♪ Only Savior before the holy judge ♪ ♪ The Lamb who is my righteousness ♪ ♪ The Lamb who is my righteousness ♪ (gentle music) ♪ I will glory in my Redeemer ♪ ♪ My life He bought, my life He owns ♪ ♪ I have no longings for another ♪ ♪ I'm satisfied in Him alone ♪ ♪ I will glory in my Redeemer ♪ ♪ His faithfulness, my standing place ♪ ♪ Though foes are mighty and rush upon me ♪ ♪ My feet are firm held by His grace ♪ ♪ My feet are firm held by His grace ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ I will glory in my Redeemer ♪ ♪ Who carries me on eagle's wings ♪ ♪ He crowns my life with loving kindness ♪ ♪ His triumph song I'll ever sing ♪ ♪ I will glory in my Redeemer ♪ ♪ Who waits for me at gates of gold ♪ ♪ And when He calls me it will be paradise ♪ ♪ His face forever to behold ♪ ♪ His face forever to behold ♪ ♪ His face forever to behold ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music) By grace alone somehow I stand where even angels fear to tread.

Invited by redeeming love before the throne of God above. He holds me close with nail-scarred hands into his everlasting arms. When condemnation grips my heart and Satan tempts me to despair, I hear the voice that scatters fear. Oh, the great I Am, the Lord, is here. Oh, praise the one who fights for me and shields my soul eternally.

Boldly I approach your throne. Blameless now I'm running home. By your blood I come, welcomed as your own into the arms of majesty. Behold the bright and risen sun. More beauty than this world has known. I'm face to face with love himself, his perfect, spotless righteousness. Oh, a thousand years, a thousand turns are not enough to sing his praise.

They're not enough. Boldly I approach your throne. Blameless now I'm running home. By your blood I come, welcomed as your own into the arms of majesty. Boldly I approach your throne. Boldly I come. Blameless now I'm running home. By your blood I come, welcomed as your own into the arms of majesty.

Running into your arms. This is the art of celebration. Now when we're free from condemnation. Oh, praise the one, praise the one who made an end to all my sin. This is the art of celebration. Now when we're free from condemnation. Oh, praise the one, praise the one who made an end to all my sin.

There is no condemnation of you. We are waiting for your throne. Boldly I approach your throne. Blameless now I'm running home. By your blood I come, welcomed as your own into the arms of majesty. Majesty. One day when heaven is filled with his praise. All right. Good morning. Bering Community Church online and guests who have joined us this morning for our worship.

We have actually quite a few announcements to get to as things are changing rapidly. And I'm sure you've been reading up or seeing things online. And we're going to give some announcements. But before we do that, we have the most important part of the day. We want to give a shout out to Nao, that you're doing a great job in helping the parents and worshiping together.

And we have one birthday this week. Kara Young is turning eight. So happy birthday to you. All right. Let me get to a few announcements before we get started. First of all, the Ephesians Bible study. We're taking, again, a short break this week. And then it'll be back on the following week to finish up the second session of that.

Typically, we have summer off during this period. And we pick it back up at the end of August. But considering we're all online and this may be the only connection that we have, and so we decided to keep this going at least and shorten it a little bit. And we're going to be going, again, I think it's till the end of July or early August.

And then we'll be taking a break at that time before we get into another text. So again, we have a one-week break this week. And then after that, we'll pick right back up and finish the study of the book of Ephesians. And if there's anybody out there who have been waiting to jump into the Bible study and because we're not taking a break, we're going, you still want to do that, you can email Pastor Mark and he'll try to help you with that and try to get you plugged in somewhere.

Another announcement is with our Indian pastor support. We were waiting until we got back together to make the announcement, but again, the annual or monthly support that people are committed to for a year is going to be up in June. And so we're asking that if you are able to, to sign up again for one more year from June to June next year.

And especially now, our Indian pastors are in great need of our support. You may have been reading that India has been on lockdown and especially the poor people in the villages have not had access to be able to go to work or go to the markets. And so the government has been sending out support, not financially, but through food.

And the local government, many of the local governments who are controlled by the radical Hindus are preventing the Christians from getting access to that. And so a lot of Christians are suffering, not only because of the pandemic, but they're not able to eat. And so we want to be able to support them, our pastors and the local churches that they're supporting.

And so if you're able to do so, we ask you to, again, recommit for the next year. And so please let Pastor Mark know, and then he'll give you more instructions on that. So email him, and then we'll sign you up for the next year as well. Again, so if you've been doing so, we encourage you to continue to do so.

And if you haven't, this would be a good time for you to jump in for the next year. And it'll be about $50 per pastor and their family. So if you're able to do that, please let us know. And final and important announcement, I know that you guys have all been waiting.

Again, the information that we're getting from the government, from the local government, from the health departments, again, has been changing literally day to day. We would hear an announcement one day, and then at the latter part of the day, it would be different. We hear one thing from the federal government, another thing from the state government, another thing from the local government.

And so we're trying to monitor that and do our best to submit to the authorities that we're under without compromising our convictions as Christians. And there are, I've read and I've heard that up to about 3,000 churches or more in California who have scheduled to open their church on the 31st, which would be next Sunday.

We will not be opening up officially on the 31st. We are hoping to open up on June 7th. And the likelihood that we will open up on June 7th is pretty high. And so Governor Gavin said that he is going to make a big announcement tomorrow about churches, and the likelihood is that he's going to open it up sooner than later.

And so we're hoping that we'll be able to do that under the permission of the state. So please keep that in mind. And so we're trying to get the church ready as much as possible. We have the chairs distanced. We have all the sanitation. We're asking everybody who comes to wear their masks.

We're going to be having thermal scanners. We're going to have certain parts of the church shut down. And so we're going as thorough as we can so that people who are able to show up will have peace of mind. And so, again, so that's another reason why we're waiting another week so that once the announcement is made, we can speed that up and make sure that we're ready and not to hurry the opening up when we're not ready.

