We turn our Bibles please to the fifth
chapter, really the fourth chapter of Hebrews.
In past nights we have seen our Lord
Jesus compared and contrasted to prophets, to angels,
to apostles, and now tonight to priests.
We have too much ground to cover tonight
to cover it in one night, but we
will do our best and cover as much
of it as we possibly can to increase
appreciation of the high priestly work of our
Lord Jesus as to how important it really
is.
Verse 14, now you remember, in Hebrews 3
and 1 we were told, Wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle
and high priest of our profession Christ Jesus.
You have considered him as apostle and now
as our high priest.
Verse 14, seeing then that we have a
great high priest that is passed into the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us
burrow fast in our profession or confession.
For we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, but was in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne
of grace, that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need.
For every high priest taken from among men
is ordained for men in 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 that he himself also is compassed with
infirmity, and by reason hereof he ought, as
for the people, so also for himself to
offer for sin.
For no man taketh this honor unto himself,
but he that is called of God, as
was Aaron.
So also Christ glorified not himself to be
made a high priest, but he that said
unto him, Thou art my son, today have
I begotten thee, as he saith also in
another place, Thou art a priest for ever
after the order of Melchizedek.
Who in the days of his flesh, when
he had offered up prayers and supplications, with
strong cryings and tears unto him that was
able to save him from death, and was
heard in that he feared, though he were
a son, yet learned he obedience by the
things which he suffered.
And being made perfect, he became the author
of eternal salvation unto all them that obey
him, called of God an high priest after
the order of Melchizedek, of whom we have
many things to say and hard to be
uttered, seeing ye are dull at hearing.
For when for the time ye ought to
be teachers, ye have need that one teach
you again, which be the first principles of
the oracles of God, and are become such
as have need of milk, and not of
strong meat.
For every one that useth milk is unskillful
in the word of righteousness, for he is
a pig.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are
of full age, even to those who by
reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil."
We are told in this last parenthetic portion
of the gun reading, which carries us down
to verse 12 of the sixth chapter, that
the apostle, and we've never yet discussed why
we think it's the apostle Paul who wrote
this, and I don't think it's necessary, as
a matter of fact the spirit of God
has hidden the authorship of the book of
Hebrews from us, that is, it's not expressly
stated, and it would be conjecture purely to
say that Paul, we couldn't say it was
dogmatism, but there are reasons to believe that
Paul did write it.
But the apostle nevertheless, in the writing of
this book, lamented the fact that he would
like to have many, many things to say
about the Lord Jesus, but they were dull
of hearing and they couldn't take it.
Now, he spoke of them as becoming such
as having had need of milk and not
of meat.
Now, that's a serious thing, because we either
go forward in our spiritual experience or we
go backwards.
They had become as those that had need
of milk and not of strong meat.
Now, that's a serious thing.
We can slip in our appreciation of the
Lord Jesus.
And, of course, I think that we have
a, if you've often wondered whether or not,
if you've tried the place yourself, I think
that this scripture gives us four discernible things
as to the difference between meat and milk
in ministry and our ability to take it
in.
Certainly, the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ
as he is, a high priest at the
right hand of the throne of God, certainly
that is the strong meat of scripture.
I think the milk is, no doubt, our
Lord Jesus Christ in his humility and his
earthly pathway down here below.
The four gospels contain much milk, but the
book of Hebrews is very evidently a book
of strong meat.
It's about the glorification of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
And then another test is that they ought
to have been teachers, but they had need
that one teach them again.
That's the sad part of it.
Again.
The first principles of the oracles of God,
they had slipped, they had even forgotten what
they did know at one time.
Oh may God keep us from ever having
that experience.
So there is another test.
Meat is taken in by those who are
able to teach, whereas milk is reserved for
those who need to be taught.
And then there is a measure of steel
in the use of the word of God.
I suppose that's a continuation of verse 13.
Everyone that use of milk is unskillful in
the word of righteousness, for he is a
babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are
of full age.
It's a matter of spiritual maturity.
And then last of all, even those who
by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil.
Their acquaintance with God's principles and with God's
word is such that if false doctrine is
introduced, they can spot it immediately.
They don't have to have many words before
they know of a truth.
That the scripture or the doctrine being taught
is not in accordance with the principles of
God or the word of God.
And so they cannot discern between good and
evil.
Now that was the sad state of these
Hebrews.
