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Men, tonight I'm going to be preaching on the subject of Melchizedek. Melchizedek is a fascinating character in the Bible. He's only mentioned a few times, but he's very significant. And it starts back in Genesis, Chapter 14. So if you would, flip back to Genesis 14. We'll come back to Hebrews in a moment, but go back to Genesis 14. Melchizedek is only mentioned in two places in the Old Testament. He's mentioned in Genesis, Chapter 14, and then he's mentioned again in Psalm 110. And those are the only two places. And then Hebrews references those two events in the New Testament. So Genesis, Chapter 14, this is right after Abraham taking his troops and fighting to rescue Lot out of captivity when the four kings are fighting against the five kings, and all that happens in Chapter 14. And it says in verse 17, and the king of Sodom went out to meet him, meet Abraham, after his return from the slaughter of Kedorlaomer and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. And he was the priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. Now keep your finger there. Let's go to Hebrews, Chapter 7, and get the New Testament perspective on this story. We should always let the New Testament interpret the Old Testament for us. The greatest commentary on the Old Testament is the New Testament when it references Old Testament scriptures and explains them to us. So the Bible says in Hebrews, Chapter 7, verse 1, For this Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Now here's my question. If this were supposedly written in the Hebrew language, as some people erroneously believe, then why would the author have to translate these words for us? It's because the New Testament, including the book of Hebrews, is written in Greek. And so, because he's writing in Greek, he has to tell us, hey, here's what Melchizedek means. A Hebrew speaker would not need that to find for him, because it would be something that he could just see and understand. Same thing with saying that king of Salem means king of peace. These are things that are for us as English speakers or that Greek speakers would need to have explained unto them. And he gives us the Hebrew definition of what Melchizedek's name means. It means king of righteousness. That's what his name means. It says being by interpretation king of righteousness. And then it says after that also king of Salem, because it says Melchizedek the king of Salem. So he's the king of righteousness, and he's the king of peace. And it says, to whom also Abraham, verse 2, gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the son of God abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. Now, the reason that this is significant in verse 3 about him being without father, without mother, without descent, is that significant characters in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, are introduced to us by telling us where they come from, who is their parent, or what tribe are they of, or which nation do they come out of. Especially in the book of Genesis, that's a major theme. There are lots of genealogies and telling us where people came from. This guy just comes on the scene out of nowhere. Just he's Melchizedek, he's the king of Salem, he's the priest of the Most High God, without father, without mother, without descent, no beginning of days, no end of life, doesn't tell us how old he is, doesn't tell us when he was born, when he died. He's just there, just kind of the eternal priest of the Most High God that just comes out of nowhere, and he has bread and wine, which is symbolic of Christ coming and breaking bread and sharing the wine of the New Testament in his blood at the Last Supper. That's all foreshadowed with this amazing character in the Old Testament, Melchizedek, that just pops up out of nowhere. Now this place, Salem, is interesting because this is what would later become Jeru-Salem. Now Jerusalem is never mentioned in the first five books of the Bible, as I mentioned this morning. The closest thing to a mention of Jerusalem is Melchizedek, the king of Salem. So this is the place that would later, in the time of David, become Jerusalem, but at this time it's not. You see, when Abraham goes and offers Isaac his son upon one of the mountains of Moriah and to a specific place that God would show him in Genesis chapter 22, he's going to that same place, that same area that's going to become Jerusalem, and you don't get the feeling that there are people around. You don't get the feeling when you read Genesis 22 that there's a city there. You get the feeling that it's just Abraham taking Isaac up onto the mountain, and there's a solitude there when we read that story. Later on, there's going to be a city there called Jebus, and then David is going to come in and defeat that city and rename that city Jerusalem. It's going to be called the City of David, and that is going to become the place that the Lord chooses to place his name there. Because if you remember, in the law of God, the law of Moses, it states over and over again there's going to be a place that the Lord shall choose, but it never really tells you what that place is, just in the place that the Lord shall choose. And when you're in the books of the Judges and the book of 1 Samuel, they had the tabernacle pitched at various places. One of the places it was pitched out was Bethel. Another place it was pitched out was Shiloh. And so those were residences for the Ark of God, the tabernacle. But eventually, God chooses David to be the king, and God chooses the city of Jerusalem as the place to put his name there, and it becomes the permanent location of the temple. So Melchizedek is associated with that place, Salem. He's the king of Salem, and he's also the priest of the Most High God. We know that he's not a priest