As we stay right there in Hebrews
chapter 8, you know the preaching of the
gospel is always a joy, but sometimes it is a struggle because of the
infirmities of the flesh. You pray for me, but I have for
us today a glorious message. The title of this message is
a glorious summation. It starts off there now of the
things which we have spoken. This is the sum, this is the
summation. This is bringing together the
whole of what has been said up to this point. This is the best
commentary you can get on the first seven chapters of Hebrews
right here, because this is what he's been leading to is sum it
all up. And here it is in this sentence,
we have such an high priest. What a high priest we have. The
one and only high priest. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men. The man Christ Jesus, the only
high priest. Never has been a high priest
like him and never will be another. We don't need another. In Christ
we have all that we need to establish a right relationship between
ourselves and God. We can't do that. No human being,
no human priest could do that. But the God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he did and does do that. He is the glorious high priest,
the effectual high priest, the successful high priest, never
fails. And there's nothing and no one
to be compared with him. Don't even try. There have been
types. pictures and foreshadowings in
the Old Testament, we can talk about that earthly priesthood,
we can talk about an earthly tabernacle, all of that, we can
talk about an earthly holy of holies, but nothing can
compare with He who is the full glorious embodiment of all of
that. And that's what this chapter
is about. It speaks of the glory of His person, who is Jesus Christ. God, the Son incarnate. God manifest in the flesh. The Word, the eternal Word. How long has the Word been around?
Been around long before us, long before this world was ever created,
and it'll last on into eternity. He is the embodiment of the eternal
Word, made flesh. to tabernacle, dwell among us. That's who he is, God-man. And he had to be both to be this
glorious high priest, to get the job done. The power of his
finished work, what he did, the blood of bulls and goats, they
could never take away sin, the Bible tells us. That priesthood,
that earthly human priesthood could never. make anything or
anyone perfect. It could not attain the righteousness
that you and I need in order to be right with God. But this
person, this man, this God-man, he is the very righteousness
of God that we need. And of course, as you know, this
priesthood It speaks of his surety ship, Christ as our surety, having
the sins of God's people charged to him so that by his one sacrifice
for sin, he purged our sins. You realize what that means?
He purged them. That means he put them away.
They're not on the law books of God anymore. That's right. We sin every day, and if you
don't know that, you don't know yourself. But there's not one
sin counted against us in the law books of God's book of redemption. Not one sin counted against,
why? Because our great high, we have
such a high priest who's purged our sins. He's satisfied justice. The whole sword of God's justice
was fully satisfied as it was plunged into the heart of our
great high priest. How do you know that? Well, look
at verse one. We have such an high priest who is set on the
right hand of the throne of the majesty in heavens. That's how
I know that our sins were purged. He worked and brought in everlasting
righteousness. That's what Daniel said, that's
what Jeremiah said, what Isaiah said, all the prophets pointed
to the one who would come and accomplish and establish and
work out righteousness for his people. Yes, I am a righteous
person, not because I'm sinless, because I'm not, not because
I do well, but because my well-doing doesn't equal the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in my great high priest. This is his righteousness imputed,
the very righteousness of God. And then our high priest is able
to do what no other high priest could do. He's able to give us
life from the dead. He died for my sins. He was buried
because He put them away. He arose again because righteousness
was established. And I have life from Him. You
must be born again. You must be raised from, you
know that's what it's saying? In order to believe God, you've
got to be raised from the dead. Because we're spiritually dead
by nature. He gives us spiritual life, life everlasting. This
high priest is able to save to the uttermost them that come
unto God by him. Not just partially, but to the
uttermost. To bring us all the way to God.
To save us, to keep us saved, and to bring us to God. And it's
all him, it's all his power, it's all his goodness. It's not
ours. and then he'll bring us to glory.
Set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven.
That proves the success and the power of his work for his people.
