with hymn number 186 in your
hardbacked hymnal, number 186, The Church's One Foundation.
Let's all stand together. A church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is his new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her, and for her life he died. elect from every nation, yet
one for all the earth. Her charter of salvation, one
Lord, one faith, one birth. One holy name she blesses, partakes
one holy food. And to one hope she presses with
every grace and due. In toil and tribulation and tumult
of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore. Still with a vision glorious,
her longing eyes are blessed, and the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest. Yet she on earth has union with
God the three-in-one, And mystic sweet communion with those whose
breast is one. O happy ones and holy, Lord give
us grace that we Please be seated. Good evening. Let's open our Bibles
together to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. We'll begin
reading in verse 1. Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all
guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speaking, as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow
thereby. For if so be you have tasted that
the Lord is gracious to whom coming as unto a living stone,
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. You
also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house. a holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scriptures, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him should not be
confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient." Interesting,
that word disobedient is the word apathy. Those who have no
interest in Christ. The stone which the builders
disallow, the same is made the head of the corner. And a stone
of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at
the word being disobedient. whereunto also they were appointed. But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that word
is purchased, a bought people, that you should show forth the
praises of him that hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light, which in times past were not a people, but are
now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now
have obtained mercy." Have obtained mercy. Let's pray together. Our merciful heavenly Father, We find great hope and comfort
in knowing that we can come into thy holy presence and not only
have acceptance, but have your love and all of your care and
your blessings. Lord, we've come here tonight
because you've brought us here and you put it on our hearts
to want to be here. Lord, you've given us your word
or how we hope that we would be able by your grace to put
aside all the distractions of this world and that give you
our undivided attention. And Lord, that we would be enabled
to hear your voice. And Lord, that we would not be
unbelieving or indifferent or apathetic. but that you would
warm our hearts with your spirit and with your grace to love Christ,
to love your gospel, to love your word, to love your people.
Lord, that you would, that you'd be pleased to meet with us tonight
and save us by your grace and for your glory. We thank you
for all the ways in which you continue to provide for us in
this world. We know, Lord, that every good
and every perfect gift comes from our Father above. So, Lord,
we bow now to acknowledge your goodness and kindness and mercy
toward us. Thank you, in Christ's name,
amen. Number two from the spiral hymn
book, number two, let's stand together. at thy feet we humbly bow. O do not our suit disdain. Shall we seek thee, Lord, Lord, on Thee our souls depend,
In compassion now descend. Fill our hearts with Thy rich
praise, Tune our lips to sing Thy praise. In Thine own appointed
way, Now we seek Thee, here we stay. Lord, we know not how to
go Till a blessing Thou bestow. ? Send a message from thy word
? ? That may joy and peace afford ? ? Let thy spirit now impart
? ? Christ's salvation to each heart ? Please be seated. Caleb's
gonna bring special music. ? How deep the Father's love for
us ? ? How vast beyond all measure ? ? That He should give His only
Son ? ? To make a wretch His treasure ? ? How great the pain
of searing loss ? The father turns his face away, as wounds
which mar the chosen one bring his elect to glory. Behold the man upon the cross,
My sin upon his shoulders. Ashamed I hear my mocking voice. Call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held him there. Until it was accomplished His
dying breath hath brought me life I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection Why
should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer But this
I know with all my heart, His blood hath paid my ransom. Thank you, Caleb. That was a
treat. Good to have Caleb with us this
week. He's going to head back tomorrow. Had to come down and do some
repairs on the house after the hurricane, so. Let's open our Bibles together
to Judges chapter 17. Judges chapter 17. I've titled this message Christ Our
High Priest. Christ Our High Priest. Priestcraft is practiced in every
form of religion in the world. Men know that there is a God
with whom they must do, and men too busy to concern themselves
with how to get right with that God, so like financial advisors,
they hire for themselves priests to intercede. And so you have
