Next week we'll have a church
dinner and eat and fellowship together, and tonight we're going
to observe the Lord's table together, and I'm going to be preaching
on this subject. It's one of my favorite verses
of scripture in Genesis chapter 43 where Judah said with regard
to Benjamin, I will be surety for him. I've entitled this message, First,
After That. There's an order. First, and after that. Now this is the
great chapter with regard to Melchizedek. I think it's kind
of interesting to think if I would ask probably many preachers in
Lexington, Kentucky what they thought of Melchizedek, they'd
say, what? Who's he? But he is a very important
figure in the scripture. He first comes up in Genesis
14, when he blessed Abraham, and then he's not mentioned again
to the 110th Psalm, that's 800 years later. And somehow David
understood that he was a priest called by God after the order
of Melchizedek. He understood Melchizedek, the
priesthood of Melchizedek. And that's what Hebrews chapter
seven is all about. And we are going to spend several
weeks in Hebrews chapter seven regarding this man, Melchizedek. But I want us to notice in verse
two, To whom, speaking of Melchizedek. Also, Abraham gave a tenth part
of all. Just to note, I was looking for
messages on sermon audio on this, and about the only message you
would hear is messages on tithing. Need to give 10%. Melchizedek
did. If that's what you get out of
it, you missed it all together. This is not about whether or not believers
ought to tithe. This is talking about the greatness
of this man, Melchizedek, that Abraham gave him a tenth part
of all. First, being by interpretation,
king of righteousness. And after that also, king of
Salem. which is king of peace, and this
is all I want to deal with this morning, is this divine order. First, king of righteousness. I have no doubt in my mind that
this is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, this Melchizedek.
There's only one man who could be described as king of righteousness,
isn't there? That's the Lord himself. And after that, he's the king
of peace. Now here's what I want to bring
out from this. First, righteousness. Then, peace. The only way that you or I can
have peace is if we are perfectly righteous before God. You know
what that means? Sinless. That means I've never
sinned. The only way that I can have
peace, and I mean real peace, is if I have never sinned. That's what justification is. Sinlessness. The only way I can
have peace is if I have never sinned. There cannot be peace
unless there's first righteousness. Now, this is the message of the
gospel. How that God can be just. and yet justify people like me
and you, sinful people. That is the message of the gospel,
how God can be just and yet justify me when I'm unjust. First, righteousness. After that, Now, God is a God
of order, and here we have the divine order.
Paul said to the church at Corinth, God is not the author of confusion. He's not the author of disorder. The church at Corinth was in
chaos, and Paul said, let all things be done decently and in
order. Here's God's order. First righteousness. Perfect righteousness. Oh, if you believe that you are
perfectly righteous in Christ and have no sin, no sin, no sin,
you know what you're going to have? Peace. I think of what
Paul said in Romans 14, 17, the kingdom of God is not meat and
drink. It's not do's and don'ts. It's not rules and regulations. It's righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost. Now that is the order, righteousness,
perfect righteousness. What comes from that? Peace. And let me say this, that's peace
with God. I'm not talking about feeling
perfect peace, although you'd like to, but I'd rather have
peace than feel it, wouldn't you? I want to feel it. Peace
is a feeling. I want to feel it. But the peace
spoken of is that peace that Christ worked out for me. Next time somebody says, have
you made your peace with God? Tell them, no, Christ made my
peace with God. Christ wholly made my peace with
God. Righteousness, peace, and joy. In the Holy ghost in Luke chapter one, I'm going
to read this. You can turn there. If you want
Luke chapter one, I want us to notice this word order. God has
an order. Verse one for as much as many
have taken in hand to set forth in order. A declaration of those
things, which are most surely believed among us, even as they
delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses
and ministers of the word. It seemed good to me also having
had perfect understanding of all things from the very first
to write unto thee in order. Most excellent. Theophilus, that
thou mightest know the certainty of those things where in thou
has been instructed. Paul said to the Colossians that
he beheld their order and steadfastness in their faith. There will not
be steadfastness in faith if there's not an understanding
of the order. Righteousness, first righteousness.
Then peace. Now this is set forth, this thing
of God being a God of order, it's set forth in creation. It's set forth in the very first
verse of the Bible. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. Now here is the order, God, then
creation. God in his isness. Then, creation. Now, even in this thing of preaching,
there must be a divine order. Preaching does not begin with
man and the good things God can do for him. Preaching, true preaching, begins
with God. In the beginning, God. And with God, and I'm speaking
in words that we can just believe but don't really comprehend,
the preaching of God begins in eternity, before there was time. Before there was space, 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. Speaking of the death of Christ,
we read in Acts chapter 4, verses 27 and 28, For of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod and
Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were
gathered together to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done." If I look at the cross of Christ
apart from eternity, I take away its meaning and I make it God's
response rather than God's purpose. Christ is the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. There is a divine order. I like
what Peter said in second Peter chapter one, speaking of the
scriptures, verse 20, he said, knowing this first, this comes
first. Knowing this first, that no scripture
is of any private interpretation. For the scripture came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now understand this, the Bible
is God-breathed. Somebody says, how can you Believe
that. If we don't have the Bible as
God breathed, what do we have? The thoughts and opinions of
ignorant, foolish men. And somebody says, how do you
expect me to believe that God inspired a book and kept it preserved? Same way I expect you to believe
that God created the universe. If he can create the universe
from nothing, he can write a book, inspire men to write it, and
keep it preserved. And that comes first. And all
of our information about this divine order isn't just using
logic. It's from the scriptures. That's
where we've got to begin. If I can't go to the scriptures
to declare what I'm preaching, if I can't show this is what
God's word teaches, this is an exercise in futility.
There's just no point in it. We've got to begin with The scriptures,
knowing this first, all of our information comes from the scriptures. And even in the scriptures, there's
an order in interpretation. What do I mean by that? Well,
the Lord said, with regard to the scriptures, they are they
which testify of me. Every scripture testifies of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And if I don't begin there in
my understanding of the scriptures, I've missed the meaning. I've
got to begin there. I know where to begin. Whatever
it is, I might not understand it completely just yet, but whatever
it is, I know it testifies of the Lord Jesus Christ and I must
begin there. Now, Christ identifies himself
in this way. I am the Alpha and the Omega. That's the first and last letter
of the Greek alphabet. and Omega. I'm the beginning
and I'm the end. I'm the first and I'm the last. There is the divine order. What a glorious savior he is. It said of Christ that all things
were made by him and for him And He is before all things.
By Him all things consist. Without Him was not anything
made that was made." Now let's consider God's order. First righteousness,
after that peace. Now there's an order. God is
a God of order. He's not a God of chaos. He's
a God of order. And this is not logical, although
it is logical. It's what the scripture teaches.
We're not trying to be logical at this time. We're trying to
give what the scripture teaches. God is a God of order. And that
is seen first in the order of creation. God gives an order. Six days. six days. Something happened
on each of those days. Somebody says, does that mean
a 24-hour period? I don't know. It may. It may
not. Known unto God, or all his works
with God, one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years is
his day.