I know that we were here just
not too long ago, looking at verse 25, but I've seen a, this
morning I was reading through some scriptures. I don't, to
be honest, well, I know how it happened, the world got me there. But I was actually looking at
some verses about the angels and the elect angels and the
non-elect angels Quite a few years ago, six or seven years
ago, I did a short message on, talked about the angels and everything,
but I had some thoughts about the elect angels. Anyway, I was
reading through a bunch of verses and came upon these verses this
morning and kind of seeing a little bit of a connection between verse
25 and some things that's found in the previous verses that come
before it. But anyway, as I was reading down through this, just
a lot of things was kind of jumping off the page at me and everything.
So I hope the Lord is leading me to
preach this. And if I preach it, I pray that
it's the truth. And I pray that I find edification
from it. Let's look at starting in verse
11. I'm going to read verse 11 and
then down to verse 20. I know it kind of breaks off. We're jumping in. I'm going to
try not to go back through the previous verses 1 through 10
about Melchizedek. I pray we all understand who
Melchizedek was and who he represents, or to some, who we think he probably
was. My thoughts is, that in the Old
Testament Melchizedek was the Lord. But anyhow, his office,
his priesthood, Christ, is after that similitude. But anyway,
not to go back through all that, and not to press forward past
25, I would like to just kind of stay between 11 and 25. That's
where the Lord wants us to stay, but we'll follow wherever He
wants us to go. If therefore perfection were by the Levitical
priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what
further need was there that another priest should arise after the
order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order of
Aaron? For the priesthood being changed,
there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom
these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no
man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord
sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning
the priesthood. And it is yet far more evident,
for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth
another priest. who is made not after the law
of carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is
verily a disannulling of the commandment, going before for
the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. I want to read that
again. For there is verily a disannulling
of the commandment going before, for the weakness and unprofitableness
thereof. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw
nigh to God. And insomuch as not without an
oath he was made priest. For those priests were made without
an oath, but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The
Lord swear and will not repent thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. And they truly were many priests,
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them to the othermost, that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession. for them. Let's bow and go to
the Lord. Father, we come once again just
grateful for the opportunity that we have to be gathered in
your name. And Father, we pray that today
as we are gathered that you would be with us and that you would
speak to us and that you would minister under our hearts and
under our minds. Father, we pray that the Holy
Spirit once again would be our teacher. Father, I pray that
as we look into these passages, Lord, that I might not speak
of error, Lord, that I might not speak of human wisdom, but
that we might exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth that's
found in him and is revealed in your word here. Lord, we just
pray today that we might see this prophet, this priest, this
king, this Lord Jesus Christ, after the order of Melchizedek,
who has brought in eternal salvation for his people, May we praise
and glory and honor in the work that He has done. Lord, may we
lift up our praise and our honor, and may we rejoice in the hope
that we have, which is Christ Jesus, our Lord. Father, once
again, we just pray that those that are here, that you just
might grant to them understanding, grant to them repentance, grant
to them faith, Lord, to trust and believe on your Son. Lord,
we just ask that today that all your elect of God, wherever they
may be meeting, wherever they may be under the Word of God
being preached, taught, shared, conversed about, Lord, may they
be edified, may they be encouraged. And Lord, we pray that in this
wicked generation in which you have brought us into during this
time period, Lord, we pray that you would keep us safe and may
you keep us firm and standing upon God's Word and upon the
faith of Christ Jesus once delivered to the saints. Lord, may you
keep us safe from the harm that is to beset us because of this
wicked and untoward generation. Again, Father, we thank you for
all that you have done for us and the cross that you were upon
to take up on our sins and to give unto us salvation. Lord,
it's in your name that we pray. Amen. The question is, If the law could make us perfect,
whether it be instantaneously or whether it be gradually, why
is there a need for Christ to have ever come? I mean, that's a legitimate question,
I think. Especially in a time that we live today where the
majority of preaching that we hear that bombards our ears on
the radio, on the TV, on the internet, in bookstores, in all
the books that are being written, all the articles that are being
written, the crusades, the revivals, the conferences, all the places
where quote-unquote preaching is taking place. We hear a bombardment
that Jesus saves. Right? Everybody says that. I
mean, everyone says Jesus saves. As a matter of fact, You find
some people who don't even claim to be Christians. They have heard
at some point or seen a billboard somewhere that says, Jesus saves. John 3.16. Some sort of a passage. And they can tell you that Jesus
died for the world. They hear that. And the majority of the preaching
that declares Jesus saves or that Jesus accomplished salvation,
salvation is by the Lord, however they want to say it, the majority
of the preaching that comes after that is, get after it and get
to work. Get out there and show that you've
been saved by how much you do. Get out there and prove your
salvation. I've heard people talk about,
you know, portion of this verse, you know, work out your salvation
with fear and trembling. And I've even heard some brothers
in Sovereign Grace say, you cannot divorce that first part from
the second part, even though we're firm on the second part.
