I want to try to bring a message
tonight entitled The Divine Order. The Divine Order. Now, I would like to read a passage
of scripture that will introduce this message. I'm not going to
say much about this passage of scripture, but would you turn
to 1 Chronicles 13. First Chronicles, chapter 13. This is David speaking in verse
three, and he says, and let us bring again the ark of our God
to us, for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul. And all
the congregations said they would do so, for the thing was right
in the eyes of all the people. So David gathered all Israel
together from Shihor of Egypt, even into the entering into Hamath,
to bring the ark of God from Kirtjath-jearim. And David went
up, and all Israel, to Bala, that is to Kirtjath-jearim, where
belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the Lord,
that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called Onnit. And
they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of
Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio drave the cart." Now, just a
comment in the book of Exodus, very specific instructions were
given with regard to the transport of this ark. There were staves
made that were put between rings, and the priests would raise it
up and march with the ark. Verse 8, And David and all Israel
played before God with all their might, and with singing, and
with harps, and with psalteries, and with temperals, and with
cymbals, and with trumpets. And when they came unto the threshing
floor of Chidon, Uzzah, put forth his hand to hold the ark, for
the oxen stumbled." Now picture in your mind, the ark of the
covenant is getting ready to fall off the cart, and Uzzah tries to stop it. Verse 10, and the anger of the
Lord was kindled against Uzzah. And he smote him, because he
put his hand to the ark, and there he died before God." Now,
I want you to think of this. He tries to steady the Ark of
the Covenant to keep it from falling to the ground, and as
soon as he touches the Ark, the anger of the Lord is kindled
against him, and God kills him for this. Remember, this is the
Word of God. And David was displeased because
the Lord had made a breach upon us. Wherefore, that place is
called Piraeus, to this day. And David was afraid of God that
day, saying, how shall I bring the ark of God home to me? So
David brought not the ark home to himself, to the city of David,
but carried it aside into the house of Obedidim, the Gittite. And the ark of God remained with
the family of Obedidim in the house three months, And the Lord
blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had. Now look
in chapter 15. This is David speaking unto the
priests. First Chronicles chapter 15,
beginning in verse 11. And David called for Zadok and
Abathar, the priests, and for the Levites, for Ural, Uzziah,
Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Ammon and Ab. And he said unto
them, you are the chief of the fathers of the Levites. Sanctify
yourselves, both you and your brethren, that you may bring
up the ark of the Lord God of Israel into the place that I
prepared for it. For because you did it not at
the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for we sought
him not after the due order. God is a God of order. I hope we'll understand this
by the end of this message. Now, my text is found in Hebrews
chapter seven. Hebrews chapter seven. But before
we go to Hebrews 7, I want to read a few scriptures with regard
to this mysterious man Melchizedek. Melchizedek first is mentioned
in Genesis chapter 14 where Abraham paid tithes to him. He's not
mentioned again until Psalm 110 where David says, Thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And then in Hebrews,
look in chapter five. Hebrews chapter five. Verse 10. Verse nine, and being made perfect,
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, he became the author of eternal
salvation. unto all them that obey him,
called of God and high priest, after the order of Melchizedek."
Not after the order of Levi, but after the order of Melchizedek. As a matter of fact, Melchizedek
was 400 years before Levi. Look at chapter six. Verse 20,
whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an
high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Four, 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. First, King of Righteousness. After that, 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, if I have any understanding
of the scripture, Melchizedek is the Lord Jesus Christ. And
who else could be identified with this description, having
neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto
the Son of God, abiding a high priest continually. I've heard people say, well,
if he's made like the Son of God, how can he be the Son of
God? Maybe some of you are thinking that. Well, when John saw the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I saw one like unto
the Son of God. He saw the Son of God. When Daniel
is When the three, in Daniel chapter
three, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into
the fiery furnace, and Nebuchadnezzar said, didn't we not throw three
men in? Lo, I see four walking. And the fourth is like unto the
Son of God. Melchizedek is the Son of God. Now what I want to call your
attention to, and this is what really inspired this message,
in verse 2, he's called first, being by interpretation, King
of Righteousness, and after that also, King of Salem, which is
King of Peace. First, King of Righteousness. After that, King of Peace. You see, there will be no peace
until there's first absolute righteousness. Perfect righteousness. Sinlessness. That's what righteousness
is. Sinlessness. First righteousness. After that, there's peace. Now, if I stand before God, perfectly
righteous. And that means I've never sinned. That's what justification is.
