And we'll be looking at Christ
as priest. We'll be continuing our study
of who is Jesus Christ. Christ as priest will be what
we'll be looking at today. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. Christ as priest. Hebrews 5, verse 1, and then
I'll read from 5, verse 5 to 10. Verse 1, For every high priest
taken from among men is ordained for man in things pertaining
to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. And then verse 5 to 10, So also
Christ glorified not Himself to be made an high priest. But
he that said unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten
thee. As he saith also in another place,
Thou art 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, and was heard in that he feared,
though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which
he suffered. And being made perfect, He became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him. call of God and high priest after
the order of Melchizedek. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Gracious Heavenly Father, we just come before thy throne.
We lift up our two missionaries to you. We pray you'd be with
Brother Lance as he recovers from surgery. And if it's your
will for him to be able to get back home on the date that the
ticket is dated, we just would rejoice. But whatever your will
is, Lord. And we also pray for Jean-Claude
as he goes out and labors in the mission field. Oh, we pray
you give them doors of utterance and that you give them boldness
and liberty to preach the gospel. And if it's your will, that you
draw in your lost sheep and feed the saints, we pray. And we give
you all the glory and honor and praise. We pray you'd be glorified
today in the preaching of your word and everything that we say
and do here today. We love you because you first
loved us. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so today we'll continue
our study in who is the Son of God? Who is Jesus Christ? And today we'll look at Christ
as priest. We've been looking in our study
so far. We saw Him as the Son of God. We saw Him as deity incarnate. And we also looked at, last week
we looked at Christ as prophet, that He is the prophet that was
prophesied about, that He is the Messiah. He is the Divine
One. And He is the only one who holds
all three offices, prophet, priest, and king. He's the only one.
And as I said in our first study, we looked at the divinity of
Christ, our High Priest, and how He is divine. He's absolutely
divine. And all these offices require
that He is God. And He is God. He is God. None could be king as Christ
is king. None could be prophet as Christ
is prophet. And none could be priest as Christ
is priest. And they declare They declare
the deity, the divinity of Christ. He is the prophet of the church
and none but God could satisfy the justice of God in bringing
the everlasting righteousness sufficient for lost sinners.
Only Christ can do that. Only Christ. The power of the
priesthood of Christ rests upon His divinity. It rests upon His
divinity. is only He could bring in everlasting
righteousness. Because we know, we know that
we are not righteous. We're sinners, aren't we? We're
sinners. And He is the perfect, spotless
Lamb of God. The perfect One. He came to save
His people from their sins. He came to save sinners. And
Paul tells us by inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Hebrews
chapter 1, turn there if you would, Hebrews 1, verse 3, that
Christ is the brightness of the Father's glory. Christ is the
brightness of the Father's glory. who be in the brightness of His
glory and the express image of His person and upholding all
things by the word of His power." Now here, look at the deity of
Christ, right? The brightness of His glory,
the express image of His person, upholding all things by how?
The word of His power. He's got all power, beloved.
When He had by Himself He didn't need anyone's help. He didn't
need anyone's help. No sinner helps Him. No sinner. He's the sinless, spotless sacrifice,
the perfect Lamb of God. He had by Himself purged our
sins. Oh, what precious words for sinners.
Purged our sins. Sat down on the right hand of
the Majesty on High, a King enthroned upon His throne. And the Father
calls Him God. But unto the Son, he saith, thy
throne, O God, is forever. And the scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. That's in verse 8 of the same
chapter. But unto the Son, he saith, thy
throne, O God, is forever. A scepter of righteousness is
a scepter of thy kingdom. So our great high priest is both
God and man. He is fully God and he is fully
man. Fully man. I was talking to Norm
about that this week and Norm said, yeah, he's not mostly man
and mostly God. No, he's the God-man. Fully God
and fully man. Let's go back to our text in
Hebrews chapter 5. It says, 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. So everyone who was a high priest
under the law of God was a man. And he was taken out from among
them. Exodus says this, And take thou unto the Aaron thy brethren,
and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that
he may minister unto me in the priest's office. So the priest
was taken, the high priest was taken from among men, from among
the Levites, and he was taken from among them. And the high
priest continually offered sacrifices to God as offerings He continually
offered sacrifices, but these sacrifices could never take away
sin. Never. But Christ offered Himself
once and took away the sins of His people. The Old Testament
priesthood, and particularly the high priest, clearly prefigured
a priestly Messiah. In Psalm, turn if you would to
Psalm 110. Psalm 110. Now we often quote verse 3. We're going to look at verse
4 here, and I want us to keep this verse in mind. And put your
finger in Zechariah too, if you could. Zechariah chapter 6, and
Psalm 110, verse 4. So the Old Testament priesthood,
and particularly the high priest prefigured a priestly Messiah. Look at Psalm 110, verse 4. The
Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. And then in Zechariah chapter
6, the one who is called the branch is also a priest. Zechariah chapter
6, verses 12 and 13. And speak unto him, saying, Thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is
the branch, not a branch, the branch, I am the vine, you are
the branches, the branch, he shall grow up out of his place,
for he shall build the temple of the Lord. God's people are
a temple of the Lord. Even he shall build the temple
of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and
rule upon the throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne."