That it is God who works in you, both the will and the doing is
good pleasure. We cannot deny the fact that it says we are
to work out. So there is a working to be done
on our part. But brethren, while that is true,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling. That too
cannot be divorced from the second part. It's all one thought, one
idea. The working out of salvation
is by the one who wills and who do inside of you. But yet we're
told over and over and over again that there is this moral law,
there is this ceremonial law, the civil law, and they've broken
it all up into these pieces. And that while Christ came and
died for us, he wiped out that ceremonial law and that civil
law. But yet the moral law still stands
for us to keep. And that we are beholden to walk
according to that rule. And if we don't walk according
to that rule, we prove ourselves to be reprobate. And if we don't
walk according to that rule, then we are not walking in sanctification. We are not conforming to the
image of Christ. We are not progressing in our
holiness. We're not progressing in our
righteousness. Now, brethren, I don't think
I'm amiss in saying that that's what's being preached today.
I know that's what's being preached because I used to preach it myself. I used to preach that before
the Lord graciously revealed His Gospel to me. I preached
a man-centered Gospel that relied upon me keeping something, me
doing something, me responding, me coming, me willing, me deciding,
me repenting, me believing, me keeping up religious efforts,
me even yielding I have to yield myself to God so that He can
work in me. I have to let God have control
of my life so that He can will and do His good pleasure. Listen,
brethren, if God wills and does His good pleasure in me, if it
is He that gives me to will and to do of His good pleasure, then
the willing of myself My willing is controlled by, subservient
to, and in complete and total dependence upon God doing it
in me. Not by me letting God do anything. I don't let God do anything.
So, with all that being said, the going, the doing, the keeping
up, the keeping up what? The Ten Commandments? The laws? All the laws? Well, we see here,
and I've tried to stress a few of these words here to show us
the teaching of Scripture that clearly teaches that the law,
and again, God never does break up the law in moral, civil, or
ceremonial. I don't find that anywhere. Have
you ever seen that, brother? I don't know anywhere. And I
may be ignorant of that. If it's in the scripture, let
me know. I've never seen where God divides the law into sections
and then He disannulls, if we want to use the biblical word,
in sections. The law was given as a whole
to His people. The law was given to the priesthood
to mediate on behalf of the people who were given the whole law.
And the moral law, whenever it was broken by the people, had
to come to the priest who, by the ceremonial and the civil
law, had to make atonement for the ones who broke the moral.
Therefore, the moral law is tied to the civil law and the ceremonial
law. And without the civil and ceremonial
law, the breaking of the moral law cannot be atoned for. So
therefore, the whole entire law comes as one unit because keeping
the law, breaking the law, requires a priest, requires an atonement. requires the work of blood on
their behalf. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. The type, the shadow, the shadow
of what Christ was to be in that priesthood, it came as a whole. And so all these people that
say, well, we don't have the ceremony of the Sybil anymore, We just
have the moral and we've got to keep the moral law. All that came together in one
package, one unit. Because the only way to relieve
that moral law aspect in that Old Testament, Old Covenant,
was to have a priest sacrifice an animal to do that on your
behalf. It all came together. So it rises
and falls together. And here we clearly see, and
the question that I asked a while ago, is if that made anybody
perfect, if that made anybody saved, if that kept anybody saved,
if that was effective, then why is there any need for
Jesus? That's the question going into
this passage here. If anybody can keep the law,
And if anybody who's trying to keep the law thinks that if they
keep the law, that that righteousness is going to be accepted, then
there was no need for Jesus to come. And so that's the answer
to the question. No, there's no need for Jesus
to come if the first covenant, do this and live, was able to be done. But the
very fact that those priests stood every day, year after year,
an unchangeable priesthood that, I mean, a changeable priesthood
that every time one died, someone had to take its place. Every
time one got tired, another one had to come in behind him. That
these priests all the time was rotating through, but nonstop,
the blood was always flowing because there was always people
breaking the law. was the testimony that man cannot
keep this law. We see right here God, not me,
not Paul who wrote this, not Calvinists, not Sovereign Gracers,
not Primitive Baptists, not this theological group or that theological
group. God has said, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical
priesthood, What further need was there that any other priest
should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called
after the order of Aaron? If that could happen, now we
know that's a rhetorical question. It cannot happen because of the
constant sacrifices, right? But we also know it cannot happen
and it was never meant to happen because of the fact that another
priest had to come. That another change came. But I want you to pay close attention
here. Look in, if you would, in the parentheses there. It
says, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood,
for under it the people received the law. See, the people received
the law under that priesthood. What law is that talking about? Anybody? What law was that talking
about? The law that was received under
the first priesthood. It was all that that God had
given Moses, right? Everything that everybody tells
us that we have to run back and try to keep, to live up to, to
attain to, that was the law that was given under that priesthood. Everybody doesn't have a problem
with the fact that the Bible says that there has been a change
in the priesthood from the Levitical priesthood to the Melchizedek
priesthood. Nobody has a problem saying that.
