If you will, turn in your Bibles
to Hebrews chapter 5 and 6. Hebrews chapter 5 and 6. Or you
can scroll in your iPads, iPhones, i-this, i-that, down to chapter
6. And be ready to work with us
through the Scriptures. And if I can get someone to fix
the air conditioning for me and my sisters, we're having hot
flashes right now. You don't want us to get in trouble
around here. I hope you guys had a good Thanksgiving,
did you? Excellent, excellent, excellent. And we did too. I ate, slept, woke up, ate some
more. I still got leftovers for this
evening. I'm already thinking about being on my couch eating
food right now while I'm preaching to you. I can multitask. We're so glad to have you out.
If you are visitors with us, we are certainly privileged to
have you worship with us here at Grace Bible Church. We are
going through the book of Hebrews. It's a wonderful, wonderful excursion
through the life of the people of God, the unique people of
God in the Old Testament. And I remind us frequently that
their journey is similar to our journey and that we are all,
if we are covenant people, if we have been adopted in the beloved,
if we have been brought to a saving knowledge of the glory of God
in Christ. And if we have come to trust
Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are also the Hebrew people. We are a people of faith. We
are a people on a journey. We are a people who are considered
pilgrims and strangers in this world. Is that true? That means
this world is not our home. And so part of our life experience
as believers is making our way through this world, understanding
how God has provided for us enormous covenant blessings of which they
cannot be fully articulated or expressed, but they are certainly
enjoyed by the people of God everywhere. Now that we have
made our way towards the fifth and sixth chapters of the book
of Hebrews, the author has called our attention to the mediating
role of the high priest. The mediating role of the high
priest. Now, we said last week that every
one of us, this is one of the first points in your outline,
needs a priest. We all need a mediator. We need someone to stand between
us and God. This is a foregone conclusion
for those who have a right understanding of the nature of God and also
have a proper understanding of human nature. That a holy God
cannot dwell with sinful people unless there's a mediator between
them and God who is both qualified to commune with God on acceptable
terms and at the same time mediate and supplicate on our behalf
as well to bridge the gap between us and God. Believing people
therefore understand the role of a mediator. And there is one
mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus. Christ is the one mediator in
the world by which men, women, children, families, and the people
of God are to enter safely into a blessed state of fellowship
with God. These are axioms that are non-negotiable. There is no other way to the
true and the living God except through this one mediator. No other way. God will not have
fellowship with you, me, or anyone apart from His Son, Jesus Christ.
For he has invested in Christ all of the necessary resources
by which he is both glorified and his people are honored in
the scheme of redemption by which we come to know God. This is
the only way by which you and I can enjoy God. And that's through
the narrow way of the person and work of Jesus Christ. The
opening chapters of the book of Hebrews dealt with Jesus Christ
in terms of his superior role as the quintessential prophet
of God. He's more than a prophet, but
he certainly was a prophet. Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1 told
us to consider diligently Profoundly and at length the high priest
and apostle of our salvation The role of an apostle is that
of being sent by someone who is of a high level Majestic and
authoritative in Christ is the apostle of God But he is also
the prophet for the the Lord God spoke in time past unto our
fathers through the what? prophets But in these last days,
he has spoken to us centrally in his son, Jesus Christ. And
Christ is that great prophet of whom Moses spoke about in
Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 15. A prophet shall the Lord
God raise up among you from among your brethren. Him shall you
hear. Jesus is our prophet. Jesus is
also our priest, is he not? In fact, he's our great high
priest. As we get more into the subject of the priesthood, that's
what the Subsequent chapters are anticipating chapters 5 through
chapter 8. As we get more into the priesthood,
we'll make the distinction between a high priest and priest. But
at this point, the author is calling our attention to the
high priestly role of Christ because he is the functioning
means by which the covenant blessings are poured out to the people
of God. Really, what he wants to get to, saints, is the covenant.
What the author wants to get to in terms of helping the people
of God who are struggling in that first century, we're comprehending
the superlative nature, the superior nature of that new covenant of
redemption in Christ Jesus. He wants to get to that, but
he can't get to that sufficiently without first going through the
door of the priesthood, for the priesthood is the mediating role
or ministry of the covenant. As we learned last week, no Christ,
no gospel. No high priest, no covenant blessings. The high priest is critical to
the covenant blessings as we will see today. So Jesus Christ
is critical to our salvation individually and corporately
as the people of God. Do you guys see that? Critical
to understand that and it's also comforting because we've learned
as we continue to work through Point number one in our outline.
Not only do we need a high priest as Job said it in Job chapter
9 verse 32 and 33 I need a days man to stand between me and God
to speak for me to God and speak to me for God in a manner in
which we can reconcile our apparent differences this is the beautiful
role of the high priest, but secondly, I His job is to help
our infirmities. Verse 2 of chapter 5, who can
have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the
way. We learned that for the last
couple of weeks. Do you agree that from time to time you are
outside of your own mind? That's what the word ignorant
there means. There's other connotations to
ignorant in our text, and we'll deal with that just a little
bit today, more fully next week as we deal with the warning of
chapter 6. But from time to time, you and I are mindless. It's
just an idiosyncrasy of human nature. We don't always think
right. Is that true? But we have a mediator who never
fails to think right, who represents us before God so that our intermittent
insanity does not threaten our walk with God. I can be foolish some days, and
before God, I am perfectly sane at all times because of my mediator. Some days I'm out of the way,
too. I only need one or two people to agree with me. Some days I'm
tempted to go off the course and kind of get curious about
this, that, and the other thing. And I can inadvertently, this
is the way the Old Testament put it, transgress against God's
law. Because I'm not omniscient. I don't know all things. I'm
also not omnipotent. That means even though I see
what's wrong, I'm not always capable of forbidding myself
from inclining in that wrong thing because I'm human and I'm
sinful. But being ignorant and out of
the way simply means that we transgress against God's law.
