Melchizedek — Edwin H. Waldvogel

Jesus as the Eternal High Priest

You know why the Lord causes that fire to burn, and why he is so persistent in dealing with us and drawing us after himself? There's a verse in Hebrews that talks about it. We touched on it this morning a little bit, and that is this, because we have a high priest whoever liveth to make intercession for us.

In Hebrews 7, we read a quotation from Psalm 110, the Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The book of Hebrews, you have a comparison between the Old and New Testaments, the superiority of the New, and we know the priesthood, the high priest that Israel had, they had them still in the New Testament days, ministered, and many of these Christians that were zealous were saved, were zealous for the law, and they clung to the Old.

And Jesus, of course, fulfilled much of the type of Aaron. Aaron, the priest, was glad to be taken up from the people, a high priest, one of you, one of the tribe of Levi, of the family of Aaron, but he had to be one who could feel with the people and be one of them.

He had to offer sacrifices. We know that Jesus came to be one of us too, took upon himself the form of sinful man, became one with us that he might be that living sacrifice for our sins, identified with us.

He himself offered the sacrifice unto God. He gave himself, the priest, how much blood was brought in the Old Testament days. Have you ever tried to figure that out? Just take some of those feasts and count up the sacrifices that were offered.

Take the Feast of Tabernacles once and read, sit down, count the animals that had to be brought at that time, and then you have added to that the daily offering, morning and evening, and the sin offerings that were brought by the people personally.

It's amazing how much blood was shed, all pointing forward to Jesus, the Lamb of God, and certainly Jesus brought the supreme sacrifice. When he gave himself, and then of course, he went into the sanctuary, the priest did, and he made intercession for the people.

We have that also fulfilled in our Lord. He prayed for us and prays for us. But the Bible tells us that he is not a priest after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek is a nice name.

How would you like it if your mother had called you Melchizedek? Would you like that? No? You go to school and you have to write down, Melchizedek. Wouldn't that be nice? No? I don't blame you. Well, Melchizedek was a good name.

He was king of Salem, king of peace. But he appeared on the scene suddenly when Aaron had had a great victory, or Abram had had a great victory, and came back from the slaughter of the kings. He was met by Melchizedek.

We don't hear about him before that. And he gave Melchizedek a tithe of the spoil. And Melchizedek blessed him and gave him bread and wine, which reminds us of the communion service, doesn't it? And then we read about him very briefly there, and we think, well, just a few verses in the Old Testament and the fellow's gone again.

We don't know anything about him much. And here in Hebrews we read, we don't know his ancestry. Now, a priest absolutely had to know and be able to prove that he came from the tribe of, or from the family of Aaron.

He had to be able to prove his, through his genealogy, that he fit into the picture right. It was very important in the Old Testament days. But here's a man, and we don't know his background. We don't know where he comes from.

We don't know where he went. We don't know his father or his mother. He just appeared there. And of course, he fits very well and is a very wonderful picture of Jesus. And perhaps he was a manifestation of Christ in the Old Testament.

But we read here in this book of Hebrews that Melchizedek offered, or Abraham offered tithes to Melchizedek. And Aaron was still in the loins of his father, we're told. And so, in a certain sense, he and the whole Levitical priesthood system paid tithes and homage to Melchizedek.

And we read too here that the less is blessed of the greater. It was Melchizedek who blessed Abraham then. And so the Holy Spirit is trying to show that the order of Melchizedek is far superior than the order of Aaron, is above that order.

Christ’s Heavenly and Eternal Priesthood

Now the thing that is emphasized is that the priesthood of Melchizedek is a heavenly priesthood, an eternal priesthood. And here we read that God had sworn to his son, you are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.

And then we read that he had sworn and he will not repent. That means he won't change. He will not change his mind. And that gives us great confidence tonight. Jesus is a high priest, our high priest.

He came from God. He went to God. Eternal. And he also, with his own blood, didn't go into the holy place, the tabernacle on earth, but into heaven itself. And there he appears in the presence of God with his own blood to plead your cause and my cause.

We who have sinned against God, Jesus offered that perfect sacrifice and went into the presence of the Father and obtained for you and for me eternal salvation. Through his precious blood. And then we read that he is there ministering tonight for his people.

He prays for us. He makes intercession for us. He ministers for us. And somehow or other, he ministers resurrection life to us. The old days, when I was a boy, I don't know how they do it today, when a diver went down to examine a sunken ship or something, there was a lifeline, a tube, where he got his air.