He's a king and he's a priest. And the counsel of peace shall
be between them both. So we are clearly told that the
coming Messiah will be a priestly Messiah. A priestly Messiah. Turn again back to Hebrews. Hebrews,
and let's look at verse 1 of chapter 3, and then verse 14
of chapter 4, and then we'll go back to chapter 5. So we are told to consider Him,
or think upon Him, whom we confess as our Lord and our Savior, and
He is our High Priest of our profession. Look at Hebrews 3.1.
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider
the Apostle and High Priest of our profession. Christ Jesus,
we're to consider Him. We're to think upon Him. We're
to think upon our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
we are told that we have a great High Priest in Hebrews 4, verse
14. Seeing then that we have a great
High Priest, that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. Here Christ is called the believer's
great high priest. He's the priest. He's the high
priest of his people. And he was ordained by God. He
was ordained by God. Look at Hebrews 5, verses 5 and
6. So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou
art my son, today have I begotten thee. Verse 6. And as he said
also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. Now remember our text over in
Psalm 110. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Oh, here we are. We see that which was prophesied
in the Old Testament. There he is. The great high priest
of believers. God has made Christ. God has
made Christ this high priest. We see that in Hebrews 6.20. Hebrews 6.20. Whither the forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus, made in high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Made in high priest forever.
Ordained by God. Ordained by God. Now, let us
remember this. In many ways, Aaron and the other
high priests were types of Christ, our great high priest. They were
men of the flesh, right? Who understood and pitied their
fellow creatures. Jesus Christ was fully man. He
was fully man. God incarnate in the flesh. Fully
man. They were chosen of God to be
high priests. Our Lord was chosen. Chosen of
God, ordained by God, made a high priest by God. They were intercessors
between God and men. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
great intercessor for His people. And they offered blood sacrifices
for sins. But in many ways, the priesthood
of Christ cannot be typified by these men. Because, number
one, the priests in the Old Testament were many, right? Many. He was one. There's only one
high priest for God's people. Only one. And that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. No one else. No one else. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Only the
Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator for his people. between God and
man. And this destroys the false priesthood
of Catholicism, the false priesthood of Mormonism. It destroys all
that. Absolutely destroys it. There's
only one mediator. Only one. The Lord Jesus Christ. And Him alone. No one else. No one else. Turn, if you would,
over to Hebrews chapter 7. Now, the high priest in the Old
Testament Their priesthood was temporary, right? When they died,
they were no longer high priests. Oh, beloved. Oh, beloved of God. Our high
priest, his priesthood is eternal. It's eternal. Look at Hebrews
7, verses 1-3. 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, who
is king of peace, without father, without mother, without descent,
neither beginning of days nor end of days, but made like unto
the Son of God." And that's our high priest right there, the
Son of God. The Lord Jesus Christ abideth a priest continually. These men in the Old Testament,
their priesthood was temporary. But our Lord, our King, our great
High Priest is a High Priest for eternity. His priesthood
is eternal. The priesthood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, like Melchizedek's, is eternal and continual. He was
before Aaron, and he lives eternally. Aaron's priesthood was temporary,
but Christ is eternal. Eternal. Turn, if you would,
to Hebrews chapter 10. The priests of the Old Testament
offered many sacrifices. Many sacrifices. Sacrifice after
sacrifice after sacrifice. Continuously. sometimes in certain
times they would offer. But oh, our Lord Jesus Christ, He's the one sacrifice. The one
sacrifice. Look at Hebrews 10, verse 12.
