God gave the law, and He gave
the priesthood, and no Israelite, anybody that was of the nation
of Israel, could approach God without being represented by
a high priest. You know that. For 1,500 years,
this had been the only way the people could be accepted of God,
or could approach God. And after all that time, those
in whom Christ had revealed himself are now being taught that the
Levitical priesthood had served its purpose. Now, those whom
God had given faith in Christ are being taught to look nowhere
else, trust no one else, approach God in nothing but the blood
and righteousness of his dear son, Jesus, the great high priest,
who is priest and king, a priest upon a throne. Now you can imagine
the difficulty one might face when confronted by such a truth
after so many years of worshipping in this manner. And it shouldn't
be too difficult for us to enter into, really, because every sinner
saved by grace has to be taught this same thing. Just as the
people in the day when the Hebrew letter was written, just as the
believers then were having to be taught that salvation is totally,
fully, completely in Christ. When we first come to know Christ,
we have to be taught that. We begin being taught that and
we're taught that from the rest of our days because our flesh
and our old nature wants to hang on to whatever error we've been
taught, whatever traditions we have hung on to whatever kind
of baggage that we have when we come to Christ. We have a
nature in us that wants salvation to be of us, at least in some
degree or another. So we're taught continually this
very thing right here. One of the writers made mention
that this took great grace to turn these Hebrew believers from
the law. And a thought occurred to me,
is there any other kind? than great grace. That's the
kind of grace God bestows on His people. And in every age,
as it was here, those who preached that Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone who believes, everybody that's
ever preached this message has been accused of preaching against
the law of God. Stephen was stoned, killed, because
they said, we've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses
and God. This man ceaseth not to speak
blasphemous words against this holy place and the law." And
so they killed him. To the apostle Paul, they cried
out and said, Men of Israel, help! This is the man that teacheth
all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place. And furthermore, he brought Greeks
in here and polluted this holy place. But the fact remains,
if sinners would establish God's holy, just, and good law, the
only way is by believing on God's Son, who Himself, by Himself,
fulfilled, established, magnified, and made honorable God's law
on behalf of those who trust Him. He did it. He did it. We're given infallible proofs
in chapter 7. We've seen that before God made
Aaron a priest, God himself spoke of a far more excellent high
priest after the order of Melchizedek. We saw that in the first few
verses. We've seen that he belonged to
a tribe other than Levi, the royal tribe of Judah. We've seen
that he is made a priest not after the law of a carnal commandment,
but after the power of an endless life. In other words, he's God. He's God. And we're told he is
the better hope by which we draw near to God. He is that hope
entered into the veil by which we draw near to God. So we're
given four more proofs here today that Christ's priesthood excels
the Levitical priesthood. And I want you to see these in
this lesson. First of all, Christ's priesthood
excels the Levitical priesthood because they were made priests
without an oath. But God made the son. Our high
priest by the word of his own oath. Now look here in verse
20. Inasmuch as not without an oath,
he was made priest. Hebrews 7.20. For those priests
were made without an oath, but this with an oath by him, by
God, that said unto him, the Lord swear and will not repent,
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Back
in Hebrews 6 and verse 17, we saw wherein God willing more
abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of
his counsel, the unchanging character of his counsel, Confirmed it
by an oath that by two immutable things two unchangeable things
his oath His care his counsel and his oath because God cannot
lie. It's impossible for God to lie
We might have a strong Consolation who have fled for refuge to lay
upon the hope set before us you have God's Word is what this
comes down to You have God's oath the word of him that cannot
lie, that if you come to God by faith in his Son, you shall
be welcome into his presence because you come in the high
priest of God's choice. It's his high priest. Now that's
good hope right there. That's good assurance for a believer. Then secondly, Christ's priesthood
excels the Levitical priesthood because Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, stands in surety of God's elect. And He guarantees His
people all the blessings included in God's everlasting covenant
of grace. Verse 22, by so much was Jesus
made a surety of a better testament. Now let's talk about this word
surety here just a minute. I want you young people to pay
attention to this particularly. Before God made time, You and
I just know time. That's all we know about. I was
looking at the clock the whole way over here this morning because
I was running behind. All we know is time. But before
God made time, Christ, our surety, drew near to God the Father. That's what a surety does. He
draws near. And Christ voluntarily struck
hands, as it were, with the Father in a solemn agreement, a covenant. And Christ agreed to provide
everything which God's elect could not provide, which is everything. In other words, he agreed to
provide everything for God's people. To pay what we could
not pay and to bring us to God robed in his perfect righteousness. That was the agreement. Now there's
two examples of charityship that I think are pretty good examples
for us here in Scripture. If you want to look with me,
look over at Genesis chapter 43 and verse 8. Genesis 43 and
verse 8. Judah was the son of Israel,
his father. And he was wanting to go down
into Egypt to go down to get some
corn. Then he didn't know it was his
brother, but his brother Joseph. But he required the lad, the
youngest of the sons, to be brought with him, Benjamin. Isaac didn't want Benjamin to
go. Jacob didn't want Benjamin to
go because he was afraid he would die. He was afraid he would die.
