Let us turn tonight to Hebrews
chapter 7. For those of you who are visiting
with us tonight, I would just mention the fact that we are
studying through this letter of Hebrews on Wednesday evening.
And tonight we've come to chapter 7, and we'll be looking at the
first 10 verses. Hebrews chapter 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 being by interpretation
king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which
is king of peace. without father, without mother,
without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of
life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest
continually. Now consider how great this man
was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the
spoils. And verily they that are 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 loins
of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted
from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that
had the promises. And without contradiction, the
less is blessed of the better. And here, men that die receive
tithes, but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witness 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. This far
in this letter of Hebrews, We have read several times about
the Lord Jesus Christ as the believer's high priest. He's
already twice told us in this letter that he was made a high
priest after the order of Melchizedek. The last verse in chapter six
we looked at last time is one of those two times. If you notice
back in chapter six, and there's one time before this, Whether
the forerunner is for us in it, even Jesus, made an high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. So he's already spoken of Jesus
Christ as our high priest. That is every believer. We have
a high priest, Jesus Christ the righteous. And we are also told
that he was made an high priest with an oath after the order
of Melchizedek. Now this man, Melchizedek, he's
mentioned in three of the 66 books of the Bible. He's mentioned
in Genesis, in Psalms, and here in Hebrews. And I'd like for
us to look at those passages. If you will, turn back with me
to Genesis chapter 14. This is the first time that he's
mentioned Genesis chapter 14 and beginning in verse 14. And when Abram heard that his
brother, that is Lot, who was his nephew, but called his brother,
his brother's son, When Abraham heard that his brother was taken
captive, he was taken captive by four kings, which invaded
this area and took all the spoils and took all the people with
them. He heard that his brother was taken captive. He armed his
trained servants, born in his own house, 318, and pursued them
unto Dan. Now they were not soldiers. They
had not been trained in warfare. They were servants in Abraham's
house. But when he heard that Lot had
been taken by these four kings and their armies, then he pursues
after them. And he divided himself against
them, he and his servants, by night and smote them and pursued
them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And
he brought back all the goods. and also brought again his brother
Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people." So all
of those who had been captured with all of the goods that were
taken away, Abraham, he brings back. He defeats the armies of
those kings and he brings back all the spoils, all the people
back with him. And then in verse 17 we read, of Sodom went out to meet him
after his return from the slaughter of Shadr Lomer, and of the kings
that were with him at the valley of Sheba, which is the king's
dale. There were five kings, actually,
that these four kings conquered and took the people off. And
Abram goes after them, defeats the four kings, brings all the
spoils back. And notice, and Melchizedek,
king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, 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, that is Abram, he gave
him tithes of all." So this is the first time that Melchizedek
is mentioned here in Genesis chapter 14. When he meets Abram,
when he's coming back after defeating those armies, and he meets Abram
with bread and wine. And Abram gives unto him the
tenth, the tithes, and then he's blessed. This Melchizedek, he
blesses Abram. And he blesses him in the name
of the Most High God. Now the next time that Melchizedek
is mentioned is in Psalm 110. Psalm 110. He's mentioned in verse four,
but we will read verses one through four. The Lord said unto my Lord, the Lord said unto my Lord, the
Lord God said unto 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. I believe that's the gospel.
