I'll turn to Hebrews chapter
5. Hebrews chapter 5. We've been looking at, in the
last couple of chapters, the dangers of unbelief and of presumption
and of drifting away like those Israelites in the wilderness
did. And through unbelief, they couldn't
enter into the rest which was a picture of the true rest of
eternity for the people of God. And we saw last week that there
were encouragements because we were given these reasons to labor,
to enter that rest, to work, to enter that rest, to strive
diligently to enter that rest. For these reasons, there's the
word of God, which is sharp and piercing and true and undeniable. but then we have a priest, a
high priest, and then thirdly we have access to the throne
of grace. Now I want to look a bit more
about this thing of the priesthood this week, and that's in a way,
by way of introduction, to an awful lot more, because the heart
of this epistle is about priesthood. It's about priesthood. You know,
in all sorts of relations in the world, international relations,
the key thing that you need is mediation, isn't it? It's somebody
to stand between opposing parties. One side's got one view which
is diametrically opposed to the views of the other side. How
are you going to reconcile them and avoid war? You need a mediator
to reconcile, to find a way between. in industrial relations. You
need a mediator to stand between what are often utterly inflexible
opposing positions. In family disputes you often
need a mediator to stand between, one who sees things one way and
one who sees things exactly a different way. How is it with God? You see, you and I are sinners.
How are we going to be reconciled with God? Because we're enemies
of God by nature in the flesh. We're so different from God. You know, there's that old saying
that your thoughts of God are altogether too human. God is
not human. God is not like, yes, our God,
our Lord Jesus Christ is a man in glory. But don't think for
one moment that God is human. God is infinite. God is holy. We are sinful. Do we really know
what that means? I don't think I do. I don't know
the depths of that. God is holy and we are sinful. He is majestic. He dwells in
unapproachable light. The angels, those pure, sinless
beings, hide their faces from him and cry, Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord. And we are vile. We are vile. In this flesh there dwells no
good thing. He is just and righteous altogether. We are unrighteous by nature. We must have a mediator. we must
have one who will mediate for us, we must have an intercessor,
a go-between, we must have, here's another word for it, a priest
but this is the thing you don't just want any priest, you see,
you look around the religious world today and you will see
priests, priests, priests, loads of priests. Priests all over
the place. Priests trying to dress up like
we read in Exodus 28, Moses instructed Aaron and his sons to dress up,
if I can use that term. The robes and the adornments
that they were to put on. And you see, even in our day,
not far from where we're meeting here, you will go and you will
see men and women adorned in great gorgeous embroidered robes
in the name of religion, because they're trying to reenact that
whole thing. There's lots of people think
that they're priests, but if you're going to have a priest
and you realize your need for a priest, you must have a priest
that works for you. You must have a priest that is
the best priest. You mustn't have one that is
just a delusion, you must have the one that is the right one.
You see, imitations and substitutes won't do. As for so many other
things in this world, fakes don't work. You know, fake goods, they
look like the real thing, they look like the real perfume, they
look like the real clothing, but when you get them and you
get them examined, they're not, and they fall apart, and they
don't work. So it is. You must have the priest that
works, the priest that does, the intercession, the mediation
between you as a sinner and God who is holy. There is a gap,
an infinite gap, a gap that was pictured in the Old Testament
in Jacob's time by that ladder between heaven and earth, and
that ladder was Christ, bridging the gap between heaven and earth.
There's a chasm, a chasm, an immense chasm isn't that what
in the parable of the beggar at Lazarus and the rich man,
divers, divers in Lazarus and it's said in that parable, Jesus'
parable there is a gap set between us, a chasm set between us that
can't be bridged, a huge gap between us so here's the question
this morning who will be a priest for you because be sure of this
All of us meeting here, you must have a priest. You can't get
to God without a priest. You must have a priest. You absolutely must have a priest. Who will be a priest for you?
What about the Pope in Rome? What about a bishop in the Catholic
Church or the Anglican Church or wherever it might be? What
about the one who wears all the correct robes, you know, with
all the embroidery on? What about meeting in the right
place, in temples, with stained glass windows, and ornaments,
and altars? And what a lot of people would
regard as proper church stuff. We're not a proper church, we're
just meeting in somebody's house. So we can't be a proper church.
