Could you turn to Hebrews chapter
eight? Hebrews the eighth chapter. The writer of the Hebrews says,
now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. This is the main point. This
is the chief point. This is the principal thing.
We have such an high priest. Everything that I've said leading
to this is to give us this glorious truth. We have such an high. What kind of high priest? Well,
he'd been talking about a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Look in chapter five. Verse nine, and being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him, called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek,
of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing
your dole of hearing. And he digresses to talk about
something else, but he picks back up the thought in verse
19 of Chapter 6, which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which enters
into that which is within the veil, whether the forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus, made in high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Look in verse 11 of chapter 7.
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 rise after
the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order
of Aaron? Look at verse 17. For he testifieth,
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Verse
21, for those priests, speaking of the Levites, for those priests
which were made without an oath, 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. I've entitled
this message, Who is Melchizedek? Who is Melchizedek? Now go back to Genesis 14. This is about Abraham's nephew
Lot being abducted by the five kings when he was living in Sodom
and they took him captive and Abraham with 318 trained servants
comes back, trained servants comes back and rescues him. Look
in verse 13 of Genesis 14, and there came one that had escaped
and told Abram, the Hebrew, for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre,
the Amorite, brother of Eshkol and brother of Anar, and these
were confederate with Abram. And when Abram 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 servants, by night, and
he smote them, and pursued them into Hobath, 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. And the king of Sodom went out
to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Jeddur
and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Sheba, which
is the Kingsdale, and Melchizedek. No introduction, first time we
read of it. He's not mentioned again until
Psalm 110, some 800 years later. And you go into the New Testament,
he's not mentioned by any of the gospel narratives. He's not
mentioned by Peter, Paul, James, or John in their epistles, or
Jude, He's only mentioned by the writer to the Hebrews. Who
the writer to the Hebrews is, we don't know. I know it wasn't
Paul because Paul said he signed all of his with his own signature. You can read that in 2 Thessalonians
3. So we don't know who the writer
to the Hebrews was, but he's the only other person to mention
this mysterious man, Melchizedek. And Melchizedek, king of Salem,
brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the
Most High God. Now, I have no doubt that this
is a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ himself. No doubt. He's the only one who can be
described as the King of Righteousness and the priest. And it's interesting
that he, the priest, didn't bring a sacrifice. bread and wine. You see, he knew he himself was
the sacrifice. And this prefigures the Lord's
table when he brings this bread and wine at this time. Melchizedek,
king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. Only the Lord
would do that. And he was the priest of the
Most High God. This is the first time we read
the name of the Most High God like this. David used it throughout
the Psalms. I will praise the O Most High. This is the same Most High that
Nebuchadnezzar spoke of when he said, I blessed the Most High
and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation, and
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he
doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand. We're
saying to him, what doest thou? Give an account to yourself.
Verse 19, and he blessed him. Melchizedek blessed him and said,
blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven
and earth. And blessed be the most high
God which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And Abraham
gave him tithes of all. Now this was 500 years before
the Levites. This was 500 years before the
great high priest that's instituted in the book of Exodus. Yet here
we have Abraham paying tithes to this man Melchizedek. And
we know from the account in Hebrews chapter seven that Levi paid
tithes as well. Because when Abraham did, Levi
did because he was in the loins of his great-grandfather. So
turn to Psalm 110 now. 800 years pass, no other mention
of Melchizedek. He's only mentioned in those
three verses. And if you get a chance, go ahead and read the
rest of the chapter. I love the way Abraham, the King of Sodom
says, give me the goods and I mean the people and I won't take anything
else. He said, I'm not gonna take a
thread from you, unless you say I've made Abraham rich. I lift
my hand to the most high, possessor of heaven and earth. I'm not
gonna take a thing from you. And you know, we don't either, do
we? Christ only is all of our salvation. And we don't give a thread, a
shoelatch, it's worth of merit to anything by any human being.
We don't read that, but look here in Psalm 110. Now we know that this is speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit
thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule
thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of
the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord has sworn
and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Now here we have the second time
Melchizedek is mentioned and the Lord swears with an oath
concerning his son. You're a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. That's a superior priesthood
as we're going to see. Now turn to Hebrews chapter five. Here's the next time Melchizedek
is mentioned here in Hebrews chapter five, verse 10, called of God and high
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Look at chapter
six, verse 20, whether the four runners for us entered, even
Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now, let's get into chapter seven.
