Hebrews 7 The King of Righteousness

Dr. Terry discusses Hebrews, focusing on chapters 7 and 8, particularly on Melchizedek and Jesus Christ's roles as priests. The significance of Melchizedek in Hebrew and Genesis is highlighted, emphasizing his unique attributes and priestly role. He delves into the comparison between the Levitical priesthood and Melchizedek's priesthood, emphasizing Jesus' role as a high priest and the importance of a new covenant and hope. The passage explores the eternal priesthood of Jesus and contrasts it with the limitations of human priests. He reveals more about Melchizedek's attributes and Jesus' assurances, setting the stage for a detailed study of these figures in the biblical context. Good morning, hoping my voice remains strong enough through the hour, we shall see how long it lasts, we shall see. You doing okay? Everybody happy? Good. We are too. Yes, she went to a birthday party yesterday, okay? One of her friends had a birthday, so she went to a birthday party. So, we have a picture to prove it, that she went to a birthday party. So, anyway, thank you all for praying for Piper, and praying for all of our other friends who have been ill, for Charlotte. Charlotte, we're so glad to see you up and about. God bless your little finger heart, and stay upright. Yes, ma'am, stay upright. And Bob, we're praying for son, praying that he'll be doing well, and continue to pray for Debbie and Charlie Sullivan. Charlie's having a very difficult time. I haven't heard from Debbie this week, but surely we'll hear something from her sometime. So, pray for all of our people, pray for each other, remember one another in prayer, and thank God that you are redeemed and born again by the blood of Jesus Christ, our redeeming son. That's what we're grateful for, amen? Amen. Okay, now, here's where we are in Hebrews. I am going to do chapter 7 and chapter 8. These are two of my favorite chapters in Hebrews. And as we get into them, you'll come to understand why. When we talked about this with the team, Brother Jim and John, I said, I'd like to do the introduction and chapter 1 and 2, and then I'd like to do chapter 7 and 8. That's all I want to do. So, where we are today, we're getting ready to do 7 and 8. Now, after I finish 7 and 8, I promised Brother Jimmy, because 5 and 6 that he did, and 9 and 10 are very much intertwined with one another, as is 7 and 8 intertwined with one another. So, Brother Jimmy is going to do chapter 9 and chapter 10 after we get through. And then we'll have one Sunday before we break for Christmas, and on that one Sunday, Brother John is going to do chapter 11. And then after Christmas, we have two Sundays in January, we have two times we do not meet, the 21st and the 28th of December, we do not meet in connection classes. And so, the first Sunday in January, I will do chapter 12, and Brother Jimmy is going to close out the book of Hebrews the next week in chapter 13. So, that's where we're going from today. Okay? Buckle your seatbelts. Since chapter 7 and chapter 8 are just like this, I can take my time because they are intertwined with one another. If I don't finish 8 today, I can have 7 today, 8 is coming up next Sunday, and we can take care of it. I want to read this passage of Scripture to you because I'm concerned about people reading the Word of God. And sometimes we start reading the Word of God and it gets a little confusing or a little complicated, and we back off because we don't understand what we're reading. And this particular two chapters, chapter 7 and chapter 8, are the chapters in which Jesus Christ is announced as one of two individuals in the entire world and the entirety of the books of the Bible as a particular person. There were only two people in the entire Bible called what Jesus is going to be named in this chapter. One was Melchizedek. Now, we're going to talk a great deal about Melchizedek later because Brother Jimmy and I both know Melchizedek has three verses in the book of Genesis. Chapter 14, verse 8 through 10. It's over. But he appears again in Hebrews. Now, he appears in Hebrews in chapter 7 and chapter 8, and his name is mentioned again in Hebrews. And it's kind of interesting, he is introduced in the two most Hebrew books that are in the Bible. The Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, known as the Pentateuch, and in the book of Hebrews, both of which books were directed primarily and importantly to Hebrew people. So, it's kind of interesting he is named in both the books, in Hebrews and in the book of Genesis, in the Pentateuch. Now, the interesting thing about Melchizedek is we don't know a lot about him, but there is a lot about him. And before you leave today, you're going to know a little bit more about Melchizedek than you think you know. And I'm going to help you understand some of the background of Melchizedek. Yes, and we'll read in this chapter where he did not have a mother. He didn't have a father. He was not a king. He did not have sin. He became a king. He was not a priest. He became a priest. Yadda, yadda, yadda. And we'll look at that in the Scripture in a few moments. Now, here are the two tasks that Melchizedek and Jesus Christ, the only two in the entire