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May 15, 2025 · 54 min · The Greatest
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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In this video 0:00 The Superior High Priest
The Superior High Priest 0:00 Me please. Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise for who you are and Lord, we thank you that Lord, every time your word is opened and faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you have0:12 a word for us, Lord, that your desire is to speak so deeply that we would know that it's you and that we would respond accordingly to how you lead us. And so God, our invitation to this morning is0:23 speak Lord, for we are ready to hear. And now for all of those who have gathered who desire to hear the word of the Lord, who will believe what the Lord says to you and will by faith0:35 put into practice the very things he shows you, will you agree with me this morning by very loudly saying the word amen. Amen. Where do you go to get the spiritual0:47 help that you need? Have you ever asked that question? Sometimes we think, well I I really don't need spiritual help and then things come along like there's a death in the family. Maybe we haven't been to church for a0:57 while and we're like, who's gonna officiate that and where are we gonna go? Or perhaps it's an exciting time in our life and we get engaged and we think, who's gonna officiate our wedding? Or maybe just more reality on a1:08 day by day basis of, I'm dealing with some struggles, I'm dealing with things and what does God think about all this and who is it that I can talk to? At some point in our life, we all struggle with where1:20 we go to find spiritual help. For the Jews in the first century, they were accustomed to going to their priest, specifically the ones in their local synagogue, and they understood very well1:32 the nature of who God was and the nature of their sin and they realized that they needed to go to a priest so that they could have their sin atoned for and their sin forgiven. And so when they ran into trouble and
1:44 they sinned, they realized they had to go get some pigeons or a different kind of animal and go present it to the priest and they would have to sacrifice that animal and the sacrifice of that animal would cover over the
1:55 guilt of their sin. And this went on time and time again, but for many of these Jews in the first century, they trusted in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Jesus Christ became their Lord and savior. And now what we
2:07 have in this group of people is these former Jews have now become Christians and they're thinking, this is really difficult to be a Christian. I mean, how how do how do I do this? Because now I'm experiencing persecution
2:19 I didn't experience before and I'd like to turn back, but you know what? I can't go back to the synagogue. It's as if they've revoked my library card. They told me because I'm following Christ, I can't come back and now
2:30 I have need because I need my sin forgiven and I don't know where to go to get in community and I This is just getting too hard. Is there anything you can do to help? And the author of Hebrews wants to say, oh, yeah.
2:43 There's something that you need to know. There's something you need to know about Jesus Christ who is the superior high priest and he's so superior you don't need to look for another 1 on this earth because
2:54 Jesus Christ is the ruler and priest over all. As we've been studying the book of Hebrews, we've been taking a look at how Jesus is the greatest. He's greater than the angels, he's greater than Moses, he's the great high
3:06 priest. We've taken a look at how he's greater than anyone who has ever lived because he is the most high God, amen? And right here as he's writing to these Jews who are asking the question, hey, where do I get the
3:17 spiritual help I need? He's gonna answer in chapter 7 and following, talking about how Jesus is the greatest high priest of all time. And so I'm gonna encourage you to open your Bibles up to Hebrews chapter 7. We're
3:28 gonna read through the first 19 verses and then take a look at some of the attributes and characteristics that make Jesus Christ the greatest high priest and how that applies to you. Hear the word of the Lord. He says,
3:39 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
3:51 spoils, was first of all by the translation of his name, king of righteousness and then also king of Salem which is king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning
4:03 of days nor end of life, but made like the son of God, he remains a priest perpetually. Now observe how this great man was to whom Now observe how great this man was to whom
4:14 Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of his choice of 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
4:26 brethren, although these are descended from Abraham. But the 1 whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the 1 who had the promises.
