I just have one verse I want
to read to you in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 14. Hebrews chapter 4 and let's look
at verse 14. If you have a Pew Bible, it's
on page 1305. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, Let us hold fast our profession, seeing then that we have a great
high priest." We have a great high priest. That's my subject
this morning. We have a great high priest. This is the epistle. Some say
of Paul, Paul may have well wrote this epistle. I attribute it
to him out of habit. But he's writing here to the
believing Jews. The ceremonial law had been very
important to the Jewish nation, important to say the least. It
was critical to this Jewish nation. They brought their sacrifices.
They brought their offerings to the temple. They observed
all of these feast days. They had a priest there at the
temple to represent them, to offer their sacrifices to God.
And you know, if they didn't have a priest, They couldn't
maintain a right relationship with God. When they had sinned,
they were to bring a sacrifice to the priest. He offered their
sacrifice to the Lord, and the Lord forgave them. The priest
represented them before God by sacrifice. Under the Jewish economy,
the priesthood was essential to the Jewish nation. Now, everything
was changing. Boy, this is the time of the
New Testament where everything was changing. The Lord Jesus
had come. He had died. He had rose again.
And now the Jews were being told that this ceremonial law and
the priesthood and the sacrifices and the feast days were all just
shadows. They were types. They were examples
of Him that was to come. They were pictures of Jesus Christ. And Christ was the true substance. And that their law only represented
something to them. It was just a shadow of something
that good was coming. And that was the Messiah, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And boy, these Jews were having
a difficult time grasping all of this. A difficult time grasping
all of this. And here's the dilemma that many
of them found themselves in. When they confessed that Jesus
was the Christ, the Son of the living God, they were being put
out of this synagogue. And that was very hurtful and
very fearful for these Jews who yet didn't completely understand
that God was setting aside all of that ceremonial law with His
priesthood. Let me give you two or three examples of this. You
remember in John chapter 9 when the Lord Jesus had healed that
man. He was born blind and he had
healed him, gave him his sight back. And they took him up before
the Pharisees, probably the Sanhedrin. And they asked him, who healed
you? And he said, I don't know who
he was. I don't know who he was. They said he must have been a
sinner because he did this on the Sabbath day. He said whether
he was a sinner or not, I don't know. All I know is he opened
my eyes. And they said, well, call his
parents in here and let us talk to him. They called the parents
in there and they were scared absolutely to death. And they
said, is this your son? They said, yeah, that's him.
And they said, how did he receive his sight? Well, they knew, but
the Scripture says they feared to tell him. They said, He is
of age, ask Him. And the reason they said this,
because they had already agreed together, if anyone confessed
that he was the Christ, he would be put out of the temple, out
of the synagogue. But if you were put out of the
temple, if you were put out of the Jewish synagogues, you were
excommunicated, you were in trouble. In the Old Testament, the greatest
fear that anybody had was being cut off from Israel, cut off
from the Lord's people, cut off from the high priest and the
sacrifices. If you were here this morning
and you had a deep conviction in your heart that salvation
was in this local church, I tell you one thing you'd fear is me
excommunicating you. They're going to get together
and they're going to kick me out. And what does that mean? I'm going
to be damned because salvation is in that church. That's what
these people were feeling. When they confessed that Jesus
Christ was the Son of God, they said, we'll put you out of the
synagogue. Let me give you another example. This got worse. You
remember Acts chapter 4 when Peter and John was preaching
there in the temple. And the soldiers came upon them,
the captains of the temple, and they put them in jail, and the
next morning they brought them before the Sanhedrin. And there
were several groups that were against them. Listen to this.
The elders, the rulers, the scribes, and there was three influential
men, Caiaphas, Alexander, and John, that pulled a lot of weight.
And they were there against those two apostles, and somebody else
was there. And he was going to get his say,
and he was going to threaten them. And you know who that was?
Annas, the high priest. And boy, that man pulled some
weight. And when he said, don't you speak in his name anymore.
If you do, you know what's coming. If I don't represent you fellas,
what are you going to do then? If you're not allowed back in
this temple, what are you going to do then? And they threatened
them with a whipping and excommunication. This is what this book of Hebrews
is about. It's a letter to the Jews. How
were they to cope with this? How were they to feel about this?
