Good morning, church. It's great to see you. So thankful you're here. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to preach. I got back last night at, like, 12:31 a.m.

from being with our men over the weekend. I could not miss even one moment of preaching Hebrews, though I didn't want to. And honestly, I'm glad, because me and Christy had to hold it down together today. I told her this, and I believe this is true. I had scheduled a lot more people, and there were great reasons why people couldn't be here.

God wanted to hear a small band, and I'm okay with that. And I tried to make the first song be way faster than it should have been. But, Christy, you're a trooper, so praise God. And that's the kind of stuff that goes on behind the scenes. But the Lord deserves all the glory, all the praise is due him, and so it doesn't really matter.

We could have just, you know, just all stood out there and praised him, and nobody would have led at all. And that worked. And I'm thankful for all of you. I know some of you have gotten some good news. Maybe this week, maybe there's been some things to praise.

A lot of us have gotten some. Some pretty difficult news as of late, and certainly all of us have watched over the last week or so as there was some serious devastation right here in our very state. And it's been tough. And some of our people, she mentioned John Donader. I'm proud of him.

I'm glad he's out there helping. I hope he's doing the Lord's work. I hope he's getting opportunities to tell people about the greater news. Greater than just getting this help that they need is that there's help in Christ. And that's really the gift that we're going to receive together here today in Hebrews.

Now, when I first read this passage, there's probably a lot of questions that are going to come to your mind about, okay, what in the world is going on here? What does this have to do with me in the 21st century? There's so much here that's Old Testament, really, in the way it's being processed. But I can assure you this applies today as well as it's ever applied, because things are still true in our society that have always been true as far as brokenness and culture, being away from God on the norm. And so I want to remind you of this, this whole series.

We're going to get through the middle of it together this year, and we're going to have to finish the Book of Hebrews next year. There's just so much here that I don't want to rush it. And so we've done the first few chapters of Hebrews together last year. If you missed it, it's Online there for you. But we're in the middle piece now and we're going to take a few more weeks together and the whole thing.

And I'm more and more convinced every week that this is what the Writer of Hebrews is up to. He wants to help convince you that Jesus is greater. He's greater, he's greater than whatever your saviors were, whatever you were idolizing before, whatever YOur Life'S purpose you believed was. JeSus is greater in every sense of the word. This is where he begins.

The writer of HEBRews, chapter one, he says this shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names. This is the first argument in a series of arguments he makes about how Jesus is simply tops and he is. And today we're going to deal with a topic that is probably foreign to you in a lot of ways. And I think the reason for that is because we've got 2000 years of church history and church teaching that has moved us past, past the question that they're asking here, but it hasn't fully moved us past the problem. So the problem that we're going to deal with today is this, coming back into this, who is the high priest forever?

How is it that Jesus is in a new priestly order? And he brings up this character who's in this much of scripture, in the Old Testament named Melchizedek, which is a cool name, but he doesn't appear hardly anywhere other than this little bit in Genesis and this little bit in psalms. It's like, okay, why is this what we're talking about? And it can be confusing when we start to say, okay, well, I know the Jews here, these early christians who have come out of Judaism and are now believing in Christ, they've got a lot of questions. What are we supposed to do with our temple worship?

What do we do with the levitical priesthood that we've been following for generations? It would be like us trying to figure out how to reorganize church. Some of you have been in church your whole life. You kind of, even our church is only nine years old. But if you come in here on a Sunday and the first thing we do is preach, you're going to be like, whoa, they're monkeying with my systems.

If we give you coffee at the end of service, you're like, what was the point of that? It almost did happen today. We had some breaker issues and things. Praise God. What if we monkey with.

What if suddenly we start saying that the way to be right with God isn't Jesus at all? Now that you should leave on, you should leave, don't come back. That's similar to what they're hearing now that the systems of old have been fulfilled in Christ. And there is a new system, there's a new covenant in the blood of Christ. This is hard for them, but it's not as hard for us.

So what do we do with it? Well, here's what I think is going on here. This mysterious figure, this Melchizedek, this ancient priesthood that the, the writer's gonna talk about here. Sure, they're struggling with something, but the idea of this challenge of finding our true priesthood and even more, finding out how to have a true connection with God is still applicable, maybe more so than ever. Sure, the Hebrews are following an obsolete priesthood, but I got news for you.

You're being sucked in, and your friends and neighbors are being sucked into a priesthood that exists right now. Let's not pretend, even for 1 second that we don't have false priests. And I'm not even talking about within the church. And there are some of those. I'm talking about a culture that has religion and the religions have weird names.

