In the book of Hebrews chapter
7, I was joking with my wifey earlier.
I was trying out the mics and she was reading my sermon. And
I told her, I said, you can't preach at all. She said, what's
the matter? And I said, you're not hacking.
So she started hacking a little bit. Sounded pretty good. She don't
like me to kid her. Let's begin reading in verse
11. Hebrews chapter 7. If therefore
perfection, completeness, were by the Levitical priesthood,
for under it the people received the law, what further need was
there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek,
and not be called after the order of Aaron. For the priesthood
being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of
the law. For he of whom these things are
spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance
at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord
sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning
priesthood. And it is yet far more evident,
for that after the similitude, the likeness of Melchizedek,
there arises another priest, who is made not after the law
of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless
life. For he testifieth thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is
verily a disannulling of the commandment gone before, for
the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing
perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope, by the which
we draw near to God. And inasmuch as not without an
oath was he made priest, for those priests were made without
an oath, but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The
Lord swear and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever, after
the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better covenant, a better testament. And they truly were
many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason
of death. 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
he ever liveth to make intercessions for them. 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. For the law maketh men high priests
which have infirmities, but the word of the oath which was since
the law maketh the Son who is perfected, consecrated for evermore. Abraham had a son by the name
of Isaac. Isaac had a son by the name of
Jacob. And Jacob had 12 sons. And one
of those sons was Levi. And it was out of Levi that God
chose to take the priest. And the high priest came out
of the house of Aaron who was also a Levi. So when you read
in here the Levitical priesthood, you realize what that was. And
here in verses 1 through 10, Paul had been reminding these
Jews that some 500 years before Abraham's grandson was even born,
Abraham already had a high priest. He had a high priest by the name,
he tells us here, of Melchizedek. His name means King of Righteousness,
Melchizedek, King of Righteousness. And he was king in the city of
Salem, which means King of Peace. And he tells us here of this
man that he had no record of when he was born, no record of
when he died, no record of who his dad or his mom was, but he
abideth a priest continually. He told us that in the last part
of verse 3. Now here in verse 4 of chapter
7, look here at what he says about this Melchizedek. Consider
how great this man was, unto whom even the great patriarch
Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. Consider how great Melchizedek
was. And then he gives us several
proofs as an evidence of just how great this Melchizedek was.
And the first one was he was Abraham's priest. He was the
great patriarch's priest. You remember when Melchizedek
met Abraham, he tells us there in verse 1, from the slaughter
of the kings and he brought wine and bread and he gave it to Abraham
and his men Melchizedek and Abraham sat down and drank together and
they ate together. Abraham was a lover of this man.
He admired this man. He was Abraham's priest and he
acknowledged him as that. That's the first thing. You know,
the Jews thought highly of Abraham. They always said, we be Abraham's
children. We're the seed of Abraham. And
Christ said, if you were Abraham's true children, you'd do the work
of Abraham. But they loved Abraham. They admired him, at least they
professed to. And so what Paul is writing to
the Jews here and saying, the one that you admire so much,
he had a priest. He had a priest over 400 years
before his grandson Levi was even born, the father of the
priesthood. He gives another evidence of
how great this man was. He tells us there in verse 7
that Abraham sought for Melchizedek's blessing. And notice how he says
it here in verse 7. Well, look in verse 6. But he
whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of
Abraham, and he blessed Abraham. Blessed him, we have the promise.
And without doubt, without contradiction, the less Abraham is blessed by
the greater Melchizedek. So what kind of a man was this?
He's a great man when a man like Abraham seeks a blessing from
him and no doubt sought his prayers to God for him. And then we're
told in this chapter also that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. He gave him ten percent of all
the spoils. He gave them to Melchizedek.
And what does that show us? That shows us a reverence, a
subjection. It shows that this Melchizedek
was superior to Abraham. And then fourthly, he goes ahead
and tells us here in verses 9 and 10 that even Abraham's great-grandson
Levi, the father of the Levitical priesthood, he paid tithes to
Melchizedek. And he tells us how he did it
there, that he was yet in his father Abraham's loins when he
paid tithes to Melchizedek. So God has sworn that another
priesthood would arise and be established, and it would be
after the order of this man. this man Melchizedek, the priesthood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what he keeps saying.
