he's trying to underwrite the

I'm not going to take even the smallest or the tiniest, not the

tiniest of compromise in this. I'm not going to allow Sodom to

write my story. I see how it's already trying to

write my nephew's story. Look pitch toward the well be

captured by because that's where you're dwelling.

So this, I mean, this is a, this is the showmanship of integrity

on Abram's part. It's not going to benefit at

Sodom's hand. He's not going to be indebted to

that wicked system, all right. And though that's one king, the

other king he has over here is Melchizedek, right?

And so we're not going into some deep study on Melchizedek right

now, all right? He's mentioned in Psalms, he's

mentioned in Hebrews, but here, this is his debut, this is like

first time mentioned. We don't see anything about him

prior to this, All right? We haven't seen him before.

His name means king of righteousness.

He reigns over Salem again, but what we would know as Jerusalem

he reigns over. He's the king of righteousness,

the king of peace. And so both of that kind of

married into one. And so this king is quite

different than than other kings in the sense that he's a king,

but he's also a priest. For absolutely, whenever you got

under Levitical law, you didn't see a king serve as a priest or

a priest serve as a king. Try to keep those two rows

separate. But Isaiah did prophecy

concerning the Messiah, Christ Jesus, and Isaiah 9, one of the

titles that was affixed to Christ, even among those of

wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of

Peace. And the next verse tells us how

he would rule in justice or in righteousness.

Again, this marriage of peace and righteousness.

You may remember this verse from Psalms 85 and 10.

The psalmist says mercy and truth are met together.

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

That's what happened in the life of Christ Jesus.

Righteousness and peace, king and priest came together.

And so Machesadic brings, according here in the scripture,

he brings bread and wine. Number one.

Bread and wine was known as main staples after a victory has been

won. It's like if you have victory,

it's like red wine for everyone, bread and fruit of the vine for

everybody. So he is no doubt acknowledging

the victory that has came to Abram.

But we also know that bread and the fruit of the vine is what we

have in the Last Supper. That's what we have in the time

of communion in John 13, and also in Corinthians is the

breaking of the bread, which is his body, and the sharing of the

fruit of the vine, which is his blood.

So this may clearly also be foreshadowing something still,

yet you know in the future that there's the offering from the

king of righteousness, the king of peace, bread and the fruit of

the vine, if you will, the body and the blood.

And so he blesses Abram, He blesses the most high God.

He acknowledges God even as the source of Abraham's victory in

verse #20 And here's some of the things we know about

Melchizedek. Again, we're not going to get

real deep in him because we could put a lesson just on

Melchizedek. And I think Hebrews would

probably be a better place for that than than Genesis is.

But Hebrews chapter #7 verses one through 3, the Bible says

for this Melchizedek, let me set the stage real quick.

The book of Hebrews is written to Christians who had a

background of being Jewish and they're contemplating whether or

not they should re embrace their Judaism more so than their

newfound Christianity that they have all right.

And so as they're struggling with this, the, the, the writer

begins to write about a lot of Old Testament things and

ceremonial things and about how those are fulfilled in Christ

Jesus. And so he's given the the

comparison really between in essence, the Judaic system and

then the Christian system, right, and the correlation of

the two. So this sets the stage because

he's going to talk about priesthood and he's going to

talk about the Levitical priesthood, but he's going to

talk about the priesthood that's after the order of Melchizedek

because he was a king priest. And so the Bible says for this

Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God who

met Abraham. So it's referring back to

Genesis, Abraham during returning from the slaughter of

the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a 10th or

the tithe, part of all first being by interpretation king of

righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is

king of peace. Verse 3, Machesedec is still

Speaking of without father, without mother, without descent,

having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like

unto the Son of God abideth a priest continually.

What Hebrews is telling us is that Melchizedek foreshadowed or

was a type for the New Testament Christ Jesus.

Melchizedek was both a king and a priest in the row of Christ.

You see him as the King of kings and Lord of Lords, but he is

also being the mediator. He is being a in the row of a

high priest even in his earthly ministry.

He's the one that is forever making intercession for the

Saints. That's a priest role.

So he's serving in both these capacities.

And so this is unheard of because in the Levitical, in the

Levitical priest system, this did not happen.

You did not have a little vehicle priest who was also the

king. Under the law.

The priest could not also be the king, nor could the king be the

priest. That's the reason why whenever

you see Saul being the king of Israel that he got in trouble

one time, he was supposed to wait on Samuel to come and offer

burnt offerings. He was going to be there by

specified time and and Saul thought he was running late and

he'd know what he did. He entered the road of priests

and said we'll all OfferUp the burnt offerings and the Lord.

He got in trouble because he was king.

He wasn't supposed to serve in the capacity of a priest.

In the Levitical law. They were supposed to stay

separate. But also this whole fact that

Melchizedek without father, without mother, without the sin

having either beginning the days or ending the days.

What they're saying is this, If a man was going to serve in the

Levitical priesthood, he had to be able to prove his lineage

from Aaron. You got to be able to prove that

it'll prove his lineage from Aaron.

