[0:00] Blessed be thy name, O God. Thou remainest the same yesterday, today, and forever.
[0:18] There is with thee neither variableness nor shadow cast by eternal. And it is to this unchangeableness of thy, thou directest our attention for a sure hope.
[0:45] A hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus. For it is written, I am Jehovah, I change not.
[1:01] Therefore are the sons of Jacob not consumed. And we pray that thou wouldst give us the spirit of wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of who and what the word.
[1:22] Even in the knowledge of thy name as that is revealed in Christ Jesus. That our hope and confidence may be all together in thee.
[1:40] For blessed is the man whose hope is in the Lord. For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.
[1:53] And save us, we pray thee, from the position and condition of those whose hope is in man.
[2:04] And who make flesh they are. And of whom thou sayest that they are cursed with a curse.
[2:15] O Lord, send thy light forth with thy truth. That we may be able to understand and to appreciate thy message unto us.
[2:33] For it has pleased thee in thy good providence. To give unto us the word of truth as it is written. And we pray that thou thyself wouldst apply it in the power of the Holy Spirit to our heart.
[2:54] Making us wise unto salvation. Bless thy word this evening wherever it is proclaimed.
[3:08] Do thou acknowledge it as thine own. One of the means appointed by thee. For the quickening and the converting of sinners.
[3:23] And for building up thine own in holiness and comfort. To faith unto salvation. Give us to understand more and more.
[3:39] That while we have an inestimable privilege. In having thy word. Yet that we need more than this.
[3:52] That we need the spirit of the Lord to apply it to our heart. Thus making it.
[4:04] Quick and powerful. And sharper than any two-edged sword. Dividing asunder the soul and spirit and the bones and the marrow.
[4:18] Dividing asunder the soul and the soul. And the soul and the soul. And the soul and the soul. And the soul and the soul. And the soul and the soul. And the soul and the soul. May thy word thus come to us.
[4:30] In power in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. And may it come to many this evening. In such a way.
[4:40] In such a way. As that they shall be convinced. In mind and conscience. That this is indeed the word of the Lord.
[4:52] The word that abides forever. Thou knowest blessed one how much we need. That thy power should accompany thy word.
[5:07] Thus making it. A word of life. A word of light. And a word of liberty unto many.
[5:18] Giving them to know the truth. And as a consequence of knowing the truth. Experiencing the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
[5:34] For it is written. Ye shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free. Bless unto us the many privileges that we receive at thy good hand.
[5:50] Grant that they may all work together for our good. That we may be built up by them and through them. In such a way as that we shall live more and more.
[6:05] A life of faith.
[6:15] Be pleased to remember. Be pleased to remember. Be pleased to remember.
[6:30] The condition of thy sight. Thy church in the world. O blessed one. And raise of Jacob.
[6:43] For he is very small. Would thou not raise a banner against. The flood of the enemy that has come in upon us.
[6:54] We would look unto thee. Persuaded that there is none other. Who can meet.
[7:05] The strength and the wiles of the adversary. That there is none other who can turn the tide of ungodliness and unrighteousness.
[7:19] Which is ready to engulf all things. We would remember that thou reignest. And that thou art mightier by far.
[7:33] Than the noise of many waters. Or the waves of the sea. Lord will thou not give us to see thy power.
[7:46] Thy gracious power being exercised. On behalf of the cause which is thy known. Will thou not give us to see.
[7:57] That thine hand is not shortened. That it cannot see. Neither is thy knee and heavy. That it cannot hear. May we be found.
[8:09] Waiting upon thee. Looking unto thee. Beseeching of thee. To remember mercy.
[8:23] In the midst of the years. To make known. Even to make known. What thou art. And what thou canst do.
[8:35] That there is nothing. Too hard for thee to do. That thou art able to save. To the uttermost. All who come unto thee.
[8:47] On the way of thine own appointed. Bless those who are denied our privileges. Those who are laid up on beds of illness.
[9:01] Those who are discouraged. Those who are cast down. O Lord. O Lord. Be gracious to them. Facing of the bow down.
[9:13] And upholding those that fall. Speaking a word in season. To those that are weary. We pray.
