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[0:00] Welcome to Built on God's Word, the preaching and teaching ministry of Highland Park Baptist Church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.! Pastor Mike Scrivani preaches on Hebrews chapter 7, verses 1-10.

[0:14] If you would stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word together again as we've gone through the book of Hebrews verse by verse, chapter by chapter. And now today we're on chapter 7, verses 1-10.

[0:26] For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him.

[0:37] And to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.

[0:48] He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he continues a priest forever.

[0:59] See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils. And those descendants of Levi who received the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.

[1:17] But this man, who does not have his descent from them, received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.

[1:29] In the one case, tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.

[1:49] May God add a blessing to the reading of his word. Would you please be seated? On June 27, 1976, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, along with their German associates, hijacked Air France Flight 139 shortly after it departed Athens, Greece.

[2:16] The aircraft had just arrived from Tel Aviv, Israel, and was en route to Paris, France. The plane eventually landed in Uganda, which was controlled by the ruthless Muslim dictator Idi Amin.

[2:34] The 113 Jewish hostages were held captive and were threatened with execution unless the hijackers' demands for the release of convicted terrorists held in Israel and Germany were met.

[2:50] After negotiations broke down, the Israeli government devised a plan to rescue their civilians. The mission was originally called Operation Thunderbolt.

[3:06] On July 4, 3 Israeli C-130 Hercules transport secretly boarded a deadly force of Israeli commandos.

[3:17] Within hours, they stormed the airport terminal, neutralized the hijackers, and rescued 110 hostages. Tragically, three hostages did not survive, caught in the crossfire between their rescuers and their captors.

[3:33] And among the casualties of Operation Thunderbolt was the leader of the force, Yoni Netanyahu, whose middle brother Benjamin, moved by his brother's courageous sacrifice, redirected his career to politics, eventually becoming Israel's prime minister.

[3:54] Thousands of years before this successful rescue mission in Israel's history, there is another one recorded in Genesis 14.

[4:05] Genesis 14, 1 through 3 tell us that Kedorlaomer, a fierce and formidable king, who seemed like the type of king who liked to pick a fight, formed an alliance with a group of other kings, and operating as their ringleader, entered into a battle with the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, and a few others who united against Kedorlaomer and his allies.

[4:32] Kedorlaomer won the battle. And in plundering the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, his army also took captives, among whom was Lot, Abraham's nephew.

[4:45] Upon hearing the news, Abraham gathered 318 trained men, his own elite fighting force, and he set out in pursuit of the kidnappers.

[4:59] At night, under the cover of darkness, he launched a surprise attack, driving the kings to flight and rescuing his nephew Lot, reclaiming also the spoils of the battle.

[5:14] Abraham was returning home as a victorious hero, and on the way he was greeted by the king of Sodom and another king, Melchizedek, the king of Salem.

[5:29] Genesis 14, 18 through 20 records that encounter. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed him, Abraham, and he said, blessed be Abram by God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand, and Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

[6:00] This is the only historical mention of this man, this king named Melchizedek, in the Old Testament. This is it.

[6:12] This is what we've got. Abraham, after his successful military operation at this high point in his life, when he seems to be on top, receives Melchizedek's blessing, and then gives him a tenth of everything he won in battle.

[6:33] That was around 2000 B.C. And for a millennium, there is not another mention of Melchizedek until King David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, mentions him in Psalm 110.

[6:51] I'm going to read Psalm 110, verses 1 through 4. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

[7:02] The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments, from the womb of the morning.

[7:15] The dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn, and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

[7:27] This is a Messianic psalm. Jesus mentioned this psalm in Matthew 22, verses 43 through 44, in reference to the Messiah, whom he claimed to be.

[7:41] In Psalm 110, God the Father reveals his intentions to one day bring into history a Lord like himself, a divine king, who will also be a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

[7:57] In other words, God would send a Messiah who would be both divine and human, who would be a king and establish a new priesthood.

[8:09] After his mention in Psalm 110, there is another interval of roughly a thousand years before Melchizedek appears in Scripture again in the book of Hebrews.

