Melchizedek Reveals Christ

Take your Bibles, if you would please, and turn to Hebrews chapter 7. We'll read the first four verses today, plus verse 22. And if you're taking notes, today's title is Melchizedek Reveals Christ. The theme for today's message is that Jesus is our guarantee. And not only is He our surety and our assurance, but I want you to see through the text today so many wonderful things that are revealed through Melchizedek. And the study of typology is a bona fide study in the Bible. Numerology would be bogus, but typology is spot on. And it requires some careful exegesis, some careful observation to be able to rightly divide the Word of God and to be able to see the truths for which they point to.

And so I'd like to read the text with you today. But before we get started, let me just offer you a definition of typology. In its simplest form, it's forward pointing. Items that are forward pointed. Things that are forward pointing. Things that point forward. And so as you look in the Bible, there are certain things, there are certain people, there are certain institutions, there are certain events that God utilizes typologically to point to more truth. And we'll kind of explore that today and we'll see how God progressively reveals more about Himself to His people. It is a fascinating subject.

And so here is a little bit more of a definition, some more ideas in regards to typology, a little bit more than something that points forward. It's studying how people, institutions, events and such reveal more truth through patterns, through prophetic means, through things that escalate in truth, things that deepen theologically and often culminate in Christ for us to gain a higher Christology. And I know that's a mouthful, but you'll see that as it unravels for us today.

In Hebrews 7 and verse 1, read with me if you would, we just take our time through the first four verses here and then continue to move along. It says, "For this Melchizedek," okay? It says that he's the king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. Let's just pause right there and talk about the slaughter of the kings for a moment and turn with me if you would to Genesis chapter 14 where this is actually found.

In Genesis chapter 14 verses 14 through 16, Genesis 14, 14 through 16, you'll see where Abraham is returning from the slaughter of the kings. And might I add that we often remember our father Abraham for his faith and may not attribute to him the manliness due to what he has done. Abraham is a manly Christian, and I really appreciate this particular aspect of him. And keep in mind, after we take a look at what he has done in this particular passage in the slaughter of the kings, I want you to know that it is on the heels of this battle is the fact that the son Isaac promised to Abram. It's amazing. And so, nevertheless, what a blessing to see this.

And so in Genesis chapter 14 verse 14 it says, "When Abram heard that his relative, that being Lot, had been taken captive, he let out his trained men." Let's just pause there for just a moment and let this stuff just kind of slip by us. "Abraham had an army of men who were trained and ready to go to battle." And it says in the text, there's 318 of them. And I'm telling you, Beulah Baptist Church is training men ready for battle. Our weapon is the Word of God and prayer and evangelism and discipleship and obedience. All of these things coming together. But here you see in the text, Abram, he wasn't just a wealthy man of faith. He wasn't just blessed because of these things. The man stood for righteousness. And this battle has spiritual significance.

The reason why this battle has spiritual significance is because as he won, Abram was not going after the spoils of these other cities or kings or whatnot. He wasn't going after more wealth or more things. He was going after the righteous legacy of God's holy name. You see, these kings had stolen Lot and now Lot was in captivity with them. And a fugitive had come to Abram and said and informed him of all these things. And Abram kind of gathers up his men and goes into this battle and gets Lot back. And in so, he was able to receive some spoils from the battle and leave. But Abraham wasn't after the spoils. He was after God's glory. You see, he knew that God was a covenant God. And by retrieving Lot, he was protecting the covenant aspect of his family. And by the victory that God granted Abraham, it actually brought glory to God. And so, this is what Abram was after, God's glory.

So, continue reading with me and let's start over in verse 14. "When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out as trained men, born in his house, 318, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by night and his servants and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. He brought back all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and with possessions, and also the women and the people." If you go back up to verse 12, you'll see that they, being these kings, these pagan kings, they also took Lot, Abraham's nephew, and his possessions and departed for he was living in Sodom.

Just as another side note, "Lot, why were you living in Sodom?" You know, to be in the wrong place at the wrong time is almost like inviting trouble type thing. And so, that's just a side note thing here. "Abram went and retrieved his nephew and brought God glory because of this."

Back to Hebrews chapter 7, if you would, and as we continue to go through this wonderful chapter, verse 2 says, "To whom also Abraham appointed a tenth part of all the spoils." All right, so now after this battle, Abraham comes off of the battlefield not only with Lot, but with spoils. And from that, he gives a tenth to Melchizedek. This is what's happening here. The author of Hebrews is explaining this, but the Hebrews already know this because it's their own history. So, verse 2 again, "To whom also Abraham appointed a tenth part of all the spoils was first of all, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace."

