Thank you to turn your Bibles again to the book of Hebrews. Just briefly in chapter five, where the author of Hebrews begins to talk about the priesthood of Jesus Christ in detail, recall in chapter one he had stated that he made purgation for sin. At the end of chapter two, he says he is a faithful high priest able to succor us. At the beginning of chapter three, he says, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus Christ. At the end of chapter four, he talks about the fact that we have a priest who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmity. At the end of chapter one, end of chapter two, beginning of chapter three, end of chapter four, he touches on priesthood. Now he gets into that subject in particular. In chapter five, he talks about the qualifications of priesthood. They are two. We'll comment on that directly. In chapter seven, eight, nine, and ten, he develops the theme of priesthood in great detail. In chapter seven, he is a better priest because he comes from a line of better priests, the Melchizedekin line as opposed to the Aaronic. In chapter eight, he is a better priest because he administers a better covenant, the new covenant, as opposed to the Mosaic covenant. In chapters nine and ten, he is a better priest because he offers a better sacrifice himself as opposed to all the sacrifices of the Old Testament law. It is interesting in chapters seven, eight, nine and ten, the author at each of his points makes a quotation from the Old Testament. He loves the Old Testament. In chapter seven, he quotes from Psalm one hundred and ten. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's how he proves he's from a better line of priests. In chapter eight, he quotes from Jeremiah thirty-one, the New Covenant chapter, demonstrating that he is a better priest because he administers that better covenant. In chapters nine and ten, in demonstrating that he is a better priest because of his sacrifice, he quotes from Psalm forty. When he cometh into the world, he saith, A body hath thou prepared me. Sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not. But a body thou hast prepared me. So in the three main developments of the priesthood, chapter seven, a better line, he quotes a hundred and ten, Psalm. Chapter eight, a better covenant, he quotes Jeremiah thirty-one. Chapter eight, chapters nine and ten, A better sacrifice, he quotes Psalm forty, a very structured and logical book. Chapter five tells us the two qualifications for being a priest. These are always the case. He must be called and he must be human. We'll just read the opening four verses of chapter five because it is there stated. For every high priest taken from among men is ordained, the call for men and things pertaining to God. that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin, who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way. For he himself also is compassed with infirmities. And by reason of this he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And no man takes this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. He must be human, compassed about with the infirmities of humanity. He must be called. No man advertises for priesthood. He is called of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, because of his humanity, is encompassed about with the feelings of our infirmities. We have already addressed that. He is likewise summoned of God to that office. He is called of God to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. In the rest of the verses up to verse ten we see the humaneness of Christ. We see his call. We see him particularly in Gethsemane where he was encompassed about with the feelings of our infirmities in a way that perhaps nowhere else we see that demonstrated. When I think of Gethsemane I think of many of the words that are used to describe the Lord's as he is now coming into that place of being face to face with being made sin. They're good human words. We hardly ever ascribe them to the God man. He was astonished. Here he feared. He was depressed. Distressed. All of that of the Lord Jesus Christ. We as super-pious Christians say we should never be that way. Distress, depressed, astonished, surprised. Sometimes we try to be more spiritual than the Lord himself. These are human characteristics in no way associated with a sinful nature in our lives. There are times when the fitting response is astonishment. fear, distress, yea, depression. And our Lord experienced that. He was compassed about with all the same infirmities that you and I have apart from sin. And because of that He's qualified to be our priest. Chapter seven. Chapter seven is perhaps the most carefully ordered chapter in all of the book of Hebrews in establishing the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Aaronic priesthood because he comes from a better line of priests. In the opening three verses, he gives us a summary of the events of this Melchizedek, that strange character recorded in Genesis And the story is one we know well from Sunday school classes in which Lot is carried away captive with all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah. There was war between a number of kings. Lot falls prey to that. Abraham and his armed forces go marching north all the way to Dan. They recover. They spoil. They free Lot. They're coming back from victory. And strangely enough, they meet another king, a human being, I think, and king over that ancient city of Salem, to be Jerusalem later. And that king comes out to meet Abraham, returning