[0:00] off this one with asking you a question. What are some of the new ways of doing things that are better than the old ways? New ways of doing things that are better than the old ways. I'll give you an example, then you give me some.
[0:17] Email. You can shoot off an email, have an answer back, as opposed to using a postage stamp and a letter, and it's going to take let me give you an example. Bonnie goes to visit a lady in a jail down in Bangor. She used to be here in Hancock, got transferred to Bangor, and they struck up a relationship and do a Bible study together.
[0:41] And Bonnie can send, well let me explain. If you know where the jail is in Bangor, you go down this one street, the jail is here, the post office is here. Opposite sides of the street.
[0:55] Share the parking lot. They share the parking lot, yeah. She can go into the post office, hand it to a lady and say, this is going across the street.
[1:07] And the girl said, okay, and she takes it and she puts it and it goes across there the next day. If she puts it in the slot, it can be two or three or four days before it makes it across the street.
[1:21] Email. You got it. What else? What are some things that the new ways are better than the old ways? Power steering on your car.
[1:34] Power steering on your car. Yeah, I agree with that. I'm old enough to remember when they didn't have power steering. Yep. Cooking on a wood stove. Cooking on a wood stove.
[1:47] Okay, so you got to figure that one out. Which one's better that way? Yep. Cooking on a wood stove versus a medical.
[1:59] Yeah. All kinds of medical things are better than they used to be. They don't use leeches on us anymore. They don't. She said they don't use leeches on us anymore. Okay, so there's.
[2:12] They're going to say this instead of pen. Yeah. Pen. There's a lot of things that are better. So that's good. Are there any things that you like the old ways better than the new ways?
[2:28] Cooking on a wood stove. Cooking on a wood stove. You like doing that better. Okay. You got to have time, though. I was thinking you said electric range and stuff.
[2:38] I think microwave, too. I mean, microwave. Try steak in a microwave. Yeah, don't try steak in a microwave. No, don't do that. All right. Morals. Morals.
[2:49] Morals are. The old days were much better that way. Yep. And everybody was outside playing out nowadays. The kids are in a plan. You know, they don't associate. Yep.
[2:59] They're texting each other. They're in the same room texting each other instead of just talking to each other. Yep. Yep. Yep. Sitting down at the dinner table. Sitting down at the dinner table. Yep.
[3:10] And you got to catch up. The company. The friendly. The company. The company. The conversation. Yep. Okay. So there's some old things. And there's something to be said for a family member.
[3:21] Yep. And receiving a piece of mail. Yep. Versus getting a text. Yep. The thought. The. It's just.
[3:33] There's something about the old way of having it. Only to know. The new way is more convenient. Yep. I like to read. And. For me. Reading on a tablet.
[3:45] I want a book in my hand. I want to hold the book. I want to smell the pages. I want that. You can hit you in the face. So when I fall asleep. Well it's better than it hits me in the face with that.
[3:56] It's kind of open. It kind of. Than a tablet. Flatten your nose out. So. All right. So. Good ways. For both. On some things. The writer of Hebrews is about to show us.
[4:11] That there is a better kind of priest. That's the title of. This one you can see up there on the thing. A better kind of priest. See. The Hebrews. Were hung up on doing things the Old Testament way.
[4:24] They liked the priest. They liked the sacrifices. They liked the temple. They liked all of those things. But the writer of Hebrews is going to show them. Jesus is better.
[4:36] When we have Jesus. We have all we need. We don't have to go through all of those things. Because we have Jesus. And here in chapter 7. He's going to continue on. He kind of started this.
[4:46] In chapter 5. He talked about. In verse. Chapter 5. Verse 10. And 11. He said. Called of God and high priest. After the order of Melchizedek.
[4:57] Of whom we have many things to say. And hard to be uttered. Seeing ye are dull of hearing. He says. I got a lot of things to tell you about this. And then he gives them some warnings. In chapter 6. Then he comes to chapter 7.
[5:09] Look with me. The first three verses. Chapter 7. For this Melchizedek. King of Salem. Priest of the most high God. Who met Abraham. Returning from the slaughter of the kings.
[5:21] And blessed him. To whom also Abraham gave. A tenth part of all. First being by interpretation. King of righteousness. After that also.
