The peace of Christ graciously given to the believer, part 4. John 14:27; Gen 14

Title: The peace of Christ graciously given to the believer, part 4. John 14:27; Gen 14.

 

Class on Sunday morning.

 

GEN 14:17Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).

 

When the king of Sodom sees all of this wealth coming back sees a chance to recoup. He is going to go out to make a deal with Abraham.

 

The king of Sodom has nothing but he is going to try to get his people back so that he has someone to rule over again and collect taxes, but he knows, under the laws of that day, that through Abraham’s victory he has right of conquest of both the wealth and the people.

 

The king of Sodom has been thoroughly defeated and he has no right to make a deal with Abraham. But his greed outweighs and sense of fairness or virtue, if he has any at all.

 

His plot is to make himself greater than Abraham and to rob Abraham of the victory by coming out with a deal where he can claim that he is the one that made Abraham wealthy.

 

Be careful of compromising your principles of doctrine in order to make peace with those who are only interested in self preservation.

 

Never misrepresent the grace, the character, and the nature of God. That is satan’s M.O.

 

Everyone will give the king of Sodom credit for enriching Abraham, and with the people under his command he will regain the wealth. Beware of the intriguer. Beware of the one who is offering you a deal that in some way takes the credit, merit, and glory away from God.

 

God’s matchless grace is manifest at this point. Abraham receives reinforcement in the form of a royal priest.

 

/We are most vulnerable to defeat after great victory. We must never forget the Source of our victories because we will need Him more after the victory.\

 

Abraham is no exception. Melchizedek arrives at the scene to help Abraham resist the devil’s counter attack. The timing is perfect. Melchizedek did not arrive while Abraham was talking with the escapee or while Abraham was attacking or pursuing. He arrived after the victory was secure. Melchizedek came on the scene while the more deadly enemy, the king of Sodom, pursued Abraham, not with sword and shield, but with deception. In other words, God sent Melchizedek when he was needed most. Neither the 318 trained men nor his confederates can protect Abraham. He needs someone greater than himself.

 

GEN 14:18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.

 

/Bread and wine represent Jesus Christ and the function of the royal priest in representing the person and work of Christ. An animal is not offered as per the Levitical priesthood.\

 

A royal priest represents the person and work of Christ through bread and wine and not the shadows of animal sacrifice. If Abram, as a family priest, were to worship God at this spot, he would have built an altar and performed an animal sacrifice, but not so with Melchizedek who is a royal priest, and not so with Church-age believers who are also royal priests.

 

GEN 14:19And he blessed him and said,

"Blessed be Abram of God Most High,

Possessor of heaven and earth;

 

/Melchizedek brings Abraham’s focus away from the wealth of the battle and any other so-called sources of peace and prosperity towards occupation with Christ.\

 

Victories can remove our minds from the source of victory. Prosperity in any area always presents the danger of occupation with things or occupation with self. Occupation with Christ is the only true source of blessing, peace, and prosperity.

 

/Blessing from God comes in the form of communication of doctrine, which gives capacity for all other types of blessing.\

 

There is nothing wrong with wealth or any form of material prosperity, so long as it doesn’t become a lust pattern or something that you are seeking first. By seeking God and His righteousness first, all things will be added to you and you will have capacity for them. The root of all evil is not money, but the love of money. 

 

Melchizedek is teaching doctrine. God alone is the possessor of all things. Abram is blessed by God and not from his human merit. God has delivered Abram’s enemies into his hand. We would definitely conclude that Melchizedek had more to say than this that is not recorded, but was based on doctrines supporting what is recorded.

 

Jesus Christ is the possessor of heaven and earth and Abraham only needs Him and does not need the spoils of this battle victory. Remember that Lot took the best of the land and Abraham chose grace orientation. Abraham is now the wealthiest man on the planet, but that wealth pales in comparison to his gracious attitude and his wisdom from doctrine.

 

 

 

GEN 14:20And blessed be God Most High,

Who has delivered your enemies into your hand."

And he gave him a tenth of all.

 

/Now Abraham’s attention is brought to the real reason for his 4 victories - glorification of God Most High, i.e. Jesus Christ.\

 

And Abraham, in appreciation for the spiritual work of the royal priest, gave him a tenth of all the spoils. Many who teach tithing have used this incident as justification. This is not tithing. There is no Mosaic Law at this time. There is no mandate to tithe as in the Mosaic Law.

