All right, again, we're eagerly anticipating for the church to come back, and I think if there's any, you know, one good thing that came out of all of this or is coming out of all of this is a greater thought about the corporate gathering of the church. And I know because of the internet, many of the churches have been wrestling with the idea of going online and how to minister to people and reach out to people online.

But along with that came the challenge of the loss of the importance of the physical corporate gathering of the church, and more and more people have been just kind of nonchalantly taking the corporate gathering. And I think this has at least caused the conversations to happen to take a deeper look into what the corporate worship really means.

Why do we need to have to get together? What is the purpose of the Sabbath? What is the difference between having service in your own living room versus the physical gathering of the church? And hopefully when we gather together, not only in our churches, but other churches, that that may be restored and a high view of God and high view of worship may be restored in the churches.

We're going to be jumping into Hebrews chapter 7 again, and I'm just going to read the first verse before we jump in this morning. And I'm going to take some time, usually I don't talk about political things, but this morning I'm going to jump into a bit before we get into the text itself.

Because of many things that are going on around the world right now. So let me read verse 1. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for who you are.

None of us are worthy to call you Abba Father by our own merit. We are here, Lord God, as sinners who are forgiven. We are here, unworthy Lord God, to be in your presence. And yet we come to your throne with boldness because of the blood of Christ. I pray that that truth would convict us.

Renew our faith, renew our passion, renew our love, and whatever it is in our thoughts, our emotions, in our lives, Lord, that we have been entangled with. I pray, Father God, that that truth may deliver us. May our focus be you and you alone. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

I think all of us know what's going on to a certain degree. Some of you guys may be following what's going on in the news probably more closely than other people. And obviously we had the COVID-19 fear, which we're not out of the woods yet. It seems like it is getting better.

But as a result of that, the churches have shut down. Many people who are in businesses, some of you have been furloughed. Maybe some people lost their jobs permanently. And so there's a lot of stuff that's going on behind the scenes. Politics, whose fault is it? Who did what was wrong?

Who is doing right? And every day we have, especially in this country, we have two parties who are eager to blame each other and point fingers, thinking that maybe the solution is in their party. We have financial crisis, international affairs. We have issues with what's going on in China, with Iran, with North Korea.

There's problems going on even between China and India. And so if you're watching the news carefully, it almost seems like it's just ready to blow. And then on top of all of that, you know very well what's been going on around us in Los Angeles and even in Irvine today, I heard news that there's going to be a protest happening at the civic center.

And so again, we want to caution you not to drive in that area because they have planned protests in that area. What happened this week with the racial tensions, the killing of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, I think we've all seen videos, and I haven't talked to a single person who wasn't outraged of what they saw.

If what they are saying is true, it must stop. Protests are a good thing, again, within reason. We're not talking about like burning down buildings, but again, to make sure that some of these things that are happening, that policies need to be changed, there needs to be accountability. And I think we are all in agreement with that.

But we must not conform to the pattern of this world. Romans chapter 2, 12 verse 2, it says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." So when he's talking about not to conform to the pattern of this world, he's not simply talking about pornography and murder and killing.

It's just the way what we value, how we respond to things, how we react to things, that we don't react and think and implement things just like the world because our values are different. What is important is different. Our answer, what we believe to be the answer to human problem is different.

Politics isn't going to solve it. Just because you change laws, it doesn't change the heart of men. So this racial tension that has been simmering for years, probably decades, you know, it's beginning to explode. Tinder has always been laying there, but what has happened in the last few weeks has basically put that into flames.

Let me make this very clear. And there's a few things that I want to say about racism, and this isn't completely disconnected with what we need to talk about this morning about Melchizedek. Racism is sickening. Is sickening. You know, I think all of us, to some degree, no matter what national background you're from may have experienced some of that, some more than others.

I remember when I first came to the United States, we were so excited because Korea was a third world country in the 70s. And so we barely ate meat. You know, I could remember a few times where we had candy, you know, at least that's what I remember. You know, eating fruit was a huge treat in the 70s.

And so coming to the United States basically meant that we thought we were coming to heaven on earth. We moved, my parents moved to Philadelphia, and my earliest memories of Philadelphia was my parents working their tail off, coming home at 10, 11 p.m. at night. And me and my brothers, basically, we were latchkey kids, you know, and my younger brother Phillip coming home, walking home from school when he was five years old and losing him one day.

