Rescue Mission

Darin Wilt

Promises Promises • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Successful Rescue Mission

Intro: Approximately 16 million men and women served in the US forces during WWII. Roughly 124 thousand Americans were held as POWs in Europe and the Pacific. Millions of Jews were held by the Germans. While many tried to escape, but most had to wait until the end of the war to be liberated. The Movies and Book Unbroken about Louie Zamperini details his ordeal and how he was finally. The Great Raid is about a rescue in the Philippines. The Great Escape with Steve McQueen is a true story about a prison break.

Article III of the Military Code of Conduct says - If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and to aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy. You are expected to escape if and when you can.

Have you ever felt trapped and need to be rescued? Like you have no way out and no one cares enough to come get you? Well there is a way out and that way out is God.

Read Verses:

MP: God Gives Blessings to His People

I. God Gives His Land (Chapter 13)

Chapter thirteen in a nutshell depicts Abram and Lot having so much livestock and wealth that the land can no longer easily support both herds and work forces. The wealth they acquired continues on or picks up from the Egyptians in chapter 12. Instead turning it into an old west battle ground, with ranchers fighting over water and pasture, Abram knows there is enough to go around. Lot wants to move somewhere else to have his own land and Abram blesses him and in verse 8, "So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”"

Abram gives him the choice of land. Why? Because he, on some level trusts God with the promise that God made in chapter 12. So being generous, because it is not His land to give away, he knows that peace with his relative is more important than trying to own or hold onto something that is not really his to begin with.

Here is what happens though; Lot chooses to go toward the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah which are most likely on the southern plain near the Dead Sea. It is ouch and green and well-watered and as the author of Genesis tells us that it looked like the Garden of the Lord in verse 10. Lot Is drawn to where the grass is literally greener on the other side. But it is outside the land of Canaan and thus outside or on the edge of God’s land and thus at the edge of God. Sodom and Gomorrah are looked at as the Gentiles or non-Jewish. We know that this land was lush but this was before the land was destroyed. This is foreshadowing a little but also telling things that have happened in the past as well.

So lot goes on his way, but Abram remains in the land of Canaan, in the land that God has given him and more importantly Abram Stays bear God essentially and God says that he will receive the Land. god encourages Abram to walk the entire perimeter of the land. However this is still future because the Canaanites still occupy the land and Abram has no offspring yet. but Abram seems to trust God at his word. God is showing his blessings to Abram and Abram expects them to be fulfilled.

If you have watched or read the Hobbit, the whole story is propelled by prophecy and promise. The dwarves are returning to their homeland because they know it is foretold to happen. They are propelled on this adventure because they trust the prophecy. And so we as Christians should be similarly propelled with confidence of God’s prophecies.

Application # 1 You can have confidence in God that he will fulfill His promises and when he does His blessings are greater than we can imagine or produce ourselves.

In verse 18, we see Abram has complete confidence in God and "So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord." Abram goes to a spot and just make Shia household and makes an altar and then waits on God. He knows that God's blessing will be fulfilled so he is ok with waiting.

Abram was a rich man and in chapter 12 tires to handle matters on his own and not trust God with the Egyptians, but here we see what seems to be evidence of repentance and he now relies on God. Abram is demonstrating faith.

Spurgeon says "Faith is getting right out of yourself and getting into Christ

and even though Christ has not made it onto the scene yet, Jesus is God and so Abram is resting in God's blessing. For this instance it is demonstrated in the land, but it is really only a tangible example and fulfillment of God’s action.

Abram seems to be as Jonathan Edwards theology this scene depicts Abram delighting in The beauty of God’s character and he is also living for God and he served Lot by allowing him to pick the lands of his choosing. Abram is developing faith enough to be sustained by God.

We glorify God by trusting him and the sacrifice that Jesus did on our behalf and turning our lives around and living for Him. And this is what Abram seems to have done so far

says thus says the Lord cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes his flesh his strength and turns from the Lord. Abram already learned his lesson and now has turned back to the Lord.

says Do not fear "fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

There is no magic pill or steps to trusting a God more and this. Ay be why it is perhaps the most difficult portion of being a Christian. It is something that you have to rely on for God to give you the faith and the. You have to keep practicing relying on God and not yourself. You have to trust the promises.

