Hebrews 7:1-10 | Who or What is Melchizedek?
February 27, 2022
Covenant Reformed Baptist Church
Tullahoma, TN
Pastor Jeff Rice
Transcript
Our text today is found in Hebrews chapter 7 verses 1 through 10, but we will
Travel to a few different areas before we read Hebrews 7 1 through 10.
Let's pray father Lord, please by the name of your son
Jesus be with us Amen Hey Trinity, will you grab my water forgive me?
Our Theme for this Lord's Day is who or what is Melchizedek Alistair Begg says that if you're preaching topical sermons
You don't preach this text This is not something
That you would say. Hey, I want that's it. That's the one I want to preach This is what I want to bring to people's attention
And he says if you expositionally walk through the text This is one of the spots of the Bible that you wish that you could skip over Without the brains in your audience in the congregation
Noticing it's a hard person of portion of Scripture My proposition is since Jesus is our high priest and King forever.
We have no Need to look for another Right. Jesus is our high priest and King forever.
We have no need to look for another And today this day if you will give me your attention my intentions are to show you
Christ by way of this King priest Who is called
Melchizedek? And our outline we will see Melchizedek compared to the
Son of God Not the Son of God compared to Melchizedek As some people like to teach but Melchizedek compared to the
Son of God The context of our portion of Scripture is found in Hebrews 4 14 through 6 5 1 through 14 and 6 1 through 3
And here's what I want you to notice from the context
That Jesus is our high priest right hallelujah hollaback
Jesus is our high priest That Jesus is able to sympathize with our weakness why?
Because Jesus took on flesh We can have you and I can have confidence when we draw near to him
And he was appointed high priest by his father Not by anyone else, but by his father
God the father that he was made perfect through suffering not
Morally perfect, but that the life that he lived it perfectly
Satisfied the wrath of God and that he
Jesus is the source of eternal life anyone if anyone is to have eternal life
They must come to Jesus Christ He is the source there is no other source
It's him alone. He's the only way to the father and That he was designated by God as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek last thing
That the hearers of this letter were hearing But they were not listening
Right. Remember we went over that so let's look at the context real quick We'll begin in Hebrews chapter 4 beginning in verse 14
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens
Jesus the Son of God Let us hold fast to our confession For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness
But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin
Let us with confidence Draw near to the thorn of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace
To help in the time of need For every high priest chosen from among man is appointed to act on behalf of man in relation to God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins
And he can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beseeched with weakness
Because of this he is obligated He is obligated to offer
Sacrifices for his own sins just as he does for the sins of the people of those people
And no one takes this honor for himself But only when called by God just as Aaron was
So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest
But was appointed by him who said to him you are my son today
I have begotten you and As he's also said in another place.
You are a priest forever after the order of Mekesodek in the days of his flesh
Jesus offered up prayers and supplications With the loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death
And he was heard because of his reverence although. He was a son he learned obedience through What he suffered and being made perfect he became the source of eternal life for all who obey him being designated by God as high priest after the order of Mekesodek verse 11 about this we have much to say and it is hard to explain
So about what about Mekesodek about Mekesodek we have much to say
But it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing For though by this time you ought to be teachers you yourself need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God you need milk not solid food for everyone who moves on milk is
Unskilled and the word of righteousness because he is a child But solid food is for the mature for those who have their
Who have their powers of discernments Trained by constant practice and distinguishing good from evil chapter 6 therefore
Let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity Let us leave the gospel for a minute and go on To Mekesodek that's what it's saying here
Not laying again the foundations of repentance from dead works and instructions about washings the laying on of hands the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment and this we will do if God permits the teaching of Jesus and the high priesthood being after the order of Mekesodek is where the
Hebrew Christians need it to go and it is where we will go today
We need to go we will go today. The church has always been a place where both we have both those
Who are ready for solid food and those who are not ready for solid food?
