Welcome again to our study of
the book of Ezra we're in the book of Ezra chapter 7 for our
study and We're going to read verses 1 through 10 Please forgive
me if I pronounce some of these names differently than you do I Listen to a couple of people
read them online and I'm going to try to do the best I can I
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of
Persia, Ezra, the son of Zeriah, the son of Azariah, the son of
Hilkiah, the son of Salium, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitab,
the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Marath, the
son of Zeriah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Buki, the son of Abashu,
the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron,
the chief priest. In this passage of scripture
we have Ezra's pedigree back to Aaron. I'm just was interested in looking up
some of the names here and finding out what they mean. And many
of these names have a meaning that has to do with God or has
to do with Jehovah. But there is enough meanings
of names sprinkled through these that were in the line of Ezra
to remind us of the fall. We have, first of all, that name
that was mentioned there in verse 1, Zariah. That means Jehovah
is ruler. The next name is Jehovah has
helped. And Hilkiah, my portion is Jehovah. And then we come to the next
name, and there is a reminder that God has given us in this
line of pedigree of Ezra. This man's name is Retribution. We go on to Zadok. His name means
righteous. The next name, my brother, is
goodness. Amariah, Jehovah speaks. Azariah, Jehovah has helped. And here we have one of the other
names in the long list of Ezra's pedigree that reminds us of the
fall. His name means rebellious. The
next one, Zariah, Jehovah has risen. Uzi, strong. And then once again, Bukai, wasting. Abishah my father is rescue or
safety Phinehas mouth of brass Eleazar God has helped and Aaron
the chief priest light bringer so like in all of our genealogies
we will find those who speak out for us and share with us
that they that we are related to Adam that we are a participants
of the fall by imputation Ezra's pedigree Some scholars say there
are some missing generations in this list and there probably
are If we compare other verses of scripture yet, that is not
the issue the point we see in this passage is Ezra could trace
his line back to Aaron and from Aaron to Abraham and from Abraham
to Noah, and from Noah to Adam. There was a clear line that is
there. But did you notice with me that
Ezra could trace his genealogy back to the first priest set
over Israel in the wilderness? Aaron. In verses six through
10, it is this Ezra that travels from Babylon to Jerusalem after
the temple was rebuilt, and they had observed the first Passover
in Jerusalem for many years. So let's begin at verse 6 and
read down through verse 10. This Ezra went up from Babylon,
and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord
God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all
his requests, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon
him. And there went up some of the
children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and
the singers, and the porters, and the Nephilim unto Jerusalem
in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. And he came to Jerusalem
in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up
from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he
to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart
to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in
Israel statutes and judgments. Well, for our message today,
we're going to stop there, and we'll probably have to pick up
a number of these verses in our continued study of the book of
Ezra. But we do find here that the
providence of God is with him, and the providence of God has
touched the king there in Babylon to allow him to go back. He's
a ready scribe in the law of the Lord, which the Lord had
given him. The king had granted his request,
but he also tells us in that passage of scripture that the
Lord God of heaven is his God. Why did he stay in Babylon for
these several years before he left for Jerusalem? On God's
clock, it was not the right time. But now was the right time. When it was time, we read that
God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
The time of Ezra's arrival is found in that verse. We will
be looking at the ministry of Ezra for this in the next three
chapters, yet there is a passage in Nehemiah chapter eight, verse
five through eight, I would like to read at this time. And we
may not make reference to this in the future, but I would like
to go over there right now. And we find in Nehemiah, and
Nehemiah is a companion book to the book of Ezra. They are
written during the somewhat same period of time. It's after the
Babylonian captivity. Ezra and Nehemiah, these books
record the events that took place in Jerusalem in the building
of the temple and in the building of the wall of Jerusalem. In
Nehemiah chapter 8, beginning with verse 5, we have these words. Ezra opened the book now. This
is the book that we find Mentioned here. It's the book of the law
of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel and that's in verse
1 of This 8th chapter and then it says in Ezra opened the book
or opened the scroll In the sight of all people for he was above
all the people when he opened it all the people stood up Ezra
blessed the Lord the great God and all the people answered.