in some false religion, because he's the priest of the Most High God. There is but one Most High God. It's the true God, the creator of heaven and earth, or as it says here in Genesis 14, the possessor of heaven and earth. And he is the God of Abraham, because he's the one who delivered the enemies into Abraham's hands. Now, who is this Melchizedek? I believe that Melchizedek is an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. Now, other people are of the opinion that Melchizedek is just a man that represents or pictures or figures or is an allegory of Jesus Christ. And I can see where both sides of this are coming from. But the reason that I believe that Melchizedek was an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ is because if you get the context in the book of Hebrews, it keeps comparing Jesus unto other people or comparing him to angels, talking about how he's better than Moses, he's better than the angels. The same type of language here is used about Melchizedek when it says, consider how great this man was unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And it talks about how he was better than Abraham. Well, if he was greater than Abraham, he was a really great guy because Abraham was a great man. So if he was just some other guy that just pictures Jesus Christ, well, then he was certainly an amazing person. But if you study the book of Hebrews leading up to that point, I think that the context lends itself more that he was literally an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. And that wouldn't really surprise us that much because Jesus has appeared in the Old Testament and in other places in bodily form, like when he was in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or when he appeared to Abraham at the tent door in the heat of the day in Genesis 18. There are many examples of that throughout the Old Testament. And then you would take it literally when it says, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. If that is literal, that he had no beginning of days and no end of life, then he could be none other than Jesus Christ. So you'd have to take a figurative view of this in order to say that it was just a great man that pictures Jesus Christ. Now obviously when it says without father, we know that in the next breath it says that he's like the son of God. So obviously it's meaning without having an earthly father, without having a human father. I believe that what this is saying about Melchizedek is that he was not born into this world. When it says without father, without mother, no beginning of days, no end of life, what's being taught there is that he wasn't born into this world. He didn't have parents and a mother that gave birth to him, and he was a kid and he grew up. I believe that he just appeared on the scene as a grown man, just out of nowhere, no beginning of days, no end of life, and that he appeared unto Abraham, blessed Abraham, and received the tithes from Abraham. Now a lot of people today, they hate the doctrine of tithing. You hear a lot of people today just scream out against tithing and they attack churches that teach tithing and they attack pastors who receive a paycheck, that they're just these money-grubbing preachers and all this stuff. The Bible makes it pretty clear that the workman is worthy of his meat, that the laborer is worthy of his hire, and that God has ordained that they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel. And the Bible couldn't be clearer. There are so many examples. For example, Peter is specifically told to stop fishing. So people will say, oh, the apostles, they all worked a job. Really? Because Peter stopped fishing. John stopped fishing. Andrew stopped fishing. They stopped those things and they served the Lord full-time, and Jesus Christ himself was not doing carpentry work during his three and a half years of ministry because it talks about the people that followed him ministering unto him of their substance. So they were giving him money and things to keep him alive. Now, he didn't have fancy things. He didn't have fancy clothing and live high on the hog, but he had food and clothing that was provided to him as he preached and served full-time. And so did the apostles. And people will bring up the apostle Paul as a big example, but the apostle Paul was not a pastor, number one. Number two, the apostle Paul was not married, nor was Barnabas. And he stated that it was only he and Barnabas who worked secular jobs and that the rest of the apostles did not. He said, only Barnabas and I, are we the only ones who don't have the power to forbear working? And he talked about how all the rest of the apostles had wives. We know, of course, Peter's wife's mother laid sick of a fever. So we have the overwhelming example in the Bible of Jesus and the apostles, all the other apostles, that they had families, they had a wife, they had children, and they did not have outside jobs. They continually, the Bible says, spent their time on the ministry of the word and prayer. And the deacons were there to take other responsibilities off their plate, not so that they could go do their plumbing job, but so that they could serve the Lord effectively, full time. And so that's what the Bible teaches. But you have these people out there that want to attack that because they want church to be ineffective. They want us all to be meeting in a living room with just a couple of people, us four, no more, around the coffee table. They are of the devil because the devil doesn't want the church to exist the way that God intended it, with strong leadership, with people working full time, deacons working full time, pastors working full time, at the things of God, effectively reaching people with the Gospel and getting a lot of work done for the Lord. He would love for us to just be busy