Chapter 9, first of all. Hebrews chapter 9. There are two things that I want to accomplish.
by God's grace, by God's Spirit, with this message. Two things.
First of all, I want to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to exalt the Christ. And secondly, I want to expose
and denounce the anti-Christ. Now, the theme of the book of
Hebrews, as I've said before, is the glory honor, the majesty,
the excellency of Jesus Christ. That's the theme of the book
of Hebrews. It tells of the glory and the honor of the Son of God.
And the theme is to show us how that Jesus Christ is superior
to all things and all people, how he's better, better than
all. Chapters 1 and 2 tells us that
Christ is better than the angels, though the angels are high and
mighty and glorious creatures. Jesus Christ is higher and mightier. Chapter 3 tells us that Christ
is better than Moses. He's higher. Though Moses was
a great servant of God, Christ is better. He's higher. He's
greater. Chapter 4, which we'll be studying
in a moment, Christ is seen as being better than Joshua, the
one who led the people into the promised land. He's better than
the Sabbath. He's Lord over the Sabbath. Chapter
5, Christ is better than Aaron, the high priest. And what Hebrews
is telling us, listen, what Hebrews tells us is that Jesus Christ
is all the religion a man will ever need. One, all the religion a man or
woman ever needs is in one person, Jesus Christ. Now, listen very
carefully to me. We're going to talk about the
priesthood. I'm going to talk about the priesthood. Now, back
in Old Testament times, there were priests, and this was instituted
or ordained by God Almighty, and God Almighty is the one who
started this thing of the priesthood. And every Old Testament office,
that is, the priesthood, and everything that they did, every
ceremony, every symbol, every ordinance, every sacrifice, every
tradition, were all types and pictures. They were all pictures
of spiritual things. They had no spiritual benefit,
really, no spiritual benefit, except as the people saw them
as being pointing to something spiritual, especially the priesthood. Now, look at Hebrews chapter
9, verse 6 with me. I hope you have a Bible. I want
you to look at this with me. The priesthood. There were two
types of priests. Verse 6. Now, when these things—now,
he's talking about the tabernacle. We've been studying that on Wednesday
nights, where man where God met with man, where the sacrifice
was made, where the blood was shed. Without the shedding of
blood, there is no forgiveness or remission of sin. Now, when
these things, that is, the tabernacle and the sacrifices, were best
ordained, verse 6, the priests, that is, the common priests,
went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of
God. You had these common priests
that ministered about the tabernacle, about the temple. They would
prepare the bread, they would get the water, they would clean
up around the place, they would sweep, they would work around
the grounds. That's what the common priests
did, okay? But, verse 7, into the second
That is, the Holy of Holies, behind the veil, where God actually
met with man. Into the second place went the
high priest alone, one man. There was only one man that could
go in and actually meet with God Almighty. He could actually
go in and take the blood. He didn't go in there without
blood, it says. God won't receive, won't accept,
won't deal with anybody without blood. It can't just be any old
blood. But this high priest alone, look at this, he went in, not
without blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors
or the sins of the people. Now, the Holy Ghost signified
something in this way. Verse 9, these things were a
figure, they were a figure for the time then present. They were
a figure. They couldn't make the one who
did these things perfect in the conscience. They were a figure.
was the only one could offer the sacrifice to God for forgiveness
of sin. The high priest is the only one
who could mediate between God and man, or talk to God for man,
and vice versa. He's the only one that God would
speak through or be spoken to for man. Okay? Now, God Almighty chose that
particular man himself. He started out with a family
named Levi. Now, I'm giving you an introduction
to this whole thing. God started out, he designated the family
of Levi to be the family of the priesthood, okay? Aaron was the
first. Well, Melchizedek was the first.
But Aaron was the first of the family of Levi. The first one,
Aaron was handpicked by God Almighty to be the high priest, and all
of his sons were these common priests, okay? Moses was Aaron's
brother, and he was the prophet. There you have the prophet. Moses
was the prophet. Aaron was the priest. Who's the
king? God's the king. Or his husband. There you have Moses, Aaron,
and you have God. Now, these things were a figure.
