The Priesthood of Melchizedek - Zac Poonen - May 26, 2018

[Music] I've never seen a church where the offering box is more hidden than in this one I mean we've emphasized that a lot that we don't major on offerings we say the Old Covenant they asked you to give money or and it wasn't money really they asked you to bring your grain and your flock your 10% which was income tax God was the head of the government and the Levites were the government workers who had to be paid by the income tax 10% then everybody had to give and in the New Covenant God is not a head of government he's a father and no father collects income tax from his children that's why we don't preach the tight here children give joyfully according to how God has blessed them so I want to turn now to a verse in to compare the Old Covenant and the new will you please turn with me to Exodus and chapter 34 we need to understand what a tremendous blessing it is that we are not under the Old Covenant in when the Lord told Moses to make two tablets of stone Exodus 34 this was the old covenant written on tablets of stone and it says here the Lord descended in a cloud verse 5 Exodus 34 verse 5 and proclaimed the name of the Lord now here is the name of the Lord the Lord the Lord God compassionate gracious slow to anger abounding in loving kindness and truth who keeps loving-kindness for thousands who forgives iniquity is all exciting transgression and sin and now comes the serious part yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished visiting the iniquity of father's on the children on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation Moses bowed down and worshiped do we have to live like that those of us have made a mess of our life is our iniquity going to be visited on the third and fourth generation no there is no curse in the New Covenant now turn with me to Galatians in chapter 3 you know until we see the contrast of how it was for people in the Old Covenant we don't appreciate what we have in the New Covenant it's a lot of like a lot of people who live in a country where there's plenty if you go down to some of the poorest nations on the earth and go to the villages there then our children learn to appreciate what they have otherwise living in a land of abundance and plenty they never realized and I feel that we need to see how it was for people in the Old Covenant to appreciate what we have in Christ because I find a lot of Christians don't appreciate it enough in Galatians three it says verse 13 what we read there in Exodus 34 just now is part of the curse of the law you know the iniquity will be visited on your third generation and poor generation because you lived a life of sin and it says your Christ has redeemed us verse 13 from the curse of the law so don't believe all charismatic preachers who tell you about ancestral curse that's a lot of garbage they say maybe some ancestor 10th generation before my parents worship some idols and that comes down to me it's a lot of rubbish because I'll tell you who my ancestors are before I was born again I was in a tree called Adam he was my ancestor and all the way all the descendants from Adam all the way to me but one day when I was born again the Holy Spirit took me out of that tree and grafted me into another tree called Jesus Christ who are my ancestors here none of those that's why I say there is no ancestral curse it's a lot of rubbish proclaimed by preachers and some famous preachers I've preached it and therefore others who don't read the Bible just swallow what these famous preachers preach they don't have a verse of scripture for it they go back to Exodus 34 but what about Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law redeem means purchases out of the slave market that's the word redeemed means purchased out of the slave market we were in the slave market and you know how slave markets are people are held up there how much will you pay for this person and Jesus paid his blood not to Satan some people say Jesus redeemed us from the slave market of Satan and paid as Jesus didn't give his blood to say that no it was the law the law of God was the slave master saying this guy's a slave because he has sinned and Jesus paid that price to the law never forget that because I've heard some illustrations of Jesus paying a price to the devil to purchase me from him no he didn't he purchased me from the slave market of the law where I was a slave to sin it's very important for us to understand these things Jesus owed nothing to the devil and I owe nothing to the devil Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us that like like that worse I just wrote down which I read to you earlier that paraphrase of isaiah 53:8 did anyone really know what was happening he died without a thought for his own welfare that phrase has gripped me so much in recent times he died without a thought for his own welfare but he was beaten bloody for the sins of my people beautiful paraphrase and I see that's what it means to follow Jesus okay Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law but that's just the negative side and when he hung on the tree when he hung on the cross one of the things he did I mean he died for our sins our old man was crucified with him the devil was defeated all that is true and here is a fourth thing he became a curse a lot of people haven't understood that you know you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free you don't know the truth you will not be free he became a curse on the cross because the law said cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree that's why he had to die on two planks from a tree because that's how he became a curse for us and but it wasn't it didn't stop there it's not just that he took us out of the curse in order that the blessing so it's not just that he emptied out the curse from the vessel from me but filled up the vessel with the blessing of Abraham that can come to us who are not Jews that through the promise of the Holy Spirit so when the Holy Spirit comes and fills my vessel first the curse is gone because Christ redeemed me from it the blessing of Abraham comes to me and in a spiritual way the earthly blessing of Abraham came to the seed of Israel where they were given a land called the land of Canaan where they are today God kept his promise which he gave Abraham 