Word of God, had this title. The priest of the Most High God. Only Melchizedek and Jesus Christ bore that title in the Word of God. So since the two of them were the only ones who bore that title in the Word of God, then it's kind of evident that there must be something important about this guy Melchizedek. Surely there's more than what we see here. Well, there is. But you haven't read it. And I will tell you very assuredly, you will not read it. Because none of you will go and read the Mishnah. Nor any of you will go and read the Gemara. I don't think any of you will read the Talmud. These are all Jewish books. All of them speak of Melchizedek. So, we'll go on. If I don't stop, I won't read. So, I'm going to read. I want you to start with me in verse 11 of chapter 7. Now, the first of chapter 7 introduces Melchizedek. The last of chapter 7 introduces the other priest of the Most High God, Jesus Christ. And you're going to get a picture of the both sitting side by side and the activities of which both did. So, I'm going to read the whole thing. I have time today since I have next week's chapter 8, too. I can keep going. Therefore, love that word, don't you? It means everything that precedes getting ready to have some information told to you about it. Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there for another priest according to the order of Melchizedek? For the priesthood being changed of necessity, there is also a change in the law. Uh-oh. Now, as we get through this in a few moments and we start interpreting it, I'll tell you what that means. For you see, for whom these things were spoken belongs to another tribe from which no man has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning the priesthood. And it is yet far more evident if in the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest who has come not according to the law of fleshly commandment, but according to the power, I want you to mark this, the power of an endless life. That's the most important words in this chapter. Melchizedek died, ladies and gentlemen. Jesus Christ died, ladies and gentlemen. But Jesus Christ resurrected. And that's what he's talking about here. He's talking about according to the power of an endless life. For he testified, God testified, God testified this of his son Jesus. You are a priest forever to the order of Melchizedek. For on the one hand, there is an annulling of the former commandment because of the weakness and the unprofitableness. But for the law made nothing perfect. For the law made nothing perfect. On the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope. Our hope is not in the law. Our hope is in whom? There is a better hope than the law. There is a better hope through which we draw near to God. And inasmuch as he was not made a priest without an oath, for they had become priests without an oath, all of the other priests did not have an oath. But Jesus Christ had an oath. And here is the oath. For it was said of him, the Lord has sworn and will not relent. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Folks, that's important. That's nothing to sneeze at. By so much more, Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. He's talking about three things. And he's talking about four before he gets through. I better stop. I'll start teaching. Okay. And there were many priests because they were prevented by death to continue. That's so important. But he, because he continued forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him since he ever lives to make intercession for them. For such a high priest was fitting for us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens. Who does not need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people? For this priest, he did it once for all. That's very important. For this priest, he did it once for all. And since he did it once for all, that's all we have to say. When he offered up himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weaknesses. But the word of the oath which comes after the law appoints the son who has been perfected forever. Wow! That is a mouthful. That's a mouthful. And because it is complicated, and it has some strange feelings in it, oftentimes people start reading it, and they stop reading it, and they miss the most important fact that there is a new priest, there is a new hope, there is a new covenant, there is a new way to God. And there is a Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Now, before we finish this lesson, I'm going to show you seven attributes or characteristics of Belkhesedek. And then as we come to the end of the lesson, I'm going to show you seven assurances of the Lord Jesus Christ in relationship to his kingship. And both of them have seven. I didn't number them. Somebody higher than me numbered them. But he gave us seven. That's always right. Seven days of the week, everything's under seven. Okay. So, you've got the scripture. Now you kind of know where we're going. Now I'm going to go to the lesson, and we're going to start looking at it as we work down through the lesson. There are three very important pieces of literature that are out there. And they're for us also. Oh, by the way, if you go to Google, and