Would you turn to Hebrews chapter
7? I've entitled this message, The
Divine Order, from Hebrews chapter 7. For this Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest of the
Most High God, who met Abraham, returning from the slaughter
of the kings, and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth
part of all. First, being by interpretation
King of Righteousness, And after that, also King of Salem, which
is King of Peace. Without father, without mother,
without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of
life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest. continually. Now consider how
great this man was unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave
the tenth of the spoils. Melchizedek, this mysterious
figure who appears in Genesis chapter 14, right after Abraham
delivered Lot in what's called the slaughter of the kings with
318 people, he destroyed five armies and brought Lot back. And while the king of Sodom came
out to Thank Abraham for doing that. All of a sudden, we read
of this mysterious figure, Melchizedek. Evidently, Abraham knew who he
was. He paid him tithes. I believe Melchizedek is a pre-incarnate
appearance of Christ. The reason I believe that is
because, well, I've got several reasons. Number one, there's
only one other person who is a king and priest, Jesus Christ. Anytime a king tried to take
the office of a priest, God would kill him. Number two, if you read in Genesis
chapter 18, he brought bread and wine. Only the Lord would
bring bread and wine. He didn't bring a sacrificial
animal. He is the sacrifice. And it was accomplished before
time began. He brought bread and wine. I think prefiguring the death
of the Lord, and there's some who have thought, and I can understand
it. Some have thought, well, when it says in verse 3, he was
made like unto the Son of God, that means he wasn't the Son
of God. I understand somebody viewing it that way, but didn't
Daniel, when he saw the fourth person in the fiery furnace,
say, I see one like unto the Son of God? Well, he was the
Son of God, wasn't he? And also John said, I saw one
like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a girth and gold. Well,
he saw the Son of Man. So I believe that Melchizedek
is God the Son of pre-incarnate appearance. I think it's glorious
how you just read of him in Genesis 14, and you don't read of him
again until 800 years later when David had some kind of the Lord
gave him a revelation of what this meant and he said concerning
the Lord thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek
and he's not even mentioned in any of the writings of Paul but
here in the writer of the Hebrews brings him up in chapter 5 chapter
6 and then he begins his exposition in chapter 7 but what I want
us to notice for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the
most high God, a king priest, who met Abraham returning from
the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. Now I can be a blessing
to you, but I can't bless you. Only God can bless you. You can
be a blessing to me, but you can't bless me. Only God can
bless me. So Melchizedek blessed Abraham,
returning from the slaughter of the kings, to whom also Abraham
gave a tenth part of all. Somebody's thinking, does that
mean we should tithe? You're missing the point. You're
missing the point. This is not about tithing. If
the New Testament taught tithing, Paul would say give 10%, give
a tithe. Never says that. A give, give
more than a tithe. tithe 10%, no, that's law. Give what you feel led to give. Give as God has prospered you.