[5:32] King of Salem. Which is king of peace. Without father. Without mother. Without descent. Having neither beginning of days. Nor end of life. But made like unto the son of God.
[5:43] Abideth a priest. Continually. So he's about to tell them. About Melchizedek. Who was a better priest. Than the tribe of Levi.
[5:54] Better priest than Aaron. And all those that followed him. He's about to show them. He's about to show them that. When he. Talked about it.
[6:04] Back there in chapter 5. He brought up the fact that. It was the order of Melchizedek. Now he's going to show them. Why he is better. First notice the identity.
[6:16] The identity of Melchizedek. In describing him. What he's doing. Is he's going to. Refer back to. Genesis chapter 14.
[6:26] Go there with me. Hold your finger in Hebrews. Genesis chapter 14. In Genesis chapter 14.
[6:41] Beginning at verse 17. Genesis 14. 17. Actually go down to verse. 18. And Melchizedek king of Salem. Brought forth bread. And wine.
[6:53] And he was the priest. Of the most high God. And he blessed him. And said. Blessed be Abram. Of the most high God. Possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God.
[7:04] Which hath delivered. Thine enemies. Into thine hand. And he gave him. A tenth. Of all. A tie. Gave him a tithes of all. And the king of Sodom.
[7:15] Said unto Abram. Give me the persons. And take the goods unto thyself. He goes on from there. But Melchizedek. Blessed Abraham. And he received tithes. Of Abraham.
[7:26] So when we look at chapter 7. And he talks about Melchizedek. And the things that happened. That's what he's referring to. Is that section back there. And he talks about the fact that. He was superior.
[7:38] Melchizedek was. First of all. Because he received tithes. From Abraham. Tithes always go from a lesser. To a more superior. Why do we give tithes. And offerings to the Lord.
[7:51] It's an offering from a lesser. To a superior. Here. And here. He's noticing the same thing. And notice what he says about Melchizedek. There in those three verses we looked at.
[8:02] He says. No. First of all. He's the king of righteousness. The king of righteousness. Who's righteous? God. Who's righteous? Jesus. Whose righteousness do we claim for our salvation?
[8:15] Jesus. And he says. He's the king of righteousness here. And then he also says. He is the king of Salem. Or. King. Of peace. What is the.
[8:27] Isaiah. When he's. That Christmas section. How does he refer to Jesus? Prince of peace. So there's something special about Melchizedek.
[8:39] You know. There's a debate over whether he was an actual human king. Or was he a. Pre-incarnate. Jesus. Meeting with Abraham. Him. We kind of. Leave that up for debate.
[8:50] But I do look at. What these verses say. And you look at. And it says there in verse. Three. That he was without father. Without mother. And all those different things. It's like.
[9:02] There's no beginning. There's no ending. You know. He's like unto the son of God. That one I think of Nebuchadnezzar.
[9:14] And three Hebrew children. Shadrach. Meshach. And Abednego. Throw them in the furnace. Throw them in the furnace. Wait a minute. Then we throw three in there. I see four. And one looks like the son of God.
[9:28] And now he says. No kids today. Like unto the son of God. So. Pre-incarnate Jesus. I don't know. What's the significance. I kind of already mentioned this.
[9:40] But the significance of him being called righteousness. And peace. Again. Goes back to Jesus. And who he is. And then the fact that he is. Made like another son of God.
[9:51] And then it says. In the end of verse three. Abideth a peace. Continually. There's no end. To his priesthood. Not going to. Nothing's going to ever stop.
[10:03] His priesthood. So. The Old Testament doesn't tell us a lot about who Melchizedek was. But what it does tell us. Makes us think. And one thing we do notice.
[10:15] He is definitely superior. To Aaron. And the priest that came after Aaron. Most usually when you have. Names in the Old Testament.
[10:26] They mean something in a common language. What is Melchizedek? Righteousness. Yep. That's what his name. Has to do with his righteousness.
[10:38] So. So. The identity of Melchizedek. We know his name. We know things about him. Was he Jesus.
[10:50] Pre-incarnate. Or was he a human. We don't know. But. What we do know is. There was something pretty special about him. Which brings me to the second point.
[11:01] The superiority. The superiority. Of Melchizedek. The superiority. Look with me. Beginning at verse 4. Now consider how great this man was. Under whom even the patriarch Abraham.
