This transcript was generated by whisper.ai. This is day two together of our look through Hebrews chapter seven. We're going to look at verses four to eighteen today, a good chunk of verses because you have to see how these verses hang together. They're all about how Jesus is a priest from the order of Melchizedek, a priesthood that stands even above the order of Aaron who was the first priest and he and the tribe of Levi became the order of priests that all the priests had to come out of. But as we read through Hebrews chapter seven, we're being told by the writer of Hebrews that the priesthood of Melchizedek is a greater priesthood. Now how is it greater? If you look at verses four to ten, he shows us how it's greater and it comes from the history that we looked at yesterday. So in verse four, consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle. Now the law of Moses required that the priests who are descendants of Levi must collect a tithe from the rest of the people of Israel who are also descendants of Abraham. But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham and Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God. And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed. The priests who collect tithes are men who die. So Melchizedek is greater than they are because we are told that he lives on. In addition, we might say that these Levites, the ones who collect the tithe, paid a tithe to Melchizedek when their ancestor Abraham paid a tithe to him. For although Levi wasn't born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham's body when Melchizedek collected the tithe from him. Now I know as we read this today, some of this sounds like 2000 years ago reasoning. But the truth of the matter is, this is the way they thought. They thought about genealogies and where things came from. And because of that, there were some in the group to whom the book of Hebrews was first written who were struggling with whether Jesus really could be a priest. And the writer of Hebrews says, not only can he be a priest, he comes from a greater priesthood. And he gives us these three proofs that we just read. Number one, Abraham paid a tithe to Melchizedek. And so he says, in a sense, since in Abraham's body was the entire nation of Israel, so that Levi would be part of that. And Levi was the one to whom the tithes were supposed to be paid. But in a sense, in a sense, they paid a tithe in this case. Now to them, to us, we think, oh, that's interesting. To them, that would have been one of the most shocking arguments. Wow. I'd never thought of it that way. A proof that he is greater. Also the proof, the simple proof that Melchizedek gave a blessing to Abraham. The one who gives a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed. And then this third proof, this proof that Melchizedek's priesthood lives on. And this is the one that makes us scratch our head a little more than any other one. Are you saying this guy lives for eternity? No, that's not what's being said here at all. And to understand what's being said here, you need to understand Psalm 110 verse 4. That's where this truth is being brought from as we read into this history. Psalm 110 verse 4 says that he is a priest forever. It's a Messianic psalm. It's a psalm about Jesus who's going to come someday. And it says that he is a priest forever in the line of Melchizedek. So how does Melchizedek live on? Well, think about it this way with me. It's just as David's kingdom lives on. Or it's just as Abraham's family lives on in the same way Melchizedek's priesthood lives on. David died, but he was promised that he would have a kingdom that lasted forever. Now, how could he have a kingdom that lasted forever when someday he was going to die? Because Jesus would be a king who came from his line, and Jesus is going to live forever. Abraham died. He was promised that he would have a family that lasted forever. How could he have a family that's going to last forever in light of the fact that he died? Because Jesus is the son that came from his line. And Melchizedek died, but he has a priesthood that lasts forever. Because Jesus as a priest came out of that line. So this order of priests, this priesthood of Melchizedek, it is a better priesthood. But it's more than that. It's not only better. He goes back, the writer of Hebrews, and talks about the same things again and says it's not only better, it's also needed. We need a better priesthood, he says. Listen to what he says in verses 11 down to verse 18. So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to establish a different priesthood? With a priest in the order of Melchizedek instead of the order of Levi and Aaron? And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it. For the priest we are talking about belongs to a different tribe whose members have never served at the altar as priests. What I mean is, our Lord came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe. This change has been made very clear since a different priest who is like Melchizedek has appeared. Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed. And the psalmist pointed this out when he prophesied, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Yes, the old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. So he writes and he says, we need a new priesthood because the priesthood of Levi could not achieve the perfection that God intended. Because the priesthood of Levi was weak and useless, he says. Now remember, as we read through the book of Hebrews, this word perfection has the idea of achieving the goal, arriving at maturity in our own lives, or in this case, achieving the goal, fulfilling God's will. Now they are struggling, those to whom he is first writing, and some of you may be struggling with doubts. They're struggling with thinking, maybe I should go back to this old order of priesthood because it's clearer and I understood it better and I grew up with it and it feels more comfortable to me. And the writer of Hebrews writes to these people that he loves and he says, why would you go back to something old, this old order of priesthood, which could never meet your deepest needs? It was always meant to point to Christ who can meet your deepest needs. It was always meant to