To turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 7, if you will, Hebrews chapter 7. The Hebrew writer wants us to fix our thoughts on our great high priest because he wants us to make sure that we understand the grounds upon which our salvation is sure. The Hebrew writer wants to make sure that we do not fall prey to presumption and therefore miss this great high calling to which all believers are called in Christ Jesus. He has exhorted us for six chapters to look to Christ and to understand the sufficiency that's in Christ and to know the full scope of his office and his work and his person and the glory that's invested in Jesus Christ as God the Father's representative in the world by way of his redeeming glory and the people of God's mediator by way of covenant blessings. He wants us to realize, the author wants us to realize and remember and consider several things about Christ. First, that mediation, this is what we've been talking about for the last several weeks as we've contemplated the office of priesthood, that the idea of mediation, someone standing as a mediator, a representative, an advocate, a surety, a fit and proper person, man that is, is the revealed will of God the Father to secure and affect the everlasting and eternal salvation and joy to everyone who believes. Let me state that again as what I recognize as the author's primary objective in the book of Hebrews. He wants us to understand that a mediator, a representative, an advocate, Assurity. These are all the terms that are describing that person that stands between God and man with the purpose of God in view and with the salvation of men in view. Has to be a proper and fit man. This role of mediator is the revealed will of God the Father in Christ for the everlasting salvation and assurance of God's people. In other words, children of God. To fail to understand the critical and essential role of a mediator is to set yourself up for presumption of salvation based on something other than a work that someone else outside of you must do to secure your eternal salvation. For you and I to be committed to a theology that basically focuses on us as the means by which we secure our salvation, even if it's, I've got great faith. What good is great faith if it's in the wrong thing? Even if I've done all of these good works, and I have labored, and my motives have been right, and I have sought to serve God all the days of my life. What good are your good works if God has already counted them as filthy rags? Even if I've given to the poor and sold all that I've have and have lived a life of poverty vow of poverty to just be as poor as mother Teresa and everyone else who thought that by Poverty we can obtain favor with God. What good is poverty? If your poverty does not begin to eradicate and erase your sin debt before God So the objective for us as we consider the superlative nature of our high priest in this concept called Melchizedek, which will take a few weeks to do because the writer wants to move us into the covenant. And I've told you before, the covenant has a key by which we enter into the blessings of that covenant. And that key is the priesthood. You don't enter into the covenant blessings apart from a priest. The priest, the high priest, is the one who affects and opens the covenant so that you and I are blessed by the promises in that covenant. Are you guys following me? You see, one of the tragedies in our present day evangelical church is that people who profess to have faith may very well have nothing but presumption. That is the assumption that they're right with God based on something contrary to what the Word of God has said. and how tragic it would be for a man or woman to stand before God on the last day and God say, I never knew you. We prophesied in your name. We did miracles in your name. We cast out devils in your name. We did many wonderful works in your name. And the whole world applauded us. And everybody said we were Christians. And the Master said, but I never knew you. What does it matter if everyone in the world affirms something that ultimately amounts to a delusion? Here's what I'm saying, ladies and gentlemen. The goal of the believer is to make sure that their faith is anchored in a reality of which God himself must provide so that you actually end up where faith says it will lead you to glory. So your job in mind is to drink in biblical truth, learn more and more and more about Jesus until our faith is strengthened and grows up and it enters into full maturity in Christ. The job of the Christian then is to constantly examine their faith, whether or not their faith is authentic and whether or not it's rooted in the right thing. Am I making some sense? And so primarily, it's not about liver quivers. It's not about you getting all excited. I mean, if you want to worship with me, you certainly can, but make sure your worship is not in vain. Use your mind. Think with me, because our religion is a thinking religion. Think first, then dance. The greatest thing God could do for you is to give you a mediator. It's the greatest thing. And in fact, by virtue of him giving you a mediator, he is securing your destiny because he knows he can't trust you. But but but faith, listen to me now. Faith, therefore, is designed for you to cast your contemplation, your thoughts, your your perspective, your hope, your goals, your objectives on something outside of yourself. Am I making some sense? The moment you start becoming comfortable with your own faith, you are in trouble. In fact, you're deceived. The moment you think your faith is adequate enough to hold on to the promises of God for you, you are utterly lost in your own deception. Now, I want to clean this up before the new year starts. A false faith will do you no good. Okay, and so so if you're really authentically born if you're legitimately born again, you have an interest you have a profound interest in what God has said he has done for you in Christ if you are bored with Christ you are still lost if you are bored with the covenant you are lost if you're bored with your mediator you are lost if you and I are living out of a desire and passion to be gratified in our own person we're lost and Have you figured out that you can't satisfy yourself yet? You know how you go after it? You go after it, and it always fails to achieve the goal. Isn't that right? Five minutes later, you want it again. So the Hebrew writer actually is seeking to accomplish three things that I recognize in the book of Hebrews. One is to set our eyes on our high priest and mediator for us to be humbly submitted to. And this is humbling, child of God. It's humbling for you and I to be told that you need a mediator. It's humbling to be told not only that you need a mediator, but that there's only one mediator. One mediator between God and man, and that man and God-man is Jesus Christ. It's humbling, but it's necessary for us to grapple with. And secondly, in order for us to avoid, as I said earlier, presumption of faith, through error. In order for us to avoid presumption of faith through error, we want to make sure that our faith, our firm conviction, our believing God, our trusting God, our depending upon God, our relying upon God, our needing God is rooted in us observing and being committed to the work that God has done for us alone. There your faith will grow. There your faith will abound. There your faith will bring you into the perfections for which Christ hath given himself for you. So let's ask some questions as we work through our outline. There are five points that I wanna deal with today, and we're gonna work a little bit more critically with point number one, then we'll make our way hastily through the