Midweek Bible Study | Hebrews 6:7-7 | Gary Hamrick

we're in Hebrews chapter 6 friends so if you'll take your Bibles and go to Hebrews we are in chapter 6 and a few weeks ago before the Christmas holidays we left off right at verse 7 of Hebrews chapter 6 so that's where we're going to start and if you need a Bible tonight we want you to be able to follow along with us so if you don't have the Bible on your phone or your electronic device raise your hand and we'll give you a paper kind a good old-fashioned paper Bible we killed a few trees for these so please pick one up and raise the hand if you need one and they'll get one in your hands Hebrews chapter 6 is where we are let's first have a word of Prayer thank you Lord for loving us and for meeting us here tonight and we just want you to be glorified in all things and trust that you've been praised through our worship and trust now that you will also be praised through the time as we study your word together and as we more than just study it as we do what it says as we put these things into practice we know that you are glorified Lord so be with us and help us to understand what we're about to read we thank you for the wisdom of your Holy Spirit and for your grace in our lives in Jesus name we pray and everybody said amen all right since we've been off a few weeks let me give a running start to our Bible study here tonight at the end of chapter 5 the writer of Hebrews challenges the Jewish believers that he's writing to thus the name of the book Hebrews that they should be mature and they should go on to maturity and even kind of rebukes them at the end of chapter 5 and he says by now some of you should be teaching some of these things but instead you're still spiritually immature so I have to at the bottle feed you milk instead of giving you solid food and so he's challenging them you need to grow up in your faith you need to go on to maturity and then into chapter six the first three verses he actually mentions leaving some of the elementary teachings that they should already be familiar with and again he says in verse one to go on to maturity and and so verses one through three is this in Chapter six here is this challenge to leave the elementary teachings about Christ go on to maturity not laying again the foundation of repentance from accidentally to death and a faith in God instructions about baptisms the laying on of hands the resurrection of the Dead and eternal judgment and God permitting we will do so so he says you know grow up in your faith go on to maturity leave some of these elementary things and and continue to to grow in your faith and then between verses four five and six which is where we were last time he warns about the potential of falling away and I'll read again just to get the context because it leads into where we are tonight into verse 7 so verses 4 through 6 he says it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift who have shared in the Holy Spirit who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age if they fall away to be brought back to repentance because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace so last time we were together I broke down those verses we spent an entire service talking about just those verses I'm not going to go over that again only only insofar as to say that he mentions here the potential to fall away that's the word that he uses there in verse 6 it's a it's you know two words in the English fall away it's one word in the original Greek languages para peep-toe para peep-toe is from two greek words para meaning away and peep-toe meaning to fall so it literally means to fall away and there's a difference between please note there's a difference between falling and falling away we all from time to time will stumble we will fall we will disappoint God we will sin that's very different from falling away it's the difference between Peter and Judas you know Peter fell you know he denied knowing Christ and he was ashamed of the Association for for his own sake he want to save his own skin so he didn't want to be you know guilty by association they're crucifying Jesus so he's like denying even know I don't even know this Jesus guy so he's he's lying and so he so in that he falls okay but he also gets restored why because he repents verses Judas who fell away it wasn't just a I denied Christ he betrayed Christ and and rejected him so the difference between falling which we all will unfortunately experience from time to time and falling away is the difference between repentance and rejection when we repent we can be restored when you reject and you fall away and you deny Christ and reject him in the sense of having no no relationship with them whatsoever which is the case with Judas then there's no sacrifices of sins left for you I mean you can't be saved any other way except through Jesus so all of that to say that he leads now into verse seven which is where we left off last time to give an illustration warning about the consequences of falling away and so in verse seven the writer of Hebrews says land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God but land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed in the end it will be burned now that's just simply an illustration kind of a farming illustration to that with you know rain and