This was his last son. He didn't want him to go. And
Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we
will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and
thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety for him. Now
listen to this agreement. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. He's going to strike hands here
in agreement. "...of My hand shalt thou require. If I bring
him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear
the blame forever." Now there's another one in Philemon 1. In that case, there was a man
named Onesimus. And he had come to the apostle
Paul. And his master was a man named Philemon. wrote to Philemon,
and he said this in his letter to Philemon, if Onesimus hath
wronged thee or oweth thee aught, anything, put that on mine account. Put it on mine account. I'm going to pay. I'm going to
cover anything he owes you. These two things here gives us
an example of what took place in that covenant between God
the Father and God the Son. And it's a better testament.
It's a better covenant. This is the everlasting covenant.
This is the everlasting testament which came before what we call
the old covenant. This was formed before time was
made. This was in eternity. And it's
better because of that fact. It is everlasting. And it's everlasting
because it has to do with the difference between what we call
a surety and what God calls a surety. The scriptures tell us in Proverbs
6, 1, My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast
stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words
of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
There's no undoing it. It can't be undone. If a man's
honorable, if he's true to his word, But this is God who cannot
change, who promised to be the surety for his people. Now, let
me tell you the difference between the way that Christ is our surety
and the way that we look at suretyship in our lives. All right, you're
going to turn 16 and you want to buy a car, but you don't have
the money to buy the car. So you got to get a loan from
a bank to buy the car. So you ask your dad if he'll
cosign with you on the loan. And what he does is he becomes
surety for you. And what he's saying is, is if
for some reason you can't pay your debt, then your dad agrees
he'll pay the remaining debt. He'll pay whatever's left off.
So you and he are jointly responsible for the payment of that debt.
in essence. He's hoping you'll pay it, because
He don't want to have to go down there and pay it for you. But
that's not how Christ became our surety. He didn't become
our surety in the event we couldn't pay. That's not how He became
our surety. Before the world was made, our
Savior, as our surety, took the whole of our obligation before
the law of God upon Himself. He took it all. When he drew
near to God and struck hands, then and there he became our
surety, and he took responsibility for all the obligations of the
people that God gave him. He said, I'll bring them to you
safely, or you're required at my hand. And in this better covenant,
when they struck hands in agreement, if we can say it that way, in
this covenant of grace, The reason this is a better testament is
because when that happened, his people were released from all
their obligations. The obligation fell upon Christ
our surety. The obligation went to him and
his people. Well, I wasn't even born yet.
Adam wasn't even made yet. Time hadn't even been created.
The world had not even been made. He had agreed to provide a perfect
obedience to God's holy law. He agreed to be made under the
law to bring in and to be our everlasting righteousness. In
this better covenant, we were released from paying the wages
of sin, which is death, because our surety agreed to die as our
substitute in our room and our stead. And in this better covenant,
when Christ became our surety, God's grace flowed freely to
all those God chose to save because our surety became the only one
to whom God looked for all our obligations. When it says in
Ephesians 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us into the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein, when he did that, He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved." Right then and there. When He
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, He made us accepted in Christ. He looked at His Son,
even though His Son hadn't come, even though the world hadn't
been made, even though His people hadn't been made, even though
they hadn't fallen in sin. made them accepted in His Son
before the world began. And then in Timothy, we read
this, He saved us, called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And because
of this better covenant, wherein Christ became our surety, when
Adam sinned, when Adam failed, and He plunged the whole human
race into sin. The reason God didn't come in
judgment right then is because He's looking at His Son. And
in His Son, He's able to say of all His people, deliver Him
from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. I have
one in whom they are accepted. So you mean to tell me that God
has always looked at Christ? He's always been pleased with
His Son, and that His people have always been accepted in
His Son. That's exactly what I'm saying to you. Exactly what
I'm saying to you. And then thirdly, Christ's priesthood
excels the Levitical priest because He has an unchangeable priesthood,
which means constant intercession for those who come to God by
Him. An unchangeable priesthood. Constant intercession. Look here,
verse 23. And they truly were many priests, because they were
not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth
forever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Our great high priest
died to assume his priestly office, to be officially consecrated
into this priestly office. Earthly priests died and left
their office. You see the difference? By reason
of death, there are many earthly priests. By reason of an endless
life, his priesthood will never change. It's unchangeable. When
it says the power of an endless life, you have to understand
he's always been the priest. He always has been the priest,
even before he was officially consecrated and rose from the
dead and was pronounced a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
He's eternal. He's God. Earthly priests could
