Hebrews chapter 7. You're probably familiar with
the fact that in studying, reading the epistle to the Hebrews, that
the key word you'll encounter again and again and again, almost
in every chapter, is the word better, better. In comparing
our Redeemer to the Levitical priesthood, He's better. To the sacrifices of the temple,
Christ is better. He represents us in a better
covenant established on better promises. He offered Himself
as a better sacrifice with far-reaching better results. He put away,
as Bobby just sang, the sins of his people. With that in mind,
let's begin reading here in Hebrews 7 at verse 11. We'll read from
verse 11 through verse 22. If therefore perfection were
made, or rather were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the
people received the law. What further need was there that
another priest should rise 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 a carnal commandment,
but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, this
is God speaking to his son, 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. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw
nigh unto God. And inasmuch 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, again
God speaking to his son, 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." Looking back at verse 19, which
will be our text, My subject is this, a better hope. A better hope. This is what the
text speaks of. In Ephesians chapter 2, we're
told where every one of us, no exceptions, male, female, young,
old, we're told in Ephesians 2 verse 12, where every son of
Adam is by nature, the state, the condition that we enter this
world in, what we're born to, and where we would remain, where
we would remain apart from God's grace. That's where we... We're at birth, that's where
we'll leave this world at death unless between those two certain
events, God comes to us in his mighty grace. Paul there in Ephesians
2 said, for we were without Christ. We were without Christ, having
no hope. Having no hope and without God
in the world. That being the case, that being
the condition there, every man born, a better hope for any needy
sinner would be this, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it include this? A hope of salvation, not dependent
in any way on me for its success. That's worth repeating. A better
hope would be a hope of salvation not dependent in any way on the
sinner, on me, for its success. Terry and I met out here Wednesday
night. Actually, the man who delivered
our building followed Terry. from Talladega with the building. And after it was set up, the
man asked, once he found out I was pastor here, what do you
believe here? What is it you preach here? And
I said, free grace, free grace. And as Donny Bell would say,
he looked at me like a calf looking at a new gate. Didn't have a clue. And so Terry and I, he didn't
seem to be in a hurry and asked us some questions, so Terry and
I conversed with the man. And he said, yes, I believe that,
but we have to do our parts. We have to do our part too. And I said, show me that in God's
Word. Tell me where that is in God's
Word and I'll believe it. But it's not there. It's not
there. And he said, give me your phone
number. And when I get home, I'll send
you a text with the verses that teach we have to do our part
in salvation. And as polite as I could, and
as gracious as I could, Louis, not trying to be smart, I told
him, I said, there's no need to that. There's no need for
you to do that. You would be wasting your time
and wasting mine because I know better. I know better. Salvation is all a matter of
God's grace. Salvation to be free from sin's
curse, from sin's penalty. from sin's power, from all the
consequences that sin entails. That's salvation by grace. Look at verse 12 in chapter 8
here in Hebrews. Look what the promise of God
the Father is. Aren't these sweet words? He
says, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. and
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." God
says that. The sins and iniquities of his
people, the sins and iniquities of those that Christ represented,
those for whom he shed his blood on Calvary, Christ says, or rather
God says, I will remember them no more. Oh, what a better hope
that is. A better hope also would include
this, to be accepted by God. To be accepted by the Lord God. Of hearing Him say, of hearing
Him say, when this life is over, and it'll soon be over. Morning,
John. My soul, I can't get used to
the swiftness of the days and the months and the years. My,
they go by so quickly. But a better hope would be of
hearing God say, when this life is over, come ye blessed. Come
ye blessed. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world." Oh, that's a better
hope. Rather than hearing, as multitudes
will, as religious multitudes will, depart from me, ye cursed,
in the everlasting fire, I never knew you. I want to ask you a
question. Would you know the reality of
such a hope? of such a great salvation? Of
forgiveness? Of acceptance by God? Reconciliation with God? Would you know the reality of
such a hope as that? Of having peace with God? Are you interested in that? Would
you like tonight, when you lie down in your bed, to know to
know, not to guess, not to hope, not to be in turmoil about such
a great question, but to know it is well with my soul. Do you have that blessed hope?