For this, he starts telling us who is Melchizedek. Well, we're
gonna find out. For this Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning
from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also
Abraham gave a 10th part of all, first being by interpretation,
king of righteousness, and after that also, king of peace. Now who is that but the Lord
Jesus Christ? You could not call any man the
king of righteousness. You could not call any man the
king of peace. Look in verse three, look at
this description of him. Without father, without mother, without
descent or pedigree, having neither beginning of days nor end of
life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest
continually. Now, I love thinking of the Lord
Jesus being the King of righteousness. There is only one righteousness,
His righteousness. He's the King of Righteousness.
If you're going to have righteousness, it'll be His given to you. That's
the only righteousness. His righteousness is the only
righteousness there is. He's the King of Righteousness.
You couldn't call any mere man that. The King of Righteousness?
The King of Peace. Oh, what peace there is in having
His righteousness. Now, the only well-grounded peace
is the peace that is trusting His righteousness only as your
personal righteousness before God. Any other kind of peace
is a false peace. That's the only peace, the peace
of His righteousness. He's the King of righteousness,
and He is the King of peace. I love that passage of scripture
in Colossians chapter two, or chapter one, beginning in verse
20, it says, concerning the work of the Lord, having made peace
by the blood of his cross. Having made peace. One of the most silly questions
you could ever be asked or ask somebody is, have you made your
peace with God? Boy, that's ridiculous. Only Christ could make a man's
peace with God. Having made peace through the
blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things to himself
by him I say whether they be things on earth or things in
heaven and you that were before time alienated and enemies in
your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the
body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. Now that's peace. Anything that's
not that peace is a false peace. He's the king of righteousness.
He's the king of peace. And who could, verse three, describe
that the eternal son without father, without mother, without
descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, he's
eternal, but made like unto the son of God, Abideth a priest
continually. And I've heard people argue against
him being the priest because they said he's made like the
Son of God. Well, who's like the Son of God? The Son of God. He's the only one that's like
the Son of God. And you remember when Nebuchadnezzar
threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fiery furnace?
And he said, didn't we throw three in? I see four. And the fourth is of the form
like unto the Son of God. Now that doesn't mean it wasn't
the Son of God, does it? He was the Son of God. That's the way
he spoke. When John saw that, had the revelation of Christ
and the revelation of one, he said, I saw one like unto the
Son of man. He saw the Son of Man, didn't
he? So you can't take that scripture and say, well, he's made like
the Son of God, but he's not the Son of God. He is the Son
of God. I have no question about that. Now look what he says. He abides
a priest continually. Now these Levitical priests,
you know what happened with them? They die. That was their end. They die. Their son would take
it, he would die. Their son would take it, he would
die. It was a succession of deaths, but he abideth a high priest
continually. Verse four, now consider how
great this man, and I think it's interesting that the was is in
italics. not proper, not how great this man was, how great
this man he is. He is the eternal son of God. Now consider how great this man
is unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the 10th of all
his spoils. Now, if you compare men, let's
compare a bit, Abraham and Levi. Well, what did Levi's father
say about him? instruments of cruelty are in
his habitation. What about Aaron, the first priest?
He proved to be such a weak man, such a compromising man so many
times. He was a very weak man. If you
want to put Abraham up beside those people, you might say,
well, Abraham looks better, but not really. Abraham was a weak
man, too. Abraham was a sinful man, too. What this has taught
me, see, there's no difference between men. You know, I'm like
about seven billion other people. There's no difference. All have
sinned. There's no difference. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. When it's talking
about how great this man is, he's saying he's infinitely greater
than Abraham. He's the son of God. Abraham
gave the 10th of the spoils, verse five. And verily they that are of the
sons of Levi, which received the office of the priesthood,
had 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, Melchizedek, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came from Judah,
but he whose descent is not counted from them, received tithes of
Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. Now, who's
the only one who can bless? You know, when people say, bless
you, I know they mean well, but I'm gonna say, and you can do
that? There's only one person who blesses. That's the Lord
God. He's the one who blessed Abraham.
And let's go on reading. But he whose descent is not countered
from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that
had the promises. And without all contradiction,
the less is blessed of the better. Now, one of the key words to
the book of Hebrews is the word better. It's in there 13 or 14
times. Christ is better than the angels.
He's a better hope. He's a better hope than the law.