And that's what this epistle is about. The Hebrew writer is
telling them this. Yes, you've lost your Levitical
priesthood. You've lost your sacrifices.
You've lost your temple. These things have decayed and
waxed old. Can you imagine that? Can you
imagine being a Jew and being told that all these things you've
practiced from your youth up is now waxing old and ready to
vanish away? And now we've got to give it
all up? But he's saying, what you have
now far exceeds and is so much better. than anything you had
under that old economy. It wasn't that they didn't have
a high priest. It wasn't that they didn't have
a sacrifice and altar and temple. They had all of this and they
had more. But all of this was to be found
in this one glorious person, the Son of God, Jesus Christ
the Lord. There was a time when the Levitical
priesthood and all that pertained to it was so important. It was
so critical. But now Jesus Christ had fulfilled
all of that law, and now He had replaced it. And now He's all
they needed. Isn't that wonderful? But boy,
they were confused about all this. And the writer of Hebrews
is basically telling them, lay aside the preaching. Lay aside
this picture. Lay aside the picture. Lay aside
the photograph and embrace the person. Turn from these shadows
and the practice of it to Him who is the substance, the fulfillment
of all these things. Don't be concerned that you're
being forced to leave Jerusalem. Don't be concerned that you're
being excommunicated from the temple. You have much more than
all of those things can offer you. We have a high priest. And he ends this epistle like
this, Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp. Let us leave Jerusalem. Let us
leave the temple. Let us leave that priesthood
up there and go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His
reproach. For here we have no continuing
city, but we seek one to come. And listen to this, listen to
this, no matter where they traveled, no matter where they were driven
and where they worked at and lived at, by Him let us offer
the sacrifice of praise continually. We have a high priest. They had
a high priest. He went with them. They didn't
have to go meet Him. He was in them. And He was on
His throne up there in heaven. And by Him they could offer the
sacrifice of praise continually. What they had given up was nothing
in the light of what they had gained. What they had lost was
counted as done compared to what they had found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Have you ever gave up anything
for Christ's sake? Have you ever lost anything for
His sake that He didn't exceedingly and abundantly make what you
had better? If He just strips away everything
but Himself, isn't that wonderful? He's all we need anyway. He's
all we want. Lord, just give me Yourself.
Just give me Yourself. Once Saul of Tarshish saw the
saving merit and the worth and the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
he said this Jewish law and the priesthood and the feast days
were nothing but weak and beggarly elements that disburdened his
poor soul. That's what this book of Hebrews
is about. I want you to see four things
right quickly. Four things. I'm going to try not to hurry.
You'll probably wish I hadn't hurried when you find out what
we're eating for lunch. You'll be saying, Bruce, take
your time. Please take your time. We're having lasagna with mashed
potatoes and gravy on top. So you'll probably say, Bruce,
take your time, won't you? Take your time. Let me show you
four things quickly, he says here, that we have in this text.
We have in that high priest, we have in that high priest.
And first of all, let's see this about this high priest. How far
his character exceeds the character of all the other priests. Look
at his character. Look here in chapter 5 and verse
1. Look at this. This is the difference
between our high priest, their high priest, and those high priests
that minister there in that physical temple. Look in chapter 5 and
look in verse 1. For every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men in thanks pertaining to God,
that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. who can have compassion
on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way, for that
he himself also is compassed with infirmities." Now look in
verse 3, "...and by reason thereof he ought as for the people, so
also for himself to offer for sins." Now that's the character
of their priest, their high priest. They were sinners. On the Day
of Atonement, before Aaron went in and offered a sacrifice for
the children of Israel, you know what he had to do? Offer a sacrifice
for his own sins. That was the distinction between
the high priest that served under Aaron and our great high priest. They were sinners. I think it's
very telling that Aaron, the first great high priest, didn't
get to go into the land of Canaan because he sinned against God.
Isn't that very telling? And sometimes, even the best
of these priests were some rough fellows because they were sinners. And that's why they had to offer
for their own sin and then for the sins of others. But look
at the character here in chapter 7 and verse 26 of our high priest. Look in verse 26. For such an
High Priest became us who is holy. He is harmless, innocent,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. He had no sin. He was separate
from sinners. You can't relate to that. I mean,
you sat there and I almost see your eyes just glaze over. When
I mention somebody that's born holy and lives holy, we can't
even relate to that, can we? But that's our great high priest.
