The Priest You Can Trust Forever | Carlos Velez | Calvary Church

Today is actually our ninth anniversary

of our Quakertown campus starting.

Yeah.

And I was think I was thinking back uh

to some of the memories we had. I was

thinking back to when we started and one

of the things that we did when we

started is we had a pizza bowl and what

we meant by that is we got pizza from

every single place in Quakertown.

We we said it was from Domino's to

Dominics is what we used to say.

And as I was thinking about that, I was

thinking about a conversation that I had

with my kids recently

in regards to pizza. Uh it was a few

weeks ago. Uh one of my kids uh said

they were at the table and they posed

the question. They said, "What is the

best what is the best pizza topping?"

And I didn't skip a beat. I I

immediately I said, "Peparoni.

Pepperoni is the best." And they're

like, "Pepperon, why is pepperoni the

best?" I was like, "Because it's the

best. Everyone knows it's the best." And

then one of my kids was like, "Well,

what about black olives?"

What about black olives?

I'm like, I mean, I like black olives. I

like black olives on pizza, but I mean,

we're talking about the best here. I

mean, maybe if you came at me with like

Italian sausage, I might talk to you.

But I'm like, pepper. And then another

kid was like, well, what about

pineapple? I'm like, what is even

happening right now?

And I said, look, pepperoni is the best.

Why? Because it's the best. Everyone

knows. up that what was I doing in that

moment?

I was expressing my preference, right? I

was making a preference statement.

I was saying pepperoni is the best. It's

better than any other topping

because I like it. That's the reason

we're in a series on the book of Hebrews

and the author in the book of Hebrews is

constantly telling us about how Jesus is

better than any substitute. He's better

than any anything else.

But the author of Hebrews doesn't do

what I did. He's not making a statement

of preference. He's not saying Jesus is

better because I just like him better.

The author of Hebrews does not make a

preference statement. He makes over and

over a proof statement. He goes into the

Old Testament and he looks at different

accounts. He looks at different

characters and and and he begins to

examine them and provide proof through

scripture of why Jesus is superior to

any of these substitutes.

And today we're going to go into a

passage in Hebrews chapter 7 where we're

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

going to learn about a a lesserk known

character in the Bible, but a very

important character. This is the

character of the King MelkiseDC.

And before we go into that, I just need

to warn you.

There's a lot in this chapter and we're

going to be covering a lot. So if you

fall asleep, I will call you out in

front of everybody. No, that's all. I

won't do that. But there is a lot in

this chapter. So, in advance, I want to

tell you what you need to walk away

from. Here's the big idea. The big idea

of Hebrews chapter 7 is this. Because

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

Jesus is the promised priest, king, we

have permanent access and lasting

confidence before God. Okay?

Because Jesus is the promised priest

king, we have permanent access and

lasting confidence before God.

Okay. So, we're going to jump into

Hebrews 7. But before we jump into

Hebrews 7, here's what we're going to

learn from the first part.

What the author of Hebrews is doing is

he begins to make a contrast be between

the Levitical priesthood and another

priesthood that we're going to learn

about. And what he begins to tell us is

this. A greater priest was always

coming. A greater priest was always

coming. As you look at the totality of

the story of the Bible, as we look at uh

we just did a series on looking at the

story of the whole Bible, what is

revealed early on is that a greater

priest was always coming. So, if you

have a Bible, turn to Hebrews chapter 7.

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 7. If you don't have a

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

Bible, uh you can take one of the ones

in the seat racks here. Uh if you don't

own one, take it home. It's our gift to

you. We believe that the Bible is filled

with life-changing truth, and we want

you to have access to that truth. If

you're using the Bibles here, turn to

page 820.

All right. Hebrews chapter 7, beginning

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

at verse one.

This Melkchisedc

was king of Salem and priest of God most

high.

He met Abraham returning from the defeat

of the kings and blessed him. And

Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.

First the name MelkiseDC means king of

righteousness.

Then also king of Salem means king of

peace.

Without father or mother, without

genealogy, without beginning of days or

end of life, resembling the son of God,

he remains a priest forever.

