Our Bibles again to Hebrews 7. As I said, this chapter is a
bit longer than our other studies, but I'll try to group the verses
around the main point found in that particular section. Actually,
you could preach an entire message from just one verse or one single
sentence, Because this is not the word of men, it's the word
of God. But here in chapter 7 of Hebrews, there's a particular
subject dealt with. And that subject is the excellency
and superiority of the priesthood of our Lord over the priesthood
of Aaron and the sons of Levi. That's what this is all about.
And it begins in verse 1 of Hebrews 7. We have a great high priest. The sons of Aaron and the sons
of Levi are types and pictures of Christ, but he's so infinitely
superior to them, so infinitely more excellent than they, that
they cannot adequately portray him. God's got to set forth someone
who can. Now watch verse 1. 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 tenth
part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, this is
Melchizedek, After that also King of Salem, which is King
of Peace. Now listen, without father, without
mother, without pedigree, without a family tree, having neither
beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the
Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Now let's go back
to Genesis 14 and read about this incident. And when did Melchizedek
appear? Well, he appeared before God
gave the ceremonial law to Moses on Mount Sinai. This is back,
he appeared to Abraham. This is before Moses was born. This was when the whole nation
of Israel consisted of one man. Abraham, one person. And Isaac
and Jacob and Moses, I've never been born. There was no Levitical
priesthood, or tabernacle, or ceremony, or mercy seat, or art,
or tables of the Lord. This was before the plans for
the tabernacle were ever set forth. This is before God ever
defined the priesthood to Moses and Abraham. Genesis 14, 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 Shavuot,
which is the king's dale. And Melchizedek, king of peace,
king of righteousness, brought forth bread and wine. Now here's
a priest, priest of the most high God, who meets Abraham. And this is the days of sacrifices. This is the days before Christ
came. This is in the day without the shedding of blood, there's
no remission. Without a lamb, there's no approach to God. Isaac
said, where's the lamb? Here's a priest who meets Abraham
and blesses him with bread and wine. No lamb, no altar, no sacrifice. I'll tell you why, because he's
the sacrifice. He's the lamb and he's the altar.
That's who he is. He blesses Abraham. That's the
important thing. And he was the priest of the
Most High God, and he 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 he gave him tithes of all." Now, verse 4, here's the key
to this whole thing. Now, you consider, think, meditate. Consider how great, how special,
how excellent this man, this Melchizedek, this king of righteousness,
king of peace, peace, priest of the Most High God. Consider
how great he is. You Jews, you Jews, you Hebrews,
this is the book to the Hebrews. You Jews and Hebrews and all
that are of the law and all who have been brought up under the
law and under the priesthood of Aaron and his sons, I want
you to consider how great is our high priest. We have a great
high priest. We have a priest. We have a priest. I want you to consider how great
he is. Now, here's how great he is.
Listen. They that are of the sons of
Levi, who receive 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 come out of the lords of Abraham.
Let's read about this tithe business. When Moses set forth the tabernacle
and the sacrifices and the law and the priesthood, all these
things, the twelve tribes, God set apart the tribe of Levi. That's the priesthood. And all
the tribes, they owned property. The land was divided among the
tribes, except the tribe of Levi. They had no property. They had
no inheritance. They had no land. That one tribe
out of the 12, they were ordained in things pertaining to God.
They erected the tabernacle. They built the tabernacle. They
went about the services of the tabernacle. They moved the tabernacle. They carried the altars and all
these things. They did the sacrificing. They
served as priests. That one tribe out of the 12
served as priests. How did they live? How'd they
survive? They didn't grow crops and these
things. The tithe, the 10%. Now listen
to it. In Numbers chapter 18, Numbers
chapter 18. That's why people gave the tithe. That's the reason God said, bring
you the tithes into the storehouse. He wasn't talking to you. He
was talking to Israel. Because there were 12 tribes
and one of them, one tribe was the tribe of Levi, the sons of
Levi. They were the priests. You see, none of the other eleven
tribes offered sacrifices or came into the tabernacle or went
about any of these things. It was the sons of Levi. And
they were supported. Let's read it. Numbers chapter
18, beginning with verse 20. And the Lord spake unto Avon,
Thou shalt have no inheritance in the land, neither shalt thou
have any part among them. I'm your part. I'm your inheritance
among the children of Israel. And behold, I've given the children
of Levi the tent in Israel for an inheritance, for their service,
which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the
tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin and die."
