and they took Lot, kidnapped
him, captured him, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom and his
goods, took all his goods and departed. And there came one
that had escaped and told Abram, the Hebrew, for he dwelt in the
plain of Mamre, the Amorite brother of Eschol, brother of Aner. And
these were confederate with Abram. When Abram heard his brother
was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his
own house, 318, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided his
forces against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote
them, and pursued them unto Hoboth. which is on the left hand of
Damascus. And he brought back all the goods
and also brought again his brother Lot, his brother's son, his nephew,
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 Chedoleomer, one of the kings that were with him, the valley
of Shabbath. which is the Kingsdale, and Melchizedek,
king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. He was the priest
of the Most High God. And he blessed Abraham and said,
Blessed be Abraham, Abram. He blessed him. Blessed be Abram,
the Most High God, a possessor of heaven and earth. Blessed
be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into
thy hand, and gave him tithes of all." I turn to Hebrew 7. I begin there so that we might
see the one and only appearance of Melchizedek, only one and
only appearance of Melchizedek. He's referred to often in the
Word in Psalm 110. David wrote in Psalm 110, verse
4, the Lord has sworn and will not repent. Speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And then in Hebrews 5, the Apostle Paul says in verse
6, he saith in another place, thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 5, called of God a high
priest after the order of Melchizedek. Chapter 6, verse 20, whether
the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now then let's read, starting
in verse 1 of chapter 7. 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, let's
talk about Melchizedek now, king of righteousness, and after that
also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father
without mother, without descent, pedigree, no ancestry, having
neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto
the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Now consider how
great this man was. That's the title of this message.
Consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch
Abraham gave the tenth of the Sphar. Consider how great this
man was. Consider how great in his offices. Look back at these statements
in his offices. He's called, in verse 1, the
priest of the Most High God. That's his office, the priest
of the Most High God. And then secondly, in verse He's
called the King of Righteousness, the King of Righteousness. And
then, verse 2, the King of Peace. These offices are nowhere in
the Scriptures combined in any one man except in Christ. King, the priest, verse 1, Melchizedek
is the priest of the Most High God, and he's the king. He's the king of righteousness. Now, King Saul tried to combine
those two offices. Remember when he offered the
sacrifice? Samuel was not there to offer a sacrifice, so King
Saul went ahead and offered one. And God immediately took the
kingdom away from him. King Uzziah tried to combine
these two offices, priest and king. He tried to combine these
two offices. That's where Isaiah wrote about
his death. King Uzziah was a great king,
a wonderful king. People loved him. He obeyed God
until his heart was lifted up with pride, and he went to the
temple. to offer a sacrifice. About 85
priests met him there about their duties and said, O king, it appertaineth
not to thee to usurp the authority of the priest. And he just pushed
him out of the way, went in, and God killed him, turned him
into a leper. So consider how great this man
was, the priest of the Most High God and the king of righteousness. and the king of peace." Now,
consider how great he was not only in his offices, but in his
benedictions. He blessed Abraham. Down in verse 4, when he says,
Consider how great this man was, this Melchizedek, unto whom even,
even the patriarch Abraham paid before whom Abraham bowed and
gave a tent." Here's Abraham. Now, remember, this is before
God gave the ceremonial law. This is before the law, long
before the law. This is before Almighty God gave
the law to Moses, the ceremonial law. This is before God gave
the tabernacle, the plans for the tabernacle. This is before
God ever decreed the priesthood. There was no priesthood at this
time, except the father who was the priest of the home. There
was no priest offering sacrifices when Abraham... The priesthood
started with Moses, isn't that right? The tabernacle, the sacrifices,
the atonement, the Passover lamb, this is before the Passover lamb.
This is back in the days of Abraham, this is before God ever defined
the priesthood. of Abraham and his sons. And
here this man appears who's the priest. This is the priest of
the Most High God. Now you consider how great this
man was, king of righteousness, king of peace. And here he is,
here's Abraham, the father of all believers, the father of
Israel, the father of the church. worshiping before him and being
blessed by him. Then verse 5, he said, you Hebrews,
listen. This is the book to the Hebrews.
