Yes, it is good to have Joy back. One of these times when you all
show up, there's going to be one pew in the back of the auditorium,
and when it fills up, it's going to slide to the front. And then another one's going
to pop up out of the floor. I did get a shower. We're going to read from Hebrews
chapter 8. If you'll turn with me there
in your Bibles, what the Lord is doing in Hebrews chapter 8
is He's summarizing what was said in Hebrews chapter 7, which
we're going to look at tonight. So we'll begin with the summary
and then go back and look at the preceding verses. Now of
the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. We have such
a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the
majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true
tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. For every high priest
is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of
necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if
he were here on the earth, he should not be a priest, seeing
that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law, who
serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses
was admonished of God when he was about to build the tabernacle,
For see, saith he, that thou make all things according to
the patterns showed to thee in the mount." God gave Moses some
very specific instructions. He could not deviate from that
instruction on how the tabernacle was to be built. And every bit
of that tabernacle had to do with the person and work of Christ. So what the Lord is saying is
that old tabernacle is done away with, that old priesthood is
done away with, we have a tabernacle in heaven and it's Jesus Christ. He'll quit in a minute. Verse 6. But now hath he obtained
a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
The Lord Jesus Christ, our high priest, who is seated in the
heavenlies, established a better covenant. It's a covenant of
grace. You're not under the law. You're
under grace. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when
I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt,
because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them
not, saith the Lord. That was the covenant of law.
That was what God told them. You do this and you shall live.
And they didn't keep the commandments of God. For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people. I'm going to do a work
of grace in their hearts. I'm gonna cause them to love
Christ and to trust Him. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor and every man his brother. In the Old Testament,
most of the Israelites were unbelievers. And so the few believers were
having to always say to the unbelievers, you need to know the Lord. But
not so in the New Israel. In the New Israel, they all know
the Lord. You're not a part of the New Israel until you know
the Lord. And so he says, they shall not teach every man his
neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for all
shall know me from the least to the greatest. For I will be
merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquity
will I remember no more. We've not been any more faithful
to the law than the Old Testament Israelites were. We've broken
the law too, but a new covenant's been established. and I'll be
merciful to their unrighteousness." The Old Testament law says, do
this or you'll die. And the New Testament law says,
you've done this and Christ has died in your stead. In that he saith, a new covenant
he hath made, the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. I got a text from Bree just a
few minutes ago saying that their children were ill. And so I want us to pray for
them. And we were reminded this week
of how quickly a child can get ill
and can be severely ill. Jennifer's next door neighbor,
our daughter's next door neighbor, had a four-year-old daughter
that was seemingly perfectly healthy and she got sick the
other day and died within just one day. So we're depending on the Lord,
aren't we? Let's pray together. our merciful, gracious, loving
Heavenly Father. We're so very thankful that we
have an advocate, Jesus Christ, the righteous one, who has been
merciful to our unrighteousness and has presented himself before
the throne of God as our substitute. We ask, Lord, that you would
cause us now to set our affections on Him. That You would bless
Your Word to our hearts, cause it to be living, effectual, cause
it, Lord, to turn our hearts to Christ and to trust Him, to
rely upon Him. Truly, Lord, our lives are in
Your hand. We ask Lord for for your mercy
and for your grace. We pray for our Children. We
ask that you would keep them and protect them and give them
ears to hear and grow them up in Christ. We pray for the way
she Children. We asked Lord that this illness
would be brief, that you would strengthen them quickly. We prayed
in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. Verse 13 of chapter 5 says, For
everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness,
for he is a babe. Now, a baby in Christ is a believer
and can never be anything but a believer. A baby can't fall
away. A baby can't be lost. They've been birthed into the
family of God. They've been given the faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But they haven't matured. They're
still drinking milk. They're unskillful in the meat
of the Word of God. Verse 14 says, but strong meat,
strong meat belongs to them that are of full age. You don't feed a baby meat. They've
got to grow to the point to where they can handle meat and digest
meat. Even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
So now the mature believer, the one who's grown beyond drinking
the milk and is now eating meat, is having his senses affected
every day to discern that which is good and evil, that which
is holy and profane, that which is of God and that which is not
of God, because he's eating meat. Now, some would say that the
doctrines that we hold so precious, the doctrine of predestination,
the doctrine of divine election, the doctrine of limited atonement,
the doctrine of irresistible grace, the doctrine of perseverance
of the saints. Well, that's the strong meat
intended for mature believers. Those are things that only the
strong in Christ can digest. Well, the next verse refutes
that. The next verse makes it clear
that those things I just mentioned are in fact the milk. The milk. The fundamental foundational
ABC's of the gospel. So what is the strong meat? Well
let's look at verse 1 of chapter 6. Therefore leaving The principles
of the doctrine of Christ. Now he's not saying leaving Christ,
oh no. But he's saying not having to lay again. Now in the previous chapter he
said you ought to be teachers and you're still having need
of somebody teaching you and you're dull of hearing. But he's talking
to believers. Talking to immature believers.
