(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hymn number 36. Christ arose. Hymn number 36. This one begins low in the grave He laid Jesus my Savior. Hymn number 36. Lift your voice nice and loud. All that first verse together now. Hymn number 36. All in the grave he laid Jesus my Savior. Wait in the coming day Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave he arose. With a mighty triumph o'er his clothes. He arose a failure from the dark domain. And he lives forever when this aims to reign. He arose. He arose. Hallelujah. Christ arose. Gave me this watch as then Jesus my Savior. Gave me this field of death. Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave he arose. With a mighty triumph o'er his clothes. He arose a failure from the dark domain. And he lives forever when this aims to reign. He arose. He arose. Hallelujah. Christ arose. Death cannot keep his grave. Jesus my Savior. He tore the bars away. Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave he arose. With a mighty triumph o'er his clothes. He arose a failure from the dark domain. And he lives forever when this aims to reign. He arose. He arose. Hallelujah. Christ arose. Amen. Great start to our singing this morning. We want to go before the Lord and ask his blessing on the service. Father in heaven, we thank you for the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And the opportunity to be in church today on this beautiful Sunday. And the opportunity for us to lift up our voices to you in praise. Please bless Pastor Anderson, fill him with your Holy Spirit and let his message be edifying to us all. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Hymn number 31, hymn number 31. He lives. Hymn number 31, this one begins, I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. Hymn number 31, let's sing it out. On that verse, all together now, lift your voice now. I serve always his Savior. He's in the world today. I know that he is living, whatever that may say. I see his hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer. And just the time I need him, he's always near. He lives, he lives, where Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along my narrow way. He lives, he lives, salvation's true in part. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives with my heart. In all the world around me, I see his loving care. And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair. I know that he is leading through all the stormy glass. The day of disappearing would not that last. He lives, he lives, where Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along my narrow way. He lives, he lives, salvation's true in part. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, with thunder, voice, and sing, eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King. He lives, he lives, where Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along my narrow way. He lives, he lives, salvation's true in part. He lives, he lives, salvation's true in part. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. Amen. Good singing. All right. At this time, we'll go through our announcements this morning. If you don't have a bullet, just slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you in one. On the inside, we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 10.30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week, we will be in Psalm 78. We've got the soul-winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. Across the page, of course, happy Easter to everyone. Below that, we've got the RSVPs for the mother-daughter tea party at the Spicery next Sunday, April 27th, are closed. But you can still RSVP for the second date on May 4th. So if you would like to be a part of that, of course, this is for all ladies and teenage girls. And so you're welcome to attend. You don't have to be with your mother or with your daughter. You know, it's just for all ladies and girls to attend. And so make sure that you get your RSVP in right away if you want to go on May 4th. Roller skating night is coming up. That is April 29th from 6 to 9 p.m. As with all of our church activities, there's no cost. So there's zero cost for the mother-daughter tea party, zero cost for the roller skating night. And so you just show up at the roller skating night. The address is there. And have a great time with us from 6 to 9 p.m. We rent out the entire skating rink. So it's only our church that's there. And so there's no music or anything. It's just us hanging out, having the skating rink to ourselves. It's super fun. We do this about twice a year. But don't think, oh, I'll get it on the next one. You know, you need to be at this one, all right? So April 29th, be there, be square. And then on the back, keep praying for our expectant ladies that they'll have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. And then just some friendly reminders there that the covered spots in the parking lot are reserved for other tenants. So we don't want to upset the landlord or the other tenants. Silence your cell phones during the service. And make sure that your kids are under control before, during, and after the service, not running around terrorizing. And then at the bottom, we've got a list of other upcoming events. This Friday night, I'm preaching in Seattle. I'm pretty excited about that. I love Brother Sean Conlon, who is the preacher up there. And I love getting up there and spending time in Seattle because the Pacific Northwest is beautiful. I love going up there. And so I've never preached there. I've been there for work a lot. Back when I had my secular job, I go to Seattle and work all the time. And I like the city. So it's going to be cool to go back there and preach for the first time. And so looking forward to that. And then there's the KJV conference, really just less than a month away now, in May in the Portland, Oregon area, May 15th through 18th. There's just a killer lineup of preachers preaching at this thing. And so it really does replace the Red Hot Preaching Conference because the Red Hot Preaching Conference is canceled this year. But this kind of replaces that because you got a lot of the same guy. You know, you got Pastor Mejia preaching. You got Pastor Shelley, Pastor Thompson, myself. I'm not sure if anybody else is preaching, but it's going to be great. I'm looking forward to that. And then Pastor Dylan Oz from out in Oklahoma City. He's been doing a great work, preaching a lot of great sermons. And he is going to be preaching here on May 25th, Sunday morning and Sunday night. So keep that in mind. And that is about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. All right, you have the insert in front of your hymnal with a song entitled, I Am the Resurrection. If you don't have an answer, please raise your hand. I am the resurrection and the life. Sing it out together now. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead. Yet shall he live, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never, never die. