Speaker 1: 0:10

Well, good morning harvest church. It's good to be with you. If you have a Bible, you can go and turn it to Genesis chapter 14. That's where we'll be in just a minute for the time being. I've got a few announcements. First off, next week we're going to be having a baby dedication. Now this is, um, uh, you know what? We go, we considered not calling it a baby dedication, but apparent commissioning, but we figured that would be too confusing. But what we want to try to communicate with this little ritual that we're gonna do next week is, um, not that we're trying to save the babies or that anything that we're gonna do tomorrow is can impart some sort of special grace. There's nowhere in the Bible that says to dedicate your babies. We're just bringing these gifts of God in front of the church so that we can celebrate what God has done. Then we're gonna make promises to the parents as a choice. We're going to help them raise their child in a God honoring way. And we're going to give the parents and opportunity to make a commitment that they're going to raise their children in a God honoring way. And in the spirit of the the Bible, we do life with one another. So, um, we have some children's signed up for that. If you missed the boat and you'd like for your baby to get dedicated or a few as a parent want to get commissioned however you want to look at it, um, come see me before next week. Next, the IGA job board is filling up, man that, um, if, if you get a chance to stop in the parking lot and look in the window over there, it's so exciting what the Lord it's doing. Go by and look at that before you leave. You may think, well, I don't have any sort of handyman skills. You may see something on there and be like, you know what? I think I know how to do that. And you can, um, you can check that. You can check that out. Next. Um, there's a, there's a women's conference that's going to be happening at the beginning of November. Information for that. It's over on the[inaudible][inaudible] Oh, it's over there by the desk, by the IJ job or go look for that when you're looking at the[inaudible] IGA job board. And if you have any more questions about that, talk to Kathy Ellsworth. Finally, we're going to be participating in the trunk or treat. So you want to throw that up on the screen there and only him a curve ball. See how good he is. Hey, here we go. Look at that. So this is, I'm going to be taking place on October 31st. This is going to be, um, it's the annual truck retreat event that's held here in Calhoun. Kathy Ellsworth is also coordinating that. If you want to donate candy, that's what that big yellow box is over there that you, you can't miss. Go buy some Snickers and throw them in the box and we're gonna pass those out and hopefully have the opportunity to have some gospel conversations with[inaudible] kids in our community. All right, this is our last sermon and the stories about Jesus sermon series. So what we've done over the last few weeks is we've looked at stories in the old Testament specifically and showed how they were actually about Jesus because Jesus said that all the law and the prophets bear witness about him. So we wanted to put some teeth to that. What does it that all the Lafayette law and the prophets bear witness about Jesus? Well, the whole old Testament is about Jesus and we're gonna end it today and next week we're starting our annual sermon series on the Psalms. So just took prepare you for that fair warning. We're going to go out with a bang today. Um, we're going to go into some pretty deep waters. This is a very difficult topic, not only to understand but for me to explain. So I appreciate your prayers. Is, is a do this, this is diff deep stuff, but um, if you stay with me, I promise it will be worth it. Topics like this, the author of Hebrews described this way. This is Hebrews five 11. We have a great deal to say about this. The author of Hebrews, Hebrews describes his audience and he says, it's difficult to explain since you've become too lazy to understand. Although by this time, you ought to be teachers. You need someone to teach you the basic principles of God's revelation. Again, you need milk, not solid food. Now, everyone who lives on milk as inexperienced with the message about righteousness because he's an infant, but solid food is for the mature. Those who senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil. The author of Hebrews wrote that about what we're going to talk about this morning. The man that we're going to talk about this morning, the author of Hebrews wrote that in reference to it. This is the type of story that I'm, even if you're like preaching through the Bible and you come to it, you just kind of skip over and hope that people miss it. And some, for some reason I just pick this topic and as I was preparing it this week,[inaudible] it's a lot. But if it's good, and I know this will bring you closer to Jesus, so thinking caps are going to have to be firmly placed on your head. The one, two, three eyes on me thing w we're, we're gonna dig deep today. So turn with