In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of discerning between good and evil teachings in Christian circles. He refers to Hebrews and Romans to explain that believers need to move from being on "milk" to "meat" in their understanding of God's righteousness. The preacher highlights that the law is no longer the means to righteousness, but rather it is found in Christ Jesus and the new dispensation. He concludes by discussing the superiority of the new covenant, which includes God putting His laws in believers' minds and hearts, establishing a close relationship between God and His people.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, AFPA, 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Amen. Greetings this morning in the saving name of Jesus Christ. He's still saving souls. Amen. Changing lives. Glory be to His name. It's hard to know what to do this morning, you know. I almost feel like setting aside Hebrews and talking about something else here. But, we'll trust the Lord that this is what we're to do and use some of that faith and spiritual energy, if I can say it that way, that God is working in our hearts to open up the Word of God to us yet again here this morning on our final day of Bible school here together. It's been a real joy to be here and to teach you and to be with you and learn with you what God has in this wonderful but powerful book, the book of Hebrews. So, open once again here. Today we'll start in chapter 7, which is a fairly long chapter. We will not look at necessarily every verse, though we will look at the flow of the verses and read the verses here. This is the chapter I alluded to yesterday when we read those two verses in chapter 6 that talked about, Thou art a priest after the order of Melchizedek, referring to Jesus' new role as our High Priest. And so now, basically the majority of this chapter is trying to give you an understanding and a picture of what that priesthood is and who Melchizedek is, and more importantly, who Jesus is and how He fits into that order of priesthood of Melchizedek. So, let's begin here by reading the first four verses together. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being, by interpretation, king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. So, Abraham, if you remember the story, we won't take the time to turn there, after his nephew Lot was captured by these kings and stolen away, he gathered an army of about 300 men or so, went after them and won a great victory. And on his way back from this victory, he was met by this mysterious man who seems to just walk out of the pages of the Bible, into the Bible without beginning, without end, without mother, without father. Who is this person? And then all of a sudden, a very strange thing happens. He brings forth bread and wine and starts blessing Abraham. And, you know, of course, we have communion today. We remember Christ Jesus through the bread and the wine. And we look back when we do that to what Jesus did 2,000 years ago. Could it be Melchizedek was looking ahead thousands of years to what Jesus would do? I don't know. I can't explain everything about Melchizedek. He is a somewhat mysterious figure. There isn't any other reference to him in the historical books of the Old Testament to tell us who he was, what he came for, and all these things. There's only other one reference to him in the Bible until you get into the New Testament, and that's in the book of Psalms. I think it's Psalm 110. We might read that verse later in chapter 110. Maybe verse 4 or 5. I can't remember. I think I have a note of it here. We may look at it later. But the point is, who is this man? What is his mystery? And why is it so mysterious? And the answer to that, after all these thousands of years, is now going to be revealed in the person and in the ministry of Jesus Christ. And so we'll look at that a little bit here today. Now we see, after Melchizedek comes and blesses him and brings the bread and the wine and all this, that Abraham gives to him, it says here, a tithe, or a tenth of what had taken place there. Because when he went out and defeated these armies of these kings, he took, which is normal in wartime, he took the spoils of the war. You know, he gathered together some of the things that he captured back. And he did an interesting thing. He gave a tenth to this priest, Melchizedek, who says that he is a priest of the Most High God. And we need to understand what the tithe really means. The tithe indicates ownership. When you give a tenth of something to someone, what you are saying is, really, you own everything, but I will tithe a tenth. It's a humbling of ourselves to say, you own everything. It's all yours anyway. I'm just a steward, but I'll give you a tenth. And so as you see what's happening here between Abraham and Melchizedek, he's recognizing you are a servant of the Most High God and God owns everything. The God that you serve is the God that I serve. And He owns everything. And so in giving that tithe, it was a recognition both of Abraham's relationship to God, but also his understanding of who this man, Melchizedek, is in his ministry. And so, what does this say to you and I? Today, it says, the one whom you serve has the right of ownership. The one whom you serve has the right of ownership. And may I say, Jesus Christ has bought you. He has paid for you with His life, His ministry, and His blood. And He owns you. And you owe Him everything. You owe Him everything. You can have, I'll tell you a secret, young people, you can have as much of Jesus Christ as you want. You can be as spiritual as you want to be, but you must give Him everything. Now, He deserves it already. He's paid for it already. But in this transaction, just like the tithe that almost has to be voluntary, you have to give everything to Christ. And when you give Him everything, you in return receive many spiritual blessings and rivers of living water. And all these things start to happen in your life. You know, He cannot bless you the way you need to be blessed. If there's any area of your life that you keep, what you're saying is, I want to own this. I want to control this. I don't really want to give it to you. Now, in your mind, you'd probably never talk to God that way, would you? But in reality of how you live, isn't that how some of you have lived? Maybe some of you have had the freedom of taking that area of your life and exposing it and giving it to God this week, maybe last night. Right? And what a release there is, because in giving Him everything, you get much more than everything back in return. It's a strange economy, this kingdom living, isn't it? It doesn't work the way the world works. But I'm so glad it doesn't. But my challenge to you is you can be just as spiritual as you