And verily, they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the
priesthood, have a commandment, which started with Moses, to
take tithes of the people. That's when it all started, tithes
and the priesthood and the tribe of Levi, according to the law,
that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of
Abraham. You see, the Levites, let's turn back to the book of
Numbers. There were 12 tribes of Israel,
and Numbers, turn to Numbers 18, there were 12 tribes of Israel. And all the tribes had an inheritance. All the tribes, when they divided
up Canaan, The land they divided up into 11 portions. But the tribe of Levi owned no
inheritance. They owned no land. Now, let's
read this in Numbers 18. They were the special tribe. They were the tribe of the priest.
Numbers 18, verse 20, And the Lord spake unto Abram, Thou shalt
have no inheritance in the land, neither shalt thou have any part
among them. I'm your part. I'm your portion. Thine inheritance among the children
of Israel. I am your inheritance. And behold,
I've given the children of Levi all the tent in Israel for an
inheritance, for their service, which they serve, even the service
of the tabernacle and the congregation." That's the tribe of Levi. Neither
must the children of Israel, therefore, come down to the tabernacle
of the congregation, lest they bear sin and die. But the Levites,
the tribe of Levites, shall do the service of the tabernacle
of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity, shall
be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among
the children of Israel they have no inheritance but the tithes
of the children of Israel which they offer. as a heave offering
unto the Lord, I've given to the Levites to inherit." You
see that? And that's what he's saying here
in verse 5 now of Hebrews 7. Verily they that are of the sons
of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, the old tribe,
that's the priestly tribe, have a commandment to take tithes
of the people according to the law, under the law. The children
of Israel brought to the storehouse ties of everything, not just
money. Out there in the wilderness,
they didn't have a lot of money, I imagine. Maybe they didn't have much money
in Canaan, but they brought ties of herbs. And our Lord said,
you tied mint, anise, cumin, all these things, and these things
you ought to do. Not you, under the law, back
then. And that all went to the tribe
of Levi. But verse 6, but he whose descent
is not counted from them, Melchizedek, he didn't come from Levi. He
wasn't of the tribe of Levi. He wasn't associated with Levi.
He was long before Levi. Here he is receiving tithes of
Abraham. And he blessed him that had the
promises. Here's Melchizedek, whose descent
is not from Abraham, not from Levi. both receiving tithes and
blessing Abraham himself to whom the promises were given. And
here, listen to this. Without contradiction, the less
is blessed of the better. The less is blessed of the better.
Abraham, who offered sacrifices to God, he blessed Isaac, the
greater the last. Isaac blessed Jacob. Jacob blessed his sons, among
whom was Levi, and Abel, and the tribal priest who blessed
Israel. But here is all of them, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Levi, all that before Melchizedek. That's what he says, consider
how great this man was. The less is always blessed of
the greater. That's what he's establishing
here, the greatness, the priesthood of Melchizedek. In verse 8, and
here, back here in the Old Testament, under the Mosaic law, men that
die receive tithe. They were supported by the tithe.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may
be meat for the tribe of Levi, and also for the unfortunate
of the people of Israel. But there, at this time, now
the pictures you talked about here, here's Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Joseph, Levi, Aaron, all these, all of Israel, blessed
of Melchizedek, who's the greatest. And here, men receive tithes,
men that die. But there, at that time, he received
them, Melchizedek, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. He lives. That's right. Down at verse 3 of chapter 7,
without mother, without father, without descent, having neither
beginning of days nor end of life, he lives. Who is this Melchizedek? This is Christ. This is Christ
our Lord. Consider how great this man is.
