Take our Bibles and turn with
me to the book of Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. The verses that I'd like to speak
out of tonight, speak from tonight, are verses 25 to 28. I've entitled
this, Saved to the Uttermost, Let's read verses 25 to the end
of the chapter and then ask our Lord's blessing. Wherefore, He is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for them. 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 sacrifices, 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 infirmity, but the word of the oath which was since
the law maketh the Son who is consecrated forevermore." Let's
pray together. Our Father, we come this evening
and we thank You that we have this time to be able to worship
in hearing the glorious gospel of our blessed Savior. Lord,
we ask you, would you bless the Word tonight? Lord, bless it
to our understanding and our comfort. Instruct us. Teach us by your Holy Spirit.
We pray for Darris and for his family. Lord, we thank you for
the hope that we have in Christ. Oh, the blessings to settle our
hearts down. Thank you again for this time.
Bless the Word we ask for Christ's sake. Amen. We can never be thankful or mindful enough for having a great high priest. Knowing something of our need
and his ability and his office gives us somewhat of an understanding
of the appreciation that we have for him. I say somewhat of an
understanding because We don't realize how wonderful it is. We are so bound up in our ability
to comprehend. And we know that as He being
our High Priest, we know it's wonderful. Oh, how wonderful! By the grace of God that is coming
today, we are going to know. We will see Him as He is. That
which makes Him as our High Priest in our understanding is what makes our realization
as being fallen in Adam so keenly great. Realizing what we are
has fallen in Adam. And knowing that we have Him
that intercedes for us, that lives for us, pleads for us,
and Almighty God accepts us in Him as God Almighty, our blessed
Father, accepts Him. except Him and us in Him. Pleased, pleased,
pleased. Because of Adam's rebellion in
the garden, you know that all mankind was plunged into the
depth of despair and sin and death. Listen to this, Romans
5.12, "...wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world,
and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned." I got to reading that a few minutes
ago, and I got to thinking about this, where it says, "...wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered into the world, Now you know the Scripture
says, For God so loved the world. The arrangement. The order of
mankind. God loved this order. He loved
this order. I was thinking as I was telling
you a little bit a few minutes ago about Brother Darris. I was thinking back when I was
looking at him just a few minutes ago. And it passed through my
mind the amazing thought that Almighty God would set His affection
upon creatures such as we are, helpless, frail. He can't help himself. I looked at how helpless he is
just laying there. And I thought, you know what?
There is no difference in Him and me or anybody else. Just
help. Almighty God, by one man, sin entered into
the world. And death by sin. So therefore,
by Adam's rebellion, all men are born rebels against God,
unable Unwilling, unloving, alienated from Christ, alienated from the
life of God. Strangers, the Scripture says,
to the covenant of promise and having in themselves, listen
to this, no hope. Having in themselves no hope. And Paul says, and without God
in the world, lost, spiritually dead, and having no ability whatsoever
to reconcile themselves back to God. Now, that's hopelessness.
That's absolute hopelessness. It's mockery to tell a man, you're
lying to him, but it's mockery to tell a man that God's done
all He can do. Now it's up to you. It's up to
you. If you'll take one step toward
the Savior, my friend, that's what they say. And I've heard
it said by others wiser than I. But if you can take one step,
you can take them all. That's right. Hopeless. Hopeless. Now because of our
state before God as being sinners, this is what we need. This is
our only hope. Now, I'm going to tell you tonight,
in just a few minutes, I want to talk about our desperate need
of a great high priest. Our need is to have one who,
in our nature, the high priest must be a man. That's what Hebrews
5.1 says, for every high priest taken from among men is ordained
for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both
gifts and sacrifices for sin. So here's what we need. We need
one who is of our nature, flesh and blood, Our great High Priest
must be a man. But our great High Priest must
also be God to give merit, to give efficacy to the office. That means to be able to get
the job done. Only God can forgive sin. Only
God can atone for sin. We need a true man. We need a man. And we need God. He's got to be a man in order
to be the representative of His people. I mean, by one man, sin
entered the world. Now, this is what it's going
to take. There's got to be one. There's got to be the champion. There's got to be the captain.