That proves that not one, listen to me, that proves that not one
person for whom he died can ever be eternally damned. This is the right hand of acceptance,
like the king who extends the scepter. This is the right hand
of power, because he is the power of God to save to the uttermost
them that come unto God by him. This is the power of justice,
the right hand of justice and authority. And this set on the
throne of the majesty, that's the very presence of God. This
is not an earthly type here. This is not a physical tabernacle
or anything created by human beings. This is God's Shekinah
presence right here. That's where Christ is as God,
man, ever living to intercede for his people. He ever lives,
now think about this, he ever lives to make intercession for
us. Do you know that that means there's
not a moment in eternal, the annals of eternity? that his
people are not on his mind and on his heart. Think about us. Even as sinners
saved by grace, even as blessed as we are, we go through our
week and we forget, don't we? We put him out of our mind, don't
we? That's humanity, isn't it? And me too, you say, well, you're
in there studying all day. No, I do other things. They let
me out of the closet every now and then. But I can't say that every waking
moment I have Christ on my mind. Seriously. I was watching football
yesterday. But there's not a waking moment
that he doesn't have us on his mind and on his heart. He's seated at the right hand
of God for us. That's an amazing thought. It's amazing. And that's what
it means. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Nobody can charge us. God himself
cannot charge us with sin because who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God the justified. God who has forgiven
our sins. God who has declared us righteous
in his sight. Look at verse two. Our high priest,
he's such a one, he's a minister of the sanctuary. That means
he's a minister of the true sanctuary. A servant of holy things in the
presence of God for his people. Look over with me a few pages
to Hebrews chapter 10. Think about that. In the very presence of holy
God for his people. Look at verse 19. He's talking
about all for whom Christ died here. or by one offering he hath
perfected them that are sanctified. And it says in verse 19, having
therefore, this is what we have if we're looking to Christ and
resting in him and pleading his mercy and pleading or begging
for the mercy of God and pleading his righteousness. Brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest. Confidence, liberty, free access
into the presence of holy God. That's what we have. That's not
something we're trying to attain, you see. That's not something
we're trying to work for. I didn't come to church here
to earn my way into the presence of holy God. Did you? If you did, you came for the
wrong reason. I heard a preacher say one time,
he was preaching for a pretty big crowd, and he said, if you're
not here for the right reason, just go on home. No, no, no.
Don't do that. No unbeliever comes for the right
reason. What I hope and pray for you is if you come for the
wrong reason, God will take that wrong reason away and give you
the right reason. Thank you, Lord, for saving my,
there's the right reason, isn't it? Thank you, Lord. I just come here because I want
to worship him who gave me everything in eternity, blessed, and I didn't
deserve and earn one bit of it. I just want to thank him. That's
why I'm here this morning, to worship him. to lift him up,
to acknowledge that I am what I am by his grace. But here, he says, we have this,
verse 19 of chapter 10. Having therefore, brethren, boldness,
free, unlimited, unhindered access to enter the holiest, on what
ground? Look at it, by the blood of Jesus. There's our, that's your writing
title. Oh, I prayed a good prayer this
morning. It was longer than normal. That
ought to count for something. That doesn't count for anything. You know, the works of God's
people, they mean something. As expressions
of thankfulness, gratitude, and love for him, But you know, they
don't count for anything. Somebody said, well, aren't you
going to give an account? Yes, I am. Christ died for me. Here's my account. I plead his
blood. I plead his righteousness. That's
my account. And then he says in verse 20,
by a new and living way. We're going to talk more about
that next week, Lord willing. A new and living way. Not the
old tabernacle, not the old temple. There's not gonna be any reconstruction
of that old way. Again, we'll talk more about
that next week. But a new and living way which he hath consecrated. This is a way that Christ alone
made new. How did he do it? By his obedience
unto death for us. He did it for his people as our
surety, our substitute, our redeemer, for us through the veil. That
is to say his flesh. That means his death made a way
into the very presence of God. And so he says in verse 21, and
having a high priest over the house of God. Our high priest
is the head of our house. Let us draw near with a true
heart. In full assurance of faith, You know what the full assurance
of faith is, really? It's the full assurance that
God's people have in looking to Him as our surety. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, that's the Holy Spirit's application of
the blood to our conscience, relieving the guilt, the condemnation
that we have within, showing us that Christ is our hope. and
our life, our salvation, and our bodies washed with pure water,
the blood of Christ applied. Our high priest is a minister
of the sanctuary. Look back at Hebrews 8 and verse
two, which sanctuary is he talking about? Look at it. And the true
tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man. Back in the old covenant, the
tabernacle was the dwelling place of God. Now, literally speaking,
God cannot be contained or boxed. God is omnipresent. He's everywhere. But this refers to his Shekinah
glory. Now, if you've never heard that
term Shekinah, it was a word that the old Jewish scholars
used to use, talking about the concentration of the dwelling
place of God's glory. where God, if you look, if you
wanna look with me, you don't have to, I'll read it to you,
but in Exodus 25, this is where Moses was giving instructions
to build the tabernacle and all of its materials and the holiest
of all, the holy of holies, where there was the mercy seat, And
here he's telling them how to make the mercy seat. He had instructions
from God how to construct this mercy, this Ark of the Covenant
and the mercy seat. And he says in Exodus 25 and
verse 21, he says, thou shalt put the mercy seat above the
Ark. Remember that Ark was a box.
