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This is The Gathering Surf City’s podcast for weekly messages.
The Gathering is a passionate worship community in Surf City, North Carolina that strives to Love God, Live Jesus, and Walk together in the Holy Spirit. We hope you enjoy worshipping and drawing closer to Jesus with us!
We are still talking about
the object of our faith.
And obviously all the book of
Hebrews points us to Jesus.
And I'm excited about today's message
because I love getting to the end
of something.
And now we're finally at the end of the
introduction because you get to
the end of chapter seven and you finally
finished essentially the case
that the writer of Hebrews is making
to tell us to pay attention to
Jesus. All right.
And the reason we know that,
and I'm going to skip
ahead next week.
You ready?
The beginning of chapter eight.
And I didn't give this to the booth,
so they just have to endure.
And I can't get the
page to turn right.
It says this.
Now, the main point of what
is being said is this.
That's the first verse
of chapter eight.
Don't you like that?
That just kind of says,
all right,
so everything leading up to this,
this is introduction,
because the main point of what
we're talking about is this.
And we'll get to that next week.
But I really wanted to spend today
kind of summarizing in a sense,
but really,
I think for me,
I do better when somebody gives me a
1234 step by step kind of process.
I'm going to give you a flow
chart this morning.
Alrighty. So let's pray together
before we read.
It's a long passage,
verses eleven through 28,
but we'll read it.
All right,
but let's pray first.
God, we praise you and thank you again
that we get to hang out together
this morning.
We walk and talk with you and hang
out with you all week long.
And then,
God, we get together on Sundays
to hang out with family,
with the body.
And, God,
I give you praise for that.
And, God,
as we look into your word,
we want to hear from you.
God, it's your voice
we need to hear.
And so,
God, I just pray that you'd
speak to our hearts.
God, give us clarity of mind.
Let us understand what it
is that you have done.
But, God,
let us understand what you're doing.
And God,
help us to join you in that and stay so
close that we just don't miss it.
And we pray it in Jesus name.
Amen.
So we're in Hebrews,
chapter seven.
I'm gonna start in verse eleven.
And here we go.
Now, if perfection came through
the levitical priesthood,
for on the basis of it people
received the law,
what further need was there for another
priest to appear said to be
according to the order of Melchizedek
and not according to the order of
Aaron? For when there is a
change of the priesthood.
There must be a change
of the law as well.
For the one these things are spoken about
belonged to a different tribe,
and no one from it has ever
served at the altar.
Now it's evident that our
Lord came from Judah,
and Moses said nothing about that
tribe concerning priests.
And this becomes clearer if another priest
like Melchizedek appears who
did not become a priest based on illegal
regulation about physical
dissent, but based on the power
of an indestructible life.
For it has been testified,
you are a priest forever according
to the order of Melchizedek.
So the previous command is annulled because
it was weak and unprofitable.
For the law perfected,
nothing but a better hope is introduced
through which we draw near to
God. None of this happened
without an oath,
for others became priests
without an oath.
But he became a priest with an oath
made by the one who said to him,
the Lord has sworn and will
not change his mind,
you are a priest forever.
Because of this oath,
Jesus has also become the guarantee
of a better covenant.
Now, many have become levitical priests
since they are prevented by death
from remaining in office,
which, that's a very
blunt statement,
y'all. But because he
remains forever,
he holds his priesthood permanently.
Therefore, he is able to save completely
those who come to God through
him, since he always lives
to intercede for them.
For this is the kind of
high priest we need,
holy, innocent,
undefiled, separated from sinners
and exalted above the heavens.
He doesn't need to offer sacrifices
every day as high priests do,
first for their own sins,
then for those of the people.
He did this once for all time
when he offered himself.
For the law appoints as high
priests men who are weak.
But the promise of the oath which came
after the law appoints a son who
has been perfected forever.
So the whole point of this passage,
and indeed the first seven
chapters of Hebrews,
is to point to Jesus as the once
and for all time high priest.
Once and for all time high priest.
And so what we've seen,
the writer of Hebrews,
and indeed the book of Hebrews doing
is going back all the way to the
point of just the statement of God and
drawing us to this point of our
high priest,
which is Jesus,
because he kind of lays it all out.
So here's the flow chart.
You ready?
It starts with God,
perfect, holy,
righteous, creator of all things,
right? He is the he God.
That's what we see in the beginning,
God, right?
So when all of creation began,
God is the originator.
God is the catalyst of
all these things.
Well, then he creates,
right? Adam.
And the Bible actually says,
and I did some reading this week on the
case for the adamic priesthood.
Now we're going,
wait a minute.
Adam was a priest?
Well, listen to the,
listen to the evidence,
all right?
