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Hebrews chapter 7. We'll continue with where we left off last week, verse 11.

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Hebrews chapter 7, verse 11 is where we will start. We will read through verse 24.

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We're still talking about Melchizedek, the author of Hebrews, had wanted to talk

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about him for some time and he finally in chapter 7 is able to talk about

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Melchizedek. If you miss any of our sermons and ever want to find them,

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they're always available online. You can go to EnterpriseBaptist.com if you

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want to catch up if you miss some. But today we're continuing on. We're still

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talking about Melchizedek today. We kind of were introduced to him a little bit

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last week, but there is still more to be said about Melchizedek. Hebrews chapter

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7, verse 11. We'll read through the text and then we'll pray. If then perfection

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came through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law,

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what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be in the order

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of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron. For when there is a change of the

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priesthood, there must be a change of the law as well. For the one these things are

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spoken about belong to a different tribe. No one from it has served at the altar.

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Now it is evident that our Lord came from Judah and Moses said nothing about

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that tribe concerning priests. And this becomes clearer if another priest like

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Melchizedek appears, who did not become a priest based on a legal command

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concerning physical descent, but based on the power of an indestructible life. For

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it has been testified, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. So

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the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable, for the law

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perfected nothing. But a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to

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God. None of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without

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an oath, but he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him, the

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Lord has sworn and he will not change his mind. You are a priest forever. So

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Jesus also became the guarantee of a better covenant. Now many have become

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Levitical priests since they are prevented by death from remaining in

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office, but because he remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently. Let's

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pray. Father God, we come to you this morning and we read these words and God

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there is a lot for us to wrap our head around here, a lot for us to consider and

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God some of this stuff we kind of look at it and we say what does this

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mean God? I pray that you would help us to see what it means. That God your word

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is not confusing, but sometimes we just need a little help and so God I pray

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that today that you would help us, that you would help me to preach and teach

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your word in a way that brings glory to Jesus Christ. God that we see Jesus

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as our high priest today. I pray God that if there is one that does not know Jesus

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Christ, God that your Holy Spirit today would speak to their heart. God I pray

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that we would see the greatness of who Jesus is this morning in your word. I pray

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that you would hide me behind the cross, that you'd take away my fear, I'd take

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away my pride dear Lord, that your Holy Spirit would speak through me this

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morning. I pray that you would help us not to be distracted by the worries of

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this world dear Lord. There's things that went on this past week and things that

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will go on this next week in our lives and and God those things are probably

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competing for our attention now, but I pray God that your Holy Spirit would

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grab a hold of us today. Your Holy Spirit would speak to us today and I ask these

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things in Jesus name, amen. It's a lot for us to consider when we talk about

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Melchizedek and some of this stuff that we see today it might not make perfect

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sense to us when we read through that text and we kind of say what does this

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mean? Well we talked last week about Melchizedek and kind of were introduced

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to him and in the Old Testament his name is mentioned exactly two times, but yet by

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the time we get to the book of Hebrews in two chapters the author mentions his

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name nine times. We know almost nothing about Melchizedek but from the nothing

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we know the author of Hebrews has kind of made this the focal point of his

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argument for his audience. His audience is Jewish Christians, that is people who

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were raised up living by the law that came through the priesthood, but they

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have put their faith in Jesus Christ and through hard times they are tempted to

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go back to the old way and that's why the author of Hebrews is focused so

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much on this point and so he tells us of Melchizedek and we talked last week

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about some of the significance to Melchizedek. One, he was a king and two

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he was a priest and that is significant because when God established the law the

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priestly line was going to come through Aaron and that was going to be through

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the Levites and then the Kings were going to come from a different tribe. Now

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he's not so much focused on Kings in this passage as he is priest. What he

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really wants to talk about and this is important for us today too maybe not in

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all of the same ways as it was to his audience but it is important to us that

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we understand some of this history so that we can really grasp the point of

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this whole book. Now what he really wants to focus on is the idea of Jesus being

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our high priest and that's why he brings up Melchizedek because it says in the

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Old Testament that Melchizedek was both a king and a priest and the

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significance is is Melchizedek is pointing us forward to Jesus because

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before Jesus in the time between Melchizedek and Jesus those offices

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could not be held by the same person but when Jesus comes along it is

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established that Jesus is better than what has come before and that's what the

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author of Hebrews wants us to know that Jesus serves as both priest and king. Now

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he's focusing on the priestly part of Jesus's ministry here but Melchizedek

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that came before was at the very least a type of what was to come. Now we see this

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in some Old Testament characters. We see lots of prophecies about Jesus. We see

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some Old Testament characters that are a type that is they're foreshadowing.

