says, and he said unto me, it
is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that's a
thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. The high priest of our profession. Now every religion has some kind
of priest. Everybody has some vague notion
that I can't get to God on my own. And every religion has some
kind of priest. Notice he says, consider the
apostle and high priest of our profession. Now that lets me
know that he is only the high priest to this demographic called
our, our high priest. Well, who are these people? Well, they're described in verse
one, wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the apostle and high priest of our profession. He is only high priest to those
who are described in verse one. Why do I need a priest? Well, I cannot come into God's
presence on my own. I hope that's established. I
can't get there. I need someone to represent me. A priest is somebody who comes
to God representing men. turn with me for a moment to
first john chapter two because i think that this describes what
a high priest does i think it's interesting you know if you look
at all the writings of paul you're not going to find the term the
high priest yet you'll find it a lot of times in the book of
hebrews as we shall see but here in first john chapter two verse
one my little children These things write I unto you that
you sin not. What's that mean? Exactly what
it says. These things write I unto you
that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the
father. We have one who represents us
with the father. We don't come into the father's
presence on our own. Our advocate comes in our behalf. This is very much like a lawyer.
You don't have anything to say, the lawyer comes to the judge
and speaks for you. We have an advocate with the
father. And there's something so unique
about our advocate. There's no other advocate, there's
no other high priest, there's no other lawyer like this. He
makes all of his clients plead guilty. Every one of them, they plead
guilty as charged. That every mouth may be stopped
and all the world stand guilty before God. He's right, I'm wrong. And this advocate causes all
of his clients to be justified. without guilt, sinless, having
never sinned. That's what justification is.
Justification is not God making it just as if you've never sinned,
because if it's just as if you've never sinned, you still sin. He makes it to where you've never
sinned. How? Here's what this is, verse two. This is Jesus Christ the righteous,
our advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. Everything he does
is altogether righteous. There's not a hint of sin or
wrongness in anything he does. It's absolutely righteous. And here is what this is all
grounded on, and he is the propitiation for our sins. the propitiation,
the sin removing, the satisfying, God-satisfying sacrifice for
our sins. Our advocate, Jesus Christ the
righteous, makes us plead guilty. We don't have anything else to
plead, but he makes us utterly justified and sinless, having
never sinned before his father. Why do we need a priest? Well,
let me give you two reasons. Because God's holy. Number two, because we're sinful. God's holy, I'm sinful. I cannot come into God's presence
on my own. I must have a priest. Who is our priest? Jesus, the
Son of God, the man, Christ Jesus. There's one God and one mediator,
only one, between God and men, the man. Don't you love the way
he's called that? The man, Christ Jesus. Now, I have Eight things I want
to say from the book of Hebrews with regard to us considering
the great high priest of our profession. I'm not going to
spend much time on any of them, but I want to bring these to
your attention. It's what the scripture in Hebrews
tells us about our great high priest turned Hebrews chapter
five. Verse four. No man taketh this honor unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. He is no self appointed high
priest. He is the one God appointed. God initiated this. No man volunteering
to become a priest. He is the one priest that God
has appointed. Aren't you thankful the Lord
provided a priest for people like me and you? He is the God
appointed high priest. Look in chapter four, verse 14. Ritz just read this. Seeing then that
we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Where does he perform the function
of his office as a great high priest? Not in some dark confessional
booth with smoke and mirrors. and all kinds of weird things
that are associated with that. He's in heaven itself, at the
right hand of God. Hebrews chapter six, verse 20. Whether the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus, Made a high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. He's entered into the very holy
of holies. Look in chapter eight, verse
one. Now the things which we have spoken, this is the sum.