You know, church is the body of Christ, it's the people. It's
not the building. It's not the building. But the
view is out and about, that there's things to do with proper churches,
which is priests and robes and altars and candles and stained
glass windows and architecture and all of these things. But
we don't go on what does tradition say? What do we ask? What does the scripture say?
What does the Bible tell us? What does God's word tell us?
So far we've seen that Christ is superior to the angels. We've
seen that he's superior to Moses, to Joshua even, to the Sabbath
day, which was so revered, but Christ is his people's Sabbath.
All of these things were revered by the Israelites, by the Jews,
but he is the reality. He is the reality and he is superior
to all of those things. And now he shows us in this chapter,
well he's already started it at the end of chapter four, he
shows us how Christ's priesthood is infinitely superior to that
of Aaron to that of the Levitical priesthood he's already hinted
at it, look back in chapter 2 and verse 17 For in all things it
behoved him, Christ, to be made like unto his brethren, that
he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. And
then in chapter 4, as we read earlier, verse 14, seeing then
we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus,
the son of God, let us hold fast our profession for we have not
a high priest which cannot be touched. I know it's double negatives,
but think about it. What he's saying is Christ, our
High Priest, can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He understands the feeling of our infirmities. He was tempted
in all points, just as we are, yet without sin. His priesthood
is infinitely superior to that of the Levitical priesthood,
of the Aaronic priesthood. Christ is the only priest for
his people. You need a priest, I need a priest,
there's only one, the Lord Jesus Christ. No other priests, none
whatsoever. Others were just types and pictures,
that's all they ever were, just types and pictures. Now I believe
that there are people who are sincere and honest in all sorts
of confused situations. But any child of God truly hearing
this message and seeing these things from the Word of God by
the Spirit's enlightening can quite honestly, I will tell you
this, can quite honestly have nothing to do with anything that
puts a human priest between themselves and God. Absolutely not. Get
out of it. Come out. This is what the scripture
says. Come out of them. So, there are only two orders
of priesthood. There only ever have been. Anything
which looks like a priesthood today is just sham. Anybody that
claims to be a priest, you know, they say, oh, he's a priest in
the Church of England. Sorry, imposter. According to the Word
of God, you say, oh, you're being so harsh. You're being so critical
of others. Do you have to be so critical?
What does the Word of God say? They're imposters, they're imposters. The truth of God is there is
one priest, only one. First Timothy chapter 2 verse
5, there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man,
Christ Jesus, only one. No other human priest, whether
it be man or woman or whatever, no other, don't care what they're
dressed in, don't care whose authority they've got, humanly
speaking, according to the word of God there are only two orders
of priests, and one of those orders is finished for all time,
and that's the Aaronic priesthood. We've got the picture and the
reality. That's what this is about this
morning, the picture and the reality. The picture of the one
true priesthood and the reality of the one true priesthood. Let's
look at the picture. That's what we've got in the
first few verses of chapter 5 of Hebrews. When God gave the law
by Moses, and he gave the law, we read in Galatians, the purpose
of it was to expose sin, to make it clear what sin was. There
had always been sin, since the fall of Adam there'd been sin,
but it was exposed and made explicit and shown for what it really
is, the sinfulness of sin that it might be shown, and it was
the law that shone that light onto it to say, look, this is
sin. When God gave the law by Moses,
and you know how strict it is, and how harsh it is, and how
absolutely unyielding it is, and how impossible it is in this
weak flesh to keep that law. The law was weak through the
flesh, because the flesh is weak and can't keep that law. When
God gave the law by Moses, I don't know if you've ever thought about
this, but do you know what so much of the books of Moses are
about? It's the giving of that system
that pictured reconciliation I'm using some long words, sorry,
think about it carefully. The system that pictured reconciliation
for transgression of the law that was given. The law was given,
but the flesh was weak and would never keep it. So along with
the thou shalt do this and thou shalt not do that, the precepts
of the law, that which is right and wrong in the eyes of a holy
God, he gave that whole system of reconciliation for transgression
of the law. What was the priesthood all about? What was the temple all about? The tabernacle, all of the ornaments
of the temple, the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat, the
animal sacrifices, the sprinkling of blood, all of those things,
the priests, everything was to picture reconciliation for transgression
of the law of God. If the people had kept the law,
there would have been no need for sacrifices for sin. There
would have been no sin. If people had kept the law, there
would have been no need for a priest to intercede, for the people
would have been holy and could have come straight into the holiest
of all by themselves, qualified. But of course, they weren't.