want to be, but you must give Him everything. You must give Him everything. Well, as we look at this here, we also see that one of the wonderful themes of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus is better. He is better, we learn, than the prophets. He is better than the angels. He is better than Moses. He provides a better rest than Joshua. In the last several chapters we've seen, He has a better priesthood. But now this brings a question to our minds. This brings a question to our minds. How can Jesus be a priest if He is from the lineage of Judah? Because according to the Old Testament, to be a priest, you had to be from the line of what? Levi. And in particular, the sons of Aaron. So, how does this work out? Well, we see here that as we begin to understand the ministry of Melchizedek, we're going to make the connection here with Jesus Christ. Let's read a few other verses. Verse 5, And verily, they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is of their brethren, though they came out of the loins of Abraham. Now, we see there also that part of the job, or part of the ministry of the priest, is to receive tithes. Yet, though they came out of Abraham. That's going to be important in a minute. One other thing I do want to say about Melchizedek here, and this analogy with Christ, is it says here in the end of verse 3, But made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. Now, we know that Jesus is now a priest continually. And what does that mean? That means there is no end, right? He's going to continue as your priest and my priest. You know, sometimes in our circles, we ask each other the question, and I think it's a good question, How much time did you spend with the Lord today? And what do I mean when I say that? I mean, did you have your devotions? You know, how much time did you spend with the Lord? And amen, we should have our devotions. And we need that special time with the Lord. But I have learned, and I have discovered, in my experience with Jesus Christ, who is my priest continually, that I'm not limited to my devotions, to spending time with the Lord. He is with me continually. He doesn't matter whether I'm in my car, or I'm at work, or I'm at church, or wherever I am. In an airplane, He abideth with me continually. And His work is not limited to me or what I am doing. I am never separated from His resources, from His wisdom, from His peace, and from His goodness. And this is what the ministry of Melchizedek is trying to say to you and I. He abideth with us continually. Alright, now, Abraham here, as the patriarch of the Jewish faith, and the word patriarch, by the way, means first father. He is the first father. When we look at the first father, we see the first father of the faith actually humbling himself with Melchizedek, because there's a biblical principle here that the lesser is always blessed by the greater. And he receives this blessing. Let's read on down here. Verse 6, But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. See who blessed who? Melchizedek is blessing Abraham. And the greater blesses the lesser. And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. And so here's Abraham, the most revered man in the Jewish faith, the first father, the father of faith, and the Bible is saying that this Melchizedek, this priest of the Most High God, is better or greater than Abraham. And you know, when you look in the Old Testament and read the stories, you don't really get a sense of that. But then as you look into the New Testament, with New Testament eyes and see what God was doing and what He was laying out there, you begin to see who this Melchizedek is and why he's so important. And the point of that is this. Did you follow the flow? The Levitical priesthood came from the loins or the lineage of Abraham. Okay? And there was nothing necessarily wrong with the Levitical priesthood, except it was only meant to be temporary. It wasn't the better priesthood. There was already a priesthood established by God that was already better. And then it would later be then fulfilled in the person and the lineage of Christ. Because Christ, they've repeated this phrase several times, is not a priest after the order of the Levitical priesthood. He's a priest after the order of who? Melchizedek. And so the importance of this is to see that even though the Levitical priesthood had a function and it had a purpose, it was always intended to be temporary. It was never meant to be the complete fulfillment of what God had to say in dealing with man. And it's very important that we see this, and this is going to come out again in a little bit here. Alright, let's read a few more verses. Verse 8, And here men that die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may say so, Levi also who receiveth tithes paid tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. You see what's happening there? Paul is being very, may I say, somewhat methodical or logical. He's laying this thing out so that we don't get confused about the priesthood and the ministry of Jesus Christ. Just one little note here on verse 8, it says, But here men that die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. This is a wonderful thing to see here that as we make the application of Jesus Christ, but He receiveth them. Jesus Christ receiveth sinful men, doesn't He? Jesus Christ receives us. He receives us through the ministry of Melchizedek through taking us before the Most High God. He receives us. And some of you know what that feels like. Last night you were received of Jesus Christ, weren't you? And you were made acceptable before God Himself in heaven because of the ministry of Jesus Christ and the work that He did in your heart and your faith in Him. Jesus Christ received you. And if you're like me, you don't feel worthy, you know you're not worthy, you know there's nothing you can do, but you have to throw yourself on the mercy of God and believe that Jesus has received you. Let's keep going here. Verse 11, If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order of Aaron? Now he's phrasing this in the form of a question. Do you follow that? But what's he really saying? He says, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, what he's saying is the Levitical priesthood was not perfection. It wasn't God's final word to man. And therefore, another priesthood did have to arise. But instead of after the order of Aaron, it has to be after the order of Melchizedek. So this Levitical priesthood is incomplete. It never gave full communion, full redemption with God. It never brought a person to full acceptance with God. It actually never achieved what it was supposed to do. It was always incomplete. There had to be millions of lambs and the blood of millions of them had to run in