other four points. The reason why is because the author is going to develop some of the other points as we go through the book of Hebrews. But the critical point that I wanna work with you on, which is somewhat of a, literary controversy is the question, who is Mel Chesedek? Let me ask you to raise your hand. We don't play turn to your neighbor in this church, okay? So we're not asking you to go through all these weird bodily exercises. I'm not going to ask you to do all that stuff. We're not here to manipulate you, but if you want to. Who has heard of Melchizedek for the first time in here? I just need to know. Good. There's a few. Thank you. Bless you. That means that we have to always back up and deal with fundamentals because we care about people's understanding. And we never want to presume that people are where you are. And I can probably assert that those of you who have heard about Melchizedek don't know much about him if you already have heard of him. So it'll be worthy of asking the question, who is Melchizedek? So that's the first point in your outline. And let me work through this a little bit. Who is Melchizedek? Well, you have a number of things in your point. Is Melchizedek the Archangel Michael? Now I raised that question because in the, In the world of scholarship and commentaries, that interpretation has been rendered to Melchizedek primarily by our Jewish brethren who hold to the Old Testament scriptures but have been from the beginning of time up to this present point blinded to the centrality of the scriptures. in the person of Christ. So if God hasn't revealed to you that Jesus Christ is the key to all the scriptures and that he is the reality to every type, reality to every shadow, reality to every symbol, then you're gonna always give a wrong conclusion as to what a thing may signify. And they have done that for thousands of years now. They have assumed or asserted that Melchizedek was the angel Gabriel. But we know quick, I'm sorry, the archangel Michael, we know quickly that that would be wrong. Remember back when we first contemplated the idea of a priest? What were the qualifications of a priest? He had to be one like you and me. Priest had to be a man like we were chapter 5 verses 1 through 3 opens up saying a priest is taken from among men in order to serve in the behalf of men to God and Because Michael the Archangel is ontologically not human, but an angel he cannot be our mediator Am I making some sense? He cannot, so that automatically negates the possibility of a valid interpretation in terms of Michael the archangel, for he is indeed just an angel. Who is Michael, who is Melchizedek then? The other interpretation that's rendered, a non-christocentric interpretation, which I don't pay any attention to in any system of theology. Any system of theology that I read or hear about that does not exalt Christ as everything, to me is a completely useless system of theology. Since Jesus told me, Lo, I come in the volume of the book is written of me, I'm the key. So until you come to Christ, you haven't gotten a proper interpretation. They would assert, our Jewish brethren would assert, holding to the Old Testament scriptures, that this mysterious person called Melchizedek was really Seth, the son of Noah. Remember, Noah had three sons, Japheth, Ham, and Seth. And of course, Seth is a wonderful person in the Old Testament literature. We're learning this in biblical theology. But I would assert to you that Seth could not have been Melchizedek. And he couldn't have been Melchizedek based upon the clear argument that the opening passages render with regards to the uniqueness of the Melchizedekian priesthood. So now follow this. If our text opens up saying, for this Melchizedek, 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 everything that he had received in the battle, first being by interpretation, king of righteousness and afterwards, king of Salem, which is king of peace. This Melchizedek was without what? Did Seth have a father? Did Seth have a father? What was his father's name? We knew it. So the author would have been lying. Had he known or believed that Seth was really Melchizedek in what we would call a coded terminology, right? For the scriptures are asserting that there is no genealogy attached to Melchizedek by which we could follow his order of priesthood from patriarch to patriarch to patriarch to patriarch. Are you guys following me? That's why when you read your Bibles, you have to what? Think. The writers of scripture are using divine reasoning, divine thinking, divine logic, divine rationale to help us understand what we call the coherence of biblical truth. They're helping us to deduce and induce truth by negating things that make no sense and then affirming them by the clear and explicit teachings of the Word of God. That means you have to think things through. A priest of a normal order, which is what the Hebrew writer is going to argue, is a priest who is in the line of a patriarchal system that continues backwards and forwards. There is a genealogy to the priest. He could not enter into the priesthood unless he had a genealogy that said he was part of this line, that line or the other line. Am I making some sense, ladies and gentlemen? So we discard both Michael, the archangel, Since Hebrews chapter 2 verse 16 tells us that Jesus did not take on the nature of what angels But he took on our nature in order to call us his brethren in order that he might be to us a faithful and merciful high priest we therefore also reject our Seth as being the mystical or mysterious Melchizedek because the author of Hebrews is arguing that there is no genealogical line to trace backwards or forwards in this unique priesthood of Melchizedek. What then are we to conclude as to who Melchizedek is? Melchizedek, ladies and gentlemen, is a real human representative for mankind in the occupying the office of priesthood, a very unique priesthood. He is a real historical person and yet he is a type of the coming Messiah. Melchizedek is a real personage who lived 2,000 years before Jesus in the era and time of Abraham. He's a real person who happened to have been a real king over a real kingdom and a real priesthood, ministering to people in a real priestly ministry, only his ministry was not that of the line of Aaron and Levi. It was a profoundly mysterious priesthood of which God had set up of which we only have two passages of scripture in all the Old Testament that actually address Melchizedek. The first is in Genesis chapter 14, verses 18 through 20. And I want you to see that briefly with me as we lay a foundation. Genesis 14, verses 18 through 20. This is the only place we have concerning this person, Melchizedek, The priest of the Most High God. I want to know about him, don't you? Now, I want to know about him because I know he alludes to and points to and foreshadows something Profoundly important about the Lord Jesus Christ. So while we are Ear-hustling as a third party on a conversation between two people groups the writer to the Hebrews and the Hebrew Christians You and I will see by application how important it is to us But let's just take up the reading of Genesis chapter 14 verses 18 through 20 briefly listen to what it says in verse 18 Genesis chapter 14 and Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine and he was the priest of the Most High God and he blessed him that is Abraham 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 your hands and he gave him a tithe of all That's all you read, ladies and gentlemen, in Genesis chapter 14. about Melchizedek. The next time you read about him is in Psalm 110, which is one of the Psalms. Go there, Psalms 110. Let's briefly read it in verse 