land and and fruitfulness verses thistles and thorns to basically communicate the idea that when God showers down his grace if you receive it and respond to it you'll produce a fruitful life if you reject it it'll be like a life where like the land produces thorns and bristles and and thistles and thus at the end you'll be judged for it that's that statement about well in the end it'll be burned you know land that just has a bunch of thorns and thistles is worthless and it's going to be burned so he's just using this metaphor language here about land that drinks in the rain you know hopefully we are people who drink in the grace of God and we respond you know to God's love in our lives and to His grace in our lives and we and we follow Jesus and we love Jesus and we live a life that honors Jesus and thus will be blessed for it because that's the analogy there the land that drinks in the rain it produces fruitfulness will be blessed it it's it receives the blessing of God but verse eight but the land but the land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger being cursed in the end it will be burned so it's the difference between receiving and welcoming God's grace in our lives and responding to that and producing a life that is fruitful in honor of God versus a life that just rejects it and and therefore will face judgment and he says in verse nine even though we speak like this dear friends we are confident of better things in your case things that accompany salvation he says God is not unjust he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them notice the writer of Hebrews transitions here from kind of this very strong exhortation about not falling away and then he illustrates the serious consequences of it too now just kind of breathing some encouragement and and he's not he's wanting them to be encouraged here he says listen you know God God is not unjust and so don't worry and he says God's not going to forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them and he says there in verse 11 he says we want each of you to show the same diligence to the very end they keep persevering in order to make your hope sure we do not want you to become lazy but to imitate those who through faith and patience circle those two words faith and patience inherit what has been promised now in the next section here of chapter six he's going to he's going to give an example and a great example of someone who operated in faith in patience and he's going to draw on the example of Abraham you know you talk about a guy who really demonstrated faith and patience but again you know he made some mistakes in there too but he was he still persevered trusted God was a man of faith and patience so he's going to use Abraham as a good example here so next verse verse verse 13 he says when God made his promise to Abraham since there was no one greater for him to swear by he swore by himself saying I will surely bless you and give you many descendants and so after waiting patiently Abraham received what was promised alright now a quick revisit of history just so we can understand how faithful and patient Abraham was so you don't need to turn back that I'm just going to summarize the events Genesis chapter 12 God appears to Abraham when he's still named Abram and says I want you to leave your people once you leave your country I want you to come to the land I'm I'm gonna give you because out of the seed of Abraham will come the Jewish nation will be will come the Israel that will be burst through the seed of Abraham and so God speaks to him in Genesis chapter 12 Abraham 75 years of age and he gives a promised Abraham you're gonna have children because up in at this point he and his wife Sarah had not been able to have kids and God now tells him even in your even in your old age in Sarah's old age you guys are gonna have kids and your descendants are gonna be as numerous as the stars in the skies numerous is the sand on the seashore you won't be able to count them and I'm gonna birth the nation out of you and God makes precious promises to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and following alright now 75 when he hears this it's not to lease a hundred that he has Isaac the child of the promise so he's a hundred Sarah's ninety and God is faithful to his promise so listen he's 75 when God gives him the promise he's a hundred when it actually transpires he's waiting 25 years for this to happen but God's faithful now as many of you know you know between Genesis 12 when God spoke the promise and then Genesis 21 when Isaac was born there's Genesis 16 and Genesis 16 is when Abraham tried to help God out and decides maybe if eyes you know sleep with my wife's maidservant Hagar I will help God and hasten this promise and then Ishmael is born all right so Abraham is not a perfect guy none of us says that was not in keeping with the plan of God and the will of God Isaac was the child of the promise but it would be 25 years until that promise would be realized and God is always faithful to his promises he just doesn't do things as quickly as you and I might want him to he's on a different timetable his timetable is perfect our timetable is always like we want things now and if God doesn't answer my prayer with it I pray on Monday if he doesn't answer it by Thursday I'm mad and