Now let's stay right there in
Hebrews chapter 7, Brother Randy read. One thing that I've learned
over the years of studying the scriptures and preaching the
gospel is that it rarely does us any good to get into a hurry.
And so when I open a book of the Bible and the Lord lays it
on my heart to preach through that book as we're going through
the book of Hebrews. My goal is not to get from chapter
one to chapter 13 as fast as I can. My goal is to glean from
the word of God. Now I say that because in your
bulletin, the text for today's message is noted as Hebrews 7,
19 through 28. But I'm not going to go through
28 today. I'm going to go to verse 25 and
stop. And the reason I'm going to do
that is because these passages of scripture are so comforting
to the people of God. Whenever you realize The reality,
realize the reality. That sounds redundant, but that's
okay. The reality of Christ, our eternal surety. That is so
comforting. What we see there is that Christ
is our eternal security, being our surety. And this term is,
the actual term is not used that much in the scripture. But the
truth of it is from Genesis on, Genesis to Revelation. Christ,
it says here, verse 22, Jesus made a surety of a better testament,
a better covenant. And my soul, what a covenant
it is. Now, of course, he's talking
about the new covenant there. And I like the way one of the
old writers described it, that the new covenant is the terms
of the everlasting covenant of grace made before time. When
you hear that word new, so you think of time, this is something
that's brand new. But he said the new covenant
is the fulfillment in time of the everlasting covenant of grace
made before time. When was Christ made the surety
of his people? Well, in the covenant of grace,
before time began, before this world was ever created, God chose
a people and gave them to Christ and made him our surety. And we'll look at that in just
a moment. But that's our hope right there. So I'm just gonna
go up to verse 25, and then next week, I wanna spend some time
in verses 26 through 28 on the subject of our sinless, sin-bearing
substitute. And we'll look at that next week.
Here in verse nine, he says, and I ended with this last time,
but look at it again, for the law made nothing perfect. The
law didn't accomplish anything eternally or spiritually for
sinners. And the inability of the law
to do that was never due to any flaw or any weakness in the law. The apostle wrote about that
in Romans chapter eight when he said, for what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. The problem wasn't
with the law, the problem was with sinners, us, we're the problem. And so God sending his own son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh. So it's the same thing here. Verse 19, for the law made
nothing perfect. He's talking about the old covenant
law, the law of Moses given to Israel on Mount Sinai. The Ten
Commandments, the ceremonial law, the civil law, the dietary
laws, all that law as a whole could make nothing perfect. The
law cannot wash you from your sins, clean from your sins. The
law cannot make you righteous. The law can tell you your need
of cleansing, your need of righteousness, but it cannot declare or make
you righteous. That's why Paul in 2 Corinthians
chapter three, he described it as a ministry of condemnation. Because all the law can do for
a sinner based upon that sinner's efforts or character and conduct
is condemn us. But that's why the law was given,
to show them their sins. And we can see our sins through
this. But he says the law made nothing
perfect. But look at verse 19, but the
bringing in of a better hope. The hope of salvation by law
keeping is a bad hope. It's an unfulfilled hope. It's
a pipe dream. But here's a better hope. The
bringing in of a better hope did. Did what? Made something
perfect. Someone perfect. And it's through
this better hope by the which we draw nigh unto God. And who is that better hope?
Well, that's Christ. God sending his own son in the likeness of
sinful flesh. Look over a few pages of Hebrews
chapter 10. This is one of my favorite passages
of scripture. Listen to this. He's talking
about the remission of sins. You know what the remission of
sins means? That means the payment. That means the forgiveness of
sins. All right? To be made right with
God, we must be forgiven of all our sins. How does that happen? To be right with God, we must
be justified. We must be made righteous in
God's sight. How does that happen? You can
work You can pray, you can cry, you can crawl on your belly and
turn over a new leaf, reform, attend every church service,
and it will not do the job. Isn't that right? He'd already said back up in
verse 14 here of Hebrews 10, for by one offering, he hath
perfected. Who's the he there? That's Christ.
He hath perfected. Forever, he says. That's why
entitled this Christ our eternal security. Forever, them that
are sanctified. What is it to be sanctified?
It means to be set apart by God. So whoever God set apart unto
Christ, he perfected them forever by one offering. And then look
at verse 18 of Hebrews 10. Now where remission of these
is, where sin has been remitted, There's no more offering for
sin. In other words, if Christ did it all, you can't add anything
to it. I heard a preacher on television
one time, he said, how does God forgive us of our sins? He said,
it's based upon your repentance. No, no, no. Now, are we to repent? Are we commanded to repent? Yes,
we are. But that doesn't bring about remission of sins. What
does? Look at verse 19. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest, that's being drawn
nigh to God, near to God, by the blood of Jesus. There's it. That's the only thing that'll
wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus. The only
thing that'll make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and plea. This is all my righteousness.