So if I'm thinking, does this mean we tithe? We're missing
the point. This is teaching something far
greater. To whom, verse two, also Abraham
gave a tenth part of all, first. Now that word first means first
in order of importance. First, in order of importance. First, by interpretation, King of Righteousness. And after that, also King of
Peace. Now, I've entitled this message,
The Divine Order. First, King of Righteousness. After that came a peace. There cannot be peace unless
there is first righteousness. For me to have peace I'm gonna
have to know that I am perfectly righteous and sinless before
God. I'm going to have to have the
righteousness of God. I'm going to have to have the
law of God look me over and say, he's perfect, he's never sinned,
he's sinless. Now, when I have that, and every
believer has that, For he hath made him to be sin for us who
knew no sin, that we might be made to the righteousness of
God in him. Only when I have that, and my
dear friends, that means my history is all good. I don't have any
skeletons in the closet. No sin of the past is gonna come
be brought back up. I have a new history and it's
all perfection. Bathe in that for a moment. Bathe
in that. You have perfect righteousness. You have no sin. You know, when
I hear preachers present a judgment of the believer, where he's going
to be judged according to his personal obedience while he walked
on the earth, and then he's gonna get rewards, I'm thinking, there's
somebody that doesn't know the gospel. My sin's gone. I have no sin. I made the righteousness of God
in Christ. Now, if that's the truth, then
it is. You know what comes out of that? Peace. Peace. Peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, is that not the message
of the gospel? How a sinner can be just before
God, absolutely just where God declares him to be just. It's
how the God can be just and justify the ungodly. Now God is a God
of order. Paul said to the church at Corinth,
God is not the author of confusion or disorder is what that means. The church of Corinth was in
chaos. And Paul said, let all things be done decently and in
order. Here's the order. First, righteousness. First, righteousness. After that, peace. Now, this divine order is set
forth in creation. Genesis 1, one, in the beginning,
God. created the heavens. and the
earth. First God, after that, God's
creation. God is uncreated, God is eternal. First God, after that, creation. Let me read a passage from Luke
chapter one, you can turn there if you want, but this is when
Luke is introducing the gospel narrative, and he says in verse
one, for as much as many have taken him forth to set forth
in order, There's that word, a declaration of those things
which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered
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 the things from the very
first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus. Now, he's not just talking about
an order of the proper sequence of events. He's talking about
the same order that Paul spoke of to the Colossians when he
said, I'm beholding your order and the steadfastness of your
faith in Christ. There will not be steadfast faith
if there's not some understanding of the order. You know, there's
even an order in preaching. What do I mean by that? Well,
most preaching that we hear begins with man and the things God can
do for him. That's wrong. We begin with God. And when we begin with God, where
do we have to begin? In eternity. Because he is the eternal God.
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. The death of Christ has been
spoken of by the early church. They say in Acts chapter four,
verse 27, for the truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou
has 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 determined before to be done. When I'm even speaking of the
death of Christ, we're to begin in eternity. What God's hand
and counsel determined before to be done, you take that away,
and the cross of Christ is meaningless. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Now here's a place to begin.
We've got to begin with the Bible. All of our information, all everything
we believe, must come from the Bible. Peter put it this way,
knowing this first, this is what comes first, that no scripture
is of any private interpretation. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost, knowing this first. Now if I,
if what I'm saying is not from the scriptures, I began in the
wrong place and I'll end in the wrong place, won't I? And this
thing of the scriptures being the inspired word of God, If
I don't have that, I don't have anything. I might as well sit
down and not say anything else. God has given a written revelation
of himself. And you know, some people say,
well, how do you expect me to believe that? Would you believe
God created the universe from nothing? Well, that's the only
option, isn't it? Is he able to inspire men to
write a book and keep it preserved all the way? Yes. And we're totally
dependent, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture
is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. I love the way Christ identifies
himself as the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last
letter of the Greek alphabet. The first and the last, the beginning
and the end. It said of Christ, all things
were made by him. And without him was not anything
made that was made. It begins with him. I've got to have that order.
It begins with him. Now, you think of the works of
God, the works of Christ, the works of God, the Holy Spirit.
There's an order to them. Now, first of all, think about
creation. Creation. Doesn't the scripture point out
that God created the heavens and the earth in six days? There's
an order. Six days. Now, I know somebody
thinks, does that mean six literal days? Well, I think it does.
I think it does. That's what he said. He sets
forth 24-hour periods. I realize some people would say,
well, that might represent something else. Well, maybe it does. It
might be, you know, one day with the Lord is a thousand years,
and a thousand years is a day. And people have argued it couldn't
be just six days because you have all the The organic material
that makes up natural or natural resources and that takes billions
of years for that to happen. Well, you know, the Lord could
have created the earth 13 billion years old without any problem.