[8:20] The writer of Hebrews mentions Melchizedek in chapter 5, verse 6, where he quotes Psalm 110, and then he mentions him again in chapter 5, verse 10, as he explains Jesus' superior priesthood as our high priest who became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

[8:42] He says that in verse 9 of chapter 5. The writer then breaks off his instruction about the superior priesthood of Jesus to address those in his audience who are drifting away from what they confessed about Christ and are in danger of rejecting the gospel, the only hope that they had or that anyone has for salvation.

[9:05] After giving that warning, he turns his attention to those who were genuinely saved, and he encourages them, using the example of Abraham, that they should live confidently in the certainty of God's promises.

[9:21] In our text this morning, the writer of Hebrews returns to his instruction about Jesus' priesthood, which is after the order of this mysterious figure named Melchizedek.

[9:36] And so the main idea for this morning's message is this. God the Father blessed us with His Son, Jesus Christ, who is our high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

[9:49] God the Father blessed us with His Son, Jesus Christ, who is our high priest after the order of Melchizedek. We're seven chapters deep into the book of Hebrews.

[10:01] And chapter 7 has some really important subject matter for us. This is the meat. This is the main course of this letter.

[10:11] So I think it's important for us at this point to stop here and remember why Hebrews was written. The book was written to early Jewish converts to Christianity who were facing persecution for their confession that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, the Son of God.

[10:33] This persecution was tempting some of them to slip back into the rites and the rituals of Judaism to escape the mounting oppression that they were facing for being associated with Christ and His church.

[10:51] The writer of Hebrews talks about that in chapter 10 verses 32 through 36. But recall the former days when after you were enlightened you endured a hard struggle with suffering, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.

[11:08] For you had compassion on those in prison and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

[11:19] Therefore do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. The writer of Hebrews inspired by the Holy Spirit exhorts his readers to be confident and endure because in Christ they have something superior to all the things that came before.

[11:45] In Christ they have a steadfast anchor, a hope, a promise, a priest who has eternally secured their salvation. He's the fulfillment of all the things the Old Testament and Judaism pointed to.

[12:03] He is God's once for all sacrifice, the perfect completion of the repeated and imperfect Levitical sacrifices and as God's perfect high priest through his life, his death, and his resurrection has established a new and better superior covenant.

[12:25] The writer of Hebrews exhorts his readers to see this, to trust in this, to live confidently in this, in faith. in Jesus Christ, who again is God's best, his superior high priest who blesses us in eternal ways, giving us strength to endure today in the full assurance of the hope that in Jesus we have all that we need.

[12:51] We can live earnestly and we should faithfully and patiently as we know that we will inherit the promises which all find their yes in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our great high priest.

[13:06] John MacArthur said chapter 7 is the focal point of Hebrews. It concerns the central, most important part of Judaism, the priesthood. No sacrifices could be made except by the priest and no forgiveness of sins could be had apart from the sacrifices.

[13:22] The need of all humankind was for a perfect priest and a perfect sacrifice that would once and for all actually remove sin.

[13:33] God's provision for that perfect priest and sacrifice in Christ is the central message of Hebrews. And so I feel the need to mention the purpose of Hebrews because we could miss the forest from the trees in trying to decipher the mysterious identity of this man named Melchizedek.

[13:59] People wonder, was his appearance, Melchizedek's, in Genesis 14 a visit from a pre-incarnate Christ, a Christophany, or was he a type, a symbol, a foreshadowing of Christ?

[14:16] I'll address that this morning, but the main idea of this text isn't to cause us to wonder over the identity of Melchizedek, but to marvel over how God the Father has blessed us with his Son, Jesus Christ, who is our high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

[14:39] Our text this morning explains two ways God has blessed us in Christ who is our superior high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Brother, sister in Christ, you can live confidently in the certainty that Jesus is your perfect high priest who offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to completely and perfectly atone for your sins.

[15:07] If you have repented of your sins, if you have turned to faith in Jesus, if you've trusted in him as your Lord and Savior, you are saved, God the Father wants you to live confidently in that reality, in the reality of your relationship to him through faith in his Son, Jesus, who has caused his Spirit to indwell you in salvation as a guarantee that he has saved you and that he will keep you and that he will bestow upon you all of the promises that he's made to you in his word which he's given to you to know him, to obey him, and to delight in him.

