I don't think I ever heard that.
That was a blessing. Tonight, we're going to observe
the Lord's table together. And I'm going to be preaching
on the subject, Abraham the Hebrew. And we're asking what is a Hebrew? It's found in Genesis chapter
14, Abraham the Hebrew. Also, I want to say that Donna
Wooten got through her surgery on her back fine, and Lord willing,
she'll be with us next week, she said. I've entitled this message Melchizedek. Now, if you would ask the average
person who is Melchizedek, they'd probably say I've never heard
of him, but he is a very important figure in the scripture as we're
going to see. Now the first 12 verses of Genesis
chapter 14, you can read them on your own, but this supplies
us with a microcosm of human activity in these first 12 verses. Men seeking power over other
men and seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of others. Wouldn't
that pretty much summarize the world we live in and the world
that's always been? That's what's going on, these
kings trying to oppress other people, take what's theirs, make
it their own, life goes on. And that is what is taking place
in these first 12 verses. Look at verse four. Twelve years they served Cheddar
Lammer, and the 13th year they rebelled. They were seeking to
get out from under, having to pay tribute to this man. They
rebelled, and this is the story of this king crushing this rebellion. in order to get his goods back. Now, during this time, Lot, who
lived in Sodom, he had pitched his tent towards Sodom, and now
he lives in Sodom, this king comes and attacks Sodom and takes
away all their goods. Lot was the nephew of Abraham,
and he is carried off. Verse 13, Genesis chapter 14, and there
came one that had escaped and told Abram the Hebrew. That's
the first time the word Hebrew is mentioned in the scripture. We're gonna talk about that tonight.
Abraham the Hebrew, what does that mean? Abraham the Hebrew. And there came one that had escaped
and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre,
the Amorite brother of Eshkel and brother of Aner. And these
were confederate with Abraham. They were friends to him. And
when Abraham heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his
trained servants, born in his own house, 318. and pursued them unto Dan, and
he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night,
and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left
hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods,
and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods and the women
also, and the people. He recovered everything, including
the spoils from these other kings, which he slaughtered, and he
comes back to Sodom. Verse 17, and the king of Sodom
went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of
Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him at the Valley
of Shaphat, which is the king's den. Now remember, Sodom had
been invaded. Everything, all the goods, all
the people were carried off. Abraham brings the goods and
the people back to Sodom. Verse 18, we have an interruption
in the story. This almost seems out of place.
He's coming back to Sodom, to the king, and we have an interruption
in this story. And Melchizedek, king of Salem,
brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the
Most High God." Now, the name Melchizedek means the King of
Righteousness. He was the King of Salem, which
would later become Jerusalem. king of righteousness, and king
of Salem, king of peace, as the writer to the Hebrews says. Now, evidently, Abraham already
knew him. Abraham already knew him. When
Melchizedek comes, Abraham recognizes him. Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought
forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High
God. Now, this is the first mention
we have in the scriptures of a priest. He was the priest,
the priest of the Most High God. Now, hundreds of years later,
we'll have the Levitical priests, in the law, but this is the first
mention we have of the priest of the Most High God. Now, what
is a priest? A priest is a man who represents men to God. Think of what I said in the simplicity
of it. A priest is a man who represents
men to God. Now, somebody may think, well,
why do we need a priest? Why do we need a man to represent
us? Can't I just come into God's presence on my own? Can't I just
pray on my own? Can't he hear me without a priest? Well, the answer is no. And somebody
says, why? Well, let me give you two reasons.
Because God is holy and you're not. That's the answer. God is holy. Men, you are sinful. Now let me give you something.
I touched on this Wednesday night, actually, but what are you talking
about me being sinful? What exactly does that mean,
a man being sinful? Well, what does the Lord give
as the greatest commandment? He says the greatest commandment
is to love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your strength. This is the greatest commandment.
And the second is likened to it, thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. Now it seems to me that the greatest
sin would be to break the greatest commandment. Would you agree
with that? The greatest sin. Every one of
us have thought, what's the worst sin? Well, the worst sin, the
greatest sin is to break the greatest commandment. And you
know what that means? That means me and you are continually
breaking the greatest commandment, nonstop. That's you, that's me.
You've never loved the Lord God with all your heart, with all
your strength, and with all your might. You haven't done it. Right
now you haven't done it. You're breaking that commandment
right now as we speak. And you've never loved your neighbor
as yourself. You've always put self before
anybody else. I know I have, I know you have.
