But this week, we're going to be continuing our study of the book of Hebrews by bringing our attention to somebody that we've kind of hinted around about for a little while now.
This Melchizedek. Now, up to this point, Melchizedek has been mentioned, and it seems like the author was getting ready to say something about him, but then he paused himself.
He paused himself and says, look, we've got to just kind of do a reset here.
Some of you, you're not able to hear what I'm about to tell you about Melchizedek because you've become dull of hearing.
And so he begins to kind of introduce this Melchizedek in several places, but primarily he begins this process back in chapter 5.
And so back in chapter 5, we see this Melchizedek being introduced in verse, let's just start reading in verse 5 of chapter 5.
It says, so also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said, you are my son, today I have begotten you.
As he also says in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
And then he goes on to say a few more things about this, and then in verse 10 there he says, being designated by God a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
And so you hear this name over and over again, and it's kind of interesting that he keeps introducing him and trying to get this started.
But then he says, look, at this point the author takes a break from it, and he actually kind of gets on to the readers a little bit.
He scolds them a little bit, and he tells them that about this there's a lot that I have to say, but I can't say right now because you have become dull of hearing.
Or probably my favorite translation of that verse is he tells them that they have become too lazy to understand.
Now, however, the author is ready to dig deeper into this now.
He's ready to say, you know what, we've been introducing Melchizedek, now let's just jump right into the deep end and talk about who this Melchizedek was.
Now I believe that as we look at chapter 7 as a whole, that I believe the main idea of this text is that Jesus is our high priest and king,
and because of this he is able to save.
Jesus is our high priest, he's our king, and because of this he is able to save.
And the point that I want us to clearly see today as we work our way through this text
is that Jesus is the only one with the authority to save.
And our only hope in this life and the life to come is by placing our faith and our trust in him.
This is the hope that we are going to be diving into today.
And so before we can truly understand the point the author is trying to make about who Jesus is
and what this means for us, we must first get some background information about this Melchizedek.
So to begin with, I want us to quickly answer a question.
And the question that I want us to answer as we begin this is very simply, who is Melchizedek?
Who is this Melchizedek?
And so we're going to look at the first 10 verses to begin with.
And so if you will follow along as I read Hebrews chapter 7, verses 1 through 10, it says this.
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God,
met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him.
And to him, Abraham apportioned a 10th part of everything.
He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness.
And he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.
He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life,
but resembling the Son of God, he continues a priest forever.
See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a 10th of the spoils.
And those descendants of Levi who received the priestly office have a commandment in the law
to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers,
though these also are descended from Abraham.
But this man, who does not have his descent from them, received tithes from Abraham
and blessed him who had the promises.
It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.
In the one case, tithes are received by mortal men,
but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.
One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham,
for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
And so as we look at this, we're beginning to see a little bit more of who Melchizedek is.
Now this passage right here is really key for us understanding this,
because outside of this, there are very few passages that shed light on Melchizedek,
especially outside of Hebrews.
Outside of Hebrews, there are just a couple of places that we'll find in Scripture
where Melchizedek is mentioned or at least talked about.
You have Genesis 14, which is pretty much giving you much of the same information
that you see right here in Hebrews chapter 7.
And then you also have Psalm 110 that says what Hebrews continues to say over and over again,
that this Melchizedek is a high priest forever.
Now in this passage, there are a few things that we really need to understand
to better make this connection between Jesus and Melchizedek.
Just in the first three verses here, there's a few things that we're able to see
about who Melchizedek was.
First of all, it says that he was a king.
It says for this Melchizedek, king of Salem.
Now Salem is a Hebrew word here that means peace.
It tells us that again in verse 2 right there that he is a king of peace.
And so we see that this king is king of Salem.
He's king of peace.
But it also tells us what his name Melchizedek means.
It means this righteousness.
He's a king of righteousness.
And so right out of the gates, we're able to see that this Melchizedek is king of Salem.
And many people believe that Salem would go on to become Jerusalem.
And so this king of Jerusalem, this king of peace and this king of righteousness is who Melchizedek was.
But we're also told right here something that's a little unique to him.
That he's not only a king, but he's also a priest.
Now essentially in the Old Testament, you had two priesthoods.
You had the Levitical priesthood that we generally think of when we think of the priest in the Old Testament.
The Levitical priesthood that was there when they conquered the promised land.
The Levites were not given a portion of the land like the other tribes.
Instead, their job was to work in the temple, handling all the details and the logistics of temple life.
And a subset of the Levites, those who were descended from Aaron, the brother of Moses, could become priest.