who have not grown beyond the fundamentals of the gospel. They're having to be taught and
reiterated again and again these fundamental truths. So he says,
therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ, let
us go on unto perfection, not having to lay again. We ought
not to have to convince you again and again that God is sovereign
in salvation, that we are totally depraved, that Christ satisfied all the demands of
all we ought not to have to convince men of that we don't if you're
a mature believer now what is it to move on to perfection and
what is it to eat meat that's my question what is it to eat
meat and what is it to move on to perfection the Lord said my
body is meat in deed And the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is
our perfection. So what the Lord is saying here
is that if we've matured in the faith, if we've grown in grace
and the knowledge of Christ, we're no longer having to argue
and debate fundamental truths. We're fellowshipping in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That these fundamental truths
are but means to an end. Christ is the end. the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, fellowshipping with Christ, knowing Christ, loving Christ,
hearing His voice, following after Him, rejoicing in the Lord
Jesus Christ, fellowshiping together in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The person of Christ. He's the
meat. He's the perfection. And all
the Lord's saying here is not laying again the foundation of
repentance from dead works. What is that? Total depravity.
Total depravity. You know, we believe it and every
babe in Christ believes it. It's an ABC of the gospel. Every
child of God knows that they have no righteousness and all
their works are dead before God. And that the only work that's
pleasing to God is the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and they rejoice in that. But if we're just stuck on that
as a doctrine, and having to convince someone of its truth,
then, you know, there's a babe. The next one, he said, and faith
towards God. What is that? Faith towards God.
It's unconditional election. It's believing that God in his
sovereign grace chose a people before the foundations of the
world. But we don't just get hung up in that as a doctrine.
We don't just, you know, I talk to people and and uh... people that just began to hear
the gospel and uh... and you know you want to be you
want to be sensitive to them as a baby hope that god's given
them life and you have to you have to lay these foundational
a bcs for them you have to you have to sort of teach them and
help them to see how these things are true from the word of god
and uh... and they get a little bit of
light and then they begin to you know and what what the Lord's
saying here is that there ought to be a floodlight from heaven
on these truths for you so that so that you don't have to you
don't have to question them you don't have to have someone convince
you of them you don't have to you know, discuss them as if,
well, I wonder what that really means. You know what it means.
You've moved on through that truth to the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ and now you're feasting on Him. You're not saying we don't preach
these things. We do preach them. But the key here is having to
lay them again. Having to convince you of them. Baptisms? What is baptism? It's regeneration, isn't it? It's irresistible grace. It's
substitution. It's identifying with the Lord
Jesus Christ. What does baptism mean? I am
buried with Christ in baptism. When Christ died on Calvary's
cross, I died in Christ on Calvary's cross. What a glorious truth
that is. What a great hope we have in
that. But if all we believe is the doctrine, or if we have to
be somehow taught and convinced time and time again of that as
a doctrinal fact and truth, and we don't see it as it is fulfilled
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we're just still
drinking meat, aren't we? We're still drinking milk, I'm sorry. Laying on of hands. where the
laying on of hands in the Old Testament is a picture of the
priest putting his hands on the head of the scapegoat and it's
a an act of substitution it's an act of transfer and what a
glorious thing it is to know that God laid his hand on the
Lord Jesus Christ and imputed to him all the sins of all of
God's people And then he laid his hand on him again with the
sword of his justice and took his very life as a sacrifice
for our sins. What a hope we have in that.
