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

All right. Well, it's great to be back. I know I was gone last weekend, and I missed you guys, and glad to be back in Hebrews. And, you know, it's funny, like, I've wanted to do Hebrews for a long time, but then now that I'm in it, I'm like, maybe I should have waited a little bit longer. And the only reason I say that is because it isn't the easiest book to preach from. It's easy to go to the doctrines that are in the book of Hebrews and teach on those separately, but it is a little more of a difficult book. So now, of course, I'm the pastor, and so it's my job to figure out what these things mean and have it all together when I come to preach to you. But I've preached about this topic before, and we've kind of built up to this. He's mentioned Melchizedek before, and he was talking about how you need to be spiritually mature before you can learn these more difficult things. So this is more, I would say, if he's moving on to perfection, Paul said, you know, you're dull of hearing, you know, you need to learn the milk first and then get the meat, but then he just goes ahead and gives them the meat anyway, doesn't he? So that's what this chapter is about. It's about the priestly order of Melchizedek. And before we get started into the chapter, we need to go back to chapter 6, verse 17, and kind of get a little more of the context, and really the context spills over a little bit into the next chapter, but he's been talking about Melchizedek. The reason why this book might be a little bit more difficult is because, and I believe the apostle Paul wrote the book of Hebrews, but he kind of, it's a continuous thought that he'll bring things from other chapters into other chapters, and that's what makes it a little more complex. And remember, I've said this before, the chapter divisions and stuff like that was not in, you know, the original. So if it says chapter 8 or chapter 7, that was added later on. It's just to help us navigate through the book and to maybe memorize scripture, but some of the thoughts of chapter 6 bleed into chapter 7 and chapter 8. But let's look at verse 17. The Bible says, So, what is it talking about? It's talking about the oath that was confirmed to Abraham. God swore by himself because he could swear on no greater thing because there's nothing greater than God, and he promised Abraham, and it's impossible for God to lie. That word immutable means unchanging. So when God makes a promise and God says he's going to do something or God says something's going to come to pass, it always happens without fail. So it's impossible for God to lie. So if God says I will save you to the uttermost, what does that mean? That means you're saved forever. If he says it's eternal life, that means it's eternal life, and if it's not eternal life, then God lied. But guess what? God can't lie. And so he's talking about the oath that he swore to Abraham, and was the oath that by his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed, right? And so that's kind of what he's talking about here, but it says in verse 19, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast. So that hope of salvation that we have is like an anchor to our soul because God said it's going to happen. It's sure, that means it's not going to move. It's steadfast, that means it's unmovable, and which entereth in that within the veil. So now he's starting to talk about these things about the priesthood. So that veil that it's talking about is the inner sanctuary of the temple, and people are not allowed to go past that veil. Whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made in high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. So this Melchizedek is a character from the Old Testament, and when Abraham went to, he went to go get Lot back, and we'll get into that here in a little bit. But this character called Melchizedek just kind of shows up on the scene and blesses him. Abraham pays ties to him, and it's kind of a strange little part of the story. There's not a lot of context given to us where he comes from, where he ends, how is he a priest, like he just kind of appears out of nowhere, and we don't know a lot of details about him. But that's the thing, that's where it leads to this, where we, it kind of, that story helps us to understand how Jesus is a high priest, also after the order of Melchizedek. So just look at that word right there, because I'm going to ask you to look at things and interpret them for what they say tonight, because that's how we can kind of get our clues about, you know, is Jesus Melchizedek, or is he, you know, is Melchizedek just a person that was a priest that we just don't know anything about, or was he actually the Lord? And there's debate about this, and that's why this is a tougher chapter, but I would just say, like, you know, obviously what the Bible says is what it says, and the words that it uses are the words that it uses, and we have to take the, we can't just make the Bible say what we want it to say. And there's been things, and I've talked about this before, especially in this series, that there's things that I've thought out that I thought I knew really well, but then when I really take a look at it, then I've changed about those things. And obviously we shouldn't be just given to change, a pastor shouldn't be given to change, but you know, when the Bible helps us to change our mind about stuff, then we should change without being stubborn about it. It's like people that believe in the pre-trib rapture, they just want to just hang on to this hope that everything's gonna, they're gonna be whisked away on a fluffy pillow before all the bad stuff happens or whatever. It's just like, but that's not what the Bible teaches. Like there's literally zero verses that teach the pre-trib rapture. Zero. But yet you'll explain these things to people, and then they just dig in, they harden their neck, they just harden their heart and don't want to just admit what the Bible says. So I would just say that while we're going through this chapter tonight, to look at what the Bible actually says and then make your own determination about who Melchizedek is, how it relates. So that's the few things that I do want to say. So number one, this is a teaching that Paul has given concerning the eternal priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the subject is. That's what the doctrine is that we're about to learn. Some people believe that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'll say that I in the past have taught that. So I guess that's kind of a little clue that I might have changed my mind about that, but there's good men, men that I love that do believe that, but you know, I'll just, again, I don't want to skew it too much to make you think how I think about it, but let the Bible teach you what is true and what's not true. And I don't want to put anybody down that does believe that. If you walk out tonight and you're still believing that, or you do believe that, or maybe you've changed your mind to that, maybe you thought something the opposite, but only one thing could actually be right. So that's the thing about the Bible. Doctrine does matter. What we believe does matter. That's why the words are written in the book, so it can teach us what we're supposed to believe. We're not supposed to teach the Bible what we believe. We're not supposed to teach people what we believe and read things into the Bible. Because one of the things that the pre-Trib people like to do is they like to change that in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 2, they like to change that verse where it says that the day of Christ has happened. Every modern version says the day of the Lord. They change what the Bible says. The Greek that they translate from says the day of the Lord. Why is that so important? Well, it's important because the Texas Receptus, the King James, says day of Christ. The Greek word is the Greek word for Christ translated multiple times in the New Testament. And then people that are King James believers will take that and say day of the Lord when it's actually the day of Christ because they are two different things. I'm going to preach a sermon about it here soon. I've been really kind of studying into it and geeking out on it. Once I do that, then I've got to get it off my chest. I'll talk about that later. See, it's already bleeding into the sermon and I've got to stay focused here. The other thing is that people believe that Melchizedek was an actual priest of the Lord before the law and that the details of him are kept from us because he's a picture to understand the eternal high priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, now I'll just say this also. Do we know who Lemuel was? King Lemuel, he wrote a proverb, right? It was a Proverbs 31. And so, who was he? You guys know who he was? I mean, do we know his lineage or anything about him? No, we just know that he wrote one of the proverbs and that's it. So, just because we don't know who Melchizedek is or anything about him doesn't mean that he wasn't a priest just like the Bible says he is and that we just don't know a lot about him because God wants us, he wants to teach us something through his appearing in Genesis chapter 14. So, like I said, there's two key ways, there's two ways to believe here and I, although I think doctrine is important, I don't think that if you believe either one of these that you're some kind of a raving heretic or something. So, you know, obviously one day we'll be able to go, well, you were wrong about that one brother, you know. I knew I was right, you know, but I'm sure that we're all going to eat crow on some doctrine that we believe in heaven. It's like, you know, Jesus would be like, what did you believe about that? What did you believe? And then he was like, you were right. And they're like, oh man, you know. So, although, and I don't want to downplay the importance of doctrine at all, but again, I don't think which one you believe here is going to determine your salvation or something like that. So, so just, you know, we shouldn't fight about things that are not super clear. So anyway, the truth that you should get out of this is that Jesus Christ is the high priest forever, okay. That, if you, if you come out believing that, that's the truth, that he is our high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and the Levitical priesthood has been changed, and it's never coming back folks. Ruckman is wrong about that. Anybody that says that we're saved in a different way, in a different dispensation, that's heresy. Once Christ came, it was one, one sacrifice for all time, and that one sacrifice was enough to save everybody for eternity, right. And if you believe that, then you're good. But if you believe that somehow we're going to come back to some kind of works mixed with faith or something, that's never been how people are saved. So, and it never will be how people are saved. So, you'll see kind of what I'm saying about all this. So, I'm not going to steal man the other interpretation that I might not necessarily agree with because I don't really feel that it's really strongly necessary that you believe exactly like I do on this, but I'm just going to kind of lay out why I believe what I believe. So, and we'll just go through the verses together. Look at verse one, in Hebrews seven it says, for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God. So, what is he? The king of Salem. So, he's a king, isn't he? He's the priest of the most high God. So, he's a priest who met Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. So, one thing we got to see right there that should really jump out at us right there is that he's a king and a priest. And the Bible says that we are kings and priests unto our Lord, right? So, now turn to Genesis chapter 14. I'll give you the context of kind of what Paul's talking about here in Hebrews chapter seven. The story. As Paul's obviously drawing upon this doctrine from way back in Genesis chapter 14. It says in verse 14, and when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his 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 Chedelomer and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Sheva, which is the king's dale. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. So, here Melchizedek just kind of comes out of nowhere and it says he's the king of Salem. So, and have you ever heard people say like Shabbat Shalom or whatever? Jews say shalom. Shalom means peace. And so, Salem means peace. But it'll explain that to us here in just a minute. But Melchizedek is king of Salem. He brought what? Bread and wine. What would that represent? Well, the Lord's Supper, right? And he was the priest of the Most High God. So, even here in the where Paul's referencing from, it just flat out says he's the priest of the Most High God. He's the king of Salem. 