It has reference to the gospel that went out in the power of
the Holy Spirit from Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and thereafter. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. And since that day, he's been
taking He's been releasing captives, those who are captives to Satan. And remember, every lost person
is a captive to Satan. Now, most people don't see that. They don't believe that about
themselves, but that's what the Scriptures teach us. A man or
woman who doesn't know Christ is a captive to Satan. The only
one who is able to deliver one from this captivity is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He delivers his people from captivity. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. When the gospel comes, when the
gospel is preached, and it's preached in a general way, and
sometimes it goes in a person's ear at one side and goes out
the other side, and that's it. It's just like water off a duck's
back. But in God's purpose, the gospel
comes to His people, His elect people, in the power and demonstration
of the Spirit of God, and His people, who before were dead
in trespasses and sins, are made willing, willing to be saved
on God's terms. willing to confess themselves
as bankrupt sinners, having nothing, not able to do anything, not
possible for them to contribute one iota to their salvation,
but they're made willing to cast everything, their soul, upon
Jesus Christ, the Savior. They're made willing in the day
of His power. From the womb of the morning
thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
same today as he was yesterday. The Lord has sworn, here it is,
the Lord has sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. So he's mentioned in Genesis,
He's mentioned here in this psalm, and he's mentioned several times
in the letter of Hebrews. Who was Melchizedek? I want you to turn back with
me, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 7. Who was Melchizedek? Who was this man? Well, according
to the words in verse 3, if you look, according to the words
in verse 3 of our text, He was won, now notice this, made like
unto the Son of God. Do you see that? He was made
like unto the Son of God. Melchizedek was. There are those
who believe that this Melchizedek was one of the Old Testament
theophanies. A theophany was an appearance
of the Son of God before he became incarnate, but he appeared as
a man. And we have several examples
of that in the Old Testament. For instance, he appeared to
Joshua outside the gates of Jericho. If you want to look at this,
turn back with me to Joshua chapter 3, or Joshua chapter 5, rather. Joshua chapter 5. This is called
a theophany. Theophany. This is one of those here in
Joshua chapter 5. If you look at beginning in verse
13. And it came to pass when Joshua
was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold,
There stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his
hand. And Joshua went unto him and
said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he
said, Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now
come. Now notice this, and Joshua fell
on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him,
what saith my Lord unto his servant. You notice he fell on his face
before this one who appeared. And this one did not rebuke him.
He received his worship. When Melchizedek, here's my point,
when Melchizedek met Abram, Abram did not fall on his face. He
did not worship this Melchizedek. He did worship the Lord Jesus
Christ. Abraham did worship the Lord
Jesus Christ later when those three men appeared to him. Remember
before Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, three men appeared
unto Abram and one of them, two of them were angels who went
to Sodom the next day, but one of them was an theophany, an
appearance of the eternal Son of God As a man, the angels also
appeared as men there. But Abraham did fall on his face
and worship the Lord at that time. But he did not worship
Melchizedek. I do not believe that he was
any more than what our text tells us. We would never say in the case
of Joshua, What we read there in Joshua chapter 5, we would
never say that that man who appeared unto Joshua, the captain of the
Lord's host, before whom Joshua fell on his face and worshipped,
we would never say that man was like unto the Son of God. He was the Son of God. He was
not like unto the Son of God. He was the Son of God. And the
same thing about others. Theophanies in the Old Testament. Who was Melchizedek? He was,
as the scripture tells us, he was a type of Christ made like
unto the Son of God. He was, as we will see tonight,
a type of Christ who was unique. There are many types of Christ
in the Old Testament. That rock that was smitten, that
rock was Christ. It was a type of Christ. That
bread, that manna that fell every day to sustain Israel those 40
years in the wilderness was a type of Christ. He is the bread of
life that came down from heaven. But Melchizedek, he, as we will
see, was a type of Christ in a very unique way, showing forth
the greatness of our high priest. That's the whole point here,
the greatness of our high priest. We have an high priest, yes.
And oh, how great he is. Now let's look here in our text.
Let's see how he serves as a type of Christ. First, his office. His office. A priest of the Most
High God. You see that in verse 1. For this Melchizedek, king of
Salem, priest of the Most High God. Now both in Genesis and
again here we see, and this is pointed out, this is emphasized,
he was a priest of the Most High God. Now when he met Abram, they
were in the land of Canaan. And remember, God eventually
dispossessed those pagan nations of Canaan and gave that land
to Israel. And one of the reasons that they
were dispossessed of the land because of their wickedness,
their idolatry. And in idolatry, there were many
little gods who were being worshipped and they had their own priest. But Melchizedek was not a priest
of some small wannabe god. He was a priest of the Most High
God. We speak of the Lord Jesus Christ
as our High Priest, and He is. But He's God's High Priest. He's God's High Priest. He's
the Priest of the Most High God. If you look back to chapter 5
here in Hebrews, we've already seen this. Chapter 5 and verses
4 through 6. The writer said, and no man taketh
this honor unto himself, that is to be a priest. You just don't
sign up and volunteer for this. Not under the law of God. No
man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God
as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made in high priest, but he that said unto him, who
said this unto him, God did. Thou art my son, today have I
begotten thee. As he saith also in another place,
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So
we see Melchizedek serves as a type of Christ, first of all,
in his office. He was a priest of the most high
God. So is Christ. So is Christ, our
high priest. What is the work of a priest?