[15:53] God wants you to be confident in Jesus and he wants you to live earnestly, purposefully as you fulfill his mission to joyfully declare the gospel, making disciples, discipling one another in his church as we demonstrate the goodness of God in our lives which he's transformed by faith in Jesus Christ his Son.

[16:18] And so my hope and prayer for you today is that you'll be filled with joy knowing how much God has blessed you in Christ. But maybe you're here this morning and you feel out of place.

[16:33] You're not a Christian. And all of this talk about Abraham, Melchizedek, priests, and sacrifices has you feeling confused and so maybe you're tempted to check out or wonder what any of this has to do with you.

[16:48] Friend, you may feel out of place but God has brought you to this place, the right place and he's ordained this day for you to hear the good news.

[17:02] I'm sure you've heard of Jesus. God wants you to know him truly. He wants you to know him fully. Not as a good moral teacher, not as a martyr, not as another religious figure, but as the one who came to die for your sins because he loves you and his desire is to save you through the means he's provided.

[17:32] Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I've prayed for you and I hope that today is the day God saves you and that you will join us in being the inheritors, the recipients of all the promises, all the blessings that are in Jesus Christ alone.

[17:52] God the Father blessed us with his Son Jesus Christ who is our high priest after the order of Melchizedek. How has God blessed us in Jesus our high priest? Well, we see two ways in our passage this morning.

[18:03] The first way is Jesus is an eternal high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus is an eternal high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

[18:13] Look again with me at verse 1. For this Melchizedek king of Salem priest of the Most High God met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him.

[18:25] I've already gone over this meeting between Abraham and Melchizedek in Genesis 4 which verse 1 refers to. What's important to note here is that Melchizedek was both a king and a priest positions he held simultaneously.

[18:44] Outside of Jesus and Melchizedek the Bible doesn't identify anyone as both king and priest. In fact God forbade Old Testament priests from becoming Israel's kings and Israel's kings from serving or acting in the role of Israel's priest.

[19:06] Scripture records the life of Uzziah who was king of Judah. Uzziah was one of the few kings who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord but his life serves as another reminder in Scripture that even the best of men are still men at best.

[19:25] Uzziah's success and fame caused him to become proud. And 2 Chronicles 26 records how he entered into God's temple and burned incense on the altar which was something only God's priests were permitted to do.

[19:42] In breaking God's laws Uzziah was assuming that he was above them. Eight priests tried to stop Uzziah from committing this unlawful and unfaithful act but instead of repenting Uzziah became angry and raged at these priests for daring to defy him the king of Judah.

[20:06] And while he was still raging at the priests God struck Uzziah with leprosy and he fled from the temple of fear of God and he lived the rest of his life in isolation unable to enter the temple of the Lord again.

[20:23] Eventually he died of his leprosy and his death demonstrated the divinely designed divide between king and priest in Israel.

[20:35] So imagine being a Jew knowing this history this divide God established between kings and priests and then reading in Hebrews this comparison between Jesus and Melchizedek who was both priest and king.

[20:57] It would be a shocking sort of twist something recorded in scripture but which they fully didn't understand until now.

[21:09] I don't know if this helps us understand their shock but suppose a sitting U.S. president appointed himself to the Supreme Court. they're going to serve as both president and Supreme Court justice at the same time.

[21:29] Now I'm sure that many presidents and Supreme Court justices wouldn't mind such an arrangement but we have laws that forbid it for good reason.

[21:41] What would be even more shocking is that Melchizedek is a king priest who served the Most High God El Elyon a name Moses uses for God in Deuteronomy 32.8 and who was not only not a descendant of Abraham but as the rest of verse 2 tells us was greater than Abraham.

[22:05] Look at verse 2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth of everything. This was no small gift as the writer of Hebrews will reiterate in verse 4 with exclamation.

[22:18] The coming verses teach that the greater person always blesses the lesser person. Thus the fact that Melchizedek blesses Abraham the first Jew and first recipient of the Old Covenant is astounding.

[22:36] Again for the writer's original Jewish audience to hear this exposition of Genesis 14 and being reminded that Melchizedek this non-Israelite king priest blessed Abraham after Abraham's triumphant military victory presents Melchizedek as the greater of the two.

