Hebrews chapter 8, and let's
just read the first two verses. Now of the things which we have
spoken, this is the Son. We have such an high priest who
is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the
heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which
the Lord pitched, and not man. My subject this morning is this. We have a High Priest. We have a High Priest. If somebody would ask me concerning
God's blessings upon the Jewish nation, when He took them from
the land of Egypt that Brother Larry referred to this morning, delivered them out of bondage
of Pharaoh, one of the greatest blessings that he ever bestowed
upon that nation was giving them the priesthood. Because when
you see them going out of Egypt, they cross the Red Sea and immediately
they begin to murmur. You see in that nation unbelief. You see stiff-necked. You see,
rebellion, every sin that the children of
God could commit, that poor nation was guilty of committing. And
the first thing that had to be done, and God in heaven knew
it, was set between Himself and them a mediator, a high priest,
One that could represent God to them and represent them to
God. So he instituted the Levitical
priesthood. He chose Aaron to be a priest
to offer the sacrifices when they had sinned. And Aaron would
go in and offer the sacrifices. The glory of God would come down
on the mercy seat. Sins would be forgiven. Aaron
would go out and say, the Lord bless you and keep you and cause
His face to rise, to shine upon you. The greatest blessing that
God ever bestowed upon the children of Israel was to give them this
priesthood. But the problem with that priesthood
was this. They were mere men. Aaron was
a great priest, a faithful priest. But his problem was he was just
like everybody else. He was compassed with infirmities
himself. He was subject to error. He was
subject to fall. And therefore, he had to offer
sacrifices for his own sake. And finally, these priests, they
grew old, and then they died. And there was a problem with
their sacrifices. They sacrificed the blood of
goats, and the blood of bulls, and the ashes of a heifer they
sprinkled to sanctify the purifying of the flesh. But none of those
sacrifices could ever please God. And those sacrifices could
never reach the guilty conscience towards sin away. It's impossible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. But here
this writer says, now that we have such a high priest, the
church has a high priest. Every believer has a high priest.
If he's a Jew or a Gentile, male or female, every true believer
has a high priest. And the thing about this high
priest is, he is eternally different than those Jewish priests. Eternally
different than those Jewish priests. And let me give you some examples.
He was no mere man. Jesus of Nazareth was no mere
man. He was man, because He was the
Son of Mary. He was made flesh. But he was
no mere man. In chapter 4 and verse 14, here's
what it says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that
is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Aaron was the Son of God, but
he was a child of God by adoption. He had to be saved. He had to
be regenerated. But Jesus is the Son of God by
nature. He's the only begotten of the
Father. He was with the Father before
the world was. He's the eternal Son of God. And the Scripture says here in
chapter 2 and verse 14 this, For as much as the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise took part
of the same. The Eternal Son of God took our
humanity to Himself. Part of it, not all of it. What
part did He not take? The sinful part. The fallen nature. He was preserved from that. But
in all points He was made like unto us. even subject to our
infirmities. Our High Priest in His humanity
is both God and man. He is God because He is the eternal
Son of God, one with the Father. And He is man because He took
to Himself our real humanity. Listen to chapter 2, verse 17. It behooved Him to be made like
unto His brethren. that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. Who is our
high priest? We have a high priest. He is
a divine person because he's the Son of God. And he's a man
because he's the Son of Mary, having taken to himself our humanity. And he's so different than those
priests under the Levitical priesthood. Because even though he takes
to himself our humanity, he's perfect. He's holy. That's the distinction between
him and us, brothers and sisters. Aaron was a poor sinner. All
the priesthood were poor sinners. But the Scripture says of our
priest that we have such a high priest who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners. He's separate from sinners. He
was born of a fallen woman, but He wasn't fallen Himself. He
was born of a sinful woman, but He wasn't sinful Himself. And
while He lived in this world, He was tempted in all points,
yet without sin. Oh, we have a high priest. But
He is eternally different than Aaron and those Levitical priesthoods. He was born holy. He lived holy. And the Scripture says He, through
the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God. He is holy. Holy, holy, holy
is our faithful and merciful high priest. And there's something
that's vitally different in His offering as opposed to the offering
of those Jewish priests. Because when He atoned for sin,
He wasn't by anything outside Himself. He didn't take something
else and bring to God to atone for sin. Not even an angel, not
even a world, not even anything that He produced. They brought
something else. They brought the blood. They
brought flesh. What did He bring? He brought
Himself. He brought His blood. He brought
His obedience. He brought everything He was.