So, here Melchizedek has a meeting. He meets up with Abram, and Abraham knows these things about him. And in verse 3, it's also explained that Melchizedek is without father and without mother and without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God. You can circle the word "like" there. That helps us to understand this is typology. Melchizedek is like the Son of God. Melchizedek is not a theophany, a pre-incarnate Christ. He's like the Son of God. Melchizedek is a regular man, and he has some aspects to which the Hebrew author is drawing out of Scripture to be able to prove to those who are perhaps dissenting or shrinking back from Christianity that this truly is the Christ who you are shrinking back from.

Our fidelity in our religion, our true worship is to Christ and Christ alone. And if the Hebrews were shrinking back into traditionalism or Judaism or hedonism, whatever they thought that they wanted, they were circling their resources and their ambitions and their thoughts around the things that they wanted at that time, perhaps because they were under persecution, they were strained, they were shrinking back from Christ. The Hebrew author here, the author of Hebrews is saying to them, "Listen, our faith in Jesus Christ goes all the way back to our father Abraham, and I'm going to prove it to you." And so he is unfolding some of these rich truths through this type, this man, Melchizedek.

Now in verse 4 it says, "Now observe how great this man to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of his choice spoils. Observe this, know what I am saying. Perk your ears, turn your thoughts, open your heart into what is being said." Previously, the author of Hebrews wanted to share more about Melchizedek, but he said to the Hebrews here, "But you're dull of hearing. You don't want to hear this. You don't want to do the exegetical work to this typology. You don't want to search the scriptures to truly know who God really is, because you want to be God of your life. You want to be your own God. However, the best thing for you to do is to truly see this character Melchizedek reveals Christ, whom you're shrinking back from, whom you are not honoring, who you're not serving with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is amazing information.

Look down in verse 22, and as this subject continues to unfold in a way that the Hebrew culture would truly understand, there's a climax here in verse 22, "So much more, the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant." And so move forward from the old covenant to the new covenant. Scholars say that Hebrews helps to move people from the old to the new, from the good to the great, to the flawed to the flawless, from the imperfect to the perfect, from the insecure to the secure. This is spiritual progression in Christ. Not only are in Jesus Christ, but also we are to see how God progressively reveals more about His Son, Jesus Christ, throughout all of scriptures. And so we see that Jesus, who is our guarantee, it's not obedience to the law. It's not what you can do. It's not a health and wealth system. It's not a work system. It's nothing that you can do. In fact, it's already been done.

And so as the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ has already been done, we place our faith in the accomplished work of Christ. Jesus said, "It is finished." And so the Hebrews here are shrinking back into Judaism, which is a self-works system to try and earn. They're viewing the law incorrectly. They're not seeing the law as leading them to the Lord Jesus Christ. They have viewed the law from the Judaism lens of a self-works system. And boy, is the author working hard to keep them out of this.

And you may think, preacher, you're belaboring that point through the book of Hebrews. And I would say to you, on purpose, we slip back into our traditions all the time. And if we shrink back from Christ, we're no better than the audience here in the book of Hebrews. I'm just telling you, so many traditional lists. I mean, I know that you have heard that Baptists refer to change like this, huh? But yes, we should be changing and conforming to Christ. We really should be progressing in our faith. We should be not given to a perhaps human tradition, but the traditions that are found in the Word of God, which you're not perfect, I'm not perfect, nobody's perfect. We should continue to be being perfected. We should be given to change. We cannot be the same person as we were five years ago. There's no spiritual progression in your life. Evidence of truly being saved is that Christ is Lord and Him being Lord is something that makes it to where you are not going to stay the same. He's going to continue to refine and perfect you in your life.

Here, you're going to learn more. So your mind is going to change. For Christ through information like this. And so Hebrews chapter seven, it's all about Melchizedek revealing Christ. It's about Abraham's encounter with Melchizedek as recorded in Genesis chapter 14, 17 through 20. His name, Melchizedek, it means king of righteousness. Now who is the king? Well, Jesus is king. Jesus is Lord. Romans 9 says that we should confess Christ is Lord. He's king. He's master. Melchizedek is not only a man who was a king of righteousness, but he was also king of Salem, which that was perhaps the name prior to Jerusalem. And so he was king there, perhaps where Jerusalem is today, Jerusalem, king of Salem, which means king of peace.