[22:57] Abraham didn't respond to Melchizedek's blessing by saying now listen Melchizedek God the Most High whom you're a priest of has blessed me already I'll have you know that he's promised to make me into a great nation and that I will be his source of blessing to others so you see if anything we're equals here buddy and all this stuff that I've won in battle is going home with me he doesn't say that obviously he receives the blessing from Melchizedek and he gives Melchizedek a tithe a tenth of the spoils he recognizes Melchizedek's superiority to him and all of this is setting up what the writer of Hebrews will unpack in verses 4 through 10 but look with me at the rest of verse 2 and into verse 3 he is first by translation of his name king of righteousness that's what

[24:09] Melchizedek means in Hebrew and then he is also king of Salem an ancient name for Jerusalem city of peace that is king of peace he is without father or mother or genealogy having neither beginning of days nor end of life now it's these titles and it's the absence of this genealogy that have led some to propose that Melchizedek was a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ and we call this a Christophany or a theophany a Christophany or a theophany is a manifestation of God in the Bible in the Old Testament that is tangible to human senses in other words it's a visible appearance of God in the Old Testament sometimes in human form for example in Genesis 12 7 through 9 prior to this encounter with Melchizedek the

[25:10] Lord appeared to Abraham on his arrival in the land God promised to his descendants later in Genesis 18 1 through 33 Abraham received some visitors to our angels the other one is addressed as Lord capital L O R!

[25:29] which in our English translations is a clue to this visitor's divine identity in Genesis 32 22 through 30 Jacob wrestled with what he thought was a man appeared as a man but who was actually God these are some of the Christophanies in scripture which foreshadowed the incarnation where God took the form of a man to live among us as Emmanuel God with us and that man is Jesus Christ Melchizedek is also described as having no father mother or genealogy and no beginning or end of days the Bible says that Jesus is the eternal word of God he is the alpha and the omega he is the beginning and the end the Bible also calls Jesus king of kings and Lord of lords and here in Hebrews we will see his role as priest clearly defined the

[26:32] Bible says that Jesus is both our king and our priest and that he holds these positions simultaneously so is Melchizedek Jesus are they the same person the answer maybe maybe maybe not in Hebrews the writer often argues typologically actually before I say that I'll tell you personally I don't think that this was a Christophany because of what the rest of verse three says but resembling resembling the son of God he continues a priest forever the word resembling in Greek means to be like or similar in Hebrews the writer often argues typologically a type in the

[27:33] Bible is a person place or thing in the Old Testament that foreshadows symbolizes or pictures who Jesus is what he'll be like and what he will do in the New Testament the writer of Hebrews uses typology a lot in this letter to present Jesus as the greater David we've seen that the greater Moses we've seen that the greater Joshua and here the greater priest so I believe Melchizedek was a real person who typified who foreshadowed the priesthood of Jesus if Melchizedek was Jesus wouldn't the writer of Hebrews use another word other than resembling he could have said is as a matter of fact ultimately though ultimately it is the priesthood not the personhood of Melchizedek that is important here and in chapter 8 verses 1 through 2 there we see the writer of

[28:38] Hebrews clear point for why he's drawn this comparison not for us to think about the personhood of Melchizedek but the priesthood of Melchizedek he says now the point in what we are saying is this we have such a high priest one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven he's speaking of Jesus a minister in the holy places in the true tent that the Lord set up not man Melchizedek appears on the scene and then out of the scene as if he has no genealogy and unlike the Levitical priesthood which was age of 25 through 50 Melchizedek's priesthood wasn't by ancestry and it wasn't constricted by time he was divinely designated by

[29:38] God so in a sense his unrecorded ancestry and his continued service as priest and king without time limits picture the superior priesthood of Jesus Jesus' genealogy is recorded in Matthew and Luke's gospels both gospels trace his human ancestry through his mother Mary and his adoptive earthly father Joseph revealing that Jesus' family is descended from Judah not Levi so a first century Jew would think Jesus can't be a priest because he's of the tribe of Judah not Levi and so the point being made here and will be further unpacked is that Melchizedek's priesthood came before the Levitical priesthood Levi is a descendant of Abraham the father of the