you know AI has everything now, if you go to Google, you can read all of these in English. You don't have to read Hebrew. You can read all of them in English if you want to. And so we'll talk about many of these because they are very important to the Jewish people. And since these documents are very important to the Jewish people, it's kind of interesting. Melchizedek appears in the Holy Bible twice. He appears in the Hebrew Bible once. He appears in all of the Mishnah, Midrash, Garma, all of the great writings. Finally, in the Talmud, the greatest writing of the Jewish faith. And finally, he appears, believe it or not, in the Apocrypha. Now, many people don't know what the Apocrypha is. The Apocrypha is 22 books that you do not have in your Bible because they were considered to be history and not Holy Spirit inspired. We have 66 books in our Bible. The Catholic Bible, the Reims-Douay Bible, has 88 books in its Bible. And the 88 books is the addition of the 22 Apocrypha that are put in the middle between the Old and New Testament in the Reims-Douay Bible. Now, the Apocrypha is 1 and 2 Maccabees. You ever hear that? Have you ever heard of 1 and 2 Enoch? You ever hear that one? No? You've never read the Apocrypha. Sorry, as a child I read the Apocrypha. Okay? Now, since that is true, Melchizedek was listed and referred to in 1 and 2 Enoch in the Apocrypha. Ladies and gentlemen, this man is referred to in everything the Jewish people have ever done. Kind of interesting, isn't it? And, as we get into the New Testament, guess who shows up in Hebrews? Melchizedek. He shows up in Hebrews. And he is what everything is done. So, now, the interesting thing about this man is, and here comes his history, and you can read, I hope you'll read my stuff. I can't read it all to you, but I hope you'll read this stuff, because I've tried to give you the entire history of the book of the man Melchizedek. In the Old Testament, in what we call the Hebrew Bible, Now, the Hebrew Bible was the Torah. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. That was the Hebrew Bible. The rest came later. But the Hebrew Bible, when they go back to talk about the Hebrew Bible, they go back to talk about the five books of law. We call them the Pentateuch. And that's what they called the Hebrew Bible. And Melchizedek appears in the 14th chapter of the first book of the Hebrew Bible. In Genesis, chapter 14, verses 8 through 10. Now, we understand some things about him from that particular passage. Number one, we don't know where he came from. All of a sudden, he shows up in Salem, on the hill of Zion. Jerusalem, the hill of Jerusalem, before it was named Jerusalem, was named Zion. And so, Melchizedek was the priest of the city of peace in Zion. He was the king and priest of the city of Salem, the city of peace. He was the king-priest of the city of Jerusalem, later on. Jerusalem, city of Salem, peace. City of peace, Jerusalem. And so, Melchizedek rose up as the king-priest of this city, called Zion, in the old Canaanite law. And also named Salem, city of peace, later on, by the Jebusites, who were not there until the conquest of Canaan. And you remember that Joshua always went by the city of the Jebusites, the Jebus, because they were terribly difficult, warring people. And Joshua and the children of Israel left Jerusalem alone. Jerusalem, ladies and gentlemen, was not conquered by the Hebrew people until David became king. Jebusites, Jebus, Salem, Zion, all the same place. Now we call it Jerusalem. That's where this priest-king ruled. And he was the priest, and I want to impress this and implant it in your mind, he was a priest of the Most High God. Now what does that mean? Okay, let me take you back for a few minutes. There's a guy that built a boat. His name was Noah. And he and three sons and their wives and his wife rode through a flood. And when it finally settled after the flood went down, Moses and his wife and his three sons, Ham, Shem, and Jepheth, came off the ark and they went to different places. Ham is the father of the African continent. Jepheth is the father of the Asian and other and North Asian continent. Shem is the father of the golden and interesting spiritual triangle. Everything around what we now call Iran and Turkey and Jordan and Israel, all of those nations were the nations of Shem. All of the Israeli people became Shemites. They were all from the father Shem of Noah and his three sons. Later on, the Shemites dropped the H and they became Semites. And later on, we add a little bit to it and we said they are Semitic. And now what do we call them? We call them the Jews. Because they had a capital named Judah. Later on, it became the capital of the Semitic people called the Jews. And we eventually got to the place where we call them Jews. But you've heard the word Semitic. You've heard the word Semite. Every time you hear that word, it means the Jewish people. Now, here's a guy down in Ur. His name is Abram. Not Abraham. His name is Abram. And he is down there and he is a worshipper of idols. Because when he leaves there, he brings his idols with him. Now, he was not happy with his idols. And because he was not happy with his idols, he thought that surely there's