Hebrews 7

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This medal, Kizadek was king of Salem and priest of God most high. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him. And Abraham gave him a 10th of everything. First the name Melchizedek means king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem means king of peace without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life. Resembling the son of God, he remains a priest forever.

Just think how great he was. Even the patriarch, Abraham, gave him a 10th of the plunder. Now the law requires the descendants of Levi, who became priests to collect a 10th from the people, that is, from their fellow Israelites, even though they also are descended from Abraham. This man, however, did not trace his descendant from Levi, yet he collected a 10th from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And without doubt I the lesser is blessed by the greater.

In the one case, the 10th is collected by people who die, but in the other case by him who is declared to be living. One might even say that Levi who collects the 10th, paid the 10th through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor. If perfection could have been attained through the levitical priesthood, indeed, the law given to the people established that priesthood. Why was there still from another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.

He of whom these things are said belong to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our lord descended from Judah. And in regard to that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests. And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry, but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless, for the law made nothing perfect. And a better hope is introduced by which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath. Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever.

Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. Now there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing in office. But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need, one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself for the law appoints as high priests men in, in all their weakness. But the oath which came after the law appointed the son who has been made perfect forever. Word of the Lord.

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning. It's good to have this opportunity to share with you some thoughts on Hebrews, chapter seven. There's a prayer that you've sometimes heard prayed, and I'm going to pray it now, Lord, fill my mouth with useful stuff and nudge me when I've said, enough. We've got 28 verses of this, and not an awful lot of time to deal with it.

But I want to pick out first of all, the three essential sections of this chapter and then to focus on three particular points that the writer to the Hebrews makes that might help us on Monday morning, Wednesday afternoon, and Saturday and every day that God gives us. So the three main sections, we start with verses one to ten. And it's about Melchizedek, who is the king of righteousness. And the writer says he is greater than Abraham and greater than the priests from the tribe of Levi. Now, this Melchizedek is a bit of a mysterious character.

If you look at the Old Testament, you'll find he occurs in Genesis, chapter 14. If you've got a Bible near you, you might like to look at it and just see how Melchizedek turns up. It's on page 14 and 15 of your Bible near you. And as you see, the first verses of Genesis, chapter 14 are talking about Abraham fighting his battles. There are various kings, there are various leaders who go out to fight battles.

Abraham fights battles. And then in verse 17, Abraham returned from defeating Kedor Laomer, and the kings allied with him. And the kings of Sodom came out to meet him in the valley of shavet.

And suddenly Melchizedek turns up. Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God most high. And he blessed Abram, saying, blessed be Abram by God most high, creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God most high, who delivered your enemies into your hand.

Then Abram gave him a 10th of everything.

And that's all we get of Melchizedek, apart from a reference in one of the Psalms. And yet when the writer to the Hebrews, by the way, writer to the Hebrews, JB Phillips in his translation makes it clear it's a letter to jewish Christians. So letter to readers who will be so well steeped with all the jewish tradition, all the words of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible that we sometimes called the Pentateuch, they would be so familiar with that and all the ritual, the routine of worship in the old Temple and then in the synagogue. And so the readers would know all this background stuff. But interestingly, Melchizedek, he doesn't figure very much until the writer to the Hebrews takes him to the first thing.

That's amazing in verse three, without father or mother. What? Without dissent, without genealogy, the writer to the Hebrew creates a new word for without genealogy. There's some amazing Greek in this chapter.

It's an odd and almost incredible fact that the whole jewish priesthood was dependent on genealogy, on your descendants. If you were a part of the tribe of Levi, then you were part of the priesthood. Character didn't come into it.

If you had the right parentage, then you were in the priesthood. That's astonishing. And so it's perhaps not too surprising that the writer to the Hebrews, to the jewish Christians, says, this is a bit better, isn't it? Because here is Melchizedek, well, he's not part of the tribe of Levi, but he's, well, fatherless. There's another word, another greek word that is fairly unusual in relation to people of good character because it was used on birth certificates for babies born where the father was unknown.

In other words, in those terms, illegitimate. That was how it was described. But Melchizedek is given that same word.

And then in verse four, Abraham gave him a tithe, a 10th. According to the Torah, the first five books, the law of Moses priests were from the tribe of Levi. They were entitled to receive tithes from the people. But Melchizedek got the tithe. And so the writer says he's obviously greater than Abraham.