They had left them to a condition like
that.
I verily believe that if we don't read
our Bibles, if we don't study our Bibles,
then it's hard to do in this day
and age.
I know that to be a fact.
There are so many disturbing factors.
But the art of meditation, of rumination, if
you want to put it that way, has
almost been lost.
There are so many things that crowd in
upon us for our attention.
And we can retrograde as Christians and our
grasp of the word of God can slip,
and we ought to fear that sort of
thing.
Now to go back to Christ as our
great high priest.
He is a priest after the pattern of
Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek.
Now his priesthood followed the Aaronic pattern because
he offered animal, that is, because of the
animal offerings that were a type of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who was the Lamb of
God, the great antitype.
Now we can see that the priest of
that day had a priestly duty.
He offered gifts, he offered sacrifices for sin,
and he instructed the ignorant.
He was a teacher as well.
The priest could exert a powerful influence for
God.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ, no man took
the honor of the priesthood upon himself.
Even the sons of Aaron did not take
that upon themselves.
They were appointed of God.
But our Lord Jesus Christ, in contrast to
this, God swore to him personally that he
was a priest forever after the order of
Melchizedek.
Now I believe that statement was made, thou
art a priest forever after the order of
Melchizedek.
I believe that statement was made after the
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Even as I believe the statement was made,
thou art my son, today have I begotten
thee, was made after the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
The reason I believe that is this.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek, because Melchizedek, uh,
his death is not recorded in the scripture.
The apostle makes much of that.
And I'd like to think of our Lord
Jesus Christ in that way.
Now, if you will, in that connection, turn
over to chapter seven, please.
We're going to have to be turning our
pages quite a bit this evening.
We have so much ground to cover.
Verse one, for this Melchizedek, king of Salem,
priest of the most high God, who met
Abraham returning from the slaughter of the king,
and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave
a tenth part of all, first being by
interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also
king of Salem, which is king of peace,
without father, without mother, without descent, having neither
beginning of days nor end of life, but
made like unto the Son of God, abideth
a priest continually.
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ is said to
be a priest forever after the order of
Melchizedek.
Uh, and after the power of an endless
life, as we have in seven, uh, chapter
seven, verse 16, who is made not after
the law of a carnal commandment, but after
the power of an endless life.
And then, uh, verse 23, and they truly,
that is seven and 23, were not suffered
to continue by reason of death.
But this man, because he continueth ever, hath
an unchangeable priesthood.
Now you see, his priesthood after the order
of Melchizedek was based on the fact that
he could not die.
So that definitely establishes the fact that he
was not a priest after the order of
Melchizedek, even though it prophetically states that he
was, that he would be, until after his
resurrection.
Because it would have spoiled the time that
our Lord Jesus Christ then declared a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek, and then
have died.
But he lived forever after the power of
an endless life.
Well, someone might have said, didn't our Lord
Jesus Christ die as a priest?
Uh, I'm not sure about that.
I'm not going to be dogmatic about it.
I think he died as a prophet.
He said it cannot be that a prophet
perish out of Jerusalem.
And he took himself, he took his place
along with the other prophets.
He certainly died a sacrifice for sin.
But he entered into heaven bearing the sweet
incense of his own precious blood with him.
Now I know I'm traveling fast.
Be patient with me.
Chapter 9 of Hebrews, verse
11.
But Christ, being common high priest of good
things to come, by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is
to say not of this building, neither by
the blood of goats and calves, but by
his own blood, he entered in once into
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us.
Now this was after he had raised again
from the dead, had risen from the dead.
He entered in once into the holy place.
Now that's into heaven itself.
Not with the blood of bulls and goats,
but by his own blood.
Someone might ask the question, is the blood
of Christ in heaven?
No, his blood was spilled upon this earth.
And his blood has claimed this earth for
himself.
And someday he's going to reign over this
earth.
And let me tell you something.
The value of that precious blood, the memory
of that precious blood, will never perish.
The good of it, the memory of it,
the value of it, will live forever.
His blood was given as a ransom for
our sins.
And a ransom is something that is paid.
A ransom is a price that is paid.
And it's the blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ that is our ransom, and it's been
paid.
And if you ransom something and give them
the money, and you take the article back,
the money is gone.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, his precious blood
was a ransom price for you and me.
We're not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold.
We're bought back but by the precious blood
of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot.