that's the way most of us are in our in our walk with God and we need to just chill out a little bit and throw it down into low because God is gonna take his sweet time to do things his perfect way his timing is always perfect and I i-i've coined this little phrase over the years because I believe it but God's delay is often for his display because what we think is God's you know really taking a long time to answer this prayer to do this order it's often because he wants things to get to the place where he is most visible and most glorified in ours in our lives and that's what he wanted to do in the life of Abraham and Sarah they they tried to rush the process it wasn't God's will but the child of the promise came in Genesis 21 when Isaac is born and God is faithful to his promises and so the writer of Hebrews hears reminding not just his recipients of the letter but us today here wait patiently God is faithful to his promises now verse 16 we'll keep reading he says men swear by someone greater than themselves and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised he confirmed it with an oath and God did this so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie we who have fled to take hold of the hope offer to us may be greatly encouraged we have this hope as an anchor for the Soul firm and secure it enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where Jesus who went before us has entered on our behalf now I'll save the last sentence because it actually fits better with chapter 7 but let me just kind of recap what he's saying here so first he says God made an oath to Abraham and there's no one higher to swear by you know how when we we take an oath like in a court of law or something you know you swear to tell the truth the whole truth about the truth so help me God you're swearing by a higher authority well who'd when God makes a promise who does he swear by I mean there is no higher authority and so so God swears by his own name and he says I promise and there's two unchangeable things here that the write of Hebrews is talking about one is that when God makes a promise it will always come to pass in God's timing and the other unchangeable thing is God's character because that's why he adds there in the middle of verse 18 it is impossible for God to lie so two unchangeable things God's promise will always be fulfilled and when God makes a promise it won't change and the fact of God's character is unchanging because when he says something he never lies and so we can be certain in other words the summary of this chapter is after all of this kind of you know strong exhortation here like like grow up in your faith and don't be lazy and go on to maturity and make sure you don't fall away and if you fall away it'll be like land that that doesn't drink in the rain and you end up just producing thorns and thistles and you'll be judged and and so then he summarizes all the CIO's but be encouraged it's okay because God is faithful to his promises Jesus died on a cross he forgives you of your sins and so put your faith and trust in Jesus there's gonna be this eternal reward and glory awaits us and how can we be sure because God tells us so and God is always faithful to his promises and God never lies okay that's the summary thereof chapter 6 now he he he mentions here about Jesus and he talks there in using this language of imagery in verse 20 when he says where Jesus who went before us has entered on our behalf sorry I'll be back at verse 19 we have this hope as an anchor for the Soul firm and secured enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where Jesus who went before us has entered on our behalf so we have to understand the the ancient temple that stood in Jerusalem which was destroyed in 70 AD - and and to understand kind of the dynamics of of Jewish worship and and the rituals involved in order appreciate what he's saying here so the temple of Israel the temple of God in Jerusalem was divided into different sections when you enter the courtyard area that's one area but then you you can enter the priest would enter the temple itself and that was the the holy place which was divided by a curtain between the holy place and the most holy place or the Holy of Holies now if you're just a a commoner you couldn't go in the temple if you were a priest you could go in the temple but if as a priest you could never go behind the curtain into the most holy place unless you were the high priest only the high priest could go behind the curtain into the most holy place which is where the Ark of the Covenant would rest and and the the the mercy seat which was the lid of the Ark of the Covenant which was two angels out of carved out of gold wings outstretched facing each other on the top of this Ark of the Covenant the mercy seat and the Bible says in different places in the Book of Psalms mentions it how God's glory would rest between the cherubim on top of the Ark of the Covenant and when the high priest would go behind the curtain once a year with the blood of the sacrifice on behalf of the entire nation it's called the holy day Yom Kippur he would go in to sprinkle the Ark of the Covenant with the blood of an animal sacrifice to make atonement for the sins of the whole people once a year but only that high priest could go in only that high priest had access