And you can decide,
I'm not going to sit here and
build a whole case on this.
But Adam was created what perfect,
holy, righteous met with
God in the garden.
And it actually says God placed
him in the garden.
And in this sort of line of thought,
what they'll say is,
is that this was the garden
of God's sanctuary.
So Adam becomes this representative,
right? Mankind meeting with God in the
sanctuary of God's creation right
up to the fall,
and then he gets kicked out,
right?
So you've got this picture
of humanity,
a human being meeting with God.
Now, what we know about the priest
is the priests represent mankind
before God.
And the high priest,
as we've been looking
at through Hebrews,
is they offer a sacrifice
for their own sin first,
before they can bring the sacrifice for
the people's sins to meet in the,
what, once a year the holy of holies in
that place behind the veil before
the fiery presence of God,
right? And then we read last
week that this was,
this tabernacle,
this holy of holies,
was merely a shadow,
you see?
So when we start to look
at this thing,
we say,
all right,
so this goes all the
way back to the,
in the beginning,
God and God's creation and God's creation
of mankind and the fall.
And it was at the fall that
the need for a priest,
you see,
if Adam was a priest
in his own right,
and I don't know any reason
to object to that,
God began to establish priests
that would meet with him.
Wherein lies Melchizedek before Aaron
and Moses and Levi and any of the
lepidical priesthood or the law even
comes to existence because it says
Melchizedek was a priest.
And the order of Melchizedek is a priesthood
whereby God calls people to
meet with him.
See, so I'm looking at this thing,
I'm like,
wow. All right.
Melchizedek was obviously appointed
by most high God because the
description we dealt
with last week was,
is that Melchizedek is,
his name means king
of righteousness.
He is the king of Salem,
which also means king of peace.
And he is a high priest.
He is a priest of most high God,
all right?
And then what we do is,
as we go through the whole,
the whole hebrew,
the people,
the nation,
the relationship God sought
to establish with them,
right?
And he brings them out of Egypt and
he takes them through the water.
And I've heard preachers preach,
that's baptism.
You know,
when they passed through
the Red Sea,
he baptized the whole nation.
I was like,
ooh, okay.
They didn't get wet,
though, but they were underwater.
Right. You see?
And so you've got this nation image
whereby the first covenant is,
I will make of you a people,
a name and a land,
right? But out of you,
all the nations of the earth
will be blessed.
And so you've got these,
these twelve tribes.
One of those tribes is identified
as the tribe of Levi,
the Levites,
which develops the levitical
priesthood,
which lays out the 613 some odd
laws of the Old Testament.
Law, right?
So as we start reading through this,
we start seeing,
whoo, wait a minute.
Now we're getting some,
you know,
we don't like,
talk bad about other people,
do we?
But I want you to understand that.
I mean,
we're going to get to that place where
this is all described as the
priesthood of the Old Testament is actually
referred to as an inferior
priesthood. Did we just say that?
Did we just point to what God had done
for hundreds and even thousands of
years in his people under Abraham and
a chosen nation and the development
and all of that of the
hebrew people,
the jewish nation?
Now, and this is what it says.
Now, if perfection came through
the levitical priesthood,
for on the basis of it,
people received the law,
what further need was there for another
priest to appear said to be
according to the order of Melchizedek
and not according to the order of
Aaron?
You see?
So what he's pointing to is
the aaronic priesthood,
the levitical priesthood,
the delivery of the law and
saying that the law never,
and we saw this last week,
the law never perfected anything.
As a matter of fact,
Paul even says,
if it weren't for the law,
I wouldn't know how bad I am.
Right? So the law didn't
perfect anything.
So there must be a perfecting point
through a new priesthood which
actually says,
for when there is a change
of the priesthood,
there must be a change
of law as well.
So God is establishing beyond
what was the Old Testament,
the old covenant.
He is establishing a priesthood
that not,
didn't just come to be with Jesus,
but it's after the order of what it meant
to meet with God in the garden
of Eden.
If I can point back to that.
All right,
and then you get this need for priests
to represent mankind before the
throne of God in psalm 110,
verse four is where it establishes that
you are a priest after the order
of Melchizedek.
And psalm 110 is this davidic,
prophetic language that sets up ultimately
David's eternal kingdom,
meaning that there would always be one
of the lineage of David on the
throne of God's people,
but also that you are,
that king,
is also priest.
But we know from levitical law that man
cannot be both king and priest.
It's against the law,
all right?
That's why Saul got the kingdom
ripped from him and he died,
because he tried to be both,
right? Samuel shows up and goes,
what have you done?
But after the order of Melchizedek,
because Melchizedek was a king and
what priest of most high God.
