1. "To leave what everything is pointing to, to go back to the things that are built to point to the other thing, is like rejecting the meal and just asking to please have the menu back."

2. "The best giving to God is not in order to get more, but in gratitude for what He's already given you."

3. "When you get to know your New Testament without knowing your Old, it's like looking at beautiful stained glass windows on a cloudy day. Everything is there, but if you'll get to know your Old Testament better, it's like the sun coming out behind these windows and all of a sudden they just start to sparkle."

4. "Faith by itself is like water. It can sustain life, or it can drown. But faith in Christ is saving."

5. "The question is not how religious are you, but to whom are you religious? So the question is not so much about how much you are giving, but to whom you are giving. That's the point."

6. "Even pastors, if they don't point beyond themselves to Jesus Christ, are not to be trusted. We are spokesmen, but we are not the point. It's the one that we point to."

7. "A lot of people do with religion like fancy graduation gowns. It kind of looks flashy, they can put it on Sunday morning, once a month or once a year, but then they take it right off. That's not really who they are morally. That's just good for appearances only."

8. "Who we give our gifts to, who we honor, may well show who we worship."

9. "With no centralized budget Christianity has become the largest thing on the planet. This little matter of giving is significant in that."

10. "You can be sure that trials are coming that will make it clear who you're really devoted to."

Observation Questions

1. According to Hebrews 7:1-2, what two titles describe Melchizedek, and what do these titles mean when translated?

2. In Hebrews 7:2-4, what two actions took place between Melchizedek and Abraham after Abraham's military victory?

3. How does Hebrews 7:3 describe Melchizedek in terms of his genealogy and lifespan, and whom does the passage say he resembles?

4. According to Hebrews 7:5, what commandment did the descendants of Levi who received the priestly office have regarding tithes?

5. What contrast does Hebrews 7:8 draw between those who receive tithes in the Levitical system and the one who received tithes from Abraham?

6. In Hebrews 7:9-10, how does the author argue that Levi himself paid tithes to Melchizedek, even though Levi was not yet born?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that Abraham—the patriarch and father of the Jewish faith—gave a tithe to Melchizedek rather than the other way around? What does this reveal about Melchizedek's status?

2. The author states in verse 7 that "it is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior." How does this principle support the argument that Jesus' priesthood is superior to the Levitical priesthood?

3. Why does the author emphasize that Melchizedek has no recorded genealogy, birth, or death in Scripture (v. 3)? How does this literary detail serve to point forward to Christ?

4. What is the significance of the contrast in verse 8 between priests who are "mortal men" and one "of whom it is testified that he lives"? What does this teach about the nature of Christ's priesthood?

5. How does the argument that Levi "paid tithes through Abraham" (vv. 9-10) undermine the idea that returning to temple worship would be spiritually advantageous for these Jewish Christians?

Application Questions

1. The original audience was tempted to abandon Christ for something that seemed more impressive and established. What things in your life—whether religious traditions, social approval, or personal comfort—might tempt you to drift away from wholehearted devotion to Christ?

2. The sermon emphasized that the best giving flows from gratitude for what God has already given, not from an attempt to manipulate God into blessing us. How does your current practice of giving reflect your understanding of God's grace toward you in Christ?

3. The passage highlights that who we give our loyalty and resources to reveals who we truly worship. What does your use of time, money, and energy this past month reveal about where your ultimate loyalties lie?

4. The preacher noted that trials will reveal who we are truly devoted to, using the example of Hua who confessed Christ despite threats. How can you prepare your heart now so that when trials come, you remain steadfast in your confession of Christ?

5. This sermon calls us to honor Christ as our eternal priest by going to Him and relying on Him in prayer. What specific step can you take this week to deepen your habit of bringing your needs, fears, and decisions to Christ rather than relying on other sources of security?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Genesis 14:17-24 — This is the original account of Abraham's encounter with Melchizedek, providing the historical narrative that Hebrews 7 interprets and applies.

2. Psalm 110:1-7 — This messianic psalm declares that the coming King will be "a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek," which the author of Hebrews will expound in the second half of chapter 7.

3. Hebrews 4:14-5:10 — This earlier passage introduces Jesus as our great high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses, setting up the fuller explanation of His Melchizedekian priesthood in chapter 7.

4. Galatians 6:1-10 — This passage addresses Christian giving, particularly the responsibility to support those who teach the Word, which the sermon applied to the question of financial loyalty.

5. 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 — Paul's instructions on generous giving demonstrate that Christian generosity flows from the grace of Christ who became poor for our sake, reinforcing the sermon's teaching on gratitude-motivated giving.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Context: Jewish Christians Tempted to Abandon Christ for Temple Worship

II. Details About Abraham and Melchizedek's Meeting (Hebrews 7:1-10; Genesis 14:17-20)

III. The Significance of Abraham and Melchizedek in Relation to Levi and Christ

IV. The Call to Loyal Devotion to Christ Alone

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Detailed Sermon Outline

The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him. Proverbs 18:17.

Is your first decision always right?

Usually right.

Are you able to rethink something that you've thought about?

That seems to have been the situation that this letter to the Hebrews was written to. Some Jewish Christians in this church, likely in Jerusalem, were seen to be rethinking their commitment to Christ, and considering returning to traditional Jewish worship at the temple. We can speculate on their reasons. Perhaps trials and disappointments had made Christ's promises ring a bit hollow.