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead. Yet shall he live, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never, never die. Man, good singing, everybody. Take your hymnals now. Go to hymn number 170. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Here's how we'll do it. We'll sing the first three verses, 170. The fourth verse, we'll go acapella. And the fifth verse, we'll do a key change in between leading into the fifth verse. So just watch when we get there. Number 170, Man of Sorrows, what a name for the Son of God who came. 170. Sing it out now. Man of sorrows, what a name for the Son of God who came. Ruined sinners to reclaim, hallelujah, what a Savior. Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned He stood. He sealed my garden with His blood, hallelujah, what a Savior. A guilty, violent, helpless wing, spotless Lamb of God was He. Oh, what a moment can it be, hallelujah, what a Savior. Lifted up was He to die, it is finished was His cry. Now in heaven exalted I, hallelujah, what a Savior. When He comes, our glorious King, all His ransom longed to bring. And a new, big song we'll sing, hallelujah, what a Savior. Amen. Good singing this morning. Alright, at this time we'll pass to offering plates. As the plates go around, let's turn in our Bibles to Genesis chapter 14. Genesis chapter number 14. As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with Brother Corbin Brock as he reads Genesis chapter 14, beginning in verse number 1. Genesis 14. And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Elisar, Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of nations, that these made war with Birah, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemiber, king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these were joined together in the veil of Sidon, which is the salt sea. Twelve years they served Kedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. And in the fourteenth year came Kedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Asheroth, Carnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shavah, Cariothaim, and the Horites in their Mount Seir unto Elperan, which is by the wilderness. And they returned and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hezazontamar. And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela, the same as Zoar. And they joined battle with them in the veil of Sidon, with Kedorlaomer, the king of Elam, and with Tydal king of nations, and Amrethal king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Elessar, four kings with five. And the veil of Sidon was full of slime pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there. And they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their vittles, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom and his goods, and departed. And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshkol, and brother of Anor. And these were confederate with Abram. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Kedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Shaveh, which is the Kingsdale. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram, of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand, and he gave him tithes of all. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the Most High God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich. Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Einor, Eschol, and Mamre, and let them take their portion. Our Father in heaven, we love you, Lord, and we thank you for the resurrection. We thank you for the forgiveness of our sins, Lord. We ask now that you would please bless Pastor Anderson with the words that you would have him to speak, Lord. We pray in everything, Lord, that we would grow closer to you, Lord, and love you more. We ask your blessing now in this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Men, this morning I am preaching on the biblical character Melchizedek. We're going to look at every single time Melchizedek comes up in Scripture. Now, he's a person that is barely mentioned in the Old Testament. He's mentioned here just briefly in Genesis chapter 14. Then he's mentioned again in Psalm 110, but the interesting thing is that Psalm 110 is the number one most quoted psalm in the New Testament. Even though Psalm 110 is just this little short psalm, don't quote me on this, but I believe it's 25 times that it's quoted in the New Testament, making it the number one most quoted psalm. And so Melchizedek ends up becoming very important in the New Testament symbolically when talking about our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what we're mainly going to focus on this morning. But first let's just look at the story in Genesis 14 where Melchizedek even enters the scene. It says in verse 17 of Genesis 14, And of course we just read the story about how there was this war between these various kings and Canaan and so forth. We're not going to get into the details of that, but the point is that when Abraham returns victorious from the battle, it says in verse 18, Melchizedek, the king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God, and he blessed him. So it's saying that Melchizedek is blessing Abraham and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he, Abraham, gave him tithes of all. So Abram gives the tithe to Melchizedek. So you can obviously see the symbolism here that Melchizedek, of course, represents the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the king of Salem. Salem is kind of short for Jerusalem. Eventually it's going to be called Jerusalem, which is probably a combination of the word Jebus, which is another name for the city, and Salem being combined, Jerusalem, and then it says that he also brought forth bread and wine, picturing, of course, the broken body of our Lord Jesus Christ and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that he shed for us, and he's the priest of the Most High God. Of course, Jesus Christ is that combination of both king and priest. So, wonderful illustration here, but again, as you're reading this, you're kind of wondering, who is this guy? Because he's not introduced in any way. There's no genealogy given for him. He just sort of pops up in the story, and he's pretty much gone as soon as he pops up. Just this one little quick mention, nothing else in the entire Old Testament. Okay, now there are two coherent views of this that people have, two different ways that people look at this, and I think that both of them have their merits. I've kind of gone back and forth over the years on both of these different views, but one view is that Melchizedek is just sort of a random guy, and we just get this tiny little snippet of his life, and that he represents the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The other view is that he is literally Jesus, that he is basically an Old Testament appearance of Christ. Okay, now I can see both sides of this. I've gone back and forth over the