The religions aren't Christianity and Islam. Sure, those are. Out there. We have other religions. We call one of them science.

Have you met those in the religion of science? We met them in 2020. And some of us got sucked into that. It was hard cause we didn't know what to believe. So they said, well, I'll tell you what to believe.

Believe the science. And there were priests. They had their priests. They were all over the news, and we were all unsure. We didn't know what to believe.

Oh, there's religions today. There's this religion. Have you met anyone in the religion of identity? Their priests are loud and they're angry and they're mad at guys like me. They like us to shut up.

They really would silence people like me that would say, wait a minute, maybe just come on the journey with me for a second. Maybe who you are inside is not who you should be on the outside. Maybe the Bible says actually quite the opposite, that out of the springs of the heart, come sin, come brokenness, come darkness, and that Christ wants to do something better. You don't have to lie to yourself anymore and say, oh, this little mess right here, it's okay. I'm just gonna be that.

Oh, but there's no comfort in that. There's no peace. There's no joy. You're trying to live something that in your heart of hearts, you know, this isn't it. Christ says, no.

Instead of that, instead of saying, hey, I'm just gonna be whoever, I'm gonna be one with Christ, and I'm gonna let him change me to the. To the identity he prepared me for in the womb. Oh, that's a better. That's a better. There's religions.

You see this. There are priests, and we trust these priests sometimes. And sometimes we're right to do so. Sometimes we're right to do so. Like, if you're sick, if you're unwell and you're seeing a doctor, it's okay.

They've done a lot of study. Hopefully, they've got your good in mind. They've taken that hippocratic oath. Hopefully, they will do nothing but good.

But to believe that there's no false priesthood, now that would be a blind approach. So as we dig into this scripture today, I promise you it still applies today, that people all over the world, people in this room, people your neighbors and friends, we're all trying to find a true connection with something greater. We know that it's God as believers, but we're all looking for something true, something bigger.

This is why we hear about the greatness here of the priesthood of Christ, that his order is better, it's better even, than the levitical order, which was good, what God gave them, the law. If you go back to your old testament, it's not bad, it's not evil. It's just imperfect, because we are imperfect. Christ, though, is better because he's perfect where we couldn't be, and he gives it to us, that perfection. This is why when we hear the greatness of Christ's priesthood, it should draw us in.

That's where we're going to be today. Hebrews, chapter seven. The author here of Hebrews is telling believers struggling with how to. What do I do with this priesthood in Christ? How do I recognize it?

How do I have a new life in this? And we, too can be reminded that our human efforts, our traditions, the ways of this world, that's not how we connect with God. We connect through this new priesthood who is in Christ Jesus. And this sermon, I think, will help us understand this. Hebrews, chapter seven, verses one through 17.

Buckle up. Here we go for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. Don't worry, we're going to unpack that. There's a lot there. And to him Abraham apportioned a 10th of part of everything.

He is first by translation of his name. Melchizedek means king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem. Salem means shalom, peace, king of righteousness, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the son of God. He continues as priest forever.

See how great this man was to Abraham, the patriarch who gave him a 10th of the spoils. And those descendants of Levi, who received the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these are also descendants of Abraham. But this Mandev, Melchizedek, who does not have his descent from them, received tithes from Abraham and blessed him, and who had those promises from God. It is beyond dispute then, that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case, tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives, one might even say, and this is a funny thing to say, in fact, might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes and paid tithes through Abraham, was still in the loins of his ancestor while Melchizedek met him.

Process that for a minute. Church. Now, if perfection had been attainable through the levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe from which no one has ever served at the altar.

For it is evident that our Lord, Lord Jesus was descended from Judah, not Levi, Judah. And in connection with that tribe, Moses had said nothing about priests. This then becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest not on the legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life, for it is witnessed of him. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. God bless the reading of his word.

Amen. That's why I gave you all of that intro because you're sitting there going, huh? What did we just read? Well, let's figure that out together. Let's unpack that.

Three reasons that this author is getting into this idea that Christ's priesthood is greater. This is important to you church. This is important Christian, because your priesthood is in Christ and nothing else. Nothing else. Your access to God is Jesus and nothing else.

First reason is because Christ's priesthood has a superior pedigree. I love you so much. I'm giving you three p words. I do it partially because it's fun, but also because I hope you'll remember it. A superior pedigree.

This is the idea of what he's processing in these first few verses. He's telling us why Melchizedek is a greater priest. Because he comes before Levi. He's greater than Abraham. He's a priest forever.

