chapter 7 Hebrews chapter 7 the title of
the message is Christ our eternal and superior high priest the theme of this epistle from
the beginning is Christ is better he's superior It starts out with Him being
better than the prophets, and then being better than the
angels, and then being better than Moses, and now He's better than Aaron
and that old covenant of works, that old Levitical priesthood.
He's better, He's far superior than they are. Paul is going to show them and
us how much more superior the priesthood of Christ is over Aaron by using Melchizedek. And I thought before coming out
here how important the High Priest
is. You know, without the priesthood,
without the Levites, and without the High Priest, nothing happens. The ceremonial law does not fulfill
itself. A goat is not going to offer
itself. A goat is not going to offer another goat. And it just
really hit me how that without the High Priest and without the
Levitical priesthood, everything stops. Nothing happens. And without the Lord Jesus Christ,
nothing happens the law is not fulfilled the law fulfilled by
a man a man named jesus christ he fulfilled the law by his obedience
and he did so on our behalf he did so as our substitute he did
so as our priest our high priest he did this for us now earlier
Paul mentioned Melchizedek, but he said they were not able to
understand what he was talking about because they were still
too immature in their faith. They should have been teachers,
but instead they were still babes. They should have grown up, but
they hadn t. But now in this chapter and in the few chapters
to follow the next seven eight nine and I think ten he's going
to elaborate on Melchizedek in reference to Christ and he's
going to show the importance of Christ as the high priest
over Aaron and over the Levitical priesthood you see they grew
up under the Levitical priesthood they grew up under that for about
what 2,000 years there's 2,000 years from Moses to Christ that's
a lot of time that's a lot of time for one day to say it's
over it's over now we can make reference to it and we can see
Christ in it as we will see as we go through the book of Hebrews
but those things are over with and I can understand to a point
HOW THEY HAD A DIFFICULT TIME WITH IT BECAUSE THEY WERE RAISED
UP FROM A CHILD, AND I MEAN THEY WERE RAISED UP FROM A CHILD ON
THESE THINGS, FAR MORE THAN WE WERE EVER RAISED UP ON ANYTHING.
I MEAN THEY WERE TAUGHT THESE THINGS FROM THEIR CHILDHOOD. AND THE PRIESTHOOD WITHOUT DOUBT
OF AARON AND THE LEVITES, IT WAS SET UP BY GOD. YOU SEE, IT'S
NOT JUST THE PRIESTHOOD, BUT GOD GAVE IT. God gave this, God
set this up. But God set it up as a PICTURE
of Christ, not as a way of salvation. We have to be careful that we
don't lay hold of the means and we forget the One who the means
represents, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's not stop at the means.
Let's go on to Him. Let's learn of Him. Let's know
Him. Make sure you know Jesus Christ because in a little while, it's
really going to mean something. When we draw our last breath,
there's only one thing that is of utmost importance, and that's
my relationship, my union to Jesus Christ. Nothing I accomplished
in this life, it will mean nothing. Zero. All the knowledge I have
acquired will mean zero. Only the knowledge that I have
of Christ, that means everything. That will mean everything. So
Paul, listen, Paul was showing them and us how foolish it is
to go back to something that cannot say because that was that
was the problem. I have no doubt that's why he
wrote this epistle. He said you become dull of hearing.