So you ask yourself, who is the king of peace? Well, Ephesians 2:14 says that He being Jesus is our peace. He's our peace. And not to be at peace means that Jesus is not your king. And so we need the kingship of Christ at peace. But He's not only king, king of peace, king of righteousness, and also you need His imputed righteousness for salvation to be justified before a holy God, but also Melchizedek is a priest. Okay. Jesus is a priest forever. He reiterates this, the author reiterates the fact that Jesus is a priest forever.

And Hebrews 7:17, look with me if you would, Hebrews 7 verse 17, you are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. Now keep it in mind, Jesus is not of Melchizedek, like as if He belongs to Melchizedek. He is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. And then the author repeats this again, and the latter half of verse 21, the Lord will not change His mind, you are a priest forever. Thank the Lord that He is a personal priest, that He's tangible, that He not only is accessible, but also He's been there before. And so whatever we experience in life, He knows how to personally minister to you. He's a personal priest and He's a personal king.

Melchizedek did not have a genealogy as recorded here in chapter seven as well. Normally a priest would be able to be a priest because of the proof of his genealogy and that he was of the line of Aaron, a Levi. Now this was something that Melchizedek was not. Melchizedek predated the law. Melchizedek predated Moses. Melchizedek was before the giving of the law. And so Melchizedek being a type, being a priest, points to the priesthood of Jesus who was also before the law, before the institution of these things. And so Jesus was instituted by God as a priest. And this was prophesied in Psalm 110, you will be a priest forever.

Verse four, "And so Melchizedek was not a priest qualified by his genealogy and nor was Christ, but by God's personal installment." Psalm 110 verse four says, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."

Melchizedek did one other thing, not just who he was, but what he did pointed to Jesus being a prophet. Melchizedek ironically served bread and wine to Abraham, in which in 1 Corinthians 11, 24 to 25, symbolizes Jesus's body and Jesus's blood broken and spilt for those who would repent and believe by faith in the death and burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the inauguration of the New Covenant. And so Melchizedek being, like we have looked, a king, a priest, and also in a way, if you would see this bread and wine prophetically pointing towards the New Covenant, very interesting to think of that way. It seems that we could say that Melchizedek points to Jesus being a prophet, priest, and king, and then not only that, typologically points forward to all of these things in His life. So it's incredible. I think that this is worth our time to be able to in depth, especially the subject of typology and how fascinating it truly is.

Now, types in the Bible, they're not always known by the person who was a type, like Melchizedek. They're not always known by the people that are around the institution or the event or whatnot. The full disclosure of what the type reveals is not always known. It's very fascinating to think about this. And so, for example, Paul explains to the Corinthians that Israel is an example, a type in 1 Corinthians 10:6. Israel is an example. Israel was complaining in the Old Testament and God struck them, and poisonous snakes, I guess, bit them. And in John chapter 3, that also being a type pointing to Christ being lifted up. And so Moses had that bronze serpent lifted up, so the people by faith would look at that and see by faith and be healed.

I don't think that the people around Moses and the people that were bit by snakes put it all together, but I know one thing's for sure. Jesus explained it explicitly. Turn to John chapter 3. I want you to see it for yourself. In John chapter 3 verse 14, Jesus explicitly explains this type as having being pointed forward to Christ Himself being raised up. John chapter 3 verse 14, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." And so what I'm saying to you is that is typology. Jesus clarifies it. And it's interesting, it's very fascinating that unless Moses, through the divine inspiration of God, the illumination of God, saw this and taught this, they probably would not have known all of this. But boy is it such that the Hebrew listeners should look back and see this clearly and glorify Christ as King, prophet, priest, and king.

Look again in John 3, 14, "As Moses lifted up the serpent," this is a reference to Numbers chapter 21 verses 8 and 9, "As Moses lifted up the serpent, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." Now while you're in John chapter 3, may I impart to us just a little bit more truth for the sake of just knowing. Now let's continue in verse 15 and 16, "So that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life." Verse 16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

Oftentimes we are guilty of interpreting the implicit and not in light of the explicit. And what I mean by that is sometimes we can cherry pick a verse and read into it and understand in our own human limitations more than what it is saying. The reason why I bring up is because it's a common fallacy in typology. It's called allegory, allegorically looking into things. And if you kind of like look into it and picture what you think it could be, you are then dictating what the meaning is, and that's a fallacy. So we don't want to be given to reading into things, we want to exegetically know what the truth of the Bible says. And that is such, verse 16, is such an example of how we have done that by and large in Christendom.

