Turn back to that third chapter
of the book of Hebrews again this morning. Hebrews 3. And I want to read
again that first verse. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High
Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus." My message this morning I've
entitled, Consider Our Priest. What does it mean to consider
something? Well, according to this actual
word here that's used, it means to observe fully. It means to fix your mind on. And so one thing that the Apostle
says here is for us to consider our High Priest. And that means that we are to
compare Him, and we are also to contrast Him to every other
priest. So when I say, consider our priests,
I say to every person, especially those who do not believe, those
who have some other priest, I say, consider or compare our priest. And then I say also to believers,
I say to everyone who trusts Christ, we are again and again
to consider our priest. He is, as it says here, Christ
Jesus. Now, in the Bible, we have a
number of priests spoken of. As a matter of fact, we have
false priests spoken of, priests that God condemns and warns us
of. He describes them. He says in 2 Chronicles, then
all the people went to the house of Baal, and break it down, and
break his altars, and his images in pieces, and slew Matan the
priest of Baal before the altars." God commanded them to destroy
these priests of Baal, these false priests. And then God says
this of a people in Ezekiel. He says, there is a conspiracy
of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion
ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They have taken the treasure
and precious things. They have made her many widows
in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated My
law, and have profaned Mine holy things. They have put no difference
between the clean and the unclean, and have hid their eyes from
My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them." He warns about these
false priests and such as there are even in our day, not ordained
of God, abusive in every way as the news bears out, and even
so many preachers who essentially make themselves to be such preachers. And then not only them, but he
tells us this also. He tells us that all true believers
are said to be priests. He tells us in Revelation 5 that
God has made us unto our God kings and priests, or a kingdom
of priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And he tells us
also that as such, in this very book we are looking at, in Hebrews
13, he says, by him, that is by Christ, therefore let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually That is the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to His name. All the Lord's believing
people, they are a kingdom of priests, and rather than offering
these Old Testament type sacrifices, we offer to Him the sacrifice
of our lips of praise and thanksgiving to God. And then we find also
in the book of God that there was a Levitical priesthood in
the Old Testament that was established by God through Moses and the
law for a nation called Israel. Let me read you a verse in the
book of Exodus. This is God commanding Moses,
and saying, Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons
with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister
unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu,
Eleazar and Ithamar Aaron's son. God ordained and established
this earthly priesthood, and under that law which He gave,
the one high priest would enter into the holy place once a year,
representing these people with a God-appointed sacrifice. And that's what a priest does. He represents men before God. And when you read this book of
Hebrews, we are reminded here that under that Old Testament
economy, there were many priests And there were many sacrifices
under the law. But we also find out that that
priesthood, even though it was at that time ordained and established
of God, that priesthood ended when Christ came. And there was a very good reason
for it. And that was because all of these
priests, as well as all of their service and all their sacrifice,
they were simply just types and pictures of the priests. of the sacrifice of God, of the
One who alone can represent us before God. And if God opens
our eyes, if He gives us understanding, if He gives to us faith to believe
His words, we can see that these various priests that we are reminded
of here in the book of Hebrews, these Old Testament priests,
if He enables us to see, and especially the high priests,
we see that Christ is not only the priest of His people, but
also how He is the priest of His people. Now, how is the priest
of God called to this office? It is never by anything that
is ordained or established or provided by man. It is always, it was always by
the appointment of God Himself. There is no organization on this
earth that can appoint a priest of God, and there is no man who
can of his own will and volition take that office to himself. Look over just a little bit to
Hebrews chapter 5, and as it is always the case,
I don't want you to just believe me, I want you to believe God