me to Genesis chapter 14, Genesis chapter 14. So while you're turning there, let me give you some context. We're going to look at Abraham, but Abraham's not gonna be our focus today. We've already talked about Abraham in this series. One of the stories, um, what's going on here is, um, there's a war that's happened in, when you read Genesis chapter 14, it sounds like this big Epic battle. There's four Kings versus five other Kings and their facing off in the reality at this point in history, a kingdom wouldn't be no larger than the city of Calhoun. So or, okay, so you're, you're looking at like four to 5,000 people. A King would be over top of, so[inaudible] King's these little mercenary bands, more or less would get together and they would go on rating parties and they would try to conquer other little settlements and sometimes they would band together and fight to try to conquer these other settlements. So you have four Kings versus five other Kings and they'd go to war one team, the winds and the running and Abraham's nephew lot gets captured. So Abraham takes 318 trained men that grew up in his house. And that when we think train men, we think like, you know, they can use AR fifteens and RPGs and you know, they're the latest military technology. This probably means they've just swung a sword before, right? So these are just average people who, um, who can fight 318 of them. They get up and they go to search for Abraham's nephew lot. They find him in the the rules of the day war. If I'm, let's say for example, you lived in a little town and one of these raiding parties came in and stole your family and all your goods and so on and so forth, the King of your little town may hire some mercenaries, go and get them back, and the way it was typically done was they get the people back, but they get to keep this oils. So when they would go on these raiding parties, anything that they picked up a value they keep for themselves and they just brought the people back. Your family would come back, but they keep your stuff. Keep that in mind. Abraham goes, he's successful. He gets a lot back, and then he's, he's coming back and he meets the King of Sodom, which was one of the people who was defeated in this big battle. Read with me. Genesis chapter 14 verse 17 Genesis chapter 14 verse 17 after Abraham returned from the feeding unpronounceable name and the Kings who were with him, the King of Sodom went out to meet him and the Chava Valley. That is the Kings Valley. Now I want you to stop right there. Put your finger over top of verses 1819 and 20 and pick up reading in verse 21 then the King of Sodom said to Abraham, give me the people that take the possessions for yourself. Now, he wasn't being generous there. That was just the standard of the day. That's what they did. Then Abraham said to the King of Sodom, I've raised, now look at the way that Abraham the one chosen bog God to be the father of many nations, the one through whom the Messiah would calm the most important figure in the Jewish faith. Look at the way he addresses this King. He doesn't bow, he doesn't grovel. He says, I have raised my hand in an oath to the Lord God, most high creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or sandal strap or anything that belongs to you so that you can never say I made Abraham rich. I will take nothing except what the servants of eaten. But as for the share, the man who came with me, three more unpronounceable names, they can take their share. So if you skip 18 1920 this narrative is completely coherent. It flows perfectly. In verse 17 Abraham meets the King of Sodom and then the King of Sodom addresses him in verse 21 in 1819 and 20 just seem to be sandwiched in there. They come out of nowhere. Let's read them together. Now Malcolm has a deck. King of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God most huh? He blessed him, meaning Abraham and said, Abraham is blessed by God. Most huh? Creator of heaven and earth and blessed be God most high. Who is handed over your enemies two years. Abraham gave him a 10th everything. So who is the sky? Mel kiss a deck. It says he's the King of Salem. He's a priest of God. Most, huh? His name Mel. Kiss a deck literally means the King of righteousness. You think Salem, there was a lot of little towns in that day named Salem. The name literally means peace, King of piece, King of righteousness. There's another town that um,[inaudible], it's a similar name. Uh, the few books over to Jerusalem. Jerusalem literally means the town of Salem or the town of peace, geographically where they're located. It's very, very possible that this Mel Kisa deck was King over what would later be called Jerusalem. And he blessed Abraham, the, the father of the Jewish faith, the most important figure in the Jews mind. He blesses him. And Abraham gave him a 10th of everything. And another thing that's noteworthy about milk is the deck, especially in the book of Genesis, cause there's no genealogy. Every important person in the book of Genesis has a beginning and an end. And so and so, but got so-and-so and so-and-so