We're in the continual state, every one of us. We're in the
continual state. of committing the worst sin there
is all the time. Now that is so with regard to
me and you. That's what sinful means. If
you're sinful, that means all you do is sin. That means you
cannot not sin. And this is all your fault. You
can't blame somebody else. Your sin's your fault and you
can't stand in judgment on anybody because of your own personal
sinfulness and you have no claims on God. Now that's what I mean
by sinful. Somebody like that, they're gonna
have to have somebody else represent them before God because God's
holy. He cannot accept someone like me or you apart from the
great high priest, Melchizedek. the Lord Jesus Christ, hence
the necessity of a priest. Now, this man Melchizedek was
both a king and a priest. Was anybody else in the scripture
a king and a priest? Only Melchizedek. You know, King Saul thought once,
I'm gonna try to be a priest. And he waited for Samuel to get
there to offer a sacrifice. Samuel never got there. So he
said, well, I need to offer a sacrifice. So he offered up a sacrifice
without a priest. And he lost his kingship because
of that. God said, I'll have nothing to
do with him. What about Uzziah? Uzziah was
a great king. But when Uzziah decided, I can
offer up incense without a priest, I'm gonna go into the temple
and burn it myself, the priest said, don't do that. He did it
anyway, and God turned him into a leper. You see, there's only
one man who describes all these offices as king, priest, prophet,
and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Melchizedek, now listen to me,
Melchizedek is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's not merely a man. Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter seven. Hebrews chapter seven, we're
gonna come back here at the close of the message, but let's look
at this description of Melchizedek. for this Melchizedek. Now, he's
mentioned in Genesis 14, he's not mentioned again for 800 years
in the Psalm 110, and he's not mentioned again until the book
of Hebrews. 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. Now could that describe any son
of Adam? King of Righteousness? King of
Peace? Could that describe a Levitical
priest? No way, they were all like Aaron.
They were sinners just like you and I are. This could only describe
one, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go on reading, verse three.
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. He's still a priest.
Now consider how great this man, look the way it was in italics.
Consider how great this man, this God man, this priest, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's eternal. Now I've heard
people make the argument, preachers make the argument, why would
somebody want to do this? I don't know. But preachers have said
he was just a man because it says he was made like unto the
Son of God. That means he wasn't really a
priest, he was made like the priest. Well, you remember in
Revelation 1 when John said, I saw one like unto the Son of
Man? Who did he see? Somebody that
looked like him? No, he saw the Son of Man, didn't
he? What about in Daniel chapter
3 when Nebuchadnezzar sees the three men in the fiery furnace
and the fourth, he says, I see one like unto the Son of God. Was it somebody different than
the Son of God that looked just like him? No, he saw the Son
of God in the fiery furnace with the three Hebrew children. Without question, Melchizedek
is the Lord Jesus Christ. A pre-incarnate appearance of
the child that was born and the son that was given. and the government shall be upon
his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor. Now, counselor doesn't mean like
when you go to a counselor to get advice. It means the one
who counsels. My counsel shall stand. I will
do all my pleasure. Everything that happens is because
he decrees it. The mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the prince of peace. This is who Melchizedek is. Now let's go back to Genesis
14. And Melchizedek, verse 18. And
Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth, what? What? Bread and wine. Now a priest
is supposed to bring a sacrifice, aren't they? But this priest
brings bread and wine, prefiguring the Lord's table. You see, this
priest's sacrifice was already accomplished before time began.
That's the reason Abraham was accepted in the first place.
Christ is called the Lamb slain from when? From the foundation
of the world. I love that. This whole universe
was created for this purpose. the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Everything that takes place has
something to do with the accomplishment of God's purpose of the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. God made the universe
for this. And this priest comes with his bread and wine because
his work had already been accomplished. Now what was the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Hebrews 1, 3, when he had by himself purged
our sins. That's what he did. He, by himself,
with no help from us, no contribution from us, when he had by himself
purged our sins. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. Listen to this, Hebrews 10, 14.
By one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's what he accomplished on
Calvary's tree. He perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now that is why he could bless
Abraham, because of the sacrifice. Now look what he says, and Melchizedek,
king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the
priest of the most high God, and he blessed him. Remember what Hebrew 7-7 says,
without contradiction, The less is blessed of the better. He,
Melchizedek, the Lord Jesus Christ, blessed him and said, blessed
be Abram of the Most High God, me. He's calling himself the Most
High God. He is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. Blessed be Abram of the Most
High God, possessor of heaven and earth, the absolute sovereign
of the universe. And blessed be the Most High
God who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand, and he
gave him tithes of all. God the Son, Melchizedek, King
of righteousness, blessed Abraham, and Abraham gave him tithes of
all. Now, we're gonna come back to that in a moment because it's
in Hebrews 7 where that's pointed out. But somebody says, well,
that shows the Bible teaches tithing. No, it doesn't. The
point is that this was an act of worship. This was an act of
worship. People use this, well, see, tithing
was before the law. Forget tithing, give. Tithing
is law, but what this was doing was it was an act of worship. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek
as an act of worship for who he is. Now let's go on reading. Now we get back to the king of
Sodom. And the king of Sodom said unto Abraham, give me the
persons and take the goods to thyself. Now, I can understand
that. I mean, he was glad to see the people come back, his
wife, his kids, his relatives, people he knew. He was thankful
Abraham had gone and delivered these people from these kings.