The psalmist writes that as well. This Melchizedek is a type the Bible. God has put him in here to be a foreshadowing of the priesthood of Christ. This all is purposeful. God's not accidental.

He's done this, that we might look at this character and go, there's someone that's superior to the father of nations, Abraham. And it's this priest. The Bible, in fact, says he's a priest of the most high God. That is a wild thing to say of someone that we know nothing else about, some king of Salem. So just so you know, you may have put the dots together.

We have this city that still lives today called Jerusalem. It was once probably called Salem. This king, there's a lot of cool stuff about this king. He's called Melchizedek, which in Hebrew means king of righteousness. He's the king of Salem, Jerusalem, the king of peace.

What irony. What has he come out to bring? I'm going to read this in a second. He comes, when Abraham comes home, he comes out with bread and wine and Abraham pays to him a tithe. This is too much, God.

We got it. We see the connection. Verse one, it says he gets paid a tithe after Abraham comes back from the slaughter of the kings. I'm going to read more of that for you in a minute. But basically Abraham was a part of a group of kings that went and fought an even larger group of kings.

Abraham is so powerful, it's really wild how much God had blessed him in Genesis 14. Go back and read this section for yourself. He's got a little battalion of men already. Abraham's got 300 fighting men. It's wild.

320, if I remember right. This is amazing. And his nephew lot the story of Abraham is partially the story of saving lot over and over again. But lot gets captured, and that's what gets Abraham involved. And they end up winning this battle, like, dramatically.

Most likely, although the Bible isn't really specific, by the hand of God, it seems that the Lord is with him. In fact, so much so that the writer here of Hebrews gives us his personal insight on it, that it was a slaughter, that they went and kicked butt and took names. I mean, it was a knockout. And he comes back and verse two tells us that he paid a 10th. That greek word is decate, deca, like where we get the ten and he pays a tithe.

I don't have any interest in really getting into that for the moment. It's not the idea of this sermon, but you might would argue that the idea of the tithe predates levitical law. So he goes on to say in verse three then, that this unique character has no father, no mother recorded. There's no genealogy recorded. The word there in Greek is great.

It's literally a genilogitas. Right in the middle of that is the word genealogy. So many of our english words come right out of biblical text, right out of the Greek, and he has no written pedigree. We don't know anything about who this guy is. We know nothing.

And that's problematic for them to say. He's a priest of the most high God. Do you realize that these priests are doing everything in their power to keep track of who they are in their family line? Because if they don't, they won't be allowed to serve in the temple. If they can't prove that they're in the priestly line of Aaron, they can't serve.

I know this because later in Nehemiah, there's some men that want to serve in the temple. And the Bible seems to allude that they probably were in the line of Aaron, but they can't prove it. So they're not allowed to serve, even to this day. If you've met people with the last name Cohen or things like that, a lot of them have a family line that goes back to Levi. They've tried their best to keep these records just in case on the whim.

One day the temple is restored, that the high priest could sit there again. Do you know this? They keep really careful records. So the writer of Hebrews says, but here's a head scratcher. The priest, that's priest forever.

We don't know anything about his line. Let that bother you for just a second. You know, jewish believer God does this thing with Jesus too. Where we know all of these records about Mary, we have them in Matthew and Luke. We have all these records about even the lineage of Joseph, his earthly father.

But he comes from somewhere else too. He comes from the divine. This is the connection he's making here, that genealogies aren't what matters anymore. There's something divine going on. There's something of God that's happening here and he's connecting Jesus now, this priesthood, to something that's older and newer than Levi.

It's older in Melchizedek and it's newer in Jesus. This thing's better. And there's way more reasons for that that we're going to get into. But he's beginning with the idea that he doesn't need to have family records to be greater and y'all need to let that go. Essentially, that's what he's arguing for.

Y'all are working real hard to try to maintain the levitical line. It doesn't matter anymore. The covenant has been fulfilled in Christ. You don't have to anymore have priests who go into the holy holies once a year. Jesus is doing that every day.

You can ask him right now. Pause for just a moment if you want to, and say, christ, go back there and talk to, to the father for me for a second. I got a mess going on. You can do that right now. You don't need the line of Aaron anymore.

These believers needed to understand that because the priesthood is older, newer and greater.

The author is explaining these implications. This fulfillment of David's messianic psalm which I've been referring to, it's there in psalm 110. One four says the psalm of David. The Lord says to my lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies. Your footstool.

The Lord sends forth from Zion the holy land, your mighty scepter. The Lord has sworn, this sounds like last week and will not change his mind, for you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now I got news for you. He's not talking about David there. This is a foreshadowing.