Perhaps they had had expectations that had not been met. So, end social pressure, end disapproval from family and friends, eliminate nagging doubts, go with the more obviously physically impressive religion, the one that had both age and buildings on its side that was older and richer and familiar. I mean, just look at that grand temple. See those sacrifices, smell the incense. I mean, this is a formidable religious force.

Even Greeks and Romans, those who aren't Jewish, respected this religion with its intellectually straightforward monotheism and its high ethical standards.

In order to deal with this situation, the writer to the Hebrews has constructed a case in which he mixes arguing with warning and instructing. He argues that Jesus is greater than angels, that Jesus is greater than Moses, and so much of what the believers were tempted to turn away to. And he warns them not to ignore the truth, but to pay attention to it, to believe to believe it and to continue to believe it. And in the middle portion of the book that we've come to, our writer is instructing them in the deeper truths of what it means for Jesus to be the kind of priest that they really need. Chapter 7 explains the eternal priesthood that He had brought up back in chapter 5.

Our author explains Christ's eternal priesthood in chapter 7 using two passages of the Old Testament that mention Melchizedek. Genesis 14 and Psalm 110. Today we look at the first one. Next week, Lord willing, we'll come to his use of Psalm 110 and the other half of chapter 7. First though, let's dive in and see what he tells us about Melchizedek, this royal priest who's greater than Levi.

So we'll be in Hebrews chapter 7 beginning at verse 1, and you can find that on page what in the Bibles provided.

1004 in the Bible's provided. Hebrews chapter 7 beginning with 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. 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.

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. 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 As 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 promises. It's 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 met him.

So remember about this church that he's writing to, most of them seem to be doing fairly well. He's encouraged by them. We read that a couple of weeks ago if you look in in chapter 6, Hebrews chapter 6, you look at verses 9 and 10.

Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation, for God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints, as you still do. So he was encouraged about them and yet some of them were clearly thinking of apostatizing. That is, of leaving Christ to return to the Jewish customs and practices of the temple. Such a decision would be both tragic, it would be spiritually ruinous for them, and also ironic because the whole system of priests at the temple was all made to point to Christ. So to leave What everything is pointing to, to go back to the things that are built to point to the other thing, is like I said last week, rejecting the meal and just asking to please have the menu back.

That's what was going on. Well, in order to address this, the writer turns to the enigmatic and yet significant story in the Old Testament, the seemingly minor account of Abraham stopping after an important military victory and being met by a king who was also a priest, Melchizedek. So let's turn back to that account and read it now for ourselves. Back to the first book in the Bible, Genesis, and back to chapter 14. If you're not used to using a Bible, the larger numbers are the chapter numbers, the smaller numbers are the verse numbers.

So Genesis 14. And it's just in a few verses there that this story is told, beginning at verse 17.

Troy Maragos will be speaking on this very text tonight, so we'll hear a little bit more about this tonight, Lord willing, when we gather at 5.

After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh, that is, the King's Valley. And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and 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. And that's all that we're told. That's the whole account. That's everything we have. And this is the account that our writer turns to, pointing out some important details in the story and then explaining its significance to us.

And I pray that we'll be helped in the same way. Let me basically explain this passage. Just visualize with me, because you know we don't really have visual aids here other than each other's lovely faces. Visualize with me quadrants. And what you have here presented is the simple story that you could have captured on camera of two figures, Abraham and Melchizedek.

And what the writer does here, he takes these two and he tells us about this meeting, ah, but then he shows Abram stands for his descendant Levi, and Melchizedek stands for Christ.

So you see what he's done. He's picked this small story in the Old Testament, very simple, where there's something shown that's superior to the Levitical priesthood down at the temple. And he's saying, Look, even Abraham, our father, recognized that Melchizedek was greater. And so he turns to the people he's addressing and he's saying, so you. Are you going to leave worshiping that one who is greater to go merely to those who point to him, even as their own ancestor honored Melchizedek?

That's the whole thing. That's really the whole thing. If you need to tune out at this point, you've got the passage. Now through the sermon the Lord may do other work in your heart, but conceptually that's it. It's this quadrant.

You've got Abraham and Melchizedek. Well, I initially did Melchizedek and Abraham, right? And then Melchizedek is standing for Christ and Abraham is standing for Levi, and then those are all the priests at the temple. And the people who are worshiping Christ are thinking about going over to the temple, and he's just pointing out like, ah, you really don't want to do that. Masterful choice of story, but we'll get to that more as we think through this.

First, let's notice that we're going to look at the details first. About Abraham and Melchizedek, and then we'll get to the significance more, with Melchizedek standing for Christ and Abraham for Levi. First, the details about Abraham and Melchizedek. Well, the basic details are very straightforward. Melchizedek blessed Abraham.

We read the account of it there in Genesis 14. And that's what's mentioned here in chapter 7, in verse 1 and again down in verse 6. That's kind of half of it, you know. Abraham, I mean rather Melchizedek blessed Abraham. And the other half of it is that Abraham then tithed to Melchizedek.

And to tithe simply means literally to give a tenth. And he says that in our passage in verse 2 and verse 4 and verse 6 and verse 8 and verse 9. In fact, this seems to be the detail that the writer gives the most prominence to. This is a big deal that Abraham tithed to Melchizedek. So throughout this passage, the fact that Melchizedek functioned as the priest that Abraham acknowledged by paying this tithe is used as proof that Melchizedek is superior to Abraham.