got so-and-so and so-and-so. You found those passages right? And you're like, why is all of this in here? And then it always says, and Abraham died, or Isaac died, or Jacob died. All of the important figures in the book of Genesis have a beginning and they have an end except for milk kiddo. What's the big deal that he blessed? Abraham and the Abraham gave him a 10th that's not blessing in those days was it like you sneeze. And I say, well bless you. And you're like, well thank you. And then I sneeze. And you say, well bless you. And I say, well, thank you know, a blessing was a pronouncement of, of blessing on somebody who was your lesser[inaudible]. Greater always blessed. The lesser the fathers always blessed the songs. The son's never blessed. Fathers. Kings bless their subservience. The subservience never blessed the Kings in this culture. This is a clear indication that milk is a deck greater the neighborhood. Abraham reciprocates by giving him a 10th of everything there. Remember the way he talked to the King of Sodom? He said, you can have it all. I'm not taking a thing from you. You can't say that I made you, made me rich. And yet he addresses Mel Kislyak and he pays him a Tod. Literally what Tav means is, is a 10th it's the first time somebody pays someone, a Todd in the Bible, and this guy is a priest of the God most. Huh? So just what we learn in this passage[inaudible] seems like a pretty important figure, right? He's presented as even more important than Abraham, the father of the faith. So you would expect the Bible the same, much more about him, right? Except that it doesn't. And that's what makes this man such a mystery. It's matter of fact, a thousand years or more passes before his name is[inaudible] ever mentioned. Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute. But for now, and this is important, you may not see how it's important now, but I promise it's all gonna tie back in. You need to, to be reminded of this, Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, Jacob was renamed to Israel. Israel had 12 sons. One of his son's name was leave off and Levi was given, and these descendants, which became the tribe of Levi, was given the office of a priest. And this is so important throughout the whole old Testament, nobody could be a priest, but Levi and there were stringent restrictions on who could be a priest. It was just one Trop set apart to be priests, Levi, they didn't get any land inheritance in the old Testament. Instead they lived off a Tod given by the other 11 tribes, 10% of everything that all the other Trump's brought in, they gave to Levis so that Levi could take care of the temple and form the sacrifices and so that the priests could live off of it. They started at 25 and their priesthood ended at 50 that's when they retired and they were extremely strict. Ezra chapter two, the verse 62 it says these, it's talking about some supposedly live vertical priests and said, these search for their family records. Yeah, but they could not find them and were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. So if you say, I want to be a priest, they'd say, where's your papers? You have to show a record of you going all the way back to the tribe of Levi. Prove that you were a priest. Given that office, Oh my God. Set aside to serve in the temple and to offer sacrifices on behalf of[inaudible] Israel. Nope. I don't know if you've been here long, but in case this is your first Sunday, we don't slaughter goats here. It's just kind of not our thing. But our spiritual ancestors, the Jews of the old Testament, they did when they wandered in the wilderness, they had the tabernacle and eventually the temple was built and sacrifices were offered daily and some special sacrifices were offered on special days of the year. And the image was blood had to be shed for the remission of sin.[inaudible] made an error. You've[inaudible] committed a crime against God. Somebody has to pay. And so for your life to be spared, something has to die. And the Levites, the vertical priests, we're given the privilege handling those sacrifices. They were continually offered over over it over again. And one special guy who got to be the high priest, he couldn't be the high priest for very long because he would, he would, he would die, are the time of his office. What would come to an end. And so there was high priest after high priest, after high priest and sacrifice over sacrifice, over sacrifice. And these sacrifices. The Jews knew this even before the Bible tells us that this is the[inaudible][inaudible], but they offered no hope of salvation. How could they, how could they hope to pay for their sins against the most Holy God with the blood of bulls and goats? This was though God's ordained means of atoning for their sins. This was God's come in and yet it wasn't enough. Keep that in mind as you progress through the history of[inaudible] Israel. Eventually they get a King. We talked about this, uh, a few weeks ago, real quick. They wanted a King. God warned them against getting a King. They got a King anyway. And the man's name was salt. Saul, um, was a mighty warrior. He was very smart. He was very handsome, that people loved him. He was popular, but eventually solve bell. You could say he lost his position as[inaudible]. Okay. And the thing that did it was soul tried to perform the functions of it. Priest. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. He wasn't from the top of the box. He wasn't qualified to be a priest and so Samuel pronounces judgment on him, saw, assume the sacred office. That wasn't him. Kings weren't supposed to be priests. The next King David comes along,[inaudible], [inaudible] immediate successor and I'm sure what happened to Saul was always in his mind is the one that came before him is the one who was deposed from his office by God. The man who took on the office of a priest when he was King clearly shouldn't have done that. Surely that was on David's mind. In the practice of the day as a matter of fact, commanded in the Bible is when a King would come to power what they were to do, they got a copy of the law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers, Deuteronomy, and they were commanded to make their own copy so they get the, the law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, numbers and Deuteronomy and the King was to sit down and with his own hand, make a copy of that law and then he was to read it every day. The purpose is clear Houston to know the law. The the King is the one who's supposed to execute justice. So he needs to know the law. He would have studied the law and no doubt King David would have read Genesis 14 and come across the man. Now kiss a deck who was a King, but he was also a priest and that would have stuck in his mind. Sure it would've because his successor was a King who tried to be a priest and God took him off his throne for him. And yet there's this man in the old Testament who was a priest of the God most high and King of Salem may be even the same throne that David was sitting on geographically speaking. Certainly confused.[inaudible] found it even. And then one day, David, here's a word from the Lord you, your Bibles open. Turn with me to Psalm one 10 Psalm one 10 just some fun facts while you're turning there. Psalm one 10 is the most quoted chapter in the new Testament, 20 some odd times, someone 10 is his is quoted in the new Testament more than any other passage in the old Testament, specifically verse. And when we read it, even if you've never read through the Psalms before, you'll probably immediately recognize some of the language. David's writing this down. This is the the electrical declaration of the Lord[inaudible] my Lord. Now, I don't know what your translation does here, but most of them in mine, like the, the first Lord there is all capital letters. You see that? So it's L, O, R, D, all capital letters. And the second Lord is just the Ellis capitalized. The reason that is L O R, D, when you see that in all capital letters, that's God's name. That's the[inaudible] scholars called the Tetra Gramaton. It y'all way is how we usually say it again.[inaudible] in Hebrew, they don't have vowels. So we're not exactly sure how they pronounced it, but our best guesses is y'all way. So when you see L O R, D, that's God's exclusive name. Oh, that's only used to describe God, the father[inaudible] my Lord. That's a more common word for somebody who's in authority. Sometimes it would be used of God and sometimes it would just be used of a King or somebody who is in authority over top of you the way that maybe they use the word Lord in, in England today. So who wrote this song is very important because if any average person wrote this song, then the Lord could be anybody. It could be as King, these magistrate, it could be somebody who's an authority over him. But the fact that King David wrote this song makes us scratch our heads because who could be the Lord over David? This is the[inaudible] declaration of the Lord, Yahweh God most Tov the God the father too. My Lord, my superior God. The father is talking to David's superior. Who could it be? Jesus says in the new Testament, he quotes this passage and he says that passage was about him. This is a messianic salt and this is what God said to[inaudible] God. The father said to God, the son sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. And then David, after he hears this word from the Lord, he begins to, and he begins to to write and to think, and this is what he says. He says, the Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion who's mighty Septer, the Messiah, the chosen one of God, the son of God. Jesus himself rule over your surrounding enemies. Your people will volunteer on your day of battle in Holy splendor from the womb of the Dawn. The do of your youth belongs to you. The Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back. So I take this to me in another word from the Lord that David heard, and this is what God the father said about God, the son. You are a priest forever according to the pattern. Milk, kiss a deck, the Lord, is that your right hand? You will crush it. Kings on the day of yes. And you're are we getting into a picture of the final judgment? That's yet Tom will judge the nations heaping of course, as you will crush leaders over the entire world. He will drink from the Brook by the road. Therefore he will lift up. Yes. Okay. This is the only other time in the old Testament. Okay. Because the deck is gotcha. Yup. The historical account in Genesis 14 and then you have, is it various and so I'm one Tim first four where the Lord God says, swears an oath saying that the Messiah will be a priest forever according to them. I don't know. Nope. What in the world? No. Imagine the confusion of Jewish people seeing this character in the old Testament.