This is a messianic psalm.

All of this is to show these people and now us, whatever you're depending on, whatever you're confident in and saying, well, this is the thing that's going to get me through tomorrow. I know that for the jewish person, they're thinking. I know that if we can get this temple thing right, if we can have the right people in the temple and we can come there and make sacrifice, we can be made right with God. This isn't true anymore. The writer's saying, you realize that's over.

And don't be mad. Don't be sad about that, because what you have now is so much better. Believer in the room. What you have in Christ is better than this, whatever it is you've been putting your hope and focus in your priesthood in Christ is better than the priests of this world. It's better than you believing that.

Man, if I could just get my physical body better, and I believe all the priests who are in the gym with me, I believe all the priests on Instagram that are telling me if I would just lift it this way, I'd feel better. Oh, that's fine. You should take care of one's body. But even Paul says there's a spiritual body that's more important. If you're wasting all your time on the physical body, I say waste lightly simply to say, if you're doing only physical and no spiritual, you're not working on the inner man at all.

And the inner man lasts forever. That's the thing. That's eternal. Sure, work on the body because it's a temple of praise unto God. You should keep it healthy.

But for that purpose and nothing else, not to boast, not to walk around going, man, my veins are popping today. Hallelujah. Cool. I mean, that's great. Do you know Jesus?

Do you have a personal walk with him that's happening time and time again? That stuff's eternal. He's trying to convince us in this moment that, please understand this priesthood in Christ is where you have to come. You want to know God? You want to know what it is that he's up to in your life.

Christ is the way he is. The access stop with everything else. It won't reach connection with God. The story that's underneath this is a careful one. In Genesis 14.

I'll read a little bit of it for you. Genesis 1417, it says, after his return, hear Abraham from the defeat of Shadolamir. Shadir Lamir. That's a good one. And the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom, they all went out to meet him at the valley of Shavah.

That is the king's valley. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God most high, and he blessed him. He blessed Abraham. Blessed be Abram by God most high, possessor of heaven and earth.

And blessed be God most high, who has delivered your enemies into your hand and Abram gave him a 10th of everything.

Now that's an odd thing for a kingly type to do. Abraham comes back as champion, as victor. These other kings come back with spoils. Guess what Abram does? He gives a 10th of the spoils first to this priest who we know nothing about.

And the rest of the spoils he gives to the kings, he doesn't keep any of it. His motivation, he says, I'm here to save lot. The only thing I want is enough to feed my men. The rest is yours. Because I don't want any of you to ever say that you gave me anything, because I know the victory is God's.

It's amazing. But underneath that is a revelation that Abraham is not the character of the Bible. He's not the star. He's not even the star in his own story. Sometimes Melchizedek, who's mentioned like three times, is the star.

What? What a wonderful thing. What a wonderful thing for us to remember as we read our old Testament, as we read about our heroes of the faith, as we look up to heroes now, heroes of the faith that we have. Maybe it was our grandparents, our parents, maybe an older brother, someone who has been a mentor to us. And we look up to them.

I want you to know something. They're not even the hero of their own story. They're not yours. The hero in your story is Jesus. He's always been the hero.

Who are you going to, who are you going to to find relief and hope and access? Who is the one that's lifting up your weak arms? Is it some person? Is it some ideology? If it's not Christ, it's less.

It's not enough. You getting this? I'm working real hard to try to help you get it. Here's the second. The second reason that his priesthood is greater.

It has a superior position. A superior position.

The writer is really careful in the middle section, four through ten to let us know that not only is this Melchizedek amazing in the sense that his ancestry is something outside of what we have written, that his pedigree is greater. He didn't need a genealogy to be called God of the most high. That's great. But he goes into the middle section to let us know not only that he's greater than your father of nations, he's greater than your Abraham. He's greater also than your Levi.

He makes a funny argument about how to get to that. I love his little argument. It cracks me up. Verse four through ten, he tells us, hey, there's this tithing principle that we, that we have in the law where the tribes of Israel, the twelve tribes, the eleven, in fact, they tithe to the one tribe. But the primary purpose of that is Levi doesn't get a portion.

If you go back and read the scriptures, they don't have a portion of land. They don't have a portion to work. They are called to work in the temple. And the nation of Israel is to support them in that endeavor. It also supports the temple, all of the things that go into that.

And so that's that principle underneath there. And he's saying, yeah, we understand the tithing principle. What we don't understand is why Abraham did it. This is long before that law is given and you don't see the request for it. Where does it come from?