4,000 years ago I'll give that land to you and they've got it today but that's not the thing I look for there's another blessing of Abraham spoken here and that is before he told him about a land and all that in Genesis chapter 12 when he first called Abraham before he left over the Kali's he told him in Genesis chapter 12 this is what the Lord had said to Abraham when he was in his home country go forth from your country and from your relatives this is when he was still staying in his country with his relatives in his father's house the Lord told him in order de caldas from your relatives from your father's house to the land which I will show you and I will make you a great nation and here is the blessing of Abraham I will bless you and you will be a blessing just that just two statements I will bless you and you will be a blessing so that's what the Holy Spirit has come to do it's Redemption from the curse and from the guilt of sin he's only cleaning out the cup I don't have to go around with an empty vessel thank God all the dirt and filth has been cleansed out by the blood of Jesus Christ but now as I'm filled with the Holy Spirit God blesses me 1 and that means he gives me the fruit of the Holy Spirit love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness and self-control Galatians 5:22 and 23 and then he makes me a blessing those are the gifts of the Holy Spirit through which he wants to me to be a blessing to other people do you know that God wants to make you and me a blessing to every person we encounter closely I don't mean every person you sit next to in a flight or in a bus or somewhere else but those who like I said that little world of people who come in touch with you God's will is that he will make your blessing now if God were to say to me go and make yourself a blessing I'll make a mess of it I cannot make myself a blessing to anybody but he says I will make you a blessing it's good to humble ourselves and say Lord you will bless me and you will make me a blessing to others it's good for all of us this is what it means you shall be my witnesses and where will you be my witnesses first in your home Jerusalem is your home if you're not a witness in your home brother don't try going to the uttermost parts of the earth it's a waste of time in your home I mean would you give an electronic gadget that doesn't function in your home as a gift to somebody sorry this fast forward doesn't work but here is you would never do it why do you give the gospel to someone else if it hasn't worked in your own home first it's a sin to give others a gift which did not work in your own home an electronic gadget which is not working you want to give it as a gift a gospel which didn't work in your own home how can you give it as a gift to others that's why it's so important that Jesus said you shall be witnesses in Jerusalem first then it's in concentric circles and then Judea and then Samaria then you can reach the uttermost parts of the earth I remember that's how God began to deal with me and also when when we started a church in Bangalore first there we used to pray Lord if there's anybody in this locality around my house where we were meeting who's seeking for a godly life bring him in touch with us we want to be a blessing to them and then the state and then the rest of India and then the rest of the world that's how we did it in the last forty three years so that is God's will for every one of us that will be a blessing I mean God determines in to what extent he makes that but he wants to do that for every single one of us and you must believe it you know if you say oh well I'm so useless and keep looking inward then you'll just get discouraged see a Laura I may be the most useless person on earth so what there's nothing impossible with God you can bless me and you can make me a blessing and it will not be from my honor it'll be for your glory it will not be something that I'm gonna post that I was used to bless her and so no we don't be occupied with that we wanted to me being a blessing to others is an expression of my gratitude to the Lord for what he's done for me I I don't want to take any credit for it I don't want any reward for it our entire life must be an expression of gratitude for what the Lord went to the cross without a thought for his own welfare beaten bloody for my sins now Lord how shall I respond to you do what you like in me make me a blessing to others when contrasting the Old Testament and the New Testament we were looking at Hebrews chapter 8 I want you to look at the chapter that comes before that some of these things are you know if we go a little deep into scripture we discover things that we won't discover otherwise just a verse I'm sorry before you go to Hebrews 7 in Proverbs and chapter 25 something's got to do with something just the way to study the Bible do you know there are many things hidden in Scripture that things superficially it's like on the surface of the earth you have some very good things like apples and oranges and many many good things that you can eat but gold and diamonds they're not on the surface you've got to dig thousand feet ten thousand feet into the ground to get gold and diamonds apples and oranges and they are on the surface you don't have to dig deep for that they're good but golden diamonds are more valuable now keep that in mind when you read proverbs 25 verse 2 it's the glory of God to conceal a matter there are things on the surface of the Bible that you can read and you don't even have to be a believer to understand it like I said jesus healed the sick and the story of Jesus an unbeliever can write the store Jesus but there are things hidden you know I told you the Holy Spirit will take the inner life of Jesus and show it to you but the glory of God is to conceal a matter in God's glory is that in Scripture he has concealed certain things but now he has made us kings and priests in Christ and is the glory of a king to search out what God is concealed do you know that's your glory we're kings in Christ he has made us kings and priests and part of our glory is to dig deep and not be satisfied with the good things which are on the surface but to dig deep people don't become rich collecting apples and oranges they dig deep and get gold in diamonds that's how they become wealthy apply that spiritually you can