Amen. Amen with lifting up their hands
and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their
faces to the ground and Yeshua and Bani and Jeremiah and Jamin
and Aqob Sabbath. Ayah. How'd you hold? Ajah Masha Kilithah, Azariah,
Josabed, Hanun, Phileah, and the Levites caused the people
to understand the law and the people stood in their place.
So they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly and
gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. In another translation it says,
and they gave out the words of the book of the law of God clearly
and gave the sense of it so that their minds were able to take
it in. So they read in the book, in
the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them
to understand the reading. Ezra may do many things after
his arrival from Babylon. But none could compare to the
importance of this one task, and that is declaring the word
of God. And he did it in such a way,
and those others that were readers too, they did it in such a way
that they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly. and
gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. To
me, this is one of the greatest verses in the Bible that shares
with what a pastor or preacher should do when it comes to the
word of God. There is no greater task that can be done than the
reading of the word with these directions. Distinctly gave the
sense and caused them to understand the reading. Now we can never
make anybody understand spiritual things, but we do have the privilege
of reading them, and when it comes to words or passages of
scripture, we have the privilege of going and comparing scripture
with scripture and coming up with the sense of it. It is the
Holy Spirit that reveals those things to our heart. It is the
Holy Spirit that reveals the Lord Jesus to us. It is that. We cannot do that. It's an impossible
thing for us to do it. But may we do what we can do
rightly. All right. Would you remember
And go back with me to the book of Ezra chapter 7 now He is a
ready minister of the gospel. He is a ready minister of the
Word of God and It tells us about he read the book of Moses the
book of the law But we have to remember when we get to the New
Testament that Moses wrote of Christ. That's what Jesus said
about himself Moses wrote of me And it was the Old Testament
that all the apostles used in all their preaching. It is the
Old Testament that Paul uses when he writes the book of Hebrews
or his letters in the New Testament as the Holy Spirit gave him utterance.
It is the Holy Spirit that gave the meanings and the types and
the shadows and the pictures found in the Old Testament. And
so we have a person by the name of Ezra has come to Jerusalem
after a lot of the work had taken place. And he arrives there and
he has several things in mind that he plans on doing. And the
number one thing is to bring out the word of God. He's a ready
scribe of the Lord. He's a ready testimony of the
Lord. As we return to Ezra chapter
seven, verses one through five, we'd like to spend our time there
this morning and just look at some of the thoughts that are
here Ezra chapter five, excuse me, chapter seven, verses one
through five. We read that and it was very important for these
folks to be able to trace their lineage. If you remember with
me, when we were in the book of Ezra chapter two, if you just
turn back just a little bit in your Bibles to Ezra chapter two,
there in verse 59, we spent some time, but it's been some time
ago, in Ezra chapter two, verse 59, there were those that couldn't
prove that they were of the house of Israel tells us here and Ezra
chapter 2 verse 59 and these were they which up from Telma Excuse me, I'm trying to pronounce
these names again. Telma, and Teleressa, and Cherub,
and Adon, and Imar, but they could not show their father's
house. and their seed, whether they
were of Israel. And in that same chapter in verse
62, these sought their register among those that were reckoned
by genealogy, but they were not found, therefore were they as
polluted, put from the priesthood. So they sought in the register,
they sought in the genealogy. They couldn't prove whether they
were the seed of the house of Israel. They couldn't prove whether
they were of the priesthood. Now, Ezra was not of these that
were unable to show his genealogy. He had it, and it's written here. He could, and it went back to
Aaron. And as we mentioned, if you can
make it to Aaron, you can make it back to Adam. Now, there were
many that wished to be able today to trace their religious line
back to Aaron. and the Levitical priesthood
to agree with the law and even say they keep the law and hope
to gain a place with God by keeping it. Yet, if you'll turn with
me to the book of Romans, we find that God has shared some
information and this information is for his people. Now there's
going to be a lot of people that read this and they're just going
to go, well, I know what it says, but that's not what it means.
Most people don't have an understanding. of the fall. They don't understand
depravity. They don't know how far it went.
