This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I want to welcome you to Hebrews chapter 7. This is
day one of our look through this chapter, verses one through three we're going
to look at today. But before that, let me give you a look ahead to several
chapters.

Really chapter 7 to 10 in the book of Hebrews all focus on the priesthood of
Jesus. In chapter 7 we're told that Jesus is of a better order of priests. In
chapter 8 we're told that Jesus brings a better covenant as a priest.

In chapter 9 we're told that he has a better tabernacle as a priest and in
chapter 10 we're told about the better sacrifice that he gives which is of
himself as a priest. So here in chapter 7 we're going to talk about the
priesthood of Jesus and how that fits into our lives today. Now for most of us
the idea of a priest, it's either Old Testament or in maybe some other kind of
church that I used to come from.

How does that relate to my life today? Very strongly, very powerfully. When you
understand the priesthood of Jesus and what it means, you're going to see this
week it increases your confidence in God's love for you.

It increases your confidence in God's forgiveness of you. Now today as we talk
about, and this week as we talk about the priesthood, we're going to focus a lot
on a guy named Melchizedek. You might remember we've come across him twice now
before this in Hebrews and I've told you both times we're going to get to more
on him later.

Well this is the later. We've been building suspense and I know some of you, you
haven't been able to stand it until we got to this point that we talked about
Melchizedek more. It's been leading to this chapter, leading to these verses.

So verses 1 to 3 of Hebrews chapter 7 says this, "This Melchizedek was king of
the city of Salem and also a priest of God Most High. When Abraham was returning
home after winning a great battle against the kings, Melchizedek met him and
blessed him. Then Abraham took a tenth of all he had captured in battle and gave
it to Melchizedek.

The name Melchizedek means king of justice and king of Salem means king of
peace. There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors, no
beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of
God.

" Now as we begin to talk about Melchizedek and we get some history about his
life here, why is Melchizedek important? He's important because Jesus is our
high priest and yet Jesus didn't come from the normal line of priests. He didn't
come from the tribe of Levi, he came from the tribe of Judah.

And all priests were supposed to come from the tribe of Levi. So how could he be
a priest? How can he be a high priest?

You may not have that question so strongly, but those who first read the book of
Hebrews would have had that question very strongly. And the question you and I
have answered in this is how can he be a better priest for us than anybody,
anything else in this world? Because we're going to see as we walk through this
chapter, Jesus didn't just come from a different line of priests, he came from a
better line, one that can meet our needs.

Now to get into this, we have to begin with the history of the life of this guy
named Melchizedek. So as you just walk through these verses we've just looked
at, we find that he was a king. He was a king of Salem.

He was a priest of God. Now Salem, by the way, that was a town that was later
known by the name of Jerusalem. This is the first time we hear about this town
back in the book of Genesis when we hear about Melchizedek being a king of
Salem.

He is the first king that we know of, of this place that would someday become
Jerusalem. We also know that Melchizedek met Abraham after his victory over the
five kings. And in meeting him, some things happen, some important things.

He blessed Abraham for the battle and how God had blessed him in the battle. And
then Abraham gave a tithe to him, gave a tithe to Melchizedek. We find out in
these verses that his names mean king of justice.

His names mean king of peace. And then this important information that for
Melchizedek, you don't hear about him before this or after this as far as his
family, his genealogy. There's no recorded beginning or end to his life.

And so we're told, and this may seem like a great leap to you, but we're going
to see why in the book of Psalms this is true as we walk through this chapter,
we're told that he is in essence a priest forever. And then this phrase at the
end, resembling the son of God. So we ask ourselves, who is this guy?

Some people see Melchizedek as a spiritual appearance of Christ before he came
as a man. But it says resembling the son of God. And it has this sense of, he is
different than Christ because he sets up the priesthood of Christ.

Some see him as an angel, but you get the sense here, I get the sense here that
he is a man. He's most likely a great man who isn't in the recorded genealogies,
but who was recognized as a priest by Abraham. The writer of Hebrews is saying
to those who believe that Jesus had to be of a priestly line in order to make a
sacrifice, even of himself.

You want a priest? He says, how about Melchizedek? Because he's greater than
them all.