Justification means you've never sinned. I've heard people describe
justification as just as if I've never sinned. That doesn't get
it for me. I've still sinned. Justification
is, I've never sinned. Isn't that the mystery of the
gospel? How God has made a way to be
just, absolutely just, absolutely righteous, and justify the ungodly. That means they've never sinned. Without guilt. A brand new history. A history that has no sin, no
skeletons in the closet. Righteousness. Now if I stand
before God absolutely righteous, you know what that gives me?
Peace. The peace of God. I think of
what Paul said in Romans chapter 14 verse 17. The kingdom of God
is not meat and drink. It's righteousness and peace. and joy in the Holy Ghost." Note
the order, righteousness, peace, and joy. Now God is a God of
order. Paul said to the church at Corinth,
God is not the author of confusion or disorder. The church at Corinth
was in chaos. Somebody says, can a real church
get like that? Corinth did. Corinth did. Read the book of I Corinthians
and you'll see that. And Paul said to them, let all
things be done decently and in order. Now this thing of the
order, the divine order, it begins perhaps in God manifesting
this to us in creation. God created the heavens and the
earth. God, we begin with God. Then
we have the creation. First God, after that, the creation. God's eternal order. Let me read a passage from Luke.
If you want to turn with me there, Luke chapter one. Luke one. This is Luke's introduction
to the book of Luke, and I love this passage of scripture. He
says in verse 1, for as much as many have taken in hand to
set forth in order, do you see that? In order. a declaration
of those things which are most surely believed among us, even
as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were
eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. It seemed good to me
also, having had perfect understanding of all things, from the very
first to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that
thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou
hast been instructed. Now, this is the order Paul spoke
of when he wrote to the church at Colossae. Beholding your order
and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. You know, even when we're talking
about the preaching of the gospel, there's a certain order. It's
not man and the things God can do for him. It's God. That's where we begin. Not with
man and his needs. We begin with God. And anytime we begin with God,
this is absolutely necessary, we begin in eternity. We are bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now, in the order of everything,
it must first begin in eternity or it is false. Known unto God
are all his works from the beginning. I love in Acts chapter 4 when
the early church, I mean these people had just been regenerated
for a couple of weeks and hear what they had to say. This is
the early church, very young believers. They say of a truth. against thy holy child Jesus
whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel appointed before
to be done." It must begin in eternity. And you take that away
And the cross of Christ is meaningless. We have to begin with eternity. God is the eternal God. There's no time with God. We
can't understand that, I realize that. We're bound to space and
time. We're bound to a sequence of
events. We have yesterday and right now and tomorrow. God doesn't
have that. He's the eternal God. He is I
am that I am. Not I was, not I will be, not
I wanna be, not I could be, not I should be. I am that I am. This is the living God. Now, all the information we have
with regard to the divine order is found in the scripture. If
we don't have this, we don't have anything. Listen to the
scripture. Peter said in 2 Peter 1.18, knowing this first. There's the order. Knowing this
first, that no scriptures have any private interpretation. You
know, somebody says, here's my interpretation of it. I don't
want to hear it. I don't want to hear what you're, I want to
know what God says it is. I've even heard people say, this
is my truth. No, it's not your truth, it's God's truth. And
it's not subjective, it's the objective truth of God. Knowing
this first, that no scripture is of any private interpretation,
but Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We've got to begin here. The
scripture give us the divine order. Christ identifies himself
as the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. The first and the last. And he said, with regard to the
scriptures, you search the scriptures, in them you think you have eternal
life, and they are they which testify of me. Now there we have Any Scripture
we approach, here's where we begin. Here's the order. You
know it testifies of Christ. It testifies of the Gospel. It
testifies of the Cross. And if I don't have that, I don't
really have any understanding of that Scripture. It said of
Christ, all things were made by Him and for Him. There's the order. And without
Him was not anything made that was made. I love His order in
creation. In the beginning, God. What was the first thing? Light. Light. And God demonstrates an
order. The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrates
an order in these six days of creation. Do you believe there
were six literal days? Yes, I do, because it says in
the morning and the evening were the first day, the morning and
the evening were the second day, the morning and evening were
the third day. Well, how do you account for fossil fuel? How do you account
for the ages of the earth? I mean, people think it's 13
billion, some 4 billion, some 6 or 8,000. God could have easily, I think he
did create the earth to where it had all the fossil fuels and
he created it 14 billion years old. I don't know. Does it even
matter? I believe whatever the Bible
teaches, that's what I believe. And I believe six literal days.