So, you know, all of these things are memories of my childhood. And we also moved to Kansas. And I remember being in Kansas, we were so weird in Kansas. Not only were we the only Asians, we were the only minorities, period. So we had three Asians in the school, me, my two brothers, and that was it.

And I remember back then, because she couldn't pronounce my Korean name, my teacher would actually call me China Boy. And so it wasn't weird because it's like, oh, China Boy, I'm the only China Boy in the class, so she must be referring to me. And again, as a third grade student, didn't think much about it, you know, that's just the way it is.

And then we moved to Atlanta, Georgia. In Atlanta, Georgia, in the South, in the 70s, I mean, racism was blatantly out in the open, not just the teachers, but even the students. And I remember every single day, somebody calling me chink. And so, unlike my brothers, I didn't just absorb it.

So I got into fights, you know. And so every day I went to school, I thought, maybe today I'm going to lose it. So even to this day, I don't like wearing slippers outside. Because mentally, mentally, even though those are decades and decades and decades ago, mentally, I think maybe something's going to happen today.

So I don't want to be wearing slippers. Even though it's irrational, that's embedded, yes or no. I don't like wearing slippers outside, right? For that reason, just in case something goes down. When my parents decided to go back to Korea, I thought, okay, finally, we're going to go back to my home country where I belong.

Because clearly, I don't belong here. And I was made very aware of that when I went back. But I realized that I didn't belong there either. That short time that I was here in the United States, about four or five years, I was Korean American. I wasn't Korean anymore.

And so I remember being in Korea, constantly being told to go back to my country. My country. Where is my country? Because I thought I was in my country. And that's when I realized that I didn't have one. I didn't belong there, and I didn't belong here. And right around that time, I was about 12, 13 years old, and going through an identity crisis.

And when my parents decided to come back to the United States, I came back kicking and screaming because it wasn't going back to heaven on earth anymore. I knew exactly where I was going back to. I was going back to a place where I didn't belong, where I'm going to have to fight just to be a part of a school wherever my parents went to.

So even to this day, when I see racism, it reminds me of all of that. And if there's one thing that I hate, one sin that I truly, truly hate, is racism. Because it scarred me deeply when I was young. But when I say that, I'm not talking about just anything.

Because sometimes the way that we call racism cheapens that sin of racism. There's a difference between people being insensitive. There is a huge difference between people being ignorant. They don't have evil intent. It's just that they haven't been around other people who are different than them. And so they say things that they would say with their race or the people that they're familiar with, and they don't realize that this may be offensive to somebody else.

And I don't consider that racism. Not just being ignorant. You know, oftentimes being very insensitive. Racism is sickening at the core when it is true racism. But racism is also universal. It's not local. Racism doesn't just exist in one group of people. Because at the core of it, it's prejudice.

And every single one of us is prejudice. So if I say Chinese people are, or Koreans are, black people are, Mexicans are, we have certain thoughts. Some of us are careful not to express it. But we all have certain thoughts. People in Irvine are. People in Santa Ana are.

People who are short are. People who are big are. We all have certain prejudices that we have inwardly, and we know how to temper that because we know how it will be perceived. But at the core of prejudice, or racism, it's prejudice. And every single one of us is guilty of that because the sin of prejudice resides in all of us.

Because at the core of prejudice, we elevate ourselves above other people. And at the core of human rebellion is wanting to have glory. That's why we work hard to be better than other people, to get better jobs, to have better houses, to better career, better schools. And all of that innately feeds into, if we're not careful, at the core root of our rebellion.

And prejudice is a byproduct of every human being that is trying hard to be better than other people. It's just racism is just the fastest way to get there. And that is not isolated in certain people, certain parts of the country. It's everywhere, universal. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

So I want to ask you to be careful to not to react to racism as if we are completely exempt. That if we legislate and we get rid of those people, and if we isolate those people, that we will be free from prejudice. Racism is in us. And we have to be careful that in the way that we deal with racism, that we ourselves don't become racist.

That we don't just make blanket statements. When somebody says white people are racist, that's also racism. When those people are like this, that's also racism. So we need to be very careful and precise. You know, one of the things that I noticed of, again, doing church ministry for so many years is that people come to church, and if they have a bad experience with a few people, they will leave the church and they will say, "Berlin Community Church is like this." And if you sit and talk to them, usually it's because they've had a bad experience with one or two people.