in Judaism the rabbis, and you have in Catholicism the priesthood,
and you have in the monks in Hinduism, and the list goes on. Every religion of the world practices
some sort of priestcraft. It's man's attempt to atone for
himself through another man. I think it's fitting that today
happens to be Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. Jewish people
today are making efforts to atone for themselves with God. I don't
know how they do that without a sacrifice. This is the day
through which all the Old Testament the high priest would enter in
through the veil into the holies of holies, the one day a year
where he would take the blood and put it on the mercy seat. And God spoke to Moses and said,
here, I will meet with you. And so the Jewish people are
continuing to celebrate Yom Kippur. And today happens to be the day. What they don't know is that
that veil was rent. When the Lord Jesus Christ bowed
his mighty head on Calvary's cross, and when he cried, it
is finished, he fulfilled all those Old Testament types. And
he put his blood, not on that mercy seat built with the hands
of men, but on the mercy seat in heaven. And God said, here,
I will meet with you. Ah, all those years in the Old
Testament, the priests would station themselves outside of
the temple and warn the people, particularly when that high priest
went in to make that blood sacrifice into the holies of holies. They
would warn the people, stay away, stay away, don't come near. And
then afterwards, Afterwards, when the veil was rent from top
to bottom and the mercy, it was no longer necessary for that
priest to go into the holies of holies. We have again and
again, right to the closing of God's word, come, come. We have a forerunner. We have
one that's gone before us. We have an anchor for our soul.
He is our priest. We have a priest. that intercedes for us and that
offers himself to God as the sacrifice and the atonement for
our sins. And we have in Judges chapter
17, a story about a man who is desperately attempting to find
some way to atone for his sins. And the Lord has I hope that
he will teach us by example and by contrast, the difference that
exists when, notice with me in verse six, in those days, there
was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right
in his own eyes. That statement is repeated several
times during this period of Israel's history. We are not yet to the
period of the Kings. The patriarchs have died. The
Lord is providing judges from time to time, but there are periods
of time when there's no King, there's no leadership, there's
no sovereign in Israel. And so with the absence of that
sovereign, every man does what's right in his own eyes. And what
we see in this chapter is what men do when the Lord Jesus Christ
is not acknowledged as God, as Lord. Ultimately, each man is
left to do for himself what he thinks is right in his own eyes. And in contrast to that, We see
what happens when the Lord Jesus Christ reigns sovereign in his
church and in the hearts of his people. Exodus chapter 11, when the Lord
sent those plagues to Egypt, the scripture says that the Israelites
were not affected by the plagues. Matter of fact, God says a dog
would not wag its tongue against an Israelite while all these
plagues were coming against the Egyptians for God had made a
difference between Egypt and Israel. God made a difference. And it's important for us to
know that there is a difference. There is a difference. between
those who have no sovereign and those who have been brought by
the grace of God to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord. And we see that difference in
this chapter. Let us not forget that it is
He that makes us to differ. We did not set ourselves apart.
That's becoming a Pharisee. You remember the word, the word
Pharisee means to be set apart. Just like the word Saint means
to be set apart. The difference between a Pharisee
and a Saint is who does the setting apart? Who does the setting apart? Saints are set apart by God.
Pharisees set themselves apart and set themselves above. looking
down with critical judgmental spirit on others. But there is a setting apart,
and there is a difference that the Lord makes. With those who have no king,
they speak perverse things about God. Notice in verse one, and there
was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said unto
his mother, the 1100 shekels of silver that were taken from
thee, about which thou curseth, and spakest of also in my ears,
behold, the silver is with me, I took it. And his mother said,
oh, blessed be thou the Lord. Blessed be thou of the Lord,
my son. And when he had restored the
1100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had
wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my
son to make a graven image and a molten image. Now, therefore,
I will restore it unto thee. Now here's what happens when
There is no king reigning in Israel. When each man does what
seems right in his own eyes. He will speak perverse things
about God. The word here is Jehovah. These
are Jewish people. These are Israelites that are
supposed to be worshiping the true and living God. And they're
mixing idolatry. And you remember what James said
about a fountain not being able to bring forth fresh water and
bitter? That's what they're doing here.