Do you have that blessed hope? Let me ask you this. Do you want
that blessed hope? Our text tells us of that blessed
hope, that better hope. First notice, for the law made
nothing perfect. Just briefly, let's consider
that. It speaks of perfection. Whoa. Whoa. Perfection? Is that what God
requires? Perfection? Is perfection necessary
for me to have this better hope? Before I can be accepted by God,
before I can be reconciled to God, before God speaks peace
to my heart and the forgiveness of sin, He requires and will
accept nothing less than perfection? Is that what the book teaches?
Yes. Yes. Most churches don't teach that.
Most Baptists don't teach that. That's irrelevant. That doesn't
matter. That doesn't mean squat to me. I'm interested in what thus saith
the Lord. What does the book say? Yes,
God demands perfection. And the text tells us that the
law couldn't give it. Couldn't give it. The law made
nothing perfect. What was the problem? Was there
something wrong with God's holy law? Of course not. Of course
not. The law demanded perfection,
and it pronounced every soul guilty who didn't perfectly keep
God's law. Now, the problem was not with
God's law, but it's with you and I. Look at verse 11. If therefore
perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the
people received the law." But the problem was with man. I once
worked with a fellow. He was actually one of the supervisors
in the department I worked in at UK. I appreciate y'all not
rubbing it in. what happened last night. I didn't
expect anything less. But he would often tell me, and
he was serious, seriously wrong, seriously disturbed, but he said,
I'm looking for the perfect church. I've been going to every place,
went to a lot of churches, went for a little while, but I'm looking
for the perfect church. And I said, Clarence, you're
never going to find it. You're never going to find a
perfect church. And if you should, If you could
find the perfect church, once you got in it, it wouldn't be
perfect anymore. There's no such thing. There's
no such thing. And so it is with the law. One
old writer, perhaps it was Bunyan, I'm not sure, but he said the
law was a hill too high. Sinai was a hill too high. Look, if you will, to Romans
chapter 7. A hill too high for a helpless
sinner to climb. In Romans chapter 7, Paul tells
us here what the purpose of God's law was, what it is. Look at verse 12 of Romans 7.
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just,
and good. Was then that which is good make
death unto me? God forbid. But sin, here's the
purpose of the law. Here's the lawful use of the
law. But sin, that it might appear
sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful. It exposes sin. It shuts every mouth that we
may become guilty before God. Anybody that stands and talks
about being justified by the law, or sanctified by the law,
or the law being their rule of faith and practice, have never
experienced the purpose of the law. If they had, they would
shut their mouth. That's what the book says. Verse
14, for we know that the law is spiritual, The problem is
here. I'm carnal. I'm sold under sin. In Galatians chapter 2, Paul
said, by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in
God's sight. In that same chapter, Paul said
when he met Peter, who had been fellowshipping with Gentiles,
setting down to some good pork chops, when he looked and saw
some Jews coming over the hill, some believing Jews coming from
the church at Jerusalem, Peter switched tables. Peter got up,
disassociated himself with those believing Gentiles. That's all
he did. And Paul says in Galatians 2,
he rebuked Peter publicly to the face and asked him, If we're
not under the law, if we're not under the law, if we're not obligated
to keep God's law, if we as believers have been set free from the law,
why are you acting in this matter? Why are you giving the impression
to these Jews that you're yet keeping the law? Why are you
separating yourself from those Gentile believers? Peter didn't
want him to smell those pork chops on his breath, and it was
wrong. Is it important? Is it important? Paul concluded, and this shows
us how important it is. In that same chapter of Galatians
2, he wrote, if righteousness came by the law, if the righteousness
that the holy Lord God requires, that is necessary for any sinner
to stand accepted before him, if that righteousness came by
the law, then Jesus Christ, Paul said, died in vain. Does that not tell us how important
this is? Jesus Christ died in vain. Of course he did. If righteousness
could be worked out by my own doings, by my observance of God's
law, if I could work out a righteousness that would satisfy the Lord God,
there was no need for Jesus Christ to die. He died for nothing,
if that's the case. And of course, it never can be. Our next point is this, looking
back at our text in Hebrews 7 and 19. But. The law made nothing
perfect, but. But. Do you hear that? Do you hear that? Are you listening? Oh, but. That's the intervention
of God's grace. That's telling us, yes, there's
a way. There's a way. that the demands
of God's holy law can be satisfied. There's a way for helpless, guilty
sinners to be reconciled to the Lord God. There's a way. There's
a place where a sinner can stand accepted before God Almighty. Anybody interested in that, remember
I asked you, how would you like to lie down tonight? And no. And no. It is well with my soul. But God, what a blessed word
of grace, he broke my stubborn will. Throughout the great eternal
age, I'll chant his praises still. But God, in grace and power divine,
stepped in to save my soul. His gracious purpose has prevailed
and he has made me whole. But the bringing in of a better
hope did. That is, this better hope did
what the law couldn't, rendered to God perfection. Who could that be? Mike, who could that be? Who
could it be speaking of, Lonnie? Whoever rendered absolute perfection
to God, whoever fulfilled every jot and tittle of every demand
of God's holy law. Who did that? The only answer
is Jesus Christ plus nothing. Plus nothing. John read it to
us a moment ago. Christ is all. Christ is all. And we're perfect in Him. without
fault, before the throne of God. Look in chapter 9 here in the
book of Hebrews. Look what we read at verse 9.