Ignorant, that's the provision in the Old Testament. As you
know, if a man transgressed against my law, the trespass offering
for ignorance was thus and that and so on. And you and I sin
against God daily, as we've said it before, by volitional sins
that are committed and by omission. Sins that we do or commit because
we have failed to do something that God has called us to do.
And certainly, children of God, as we prepare for the table today,
may we all agree that we have never at any one time loved the
Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength,
nor have we loved our neighbor as ourself. This means that there
is a sense in which we are in a continual state of shortcoming
for which we need the perfections of a mediator and a representative
to sustain our relationship between this holy and glorious God. Also,
the reality that our great High Priest Jesus Christ stands to
minister in our behalf with all of the perfections and superlatives
of who He is and what He did gives me great comfort. Because
as I said, I'm on my journey, I'm learning some things about
my walk with God, but I certainly see my own shortcomings. I don't
make excuse for them. I don't justify them because
I don't have to. I've got a great high priest,
whoever lives to make intercession for me. And he prevails with
God because of who he is and what he did. I no longer have
to make an excuse with God. Second, just tell the whole truth
and be honest with God. This is called confession. To
confess means to open your mouth wide, open your hands wide, tell
the whole truth, everything you know about you, everything you
know about God, tell it because God's on your side. God's on
your side. That's a wonderful reality. It
allows me to walk in the light It allows me to walk in the light
now if you don't have Christ as your mediating high priest
by virtue of faith in him You have a problem And you need to
work that through some of the pathologies that are taking place
in your life are a consequence of you not Settling this reality
that right now you are presently without a mediator thirdly This
high priest, this subject of worthy discussion that the writer
is actually calling our attention to, this role of our great mediator,
is such because he affects the covenant blessings. The writer
to the Hebrews knows this, and we looked at Hebrews 13, verse
20. I want you to see it one more time before we work our
way through the next point. Here's what Hebrews 13, 20 says.
Meditate on this one and learn this one. Years ago, This is
one of the passages that you learn to memorize because it
was actually for us a doxological phrase in the end of worship.
We would say, now the God of peace that brought again from
the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep.
Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. Through what? The
blood. Do you see that? The blood affects
the covenant through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
Jesus Christ, our great high priest, is also the lamb of God,
by which through the shedding of his blood, the covenant is
affected and the blessings of the covenant pour out to the
people of God. Why are you blessed with a relationship with Christ?
Because of his death on Calvary Street. Why are you blessed with
faith? Why are you blessed with the
confidence of justification? Why are you blessed with the
reality and subjective? Experience of being born again
and being brought into conformity to Christ because of the covenant
blessings This is not arbitrary, nor is it whimsical or accidental.
The reason why a man or woman is born again is because the
will of God, according to His covenant, says, I will take out
the stony heart and I will put in a heart of flesh. I will write
my laws on their hearts and on their minds. and I will remember
their sins no more. What a blessed proposition on
the part of God. I will have a people for myself
who will know me and I will know them and they will enjoy me and
I will enjoy them. This is my covenant purpose which
I will accomplish through my son Jesus Christ. The reason
you wake up every day with your mind on God with a love for the
Word of God, with a desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord, is because of a covenant that has been effected by God
through Christ in your life. You are the object of covenant
blessings through your mediator. Is he worthy to be contemplated?
Deeply contemplated. deeply contemplated and we learned
this last week. This is not simply one of those
business deals where God has erected or established an agenda
by which he would have people for himself. This is a family
affair. Is this a family affair? The
Hebrew writer tells us very plainly in the fifth chapter that the
high priest, in fact, the whole priesthood ministry must rise
up out from among the people. Every priest is taken from among
men and ordained for men and things pertaining to God. And
the Hebrew writer tells us in chapter two that Jesus Christ
is made like unto us being our brethren by which he could bring
us into the unity that exists between him and our heavenly
father. The priesthood ministry therefore is a family affair.
Everyone who is a part of the covenant by which you and I are
blessed are considered brethren. He said to the women again at
the gravesite after he had revealed himself in his post-resurrection
to Mariette and to the others, go back and tell my disciples,
go tell them I'm going to my God and to their God. I'm going
to my father and to their father. Tell my brethren, of which the
Hebrew writer says in chapter 2, he is not ashamed to call
us brethren. Brethren, this is a family affair.
Extrapolated on that at length last week. That means that when
you contemplate Jesus Christ as your high priest This is not
merely a business deal detached from relational factors He loved
us and he gave himself for us because he became like us. He assumed the human nature He
did not assume the form of an angel He came in the likeness
of man in order to redeem men for themselves. What that means
then is your high priest is deeply qualified and able to sucker
you, to care for you, to address your issues, to deal with your
trials, to sympathize with you at every level. It's worthy of
contemplation, worthy of deep contemplation. It's worthy of
deep contemplation because there are times when your issues are
too large for you. And the only way that you can
sustain under the overbearing trials that often come in our
life, that has a tendency to fry the synapses in our brain,
to discombobulate us, to cause us to enter into states of anxiety
and fear and doubt, is to get out of yourself and into Christ
and contemplate the ability of the God-man to be able to hold
you up and bear your infirmities. What that means is you've got
to cast yourself on him. You've got to throw yourself
on your high priest. I think I'll talk about that
a little bit more. But this is a worthy subject
to deal with. Now, what the writer to the Hebrews
wants really to do is to go into this matter of the priesthood
on another level. And this is where point number
two comes in. This is the title of our message, Christ our Melchizedek. Christ our Melchizedek, the writer
to the Hebrews addressing the issue of the priesthood as he
draws towards the end of chapter five, he opens up saying in verse
10 that Jesus Christ is called of God and high priest after
the order of whom? Melchizedek. So he introduces
now a particular kind of priesthood that Christ has himself been
called to as we learned last week. He was called to this.