That's interesting, isn't it? What is the work of a priest?
We don't have any priest in our church other than all of us who
are saved. We've all been made kings and
priests under God. Every child of God is a priest.
But the sacrifices that we offer are praise and worship under
God. No blood sacrifice, obviously. No, no, no. No blood, no sacrifice
for sin. Why? Because that's already been
offered once and forever. But why? A priest mediated. That's what a priest was to do. He mediated. Salvation is mediated
through the priest. through Jesus Christ. There is
no other way to receive salvation. The church doesn't mediate salvation. The pastor doesn't mediate salvation. The priest, the high priest,
the great high priest, if you want to go to God, you're going
to go through him or you're not going to go. That's all there
is to it. That's what God has declared
and that's just so. You can go to these men who call
themselves priests in some so-called religions, some churches, you
know, they have their priests, but my friends, they're fake. They're false. That's all you
can say about them. They can't mediate between your
soul and God. Only Christ can do that. He's
the way. He's the truth. He's the life. And no man cometh unto the Father
but by me. I preached a funeral several
years ago, and there were a number of people there that I had never
seen before and have never seen since. But I appreciate what
one lady said after the service. Because I had quoted that scripture,
John 14, 6, she said, I love to hear preachers use that scripture
at a funeral. You know, most people get up
and talk about, well, they're in a better place. Well, they
don't know Christ, they're not. There's only one way to that
better place, and Jesus is the way. He's that one priest who
mediates between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. All right,
second, his name, Melchizedek. He's the type of Christ in his
office. He's the priest of the Most High
God. He's a type of Christ in his name, Melchizedek. What does
that mean? That's a strange sounding name,
Melchizedek. What does it mean? Well, thank
God that it's defined for us here in verse 2. By interpretation. You see, first
being by interpretation. The interpretation, the meaning
of this name, Melchizedek. What does it mean? It means,
first of all, king of righteousness. And after that also, king of
Salem, which is king of peace. In Psalm 85 and verse 10, we
read, Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace
have kissed each other. Here's truth, the soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. Here's mercy. How are they going
to be reconciled? How is God going to remain just
and justify the ungodly? mercy and truth, righteousness
and peace. They kiss each other, don't they,
in the person of Jesus Christ. That's where they meet, in the
person of Jesus Christ. It is in the person of the incarnate
Son of God that we see mercy and truth meet together. In John
chapter 1 and verse 14, The writer said, and the Word was made flesh,
the Word, the eternal Word, the Son of God. He was made flesh
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Mercy and
truth, grace and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace
have kissed each other. It is in His work as the sinner's
substitute, that we see righteousness and peace kiss each other. Christ
is both our righteousness and He's our peace. Remember one
of His names, Jehovah Tiskanu, the Lord our righteousness. And
the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30,
but of God He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. And then in Ephesians 2, in verse
14, the apostle said, for he is our peace. He's our peace. You see, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption, forgiveness of sins, all these many blessings, they're
all in Christ. Old preacher said one time, you've
all heard this old saying, don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Drop that basket, you break all your eggs, don't you? But he
went on to say, God put all of his eggs in one basket. That
is Christ. All the blessings, all the benefits
that you and I need, that sinners need. They're all found in Jesus
Christ. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. And that prophecy, prophecy in
Isaiah chapter nine and verse six, you know, people, the world
brings this out every year around Christmas time. They bring this
scripture out, but few people really understand what the prophecy
is. For unto us, a child is born. Unto us a child is, he was a
man. He was born a child. Unto us
a son is given. He's God's son, right? Who was
given. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder. That is, he's the king of the
church and of everything, really. He rules and reigns. And his
name shall be called, what's this one going to be called? Who is a son, a child born rather,
and a son given. What's his name? Wonderful, Counselor,
the Everlasting Father, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace. Now, we've
looked at his office. I said, first of all, he's a
type of Christ in his office, priest of the Most High God,
but also by his names, a second office, king, king of righteousness,
king of Salem, king of peace. His office as priest, yes, but
also he is king. And this was prophesied in the
book of Zechariah in chapter 6 and verse 13, one of those
so-called minor prophets. This is what it said, even he
shall build the temple of the Lord. What did he say? Upon this
rock, I will build my church. It's a spiritual temple, isn't
it? His church. Even he shall build the temple
of the Lord and he shall bear the glory. All the glory belongs
to Him. It's His church. It's His work of redemption.
