I have some adrenaline flowing
now. I might preach for about an hour and a half. Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord. Whenever we meet here, that's
my constant prayer. He might do that for us this
evening. If you would, open your Bibles now to Genesis chapter
14. I titled the message, Learning
Christ from Melchizedek. In verse 18, we meet this man,
Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he
was the priest of the Most High God. Now, Melchizedek is one
of the most interesting characters we meet in all of God's Word.
The only time Melchizedek appears is right here in Genesis chapter
14. He just appears out of nowhere, and he disappears again. Melchizedek
isn't mentioned again until Psalm 110, when David, prophesying
of Christ our King, said that the Lord Jesus Christ is going
to be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Then
we don't hear about Melchizedek again until Hebrews, chapters
5, 6, and 7 he's mentioned, and then no more. Now, I happen to
firmly believe that Melchizedek is a pre-incarnate appearance
of Christ. He is Christ himself. I firmly
believe that, and I'll tell you why I think that. The Old Testament
law forbid anyone to be both king and priest. This was King
Uzziah's problem. Remember Isaiah said in the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. Tell you why Uzziah
died. God struck him with leprosy because
the king went in to offer incense before the Lord to do the job
of a priest. And the king can't do the job
of a priest. You can't be a king and a priest.
You could be a king and a prophet. You could be the priest and the
prophet. But you can't be king and priest. Only the Lord Jesus
Christ is both king. He's king of kings, he's lord
of lords, and he's our great high priest. Only the Lord Jesus
held both of those offices. But Melchizedek here is a king
and a priest. Seems to me like he's got to
be Christ. Then Melchizedek brought forth bread and wine. This priest
of the most high God, he didn't bring forth land. He brought
forth bread and wine as a picture of the finished sacrifice of
Christ at least 5,000 years before Christ was born. Seems to me
like he's got to be Christ. And David and the writer to the
Hebrews said that the Lord Jesus Christ will be a high priest
after the order of Melchizedek. Not after the order of Aaron,
after the order of Melchizedek. Our Lord Jesus Christ is so great
he can't be a priest after the order of a mere man. He can't
be the priest after the order of Aaron. That was a legal system,
that priesthood. The Lord Jesus Christ is so great,
seems to me like he can only be a high priest after the order
of himself, which makes Melchizedek Christ. Then the writer to the
Hebrew says that Levi paid tithes in Abraham when Abraham paid
tithes to Melchizedek. Now tithes are paid to the Lord.
So if Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, it seems to me like
he's Christ. And many of our brethren, I have
many very, very close friends, just as firmly as I believe Melchizedek
is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, they just as firmly
believe that Melchizedek is just a man. He's just a man who reigned
in that area and just You know, it says about him not having
any pedigree, not having any descent, not having an ancestry,
not having father, mother, there's no record of his birth, no record
of his death. It's just because we don't know much about the
guy. He's just a man and all he is is a picture of Christ.
And I wouldn't split with him over that for anything in this
world. It just seems to me like it's
a greater blessing to my soul to think of Melchizedek here
as a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ appearing to Abraham. with this bread and wine. That's
just a blessing to me. But, the only reason I mention
that is because you've probably heard, you know some people that
think on one side, some people think on the other. This is why I mention that. When
we study the scripture, let's be sure we don't get our eye
off the ball. The ball, the subject, is always Christ and redemption
in Him. So it really doesn't matter who
Melchizedek is. If he's a mere man or if he is
a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, the issue for you and
me to dig into and find in this is what we can learn about Christ
our Savior from Melchizedek. See, the important question is
not is who is Melchizedek? People can spend a lot of time
on that and never come to a definitive answer. The important question
is who is the Lord Jesus Christ? If God show you the answer to
that, you'll have eternal life. See, that's the question, who
is Christ? And there are several things about this man Melchizedek
that teach me how the Lord Jesus Christ has eternally, completely,
and utterly saved his people from their sins. And I believe
these things will be a blessing to your heart if you know and
trust Christ. Now, there's Melchizedek mentioned
in Genesis 14. Now look over Hebrews chapter
seven. Here's the first thing about
Melchizedek. Melchizedek has a special genealogy. In Hebrews seven, verse three,
the writer says that he's without father, without mother, without
descent, having no, no pedigree there. There's no tracing his
genealogy. Now the writer says Melchizedek
is without father. Well, the Lord Jesus has a father,
doesn't he? God, the father, that's his father.