now remember when Jesus dies on the cross the Bible says what gets torn at the time of the crucifixion that that curtain inside the temple gets miraculously torn by God there's an earthquake at the moment Christ is crucified there's an earthquake and that curtain is torn and interestingly the Bible says not from the bottom to the top it gets torn from top to bottom and that's an interesting detail because the Bible just wants to make everybody understand for sure that it wasn't somebody who came and stood at the base and ripped the curtain from the bottom up this was God who tore it from the top down and the reason God tore the curtain top down was to signify that the barrier which previously had existed between man and God no longer existed because Jesus Christ had bridged that gap and Jesus Christ had made it possible not just for a priest but for any person at all to have access to God through Jesus Christ so when the writer of Hebrews here talks about how we have this hope as an anchor for the Soul firm and secure it enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain see he's explaining what the Jews would have understood in their history that the temple represented here this barrier there's a curtain here we can't get to God except through a high priest and the writer of Hebrews is now going to go into more detail in the next following chapter starting here in chapter 7 about how Jesus is our high priest and by his atoning death on a cross the barrier no longer exists and we can have direct access to God relationship with him fellowship with him he is our high priest so Chapter six ends with this sentence he that is Jesus has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek now I want you to circle that guy's name Melchizedek because he gets a lot of press coverage in the next chapter in fact an entire chapter in all of chapter 7 is really devoted to him as kind of the backdrop to helping us understand the priesthood of Jesus so I'm gonna take some time first to just mention real briefly as we understand who is Melchizedek we have to understand Melchizedek in order to understand the high priesthood of Jesus and so Melchizedek is mentioned here in chapter 6 he was also mentioned in chapter 5 and is going to be mentioned several times here in chapter 7 a little bit of background on Melchizedek and we don't have much he's mentioned only two times in the Old Testament he's mentioned once in Genesis 14 and once in Psalm 110 that's it once in Genesis 14 once in Psalm 110 and then he's mentioned eight times here in the book of Hebrews between chapters five six and seven the first time he's mentioned in Genesis 14 it's because he has an encounter with Abraham then we don't hear anything about him for a thousand years and David writes about him in Psalm 110 and then we don't hear about him again for another thousand years and the writer of Hebrews picks up on his story so it's very interesting character now I'm gonna read to you the account from Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 so you get the Old Testament backdrop to the New Testament story and you can turn there if you wanted you can just listen in Genesis 14 after Abraham has had a successful military campaign he then is visited by this up to this point unknown person in Genesis 14 I'm going to read verses 18 through 20 that's the only reference to Melchizedek Genesis 14 18 to 20 and it says then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine he was a priest of God Most High and he blessed Abram saying blessed be Abram by God most high creator of heaven and earth and blessed be God Most High who delivered your enemies into your hand and then Abram gave him a tenth of everything okay that's it that's the first reference we have to melt to Melchizedek and that's all we have and then he doesn't appear fades off the pages of history and in a reappears in Psalm 110 if you're gonna go to some 110 it's just one verse its verse four and David mentions him and when David writes Psalm 110 he's writing a messianic passage because he's going to talk about how the Messiah is in the order of the priesthood of Melchizedek now we read in Genesis 14 that he is identified as a priest and David picks up in Psalm 110 verse 4 and this is all he says the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind you speaking prophetically about the Messiah are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek alright that's it that's the only thing we have in the Old Testament now you can go back here to Hebrews and the writer of Hebrews picks up on this guy and so who exactly is he his identity has been greatly debated over the centuries over the millennia I'm gonna give you my opinion but I will tell you that you can read different commentaries and you're gonna read different things and so it's fair but I'm gonna make the argument for why I believe that what I'm gonna present to you is accurate but you know doesn't that sound haughty but how else am I gonna teach this I suppose it could be this I suppose it could be it could be a variety of things but I'm gonna make the argument you can decide for yourself one of the things that is out there is and this was actually started by a rabbi in 135 BC rabbi ismael he believes that milk is a deck was sham the son of Noah and there are many Jews who believe