Welcome back friends, in our
first segment of our study of
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Hebrews, Chapter 6 and 7.
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We explored Jesus as our
fore-runner, and we saw that
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He is definitely seeking
to draw us in to a personal
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intimate relationship
with the Presence, Capital P,
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the Presence of God, behind
the veil and He has brought
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back a good report,
He has good news for us,
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and the good news is, that God
is friendly, the Father Himself
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loves you, so come on in
to the Presence of God boldly
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and consummate this
relationship that has been
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in God's heart all along.
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Right towards the end of
Chapter 6 and into Chapter 7
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we hear about this
priest king called Melchisedec.
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Now this is a mysterious
persona in the Old Testament.
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This someone has been
questioned quite a bit.
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Who was Melchisedec?
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Where did he come from?
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It says right here, in Chapter 7
beginning with verse 1 "For this
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Melchisedec, king of Salem,
priest of the Most High God,
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who met Abraham returning
from the slaughter of the kings
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and blest him, to whom also
Abraham gave a tenth part of
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all; first being by
interpretation King of
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righteousness, and after that
also King of Salem, which is,
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King of Peace; was without
father," verse 3, "without
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mother, without descent,
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having neither
beginning of days, nor end
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of life; but made
like unto the Son of God;
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and abided a
priest continually. "
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Now this is mysterious Ty.
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This is mysterious.
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Without beginning without
end, without mother without
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father, and so there is a
lot of mystery surrounding
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Melchisedec.
Who was Melchisedec?
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I think the point that
Paul is trying to make is
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that Melchisedec was a
unique kind of priest because
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Melchisedec was
both a King and a priest.
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King and a mediator.
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Whereas the Levitical
priesthood, the sons of Aaron,
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were merely mediators,
they were in a priesthood role,
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but they were not of the
tribe of Judah for example,
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which was the tribe
that kings descended from.
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So why is that so significant?
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It's significant because what
Paul is doing is He is invoking
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the idea here of King and
priest to bring to our attention
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justice and mercy
meeting together in the
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Lord Jesus Christ.
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His priesthood marries
justice and mercy together.
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Because?
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Because Jesus, is Himself God.
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Chapter 1 of Hebrews has
informed us, He is Himself
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One Who loves righteousness
and hates iniquity.
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He is, later on in Chapter 6,
holy, harmless, and undefiled.
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In Chapter 4 He is tempted
in all points as we are but
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He is without sin.
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Jesus is, on the one hand, He's
a king, He's fully invested in
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justice, He's not in any
way fallen as a sinner, and yet
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at the same time,
having passed through the human
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experience, He occupies a
mediatorial role that is just
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saturated with compassion,
with sympathy, with mercy.
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He's the priest, that's right.
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And that's interesting
because in the Old Testament
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kings couldn't be priests
and priests couldn't be kings.
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That's right!
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And yet, in the New Testament
even believers are called to be
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priests and kings after the
order of Christ, we could say.
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Christians, and Christ here has
established Hebrews Chapter 7,
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as both a king and a
priest, One who is just, One who
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exercises the laws of the
land and enforces those laws.
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But also One Who is merciful.
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One Who loves, has
compassion upon, and reaches
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out to humanity.
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It's highly likely that
Paul is drawing this idea
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from Zechariah Chapter 6.
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Because in Zechariah Chapter
6, we have a Messianic prophecy
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that foretells Jesus coming
and it is very interesting
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because in Chapter 6 of
Zechariah, verse 12 it says this
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"Thus says the LORD of hosts,
saying:" Now this is the Lord,
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This is God speaking, "Behold
the Man" First of all we have
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the humanity of the
Messiah, being highlighted.
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"Behold the Man whose name
is the BRANCH." And the reason
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why His name is the BRANCH,
it says, is from His place, from
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His ministry, from His position
in humanity as our Savior,
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He shall branch out.
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This is going to be an
extensive ministry which is
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going to take in
the whole human race.
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And He shall build the temple
of the Lord, which we looked
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at in the previous part of
Hebrews, Jesus is in Chapter 3
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the builder of the
house of God, which house
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we are Paul says.
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We are a temple of
the Lord and then verse 13
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It says that yes, He shall
build the temple of the Lord
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and He shall bear the glory
which is the theme that is also
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brought out in
the book of Hebrews.
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Jesus in Chapter 1 is the
expressed image of God's person
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and the brightness of His glory.
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And notice, He shall sit
and rule on His throne, so He
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shall be a priest on His throne.
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And the counsel of peace
shall be between them both.
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Now the both here in the
context is the kingly role
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He shall sit upon His throne
and rule, and the priestly
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role, He shall be a
priest on His throne.
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Okay so we are looking at
Zechariah 6 verses 12 and 13.
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Zechariah is just back
from the book of Matthew.
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Matthew, Malachi, Zechariah
and we are looking at these
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two verses that seem to
pin point, to direct us to what
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is taking place
in Hebrews Chapter 7.
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That we have Christ in the role
of priest and king so that the
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counsel of peace can be between
the priesthood and the kingship.
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having justice and mercy.
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In other words, it's not so
important who Melchizedek is
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but what he represents.
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What he points to,
what he directs us to.
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He directs us to a ruler ship,
if you will, he directs us to a
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reign of grace that is,
that is mingled with, that is in
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partnership with justice.
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In other words we have mercy
and justice coming together.
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Isn't that Psalm 85?
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That's right 85:10.
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Psalm 85:10 we have mercy
and justice coming together and
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that's what we see in the cross.
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We see God be merciful
and we see God being just.