He was born of a fallen woman. And when I say a fallen woman,
I don't mean she was a fornicator. I don't mean she lived in adultery.
You don't have to be an open and profane person to be a sinner.
We're born in sin. And Mary was born in sin, and
Jesus was conceived in her womb, but He had no sin. Isn't that
a miracle? He was born of a fallen woman,
but He was not born fallen Himself. Holy. That holy thing. And when
he lived, he was tempted. The Bible says here in chapter
4, of all points, he was tempted in every point, like as you are.
You ever have the devil to tempt you? He suffered that for 40
days, didn't he? And never ate. You ever had a
man to tempt you? They tempted him. Have you ever
been in circumstances where you were tempted to do wrong? He
was in dreadful circumstances, but yet without sin. He had no sin. What a character
this man had. And he says here in chapter 9,
look in chapter 9. And look in verse 14. I mean,
from the time he was born, living in this world of sorrow and woe,
and now here he hangs on the cross. And look at this verse
14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead work to serve the living God?" When He hung upon the cross
of Calvary, He was a perfect sacrifice, never had any sin
of His own. The only sin He had on Him that
day was the sins of His people and those He put away. Remember
the sacrifice that was offered. It had to be without spot and
blemish. And here the great high priest, he had no sin. In the 10th chapter of this book,
the Lord Jesus said this to His Father, Lo, I come. In the volume
of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will,
O My God. And listen, Thy law is within
My power. God has put His law in your heart.
But at conversion, it was barned in the heart of Jesus Christ
when He was conceived in His mother's womb. That's the first
thing, His character. They were sinners. He wasn't.
Look in chapter 7 now and look in verse 11. Here's something
else. Chapter 7 and verse 11. He was the only one in the whole
tribe. The lady's got to go get some chicken. They're waiting
on them to pick up the chicken. So excuse them for just a minute.
The second thing about him that was so unique, he was the only
high priest in his whole tribe. Look here in chapter 7 and look
in verse 11. If therefore perfection 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 unto another tribe, of which
no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that
our Lord sprang out of Judah, the tribe of Judah." And look
at this, "...of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the
priesthood." You know the tribe that they took all of the priests
out of. It was the tribe of Levi, wasn't it? They took a lot of priests out
of that tribe. The other ten tribes had no priests taken out
of them. And the tribe of Judah had only one man taken out of
it, and that was Jesus Christ. The first one and the last one. The only one taken out of the
tribe. But He's unique, isn't He? He's different than these
other priests. And here in chapter 7 and verse
20, Here's something else. He was the only man that was
ever made a priest by the oath of God. Look in verse 20. 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. All these other priests,
they had to be born in the family of Aaron. And when they got a
certain age, they automatically went into the priesthood. They
served a few years and they died. None of them were ever made priests
by no. God never did say to Aaron, Aaron,
I swear you're a priest forever. He said that to only one person,
didn't he? My son, I swear that you're a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. If God had said that to Aaron,
Aaron would still be a priest, wouldn't he? But he had to give
that office up. And this brings us to this. Look
in verse 23. Here's something else about our
priest. A couple of more things. Look in verse 23. Here's something
that distinguishes our priest from those priests under the
ironical priesthood. Verse 23 of chapter 7, And they
truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue
by reason of death. All these high priests, they
executed their office, they were there for a few years, they served
in that office, they died, they buried them, they rotted away,
and all of them were forgotten. But not so with Jesus Christ.
Look in verse 24. But this man, because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able to save
them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercessions for them. Oh, he died. But he
didn't die for the same cause they died. They died because
of sin. He died for sin. And he didn't
stay dead, did he? Three days he arose from the
dead and he said, I am he that was dead and now I'm alive forevermore
and have the keys of death and hell. That's the kind of priest,
brothers and sisters, that we have. Think of this. Think of this. Here's something
else that distinguishes him from all other priests. This is the
way that he's superior to them by what he accomplished. in His
sacrifice. Look in chapter 10 in verses
1 through verse 4. Boy, He accomplished something
that they never could accomplish. Look what He said in verse 1.