And he said, And in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that
I shall give thee. And that was the law. And look
at verse 22. He says, and there I will meet
with thee. I will commune with thee from
above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims, which are
upon the ark of the testimony and all things which I will give
thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. You see,
that was the Shekinah glory. That was the greatest manifestation
of God's glory that could be found in that covenant. Now,
you know, you can see the glory of God in a lot of places. You can see the glory of God
in the world. The heavens declare the glory of God, the stars.
I mean, this is a glorious thing. David, he mentioned the human
body as being a manifestation of the glory of God. He said,
how wonderfully, mysteriously I am made. You think about the
human body. and how everything is just fit
together and works together. Of course, we know what the great
God science tells us, that that just evolved over millions of
years out of the primordial ooze. You believe that, don't you? Somebody said it takes a whole
lot more faith to believe in evolution than it does to believe
in God. Well, you know that we're made by God. We're made, this
human body is the creation of God. This earth is the creation
of God. But where am I going to find
the greatest manifestation of God's glory? Not in gazing upon
the stars. Not in thinking about the human
body. The greatest manifestation is in our high priest, the Lord
Jesus Christ and the work that he accomplished on Calvary's
cross for our sins, for our salvation. Second Corinthians chapter four,
I believe in verse six calls it the glory of God revealed
in the face of Jesus Christ. That's amazing. Now Christ never
entered the physical tabernacle made with hands. But all that
was a picture of Christ, the true tabernacle. Christ himself,
he called his own body a temple. And we're told concerning his
incarnation that God fixed his tabernacle among us. Christ was
himself priest, altar, sacrifice, and the tabernacle which the
Lord pitched and not man. The very presence of God. You
want to meet God? You want to go where God will
meet with you? You look to Christ, crucified and risen from the
dead. You plead his blood and his righteousness. There's where
God will meet with you. That's the kind of high priest
we have. This was his person, his glory,
his righteousness. And look at verse three of Hebrews
eight. He says, for every high priest
is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices. Now the gifts refer
to the thank offerings, I believe, and the sacrifices, the blood
offerings. The blood offerings was the offering
of atonement, which pictured the blood of Christ, the Lamb
of God for our sins. The thank offerings picture our
praises and our worship, our gratitude to God. But the high
priest would offer these gifts. And he says, wherefore it is
of necessity that this man, this person, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our great high priest, have somewhat to offer. A high priest without
a proper offering is deadly, is nothing. Could you imagine
the high priest of Israel going into the holiest of all on the
day of atonement without the blood of the Lamb? Well, he'd
be killed. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood. And without the blood, my sins
are accounted to me. There's nothing more horrible
than a sinner standing before holy God, having his sins imputed,
charged, accounted to him. No wonder the prophet said, the
king said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not
iniquity. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness without works. We're blessed, you say. Why? Because we have such a high
priest. That's why. There's no approach
unto God without, but look across over in Hebrews chapter nine, verse 13. With the blood of bulls and of
goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctified
to the purifying of the flesh. Now what he's referring to there
is that ceremonial separation that God allowed the children
of Israel, the physical nation, to have based on animal blood.
Ceremonially, temporally, physically, but not eternally. The blood
of bulls and goats could never take away sin. Verse 14, how
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from its dead works to serve the living God. You see, when
we understand and see by the power of the spirit and the preaching
of the gospel, that the blood of Christ alone saves us from
our sins. then we're brought by the Spirit
to repent of everything else, to turn away from dead work.