But I'll tell you, he entered into heaven.
He entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal by his own blood.
Now it's the value of his own blood,
the memory of his own blood that he
enters heaven, and he presents that as our
acceptance.
I think we can see that.
I don't think we need to spend any
more time on that point.
But it's the value of his precious blood.
And he enters there as a high priest
after the order of Melchizedek, and his priesthood
is never changed.
Now I'd like you to notice, before we
examine in some detail the beauties of the
priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, I'd like
to have you go with me, if you
will, please, to Psalm 110, where this is
all stated.
I trust you won't think that we're technical
about these points, but I think it's nice
to have them before us.
Psalm 110 reads like this, The Lord said
unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right
hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
When was that statement made?
It was made after Christ had risen from
the dead.
Why was it made?
Psalm 109 and Psalm 110 are definitely connected.
In Psalm 109, we have the anguish of
soul of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We see his betrayal in Psalm 109.
Psalm 109 is quoted by Peter in the
first chapter of Acts, in the appointment of
Matthias and Barnabas.
Matthias was chosen.
He quoted it in connection with the death
of Judas, Judas Iscariot.
Psalm 109 is quoted.
All in all, he felt the betrayal of
Judas.
Psalm 109 is called an imprecatory psalm.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, and I think that
this is well to remember, vengeance is mine.
God says that.
Vengeance belongs to God.
I will repay, says the Lord.
And in the imprecatory psalms, we have our
Lord Jesus Christ speaking, because he is the
only one that can call for vengeance.
And he calls for vengeance upon Judas Iscariot.
Not only Judas Iscariot, but his children, his
posterity.
Oh, he felt it, the injustice of what
Judas did.
How terrible it was to do what he
did.
And so these are the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
And he felt the reproach.
He felt the shame.
He said in verse 22 of the 109th
psalm, For I am poor and needy, my
heart is wounded within me, I am gone
like a shatter and a decliner, I am
tossed up and down as a locust, My
knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh
feeless of fatness.
And it became also a reproach unto them,
when they looked upon me, they shaked their
head, Cursed me, O Lord my God!
Thou hast paid me according to thy mercy,
that they may know that this is thy
hand, that thou, Lord, hast done it.
Let them curse, but bless thou.
When they arise, let them be ashamed, but
let thy servant rejoice.
Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and
let them cover themselves with their own confusion
as with a mantle.
Oh, my friends, think of having the Lord
Jesus Christ praying, not for you, but against
you.
How terrible that would be, having the Christ
of God praying against you, as he does
in the imprecatory psalms.
There's a difference between the psalms of complaints,
where our Lord Jesus Christ is the speaker,
and then where David is the speaker.
Now David had his complaints, but even when
he complains about the words of Joab, the
Edomite, he doesn't, well, he singles out Joab
in the title of the psalm, but in
the psalm itself, he speaks of the tongue
in a general way, and of its treachery.
And it seems that David did not bear
any personal grudge or hatred for doing it,
but he thinks of it in the general
way, yes, that's the human tongue for you.
And David does not deal in personality, except
in the title of his psalm, which we
must have, and which is inspired after all.
But it's not set way with our Lord
Jesus Christ, because vengeance belongs to God.
I think the imprecatory psalms should strike deep
into our hearts to think that the Christ
of God, who could offer, and did offer
mercy to some, would later pray against them,
and pray for their judgment.
In the 109th psalm, we have the indignities
that our Lord was subjected to.
We have the injustice of man to him.
But psalm 110 is God's answer to all
of those things, and how lovely it is
to listen to God consoling him because of
the shame and the indignities that were heaped
upon him from them.
Psalm 110, the Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit thou at my right hand, until I
make thine enemies thy footstool.
Very obviously, after the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus, the Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion.
Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
Thy people shall be willing in the day
of thy power.
In the beauty of holiness, from the womb
of the morning thou hast to do of
thy youth.
The Lord hath sworn and will not repent.
Thou art a priest forever, after the order
of Melchizedek.
The Lord at thy right hand shall strike
through kings in the day of Israel.
He shall judge among the heathen.
He shall fill the places with the dead
bodies.
He shall wound the heads over many countries.
He shall drink of the brook and the
wave.
Therefore shall I lift up the head.
Drinking of the brook and the wave is
a symbol of victory.
Believe me, they didn't drink when they were
fighting.
They drank when the fighting was over.