Because Abraham tithed to Melchizedek. You thought this was going to be a very complicated passage, very complicated sermon. I hope you're already beginning to see how simple it is. Abraham, tithe to Melchizedek, therefore Melchizedek is superior to Abraham, and he's therefore superior to the priest that came to his people later in his line of Levi. So Melchizedek, it seems, intervened for Abraham with God.

And you look there at verse 4, it's this imperative in the ESV, or other translations, translations of consider or observe how great Melchizedek must be if even Father Abraham paid tithes to him. It's a simple argument, friends. Now we don't know of any law or custom that Abraham was obeying. There's nothing before Genesis 14 in the Bible about a tenth or a tithe offering or about to whom it should be given. We can look a little bit later.

We'll see his grandson Jacob in Genesis 28 makes a very similar pledge to the Lord. And then still later in the Law of Moses there were various tithes, tithes to the central place of worship for the support of the Levites who were called to be the ones who handled the physical objects of the tabernacle and later the temple, to care for the priests, also to provide for those meals of those who would worship in person, and every third year the tithes were to be kept locally to care for those in need. In their local areas. I know when I bring up tithing, Christians wonder about tithing. And while that is not the point of the letter to the Hebrews here, there's probably no place in the Bible where the word occurs more frequently.

And so, as a pastor, tithing's in the text. I think I'll talk about it for a minute. Christian giving in the New Testament comes up frequently too in Paul's letters. If you want to look at that this afternoon, you can go to Romans 15 or 1 Corinthians 16 or 2 Corinthians, two whole chapters, 8 and 9 in 2 Corinthians, or Ephesians 4, for example. But it's very interesting, no place in the New Testament is the practice of Christian giving encouraged by appealing to the tithe.

There's no place that does that. So we don't think that there is a blanket application for Christians to give 10% of their income to Christian work or to the local church. If you start looking through all these occurrences of giving in the New Testament, you see that Christians are exhorted to give to alleviate the need of fellow Christians. We see that in Galatians 6:10 or in Romans 12:13 or the way they were being exhorted to help the church in Jerusalem that was suffering. Or really to help anyone in need.

A particular concern is shown to try to support gospel work where the Word is going out, so 1 Corinthians 9 or 1 Timothy 5:17 and 18, particularly gospel work that you yourself benefit by. Galatians 6:6 specifically instructs you. If you're here as a member, that's the reason why you should pay me or someone in this position for the benefit of your own soul. That's Galatians 6:6. And you'll also find that in 3 John 8.

In fact, those of us here who are members of this particular church have all vowed together as recently as last Sunday night to, and I quote, contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations. But friends, in this account here in Hebrews and the passage back in Genesis it's pointing to, the point is not the amount that's given. The point is to whom it is given. That's the point. To whom is this tithe given?

And that's taken to indicate something of great significance. So you look in our passage here, the tithe was received, as he puts it in verse 8, by one of who it is testified that he lives. That's Melchizedek. He received the tithe. So, what's happening is we obey the command here in verse 4 to see how great this man Melchizedek is.

We're learning exactly what our writer wants us to learn, how great Melchizedek is. Friends, the Old Testament is important for you to study as a Christian. The Old Testament helps us to better understand the New. Well, we want to study the New Testament. We want to give pride of place to that.

You may notice that in series of sermons I do here, my New Testament series of sermons tend to be longer than my Old Testament series. But we want to help you as a church study both the New and the Old Testament. And we do that in various ways. I do that by alternating which Testament the books of the Bible I'm preaching from come from. So before this I was in Zephaniah briefly, if you remember, at the beginning of the year.

And after this I'll, Lord willing, go to another Old Testament book. We also do that by the way every Sunday you hear a message from both Testaments. Whatever Testament you're hearing in the morning, you'll hear a related passage in the evening. So every Lord's Day is really meaning to teach us biblical theology. So we see how the whole Bible fits together.

So if you're just getting the morning, you're getting part of the story. You're getting the larger part, but just part because the evening is meant specifically to supplement that. On Wednesday night we try to teach you how to study the Bible. In the course seminars that we offer at 9:30 before this service, we have course seminars on every book in the Bible, including a series on the Old Testament and a series on the New Testament. Or if you really want to get to know the Bible, teach it to the kids.

Sign up for the Children's Work, sign up for Praise Factory. If you can teach a six-year-old the Bible, you'll learn the Bible. So think of the good you can do for your own soul by taking a month to teach the children. Or look at the books down in the library or in the book stall that you can get and study in your small groups or in discipling relationships or that you can read privately on your own.

One of the beautiful things in Cambridge where I lived for years were the stained glass windows in King's College Chapel. It's the largest collection of Renaissance stained glass anywhere in the world. These are beautiful windows made in the 1530s. And there are gigantic ones, like many times the size of these windows that we have here. And when World War II began, all of these stained glass windows were taken out, and they were stored in various places around the countryside, buried in the ground to make it less likely that bombs would damage them.