[9:25] We pray that thou wouldst. In mercy. Use. The means. Of grace. The means. Which thou hast appointed.
[9:37] As channels. Of thy grace. To the children. Of men. That thou wouldst. Use. The public. And the private means. Of thine appointed.
[9:48] For the advancement. And the establishment. Of thy cause. In the earth. Bless all. Who have gone forth. With thy word.
[9:59] To the dark. Parts of the earth. All parts. And dark. The only light. In this world. Is. The light.
[10:10] That came into it. Even Jesus Christ. He is the light. Of the world. And wherever he is. There is light.
[10:22] Wherever his fame. Has gone. In the word of truth. He has promised. To bless it. And be a light. To those.
[10:32] Who sit in darkness. Do thou thyself. Be with those. Then who endeavor. To make thy light. Known. Where it has not.
[10:43] Been known before. Do thou bless. Their efforts. And endeavors. In such a way. As that they shall be made. To rejoice.
[10:54] In thy sin. Be with us now. As we would further. Wait upon thee. Take away all. Our sins. And receive us graciously.
[11:04] For Christ's sake. Amen. We may now consider together. As we shall be enabled. Words you will find.
[11:17] In the chapter. We read. The epistle to the Hebrews. The fifth chapter.
[11:29] And we shall read again. From verse four. Hebrews chapter five. Reading from the fourth birth.
[11:42] And no man taketh his honor unto himself. But he that is called of God. As was Aaron.
[11:52] So also Christ. Glorified not himself. To be made an high priest. But he that said unto him.
[12:03] Thou art my son. Today. Have I begotten thee. As he said also. In another place. Thou art a priest.
[12:16] Forever. After the order. Of Melchizedek. Especially the sixth verse. Thou art a priest.
[12:28] Forever. After the order. Of Melchizedek. Hmm. The institution.
[12:49] Of the priesthood. Is a. A forced. A reminder.
[13:00] Of the fact. That. Without. Shedding of blood. There is. No.
[13:11] Remission. A reminder. Of the fact. That the channels. Of communication.
[13:24] Between. God. And man. Have been. Blocked. By man's. Sin. Or in other words.
[13:35] A reminder. Of the fact. That there is. No. Direct. Approach. For the sinner. To the throne.
[13:48] Of God. It was always. Through the institution. Of the priesthood. That men.
[13:59] Were. Admitted. And enabled. To draw. Near. Unto God. Now there are two things.
[14:14] Essential. And indispensable. To the biblical. Institution. Of priesthood. Namely. A priest.
[14:25] And. A sacrifice. Where there is. A sacrifice. There must be.
[14:36] A priest. To offer it. Where there. Is a priest. He must. Offer. Unto God.
[14:47] Gifts. And. Sacrifices. According. To the divine. Appointment. Now many.
[14:59] Have seen. The institution. The inception. Of the priesthood. In. Paradise itself. That is.
[15:11] In the garden. Of Eden. Before. God. Draw. The man. Out of it. The man. And their way of reasoning.
[15:23] Was thus. We are distinctly told. That God clothed. The man.
[15:34] And the woman. With the skins. Of animals. This was the something. God did for them.
[15:45] And that implies the death of the animals whose skins were used for the clothing of man, of the man and the woman.
[16:01] And it has been argued that these animals whose death is presupposed in the skins, that these animals were offered in sacrifice to God.
[16:23] Which would mean that God himself was the first priest. It would mean that those animals whose life was taken in order that man should be clothed were offered by God himself.
[16:47] For definitely the narrative does not permit us to think that it was a man who took the life of the animals.
[17:01] With whose skins he himself was clothed. Now there is nothing impossible or improbable in that suggestion. We do not, of course, we do not press it because the scriptures are not explicit on that point.
[17:21] It is a deduction from what the scriptures tell us. But we do know that from the very beginning, sacrifice was an essential part of man's worship.
[17:41] And if we cannot press the point in relation to Adam, we can certainly press it when we come to consider Adam's sons.
[17:59] Cain and Abel. Why was the sacrifice of Abel more acceptable or acceptable to God and the sacrifice of Cain was not?
