Turn with me, if you would, to
Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. We are going to observe the Lord's
table tonight. And every passage of scripture
in this book, any page, any passage of scripture is appropriate to
preach from for the Lord's table. And the reason is because every
single passage points us to Christ crucified. Every single one. There are some passages, though,
that may seem more appropriate than others. Exodus 12, the Passover lamb. The four gospels where our Lord
instituted this table instead of the Passover lamb. He said,
this do in remembrance of me. They killed that lamb. The Lord told them back in Exodus
to kill that lamb. And he said, when your children
ask you why you do this, you tell them it's that he delivered
us that night. They killed that lamb to remember
being delivered out of Egypt. And our Lord said, do this to
remember me. It represented that. But more
clearly, do this. to remember me." So there are
some passages that may seem very appropriate for the Lord's table,
but no passage is more appropriate than Hebrews 7. No passage is
more appropriate than Hebrews 7. Now, in Hebrews 5 verse 6
and in Hebrews 6 verse 20, both of those two verses, the last verse of chapter 6.
Both of those places say that our Lord Jesus Christ has been
made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. As we've been going through Hebrews,
we keep seeing that name, Melchizedek. I've titled this message, Who
is Melchizedek? Some of these verses, we're about
to read a few verses here. Some of these verses are not
the easiest verses to understand. Peter said some of the things
that Paul wrote can be hard to understand. And some of these
are not. But let's read here in chapter
7 to verse 24, all right? Hebrews 7 verse 1 says, 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 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, 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
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 came 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. And without all contradiction,
the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive
tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed
that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also
who receiveth tithes paid tithes in Abraham, 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 rise 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 gave attendance
at the altar, for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah,
of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it
is yet far more evident that after the similitude of Melchizedek,
there ariseth another priest, who is made not after the law
of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless
life. For he testifieth, Thou art a
priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is
verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for
the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing
perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the
which we draw nigh to God. And inasmuch as not without an
oath He was made priest, 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 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. But this
man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood."
Now, like I said, some of that is difficult to understand. Difficult
to understand. Here's the question of the night.
Who is Melchizedek? That's the question tonight.
Who is Melchizedek and what did he just say? What is this saying? Melchizedek, his name is mentioned
several times. We just read it many times right
there. His name is mentioned quite a few times, but he only
appears in the scripture one time. Just one time. We're going to turn over there
in just a minute. It's in Genesis 14. But first, verse 1 says,
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. No person in the Word of God. No person. in this word fully
represents our Lord Jesus Christ in all of his offices of prophet,
priest, and king. No man. No man. Moses was God's prophet. He said, you're going to go speak.
But he was not God's priest and he was not God's king. Aaron
was God's priest. but he was not God's prophet
and he was not God's king. David was God's king, but he
was not God's prophet and he was not God's priest. No one
person fully represents Christ in all three of his offices but
Melchizedek. Verse 1 says, For this Melchizedek,
king of Salem, Priest of the Most High God who met Abraham,
he spoke to Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings,
and he blessed him. He delivered the blessing to
God's own as God's prophet. Prophet, priest, and king. Now, who is Melchizedek? Verse 2 says, to whom also Abraham
gave a tenth part of all, being first by interpretation," this
is what his name means when you look up the interpretation of
it, King of Righteousness, capital K. King of Righteousness. And after that also, King of
Salem, capital K. which is, that means Salem is
interpreted, King of Peace, capital K. This is the King of Righteousness
and the King of Peace. Now who is Melchizedek? Verse
3 says, without father, lowercase f, he has no father. This man has no father. Verse
3 says, without mother, he has no mother. Verse 3 says, without
descent, the reference in the middle says pedigree, he has
no family tree. Verse 3 says, having neither
beginning of days, he never started, nor end of life, he will never
end. but made like unto the Son of
God. And he abideth a priest continually. Who is Melchizedek? Turn with me to Genesis 14. Now here in Genesis 14, all of
these kings banded together, these kings of these different
nations, they banded together and they went to war with Sodom,
the city Sodom. And they took everything captive,
everything. They took the food, they took
the goods, they took the people, they took Lot and his family. Lot lived in Sodom and they took
everything captive. But somebody escaped and he went
up to Abraham where he was in the mountains and he told him,
your nephew has been taken captive by all these kings. Sodom has
been captured and he's He's taken captive. So Abraham got 318 of his trained servants and he
went out with those trained servants and he slew them all. He slew
them all. We have a bloody message, don't
we? We have a victorious message, don't we? He went out and he
slew them all. Now verse 16 says, And he brought
back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot,
and his goods, and the women also, and the people. And the
king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the
slaughter of Kedor Laomer, and of the kings that were with him
at the valley of Shebe, which is the king's dale, and Melchizedek,
King of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and 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. And blessed be the most high
God which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And Abraham
gave Melchizedek tithes of all. Melchizedek blessed Abraham. Now God said to Abraham, he said,
blessing, I will bless thee. I am going to be the one who
blesses you." Melchizedek came and he blessed him. Abraham bowed
down before Melchizedek and he worshipped him in paying tithes
to him. You tithe to your God. Isn't that right? You give and you pay to your
God. God said, thou shalt have no
other gods before me. Thou shalt not bow down and worship
them. He said, I'm a jealous God. He said, I alone am God beside
me. There is no other. And Abraham
bowed down to him and he paid his tithe to him. Now, I believe
we know who Melchizedek is. If anything, though, ought to
confirm it to us, it's this right here. And this is just sweet.
