Have You Met Melchizedek?

I want you to open in your Bibles
to Genesis chapter 14. Now, the scripture I read in
Hebrews 7 is not easy to understand. I know that. It's impossible
for me to preach one message, a dozen messages, or several
months of messages and reveal all that's in that 7th chapter
of Hebrews. But I want to touch on what I believe is the most
important point in the seventh chapter of Hebrews, and that
is, have you met Melchizedek? Now, in Genesis chapter 14, Abraham,
let me tell you this, and then I'll read a verse. You remember
Lot had pitched down in Sodom, and Abraham had gone to the hill.
And the word came to Abraham that Lot and the people of Sodom
and all the surrounding areas had been captured. The evil kings
and their armies had come in and took a lot, and all of his
family and his friends and all of the people of Sodom and the
surrounding communities in captivity and slavery, and had taken them
all. And Abraham gathered together
his men. He had about two or three hundred
choice armed men, and he went after the kings. And he, by God's
grace and God's power, put them to rout. He defeated these wicked
kings in a fierce battle, and he brought back Lot, his family,
his friends, he brought back all of the spoils, all of the
treasures, he brought everything back in great victory. And here in Genesis 14, verse
16, now listen to this, and he brought back, Genesis 14, 16,
all of the 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." Now verse 18, "...and Melchizedek,
king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the
priest of the Most High God. And he blessed Abraham, and he
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 hands, and Abraham gave him tithes of
all." Now then, when Abraham returned from the slaughter of
the kings, when he had delivered Lot and all his people, he was
met by this man, this person, called Melchizedek. There is
something not only mysterious about this man, But there's something
majestic about his person. This is his one and only appearance. He has never spoken of before,
and he's never seen or heard from. Spoken of, yes, but he's
never seen or heard from after that Melchizedek. The importance
of this man is seen in two scriptures. You say, well, if he just came
out there one time and blessed Abraham and received tithes from
Abraham, why is he so important? Well, let's look at the scripture.
Turn to Psalm 110. Psalm 110. This man is never, never seen
before and never seen after that. Melchizedek, king of Salem, king
of righteousness, king of peace, priest to the Most High God.
In Psalm 110, verse 4. The Lord has sworn and will not
repent, thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."
Abraham met Melchizedek. He met Melchizedek. He was blessed
by Melchizedek. He paid tithes to Melchizedek. Now turn to Hebrews 7, which
is our text. And here Paul, in this great
book on the priestly work of Christ, goes to great length
to talk about this person, Melchizedek. Verse 1 of Hebrews 7, 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, this man,
by interpretation, is king of righteousness. And after that,
also King of Salem, which is King of Peace. Now watch verse
3. Without father, without mother,
without pedigree, having neither beginning of days nor end of
life, But may he, like unto the Son of God, abide at the priest
continually." Now he says, watch this, consider how great this
man was. Consider how great he was in
his offices. Now listen to this, and you Old
Testament students know this. In no one man were all the offices
prophet, priest, and king combined. Never. David was a king. Aaron was a priest. Moses was
a prophet. But not any one of them, all
the way through the Bible, ever was prophet, priest, and king.
Not ever. Not ever. One time Saul was going
to battle. He was the king. Samuel was the
priest. And Saul was going to battle. And he went out behind
the hill. and waited on Samuel to come
and offer up a sacrifice, to slay a lamb and offer up a burnt
offering that God's blessings might be upon Israel in battle.
And the prophet of God didn't come, and he didn't come, and
he didn't come, the priest didn't come. So King Saul said, well,
we're not going in battle without an offering, without a sin offering,
without a burnt offering, without the blood, so bring me an animal.
And he slew the animal and made a sacrifice. You say, well, I
admire his faith. Well, I don't admire his foolishness.
Same reason we don't admire Moses for smiting the rock the second
time. But Samuel finally came and said, Saul, what have you
done? Well, he said, you weren't here and so I offered a sacrifice.