He didn't take this on himself. His God, his father called him
to this and he humbled himself and accepted the call to become
the high priest of the people of God. But now the writer wants
us to understand the kind of priesthood to which Christ has
been called. Verse 10, a high priest after
the order of Melchizedek. Again, this will be a subject
that we get into at length down the line. We'll touch on it a
little bit today. The Melchizedekian order, in
the mind of the writer, is a profound priesthood that he sees as essential
to the people of God properly understanding the unique position
of Christ as their high priest. So in point number two, we address
the question of his ministry, the Melchizedekian ministry.
If you guys remember the first mention of it is back in the
Genesis account. The Melchizedekian ministry is
a pre-law, post-law priesthood. It preceded the giving of the
law on Mount Sinai in the days of Moses, 1500 years before Christ. It was 400 years before in about
the year 2000 BC or 2100 BC in the days of brother Abraham.
As you know, Melchizedek was the king of Salem or Jerusalem
as some have identified it. at a particular time meets Abraham
and thus is featured in the scriptures in a particular way of which
if we draw out the inferences if we are considering the whole
ministry of the priesthood what kind of priesthood does a man
like this have who shows up out of nowhere and to be a blessing
to Abraham and then disappears off the pages of scripture only
to be mentioned in certain and particular prophetic passages
throughout the rest of the Old Testament. Then he rises up again
in our hearing and consideration here in the book of Hebrews.
Well, for the Jewish people, he became a significant and curious
theological contemplation of which again we won't fully take
up today. But of course, because we are
reading the New Testament and it's inspired by God, the Melchizedekian
priesthood becomes all the more important to you and to me. Who
is this Melchizedek of the Old Testament of which the writer
is saying Jesus is called and high priest after his order. He was before the law. He is
after the law covenant. And by implications, This priesthood
of Melchizedek is the basis by which the new covenant is affected
and brought into blessing. Listen to what Hebrews chapter
seven, verse 15 through 17 says about him briefly. Again, we'll
develop this over the next several weeks, but here's what the writer
says in verse 15 through 17. And it is yet far more evident
for after the similitude, the similitude, that is the likeness
of Melchizedek, there arises another priest. who is made not
after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless
life. Now, what is he doing? He's actually
juxtaposing the present normative priesthood practice of which
the Hebrew people were commonly aware of with this unique priesthood
of Melchizedek as it corresponds to Christ and says his kind of
priesthood is different than the other men. which is going
to challenge us as we work through those passages over the next
several weeks of being able to discern. Listen to me, ladies
and gentlemen, to discern inferior systems of religion from the
truth of the gospel that actually saves. That's going to be the application
to us as we work it through. The Hebrew writer says in verse
17, for he testified, that is the scriptures, thou art a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now he says that several times
through the book of Hebrews, some 13 times. And yet he's quoting
from Psalm 2 and Psalm 110, and particularly Psalm 110, which
is one of the more prominent Psalms used throughout the book
of Acts and in the New Testament when it comes to Christ's unique
calling. He said that the priesthood,
is unchangeable, that it operates after the power of an endless
life. That is certainly unique, isn't it? Chapter six, verse
20. Here's what he says back at chapter
six, verse 20. Let me start back at verse 18,
that by two immutable things, this is God, which it was impossible
for God to do, that is to lie. We might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us. By the way, that last clause in verse 18 is a good description
of what it means to be a believer. Those who have fled for refuge.
Have you fled for refuge? To lay hold upon the hope. And
that hope is the hope of the gospel and is the hope of a future
glory with God in Christ, which is set before us. Every believer
has fled for refuge. has laid hold of the hope of
glory in Christ, a future blessing that's ours by faith." And he
goes on to say, which hope we have as an anchor to our soul.
Isn't that good? Both sure and steadfast. Here
it is. And which entereth in that within
the veil. It seems to me verse 19 is describing
hope as a person. Is it? Indeed it is. Verse 20, whither the forerunner
is for us entered. Even Jesus, and here's the emphasis
again, made in high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Now, because you and I are not the Hebrew people and we're not
living in the first century, these verses don't impact us
the way they would if we were in the first century. If we were
in the first century, they would be able to see the dichotomy
and the distinction, the contrast between the system that they
grew up under and what now the writer to the Hebrews is clearly
establishing as a radical distinction between Christ, Melchizedekian
priesthood, and the Aaronic priesthood that they were used to. They
would understand the differences, and they would have to now, because
it's brought to their attention, contemplate the significance
of his priesthood, especially over against what we have to
deal with here in a moment. In your outline, it says the
Melchizedekian order. I want to talk about the actual
necessity of clarifying that next week, the Melchizedekian
order. His ministry is a pre-law post-law
priesthood, It is a foreshadow of Christ's permanent priesthood. Christ has a permanent priesthood. You guys got that? A permanent
priesthood. If I were to just draw out the
implications of that before we go to our next point, and that
would be this. There is no other priesthood
to go to. There will never ever be another
priesthood to go to. There will never be another ministry
of priesthood to go to. And by virtue of that truth,
there will never be another covenant that God will erect to which
we will go. For if the high priest is permanent
and unchangeable and endless in his power to execute his role
as the high priest over this covenant, This covenant is an
everlasting, eternal covenant that will never change. It will
never become obsolete. It will never become old. It
will never be set aside as did that first covenant. This is
it. This covenant is it. This here
is the place from which God will, as it were, unfurl, unload all
of his eternal blessings to his people for his glory and for
his honor. It is this covenant to which
every eternity bound soul must find themselves attached to.
