Hebrews chapter 5. I'd like to look at one verse
this evening, and let me just say before I
read this first ten, that I I pray the Lord is pleased
to bless this message. I've tried to prepare. I really have. I've tried to.
I've looked and I've searched the Scriptures and prayed that
the Lord would bless this message. I don't want to just bring just
a message. As I heard Brother Henry say
one time, God's people don't want to just hear a message.
They want to hear a message from God. And if the Lord is pleased
to speak tonight, it will be to our good. It will be to His
honor. So as you read with me, pray
with me, I'm telling you, I really feel tonight, I'm struggling. I haven't even said anything. Hebrews 5.10, called of God and
high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Our Father, You are our God. It is a good thing to call upon
You. It is good to approach you in
the name of the Lord Jesus. It is good. There is none good
but God. Lord, I pray tonight, would you
bless the message. Lord, help us. Help us to worship. Help us to see. Help us to realize. Teach us of Christ. For it is
in His name we pray, Amen. In our last study, we considered
the Lord Jesus Christ being made perfect. And as you know, we
looked in that word, being made perfect, doesn't mean, doesn't
speak of, though He is the Holy harmless, Lamb of God. This word, perfect, being made
perfect, means being the designated, chosen and appointed high priest. The position of a high priest
was not one that any man took to himself. of God. The Lord Jesus Christ was set to that post. Set to that position. That's
what verse 5 of chapter 5, So also Christ glorified not Himself
to be made an high priest, but He that said unto Him, Thou art
My Son, today have I begotten Thee. I made You that. the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ being made perfect, He became the author of eternal
salvation. He actually was found to be or
fulfilled to be by His sufferings. He was set forth, proven, shown
to be qualified to officiate in the priesthood, God's priest,
being made perfect. The same is saying having fulfilled
every necessary requirement. All the qualifications for our
salvation He was made perfect, set forth. That which He purposed to do, save God's elect, do the will
of God. He actually purchased all that
the Father gave Him, and He also applied that which He purposed
to them by His Holy Spirit. and shall in that glorious day
present all of His redeemed to the Father spotless." No blemish. Having gone to the cross, having
fulfilled all that the Father everlastingly gave Him to do,
the Scripture sets forth in this 10th verse, called of God and
high priest after the order of Melchizedek. This word called does not mean
that he was ordained though he was ordained. This is not the
word appointed though he was appointed. This word called reveals
that he was saluted to be. greeted to be, announced to be
the great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now, you
know, when we consider the order of Melchizedek, and I'll tell
you this, this book of Hebrews, we're going to be dealing a lot
with the order of Melchizedek. The Lord Jesus Christ after the
order of Melchizedek. How many times do we see that
set forth after the order of Melchizedek? In the book of Genesis chapter
14, we looked at this but turned back. Melchizedek, this glorious
person, is set forth in the book of Genesis He is spoken of in
the book of Psalms 110. Then he is spoken of again in
the book of Hebrews. And I would dare say if you ask
most people, tell me what you know about Melchizedek. Most
of them would not know who he was. That glorious person that is
set forth, the one that met Abraham, You remember when Abraham met
Melchizedek, Abraham had heard that his nephew Lot, taken captive
by the kings that had overrun the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah,
and Lot was taken captive. And the Scripture says when Abraham
heard that Lot was taken captive, 318 men he took and he went after
him. and after the slaughter of those
kings that had taken him captive. Melchizedek came walking to the
scene. Abraham, look in Genesis 14,
verse 17, and the king of Sodom, I want you to remember, the king
of Sodom was taken captive by an evil king. Abraham comes in rescues Lot,
destroys the kings that had taken Sodom and Gomorrah captive. He unloosed their bonds and he's
coming back. Now, I want you to look in verse
17, And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return
from the slaughter of Cherulemer and of the kings that were with
him at the valley of Sheba, which is the king's dale. Here's what's
happening. The king of Sodom is coming to
meet Abraham. And he's getting ready to offer
Abraham the booty. He's going to tell him, he said,
I'll tell you what I'll do. Look at verse 21. The king of
Sodom said unto Abraham, give me the persons and take the goods
to thyself. Now here is Abraham getting ready
to be tried, tempted, tested. The king of Sodom is going to
come and he's going to give him all the stuff that they got. And right in the midst of that
offer that's getting ready to be made, verse 18 says, and Melchizedek,
king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, he was the priest
of the Most High God. And he blessed him and said,
Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven
and earth. Blessed be the Most High God
which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand. And he gave
him tithes of all. Here was Melchizedek. The Scripture
sets forth that he announced to Abraham, he said, You are
being blessed of God. Now, there is a lot of speculation,
let me say this, on who Melchizedek was. I believe that he was the Lord
Jesus Himself. a pre-visitation by our Savior,
by the Lord Himself before His actual incarnation. Whether He was or whether He
wasn't, without a doubt, He's a picture of Christ. You know