get a lot from scripture a lot of knowledge reading what is in the Bible on the surface that's okay for children but when you're mature we dig deep so we mustn't remain like children when it comes to the knowledge of the word of God the things that are concealed God wants us to discover let me show you that verse about children and adults in 1 Corinthians and chapter 14 1 Corinthians 14 verse 20 brethren don't be children in your thinking in evil be like a little infant baby but in thinking be a mature adult we have to simultaneously in our hearts be like little babies which will not affected or will not take revenge in evil that means in any plan to do adults take revenge that's taking evil if you go and hurt a little two month old baby lying in the cradle it may cry but tomorrow when it sees you smile at you it doesn't remember this is the one that pinched me and hurt me yesterday only adults remember that not infants in evil be like infants they don't remember all the evil that you did to them yesterday that other one month old lying in the cradle but in thinking in your understanding of God's word we must be mature there we must not be like children because if you are like children the Bible says in Ephesians in chapter 4 Ephesians 4 verse 14 we must not be like children visions 4:14 tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men by craftiness and deceitful scheming you know this is happening in Christendom today tossed about by winds of doctrine particularly there's a lot of that in charismatic Christianity there are some wonderful people among the charismatic some I love and respect and fellowship with godly people but there's a lot of false teaching there as well hmm for example you lay hands on somebody and he falls down and people get taken up with that there are preachers in India who see somebody in the West do that and they want to do that that becomes the fashionable thing for a period and some other time somebody lays hand on a person and he begins to laugh uncontrollably and starts rolling on the ground so that's the manifestation knowledge then they start imitating that in other countries tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and there's so many of these things nowadays going on those are children pushed here and there but we must not be like that if you want to avoid being like that remember what we read in Hebrews 2 our God is pride is something better for us jesus is our example so whenever I see someone saying this is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit it's very easy for me to find out whether it's right or not I don't need to know the Scriptures no I just need to ask myself can I imagine Jesus doing that Jesus was the perfect spirit-filled person there was nobody more spirit-filled than him and I can't imagine my wildest imagination I can't imagine Jesus lying on the floor and kicking his legs and laughing uncontrollably and that's so ridiculous that reminds me of demon-possessed people I've seen demon-possessed people lying on the ground and kicking around and when the demon is cast out they stand up and they're normal hmm and I don't know whether you know in Eastern culture if you show the bottom of your feet to somebody that's an insult you never show the bottom of your feet to someone you respect in Eastern culture you always bow down and many other even bow and touch the feet of their parents and so when I see these people lying on these so-called platforms of healing preachers showing their feet to God I think the devil has a big love God look at these people insulting you by showing you their feet they're not bombing down before you like job and Abraham and the apostle did they are showing you their feet the insult of it the very opposite of what the Apostles did and do you know the millions of people who believe this is an operation with the Holy Spirit that's the amount of blindness going on in Christendom today and I'll tell you hardly anybody speaks about it because they don't know the genuine thing the genuine thing as I said yesterday is to be a true worshipper when you're a worshipper you understand what God is really interested in us so we're not to be like children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine so let's turn to Hebrews 7 Hebrews is a great book contrasting the Old Covenant and the New Covenant and in Hebrews 7 he speaks about two priesthoods now when you read something like this Hebrews 7 and verse 11 if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood we are talking about perfection in the New Covenant we press on to perfection which they could not have in the Old Covenant and if that perfection was through the Levitical priesthood there was no need for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek and Jesus is called here a priest in chapter 6 in verse 20 Jesus are forerunner has entered into the most holy place within the veil a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek Hebrews 6 29 28 like that you know you either collect the apples and oranges on the surface or you dig deep and find out get the gold and the Diamonds here and so you read something like monkeys that I can see all wild monkeys there okay there was somebody like that I don't know where there's someone in the Old Covenant let's move on to chapter 7 and you miss something is the glory of Kings to search out a matter do you know how much you've missed in Scripture and as a result in your own life by not digging in going deep I'll tell you honestly when I read the scriptures and now in my younger days I wanted to know the whole of the scripture so I used to read a chapter a day because I hadn't read the Bible at all and I was converted at the age of 19 the chapter a day and I would go consistently and cover the whole Bible and I would read the New Testament frequently because I wanted to get a overall view of the Bible but now and since I've known the scriptures quite a bit sometimes when I'm meditating I stop at a verse and I begin to dig deep I say Lord I've already collected the apples and oranges here and I want to dig deep and get some diamonds and gold from this verse and dig deep and stop it's almost like a traffic light red light in front of me and I can't move from that verse and the Lord says don't stop here and I meditate on that and when I finished my Bible reading