[11:14] Gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily. They that are our sons of Levi. Who receive the office of priesthood. Have a commandment. To take tithes of the people.
[11:24] According to the law. That is. Of their brethren. Though they come out of the loins. Of Abraham. Abraham. But. He whose descent is not counted. From them.
[11:35] Receive tithes of Abraham. And blessed him. That had. The promises. And without all contradiction. The less is blessed. Of the better. And here.
[11:47] Men that die. Receive his tithes. But there. He receiveth them. Of whom it is witness. That he live it. And as I may say. So say. Levi also.
[11:58] Who received tithes. Paid tithes. In Abraham. For he was yet. In the loins of his father. When Melchizedek. Met him. He's saying.
[12:08] Look. All the tribes. Of Israel. Give tithes. To. The tribe of Levi. Because Levi. Is the tribe of priests. And Levites.
[12:20] And. He compares that. To the fact that. Abraham. Gave tithes. To. Melchizedek. You give tithes.
[12:30] To the one. Who is. Greater. You give tithes. To the one. Who is more holy. You give recognition. To them. And he says. Look. Melchizedek. Had a special status. He was able.
[12:42] To bless Abraham. That only happens. From a superior. To a lesser. So he was giving. That. Blessing to him. He says.
[12:52] Look. The Levites. Received tithes. But the Levites. Also died. And as they died. New people. Would become priests. We have no record. Of a death.
[13:03] Of Melchizedek. Matter of fact. That verse three. Again says. He continued. Continued on. See. Abraham.
[13:13] paid those tithes. To Melchizedek. His actions. Show that. Melchizedek. Melchizedek. Is superior. To him. Which means. All the people.
[13:24] Who came. After Abraham. All of his sons. And others. Would be. Would have to recognize. Melchizedek. As being superior. I thought you were going to ask.
[13:35] What do you know. You know. Why is God. Having him. Spend so much time. On this. Why is he. He taking so much time.
[13:47] To point out. The details. About who Melchizedek is. And how. He is superior. Because. Number two.
[13:57] On your thing. Christ. Is a better priest. For Christians. Christ is a better priest. For Christians. When describing.
[14:08] Melchizedek. Who he was. Why he was superior. He's saying. Look. Christ is a priest. After the order.
[14:18] Of Melchizedek. Not after the order. Of Aaron. Because Christ is the order. Of Melchizedek. He is a superior priest. To Aaron. When you follow.
[14:30] Christ. You're following. The superior. High priest. Christ. He says. Look. There's a need. First of all. For a better priest. There's a need.
[14:41] For a better priest. Why do we need. A better priest. Than the Levitical. Priesthood. Why do we need. A better one. Why do we need. A better one. And even.
[14:51] The Levites. Had to. I mean. They needed. A savior. They needed. A savior. They had to do. Sacrifices. For themselves. Before they could do. For anybody else.
[15:02] They were men. They were. Sinners. They had to make sure. Their sins. Were taken care of. Before they could do. Anything. For anybody else. Okay. Anybody else.
[15:13] Jared. Look up. Psalm 110. 4. Here's.
[15:24] The Levitical. Priesthood. The things. That they do. The things. That they carry out. To help. Cover sin. But they have. Their. Sacrifices.
[15:39] And things. That they do. Are not. A permanent. Solution. It's a temporary. Solution. Everything. That happened. And everything. They're doing. Is pointing. Forward.
[15:50] To Jesus Christ. And a matter of fact. David. Recognized that. David. He's writing. His Psalms. He makes. A statement. In Psalm. 110. 4.
[16:01] Read that. The Lord. Has sworn. And will not. Repent. Thou art. A priest. Forever. After the order. Of. The Lord. Has sworn. And will not.
[16:11] Repent. Thou art a priest. After the order. Of Melchizedek. He's saying. God made this statement. You're a priest. After the order. Of Melchizedek. He's not going to change that.
[16:21] He's not going to go back on that. He's going to keep that. Even from the time of David. All the way up through. To when Christ shows up. Again.
[16:32] Why is this so important. Because. Melchizedek's priesthood. Was a continual one. Because. He had no beginning. And no ending.
