Hebrews 7

hebrews chapter 7. as we have noted there's a tie between each chapter the one leads into the next and in verse 20 of chapter 6 he is speaking about the hope that we have in jesus as an anchor for our soul who is entered within the veil the heavenly whether the forerunner is for us entered even jesus made a high priest forever after the order of melchizedek back in genesis chapter 14 we read that as abraham was returning from the victory over the five kings that had taken his nephew lot as a hostage he had conquered over the five kings chasing them all of the way to the gates of damascus he had defeated them and taken much spoil and as he came back the king of sodom met him to show his appreciation but then in genesis 4 18 and melchizedek the 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 the god of abraham or blessed be abraham of the most high god possessor of the heaven and earth and blessed be the most high god which has delivered your enemies into your hand and abraham gave him tithes of all that he gained then in psalm 110 4 the lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a priest forever after the order of melchizedek in the 20th verse of the sixth chapter he quotes this psalm declaring that jesus was made a high priest forever after the order of melchizedek now that is all that we have in the old testament concerning this interesting priest melchizedek the jewish rabbis believed that there were four ways of interpreting a scripture the first was called the pisac and that is the plain meaning of the scripture the second was called the rimas which was the implied meaning within the scripture the third was called the deruse which was the understanding that you came after much study and consideration and the fourth way to interpret the passage was as an allegory as a metaphor to find the hidden meaning in the passage as we get into chapter 7 and as the writer begins to expound on the oh that's called the sod as he begins to expound on the subject of melchizedek he uses the sodder the metaphorical way of interpreting the passage now he points out here in 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 so we read that he was the king of salem the word salem means peace so the king of peace he was a priest of the most high god and his name melchizedek means king of righteousness uh melech is the hebrew for king melchizedek the king of righteousness and it is interesting that jeremiah tells us that in the day of the lord that he will be known in that day as jehovah siddhanu which means jehovah our righteousness he blessed abraham that we are told and then we read in the next verse to whom also abraham gave a tenth part of all being by interpretation the king of righteousness so these are the basic facts that are told us in the book of genesis concerning abraham's encounter with melchizedek he was the king of peace he was the priest of the most high god his name means king of righteousness he blessed abraham gave him bread and wine and abraham paid tithes to him now these are the things that then he speaks of melchizedek things that are not actually declared but deduced from the passage drawn out of the passage so he is without father and without mother he is without genealogy having neither beginning of days or end of life but was made like unto the son of god who abides a priest continually now you know that the book of genesis and excuse me a all of you when i'm minute i don't want you falling asleep [Laughter] we know that the book of genesis is a book of genealogies all of the begats that you have in genesis and it is very important to follow the genealogies we follow the genealogy from adam to abraham we follow the genealogy from abraham on through to joseph and the twelve sons of jacob in the book of genesis and over and over again we have the genealogies that was very important in the book of genesis to list the genealogies to list their birth and of course we read and he begat sons and daughters and he died and he begat sons and daughters and he died so it records the birth as well as the death of those important characters in the book of genesis but suddenly here we have a man that comes on the scene he is called the king of peace his name means the king of righteousness and abraham receives a blessing from him and abraham pays ties to him and yet no genealogy we're not told who his parents were we're not told when he was born we're not told when he dies and so from this the writer of hebrews draws out the fact that he is without the genealogy without any background he suddenly comes on the scene he is without generation he is without descent that is we hear nothing of the descendants of melchizedek nothing is told of his birth or of his death consider the greatness of this man we read in verse 4 how great consider how great this man melchizedek was unto whom even the patriarch abraham gave a tenth of the spoils so consider the greatness first of all abraham paid tithes to him now we are told a little later on that the sons of levi who took the office of the priesthood are commanded to receive the tithes from the people and the sons of levi came out of the loins of abraham but this man who was not a descendant of abraham received tithes from abraham we then are told that he blessed abraham and the writer points out that the lesser is always blessed by the greater so the inference is that this melchizedek was even greater than their father abraham because he blessed abraham and the lesser is blessed by the greater and then it is pointed out that the priests who come from the tribe of levi die they received the tithes of the people but yet death is the destiny for each of them but melchizedek who received the tithes from abraham it is recorded of him that he lives for god said in psalm 110 thou art a priest forever after the order of melchizedek he points out that levi the tribe of levi the levitical priesthood actually paid ties to melchizedek in that the levi's jeans were in abraham at the time that he paid the tithes you remember that when the children of israel returned from the babylonian captivity and they sought to re-institute the priesthood that they required the men who would take the office of the priesthood show their genealogy they had to come up with some were claiming to be of the tribe of levi but they did not have their records they didn't have the genealogy charts and thus they were rejected because they would only allow those with genuine levi genes to serve in the priesthood so but potentially you see levi was in the loins of abraham when abraham paid dies and so in in in that potential manner the levitical priesthood pray paid the tithe to the melchizedek order of priesthood so he draws the conclusion then that if the levitical priesthood had been complete there would not have been a necessity for another priesthood to arise which was after the order of