There's got to be one that can stand as the representative.
One that Almighty God has set apart. This is the one that I
have set forth to be the representative of the people. And I will look
to Him only. And all that he does is going
to be accounted to them. He's got to be totally a man.
If he wasn't a man, he could not, as a man, answer the demand
of God's law. It had to be a man to be obedient. It had to be a man to suffer. If he was not man, he could not
have died. thereby redeem the mortgaged
inheritance of God's elect. He has got to have a body that
will bleed, a body that will actually die. God cannot die,
but we have to have one, and this is the bottom line. This
is our representative right here. This is the one that God's going
to look to for answer. Our great High Priest. He must
be a priest of God's appointment. He's got to be a priest forever. He can't be like the Order of
Aaron that died He has to be one who in Himself is holy, immutable,
one that never changes. Our great High Priest must be
Jehovah Himself because only God can please Himself. He must be one that is set apart. to that office. One that is consecrated
to that office. That means that he is permanently
set apart to that office right there. Never changes, never changes,
never deviates, never leaves. He must be one that can offer
an accepted sacrifice for sin, one that truly pays the debt. And only Almighty God knows the
debt. Only God knows the depth of the
debt. We have sinned against an eternal
God. So the payment that is made must
be a payment that can answer for an eternity. of rebellion. That's why I've said that's why
men leave this world without the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
why they will suffer eternally in hell because they've sinned
against an eternal God and their debt will never be paid. Our
high priest has to be one who can make petitions for those
that he represents and one that can personally appear in the
very presence of God on their behalf. And by the pleading of
His own worth, pleading His worth on their behalf,
God accepts them totally on His merit. The one that He has agreed
to answer for all that the Father has given Him. And He has to also not only be
a man, one that can die, one that can obey, one that can walk
before God Almighty's law, be scrutinized, but He has to Himself
be able to bestow The blessings of God upon men. And only God
can bless men. Here's the blessing. Here's the
blessing of God. All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. He personally has to be able
personally to bestow Grace and mercy and compassion and pardon,
and it has to be righteously bestowed. It has to be His to
give. That's what I'm saying. It has
to be His, and He gives it. And so here you have God Almighty
that can bestow graciously on all that He's chosen to show
mercy to, and man himself. who can obey God and walk before
God and be obedient to God's law and suffer, bleed and die
and be associated with those that He's represented. He has
to be perfectly, totally man and God. Now, being the great high priest
and mediator and the advocate between God and man, he has to
be suited perfectly in interest to both parties. He's the mediator
to be able to touch both parties and to be able to show mercy,
to bestow mercy, to be obedient, and nothing at the expense of
justice can be put away. Nothing can be just swept under
the rug. Everything has got to be out
in the open. Everything is viewed by God Almighty
and both parties that He represents. Neither one can suffer wrong.
Everything has got to be done exactly. I am a just God. Just God. I mean, I know how
our law system is. We've got plea bargains and we've
got this. Well, if you'll plea to a lesser crime, it's not with
God. Not with God. I mean, whatsoever is owed before
God Almighty, that's the payment. That's what it's got to be. Well,
this glorious priest is found, you know this, in only one. The
Lord Jesus Christ, our prophet, priest, and King. Verse 25, Wherefore,
he is able also to save them to the uttermost. In the margin
of my Bible it says evermore. He is able also to save them
evermore that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them. All that come unto God by Him
and all that the Father has given Him are going to come. He's able to save them forever. Those that come powerfully, mercifully,
made willing in the day of His power. Remember this, God's people
are not made robots that do something against their will. No. They do exactly what they
want to do. They want to come. They want
to come. And they come to Him as needy,
helpless sinners. And they know that they are coming
is by the grace of God. They know that Almighty God has
already given them imparted life for them to come. They came because
they heard. They heard His voice. My sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. All that the Father has given
me shall come to me. A man or woman that comes to
Christ comes because God's given them life. An eternal life. That's what He said. I give them
eternal life. They'll never perish. So He's
able to save them to the uttermost. Now, this is what I know right
now. If Almighty God has given me
a heart to come by faith as a needy, helpless sinner, and I know,
I know in my I realize this. It's not because I was sincere
enough. I'm embarrassed because of my sincerity or my insincerity. It grieves me because of that.