But as a man, he has no father. He has God the father, but as
a man, he has no father. Joseph is not the father of our
Lord. He's the foster father of our Lord. And I'll tell you
why that's important. Since the Lord Jesus has no earthly
father, he was not born from the seed of an earthly man, that
he didn't take part in Adam's sin. If he does not have an earthly
father, he was not in Adam when Adam fell. So he has no sin nature. And he has a righteousness. He
can be the righteousness of his people. That's why it's so important
he does not have an earthly father. It also says Melchizedek has
no mother. Well, our Lord Jesus had a mother.
He was born from the virgin womb of Mary. But as God, our Lord
has no father. He's eternal. The son of God
was never born. He was given. You know what Isaiah
said? A child is born, but the son
is given. The Son of Man was born, but
the Son of God wasn't born. He's eternal. Now, that's not
just a fancy point of doctrine we want to make. There's something
meaningful to our souls in that, that Christ our Savior is eternal. Since he is eternal, he's the
eternal Savior. He's eternal both ways. Doesn't
have a beginning, and it doesn't have an ending. The Savior lives
eternally to guarantee the salvation of his people for a believer. to lose their salvation, in order
for that to happen, God would have to cease to exist. The Savior,
God the Son, would have to cease to exist. Well, that can't happen.
Well, then we who believe Christ, we can be assured of this, a
sure, eternal salvation, because our Savior is eternal. He's God
himself. All right, number two, Melchizedek
has a special kingship. Now, Genesis 14, we heard that
Melchizedek is the king of Salem. The writer to Hebrews adds to
that and he tells us that that means Melchizedek was the king
of peace. He's the king of righteousness
and the king of peace. Now I'm telling you, there can't
be peace with God without righteousness. God's holy. He can never have
peace where there's sin. There's got to be perfect holiness
and perfect righteousness. Can you think of a place where
righteousness and peace can kiss each other? I can't think of
one place. It's only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
They can only meet together in harmony in Christ. Now hold your
finger there. Look over at Isaiah chapter 32.
This is what Christ came to do. He came to bring in righteousness
and make peace for his people, both as the king of righteousness
and as the king of peace. Isaiah 32 verse 17 and the work of righteousness.
shall be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and
assurance forever. And my people shall dwell in
a peaceable habitation and ensure dwellings and in quiet resting
places. The work of righteousness. Well,
that's the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. He worked out a perfect
righteousness and the result of that is peace for God's people. It's peace. It's, it's quietness. It's assurance. Every day seems to me like the
world goes further off the rails, doesn't it? Well, don't get too
bent out of shape about it. If you believe Christ, don't
don't get too bent out of shape about it. The work of righteousness
is peace, quietness and assurance in your soul. This thing's going
to be all right. It's going to end up all right.
The Lord Jesus Christ came and this is the work of righteousness.
He made his people righteous by his obedience. He didn't somehow
enable them to keep the law or he didn't lower the standard
of the law that they could keep some of it. Christ came as a
representative of his people and he obeyed God's law perfectly. And he gave that perfect obedience
to his people to make them righteous. And then he died to death as
a substitute for his people. He took all of their sin away
from them, took it into his own body on the tree, and died. He paid the price that sin demanded.
Death. That's what the law says. Where
there's sin, there's got to be death. That's why the Son of
God died. Because he was made sin. And
when he did, he made his people righteous. Now listen. That righteousness that a believer
has in Christ is not in word only. It's not in name only. It's not something, well, we
talk about, but we wink, wink, we know it's not really so. No,
sir. This is not pretend. God's not playing pretend with
people's souls. Brother Scott Richardson used
to say this, righteousness is not just a pasted on righteousness.