And some friends up on deck of the boat, they kept the pumps working. As long as he was down there, they supplied him with air. And you could have asked the fellow upstairs, what are you working so hard for?

Let's knock off for lunch. He'd say, no, as long as my friend's down there, he depends on this pump going. And I'm going to see to it that he gets his supply of air. His life depends on it. And there was that contact and that dependability.

The fellow had to be faithful. And he pumped air down to his friend below. Well, now that's a pretty poor example. But we have one up in the presence of the Father, who ministers life to his people here on earth, his resurrection life constantly.

We read about that here in this chapter. And we read, too, that God has committed his Son to this work. And he swear by an oath, you are a priest forever. And God says, I will not repent. God started something that he's going to see through.

He's going to carry it right through. And we who have come to Jesus and fled to him for refuge, we have put our trust in him. His precious blood. We've asked him to cleanse us from our sins. And he has done that.

That blood speaks in the presence of God for us. I have another song that Grace ought to put in our leaflet to memorize. Arise, my soul, arise. Shake off thy guilty fears. A bleeding sacrifice in thy behalf appears.

Before the throne, thy surety stands. Thy name is written on his hands. Hallelujah. Five bleeding wounds he bears. Received on Calvary, they pour effectual prayers. They strongly plead for me. You know, Jesus came and the great guilt of our sin didn't only stain our hearts, but we were guilty before God.

And that's why we read, he ascended to the Father with his blood into the heavenlies. And there the atonement for your sin and my sin was completed. The guilt was removed. And the Father can look upon us and can smile upon us and communicate his life to us and call us his own children.

Christ’s Blood Answers Condemnation

There is a sense in which all of us, as children of God, still are accused by the accuser of the brethren. All of us experience that perhaps day by day. We fail the Lord. We feel we haven't sought him as we ought to seek him.

And there is someone that accuses us, makes accusation before the Father. And in our own hearts, we feel sometimes a sense of shortcoming, of condemnation. We're apt to be down, you know, depressed when we look at ourselves.

And we have one who is in heaven and his precious blood answers all those accusations of the devil. Romans 8, we've been studying that. Who is he that condemneth? The enemy of our souls, he tries to put condemnation on us.

Our high priest, it is Christ that justifieth, we read there, or we memorize there. How about it? Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ. Why, it is he who appears at the right hand of the Father for you and for me.

And he stands there as our surety. He shows his bleeding hands, his precious blood. I've often been blessed personally in Philemon's story, where the Apostle Paul covers up for the sin of Onesimus. He had sinned against Philemon, cheated him, run away from him, and he got saved.

He ran into the Apostle Paul in Rome somehow, we don't know how. But there he got to God. The Apostle probably recognized him, because that house was a house where he had meetings. And here he meets him, and he gets right with God.

And the Apostle says, you have to go back now and straighten it out with your Philemon. You have to make things right. I'm so glad that Jesus gives us grace to make things right in our lives. There's nothing that can take the place of a clear conscience, a clean heart, where there's nothing there to condemn.

But the Apostle Paul, he writes, he says, I'm going to write a letter to Philemon. You take it to him. And you show it to him. And in that letter, he writes, if Onesimus owes you anything, you charge that to my account.

I'll pay for it. I'll be responsible. I'll pay the debt. Then he says, how be it? I'm not mentioning that you owe your salvation to me, brother. But if he's done anything wrong to you, and you're holding it against him, put that on my account.

I'll pay it, he says. And it often blesses me, because when the enemy comes to accuse me, I often think that Jesus stands there before the Father, and he says, that's my child. If he has done anything wrong, I'll pay for it.

I have paid for it. My precious blood makes the atonement. And day by day, God wants us to live in that light. We're under the blood. The blood speaks for us. The blood of Jesus, that Jesus offers before the Father, avails for you and for me.

Resurrection Life from the High Priest

We have an open heaven. And this Jesus, who ministers as high priest, we read that he ministers by the power of an endless life. See, that's the difference. The earthly priests, they could do their work on the human level.

My son was speaking about that. But this Jesus, when he ministers, he ministers resurrection life. Whenever we come together in his name, and our high priest is with us when we gather together and looks upon us, the resurrection power of God flows to touch you and to touch me.

That's what changes us. That's what makes us victorious. It's that life of Jesus within us. And this high priest that we have, who ministers over the house of God, the family of God, and that, of course, includes the whole family of God, there is resurrection life and power.

And I'm so thankful that I know something about that. Don't you? Or do you? I know you do. And God wants us to know more about that. We live by him. Hallelujah. Jesus said, I live by the Father. And if you live, eat me, my flesh, and drink my blood, you have eternal life.

