Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 7? I'd like to read the last three
verses of Hebrews chapter 7. I've entitled this message, The
Priest We Need. The Priest We Need. Now remember what a priest is.
A priest is someone who represents a man to God. And this is the
priest we need. Beginning in verse 26, For such
an high priest became us, was befitting to us, is exactly what
we needed, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners
and made higher than the heavens who needeth not daily as those
high priest to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins. And then
for the people's for this, he did once when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priest
which have infirmities. But the word of the oath, and
we just read that oath in Psalm 110 verse 4, thou art a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. The word of the oath, which was
since the law, it was after the giving of the law, maketh the
son who is consecrated or perfected or completed. forevermore. Now, there are two people spoken
of in our text. The one who is such a high priest
and us. Who's the us? Us means a particular
people who is the us. The us is everybody who needs
a high priest just like this. And I find in my own heart a
need for this high priest. Such a high priest became us. What is he talking about when
he talks about such a high priest? Back up to verse 23. And they, speaking of Aaron and
his sons, there truly were many priests, because they were not
suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, the Lord
Jesus, 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, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Now this is the such
a high priest. He's the one who's able to save
them to the uttermost. I love this passage of scripture.
Jude chapter, or Jude, it only has one chapter, so Jude verse
24. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling. Now I need that. Because I know
if he doesn't keep me from falling, I will fall. This is the priest
I need, the one who can keep me from falling away. I'll leave
the Lord if he doesn't preserve me. I know I will. So I need
this high priest who's able to keep me from falling. And then
he says next, and he's able to present you faultless. Now I want you to think about
that for just a second. He is able to present you as sinful. and weak as you are, as I am,
He is able to present everyone He represents faultless, without
fault, perfect before His throne with exceeding joy. Such an high priest became us,
one who is able to do this. This is exactly what we need. In these last three verses of
this chapter, I see four things that make Christ the high priest
that we need, everyone who needs such a high priest. First, we
see his perfect life. Second, we see his perfect sacrifice. Third, we see his perfect position. And fourth, we see the perfection
of his person. Let me show you where I got that
outline. For such and high priest became
us, here's his perfect life, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sinners. Here is his Perfect sacrifice,
look down in verse 27, who needeth not daily of those high priests
to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for his
people. For this he did once when he offered up himself. There's
his perfect sacrifice. And thirdly, there's his perfect
position. Notice once again in verse 26,
it says that he is made higher than the heavens. What a position. And then last, the perfection
of his person, it says, the son is consecrated or perfected or
completed forevermore. Now, this is exactly the high
priest that I so desperately need. You know, I need the Lord
Jesus Christ. I can say that with depth of
conviction. I need him to represent me. Now, I want to see from this
passage of scripture what kind of priest I need." Now, what
befits him to be just the priest we need is seen first of all
in his sinless life, his perfect righteousness. I love this description
of his life in verse 26. For such a high priest became
us. Here's exactly what we need, who is holy, harmless, undefiled
and separate from sinners. Now here's why I need such a
high priest as this, because by nature, this is by nature,
this is the way I'm born into this world. I was born into this
world unholy. I was born into this world harmful. Harmless means void of evil. I was born into this world full
of sin. Like David said, in sin my mother
conceived me. Holy, harmless, undefiled. I'm born into this world defiled,
contaminated by sin. So it makes it everything that
I do sin. Doesn't matter what it is. If
I do it, that makes it sin because I'm contaminated. And separate
from sinners, I'm united to sinners. I'm by nature a sinner. So I
need a priest who is altogether different from me. Holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners. Christ Jesus is holy. He's equal with God. He's altogether
pure. He never had a sinful thought.
He never had a sinful action. He never had a sinful motive.
He knew no sin. That's a remarkable passage of
Scripture. He knew no sin. You know, before He was placed
on the cross, He didn't, in a very real sense, He didn't understand
sin. Because He never sinned. He never
experienced it. He's holy. Holy. Holy. He's harmless. That means He's full of that
which is good. He has nothing but of evil in
him, he's harmless, he's undefiled, and he is separate from sinners,
altogether separate from sinners. He knew no sin, he did no sin,
in him is no sin, and this is the priest that has the ear of
God because of his perfect life. Don't you love to think about
the Lord's perfect life? I do. He honored God perfectly. He never sinned, and the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ that I'm speaking of right now, that
is my righteousness before God. I love that song we just read,
Jehovah's Akinnu, The Lord Our Righteousness, and the writer
was talking about how there was a time when that meant nothing
to him, but it does now, and I thought it does to me now.