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They're kind of giving us a glimpse of who Jesus is and what he will do.

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Maybe a good example is Joshua. Okay so Moses led the people out of Egypt out of

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slavery but it was Joshua who was going to lead them into the promised land and

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give them some level of rest although not the ultimate rest that God desires

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and we can look at Joshua as a type of Jesus kind of a foreshadowing of

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one who would lead his people into the promised land and more importantly would

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give his people rest as we've seen in the book of Hebrews that Joshua didn't

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give God's people the ultimate rest they desired but that rest was going to be

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given by Jesus who would to come. So Joshua is a type of Jesus who is to come.

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Now at the very least Melchizedek is a type of Jesus simply saying look there's

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a better priesthood one that is forever. Now we see that mentioned in Psalm 110.

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You can read that this week. We see this idea that God swore an oath. Now this

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Psalm 110 is pointing us forward to Jesus and it says that God swore an oath

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that Jesus would be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Now what we're

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establishing here is this idea of a priesthood that was before that that

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came through the law and a priesthood that is better than that that came

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before the law. So there are several different ways that we could look at

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Melchizedek. I'll tell you a couple of them. One of them we kind of talked about

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last week that look he may just be a normal guy. He was just a normal guy who

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was a king and the significance to who he was was that he was a king and a

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priest and therefore that's a fitting comparison for who Jesus is and maybe

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that's all Melchizedek was. That's one view. Now there are a couple of other

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views. We'll only talk about one of them here for just a second. The other view is

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that Melchizedek was a Christophany. Now we've talked about that before but I'll

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refresh you on what a Christophany is. A Christophany is the idea that Jesus

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Christ appeared in some form in the Old Testament before he came in the New

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Testament that he took on flesh in some way. Now we also use the word sometimes

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theophany. Now that is to say that God took on some human form in some way. Now

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we see examples of this when when the vistas came to Abraham. It were angels

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but it was men and it was in fact God was one of them. That would what that'd be

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what we'd call a theophany or some would say maybe that was Jesus a

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Christophany or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and there was another in the

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fire who was like a man but who was it? Well some have said well maybe that is a

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Christophany that is Jesus Christ appearing in some way. Some have

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suggested and maybe rightfully so when we really begin to look at the language

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that is spoken of of Melchizedek that Melchizedek in fact was Jesus that that

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was Jesus who blessed Abraham and the fact that it says that Melchizedek's

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priesthood forever is certainly a good argument to say that maybe Melchizedek

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was a Christophany. There's no real way to know for sure. We know at the very

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least that the the idea of who Melchizedek was certainly pointed us to

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Jesus and maybe even was Jesus in some form in the Old Testament and so the

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author of Hebrews uses Melchizedek to bring about what he wants to talk about

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and that is the priesthood. Now the Jewish people they loved the priesthood

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they loved the law and rightfully so because God had given them the law once

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he brought them out of Egypt he had given them the law and he had given them

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instructions and he had established the priesthood to offer sacrifices and so

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the author begins to talk about the priesthood here and he uses that also to

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talk about the law but what he really wants to talk about is the new covenant

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now we saw that in the passage we just read today that God has established a

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better covenant through Jesus Christ and that's what he wants to get to we will

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get there but today we're kind of moving kind of in between the priesthood and

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the law now God established the priesthood through Aaron and that was a

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great importance because in the priesthood it pointed us forward to

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Jesus we see this all through the Old Testament everything we see is pointing

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us forward to Jesus it's a shadow of what is to come it kind of shows a