How old the earth is, I don't know. But the point is, there
is an order. In Providence, God has an order. We've been talking about creation.
Now, first the Bible. Knowing this first, in creation
God has an order, in providence God has an order. Providence began when matter,
space, and time were willed by God in creation. That is when
providence Providence is everything that takes place in time. Everything. Everything that's
taken place with you up to this point and everything that will
take place after this point is all according to God's providence. The events, the sequence of the
events, and the outcome of the events are determined by the
living God who is sovereign. He said not a sparrow falls to
the ground without your Heavenly Father. Now, something as insignificant
as a sparrow over on the other side of the world falling to
the ground, God's in control of that? Yes. Absolutely. He is in control of all things. Christ is before all things. I love that scripture. Whatever
it is, He's before it. He's before all things. And by
Him, all things consist. God said in Isaiah 45 verses
5 through 7, I am the Lord, I form the light, I create darkness.
I make peace, I create evil. I, the Lord, do. Do. All. These. Things. Would you turn with me to Isaiah
46? I'd like you to see this. Read it with me. Isaiah chapter
46. Verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there's none else. I am God, and there's
none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done. Saying,
my counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country,
yea, I've spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it. I will also do it. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. That's why Romans 8 28, all things. work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are thee called according to His
purpose. Everything that happens in time,
in the news, natural disasters that we would
call that, wars, whatever it is, everything mundane in my
life, God is the first cause. And you know something glorious
about the Lord, I don't understand what He's doing, but He does.
And He brings good out of evil all the time. God is good all
the time. Every attribute of God is good. So, whenever you don't know what's
going on, trust His character. He does. He's in control of everything. That is who He is. There's an
order in Providence. God. He's the cause of everything
that takes place. I love that scripture, Proverbs
16, verse 33, the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. Somebody says, do you believe
in free will? No. No, I do not. I don't at all. We do what we want to do, and
we do not do what we do not want to do. We're not coerced into
doing what we do, and we're not coerced into not doing what we
don't do. We act freely in that sense,
and God is completely sovereign over all of our free actions.
He's even sovereign over the things going on through our minds
right now. Every thought, He is in absolute control of. God is completely sovereign over
the free and uncoerced actions of men. Isn't he glorious? All
together, lovely. This first, after that. First righteousness, after that. Now, I want to talk about God's
order in salvation. I love that passage of scripture
in Ephesians 1.13 where it says that we should be to the praise
of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Who first trusted
in Christ. God the Father trusted Him to
save all of His people. He's the first one to trust Christ. When Christ stood as my surety
before time began, God entrusted my salvation to Him. And at that
time, everything God required of me, He looked to His Son for
as my surety. He's the first one to trust the
Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture. David's
dying. This is from 2 Samuel 23, 5.
You can jot it down and go back and look at it. But David's dying.
David, the man after God's own heart. The sweet psalmist of
Israel. The most powerful man at one
time in the world because the scripture says the fear of David
fell upon every nation. David. He's dying. What's he thinking
about? Well, he could have thought about
Bathsheba and Uzzah, or Uriah, rather. He could have thought
about the way he numbered the people. There's all kinds of
things that could have come into his mind, or he could have even been
thinking, Lord, use me to deliver Israel, make us the most powerful
nation. But he wasn't thinking about anything like that. These
be the dying words of David. He said this, 2 Samuel 23, verse
5. Although my house be not so with
God. His house was a mess. God said
it would be. And I think more than anything
else, he's talking about this house, this house, this body. Although my house be not so with
God, yet. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered, ordered in all things and sure. And he said, this is all my salvation
and all my desire. though he make it not to grow.