No. God gave the system that pictured reconciliation for transgression
of the law. He gave the law. He gave the
word of God by the prophets. He gave the Sabbath day to picture
the rest that is in Christ. He gave the tabernacle to picture
the holy of holies and the kingdom of God. He gave the altar, the
altar for sacrifice. He gave the sacrifices themselves.
He gave that holiest place and he gave the priests. And in Exodus
28 we read about the calling of the priests. We read that
account in those verses. We only read half of it. But
you know that there were 12 sons of Jacob. You know there was
Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, and then there were 12 sons of
Jacob, which are the 12 tribes of Israel. And one of them was
the tribe of Levi. And you know that because of
famine they went down into Egypt and all the story of Joseph and
about 400 years later Moses was raised up to bring them out of
the bondage that they'd fallen into in Egypt and bring them
into the promised land. And so this is about 400 years
after the sons of Jacob had first been born and grown up. But one
of them, Levi, was the tribe which alone would provide the
priests who would intercede for the people before God. And it
was to be from the family of Aaron, as we read in Exodus 28,
Moses' brother. The family of Aaron was to be
where the priests were to come. Moses was a Levite. His brother
Aaron, that was the family that the priests were to come from.
And nobody was to take this upon himself. Look at verse four of
chapter five. No man taketh this honor unto
himself. Oh, I'm of the tribe of Judah.
I'll just volunteer to be a priest. No, no, no, no, sorry, no. No
man takes this honor to himself, but he that is called of God,
as was Aaron. It was God's ordination that
it be that family, the Aaronic family, that would provide the
priests. And these Aaronic priests were
the picture of the one true effectual priest. Remember what's a priest?
A mediator between man, we, where we are, and God, who is holy
in heaven. I must be reconciled to God.
The consequences of not being so are dreadful. How can I face
death, not reconciled to God? How do I find reconciliation?
This is the question. It's Job's question. I must have
a priest who will intercede, who will make it right for me,
who will do all that's necessary to bridge that gap between me,
a sinner, and the holy God. There's only one who is able
to do that, and that's Christ. But all these ironic priests
pictured him. And Hebrews 5, 1 to 4 shows us
how. Look, let's read these verses.
For every priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things
pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices
for sins. 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 and
no man takes this honor to himself but he that is called of God
as was Aaron they were ordinary men they weren't angels you know
how the Hebrews revered angels but he's already shown us Christ
is superior to the angels No, they weren't angels, they were
men. They were ordinary men, taken from among men, and to
stand for men, to represent men before God. From men, for men. Of the people, to represent the
people before God. And they were to mediate between
God and man. These ordinary mortal men were
to mediate between God and man. It was an ordinary mortal man.
who had to go into the Holy of Holies, into the presence of
God, with the sacrifice, with the blood of an acceptable sacrifice. And they overruled, they ruled
the people in the name of God, it was a true theocracy. were
overseers of the people of God in God's name. And they represented
the people before God. We read all about Aaron's robes,
the priest's robes, and those stones with the engravings of
the names of the tribes. Do you see how particular it
is? The message of salvation in scripture is very, very particular. Very, very, very clear that The
priest bore the names of those he represented on him. The priest bore the names of
those he represented on those stones on his breastplate. It
so pictures what the Lord Jesus Christ does for his people, his
particular people that he has redeemed, representing the people
before God. When the high priest on the Day
of Atonement went into the Holy of Holies, with the blood of
an acceptable sacrifice. The names of the people, the
names of God's people were on him. So our Lord Jesus Christ
bears the names of those for whom he died on him when he goes
into that holy of holies. He bears the names of those for
whom he died. This is why the gospel is a gospel
of particular redemption. It's absolutely clear, in the
picture it's absolutely clear. And they offered gifts and sacrifices
for sins. Did you see in verse 3, he had
to offer sacrifices for himself first. Because he, why? He was
a sinner too. The priest was a sinner too.
He had to offer sacrifice for his own sins before he could
go and minister for the people. He himself was a sinner who needed
that. Offering gifts and sacrifices
for sins, ministering God's words. We know this because in the book
of, is it Nehemiah or Ezra, when they build a pulpit and they
set up and they get the book of the law, and it's the priests
that preach the word to the people. They explain, they give the sense
of the word. The priests were to minister
God's word. and blessings to the people.