But our tendency is when we're hurt, when something negative happens to us, we're not precise with our criticism. We usually throw bombs. Just kind of like what's happening with the riots. Why are they burning down buildings? Why are they looting people, especially in their own neighborhood? But we have a tendency, when we're angry about something, when we're hurt and we feel injustice, our tendency is to throw bombs.

We don't have to participate in riots physically to be rioting in our hearts. Because when we're hurt, our natural tendency is to, they're like this, even between husband and wives. When we're angry, we don't say, "Why don't you help me with dishes?" We say, "How come you never help?

How come you're always like this?" Because that is our natural tendency. When we are upset and when we're hurt, we have a tendency to throw bombs. So we need to be careful that in the way that we deal with racism, that we ourselves don't do more damage than good.

But fourth and finally, racism, the answer to racism is always Jesus, is regeneration. Because at the root of racism is our human rebellion. At the root of racism is our sin. And so as much as we want to cry out and say, "We don't want what happened to that black brother.

From what I heard, he was a Christian." To ever allow that to happen again. That in our protest, I pray that the Christians will see the proclamation of the gospel as more important. That we don't just simply point out what is bad. That we don't just get outraged and say, "If we just change the law, if we just lock up a few people, this would be a better society." You and I are here because we believe that that is not the case.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Police department, Asians, blacks, whites, Hispanics, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Democrats, Republicans, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Americans, Chinese, Korean, Indians, Mexicans, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

So the only remedy to sin that you and I believe is a regeneration that happens by the blood of Christ. So before we pour so much energy into changing the politics, again, I think we live in a free country where they give us the right to vote, right to protest, and so when we see evil, we should point that out.

But in the process of pointing evil, that we make sure that we give the remedy along with pointing out the evil. That the remedy is Christ and Christ alone. You know, dealing with racism is very tricky, especially if you faced racism before. I remember years ago, I had an African-American friend who I was driving around town and I was in Buena Park.

And he was sitting to my right and I was driving around, we were trying to look for something and I got pulled over by the police. And when we got pulled over, I was like, I wasn't speeding, you know, and I, or at least I didn't think I was, so what did I do wrong this time?

So they pulled us over and they told my friend, his name was Michael, to get out of the car. And again, he was an African-American brother. He went out and I was sitting in the car and a police officer came over to me and asked me, are you doing okay?

And I said, yeah. So what's this about? He's like, okay, we just have to ask some questions. So they had a list of questions that they asked him. Then I got out of the car, I said, because I began to realize what was happening. And so I got out of the car and I said, officer, did I do something wrong?

He said, no, no, no, no, no, we just wanted to double check. And I asked him, what are you double checking? I just wanted to make sure that you're okay. So I said, what do you mean? He said, don't worry about it. And then asked him a few questions.

He said, okay, you can go. And then we got back into the car. And so I realized the only reason that we were pulled over was because he was black and I was Asian and maybe it fit some profile. Maybe there was some report or they were looking for somebody.

And I asked Michael, Michael, does that happen to you often? And he said, I'm used to it. That's what he said. Now, again, I'm also a minority, right? But I don't experience that. So he just kind of blew it off as like, I'm just used to it. And he didn't make much of it.

I was upset for him. And I was also very confused because the officers pulled us over for my protection. They were doing their job. They pulled me over because their duty is to protect. And they thought maybe if this is not, maybe it fits some profile. And then they really was trying to protect me.

So in one sense, I was thankful that they were doing their job, but I was also upset because of my friend. Problem with racism isn't black and white because it's not about policy. It's not about changing programs and getting rid of certain people. But all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

The answer is not that simple, at least in the eyes of the world. You think, oh, if we can get Republicans to run four more years, we'll have a great country. If we can get the Democrats in office, things will get so much better. That is the lie that Satan tells year after year after year after year.

And if you live long enough, you know, like the politicians that come and give all these promises, these are all promises. And if you've been watching politics, following for any period of time, you know that the politicians are not as powerful as they think. Now what does this have to do with the passage that we're looking at?

The letter that is written to the Hebrews are drifting back to their old life because they took their eyes off of Christ and whatever problems that they were having in life, they thought it would be easier if they can just go back to the majority, if they went back to Judaism.

And they weren't outright doing it. They were just kind of drifting back because that was the easiest path to take. And so the author is reminding them to be anchored in Christ. Have you forgotten your confession? Have you forgotten why you come to worship? Have you forgotten that Christ and Christ alone is your refuge?