[16:42] He had. Just like Jesus. Aaron's priesthood. Finished. His sons took over. And then their sons took over. And their sons. There was nothing continual about it.
[16:54] And when they made the sacrifices. Animal sacrifices. Were made to cover sin. They weren't necessarily made. To forgive sin. And wipe that out. As Jesus is about to do.
[17:05] When he gives his life. So. The priests are. Intricately. Involved in. The sacrificial system. But.
[17:18] It's insufficient. To do. What's needed to be done. For real spiritual cleansing. Chapter. Here in Hebrews there. Chapter 9. I know this is kind of deep.
[17:31] But. Hebrews chapter 9. Beginning at verse 11. But Christ. Being come. And high priest. Of good things to come. By a greater. And more perfect.
[17:42] Tabernacle. Not made with hands. That is to say. Not this building. Neither by the blood. Of goats. And calves. But by his own blood. He entered in once.
[17:53] Into the holy place. Having attained. Eternal redemption. For us. For if the blood. Of bulls. And goats. And the ashes. Of heifers. Sprinkled. Sprinkling. The unclean.
[18:03] Sanctify. To the purifying. Of the flesh. How much more. Shall the blood. Of Christ. Who through the eternal spirit. Offered himself. Without spot.
[18:14] To God. Purge your conscience. From dead works. To serve the living God. He says. The sacrifice. That Christ made. Forgives your sin. Cleanses your conscience.
[18:26] Makes it so you can serve. The living God. The blood of bull and goats. Doesn't do that. Blood of bull and goats. Made a covering. Looking forward.
[18:38] To when Christ would come. And give forgiveness. Of it all. Is there any other. Record. In this.
[18:48] Creed. That's exactly. That I know of. So. I. That's a good question. I'll check into that. I don't know. From everything.
[19:03] We read in the Bible. They don't know. He. He might still be out there somewhere. Probably not. But. And if he was a pre-incarnate Jesus.
[19:14] Then. We know what happened to him. So. That's why I tend. To lean that way. That's. The pre-incarnate Jesus. Because. Then he would be eternal.
[19:26] So. So. Um. What was happening here. Is. Others were coming in. And telling the Hebrews here.
[19:37] You've got to. Follow Christ. But you also have to keep. A lot of these other things. That. The Jewish traditions. You've got to keep doing the sacrifice.
[19:48] You've got to keep following. The priesthood. You've got to keep following the law. You've got to keep doing it. I'm going to talk about that some more. In the morning service. But. We need to recognize. And he's trying to point out here.
[19:59] That. This was a time of. Getting you ready. For Jesus. Galatians chapter 3. Verse 24.
[20:11] Galatians 3. 24. Notice what it says. Actually go back to verse 23.
[20:28] But before faith came. We were kept under the law. Shut up. Unto the faith. Which should. Afterwards. Be revealed. Wherefore.
[20:39] The law. Was our schoolmaster. To bring us. To. Unto Christ. That we might be justified. By faith. But after that. Faith has come. We no longer.
[20:50] Under. A schoolmaster. He says. Look. You want to ask a question? No. I was just going to. Oh. Make a statement. Okay. It came to me.
[21:02] That. A lot of these. Freaks. Took. And didn't want. The flock. Following Christ. Because. That they would lose. Their position. Exactly. Those.
[21:14] Jewish. Religious leaders. Yeah. They were going to lose position. They were going to lose. They were going to have to go back. To be an ordinary citizens. And things. And not have the. A lot of them had wealth.
[21:25] Because of this. So. But they're going to have to go. Back. And. He points out here. In Galatians. The whole law. Was a schoolmaster. It was something for us to learn.
[21:37] It was something for us to say. I see what's going on here. I see what the Old Testament's all about. And it's pointing to. Who Jesus was. And the fact that Jesus was going to come.
[21:49] All of this was just to get us ready. What is the purpose of the law? We know how. We know right from wrong. We know what's right. We know what's wrong.
[22:00] If it's against the law. It's wrong. If it's. According to the law. It's right. The law showed us. We could not keep. The law. We could not.
[22:11] Do it. There was always something. That we were going to do. That was going to break the law. Now. Jesus comes and says. I fulfilled the law.
[22:22] I took care of the law. Therefore. You don't have to worry about the law anymore. Follow me. And I will show you. What is right. So. And one of the other problems.