Second Timothy 1.9, listen to this scripture. He saved us and called us. What came first? The saving or
the calling? He saved us. And then He called us, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. There is the divine order. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 3 says,
all the works were finished from the foundation of the world. He saved us and He called us. Now if I invert the order, I
turn salvation into works. That's how important this is.
If I invert that order, I make salvation dependent upon what
I do, my response, rather than His Grace. Now, if the salvation of my soul
did not begin in eternity, note the order, I won't be saved in
time. I must trace the roots of my
salvation to eternity. And if I don't, I will not be
saved in time. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 says,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. Listen to this. Revelation chapter
13 verse 8, Christ is called the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. Listen to this order.
First the Savior, then the sinner. First the Savior, then the sinner. Before there was a sinner, there
was a Savior. And I believe that the whole
Bible is understood in light of that verse of Scripture, Christ
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now, listen to
the order here. Before there's forgiveness, there
must first be justification. Before there's forgiveness, there
must first be justification. What is justification? Justification,
if God justified me, you read that scripture in Romans chapter
5 verse 1, therefore being justified. If you're justified, what does
that mean? You're not guilty. That means when you're brought
before the court, You're sinless. You didn't do anything wrong.
You've always done that which is right. That's what justification
is. It's a perfect standing before the holy law of God. It's to
be sinless. Now God said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. If God ever sees me as guilty,
I will not be cleared. God's absolutely just. Justification
first, the forgiveness of sins comes from that. And let me give
you a scripture that I think will illustrate this. I love
this verse of scripture. First John chapter one, verse
nine says, if we confess our sins, what's it mean to confess your
sins? Does that mean you verbally articulate
every single one of them? Let me give you a couple of reasons
that's not what it is. Number one, because most of my
sins, I don't even know I've committed them. I don't even
know what they are. Number two, there's not enough time in the
day. If I had to confess every single one of my sins, all I'd
be doing was confessing, and I'd leave out most of them at
that. So this is not talking about being able to confess your
sins, articulate your sins before God. What this is talking about,
when you confess your sins, the word means to speak the same
thing. You agree with what God says
about your sin. You take sides with God against
yourself. Have you ever done that? Complete
agreement with God. Oh, may the Lord give us all
the grace to do that right now. Complete agreement with God. There's no excuse for my sin.
I can't justify my sin. Listen to me. I have not not sinned for one
second in my life. Hadn't happened. I cannot not
sin. I can't look down my nose at
any son of Adam in judgment. Can't do it. I've got no claims
on God, I've got no sense of entitlement if we confess our
sin. If we confess our sin. He is merciful and gracious to
forgive us our sin. Is that what it says? As a matter
of fact, let's turn to 1 John chapter 1 for just a moment. Verse nine, if we confess our
sins, it doesn't say he's merciful and gracious to forgive us our
sins, although he is. He is, amen? He's merciful and
gracious to forgive us our sins. What a glorious savior he is.
But look what it says. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins. to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you
confess your sins, let me tell you why you did it. Because of
God's faithfulness. Because He decreed before time
began that you would do just that because the Lamb died for
you. And it was His purpose for you to take sides with Him against
yourself. That's the way you... He's faithful
to Himself. And the reason you or I confess
our sins before Him is because of His faithfulness. Not only
is He faithful to forgive us of our sins, He is just. The very justice of God demands
the complete acquittal of every single believer without exception
because of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's faithful. Yes, He's merciful. Yes, He's
gracious. But I love the words John uses.
He's faithful and He's just to forgive our sins and to cleanse
us. Now this word cleanse is in the
present active voice. Do you need presently cleanse
from your sins right now? The blood of Jesus Christ, present
active right now, cleanseth us from all sin. The divine order. Somebody might
be thinking, well, you're just trying to be logical. Not really. This does make sense. Really,
nothing else makes sense, does it? This does make sense. There
is to be an order. But I'm not trying to be logical.
I'm trying to be scriptural. I remember one time I was talking
to a preacher. He was a Southern Baptist preacher.
And we were dealing, or I was trying to talk to him about the
atonement of Christ for the elect and how he accomplished salvation.