He lived. Let's turn to the book of Proverbs,
chapter 8. Proverbs, chapter 8. I'm just
going to read a part of this. Here's our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here's our priest of the Most High God. Here's the King of
Righteousness, the King of Peace. In Proverbs 8, verse 22, the
Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way. Proverbs 8, verse
22. Before his works of old, I was
set up from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth
was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there
were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were
settled, before the hills was I brought forth. While as yet
he had not made the earth or the fields or the highest parts
of the dust of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was
there. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when
he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains
of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree that the waters
should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations
of the earth, then I was by him as one brought up with him I
was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing
in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with
the sons of men. Thank God for that. He was our
surety then. Listen. Now therefore hearken
unto me, you children, and blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear
instruction, be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that
heareth me. God is spoken to us by his Son.
Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates,
waiting at the post of my doors. Whoso findeth me, findeth life,
shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me
wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me must love
death, because he is That's what that verse says there in verse
8. There he receiveth them of whom
it is witnessed he liveth. And now look at verse 9. And
as I may so say, Levi also, this tribe of Levi also, Under the
law, who received tithes, who lived by the tithes, who lived
by the inheritance of the temple, who received the tithes and who
offered the sacrifices, he paid tithes at Abraham. For he was
in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. When Melchizedek
met Abraham, all Israel was in his loins. in his Lord, but through Isaac,
all the church was in his Lord, through Isaac thy seed shall
become. And when he was blessed of Melchizedek,
he met Melchizedek, we all paid tithes in him and we were blessed
of Christ, our Melchizedek, our great high priest, that's right. You know, let me show you Galatians
3 a moment. Hold that right there and just
turn to Galatians 3. And our relationship with Abraham in
Galatians 3, now you listen to this. Abraham's children are
not the Jews. Some are Jews, some are Gentiles.
But Abraham's children in the scripture are believers. In Galatians
3 verse 7, Know ye therefore that they which are of faith,
they are the children of Abraham. And in verse 16, now to Abraham
and his seed where the promise is made, he saith not to seeds
as of many, but as of one, to thy seed which is Christ. So
verse 29, if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, and your
heir is according to promise. Melchizedek's always been our
priest. These Levitical priesthood were
simply types, patterns, and pictures of the work of our Lord Jesus
Christ. So verse 11, listen to this.
Now, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood,
if salvation and fellowship with God and forgiveness of sins had
been attained under that Old Testament priesthood, Old Testament
sacrifices, Old Testament ceremonies, Old Testament types, then what
further need, look at verse 11, if therefore perfection is by
the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people receive the
law, what further need was there that another priest should arise?
after the order of Melchizedek. Why another priest? Why another
priesthood? After the order of Melchizedek
and not after the order of Aaron. In fact, a different priest after
the order of Melchizedek, the kingly tribe, Judah. For the
priesthood, verse 12, being changed. God changed the priesthood and
therefore changed the law. That's the reason we can't go
back to that Old Testament law of tithing and Sabbath days and
dietary laws. Like the priesthood, the Catholic
Church has a priesthood. The Episcopalians have a priesthood. They call their pastors the priests. No, it's been changed. For the priesthood being changed,
It's a necessity of change of the whole law, the whole thing. The whole thing. Turn to Hebrews
10. I'll show you this over here in Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, verse
4. It's not possible for the blood
of bulls and goats to take away sin. Wherefore, when Christ came
into the world, he said, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me, and burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin." God never had any pleasure, never had any satisfaction. Those
offerings and priesthood, they never put away not even one sin,
never, ever. Then said I, Lo, I come, and
the volume of the book is written of me. I read it in Proverbs
8, way back up to before the foundations of earth, it was
written of him. Lo, I come, it's written of me. I come to do thy will, thy redemptive
will above. When he said sacrifice and offerings
and burnt offerings and offerings for sins, I would as not neither
have any pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Listen.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He takes away
the first. First what? First tabernacle? First priesthood? First sacrifices? First Passover? All these things. Taken away. And establishes a
second. What is that second? By the which
will was sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Now verse 11, every priest, if
you understand it daily, is offering oftentimes the same sacrifices
which can never take away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice of sin, whoever sat down on the right hand of
God, so verse, back here in our text, Hebrews 7, where the priesthood
being changed, there's a change also in the law. That old ceremony
law, Levitical law, is gone. It's all fulfilled. Now watch
this. He of whom these things are spoken
pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance
at their altar. Now, I've been telling you about
the tribe of Levi. There are 12 tribes. The tribe
of Levi was the priest tribe. And you heard that all the while,
and I told you that. Melchizedek, Christ, our Melchizedek, didn't
come from that tribe. He came from the tribe of Judah.