So you had to verify your Mama, you had to verify your daddy,

you had to verify your family tree.

For that matter, to serve as a priest, you at least had to be

30 years old to start. And the extent of that you could

only serve till you was 50. But describing that, there is no

literary evidence of Machesdick with father and mother.

There was no qualifications that said that he was a Levite or

that he came from a Levite family or anything like that.

So there was nothing to qualify or validate any of that.

There is no record of his genealogy, no beginning, no

ending, but likewise, Jesus Christ.

Well, brother McGee, we have his genealogy.

We do. We read of it in Matthew, we

read of it in Mark, we read about his genealogy, his mother

and his father and biological dad.

You know, all the things, so to speak, you know, all these

things. We read of that.

But Jesus too, though, like Melchizedek didn't have a

priestly lineage because he's of the tribe of Judah, not the

tribe of Levi. And so this is where everything

shakes up them for New Testament Christians.

Here's #1A guy serving as King M priest.

And his heritage isn't tied to the Levitical priesthood.

That's so Judaism, it could only be a priest if you're a Levite.

But Jesus comes in as a priest and he's of the tribe of Judah.

And that's the reason. Then they come in to here, to

Hebrews, and says he's not after the order of the Levites, he's

after the order of Machesdek, right?

Who has no necessarily heritage to a Levite, but he's still a

king and he's still a priest. All right, and so Hebrews

clarifies. Then look at it again,

Melchizedek. I like the way well, it's it's

God, right. It's like liking something God

does goes without saying that Melchizedek know how the

scripture says it in Hebrews was made like unto the son of God.

It's not flip-flopped around. It doesn't say that Jesus Christ

was like Melchizedek. I think that's important.

This Melchizedek was made like unto the Son of God.

Jesus wasn't pattern after Melchizedek as much as in the

mind of God he made a Melchizedek that would follow

the pattern of the Christ that would come.

Nobody can do that but my God. Huh.

Nope. God in his mind already knew

what he was going to have Christ do.

He already knew what that that son born in Bethlehem's Manger

was going to grow up and be king and priest.

No lineage to the Levites, but the of the tribe of Judah, the

lion of the tribe of Judah that would become the land.

He already knew all that he says.

I'm just going to give a little pattern back here in the Old

Testament in Genesis, so that later whenever I need to,

whenever I need to explain this to God's children, the

Christians that were Jews, I can tell them machesedex like like

Jesus, it seems like he has no parentage, no heritage in

Levites, but it's the eternal order that will last forever.

And so it is with Christ. He's still our king and he's

still our priests, all right. And so like Christ, Melchizedek,

he blesses Abraham. He blesses him not with goods,

but with righteousness and peace.

And in turn, Abram gives ties of all to this king priest with no

parentage to a Levitical tribe. Not again.

I said it paused earlier just because it just made me want to

stop. Again.

There was no commandment telling Abram to do this at this time.

The law didn't yet exist. It's not till about 500 years

later, whenever you get into a Sinai and the whole Levitical

law, that then you'll have a law.

You know what the law says. The law, the Levitical law told

the people to tithe to Levitical priest.

He's tithing here. No law is telling him to tie.

He is tithing in response. Watch me here.

He's tithing in response to the generosity that he has received

from Melchizedek and honey, if you really want to cut it down

to the quick of where it's at, that's where the very

fountainhead of tithing really should be.

Not the prescription of your scripture, but the understanding

of the generosity that's been shown to you by Him.

You know, there's some things that whenever you get in tune

with God's Spirit, you don't need a law for.

I don't have to have it show me in black and light.

The Spirit inside of me already gives evidences to things I need

to do without a law being prescribed.

For He is a law unto me. He is the Spirit of the law

living inside of me. He didn't come to do away with

it. The Bible says He came to

fulfill it and the only one that did it perfectly and I had that

perfect law keeper inside of me if I've received his spirit.

So I don't need a black and a light and a Article 3 in Section

2 and item B. Well look what the scripture

says, Hebrews 7 verse 4 it says now consider I got to move on.

Hebrews 7:4

Shoo. I've been dragging my feet,

haven't I? Now consider how great this man

was. Look at that.

Look at that. Now consider how great this man

wasn't to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave 10th of

the spoils. Consider how great of a man this

was for him to do that, our Kent Hughes wrote.

And he says this, and he says this on the authority of

culture. He said paying ties to another

was recognition of the other superiority and a sign of

subjugation or subjection to that person when they pay

tithers saying I realize you're superior to me and I subject

myself to you because the Bible even says there in Hebrews that

it is the more the more that is blessed the more the one let me

even find it. The more is the less is blessed

by the more let me find it. Look, let's go to Hebrews

chapter #7 it's right here still in all of this chapter here

talking about Melchizedek. You know, Hebrews is after

Matthew, Paul here it is verse number 777.

And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the

better. So the superior blesses the

less. What did Melchizedek come?

He came with his bread, He came with his through the vine, and

he speaks blessing over Abram. Abram recognizes in that moment,

you're superior. Here's my tithe, you're superior

and I subject myself to you. Let's pause this.