This is the summary of everything we've said. We have such an high
priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in the heavens. This is where our high priest
is right now. Set on the throne. of the right hand of the majesty
in the heavens. Look in Hebrews chapter nine,
verse 24, the writer to the Hebrews makes quite an issue of where
our high priest performs his great priestly saving functions. Verse 24, for Christ has not
entered into the holy place made with hands, man-made, which are the figures
of the true, but into heaven itself. Now, right now, present
tense to appear in the presence of God for us. Our great high priest is in heaven. He's got the ear of the father. Hebrews chapter 7, verse 26. For such a high priest became
us. He's exactly what we need. He's the only one who can be
described like this. 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
now our high priest is holy he's harmless He's separate from sinners. When he comes into God's presence,
he comes with something. Look in Hebrews chapter eight,
verse three, for every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and
sacrifices. Wherefore it's of necessity that
this man have somewhat also to offer. He has something to offer
his own blood. Not the blood of a bull or a
goat. He offers his own blood and his blood is blood that actually
puts away sin. You see, when he comes into the
Father's presence with regard to me, here's my blood that made
him sinless. Here's my righteousness. He's
got something to offer to the Father that no man-made priest
has. They come in and supposedly absolve
a man from their sins when the sinful man listens to the sin
to the other sinful man. That's unclean. That's all you
can call that. But we have this holy man who
comes into God's presence, equal with God, and he presents to
God his own blood. He doesn't simply say, oh forgive
him, he committed that sin again. He doesn't need to do that. All
he does is present his own blood before the Father. And the Father
is satisfied. He presents his righteousness
to the Father. And the Father is satisfied.
Satisfied, as John said, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is no corrupt, unclean priest. The Father is perfectly pleased
with him and what he offers. Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had
by himself purged, made purification for, washed away, made not to
be, When he by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the
right hand of his father, from henceforth expecting till his
enemies be made his footstool. Look in Hebrews chapter four,
verse 15. We have a sympathetic, empathetic,
High Priest, who is filled with pity and mercy toward everyone
he represents. Verse 15, for we have not in
High Priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, weakness, inadequacy, The feeling of sinfulness, the
feeling of being separated, the feeling of shame, the feeling
of guilt. We don't have a high priest that
cannot be touched by the feeling of those weaknesses, inadequacies,
sinfulness. But was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. Now I remember before I understood
what that passage of scripture meant, I would say how can he
be touched when he never gave in to temptation? How could he
be touched with the feelings of my inadequacies and my sinfulness
if he never sinned? Because he never sinned. How
can he be touched by my weaknesses when he never experienced it?
Here's the thing. When he was made sin, he experienced
all of them much more acutely than I ever have. I think of
that passage of scripture in Hebrews chapter 12, verse two,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame. Counting it for the joy that
was set before him in glorifying his father and saving his people,
he despised, he counted nothing, the shame. Now that doesn't mean
he doesn't, shame. If you do something wrong, I'm
grieved. And I feel bad for you. But I'm
not ashamed of it because I didn't do it. The only way I can feel
shame, true shame for something, is if I did it. Now, Jesus Christ
never sinned. He knew no sin. As a matter of
fact, he was incapable of sin. He was impeccable, if that's
the right word. He didn't have the potential
to sin, and I've heard people, and even preachers argue, well,
how could it be, if he couldn't sin, where's the virtue in it
to where he didn't sin if he couldn't in the first place? That's pretty much what Satan
said to Eve in the garden. There's no virtue in your not
sinning because you're just following your nature. If you eat this
fruit and know the difference between good and evil, and you'll
make the choice of good over evil, that's what'll make you
like God. That was Satan's temptation. Now, Jesus Christ did not have
the potential to sin. He's God. Can God sin? No. Can
God lie? No. He did not have the potential
to sin. Well, how can he Be touched with
the feeling of my infirmities then, my weaknesses, my inadequacies,
my feeling of separation. Because when he was made sin,
he experienced everything with the exception of the commission
of sin. He experienced the guilt. He
experienced the shame before his father. He experienced the
separation. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He experienced all of that much
more acutely than you and I do. Oh, we're sorry for a while,
but we forget it soon enough, don't we? We sure do. I can think
of times where, oh, my sin, I don't even know what it was now. Not
him. He experienced all the guilt
and shame, and he was actually forsaken by his God. So when
I, Feel my infirmities, my weaknesses,
my inadequacies in everything. He's touched. He's moved to sympathy. He doesn't get mad at me the
way, listen, if you saw what was in my heart on a day-to-day
basis, even though your heart's just as bad, you think, eh, something's
wrong with him. You're right. You're right. It's so hypocritical when any
of us feel like that. Just pure hypocrisy. But he sees
the same feelings that we would say, what's wrong with him? And
he's moved to sympathy. What a high priest. Touched by
the feelings of our infirmities. Look in Hebrews chapter 5 verse
1. For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for
men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifice for sins. And here's what we need in a
high priest. And these Levitical high priests were like this.