He's the only one who can change our hearts. No amount of hard work, no amount of discipline, no amount of discipleship is going to weed the sin that has corrupted our very being. That's why Jesus said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again." He didn't say, "You need to work harder.

You need to go to the temple. You need to memorize more of the Old Testament." He said, "No, everything that you've done until you are born again is useless." "Well, how can a man be born again? How do I do that?" You can't. It's the work of the Holy Spirit.

Where he comes, where he goes, no one knows. He's like the wind. In other words, we're completely helpless. We're completely helpless until Christ comes and saves us. And so that's the underlying tone of the whole book of Hebrews, to not to drift, to be anchored in Christ so that we would look to Him and not to run to the world.

That's why he says in Hebrews 7.4, "Observe how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the choice's spoils." Observe means to intently look. And obviously, he's not saying to look at Melchizedek. He's saying to look at Melchizedek because Christ comes in the order of Melchizedek.

Again, at the tail end of the book of Hebrews 12, you can say that summary of everything that he's been trying to say in chapter 12, verse 2, says, "Fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith." Not only is he the one who begins our faith, he's the one who's going to continue to sanctify us.

You don't just begin with Christ and end with hard work. You don't just begin by grace and then end with work. He says, "No, it is by grace you are saved. It is by grace you are sanctified. It is by grace that you will be glorified." So it humbles us that we are always desperate, whether you've been a Christian for one year, whether you've been a faithful Christian for 40 years.

Until the day we die, we meet Christ, we are all desperately in need of Christ. He says, "Christ is different than the other kings. Christ is different than the other priests. Because he is a king priest." Now king priest doesn't sound like much, but if you know the Old Testament, it was prohibited for kings to be priests.

Malchus in 7.1, it says, "Malchus is the king of Salem, priest of the Most High God." God prohibited the kings of Israel to be priests, and the priests were not able to be kings. And there's a specific reason for that. See, the kings of Israel had limited power. They're not like other kings.

So if you were the king of Egypt, if you were the king of Babylon, king basically meant that you created the law. In fact, if anybody is immune to the law, it would have been the king because the king creates it. If you broke the law, you can say, "Well, today that's the rule." King of Israel did not have that kind of authority because there was a king above that king.

And God made that very clear to the nation of Israel. Deuteronomy 17, verse 14 to 20, God was preparing the nation of Israel to get into the Promised Land, and He foretold that when you get in, one of your primary problems that you're going to run into is that you're going to put your hopes on the kings.

So He gives them restrictions. Verse 14 to 20, "When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me.'" In other words, they were looking for leadership.

We want what they have. And He says, "You shall surely set king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. Even the one you choose," He said, "No, I will choose him, one from among your countrymen who shall set as king over yourselves. You may not put a foreigner over yourself who is not your countryman." So even the selection of the king, God Himself said He's going to do it.

In other words, there's a God above this king. Secondly, verse 16 and 17, "He shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, 'You shall not again return that way.' He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away, nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself." Let me stop right there.

Well what's the benefit of being a king? I mean you would think that if you're the king of the world, king of the country, of course you're going to have wealth beyond everybody else. But God says, "You will not multiply your wife. You will not multiply the horses." So this king was, in a sense, he was an under shepherd because it didn't belong to him.

I mean, what king? What king has these kind of restrictions? If you're the king, you're the owner of the palace. If you're the king, you're the owner of every possession in that land. But he said to the king of Israel, "You shall not have many horses, or silver, or gold." So you know, people often ask, you know, look at King Solomon.

He had many wives and God was not pleased with him. You have to be careful that we don't extrapolate things that are happening in narratives and say, "Well, God is okay with it." No, God clearly spelled out, "He is not okay with it." And part of Solomon's sin was he went astray and he disobeyed God.

He goes on in verse 18, "Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of the kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests." So even the law itself, the king didn't create the laws.

God gave him the laws. So he couldn't will himself. He had to be chosen. He couldn't get many wives or he couldn't become wealthy for himself. And even the law, he couldn't create the laws. God would give him the laws. This doesn't even sound like a king. But he said the nation of Israel, "Because you're asking for a king." He said, "I'm going to give a king to you, but this king is going to be an under shepherd." And then verse 20, "The reason for all of this is that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen." Think about that statement.