Did you notice the time that he said that after the order
another priest will arise after the order of Melchizedek? Not
be called after the order of Aaron, but he's of a whole different
tribe. He's of the tribe of Judah, not
of the tribe of Levi. Now, there was nothing that angered
and confused the Jews more than to hear this very thing, that
there was another priest coming. God was going to establish another
priesthood, His Son, Jesus Christ. If that was so, then here's the
question they kept asking themselves, and here's what confused them.
What was going to happen to the Levitical priesthood? And what
was going to happen to the whole ceremonial law? Because if the
priesthood was replaced, then the law would have to be replaced
because these two ran together. Well, what was going to happen
to the priesthood? Well, he told us here in our text in verse
12, it was going to be changed. It was going to be disannulled.
It was going to cease to be. See how he says it? For the priesthood
being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of
the law. Now, boy, one of the things that,
and I can understand this, me being a Gentile, one of the things
that so disturbed the Jewish nation was when they began to
hear this, They thought within themselves and they expressed
their rage against such an idea that Christ was going to take
the place of the Levitical priesthood because God established the Levitical
priesthood. He established the law and the
ceremonies. And now He's writing to them
and saying that the priesthood is going to change. Now, everything
evolved around the priesthood. Man, He officiated in everything. When you went up to worship,
you went up to the temple there at Jerusalem. That's the place
that God chose to put His name. And the high priest officiated. He was there. If you brought
tithes, you brought them to the priest. If you brought a sacrifice,
you brought it to the priest. When you brought the first fruit,
you brought it to the priest. If you contracted leprosy, you
know where you went to get examined? To the priest. Who circumcised
you when you were eight days old? The priest. Who named you? Who pronounced your name? The
priest. Everything evolved around the priesthood era and those
who followed him. And he said to you, if the priesthood
ceased to exist, what's going to happen to the law? It's going
to cease to exist too. If the priesthood changes, naturally
the whole law will cease to exist. Because everything evolved around
the priest. The Jews were horrified to think
this. Absolutely horrified to think this. Let me show you a
couple of places, very familiar places. Mark our text here and
look in Acts chapter 6. Acts chapter 6 and look in verse 12. This is where
Stephen was preaching, and he must have been preaching this
very thing that the Apostle is writing about, that the priesthood
is going to be changed, and the whole manner of the law is going
to be changed. Because as Stephen was preaching,
it upset these people so much, in verse 12, and they stirred
up the people, and the elders and the scribes came upon him,
and caught him and brought him to the council, and they set
up false witnesses, which said, This man seesteth not to speak
blasphemous words against this holy place and the law." It wasn't
blasphemy. It wasn't blasphemy at all. It
was just true. Look in verse 14. But we have heard him say
that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place. Didn't Jesus
Christ say that Himself? That He was going to send His
servants, the Roman army, and they weren't going to leave one
stone turned upon another one? And the street was going to run
red with blood because they missed the day of their visitation?
He did say that, didn't He? And look at this, "...and He
shall change the customs which Moses delivered us." Which custom? The priesthood, for one. Then
all the law, the ceremonial law, it would have to be changed,
be disannulled with a priesthood. So see how upset that made him?
Paul was right there in this group. It upset him too. He got
so mad he helped the coach of those who stoned Stephen. Look
in chapter 21 after the Lord converted the apostle and he
began to preach in chapter 21, And look in verse 28. This is
where Paul came back to Jerusalem, was preaching the gospel, and
they caught him here in the temple. And here's what some of these
self-righteous legalist Jews were crying out. Chapter 21 and
verse 28. They're crying out, Men of Israel,
help! This is the man, this Paul, which
teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and against the law,
and against this place. He wasn't teaching against the
place. He was just saying there's a
change that has come. The priesthood has changed, and
therefore a necessity is changed also of the law. And this is
why they put people out of the synagogue who profess this Christ.