It's this Christ. That you must come to know and
bow the knee before and see the glory of God only in him It's
this Christ that you want to drink deeply of the Word of God
and know and particularly again the blessings of the Melchizedekian
order Do not fall prey to think that this Christ is like the
old Aaronic system Or that there is some kind of equivalence or
that the old Aaronic system is something with which it can contend
with Christ's priesthood. Don't fall prey to thinking that
the old is equivalent to the new and is a legitimate contender
with the new so as to make the old an option. Because this is
the temptation to make the old an option. when in fact the new,
by necessity of his existence, demands that you view the old
as both irrelevant, obsolete, and totally insufficient, to
never be contemplated as a place to go to find comfort for your
salvation. Which brings me to my next point.
This is the concern that the writer has, doesn't he? Does
the writer have this concern? Somehow people conflating the
old and the new and making the old as relevant as the new so
that it's just a matter of semantics. I would argue to say no, it's
not a matter of semantics. It's a matter of God's progressive
and theological revelation coming to a point of critical and decisive
conclusion in the old and taking up a new in such a way as to
say there is no more access to the old. We have to know how
to come out of the old into the new. We have to know how to come
out of it into the new and understand the sufficiency and the finality
of the new. I mean, that's what we're getting
ready to have our senses exercise on. And just on a practical level,
that's going to be the challenge for every soul who takes up and
adopts religion as their confidence, as their hope, as their grounds
of acceptance before God. Do you have a view to your salvation
as suggesting or asserting that you can get right by God through
that old system? Or would you say both of those
systems are valid? It's just how you work them.
If you do, you have a radically deficient understanding of the
priesthood and your own sin, let alone the differences between
the two covenants. Are you hearing what I'm saying? So now the writer to the Hebrews,
if you accept him as being the Apostle Paul, and there's a lot
of evidence for that, although it's not really explicit, he
would say, I have a concern with my brothers and my sisters who
are presently Jewish Christians or Palestinian Christians, because
while as yet they should be ready to go into a deep penetrating
consideration, of the significance of our great high priest Jesus
Christ, particularly from the standpoint of his role as our
Melchizedek, I can't talk about these things with them now, because
they're not ready. That's what we read over in chapter
5, verse 11. He's concerned, he says over
in verse 11, of whom we have many things to say. We want to
talk to you about Christ, our Melchizedek, We want to talk about it of whom
we have many things to say. It's kind of teasing, isn't he?
Man, I got a lot to say about brother Melchizedek. God has
given me a full measure of revelation and insight to this man, point
by point, doctrine by doctrine, and all of the blessings that
flow from it. But really, I can't even begin to actually enter
into the conversation with you. And it's not because of what
I can't do. It's because of what you can't comprehend. or hear
or receive. So he uses a certain phrase when
he says in verse 11, you have become dull of hearing. We have
many things to say to you about this Melchizedekian order and
the blessings that flow from it. Which things are hard to
be uttered. The word there means to be interpreted.
There is difficult to take from the raw revelation and explain
it in terms by which the people can understand. That is the challenge
sometimes in teaching, isn't it? Sometimes in teaching, the
challenge is not so much understanding a doctrine or understanding a
teaching, but explaining that teaching in a way by which the
people are benefited. In fact, the end goal of the
teacher is to seek to so explain the word of God that the people
get it. But that job doesn't lie fully on the teacher, the
expositor, does it? It often lies on the people.
Doesn't it also lie upon the people to have a heart and a
mind that is, by disposition, open to and ready to receive
the revelation of God? This is what he's getting ready
to get into. He's saying that on our part, we want to share
these things with you. We want to open these things
up to you because we believe to the extent that you understand
the significance of the Melchizedekian priesthood, you will understand
the significance of the covenant to which you have entered into
and enjoy the blessings of that covenant and not fall prey to
what he is now concerned with. the consequences, or the foundation
for, and the reason for which dull of hearing has come upon
these people. He says, you are become dull
of hearing. So now, what do we mean by dull
of hearing? My third point is they're disinterested, distracted,
and distorted dullness. They're disinterested in distracted,
distorted dullness. Again, we'll get a chance to
take this up more fully because the writer has turned towards
a mode of exhortation that really underscores warning. He's warning
the people. He's warning the people. So we'll
extract from it for the moment certain points of application
and then we'll come back and deal with it more textually in
the next week or so because chapter six is fully given to that task.