He said, Saul, it's better to obey than to sacrifice. And because
of your rashness and because of your foolishness, because
of your overlooking the true order of God's redemption, God's
going to take the kingship away from you. It's serious. But this
man Melchizedek, he's priest to the Most High God, and he's
king. He is prophet who blesses, who
reveals, he is priest to the Most High God, he is also the
king, the king of righteousness and the king of peace. Do you
know one other place in the scripture where you meet a combination
of these offices? Only in Christ. Only in Christ. Prophet, priest. Who is this
man Melchizedek? Who is this man? Here Abraham
is coming back from the slaughter of kings, and he met this man
Melchizedek. And he worshiped him. He bowed
before him. He paid tithes to him. And Melchizedek
blessed him. And God said he was a king of
righteousness and king of peace. Who is he? Paul says, consider
how great. I'll tell you one other time
when these offices will be combined. You want to see it? Turn to Romans
chapter 5. I beg your pardon, Revelation
chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5. At no time in the Old Testament
were those offices combined, priest and king, except in Melchizedek,
in Christ Jesus, and one other time in eternity. Watch it. Revelation 5-9, and
they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book
and open the seals thereof, for thou was slain, and thou hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood of every kindred, tongue, and
people and nation. and has made us, under our God,
both kings and priests. There's one other time that these
offices will be combined, and that's when every believer is
made like Christ. We shall be priests and we shall
be kings. Consider how great this man was in his offices.
Secondly, consider how great he was in his benedictions. in
his blessing. The scripture says that he blessed
Abraham. Abraham, who had received the
promises from God. Abraham, to whom God said, Get
thee out of thy father's house, I will make of thee a great nation.
I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse them that
curse thee. Abraham, who had received the
direct blessings of the heavenly Father, was glad to receive the
blessings of Melchizedek, was glad to receive the confirmation
of Melchizedek, was glad to receive the raised hand and the peace
from Melchizedek. None are clean unless they are
pronounced clean by whom? By the priest. None are truly
blessed unless they are blessed by whom? The priest of God. Oh, how great is this man, not
only in his offices, but in his benedictions. Now watch thirdly.
And this is what this chapter deals with to a great extent.
Consider how great he was in his supremacy over all. Here
is Abraham. Here is Abraham. To the Jew,
the greatest man who ever lived. Here is Abraham, chosen of God,
bowing before Melchizedek. Here is Abraham, in whose loins
are the kings, in whose loins are the prophets, in whose loins
are the priests of Israel. Here is Abraham, out of whom
came the whole Mosaic covenant, the whole law, with its prophets
and its priests and its kings. Every one of them came out of
Abraham. And here Abraham is bowing before Melchizedek. And
here, Paul said, are the tribes of Levi, the tribes of Levi to
whom the tithes were paid. Here they are paying tithes to
Melchizedek. Who is he? Fourthly, consider
how great he was in his offices, in his benedictions, in his supremacy
overall. Consider how great he was in
his person. Look at verse 3, without father,
without mother. without family tree, descent,
pedigree, having no beginning of days, having no end of life. So mysterious is Melchizedek,
so majestic is Melchizedek, so singular in his majesty and in
his oneness. that all of the deeply taught
men of God have come to this conclusion, that Melchizedek
can only be one person. Do you know who that is? The
Lord Jesus Christ. That's who Melchizedek is. He's
the Lord Jesus Christ. He had no predecessor, he had
no successor. He is the priest of the Most
High God, he is the King of Righteousness and he is the King of Peace.
And Abraham met the Savior. Look at Hebrews 7, verse 24. This man, because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, after the order of Melchizedek. Then the Old Testament priests
were many. There were hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of these Old Testament priests. There were many of them.
God has one great high priest, and that's Christ. And that's
who Abraham met. The Old Testament priests lived
and they died. They lived some 50 years, some
60, some 70, some 90, but they eventually died. This man, Melchizedek,
who is a revelation of our Lord, never dies, he liveth forever.
The Old Testament priest offered many sacrifices. They offered
the morning sacrifice, the evening sacrifice, they offered the sacrifice
on the day of atonement every year. Our Lord offered one sacrifice. The Old Testament sacrifices
could not remove sin. It is not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats should take away sin, but Christ by one sacrifice
has perfected forever them that are sanctified. He put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself. The Old Testament priests never
sat down in their service in the tabernacle. Scripture says
this man, having offered one sacrifice, sat down at the right
hand of the Father, because it was finished. The Old Testament
priest office ended. When they died, their priesthood
was ended. Their priesthood had a beginning,
their priesthood had an ending. They were priests for a certain
length of time. This man hath an unending priesthood,
an unchanging priesthood. The Old Testament priest offered
the blood of animals. Christ offered himself. Turn
back to Genesis 14. I want to see if you notice one
thing while I was reading this. You know, the Old Testament priest
never, never, never, never, never came before God without a blood
sacrifice. Never. The Old Testament priests
never came before God without an animal, without a blood sacrifice,
did they? Never. Read about Melchizedek
when he met Abraham. And Melchizedek, verse 18, king
of Salem, king of peace, brought forth The blood of an animal? No, sir. What did he bring? Bread
and wine. No blood? No blood? Yes, the blood was there in his
veins. No sacrifice? Yes, the sacrifice
was there himself. No sin offering? Yes, the sin
offering was there. He offered himself. He made his
soul an offering for sin. That's why I believe this was
Christ. Because here is a priest to the Most High God who meets
Abraham to bless him. And he does not have a sacrifice.