for the day in the next morning when I get up again it's the same verse the Lord says that the red light is still there there's something more I have to get from that this is how I've studied the scriptures and I've discovered amazing truths that have changed my life not just head knowledge to preach to others I don't I don't study the Bible to preach sermons I want to experience it in my life it's much easier to speak from your life than to speak from things you because you need a good memory to speak from memory but we are speaking from your life it's easy so God's will is that God's Word will enter into your life and then when you speak God's Word you're just giving a testimony many people say I can't preach okay fine can you tell me something about your life your experiences in life if I have your physical experiences that'd be very easy for you you don't even need any preparation for it you can tell me where you were born and where you lived and which school you went to and what job you took and so many things you can keep on going for 15-20 minutes it'll be like that if you allow God's Word enter into your life and you speak from your life that is how God wants every one of us to speak God's Word whether it's five minutes or one hour from our life so Melchizedek so I must say that for many many years I just got the surface blessing and went on but as time went on I said I want to find out what this business of the priesthood of Melchisedec so I went back to the Old Testament and I want to share something with about that from you because this has got to do with the New Covenant the Old Covenant was the priesthood of Levi and the New Covenant is the priesthood of Melchisedec and don't get scared with these big words it's going to be very simple by the time you finish this session you'll understand I understand it in a way probably some of you never understood it before God's Word is essentially simple it's not complicated it's men who have made it complicated I used to tell my children when they went to school if you have got a good mathematics teacher math teacher he'll make math simple for you if there's some problem which the teacher makes it in a very complicated way to you probably indicates that he or she herself doesn't know how to do that a good teacher will make complicated things simple a bad teacher will make simple things complicated whether it's math or the Bible so when you hear some complicated preaching with big sounding words theological words you know the guy himself probably doesn't have much experience of it in his life he studied it and he's just saying it the Bible is essentially simple I believe that because these first disciples of Jesus they were not scholars what was Peter which Bible is called oligo - it was a fisherman and I've gone to the coast of India and seen fishermen poor unlearn it uneducated they probably didn't even finish school Peter was like that and today people are studying theological getting theological degree studying the letters of Peter and what Peter himself wouldn't have got a theological degree from his own letter Christianity has gone in the wrong direction it's meant for your heart not your head John John was another fisherman these are the people God used to write and Paul is of course used by God - but I'm saying that's not the only I'm not saying that intelligent people are not used but they were not all intelligent clever people who the Scriptures so he go back to the Old Testament in Genesis chapter 14 you read about Melchizedek and it's a very interesting story because when is related to the New Covenant I want to know all about it and I hope you want to also see this is the story of Abraham who was living with lot and a lot got a bit covetous and decided to separate from Abraham and Abraham the gracious man that he was he didn't tell Lord listen I was the one God chose so I'm gonna choose the best of the land you can take what's left he didn't say that in Genesis 13 he said in Genesis 13 8 Abraham said to Lord let there be no strife between you and me because verse 8 we are brothers Abraham was no brother he was an uncle he could have told Lord hey listen you're my nephew your junior man and God never even called you here I was the one God called you just tagged along so I'm gonna take the land and you can take what's left he didn't say that what a man Abraham was he says the whole land is before you please take what you want if you go to the left I'll go to the right verse 9 by God if you go to the right I'll go to the left and Lord lifted up his eyes and saw the whole land of Sodom rich and grabbed him there's a beautiful verse here Lord verse 11 lot chose for himself God chose for Abraham which do you want Lord chose for himself and he read later on that God chose for Abraham because as soon as Lord separated verse 14 the Lord said to Abraham okay Bram I saw what you did I saw the gracious way you behaved towards a nephew just stand on this mountain and look to the north and the south and the east and the west I'm gonna give you all of it and to your descendants go to that land today four thousand years after God said that and see who's living there see whether descendants of lot are and see what the descendants of Abraham are God keeps his word but that's 2,000 years or 4,000 years he keeps his word it was only an earthly blessing I'm not saying about any spiritual blessing God never promised heaven to Abraham's children never he keeps his word his promise was entirely related to this earth and a lot of Abraham's children have gone to hell because God never promised them heaven is the brothers of Jesus Christ who are in heaven but the promise he gave to Abraham about the earthly blessing he's kept it that's just by the way and so that's why I say Lord chose for himself but God chose for Abraham and let God choose for you always even in earthly things don't ever get into conflict in family disputes over the division of dad's property or we'll let God choose for you don't fight for it I'm telling you from my own experience and what I preach what I've practiced I will not fight for anything earthly I will not fight with flesh and blood I remember years ago the Lord telling me from Ephesians 6 and verse 12 we do not fight with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers with the evil forces of wickedness