Problem is is most churches neglect those who are ready for solid food by never getting into real teaching
They only feed milk But there's the opposite tape where they're there there's no solid food and there's no milk
There's stories about the pastor's life. We want to be a church that does both
We give the gospel every week And we teach holy rot
Because it is by the milk of the gospel that men are saved and by which you are being saved if you hold fast to the message
Let's uh, look real quick at that message First Corinthians chapter 15.
This is what Paul is pointing to When he's when he's when he's speaking about milk.
I want you to listen. How and how important is this milk? How important is it for me when our when the babies come to feed them milk?
We don't shove steak in their mouth when they're babies. They need milk First Corinthians chapter 15.
We'll look at verses 1 through 4 Now I would remind you brothers of the gospel that I preach to you which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved if You hold fast to the word.
I preach to you unless you believe in vain Here it is for I receive for I deliver to you a first importance
What I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures
That he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures
The church needs that every week. I would say that a church that does not teach that every week
Has fallen what the Bible gives us to to live on but again
This is something that that came to me
I wrote down that came to me as I was thinking about this and it was it is this you will never be able to Articulate the depth of the gospel without understanding the teachings around the gospel
Paul Washer says that thousands and thousands and ten thousand years in heaven
We will know no more be at the foothills of the gospel of how the depth is of it
I might be paraphrasing and saying it wrong But he's talking about the that the gospel itself.
It's it's so much there. There's so much to understand And our problem is is that we will never fully understand it.
And so we need it every week Every waking moment. We need the gospel But we also need the teaching in the scripture that surrounds the gospel that makes the gospel clearer
And that's what I hope to accomplish with this hard portion of text Much ink has been spilt on identifying the relationship between Melchizedek and Jesus And there are extra biblical writings such as the
Dead Sea Scrolls and second Maccabees that can leave you thinking quite differently from the
What I believe the biblical interpretation is some
Believe Melchizedek to be a Christophany a Pre -incarnate
Christ. So Christophany is when you're reading the Old Testament and you see
Places in the Old Testament where Jesus is revealed we saw this last week in the
Old Testament doing in Genesis chapter 3 dealing with the angel of the Lord as as Abraham has lifted his hand against his son to come down and to sacrifice his son
It says the angel of the Lord Called to him Abraham Abraham do not hurt your son
So in scripture where we see the angel of the Lord We see this as a
Christophany That this is that that this is Jesus being revealed before his his incarnation but people seem to think that this is a free incarnation of Christ and They're calling it a
Christophany and I'll and I'll dive deep into that Momentarily, so the question is who or what is this?
Melchizedek and I'm gonna give you my interpretation. It's very simple. I believe him to be a type of Christ remember we're going through covenant theology.
We have types and anti types Remember the illustration of the menu
We have a picture of a burrito, but it's not the burrito as a matter of fact in order to get the picture they had to take a
With the camera they had to take a picture of a real burrito So I believe that this this
Melchizedek is a picture. He is a type of Christ. He is not
Christ He is a picture he is a type and that Jesus is the anti type this making him not a
Christophany But just someone who resembles Christ and I will and on that statement
Allow me to build my case first we see Melchizedek appear in In Genesis 14, so he only appears in the
Old Testament twice Genesis 14 and in Psalm 110 And in short when it comes to Genesis 14 the context there was
There was a battle and Abraham's Kingsman lot was taken
So Abraham took three hundred and eighteen of his trained man to rescue lot now
These are not Navy SEALs, right? These are shepherds these are people work in the field and know how to throw a punch so Don't think
Navy SEAL. Don't think marine when he says trained man These are just men who can fight men who were willing to fight now after Abraham returned from the battle
He met with Melchizedek and we'll pick up right there in Genesis chapter 14
Just for the sake of time we'll read verse 18 through 20 Genesis 14 18 through 20.