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Punishing sin in Himself,
the Son of God, as well as being
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merciful to
those who have sinned.
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This thing is picked up in
a beautiful way in the book of
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Romans as well, while
specifically in Chapter 3,
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because using slightly different
language, in order to fill out
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the concept, Paul says in
Romans 3, that God through
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Christ is both
just and the justifier
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of those who believe in Jesus.
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So He is just, He maintains
His justice, but simultaneously
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maintaining that justice,
He has mercy by which He freely
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justifies fallen human beings
and draws them back into a
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relationship with Himself.
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Okay so Paul says in verse 4
of Hebrews 7, now consider how
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great this man was.
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That's what we have been doing.
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We are not trying to
figure out where he came from
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We are trying to
consider how great he was.
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In other words, the breath of
his ministry, what he represents
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because it
points to Jesus Christ.
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Consider who great this
man was, and what is the
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consideration he
directs us to next.
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Unto even the Patriarch Abraham
gave tenths of the spoils,
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That is a tithe.
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He paid the tithe.
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Abraham paid a tithe,
yes, he says in verse 5.
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We who are sons of Levi received
the office of the priesthood
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and have the commandment to
receive tithes of the people
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according to the law
that is of their brethren,
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though they came out
of the loins of Abraham,
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but whose descendent is not
counted them, but here it says
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that Abraham paid
tithes to Melchizedek.
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Now notice this, without
contradiction, the less is
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blest of the greater.
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And here men die who receive
tithes but he received them
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of whom it is written.
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He lives, and this is what I
say, that Levi also, verse 9,
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who received tithes,
paid tithes in Abraham.
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For he was in the
loins of his father when
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Melchizedek met him.
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Now this is so powerful
in the context of the gospel.
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example of some of Paul's
complex reasoning and complex
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language that Peter kind
of told us we should expect
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from Paul, so we really
need to break down the reasoning
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that Paul's going through
here and why it is and how it is
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and why it is
important that Abraham paid
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tithes to Melchizedek.
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I mean in what sense?
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Or Levi paid
tithes to Melchizedek.
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What is powerful here in
the context of the gospel is
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Levi was not alive when Abraham
paid tithes to Melchizedek.
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Levi was in the loins of
Abraham, in other words he was
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simply unborn, he was
going to be born later on.
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When Abraham paid tithes to
Melchizedek, what Paul is saying
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here is that Levi did too.
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In other words, everything that
Abraham did was accounted to
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Levi before he was born.
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There's a corporate sense in
which the Bible speaks of the
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human race, there's a corporate
sense in which the Bible speaks
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of any given nation, and here
Abraham, the beginning of the
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Hebrew people, that
God is founding as a nation
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Abraham is an
individual in whom the whole of
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Israel is represented.
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Everything future to Abraham
is attributed to Abraham.
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That's right, now the
reason this is so important, the
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reason why Paul was calling
us to consider this is because
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this is what the
gospel is all about.
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In the gospel Jesus
Christ, we have accounted to us,
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everything that Jesus did.
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When we accept Christ as our
Savior, when we are in Christ
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everything that He did is
accounted to us so that just
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like Levi, who wasn't even
alive, because he is connected
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with Abraham, paid tithes
to Melchizedek, because Abraham
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paid tithes to Melchizedek.
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Just so we, even before we were
alive, we obeyed the law of God,
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we are perfect, pure and holy
before God, are justified before
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God, or are accepted before God,
or are God's beloved when we
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accept Jesus Christ
for what He did for us.
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Yeah, 2 Corinthians Chapter 5,
says in verse 14, "for the love
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of Christ compels us because
we judge thus that if one
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died for all then all died. "
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Now this is very strange
language for Westerners to
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comprehend, because we don't
think in terms of anything being
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done for anyone unless it is
done in their immediate context
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and by themselves.
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But the corporate language
of Scripture is such that Paul
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can say in verse 14 here in 2
Corinthians Chapter 5 verse 14
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that when Jesus died,
everyone died in a sense.
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Now we didn't die
literally at the cross.
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Jesus died, but He
died as a human being.
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He has died as a true partaker
of human nature and so in a
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representative sense, the
whole human race was represented
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in the person of Jesus Christ.
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Through His life, and His
death, in His resurrection,
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in His ascension, anyone who
by faith wants to be identified
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with Jesus certainly
can by God's promise.
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And that is why we
have 1 Corinthians Chapter 1
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telling us that Jesus Christ
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is our wisdom,
our righteousness, our
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justification,
our sanctification.
00:11:22.48\00:11:24.24
He's our everything.
00:11:24.27\00:11:25.24
Jesus Christ is everything
and what we are called to do is
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to be in Christ.
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To accept Christ as our Savior
and then all that is attributed
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to us just like Levi
paid tithes in Abraham's time.
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So we have Christ as our
obedience as our righteousness.
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So the Apostle Paul comes
to the conclusion in Chapter 7
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and he tells us in verses 25-27
that number 1, because of Who
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Jesus is as our high Priest.
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He is able to
save to the utter most.
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Completely, totally
saved to the uttermost.
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Secondly, He informs us that He
is holy, harmless, and undefiled
00:11:56.88\00:12:01.52
and separate from sinners.
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And thirdly, that He
made a once for all sacrifice
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for the human race.
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And we having been human beings
who have fallen in sin, find
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ourselves represented
in Christ dying for us,
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He died for all once.
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Once for all, once for all
friends, I want you to say that
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over and over
again, once for all.
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And that includes me
and that includes you.
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Jesus is your Savior, He
is my Savior, let us by faith
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accept Him as such, and be saved
by His grace to the uttermost.
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