And our Lord Jesus Christ had fought and
won the day.
On the 110th Psalm, I love it.
It's God consoling his son after his ascension
to the right hand of God.
And he declares him to be, he swears,
the Lord hath sworn and will not repent.
Thou art a priest forever, after the order
of Melchizedek.
And our Lord Jesus Christ lives after the
power of an endless life.
Now Melchizedek, as we read there in the
seventh chapter of Hebrews, I don't believe that
he was an angelic being, although some have
felt perhaps that he was.
It says of him, Without father, without mother,
without descent, having neither beginning of days nor
end of life, but made like unto the
Son of God, abideth the priest continually.
I think what the Holy Spirit would have
brought before your heart and mine is this,
that the Spirit of God very carefully hides
the descent of Melchizedek, and very carefully avoids
the recording of his death.
We don't know where he came from.
We don't know when he died.
We don't know where he was buried.
And the Spirit of God is very careful
to hide those details.
Why?
Because he was a type of our Lord
Jesus.
And as one, as a priest who lives
forever on the other side of death, it
would not have been proper to have recorded
either the descent or the death of Melchizedek.
So the Spirit of God hides those details,
hides them from us.
But I believe, I do believe that he
was a human being, but he was a
great human being, because this man, though there
is simply one reference to Melchizedek, historically speaking,
not prophetically, but historically speaking there is only
one reference to Melchizedek, and that is in
the 14th chapter of Genesis.
And he is judged by the writer of
Hebrews to be a greater man than Abraham.
Now that was the man whose priesthood, the
order of whose priesthood our Lord Jesus was
given.
And after that order he reigns.
He is a priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek.
Now let's notice some of the lovely things
about Melchizedek.
He was a priest and a king, both.
He was the king of Salem.
Salem means peace.
And he was the priest of the Most
High God.
Now he is a fitting type of our
Lord Jesus Christ, because our Lord was both
a king and a priest.
And because you and I are in Christ,
and because we are his own, he has
made us kings and priests.
But in the history of Israel, God very
carefully kept the line of the king and
the line of the priest separate.
There were two kings I can think of
at the moment who tried to change that
order to their own destruction.
Saul, on the occasion early in his reign,
he tried to offer a sacrifice.
He tried to be a priest as well
as a king.
And for that act he was rejected by
the Lord.
The children of Israel were gathered around him.
Samuel was supposed to come, and Samuel was
a sacrifice.
But Samuel didn't appear when Saul thought he
did.
He should, and the people began to leave
Saul.
And he knew their reverence for the sacrifices,
so Saul forced himself, and he offered the
sacrifice instead of Samuel.
And immediately he was rejected.
God was determined that no Old Testament man
should be both king and priest.
Melchizedek was the only exception.
He was a king, and he was a
priest at the same time.
On another occasion, Azariah, more commonly known, I
believe, as Uzziah, came to the temple on
one occasion, and he was determined to offer
up some infants.
He was a king, and he decided that
he was going to be a priest.
And the priest of the Lord met Uzziah
at the door, and they told him that
I pertaineth not to thee, Uzziah, to offer
before the Lord.
Uzziah was angry that they should speak thus
to the king, and he was determined to
go through with it.
God met him with leprosy.
And when the priest saw leprosy rise in
his forehead, they rushed Uzziah.
I suppose in our day they would call
it they gave him the bum's rush.
They rushed him out of that place, and
when he found out that he was smitten
with leprosy, he hasted to go out himself.
He didn't do it.
God smote him with leprosy, and he was
a leper to the day of his death.
That was reserved for Christ and Christ alone
to be king and priest, a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.
Now, let's think of that, his ministry, as
being endless.
Verse 23 of the seventh chapter of Hebrews,
And they truly were many priests, because they
were not suffered to continue by reason of
death.
But this man, because he continueth ever, hath
an unchangeable priesthood.
Therefore he is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them.
For such an high priest became us, who
is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and
made higher than the heaven.
Leadeth not daily of those high priests to
offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins,
and then for the people's?
For this he did once, when he offered
up himself.
For the law maketh men high priests, which
have infirmity.
But the word of the oath, which was
since the law, maketh a son who is
consecrated forever more.
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ, because he continues
forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.
You know, it's lovely, the unchangeable characteristics of
our God.
He says, I am the Lord, I change
not.
Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
God does not change.