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little bit about God's what God's doing and what God wants to do and how God is

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going to accomplish it and so we see that when he established the priesthood

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because it was the priest who had offered sacrifice for the sins of the

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people it was the law that would give the people the instruction on how they

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were to live it would let them know what is right and what is wrong and those

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things are pointing us forward to Jesus and so God had established a priesthood

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and he had established the law and it was good and this audience who grew up

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under the priesthood and the law it was good it was right it was the thing for

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them to do until Jesus came on to the scene and what the author of Hebrews is

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telling us is that something better than the law has come something better than

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the priesthood of Aaron has come and it has come through Jesus Christ so the

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author is trying to make this point by saying that the priesthood that you are

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tempted to go back to and the law that you are tempted to go back to is of no

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significance to you it has no power and to show you that there is a better

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priesthood I'm telling you about Melchizedek that there was a priesthood

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established forever before that of Aaron that is to say that the priesthood of

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Aaron was temporary and it has served its purpose now he tells us that in the

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beginning of the passage in verse 12 he said for when there is a change of the

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priesthood there must be a change of the law as well he's making the point

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throughout this passage if the law would have been sufficient if the old

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priesthood would have been sufficient there would be no need for Jesus if the

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old law was sufficient and the old priesthood was sufficient then that's

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what we'd be doing today well probably not because they wouldn't have met on a

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Sunday but but if the law was sufficient and then we'd have somebody that was a

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priest and we'd be gathering our animals and we'd be going for the high priest to

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sacrifice once a year for us that was the high priest job but what the author

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of Hebrews says is he said there has been a change in the priesthood who is

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the high priest the answer is Jesus Jesus has become our high priest and

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what is the significance of a new priesthood the significance is this that

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there has been a change in the law there's been a change in the law through

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Jesus Christ what does he say as we continue to read in the passage he says

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in verse 18 so the previous command is annulled because it was weak and

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profitable okay so it's not to say that the law did not have a purpose it did

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have a purpose but at its very best the law that God gave through Moses was

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weak and unprofitable it was never going to fulfill what Jesus was going to

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fulfill for us now it's certainly the law served a purpose the scripture tells

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us in Matthew 5 that Jesus did not come to destroy the law okay the law had its

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purpose but what else does it say in the rest of that passage Jesus did not come

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to destroy the law but to fulfill the law Jesus came to do what we could not

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do so when Jesus came onto the scene he did not say okay well well the law is

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done there's there's no purpose to the law no the law had to be fulfilled

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justice had to be served the law told what sin was but that sin had to be

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dealt with and the law could not deal with that sin and so he sent Jesus

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Christ now Jesus didn't just come and do away with the law he fulfilled it the

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law has been fulfilled for us today through Jesus Christ and that's what the

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author of Hebrews wants his audience to know is we do not live under the law

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Romans chapter 6 tells us that we are not under the law but we are under grace

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now this was a problem for his Hebrew audience because they wanted to go back

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to the way of the law now certainly there is some difference of opinion among

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Christians today some Christians would say we are totally and completely free

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in Jesus Christ and I would agree with that I believe so some Christians would

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say well we're free in Jesus but we're still under some parts of the law and I

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think we need to be careful when we look at that I think Jesus Christ has freed

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us from the law when we get into the New Testament we see that the law is summed

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up in one word to love your neighbor as yourself I can't think of the passage

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right now but it's there look it up and check me on that but but what we see in

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the New Testament is this new command this new law which really is not new at

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all and that is to love the Lord our God with all our heart mind soul and strength

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and to love our neighbor as our self so what the New Testament tells us is that

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we are under a law of love and what we see sometimes among Christians may not

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be so different from what we see among the the audience of the Hebrews here is

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that they're trying to live maybe with one foot on Jesus but also trying to go

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to the law when they when the New Testament seems pretty clear that the

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law is done away with that Jesus has fulfilled that you and I could not

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fulfill that praise the Lord if the law was still here we'd still be trying to

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fulfill it yet trusting that Jesus had fulfilled it but no we no longer try to