Just think how great he was. Even the

patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of

the plunder.

Now the law requires the descendants of

Levi who become priests to collect

attent from the people that is from

their fellow Israelites even though they

also are descended from Abraham.

This man however did not trace his

descent from Levi yet he collected a

tenth from Abraham and blessed him who

had the promises. And without doubt the

lesser is blessed by the greater. In the

one case the tenth is collected by

people who die but in the other case by

him who is declared to be living. One

might even say that Levi who collects

the tenth paid the tenth through Abraham

because when MelkiseDC met Abraham, Levi

was still in the body of his ancestor.

Simple,

super easy. Now, actually, there's a lot

this is actually a very difficult

passage and so we're going to go through

it slowly. Okay.

What the author is doing is he's

providing a discourse about how the

order of Melkchisedc

is a greater order than the Levitical

priests.

Now, who's MelkiseDC?

We've actually heard about him in this

series before. The author brought him up

last week when we looked at chapter 6.

Uh Charles also talked about him in

chapter 5. The author has brought up

this name before. Melkisedc occurs three

times in the Bible. He occurs in the

book of Hebrews. He occurs once in the

book of Psalms. And he occurs in Genesis

Genesis 14 · chapter mention

chapter 14.

And what we'll learn as we take a look

at Melkisedc is that there's three

things that we need to focus on that the

author of Hebrews is looking at in

regards to why Melkisedc

is better. Why the priesthood of

MelkiseDC is better. These three things

are MelkiseDC's role,

his actions, and his lineage.

Okay. So Abraham goes out and he goes

out to battle to rescue one of his

relatives, Lot. And when he comes back,

he meets this guy Melkisedc.

Melkisedc is the king of Salem and he's

also the high priest to God.

Now, if you were a Jewish reader reading

the book of Hebrews, you would have

known that. But you would also know that

this is unheard of.

This is huge.

What you need to understand is that in

Israel during the Old Testament,

the kings were one role and the priests

were another role.

Kings came from the tribe of Judah.

priests came from the tribe of Levi.

The roles were never meant to combine.

In fact, some kings in the Old Testament

actually tried to take on priestly roles

and they they got serious consequences

for those actions. Those roles were

meant to be separated.

You see, kings

represented God to the people

and priests represented the people to

God.

You see that kings represented God to

the people and priests represented the

people to God. They were the mediators.

And actually the name Melkisedc as we

see in Hebrews actually kind of

accentuates those roles as well. What

what do we see in there? see in the his

name and his title, King of Salem, that

we see this this this attribute of

righteousness and this attribute of

peace. And both of those were attributes

that were held with the king and then

with the priest. And there was no one

person who held both of those things

because no sinful person could carry out

both roles.

But Melkisedc Mkisedc does.

His role is different

and his action is different. His action

is very important. What does he do?

He blesses Abraham.

And what do we find out in the book of

Hebrews? What does it say? We need to

understand this that according to this

author, the greater always blesses the

lesser.

So what is he saying?

In the dynamic between Abraham and

MelkiseDC, Melkchisedc is the greater.

So that means that Melkisedc's

priesthood is greater than the

priesthood that comes from Abraham's

descendant Levi.

And is exhibited by Abraham giving 10%

of the plunder to him.

And then we get this crazy thing. He

says, and and the author is like, well,

one could argue that even Levi gave that

pl that 10% to Melkisedc. Why? Because

even though he wasn't born, his DNA was

in his ancestor Abraham.

We got a better role in MelkiseDC. We

got better actions. The actions point to

him being better.

And even there's a better lineage.

What does it say in the story? If you

were to read that, if you read Genesis,

if you would read Hebrews,

we have no clue who Melkisedc's

ancestors are. We don't know his father.

We don't know his mother. We don't know

anything about his beginning. He just

enters into the story.

We know nothing about his death.

Now, before we go on, MelkiseDc was a

normal person.

He actually lived and he was born and he

actually died at some point.