something out there that's better than these pieces of rock and these little figurines and maybe this piece of wood. Maybe there's something better than that somewhere out there. Is there anything better than that? And all of a sudden, God said to him, Who? God. And Abraham, get up out of Ur-Chaldees and go to a place that I'm going to direct you. I'm going to send you a place you're not going to know where you're going and you're not going to know when you get there. Abraham, can you do that by faith? I find it interesting in the book of Hebrews, it says, For without faith, you cannot please God. Abraham said, God, sir, I don't know who you are. But boy, this is something else. And if you tell me to go up there to that place that you're telling me to go, that I don't know where I'm going, I'm going. Because I sure don't like these rocks and these figurines. They're not helping me. And he goes up to the northern part of the area above what is now Turkey. And he settles down there until his father dies. And when his father dies, God comes back to him again. He says, Now, Abraham, start south. Start walking south. Where am I going? Abraham, don't ask me where you're going. Just do it by faith. Abraham said, Okay, Lord, I don't know who you are. I trust you. I sure can't trust these figurines. They haven't done anything for me. I trust you. And he left his idols and he went down into what we now know as Canaan. And he was sojourning into Canaan. And he took his nephew Lot with him. And Lot and he had great herds and they separated. And you remember that Lot was captured by five Canaanite kings. And Abraham got his whole army and he went after the five Canaanite kings. And he conquered all of them and brought Lot back and all of their possessions. And on the way back, in chapter 14, the book of Genesis, whoop, all of a sudden, up jumps Melchizedek. That's where we meet him for the first time. And Melchizedek, in this particular chapter, and I want to go to the book of Genesis, and I want to read you what it says about him. We're in the book of Genesis, chapter 14 and following it says, Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, verse 18, chapter 14, Then Melchizedek, king of peace, Salem, king of peace, brought out bread and wine and was the priest of God most high. That's where he's named. In Hebrews, that's where Jesus is named. Two times. No more. And he blessed him, Abraham. He blessed Abram. Blessed be Abram of God most high. Now, the most high God has indicated to Melchizedek that Abram is also part of this most high God thing. That's how he got to where he is. The most high God met him down in Ur of Chaldees. The most high God directed him up north into Turkey. The most high God said, get up and go down into the center of Canaan. The most high God sends a guy who knows the most high God. Isn't that interesting? You know God has a sense of humor. He said, Abraham, you don't know where you're going. You don't know when you're going to get there. Just go. Trust me. Trust me. Have faith, Abram. Now, Abram, here comes a guy who likes me. He likes the most high God, like you have evidently shown. You like the most high God. Since both of you like us, I'm going to help you do something, Abram. I'm going to get him to bless you. And he blessed Abram of God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God most high who delivered your enemies into your hands. And he gave him a tithe of all he had. That's it. That's it. That's Melchizedek. Not much. No, it's not. But it is. And I want to show you where it is. So in this chapter, we start reading about this guy Melchizedek in chapter 7. And as we start reading about him, he says, For Melchizedek, king of priests, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham, oh, his name's been changed. When Melchizedek met him, his name was Abram. God changed his name later on. When Abraham met Melchizedek, turning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all the first being translated, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem. He was the king of righteousness and the king of Salem. That's just like Jesus. King of righteousness and king of Salem, king of peace. He did not have a father without a mother without a genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. Do you know what some people think? Some people think that Abram met Christ in a theophany. Let me take you back to Joshua. They're getting ready to invade Jericho. Joshua decides that there needs to be, Brother Jimmy taught this chapter, Joshua decides that there needs to be a reconnaissance around the city of Jericho. And so he gets everybody together and he heads for the city of Jericho. And as he heads for the city of Jericho, he gets by the wall. And all of a sudden, as he gets by the wall, somebody shows up. A theophany. The presence of a human being invested by the Spirit of God. And here's the conversation. And it came to pass in verse 13 of chapter 5 of Joshua, and it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man. He wasn't a spirit. He wasn't a vision. He's a man. He was a theophany. God invested in a human being. And a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn to him and said to him, Are