And he says, go ahead, you take the spoils, you earned them.
And I don't want any, you know, don't give me the spoils, just
give me the people. And you take the spoils for yourself. And I love Abraham's response. Verse 22, and Abraham said to
the king of Sodom, I've lifted up my hand unto the Lord, the
most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. Did Abraham believe in the absolute
sovereignty of God? Sure he did, he knew him. You
know, anybody that knows God, they know that God rules and
reigns and is in absolute control and is the possessor of everything.
Somebody says, well, I don't know that. Then you don't know God.
The living God is the God who's the possessor of all things,
who he's absolutely sovereign. That's who he is. Abraham knew
that. And the king of Sodom said unto
Abram, give me the persons and take the goods to thyself. And
verse 22, Abram said to the king of Sodom, I've lifted up my hand
unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven
and earth. And look what he says. I won't take from you a thread,
even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take anything that's
thine, lest thou should say I've made Abraham rich. No, I'm not going to give you
even the opportunity to say you contributed anything. Save only, verse 24, that which
the young men have eaten. That's talking about those fellows
in chapter 13 that were his buddies. I'm not speaking for them, but
I'm speaking for myself in my house. We're not taking a thing
from you, not even a shoe latchet, not even a thread, not a thing. Turn with me now to Hebrews chapter
7. We've already been there, and
this is where we're going to finish this message. Hebrews chapter
7, Melchizedek. The writer of the Hebrews says
for this Melchizedek, speaking of this one in Genesis 14, this
one who David mentioned in Psalm 110, 800 years later. And now
we're picking up again with him. We'll look in verse 19 of chapter
six, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast, which enters into that within the veil, whether
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now remember, In the law, it
was the sons of Levi who were the priests. The sons of Levi. Abraham's great-grandson. That was the Levitical priesthood.
They were the ones who offered up the sacrifices and burnt offerings
and went into the Holy of Holies, the sons of Levi. But he's not a son of Levi. For
this Melchizedek, Where the forerunner's force entered, even Jesus made
a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. 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." Well, I want him to bless me,
don't you? I want his blessing. To whom also Abraham gave a tenth
part of all. First, being by interpretation,
Melchizedek means king of righteousness. Who is that but the Lord Jesus
Christ? Would you call any man that? And after that, also king
of Salem, which is king of peace. Have you made your peace with
God? No, I haven't, but Christ made my peace with God. He's
the king of peace. He made peace by the blood of
his cross. Verse three, without father,
without mother, he didn't have a physical father. Christ was,
or the father was his heavenly father, but Joseph was not truly
his father. Without father, without mother,
without descent, without pedigree. Having neither beginning of days,
he's eternal, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of
God, he abided the priest continually. Where are the Levites now? They're
dead. They're gone. Their priesthood
is finished. But he abides a priest continually.
Now, verse four. Consider how great this man was. And remember, when you see a
word in the italics in the King James, it's because it wasn't
there in the original. They put it there to help out.
Usually it doesn't help out. Consider how great this man. Whom even the patriarch Abraham
gave the 10th of the spoils. And verily they that are the
sons of Levi, who happened hundreds of years after Abraham, who received
the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes
of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren,
though they came out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent
is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham. Christ came
out of Judah and blessed him that had the promises. He wasn't
a Levite. And I love this, without all
contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. It's always that
way, isn't it? Verse eight. And here, men that
die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom is
witness that he lives. All those Levitical priests,
they're dead. You know somebody who's alive right now? our great
Melchizedek, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a man in glory right
now. Verse nine. And as I may so say, Levi also,
the great grandson of Abraham, the man through whom the priests
would come. And as I may say, so Levi also
received tithes paid tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the
loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. Now, do you want to
understand the gospel? Here it is, as clear as it can be. Levi wasn't born. And he paid tithes. And they
were received. How in the world could that be?
because he was in the loins of Abraham. When Abraham paid those
tithes, Levi paid those tithes. When Jesus Christ kept God's
law, I kept God's law. And it took place before I was
ever born. When Jesus Christ fulfilled all
righteousness, I did. Verse 11, if therefore perfection,
that's what God demands. If therefore perfection were
by the Levitical priesthood, Aaron and his sons, for under
it, the people received the law. What further need was there that
another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek and
not be called after the order of Aaron for the priesthood being
changed. You see that priesthood has been
done away with. For the priesthood being changed, there is made
of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these
things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no
man giveth attendance to the altar." Now notice, for he which
of whom these things are spoken. I'm talking about Melchizedek.
