It has been an honor to have
Brother Gary and Brother Jean-Claude here, and have Sister Wendy here,
too. And it's been a joy to be able
to be with the men and to fellowship with these two. I've had a lot
of laughs, and we have learned a lot. And it's just a real joy. And I know that it's a joy for
them to come and preach the gospel, too. And we're very thankful,
and Brother Gary can Come out and preach to us Christ and Him
crucified. Turn with me in your Bibles,
if you would, tonight to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews. Abide with me. I'm like Moses when he said, Lord, if you're not going to go up
with us, hence, carry me not up. I certainly do not want to stand
up here in this place by myself. Last night I tried to talk to
you about Christ, that prophet like Moses. And tonight I want to talk to
you about Christ, that priest like Melchizedek. As I said last night, the name
Christ means anointed. And in the Old Testament economy,
there were three offices that were anointed by the command
of God, anointed with the anointing oil. One of them was, as last
night, the office of the prophet. And another one was the office
of the priest. I'll read you something in the
book of Numbers about when the manslayer ran to the city of
refuge. He was safe there for as long
as the priest lived. So in Numbers 35, it says, And
the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of
the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him
to the city of his refuge, whither he has fled, and he shall abide
in it unto death, the death of the high priest, which was anointed
with the holy oil." The priest was anointed with the holy oil. So Christ is not only a priest,
he is the priest. I think sometimes false religion
wants to make us feel like that somehow we are second class. We don't have a lot of priests
running around in fancy garments and golden chains and all such
things that man has put upon them, but we have the priest. A priest that was typified by
Aaron and every high priest in the Mosaic economy. But while Aaron, the priest typified
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is said to be not a priest
after the order of Aaron, but after Melchizedek. And I won't go into detail or
try to explain to you why Melchizedek was a type of Christ, or the
pre-incarnate Christ Himself. But it says of Him that He had
neither beginning of days or end of life. And the Bible shows the superiority
here in the book of Hebrews especially, the Bible shows the superiority
of Christ the Great High Priest over all of those God-appointed
priests. And if He must be superior to
them, He surely must be superior to all the man-made priests. What did the priests do? If the prophet was one who spoke
for God and represented God to the people. What was a priest? Well, a priest was the one who
represented the people before God. He represented the people
of God in all things pertaining to God. He offered sacrifices
on behalf of the people of God. And we might notice also that
there was never a God-appointed priest to any people but Israel. Not the Canaanites, not the Hittites,
not the Habbites and all the other ites, but they were simply
priests appointed by God to Israel. And so not only does Christ represent
His people, but they are that spiritual Israel that He is a
priest for. And whether you start in the
books in the Old Testament or go to the books of the New Testament,
God has clearly showed from the scriptures again and again that
a sinner needs two things to go before God and to be accepted
by God. And those two things are a priest
and a sacrifice that are acceptable to God. But not only that, the
priest as well as the sacrifice both had to be perfect. They had to be God appointed. and contrary to the ideas that
are natural to us, and contrary to the ideas that religion forces
upon us, every person who ever sought
to represent themselves before God met with a sad ending. The Bible says that the sons
of Korah, they sought to represent themselves as priests to God,
and God just simply opened up the ground and destroyed them. It says that a man who was a
king by the name of Uzziah who did a lot of good things but
he exalted himself into the office of the priest and went into the
temple to offer incense himself and God smote him with leprosy
and he had it till the day he died. We read about a man named Cain
who sought to bring his own offering, his own sacrifice before God,
the work of his own hands, and God banished him. And he warns
about going the way of Cain. We see also how that a man by
the name of Nadab and Abihu, They intruded on this priesthood. They sought to act on their own
and God killed them. Just killed them flat out. Yeah,
God kills people. But there's one thing obvious
and that is that we do need a priest. We have got to have a priest
and that priest has got to have a perfect sacrifice. And it doesn't matter who you
are, it doesn't matter who you think you are, it doesn't matter
how you appear in this world, if you don't have that priest
and that sacrifice, God will reject you. He will destroy you. He will smite you down no matter
who you are. But the Bible sets forth the
Lord Jesus Christ, that Anointed One, as the Priest of God. You can read in the Bible about
a man named Micah. who had himself a priest and
had himself an idol. And he set up all the rituals
and all the things till the Danites came by and stole his preacher,
stole his priest and his sacrifice, his idol, and took him off and
offered him a better job. But there's one thing. that you better read in that
passage. It says, but all the time the house of the Lord was
at Shiloh. There was a priest, there was
a sacrifice that had been appointed by God and that was the only
place That was the only priest, that was the only sacrifice that
God would accept. And when we go through these
pages in the book of Hebrews, I want to read a lot to you tonight
because God says it better than I can. But if there's one thing
obvious, it is here in the book of Hebrews that the Lord, the
Spirit, sets forth the superiority of Christ, our priest, over even
all those Old Testament priests. Look beginning in chapter 5. Chapter 5 of the book of Hebrews,