melchizedek why not a priest after the order of aaron so as we go through this we see that these are the points that are being made as he is making inferences from things that are not said consider how great this man was to whom even the patriarch abraham paid the tenth of the spoils for verily they that are of the sons of levi 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 from them that is descended not counted from them from levi received tithes of abraham and blessed that had the promises or abraham who had the prophecies and without contradiction the less is blessed of the better and here men that receive tithes but there he receiveth them of whom it is witness that he lives and so may i say levi also who receives tithes paid ties to abraham for he was yet in the loins of his father when melchizedek met him so these are the conclusions that he is drawing as he is showing the superiority of melchizedek over aaron or over the aaronic or levitical priesthood so it is evident that the priesthood of the levites was not perfect for under them they received the law but what further need was there that another priest should arise after the order of melchizedek and not be called after the order of aaron so there needed to be another priesthood for the priesthood being changed there is made of necessity elsa a change of the law this means that the old commandment was disannulled because it was weak and unprofitable um for the priesthood being changed there's a necessity of the change of the law for he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe of which no man gave attendance at the altar so melchizedek no ministry at the altars but a priest forever before the lord not after carnal commandments it was necessary that the new priests come after the likeness of melchizedek now he points out that the tribe from which jesus came there was nothing in the law that spoke of priesthood from the tribe of judah the law spoke only of the priesthood from the tribe of levi so he says it is evident that our lord sprang out of judah of which tribe moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood and it is yet far more evident for that after the similitude of melchizedek there arises another priest who is made not after the law of carnal commandments but after the power of the endless life the old commandment disannulled now a new order of priesthood established after the order of melchizedek for the law he declares made nothing perfect there was the disannulling of the commandment going before because of the weakness and the unprofitableness thereof for the law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did the law could not make a person righteous keeping the law would not make a person righteous the law could only reveal to you your sin and condemn you because of your sin there was no provision within the law for you to be righteous or for you to even keep the law it was just there to show you that you were guilty before god and that it was necessary that you then offer a sacrifice for your sins to bring to god a sin offering the law itself could make nothing perfect the sacrifices could not take away your sins the sacrifices could only cover your sins the word atonement in the old testament comes from the hebrew word kofar which means a covering but they could not put away your sins as we will read a little further in hebrews it was impossible that the blood of bulls or goats could put away sins under the law the person was still distant from god the priest would approach god for you the law could not bring you near to god and so the weaknesses of the law in that it could not make you righteous it could not give you the power to keep the law nor could it come could it put away your sins nor could it draw you near to god so the law was weak and disannulled because it was unprofitable but the lord has made a better covenant with us through jesus christ and so uh it's not after the old commandment but after the power of the eternal life in jesus for he testified thou art a priest forever after the order of melchizedek for the law made nothing perfect bringing in of a better hope did now this idea of jesus being better the new covenant in jesus being better a better covenant a better hope as you go through the book of hebrews you you find this is brought out throughout the whole book there is pointing to jesus as the better way hebrews 1 4 speaking of jesus he was made so much better than the angels as he has by an inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they that's good for jehovah witnesses who would say that jesus was an angel michael the archangel but he was made so much better than the angels hebrews 7 7 and without contradiction without all contradiction the less is blessed by the better hebrews 7 19 for the law made nothing perfect but bringing in of a better hope did by the which we draw nigh unto god then in verse 22 by so much was jesus made a surety of a better testament hebrews 8 6 and now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also is he the mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better promises hebrews 9 23 it was therefore necessary that the patterns of the things in heaven should be purified with these but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these 10 34 for you had compassion on me in my bonds you took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and enduring substance uh then uh in hebrews 11 26 but now they desire a better country that is the heavenly therefore god is not ashamed to be called their god for he has prepared for them a city 11 35 women received their dead raised to life again and others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection 11 40 god having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect in 1224 and to jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks of better things than that of abel so all the way through through jesus christ we have a better promise better hope better covenant and and so he he points this out as we go through now he points out again jesus being a better priest than the levitical order the uh order of melchizedek being a superior order uh and for the reasons that we discussed earlier uh that inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest the the priests of the old testament were made priests just because of their being of the tribe of levi there was no oath taken by god that they should be praised they were just priests because they came in the genealogical order some of the priests were very bad some of the high priests were wicked men at the time that jesus came into the world the high priesthood was really corrupt they were uh of the sect of the sadducees they were humanists they were materialist they were corrupt and yet it was only because they were the descendants of levi and of aaron that they had the position of the high priest but not