4. Psalms 110 is one of the most commonly used Psalms all throughout the New Testament for very important reasons, one of which is because of the designation of the office of Jesus Christ as the mediator and head of the Church of the Living God and the role that he plays in securing our eternal salvation. of which purpose we are compelled to want to know everything I possibly can about my Mediator. Because to the degree that I know, and I am rooted and grounded in, and I am committed to the revelation of God in Christ in the area of my Mediator's work, to that degree I'm going to be anchored in the truth. It doesn't matter what storms come. It doesn't matter what troubles come. If my anchor is fixed on Christ, you can let the wind blow. You can let the seas rage. You can let the enemy come. You can let every adversary in the universe come against me. If I'm anchored to Christ, I'm going to be well. In fact, we can sing it. It is well. It is well with my soul. I might be tossed to and fro. I might be tossed hither and thither, but my anchor is hinged to a man already in glory. And I know that where he is, I will be one day. And my faith may be shaking down here, and I might be looking back in your presence, but my faith has an anchor, and that anchor is in glory. And as long as that anchor does not lose, I'm all right. I may not look all right. I may not even feel all right. But I know I'm all right. This is what we're talking about. Verses one through four. The Lord said unto my Lord, this is David under inspiration of the Holy Ghost, speaking of the Father and the Son, right? The Lord Jehovah said unto my Lord, Adonai, sit thou at my right hand. What does that mean? Accomplish redemption. Until I make thine enemies thy footstool. What does that mean? Total victory. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. That's the preaching of the gospel rules out in the midst of dying enemies. That's what he did when he came to you and me and the power of the gospel and subdued us before him. Before we knew God, we were his enemies and God came in the power of the gospel and brought us low and put the handcuffs of grace on us and made us captives of Christ and brought us into the kingdom of God. Am I making some sense there? This is the decree of God the Father concerning the success of Christ the Son to redeem every one of his rebel children. And that's what you were before salvation. And that's what you are after salvation. Rebel children. Put it on your back, R.C. I'm a rebel child of God. It's true, isn't it? I'm a rebel child of God. But he got me anyway. I thank him for the power of the gospel. Your people shall be willing in the day of your power talking about free will no man has the power to come to God Unless God draws him and when God begins to draw you by his grace, guess what he does He changes your passions. He changes your desires. He changes your aspirations. He changes your your impotency It changes all your affections and you want to do the will of God. It's strange, isn't it? how the arrows that come out of his quiver and pierce your heart hurts at first and then all of a sudden you fall in love with him. I've told you he's our heavenly Cupid. He gonna get you. He gonna get you. By the time he brings you to himself, you're gonna be in love with Christ even though it hurts. That's what the writer's saying. That's what he's saying. Isn't it about saving his people? You know, you get people to say, destroy my enemies. Listen, I was God's enemy, you too. Destroy my enemies in Christ. Destroy my foes in Christ. Destroy the thing that would destroy me in Christ. Then I'll be all right. Listen to what he says. Your people shall be willing in the day of your power and the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning. This is talking about the resurrection. Don't have time to develop it. You have the do of your youth. This is talking about his eternal position as the Son of God in his post-resurrection glory. He possesses all life. Life is in the Son. He that hath the Son hath what? He that hath not the Son of God does not have what? And this is what the text is saying. The Father here is extolling the Son because he has obtained eternal redemption by his death, burial, and resurrection. Verse 4. The Lord has sworn This is what the writer is saying in Hebrews. The distinct difference between the Aaronic priesthood and the priesthood of Melchizedek is Melchizedek's priesthood is an oath by God the Father to accomplish some things through God the Son. This is an oath. This is what I want to know. I want to know how secure my eternity bound soul is. now that it has been bought by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. I want to know what God the Father and God the Son has done to make sure my eternal destiny. In order for me to know that, I need to listen to what they said they did in order to accomplish that for me. I need to be able to hear and understand these mysteries that were taking place in eternity past, between the father and the son. Listen to what he says to the son. The Lord has sworn and he will not what? I love him, don't you? God's not a man that he should lie, nor the sort of man that he should repent. Has he spoken and not make it good? Has he declared it and will not bring it to pass? Our God is good with his word, isn't he? And we know this because Jesus came, died, rose again and went back to glory. Is that right? Listen to what he says. The Lord has sworn and will not repent. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Got it? Go back with me to the book, Hebrews, because this is what the Hebrew writer wants the people of God to get. He wants the people of God who have been used to a temporary, would not do, could not do, Covenant of works. This is a terminology. I used ten years ago for the old saints at grace the covenant of works Which was under the Aaronic priesthood Which we're getting ready to attach together and demonstrate which was always a temporary system was a covenant of works Which would not do and could not do you guys got that and yet it was the only system Israel knew they only knew I would not do and could not do system and It's a would-not-do, could-not-do, would-not-do, could-not-do system which could never make their conscience clear. I mean, if it never actually obtained salvation or never actually pleased God or never actually accomplished righteousness, then we are always in this sort of mode of fear of being rejected by God because it's a would not do, could not do system. Are you guys following me? Now you can imagine how a whole people group could be affected as a religious society being under a works religion that never could do or would do. They are fearful every year that God will reject them because nothing ever came to perfection under that old system. And yet, you know what people do? I found this to be true in the evangelical church. Folks will stay in churches where the gospel is not preached. Folks will stay in would not do, could not do, covenant of words churches where the gospel doesn't work. They will stay in places where they preach words salvation by something God did and something you do and they know what's wrong and they stay there. They will stay in these churches where they are told you must do this. You must do that. You must do the other thing to merit favor with God. They will know the book plainly said it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but they will stay in those churches under that system because they don't have faith. They have presumption, which is what I told you before. It's the consequence of Christ not being preached sufficiently enough for them to know the grounds upon which faith has its