These men were just like the people. They were taken from
men, from men, from among men, and to stand for men in things
pertaining to God, to offer sacrifices. They were sinful, but they were
compassionate. They were compassionate. They
had a heart of sympathy for the people. They understood the people's
frailty. and ignorance of the finer points
of the law. Which aspect of the law requires
which judgment and punishment on it? What sort of offering? Is it a whole heifer or is it
just a couple of turtle doves that are needed? You know, it's
very detailed. But the priest adjudicated in
all those matters regarding the people's ignorance of the true
requirements of the law, compassionate and understanding And not only
that, the same flesh as those that they represented. You know,
in our flesh, we're weak. You get these folks in religious
circles who wander around and they almost paint their own halo
around their head trying to pretend that they're so holy and so much
better than everybody else. You know, we in ourselves, who
can claim anything? We're just sinners. We're just
sinners. there is none righteous, no not
one in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing anybody
that tries to walk around floating a couple of feet above the ground
showing you how much holier he is than you are and how much
more he's earned sanctification to stand him in good stead before
the judgment seat of Christ he's just puffed up with his own self-righteousness
No, we're sinners. There is nothing in us. There's
only one place to go, and only one person to trust, and that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. No, he's empathetic. Same weak
flesh. But you know, in the same way,
our Lord Jesus Christ took on him. It behoved him. We read
over in chapter two, it behoved him to be made like his brethren.
He walked this earth. He was tempted in all points,
just as we are, yet without sin. He knows our frame, says Psalm
103 verse 14. He knows our frame. He knows
that we are dust. He's been there. He knows what
it's like. He knows what it's like to experience
thirst and hunger and sorrow as a man, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. These priests pictured the Lord
Jesus Christ, but these priests needed to offer sacrifices for
their own sins. Look over at chapter 9, Hebrews
chapter 9 and verses 6 and 7. Chapter 9 starts with a description
of the old tabernacle and we'll come to this in a lot more detail
in a few weeks time. Now when these things were thus
ordained, verse 6, the priests went always, these old Aaronic
priests, went always into the first tabernacle accomplishing
the service of God. But into the second went the
high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the errors of the people." See,
the priest had to offer for himself and not just for the errors of
the people. So he needed to sacrifice for
his own sins first. And he even needed to atone for
the iniquity of the holy things. Just turn back to Exodus chapter
28 again. Exodus chapter 28 and verse 37. Sorry, verse 36. This is still the same chapter
we read earlier. And thou shalt make a plate of
pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet,
holiness to the Lord. And thou shalt put it on a blue
lace, that it may be upon the mitre, upon the forefront of
the mitre, it shall be on the priest's hat. And it shall be
upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear, now look at this, may
bear the iniquity of the holy things. What? they're holy aren't
they? No, but he may bear the iniquity
of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow
in all their holy gifts and it shall be always upon his forehead
that they may be accepted before the Lord that's actually a picture
too of Christ Our Lord Jesus Christ sanctifies, makes holy,
all of his people's sin-stained service, because you know all
of our service is sin-stained service. And he bears the iniquity
of the holy things. He had to sanctify even the holy
things, the things of the priesthood, with this holiness to the Lord
upon him. But our Lord Jesus Christ Unlike
these priests, he has no sin of his own. Look at chapter 7
and verse 27, or verse 26. For such an high priest became
us, 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 sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then
for the people's. For this he did once, when he
offered up himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ, although
he was a man like us, yet he didn't have sin. And so he didn't
need to offer up sacrifices for his own sins first. And then
these men, as we've already seen, verse four, no man takes this
honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. This was a thing that you couldn't
just volunteer to do. It had to be the calling of God.