as well as chapter 10. Two chapters in the book of Hebrews
that shake believers to the core of their being. Chapter 6 shakes
believers who are not clear on the design and scope of warning
to the core of their being because the language of chapter 6 suggests
that a person can go so far into an experience of the gospel and
yet end up perishing at last. What a horrible thought. Same
thing with chapter 10. Some of the most frequent questions
that are raised up to pastors and teachers is what in the world
does Hebrews chapter 6 verses 6, 7, 8 talk about? How'd you
can crucify the Son of God afresh and bring him to an open shame
and to do such it would be to forfeit your capacity for repentance
again unto life? That's a scary thought. And then
chapter 10 speaks to the whole fact of if we trod underfoot
the precious blood of the Son of God and do despite to the
Spirit of grace, there's no more sacrifice for those who knew
the truth and abandoned the truth. The only thing you can look forward
to is the judgment of God. Listen to me, child of God. Only
believers, only true believers, only earnest believers are seriously
concerned with that kind of transgression. Only people who are serious about
their eternal welfare really want to know how to avoid the
calamity of those warnings. And yet, so the Hebrew writer
puts it this way. He says, we want to talk to you about these
things, but we are concerned that you have become so dull
of hearing that it would be futile. Have you ever been told something,
saint, that was vitally important to your welfare, of which at
that time you gave it little or no thought? only later to
realize the great mistake of not taking earnest heed to what
that person said. Have you ever been in an experience
where someone tried to explain to you, warning you, the importance
of regarding what that subject was because it was critical to
your welfare, but at that point you were soulless and careless
and ignorant? for many reasons only to discover
later that that person cared about my soul. This is what I meant earlier
about how essential it is to have someone that does not act
like us. I mean, if I were to divert and
digress, I could demonstrate that the one man in the whole
world who never ever took God lightly was his son. The very high priest now who
mediates on our behalf. He never took God lightly. He
never took God's word lightly. He never measured the word of
God and said, this is important. That's not important. That's
not important. This is important. And arbitrarily
determined what he was gonna listen to. This is what you and
I do in our sort of Western culture, designer Bible, designer Christianity,
how we carve out our own Christianity. and we pick and choose what verses
we want to adhere to versus listening to the whole Word of God, wanting
God to teach us the whole truth. Am I making some sense? And this
becomes the carnal fleshly interest that dominate our life and actually
usurp the authority of God in our heart and in our conscience
as we contemplate things said. On a much more practical level,
it's just our human sinful weakness. Isn't it? It's our human sinful
weakness to not take God's words seriously, particularly in areas
of doctrine and truth that are critical to the stability of
our salvation. Again, our Master said in Luke
8, verse 18, take heed how you hear. For with what measure you
measure, it will also be measured to you. Now if you take that
and make that an axiom of your life, you know what that means?
To the degree that you give God earnest consideration, earnest
attention, to that degree He will bless you. to the degree
that you blow God off, to that degree, you will lose the blessing.
God is not obligated to bless you with deep, profound gospel
truths that are designed to anchor your soul, root you in Christ,
grow you up, and bless you with the ability to bless others as
a consequence of the gospel if you are going to be negligent
of His Word. God's not obligated, is He? He's not obligated to
bless you. To whom much is given, much is
what? And that's the principle. The man that sows to the Spirit,
the woman that sows to the Spirit, the people of God that sow to
the Spirit will of the Spirit reap life. That sounds like a
principle of reciprocity to me. It's true. Even when the premise
is grace, the rule between us and God on a relational level
is, how much of me do you want? It's true. How much of me do
you want? How much of my glory do you want? How much of the revelation of
my truth do you want? How deep do you want to go with
me? How high do you want to go with me? How much of an influence
do you want to be for me? I'm just sharing with you. That's how that goes. That's
how that goes. There are arguments that are
able to come from different places, but I think that this is a legitimate
place to consider. How often we bemoan the time
we waste in the course of a year. This is why every year, you're
going to get it again this year. I've been doing this every year since
I started Grace, since we started Grace. Every year I challenge
the people of God to grow. Every year I do that. I don't
believe you can be alive and not grow. I don't believe anything
in the Word of God would give us the proper rationale to believe
that a thing can be living and not grow. We must grow. Growth is an evidence of the
vitality of life. If Christ is in you, the hope
of glory, you must grow. We must grow in knowledge and
in the grace of God. We must grow in the character
of Christ. We must grow in the service of Christ. Is that true?
We must grow. I'll just make a practical application
before we go to our next point. We would be extremely concerned
if our children did not grow, grow up, and grow out. Isn't that a natural process
we look for? Grow, grow up, and grow out. We're so proud of them
when they're grown. And gone. Isn't that right? Proud of you. So glad that you
made it out. Because we know how hard it is.
It requires them to exercise the gifts and their faculties
that God has given them intrinsically to make right choices. So that
they can enter into the authority of their adulthood. There's an
authority there. When we don't make right choices, we don't
get to exercise that authority. And we become like children again,
still having need for first principles in life. 500 years old, still needing
first principles in life. Am I telling the truth? And I
just wanted to drive that home. This is the concern of the writer
to the Hebrews. And the objective and desire
on the part of the preacher here, children of God, please don't
miss this, was to advance them in their understanding of the
gospel. via this mediator and to show them the superiority
and the stability and the blessing and the permanence of this new
covenant. This is what he wants to do.
He wants them to understand that there's an unending depth to
the gospel. Do you believe that? A fullness
that can be more fully comprehended in Melchizedek, which would have
benefited these Jews who are so inclined to fairy tales and
myths. And what the writer calls in
Hebrews chapter 13 verse 9, strange doctrine. Look at Hebrews chapter
13 verse 9 for a moment. His concern is that they are
double-minded people given to strange doctrine. And again,
as he moves toward the close of the book, he says over in
verse 8, Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forevermore.
This here is the stability and constancy of our great high priest,
right? Christ is not changing. High
priests come and go. Leaders in the church come and
go. Prophets came and went. Christ remains forever. Then
he goes on to say, but be not carried away by divers in strange
doctrines. See it? For it is good that the
heart be established with what? and not with meats which have
not profited them that have been occupied thereby." The apostle
now, the writer now is explaining the tragic foundation upon which
these people are operating out of a dullness of hearing. They
have an inclination and a propensity towards strange things, strange
doctrines, and strange teachings. Isn't that crazy? Strange ideas
and strange notions. The word for dullness in our
text, if you go back with me and stay there for a moment,
you have become dull of hearing. It's a word that means you have
become sluggish or slothful or stupid. Now, I know we don't
like to use that word in our present day. You know, pastor,
don't use stupid. Lazy. We get into a place where
these kinds of what I consider very practical, very practical
terms will be off limits anymore. You won't be able to use these
kind of terms. They're too pejorative and too hurtful to our emotions
and feelings. But there are people who are
slow. That's the nicest euphemism I can use. And then they're stupid,
isn't there? Now, come on now, stupid is a
nice word when your indolence and your carelessness has led
to harm. and all God calls us is stupid? That's pretty nice. You know how some people can't
stand the word fool. Our master in his love to the
disciples said, you foolish men, foolish. Oh, you can break their
spirit if you call them foolish. That would only happen if in
fact the persons to whom you are speaking, you don't have
a deep and profound relationship with. See, the term denothros
for doll of hearing has as its derivative the word for being
a bastard child. What this means is this. The
person with whom you have a relationship, if they be offended because you
have sought to help them understand that they are distracted, that
their mind have been distorted by teachings or ideas or fixations
on things that haven't profited them. And you say, hey, stupid! And they say, I'm offended! And
you say, well, I love you enough to offend you! To let you know
your stupidity might send you to hell! Now, stay with me for a moment.