This is precious. What a blessing. God's high priest
never, ever went into his presence asking for a blessing on the
behalf of God's people without blood. Never, never, ever. He never begged God's blessing
without blood. Did Melchizedek bring with him
a slain animal? No. Did Melchizedek bring with
him a basin of blood? No. What did he bring? Verse 18 says, And Melchizedek,
king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. Bread and wine. You mean he didn't
bring a sacrifice? He is the sacrifice. You mean
he didn't come before God with blood? It was running all through
his veins. All the blood of the sacrifice
was right there. Melchizedek is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is not a type of Christ. He is Christ. Abraham met his
Savior face to face. Abraham met the one that would
redeem him and Abraham knew it. He knew it. The Lord Jesus Christ
in his own body met with Abraham and blessed him and he gave Abraham
the same token of redemption that he has given to us. The
same one. The same one he gave to the apostles
he gave to Abraham. And it has been committed to
us, the same one, bread and wine. This is amazing. That token right
there was instituted before the token of circumcision in Genesis
17. And it was instituted before
the token of the Passover lamb in Exodus 12. That was the first
token. All of those tokens Represent
what Christ would accomplish on the cross. Every single one
of them. A payment made. That's what that
is. A satisfied God. An appeased,
unangry God. That's what that is. That's the
death of our sin. That's what that is. Abraham
met face to face with his Redeemer and just like Thomas he bowed
down before him and he said, My Lord and my God. My Lord and
my God. Turn with me if you would to
John chapter 8. John chapter 8 verse 56 says, Your father Abraham rejoiced
to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. He saw me. He saw me. He saw redemption
through me. He saw it face to face and he
was so glad. Now this is what Hebrews 7 was
telling us, what we just read a moment ago. If we are looking
for God's high priest, we don't need to look to any other man
but Melchizedek. That's it. There's only one high
priest, Christ. Christ. There were so many Old
Testament priests, so many of them, after the order of Aaron. Fleshly men, just sinful men,
just like Aaron. But there is only one priest
after the order of Melchizedek. All those Old Testament priests
died. Every single one of them, they
died. But Melchizedek has no end of days. He's going to live
forever. Those Old Testament priests offered
thousands and thousands of sacrifices. Melchizedek offered one. One. Those Old Testament priests never
put away one sin. Not one white lie. Not one. When Melchizedek made
one sacrifice, he put away every single sin. that every child
of God committed from the first day that child was born all the
way to the last day when he leaves this earth. Every single one. Every nation, every generation. Every single one. All of it.
Those Old Testament priests never sat down. There were no chairs
in the holy place. No chairs. They never got close
to finishing trying to make a payment for sin. They never got close
to it. Not one time. But after Melchizedek
offered his one sacrifice, he cried, it is finished. And then he sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. Those Old Testament priests Every
time one would die, the priesthood would change hands. The next
one would come along. It is never leaving Melchizedek's
hands. Never. There is no other priest
we will ever have to look to. No other priest. Those Old Testament
priests offered the blood of animals. Melchizedek offered
his own blood. He offered himself. Now go with
me, if you would, back to Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7 verse 22 says, By so
much 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. But this man, because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable It will not pass from one priest
to another. It's an unchangeable priesthood. What does that mean for us? What
does that mean for us? Verse 25 says that means 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. It does not matter where they
are. It does not matter when they are. He is able to save
to the uttermost. The uttermost. that come unto
God by him. There's only one way to come
to God. It's by him. It's through Melchizedek. It's
through the intercession of Melchizedek. Seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them. Every time one of those Old Testament
priests would die, they had to scramble to get another priest.
We don't have an intercessor to God. We've got to hurry up.
It's like going without insurance. We've got to hurry up and get
us another priest. Melchizedek will never die. Never die. He will ever live to make intercession
for us. Verse 26, this is one of my favorite
verses. For such an high priest became
us. I mean substitution. If Jesus
Christ became me, who did I become? That's too holy to answer. He
became us. He didn't just offer the sacrifice,
He became the sacrifice. I was supposed to be the sacrifice.
You know that? The Lamb, the reason for the
Lamb was because I was supposed to be the sacrifice. God said,
I'm going to show mercy to you through a substitute. And He became me. Verse 26, 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 sacrifice
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. That means perfected. He is perfect forevermore. Forevermore. This token right
here that we have, our God has given us this token. This was
the only token Abraham needed. He believed God. Isn't that right? This right here was the only
token that the Apostle Paul needed. All the apostles. This token
right here is all we need. This is all we need. Melchizedek
will save us. He will save us. That's the promise. He's going to save us. He will
make intercession for us. He will plead the blood for us. He became us. He suffered for
us. He bled for us. He offered up
himself and died for us. He paid our price in full by
that one sacrifice. That one sacrifice. And now he
ever lives to make intercession for us. I just so enjoy the thought
of my Lord seated at the right hand of the majesty on high.
Every single time this wicked man carries out what he already
paid for. That one's right there. I paid
for that. Intercession. Daily intercession. Thank God. As we partake of this,
let's not do this out of habit. Let's not do this out of formality.
Let's do this in remembrance of Him. In remembrance of Him. Christ, our great high priest,
our great prophet, and our great King.