Hebrews chapter 7. Paul had been speaking in the
6th chapter of Hebrews about us fleeing to the Lord Jesus.
He's our refuge, our hope. And He's a priest forever. He
tells us in the last part of verse 6, after the order of Melchizedek. Then he begins in verse 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. 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. Now consider how great this man
was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the
spoils. 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 come 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
least is blessed of the better. And here men that die receiveth
tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed
that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also
who received tithes paid tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in
the lorns 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 arise after the order of Melchizedek and not
be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being
changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are
spoken, that is Jesus Christ, pertaineth to another tribe.
of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident
that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing
concerning priesthood. And it is yet 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 For he testified, here's what
God said of Christ, there are the priests forever after the
order of Melchizedek. For there is barely a disavowing
of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness
thereof. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw
near unto God. And inasmuch as not without an
oath was he made priest, for those priests were made without
an oath, but Christ 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. 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. But this
man, because he continueth ever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to
save to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercessions for them. And such a high priest
became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners
and made higher than the heaven, 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. For the law maketh men high priests
which have infirmities, but the word of the oath which was since
the law maketh the son who is consecrated forever. A text really is found here in
verse 25. He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come to God by Him. You and I are so indebted,
eternally indebted, to the book of Hebrews and the writer of
this book. Of course, the author is the
Holy Spirit. But He opens up to us the meaning
of the Levitical priesthood and the ceremonial law, what was
the meaning of those sacrifices? And the offerings, the blood
of bulls and goats, what was the meaning of all these things,
these shadows and types and figures? And he tells us in this book
that these things were for a limited time, and I read to you here
that they changed. They changed. And in chapter
8, they ceased to be. They discontinued. To practice
those things now would be sinful. It would be deceiving. And that's
what the book of Hebrews tells us. And what he gets at here
that all of these figures and all of these pictures and types
pointed to one person. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He came, He fulfilled
all of these figures, and all of these shadows, and all of
these types. He says here in verse 12, the
priesthood has changed. We don't have the Levitical priesthood
anymore. The Jews don't have it anymore,
and they never will have it. It's changed from the Aaronic
priesthood to the priesthood of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Why did it change? Well, it was
unprofitable, wasn't it? It was just unprofitable. The
priesthood, they were so different than the priesthood of Jesus
Christ. They were weak, fallible men who had their faults
about them. Look back over here in chapter
5. Look in chapter 5 with me there for just a minute. Look
in verse 1. For every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men in thanks 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 also is compassed with imperatives. And by reason
thereof, he ought as for the people also to offer for himself
for his sins. And what happened to these priests? Well, they died, didn't they?
They died. They were subject to death, this
book tells us, and they died. And what about all the sacrifices?
Well, look in chapter 10. Look here in verse 1 of chapter
10. For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, but not
the very image of the thing, can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year make the comers thereunto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because
the worshipers, once purged, should have had no more conscience
of sins. But in those sacrifices, instead
of putting away sins, look at this, There is a remembrance
again made of sins every year. Why? Because it's not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. The whole
ceremonial law was unprofitable. The priests were full of infirmities. The sacrifices were never effectual. They could never take away sin. There was two things the priest
in the Old Testament basically did. I read it to you there in
the fifth chapter that they offered sacrifices for sin. God set them aside. When a man
had sinned or on the day of atonement, they brought a sacrifice. They
went into the holiest of all, and they offered that blood upon
the mercy seat, and it atoned for sins, typically. That's what
they did. That's the first part of their
priesthood, their service. And the second part was this.
They had two parts basically to their priesthood. And the
second part was this. They made intercessions for the
people. I call your attention if you
want to keep this in mind or jog a little note down about
this. Numbers chapter 16 is one of the most thrilling and the
sweetest day, I think, of Aaron's priesthood. You remember when
Korah and Abiram and Dathan had sinned, they tried to overthrow
the priesthood of Aaron, tried to overthrow Moses, and the Lord
had opened up the earth. He swallowed them. And then the
very next day, those people began to complain again and said, You've
killed the people of the Lord. Isn't that amazing? They had
done nothing. The Lord caused the ground to
open up. But the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle,
and a plague came. Thousands and thousands of those
Jews began to fall dead. The plague was killing them.