So the order there is is that
it's by God's decree,
by God's oath.
For the one these things are spoken about
belonged to a different tribe.
No one from it has served
at the altar.
Now it is evident that our
Lord came from Judah,
and Moses said nothing about that
tribe concerning priests.
So only Levites could be priests
after the aaronic priesthood,
after that order.
So now we've got one from the tribe
of Judah being proclaimed king and
priest. That didn't happen
according to the law.
And this becomes clearer if another
priest like Melchizedek appears.
Now, understand?
It says like Melchizedek.
So people that want Melchizedek
to be Jesus.
Okay, like I said,
I'm gonna wait to get to heaven
to hear that one explained.
And Melchizedek did not become a priest
based on a legal regulation about
physical descent,
but based on the power of
an indestructible life.
So Melchizedek somehow was declared,
decreed by oath to be a priest
before my most high God.
But the one who comes after the order
of Melchizedek prophetically from
psalm 110 says,
for it has been testified,
you are a priest forever according
to the order of Melchizedek.
So the previous command is annulled.
Listen to this.
I didn't say this.
Don't hear me saying this.
Hear God saying this through
the writer of Hebrews.
So the previous command is annulled because
it was weak and unprofitable,
the Old Testament law,
the levitical priesthood,
you see,
for the law perfected,
nothing but a better hope is introduced
through which we draw near to
God. So what was the role of the
priest all the way back?
Was to give us entrance to the presence
of God so that we might draw near
to God,
not to be held apart from God.
Priests are not there to say look,
we're the only ones that
can draw near to God.
No, the role of the priest was to
draw the people near to God,
you see?
And so we look at this.
Well, okay.
Wow. None of this happened
without an oath,
for others became priests
without an oath.
So in the levitical priesthood,
you became high priests just because
you were the firstborn of the
firstborn of the firstborn
of the firstborn.
And some priests were great and
some priests were terrible.
Matter of fact,
I was listening to one
preacher this week.
He said,
yeah, there's a priest at the end of judges
that cut his wife into twelve
pieces. I didn't actually,
you know,
I didn't go back and look that up,
but I was like,
oh, really?
Oh my.
See, there were some
horrible priests,
horrible high priests.
But this one right here,
this oath that was made,
listen to what it says.
It says,
none of this happened
without an oath,
for others became priests
without an oath.
But he became a priest with an oath
made by the one who said to him,
the Lord has sworn and will
not change his mind,
you are a priest forever.
So this is all pointing to.
Remember I said,
this is what this is all about,
y'all. This all points us to Jesus.
Seven chapters of the book of
Hebrews points us to Jesus.
Pay attention to Jesus.
Don't look left or right from Jesus,
always look to Jesus.
Because Jesus is that king and
Jesus is that high priest.
Because of this oath,
Jesus has also become the guarantee
of a better covenant.
Boy, that's offensive,
isn't it?
You mean that first covenant is weak?
Mean that first covenant didn't
accomplish anything?
Why? Because we looked at it.
Because God's people disobeyed.
They didn't keep the covenant.
So the new covenant is not based.
Remember I said this before and I said
this weeks ago and I had people
object. It's fine.
The new covenant,
our salvation,
our redemption,
is not based on us.
It's based on God.
And it's based on God accomplishing
our perfection,
not us accomplishing our perfection.
Now, many have become levitical priests
since they are prevented from
death, by death,
from remaining.
This just basically says,
one priest follows another
one because one dies,
priest dies,
get a new high priest,
that one dies,
get a new high priest.
That's all,
that's, that's just a tough
sentence right there.
Many, there have been many levitical
priests because guess what?
They die.
That's all it means.
But because he,
meaning Christ,
remains forever,
he holds his priesthood permanently.
Therefore, and I love this sentence,
therefore, he is able to save completely
completely those who come to God
through him,
since he always lives to
intercede for them.
Now, let me walk back just
a minute and summarize.
You ready?
We learned in Hebrews so far that
God speaks in these last days.
His superior communication is Jesus,
okay? Jesus is son,
son of God.
I believe all of this little line in
Jesus identification is pointing to
Jesus God the son,
okay?
His son.
He is heir of all things,
means everything that God created
throughout the universe.
Jesus is the heir.
It all belongs to him,
okay? He is creator.
Because Hebrews reemphasizes the fact
that Jesus was at creation,
the word,
right? And so Jesus is creator.
He is the sustainer.
Through him,
by him,
forth him,
all things exist.
So Jesus sustains it all.
He is the radiance of God's glory.
So in scripture,
when you see this light,
this bright shining light
of God's glory,
Jesus is that radiance.
Jesus is the exact expression
of the essence,
the very nature of God.
