Hebrews 7: Melchizedek (Part 1)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Melchizedek and the Need for a Priest

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. It is, I believe, December 28th in real time, 2018, and we�re going to do a simulcast. If you are on the No Compromise Radio, I don�t know, special exclusive website, I think you have to be allowed in on Facebook.

You get to watch this, and if not, you�re just going to get to listen to this in one, I don�t know, maybe a week or so. I hope you had a very wonderful Christmas and all that kind of jazz. We�re going to do Word Association today on No Compromise Radio.

I�m going to say a word and then what comes in your mind after I say the word. You could probably type it, I guess, on Facebook, but I�ll probably talk too fast for that. When I say the word, �Melchizedek what comes to your mind?

Now, do you think that maybe I�m speaking in tongues? Do you think it�s the name of a celebrity child? By the way, this week I looked at some popular or some weird celebrity child names. Here are a few.

Gravity, it�s true, Kal-El, Luna Simone, here�s a good one, Pilot Inspector, Sunday Molly, Apollo Bowie Flynn, Kingston James McGregor, and Zuma Nesta Rock. Melchizedek is not a popular celebrity name.

What comes into your mind when I say the word �Melchizedek Now it�s fascinating to me because if you don�t understand Melchizedek and his priesthood, it is hard to fully understand the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is to say, you really can�t understand Jesus as God has revealed Him unless you understand Melchizedek. But how many sermons do you want to hear on Melchizedek? I could ask you the question, �When�s the last sermon you heard on Melchizedek

Or maybe this would be a good question, �Have you ever heard a sermon on Melchizedek It is a topic that we don�t talk about much, especially when we want one of those special services. You know how those services are, those Theology of Glory services, those New Measure services, those Finney services, blue lights up on the stage, plexiglass covering some of the band�s percussion instruments because it�s so loud, eight-week series that�s really catchy and moralistic and therapeutic and how-to and cool graphics.

I mean, can you imagine the church down the street that has the Seeker Sensitive service and eight weeks on Melchizedek? You are going to drive people out of such a church because they want to do something.

They want to check the box. They want to just say, �You know what? I have done those things. But Melchizedek is very important because he is going to tell us a lot about who Jesus is, and you need a priest.

If you�re a Christian, you ought to be thankful for your priest because you still sin and you need a mediator. You need an intercessor, and it is impossible to stand before God on your own. You need the go-between.

You need the mediator. You need the one who is a sacrifice for sins and can make intercession. In other words, even as a Christian, you need forgiveness. You need eternal salvation, one that can keep your salvation.

You need an advocate, and he is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Susan just said, when I said Melchizedek, she thinks Jesus. Excellent. She thinks Hebrews. Excellent. You probably go to a church that�s probably going to be preaching on this pretty soon.

Unbelievers also need a priest because they�re going to have to stand before God as well, and they don�t want to have to answer for their own sins. They need a sin-bearer instead. So Melchizedek is an important character found in a few places in the Bible.

Forever and the Eternal Priesthood of Christ

Let�s keep going with this game, folks. I�m going to give you another word, and then you give me the word association, something that pops into your mind after you hear this word. Here�s the second word.

The first one was Melchizedek, Melchizedek, King of Righteousness. And here�s the second word, forever, forever. When I say forever, what comes into your mind? Actually, we have to think about this a lot more than we do.

For many of us, it would help our marriages, it would help our child raising, it would help how to serve other people, how to love people, loving our enemies and friends. If you thought of the word forever, we don�t ponder that enough.

And when you think about forever, you should be thinking that way and that way. In other words, eternity past and eternity future. In eternity past, we have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, one God, three persons existing forever, no beginning.

They always existed, they continually exist. There's some synonyms for forever, perpetually, incessantly, endlessly, persistently. Morning, noon, and night, we might say. Of course, that's not a good term for eternity past, but those are all words.

Some slang might be 24 -7, forever, because forever goes into eternity the other way, into eternity future, forever. And when you combine the words Melchizedek and forever, you get Hebrews chapter 7. 20, over 20 verses, 28 verses, I believe, to be exact, on the person and work of Jesus in light of Melchizedek, who is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, high priest forever.

And if you understand those words, forever and Melchizedek, it will inform how you read the book of Hebrews and how you understand Jesus, this great high priest. Let me read you Hebrews 7, 3, 17, 21, 24, and 28, and think about these words, forever, and priest.

He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he continues a priest forever. When it comes to chapter 7, verse 17, for it is witnessed of him, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Chapter 7, verse 21, but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever. Hebrews 7, 24, but he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.