4:40 This case, mortal men receive ties. But in that case, 1 receives them of whom it is witnessed that he lives on. And so to speak, through Abraham, even Levi, who received ties, paid
4:51 tithes for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood for on the basis for it, the people received the law, what further need was there for
5:03 another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not being designated according to the order of Aaron. For when the priesthood is changed of necessity, there takes place a change of law also for the 1
5:14 concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe from which no 1 has officiated at the altar. Tribe with reference to which Moses
5:26 spoke nothing concerning priest. And this is clearer still if another priest arises to the likeness of Melchizedek who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement but according to the power of an
5:38 indestructible life. For it is attested of him, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. For on the 1 hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness
5:49 for the law made nothing perfect. And on the other hand, there is a bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God. Now I don't know about you, but as I've studied this passage for weeks and as some of
6:00 you are hearing it today, you may be thinking to yourself, who cares? Like, what's the big deal of this Melchizedek thing and high priesthoods and all of that? I mean, get to the point. Like, what
6:12 does this mean for me? And that's what we're gonna take a look at today. Why Christ priesthood is superior and what it means that he has a is a superior high priest. Now you'll notice at the end of chapter 6, we read
6:23 that this hope we have is an anchor of the soul, hope both sure and steadfast and 1 which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order
6:34 of Melchizedek. Now as we've been studying the book of Hebrews, you'll remember that as he begins to talk about this order of Melchizedek, he stops in chapter 5 and verse 10 to pause to talk about apostates. He talks
6:46 about the fact that you need to understand the most important concept that's being proclaimed through this book and throughout the entire bible is that Jesus Christ came to lay down his life on a cross for all of your
6:57 sin. Getting religion, it's about having a personal relationship with the lordship of Christ. It's about turning from your sin and turning to Christ.
7:09 And he goes on to warn us after talking about the order of Melchizedek, hey, don't come close to just knowing facts about Jesus. Don't just know that it's true without responding to Jesus.
7:21 Respond to him as your own personal Lord and savior. Know that he died for you. Know that he took all of your sins away. Turn from your sins and turn to Christ and find healing today. Because how unfortunate
7:33 it would be for those who are at the precipice of giving their life to Christ and then falling away, never ever having the opportunity again of trusting their Lord. That's why he says today if you hear his voice, don't
7:44 harden your hearts. Give your life to Christ. If you're here today, the greatest news I can ever tell you is that Jesus Christ is God's 1 and only son who died on the cross for your sins and he rose from the dead so that
7:54 in him and in him alone, you can have life with God. That's what he's talking about. And he tells us at the end of chapter 6 that when Jesus Christ died, the veil of the temple separating the holy of holies from
8:06 the rest of the temple was torn from top to bottom and indicating that the very place where the presence of God dwelled, where the high priest could only go once a year was now open because Jesus is the great high
8:18 priest who has entered through that veil and is now anchored in heaven. Meaning Jesus Christ is already seated in heaven, which means he holds all the promises of heaven for those of us that are going there. And 1 day,
8:29 guess what? He'll be there to welcome all of us who trust in him. He's our anchor. He's our hope. He's sure he's true. Now we get into this understanding of, okay, let's talk about his priesthood. Because for
8:41 a Jew who was used to going to the temple, who knew the routine to get their sins forgiven, now couldn't was not invited back. They couldn't go to the synagogue. They couldn't go to the place to have their
8:53 sins forgiven. What in the world do we do? And the author of Hebrews is telling us, don't you dare worry because Jesus Christ is greater than any high priest you could ever go to. Amen? And he begins to tell us some
9:04 reasons why. We're gonna take a look at 4 of them today. And the first is this, that Christ's superior priesthood is marked by his astounding credentials. It's marked by his astounding credentials. Now, take a look at