And so watch out for some more specific announcements of what to prepare for when you do come to church, how to stand in line, what we expect, which doors to use, which doors to use to go out. And so we are in the works of making a video so that you can watch that, and before you come, at least you'll know what to expect.

As we mentioned, as of now, we have all three services, 830, 1030, and 1230 services are at least on paper full. We're asking if you signed up for one of those services and you are not planning to come out immediately, we ask that you would let us know because we can't reserve those seats because we have people who are waiting.

And so before we even consider opening up another service, we want to make sure that all three services are full and the people who signed up are planning to come. And so if you are planning to come on June 7th, starting from June 7th and consistently come, then again, please keep your name on the roster.

But if that's not the case, you have your name signed up, but you're thinking maybe sometime down the line that when you feel more comfortable, you might come at that time. If that's your case, please let us know ahead of time because we have some people that we need to make room for.

And so again, all of these things are fluid, and it may change, but as of now, that's our focus, and hopefully by June 7th, we'll be able to see many of you back at church. Okay? All right, let's pray, and we'll start our worship. Heavenly Father, we thank you for sustaining us, especially through these rough times, Lord God, in the last couple of months.

We know, Father, that you are completely sovereign, that whatever good or difficult things, Lord God, that we see now or have experienced, we know, Father, that your love covers all of it. We pray for much wisdom, Lord God, as not just our church but many, thousands of churches, Lord God, especially in California, are planning and preparing to open up.

I pray for much wisdom that we would not open in flesh, that we would not live in fear, that our foundation would be firmly planted in Christ and his promises. Help us, Lord God, not to be irresponsible. Help us, Lord God, to be wise, Lord God, and careful in all that we do, and that not only would we be worshipping you in clear conscience, but that we would do our best to be a good witness in the generation that you put us in.

And so we ask for your blessing over this time, and as we give our offering, may it be given to you in the abundance of joy in our hearts, and may it be multiplied for your use, Lord God, in your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Good morning, church family.

And what a privilege it is for us to gather again this morning to worship our God. If you're able, would you please stand with us as we worship? As we gather, may your spirit work within us. As we gather, may we glorify your name. Knowing well that as our hearts begin to worship, we'll be blessed because we came.

We'll be blessed because we came. As we gather, may your spirit work within us. As we gather, may we glorify your name. Knowing well that as our hearts begin to worship, we'll be blessed because we came. We'll be blessed because we came. Steadfast love. Steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.

His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. New every morning. Great is your faithfulness, O Lord. Great is thy faithfulness. They are new every morning. New every morning. Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord. Great is thy faithfulness. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my part. For my part in this I see. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my friends in this my plea.

Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing came for sin atone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not a bit that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.

No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. All right, good morning. We're finally jumping back into Hebrews chapter 7. I'm encouraged to see how many of you are excited to get back into Hebrews, especially the study of Melchizedek.

Hopefully your enthusiasm will be the same after we study it, because it is something that really requires your commitment to work toward understanding. But it is also really rich in knowing that God had prepared this deep into the Scripture. I think, personally, when I study about Melchizedek and what he means in the redemptive history, you can see God's intricate work that's going on behind the scenes that sometimes we don't see, and that all of this leads to a greater confidence in who Christ is.

So let me read the passage that we're going to be covering. We're going to be in chapter 7 for at least two to three weeks, but let me read you the first part of it in verses 1 through 10 before we get in. "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, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.

Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually. Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the choicest spoils. And those indeed of the sons of Levi who received the priest's office have commandment in the law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their brethren, although these are descended from Abraham.

But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. But without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater. In this case, more men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on.

And so to speak, through Abraham, even Levi, who received his tithes, paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray for your blessing. We pray that the study of Hebrews, and specifically the priesthood of Melchizedek, would open our eyes to see your intricate hands of your sovereignty and how you work together all things according to your good purpose.

So help us, Lord God, to have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart that can be molded, Lord God, as you desire. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, so again, we're living in really crazy times, and I'm sure some of you have been following the news carefully.

I've literally been watching probably about an hour or more of different information that comes out every day, seeing what kind of judgments we're going to make, what is the government saying, what are the numbers, what's going on around the world. And so all of this, obviously, is so that we can have a better grasp of what to expect going forward.

But right now the information coming out is so all over the place. I mean, you have the extremes of, "If we come out, we're going to die," to, "All of this is a hoax, is a fake, this doesn't exist." I mean, it's all over the place. And some will say, "Well, science says this," and the other side will also say, "Science says this," and they have their own doctors and own professionals, own experts, that will back up whatever they say.

And so it's very difficult to discern where do we put our confidence. And I'm sure we all have our different opinions about all of that. But from the very get-go, for Christians, our confidence should have never really been with all of those things. Because whatever it is that we study, wherever we put our confidence, if we put our absolute confidence in anything outside of Christ, eventually it will be exposed for what it is.

Even with the best of intentions, mankind does not have the ability to have the truth and be consistent all the time. And so, you know, the reason why I say all of this is because all of this is really connected to what the author of Hebrews has been saying about Jesus all the way up to now, and he will continue to say this.

If you are anchored in anything outside of Christ, you will already have seen your heart drifted. And I think, you know, one of the things that this exposed, this pandemic exposed, is if your heart was already somewhere else, in the last two to two and a half months, my guess is many people have already drifted in their faith.

Because whatever they were anchored in, it wasn't Christ. As soon as they weren't able to gather, as soon as there wasn't people or fellowship, they began to drift. And so as we make our way back into Melchizedek, I want to make sure that we understand why we're studying this to begin with.

Our main point is not so that we can be better theologians and say, you know, Melchizedek, Archer taught about Melchizedek, and I know who he is, and you know, you may be able to know more than 99% of other Christians who this guy is. That is not our point.