And then lastly, in the book of Hebrews chapter 7, you get the word forever, and it is one of those great verses, for the law appoints men in their weakness as high priest, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.

This is a book about Jesus, who is the high priest, and he is the same yesterday, today, and there you go, forever. And Hebrews chapter 13 says, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

If you get the words Melchizedek and forever, you will understand the person and work of the Lord Jesus better. Excuse me, now, sometimes we like to do ADD radio on No Compromise Radio, and since I think I get the day off, but I'm in here working anyway, because I still have to preach, but we had a great Christmas Eve service here, and there was lots of readings.

We read Genesis 3 and 16, and 16th chapter of Leviticus, and Exodus 12, lots of substitutionary sections, Isaiah 53, then leading up to the substitutionary death of Jesus and His exaltation in Revelation chapter 5.

By the way, when Jose read Revelation 5, I mean, I felt like I was in heaven, even though there was a little Espanol accent, kind of a Puerto Rican accent there. Man, that was so good. I thought I could listen to that man read Scripture over and over and over.

But anyway, back to ADD radio, is that a call signal, like W-O-R-C or W-C-B-S? It could be W-A-D-D, what? I better stick to my day job. But my son, Luke, preached the message on Christmas Eve, and I told everybody it would be nepotism if he didn't do a good job, so Luke, please preach the Word.

And it was neat to hear him preach John chapter 1. I think it's online. If you go to bbcchurch .org, you can listen. It's about a 15-minute message, and that was just a thrill. It must be hard to preach when your dad, the pastor and professor in seminary, you know, a critiquer of sermons, is sitting there.

But anyway, I was very proud of him in a good way. Well, back to these words, Melchizedek and forever. You might want to call Hebrews chapter 7 the forever chapter about Jesus after the order of Melchizedek, 28 verses.

And really what they are, they're a sermon. They're an exposition about Melchizedek. You can go to Genesis chapter 14, there's some information about Melchizedek, and hundreds of years later, David writes Psalm 110, and Melchizedek is listed.

But here we have an exposition. Remember, Hebrews is a book that is partly sermon, partly epistle. Remember what we like to say on...Barbara just said W-O-L-D. I know, look. I just thought it's about time to switch these readers from 2 .0 magnifying to 2 .5.

But then the depth of perception messes you up. Hebrews is a sermonic epistle or an epistolatory sermon, either way you look at it. We do think it's a preached message, and then it was written down, and chapter 7 is an exposition about Melchizedek.

The Sufficiency of Scripture and Seeing Christ in the Old Testament

Now, my problem as a Christian man is simply I have certain things that I find more interesting than others, and therefore I have to submit my mind and train my mind and force my mind to say, while certain things might thrill my soul more than others in the Bible, everything in this Bible, everything written is here for a reason.

Every verse, every jot, every tittle, every yod, every speck. I think Bengal, before there were computers, well, I know there are no computers when Bengal was doing this, but before there were computers, he counted how many little yods there were, the little Hebrew letter that would be equivalent to the dot of an I in the English alphabet, and he counted, I believe if memory serves me, 66 ,420 little dots, little yods, and not one of those is going to pass away, the Lord Jesus said.

What's in the Scripture is important, and what we could probably do if we wanted to make you uncomfortable or convicted is if you gave me your Bible and I looked what was underlined, what would I find?

No, I like to underline my Bible. I don't blasphemously highlight in yellow. Only pencil is allowed in my Bible. I don't think there's a rule for that, but it might be in the Talmud somewhere, in the Mishnah, in the Mishpat.

But we underline verses that mean something to us, that are important. But even underlining the Bible, and I'm no legalist and you do whatever you want, I underline things in my Bible, especially what I underline in my Bible is when I see the word promise, promise, promise, promise, promise in Hebrews 6, and I think, well, what's 6 .13 -20 about?

The promise of God. What about Hebrews 7? Forever, forever, forever, forever, forever, forever, Melchizedek, Melchizedek, you know. So there's nothing wrong with that. That's a good Bible study tool. But we sometimes don't underline genealogies.

Why? When they're fascinating and wonderful and important. Sometimes we don't underline, well, you know, we like Genesis 22, but the death of Sarah, Genesis 23, we're not so hot about. So what I'm trying to do, and I want you to do, listener and viewer, is to approach the text, the Word of God, and what is Josh saying here?

Highlighter and Sharpie pen from my Bible, I live dangerously. Well, I think you don't live just dangerously, but I think you live purgatorially is how you live. Everybody can do what they want, but in my world, in no compromise world, the nocoites, the NCR folks, they use pencil only.