He gave Himself. Never did a high priest die himself. He always brought some sacrifice
to offer. But those offerings never could
take away sin. But the Scripture says in our
text, in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 26, once in the end of
the world have He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. That's the difference in what
He offered as opposed to what they offered. That's why every
year they just put off sins. Every year they brought the blood
of bulls and goats, but it never took away sins. But when Jesus
Christ offered His blood to God, He atoned for sins. He purged
it away. That's why we're told that He's
seated at the right hand of God. In that day there shall be a
fountain opened for sin and uncleanness." There is a fountain filled with
blood. And why does it purge sin away?
Why does it remit our sins? Because it's taken from Emmanuel's
veins. Not the blood of a bull or a
goat, but Emmanuel's blood. And it atones for sin. This is
why God can be just. and forgive our sins. Then in the second portion here,
you'll notice not only is our high priest different than Aaron
and any of those priests under the Levitical priesthood, but
what he offered to God was violently different. And notice his physical
position here, and you and I never read this, concerning any of
the priests under that Levitical priesthood. Something is said
of the Son of God that was never said of them. Did you notice
it here? We have such a high priest who
is set. He is set. They never set, did
they? And it has often been said they
could not set because their work was never done. But when He had
by Himself purged our sin, He set them. It's indicative of
the finished work. It's done. Sin is gone. Sin has been atoned for. Sin
has been put away. I'll tell you where it's been
put away from. It's not put out of my memory or out of your memory,
but it's been put away from God's memory. I will remember their
sins no more. And I tell you, for God not to
remember it, it must not be there. For God not to see it, it must
not be there. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. And we know that He did it because
here He sits. He sits. And that's indicative
that His work is finished. It's also indicative of something
else, that he's seated there in a place of honor. Because to which of the angels
did God ever say, sit on my right hand? There are some mighty chariots. There are some honorable angels.
But God never said to one of them, sit on my right hand. That
was a place of honor. That was a place of dignity at
God's right hand. Nobody was permitted to sit there. That was reserved for the Chief
One, the Glorious One, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed Son
of God, sat on my right hand. And the Lord Jesus got there
at a great cost to Himself only after He had humbled Himself.
and became obedient to death. Did the Father say, my son, sit
down here in this honorable place? That's what that's indicative
of. The finished work, a place of honor. And I'll tell you something
else, and it says here in our text that it's a place of rule
because he says here in verse 1, who is set on the right hand
of the throne. of the majesty. A place of honor,
a place of majesty, but it's a place of power on the throne. You know there's something about
the Lord Jesus that as far as I can remember was never said
about anybody else, any other man. All through the Old Testament
And you'll have to check me on this because you just thought
of this. I don't know if it's so or not, but I think it is. Israel never had a king who was
a priest. All right, do you remember any?
I don't remember any. There was those three offices,
the prophet, the priest, and the king. David was a king, but
he wasn't a priest. Aaron wasn't a king, but he was
a priest. But Jesus Christ is a king and
He's a priest. Now look over here with me in
Zechariah. I think it's in chapter 6. Over in Zechariah chapter 6. He's on the right hand of the
throne. Zechariah chapter 6 verse 12. If you have to turn to the front
of your Bible to find it, go ahead. I won't mock at you. Nobody sitting next to you will
laugh at you because they're probably there, too, trying to
find the book of Zechariah. Okay? Zechariah chapter 6. If you go to Malachi and start
backward, maybe you can find it. Look at this. He sat down
on the right hand of the throne. The throne. And look in verse
12. And speak unto him, saying, Thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is
the branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall
build the temple of the Lord. Now we know who that is, don't
we? We know who the branch is. Even he shall build the temple
of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and he shall sit and
rule upon his throne. Now who is that? That's a king,
ain't it? The king rules upon his throne.