But it's not just a doctrine, is it? Tom was telling me that
he was talking to somebody and he said, I believe the doctrines
of grace. You know, we don't talk like that anymore. Yeah,
we believe the doctrine of grace, but we've moved beyond those
things as just a point of discussion. We've moved beyond them as a
point of debate or a point of convincing. We see them for what
they are. They're the fulfillment of the
person of Christ. He's the meat. We fellowship
with Him. He's the one. What did he say
in verse 1? Let us go on unto perfection. Resurrection of the dead. Christ raised from the dead. It was God's positive proof to
His people that He was satisfied with the work of atonement that
the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished. What a glorious truth that is.
What a great hope we have in believing that. Eternal judgment. Perseverance. That what God did, He did eternally. He did before time began and
He'll continue it when time is ended that God's judgments are
eternal. The judgment of God in Christ
was established before the foundation of the world and He'll fulfill
it throughout all eternity. Those who are in Christ and those
are not in Christ. We believe that. We rejoice in
that, don't we? This we will do. This we will
do, if God permit. We rejoice in these glorious
truths, but I pray that God will grow
us to where we don't have to be babied in them anymore. I have that. responsibility oftentimes, and
I'm glad to do it, but there's such a big difference between
trying to help a baby in Christ to understand these things and
to believe them and to rejoice in them and then a child of God
who doesn't have to be. You don't have to lay him again
for them. They see them for what they are and we don't just What
the Lord is saying here is, don't say I believe in election. Don't say I believe in limited
atonement. Don't say I believe in the perseverance
of the saints. Don't say that I believe in irresistible
grace. Say I believe in a God who has
elected a people. I believe in a God who irresistibly
draws His people to Himself. My God, the one I worship, the
one I fellowship with, the one that's ministered grace to my
heart, has caused me to know that in me there is no good thing,
and that His righteousness is the only righteousness that I
have. I'm not interested in total depravity. I'm interested in knowing the
God who reveals me for who I am. When the light of the gospel
shines in the heart, it reveals two things. It reveals God for
who He is and us for who we are. I don't believe just in a doctrine
of perseverance. I believe in a God. who is faithful
to keep his people from falling and to present them faultless
before his throne moving to perfection is realizing that these glorious
truths are not just a doctrine but they are a revelation of
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and he's the perfect
one and he's the meat See the difference? We'll believe these things if
God permitted, if God enabled it. I'm convinced of one thing, what
God starts, He'll finish. If the Lord has done a work of
grace, if He's taught us the truth, if we've been taught of
God, He's not gonna let us go. He's gonna finish what He starts. So, who is this Christ? Who is the perfect one? Who is
the Christ? Who is the meat on whom we are
to feast? In the book of Hebrews, the main
theme of the Lord Jesus Christ is that of a priest. A priest. One who ever lives to make intercession
for us. One who is, who has ascended
up into glory, who's seated at the right hand of God. One to
whom we flee to his throne of grace and find help in our time
of need. We have a priest. We have an
intercessor. We have one who has presented
himself to God as our sacrifice for our sin. and he's revealed
in Hebrews as that priest look with me at chapter 4 at verse
14 seen then that we have a great high priest we don't look to
a man we look to the man the Lord Jesus Christ as our high
priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession." Now, he's not saying, let's don't
turn loose of this priesthood doctrine. He's saying, we have
a priest and it's Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who's in the
heavens, let us hold to Him. He is our profession. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. He didn't say, I know what I
have believed. He said, I know whom I have believed. Now, babies are still struggling
with what they believe. And you got to feed them milk
to help them to know what to believe from the word of God.
And if they're born of God, they're going to believe it. But those
are of strong meek. Those are of mature. You don't
have to do that. They know Christ is their profession.
