All right, if you'll take your
Bibles now and turn with me to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. The apostle having encouraged
the believers now to continue in the faith after giving them
such reasons for comfort and assurance as the eternal, immutable
promise of God and the hope the hope of Jesus Christ, our
refuge and anchor for our souls. He comes in chapter 7 now back
again to his initial point concerning the priesthood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You remember back in chapter
5, he ends this in verse 10, He ends with this, that the Lord
Jesus Christ, being a high priest, that he was called of God and
high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And now in chapter
7, he deals with this at great length concerning the priesthood
of Christ after this order of Melchizedek. And I've tried several
ways in my study at looking at this particular passage, but
I want to take verse 17 of chapter 7 as my text. Chapter 7 and verse 17, for He
testifieth. God testifieth of Christ. He says, Thou art a priest, forever
after the order of Melchizedek. And this is not the first time
that the apostle had mentioned this priesthood of Christ. In chapter 5 and verse 6, he
says, He saith in another place, Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. And in verse 10, we just now
are called a priest for after the order of Melchizedek. And in chapter 6 and verse 20
again, we read whether the forerunner is entered in, even Jesus made
an high priest after the order of Melchizedek. So you get the
point. He is arguing the point of Christ's
priesthood, priesthood of Jesus Christ. As we've studied, we can realize
and identify that the priesthood of Christ is a very deep and
vast subject. But there is none more vital
or necessary for us, for our comfort and for our encouragement
and for sinners. There's nothing more vital and
necessary for the salvation of sinners than the ground and foundation
for the comfort of the saints as the priesthood of Christ."
This subject is vital. This is why the apostle is spending
so much of his time concerning this subject. Now, this is because
God has ordained the institution of the priesthood as the only
means by which sinners are acceptable to God. This institution of the
priesthood is the only means by which sinners are able to
worship and approach unto God. It's clear throughout the Scriptures
that no man is saved. No man is saved apart from having
a priest and a sacrifice. No man is saved apart from that.
No man can approach unto God without an acceptable, an ordained
priest and an acceptable sacrifice. Now, the origin of the priesthood
is laid out in the eternal purpose and mind of God. Remember our
text, Thou art a priest, How long? Forever. The priesthood
of the Lord Jesus Christ is forever. It is an eternal priesthood. Therefore, this institution of
the priest is something in the mind and purpose of God from
eternity. And yet in Scripture, as we go
along in Scripture, God lays out in great detail He sets forth
in the Levitical priesthood this matter of offering a sacrifice. But this priesthood of the law
was only a type and a picture. All of the priests in the Old
Testament were meant for this to be a type and a picture of
this priest. this priest that God ordained,
which God testifieth, thou art a priest forever." After the order of Melchizedek. And of his offering, it is said
in Revelation 13 that he was a lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Yet now this origin of the institution
of the priesthood, though eternal in the purpose of God and made
clearer by the Old Testament law, the Levitical law, God gives
us this priesthood even from the beginning. This concept of
a priest and a sacrifice was even in the Garden of Eden. As soon as Adam fell, being dead
in his sins, separated from God, being depraved in his nature,
he could not and would not come to God. What does the Scripture
say concerning him when he heard the voice of God? It said Adam
hid himself. hid himself. And this is what
we all do by nature. Adam is truly our father. By nature, when we hear the voice
of God, when the Scripture is preached, what do men do? They
run. They run. They scatter. They don't want to hear it. By
nature, they are depraved. And yet, who seeks who? Who sought who? God sought Adam. God said, Adam, where art thou? Not for information, but God
has in meekness and great compassion and condescension, He came to
Adam. Why? Because God had a people. Because God had from eternity
purpose to save some. Because God had purposed that
Jesus Christ should be a priest forever. That's why he sought
Adam. God came to Adam in grace, exposed
his sin, but in great mercy gave him a promise. What was the promise?
What was the promise? The seed of the woman. A man. That's what he was saying. A man. A man, a seed of the woman shall
do what? Crush the head of the serpent. This pointed to one who was coming,
the Lord Jesus in His humanity, God's ordained priest forever. And what was his work? To crush
the head of the serpent. That was the promised work of
the high priest. The promised work of this high
priest was that he was to destroy the works of the devil. Sin,
death, hell. He should conquer them. Crush
them. He should redeem his people. from their sins. And thus by
His work, He should bring salvation to all that He represents. But how should He do this? How
should the seed of the woman crush the head of the serpent?