While I was having lunch one time with a friend who'd been an undergrad at King's in 1946, That was the year after the war, and he remembers as an undergrad being gathered in the court right by the chapel with the chapel there, the side of the chapel, and they had for some months under coverings been reassembling all these beautiful stained glass windows. And at just the right moment when they had them all assembled and then they got the students together and the members of the college, they at an evening time they put spotlights inside the church building and had them pointed out through the windows, and they turned them on and then dropped all the curtains so that all of a sudden you could just see these spectacular windows. Just gorgeous to think about. Well friends, I think that when you get to know your New Testament without knowing you're old, it's like looking at beautiful stained glass windows. On a cloudy day.

Everything is there, but you can see it all. You can understand what it's saying, but I'll tell you, if you'll get to know your Old Testament better, it's like the sun coming out behind these windows and all of a sudden they just start to sparkle. You just all of a sudden see and appreciate things with a depth that you never did before. Study your Old Testament. Get to know the background for what's going on in the New Testament.

As we are studying and observing Melchizedek and Abraham here, notice another detail about their interaction that I haven't pointed out yet. Notice the order of their interaction. It's not that Abraham goes and hires Melchizedek with his money to pronounce a blessing. Kind of like Balak later would hire Balaam to try to curse the people of Israel. No, here Melchizedek comes unbidden to offer this blessing of God, and in response to God's blessing invoked by Melchizedek, Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.

You know, some people today have gone out teaching a kind of seed faith. That you are to sow by giving a financial gift to their ministry. And then they say, God blesses you. Well, that's a good way for unscrupulous and greedy teachers to manipulate desperate and gullible people to give them their money, thinking that they are teachers called by God. Giving me your money is like giving it to God, and then God will bless you.

But here Abraham is aware of God's kindness to him. And in seeing this, securing the rescue of his captured relative Lot, and then receiving this blessing that he didn't ask for from this priest of the Most High God, Melchizedek, in response to that, Abraham gives.

Here's the principle: the best giving to God is not in order to get more, but in gratitude for what He's already given you. Let me say that again: the best giving to God is not in order to get more, but in gratitude for what He's already given you. We see this in the beginning of Paul's letters. 1 Corinthians 1:4, I give thanks to my God always for you, because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus. Paul sees God's grace already given, and then Paul in response gives thanks to God for it.

He doesn't thank God to provoke the giving as if God were some kind of reluctant, distant deity, but he responds to God's giving with giving back to him. In praise and life and effort and talent and monetary support. That idea of giving as sowing may come at least in part from Paul's language in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 6 and 7, where we read, Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. But friends, the way we come to a decision about our giving and giving with cheerfulness is because of God's already provision for us in Christ and the confidence we can have about what he gives us and promise for the future.

Later in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 34, the writer will commend the Christians saying, 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. You see, their present generosity was not an attempt to purchase a future blessing or provoke some reluctant God, but in response to God's generous provision for them promised in the future that they were already confident of. And so they could give what they have fully to God and to those in need now. So back to Abraham and Melchizedek. Abraham was not using Melchizedek as a way to help his luck with God, a kind of divine bribery.

No, God was blessing Abraham through this king-priest Melchizedek, and Abraham in response freely and joyfully gave as testimony of what God had already given him in victory and in confidence of God's continued provision for him. Okay? We'll talk a little bit more about tithing in a few minutes. But first, the most important point for us to notice is who gave to whom? In the Old Testament account, Melchizedek blessed Abram and Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

And it's that tenth that the writer just stops and freezes the frame on right there because under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the writer here sees something terribly important to that. Here you have this great figure from the Old Testament, the patriarch, the father of Judaism, even more than Moses, Abram. The writer recalls the time when Abram was out rescuing his relative Lot who had been taken captive, and when he had just defeated some kings, the occasion we just read about in Genesis 14. And so here is great father Abram, and who does he meet? Well look there in chapter 7 verse 1, he meets Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest of God Most High.

He meets another king. Only this king is different. This king uniquely was also a priest, and he was a priest of God Most High. What an interesting meeting. I think when I was a kid, I used to read comic books.

I had lots of comic books, and sadly there was a the DC comic books with Superman and Batman, and then there were the Marvel comics, like Thor and Iron Man. And I always wished they could kind of meet, but they never met. But you would at least have some comics where inside the DC universe, as we call it now, or the Marvel universe, the various characters would meet. Well, this is kind of one of those. These two titanic figures in the Bible, Abraham, because he's just all through it, Melchizedek, he only occurs this one time, but wow, what an appearance.

And here they are actually meeting, Cortez and Montezuma. I mean, it's just this amazing meeting of these two gigantic figures, and it's so absorbing in its interest when you understand that. And then there, the end of verse 1, the beginning of verse 2, is the crucial thing happens. Melchizedek blessed Abraham, and Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything. So you see, the great father Abraham honored Melchizedek, by giving him the tithe, when surely we would have thought it would be Abraham who would be the great one, and he would be another king just coming out to honor him.

I mean, you see how Abraham is talked about in the New Testament. He's talked about by the Jews around Jesus. He's talked about by Paul in Romans 4, or James and James 2, or this writer to the Hebrews later in Hebrews chapter 11. I mean, Abraham is the big deal. He's the father of faith.

Here he is, but here it's Abraham honoring Melchizedek. Friends, we can find principles here of giving. We can find principles of honoring leaders. But the author of Hebrews desires us to see something else, something not universal about what we can do, but something special about what God has done. And that brings us from looking at the details of our passage to turn to the significance of Abraham and Melchizedek.

