PASTOR'S SERMONS

Radio Programs     Confession     Sermons     Riverside Baptist Report     Links

Pastor Brant Seacrist

JUNE 28, 2020

"ABRAHAM AND MELCHISEDEK
"

TEXT: GENESIS 14: 1-24
READING: HEBREWS 6:  1-20

YouTube Sermon Video

If you would like to download the Audio File
Right Click your mouse Here and choose
"Save Target As"

If you would like to listen to the Sermon
Push the Play Button below


SUBJ: The mysterious Melchizedek as a type of Christ in defining His offices as King and Priest as entirely different from that of Aaron and the Mosaic system. Another Old Testament look at the Gospel.

AIM: That we might see the Gospel foreshadowed and declared throughout the Word of God and be profited with a deeper understanding and ability to worship our worthy Lord.

INTR: Even such ancient history as this displays the depravity of men and civilizations in their desire for domination over each other and it seems that nothing has changed.
1. This desire for superiority as it is manifested here is the expression of man’s rebellion against the sovereignty of God and His exclusive right to rule and to be worshiped.
2. We are reminded of the words from the Judges – no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
3. There are multiple lessons to be learned from this passage with none being greater than the declaration of reign of the “Most High God” and a foreshadowing of the blessed we know in Christ Jesus our Lord.

THESIS: We are given to understand here that the direst circumstance taken over by the Lord will end in such a way as to honor Him, exalt Christ and serve the needs of the faithful.

I. The Kings (vv. 1-12)
1. The four kings were apparently of Canaanitic origin and may have manifested the result of the curse pronounced on the grandson of Noah.
2. The four had subjected the weaker kingdoms of several others to their own gain:
1) The need of the depraved to dominate in the absence of any sense of God and
2) The profit that is to be gained overrules any sense of concern for others.
3. The place of rebellion was among the kings that were in the general area of Sodom and were all suffering the same domination until they rebelled.
1) In the fourteenth year from their domination they rebelled and provoked the four kings to reassert their dominance.
2) They took goods, food, and captives. Among these was Lot and his family.

II. The Deliverance (vv. 13-16)
1. The provisions of the Lord for His people accomplish multiple things
1) It was not mere providence that one escaped to bring the message to Abram
2) Abram’s devotion to his nephew, here referred to as his brother is confirmed.
3) A confederation had been formed with Abram among the people (v. 13)
2. But it was Abram’s trained company of men that led the way against a superior force. (We are reminded of Gideon’s 300.)
3. The chase was successful, and the conquest was made and the hand of the Lord was in evidence in it all.

III. Melchizedek (vv. 17-24)
1. The deliverers were met by an appreciative company which seemed to be led by the king of Sodom
1) The desire to show appreciation is approached in the ways of men and the talk is of reward
2) It is to be remembered that Sodom was an evil place and that was known from the outset (See Genesis 13:13)
3) What had happened had little if any effect and if so, it did not last as is witnessed in chapter 18.
4) This even though they had witnessed the exchange between Abram and Melchizedek.
2. Melchizedek becomes the main figure here and certainly with Abram and us.
1) He is mentioned but three times in the scriptures: here, in Psalm 110:4 and in 5, 6, and 7 of Hebrews. And he is declared to be the “King of Peace.”
2) The mysterious nature of his appearance is such that men have debated his identity for centuries – some believe him to be Shem, some see him as Christ in pre-incarnation, others recognize the divine manner of introducing him so as to make him a type of Christ.
3) No genealogy recorded for him!
4) He had the unusual distinction of being both a king and a priest – Moses simply declares him to be the priest of the “Most High God.”
3. He executes his offices in acknowledging and blessing Abram as being “of the ‘Most High God’.”
1) He sets forth the emblems of communion with the bread and wine
2) Abram acts in a way of worship and gives to him tithes of all the spoils – we are reminded of this in the comparison of the priesthoods in Hebrews 7.
4. The king of Sodom is put in his place very quickly:
1) He offered all the goods to Abram and was content to get his people back
2) Abraham would have none of it – “lest thou shouldest say…”
3) And took only what the men had eaten.