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 thine hand. And he gave him tithes of all. So, Abraham gave him tithes of all the spoil and he gave it to this guy. And so, this is really all the context we have going into chapter six, chapter seven, chapter eight, and other chapters where it mentions Melchizedek. But we don't know anything about him, do we? We don't know his genealogy. We don't know who his parents were. What was the big deal about the Levites, though? Even when they went into captivity, when they came back, if they couldn't prove their genealogy, who their parents were, they could not serve in the priesthood. They were removed from the priesthood. So, genealogy meant something in the Levitical priesthood, but this is before the Levitical priesthood. This is before those rules. And I would just say this, that is it really impossible that God would already have people that served him that weren't Abraham? I mean, do you think Abraham was the only saved person in the world at that time or something? I mean, I don't believe that. Just obviously the focus is on Abraham. And there probably wasn't a lot of Gentiles that was saved, but it doesn't even say whether he was a Gentile or not. It just says he's Melchizedek. He's the king of Salem. He brought forth some bread and wine. He blessed Abraham. And he gave him tithes of all. So, you know, and I just want to point this out. Obviously I'm not going to preach about tithing, but it brings up tithes a lot in these verses here tonight. But I'll just say this, that people say that their tithing is no longer something because the Levitical priesthood is gone. Well, how do you explain that people tithed before the Levitical priesthood was even put into place? So, Abraham knew to give tithes. Jacob knew to give tithes. Isaac knew to give tithes. So, people did tithe in the Old Testament before the law was ever put into place. So, for you to say, well, we're not supposed to tithe. Well, why did they tithe then? How about that? How do you explain that one? Go back to our text in Hebrews chapter 7. Look at verse 2. I realize I'm like 15 minutes into the sermon and we're on verse 2, but we'll get rolling here. So, verse 2 says, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, so a tenth part of all the spoils, being by, excuse me, first being by interpretation king of righteousness. So, the name Melchizedek means what? King of righteousness. And it says, and after that, also king of Salem, which is king of peace. So, Paul's breaking this down for us to help us understand that these symbolically mean something to us, and they should mean something to us, because obviously Jesus Christ is the king of righteousness. Jesus Christ is called the prince of peace, and prince is another word for king, okay? And so, prince can mean king, it just means a ruler. So, this man, Melchizedek, his name literally means king of righteousness, and then the Bible said he was the king of Salem. So, and let's move on to verse number 3. It says, without father, without mother, without descent, so none of these details are given to us, that's what he's trying to say here, right? Having neither beginning of days, nor end of life. So, it doesn't say when he was born, doesn't give his genealogy, who his parents are, his lineage, nothing about him, and his name means king of righteousness, and he was the king of peace, king of Salem. So, none of those things we know about Melchizedek. Having neither beginning of days, nor end of life. Who also has no beginning of days, or end of life? God, right? God has no beginning, God has no end, he is without beginning, God has always been, and he always will be. But made, so notice it says, but made like unto. You see that word, like unto? Does that mean that made, made, I mean, it means like something, right? Like unto the son of God, abideth a priest continually. So, basically what Paul's trying to help people, help us understand, help the people that he was writing to understand is that, you know, there's a lot of likenesses between Jesus Christ and this king, and their names mean, they share titles, they share some different aspects here, but like God, he doesn't have a beginning of days or end of life, but the main thing that I think it's trying to say here is that it withheld these facts from us so that we could understand how the, how this Melchizedek priesthood works. So, it says, but made like unto the son of God abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was. So, now Paul's saying how, this guy was a great man, but yet we know nothing about him, right? Unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of all the spoils. So, Abraham, was Abraham a great man of God? Yes, he was, but it says, consider how great this man was, and Abraham gave this guy, this Melchizedek, the tenth of the spoils, and verily, it means truly, they that are the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people, according to the law, that is of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. So, even the Levites, so they're the ones that were given the priesthood, and Abraham paid tithes for them because they were yet in the loins of Abraham. So, that's kind of some interesting verbiage there, but it says in verse six, but he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. So, his descent is not counted among the Levites, but he received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. So, it's just basically saying that he was a great man, but again, we don't know much about this great man, but just because we don't know much about him doesn't mean he wasn't a great man, right? And we know Abraham was great, so how great must this man have been? And I would say that that probably, I think a lot of people probably believe that he is a pre-incarnate Christ because of those things, some of these details, the way it describes him, how there's a lot of parallels between him. But look at verse seven, it says, and without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. So, Melchizedek blessed Abraham, so