And he says it's by a new and living way. Now there's that
new covenant. And it's which he hath consecrated,
which Christ made. Christ newly made this. You didn't
make it, I didn't make it. Christ made it for us, that is
as our surety, as our substitute, as our redeemer. Think about
that now. That is to say his flesh, his
humanity offered upon the altar of his deity and having a high
priest over the house of God. See, that's what we're studying,
the high priesthood of Christ. It's not like the high priesthood
of Aaron or the priesthood of Levi. It's after a different
order that's typified in the Old Testament by that man named
Melchizedek. And the type shows that Christ's
priesthood is eternal. And so we draw near with a true
heart. That true heart there is a sincere
heart. It's a convicted heart. It's
a heart that has been convinced of sin, of righteousness, and
of judgment in full assurance of faith. Well, what is the full
assurance of faith? It's the full assurance that
I have, not because I'm such a great believer. It's the full
assurance that I have because I'm looking to Christ, the author
and the perfecter, the finisher of my faith. That's what faith
does. And having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, an evil conscience is a legal conscience,
a condemned conscience. Are you trying to soothe your
conscience? You say, preacher, I've done some bad things. Yes,
yes, I know, I have too. How you gonna soothe that guilty
conscience? I know this. Now here's what
I'm telling. And if you don't hear anything
else during this message, you hear this. That if God were to
judge me, right now, based upon my best efforts to do right,
I would be condemned. I have one plea. Christ died
for me. His blood, His righteousness. You see what I'm saying? And
if I think otherwise, it's an evil conscience. If anything
but Christ and His blood and righteousness can cleanse your
conscience, you've got an evil conscience. Think about it. If religion does it, if reformation
does it, if baptism does it, if giving does it, That's an
evil conscience. You think about that. You say,
well, there's some people in the world that don't even have
a conscience at all. That's right. They started out with one, but
it's been removed, been seared over with a hot iron. Paul describes
them in Romans 1. But those of us who have retained
that conscience, how is it cleansed? How is it relieved? Where do you find relief? Where
do you find peace? Where do you find assurance?
There are preachers today who'll tell you you find assurance in
your fruit. And what they mean by that is
your doings, your efforts. Oh no, you know why I don't find
assurance in my efforts? Because my efforts always fall
short. But I don't find any fault with
Christ and His blood, His righteousness, that's my plea. and our bodies
washed with pure water, he says, that's the blood of Christ that
washes us clean. Well, look here at verse 20 of
chapter seven. I want to talk about our eternal
surety is our eternal security. He says, and in as much as not
without an oath, he was made priest. Talking about Christ. When God made him to be the high
priest, it was not without an oath. but it was with an oath. Look at verse 21. Now this may
sound a little confusing, but listen to what he's saying here.
It's really simple. You know, the writer here is
expounding upon Psalm 110 and verse four. In Psalm 110, let me just read
it to you real quickly. because just to keep it in its
right context. In verse four, he says, the Lord
hath sworn, this is Psalm 110, verse four. The Lord hath sworn,
but that's speaking of an oath that the Father made. And he
said, he hath sworn and will not repent. This will not change. This is an oath sworn by the
immutable God. this universe and it will not
change. There's no change here. All right. And he says, the Lord has sworn
and will not repent thou art a priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. He's talking about the covenant
here made between the father and the son concerning the salvation
of God's people. And Christ was made the surety
of that covenant made a high priest and God swore an oath
Now he didn't do that when he made Aaron the high priest of
the Old Covenant. He didn't swear that oath because
that was a changeable priesthood. That was something that had a
beginning and was going to have an end. And so look at verse
21 of Hebrews 7. For those priests under the Old
Covenant were made without an oath. without God swearing an
oath. God made them priests, he commissioned
them, but he didn't swear an oath because that was never meant
to be eternal. He says, but this with an oath,
that this covenant, this new covenant, which is the terms
of the everlasting covenant, by him that said unto him, the
Lord swear and will not repent, Psalm 110 verse four, Thou art
a priest forever after another order, the order of Melchizedek,
which typifies an eternal priesthood. And so he says in verse 22, verse
22, by so much was Jesus. What does the name Jesus mean?
He shall save his people from their sins. Can he do it? Well, he's got another name.