you for us? Said to Joshua. Joshua said to him, Are you for us? Are you for our adversaries, the people living in these walls called Jericho? Watch what he said. So he said, No. But as commander of the army of the Lord, I have come. Here's the commander of the army of the Lord. Who's that? Jesus. And he says to him, and Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and he worshipped. And he said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? Then the commandment of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy. Where did you hear that before? Isn't it interesting? You see, Joshua met a theophany. Here it is. Abraham met a theophany. There he is. His name is Melchizedek. He meets him. And Melchizedek is talking to him. And he says, Now consider how great a man was he to whom Abraham, the patriarch, paid a tithe. I'm back in Hebrews. And indeed, those who are sons of Levi, who received the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham. That is an important statement. The loins of Abraham. Paul, just a minute, let me use your hand. If Abraham had been killed before Isaac was born, would there have ever been a Jewish nation? No. Because the Jewish nation would have died in Abraham. Now, this is kind of interesting. The Jewish people do a lot of this stuff talking about the loins of a father. For you see, we are hanging 19 stockings on our, when you come to our house on the Philip, you'll see 19 stockings hanging on our mantel. All of those kids were in my loins. Had I died, they wouldn't be here. All of Isaac and his family and Jacob and his 12 sons, all of them were in the loins of Abraham. Abraham is blessed by Melchizedek. What does that mean for the future blessing of the Jewish people? He also blessed at the same time Isaac and Jacob and the 12 sons of Israel and out of which came David. And out of which came, you tell me his name, he married Mary. Joseph. Out of the loins of Abraham came the earthly, not father, but the earthly caretaker of the Lord Jesus Christ. For the earthly, for the father of the Lord Jesus Christ was the Holy Spirit. But he, Joseph, was there. The Jewish people do a lot about that. Because they understand that out of the loins of a man comes all of the revelation of the family. And so he goes on to say, But he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Now behold the contradiction. Behold the contradiction. The lesser is blessed by the better. Abraham, although he is going to be the progenitor of the entire Jewish race, he is called the lesser. And he is blessed by he who has in his heart as the priest of the Most High God, the Most High God. Now beyond all contradiction, the lesser is blessed by the better. Here mortal man received tithes, but there he receives them of whom is witness that he lives. Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak. For he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek blessed his father. Isn't that interesting? That's something you don't pick up just by reading it. It's a wonderful thought because here's what you begin to see. The blessing of the Most High God was given to Abraham at the very early part, before God was ever named Yahweh. He was called the Most High. They didn't know his name. Where did he get the name Yahweh? He didn't get the name Yahweh until the children of Israel left Egypt. And when the children of Israel left Egypt in the book of Exodus, then he gets the name Yahweh. Why did he get the name Yahweh then? Oh, they went to a mountain. And at the mountain he said, now y'all camp here a while, I want to give you some stuff. Okay, I got a bunch of stuff I need to give you. Big couple of years, so hang on. And on the mountain, he gave them the law. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, he gave them the Torah. And in the law, Moses says, and whom shall I say has hit me? And he said, tell them I am. Learning Bush. Yahweh. Tell them Yahweh has hit you. I am has hit you. So beautiful. Jesus said to his disciples, on the night before he died, when Thomas, the twin, Didymus, was doubting. Jesus said, Thomas, Yahweh is the truth. Yahweh is the life. Yahweh is the one. I am the truth, the way, and the life. Yahweh is the truth, Yahweh is the way, Yahweh is the life. That's what he told Thomas. He said, Thomas, I'm going to tell you the same thing my father told Moses at the burning bush. You want to know who I am? Tell them Yahweh has hit you. For Thomas, I am God. Okay. So, now we come to Judaism. I tell you what, Melchizedek is all over Judaism. He's in all of their books, he's in Enoch, he's in all of their writings, he's in their materials. He's always in Judaism. But he is also, most importantly, beginning in verse 11 in Christianity. He is very important and highly identified with us. In chapter 7, chapter 8 of the book of Hebrews. Now, because of that, Jesus is the Messiah. He is a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. That doesn't mean he is Melchizedek. No father, no mother, no beginning, no ending. He did not come out of the tribe of Levi. He did not come in the way that other priests came. He came a different way as Melchizedek came. Melchizedek didn't come as the same. They both came a different way. Melchizedek was the same nature, no father, no mother, no nothing. And yet he was made priest of the Most High God. Jesus, no father, no mother, no nothing. He was made the priest of the Most High God. If you look on the second page, I have seven superior statements about Melchizedek. I will read them to you. I want you to follow me. Page 2, bottom page 2. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. The Levites would receive tithes from their countrymen. Since Aaron was in Abraham's loins, then he, as if the Aaronic priesthood were paying tithes to Melchizedek. Think about that. The Jewish people, in all of their tithing, pay tithes to the Most High God. They pay tithes to the one who represented the Most High God. Number two, the one who blesses is always greater than the one being blessed. Therefore, Melchizedek was greater than Abraham as Levi was yet in the loins of his father Abraham. And it follows that Melchizedek is greater than Levi. If he's greater than Abraham, then he's greater than all the Jews. Number three, if the priesthood of Aaron had been effective, God would not have called a new priest of a different order. If the Old Testament had been effective, if the law had been effective, but the law can never save. The law can tell. The law can shoot. The law can get you where you need to know some things, but it can't save you. Number four, the basic of the Aaronic priesthood was ancestry. It would simply mean they died. The basis of the priesthood of Melchizedek is everlasting life. That is, there is no interruption due to a priest's death. Unlike other high priests, Christ does not need to offer sacrifices every day for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. Christ made a sacrifice where? On the cross. How many? One. What was that one? Complete. Totally complete. So he sacrificed himself one time. The priesthood of Melchizedek is more effective because it requires a single sacrifice, once for all. Number seven, the Aaronic priests served in an earthly copy and shadow of the heavenly, in the tabernacle, later in the temple. They served in a shadow. Now, Brother Jimmy is going to have fun in chapter nine and in chapter ten. Because in chapter nine, you're going to be introduced not to a one-time place in the heavens. You're going to be introduced not into a temple or into a tabernacle, but in chapter nine, you're going to be taken into heaven. And you're going to watch Jesus operate and perform in heaven, sitting at the right hand of his Father. Behind the veil. Where, ladies and gentlemen, all of us are going one of these days. Okay? So, it was an effective priesthood and the Levitical priests made endless sacrifices. Jesus did it once for all. Now, look what's happening. You've got a better Redeemer. He is a better priest. Jesus is the high priest in the order of Melchizedek. Number one, we have a better priesthood. Number two, we have a better hope. Number two, our hope is not in humankind. Our hope is in Christ. So, we have a better hope. And what is getting ready to happen here is he's getting ready to start talking about the effectual priesthood of Jesus Christ, of which we read beginning in verse 11 and following. And as he talks, Jesus Christ is a perpetual high priest. He is not a high priest who will need to be replaced because he will never die. He is a constantly living, redeeming, ruling, working high priest for us, sitting in the heavenlies with God behind the veil, where one day we too shall go. Brother Jimmy will tell you about that. For it's evident that our Lord did not come from Judah, so he came from Judah. He was not from Levi. He is a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. So, we have an effective high priest. We have a hope. Number three, we have an oath from God. God said in this chapter, I am going to make my son, Jesus Christ, the high priest of your salvation. And he did it by saying, the Lord has sworn and will not relent, you are a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. And so, God swore the oath. Who swore the oath of the other priests? The living high priests throughout centuries. Their oath was a human oath. Their oath was only good for as long as the priest lived. When the priest died, the oath was over. And the high priest had to make another high priest, and he had to make another oath. But when God said, I am going to make an eternal oath, and that oath is, Jesus Christ will be the high priest of the God Most High eternally forever. By so much more, Jesus becomes the surety of a better covenant. Whoa! We have a third thing. We have a great high priest. We have a new hope. It's not in the law. It's in the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and he is the high priest, and God made him such. We have a new covenant. The old covenant was written in the blood of goats and bulls. The new covenant is written in the blood of Jesus Christ. For it says, but he, because he continues forever, has become unchangeable in the priesthood. Therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him since he ever lives and makes intercession for us to him. Jesus Christ lives forever. We have a new covenant. We don't have to kill a bull. We don't have to kill