And that is in their relation to Levi and to Christ. So this is sort of the point, too, moving from the details of the specific meeting in history of Abraham and Melchizedek to the details as we understand the relation of Abraham to Levi and of Melchizedek to Christ. First let's consider Levi. Levi was one of the twelve sons of Jacob. His descendants were specially selected to receive a different inheritance than the other tribes of Israel.

All the other tribes were given a section of the Promised Land, but the Levites instead were scattered around throughout the whole nation in cities or towns. And they were to teach the Law and to care for the offerings that were seen to be appropriate for the people. And as part of this, the Levites, the descendants of Levi, received tithes from the people. The author here is referring to rules laid out by Moses in Numbers 18. You can read them this afternoon if you want, Numbers 18, about the gifts and offerings the Israelites were to take as owed to the Levites for their service in the work of offering sacrifices.

And here in verse 5 we see the Levitical priests are commanded to take tithes from other descendants of Abraham. This tenth was tribute given to the special servants of God and of the people. It showed honor to them. It showed deference to the priests. They were, as I say, special.

But still, even these special men, he observed in verse 8, these special people they die. That's what the word mortal means in verse 8. These are people that died, even these very special people that God tells us to give money to, these people die. Simply being given the honor of receiving these tithes didn't make their recipients immune from the ravages of sin. These Levitical priests were still working in the days when this was written in the first century.

They were continuing to be keepers of the signs though they were rejecting the very one signified, they were rejecting Christ. These are the very ones that some in this church were tempted to go back to honoring, tempted to go back and support. And here's the significance of it. When you assume, what the people first reading this letter assumed, that the Levitical priests have the God-given honor of being given the tithes because God had designated them as priests, Consider the importance of this one event that the writer highlights. In verses 9 and 10 our author argues that one of the really significant implications of Abraham's meeting with Melchizedek is it shows us that not just Abraham, but in Abraham the Levites represented corporately here in verse 9 as Levi himself, they paid tithes to Melchizedek.

Through Abraham. In verse 8, reference is made to tithes being received by mortal men. That's a reference to the Levitical priests receiving tithes. Simply because they died, they're called mortal. The author will make more of this in the passage coming up later, not today.

But he makes this contrast here in verse 8 of the tithes on the one hand given to mortal priests, but in the other case of Abraham to Melchizedek being given to a priest who continues on, a priest who does not die.

That's so interesting. He says there by one of whom it is testified that he lives. And friends, what he means by that is there's no record of Melchizedek's death. You can turn to Numbers 33:38 and read the time and place of Aaron's death. Aaron was the first high priest.

He was the head of the Levitical line of priests. But Aaron died, and every priest since Aaron has died. They all died. But Melchizedek, his order of priests, of whom we know of only two being in that order, Melchizedek and Jesus Christ. These two, both who predated Aaron, were not like his line of priests in this regard.

You search the Scripture in vain for any record of Melchizedek's death and his place falling to another person, because those in the order of Melchizedek live on and on.

What our author explains here in verses 9 and 10 is that Levi was paying tithes in Melchizedek through Abraham because he was in some sense bodily and seminally in his forefather Abraham. God's tithe went through the Israelites to the Levitical priests and through Abraham to Melchizedek. So Abraham's tribute to Melchizedek as the greater king is also the tribute to Melchizedek as the greater priest than Aaron and the Levites. So now let's turn to Christ. That's Levi.

See what's going on there? Now with Christ, as we see Him especially prefigured in Melchizedek. The only place Christ is mentioned in our passage is in verse 3, where we read that Melchizedek resembles the Son of God. The writer to the Hebrews writes about Melchizedek there in verse 2, saying He is first by translation of His name, the King of Righteousness, so His name in Hebrew is very simple, Melchizedek. His king, and Zedek is righteous or just.

So the king is just, or if Melchizedek is possessive my king, then it's my king is just, my king is righteous. That's what Melchizedek means. So he's exulting in that. He's exemplifying that. But not only this, he's the king of Salem, that is the king of peace.

You know, Salem, it's similar to the word shalom that many of you will know for peace. And then here in verse 3 is this astounding stuff 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. This is what all of you who have emailed me this week want to know about. This is what you really want to know. You've sat through everything else so far hoping I'll get to this point.

Well, here it is. I hope you're not disappointed.

Some people, ah, you know, Mark, that means it doesn't, he doesn't think that. I'm being fair. Some people think that this is a theophany, a pre-incarnation appearance of Christ. And they take that especially from that first phrase, without father, without mother. What kind of strange person, though, would there be without a father or a mother.

I mean, come to think of it, Jesus Himself was not without a father. He just didn't have an earthly father. But He had a heavenly one. And for that matter, even Jesus wasn't without a mother. Now, what did the author mean?

Well, I think he tells us his point really by the next word, where he... I think he restates what he was saying, without father or mother or genealogy. That is, without a genealogy recorded without genealogy being the reason he was a priest, unlike, say, the priests of Aaron who received their priesthood as a part of their inheritance. He goes on in the next phrase, Having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he continues a priest forever. So does this mean that Melchizedek is an eternal?

What the theologians would call a self-existent being. Like God Himself. Is he saying that Melchizedek is God? Is he saying that Melchizedek is an early appearance of Jesus?