and see what He has to say about it. In Hebrews 5, He says, for
every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men
in things pertaining to God. So that throws out and rules
out just about every priesthood that you find on this earth at
this hour. It's never about God. It's always about man. The priest is taken from among
men that he might deal with those matters concerning men before
God, things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifices for sins. He says, 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. What does that
mean? That means that in order to be
a priest for men, he has to be a priest from among men. It means that if he is to be
a priest for those of us who are flesh and bone, those of
us who have this human nature, he has to likewise be a priest
from among men, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, in our very
human nature, sin excluded. He is a man who represents men
before God. All right? Verse 3, And by reason
hereof, He ought as for the people, so also for himself to offer
for sins." In other words, those earthly priests, because they
themselves were sinners, had to offer up for themselves as
well as for the people these sacrifices for sins. But this is where the Lord Jesus
is distinguished. He says, And no man taketh this
honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. In other words, Aaron did not
decide, even though he was the priest of God. God told Moses
exactly who to choose and appoint. But Aaron did not decide one
day that he'd simply become the priest of God and represent somebody
else, not even himself before God. God appointed him. God called him. And then he says
this, so also, Christ glorified not himself to be made an high
priest, but he that said unto him," who is that? The Father. How do you know that? By what he said. "...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 for ever after
the order of Melchizedek." In other words, the father said
of his only begotten son, you are a priest And you are not
only the priest or my priest to represent my people, you are
my priest forever. And yours is not a priesthood
after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek,
who had neither beginning of days nor end of days. nor earthly father or mother
who stands alone as the one who is none less, I believe, than
the pre-incarnate Christ himself. He had to be appointed of God. And all these many priests, they
were figures, but they were just simply figures and types of God's
priests But when he came, sent of God, no other figures were
needed, and there certainly are now no other priests to represent
us before God." That's what Paul said. When he writes to Timothy
in I Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5, he says it in this way. For there is one God, and there is one Mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Now, if there wasn't any other
verse but that one verse in the Bible, we would have to know
that there is just one priest, there's just one mediator, there's
just one go-between, there's just one daisman, there's just
one Savior, there's just one Redeemer, there is just one alone
who can ever represent us before God and satisfy God on our behalf,
and that's the man, Christ Jesus. But there is also another thing,
and I just briefly alluded to it a minute ago, there is also
another thing that distinguished the priest. He had to be without
defect. He had to be complete in every
sense. Turn back over to the book of
Leviticus. You see, if it were not for the
book of Hebrews, then in a great sense, we would not know about
all these priests in the Old Testament. And yet, at the same
time, if it were not for these Old Testament Scriptures, the
book of Hebrews wouldn't mean anything to us. Leviticus chapter 21. Now listen in verse 16 as the
Lord speaks to Moses. Leviticus 21 and verse 16, And
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever
he be of thy seed in their generations that have any blemish Let him
not approach to offer the bread of his God, whoever he is. If he's one of
your sons, Aaron, and falls into this order of this priesthood,
if he's born a cripple, if he's born blind, if he's born with
some kind of birth defect, He is not eligible to be my priest. Why? Because God requires perfection. And because those who would come
along, even ordained of God as types and pictures, they were
to picture and they were to establish in the minds of the people just
that one fact. God requires perfection. For whatsoever man he be that
hath a blemish, he shall not approach. A blind man or a lame
man or he that hath a flat nose, or anything superfluous, or a
man that is broken-footed, or broken-handed, or crook-backed,
or a dwarf, or he that hath a blemish in his eyes, or be scurvy, or
scabbed, or he that hath his stones broken, No man that hath
a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to
offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire. He hath a blemish,
and he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God."
