Hebrews 6-7

He was the kind of guy that just knew where the animals were. I don’t know how else to explain it. He was like the closest thing to a mountain main you probably could get in modern times.

Bill was my Dad’s best friend growing up. And when my dad got laid off from one coal mine, we moved back to his home town to find work at another mine.

And while my folks were looking for a house, Bill and his wife tony opened up their home to us and we lived with them for about a year while my parents were looking for a house and closing on a house.

And I got to spend a lot of time up in the mountains with bill and my dad.

He taught me how to scan a ridgeline looking for deer and elk.

He taught me how to tell deer scat from bear scat.

He taught me how to find the perfect place to throw a lure for trout in a creek

He taught me how to tell where elk had bedded down by the way they left a depression in the grass.

He taught me how to clean a fish.

He truly was a master of his craft.

But more than any of that, he was probably one of the most dependable people I’ve ever met.

And it’s funny when we think about what it means for someone to be dependable.

Because it’s not just that they are true to their word. Bill was true to his word. As a kid in grade school when he said I’m going to take you fishing, he meant it. Never once did he ever go back on a promise like that.

But when we call people dependable it’s more than that.

Dependable people are not just true to their word, but they’re consistent over time again and again.

Unchanging.

Bill wast that way.

He was dependable.

There was one day, my dad and Bill and I got up to go hunting. he drove one of those tiny little toyota tacoma pickup trucks. The little ones.

I still remember it, it was forest green.

we got up way way before the sun came up .

And we drove for what felt like two hours to get up to this spot where he knew that a heard of elk had been.

And when we first got there, bill and my dad went out to scout for tracks and sign.

And they had me wait in the truck, so that they could cover more ground and get a good picture of where they should set up to hunt.

I couldn’t have been much older than 10.

They said, we’ll be back in 5 minutes, just sit tight.

Well if you know anything about 10 year olds, 5 minutes feels like 5 years.

I started to get bored, and I decided I was going to go find my dad and bill.

You can imagine what that scene was like when they got back to the truck and I was gone.

As a parent, it’s honestly the most terrifying scene I can imagine.

And I didn’t hear the conversation, but I can imagine it went something like this.

Doug—my dad’s name is doug—we’re going to find him. Trust me.

Sure enough. As I was trapsing through the woods trying to find my dad and bill I heard a voice behind me.

He found me.

Dependable.

And as dependable as bill was. Think of the most dependable person you can think of. Who is good on his word. Who is constant. Who is competant. When that person says trust me, you trust them .

God is more so.

god is more so

Narratio

In Hebrews 6, last week the author of hebrews took a digression from the main thrust of the message to talk about the importance of spiritual maturity.

the importance of not getting stuck in our spiritual walk, not being plateaud.

Today as we pick back up in 6:11, Hebrews is going to paint a picture of Christ, and how dependable he is.

It helps to remind us that God is dependable.

Partitio

The big Idea for our message today, God is dependable.

We can depend on God’s promises. We can depend on God’s permanence, and we can depend on his perfection.

Confirmatio

We can Trust in God’s Promises

Hebrews 6:11–12 NET 2nd ed.

But we passionately want each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness for the fulfillment of your hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherit the promises.

And what I want you to notice here, as we move from verse 12 to verse 13 is the shift

We’re going to pause talking about Us. We’re going to take a break from talking about what WE should be doing

And we’re going to get a picture of what God is doing.

And how we can depend on his promises

Hebrews 6:13-18

Hebrews 6:13–18 NET 2nd ed.

Now when God made his promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you greatly and multiply your descendants abundantly.” And so by persevering, Abraham inherited the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and the oath serves as a confirmation to end all dispute. In the same way God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, and so he intervened with an oath, so that we who have found refuge in him may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.

In the Book of Genesis, God did something incredible. After he had created the world, after Adam and Eve Rebelled, after Sin had infested the world so greatly that he had to Flood the earth and start from Scratch.

After The people of the World that He created had basically decided they didn’t want anything to do with Him.

God devised a promise that he would Bless the earth.

On the face of it, this is kind of crazy when you think about it.

You would think that God would look down upon the earth and pick out the most righteous person, and say, hey you, you’re great, you’re awesome. You are doing what I like so I’m going to reward you.

That’s what we would do, if we were god.

Instaead what God does is he picks out basically some random guy named Abram

The story of Abram begins with a Call from God. Not anything good about Abram, not any good deeds that he did

The story of Abram simply says he was born, and then one day God called him and said

Genesis 12:1–3 NET 2nd ed.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you. Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing. I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing through you.”

And throughout Abram, who God later names Abraham, God just seems to take an interest in Promising things through him.

He promises that he’s going to make him a great nation, that he’s going to give him many decendants, that kings will come from his line.