9:16 this in Hebrews chapter 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 kings and blessed him. Now, for
9:28 most of you, you may not know where this story comes from. It comes from Genesis chapter 14 starting in verse 17. It's only 4 verses long and I'll summarize it for you and then we'll just read that little section so you
9:39 can know what this is about. Because without Hebrews 7 and without the book of Hebrews talking about the order of Melchizedek, we would probably never even give this another thought because the story is so short. But
9:50 what you'll remember is there were wars that were going on at the time and there was a king. This king's name was Cheddurlaomer. How about that for a name? If you're looking for a biblical name for your son,
10:02 that's a contender. Right? King Chedorlaomer was his name. And he banned with some other kings and what he did was he came and took Sodom and some other cities and what happened was because Lot was living in Sodom,
10:13 he got carded away. Lot was Abram's nephew and Lot's and Abram said we can't let this happen. So Abram got some of his mighty men together and he got them together and he went and defeated King
10:25 Cheddlaomer and all the other kings. And as he's returning from the battle with the spoils from the war, this is this little story that's nestled here. Listen to this. In Genesis 14, it says,
10:37 then after his return from the defeat of Cheddlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the valley of Sheva, that is the king's vow. And Melchizedek, king of Salem,
10:49 brought out bread and wine. Now he was a priest of God most high. He blessed him and said, blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most
11:01 High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. He gave him a tenth of all. That's the story. That's the story. So there's this king, Melchizedek, who goes out to meet Abram
11:13 when he comes back. He comes out carrying bread and wine. And as he comes out carrying bread and wine, he then blesses him and Abram gives him a tenth of his choice of spoils. That's the
11:25 entire story. And this author of Hebrews wants to make a huge deal of this story. He wants to let all of the first century Jewish converts know this is a major thing that took place in the in biblical history.
11:37 So pay attention. And And we're going to see the astounding credentials of this. It says, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of the
11:48 spoils was first of all by the translation of his name, King of Righteousness and then also King of Salem which is King of Peace. So whoever this Melchizedek is, here's what I want you to picture.
12:00 When this Melchizedek came out, what did he bring? He brought bread and he brought wine. Does it remind you of anything?
12:17 Body? He's also the king of Salem, which is where we get Shalom, which is peace. So he's also the king of peace. So whoever this king is, has come out to meet Abram. He comes out to him holding bread
12:29 and wine. He's known as the king of righteousness. He's known as the king of peace and he comes out to bless Abram. Let's see what else we know about him. Notice verse 3.
12:41 What else do we know about Melchizedek? Well, he was without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. Remind you of anybody? But made
12:53 like the son of God, he remains a priest perpetually. That means forever. So whoever this Melchizedek is, we don't know when he was born, we don't know when he died, we don't know anything about his parents. Some people
13:05 read this and many scholars will say, What that means is we have no biblical revelation of who he is. We don't know where he came from or where he went. It's really hard for me to say that because there's just too many
13:15 other details given here. There's just too much said here for who else could he possibly be? I mean, if he's a Canaanite king, how is he the priest of the most high God? If he's a
13:27 Canaanite king, why would Abraham tithe 10 percent to this Canaanite king who serves as God? Why would this Canaanite king be considered greater than Abraham when Abraham is the greatest of all
13:39 Israel's history because all the nations of the earth are gonna be blessed through him? Like, who is this king of righteousness? Who is this king of peace? And it's interesting because some people say Well, because You
13:50 know, if you look at verse 3, he was made like the son of God. So he was made so he can't be the Christ. But that could also be translated, he resembled the son of God. That could also be translated,
14:02 he was like the son of God. That could also be translated, he was likened unto the son of God. I mean, there's nothing in the text that would say it's not a theophany or Christophany, meaning a visit of
14:14 the pre incarnate Jesus Christ. I don't know who else fits this description. And I'm not gonna die on a hill, and we're not gonna take a vote as to who you think Melchizedek is and divide the church over it. But