That's how much anger that it stirred up in them. But you know,
come A.D. 70, Everything did change, didn't
it? It did change. If we had any
doubt of what our Lord's meaning was and what Paul's meaning was
and what His meaning is here in our text in verse 12 about
the priesthood being changed and the law being changed, if
there's ever any doubt about that, we have almost 2,000 years
of history to look back and say, yes, it changed. Where's the
priesthood at now? Where's their ceremony law at
now? Where's their temple? Where's their sacrifice? It's
ceased, hasn't it? It's all ceased together. And boy, when the Jews heard
this, they were repulsed by it. And another thing which repulsed
these Jews, not only when they heard and read that the priesthood
and the law was going to be changed, but when they heard who was replacing
them. Who's going to replace this priesthood
if it's changed? Jesus of Nazareth. Boy, can't
you see why that burnt them? Can any good thing come out of
Galilee? Even one who came to love Him
said that, didn't he? Jesus of Nazareth? We know His
dad. We know His family. His dad's
a carpenter. They're nobodies. He's got these twelve apostles,
and they're ignorant and unlearned men. They're fishermen and one
publican. And he's always surrounded by
common people. He don't even own a house. He's
never been educated. And he's going to replace this
man? This priesthood? This beautiful,
this eloquent, this arrogant priesthood? No way, they said. No way we're going to stand for
that. That's why when people begin to profess Christ, even
before he died, they put him out of the synagogue. And that's
why here in the 10th chapter of the book of Hebrews, you find
these Christians having their goods confiscated. And Paul's
saying, let us go out, outside the camp. Let us go outside the
camp, bearing his reproach. And you can understand what a
reproach it was. When you profess Jesus Christ
as your high priest and you were a Jew, And you went back into
Jerusalem around some of these elders and priests and the dirty
looks that they'd give you and spit in your direction? You one
of those believers of Jesus of Nazareth who they tuck out finally
and in his weakness and in shame and nakedness crucified him? It was a shame and a reproach.
And these Jews were repulsed just to think that Jesus Christ
was replacing this priesthood. And you know something? The Jesus
that this Bible reveals today, you know He's still a reproach.
You know the cross of Christ is still offensive to this sinful
world today. It just wasn't back then. We
go outside the religious camp of our day, don't we? Bearing
His reproach. And if you don't think that's
so, just start talking more freely to people about the person and
the glory and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and who He
did it for. The same way, isn't it? So boy, when He makes this
statement here, the priesthood being changed and the law of
necessity having to change, man alive, you can see what a reproach
this was. and how these Jews hated it. Let's go now to the need for
the change. What was the need? Why would it even change? Well,
God would have never changed it if there hadn't been a need
for it, would He? He'd have never taken it away.
And that's what we find here in our text in verse 11. If therefore
perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, What further need
was there that another priest should rise after the order of
Melchizedek and not be called after the order of Aaron? Why was he changed? Couldn't
perfect anybody. Couldn't save anybody. Couldn't
do anybody any good. The priesthood and the law He tells us here first of all
about the priesthood, that if perfection, if completeness was
by the Levitical priesthood, if they could have perfected
anybody or anything, the Lord would have never set it aside.
God would have never disallowed it. But look what's said of these
priests. Look down in verse 16. Look what's
said of the priesthood. Who is made? These priests, they're
made not after the law of a... Christ is made a priest, not
after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless
life. How were those priests made a priest? By carnal commandment,
a fleshly commandment. Everything they did under the
ceremonial law was always full of pomp, outward show. When God commanded Moses to set
Aaron aside for the priesthood, one of the first things he did,
he said, wash his flesh in water. Had to wash him in water. What
is water? It's just natural, isn't it?
And then he told him to make these beautiful clothes. Make
him some beautiful clothes. And they were beautiful. Now
they were beautiful. But you know something? They got dirty.
They got filthy and they wore out because they were just natural
clothes. And then he told him to take oil and anoint him. And
Moses did. He poured this sweet oil and
it ran on his head, down his beard, and all the way to the
skirts of his garment. But all of it was fleshly. All they did
was outward show. That's what the priesthood was
about. It was a show. Fleshly commandments. He smelt
good. He looked beautiful, but he was
carnal, fleshly. It was just a show. And look
in verse 23 about what's said of the priests. And they truly
were many priests. Why? Because they were not suffered
to continue by reason of death. What about these priests? Why
couldn't they perfect anybody? They were sinners themselves.