Who in the world is this MELChiZEDEK that Abraham said, that guy, he deserves something out of this. All he did was come and bless him, probably prayed for him some. Who in the world is this? The author here is letting us know that story is in there on purpose to let you know that Abraham isn't the hero. He's positionally, not even the superior position, that there's one greater.

He argues this in verse four. He says, look, see it? Look at how great this Melchizedek was. See how great he was. To whom?

Abraham, the fAther, the patriarch, he gave a 10th. He's like a king himself. Well, he is. He's the king of Salem. But how does he affect Abraham this way?

And if the argument follow his line of thinking, he says, well, if Abraham gives him tithe, then a weird roundabout way, so did Levi, who is the tribe in which the priests lie. Now, the argument he makes there is very plain, it's very biological. He says he was in the loins of his ancestor. That is long before Levi was born. His DNA was passed on from Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, Jacob to Levi.

He's saying, make the DNA connection. My friends, the king James, the Bible as well, uses this wonderful term, loins. We don't use that a lot, probably for good reason.

So in a roundabout way, Levi, the one who the priesthood began under, has also been a part of tithing. To this God of the priest, of God of the most high. His position is something different. He's making the argument, friends, that Jesus, his position as priest is higher than the, than the old covenant law. Christ's priesthood is superior in every way.

In fact, I could have gone to so many texts to deal with this. One that came to mind was one Timothy, chapter two, where it says, there is one goddess and one mediator who can reconcile God in humanity. The man, I'd like to say it's like the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.

What does a priest do? Church. They mediate. The people, come with their sacrifices. And it's the priests who makes the cut.

It's the priest who lays it on the altar. It's the priest who blesses and prays for the people. Jesus is now that, but way better. Cause guess what they had to keep doing? You ever think about this?

They had to keep bringing the sacrifices. And guess who else had to bring a sacrifice? The priest himself. Oh, man. Y'all do know I make mistakes, right?

Y'all know I'm a big mess. And God loves me like he loves you, and reminds me of that. He calls me to repentance, which means I'm an inefficient mediator for you. And I don't think really any of you think of me this way. Maybe that's because I am such a knucklehead.

But there are some pastors in certain settings that feel like they are being treated like a levitical priest. The people have a sense that the only way we're going to get an answer from God is to bring it to the pastor.

I got news for you, friends. He knows me just like he knows you. And guess what else? Oh, here's a, here's a dangerous thought. Do you know sometimes I ask God questions, he doesn't answer me.

He'll go a long time. Sometimes I think there's a. A lot of occasions where I'm asking the wrong questions. He doesn't answer me because if he could say something, he'd say, I don't want to talk about that. I don't even want to talk about that.

What are you talking about? Jonathan? I called you to this purpose. If I ever bring those kind of questions to him, he's like, can you stop? I've not told you to do anything else.

Just do this now. If you want to talk about how to do this, I'm game. Let's talk about it. You come to me with your prayers and with your. I'm going to bring them to the Lord.

But if you think I'm getting some kind of, you know, sprinkling and, and I'm going to be able to call you right back and say, wow, you wouldn't believe God literally said, now, he might do that. I'm not saying he might not. There have been some occasions where I was like, God, there's. You said that was you. Because I'm not that smart.

I'm not that smart. I'll tell you, for me, the voice of God sounds like my voice, but smart, I don't know how that works for everybody. That's how it is for me. I've had counseling sessions with people where I've asked them questions and kind of, we weren't getting anywhere. And literally the Lord would say something like, why don't you ask that question again?

But this way, like, huh, I didn't think of that. That was you. And then something that's unlocked and we can help people. Yeah, God does that. But if you think I'm your holy priest forever, please pick a better one.

I'm not even the best earthly one, but that would be insufficient anyway. I'm telling you it would. There's a better priest. He has access. He's in the holy of holies right now.

He doesn't have to ask or knock. He's the son of God and he paid the ultimate price. The veil was torn on the day he was crucified. He is in there. He loves you.

Oh, I love you best I can, but I don't love you like Jesus. I get tired. Y'all drive me nuts. Sometimes I drive myself nuts. My wife, whom I love as much as any human could love a person, I think she drives me nuts.

But Christ loves her, man. He loves her. I can't even come close to loving like that. He's in a better position. I don't know who your priests are.

I don't know who you're going to. I pray that you'll go to him first. He has not only that, he has the power to do something about your situation. I don't have any power there and no one does, especially if the situation is at the heart. And so often it is.