Don't you come. The other eleven tribes, don't
come to the tabernacle, don't come inside, don't offer a sacrifice,
don't bring a blood offering, don't do it. The priest does
all that. They take care of every bit of that. Every bit of it. But the Levites shall do the
service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall
bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever
throughout your generations that among the children of Israel
they'll have no inheritance. They'll have no support from
their own hands. 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. Therefore I have said
unto them, among the children of Israel, they shall have no
inheritance." Now, this Melchizedek, he met Abraham. And it says here
in verse 6, "...but he whose descent is not counted from them
received tithes of Abraham." Here Paul is saying that these
priests This tribe of Levi, they serve God, in faith pertaining
to God, they represent the people. They go to people from God, they
go to God from the people. They sacrifice the turtledoves,
and the lambs, and the goats, and the bullocks, and they take
care of the temple, the tabernacle, all these things. That's their
business. And they're supported by these people who pay the tithes,
bringing all the tithes into the storehouse, that these people
not be in need. But what he's saying here is
Melchizedek is so great and so superior to them that Abraham
and the sons of Levi paid tithes to him. To Melchizedek. Verse 7 says, without contradiction,
the less is blessed, the better, isn't it? So the sons of Levi
and Abram, who one time were the high priest, the high priest
was the high priest. The high priest was the The man
who went before God once a year. Even Moses didn't do this. Even
David didn't do this. Even Solomon didn't do this.
But once a year, the high priest would take the blood from the
altar, slip under the veil, and go into the presence of God,
the shekinah glory between the cherubims over the mercy seat,
and there, just him and God. were offered a sacrifice, God would accept it as a picture of Christ. Now,
that blood of that animal didn't put away sin, that was Christ.
But that was serious, that was the most serious, most awesome,
most holy place and presence and act once a year, the atonement. But that fellow paid tithes to
Melchizedek. Isn't that what he's saying,
Cecil? Isn't that what it sums this up? That fella, Aaron, and
all his sons, to whom the Israelites bowed and scraped, brought tithes,
waited on them to go take their place and go before them, go
before God, represent them, standing out there waiting to see if he
came out, he is inferior to Melchizedek. Now you consider how great this
man is. Whew! Huh! Verse 8 says, Here men that die
receive tithes, but there he receives them who live forever.
And that's the reason I don't preach tithing, because I'm not
a son of Levi. I'm not a priest. You see, the whole law has changed.
The whole law has changed. You can't keep part of it. If
you can't keep part, you don't go by part of this law. Let's
read on here. Verse 9, And as I may so say,
Levi also, who received tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For he
was yet in the loins of his daddy, when Melchizedek met him. When
Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, the whole Jewish nation was in
Abraham. They all came from Isaac. And
I'll tell you, when Christ offered His blood, when Christ appeared
before the Father, we were all in Him, in His loins. That's right, oh boy, I tell
you, substitution. Now, let's look carefully at
this. If, therefore, perfection was
by the Levitical priesthood for these people, under it the people
received the law, what further need was there for another priest
that another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek
and not be called after the order of Avon? Paul is saying here,
if men could be redeemed, Under that old priesthood, with its
Sabbath days, and with its tithes, and with its laws, and with its
sacrifices, and all these things, why did God reveal another priest? That's exactly what he said.
Why did God reveal another priest? After the order of Melchizedek.
Verse 12, Now for the priesthood being changed, there is made
of necessity a change also of the whole law. When Jesus Christ
is revealed and came to this earth and died on that cross
and went into the presence of God with his blood, that did
away with the earthly priesthood, with the temple, with the tabernacle,
with the sacrifices, with the mercy seat, with the Ark of the
Covenant. With the Sabbath days, with the
tithe, with the sons of Levi, with the tribe separate, that
has no land, no support, no inheritance. It did away with the earthly
priesthood 100%. Don't go. These folks down the road here
that have that priest. That's wrong. That's wrong. Everybody in here is saved as
a priest. And he's our high priest. And these folks that are keeping
Saturday, I don't care whether it's seven-day Adventist or seven-day
Baptist, it's done away with in Christ. And people that take
their income and set aside by law, requirement, intent, you're
doing wrong. I'm telling you, that's not the
motivation. There is no storehouse down here. There is no tribe
of Levi. Our giving is motivated by love. Our pastors are supported, of
course they are. Our missionaries are supported,
of course they are. But they're supported not by a tent or a
tax. The tithe was a tax. It was required. They didn't do it because they
wanted to. They did it because they absolutely
had to. It was law. But I'm telling you, it's not
law now. There's a change in the law. Because there's a change
in the priesthood. Why has the law changed? Because
the priesthood changed. They'll never, they talk about
that dome of the rock over there and they're going to rebuild
the temple. That's a lot of hogwash. That temple's not going to be
rebuilt. God's not going to permit it. The sacrifices will never
be offered. There's a change in the law. Turn to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10,
verse 7, Oh boy, Then said I, Lo, I come, and the volume of
the book is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when
he said, Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering
for sin, thy wouldest not neither had any pleasure therein which
are offered by the Lord. God never had any satisfaction
in those things. They were temporary. They were
types. They were pictures. The blood of an animal can never
satisfy the justice of God. The priest offering his intercession
can never plead for a sinner effectually before God. That's
just a sinner pleading for a sinner. It takes Christ. Christ came.