I think he's simply saying that the Scriptures don't recount Melchizedek's birth or death, and that Melchizedek merely appears on the pages of Scripture, but that he doesn't derive his worth or his value from his family, from his ancestors, from his lineage. And this unusual fact, almost unique, that his heritage is not recorded, or his death, where Moses was so commonly making account of people's deaths in these first five books of the Bible, the fact that those are missing is how in a literary sense, Melchizedek can be said to resemble not to be, but to resemble the Son of God, like him in these ways. The author is very bold here in setting up someone over against Abraham. But friends, this is the sort of cleverness of it. He has found the one person in the whole extensive Old Testament looking through the whole thing, nothing, nothing for his argument, Ah, except this guy right here.

Melchizedek is one to whom Abraham pays tribute. So if he's looking for something to show his people who are thinking about leaving the worship of Christ and going back to Judaism, he has found the crucial guy to make his argument. That there is something greater than the priests of the temple, the Levites, the Abrahamic promises they represent, because Abraham himself, their father, gave testimony by giving tithe to Melchizedek that he is greater. And so these details in Melchizedek's life that are missing, oddly missing, providentially missing, are pointing out some truths about Jesus Christ, which fits also with a verse in Psalm 110. You might think this is a little sketchy, the writer of the Hebrews is making this up, but next week we'll come to the second half of chapter 7 where Psalm 110 confirms exactly this, but not for this morning.

Right now, let's just stay here and you see this author has made the point that these wavering Christians need to hear. Look at verse 4. So see how great this man is to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils. This is what he's observing. He's clear that Melchizedek was no descendant of Levi.

No, he's before that. He rightfully collects tithes though from Abraham. So who is taking up a priestly privilege which we may have thought only the Jewish Levitical priests could assume? Well, he must be somebody truly great if even Abraham, as he says, pays tribute to him. In fact, in verse 7 the author clearly states this.

Look at verse 7. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. He's saying, We all know this. I don't need to argue with you about this. We all think this.

So Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek, so that leaves his logic very clear. Melchizedek is greater than even Abraham, let alone the descendants of Abraham through Levi. And this contrast is really reinforced in verse 8. Where the writer contrasts the Jewish tithe collectors as being mortal, they all die, whereas this tithe collector Melchizedek, well he says is declared to be living. Verses 9 and 10 complete this conclusion.

One might even say that the Levi himself who receives the tithe paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met Abraham. First century Hebrews, along with many others, had the idea that all of our descendants are physically present in us. Sort of the oak trees in the acorn. They're in potential in seed and germ. Therefore when Abraham paid the tithe to Melchizedek, our author reasons, you could even say that it was in some sense Levi who was paying it, because Levi was present in Abraham's body.

So our writer has with several swift moves and only a few sentences taken the patriarch of the Jewish religion, Abraham, the religion these Christians are being tempted to blend back into, and was showing Abraham to obviously have found someone he believed to be superior to himself, worthy of even more honor. By implication then, Abraham's descendants, including even those special ones like the Levites who were working in the temple and tending to it and serving in it, even they could be seen as similarly present in Abraham and so submitting to and giving witness to the greatness of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek, important as he is in his own right, is most important for pointing us, of course, to Christ. Melchizedek was a priest of the Most High God, we read here in verse 1. This is a way God is referred to in the Old Testament. Isaiah 33 verse 5 praises God saying, the Lord is exalted for he dwells on high. Throughout the Psalms you see God referred to like this as the most high God, the one who is supreme.

And friends, when you get to the New Testament and you listen to the Lord Jesus as he talks about himself and as he presents himself in his resurrection and ascension to his heavenly throne, do you remember what Jesus says in his last words to his disciples in the book of Matthew? All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations because He has all authority. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you with all authority. He has all of His teachings being backed by that authority.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. There is no time that's so distant from this point that it is outside of My authority. All this authority is His, and He has given a pledge of His presence to be with us, His followers. Praise God for the authority of Jesus Christ. Praise God for the goodness of authority used well.

Pray for all those in authority, like we prayed today earlier for Mr. Putin. Pray for today's kings. Pray for them to use their authority for good. If you want to think more about this, particularly in a pastoral setting, you could go online and go to t4g.org and watch the message that I gave just a few weeks ago together for the gospel where I talked about good authority. And that's what Melchizedek represents here, pointing, of course, to the authority of Jesus Christ.

We see the picture of Christ simply in the fact that Melchizedek is the one who blesses Abraham. Who else has blessed Abraham? God. Back in Genesis 12 and following. And he will continue to be the blesser of his people.

Blessing him is what this most high God does, especially through his own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Ephesians 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Melchizedek's royal titles in verse 2, the King of Righteousness or Justice, the King of Peace. Who does that make you think of? Makes you think of Christ.

It's good to see here that Melchizedek was a righteous king, that he was a king of peace. Clearly he's a godly king. But in all this, Melchizedek was a king who was also a priest. And this combination of being a king and a priest brings who to mind? Christ.

That's what it's meant to bring to our minds. He is a type of Christ. Do you know what I mean here by type? I don't mean like a kind of, like a kind of soft drink, a type of soft drink. No, I mean a type in the sense of a foreshadowing of something that's to come.