[30:39] Jewish nation Melchizedek blessed Abraham and he was exalted above him the Levitical priests offered sacrifices which temporarily put people in right relationship with God but they needed to be made over and over and over again a Levitical priest service was also temporary again serving from age 25 through 50 however Jesus' sacrifice and his priesthood are eternal after the order of Melchizedek that's the point being made here and it'll be fleshed out even more in chapter 7 verses 23 through 25 the former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office but Jesus holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever consequently he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them and so brother sister you don't need another priest to intercede on your behalf to

[31:49] God you don't need to go on a pilgrimage to find God you don't need to go on some kind of journey to find some kind of priest to intercede on your behalf so that God will forgive you of your sins you don't have to make another sacrifice or any sacrifice to appease God like the Levitical priests Jesus offered a sacrifice to satisfy the law of God when he offered himself for our sins but unlike the Levitical priests who continually offered sacrifices Jesus only had to offer his sacrifice once gaining eternal redemption for all who come to God through him Hebrews 9 11 through 12 makes this point but when Christ appeared as high priest of the good things that have come then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands that is not of this creation he entered once for all into the holy places not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood!

[32:59] thus eternal redemption Jesus finished work gives us confidence and boldness to come to God directly not through some other mediator remember what Hebrews chapter 4 verses 15 through 16 said about this for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need we can boldly and directly go to God the father through our mediator his son Jesus Christ who is our savior and lord our king and our priest before we bought our house we were permitted by the previous owners to put boxes of our stuff in their garage before the closing date and that was very gracious of them but they had a condition our realtor had to be there in fact and you've probably experienced the same if you bought or sold a house using a realtor anytime we went into the house prior to the closing date she had to be there with us she was also our mediator our only source of communication between us and the ones who at that time owned the house and so we could only speak to them through her that was the way everything was set up then the day came when the papers were signed the keys were given to us and our house became our house it's not a perfect example but in

[34:59] Christ the mediation the guardianship of the temple performed by the Levites is no longer necessary Jesus paid the price for us he signed the contract in his blood he's given us access to his kingdom to our eternal home I don't call my realtor anymore to let me into my house because it's my house in Christ you belong to God you are his dwelling place and his spirit inside of you is a guarantee that you will one day dwell with him eternally all of this makes Jesus the second way we see here that God has blessed us a superior high priest after the order of Melchizedek Jesus is a superior high priest after the order of

[35:59] Melchizedek I'm going to read verses 4 through 10 again see how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils and those descendants of Levi who received the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people that is from their brothers though these also are descended from Abraham but this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promise it is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior in the one case tithes are received by mortal men but in the other case by one of whom it is testified that he lives one might even say that Levi himself who receives tithes paid tithes through Abraham for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek blessed him now the logic here is clear as it presents Jesus superiority to the Levitical priesthood under the law the other tribes of

[37:00] Israel were commanded by God to give a tithe to the tribe of Levi who served him in the temple Levites were not permitted to own land so in this way their needs were met and they could focus solely on their intercessory work in the temple but Abraham the progenitor of the Levitical line again the first Jew paid tithes to Melchizedek the king priest of Jerusalem thus Melchizedek is superior to Abraham and the Levites who descended from Abraham Melchizedek's priesthood came before the Levitical priesthood and Abraham whom they were descended from gave ties to Melchizedek demonstrating Melchizedek's superiority to him the writer of Hebrews wants his readers to see that the Old Testament itself showed that the

[38:04] Levitical priesthood was always meant to give way to something better to something superior the personal significance of Jesus fulfilling the role of Melchizedek is profound for us as our eternal high priest Jesus intercedes for us not on the basis of law or our ancestry but by the power of his indestructible life this means that our salvation is secure not because of our performance but because of his perfect and unchanging priesthood Hebrews 725 assures us that he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him and in a world of instability and human failure Jesus his priesthood offers us unshakable hope he is both king of righteousness and king of peace and through him through him we have direct access to