She's honoring God with her lips, and yet at the same time, she's
dishonoring him with this attempt to make an idol. Cursing and blessing out of the
same mouth. Call him Lord, and yet deny that
he has the power to save. Isn't that what we see in religion?
Men will acknowledge Jesus as Lord. You know, we've got a big
sign on I-4 interstate. Jesus is Lord over some town. I don't know, Longwood, I think.
Jesus is Lord over Longwood. He's Lord over a whole lot more
than that. And they will call him Lord. But just like here,
there's no king reigning in Israel. And so they will have sweet and
bitter coming from the same fountain. They will say things like God
is love and yet they, this God who loves all men will end up
sending most that he doesn't, that he loves to a A devil's
hell to be tormented for all eternity. You see the mixture
that when there's no God in Israel, when there's no king reigning
in the heart, men do what exactly what Micah and his mother did.
They speak perverse things. They say that the Bible is the
Word of God, and yet they will cut out large sections of it
and deny its clear teaching. They will say that Christ died
to pay the penalty for sin, and yet most of whom he died for
will have to pay for their own sins. They will say things like, we're
not under the law, we're under grace, and then they'll turn
right back around and put you under the law. The point is that
when there is no king in Israel, when there's no sovereign reigning
in the heart, men will speak perverse things. They will mix
law and grace, and they will speak things that are not true
about our God. The opposite is true when there
is a king in Israel. When there is a king in Israel,
the Lord said through the prophet Isaiah, my children, my children
will not lie. I will put my truth in their
heart and in their mouth. I will put my laws in their hearts
and impress it upon their mind. I will not enable them to speak
of their salvation as if they accomplished it by free will.
I will not enable them to speak of general atonement or universal
love. No, they won't speak those things.
There's a king reigning in Israel. See, the Lord's made us to differ,
hasn't he? We believe in our hearts and
what we believe in our hearts, we are brought to confess with
our mouth that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We believe that he's the sovereign,
successful savior of sinners, that he actually accomplished
the salvation of his people when he died on Calvary's cross. He
atoned completely for them. He paid the price. He satisfied
the demands of the law. He was obedient even unto death,
the death of the cross. He, the law requires death for
sin. The wages of sin is death. And
the day in which you sin, you shall surely die. It's always
been the justice of God for sin. How did he conquer death? He
conquered death by dying. He conquered death by satisfying
what God required for the penalty and punishment for sin. He fulfilled
justice. We believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the son of the living God. We believe that he is the
end of the law for righteousness, and we speak these things. And
if we're not able to articulate them clearly, when we hear them,
we rejoice in them. We rejoice in them. We believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ is all our wisdom. He's all our sanctification. He's all our righteousness. He's
all our redemption. We believe that Christ is all.