from this victory. And upon coming out, he blesses Abraham, and Abraham pays tithes to him of all his possessions, of all the spoils of victory. And on that little historical event, seemingly a minor event recorded in Genesis fourteen, the author of Hebrews demonstrates the superiority of Christ to the Aaronic priesthood. And he does it in a number of steps. The logic is seen in verses four through twenty-two. The superiority of the Melchizedekan priesthood to the Aaronic based on logic. And then in twenty-three to the end, the chapter based on function. First of all, that well-reasoned section based on the logic of this event. Verse four, after telling about the historical setting just briefly, the author says, Now consider how great this man was unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi who received the office of the priesthood have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, so they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he with the Son is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction, here's his first conclusion, the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom it was the witness that he live in. I hope you all understand that. It's complicated, really. What he is saying is this. Melchizedek is greater than Abraham for two reasons. This is his first statement. Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. If you like geometry, treat it as a theorem. Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. Two reasons. Here they are. One, Melchizedek blessed Abraham. Two, Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. Those two points support his first point. of logic that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. But that's not what we're trying to prove. He is not trying to prove that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. He is trying to prove that Christ's priesthood is greater than the Aaronic priesthood. First step is Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. You're all with me there? Let's say that. Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. That's the first step. But there's more. Verses nine and ten is the second step. And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes, in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. Now Levi paid tithe. So that's what he's saying the second time around. The second point is Levi paid tithe. Now how in the wide world did Levi pay tithe? Where was Levi at this time? Well look, you got Abraham, who's next? Isaac, who's next? Jacob, who's next? Levi. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi. So you got Levi's father who is Jacob and his grandfather who is Isaac and his great-grandfather Look, Levi wasn't around, was he? This is great-granddaddy doing it. Now, how in a wide world could Levi be paying ties to Melchizedek when Levi was not even a glimmer in Abraham's eye at this point? Bob has already given us an extended sex lesson on circumcision. I'll go a little bit farther. I hate to think of the theme of this morning, you know. Don't visualize it, please. Yeah, this is what we're... In the loins of Abraham, potentially there. The progenitive of the race. All the progeny, all the children that would issue forth are there in the seed, in the loins of Abraham. Potential. And the author of Hebrews says, allow me to speak this way, as it were. You see that little phrase in that opening verse? And as I may so say, for the case of the argument, let me use this reasoning, that Abraham was paying tides to Melchizedek, but really Levi was as well, because he was in the loins of Abraham. The potential for the whole family was there. Now, logically, this step is. Levi is equal to Abraham. He wants us to view it that way. He wants us to view it as Levi is doing what Abraham is doing. Seminal headship is the theological term. He is there in the loins of Abraham. Levi is equal to Abraham. Okay, let's get the steps straight so far. First of all, Melchizedek is superior to Abraham. Two reasons, because Melchizedek blessed Abraham. Second reason, Abraham paid ties to Melchizedek. Next step, Levi is equal to Abraham because he was in the loins of Abraham. The third step is seen in verses eleven through nineteen. And it is here that he introduces the concept that comes out of a verse in Psalm hundred ten. In verse fourteen it says, For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood, and is yet far more evident after the similitude of Melchizedek, there arises another priest who is made not after the law of carnal commandments, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." The author of Hebrews has a very unique way of coming to his theological deductions. Over and over again, as he reads Testament and sees one truth and then later a truth that modifies that he is reading through the Old Testament and he is reading in the passages that we are considering in Joshua when the children of Israel had received the law and the wilderness wanderings and are entering into the land and he's reading about the covenant the mosaic covenant Moses goes up into Mount Sinai and gets the Ten Commandments and the other commandments, some six hundred and thirteen different specific items of procedure, the moral law and the civil law and the ceremonial law. And he comes down with this detailed code of practice and worship. And there's the Mosaic Covenant. and the children of Israel from the time of Exodus onward, from the time they receive that function under that law. They are accountable for that