I mean, he could have done it easily and that might be what
takes place. Let me tell you what I believe. I believe whatever
the Bible teaches is what I believe. But there is an order. Six days,
it begins with God, and then the six days of creation. In providence, God has an order. Now what is providence? Providence
is everything that takes place in time. Everything that takes
place in time. When matter, space, and time
came into being, It was according to God's decree,
and everything that takes place in time is His purpose, His will
being done. Everything. Well, is God indifferent
about things? No, He's not. There's not a sparrow
that falls to the ground without your heavenly Father. The events and the sequence of
the events and the outcome of the events are determined by
the living God with regard to everything that takes place in
the universe. Romans 8, 28 says, and we know, and we know, that
all things work together for good. to them that love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose. Now, all things
means all things. He's working in together for
the good of His people, no matter what it is, for the good of His
people and the glory of His holy name. Let me read you some scriptures
from Isaiah 45. I love this scripture. Verse 5,
Isaiah 45, you might want to look at this. Isaiah chapter
45, verse 5, I am the Lord and there's none else. There is no
God beside me. God is other. He's other. There's no one to compare him
to. That's why idolatry is so wicked. You're bringing him down
to human level. There's no God beside me. I go
to thee, though thou hast not known me. That they may know
from the rising of the sun and from the west, there's none beside
me. I am the Lord and there's none
else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. You know, I'm not going to try
to explain it that way. There it is. And I love it that way. God's God. And whatever he does
is glorious, right, and true. And I've heard people say, well,
you're trying to make God the author of evil. I'm not trying
to make God. God's God. I'm not going to try
to protect him. I can't do that anyway, but here's
his word. Look in Isaiah 46, verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there's none else. I am God. There's
none like me. Now look at this order, 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. There's God's order. Psalm 37 to 23 says the steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Every step I take is
ordered. by the Lord. Now, I might not
be aware of that, but that doesn't take away the fact. Every step,
every step, every step, the step I'm taking right now is ordered
by the Lord. Everything that takes place with
me is ordered by the Lord. Proverbs 16, 33 says, the lot
is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of
the Lord. Don't you believe in free will?
No. No, I don't. I think it's ludicrous. I do believe that people do exactly
what they want to do. And I do believe people do not
do exactly what they want to do. I believe that. And I believe
God is completely sovereign over the free and uncoerced actions
of men, and everything men do is what he determined before
to be done. Men are responsible. We do what
we want to do, and we don't do what we don't want to do. But
God is completely sovereign over all of that. Now, what I want to do, spend
most of our time, and it's not going to be much longer, but
what I want to spend most of our time considering is God's
order in salvation. And we see God had an order in
creation. It begins with God, and in the
beginning, God. There was a time when there was
no creation, and he spaked the world into existence, and we're
given this order of six days that he created the universe
and rested on the seventh day to teach us something about resting
in Christ. There's a specific order. And
in Providence, everything that happens in time, I mean everything,
the order's God-willed. and then it came to pass. How
many times do you read in the scripture, it came to pass? God
purposed it, it came to pass. God built it, he came to pass. In Providence, he's the first
cause behind everything. He's God. And one of the glorious
things about him is he brings good out of evil. You say, well,
how could God let that happen? I don't know, but I know this.
He brings good out of evil. And I trust his character. I
might not understand what he's doing, but he does. And everything
he does is right and glorious because he does it. and we trust
his character. We might not understand what
he's doing, but we don't need to do it. He does, and we know he always
brings good out of evil. But in God's salvation, there
is an order. Let me quote this scripture to
you, and I know it's very familiar to you. It's David's last words
when he's dying. These be the dying words of David.
Remember what he said? Although my house be not so with
God. And his house was a mess. And he certainly could have been
referring to this house. You know that your house has
got plenty of sand in it, don't you? Although my house be not
so with God, yet, hath he made with me an everlasting covenant. What next? Ordered in all things. Now that order is, it begins
with God. It doesn't begin with men. It begins with God. Ordered in
all things and sure. Now, turn with me to 2 Timothy
chapter one. I'd like you to look at this
with me. 2 Timothy chapter one. Verse eight. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us. Now what came
first, the saving or the calling? He hath saved us. and called us. Now what that
reminds me of is salvation is altogether what Christ did for
me. It's altogether by his grace.
He didn't save me in response to anything I do. He didn't save
me in response to anything I ask him or anything. He saved me.