And we speak as the Lord has spoken. Enabled us we we agree
with David when David said in Psalm 116. He said I believe
therefore I've spoken We speak what we believe Out of the heart
the mouth speaks here. We all know what's in a man's
heart. Just listen to what he says We know what's in these
what's in Micah and his mother's heart We know what's in their
heart. And why did they have this confusion
and this contradiction in their heart? The same reason men have
confusion and contradiction about the things of God today. There
is no king in Israel. We believe that the covenant promises were kept between God the Father and God
the Son and God the Holy Spirit, made in eternity past. We believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled his covenant promises to his
father by completely atoning for the sins of his people, God's
elect. We believe that the father was
faithful in his covenant promises to give to his son his church,
his bride. We believe the Holy Spirit is
faithful in making us willing in the day of his power. You
see, here's the difference. You see the difference, don't
you? You see the difference in what you believe and in what
we declare here and in what other gospel churches declare about
God and about Christ compared to the confusion and the contradiction
that we see when there's no king in Israel. God made the difference
between the Egyptians and the Israelites. And he still does. He still does. Let's read verses. Verse three again, I want to
read three through five. And when he had restored the
1,100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had
wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my
son to make a graven image and a molten image. Now, therefore,
I will restore it unto thee. Yet he restored the money unto
his mother, and his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave
them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a
molten image. And they were in the house of
Micah. And the man Micah had a house
of gods and made an ephod and a terrapin. Now that word terrapin
is actually plural and it means an icon. So he had these little
statues and gods all around his house. And the ephod was what the priests
wore. That's what Aaron wore. That
was the breastplate that had the stones in it and the names
of the children of Israel. That was a sacred garment that
was picturing what the Lord Jesus Christ did when he went into
that holies of holies with the name of his people. So here,
Micah, he's got an ephod. He's got teraphims around. And
then he consecrated one of his sons who became his priest. This is what happens in the days
where there is no king in Israel and every man does what is right
in his own eyes. Openly violating the very clear
commandments of God while honoring him with their
speech. We see it today, statues in churches,
creeds, walking an aisle, praying a prayer,
looking for a change in your life, having the affirmation
of your religious peers, waiting for a feeling or looking back
to a past experience? What are all these idols? This is what they are. What do
all these idols have in common? Every single one of them. What
are the idols of religion? And every religion has a different
type of idol, but what do they all have in common? They can
be seen with the natural eye. They can be experienced through
the natural man. We look on those things which
are not seen. The things which are not seen
are eternal. We don't look on the things which
are seen, for the things which are seen are temporal. There's
no hope of salvation in the things that are seen, but this is what
idolatry does. And this is the difference that
the Lord has made between those who have no king, those who have
no sovereign, who are left to do what seems right in their
own eyes, and those who have been brought by the grace of
God to bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to me to Zechariah chapter
12. We studied Zechariah a year or
so ago. Maybe it's been longer, I don't
know. Time goes by in a hurry for me these days. Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10. I will pour upon the house of
David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace. I'll make them to differ by my
grace." Demerited favor. This is where
God chooses one over another. And the evidence of that grace
will be the spirit of supplication. Say, well, how do I know the
Lord has given me grace? Are you looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ to supply you with everything you need in order to be able
to stand in the presence of God? That's the spirit of supplication.
Lord, if you don't supply me with your righteousness, I'll
have no righteousness. If you don't give me faith, I'll
have no faith. If you don't keep me, I won't be kept. Lord, if
you don't provide my next breath, I won't be able to draw that.
Lord, I need you to supply me with everything that I need in
this life and in the life to come. That's the spirit of supplication. And we know the spirit of grace
has been poured out on us when the Lord has brought us to see.
I'm dependent upon him for everything. And they shall look upon me.
Here's the other evidence of the spirit of grace being poured
out. We look to Christ. We look to Christ, whom they
have pierced. And we know that it was my sin.
It was my sin that put Christ on Calvary's cross. And they shall mourn for him.
long for him as one mourneth for his only son. And he shall
be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn. Child of God, is this your experience?
Do you find yourself so oftentimes being caught up in the things
of this world and distracted from Christ and longing in your
soul to know him better and to have fellowship restored to him,
with him? In that day, there should be
a great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadriman in
the Valley of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn every
family apart, the family of the house of David apart, and their
wives apart, and the family of the house of Nathan apart, and
their wives apart, and the family of the house of Levi apart, and
their wives apart, and the family of Shimei apart, and their wives
apart, and the families that remain, every family apart and
their wives apart. How do I know if the spirit of
grace has been poured out upon me? The Lord has given me the
spirit of supplication. He's caused me to see that I'm
a sinner and that it was my sin that put Christ on Calvary's
cross. And I can't depend upon anyone
else's relationship with God for my salvation. prone we are to look to other
men, look to our right, look to our left. Look at chapter 13, verse one. In that day, there should be
a fountain opened to the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. This is that water
that's clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God and from
the Lamb. This is the water of life that
we drink from freely, washes away and gives life. And it shall
come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will
cut off the names of idols. You see what the Lord is doing.