And they continue to go on with the attitude of having a free
will. And we find out that if we study
the Bible, we realize that there is only one person and his wife
that had a free will. And Adam was really in the lead
there. I don't know how many times it's
been impressed upon me that when Eve ate that fruit, nothing happened. But when Adam ate that fruit,
many things happened. every atom of the universe was
touched by that fall. So we look and we find that if
we understand, and God's revealed to us an understanding of depravity,
of the total fall of man in the Garden of Eden, and that that
fall has been passed on to every one of Adam's descendants, and
that we're born into that unable capacity to worship God as we
should, we'll have no problem with this and we'll have no problem
with what God has to say about how he's going to save his people.
It says in Romans chapter 8 and verse 7, because the carnal mind
is enmity against God. It doesn't say that it's at enmity,
it says enmity is an enemy Against God for it is not subject to
the law of God neither indeed can be the carnal mind that what
it shares with us here is we have a serious problem and our
fallen nature is unable to keep the law of God and as hard as
we try we fail and fall short of this now we can be a blessed
people that find hope and In another line, a line that describes
the position of the true high priest, the Levite priest had
a record of death. Every one of them died. Aaron
died. Eleazar died. Phinehas died. They all died. Not a very reliable
priesthood if the one that you're going to depend on dies. If we
are insistent upon going back and tracing our lineage to the
Old Testament priesthood or to the Old Testament law, we find
out that the people in charge of it died. Some died of old
age and some just died of causes that were brought on them. Aaron
was not necessarily worn out. He was not on his deathbed, but
the Lord took him in the mount. As we approach going into the
promised land, it is so profitable for us to realize, it is purposeful
for us, from God's part to us, to realize that it wasn't the
law that was going to take anybody into glory, into the promised
land. Now, we are a blessed people. We can be a blessed people when
we find hope in another line. And we find that is traced throughout
the scriptures that God has given us a hope not in a carnal line
going back to Aaron. Now, I'm sure if we were able
to visit with Ezra right now, it was important for him at the
time for a physical tracing back to Aaron. He was able to do some
of the things that he was called on to do because of that line.
But if and when we find out God was his God and Ezra was a child
of the king, was a child of God, he was able and willing to trace
his line far back further than Aaron. And that was to align
that gives us an eternal high priest. Now remember, Ezra and
Nehemiah, even though they are placed in the position that they
are, in reality they are the end of the Old Testament. Ezra
and Nehemiah are telling us about the things that are going on
as they came back out of captivity. their place in a position that
is before many of the other books that prophesied about what was
going to cause the children of Israel or the children of Judah
and Benjamin to go into captivity. Ezra and Nehemiah are written
after that. So as we look into the scriptures
we find that many of the things that are recorded in the Old
Testament happened long before Ezra and Nehemiah wrote. And
I would like to direct our attention as we think about the priesthood
and the line of the priesthood, and that Ezra could trace his
line right back to Aaron, and yet today there are those who
are not related to Aaron, still want to trace their line back
to Aaron, because they want the benefits of the law. Well, Aaron
was just dressed in cloth. It symbolized, it was a picture
of, it speaks of the glory of the true high priest and that's
the one, he's the one that we want to trace our line back to.
Would you turn with me to the book of Hebrews? Let me show
you what this, the direction we're heading. The book of Hebrews.
There's much said in the book of Hebrews about the high priest
and in the book of Hebrews chapter 7, Hebrews chapter 7, And I want
to begin reading with verse 11, Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 11. Remember that Ezra could trace
his line. But if that's important to you,
to trace your line back to Aaron, so that you can have the benefits
of the law, we're tracing the wrong line. Because the Apostle
Paul, as he was writing to the Hebrews, and he's doing it by
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he said in verse 11 of Hebrews
chapter 7, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood,
now that's interesting to me. If perfection, 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? If there were perfection, if
there was salvation, if there was righteousness, if there is
hope, if there is salvation. If any of these things that have
to do with perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, now
once again, let's be reminded, the Levite, Levitical priesthood,
all those Levites died. Every one of them. Two of them
died by offering strange fire. Those were Aaron's two, two of
his sons. But the Levites, all of them
died. There was no continuing lineage
with them. And my goodness, when we find
out that our religion is based upon dead priests, we have a
problem. Here in the book of Hebrews again,
chapter 7 and verse 11, it drops down and says, What further need
was there of another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek
and not be called after the order of Aaron? The Apostle Paul is
reaching back by his being drawn and led by the Holy Spirit to
go to the Old Testament, and in the book of Psalms, and we're
going to go there in a few minutes, but in the book of the Psalms,
we have this verse of Scripture mentioned about Melchizedek,
and we have a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Far
different. Verse 12, for the priesthood
being changed. The priesthood being changed.