And then in verse eight, in one case, the 10th is collected by people who die, but in the other case by him who is declared to be living, it's obvious that Melchizedek is greater. And then in verse nine, it's a very curious argument and the writer almost apologises for it. One might even say that Levi, who collects the 10th, paid the 10th through Abraham, because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor. He was yet to be born.

It's a curious argument, but the writer to the Hebrews is so concerned to make his point that Melchizedek is better. So that's the first section and then the second section, verses eleven to 19. It's about the need of a new priesthood, a better priesthood. Verse eleven, I'm going to read the good news Bible version of it, but you can follow it on the screen in the Niv. It was on the basis of the levitical priesthood that the law, the Torah, was given to the people of Israel.

Now if the work of the levitical priests had been perfect, there would have been no need for a different kind of priest to appear, one who is the successor of Melchizedek, not of Aaron. So there was a need for a new kind of priesthood.

And then verse 19, again, the good news Bible. The law of Moses could not make anything perfect. And now a better hope has been provided through which we come near to God. A better hope. You see, the law wasn't intended to save people.

It was simply there to point out sin. And as far as the law was concerned, the past mark was ten out of ten. And if you didn't get ten out of ten, you'd failed and you needed to get yourself put right with God. The great good news is that with the new priesthood, with Jesus as our high priest, the past mark is zero. We come with all our faults, with all our failings, with our sin.

And Jesus says, okay, I understand, I welcome you and I forgive you. Isn't that exciting news? Isn't that wonderful? It may be that there's somebody here this morning or somebody that you know who just needs to hear that and receive that for yourself.

So there's a better hope. In verse 19, we get that word better a lot in the letter to the Hebrews. It's a greek word that occurs more times in the letters of the Hebrews than in the whole of the rest of the New Testament. Remarkably so. Under the mosaic law, sin was being pointed out constantly.

But under our new priest, we come and we say, lord, I'm sorry, and you'll forgive me. Just quickly to verse 17. Notice the forever phrase, you're a priest forever. The old priests died and had to be replaced. Maybe youve been in a church sometime, someplace, and there was a list of all the previous vicars.

Why? Because they died and they had to be replaced. But under the new priesthood, we have Jesus, our high priest forever.

So thats the second section and the third section is the remaining verses 20 to 28. Its about the greatness of the new priest, and the writer to the Hebrews is still piling up reasons for us to know and believe that the new priesthood is the best. And so verse 21 takes that verse from the psalms, psalm 110 four. Again, the good news Bible makes it helpful to understand Jesus became a priest by means of a vow. When God said to him, the Lord has made a vow and will not change his mind, you will be a priest forever.

That's the greatness of the new priest. Just imagine though, God making a vow. Why do you make a vow? Because you think you wont be believed, but youve got to believe God. But according to this, God made a vow.

Thats how serious and how assured it is you get the same God making a vow we saw last week in Hebrews 613 and verse 22. Jesus is the guarantor, the surety of a better covenant. That word covenant appears much more in chapter eight, and we will see that next Sunday, verse 26 I'd love to take the time to explore with you all the words that the writer uses to describe Jesus the high priest. Perhaps you would take time to meditate on them yourself in your own quiet time. God is Jesus is holy.

We sometimes sing, who could rescue me from my failing? Who else would offer his only son? Who else invites me to call him father? Only a holy God, only my holy God says the song, Jesus is blameless, he's pure. And then verse 27, very quickly, once and for all.

That phrase, once for all is used again in chapter nine and chapter ten. Jesus died once and for all. He finished all that need for the sacrificial system because Jesus gave his life for us. Jesus is the priest, but he was also the sacrifice, a sacrifice once and for all. His death brings us eternal life.

So if you like, that's the head stuff about Hebrews, chapter seven. But let's quickly move on to the heart stuff, how it might relate to us during this week. And the first word I want just to focus on is that name, Melchizedek. The Melchi is the Hebrew for King Melech. And the Zedek is righteousness.

You know, the Zedekiah, the prophet. God is righteous. The yah is, is God and Zedek righteous. What does righteousness mean? To be a king of righteousness, to have to pursue, to long for righteousness.

You remember Jesus in the beatitudes said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Is that our longing, our hunger, our thirst to be like Jesus, to value the things that Jesus values, to love the people that jesus loves. That's what righteousness is, looking for justice, for fair treatment.