But sound doctrine would say this, we need to interpret the implicit in light of the explicit. What I mean by that is we need to take unclear verses and interpret them in light of clear verses. And so this doctrine here in John 3:16 of those who would believe cannot usurp other clear scriptures in regards to sovereign salvation. And so we have to be exegetically faithful, not only in interpretation, but also in looking at types. I want to give you a couple other examples in regards to these things.

And to kind of finish up the information here on the serpent being lifted up, I think that Moses would have had divine insight on the fact that this would have been something that was being raised up, pointing to Christ being raised up. But God progressively reveals this type of truth through time in His own ways, in His own fashions. And we see it verified through the authority of Scripture, so other authors will speak to it clearly. So truth is being revealed through the epochs of time, through the centuries. Most likely the serpent was raised as a connection to Christ being raised as a mystery to those in Israel. And then Paul later in New Testament times would say, "I reveal to you a mystery." That's fascinating. Ephesians 3:3 says, "There was made known to me of a mystery." And this mystery is Jesus Christ. Ephesians 3:4 says, "The mystery of Christ." And so these foggy, shadow-like, mysterious things in the Old Testament become crystal clear in the New Testament for New Testament believers.

And obviously, if God granted them illumination and understanding, they could understand looking forward to the Messiah in the Old Testament days and believed by faith and be saved. That was their responsibility. But to the acute details would they have known? They could have known things that were prophesied of the cross. Isaiah 53 gives explicit details. These are wonderful things. But we as New Testament believers have the luxury and the benefit to be able to put all of these things together theologically and see a full picture. It's not ambiguous to us. It's not unclear to us. We can see these things and praise God.

Obviously, in John chapter 3, the apostle John, whom God gave clear insight regarding the bronze serpent typologically, pointing to the cross, was clarified. Numbers chapter 21 verses 8 to 9 is where Moses and the Israelites saw the bronze serpent and looked by faith and were healed. Now, just as Melchizedek is typologically revealed to the author, or to the author, and for the hearers in Hebrews, so has been to the apostle John, to the hearers there. And so now you see a authorial intent. You see the line going this way through Scripture. We're going to find out the author is saying to the audience, and that's where truth is.

The error in typology, the error in hermeneutics or interpretation, is doing that reader response method. Reading so quickly, I'm going to message from God today. Read, read, and read until something hits you in the face or penetrates your heart. Sometimes we can error in truth by seeing it in the first person. You're not the intended audience. The intended audience, like for the book of James, is those in Jerusalem. The intended audience for the gospel of Matthew being a Jew are Jews. The intended audience for the book of Hebrews, pretty obvious, it's the Hebrews. And once you interpret rightly from the author to the intended audience, now you have ascertained truth. And that truth is sustaining and not fleeting.

Oftentimes we look for fleeting inspiration. It's kind of like sugar, give me a word for the day, a word for the day, a word for the day type thing. I would want us to be grounded and rooted in Christ because those types of truths are like a foundation stone. Those types of truths will keep you through the storms. Not only is Moses lifting up the serpent and wilderness a type, but just to kind of prove the point, I would like for you to think with me through the temple as being a type. The temple is definitely a type.

Hebrews chapter 9 verse 8. Turn there with me if you would. I want you to see this for sure, to be convinced of this study called typology. Hebrews 9:8 and 9. Hebrews 9:8. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the Holy Place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle, okay, is the point. The tabernacle is still standing, which is a what? It's a symbol. So the tabernacle was a symbol. And now you think through the sands of time, so to speak. The tabernacle was a tent and it was to be understood typologically from our New Testament believers.

And I want to prove it to you. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 21. Ephesians 2, 21 and 22. It's important to see these connections as God progressively reveals truth more and more clearly through time. In Ephesians 2, 21, it says, "In whom the whole building being lifted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." And so no longer is there a tent, a tabernacle in the Old Testament wilderness experience, right? And no longer is there a fully built temple in Jerusalem, but there is a fully built temple, you, a temple, a dwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Christ is revealed through these types and how you could know and experience Him.

Think of this, Moses in approximately 1450 BC for 40 years or so was interacting and worshiping face to face with God even in the temple, okay, in the tent, all right? And then as time would progress in 536 BC, Zerubbabel rebuilt or king Herod rebuilt a second temple and this is a building so it's moving from a tent to a building, all right? So there's progression here. And then Paul after the death and burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in the birth of the church now says that the temple is your body.