really declared by god to their office but they received it just as the result of birth from the tribe of levi and they were made without an oath these priests but this with an oath that is jesus by him that said unto him the lord swear and he will not repent you are a priest forever after the order of melchizedek and so much was jesus made of a better surety of the better testament so it made a surety of the better testament the covenant it was declared by god with an oath god hath sworn and they'll will not repent thou art a priest forever after the order of melchizedek now he points out in verse 23 that there were many priests because of death a man would serve as the office of the high priest until death and then a new one would be appointed to take his place they did not have a continuing ministry but jesus because he lives forever has an unchanging priesthood this is why he is able to save to the uttermost all who will come unto god by him because he ever lives to make intercession for them the uttermost meaning people of all nations no longer is salvation something exclusively for the jews but through jesus christ god has thrown the door open wide and invited all men to come in whosoever will let him come and drink of the water of life freely save to the uttermost means save from the most dire circumstances save to the uttermost means save from the deepest depths of sin and defilement saved to the uttermost means to be saved for all eternity it's ultimate the requirement all who will come unto god by him jesus said i am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the father but by me now there is something that you often hear people say all roads lead to god it all depends on which god all roads lead to some god but which god there's only one road that leads to the father the creator the eternal god creator of heaven and earth and that's jesus christ i am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the father but by me so religions will lead you to some god all roads will lead to some god but there's only one road that leads to the eternal god the creator of heaven and earth the god that is revealed to us in the bible and so we've got to come through jesus christ there is no other way jesus said that he was the door to the sheepfold and he that would seek to enter by any other way was a thief and a robber i am the door he said into the sheepfold and jesus ever lives to make intercession for us now this was a part of the ministry of the priest to make intercession before god for the people you remote remember how moses interceded for the nation of israel he was an intercessor abraham interceded for the city of sodom and so it was the duty of the priest to intercede for the people to go to god on behalf of the people we find moses in that great prayer of intercession when the people had so totally failed but jesus is interceding for us so paul said who is he that condemns it is christ who has died a year rather has risen again and is at the right hand of the father making intercession for us so our high priest we are told in verse 26 became us he is holy he is harmless he's undefiled he is separate from sinners and he's made higher than the heavens now this could not be said concerning the high priest of the levitical order many of them were not holy many of them abused their office took advantage of the people many of them were very defiled many of them were sinners terrible sinners but not jesus and so our high priest who represents us he's holy he's harmless he's undefiled he's separate from sinners and he's made higher than the heavens who needs not to daily offer sacrifices for his own sins as did the high priest now the high priest had to first of all offer sacrifices for himself before he could offer sacrifices for the people because he also sinned in leviticus 4 3 concerning the high priest and the offerings we read if the priest that is anointed sins according to the sin of the people then let him bring for his sin which he has sent a young bullock without blemish unto the lord for a sin offering and he shall bring the bullock upon the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the lord and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head and kill the bullock before the lord and the priest that is anointed shall take the bullock's blood and bring it into the tabernacle of the congregation and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the lord before the veil of the sanctuary now he had to make this offering for his own sin before he could offer for the people and then a little later on in leviticus 16 after aaron's two sons were killed when they offered strange fire the lord commanded aaron not to come just at any time into the holy of holies it wasn't an open door kind of policy the high priest could only enter into the holy holies on one day of the year the day of atonement yom kippur he wasn't to enter just at any time into the holy of holies but the first time he came in on the day of atonement he had to come in with an offering for his own sin leviticus 16 5 and he shall take of the congregation of the children of israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering and aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering which is for himself and make an atonement for himself and for his house and aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself and shall make an atonement for himself and for his house and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself and he shall take a censer full of the burning coals of fire from the altar before the lord and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small and bring it within the veil and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony that he die not and he shall take the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle the blood with his fingers seven times and then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring his blood within the veil and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat so you see that the high priest under the levitical order sinned just like everybody else and it was necessary that he offer an offering for his own sin not so our great high priest jesus christ because he was separate from sinners he was holy he was harmless he needed not daily as those high priests to offer up the sacrifice for his own sins and then for the peoples for this he did once when he offered up himself jesus did not have to daily or annually offer sacrifices his sacrifice of himself was once and for all not necessary that he offer a sacrifice for himself but one sacrifice and for all for the law makes men high priests which have weaknesses but the word of an oath the oath which was since the law makes the son who is consecrated forevermore melchizedek the high priest or the the the uh priest of the most high god is thought by some scholars to be what