And I want you to live by me. All that life flows where he ministers, wherever he ministers. And Jesus has come into your life and my life. He has shed his blood for us. He has opened heaven to us. He says, I want you to come and draw nigh with a true heart in full assurance of faith.

We never have to be afraid to come to the throne of grace. It's always open for us. Through the blood of Jesus. He shed his blood. He lives for us. He makes intercession for us. And this morning we read in the second chapter, it tells us there he is a merciful and a faithful high priest.

He is merciful in that he is kind to you and to me. And he feels with us. He knows our shortcomings. He knows our weakness. You never have to be afraid to come to him and open your heart to him because he's merciful.

The Merciful and Faithful High Priest

And when we read that he's a faithful high priest in the things pertaining to God, we have to remember that he's faithful to the father. It is God who has sworn thou art a priest forever. It is God who has put him into that wonderful place of ministry to his body.

And Jesus is faithful to the father. And he ministers to every one of his children. And he bears them all as the high priest bore the names of the children of Israel, the tribes on his breast and on his shoulders.

He had the names engraven in the stones. And when he went into the presence of God, here they were, all of them represented on his heart. And then they were represented on his shoulders, which speak of his authority, his power.

And your name, my name, written on his hand. Oh, hallelujah. And we read something here. Therefore, now that verse you all are familiar with. Verse 24, this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.

Wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost. The margin, it says evermore. Day by day, continually, he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. That's the kind of a high priest I need.

Oh, he lives forever. And every day, all the time, he lives for me. And he is able to save me to the uttermost. Some of us go through times, maybe we say we take a tailspin. We go through times of discouragement.

Times when we feel defeated. Times when the enemy seems to get an advantage over us. And times when we feel, oh, what's the use? But God never feels like that. God is sworn and he will not repent. He'll not change his mind.

He has set Jesus, his son, for the sacrifice. And he has raised him to be the mediator of the new covenant, to be our priest. And tonight he has you on his heart. And tonight he is praying for you. And tonight he wants to minister his life to you.

And he wants to save you to the uttermost. Never give up. God doesn't. God hasn't given up on you. But he has said, I have sworn and I will not repent. Well, that reflects on the glory of our Savior, not on us.

Not that we're somebody special. But God can take a poor lost sinner and lift him from the miry clay and set him free. That's the kind of a Savior we have. He is able to save them to the uttermost. Hallelujah, that come unto God by him.

Intercession, Assurance, and the Work of Grace

For he ever liveth to make intercession for us. Oh, I'm so thankful for his intercession, aren't you? Just think of it. The Son of God is praying for you tonight. He has you on his heart. Why, he died for you.

He has drawn you to himself. He has forgiven your sins. He has a plan over your life to perfect you, to make you like unto himself. And he won't give up. We read in one of the prophecies that are quoted in the Gospels from Isaiah, that he doesn't break the bruised reed.

He doesn't quench the smoking flax. And he will not fail, it says there, until he has brought forth judgment unto victory. Hallelujah. Someday, we're going to join together with the saints that have gone before and worship Jesus as we haven't been able to worship him here.

Do you believe that? Because we'll get a sight. We'll see his love in a new way. We'll see his mercy. We'll see his faithfulness. And God wants me to just commit myself to this wonderful Jesus. Oh, hallelujah.

We heard before our sister Janet quoted a word that was spoken to Clara Lewis, that she had learned to step aside and let God work. You know, we have to do that with our own personal salvation also. We try to save ourselves.

We try to do the thing that's right. And we fail again and again. As sure as you're here tonight, and as sure as you have a lot of zeal, and you're going to do better, and you're going to go through, and you get stirred up, you're going to fail again.

Because in your own strength, you won't be able. And God knew that. And that's why Jesus came. If you had been able to do it, he wouldn't have to come, would he? But he knew that we couldn't. And so he said, I can.

I want you to trust me. I want you to trust my precious blood. I want you to have confidence in that blood. Oh, how often I've come to him and thanked him for the blood, when I've failed and just pleaded that precious blood.

And you know, he's never failed me. He picks me up again. And he washes me. In his own precious blood. And he becomes more precious to me every time. But I need to learn to let him do the work. To yield to him.

And say, Jesus, you are making intercession for me. You have a plan for me. You live for me. You give me your resurrection life. It's available to me. And I need to learn to take. I need to learn to drink.