14:26 I am gonna say, when I think of someone coming out to bless Abraham, who brings bread and wine, who's coming out to give him a blessing, who Abraham tithes to, and this 1 doesn't have a
14:38 father, this 1 doesn't have a mother, this 1 has no beginning, this 1 has no end, and this 1 is always a priest. He's the king of righteousness who brings the king of peace. I don't know who else this could
14:49 possibly be but the pre incarnate Jesus Christ. Can you imagine what that would be? Like, for Abraham, who's under covenant, who's gonna bring in the nation that through all the
15:01 other nations of the world he's gonna be blessed. And when he comes back from battle, who's there to meet him but the king of righteousness and the king of peace with bread and wine, which is foreshadowing what his
15:12 priesthood is gonna be all about as he gives his body and blood 1 day on a cross. And he says he remains a priest perpetually. That means forever. That means he's eternal. Priests
15:24 in Israel's day served usually from the ages of 25 to 50. When they turned 50, they were done serving as a priest or guess what? When they died, they stopped serving as a priest. Do you know why? It's hard to serve as a
15:35 priest when you're dead. But this priest was different because he knows no end. He knows no bounds. He's always been a priest to which I would ask, if this is not Jesus, where's the perpetual priesthood of
15:47 Melchizedek? How can we never hear about it again? How can we never see it again? Visitation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the pre incarnate Christ to Abraham as
15:59 he's coming back from battle. He has incredible credentials. That's who our savior is. They're astounding credentials. I mean, even think about the gospel for a second. World that he
16:11 gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have what? Eternal life. From who? The eternal priest. The 1 who gave his life on a cross so that we could have life in his
16:22 name. And if we do take the text literal, then this is no mere human without mother or father. And some of you may say, well, Jesus had a mother and father. He had a earthly father, Joseph, even though he was conceived
16:32 by the Holy Spirit, he had a earthly mother, Mary. But prior to that, I mean, he's God of all God. He's always existed. He didn't need a mother and father to come into existence. He's the only begotten son of God.
16:45 He's without father or mother. He doesn't have genealogy. He's always existed. He always will exist. At face value, then the Lord Jesus Christ came to bless Abraham as the king of
16:57 righteousness. Do we see anywhere else in scripture where Jesus is the king of righteousness? In case you don't know, that's exactly how he's coming back. Who
17:10 this Jesus is. It says this of him, and I saw heaven opened to behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he
17:22 judges and wages. And, Royce came to bless Abraham as the king of righteousness. Also, he came to bless him as the king of peace. Isaiah 9 6 says, for unto us a son is born and
17:34 to us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name should be called the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, and the prince of peace. It's
17:46 Christ. And And if you really came, you not only came to bless Abraham as the king of righteousness and the king of peace, but as the mediator between God and man forever. First Timothy 2 5 says, for there is 1 mediator
17:57 between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. The king of priest, the king of peace. Jesus
18:09 Christ has always been our great high priest. There's never a time that he didn't exist. And we have this story nestled back in Genesis chapter 14 so that every Jewish convert in the new Testament
18:21 could be shown in their Hebrew scriptures. Do you realize that your great high priest has always been greater? He's always existed and you didn't even know about it? And here it is right in the word of God. That's what
18:33 he was saying. Jesus Christ, priesthood is superior because it's marked by astounding credentials. His name, his reputation, and who he is as the eternal priest of God. And we
18:45 may not think much about credentials, but if you study through the Old Testament and you have time to read, you'll realize when Israel got back from captivity in Babylon and Ezra was there, what did he do for all the
18:54 priests? He was checking all their credentials, who couldn't show their credentials, that they came from the right line, he was like, Ah, we'll just wait. It's too important because the law says you have to
19:06 come through this line. Jesus Christ came from a different line. He came from the order and line of Melchizedek. The Righteousness, the king of peace, because of his astounding credentials.