in the 2nd heavens and the Lord said to me if you want to fight those principalities and powers in your life and in your ministry make a decision today that you'll never fight with human beings flesh and blood means human beings never fight with your wife again never concerning anything never fight with your neighbors never even fight with other believers about earthly things I will not fight with flesh and blood sometimes I have somebody from another church come to see me in my home to discuss some doctrine which he doesn't agree with me on and I say sure I'd be glad to explain it to you from Scripture but when I find after a little bit of discussion that he's getting a little hot under the collar and getting angry and I see that he wants to win an argument more than understand the truth I stop I say listen let's talk about something you and I are agreed on let's talk about cricket yeah we are both we are both Indians we love cricket and we want the Indian team to win right we're on the same page there I said let's leave this verse aside because this is going to the wrong direction I refuse to fight even there let him imagine that I have no further argument that he's won the argument and he he proved that he's right he can believe what he likes I refuse to fight because I want to fight with principalities and powers it's made a tremendous difference in my life to tell you honestly I don't know whether you will take it like this I want the devil to be scared of me for years I was scared of the devil I'll tell you that but I said Lord it's not got to be like that because of one verse I read many years ago in 1 John 4:17 which says as Jesus is so are we in this world and I said Lord I want that as Jesus is so am I in this world Wow the devil was scared of Jesus wherever he went I can imagine when Jesus came to place all the demons saying hey he's coming here be careful I said Lord I want the demons to say that about me when I go somewhere because of that verse not because of Who I am because as Jesus is 1 John 4 so am I in the world so I want to be so let God choose for you don't choose for yourself but that's the history of this and what happened finally was the king of Sodom and all that place was was over over part by some enemies came and defeated them and lot was taken captive and they it's Genesis 14 12 this is the background Abraham's nephew in his possession that they were all taken captive and Abraham heard about it verse 13 hey your nephew and family are all taken captive and he did not say the guy deserves it no he didn't say that he was such a gracious man you know it says here that so many kings in the first two verses went and fought against the king of sodium and overpowered him what chance did Abraham Abraham was not a general or something he didn't have an army but he was so concerned to rescue his nephew if his nephew was not there he wouldn't have gone after that after those kings but because his nephew was there this fellow who cheated him who took advantage of him he goes after him and Abraham heard verse 14 that is relative had been taken captive he led out his trained men he went with an army of 318 people verse 14 can you imagine going fighting against three or four kings mentioned with young maiden being he had faith that God would help him he's I don't want to overpower them I just want to rescue Rock a lot and bring him back and it says here he fought against these people and defeated them verse fifteen and he brought back all the goods along with his relative verse 16 and his possessions and also the women and the people that's amazing God must have supernaturally helped him something like the way God helped David to kill Goliath this is something similar to that I can't imagine otherwise how he with his few servants could have over part four kings and their armies and you know in those days if you defeated the enemy all the goods of the enemy was yours that was the loot you got from the war was your property that was your reward for winning the battle and that's why later on you read in Genesis 14 the king of Sodom verse 21 was so grateful to Abraham for rescuing him and bringing back all his goods that must Sodom was a rich place and what a lot of goods Abraham brought back he could have been the wealthiest person in that area so the king of Sodom knew the rule he who wins the battle the goods are his so the king of Sodom said to Abraham words to anyone take all the goods for yourself because you the battle just let me take my people back to Sodom and listen what Abraham says I have sworn to the Lord God Most High possessor on earth I will not even take a tread or a sandal tongue because one day you'll say you made Abraham rich and I don't want you to get the credit for that my God will make me rich I don't want any man to get any credit that because of what you did I got blessed no thank you keep it take everything only what these young men of mine have eaten and the share of the men who've met with me I'm not here to deprive these 318 of their share let them take what they want but I'm a man of God I will not touch even a shoelace of yours dear brothers and sisters there's something you can learn from Abraham and we call the father of faith his attitude towards material things okay now we come to Melchizedek so when Abraham came after verse 17 here's where I gave you this background so you can understand what I'm now going to show you he came after defeating these kings and the king of Sodom went to meet him then verse 18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine and it means he brought food that's what basically what it means now he was a priest of God Most High he wasn't a heathen priest I don't know how it was but you know there are a few people you read off in the Bible who had no connection with Abraham like Joe job for example at no connection with Abraham he lived about probably around the same time but somewhere else or probably even a hundred years before Abraham and Joe was a man who knew God in fact God said about him that there's nobody like him in the whole world and obviously that must have mean before Abraham's time because if Abraham was living then God would not have said there's nobody like job in the whole earth world Abraham would have been there but this is before Abraham years before Abraham was living there was