I came across the story of a man who just to become a new Christian, just given his life to the Lord. And he decided that he knew that Jesus was walking with him at all times. And so one day he thought he would go to the cinema and he went to the paying desk and said, I want two tickets. And the person selling the ticket said, you've got somebody with you. Well, yes.

He said, jesus is with me and I'm buying a seat for him. And so duly he got his two tickets and they went to their seat in the cinema. And after a minute or two, the man turned to the seat next to him and said, jesus, what do you think of this? And at that point jesus said, obviously it ain't what you should be doing. So he got up and walked out.

I guess that's what righteousness is, finding Jesus values in everything we do.

Quickly onto another one, the priest. What is a priest? Well, one definition is a bridge builder. The priest in Bible times was the one who was an intermediary between human beings and God, the one who led people to God, a bridge to God. And Jesus is that great high priest.

But interestingly, the Bible, even the Old Testament, but especially the New Testament, says that we are to be priests. In one Peter, chapter two, there it is. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. You and I are called to be priests, those who bring people from darkness into the wonderful light of Jesus.

I guess we knew that. But the question we have to ask, do I do that?

Do I talk about Jesus anywhere other than in church? If we do, that's great. Do you offer to pray with people? I think you've heard me say before that I sometimes pray with people at the supermarket checkout.

You look tired, or I can I pray for you? And very often they say, yes, which is great, but it's bringing Jesus into every situation, and that's what we have to do. We turn from being spectators into participators and quickly, and perhaps most importantly, verse, verse 25.

Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them completely, is what the Niv says, the King James version, new King James version also says, to the uttermost, he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him in Scotland. There was a driver in the north of Scotland. He came to a level crossing and he saw that the crossing gate was diagonally up, not right down, not right up. So he called to the crossing keeper and said, what's happening here? And the crossing keeper said, well, to tell you the truth, we are half expecting a train.

And that's part of the difficulty with some people. We're only half expected. We're not even sure that God is ready to act, that God could take me. May I come? With my sin, with my history and all those things that have happened to me, the traumas I may have experienced, we're not sure.

By contrast, let me read you about days he tells his story. I was a doorman, I was a bouncer. I was quite a violent guy. I took a lot of drugs. I was a cocaine addict.

My life revolved around fighting, taking drugs, partying and living in that cycle. He said, one night I had taken a massive overdose. I felt like I was having a heart attack. My heart was jumping out of my chest and I cried out in what I didn't know then was a prayer, a prayer to live. And I woke up the next day and I never touched cocaine again.

And after that, Des kept meeting christians. One in particular was Fiona, who really lived out her faith. He asked her out a few times, but she said no, mainly because he wasn't a Christian. She gave him a Bible and he started reading. He said, I started tearing through it, trying to find something, and I ended up finding Jesus.

And suddenly my whole life made sense. He called Fiona and asked her to take him to church. And there he heard about alpha courses and he went on an alpha course. He said, on Alpha, I met Jesus and it changed my life. I was this drug fueled, violent person.

And now I love people and I love God. I just want to share my story. Des went on to study theology and he now works for Alpha Scotland, and he married Fiona. Isn't that lovely? But God is able to save to the uttermost.

Somebody said, he saves from the guttermost to the uttermost. And I want to say to every one of us this morning, there is nothing in our past history that God cannot take and transform.

If you have been wondering about goddess, not yet ready to take that step of yes, may I tell you that if you do, it's the most wonderful thing that can happen, the most wonderful transformation that can come to your life.

I was in a meeting with some other christians earlier this week, and I was reminded of a song that we had sometimes sung. I want to serve the purpose of God in my generation. I want to serve the purpose of God while I am alive. I want to give my life for something that will last forever. Oh, I delight.

I delight in him. And I long to say to you today, if you will hear his voice, dont harden your heart. Come to the living Lord Jesus. Because were going to sing now a lovely song. Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to us, born as one of us.

Mary's son. And then the fourth verse. Lord Jesus Christ, I would come to you. Live my life for you, son of God. All your commands I know are true.

Your many gifts will make me new into my life. Your power breaks through living Lord.

Will you sing that and make it your promise, your prayer. And if you're doing that today and it's meaning something special for you, tell somebody about it. Have a word with Ben. He'd love to pray with you. Or with Phil and Nikki.

Or with Margaret and myself. We'd love just to pray with you and celebrate with you that decision to serve the living Lord. Let's sing.