If you have all that knowledge and it doesn't transform your heart, your life, your hope, then you've really missed the whole point. In fact, it probably does more harm than good to know a lot of theology, and your head gets bigger, but your life doesn't reflect that. Well, the study of Melchizedek.

We're in chapter 7, and he's going to be the main character, and who he is, his priesthood, all the way to chapter 10. And so we're going to be on this subject. His name may not be specifically mentioned each week, but again, his priesthood and who he is, is going to be the central subject from chapter 7 to 10.

In fact, we can say the meat of the book of Hebrews is between chapter 7 and 10. That everything that's been happening up to this point is really to set up for chapter 7, 8, 9, and 10. Because the argument was, starting from chapter 1, that Jesus is greater than the angels.

He's greater than the prophets. He's greater than Moses. He's greater than Aaron. And so all of this to say, to pay attention to Christ. That was his main point. But the heart of the matter really comes to his priesthood. Because the natural tendency for a Jew was to drift back into his old way of life.

And say, well, Jesus may be a great man, and he fed thousands, and performed miracles, and maybe he's a great man. But to a Jew, the temple, the sacrificial system, was his life. So he may be a great man, but what does that have to do with my life and my relationship with God?

Well, that's the point that he's trying to get at in chapter 7, 8, and 9, and 10. But, again, I'm going to read some verses with you before we jump into the three-point that I have this morning. Melchizedek is not first mentioned in chapter 7. So I hope some of you who are excited about studying chapter 7 may remember that Melchizedek actually was introduced to us in chapter 5.

He actually is introduced...actually, let me read that to you. In Hebrews 5, 9-14, "And having been made perfect," talking about Christ, "he became to all those who obey him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek." So he actually introduces Melchizedek, right?

That Christ is our high priest according to Melchizedek. But then in verse 11 he says, "Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant, and solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." So even before he gets to chapter 7, he kind of has to pause.

And I'm pretty sure if you've been at our church for any period of time, any time that I think I'm going to lose you, you probably kind of remember me saying, "Hey, you need to pay attention to this," or, "If you're going to stay awake for any part of the message, this is the part of the message that you need to pay attention to." I say all of that because I know it requires soberness to understand and engage.

And if you just kind of casually listen, there are certain things that may go over your head, and it's not going to make much sense. Well, that's what the author is really doing here. He's going to get into the details of Melchizedek. There are some parts of what he says about Melchizedek that if you sit there casually listening, like, you know, I could talk about the love of God and grace of God, and all these things are central issues of Christianity, but you probably heard those messages so many times that you can kind of casually listen and still get a lot out of it.

Well, Melchizedek, because most people don't know who he is, most people don't understand who he is, and most people don't know the significance of who he is and how he's connected to Christ and his priesthood. So there's a lot of things that the author is going to say that if you don't pay attention, if you don't commit to pay attention, if you go to sleep at 4 and wake up at 7, it's probably going to go over your head.

So he takes a break, and after he says that, "I can't tell you if you're not paying attention and if you're not committed to this, if you're immature," and then he gets to chapter 6 with a stark warning that if you've been in the church and you've tasted the goodness of God and you had all the blessing, all the teaching, all the benefits of being in the church, and yet all of it goes over your head and you're still drifting back into your old way of life, he says there's no hope for you.

So in other words, all of chapter 6 is to get them to pay attention. Here comes the meat. That's what he was trying to do, right? Here comes the meat. I want to tell you about Melchizedek, but you really need to commit to this and pay attention. There's consequences if you just remain as infants.

And then he wraps it up at the end of chapter 6 before we get into chapter 7, starting from verse 17. This is what he says. "In the same way, God desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us." So again, pay attention to that.

The whole reason why he gets into Melchizedek is to make sure that the hope that we have in Christ is secure. Are you anchored in Christ? That's the question. We're not talking about a piece of paper. We're not talking about the church that you attend. We're not talking about the confession of the friends around you.

We're not talking about your upbringing. Are you firmly anchored in Christ? And what I'm about to tell you is so that you can examine to make sure that you are anchored in Christ. Okay, in verse 19, "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast, and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." So I hope you notice that he ends chapter 5 introducing Melchizedek, giving a stark warning to pay attention, and then he goes back at the end of chapter 6 saying, "I'm going to talk about Melchizedek now.

Stay with me." Okay? Melchizedek is an obscure figure. My guess is some of you who are listening to this sermon right now may never have even heard of his name because he is only mentioned in a few verses in Genesis chapter 14 and again in the book of Psalm one time.

So in totality, he's mentioned his name maybe about two or three times. And yet, three, four, five chapters are dedicated in that what a huge role he plays in redemptive history. I mean, it is a huge part he plays. And that's why, again, so many chapters are dedicated, and why he spends a whole chapter telling them to watch out and pay attention even before he gets in.

So just to kind of give you a broad outline since we're jumping back in, chapter 7 is about the superiority of the priesthood of Melchizedek. Okay? So that's what we're going to be talking about today in a few more weeks. Chapter 8, "Therefore, because of the superior priesthood, the superior priesthood introduces a superior covenant." That's chapter 8.

And in order to have the superior covenant, there needs to be a superior sanctuary, meaning that the old system, the whole system of approaching God has been replaced by a whole new system of priesthood, covenant, and the sanctuary. And then ultimately, all of this points back to Christ and his ultimate sacrifice.

So chapter 10 is about the superiority of Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice. So that's a broad outline that we're going to be covering. Chapter 7, "Superiority or ority of the priesthood." Chapter 8, "Superiority of the covenant." "Superiority of the sanctuary," chapter 9. And "Superiority of the sacrifice" in chapter 10.

All right, so all of that is an introduction. So if you fall asleep now, it's completely your fault. I've done everything I could. All right, so we'll see. The main point today is the superiority of Melchizedek over Abraham. "Superiority of Melchizedek over Abraham." And so I have three parts to that.