And Moses said, Aaron, put the coals in your censer from off
the altar. and run in among the people and
make them atonement for them. And so Aaron, he ran to the altar
where the sacrifice had been offered. He got him some coals.
He put in his censer and put the incense on top of it. And
he ran in among the people. And the Bible says this. And
this was the job of the high priest. Aaron stood between the
dead and the living. And the plague was stayed. Now
that was their job. to offer sacrifices for sin and
to make intercessions for the people to God. And when the Lord
Jesus Christ was upon this earth and that He is now in heaven,
you know He Himself fulfills these two parts of the priesthood.
On earth, what did He do? On earth, He was a priest, wasn't
He? In His death, He was a priest.
Look at this back in chapter 2 of Hebrews. And look in verse
17. While He was upon this earth,
He offered a sacrifice for the sins of His people. He atoned
for their sins. Look in chapter 2 in verse 16.
Hebrews 2.16. For verily He took not on Him
the nature of angels, But he took on him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him 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." When he
was here, he was the priest and he was the sacrifice. And He
was the altar. And He was the temple. He was
the most holy. He was everything, wasn't He?
And when He went to Calvary's cross, He made an atonement for
every elect sinner. He put away their sins, chapter
9 says, by the sacrifice of Himself. He purged their sins, He says
in chapter 1 and verse 3, by Himself. And in chapter 10, He
said when He had put away our sins, He sat down on the right
hand of God. So the first part of His priesthood
has been fulfilled. It's been accomplished. He offered
a sacrifice. He atoned for our sins. But He
has another part, doesn't He? And that's the part that He's
doing today. What's He doing there in heaven?
He's making intercessions for us, isn't He? That's what our
text says. He ever lives to make intercessions
for us. Isaiah 53 says that plainly. He shall bear the sins of many. That's what He did on earth.
And then He made intercessions for the transgressors. That's
what He's doing now. There in heaven. Making intercession
for the transgressors. Now I want to look at my text
just for a few minutes in verse 25. of Hebrews chapter 7. The Lord will help me just for
a few minutes. And the first thing that I want
us to see here this morning in this text is the character of
the Lord's people described. I love to find my character in
the Bible, don't you? Never found my name there and
you haven't either. But we can find our characters
there. And when we do, it thrills our hearts. And here's the character
of the Lord's people Here's the character of those who are going
to be saved. See it again? Wherefore He is
able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him. That's the character of every
man and woman that's going to be saved. They come to God by
Him. None will be saved but those
who come to God by Him. But everyone who comes to God
by Him will be saved. You find God's people identified
in different ways in the Scriptures. Let me give you two or three
examples of that. The Lord Jesus said, Come unto
Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. You find yourself
there, don't you? If you come to the Lord Jesus,
and often now as you come to Him, you find yourself identified
in that text. You're burdened, aren't you?
You're heavy laden. And doesn't it thrill your heart?
And doesn't it ease your burden just to know that that's your
character? That you indeed come to Christ?
And another characteristic of His people is this. They hunger
and thirst after righteousness. They want to be made righteous.
They desire the righteousness of Christ. And they long to see
themselves having His garment on. They hunger and thirst. And you know they hunger and
thirst after practical righteousness. They want to follow Him. They
want to please Him. They want to go wherever He leads
them. They hunger and thirst after righteousness. Here's another
way that David described the characteristics of the Lord's
people. He called them poor and needy. He called himself that.
I've often thought this great king that was also a rich man,
and yet sometimes he referred to himself as poor and needy.
But that's the characteristics of the Lord's people, isn't it?
And listen to what he said. He shall spare the poor and needy
and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall spare them, and
He shall save the souls of their needy." Isn't that confident
for a poor, afflicted conscience that feels its poverty, that
feels its need and knows it can't satisfy its own need? When he
hears that Jesus Christ is on the right hand of God and He
saves the poor and needy and supplies their need, I find myself
here, don't you? That's my character. I find myself
poor and needy. Often find myself poor and needy. Sometime Paul describes himself
like this, we groan being burdened. Not that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon that mortality might be swatted up in life.
And another way he said he groaned, oh wretched man that I am. Can you find yourself there?