[18:24] One reason is that Cain's words were unrighteous. Abel's works were unrighteous.
[18:37] That is what the apostle John tells us. He asks the question, why did Cain slay Abel? Why slew he him?
[18:51] Because his own works were evil. And his brother's were unrighteous. But where does the evil and the righteousness appear?
[19:08] They may, of course, be predicated of the daily conversation of the two men. But what is wickedness?
[19:23] What is evil? Well, it is that which works in various ways.
[19:35] But it works particularly in men's approach unto God. This is where the evil of the heart makes itself especially apparent and obvious.
[19:55] In the way in which men endeavor to draw near unto God. God. And the evil of the heart. And the evil of man's heart.
[20:08] Even expressing itself in the form of presumption. Is nowhere more clearly seen than in this.
[20:22] Whether man endeavors to take God's way of approach. Or whether he tries to make a way of his own.
[20:34] God. God. Now we take it that the ordinance of sacrifice was known to both Abel and Cain.
[20:57] Abel followed the divine order. Cain didn't. He substituted his own thoughts for God's thoughts.
[21:13] He brought of the fruit of the earth. His sacrifice was a bloodless sacrifice. Abel brought of the thirst of the flock and came with that sacrifice.
[21:34] sacrifice in which was included shedding of blood. and that principle is still in operation.
[21:49] And this is actually what makes the difference between man and man. This is what draws the what draws the line of demarcation between the righteous and the wicked.
[22:07] Between those who are pleasing to God and those who are not pleasing to him. The righteous draw near on the basis of sanctification.
[22:23] the people they draw their encouragement from bloodshed and the bloodshed of the God man.
[22:37] The unrighteous which is another name for the self-righteous drawn here on the basis of what they produce themselves.
[22:49] the product of that earthly name is what they present to God. What they do what they have done and what they intend to do.
[23:04] This is their encouragement. With this they draw near and inevitably and invariably are with that spirit.
[23:16] This is wickedness in high places. It is spiritual wickedness in high places. To endeavor to draw near to the Most Holy One on a way not appointed and not consecrated by himself.
[23:38] No quality is sin that makes the office of the institution of the priesthood inevitable if men are to draw near to God at all.
[23:55] It is nevertheless true that while the institution is thus closely connected with sin it is an honor under God's appointed way of worship it is an honor to be called to the priesthood.
[24:18] It was a special honor an honor that no man should dare take unto himself an honor reserved for those of God's selection or election.
[24:40] The man who was made a priest was the man who was appointed by God. No man taketh this honor unto himself but he that was called of God as was Aaron.
[25:01] now says the apostle here even Christ did not glorify himself to be made a high priest.
[25:20] It wasn't Christ who honored himself by elevating himself to this office.
[25:33] He didn't take it without divine appointment. He didn't rush into the sanctuary to minister where he was not appointed.
[25:51] even Christ did not glorify himself did not honor himself in this way. But he was honored by the nevertheless who honored him?
[26:05] He who said unto him thou art my son this day have I begotten thee.
[26:19] there may be ambiguity in the way in which this is set down in English here.
[26:33] So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest but he that said unto him. Now that is not clear at least on first reading.
[26:47] He glorified not himself but he that said unto him. But when you consider the English grammar does make it clear. There was a long time I can remember when I wasn't sure of the meaning of this.
[27:09] Did it mean that Christ glorified the Father or that the Father glorified Christ. He glorified not himself but he that said unto him.