We can do the same thing. Even after we are saved we fall back to our old ways sometimes and so we need to constantly lean On and rely on God. Because God is bigger than us and he gives us things in exceeding abundance and best gift he gives us in that measure is His grace. And we can rely on His grace to save us.

Almost all of Paul’s letters encourage the churches to carry on toward heaven in faith and walk with and by Faith.

TS when we exercise faith we get stronger and she. We always need it we can receive God’s protection

II. God Gives His Protection (14:1-13)

The author moves on to some historical aspects and tells us a of a war between two factions of Kings that fight a war. Verse 1-11 deal with the war somewhat quickly. it is inserted as a motivation and to ultimately to get Lot into a predicament from which he will need help. We have the eastern kings fighting against Kings of a few kingdoms, namely Sodom and Gomorrah. Abram wants no part of the fight initially and he does not seem to be involved. The two sides go to war in the Siddim Valley and the Kings from the East, the side that has four kings beats the side that has five armies.

Picking the narrative up in verse 10, Now the Siddim Valley contained many asphalt pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, but the rest fled to the mountains. 11 The four kings took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food and went on. 12 They also took Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, for he was living in Sodom, and they went on.

So we know what happened to Lot, he went and moved to the city. an immoral city, a gentile city. If it is to be believed, it was like he moved from his small town in Kansas to LA or Las Vegas. all around the Siddim Valley there are tar pits or asphalt pits. so think La Brea tar pits. where I guess if you don’t know the area ort you are just running from a conquering army, you don’t see them and fall in.

In wars being taken prisoner is something that happens. My grandfather was a POW in World War II. he helped build the Burma Road and then he was captured and taken to a camp or camps in Viet Nam, where the Japanese had many camps. He did not talk about the 18-month ordeal. but he did not eat rice or fish for the rest of his life.

In the Philippines during WWII many 512 soldiers were being held in the town Japanese prison camp near the town of Cabanatuan. Some of these POWS had survived the Bataan Death March were and then three years in this camp. The Japanese knew the end of the war was coming so they implemented a policy to kill the prisoners when they saw fit so the Japanese could escape, and also not care for the prisoners. the Americans Knew they had to save these soldiers and they embarked on a rescue mission. 120 Army Rangers and Filipino guerillas had hours to prepare for the raid.

One article says this about the raid, Odds seemed overwhelming. The prison had more than 200 guards and sat 30 miles inside enemy territory. A Japanese battalion was a mile from it. The nearby town of Cabanatuan was a transit hub with up to 8,000 Japanese troops. So roughly 9-10 thousand troops in the area and they have 120 people. Those of you with military experience know it is far easier to defend with a few people than it is to attack a well fortified position with a small number of people.

Lot is kept alive, and taken prisoner. he did not die yet. It seems that God, even though Lot went outside of

Application Point #2 God’s Blessings are there to protect you.

We do not know what went through Lot’s mind when he was captured. But I’m sure it is how much longer am I going to live, what is going to happen to my family? What are they going to do to me. The life of a prisoner in the ancient near east was not good. At best you could be ransomed for money, you could be sold or kept as a slave, made to serve in the military or just killed. We see a similar situation of what happens to Joseph when he is sold from slavers to slaver. But God protects him and raises him up to the second most powerful person in Egypt.

But Lot may not be a believer so he is probably really unsure. But God keeps Lot safe long enough for Abram to mount a rescue mission in the second half of Chapter 14.

As believers and non-believers alike, when we find ourselves in trouble, we can look to God to protect us. We must be careful that we do not confuse God’s blessing and protection on us as an invincibility cloak or armor that nothing bad will happen to us. to the contrary more bad things might happen to us because we will be in more of a combatant role in the spiritual warfare. But like in the military, Soldiers are trained to handle situations so they can survive. And discipleship is that ongoing training. But ultimately, we place our faith in Gd to see us through the battles that take place.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me.

“For the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”

“The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.”

When we were at war with God, he extended a peace offering in His son Jesus Christ, so even though we were yet sinners, he still loved us. His grace and blessing extended to his enemy because he chose to make us his ally.