He's telling us here what happens when the spirit of grace is poured
out. When a man and a woman is saved, this is what happens.
This is what happens when there is a king in Israel. Men are
no longer doing what seems right in their own eyes. They are bowing
to the Lord Jesus Christ and they can't find any hope or comfort
for their salvation in idolatry. They're not mixing idolatry. They know that these are false
gods. I will cut off the names of the
idols out of the land and they shall no more be remembered.
And also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirits to pass
out of the land." You won't listen to a false prophet. You won't
listen to a preacher pointing you to your works or to some
experience or to some decision that you have to make in order
to have hope. Christ and it shall come to pass
that when any shall prophesy shall yet prophesy then his father
and his mother that begat him shall say unto him thou shalt
not live you won't even listen if your
own child came to you with a false gospel you would not you couldn't
listen here's the difference Here's the difference. We cannot
speak perverse things. We speak the truth by God's grace.
We cannot fashion idols and terrapins and mix that with the worship
of God. The Lord has cut all idols out
of the land. The Lord Jesus Christ now is
king. We're not left to our own devices. We're not left to our own imagination.
We're all idol makers by nature. We come into this world with
a darkened imagination and the foundry of idol making goes to
work very quickly and very soon in our lives, forming a God that
looks like us. And the Lord puts an end to that
factory, that idol factory, and won't allow us to bow to those
idols anymore. Thirdly, go back to our, we'll
go back to our text. Look at verse seven. Now we just
saw that he made, Micah makes his son to be his priest. Anybody
will do. You know, like I said, priest
craft, The Lord refers to it as the doctrine of the Nicolaitans
in the book of Revelation. And twice he mentions the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans and he says, I hate it. God says, I hate it. And it's so prevalent and so
practiced in every form of religion. Men know that there's a God with
whom they must do. They have no idea who he is.
And so it's like most of us, at least me, if I'm going to
make some investments financially, somebody else is going to have
to do that for me. I don't have a clue what to do with money. So you hire
a financial advisor to take care of that for you. And in hopes
that at the end of your life, you'll have a little savings
and some retirement to help you out. That's what men do with their
souls. Well, we don't know what, we don't know anything about
God. So let's just hire us a priest and he can do the research for
us. And hopefully at the end, when I close my eyes in death,
that that priest will be able to get me into heaven. I've watched
it. You've seen it. Priestcraft, doctrine of the
Nicolaitans. God hates it. God hates it. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
priest. Turn, you have your Bibles there.
Look at verse seven. There was a young man out of
Bethlehem, Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite. Ah, now Micah has an opportunity
to upgrade his priest from his own son to a Levite. The tribe of Levi was the priestly
tribe. And he sojourned there. And the
man departed out of the city of Bethlehem, Judah, to sojourn
where he could find a job." Listen, priests are doing that. Young men I've graduated from
seminary with, the first thing they did was put together their
resume and send it out all over the country. Wandering here and
there looking for the best job opportunity available and then
they get a church and And they have a little success and another
church bigger than that finds out about them and they wander
over there all The doctrine of Balaam always going to the highest
bidder. That's what this priest was doing
That's what this Levite was doing. He was wandering around and And
there's always somebody that's going to be there to take him
in. Yeah, there's a Levi, there's
a priest. And he came to Mount Ephraim,
the end of verse eight, to the house of Micah as he had journeyed. Micah said to him, whence comest
thou? And he said unto him, I am a
Levi to Bethlehem, Judah, and I go to sojourn where I can find
a job. You see that word places in italics
in your Bible. He's just, he's looking for a
job. He's looking for somebody to take him in, pay him, make
him their priest, looking for an easy way. And Micah said unto
him, dwell with me. and be unto me a father and a
priest, and I will give thee 10 shekels of silver by the year,
and a suit of apparel, and any vitals," I think the word there
is vitals. So the Levites, the Levite went
in. He gave him what he's looking
for. I'm gonna put a roof over your head, I'm gonna give you
some silver, I'm gonna clothe you, and I'm gonna feed you,
and you're gonna be my priest. The Levite was content to dwell
with the man. And the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah consecrated the Levite."