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not
the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the comers there
unto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? Sure they would have. Because
that the worshipers once purged should have had no more consciousness
of sin. But in those sacrifices there
is remembrance made again of sins every year. For it is not
possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin."
Can you imagine how many millions of gallons of blood was shed? from the time they began to offer
sacrifices. Remember one day we looked at
the dedication of Solomon's temple and how many animals they sacrificed. There were fields full of them.
It's unbelievable. And all the millions of gallons
of blood they poured on their altars never atoned for one single
sin. It's impossible. God never would
accept it. He just put it off and put it
off and put it off. And every year they came back
and he put it off. But look in verse 12. 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 has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. You know what He did when He
took our sins to Himself and died with them on Him and in
Him? You know what He did? He put them away. He put them
away. He said in chapter 9 in verse
26, once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put sin away
by the sacrifice of Himself. His blood is not the blood of
bulls and goats. It's not the blood of a mere
man, is it? He began this epistle like this,
when He had by Himself purged our sins. Purged them. He put him away. He atoned for
him. That's the superiority of our high priest. Secondly, let's
look at what else he said in our text. In verse 14 of chapter
4, seeing then that we have a great high priest, secondly, that is
passed into the heavens. That's the second thing about
him. He's not on earth now. He is passed into the heavens. There's four times The Holy Spirit
used this word veil in the book of Hebrews. He used it four times.
And one of the times He used it especially, it's wonderful.
In the ninth chapter, He was talking about these two veils.
Before you got into the holy place, you had to raise this
veil back and go in. Even the common priests were
allowed in there. You could go in there and replace
the the bread on the show table, put oil in the lamp. But then the second veil, when
you opened that up, that was the holiest of all. And nobody
went in there but the high priest. Nobody was allowed in there. And chapter 9 tells us that as
long as this second veil was standing, He said it was a clear
indication that the way unto God's presence was not made manifest. Every time the high priest went
and pulled that second veil back and it was standing, what he
was saying, we don't know the way yet. The way ain't made manifest
yet, not fully, not entirely. And then the third time that
this word is used in chapter 10, verse 19, and listen to this.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter the holiest by the blood
of Jesus, by a new and living way which He hath newly made,
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say His flesh."
Paul said the flesh of Christ is the veil. And when His flesh
was rimmed upon the cross of Calvary, when His blood was poured
out, The way was made. The way was
made into God's holy presence for poor sinners like you and
I. That's why He said, I am the
way. How can we get into God's presence and to be forgiven and
for Him to show us mercy and receive us and fellowship with
Him through this rent veil, His flesh? That's the way. And fourthly, in the sixth chapter,
he tells us this, that Jesus Christ, well, look what he says. Turn over there to chapter six
and let me read it for you. Look in chapter six. And look
in verse 18. This is a wonderful thing. This
is a peculiar veil here. Look what he says in verse 18,
that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for
God to lie, We might have a strong consolation who have fled for
refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us, which hope we
have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and
which entereth unto that within the veil where the forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus made a priest for ever after
the order of Melchizedek." And what the Apostle Paul is saying
here, here is another veil. This is the sky and the starry
heavens that's between us and the very presence of God and
the throne of God. And what he's saying that Jesus
Christ has rent this veil. He has gone from earth and he
has ascended all the way through the starry heavens, through outer
space, and he's entered into the very throne room of God.