is called a theophany that is one of the manifestations of god in the old testament they believe that melchizedek was possibly jesus christ in the eighth chapter of john when jesus is disputing with the jews jesus said to them your father abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and he was glad then the jews said to him you are not 50 years old and have you seen abraham and jesus said unto them verily verily i say unto you before abraham was i am so the reference to abraham seeing his day many believe is a reference to melchizedek meeting abraham when he was returning from the battle of the five kings with the spoils the interesting thing he is called the king of peace he is called the king of righteousness there is no genealogy there is no descent there is no record of his parentage or of the descendants and the interesting thing when he appears to abraham what does he offer him bread and wine the elements of communion and so there are many who hold to the idea that melchizedek was actually one of the old testament appearances of jesus christ i think that there's a lot of merit and validity to that so the seventh chapter read it again and and these things will i think sort of clarify in your mind you know without the background sometimes we just read it and uh it it leaves sort of a fuzz in our brain uh but uh getting just a little background on it and and seeing the direction he's going he is showing to us that jesus is our great high priest you see the jews were bound in their religious system and they the worship and and all of the jewish religion was very moving very touching very graphic when you had sinned and you realized the guilt of your sin and that the bible declares that the wages of sin is death the soul that sinneth it shall surely die and you know that you have been sentenced to death for your sin for you to go out to your flock and take a lamb without spot and blemish or a goat or a bullock and you bring it into the priest and you lay your hands on the head of that bullock and you confess the sins that you've committed and the idea is by laying your hands on the bullock and the confession of your sin you are transferring the sin over to the bullock and when that was done the priest would slit its throat catch the blood in a cup and take it in and offer it before the lord the bullock dying in your place and you realize the consequences of your sin was death in the death of that innocent bullock who had taken your sins as you laid your hands on its head and confessed your sin transferring the guilt it dying for you the blood being offered to the lord so that your sin was covered kofar not taken away but covered but it was a very graphic illustration and it was deep rooted in the people you know it is important so important that we have a sense of forgiveness the relief from the guilt a guilty complex can make you neurotic a guilt complex can destroy you it can drive you crazy it's so important that we have that sense of forgiveness and thus god provided it under the law their sins would be covered but the problem was the man who was making the offering for you was also a sinner and before he could do anything for you he had to do something for himself he had to offer his own sacrifice for his own sin and that was a daily process because we sinned daily now i don't think they every day brought a you wouldn't have that many lambs you know but but you know they would sort of let them accumulate and then they would uh bring in an offering you know and and cover a period of time but it was moving it was uh deeply rooted tradition and so in embracing jesus christ and not taking now a bullock any longer for your sin offering or a lamb or whatever there there was that but you know what do i do about my guilt so he's pointing out look jesus is the sacrifice for your sins he's not like the high priest that you've been going to the descendant of aaron but he is a priest after a different order an eternal order the order of melchizedek now if the priesthood of the tribe of levi was perfect it wouldn't be necessary that god create his son a priest from a different order because he was from the tribe of judah now the tribe of judah was the kingly tribe when jacob was blessing his sons on his deathbed he said concerning judah the scepter shall not depart from judah scepter being the the rod of of reigning it will not depart from judah until the messiah comes and so jesus the king from the tribe of judah but also now our high priest but the jew would say how can that be he's from the tribe of judah the bible says nothing about priesthood in the tribe of judah so he goes back to this passage in psalm which said thou art a priest forever god has sworn and not will not repent thou art a priest forever after the order of melchizedek and so he is a different order he's not from the levi tribe but he is a different order he is a priest after the order of melchizedek so you have a high priest who has gone into heaven of which the earthly tabernacle and temple was only the model of the heavenly things as we'll be finding out in the subsequent chapters and jesus has entered in with the blood of his own sacrifice once and for all it's complete not like the aaronic priesthood which was a continuing year after year but once and for all he has put away our sins oh how much better is this new covenant better promises and it brings us a better hope how much better we have it in jesus christ father we thank you for the word and we thank you for jesus our great high priest who has entered into heaven for us who is able to save to the uttermost all who will come unto god by him seeing that he ever lives to make intercession for us oh we thank you jesus we come to you tonight and we thank you that the door is open because you are the door to the sheepful by which we have entered into fellowship in the family of god oh lord how blessed we are how rich how glorious are your ways thank you father in jesus name amen shall we stand the pastors are down here at the front if you need prayer if you need ministering they're here to serve you and to help you tonight so when we're dismissed feel free to come forward maybe you're going to be facing some heavy things this week and you'd just like some prayer they're here to pray for you maybe you're going through a particularly heavy trial they're here to pray for you they're here to minister unto you so feel free to come when we're dismissed what a wonderful savior is jesus my jesus what a wonderful savior is jesus my lord christ has for sin atonement made what a wonderful savior i am redeemed the price is paid what a wonderful savior what a wonderful savior is jesus my jesus what a wonder savior is jesus my lord god bless you

Channel: Pastor Chuck Smith

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Id: bU8BF199X9c

Length: 47min 24sec (2844 seconds)

Published: Fri May 07 2021