that today now it is true that Shem was a contemporary of Abraham it's difficult sometimes to think about the chronology of events in our Bibles but you know Noah gets off the ark and he has three sons with him Shem ham and Japheth and Shem was alive at the time that Abraham was alive Abraham only lived to be 175 man's longevity began to decline as sin took root and corrupted the human race until now on on average I mean the Bible talks about how 70 is is the average lifespan I think I think you know with different medical advances and stuff I think it's like close to 76 for men and 78 for women somewhere along those lines but Shem lived to be 600 years old Abraham only lived to be 175 so Shem was still living when Abraham was alive but I don't think it was Shannon others believed that he was a real person an historical figure of Abraham's day and that he was a type of Christ now I put that in quotations that's a theological term we talk about a type of Christ what it means is there are different people in the Old Testament who give us a good glimpse as to who Jesus is because they characterize some aspect of his life or his ministry and so there are different people in the Old Testament that we that we look at we say that person serves to be a type of Christ for example Joshua is a type of Christ even his name Joshua's name that is an anglicized version his name is yahushua it's the same name Jesus was given his Hebrew given name was yahushua okay and joshua leads the people of the promised land remember Moses could not do that because Moses represented the law Joshua represented grace the law can never take you into the Promised Land only grace can Joshua is a picture or a type of Christ okay but Joshua wasn't Christ and and so some say that well Melchizedek was a real person or historical figure and that he was a type of Christ because when you look at the Genesis account that I just read I mean he is the king of Salaam we'll talk about that in a moment he presents bread and wine does that sound familiar and we just had except for the you know we didn't go Episcopal style we didn't have the wine part but we had just the grape juice but we had the bread and the cup okay so some say he's a type of Christ and then others and this is the camp I fall into believe that it actually was Jesus Christ in human form that Melchizedek when he made an appearance to Abraham was actually Christ taking on human form it's what we call in theological terms a theophany or a christophany an appearance of God an appearance of Christ this would be obviously a pre incarnate appearance of Christ what does that mean when God became flesh and dwelt among us he was born of a virgin came into our world entering through the womb of Mary took on flesh that was the that was the incarnation of Christ that's when God took on flesh and dwelt among us okay but there are times in the Old Testament because Jesus has always existed being co-equal and coeternal with God okay he was he just came into our world and took on flesh through the miracle of the virgin birth right but Christ has always existed being co-equal and coeternal with with God and there are times in the Old Testament where Christ appears taking on human form that's what we mean by pria pre-incarnate appearance of Christ and it is likely that Genesis 14 is one of those events now interestingly in John chapter 8 so this this is how I'm gonna make the argument the case for it in John chapter 8 there's this conversation that some skeptics have with Jesus they don't believe in who he is they don't accept that he's Messiah and so in John chapter 8 there's this back and forth conversation between them and Jesus and Jesus said to them in John 8:56 your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day he saw it and was glad and very interesting jesus said in John 8:56 Abraham saw my day now the skeptics reply the next verse in John 857 they said you're not yet fifty years old and yet you have seen Abraham and Jesus replies in John 8:58 I tell you the truth before Abraham was born I am before Abraham was born I am I am the self existent one I am the one who always has been and is and shall be Abraham saw my day and rejoiced about it so could it be that when Jesus said that in John 8:56 he's referring to what we read in Genesis 14 with this encounter with Melchizedek I'm gonna take you through the characteristics of Melchizedek as we know it revealed in scripture for those of you are taking notes here's a little bit about what the text tells us here in Hebrews chapter 7 now before I go through these let me just read now in Chapter 7 the first three verses this Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High he met Abraham returning from the defeat of the Kings and blessed him as referring to the Genesis 14 account and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything first his name means king of righteousness then also king of Salem means king of peace without father or mother without genealogy without beginning of days or end of life like the son of God he remains a priest forever all right so now just take a look at some of these bullet points from the text we just read first of all milk is a deck is from two Hebrew words Malak Zadok Milaca means king the deck means righteousness so his name literally means king of - as