Emmanuel, God with us. Any doubt? Now Aaron couldn't
save himself, could he? Remember Aaron, Moses' brother? He was the first high priest.
He couldn't save himself, let alone the children of Israel.
In fact, they talked him into fashioning that old golden calf,
didn't they? He was the master artificer of
the golden calf. He was a sinner. Saved by the
grace of God. And every other high priest during
that 1500 year period, they were all sinners. But here's another high priest
of another order. And when God instituted him,
and you know, I think this is a forever issue, but we have
to speak in terms of time because we're just that limited, aren't
we? He swore an oath. upon the high priesthood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so verse 22, by so much was
Jesus made a surety of a better Testament, a better covenant,
a covenant of absolute unconditional promise made to his people through
Christ. And it was all conditioned on
Christ. Now that's what it means for
Christ to be our surety. You see, a surety is, what is
a surety? A surety is one who takes responsibility
to pay the debt and see to the well-being of another who cannot
pay their debt. We think of a surety today as
one who signs a note that says something like this, if the person
we sign for cannot pay, then we're responsible. But that's
not the way that Christ was made surety. It was never, ever, there
was never, ever any possibility that the people whom God gave
him before the foundation of the world could ever pay that
debt. Christ was always, always responsible,
accountable to pay that debt. And what does that mean? That
means our sins were imputed to him, charged to him, accounted
to him. Now you know what that means. I've often said if any generation
ought to understand the doctrine of imputation, it ought to be
ours. Because I guarantee just about everyone sitting in this
building today has a credit card. And you know, when you go out
and charge something on that credit card, that debt is imputed to
you. It's charged to you. You're responsible
to pay it. If you can get on in life without
borrowing money, more power to you. But that's very few of us. If you have to borrow money for
your house, for a car, you gotta do it. That debt is yours. But when God made Christ to be
our surety, My sin debt was laid to his charge. He himself, as
my surety, as my substitute, was responsible to pay that debt
in full. Isn't that right? And here's the glory of it. You
know what happened? He did it. He paid it all. He didn't leave
me one penny to pay. If he did, I'd be doomed. It wasn't that he came down here
and made the payment possible if I would add my acceptance
of it and seal the deal. No, that's not biblical. That's
human religion. That's man in his pride seeking
to make salvation conditioned on himself. I make the difference. No, Christ made the difference
in full. You see, that's the promises
of this covenant. And the Bible says in 2 Corinthians
1 and verse 20 that in Christ, all the promises of God in him
are yea and in him, amen. If any of the promises were conditioned
on me, it's a failure. Why? Because I'm a sinner. That's a better promise, isn't
it? By so much. was Jesus made a surety of a
better covenant. Eternal salvation and all of
its blessings conditioned on Christ. One who is able to save
to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. Think about
it. And our sinful, our sinless Savior
bearing our sins. Think about that. Now what is
this business about the oath? Look back over at Hebrews chapter
six, we studied this, but look at verse, Hebrews six and verse
13. Talking about Abraham here. When
God made promise to Abraham. Because he could swear by no
greater, he swear by himself. Now the promise he's talking
about that was made to Abraham is the promise of salvation.
through Abraham's seed, which is Christ. That's what he's talking
about. And he goes on to show, now look
at this, verse 14, saying, surely blessing, I will bless thee and
multiplying, I will multiply thee. This is a sure promise
based upon a surety. It's not based upon Abraham.
Somebody said, well, Abraham was a perfect guy. No, he wasn't.
Verse 15, so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
For men barely swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife. When men strike an agreement
and they declare an oath, they swear by something greater than
themselves. But now when God makes a promise,
he cannot swear by anything greater than himself because there's
nothing greater than God. So what'd he do? He swore an
oath by himself. What does that mean? That means
God engaged himself behind the keeping and the success of that
promise. He engaged his glory. You know,
if this promise were to fail to anyone whom God gave to Christ,
it would deny his glory. His reputation is on the line
here, not yours, not mine. Salvation is for sinful wretches
like us. We don't have any reputation
in God's kingdom. But it's all on God. And listen
to what he says here. Verse 17, wherein God will him
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise The immutability
of his counsel, it can't change. His wisdom, his way of salvation,
by his grace through Christ, confirmed it by an oath. He put
his reputation on the line. He put his glory on the line
here. If one sinner for whom Christ died could end up in hell,
God's reputation would be shot. That's what this means. Can't
happen, friend. And he says in verse 18, that
by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have strong consolation, strong comfort, strong assurance. Now, who's to have this? Those
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us. What is that hope? Which hope
we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and
which entereth within the veil. Now, who did that? That's Christ.