All the way through the Old Testament it says, of the line of the tribe
of Judah, the scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh
come. The root of Jesse, the seed of
David. And it says in Micah, O Bethlehem,
city of David, tribe of Judah, out of thee shall he come forth,
whose goings forth have been from everlasting..." That's Melchizedek,
our high priest. So there's a change of the priesthood,
there's a change of the law, there's even a change of the
tribe. He's not a priest after the order of Abraham. He's a
king priest. Oh, my. No man ever gave attendance
at the altar from the tribe of Judah except Uzziah. God killed him. Saul, God killed
him. Anybody tried it? Never. It's
evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe
Moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood. It's a whole,
it's a new priesthood. You can't reach back and take
those old Levitical ceremonies and laws and bring them into
this day. They're over, they're done, they're
fulfilled. Christ came, Judah, a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. He had no house and lineage or
direct association with Abraham in any way, the law. And it is yet far more evident
For that after the similitude of Melchizedek there riseth another
priest, listen, who is made not after the law, oh, I love this,
not after the law of carnal commandments, not after the law of carnal commandments,
but after the power of an endless life, the power of an endless life.
For he testifieth, thou art a priest forever. after the order of Melchizedek. Now verse 18. For there is barely a disannulling
of the commandment going before, for the weakness and unprofitableness
of it. That law could never say, it
wasn't given to say. It's given as a picture, as a
type. Unprofitable and weakness, powerless
to say. For verse 19, that law made nothing
perfect, never perfected anyone but the bringing in of a better
hope then, a better priest, a better sacrifice, a better covenant
with better promises by the which we draw nigh to God. And in so much, in as much as
not without an oath, he was made a priest. Those Old Testament
priests, they were made without an oath. But this was an oath
by him that said to him, the Lord swear and will not repent,
thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. By
so much, in this fashion, by an oath of God, by the purpose
of our Heavenly Father, was Jesus Christ made a surety of a better
testament. Those Old Testament priests,
there were many of them. They were made without an oath,
there were many of them. And the reason there were many
of them is because they weren't suffered to continue by reason
of death. But this man, this priest, our
priest, because he continueth ever, has an unchanging priesthood,
wherefore he is able. to save them to the uttermost,
to the uttermost extent of guilt that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Now, in closing this
message, I want to give you nine reasons why he's able, our Melchizedek,
our Redeemer. It says here he's able, he's
able. Saved to the uttermost. Him to
come to God by Him. He's able. And here's the reason. Nine reasons. Number one is found
in verse 17. Or verse 16. Verse 16. Here's number one. He is made.
He's made a priest. Not after the law of carnal commandments. But after the power of an endless
life. Who has an endless life? The only one who is life, endless,
God. Because He's God. That's why
He's able to save. He's God. The power of an endless
life. Who was, who is, whoever shall
be. In the beginning was God. In
the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God. The Word was
God. All things were made by Him.
And the Word was made flesh and brought to Moses. He's God. All
right, the second reason. Verse 17, he testifies, thou
art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now, Abram,
I respect Abram and all the other priests who faithfully served,
but they were just men with a temporary priesthood. They were born and
they served as priests and died. The second reason why Christ
is able to save, He has an everlasting priesthood. He's a priest forever. He's always been a priest, always
will be a priest. That's the effectual one who's
a priest forever, forever. And then the third reason is
given in verse 21. Because the Father made Him our
priest. Those priests were made without
a nose. They were men who served as priests who were not fit to
be priests, who were ashamed and disgraced, who were under
the disfavor of God. They were one of those high priests
that had the Apostle Paul slapped, stolen, slapped him. Those men were made priests without
a nose. They were priests because their daddies were priests. They
were the tribe of Levi, but this man, with an oath from him who
said, the Lord swear and it will not change, you are my priest
forever. That's the reason he's able.