It was not continuing. It didn't endure. It was changed. For the priesthood being changed,
there is made a 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. If we go back to the Old Testament,
when all of the assignments were made with regard to the tabernacle
and to the temple, nobody from Judah, the tribe of Judah, ever
entered into any of those observations or observances. They did not
participate in the sacrifices, they didn't participate in the
holy place, they didn't participate in the holy of holies. In fact,
they were prevented from even entering in. They were on the
outside and there was someone else that represented them. Well,
as we read here, it says that It is evident that our Lord sprang
out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning
priesthood. Not a record in the Old Testament
under the writings of Moses that anybody from the tribe of Judah
would participate in the priesthood. Verse 15, and it is yet far more
evident for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there arises another
priest. Now this is according to God's
purpose. He has had an eternal priest forever. There has been
this eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek. And we'll
find out what that means here in just a moment. Who is made
not after the law of carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless
life. This is a necessity. If our priest If we have to trace
our line back to Aaron, our priest dies. Someone else comes along,
he dies. Someone else comes along, he
dies. If we put our trust in a preacher, they're going to
die. If we put our trust in a Sunday school teacher, they're going
to die. If all our hope is on what someone said, if we're depending
upon the faith of our grandparents, they're going to die. Mine are
already dead. They had no idea what the gospel
meant. My parents had no idea what the gospel meant. But if
we're going to depend on someone else and depend upon their religion,
my parents were this or my parents were faithful in this, they're
dead or they're going to die. And they have no way of influencing
us in any way with their life. Verse 16, who is made not after
the law of carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless
life. our God, our Lord Jesus. For he testifieth that thou art
a priest ever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is
barely a disannulling of the commandment going before, for
the weakness and the unprofitableness thereof. Did you know that the
Bible teaches that there was a disannulling, and that because because of the weakness and unprofitableness
thereof. Did you know that it is unprofitable
to meet on Saturday? Did you know it is unprofitable
to have all our faith in meeting on Sunday? That is unprofitable. That's not the issue. Our issue,
the issue, the issue we face every day is Christ. So these
things are unprofitable for the weakness and unprofitableness. The law saved nobody. The law
could help nobody. All it ever did was kill, condemn. For the law made nothing perfect. Did you hear that? The law made
nothing perfect. The law made nothing perfect. That's quite a statement. In
fact, it is called weak and unprofitable because it cannot change us. It cannot change our heart. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did. By the witch we draw
nigh unto God. A better hope, a better hope
than the Levites, a better hope than the law, a better hope than
all that the law had to say. 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. Now here's the line we want to
go back to. Here's the line we want to intersect
with. This is where we want to head.
Oh, to have faith to go back to the priest after the order
of Melchizedek, the eternal priest. And we're going to find out he
is Jesus. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament, the Lord Jesus Christ. And they truly
were many priests because they were not suffered to continue
by reason of death. You know what that means? The just payment of sin is death. They're demonstrating to all
of us that they were sinners. That they couldn't save themselves,
not alone someone else. By reason of death, Ezra could
trace his line back to Aaron, but you know what? He traced
his line back to a dead priest. And the next one in line, he
was also dead. And the next one in line, he
was also dead. These are dead priests. And though he is in
the line, he's not going to trace his line back to Aaron with the
hopes of having salvation in him. He is going to be like everyone
that God has ever chosen before the foundation of the world in
Christ. They're going to have their faith
and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this man, because he continueth
ever hath an unchangeable priesthood. We need to go back to him. This
is where we need to go. We need to find this priest.