Who can change your heart? You think people can do it? Not really. They might give you good advice, but if you need a heart transplant, you need the Lord. And we all do.

On the week of the passion week, Jesus, in fact, himself reminds them of something. This is on the Tuesday of passion week. Matthew, chapter 21 is where this is at. It says, when Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and they said, by what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?

And Jesus answered them. Well, let me ask you a question. If you tell me the answer. I'll tell you by what authority I'm doing these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come?

From heaven or from man? And they discussed it among themselves, saying, well, if we say it's from heaven, then he's got us in a trap. But if we say, if we say that, he's going to say, well, why then didn't you believe him? If you say that baptism of John was from heaven, then why didn't you believe him when he said of me, this is my son of whom I'm well pleased. And then they go on to think, well, if we say it's from man, though we're afraid of the crowds, there's a lot of people here watching and they like John the Baptist.

We're going to have a riot on our hands. So they answered Jesus as any clown would. We don't know. We know what we want to say, but we can't say it, so we don't know. And Jesus said to them, then neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

He's playing games. Jesus is like this. He's funny, he's really funny in the gospels. I think he has a great sense of humor. He's letting us know something.

If you could have answered this question, here's what he's doing. If you could answer this question rightly, you would say that the baptism of John was from heaven, and then you would know the answer to your question. That the authority that I have comes from above. It comes from God the Father. He's saying, my position is something you're not used to.

These chief priests, these are the very men in the levitical law, and they're having a problem here. They're realizing we're getting outdated, we're getting kicked out, and they're pretty ticked about it. They're about to lose their job. Why? Because their job is no longer efficient for anything.

They need to do what everyone else is doing and say, I'm no longer a priest of the people, at least not in that sense. Now. I could still be a holy man of God who leads others and teaches others. These men ought to have done that. They could have lined right up under Christ and said, he's the Messiah.

I want to be your man now. Help me to help the people like Paul, a teacher of the law, a student of scripture, who God gets a hold of and becomes maybe the greatest missionary of all time. But these men they just saw, here's someone who's trying to steal our power. And if we tell them that the baptism's from heaven. Then the people will know this Jesus, he's the messiah.

He's got a greater position. The Jews were so concerned about their authority that they couldn't even recognize it. They couldn't see that this Jesus was the one they've been so longing for and hungry for. John five. It says, in fact, that you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

And it is they that bear witness about me, Jesus. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote about me. And if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? He has a better position.

He's before Abraham. He's after. He's the alpha and the Omega. His position is something out of this world. He was there at the point of creation.

He has always been. He'll be there in the end. I'm thankful for that. What would heaven be without him? It wouldn't be heaven at all.

Then the third, and I might say this is the best of all because it is a super, it's superior in its perfection, a better pedigree, a better position in the holy of holies for us. And a better perfection. Not just better. It's actually perfect. I mean, I don't know how really to word that.

The old stuff, who we are not perfect. He's the only one that has reached perfection. And so it's superior in perfection because it's the only one. It's the only way. The author finally points to this in the last few verses.

He makes a statement. He makes an argument. Hey, if the levitical line was working so good, then why in the world did all the prophets start telling us about a messiah? Why in the world is God already telling us all throughout the major and minor prophets that I've got to send someone to fix this because you guys cannot do the law. And don't blame them.

Look, church, don't blame them. We can't do it either. We can't. We're no better. We are no better.

Only thing that makes us right is we have Jesus. That's it. Because he is perfect. And so he says, hey, if there were a way that the levitical line, the line of Aaron, could have been a good priesthood, then why would God have ever had a need to send someone else? But we know he was always planning to do so.

For there is a change, and this is the hard news, verse twelve. For when there's a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well, such that now Christ says this himself, I came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. That means the law is changing in the sense that no longer do you find access to God through the law, but access through the one who has fulfilled it. And he has perfectly done so. He says very much so in verse eleven.

And on that this christ, this priest of another tribe is perfect. And there's been a change. It's in the blood of christ. He makes this statement about another tribe is this isn't really even a big deal to us necessarily, but he's making us look at something a little closer and say, hey, you're really into the priesthood of Levi. But I got news for you.

This one's even better in another sense, because he comes from the tribe of Judah, which is your tribe of kings. All right? This is where your kings come from. And he comes being king and priest, and you haven't had that since Samuel. And Samuel wasn't perfect either.

In fact, Samuel isn't even really a true king. He's a judge, which is the closest thing they had to a king. So in a way, this is the first time they've ever had it. And it's the only time we've ever had it. And it's the only time we ever need it is king Jesus, priest, Jesus, savior, redeemer boy, he's got a lot of names.