He's God, he's a priest forever, and my Father, my Heavenly Father
made him a priest. And here's the fourth reason,
verse 22. Because he's the surety. He was
made a surety. What is a surety? It's a guarantor. A surety of the covenant. God
made a covenant and Christ signed it as the guarantor. I will be surety and you can
require it at my hands. He's our surety. He was made
by God the priest and the surety of our covenant. Now that covenant
in the Old Testament he gave Moses, those were priests of
that covenant. But I'm glad I'm not under that
covenant. I'm under this one that has the Father's purpose and the
Son as the priest. All right, here's the fifth reason,
verse 24. because he continues ever and
has an unchanging priesthood. It doesn't pass from one to the
other. It's his. It's always been his. It's his
and that always will be his. It's an unchanging priesthood.
There was one priest during Moses' tenure, but during some of those
kings, there were several priests. And during the Eternality of
God's purpose is just one priest, and that's Christ Jesus. He has
an unchanging priesthood, all right? The sixth reason, in verse
25, wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost that come
to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth, He ever liveth to make
intercession for them. He ever lives before God as our
priest, as our forerunner, as our advocate, as our representative.
These priests came and went. They offered a sacrifice a day,
and then you may come to the tabernacle, and he's nowhere
to be found. But our Lord's always, ever living at the right hand
of God, making intercession. And that intercession is not,
I hear people say, he calls my name. Well, that's all right.
But that intercession is his presence. If he's there, we're
there. He's there, his church is there.
He's always there. He never leaves the presence
of the Father. Our priest is always with the
Father. He ever lives. And the seventh reason why he's
able to save is because, in verse 26, he had no sin. You know,
when old Abraham went in there to offer the sacrifice, Avon had sins of his own. He
had to offer a sacrifice for his own sins and then for the
people's sins. Avon had, like us, and the moon, a lot of spots.
And they didn't know whether Avon was going to be around or
not. But I listened. But our priest is holy. God is
holy. Christ is holy. Harmless. Undefiled. Separate from sinners. He's identified with us. He's
numbered with us. He's our representative. But
in His holiness, He's totally separate from us. Made higher
than the heavens. Think. You consider how great
this man is. If you ever have any, just the
slightest little consideration that these people talk about
doing this for salvation, that they're right, just think how
great this man is foolish is their hope. To look
to themselves or anyone else, how ridiculous. He's higher than
the heavens. And then the eighth reason why
he's able to save, verse 27, who needeth not daily as those
high priests, how many sacrifices did that bunch offer? Millions, I guess. There were
sacrifices for 2,000 years, morning, noon, and night. Blood flowed
like rivers through those 2,000 years. They offered up sacrifice
after sacrifice after sacrifice. But this man, look at verse 27. He didn't need to offer up sacrifice
for his own sins. He didn't have any then for the
people. This he did one time. He offered up. Himself. That's our sacrifice. Himself. Christ Himself. If God spared
not His own Son, He'll certainly give us what His Son paid for,
what He bought. And the last reason, verse 28,
the law makes men priests which have infirmities, because that's
the only Only count the priests you can find among men, priests
with infirmities. But the word of the Lord, the
Heavenly Father, Almighty God, sense the law, make it the Son. I love that, those two words.
I just put a circle around those two words, the Son. The Son. He made him our priest, and he's
consecrated, perfected. forevermore. Brethren, as the
old lawyer said, I rest my case. I rest my case. There's nothing
else to be said. Christ, our high priest. All right, let's sing a hymn.