Now what's the next verse? Then said he, lo, I come to do
your will, O God, and he taketh away the first. What's the first? All of this law given on Sinai,
every smidgen of it, every sacrifice, every ceremony, every priest,
every building, mercy seat, Sabbath days, tithes, all of these things,
don't re-institute it, don't try to resurrect it. Christ fulfilled
it. It has changed. Read on in Hebrews
7. Priesthood being changed? is the necessity of change of
the law. It all rested on the priest. It all rested on the priest.
Aaron, the sons of Levi, all of this was carried out by them. They cared for it, built it,
sustained it, all these things. When you move him out of the
way, you got a conglomeration of nothing, hadn't you? Listen to verse 13. He of whom
these things were spoken, he pertains to another tribe of
which no man gave attendance at the altar. There never was
a priest from the tribe of Judah. The tribe of Judah is David's
tribe, the king. The tribe of Levi is the priest. And no king ever served as a
priest, and no priest ever served as a king. No man ever had those
officers. King Uzziah, you remember? Isaiah
said, when King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. King Uzziah was
a king, and he tried to be a priest, and God killed him. It is evident, verse 14, our
Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing
concerning the priesthood. But let me tell you, he's the
king priest. He's the royal priest. He's prophet,
priest, and king. That's how great this man is.
Actually, don't return to the beggarly elements. The less is
always blessed to the better. I want the better, don't you?
I want the best. Especially between me and God.
The best, the better. The better covenant, the better
sacrifice, the better promises, the better priest. So don't return
to these beggarly elements. Don't try to appease God or please
God with these Old Testament requests. I know there's people
that don't allow you to eat pork. They go back to the Old Testament
dietary laws enforced by the priesthood. And there was a reason
for those things, the unclean animals and so forth, but everything
is to be received with thanksgiving in moderation. But just don't
let any man saddle you and put you in bondage to these things
again. Don't do it. Don't do it. Christ is our priest. He's fulfilled
it all. He's the king priest. Verse 15,
it is yet far more evident. For after the similitude of Melchizedek
there riseth another priest who is made not after the law of
a carnal ordinance. That's how Abram was made a priest.
God made him a priest. by law. Christ Jesus is the priest
through the power of an endless life. I'll tell you who that man was
that met Melchizedek. That's Christ. He appeared to
Abraham in the flesh and blessed him. Without mother or father,
where is such a man? Only one, Christ. Without beginning
or end of days, Every man's got to have a beginning. But Christ
is the son from heaven without ancestors. Oh, that's the king of peace,
king of righteousness. But the key of this whole thing,
when he blessed Abraham, he blessed him with bread and wine. And
that's when he blessed the apostles. He took bread and blessed it
and said, this is my body broken for you. This is my blood shed
for you. And that's what God says about
him, verse 17. He's a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. And there is barely a disannulling
of the commandment. All the commandments and all...
I'm not talking about that I shall not steal. We're not talking
about those commandments. Not talking about those commandments
at all. Thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not kill,
thou shalt not have, take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,
thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not covet, thou shalt
not bear false wit. So all the, that's not what he's
talking about. There's no disannulment of those
commandments. It's a disannulment of these
Levitical laws and ceremonies and sacrifices. They're done
away. Holy day. That's the reason we don't celebrate
Easter and Christmas and all these so-called earthly holy
days and the reason I don't have, we don't have a bunch of symbols
around here and I don't wear a robe because I'm not anybody
special. I'm a sinner saved by grace.
I'm a voice in the wilderness. I'm one of the brethren. I just,
God told me to preach. And you'd listen. And some of
you other fellas to preaching, they'd listen. He's everything. Christ is all in all. Verse 19,
the law made nothing perfect. The law never perfected anybody.
Never made anything perfect. Never did. Never made anything
perfect. I tell you what, the bringing
in of a better hope did by the witch we'd drawn out of God.
Turn to Hebrews 10 again, verse 18. How do we draw nigh to God? Verse 18, now where remission
of these is, there's no more offering for sin. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. That's us. Where that old high
priest once went, the holy of holies, that's where we go. heaven itself, by the blood of
Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us,
not under the veil, through the veil. He read it in Twain. That
is to say, his flesh. And listen, having a high priest
over the house of God, who is he? Who's your high priest? I'll answer for you. The Lord
Jesus Christ. He's my high priest. He's yours
too. Is he yours? Why, certainly he is. You know
that. You that have been taught that. Let us draw near with a
true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast to the profession of our faith without wavering,
for he's faithful. We're not. He is. He's faithful. He promised it. That's where
it all is. He's greater. All right, let's
read on. Hebrews 7. And verse 22 says,
For so much Jesus was made... Well, let's look at verse 21.