Oh, they had a dedication ceremony. They ordained him. They put their
dirty hands on his dirty head and made him something special. This is what's going on in religion. It's exactly what's going on
in religion. Micah consecrated the Levite,
and the young man became his priest and was in the house of
Micah. Then said Micah, now know I that
the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to be my priest.
I'm set to go now. I've got the blessings of God.
I've got a man to be my holy man, my priest, my intercessor. In the book of Leviticus, we
read this statement made many times, particularly as it relates
to the day of atonement, as I have already mentioned today is. The
priest shall make an atonement for you. The priest shall make
an atonement for you. Now, when Lot was living in Sodom,
there was a rebellion of some kings and they came in and they
took Lot and Abraham got involved in that war and Abraham delivered
Lot from the hand of the kings and destroyed the kings that
had come in and And at the end of Genesis chapter 14, let's
turn there just a moment. This is very important if we're
to understand the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so beginning in verse, in
verse 17, and the king of Sodom went out to meet him, meet Abraham,
after he had come back from the battle of the kings, after his
return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, of the kings that
were with him at the valley of Shaveh, which is the Kingsdale. So now the king of Sodom is thankful
that Abraham got involved in this war. and delivered his city
back to the king of Sodom by destroying the king that had
come in and taken Lot. Verse 18, and Melchizedek. Now we sing that song, Jehovah
Sidkenu. the Lord our righteousness. And you may know that the word
melech is the word for king. The literal interpretation of
Melchizedek is the king of righteousness. That's what his name means. This
is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. And he was the priest of the
most high God. And he blessed him." Melchizedek
blessed Abraham. Blessed be Abraham of the Most
High God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the
Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand,
and he gave him tithes of all." Abraham gave to Melchizedek tithes
of everything he had. Melchizedek blessed Abraham. Now, turn with me to Hebrews
chapter seven. Hebrews chapter seven, Hebrews,
the book of Hebrews is all about the priesthood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And now the Lord is going to
give us some understanding of who this Melchizedek was. Verse 20 of chapter six, Whether
the forerunner for us is entered, even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. For this Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning
from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also
Abraham gave a 10th part of all, first being by interpretation,
king of righteousness." That's literally what Melchizedek means,
king of righteousness. Oh. Brethren, our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. We have no standing before God. The Lord Jesus Christ has to
stand in our stead. And what great hope we have in
knowing that he's a faithful high priest. And after that, also King of
Salem, which is King of Peace. Without father, without mother. without descent, having neither
beginning of days nor end of life, but made." Now, I know
there's some who take this next word and they want to say, well,
this wasn't really a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus
Christ because it says made like. In the image, there were many
likenesses and appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ as the
angel of the Lord in the Old Testament and here as Melchizedek. He's without fathers, without
mothers, without... In other words, you can't trace
his lineage to a family on earth. Having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth
a priest continually. Now consider how great this man... Notice that that little verb
was, is in italics. Just leave it off. Consider how
great this man, our Melchizedek, the king of righteousness, the
one who reigns in Israel, so that men are not left to their
own devices and they cannot do what just seems right in their
own eyes. They've been brought to bow. Now consider how great this man,
unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave 10th of the spoils. And verily, they that are of
the sons of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood,
have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the
law, that is of their brethren, though they came out of the loins
of Abraham." Now there's something about seminal headship here. Adam is our seminal head. We
were in the loins of Adam when Adam sinned. We sinned. We were
there. We were there with Adam. And
the Lord Jesus Christ is the seminal head of his church. He
is the seed in which we are. And here's the point that the
Lord's going to make. The Levites in the Old Testament received
tithes. And he whose descent is not counted
from them received tithes of Abraham." In other words, Melchizedek
is not a Levite. And yet Melchizedek received
tithes from Abraham. And Melchizedek blessed Abraham
with the promises of God. Isn't that what Micah said? Now
I know I have the blessings of God because I've got a Levite
for my priest. Here's what we have, brother. Now I know. I have the blessings of God because
I have Christ. I have Christ. He's not a Levite. He's of the tribe of Judah. Let's
read on. And without all contradiction,
the less is blessed of the better. So what the Lord is saying to
us here is that Melchizedek was better than Abraham. Now the
Jews that are reading this book of Hebrews, they're, Abraham,
you can't get any better than Abraham. And the Lord's making
it clear to me and you, oh yes you can. Abraham was the lesser
and he was blessed by the greater. And Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. And here, Verse eight, and here
men that die receive tithes, but there he received them of
whom it is witnessed that he liveth. This Melchizedek is alive
and he received tithes from Abraham. And as I may so say, Levi also
who received tithes paid tithes in Abraham. So Levi was in the
loins of Abraham, though he would not be born for two more generations. But when Abraham paid tithes
to Melchizedek, the Lord saying, Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek.
