Intro:
1. One of the all-time greats in baseball was Babe Ruth. His bat had the power of a cannon, and his record of 714 home runs remained unbroken until Hank Aaron came along.
But in time, age took its toll, and his popularity began to wane. Finally the Yankees traded him to the Braves.
In one of his last games in Cincinnati, Babe Ruth began to falter. He struck out and made several misplays that allowed the Reds to score five runs in one inning.
As the Babe walked toward the dugout, chin down and dejected, there rose from the stands an enormous storm of boos, and some fans actually shook their fists.
Then a wonderful thing happened. A little boy jumped over the railing, and with tears streaming down his cheeks he ran out to him. He flung his arms around the Babe’s legs and held on tightly.
Babe Ruth scooped him up, hugged him, and set him down again. Patting him gently on the head, he took his hand and the two of them walked off the field together.
2. That little boy reminded me of Abraham - Lot had struck out, but Abram like God, had never given up on Lot.
3. The Loyalty of Abram.
Trans: Gen. 14
I. FIRST, WE HAVE HIS LOYALTY TO LOT.
A. The Confederations. 14:1-2
1. Four Eastern kings. 1
And it came to pass in the days of Am-ra-phel king of Shinar [this is part of modern Iraq]; Ar-i-och king of Ellasar [an area of modern Turkey or in nothern Syria]; Ched-or-la-o-mer king of Elam [part of modern Iran]; and Ti-dal king of nations [modern-day Turkety] - These locations are familiar with modern ears, as we have invaded Iraq and are familiar with Iran.
2. Five kings of the Plain. 2
that they made war with Be-ra king of Sodom; Bir-sha king of Gomorrah; Shi-nab king of Admah; Shem-e-ber king of Zeboiim; and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar)
B. The Conflict. 3-9
1. The Source of the conflict - the 5 kings of the plain, who had paid taxes to Ched-or-laomer, rebelled and refused to pay any more taxes. This brought about war.
2. The Stragedy - Instead of attacking the 5 cities directly; they made a sweep to the Southwest, then northeast to the Western side of the Dead Sea, and then the troops swarmed down upon them. This removed the possibility of aid from Sodoms allies and tightened the noose around their necks. [Leupold]
C. The Conquest. 10
Now the Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt [tar] pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled; some fell there, and the remainder fled to the mountains
D. The Confiscation and Capture. 11-12
11 Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. 12 They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed - Lot, like the prodical son, lost everything.
Lot, is experiencing physical bondage, to confront him, with his real problem - spiritual bondage.
Principle: When a believer walks with the world, he sooner or later experiences spiritual bondage. But often the Lord has to bring about a physical problem to get us to see our spiritual one.
"Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin." John 8:34
But it’s easy to live in denial - to live in sin and think everything is going our way. So sooner or later God gets our attention.
In 1989, Pete Rose, baseball’s all-time hit leader, was banished from baseball by Major League Commissioner. [Bart Giamatti].
The commissioner had hired John M. Dowd to investigate Rose’s gambling. After Dowd gathered evidence against Rose and before Rose was banished from baseball, The Commissioner told Dowd to offer Rose a generous deal: (1) admit to gambling on baseball, (2)accept temporary dismissal from the game, (3) undergo a rigorously supervised rehabilitation and eventually be reinstated.
And that wasn’t all: Dowd said he got the U.S. attorney in Cincinnati to agree not to prosecute Rose on tax evasion charges if he accepted baseball’s offer and paid his taxes with interest and penalties.
Remarkably, Rose rejected the offer, sued the commissioner and lost. He was later convicted of tax evasion and served five months in prison.
In his book, "My Prison Without Bars", Rose says "I felt banishment was too severe a sentence. Right or wrong, the punishment didn’t fit the crime—so I denied the crime."
When the magazine "Sports Illustrated" asked Rose why he wagered, he replied, "I didn’t think I’d get caught."
He also denied he even had a gambling problem, though during one, three-week period, Rose wrote 11 checks for $8,000 to a bookmaker in New York. But he never felt he had a gambling problem.
He rationalized, "I knew that I’d broken the letter of the law. But I didn’t think I’d broken the spirit of the law, which was designed to prevent corruption. During the times I gambled as a manager, I never took an unfair advantage. I never bet more or less based on injuries or inside information. I never allowed my wagers to influence my baseball decisions. So in my mind, I wasn’t corrupt."
The carnal Christian, is like that, he is in a "Prison without bars" - a spiritual prison.
We can easily rationalize and excuses our sin, thinking that it’s not that big of deal. After all, are we not under grace?
Amazingly the Lord, like that Commissioner, tries to reason with us, seeks to get us to confess and forsake and to get back into fellowship with God.
Sadly, it usually takes God, intervening with judgment in our lives before we respond.
"30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world." 1 Corinthians 11:30-32 (NKJV)
E. The Confrontation. 13-17
1. The Mercy - Lot, did not deserve, to be delivered! If he got what he deserved, he would have remained in captivity.
Truth is, no believer, will ultimately stay in captivity - If nothing else, death will free us, from our bondage - that’s mercy!
Israel sinned over and over again, she went into captivity many times, but she still remained God’s nation!
"(for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them." Deuteronomy 4:31 (NKJV)
David committed adultry but he was still restored.
"For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You." Psalm 86:5
Lam. 3:22-23...
I confess a kinship with the old Puritan, Thomas Hooker, as his death approached. One sought to comfort him by saying, "Brother Hooker, you are going to receive your reward."
He said, "No, no! I go to receive mercy!"
Tozer, "When, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, we children of the shadows, reach at last, our home in the light, we shall have a thousand strings to our harps, but the sweetest, may well be, the one tuned to, sound forth, the mercy of God.