Salvation altogether outside of my personal subjective experience. He saved me. And he called me. He saved me, and then he called
me. Now if he saved you, he'll call
you. If you've not been called, there's no evidence that you're
saved, or he saved you. If he saved you, he'll call you. He saved us, and he called us
with an holy calling, not according to our works. but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Every aspect of our salvation
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. You know what that means? Salvation
by grace. And if I don't have that, I don't
really believe grace. I don't care what you claim,
if you don't praise all of your salvation to the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, it is not really God's salvation. Listen to this. Before there was a sinner, and
we're talking about the order. Before there was a sinner, there
was a Savior. Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And not only was He the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, He was the Lamb raised
from the foundation of the world. And salvation accomplished before
time began. Before there was a sinner, There
was a Savior. But before there's forgiveness,
there must first be justification. Before there's forgiveness, there
must first be justification. After that, forgiveness. Now
remember, unless somebody says, what kind of point are you making
here? God said, I'll by no means clear the guilty. Under no circumstance,
God says, this is God's Word, Exodus 34, I'll by no means clear
the guilty. So before he can forgive you
of your sins, you're first gonna have to be justified in his sight.
Without sin, sinless, perfect, perfectly righteous, then he'll
forgive you. You see, he doesn't forgive you
in response to anything you do. He forgives you because you're
justified. And because you've been justified, all your sins
are forgiven. 2 Timothy 1.9 again. Everything we have was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Let me show you
this in the scripture once again. Turn to 1 John 1. I'd like you
to turn here with me. 1 John 1. Verse nine, if we confess our sins, what's that mean? If we confess our sins, does
that mean I need to articulate every sin I've committed? Well,
it'd be good if you could do that, but you can't do it for
two reasons. Most of the sins you've committed,
you don't even know you've committed. Isn't that so? Most of them.
Number two, there's not enough hours in the day. If you confessed
all your sins, you would be continually confessing, and you still wouldn't
get them all. To confess my sin is to take
sides with God. To agree with what God says about
my sin. To agree. Isn't confession agreement? What we confess is what we're
in agreement on. I agree with what God says about
my sin. If we confess our sin, now somebody
says, well there, confession has to come first before forgiveness. Well, let's look at what the
text says. If we confess our sin, what's that say? Does it say
he's merciful and gracious? Well, he is, but that's not what
it says, is it? It says he's faithful and just
to forgive us our sins. And if you confess your sins,
you know why you do it? God's faithful. He ordained before
time and again that you would confess your sins, that you'd
look to Christ. He's faithful to do what he has
determined to do. He's faithful. And he's just. He's just. His justice demands
my forgiveness because I have a perfect standing before him.
Yes, he's merciful and gracious, but that's not what John says.
He's faithful and he's just. The very law of God demands my
salvation. The very justice and holiness
of God demands my salvation. Scripture says he's a just God
and Savior. What comes first? He's a just
God. and to save you. Someone may be thinking, well,
this is just trying to be logical. No, it's scriptural. It's scriptural. This is scriptural. I think I've
preached the word, haven't I? This is scriptural. I couldn't
help it. One time, I was talking to a
Southern Baptist preacher. And I was trying to show how
Christ died for the sins of the elect and actually accomplished
their salvation. They can't perish because Christ
died for them. And his response was, well, you're
just trying to make sense. It does make sense, but that's
not why we believe it. We believe it because it's what
the Word of God teaches. And this is not just logic, but it's
what the Word of God teaches. There is a divine order. You and I need to repent and
believe. Right? Sure it is. You and I
need to repent and believe. Nobody can repent for me, nobody
can believe for me. I must repent. I must believe. Repentance toward
God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. I must repent. I must believe the gospel. I
will not be saved apart from that. Guess what? You know what
comes before that? Life. God gives you life. Now, as far as chronologically,
you believe and live at the same time, logically, life must come
before there can be true faith and repentance. That's the divine
order. First what God does, then what
We do. I love the way Paul, when he's
talking about gospel preaching, he says, I delivered unto you,
first of all, that which I also received. You can't deliver something
if you don't first receive the gospel. I delivered unto you,
first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. Now turn with me to Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10. Verse five, for Moses, describe
it, the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which
doeth those things shall live by them. If you're gonna go the
law route, here's what you need to do. Keep the law all the time
and never break it. But the righteousness which is
of faith, speaketh on this wise. Say not
in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring
Christ down from above. Don't say in your heart, what
can I do to get him to come down here and save me? Don't say that. You know why you don't say that?