But I know this. That which I do, coming to Him,
is willing. I want to come. They're able. They come to Him. He saves them
to the uttermost. as God Almighty, the Lord Jesus
Christ, God's Lamb, offered Himself obedient. Obedient. God Almighty as a Son that is
obedient. And He Himself as the great high
priest, that high priest back in the Old Testament. Remember
what they would do? They'd take a lamb and they'd
put that lamb, that priest would take a lamb and put it on an
altar and slay that animal. That animal had to die. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's altar. He's God's priest. And He's God's
sacrifice. Let me show you something about
Him being the altar. Turn with me to Exodus 20. Exodus
chapter 20. Men talk about coming down to
the altar. Now, listen. We've got one altar. And it's
not down in front of the church. OK? We've got one altar. Let
me read you something about what God will accept as an altar. Exodus 20, verses 24 to 26. An altar. Exodus 20, 24. An altar of earth. Now you think about this already.
I just read this now. Earth. Christ became a man. Think about His humanity. Think
of His humiliation. An altar of earth. thou shalt
make unto me, and shall sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings,
thy peace offerings, thy sheep, thy oxen, in all places where
I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. If thou wilt make me an altar
of stone, thou shalt not build it with hewn stone, For if thou
lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt
thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be
not discovered thereon." Now this is what God accepts. This
is the altar that God is going to accept. Nothing that is polluted
by man's hand. Nothing. God Almighty is not
going to accept anything sacrificed to Him that is on or made by
or produced by a fallen creature. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
altar. No man's hand, no fallen man
in Adam ever helped Him. That's why I told you about when
Uzzah, was it Uzzah? that touched the ark when the
ark was on the cart and David was pulling it. It looked like
the ark was going to fall and he was going to reach out. It's
just steady. That's all he was doing. I don't doubt for a second
that he had that ark's best at heart. He just didn't want it
to fall. I understand that. But when he
touched it and put his hand on it, God killed him. God is not going to be helped
by man. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
altar. He said, you put your hand to
it. You polluted it. Do you see how foolish it is
when men think that they themselves think about what? Listen to what
we're reading. Listen to what God demands for
acceptance. What God demands for acceptance
in a priest What God demands for acceptance in a sacrifice.
What God demands for acceptance in an altar. And then men will
say, I by my free will, I by my own ability, I did this. Look at what He has done. Do
you think, do I think, does anybody, can anybody think that God Almighty
is going to accept anything less than absolute holiness. This is what we must have a high
priest, one that God Almighty accepts. He's the altar. He is the sacrifice. In his own body, he shed his
blood as the sacrifice for a sweet-smelling offering. unto His Father. When He died, that precious,
holy Lord Jesus Christ, when He laid down His life as the
priest, He's the priest. I lay down my life. There He
is. There's the priest and the sacrifice.
I lay down my life by His obedience upon the altar
before God Almighty. And when the Lord Jesus Christ,
as our great high priest, priest, sacrifice, altar, when he himself
laid down his life at Calvary, and there as the substitute,
perfect substitute, perfect substitution, substitution, one in the place
of the other, He hath made him sin, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him as our perfect
substitute. There he whose message was marred
more than any man, beat and beat and beat, and there is our substitute
and all of his people in him. There he is representing all
of his people. And he knew his own. He knows
him by name. He knew who he was dying for.
He is God Almighty. And there, under the indescribable
justice of Almighty God, it pleased God to bruise him. And when he
bruised him, as the Lamb made sin, and when he died under the
judgment of Almighty God, in our stead, God Almighty smelled the savor
of that sacrifice. And that sweet smelling savor
of obedience and love for the Father and for
His own. And the Father smelled that savor.