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins. Just
one, beloved. Just one. Behold the Lamb of
God. Behold the Lamb of God. Just
one. Just one sacrifice. Look at this. But after this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever. It never had to be repeated.
Never. Why? Because God satisfied. Oh
my. sat down on the right hand of
God. The work's finished. The work that the Father sent
Him to do, it's finished. And by His one sacrifice for
the sins of His people, their sins were removed. Removed from God's sight forever. Forever. Oh, our Lord Jesus Christ has
risen from the dead and He is now seated at the right hand
of the Majesty on high as our blessed surety, the blessed surety
of His chosen people. And He will remain on His sovereign
throne, His sovereign throne of power until all His enemies,
all the enemies of His people, all the enemies of His church
are subdued. Oh, my. And the last enemy that
he will destroy is death. He was the only sacrifice. Point four, the priests of the
Old Testament offered the blood of others. They offered the blood
of others, right? All those sacrifices. The blood
flowed. The blood of others. Turn, if
you would, to Hebrews 9, verse 12. But our high priest, our
great high priest, he gave his own blood. The Lamb of God. The Lamb of God. Hebrews 9, verse
12. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, and that's what they offered in the Old Testament,
but by his own blood. The blood of God. The blood of God. By His own
blood. Remember, He's the one sacrifice
and He offers His blood. But by His own blood, He entered
in once, just once, into the holy place. Look at this, beloved.
Having obtained eternal redemption for us. For us. Oh, my. My, oh, my. When the appointed time came,
our Lord and Savior, who was not only our priest, but He was
our sacrifice, offered Himself up, the perfect, spotless Lamb
of God, for the sins of His people. The Lord Jesus Christ, our great
High Priest, of good things to come, such as peace, righteousness,
reconciliation, grace and mercy, came in a body prepared for Him
by the Father, And He tabernacles among men, and in Him men meet
God, and in Him God deals with men. He is our representative,
our righteousness, and our redemption. To wit that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. The Lord Jesus Christ died in
the place of his people as their substitute under the penalty
of our sins. My sins. And if you're a believer,
your sins. He's perfect. He's spotless. Behold our great high priest.
Behold the Lamb of God who entered into the presence of God and
made a once-for-all atonement for the sins of His people. It
is finished. It's finished, beloved. My, what
a great God. What a great High Priest. And
through this one offering of Himself, He perfected all believers
and obtained eternal redemption, which brings us to our next point.
Turn, if you would, to Hebrews 10, verse 14. The priests of
the Old Testament offered sacrifices which could never put away sin. Could never. They had to continuously
offer them. But our great High Priest, He
offered Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of His people. He
took away. He took away our sin. He put away our sin. Look at
Hebrews 10, verse 14. For by one offering He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Now, we are sinners, aren't we?
We're still sinners. We're saved sinners. But we who believe are
clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ. And remember, Jesus
Christ came to do the Father's will. He came to do the Father's
will. It was the will of God the Father
that the Lord Jesus Christ would sanctify a people by the sacrifice
of Himself. This was the will of God. This
was the will of God. And it was the will of God that
those who were sanctified by His offering, by Him offering
Himself, by the shedding of His precious blood, that He would
also perfect them forever, those who are sanctified. And perfect
means perfect. We're sinners in this body, we
sin, but the believer is clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
And when God the Father looks upon a believer, he sees Christ. He sees Christ. Oh my. We who are imperfect are made
perfect by the perfect righteousness of Christ. And he did this by
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. He has completely cleansed,
perfected, and made holy all who were given Him by the Father.
To be sanctified is to be set apart by the Father. That's what
it means. To be set apart. God's people
are set apart. Set apart. Washed in the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Enclosed in His perfect, spotless
righteousness. Undeserving sinners. And this was not accomplished
by man's will, but this was accomplished by God's will. By God's will. Oh, what a great high priest
we have. What a great high priest we have.
The sixth point is the turn, if you would, to John chapter
17. We'll leave the book of Hebrews temporarily here. This will be our last point.
The priests of the Old Testament work was never finished. Never
finished, right? They had to repeat them. But
our Lord God cried out on the cross, it is finished. It's finished. Look what he says in John 17,
in this high priestly prayer, before he goes to die on the
cross, he says, I have glorified thee on the earth, verse 4, I
have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. He glorified God in all things. All things. In His thoughts,
in His words, in His deeds. He glorified God all the time. All the time. He's perfect, spotless,
sinless. The Lamb of God. He obeyed God
perfectly. Why did He do that? For we who
believe. Because we can't obey God perfectly,
can we? Not at all. So he lives a substitutionary
life. Oh, and that perfect righteousness,
that perfect life is counted to the believer. He lived in absolute submission
to God's perfect will. Absolute submission. I have glorified
thee on the earth. He glorified God in everything
that He said. Everything. And only the Lord
Jesus Christ could say that. I can't say that. I'm a sinner. Oh my. I know you feel the same
way. But Christ, God incarnated in
the flesh. God incarnated in the flesh.