And so as you see the progression of this term, this type, a temple unfolding through time, just know that this is for you to know Christ deeper and better and what you hold in your hands, the holy scriptures is to be studied. It's to be loved. This is God fully disclosing Himself to His people. And so dusty Bibles are, to have a dusty Bible is sin, to ignore God is sin, to not understand these things which He has disclosed to you is not right. And so we really, understand this as God has intended for us to understand Him more and more and more.

The gradual and manifold means which God chooses to reveal Himself to humanity over centuries, it speaks to intentionality of God wanting to know you and you to know Him. It speaks as well of His immensity. The doctrine of God's immensity is immense. It is fascinating. The psalmist prayed like this Psalm 119 verse 73, "Give me understanding for this immense indescribable God."

The psalmist David said, "Give me understanding. Help me to know You." Paul prayed and asked God, "Help me to know You." So did Moses, asked God, "Help me to know You." Well, God cannot be explained fully. God cannot be fully known. God cannot be contained. The measure of all of space cannot contain God. This is to speak of His unspeakableness. We can't use all of the words and all of the languages that's ever been to come close to explaining the immensity of all of who God is. And yet we have a self-disclosed document, documents, these books telling us about this wonderful God. He's beyond boundaries. His essence is limitless. He's infinite. He's unchangeable. And as you reflect upon the doctrine of the immensity of God, it causes you then to worship Him in truth and in spirit. Acts 17:28 says, "In Him we live and move and have our being."

This is truth that in my opinion is ineffable. This is so great that it is overwhelming and beyond explanation. When we think of the immensity of God and His grandness and His greatness, all we can do is dip our finger in an ocean of truth. To put our hands on Him and His Word is just simply to understand a speck of who God is. The doctrine of God's immensity humbles humanity and lifts up the greatness of God, which is the exact opposite of what's going on in most pseudo-churches today. It's to lift up man and reduce God. So for us to be able to reflect upon such like this typology in Melchizedek, to reveal Christ, this is God's means, God's ways to be able to reveal Himself to you so that our finite minds can help to understand some of His infiniteness. And this is tremendous. So it is one way to get to know Him. It's truly considerate of God to disclose Himself gradually to humanity over the centuries.

And so you see Melchizedek in Genesis chapter 14, 2000 BC, let's say. And then you see Melchizedek pop up again through the psalmist David in Psalms 110 at being 1000 BC. And then you see centuries go by again until the Hebrew author brings up Melchizedek. And so you see God's gradual and considerate way of revealing Himself and His immensity to humanity. We need to ponder as to why God does that. It's because we can't we can't comprehend all of who God is. It takes a very considerate God in knowing our limitations to reveal Himself to us so that we can absorb Him.

I'm telling you, "hesed" being the original word, I believe for glory or holiness, brings you underneath the weightiness of God. The immensity of Him helps you to understand how much you are not and how much He is. And when you bask in His glory, and by the way, God told Job to be still and know that I am God. When I think about Job being told to be still, I think of our busy lives. And I think of how perhaps Job did not have cell phone, internet, emails, everything just penetrating his life to try and keep his mind busy and his thinking and desiring other things, how distracted we live as our lives. But yet God told Job, I mean seriously, have you ever done a little experiment and been without your cell phone for a week and without emails for a week without media, without television for a week? We are so warped by these things today. I challenge you to go for a week without media, without television, without your cell phone and bask in His glory.

And even with that stillness over the long period of time, I mean who of us really would dedicate our whole vacation of being still before the Lord and studying His word? But yet Job, able to do this without all the distractions that we was told by God to be still, even in the stillness that Job had, he still was told to know. This is immense. Types in the Bible reveal Christ. It increases over time. And I'm so thankful for this idea of typology. I think that it's going to continue to reveal more and more and more truth.