We could probably do another lesson on ties, but let's just

pause for a moment. Take this in.

Like I said, bring all your ties in the office, in the

storehouse. When you don't, you rob, you rob

God. Let's look at even lack of

tithing is a subjection issue. Lack of tithing is a mix up in

who's superior issue. Note when you failed to tithe,

you're saying you're more superior.

Now that's a different lesson, right?

Because we could just stay there and we've already been up here

54 minutes. But I'm just saying, considering

what we have just taken in just tonight on these particular

things. So what do we see here?

I'm I'm hastening too close. We see Abram that has been met

with two kings and he has a couple of choices.

One king rules a wicked city full of sinners and he's seeking

more so as to add to the city. And we see another man who

brings bread and and through the vine and blessing and Abraham in

this moment, he chooses, I say it like this communion over

compromise. He bows only.

Relinquishes only the Melchizedek and another thing we

shouldn't forget look what's already happened here in this

chapter. The promise of Abram is already

unveiling what God said he said I'll bless you and make you a

blessing I'll bless those that bless you and I'll curse those

who what's happening right here in this chapter.

There's some people losing because they have come against,

entered in conflict with Abram. There's others being blessed.

That's a part of his confederacy that's joined in him in a

positive nature rather than a negative nature, blessed with

blessed. And he would curse who he would

curse. Stay with me.

I'm coming too close. So when we start Genesis 14, all

this chaos of war, but it ends with very much so clarity.

There's worship really, that's taking place.

And So what looks like a chapter of conflict is actually a

chapter of contrast. 2 kings stand before Abram, 2 systems, 2

voices, 2 authors. Sodom says give me the souls.

Salem says take this bread and this fruit of the vine.

All right, so one, one king is speaking the language of the

world. The language of the world is all

about transaction, control, corruption.

But the language of the cross is communion.

It's peace, it's righteousness. So Abram doesn't just win a

battle, he passes a test. I say this.

I'm waiting my words here. He he comes to a place where he

proves that real victory is not measured by what you conquer on

the battlefield, but what you refuse.

When the enemy offers compromise and all of this echoes forward

into eternity, it reminds us we're also faced with two

kingdoms. One's asking for the sews.

They take anything you want. All the goods.

Give me the sews, another one that was trying to put blessing,

try to put commune, trying to put the bread and the blood in

our life. So I close tonight, let's bow

our heads, close our eyes. I know you folks have been very

good tonight with me on this this journey here.

But I want to ask you a few questions as we as we end here

tonight. Are you living in Sodom system

or are you bowing before the King of Salem tonight?

Are you trading your soul for stuff?

Is that what you're doing? Or are you offering your tithe,

if you will, of all, to the King of righteousness?

Or where are you at in this mode tonight with these offers that

are on the table? Are you going to be like Abram?

Are you going to raise your hand and say I won't even take a

thread? I won't even take a shoe latchet

from Sodom? I'm not going to allow the world

to say that it made me rich or it made me prosper, so and so

forth. You got to choose tonight.

You got to choose. Is it going to be the compromise

or is it going to be the communion?

Is it going to be the righteousness or is it going to

be some sort of recognition? What, what will it be tonight?

I urge you, I to pick the Lord. I urge you to pick the King of

righteousness and the King of peace, Amen.

The King whose peace passes. The Bible says all understanding

and it can keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Can we begin to talk to our King tonight?

Father, I come to you this evening.

I pray, O Lord, and I know Lord, that there are offers on the

table every day of our lives. There are offers on our table

from 2 kingdoms and two kings. Lord Jesus God, there is the

offer, Lord of the exchange of my soul, the exchange of other

souls, God for anything that we would dare want.

It would seem whatever Lord money could buy, whatever Lord

God reputation and success could take.

Lord, it's on the table. It's vying for our attention.

But Lord, I understand there's another king and Kingdom that's

bestowing the bread and bestowing the fruit of the vine

there. He's bestowing everything that,

that that will show me, Lord, the brokenness, Lord of the body

and the shedding of the blood God that was for the remission

of my sins. It's blessing.

Lord of the Most High up on me, the possessor of heaven.

Or let me, God not falter, Lord, in this choice, help me God, to

choose wisely. Help me, O Lord, to be about my

wits. I pray, O God, not just do

things because it feels good for the moment.

I need to ask myself how will this feel for eternity?

I pray, O God, today God touches Lord, as we go our ways, tonight

God as we ponder, Lord, these things.

It's a life, it's an offer, it's a stance of being between 2

kings. God, we must be diligent Lord

and cautious Lord in how we choose.

God, we want to devote everything.

Lord, God, that we can to you. We want to acknowledge you as

the superior. We want the Lord to subject our

lives to your authority. God, every day, every moment.

God that we live in the lovely name of the Lord Jesus Christ

that I pray Hallelujah, the church say Amen, Amen.

I didn't. I really didn't expect to keep

you all that long, but I started talking slow.

See if I did that all time services would be very long.

You better be glad I'm micro machine talker.

Amen. God bless you in Jesus name.