[inaudible] old interpretations of this man about lucky for us. We have God's commentary on this mystery. Hebrews chapter seven. This is where I'll end our time today. So last place, a promise. Hebrews chapter seven. Here we go. Hope you're still tracking with me. It's a lot to take in and[inaudible] in one Sunday. My morning. I understand that, but uh, I think you can do it. Hebrews chapter seven. So, well, we're thinking, what does all this mean? What's the significance preached according to the order of Melchizedek and the pattern of is that I've, what does all this mean? So mal kills a deck is mentioned in the book of Hebrews, only three places in the Bible. He's mentioned Genesis 14 so I'm one 10 Hebrews five six and seven mission one time. And Hebrews five one time in Hebrews six there's 20 and then all of chapter seven is about no[inaudible] no hope. You're still with me. Hebrews seven is a[inaudible] tough passage, but I hope now that well we've learned what we've learned. I hope that it reads like a review. So as a matter of fact, pick up with me in chapter six verse 19 Hebrews six 19 we have this hope as an anchor for the soul firm and secure, yeah. Enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain temple imagery there. Jesus has entered there on our behalf as the foreigner because he has become a priest forever. According to the order of now. Kisa deck for this Mel Kislyak, King of Salem, it preached of God most, huh? Met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the Kings. That sound familiar to you. And Abraham gave him a 10th of everything. First, his name means King of righteousness. Then also King of Salem, meaning King of peace. This is, this is good on the, on the part of the author of Hebrews without father or mother or genealogy, none of that's listed in the book of Hebrews having neither beginning of days nor end of life as far as we can tell. It doesn't say in Genesis, but resembling the son of God. He remains a priest forever. I consider our great. This man was even Abraham, the patriarch, author of Hebrews, his audience was Jews. They would have understand how great Abraham was, gave a 10th of the plunder to him. And just as a side note to give you an idea of how great, um, Abraham was in the minds of these, uh, of the Jewish people, remember Jesus had an exchange with the Jews where he told them that your father is the devil. And they're like, no, our father is Abraham. And Jesus said, before Abraham Lee's, I've seen Abraham. Boy, you ain't even 50 yet, and you see Abraham this, I'll tell you the truth. Before Abraham was I am, Jesus said that he was greater than Abraham. They tried to kill him for it. Abraham was the man in their minds, in the sun of Levi who receive, I'm picking up in verse five the sons of Levi who received the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect a 10th from the people that is from their brothers and sisters. Although they have also descended from Abraham, but one without this lineage. Cause a Dick[inaudible] collected a 10th from Abraham and bless the one who had the promises. Without a doubt, the inferior is blessed by the superior. We learned that. Remember in the one case, men will die to receive men who will die receive a 10th talking about Leviticus, priests. But in the other case, the case of now kiss a deck. Scripture testifies that he lives. In other words, Genesis never records his death and in a sense, Levi himself who receives a 10th I paid a 10th[inaudible] Abraham where he was still within his ancestor. No kiss a deck. I met him. One. The world is all this mean. So here's the thing, dilemma. Here's the dilemma. The Levitical priesthood, the law, the sacrifices, this whole system that God set up did not serve the purpose of actually atoning for the people's sins. Did we learn in the old Testament? All it was good for was to reveal sin, to show us how far from God we really were and if we were going to be reconciled to God, we needed a better priest. But the Messiah, he comes from the tribe of Judah. He is the King. He can't be up priest. He's not a Levi. How can he be a priest in the order of Levi? If he's from Judah and he's a King, it doesn't fit with God's system. Then the author of Hebrews reminds his audience, little, little section of verses in Genesis 14 in one verse in Psalm one 10 and shows them the God had this figured out from the beginning because there's a higher