Look at verse 15. For we have not a high priest
who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Oh, he knows what we're going
through. Better than we know what we're
going through. He feels what we're experiencing
more than we feel it. Let me ask you something. When
your child suffers, who suffers more? Who suffers more? Who's suffering more right now
with Jennifer's neighbor? The child that got sick and died? Or the parent who's lost their
child? Who suffers more? when we punish
our children we say this hurts us more than hurt we if we're
not punishing out of anger if we're doing out of love which
true it's true and what the Lord saying here is I know better
than you know what you're feeling and what you're experiencing
I've ordained for you and I'm and I I'm I'm feeling that with
you We have not a high priest that
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He is touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. I'm so thankful for that. This
isn't a doctrine, this is a person. But was in all points tempted
as we are. Oh, in all points. Much more
so than we've ever been tempted. I don't understand this as, well,
the Lord was faced with sin and He gritted His teeth and He fought
it out. No. No. He never even sinned
in His temptation. We can't get tempted without
sinning, can we? He suffered the full onslaught
of the contradiction of sinners against him. He suffered the
full assault of Satan himself. And he suffered the full searching
light of the law of God on his heart. And even in his thoughts
and temptations, he never sinned. But he felt them. And then of
course, when he hung there on Calvary's cross, He bore the
full burden of all the sins of all of God's people and knew
what it meant to be separated from God. He was tempted in all
points as we are. Yet he himself being without
sin, therefore, therefore, let us come boldly to the throne
of grace. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you are not under the law, you are under grace." We're
not justified by the law. The law does nothing but aggravate
sin. It does nothing but judge us.
We flee to Christ. This is the new covenant, isn't
it? We come before the throne of grace in order that we might
obtain mercy. He delights in showing mercy.
He loves His children. He sympathizes with our infirmities. He is able, He is able to provide
all that we need beyond what we even ask for or what we even
think according to the riches of His grace. So come before the throne of
grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. He doesn't help us with a doctrine. We don't memorize scripture and
use scripture like a rabbit's foot. No. All these things are
means to an end. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
end. So we look to the scriptures,
we look through these doctrines, through them to Him who is our
High Priest. Look at chapter 7. I'm preparing a message from
chapter 6. Hopefully we'll have that soon. I know there's a lot of questions
about chapter 6, and I'm trying to understand that now to be
able to help you with that. But let's move on to chapter
7. Verse 19 of chapter 6 says, which
hope we have as an anchor of the soul. We have a hope, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is in the heavenlies, both sure and
steadfast, and which entered into that within the veil, whether
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest
forever. after the order of Melchizedek.
Now in chapter 5 at verse 10 Paul says that Christ
was called of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek
of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered seeing
that you are dull of hearing. So he's writing to these babes
who are still drinking milk and saying to them There are some
things about Melchizedek that I want to say to you, but I'm
not sure you're able to understand them yet. And so he deals with
them about their immaturity in chapter 6 and concludes chapter
6 with an assurance of salvation. Chapter 6 ought not to cause
a child of God to fear, it ought to cause them to have great hope
and encouragement. and that's what he does and then
in chapter 7 he goes on to do that which he said he wasn't
sure they could handle in other words he spends all of chapter
7 talking about Melchizedek those things that he had much to say
about but they were they he wasn't sure if they could well now he's
gonna tell us you know you read you read that one verse and you
think boy I wish the Lord would have given us those things about
Melchizedek well he does he does you remember in Genesis chapter
14 when Lot Sodom was attacked and Lot and his family were taken
and Abraham took his servants to battle against the king that
had that had taken Lot and his family and destroyed the king
and delivered Lot and Melchizedek the scripture says met Abraham
that Melchizedek who just appears in the scriptures in Genesis
14 and then is never mentioned again until until here in Hebrews
was the Lord Jesus Christ Melchizedek translated means king of righteousness
that's what his name means the Lord Jesus Christ himself is
our righteousness So in chapter 7 he goes on to
tell us about these things which he wanted us to know about Christ
as they related to Melchizedek. And he says, 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. So he's making it clear. It was
Melchizedek that blessed Abraham. They would have thought, well,
Abraham is the oldest, Abraham is the father, the faithful,
and all blessings come from Abraham. No, not so. To whom also Abraham
gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation King
of Righteousness, that's what his name means, that's what Melchizedek
means, King of Righteousness. I talked to a guy one time and
he was a He was a member of a religious
cult called Melchizedek. And he just liked saying that
word. He thought that he had discovered
some dark mystery that only his little group understood. And
this Melchizedek is the King of Righteousness. He's the Lord
Jesus Christ. And after that also King of Salem
which is King of Peace. He's the Prince or the King of
all Peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ who as we've seen is seated in the heavenlies
before God. We're not just arguing and praying
to a doctrine. This is the Lord Jesus Himself. Melchizedek in Genesis chapter
14 came on the scene without father. We don't know anything
about his father's birth or his lineage. Why? Because you know why. Look what
he says. Without father, without mother,
without descent or pedigree. having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth
the priest continually. Now consider how great this man,
and you can just leave out that little italicized verb that you
have in your Bible, was. It's not there in the original,
and you don't need it. Consider how great this man.