we go through each of these you're gonna go kind of sounds like Jesus okay I think so too but perhaps you you want to believe one of the other possibilities of the identity of milk is it egg that's fine you're entitled to be wrong if you want to but anyhow I say it with a humor okay so Malak said that king of righteousness kind of sounds like Jesus and then he's given two titles king of Salaam Salaam is from the Hebrew root word Shalom it literally translates king of Peace who else do we know is kind of the king of peace and then he's also the priest of God Most High that's another title that the writer of Hebrews tells us that he is called and and therefore he serves as a priest King because he's priest of God Most High but he's also king of Salaam there's no one else in the Bible who serves in the dual role of priest king except Jesus there's no other earthly person and some will say well Melchizedek was an exception to that okay if if you if you're not believing that he was really Jesus in human form then that's what you have to say well then milk is acidic was an exception to that but it fits more accurately biblically to say that the only one who ever served in the dual role of being both priest and king is none other than Jesus there was one King in the Book of Chronicles who tried to serve as priest in a dual role his name was Ziya and when he tried to do that God struck him with leprosy okay so nobody in the Bible ever served in the dual capacity of being both priest and king and it was very clear especially in the Old Testament you're king you're not a priest you're a priest you're not a king the only one who served as priest king in the Bible is Jesus here's some other bullet points about Melchizedek he has no genealogy beginning or ending because that's what we just read there in verse 7 is it he's sorry verse chapter 7 verse 3 without father or mother without genealogy without beginning of days or end of life now again those who say well he was just a type of Christ but he wasn't really Christ their argument on this point is just that we don't know anything about his genealogy and so therefore that's what the writer means we don't know anything about his parentage his father's mother his ancestry and so thus the the writer just intends us to to know that we we have no idea of his ancestry but to me when you read this and the way it spelled out so you know clearly here without father or mother without genealogy without beginning of days or end of life sounds again like Jesus in Revelation 1:8 jesus said I am the Alpha and the Omega I have no beginning I have no ending I am all of that and then he's also mentioned here at the end of verse 3 like the Son of God well again you could say well it doesn't say he is the son of guys he's like the son of God well in Daniel chapter 3 verse 25 we have an example of one of these pre-incarnate appearance of Christ a christophany and in Daniel 3 the occasion is when Nebuchadnezzar throws Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace because they refuse to bow down to him and worship Him as king so Nebuchadnezzar this pagan idolatrous King has Shadrach Meshach and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace and in Daniel 3:25 Nebuchadnezzar then all the sudden says I see four men walking around in the fire unbound and unharmed and the fourth looks like the son of God same phrase that is used and who was it that was walking around with them in the fiery furnace it was the Lord it was Jesus like the son of God who is the son of God another bullet point up here for you is that he remains a priest forever in other words he has an eternal priesthood in verse 3 the writer of Hebrews says that he remains a priest forever what other person has ever had an eternal priesthood and the next bullet point I have up there for you says that he received tithes from Abraham because the Genesis account said that he Abraham gave him a tenth of all that he had the writer of Hebrews repeats that and says that Abraham gave him a tenth of all that he had it's the first time that the word tithe appears in the Bible and tithing again is a giving of a tenth and it all comes from the Lord when we give a tenth of we tithe we're honoring God with a portion of what he's given us and interestingly you know Abraham was five hundred years before the Mosaic law so anybody uses the argument the tithing is just part of the Old Testament law Abraham was tithing before the law existed and to whom did he tithe milk is a debt well who do you really give your offerings to I mean isn't it unto the Lord isn't it possible that Melchizedek was in fact the Lord and then last bullet point is that he Melchizedek offered bread and wine in the Genesis 14 account and he blessed Abraham so it's interesting that he brings out basically the the symbolism of the communion elements and he blessed Abraham well the lesser never blesses the greater the greater always blesses the lesser and so Abraham is being blessed here by someone who was greater than he so when you put it all together I believe again good people disagree on this but I believe that indications are that Melchizedek is actually Jesus who took on human appearance before entering the human race when he was born through a Virgin Mary this is a christophany this is a pre incarnate appearance of