And so, again, if you are following the outline, you can see. Hebrews 7, 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." So let me stop right there. In order for us to fully appreciate what he says here about Melchizedek being superior to Abraham, we really have to have a good idea of who Abraham is.

Because without that, again, you might have some loose understanding of who Abraham is. And without a deeper understanding of who Abraham is, you wouldn't hear like the first century Jews that he's talking to. Abraham was the father of their nation. In fact, let me go back early on where Abraham is introduced to us in Genesis 11.

But, again, the promise that God makes to Abraham, which is a covenant that he makes with Abraham to his descendants and ultimately to the rest of the world, and this is what he says, "I will make you a great nation." Talking about Abraham and his descendants. "And I will bless you and make your name great.

And so you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you. And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." So let me stop right there. According to the scripture, Abraham is not simply the father of Israel.

Abraham is the source of blessing for mankind. So if you hear Abraham as, "Well, God started Israel through Abraham," it wouldn't really make the kind of impact, what he's saying. Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. Then it should. Because according to God's promise, all the other nations outside of the blessing of God can have a great nation, but yet the God of the universe who created all things isn't blessing them.

So the real blessing that only God can give is going to come through Abraham. The rest of Israel's history, the rest of the Old Testament, is the fulfillment of this promise. Every part of what you study in the Old Testament from a Jewish perspective is the fulfillment of this promise.

God is going to—how is he fulfilling this? How is he multiplying them? How is he making him great? How are the other nations being blessed by this? So the origin of their faith begins with Abraham. In fact, God calls Abraham, and Abraham and his family obeys, and they set out on this journey that God calls them to.

In a short period of time, they become so wealthy, according to Genesis 13, 5, and 6, that his nephew and Abraham actually have to split. So within one chapter, they've accumulated enough wealth where they couldn't even share the same space. This is not like New York, where you've got limited apartment space, and then you accumulate certain things.

We're talking about an open field. We're talking about just acres and acres of land. That's how wealthy Abraham became. And so again, the fulfillment of Genesis 12, 1, 2, and 3 that we see right away in Chapter 13, that they become so rich, and they can't even stay together, so they split.

So Abraham stays in the Canaanite land, and Lot chooses to take his goods, and he goes where we know later on Sodom and Gomorrah, they come out, and so he settles over there, simply because of space. Well, where Melchizedek comes in is in Chapter 14. In Chapter 14, Abraham and Lot, they're just enjoying their life, and they're enjoying the blessing of God, but the kings of the Canaanites, four separate kings, they unite, and they go into battle with the kings near Sodom and Gomorrah, about five of them.

So those four kings attack them, and Lot happens to be on the losing side. Not that he was in the battle, he just happened to be in the land. And so the four kings of the Canaanites come and conquer them, and they take all their possessions, and they're on their way back.

Abraham hears about this, as his nephew has been caught up in this, and now he's lost all of his possessions. So Abraham gathers his people. Now again, Abraham is not a nation yet. He's just a very wealthy man. But again, it's very important that you understand what's going on historically.

He's going after four kings, four kingdoms, who just defeated five other kings. And he had enough fighting men to take with him, and he actually beats them. You understand that? Again, you have to understand the historical context in which Melchizedek shows up. So when he says, "Melchizedek is greater than Abraham," that you understand the historical context.

Abraham has been tremendously blessed by God. He's not even a nation yet, and yet he's able to conquer four kingdoms by himself. And after he regains possession of all that was lost, and is coming back with his nephew, is when he comes and encounters Melchizedek, the king of Salem.

Again, all of this is a background, because the point that he's trying to make is, Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. You know what that makes Abraham? Greater than all the kings. Greater than all these men. Greater than all the possessions. So, whatever was happening during history at that time, Melchizedek was greater than Abraham.

So imagine if you were a Jew hearing this, knowing the historical context, who is this Melchizedek? That he shows up from nowhere. He shows up from nowhere, and Abraham bows to him. I mean, think about it humanly speaking. Abraham has so much possession in chapter 13, he can't even stay in the same place as Lot, they separate.

Lot gets captured by four other kings. Remember, these four kings conquered five other kings. Abraham has become strong enough in chapter 14 to even conquer them. And then here's this guy, literally one or two verses, shows up and Abraham bows to him. So if you're reading that carefully, if you're reading through Genesis carefully, you should have stopped and asked, who is this guy?

Who is Melchizedek? But that never gets explained. Other than way over in Psalm chapter 110, he says, well the Messiah is going to come in the order of Melchizedek. So the only other thing that we know about Melchizedek is that Abraham considered him greater than himself. That's all we were taught in Genesis 14, that he is a king priest, received the tithe, disappears, and then he says the Messiah is going to come in the order of Melchizedek.

So if you've been studying the Old Testament, preparing and waiting for the Messiah, and all of a sudden the author of Hebrews says, you want some meat? Here's some meat. You want to really understand what God has been doing in history, here it comes. Jesus comes in the order of Melchizedek to fulfill that prophecy in Psalm 110.

But before I get into this meat, you need to pay attention. If you've been a casual Christian, and all you want to know is Jesus loves you and died for you, and that's enough for you, and you're not curious enough to dig into his glory, and you're not curious enough to ask deep questions, then it's going to go over your head.

And that was all a setup. Well, all of that, again, to give you the background understanding of how a first-century Jew who knew the history would have heard, Melchizedek is greater than Abraham. Now, we're going to be on this subject for the next two, three weeks. But for today, I'm going to give you three things that this passage says what makes Melchizedek greater than Abraham.

Number one, the one who collects tithes is greater than the one who gives it. It says in verse four, "Now observe how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the choice's spoils." "Observe how great this man," Melchizedek was, "to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the choice's spoils." Now, let's understand what tithing is.

The specific law of tithing did not come in until the Mosaic law in Leviticus chapter 27. So those of you who are with us studying Leviticus chapter 27, remember what he says there. But tithing actually shows up way before that, here in Genesis chapter 14, and probably before that, because there is no instruction given to Abraham.