He's a better covenant and a better testament. The salvation that's
in him is founded on better promises, promises completely conditioned
on him and not on works. He's a better sacrifice. The
blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin, but he presents
his own blood and what a glorious sacrifice it is. It actually
puts away sin. We read of a better country.
He is a heavenly, a better resurrection waking up in his likeness. This
is not speaking of one man being better than another. Like I said,
there's no difference between one man and another. There's
just not much difference between any of us. We're all sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Christ is better. He's infinitely
better. And without all contradiction,
the less is blessed of the better. Verse eight, and here men that
die receive tithes, the sons of Aaron. But there he receiveth
them of whom it's witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say,
Levi also who received tithes, paid tithes in Abraham for he
was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. Now
we have such a glorious picture of the gospel in that. First,
Levi paid tithes before he was even born. Before he had any
conception, the scripture says he paid those tithes. Now, everybody
in Christ, when Christ kept the law, I kept the law. When Christ
worked out a perfect righteousness, I worked out a perfect righteousness
in the Redeemer. But Levi, the great grandson
of Abraham, he was paying tithes to Melchizedek as well as Melchizedek
was. For as yet he was in the loins
of his father when Melchizedek met him. Now verse 11. If therefore
perfection, and beloved, that's what God demands. Perfection. He will not accept anything less. Perfection. If perfection were
by the Levitical priesthood, 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 called after the order
of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed,
verse 12, There's made a necessity, a change of the law. We're no
longer under the law. For he of whom these things were
spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance
at the altar. The Lord was not a Levite. The
Lord is our great high priest, but he was never from the sons
of Aaron. For it's evident that our Lord
sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning
the priesthood. And it's yet far more evident
that after the similitude 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, every one of these
priests, Aaron and all of his sons, all the way down, you know
what they all did? They all died. You know why they
all died? They were all sinners. That's
all they were. They were men. They typified
something, but they couldn't save anybody. This is the priest
who does. This priest after the order of
Melchizedek. And he's not made a priest because
of a carnal commandment, a fleshly commandment, but after the power
of an endless life. For he testifies, here it is
again, verse 17. For he testified, thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Look what he says next in verse
18. for they're verily a disannulling of the commandment going before
for the weakness and the unprofitableness thereof. Now he's talking about
all the laws of the Old Testament. And look what he says regarding
these laws of the Old Testament. He says they're disannulled,
they're done away with because of the weakness. Think of this language. I mean,
I almost think he'd be scared saying this because of the weakness
and the unprofitableness of the law. Why does he use language
like that? Because the law can't save. These priests couldn't do anything
for anybody. And he actually calls this law,
according to the weakness, it can't save. It was never designed
to save. Unprofitableness, it doesn't do anybody any good.
It's disannulled. It's disannulled. Let me repeat
that, it's this and old. Verse 19, for the law made nothing perfect, but the
bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh
unto God. Now, what is this better hope?
by one offering, he hath, he hath perfected for ever them
that are sanctified. That's the better hope. And it's
only through this that we draw an eye to God. Would you try
to come to God any other way than him? His blood? There is no other
way. Well, I had a good day today.
Huh? Well, Don't try coming that way. That won't do you any good.
Well, I had a bad day. I can't come. Don't do that either.
You come only through him. By the witch, this better hope
we draw nigh unto God. Verse 20, and inasmuch as not
without an oath, he was made priest. The Lord swore and will
not repent. Thou art a priest forever. That's
God's oath. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Verse 21, for those priests were
made without an oath. Their daddy died and they became
priests, and they died and their son became priest. No oath from
God though, 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 assured
thee of a better testament. Now, let's talk about the New
Testament. The Old Testament is due. The
New Testament is, it's done. It really is that simple. The
Old Testament is due. Do this and you'll live. The
Old Testament is, it's done. And Christ is the surety. He's
the guarantor. He's the guarantee of that. He
took complete responsibility for my salvation before time
began. You know what? Everything God
requires of me, He looks to His Son for. Everything. I can't take that far enough.
Everything. He's the surety. What is this
New Testament? Well, look in chapter eight,
verse nine. Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers the day when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they continued not my
covenant, I regarded them not. That's the covenant of works.
For this is the covenant that I make with the house of Israel.
After those days, sayeth the Lord, I will put my laws into
their mind and write them into their hearts. I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not
teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying,
know the Lord. For all shall know me from the least to the
greatest, for I will be merciful. I will be propitious, is the
word, to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities.