Christ's let me get through really the rest of chapter 7 it's pretty straight read I know you might look at your watch and go how can he do this in about eight minutes it's okay I believe in miracles and keep keep going with me because I'm going to tie this all together and it doesn't really split very well to wait til next week so verse four just think how great he was talking about milk is a dick even and then I'm gonna summarize all this it'll all make sense think how great he was even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder now the law requires that sentence of levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people that is their brothers even though their brothers are descended from abraham this man however Melchizedek did not trace his descent from Levi yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises and without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater in the one case the tenth is collected by men who died but in the other case by him who is declared to be living one might even say that Levi who collects the tenth paid the tenth through Abraham because when milk is addict met Abraham Levi was still in the body of his ancestors all right what does all of that mean so here's basically what he's trying to say what he's trying to say is he's making the case that Melchizedek is a greater priesthood because you have to understand why is he even saying all this the Jews who became believers in Jesus Christ as Messiah had to learn that some of the customs they were used to were actually all about pointing to Jesus so that once Jesus fulfills all these things you don't need to return to all these various customs and one of the customs that was was kind of the linchpin of their faith was you can't get to God except by going through a priest so the writer of Hebrews is going to make this argument but you have a greater priest now who is Jesus and he's of a greater priestly order which is of the order of Melchizedek because I believe he actually was milk is attack versus the normal priestly order which is of the tribe of Levi that's all this reference here to to Levi now Levi is going to be the great grandson of Abraham Abraham as Isaac Isaac as Jacob Jacob s twelve sons one of them is Levi and the tribe of Levi will end up serving as priests in the temple of God and the priests are the ones that all the Jews ordinarily would go through the tribe of Levi in the high priest in order to connect with God the writer of Hebrews is saying but there's another priestly order that precedes and transcends the line of Levi and it's Melchizedek and milk is a debt comes on the scene hundreds of years before the Mosaic law and before the tribe of Levi was even birthed because Abraham is the great-grandfather of Levi so because Melchizedek is of a higher priestly order again because I think he's Christ himself he predates preceeds transcends the Levitical priesthood is everybody with me and so he's helping them to understand if you're afraid of leaving the Levitical priesthood and connect directly with God through Jesus let me just tell you Jesus is of a higher priestly order so you don't have to worry about the whole priesthood thing the earthly priesthood thing because it's been fulfilled once and for all through our high priest who is Jesus who's of a higher priestly order which is the order of Melchizedek everybody with me okay keep reading with me verse 11 if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood in other words the line of Levi 4 on the basis of it the law was given to the people why was there still need for another priest to come one in the order of Melchizedek not in the order of Aaron Aaron was of the tribe of Levi okay now he's about to quote here in just a moment Psalm 110 verse 4 which is what David wrote David wrote a thousand BC is when he lived he wrote Psalm 110 and it's that passing reference to Melchizedek the only other time we read about him was Genesis 14 okay and so the writer of Hebrews is gonna say now listen there's a reason why David mentions this guy milsat Melchizedek and a higher priestly order and he's helping that understand if the whole of viticulture other priestly order verse 12 for when there is a change of the priesthood there must also be a change of the law in other words if the tribe of Levi is not going to offer perfection for people then the law that gave us the tribe of Levi must also be replaced in the sense of theirs now the message of grace that comes through Christ's grace and truth comes through Christ the law came through Moses grace and truth comes through Christ so this is the argument that he's making here verse 13 he of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar for it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah different tribe not Levi he was he was not of the tribe of Levi is of the tribe of Judah Judah and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests and what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life for it is declared and this is where he quotes David now from Psalm 110 you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek the former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless for the law made nothing perfect and a better hope is introduced by which we draw near to God so he's still making the same argument