They died themselves. They all died. Why did they die? Laurie dealt with this son, didn't
he? Why does man die? Why did Aaron die? Sin. By one man's sin entered into
the world, death by sin, so death passed upon all of these priests. They were sinners. And I'll tell
you something else. They were in Adam, just like
we were. So why was the priesthood replaced? They died. It was outward show, pomp, carnal
commandments, water, wash them, oil to anoint them, beautiful
clothes to make them good looking, but they still died. And look
what he said in verse 27 and verse 28. He tells this also
about them. Who needeth not daily, crieth,
doth need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice
first for his own sins. Who offered up sacrifice for
their own sins? Aaron did. And look what he said
in verse 28, For the law maketh the men I preached which have
infirmities. They were sinful men who had
sinful infirmities. You remember when Aaron was a
priest and Moses was going up on the mountain and came back
down and lo and behold they were worshiping a calf? Who made that
calf? Aaron. Aaron made the calf. He was going to be the high priest.
And he lied like a dog when Moses caught him in it. Moses said,
Aaron, what did you do? And he said, I'm telling you,
brother, all I did was put a bunch of gold in a basket, shoved it
in the furnace, and I popped this calf. Yeah, right. You lying
dog. Why did he do that? He, just
like you and just like me, a man compassed with infirmities. And he could lie and he could
worship a false god. He could fall. He was a sinner. He was a sinner. And that's why
God replaced this priesthood. They couldn't bring anything
or anybody to perfection, not even themselves. And God said,
I'm going to set you aside. I'm going to send a real priest.
I'm going to send my son to be a priest. He's going to replace
you, fellas. And you know, I was thinking about this. If God set
this priesthood aside and disannulled this priesthood that He established
and He ordained, what does that say about Roman Catholicism priesthood? That God knows nothing about
ordaining. Never did put His approval on it. What does that
say about that priest? He is going to do more than setting
that thing aside. George Spurgeon told his congregation,
gave them a little challenge. He said, I want you to go out
and the next priest you see and you have an opportunity to talk
to him, ask him if he can dissolve you of sin. Ask Him to forgive your sins.
And if He says yes, ask Him on what authority He can do that.
And ask Him to give you chapter and verse. You go down here to
St. Anne's or in Muncie to whatever
their saint is, and go in the little booth and confess your
sins to a man who is an ungodly sinner, and how in the world
is he going to do you any good? If God set the Aaronic priesthood
aside, you can bet he's not going to have a thing to do with Catholic
priesthood. If Aaron was a sinner, how much
more so the Pope of Rome and all his virgin priests? So that's what he tells us about
the priesthood. If perfection was by the Levitical
priesthood, then God would have never replaced it. But look here
at the law, what he says about the law in verse 19. For the
law made nothing perfect. The law made nothing perfect.
The priesthood could not make anything perfect, and the law
could not make anything perfect. All their rites and rituals and
ceremonies, how could circumcision have anything to do with the
heart of a man? How could you circumcise a man
and do any good to his heart? How could you keep holy days
and Sabbath days, and how could this, observing these days, have
anything to do with the salvation of the soul? You couldn't, could
it? How could offer animal sacrifices
cleanse one sinful soul. All the barrels of blood of bulls
and goats never tuck away once in. The law made nothing perfect. Why? All it was was touch not,
taste not, handle not, blood, sacrifices, having sinful men
to offer sacrifices. It was just inadequate. Therefore God replaced it. And
he calls it here weak and unprofitable. Paul calls them in another place,
baggerly elements. Why do they talk about the law
this way in the New Testament? You didn't talk about the law
that way in the Old Testament. When Christ came, everything
changed. Then the priesthood ceased, the
ceremonies ceased, temple worship ceased, animal sacrifices ceased,
keeping holy days ceased, the priesthood and the ceremony alone
is no more. It's finished. All the profit
there are to us now is seeing Christ in them. And if we can't
see Christ in them, then they don't profit us at all. Now,
lastly is this. What was the difference in Christ's
priesthood? What was the difference in his
priesthood as opposed to the Levitical priest? Well, the main
difference was in him. It wasn't just the priesthood.
The difference was the priest. He had natural infirmities. Of
course he did. He could hunger. He could thirst.
He grew tired. He could be fearful. He could
cry. He could rest. For he was a real
man, but you know something? He had no sinful infirmities.
He had no sinful infirmities. There's never been a man since
the fall of Adam that worshipped and loved God with all his heart
and mind and soul and strength. From his mother's womb, he loved
God, his Father, with all his heart. I want to read again what
is said about him here in verse 26. Such a high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, separate
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. In verse 28,
For the law maketh be an high priest, which hath infirmities,
even sinful infirmities. But the word of the oath I ought
to preach forever, I swear to it, which was since the law make
of the Son who is perfected." He used this word all the time,
perfected, in this book several times. And right here is the
same word, consecrated, perfected. Jesus Christ is perfected forevermore. Here is the difference. It is
in their persons. Those priests were sinful. Jesus
Christ is holy. He is the Son of God. And you
know why this is so important, brothers and sisters, don't we?