That's what works. Don't say that. We think it all the time.
What can I do to get him to pay attention to me? What can I do
to get him, if I was more sorrowful, if I believed more strongly,
what can I do to get him to come down and respond to me? Don't
say that. It's wrong every time. Or, verse
7, who shall descend into the deep, that is, to bring up Christ
again from the dead. Don't say, what can I do to make
his death apply to me? What can I do to make his blood
apply to me? Don't do that. That's works. That's thinking that your salvation
is dependent upon you getting him to do something. Don't think
that way. But what sayeth it, verse eight?
The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that
is the word of faith which we preach. The gospel's so close,
right now. It's in your heart. It's in your
mouth. Not far away. The word of faith
which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus. Do you confess He's Lord? He's
Lord, isn't He? He's Lord of all. He's Lord of
creation. He's Lord of providence. He's
Lord of salvation. If He's the Lord, that means
His will's done all the time. That's what Lordship means. He's
the Lord. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus,
and believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead,
And that's not only believing that the resurrection took place. You have some understanding of
why it took place. God was satisfied with what he
did. That's why God raised him from the dead. He was satisfied
with the payment he made. Because he died, God's now satisfied
with me. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with
the heart man believeth under righteousness. Now what does
that mean? What does it mean to believe
with the heart? I used to worry myself to death over this. Do
I have heart faith? I know I believe some things,
but do I have heart faith? The heart is the understanding,
the affections, and the will. Do I understand that the righteousness
of Christ is the only righteousness I have? Do I love that? Do I want it
to be that way? If it's given up to me, my choice,
would I choose to be saved by my righteousness or his? His. His. That's what it means to
believe with the heart. With the heart, man believeth unto
righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. You know what you say? That's what I believe. You might
not even be able to articulate it the way you want to, but you
say, that's it. You hear the gospel. That's the way I'm saved.
For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. He won't be ashamed of that.
He won't be put to shame. For there's no difference between
a Jew and a Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. Now, for whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, understand
this. It's not your job or your business
to figure out whether or not you're one of the elect. You're
to call upon the name of the Lord. Right now. And we're given this promise.
Whosoever. I love that whosoever because
I'm one of them. Whosoever. shall call upon the
name of the Lord. Now that doesn't just mean articulate
his name verbally, audibly. I'm saying, Lord, save me by
your name, by your holiness, by your sovereignty, by your
justice, by your grace, by your power, by your wisdom. I'm calling
upon all these attributes to save me. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then, here's this
order, how then, shall they call on him whom they've not believed? You can't call on somebody you
don't believe. And how shall they believe in
him whom they've not heard? You can't believe something you've
never heard. And how shall they hear without a preacher? And
how shall they preach except they be sent? Now here's the
order, God sends the preacher. God's going to cross our paths
with somebody preaching the gospel. And somebody will ask all kinds
of questions, well, what do you mean by that? Well, I just want
to say it. How can they preach except they
be sent? God sends someone preaching the gospel with his message.
You know what happens when he sends his message? Somebody hears. They hear what's being said.
And somebody believes. They believe what they're hearing.
And you know what they do as a result of that? They call upon
the name of the Lord. Now that is the divine order. In this divine order, everything
begins with God. The faith I have begins with
God giving it to me. The repentance I have is the
gift of God. Everything in our experience,
the new heart I have is the heart he gave me. In the divine order,
everything begins with God. I love what David said, although
my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an eternal,
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things. That's why I'm
sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire, though he make it not to grow. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that salvation
begins with you and is completed by you and carried through by
you. And Lord, how we thank you that
you saved us, then called us. How we thank you for your salvation.
Lord, I ask in Christ's name that you bless this message to
our understanding for our good and for your glory. In Christ's
name we pray.