Is that your character? The character of the Lord's people,
they come to God by Him, and they're often burdened and heavy
laden, and they're often hungry and thirsting after righteousness. I know that we come to God by
Jesus Christ to praise Him and give thanks to His name. We do
that, don't we? We long to do that, too. The
Bible says, By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually, giving thanks unto His name. So we do
that too. We come to God by Christ to give
thanks to His name and praise Him. But you know, I think our
text chiefly, chiefly is teaching us that we come to God through
Christ because we feel our need to come. We feel our need to
be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is coming. Here the literal
translation says this, who are coming. It's not just a one-time
coming, is it? We came initially to God by Christ. But you know, we're always coming.
And this translation said, who are coming. to God by Christ,
to continually be saved by Him. That's why we keep coming, isn't
it? Because we need saved all the time. And that's why we keep
coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. I asked a lady one time, I think
I've mentioned this to you before, but I asked her about her coming
to the Lord and she was telling me about praying. And she said,
well, I remember praying. I said, what was you praying
about? And she said, well, I can't remember. And I said, was it
about being a sinner? And she said, I don't think so.
And I said, you know, that's sad. Your profession is sad because
no such character is found in the Scriptures. Because if you
come to Christ, there's one way that you come, and that's being
a sinner. And if you're not a sinner, why
did you come? So we want to find our characters
there, don't we? Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners. And everybody that comes to Him,
comes to Him to be saved, don't they? Our text at least implies
that. We come to God by Him. Why? Because He's able to save. I
came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So
if we say that we've come to Christ, and we don't have this
character that the Bible tells us that those who come has, then
what is that being sinners? You know, you can't already find
a sinner today, can you? You just can't already find a
sinner. You start looking. You start to ask it. And people
will say, Oh yeah, I'm not a perfect person. But are you a sinner? I mean such a sinner that you've
got to be saved. And such a sinner that you're
coming to God by Christ. This is the character of those
who come. The Lord Jesus gave us the example
of that Publicum there in Luke 18, God be merciful to me, the
sinner. You know, He came by Christ.
Isn't it wonderful when the Lord Jesus says these things, there's
so much meaning? That word, be merciful, means
perpetuous. So that brings in Christ, doesn't
it? God in heaven, be merciful to
me for Christ's sake. He might as well have said that,
hadn't He? Forgive all thy sins for Christ's sake. Be propitious. That man came to God through
Christ. And the Lord Jesus said he was
a sinner. And he said that he was a sinner. There are people who go most
of their professing lives and they cannot find themselves in
the Bible. And they never profess to be
what the Bible says that they are. They talk about Jesus dying
for them, and yet they cannot identify those for whom the Bible
says Christ died. If we have a hope and a faith
that Christ died for us, then brothers and sisters, we need
to identify with the characters for whom He died. And for whom
did Jesus Christ die? Well, listen to this. When we
were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. Do you
find anybody like that? When you see yourself to be that,
doesn't it thrill your heart? Because you can say, yes, I see
that even today in myself. When I open up this old nature,
there He is, almost driving me to despair. But I'm one for whom
Christ died, because the Bible says He died for such character
as me. God commendeth His love towards
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And listen to this. Boy, not
many find themselves here. When we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Boy, we find ourselves
there, don't we? We find ourselves there, and
I tell you, the more we grow in grace, the more we find ourselves
there. But when we hear in the scriptures
that He birthed the sins, He had nothing to do with our goodness.
Why would He? But it was our sins, our ungodliness,
and our enmity that had to be atoned for. And Jesus Christ
did it. And if you're here this morning
and you can find yourself here and identify with these characters,
then bless God for it. Bless Him for it. Our text strongly
implies something in regard to our coming to God. It strongly
implies what in other places is plainly stated. What does
this imply when he says, you come to God? What does that imply? Doesn't that imply that a work
of grace has begun in that heart? He's coming. To who? To God. He's never came before. You remember when you couldn't
come and you wouldn't come? Why are you coming now? There's
some of you this morning that's been coming to God for years.
Why did you even start coming? He began to work in your heart,
didn't He? By nature, there's none that fears God, there's
none that understands, and there's none that seeketh after God. No, not one. But you're seeking
Him. And you're seeking Him because
He has begun a work of grace in your heart. That's why you're
coming to Him this morning. A work of grace has begun in
your heart. And sometimes, sometimes, It's
like David said in Psalms 42. Listen to this. Boy, you talk
about a coming. I'm not just talking about coming
in words. I'm not talking about just a form of prayer we use.
I'm talking about the heart of a man, the very spirit of a man
seeking God. When nobody but God Himself can
satisfy his soul and his spirit, that's what I'm talking about.
