Hebrews 7. Let's read verses
22-28. Hebrews 7. 22-28. By so much, or in so many
ways, was Jesus made or declared or ordained to be a surety of a better testament, covenant. They truly, all the other priests,
were many priests because they were not suffered or allowed
to continue by reason of death. They all died. But this man,
because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them to the uttermost or forevermore that come unto God
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest the Lord
Jesus Christ became us, he who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made or declared to be higher than
the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high priests to
offer up sacrifice, first for his own sin and then for the
people's, but this he did, Christ did once when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests,
which have infirmity. But the word of the oath, God's
oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated
for evermore, maketh him, declareth Jesus Christ to be the great
high priest forever. after the order of Melchizedek. Much is said about Melchizedek,
much is said about The priesthood and the high priest. Seven chapters here in Hebrews
are devoted to the priesthood, the high priest. Not to mention
all the chapters in Exodus where the Lord first ordained it. And then the whole book of Leviticus,
as you know, is the Levitical, Levi, Levitical, law or the laws
and the ways of the high priest, the priesthood. Now, why is it
so important? Why is the priesthood, high priesthood,
so important? Why is so much written about
it? Well, God said it and God wrote it, so that makes it important. But here's the reason. Sinful men, sinful human beings
have to have a high priest. They have to have someone to
go to God for them, because God is holy. Here in Hebrews, the
last verse of chapter 12 says, Our God is a consuming fire. holy, dwelleth in light which
no man can approach unto." Now, that's told all through the Old
Testament. God said, don't let anybody come
near me, but one. God is holy. God is consuming
fire. And only someone who is holy,
and that means set apart dedicate, consecrated by God to come to
God on behalf of the people. Only one who is holy can go into
the presence of God. And look at verse 26 again. It
says, Our high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, became us who is
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, higher than the
heaven. And it goes on to talk, we're going to see how that he
entered into the holy place, not made with hands, not a tent,
not a building man-made that's just a symbol of God and heaven. But he entered into heaven itself.
Who shall ascend, Psalm 24 says, under the holy hill of the Lord?
Who can go into the very presence of God? One man. Jesus Christ,
the only one. And He does that for us. And
by doing that, Scripture says, He's opened the way for us. He's
opened the way for us. He tore the veil, remember, on
the cross so that all can go in. Alright, so much is spoken
of, much is written about the priesthood, the high priest who
would go to God. It's said back in chapter 5,
we have a high priest who is ordained for men in things pertaining
to God. He must offer gifts and sacrifices. God said that. Offer gifts and
sacrifices for men. Blood. And to make a long book short,
Christ offered Himself that unspeakable gift and the sacrifice of His
own precious blood, and God accepted it. I just preached the Gospel. He did that on behalf of sinners.
Alright? There's only one. There never really has been but
one high priest. We saw that Melchizedek came
who was the priest of the Most High God long before God said
anything about a priest. And we believe, and I'm sure,
that that was Christ Himself. 1 Timothy 2. Go over there real quickly. 1
Timothy chapter 2. There's only one person who represents
all of God's people. There always
has been one, and never will be, but one person. And that
person is the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at it. 1 Timothy 2, verse
5. There is one God. You have it? There is one God and one Mediator. One Mediator. One Mediator. You know that, don't you? It's
as plain as a nose on your face right here. Why don't people see that? They're
blind. And if you do, it's not because
you're smarter than anybody else. It's because the Father revealed
it to you. One mediator between God and
men. Not man, not mankind. Not all
men. Men. Not all man. men, his people. You remember the high priest
of old went in to offer the blood, and he had names written on his
breastplate and on his shoulders. The names of the people of Israel,
not the whole world. And that's what Christ said.
He said, I pray not for the world, but I pray for them that thou
hast given me. Christ said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. all that the Father giveth man."