What's that say? Will I remember no more? Now, the only way that he cannot
remember is if there's nothing there for him to remember. And
that's what the propitiatory sacrifice of the priest after
the order of Melchizedek accomplished, the complete putting away of
sin. That's only through him that
we draw nigh unto God. Moreover, back to our text. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament, and they truly were many priests, because
they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. How many
thousands of priests were there? But this man, because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, he is a priest. also to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. It's one of my favorite verses. Everything about the Lord Jesus
Christ is predicated on his ability. He's able. You know, he made
that statement In John chapter six, verse 38, 28, 38, 38. I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the father's will, which has sent me that of all which he
had given me, I should lose nothing. But raise it up at the last day. Now let me ask you a question.
Is he able to do that? Is He able to save all the Father
gave Him? Is He able to present you faultless
before His throne with exceeding glory and to keep you from falling? Is He able? What do you believe
about His ability? Wherefore He's able to save to
what extent? To the uttermost. I don't even
know how you define that word. To the uttermost. I mean, you
can't, to the farthest reach. There's nothing that can prevent
the salvation of anybody that he saves. He is able to save
to the uttermost. Who? Them that come to God by
him. Now that's the description of
the believer. He doesn't come to God any other way. He comes to
God by him only. all the time, no other way. And to He saves the uttermost,
them that come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make
intercession for them. Now, I love to think, you know,
I disappoint myself. You ever do
that? I disappoint myself. But you
know, there's a man in glory, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
doesn't say, well, look, he committed that sin again. Please forgive
him again. Doesn't work that way at all. You see, I have no
sin. I have no sin. Because that man
in glory is without sin. And he stands as my representative.
all the time as my great high priest and intercessor. And I
stand without sin. He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession. He's not going to die. He ever
lives to do this. There's no recess. There's no
time when he's not. he ever liveth. Who is he that
condemneth Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us? What a priest. Then verse 26. For such a high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, made
higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high
priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then
for the people. So this he did once when he offered
up himself." Now, this is talking about the sinlessness of Christ.
What good would a priest do you that was a sinner? None, none. You think of the very notion
of a Catholic priest. I'm as sinful as they are, I
realize that, but they supposedly think they can represent somebody
else before God when they're so corrupt and defiled and wicked. And I'm not just getting on them,
I'm just as corrupt and defiled and wicked, but I'm just talking
about the notion of some sinful man trying to become a priest.
I mean, it makes you want to throw up. It's so offensive. Look in Hebrews chapter 5. He's
talking about these Levitical priests. For every high priest
taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining
to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins,
who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them who are
out of the way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity,
with sin, with weakness. Everywhere he looks, there it's
at. And by reason hereof, he ought
us for the people, so also for himself to offer for sins. But this man, this priest after
the order of Melchizedek, back to verse 27 in chapter seven,
he needs not daily as those high 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 men high
priests which have infirmity, weakness, sinfulness. But the
word of the oath, the Lord has sworn and will not repent. Thou
art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The word
of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the son who is
consecrated forevermore. Now that word consecrated, means
he's able to finish. He's able to finish. That's exactly
what he does. It's got the word finish in it. He finishes the job and makes
every one of his people perfect in Christ Jesus. Now the things
of chapter 8 verse 1, now the things which we have spoken.
This is the sum. This is the principal. This is
the chief thing. This is what we're getting across. We have
Such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the thrones
of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary of
the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man. For
every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices,
whereof it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to
offer. For if he were on earth, the Lord Jesus, he wouldn't be
a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according
to the law. He wasn't a Levite. But we have this high priest,
verse five, who served as an example in the chat of the heavenly
things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make
the tabernacle. For see, saith he, that thou
make all things after the pattern on the mount, But now he, the
great high priest after the order of Melchizedek, has obtained
a more excellent ministry by how much also he's the mediator
of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. We have this high priest right
now. You know what that means? It
means I don't have to worry about a thing. I've got one representing
me, who the Father is pleased with. And I'm in Him, and the
Father is pleased with me. And this priesthood is never
gonna be over. It is eternal. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for our
Melchizedek. How we thank you that the Lord
Jesus is You said concerning him that
he's a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Lord, we
would not dare approach you any other way but by him. But how
we thank you that he's able to save to the uttermost those that
come to God by him. Our Lord, bless these words for
your glory and our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
Matt, come and listen to the closing hymn.