I need to learn to receive. I need to learn to believe in you. And he's able to save me to the uttermost. And God says, I have sworn. I am not going to repent. I'm not going to give up. But I'm going to bring forth a glorious church.

Without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. I like that passage. We have in 1 Corinthians 6, where the apostle enumerates some of the awful sins in the world. And then he writes, such were some of you.

Hallelujah. Not many wise. Not many mighty. Not many noble are called. You don't have to be afraid to come to Jesus. Because you've sinned. Because you have nothing to be proud of. You're just the person he's looking for.

He wants to cleanse you and change you. And he'll be glorified in you if you'll let him. If you'll just let him change you. If you'll just believe him. If you'll give yourself to him and say, Jesus, fill me with your life.

Fill me with the Holy Ghost, Lord. You have provided that for me. Fill me with your spirit and live in me, Lord. It's as we learn to look to him. To put our trust in that precious blood. Not to pay attention to the enemy and his suggestions.

He'll come to you and he'll say, you're a fine Pentecostal brother. You mean you're filled with the Holy Ghost while you can get mad yet? Is that what you call a baptism? You know, he'll talk like that and he'll try to get you so discouraged.

And I'm so thankful we can come to him then and say, Lord, I guess I did lose my temper. I'm sure I did. Lord, you forgive me. And you have put your hand on me to change me. To give me victory. To save me all the way through.

And I'm going to believe you to do it. And I know your blood cleanses me. And you ask me to come with boldness to that throne of grace where I can get mercy. And then find the grace I need in the time of need.

Hallelujah. Oh, we've got a great Savior. And he has committed himself to you. Hallelujah. And he wants you and he wants me to trust him. Our high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.

And then it tells us he's 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's. For this he did once when he offered up himself.

Surrendering to Christ’s Transforming Work

Oh, thank God. The victory has been won. The price has been paid. And God asks me to give myself to Jesus. And to let him work in me. To let him have his way with me. To learn to take my hands off and say, Lord, I capitulate.

I am not able. Now you have your way. You live out your life in me. As long as I try to get, hang on to my own will. And do my own thing and I'm not fully surrendered to him. I spoil his working. But as we give ourselves to him.

And let him be in charge and let him minister to us. He will minister his salvation to every one of us. Oh, let us learn our lessons. God has raised up this Jesus to be our high priest. Oh, hallelujah.

He has offered himself once for all. The victory has been won. The price has been paid. That blood has power today and throughout all eternity. For your need, my need. Hallelujah. Oh, the power of the blood of Jesus.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You know, I've seen people change. I often think when I'm preaching about a fellow who came to me in Germany one time. It was after the war. And some of those boys have been in the army.

And they had gotten into sin that I never dreamed of. I was sheltered, you know, in a minister's home. I didn't know too much of the depths of Satan. And here we were having meetings in Kirchheim and the Adlersaal.

And this fellow came in. He came up to the altar. And the way they used to do it, they'd confess their sins to the minister. And he starts spilling off his sins to me. And they were getting worse all the time.

And I was trying to stop him and I couldn't. I kept saying, look, you've got to tell it to Jesus. All those awful things that that fellow had done. I tell you, it was a catalog that just surprised me.

I thought, oh God, what awful, awful things. And so I talked to him afterwards. I said, now you must confess it to Jesus, not to me. Let's tell him about it. He went through the whole list again. Everything.

He went right down the line and declared it to the Lord. Ask the Lord to forgive him. Ask the Lord to cleanse him. But you know, some of these sins are such bondages. And then the bell began to ring. He used to have the railroad station right nearby.

And on Sunday, there were a few trains. And he said to me, I got to run. That's my train. There the Schwäbische Eisenbahn was ringing the bell. And that's the way it used to be. We'd have our meetings and then 20, 30 people suddenly get up for the door.

Their train was leaving. And there was no other train that day, you see. And he left. He said goodbye to me. And you know, in my heart, my mind, I said, I won't see you again. What unbelief, huh? I thought, that fellow, he did get through.

You see, I was looking at the way I would do it. I wasn't reckoning with Jesus and how merciful he is. The next Sunday, I was sitting on the platform looking over the congregation. And that fellow walked in the door.

And he was smiling from ear to ear. He was so happy. And I ducked my head and I said, God forgive me. God forgive me. Such unbelief. Well, I think I learned a lesson. You know, God is able, we read here, he's able to save them to the uttermost.

That come unto God by him. And he begins to work. And maybe we fall again. Maybe we have an attack by the enemy. He knows our weak points. But we can come again. And he is able to break those bondages.