he's like the tribe of Levi is the traditional tribe of the priestly line we could only get to God through the priestly line of the tribe of Levi Aaron was the first high priest of the tribe of Levi and his descendants after him would serve as the intermediaries between God and man but the the Jews who were believers in Jesus are a little wigged out about their so like a how can we really get to God because traditionally we have to go through the tribe of Levi and through the priests to get to God write of Hebrews like no no let me tell you something this is why David wrote a thousand years before Christ about the higher priestly order of Melchizedek because it's greater than the tribe of Levi the law never saved anybody he's saying the law never saved anybody those priests were temporary the law was put in place to lead us to cry that's what Paul would write in Galatians chapter 3 right that the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ and that we might be justified not by the law but by faith in Christ the law exposes my need for a savior the law fillets me wide open and helps me to understand all my sinful qualities and tendencies and and thus when I read the law and I see what is right what is wrong and how I don't measure up to it I need to cry out for a savior and this is where Jesus then enters into the scene to be our Savior because he accomplishes what the law couldn't do the Lord can't save us the largest exposes our sinful hearts so that we cry out to a savior who was Jesus so verse 20 and it was not without an oath others became priests without any oath but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him till Macca's Adak the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind you are a priest forever that's also someone 10 verse 4 because of this oath Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant now there have been many of those priests earthly human priests since death prevented them from continuing in office but because Jesus lives forever he has a permanent priesthood underline that because there's no other earthly priesthood that measures up to the permanent priesthood of Christ he has replaced all earthly priesthoods and priestly kinds of systems verse 25 therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him through Jesus because he always lives to intercede for them right and that what the Bible also tells us that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to send it back into heaven and that he seated at the right hand of the father making intercession for us in other words right now Jesus is praying for you he's always praying for you interceding for you and such a high priest meets our need worst 26 one who was holy blameless pure this is all talking about Jesus set apart from sinners exalted of the heavens unlike the other high priest he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people he sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself on a cross write this Jesus dies on a cross he offered him himself as as the living sacrifice for verse 28 for the law appoints as high priests men who are weak you know were frail were human human vessels are weak but the oath which came after the law meaning Psalm 110 when David wrote what he did appointed the son capital S that's Jesus who has been made perfect for ever let me just bullet point two quick things before we go what is he saying here he's saying first of all that the priesthood of Jesus precedes and transcends any earthly priestly system that's one of the points he's making and the second point he's making is Jesus was before the priesthood was ever established among men and he is greater than any priest among men because only Jesus can stand between a holy God and sinful humanity to bridge that gap and only Jesus can reconcile man to God and only Jesus can atone for sins and only Jesus not a priest not a vicar not another human being can hear my confession and forgive me of my sins only Jesus only Jesus he is our high priest folks and I tell you what I have a lot of Catholic friends and some of you are here you have Catholic backgrounds and you grew up in kind of a priestly system and I just want to encourage you you read chapter seven again go home and read it if you're not already convinced there's no priestly system anymore and there's no need to go through another human being because Jesus is our permanent high priest forever we only need to go through him for forgiveness of sins and access to the Father and relationship with our Creator it's all and only about Jesus let's pray together Lord we thank you for your word and we thank you that Jesus always lives now to intercede for us that he is our high priest that he has gone before us interceding on our behalf bridging the gap between you Lord as our holy Creator God of the universe and us as sinful humanity and we thank you that you Jesus have gained access for us in relationship with our Creator through faith in your finished work on the cross and we give you praise glory and honor in Jesus name and everybody said amen

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

Views: 6,039

Rating: 4.9587631 out of 5

Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick

Id: 4mdMVGHik-M

Length: 50min 8sec (3008 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2019