You're not just pasting something on over top of our sin. The righteousness
Christ gives his people is the very righteousness of God. And I wouldn't be bold enough
to say that if the word of God didn't say it. For he hath made
him sin for us who knew no sin, that what? We might be made the
righteousness of God in him. I've got here on my notes, in
Christ we're as righteous as God. There's no other righteousness. You're either righteous or you're
not. You're either holy or not. You're either perfect or you're
not. Christ has made his people perfectly righteous. And if he's
your righteousness, you'll be righteous forever. It can't be
lost. Well, then you always have peace
with God. God can only have peace with those who are righteous.
Well, if you have an eternal righteousness, you'll always have peace with
God. And this is the work of righteousness Christ accomplished
for his people. Our king of peace gives his people peace because
he took away the sin that made God angry and he put it away
by his blood and gave his people peace. He's the king of righteousness
that gives his people right, makes them righteous. He's the
king of peace that gives his people peace and calmness and
assuredness and quietness that they can never lose. No other
king could do that. That's a special kingship. All
right. Number three, look back in here
in Genesis chapter 14 Melchizedek has a special sacrifice. Verse
18 says Melchizedek, king of Salem brought forth bread and
wine. Now any other priest of God,
I mean the priesthood has not been established yet. The law
has not been given yet, but any other priest would bring a lane,
would bring an animal sacrifice. We studied Cain and Abel. Remember
how many weeks ago that was? Studying Cain and Abel. Abel
brought a lamb. Abel was accepted. His worship
was accepted because he brought a lamb. He brought a blood sacrifice.
How can Melchizedek be accepted bringing bread and wine? This
is a special offering. When the priesthood of Aaron
is established, the Levitical priesthood, you don't find them
fellows bringing forth bread and wine. It's always a blood
sacrifice, the blood of bulls and goats and sheeps and turtle
doves and so many animals that they sacrifice. It's all blood.
But Melchizedek brings forth bread and wine looking forward
to the finished sacrifice of Christ. You remember right before
our Savior went to the cross, right before they walked out
and he went to be taken by that mob, what did he do? They ate
the last Passover. Remember he told his disciples,
you go into this town, you'll see a fellow. You just see him
and you tell him the master has need of your room and he'll let
you have it. And they went there and they observed the last Passover.
He fulfilled the law, didn't he? Right to the very end, our
Savior fulfilled the law. That was required of the law.
He fulfilled it. And when it was done, what did our Savior
do? He instituted the Lord's table.
He broke the bread and the wine and he told them This do in remembrance
of me. And we observe the Lord's table.
That's what we're doing. We're remembering. We're remembering
something that already happened. We're looking back to the finished
work of redemption that Christ accomplished by his death on
the tree. Melchizedek brought forth that which pictured the
finished work of Christ 5,000 years before Christ came in flesh.
See, this salvation is eternal in the mind and purpose of God.
This thing was done. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. The salvation of God's people
has never been in doubt. And I'm not trying to just dazzle
you with facts here and these things. I want you to lay hold
on this and have comfort in your heart. If the Lord Jesus Christ,
your great high priest, he brought forth that special sacrifice.
Every other priest brought an animal, didn't they, to sacrifice.
Christ didn't bring the blood of bulls and goats. By His own
blood, He entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. If Christ has sacrificed Himself
for your sin, your sin is gone forever. God doesn't see it. God doesn't see it. You don't
have to worry about the Day of Judgment. People think this,
that they're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Behind Christ, there's going to be this gigantic movie screen. and they're
going to display everything that you've ever done sinful up on
that screen and embarrass the life out of you. Not happening. Not happening. When the judge
looks at the books, he's going to look at his people and say,
not guilty. Enter thou into the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. If Christ has removed
your sin, he's removed your sin so fully, God doesn't remember
it. God who never forgets anything
doesn't remember it. That's right. Let's look at Hebrews
chapter 10. Don't take my word for it. Let's
see what the scripture says here. Hebrews chapter 10. Now at the start of Hebrews chapter
10 here, it talks about those sacrifices which they offered,
which are under the law. That Levitical priesthood, what
those priests offered. Verse one, for the law, having
a shadow of good things to come. Not the very image of those things.