In Arminian groups, among the sovereign grace groups, definitely,
but even among the Arminian groups, we have no problem saying we
have a better priest under the order of Melchizedek and not
after the Levitical priesthood. We can say that all day long.
But brethren, can we say that there is now no more law that
was under that Levitical priesthood? No, we can't. There's so many
people that want to keep going back to the law that was given
under the Levitical priesthood. See, with the coming in of another
priest came in another law. With the coming in of another
priest there came in another covenant. With the coming in
of another priest, there came in another testament. That's
why we have the Old Testament and the New Testament. That's
why we have the Old Covenant and we have the New Covenant.
Now, it's not new in the fact of time lineage. Okay? Because we know that the New
Covenant preceded the Old Covenant. because the New Covenant was
made from everlasting. The New Covenant was made before
the foundation of the world. It was new in the fact of our
experience of time, in the fact that God gave to man the law
and the priesthood first, as a shadow, as a type, and as a
schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. knew in the fact that now that
Christ has come, we now are experiencing everything that the everlasting
covenant that God has had from all of time with His elect, that
being seen and experiencing through the blood of Jesus Christ. The covenant is in the blood
of Jesus Christ. It is the New Testament in His
blood. And so this New Testament has
its own law. It has its own heirs. It has
its own priest who is interceding and who is mediating this covenant. And so it's hard for me to understand,
at least now that to me it's so clear in Scripture, but it's
hard for me to understand why people have such a hard time
distinguishing that we are no longer under that Levitical Mosaic
Law. with a new priest came a new
law. He says, if therefore perfection
were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it, the Levitical priesthood,
the people received the law, what further need was there that
any, or that another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek,
and not after, and not be called after the order of Aaron? If
I were to stop right now and just ask you guys, What is the
one thing about Melchizedek that made him stand out than anybody
else, knowing about what the Bible has said about Melchizedek?
What's the one thing that stands out to you on that? Let's see
if the first thing that comes to your mind that came to mind. There you go. That was the thing
that I thought first. Whenever somebody says Melchizedek,
the first thing that comes to your mind is the Bible has clearly
said that he had no beginning. He had no beginning. So here
we see that there was a priesthood that began with one priest and
continued with multiple priests. Here is a priest that under Aaron,
God gave a law, placed it in the priesthood. The priesthood
then mediated that law. The law came, then the priest
was appointed. And the priest was appointed
to do that. But here we have something completely and totally
different in the New Covenant, in the New Testament. We have
something completely and totally different than that Levitical
priesthood. We have, number one, a priest
who has ever been. And we have a covenant that has ever
been. that are from everlasting in
Christ Jesus, their mediator. See, these men had a changing
priesthood and there was a people that was a changing people. But
here we have a priest who is forever, a covenant that is forever,
and a people who has been elect in Christ Jesus and under His
mediatorial work, under His mediatorial suretyship, underneath His headship
from before the foundation of the world in eternity. Whenever it was that God elected
a people unto Himself. Now, brethren, that's completely
and totally different. The terms of the covenant are completely
and totally different. In this Levitical priesthood,
the terms was, here's the laws, keep them. If you don't keep
them, There has to be a sacrifice made and if not, you die. In the terms of the everlasting
covenant, the terms are someone already did it for you. There is no laws to keep in the
new covenant because the law in the new covenant, or excuse
me, the law in the old covenant was kept by Christ. The law in
the new covenant It's completely and totally different. It isn't
about something to do for righteousness. It isn't about something to do
that you have to continue in your own efforts. But it's something that is put
within you. God has put within us His love
that is shed abroad in our heart. And that love that is put within
us is something that we can't muster up in the natural man.