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fulfill the law because Jesus Christ has done that on our behalf praise the Lord

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because when we look at the Old Testament laws the things that are

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commanded in there are impossible for us to do we can try it with all our might

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and as much as we may desire to we cannot fulfill the works of the law and

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so we are fully and totally dependent on Jesus Christ today we need to be fully

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and totally dependent on Jesus Christ today but sometimes we fall into this

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trap sometimes we fall into this trap that somehow we think we need to earn

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God's favor by our good works that somehow we can we can live in a way

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that's good enough that that's going to be good enough for God that somehow that

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we can obtain some righteousness by living by the law but we cannot be made

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righteous by the law today we cannot be we will only be made righteous through

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Jesus Christ who fulfilled everything in the law that you and I could not

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fulfill Paul spends the whole book of Galatians talking about this point he

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talks about the point of the law having a purpose but its purpose was only until

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Jesus came if you want to turn to Galatians you can Galatians chapter 3

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Galatians chapter 3 verses 10 through 13 this is relevant it was relevant to the

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audience that Paul was writing to in Galatians the same idea is relevant

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similar to what we've seen in the book of Hebrews and it's relevant for us

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today Galatians chapter 3 verse 10 says this for all who rely on the works of

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the law are under a curse because it is written everyone who does not continue

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doing everything written in the book of the law is cursed okay well that's still

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true for you and I today the law gives us the commands of God but we sin we

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fail to live by those commands and as a result what does Paul say those who live

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under the law so if you're just living by the law today you're in trouble

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because you're cursed because you cannot live up to what the law commands verse

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11 now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law because

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the righteous will live by faith but the law is not based on faith instead the

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one who does these things will live by them Christ has redeemed us from the

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curse of the law by becoming a curse for us because it is written everyone who is

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hung on a tree is cursed so the law is not based on faith but our relationship

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in Jesus Christ is based on faith so what does the scripture tell us this is

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good news we cannot live up to what the law calls us to but Jesus has become the

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curse for us Jesus has been nailed on the cross for you and I today now there

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may be some of you in this room and you've been trying to be good enough but

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you can't be good enough nothing we can do is good enough but I've got good news

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what Jesus did for you on the cross is good enough it is through Jesus's

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righteousness that our sins are forgiven we're not justified by the law

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we're justified and made righteous by our faith and that's what Paul is trying

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to tell his audience and the whole book of Galatians is that they are freed from

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the law there were some back in those times who were trying to live by the law

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there are some today that would teach that we need to live by the law but the

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Bible teaches us that we are free in Jesus Christ he goes on to say in

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Galatians chapter 3 verses 24 and 25 the law then was our guardian into a Christ

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so that we could be justified by faith but since that faith has come we are no

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longer under a guardian okay so the law had a purpose it was to guide God's

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people along it was to keep them in check it was to show them the desires of

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God but the law could never accomplish what God desires and that is forgiveness

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of sins it can only accomplish that for a little while but every year the priests

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would go year after year to offer sacrifices for the people and so the law

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had a purpose it was until Jesus and Jesus came and he fulfilled the law Paul

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tells us in Galatians chapter 3 so what about those who were still trying to be

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justified by the law well in Galatians chapter 5 verse 4 it says this those who

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seek to be justified by the law have fallen from grace now we've seen that

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language throughout the book of Hebrews this is common this is the warning that

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we see the author of Hebrews given to his audience here in chapter 2 be

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careful that you don't drift away in chapter 6 we had that strong warning

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about those who have who have tasted the Word of God and and the works of God and

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who's who's lived that out to some extent and yet they have fallen away so

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the author of Hebrews is giving a very similar warning to that of Paul in

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Galatians chapter 5 those who were trying to be justified by the law have

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fallen from grace so the author of Hebrews says all this stuff about Mel

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Chesedek a character that we don't know much about but what we do know about him

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is he established a priesthood that was far ever as Psalm 110 verse 4 tells us

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and Jesus is a high priest forever in the order of Mel Chesedek which means

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what before Jesus came there was a priesthood that was serving for a little

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while it was that of Aaron but there have been a has been a change in the