He's a type of Christ in that sense. Combining righteousness and peace together in the way that Christ will cause righteousness and peace to kiss each other, as Psalm 8510 puts it. Friends, with a good God, we can be sure that there will be no peace without righteousness, without justice. In this very combination of titles, the work of Christ on the cross is suggested. Charles said earlier in the service, if you're here and you're not religious, you're not a follower of Jesus, you're very welcome here, and you are.

But one of the things we want you to understand basically about Jesus is that he has done work for you that you desperately need done for you, that you can never do by coming to church or giving money or being good yourself or being religious. Because you have not been perfectly good. You have not been perfectly described as righteous or just your whole life. From the time you were a child to the time you were in high school, to however many years there have been since then, you have annually and monthly, weekly and I'll guess even daily, given evidence of the fact that you are what the Bible calls sinful. And I don't say this because I know you personally, but I say this because I know what the Bible teaches about all of us.

And God is always good. Those times when we are wrong, He is not. And we have lived our lives serving ourselves mainly and not serving Him mainly as we were made to do. And He would be right to judge us for our sins eternally in hell. But God in His amazing love sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man, to live a life, a truly righteous and just life, a good life, with no distrust in his heavenly Father, no hatred of him or his people, but instead only love.

And he lived as he should live. And then he died, not needing to die himself, but he died in the place of all of us who would ever turn from our sins and trust in him. He died taking the wrath of God that we have deserved on himself. Being raised from the dead and ascending to heaven, presenting his sacrifice to his heavenly Father, and thus sitting down on the throne of grace, as the author to Hebrews talks about earlier in the letter that we've considered. And he then offers us forgiveness of sins, adoption by his heavenly Father.

We are offered newness of life. Friend, that's what the hundreds of us who are members of this church understand has happened to us. We understand that not by following laws of foods and customs of rituals, but by trusting alone in Christ, only in Him, we have been given new life. We've actually been regenerated, born again. And that's the language that we use about what it means to become a Christian.

That's what we want you to do. That's what we pray you'll do. That's what we see here the author is saying that Jesus Christ has done ultimately. That's what he's assuming here. In the way he's writing to these people.

Verse 3 here is to make us think of Christ eternally generated, virgin born, a priest forever because he lives today. Now in God's providential shaping of Moses' recounting of this meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, his lacking the mention of parents or death is what allows him to be, as we read it, a type of Christ. The point of the author's description of Melchizedek here is not that he was specially created without parents or that he is immortal, but rather that the details commonly put down by Moses were missing here and missing by God's providence in order that Melchizedek would be a sign pointing to the one who was to come, the Messiah. Melchizedek's priesthood did not come to Him by birth, nor was there any conclusion to it by death. In fact, this is the Holy Spirit's portrayal of Melchizedek without mention of father or mother or family or death to set him apart in the pages of Scripture as a type of Christ.

In all of this, he stands as a symbol of Christ, a preview of the person of Christ. As one commentator put it, God without mother wonderfully begotten, as He is man without father. Wonderfully conceived.

Christ's eternal priesthood is the more advanced doctrine that the writer in chapters 4 and 5 had wanted to go on into when he remembered that some of them were in danger of apostasy or near it and he wanted to speak to them. So what's happening here in Hebrews 7 and in this sermon, he's picking back up those deeper doctrines, that more mature teaching of the the perfect priesthood of Jesus, the eternal priesthood of Jesus, and he's teaching the more mature about Christ. By showing that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham, the writer is showing that Jesus is greater than the priests in the temple. That's the short of it. By showing that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham, he's showing that Jesus is greater than the priests in the temple.

He says it plainly in verse 7. About the significance of the blessing. We know the superior blesses the inferior. So he reasons Melchizedek must be superior to Abraham, and that means superior to Levi as well. And if Melchizedek is superior, how much more so the one of whom he's only the dimmest suggestion, the faintest shadow, the smallest type and sign pointing forward to the only eternal Son of God become truly man, the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest.

So, brothers and sisters, if we have such a great high priest, eternal and effective, let's honor him by going to him and relying on him. One of the reasons it's good for you to come and pray with us tonight, or join in prayer as we prayed earlier, or just have your own quiet time where you ask regularly of God, is because you honor him by asking in the name of Christ. You are testifying again and again that Christ is the one he claimed to be. He is this eternal, unending priest. We loyally trust in him alone.

You see how important the direction of your religion is rather than the amount. It's no virtue of people merely to be religious or even very religious. Paul began his address to a crowd of pagans in Athens in Acts 17, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

The question is not how religious are you, but to whom are you religious? For what? So the question is not so much about how much you are giving, but to whom you are giving. Faith by itself is like water. It can sustain life, or it can drown.

No, but faith in Christ is saving. So here the amounts of the tithes are not given as the point. It's to whom they are given. That's the point. Now having said that, who we're giving our money to does indicate our loyalties.

Jamie Dunlop observed in our members meeting last Sunday night that about half of our members don't give regularly to the church. Now let me just tell you a few things about that. Number one, I'm not concerned about that from the side of the church. Our budget is doing fine. Thank you for your giving.

Those 50 to 60% who are giving regularly are giving sufficiently for what we've planned to do. But play this game with me for a moment, mentally. Imagine if we all kept the covenant that we made.

If we all were giving.