what's it saying that he was better? So, I could see where people would say, well, that sounds like Christ. You know, Christ is obviously better than Abraham. Abraham desired to see the days of Jesus Christ and saw them and was glad, right? But look at verse eight, it says, and 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, and Abraham, for he was yet in his loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. So, still in his loins, but yet, I mean, Paul's just explaining that even though Levi was in this priesthood, Melchizedek was a priest also, and they're paying tithes kind of backwards through Abraham because Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. So, they're paying tithes to this Melchizedek priest, and his name is Melchizedek, but there's also the order of the priesthood of Melchizedek, and that's what Christ is known as. He's in the order of the priesthood of Melchizedek. Look at verse 11. So, it goes on to compare Jesus more with Melchizedek. Look what it says in verse 11. If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise, look what it says, after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron. So, it says after the order. So, if it is Christ, then why would it say after the order of Melchizedek? That's just, I mean, when I read it, that's kind of how I read it, but you might read it differently, but it says, why would there need to be another priest after the order of Melchizedek? Look at verse 12. For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change of the law. So, the priests were made, you know, Aaron was the first high priest of the Hebrews, right? And his sons and Moses' son, they were, they made up this priesthood of the Levites, and so they, that was the law that the priests were of that certain tribe. But when Christ came, and he became the high priest for us, he actually came and sacrificed himself and then put his own blood on the altar, which it's going to explain to us here in just a minute, but the priesthood needed to be changed at that point. So people say, well, the law is still in effect, and you know, it is, but the Levitical priesthood's been changed. Now, is everything scrapped out of Levitical priesthood? I don't think everything is scrapped, but surely the priesthood does not go through Aaron and his sons anymore, the sons of Levi. The priesthood, it says it right here, the priesthood being changed, there's made a necessity a change also of the law. So, did the law change? Yes, it did, because it needed to because there's a new priesthood. And it's going to explain to us why there was a new priesthood. So look what it says in verse 13. For he of whom these things are spoken pertain to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar, for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah. So Jesus Christ, he was of the tribe of Judah, and Moses never said anything about it. Look what it says, the rest of the verse says, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. Moses commanded that the Levites were supposed to be the priest, and it says nothing about Judah. But it says, and is yet more far more evident, for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest. So this is, I think, a very key verse in whether you believe that Melchizedek was Christ, or whether you believe that he's a picture of Christ. Well, let's read this verse again more carefully. It says, and it is yet far more evident, for that after the similitude. Now, I don't know if everybody uses the word similitude in their daily vocabulary very often, but I looked it up for you so you didn't have to challenge yourself here. Similitude means the quality or state of being similar to something. And it also means a comparison between two things. A person or thing resembling someone or something else. So, now that you know the definition, it says that it is far more evident for that after the similitude of Melchizedek. So does that mean he is Melchizedek, or is the similitude of Melchizedek? It means that he's somewhat similar but not the same, a comparison between two things or a person or thing resembling someone. So what is the whole picture here? Melchizedek, we don't know anything about him. He appeared, he blessed Abraham, he was a priest of the Most High God, he was the king of righteousness, he was the king of Salem, and he pictures the Melchizedek priesthood that Christ is entering into. And it's after the similitude of Melchizedek. So that means it's similar but not the same, right? That's similitude. There ariseth another priest. So look at that word, just look at those two words right there. There ariseth another priest. So is it the same priest or is it another priest? Kind of looks like another one, doesn't it? That's what it says, right? Another priest. All right, I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just, I told you I was going to show you what the Bible actually says, and that's what it says, right? Similitude, another priest. That means that it's not the same priest. Everybody get that? It's not too hard, right? We all speak English here. All right, so similar doesn't mean the same, does it? If it said the same, say they're the same person. That's the same priest, but it says it's another, doesn't it? So we also, like, have you ever seen those Trinity posters where people say, is not, is not, is not? Jesus is the son of God, but he's not the father, is he? Is he the father? He looks like him, though. He talks like him. He said, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. So he looks, he looks just like him. He's just like him, but he's not the father, he's the son. He's still God, but I'm just trying to help you to understand, like, how you would compare something similar. Jesus is similar to the father. Obviously they're one God, I believe that, but Jesus is not the father, the father's not the spirit, the spirit's not the son, so on and so forth. Now let's look back at verse 16. So it says, who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. So what's the difference between this priesthood? Is that the other priests died, right? They were mortal, they were sinful, and Jesus Christ was not. Jesus Christ cannot die. He died once, but he can never die again because he's immortal now. He has an endless life. Now look at verse 17, for he testifieth thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So what does forever mean? It means eternity, right? Verse 18, for there is verily a disannoying of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. So the priesthood before was weak in the fact of what? That they were sinful. The priests were sinful. It was weak, it was unprofitable because they could not save people from their sins, but Jesus can. So there had to be a change in the priesthood from the Levitical to the Melchizedek priesthood and that word disannoying means cancel or make void. So there is verily a disannoying of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. So disannoying is again not a word that we use a lot, but I'm sure you've heard of the word annul, but disannoying means to cancel or make something void. Verse 19, for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. So basically now it's starting to make comparisons between the Old Testament and the New Testament. And the law, it says, made nothing perfect, but the bringing of a better hope did. Jesus Christ is the better hope, and the New Testament is the better hope. That's why the Old Testament is done away with, and then we live under the New Testament. But it doesn't mean we just like get rid of all of God's laws and we don't try to keep God's laws and make God happy in that way, but we're not bound by the restraints of the law. We're not saved by the law. We're saved by the gospel, which is of faith. It says, by the which we draw nigh unto God. So how do we draw nigh unto God? The better hope. How do we draw nigh unto God? How do we pray unto God? How do we go to the very throne room of God by the name of Jesus? And that's how we get close to him. See, the priests in the Old Testament, they drew nigh unto God for the people by going in once a year on the Day of Atonement. They'd put blood on their right ear, on the right thumb, on the right big toe, the ugliest parts of your body, and then they'd walk in with that blood on them. What did that blood represent? It represented Christ being the high priest. He didn't approach without having that blood upon him, and he was supposed to wash himself, wash his clothes, be clean, be set apart, be sanctified. All those were pictures of the high priest that we were going to get later on. Turn to Psalm chapter 19, verse 7. I know we've been kind of in the text a lot. I haven't had you move around a lot. I'm going to have you flip to a few different verses here. But Psalm 19, 7. So in Hebrews 7, 19, it says, for the law made nothing perfect. And you're like, well, you know, but I thought the law of the Lord is perfect. It is. It says it right here in Psalm 19, verse 7. It says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. How does the law convert? Well, it helps us see the sinful state that we're in and that we're not perfect and that we need a Savior. And the laws of God are right. Everything in it is right. But what about Hebrews 7, 19? It says the law made nothing perfect. I know it says that, but in Psalm 19, it says the law of the Lord is perfect. It doesn't make people perfect, though, does it? What makes people perfect? The gospel makes people perfect. So the New Testament is better than the law. Now turn to Galatians chapter 3, verse 18. So even though the law itself is perfect, it makes nothing perfect. It shows us our sinfulness because if we don't realize we're sinners, then what are we being saved from? We are being saved from hell, which is where we're going to go if we don't believe on Christ. But the law was put into place for a certain time period because basically man just keeps corrupting themselves. And we even corrupt ourselves in the time of the New Testament. I mean, nations have corrupted themselves, churches have corrupted themselves. I mean, it's just kind of like this cycle of never-ending, you know, making mistakes and having to get things right. But the New Testament is different and it is better. We don't have to scrounge up some animal that's perfect without blemish and drag it to some temple however many miles away you live from it once a year and then keep all these feasts. And, you know, they didn't do that to be saved, but they did that because that's what God commanded them to do until the perfect sacrifice came. Right? So look at Galatians 3, 18. It says, For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. So when God gave the promise to Abraham, that was before the law, wasn't it? And so the inheritance, the inheritance can't be of the law because the inheritance was an inheritance of faith by promise. Verse 19, Wherefore then serviced the law? What's the purpose of the law? Why do we have it then? It was added because of transgressions, because people will just continuously break God's laws and He's like, hey, I need to put some laws in place so people can act right, be right, know how to live right until, you know, the New Testament comes along, basically. So it was added because of transgressions. It's kind of like this church. You know, I didn't have a bunch of rules and stuff until people started breaking the rules. And then when people started breaking rules that were unsaid, the laws of transgression in the church had to be put into place. That's why I have to repeat them like every single service because, you know, we just are forgetful, right? So, you know, the law was brought in because of transgressions. You guys can understand that, right? But it says, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. So this was just a temporary thing and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. And Moses didn't take us into the promised land, did he? It was Jesus Christ, a prophet like Moses, that actually brought us in. And Joshua and Jesus mean the same thing. So Joshua is the picture of everybody following him and going into the promised land. Moses didn't make it in. So you have the Old Testament and New Testament pictured there. But look what it says in verse 20. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. If God could have saved everybody by saying, hey, you all keep this law, then he would have done it. But it wasn't possible because if there was some law that we had to do to be saved, we'd probably all break it. Just like we break all the other laws, right? And the devil would tempt us to not keep those laws or whatever. It just isn't possible. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. So everybody under sin has to understand that Jesus Christ is the promise of what was told to Abraham all those years ago. The blessing that he was blessed with by God. The oath that God swore to Abraham that he would make out of him all nations of the earth to be blessed through his seed which was Christ, right? So it says in verse 23, but before faith came we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. So look, I mean every week this kind of just gets hit on the head every once in a while. I mean every week these kind of verses pop up in our studies and in my preaching. What's justified by faith mean? Well if you take the word justified and apply it this way, just as if I'd never sinned, that's what it means. It's like you never sinned. How do you get yourself to be like you never sinned? You're justified by the faith of Christ. That's real easy to do but it seems really hard to convince people of that, doesn't it? Because people just want to do it their own way. People, it's almost like people want to work the hardest way they can to get to heaven and then when they realize they can't do it anymore then they just give up. I mean there's a lady last week who just said I'm going to hell. I'm going to hell. And she was just like, you know, just all matter of factly about it. But it's like she thought she was going to hell because she liked to go out and dance every once in a while and have a couple drinks. That's not why people are going to hell. People are going to hell because they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why they're going to hell. And once you convince someone that, hey, it's not keeping the law, it's not keeping the commandments, it's not doing good works that gets you saved, the law is our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after the faith has come we're no longer under the schoolmaster. We're no longer under the law. That's like the picture in Exodus. Once the Passover happens, then he says, you know, put on all your stuff, make sure your belt's on, your loins are girt about you, you got your staff in your hand, you're ready to go. Because once the Passover happens, once Christ is your Passover, then you're free from that slavery instantaneously and you need to walk out and start a new life. Out of servitude, out of slavery, the slavery is being bound underneath the law and under the sin that so easily besets us, right? So it says, but after the faith has come we're no longer under the schoolmaster, for ye are all the children of God by repenting of your sins. Is that what it says? You're all children of God by making Jesus the Lord of your life. Is that what it says? You're all children of faith by walking after Jesus and doing good works. Is that what it says? No, you're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Like, how do people resist that? You have to just want to not believe or something because the Bible is so clear that we're saved by faith, we're saved by grace, we're saved by not good works, but by the faith in Christ Jesus. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 5. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse number 5. And look, we don't need mother Mary to pray to to make Jesus not mad anymore at us so that we can get to heaven. That's the Catholic church teaches that and it's actually pagan idolatry. Mary is called the queen of heaven. She's not the queen of heaven. That's a term given to a false goddess in the Old Testament. But, you know, it's just all the paganism combined with Christianity to be like a quasi-Christianity. But, you know, I'm pretty sure the Bible says you're not supposed to have any graven images but go into any Catholic church and that's all you're going to see. You're going to see the icons in some of these Catholic light churches. What is it called? The Orthodox churches. You have to kiss the icons before you walk in. Pictures of people you don't even know what they really look like with halos on their head or something. And you know why they have to do that? Because they want you to, because they know that if you will kiss those icons then you are an idolatry just like they are. But if you refuse to kiss them then they think that you're infiltrating to try to get them to believe by faith alone. I'm serious that's why the icons were put in. Because they would suss people out through the icons. It's like the Sibboleth-Shibboleth thing. Like kiss the icon. No! No! Kill that traitor or whatever, you know. That's really how they suss people out with that stuff. But Mother Mary is just the mother of Jesus. She's not the queen of heaven, okay? And she's definitely not somebody we should worship. First Timothy chapter 2 verse 5 says, Why is it important that it says the man? Well, was the Levitical priesthood men? Was Melchizedek a man? Was Jesus a man? Yes he was. And so he had to become a man so that he could be put into our place and killed for the sins that we did. Right? But because he passed all the tests, he took all the punishment and the abuse, and he took upon himself, you know, the sins of the whole world, and then he rose from the dead. He passed all the tests that it took to win our salvation, but also to make him a name higher than every name, higher than the heavens, the greatest man to ever walk the face of the earth, and the greatest man that ever will walk the face of the earth. Better than all men combined. I mean, he did something that it was not possible for anybody to do. That's why he's the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Nobody else was good enough to be that mediator. Who gave himself a ransom for all. All means all, doesn't it? To be testified in due time. So checkmate, Calvinists. To all. He died for all, not just the elect, for all. Verse 20, back in our text, Hebrews chapter 7 verse 20. I'm making good time here. I feel like it's not fast enough, pastor. Now I'm going to go slower. Anyway, verse 20. It says, And as 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. So it's backing this up again. He's a priest forever, and it was not with an oath. The priests were made without oaths before they were given the priesthood because of who they were, right? What family they were born into. Verse 22. By so much was