The law never was given as the way God's going to save anybody.
It's the image, the picture of those things. Can never with
those sacrifices, those animal sacrifices, which they offered
year by year continually, make the comers there unto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered? What the
writers are saying is if that animal sacrifice made them perfect,
they offered an animal sacrifice in the morning. Well, if that
sacrifice put away their sin, they wouldn't feel the need to
offer one noon. They wouldn't feel the need to offer one evening.
They had the Passover, the day of the Passover. They wouldn't
feel the need to slaughter a lamb again if the last one put their
sin away. The Day of Atonement, the bullocks
and the rams and the goats that they killed and the scapegoat
let out in the wilderness. If that put away sin of people,
roll around to the next year, the Day of Atonement, they wouldn't
feel the need to do it. If that ceremony they observed last year
put their sin away, it didn't put their sin away. That's why
they did it again the next year. That's what he's saying there.
If this had put away their sin, they would cease to be offered
because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more
conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices, there
is a remembrance made again of sins every year. All those animal
sacrifices did is remind the people, I'm still a sinner. My
sin has not been put away. All right, that's the animal
sacrifice. Now look over in the same chapter there, verse 12.
See this, remember we're looking here at Melchizedek. He has a
special sacrifice. Picturing Christ, he has a special
sacrifice. What did the sacrifice of Christ
do? Verse 12, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand of God. from
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool,
for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. See, that's what he's saying
there. If Christ died for your sin, your sin's put away. It's gone, and God doesn't remember
it anymore. That's a special sacrifice, isn't
it? That's why Christ and him crucified is the heart of everything
we preach, everything we believe concerning the salvation of our
souls, It's a special sacrifice. It's the only sacrifice ever
offered put away. See, all right. Number four, Melchizedek is a
special high priest. I mean, it takes a special high
priest to offer a special sacrifice, doesn't it? Verse 18 in our text
says that Melchizedek was the priest of the most high God.
Now, when Aaron and his sons were priests, they were called
the priests of Israel. And they represented that nation
Israel to God. Remember how they, on the day
of atonement, they told everybody who it is I'm representing. The
high priest had on his breastplate and on that breastplate, 12 stones,
12 names, the tribes of Israel. That's who he was representing
when he went in to offer these sacrifices. And when those sacrifices
were offered, when Aaron offered those sacrifices, God was worshiped. Now he was, that was required
under the law. This is the way God's going to be worshiped with
his blood sacrifice, picturing Christ who is to come. But that
sacrifice Aaron offered, they didn't help the Amalekites did
it. It didn't help the Amorites. It didn't help the Philistines.
Aaron's sacrifice was only for those 12 tribes of Israel, one
of the smallest nations on earth. Now that nation Israel represented,
spiritual Israel represented God's elect, but they weren't
God's elect. All this was being done in picture and Aaron's sacrifice
had only benefit for Israel. All right. God has an elect people. The scripture tells us they're
from every tribe, every kindred, every tongue, every nation on
earth. God's elect are not just the
physical descendants of Abraham. because I don't think anybody
here is a physical descendant of Abraham. God has an elect
people, including the Gentiles. That was something that just
amazed the Jews. They just never could get over that. God would
choose to be merciful to these Gentile dogs. That's what he
said. That's what he said in his very
first public message. That's what our Lord Jesus said.
There are many widows in the times of Elijah the prophet.
God just had mercy on one. One Gentile widow passed all
those Jewish widows by. Oh, there are many lepers in
the time of Elisha, he said. God didn't cleanse any of them,
save a Syrian. Oh, a Syrian. And to make it
worse, the general of the army of Syria that was torturing Israel,
God cleansed him. A Gentile, a wicked Gentile.
People got so mad, they tried to throw the Lord off the cliff. They just couldn't stand that.