Verse 10. They stood only in meats, and
drinks, and different washings, and carnal, that is, worldly,
earthly ordinances, rites, ceremonies, and so forth, until the time
of the Reformation." Now, I'm talking about Martin Luther and
John Wycliffe. He's talking about until God
changed this whole thing. All right? All of this was, now
listen, this priesthood. All of this was instituted by
God not just so man could be religious, not just so he could
play religion, so he could wear some fancy garments and go up
and feel religious. That wasn't the reason at all.
God had a purpose. God had a plan. God had a reason
for all this. Now, listen, this is going to
be a blessing to you. This was a book that God had written,
and it had an epilogue to it. These were the beginning chapters.
This was a story with an ending. This was a story with a moral
to it. This was a story with a final
chapter to it. These were the first chapters.
The last chapter was written 1900 and some years ago. All
of these things were merely shadows or figures or representations
or symbols or pictures or prophetical signs of somebody who was going
to come. One person. Listen to me now. One person who was coming in
time. One person. Somebody who was
going to be all of these things put together. Prophet, priest,
and king. A prophet, like unto Moses, but
better, infinitely greater and higher, more glorious than Moses.
Moses was just a prophet. God spoke to him, revealed some
things to him. Somebody's coming who is—Moses
called him that prophet. Not only would he know some things,
he knew all things. That prophet, the one who's coming.
And Moses wrote about it. Moses wrote about that, and he
said, I'm just a boy, I'm just a prophet that's coming, that
prophet, and you'll hear him. You need to hear him. Then there's
a priest coming, a priest, a common priest. Remember I said the common
priest ministered about the things of the tabernacle? A man was
going to come, a common man. He was going to walk around the
grounds. He was going to minister to the people. He was going to
prepare bread, going to prepare water, Joe. clean up things,
cleanse some things. And more than that, more than
just a common priest, he's going to be a high priest too. He's
going to be a high priest, like Aaron, but better. Better than
Aaron, greater, higher, more glorious. Not just a high priest,
Scripture says he's going to be a great high priest. One who would, you know, these
high priests They would offer over and over, sacrifice after
sacrifice after sacrifice, day after day, the blood of animals.
But not this one. He's going to offer one sacrifice. He's coming to the earth, he's
going to offer one sacrifice forever. One great high priest
with one great sacrifice. And he's going to do away with
the rest of them. After he offers this one sacrifice,
they're all going to be done with. ever been done with, over
and done. It's not going to be the blood
of animals, but his own precious blood. This man who was coming
was going to offer himself as a human sacrifice, but more than
that. Who is this? Who's this talking
about? This one who's going to come.
Let's read about him. Look over chapter 10, verse 7. Let's read about him. He talks
about himself here, verse 7. We read it back in Psalm 40.
Then said I, this one, this is the one that's speaking here,
this prophet, this priest who's talking here. Then said I, lo,
I'm coming. I come. In the volume of the
book that's written of me. Started in Genesis 3.15, went
all the way through. Genesis 1.1, went all the way
through. Writing about me, coming. The Old Testament said somebody's
coming. The gospels say he's here. The epistles and the revelations
say he's coming back again. this great one. He said, Lo,
I come, and the volume of thy book is written of me to what?
Do thy will, O God. What's the will of God? The will
of God was to save his people from their sins, to glorify himself,
to save his people. He says, I come. This one says,
I'm coming to fulfill all pictures and types and symbols, to fulfill
the office of priest, to fulfill the office of prophet. to put
away all sacrifices of animals, to do away with the tabernacle,
to tear down the temple. He said, I'm going to tear down
the temple. People didn't understand what he was saying. Three days,
I'm going to tear down the temple and have a new one. And above, verse 8, when he said,
Sacrifice an offering and burn offerings, thou wouldst not,
neither has pleasure therein. which were offered by the law,
he said this, "'Lo, I come to do thy will.'" He's going to
take away these first things, the first priesthood, the first
prophets, these first sacrifices. He's going to take away the first,
and he might establish the second. Okay? By which will? By God's will. He said, "'I come
to do your will, O God. I come to do this great and glorious
work by your will, by your power. I come to do your will. And it's
by his will we're sanctified, we're saved, we're accepted,
we're justified through the offering of who? Who is this? Look at
verse 10. The offering of the body of Jesus
the Christ. Once for all. Once for all. The body of Christ. Now turn
back to Hebrews 4 with me. It's the way I'll hear a moment.