He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He whom these things
are spoken of. He sprang out of, for verse 14,
no man gave attendance at the altar for it's evident that the
Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing
concerning the priesthood. And it's yet far more evident
for that the similitude of Melchizedek, there arises another priest who
is made not after the law of a carnal commandment. Now, do
you hear what he calls the law? The Levitical priesthood, he
calls it the law of a carnal commandment, a fleshly commandment. Well, didn't God institute this? Yes, he did. But what is it that
made a man a priest? Because his daddy was. A sinful
man, his daddy, was passed on to him, a sinful man. He passed
it on to him, a sinful man. Now, they represented something.
They represented the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, but all
they were in and of themselves were sinful men. and a carnal
commandment. The Lord Jesus, though, who is
made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power
of an endless life. You see, those priests that represented
the children of Israel, they're dead now, but not this priest. Not this priest. Verse 17, for he testified, and
this is that quotation from Psalm 110, thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. Four, verse 18, there is verily
a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness
and the unprofitableness thereof. Now he's talking about the law,
and he calls it weak and unprofitable. Now how could you say that with
regard to God's law? God's law is perfect, it's holy. But I'll tell you one thing it
couldn't do, that it was weak in, and that it was unprofitable
in, couldn't save anybody. If your salvation is dependent
upon your works, if my salvation is dependent upon my works in
any way, I'm toast. The law cannot save anybody. Verse 19, for the law made nothing
perfect, But the bringing in of a better hope did. By the
witch, by this better hope, the hope of Christ, we draw nigh
unto God. Inasmuch as not without an oath
he was made a priest, and that's the oath spoken of in Psalm 110,
the Lord hath sworn and will not repent. He's not gonna change
on this. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. For those priests, verse 21,
were made without an oath. They were made simply because
their daddy was a priest. But this with an oath, by him
that said unto him, the Lord swear and will not repent, thou
art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, by so much
was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. Now what's a surety?
Well, the only illustration that comes into play in our experience
is a surety, someone who takes responsibility for a debt. When
I got my first loan, I've told you this before, when I got my
first loan, I went to the bank, they said, no way. I was only
16, and I was wanting to get a Mustang. And they said, it's
67 fastback. I saw one in a magazine recently.
I mean, it only had 289, it wasn't that, but it looked cool. I could
pump up the, well, at any rate, they wouldn't give me a loan.
So I go to my grandfather. And my grandfather said, I'll
sign for it and I'll be surety. And I went back to the bank and
with his signature of being responsible for that loan, I got the loan.
Well, that really is not even a good illustration for the Lord
being a surety because the Lord, before I was ever born, took
complete responsibility for my salvation. I will be surety for
him. How do you like that? Having
Christ taking complete responsibility for your salvation, I will be
surety for him. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better Testament. Verse 23, and they truly were
many priests, the Levitical priests, because they were not suffered
to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, he is able to save
them to the uttermost, to the completion, to the fulfillment. He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them. Now let's talk about this thing
of Christ being this priest that makes intercession. Does that
mean that when you sin, God's getting ready to cast a thunderbolt
at you or lightning and Christ says, no, forgive him this time
again, forgive him again, forgive him again. And you commit the
same sin over and over again. And Christ stands up again and
says, no, let him go by again. No, not at all. That's not the
intercession of Christ. You see, He completely put away
all of those sins. And He stands before the Father
as the intercessor of His people, making intercession for them
with His wounds, His scars still in heaven. Those are His trophies. Those scars that He still has,
says to the Father. All debt has been paid in full. Nothing else needs to be said. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that can condemn? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. There's a man in glory right
now representing every one of his people. He's able to save
them, I love that word, to the uttermost. To the farthest extent,
to the completion. You know what that means? That
means everybody Christ died for has been saved to the uttermost. Can't get any more saved, can't
get any more loved, can't get any more accepted, can't get
any more holy. Holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in his sight. Now this is our great high priest
who was raised from the dead. That's what everybody's thinking
about today, the resurrection of Christ. He was raised from
the dead, what's it mean? It means God accepted what he
did and everybody he did it for. And he's now seated at the right
hand of God making intercession for them. We'll close just reading
the rest of the chapter. Hebrews 7 verse 26, for such
an high priest became us. not like those Levitical priests. He's holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens, who needeth
not daily as those priests. to offer up sacrifice, first
for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did
once when he offered up himself. For the law maketh high priests
which have infirmity, sinful, weak men like me and you. But
the word of the oath which was since the law maketh the son
who is consecrated forevermore. Now of the things which were
spoken, this is the sum. We have such an high priest. who is set on the right hand
of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of
the sanctuary of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not
man. Thank the Lord for our Mel Kizadek. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for Melchizedek, the
king of righteousness, the king of peace, our way into your presence. Oh, how we thank you for him. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would create faith in each heart here to look to thy
son, and how we thank you that there's a man in glory interceding
for us. Bless us for Christ's sake, in
his name we pray, amen.