doing other things. And you say, well, be like Paul. Well, I can't be like Paul because I have 10 children, right? So that's a little different, isn't it? So it's too late for me to be like Paul because I got married and side with 10 children. But you know what? I'm glad I'm not like Paul because I'd rather be married and have 10 children. So to sit there and try to lift up Paul as my role model when I'm married with 10 children, the role models that I should be looking to as a pastor would be people like John and Peter and people like that that are in a similar situation to myself. Now, if you're a single guy who's just a zealous, sold out missionary that's just out there working for the Lord full time and you don't have any care for women or the things of this world, you're just going to be like another apostle Paul, then that's great. Then that's your hero. That's your role model. And follow him, OK? But to apply that to pastors is ridiculous and false doctrine. And it contradicts the Bible. Jesus taught his followers the opposite. Corinthians, even written by Paul himself, teaches the opposite, that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel. And so they hate tithing because, of course, tithing is where the money comes from for the church to operate, for the pastor to be paid, for other employees to be paid. So they fight against this doctrine of tithing. And it's really just because they don't want to tithe. And so they say, well, it's not biblical. But even deeper than that, it's not just that they don't want to tithe. It's that they actually don't even want to go to church. See, if you believe in tithing, you have to go to church because church is where you tithe. So if you're not going to go to church, if you're going to stay home from church, if you're going to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, then you have to have a non-tithing doctrine as well because otherwise, how do you justify not tithing? Well, because it's unscriptural. And here's what they'll say. Well, tithing was only ever for the Levites. It was only ever given to Levites. That's not true because the first instance of tithing is right here in Genesis 14. And the tithe was not given to the Levites. The Levites weren't even a gleam in their father's eye yet, although they were in the loins of their father when Melchizedek met him. But the Levites were not receiving the tithes here. Melchizedek received the tithe in Genesis 14. Then in Genesis 28, still long before there ever was a Levite, Jacob vowed a vow to God at Bethel that he would give one tenth unto the Lord. So tithing is something that we see pre-Levite, pre-law, all the way back to the beginning. And you can even see the concept of tithing even before Genesis 14 because even Abel brought of the firstlings of his flocks an offering to the Lord. And you know what, firstlings is synonymous with the tithe. First fruits, firstlings, it is the first one tenth. And he brought the firstlings of the flock. And we can also even see the concept of tithing in the Garden of Eden itself when we see the idea of there are all these trees here that you can eat up, but one of them belongs to the Lord. Don't touch it. Leave it alone. So that's a little bit more of a stretch. But we clearly see tithing with Abel, Abraham, Jacob. Those are unequivocal. I mean, it's obvious that that's what it's saying. So here we have this instance of Melchizedek receiving the tithe from Abraham, showing that he is greater than Abraham. And it's a picture of the New Testament tithing, right? Because this is a New Testament kind of a guy, Melchizedek. Why? Because Jesus Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, not the Old Testament order of Levi and Aaron. That's the Old Covenant made at Mount Sinai. See, at Mount Sinai, when the Old Covenant was given unto Moses, the law was given by Moses, that's when the Levites were ordained as the priests. But Melchizedek precedes that and is also after that. So after the Leviticus priesthood is over, the Melchizedek priesthood continues forever. He has an everlasting priesthood, the Bible says. Which makes sense, because the Bible in this very chapter, are you there in Hebrews 7? The Bible in this very chapter calls the New Testament a better testament. Look at Hebrews 7, verse 22, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. Now let's get the context of that. It says in verse 21, for those priests were made, talking about the Levites, or the Levitical priests, rather, for those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath, by him that said unto him, the Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. By that oath that said, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, that's a better testament. You know, the Jews told us when we interviewed them for marching to Zion, they said, well, what you Gentiles call the Old Testament, we call the only testament. And I was thinking, but I didn't say, well, what you Jews call the New Testament, we call the better testament. And that's what the Bible says. The New Testament's a better testament, amen. If not, then the Bible's not telling us the truth here, but we know that the Bible always tells us the truth, so we know the New Testament is better. You said it's established upon better promises, the Bible says, right? Is that what you said? Yeah, better promises, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, in the New Testament than in the Old Testament. I mean, this book just keeps getting better and better until you get to the end. I mean, Revelation is a real high point, isn't it? The better testament. So the Bible says here that he's without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God. Now let's go back to Psalm 110. I told you that he's mentioned in two places in the Old Testament. Genesis 14 is one of