But what happens is I approach the text, and I think, you know, God, there are rich, wonderful truths in this section, no matter what that section might be. And Lord, by Your Spirit, illumine my mind, make the light go off in my mind so that I can understand these in the immediate context and in the larger context.

And that is one of my favorite things in life, is after you've passed through certain sections of Scripture many, many times, and maybe you've read that certain chapter, I don't know, dozens of times, I've been through the Psalms, I don't know how many times, and then all of a sudden, something clicks because you've been studying something or you've seen inside a pastor has given you some connections on how this fits together, and the light goes on.

Isn't that a great feeling? I know it's a feeling, but I mean, isn't that a wonderful thought, where you get to understand the mind of God? Because God means only one thing when He writes a verse, that is to say, I'm not talking about census planning and all that stuff, but I'm saying He has a meaning, right?

The meaning is found in the meaner, the person who's writing. And when you understand what that person's writing about who the Lord is and forgiveness and eternal life and the promises of God, and it's just one of those great, great moments.

And for me, when I used to study Melchizedek, I'm thinking, who is Melchizedek? And I begin to think, well, you know, let's get into the debate, the seminary debate. Is this the pre-incarnate Jesus, second person of the Trinity?

Is this a Canaanite priest? Is this, you know, who is this Melchizedek? But then to realize, we, when we look at this passage and think about this priest who points us to the greater priest Jesus, we have the superior priesthood of Jesus, and that is our only hope of salvation.

God's wrath, it never changes. God's holy standards never change. And if you want to have hope that you can stand before such a God, you need to have a priest. You need to have a high priest. You need to have a faithful high priest.

You need to have a sinless, faithful, high priest. You need to have a sinless, faithful high priest who intercedes for us forever, and you need to have a have I been saying sinful or sinless? Sinless, faithful, high priest who intercedes for us forever, who is also our sin bearer.

And that's the Lord Jesus. You need a king of righteousness. He is that. You need a king of peace, He is that. He grants that. He gives that. You need someone who has no beginning and no end, who's truly God and truly man.

You need a high priest, a high priest that has a life that's perfect and it goes on and on who is indestructible in their life. That's a cool way that Hebrews 7 talks about the Lord Jesus. He's got an indestructible life.

You need a priest who's greater than Abraham, who's greater than Aaron, who's greater than any of these Old Testament priests. You need one who is even greater than Melchizedek, but who comes from the order of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek, Judah, and the Superior Priesthood of Jesus

So here's what's happening on No Compromise Radio today. We're talking about this fellow named Melchizedek, and I'm trying to get you to believe what you already believe, and that is everything in the Bible is important.

I guess you probably wouldn't listen to No Compromise Radio if you didn't already believe that. But it's going to tell us a lot about the Lord Jesus when we study Melchizedek. You can always write me.

I actually got a couple of letters the other day. There were no vouchers or gift certificates. In the old days, you all used to send me tons of Pete's Coffee. I don't really get Pete's Coffee in the mail anymore.

And when I got it in the mail, I was always afraid. What if somebody's putting, I don't know, something in there that they ought not to, and then do I drink the coffee anyway? So I just ordered my own and gave the stuff that was sent from the NoCo listeners to Steve.

Pastor Steve. Oh, by the way, Luke Abendroth came in for a couple shows too, so he's going to be on soon. That was fun to talk to NoCo Jr. You say to yourself, Melchizedek is going to help me, so I need to learn everything I can from Genesis chapter 14 about Melchizedek, because that will then help me understand why Jesus is superior.

Remember what was going on in, Barbara said, I've been sick, I'll get back to it. I hope you're doing better, Barbara. It's been some time since we talked, but maybe we should do that sometime. I want to be encouragement to you and your husband and your dogs.

My dog, Jetty, by the way, she's 13, her back legs are all messed up, she's just kind of limping, she can't make it up the steps. I'm thinking, ouch, how the fall even affects dogs. But anyway, back to this point here.

I want to learn everything I can about the Lord Jesus because that will help my appreciation of Him. It will help my desire to serve Him more. Everything about Him, I want to know everything about Him, and that's why I think you want to study the book of Hebrews.

Let me know everything I can about the Lord Jesus. Now, there are things that we can never learn because we are finite people and sinful, but there are many things we can learn. And I want to learn everything I can on this side of heaven.

Not that I will learn less than when I'm in heaven, I'm sure I'll have perfected knowledge in heaven, and we still will learn in heaven, but we won't learn everything. But whatever is available to me, I would like to know.