That's about as plain as you get. Why? To show that no priest No man
can stand before God in reality, in truth, who is not absolutely
perfect in every way, because God is holy. Holy. You know, if we had just
one glimpse in our day of the very holiness of God. It would shut the mouths of this
generation. It would just literally silence
our generation. Here is God who is so infinitely
holy and so totally unapproachable as we are in ourselves, so that
when he said of this Ark of the Covenant that he would dwell,
that his presence would be manifested over the mercy seat on the Ark
of the Covenant, when that Ark of the Covenant was being carried
on a cart by oxen who stumbled, and that ark of the covenant
shook as if it were to fall. When the man reached out his
hand just to touch it and steady it, God smote him and he died. Why? Because you cannot approach
him. No sinner. I don't care how well-meaning. I don't care how sincere. I don't
care how much better they are compared to other sinners. No sinner can approach God in
any way. It required a priest such as
Christ who the Bible says was without sin. Who knew no sin? In whom even his persecutors
and those who sat in judgment over him would have to say of
this one, our priest, we find no fault in him. So the Apostle says in Hebrews
7, and I love this verse. You might
as well go ahead and turn back to Hebrews and look at Hebrews
7 and verse 26. You see, this whole book of Hebrews
is full of these things about our priests. Hebrews 7, And verse
26, the Apostle says, For such an high priest became us. What does that mean? Suited us. Fitted us to a T. And not only
that, but suited God and fitted Him to a T. Who is holy. Harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. That's the only one that will
suit us. That's the only one that will fit us. That's the
only one God will accept on our behalf. And here He is, this
holy, sinless, gloriously perfect, one of a kind man walking on
this earth, and he is here for what reason? To be the priest
of his people. He is not going to walk into
some little phone booth style thing with you sitting on the
other side and recite a little mumbo-jumbo and go through a
little hocus-pocus and say, well, you just leave and everything's
going to be all right. That won't put away your sin
or mine. You know, the Pharisees with
all their ignorance and arrogance and stupidity, they knew better
than that. They said, only God can forgive
sin. You see, this one doesn't wear
an ornate robe for men to look at and to make him a standout
different kind of person. He is robed in the eternal perfect
righteousness of God. He's our priest. I know how flesh is sometimes.
You know, you can't, we're impressed with the outward thing. I mean,
we're impressed with all the red and the gold, and we're impressed
with all the ritual and ceremony and things like that. We're just
naturally impressed with those things. God is not. There's not enough clothes and
crowns and gold to wrap a sinner in to make him acceptable before
God. I don't care who he is. Only
Christ. He said, consider our high priest. Look back over in Hebrews chapter
5 again because he tells us He tells us, we just read there
in Hebrews 5 and verse 1, he says, for every high priest taken
from among men is not only this way, but he is for men, and he
is for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both
gifts and sacrifices for sins. Now, in case we didn't get a
good understanding of what a priest does, what a real priest does. Look over in Hebrews 8 and verse
3. He says, For every high priest
is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices Wherefore, it is a
necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer." Now,
here's our priest. He's perfect. He's God appointed. He's the one every other priest
in the Old Testament under the law of Moses pictured and typified. Has he got anything to offer? Has he got anything to offer
God on our behalf? Says he offers himself. That's one thing that sets our
priest apart. He's not only the one ordained
and appointed of God, ordained of God. He's not only the sinless,
perfect, holy one. He's the only one able to offer
the one thing that God will accept, which is Himself. That's what He said. He said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. In verse 27 of the book of Hebrews,
in verse 27, he says that in order to perform this work on
the behalf of men before God, the priest is taken from among
men. And Christ, the Word that was
God, was made flesh and dwelt among us, and as that priest
Hebrews 7 and verse 27, who needeth not daily. You see, in the book of Hebrews,
the apostle is not only comparing the priesthood of Christ to those
Old Testament priests, he's also showing how that his priesthood
is different and how it is far superior. All right? Hebrews 7, 27. "...who needeth
not daily as those priests to offer up sacrifice, first for
his own sins, and then for the people's. For this he did once
when he offered up himself." You ever stop for a minute and
think about over the period of the Old Testament history, how
many different priests there were. But think about even this more
so, how many different sacrifices were offered. day in, day out,
goats, lambs, birds, everything under the law that was called
clean, offered up day after day by the multiplied thousands to
God. But it says in these sacrifices,
There is no remission of sins. As a matter of fact, in these
sacrifices was only the remembrance of sins. The remembrance of the
only way sin could be put away. The remembrance of the promised
one of God who would come to be both the priest and the sacrifice. He did this once when He offered up Himself. That's what's happening on that
cross. Our priest, in a much more glorious way than any priest
on earth had ever done anything, even those ordained of God, our
priest was coming before God. one time to offer up Himself. Listen to Hebrews 9, verse 12, "...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 for
us." He didn't go into a tent in the
wilderness somewhere. He didn't go into a man-made
temple. It says He entered into heaven itself. And there He made manifest that
eternal redemption. His redemption won't just get you out of Egypt
and the slavery of Pharaoh. But His redemption gets you out
of that connection with Adam. Gets you out of the fall. Gets
you out of the curse of the law. Gets you out of the bondage of
sin. Gets you out of the captivity
of Satan. His redemption takes you out. Never to be in need of redemption
again. Why? Because He sacrificed Himself. his perfect, holy, sinful self. Had he been like other priests?