So there's one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ
Jesus. The man, Christ Jesus. Not the
man, Pope Hippocrates IV. Not the man, Pope John Paul the
imposter. No, sir. Not the man, Christ
Jesus. There's one mediator. There's
one intercessor. There's one person to go to God
for us. There's just one. Not the woman,
Mary. The man, Christ Jesus. The man who is the priest, the
only one forever after the order of Melchizedek. I just listened to an old message
by him preached back in 1979. It was about the priesthood. It caught my eye. I dug down
an old big box full of old tapes, you know, and pulled some of
them out, and that caught my eye. The priesthood. Because
that's what we're looking at. So I listened to it. Outstanding. Outstanding. In fact, I told
him, I want you to listen to that again and preach it word
for word on the radio. But he said at the outset of
that message, he said we must, if we're true preachers of the
gospel, if we're preaching the truth, we must denounce all modern
religion, all of this that's called the priesthood today,
as false and damning the souls of those who believe in it. And it's so. That's what this
book says, because it's one. And if anyone tries to get to
God any other way than Christ the way, they're not going to
get to God. And if any man or any woman tells
people any other way, they're deluded, they're deceiving people. Now, so this is what we're going
to talk about from here on. Okay, I'm not going to deal in
depth with these verses, but this needs to be said for your
instruction. And it needs to be said boldly
and loudly and clearly. And if you have some friends
or family or whatever who are caught up in this false religion,
get a copy of this. I'm recording it. And give it
to them. The so-called priesthood that's in not only Roman Catholicism,
but Episcopalian religion, pretty much in bed with them.
If you saw the Roanoke Times, it had a picture of a so-called
ecumenical movement, meaning all the so-called churches and
faiths getting together. It had a picture of all of them.
There stood a Southern Baptist woman preacher right beside the
Roman Catholic priest and Episcopalian and on down the line. A whole
big line of them, you know, with their robes on and all that,
holding crosses. And they were all together to
show the unity of the faiths. Faiths. There's one faith, Ephesians
4 said, right? One faith. The so-called priesthood of Roman
Catholicism, Episcopalian religion, with its Pope, he's called Papa,
our Lord plainly said, the Lord Jesus Christ plainly said, call
no man father upon earth. Not meaning the man you were
born from, because God calls them fathers all through the
Scripture. But call no man your spiritual father. Don't call
him Papa. Don't call him Pope. Don't call
him Father so-and-so. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that. Who are we going to listen to? But all his popes, that's what
Papa means, Pope, Pope, Papa. And all his priests. twist and pervert the Scriptures
that say things like this. The Scripture says, He hath made
us kings and priests to God in Revelation. It says it a couple
of times. And Peter said, we're a royal
priesthood of chosen generation. That doesn't mean we put robes
on and walk around and hear people's confession of sins and pretend
to be absolved of their sins and pretend to go to God for
them and have special favors with God. That doesn't mean that.
It means every single believer, like the Old Testament priests,
common priests, serve the church of God. in little ways. It doesn't mean they have anything
to do with the forgiveness of sins or offering up anything
to God that he accepts on behalf of people. No, sir. He's made
us priests. We're all in the priesthood.
That means like the Old Testament priests. They were common priests. They were not allowed in the
Holy of Holies. They were not allowed to touch
the sacrifice. But they washed the dishes and
cut wood and swept the floor and made sure the candles were
trimmed and bread and all of that. One man, this Scripture
keeps saying over and over again, one man set apart by God Himself
would take the blood into the Holy of Holies representing sinners,
and that one man God would accept on behalf of everyone else. One
man. And those men were just men.
God didn't accept them. They were types and pictures
of the man, Christ Jesus. And the Lord went on and on to
say that the blood of bulls and goats never put away one sin. No human priest ever really absolved
anybody of any sin. They all represent Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about. That's
who it's all about. That's what priesthood is all
about. And so if anybody pretends to be a priest, they're false. They're wicked. It is anti-Christ. And I'm not condemning people,
Roman Catholics. I'm not coming down on people. I'm coming down on false religion.
I'm not condemning people, but the Scripture says, Christ said,
he that believeth not is condemned already. That's what John 3 says,
which people don't quote. They know John 3, 6, 8, but they
don't quote the 3, 8 thing. They're condemned already. He
that believeth not, the wrath of God abides on him. coming
down on people, they're no different than we were when we were in
false religion or in the gutter. We're no better than they, no
smarter than they, but who maketh anyone to differ? It's the grace
of God, the sovereign grace of God. the revealing truth of God
that causes anybody to come out of darkness into light. It causes
anybody to come out of false religion to the truth. God does
that. And really, Roman Catholicism,
Episcopalian religion, is no more false than Southern Baptist
free will religion that makes a God out of man's will. that bows to, they come down
front and bow to a soul winner named Billy Graham. Protestant
Pope. Right? And you heard with your
own ears that Billy Graham said there's another way. I showed
him to you on the screen one time. Remember that? He said
that people can be saved without even knowing who Jesus Christ
is. That's what he said. But people
bow to him and believe him and their salvation is through him. Well, if that's who they trust
and that's what they believe, they're damned. The same as those
who believe in a pope and all that and worship a woman named
Mary. All the prophets and apostles
all through the Scriptures denounced idolatry. They denounced it.