this man called Jove in fact Jove is the first book of the Bible that was written because Moses wrote Genesis and Moses lived 500 years after job so job is really the first book of the Bible so if you want to know what God wanted to write for man in his first book go to the book of Job not the book of Genesis it says if where God saying creation of the earth and all that that can wait another 500 years but let me first write about a man a man of God who feared me who turned away from evil he didn't matter if he had a difficult wife jobs wife was really difficult and a man of God will be attacked by Satan and who overcomes a man of God will be UNMISS understood by three or four of the famous preachers of his time it doesn't make a difference that's what the book of Job is all about but a man who fears me and turns away from evil and a man who had ten children and brought up all those children to fear God who prayed for them read the book of Job and see what was in the heart of God when he wrote the first book of the Bible for man that's how I read the book of Job I said Lord this is the first book you wrote and I see in the first two chapters what your heart is what you wanted man to know the type of man you wanted okay so here we read about Melchizedek like that he must have been another man like job somewhere in Abraham's time he was a priest of the Most High God and he was a king now this is unique because in the history of Israel nobody could be a king and a priest he were either a king or a priest we read of a king called Isaiah who did a wonderful job as a king god blessed him so much and he ruled Israel wonderfully but he got so proud you read about that I think in second chronicles 26 but he became so proud of his being a king that he decided to be a priest one day and immediately God struck him down with leprosy saying you have no right to go outside the boundary I drew around you you're to be a king you're not to be a priest because the first King priest in Israel will be Jesus Christ nobody else that was reserved and that's why the kings and priests were put separate lines in Israel but here was a man who had no connection with Abraham who was a king and a priest and in that sense he was a picture of Christ and that's why you read about him in Hebrews chapter 7 a picture of Christ and also in Psalm 110 David writes a psalm and Melchizedek never knew that David's gonna write a psalm about him a thousand years later and the writer of Hebrews is gonna write about him 2,000 years later he lived 2,000 years before Christ now what I want you to see here is Melchizedek came out with food for all these 320 people Abraham's team and he spoke two sentences to Abraham only two sentences blessed be Abraham god of God Most High verse 19 possessor of heaven and earth and blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hand and Abraham gave him a tenth of all that was not tithe by the way Abraham did not give his money from the loot that he got he paid for the food that Melchizedek bought for three hundred and twenty people if someone brings food for three hundred and twenty people of your family and friends Abraham as the type of man would say well I got to pay him he was only paying him for what he did and it was from the loot that he had collected okay now what I want you to see here is the ministry of Melchizedek the ministry of the Levitical priests we know is all covenant we don't want to concentrate on that what was the ministry of Melchizedek Jesus Christ is the high priest after the order of Melchizedek and we are the junior priests according to the order of Melchizedek even if you didn't know that you know it today what does it mean the first thing I see here I just want to point out a few points here the first thing is here was a man who was in touch with God and one day he heard God say I want you to make a whole lot of food for three four hundred people and go out in this direction I want you to meet a servant of mine who was there he doesn't know what is he doesn't know who he is he doesn't know anything about Abraham but he heard God otherwise how in the world did he land up there these are the things you discover when you dig into scripture and he goes there with this food he doesn't know he's going out into the desert where uninhabited areas and then he finds this man with 318 servants of his and God says to melki today this is the man give him the food so that's the first thing I see in the priesthood of Melchisedec I must be in touch with God if he is to make me a blessing to others you remember we started with the blessing of Abraham through the Holy Spirit which is to bless you in your personal life with love joy peace longsuffering and goodness the character of Christ and then to make you a blessing to others God made Melchizedek a blessing to others because he listened to him Lord what do you want me to do today I want you to make food and take it to these people and a whole lot of food and the other thing is God told him I want you to tell him not a big sermon just tell him these two sentences the first sentence was blessed be Abraham God possessor of heaven and earth okay why did God tell Melchizedek to say that to Abraham because Abraham had all this loot that he got from winning this battle huge amount much more than he had he was already a rich man but here was much more than he had ever seen in his life and he could have been tempted like all human beings are tempted when when you have worked for some things see those days loot from battle is something like you working hard in a company and getting a bonus if you worked hard in a company and it did well and you got a few million dollars as bonus would you take it or not nothing wrong in taking it you deserve it you work for their company and they did well so Abraham went and fought this battle and they won the battle the loot is yours and Melchizedek came and gently reminded him Abraham don't get taken up at all the wealth your God is the possessor of heaven and earth and suddenly Abraham's vision was lifted up from all that petty little loot which is just like a few cents compared to the riches of heaven and earth that's what Melchizedek did and this is our calling to lift people's thoughts away from earthly loot that they have accumulated to the riches of heaven and earth your God is the