Had his sacrifice been like other sacrifices? He says, for then
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world,
but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. You just go read those
latter verses of Hebrews 9. He says, So Christ was once offered
to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. He's there redeeming. He's there satisfying God. He's there putting away sin. He's there making an end of sin,
the sins of His people by the sacrifice of Himself. He's there
doing once what they all pictured many times,
because He actually accomplished it. He's already gone in. He's already
offered Himself. He's already satisfied the justice
of God. He's already honored God in all
His holy attributes. He's already gone in and obtained
and made manifest that eternal redemption. What a priest He is! Peter says, For Christ also hath
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God. And Christ was hanging on that
cross to him. The Bible says that the veil
in the temple That separating veil that was in the tabernacle,
that was in the temple that shut men out of the very presence
of God, the priest only went in there once a year by himself. It said when Christ hung on that
cross and cried out, it is finished. The veil, that separating veil
was torn in two from top to bottom. showing that by this new and
living way, all who come before God in Christ, they don't stand
outside the veil, but they enter in by His blood. That's what kind of priest he
is. God tore that curse. He ripped it in two. He opened
up the way. We don't run to an earthly man. We don't run to somebody with
his collar turned around. We don't run to some preacher
down an aisle somewhere. We don't run and kiss somebody's
ring or their feet or anything like that. We go directly to
God in our one great high priest. You need something? What if there is no earthly priest
around? It doesn't matter. We have a great
high priest. We have access by his blood to
God. An old writer said, the high
priest offered often. The victims died, the altars
blazed, The incense burned from year to year, from day to day. Jesus presents one victim once,
his death once died, his life once given, his blood once shed,
fully and forever washed out his people's sins, redeemed his
people's lives, and saved his people's souls. His one surrender
of Himself as the atoning Lamb forever quenched all wrath, forever
took away all curse, forever satisfied all claims, forever
saved the family of faith, forever opened heaven, forever vanquished
hell. To add to infinite perfection. is impossible, and woe to them
who think such an offering to be incomplete. Turn to Hebrews 10, and look
down at verse 11. standeth daily ministering and
offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take
away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand
of God. Always remember that in the tabernacle
in the temple, there was no chair, no place to sit down. Why? Because the priest work was never
finished. Had to go back next year. But when Christ our priest entered
in, into the Holy of Holies in God's presence. He sat down. He sat down. Suppose the priest,
that earthly priest, had gone into the Holy of Holies, and
here is the Ark of the Covenant, which is literally a throne. It's like a box with a seat on
top of it and a golden cherub on each side pointing, just like
a throne. Suppose he'd gone in there and
started to sit down on that box. His bottom would have never made
it to that box. And he would have been consumed
by the holy fire of God. But in the picture, our priest
literally went in, sprinkled his own blood, and sat down on
that throne and lived. Why? Because there was no wrath
now to consume him. He had consumed all the wrath. from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected." Say, you don't look so perfect
to me. Well, I do to God. If Christ is my praise. Because
by His one offering, He has perfected His people forever. forever. You see, He accomplishes this
work not only for His people, but He accomplishes it also for
God. It satisfies and meets the needs
of His people. It satisfies and meets the needs
of God. It saves His people from their
sins. by His one offering, by His priestly
work, by His sacrifice, He perfected us. You see, religion always wants to set up a system
by which you keep coming back to them to get something by giving
them something. He, by His one offering as our
priest, perfected us, made us to stand perfect, made us to
be the very righteousness of God in Him, because He bore all
our sins in His own body. He is the one sacrifice for sin. And so Paul says, if he's the
writer of Hebrews in chapter 9 and verse 14, how much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God. You see, our consciences, they're always trying to offer
up to God some work of ours, some feeling of ours, some decision
of ours, some doing of ours, some doing that men say we're
to do. But He calls those dead works.