When there's no place else you can go and you know it, and you've
experienced it, and your soul is thirsting, your soul is coming
to Him. Listen to how David said, As
the deer pants after the water brook, so paineth my soul after
Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? Boy, the Holy Spirit is there.
That's a cry of the Holy Spirit in a soul, isn't it? The work
has been begun. He's coming to God. He's coming
to God. And our text implies something
else. That the very hope of the Gospel
is set up in their hearts. It's taken root in their hearts. Because how do they come to God?
By Jesus Christ. He's the Gospel, isn't He? He's
the One we preach. And it's an indication here,
a clear indication that they have heard the Gospel. That there
is a door. That there is access. There's
a way back to the Father. It's a just way and it's a merciful
way. And it's a gracious way and it's
a free way for all of those who truly come. And that's by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And somebody heard this and it's
got into their hearts. And you know what they said?
I'm coming. I'm going to God because I know
that upon His right hand is set in one that God will accept me
in and reward me and bless me for His sake. If you're coming
to God by Christ this morning, it's because a hope has set up
in your heart. The Holy Spirit has implanted
His grace of hope in your heart. We sang the old song, My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And that hope manifests itself
when you go to God and you go there through the Lord Jesus
Christ. I was out in the park one day,
me and my family. And this woman took upon herself,
I'm always amazed when these women put forth their self in
public to pray and do stuff like that. This woman, the whole crowd
of us there, some kind of sporting event they had, I forgot what
it was, but she got up behind the microphone, she was over
everything, and she wanted to lead in prayer. That's fine,
I've got nothing wrong with that. But I never in my life heard
a more generic prayer. And asking for this and telling
God that, and she went on so long, I began to wonder, who's
Christ? Who's Christ in this woman's
prayer? She never not only mentioned His name, She never mentioned
her need of what He's done, or blood, or mercy, or grace, or
anything. She had just had this talk with
God. She had some sort of a relationship
with God that she thought she could go right into God's presence
without a mediator. It was so evident. It was so
evident. I thought this morning when Wayne
was praying, And he went from God creating this vast universe
and the amazement of that, and he went right into thanking Him
for sending His Son. I tell you, we can't pray if
we pray in truth without being conscious of our need of the
Savior as a mediator. It's almost in our subconscious
when we go to God and pray, isn't it? It's there. Well, you say,
Bruce, maybe this woman had so grown in grace and knowledge
and she had such a relationship with God that she didn't need
Christ anymore. Hogwash! The more a man grows
in grace and knowledge, The more we realize our need of a Mediator,
is it not? And the more we plead Him in
our prayers and give God thanks for Him, that He is indeed seated
there at God's right hand as our access. There's never been
a single person saved. There's never been a prayer heard.
But that that went through the Mediator who is at God's right
hand. God, old brother Scott Richardson
said, God won't even spit at us. He won't even spit at us. He won't look at us. He won't
consider us. He won't hear us. He won't accept
us, apart from His dear and blessed Son. And that's the truth, isn't
it? That's the truth. And when this hope sets up in
our hearts, boy, we're conscious of how God accepts us. We're
conscious of when we go to Him, we have an access into His presence,
and we bless His name for it. It's a hope. It's a good hope. He says here in verse 19 of our
chapter, look at it again. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did when Christ come, by
which we draw nigh. We draw nigh to God through the
Lord Jesus. Something else we see here in
our text, and this jumps out at you. He is able to save them
to the uttermost that come to God by Him. Boy, don't that word
jump out at you. Wayne likes the Amplified. I read this in the Amplified,
and here's the way the Amplified says it. Therefore He is able
also to save to the uttermost, completely, perfectly, finally,
And for all time and all eternity, those who are coming to God through
Him. Listen. For He is always living
to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them. Oh, the uttermost. Can you imagine
Him saving somebody like you to the uttermost? The Gospel
amazes us, doesn't it? If Adam Clark is right that the
Lord regenerates a man, then puts him on probation and just
waits to see if he can make it on his own, okay, none of us
are going to make it, including Adam Clark. And I'm telling you,
I ain't going to make it, are you? I'm too bad. Oh, pastor, you shouldn't be
so negative about yourself. I'm a sorry man. You don't know
the half about me. Sometimes I feel my badness,
I want to go hide myself. I want to just get away and not
even be around people, not let anybody see me. And it seems like the older... I've
been on the way since 1973. What is that? Forty-something
years. And you know something? I see my need, I feel my need
of Jesus Christ to save me this morning. as I've never felt it
before. Because in my own eyes, I am
getting weaker. I am getting worse, not better.
