Bibles and turn with me to the
book of Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8. I'd like to look at two verses,
first two verses. Let's read verses 1 and 2 and
ask our Lord's blessing. Now the things which we have
spoken And 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. Let's pray together. Our Father, how wonderful it
is to be here in Your presence, that You would allow us the privilege
to be able to come together and assemble in Your name, realizing
that all things in this are ordered according to your purpose and
will, pleasure, and that you would have good pleasure to cause
us to come together and to assemble around the hearing of the blessed
Lord Jesus. Forgive us where we have thought
lightly of this, where we have not thought aright, where we
have been remiss in not being thankful. And Lord, how unthankful
we are. Would You bless the Scriptures
tonight? Open our hearts. Speak to us, we pray, for Christ's
sake. Amen. The Apostle Paul begins this chapter this evening,
and he's summing up everything that we've previously considered. But not only what He said to
the Hebrews, but all things that have been
set forth and preached concerning the glorious salvation of God's
elect. This is it. of the things which we have spoken,
this is the sum. This is the totality. When we come together, we're
not here to debate the moral issues of this world. We're here
to hear concerning the glory of Almighty God in the person
of His blessed Savior. This is the substance of the
things which we've spoken. This is the psalm. And here it
is. All of it. We have such a high
priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in the heavens. That word such is very interesting. That word is this sort. We have this sort of high priest. The high priest that we have
is one that was sent from Almighty God. While we're even considering
what we're looking at right here. This is the most amazing. We're
talking about things right now that absolutely is so far beyond
our comprehension. To be able to enter in to the
depth. I know that there's coming a
time when we're going to see by sight. And we're going to
understand then. And right now by faith, we perceive. But oh, how little do we perceive.
And then how quickly Does it just fade away? John 20, 21 says, Peace be unto
you, as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. We have a
high priest. Hebrews 7, 26 says, Who became
us, fitted to our need. Our High Priest sent from God Almighty
who is fitted perfectly to what we need, who the Scripture says
in that same verse, verse 26 of chapter 7, who is holy and
undefiled, unaffected by sin. separate from sinners, no defilement
in Adam's fall, and made higher than the heavens, in that by
inheritance he has obtained a more excellent name than they." The
Messiah, the Anointed One, the High Priest. Oh, the wonder of
being able to enter in by faith and believe that Almighty God
has sent a High Priest that will answer for, stand for all of
those that God Almighty has given Him in electing grace. Our great
High Priest is Jehovah Himself joined To our nature. The writers said we beheld His
glory. Touched Him. Knew who He was. Veiled in human flesh. Watched Him. Heard Him. And right
now, by faith, we're doing the same thing. And just as surely,
no, no. More surely than we're sitting
here. More surely. Our minds are wandering. We're frail. We see through a
glass darkly. He's here. Beholding. Hearing. Just the very thought. Carl,
that arrests me when I think about it. He hears. He hears. He knows. He sees. How thankful
I am that He knows that I am dust and frail. And here He is, the long-suffering,
gentle, meek, kind. For the sake of His honor, His
Father's choice, I do all things, He said, for the elect's sake.
We have one who has fulfilled all that was demanded for obedience. before God Almighty and has satisfied
God's law. Now, we're standing here tonight
listening, beholding, seeing Him who is the sum of everything
that's spoken. This is the sum of all. We have
a high priest. Now, he's not like the priest
of the Old Testament, of the order of Aaron, those that never
could The Scripture says we have such, we have a sort. This sort
of a high priest. Here is the sort. Here is the
one. There is but one. He is set on the right hand of the throne
of the majesty in the heavens. Now here's what we know. It's
finished. Finished. We're living out our lives right
now according to His blessed will and purpose. And we go day
by day closer to that time that one day we'll see Him. And we know it. He's not like
those in the Old Testament. Hebrews 10, 11 says, Every priest
standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifice which could never take away sin.
