All right, Hebrews chapter 7. Allow me some words of introduction to this particular chapter, kind of a unique chapter, Hebrews chapter 7. Sometimes I have wondered, and I wonder if you wonder, about some of the characters, the on record in the Old Testament, centuries and centuries before Christ. I have wondered how clear their understanding was that they belonged to the great unfolding story and how specifically did they know certain things about Messiah's coming. And there's no way to determine in a detailed manner exactly what they knew, but scripture bears witness. You know, the characters, whether it be Abraham or Moses or David or the prophets, that they had a sense, they did have a sense of a great picture and of coming Messiah that way. Particularly the Apostle Peter speaks about the prophets in 1 Peter in this manner. And listen carefully, concerning this salvation, right? He's talking about prophets, but he's talking about the gospel, right? Concerning this salvation, The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. That's an interesting way to put it. The Spirit of Christ in the prophets predicting specifics, the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. This is 1 Peter 1. Verse 12, it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in bringing things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Key phrase, it was revealed to them. They were not serving themselves. So there's a glimmer, I don't know exactly how precise, but they knew that there was a salvation being proclaimed for the future generations. I think of King David similarly. He had to have a sense, and I think the scripture's on record, that he had a sense that the promises made to him were very great indeed and would culminate in an ultimate Messiah, Savior. Think of the promise to him in 2 Samuel 7, 12, the wording, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I think that's bigger than Solomon, you know, and I think David, He probably had a sense that Solomon was a foreshadowing. Solomon built the house of God, you know, in one sense, and all of that. During Solomon's time, the borderlands of all the promised, promised land were finally reached. They hadn't been reached with Joshua. But all of the land was taken that had been promised land. I'll establish his kingdom, the throne of his kingdom. But I think there's a sense in which He must have had a taste that it's yet even grander than that. I think also of how the Apostle Peter speaks of David's understanding in writing Psalm 16. In Acts, Peter mentioned Psalm 16, and particularly the phrase, you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your holy ones see corruption. Listen to how Peter speaks about David. Being therefore a prophet, this is Acts chapter two, being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn on oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on the throne, He foresaw, and he spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, or would his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we're all witnesses. You know, what's the key phrase then? He foresaw. He was looking ahead, calls him a prophet. you know, in all of that. I don't know how exactly he foresaw, you know, how precisely he foresaw, but there's a glimmer. And very especially, there is a glimmer in Psalm 110. We just sang it, I'm gonna read it again. Very especially in Psalm 110. Listen to the words he says. The Lord says to my Lord. That's an interesting phrase by itself. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments. From the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn He will not change His mind. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of His wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook on the way, and therefore He will lift up His head." That's bigger than Solomon. Now again, Solomon fulfills things like a foothill, but Jesus is the mountain for that. And even ever after David's time, this was received as messianic. The Apostle Peter speaks of it that way on Pentecost. This is messianic. And I think it was even understood to be such, because the phrase, sitting at the Lord's right hand until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet, that's really bigger than Solomon. But there's something deeply important in Psalm 110 that is quoted in our passage in Hebrews 7. The Lord has sworn, and he will not change his mind, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's not ordinary. Kings weren't priests, not in Moses' law. Right? Uzziah got in a bunch of trouble about that one. Kings were not priests. And yet, David is speaking about a promised one, calling him Lord, saying he'll sit at the right hand of God. All of his enemies will be put to his feet, and he will be priest. So David is saying Messiah will be priest. Priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. And that's why I think Melchizedek gets brought up in Hebrews 7. I think when I introduced Hebrews to the men at the prison, I may have been a little too light-hearted at the beginning, saying, you know, we're going to dig in deep here. We're going to talk a lot about priesthood and a lot about detail and there's going to be a whole chapter on Melchizedek. I don't think I should have done that. Because this is value. This is value. Value for us. You know, we might scratch our head and say, what do I even know about Melchizedek? but it's value for us in Hebrews throughout and here, really rather especially here. We are learning what we need in a representative at the throne of God to be our