19:18 Next we see this. Christ's priest to disappear not only because of his astounding credentials, but because of his unmatched greatness. His unmatched greatness, there's there's no 1 who is like Christ. Notice verse 4. Now
19:29 observe how great this man was to Abraham, the patriarch gave a tenth of the choices spoils. Abraham comes back. He's never met this guy before that we're aware of. No
19:41 scripture says that he's met him. And when he meets him, he thinks that this guy is so great, he's gonna give him a tenth of everything he has. Not just a tenth of what he has, but a tenth of his best. And oh, by the
19:51 way, the law had not come to require tithing of Israel at that time, so he's just doing it out of the goodness of his heart. That's what he's doing. Who else is great enough to receive a tithe from
20:03 Abraham? Who could that possibly be? Could it be Jesus Christ unmatched greatness? Notice what he says. And those indeed of the sons of Levi who received the
20:15 priest's office have the commandment in the law to collect a tenth from the people, that is from their brethren, although they are descended from Abraham. But the 1 whose genealogy is not traced from them collected a
20:27 tenth from Abraham and blessed the 1 who had the promises. But without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater. What was he saying? It wasn't even in the law to give
20:39 a tithe. What's a tithe? Do you know what tithe means? 10 percent. That's a tithe. Many people think that you give a tithe so that you get back. That's not a tithe.
20:51 Best upfront because you're already living in his abundance. It's a desire that springs forth from your heart because you want to give God your best. When Abraham comes back and he sees Melchizedek,
21:03 he's so excited to offer to the Lord that he gives the choice of spoils the best. Not because he wants to get more, but because he's been so incredibly blessed by God. He wants to be what?
21:15 Generous. That's what tithing is. Tithing means that you're bringing your first fruits to the Lord. Tithing means that you're gonna be generous with the things of God. Even before the law was
21:27 in place, tithing existed. Now a lot of people talk about, I I don't like it when the pastor talks about tithing. I don't like it when the pastor talks about money. So let's talk about it some more. I
21:39 mean all throughout the old testament, we see that this is something that God wants. He doesn't want our scraps. He he wants our best. He doesn't want it to be a have to. He doesn't want us to give because we're supposed
21:49 to. He wants us to give because out of our hearts, we're thanking God for all that we have and all that we are. It's the reason why the Bible, both old and new testament, talks so much about money. Do you know why? Do
22:01 you know why? Because our heart gets attached to it unlike any other thing. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. It's as if today I had a pile of 5000000 dollars
22:13 right here and I had a pile of 5000000 dollars of monopoly money right here. This money's legit. This money's monopoly money. And I said, hey, take whatever you need. I
22:25 would stand back over here because there's something in your heart that'd be like, if that was really there and I could take, I would take that. Something feels different about monopoly. That's why I talk to people that
22:34 like to gamble. I just gamble for the fun of it. Then gamble with monopoly money. See if you enjoy it just as much. Because most people don't. Most people are discontented when they gamble and they're hoping they get
22:46 some more. We're hoping we get a little better. Right? Tithing is a way of starting with God by saying, God, you get my best and you get it first. That's what tithing is. It's giving God the first fruits of all that you
22:58 have. And what Israel got in trouble for doing is even when they did it, they didn't give God their best. They either stopped tithing or when they did tithe, instead of giving of their best animals and their
23:10 best grain and their best fruits, what would they do? Well, I'm gonna eat all that. I'm gonna take these animals because these are the best and God, I got a little left over. Here's your tenth. God, here's your here's
23:20 your 5 percent. In the book of Malachi, the last book in the old testament, we we see why Israel has a problem. They're calling out to God because God's not answering their prayers. They're pleading with God to help,
23:31 but God doesn't seem to be answering. And God tells them, here's why I'm not answering. Malachi 3 verse 8 says, will a man rob God yet you are robbing me? But you say, how have we robbed
23:43 you? Like what have we robbed you of? God says in tithes and offerings, you are cursed with a curse for you are robbing me the whole nation of you. Then he says this, bring the whole tithe
23:55 into the storehouse so that there may be food in my name and test me now in this says the Lord of hosts if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.
24:08 What's he saying? This is like the triple dog dare of the old testament. If you come to God and bring your best to him first, you will always have an abundance and more than enough.