But in the story, his character is not

given a beginning or the end because

what's happening is God as he writes his

story, as he orchestrates it, he's

pointing to a lasting priesthood,

to an everlasting priesthood. And what

happens is what we need to understand is

by God introducing

Melkisedc into the story, God introduced

a greater priesthood

long before he ever gave the law.

Long before the law was given, God

introduces a greater priesthood.

And so what we need to understand is

that MelkiseDC

is not the fulfillment

of this priesthood. He's the preview.

He's the preview.

We said as we we've said this multiple

times, but we said actually as we did

the stories that the Bible consistently

is pointing to Jesus. Consistently

pointing to Jesus. The whole point and

purpose of the Bible is Jesus.

And MelkiseDC is a preview

to the lasting king priest. Only Jesus

can carry out the roles of king and

priest simultaneously, perfectly, and

eternally. So MelkiseDC is a preview. In

fact, this is a side note. This is

bonus. Okay, bonus material. They're

going to cut it out in like the

director's cut or something.

If you were to read Genesis 14, this I I

find this fascinating.

When you read about MelkiseDC,

he brings something to Abraham,

you know what he brings?

Bread and wine.

Bread and wine. The very thing that

Jesus gives during the last supper, the

very thing that we celebrate during

communion.

Bread and wine. It just it just the

story when you read it just completely

is saturated with pictures and previews

of Jesus. And it's fascinating.

But as we do that, as we learned about

Melkisedc and as we learned that there

was a greater priesthood,

we're left with a question. And the

author of Hebrews is going to ask it in

just a little bit. But the question is

why? Why do we need another priesthood?

Why why do we need another priesthood

outside of the Levitical priesthood? Why

is that necessary?

Well,

what we need to understand

is that there is a reason that he

unpacked. So, if you have your Bible,

uh, we're going to turn back to chapter

7. But what you need to understand is

this.

The reason we needed another priesthood

is because the old way couldn't finish

the job.

The old way couldn't finish the job.

Let's look into this starting at verse

11.

If perfection could have been attained

through the Levitical priesthood, and

indeed the law given to the people

established that priesthood,

why was there still need for another

priest to come? One in the order of

MelkiseDC, not in the order of Aaron.

For when the priesthood is changed, the

law must be changed also.

He on whom these things are said belong

to a different tribe, and no one from

that tribe has ever served at the altar.

For it is clear that our Lord descended

from Judah in regard to that tribe.

Moses said nothing about priests.

And what we have said is even more clear

if another priest like Melkisedc

appears. One who has become a priest not

on the basis of a regulation as to his

ancestry but on the basis of the power

of an indestructible life. For it is

declared, "You are a priest forever in

the order of MelkiseDC."

The former regulation is set aside

because it was weak and useless. for the

law made nothing perfect and a better

hope is introduced by which we draw near

to God.

Now, if you're reading along

and you get to that point of you are a

priest forever in the order of

MelkiseDC, you'll notice that it has

quotation marks. It's a quote. What the

author of Hebrews is doing is he's

quoting a psalm. He's quoting Psalm 110.

Let's take a look at Psalm 110.

Psalm 110 says this, "The Lord says to

my Lord," sit at my right hand until I

make your enemies a foottool for your

feet. The Lord will extend your mighty

scepter from Zion, saying, "Rule in the

midst of your enemies. Your troops will

be willing on your day of battle, array

in holy splendor.

Your young men will come to you like dw

from the morning's womb.

The Lord has sworn and will not change

his mind. You are priests forever in the

order of Melkisedc. The Lord is at your

right hand. He will crush kings on the

day of his wrath. He will judge the

nations, heaping up the dead and

crushing the rulers of the whole earth.

He will drink from a brook along the

way. And so he will lift his head high.

This psalm is a is a promise. It's a

it's a prophecy. It it's pointing

towards the Messiah

and it points to this king.

And then it points to not just a king

but a priest that this king would be a

priest.

A priest in the order of Melkisedc.

And what the author of Hebrews does

by alluding to this psalm and by

pointing it out, he offers us a

question.

Why is a different priesthood promised

in Psalm 110?

Why is it promised?

And so the author of Hebrews gives us an

answer in verse 19. What does he say?