Called of God, not a volunteer. And there were very severe consequences
for usurping this office, for taking this office unto yourself
and not being called of God in the proper way. We saw a few
weeks ago when they brought the Ark, David brought the Ark, of
the covenant back from philistine captivity and they went about
it the wrong way and they didn't have the priests carrying it
and you remember how god struck down as a dead for presumption
the sons of korah you read in the books of moses the sons of
korah presumed to say who are these people who take on you
know who who are the priest can't we also be priests and god opened
up the earth and swallowed them up think about king saul the
first king of israel Who? was so strong in stature and
yet so far from the living God and he wouldn't go he wouldn't
abide by God's way of doing things he wouldn't wait for Samuel the
high priest to come and minister in the priest's office and he
took that upon himself and God took the kingdom from him think
about Uzziah that king who was a good king the majority of his
reign he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord but
in his latter years He was puffed up in himself, and took upon
him the office of the priest, even though he was warned not
to, and in that moment he was struck with leprosy, and he remained
a leper till he died. There are severe penalties for
taking this office to themselves. Only those who are qualified
by God can be this priest. Well, likewise, our Lord Jesus
Christ was called of God. Verse five, 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. Christ was called
of God. In John chapter 8 and verse 54,
Jesus answered, if I honour myself, my honour is nothing. It is my
father that honours me. His father appointed him a priest. But this Aaronic priesthood,
this Levitical priesthood, this dressing up in these robes of
which we read in Exodus 28, it ended at Calvary. That priesthood
is finished. That priesthood was just the
picture. And that picture is now finished. It's ended. Look at Daniel chapter
9. The book of Daniel chapter 9.
Do you want to know where it is? It's after Ezekiel. At the
end of Ezekiel you'll get into Daniel. I know Ezekiel's a long
one. But chapter 9 and verse 26. Now we'd looked at this years
ago now, isn't it? A year or two ago. And after
three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for
himself. And the people of the prince
that shall come shall destroy the city. That's the Romans coming,
the reign of Tiberius, A.D. 70. And shall destroy the city
and the sanctuary. The temple was flattened in A.D.
70. And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the
end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm
the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the
week he shall cause... Now listen. This is Christ dying
on the cross shall cause sacrifice and the oblation to cease and
for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate even
until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon
the desolate. It ended. That priesthood. You
know I said at the start there are only two orders of priesthood.
The Aaronic one of the Old Testament and it has ended. It has ended
for all time. There are those that try to imitate
it today with their priestly robes. There's been lots and
lots of confusion on this point. We have no need for such a priesthood. It's ended. There is no role
for any man to stand as, or woman for that matter, to stand as
intercessor, mediator between the people and God. No. It's
just a picture, looking forward. Christ's people now have the
reality. Now, I'm going to do something
that I don't normally do. I don't normally like visual
aids, but I think this might help. Now, it's Sunday morning,
and anybody listening your gastric juices might be thinking about
lunch, so there's lunch. Doesn't that look delicious?
It's a rib of beef with roast potatoes and all sorts of delicious
things. Now, doesn't that look lovely?
Doesn't that look like a lovely meal? Wouldn't you like to have
that served up before you for lunch? Right, yeah. Can you smell
it? Can you smell it? Yeah? Come and have a taste.
Come and have a, look, look, you children, come and have a
taste of this lovely food. Why not? Why won't you come and
taste it? because it's only a picture,
isn't it? It's only a picture. Have I made
the point? I won't do that sort of thing
too often, but I think it makes the point. That is only a picture. If you want to taste and see
that the Lord is good, you don't need a picture. You need the
reality. You need the reality. You need
the priest who is not after the order of Levi, but the priest
who is after the order of Melchizedek. There's a lot to say about Melchizedek
in this epistle. We'll look at much more of it
later on in weeks to come. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is
a priest after the order of Melchizedek, verse 6, and again, verse 10.
And don't worry, I'm not going to explain about Melchizedek
now, but this is a different order of priesthood. God's order
of priesthood. A priest after the order of Melchizedek,
not of Levi. Our Lord Jesus Christ wasn't
of the tribe of Levi. He wasn't of the family of Aaron. He wasn't a Levitical Aaronic
priest. He was of the tribe of Judah,
the lion of the tribe of Judah. He's a priest declared to be
a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Yet he was similar to the picture
in so many ways. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a fulfillment
of the picture in so many ways. Men of flesh with sympathy, chosen
and appointed of God, mediators between sinful people and God,
offering sacrifices and gifts for sins. But look, note the
differences. They were many, those priests.