So he's on his way from the battle and it says verse 18 and Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine
He was priest of God Most High and he blessed him and said blessed be
Abram By God Most High Possessor of heaven and earth and he blessed
God Most High who was and he said blessed be God Most High Who has delivered?
your enemies into your hand and Abram gave him a tenth of Everything now turn your attention to Psalm 110
There's only seven verses and we'll read all seven. So this is the most Quoted passage of Scripture in the
New Testament Nothing is quoted more than Psalm 10 seven verses, but it speaks about a king and a priest and It's a psalm of David a psalm of David's David being
King the earthly physical king of Israel And he says the Lord Yahweh here notice the all -caps says to my
Lord Adonai The Lord Yahweh says to the king's
Lord Adonai Sit at my right hand
Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet The Lord Yahweh sends forth from Zion Your mighty scepter rule in the midst of your enemies your people will offer
Themselves freely on the day of your power and your holy garment
From the womb of the morning to the dew of your youth Will be yours the
Lord has sworn. He will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek The Lord Adonai is at your right hand.
He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath He will execute judgment among the nations filling them with corpses
He will shatter the chest scatter the chaff over the wide of the earth
He will drink from the brook by the way by the way therefore he will lift his
Head now, let's go to our text
Hebrews chapter 7 we will read verses 1 through 10
Have in mind, I know it's gonna be hard, but have in mind everything that's been said just just put it all there as I read this verse 1 for this
Melchizedek King of Salem priest of most high
God met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the Kings and blessed him and to him
Abraham appropriated a tenth part of everything He was first by translation of his name king of righteousness
And then he is also king of Salem That is king of peace
He is without father or mother or genealogy have another beginning of days or end of life but Resembling the
Son of God he continues a priest forever See how great this man was whom
Abraham the Patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils and Those descendants of Levi who received priestly offerings
Have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people that is from their brothers
Though these are also this are off These also are descendants from Abraham But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him
Who had the promise? It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior
And in one case tithes are received by mortal man But in the other case by one who it is testified that he lives
One might even say that Levi himself Who receives tithes paid tithes through Abraham For he was still in the loins of his ancestor when he met when
Mechizedek met him All right things that you might have noticed and these will be our sub points
So point one he is a priest of God Most High So point two
Mechizedek is the king of Salem so point three He is without genealogy and sub point number four
Abraham Gave him a tenth of everything and we'll just jump right in it for the sake of time.
So point number one He is a priest of God Most High we see that in verse one
Let's read verse one again for this Melchizedek king of Salem priest of the
Most High of most of the Most High God met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and Blessed him.
Notice how this Melchizedek is both king and priest All right,
I pointed that out earlier that that this I believe is a clear type when it comes to typology
Jesus is both king and priest This is something that we don't see in the
Aaronic priesthood so the Aaronic priesthood the Levitical priesthood are
Just priests they are not Kings Kings come from Judah priests come from Levi the
Levitical priesthood are descendants of Levi not of the tribe of Judah Jesus is from the tribe of Judah and Yet he is priest and as we transition
Melchizedek is the priest of God Most High. This is God Most High. This is El Elyon El being the
Old Testament word for God El Elyon Most High This is telling us that that God was at work and established before he establishes the covenant with Abraham And we listen we know this is true
Thank Jake. I mean thank Job right, who did Job worship and Job was before Abraham.
God has always been at work He's never been without a people who worshipped him
Job was a worshipper of God this Melchizedek whoever he is was a worshipper of God So no one biblical history what the writer is doing in my opinion.
He is showing That there are two priesthoods Who worshipped
God Most High El Elyon? so point number two Some of these will be faster than the others so point number two.
Well Melchizedek is king of Salem verse 2 and to him Abraham appropriated a
Tenth part of everything. He is first by translation of his name king of righteousness and Then he is also king of Salem.