Because I love what the Hebrew writer is doing. He's brilliant.
Ultimately the Hebrew writer is the spirit of God, right?
So he knows where he's going as we were to jump to the 12th
chapter What he would say is all whom the Lord what? He does
what? Welcome to the family Right Welcome
who doesn't know the constant chastening hand of a loving God
in their life every since I've been born again God been chastening
me and Because all whom he loves he chases. And you can take chastening
however you want to. It's really, at the end of the
day, effective teaching. Chastening, at the end of the
day, is simply effective teaching. You know the struggle you had
as parents trying to figure out how to deal with those gorillas?
Remember that? How do you actually effectively
teach them in a way that they grow up civilized and not become
animals? Remember that struggle? And you
know how initially certain things worked, but over time it didn't
work no more? You came to discover that little
bitty angel was nothing but a devil in diapers, didn't you? And now
you're struggling with how to cast that demon out and get them
born again so that they can obey their parents and the Lord for
this is right. One of the most difficult struggles
for a parent is when the children get to a place where they are
testing your authority. And you're really struggling
there. You're really struggling with how to effectively teach
them. Listen, I'm going to help you now if you don't know. If
you're whooping your child at 12, you didn't miss the point. Boys especially. Physically,
they can handle that. If the trade-off is for them
to rebel against you and you just whack them a few times with
a belt, they'll take that trade-off forever. The goal is to be able
to effectively communicate right things to our children so that
they grow up. All I'm doing is giving a practical
application to Paul's concern here in our text. We would love
to teach you about the Melchizedekian order, but because you are dull
of hearing, because you have been distracted, because your
thinking is distorted, because what you consider important,
God doesn't. And what you consider unimportant, God considers important.
Somewhere along the line, you've been distracted. You have lost
your way. You have failed to comprehend
the importance of growing and a knowledge of God and Christ. This is what he's saying. This
is what he's saying. Technically, saints, and your
outline underscores this so I can move quickly through it, what
the Hebrew people were doing was struggling with returning
again to the old Jewish system. Historically, the battle was
that as the gospel was being established in Palestine between
the years 50 AD and 70 AD, A lot of persecution was taking place
for Christians. A lot of Jewish brothers and sisters were being
persecuted. That's Hebrews 10. And so, you know, here you are
watching your friends and your families who are professing Christ,
having their homes burned up, their furniture destroyed and
them being made vagabonds. And you're wondering, hey, is
this what the gospel produces? Yes. Yes, that's what it produces
sometimes. The master didn't lie when he
says, if you're going to follow me, you've got to deny yourself,
take up your cross and run with me. That's what he said. And
so there are some of our Hebrew brothers that are struggling
with them seeing the assault against the gospel, hell coming
against the gospel. And yet, on the other hand, Judaism
seems to be doing well. They still got the temple. They
still got the temple order. They still got the priesthood.
We got cousins, uncles, friends, relatives, mamas and daddies
still going to the old Jewish system. Can you see the pool?
Can you see the pool? That's the pool that's going
on. The old church you know is corrupt. You know it's apostate.
You know it's false. You know it's not teaching the
truth as it is in Christ. The old church is not Christ-centered.
It's not Christocentric. It's not biblically based. It's
not gospel. And yet all my folks are there.
And they're actually saying that I'm part of a sect and part of
a cult. Because they have never seen
the glory of God in Christ. That's the choice that we're
making here. Between the glory of God and mere religion. What the Hebrew writers is clearly
warning can be summed up in Romans chapter 9, 31 through 33. Romans 9, 31 through 33. Let's
look at it briefly. The apostle Paul treats this
subject a lot because he's the product of both sides of this
equation, is he not? He knew what it was like to be
utterly ignorant of the glory of God and be so zealous for
religious things, zealous for them, only to discover he was
absolutely blind to the reality of those things which he was
cleaving to. Chapter 9, verse 31 and 32 says
it like this. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, have not attained to the law of righteousness.
How come? Because they sought it not by
what? Now, didn't the Hebrew writer tell us in Hebrews 11,
6? Without faith. Without faith. It's impossible
to please God. Isn't that what he said? Now
I'll explain that in the context here in a moment. He goes on
to say in verse 32, verse 32, but as it were by the works of
the law, for they stumbled at Christ. Is that a legitimate
translation? Who is the stumbling stone? So they stumbled at the very
thing that they should have planted their feet firmly upon and trusted. because they were operating not
by faith, but by works. Now, what is it to operate not
by faith, but by works, particularly in our context? It's to shift
from that faith which forces you outside of yourself to look
to Jesus Christ as the object of your salvation That faith
which calls you to trust Christ apart from yourself, you shift
from that now to depending upon your good works as a basis of
meriting favor with God. It's subtle, but it happens all
the time now Saints if you and I have inadvertently shifted
from complete dependence upon the outside of us Objective work
in person of Jesus Christ as the grounds of our hope for glory
as our confidence as our edification as our assurance as our joy and
hope as our boasting and And we have subtly fallen prey to
working again to merit favor with God. We have not only fallen
prey to works religion, but we have fallen prey to self-righteousness,
which means we believe that intrinsically we have the personal qualities
by which in our efforts and actions, we actually can accrue to ourselves
God's righteousness. Nothing could be further from
the truth. The best works of best men is nothing but sin. Now where does that put you and
me? Dong is what Paul called it. Dong is what he called it. That's a nice clean term. Dong
is what he called it. I count all things dung for the
excellency of the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ. I
count my works dung. I count my history dung. I count
my lineage dung. I count my genealogy dung. I
count my learning dung. I count my mastery dung for the
glory of God in Christ. Now listen, you know you are
stupid. When you leave something, that
is no more worthy than dog to go to something else and then
turn around and go back to the dog. Am I making some sense? And that's what dogs do. I told
you the difference between a sheep and a dog. You notice God doesn't
call us dogs a lot. He calls us sheep primarily.