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priesthood and what does Hebrews tell us when there is a change in the

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priesthood there is a change in the law so there's no more benefit to animal

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sacrifices there's no more benefit to any of that there are certainly a few

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Jewish people who would love to rebuild a temple and love to re-establish animal

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sacrifices and maybe they will and maybe they'll sacrifice a million animals but

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they will receive no salvation from that because salvation does not come from the

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law in the old priesthood because Jesus has established a new priesthood and the

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old priesthood is annulled when there is a change in the priesthood there is a

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change in the law and that's what the author of Hebrews wants his audience to

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know so what do we see of Jesus and his new priesthood if we're not justified by

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the law but justified by faith do we see that in who Jesus is absolutely

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absolutely we see that throughout the New Testament the law had lots of

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commands the law have lots of things and in the law what the law did was it made

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people sinners not that not that people weren't sinners before but it made

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people aware of who they were the law pulled the wool off their eyes they knew

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for sure this is what is required by God there are lots of commands in the Old

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Testament but what Jesus did was he accomplished things that no priest could

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do that no one in the Old Testament could do now we see some examples of

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this idea of faith coming through through the teachings of Jesus and people

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having faith and here's the effect that Jesus had when he came and a new

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priesthood was established he made things clean in the Old Testament in the

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law there were lots of ways in which people could be made unclean but when

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Jesus came onto the scene he was not made unclean by the things that were

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unclean instead he took what was unclean and he washed it and made it pure so we

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see some good examples of that in Matthew chapter 8 and chapter 9 we see

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in the Old Testament that one who touched a leper would be unclean but yet

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what do we see of Jesus in Matthew chapter 8 that a leper came to him and

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Jesus what did he do he touched the leper does that mean that Jesus was

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unclean absolutely not because Jesus had the reverse effect you see before Jesus

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came there were things that would make us unclean but what Jesus shows us in

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the scripture is that Jesus wasn't made unclean by the unclean but instead Jesus

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made the unclean clean we see that as we continue reading in Matthew chapter 9 we

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see a woman whose daughter had died and Jesus went and what does it say he do he

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took the daughter by the hand but in the Old Testament law it said that if he

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touched the dead body you'd be made unclean but yet what did Jesus do in the

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story he touched the dead body it says in the Old Testament law that a that a

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woman who was in a in a time of bleeding if they were touched they would be

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unclean but what do we see of a woman of a problem of bleeding for years came and

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touched Jesus and in all of these instances Jesus was not made unclean but

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the reverse happened when they came to Jesus they were made clean that's the

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power of Jesus because the power of sin is a curse to us it is a curse to us we

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see that in first Corinthians chapter 15 if you want to turn there this morning

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you can first Corinthians chapter 15 first Corinthians chapters 15 verse 56

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says this now the sting of death as sin and the power of sin is the law the

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sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but what Jesus has done

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as he has come and he has fulfilled everything in the law what Jesus has

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come and the things that would once have made us unclean the things that would

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have once made us sinners and we still are sinners by the way are made clean

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through Jesus Christ and so the power of the law has lost its sting the power of

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sin has lost its sting why because Jesus Christ is a better high priest and his

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priesthood is established forever there are no two priesthoods there's not the

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priesthood of Aaron and the priesthood of Jesus that's simultaneous the

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priesthood of Aaron is ended and it is the priesthood of Jesus that is eternal

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and that's what the author of Hebrews says look don't go back to the old ways

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because Jesus has come and he has set up a priesthood forever in the order of

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Melchizedek and where the old priest would have been made unclean by the

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things of the law the new priest has come and he has freed us from the the

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curse he has freed us from our sin and that is good news for us today that's

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good news for us today because the old priesthood and following all the law

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that we could follow was never going to be enough to to justify us to make us

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righteous but Jesus has come for us today and what Jesus has come to do is

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reverse the effects of sin now we still sin but before the wages of sin was

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death and through Jesus Christ now we have a way of escape we have a way that

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when death comes in our life that it does not have the final say but that

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victory over the curse has come because Jesus has become the curse on our behalf