That is king of peace The writer of this book has given us insight to his name that his name means king of righteousness
His name is broken down in Hebrew as Malak and Zadok Malak is king
Zadok is righteousness king of righteousness Melchizedek king of righteousness
And he said this is telling us that this Melchizedek this Malak Zadok was a king was a righteous king
And that this king would have established a righteous kingdom And it also says that he is also king of Salem and it says that is king of peace
Salem Melchizedek Salem would have been
Melchizedek city the city that he was a king of and Salem this the city is probably known by another name that's familiar to us
Jerusalem Jerusalem Salem is what
I believe to be Jerusalem and we you come to this conclusion when you look at Genesis 14 18
Hebrews 7 1 through 2 and you compare that to Psalm 76
Verses 1 and 2 listen to this. This is really cool Psalm 76 verse 1 and 2 it says
In Judah God is known His name is great in Israel His abode is established in Salem His dwelling place in Zion so that the
Hebrew term for Salem can mean peace
The Hebrew term for Salem can refer to peace or it can refer to Salem the place
So Salem can be peace or it can be the place and the place is Now known as Jerusalem Jerusalem It is where we get the word
Shalom Salem is where you get the word shalom
Shalom means peace So what I believe the author is doing is he he's just trying to unscramble the eggs, right?
And I'll explain that more in a minute. What I believe the author is is doing is is that the author understands the name
Melchizedek to mean king of righteousness and the title of his name to mean king of peace as seen in 7 to The combination of the terms righteousness and peace has messianic implications that's only found in the
Old Testament and the understanding of this helps us to see why
Melchizedek has such a prominent role in the New Testament book of Hebrews Now as we transition,
I believe these things are pointing us you and me to the our righteousness and to our peace
Again, this is a type What the writer is doing he is he's looking at Melchizedek's a figure that these
Jewish followers of Christ would have known and he is saying that That just as this
King up back here who our forefather pay tithes to Was was king and priest just Jesus is king and priest and And just as he had this righteousness about him in this peace that this righteousness and peace can be only found in Jesus Because Jesus is our peace we can only have peace in Christ alone
So point three, this is where it gets a little tricky. He is without genealogy verse 3
He is without father or mother Or Genealogy have another beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the
Son of God he continues Priest forever this verse is where interpretations can get wonky.
I Know this because I've had some wonky interpretations because of this verse I've I've thought some weird things because of this verse
Right and let me tell you when I saw him out there was ink spilt on this subject. There are some weird things written because of this verse
But now after you know being in Hebrews and studying I believe that this verse Is the main verse that teaches my interpretation that it's typology
Him being without father or mother or genealogy have another Beginning of days nor end of life is speaking of the fact that he does not appear in Scripture before Genesis 14 like it doesn't tell you who his mom and dad is nor That there's a backstory of his birth
Or do we read of his death? so you There's no one scripture where it says and so -and -so beget
Melchizedek and Melchizedek beget so -and -so and then Melchizedek dies
Like it's just not in Scripture Right and at this time there was a
Jewish interpretation that said that he Listened to this that Melchizedek was sham.
So the Jews believe that Melchizedek was sham you say who sham Noah's son one of Noah's sons name was sham and so the
Jewish belief was that this priest this Melchizedekian priesthood that this guy was sham and that because of this that it is only a title the name
Melchizedek is only a title. It's not his name and yet the writer says by translation of his name
He is king of righteousness the Jews interpreted that this Melchizedek was sham and when you hold the
Interpretation that this is the title which the LDS Church does and now they when whenever they ordain people it's to the ordination of Like to them you cannot baptize someone unless you are of the
Melchizedek priesthood So you see these these guys they walk around here they knock on your door
They are people that has been ordained into the Melchizedek priesthood So to them
Jesus is not the only priest of this order there they also hold to the priesthood of Melchizedek Because they hold it as a title just like the
Jews do But this is sham Now this is my opinion.