[22:34] Remember. Back in Hebrews chapter 7. Was the fact. Look at verse 13 and 14. For he of whom.
[22:44] These things are spoken. And pertaineth to another tribe. Of which no man. Gave attendance. At the altar. For it is evident. That our Lord sprang.
[22:56] Out of Judah. Of which tribe. Moses spake nothing. Concerning the priesthood. He says. Jesus was of the wrong tribe. He. Couldn't have been a priest.
[23:07] Because. He's not of the tribe of Levi. He's of the tribe of Judah. And so. There's no way. He could have been a priest. After the tribe. Of Levi. So when he says.
[23:18] He's a priest. After the order of Melchizedek. That gave him the right. To be a priest. Couldn't have done it. Under Jewish law. Under Jewish tradition. But under the order of Melchizedek.
[23:30] He could be. And what's interesting. Is the fact that. What is the tribe of Judah? What's special about the tribe of Judah? Where did all the kings come from?
[23:45] All the kings came from the tribe of Judah. And so here's Jesus. Of the tribe of Judah. King of king and lord of lords. Who is also the high priest.
[23:55] Who can take care of our sins. Everything's wrapped up. In him. He went and qualified as a priest.
[24:09] According to Jewish law. But after that order of Melchizedek. He could. What was impossible.
[24:20] Under the Levitical system. Being under the order of Melchizedek. He came. With a better covenant. Now think about.
[24:32] The fact that. Jesus. In these verses. 11 through 14. That Jesus came. To be our high priest. And he is also.
[24:42] The king of kings. And lord of lords. How much more should we appreciate Jesus. For who he is. Jesus. Can rule and reign.
[24:54] Jesus. Can take care of. Anything in the law. Jesus can also be. The high priest. Who makes.
[25:06] The forgiveness of sins. A permanent thing. Not just a. You know. We'll cover it for this year. And then we'll cover it again. Next year. And we'll cover it again. The year after that. Gone.
[25:18] Completely gone. When you stop. And think about this. I mean. Hebrews is kind of deep. In areas. But when you put it. In those terms. And you look at it. What a great God.
[25:28] We have. That Jesus. Took care of everything. We need taken care of. He met it all. I'm curious. Since the Jewish people. No longer do sacrifices.
[25:40] How are they justified. In their own faith. Somebody asked me that. I think it was Dana. What did I give you for an answer? I remember looking it up.
[25:53] But I can't remember what it. What my answer was. Well I commented. I follow different ones. On like social media. That you know. For us. That share their lives. And I'm attracted to comment.
[26:03] And ask them. What do you do. To cleanse yourself. Since you don't have. Temple sacrifices. Yep.
[26:16] I don't know. I think. I remember looking it up. But I don't remember. What it was. If Abraham. If Abraham. Is the beginning. Of the Jewish faith. That he comes from. Now Chesedek.
[26:28] Had to be. In business. Long before. Abraham. Come along. Yeah. He was. He was already. The high priest. You know.
[26:38] Of righteousness. And of Salem. The priestly. So order. Is an organization. So. When. I think. When he says order. Here.
[26:48] I think he's saying. After the. Um. That's the word I want. Yeah. Maybe pattern. Is a good word. That.
[27:00] He's a high priest. After. The same fashion. That. Melchizedek was. Not that he's part of the order. But that. He's doing it in the same.
[27:11] Way. And here's Melchizedek. Like I said. No mother. No father. No ending. No beginning. None of that. And that's what Jesus was. So. So not order. As we would see it. One after the other.
[27:22] Right. Not one after the other. But order. As in. This is the way he did it. Wouldn't another. Separation. Between the two. Be that Melchizedek.
[27:33] That was not God. He was flesh. We don't know. We don't know. Like I said. When I look at the. Verse three there. It's like hard to say.
[27:43] He's not. But. I don't know. There were other. Pre-incarnate. Incidents. With. With Jesus.
[27:54] Showing up in the Old Testament. So. Was this one of them? I don't know. Because the Bible doesn't tell us. All right.
[28:06] We'll stop there for today. Next time. We're going to look at the benefit. Of having a better priesthood. What's the benefit to us? So. All right. Let's pray. Father.
[28:16] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.