[27:29] Now even in English it's perfectly clear in the Greek but even in English it is clear if we just pay attention to the God the way it is said if it meant that Christ glorified the Father it would be written he glorified not himself but him that is Christ didn't glorify himself but glorified him who called him but that's not the way it is but he the new subject of the sentence he glorified not himself but he glorified him that is the father glorified the son saying unto him thou art my son this day have
[28:31] I begotten thee and what comes before and of course and what comes after puts this beyond any duty Christ didn't glorify himself or honor himself by intruding into this office without divine appointment but he was divinely appointed he was set apart to this office by him who said unto him thou art my son this day have I begotten now notice in that statement the sonship and the priesthood of Christ are set in the closest relationship he is glorified as priest by him who said thou art my son this day have
[29:46] I begun and that is taken as being synonymous or always almost synonymous with the next statement which says thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek whatever else this may mean it is certainly true that there is drawn here there is delineated here the closest relationship between the sonship and the peacehood of Christ now in what sense are we to take the sonship and definitely there is a difficulty here in what sense are we to take the words thou art mine son this day have
[31:00] I begotten thee are we to take them as referring to the eternal generation of the son are we to take them as referring to the son apart from or separated from the idea of redemption Christ is the eternal son of God he is the eternal son through eternal generation but we do not pretend to understand what that means there are mysteries within the
[32:01] Godhead that are unfathomable and will be eternally unfathomable to the highest created intellect the relationship between the persons of the trinity for instance the eternal generation of the son the son who is the co-equal of the father who is of the same substance within equal in power and in glory how are we in the light of those scriptural facts how are we to understand eternal generation and yet that is everywhere the way in which the relationship between the father and the son are presented in scripture but the way the relationship is presented and the aspects of that relationship are always set forth and this part the generation the eternal generation of the son by the heart and then there is the procession of the holy ghost from the father and the son there are what we call personal properties belonging to each person in the godhead the personal property of the father is to beget the son to eternal generation the personal property of the son is to be begotten of the father the personal property of the holy ghost is to proceed from the father and the son that is how the relationship is set forth in scripture but what it actually means the profundity the depth of the truth lies outside the scope of our mission lies beyond our measuring lines the word my son this day have
[35:09] I begotten thee what day is this what day is this this day have I begotten this is this is what we take it that these words remove or move the thought out of the sphere of eternal generation there there never was a time when Christ was not there never was a day when he came into being this eternity you see was to the eternity of the father so when we read this day have I begotten thee we take it that there is reference made to a particular point or period of time and we take it first as the thing to his incarnation when he is begotten of the holy ghost in the womb of the virgin maid he is begotten as a man he makes unto himself a true body and a reasonable soul why in order to be a priest for every priest is taken from among men he is not taken from among the angels every priest must be taken from among men and he is ordained for men or appointed for men in things pertaining to
[37:18] God in taking our nature he has been equipped for the work of the priesthood for every priest must have something to offer and offering in priesthood means the offering of life he takes a life that he can and will may do this is part of his equipment for the office or the honor of the priesthood from there he goes on and we can easily imagine the words being addressed to him again when the word or the part of the priestly work that belongs to his humiliation when it is accomplished we can easily conceive of the words being applied to him at the resurrection when he is addressed as the high beast who is taken back from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant thou art my son and the sonship of a special reverend to the people thou art a peace forever after the order of
[39:18] Melchizedek now this is what the apostle says before the readers of his epistle the relationship at least in this particular passage the relationship between the sonship of Christ and the priesthood of Christ and that is precisely the order he follows in the whole sentence he goes out to prove that that Christ is a greater priest and that he is unspeakably greater in his own pressure that he has offered a better sacrifice that he ratified a covenant established upon better promises he goes out to show the superiority of
[40:25] Christ's priesthood over that of Aaron but how does he do it first of all by bringing into the clearest prominence the sonship of Christ why is he a great and priest than Aaron why has he a more excellent priesthood because first he is the son of God and as such in personal dignity in personal glory he not only surpasses Aaron but he is unspeakably superior to the angels to which of the angels has he said at any time thou art my son this day have