When it comes to approaching God's word with reverence, think of the Hebrew scribes known as the soferim and how reverent they were in approaching God in His word. They had reverent rigorous rituals before they would write the word Yahweh. They would bathe and go through a ceremonial cleansing so to speak before they would even write the word Yahweh. The reverence is what I'm getting at. Not that you have to take a bath before you read the Bible or write the word Yahweh. What I'm pushing toward is our coming underneath the immensity of who God is. It's revealed to us through these types. And so Jesus is King. If you're taking notes, Jesus is King. And I ask you, is He your King? He has all authority. Matthew 28:18 says, authority has been given to me. So Christ has absolute authority. His rule and rulings must then rule our hearts. And Colossians chapter 3 and verse 15 says that Christ must rule our hearts. He makes the rulings. If you are living underneath the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ, then as you delight yourself in the Lord, He gives you the desires of your heart. That is the ruling He has given you. And that is how you proceed in the peace of God. That's how you make decisions as you're seeking the Lord with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And as you're praying and yielding to His lordship, has He given you a complete peace about these things? Colossians 3:15, Christ produces the peace in our heart. He must be Lord of our hearts.

And as at the same time, I want you to turn to 1 Peter chapter 3 and see this. We can't fear man. We must fear God and make Him or sanctify Him as Lord of our hearts so that we have this true peace. In 1 Peter chapter 3, this is fantastic information in regards to how to live in today's world as Christ as our King. 1 Peter 3:13, who was there to harm you if you proved zealous for what is good? Well, the answer is plenty of people. There's plenty who would persecute you. There's plenty who would harm you. Yeah, there's plenty, right?

But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. So here's a different view of suffering than most have. Even if you do suffer because you're a Christian, you're blessed. This is a different view. So it's almost like, bring it on. I'm going to be a Christian. I'm going to live out loud despite the consequences. They do not scare me. And it says right here, "And do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled." And so grab on to those emotions and tell your heart, stop being filled with anxiety. Stop being troubled by accusers. Stop being troubled by persecutors. Christ is my King of peace. He is, according to typology, looking through the life of Melchizedek, the King of peace.

Now here's your responsibility in verse 15, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Seriously, if you picture your heart right here, or you want to die and draw a diagram on your paper, draw a heart, now right at the center of the heart or over top of that heart, where is your affection? What are they? And if the things that you aspire for and that you long for and that you desire for point to Jesus, then you have sanctified Christ as Lord of your heart. But if you move Christ off to the side, so to speak, and you start fearing man and that starts making your heart pound, or if your heart starts beating for the things of this world, Christ is no longer being sanctified or set aside as Lord of your hearts. He is not Lord of your hearts. He's not King, the King of peace, the King of righteousness. And so right here it says sanctify Christ as Lord of your hearts, always being ready to make a defense. We look at second, or first Peter 3:15 for the apologetic nature, but before apologetics in this verse, there is a lordship and you're part of yielding to the lordship of Christ produces peace, no matter what the circumstances might be. So do not fear man's intimidation, period, whether it's a king, whether it's a president, whether it's a governor, there's a boyfriend or husband.

And this also goes for the other way with gender as well. Men, there are men out there who have been abused by women before. You need to make Christ Lord is your life and not fear. This is important for us to live as Christ as King in our life. It's just one aspect of Jesus being King, but He's also priest. Jesus is priest. And I want you to lean upon this guarantee back in Hebrews chapter seven and verse 22, He's the guarantee of a better covenant. And as a personal priest, we have a priest of the most high God that is a priest continually. Verse three, you are a priest forever continually. Verse 17, you're a priest forever. Verse 24, He holds this priesthood permanently. Priest then of the Levitical nature could not hold the priesthood permanently because they were given to humanity's death rate. Everyone dies, but Jesus being eternal is a priest forever.

Now the result then is that you lean upon Jesus as a guarantee. You know this, you have a priest who ministers and intercedes for you. He prays for you. He ministers for you. You lean upon that. When you need, you lean. Jesus has a ministry, a priestly ministry forever that's personal and real to His people. Lean upon that. Lean upon Him, not only as one who can minister to you in the days of your need, but lean upon Him as your surety, as the guarantee, as the one who has given Himself on the altar and been crucified so that you can be saved and to continue in sanctification and one day reach glorification. He's your surety. He's your guarantee. Lean upon that. Walk in confidence in Christ and say, "He's my guarantee." And whenever you truly understand the priesthood, then you are. Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart." And lean not on your own understanding. Lean upon this fully trust Christ who is our personal priest. He doesn't grow weary from His ministry. He is dependable because of all He is. He is forever. And He is the greatest.