If you're going to put a verb there, put the present tense.
Don't put past tense. Consider how great this man is.
Was, is, and shall ever be. Consider this man. That's what
the Lord is saying here. Consider Christ. Consider Him. If you're a babe, you still have
to be fed milk. You still have to be taught the
ABC's of the gospel. You're still just looking at
things doctrinally. but if you've matured to the
perfect then you're looking to this man this man unto whom even the patriarch
Abraham gave 10th of the spoils now the king of Sodom had told
Abraham that he could keep his the spoils of the war that he
had won and Abraham said no I'm not going to do it he said God
fought this battle I didn't fight it God won it and I don't want
you to say that I stole from you so I don't want any of it
I don't want it I forgot how he said it in in Genesis 14 basically
said I don't want a hair off of one of the animals not one
of anything but he did give spoils to Melchizedek He gave a tithe,
a tenth, to Melchizedek. And what the Lord is showing
here is the superiority of Melchizedek over Abraham. Those who were just looking at
things biblically or historically or in a Jewish lineage might
think, well, Abraham's the best. No. No. Christ is the best. Abraham gave tithes to Christ.
Christ is the one that fought that battle for him. Verse 5, And verily they that
are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood
have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the
law that is of their brethren though they came out of the loins
of Abraham so why do we give tithes to why did in the Old
Testament did they give tithes to Levi they were representing
giving tithes to Abraham but no Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek But he whose descent is not counted
from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that
had the promises." These Jews would have said, well, we're
children of Abraham. Don't say that. That's just looking
at things in a human way. That's just looking at, you know,
no, we're children of God. And Abraham was a child of God. He was subservient. to Melchizedek and without all contradiction
no contradiction about this the less is blessed of the better well there's a message in that
one verse isn't there the less is blessed of the better we need him he doesn't need us
We are dependent upon Him. We cry out to Him. We're not
doing anything for God. God's God. He got along fine before He ever
created us, didn't He? He's just not dependent upon
us for anything. Everything comes from the greater
to the lesser. In salvation, that's true. Every
bit of our salvation, all the blessings of our salvation comes
from God to us. In our earthly life, that's true. What do you have that you did
not receive? Nothing. Nothing. It all comes
from God. Without contradiction, without
any question or doubt about it, the less is blessed of the better. and here men that die receive
tithes but there he received them of whom it is witness that
he liveth Abraham gave to Melchizedek tithes
who ever liveth to make intercession for us and as I may so say Levi also
who received tithes paid tithes in Abraham for he was yet in
the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." So when
Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, he's saying that Levi was giving
tithes to Melchizedek because Levi was in the loins of Abraham. What he's showing is the superiority
of the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ over all earthly
priests. He's established a better covenant
based on better promises and a better priesthood. Verse 9, And as I may so say, Levi also
received tithes, paying tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in
the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. If therefore
perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, For under it the people received
the law. What further need was there that another priest should
rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order
of Aaron? If the Old Testament priesthood
was sufficient, if the sacrifices that they made was sufficient
to put away our sin, then what do we need a new priest for? For the priesthood being changed,
there is made of necessity a change also of the law." You're not
under the law. The Levitical law, the Mosaic
law, all those laws have been fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the end of the law for
righteousness. He's the king of righteousness.
He's Melchizedek. The law has been fulfilled. for he of whom these things are
spoken pertaineth to another tribe of which no man giveth
attendance at the altar." Now the tribe of Judah, he's saying,
you know that Christ didn't come from the tribe of Levi. He didn't
come from the Aaronic priesthood. He came from Judah. God did away
with that Old Testament priesthood. For it is evident that our Lord
sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning
the priesthood." So Moses is a picture of the law, Aaron is
a picture of the Old Testament Levitical system, and what the
Lord is saying is, that's all been done away. Christ is fulfilled.