It's not something that we can do. He has put that in us so
that we might do what? Love God, love the brethren. See, the new covenant comes new
laws. The new priest comes a new mediatorial
work. It's not an ongoing work. It was a once for all work. Let's
look a little bit further. He says, verse 14, for it is
evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah of which tribe Moses
spake nothing concerning priesthood." See, so here again, God is making
very clear that this mediatorial work, this covenant, and this
law that has, not under the Levitical priesthood, has changed. Look at verse 12 again. For the
priesthood being changed, there is made of a necessity a change
also of the law. Now that's very clear to me,
brethren. There is a change in the priesthood, there is a change
in the law. So that means that whatever law is intact under
this new covenant, under this new priest, is not the same as
what was under the Levitical priesthood. It has changed. If I were to
go down to my bedroom and come back in and have on a green shirt
and purple pants, that would not be the same shirt and the
same pants. Now, I'm sure that there would
be some legalistic sticklers who would say, well, it's still
denim and it's still cotton, it's still a shirt and it's still
pants, just a different color. No, they are different. Okay? They are different. There was
a change made in the priesthood. There was a change made in the
law. Now, if you want to keep saying
that that's the same law that we're keeping, you're in direct
contradiction to the word of God. That says it's a different
law. Now back down into verse 15. And it is yet far more evident
for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there arises another
priest who is made not after the law of carnal commandment.
That word carnal means fleshly commandment or a natural commandment. Christ didn't come and there's
two ways you can look at this. Christ was not made a priest
after the law of Moses and how the priesthood was set up there.
The priesthood there was set up by the Levitical tribe. He
designated the tribe of Levi that all the priests was to come
from the tribe of Levi. Nobody could be a priest outside
of the tribe of Levi. They were the only ones who could
be eligible to be priests. Jesus didn't come from the tribe
of Levi in the natural speaking. He came from the tribe of Judah.
So he didn't have, according to the law of Moses that God
had given, he didn't have the right, he didn't have the authority
to be a priest under that law. He had to be from the tribe of
Levi if he was, but he wasn't. So there again, that even more
solidifies the fact that this priesthood is something different,
that has changed. He is not under the tribe of
Levi, but under the tribe of Judah. He is not after Aaron,
he is after Melchizedek. Aaron was somebody who was a
temporal person, Melchizedek was forever. It is a different
thing. It is a different covenant, a
different law that He is mediating. He is not mediating the old covenant
law in you. That's what a lot of people want
to think that Christ is doing in you. And I've heard that said.
I've preached it. I preached that a lot in my younger
preaching days as an Arminian. I preached it as Christ in you
doing the work. He's getting in you and getting
to work. And what's He doing in you? He is going back and
fulfilling those laws in you. Christ is not mediating that
old law. He is mediating the new law.
He is the mediator of a new testament, a new covenant that has new laws. I'm going to probably say that
about 55 more times because I'm hoping that we begin to get that
into our mind and understand that the Lord gives us that.
I'm hoping that we begin to see How crazy this is that the whole
thing of God working in us is to sanctify us in the law keeping
of the old law. He's not doing that. He is mediating
the new covenant with the new law. Look what it says. Who was
made, not after the law of the carnal commandment. Like I said,
that could be looked at two different ways. I think it means like after
the natural order of the Levitical priesthood by being of lineage. They succeeded as priests by
their lineage. Christ wasn't made a priest by
lineage. He was made, as it says right
here, but after the power of an endless life. He was made
a priest after the power of an endless life. I sat and pondered
on that this morning for quite a while. I looked at I looked
at the words behind that. I tried to find out the meaning
of that. I even went and looked at a couple of commentaries just
to see what some other smart men was thinking about it and
everything. Sometimes smart men have smart
things to say. And sometimes the Lord does use
some of that stuff to kind of help spark our thoughts about
stuff. So I'm not totally discounting looking at something else. But
that's not our rule of faith, right? That's not where we get
our truth. in the Scriptures alone. But after the power of an endless
life. And this is where I see the tie into verse 25 that we
talked about a couple of weeks ago. Look at verse 25 again. Wherefore He is able to save
them to the uttermost, into perfection. He is able to save them to the
uttermost without anything lacking. He is able to save them forever.