Whether the forerunner is for us, even Jesus, maiden high priest,
forever after the order of Melchizedek. What does all this say? It's saying there's no way that
this promise can fail to His people. We're blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. By so much was Jesus made the
surety of a better covenant. He's my surety, He's my substitute,
He's my redeemer, He's my righteousness. Do you know because Christ is
the surety of His people, God cannot and will not charge them
with their sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Think about that. Do you have
sins to deal with? You sure do, I do too. But God
does not charge me with my sins. Why? He charged them to Christ.
Christ is my surety. And what did Christ do on the
cross? When he died for my sins, he paid that sin debt. He satisfied
justice and he brought forth everlasting righteousness, whereby
God is just to look at a sinner like me and say, righteous. God's not play acting there.
He's not faking it. He's not calling something righteous
that is not. I am righteous in Christ. Now
I'm not righteous in myself. I'm still fighting the warfare
of the flesh and the spirit by the power of God. Sin still mars and contaminates
everything I think, say, and do. I say with the apostle Paul,
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of
death? And he's not just talking about
aches and pains and old age there. That's part of it. But he's talking
about sin. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank my God through Jesus
Christ. God designed this covenant and
made or appointed Christ to be the surety of the covenant. There's
no other way of salvation and righteousness before God. He
was made a surety when he was made sin for us. Remember in
2 Corinthians 5, he was made sin. That means he was made our
surety. It means he was made our sin
bearer. means he was made our sin offering, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Well, look at verse 23. And they truly were many priests,
Hebrews 7, 23. Now those old covenant priests,
the high priest and the other priest of Levi, they were many,
1,500 years, because they were not
suffered to continue by reason of death. One came, he lived
his life, he died, another took his place. All right, so they were many
because death. Verse 24, but now look at this,
this man, now that word man is in italics. And Jesus Christ
was God man, man without sin. But I think it would be better
read, but this priest, this high priest, this person, because
he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood. Doesn't pass to another. It's an unchangeable priesthood.
Now right there is our security. This unchangeable priesthood
of Christ. Their death meant the end of
their priesthood in the Old Covenant. Christ's death is the fulfillment
of His priesthood. Christ's death is the establishment
and the continuation of his priesthood. His priesthood is unchangeable
because he is eternally our high priest, all due to the righteousness
that he established by his death for our sins. Look at verse 25. Here it is. Wherefore, or for this reason,
he is able. And he's the only one that's
able. He is able also to save them, look at it, to the uttermost, evermore, to the utmost, that
come unto God by him. Now, if you come unto God by
him, it's God bringing you to God by him. Seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them. Now, think about this. He saves his people and secures
their salvation to the utmost, to the end for which it was intended,
to glorify God according to his oath. He's able to save to the
uttermost. He's able. Paul said, I'm persuaded
that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. And what have I committed unto him? My whole salvation
is committed to Christ. Not just part of it. It's not
part him and part me, it's all him. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Back earlier, he talked about
the power of an endless life. You got your bulletin there?
I put an article about this. You know, people today have some
very strange ideas about getting saved. And it most always involves
the preaching of a savior who's trying to save everybody, but
who will only save those who will submit to him and cooperate
and all of that. That's not the Christ of the
Bible, folks. If that's your assurance, then
you're in a mess. And here's what I put down, that
Christ was set forth as our surety, not just to get us started, not just if we would do our part,
if that's the case, we're doomed, but to bring us unto God. And
he does this legally by the righteousness that God has imputed to us, which
he worked out on the cross for us, established for us in redeeming
us by his blood on the cross. He brought us to God. I bring
near my righteousness, he said, and it shall not be a far off.
And he does that spiritually by the life that he's created
for us and which the Holy Spirit imparts to us in the new birth.
He brings us to faith in Christ. It's the gift of God. He brings
us to repentance. He brings us to Him, and He does
this continually by ever living to make intercession for us before
the Father and preserving us by His Spirit, His power, His
grace, and He'll do this gloriously in the end when He brings us
unto God, and we're united to our new bodies. But He's gonna
bring them to God. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. So the ones whom Christ as High Priest represents, they're
them that come to God. And they come by way of Christ.
He is the way, the truth, and the life. And no man cometh unto
the Father but by Him. Rest assured, you who are looking
to Him, you have a good hope. You have a better hope. You have
the best hope. And that's Jesus Christ, our
eternal security, who right now, is at the right hand of the father
ever living to make intercession for his people. And you know
what that means? That means he's right. He is continually pleading
the merits of his work of what he accomplished for his people
as our charity. Okay.