Who can have compassion on the ignorant? And on them that are
out of the way, them that are astray, for that he himself also
is compassed with infirmity. He himself, this high priest
appointed as a Levitical priest, he knows I'm surrounded with
my own sinfulness. When he was coming into God's
presence, he wasn't thinking, this is because of me, and I
can bring these people into God's presence. As a matter of fact,
before he could do it, he had to first offer sacrifice for
his own sins, before he would be allowed to offer sacrifice
for the sins of the people. Well, our high priest has compassion
on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way. What a blessed
thing, our high priest. Our high priest is better than
any Levitical priest because he's a priest after the order
of Melchizedek. Look in chapter seven, verse
one. Remember the writer to the Hebrew
said in Hebrews 8, one of the things we've spoken, this is
the son. We have such a high priest. That's what we're considering.
We have such a high priest. Now do you remember who Melchizedek
is? You can read about him in Genesis
14. It's when Moses was returning from the slaughter of the kings
and Melchizedek met him and blessed him and he gave him bread and
wine. What we're getting ready to do
right now. He gave him bread and wine. He's not mentioned again until
Psalm 110, and then again here in the book of Hebrews. But look
what this says about our priest after the order of Melchizedek.
In other words, he's not a Levitical high priest. To be a high priest,
a Levitical high priest, you had to be one of the sons of
Levi. You had to come out of Levi's tribe. The Lord didn't
come out of Levi's tribe. He came out of Judah's tribe.
And he's an altogether different high priest. For this Melchizedek,
King of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham
returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. Now remember, without contradiction,
the blessed is better, the better is the one who does the blessing. To whom also Abraham gave a tenth
part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after
that also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Remember how
righteousness and peace kiss one another? They kiss one another
in Melchizedek. He's utterly and completely righteous,
and yet you can be at peace through him. Verse three. Without father, without mother,
without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of
life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest
continually. Now consider how great this man
was. I don't have any doubt that this
is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. this description of him without
father, without mother, without descent, having no pedigree,
without beginning of days or end of life. And I've heard people
argue against that. They say, well, it says he was
made like unto the Son of God. He doesn't say he was the Son
of God. He said he was made like unto
the Son of God. Well, you remember when Nebuchadnezzar
looked at those three Hebrew children in the furnace and said,
lo, I see four and the fourth is like unto the son of God.
Was he not the son of God? No, he was the son of God, wasn't
he? Do you remember when John saw one like unto the Son of
Man, clothed in those glorious apparel of priests in Revelation
chapter one? I saw one like unto the Son of
Man. Does that mean he didn't see the Son of Man? No. Melchizedek
is Jesus Christ. And the crowning final proof
of that to me is since when does a priest offer bread and wine? Only a priest who has actually
made the sacrifice. The blood's already been shed.
I want to say this very carefully,
reverently. Here's the first Lord's table.
When he brought to Abraham bread and wine, our great high priest. Now consider how great this man
was, and whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of his
spoils. Look down at verse 14. For it's
evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe
Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it's yet far
more evident that after the similitude of Melchizedek, there arises
another high priest, another priest, who is made not after
the law of a carnal commandment, Now that's what he calls the
Old Testament Levitical priest made after the law of the fleshly
commandment, a carnal commandment that can't really save anybody.