Hebrews 9 and 9. Which was a figure for the time
then present, that is, the earthly tabernacle, in which were offered
both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the
service perfect. There's that word again, perfect.
That's what God demands. But those sacrifices could never
do that. As pertaining to the conscience, the conscience still cried guilty.
Those sacrifices, instead of rendering a peaceful conscience,
did the very opposite. They reminded the Jew every year,
every time they were offered, it's not enough, it's not enough,
got to do it again. in which stood only in meats
and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed
on them until the time of reformation. But, there it is again, but Christ,
being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctify it to the purifying of the flesh. How much more should
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?" Can it be any better than that? It can't be. It can't be. My standing before God. Listen, child of God, my brother
and sister in Christ. Right now, regardless of what
storms, what trials are going through or you are going through
at this very moment, regardless of what tomorrow holds, regardless
of how fierce the winds of adversity might blow, or the reins beat down. It has no bearing, no factor
on this. My standing, our standing before
God Almighty has never been better. Do you hear that? It's never
been better. How can it be? Because our foundation,
our standing in Christ before the Lord God is absolutely perfect. Perfect. Perfect. God looks at us in Christ and
says, perfect. That's why we sleep at ease at
night. That's why, as far as our salvation
is concerned, we have this better hope, a believer's hope, and
Scripture has described it as a good hope, a blessed hope,
a hope that maketh not ashamed, because that hope is Christ alone. As David said on his dying bed,
he's all my salvation. He's all my acceptance before
God, like the needle of a compass, always wants to point north. This epistle, indeed the entire
Word of God, the Bible, always points us back to Christ. When
we're troubled, when we're ruffled, when we have doubts and fears,
it's because we've taken our eyes off Christ. and we're trying
to find some reason for assurance in here. It's not there. Oh, but God in his mercy and
grace doesn't allow us to stay in that condition. Gently, lovingly,
he turns our eyes back to the Lamb of God. He says, behold
him. Behold him. When you first experienced
the peace of God in your heart, To whom were you looking? Was
it yourself or was it Christ, our better hope? Christ is better throughout this
epistle, better than the angels, better than the prophets, better
than Moses, a better priest, with a better sacrifice, with
a better result. Look at verse 26 here in chapter
7 of Hebrews. For such a high priest became
us is what we needed, who is holy and harmless and undefiled,
separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens, who
needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice,
first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he
did once. He did once when he offered up
himself, once got the job done, once took away the sins of his
people, once brought in an everlasting righteousness. That is a better
hope. One hymn writer said, not all
the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty
conscience peace or wash away the stain, but Christ, the heavenly
Lamb, takes all our sins away, a sacrifice of nobler name and
richer blood than they. Richer blood. It wasn't... The blood of goats and lambs
and bullocks that John says cleanses us from all sin? No. But the
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. It wasn't the blood of animal
sacrifices that God spoke of that was in the heart and mind
of God when He said, when I see the blood, Oh, yes, he was speaking
of the Paschal Lamb in type, but he was looking at the anti-type,
Jesus Christ himself. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, oh, what sweet comfort to this sinner's heart. I used to hear people say, and
still do on occasion, professing Christians talk like this. when
I was a sinner. I did that. I went there when
I was a sinner. I used to be a sinner. Man, this
man standing here right now at this very moment preaching the
glorious gospel of the blessed God as He gives me opportunity
at this very moment is committing enough sin that would warrant
my eternal damnation except for this. The God of glory says,
I see the blood. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Yes, God demanded perfection,
and our text says Christ gave it, brought in the Lord Jesus
Christ, made everything that God required, everything that
the holy Lord God demanded, of His law and justice, Christ did
