Abram Rescues Lot

Minister:
Date: PM
Text: Genesis 14:13-24
Psalters: 181, 71, 224, 353
  1. The occasion.
    1. An escapee went to Abram, the Hebrew, to tell him of Lot’s capture.
    2. Abram responds as an activity of faith.
      1. He viewed Lot as “his brother” (14), and he know that God called him to care for his brother - his brother’s keeper.
      2. Abram then went forward convicted that his cause was just, that he would be fighting the battle of the Lord.
    3. Abram’s confidence in God’s blessing did not remove his need for strategy, wisdom, and skill.
  2. This history is very significant.
    1. Abram is known to be respected even by unbelievers, so he was of “good report of them which are without” (I Tim. 3:7a).
      1. The escapee went to Abram, and the people of the land sought to confederate with him, acknowledging him as leader.
      2. Second, he was acknowledged to be the leader of the deliverers by the king of Sodom and by Melhizedek.
    2. Note that the wicked are powerfully warned. But they do not repent.
    3. God chastens righteous Lot.
      1. The capture of Lot with Sodom showed Lot and his family how much they were identified with the wicked, not with Abram.
      2. But God is gracious and He saved Lot through Abram from the end deserved by the Sodomites.
  3. Abram’s victory is acknowledged.
    1. It is acknowledged by the king of Sodom who realizes that the spoils belongs to the victors and offers them to Abram (17,21).
    2. It is acknowledged by Melchizedek, to whom Abram responds very differently (18-20).
      1. Melchizedek is an historical person who was king of a city called Salem (peace), and was a priest of God (Heb. 5 and 7).
      2. Abram humbly received the blessing of God via Melchizedek, while refusing that of the king of Sodom.
    3. This blessing identifies Abram’s victory over the wicked world as type of Christ’s universal victory.