How should the priest, ordained forever after the order of Melchizedek,
how should he accomplish the work? He shall bruise His heel. By the crucifixion of Christ,
by the suffering of Christ, he should accomplish this. Seeing
his people are incapable of meriting or obtaining righteousness of
their own, God says of us, all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God, they are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. So then behold the mystery of
God's grace, that this priest ordained forever
was to come and crush the serpent's head by this one means of his
heel being bruised." This points us to the suffering of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our High Priest. This points us to the offering
that He must make for the sins of His people. Now, the Lord
then himself condescends to offer the first sacrifice, right after
he had offered the promise of a priest. He gave the work of
the priest, and he gave the means by which the priest should accomplish
his work, and then what did God do? God gave them an example. He gave them a picture by killing
the animals himself. The Scripture says that He clothed
them with the skins of those animals. You see, in order to
take their skins, He had to kill them. They must have died. And so then the Lord gives us
a picture of what Christ was to do by His offering. Cover
our nakedness. You see, the work of the priest,
ordained forever. By God He was to come to cover
our nakedness. Thus the Lord by this established
how sinners are saved." By that one instance, the first instance,
the first message that He preached, He established forever how sinners
are saved. How? Through the offering of
a priest. Not just any priest. The one
He had ordained forever to be a priest. See, sacrifices are necessary
and essential for the priesthood. What good is a priest if he doesn't
have a sacrifice? And what good is a sacrifice if you don't have
a priest to offer it? They're both necessary. You can't
have one without the other. The Apostle sets it forth in
Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 3. He sets this precedent forth. Chapter 8 and verse 3, he said,
For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices.
Wherefore, it is of necessity that this man, talking about
Jesus Christ, it is of necessity that this man have somewhat to
offer. You see, this is the only way
to God. The only acceptable way of worshiping
God is through a sacrifice, and thus being purposed by God and
established by God, this divine appointment of the necessity
of a priest and sacrifice was passed on from Adam to the next
generation. And as you can see, I'm going
to just show you one more, but in Cain and Abel, these two children,
the first two children that we have recorded of Adam and Eve,
both of them knew they needed a sacrifice. Did you know that?
Because they both offered one. They both understood they needed
a sacrifice and both of them seeking to worship God and be
accepted of God did offer a sacrifice. They both of them did. You see,
the principles established. God, by divine right, established
the principle that he purposed in eternity. Thou art forever
Christ, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He
established this even from the beginning. Now, Cain, being a
picture of all men by nature, he offered a sacrifice. And what was his sacrifice? His sacrifice was the fruit of
His own hands. The work of His own hands. He
offered the best fruit that He could produce. He offered the
best that He had. The works of His hands from a
cursed earth. He offered the sacrifice from
a cursed earth. He offered, listen, a bloodless
sacrifice. A bloodless sacrifice. What do
men today offer to God who desire to be accepted by their works? They're offering a bloodless
sacrifice. And we know this, that Cain and
his sacrifice were not accepted. They were rejected. But Abel,
the Scripture says, by faith offered a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain. You see, Abel believed the message. He heard the message from his
parents that they received from God. And he believed the message
by faith and thus he offered what? A blood sacrifice. Blood sacrifice. He offered the
sacrifice that God had instituted. which sacrifice was a picture
of this priest who was to come and offer himself. And what happened to Abel? He
was accepted. His sacrifice first, I like this,
his sacrifice first was accepted. Then Abel was accepted. Without
that sacrifice, he could not be accepted. And listen, you
and I cannot be accepted if we don't have a sacrifice. Therefore, O man, behold your
need of both a priest and a sacrifice. To be made acceptable before
God, you need a priest, not one ordained by men, but rather a
priest ordained of God forever. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
priest. And the only acceptable sacrifice
is that sacrifice that that priest offered, which was the sacrifice
of himself to God. All of those who will be their
own priest and offer their own sacrifices have gone the way
of Cain and will not be accepted. But all those who seek to come
by God, by those man-made priests who offer bloodless sacrifices, whose works are just as corrupt
as the ones they offer Him for, they will not be accepted, but
rather denied and rejected of God. Therefore, behold, that
Jesus is the only ordained priest of God forever. And the only
sacrifice for sin is that which He offered upon that tree 2,000
years ago. There is no other offering. You see how limited this is?
There is no other offering you can offer. There is no offering
that God will accept or mix with that offering. It's it. There is no other offering, but
His. Now, according to the Scriptures,
we know this, that God did ordain earthly priests according both
by family and law. You remember before the law,
there was a priest given to every family. It was the father of
the family. He was the one that offered the
sacrifices. Noah offered sacrifices for his
family. He was the priest of his family.