Here in the text you see that the greater blesses, the lesser, and that is pointing to Christ as the greater one. So you have this guarantee. Not only do you have this guarantee through typology pointed to Christ through Melchizedek, but you have this through and through and through, through God's Word. So lean upon this guarantee. The new covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ is a promise, is a covenant that you are in. And Christ is this guarantee. And He is able. He is truly able. Look in verse 25. Hebrews 7:25 says, "Therefore He is able. He is capable of ministering to you where your need is." Oftentimes when we have a problem, we do not truly yield that area to His lordship as king, nor do we yield that area to His priestly ministry. You're not transparent enough in your prayers with Christ and saying, "If You don't do it, it's not going to get done." We kind of take it into our own human efforts, just like Judaism, just like Catholicism, just like Buddhism, just like Hinduism, just like all of the other isms. We act like we're an ism rather than a Christian in regards to keeping our problems to ourself and not yielding to the priestly and kingly work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In verse 25, He's able to save. Do some of you struggle with eternal security in your salvation? Look at the text. He's able to save forever those who draw close to Him. And according to the golden chain of redemption in Romans chapter 8, verse 28 and 29 and 30, we see that not only is Christ able forever, but He continues to produce in you, which is inseparably connected to salvation, the sanctification of your life, and ultimately glorification. These things are inseparably connected. This is the work of Jesus on His own. Lean upon His work. Trust in Christ Jesus. Lean upon His priesthood. So He's praying, He's holy, He's innocent, He's undefiled, He's separated, He's priest, He's king, He's on the throne. This is our Lord Jesus. He is able to do all of these wonderful, significant things.

Jeremiah pointed to Him, Isaiah pointed to Him, all of these references in the Old Testament as He being peace, Christ our peace. Isaiah 53:5, the people of God have peace through Jesus. And then as well, He is a king of peace. Isaiah 32:17. All these Old Testament references. Before the sake of time, let me skip to this point of conviction. The dissenting Hebrews, they have been reached out by the author of Hebrews through God. Okay? They have this typology of Melchizedek given to them. They've been reached through seeing Jesus as prophet, priest, and king. They've been reached by prophecy, Psalms 110 verse 4 pointing and predicting Christ through the life of Melchizedek. They've been reached by their own Levitical priesthood and seeing the insufficiencies and the failures of it and now being fully fulfilled in the worship of, in the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they've been reached by appealing to the facts of their own father Abraham. There's a lot in chapter 7 and there's more than what I've just mentioned. They've been reached to and they're being pulled back into the centrality and the beauties and the wonders and the immensities of Christ.

Today, you've been reached out to. You've heard the same truths. You've been reassured of Scripture's infallibility in that the prophecy of Melchizedek's typology did not fail. You've been reassured that this word is true through and through. You've been reached out to by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ through who offers you peace and offers you righteousness. You've been reasoned with by the perfect guarantee of Christ's priestly ministry and work. He does this continually and perfectly and greatly and assuredly and eternally. You've been reached out to. You've been told also of His ability. How do you reject this outreach of Christ? How would you reject Him? How would you go away from today's content and reject Jesus? I'll tell you by not drawing closer to Christ. By continuing in sin, refusing to repent and refusing salvation in Christ alone.

You could reject Jesus by not believing guarantee and worrying. That's rejecting Jesus. Worrying is rejecting. And then you also can refuse to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but choose things of the world. You can also lean upon your own ability and not the ability of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can refuse to yield to the perfect for your life. You know that He's prayed for you in these areas and you know that He longs for you to repent and run to Him, but you can refuse Him. So I would say in regards to like anxiety, if you want to pick one area, anxiety is like looking at what insects do to a home. Anxiety is like insects that get into the personal spaces of who you are, the privacy, start biting and they start scratching and they start swarming. To displace these things that Christ wants to see you yield to Him instead of them. I would say Ephesians 2:14 says He is our peace. He is our peace.

So take on truth number one. Be at peace. Be at peace. This is your inner being. This is your thinking. This is your feeling and this is your doing. As you're living life, be at peace because God is God. He's on the throne. He's ministering. He's praying. He is king. He is king of peace. He's king of righteousness. He's Lord of Lords, king of Kings. So be at peace. Sanctify Christ as Lord of your hearts. So does your heart reflect Him as king of peace? The condition of your raging emotions or your busy mind, does that reflect the lordship of our king of peace? If your heart and your mind are racing and beating out of control, let's just go to John chapter 14 verse 1.