He does not have the blood of an animal. And without the shedding
of blood there is no forgiveness. Under the law all things are
purged with blood. And yet here is a priest to the
Most High God bringing bread and wine. This is my body broken
for you, this is my blood shed for you. I'm the sacrifice. Here it says in verse, look back
at Hebrews 7, it says in verse 27, he needed not daily as Old
Testament priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own
sins and then for the sins of the people. This he did once
when he offered himself, himself. Look at Hebrews 9, if you will,
verse 11 and 12. Hebrews 9, verse 11 and 12. Jesus Christ being come, a high
priest of good things to come, by greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us." That's how it's consummated, by the sacrifice
of himself. Look at Hebrews 11, Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, 11 and 12, this is
what I'm talking about. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin. But this man, this man, whether
he's called Jesus of Nazareth, whether he's called the Christ
of Calvary, whether he's called Melchizedek, this After he had
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right
hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified." Have you met Melchizedek? Abraham had the promises. God led him out of his father's
house. He had the promises. Now watch this, this is important.
He had the promises. God led him out of his father's
house and pointed him to a land. He said, you go to a land that
I'll show thee. I'm going to give you a son. I'm going to
give you an heir. I'm going to make you great.
God spoke to him of his seed. Abraham had the sacrifices. Abraham
had the types. Abraham offered the blood. Abraham
had the word of the Lord, he was called a friend of God. But
here in the King's Dale, that's what they called it, the King's
Dale, he met the one who was the embodiment of all the promises,
all the prophecies, all the pictures. He met one who is the embodiment
of all the glory, all the grace, and all the goodness of God.
He met one who is the embodiment of all the power, of all the
purpose, and of all the provisions of God's grace, he met Melchizedek. He had the promises, he met the
person. There's a difference. Saul of
Tarsus had the systematic theology Saul of Tarsus had the rules
and the regulations, Saul of Tarsus had the doctrine, the
orthodoxy, Saul of Tarsus had the law, he had the ceremonies,
he had all these things. But on the road to Damascus,
he met Melchizedek. He met Melchizedek. Abraham,
now you think about this. The great man Abraham, God, the
Jews, oh, we have Abraham they said, we have Abraham. And Abraham had all these promises
and prophecies and types and all these things. But on that
road, coming back from the slaughter of the king, he met Melchizedek,
the priest of the Most High God. The one of whom all these others
are but types and pictures and poor pictures at that. But he
met Melchizedek, king of righteousness. Righteousness personified, embodied,
peace! He met him, and he blessed him. And Saul of Tarsus on the road
to Damascus, that religious Pharisee, that moral Pharisee, that proud
Pharisee, that theologian, he met Melchizedek. And then Thomas. Watch this. You can see the time
of the change. Thomas walked with the disciples.