representative and offer sacrifice that we might be accepted by God. Nobody but the Lord Jesus can be that. And Jesus is presented in Hebrews as the Son of God, the Creator of all things, the Heir of all things, the Sustainer of all things, the Atoning Sacrifice, greater than angels, a word more direct than even the word of Moses, which they respected greatly. But He's got to be those things. All of our hope of entering into the rest that was promised with promised land, that rests on Jesus alone, and Jesus came willing to even suffer temptations like us. He understands us. He understands our need. He can represent us, and we can go with confidence to the very throne of God. The way has been now open, just like the curtain ripped I don't know if it mentions that, but the curtain ripped when Christ died. Access, access, access to the throne of God without fear. All of that's in Jesus Christ, and He's the only one who can resolve the transaction that needs to be resolved for peace to be made between mankind and God. The priesthood system was not a false system, but it was never meant to be an end in itself. This priest has to come. Has to come, and that's one of the reasons why he's gonna mention Melchizedek here. I think the people reading it at first needed to know two things. Number one, this is a valid priesthood. Secondly, it is a necessary priesthood. A valid priesthood and a necessary priesthood. The first 17 verses are on, this is for real, this can be, and you already know it. Hebrews, you already know it. It can be, because you recognize Melchizedek and all of that. But secondly, it is a necessary priesthood for our salvation. You know, why do people scratch their heads when you mention Melchizedek? Because there's only three verses in Genesis that even talk about him. Genesis 14, there are three verses and no further explanation. And then you get one more mention in David in Psalm 110, and that's all you get, until we get to Hebrews 7. So why? But I think there really is reason why, and I hope to show it as we read. There are 28 verses. Are you ready? Here we go. Hebrews 7. For this Melchizedek king of Salem The priest of the Most High God met Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him. And to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first by translation of His name, King of Righteousness, and then He's also King of Salem. That is King of Peace. He's 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 tenth 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 descendants of Abraham. But this man, who does not have his descent from them, received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It's beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case, tithes are received by mortal men. 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. Now, if perfection, and this is the second half. The first half is the validity of a priesthood like that. The second half here is the, the need, the necessity of Christ, because the other priesthood was not in itself adequate. Verse 11, now, if perfection had been attained through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need would there be for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar, for it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah." And in connection with that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests. This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek. who has become a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witness of him, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. For on the one hand, a former command is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness. For the law made nothing perfect. But on the other hand, a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to God, 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 he will not change his mind. You are a priest forever. And this makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in 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 such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to 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." That's not just a bunch of dusty Old Testament stuff. You and I are learning essential things about who Christ is toward our hope. It has to be him. He's the only one with these characteristics. Let's begin talking just about the category of the validity of this priesthood. I think this author of Hebrews is really helping his readers because he's beginning with things they're familiar with and that they already acknowledge. They already acknowledge this. They have huge respect for Abraham. And when Abraham himself recognizes a priest, that's a big deal, you know. And so he's beginning with them, I think, where it could really, really help them. Get timing here, too. Abraham is way before Moses, a long time before Moses. King David is a long time after Moses. And that time sequence of a valid priesthood the law of God, the tutorial about priests, but then a later prophecy about Messiah. That's essential in this in this reasoning for understanding what's up. Do you remember the circumstance, Bible quiz again, do you remember the circumstance of Melchizedek showing up? What was happening at the time? You can't look, can't look, can't look. What was happening at the time? It is just at that Genesis 14, 15 combo there that we touched on 15 this morning. It was just after, what was it called in our passage, the slaughter of the kings. But think about it in this way. Canaan was not a one king nation ever before all of