Abraham knew to give tithe even before any instructions are written down. So in other words, the sacrificial system outside of the Mosaic law existed. He shows up, and the meaning behind the tithe, whether it was pre-Mosaic law or post-Mosaic law, in Leviticus 27.30 says this, "Thus all the tithes of the land, of the seed of the land, of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's, and it is holy to the Lord." Tithing was commanded to the nation of Israel as an act of lordship.

Giving a tenth of the best of the harvest was given to God to declare that all of this ultimately belongs to you. It was an act of lordship. It was a first sign that whatever, whether I was a millionaire, or whether I'm just making a few bucks, that in His sovereign will, God gave me what He gave me, and I'm returning it to you.

That's what tithing was in the Old Testament. Well, he says, Melchizedek shows up, and Abraham, if he was rich before, now he's filthy rich, right? Because he just beat four kings, and everything that they took became his. So you see this progression of God blessing him, and he's become this filthy rich man, and he gives a tenth of that as an offering to Melchizedek.

And so he says, "The one who receives the tithes is greater than the one who gives it." So immediately, Abraham recognizes him as greater. Hebrews 7, 9, it says, "So to speak, through Abraham, even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes." Again, I hope I didn't lose any of you, okay?

I hope you're putting your thinking cap on and straining to understand. And if you don't understand, please ask, right? Don't just kind of, you know, just kind of, "I don't understand." It must not be important. If I don't understand, it must not be important. I think part of the reason why there's shallowness in Christianity is because there's shallowness in the interest in the things of God.

And so it's kind of like seeing, you know, seeing beautiful things from a far distance. Those of you who ever traveled to maybe Seven Wonders, you know, maybe, I don't know, like Dam for, you know, like you've gone to Machu Picchu, you know, the Great Wall. Those are the only thing I can think of right now, right?

It's not the same looking at pictures. It's not the same hearing other people describe it. It's not the same, right, as when you are able to physically watch it. Well, I think in the same way, many Christians are satisfied with the explanation that other Christians give about who Christ is.

And that's enough, right? And the reason why many people's faith remains shallow is because they're satisfied with just staying, keeping their distance and not really digging in. Well, again, this is one of those things that the more we dig, the more of glory of God gets revealed. And hope, my hope is that you will see that.

The more we dig, the more you see just how deep this thing goes, right? So when he says, just by him giving the tithe, it can show, it shows that Melchizedek is greater than this guy who just conquered all these kings. So this was a source of pride for the Jews.

Remember when Jesus says to the Jews, he said, "If you abide in my word, then you shall know the truth, and you will be my disciple, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." And they get offended. To set free? Well, you're not talking to slaves.

You're comparing us to these bond servants, these indentured servants. We're not low class like that, right? We've never been slaves. How dare you call us that? And then he says in John 8, 33, they answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free?" What is our confidence?

What is your confidence? You know, at the beginning of all this pandemic, right, and fear gripped the world. We were seeing scenes of people dying on the street, and we were hearing crazy numbers of over 2 million people going to get infected or even die. And so we thought at the beginning of all of this that every single one of us is going to know somebody personally, that there's some people in our church who's going to get it, and they're going to die.

And so fear gripped not only us, but the rest of the world. And that's why they did something really radical, shutting down the economy for this long, even with all the consequences. Now that the information is coming out, and it is still serious, but it wasn't anywhere close to what they were fearing in the beginning.

And so slowly the economy is coming back, and slowly people are coming back to work, and churches are starting to open up, and I know that there's still a lot of fear. But at what point? How safe does it have to be for people to gather? How safe does it have to be?

Is it a 100% guarantee that no one is going to get sick? 100% that you're going to live a long life, you and your children, and die at a ripe old age? Where do we find our safety? Where are we anchored? There are some things that we do as Christians that a lot of non-Christians wouldn't do because they do not have hope in Christ.

Living a long, safe, healthy life is the promise that the world gives, not Christ. Because we believe in Christ, because we are anchored in Christ, our decision-making is not purely made on safety. Our satisfaction, our hope, our foundation, our security is grounded in Christ, in Christ alone. See, these Jews thought that they were safe because they were descendants of Abraham.

We're not like these Gentiles. We're not like these pagans. We said, "No, there's something greater than Abraham." Well, if there's somebody greater than Abraham, where does that put us? There's something outside of Israel greater than us, then where does it put us? And all of a sudden, it completely abolishes their security.

And that's exactly what it was meant to do. Whatever it is that you are anchored in, you're not safe. And that's why I said, "You're drifting back thinking that you're going to be safer if you go back to your old system." He says, "No, Christ brings in something greater than that." So just by the tithe alone, you can see that Melchizedek is greater.

But secondly, the one who blesses is greater than the one who is being blessed. Verse 7, "But without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater." But without any dispute, you know what that means? Abraham met Melchizedek, and it seems like, at least according to Scripture, that he's never met him before.

But immediately he recognizes somebody greater than him. Again, just so that we understand the context. If there was any period of time Abraham would have been an arrogant person, I think it would have been then. Because he just conquered four kings. Who conquered other five kings? He's got so much possession, he had to separate even before this happened.

So imagine how much wealth that Abraham has at chapter 14. Imagine how much power he has. But all of a sudden he sees this strange guy coming, Melchizedek, and he immediately submits himself under him. He says, "It was without dispute." You know, like a lot of people play basketball, and maybe you're really good, and you're king of the court.

And if you play, you know, you get to play in four, five, six games straight because you're the best guy on the court. And all of a sudden Michael Jordan shows up, or Kobe, or LeBron, whoever you're a fan of, or Steph Curry. Okay, I'm going to cover everybody.

You can't open your mouth. There is no dispute. Maybe in street ball and maybe at LA Fitness there's some competition, and maybe you might be a little bit better than them. But all of a sudden if one of those guys shows up, there is no disputing because no one would take you seriously.