Oh God, grant the grace to us to see this priest, this high
priest, after the order of Melchizedek, is an unchangeable priesthood.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost. Now
this is the priest we need. This priest that can save us
to the uttermost, nothing can remove us from his salvation. It is being saved to the uttermost
that come unto God by him, no other way. Not going to the law,
not going to days or moons, not going to special things, not
going to some repentance, some change of mind or heart or fig
leaf, not going back and saying I started right here. You know,
religion has us wanting to go back to a day. We need to go
back to Christ. What think ye of Christ today?
Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. This high priest, this is the
high priest, for such a high priest, verse 26, became us who
is holy. harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. This is the
priest we need to find. This is the one we need to go
back to. This is the one that is perfect. This one, yes, he
did die, but he laid down his life a ransom for many. He gave
his life a ransom for many. This one, he didn't die of natural
causes. He died because a purpose, the
covenant of grace, was upon him. Alright, would you back up with
me here in the book of Hebrews to chapter 5. Hebrews chapter
5 and there in verses 5 and 6. Hebrews chapter 5 verses 5 and
6. So also, go with me now back
to Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5 verses 5 and
6. 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. As he saith also in another place,
Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. Thou
art a priest. This is the God of heaven speaking. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, confirming upon God the Son, thou art a
priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. You're not of
the tribe of Levi. And the church says, thank you,
almighty God, that salvation is not by the law, and it is
not by a priesthood that dies continually. But this priest
ever liveth. This priest ever intercedeth
this priest not only was the lamb but the altar and the priest
that offered to the lamb on the altar if You'll go ahead with
me just a little bit again here in the book of Hebrews chapter
6 Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 20 Hebrews chapter 6 and verse
20 Hebrews chapter 6 made a high priest forever the Lord Jesus
whether of The forerunner is for us entered in, excuse me,
for us entered even, Jesus. Now, we got his name, we got
his position, he shall save his people from their sins. We got
his position, he is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. We have his position king of
kings and lord of lords. We have his position Savior King
priest prophet This is him. This is where we want made a
high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek so We are
so blessed as every saved person has been blessed from Abel down
to this very hour to have an eternal High Priest. This position
is not novel, as we find the psalmist David wrote it long
before Ezra or Nehemiah. The Lord came to this world in
his incarnation long before that event took place. We have the
record written down by the psalmist in Psalm 110. This isn't novel. It's Old Testament. And this
is where the apostle was quoting from when he was writing there
in the book of Hebrews. Now, we by no means have covered
that entire subject there in the book of Hebrews. But we're
going to move on here for just a little bit into the psalm.
Psalm 110. Psalm 110. And there we're going
to start with verse 1. Psalm 110 and verse 1. A Psalm of David The Lord said
unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Here we have some beautiful statements
about the Lord being absolute king, ruling and reigning. And it says here in verse three
that all his subjects, what's he call them? Thy people. the
king's subjects, thy people, that's what he calls his people,
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, thy people
shall be willing. You know, wonderful blessing
of this great king, of this great prophet, of this great priest,
is he is so kind and gracious, loving and merciful, that he
takes those who are like wild asses colts That's what we're
described as. Uncontrollable. We just can't
bring ourselves under control when it comes to spiritual things.
We may be good neighbors. We may take care of our families. We may do a good job at our job,
at our work. We may have all those things.
We learned them from our parents and we learned them in kindergarten
all the way through school. We were taught to be good citizens.
And we say, I like living next to good citizens. But did you
know that being a good citizen doesn't necessarily mean that
we know the high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ? We're going
to have to be made willing in the day of his power. We'll not
submit to him on our own. Our nature is at enmity. And I apologize. Our nature is
enmity against God. And once we've been saved, we
really realize that. In fact, that's what the prophet
Ezekiel shares with us. After he does so much work in
us, then we will realize what kind of folks we are. It says
here, thy people shall be willing. That's the king making his people
willing. One old preacher said when he
was asked, well, when you heard the gospel, What did you do?