For what right will we have to be there? Did we not, by our sins, take part in unholy rebellion?
And did we not, in times past, walk according to the course of this world; according to the evil prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience?
And did we not all, at times, live in the lusts of our flesh? We, who earned banishment, shall enjoy communion; we who deserve the pains of hell, shall know the bliss of heaven. And all through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us."
"15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:15-16
G. Campbel Morgan, "I am never tired of pointing out that the Greek phrase translated, "In the time of need," is a colloquialism, of which the "nick of time" is the exact equivalent: "That we may have grace to help in the ’nick of time.’ "
Grace just when and where I need it. You are attacked by temptation, and, at the moment of assault, you look to Him, and the grace is there to help in "the nick of time." No postponement of your petition until the evening hour of prayer; but there, man, there in the city street, with the flaming temptation in front of you, turn to Christ with a cry for help, and the grace will be there in "the nick of time." (Hebrews 4:16)
By the way notice it was God’s mercy working through Abram - where did Abram learn to be so merciful? From God, when (1) He in mercy spoke to him a second time in Haran; (2) When still spoke to Abram after he had left for Egypt and sold his wife into slavery!
We only learn to be merciful one way - because we have received it! I remember reading sometime ago about a farm boy who had an accident with the tractor that left him permanently crippled.
His dad promised to buy him a puppy. The boy wanted a resistered golden retriever. They saw some in the paper and went to look at them. One of the pups wasnt shown but began to wine, and the boy said whats wrong with that puppie?
The man said, "Son he was born crippled up, I’m just going to have to get ride of him." The boy said, "Mister can I see him?" The boy saw the pup and feel in love with him. He said, "Dad, that’s the one I want - He’s gonna need someone who understand him!"
Those of us who realize we have been crippled by sin are able to really understand and give mercy!
2. The Means.
a. It took Strength to rescue Lot.
No way 318 servants are going to defeat Four kings and their armies until God intervenes. We cannot be delivered from our sin nature or Satan and his armies without God’s power; nor can we deliver others.
God has power to rescue us - read about God delivering the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage.
b. It took the Sword to rescue Lot.
Abram used a physical sword, but we have a spiritual sword- the Word of God. Eph. 6:17
c. It took Supplication to rescue Lot.
We will see this later in Gen. 18...
Trans: This rescue was a great picture of how the Lord rescues us. We also have God’s Strength; Sword; and Supplication.
Spurgeon, "What a splendid type is Abraham, of our Lord Jesus Christ, in this particular passage. Our Savior in the abundance of His love, has taken us to be His brothers; but we through our sin, moved into Sodom, and enemies with terrible force and cruel fury, carried us away captivities.
But Christ being a brother, born for adversity, pursued our haughty foes. He overtook them; He smote them with a mighty hand - He took their spoil and returned leading captivity captive."
Any believer can be restored and rescued...
Have you ever played one of those computer games. I’ve heard of Microsoft’s "Flight Simulator."
You can choose a prop plane or a Lear jet; you can chose from 180 airports to take off or land at; It is all very realistic.
You can crash into the Empire State Building in N.Y. City; or the Sears Tower in Chicago; You can nose-dive into Lake Michigan going 500 mph.
The greatest thing about Flight Simulator - is that afterwards you are restored - no matter what happened - you get to start all over again.
Does this encourage sin? Hardly! It is never any fun to burn and crash.
Lot, the prodigal son, Abraham earlier, Moses, you name it - they were all recovered after becoming spiritual casualties...and so can we be!
II. FURTHERMORE, HIS LOYALTY TO THE LORD. 17-20
A. First, the king of Salem is a Type of Christ.
Psa.110/Heb.5-7
1. He is our Righteousness.
Melchizedek = "righteousness"
"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21
2. He is our Ruler.
King of Salem - Rev. 5:5
3. He is our Refreshment.
"brought out bread" - Jn. 6
4. He is our Redemption.
"...and wine" - blood like in the Lords Supper. Eph. 1:7
5. He is our Representative.
"now he was a priest of God Most High" - Heb. 7:25
6. He is the only Reason God can bless us.
"He blessed him..." Eph. 1:3
7. He is our only Release from bondage.
"...who has delivered your enemies into..." Eph. 6:10
8. He is the Receiver of our tithes.
"He [Abram] gave him a tenth of all" Heb. 7
This was before the law - it was an acknowledgment that all belonged to God.
Trans:I may come back next week and look at Melchizedek in more detail - I have decided yet.
B. Finally the King of Sodom’s Temptation. 21-24
Butler, "While this looks innocent on the surface, it constituded a strong temptation for Abram. Notice the (1) Size of the temptation, the king "took all the goods of Sodom" (Gen.14:11). Therefore, had Abram accepted the proposal of the king of Sodom, he would have gained all the wealth of Sodom - represented millions of dollars.
(2) Also the Season of temptation, Abram was flush with victory, temptation often comes a great victory. After victory, we have a tendency to let our guard down or get puffed up with pride. This makes us more prone to yield to temptation.
(3) The Snare of the temptation. The king of Sodom would have had a claim on Abram, if Abram had accepted this offer he would have been more concerned about wealth then God’s glory."
Con:
1. The Loyalty of Abram reminds me of the loyalty of God, He never gives up on us.
2. There will be times when we all strike out! And like Babe Ruth we need to know we still have one person who doesnt give up on us.
3. Michael Jordan was being interviewed by Bob Greene. Michael had told how he appreciated his father being their during the game. Green asked him why it meant so much to him.
Jordan replied, "When he’s there, I know I have at least one fan."
Our heavenly Father is always there, watching, supporting, and we know we have at least one fan who never leaves us or forsakes us.
Johnny Palmer Jr
StrugglingThruScriptures.ning.com