law. Circumcision is the sign of that relationship that they have entered into with God. Oh, that the Lord said, we will do, they echo. And they're under that law. They're to keep the Passover and the other feasts of the Lord. They are to be holy to the Lord. They're to cut off the flesh. and be dependent upon their God to give them the victory. And for all those years, they function that way. And the author of Hebrews, this side of Calvary, is reading through his Bible. And he sees Mosaic law, Mosaic law, Mosaic law, Mosaic law, Mosaic law. It's all the way through, through the prophets. And he's reading in either Ezekiel or Jeremiah one day. And he's reading. And he comes to Jeremiah thirty-one. And he sees, behold, I will make a... What's the word? New covenant with the house of Israel. And it's a better one. We'll talk about this later. But when he sees that word new, he's, oops, that says something about Exodus. It makes that one old. Now he does the same thing in relationship to priesthood here. He's reading along and... He's reading about the Aaronic priesthood, again, part of that mosaic law, and you have to come from the tribe of Levi, and you have certain procedures and washings and all the rest, all that detail. And he sees those priests in the Old Testament as they function. And he understands that whole priesthood. In fact, if the person that I think wrote this book, wrote it, he was a Levite himself. He knew all about priesthood. And he's reading along, and there's one little verse tucked away in a psalm, the only other verse in the whole Bible to talk about this. And in psalm, a hundred, ten, it says of the Son, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Order of Melchizedek? That's not Aaron. What is this? And the author takes Genesis fourteen and Psalm one hundred and ten, puts those two things together and says, I make a conclusion. There is another priesthood. And our Lord does not spring out of the tribe of Levi that has to do with priesthood. Our Lord springs out of the tribe of Judah. The tribe of Judah has to do with what? Kingship. The scepter shall not depart from Judah. nor a lawgiver till Shiloh comes. So the rest comes. And he says it is evident that our Lord is not a Levite. He is from Judah. Yet Psalm-a-hundred-ten allows, in fact, predicts a priesthood that will supplant the Aaronic priesthood. And our Lord Jesus Christ is identified as the one who will come from that tribe and be that new priest, a Melchizedekan priest, an everlasting priesthood. And in Hebrews, the author says, make that substitution. He implies that at least. Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. Levi is equal to Abraham. Consequently, Melchizedek is greater than Levi. Substitute, Christ is equal to Melchizedek. That's his line of priest. Consequently, putting those steps of logic together, we have this fact that Christ is the priest that comes from the better line of priest, the Melchizedek in line, that received tithes and blessed the Aaronic line in Levi. Logically, the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ is a superior priesthood because the Melchizedek and priesthood itself is a better one than the Aaronic priesthood. You see that in Abraham and Levi. Now we are priests. I have toyed with the idea of determining what our priestly line is. If Christ is our high priest and his line of priest is Melchizedek. And we have been made priests along with him. What kind of priests are we? You know you're not Franciscan priests. You're not Paulus. You're not Jesuit. Wouldn't be too bad if you were Augustinian, but we're not Augustinian. We are Melchizedekan priests. That's our line of priests because our high priest is a Melchizedek and priest. We belong to the highest priesthood ever seen on the face of the earth by virtue of our identification with Jesus Christ. Now logically the priesthood is superior but you know it doesn't particularly thrill me that the Maybe it should, but it doesn't, that Levi was there in the loins of Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedek. Does that turn you on? Logically, logically that superiority, but what is the functional superiority? This is far more important. The order is superior by virtue of what was done historically, but in the rest of the chapter we have the functional superiority. Verse twenty-three. They truly were many priests because they were not allowed to continue by reason of death. The priesthood in the Old Testament was a priesthood of many priests, high priests, because they died. They were not allowed to continue because they died and they died and they died and they died. And with the dying of priests, you had a great variation of the quality of priesthood. Some priests were good, some were terrible. Most were terrible. But the Lord Jesus Christ never died because he is a Melchizedek in peace. Now that gets a little tricky. Did Melchizedek die? Depends on how you approach the question of who Melchizedek was. Some people say Melchizedek was a theophany, that is a man-like appearance of God. I don't buy that. Because if that's the case, then Christ is being a type of himself. And I've never seen that elsewhere in Scripture. In Genesis, as well, you have a lot of literal earthly kings running around. If you'd read the names, you'd find out that you have some strange-named kings. I love the name Ketileomer. I'd love to name a son that, wouldn't you? Isn't that a good name? Ketileomer just sort of rolls off your tongues. They're a whole series of real literal live kings. Five on