origin, its sustaining, and its perfection. Why would a man or woman stay in a legalistic works religion that would not do and could not do, knowing it will ultimately cause them to perish? Because they have never ever effectually heard the preaching of the gospel. Do you remember how that was for you when you were under that system of works? And then God in his mercy caused the light to shine out of darkness, to shine in your hearts and gave you a revelation of the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. And it broke the shackles, didn't it? And then God said, come out of Babylon and come into Christ and come to know something about the finality of the crosswork of Jesus Christ, which brings rest to the soul. This is what the Hebrew writer is trying to get the people to do. Come out of that legalism that they were used to and come into the reality and perfections that's in Christ. That's Hebrews 6.1. Let us go on to perfection. Not laying again the foundation of principle things over and over and over and over and over again. Don't let me get started. It blows me away. It blows me away how religion will do exactly what our master said. You have the keys of knowledge, but you won't go in and you will hinder those who are trying to go in from going in by blocking the door with your own self, your own system and your own works. And so the Hebrew writer wants them to grasp these realities. What are our arguments about Melchizedek? Melchizedek was not himself Christ. And some are arguing that Melchizedek was Christ. No, he was not Christ. For him to have been Christ would be to violate the language of the text. Let me see if I can make this plain. When the text says, to whom also Abraham had given a tenth part of the tithe, Verse three says that he was without father and without mother. Therefore he was without what? Descent. Could it be said that Jesus Christ did not have a father? No. Perish the thought. That would be eternal blasphemy for us to assert at any time or entertain at any time that the son God did not have a father. In fact, that would be a logical inconsistency. How can you be a son? Without a father and we've already been told 13 times in 13 chapters You will read the Son of God the Son of God and in fact in order to make sure that we didn't get the mistake the writer says also 13 times in 13 chapters his name is Jesus the son of God, which means we already are bound by an ontological relationship between father and son. I know who his father is, don't you? I know who his father is. His father has always been his father from all eternity. Now he had no human father, but he had a divine father and therefore he had a father and we know who he was. And that is critical to the nature and character and role of our high priest. And in fact, you know what's beautiful about this whole idea of the fatherhood of God is that Christ came to reveal to the world that aspect of God's nature. We call this in theology, paterology. Christ was the one who revealed to us God as Father. More times than anywhere in the scriptures you will read of Christ saying, my father, my father, my father. I came to do the will of my father. This is the work of my father. I came to glorify my father, exalt my father, make manifest my father's name. Are you hearing me? And so while Melchizedek has no genealogical traits of fatherhood or motherhood, isn't that what the text says? No mother. We can't say Jesus didn't have a mother. For us to assert that Jesus didn't have a mother is for us to deny His humanity. If I deny His humanity, even though I affirm His divinity, I fail to qualify Him as my mediator. Am I making some sense? See, for though He is the Son of God from eternity, He is not rightly and properly my mediator until he takes on a what? Human nature. Remember, the priest had to be taken from among men. Are you guys following what I'm saying? For while he is the Son of God from eternity, one with the Father and one with the Spirit, until he assumes my nature, he cannot properly be called my high priest. So in order for this person, Jesus Christ, to be my high priest in the sense in which he takes on the role of Melchizedek, he has to be understood and comprehended in two dimensions. First, as divine. Secondly, as human. Are you hearing me? Then, pastor, what is the language and argument that the Hebrew writer is rendering when he says that Melchizedek was without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days or end of life? What's that argument? That's the argument of what we call silence in the scriptures. It's a device in the scriptures where the Holy Ghost chose to craft the language in a fashion to make the priesthood of Melchizedek correspond to the ministry of Jesus Christ as high priest of his people. Did you guys get that? In other words, God could have easily told us who Melchizedek's mother and father was. He could have easily done that. He could have easily given us the lineage, but that would have complicated the matter of his unique priesthood in relationship to us. The language was crafted to give us a type, not a reality, a type of the eternal priesthood of Christ. Type therefore his mother wasn't mentioned his father wasn't mentioned his brethren wasn't mentioned and we take what we read in Genesis 14 and in Psalm 110 and simply say God the Father made Melchizedek to be a type of Christ eternal priesthood Are you hearing what I'm saying? Am I making some sense to you? Let me stack that a little bit more just for argument's sake. Let's say Melchizedek was actually Christ as some of my theologians, my theological brethren assert. And some of them are men of very good company. They hold that this here is a foreshadow of the pre-incarnate Christ, that Jesus took on that image while he was there and he met Abraham and blessed Abraham, gave him bread and wine to foreshadow the reality of himself 2,000 years down the line. Well, if that were the case, you know what we would have in our text? We would have a gross redundancy of language that would actually amount to an absurdity on the part of God. What do you mean, Pastor? I mean, if Melchizedek was actually Christ, it would make no sense for God the Father to say to God the Son, as we read in Psalm 110, I am going to make you a priest after the order of Melchizedek. That would be like saying, I am going to make you a priest after the order of who you already are a second time. I'm going to make you a Melchizedek a second time. That's called a useless redundancy. And ladies and gentlemen, let me help you understand something about redundancy. God is not redundant. Did you hear me? God doesn't make two things that are exactly the same for no advanced purpose at all. That's why we don't believe in homosexuality because it's a redundancy principle. Are you hearing what I'm saying? We do believe in complementarianism because what it does, it glorifies God in the area of production and fruitfulness. A male and a female can advance things. Am I making some sense? But the logic fails to assert that God would say to his son that he's going to make him something that he already is. It's like saying, son, I'm going to make you the son of God in the same way at the same time as I already have you being the son of God. That's a fallacy of logic. That's a fallacy of language rather. It makes no sense, does it? So if we're talking about advancing from one stage to another, what we are actually talking about doing is advancing from an inferior to a superior. We're talking about advancing from something that is lesser to something that is more. We're talking about advancing from something that is typical and shadowy and representative to something that is substantive and real and