He listened to the Master. Thomas knew of the crucifixion. But Thomas was absent when the
Lord appeared to the disciples. They came to him. They said,
Thomas, we've seen the Lord. Seen the Lord. And he said, I
don't believe it. We've had an encounter with Christ,
the risen Christ, the resurrected Christ. I don't believe it. You
know, this is one of the problems of missing the worship of the
Lord, the assembly of God's people. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together. You just might miss him when
he reveals himself. Thomas was not there. That's
one of the saddest things. You read the scripture and you
pick up these little things that are special blessings and you
read along and it said, the Lord appeared to the disciples and
he said, peace be unto you and he blessed them and went on down
and said, but Thomas wasn't there. But Thomas wasn't there. And
all that they received, he missed. All that they learned, he never
learned. All that they were taught, he never received. All the growth
that God gave to him, he never had. He missed it. He missed
it. And our Lord appeared to him,
though, and our Lord said, Thomas, reach into thy hands and touch
my hands and put your finger and put it in my side. Don't
be faithless, but believe. And he fell, and he said, My
Lord and my God. He met Melchizedek. He met him who is first. He met
him who is almighty. He met him who is glory itself. He met him! And I'll tell you
this, my friend, you can have all of the theology that the
limits of your mind will contain, and you can have all the Bible
knowledge that you can through years of diligent study, reading
the books and the Bible, cram into your mind. And you can have
all of the morality and outward goodness of a religious Pharisee,
and you can have all of the so-called promises of the resurrection
and the promises of life to come and the promises of heaven and
the promises of escape from judgment and all these things, but until
you meet Melchizedek, you really don't have any of it. That's
right. You'll meet him by God's grace
or you'll perish. You'll receive his blessings
or you'll perish. You'll bow before him or perish.
You'll worship him or perish. Why? Because of three reasons.
Number one, he is the priest to the Most High God. Everybody
else is down the line. Everybody else is a picture or
a type or a messenger or a servant, but he's the priest. We have
a high priest over the house of God. We have a high priest
who is holy and separate from sinners and undefiled. We have
a priest, and we dare not come apart from him. That's right. And secondly, not only because
he's the priest of the Most High God, but he's the king of righteousness,
that righteousness with which God is pleased. that righteousness
which God will accept, that righteousness which God looks upon with favor,
that righteousness that is acceptable in his sight. He's the king of
righteousness. He's the king of a righteous
kingdom. He's the king of a righteous people, because he made them
righteous. And watch this, he's the king
of peace. He made peace. Therefore, having peace with
God through our blood of his cross, made peace through the
blood of his cross, therefore being justified by Christ, we
have peace with God. Outside of Christ there's no
peace but the wrath of God about it on the unbeliever. Have you
met him? Abraham had met a doctrine. He
had received a promise. He had participated in sacrifices. He had participated in ceremonies. He had participated in rituals.
He knew these things. He was aware of these things.
He was conscious of these things. He was knowledgeable of these
things, but by God's grace on that road in the Kingsdale, he
met Melchizedek. And our Lord said, he saw my
day and he was glad. And he was glad. What can Melchizedek
do? Turn back to Hebrews 7. If I
meet him, what can he do? If I meet this person, supreme
in office, supreme in benediction, supreme in glory, Supreme in
power, if I meet him, what can he do for me? Well, it says here
in verse 25, he is able also to save them to the uttermost. Now this has been said of no
one else and nothing else. It can't be said of me, if I
justify myself, my own mouth would damn me, that's what Job
said. It can't be said of the law, but the deeds of the law
shall no flesh be justified. It can't be said of the sacrifices,
it's impossible for the blood and bulls and goats to take away
sin. It can only be said of one person, and that's Christ. He is able to save. Do you know
why he's able to save? To the uttermost of them that
come to God. Could you give me the four imperatives of gospel
preaching? Do you know what they are? Therefore,
in the gospel imperatives, Christ is able to save to the uttermost,
to the uttermost extent of guilt. I don't care if God called you
out of the garden or if God called you out of the gutter. It doesn't
matter. But he's able to save to the
uttermost extent of human guilt. And you know why? Four reasons.
Number one, because of his relationship to the Father. He's the Son of
God. He's the all-powerful Son of
God. We beheld his glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father. The Pope can't save you
because he's not the Son of God. The preacher can't save you because
he's not the Son of God. The Church cannot save you because
the Church is not the Son of God. The law cannot save you because
the law is not the Son of God. Only God can forgive sin. Only
God can pardon the guilty. Only God can satisfy infinite
justice and righteousness. He's the Son of God. Because
he is the Son of God, he's able to save. Because he's the Son of Man.
The Son of Man. He can save to the uttermost
because of his relationship to the Father. He's the Son of God.
And because of his relationship to men, he's the Son of Man.
What the law could not do because of the weakness of the flesh.
God sent his only begotten Son into the world, clothed in human
flesh, and that only begotten Son, the God-Man, God in human
flesh met the law as a man and was tested and tempted and tried
in all points as we are, yet without sin. And he perfectly
obeyed in every jot and tittle, tried by Satan, tried by men,
tried by the elements, tried by the law, tried by the Father,
tried a tried stone. And he succeeded, totally succeeded,
to the point that the Father looked at him and said, He's the Son of Man. And God
now can take men to heaven because a man obeyed the law. He can
take men to himself because a man fulfilled perfectly God's law. The third reason. He's able to
save because of his relationship to the Father, Son of God, his
relationship to me, Son of Man, and because of his sacrifice.