Change is the mark of the finite.
Everything that is finite changes.
We get older, and we get more wrinkles.
Our eyes grow dim, and the grinders feed.
Oh, how sad it is to read the
twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes.
We change.
Everything about us changes, because change is the
mark of the finite.
Even the heavens change.
We read in the first chapter of Hebrews,
they're perishing.
They're waxed and old, as doth a garment.
Some days it's going to fold them up,
set them aside, and are going to serve
their use.
But our God does never change.
His is an unchanging love.
His has an unchanging purpose.
His is an unchanging priesthood.
And we can revel in the fact that
God does not change.
Some of the changes of this life we
don't like.
Some of the changes are for the better,
God is in it.
But the other changes we don't like.
But thank God we don't have to get
used to another priest.
You know, in the Old Testament, it must
have been a sad occasion.
I know it was a sad occasion of
the death of a good priest.
I think of the case of Joash.
Joash, you remember, Athaliah destroyed all the seed
royal, but Joash was hidden.
She did it because in her selfish desire
to reign, she had to get the royal
seed out of the way.
Joash was hidden.
Jehoiada, a very good priest, took Joash to
his own personal care, and instructed him, and
kept him hidden in the temple.
Until, after a number of years, it became
about seven, I think it was, after he
was hidden as a baby, he was declared
to be king, and Athaliah was slain.
And Jehoiada was the counselor of Joash all
his days.
And Joash was a good king, but finally
Jehoiada died.
He couldn't live forever, and he did live
to be 130 before he died, but unfortunately
Jehoiada died.
The princes of Israel came to Joash, and
they persuaded him to forsake the Lord.
And Joash got so far away that when
Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, who naturally became
priest after the death of his father, when
Zechariah rebuked Joash and those princes for their
ungodliness, Joash had Zechariah put to death.
And he was the son of the good
priest Jehoiada that had taught him so well.
It was too bad that Jehoiada had to
die, but he did.
He lived to be 130, a ripe old
age in that day, but he did die.
I have no doubt there was some real
lamenting in Israel when Jehoiada died, and oh,
it had such an adverse effect on Joash.
He didn't remember the kindness of that dear
man, but he slew his son, and it
went ill with Joash because the high priest
died.
But thank God you and I don't have
to get used to another high priest.
After all, Jehoiada became used to the people,
the problems of the people in his day,
and oh, how much confidence it would have
been to have a friend like a godly
man.
How wonderful it would have been that he
died.
How would it be with you and me?
We'd have to get used to another priest.
He wouldn't know it.
Perhaps he had his friend.
But oh, here's a friend.
Here's a high priest that will never die.
And the great knowledge that he has of
you and me will always be at his
disposal in meeting our needs.
He is infinite in his knowledge of us
and in his power to care for you
and for me.
But I'd like to talk a little about
the distinctive ministry of Melchizedek as regards Abraham.
Shall we turn to the 14th chapter of
Genesis, if you please?
Let's read about the distinctive ministry of Melchizedek,
the priest, and see it as a type
of our Lord Jesus.
The king of Sodom, Lot, had gone down
to Sodom to live.
And because Lot had gone to Sodom and
cast in his lot—that seems to be a
double talk there, but it isn't—because Lot cast
in his lot for the Sodomites, the misfortune
of Sodom fell upon him.
Sodom got into trouble.
And the kings around warred with Sodom, and
they defeated him.
And it came to Abraham's attention that Lot
had been captured and all his group.
Abraham and his own trained servant, and Aner,
and Eshgal, and Mamre, were there, men, and
the young men with them.
They pursued those kings, and they overtook them.
And they delivered the king of Sodom, and
Lot, and the rest.
Verse 17, after the battle, the king of
Sodom went out to meet him.
After his return from the slaughter, Ketel Amar
and the kings that were with him at
the valley of Shadda, which is to Kingsdale,
and Melchizedek, king of Salem brought forth bread
and wine, and he was the priest of
the Most High God.
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be
Abraham of the Most High God, possessor of
heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most
High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into
thine hand.
And he gave him tithes of all.
That is, Abraham gave to Melchizedek tithes of
all that were with him.
And the king of Sodom said unto Abraham,
Give me the persons, and take the goods
to thyself.
And Abraham said to the king of Sodom,
I have lifted up my hand unto the
Lord, the Most High God, the possessor of
heaven and earth, that I will not take
from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and
that I will not take anything that is
thine.
But thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham
rich, save only that which the young men
have eaten, and the portion of the men
which went with me, Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre,
let them take their portion.
Now, the ministry of Melchizedek came after the
successful conclusion of a battle, of a battle
that went in favor of Abraham.
And the king of Salem came and brought
forth bread and wine to Abraham, for he
was a priest of the Most High God.
Can't you see the beautiful picture of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who before his death instituted
a feast using bread and wine?
And he instituted that feast that you and
I might be strengthened.
As we sometimes sing, bread to strengthen, wine
to cheer.
These emblems are significant in themselves.
Melchizedek introduced them.
And our Melchizedek has given to you and
to me bread and wine that you and
I might be strengthened.
And oh, how we need the Lord's Supper.
How we need that bread that speaks to
us of that body in which he suffered,
and that wine of joy, that wine of
blessing that speaks to us of his precious
blood.
How we need it.
But he did not only give those emblems
to Abraham, he gave him a revelation of
God, because he blessed him and said, Blessed
be Abraham of the Most High God, possessor
of heaven and earth.
That was the revelation that he gave Abraham
of God.
Now, after this occasion of the meeting with
Melchizedek, Abraham was subjected to a terrible temptation.
King Sodom came to Abraham and he said,
Abraham, he said, just give me the people,
that's all I want, and you take all
the goods.
I'm so glad to recover my people, that
you may have all the goods.
And Abraham said, No, I'll take nothing, not
even a shoe latchet, not even a shoestring,
lest you say I've made Abraham rich.
Now, why could Abraham say this?
Well, he said, I have lifted my hand
unto the Lord, the Most High God, the
possessor of heaven and earth.
That was the revelation he had of God.
What did he have in need of Sodom's
riches?
He had a revelation of God as the
possessor of heaven and earth.
Now, that revelation, and that bread and wine
that he received at the hands of Melchizedek
strengthened him for this temptation.
And I'd like to think of the ministry
of our high priest as strengthening you and
me against the scourge of materialism.
Because I think in a special way, the
materialism is the temptation of this age.
We've said it before and we'll say it
again, that the last state of the church
in the book of Revelation in chapter 3
is the Laodicean state of the church.
And those people of Laodicea said that we're
rich and increased with goods and have need
of nothing.
That's what the church said, I am rich
and increased with goods and have need of
nothing.
And the Lord says, I knowest not that
thou art poor and wretched and false and
blind.
By their standards, they never had it better.
By their standards, they had arrived.
By their standards, everything was just fine.
But theirs was a materialistic standard.
By the Lord's standards, by a spiritual standard,
they were miserably poor.
That is the last days of the church
are those days upon us.
All the materialism that is in our, that
is rampant in the world today.
This nation has never reached a higher point
of prosperity.
Even in our temporary recessions, we can't complain
too much.
But there is such a danger in these
things, and every one of us are subjected
to them.
Same, same as opposed to our appreciation of
a person.
What is our standard?
Is our standard a spiritual one or a
material one?
If our standard is a material one, we
may well say, right along with the Laodiceans,
we never had it better.
But if our standard is a spiritual one,
I'm afraid we'd have to hang our heads
in shame.
Now the ministry of Melchizedek was especially, especially
effective in giving Abram a victory over materialism.
He had such a conception of God as
the most high God, the possessor of heaven
and earth.
He simply didn't need what the king of
Sodom had.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if you and I
could be satisfied with what we've got?
Godliness with contentment is great gain.
And I'm telling you, that's the gain that's
worth having.
A contented life, contented with a lot that
God has given us.
We could talk a lot about that, but
if I did, I might get to preaching,
and that's bad.
We don't like to preach, do we?
We don't like to sermonize.
Oh, may God give us a correct sense
of values.
And then, of course, in connection with our
great high priest, he sits at the right
hand of the throne of God, ministering to
you, and may spring fresh revelations that shall
help us in times of stress and danger.
But he does something else, too.
He is there as our intercessor.
Now back to the eighth chapter of Hebrews,
for just a point, if you please.
Eighth chapter of Hebrews.
Now of the things which we have spoken,
this is the sum.
We have such a high priest who is
set at the right hand of the throne
with the majesty in the heavens.
A minister of the sanctuary and of the
true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not
man.
For every high priest is ordained to offer
gifts and sacrifices.