[39:14] God something no earthly priesthood could ever fully provide Jesus is an eternal priest and thus he is a superior priest he is the only priest who can permanently bring God to men and men to God because he is the God man who came on a mission to rescue us from our captors and who sacrificed his life to set us free and who rose again to give us eternal life and enduring hope because he is our great our good our glorious king and priest and so for the adjust this morning it really depends on how you answer this question how you need to adjust your life and the question is this is Jesus your high priest priest

[40:16] Jesus your high priest there's a lot of misconceptions about Jesus in our world there's a lot of people who say all different kinds of things about him there's a lot of people who like the idea of Jesus but they don't like the true Jesus as he is presented to us in the word that he's inspired they wanted Jesus who serves as like a therapist and who tells them that they're never wrong and they're always right who approves of all of their sin some people want a Jesus who's more like a genie who if they just have enough faith Jesus give me this Jesus give me that that that's not what Jesus came to do he came to do something so much greater to give us unappreciable and undefiled Jesus Christ is the eternal word of

[41:16] God he is the one through whom all things were created he is the one who sustains all things and it was God's plan to send him the second person of the Trinity to this earth again on this divine rescue mission this was always God's plan as we've seen I hopefully you've seen today in his word from Genesis through Revelation that God would send one who would crush the serpent's head that God would send one who would set us free from our sins that God would send us a king who would rule perfectly and righteously that God would send a priest who would sacrifice himself who would shed his own blood to fully atone for our sins that we would be cleansed that we would be washed that we be forgiven that we have eternal life and we know that we have it because on the third day after he was crucified Jesus rose again and he ascended into heaven but before ascending he gave his people a mission go tell make disciples live lives that demonstrate the joy that you have in me because of what

[42:26] I've rescued you from and friend if you don't know Jesus that is who Jesus is that is what Jesus has done and he offers you today he calls you to come to him to know him as your priest who died in your place for your sins and who lives as I speak interceding on behalf of his people and will until the day he comes back and takes us finally home if Jesus is your high priest then I want you to think about what kind of person you should be if that's the truth if Jesus has saved you if he is your king who you obey if he is your priest who you understand is the only way that you could have been saved from your sins then what kind of person should you be what kind of way should you live how should you demonstrate the goodness of

[43:27] God to save you through Jesus Christ your high priest remember the word of God is not a suggestion book but an expectation these are expectations that God has given you this is not a word of advice but a word of command and he tells us how we should live and he tells us how we should demonstrate his goodness to one another into this world that is lost and in need of hearing the gospel and one of those places he tells us is 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 1 through 5 I'm going to close with this passage and God's word will again have the last word this morning in this message speaking to Christians so put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander like newborn infants that by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the

[44:29] Lord is good as you come to him a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ let's pray Lord we thank you for this passage that you've given us this morning to chew on Lord it's deep and it's rich with truth and God we could spend a whole lot of time just thinking over the truths that are contained in just these ten verses God the main point that we see is that Jesus is our high priest that he is superior that we don't need another priest that we don't need another sacrifice that we can come to you boldly and confidently in

[45:38] Christ knowing that our sins have been perfectly atoned for knowing that your promises are true that those whom you save Lord you have promised to keep and God we have your word as a living testimony to us that you are a God who keeps his promises and so Lord as a result of that you have told us that we have the ability to live confidently and boldly for you that God because of your spirit indwelling us in the word that you have given us we can resist temptation we can resist sin we can endure whatever we would go through in life because our hope is not in this world or the things of this world but in you and we can know Lord that no matter what we're going through that we can come to you boldly and confidently and how great it is to know that the creator of the universe knows us in Christ cares about our lives and cares to hear about the concerns that we have and who has ultimately taken care of our greatest concern which is our sin which has separated us from you and so

[46:54]  Lord we thank you that you are our perfect superior high priest that you are all we need and if we have you we have all we need and so God may we live our lives in service to you for your glory for your honor that people would know the goodness of Jesus through the lives of his disciples and that you would be pleased and that you would be honored that we would live our lives as living sacrifices doing good not for our sake or for our attention or for the attention of our church because doing good is good because you're good and you're worthy and we love you and we thank you and we ask these things in Jesus name amen thank you for joining us today to learn more about our church visit highlandparkbaptist.net