Even if you mentioned that, they would laugh at you. He says that Melchizedek's superiority was so obvious. Now we don't know what he saw. We don't know if there was some glory upon him. We don't know. But as soon as he saw Melchizedek, he recognized God's presence upon him and his authority.

And he said, "Without dispute." There was no jockeying. There was no questioning. There was no "Who are you? Why should I give you?" There's none of that. As soon as he saw the Lord's anointing upon him, he, without dispute, he gives him the tithe and he receives a blessing.

Now this blessing for Abraham's family is huge. Because remember, Abraham already had God's blessing upon him. Remember Genesis chapter 12? We said, "I will bless you and through you I will bless all the other nations." And because of God's blessing, they're getting filthy rich and then they're able to conquer other nations.

And yet, he saw the blessing of Melchizedek greater than him. Without dispute. And that should really cause us to take a step back and say, "There's something upon this guy." It was not like any other kings. It wasn't like he just happened to be a great king. There was some anointing upon him that he recognized.

And this blessing upon Israel, again, comes back again. Remember the story of Jacob and Esau? Esau, Jacob is the slippery one. Esau is the hairy one. And whenever I read that story, I think, like, humanly speaking, I naturally gravitate toward Esau. Because he's a manly guy. He's the guy who's hunting.

And Jacob's the guy who's a mama's boy. He's home, you know, playing something with his mom. And so Jacob is staying home and he's maneuvering to take his older brother's blessing away. Esau comes back famished. And he said, "Well, if you give me your birthright, your blessing, as a firstborn, I'll give you this bowl of soup." Now Esau, you know, he's hungry.

So what does this blessing mean to me when I'm going to die? And it's just kind of drama. He's over-exaggerating. Well, that little event, that little twist that Jacob carries out, causes the blessing to go through Jacob instead of Esau. Later on, in Hebrews 12, verse 16, he warns us not to be like Esau, who sold his blessing and became immoral.

Immoral and ungodly because of that. When we look at that, it's like, wow, he lost his blessing from God because he got hungry. And he couldn't say no to this thing. Now you have to understand that this blessing, this firstborn blessing upon Esau, was not an ordinary blessing of any other family.

This was an anointed family. When he rejected the blessing, he wasn't just rejecting the inheritance of his forefathers. He was rejecting God's blessing, God's promise that he made upon this family. And so when he rejected, he was literally saying, "You know, what good is God to me? What good is all the promises that God made to me, to my fathers and my grandfather, if I can't eat?" And that's why he was called immoral and godless, because he rejected God for a bowl of soup.

What is my point? The point is to receive Abraham, who had this anointing from God, to meet Melchizedek and to say, "Your blessing. I need you. Your blessing." It says a lot about what Abraham recognized. The one who was being blessed is less than the one who is blessing.

You know what this tells us is, our greatest hindrance in our walk with God is pride. It's our pride. When we are not able to recognize, we're not able to recognize who God is, and we refuse to submit ourselves to him. That is our greatest hindrance to true worship and is the greatest hindrance to, ultimately, our life.

But when we're in the presence of God, there is no disputing. When you go to heaven, you know, like even on earth, even in the church, there's always discussions about whose opinion is right, whose is wrong. Right now, you have the whole country, whole world divided as to who's right and who's wrong.

I don't think we're going to know for years, to be honest, like which information is right, which is wrong. And everybody is absolutely convinced, "My party is right. My information is right. My facts, the doctors that I rely on, we're all right." And I don't think we're really going to know until years have passed and everything that we know.

And when we are separated from our emotions, our own opinions, and we just purely look at the facts, what's going on today? That happens oftentimes even in the church. Who's right? Who's wrong? My education, my experience, my understanding, my giftedness over your giftedness. And some, "No, mine better." No, you're better.

But when you look at the scene in heaven, there is no disputing. If you've ever seen the picture of what heaven looks like, angels, elders, holy creatures, the multitudes, Jews and the Gentiles, are all bowed down at the throne of grace in eternal worship. There is no disputing. When we're in the presence of God, it automatically causes us to be humble.

I would think Abraham would have been a very difficult person to bring to his knees at that point. And yet as soon as he recognized God's anointing upon Melchizedek, he became humble. He became humble. Even though it was just a blip in history, it was a shadow that if you've been paying attention, "Who is this guy?

Why would Abraham submit himself to him? Why would Abraham, with God's blessing, receive blessing from him?" So that when Christ came and he said, "Jesus comes in the order of Melchizedek," that's who he was. Now it makes sense why Abraham submitted himself to him. Now it makes sense why he gave tithe to him.

Now it makes sense why Melchizedek did not dispute. Third and finally, the one who serves perpetually is greater than the one who serves temporarily. All the other priesthood that the Jews knew was temporary. In fact, they had a time limit as to how long they could serve. In Hebrews 7-3 it says, "Melchizedek is without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life." Some people have read this and thought, "This sounds like Jesus." And so there's been a lot of discussion as to, "Is this Jesus?

Is this not Jesus?" Because so many of the descriptions that he gives about Melchizedek sounds like Jesus. Well, clearly he is not Jesus, and I'm going to explain that a little bit later. What he is saying is that Melchizedek doesn't come from the same line of the Levites. And when he says he's without genealogy, it means that his authority does not come from his birth.

Now, why does he say it this way? Because if you remember the Old Testament, the Old Testament is filled with genealogies, right? It's filled with genealogies, and sometimes we read these genealogies, "What is the purpose of these genealogies? I don't understand who these people are. Why are there so many pages and chapters that talk about genealogy?

Maybe if I was closer, maybe if that was my grandfather, that would make more sense." The reason why there's genealogy is because genealogy traces the authenticity of that person's position. Because God said that the seed of the woman is going to come, and he's going to crush the head of the serpent.