And so you have this Levitical priesthood.
But our passage introduces another priesthood that's not nearly as well defined throughout the Old Testament.
And it is a priesthood after the order of Melchizedek.
The author's making the case that this order is greater than the Levitical order.
This priesthood is greater than the Levitical priesthood.
And so why would he even bother to do that?
Because he's about to introduce to us this idea that Jesus is a better high priest.
Because Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek.
And so we begin to see this.
But also, I want us to quickly see right here that he was appointed.
He's a priestly king who was appointed.
Verse 3 tells us he was without father or mother or genealogy.
Having neither beginning of days nor end of life.
But resembling the Son of God, he continues a priest forever.
So what does this mean?
Does this mean that he's eternal?
Is this a Christophomy?
Is this an appearance of Christ in the Old Testament here?
This doesn't seem to be the case.
It seems that he was a real human and that he had a real father and mother.
But the way that he's presented in Jesus makes it seem like he just pops in and he pops right back out.
He's there and he's gone.
He appears for a moment and then he is gone.
He shows up out of nowhere and then disappears.
It seems a little mysterious here.
We're not told about his parents so it seems like he's eternal.
And so what the author is trying to communicate is the great king and priest, the king of righteousness and priest,
the priest who is a priest forever, is greater than Abraham and thus he is greater than the Levitical priesthood.
But he's not just doing this for the fun of it.
He's not just trying to build this idea of who Melchizedek is just for the fun of it.
He's doing it to point to Christ.
And so the next truth that I want us to see in this passage is that Jesus is our priestly king.
Jesus is our priestly king.
I want you to look at verses 11 through 19 with me here in Hebrews chapter 7.
It says,
Now this is one of those moments when I realized that we could spend a lot of time in this passage just looking at this.
But in this section we clearly see that Jesus is perfect.
We clearly see that he is sufficient.
We clearly see he's a priestly king who has made the perfect sacrifice and the final atonement for his people.
We see that his priesthood is perfect.
We see that his priesthood is royal.
And we see that his priesthood is eternal.
Something that we continue to come back to over and over again in this.
And so I want us to think about that last truth for just a moment.
That his priesthood is eternal.
Look at verses 15 and 16 again right there.
Let's look at it a little more closely.
Do you know what?
Do you know what indestructible means?
Isn't it a trick question?
I mean, it just means that something can't be destroyed, right?
It just simply means that it's something that can't be destroyed.
Now, I don't know if you were like me, but I can remember when Nalgene bottles really first started making an appearance.
I got those.
I mean, everybody had a Nalgene bottle.
And what everybody was saying about these bottles was you can't break them.
They were making all kinds of crazy claims about it.
And they're saying you could run over them with a car.
You can slam them down.
You can do all of these things.
And they're indestructible.
Well, when I hear that, I kind of want to put it to the test.
I kind of want to see how indestructible this is.
And so the first thing I did, filled it up with ice water, went up on a balcony, threw it off of the balcony onto a parking lot, and it cracked and busted immediately.
Water went everywhere.
And I'm like, okay, well, that didn't work.
That wasn't what I was expecting.
And so when we say that something's indestructible, we're not talking about that.
We're not talking about something being tough or difficult to break, but a life that is impossible to destroy.
A life that is impossible to destroy.
A life that is beautifully and powerfully described in Acts chapter 2 when Peter is preaching at Pentecost and says,
This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
Now, at this point, he doesn't seem indestructible.
At this point, Peter's just said that Jesus died.
And if this is where the story ends, well, then that's where the Bible ends.
If this is where the story ends, then why are we even here today?
But that's not where the story ends.
So let's keep reading there.
He was crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
But God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
That is an indestructible life.
That is our hope.
That is what we build our lives on.
This is everything.
That's an indestructible life.
Jesus holds a priesthood that is truly forever.
This truth is life-changing and life-giving for us today.
It means that Jesus' victory over death, hell, and the grave is final and it is eternal.
Which means that the same power that conquered the grave is the same power that saves us today.
The same power that raised Jesus from the grave is the same power that holds us today,
that gives us hope, that gives us meaning.
And so meaning that because it is not possible for death to have the final say over Jesus,
this means that for those of us who are in Christ,
it is not possible for death to have the final say over us either.
This is the hope that we build our lives on.
This is the hope that the Bible says if this isn't true, then it's all for nothing.
This is everything.
And so the fact that Jesus holds this priesthood forever, eternal,
is life-changing and life-giving to us today.
It is also what helps us to see one final truth
that I want to spend the remainder of our time thinking about today.