I Believe that Melchizedek says that it's he just has no genealogy But look like when you read the
Bible you just don't read anything about him. There's nothing there He appears and then he's he doesn't appear again to to Psalm 110 and then after Psalm 110
He doesn't appear it again to to Hebrews chapter 5 Like he's just not there
And I believe the writer is just saying that he he is speaking against the
Jewish interpretation that he's sham Why because sham has a genealogy
If the Jews at this time are teaching that he sham and our writer is teaching that he had no genealogy
He can only be teaching that he's not sham This is something that the hearers of this time would have known
But unless you dig you come out with some wonky interpretations
And trust me. I've been doing some digging It's kept me up at night Now I believe the writer is actually clearing the table right he is he when it comes to these
Jewish fables He is unmixing the egg Man y 'all got it all mixed up And and there's another
Jewish fable. We'll get to that in the at the last point The last part of this verse though.
It tells us that he was a type I want you to see it the last part of this verse where it says but resembling
So verse 3 the last part But resembling the
Son of God He continues a priest forever That he
Melchizedek resembles God Notice, it doesn't say that he was the
Son of God or that he present tense is the
Son of God It just says but resembling the
Son of God he Continues a priest forever so the word resembles here means
Looks or seems like he looks or seems like this is what a type is
That's all Melchizedek is He seems like The Son of God he he he looks like I mean when he when we came out to Abraham.
What did he bring? bread and wine I'm not saying there's something spiritual.
They're unique But he looks like he resembles the
Son of God Well, how cuz I mean if you just look at the idea of Jesus and the genealogy
Jesus has a genealogy. I Mean not in the eternal state, right? Jesus says
God doesn't have a genealogy, but the man Christ Jesus does All it's telling us is that this guy is not
Jim and he resembles Stop stop going crazy with your fables and your myths
He's he just resembles the Son of God though. He is a higher priesthood than the order of the priesthood of Aaron He's greater.
He's superior to the priesthood of Aaron Why because Abraham gave him a tenth and to be honest my biggest problem with making him a
Christophany It's the fact that by saying this we would have to say that Jesus Prior to the incarnation had an earthly kingdom on earth before the call of Abraham Where he would have been both king and priest to say that he this is a pre -incarnated
Christ You're saying that Jesus had two incarnations and the first one failed Ladies and gentlemen, that's blasphemy
That goes against the gospel Because it says he was king of Salem Jerusalem on earth.
We cannot go that route The text doesn't allow it and as we transition
I Would like to point out that the paschal lamb pointed to Christ That it pointed to Jesus that the men that the men and mama
Manon that came down from heaven pointed to Jesus that the bronze serpent that I was on the
Poe pointed to Jesus These things like Melchizedek are shadows pointing to the substance that they are not the substance he is nothing more than a type a picture of something that was
Something was going to come that's greater Something it's coming that he resembles and that's it.
That's it. That's all it talks about That's all it's all it is with him Other than him being a greater priesthood
To quote Alistair Begg if you follow me on Facebook, you've seen this to cling to the shadow
You forfeit the substance If you're focused on the shadow if that's where your hope is
You have forfeited the substance the substance is Christ the something greater that all things in Scripture point to are
Christ Sub point number four Abraham gave him a tenth of everything
This is found in verses 4 through 10. So how great
Sorry, see how great this man was To whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils and to those descendants of Levi he who received the priestly office
Have a commandment in the law to take tithes From the people that is from their brothers
Though these also are a descendant of Abraham But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him and blessed him who had the promises
It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior in one case tithes are received by mortal man
But the other case by one of whom it testifies that he lives One might even say that Levi himself who receives tithes pay tithes through Abraham For he was still in the loins of his ancestor
When he met him, all right, so Abraham on his way back from the battle having
With him the possessions of the four kings that fell so these kings came in they took
They took You know They capture people and they took what the people had
Abraham takes his men and he goes and he defeats these kings supernaturally in my opinion
What takes place he's got four kings and armies and his three hundred and eighteen men defeat them and Return and as he returned home
He was met by mechizedek and to him this this king this this priest this king priest
He Abraham Gave a tenth of everything that he brought back.