possessor of heaven and earth look to him and not to the king of Sodom to make you rich that's why later on when the king of Sodom said take your goods Abraham said no how did he get that courage to say no I won't take it the ministry of Melchizedek prepared him for it that's our calling to prepare people to free them from the things of earth so that they can look up to heaven that's the first thing just one sentence it wasn't a great sermon you know sometimes we think we've got to preach great sermons to change people's minds one sentence liberated Abraham from covetousness the next thing the worst twenty another sentence God told Mielke is a dead god he was a listener monkey snake was a listener God told monkeys they go to Abraham and tell him blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hand so the second thing is Abram remember you didn't win this battle it was not you and your 318 servants there have been thrashed left right and center by those swords Kings God Almighty delivered these enemies into your hands so don't get puffed up that is the second danger Abraham was facing there the first was covetousness the second was pride wow what a victory I won here you find that sometimes when you've accomplished something for the Lord somewhere and you begin to get puffed up that's where the ministry of Melchizedek comes in it is God who gave you the enemies into your hand and a wonderful thing I see here about ministry is this there are two ways Abraham I mean Mulkey's that could have said that to Abraham one is hey Abraham don't keep looking at all this money this is not important turn your eyes away from that that's not the way I did in fact he didn't even give him an exhortation it's wonderful when we can preach God's Word in a way that you're not even exhorting people you're just turning their eyes away to the things of heaven and they automatically get an exhortation what did Melchizedek say Abram what a wonderful God he is whose possessor of heaven and earth that was enough is there any exhortation there no not one word of turn your eyes away from this so you shouldn't be interested in money how great God is and Abram got convicted even the second sentence was like this not Abraham remember it was God who gave you this these victory No there was no excitation there praise the Lord who gave you your enemies into his hand I tell you I've learned a lot about that about preaching from Melchizedek not this direct approach you know sometimes we do that and sometimes preachers they see somebody's sitting there whom they don't like and they preach to him or somebody else you want to give a message to that fellow when you preach to him that Melchizedek's ministry was not like that he was always lifting up God and thereby drawing people away from those earthly things this is the finest and the best form of ministry it's not the only form of ministry but I believe it's a very important thing where where your ministry is not telling people don't do this and don't do that and don't do the other thing there is a place for that Jesus himself said that we must not lust after women and all that so that there is a place for that but what I'm saying is our calling is primarily to lift up Jesus I remember reading a poem years ago of a preacher being like a person who shines a torch on a picture of Jesus that the hang that held the torch was not even seen because people saw the picture or person blowing a trumpet and nobody knew where the trumpet was coming from they didn't know the trumpet ear but they heard the sound of the trumpet and prepared for war that's the best way to preach where you disappear and people attention is drawn to the Lord that's what Melchizedek did so when we think of the priesthood of Melchizedek it is pointing away from himself to God that's what Jesus did also you remember he told his disciples if you have seen me you've seen the father and he says in John chapter 1 and verse 18 that Jesus has explained the father so Jesus life on Earth was pointing away from himself to the Father so you want to you know what you know what God is like that's what I that's what I'm like and that's you see that particularly in the Ministry of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit is called a helper and the Holy Spirit jesus said he never speaks about himself he says he will show you things concerning me the Holy Spirit points to Jesus and so if you are filled with the holy spirit you won't be talking about the Holy Spirit you'll be talking about Jesus because the Holy Spirit points to Jesus so how will we talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit you'll point to Jesus as the perfect example of the spirit filled person you need to be anointed like Jesus was when he was baptized and there is an example of a perfect spiritual the Holy Spirit shows us Jesus all the time so that's what I see here in the priesthood of Melchisedec not giving direct exhortation so much as God possesses heaven and earth praise the Lord God is able to deliver all enemies into your hand praise the Lord and he goes away so what did he Melchizedek do he brought all that physical provision see I believe that's also important God's not only interested in our spiritual need he's interested in our physical need also Jesus taught his disciples to give to the poor Paul and Peter were burdened to help the poor Saints and true Christianity is always interested in helping the poor of course we had to be very wise in this particularly in a country like India where when they hear that this is a very generous Church a lot of poor people come in who want money and the great danger of that is that you won't build disciples you'll build a lot of people who are just trying to live off you so we made a rule in our church but we never help any poor person in our church until he's been with us for at least two years and proved that he came to be a disciple and not to feed off the generosity of brothers in the church and that's protected us from the wrong people coming and joining us because then it won't be a church it'll be a just a social service Center and we don't want to build social service centers there are a lot of other people doing that we're building the Church of Jesus Christ or people are devoted to Christ who come to us because they want to be disciples so but that as part of the