point there. It is not perfect. It's weak and useless apart from Christ. Let me just focus in on the struggle that you and I have that's like their struggle. It's easy to talk about people in the past and think, oh yeah, they had these spiritual struggles, poor them. What about you? What about me? All this talk about Melchizedek to help them accept Jesus as the priest, to which the entire priesthood was pointing, it's a reminder to me that there are strongly held beliefs that can get in the way of serving Jesus. Things from our past, ways that we grew up and we need to see. We need to see where we might be struggling with what I would call a Melchizedek truth. We need that Melchizedek truth in our life to set us free from something that might seem right to you, but is actually keeping you trapped and trusting something that is weak and useless. What I'm talking about is a shift in thinking, a paradigm shift in order for you to relate to God. The kind of shift that Paul needed on the Damascus road. He thought he was serving God when he was going around killing Christians, pulling them out of churches. He needed to meet with Jesus and realize you're going the wrong direction. I'm talking about the kind of paradigm shift that those who had first read Hebrews needed in their lives. Instead of going back to the past, they needed to start to look towards the future, their future hope. And the question is, how do you and I need to start thinking differently? There are a number of areas, but let me talk to you about two main areas that we often face as believers, where we think based on the past. We think based on our beliefs and because of that, we hold on to what is weak and useless instead of the power of God. Those two main areas are the areas of legalism and license. Legalism depending on my works or license, thinking I can do whatever I want now that I'm a Christian. Legalism depending on my works. You may have grown up in a church, you may have grown up thinking that somehow how much you did made you more loved by God. You may have been taught that in many Sunday school classes. You may have heard that through many sermons or you may have just picked it up yourself as you were reading through the Bible. And you decided that the better you read the Bible, the more you memorize verses, the more God would love you. And so you come to a place where you're depending on your works and not depending on Christ alone. Now Christ has works for you to do, no doubt about it, but it starts with his work. And if you're depending on your work, you're depending on something that is weak and useless. And I know many, many people who because of the way they were brought up or the way they began to first read the Bible or the way they tried to first depend on God, the place that they really need a paradigm shift is it's all about God. It's all about his goodness. That's where it all starts. And my work, whatever they might be, they grow out of that. They don't grow into a love for God. They grow out of a love that God has for me. Maybe that's an area where you need a paradigm shift. Another paradigm shift area is in this area of license. And one big area that many people struggle with in this area is the idea that somehow God owes you some kind of happiness in this world. You may have heard the phrase many times, "God is not working to make you happy. He's working to make you holy. " But somehow the teaching you first had, the way you first believe, or the culture that we live in, mostly the culture that we live in, causes us to think that God exists somehow up in heaven just to make our lives more comfortable, just to make us more happy, just to make everything work out okay on this earth. When we know deep down that's weak and useless. This world is weak and useless. It's not going to last. And there are things that are going to happen in this world that will not make me happy. We face death and sickness and sadness and sorrow in this world. And if I'm holding on to God has to make me happy to prove that he is real, of course I'm going to constantly be disappointed. Of course I'm going to be constantly looking for someone else, something else, because God's not doing what I want him to do. God's not working to make you happy. He's working to make you holy. Now there's a lot of happiness. There's no doubt a lot of joy as he works to make you holy. And so we can begin to mistake that happiness and all of a sudden comes and think, "Oh, now I've turned the corner. The rest of my life it's going to be all happy, happy, happy. " No, he's working to make you holy. You can have joy even in the midst of the tragedy. You can have joy even in the midst of the sorrow, but that is not what God is working for to make every circumstance perfect in your life. He is working to make you more and more perfect, more and more like Jesus, to make you more and more ready for an eternity with him. So in these two areas we often need a paradigm shift depending on my works or thinking that God is just there to make me happy. And when I can shift my thinking in those areas from those weak and useless ways of All of a sudden a new power flows into my life, the power of knowing I'm truly loved, the power of knowing God's truly at work in my life and in every circumstance. Let's take a minute to talk to him about that today. And our Father, as we pray, we pray that you'd help us when we try to hold on to the things of this world or to the thoughts that we have about how you should act. Help us to see them for the weak and useless things that they are, our ways of thinking, our ways of doing things, and help us to see instead the way that you're at work in our lives, the way that you're at work in our world, and to hold on to that, to hold on to who you are. Lord, all of us, we've got to learn that more and more. So as we learn that today, instead of being stubborn about holding on to the past, something that used to make us comfortable, Lord, give me, give us a spiritual strength today to let go of that and to grab onto what's real. Your love for us, your power, your hope, your eternity. We hold on to that today, in Jesus' name, amen. Tomorrow we're going to look at the truth of a better confidence, a better hope, and a better relationship with God.