For the law

made nothing

perfect.

For the law made nothing perfect.

Let's talk about what perfection means.

When we read it in this chapter, what

perfection means is not uh like we have

uh a a perfect attendance award that we

actually did something to earn that

perfection. No, what perfection means it

means full access to God.

It means a cleansed conscience.

It means completed mediation.

And what we need to understand is that

that was not able to be provided by the

Levitical priesthood.

The priesthood of the Old Testament,

the Old Covenant was good. He's not

saying it's not that it was bad. It was

good,

but it was provisional.

It was provisional.

It could guide worship,

but it could not perfect the worshipper.

It could cover sin

with its sacrifices. It could cover sin,

but it couldn't remove sin.

It could bring a structured approach to

God,

but it could not secure access to God.

A different priesthood was needed.

And and what we need to understand is

that when we see a different priesthood,

when we see a new priesthood, something

else is happening there as well. And the

author of Hebrews tells us and it's huge

and we can't miss it. What he's saying

is

is that a new priesthood

brings a covenantal shift. There's a new

covenant.

Jesus brings about a new covenant.

And and then it's huge because he he

starts to talk about how this covenant

and this priesthood is established by

Jesus.

Again,

he reminds us in the verses, what does

he remind us? Jesus is from the tribe of

Judah.

And he's saying that that is huge

because his priesthood is of a different

order. And it's based on something

different. Again, look at verse 16. What

does it say?

One who has become a priest not on the

basis of a regulation as to his

ancestry. Okay. How did priests become

priests?

They had to be from the tribe of Levi.

You had the right ancestors. You had the

right uh you had the right to become a

priest. And so it was a regulation based

on your ancestry. But he says that

that's not the case with Jesus. What is

the case?

but on the basis of the power of an

indestructible

life.

Jesus's priesthood was based on the

power of an indestructible life.

There's one thing in common with all the

priests of uh the Levitical priests from

the descendants of Levi. Okay? They all

had something in common. You ready?

Here's what they had in common. They

died.

Just like every human being, they died.

They died.

Jesus

conquered death in his resurrection.

While the Levitical priests all die,

Jesus conquers death in his

resurrection. Why is that important?

The priest is your mediator between you

and God.

If your mediator can die, your hope can

disappear.

If your mediator can die, your hope can

disappear.

Same with the priests. If they died,

they are no longer the mediator. Another

substitute has to take its place. And it

was this cycle of another substitute. If

your mediator can die, your hope can

disappear. Ah,

but because Jesus our high priest lives

forever,

your access to God never ends.

Because Jesus, our high priest, lives

forever, your access to God never ends.

And Hebrews 7 continues to play out this

cont concept as we continue in the

chapter. If we were to go back and start

at verse 20,

and it was not without an oath.

Others became priests without any oath.

But he became a priest with an oath.

When God said to him, "The Lord has

sworn and will not change his mind. You

are a priest forever."

Because of this oath, Jesus has become

the guaranter of a better covenant.

Now, there have been many of the of

those priests since death prevented them

from continuing in office. But because

Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent

priesthood.

Therefore, he is able to save completely

those who come to God through him

because he always lives to intercede for

them. Such a high priest truly meets our

need. One who is holy, blameless, pure,

set apart from sinners, exalted above

the heavens. Unlike the other high

priests, he does not need to offer

sacrifices day after day. First for his

own sins and then for the sins of the

people. He sacrificed for their sins

once for all when he offered himself.

For the law appoints as high priests men

in all their weakness, but the oath

which came after the law appointed the

son who has been made perfect forever.

So what's going on there? What the

author of Hebrews is revealing to us is

this.

Jesus secures our forever access.

And so what does he tell us? We learn

that his priesthood

is appointed by oath.

When does that happen? It happens in

Psalm 110 which says the Lord has sworn.

And so Jesus is appointed by oath. He

fulfills the oath of God becoming. And

what he does is he becomes the

guaranteer guaranter of a better

covenant. When Jesus fulfills God's

oath, he becomes a guaranter of a better

covenant. What's a guaranter?