All of this is pointing to the truth that Jesus is a better Savior.
All of this is coming together in the fact that Jesus is a better Savior.
We've seen it through the order of Melchizedek,
that Melchizedek is a better priesthood,
a higher priesthood than the Levitical priesthood,
because he's a priest and he's a king,
and because he was appointed and he holds this forever.
We see it through that.
We see it that all of this is pointing to Jesus,
that all of those things that were said about Melchizedek are perfected in Jesus,
and now is coming to this final point that I want us to wrap our minds around this morning,
that Jesus is a better Savior.
I want you to look at verses 20 through 28 with me.
It says this,
And it was not without an oath,
for those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath.
But this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him,
The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind,
you are a priest forever.
This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing office.
But he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him,
since he always lives to make intercession for them.
For it was indeed fitting that we should have a high priest,
holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners,
and exalted above the heavens.
He has no need, like those high priests,
who offer sacrifices daily,
first for his own sins and then for those of the people,
since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests,
but the word of the oath, which came later than the law,
appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.
You see, up to this point, you may be thinking,
Brett, this is great and all.
I'm glad you're sharing this Melchizedek with us.
The early readers probably would have been really impressed by this
because, you know, there wasn't much to say about them,
but now you're making it clear to them,
but what in the world does it have to do with us today?
I've never even thought about Melchizedek.
I've never even come across it in my mind.
I wouldn't even know how to pronounce it on the page right here.
And you may be thinking, what's the point of all of this?
The fact that Melchizedek was better than the Levitical priesthood,
but what difference does it make to me today
that Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek?
Well, first, it shows us that we have a better and final Savior.
We have a better and final Savior.
There are so many things that we could focus on in this passage,
but there's three things that I want to really just bring our attention to
that are laid out for us in these last few verses.
All this talk about Melchizedek and Jesus helps us to see
that Jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant.
It allows us to see that He is able to save to the uttermost
those who draw near to Him, draw near to God through Him.
It allows us to understand that He always lives to make intercession for us.
And so as we think about that, the first thing that I want us to see
about Jesus being a better Savior
is that we clearly see Jesus as the guarantor of a better covenant.
Jesus as the guarantor.
If you remember from last week,
one of the major themes that we talked about
was the surety of God's Word.
We talked about how when God makes a promise,
when God says something, it's true.
That it doesn't matter what He says,
if God speaks it, it's true.
And so sometimes if the author is saying,
hey, God made an oath with this, He swore by this,
then what it's really emphasizing
is the fact that we have a God who speaks,
and when He speaks, He speaks truth.
And so right here in this passage,
He speaks this truth,
and it tells us of this oath that He is making.
The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind.
You are a priest forever.
You see, all of God's promises in the new covenant
are guaranteed by Jesus Himself.
He guarantees to pay all the debts
that our sins have incurred
or will ever incur against us.
And so what this passage is reminding us of
is that God's covenant promise cannot fail
because God's priest, Jesus, cannot fail.
All of these promises cannot fail
because Jesus can't fail.
He's the guarantor of this better covenant.
A guarantor, you see,
is someone who gives a guarantee
to be responsible for someone else's debt.
Jesus has guaranteed His life, death, and resurrection
to be responsible for our debts.
All too often, we think,
Lord, if I could just be good enough.
We try to gain confidence before God
by saying, Lord, maybe if I come to church enough,
maybe, I know, I'll give 11% to the church.
And then maybe that will, you know,
kind of make up for some of these other things.
You know, I'll try to be there
every time the church doors are open.
I'll try to do this, and I'll try to do this.
And we spend so much of our time
trying to gain confidence before God
based on our own works
that we miss the point of this.
And so maybe today you need to stop
trying to be responsible for the debt
that you can't pay
and give it over to Jesus,
the guarantor of a better covenant.
But it also tells us here
that Jesus is better
because He is able to save
to the uttermost
those who draw near to God through Him.
In other words,
Jesus is able to save
to the uttermost.
He's able to save
those wretched sinners
who are spending life in prison
for crimes that we wouldn't even dare
to speak about in church
or from the pulpit.
And He's able to save
those wretched sinners
who spent their life going to church,
who spent their life
looking good on the outside,
who gave their life
to being good on the outside,
that they look good,
they look the part,
they look all these things,
that on the outside,
everybody said,
they've got it together.
And so Jesus is able to save
those who are spending life in prison
and those who are sitting in churches today
who've put their hope in themselves.
He's able to save to the uttermost.
He's able to save
in the greatest possible way.
He's able to...
So who does Jesus save to the uttermost?