not intercede, but they could only intercede for just so long
because they're going to die. But this high priest could intercede
forever because he never dies. Never dies. Who is he that condemneth? Who was it that could condemn
Abraham? Nobody. Who is it that could
condemn Paul? Nobody. One was a believer before
Christ died. One was a believer after Christ
died. But how come nobody could condemn
them? Because it's Christ that died, yea rather that is risen
again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession
for us. You see what I'm saying? He's
eternal. He ever liveth to make intercession. Then fourthly, Christ's priesthood
excels that of the Levitical priest because of the excellency
of his person and of his sacrifice. Verse 26, For such a high priest
became us. That word there is suitable to
us. It's answerable to our individual
case, suitable to fulfill all the obligations God demands of
us. For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, 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 when he offered up himself." Every earthly priest, before
Christ died, and today, every one of them that tries to The
ones today that try to act like they're priests. Every one of
them are unholy. Even Aaron and Levi and all the
Levitical priests, they were unholy. They were fraudulent. They were defiled in their very
nature because they were born of Adam. They were just like
the ones that they represented. therefore the ceremonial law
required that they had to offer a sacrifice first for their own
sins and Then for the sins of the people Our great high priest
is holy He's holy He's without God. There was no God found in
him. No deceit whatsoever in him He's
born of the Holy Spirit. He had a holy nature He did he
wasn't born of Adam You're going to hear a lot in the next few
weeks about the virgin birth. One thing that you'd hardly,
I've never heard it said, but out on TV or anything like that,
but one thing that you have to remember about the virgin birth,
the necessity. Why was it that he had to be
born of a virgin? Because if he's born of a man,
he's born of corrupted seed. He had to be born of the Holy
Ghost. The man is the one who is the representative. He's the
second Adam. And so he's holy. Separate from
sinners. He dwelt among sinners. He was
made like unto sinful flesh, but he wasn't a sinner. He never
sinned. He made higher than the heavens.
I don't know what all that means, but I know one thing that means
is that the book teaches us here that we saw in the second chapter,
He's higher than the angels. Even God's holy angels, He's
higher than them. He didn't have to offer sacrifice
daily. He did it one time. He doesn't
have to offer sacrifice for personal sin. He's holy. He's holy. And He didn't have to offer the
blood of a bull or a goat. Being holy, spotless, the only
man ever to be that way, he offered up himself. Let that sink in. He offered himself, his own life. He laid down his own life in
the place of his people. And here's the conclusion, verse
28. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity.
But the word of the oath, which was since the law, which is the
end of the law, maketh the son who is consecrated forevermore. A sinless high priest who put
away the sin of his people by one offering, made a high priest
by the word of God's own oath. The end of the law is God's own
son. He's consecrated a high priest
forevermore. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. He's a better surety and is founded
on a better covenant, a better promise. Chapter 8, verse 1. Now the things
which we've spoken, this is the psalm. We have such a high priest
who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in the heavens. minister of the sanctuary and
of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man And now God the Father says to
you and I Behold my servant whom I uphold Mine elect in whom my
soul delighteth Do you behold him This means you have access by
faith. Don't bring anything else. Don't
come any other way than by faith. Don't walk anywhere. Don't say
any sinner's prayer. Don't go through some catechism
or don't think you're going to find it in a baptismal pool.
You have access by faith to God Himself. He's sitting right now at the
right hand of God. He ever lives to make intercession.
He's the only one that's going to receive glory in the salvation
of His people. You and I are going to receive
none. He's going to receive all the glory. We're going to sing,
worthy is the Lamb. He's the one that was slain.
He's the one that bought His people, redeemed His people.
He's the one who's in the very central focus of heaven itself. He's the one to whom every knee
is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess
that He's Lord of lords and King of kings. I know some mighty strong men
in this world that have gone through this life and never bowed
to Him. But they're going to bow to Him
in that day. Every knee is going to bow to Him. Every knee is
going to bow to Him. My prayer for you and for your
family and for me and my family is that God might give us grace
to behold Him now. To behold Him now. That He might
Give us grace that our souls might delight in Him. And that it be even as God delights
in Him. If He does that, brethren, we won't be looking any other
place. Just as God never has looked
any other place but to His Son. That's where we'll be looking. I keep telling y'all this thing's
getting more narrow and more narrow as time goes by. For the
believer, he starts out seeing himself as a sinner and he just
sees himself as a worse sinner and a worse sinner and a worse
sinner. He begins seeing Christ as his righteousness and he goes
on seeing Christ more and more and more as his all. And this
thing just narrows right down to where one day we're going
to bow and be at his feet saying, you alone are worthy. This thing's not getting wider.
The gate's not getting wider. It's getting more narrow and
more narrow. And pretty soon this whole world's going to be
cast off, burned up, made new. And then it's going to get real
narrow. Because then it's going to be Him and the people that
He's loved with an everlasting love. And they're going to have
one song. And it's going to be all to the
praise of the glory of His grace. That's going to be our one song.
I hope that's a blessing to you, and I do pray the Lord a blessing
to your heart. All right.