The Levitical priesthood is coming to an end. There's a new priest.
There's a new priest and he's not of the tribe of Levi, he's
of the tribe of Judah. And he doesn't die. he ever liveth
to make intercession. Let's read on. Verse 10, for he was yet
in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. If therefore
perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it, the
people received the law, what further need was there that another
priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek and not
be called after the order of Aaron? "'For the priesthood being
changed, "'there is made of necessity a change also of the law. "'For
he of whom these things are spoken "'pertaineth to another tribe
"'of which no man giveth attendance at the altar.'" We're speaking
of Melchizedek, we're speaking of Christ. And he's not a Levite,
he's of the tribe of Judah. "'For it is evident that the
Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing
concerning the priesthood. And it is yet far more evident
that after the similitude of Melchizedek, there riseth another
priest who is made not after the law of carnal commandments,
but after the power of endless life. Here's our hope. Here's
our hope. Our hope is not that we do something
to fulfill the law, that we have a man to be our priest, or that
we have idols, or that we speak perverse things about. No, our
hope is that there's a king reigning in Israel, a sovereign, and he
hasn't left us to our own devices to do that which seems right
in our own eyes. He has done everything for us. For he testifieth thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is verily a disannulling
of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness
thereof. The Levitical priesthood never
saved anybody. It was just a type, it was a
picture of what would be fulfilled in this priesthood that existed
before Melchizedek, before Levi. Melchizedek, the king of righteousness,
the king of peace, the priest of the most high God, our intercessor. For those priests were made without
an oath, but this with an oath by him that said unto him, the
Lord swear and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. By so much more was Jesus made
a surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
Now we'll pay special attention to these next few verses. But
this man, Because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood,
wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. For such a high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high
priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then
for the people's. For this he did once when he
offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests
which have infirmity, But the word of the oath, which was since
the law, maketh the son who is consecrated by God forevermore. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum. This is the sum of this message. We have such a high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne and the majesty on high,
a minister of the sanctuary of the true tabernacle, which the
Lord pitched, and not man." There's a difference when there's no king in Israel. Men will mix truth and error. They will mix worship with idolatry. and they will, in their desperate
attempt to be on God's side, make a priest out of another
man. We have a priest who's seated at the right hand
of God, and he has successfully accomplished by his death on
Calvary's cross everything that God requires for you and I We
read at the beginning of the service, that passage from 1
Peter 2, where God says, I will make you to be a holy priesthood. We are able to go right before
the throne of grace in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with
boldness, confidence that he, we are accepted in him. and that
he has done everything that God requires. We don't have to be
like Micah, making a priest and finding some. No, we have a priest. Amen. All right, let's pray. Our heavenly father, thank you.
Thank you for your word and thank you for the revelation of thy
dear son. We pray that your Holy Spirit
would make it so to our hearts. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 39 in the Sproul hymn. Let's
stand together.