years. When I was growing up, when I was a teenager, young adult, I always believed that Melchizedek was just a guy that represents Jesus, right? Then I went to a church, and they preached that Melchizedek is Jesus, and when I first heard that, I was like, what in the world? It kind of freaked me out, but then I thought about it, and I was like, oh, okay, and I kind of saw their side, and I went with that belief for a long time. And then more recently, like maybe five, six years ago, I kind of went back to believing that he's just a guy. Okay, but both of these views are valid, but let me explain to you both of these views, then we're going to get into the New Testament, okay? Here's the thing. If he's just a guy, then that would mean that he's the literal king of the literal city of Salem, and while being the king of Salem, he is also the priest of the Mosiah God. He's worshiping God. He's offering sacrifices to God. He's ruling over this city in Canaan, and he's just a righteous dude that ends up picturing the Lord Jesus Christ in a special way, and ends up being a great illustration, and that's what I think is the case, okay? The other view, if he's an Old Testament appearance of Christ, okay, would be that he basically just pops up for this one occasion, and he's gone right afterward, because that's how Old Testament appearances of Christ work, and Old Testament appearances of Christ are a thing. Like, for example, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are in the fiery furnace, and the Son of God is there with them in the fiery furnace, that's an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. There are other times, like at the burning bush, or when Joshua meets the captain of the Lord's host, and it's Jesus, pre-incarnate Christ, meeting with him, but in those situations, Jesus just appears briefly and is gone. You know, he's just there for that one day, and then he's gone. That's what this would have to be, but to believe that Jesus is literally ruling as a king of a literal city, and offering sacrifices of priests for months, or years, or decades, or centuries, or millennia, is obviously a bizarre and absurd doctrine. So let's go to the New Testament now. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 5, and see how this pictures our Lord Jesus Christ, because it ends up being super important, super significant, because the psalm about Melchizedek that we're going to look at later, is the number one most quoted psalm in the New Testament. So Melchizedek ends up being really important doctrinally as a picture of Christ. And like I said, if you believe that he's an Old Testament appearance of Christ, that's a valid viewpoint, as long as you just believe it's a normal pre-incarnate Christ appearance, where he pops in, does his thing, and he's just called the king of Salem, because Jesus is just eternally the king of Jerusalem. Jesus is eternally king of righteousness. He's eternally prophet, priest, and king. That's just who he is intrinsically, and he just kind of showed up, met Abraham, in, out. That's a valid viewpoint. I tend to believe though that Melchizedek is Melchizedek. He's just a guy named Melchizedek. But anyway, look at Hebrews chapter 5 verse 5. The Bible says, So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. And so Jesus did not take that honor unto himself, but it was God the Father who proclaimed him a high priest, and said, You're my son, and today I've begotten you. And he saith also in another place, verse 6, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now why is Jesus a priest after the order of Melchizedek? Because he is replacing the Levitical priesthood, or Aaron's priesthood, so the idea with Melchizedek is kind of just showing us that there's this other priest that has nothing to do with Aaron, nothing to do with Levi, that already existed before Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and anybody were even born. Jesus Christ is the eternal son of God. So before we even have an Aaronic priesthood with the Levites, there's already just this other guy, Melchizedek, who's a priest, kind of showing that Jesus Christ predates the Mosaic law. Jesus Christ predates the Levitical priesthood. He's a priest after the order of Melchizedek, on the order of Melchizedek. He's like unto Melchizedek, is what the Bible is saying here, in that he's outside of the Levitical priesthood and that system. Look what the Bible says in verse 7, who in the days of his flesh, and what we need to understand here, and I think this passage can be a little tricky, the thing we need to understand here is that we're talking about Jesus now in verse number 7, and the proof of that is in verse 10 that we've been talking about Jesus the whole time. So don't misunderstand this. Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Verse 7, who Jesus, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard and that he feared. Now, Jesus Christ, the Bible says that when he was in that garden of Gethsemane, he was offering up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death. And so Jesus is in the garden saying, if it be possible, Father, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will. And so this shows the agony that it was for Christ to die on the cross for us, because when he's in that garden of Gethsemane, he is dreading going to the cross, right? He does not want to go. The Bible says that sweat is pouring off his body, as it were, like drops of blood. And he's in agony, he's very heavy, he's upset, he's depressed, he's sad. I mean, obviously, going to the cross is horrible. And he knows this is about to happen. And he's willing to do it, though. He doesn't want to do it in the sense that nobody wants to get spat upon, beaten, whipped, shamed, humiliated, tortured, and killed. Nobody wants to go through that on a human level. But he says, you know what, I'm willing to do it, though, not as I will, but as thou will. Jesus Christ went through with dying on the cross for us because he loves us, right? And that was the whole reason why God the Father sent him here in the first place. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Right? Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us. Jesus Christ loved us, and the Father loved us, and that's why they went through with this plan. And that's why Jesus Christ, although he's in agony in the garden, with strong crying, right? So he's not just kind of sniffling a little bit. I mean, this is really weeping hard, really sweating, really upset, strong crying and tears. Unto him that was able to save him from death, he said, look, I could have my Father right now call for twelve legions of angels to deliver me right now. But then how then would the scripture be fulfilled, right? And how am I going to save the world if I did that? But the Bible is saying, you know, that Jesus Christ could have backed out in that sense, but he went through with it because he loves us. Though he were a son, verse eight, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, called of God an high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And of course, when it says he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, this is talking about obeying the gospel, which is to believe on the gospel, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now flip over to chapter six. We're going to see the next mention of Melchizedek in the Bible. We're going to look at every single verse where Melchizedek is mentioned. And in the process, we end up preaching about Jesus because that's what these verses are about. Look at Hebrews chapter six, verse eighteen, it says that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Now what does it mean to be immutable? It means that it cannot be changed, right? It's like a law that's laid down and it can never be altered, it can never be gone back on or changed. The Bible says that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. Now here's what the Bible says elsewhere. It says in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. So when God promises us eternal life, if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that we have everlasting life, it's impossible for God to lie and God will never renege on that. That is an immutable promise and that gives us a strong consolation. You know, it's comforting to know that, right? To realize, hey, we can never lose our salvation no matter what because it is impossible for God to lie and these are immutable promises from God that we are saved and have eternal life and we're secure in our salvation. So we have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Verse nineteen, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, right? The anchor of our soul is believing that the promises of God are steadfast and can never be gone back upon. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which enterth into the veil, which enterth into that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Okay, now chapter seven is where we really get into the serious meat about Melchizedek. It says in verse number one, for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. We read about that in Genesis fourteen. To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all. That was in the story. First being by interpretation, king of righteousness. Now here's what that means when it says by interpretation. It's saying that if you literally just translate his Hebrew name into English, it's translated as king of righteousness. Because the Hebrew word for king is Melech and the Hebrew word for righteousness is Tzedek. So you have Melchizedek, right? So you have king of righteousness. It's just giving you a translation of the Hebrew word Melchizedek. Tzedek, first being by interpretation, king of righteousness. So Jesus Christ is the king of righteousness, right? He rules righteousness. Now what does that mean? Well it means that he is obviously the most righteous one that there is. He's the only one who's truly one hundred percent righteous, which makes him the king of righteousness. But he is also the arbiter of righteousness. He's the king of righteousness in the sense that God is the one who decides what's right and wrong. And Jesus is the word and the word of God decides what's right and wrong. So he rules over right and wrong in the sense that he makes that decision of what right even is and then he exemplifies righteousness by being the ultimate most righteous being that there is. So Jesus Christ is the king of righteousness and after that he's also king of Salem. Now what the author of Hebrews is doing is he's pretty much just expounding to you the Genesis story. He's expounding to you the text and he's saying, Look, when you see this guy's name, Melchizedek, right away that's king of righteousness. And then the next thing it says is Melchizedek the king of Salem. That means that he's the king of peace. Okay, because Salem is the same as the word that you've probably heard all the time, Shalom. Okay, this is just another spelling of the exact same word and think about how they say it in Arabic, Salaam, right? Salaam alaikum or whatever. So the idea here is that, you know, Salaam, Shalom, Salem, king of Salem, it says, which is king of peace, he's really just again translating it for you. And then this is the interesting part. And of course Jesus is what? The prince of peace. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who brings peace between man and God, right? And he also brings peace to our hearts and allows us to go through life without a lot of stress and care and worry. We can cast all our care upon him for he careth for us because he's the prince of peace. And then the Bible says here in verse 3, this is really interesting, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abide of the priest continually. And this is probably the most critical verse in this discussion of, hey, is Melchizedek just an actual literal guy who lived a normal lifespan, ruled a literal city called Salem, he was a priest and a king, and he met Abraham, and he's just a guy that represents Jesus, Jesus is after the order of Melchizedek, or is Melchizedek literally Christ popping up incognito, Old Testament appearance of Christ, and in that case, you know, he's not literally acting as a king or a priest, but he's just always a king and a priest because he's Jesus. You know, he just is the king of righteousness, he just is the prince of peace all the time. This is kind of the critical verse, and a lot of people will point to this verse as the proof that it's literally Jesus, because it's basically saying, well, the guy just popped up out of nowhere, you know, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, you know, he just kind of pops up, and so he just kind of pops in as an Old Testament appearance of Christ. But I think that if you actually look at this verse a little more carefully and think about it, you know, I think it's actually making the case for the opposite, that it's not Jesus Christ. Okay. Let me tell you why I think that. And I've thought a lot about this verse for a long time. It's obviously a tricky subject, that's why I'm not going to throw stones at either camp here, because either way has its merits. But here's the thing about this, is that if you say, well, this is literally about Jesus, but here's the problem with that is that Jesus does have a father and Jesus does have a mother is the problem with that idea, because Jesus' father is God the father, and Jesus' mother is Mary. And Mary is the literal mother of Jesus, right? And she gave birth to Jesus, and she's his human mother, and by the way, Mary wasn't just some kind of a surrogate incubator for Jesus, she's literally his mother, Jesus' literally the son of man. Jesus' literally born son of Mary, he's the son of Adam, he's the son of David, he's the son of Abraham, because he's literally the child of Mary. Okay. And so, you know, no, it's not this thing where, you know, Jesus is the bread of