But look at this. And he shall be a priest upon
his throne, and the counsel of peace. shall be between this
man and God, between them both." He's set. He's set. We have a high priest. He's not
like other priests. He has these two natures about
him, God and man. And his offering was he fetched
them because he put away sin. And the position that he occupies
in heaven, he's at rest, he's seated there on the right hand
of the majesty. And now we find that he's ruling.
He's ruling. But he's a priest. He's a king. And he's a priest. And there's
something else about our priest that's vilely different than
those Levitical priests. What he is now, he will never
relinquish. The office that he occupies now,
both as king and as priest, he will never relinquish. In Hebrews
7.22 we're told this, there were many priests because they were
not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because
he continues forever, he hath an unchangeable prestige. He'll never die. He'll never
grow old, senile, forgetful, contract some kind of disease,
and die. Not only is he alive forevermore,
but he'll never change. Jesus Christ yesterday today
and forever. My son sat on my right hand for
how long? For a year? For a decade? For a millennium? For how long? Forever. How long is that? Until I make
your enemies your fist. Until my purpose is accomplished. Until I make your enemies your
friends. Until I bring them to bow their
hearts to you, and they love you and believe on you. Or until
I put your foot upon their neck and crush the life from them.
He'll never relinquish his priesthood until everything is accomplished.
He'll never change, and He'll never give up His office as priest. And look back over in our text
again what's said of Him. Ain't He eternally different?
We have, we have such a high priest. We have Him. Look here
what He says in verse 2 concerning His ministry. He's a minister
of the sanctuary. A minister of the sanctuary.
A minister of holy things. When the priest
went into the sanctuary, he ministered. He had candles to light, sacrifices
to offer, showbread to keep on the table. He ministered there
in this holy place. Jesus Christ is a minister in
a holy place. And he's ministering about holy
things. Listen to these passages now.
I go to prepare a place for you. We've often thought about that
as being heaven. But that's not heaven. He didn't
go to prepare heaven. He didn't go to prepare the inheritance. That was already prepared. Heaven
was already made. But what he is saying is, I go
to prepare a way for you. I go to prepare a holy access
for you unto my Father's presence. Hebrews chapter 10 says this,
having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter the holiest by the blood
of Jesus by a new and living way. A living way. A holy place. By His own blood,
He entered once into the holy place. It's a place there. What is it? It's a throne of
grace. It's a place of acceptance. A
way of access. He's ministered there in a holy
place. This word ministry means a public
servant. in a holy place. Ain't that amazing?