He's from another tribe in the likeness of Melchizedek. And the way in which he gets there, verse 16 is not through the fleshly requirement. The word there is literally 16 where it says legal requirement. It's the word sarkicos. The greek word sarks means flesh.

He doesn't get there by being fleshly required. He's not in the line of Levi at all, but the line of Judah, the way in which Christ reached the pinnacle, isn't that at all. It's, the Bible says it's by an indestructible life. You tried to kill him and couldn't do it. The resurrection points to the fact that this priest different.

How is he a priest forever? Because he's living forever. He's alive yesterday, today and forevermore. He will never end and he never has not been an indestructible life. Some commentators even said, surely the resurrection is in view.

But also this is a man who lived a sinless life. He wasn't destroyed at all by guilt or shame. Wasn't destroyed, was not peccable like we are. Couldn't be tempted? Well, he could be tempted, but wasn't because the Hebrews does say he was tempted, as we are, but did not sin.

So, yes, tempted, but not sinful. This is amazing. An indestructible life. That's the way in which Christ has reached the priesthood forever. Look to Jesus then, as the author, Hebrews is going to later on, and I don't know if we're going to get to this until next year, but Hebrews chapter twelve says very clearly this, that therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.

Put that off and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Doing what with that? How do we do that? We look to Jesus, the founder and I, perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. He created this faith.

He built it. He's creator of all things, and he's creator certainly of our faith. But more than that, he's perfecter. That means he's the one who makes it sufficient. He's the one that makes.

He brings the power within it makes it possible that we would be made holy at all.

Jesus is greater. You getting that? He's greater. He's the greater priest. He's better than anything else you're putting your hope and your salvation in.

I don't know. You'd have to really question yourself and bring this before the Lord and say, what am I putting in your place as of late? What am I treating like a priest in my life? What has become my false savior? Is it my wife?

Am I getting all my joy? If my day is in a funk? If I'm having trouble, is it because the person who I really am satisfied by is mad at me?

Maybe. Is it because my work, which is really the thing for me, that's where all my identity comes from. When it goes wrong, when my boss is mad or I get blamed for something, I get so tore up, is it because I've forgotten that my priest in Christ loves me so much that he looks at me and goes, yeah, I mean, that's a terrible mess there, but I'm gonna fix that. I love that kid. I love that guy.

I love that lady.

Our identity is in him. He's the author and perfecter. I want to leave you with this last final thought, a really sad position that most of the world is in apart from Christ. You can pop up this image for me, and some of you will know it as soon as you see it. There's a place on this earth that there are a people longing for a high priest.

They're longing for it. They believe that one day perhaps the temple of God will sit on that mount again. But I can tell you, if that day comes, we'll be in the midst of the worst war in human history.

And I don't know, that revelation really seems to be indicating that, but that could be a very big piece of whatever is going to bring the end of things. Who knows? But there they are weeping, and I understand them. I understand them weeping for the place in which they could make sacrifice again. Because right now they've got an imperfect system as to how to connect again with God.

An imperfect system. They long for a high priest, and it's the saddest position for me to consider because they already have it. And it's no sadder for them, though. We have an image in our heads of this. But this is your neighborhood.

He doesn't have to be jewish. This is your neighbor. This is your family member that longs. Church longs for a high priest. We all do.

God didn't make us accidental. He made every single one of us for worship. He made us hunting for a high priest. And we call it a whole kinds of different things. Oh, if I could just.

If I could just find a spouse, I'd be happy. If I could just make a marriage work, I'd be happy if I could have children. But I can't have children. I'd be. And we put our priesthood in so many levels.

If I could just have power or success or if you fill in your blank, man, where's, who is your savior? You're just like those weeping at the wall. You already have a high priest. You have him. Oh, you're hurting.

You're in trouble. Do you literally go to everything else but Christ? He's your high priest, not the doctor. Oh, the doctor's gonna help you. Oh, your friends are gonna encourage you.

If the first person you call is, I'm gonna call pastor Jonathan. Wrong answer. Don't do it. I'm gonna be sad for you. I'm gonna pray for you.

I'm gonna do the very thing you should have done first.

I'm gonna call my dad first. Those are great. Those are great. Your mentors, the people you love, you're gonna do that, but it shouldn't be first. Who's your high priest?

Church. It's a greater priesthood. I pray this speaks to you today. Some of you are in some real hard trouble right now. Some of you are on a mountaintop where it's joy and things are great.