the Kidron Valley and still, if Jesus hadn't come, they would still be cutting the throats of lambs because it's never enough. When is enough enough? It's not enough because it wasn't ever meant to be perfection. And the word perfection here means completed. It didn't satisfy. I think Brother Emanuel read that verse last night in Isaiah. When Jesus' blood ran, He said, I'm satisfied. And the word satisfied there doesn't mean He was happy. It meant the completion of the transaction and the debt is fully paid. When you satisfy a loan, that means you pay it off and it is no more. And that's what is happening here. Perfection means that. When Christ came, His blood brought perfection, meaning satisfaction. It's taken care of. No more the blood of bulls and goats and rams. And so the Levitical priesthood was merely a shadow and a type. It was merely a shadow and a type. And we're going to see more and more of that as we go through this a little bit more here. Let me read a few more verses here. Maybe that will help get us where we need to be. Verse 12, For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity, now watch this, a change also of the law. Okay? Now if you're a Jew, that's a shocking verse. There's going to be a few others that are very shocking. But even as Christians, we need to understand what the New Testament is saying about the Old Testament. We need to listen carefully. There is made of necessity a change also of the law. For He of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah. And Judah is the what? The kingly line, right? It's the tribe of David. Of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. You know, no man of Judah has ever been a priest until Jesus Christ. And it is yet far more evident for that after the similitude of Melchizedek, there ariseth another priest who is made not after the law of a carnal government, but after the power of an endless life. Isn't that wonderful? For He testified, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's about the third or fourth time that same verse has been repeated. Don't get tired of God repeating things. Now, there's a reason because you need to get it. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. We're going to talk about that in a minute. For the law made nothing perfect. A shocking verse to a Jew. But the bringing in of a better hope did by the which we draw nigh unto God. Wonderful verses. But verses we need to look at here. So as we look at this, we begin to see that the Levitical priesthood had no moral or spiritual qualifications to attain to or to pass to become a priest. What was the qualification to be a Levitical priest? You had to be from the tribe of Levi. And we know there were many things there that didn't work out. The sons of Aaron himself were disciplined, weren't they? What about the sons of Eli? Bringing women and doing immoral acts in the very temple of God. And that's because their entrance into the priesthood was by birth. By a physical birth. Whereas Jesus Christ came from a different order. His qualification is given here. What is the requirement for the Melchizedek priesthood? It says here, for He testified, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, for there is verily a disannulling of the commandment, going before the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of it a better hope did by the which we draw nigh unto God. And inasmuch... I'm sorry, back up to 16. Who is made? That's the verse I'm looking for. Who is made? Made what? Made a priest. Not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. So the qualification for Jesus Christ that proved He was after the order of Melchizedek was what? The power of an endless life. He didn't just inherit it because His daddy was from the lineage of Aaron. Do you understand that? He inherited it from the power of an endless life. He is eternal. And did you notice earlier when we read in this chapter that says Melchizedek without father, without mother, without descent. Like unto the Son of God. And so, one of the qualifications for Jesus Christ is the power of an endless life. And isn't that the kind of priest you want? Don't you want a priest that has the power of an endless life? Oh, the struggle, the groanings of man since the dawn of the ages is what to do with death. What's going to happen to me when I die? Is there an afterlife? Every religion asks that question. It's not a Christian question. Every religion tries to deal with this thing is what happens to man after he dies? And the requirement for our priest, to be a priest, Jesus, and He qualifies is the power of an endless life. I remember when I was 14 years old in school, I liked to read and I liked to read a lot of things about history. And I particularly liked biographies. And I remember going to that section of the library one day. The librarian was there and she was talking to me. And they had all the biographies put in one big rack here. And she looked at them and she looked at me and she said, I like biographies too because they're true. But she said, the problem with them that I have is all true stories end in death. You know? And I wasn't born again. I didn't know anything about God and I thought about that. And I went home that night and I was tossing and turning. You know, it's such a simple thought, but I'd never thought that before. All true stories end in death. And it wasn't until 15 years later when I was 29, and I was born again, I realized she didn't know what she was talking about. Because the truest story ever told is Jesus Christ. And He is the power of an endless life. Amen? That's the truest story ever told is the story of Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life. But not just life. It's an endless life. You know, it's a wonderful thing that we're Christians down here, but you know your life here is just a vapor. You know, that's what the Bible says. You know, just a vapor. But eternity is so big. I can't describe it. But it's actually one of the qualifications for this kind of priest. And so Jesus has not only met it, He now then gives it to you and I as well. Amen? Endless life. These other priests, they died. Now it says here that in verses 18 and 19, did you catch this? There's a disannulling of the commandment going before. That means the way to God before, the commandments here, there is a disannull. You know what the disannull means something? It's like taking a big rubber stamp and going, boom, void. And just pitching it. It's gone. Its effect to annul something is to make it no longer in effect. To annul something means to make it not in effect anymore. The power of it is literally taken away. For the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect. My, what a statement for the Bible to make. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope, and that better hope is who? Jesus Christ. By the which we draw nigh unto God. See, the problem with the old covenant was that man could never draw nigh unto God. He could never go into the Holy of Holies. He could never be in the presence of God. There was this veil in there and only the high priest could go and all of these things were just shadows and types, and that's why when Jesus was on the cross, one of many, many things that happened that day was the veil was ramped and torn asunder. And the way was opened through the blood of Jesus that we may what? Draw nigh unto Him. Isn't that wonderful? You know, it is so wonderful. It's so important. But what it's trying to say here, it's trying to cement in your mind and my mind is an understanding that there is a New Testament, a New Covenant, and there is an Old Testament, and an Old Covenant. And as we stand here on this side of the cross, we look back not in criticism, but in realization so we don't get confused. That is unprofitable. That is weakness. That is disannulled. And those are strong words, but that's what the Bible says, isn't it? Now, I don't know how to illustrate this, and there's no perfect illustration for such an important point that you get. And it is so important that you get this because many, many Christians get this wrong. There are many Christians, there are many churches, there are some very important Bible teachers that get this wrong. And they confuse the two covenants and they try to swap and trade things around. And you cannot do it because this one has come and that one is gone. This one is disannulled. This one is in effect. And it's so important that we understand how to use the Old Testament because it's still very, very important. In fact, the New Testament even tells you what to do. It says these things were written as examples for you, or examples. We're to use the principles. We're to use the stories. We're to use the life of David as it were as an object lesson, but not to live it the way they live it and pull the things out and put the requirements in our life. Let me try to illustrate it this way, if I can. Someone was teasing me yesterday that I use my family a lot in my illustrations. Is that okay if I do that? It's where I live, okay? Jesus used parables of everyday things. That's my everyday life. I live with my family. And God teaches me so many things through my family. But let me use this illustration again, between the old and the new. And no illustration is perfect, but there is a bit of a doorway here. I think of a bit of a window that if I can open it in your heart just a little bit, you can see into this thing a little bit and get a better picture, okay? Now, in my family, I have the joy of having children from all the way from really young to really old. Weston, my oldest, is 23. He's in Africa. Tanner, age 20. Paige is here, 19. And Janet, Billy, I see some of them sitting here in their 20s. But I also still have some little children. And, you know, the difference in my relationship with my 20-year-old is entirely different than with my 4-year-old. Okay? Let's just take Weston, okay? Because he's not here. I can pick on him, okay? And when he was 2 or 3 or 4, the way I dealt with him was this. I had to use external government rules and laws to frame the boundaries and the parameters for his behavior and how he even related to me and how he related to his brothers and sisters. Because he didn't have an internal way of dealing with those things. He needed to know the stove is hot and if you touch it, it will burn you. You know? You must do this. You must do that. You may not do this to your brother. You may not tell a lie. And if you do, you're going to be punished. And so when he told a lie, he got a spanking, right? That was external government. Now, did that mean I didn't love him? No. I loved him and I wanted him to do right, so my laws and my guidelines were for his good, right? Because I loved him and it was a way that he could learn to relate in the world that he lived in, in the Libey family, to me, to his brothers and sisters, to people that came in our home. And those things worked out. And so when there was a breaking of the law of the land, of Libey land, there was a cursing. There was a punishment. But also, when he performed and he did right, there was blessing. I praised him. Sometimes there was even a special reward. Maybe I'd read him an extra book that day. There were these things and I'm building a relationship and all this, but still, part of our relationship were these rules or laws or these external things. It didn't mean we didn't love each other. It didn't mean we didn't have a relationship. But, you know, something happened in the course of his life when he got to be about... when he was born again, I think he was about 11 or 12. And then maybe two or three years later, all of a sudden, around 13, 14, 15, I can't give you another age, something switched in our relationship. And I didn't ever spank him anymore. Why? Something changed in his heart. Was he perfect? No. Did he still make mistakes? Sure. But now, he switched sides. Instead of me having to put parameters, he actually had a desire to please me so much that he looked for ways to please me. He was not only that, he was so far on my side, he is with me. And something shifted in his heart from just, I love Dad, and if I don't do this, I'll get a spank or whatever, to he actually began to see things the way I see them. And he understood them sometimes better than me because his desire was to look into my life and find ways that he could walk with me. And you know, something else happened. When he was two or three, we didn't have fellowship. I mean, we had a great relationship, but when he was 15 or 16, we could sit down and talk about anything. And we had a fellowship and we had communion together and it was deeper. And though I loved him when he was two or three, I mean, now, it's better. We can talk about the things of God. We can talk about life, dreams, visions. I mean, a whole new world opened up. You know, before I was a Christian, I had some friends that would say, well, yeah, now that when they're little, it's easy, Rick, but when they're teenagers, oh, you just wait. It's just going to be so different. You know, they were right. It is so different, but it's so wonderful. You know, it's so wonderful. We have a New Testament relationship. So you see the illustration here? Something happened. There's nothing wrong with the relationship I had with him back here. In that it worked, what it was to do. But if that was only the extent of our relationship still to this day, and by the way, that's the problem with a rebel. You know, you ever notice a father and a son by the time they