For those priests were made without an oath. But this man, with an
oath by him that said... Who made him the priest? The
Heavenly Father. The Lord swear and will not repent. You are a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety. A surety is a guarantor. You
know, when you borrow money from the bank, somebody signs as your
guarantor, your surety. You can't pay it. He has to. He's my surety. I can't pay it. He did. He's my surety. But it's a better covenant than
that old testament, than that covenant of days and sacrifices
and works. And they were, verse 23, they
were mini-priests. because they were not suffered
to continue by reason of death, but this man, and I would exhort
you again, but this man, Bob, you preached on that one, but
that's the key, but this man, Jesus Christ, our Melchizedek,
he has an unchangeable priesthood, and therefore he's able to save
to the uttermost. He's able to save to the uttermost. forever, evermore, them that
come to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession.
You know, that old high priest went into the Holy of Holies
once a year. Christ lives there. He's seated there. He's within
the veil. He's the forerunner. He ever
liveth to make intercession. We have a high priest, not once
a year, all the time. I've always got someone, if any
man sin, we have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. There's
one mediator between God and men. He's always there, and I'm
there in him. He's able to do all that he said. He's able to save to the uttermost. He's able to keep us from falling.
He's able to raise our bow bodies and make them like this. He's
able. And this is the only high priest that really becomes us,
can help us. For such a high priest became
us who's holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Oh,
Aaron, you can't help me. He's a man. But Christ is God's
man and made higher than the heavens. And he doesn't need
daily, as those priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his
own sin, then for the people. For this he did once when he
offered up himself. The law maketh men high priests
that have infirmities, but God swore by Himself because He could
swear by no other, and He made Him a priest who is the Son,
consecrated forevermore. Having a high priest over the
house of God, let us draw near. Having a high priest, let us
come before the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help
in times of need. who was a missionary to Sudan
interior Africa back in the in the 40s Sudan interior back in
the 40s there was Africa was a lot different than it is now
there were a lot of leopards still in Africa then and he told
me one time he was on a Sunday afternoon missionary trip
into the jungles going to preach to a tribe and He was walking
along this jungle path and Some fellows in front of him some
behind him and as they walked along there heard a voice up
ahead In the native tongue as voice was crying Help me somebody
help me Help me somebody help me and they picked up speed and
began to run. And they rounded, he said they
rounded a place there in the jungle and came into a clearing
and there sat a leper. If you've ever seen a leper,
I've seen one in person down in Mexico and I've seen some
of the missionary films from Africa back then and it's just
a terrible sight. They just decay. Their fingers
drop off, their ears and They're just scaly, white, just terrible
looking. He said this leper was sitting
there in the clearing, holding up his arms by himself, just
holding up his arms, looking up into the sky, no fingers,
no ears, face just slits by eyes. And he was saying, somebody help
me. Hopeless, helpless, dying, decaying. Somebody just left
him out there evidently. Cast him out there and left him.
He said, I stood there and I looked at him. Silence. The men around
me were looking at that pitiful. And he said, I thought this is
what God sees when he sees me. The leprosy of the soul. Leprosy
in the whole Old Testament is a picture of sin. Leprosy. Leprosy. The lepers were cast out. The
lepers weren't touched. Even the shadow of a leper couldn't
fall on somebody. Unclean, they cried. He said,
I stood there, a young man, strong, healthy, vigorous, and I thought,
if I could reach down and take one of his hands and this hand
and one in that hand and pick him up and pull his diseased,
dying body against mine, Let his death and sickness and disease
flow into me, and my health and strength flow into him, and just
take his place. How happy he'd be to go his way
strong and well. I couldn't do it. But he said,
Christ did. He came down here where I was,
diseased and dying and dead and depraved and wretched. on the
dome hill. He came down here and took my
place and gave me his place. Took my hell and death and sin
before God and died in my place. And I've gone my way whole and
well because he loved me and gave himself up. That's our great
high praise. And that's the gospel, substitution,
satisfaction. And don't let anybody talk you
into going back under this, rules and regulations and duties and
deeds and laws of any type or shape. Because all a believer
needs is Christ, motivated by his grace and his love. And you'll
do what needs to be done. You'll do what, you'll have works
of faith and labor of love and patience of hope. You'll give
and you'll help others. You'll see the cause and you'll
furnish the means. But not because you have to.
Not because you have to, but you want to. He's great, isn't
he? All right, we'll pick up there
tonight, the Lord willing, in Chapter 8 and talk some more
about him.