Therefore it is of necessity that this man
have somewhat also offer.
For if he were on earth, he should
not be a priest, seeing that there are
priests that offer gifts according to the law,
who serve under the example and shadow of
heavenly things.
As Moses was admonished of God when he
was about to make the tabernacle, foresees that
he that thou make all things according to
the pattern showed to thee in the month.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ is not offering
sacrifices.
He did that once for all.
There is no more sacrifice for sin.
Now it's true in the book of Ezekiel.
In the latter chapters of the book of
Ezekiel, where the millennial temple is explained and
described rather, that sacrifice is again mentioned.
And I believe that the altars, the Jewish
altars in the millennial reign of our Lord
Jesus shall again consume literal sacrifices.
But those sacrifices will be in the form
of a memorial.
They will not be efficacious to take away
sin.
There has been one sacrifice for sin.
Christ has made that sacrifice once and for
all.
It will never need to be repeated.
And any sacrifice upon millennial altars will only
be for the purpose of memorial.
Well now, if our Lord Jesus Christ is
not offering sacrifices, what is he offering?
It's simple, by process of elimination.
Verse 3, For every high priest is ordained
to offer gifts and sacrifices.
Therefore it is of necessity that this man
have somewhat also to offer.
He's not offering sacrifices, so very obviously he
is offering gifts.
Now what gifts are he, is he, what
gifts are being offered?
Is he offering for you and for me?
Well it's the gifts that we bring.
Do we bring gifts to God?
There are many gifts that we can bring
to him.
We can bring the sacrifice of our lips.
We can bring the sacrifice of our pocketbooks.
We can bring the sacrifice of our whole
lives, of our whole selves.
Everything that we have.
Do we bring them?
He is our intercessor and our, he, all
our prayers are channeled through our Lord Jesus
Christ to God.
Thank God my prayers don't reach the throne
of God in their original form.
I believe they are repeated by my high
priest.
You know there's sin in our prayers.
There's so much selfish in our prayers.
I think a good deal of the prayers
of our childhood carry right through into our
adult life.
Oh God bless mama, bless papa, bless grandma,
bless grandpa, bless brother, bless sister, bless everything
that pertains to me, and keep everything in
good order so that I won't have a
thing, or as one has said of a
man who prayed, oh God bless me and
my wife, John and his wife, us four
and no more.
Our prayers are filled with selfishness, but I
doubt if they reach the throne of God
in that form.
We have a high priest that sits there,
and ah, as the wicks were trimmed, and
as the evening prayers were offered, the incense
was burned, and God smelled that sweet.
And I believe that our Lord Jesus is
our high priest and prays for you.
He comes in the work of his own
name.
Now literally, shall I say that, I wouldn't
be too dogmatic about that.
But our prayers reach the throne of God
through him.
I hope he does receive them.
You know it makes me a little uneasy
sometimes to to have it prayed in a
prayer meeting.
I hope now I don't make anybody self
-conscious in your next prayer meeting here.
Oh God bless those that are not here
tonight.
We know they're cold in We know they're
awake in God.
Bless them and bring them along and give
them a fresh appreciation.
Well, maybe it's good because God needs to
be informed, doesn't he?
He needs to be informed about the condition
of his people so that he'll be able
to take care of them and get after
them.
Oh, I think sometimes, well, I'm not going
to be critical, but I hope that my
prayers along that line, and I do pray
that way.
I tell the Lord to get after some
people, just as if he didn't have enough
initiative of his own to do it.
But I'm glad that my prayers don't reach
the throne of God that way.
There's one who is our intercessor, our great
high priest.
Oh, how wonderful.
We are blessed.
Blessed because of his ministry at the right
hand of the throne of God.
The lions have fallen unto us in pleasant
places.
There's a man on the job up there.
Pardon that mundane language or that earthly language.
Earthly.
But there is a man that's engaged there
for you and for me.
Our great high priest.
I'm glad he's there.
It goes well with you and me because
he's there.
He doesn't sleep and he never dies.
And he knows our needs.
Our great high priest.
How wonderful his ministry.
Now there is much more, obviously, that could
be said about Christ.
Christ is our great high priest.
But oh, let's live in fresh appreciation of
what he's doing.
And let's bring along more gifts.
Things that we want to give to God
from our hearts.
Because of what?
Brother Christ, would you close with a little
prayer please, sir?