God be merciful to a Gentile dog. That's exactly what he said.
Well, then we need a different priest, don't we? Aaron can't
be my priest, because I'm not a son of Abraham. I didn't descend
from Abraham. We need another high priest.
That's where Melchizedek comes in. He's the priest of the most
high God. He's the priest of a people from
every nation, everywhere, that lives anywhere under the rule
of God Almighty. He's the priest. That's Christ
our Savior. This is such a blessing, I need
a high priest who can represent me. And the son of God became
flesh so that he could represent me to God. So he could take that
sacrifice and offer a sacrifice for me. I mean, it's easy to
see Aaron and you know, All the people, you think of his immediate
family, his extended family, all these people of Israel, how
he loved them, and he's going to go in and offer a sacrifice
for those people. And you see him going in, can't
you? That sacrifice, he's thinking about his brother Moses. He's
thinking about his sister, Miriam. He's thinking about his wife
and his sons who one day will become high priests in his place.
He's offering a sacrifice for them. He wasn't thinking about
me. He wasn't thinking about you. Christ the Savior was. He went
to Calvary with your name on his heart, if you believe. You're
one of his. He had Joyce Brown on his heart
when he laid his hands down to be nailed to the tree. Earl had
their smite in his back. He gave his back to the smiters
for holy men. Oh, my. What a high priest we
have. Look back at Hebrews chapter
7. I won't read all of this again, let's just skip down to the good
part. Verse 25, if Christ is your high
priest, this is what you have. Wherefore, verse 25, he is able
also to save them to the uttermost, to come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Oh, this is a special
high priest. He ever lives. Aaron died, Christ,
he died, but he rose again. ever-living, making intercession
for his people. This is a special high priest
who offered the sacrifice of himself and then rose again to
ensure that salvation is sure to all his people. Oh, he's a
special high priest. Then fifthly, Melchizedek received
special tithes. Look back here in Genesis 14.
Special tithes. I think this will interest you. Verse 20. Well, verse 19, and
he blessed him. Melchizedek blessed Abraham.
He 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 he gave him tithes
of all. Isn't that something? Abraham
paid tithes to Melchizedek. But now listen, this is not about
money. this paying of tithes from the
spoils, I guess, and everything else he had. It's not about money.
It's not about an offering. This is not given to teach us.
Believers are to give 10%. Now, the law, which is going
to come, I don't know how many years later, hundreds and hundreds
of years, the law did require tithing. There was a reason for
that, to support the Levitical tribe and the priesthood. The
law did require that tithe. Scripture is playing on this.
Christ is the end of the law. Now you can't mistake that. Christ
is the end of the law. The obedience and the death of
Christ put an end to the law's requirements on believers. So
believers today, Scripture tells us, you give as God prospers
you. You give as God lays it on your
heart to give. God's people aren't taxed. A
tithe is a tax. Back here about April 15th or
16th or whatever tax day was this year, didn't that just gripe
you? Nobody likes paying tax. Believers love to give. It's
a joy to give. What you just give is God prospered
you. So this is not about money. This
is not about giving. It's a picture of salvation.
This is given to us as a picture of how God saves his people.
Melchizedek received a special tithe from Abraham. It was a
tithe given before the law required it, and Abraham gave it freely. This tithe is a picture of how
God saves his people through union with Christ. I'll show
you that in Hebrews chapter seven. You might remember when we read
it. Hebrews chapter seven, verse
four. Now consider how great this man
was, and whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the
spoil. And barely they that are of the sons of Levi who received
the office of the priesthood have a commandment to take tithes
of the people according to the law that is of their brethren.
Though they come out of the loins of Abraham, that tribe of Levi
received tithes. This is how they were supported.
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 receives tithes. but there he received with them
of whom is witness that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also
who received ties paid ties in Abraham. Now this is what the
writer is telling us. It's all about representation.