But the difference between a sheep and a dog, now this may apply
to us a little bit. This might hurt a little bit.
Just think about it for a moment. Now sheep are clean animals in this
sense that they have a very peculiar appetite, that they're not running
up on everything and eating everything. Now you remember that little
puppy you bought, that cute little puppy? Remember him? Remember
what he would do? You remember that? And you would
look and go, so man, but God built his stomach to be able
to handle all that. With the exception of some stuff he throws
back up. And what that indicates is a lack of discernment on the
part of professing Christians or religionists who don't have
the ability to discern between sound doctrine, God-glorifying
doctrine, Christ-exalting doctrine, and the doctrines of the flesh,
and the doctrines of men, and the doctrines of works. This
is what he meant by them not being able, by reason of use,
to be able to discern between good and evil. For the apostle
or the writer to the Hebrews, To return from grace and to depart
from the gospel and go back to legalism is a lack of discerning
between good and evil. It's an evil that they will fall
in prey to. And so you and I want to be very
careful about that as well. If we were to speak to the present
church, it would be a kind of obscuring of the glory of God
in Christ on our part that we once observed. We once beheld
God's glory. We once were enamored with God
in Christ. We were once enamored with the
gospel. It was the thing that just illuminated our life. Do
you remember it? To then once again be trapped
by and blinded and controlled by carnal, empty, lifeless religion,
though popular, yet damning. This is what the Hebrew writer
is warning them about. So let's quickly shift to our last point
so we can wrap this up. What would be the real significance
with which he would want the people of God to have an understanding
of Christ Melchizedekian priesthood? Going back to Hebrews chapter
6. Well, it's this, and our final point. It's because this priesthood
is a perfect and an eternal priesthood. Two words, again, worthy of development. at length, perfect and eternal. I want you to look at Hebrews
chapter 7 verse 1. This will be the last place that we go
technically to build our thoughts around how important it is for
us to move in advancement with the gospel, as the Hebrew writer
says, so that we can grow in a knowledge of this Christ who
is so glorious to us and thus enter into the benefits of His
redemptive work on our behalf. The writer to the Hebrews, after
telling them that Jesus has entered into the veil as our forerunner,
that means He's there first and we're headed towards Him, Under
the order of the Melchizedekian priesthood, he says in verse
1 of chapter 7, For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the
Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter
of the kings, blessed him. Do you see that? 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.
What is the writer doing? He's going into the subject anyway.
so compelled to want to now persuade the people, even though they
are presently, in his estimation, dull of hearing. He wants to
talk about it anyway. There must be something about
Melchizedek and its implications, its symbolism and typology worthy
of him expostulating, even if he takes the chance of some people
not getting it. This must be a wonderful subject.
And all I'm going to do is give you just a bit of the framework
of it before we close today. What do we mean by it being a
perfect priesthood, perfect priesthood and an eternal priesthood? It
says that he met Abraham. Look at what it says in verse
one. He met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings
and he blessed him. How did he bless him? Remember how he came? He came to Abraham with what?
Bread and wine. He met Abraham with bread and
wine. Again, the Melchizedekian priesthood
becomes the foundation for a lot of speculation on the part of
Hebrew scholars, on the part of Christian scholars, on the
part of pagan scholars. And we'll touch on a little bit
of that in the future. But the very fact that he meets
Abraham and blesses him with bread and wine, was an indication
that he was willing to celebrate with Abraham over some factors
that had been accomplished. Now you remember what had taken
place. Abraham and Lot had set out for their journey to the
land of Canaan, and Lot and Abraham were experiencing strife amongst
their herdsmen because they had grown. And Abraham said, you
go to the left, I'll go to the right. You go to the right, I'll
go to the left. In other words, because we're brethren, we don't argue.
What a great principle. In the kingdom of God, there's
a lot of room for you to do your thing, me to do my thing, and
for us to both be blessed as long as we're right with God.
The territory of the kingdom is not so small that we can't
enjoy the blessings of God. That's a piece of wisdom. But
what it did was give Lot an opportunity to get in trouble. Is that true? The brother got in trouble. Our
elder has been teaching on this for several weeks now. He got
in trouble and he found himself in captivity, right? Found himself
in bondage. Down there by Sodom and Gomorrah,
battles are taking place, wars are occurring, and the next thing
you know, he is booty and spoil with his family and everyone
else. And what does Abraham have to do? He has to come and rescue
Lot. He has to deliver his people.