24:20 Always. Because you know why? You cannot out give God when you give with a whole heart. What Israel had a problem doing is like, well, God just makes us. Some of you when you hear that passage, here's what
24:32 you think, well is he talking about gross or is he talking about net? Right? And if you're thinking that it's because you're not generous. You're thinking about being calculated. Like how much do I really have to give
24:44 to get God's blessing? That's the whole wrong way to look at it. The right way to look at it is everything I have, every relationship I have, every bit of clothing I have, if I have a
24:56 house or a roof over my head, everything. If I have a car, it's all from the Lord and when I give to him, all I'm doing is saying a big thanks for all that you've given to me. If you give me nothing back, I just
25:08 thank you for that. That's what it means to tithe. Tithing is giving a tenth. It's generosity and here's what God's promises. Whole heart because you can't
25:21 out give me. I've seen it over and over in my life and in the lives of others. It's scriptural. We see it in the New Testament, but I'll give you an Old Testament passage that says the exact same thing.
25:33 5, it says this, there is 1 who scatters and yet increases all the more. And there is 1 who withholds what is justly due and yet it results only in 1. The generous man will be prosperous and he who waters
25:45 will himself be watered. You know what God says? I'm looking for a heart of generosity because that's my heart. My heart is I've lavished on you everything. My heart is that I loved you so much I gave my only begotten
25:57 son to die in your place. My heart is to forgive all of your sins. My heart is to impute my righteousness in your life. My heart is to indwell you with my spirit. My heart is to make you a temple of the holy spirit. My
26:08 heart is to let you walk in the fullness of the gospel. My heart is to be with you always. My heart is to always be there and care for you and protect you and never fail you or forsake you. That's my heart. What should
26:18 our response be? Lord, take everything. Like, what could you possibly give to God where he would be like, don't give me that. That's way more than I ever did for you. Right? Like, tiding is not something
26:30 that's a have to. It's not you better or else. And if you're thinking calculated, he's like as Jeff saying, we have to give it all to the church now and we can't give to other people. You're missing the point. The point
26:41 is be generous with God, bring it all to the Lord, be generous, be thankful. We tend to be calculated in dividers. Well, then I'll give this here and this here and this here. Why don't you give it all here and here and
26:52 here? Just test him. You cannot out give him. That's what he's saying. And isn't it interesting to know that this great high priest has unmatched greatness? I mean, time, great high priest has unmatched greatness? I
27:03 mean, tithing is not required but desired. I mean, why would Abraham tied to a Canaanite priest? And why would that priest be considered greater than Abraham? I mean, he tithed to
27:15 him. He he gave to him willingly. And then we see that Melchizedek in response blessed him. And it says in verse 7 that we just read, but without any dispute, the
27:27 lesser is blessed by the greater. Any Jew that would read the Old Testament will tell you, Abraham's the greatest Old Testament character. Maybe Moses was the greatest leader, but the entire nation looks back to Abraham
27:39 as starting the entire Jewish nation. Abraham's the greatest. Here's what the scripture say, Melchizedek's greater than him. Melchizedek was worthy to receive his tithe. Melchizedek was interceding to God most high
27:51 on behalf of him. Who in the world could that possibly be but the Lord Jesus Christ pre incarnate? That's what was going on. And here's what we see. Melchizedek blessed him. Now
28:03 notice verses 8 through 10. He says, in the case in this case, mortal men receive tithes, but in that case, 1 receives them of whom it is witnessed that he lives. In the Levitical priesthood,
28:15 they received tithes, but all the men that were receiving tithes that were ministering on behalf of God, they all died. Whoever this was continued on and continued to live. Eternally. And so to speak, though Abraham
28:27 through Abraham, even Levi who received tithes paid tithes for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek died. Now, check this out. Aaron who was Abraham's brother was the first high priest, but
28:39 God set up the Levitical priesthood through Levi. That's why we get Levitical, through Levi. Levi was Abraham's great grandson. And even though Levi wasn't
28:50 alive at the time that Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, because it says genealogically he was in his loins, the DNA was there, he was forthcoming, it was as if the Levitical
29:02 priesthood was tithing towards this high priest, to this God. Even though they were 1 gonna be receiving tithes, they had already given tithes. Why? Because this order of Melchizedek is greater than
29:14 the Levitical priesthood. Now that would have blown any Jews mind. The Levitical priesthood, that was the law of God that set it all up. And here in the scriptures all along, they see there's something greater than the
29:26 Levitical priesthood. There's always been something greater than the Levitical priesthood. The king of righteousness, the king of peace, the Lord Jesus Christ in a certain priestly order that is greater than even the
29:36 Levitical order of priests. What would that do to a Jew's heart? Somebody that's converted to Christ, perhaps their family abandoned them. Perhaps they said, you can no longer come to our synagogue. You're no longer
29:46 welcome at our meals. And they're troubled on the inside saying, well, how's my sin gonna get forgiven and who can I go to? And right there in God's word, what do they see? That they've had a great high priest all along
29:56 who's greater than any of Israel's high priests have ever been and it's the Lord Jesus Christ who is available to minister to them. How awesome is that? It's right there and we see it in the word.