that, until King David and Solomon and all of that. It was not a one king nation. It was tribal, local tribal rulers, and there were lots of them. What had happened in some of the previous years to this incident where Melchizedek shows up is that five of those kings had been dominant. And there was one named Kiddur Larmer or something like that, among them that was the dominant king. But five kings had been dominant over four and they required, you know, tribute and that kind of thing. That's nine kings. You know, that's a lot of local rulers, tribal, local rulers like that. Five over four, and they had been dominant for 12 years. And then these four rebelled and they conquered them again. But one of those four is the king of Sodom. and one of those four, that's where Lot lives, right? So it's the conflict of war during which Lot was taken captive, and that's the circumstance, and Abraham had to fight. One of the beauties of the account in Genesis is that God had been faithful to Abraham. How strong was Abraham? Sheik is not the right word, because that's an Arab thing, but the idea of a nomad, living in tents with great local strength. In Abraham's company there were 318 trained soldiers. How does that happen? It's not his own kids. 318 trained soldiers, which means his entourage is larger than that. He's a dominant nomad in the area. He's in alliance with three brothers over across the river, and they all fight against these five kings, and they win. That's God's faithfulness. Have you ever thought of Genesis this way, too? Most of the narrative account of Genesis is there to show that God was keeping His promises. It's not even there necessarily to spend most of its time on Abraham as such a hero. You know, but really it's God keeping his promises and God had kept his promise in that way. This is five kings on four. Abraham is as dominant as any of those kings. And there's another three across the river. That's, you know, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13. There's all these kings and whatever. And after the fight, The king of Sodom comes to Abraham thinking, I'm going to try to make a treaty of some kind, right? You won all that stuff back. Look, could I have my people? You can have all the plunder. Take all our stuff. You're that dominant of a king in the area, take all of our stuff. We just want the people. And Abraham says, no, I don't want it said later that you made me rich. No, I'm not going to go there. But then shows up seemingly out of nowhere. a king from Salem. Location's not unimportant here, too. Salem is eventually Jerusalem, you know, the area and whatever. And Salem is like Shalom. It means peace, and he is king of Salem. He's also by his name's translation the king of righteousness, Melchizedek. You know, Melek in Hebrew is king. Melki is my king. And Sedeq is righteousness. So this is my king of righteousness showing up. But what is he doing in the circumstance of war between 13 rulers? War mixed up among 13 rulers. What is he doing? He's coming to declare peace formally with Abram and bless him in the name of God assigned by God to be in the position for offering blessing. And the readers in Hebrews, they knew that. They knew that he's valid. He's a valid priest of God. There's not a whole lot of information. Like all the other priests, they have a genealogy record in the Bible, but we don't have any genealogy record for him. We don't know when he was born. We don't know when he died. None of that. But without that, he is still valid priest. And I think their understanding as they read, okay, we'll give you that. He was for real. He was a real priest, you know, back then. A lot of, I think, their conflict would have been, does Christ fit the law of Moses? I mean, that's a lot of the conflict. He's from Judah. He's not from Aaron. How can you talk priest about that? He's proving it to them here. There was a valid priesthood before Moses. They say, okay. Some, by God's grace, say okay as that goes. And again, who blesses whom, the greater blesses the lesser. Abraham acknowledges him and all their respect for Abraham. Oh, this is the patriarch. This is the one who received the promises. He recognized this priesthood as valid that way. direct appointment of God in that way. And we'll get to some other things, but let's move on to the category of, so there is this kind of priesthood and they know it. Now it's a necessity of who can represent us rightly. Again, the Mosaic priesthood, the command of God at Mount Sinai was not a false priesthood, but it was never, never, never meant to be an end in itself. It was meant. And the time sequence is so important, right? You've got a valid priesthood. They're beginning in this argument to recognize the validity of a priesthood without descent from Aaron. That's valid. But then sure enough, after Moses in prophecy by David, their king, comes the need for another priest. This priest has to come. This one who is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and who will sit at the right hand of God until his enemies, that has to come. So that's how he's reasoning with them. We're gonna talk about the necessity of priesthood. Did you see, as I was reading from verse 11 on, did you see, or was it 17 on or whatever? Did you see how the previous priesthood was listed as inadequate in and of itself? I made the men make that list for me, looking down at the page. I won't make you speak out loud. But in what ways was it inadequate? Because, I mean, words of inadequacy are pretty strong here. If perfection could have been