He offered himself. The blood, without the shedding
of blood there's no remission. Now, the blood of an animal can't
do it. Even my blood can't satisfy God's wrath and God's infinite
righteousness. It took holy blood, it took perfect
blood, it took infinite blood, it took the blood of Christ himself. And by his stripes we are healed.
God's wrath is satisfied, God's justice is satisfied, God's law
is honored, God's Son has died in the flesh. That's how he can
save me, because he has sufficiency with which to pay my debt. He
paid it all, all the debt I owed, sin left a crimson stain, but
he washed it white as snow. But here's the fourth gospel
imperative. Because of his intercession,
he ever lives to make intercession. He ever lives to make good on
what he did. Now, that's important. The Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the perfect One, in the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, all things
were made by him. and without him was not anything
made that was made. But he didn't go off somewhere
and then and forget it. He went to heaven to claim it,
claim it, to claim it. That's right, it's mine, he said.
And he's at the right hand of the Father right now. He said,
that Saul of Tarsus, he's mine. I claim him, I claim him, I bought
him, I pay for him. On down the years, that Martin
Luther, That monk lying on the floor trying to satisfy a holy
God by his own deeds. He's mine. Break him. Bring him home. Go down the line. That roach fellow there, he's
mine. I bought him. Go down the line. That fellow
yonder, that fitzer, he's mine. I claim him. I pray for him.
That's right. claim him, keep in mind, he ever
liveth to make intercession for us. That's what it says here,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession, verse 25, for them! And he will not cease to pray,
and he will not cease to intercede, and he will not cease to lay
claim to his purchase until all of them come home. That's right. There's your gospel imperatives
There's four points without which you don't have any gospel. Leave
out one of them, you're shook up. You've got to be the son
of God. You've got to be the son of man. You've got to die. You've got
to lay claim to what rightfully is. That's right. You've got to possess it. You
don't buy a land and then forget it. You move on it. You inhabit
it. You pitch your tent. You live
there. He's able to say to the uttermost, watch it now, it's
not all, though, them that come to God by him. Now, brethren,
he didn't say those that come to the altar, those that come
to God by him. He doesn't say those that come
to the Church. I tell you, I'm one of God's
children because I've been in the Church all my life. You and
me in the Church, not me in Christ. Abraham met Melchizedek. What
I want, I want for this fellow right here and for all of you,
I don't want to go through the motions of religion and to play
church and all the do-good-ism of modern religion. I want to
meet Melchizedek, and I want you to meet him. I want you to
come to God by heel, not to the preacher, not to the doctrine,
to God. O God, reveal thy Son to me. If Abraham met Melchizedek, the
priest of the Most High God, the King of Righteousness and
the King of Peace, and Melchizedek blessed him, and that man was
Christ, that was a pre-incarnation glimpse of Christ. And I'll tell
you, by God's grace, some folks are going to meet him. And I'll
tell you, they're never the same. They're never the same. When
they see the glory of Melchizedek, when they see the supremacy of
Melchizedek, when they see the satisfying work of Melchizedek,
when they see that, they're never the same. Everything else fades. Oh, you
know, the preacher said, everybody is running around here accepting
Jesus as their Savior, but somebody is their Lord. Somebody is their
Lord. And that Lord is Christ, King,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Our Father in Heaven, thank you
for your word. Thank you for your warnings.
Thank you, Lord, for your long-suffering and for your patience, putting
up with us in our rebellion, putting up with us as we play
with our toys and call them saviors, putting up with us, O Lord, when
we make an effort to honor and glorify and worship thee. But
oh, that we might fall at the feet of Melchizedek, that we
might meet him, that we might be blessed of him, that we might
be blessed with his presence. Reveal Christ to our hearts,
not just our minds in doctrine and not just our hands in good
works, but reveal Christ to our hearts in love. in affection, in consecration,
in submission, that we might receive him, O God, that Christ
may be formed in our hearts by faith. For it's in his name we
pray and for his glory. Amen.

Have You Met Melchizedek?

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Have You Met Melchizedek?

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