What did the priest do? He represented the people before
God. He was the mediator between God
and man. He stood between the dead and
living. How would you like to think you had a mediator who
was sinful? That would be awful, wouldn't it? You want a mediator,
but he has to be holy. He has to be perfect. He has
to be righteous, even as righteous as God. And Jesus Christ was
that. He's the only man that ever worked
himself in the very presence of God. And he could do it because
of who he was. Jesus can stand before God in
His own marriage, in His own Word, because He's the Son of
God in our humanity. That's the difference. Secondly,
the sacrifice He offered was different. What did He offer? Himself. He didn't offer animal
sacrifices that can never take away sin, but He offered Himself.
He said here in verse 27, "...who needeth not daily, as those high
priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sin, and then
for the people's. For this He did once when He
offered up Himself." He gave Himself for our sins. And Leviticus chapter 22 verse
21 says this, Whosoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings
unto the Lord, to accomplish a vow or a freewill offering
in oxen or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish at
all therein." And that's Christ, isn't it? He offered himself
to God. And I want you to notice chapter
9 and verse 13. This is so important. Look in
verse 13 of chapter 9. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified
to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. And look what He said over in
the same chapter and look in verse 25. Now yet that he should
offer himself often as the high priest entered to the holy place
every year with the blood of others for this then must he
often have 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. When he offered himself to God
He was so full of merit and worth. The Bible says He was the just
for the unjust. I know and you know and we believe
with all of our hearts that Jesus Christ took our sins and He made
them His own. The Bible teaches us that. Psalm
69 teaches that very plainly. He suffered the effects of those
sins. He suffered the guilt of them. And all the consequences
of it, death, the wrath of God, the judgment, We know that and
we believe that. But when we look at Him in and
of Himself, He never ceased to be holy. He never ceased to be
without spot. He offered Himself to God just
for the unjust that He might bring us to God. And that's why
God accepted His sacrifice. It was a perfect sacrifice that
He offered to God without spot and without blemish. or anything,
the just or the unjust. And therefore, the Scripture
here I read to you says that He took away sin. He put away
sin. You can put whatever adjective
to that you want to. You can say He purged away sin.
He took away sin. But there's one thing about it.
He made a perfect atonement for sin. Before God, that's what
He did. I love what one dear old fellow
said, a preacher said. He said something to the effect
that when a believer considers his sin, even as we weep over
our sins and we grieve over them, and even as we confess them to
God, the only way that we have a right to look upon our sins
and think about them is 2,000 years ago. Outside the old walls
of the city of Jerusalem, our sins were satisfied for by the
dying of the Son of God. And I believe that. I believe
that. I feel my sins. You feel your
sins, the working of them. They burden you to death. But
still before God, you've got confidence to believe and live
in the faith of it too, that your sins have been satisfied
for. by the merits of the Son of God, who offered a perfect
sacrifice to God, and that sacrifice was accepted. So we have a perfect
man, we have a perfect sacrifice, and what did he do for those
he represented before God? What was the difference in those
that he represented as opposed to those the high priest represented? Well, let's look at it. The Bible
tells us here in the 10th chapter of Hebrews. Look what He did
for them. And you can go ahead and shout
when I read this if you want to. You can get all of this because
this is wonderful. Look in verse 9 of chapter 10.
Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, the first covenant, the priesthood and all the ceremony
law, that He may establish the second by the which will By His
will, being willing to give Himself, we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every
priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oft times the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sin. The priesthood or the
sacrifices can never perfect anything or anybody. 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 made his footstool, look, for by one offering he
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." He has perfected. Now you look up at me and you
say, Bruce, I sure don't feel perfected. I don't either. I almost struggle
daily with sin, don't you? I have to pray against it. It trips me up. I don't feel
perfected either. But this perfection is not in
the way we feel. This perfection is not found
in us. Our perfection is not what God
is doing in us. Our perfection is not by our
works, even our Christian works. Where is our perfection found?