life, and Mary's just the oven. That's a wrong doctrine. Okay. The idea here is, is a false teacher that taught that. But the point is here, that if you're going to take this literally, you can't really apply it to Jesus, because Jesus is not without father. You say, well, he's without an earthly father. Okay, I'll grant you that, because God is his father. But how can you say he's without mother when Jesus' mother is Mary? You know, that's, I think, the problem with that interpretation. I think a better interpretation of without father, without mother, without descent, is that when you're reading the story in Genesis, we're not told who his mother is, we're not told who his father is, we're not told about his descent, we're not given a genealogy. Other characters in the book of Genesis, when they're introduced, are often given as, well, he's the son of this person, or, you know, this person begat this person, this person begat this person. And you're given that kind of genealogical information, whereas with Melchizedek, in the story, not in real life, not literally, but in the story, in the text, in the word of God, he's without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, meaning it doesn't talk about him being born, and it doesn't talk about him dying. Whereas other biblical characters, we do read about them being born, and we do read about them dying. And so the idea here is that the fact that he pops up in the story, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, you know, this makes him a great picture or stand-in for the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Lord Jesus Christ is an eternal being. Right? Jesus Christ, although he was physically born of Mary, okay, obviously he is the creator. He transcends just his only earthly existence, and he's from everlasting. Right? He was in the beginning with God, and he was God. So because the Son of God is eternal, the idea here is the fact that Melchizedek pops up in the story without mention of father, mother, descent, beginning of days or end of life, this kind of gives him an eternal vibe, which ends up making him like unto the Son of God, abiding a priest continually. So again, I don't believe that Melchizedek is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God, but that he's like the Son of God. He's not the Son of God, he's like the Son of God. So that's where I stand on this, but again, I can see both sides, but I think that that's a better way of interpreting this verse. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth the priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, it says in verse 4, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils, and verily they that are of the sons of Levi who received the office of the priesthood have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to law, that is of their brethren that they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted from them, so this guy who's not of Levi, who's not of Aaron, received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises, and without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. Now again, this is something that some people would point to as proof that Melchizedek is literally Jesus, the fact that Melchizedek is better than Abraham. But again, Melchizedek could still just be a guy who's better than Abraham. And look, make no mistake, Abraham's a pretty cool guy. But he's not really just like the greatest guy ever. He had some issues, he had some problems, he had some shortcomings. And you know what? The thing I love about the Bible is that God uses people that are human, he uses people that are like us, ordinary people that we can relate to, because Abraham is not a superman. When you read the story, he makes some big mistakes, he does some wrong things, but he's got a lot of faith. And because he has such a huge amount of faith, he ends up being the father of faith, and going down in history, and being the great example of faith for everyone. That doesn't mean that he's necessarily the best person ever. It just means he had a lot of faith, which we should try to strive to have a lot of faith to. And it's encouraging to know that even if we're not perfect, even if we have some shortcomings, and we have some problems in our life, God can still use us greatly too if we have a lot of faith. If we can be like Abraham and follow in the footsteps of Abraham. So I don't think that there's any contradiction here to just believe that Melchizedek is a more righteous individual than Abraham, even if he's just Melchizedek. Because, you know, not always are the most famous people, or the big name people, or the people that maybe God uses in the most dramatic or public way, it doesn't mean that somebody else might not be just as good of a Christian, or a better Christian, maybe just laboring behind the scenes. You know, and maybe just working in a less public way. Just because you get more verses in the Bible about you, doesn't necessarily mean that you're the more righteous individual. And so, you know, I don't see how that could really decide this thing. But it says in verse number, let's see, where did we leave off, verse 8, Here men that die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law. And that statement in parenthesis is so important. For under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order of Aaron? Here's what the Bible is asking. You know what, if the law could make you perfect, right? If the system of the Old Covenant, the Old Testament with the Levitical priesthood and the commandments engraven in stone and the laws and the statutes and the ordinances, if that could make you perfect, if that could get you to the finish line, if that could get you saved, if that could get you to heaven, then what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order of Aaron? The Bible is making a point here that Jesus Christ is specifically not of the Mosaic law, not of the tribe of Levi, not of the Aaronic Levitical priesthood on purpose to show you that salvation is not by the law. It's not by keeping commandments that were saved. It's not by doing works that were saved. And if that system could save you, if keeping the law could ever save anyone, then there'd be no need for this other priest, Jesus, to arise after the order of Melchizedek and not after the order of Aaron. Right? So the idea here is that God put Melchizedek in the Bible, although he's not a super significant character to the story in Genesis, the reason he makes this little cameo in Genesis is so that God can plant the seed in our minds and show, hey, there can be a great priest and king that is not from the tribe of Levi because that's exactly what Jesus is going to be. And Jesus is going to be that priest and king par excellence that is superior to the Levitical priesthood. And the Bible says the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And so Jesus Christ is replacing that Levitical priesthood. And the Levitical priesthood, if it was