He said, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and
to finish His work. John 4.34. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
10 and put your finger on 1 Peter 1. Hebrews 10 and 1 Peter 1. So the high priest of the Old
Testament, their work was never finished. But our Lord God, our
great high priest, his work is complete and his work is finished. Nothing needs to be added to
it. Nothing. It's perfect. It's perfect. Absolutely perfect. Hebrews chapter
10, verse 7, Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book
it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Christ came to do
the will of God. What was the will of God? That
Christ might save His people from their sins. And He did. He did it. He glorified God in
all that He did. He finished the work that was
given to Him to do. His was to fulfill all righteousness. He did it. His was to defeat
and destroy all enemies. He did it. His was to conquer
sin, to pay the price that our sins demanded in our place. He did it. He did it. He did
it. His was to destroy the power
that Satan has. He did. And to redeem his people and
to save his people from their sins. He did it. He did it. For by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners. There's our fall. In Adam we
all fell. So by the obedience of one. One. The great high priest to the
believer. The Lord Jesus Christ. So by the obedience of one. Remember? He glorified God. He lived that
perfect life. And think of this. He was perfect
in thought, in word, in deed. When he pillowed his head at
night, he didn't dream. He was perfect. He dreamt, but
he didn't dream like we do. He was perfect. He was perfect.
Absolutely perfect. Everything we do is tainted with
sin. Our thoughts, our words, our deeds, our dreams, everything.
Everything. He's perfect. He's spotless.
For by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. We fell
in out of. So by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous.
made righteous. We can't make ourselves righteous,
but God makes us righteous. In Christ, He does. Because we're
clothed in His perfect righteousness. Oh, what a great high priest
we have. Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter 1. God's people are
a purchased people. They are a redeemed people. And
it's only in and through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ
that we are purchased and that we are redeemed only through
Him. 1 Peter 1, 18-21, For as much
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver
and gold, from your vain conversations received by traditions from your
fathers. So you can't buy this salvation
and you can't work this salvation by tradition, by works. You can't
buy it, and you can't work it. It's more precious than all the
silver and gold in the world. Look at verse 19. But with the
precious blood of Christ, the great high priest shed his blood. He was both the sacrifice and
the high priest. It is of a lamb without blemish.
Perfect. sinless, spotless, and without
spot. And look at this, who barely
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times. If you're a believer, for you, for you, who by Him Do you believe
in God that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him glory that
your faith and hope might be in God? Our faith and hope is
in Christ and Him alone. And only He could say, only our
great High Priest, only God incarnate in the flesh could say, I have
finished the work. Because it was so near and certain
that He would finish it. He was going to go to the cross.
He knew. He knew exactly what he was doing. John 19.30 says this, when Jesus,
therefore, had received the vinegar. Now remember, in the Old Testament,
right? They had to continuously offer
those sacrifices. Continuously. Every year. Never take away sin. Never. When
Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished. and he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. Oh, the redemption of his people. Christ, our high priest, offered
himself up once to God, just once, just once, for the sins
of all the elect, and think of this, for the sins of all the
elect, of all the ages. I mean, that's from Abel all the way
to the end. And there's not going to be one
left out. Not one. He paid all that God demanded
for His people. All the elect of all the ages.
God is satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ. So let us never attempt
to go to God except through Christ. Except through Him. Not through
any preacher. Not through any priest. Right? Only Christ. Only Christ and
Him alone. We must go to God through Christ. He is the only mediator between
God and man. He's the great high priest of
His people. He's the great high priest of
His people. We have no other. No other. Let's go, Lord, in
prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank
You for this time together. We pray You be glorified in the
preaching of Your Word. Be with us for the Sunday morning
service. I pray the Holy Spirit give me
freedom and liberty to proclaim the Gospel, Your precious Gospel,
Lord, and oh, that You might use it for Your glory and honor
and praise. In Jesus' name, Amen.