He is able to save them for all time. He is able to save them
to complete and total perfection so that God has nothing against
them. No law is against them. No judgment
is against them. No wrath is against them. Why?
Because Christ has so utterly saved them that there can be
no anything brought up against God's elect. No charges made against God's
elect. None. That's how much He has saved
them. But look what it says. Wherefore He is able to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing, or because
He ever liveth to make intercession for them. Remember I was talking
about last week that the intercession there was the fact that Jesus
was there. The fact that Jesus is the high priest and He's there
as the mediator and the fact that He has accomplished salvation
to the uttermost And Him being sitting there on the throne of
God is the intercession, the interceding of the fact that
I have done everything to perfection for them and they are perfect
in Me, that there is no more salvation that needs to be done
on their behalf. There is nothing more that God
requires on their behalf. And the interceding is the priest
who did the mediatorial work. See, the priest had to sprinkle
the blood. The priest made the sacrifice.
The priest sprinkled the blood and applied it. Jesus Christ
was the sacrifice and he sprinkled the blood and he sat down. And the fact that he sat down
was proof that intercession has been made, is being made. There can be nothing else said.
He ever liveth to be the Melchizedek. He ever liveth to be the King
of righteousness. He ever liveth to be the perfect
salvation for His people. If you look at verse 16, He was
made a high priest after the power of an endless life. The
fact that He is the everlasting priest, the never-changing priest,
verse 25, The ever-living priest who makes intercession, the fact
that he lives forever is what gave him the right to be the
priest of the new covenant, the priest of the new intercession,
the priest of the new law. Why? Because he ever liveth. Now, we're going to find out
why that is such a big deal. And that is because God Himself
declared it to be so. For there is barely a disannulling
of the commandment going before. There is a disannulling. What does the word disannull
mean? Does anybody know what the word disannull means? That
might be pretty advantageous for us to know what that means.
Because it says right here, there has been a verily, truly. That word verily means truly,
right? When Jesus said verily, verily, whatever, he meant, he
said truly, truly. This isn't hyperbole. This isn't
exaggeration. This isn't, you know, sarcasm. Truly, truly, I say unto you.
Jesus would always say. He says right here, for there
is truly a disannoying of the commandment going before. Well,
it might behoove us to know what that word disannul means. That
word disannul means to do away with, to make no more. I was curious about this word.
I tried to find where else it was found in Scripture. And so here's It's a question
I'm going to pose to everybody and anybody watching and listening
or whatever. We believe that this is God's Word. We believe
that God's Word is given by inspiration of God. And that every word that
God gives to us is an important thing. And He doesn't just throw
words out. And He gives us something and
He says something. And we believe that to be truth. Whether we believe it or not,
it's truth. We believe that to be truth, then let's not make
excuses to fit our theological system, right? Let's submit to
the truth and say, my theological system has to change, right?
That word disannul, I looked it up, what the Greek word was
behind it, and so I searched through our King James Bible
and found where that word is used. Other places where it's
used. to try to find what God's definition
of it is. See, we can go to a lexicon and
find out what some man thinks it means. We can go to some dictionary
and find out what Webster thought it meant, what the common man
thinks it means, okay? And there's nothing wrong with
some of that stuff, especially going back to the Webster's Dictionary
that gives you the definitions by the years. I think, I can't
remember what year that is. The Webster's from 18-something.
That will give you a definition, but it'll take you back and it'll
show you what the definition of that was in different years.
You can kind of get an understanding. So like in the King James, whenever
they were talking, we can see a word and we can see how it
was defined and how it was understood to mean in that time. That's
a good thing to do and we can do that stuff, but the best way
to understand the Scripture is to let the Scripture define the
Scripture. Let God define His own words for us. So what do
we do? We look at the word that God
used. So we look at the Greek word, See what the Greek word
is? Find everywhere in God's Word that word was used. And then see the context of it.