and better priesthood. It's as if Levi himself had paid attention to this greater please. It wasn't based on lineage or or anything like that. That's what the author of Hebrews goes on to argue it. Levitical priesthood is ineffective. There's a better one that's needed. So where's the precedent for that? Is there another priesthood? Can there be another priesthood? There was and there is and no kiss it that proves that main point of it all we see in verse 26 pickup reading with me for this is the kind of high priest we need. Holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the[inaudible] heavens. He doesn't need to offer sacrifices every day. His hopper EES too for their own sins. Then for those of the people, he did this once for all Tom, when he offered himself Jesus, Oh Lord, cross for the law appoints as high priest men who are weak. The promise of the oath[inaudible] the promise that God made and Psalm one 10 which came after the law, the sun who's been perfect. Okay. Correct. That's the the point of it all, but that's, that's the point of it all. But the question still stands, who is this guy? Who is the smell kids today. Now a popular theory. And if this is something that, that you believe, I'm not going to say that you're wrong. Um, I think a good case can be made for this. This just isn't[inaudible] after studying this this week, I have, I don't think this is the case, but a very popular theory is that Mel kisses deck as a fee often. I don't know what that is, right? That's your big word for the week. Theophanous in other words, a pre incarnate appearance. I've got the sun Jesus before Jesus was born in a manger in, um, Bethlehem and was given the name Jesus God, the son appeared to Abraham in Genesis 14 and went by the name. Milk is a deck. No, I don't think that's the[inaudible] case, particularly because of Hebrews seven three, the author of Hebrew says, without father, mother genealogy having either beginning of days, no end of life, but resembling the son of God. Now, if the author of Hebrews one of us to understand now a and now Kiradech was actually got the son, then why didn't he just say the son of God without father and mother beginning of days as a matter of fact. Oh by the way, that's Jesus back there. No, he says he resembles the son.[inaudible] got it. My opinion and opinions are bound by the way. Some people say he was the Holy spirit. Some say that he wants in angel and all sorts of stuff, but my, my opinion, I believe that Mel Kizza deck, what's it? Just a guy. I think it was a real historical figure that God put where he did when he did point us to Jesus in this theme in others like it seem to me to be good evidence that the Bible over the thousands of years that it's books were written has just one divine offer with literally millennia of space between the first and second mention of mal Kislyak and the way it all pieces together so perfectly and how it perfectly illustrates the coming Messiah. How could not all of these books have one author and yet they are written thousands of years apart. They had a human author and they have a divine author. This whole theme was orchestrated so perfectly across thousands of years. Th I, I can't see how it could be a coincidence. God put Mel Kislyak on this earth and then in the Bible[inaudible] point us did Jesus to teach us about Jesus, his role not only as King, but also as a priest to give us an illustration to explain to us why and how Jesus, his priesthood was so much better than the Levitical priesthood to show us that we're not saved by the law or all of its regulations. The laws could not save. There's something greater than the mosaic law, the law of Jesus Christ to show us that the Messiah, the Prince of peace, true King over Jerusalem, true and great priest of the God most, huh? The one who truly had no beginning of days or end of life, the one who was truly greater than Abraham, the one who was the true King of righteousness was not an afterthought. Does image with there from the beginning. He was not plan B. That was[inaudible] always the plan. And even before he had begun to fulfill the promise that he made to Abraham, who's the greatest figure of the faith and the Jews eyes, God put no kiss a on earth to show us glimpse of what the Messiah would[inaudible][inaudible] a symbol of what was it? Calm like a shadow passed on the ground by something yet the, and now looking back, we can see the figure, the cast, the shadow. We can see the one that melt, kiss a deck pointed and we can worship him as the Arnold. Okay. Right. Great. Perfect. Huh? Please of God. Most times it's thank you Lord for your word. Thank you for deep things, for giving us not only milk to drink, but meat to feast on. And Lord, I pray that these words, by the power of your spirit, we would begin to understand and we would know Jesus more as we see his face is we look long and hard and think about what now Kisa deck teaches us about Jesus. What you wanted us to see in that image. Lord, I pray that you would be glorified. We would know you more. Yes. These things in Jesus's name. Yeah.