So that the king may remain humble like the rest of the subjects. The king. So that the king of Israel will not become proud and he thinks that he is somehow better than the subjects. Compare that to any other king. Even the king of the smallest country in the world.

Even the most insignificant, a country that you've never heard of. If you say he's the king of that country, you would automatically assume he's the richest guy. He's the most powerful guy. He's the most honored guy. And yet the kingdom of Israel, he says, "So that your heart may not be lifted above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandments to the right or to the left so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel." So Israelites kingdom was unlike any other kingdom because there was only one true king.

And all the other kings in Israel's history were supposed to represent the true king. And God put limitations on them. And one of the limitations that he put is that the king could not be a priest. He is not, he wasn't allowed to occupy both offices. We see in 1 Samuel chapter 13, King Saul breaks that commandment and as a result of that, he loses his kingdom.

We also see that in 2 Chronicles chapter 26. King Uzziah, King Uzziah becomes a great king. And as a result of that, of all of his accomplishment, it says in chapter 26 verse 16 that he became powerful and that when he became powerful, he became proud. And as a result of this pride, he said his kingdom was going to be lost.

Just like he said. In fact, we see a clear picture of what kind of king Israelites had in 2 Samuel chapter 12. Remember King David? He commits this horrendous sin. He commits adultery. He takes someone else's wife and in order to cover that up, he murders him. This is a man after God's own heart.

Now in any other nation, any other king, that would have been perfectly fine. As outrageous as that may be, who's going to contest him? Who's going to call him out? He's the king. He could just come out and say, "You're my wife today," and that's it. Because he makes the laws.

All the wives are going to be my wives. Who's going to say anything? He's the king. He could take their land. He could take their wives because he's the most powerful. But in the nation of Israel, the kings were not like the other nations. That's why when the prophet Nathan comes and confronts him about his sin in 2 Samuel chapter 12, David couldn't do anything other than repent because he recognized his sin.

And what's interesting about the way he repents is Psalm 51 verse 34 says, "For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me." Because he knew that there was a king above him. "But you and you only, I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight." Now that seems like a completely immoral thing to say because he committed adultery.

He killed a man who was faithful to him. And yet when he repents, he says, "You only, I have sinned and done what is evil." What are you talking about? You sinned against your kingdom. You sinned against Bathsheba. You sinned against her husband. What do you mean, "You only, I have sinned"?

Now he's not saying that I'm innocent of his blood, I'm innocent of adultery. He's not saying that. But as the king of Israel, the only law that he broke is God's law because he was the king. And that's why he was saying, "I've broken your law." As a king, I could do whatever I want, but as the king of Israel, I've sinned against you.

See, Israelites' kings were not like any other kings. God establishes kingdom. God established kingship and authority even in the secular world for the purpose of carrying out punishment for evil. That's what it says in Romans chapter 13. And that's why we are called to submit to those who are in authority.

See, the priesthood was given in order to reconcile sinners to God. So the kings were to carry out the law. They couldn't create the law, but they were to carry out the law that God gave them. The priests existed so that when they broke the law, that there would be a remedy.

And God said that these two offices cannot come together. Now why is that? Why did God do that? Now I'm going to get to that in a minute. But Jesus fulfills what he prohibited in the nation of Israel because the kings were under shepherds and the priests were also under shepherds.

And he kept these two things separate because it was reserved for Jesus and Jesus alone. So when he says Jesus comes in the priesthood of Melchizedek, he's saying that Jesus is also king and priest, which was not allowed in the nation of Israel. When Jesus came and he said, "I did not come to abolish the law, but I came to fulfill the law." To fulfill the law means two things.

One, he obeyed it completely. Whatever God told him to do, he did it completely. But secondly, what it means to fulfill is to take it to completion. That whatever God gave him the law, what his intent was, he said it pointed to him. And so he came to fulfill the prophecy that your Messiah is going to come as a king priest.

So Jesus came to fulfill that law. In Zechariah 6.13, "Yes, it is he who will build the temple of the Lord and he who will bear the honor and sit and rule on his throne." In other words, he's going to be the king. "Thus he will be a priest on his throne, which other kings were punished for doing, but he said your Messiah is going to come as a priest on his throne." And the council of the peace will be between the two offices.

In other words, he says when the Messiah has come, he's going to bring those two offices together. The only other place Melchizedek is mentioned in Psalm 110 verse 4, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." Now why is this so significant?