The Lord Jesus Christ is my righteousness before God, and how I delight
in that. His obedience, His law-keeping,
the sinless The perfect obedience, the righteousness of Christ is
the believer's personal righteousness before God. Let me show you a
passage of Scripture in Matthew chapter 3. Verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him, But John forbade him,
saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou? to me? I mean, I try to put myself
in John's place. What if the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, He who knew no sin, came up and said, I want
to be baptized of you? I would feel utterly unfit for
something like that. I understand John's objection. He said, I have need to be baptized
of thee, and you're coming to me to be baptized? You understand
why John reacted this way. Now look what the Lord said,
And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now,
for thus it becometh. Oh, how precious these words
are. Us. Us. To fulfill all righteousness. You know what that means? When
Jesus Christ fulfilled all righteousness, so did I. When he kept the law,
I kept the law. When he was holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sinners. That's my righteousness before
God." Aren't you thankful for His perfect life? Oh, the holy,
spotless, without blemish life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking
back in our text in verse 28, For the law, talking about the
Levitical economy, for the law maketh men high priests which
have infirmities, which have weaknesses, which are sinful
men. Aaron was a sinful man. Look what he did. He made a golden
calf. We have the examples of Nadab and Abihu, how God sent
fire down from heaven to kill them because of their sinfulness.
Eli's sons. Phineas and Hophni, the law maketh
men like me, priests. And that's why a priest like
that can't really represent anybody before God. They represented
something, but in and of themselves, they couldn't represent a man
to God. But he can because he has the ear of God. He has the
favor of God. He never sinned. That's wonderful to think about.
First of all, this is the high priest that became us, someone
with a perfect life, someone who never sinned. Second, he's
just the high priest we need because of his perfect sacrifice
when he offered up himself. Every day, Morning and evening,
the Levites had to offer up two sacrifices. First one for their
own sins that made them representatively fit to represent somebody else. And then they would offer up
a sacrifice for the sins of the people they were representing.
So two sacrifices every morning, two sacrifices every evening.
First for their own sins and then for the sins of the people.
But look what verse 27 says of our text. This high priest 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
when he offered up himself. Now notice it doesn't say that
he did not offer up sins. Well, look at the way it reads.
Verse 27, who needs 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. You see, his people's sins became
his own sins. That's why this sacrifice was
only offered up once. His people's sins literally,
actually, truly became his own sins. Now, I tried to talk about
this last Wednesday night and it's something that's been sticking
with me, thinking about it. It gives me a lot of joy when
I think about Christ on the cross. There he is hanging, forsaken
by God. Now the only reason God will
forsake somebody is because there's sin on them, sin in them. He'll
never forsake the righteous. The sins of God's elect actually,
literally, truly became the sins of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so while he was on the cross, this is a, it's a horrible yet a glorious
thing to think about. When Christ was on the cross,
he had no smile from his father. He had no favor from his father.
You see, the Lord, his father, was not looking at him and saying,
now I realize that these sins are not yours. They belong to
somebody else, but I'm going to treat you as if they were
yours, and I'm going to make you, I'm going to punish you
for these things. It wasn't like that at all. No,
when the Lord poured his wrath out upon the Lord Jesus Christ,
it's because he was sin in his sight. He was made sin, and God
saw nothing but that which He hated. His wrath came down upon
the Lord Jesus Christ because Christ was guilty, guilty as
charged. My sin became His, and He bore
the guilt of it. He became sin. What all that
means, I don't know, nor does anyone else. I can't understand
that, but I believe it. He was made sin, God's wrath
came down upon Him, and the Father saw Him as utterly obnoxious. When the Lord Jesus was hanging
there on the cross, crying, I'm a worm and no man, not even be
fit to be called a man. When He was hanging on the cross,
He didn't have the satisfaction of knowing, well, I didn't really
do this. I'm doing it for somebody else.
That thought never passed through our Lord's mind. He knew that
this was His sin. My sin became His. He took my
sins and my sorrows and made them His very own. He bore the
burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. He didn't have
the satisfaction, no, I'm not really guilty. No, He felt the
shame. He felt the humiliation. He felt the degradation of this
sin before His Father. That's why He was ashamed. It
actually was His. So He couldn't say, I didn't
really do this. when He was hanging on that cross.