Abraham offered sacrifices for his family. Job offered sacrifices
for his family. So at that time, before the Levitical
law, it was established that the head of the house was the
priest. But by the time the Levitical law came around, that changes.
Now then, it is only the tribe of Levi that is capable of doing
the priestly work, and only the sons of Aaron could be high priests.
So now then, it becomes limited to only those men. And these men did offer sacrifices
according to God's prescribed example. And later, according
to His written law given to Moses. But we are sure of this, that
all of these men and all of their sacrifices never removed one
sin. Consider the amount of blood
that had been shed from Abel to Zechariah. You couldn't measure. The flood
in Houston would be not enough. The blood would be infinitely
more than that. But I tell you, none of those
took away one sin. But only were to picture The
priesthood and the offering that Jesus Christ was to come and
offer. The one God ordained forever
to be a priest. And we're not left to our own
faculties to figure this out. God did not leave us to guess
that was true. I didn't guess that they weren't
effectual. I didn't guess that. God told
us that in His Word. Look at Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9,
verse 22. The apostle says concerning blood,
he says, and almost all things were purged. All things are by
the law purged with blood. And without shedding of blood
is no remission. You got that? Without the shedding
of blood is no remission. There's no remission of sin ever
instituted by God without the shedding of blood. It's necessary. It was therefore necessary that
the pattern of the things in heaven should be purified with
these things, but the heavenly things themselves with better
sacrifices than these, for Christ did not enter into the holy place
made with hands, which are figures of the true, but into heaven
itself, now appeared before God in the presence of God for us.
nor yet that he should offer often as the high priest entered
into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then
he must have often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put
away sin," how? By the sacrifice of himself.
There it is. All those things were a pattern.
They were a picture of this great and glorious thing that God had
purposed, that Christ should offer Himself not like them.
They offered their sacrifices year after year after year, which
showed us what? They weren't enough. They never
put away sin. If they put away sin, they would
have ceased the need to be offered. but because they were perpetual.
They were only a pattern of this one event that was to come. The
death of Jesus Christ, the offering of Himself. How many times did
Christ offer Himself? Once. Once. Once for all. Oh, see it? Once for all, old
brother, believe it. Cling to the cross and the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. You see, these things were a
pattern. And in chapter 10 and verse 12, the apostle says this,
But after this man, those priests, they daily ministered, daily
work, work, work, work, work, work. You know what piece of
furniture was never in that old tabernacle? You're sitting on
it. A chair. There was no chair in
that place. Why? Because their work was never
finished. But this man, after this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, sat down at the right
hand of God henceforth, expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. Behold then the Lord Jesus Christ
and see that he was the priest ordained of God from eternity. He alone was foreordained, foreshadowed,
and pictured by those priests and by their offering. But now
has this great high priest come, the seed of the woman, a priest
taken from among men to offer gifts and sacrifices and things
pertaining to God, which offering he freely gave to satisfy the
justice of God forever. You who are his people. You are the elect church of God. Consider our plague. Consider your ruin. And yet God before devised a
plan to save us. A plan that is called the Council
of Peace, the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things. And sure,
the Father having purposed the Son to be the priest forever,
to offer the only acceptable sacrifice, which the Son agreed
and the Spirit agreed to apply this to the elect. Behold the
glory and grace of God to make Christ the only mediator and
surety of the covenant. Consider the great wisdom of
God in doing this. That God laid all the responsibility
of our salvation on Him. And is that not wise? Is that
not wisdom? Man's wisdom is, lay it on me!
I can do it! God's wisdom is, no, you can't.
You're ruined. You could not. And the wisdom
of God, He said, I know I'll put it on my son. He'll do it. And the son said, I'll do it. And the Spirit said, I'll apply
it. He is the only mediator and surety of our covenant. On Him
alone rests all the weight of God's glory and the salvation
of His church. The Lord Jesus Christ then to
be priest undertook to be our head, our advocate, our mediator,
our redeemer and surety. You remember what First time
that word surety is used in scripture, it was in Genesis 44, I think
43, when Judah told Jacob, I'll be a surety for the lad. If I bring him not again, let
me bear the blame. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our
surety. And He said to the Father, I
will be a priest forever. I will offer the acceptable sacrifice
for them. And if I bring them not again
to Thee, let me bear the blame. All the responsibility weighs
on Him. And go back to Hebrews chapter
7 and verse 25, Paul says of him, this is what he says of
our high priest, ordained forever after the order of Melchizedek.