That's a statement of Jesus deity,
God father,
son, spirit.
And see,
I believe that when you go all the
way back to the creation account,
you get this picture of this God
who is so much more than we can
understand now.
This is his word.
So I believe that the Bible is
God revealing himself to us.
So when we read about God and we
see him as God the father,
and then we understand who Jesus
is in all of these descriptors,
we've got God the son,
and then we've got Jesus saying,
I will send the spirit.
And I love preaching that acts
passage where it said,
the ruach hachodesh,
the spirit of the holy one,
right? So God has revealed himself
as this creator God,
this present God,
this all powerful,
all knowing,
all of those things,
and he reveals himself to us.
So we're to get to know God,
and Jesus prays it.
He said,
this is eternal life,
that they may know you,
the one true God in Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent.
You see?
So getting to know God is the key.
And so when I walk out this
little flow chart,
I'm like,
all right,
we've got God and we've got Adam,
and we've got Melchizedek,
and we've got David,
a righteous king by God's own decree.
And he wasn't righteous in his own.
We know David.
He tells us his sin,
right? But God made him righteous and
made him king forever or in his
lineage. Therefore,
we have Jesus,
king and priest.
And it's interesting that one of the
little notes I read that even in
jewish theology before Christianity,
ever came into existence.
The Jews pointed to Melchizedek as
the potential messiah who would
return. I thought,
wow. So then you see the
case being made.
Jesus then is our king and our high
priest by God's own decree.
Listen to this last part,
for this is the kind of
high priest we need.
Holy, innocent,
undefiled, separated from sinners
and exalted above the heavens.
Has to be.
Those things can't be just somebody
that God picked out.
Melchizedek wasn't perfect.
Melchizedek was a man.
I mean,
if you,
unless you believe it was Jesus,
and I'm not going to argue
with you about that.
The king and priest,
the savior,
the redeemer,
had to be holy,
innocent, undefiled,
separated from sinners and exalted
above the heavens.
He doesn't need to offer sacrifices
every day as high priests do,
first for their own sins,
then for those of the people.
He did this once for all time when
he offered himself for the law,
appoints as high priests
men who are weak.
But the promise of the oath,
the oath meaning God said it,
and God does not and cannot lie.
You are a priest after the
order of Melchizedek.
That oath came after the law
and appoints the Son.
See, David is the one who writes down
that prophetic message in psalm
110, and it came after
the levitical law,
but it appoints a son who has
been perfected forever.
Thus you've got a John the Baptist possibly
standing up to his knees in
the Jordan river and says,
behold the lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world.
See, everything about these first
seven books points to the high
priesthood of Jesus,
the Christ,
the anointed one of God who came.
And remember,
I said this when we went through Hebrews
toward the end of the year last
year. I said,
you know,
Jesus is the high priest who
didn't just bring blood,
he brought his blood
for the sacrifice.
We just can't miss that.
Y'all can't miss that.
It's the work that God has
done on our behalf.
High king,
high priest,
by God's own decree,
it's all about Jesus.
And then I just love it
because once you,
once you pull all that down
to a point and it says,
now the main point of what
is being said is this,
and I'll finish at this time.
We have this kind of high priest who
sat down at the right hand of the
throne of the majesty
in the heavens,
a minister of the sanctuary and the
true tabernacle that was set up by
the Lord and not man.
Boy.
Seven chapters drawn down
into two verses.
And it's all about Jesus,
man. That should make Jesus
important to us,
y'all. I'm gonna ask it
like I did last week.
When you wake up in the morning,
do you consider Jesus?
Go to bed at night,
do you consider Jesus every choice,
action and attitude of your day,
do you consider Jesus?
Cause that's how important Jesus is.
Pray with me.
Father, thank you for today,
for your love for us,
for the way that you loved us,
particularly in this message
that we see in Hebrews,
God, that you planned it by your own
will and design to direct all of
creation to the very point of
paying attention to Jesus.
God, there might be somebody here
this morning doesn't know Jesus.
Might be somebody here this morning that
gets caught up in distractions
and sin,
the world and Satan and all of the obstacles
to surrendering ourselves
and devoting ourselves.
And like romans twelve says,
sacrificing ourselves.
Father, if somebody needs to
know Jesus this morning,
we want to introduce them.
There are christians here this morning
struggling with paying attention
to Jesus.
We just want to spend
some time with you.
God, if there are folks that want to
be a part of the membership of what
you're doing here at the gathering,
God, my prayer would be that they just
jump in the deep water and let's
enjoy what you're doing.
God, as we sing,
move our hearts closer to you,
let us draw near to you
like this text says,
we pray it in Jesus name.
Amen.