What's he done? He's gone into heaven. Somebody asked me the other day,
he said, how did he do that? Because he said, we don't have
any kind of spaceships or anything to even go there. And when we
do, it takes forever so long to get up into outer space. And
we still haven't reached the end of it, have we? But he went
up into heaven. and sat down at the right hand
of God. And this book says this, He's not entered the holy place
made with hands, which are a figure of the true, but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Where's our high priest at? He's
not in some temple over in Jerusalem, is he? He's in God's presence. And boy, when these Hebrews saw
this, man alive, they said, I don't need that priest up there. I
don't need to pack my sacrifices and go up there to him. I have
a sacrifice. I have a temple. I have a priest. And where is he? He's on the
right hand of God in the heavens. Back in our text again, Third
thing is this, he said in verse 14, seeing then that we have
such a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, and
here it is, Jesus the Son of God. That's it, isn't it? That's it. This is why he had
a character superior to all others. This is why everything he did
was effectual. This is why He was holy and harmless
and undefiled and separate from sinners. No wonder His blood
atoned for sin. No wonder His death put our iniquities
away. No wonder His sacrifice purged
our sins, never to be remembered against us. Why? He's the Son
of God. He's the Son of God. What assurance
this affords our poor hearts. If the Son of God loved me and
gave Himself for me, I will be saved. I must be saved. I shall be saved. If Jesus the
Son of God took my sins and made them His own and nailed them
to His cross, I most assuredly will bear them no more. And that
brings the praise of the Lord out of my heart. What the Hebrew writer is telling
them about Jesus is this. In chapter 1, He's better than
the angels. In chapter 2, He's better than
Moses. In chapter 3, He's better than Joshua. And in chapter 4,
He's better than Aaron. And in chapter 5 and chapter
6 and chapter 7, He's better than all the Levitical priesthood
put together. And then he goes on in chapter
8 and chapter 9 and he says he far exceeds the shadows and the
types of the ceremonial law. And in chapter 10 he says his
sacrifice is far better than animal sacrifices because he
put sin away. And how did he accomplish all
this? It's because of the virtue of his glorious person. He is
Jesus, the Son of God. That's our high priest. That's
wonderful, isn't it? That old eunuch wanted Philip
to baptize him and he said, what? What must I do to be baptized?
He said, if you believe with all your heart. And you know
what he said? I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Do you believe that? Do you believe
you have a high priest on God's right hand? Is Jesus the Son
of God? Don't that afford you so much
comfort? No matter where you go, what circumstances you find
yourself in, I have a great high priest. He's done put my sins
away. He's purged them. I'll bear them
no more. When I'm so weak and helpless, I can go to Him. There's
a throne of grace. He can be touched with the fillings
of my infirmities. I have a great high priest. And the last point is this. Let
us hold fast in the light of all this. Let us hold fast. Hold
fast what? Our profession. What do we profess? Well, I hope we profess everything
we've been talking about concerning Jesus Christ. I hope we confess
that and profess that before this world and before God. Things
that I've just brought out about Him, is that not your profession
about Him? Then hold that fast. Don't let it slip. If you let
that slip, your own heart will be grieved and you'll grieve
the heart of God. Hold fast the profession of who
Jesus Christ is What He's done, where He is, what He's doing
there, whole fast, whole fast. We profess this. There's no other
way of redemption. There's no other way of salvation.
There's no other way of reconciliation in life eternal. There's no other
way to approach unto God and be accepted of Him. How shall
we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? We can't, can we?
Because there is no other way. But this way, that's what we
profess. The world gets so upset with us. They said, that's old. It's ancient. You guys shouldn't
be so narrow-minded now, and dogmatic. But this is our profession. There's never been but one way.
And that's through Jesus the Son of God. And that's the only
way now. And there'll never be another
name under heaven whereby we must be saved. That's our profession. And I don't care how many isms
they come up with and how many gods and how many ways, we're
going to deny them all, aren't we? This is our profession. There
is no other way. We profess this. We're poor,
we're weak, we're straying sinners in a sin-cursed world. That's what these priests of
old, what they ministered to these poor people. That was one
of the qualifications, if you were going to be an eye preacher,
you had to have compassion on the ignorant and on those who
are out of the way. Ain't that the way you feel about
yourself? You're ignorant and you're out of the way. You're
just a poor, straying sinner. But we profess something else.
There's a throne of grace that we have to go to. And we can
go to that throne of grace 24-7, and we can obtain mercy and find
grace to help us in the hour of need. We're holding fast. And we're not holding this grip
by human power. We're holding it by the sovereign
power of God in us. That's our will. And lastly,
we profess this, the return of our great high priest. We profess
we're looking for it, and we're longing for His coming. We're
loving His appearing. And soon He's going to come and
not tarry. That's what we profess, isn't
it? And when we see Him, we're going to be like Him. But we
shall see Him as He is. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful. that promised. God bless this word. Let's pray.