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and so today we need to be as those we see so often in the New Testament those

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who so often are unclean and they come before Jesus and when they come to Jesus

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and they seek Jesus we see time and again that they are made well and time

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and time again in the New Testament we see the phrase your faith has healed you

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your faith has made you well this is what Jesus calls us to today this is the

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law to love God and to love our neighbor it's summed up in that way when we love

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God we will serve him we will be obedient to him we will give to him we

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will worship him we will praise him when we love our neighbor we will not kill

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them we will not steal from them we will not commit adultery we will not lie to

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them we will not do any of those things this is the law of love that Jesus has

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established and that we are called to what Jesus does is offer forgiveness of

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sins where the priesthood of the of the past and the law of the past could not

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do and so there are perhaps some of us today that need to come before Jesus and

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we need to realize this morning that we'll never be saved by our works you

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come to church every day you can put money into play you can do good stuff

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but that's not enough to save you because that only comes through Jesus

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Christ everything in the Old Testament all this priesthood stuff all the laws

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all pointing us to Jesus Christ to a better priest who would establish a

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priesthood forever a priest who would wash us of our sins today have you been

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washed of your sins today if you hadn't put your faith in Jesus Christ I can

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tell you you haven't but if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ you've been

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made clean today maybe there are some of you today and you need to come to Jesus

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Christ you need to come and you need to seek him and you need to realize that he

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is the only hope we have that's what the author of Hebrews said in this passage

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that Jesus is a better hope that brings about a better covenant it's built on

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better promises and that's what we see in Jesus Christ it's better hope than

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what the world shows you today there's hope in Jesus Christ he'll make you

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clean he'll forgive you of your sins if you'll come to him if you'll seek him

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with faith because that's what God calls us to if you put your faith in Jesus

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Christ today I hope you have let's pray dear Lord we come to you this morning we

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thank you for your word dear Lord a lot to like to think about but God I pray

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that we don't miss the point of all this Melchizedek stuff God I pray that we

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don't miss the point that Jesus is better dear Lord that Jesus has

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established the perfect way God that yeah you gave a lot of ways in the Old

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Testament as far as instructions for the people to follow and how to live and that

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was all pointing us forward to who Jesus was dear Lord there was never going to

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be salvation through the law it was good for a time dear Lord it guided your

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people for a time but dear Lord you have provided something better than the law

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for us today and we thank you for providing Jesus Christ for us God I pray

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that we never fall into the trap of being legalistic of thinking that we

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will be justified by the law trying to live by the law and trying to be good

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enough dear Lord God we can't be good enough this morning but Jesus was good

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enough dear Lord I pray for any in this room or in this world today that may be

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seeking to be justified by the works of the law but instead dear Lord that they

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would be justified by the works of Jesus Christ God I pray today that that maybe

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there is one here today and they just realized that they need help God maybe

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their life feels hopeless God I pray that today they'd see that there is hope

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in who Jesus is that he has become a better high priest and he is seated on

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the throne today because he has offered a sacrifice for their sin dear Lord and I

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pray today that if there are some in this room that do not know Jesus Christ

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that they would repent of their sin turn from that sinful way that they would ask

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you now in this moment to forgive them dear Lord that they would come to faith

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in you that they would not try to be justified by their works but they would

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trust in who Jesus is God let us come before you today with our uncleanliness

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with our with our sickness that is our sin dear Lord let us come to you let us

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seek you dear Lord let us seek you with all of our heart to know that that there

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is forgiveness that there is hope dear Lord so God I pray that we would be

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those of faith today not those who have faith in the law and in the priesthood

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of of old but that we would be those who have faith in Jesus Christ and who Jesus

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is because God there is salvation in no other this morning so God I pray today

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that we would be those who seek his righteousness and seek his help God

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maybe there are some today that are struggling I pray that you'd help them I

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pray that they'd seek you I pray that they'd find you I pray that you'd make

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them well today in their soul and in their in their worldly struggles

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whatever it may be that they're going through dear Lord I pray that you'd you'd

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bring healing to their life today and I ask these things in Jesus name amen