he begins, for every high priest taken from among men is ordained
for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both
gifts and sacrifices for sins. That's his artwork. Who can have compassion on the
ignorant? and on them that are out of the
way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity,
and by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for
himself to offer for sins those earthly priests, They were infirmed
in every way like the ones that they represented, so they had
to offer sacrifices not only for the people, but for themselves. And no man taketh this honor
unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made a high priest, but He that said unto him, Thou
art my Son, today I have begotten thee, or set thee forth, as he
saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. There's just one priest in this
priesthood. He is a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh, when
he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying
and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, was heard
in that he feared. And though he were a son, yet
learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. He was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. And being made perfect,
He became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey
Him, called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Christ is the one priest because
God appointed Himself to be such. He was not in a succession of
men. He was not elected by a vote. He was not appointed by a committee,
but God appointed him. He has divine credentials to
serve in this capacity. Look over in chapter 6. He says in chapter 6 and verse
17, wherefore God, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath. that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope
set before us. You see, God only gives this
strong consolation to those who have fled to this priest to represent
them before God. He says, which hope we have as
an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth
into that within the veil. The high priest went into the
veil, the holy of holies, to represent the people before God. And so he says those who are
represented by Christ, those who have him as their high priest,
they can have confidence, they can have strong consolation because
he didn't enter an earthly veil, but he entered into heaven itself. Whither the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. You see, it keeps separating
him even from these earthly priests of Aaron. And he has all of these
credentials, and not only that, but he stands as a priest forever. Look at chapter 7. 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. I don't know about you, but the
more I read about Melchizedek, the more it sounds like the pre-incarnate
Christ. Abraham worshipped him. Abraham
fell down before him. Abraham paid tithes to him. He says, 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. Then he says this, Now consider
how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham
gave the tenth of the spoils." Abraham was a great man. Abraham
was a man of faith. Abraham was a friend of God. Yet he had this priest who was
far greater and appointed by God. And verily, they that are
of the sons of Levi, who received the office of the 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. But he whose descent is not counted
from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that
had the promises and without contradiction the less is blessed
by the better." The less is blessed by the better. 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 say Levi also, who received
tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. What a most notable figure Melchizedek
must be. For he was yet in the loins of
his father when Melchizedek met him. 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? If everything was good by those
in the Arianic priesthood, if God was pleased with their offering,
if they were represented well, if the matter of their sins was
closed, why another priest in another priesthood? for he of whom these things are
spoken pertaining to another tribe of which no man gave attendance
at the altar." The Lord Jesus Christ didn't come out of the
tribe that the priest came out of, for it is evident. that our Lord
sprang out of Judah, of which Moses spake nothing concerning
priesthood. Why, if even those priests that
God had appointed in that mosaic economy if they were not satisfactory
to God in the things pertaining to God in spiritual matters. Why another priest? But the need of a priest becomes
more obvious and more evident as we go on. And it is far more
evident for that after the similitude of Melchizedek, there arises
another priest who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment,
but after the power of an endless life. You see, this man's priesthood
is superior, it is far greater, accomplishes far more because
he lived forever. For he testifieth, thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is
barely a disannulling of the commandment going before, for
the weakness and unprofitableness thereof." What happened? That priesthood
ended because it could not accomplish what you and me need to be accomplished. It couldn't deal with the matter
of our sin. No earthly sinner could do it. No earthly sacrifice could do
it. For the law made nothing perfect. When will we ever, ever learn
that? When will men and women stop
running back to that which can never make anything perfect? And perfection is what God requires,
so why do we keep running back to all these things that never,
even those Israelites, it didn't make them perfect. but the bringing in of a better
hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God." Oh, to draw nigh
unto God. The only safe place in this world,
the only safe place in any world, the only safe place now, the
only safe place in eternity, the only safe place is in God. And by this hope, we don't just
find acceptance with God, we draw nigh to God. That means
near to God. And inasmuch as not without an
oath he was made a 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. He just keeps saying it again.