He didn't have any of His disciples saying, oh, thank you for doing
this for us. We know you're doing it for us.
We love you for this. No, He was all alone, bearing
the wrath of God as the sin-bearing substitute. He offered up Himself. I Peter 2 verse 24 says, who His own self bear..." Anybody
know the rest of the verse? "...our sins." It doesn't simply
say He bore the punishment of our sins. Or that He bore the
guilt of our sins. It says, "...who His own self
bear our sins in His own body on the tree." that we being dead
to sin should live under righteousness by whose stripes you are healed."
Now, here's what is so glorious about this. Just as literally
and truly as my sin becoming His and Him bearing it, just
as literally and actually and truly as my sin became His. His perfect righteousness, His
holiness, His harmlessness, His being undefiled, His separation
from sinners, all that is mine. Now, that's a perfect sacrifice.
And what is said about this perfect sacrifice? He offered up Himself. He offered up Himself. All that
means, He offered up Himself. And He did so voluntarily. He
said, no man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it up. This commandment have I received
of my Father. He offered up Himself. And I love thinking about this. He offered Himself. I don't try offering anything.
Where the remission of these is, there's no more offering
for sin. He offered up Himself. I don't
offer up anything. He offered up Himself. You see,
the offering's already been made. And I rest in Him. He offered
up Himself. Better offer up to God something.
Better not. There's one offering that's been
accepted. And to offer up anything else is obnoxious to God. He offered up Himself. And then
to think that He offered up Himself and all that that means. Now, the fact that He offered
up Himself tells us that He actually died. And He was raised from
the dead. And His sacrifice is a perfect
sacrifice. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. Now he had a perfect life. That's
the priest I need. Someone who can represent me
before God. Someone whom God will hear because
of his perfect life. The righteousness he worked out
for me. Now look at Hebrews chapter 10 beginning in verse 9. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
first, the Old Testament, that he may establish the second,
the covenant of grace, by the witch will, by God's will. He
said, I came to do thy will, by God's will. We are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. When Jesus Christ died on the
cross, God said regarding every single person he died for, they're
holy. They're sanctified. And that
once for all means it's perfectly completed, never to be repeated. It's, you see, he, he offered
this sacrifice in such a way as where it never has to be done
again because it's perfect. Perfect. He had perfect. Let's
go on reading verse 12. But this man, Verse 11, And every priest standeth
daily, ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which could never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Thank God for this one offering,
this perfect sacrifice. Now that's the high priest I
need. I need one who is sinless, one who has the ear of God. I
need one who offered up a perfect sacrifice. His holy life becomes
us, His perfect sacrifice becomes us, and His high position becomes
us. Look back in our text in Hebrews
chapter 7. It says in the last phrase of
verse 26 that He is made higher than the heavens. Now this refers to His place
of ministry. His position. He is made higher
than the heavens. He is seated at the right hand
of God, the place of favor and the place of power. Now this
is the priest we need. One who is higher than the heavens.
Not one who is down here like us. But one who is higher than
the heavens. One that has favor with God.
One that God must hear. Because He offered up Himself.
Now because this high priest became the lowest. And that's
exactly what he did. He became least in the kingdom
of heaven. He became where he said, I'm
a worm and not even fit to be called a man because he became
the lowest. And that's what happened on the
cross. Who can understand it? I don't, but I believe it. He
became lowest. And because he became the lowest,
God has highly exalted him and given him a name, which is above
every name. Turn with me to Philippians two.
Let's read that passage scripture. Philippians chapter two. Verse 5, Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation. and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus Every knee should bow of things
in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and
that Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father now the place of his ministry is
not some dark confessional booth where men confess their sins
to other men. That's so unclean. That's so
ungodly. But that's not the place of his
ministry. He's not in some dark confession.
He's at the right hand of the Father. He's there right now
at the very right hand of the Father. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 9, verse 24. For Christ has not entered into the
holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the true,
but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God
for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with the blood of others, for then must he have often 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. And that's exactly what he did.
He put away sin. All my sin put away. I don't
have any sin. It's blotted out. And as it is
appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment,
so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto
them that look for him. And I'm one of those people.