it perfectly. How about that? He did it perfectly. And remember, He was doing it
as the substitute for His people. He was doing it in their room
instead. And everything He did for them
and in their stead is put on their account. He did it perfectly. He perfectly satisfied God's
law. He lived a perfect life of obedience. He offered a perfect sacrifice
without blemish, without any taint, without any hint of sin. Perfect. A perfect atonement. He rendered a perfect satisfaction
to God. The old writers referred to Christ's
atonement as his satisfaction. His satisfaction that he rendered
to God. God was satisfied. He perfectly
put away sin. All the sins of all his people. He brought in a perfect righteousness. God said so. God said so. In Him I am well pleased. He's perfectly satisfied with
our Redeemer. Turn, if you will, to chapter
1 here in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 1. Verse 3, speaking of our Lord,
God's Son, our Savior. It's speaking of Him who being
the brightness of His glory, that is God's glory, and the
express image of His person. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father, He said. And upholding all things by the
word of His power. Is this the Christ of Scripture?
Is this the true Christ? Oh, yes. It doesn't sound like
he's not having his way. It doesn't sound like that he's
not ruling. It doesn't sound like he needs
to help a puny man. No, no, not the Christ of Scripture. Upholding all things by the word
of his power when he had by himself. Mmm, I love those words. When
he had by himself. purged our sins. He cried, it is finished. And
three days later God said, I'll demonstrate to the world that
it is finished. that I'm perfectly satisfied."
And he proved it when he raised his son from the dead and set
him on his own throne, the majesty of the heavens on high, at his
own right hand, and declared, are you listening? At this name,
this name that he's given, this name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
This name which is above every name, God has said, every knee
shall bow to my Son, and every tongue shall confess to my Son.
Even those rebels, before they're cast into hell, will bow to my
Son and acknowledge that He's Lord of lords and King of kings. By His grace, many are brought
to bow now. Christ is that better hope. All that he did was perfect. Christ alone gives sinners this
hope better than any other they ever had. Many of us, before God was pleased
to open our eyes, were in religion, made a false profession, sat
some time and the preacher said, Want to accept Jesus? You don't
want to go to hell, do you? Well, no, no. Want to go to heaven?
Well, sure, sure. Well, come up here and say this
little prayer. Now go back to your seat. Everything's fine. But it wasn't fine. It wasn't
fine. From time to time, thank God,
our hearts, our minds tortured us. I don't know God. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. He knew Jesus Christ. Christ
himself said, this is life eternal that they might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou didst send. Yet we had a false hope. Oh,
but God, by Christ in his grace, gave us a better hope. A false hope, for example, People
say, well, I hope God will accept me. I hope God will accept me. Why should he? Why should he? I hope God will accept me because
I did this and did that and did the other. Groundless. Groundless. No foundation. Others say, I
hope that my good works outweigh my bad. They don't. They don't. Even so, are they perfect? No. I've heard others say, I
hope I make it. I hope I make it. I hope when
God ushers all mankind into His august, holy presence, I hope
I make it without any foundation whatsoever. It won't happen.
It's not going to happen. Which is better? Which is better? Which do you want? Working to
save yourself, which is absolutely impossible? Or coming to the
only Savior who says, come to me? Come to me. All ye that labor. and are heavy laden, and I might,
I'll try, I'll attempt. No, he says, I will. I will give
you rest. Just come to me. Fall into the
arms of that One who has arisen, a Prince and a Savior to give
repentance and remission of sins. Just fall before Him. Saying,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And he will. He promised that he will. Which
is better? Going about to establish your
own self-righteousness? Or like the apostle, to be found
in him? To be found in him. Which is
better? Trying to weave a robe out of your own fig leaves? God will never accept that he
sends us our filthy rags, or to be found in that pure, perfect
righteousness of Jesus Christ, just wrapped up, head to toe,
in the righteousness of God's own Son. Oh, to be found in Him.