It tells us those who draw near to God
through Him.
Spurgeon, reflecting on this verse,
said, he says,
Where do these people come?
They come to God,
which implies leaving something else.
If a man comes to God,
he must leave his sins
and his righteousness.
He must leave both his bad works
and his good ones.
How do they come?
They come by Jesus Christ.
Do not consider
that any will be heard
and saved by God
apart from the merits
of his Son.
This is why God is able
to save to the uttermost.
This is why God is able
to save anyone that comes to Him.
Because in coming to Him,
you're saying that there is nothing
that you can do to save yourself.
This is how Jesus is able
to save to the uttermost.
Because He realizes
that His life
is the only one
that can pay for yours.
His life is the only one
that is perfect.
His life is the only one
that is good enough.
And because of that,
by placing our faith
and our trust in Him,
by drawing near to God
through Him,
He is able to save us
wherever we are today.
But also finally,
as we think about Jesus
as a better Savior,
there is a powerful
and comforting truth
in this passage.
And that is that
He always lives
to make intercession.
He always lives
to make intercession.
Sometimes we get
a wrong picture
of what it means
for Jesus to be
interceding for us.
If you're like me,
then you probably
sometimes feel like
Jesus and God
must be getting
fed up with you.
If you're like me,
you probably feel like,
you know what?
I've sinned again.
You know,
I keep going back to God
saying, Lord,
I keep doing this.
And if you're like me,
then it's really easy
in your mind
to just think
God's getting fed up
with you.
That Jesus being
an intercessor for us
is like,
God, I've looked.
I know He's done it again.
But look,
just give Him
one more shot.
Give Him one more shot
and let's see how.
And before He has
that sentence out of His mouth,
I've done messed up again.
And so finally,
after the thousandth time
of messing up
and falling short,
God finally says,
that's it.
Enough is enough.
But this passage
lets us know
that this will never happen.
man.
This passage
lets us know
that He lives forever
to make intercession for us.
That there's never going
to come an end to that.
One of my favorite,
if not favorite authors
is Jerry Bridges.
And in one of his books,
he was reflecting on this idea
that this justice
has been satisfied.
And he wrote this.
And I've mentioned this
a time or two before
a while back.
But it's a chapter
in the book
that I continue
to go back to sometimes.
And it continues
to be helpful for me.
So I pray that it's helpful
for you as well.
But he wrote this.
He says,
Now this is where Christians
oftentimes find themselves.
Where a lot of times
we get fed up with ourselves
and we fed up with our decisions
and we fed up with our sin
and so frustrated
by our actions
that we think God
is about to just get fed up
with us
and be done with us forever.
But Bridges went on to say,
he says,
Immediately,
on the hill of those words
though came this thought,
No, you wouldn't.
Because Jesus satisfied
your justice for me.
You see,
if you are a follower of Christ,
if you've placed your faith
and your trust in Jesus,
you can never say
that God would be perfectly just
in sending you to hell
because of Jesus.
It is a very accurate statement
that apart from Jesus,
we are all perfectly
on a path to hell.
That God would be perfectly just
in sending us to hell
apart from Jesus.
But because of Jesus,
that truth changes.
Because of that truth,
our eternity changes.
This is the beauty of the gospel
that we need to be reminded of
every day.
That there is nothing we can do
to make God love us anymore.
Nothing that we have done
to make Him love us any less.
This is a truth
that we can hold on to
because of what Jesus accomplished
on the cross.
It was perfect.
It was complete.
It was finished.
And so instead of Jesus
standing before God
shaking His hand,
His head with His arms
telling us,
God, I don't know what to do with Him.
We must picture Jesus
standing before God
holding up His finished work
on the cross
and saying,
He's mine.
That's mine.
That one belongs to me.
That one's bought and paid for.
And then exhaustible love
and mercy
bought and paid for
by Christ Himself.
Look at verse 26.
It says,
For it was indeed fitting
that we should have
such a high priest,
holy,
innocent,
unstained,
separated from sinners,
and exalted above the heavens.
That sounds like
a better high priest to me.
And He says,
He has no need
like the other priests
who offer sacrifices daily
first for His own sins
and then also
for those of the people
since He did this
once and for all
when He offered up Himself.
This is a better high priest.
You know,
it's not often
that I try to go through
28 verses of Scripture
in a Sunday.
It's not often
that we'll try to take that much
and actually
this is one of those passages
that probably could have taken
three or four weeks
easily to cover that.
There's enough depth,
there's enough theological truth
to go into this
in a much deeper manner.