He just keeps defining and redefining this priesthood, this eternal
priesthood This unique, this different priesthood that is
in the Lord Jesus Christ, God's anointed priest. Thou art a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament And they truly were many priests, because
they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. They all
died, but this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable
priesthood. He was God's priesthood 2,000
years ago. He's God's priest now. If he was God's priest before
the foundation of the world, he's God's priest now. Whatever
he was, he is. And whatever he is, he was. He's
God's priest, the only one there is. Wherefore he is able, as this
priest, with this sacrifice, he is able also to save to the
uttermost them that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. He's able. And when it talks about coming
to God, it's talking about coming to God like Abel came to God. Like all those Old Testament
patriarchs came to God, like any believer in our day and time
come to stand before God, to be accepted before God, He's
able to save every one of them because He is the perfect man
and He represents imperfect man. Look at verse 26 of chapter 7. For such an high priest became
us. Now, I lost my wife last year. And I also lost, at that time,
my fashion consultant. No telling what I looked like
the night. But she would always, from the
time I married her, she began to give me this fashion advice
that I ever had. She said, you never wear stripes
and plaids. You never wear a bold pattern
with another bold pattern. She said, it doesn't become you. She also told me that I should
never wear light clothes because light clothes didn't They didn't
become me. I was a little portly. It means that it just doesn't
fit. It just doesn't present you in
the right manner. It just ain't right. So what's fitting to us? He says, for such a high priest
became us. sinners, 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 a sacrifice,
first for his own sins, and then for the people's, for this he
did once when he offered up himself." must be some priest, must be
some sacrifice when he only does it once. And you know this book especially,
and I'm talking about the book of Hebrews, if there's one thing
that this book just repeatedly emphasizes it's not only the
sinlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sinlessness and the
becoming us as our priests because we are sinners we need a sinless
priest but it shows his sacrifice as being once. Why did they go in day after
day, year after year, because they were not perfect,
and their sacrifice was not perfect. Oh, they were wonderful types.
As we read here, they were glorious pictures. They went as far as
they could in representing the true high priest, the one high
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, but they could
not accomplish the work. And I can tell you this, if they
couldn't accomplish the work, this crowd today that parades
around as priests, they certainly can't accomplish the work. who needed not daily as those
high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then
for the people for this he did once when he offered up himself. Now I tell you I heard somebody
trying to take that verse and make it say that Christ had
to offer up the sacrifice for his own sins. Really. When all that has been said about
him in every other place and especially right here before
it denies that. For such a high priest became
us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens. There's only one way that this
priest can be counted higher than the heavens, and that's
for him to be God. God in flesh. He knew no sin. So He is perfect
in His glorious person and therefore He is perfect in His wonderful
work. In other words, He is not only
perfect Because this priesthood is himself perfect, but also
because he offers a perfect sacrifice. I remember the first time I was
thinking about when David slew Goliath. And the Bible says, you know
the story, it says that he reached into his bag, he got out smooth
stone, he put it in that sling, and he slung it at Goliath, and
he slew him. Delivered Israel. And I thought, boy David was
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yep. But that stone in his sling, That's a type of Christ too. So the real message there is
that David or Christ by himself and with himself slew the great
giant sin. And he slayed it even under Goliath's
own terms. You remember what he said? He said, I'll tell you how I'll
make it. That's the way the devil always sounds when he's doing
God's will. And he always does. He said,
I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll do it like this. We'll
fight just the two of us together. And if you win, We'll all serve
you. All these Philistines, they'll
serve you. But if I win, you'll all serve
me. That's what assurity is. And
Christ became our assurity so that when He slew Goliath and
defeated that Philistine host, all of Israel was saved by Him. That is our Lord. But not only does He have a perfection
in His person, His purpose, His person is sinless, harmless,
holy, undefiled, but His sacrifice is perfect in this. It is perfect because of what
it accomplished. in offering it to God on the
behalf of His elect. Perfect. You see, we could just
kind of think or imagine or something like that, that here is this
priest and his perfection lies only in his person. Or we can
say, here is this priest, he's all so perfect, his sacrifice
is perfect. But I'm telling you this. The
great perfection of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf is because
it got the job done. It accomplished the salvation,
the redemption. Paul says he saved us. Look here in chapter 9. then barely the first covenant
and also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary
where there was a tabernacle made. He gives the whole description
of the tabernacle and says we can't fully talk about all those
things now, but suffice it to say in verse 7, but into the
second went the high priest alone once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people."