He says this of him. In verse 25 of chapter 7, he
says, Wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost
that come to God by him. See, He ever liveth to make intercession
for them. To make intercession. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ,
having accomplished the work of our salvation by offering
Himself, He has another work which is part of His priesthood.
It is called the intercessory work. The intercessory work. He liveth forever to make intercession. The continual work of our priest
forever is to intercede on the behalf of his people. Now, the reasonable question
would be, well, if Christ has already perfected, if he's already
offered the sacrifice, and all sin has been put away by the
sacrifice of himself, why then must he need to intercede for
us? Don't let reason get the best
of you. He should intercede because God said he would. I think that's
the best answer for us. Set it aside. But let us consider this anyway.
After Christ offered Himself, God was pleased. Now He comes by His Spirit to
quicken us and give us life and faith to apply the blood to our
hearts. Are then we free from sinning?
When you're saved, were you free from sinning? Are you done? Have
you finished sinning? You're all better now. There's no need for an intercessor. No, we still have this flesh
and this old man that is not changed. That which is born of
flesh is flesh. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. Therefore, we are still prone to any sin. Even though we are given the
holy nature, made partakers of the divine nature, created after
God in true holiness, His workmanship created in Christ Jesus, yet
we must confess that we still live in this depraved body of
sin. And because of this two natures,
then is there a warfare within us? Is this warfare not your constant
experience? The flesh lusteth against the
spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these two are
contrary one to the other, so that you cannot do, cannot do
what you would. What would your spirit do? It
would soar to heaven. It would bow to Christ. It would
serve Christ. It would love Christ with all
of your being. And yet, because of the flesh,
it cannot. So prone to sin and fighting
against this flesh, against wicked thoughts that creep into our
mind without permission. We who believe on Christ are
so full of unbelief. Our love for Christ is so low. And so often these things, we
do things that offend Him. Therefore, John says to us, little
children, sin not. If you didn't have any sin, why
would He tell you not to sin? Sin not. Flee fornication. Be not slothful in the things
of God. Grow in the grace and knowledge
of Christ. And serve not sin. Awake to righteousness and sin
not. Yet knowing our nature, that
loathsome nature in us, John says this, but when you
sin, here's your comfort. We have
an advocate with the Father. Do you see now your need of intercession? Because you still have sinned,
we must seek mercy, forgiveness, pardon daily. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, so then let us confess our sins. Why? Because our priest is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins. He's faithful. Now then the question comes,
how long will he intercede for us? How long? There are times
when God does because of our sin withdraw His presence from
us? He can and does draw His hand
of protection and allow the powers of hell to assault our soul?
It's then we ask, will You cast us off forever? And His answer is always the
same. I will never leave Thee, nor
forsake Thee. Why? You have an advocate, even
Jesus Christ, your faithful high priest, who intercedes for you
daily. And I love this picture. Over
in Numbers chapter 16, Israel sinned against God again, defying
Moses and Aaron and said, who are they? Who are you? We're
going to kill you and take your position as priest. And God said
to Moses and Aaron, stand back and I'll kill every one of them.
And Moses said, go quickly. Grab a fire, a coal from the
altar and light incense and bring it. And Aaron ran and he grabbed
that coal and that incense and God had already started to kill
Israel. And he stood between the dead
and the living with the coal. You want to know why you're not
dead? because Christ intercedes for
you. He, the only thing standing between
you and eternal damnation, is Jesus Christ, your High Priest. And He does this every day. Why do you think the wounds aren't
healed in His body? He presents them every day. Father, look. I died for Him. But there's sin. But Father,
look my side. I paid the price daily. His wounds bleed. Therefore,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed." And you know what? You won't
ever be consumed. You won't ever be consumed. Because
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our faithful high priest, the
scripture says this, by His one offering, He hath obtained for
us eternal redemption. Eternal redemption. And Isaiah
tells us this, that He satisfied the justice of God by the offering
of His soul. Therefore God hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name that's above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow." You know what? I gladly bow. Why? He is the high priest, ordained
of God to offer the sacrifice of himself, and God was forever
pleased with his sacrifice. And even today he intercedes
for me. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. I don't have time, but we'll
get into that, or we'll in the last part of that, after the
order of Melchizedek. It shows the, this man is a picture
of Christ, of his priesthood, and how it extends without beginning
and without end. That's my priest. And his sacrifice
is the only thing that stands between me and eternal damnation. And you believers should not
worry. God says, say you to the righteous,
it is well with him. Why? You have a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. And his sacrifice is eternally
accepted. Therefore, you are accepted. I pray God blesses to you.