He's, he's not teaching us about tithing here. He's teaching us
how God makes his people righteous, how he saves his people through
union with Christ. He's telling us Levi did what
his great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather Abraham
did. When Abraham paid tithes, so
did Levi, because Levi was in him. That's union. That's teaching. Well, here's the salvation of
God's people. God's elect did everything the Lord Jesus Christ
did as he walked this earth in his earthly ministry. When he
obeyed the law, you who believed did too. When he was perfect,
he worked out a perfect righteousness and a perfect holiness, You who
believe did too. When Christ died, sins put away,
you died in Him. When Christ arose, you arose
to new life in Him. And He ascended back on high
and seated at the right hand of God. Even though you're sitting
in these green chairs right now, you who believe are seated in
heavenly places with Christ. That's what scripture says. That
can't happen any other way other than union with Christ, being
in Him. Now salvation is by grace. And
it's all of grace. It's all found in grace that's
in Christ Jesus. God's elect, God chose a people
in divine election. And election always has to do
with Christ. The father chose a people and
where did he put them? In Christ. He chose a people who were the
opposite of his son and chose to save him and put him in his
son. That's grace. God the son became flesh to be
the representative his people, to do for them what they can't
do for themselves. God can't be our representative,
can he? That's a different nature. But a man can be our representative.
So God came in the flesh to obey the law for his people. He came
to pay the penalty of the broken law for his people by dying in
their place. Well, God can't die, but a man
can. So God became a man for this
purpose, not to be an example to you, to teach you how to live.
He became a man to die. put away the sin of his people. And he did it for a people that
don't deserve it. I mean, surely you can't think
you deserve the Son of God dying for you, can you? Well, if he
did, that's grace. That's grace. It's in Christ.
God the Holy Spirit comes in power. And he gives new life
in the heart of a sinful, rebellious people. They refuse to believe,
but he gives them a nature that does. They can't see. He gives
them a nature that sees. They can't hear. He gives them
a nature that hears and comes to Christ. And that new nature
loves God. He loves Christ. He loves Christ
to be our salvation. Now, no sinner can be saved without
that nature. You've got to have a perfect,
righteous nature in order to come into God's presence. And
we can't produce it. And the Holy Spirit gives it
to you anyway. Now that's grace. And all that grace is found in
Christ. And that's what the tithe Abraham
paid to Melchizedek pictures. That's what it's all about. It's
picturing the union with Christ and his people. And see, we wouldn't
know that until we went over and read the New Testament explanation
of it. You gotta find a commentary. A good commentary on the Old
Testament is the New Testament. That's why we got one here, don't
we? All right, here's the last thing. Melchizedek gave a special
blessing. Look back here in Genesis 14. In verse 19, he blessed him.
It said, blessed be Abram of the most high God. He's the possessor
of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high
God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. Oh, he
blessed Abram. Now the Jews, you think about
the Jews. By the time our Lord came in the flesh, They didn't
respect anybody more than Abraham. Their religion had become so
tied to the flesh that they just thought if you descend from Abraham,
the Jews believed in election. They absolutely believed in election.
I mean, absolutely they believed it. They believed it came from
a physical connection to Abraham. That's what they believed. That's
how their religion had just degenerated to that point. They weren't looking
for nor caring about a spiritual relationship with God. They cared
about a physical relationship with Abraham. If I can prove
I came from Abraham's loins, I'm all right. It's all flesh,
you see that? But we know the Lord Jesus Christ
is greater than Abraham, isn't he? Melchizedek's greater than
Abraham. Certainly the Savior's greater
than Abraham because the greater always blesses the lesser. They
put such stock in Abraham, but here's Melchizedek. He's blessing
the lesser. He's blessing Abraham. And he
gives him a special blessing. He says, bless be God. Thank God. Praise God's precious
name. Sit before him and worship in
awe and wonder. The most high God, possessor
of heaven and earth, Abraham's given you the victory. Bless be God. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the son of God, has come and given you the victory. Given
you the victory over sin, over death, over hell. He's given
you every blessing. The most high God, possessor
of heaven and earth, he's given you every blessing the most high
God has for a sinner. Every one of them he's given
to you in Christ. He's given you everything that
was purchased by the sacrifice of Christ. everything. See, the
blessing, and I want you to notice this in closing, the blessing
is tied to the bread and the wine. First came the bread and
the wine. Then came the blessing. See,
that every blessing that believer has is a direct result of Christ's
sacrifice for our sin. You think of the blessing of
the forgiveness of sin. God forgives the sin of his people. He says, I don't even see it.