He's able to strengthen us where we have failed. He wants to make us more than conquerors. And God has sworn. He gave him this work. He put him into that position as high priest. He said, you're a high priest forever and I won't repent.

Hallelujah. That means God's plan is going to work. It's going to work in your life if you'll let it. Work in my life if you'll believe it. Oh, let's believe in him. Let's love him. Let's surrender ourselves to him.

Let us say, Lord, I just want you to take my life as I am. I put my trust in your precious blood. Shed for me. And Lord, you who minister resurrection life. You minister the Holy Ghost. I need that ministry.

I need to be filled with your spirit. I need to be quickened within. That's what Jesus lives to do. And make us more than conquerors through his precious blood. And when the enemy comes and accuses you and tries to, remember, who is he that condemneth?

It is Christ who died. Yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God. And he maketh intercession for us. When you fail, when the enemy comes, Jesus is praying for you. Turn to him.

Claim his blood. Claim his presence. Claim his victory. He's going to save you to the uttermost as you come to God by him. Oh, what a savior we have. And who wouldn't want to put their trust fully in him?

Who would want to try any other way? You're going to fail. But here's a way that will never fail. Jesus will never fail you. Give yourself to him. And let him fill you with his spirit. And let him work in you day by day.

That salvation that he's come to bring, he is able to save them forever. It says here, evermore. Hallelujah. Some of us have been on the way a long time. And we still need that ministry. He is still working in our hearts.

We find we can't stand in our own strength. We need him all the time. But he's there. And we're finding out that he's faithful. He's true. And it pays to always live in his presence. To always count on him.

To lean on him. Oh, what a savior. And what a salvation we have. And he is that everlasting priest. And someday, we're going to see him, love him, and thank him. And he's going to be glorified. He's going to be glorified.

The Father’s Promise to Preserve His People

We read this morning, he's going to say, Father, here are the children. You have given them to me. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Sometimes, I get introduced to somebody, you see.

This is my friend, Edmund Waldfogel. I wouldn't have a chance, maybe, to meet somebody who's well-known. But I have friends that introduce me to them. I stand before them. And I enjoy meeting some of the leaders in the kingdom of God.

Some of the men that God has used greatly. It's been my privilege. But that doesn't hold a candle. I want to be in that number when Jesus presents me to the Father and says, Father, here's one of them.

He was a hopeless case. But he opened his heart to me. He came to me. And I changed him by your grace. And here he is. Here am I. These are the children that you've given unto me. Oh, what a day. Hallelujah.

But right now, he presents me to the Father. And he says, Father, here's my son. I'm working in him. Oh, Jesus, we thank you that you're here tonight. Thank you for your glorious presence. Thank you for the power in your precious blood.

Jesus, we want to honor your blood more. We thank you that you entered into heaven by that blood. To heaven itself. And that blood speaks for us tonight. Speaks for us as we go through this earthly pilgrimage.

Speaks day by day on our behalf. We pray for a new cleansing. Oh, we praise you for the blood. And we thank you that we can come again and again. Come under the blood. That cleansing stream. We thank you, Father, that you've given us Jesus.

Who lives in our hearts. Who makes intercession for us before you. And you've given him this work to do. And you've said, I'm not going to repent. I'm not going to back down. I'm not going to try something else.

This plan is going through. Hallelujah. And these people that have put their trust in me, I'm going to save them to the uttermost and be glorified in them. I pray that you'll encourage everyone in this place, Lord.

We know that sometimes the battle is hot. And the temptations are difficult. And you've put us into this dark world that's getting darker. But Jesus, you're strong. Help us to know that you're always making intercession for us.

You ever live for that. You never will forget us. But you're there and you see us. Father, I pray that you'll encourage my brethren tonight. And we pray that where we don't yield to you and where we haven't committed ourselves fully to this great high priest.

For you're working with him. Help us to stop trying to do it ourselves. And help us to put our trust fully in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Father, I pray too that you will fill us more with the Holy Ghost.

Let us experience more and more of that power of an endless life by which you minister. Jesus. Hallelujah. We thank you that just now you're pouring out your spirit. Hallelujah. You're quickening us within.

We thank you. We thank you that we can feel the current moving on the line. Hallelujah. Glory, glory, glory, glory to Jesus. Glory to Jesus. Oh God, touch your people afresh. Quicken everyone in this place, Lord.

And let us go forward this week with you. Knowing that you are able to save them to the uttermost. Hallelujah. Sin shall not reign. Jesus shall reign. Amen.