a goat. What we have to do is demonstrate faith. And when you demonstrate faith, Abraham said in Chaldees, I don't know who you are, sir, but I know this. These little figurines and these little pieces of rock and this hunk of wood over here, it's not doing me any good. So surely I can do better than that. Tell you what, sir, I'll trust you. Now, in Genesis 14, I want you to notice the total process of redemption because the same process happens. We're talking now about redemption. We're talking now about the fact that he can save to the uttermost. Listen what happens in Genesis. In Genesis 15, God comes to Abram and he says, Abram, I want you to be mine. And the scripture says, watch the process, Abraham believed God. That's it. That's too simple. I've got to do something. Do I pray? No. Do I jump up and down and holler? Not right now. You mean all I have to do is believe in God? Abraham believed God and that belief was counted for his righteousness. May I take you back to your day? I don't know where you were. Barbara was 5. I was 17. You might have been 10. You might have been 30. You might have been 40. But there was a day when you said, I'm tired of all these gods around me. I'm tired of this stuff. That's a bunch of junk. I don't like these little cigarettes. I don't like this stuff. This is just stuff. God, I want to trust you. That's pretty simple, folks. It is so simple, it is profound. You see, Abraham believed God and it was accounted for his righteousness. What did you do? You believed God. You prayed. You said, Lord, man, I'm a mess. I'm a sinner. God, I'm going to hell. I won't go there. Lord, you said if I would believe in you, you would save me. I don't know who you are. I don't know where you are. I don't care. Lord, I believe in you. Done. Forever. Eternally. In the heavens. Sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, ladies and gentlemen, that's what Abraham did. But Abraham was blessed. Now, we've got something getting ready to happen here. What's getting ready to happen is in the Old Testament Judaism, in Old Testament Judaism, blessings came on Father Abraham. And Father Abraham took Isaac. And Father Abraham taught Isaac the way of worshipping the God he met that he said, I believe you. And he taught Isaac. And Isaac taught Jacob. And Jacob taught his sons. And Jacob chose Levi. And now comes the Levitical priesthood and the Aaronic priesthood, which was good for that period of the Old Testament. But then comes on the scene in the fullness of time, a man, Jesus Christ. And in the fullness of time, Jesus Christ makes his appearance on the earth. And he comes to bring us the new covenant. Not written in the blood of goats and doves, but written in his eternal blood. And so, it says, Therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him since he ever lived to make an intercession for them. For such a high priest was fitting for us. You've got to look at that word fit in the Scripture, folks. It's there a lot. It may be in a participial form like this one. Fitting. It may be the little bitty word F-I-T. Fit. There's a great song that says, You can't come to salvation by your own work, nor can fitness fondly dream. You can't fondly dream of being fit enough to be in the kingdom of God. Don't let conscience let you linger. Nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires is to feel the need of him. Do you know that song? Let not conscience let you linger. Nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires is you feel the need of him. Let not let your anger... Do you remember that song? A great old gospel song. We don't sing it much anymore because it's in the hymnal. We don't sing it much anymore. But you see what it says? It was fitting for him, Jesus Christ, to be our Redeemer. Now, next week, we're going to pick up in chapter 8 for chapter 8 starts talking about the majestic eternality of the redemption of Jesus Christ who was in the form of and was like a Melchizedek, but now eternal in the heavens and how he is daily speaking to God in your behalf. Whispering in his ear, Lord, he just told me something. You need to know how much he loves you. Father, she just told me what she did today. It was for your kingdom. She loves you. He is sitting at the right hand of God making intercession for us. Jesus, the Redeemer, the indestructible priest, never to die, never to go away, never to leave you. Jesus said, I will never leave you nor will I ever forsake you. I will be with you until the very end. Amen. Father God, we thank you for this wonderful passage that gives us the information about the indestructible life of our Savior Jesus Christ and how he, who was a priest and is the priest of the Most High God, in the order of this man Melchizedek who blessed Abraham, who gave us the Old Testament, who brought us into the New Testament in order that Christ Jesus might be born in the fullness of time. And in the fullness of time, Christ Jesus becomes the indestructible priest king. Thank you, Father, for that wonderful promise in your Word. And we glorify you as we go out to minister in your kingdom. And that's our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. See you next week. I'll speak up right there.