So so all the spoil that he brought back from this war He gave it to this priest this this king priest
That's what this that's the context of the verse Of verses 4 through 10,
I believe what the writer of Hebrews is telling us is that this Melchizedek priesthood is superior to the
Levitical priesthood Because the Melchizedek did not come from Abraham and Abraham gave this
Melchizedek priest king tithes a tenth of everything that he had So much so that Abraham the
Levitical priesthood You know, he paid this tithe to him and the explanation is is how why did this happen?
Why is is this Melchizedek greater? Than the Levitical priesthood because the
Levitical priesthood is of the tribe of Levi the tribe of Levi is from Levi the son of Jacob who is the son of Isaac and Isaac is the son of Abraham and so he
He's just showing the superiority When it comes to blessings the the blessing would be passed down from father to son
Basically, the father was the what was the superior? The son would be the inferior
And you have this this this Melchizedek who's not even in the line of Abraham who who blesses
Abraham And then through him his offspring are blessed
His offspring are given tithes This is really hard to explain
Because you got because it has that one verse in it that that they pay tithes because he was in the loins of his father
I mean his of his ancestor and so just trying to to to comprehend that and wrap your mind around is is really tough so this is what
I believe so because They are Abraham. I'm assuming so because they are from Abraham.
They to pay tithe I just believe it like it's it's that simple
It's not really trying to say something weird or or anything like that But because the leave the
Levitical priesthood, so so this is why the Melchizedek priesthood is greater is because the
Levitical priesthood are Descendants of Abraham and Abraham paid him tithes
Speaking that Abraham in this moment was the inferior and him being the superior and it was all of this was to show that the
Levitical priesthood is inferior to The priesthood that Jesus holds being that Jesus is after the order of Melchizedek.
Does that make sense? It's it's really tough. So Because this
Levitical priest line is it comes from Abraham and they were in Abraham When he paid so because of that the
The priesthood of Melchizedek is superior and they are inferior In order to enter the
Levitical priesthood, this is really cool in order to enter the Levitical priesthood you would begin training for the priesthood at 25 and you would and you would enter the priesthood at the age of 30 and You could be a priest only until the age of 50 so you would train for at 25 you would enter at 30 and you can only be that until you were 50 and Chapter 7 verse 23 tells us that how another that they were prevented by death the former priests
Were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in the office
And when you look back in history, they can only be a priest until they were 50
The at the inauguration of the priesthood they would wash you they would anoint you and your father would say
That this is my son and whom I am well pleased So every priest in order to become a priest after their train, they would wash them.
They would bathe them They would anoint with oil and the father of this priest would would recognize this as his beloved son
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Look at Matthew chapter 3
Matthew chapter 3 verse 13 Then Jesus came to Galilee to Jordan to John To be baptized by him
John would have prevented him saying I Need to be baptized by you and do you come to me?
But Jesus answered him let it be so now for thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness
Then he continued Then he consented and when
Jesus was baptized immediately He went up from the water and behold the heavens were open and He saw the
Spirit of God Descending like a dove coming to rest on him and behold a voice from heaven
Said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased
At this king of righteousness. We see Jesus said that this what was happening was to fulfill all -righteousness
That Jesus was baptized He was emerged in water that he was washed that the that the heavens opened and the
Holy Spirit Came in and rested upon him speaking of the anointing that he was anointed
And then there was a voice. I said, this is my son in whom
I am well pleased. How old was Jesus? 30
This was his inauguration as high priest And it's easy to just overlook these things
That him becoming a high priest was to fulfill all righteousness But him becoming a high priest was to be after the order of Melchizedek a superior
Look at verse 8 In one case tides are received from mortal men
But in the other case by one who lives and his testifies that he lives
Now, I don't believe the writer is saying that this Melchizedek is still alive Right.