fulfilling. So Melchizedek only typifies, foreshadows, represents the reality that's in Christ. Am I making some sense? In fact, we need to go on to the next point in order to develop that. The Hebrew writer actually builds from a framework of interpreting the book of Hebrews that way. Let me assert it this way. And I'll start in verse 22 of our text. Listen to what verse 22 says. Are you there? Here's what it says by so much was Jesus made a surety of a wet better Testament See the book of Hebrews is about as some authors have said long ago better things better Things as verse 22 stay with me now This is why we believe in a new covenant Because we believe that God working throughout human history in stages went from lesser things to better things, from typical things to substantive things, from symbols to realities. That from the time that he created the heavens and the earth, he already had a new heavens and new earth in his mind. We call this protology in theology. It's already having a design of the reality and the fulfillment and the perfection of a thing before he actually creates what would simply be a typical picture of the thing. So this present heavens and earth, as you and I believe it, will be burned up and there will be a new heavens and a new earth, right? But that was in the mind of God before the world began. And everything in this world corresponded to the blueprint that was in the mind of an eternal God before He made it. If you guys are going to build a house, don't you set out to develop a blueprint of the house first? And you have every facet and detail drawn up first, and then you go to build the house? Am I making some sense? In the mind of God, He saw the end from the beginning, and what He's doing throughout time is unfolding the reality of those things through shadows and types. bringing them into the reality that's in Christ. And what we are told as the New Testament church is that you and I have entered into the new. We've entered into the new. Am I making some sense? We've entered into the new. And you have got to comprehend the new because the old will send you to hell. The old was the temporary would not do, could not do system that was only pointing to the reality. It was only pointing to the reality. So in your outline, we have the argument of type and reality. He says in Hebrews chapter 1 that God spoke to the fathers in days of old through the what? Prophets. But in these last days He's spoken to us in the Son. So the lesser are the prophets, the greater is who? Jesus. Chapter 1 also says that God views the angels as mediators in this present dispensation, but Jesus becomes the greater mediator in this new dispensation. So Jesus is seen in Hebrews chapter 1 as greater than the what? Angels. In chapter 2 we find, or rather chapter 3, we find God talking about Moses building his house, but Jesus becomes a builder of a greater house. Moses is a type of Christ. We're going from the lesser to the greater. In chapter 3 and 4, we talk about Joshua bringing the children of Israel into the promised land, a type of rest, right? Those of you who have understood Old Testament theology with us, we realize that the children of Israel going through the wilderness for 40 years is a type of you and I going through this wilderness world. We are in a wilderness, ladies and gentlemen. I don't care what people say. We have not arrived yet. I don't care what people say. We are not in glory. We taste glory, yeah. Some of the what we call first fruits of glory are given us, yeah, by the Spirit of God. But according to Revelation chapter 12, we are that bride that have been given two wings of a great eagle to fly into the wilderness where we are hid from the face of the serpent for a time, a time, and a half a time until God comes to save us from this world totally. So we have, as the church, for the last 2,000 years been going through a wilderness world sojourn where God has been feeding us with the manna of the gospel. Remember that? Bread from heaven, hot biscuits in the morning, butter and syrup, and fried chicken. Let me go back to broiled chicken. The more saints I meet, y'all done got past all of this killer food. But in the evening, pheasant. And it was all typical of those graces that God must give us to lead us through this wilderness. Well, we have to feed on Christ daily until we ultimately enter into that state of permanent glory. where all the former things are passed away and everything becomes what? Totally new. Are you guys following me? This will keep you from being deceived by false prophets, as I told you before, who will claim things that cannot be actually experienced by children of God here until we reach glory. We're headed there. And what it means is that as people of God going through the wilderness, we must depend upon God. You must depend upon God. You must depend upon God to feed your soul daily. You must depend upon God to watch you in that wilderness where there are scorpions and vipers and dragons and snakes and enemies of all kinds. Am I making some sense? And so, the Hebrew writer is telling us that we are dealing with types and shadows. Joshua brought them into a temporary rest that was earthly and limited. Jesus brings us into the rest of the gospel, right? So we read in Matthew 11, 28, So Jesus is a greater Joshua. Chapter 5 of Hebrews now moves us into what we are contemplating now, the priesthood. Are you with me now? And so what we're dealing with is understanding the book of Hebrews in a framework called type and reality. Type and reality. Type and reality. Temporary, eternal. Old and what? New. Old and new. And so what the Hebrew writer wants the people of God to understand, lest they are deceived by the old system, is this. Jesus is a better priest than Aaron or his sons could ever be. Are you following me? This is what he's talking about. This is what he's talking about. And so we read in the book of Hebrews that he talks about an old Jerusalem and a what? New Jerusalem. And by the way, what he tells us in chapter 12, 22, is that we have come unto the new Jerusalem. Isn't that right? So we are in a better place and a more superior place. than we were under the old system, and this is what he's trying to get the Hebrew people to comprehend. And by the way, just like the Son of God is a term used 13 times in Hebrews, and just like Jesus is a term used 13 times in Hebrews, guess what? The term better, better, is used 13 times in Hebrews. You know what he's saying? 13 times, Jesus, the Son of God, is better. Did you get that? Jesus, the son of God is better. Jesus, the son of the living God is better. 