that. But Melchizedek came and approached
Abraham and he said, Blessed are you. Blessed are you of the
Most High God. But look in verse 19. Possessor
of heaven and earth. Now, the king of Sodom is getting
ready to offer him some of the stuff that they had taken when
they overran the kings. And the king of Sodom said, I'll
tell you what I'll do. You give me the persons, I'll
give you the stuff. Melchizedek just reminded Abraham
who had blessed him, the possessor of heaven and earth. Now, what's
the king of Sodom going to give him? A few trinkets? And Abram, verse 22, said to
the king of Sodom, I have lifted up mine hand unto the Lord, the
Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will
not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will
not take anything that is Thine, lest Thou shouldest say, I made
Abram rich." There was a blessed revelation. Abraham believed God, trusted
God. Melchizedek, back in Hebrews,
Hebrews chapter 5. This Melchizedek called of God
a high priest. This blessed person, as we know,
is without a doubt a picture, a type of our blessed Lord. And as I said, one that I believe
was the Lord Himself. But when we hear the phrase,
after the order of Melchizedek, and this is what I want to speak
on for just a few minutes. After the order of Melchizedek. The order. Now that great thought
causes me to think there were two orders. that we know of as
far as a priest. There was, first of all, the
Order of Aaron. You know that they were from
the tribe of the Levites, and they were appointed by God, and
then one priest died, and another priest would take his place,
and another priest would take his place, and another priest
would take his place. They were from the Order of Aaron. a type of Christ. There you find
the Order of Aaron. They were the ones that actually
went in and slew the sacrifices. The blood was shed. But when you find Melchizedek,
Melchizedek came on the scene long before the Order of Aaron
was ever here. The order of Aaron was appointed
after. What was the difference? If there's
an order of Melchizedek and the order of Aaron, my thoughts,
and I'll share with you, and you enter in with me, what was
the difference? I can tell you this. The order
of Melchizedek, I know, was setting forth the glorious grace of God
and mercy of God. When we look at a priest, a priest
always had to have a sacrifice. Whenever you would find the order
of Aaron, that's where we'd find the bullocks, the brazen altar.
the shedding of blood, the sprinkling on the mercy seat. The order
of Aaron set forth the Lord Jesus Christ as He would actually be
slain. You remember when Melchizedek
came to meet Abraham and he brought bread and wine. The same elements
that the Lord Jesus Christ, we considered this two weeks ago.
The same elements of our Lord when He took the wine and He
took the bread and He broke the bread, He gave it to His disciples.
He said, this is my body which is broken for you. This blood
is shed for you. Here is Melchizedek. And Melchizedek
comes with bread and wine. A picture of the finished work. A picture of grace. The picture
of God's mercy before Aaron ever came on the scene. Now with Aaron,
those sacrifices were actually witnessed. People saw those sacrifices
being slain. With Melchizedek, that bread
and wine pictured the sacrifice. But there was one sacrifice.
He had bread and wine. The sacrifice was actually in
himself. Both of these persons, Aaron
and Melchizedek, set forth Christ. And here is the difference, I
believe. Melchizedek, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, sets
forth His eternal and everlasting priesthood. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Scripture says, was the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. There has never been a time that
the Lord God of Heaven did not behold the glory of the Lamb
that was slain. It was in Christ that the Father
first trusted. It was the Lord Jesus Christ
that absolutely in the mind and will and purpose of Almighty
God was beheld as the sacrifice. There's Melchizedek. There's
the eternal priesthood of Christ. With Aaron, the actual shedding
of blood had to take place. He actually had to become a man. He actually had to come in human
flesh and actually obey. Aaron actually took a lamb, a
bullock, the goat. There was an actual slaying of
that. And with our Lord coming into
this world, the Word made flesh. He actually came and walked on
this earth, obeyed God absolutely. and actually laid down His life
and actually shed His blood. The law was satisfied. The actual
obedience of Christ Jesus our Lord, the God-Man, actually happened. There had to be an actual start
and stop of His humiliation. He absolutely took upon Himself
human flesh. He actually walked in obedience
to His Father's command in this world. Spit on, ridiculed, beard
plucked. He actually was a man of sorrows,
acquainted with grief. He had to absolutely die. under the judgment of God Almighty. Blood had to be shed. But I will tell you this, when
He came into this world and laid down His life, shed that blood,
the Lord Jesus Christ set forth, it's finished. He put away our
guilt. And when He put away our guilt,
that which God Almighty had eternally purposed and called him to, appointed
him to. When he came out of that grave,
the Scripture sits forth, he was announced, called of God
and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. No more humiliation. No more sufferings. No more shedding
of blood. Our Lord has an eternal priesthood. Turn to Hebrews chapter 7 and
I'm going to show you. Aaron was not a priest forever. There's no more Aaronic priesthood. There's no more priest after
the order of Aaron anymore. Men that stand in churches, or
what they call churches, whether it be Roman Catholic or Episcopalian
or whoever they call themselves as priests, they're not. They're imposters. They're imposters. They're not priests before God.