them, Psalm 110 is the other one. So let's go to Psalm 110 and look at this scripture that's being quoted here in Hebrews chapter 7. Psalm 110 says, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And again, if we let the New Testament interpret this, this Psalm is written by David, okay? Because Jesus said that in verse 1 here, David is calling Jesus Lord in this verse. So when it says the Lord, notice it's capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, and notice how the second Lord is just lowercase o-r-d. Do you see the difference there? See, the Lord in all capital letters is the proper name of God. See, the word Lord means master or boss or sir, whereas Lord in all caps is a name, a proper name of the Lord. The fancy theological term for this is the tetragrammaton. When we think of the Tetris game at the arcade, right, what number is Tetris based on the video game? Four, right? Every block has four components in Tetris. And then grammaton, it's just saying it's a four-letter word, tetragrammaton, okay? So this four-letter name of God is the most common noun of the Old Testament. It occurs over 7,000 times, so it's a very common word over and over again. If you've read the Old Testament, you've seen it over and over and over and over again. The Lord, that's his name. That is the proper name of God. We know this as Jehovah. And the Bible here is saying the Lord, so we're talking about the proper name of God here, Jehovah, the Lord said unto my Lord, and who's David's Lord according to Matthew, the Messiah, right, because he said, well, whose son is the Messiah? Well, David's calling him Lord. So this is Jesus. David's Lord here is Jesus. So the Lord said unto my Lord, which is who? Jesus, David's Lord, Jesus, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning. Thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way. Therefore shall he lift up the head. Now who is this about? This is about Jesus. And the Bible says that Jesus is going to judge among the heathen. Jesus is going to fill the places with the dead bodies. Now think about that. Jesus is going to fill something with a bunch of dead bodies. That's talking about the fact that in the second coming of Christ, he is going to wipe some people out. He will rule all nations with a rod of iron and the Bible says as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of my Father. So a lot of people get this attitude that the Father is the real tough member of the Trinity and that Jesus is the softer side. But is that what the Bible teaches? No. Jesus has the same nature that the Father has. He has the same righteousness, the same peace, the same holiness, the same wrath, the same love. All of those attributes are shared by the Father and the Son and so we see here the Son is going to be cracking some heads when he returns and he's going to rule with a rod of iron and he will fill the places with the dead bodies and he shall wound the heads over many countries. There are going to be a lot of heads of state of various nations. He's going to wound those people. He's going to kill people. He's going to destroy them. That's what the Bible says, right? This is the book of Revelation here being foretold. This is a pretty interesting chapter. But this had to have been really interesting for people to read back when it was first written because they didn't fully understand the Trinity yet because in the New Testament we get all this really clear teaching on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But some of this might have seemed a little bit of an enigma to them. Think about this passage and then go back to Psalm 45. There's a similar Psalm just a little bit back in your Bible there to Psalm 45 and this is another one that the Bible quotes in the book of Hebrews chapter 1. But it says in verse 6 of Psalm 45, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. And remember in Hebrews chapter 1 it says unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. So it says in Psalm 45 verse 6, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of Thy kingdom is a right scepter. Why? Because He's the King of Righteousness, right? Which is what the name Melchizedek even means. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity, or here it says, Thou lovest righteousness and hatest what? Wickedness. Therefore, God, Thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. Now that's pretty interesting that even in the Old Testament it says in verse 6, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. So it's calling the Son God. Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. But then in the next breath it says, Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. So how can God be told your God has anointed you? When He is God, right? So probably when the Israelites heard this psalm, they probably didn't fully grasp its meaning. It might have gone over their head a little bit. Maybe they did understand it. Maybe there were prophets back then that were explaining these things to them and preaching this to them and giving them understanding. But I suspect that they probably didn't understand it as well as we do, or as well as they did after they read the book of Hebrews and said, oh wow, now that makes sense. I get it. It's the Father talking to the Son. Then it makes perfect sense, doesn't it? But you see how they're both God, because the Son is God, and it's God the Father who gave Him that kingdom and anointed Him with that oil. And so the Trinity is once again shown to be biblical beyond any shadow of a doubt. Go back to Hebrews 7. Let's go deeper into this chapter. Hebrews 7. And even though the Trinity is not explicitly taught in the Old Testament, once you know about the Trinity from the New Testament, you'll see it all over the Old Testament. You'll see it over and over and