So he was constantly tracing the genealogy of how this Savior was going to come. But they also traced the genealogy of the Levites, because only a Levite can participate in the temple work. So when he says he is without father, without mother, without genealogy, means he is outside of that system.

That his authority doesn't come because his parents were Levites, or because his grandfather was blessed. He is, in other words, above that. There is a separate system, separate priestly system, that is not submitted to human system. Okay? So again, hopefully you're following me. Remember when the disciples asked Jesus to pray, right?

This is what Jesus said to pray. He said, "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." That's the beginning of the Lord's Prayer, right? That his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Meaning, whatever God is doing, whatever system that God has, whatever order that exists in heaven, will eventually be reflected on earth. You follow that? The problem that we get into is, we want the earthly things to be reflected in heaven. A lot of times, the way we even imagine what heaven will be like, is utopia on earth.

Whatever is the most beautiful thing that I can imagine on earth, that maybe that's what heaven is like. The prayer and the activity of Christians is to recognize that even the most beautiful thing that you and I see on earth, is under God's curse. Sin affected not only human beings, but it also affected animals.

It also affected creation. So everything that you and I see, all the systems that we see, have all been affected by sin. And it will all be done away with when Christ comes. So a Christian's prayer is to have his kingdom come, his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Well, the reason why I say all of this is because the Melchizedek's priesthood is a heavenly priesthood. That wasn't meant for a temporary system where Christ came and it's done away with. That temporary system, ultimately, was to prepare for the eternal system that was coming under Melchizedek. You get that?

Now I have no idea if you got it or not. I'll see in the coming weeks. When I see your face and I mention Melchizedek and you have a blank look, I'll know if you paid attention or not, or if you got it or not. But again, this is that important.

Melchizedek, his priesthood, comes from heaven. It was preparing. So I didn't mention this in the beginning, but I think it's important that I mention this. Why does God use Melchizedek as a type, as an impression, to prepare for the coming of Christ? Why doesn't He just say, "Melchizedek is a system made in heaven.

This is who Melchizedek is. He is not Jesus. Why does He not explain? Why does He just give us a picture of Him?" And then we find the reflection of that in Christ and then tells us a detail in Christ. Because first of all, it wasn't about Melchizedek. Melchizedek was only to prepare.

The meat was in Christ. It was only to prepare for Christ to come. Hebrews 1, verse 1, it says, "God spoke in many ways in the Old Testament, through many avenues, in order to prepare." But now they speak, what? God speaks through His Son. That's how the book of Hebrews starts.

So in other words, everything that you knew about the Gospel has been spoken through poetry, through illustrations, through proverbs, through narratives, and through various kinds of types and pictures. But now in the New Testament, the New Covenant, God speaks clearly through His Son, which is what we are experiencing now.

Now why is it communicated that way? Again, let me go back to India. India has the heaviest concentration, the largest concentration of illiteracy in the world. In fact, they say that 39% of every illiterate person in the world is in India. That's a large number of people who are illiterate.

And the majority of these illiterate people are in villages who are poor because they don't get education. So you have young children as young as 3, 4, 5, even up to 10, 15, 16, 17-year-olds who have never gone to school. And we run into them all the time. We have several of our pastors who have no education.

And so when we go there and try to teach the Bible, and we do expositional teaching, many of them cannot follow. So a lot of the mission work that is done in India are telling them how to tell stories and how to share stories to other people. So, and here's what's interesting, and this, hopefully this will kind of help you to understand why the Bible is told a certain way.

In the time of Christ, an average Jewish community, what do you think their illiteracy rate is? According to studies, literacy rate in an average Jewish community during the time of Christ was somewhere between 0 to 10%, depending on which village you lived in. In fact, most scholars believe it was much less than that.

It's anywhere from 0 to 3 to 4%. That means over 90% of the people that Jesus was speaking to could not read or write. Over 90% of the people that the Bible was written for them to understand could not read or write. So they were completely dependent upon coming to the temple.

And that's why the Bible says over and over again to commit yourself to what? Public reading of the scripture because they couldn't read it for themselves. And that's why they were so susceptible to wolves coming in. Because they were completely dependent on them to tell them what the Word of God says.

And so God communicated these important things through poetry, through many different channels, through particular types, Melchizedek, so that when Christ came and they saw who he was, they could say, "I see the connection." Even though the way we're studying it, we're expositing words and verses and paragraphs and syntax and grammar, the early church could not study it that way because they didn't know any of that.

So God left impressions. God left stories to make it clear that here's a clear connection of who he is. And he says that Melchizedek was made like the Son of God. And this is why we believe that this is not Jesus because he said he was made, first of all, like the Son of God.

The Son of God was not made like Melchizedek. Melchizedek was made like the Son of God. In other words, Christ existed before him. Christ was there before him. And so Melchizedek took a reflection of him and then now Christ comes to fulfill what God placed in history through Melchizedek.

And he remains perpetually, he says. A Jewish priest could only serve between the age of 25 and 50. So even if he had a long career, it would only have lasted 25 years, he says. But Melchizedek is eternal. And again, in Psalm 110.4, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, 'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'" Now, remember what I read at the end of chapter 6?

The reason why he talks about Melchizedek is for what purpose? So that our hope will be firmly grounded in the truth of Christ. That wherever that we are anchored in, that is not Christ, is always going to shift. That Christ, his priesthood, is not one time done and over with.

It is perpetual. In other words, he is constantly interceding for us. Not only while we live, but even after we die. Even in eternity, he is a perpetual priest interceding on our behalf. So our foundation, our hope, is not just during this lifetime. It's not just while we're walking on earth.

At all times, perpetually, eternally, he stands before us and God. Always interceding on our behalf. So therefore, because Christ has fulfilled that role, there is no longer any need for the Levites. Which is really interesting because as soon as Christ came, remember what happened at AD 70? AD 70 is where the prophecy is fulfilled.