one side, five on the other. And then there's Abraham, a priest himself of the sort, a patriarchal priest. and then you have Melchizedek. And to interpret that man different than all the other kings that are so named seems rather illogical to me. But it says this Melchizedek never died. In the opening verses, which we didn't read, it says he was without mother and father. That's according to the record. According to what we know of Melchizedek, he comes on the scene. We don't know anything about his parents. We don't know anything about his death. According to the record, all we see is a live Melchizedek. He's a living Melchizedek. I think he was born and I think he died. But the record, may I say this in a sanctified way, the record is rigged. It is not only important what Scripture does say, it's important what it doesn't say. And the author of Hebrews is building a great doctrine on what Scripture doesn't say. That priesthood of Jesus Christ is an everlasting priesthood. Like Melchizedek, you only see him alive. Like Jesus as a priest. He is only alive. He is a living priest. He does not die. We do not have to be fearful that some inferior priest is going to replace Jesus Christ. Because of that, something is secure. Verse twenty-four, but this man, Jesus, I love this, but this, because he continues ever as an unchangeable priesthood. The priesthood of Jesus Christ is always the same. You can count on him who always react in the right way, always respond, always give us what is needful at a given moment. Intercede for us in an appropriate way. And because of this, our eternal salvation is secure. Verse twenty-five, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for them. That's our kind of high priest. Because he is always alive, He has conquered sin and death and hell. He is at the right hand of God, ever living to make intercession. Because of that, He is able to save us to the uttermost. Our salvation, the eternal security of our salvation, does not depend on us holding on. It does not depend on our perfection, else none of us would be saved. It depends. on the continuing work of the Lord Jesus Christ in making intercession for us, and He ever liveth to make intercession. Therefore, He saves us to the uttermost. Salvation is of the Lord, past, present, and future. It's His work that saves, not ours, His work, and He saves us to the uttermost. We sin. And as an advocate, Jesus Christ, without us even knowing about it, Jesus Christ goes to work and pleads the finished work of the cross. God looks at us as perfect in Jesus Christ. If any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, goes on cleansing us from all sin. and we are secure. That's why Jesus' priesthood is better, because He never fails. He never dies. He ever lives to make intercession for us. And consequently, He saves us to the uttermost. The second reason the priesthood of Jesus Christ is a superior priesthood is seen in verse twenty-six, for such a high priest was fitting for us. who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the people. The Lord never had to offer sacrifice for his own sin, did He? Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Our high priest is a perfect high priest because he knew no sin, he did no sin. But he understands sin in a way that no one else does. Because he was in all points tempted. And overcame temptation. Who really knows about temptation? The person who succumbs or the person who resists. the resistance. If a temptation comes my way and I succumb to it after three minutes of temptation, I don't know much about the force of sin. It's when you struggle with it and resist and fight and are victorious that you really know what the power of sin is. Our Lord Jesus Christ on that great graph of temptation, the needle got stuck on the pin. And Satan used all he could to tempt Christ. And Christ knew all about the power of sin. And conquered it. And was victorious over temptation. He knows what temptation is. I don't know beans about temptation compared to that. Because I yield too quick. The Lord knows all about it. He didn't sin. But he knew the force of sin. And he knew the penalty of sin. New ages of sin. But he was victorious. And that perfect priest represents us. And when we sin, he goes to work for us. Automatically. And he ever lives. Because of this we have a superior priest. Why did not be foolish? The author of Hebrews says. To go back to Judaism, which is so inferior. Priest like Eli. Priest that failed. Priest that died. Priest that had to offer up sin, sacrifice time and time and time again for themselves. We have the best priest possible. Because he is from Melchizedek. Abraham. inferior to Melchizedek, Levi equal to Abraham, Christ equal to Melchizedek, and consequently greater than the priesthood of Aaron because he was from a superior line of priests based on Psalm. A better priest functionally because he ever lived. a better priest in his very nature. He knew no sin. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. And he is able to save us to the othermost. This is our priest. Let's pray together. Father God, we are thankful for the priesthood of Jesus Christ. that he is superior to those failing priests of Old Testament days, that he ever lives, that he has never tainted by sin. We are thankful that in his lifetime he offered up one sacrifice for sins forever. We are thankful that he ever lived to make intercession for us and therefore saves us to the othermost. We rejoice in such a great priesthood. We thank you in his name.