Those were shadows, those were pictures, those were types. Christ
is the fulfillment. just as the beginning of chapter
6 speaks of those precious doctrines but they are means to an end
they're not an end in themselves Christ is the end of all things
and it is yet far more evident that after the similitude of
Melchizedek there ariseth another priest who is made not after
the law of carnal commandments but after the power of an endless
life Christ is our life. That's what he's saying. Life doesn't come from the law.
Life doesn't come from ceremony. Life doesn't come from doctrine.
However true those doctrines are. Life comes from Christ. Now you can't know Christ and
be wrong on doctrine. You can't. You know Christ. When
He makes Himself known to you, you tell somebody that knows
Christ the truth doctrinally and they'll say, Amen, I believe
that. But the opposite is not true,
in that you can have some ability to articulate doctrine and not
know Christ. That's what He's saying here.
don't don't be satisfied with your ability to to articulate
doctrine go on make sure that that you haven't you know you
eat meat move on to perfection for he testifies God's testifying
now thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek
it was never a time when the Lord Jesus Christ wasn't interceding
on behalf of his people The Lord Jesus Christ didn't start being
a priest when he ascended into glory after the ascension, after
the resurrection. God's people have always been
viewed in Christ. It's the only acceptance we have
before God. We couldn't have been accepted
before God in the covenant of grace unless we were accepted
in the beloved. So Christ has always been our
priest. an order forever after the order
of Melchizedek. Without beginning, what does
it say? Without beginning, without end. For there is verily a disannulling
of the commandment going before, for the weakness and unprofitableness
thereof, for the law made nothing perfect. Nothing is made perfect
by the law. The law condemns and the more
I grow in grace, the more meat I eat, the more I realize that
the law only aggravates sin in me. And we're all recovering Pharisees. We all have a tendency to look
back to the law and try to measure ourselves by the law, don't we?
And as soon as we do, sin just becomes stronger. Paul said,
when the law came, I died. I died. I just died to the law. For the
law made nothing perfect, but bringing in a better hope did.
By the which will, we draw near unto God. Bringing in a better
hope by Christ, we draw near to God. We don't draw near to
God by a doctrine. We draw near to God by Christ. He's the better hope. And inasmuch as not without an
oath, he was made priest. For those priests were made without
an oath, but this with an oath by him that said unto him, the
Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek." God made an oath. And chapter 6, look back with
me to chapter 6 verse 18, that by two immutable things in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set
before us. So we have this strong consolation.
We have this great hope in knowing that God has established an oath
in the covenant of grace. He promised to make the Lord
Jesus Christ a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
So our consolation, our encouragement, the assurance of our salvation
is not in a doctrine and it's not in the law. It's in Christ. He is our hope. We lay hold on
Him. In chapter 12, you know, He says,
looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith,
who for the hope that was set before Him endured the shame
of the cross. We flee to Christ. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better covenant. He's our forerunner. He went
before us. He established the covenant.
He paid the price. He redeemed his people. Christ
Himself is our hope. And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
But this man, here we are, this man, we have a man, Jesus Christ,
the man between God and us, he's the one we flee to. This man,
because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore
he is able also to save to the uttermost them that come unto
God by him. seeing that he ever liveth to
make intercession for them. For such a high priest became
us. He is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, who
needeth not daily as those high priests offer up sacrifices,
first for his own sin and then for the people's. For this he
did once when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priest,
which have infirmity. But the word of the oath the
covenant of grace the promise that God made which he's unable
to lie the immutable promises of God for the law maketh men high priests
which have infirmity but the word of the oath which was since
the law or before the law maketh the son who is consecrated by
God forevermore What is it to eat strong meat? What is it to go on unto perfection? It's to rest in, rely upon, fellowship
with, talk to, love the Lord Jesus Christ. knowing that all those doctrines
are true, but they are not an end within themselves. They are
a means to that man. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we confess to you our complete dependence upon your Holy Spirit. to move our hearts, to open our
hearts, to cause us to set our affection on Him,
to fellowship with Him, to feast on Him. Lord, let us go on to perfection,
for we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 114 in the sopectum. Now
let's stand together.