Once a year, into the Holy of Holies, the high priest went
alone, but he didn't go without blood. What is blood? Well, it's so
simple because the reason that God in the Old Testament said
not eat blood, not even blood pudding, is because the life is in the
blood. So when a person sheds blood,
and all that blood is poured out of their body, that's a sign
that life has gone out of their body. He gave his life for us. Christ hung on that cross, his
blood poured out, and his life in that was laid down, and the
sacrifice was made, and God accepted the sacrifice. You say, how can you be so sure
of that? Well, they listened when the
high priest went in there every year by himself. They listened.
They wanted to hear those little bells on his garment, see if
they were still rattling. If they weren't rattling, then
he was a goner. God killed him. But the evidence that God accepted
His sacrifice, accepted His work, lay in this. He came out alive. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
rose from the dead, He came out alive. And He, by His resurrection,
announced the fact that God had accepted this priest, this sacrifice,
this offering on the behalf of all He represented, which was His people, His elect. He came in. He went out. Verse 11 says, But Christ, being
come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption. I'm not getting in trouble here. I never noticed in that song
we sung tonight that he says he purchased heaven, that he
purchased something else, I forget. I'm afraid I don't quite agree
with that. Redemption. The Bible says everything
that God gives his people They're freely given. So what did he purchase? What
did he redeem? You just go look in the passages
where redemption is talked about. Redemption involves people. Hosea redeemed Gomer. You and I, in order to enjoy
the blessings, the grace that God freely gives to us, we ourselves
had to be delivered from sin, from its bondage, from the enslavement,
from the taskmaster. We ourselves had to be redeemed,
set free, price paid. And Christ did this once. as
our high priest sacrificing himself, raising from the dead, and it's
eternal. Having obtained eternal redemption
for us. Paul said and this is the way
it is, having been justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He said, But of Him are ye in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth from a tree. And Peter says this,
you know. God's people know some things.
He teaches them. If God teaches you, you'll know
it. Some people say, well, how can
you know this? Yes, you can. If God teaches
you from His Word, you can know it. Count on it. He says that
for as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who barely
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you, you who by him do believe in
God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that
your faith and your hope might be in God. You see, your faith and hope
is not in God unless it's in this priest and his sacrifice. Unless you rest in a salvation
accomplished, a redemption accomplished, forgiveness accomplished by the
shedding of his blood. You have no hope. Because as Paul says, if he be
the writer, without shedding of blood there is no remission,
no forgiveness. Now you might run to an earthly
fellow all frocked up and black or red or gold or wearing a funny
hat, gold chains and all, and he may tell you that you're absolved. He may tell you, go ahead on,
everything's okay. But in your heart of hearts,
in your conscience, seeing that he is a sinner just like you,
maybe even a pedophile, you know it's not true. He's
not God's priest. He doesn't speak as God. He does not represent God. There's only one priest. Oh, but he's a glorious priest.
And I can tell you about his glories all night long, but I'll
just simply say he's the one that got the job done. He's the one that finished the
sacrifice. He's the one that satisfied divine
justice. He's the one that ratified, that
put into effect the everlasting covenant. He's the one that honored
God in all His holy attributes. He's the one that accomplished
God's purpose of grace to His people so that it was only offered
once. And he didn't wear a funny robe. He provided a perfect robe. He provided a robe of righteousness. His work was so perfect and good
and accepted of God, he only had to do it once. It was so accepted of God that
God raised Him from the dead. And it's so perfect that if He
died for you, the Spirit of God will bring you to believe it
and to trust in Him. Away with every other hope. Away
with every other priest. Give me Christ, the anointed
priest of God.