It's not our works that cleanse us. It's not our tears of remorse
that cleanse us. It's not our sorrow that cleanses
us. It's not our penance that cleanses
us. It's the blood of Christ. What
is his blood? It's his death. What is his death?
It's righteousness established. That's where we stand before
Holy God. And you know, that was a truth that was established
way back in Genesis after the fall. Adam and Eve fell. Adam fell and Eve followed. They
hid from God, tried to cover their shame, their nakedness
with fig leaf aprons, indicating the works of man. God found him,
brought him out, took away those fig leaf aprons, their own works,
and he slew an animal and made coats of skin, bloodshed, righteousness
established. And that's how it's always been.
It never changed. How do you know? Because we have
such a great high priest. That's the summation of it all.
Look at verse four, he says, for if he were on earth, he should
not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer
gifts according to the law. Christ had no part or right to
offer sacrifices according to that earthly priesthood under
the law. We read that a couple of weeks
ago. Christ was not born of the tribe of Levi. He was not a physical
descendant of Aaron. He was born of the tribe of Judah,
the kingly tribe. So he couldn't offer sacrifices
in that earthly tabernacle. But look at verse five, those
physical high priest. In that earthly tabernacle, they
serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. They were
pictures, they were types, they were symbols of something better,
something greater, someone better, someone greater, heavenly things.
As Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the
tabernacle, for see, saith he, that thou make all things according
to the pattern showed thee to thee in the map. When Moses was
upon that map, you see, he received a whole lot more than the 10
commandments. He received the Ten Commandments, but he received
all of the law of ceremony. The priest, their garments, the
tabernacle, its dimensions, everything was given to Moses and he had
to make it according to the pattern that God gave him. He couldn't
fudge an inch here and an inch there. It had to be exactly of
the same length and width, depth, and the materials that God said,
you're to make these things according to that pattern, and you cannot
vary. You see how specific the gospel
is? How specific salvation, you know,
men say, well, it doesn't matter, you know, your doctrine, what,
oh my, so you better look, you better go back. You can believe it your way,
I'll believe it my way. You interpret it your way, no.
And you know who the ultimate pattern for this tabernacle was?
Christ himself. It had to properly picture our
great high priest. Our surety, our substitute, our
redeemer. All of it. The pattern ultimately
was the glorious person and finished work of Christ. And then look
at verse six, he says, but now hath he obtained a more excellent
ministry. I love that language. You see,
it's not that Christ died for everybody if they will accept
him and seal the deal. No, he obtained a more excellent
ministry. This ministry of Christ, as our
great high priest, as our mediator, as our intercessor, he obtained
it. You didn't give it to him. You
didn't make it successful. Your believing it didn't make
it any more successful. And those who disbelieve it doesn't
make it a failure. He did it all. He obtained it.
How do you know that? Because he's seated at the right
hand of the father. ever living to make intercession
for us. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto God by him. He's not in a tomb somewhere.
He's risen. He's glorified. And so he says,
by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was
established upon better promises. Now I'm gonna get into that better
covenant, the new covenant next week. that it is so much better than
what the people of Israel had under Moses. The promises given
to national Israel under the old covenant, and I could talk
about particulars, but let me just give it to you in a nutshell. The covenant that God made with
Israel at Mount Sinai, God making that covenant with them was not
conditioned on them at all. God making that covenant with
them was based upon a promise given to Abraham 400 years before. But once they were brought into
that covenant, the blessings and the promises of that covenant
were conditioned upon their obedience. Did you hear what I said now?
For example, their prosperity in the land of promise, and their
staying in the land was conditioned on their obedience. Well, have
you ever read their history? Well, you could write one word
across the page of their whole history, failure. Isn't that right? Now, you may
be of that religious bunch who think that if you were there,
you could have done better. But I'm of that bunch that says
if I'd have been with them, I'd have been just as lousy and disobedient
and unfaithful as them. So that covenant, the promises
of that covenant was conditioned on their obedience, they failed.
So would you, so would I. But the promises, the better
promises of the new covenant are not conditioned on us. They're
all conditioned on our great high priest, on Christ, and they
can never fail. They can never fail. As pitiful
as sometimes we are, those promises can never fail. You see, he's
the author, and he's the completer of our faith. May the Lord bless
his word.