And the preacher, he criticized me with this criticism. He said,
you're just trying to make sense. Well, I guess maybe it does make
sense, but that's not why I'm preaching. It's what the Bible
teaches, the divine order. Think about this. I'm not gonna
be saved if I don't repent and believe. Isn't that so? I will not be saved unless I
personally repent before God, a change of mind with regard
to God, and believe the gospel. I'm to do that myself. What has to precede that? The grace of God giving me the
grace to repent. It's the gift of God, the grace
of God giving me the grace to believe something comes before
my faith and my repentance. Now, insofar as our experience
goes, When we believe, we live at the exact same time. I mean,
there's not a millisecond between believing and life. When you
believe, you believe right now, you live. You live before God,
you believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Chronologically, they come at
the exact same time, but logically, life must come before faith and
repentance. There will be no faith or repentance
unless God gives life. In gospel preaching, Paul said,
I delivered unto you first of all. There's the order. I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. I delivered first that which
I received. He gave it to me. I delivered. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10. Now there's
an order here. Verse 13. For whosoever, I'm so thankful for that word.
I can fit myself into that demographic. I'm a whosoever. Whosoever. Are you a whosoever? Don't ask
yourself right now, what if I'm not one of the elect? What if
Christ didn't die for me? Just forget that thinking. Listen
to this scripture. Whosoever. That's better than
if it said Todd Knobbert because there might be other Todd Knobberts
that didn't mean me. But I am a whosoever. I can identify myself
in this word. Whosoever shall call. Help! Save me! Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord. Now here's the important word.
The name of the Lord is His attributes. That's who He is. When I call
upon the name of the Lord, I'm saying, Lord, save me as an act
of Your justice. Save me in a way that glorifies
your justice. Save me as an act of your sovereignty. Will my salvation. Save me as
an act of your grace and mercy. Save me as an act of your power.
You're calling upon all the attributes of God to save you. That's the
only way you can be saved. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, listen to this, shall be saved. That's a promise of God. You call upon the name of the
Lord, you shall be saved. Verse 14. How then, shall they call on
Him in whom they've not believed? It's impossible. You know when you call? When
you believe. Faith. When you believe, that's when
you call, not before then. You believe who He is. You believe
what He said. You rely on what He said. You
put all your salvation in what He said. You rely on what He
did. You cannot call if you don't
believe. You believe. Do you believe who
He is? Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? The Son of the Living God. Do you believe that? You know
what you'll do if you do? You'll call. You'll call. Without question, you'll call. And how shall they believe in
Him whom they've not heard? You can't believe something you've
never heard. There must be a hearing of the gospel. There's no salvation
apart from hearing the truth of the gospel. What do you gotta believe to
be saved? Everything God said. Everything. And you hear the gospel. When
you hear the gospel, you can't believe what you've never heard.
And look what it says next. And how shall they hear without
a preacher? Now is that putting importance
on the preacher? As far as the preacher himself
goes, no. You know, there's nothing that
I hate more, I don't believe, than this clergy laity attitude,
like the preachers, this, you know, everybody, I just hate
that kind of stuff. Paul said, Paul said, though
he was apostle, he said, though I be nothing, and any true preacher
knows he's nothing. This is not putting an emphasis
on the preacher, but here's what it is putting an emphasis on.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. The emphasis is not the preacher,
but this is the means God uses. You know, there's something,
you're gonna tell me that I'm not gonna be saved apart from
hearing a fool like you preach the gospel? Yeah, yeah, that's
what God says. How should they hear without
a preacher? And how should they preach except
they be what? Sent. What an order. You hear, you believe, you call,
you're saved. The wisdom from above is first,
pure. After that, peaceable, gentle. Easy to be entreated. You see
the order? First pure, absolute truth, without
error. After that, gentle, peaceable,
easy to be entreated. I love the scripture in Philippians
chapter two, verse 12, when Paul said to the church at Philippi, work out. your own salvation
with fear and with trembling. Don't be apathetic about this. Work it out with fear and trembling. For, here's the order, it's God
that worketh in you. both to will and to do His good
pleasure. If He works in you both to will
and to do, you will work it out. May this be branded in our hearts,
first righteousness. the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Perfect righteousness before
God. Sinlessness before God. First
righteousness. After that, peace. Amen.