Why? Because the blood of Christ blotted
it out. The blood of Christ paid the debt in full. We have atonement
made one with God. God accepts his people into his
very presence. Why? By the blood of Christ. Because the blood of Christ has
covered our sin, made atonement for our sin. We talked about
peace earlier. I mean, there's no price you
can put on having peace of heart. peace of conscience, not worried
about the judgment, not worried about God striking you down.
God's Christ has given his people peace with God. How? By the blood of his cross, because
his blood took away the sin that made God angry. And there's peace. God accepts our worship. He accepts
our prayers. How? Why? Through the blood. through the blood of Christ.
Christ right now, our great high priest at this very moment is
seated and you know what he's doing? Making intercession for
his people. Well, how's he doing that? Pleads
the blood of his cross. He doesn't even have to say anything.
The scars in his body, in his hands, his feet, his side, in
his head are evident to the father. The sacrifice has been accomplished.
People are forgiven. We come to God a new and living
way. One more scripture, Hebrews chapter
10. Earl and I were talking before
the service about the good old days. There's things about the
good old days, you know, that I long for and wish I could go
back to. Well, I tell you what, I don't
want to go back as far as being under that Old Testament law.
Those were not the good old days. We've been given something so
much better. We come to God in Christ with full assurance of
faith. Let me show you that, verse 19.
Having therefore, brother, boldness to enter into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus by a new and living way. which he hath consecrated
for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having
a high priest over the house of God, let's draw near with
a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Now, Israel of old, they came
to worship, didn't they? They came to God. I'm specifically
thinking about the Day of Atonement. They came to that day full of
worry and fear. They worried, is God gonna accept
our ceremonies? Is God gonna accept these sacrifices?
Is the priest, he's representing me now. Is he gonna do everything
in the right order? If he messes this up, God might,
you know, strike me with lightning or something. They were full
of fear. They had bells on the bottom of the high priest robe
as he went in there to the holy volleys. In fear, they listened
for those bells. Are those bells ringing? If the
bells are ringing, the priest is still moving around, isn't
he? God's accepting what he's doing in there. It's the sprinkling
of the blood. If those bells stop, it could mean God killed
him. This isn't in the Bible, but
the old writers say they got so scared, those Jews did, they
tied a rope around that priest's ankle. In case God struck him
dead, they could drag him out by the rope, by his heels. They
were worried and full of fear. I don't want to go back to those
days, do you? The writer here tells us we come
to God without fear, with a true heart and full assurance. How
in this world can a sinner like me come to God in full assurance
He's going to accept me? There's one way. Through the
veil. That picture's blood, the sacrifice,
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's through the blood of Christ.
A new and living way. I know this. The Father's going
to accept His Son. Well, He's going to accept everybody
anyway. The father is well-pleased with the sacrifice of his son,
then he's well-pleased with everybody who's in him, with everybody
who believes in him. Now that's the blessing of grace
that we learn from Melchizedek. I'd a whole lot rather God lay
that to my heart than let me know if Melchizedek is really
Christ or not, wouldn't you? See, that's the way we see Christ
in this thing. God will give us a blessing.
All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for this opportunity that you've given us to worship. Father,
I beg of you that you bless your word as it's been preached. Take
it and show us your glory. Reveal the glory of Christ our
Savior to each heart here. Enable us to leave here believing
in and rejoicing in Christ our Savior. Oh, what a Savior. How we thank you for your mercy
and your grace that someone as wonderful as your darling son
would do something so astounding for sinners that's so far gone
in Hell Bench as we are. Father, how we thank you. Take
your word and bless it to our hearts for your glory, we pray.
Amen. All right, Isaac.