Hebrews chapter 4. He said, I'm going to do away
with all this. Now, listen, this is eternally
significant. The salvation of your souls is
at stake in this message right here. Yes, it is. This is the
gospel in no uncertain terms. Listen to me. Verse 14, Hebrews
4, verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest. Now, listen up. We have a great
high priest. Not just the priest. Not just
the high priest. We've got a great one. A great
high priest. The only high priest. The only priest. The only one. He says now he's passed into
the heavens. This great high priest is passed
into the heavens. And he says this one is seated
right beside God Almighty. Okay? He's called God's chosen. He says, I've exalted one chosen
from among the people. Remember I said that God ordained
Aaron? He hand-picked Aaron? Well, this
one is the one that God ordained and hand-chose as his only high
priest, the only mediator between God and men. People, we still
need a high priest. We're still sinners. We've still
got sin charged to our account. And it's still, without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission of sin. It's still that way.
We still have to have a blood atonement. We still have to have
it. But not the blood of bulls and
goats. It won't do. We've got to have the sinless,
spotless blood of God's Lamb, God's sacrifice, Jesus Christ. We read that. We're sanctified.
We're saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, the body, the sacrifice
of Christ in Him alone. We've still got to have that
blood. Why? Because the soul that sins must surely die. And
that's what blood typifies, death. And we deserve to die and to
suffer for our sins. But Christ took the place of
some people. You? I don't know. I don't know. But he took the place for all
those that see their need of him, and all those that have
a need of this high priest to offer this blood up on their
account. We still have a need of a high
priest, and he's seated at the right hand of God. Look at it.
Seated, he's passed into the heavens. His name is Jesus, the
Son of God. Now, he says, let us hold fast. If you profess, if you confess,
if you see your need of Jesus Christ to be your Lamb, your
blood sacrifice, he says, hold fast to him. Profession of your
faith in him. your faith. Now listen to me.
Everybody in here, I want your attention. Roman Catholicism still maintains
the priesthood with their sacrifice of mass.
That's what that is, a sacrifice. They do that for the oblation,
for the putting away of sin. They have a priest who administers
The blood, what they say, becomes the blood and the body of Jesus
Christ. They say it actually, the bread
and the wine actually becomes the blood and the body of Christ,
and the priest is the only one who could administer that. Well,
they're right. The priest is the only one who
can, but there's only one priest. He's sitting in heaven. You know
what they say? There are no more priests. That's blasphemy, what they're
saying. But this man, the scripture says, offered one sacrifice,
forever, for the putting away of sin. One sacrifice. There
are no more sacrifices. There remaineth no more sacrifices,
the scripture says. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever. Look back at Hebrews 10 again.
Hebrews chapter 10, verse 14. By one offering. I want you to
look at it with your own eyes. This is searching the scriptures,
looking at it yourself. By one offering, he has perfected
forever them that are set apart, that are chosen, that are saved
by God Almighty. We don't need another high priest. We've got one. We don't need
another sacrifice. We don't need the mass. We have
one. Christ on the cross. Verse 16. So this is the covenant that
I will make with them after those days. What days? After he offered
that sacrifice. God says, I'll put my law in
their hearts and in their minds I will write them, in their conscience. God says he'll put the law in
the people's hearts. We don't need a law or a counsel
to come down from Rome, a holy seed. We don't need that. That's
what that means. Verse 17. And their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. We don't need to confess
to a puny man. The scripture says, if we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us. Who? Not
a man sitting behind a curtain. Him! The one that's seated in
the heavens at the right hand of God Almighty. Him! He is the
faithful one, the great high priest. Besides that, confession
to old Father Merle Downey, or whoever his name is, that just
feeds his perverted little brain. His perverted little mind. He
just delights in hearing what you've done all week. He goes
home and thinks about it. Rolls it over in his mind. He
just delights in that. Scripture says, Confess your
faults one to another, one to another. Then say, Confess your
sins to any man but one. One high priest, Joe. One. Confess our sins to him and him
alone. Now, where the mission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin, no more sacrifice, no
mass, no need for a priest. We've got a priest, a great high
one, and there's certainly no need for a so-called pope. Now, our people are—I bet you
most everybody in here is ignorant of what's going on today, and
it needs to be exposed. I told you, now, I'm going to
exalt the great high priest. and expose and denounce the Antichrist,
all right? We've got a great high priest.