This is the sort that we have. This is the one. Our great High
Priest is set down. There is no more work. He is not as the High Priest
in the wilderness who offered that sacrifice on the Day of
Atonement. They would take the blood of
that animal once a year. They would go within the veil. Now you think about this. They
would go within that veil one time a year, and the Scripture
says, not without blood. They would stand and they would
take the blood of that animal and they would sprinkle that
blood upon the mercy seat, fulfilling their yearly duty. That's what
they had. Once a year, they would go and
then they would back off and leave. And they're not there
anymore. There's not a high priest there.
One day and 364 days out of the year, there was no priest in
that Holy of Holies. But our high priest, Hebrews
7.27, who needed 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. Oh, the comfort of knowing right
now. I am in great need. And you are
too. I need to be kept. I need to
be sustained. I need to be upheld. I need those
everlasting arms. I need one to keep me from falling. I need one to pray for me. I
need one to beseech God Almighty to have mercy on me. And the
Scripture says, everything that we've said, everything we've
spoken, This is the totality of it. We have a high priest. And he's sitting down. And Almighty
God is satisfied. Sitting on the right hand, that
place of authority, that place of power. I looked at it on the
right hand. You hear about that, sit down
by my right hand. This is what it is. This is what
it says. Place of honor. Can you imagine God Almighty
saying to our substitute, God Himself in flesh? I don't understand all that I
can even read about that glorified flesh. I do know this. He did
tell His apostles after He was risen, He said, touch Me. The
Spirit doesn't have flesh and bone like I do. Touch Me. I'll
take some of that fish you're eating there. I'll take some
of that honey. And He ate. He just glorified flesh. Flesh that I cannot perceive
right now, but by faith I know this, that one day all that the
Father has given Him, all that He has redeemed is going to be
just like Him, made likened to Him, seated with Him, seated
with Him upon His throne. Oh, the wonder! of one that we
have to answer for us. Suffered, being made sin, bore
the penalty of God's broken law for all those that the Father
had given Him, fell in Adam, but a people that God was not
going to let perish. This is good news. I've said
this before. I've told the folks out in the
Dow's organ, I said this message right here is the only message
that has any sustenance to it. This is the only message that
is sure. This is the only message that
is steadfast. It's got any validity to it whatsoever. Everything else is hope in man's
fickle, ability, which is nothing. I know, I know that this message
is going to be blessed. Almighty God has set forth, my
word will not return unto me void. It shall accomplish the
purpose for which it is set. We have a high priest set down
on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens.
The Father chose the people, put them in His Son. Just like
when God put Noah and his wife and three sons and their wives
and those animals, God put them in that ark. Those animals that were in there. Look at the symbolism of God's
electing grace. I mean, just looking at the animals.
God was not going to let All those animals perish. So He just
took some. Some of them, there were two
of them. Some of them, there were seven of them. And God put them
in there. God kept them in there. And God
closed the door. And just as the Lord put Noah
and all of the others in that ark and preserved them, God has
preserved His people. God's Lamb, God's priest, he
laid down his life and entered into the very presence of God
with the accepted sacrifice himself. He is blind. And with that entrance, he never
left. Those high priests of the Old
Testament, one time a year, and 364 days there was no priest
there. But we have such a high priest
who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in the heavens. He purged our sins. He bore the
guilt of our sins. And how do we know this? God
raised him from the dead. He ascended into heaven. Those
apostles watched Him be received up into the clouds. It said two
angels were standing there and said, You men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing into the heavens? Listen to this promise. This
same Jesus that they had just talked to. They had just talked
to Him. They heard Him talk. And they
watched Him just rise up. This same Jesus that
you see ascending to heaven is going to in like manner come
back. And that same Jesus that those
angels spoke of, our blessed Lord and Savior, in the very
body that he came out of that grave in. He is right now seated
at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens.