If you go, if you leave Christ, it's impossible to be renewed
again to repentance. That's how serious this is. TO
LEAVE THE REAL AND GO BACK TO A PHOTOGRAPH IS ABSOLUTELY, I'M GONNA SAY STUPID, IT'S JUST
ABSOLUTELY STUPID. WHAT IF I WAS TO LEAVE MY WIFE
AND JUST GO BACK TO A PHOTOGRAPH OF MY WIFE, AND JUST ADMIRE THE
PHOTOGRAPH ALL THE TIME, AND THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE GOING, THAT'S
WHAT THEY'RE DOING, THEY'RE GOING BACK TO NOTHING BUT A PICTURE
AND A PHOTOGRAPH WHEN THEY HAVE THE REAL, THEY HAVE THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST. they have HIM. Now here?s the situation. This is written to the Jewish
believers who were tempted to return to
that Old Covenant, and there?s no doubt some of
them wanted to mix BOTH of them. They wanted to put them Why can't
we just put them together? You can't put works and grace
together. It's like putting fire and gas
together. You know, oil and water, they don't mix. Works and grace
do not mix. In any way, shape, or form, you
can't make it mix. And I think some of them wanted
to make it mix. They wanted to mix it. You know,
compromise. We can get along with the family
better if we can compromise. WE ARE NOT WORRIED ABOUT GETTING
ALONG WITH THE FAMILY. GOD'S FAMILY, YES, BUT NOT THE
FAMILY OF THIS WORLD. YOU KNOW, WE BELONG TO GOD'S
FAMILY. WE ARE GOD'S FAMILY. NOW I HAVE
FAMILY OF THE FLESH, I DO. BROTHERS AND SISTERS. BUT THOSE
WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN MY FAMILY, THAT RELATIONSHIP IS GOING TO
BE DISSOLVED. BUT THE RELATIONSHIP THAT I HAVE IN CHRIST WITH YOU
AND ALL WHO BELIEVE IS ETERNAL. It's eternal. It's not going
to be broken. But here's the key question,
I think, of this chapter. Why should we trust Christ over
the Levitical priesthood which we've had for years and years
and years and God gave it to us? Why should we do that? And
the answer to this is given to us in chapter 7, 8, and 9 and
so forth. And the key message being set
forth here as we go forward in this epistle is this, that the
Lord Jesus Christ is our eternal perfect High Priest after the
order of Melchizedek, not after the order of Aaron, but after
the order of Melchizedek which was 500 years before Aaron, before
the Levitical priesthood came along. It was about 500 years
between those two. And we don't hear much about,
we don't know much about Melchizedek. He comes on the stage briefly
there in Genesis 14. He meets Abraham after he came
back from the slaughter of the kings. He met him and he blessed,
it says he blessed Abraham. You can read that later when
you go on. And he brought forth bread and
wine. Well, we know what that represents. It represents the
body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. THAT'S WHAT HE BROUGHT
FORTH AND BLESSED ABRAHAM. AND THEN HE GOES OFF THE STAGE
AGAIN. WE HEAR OF HIM IN PSALM 110. I BELIEVE IT'S IN VERSE 4 WE
HEAR OF HIM. JUST THAT ONE BRIEF VERSE. AND
THEN HE'S BROUGHT BACK UP HERE IN THIS CHAPTER. And the chapter
even before this, but Paul couldn't say much until now, he's going
to deal with it. But he's now, and I know the
Jews, I know they didn't think of, probably never thought of
Melchizedek after that. They thought of Aaron and the
Levites and, you know, the services they did every day. And they
didn't think of Melchizedek. But now he comes back on the
scene. And he's going to bring forth
Melchizedek in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our
Melchizedek. He is our King of Righteousness. He is our King of Peace, is he
not? He sure is. So that's the key
message here. Now we start out here first of
all in verse 1 through 3, and I'm just going to go for a little
while. But we have here the mystery
of Melchizedek. And you know Christ is a mystery.
Now He's not such a mystery to me and you because He's revealed
Himself to us. But I tell you this, to those
who don't know Him, who don't know Him, He's a mystery. We
know who you are, they said, you are the carpenter's son. THAT'S WHO THEY THOUGHT HE WAS.
THEY THOUGHT HE WAS ACTUALLY THE SON OF JOSEPH AND MARY. HE'S THE SON OF GOD. WHEN HE
CALMED THE WAVES AND THE WIND, THEY SAID WHAT MANNER OF MAN
IS THIS? WHAT MANNER OF MAN, WHAT A MYSTERIOUS
PERSON, WHAT KIND OF MAN IS THIS? And in this sense, he's like
Melchizedek, such a mysterious person. And here's the key thought in
these verses, verses 1 through 3, is Melchizedek points us to
a greater priesthood than that of Aaron. Now who is this Melchizedek? Well, in verse 1, it says he's
a priest of the Most High God. God had a priest established
before Aaron. As I said, about 500 years before
Aaron came along. But God had a priest. God has
always had a priest. Jesus Christ has always stood
as the priest of God's people, always, throughout eternity.
He has stood as our priest. He's God's high priest. We read
earlier where the Apostle said, No man takes this honor to himself,
but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. He didn't make
himself a priest of God, God made him a priest, years before
Aaron came along. And it says in verse 2 that he's
a king of righteousness. And after that also, he's a king
of Salem, which is where Jerusalem is now. King of Salem which is
King of Peace. There's only one person who's
ever held both offices at the same time, only one person, Jesus
Christ. Now, I believe, and I'm not going
to turn this into something, but I believe this is an appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because he's without lineage,
he's without mother, without father, he has no end of life,
no beginning of the days, no end of life. Well you can't have
two of them like that. There's one of them like that,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I know a lot of writers say,
and this may be so, but they say that there was no record
of his genealogy and no record of his life, no record of his
death, which is odd being a king. you know you kings they have
a lot of records written about them and a priest and a king
priest but there's one king priest there's one king priest the Lord
Jesus Christ there's one king of righteousness the Lord Jesus
Christ who is our righteousness there's one king of peace the
Lord Jesus Christ who is our peace he's our peace with God He s our Melchizedek. And this
title, listen, King of Righteousness and King of Salem, which is King
of Peace, only fits one person. It can only fit one person, Christ. Now this person, Melchizedek,
he met Abraham coming back from the slaughter of the kings and he blessed him. It says over
in Genesis 14, and he blessed Abraham. And you'll notice if
you go over in Genesis 14, he came out and met Abraham. He
came out and met Abraham. He blessed Abraham. He brought
to Abraham the bread and the wine. It may be, it may be, the
Lord said, Abraham saw my day and was glad. Abraham saw a lot, didn t he?