I would assure you, my friends, you better keep remembering who your great priesthood is. Cause it's no easier up there. In fact, Solomon would say it's harder up there in some ways. Cause then you forget who the priests are at all. I don't even need priests.

Look at me, I'm somebody. But when you're in the valley, it's a temptation to look for priests everywhere.

Christ is your priest. He's your savior. He's your king. This Melchizedek is just a foreshadowing of what he is. King of righteousness, king of peace, true savior, Redeemer, messiah.

The one who's going in to God for you on your behalf right now. Now praise him for it. Praise him. Do you believe it, church? Do you believe it?

He's your priest. Let's pray now together. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would never let us run far from this idea. Don't allow us, God, we pray. Don't allow us to wander to some false priest.

Certainly don't allow us to wander into this ditch where your people have been for centuries, struggling. This ditch of thinking. If I could just make it right legalistically, if I just follow all the right stuff, then God will take care of me, he will reward my diligence. But that's not how he works at all.

Or they might think, well, you know, I could just live however I will and be licentious. And God's going to take care of that. No, neither of these ditches are correct for the believer. And we come to this place going, hmm, I'm gonna hunt. I'm gonna hunt for answers in all kinds of places.

But the last stop is gonna be the holy of holies, God, we repent of that. I pray for your people. I pray for myself, Lord, that you would not let us wander that far and go into those ditches and places where we hunt for answers all over the place and get ourselves in a world of trouble before we ever come to the one who loves us, who really believes in us, who really knows us, that we would go everywhere else but the one who can do something about it. God help us. I pray, Lord, I just pray that you would protect us from that place.

Because we're a mess. We make bad choices, even in our best intentions, we'll fall right in a ditch. I pray, God, that you would protect us. I pray for that person right now, Lord. First that person.

That's coming today and things are going well. And maybe they're a pessimist and maybe they're thinking, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to fall. That's not what you're encouraging us with at all here. But what you are telling us is that, hey, don't put your trust and your current success. Don't put your trust in, well, well, circumstances.

Those things can change in a heartbeat. Don't put your trust there. Don't put your trust in your boss or your good relationship you're having or the fact that your kids aren't acting a fool this week. Don't put your trust there, friend. Some of you have showed up and gotten some, some drastic news this week.

You're not sure what to do with it. Maybe a family member has taken a turn. Maybe you yourself are not sure what's coming next. Future surgeries, future doctor's visits, unanswered questions. There's a lot of you in there in this church right now with that very predicament.

Continue, continue to work on these problems. See the doctors, see the people who care for you. Those aren't your priests, my friend. God, would you remind them of it? Right now, you're in charge.

Your will is perfect. Your will is sure there's nothing that can change it through. Nothing can undo your goodwill.

You are a high priest. I pray for that person right now, that their trust would be so solid in you that it would give them a sense of confidence that is incomparable, that they could face any storm knowing that, hey, Jesus is, he's at the front of the boat. And guess what he's doing? Just like in the gospels, he's napping. He ain't worried.

He can stand up at any moment and tell the wind and the waves of my life to stop. And if he wants to do that, he will. I'm praying for it. Hey, God, make it all stop. But if not, Lord, teach me.

Teach me in it. You've got a purpose in it. Show me what it is. Oh, that's a hard question for us, Lord, that we, we are so challenged by that God. But I'm asking, would you help us to understand how to participate in what you're doing in our life, even if it's suffering?

Help us to understand how to participate and how you're shaping us to be more like Jesus? Because I have to remember God. And I'm asking that you would remind me and your people that your ultimate purpose for us is not comfort, it's Christ, your ultimate purpose for us. Is that we would look more like Jesus today than yesterday. And sometimes pruning occurs to do it.

Sometimes it hurts. I'm asking God, would you help us, your people, to participate and yield, abide in the process, that you have a sin? Would you let those hurting people in the room have an incredible witness in the midst of this? That nurses and doctors all over the city who are dealing with these people would be inundated with the gospel, that friends and family who look in and peer in and go, why are you smiling? You ought not be.

Well, I can't help but smile because my God is too good. I can't help but smile because Paul says, I consider these present sufferings to be nothing compared to future glory. Do you believe that, church, God? Would you do that in us, shape us, mold us? We are your sons and daughters.

We ask now, Lord, help us to never wander away from who you are, that we would come to you first. You are the center of our lives. You are our first priority. And we know, God, that you are one who moves mountains. And you can do it in us if you desire it for us.

And we're gonna trust you either way. We love you, Lord Jesus. We pray all these things in your name. Amen.