And I think hopefully this will help out. Imagine if Jesus was just king and his role is to carry out justice. Where would you and I be? We wouldn't be here because we all broke the law. So if Jesus is king of kings and Lord of lords, you and I would be crushed.

We have no opportunity. It is not a throne of grace that we approach. It's just the throne. And when you approach the throne, a God who is holy, holy, holy, just like everything in the tabernacle said, if you come with any sin, if you're tainted in any way, if there's any disobedience in you, you will be consumed by my holy wrath.

If Jesus was only king, you and I have no hope. But he's not just king. He embraced priesthood and the purpose of priesthood was to reconcile sinners to God. But if priests, priests never, they didn't carry out the punishment. Priests did that because they were the ones who were in authority.

The priests were always receiving the gifts and to reconcile. We're all reconciled. Your sins are forgiven. Now if Jesus was only priest, which many people forget that he is also king and we only see him as a mediator who's always mediating for us, one saved, always saved, and our sins are always forgiven.

It doesn't matter what we do because all we see him as is a priest. And so because only see him as a priest, there is no lordship. It's not necessary because they don't know him as king. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ came to fulfill that office that was reserved for him and him alone.

He was king priest and he was king priest perfectly. In Psalm 110 verses 1-4, the Lord says to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion saying, 'Rule in the midst of your enemies.'" In other words, you're going to be established as the king.

"Your people will volunteer freely in the day of your power." In other words, your kingship, you're not going to rule in fear. You're not going to rule in judgment. You're not going to carry out justice because you're going to slap them. He said, "They're going to come to you because you're also the priest." And he said, "They're going to offer up worship to you freely." So his kingdom is unlike any other kingdom.

He's not just a king, he's also the priest. And the way he reconciled us to himself, he's absorbed our sins upon him before he sat on his throne. You know, I heard a great illustration this week about what happens. In order to make something clean, you have to make something unclean.

Just like we're trying to sanitize everything and in order to do that, we have to pick up a rag. And you don't use dirty rags if you want to clean things. You take a clean rag and then you take the dirty surface and then you wipe it down. And so when you wipe it down, the surface becomes clean, but where's the dirt?

It's on the rag. So the rag that was clean is made unclean in order to make the surface clean. The Bible describes our priest king in order to make us righteous so that we may dwell in his kingdom. He absorbed our sins upon himself. He who knew no sin became sin so that you and I may become the righteousness of God.

That is his kingdom. Imagine why this king-priest office is so important. This may not be a perfect illustration, but imagine. Imagine if you got into trouble, right? Somebody got into trouble and you got taken to jail and the public defender comes and he wants to have a conversation with you and then somebody whispers in your ear and he says, "Hey, he's also the DA." Now you're confused.

He's a public defender because public defender, I'm supposed to tell him what's going on so that he could defend me. DA is my enemy. If I tell him all my sins, I'm going to go to jail for a long time. But the guy who's defending me is also the DA.

Now they will never let that happen. They will never let that happen because those two offices are contradicting because no human being can carry out the public defense and DA at the same time because we're going to be prejudiced in one way or the other. Either you're not going to do a good job as a DA and say, "You know what?

I'm going to pretend like I never heard your sin and I'm just going to defend you and I'm going to do a great job. I'm going to let you go." Or you're a public defender and I heard all your sins. You told me everything. No human being is able to be a public defender and DA at the same time.

Only a being who has perfect judgment, who has perfect knowledge, who himself is not tainted with prejudice himself, who is able to carry out perfect justice and perfect grace at the same time. And there is no human being that can ever be in that role. That's why it was prohibited for kings and the priests that those two offices would mix because no human being can carry that out.

Only Jesus. Only Jesus can carry that out perfectly. A holy, holy, holy God who knows all things, who judges all things, loves us unconditionally because of the love of his son, Jesus Christ. His blood covers us. That's the king that we worship. That's the mediator that stands before us.

Our DA, our public defender is the same person. Where he doesn't sweep our sins under the rug, he doesn't allow chaos to happen, he doesn't tolerate the sin. The kingdom that we are headed to is not anarchy where people do whatever they want. There is order, there is righteousness, but there's also peace, there's also grace.

Because we have a king who comes in the order of Melchizedek. Why would we want to drift and replace him with anything else? Why would we want to go to any other kingdom? Why would we put our confidence in any other leader, in any other mediator? That's the point that he's trying to get to.

And that's why this is the meat of Hebrews.