30:09 We see it in the word. It's interesting because when Jesus was living, people were giving him a hard time, especially the religious people of the day. They were always giving Jesus a hard time because Jesus was
30:21 claiming that he was God. And a lot of people have a hard time when somebody walks around claiming that they're God. The challenge was Jesus could back it up. And he specifically backed it up when he rose from the the
30:32 dead. But in John chapter 8 verse 56, people are asking Jesus like, who are you? I mean, you're not even 50 years old. I mean, you think you're greater than our father
30:44 Abraham? And Jesus said this, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Now what in the
30:56 world does that mean? Jesus is saying like, who who do you think you are? I mean, you think you're greater than Abraham? He's like, well, I'll tell you what, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and he was really
31:06 happy when he did. Well, when did he see it? I think he saw it back in Genesis 14. I think when he saw the Lord, he was glad. I think when he was blessed by the Lord, he was glad.
31:18 When he had blessing and favor poured out on his life by the Lord, he was glad. So what did the Jews respond? So the Jews said to him, you're not even 50 years old and you've seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly truly
31:29 I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Not only did I see him during his lifetime, but I live long before him because I'm eternal. You think that made the Jews
31:41 happy? No. It ticked him off. Jesus was a dead man walking because he claimed that he was God. And if you study through the scriptures, Jesus is constantly talking to the religious leaders telling them, it's good that
31:51 you study the scriptures. You diligently study them because you think that in them you're gonna find life, yet these are the very scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I mean,
32:02 everything the Old Testament reveals is the living he's saying I was there with Abraham. He saw me and was glad. You're only 50 years old. You mean, you think you're greater than him?
32:13 Yeah. I I before he was, I am. I've always been. I've seen every generation. That's why Melchizedek is incredible. And we see this blessing. I mean, if you
32:25 study the old testament, you'll see how big of a deal blessing is. Blessing blessing. I mean, you'll see sons fight for the blessing. They want the blessing. They want the they want the words. For this high priest to
32:37 bless Abraham, to bless him and tell him it's gonna be fulfilled in your life was nourishing to his soul. Jesus is our great high priest. You know what he wants to do in your life too? He wants to lavish you and
32:49 bless you. He wants to speak words of favor over your life. He created you, he knows you, he loves you, he died for you, he rose from you, he intercedes for you, he ministers
33:01 to his father on behalf of you all the time. He lives to make intercession for you, we're gonna read about it next week. He's in love with you and guess what? You say, I want a blessing like that. You have it in Christ.