We don't need a so-called pope. You know what the pontiff means?
You know what pontiff means? It means the way-maker, the one
who makes the way. We've got somebody who made the
way. Christ said, I am the way, not the pontiff. You know what
pope means? It means holy father. Christ
said, call no man your father which is on earth. You've got
one father which is in heaven. He said, call no man rabbi, teacher. You've got one great teacher,
the Lord of glory. He said, call no man reverend,
because the scripture says holy and reverend is his name. Right? Call no man potentate, which
the masons and the shriners do. He's the great and mighty Potentate. The Scripture says he's the blessed
and only Potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords. Brethren,
I would not have you ignorant of these things, of these devices. You know what all this is? It's
Antichrist. It's Antichrist. Anything that takes the place
of, and the Pope calls himself the Vicar of Christ, the one
who represents it. Anything, anybody who takes the
place of the Lord Jesus Christ is antichrist. Anybody who takes away, anything
that takes away from the offices, the glory, the supreme honor
of Jesus Christ is antichrist. And we need to be warned about
it. We have a great high priest. He's the most right reverend,
doctor, Jesus Christ. That's who he is. Father! Call
no man reverend, doctor. Right reverend. Father. And it also, I'll tell you what,
this so-called free will works religion. They make a pope out
of man's will, don't they? Little pokes. You're all little
pokes. You decide. You make the way, right? That
makes a pope out of man's free will. Listen to me. Go back to
Hebrews 4, verse 15. Folks, we got a high priest.
We don't need another one. We don't need another one. I
don't want another one. I'm not going to confess my sins
to some wretched, miserable man who's got more sins than I do. Right? I ain't going to kiss
the ring of some wrinkled old his little toe, I'm going to
kiss the sun lest he be angry, the scripture says. I'm going
to bow at the feet of my great high priest, and I'm going to
denounce every fool and every false Christ and prophet that
comes along. We all need to know these things. Don't be ignorant of their devices.
Don't be ignorant of what's going on here. I feel sorry for people
that are in this. People who are in Catholicism
have been led astray. They're not totally to be pitied,
because they heap to themselves teachers having engineered. They
like it that way. But I do feel sorry for them, nonetheless.
I don't feel sorry for these maggots who are at the head of
it, responsible for all this. I'd like to call down fire from
heaven on every one of them, these priests. There are no more
priests. There's one priest and one father,
one rabbi. Listen to him, verse 15, chapter
4. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. We have a
high priest who is approachable. He's not sitting in a golden
palace with a fish on his head. He's not holding up in some cathedral
chanting this Latin liturgy. He came down here as a man, a
working man. A man, a holy man, albeit, but
a working man, walked among us, and Scripture said he is tempted
like we are. He knows where you're at, where
you're coming from. Not a man who cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
like as we are. Christ knows he was here. He knew toil and labor and pain
and sorrow and suffering. He knew the trials and temptations
everyday people go through. He knew it. He went through it.
He touched. But yet without sin. He didn't
have sin. That's necessary. He knew no
sin. He thought no sin. He committed no sin. You see,
he didn't just come down here to feel sorry for us. He came
down here to get rid of sin. Get rid of it. Not just to feel
sorry for you and your sin, but to do something about it. That
old bill that you supposedly confessed to, he can't do anything
about it. Oh, he might. He might tell somebody else.
Spread it around. Christ, who I confess to, he
can do something about it. He can get rid of it. He did. He was made sin, the scripture
said. He took my sin. He said, you
got sin? Yes, Lord. I'm covered with it. My sin is ever before me. He
said, give it to me. Take it. He took it. He was made sin for
us who knew no sin. And he gave us his righteousness.