the end all be all, well then why did it need to be replaced? It needed to be replaced because it's not possible for the bud of bulls and of goats to take away sins, number one. And number two, adherence to the law could never save you. And here's why adherence to the law could never save you is because we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not one. I mean, look, and it's so funny to me when people say, oh, well, back in the Old Testament, they're saved by following the law. Well, how could anybody ever be saved by a filthy rag? Because the Bible says all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. So, oh, well, they had to be a good person in the Old Testament, follow the commandments, follow the law, and they're saved by doing the law and doing good works. Oh, so they're saved by a filthy rag? And by the way, if they could be saved in the Old Testament by works, then why don't they just keep on being saved by works? You want to know why? Because works can never save anyone. Works have never saved anyone. It's only faith in Jesus Christ that could ever, will ever, can ever save anyone. In the Old Testament, they looked forward to the Messiah. In the New Testament, we look back to the Messiah, but either way, we're looking at the Lord for our salvation. We're not looking to our own works because they're not good enough. My works aren't good enough. Your works aren't good enough. It's got to be the faith of Christ that saves us, right? It's got to be his righteousness imputed unto us. That's what the Bible teaches. And so, you know, what further need was there? If perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, then why did it have to be replaced by a priest after the order of Melchizedek? Verse 12, for the priesthood being changed, there's made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken, that's Jesus, pertaineth to another tribe of which no man gave attendance at the altar. Verse 14, for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah. So God, in his wisdom, purposely made it so that Jesus is not coming from the tribe of Levi. He comes from the tribe of Judah. His mother, Mary, is from the tribe of Judah. Even his stepfather, Joseph, not his literal father because he's born of a virgin, God the Father, his stepfather, Joseph, is also of the tribe of Judah. They're both of the tribe of Judah, okay, which is where he gets the king side of things because he's in that lineage of King David. So he's set to be the king of the Jews in that sense. But then where does he get the priest side? Well, the priest side, he doesn't need a genealogy for that. He's not coming from Levi because he's not a Levitical priest. He's a Melchizedekian priest is what the Bible is teaching. And it says in verse number 15, and it is yet far more evident for that after the similitude of Melchizedek, there ariseth another priest who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life, right? So Christ's priesthood is dependent upon his endless life, his everlasting life. Here's another way of putting that. This is Easter Sunday. It's dependent upon his resurrection, right? Jesus Christ is the ultimate high priest because of the resurrection, okay? Now here's the thing. The Levites, they are priests after the law of a carnal commandment, right? So there's a commandment. They're doing physical work, physical ordinances, fleshly ordinances. They're killing calves. They're killing bulls and goats. They're killing sheep. They're killing animals and sacrificing them and doing all these carnal ordinances that are a picture of the real thing. They're not the real thing. They're just a picture of the real thing, right? Jesus is the real thing, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And so the Bible is saying here that he, Jesus, is made a priest not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. And it says in verse 17, for he testified thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. You see, the Levitical priests, they were born, they lived, they died. And when they made an atonement for the people, they had to make an atonement for their own sins and for the people's. Because they're just humans. They're just normal, sinful people. Whereas Jesus Christ is totally without sin, he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And so Jesus Christ is superior to the Levitical priesthood because he is a sinless, perfect priest who exists forever. He lives forever because after he died and was buried and rose again, the Bible says, you know, death hath no more dominion over him. He has conquered death and he lives forever. He is our priest forever. He will never die. So it says the power of an endless life, verse 17, for he testified thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw an eye unto God. And it is much as not without an oath he was made priest, for those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath, by him that said unto him, the Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now this is the quote from Psalm 110. So you can turn to Psalm 110 if you want or you can just listen to me. But in Psalm 110, verse 1, actually you should probably turn there. Verse number 1 is interesting because it says, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And this is a verse that the New Testament authors love to quote, right? The apostles are constantly quoting this verse as proof, and Jesus quotes this as well, you know, as proof of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? Because it says the Lord, notice that the first Lord is in all capital letters there, right? This is the proper name of God. The fancy word for this is the tetragrammaton, which is just a fancy way of saying the four letter name of God. And so this is his proper name. It's used over 7,000 times in the Old Testament. And this is the proper name of the Lord. It says the Lord said unto my Lord. Now the second word here, Lord, is not capitalized like that because this is just the word Lord as in master or boss or something like that, like a Lord, okay? So this is David who's speaking here, and it says the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. So really what we end up having here is we have God the Father saying to Jesus, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And Jesus brings this up to the Jews and he says, you know, the Messiah, the Christ, whose son is he? And they say, well, he's the son of David. He said, okay, well, riddle me this. If Christ is the son of David, then why does David call him Lord? Why does David say the Lord said unto my Lord, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? If he's his son, then why does he call him his Lord? And they couldn't answer him. They had no answer to that. We as Christians, we can answer that easily. We can easily say, well, the reason that David is calling Jesus Lord, even though Jesus is the son of David, is because Jesus isn't just the son of David. He's also eternal. He's also God, right? He was God made flesh and dwelt among us. He's God in the flesh. And so that actually makes Jesus the Lord of David because Jesus is Lord of all, including David. And so that's why this gets quoted a lot in the New Testament to make that point. The apostles quote it. Jesus quoted it about himself. Jump down to verse four. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And again, the text does not give us an end of Melchizedek's reign. It doesn't give us an end of Melchizedek's priesthood. It just leaves it floating out there as a picture of the literal reign of Christ, which will never end. Christ's reign will never end and Christ's priesthood will never end. He is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And his authority comes from the power of an endless life. The resurrection of Christ is what makes him who he is. Now if you would flip back to Hebrews where we were. And we've just got a few more verses to finish up in Hebrews. But before we do, I want to just take you back to chapter five quickly and go back and talk about something that we just kind of breezed past. Okay. In Hebrews chapter five. It says in verse five of Hebrews chapter five, so also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. So we have God the Father saying to Jesus, right, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee, and this has to do with him being a high priest. Well, if you would, flip over to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter number 13. Acts chapter number 13 because, you know, what does that mean when the Father says to Jesus, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee? Because here's what we want to make sure we understand. Jesus did not come into existence at any point in history. Jesus is not a created being, and God the Father did not exist before Jesus. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are eternally co-existent. Okay. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Okay. Jesus says, glorify me with the glory, right, that we shared, and I'm quoting this wrong, but before the world began. That's the essence of what he says in John chapter 17. You know, we shared glory, the Father and Jesus, before the world began because Jesus is co-eternal with God the Father. What does this mean then, today I've begotten thee? What does that mean? Well, the Bible tells us in Acts chapter 13 in verse 33, it says, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, and that he hath raised up Jesus again, and that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. So what is the thou art my son, today have I begotten thee referring to? It's referring to the resurrection of Jesus. You want to know what day that is? Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? It's the resurrection of Jesus because Jesus called the first begotten of the dead. So this is not begetting as in him coming to existence for the first time like a father begets a child, sires a child. That is not what begotten means in this verse. It's talking about him being the first begotten from the dead. It says in Revelation, he's the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Why? Because he is resurrected from the dead. He's the first fruits of the resurrection, and the word begotten in that sense just means to bring into existence. And so he went from being dead to being alive, right? Jesus Christ died, and his body was buried in the tomb, his soul descended into hell for three days and three nights, and then he was resurrected, right? And the Bible says that God raised up Jesus. It says that 10 or 15 times that God raised up Jesus from the dead. It says God the father who raised up Jesus, who is the son, and he raised him up from the dead, and that could be described as being begotten, you know, by being resurrected. And it's kind of like when we get saved, right, when we believe on Jesus, our dead spirit that's dead in trespasses and sins is resurrected. And you know what that's called? That's called us being begotten of God. But Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection. He's the first begotten of the dead, and that's why God said, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. And if we would flip back to Hebrews chapter 7 and we'll finish up here, but Jesus Christ is the eternal son of God. He was begotten at the resurrection as the first begotten from the dead. It's a different kind of begetting than the type of begetting that fathers a child. It's bringing someone back from the dead kind of begetting. Same kind of begetting, why we're the children of God. You know, because we have been resurrected when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, our spirit has been resurrected. And so back in Hebrew 7, we'll wrap up here with Melchizedek. It says in verse number 21, this is the quote from Psalm 110, for those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath, by him that said unto him, the Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. Now, you want to know what a surety is? A surety is a guarantee. Okay, this is a word that maybe we don't necessarily use in our everyday life unless you're some kind of a money lending Jew or something. But basically, you know, a surety is like a guarantee. And when we read the book of Proverbs, there's all this talk about like, he that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. Or, you know, don't be surety for your friend, you know, make sure thy friend, make him responsible and don't just be co-signing for everybody and putting yourself on the hook for other people and just guaranteeing things that you don't really have control over. There's a lot of advice on that in the book of Proverbs with that word surety, like when somebody borrows money and then you guarantee that that person is going to pay the money back. You might do that for someone very close to you, like maybe you do that for like your parent or your child or your spouse or something. But, you know, if you're surety for a stranger, you're going to smart for it, the Bible says. It's a bad idea. And so Jesus was made a surety of a better testament, right? So Jesus is the guarantee of our salvation. You know, by the power of an endless life, he guarantees that there are just immutable things where it's impossible for God to lie. We have eternal life that God promised before the world began. It's an anchor of our soul. It's sure and steadfast. I mean, if anybody's going to co-sign on your loan, you want Jesus as the co-signer. You know what I mean? And the idea here is that Jesus is the surety of a better testament. He's the guarantor of the better testament. You know, so why do I know that I'm going to heaven? How do I know for sure that I'm going to heaven? How can I be so confident to say I know for a fact I'm going to heaven? It's because Jesus has guaranteed my salvation. And I know he's not going to renege, right? He's not going to default on the payment. He's already made the payment. It's already a done