attained, why is there a need for another priest? Nothing is made perfect by the law. That's words of inadequacy that are there. But there are also reasons given for the inadequacy. And some of these would include this. These priests died over and over and over and over and over again. They are priests that died. No earthly descendant of Abraham can be your representative at the throne of God because they get old and they die. in that way. Another thing that you find in there is just the fact that their sacrifices were repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated. Later on in chapter 9 in Hebrews, it will state definitively that the repeated nature of the sacrifice was a lesson to show that the access to God was not yet fully revealed. The tabernacle was supposed to teach that. And it did, in one sense. I mean, think of there always is a barrier. between the people and God. Always a barrier of curtain there. Nobody goes back there except the priests. And nobody goes to the other place except the very high priest. And so that's another thing. The repeated nature of those sacrifices. The priests are sinners themselves. They can't be the perfect lamb to offer sacrifice in that way. So there's a number of ways in which the earlier priesthood is listed as inadequate and Christ is listed as adequate. What are the characteristics of our Lord that show His adequacy in these words? I mean, it's this magnificent theology of Christ, the Christology of Hebrews 7. It's not a bunch of dusty old stuff about Melchizedek. We're learning about essential things about Christ that way. And a couple of those would be, as such, He was made a priest on an oath of God like that. Again, priests are designated in the descent of Aaron on law, but this is by the oath of God. It is prophesied by your King David. That's huge, that way. And he is the guarantee of a better covenant. He is not prevented by death. And Hebrews is full of these things, by the way. I mean, the list could be quite long. Christ's adequacy, I think I started that list at the beginning. Son of God, creator of all things, heir of all things, atoning sacrifice, you know, all of that. But the list goes on. for the Lord Jesus' adequacy as priest, including such things as he is an indestructible life. Isn't that a good, I like that translation, an indestructible life. And also Hebrews is full of the idea that he doesn't serve at a model, he serves at the real thing, not the model, the real thing, the real thing. In the very presence of his father at the throne of judgment in heaven, he serves." And it says, verse 26, it is indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest. And here are the credentials. Holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. He doesn't have any need to offer sacrifice for his own sins. He offers one sacrifice for all Once for all, that's said six times in Hebrews. Once for all. And again, that sacrifice lasts forever. The other high priests were weak, but he is not in that way. So all the adequacy of Christ there. I think that's why it's brought up in the way that it is. For application, it is helpful, I think, for our souls. to reflect, this is the Savior we need, there's nothing else. No other rituals. I think human beings are tempted always to think my safety with God is based on measuring up to duty. And we even create rituals. I mean, not we, but folks create rituals. If I do this and do this and do this, that's just a characteristic. It's always been a characteristic human problem. But Jesus is enough in one sacrifice. And it's not like, well, he's willing to forgive me, but I've got to measure up and measure up and measure up and measure up. It is one sacrifice for all. And he represents us without breach, without fail, without interruption. That's the word I'm looking for. He represents you without interruption in God's presence. Your own sins, of which you're aware, right? You're aware of your own sins. He represents you now, this moment, the next moment, the next one after that, and forever and ever and ever. It's the nature of his character as priest. And so that's why I wanted to close with a quote. It's a familiar quote. Maybe I'll give you the reference at the end, not at the beginning. It's a familiar quote, but think of it in terms of what's just been said about who he is for our hope, able to represent us like that. Here's the familiar quote. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It's God who justifies. Who is He who condemns? Jesus Christ is the One who died. More than that, who is raised, who is at the right hand of God, and who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, as it's written, for your sake, or being killed all day long, as were regarded as sheep to be slaughtered?" No! In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him. who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus our Lord." It's who He is for our salvation, nothing else. can resolve what's needed. He can resolve it deeply, fully, once for all, saving to the uttermost. We don't need to fear. He is at God's side this moment, this moment, and will be there forever. 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. Let's pray. We need the truth. We need the hope. We need the experience of hope. We need trust granted to us, granted deep. And whenever we flounder, and we need to know You, Lord Jesus, as You are, the love, Father, the love for sending Your Son, not withholding even Your Son, and somehow we need to Just have that sink in. And I pray that tonight in Jesus' name. Amen.