A public servant in a holy place. He ministers about holy things. I send to my God and your God,
to my Father and your Father. And he said, when I send her,
I will pray the Father. And He'll send you another Comforter. I tell you, a man who can enter
heaven and make such a request of the Father to send the eternal
Holy Spirit to this world, that man must have some dignity about
it. He ministers the Holy Spirit. I will send Him. He ministers faith. He ministers
the increase of it. He grants repentance. He's there
to save every sinner who comes to God by Him. He's the healer
of the broken heart. He's the supporter of the feeble. He's there to administer mercy
and give grace to help us in the time of need. He's there
to make us accepted. He's there to make our works
accepted. in our prayers heard. He's a
minister about holy things. He gives some hints of his ministry
while he was still here in this world. You remember when he told Simon
Peter one day, he said, Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to sift
you. And then he gives a hint of what
he's doing right now. But I have prayed for you. That's
a minister of holy things, isn't it? Why didn't Peter fall? Why didn't he fall away? I have
prayed for you. I'm a minister for you. You have
a high priest. That's what he's doing now. Father,
I pray for them that you would keep them from the evil. Christ is a holy man, He's a
holy high priest, He's in a holy place, and He's ministering about
holy things. A minister, He says, also of
the tabernacle. Now what's that? And there's
different views on this, but I think really, whatever else
it means, it means heaven. It just means heaven. Look in
chapter 9, if you would, and look here in verse 24. He's a
minister of the sanctuary. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. What is the sanctuary? What is
the tabernacle? It's heaven, the presence of
God. Solomon was praying like this, O God, hear thou from heaven
thy dwelling place. It's where God dwells. Heaven
is His dwelling place. It's His house. It's God's house. In my Father's house. That's
where He is. That's where He ministers in
the sanctuary. The true tabernacle is heaven
itself, where God dwells, and that's where Jesus Christ is,
and that's where He ministers from. Look over here in chapter 6.
In verse 17. God will it. Chapter 6 and verse
17. We're in God will it. more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise. The immutability of his counsel
confirmed it by note, that by two immutable things in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us, which hope we have as an anchor of our soul, both sure
and steadfast and which entereth unto that within the veil, whither
the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made man high priest
forever, after the order of Melchizedek." He's entered behind the veil.
When you read this word veil, it's very interesting. Basically,
three times, four times maybe in the New Testament, but three
times, that it tells about Vail, and
it means something different every time. Vail is, think of
a petition. Between the holy place and the
most holy place, it was a cloth division, divider. It kept you
from seeing from the holy place into the most holy place. And
it kept you from going in there. Unless you was the high priest
on the Day of Atonement, you couldn't pull back that curtain
and go into the Most Holy Place. But it meant three things, this
veil. One, it means a blinder. You
remember when Moses came down off of the Mount and he had the
Testament in his hands, the Law, and his face was shining. And
the children of Israel ran from him. They were afraid of him.
So he had to put this veil over his head. And here's what Paul
says about that. Moses put a veil over his face
that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end
of that which was abolished. But their minds were blinded. For until this very day remains
the same veil untaken away. in the reading of the Old Testament,
which veil is done away in Christ. That veil is a blinder. When
they read the Old Testament, they can't see Christ in there.
Ain't that amazing? You see Christ there, don't you?
Everywhere you read in the Old Testament, sooner or later, you
find Christ there. There He is. When the Jews read
the Old Testament, they've got this veil. And they can't see. It's a blinder. That's one of
the places it's mentioned, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 13. In Hebrews chapter
10, verses 19 and 20, we have this veil mentioned again. And
it says this, that Christ has consecrated, He's made for us
a new and living way through the veil. That is to say, His
flesh. You remember when the Lord Jesus
was crucified upon the cross and He says, it's finished? Remember
what happened to that veil in the temple? It was torn from
the top to the bottom. Can you imagine if that priest
was in there, the common priest was in there, maybe putting out
the bread on the show table or lighting the candles? And hear
that veil torn and suddenly the way into the holiest, It was
manifest. There it was. I wonder what he
thought of his entry. Oh my soul, he said, I ain't
supposed to see this. I didn't do it. I didn't do it.