33:13 If you know the Lord, that's the high priest that you have that's praying for you and blessing you and favoring you. Christ had astounding credentials in his priesthood. He had unmatched
33:25 greatness and then Christ priesthood is superior also because of his perfection and his power. His perfection and his power. No 1 but Christ is perfect and no 1 is omnipotent other
33:37 than Christ. And notice what he says in verse 11, especially these Jews who think about so highly of the priesthood. He says, now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood, from the basis of it, the people
33:48 received the law, what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not be designated according to the order of Aaron? He's like, why switch the
34:00 priesthood if the priesthood is doing such a good job? Like, why do you need a priest according to the order of Melchizedek if the law brought priesthood that's doing its job? Like, why would we ever need to change If
34:11 the priesthood was designed to cover to cleanse us from all sin, we wouldn't need another high priest. But what we learn is in the old testament that all of the animal sacrifice and all of
34:23 the death that took place and all of the shedding of blood only took place to cover our sin. It didn't cleanse us from the inside out. And if the Old Testament priesthood was so good, why do you need
34:35 to change it? Why are you looking for some cleansing? I mean, think about this for a second. If you grew up in Israel during the days of Levitical priesthood and you sinned, you know what you
34:47 do? You start looking for the kind of animal that was required to shed its blood to cover that sin. And then you would take it to a priest and the priest would have to slaughter that animal and then pour the blood out
34:57 and go through all sorts of rituals just to make sure that was covered. Just so you would know, oh, phew. But it didn't take the sin away. It just covered it for a period of time.
35:11 Last few weeks I have is I've been standing. We're aware of how many animals were probably slaughtered. I mean, hundreds and thousands and hundreds of thousands, millions of animals slaughtered over all those years. I
35:22 mean, can you imagine what the temple would look like? Can you imagine what it smelled like? I mean, we we we don't picture what it was. We pick, okay, the animal died. We put his blood here. We do You ever been to a
35:34 slaughterhouse before? Blood and buckets of blood and gallons of blood and supertankers of blood had to be spilled just to cover the
35:46 sin? But Jesus is different. He's a great high priest who once and for all covered all sinned and not only covered it but cleanses our sin. He takes away
35:58 the sin of the world. He removes all guilt and doubt and And And And And priesthood of
36:10 Aaron? He's asking these Jews if the priesthood is so good and you want to be part of it, then why did it have to change? He says in verse 12, for when the priesthood is changed of necessity, there takes a change
36:21 there takes place a change of law also for the 1 concerning whom these things are spoken to another tribe from which no 1 has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was a descendant of Judah,
36:33 a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. Here's what he's saying. If the order of Melchizedek is true and there's a change in priests and there's a change to how someone becomes a
36:45 priest, then guess what? There has to be an annulment to the law. The law that you grew up with has to change. Because the only way you can become a priest is if you're of the tribe of Levi. Jesus was not of the tribe of
36:56 Levi. Jesus was of the tribe of Judah. High priest if he didn't come from the priestly line? We see his kingly line in Matthew and in Luke as
37:08 we trace the genealogy of Jesus. He met the kingly line, but how come he doesn't meet the priestly line? Well, according to the order of Melchizedek, he does and he always has. But in order for him to
37:20 become priest, it means there has to be an annulment to the law for Jesus to be the priest. Which means The law that got established has to be changed.
37:32 The law that got established is no longer binding. The law that got established is no longer helpful. Why? Because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all of that law. Now can you imagine how Jews would have felt about
37:44 this? The law is everything. The law is perfect. There's there's nothing wrong with the the law. It's good. And let me tell you this, the law is good.
37:58 We taught the book of first Timothy not too long ago. In first Timothy chapter 1, in verse 8, it says, but we know that the law is good if 1 uses it lawfully. Realizing the fact that the law is not made for a
38:10 righteous person but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their mothers and fathers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and
38:20 kidnappers and liars and perjurers and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. He says the law is good. Do you know why the law is
38:32 good? Because the law points out everything in your life that shows that God is perfect and you're not. And there's nothing wrong with that. The law is not for righteous people, the law is for unrighteous
38:44 people. Well, who's unrighteous? Raise your hand if you think you might qualify. Bible says there's no 1 good, no not 1. There is none righteous. So what's the law do? The law is laid over the top ofShow more
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