He said, I ran from it. And he says, well, when the Lord
saved you, what did you do? He says, he saved me against
my will with my full consent. That brother summed it up. He
makes us willing in the day of his power. This is the one we
need to go to. That Aaron couldn't make anybody
do anything. the law. They may beat our backs
black and blue." Some of you have heard this story. I've shared
it with many over many years about the young boy that was
sitting or standing up in the car seat when his dad was driving
and he was taking his seatbelt off and his dad said, you need
to get that seatbelt on. And set him down, put the seatbelt
on, and he looked over and he says, what are you doing? He
says, I'm standing up inside. And that's our very nature. We're
standing up inside. We don't want the seatbelt on.
The law tries to seatbelt us, but it doesn't work. Our heart
is not controlled. Thy people shall be willing,
but this king doesn't. Our priest doesn't. The Lord
hath sworn, verse four, and will not repent. Thou art a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. What a great priest, a priest,
the Lord Jesus, Jehovah God Almighty, that would represent the people
of God to God. Aaron couldn't do it. He might think he did it today,
did the best job he could, but he couldn't do it as the Lord
Jesus Christ does it. He swore an oath, the Lord at
thy right hand, shall strike through the kings in the day
of his wrath, he shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill
the places with dead bodies, he shall wound the heads over
many countries, he shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore
shall he lift up the head." He speaks through here in metaphorical
language about his authority and power, his almightiness And
yet it tells right in the middle of that, the Lord hath sworn
and will not repent. That word Lord, capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital D, is Jehovah. Jehovah hath sworn and will not
repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is God's high priest. He was authorized in the covenant
of grace to be the high priest. He is not of the tribe of Levi. He ever liveth to make intercession
for us. He has everything that he has
is contrary to what Aaron had. Aaron was a type and a shadow
and a picture. The Lord Jesus is reality. He is the real high priest that
God is well pleased with. We find that the Lord God Almighty
from heaven said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased. He was pleased enough to have him go to the cross on
our behalf, have our sins imputed to him, and then to pour out
his righteous wrath against him in a way pouring it out against
us. This high priest was successful,
for he entered into not a physical holy of holies in the tabernacle
or in the temple, but he entered into heaven. He entered into
heaven there with his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. So he's far superior to any priest
that had ever come along. He didn't have the dress, per
se, that Aaron did, but you know what? He is righteous in all
His ways, and that robe of righteousness that He gives to us, that He
supplies to us, is that righteousness that is righteous in every way. David wrote these words some
400 years after the institution of the Levitical priesthood,
and by grace saw the the imperfection of that way,
and of the priesthood, and declared the need and prescription for
a better priesthood, Ezra could trace his line back to Aaron,
in the flesh. That makes no difference when
it comes to spiritual connection, only physical. Where would Ezra
trace his spiritual line? To Christ, to the same place
David did, or Paul did, too. the book of Hebrews chapter 3
Hebrews chapter 3 Hebrews chapter 3 would you go
there with me verse 1 Hebrews chapter 3 in verse 1 Hebrews chapter 3 in verse 1
wherefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling Well,
that tells us more than we could write in a thousand books of
theology. It's not an earthly calling.
It's a heavenly calling. It must come from God. He must
call us out of darkness to his marvelous light. Holy Brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. The high apostle High
priest of our profession Christ Jesus consider him Anybody in
the Old Testament that God gave faith, you know what they considered
him the Apostle and high priest of their profession We'll close
with this thought Where do you trace your spiritual life to
Aaron or? Do you trace it to the great
high priest the Lord Jesus Christ? the priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. The man who brought me the gospel,
he said, trust the Lord and don't move a muscle. We often wonder,
I used to wonder before I was saved what that mean. Well, it
means don't let your flesh get involved. Go to God, go to God,
trust him. May God bless you. May you find
in your heart to trust the Lord Jesus today. The salvation that
God has given us is not just for yesterday, it's for today
and it's for tomorrow. What thank you of Jesus today.
Amen.