13 times. To drive it home to those brothers and sisters who are going back to that old system of works and legalism simply because they don't see a physical temple. They don't see a physical priesthood. They don't see a physical priest because our priest is in glory. Our altar is in glory. We have no altar down here. That's why in our church we never set up the front as an altar that would deceive you. To come to the altar here is to move about 30 or 40 feet from where you are. And ladies and gentlemen, listen to me carefully. That's not enough to get you out of hell into heaven. out of sin into righteousness, out of works into grace, out of unbelief into faith. It takes an eternal transition of which only God can do. He must take your soul out of darkness and bring it into his marvelous light and translate you out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son. Will you stay with me? And for that, you don't have to move from your seat. You know, I feel sorry for some of our churches. I'm at a revival conference last month, and the revival conference went great. After the service, here comes tradition again. Come on up. Come on up. You know, people ain't really coming up as much anymore, are they? You know why? Because they didn't get it 500 times since they were little children. Now, am I telling the truth? They didn't come up 500 times. They come up every week. They go out, get high during the week, have sex on the weekend, conscious, all guilty. Then the preacher goes through the manipulation, just as I am, without formal plea. Then they come up and they realize that they haven't accomplished anything because two days later, they're back at it again. That's not the altar that changes the soul. Let me say it again. That is not the altar. Read it for yourself, Hebrews chapter 13. We have no altar down here. I feel sorry for them because they're operating out of old paradigms. Do you understand that faith is a gift of God? And do you understand that that's the secret work of the Holy Ghost that's made plain in a person's life by them trusting Christ? that you don't prove that you have faith because you raise your hand or say the sinners prayer or come up front or any of that. See, these are all human man-made methods which deceive men and women into thinking they're all right with God when they're not all right with God by those things. And the Hebrew writer is saying, don't go back. Don't go back. Jesus, the son of God, is better. He's better. Let me keep working on this. So the Hebrew writer is clearly giving us the framework. This is why he starts off introducing in verse 22 that Jesus is made a surety of a better what? Testament. Same as covenant. Some technical differences. Point number three in your outline. He's another and superior priesthood in Melchizedek is what's being argued. Another and superior priesthood in Melchizedek is being argued. Why is the Hebrew writer arguing? for a Melchizedekian priesthood, first and foremost, because Psalm 110 clearly tells us that the father said, I'm going to make you a priest after the order of Melchizedek. That's enough for me. But what he's going to do is explain why the father chooses the Melchizedekian order and not Aaron's and not Levi's. Are you guys with me so far? Let's work with it now. And so the Hebrew writer is making it very plain. Let's start again in chapter 7 at verse 4. Listen to what he says. Now consider how great this what? What was Melchizedek? He was a man. See it? Now consider how great this man was, not is, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoil. He's entered to build his case for the superiority of Melchizedek's priesthood, not over Christ, But over Aaron and Levi, the would-not-do, could-not-do temporary work system of which these Hebrews are ready to go back to, of which our present predispensation, our premillennial dispensationalists want us to buy into. Are you hearing me? a reestablishing of the temple, a reestablishing of the Aaronic priesthood, a reestablishing of the red heifer, a reestablishing of the sacrifices and the offerings, and a division between Jew and Gentile, man and woman. Are you hearing me? Why on earth would I buy into a system that Christ demolished at Calvary 2,000 years ago? How on earth will that glorify the Son of the living God for us to erect that which he already tore down? Paul tells me in Galatians 2, that would make me a transgressor. For me to build again what I tore down makes me a transgressor. How can I go back to an Old Testament, would not do, could not do system of works when I have the perfection in Jesus Christ? How can anyone do better than Christ? How can you do better than Christ? And the church of the living God today has but one thing to look forward to. And that's for the son of God to break the heavens and to appear in person and to glorify his church and to establish the kingdom forever. Are you hearing me? Watch this saints. We ain't going back. The church of the living God is not going back. There's nothing back there for us. We're pressing forward to perfection. That's the goal of the writer. That's what I want you to comprehend in your theology. the perfections that's in Christ. That's what's going to give you rest. Are you hearing me, child of God? See, on a human level, can I just be practical? I'll let you go in a minute. On a human level, that would be just like you coming to a gospel church like this and being taught sound theology, deep theology, crystal-centric theology, biblical theology, and then you going back to Catholicism. Am I making some sense? where you have to now deal with the earthly order of temporal priests under the priesthood who tell you that they can forgive you of your sins. Perish the thought. See, now you're choosing an earthly priest over a heavenly priest. When the writer of the Hebrews is about to argue, these priests live and die, and they must have sacrifices for their sin. But Christ, Christ is a high priest forever, forever. Am I making some sense? Don't mean to be picking on our Catholic folks, but they need to know just like our evangelical folks. See, because our evangelical folks are really headed back to Catholicism too. They don't know it, but they are. The goal of the enemy is to make you so confused in your ignorance of Christ that you are willing now to bow down to a man in order to get security for your soul. Am I making some sense? what the preacher should be doing is preaching and exalting and lifting up Jesus Christ and saying, Holy Ghost, make your son glorious in the heart of everyone that sees him. All right. Another and superior priesthood is what's being argued by the writer. Here's what he says over in verse five. And verily, they that are of the sons of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood, see what he's done now, going back to the Levitical priesthood, have 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. See how he has put Levi and Aaron inside of Abraham? Because Abraham becomes the pinnacle of the lineage. Abraham is the pinnacle of the lineage. And what he's getting the Hebrew people to do is think about Abraham. Let's go back to the top of the line of our genealogy. And let's think about Abraham. Guess what Abraham did when he met Melchizedek. He had to give to Melchizedek the tip affirming the superiority of Melchizedek over Abraham. Now who was in Abraham? Not Aaron. Levi. Because the writer is developing the sequential unfolding of the genealogy in order. Now Aaron is in Levi, but Levi is in Abraham. Did you guys get that? So watch this now. Aaron would technically have to pay tithes to Levi. And Levi would have to pay tithes or homage to Abraham. But Abraham is paying homage to Melchizedek. And if we follow the logical syllogism, guess who Melchizedek is going to pay homage to? The Son of God. The Son of God. Am I making some sense? He has to defer to the Son of God. This is called deference of the inferior to the superior. This is the argument that's taking place here. He's arguing for, that's our third point, another and superior priesthood in Melchizedek. So he goes on to say, Verse 6, but he whose descent is not counted from among them received the tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. Abraham gives tithes to Melchizedek even though Abraham is not tithed to Melchizedek in terms of his genealogy. He immediately affirms Melchizedek as being the high priest of the Most High God and renders to him the sacrifice that's due. Abraham therefore is teaching Levi and Aaron that there's a greater priesthood that you guys have to submit to one day as well I'm making sense Emma and Without all contradiction the less is blessed of the brother Then he goes into verses 8 9 I'll go from verses 8 9 through 11 because he wants us to understand that the aim is perfection