But there he stood, staring right at the mercy seat. And you know,
if he'd have been so pleased, he could have walked right through
there. Because the veil was moved. There was no hindrance from going
to the most holy place. What did the flesh of Christ
do when He gave it to the Father? It removed everything. Every
hindrance. And now we poor believing sinners
can go right into the holiest of holies. Even the presence
of God Himself. Through this veil. The torn,
the broken, the crucified flesh of the Son of God. The veil. And here in chapter 6 of Hebrews,
we have this veil mentioned again. And here it seems to mean something
else altogether because it says that our Lord Jesus entered within
this veil. See how He says it? We have this
hope that anchors our soul. sure and steadfast in which entereth
unto that within the veil." He's gone behind this veil. Now, what
is that? Well, here's what I think this
is. There is a divider between God's
heaven, God's house, God's loving place, and where you and I live. And we can't get there. To get
there, you've got to go throughout a space, outside this universe,
and whatever it is there that separates the heaven of heavens
from this universe, it's a veil, a divider. You remember when
the Lord Jesus was commanding His disciples there in Acts chapter
1, and suddenly, He started up. He just started up. And the scripture
says a cloud received him out of their sight. And they just
stood there looking up. They were amazed. And suddenly
these angels come and they said, why are you fellas standing here
looking up into heaven? The same one who ascended up
into heaven. See where he went? He went up
into heaven. He went beyond that veil that
you and I cannot go beyond. The cloud received Him out of
their sight. And if we had these telescopes
back then that had been shot out into outer space, deep space
as they call it, He would have been out of the sight of those
telescopes too. He went through the veil. He went within the
veil into heaven itself. That's where He is this morning.
We have a high priest that has went outside this universe, through
the veil, and sat down in the presence of God in heaven itself. And he's there in our glorified
humanity. Amazing, ain't it? It's amazing. Now, right quickly, let me just give some applications.
I very seldom purposely give applications. Let me give two or three applications
right quickly. We have a Manhattan priest. We
have. That's so important. That's so
important. Back in the Old Testament, he's
coming. Our priest is coming. He's coming. But now he's coming. And now
we have him. And everything that I've said
about him this morning from the Word of God, everything that
he's done and where he is now, Jesus Christ, at this very instant,
is at the right hand of God. Such a high priest, right now.
He's not going to be there. It's not that He has been there.
At this very instant, Jesus of Nazareth is there at the right
hand of God. Application, first of all, is
this, that being so, salvation is possible for any man. Oh, I rejoice to think about
this. Salvation is possible for any man. Boy, woman, or girl. If there was no high priest,
let everybody despair. But since we have a great high
priest, let nobody despair. Anybody may be saved who desires
to come to God by Him. What a prospect! Ain't that so
encouraging? Sometimes my poor mind gets in
such darkness, and I am filled with so much confusion and doubt,
I have to revert back to this. It's possible. I don't have much
assurance of it, but at least it's possible that even I can
be saved. You know, there's people. There's
young people. especially, who live in this
world. And for some reason or another,
I don't know all the reasons, but for some reason or another,
they think salvation is not possible for me. I don't know if it's
something they've done. I don't know if it's their situation
they're in. They think they've got themselves
in such a snare, there's no way I can get out of it. Things are
just too bad. Salvation is impossible with
me. They used to say in the Old Testament
they had that attitude. And when the Gospel was presented
to them, here's what they said. There's no hope for us. Why not? Well, we've loved strangers.
We've just done this and we've done that. And we've got our
lives in a mess. There's no hope for us. Therefore,
we've loved strangers and after them we'll go. They live hopeless. Because they think salvation
is not even possible. Well, if there is such a high
priest on the right hand of God, is salvation not possible for
anybody? Look over here in Hebrews chapter
7 verse 25. Look at this. Look in verse 24. Wherefore, he is able, in verse
24, this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them." Who are they? I have no idea who they are.
They may be a bunch of scoundrels. I mean, you look back through
the Bible and you can see a bunch of them. I know one of them was
a man hanging on a cross in his dying hour. One of them was a
self-righteous man killing Christians. One of them was a maniac with
2,000 devils. Who are them? I don't know who
they are, but here's what they do. He's able to save them to
the uttermost that come to God by him. Sin he ever lived to
make intercessions for them. Yes. He is able. Salvation is possible for any man. Find any man. Find any woman. Go to... Shirley often tells us about
the riffraff. Tell them. Tell them. Salvation is possible
for you. Now, you don't know me. I probably do. When I look in
the mirror, I probably see you. But salvation is possible. Ain't
that a wonderful prospect? Just to think about that. It's
possible. It's possible. But you look at this verse again
in verse 25 that I just read to you. And maybe he can't yet
go this far. But you can live in the assurance,
if you're coming to him, that it's not only possible, it's
not only probable, but it's certain. It's certain. He is able to save
to the uttermost. He is able to save to the uttermost. If he wasn't the high priest
that he was, then you may be on probation. He may have to
wait and see just how you do and how faithful you are and
so on. But this is not dependent upon your faithfulness. It's
not dependent upon your power and surely not our merit. Then
what's it dependent upon? Him. He is able. I don't care where
we're at. I don't care what we've done.