All the glory, all the praise belongs to Him. He shall bear
the glory. Now listen, and shall sit and
rule upon His throne, and He shall be a priest upon His throne. Melchizedek was both a priest
and a king. righteousness, and peace. So he was a type of Christ. Now
third, his genealogy. He has none mentioned. His genealogy,
he has none mentioned in verse three. Without father, without
mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor
end of life. In order for Melchizedek to be
a type of Christ's eternal nature, it was necessary that there be
nothing mentioned of his genealogy. He appears because no father
or mother is named, as if he had no father or mother. The
scripture doesn't say that he didn't have a father or a mother.
But there's no genealogy. His father's not named. His mother's
not named. We're not told when he was born.
We're not told when he died. He just appears. He's a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ as our high priest, who is declared
to be a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now, if the sacrifice
had been offered from the foundation of the world in the purpose of
God, then so the priest. so the priests. Robert Hawker
asked this question. On the supposition God the Holy
Ghost really intended that Melchizedek should be a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ, how could he represent the eternity of Christ in any
form of words other than in the very words chosen? Without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days
or end of life. And look at this last thing.
His greatness. He's a type of Christ in his
office. He's a priest. He's a type of
Christ in his name, righteousness and peace. He's a type of Christ
in his genealogy. There's nothing mentioned. So
the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal son of God. And fourth,
his greatness, Melchizedek, his greatness in respect to Abram
and to the Aaronic priesthood. Notice, if you will, in verse
four. Now consider this. This is what the writer would
have believers do. Consider this. Consider this
about Melchizedek, this man. Consider how great this man was. How great he was. He's a type
of Christ. How great is Christ? Consider
this, how great this man was. And I've chosen these three things
hurriedly to bring out, but to this man, Abraham gave tithes. I'll show you how great he was.
Abraham. the father of the nation of Israel,
the patriarch of the patriarch, the patriarch who had the promise
of the son, the promised son, in thy son, in thy seed shall
all the families of the earth be blessed. How great is Melchizedek? He's so great that even Abram
paid tithes to him. And secondly, this man blessed
Abraham. How great is this man? Well,
this man blessed Abraham, the man who had all the promises.
Abraham was blessed of Melchizedek. And the scripture here very clearly
tells us without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. Who did the blessing here? Melchizedek. Who's the less? Abraham. Well, you know to the Jews, And
even to believers, he's called the father of believers, Abraham
is. And then the third thing, to this man Aaron. Aaron, well,
who's Aaron? Well, Aaron was the first high
priest. And in that old covenant, there
was a high priest. And Aaron was that first high
priest, and then his sons followed him. But you see, they were in
the loins of Abraham. Though they were not yet born,
they were in the loins of Abraham. So what the writer is saying,
even they paid tithes unto Melchizedek. How great is this man? His greatness is showed by the
fact that that Abraham paid tithes to him, the father of the nation
of Israel. His greatness is showed in that
he blessed Abraham and not vice versa. And his greatness is showed
in the fact that even Aaron and that whole line of priests under
that law, they paid tithes to Melchizedek. Now, I wanted to
ask this question in closing. What should we take from this
passage? You know, I've heard people over
the years, they like to debate on who Melchizedek was and all
of that. And I'm sure that's interesting,
but really, what should we take from this passage? Well, this
is my take from it. We know that the old covenant
with its priesthood was typical, and it was always going to be
replaced by a new covenant. And just as that old covenant
had its priest, So the new covenant that the writer of Hebrews is
going to get into in chapter eight, so this new covenant has
a great high priest. And this high priest is eternal. The new covenant is called an
everlasting covenant. Well, if it is an everlasting
covenant, it must have a everlasting priest. And that everlasting
priest, our high priest, is Jesus Christ, our Lord. I pray the
Lord would bless this word to all of us here this evening. We're gonna sing a hymn and then
we'll be dismissed in prayer.