Those that come to God by him, those that believe him, those
that see their need of him, he gave this righteousness to. That's
the only way God will esteem you perfect, is to see that righteous
covering Christ gave. And then he went to heaven. After
he died and paid the penalty for these sins, he went back
and sat down on the throne of heaven. He sat down in heaven. But look at verse 16. So he says,
let us come to this throne. But wait a minute. It's not just
any old throne. It's not a high and mighty throne
like I'm talking about the pot that sits on, with his little
stick, and his fish hat, and all of his golden robes, and
all of his ministers about his feet and so forth, and goes down
and throws his little holy water. No, this man sits on the throne
all right, but you can come to him. It's a throne of grace. It's a throne of grace. Grace,
mercy, and grace. He says you can come to find
help in time of need. Any old time. Don't have to have
an appointment. Don't have to go around. Any
old time. Four o'clock in the morning.
Twelve o'clock now. Any old time you have a need, you can come
to the throne and he'll see you personally. Personally. You don't have to wait on him
to come down out of St. Peter's Basilica and wave his
miserable little hand over you. You're making a lot of fun of
him. Oh, nauseates me. As I said in verse 5 before,
I said this, he was a man. He was a man. The Pope and his
priests aren't men. Most of them are homosexuals
anyway. Yeah, they are. It's rampant. It is. Verse 1, Every high priest
taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining
to God, that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. Christ was ordained. He was chosen
from among the people, a man among men. He was a man, all
right. Verse 2, Because he need to be
a man to have compassion on the ignorant, to have compassion
upon men, on women who are out of the way, come to be the way,
to find those out of the way. For that he himself also was
compassed with infirmity." Christ was compassed. He was made lower
than the angels, yet without sin. He knew what it was to be
limited in a sense. Verse 3, "...by reason hereof
the high priest," now this earthly priest, "...he ought for himself
also to offer for sins." The high priest had to offer sacrifices
for himself because he was a sinner. Even though Christ was not a
sinner, the Scripture says he was numbered with the transgressors.
He became, as it were, the greatest sinner who ever lived. Not in
action, not in actuality, but God made him a sinner. And he
offered up himself. He was the sacrifice. Verse 4,
Now no man takes this honor unto himself, no man. Nobody takes
this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, like
Aaron. No man is voted in. The high
priest isn't voted in by man, isn't chosen by man. He's called
of God, just like every preacher of the gospel. And certainly
Christ, ordained, chosen, like Aaron. God from heaven said,
Aaron, Moses, Aaron is my chosen one. So Christ, verse 5, also
glorified not himself to be made a high priest. Listen to me.
He lived and walked this earth for thirty years. Working out
righteousness perfectly. Thought, word, and deed. A perfect
man. Ricky lived just like a man for
30 years. Bound in the flesh like a man,
but a perfect man. A spotless man. For 30 years,
the scripture says he grew in wisdom, in stature, and in favor
with God and man, right? Until finally, one day, When
he was thirty years old, one day he walked down to a pool
of water one day, and God couldn't contain himself any longer. And
God from heaven called him. He said, that's my high priest
right there. Everybody look at him. All eyes
on him. Right there, there he is. That's
my son, my high priest. Only one. You gonna come to me? You gotta come to him. My son,
I'm well pleased in him. Hear him. Confess to him. Call
upon him. Come to him. Confess to him. This one, this one, this great
high priest, my son. Thou art my son, mine only begotten,
well-beloved son, my son, my chosen, my elect, in whom my
soul delighted, Scripture says. The High Priest, the Lamb of
God. John said it, Behold the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world. There's only one.
There's only one. There are no more. It's a great
seeing then that we have a great High Priest. And none of us seem
to be taken up with those things I was denouncing, but the world
is. The world is. And it could be
we're a little too tolerant of or a little bit too ignorant
of what's going on in this world. It's the spirit of Antichrist.
Didn't Paul say even now the spirit of Antichrist is at work?
Didn't he? Even now it's at work. And, folk,
we live in a pagan, idolatrous land that's full of all this
stuff. And even though Catholicism has its priests and so forth,
the Southern Baptists They have their reverends and
doctors and so and so, don't they? The Methodists, the Episcopalians,
all these people, they have their free will pope, you know? There's
one, like I said at the very beginning, if you don't remember
anything I ever said, remember this, Jesus Christ is the only
religion a man will ever need. The only priest you'll ever need.
The only reverend. The only doctor. Right? Right. The only sacrifice. And I tell
you what, you need him. I need him. Desperately. Whether we know it or not. We
need him. Stand with me.