And God makes good on every single promise he ever makes. Throughout the entire Bible there is not one single promise that God makes that he doesn’t make good on.

You know that. The original Audience of Hebrews knows that.

And so what is so fascinating is the lengths to Which God goes to reassure Abraham that he is going to keep his promise.

Just the Word of God should be good enough. If God makes a promise you can be sure that he’s good for it.

But god goes above and beyond just making a verbal promise, and he swears a formal Oath.

Hebrews 6:17 NET 2nd ed.

In the same way God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, and so he intervened with an oath,

How are you trusting in God’s promises?

When God says he can wipe away every sin, every tear, every pain, do you trust that he’s good on his promise?

Or is there a little part of you inside that has doubt?

God I know you say you can forgive my sins. But I don’t know I’m not sure I truly believe it. I mean. my sins are different. All those other people, sure, but me? Surely not me Lord

God I know you promise that you will transform me, that you will change my heart, that you will enable me to be a better person

Philippians 2:13 NET 2nd ed.

for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God.

But that’s meant for someone else. Surely that’s not for you.

Are you trusting in God’s promises? Because they are for you.

Acts 2:39 NET 2nd ed.

For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”

You can depend on God’s promises, and you can depend on his permanence.

Hebrews 6:19–20 NET 2nd ed.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast, which reaches inside behind the curtain, where Jesus our forerunner entered on our behalf, since he became a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

We Can Trust in God’s Permanence

Hebrews 7:1-10

Hebrews 7:1–10 NET 2nd ed.

Now this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him. To him also Abraham apportioned a tithe of everything. His name first means king of righteousness, then king of Salem, that is, king of peace. Without father, without mother, without genealogy, he has neither beginning of days nor end of life but is like the son of God, and he remains a priest for all time. But see how great he must be, if Abraham the patriarch gave him a tithe of his plunder. And those of the sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have authorization according to the law to collect a tithe from the people, that is, from their fellow countrymen, although they too are descendants of Abraham. But Melchizedek who does not share their ancestry collected a tithe from Abraham and blessed the one who possessed the promise. Now without dispute the inferior is blessed by the superior, and in one case tithes are received by mortal men, while in the other by him who is affirmed to be alive. And it could be said that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid a tithe through Abraham. For he was still in his ancestor Abraham’s loins when Melchizedek met him.

The Gist of what we’re getting here, without going too deep into the weeds, is the idea that the Old testament system, the priesthood, and the sacrificial system was a temporary fix. And that Jesus’ priesthood is a permanent solution.

The Priests, as we’ve talked about for a couple of weeks now, their job was to intercede between God and his people

They would go into the Tabernacle, or into the temple, and they would offer sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people

The priests were almost always selected from the Tribe of Levi.

Jesus was from the tribe of Judah.

I think for most of us we’re like, yeah yeah, so what. Big deal.

For Jews in the first century, it WAS a big deal.

You couldn’t just have someone be a priest if they didn’t have the right lineage.

The fact that Jesus didn’t come from the line of Levi was not a trivial matter.

In fact there were, at the time of Jesus, Jewish groups who believed that there were going to be two messiahs.

They believed that there would be a kingly messiah from the tribe of Judah, the line of David

And there would be a Priestly Messiah, from the Tribe of Levi, the line of Aaron.

And the belief was, there would be king and priest just like in the days of David, and that’s what the messiahs would look like.

And here in Hebrews the Author is trying to make the point, No, Jesus is so Great he can fill both roles.

And the Obvious response was, no he’s not. He’s from the wrong tribe. He has the wrong pedigree.

And Hebrews says, really? I know of a Priest that not only came BEFORE levi was even a tribe. Before Levi was even born.

And he’s in Scripture.

In Genesis 14 Abram has just got done fighting this big battle and rescuing his nephew Lot. And this priest shows up. The Bible says he’s a priest of the Most High God.

He was a King of a Town Called “Salem” which is the city that eventually became Jerusalem. Salem means “Peace”

Jerusalem in Hebrew means “city of Peace”

The King of Peace

His name was Melchizedek. In hebrew “Melchizedek” means king of Righteousness.

The King of Righteousness, King of Peace, shows up and Gives Abram this blessing.

And then poof, he just disapears and is never mentioned in the Book of Genesis ever again.

The Bible Never tells us this lineage, never tells us anything about him.

He just shows up, is proclaimed to be both King and Priest, Blesses Abram, and then leaves.

Abram paid a tithe to Melchizedek.

And because of this, Hebrews is making the case that this Melchizedek Priest is of Greater Value than the Priests of Levi

Levi was a descendant of Abram. Because of that fact alone, Abram was “greater” than levi. In the sense that he was Levi’s ancestor.

If Abram paid a tithe to Melchizedek, that means Abram was placing Melchizedek as “greater” than himself.