This is a matter of personal responsibility. Before I say it, I want you to see it. John 14:1, for Christ to be Lord and you not to be overcome with anxiety. Hey, I get it. But I do want you to see as well the things that happen in Scripture are for us as examples. Like for example, Gideon's battle. He was so outnumbered. If there was ever a time where you'd be worried and filled with anxiety, right? But at the same time, John 14:1 says this. What does it say? Do not let your heart be troubled. What is the attitude for anxiety? It says right here, believe in God. Believe also in Me. Believe. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Be at peace. Be at peace. If you have not got this mastered, I implore you to make this the aim of your life. If anxiety is driving you, then it's Lord and Christ is not Lord. If worry and fret, if you're biting your fingernails off, if Christ is not the king of peace in your life, this is your priority. I don't care if it takes you a week or a month or a year to master your thoughts, to master your emotions and yield what you say and think to the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. If it's not right to say it, don't say it. If it's not right to think it, don't think it. Take your thoughts captive, the Bible says. Bring yourself underneath the Lordship of Jesus who is the king of peace. He's on the throne and He dispenses peace. Is He your king?

Take home truth number one is to be at peace. Take home truth number two and I close with this. Choose to draw near or you'll drift back. Choose, seriously, to draw near to Christ or the natural result is that you will drift back. In Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 25 it says, "Therefore He is able to say forever those who draw near to Him." Draw near, James said to those in Jerusalem. In James 4:8, "If you draw close to God, He will draw close to you." God honors your effort in drawing closer to Him. So do whatever it takes. Remove food and fast. Remove entertainment and pray. Write down what you should think instead of reacting. Do whatever it takes to work out your own salvation in these areas because Jesus is not only king of righteousness, the justifier of your the Savior, but He is also king of peace and how we live before Him. Peace being both justification before a holy God who is wrathful and how we interact and love Him.

As we continue to unfold Hebrews chapter 7, I encourage you as well to continue to extract the truth from this text because it is rich and wonderful and deep. Be careful with typology. There's a lot of misinformation and it's given to allegory and such. The same as numerology as the field that people just run off to the races and they find things all over the Bible with the numbers. Let me just give you the ludicrous of numerology. As if they would look into the chapters and the verses and see divine truth. Well, were the chapters and verses there a part of the original documents? Yeah, so anyway, we'll rest our case there. Be careful with typology. See what the Bible says in regards to these types. It's forward pointing to Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together. Lord, thank You for opportunity to come before You and just to feast upon portions of Your word in chapter 7. I pray that You will continue to edify us, to grow us, to stretch us, to help us to see Jesus for all that He is. God, I pray that You would expand our capacity to know You. May we know the depth and the breadth and the width of who You are. Fill us, dear God, to overflowing, I pray. Help us, dear God, to live according to Your lordship, Your kingship, to yield to Your priestly ministry, to be ones who know You better through looking at fulfilled prophecy and typology in the Bible. Help us to live this way. Help us not to be given to intellectualism where we just know these things, but do not live them out. Help us to be a faithful people who truly knows You and our hearts be for You.

Lord, if there's anyone here whom You have not saved yet, would You grant them the ability to repent of their sin and to confess You as Lord and Savior? Give them a new heart, dear God, and allow these wonderful truths. Lord, for the one who has been saved, You illuminate the truth of Your word to them, and You make this invigorating. You make the word so powerful in our lives, and it's so much better than anything in the world. There's nothing better than Bible study. Help us as Christians to be a people of Your book, of Your word, who dive into these things and love and cherish You, to live out. Lord, I really do pray deeply and immensely and earnestly for the fathers to study Your word here. Would they do that, Lord? Would You grant them the desire and the time each week to dive into Your word? As well, I praise You for those who are. And I pray as well, Lord, for the mothers, that they would be seen by their children as ones whom have their Bible open all the time, truly studying who You are, because they need You, and they know if they do it in the flesh, they'll mess it up. But if they're led by You, if they've put You first, if they've sought You first, if they studied Your word, and they have something to say that is so overwhelmingly awesome about You and Your word, that they'll continue to be conformed into Your image. And I pray as well for the children and the youth here, dear God, that they would not get wrapped up in the busyness life, especially here in central Florida with the theme parks and the endless amounts of work and overtime that is offered. Lord, let us not make entertainment and employment, Lord, of our life, but let's sanctify You as Lord to live at peace, to be content with what we have, to work and depend upon You, and believe by faith that even making less money because we work less hours to dedicate more time to You, that You will, in fact, bless us like You have blessed Abraham greatly. You will multiply things that we could multiply. You'll preserve things that only You can preserve. You will help us in ways that we could not be helped. So many wonderful things, Lord, thank You for that. I pray that You continue to bless our families, to be able to study Your life. In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.