Jesus made a surety of, what's it say there? A better testament. So new can be better, can't it? A lot of people say, well, you call yourselves the new IFB. Like, what's up with that? We're the old past. Well, yeah, so are we. But we're trying to break away from where the old past broke down somewhere and go, we're really actually trying to go back to the real old past. We want to differentiate between people that are still pre-trib and believe a bunch of garbage, gobbledygook, like going to an altar that's not found in the New Testament. Come on down to the old-fashioned altar. If you don't come down to the altar and pray, you can't get saved. That's a bunch of garbage. Where's that in the Bible at all? Even in the Old Testament. Was there a place at the altar they were supposed to go to get saved? I mean, I've yet to find that verse. I've read the Bible many times. But that's just some man-made doctrine, just like the pre-trib rapture is a man-made doctrine. And you know why they don't want the word, the words day of Christ in 2 Thessalonians 2? You know why they don't want it there? Because then that proves the verses after that say, let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except for the man of sin be revealed first. What does first mean? That it has to happen before he comes, right? It's talking about the rapture. But see, they wanted to say the day of the Lord so bad and even King James only people will say, well, it should be day of the Lord. And they'll put it in their commentaries because they just want it to be so true that they're willing to change the King James Bible into something that does not say. You've got to differentiate between the day of Christ and the day of the Lord. You're like, well, I thought they were the same day. Different things, though. When the day of Christ, when he comes, it's always positive, isn't it? When it talks about the day of Christ, just read up on it. It's always a positive thing. When it's the day of the Lord, it's always judgment. It's always darkness. It's always gloominess. But they want to change the King James Bible to say something that doesn't say so they can cram their pre-trib doctrine into something that's not there. That, I mean, look, if you're doing that on purpose, I'm sorry, I got to just get this off my chest a little bit. If you're doing that on purpose, then you're just, you're either just really stupid, okay, you're really stupid, or you're doing it on purpose, which is even more evil than being stupid, okay? The Bible says to be wise. The simple believe everything, right? We're supposed to be wise. Why would they try to change that verse? That's the only time they try to do it, and they they'll go with the the Alexandrian text when it comes to that verse. Why? Because they don't want the Antichrist to have to come first. They don't want to have to be a falling away first. They have to, they have to cram in their pre-trib doctrine by saying it's the day of the Lord. Because then, you know, it changes everything, doesn't it? Because if it did say the day of the Lord, then it would be something different. It'd be the second advent, or whenever he comes back with all the saints to destroy the Antichrist. But anyway, where was I at? How did I get here? Well, let me back up here. Where was I at? Let's see. Yeah, verse 22. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. So what's a surety? Well, a surety means it's a guarantee. It's like when you sign, you know, when someone doesn't have good enough credit, and you're like, well, I'll co-sign for you. That's kind of what it is. So a surety is saying that you are guaranteeing this is going to happen. It's a better testament. And the New Testament is better. The new IFB is better. The New Testament is better. Jesus is better. Jesus is better than Moses. The New Testament is better than the Old Testament. But yeah, people still want to live in the Old Testament. And you're like, well, that's you, Pastor Thompson. You're talking about Leviticus 2013. Shut up, man. They actually want to go back and blow the trumpets, and keep the feast, and blow, you know, these ram horns in the middle of people's services and stuff. And they want, I mean, that's what they want to do. They want to get Jew-bagged. They want to go back and lick the Jews' boots and do all their feasts and stuff, but we don't have to do that anymore. It's a better testament. I'm glad we don't have to do that kind of stuff. I'm glad that we can just say, I believe in Jesus, and that's good enough. We don't even have to be circumcised anymore. Amen. I'm not saying that that was bad. I'm just saying it was painful. But anyway, look at verse 23. It says, and they truly were made, were many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. So there were many priests. There was a whole bunch of priests, a whole bunch of high priests, and they couldn't continue because they died. But this man, because he continued with forever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. So now that Jesus is the high priest, it's unchangeable. It's never going to change now. It was changed from the Levitical priesthood to the Melchizedek priesthood, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. See, he is the mediator. We do have to go to God through him, through Jesus Christ, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Look, when we ask someone to call upon the name of the Lord, and let me just say this, don't ask them to pray, Dear Heavenly Father. I hear this, and I see this, and I just want to say this, what's the name that we're supposed to be saved by? So when you pray, have them pray in the name of Jesus. When you say, you know, instead of saying Dear Heavenly Father, I'm not saying that God doesn't deserve glory, I'm not saying that, but he said that you're saved by the name of Jesus. It's very clear in the New Testament. So pray and say, Dear Jesus, I know I've sinned. Not Dear Heavenly Father, because we're calling upon the name of the Jesus to be saved, right? So, and it says where he's able to save to the uttermost that come unto God by him. So you see how you have to come through Jesus? You don't get to just go to the Father on your own. You go through Jesus, and seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. And, you know, he paid for all of our sins, and so