See how God used that word and now we know what God meant by
that word and not by Mr. Lexicon or Mr. This or That. It's what God's Word was. The word disknowing there is
found in Hebrews 9, 26. For then must he 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 by the sacrifice of
himself." That word put away there, that phrase put away,
that is the exact same Greek word that is behind this and
all. Now let me ask you a question,
and I think it's a very important question. How far has God put away your
sin? Does God still go back and dabble in your sin a little bit
and bring it up before you? Is God going to hold a little
bit of your sin against you? Is there some sin that God hasn't
put away? Those ceremonial sins that you've
done, those civil sins that you've done, God's put those away, but
those moral sins, God still hasn't put those away. Now, how many
sins has God put away? Every one of them. And how completely
has He put them away? Well, the Bible says that He's
going to remember them no more, as far as the East is from the
West. But there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Why?
Because there's no sin. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, nor hath he seen perverseness in Israel. That's how much God
has put away our sins. Brethren, how much has God disannulled
that first testament, that first law, that first priestly order? How far away has God changed
the law? completely and totally in the
fact that it's called a New Testament. He says, verse 19, or excuse
me, verse 18. For there is verily a disannulling
of the commandment going before. Why? For the weakness and unprofitableness
thereof. For those of you that want the
law of God, the Mosaic law as your rule of life and think that
it's your rule of life, hear what God says about His own law. Now, I'm not... Listen, the law
is perfect. I believe, like Paul does, the
law is perfect. But the law is not perfect in
gaining righteousness. The law is perfect in what it
was intended for. Just like how Adam was made good,
perfect, and upright. He was made perfect and good
in the purpose for which God created him. The law was created
for a purpose, not to give righteousness, not to make one righteousness,
not to uphold a righteousness, sustain a righteousness, not
to, and listen, this is the kicker one right here though, even among
sovereign praisers, not to prove a righteousness that has been
given to you. The law is weak and unpunished. profitable in the realm of righteousness to the people under whom they've
been put. The people who are put under
this law and under that priesthood, that law, that priesthood could
never ever ever procure a righteousness, keep a righteousness, or even
prove a righteousness. I can't prove righteousness by
law keeping. Why? Because I can't keep it perfectly.
The only way that the law is fulfilled or is kept is by perfectly
keeping all of them. That's why I say you've got to
have all three sections of that law if you want to break them
down in sections. You've got to have all three. For the law made nothing perfect. In case you didn't think that
I was telling the truth in verse 18, verse 19 makes it very clear.
The law made nothing perfect and it is not making anything
perfect now. But what did make perfect? We
see in verse 25 that He is able to save them to the uttermost
or to the perfection, but the bringing in of a better hope
did. See, there was no hope under
the law. There was absolutely no hope under the law, brethren.
But the coming in of a better hope is. Now, a lot of people
want to look at this better hope and think it is a hope so. A
bringing in of a better hope so. Well, I hope that I'm going
to be made righteous by me keeping the law or God working in me
to work out that righteousness. That's not what that's talking
about. Matter of fact, this is not talking about a action or
a feeling or an emotion or some sort of a characteristic of the
child of grace, this is talking about a person. For the bringing
in of a better hope did. Did what? Make perfect. See, me hoping on Christ don't
make me perfect. Abraham hoping on Christ didn't
make him righteous. Hope made us righteous. Who is hope? It is Christ Jesus. Preacher, do you have proof of
that in Scripture, that that's a person? Look, if you look back
just a chapter, Hebrews chapter 6. Thereby, verse 18, or 17, excuse
me, Wearing God willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation
who had fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us. Which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that
within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered."
Even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Now, I don't know about you, and again, I'm open for correction
on this, whether it is here or anywhere else. That's telling
me that hope in verse 18, hope in verse 19, is talking about
Jesus. Therefore, hope in verse 19,
who brings in a better hope, whoever makes me perfect is done
by a better hope. That's Jesus. It's not a faith. It's not a
body of doctrine. It's not an earnest expectation.
Now that word does mean earnest expectation in other contexts.
But here, this is speaking specifically of Jesus. Our earnest expectation
is in the object of Christ, who is our hope. The only hope you
have of salvation is Christ. If He is not your hope, then
you have no hope. That's what verse 6 is saying.