deal, signed, sealed, delivered, and it's guaranteed by Jesus. He is the surety of a better covenant. He's the surety of a better testament. That's how I know for sure. Catholics will call this the sin of presumption and say that it's presumptuous to claim that you know you're going to heaven. How dare you say you know you're going to heaven because that is prideful because you think you're so good or something. No, I don't think I'm good at all. There's none good but one and that's God. No, I'm going to heaven because Jesus is the surety of my salvation. The Holy Spirit is the earnest of my salvation and Jesus is the surety of a better testament. And they truly, verse 23, were many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. The Bible is saying it wasn't just one priest in the Levitical priesthood, right? The Levitical priesthood is Aaron and then it's his son and then it's his son's son and of course you have famous high priests that you read about in the Old Testament and guys like Zadok and Abimelech and things like that. You know, they're in that succession but they all end up getting replaced, don't they? Many priests because they were not allowed to continue by reason of death. Right? I mean they just, they live, they die, they serve. Here's the thing about Melchizedek though, you know, Melchizedek is just kind of a one-off guy. He's just a guy that just kind of, as far as the story goes, he's just there and he doesn't have a beginning, he doesn't have an end, he's just kind of there picturing Christ's never-ending priesthood. But this man, verse 24, it's talking about Jesus, this man because he continueth forever has an unchangeable priesthood. So look, don't worry, there's not going to be like a Third Testament. You got Old Testament, New Testament, this is not a trilogy. Okay, the Third Testament is not coming because the New Testament is forever, the New Testament is eternal, Christ's priesthood is eternal, you have the Levitical priesthood, now you have Christ's priesthood. Never will end, it will never replace, it will never be over. Verse 25, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost. Right, another way of saying this would be to save them to the extreme. Right, uttermost, outermost, another word for that in our modern monacular is extreme. Right, he's able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. So, you know, you don't have to worry about losing your salvation because Christ ever liveth to make intercession for you and he has saved you all the way, I don't want to say until the end because there is no end. Save you to the uttermost. Save, you know, whatever extreme that you can, extreme future that you can extrapolate, Jesus has saved you up to that infinite uttermost ending. That is not an ending at all because it's eternal. That's what it means when it says he saved them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Someone said, you know, he saved the guttermost to the uttermost because the idea is that, you know, the vilest offender who truly believes, as the song says, that moment from Jesus apart and receives. Right, so no matter what sins we've committed, no matter if we do literally end up in the gutter, and look, there might even be some people in this room who have been in the gutter, I don't know. You know, I mean, one time I laid in a gutter, but I wasn't drunk or anything. I was just having leg spasms from, you know, running when it was too hot outside and I collapsed and rolled around in the gutter. But I've puked in the gutter, but it was because I had the flu, amen. Okay, but you know what, I bet there could even be some people in this room that end up, you know, at some point in the past, maybe they were puking in a gutter somewhere or laying in a gutter somewhere or just at the end of their rope. Just living that life of sin, you know, maybe not, I don't know. But the point is, that person, God can forgive all that. If they come unto God by Jesus, he's able to save them to the uttermost. And he ever liveth to make a decision for them. And they can have all their sins forgiven, that's what the Bible says. For such an high priest became us, meaning he was suitable for us, who's holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, who needed not daily as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the people's, for this he did once when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity, but the word of the oath which was since the law maketh the Son, who is consecrated forevermore. Consecrated means that he's basically set apart as that priest forever. Done. No more Levites, no more Levitical priesthood, no more animal sacrifices, no more tabernacle, no more temple, no more Ark of the Covenant, no more of those earthly carnal ordinances, okay? It is the power of an endless life in the New Testament that guarantees our salvation. You know how I know that I have eternal life? It's because Jesus Christ has an endless life. Jesus Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection. And if we know that God raised up Jesus from the dead, we know that he'll also raise up us from the dead. That's what the Bible says. Jesus has an endless life. Well, those of us that are in Christ, those of us who believed on Christ, we also have eternal life guaranteed by Jesus. That's the power of the word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you for this fascinating story about Melchizedek. Lord, so many people have been intrigued by it. They've been interested in it. They've thought about it. They've wrestled with maybe literal versus figurative interpretations. But Lord God, help us all to realize the most important thing of all, that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and that he ever liveth to make intercession for us, and that he is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Lord God, please bless us as we go our separate ways. Bless the time that we spent today with family and friends, and also preaching your word, preaching to the lost, and preaching to the saved. Lord, thank you for everything that you do for us. Thank you for blessing our church, and please just help us all to have a blessed day, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. All right, everybody, take your hymnals, please, and turn to hymn number 33. Christ the Lord is risen today. Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia. Sing ye hands and earth reply, Alleluia. Christ again our glorious King, Alleluia. Where, O death, is now thy sea, Alleluia. Dying once, ye all the same, Alleluia. Where thy victory, O grave, Alleluia. The sweetening work is done, Alleluia. Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia. Death in vain, forbidden rise, Alleluia. Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia. Soaring now where Christ has led, Alleluia. Falling our exalted head, Alleluia. Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia. Powers across the grave, the skies, Alleluia. Alleluia, Alleluia. Alleluia, Alleluia.