I don't care what state of mind we're in. He is able. Boy, Abraham got this in his
heart and wouldn't let it go. He looked at his body and he
said, man, I'm a dead man. He looked at Sarah and said,
her wound's dead. But he staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief. Strong in faith, being fully
persuaded that what God had promised, he was able to perform. What can Jesus Christ do as our
High Priest? I tell you, He's able to save
forevermore, to the uttermost, everybody that comes to God by
Him. There's no sin so vile that His
blood cannot wash it. There's no nakedness so shameful
that His garments cannot clothe it. There's no one so unworthy
that they'll be denied access into the Father's presence through
His name. But not only does He have merit
to save, it takes more than just merit to save, it takes power
to save. It takes power to deliver from
the power of darkness. You're going to save a sinner.
You've got to have power, but you've got to have merit. And
He's on the right hand of the throne. Do you ever feel sin? Do you ever feel sin working
in you? Did you ever get in your place,
and me and Brother Larry talked about this the other day. Did
you ever get in a place where you were taken captive in your
mind? I mean, just like somebody opened the prison door and stuck
you in there and locked it up, and you can't get out. In your
mind, in your thoughts, you got so anxious about something, It
was just like you were a captive to it. And try as you may, you
could not get away from that thought and that anxiety. And
He came to your mind and He freed you from it. Delivered you from
that. That takes power, don't it? Power. He will turn again. He will subdue our iniquity. What about wisdom? What about
compassion? What about love? It takes all
of that too, doesn't it? It takes marriage. It takes power. It takes wisdom. It takes love. It takes patience. And all of these things are in
Jesus Christ the Lord. In all things it behooved Him
to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a faithful and
merciful High Priest. in things pertaining to God.
Faithful to be merciful. He can have compassion on the
ignorant and on those who are out of the way. He's got to have
wisdom. He's got to have compassion.
He's got to have mercy. He's got to be faithful. This
is what it takes to save a sinner to the uttermost. Now, if you're
just going to put him on a way and say, I'm just going to see
if you're going to make it, it don't take much of a priest to
do that. But to bring him from where he is and put him on the
way and keep him there and guide him, I tell you what, you're
going to have to be such a high priest that we have. I will bring the blind by way. Are you blind? I can't put one
foot in front of another spiritually, can you? I have no idea where
to set my next spiritual foot. I'm as blind as a bat when it
comes to that. Here's what he says. I will bring
the blind by way that they knew not. I will lead them in paths
that they have never known. I will make darkness light before
them, and I'll make crooked things straight. These things will I
do, and I'll never forsake them." That's our High Priest. We have a High Priest which can
be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, He's touched. Therefore, come boldly to the
throne of Christ. And since He's there behind that
veil, He's a forerunner. You know what that means, don't
you? John was the forerunner of Christ. Christ is the forerunner
of all His people. That simply means that where
He is now, He's going to bring all His people back. And it's not enough to get them
there in their souls. He's the Savior of the body. He's going to raise their dead
bodies. By His power, He's going to change their bodies, make
them like unto His glorious body. And then that body's going there
behind the veil. If there is such a thing left
as a veil, it will all probably be opened by then. But He's going
to have them there, body and soul. And if we don't sing it
here, we'll be singing it there. Save to the earth. Save to the
earth.