God kept denouncing it over and over again. And His judgments
upon Israel, His people, were when they mixed the truth with
idolatry. All the judgments of God were
because of idolatry. How plain can you get? What more
to you can He say than He has said? And false religion, and they
denounced false religion and false prophets along with declaring
the truth. Now see, you have to. You have
to. And sinful men who pretend to
be the vicar of Christ, that's what the Pope calls himself,
the vicar of Christ, the vicarious substitute of Christ. That is
the actual person who represents Jesus Christ on earth. That's
the vicar of Christ. That's what he said. That man
is anti-Christ. And that person who sits as Christ
in a so-called holy place and lets men bow to him and kiss
his stinking dirty feet is an abomination to God and lying
to men's souls, and he's wicked and perverted. And they even say, they've come
right out and said it recently, that Mary is the co-redemptress
with Jesus Christ. They've said that. They've come
right out and said it. Without apology, they've said
that Mary is the co-redemptress with Jesus Christ. That is Antichrist. I can't say it loud enough. I
can't say it clearly enough. where she on the earth would
rip her clothes like Peter and James and John and those that
they bowed down to. They called Peter the first Pope.
No, Peter, when they started to worship him, Peter ripped
his clothes and said, I'm just a man. I'm not God. I'm not Pope.
I'm just a preacher. I can't save anybody. Jesus Christ
is the Savior. Worship Him. Mary said, I'm my
servant, I will rejoice in God my Savior. Mary needed a Savior. Why? She's a sinner. There's
only one sinless Savior. That's Jesus Christ. Take this
message to your friends. Tell them. Tell them. Look at 2 Thessalonians
2 with me. 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. And this lie
that millions are following is sending millions of people to
hell, folks. It really is. 2 Thessalonians
2. You've seen these things. Seeing you know these things
already. But it needs confirmed. And perhaps someone will hear
this for the first time. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 3 and
4. You have it? Let no man deceive
you by any means. That day, that is the day of
Christ, shall not come except there come a falling away first,
and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called God. And he is
worshipped, so he sits in the temple of God, showing himself
that he is God." Who could that be right now? but someone like the Pope, or
even a man who these evangelists, these televangelists, you know,
the people, they worship those fellows. When the Scriptures, the Scriptures
is very clear to those that understand it, that it's not talking about
one person in history. The Antichrist, I'm going to
show you that. It's not one person in history. but a whole bunch
of persons. It's a position. It's a headship. It's a place like Popery. He sits, exalteth himself above
all that's called God, and he's worshipped. When you bow to somebody
and kiss their rain and confess your sins to them, you're worshipping
that person. Now look down at verse 7. He said, Now the mystery of iniquity
doth already work, only he, that is, God, who now allows it, will
allow it, will let it, until he be taken out of the way, until
the Lord does away with all this. And then that wicked will be
revealed, that wickedness, whom the Lord shall consume with the
spirit of his mouth. destroy the brightness of His
coming. Even Him whose coming is after
the working of Satan. Satan's behind false religion.
We've seen that clearly in Revelation. "...with all power and signs
and lying wonder, and all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, because they receive not the love of the truth." What's
the truth? We've been talking about the
way to God. The way. Christ said, I am the way. Whatever. The truth. The truth. Because they receive not the
love of the truth, because they don't bow to and believe and
trust Christ alone, that they might be saved. So therefore,
verse 11, this is amazing, but God sends some strong delusion. God does. So some of the things that go on
in religion, miracles and so forth, may be real. It's just God sends it. Because
they don't really worship the Lord Jesus Christ alone. God
sends these strong delusions that they believe a lie. God makes people believe a lie. That's what it said. And you have read, some of you
have read in the Old Testament where God sent a lying prophet
because they wouldn't receive, it was to, I forget, ask me later
and I'll look it up for you. See, this person that sits as
God, this Him, whoever Him is, is not one person, but one who
throughout history sits as God, as the Christ, as the High Priest
throughout history. And there have been many of them.