God has made a promise by an oath that this covenant is going
to stand, that this salvation is going to be to the uttermost,
that everyone for whom it is intended is going to be the heirs
of it, and God promised it, and He couldn't promise by anything
greater, so He promised by His own name. And He said, take refuge and lay
hold upon the hope who is set before us, which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul." Listen, brother, my hope being in Christ
isn't an anchor for my soul because my hope languishes at sometimes. My hope comes and goes sometimes. No, what I have for an anchor
of my soul, though, is something that cannot be moved, and that
is the fact that a priest that has ever been, who has a law
that is a better law that has a better covenant has mediated
that on my behalf and it has absolutely nothing to do with
what my hands bring to it. Therefore, I can't muck it up.
I can't cause it to go south. I can't cause it to languish.
I can't cause it to speed up because it has absolutely positively
nothing to do with me. That's why the Lord calls it
a testament. The word covenant that's used
in here is actually, to my surprise, a different word found in the
covenant that we find in the Old Testament. The word covenant
here actually does mean a testament, and there's a difference between
a covenant and a testament. Larry can attest to this. He
just dealt with a testament just not too long ago. A testament
is a will, and that will is written independently of anybody that
that will may involve. For instance, if I made a will
out, I'm gonna write down in my will, after my death, this
is what's gonna happen, this is who it's gonna happen to,
and this is what they're gonna be able to receive, and blah,
blah, blah, this is what it goes for. And that becomes a legal
document, and according to Will and Testament, that thing
stands, nobody can break it. If that's what it says, it does.
So say I leave everything to Weyland. I leave everything that
I have, all this great, beautiful mansion and all the mighty things
that I got, son. If I leave it to Weyland, and
I write that down, and I put it in Will and Testament, and
it becomes a legal document, Zach can't come against that
and say, wait a minute, Part of that's mine, I was his son
too. Matter of fact, I was his first son. Kaylee can't say anything,
well, I was his first kid. Tell me that's mine. No, the law has to say whatever
that will says, that's what has to do because the authority of
that will is upon the one who made that oath that this is what's
gonna happen, right? The one who owned it is the one
who said this is how it's gonna be divvied up. And nobody can
say anything different about that. God was the one who made the
covenant, who made the testament, and He chose within Himself a
people to heir it to and united them with the testator of that
will. Therefore, whatever the testator
says about that heirship, It's going to happen. Why? Because
he swore by his own name. I don't even know. I haven't seen a will in a long
time. But most wills usually have some sort of a formality.
The last will and testament of so and so and it has your legal
name and all this kind of stuff on there so that we know exactly
who this is talking about. God swore by his own name. This
is how it's going to be. This is who it's going to. This
is how it's going to be done. And this is what the end result
is going to be. And he swore by himself on that.
And listen, the Bible says it's immutable. Guess what? That was before anything was
ever created. That was before Adam fell. That
was before anybody came into sin, came into existence. That
was before all things. God made this testament out.
And guess what? Jesus is fulfilling everything.
in that. And it can't be changed. It can't be changed. That's what's
wonderful about this salvation. Our hands don't have anything
to do it. That's why it is a better hope. That's why He is the anchor
of our soul. Because it doesn't depend on
us. I posted something earlier this
week that I was thankful that people's salvation, people's
spirituality doesn't hang upon my faithfulness. on my preaching, upon my witnessing,
upon my keeping after them and urging them and admonishing them
and all that kind of stuff. I'm thankful that the Lord is
in control of all that stuff. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the witch, meaning
Christ, we draw nigh unto God. And as much as not without an
oath, he was made priest. So it wasn't without an oath.
See, the Levitical priesthood came in by lynch. Christ came
in by an oath of God. For those priests were made without
an oath, but this with an oath by Him that said unto Him, The
Lord swear and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever. This
priesthood never ceases. As long as he is the priest,
he is mediating the Testament and all the terms of the Testament.
Think about this, brethren. Under the Old Covenant, the Bible
says that Moses was the mediator of that Old Covenant. There was God's side, and we've
seen the law, but there was nobody on man's side to mediate that
covenant. Nobody. Now, the priests were
given their duties, but that never did mediate the covenant. It never did cleanse the conscience. It never did make anyone righteous.
I mean, it never did work. Why? Because it was, what does
it say there? It was weak and unprofitable.