And He was satisfied. It pleased Him. It pleased God. to bruise Him. And the way I
know He was satisfied was three days later, God raised Him from
the dead. Accepted. And all of us accepted
in Him. He's able to save them to the
uttermost. To the uttermost of God's eternal
ability that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth. to make intercession for them.
Back in Hebrews 7, verse 26, For such an high priest became
us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher
than the heavens. He became us who is holiness
Himself. Perfectly holy in His nature. Harmless. No guile found in His
mouth. Undefiled. No evil could affect
Him. Separate from sinners. No defilement
from Adam in His body. Blood of Adam didn't flow in
His body. He was conceived by the Holy
Ghost. Not by a fallen man. Made higher
than the heavens by inheritance, He's obtained a more excellent
name than they. Higher than the heavens. Higher
than the angels. Angels He puts no trust in His
creatures. counts His angels as folly. You know why? They are susceptible
to fall. A third of them did. He didn't
put any trust in them. He made higher than them. God
puts no trust in any but His Son. But as to Him, He is beyond all creation. Verse 27 says, Who needeth not
daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for
His own sins and then for the people's. For this He did once
when He offered up Himself. I told you about those priests
that come in every day. Offer, offer, offer. They had to make offerings for
themselves first because they were sinners. God demanded that they make a
sacrifice for themselves. He didn't need that. The Scripture
says, He needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up.
Why? Because He's holy. The Beloved
Son. Perfect. Nothing in Him defiled. Nothing in Him that the Father
looked upon and would say anything other than, pleased. Pleased. Oh, the power and the
efficacy of His blood put away the guilt of His people eternally
by one sacrifice. one time, this grand, glorious
gospel, the gospel that we believe by faith and look to, looking
unto Him, the Author, the Finisher of our faith. And even now, while
we see through a glass darkly, we still see and we rejoice And
we think to ourselves, soon. Very soon. A few more setting
suns at most. These days, I was reading how
these days are just like a weaver's wheel spinning. It's just so
fast. It's so fast. I was talking to
a buddy of mine today Tennessee, and he and I, I've known him
a long time, 25 plus years. I told him, I said, Bob, isn't
it amazing how we look back now and we think how quickly this
is gone. I just have, it's just a breath. That's what the scripture says.
Just a vapor. Just a moment. Verse 28, last verse, For the
law maketh men high priests which have infirmity, but the word
of the oath which was since the law maketh the son who is consecrated
forevermore. daily to offer up for themselves
and then for the peoples. He said the law made men like
that high priest. Men who had to offer blood for
themselves and then for the errors of the people. The lost priests
were many and they had personal sins. And they died because they
were sinners. They had no hope in them. But the word of the oath, that's
what it says, the word of the oath. What word is that? That's
God's oath. God has sworn and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. No record of birth, death. Oh, I'm not talking about as
he was born in His humiliation. I'm not talking about that. I'm
talking about the eternal God. He who ever liveth. He who has
always stood. He who has always answered. The oath of Almighty God that
made Christ a priest. That order, that oath declares
His unchangeable priesthood. And let me just give you a word
of encouragement that's an encouragement for me. I know we struggle. I know we do. But thanks be unto
God that it's not how much I realize how much I've rebelled because
I don't. I know in myself, I was thinking
this morning, I was trying to read, just trying
to spend some time, just trying. And this verse of Scripture came
to my heart while I was struggling and I struggle. Lord, if you
should mark iniquity, if you marked iniquity, If you
mark the slightest infraction, who could stand? Who could stand? And I was so thankful that when
my heart condemns me, God's greater than my heart. He's not looking at me for my
obedience and my ability He ever sees the blood. He ever liveth
to make intercession for His people. He has put away guilt. God Almighty. I mean, the longer
we go through this world, the more we're in this world, the
more we'll struggle with ourselves. And the more we'll look unto
Him and be thankful, seeing through a glass darkly. But oh, bless
God's saints. and realizing, but for the grace
of God, where would I be? May the Lord bless these words
to our hearts and give us a heart of understanding and appreciation
as we struggle in this old nature concerning our great High Priest.
For Christ's sake, Amen.