He saw a lot. And I have no doubt Abraham recognized
him. Whenever those three men came
to Abraham concerning Lot and was going to burn down Sodom,
Abraham recognized one of them and called him Lord. He called
him And he received a tithe from
Abraham. Now what does that really mean?
Abraham took all that spoil, gave a tenth of it to him, to
Melchizedek. You see, the Jews held Abraham
pretty much above everybody. Abraham is our father, they said.
Abraham is our father. And the point he's making here
is Abraham, whom you hold so high, bowed down to this Melchizedek
and honored him. This giving a tenth of all the
spoil to Melchizedek shows how Abraham honored him. You see, which one's the greatest
here, Abraham or Melchizedek? He's telling them Melchizedek
is the one who has the highest honor He's setting this up here so
that he can bring in Christ. That they can see that Christ
is superior to Aaron and the whole priesthood. He's our Melchizedek. He's it. He's the one. We have
a priest. It's like if we leave Aaron,
if we leave the priesthood, if we leave the Levites, if we leave
all this, the ceremonial law, how are we going to come before
God? This is where they became dull
of hearing. Had they been listening, they'd
know. It's amazing how a person can
sit under the gospel for years and still not hear anything.
It amazes me, and I'm telling you, I've seen this, how a person,
and I mean a person that believes the gospel, can stay so immature
for so long, sitting under the gospel. NOT LISTENING! NOT LISTENING! And here's the uniqueness of
His person. There's no record of His birth
or death. There's no record of it. Here He is a picture of Christ,
His Christ Eternality, Christ the King, Christ the Priest. Someone said it's hard for Christ
to be a type of his own self but you know it says here that
he was made like unto the Son of God. And that's where some of them
come up with the fact that they couldn't have been Christ. But
when Nebuchadnezzar looked into that furnace of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, what did he say? There's a fourth one in there
and he's like unto the Son of God. You know why? You know why
He's likened to the Son of God? Because He IS! Because He IS! And then we have here the superiority
of Melchizedek's priesthood. He's going to set forth here
in verses 4 through 10. Look here in verses 4 through
10. Now consider how great this man was. He's not just somebody who just
happened to be in history, this is a great man to whom even the Patriarch Abraham
gave the tenth of the spoils. He's pointing out here how great
Melchizedek had to be for Abraham to do this. and verily they that
are of the sons of Levi who receive 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 he's
not a Levi he's not a Levi but he received tithes from Abraham
their head father the faithful and blessed him that had the
promises without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better
the less is Abraham blessed of the better which is Melchizedek my what a what a what a picture
he's painting here for them And the thought of these verses is
this, the greater priest receives tithes and gives the blessing. He's the greater one. He's greater
than Aaron. Greater than Aaron. Abraham who gave tithes shows
that Melchizedek was greater. He recognized that. Abraham recognizes
and recognized Melchizedek to be the greater one. and Levi in Abraham's line paid
tithes through him which shows first of all representation but
it shows also that he's greater than the Levitical priesthood
because they paid tithes to Melchizedek this also shows that the whole
Levitical priesthood paid honor to him and what he's saying here is
this the priesthood of Melchizedek is greater than the Levitical
one IT WAS BEFORE THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD. And He wants to tie
all this in to the Lord Jesus Christ as our High Priest. We
have a High Priest who's seated at God's right hand, the Lord
Jesus Christ, perfect in every way, representing us before God,
our Advocate, our Mediator, our High Priest, our Sacrifice, His
Blood, the Blood of Atonement, He's everything that we need,
all wrapped up into one person, one person. And that being so,
we should honor the Lord Jesus Christ, not just as our Savior,
but also as our High Priest who represents us, worthy of our
worship, worthy of our trust, worthy of our obedience. He's
worthy. He's worthy. and then here in verses 11 through
19 he shows the need for a new and better priesthood because
the old system the old system could never bring perfection it can never bring perfection
the blood of bulls and goats never saved anyone not one sin
was forgiven through the blood of bulls and goats IT COULDN'T DO IT! IT COULDN'T
DO IT! YOU CAN'T KILL A GOAT FOR MY SINS AND MY SINS BE PUT
AWAY, GOD FORGIVE ME! THE LAMB OF GOD HAD TO COME AND
DO THAT! And he did it as a priest. He
offered up himself as a sacrifice for our sins. As the high priest
of God, as the high priest of the church, he offered up himself
as a sacrifice, just like Aaron would offer the sacrifice. Christ
offered up himself as the sacrifice. The priest offered up himself
as the sacrifice. And his blood is the blood of
atonement. And as Aaron would take the blood of atonement and
take it into the veil, the Lord Jesus Christ took his blood and
went into the veil. and laid it upon the altar. And His blood put away our sins.