So, if you were to go and try to get a

loan

and you go to the bank and you say,

"I'd like to uh I'd like to borrow a

million dollars."

Okay. Uh you don't have a job. How are

you going to pay it back? Oh, I'm not

going to pay it back. I can't pay it

back. In fact, I'll probably take out

more debt. In fact, you already have a

lot of debt that I owe you already. Uh,

but you should lend me this money. Well,

why? You have no ability to pay the debt

that you want to take out. Oh, because

of this guy right next to me. You see

this guy right here paying that debt

back? No problem. And so, what he's

telling you is I'll pay the debt. He

He's going to pay the debt that I incur.

He's going to guarantee

what it costs,

what my debt costs.

We can never pay back the debt that our

sin brings.

And so, a new covenant had to be

established with a new guaranter,

someone who guaranteed that covenant.

And Jesus says,

"They're okay. I'm going to cover that

cost.

Jesus fulfills and perfects

his priestly mediation because he

ensures that a new covenant works

because of his sacrifice.

Our access to God doesn't rest on our

consistency of successful effort. It

rests on the work of Jesus and Jesus

alone.

And it's interesting as we go through

Hebrews, how does he act out in that

role of the guaranter?

Well, one of the things that we learn is

that his work is permanent.

There is no succession.

When we read in there, we read that the

priest would die and so another priest

had to take his place. And so that was

the thing is someone died and someone

would take their place.

Other

priests died but Jesus lives. So there

is never a need for a substitute or

replacement for Jesus. On top of that,

the permanent sacrifice that Jesus

offers is perfect. It's not just

permanent, it's perfect.

Jesus is sinless. What does it say in

that passage that the other priests they

had to offer a sacrifice for themselves

be before they can offer sacrifices for

others? because they had sin.

Jesus is sinless. So what does he do? He

offers himself

as the perfect sacrifice, the perfect

sacrifice.

Jesus never needed to make a sacrifice

for himself because he was perfect.

So he offers himself as the perfect

sacrifice once, fully and forever. It is

final.

Jesus is the eternal oathg guaranteed

perfect high priest who secures complete

and lasting access to God.

What we need to understand is this.

Hebrews chapter 7 isn't about MelkiseDC.

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

It's about Jesus. It's about Jesus. It's

about the confidence we now have because

of Jesus.

Because Jesus is the better priest, he

brings about a better covenant which

brings about better access which leads

to better hope.

There is no need for another priest.

Jesus is the perfect and final priest.

There is never a need for a replacement

or substitute.

Then why do I live at times

as if I need a substitute or

replacement?

Now I'm I'm I'm not saying I go back to

animal sacrifices. Don't I'm not doing

that.

But there are times in my life

that I take out

and act on as if I can be the role of my

own priest.

And I try to secure my standing with God

and my access to God by my own

performance or maybe by my knowledge or

by uh my my work in church or or

something like that. There's all sorts

of things,

but those are worthless

because Jesus

Jesus's priesthood is permanent.

It's permanent and it's perfect.

Which means that my standing with God

doesn't rise and fall like a roller

coaster during the week. Because I have

a perfect priest mediating on my behalf.

A perfect priest who is not surprised by

any of my sins, even the worst sins that

I could possibly commit.

And because of that, there's nothing I

could do that would cause me to require

a new mediator

because our mediator Jesus

is perfect and permanent.

So we can confess freely.

We can worship boldly and approach God

with gratitude.

Do you know why?

Because we do not approach God through a

fading system.

We come to him through a living priest.

A living priest.

And this living priest, Jesus, secures

our access forever because he lives.

And because he lives,

we can draw near to God

with lasting confidence.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for the access we

have

because of Jesus.

We thank you

that our access is not reliant on our

own efforts or our own

mediation but is reliant on Jesus our

high priest, our living eternal high

priest.

Help us to walk with confidence and

gratitude,

not arrogance and fear.

And we thank you for the work

of Jesus.

We thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus.

Help us to live with hearts that

resonate with that truth

that we have access to God, access to

you

because of our living high priest Jesus.

We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.