Because he preceded them all. And because he has no recorded death, in one sense
he also outlasts them all. He preceded all the other priests, he outlasts all
the other priests.

That's the line that Jesus comes from. So he's not Jesus. He is in one sense a,
what some people would call a type of Jesus in the Old Testament.

The idea of a type is someone or something that pointed to Jesus. Melchizedek
points to Jesus, to his birth, the fact that he would come into this world, to
his ministry. You might remember if you've read, studied the Bible carefully,
the Bible tells us that in one sense Abraham saw our Lord's day, saw Jesus' day.

How did he do that? How in the world could Abraham, living thousands and
thousands of years before Jesus, see Jesus' day? And Melchizedek is one of these
cases.

God gave to Abraham pictures of the Jesus who was to come someday. And he gave
him a perception and an understanding of what those pictures in some sense
meant. So you look at Abraham's life.

Abraham saw the birth of the Messiah, pictured in one sense in the miraculous
birth of his own son, Isaac. Abraham saw the death of the Messiah, the death of
Jesus, foreshadowed when he was called by God to offer Isaac. Now we know that
Isaac was not offered, that God prevented that sacrifice from taking place, but
it looked forward to the fact that one day, even though God did not have Abraham
sacrifice his only son, one day God would sacrifice, he would give his only son.

So in the family of Abraham, we have these pictures of Jesus. And in
Melchizedek, in this experience of Abraham, in the priestly ministry of
Melchizedek, we see pictured for us the priesthood of the Lord. So this
experience that Abraham has in Genesis 14 of meeting Melchizedek, talking to
him, is not just an historical experience, it's one that looks forward to Jesus,
looks forward to what God's going to do.

Now of course there would be, all through the book of Genesis, these truths,
these types that pointed to Jesus, because God knew what he was going to do.
They didn't know as yet. Abraham got some insight because of his relationship
with God.

They didn't know as yet, but God knew. God's plan for your salvation, it was
established before the beginning of time. And God puts into the book of Genesis,
our Father puts into the book of Genesis, these pictures of the fact that Jesus
is to come someday.

God did not desire for us to sin as mankind, but he knew that we would make that
choice. And so even before we made it, he planned to bring us back into
relationship with himself, and he showed us how, even in the book of Genesis,
again and again, how he was planning to bring him back into relationship with
himself. You see that plan unfolding, pictured from the very beginning.

And what does that mean to me? What does that mean to you? That God's plan has
been in place since before the beginning of time.

What we're going to see this week as we walk through the priesthood of Jesus,
that one of the things it means is a new depth of confidence. A new depth of
confidence in your relationship with him. A confidence that comes from knowing
that salvation, your relationship with God, it is his plan, not your plan.

Now you get to be involved in the plan. He even has the grace to allow your
choice to be involved in his plan. But the fact that we happen to live in one
certain time, in one certain place, and I have one certain relationship with the
Lord, I can sometimes mistake that to mean that it's somehow more my plan than I
thought it was.

He's planned it from before the beginning of time. He's planned it all the way
and pictured it all the way through the book of Genesis, all the way through the
Old Testament. It's his plan, not your plan.

You look at yourself and you see how frail you are. You see how weak you are.
You see that your plans don't always work out and that can give you a sense of
is this plan really going to work out?

This is a plan that God put in place for your life, for my life, and has been
picturing for thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years. It's his plan.
So this week I want to pray that God will give us a new, greater, deeper
confidence than we've ever had before.

Even if you've been following the Lord for a long time, a deeper confidence than
you've ever had before in his plan for your life. Lord Jesus, that's what we ask
for. We ask that as we look through this chapter this week, you would give us a
new sense of boldness and confidence in your plan, your love, your greatness,
your hope.

Lord, it doesn't depend on us. It does depend on you. It depends on what Christ
has done.

And we get to be involved in your plan. We get to enjoy your plan. Forgive us
for those times when we somehow try to take it into our hands and think that
somehow we have done what only you can do.

And give us this week a new, deeper sense of confidence in you as we study
together through the priesthood of Jesus. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Tomorrow we're going to look at the fact that this is not only a greater
priesthood, it is also a deeply needed priesthood of Jesus.