Which is better? To try to make peace with God,
or to trust Him who really did? In Ephesians 2, Paul said, He
is our peace. We were far off, but we've been
brought nigh by the blood of Christ, which is better, to be
always tormented with a groundless false assurance or to flee to
the only refuge for sinners. Look what Paul says in Hebrews
6 and 11. And we desire that every one
of you do so. Chapter 6, verse 11, "...do show
the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end."
Hope. A blessed hope. A good hope through
grace. Which is better? To be in a church
or to be in Christ? God says there's no condemnation. to those who are in Christ Jesus. Which is better? To never be
justified by the deeds of the law or to have Christ say, Larry,
Chris, you're justified from all things. Everything. Justified from all things that
you could never be justified. by your own works, by the deeds
of the law, which is better? To hope to be accepted by God
on any other grounds but this? Accepted in to be loved. Listen. How sure is that? How certain is that? This eternal rock on which the
believer rests his hope now and for eternity, accepted in the
Beloved, the believer is accepted because Christ is accepted for
the same reason, on the same grounds. He's secure because
Christ is secure. He's holy because Christ is holy. He has no sin because Christ
has no sin. to every saved sinner it is.
to enjoy what the old hymn writer expressed in this way. Complete
atonement thou hast made, and to the utmost farthing paid,
what error thy people owed. How then can wrath on me take
place, if sheltered in thy righteousness, and sprinkled with thy blood? If thou hast my discharge procured,
and freely in my room endured, the whole of wrath divine, Payment
God cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding surety's
hand and then again at mine. Look again, if you will, here
in Hebrews 7. We'll wrap this up. Paul in verse
22 speaks of Jesus being made a surety, a surety, by which we draw near to God,
a surety. To us, in our day, we think of
a surety as just a mere cosigner. You cosign for someone, you're
responsible with them. You'll make up the difference.
If they don't make the payments, they'll come to you. It's sort
of a joint thing. But surety in Scripture concerning
our Redeemer is no such thing. Christ didn't become responsible
to make up my deficiency, to do what I couldn't do. Oh, no,
no. It wasn't a partnership. He didn't
just take up the slack. No, Christ became responsible
surety for all the debts of his people owed to God. himself,
Christ alone. He took full responsibility for
us before God his Father. Thus, he became honored bound. He became honored bound to do
all he obligated himself to do. And God looked to Christ. When
Christ became our surety, God looked to Christ, not us, to
do all that was necessary to pay our debt and to bring us
home. Look at verse 25 of Hebrews 7. Wherefore, he is able, that is
Christ, to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. I begin the message
by asking you, would you like, would you, do you want that better
hope? This sure and steadfast hope. Larry, I don't know if God has saved
me. I've sinned so long, so much, how do you know God will have
mercy on me? I declare, if you're having those
thoughts, anyone here having those thoughts, I dare say every believer that
God's ever brought down, ever stripped, have entertained those
same thoughts. In the light of His holiness
and my sinfulness, my heart cried, O depth of mercy, can there be
mercy still reserved for me? Lord, how can God have mercy
on such a wretch as I am? How can He forgive a rebel like
myself? And I thought, well, I'm just doomed to go to hell. I'm going to live this miserable
life and then I'm going to die and go to hell. Oh, I was so
wrong. I was so wrong. Like old Bunyan
said, who had the same thoughts, he found out that so far from
being rejected by God, that when he came to the Savior, there
was rejoicing in heaven, that a sinner had come home. That's what the Bible teaches.
Christ said there's rejoicing in heaven every time the great
shepherd goes out and finds one of his lost sheep. and picks
him up and brings him home. And the spirit and the bride
say, come. And let him that hear us say,
come. Let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. Whosoever will. Whosoever will
may come, drink, drink, and live forever. Amen.