His blood, the blood of God's Lamb, DID put away our sins.
It did. You see, the law of the Levitical
priesthood were insufficient. Look in verses 11 and 12. If
therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for
under it the people received the law, Well, what further need
was there that another priest should rise after the order of
Melchizedek? If that were so, if sins were
put away under that old Aaronic priesthood, then we don't need
another priest after the order of Melchizedek. But it did nothing
for us. All it was was a picture. He
said, Here, 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." We don't need that ceremonial law anymore.
We don't need Christ to come into this world and offer up
the same things Aaron's offered up. No, there's a new covenant. There's
a new covenant He represents and He ushers in, a new covenant,
a covenant of grace, not of works, a covenant of grace. THE COVENANT
IS ESTABLISHED UPON BETTER PROMISES. And then verse 20 and 28, Our perfect and eternal High
Priest is set forth now, in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know,
He set forth Melchizedek as this one who has no beginning, no
end, no record of it. And He applies that to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our Melchizedek. He is that one. He is King of
Righteousness. He is King of Peace. WE HAVE
IN HIM ALL WE NEED. YOU DON'T NEED TO GO BACK. I
CAN JUST HEAR HIM WRITING AND SAYING TO THEM YOU DON'T NEED
TO GO BACK. DON'T GO BACK TO THAT. IT'S NEVER SAVED ANYONE. IT CAN'T SAVE ANYONE. AND THE
ONE IT REPRESENTED, AS HE WILL SHOW AS WE GO ON THROUGH THIS,
THE ONE IT REPRESENTED, HE'S THE ONE WHO SAVES. JESUS CHRIST
IS THE ONE WHO SAVES. That old priesthood and that
old law couldn't save anybody. It was just a picture. We're here in verses looking
20 and 28 and I'll close. I'm just trying to do just a
quick overview tonight of it. That's all I'm trying to do.
I haven't even scratched the surface, I know that. But look
at this. In verse 19, For the law made
nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. That
better hope is Christ. Christ is that better hope. A
better hope and a better covenant. By the wish we draw night of
God. How do we draw night of God? We draw the night of God
through the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? We draw night of God
through Christ our High Priest. That's how we draw night of God.
We pray in His name, don't we? That's how we draw night of God. And inasmuch as not without an
oath, he was made a priest." You see, Christ was made a priest
by an oath. You go over to Psalm 110 and
you'll see it. They aren't a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. The Levitical priesthood was
not by an oath. it was just it was uh the levites
his ancestry it was just like you're born a levite you're a
priest they they were made priests without an oath jesus christ
was made a priest by an oath long before aaron came along
long before the the uh the levitical priesthood was established christ
was already made a priest a high priest FOR THOSE PRIESTS WERE
MADE WITHOUT AN OATH, BUT THIS WITH AN OATH BY HIM THAT SAID
TO HIM, THE LORD SWEAR WILL NOT REPENT, THOU ART A PRIEST FOREVER
AT THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEC. BY SO MUCH WAS JESUS MADE A SURETY,
A GUARANTOR OF A BETTER TESTAMENT." A better covenant, it's called
a covenant of grace, that's what it is, it's a covenant of grace.
And they truly were many priests because they were not suffered
to continue by reason of death but this man this man named Jesus
Christ because he continueth ever because he ever liveth he
ever liveth he has an unchangeable priesthood he's not going to
die he's alive right now he's alive and well Jesus Christ is
alive and well right now seated at God's right hand And He's
not going to die and some other priests take His place like they
did under the Old Testament, that old economy. No, this one
lives forever. This one lives forever. Wherefore,
and because of this, because He is an unchangeable priesthood,
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."