[41:40] I begotten thee it is the dignity the glory the eternal unchanging glory of his person which he emphasizes first of all in order to demonstrate the superiority the absolute superiority of his peace to over every other peace to thou art my son this day have I begotten thee as he says also in another place thou art a peace forever after the order of Melchizedek that is the context then in which the word of our text appear and we shall just mention one or two things about the words themselves thou art a peace there is honor expressed in these words he is honored yes but there is death expressed in them too he is honored in that he is called a priest a high priest but he is called a high priest called to the priesthood in order to offer and what is he to offer himself it is by the sacrifice of himself that he is to make perfect forever those that are sanctified they express honor but they are a portent of death he is called to the priesthood by the father in order to perform the functions of that office not through the blood of bulls and of goats but through the shedding of his own precious blood thou were the priest that is a call to death as far as the son of
[44:36] God is concerned he is called to die the moment he is called to the priesthood and not only is he called to die but he is called to die a certain kind of death there is a sense in which we are all called to die our call to life implies that when God calls us all to life that is physical life he calls us all to die for death begins at the very moment our life begins there is the germ of death side by side with the germ of life when
[45:40] I got being when I received life there was placed with the side of that life the germ of death so that in a sense I began to die as soon as I began to live that is true that is the nature of a sinner life in this world but when Christ is called to die it is in another sense he doesn't come into the world under sentence of death he has perfect power over his life so that the death to which he is called is different at least the way in which he is to die is different and must be different from the way in which anyone else dies he is called to die that is to offer of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice it is a sacrificial death to which he is called it is to offer himself in sacrifice without sacrifice without spot to God through the
[47:25] Holy Spirit he is called unto this by his very call to the priesthood there were a priest but the sacrificial death meant that it was to be a sacrificial death for sacrifice and the curse of God always lie side by side in that it was to be a sacrificial death we repeat it was to be a curf death to this we say he's called when he is honored by the father to be a priest a curf death even the curf death of the cross he's made a curse
[48:32] Christ saved us from the curse of the law being made a curse for it is written curse it is heaven wise that hang on a tree called of God to be a priest the word a priest but thou art a priest forever this is unlike the order of Aaron the order of Aaron's priesthood for of them many were priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death they died the priest died one generation of priests succeeded another but here the call to the priest is to one who has power over his own life power to lay down yes but how to take it again he is called to a priesthood where none may or can minister but himself he offered once himself but
[50:18] God but now he live in the power of a man blessed life he cannot have a successor because he cannot die he continues to minister as a priest for he is a priest forever not for a time after the order of Melchizedek as Melchizedek appears on the page of scripture without any account of father or mother without any account of his birth or his death he appears as a priest his antecedents are not known we don't know who he was the only thing we know about him is that he was king of sin that is king of peace he was also king of righteousness because that is the meaning of his name
[51:37] Melchizedek he was king of righteousness and king of peace without father or mother without beginning of life or end of days not of course that he was absolutely absolutely like that not that he didn't have a father or a mother that he didn't have beginning of life or end of days but what the apostle is referring to is that there's no account of anything in the records of priesthood there is no account of the antecedents of Melchizedek now to be a priest in Israel one had to trace one's genealogy very carefully no one could be a priest but one who was of the sons of Aaron so one had to trace his pedigree to find his genealogy to trace his birth to the tribe of
[52:48] Levite else he couldn't be a priest by divine appointment but when we come to Melchizedek he is traced to none he does not have his priesthood in a natural line of that he appears without father or mother we don't know who he was he appears without beginning of days or end of life there's no record of his birth and there's no record of his death as he appears in scripture he appears as a full fledged priest we know not where he came from and we know not very well that's the order to which he belonged and there is none of that order but himself no that was but to shadow forth what was to come now he said
[53:53] Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek he doesn't trace his priesthood to Levi for obviously Christ was of the line of Judah of which tribe Moses said nothing concerning priesthood Christ could not lay claim to the priesthood along the natural line he was not of the tribe of Levi he was of the tribe of Judah so in this he is like Melchizedek he has no father or mother that had anything to do with the priesthood he was debarred from the priesthood in that way by that natural succession but his priesthood is not of that line his priesthood is of the line or of the order of
[54:57] Melchizedek he is unique he has no predecessor and certainly he can have no successor he is after the order of Melchizedek called after that order not after the order of Levi not after the order of Aaron is of an entirely different order even the order of Melchizedek and now the apostle goes on to argue and argue quote gently and conclusively that Melchizedek was a greater man even than Abraham that Melchizedek was a greater man as a man than Levi that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek and that in
[55:59] Abraham Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek and Melchizedek blessed Abraham and without controversy the less is blessed of the greater that Melchizedek was a greater man than Abraham considered as the priest of the most high God and if Melchizedek was how much more is the Son of God the only God and Son how much more is he above and beyond the tribe in priesthood of Abraham how much more and I love