he says and here men that die receive tithes and But there he receiveth them of whom it is written that he liveth. Here men, that is Aaron and his sons, received tithe. But there he receiveth them, that is Melchizedek, of whom it is written that he what? Lives. Why? It didn't mean that he lived physically. It meant that his priesthood continued. Because in the device of silence in the scriptures, we don't have a starting point for Melchizedek's priesthood, nor an ending point for Melchizedek's priesthood. In other words, we are not dealing with the ontological nature of Melchizedek's humanity. We're dealing with the nature of his priesthood being a permanent priesthood that God established so that Christ could take it up after that first Melchizedek. Are you hearing me? The first Melchizedek started it, Christ ends it. The first Melchizedek starts it, Christ ends it. If we don't follow this logic, ladies and gentlemen, do you know what kind of problems we have throughout the whole of the Aaronic and Levitical priesthood? For there would have been a priesthood operating that God had sanctioned and ordained in the people of God through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the twelve tribes, with Aaron and Levi, They would have been functioning according to that priesthood. And everyone had to come to Jerusalem if they were going to be saved. For the true and the living God dwelt between the cherub on the ark of the mercy seat. And all had to come to Him there if in fact somewhere down the road there was another priesthood going on that was simultaneous to the Aaronic priesthood. Are you hearing me? If the Melchizedekian priesthood was a physical priesthood that sustained itself from the days of that first Melchizedek all the way through, then we would have had two priesthood operating in tension. What I am saying is, that the language of silence simply framed the Melchizedekian priesthood to be an eternal priesthood that would be brought to reality, not through the sequential genealogical trend of father, son, father, son, but Melchizedek to Jesus. Am I making some sense? What sustained is the Melchizedekian priesthood, not the person Melchizedek. Not the person Melchizedek. I think you guys are with me. It's very important for us to comprehend there'd be a lot of problems if that were the case. Verse 10 and 11. For he was, I'm sorry, verse 9. And as I may also say, Levi also received tithes, paid them in Abraham to Melchizedek, didn't he? Look at it. And as I also may say, Levi also, who received tithes, paid tithes. Who did he pay them to? Melchizedek threw Abraham. That's what he's arguing. See, Abraham has in his loins Isaac and Jacob and the 12 tribes. And Abraham is forcing the whole of the sons of Abraham to pay homage to this priesthood, which means the priesthood that they had received from God was necessarily flawed. This is why I said it was a would not do, could not do, temporary system of works religion that God had structured to keep the physical nation of Israel intact until Messiah came. Am I blowing your fuses? Let me move forward. So the Hebrew writer is making it clear that we could have never, ever, ever, it was never designed for us to reach a perfection of the conscience through the Levitical priesthood. Verse 11, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the what? So you understand that whenever God gives law, He has to give priesthood where sinners are? Wherever God gives law, He has to give priesthood where sinners are? If God gives you law without priesthood, you're going to hell. Do you understand priesthood becomes the symbol of the gospel in order to make our violation against the law something God could live with. Are you guys following me? So he gives us the Ten Commandments, right? Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself, right? About a second after you receive the commandment, you're doomed. So before God has to send you to hell, because he's got to send you to hell now, he attaches the priesthood to the law and says, shed the blood, shed the blood, shed the blood, shed the blood. Are you hearing me? Shed the blood. Shed the blood. Now, the blood of the old covenant could never put away sin, but it did cover it because God loves us enough to be patient till his son comes. Since they already agreed that he would show up in the fullness of time, born of a woman made under the law to redeem us from the curse of the law. Am I making some sense? Shed the blood, shed the blood, and in fact, sprinkle the blood on the law. And then sprinkle the blood on the people. And then sprinkle the blood on the sheep. And sprinkle the blood on the altar. In fact, sprinkle blood on everything so I can have a relationship with these knuckleheads. Did y'all get that? Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. I need the blood. You need the blood. We need the blood. We need blood. Because I don't think right sometimes. I need blood on my conscience. That's why the priest had to stand there and receive the blood on their right thumb, on their right toe, and on their right ear. Are you hearing me? So I can get my hearing right. So I can get my acting right and get my doing right before God under the blood. Am I making some sense? I need the blood. I need law too. But I need the blood. See, because the law is going to teach me about the character of God and what he demands. Talking to my wife this morning as she's teaching the children over there about the cursed fig tree. Can you imagine she's preaching the gospel out of the cursed fig tree to two to five-year-olds? She's teaching them the gospel to two to five-year-olds. I said, you think they're going to get it? Oh yeah, they're going to get it. Because she's going to make it simple. God requires fruit. We fail to produce fruit. So Christ had to be the tree that got cut down in order that we might bring fruit to God. I said, that's simple enough. That'll work. That'll work. Because if he didn't cut Christ down, he'd have to cut me down. If he didn't cut Christ down, he'd have to cut you down. Because you and I don't bear the fruit we ought. And if we ever bear fruit, it's Christ in you. bearing the fruit as the father purges you and produces fruit through you so that you give him the glory for it. Am I making some sense? I know I'm boring you, but I got to get through these next two points. Point number four. A superior covenant in Melchizedek is what's being affirmed here. We need to understand that. And it's not so much about Melchizedek, but it's about Christ's priesthood, which brings me to my fifth point. I'm not going to develop point number four. I'll see if I can do that down the line, because it really needs to have rich appreciation. But point number five, the combined offices of priest and king. The writer knows the depth of the superior nature of Melchizedek's priesthood over Aaron's. And so what he does, he opens up by saying, for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met brother Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth of all. What he just did was give what we call a parenthetical, because he started off with a portfolio and resume of Melchizedek. But then he broke into Abraham giving a tenth of the tithe in order to help the Hebrew people be sensitive to the highest and most important man in the nation of Israel, Abraham. Then he jumps back to the portfolio and resume of Melchizedek by giving the interpretation of his name. Melchizedek means king of righteousness who is king of Salem are king of peace. What you may not recognize here, and we're shutting it down here, is that we have two offices combined in one. We have the kingship and the priesthood in one. We have King Melchizedek