Remember when Jesus is coming into Jerusalem and he weeps over them? Because only if you knew today what would bring you peace, but because you did not recognize the coming of the king, that judgment is coming upon Jerusalem. He was prophesying about the judgment coming on AD 70. The Roman government got sick of the Jews and they came and completely obliterated the temple.

Every stone was just taken out and there's no remnant of the temple because the Romans completely obliterated it. Now the reason why that's significant is one, it fulfilled Jesus' prophecy. But two, they can never have the Levites. Because all the genealogies was kept at the temple. So if somebody comes and says, "You know what?

I come from the line of the Levites, so let's set up the sacrificial system." They can't. Because genealogy is gone. And they can never establish the king of Israel either. Because he had to come from the line of Judah. There is no record of that. And even if they were able to somehow find it, the temple is utterly destroyed.

They can't. Why is this significant? Because Jesus fulfilled all of that. And they were no longer in need of it. Just like John the Baptist came on the scene to prepare the coming of Christ, and as soon as his work was done, he was gone. He went to be with the Lord.

All the sacrificial system, the Levites, right? All of it. Jesus completely fulfills it. And now he stands before us in the heavenly sanctuary, in the new covenant, with a greater priesthood, with a greater sacrifice, interceding on our behalf for eternity. Can you imagine? This was half of the sermon that I prepared for today.

Until yesterday. Until yesterday I had, actually three times longer than this, and I said, "There is no way I'm going to be able to go through all of this in one day." And even now, as I'm wrapping up, it's like, "I could have cut this in half." There's so much in here.

And I really want to encourage you. First of all, if you're not in the Word, if you're not in the Word, it doesn't matter how much counsel you get, and, "Oh, you know, church people are so encouraging to me. You know, I really love our pastors, and I really love our community." It won't last.

I guarantee you it won't last. If you yourself are not in the Word regularly, and your anchoring is not Christ, it's on people and system, and so I strongly want to encourage you, if you're not in the Word, to get into the Word. But those of you who are in the Word, and you're used to just kind of getting elementary understanding of the Word of God, and when it comes difficult, Leviticus, you know, like Revelation, Ezekiel, minor prophets, some of the things that are a little bit more difficult to understand, we kind of shy away from, and say, "Oh, that's for the pastors.

That's for the people in the seminary." I really want to encourage you. The gold, the gold is buried. It's not deeply buried, but it's buried. God wants us to seek Him with all our heart. He wants us to seek Him, and those whose hearts get enlightened, whose eyes become open, are the people who recognizes the treasure that is in Christ, and so He goes out and sells everything so that makes sure He has it, and in comparison to what He has, all of the other things become rubbish.

Who does that happen to? For those who are continually pressing on, pushing forward, to take hold of that which He was taking hold of. Melchizedek is one of those treasures that I believe that if you strain to really deeply understand, even this blip in history, even this thing that you may have never properly understood, like God was doing that behind the scene?

God had all of that covered, even in this little tiny glimpse that He showed me, that all these roots are connected to that? And you'll see, the more you dig into the scripture, maybe you've been looking at the trees and you're looking at the fruits, but you don't understand the depth of these roots because the real fruit is really underground.

And that's when you really see, man, this is the Holy Spirit. This is God. No man could have done this. And again, that's how it affects me when I study Melchizedek. It reminds me that even the things that I have no understanding, that eventually when I do dig it up, when I do understand it, wow.

So I hope that that's where you are, or hopefully that's where you will be, so as we continue to study through the book of Hebrews, that it will impact you deeply, and that you would fall in love with the redemptive history and the Word of God afresh, as we continue to study together.

Let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, we pray, Father, that your Word, which is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, that what you have intended it to do, that it would do in our own hearts. Lord, we are so easily amused by foolish things in this world, knowing, Father God, that so much treasure is in your Word.

Help us, Lord God, to fall in love, not just to be students, not just to memorize, but to fall deeply in love with your words, knowing that it is your words, your will, your purpose. So we pray, Father God, that as you strengthen our hearts, as you anchor us in Christ, that you would give us a clearer and clearer vision of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that our confidence would not come from the leaders of this world, or many statistics, anything that we see around us, but that we may be firmly anchored in Christ and Christ alone.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea A great high priest whose name is love Whoever lives and pleads for me My name is graven on his hands My name is written on his heart I know that while in heaven he stands No tongue can bid me this depart No tongue can bid me this depart Satan tempts me to despair And tells me I'm a hill to a pan Upward I look and see him there Who made an end to my sin Because the sinless Savior died My sinful soul is counted brave For God the just is satisfied To look on him in condemnation To look on him in condemnation Behold him where the rose divine Perfect spot in his righteousness The great unchangeable I am The King of glory and of grace One with himself I cannot die My soul is purchased by his blood My life is lived with Christ on high With Christ my Savior and my God With Christ my Savior and my God One with himself I cannot die My soul is purchased by his blood My life is lived with Christ on high With Christ my Savior and my God With Christ my Savior and my God With Christ my Savior and my God For today's benediction I want to read from Psalm 121 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains From where shall my help come?

My help comes from the Lord Who made heaven and earth He will not allow your foot to slip He who keeps you will not slumber Behold he who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep The Lord is your keeper The Lord is your shade on your right hand The sun will not smite you by day Nor the moon by night The Lord will protect you from all evil He will keep your soul The Lord will guard your going out And your coming in From this time forth and forever Amen God sent his Son They called him Jesus He came to the love Heal and forgive He lived and died To buy my pardon An empty grave is there to prove My Savior lives Because He lives I can face tomorrow Because He lives all fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living Just because He lives Oh praise Him Oh praise Him Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Let all things their Creator bless And worship Him in humbleness Oh praise Him Hallelujah Praise praise the Father praise the Son And praise the Spirit three in one Oh praise Him Oh praise Him Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah (soft music) (soft music) (gentle music) (upbeat music)