We hear in other places in the Scripture, because of the weakness
of the flesh, and not being able to keep it. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better Testament. Why would you want to go back
to a not-so-better Testament? Why would you want to go back
to the Other Testament and live under the Other Testament which
is weak, which is unprofitable, which cannot make perfect, which
never was intended for righteousness? That law was not for righteousness. But yet you're saying we've got
to keep that to be righteous. We've got to keep that to show
forth righteousness. It says here there is a better
testament. There is a better covenant. There
is a better law. We had an old expedition that
sat out here at the side of our house for several years that
didn't work. It ran down. We finally sold it to somebody,
but it didn't work. It had all kinds of problems.
As a matter of fact, after it sat out there for a little while,
it started getting all the little green fungus and stuff that grows
on the side of your house. You got that on there. Now, if
I had somebody come up into my yard and want to buy a car, and
they had a choice either between my car that I have now, and that
car, they said, well tell me what's all the deal. I said,
well this car out here, it doesn't run, the engine's shot, the tires
are flat, they won't air up, it has a little bit of stink
in there because we've been storing stuff in there, and there's green
junk all over. You'll definitely need to power
wash it. The paint's faded. It's got its issues. It's got over 200,000 miles on
it, even if you do get the engine going. Then I got this car out
here. I mean, it runs good. It drives
good. Everything's good on it. Nothing wrong with it. Tip-top
shape. Well, I tell you what, why don't
you give me that one out there, man? I really like that one.
You sure you don't want this one? It's a better car. I don't
know, man. I'll take that one. It was here
first. See? Why do people want to live
under a law that can't do anything for you except condemn you. Why
do people think that they have a righteousness that is being
worked out in them by a mediator that doesn't even work under
that priesthood? That doesn't even work under
that law? That's clear from Hebrews 7. Jesus doesn't mediate under that
law. And you think He's mediating
that law through you? How can that be? How can that
be that he is doing it? Whenever Paul says we establish
the law, we establish the law, but it's not that one. It's the
law of Christ. The new priest. The Melchizedek
priest. The New Testament priest. The
new law priest. We establish that law. By so much was Jesus made a surety. We all know what a surety is,
right? A surety is one who makes sure that something takes place. We have bail bondsmen, right? They're a surety. They go before
the court on behalf of somebody else and they put up money for
these and they say, we'll guarantee that these people will come back
to court whenever it's time for them to come back to court, right?
So they give some money up to the court The people get out
of jail, okay, but you have to have an impending court date.
Well, if those people don't pay their bail, if they don't come
and show up for court, what happens? The bail bondsman goes after
them looking for them, right? He is the surety mediating between
the court and the transgressor to make sure that that transgressor
pays up what is due. Jesus Christ is the surety. to
make sure that everything for whom he mediates, that the whole
terms of the covenant are made. But guess what? He's not sitting
here poking and prodding and pushing you, saying you need
to get after it or it ain't gonna get done. You better start living
up to it or you're not gonna get it. If you don't do this,
I'm pushing you to will and to do, because if you don't will
and to do, wrath is coming. That's not how he mediates it.
How does he mediate the covenant? By sitting down at the right
hand of God, have presented His blood and the salvation already
made, once for all, and says, it is finished. That's how he
mediates. He mediates by his perpetual
existence as the testator, the one who has wrote it down, the
one who has accomplished it, the one who is the heir of it
all, the one who is divvying it all out, the one who is making
sure it is being applied as the law has given to be applied,
the one who is sitting there saying, it is my blood, it is
my people, it is my salvation, it is my way, my purpose, everything
about the whole shebang is by Him. He is making sure that it
happens. But this man, because he continueth
ever hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, because
he ever lives to make intercession for them. He is interceding for
them, brethren, but he is not mediating the old covenant. Your
salvation, your rule of life, your righteousness, Your hope,
your acceptance with God, your keeping with God has absolutely,
positively nothing to do with the old covenant, the old law,
and the old priesthood. It has everything to do with
the new covenant, the new priest, and the new law, under which
Christ is the King. Christ is the mediator. Melchizedek,
the word Melchizedek means king of righteousness. He is the one who is the king
of righteousness. He is the one who establishes righteousness.
He is the one who imputes righteousness. See, righteousness isn't something
that we earn or isn't something that we work out or something
that we work of. It isn't something that we do
at all. All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Brethren,
our hope is in the Lord. Our righteousness is in Him.
He is the mediator of that new law. Anybody have anything to
add to that? We can't sing 203. Or we can
attempt to sing 203. Before we sing, does any other
brother have anything to add or correction or anything? Or
anything you want to expound upon? I'll take your 203 as the
expounding.