See how much Aaron couldn't do that, and all those thousands
of priests that lived after Aaron, they couldn't do this. But this
one priest who liveth forever, who is the King of Righteousness,
OUR Righteousness, who is the King of Peace, OUR Peace with
God. He lives and He makes intercession for us. Right now, as we sit
here, you sit there and I'm standing here preaching, He's interceding
for us, making this service accepted of God. He's officiating this
service, He is. That's a good thought. He's officiating
this service. FOR SUCH A HIGH PRIEST BECAME
US, SUCH A HOLY, HARMLESS, UNDEFILED PRIEST BECAME US, HE BECAME ONE
WITH US, WHO IS HOLY, HARMLESS, UNDEFILED, SEPARATE FROM SINNERS,
AND MADE HIGHER THAN THE HEAVENS. You see, He takes the priesthood
of Christ, Christ our High Priest, and I wish we would really, really
get into really understand and know the offices of Christ. We
see Him as our Savior, He is. He died on Calvary Street for
us as a substitute, He did. But if you really want to have
some assurance, really grow in grace and knowledge of Christ,
learn something of His Prophet, Priest, and King, His offices
because He fulfills these offices for us. A prophet, no man knows the Father
save the Son and He to Whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. You're
never going to know anything unless Christ reveals it to you.
He's the messenger from heaven. He's the messenger of the covenant.
He is. Who needeth not daily, Christ
needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice
first for His own sins. Christ had no sins. And then
for the peoples, for this he did once when he offered up himself,
he made one offering. How many thousands of offerings
you read? I imagine it's in the millions. Over 2000 years, it's
probably in the millions. More than that, I mean, Abel
brought a blood offering, so you go on back to Abel. But Jesus Christ, AS A HIGH PRIEST
MADE ONE OFFERING HIMSELF, AND HE HAS PERFECTED FOREVER THEM
THAT ARE SANCTIFIED, SET APART, CHOSEN OF GOD BY ONE OFFERING. 4 FOR THE LAW MAKETH MEN HIGH
PRIESTS, WHICH HAVE INFIRMITIES, BUT THE WORD OF THE OATH, GOD. 5 BUT THE WORD OF THE OATH, WHICH
WAS SINCE THE LAW, MAKETH THE SON, THE SON OF GOD, You see,
now we've got to the, now we're at the pinnacle of it. Now we've
reached the pinnacle. It's like we've been climbing
a ladder and now we've reached the pinnacle. God by an oath
has made his son our high priest and he lives forever and he intercedes
for us. And we really ought to get to
know Christ in every facet of his offices in person. You know what's just astounding
to me, because I experienced this, before I heard Henry preaching
the gospel, I KNEW NOTHING OF THIS! I MEAN NOTHING! I KNEW NOTHING OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!
I KNEW NOTHING OF HIS 33 YEARS OF LIVING AND WORKING OUT A RIGHTEOUSNESS
FOR ME! I DIDN'T KNOW THAT! Here's the
only thing I was ever told, Jesus Christ died for you, won't you
accept Him as your personal Savior? THAT WAS THE ONLY THING I HEARD,
THE ONLY THING THEY KNEW, WHICH WAS A LIE. THE WAY THEY PREACHED
IT WAS A LIE. I DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT
HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. I DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE PRIESTHOOD
OF CHRIST. I DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ALL THESE EXAMPLES. I DIDN'T
KNOW THAT. THAT'S BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T KNOW IT. BE CAREFUL WHO
YOU LISTEN TO. BE CAREFUL. BLIND LEADS THE BLIND. GUESS WHAT THEY BOTH END UP AT?
in the ditch, the same ditch. For the law maketh men high priests,
which have infirmities. But the worthy oath, which was
since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated, perfected
forevermore. Now in closing, let me give you
this. IS SUPERIOR IN HIS PERSON, SON
OF GOD, SECOND PERSON OF THE TRINITY. HE IS SUPERIOR IN HIS
POSITION, GOD MADE HIM THE HIGH PRIEST, AND HE IS SUPERIOR IN
HIS PRIESTHOOD. HE IS THE HIGH PRIEST OF GOD. And don't go back to shadows
when you have the REAL SUBSTANCE, that's what He's telling them
here. He's making it VERY CLEAR to them. You have a High Priest
that's far superior than Aaron in Levitical Priesthood. Here's
the application. TRUST IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
FULLY. Not only as Savior, but as the
ETERNAL HIGH PRIEST who brings us NEAR to God. DON'T GO BACK
TO ANYTHING OR ANYONE ELSE FOR SALVATION. IT IS CHRIST AND CHRIST
ALONE AND WE HAVE IN JESUS CHRIST EVERYTHING WE NEED. PERIOD.