My concern is for you, dear church member, if you are someone who is able to give and you're not. Talk with a friend this week about where you're investing in line with your religious faith. Could it be that no real giving indicates no real commitment? And I think the first place that we Christians are to give when we're able is to our local church to provide for its continuing witness in the same way it's feeding you spiritually. This is kind of ground zero.

This is eating at home as opposed to buying meals out, giving to other ministry elsewhere. This is what you've got to make sure of first. Paul says as much in Galatians 6:6 when he says, Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked.

For whatever one sows that will he also reap. So friends, the way Christianity has expanded around the world, and you realize there are billions of people who call themselves Christians, do you know how that happened? Not by some amazing centralized fund that pays ministers, but by Christians, once they're converted, setting aside part of their income and giving it to one of their number who seems gifted in teaching and getting him to set aside more and more of his time to be able to study the Word and then teach him the Word. And it just reinforces itself. And that dynamism has been going on since Jesus gave the Great Commission.

That's how Christianity got so big. It's this simple thing of members giving to their local church. Guys being set aside to study the scripture and teach the scripture. And where they can't, where the church is not big enough or it's too expensive, yeah, they're gonna be bi-vocational or have another job. But as soon as they can, in all kinds of economies, even subsistence economies, Ministers are set aside full time in order to study the word so that they can teach others, so that people are built up in the faith and more people become Christians.

Again this has been the plan for 2,000 years and I have to tell you it's working really well. With no centralized budget Christianity has become the largest thing on the planet. Now I don't know how much of that is real, the Lord sorts things like that out. But I can just say this little matter of giving is significant in that. So, to my non-giving church member friend, I want to be super clear.

I'm not so much concerned for our church, I'm concerned for you.

Who we give our gifts to, who we honor, may well show who we worship.

So if you have any questions about this in your own life, please speak with one of our elders about this. And please be aware, those of us who are elder pastors, we don't know what anybody gives. You know, so just take a huge sigh of relief if you thought I knew something and I'm talking to you directly. The Holy Spirit may be talking to you directly. I am simply bringing out general principles of the Word here.

So I, as a pastor, have always labored to not know what somebody gives, unless they tell me. So I sometimes will have members tell me, Hey, this is my income, this is what I'm giving, what do you think about this? And I'll ask them about other things. So I can help them think it through. But on the whole, that's something that we want you to figure out with the Lord and with the counsel of your spouse or wise friends or elders of our church.

But understand, it's an important indicator of where your loyalties lie spiritually. Don't make the tragic choice to trust in the wrong priest. You need the royal one, the living one, the priest after the order of Melchizedek. Even pastors, if they don't point beyond themselves to Jesus Christ, are not to be trusted. We are spokesmen, but we are not the point.

It's the one that we point to. Like what all the Levitical priests in Abraham and tithing were doing, and Melchizedek in his example, they all point to the one and only Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior. He alone is to be the object of your faith and love and loyalty and service.

Now, I know for many people, religion is no more than the kind of fancy graduation gowns a lot of people put on this time of year. How many people in the last two or three days have put on this fancy looking gown to look really good externally when underneath, you know they are wearing t-shirts and shorts, you know? But that's the way a lot of people do with religion. It kind of looks flashy, they can put it on Sunday morning, once a month, or once a year, or every, maybe every week, but then they take it right off, you know, that's not really who they are morally. That's just good for appearances only.

I think that's what this passage leaves us with today. You know, in preparing this passage I thought, okay, I'm going to get all the guys who are really curious about Melchizedek. Okay, so I've got four interested people. And I've got all the people in the congregation who are thinking about becoming Jewish. Okay, maybe two other interested people.

What do I have for the other seven or eight hundred people who are there? Well, friends, I think this is it. It's that question of loyalty.

Abraham showed who he was devoted to.

The writer is writing to people who were question, some of whom were questioning their loyalty. That's the question left with you. To whom are you devoted? Is your religion like a graduation gown? You can be sure that trials are coming that will make it clear who you're really devoted to.

When I was thinking about this, I thought of a Chinese brother in the 19th century named Hua. He was the first person converted to Christ in northern Taiwan. And he and this Canadian missionary that he was with were going to Keelung, a port in the northern side of Taiwan. And the Canadian recounting the story writes, taking their stand on the stone steps of a large temple, they sang a few hymns. Soon a large crowd of angry idolaters gathered around.

Many of them were former companions of Hwa. They all hated the foreign barbarian, but they scorned and detested much more their friend who was the first convert.

McKay, the Canadian missionary, sensed the situation and he turned to Hua to speak. It was the acid test of courage. Their revilings and threats caused him to hang his head. In an ominous silence.

Then Hua raised his head and faced the crowd. Then in clear, courageous tones he said, I am a Christian. I worship the true God. I cannot worship idols that rats can destroy.

I am not afraid. I love Jesus. He is my Savior and friend.

It was a brief but convincing testimony. The first time a word for Jesus had been spoken in northern Taiwan by a Chinese Christian.

The people Hebrews was written to were being tempted to shift their loyalty, to stop believing in Christ. What about you?

Who has your loyalty?

Let's pray.

Lord God, we thank youk for the hope and instruction youn give us in youn Word. We pray that yout would strengthen us now, that you would fill our hearts with a confident joy in Christ, and that yout would make us fully devoted. We pray that yout would make us worshipers of the Lord Jesus Christ with all that we have and are. We pray in his name. Amen.