over again and it all falls into place. They saw through a glass darkly back then. We see it much more clearly. But look at Hebrews 7. The Bible says in verse 4, now consider how great this man was unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren though they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted from them, Melchizedek, received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. Which makes sense if Melchizedek is Jesus Christ and he was better than Abraham. And here men that die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. Notice the law is not discarded. The law is not thrown out, but there is a change of the law. With the New Covenant, with the New Testament, comes a change in the law. Now a lot of New Testament believers who become Judaized or other groups like the Seventh Day Adventists will say things like, well God's law never changes, it can never be changed. Now we know God's word never changes and God's word can never be changed, but when it comes to the law, the Bible here tells us that of necessity there is made a change also of the law. Something changes between Old and New Testament in the observance of the law. There are differences between the Old and the New Testament. And this is where the Seventh Day Adventists get it wrong and they think that we're still observing the Sabbath, even though the New Testament makes it clear that we're not. This is where they get it wrong when they think that we are still observing the meats and drinks, the carnal ordinances, the diverse washings, when the New Testament states that we are not. You see, if the Seventh Day Adventists don't believe that there's been a change to those things because they say, hey, we can't eat any pork, hey, we need to follow these dietary laws, we need to rest on Saturdays, and they consider that the Sabbath day, well the Bible mentions at the same breath the diverse washings. So they better bathe their flesh in water and be unclean until the evening, even any time they handle any raw meat, they need to take a complete shower head to toe, and there are a lot of other things listed. I'm not going to go into a big dissertation on all the washings, but there are a lot of situations where you have to wash your whole body and be unclean until the evening. And I don't hear them teaching on those washings or anything like that. And it's pretty obvious that the animal sacrifices are done away. I don't think the Seventh Day Adventists are doing animal sacrifices. They're not following the washings. They're not pouring out the drink offerings and the meat offerings. But yet they will hang on to certain things, you know, the Sabbath and the dietary laws. Those things are specifically repealed in the New Testament. And here's what I believe is that we follow the Old Testament unless it's been specifically repealed in the New Testament. So God never repealed anything about cross-dressing, for example. You know, Deuteronomy 22.5 said, don't put on a woman's garment. But there's nothing in the New Testament that says, hey, now put one on, because we're free in Christ. That's not what it says. You can point to specific scripture where the dietary laws are being repealed, where it explains to us that the Sabbath has been fulfilled and that Christ is our Sabbath and that we can esteem every day alike and so forth. We can point to specific repealing of the animal sacrifices, the Levitical priesthood, all those things. But if it hasn't been changed, don't take it upon yourself to change it. You know, of necessity there's made a change of the law. But you don't just decide to just change whatever you want. We only have the changes that God lays out in the book of Hebrews and elsewhere in the New Testament. Those are the changes. And it's a change from the Levitical priesthood to the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. You say, who are the priests? We are. Jesus is our high priest. He's the chief priest. And we are all priests. The Bible says that he has made us unto our God kings and priests. Just like Melchizedek was what? A king and he was a priest. And we are, in the New Testament, as believers, kings and priests. We are a royal priesthood. That's a great honor. We are kings. We are priests. Through the blood of Jesus Christ he washed us from our sins and his own blood. Now let's back up a little bit to Hebrews chapter 5 because we want to talk about everywhere that Melchizedek's mentioned. In the Old Testament we said that he was mentioned in Genesis 14 and Psalm 110. Well, in the New Testament he's mentioned in the book of Hebrews. He's mentioned in chapter 5 and chapter 6 and chapter 7. So let's go back to chapter 5. The Bible says, of the priesthood, in verse 4, and no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So Aaron is the father of the Levitical priesthood. The sons of Aaron were the priests in the Old Testament. Did he take that honor unto himself? I mean, did he say, hey, listen, Moses, I have an idea. Why don't you make me the high priest? I'm going to step up here and, you know, you're kind of the main guy here and I want to share some of that glory. I want to have an important job, okay? I mean, I came with you. I threw down the rod for you and all that. Can I have an important job? How about high priest? Did he volunteer and step up? No. The Bible says here that no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So God made the decision that Aaron would be the high priest. That was God's choice. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee, as he saith also in another place, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now, isn't it pretty clear here that this whole oneness doctrine, let me just get on that again, this whole modalism, non-Trinitarian doctrine is false because wouldn't that be Jesus glorifying himself to be made a high priest? You know, this false doctrine that says Jesus is God the Father and that basically God is just one person in three different forms or modes and that, you know, it's just the Father is Jesus, the Holy Spirit is Jesus, the Son is Jesus, it's just one person. Well, that doesn't make any sense because it says here that Jesus did not glorify himself. The one who glorified him to make him a high priest was the one who said unto him, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That is the Father that said that to him. So we have the Father glorifying the Son. We don't have the Son glorifying himself to be made a high priest. Think about how disingenuous this would be if there's no Trinity, if it's just Jesus as the Father saying like, you know, all right, son, you're a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Okay, I'm going to always do the things that please you. All right, yeah. I mean, it's nonsense. The Bible is crystal clear that Jesus is a person. That's why he has personal pronouns. The Father is a person. That's pretty easy to prove, right? And the Holy Ghost is a person. That's why the Holy Ghost gets personal pronouns like he when it talks about him in the New Testament. Now, you know, this false doctrine of our disgraced former deacon keeps evolving over time. This oneness heresy. Now it's turned into, it sounds to me, based on his most recent utterance, that it sounds to me like it's more of like a quasi-partialism now where the word is just defined by him as basically just stuff God says. He basically just says, well, God's just one person, and the word is just the stuff he said. That's why he keeps saying his literal word, his literal word, the literal word. And then the Holy Spirit is just God's spirit, sort of like we as a person have, what, body, soul, and spirit? So basically that's just that part of God that's his spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, a part. That's why I say it's like a quasi-partialism, right? And then the word is just the stuff that he said. Now that's not true because the word of God is a person. That's why the Bible says of the word, all things were made by him, the word. The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory is of the only begotten of the Father. We beheld his glory. Why is it his glory? Because the word is a person. So the word, obviously the word of God is also the things that God said. But the things that God said that are the word of God, guess what, that word of God is also a person named Jesus, the Son of God. So we can't just detract from the fact that the word of God is a person, or that Jesus is a person, or that the Son of God is a person. And we can't take away the fact that the Holy Ghost is a person. We know he's a person. Now unless you don't know how to count, that makes three persons one God, right? Because if the Father is a person, and if the Son is a person, and they like to avoid using the term Son, the word, the word, the word, the word, it says Son more often. Just because 1 John 5 says the Father, the word, and the Holy Ghost, most places that talk about the three members of the Trinity use the words Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Much more common in the Bible. And so we see that the Father's a person, the Son's a person, the Holy Ghost is a person, that's three persons. And we know that there's only one God because the Bible tells us that there's only one God. And that's why God can say to God, sit on my right hand. Now that's the Father saying to the Son, sit on my right hand. That's one person saying to another person, sit on my right hand. So the traditional view of the Trinity is biblical. The orthodox view of the Trinity, the traditional view, the view that has been taught in Baptist churches for centuries is the only biblical view. And these other diver's winds of strange doctrine need to be nipped in the butt. Because we get into damnable heresy when you start messing with the nature of who God is, and you start messing with who Jesus Christ is, the sonship of Christ, and you end up at the end of this dark path with another God and another Jesus. So it's important that we nail these things down. The Bible's pretty clear here that he swear by himself, thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. And that it says in verse seven, who in the days of his flesh, talking about Jesus in the days of his flesh, when he'd offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto himself, is that what it says? It says he'd offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, as God the Father, and was heard and that he feared. Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, called of God, an high priest after the order of Melchizedek. So Jesus Christ is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. He is the son of God. And let me just point out a few things about this passage that some people struggle with. It says here he's the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. Some people will try to twist this and say you have to obey Christ's commands to be saved and they'll teach a workspace salvation based on this. But the Bible uses the term obey the gospel. Flip over if you would to 2 Thessalonians, keep your finger there in Hebrews. Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter one and you'll find this term obey the gospel. It says in verse number seven, and to you who are troubled, 2 Thessalonians 1.7, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, watch this, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired, watch this, in all them that believe. Because our testimony among you was believed in that day. So on one side of God's wrath, we have those that do not obey Christ. And then on the other side, we have those who have believed, everyone who believes. Why? Because the obeying the gospel is the same as believing. Why? Because the command of the gospel is believe. Go to 1 John chapter three. See, he didn't say obey the commandments to be saved. He said obey the gospel. Well, the gospel is the good news. The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. You know, that's great news that Jesus paid it all and that we can be saved by simply putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, that there's a free gift of eternal life to all that believe. That there's a free gift of eternal life to all that believe. That's great news. How do we obey that message? I mean, if we're given a message that there's a free gift, Jesus paid it all, he died, he was buried, he rose again, how do we obey that message? The way that we obey that message is by believing it. How else do you obey the God? How do you obey the crucifixion? Obey the crucifixion. What do I do? Obey his resurrection. You obey it by believing it. It's a command of God to believe the gospels and that's how we obey the gospels, by believing it. That's how we obey him. Look what the Bible says in 1 John 3.23, you say, well, I don't know if believing is commanded. It says in verse 23, and this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave us commandment. So yeah, there is a command to believe on Christ. Even the very words, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. That's an imperative sentence commanding you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. So that's what it means there in Hebrews 5 when it says that he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek, of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing your dole of hearing. And those many things that they had to say about Melchizedek is probably the stuff he goes into in chapter 7. At least I'm telling myself that, because I'd hate to think that he had all this really cool stuff to say about Melchizedek that he never got to. But hopefully it's what we already have in Hebrews 7. Otherwise we're going to have to go dig in the scriptures and find it for ourselves. But the Bible here is stating that Christ was called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has no beginning, no ending, he's co-eternal with God the Father, and he is the author of eternal salvation. That's a pretty important passage of scripture. This is a pretty important concept or doctrine about who Melchizedek is, because even if you don't believe that Melchizedek is literally an Old Testament appearance of Jesus, he is still a super important picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, or representation of, or symbol of. I believe that it's literal. But even if it's not literal, it is every bit as significant to us to understand who and why this great man was, Melchizedek. Because it shows that even before Moses went on the mount of God and received the law of God, there was already another priest already there that was already greater than Abraham, and he already had a better priesthood to establish than what Moses was going to establish. So even before the Levitical priesthood was in place, the greater priesthood was already there just waiting until the fullness of time would come when it would be revealed that Jesus Christ would be called after that priesthood. So this goes to show you that the New Testament isn't some kind of an afterthought. You know what I mean? Like, well, they messed up the Old Testament, so we had to come in with the New... You know, God's already premeditating it from the beginning, isn't he? You know, all the way back to Genesis 3.15, he talks about how Christ, the seed of the woman, is going to bruise the serpent's head. So it's already being foreshadowed, and he's already got his guy right before his special chosen nation is going to be established, right, because Abraham is the chosen for what? To be the people of God, the chosen people, Israel. He's going to produce that nation. Before that, God already had Melchizedek ready to roll with a better covenant, a better priesthood. You know, he just had to let things run their course because he had a plan. He had a plan of rolling out the Old Testament and then rolling out the New Testament. He had a plan that the law would be given by Moses and that grace and truth would come by Jesus Christ, a perfect plan. But it's no coincidence that God just put those couple of verses in there back in Genesis 14 that are seemingly just out of place. I mean, it's just kind of, hey, interrupt the story, and this random visitor shows up. Who's this guy? The king of Salem? Where's that? That's not even a place yet. That's not even a thing yet. Jerusalem's not even an issue yet. But it was all through God's plan. And when the first readers of Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus, when they read this, they didn't grasp how important that guy was. Then when they heard Psalm 110, it's like, Melchizedek, oh yeah, what, there's a priest after the order of Melchizedek, who's that? But then when Jesus comes on the scene, it all makes sense and it all fits perfectly. It all falls into place. What an amazing plan. What an amazing God. And what an amazing Bible that we have. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the better testament, Lord. We thank you so much for Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins and being buried and rising again. Lord, we just pray that you would help us as we spread the good news and preach that message of salvation to as many people as will listen, and that many of them would obey the gospel and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, we thank you so much for those who are here in church. Pray that you'd bless them and give them a good week and give them safety on the ride home tonight. In Jesus' name we pray.