By extension if Abram is greater than Levi, and Melchizedek was greater than Abram, Melchizedek is also greater than Levi as a priest.

Levi was still “in the loins of abram” so in a way, Levi paid the tithe to melchizedek.

Jesus isn’t like the priests of Levi. The Priest of Levi were a temporary fix to a sin problem.

Jesus is a permanent solution.

That’s the point he’s trying to make. Jesus isn’t like the levitical priests. He’s like melchizedek. He’s the eternal priest with no begining and no end.

Psalm 110, the messianic psalm that’s being quoted here

Psalm 110:4 NET 2nd ed.

The Lord makes this promise on oath and will not revoke it: “You are an eternal priest after the pattern of Melchizedek.”

The messiah is going to be an eternal priest, a permanent priest.

Application

I don’t think any of us are guilty of putting our trust in the levitical priesthood.

I wouldn’t assume....anybody? show of hands?

But all of us are guilty from time to time of putting our trust in temporary solutions to our permanent problems.

Workaholics are great at this. And I know, because I am one.

We get to a point where we don’t want to handle our problems, our sin or our stress or our anxiety, or whatever it is, and so we just find something to do to keep us busy.

Or we get sucked into politics. Thinking that if this guy or this lady gets elected everything’s going to be alright

Those are bandaids. Bandaid solutions to a problem when we need a permanent soluion.

Jesus is that permanent solution.

We can trust in God’s promises. We can trust in his permanence

And we can trust in his perfection

Hebrews 7:11-28

Hebrews 7:11–28 NET 2nd ed.

So if perfection had in fact been possible through the Levitical priesthood—for on that basis the people received the law—what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in Aaron’s order? For when the priesthood changes, a change in the law must come as well. Yet the one these things are spoken about belongs to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever officiated at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord is descended from Judah, yet Moses said nothing about priests in connection with that tribe. And this is even clearer if another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest not by a legal regulation about physical descent but by the power of an indestructible life. For here is the testimony about him: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” On the one hand a former command is set aside because it is weak and useless, for the law made nothing perfect. On the other hand a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. And since this was not done without a sworn affirmation—for the others have become priests without a sworn affirmation, but Jesus did so with a sworn affirmation by the one who said to him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever’ ”—— accordingly Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. And the others who became priests were numerous because death prevented them from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently since he lives forever. So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. For it is indeed fitting for us to have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need to do every day what those priests do, to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since he did this in offering himself once for all. For the law appoints as high priests men subject to weakness, but the word of solemn affirmation that came after the law appoints a son made perfect forever.

I don’t know if we can really truly appreciate the importance of Christ’s perfection.

I don’t really have a frame of reference to what “perfect” looks like except for Jesus.

We can imagine it. But do we really trust in it?

When Everything Falls Apart. When money is tight, and we have loved ones who are sick, and we have struggles in our marriages and our personal lives

How are we trusting in God’s perfection?

Probably my least favorite “Christianese” phrase, is when we’re struggling and we’re in pain, and we’re suffering loss and someone says “well, God has a plan.” Everything happens for a reason.

That’s not helpful. And that’s not an accurate picture of God’s perfection.

An accurate picture of God’s perfection in the midst of pain and suffering comes from the story of Joseph.

Evil happened to Joseph. His brothers beat him up and threw him in a big cistern, and left him for dead. Then they came back and sold him off into slavery

At the end of it God used the evil. He used what Joseph’s brothers meant for evil and turned it into something good.

That’s a different thing than saying God “Caused” the evil thing to happen. He doesn’t do that, he’s perfect.

And in his perfection he knows how to take our pain and suffering and turn them into something good

His ways are higher than our ways.

Trusting in God’s perfection means living in a way that you know he is all good. All powerful. And that he knows what he’s doing.

Peroratio

You know how Bill kuretich ended up finding me?

when I had wandered off from the truck, I had ended up going the opposite direction from where my dad and bill had actually gone.

No trails, no roads, just forest.

You know how he ended up finding me?

on the way back to the truck he showed me… he tracked me.

He started pointing to what apparently were footprints. I couldn’t tell that’swhat they were. But he could.

He showed me branches that I had broken as I had walked through the trees.

HE showed me where I had walked in the think grass, and he lost my trail, and had to circle around and pick it back up again.

He was truly a master of his craft.

That’s part of what made him so dependable.

But Like I said, the most dependable person,with the mos exptertise…God more so.

Jesus Christ is perfect in every way. Dependable in every way.

We can trust in his promises. We can trust in his permanence. We can trust in his perfection.

I ask you as you go throughout your week to continue to trust hin him

When you’re lost, when you’re wandering, when you’re off astray.

Trust that Jesus is dependable.

Pray.

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