How are we perfected? In this one sacrifice. God accepts us. We are complete. We are perfect. We are perfectly
forgiven, perfectly justified in this one sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the way we're perfected.
That's what He's did for us Himself. Now that's comforting, isn't
it? That's confident and that's what we have to live in the faith
of. That's the only thing that will satisfy our conscience,
especially when we see ourselves and feel the guilt of sin is
to look outside of ourselves to this one perfect sacrifice
that God accepts us in and that has made us perfect. We are perfect
in Christ. We are accepted in Christ. We
are complete in Christ. Note the Bible tells us that.
Menwanda sang the song sometime. When He sees me, He sees the
blood of the Lamb. He sees me as perfect and not
as I am. Then how can He do that? This
one sacrifice. He has perfected forever them
that He died for, those that He shed His blood for. What Christ did, fourthly, after
He had finished offering Himself, was different than those priests
did. He arose from the dead. When
He had finished His work of redemption, redeeming His people, purging
their sins, and they buried Him, He arose from the dead. When
those earthly priests finished their course, they offered their
life sacrifices, they died, and they're still dead. Their sepulcher
is with us until this day, but not this man, not this high priest. He arose from the dead. And look
how he says it in chapter 7 and verse 16, who is made not after
the law of a carnal commandment, fleshly commandment, but after
the power of an endless life. What in the world does that mean?
Well, one thing it certainly means is that He has the power
over death. He'll never die again. That's
what He said, but I've got the keys to death and hell. I'm alive
forevermore. But it means more than that.
It means He lives with power to accomplish all that He purposed
by His death. Contrary to what we've been told,
Jesus Christ had a purpose in His death. And what was that
purpose? To save His people. He shall
save His people from their sins. And He lives for that purpose. He has power to save His people
for whom He died. You've given Me power over all
flesh. Is that what He prayed to His Father? To do what? To save all that You've given
Me. To give eternal life to all that You've given Me. He's going
to call them. Will they come? If He has power. He's going to justify them. He's
going to put His law in their minds and in their spirit. What
He tells us here in chapter 8. He's going to save them. He's
going to justify them. He's going to give them life
eternal. He's going to keep them by His power. And someday He's
going to resurrect them by His power. That's what He says in verses
24. Look at this. But this man, because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he
ever liveth." To make intercession for him. That's why Paul said,
I want to know the power of this resurrected Christ. He has power. He's working. Look what he's
did to you. Look what he did to you, Wayne, when you just
knocked dark mess out. up in Alaska and out west. Gave
you light, didn't it? The power of the gospel when
it's yielded in the hands of the Son of God. Let me read this passage to you.
Turn over there if you want to in Isaiah 53. Here you see the purpose in His death
and He lives now. Paul said, if when we were enemies,
We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. How are we saved by His life?
Because He lives to accomplish what He purposed in His death.
And this is why He says it here in verse 10 of chapter 53. It
pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief, when
Thou shalt make His soul an orphan for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. That's what he's living doing
right now. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall
be satisfied, and by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many. He's going to. For he shall bear
their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he has poured out his soul unto death. He was numbered
with the transgressors, and borne the sins of many, and made intercessions
for the transgressors." And that is what he is doing right now.
That is what he is doing right now. And Paul goes ahead and
tells us in chapter 10, Because we have such a high priest over
the house of God, let us come boldly. Let us come boldly. Don't be timid. We can approach
through the blood of this risen, living Savior. He gives us access
that's complete, that's total, that's free unto the presence
of the Father. There's nothing that keeps us
from prayer with our Father except our unbelief. except the hardness
of our heart. That's all the thing keeps us
from because the way has been made. It's plain. It's perfect. It's the Son of God who's living
right now to make us acceptable to His Father. So Christ's priesthood
is perfect because He's perfect. And because He's perfect, His
sacrifice is perfect. And because His sacrifice is
perfect, those are perfected for whom He dies. And He made
a perfect way for them to come to God in prayer. And He's made
a perfect way to heaven at last. A way that is just in the eyes
of God and a way that's safe for you and me. Our High Priest. Four Jews, four Jews, most of
them died, cleave into this priesthood that's gone They miss the real
priest. Poor things. And they're still
living to this very day regretting it. Because they perished. You miss Christ, you'll miss
salvation once. If you miss salvation, you'll
miss heaven. You sure will.