The prophet Zephaniah foretells a final restoration coming to the nation of Israel. And he says in 3:17 “The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

TS: says the Lord preserves those he loves, but all the wicked he will destroy.

God is ensuring complete and total victory for you because it is ultimately about His glory and His plan being fulfilled.

III. God Gives His Victory (14:14-24)

Verse 14 we see Abram gather his 318 men travel to where the enemy army is camped and attacked them at night to defeat them. Verse 16 is interesting because it says He brought back all the goods and also his relative Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the other people.

So Abram brought back Lot and his possessions, other captured spoils of war, women and other people. He may have been motivated by rescuing Lot, but he also helped other people that were in the same predicament as Lot. Those taken prisoner by the attacking Armies.

On the way back, Melchizedek meets Abram and brought out bread and wine because he was a priest of the God most High. So the thinking is that Melchizedek is h eking of Jerusalem. Which is why the s called the king of Salem. So they are near to what will become the capital city of the nation of Israel.

The Priest King comes out and pronounces a blessing in verse 19 on Abram and recognizes that Abram must be favored by God to complete the mission. He blessed him and said:

Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 20 and blessed be God Most High who has handed over your enemies to you.

Melchizedek is a person only mentioned three times in the bible here, and in the book of Hebrews. is understood in its context to be a royal psalm especially for the inauguration of a Davidic King and the writer of Hebrews directly links Jesus, who is a Davidic King with this High priest as being even better than Melchizedek.

The king of Sodom comes crawling back as it were and recognized that Abram was someone to be reckoned with. And they offered him rewards. Abram declines to take anything but the food they men already ate. He does not want these kings to have anything to hold over Abram’s head and say that they made him rich.

Abram’s rescue mission was successful because God decreed it so. The Mission in the Philippines was ultimately also successful although the prisoners thought is some kind of trap by the Japanese to kill them. All 512 prisoners from America, Britain and Canada and Philippines were freed. Only two Army rangers were killed and several were wounded.

Application Point #3 God’s blessing ultimately leads to victory.

This is indeed the Good news that we are to tell everyone. That they too can have this victory. You can be rescued like Lot or the POWs or Jews at Dachau.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Melchizedek who is at least a type of Christ links Abrams victory to God’s blessings. Abram did not want his nephew Lot to endure any kind of slavery or worse yet death. He also possibly rescued Lot because he was going to be, perhaps his offspring and he felt he needed to keep him alive to keep the prophecy from God alive. But Abram was willing to be defeated on the chance that he would save Lot.

Paul in , he says For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.” Paul was wiling to give himself over to God’s wrath, that he would be cutoff so that Israel could know Christ and be saved. In verse 2 he actually says that he has great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart because of it.

This is what Jesus meant by you will know my followers because they lay down their life for their brothers.

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’

ESV For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

These Verse proclaim that our sentence of death has been vacated, not just reduced or paroled. Our crimes have been stricken from our record

Conclusion

The 5th article of the code of conduct is “If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners.” We still have people fighting and working today to bring back remains from Viet Nam and Korea because the US government is trying to be faithful to her service members. They are working to hold up their unspoken promise that everyone comes home.

We see that God offers promises and he fulfills them, and that confidence in God gives us peace in our lives. We have the peace because we know that God’s blessing will provide us with protection and eventually victory. Because Jesus has already fought the battle. Abram was successful because the Lord Most High blessed him in victory. Even though it does not say it, Abram went into what seemed like an impossible situation and rescued his nephew. He was wiling to sacrifice himself for his family. He also knew that he could trust God to get him through it because god promised that Abram’s heirs

Action: Take heart that God is protecting you even if something bad is happening this week or whenever it happens.

Know that the victory over sin and death has already been won. As John Owen said the Death of death was in the death of Christ. God already won. If you are a Christ follower, then you are on the winning side.

Remember There is Victory in Jesus My Savior, forever. He sought me and bought me

With His redeeming blood; He loved me ere I knew Him And all my love is due Him,

He plunged me to victory, Beneath the cleansing flood.

Closing Prayer

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

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