But the reason I wanted us
to look at the entire chapter
in one week
was because I hope
that it's able to point us
to seeing Jesus
more clearly.
Melchizedek is a fascinating
person in the Bible
and it would benefit
all of us
to spend more time
thinking about Him.
It would benefit
all of us
to start thinking
about the theological truths
of what it means
for Him to be
a high priest
and a king
and to be appointed
that have no beginning
or end.
It would benefit
all of us
to spend more time
thinking about
His connection
to and foreshadowing
of Jesus.
The fact that He was
a priestly king,
the fact that He was
appointed,
all of those things.
But ultimately,
I believe the author
is using all of this
to help us
see Jesus
more clearly.
I believe what the author
is trying to do
is trying to open up
our minds
to see Jesus
for who He truly is.
To wrap our minds
around the goodness
and the greatness
of who Christ is.
That yes,
He is a king.
He's a king of righteousness.
He's a king of peace.
He is a high priest
who is able
to make perfect
on the sacrifice
with His own life.
He's a high priest forever.
He constantly lives
to make intercession
for us.
He's trying to do
all of that
to help us
to see
that Jesus
is a better Savior.
He's the only Savior.
He's better than anything
and everything
in this world
and He's worth
giving our lives to.
A hope that clearly
points to Jesus
as the guarantor
of a better covenant.
A hope that shows us
Jesus and Jesus alone
can save to the other most
those who come to Him.
A hope that gives us
the wonderful assurance
that we have a Savior
who never ceases
to make intercession
for us.
And so today
it is my hope and prayer
that we see Jesus
as the only one
with authority
to save.
And our only hope
in this life
and the life to come
is by placing
our faith
and our trust in Him.
Some of us here today
just need to be reminded
that Jesus saves
in the greatest way possible.
And that as a child
of the King
He never looks at you
with disgust
or disappointment
but He looks
at you
as His child.
Let that be
what drives you
to live for Him
to serve Him
to be obedient to Him
possibly by changing
the way
that you interact
with those
who are closest to you.
Maybe by the way
that you use
the resources
that God has blessed you with
maybe by serving Him
in a different capacity
whether that means
changing a vocation
and going into the ministry
maybe that means
deciding and praying
about where God
wants to lead you
and your family
to serve Him.
Maybe it means
being obedient to Him
by joining this church.
Maybe it means
being obedient to Him
by following through
with believers' baptism.
That's been a prayer
of mine
over the last little while
and over the last
three weeks
in the 11 o'clock service
we've gotten to see
five baptisms
and two more
that are going to take place
next Sunday.
Many of those
or about half of those
are children
half of those
are adults
who at one point
in their life
were baptized
but they realized
that at that moment
in their life
they didn't realize
what they were doing
they were being baptized
because their friends
were because they felt
pressure to.
But now that they've
given their life
to Jesus
they want to follow
through with that baptism.
Hopefully this passage
as we see Jesus
more clearly
it causes us
to have more faith
and trust in Him
to serve Him
in greater ways.
But others in here
may need to see
and believe Jesus
for the first time.
And so I want to ask you
are you ready to come
to the Father
through faith in Christ?
Are you ready
to give your life
to Jesus?
Are you ready
to follow Him?
Are you ready to say
Lord there is no hope
on my own
I'm placing my faith
and my trust in You
because You
and You alone
can save.
Father thank You
so very much
for this passage
Lord a passage
that causes us
to jump into
some deep waters
to think more clearly
about who You are
and so Lord I pray
that You have
helped us
to see You
more clearly.
Lord that we
wouldn't become
too lazy
to understand
these truths
that are in Your Word
but Lord that we
would take the time
that we would dive
into Your Word
to see You
more clearly
for who You are.
and so Lord I pray
that as we see You
more clearly
that You would give us
the boldness
to live for You.
Help us to see You
clearly
so that we can live
for You in greater ways
whether that's changing
how we interact
with our families
by changing
how we devote
our time
and our resources
to things
maybe by changing
where we live
or what we do
or how we use
the resources
that You've given
to us.
Lord give us
a bold faith
to live for You
to serve You
with everything
that we have
and Lord I pray
that if there's
someone here today
that has never
given their life
to You
that's never
placed their faith
and their trust
in You
that You would
help them
to see You
more clearly
so that they can
realize
that You
and You alone
have the power
to save.
Lord thank You
for this passage
thank You
for what it teaches
us about You
and help us
to live for You
in greater ways.
We ask all this
in Jesus name
Amen.
I want to invite you
to stand
we're going to sing
a song of invitation
and if God is speaking
I want you to respond
as we stand together
and sing.