God said he's there. And by faith, we know he's there. And by faith, we know he's right
here. in the midst of us. And right now we know by faith
He lives within us. Glory of all glories. This is
the Son. We have a high priest sitting
on the right hand. The advocate of the church. The one that the Father always
hears. The Lord Jesus Christ asks nothing
that His Father doesn't give Him. Because He does only always
those things that pleases Him. Ask only according to His will. Ask, He said. Ask. And even right
now, I pray, Lord, would You be pleased to bless this to our
hearts? Would You bless this Word to
our understanding? Lord, these words that we are
considering right now, That blessed passage, two verses of Scripture,
and Almighty God would be pleased to bless that Word to our heart. You could ignite our heart, Lord,
would you? All of the needs that we have, He's accomplished. My God shall supply all your
needs. according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. That's
what Paul said. Philippians 4.19. Here the Apostle
states, this is the sum of all the Scriptures that tell God's
people this. This is the message. Here's the
sum of it. Tell God's people. Comfort God's
people. Tell them that the One that has
everlastingly loved them and stood as their surety has lived
before God's law as their federal head, and God satisfied. Tell them that God Almighty in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ has suffered as their
substitute at Calvary, shedding His own blood and has put away
their debt. God's people owe nothing. to God's law. It's finished. between God's elect and Almighty
God. Who is He? Verse 2, He is a minister
of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched,
and not man. The priest of the order of Aaron,
they served Really, there's two things that's being talked about
right here. And I'll just briefly state what both of them are.
They served in an earthly sanctuary, tabernacle. It was a tabernacle
that was made out of skins, wood. It had beautiful, beautiful furniture,
the golden candlestick, the showbread table, the golden laver. But it was an earthly tabernacle. Our blessed Lord and Savior is
the minister of the sanctuary that the Lord pitched. Heaven itself. The Old Testament
priests, they did serve in a sanctuary. But consider the sanctuary where
He is. Heaven itself. That place that
He ascended as our victorious High Priest, received by God
Almighty. And there He sits. They never
sit. He always sits. That sanctuary on earth was a
type. of the Holy of Holies. But that's where He is. In heaven
itself. So therefore, when it says, a
minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched and not man. Heaven itself. The very presence
of God Himself. So the place where they ministered. They ministered in a place made
of earthen things. He's in heaven. But also, they
ministered in a fallen body. These priests, these were men,
fallen men. fell in Adam. They were men and
they died. They could not. Their ministry
lasted only as long as they did. And another one took their place.
And another one took their place. And another one. He ever liveth
to make intercession. He is the one who of himself
has pleased God Almighty. No one else. They were pictures. He's the fulfillment. They were
in an earthen tabernacle. He's in heaven itself in the
very presence of God Almighty. They in a fallen nature, men
susceptible to death, But he is the minister of the sanctuary,
the true tabernacle himself. He is the true. In fact, that word true tabernacle,
it's the truthful habitation. It's exactly what it is. That
very body that the Scripture says was prepared him. It was
the one that the Lord pitched. His body did not come from natural
generation like you and I know of. He was conceived by the Holy
Spirit. The fallen blood of Adam did
not run in His veins. This is God's priest. This is our priest. We've got
a hope. The Apostle says this is the
Son. This is the totality. This is
everything that we've spoken of. This is all we will speak
of by the grace of God. This is the hope of God's people. This is what I want to know.
This is what you need to know. This is what we all want to know.
Tell me again, we have such a high priest who sat 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. May Almighty God bless these
words to our heart and cause us for just a moment to muse
upon the wonder of what's really going on right now. We go through
every day and we go about our business. places and things that
were going on. And it came across my mind a
couple of days ago. I was looking at beautiful, beautiful
mountains and things that I don't see every day. And I was telling
Brother Norm, I said, you know, you look at all of this earth Look at all these people. Look at these people that are
passing us on the interstate. People that we go into this place
and talk to. And except for the grace of God
that would teach us, we would have no idea that everything
that's going on around us has one purpose. It is the fulfillment
and the accomplishment of what God Almighty is pleased to do.
in the bringing about of His people. Everything that goes on, everything
that happens, and just to be able to stop for just a moment
and reflect on the surety and the absoluteness of having one
that is right now at the right hand of God in our nature There's
a man seated on the throne of God. Interceding for us right
now. A man. The God-man. An Almighty God. God Himself. Jehovah Himself. Here's Him. As He pleads, intercedes Himself. And for His sake, has mercy on
us right now. Lord, bless these words to our
heart for the sake of Your Son. Amen.