I believe that he died He was born and he died, but there was another
Jewish fable at this time That said that he never died
And so what I believe the writer is doing
Is that he he's taking this king priest that This this well -known story at this time
And he's using something that they know as a way to explain who Christ is
And that although Christ has died he has rose from the grave and he forever lives like it's really simple when if you just Listen to our writer as he is taking these
Jewish fables And he is speaking truth to him all he's doing you go back in Jewish history, you'll see everything that he's speaking of but he's
Giving it a proper interpretation. That's not true. But this is true No, he's not sham.
He had no genealogy and the reason why he is a priesthood forever is because Again it doesn't say that he died, but Jesus comes and takes this priesthood and Jesus lives forever
So he's just unscrambling the eggs now
What do we do with this? Like that's the heart like like this is So beyond our brains we have to ask ourself.
Okay. Now, what do we do that? What do we do with this? What does this mean? What do we need to understand?
Here and And I believe simply we just need to understand the point
And we'll close with this. We just need to understand the point We need to leave here today
Not under understanding the point and not getting lost in the weeds that this Jesus is both
King and priest like that's it. Jesus is King and he is priest he is the only sovereign the
King of Kings the Lord of Lords the Alone has immortality who dwells in unapproachable light that that he is the
God man Who is both God and man him being God the only mediator between God and man and as a high priest?
He has reconciled us to himself as God by the sacrifice of himself as man
You just read that again and as the high priest he has reconciled us to himself as God By the sacrifice of himself as man ladies and gentlemen, that is the clearest message of the gospel
We need to hold to the same things that the hearers of this letter needed to hold to and that is the preeminence and the sufficiency of Christ That Jesus surpasses all others
That's the preeminence and that you and I we can rest in him because he has done enough. That's the sufficiency
And that the gospel is is this is that the inferior is blessed by the superior When you look at verse 7, it says it is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior and that's where the gospel comes in that the preeminence of Christ him being the superior is
Blessing the inferior how through the gospel him becoming a man him living the perfect life him
Donna's the death that substitutionary in our place And that you and I the inferior are blessed when we look to Christ Holding on to his sufficiency that he has done.
That's what the writer is trying to tell this group of people Stop looking to the the type stop looking at Stop looking at the types and start looking to the anti type
Stop looking to the substance that the shadow and look to the substance
Our call to repentance is found in chapter 4 verse 1 and 2 therefore while the promise to enter his rest remember the sufficiency the the
The sufficiency of Christ he has done enough. Therefore the promise of entering his rest still stands
Let us fear lest any of you should seem to fail to reach it
For good news came to us just as to them But the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listen
The call is this is that you and I Need not to be dull of hearing and we need to make sure that those around us
Understand what Christ Jesus has done We need to turn
From our selfishness from our self -righteousness and turn to Christ because he is preeminence and He is
Sufficient he is above all and in all and that through him.
He has conquered the pains and the tyrannies of death But we can only find this salvation by believing in him
It is only by believing in him by trusting in him alone for your salvation
If you want to know if you're struggling with salvation and you want to know if you're saved Do you trust him?
Is he enough is Jesus Christ enough? Has he done enough to please the father or are you still trying to do something to make yourself?
Pleasing to the father if you are still still trying to do something then you're saying that he is not enough
But once he is enough What we're doing here today as we gather together today
He's going to use this to grow those who believe that he's enough and holiness If you're here today, and you don't believe he's enough you get nothing from what comes from the day
Absolutely, nothing You're not growing at all But if you hoe to the sufficiency of Jesus Christ that he is enough he has paid it all all to him
I'm available pastor cows available Josh is available
Anyone that wants to talk to us Let's pray Father we love you.
We thank you We ask that your blessings be upon us as a church as a congregation.
We ask that you Bless the the meal that we are about to receive The body that was broken for us and the blood that was shed for us
Well right now I pray that those who are Are of this congregation that hosts to the preeminence and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ.
I Pray that as they're preparing themselves to take this meal or that you grow them in holiness And I pray this in the name of your beloved son