I'm looking for him. I look for Him in His Word. I
look for Him in the preaching of the Word. I look for Him on
Judgment Day. When my name is called on Judgment
Day, I'm looking for Him to stand before me and to represent me. To them that look for Him. Would
that describe you? Somebody who looks for Him? I'm
looking for Him right now. I'm looking for Him to come and
say, Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, save me. Lord, do something
for me. I'm looking for Him. To them that look for Him shall
He appear the second time without sin. unto salvation. Because of His high place, the
right hand of the Father, having finished the work the Father
gave Him to do, He's exactly the high priest I need. Look in verse 28 of our text
in Hebrews chapter 7. Now we've talked about His perfect
life. We've talked about His perfect
sacrifice. We've talked about His perfect
position. But look at verse 28, For the
law maketh men high priests, which have infirmities. But the
word of the oath, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
The word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the son
who is consecrated, who is perfected forevermore, who is completed
forevermore. Now, what all does that mean?
I think that's an interesting, as a matter of fact, I never
really thought about this passage of Scripture where it says the Son is perfected
forevermore. I thought He already was perfected.
Well, in His person He was, but I want you to think about this,
and this is one of the great mysteries of the Gospel. Our Gospel is
such a glorious, mysterious, awesome, gospel. And here's why. The Lord Jesus
Christ in and of himself, I realize that he doesn't need me, he doesn't
need you, he's the God-man. But it's also true that he is
united with every single one of his people. And he would not
be complete, he would not be perfected, he would be incomplete
without me. If you're a believer, he would
be incomplete without you. You see, the head has a body. You're the body of Christ and
members in particular. The groom has a wife. as a bride. And the Lord Jesus
Christ would not be complete without all of His members. Now
He came to finish the work the Father gave Him to do. And what
was that? To save His body. To save His members. To save
His bride. To save everybody that the Father
gave Him. That was His purpose. And when He did it, the Son was
perfected. The Son was completed forevermore. Now you want to talk about a
reason to feel like you have some significance. Take this away and I don't have
any significance. I'm a fly, you're a fly, worm, whatever
you want to call it. Not a lot to us. But in the Lord
Jesus Christ, I have such significance that He would not be complete
without me. Do I understand it? No. Do I
believe it? Yes, I do. The Son is perfected
forevermore. Turn to John 17. You know, it overwhelms me to
think that Jesus Christ actually loves me. that he knows me and
that he would not be complete without me. That just overwhelms
me to think that. I belong to the Lord. I'm special. I'm special. Every believer is
special. Every believer is special to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that a wonderful thought?
Because I know the way we think about ourselves. We think about
ourselves and you think, you think, how could the Lord love
me? We think He tolerates us somehow. But that's not the way
it is. To Him, every believer is special. And there's my significance. Look in John chapter 17, beginning
in verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone, the 11, but for
them also, which shall believe on me through their word. That's
a notice. He says, if anybody ends up believing,
no, it doesn't say anything like that at all. He says they shall
believe because all the elect shall believe. This is his prayer for
all of the elect. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one. as thou father art in me and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me and the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me."
If that wasn't in the Bible, I wouldn't believe it. But there it is. However, God,
the father loved his son. That is how he loved me. Now I want to close by looking
at a few verses out of Psalm 138. And this is the high priest
who became us. One who had this perfect life,
this perfect sacrifice, this perfect position, one who is
perfected forevermore. What about me being perfected?
Well, if I'm one with him, I will be perfected. But this is this
is a scripture that came to my mind when I was trying to meditate
on on Christ being perfected and me being perfected. And you
see, if you can enter into this passage of scripture, Psalm 138.
Verse six. Though the Lord. Be high. Yet hath he respect unto the
lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar off. Though I walk in the
midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth
thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right
hand shall save me." Now look at the confidence of this statement.
The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. And here's how it comes. Thy
mercy, O Lord, endures forever. That's why we can say with such
confidence that the Lord will perfect that which concerns us
because of His mercy. It endures forever. And then
He says, forsake not the work of thine own hands." Now let
me ask you a question. Your salvation. Is it the work
of your hands? Or is it the work of His hands? I know this. My salvation is
the work of His hands. So I say, forsake not the work
of thine own hands. Now every believer Every believer
can have this joyous confidence. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Let's pray together.