ministry of Melchisedec to provide for the physical need of people and that is a blessing I mean when we go down to the villages in India where we plant churches my wife who's the doctors ministers to hundreds of women and children there with a free medical clinic that's part of our ministry we have to care for the poor so caring for people's physical need is also part and that's what Melchizedek did and the wonderful thing is he just comes does it and then disappears you never hear about Melchizedek again in the rest of the Bible he never appears again he's there for a few verses in Genesis 14 18 19 23 verses that's it never again in the Bible that's another part of the ministry of Melchizedek to minister to people and disappear disappear in the sense that you don't want them to be attached to you you've done your job and they wanna they must be drawn to Christ if you want to be a servant of the Lord dear brothers sister make this your ministry the Ministry of Melchizedek to bless people and disappear to bless them and disappear and he took care of their material needs you know Jesus taught us in the prayer give us this day our daily bread perfectly right prayer to pray and if you see the order it comes even before forgive us our sins so there's nothing wrong in asking for material things from God but it's not give me but give us so it's not just my material need but Lord there are others around me in the church who need as well give us this day our daily bread me and my brothers and sisters so that's what the priesthood of Melchisedec is seeing the need not because I know about it prompted by God and seeing the need and providing it and then disappearing I don't want any credit or honor I don't my name to be written there a lot of people when they donate something they write on it I remember I was in a church somewhere on the fan donated by so-and-so it went round and round and round so everybody could see donated by so-and-so donated by turns over years and that's ridiculous that's not the priesthood of Melchisedec you you do something and you don't even want your name to be attached to it unknown unseen unheard and also in preaching to bless people and disappear that's what I see the priesthood of Melchizedek wonderful and I see that also in Jesus how he would heal a sick person and tell him don't tell anybody that I hated you again and again and again and again and that is why I said today's healing evangelists are not at all like Jesus Christ they don't even heal a person properly and they make him stand in front of the microphone on the platform and say now tell people what you did what happened to you man he says well I couldn't walk properly now I can walk a little better that's not the type of healing Jesus did and they want to advertise that Jesus would say no don't tell anyone because this is not what I came for I didn't come here to heal the sick I come here to save people from sin so I see that this is the Ministry of melchizedek when you do something and you disappear you don't want him Jesus would go away after healing people it's amazing and I tell you it's very rare very rare to find a preacher or a healer or any type of evangelist today who is in the order of melchizedek who does not want to be known who does not want to promote himself who does the job and doesn't hang around to get the appreciation of everyone he doesn't want to publicize himself no if you want the New Covenant ministry make Melchizedek your example meditate on it there's diamonds and gold here diamond and gold here if you dig into this passage and you can get more out of it than from what I've showed you but remember this is brought up in the New Testament to show this is different from the Old Covenant priesthood it's a wonderful ministry New Covenant ministry the blessing of Abraham I will bless you and you will be a blessing one last verse many of us have made a mess of our life we have not done ministry like mint the priesthood of Melchizedek so far and we are probably discouraged the Word of God challenges us and encourages us so every ministry of ours must be challenged and encouragement true prophecy is exhorting and consoling encouraging so here is a verse we flows through the Zechariah chapter 8 Zechariah chapter 8 a lot of prophecies in Zechariah refer to the New Covenant particularly the latter chapters and even chapter 2 chapter 4 the Zechariah chapter 8 verse 13 the Lord says and take it as a promise for yourself it will come about the justice in the past you are a curse among the people I will so save you that you will become a blessing you will become a blessing you are not in the past not only you are not a blessing but you are a bit of a nuisance and a problem to people in the past don't get discouraged turn to me you cannot make yourself a blessing but I will make you a blessing so don't be afraid verse 13 let your hands be strong be encouraged all of you anybody discouraged here because the past failure take that word to your heart I took it to my heart long ago I wasn't the perfect Christian from the day I was converted I made a lot of mistakes lots and lots of them if I tell you all of them you'll get encouraged but I'm not going to tell you because they've all blotted out in the blood of Jesus Christ and I don't want to think about them I'll tell you this I made a lot of blunders and you don't have to sin to do foolish things a lot of foolish things in our ministry but God says I will make your blessing it doesn't matter don't think about those things yes you are a curse in the past I'll make you a blessing take that to yourself and say Lord I want that in my life from today I want the blessing of Abraham the fullness of the Holy Spirit bless me first and make me a blessing to all whom I meet in some way smaller big the priesthood of Melchizedek let's pray Heavenly Father we pray that these things will never remain just a theory but will become real in our daily lives so that is your will for us we pray in Jesus name [Music]

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 4,303

Rating: 4.7183099 out of 5

Keywords: priesthood, melchizedek, distinctives, new, covenant, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, family, conference, 2018, river, life, christian, fellowship

Id: qBzAByWRJGg

Length: 61min 0sec (3660 seconds)

Published: Wed May 30 2018