Why were they many? Because like you and me, they
were mortal and they die. And when one dies, another has
to be raised up and replace him. He was one. He was one. They were temporary, and for
a dispensation only, just for that Mosaic law period, from
the giving of the law to when Christ ended the sacrifice, Daniel
9, 27, when Christ ended it. So from the giving of the law,
of the priesthood in Exodus 28, through to Daniel 9, verse 27,
that's when that priesthood existed. It was temporary, for a dispensation
only. Our Lord Jesus Christ, look at
chapter 7, the first three verses. 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, 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, continually,
not temporary, eternally. They offered many sacrifices.
He offered one sacrifice, chapter 10 and verse 12. chapter 10 and
verse 12. But this man, our Lord Jesus
Christ, our great high priest after the order of Melchizedek,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. His work finished. They offered
many which were never finished because they could never take
away sins, but he offered one forever. One sacrifice for sin
forever. Their offerings were ineffectual.
They offered the blood of animals, which could never take away sins.
He offered his own blood, chapter 9 and 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. Chapter 10 and verse 11. Chapter 10 and verse 11. And
every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices which can never take away sins, and we've just read
this verse, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. It
was a perpetual offering. theirs was, until it ended, as
prophesied by Daniel. Theirs went on and on and on
and on, had to be done, the daily, the annual Day of Atonement,
all of these things. His work is finished. Our Lord
Jesus Christ in John 17 and verse 4 says, I have finished the work
that you gave me to do. Jesus was a man. He was a man
of faith. As a man, he was a man of faith
and of prayer. We read in verse 7, who in the
days of his flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. He was a man of faith. The man,
Christ Jesus, when for a little while he was made lower than
the angels as he walked this earth, that man was a man of
faith who prayed. What did he pray? That he might
not go to the cross? No. That's not what it means
when it says able to save him from death. It means able to
raise him from the dead when he paid the price of his people's
sins. Yes, he was weighed down with
the sorrow and sin of his people as he walked this earth. You
know how it says about Lot how it vexed his righteous soul,
the conversation of the wicked all around him. Think how it
must have vexed the righteous soul of our Lord Jesus Christ
as he walked this earth, as he was weighed down with it all.
Though he was God's son, Yet he learned obedience by the things
which he suffered. He learned obedience unto death,
even the death of the cross. And though he were a son, yet
he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And being
made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all
them that obey him, called of God and high priest after the
order of Melchizedek. He was perfected by his sufferings.
In other words, by his sufferings, he made up the full number of
his church, of his elect. accomplished his purpose of saving
his people. He became the author of eternal
salvation. Unto who? Who is it that he's
the author of eternal salvation unto? It says it there. Unto
them that believe the gospel. Them that obey him means them
that believe the gospel. Now, here's the lesson. This
is in closing. Here's the lesson. We've seen
the picture. We've seen the reality. Christ is the reality. There's
an awful lot more to see. There are many more things to
see about Christ's superior priesthood. Chapters 7 to 10 are strong meat
coming. And as we'll see next time, you
need to be ready to digest that strong meat. The next few verses
tell us that. There's strong meat coming. But
it's so important. To be right with God, you must
have a priest. But for now, this is the lesson.
Firstly, the Levitical priesthood, and anything today which pretends
to perpetuate it, has finished. It finished at Calvary. Don't
be under any delusion. Don't be under any guilt about
you're going to the wrong type of church and you're not going
to one that's got proper priests. You don't need that kind of priest,
for God has finished it for all time. There's no place for any
human priests today. No robes, no altars, no liturgies,
no place for it at all. Read chapter 13 of Hebrews. We
have an altar. It isn't a table in a church
adorned with fancy cloths. It's our Lord Jesus Christ himself.
We have an altar. Thirdly, The picture has been
superseded by the presence of the reality. We've thought before
about Don's illustration of his picture of Shelby when he was
at college, and he didn't see her for a long time, and that
picture was so precious to him. But how bizarre, now, if whilst
he's sharing the same office and house with the woman he loves,
he's constantly adoring a picture rather than the reality of her.
Which of you wants to sit down? to try and eat this picture of
a nice roast dinner. How many of you would sooner
have the real thing? I know, I know, it's a simple illustration,
but Timmy puts his hand up, of course he wants the real thing,
doesn't want to try and eat a picture. Well, so it is, it's exactly
the same. You need to see how Christ is
the only high priest his people could ever need to mediate for
them to God. This is eternal salvation. Will
you not trust Him and Him alone?