It's just what it represents. But after the power of an endless
life, for he testified, thou art a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek for there's verily. A disannulling of the
commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness
thereof. That's what he talks about the
whole Levitical system. It was given by God to represent
the Lord Jesus Christ, but in and of itself, you can't call
it anything but weak and unprofitable. It cannot save anybody. For the law made nothing perfect. Amen. Your obedience of all 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, the
Lord swear, this is the Lord's oath, and will not repent, he
will not change his mind, thou art a priest forever. After the
order of Melchizedek, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a
better Testament, a guarantee of a better Testament. And they
truly were many priests because they were not suffered to continue
by reason of death. But this man, but this, and notice
man is in italics, this God, this man, this priest, he's all
of those things. It's like he couldn't come up
with a word for him or a name for him. But this man, because
he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able
also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
that he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Turn to Hebrews 2. Verse 17, wherefore, in all things, it behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren. He was made flesh. His brethren
were flesh. He was made sin. His brethren
were made sin. For him to save them, that had
to take place. It behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren. that he might be a merciful and
a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. Now this is what our high priest
does. He makes reconciliation for the sins of the people. That
word is actually propitiation. That word is used one of the
time in the New Testament. Here is what it looks like when
He makes reconciliation for the sins of His people. This is exactly
what it looks like. There was a publican beating
on his breast, crying out, God, be propitious to me, the sinner. Do something about my sin. Make it to not be. I can't do
anything about it. I can't make it disappear. I
can't change it. Do something about my sin. You know what the Lord said? I say unto you, that man went
down to his house That's what his reconciliation
looks like. That man who cried out, God be
merciful to me, the sinner, he went down to his house sinless. That's what God did about his
sin in his perpetuatory sacrifice. He made that man to be without
sin. Hebrews nine verse 11. The Christ, being come
an 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. What kind of redemption? Eternal. redemption for us. Now, what does that mean? That
means he obtained a redemption that never had a beginning and
will never have an ending. You can't lose it. It's eternal. It's eternal. Nothing can be added to its history.
Nothing would be taken from its history. It's eternal. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He had to come in time and he
obtained that eternal redemption. And here's the last one, Hebrews
chapter nine, verse 24. For Christ has not entered into
the holy places 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. This was done once. No need for repetition because
I don't know how else to say this, got the job done. Finished. Completed. Done. It is finished. Nothing needs to be done ever
again. Now consider this high priest,
he didn't appoint himself. God initiated this. He's in heaven
right now as we speak. He's utterly holy, yet he's empathetic
and sympathetic, touched by the feeling of our infirmities. He's a priest after the order
of Melchizedek. He's a priest that actually justifies
by his perpetuatory sacrifice to where I stand before God without
sin. His redemption is eternal and it was only done once means
it's completed. Nothing else is needed. Now that is the high priest that
I need. Anything short of any of those
things won't do this sinner any good. This is the high priest
that I need. Now let's close by turning to
Genesis 14. I would say that if you ask the
average religious person, who's Melchizedek? I doubt that they'd
know. I doubt that many of them had
ever even heard of him, yet how important he is for us to understand
the priesthood of Christ. And the king of Sodom, verse
17, let's start in verse 16, and he brought back Abraham. He went to rescue these people,
the 318 people, And he brought back, I suppose,
thousands, the whole city. And he brought back all the goods,
and also brought again his brother Lot and his goods, and the women
also, and the people. And the king of Sodom went out
to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedolahemar,
and that the kings were with him in the Valley of Sheba, which
is in the Kingsdale. And Melchizedek, king of Salem,
brought forth bread and wine. And he was the priest of the
most high God. And he blessed him and said,
blessed be Abraham of the most high God, possessor of heaven
and earth. There's only one person who can
say that, God. And blessed be the most high
God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand, and he
gave him tithes of all. And the king of Sodom said unto
Abram, give me the person to take the goods to thyself. And
Abraham said to the king of Sodom, I've lift up my hand unto the
Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth.
I'll not take from you a thread, even to a shoelatch it. And that
I will not take anything that's thine, lest thou should say,
I've made Abraham rich. save only that which the young
men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me,
Anareskel and Mamre, let them take their portion." Now, when
Abraham sit there as Melchizedek gave him the bread and the wine,
it's my prayer that as we partake of the Lord's table, We, by his
spirit, hear him say, as we take the bread, this is my body broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me.
And when he gives the wine, this is the blood of the New
Testament shed for you. this do in remembrance of me. Let's pass out the bread and
wine.