I tell you this, the Lord Jesus Christ has made us to be priests
and kings before God in Him. But these men are not priests
before God. Not those that know not our Lord.
Aaron's priesthood. What was the difference? What
was the difference? There had to be a starting and
a stopping of his humiliation. There had to be a beginning and
an ending of his sufferings. And the order of Aaron set forth
our Lord Jesus Christ in those 30-something years that he was
here. That was the picture of him.
The humiliation, the suffering, the dying, the shedding of blood.
But the order of Melchizedek set forth, the Lord Jesus Christ,
has an eternal priesthood. Aaron's priesthood, we have no
hope in the law. It's over. It's gone. Christ
fulfilled. He's the end of the law for righteousness. But right now we have a priest,
a great high priest, and here he is. Hebrews 7, verse 1. I'll read a few Scriptures and
I'm going to stop. For this Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest of the Most High God.
I tell you, in the Old Testament, you don't find kings and priests
being one. Only in Christ. 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 tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness,
and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without
father, without mother, without descent or pedigree, having neither
beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the
Son of God. abided a priest continually. Now consider how great this man
was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth 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 come out of the loins
of Abraham, but he whose descent is not counted from them received
tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises." Look
down at verse 9. And as I may so say, Levi also
who received tithes, you remember in the Old Testament, the priest
received the tithes. They received the benefit. They
received the tithing. The Scripture says here, Levi
paid tithes to Melchizedek in Abraham, for he, verse 10, 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
rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order
of Aaron? Let me tell you the hope that
we have. The order of Aaron set forth
that our blessed Lord actually came into this world, the Lamb,
that He actually laid down His life being made sin and put away
the guilt of His people. He was made like unto His brethren
One that absolutely was us. Made like unto His brethren. But I'm going to tell you right
now. He's reigning right now. The order of Melchizedek was
set forth in that Melchizedek without father, without mother,
without descent. either having beginning of days
nor end of life, made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest
continually." The hope that every believer
has in Christ is this. Not that the Lord Jesus Christ
is standing as our great High Priest in every time we sin. Now listen to what I'm saying.
The hope that we have in Christ, of whom Melchizedek was absolutely
a picture-type of, we know for sure that. The hope that we have
right now is that it's not that when we sin, and we know we do. We know we
do. If we say we have no sin, if
we say we have no sin, We make God a liar. The hope that we
have is not that every time we sin because we do nothing but
that, that the Lord Jesus Christ is standing there and saying,
well, Father, forgive them for that and forgive them for that. Here's the hope we have. In our
great High Priest, we stand in Him perfect. right now. That is the hope that
a believer has. He is the priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. The priest of God. He who is
absolutely satisfied the law's demand. If he has satisfied the
law's demand, He has absolutely put away the guilt of His people,
justified by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. We stand in
Him complete. How thankful I am for the picture,
for the type of Aaron who absolutely set forth the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ to actually die for us to actually lay down his
life and suffer the penalty of God Almighty, but oh, to know
that I have a priest that abideth forever. One that answers forever. One whose blood absolutely answers
and that we have peace before God by our great high priest. He who is interceding, ever living
to make intercession. for His people. Oh, may the Lord
take these feeble, feeble words, not feeble words in themselves,
but the delivery. May He take these words and bless
them to our hearts and teach us of the glory of our blessed,
great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, He who ever liveth, no
beginning of days, no end of days, no pedigree, Nobody can
ever put a beginning or an ending on Him. Thanks be unto God who
gives us the victory for Christ's sake. Amen.