 

Those who desire to teach tithing, but know that the Mosaic Law is no longer in effect, use this verse in an attempt to teach that tithing was an OT doctrine before the Mosaic Law and therefore should still apply today. This is a perversion for three reasons.

 

/There was no commandment to tithe; Abram did so voluntarily. This was a one time event and was not repeated by Abram. This is one-tenth of the spoils of war and not his own income.\

 

This wealth originally belonged to someone else. It was not a tenth of Abram’s income. This is appreciation for the spiritual work of a great man of doctrine.

 

This is an Old and New Testament principle:

 

/GAL 6:6

And let the one who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches. \

 

GEN 14:21And the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give the people to me and take the goods for yourself."

 

Again, the king of Sodom has no right to be making deals. But the rules of right of conquest the king of Sodom has nothing to deal with.

 

Because Abraham has had his focus turned to occupation with Christ and he has been blessed by the priest Melchizedek rather than the spoils of battle he is focusing on the true issue and he sees the true motivation of the king of Sodom. This is Abraham’s third victory.

 

GEN 14:22And Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,

 

GEN 14:23that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, lest you should say,' I have made Abram rich.'

 

/Melchizedek didn’t tell Abraham what to do, but by getting him focused on occupation with Christ he knew exactly what to do, which equals victory #3.\

 

People often have questions about what to do in given situation and they may ask someone else or the pastor or look for a scripture that contains exactly their situation. When you are occupied with Christ you can trust God the Holy Spirit to lead you to apply the doctrine that you already have and while it’s not always wrong to seek advice from others, your first stop for advice should be God’s throne of grace in prayer. As we have already seen with the disciples in the upper-room, they should have been able to answer their own questions and apply their own doctrine and so should any positive believer. Trust the doctrine in your own soul. Go to God in prayer first to seek counsel. This practice will reach a maximum effectiveness in spiritual autonomy where you are spiritually self sustaining.

 

Melchizedek didn’t have to tell Abram what to do. By occupation with Christ Abram knew that taking the wealth of Sodom would have clouded the grace issue.

 

/By taking the wealth of Sodom, even though by rite of conquest they did belong to him, he would have clouded the issue of blessing through the grace of God.\

 

Always consider the motivations of the one offering before you accept or reject his gift.

 

/Prov 23:6 Do not eat the bread of a selfish man,

Or desire his delicacies;

 

Prov 23:7For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

He says to you, "Eat and drink!"

But his heart is not with you.

 

Prov 23:8You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten,

And waste your compliments. \

 

Now we come to Abraham’s fourth victory.

 

/Victory #4: Abraham does not superimpose his own doctrinal standards on his troops. That would be self-righteousness.\

 

GEN 14:24"I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share."

 

His men are not spiritual enough to have Abraham’s standards so he avoids self-righteousness and doesn’t impose them.

 

/When you are occupied with the person of Christ you have the highest possible standards without superimposing them on someone else who does not have the doctrinal capacity to live in them. \

 

Much damage has been done to good ambassadors for Christ by those who have attempted to jam doctrinal principles down people’s throats.

 

This type of self-righteousness is doctrinal bullying and a lack of grace orientation and it will tear down in minutes any standards of virtue that you did possess.

 

/Through all of this, notice the great wisdom of a man that is squared away doctrinally in seeing that all blessing comes from God who alone is worthy of praise and glorification. This is true peace, tranquility, and prosperity. \

 

Melchizedek is a type of Christ. He was both a king and a priest - the first royal priest. King of righteousness and King of peace [Salem].

 

HEB 7:1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

 

HEB 7:2 to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.

 

HEB 7:3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life [meaning that we don’t know of it], but made like the Son of God, he abides a priest perpetually.

 

 

John 14:27"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

 

The heart becomes troubled and overcome with fear when stress is allowed to enter. Through the understanding of eternal security and the plan of God for the Church the believer should experience the peace of Christ.

 

As we noted on Sunday, there are four indications given in the final verses of chapter 14 that reveal the source of Christ’s peace.

 

/(l) The vision of the Father— “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father.” (vs. 28)\

 

/(2) Disentanglement from the world—”The ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” (vs. 30)\

 

/(3) Supreme love—”I love the Father.” (vs. 31)\

 

/(4)A supreme source of authority—“As the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do.” (vs. 31)\

 

And so we complete chapter 14.