over the city of Jerusalem. That's what Salem is in its contracted form. Are you hearing me? Jerusalem! City our foundation of Shalom is what peace? Who's the king of Jerusalem? Melchizedek? No Jesus of whom Melchizedek was only a type But he was literally the king of Jerusalem He was also the priest of Jerusalem was he not ladies and gentlemen. Are you with me? He was both the king and the priest now stay with me now I've got to develop this for five minutes just to give it to you Now anywhere in the world where you have a political kingdom, where there's a monarchy, and a king, and a senate, and princes, and rulers, and also in the same city or nation, you have a religious or ceremonial system, such as the priesthood, where you have the high priest, and then you have the priests, and the sons, and the Levites together. Those two systems, anywhere in the world, will always be at odds with each other. They will always be in conflict. When Israel said we want a king like all the other kings of the nations in 1st Samuel chapter 7 all the way through 12, God says you guys have just messed up. You just messed up because you have completely missed my purpose for you. See, when they set up that monarchy, that monarchy always attempts to usurp authority over the priesthood. Am I making some sense? And this is why political kingdoms have always sought to usurp authority over the church, control the church, domineer the church, snuff out the church, as it were, cause the church to be ineffective. You cannot have the priesthood and the kingship coexisting together in earthly kings. Earthly kings cannot work together in a political-religious structure. I have told you that's the framework for the Antichrist system that we are facing and dealing with. Wherever the church falls prey to politics, it loses its celestial power. You can never go to bed with, sleep with, co-join, have a co-regency with or an affinity with the political systems of this world and actually preach the truth of the gospel. This is why I've told you, your president can never be a Christian. Am I boring you? This is why those of us who, we want a Christian president, he, after he gets this big old, big old Bible, Four feet wide, four feet, with big old cross on it. He goes to church, right, for about six months while he's campaigning to be the president, right? And the media gives you pictures of him going into church and coming out of church with his family. He never darkened the doors of the church for several years before that. But now he's running for the presidency. Oh, he's a Christian. Obama's a Christian. Bush a Christian. Clinton a Christian. Clinton a Christian. Stay with me for a moment now stay with me. See this is how deceived my religious generation is my present Religious generation is deceived because it does not read the Bible and does not understand its prophetic implications Are you hearing me? There's only one kingdom where the kingship and the priesthood could coexist in harmony and unity and that's in Christ and Christ is both King of Salem and he is the priest of the Most High God. And that office is subsumed in one person and that's Jesus. This is Zechariah chapter 6. I need you to go there. I'll close right here. I can talk about this forever and ever and ever, but I just want you to see it for yourself. Go with me in your Bible to Zechariah chapter 6 so that God can make it plain to us. He never meant, God never meant for any earthly king to occupy the office of both king and priest. Will you hear me? Even King David didn't get it right. Solomon messed it up royally. Solomon messed it up so bad that he becomes a picture of the epitome of the Antichrist system. 700 wives, 300 concubines. Is that not a jacked up king? He makes Clinton look good. Dead knee? That boy got problems. And then he builds temples on the other side. Dozens and dozens of temples over against Jerusalem where the true and the living God can see it from the Ark of the Covenant. God allowed that to happen to affirm what he had already told the people of God in Samuel, that it's impossible for you to have both a kingship and a priesthood coexisting in one person until Jesus shows up. Are you hearing me? This is why when Jesus was born, Israel was not a monarchy. I keep telling you that. It was under subservitude to the Roman Empire. And this is why the rulers said we have no king but Caesar. Remember that? They had totally submitted to the pagan rulers of the world and thus they were not ready for the revelation of Christ. Am I making some sense to you guys? Are you guys hearing me? This is why you need to know that the key to your scriptures is a person and that person is Christ. And he already told you that in John 5 39. You are searching the scriptures and in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which testify of me. If you don't see Christ there, you don't have the right interpretation. He's the one that's fixing all of this messed up interpretation of the word of God. He's fixing it all. And here's what the spirit of prophecy says about both the kingship and the priesthood right here. Are you ready? Listen to what he says in chapter 6 verses 9 through 13. He says. Chapter Chapter. There it is. Listen to this. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord, who is he? Christ. What is the temple? It's the church of the living God. And even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory. Who shall bear the glory? Christ. Who gets all the glory? Christ. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord. Isn't that what he said? I will build my what? And the gates of hell will not prevail. And he shall bear the glory. That's why we know, we know that gospel preaching always gives him the what? Glory. And he shall sit and rule upon his what? That means he's a what? King. And he shall be a what? Upon his what? Ah, the priesthood and the kingship on one throne in one person for one temple, which God is building through Jesus Christ. Do you guys see that? Let me read it again and we'll close right here. So very clear. He shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory thereof. He shall sit and rule upon his throne. He shall be a priest upon the throne and the council of what? Jerusalem, foundation of peace, shall be between them both. Why? Because there's one king and there's one priest, and that priest is Christ. Melchizedek literally means king of righteousness. Melchizedek is the term, Melchizedek means king. I is a personal pronoun, which means my king. And Zedek is the contracted word for righteousness. He is a king of righteousness and he is the king of a city called Jerusalem which is a foundation of peace. You and I only have peace through the righteousness which comes through the merits and blood of this King Jesus Christ. And we're not talking political peace. We're talking spiritual peace. We're talking peace between God because of the merits of Christ. Are you guys following me? And I may say this. as much as the Holy Ghost will give you and our peace in our soul from time to time. Man, a whole lot of time, I ain't got no peace in my soul. Can I get one witness in the house? I'm not at peace a whole lot of time. My kids get on my nerve, my wife get on my nerve, y'all get on my nerve, the world get on my nerve. I'm not at peace. And I know you're not at peace with me sometimes. Pastor gets on my nerve. Listen, but I have a peace deep down in my soul. that's rooted in my hope of glory that transcends the unstable troubledness of my mind and that's called the peace of God that passes understanding which keeps our minds and soul and am I making some sense all right good we'll have the offering at this time in closing prayer