get to 15 or 16, if the son doesn't get over here, it's like they don't know what to do with each other anymore. It's like, what happened to this system? It used to work, but why does it work anymore? And it's because something was supposed to change, and it didn't. But when it does change, my, the old, okay, it worked for a time, but it wasn't perfect. It wasn't complete. It wasn't whole. Okay, and again, I know that isn't a perfect illustration, but there is a new way of relating over here that is a million times better than the rod. There's nothing wrong with the rod. I preach it. Okay? Don't misunderstand me. But this is a million times, a million times better. Because now He's on my side. There's something written, literally, on the tables of His heart that He is so far with me, we're together. There is an understanding and a joining of our hearts and our visions and our ways of seeing things. And, so we see that in the Old Testament and the New Testament, a little bit of this illustration comes to place that now, in the New Testament, we have the Spirit of God residing in us. We have His laws written on the tables of our heart. We now have the power to overcome sin, not because of the rod of the cursings of Deuteronomy chapter 28, the last half would come upon us, but because we have such a desire to please Him that we want to go the way He goes. And we want to get there. And we want to be there. And we don't want to have anything separating this fellowship between us. And when something does separate it, oh, an agony comes upon us, doesn't it? A travail of soul and conviction of sin. You don't need the rod then, do you? I mean, you just want to make it clear because you want an open heaven. You want that relationship restored, don't you? And so, maybe that illustration helps you just a little bit. I know it's not a perfect one. There are things there that maybe don't line up. But, we need to see and have a clear understanding. The Old Testament, those commandments are disannulled. That's a strong word, but that's a Bible word. And too many Bible teachers, too many preachers do not understand that. And because of that, they make a mistake and they pull something out of here and try to plug it in. And it doesn't work. It cannot work. So, we need to understand that very clearly. Well, let's go on here. We'll talk about that more a little bit later, Lord willing, as we get to chapter 8 here. Okay, let's pick up in verse 20. And in as much as not... Maybe you should stand up for a minute. If you were like me, I was up until 1230 or 1. You're probably tired. We're going to run on spiritual energy here. Amen? Why don't we do this? I'm going to read 20, 21, and 22. I'm reading the King James Version. I hope that's what you have. And if you do, you read with me. Beginning in verse 20. And in as much as not without an oath He was made priest. For those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath by Him that said unto Him, The Lord swear and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. Amen. Sit down. Now, all I want to say about this is this word surety here. Some of these things are a bit repetitive, and yet, again, God is trying to teach you something about this. But it says, By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And surety is something you need to understand just a little bit to get maybe to open again a window to understanding. God is using words here so that we can understand the true ministry and the qualification of Jesus Christ. The New Testament. Whenever you have a testament, you cannot have a testament. You ever hear the phrase a person's last will and testament? When they die. So you cannot have a testament without death. So first of all, as we learned the other day, Jesus Christ qualified to bring in the New Testament because somebody died. He died. But not only did His death bring it in, when you have a testament, also, you have to have a surety. And a surety is the one who stands in the place of guaranteeing that this thing will work. And they'll pay the full penalty and the full value to make sure it works. For example, if a person in construction bids on a government job for the state to complete a section of highway and maybe the section of highway is a mile long and they put a bid in that they'll build that for the state for ten million dollars. The state will not just take their bid. They have to give them a bond of surety. And the bond says that they will build that thing and that even if that company goes bankrupt, even if all their employees quit, there is a bond of surety that guarantees that that contract, that testament, that contract, that covenant between that builder and the state will be fulfilled even if that builder dies and his whole company is gone. And so he goes to a bonding company and purchases a surety bond for ten million dollars. Now to pay that, he'll probably have to pay a premium of maybe about three to five percent. So he may have to pay three, four, five hundred thousand dollars to this surety company. And do you know what they do? They examine his life before they'll issue the bond. They look at his financial statement. They look at his employees. They look at his past record. They look at how he's lived his life. They look at other jobs he's done. All these things. And then based on all that and then the premium they charge, they say, yes, we'll issue the surety bond. And then he goes to the state and he says, here's my surety. It's company XYZ, whatever. The state looks at that and makes sure there is such a company. Then they'll accept his bid because there is a surety which guarantees which will come in and stand in his place even if he's dead and gone and his whole company is bankrupt. So do you understand what a surety is? Alright, so Jesus is the surety. He is the guarantee. He is the guarantor. He is the one who is going... It's His bank account. You know, when you got saved last night, young people, you didn't get saved because you repented right. You didn't get saved because you cried enough. You didn't get saved because you dumped all your bucket. You got saved because you had to borrow from His bank account. He's the one that makes it good. He's the one that makes it work. And we need to see that for the whole New Testament for salvation and the way this whole thing works in our relationship with God in the New Testament. Alright, let's keep going here. Pick up in 23. And they truly were many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. Meaning, those men died. But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. And that is the same word as immutable. It's a beautiful word. Now verse 25, there's about five or six key verses to understand the book of Hebrews. And this verse 25 is one of those key verses. Wherefore, meaning because of everything else we've said in this whole chapter, wherefore is like a hinge that swings back and makes us look there, but then it swings forward to see what we're going to say. Okay? Wherefore. Okay, let's remember everything we've said, and then now we're going to swing and look ahead. Wherefore He, that's Jesus, is able, He is able also to save them to the uttermost that cometh to God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. In that one verse, we could preach 50 Gospel messages, couldn't we? He is able. He is able. You're struggling with faith? Read this verse. He is able to do it. To save you. A little bit? For this week? For a couple of months? Maybe until you're 25? No! To the uttermost. Come what may. No matter how old you are. No matter what you face. No matter what situation you're going back into. He is able to save you to the uttermost. Amen. Christ is not dead. He is alive forevermore. We serve a living Savior. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most shocking fact in the history of the world. And upon it hinges the whole Gospel. And that's why it's repeated over and over again here. Because Paul even wrote in 1 Corinthians, if Christ be not risen from the dead, we are worse than fools. Everything we have to say is vanity. This is the most important fact in human history. It's not the invention of the wheel. It's not the computer. Those things are nothing. Those things will burn up with a fervent heat. But Jesus Christ is alive. He is alive. And He is able to save you to the uttermost. He lives up there. And He keeps us saved. Seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. He is not limited like you and I are by sleep. I got a letter from a lady a few weeks ago from California. Says she likes to listen to our tapes here at Charity late at night right before she goes to bed at about 9 or 10 o'clock in California. And I thought, isn't that wonderful? I'm asleep in bed. She's listening to a sermon of mine. But it isn't mine. It's the power of Jesus Christ who ever liveth to make intercession. Making the Word of God come alive 3,000 miles from here while I'm asleep. Isn't that wonderful? Because He ever liveth to make intercession. He's interceding. He's making sure the Spirit of God is working in the Word of God to teach her. He's not limited like me. He doesn't have to sleep. You know? So isn't that wonderful? Praise and glory be to His name. Alright, let's finish this chapter here. Where are we at? Verse 26, For such a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice first for their own sins, and then for the people's. For this He did once when He offered up Himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmities, but the word of the oath which was since the law maketh the Son who is consecrated forevermore. And this final comparison between the Levitical priesthood versus the priesthood of Christ is a moral comparison. Did you notice it there? It's a moral comparison. Those priests had to even make sacrifices for themselves to be even worthy to be able to sacrifice for somebody else, but then they would still sin again and then they'd have to sacrifice for themselves, and then they'd do sacrifices for you, and then they'd sin again. They just couldn't keep up with it all. Do you understand that? So there's a moral comparison. But Jesus Christ is holy. Harmless. The word harmless there means blameless. It means you cannot bring an accusation against His character. He is holy. Harmless. Separate from sinners. Meaning, He has not sinned. There is a holiness to Jesus unlike anything else that we understand. And so this contrast is given that when the priest entered into the temple, he first had to offer up sacrifice for his own sins. But Jesus, who had no sin, goes into the heavenly tabernacle because He is sinless and because then He also offered up the sacrifice of Himself. Now, in comparing these two things, and as we begin to read some verses here in chapter 8, I want to again give you a little bit of a feel, a little bit of an understanding for the Old Testament way of doing things in the way that you came to God and the way these things worked out in our relationship with God and the way things work in the New Testament age. And how many people know this word? We'll have a vocabulary test here. It's good to learn new words. That's part of Bible school, right? How many people know that word? Okay, good. Turn to 1 Corinthians 9. This is a New Testament word. It is not used in the Old Testament. It's used four times in the New Testament. I just want to look quickly here. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 17 says, For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, a dispensation of the Gospel is committed unto me. Paul is explaining something has been given to him to do. He has a dispensation. And the word dispensation means an administration, a way of dealing with something. It's as if you're in charge of this house and you have these lands that you're to take care of and you deal with giving provisions for it. You deal with the relationships there. You have the administration and the giving out of what needs to be done to make this property, this plantation, whatever you want to call it, work. That's where the word comes from. It has to do with economy, meaning the way things work back and forth, and with administration, the way things are given out. Now, in the old days, the dispensation of God was the sacrificial Levitical system. In the dispensation now of the Gospel, that is disannulled again. That is unprofitable. We have two dispensations, two economies. We have, again, a crude illustration, communism and free capitalism. Okay? Once you're into free capitalism, can you then start dealing with half of the people based on communism and the other half on free capitalism in the same society? It won't work, will it? You'll have mass confusion. Do you understand? And so, that's the reason Hebrews is taking so much pain here and struggling, it seems like almost, to make sure you get it, that we have two dispensations here. The old and the new. And you cannot go back into the old. And, Lord willing, if we ever have a chance to do the second half of Hebrews, we'll see this point is made even stronger. And it's made very strongly here, isn't it? But it's going to be made even stronger as we go. But I just want to have that in the back of your mind here. And let me read the first five verses here of chapter 8. Now, of the things which we have spoken... Okay? Whew! We've spoken a lot since Monday, haven't we? This is the sum. We have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne to the majesty of the heavens, a ministry of the sanctuary, of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices whereof it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law, who serve under the example..." Listen, he's describing the Old Testament, the dispensation of it, the shadow of heavenly things. It's just a shadow. There's no substance. You know, do I have a shadow up here? Yes. I mean, do you want to talk to my shadow or do you want to talk to me? The Bible makes it so clear. Do you want to deal with my shadow or do you want to talk to me? It's that simple. "...as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle. For see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shown in thee on the mouth." Now, this is the main point. That we have a high priest in the heavens, in the throne room of God, who is sat on the right hand of God. And he is there overseeing and putting in effect and making himself the surety of a new and better covenant. He is the mercy seat himself. He is set at the right hand of God. And you know, just think about that for just a second. We already said earlier the other day that in the tabernacle in earth, in the tent, the shadow that God gave to Moses, there was no chair in there, was there? There was no place for man to sit down, for any man to sit down. But now, Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. And what does the right hand mean or symbolize in the Bible or in most places of the world? It's a position of power. It's a position of honor. Right? It's a position of immediate access. All of those things. But in studying a little bit for this, I also learned something else that's very wonderful that I think all of you here will relate to. Back in the Old Testament and Bible days, the Sanhedrin was the group of people usually made up of Pharisees and scribes that sat in judgment because under the Levitical system, the courtroom was made up under the Levitical laws. Okay? It was made up under the Levitical laws. And so these men would sit in judgment of those things. And the judges would sit here and they would hear the cases. But they always had two people sitting, one on their left and one on their right. And if they would judge a man guilty, the man on their left would write out the sentence of his crime and the punishment. But if the man was acquitted and he were to be given a pardon, the scribe that always sat on the judge's right always wrote out the pardon and signed it with the authority and the power of the whole Jewish state. Jesus Christ signed your pardon. We were singing that this morning. You didn't know you were singing Bible, did you? You didn't know you were singing a reality, a living reality. He's sitting at the right hand of the Father and He does sign your pardon. He has that position and that place and that office and that dispensation to do it. And He's the surety that backs it up. So when He signs your pardon, do not doubt it. Do not doubt your salvation. He has the full authority, position, place, and honor to do it. And He ever liveth to make intercession for you. Do you see how this all starts coming together? It's so beautiful. You need to see it. God is begging you, as it were, through His Word in the book of Hebrews here, that you see it. Because there will be days when the devil will try to whisper doubts to you. And I want you to remember, He ever liveth to make intercession for you. And He is the surety for you. He is the surety for you. It is not you. It is Him. And He talks about the tabernacle here. I don't really have time to talk about that too much. But again, if you want to study the tabernacle, the point He's trying to make here is you'll see Jesus Christ in the new dispensation. In the tabernacle, there was a lamp which was the light of the tabernacle. That's Jesus Christ. On the tabernacle table, there was the shoe bread. Jesus is the bread of life. There was an altar. It's the altar on which Jesus Christ was to be sacrificed and on and on. And the point of the tabernacle being brought up here is that Jesus Christ is the living reality of the presence of God. The tabernacle was to show that God was abiding and dwelling within the lives of the Jewish people. But now the tabernacle of God is where? In men. God dwells within us because Jesus has rent that veil again. And the reality of heaven, the reality of the spiritual life isn't something we just wonder what's going on in some tent on the other side of the camp. It's in me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. When you read those verses, do you know what you're reading? What joy! Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's what they're trying to describe here in this terminology. It's so wonderful. Well, and the important application there I think for you and I today also, if Christ is in you, and He is, if His presence is in you, what a difference that makes how you live your life. What a difference that makes how you handle sin in your life because Christ is with you. He is in you. Your besetting sin should just fall away. You know? Because if you live in the tabernacle presence of Jesus Christ, what a power is yours to overcome sin. What a power is yours. Because it's His power. Well, I want to finish reading some verses here. Verse 6, But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry by how much He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. Let me ask you an important question. Was any person ever saved by keeping the law? No. What a shocking realization. What a shocking thing to realize. But we now have a better promise and a better covenant and a better mediator. And we must see this. It's so important that we do. The law merely revealed that they had come short of the glory of God. The sacrificial system was important, but it was only a shadow. And it is disannulled. It was weak. It is unprofitable. For if that first covenant had been faultless, read that backwards, there is fault in it, meaning it didn't work to perfection. Then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, He said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. See, there's four things in these last four verses why the new covenant is better. The first reason it's better is now it's a relationship because He's written it in your mind and in your heart. It's not written on tables of stone. There's judges in Alabama trying to keep the Ten Commandments in the courtroom. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but frankly, it doesn't really mean anything. Frankly, it doesn't really mean anything. I want them written in my heart. Don't you? And so does God. That's God's heart. He's making it clear. That's His heart for you and for I. Verse 11, And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me from the least to the greatest. The second reason that the new covenant is better, and there's many more reasons that these give for, is it's for all people. It's universal. The old covenant was primarily and principally vested in the people, the Jewish people. Yes, they had some proselytes, but basically, you had to go to Jerusalem. You had to go to the temple. Now, God's temple is in man. Verse 12, For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Remember we said this yesterday? How much is no more? No more. It's wonderful. It's kind of like the word, maybe a little illustration would be the word, you know, there was a day God created dinosaurs and they were on this earth. Are there any dinosaurs now? We use the word extinct. May I say the way the old dispensation worked is extinct. Okay? But better than that, better than that, watch this. This says, will I remember no more. Under the new dispensation, God doesn't just forgive your sins, it's as if they're extinct. They're gone. You can't even find them anymore. Now you may go digging around in the trash pile and try to pull them back out. That's what the devil does by the way and throw them at you. But as far as God is concerned, in the dispensation of the economy of God, they are no more. They're extinct. They don't even exist anymore in the economy of God. Oh, you could get a picture of that. Verse 13, In that He saith, a new covenant He hath made the first old, now that which decayeth, look at these kind of words, and waxeth old, is ready to vanish away. Become extinct. Just away. Now, all of these things are very important that you get a hold of this because in our day, again, in our day, there are too many people, it seems like in the last 20 years here, picking up things in the Old Testament way of dealing with things and trying to implement them into the New Testament. There are millions of people deceived by so-called prosperity gospels, special material, special health prosperity, that if you just have this faith and if you just do this and if you just do that, God will give you a big house. He'll give you a Rolex watch and the list goes on and on and on. And they go back to Deuteronomy 8. Just turn there quickly. Deuteronomy 28, sorry. And they start reading here. And they say things like verse 3, Blessed shalt thou be in the city and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground and the fruit of thy cattle and the increase of thy kind and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shall thou be when thou comest. And on and on. All this talking about you'll have more cattle, you'll have bigger houses, you'll have more children. All these things, if you just love and serve God. But in the New Testament, that dispensation of God dealing with you is done away with. Just like my dealing with Weston when he was little and big. That was just a shadow. Those things are gone. Now it's interesting, those same people, they don't like to read the second half of 28 when it says, cursed shall be thy basket. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land. They don't like to read that. In fact, they don't read it. But you cannot take one part of the law without the whole thing. That's a biblical principle. I don't want any part... May I say it just really... I hope it doesn't shock you. I don't want any part of the law. I want Jesus Christ. You know, I don't want a shadow. I don't want to talk to a shadow. Do you? I want the real thing. But it's such a dangerous game to start reaching in there and trying to appropriate some things and put them in the Christian life and call it Christian. There's even Christians who say things today like, well, it's not exactly required after you become a Christian, but you really should do it. And there's almost this pressure. You should really circumcise your babies. And they start... What was the Jerusalem Council for? I mean, there's teachers today teaching things that you really should do this and you really should do that. And this thing goes across the board. And there are people getting under these bondages. They believe, even some of them, that our modern civil laws of government should be refashioned after the laws of the Old Testament, including the penalties of even stoning. There are large, major groups teaching some of these things today or something similar to that. And I would just beg you, as you study the Word of God and as the Spirit of God begins to speak to you about what this relationship is with Jesus Christ, is He has written these things on your heart and that you need this vital, real relationship. You know, in the Old Testament, they didn't call Him Father. You now call Him Abba. He's your daddy. You have this relationship. The old dispensation is gone. Let's just read one final verse here. Our time is done. I don't have time to give you enough applications or examples of all these things. I wish I did. I hope that just whets your appetite. Remember earlier in Hebrews, turn to Romans 10, it says you're still on milk. You need to get on meat because you need to be able to discern between good and evil. And that includes teaching in Christian circles. You need to be able to discern by the Word of Righteousness is this of God? Is this of the new dispensation? Or is this person playing around with what some people call a flat Bible? You know, what is going on here? Is this right? And the heart of God in this book of Hebrews is so clear what we do. But look in Romans 10, verse 4. Let's read 3 and 4. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is Christ Jesus and the new dispensation. For Christ, listen to this, is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The law is at an end. And the way it works, the way for you to be righteous before God, which simply means to be made right and have a right relationship and have an open heaven, is the new dispensation because you have a high priest. Amen. There is much, much more that could be said. Time does not permit. God bless each one of you. I thank you for your attention, for your heart this week, for your readiness of mind as it says about those in Thessalonica. And the main thing that I'd like to leave with you is I hope that you now have a greater desire and a greater hunger for the Word of God to go through a book of the Bible and to see what is God saying, rather than to play, may I say, just this game of reading a verse here or there. And that's sort of funny, but it's not funny too many people do that. This is meat. Do you want to get rid of the milk bottles? Do you want to have some meat? You look at the Word of God, by the Spirit of God, because Jesus promised you, don't forget, that He would send you a Teacher that would illuminate the Word of God and teach you and guide you into all things that you need. And it's all here with the Spirit of God. May God richly bless you the rest of this day. Thank you again. Amen.