And the text tells us that Abraham with 387 soldiers goes down into
that area and defeats the foes, brings back Lot and his family
and all the spoil that was with him. And there Melchizedek meets
him. Again, we will pick up on that
more fully over the next several weeks. There Melchizedek meets
him and blesses him with wine and bread. Point number one in
your outline then, the Melchizedekian priesthood, which is symbolized
by bread and wine, is a celebratory priesthood, a celebratory priesthood
because of a victory already won. If you will, Abraham has
defeated foes, which would have not only been Lot's foes, but
they would have been Melchizedek's foes too, because he was king
of Salem. For him to see what Abraham did was a benefit to
him, of which when he comes to Abraham, he blesses Abraham with
bread and wine, versus what the Old Testament system would have
required, offering sacrifices. Now what does the bread and the
wine point to? It points to the finished work
of Christ. It points to the reality that
Christ has already shed his blood. It points to the atonement that
was already executed to pay for the sins of God's people and
that now Melchizedek, who becomes a great type of Christ, is showing
Abraham and us through these symbols that God already views
the victory of his people because of the death of Christ on Calvary
Street. In other words, Melchizedek's ministry is not an Aaronic priesthood
ministry in that the Aaronic priesthood ministry never ever
came to a place of completion. It never ever came to a place
of perfection. It never came to a place of being
celebratory. According to the Hebrew writers,
the idea of the Old Testament system is a system that never
ever finished. It never ever came to completion.
Hebrews chapter 10 verses 1 through 3 makes this plain. Look at chapter
10 verse 1 through 3. The Hebrew writer says in verse
1, for the law having a shadow of good things to come and not
the very substance thereof can never with those sacrifices which
they make, which they bear continually every year, make the comers thereunto
what? Perfect. For then would they
not have ceased to be offered because that the worshiper once
purged should have no more conscience of sin. But in these sacrifices,
there is a what? Remembrance, again, made of sins
every year. Now what the Melchizedekian priesthood
does, ladies and gentlemen, is juxtapose itself over against
the Aaronic priesthood teaching this truth. The Aaronic priesthood
could never put away sins. It could never make a person
right with God. It could never perfect them.
And yet this Melchizedekian priesthood is coming with the same bread
and wine that many of you and I are about to partake today,
right? What we are saying when we eat the bread and we drink
the wine, we are celebrating a what? A victory won? We are
celebrating a recovery of the goods? In the same way that Abraham
recovered Lot and recovered all the goods, Christ recovered all
of his people from hell and from sin and from the wrath of God
and from the curse of sin and brought them back to himself
by his death on Calvary. What was enjoyable if you work
through the Lord's table or the Last Supper, which if you work
through the language carefully, it probably was not Passover
because he became the Passover for us. It was the Lord's table. This is why we call it the Lord's
table. And he broke the bread and he gave the cup. He says,
take, eat. This is my body and this is my
blood, which is shed for you. This is the new covenant in my
blood. It was celebratory of a work
that Christ was about to accomplish. So then what does Melchizedek
serve for us as we close here? He serves for us as an anticipation
of a completed work. He serves for us as an anticipation
of a work that God has accomplished in Christ by which we enter into
it in a celebratory mode, not in a fearful way, not in a doubting
way, not in a way wondering whether or not the covenant is going
to fail us, but in a way of assurance that by the death of Christ,
we actually now have for all eternity a perfect redemption. We have a completed work. We
have a perfect sacrifice, that's Hebrews 10, 14. Listen to 10,
14. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Get a hold of that.
One offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Are you sanctified? He has perfected you. by one
offering, his death on the cross. Do you know what it also says
over in chapter 9 concerning the redemption of Christ? It
says over in chapter 9 verse 11 these words, But Christ being
come in high priest of good things to come by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building, verse 11, neither by the blood of goats and cows,
but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place What
did he do? Having obtained eternal redemption
for us. What I'm saying as I get ready
to shut this down is the Melchizedekian priesthood foreshadows in the
Old Testament the perfections of Christ. The celebration of
a victory won. The eternal, unending blessings
of salvation that are poured out to His people. Now that ought
to radically change the way you think about the covenant. It
ought to radically change the way you think about even the
Lord's table that we're about to partake of now. For that's
what the blood and wine pointed to. One more thing in this point
or observation. There was a radical distinction
between the Old Testament priesthood in this, that the Old Testament
priest constantly stood offering sacrifices every day continually. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11 puts
it like this. Listen to what it says. And every
priest standeth daily. Do you see that? ministering
and offering all times the same sacrifices, and I love the way
he puts it, he says, which can never take away sins. Saints,
the issue is sin. With God it's sin. The Old Testament
system never promised to take away sin. It never promised it
would take away sin. It never gave the comfort or
confidence of sins taken away. In fact, if you read the language
carefully, it promised to remember sins every year. What kind of
gospel is that? Every year your sins got to be
brought back up. There's no joy in that. Somebody take away my
sins. Thank God for the Lamb of God,
right? Who takes away the sins of the world. Again, this is
the superlative nature of this covenant These fellows were working
and according to the way the old scholars would say it is
that there was never a chair in the temple Because they were
always working working working working 24 7 every day that makes
sense when you're under works religion with a work system all
you can do is work and if you're working what that means is there
is no rest to be had and Remember God's rest is God's what best
God's rest is God's best and what God is calling us to is
what rest But I've got a high priest Who doesn't stand but
sits? You got that he sits That's Hebrews
chapter 1 verse 3 He by himself have purged our sins and is sat
down at the right hand of God. A high priest that's seated.
Do you understand what that means? Seated. Because his work is completed. And our salvation is completed
by our seated high priest. Seated. That's the high priest
we have. He's seated. He's no longer working. He's seated. He was the one who
said, it is finished. Seated. Seated. He's seated there. And all there are so many blessed,
blessed things to consider with him being seated there. But this
I know if he's seated, my sins are dealt with. If he's seated,
the covenant is forever mine. If he's seated and he's my high
priest and he's my brother and God's my father and his is his
father as well. I know that all the blessings
that are in Christ are mine. I don't have to worry about either
me working or Christ working since He is seated. Seated. This is Christ, our Melchizedek,
of which we look forward to getting into more in the future. We're going to have the offering
at this time and we're going to pass out the elements for the table.