But isn't this the way it's supposed to be? As we grow worse in our
own eyes, He grows more precious to our hearts. Because we realize
more of His efficacy and His power to save us to the uttermost. Well, J.C. Philpott said this.
He was an honest preacher. He said, The Lord's people pass
through grievous temptations. Then he lists some of them. And
he lists some of them. Ha! You know, sometimes I say,
Boy, I've really been tempted, but I ain't going to tell you
about what. Boy, I've really sinned, but I ain't going to
go into detail. Ain't that the way we are? But when we start
getting down to where the rubber meets the road and going into
detail, and listen to what he said. Temptations to infidelity. Boy, I ain't going to admit that,
are you? Temptations to infidelity? You ever been tempted about that,
wife? I don't want to know it, if you have. Have you ever been
tempted about that? Temptations to infidelity. Temptation
to blaspheme. Temptation to curse God. Temptation
to commit suicide. Temptations to beige, to black,
even to be hinted at. What goes on in your soul? I tell you, you wouldn't tell
anybody, would you? And sometimes it almost drives
you to despair. Old Luther said, that he found
such darkness in him and such wretchedness. He said, some days
I am so despairing I can't get out of bed. John Bunyan fell into such a
temptation that he said he was afraid if he opened this word
it was going to condemn him to hell and he couldn't even read
it for a whole year. I tell you, the people of the
Lord are weak in themselves and they've got a strong adversary.
Put them on probation. Leave them to themselves and
they'll never make it. Oh, doesn't this Word then jump
out at us and grab our hearts and thrill us when we read that
Jesus Christ is able to save us forevermore and perfectly
and eternally and for all time. He's able to bring us from right
where we are now in this lowly place that we find ourselves.
And He's able to bring us all the way to heaven and set us
there before His Father. Anything less than that is not
saving to the uttermost, is it? If you make it halfway through
your professed life and then you're lost again, then you're
not saved. If you make it to your deathbed
and the devil gets you there, then he has not saved you. Anything
less than bringing you from earth to heaven and securing your soul
there and keeping an eye on your poor decaying body and on the
day of resurrection, bring them both together in one perfect
union for all eternity. Anything less than that is not
saving. And Jesus Christ has never done
anything less than that. He is able, and He does, and
He's willing to save to the uttermost those who come to God by Him. The Hebrew writer here in verse
16 talked about the power of an endless life. Those priests
under the law, they didn't have that. They died. They were subject to death. But
he said the thing that was different about Christ's priesthood was
this power of an endless life. And what is that? He ever liveth
to make intercessions for them. Paul said in Philippians 3.10,
O that I may know Him, and listen to this, the power of His resurrection. What is that? That He ever lives. to make intercession for me. That's what he was talking about.
He ever lives and by the right hand of God, he has this power,
he has this authority, he has this merit about him. And he
can save a man to the uttermost that come to God by him. Ain't that wonderful? Oh, I love
to just think about this, don't you? Just think about Christ. saving me, poor me, to the uttermost. This endears the Savior to us,
doesn't it? Peter said to you that believe.
He's precious. You know what he just said before
that, before he's precious. You know what he just got through
saying. You're in heaviness through manifold temptation. You've been
tempted in various ways, many ways. And you've just gone and
you've been so heavy. And you got to thinking in your
soul, I'm not going to make it through this. I can't go on. I can't put another step in front
of this one. And then what happens? Well,
He brought you through it. He saved you from it. And therefore,
how do you feel about Him now? He's precious. He's precious. Oh, brothers and sisters, don't
stop coming. Christ will never die and He
will never cease to intercede and intervene until He has saved
you to the uttermost. Don't stop coming. Don't get
discouraged. He is able to save to the uttermost. If you're here this morning and
you've never come, Then let me encourage you to come now. Begin
this morning to come to God by the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're
ever saved, you must come to God by Christ. If you never come
to God by Christ, you'll never be saved. Knowing that, then
begin to come to Him this morning, and He will save you. He will
save you. He'll save you now. God help you to do it. Let's
sing 252.