1 John 2. This needs to be said, if you
don't know it, so that you may be able to give every man an
answer who asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you.
Why do you just worship Christ alone? Why don't you have a priest?
Why don't you have an altar? We have an altar. That's written
in the Hebrews in it. We have an altar. But it's not
a bench. It's not a piece of wood. It's
not where you cut in the mourner's bench. That's not in the Bible.
We have an altar. It's a person. It's like everything
else. It's a person. Jesus Christ.
Not a place, not a thing. It's a person. All our salvation
is in a person. Not in holy water. It's His holy
blood. Not in baptism. It's been in
him. On and on with you guys. 1 John 2, verses 18 and 19. Little children, it's the last
time. When Christ walked this earth,
it was the last day. Beginning of the last day. And
as you've heard, that Antichrist shall come even now. There are
many Antichrists. You see that? That was 2,000
years ago. John said. Right now, John said. Right now, in the first century,
there are many antichrists, John said. But I thought he was coming.
He? There are many. It's whoever and whatever opposes
Jesus' cry that exalteth itself and causes people to look to
him or her or it or that other than Jesus' cry is antichrist. Is that plain enough? Verse 19,
he says, They went out from us. He's still talking about the
antichrist. They went out from us. You see
that? Where does it start? The church at Rome. Right in where it started. The church at Rome that was for
sale. They were hirelings. The high
priests. Remember? It started when Jesus
Christ, the high priest, stood there. before that wicked fellow
Caiaphas, the high priest. And they rejected the high priest.
So God gave them over. There was a true church at Rome.
We've got the book of Romans written to it. But shortly thereafter,
it was perverted. Like Israel of old, remember?
In Solomon's day? Idolatry crept in and sustained. All Israel from then on was full
of bad men and bad high priests and full of idolatry. And there
was a remnant, according to the election of grace, in Judah,
wasn't there? That still held to the truth.
Just a remnant. And the rest of it was full of
idolatry. You'd have to be blind as a bat. Stone blind not to
see that in this world. That's exactly what people are.
Stone blind. Chapter 4 and 1 John 4, look
at this. Verse 3 says, Every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of
God. This is that spirit of Antichrist which you have heard it should
come and it's now, it's already in this world. It's here already,
John said. It started right now. And there are many of them. Every
spirit preacher, so-called holy person, that confesseth not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. What does that mean? And he told
us, try the Spirit. I came here this morning. You came here. That means you
were somewhere before you came here. Right? That means you were before you
got here. And Scripture says Christ in the beginning was God,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Who's it talking
about? Jesus Christ. Anybody that says
he's not God is anti-Christ. Boy, that says a lot. Alright? And he came. God sent his Son
into this world to do what? To be the High Priest. To be
the Savior of sinners. He came to put away sin. He came. There's only one sent
by God to put away sin. Did He? Well, you better believe
it. You better believe it. He did. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. And if anybody doesn't say that,
doesn't believe that, and preaches anything else, it's not of God. He came, sent by God to do a
work, put away sin. What else did he put away? The
sacrifices. John, he took away the first
and established the second, didn't he? He put away the priesthood. When he hung on that cross, he
said, it's finished. What? Everything. It's done. It's all over. Put up your robes. Don't sacrifice any more lambs.
Don't pray to anybody but me. Those are all pipes and shadows
and symbols and pictures. It's over. Now I'm on the throne,
the great high priest. I've poured the blood on the
mercy seat and the mercy seat. Christ said, come unto me. You don't have to go through
anybody. You don't have to pray to anybody.
Come to me. God will accept you. You have
His Word on it. You have my blood that proves
it. There is no other. There is no
other. He's the priest forever. Forever. So, you got that? You got that? Hold on to that. You lay hold of Him. Steadfast
to the end. And you have God's oath and the
whole covenant, the whole book. And boy, if you see that, if
He shows you Him, the whole book opens up. The whole life. You're stone blind and then you'll
see clearly. Like the sun that shineth in
all its strength. One, I pray, always has been,
always will be, one.