And in a world where lots of people deal with bell curves and pecking orders and everything else, to know that Jesus is greater than prophets, greater than angels, greater than Moses, greater than Aaron, greater than anyone and everyone, that's the kind of person that demands our worship.

And I want to learn about Him, and to learn about Jesus, you need to understand how He's excellent and how He is better than Judaism, that He is better than what these people in the book of Hebrews were tempted to run back toward.

That's why the book of Hebrews, better, better, better, better, better, better. And early on in chapter 2 of Hebrews, He talks about the merciful and faithful high priest who makes propitiation for the sins of the people, and it's almost like now He's going to give an exposition for it.

He tipped His hand early on in chapter 2 verse 17, but He doesn't tell us a lot about this high priest until chapter 7. And we know chapter 7 deals with this high priest because it's led in by the end of chapter 6, high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

So what we want to do on No Compromise Radio today is go to Genesis chapter 14 and see what it says there so that you can understand fully what about Melchizedek, what are the themes, what are the echoes that we see there, what are the types that we see there, how is this pointing to the Lord Jesus, and it will help you.

And that's probably the best thing we can do. So Genesis chapter 14, we have a great story, and that story is about Abraham having to rescue Lot. Now by the way, when I am in Hebrews and then have to go back to the Old Testament, whether that's Psalm 2, Psalm 22, Psalm 45, Psalm 89, Psalm 102, Psalm 110, 2 Samuel, wherever we might go, it just makes so much more sense when I see these Old Testament passages in light of who the Lord Jesus is.

I mean, Jesus said in Luke 24 and John 5, this is how you read the Old Testament. And now when I read it in a Christ-centered way, knowing what I know from the Old Testament, it's really a great way to comprehend what's going on with all these moving pieces.

Abraham is going to rescue Lot, and a priest is going to show up kind of out of nowhere. Right in the old days with the Lone Ranger, it's, who is this masked man type of thing. Is that Lone Ranger? Did you ever watch Green Hornet when you were growing up?

Did you know Cato was Bruce Lee? Did you know that? See? See, you old people do. You old ones do. What am I talking about? I have no idea. That's part of the fun. See, if I make a mistake like this and I'm absent-minded, I just look over at Steve and Steve gets me right back on track, and he says, Abba, or he says, Wham, or some kind of band.

So Abraham is going to go have to rescue Lot, and he's going to meet this man, and this man is going to be so much greater than Abraham. Abraham is going to pay tithes to this man, who happens to be a king, who happens to be a priest, and it's going to show one thing.

So here's the drum roll, everybody who's listening. The Jews who receive the book of Hebrews are thinking this way, okay? All joking aside, they're thinking this way. You mean to tell me that Jesus is a high priest?

This whole book is about Jesus as a high priest. We've got news for you, pal. Now whoever's writing it, Paul or somebody else, we've got news for you. To be a priest, you've got to be from a certain tribe.

You don't pick yourself to be a priest. You have to have the right lineage, and you've got to be from the tribe of what? Levi. You've got to be an Aaronic priest, a Levitical priest. There are ramifications for people who just make up themselves to be a priest, and the Jews are thinking, you know what?

This has to be a Levitical priest. Jesus is not a Levite. Jesus' last name's Cohen. Jesus is not from that line. Jesus is from the tribe of, anybody know? Judah. That's right. Remember when the boys were blessed by the Father back in the Old Testament, and Judah was blessed, and the scepter is coming from this tribe?

Jesus is from Judah. And so the Jews are thinking, you mean to tell me Jesus is a great high priest, and He's not from Levi? Well, this writer's going to say, that's true, but He is a high priest. And actually, Levites were not as great as the priest I'm going to tell you about, and don't forget Genesis chapter 14, there's this man named Melchizedek.

Closing Exhortation and Ministry Information

Well, I'm just looking down at my timer here. Josh just said, you need to get Tuesday Guy on Facebook Live. That's true, but right now, I just am on, you're on this little camera on my phone. Is anybody else getting those texts today that 9 -1 -1's not working?

Has 9 -1 -1 been hacked or something? It says, if you have an emergency, call your local police department. So my guess is, it's been hacked. Who knows? That's crazy. But anyway, we're going to wrap this show up because it's 24 and a half minutes, and that's what we do on NOCO Radio.

I don't know how long that is on 1 .5 speed, but we're going to be back in about two minutes once I hit stop and stop, and we're going to talk about this great passage where Abraham rescues Lot and meets this man named Melchizedek that informs you, or should inform you of your view of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So if you want some homework, Hebrews chapter 7 is what you should read, forever, forever, forever, forever, and Melchizedek.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.