it makes sense that he would be a priest forever because he's paid for everybody's sins forever. And he ever liveth to make intercession for us. For such a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. I mean, he's a high priest that we can't even fathom how great he is. Look at what it says. Let's look at that verse again. It says, For such a high priest became us. Who did he become? Became human, didn't he? Who is holy. See, we're not holy. He's harmless. We're not harmless. He was undefiled. We're not undefiled. He was separate from sinners. We're not. And made higher than the heavens. We're definitely not that. Who needeth not daily. He doesn't need anything like the priests in the Old Testament as those high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins. See, they had to offer for their own sins first and those high priests to offer up sacrifice, excuse me, then for the peoples. So they had to first give for their sins and then for the peoples. For this he did once when he offered up himself. So his sacrifice was good enough. He offered himself, but he didn't even have any sins that he needed to offer up for. He just offered himself for the sins of everybody. 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. So consecrated is also another word of saying like he's set apart, he's different, and he's evermore. So that oath which was since the law maketh the son who is consecrated forevermore. So that oath that God made to Abraham was the oath that that seed, the son of God, was going to rise up and be our high priest. So through Jesus we have access to God like the priest of Levi, but in a better and more complete way. So it's like that priesthood, but way better because Jesus can't die again. He can't sin. He's always there. He lives forever, and that's why he's a better priest. It's a better testament. It's better all the way around to be in the new testament. So we no longer have to go through an earthly priest to offer sacrifices, you know cleansing offerings, keeping laws. We don't have to do any of that stuff anymore. We can inquire directly to the throne room of God the father and inquire through our eternal high priest forevermore, and it wasn't like that in the old testament. People went to prophets. People went to priests to ask them questions, to help them interpret things. We live in such a way better situation. Do you think everybody had a book like this in the days of the old testament? They didn't. We have like probably, I mean, how many King James Bibles here? We are so blessed, yet people just act like it's not that big of a deal, but it is a big deal to have the word of God complete in our hands. We just have so many more advantages than the people in the old testament, so much more understanding. Instead of having to go to kings, you know, having to go to priests, we are the priests. We're the little priests, and we have the high priest that we can go to God the father himself through Jesus Christ and ask him for our needs. Go to him with our concerns, asking him for forgiveness. We don't have to bring some beast of burden in or some pure white sheep or lamb and have them drained of all their blood and roasted in fire in front of us. I mean, just things are so much easier. I mean, just think about how bad that stunk. I mean, animals stink, especially if you don't clean up after them, but imagine just being just, I mean, obviously the meat when it was being cooked was probably good, but when you're roasting the head and the pertinence thereof, probably gets a little gross, doesn't it? And just, I mean, just being around animals, period, is gross. We don't have to do that. We get, you know, we get Costco meat. We're good, right? We don't have to deal with all that stuff, but that's why it's such a better testament. It's a better time to live in. It's better to be looking back on the cross than it is to be looking forward, in my opinion, because we have a lot more blessings. We have the whole Bible preserved for us in a language that we can understand. We can go to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. We're saved by faith alone. Obviously, they were saved by faith alone back then. We just have more understanding. We have the book of Revelation. We know what the future holds. We know what's going to happen later. I mean, maybe not everything to the perfect T, but we got a good idea about it, and guess what? It's not a pre-tribulation rapture. We're going to have to go through some hard times, but, you know, when we know we're going to have to go through some hard times, it's a little better to be prepared for what's going to come than to just lie to people constantly with your weird and strange doctrines that we don't have to go through persecution. You know, it's not that we don't have to go through the wrath of God. That's why they say the day of the Lord. That's why they say it's the day of the Lord because, you know, then they can say, well, we're not, you know, we don't have to go through the wrath. It's like, yeah, we know that, so quit trying to change the Bible into something it doesn't say. It's wicked, in my opinion. It really makes me lose respect for people when I find out that they're going with that kind of an interpretation of that verse. Anyway, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for Hebrews chapter 7. Lord, we thank you so much for being our high priest. We can go to you with anything, and the Lord, do you ever liveth to intercede for us. I pray, Lord, that we would, that we, with that access, that we'd actually use that access. A lot of people don't realize how great we have it as New Testament Christians. Lord, I pray that we would be thankful for the things that we have, Lord, and for the spiritual truths that we can glean, where other generations didn't have what we have, and we have it so good, and we're just spoiled, and we don't utilize it. We don't tap into what you have for us. Lord, it's sad. I just pray that you'd help us to think about these things, and Lord, that we would hold all your doctrine in high regard, Lord, that we would actually study the Scriptures and prove what they say, Lord, instead of just reading into it what we want and going with what some other man said versus what the Bible actually says. Lord, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.