They bring forth fruit unto death. That's all they do. But he says the blood of Christ
washes or purges our conscience from all our works and puts one
work there. And that's the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul said we preach Christ and
Him crucify. Why? Because He's the priest
of God. And he's the one sacrifice for
sins. He said, I had the power to lay
down my life. I have the power to take it up
again. I've told you this a lot, and I hope you'll never forget
it. When that priest went into that
tabernacle, He was dressed right, supposedly,
had the right sacrifice, blood, had the right hiss of everything.
He went in there and he sprinkled that blood on the mercy seat. You don't even really want to
think about that, do you really? I mean, here's a beautiful gold
piece and it's spattered with blood. It means death. The life is in
the blood. How did they know if God accepted
that work on their behalf? Here's a waiting people outside
that tabernacle right in the midst of the camp of Israel.
How did they know whether or not God accepted that sacrifice? When that priest came out, If he came out of that place
alive, God had accepted the work. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
rose from the dead, when He who died this death for sin, when
He rose from the dead, that was the evidence. Just like that
priest coming out of the tavern, that was the evidence God accepted
his sacrifice. That's why we delight in the
resurrection, not one time a year on the so-called holiday. We
delight in it every day. He rose from the dead because
of our justification. That's what Paul says. He rose from the dead. And when he came out of that Holy of Holies came out standing
there in that robe with all that ornate golden breastplate. The priest wore that golden breastplate,
big tablet of gold that had 12 stones on it, shining precious
stones signifying God's Israel, all His people. That's who the
priest was representing. came out, he had those golden
plates on his shoulders in which was inscribed all the names of
the tribes of Israel. That's just showing that Christ,
as our priest, He represents the whole of God's elect people. When He came out, that meant
that God had accepted the sacrifice. But what did He do then? I'll read it to you from Numbers
6. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and
unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children
of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep
thee. The Lord make his face shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel, and I will bless them. So what now? Christ speaks blessing to us. That's what the gospel is all
about. The gospel is not somebody telling
you how to be saved. The gospel is not somebody telling
you what to do. The gospel is the announcement
of blessing that our great high priest has stood in our place. and offered Himself a sacrifice
for our sins, and God's accepted it. And we now, because He was
made sin for us, we're now made the righteousness of God. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ. The Bible says that that old manslayer that we read about
in the Old Testament, he's the one who killed somebody.
And now maybe some of his family members or some of his close
friends or something that the Bible calls the avenger of blood. He's now in pursuit of him. And this old man Slayer, he's
running for his life. And there were some cities in
Israel called the cities of refuge. And under the law, if the man
Slayer could make it to that city, he was safe in that city. The
avenger couldn't touch him. How long was he safe there? It said under the law that he
was safe there as long as the high priest lived. And those who have fled to Christ
for refuge, those who have looked to him alone as their They're safe as long as he lives. And that which is said about
our priest is that he is a priest forever. That he ever lives to
make intercession for us. Our priest is never going to
be found a child abuser. He's never going to die. He's
never going to steal money from somebody. He's never going to
be in such a situation that he can't help us. He ever lives to make intercession for us based
on his own person and shed blood. Consider. Our Father, today we give You
thanks and we praise You and we give You glory that You said of Your Son, Your
only begotten Son, that as one in human flesh, He is the priest of your people
forever, that He hath perfected every one for whom He died, every one set apart in that everlasting
covenant of grace, every one set apart and made one with Him
in His death, and every one set apart by your Spirit when you
reveal to them this finished work, this glorious person in
the gospel by your Spirit. Give us that grace and faith
and understanding that we might truly consider your priest and know him to be by your grace
our priest. We thank you for that salvation
that's in him and for his glory. And we pray in his name. Amen.