Let's turn tonight in our Bibles
again to 1 Timothy chapter 2. And our text is verse 5, 1 Timothy
chapter 2, verse 5. For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. We began with this verse last
Wednesday, which declares that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
one and only mediator between God and men. We know that he
is one, one person, who is both God and man. And being the one
mediator, we talk about the fact that he has three offices. Some
speak of this a little bit different. They speak about him being the
mediator, that that's his office, and then there are three branches
of that one office. We know the offices or the branches. He is prophet, he's priest, and
he's king. God, God Almighty, is the holy
Lord God and man, is a fallen, sinful creature, and he must,
he must have one to mediate between him and God. Man, because of his sinful nature,
and God because of his absolute holiness, there must be one,
a go-between, a mediator. He must have one to mediate between
God and men. And we saw last time that one
of Christ's offices is that he's a prophet. He's a prophet. And we looked at that verse in
Deuteronomy chapter 18, where Moses, inspired by God the Holy
Spirit, promised that there would be that prophet, that prophet,
not just any prophet, but that prophet. that the Lord would
raise up from among the children of Israel, and men must hear
him. Men must hear that prophet, or
God will require it of those who do not. And we saw that all
of God's prophets before, all of God's prophets before him
spoke for God, he spoke as God. Now, a prophet we know is one,
and we saw how it's defined to us in Exodus when God called
Moses. Moses hesitated because he said
he couldn't talk well enough to go and deliver the children
of Israel out of Egypt, couldn't speak to Pharaoh. And God gave
him Aaron, his brother, to be his prophet. And God told Moses,
you will be like God. You will speak. to Aaron, and
he will speak your words." And so a prophet we saw is one who
is authorized, authorized to speak for another. The Lord Jesus
Christ is that prophet who is authorized to speak for God. Now, tonight we're going to think
about his office as a priest. When I think about him being
prophet and priest, I think about him in different directions. That is, as a prophet, he comes
to us from God, giving us the message of God. But as priest,
he goes from us to God. He has to be authorized to be
not only the prophet to speak for God, but he must be the priest
who is authorized to mediate for us with God. In Hebrews, the apostle declared
that the work of a high priest was to do two things, to offer
gifts and sacrifices for sins and to make intercession. He
had reference, of course, when he wrote that, the apostle, the
writer of Hebrews, when he said that, that the high priest was
to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins He had reference to
the high priest under the mosaic dispensation. In other words,
as the law of Moses was given on Mount Sinai, the tabernacle
and all of the ceremonies and the ceremonial part of the law
was ordained of God. And in that verse, the high priest
was said to be one who would offer gifts and sacrifices for
sins. Now tonight, if you will, I want
to draw five contrasts. I think all of us here tonight
are familiar enough with the Old Testament law that dealt
with the priest of Israel. the tabernacle, the sacrifices,
and all that pictured the Lord Jesus Christ. That was all a
type, wasn't it, of Christ. But I want us to draw, or I'm
going to draw, five contrasts between those priests, those
high priests, under the law, and our great high priest. Now,
no one is ever called great high priest, except the Lord Jesus
Christ. There were many high priests,
but there was only one. There's only one great high priest. And I'm so thankful tonight to
know that he is my priest. Aren't you? He's my priest. He's your priest. if you believe
in him as your Lord and Savior. And I would remind us again,
as I did last week, as we look at these offices, let's remember
that Christ became these, entered into these offices all for my
salvation, for your salvation. He did all of this to save us,
to redeem us. He could have just let us go,
couldn't he? He could have, but no. He came
into this world as the one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, fully man, and at the same time, fully God.
You know, when we think about His person, He's one person.
You are one person. And I could pick anyone out here
and call you by name and say, you are one person. Now, you
have two natures. You have a soul and you have
a body. Now, if you fell and broke your
leg, you wouldn't break your soul's leg, would you? It would
be your body's leg. But if I told someone, Lane fell
and broke his leg. You see what he did? In his physical
body, he's one person. And the Lord Jesus Christ, yes,
he has two natures, but he's one person. Christ died for our
sins. That's what the scripture says,
isn't it? We know that the person, Christ, died. God cannot die,
but man cannot satisfy. How many times have I said that
over the years? It's still true. It will always
be true. But he, the person, Jesus Christ
our Lord, he died. Now, I want to bring out five
contrasts between the high priest under the law of Moses and our
great high priest. Number one, the high priest under
the law were made high priest by carnal commandment. I want you to turn with me to
Hebrews. Most of these scriptures we'll find in the letter of Hebrews. And really, when you study through
Hebrews, you find that the most of the letter is dealing with
the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here in Hebrews chapter
seven and verses 15 and 16, we read, who is made, That is Christ who is made not
after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless
life, for he testified thou art a priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. Now, this tells us that Melchizedek,
who was a type of Christ, he was not made a high priest by
a carnal commandment. the other high priest they all
were. The carnal commandment refers
to the law, the mosaic law that was given to Moses. It was by
that law that men were made to be the high priest of Israel. First of all, God chose Aaron,
Moses' brother, to be the first high priest, and then it fell
upon his descendants, the firstborn son. It should have passed from
Aaron to his firstborn to that man's firstborn and so forth
and so on. They were all made priests by
carnal commandment. They all had to be of the tribe
of Levi. They all had to be descendants
of Aaron. The Lord Jesus Christ was not
made a high priest by carnal commandment. We know that he
was not of the tribe of Levi. That was the priestly tribe.
The Lord Jesus Christ was of the tribe of Judah, the kingly
tribe, the kingly tribe. So he was not made a high priest
by carnal commandment, but this verse tells us, after the power
of an endless life. In other words, a life that never
ends. Melchizedek is a type, was a
type, or is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, he appeared
to Abraham after Abraham had gone and rescued Lot and defeated
those, I think it was five nations and their kings. And he came
back and Melchizedek met him and Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. And incidentally, after the gospels,
Think about this, after Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the only
time you find the word tithe again is in the letter of Hebrews. And it's not teaching men to
tithe, but it is showing how that Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek. How? In his grandfather. Levi was in the loins of his
grandfather, Abraham. Abraham paid tithes. Believers
are not under that law of tithing. Believers are free to give. The two chapters, if I were going
to preach on giving tonight, I would go to 2 Corinthians 8
and 9, and I would bring out how that God loves a cheerful
giver. A tithe really was a tax. Nobody
likes to pay taxes, do they? Nobody. I hear people all the
time complaining about having to pay taxes. That's what a tithe
was. It was a tax to support the tabernacle
and the priest. We give out of love. We give
offerings. And you know, I was brought up.
under that teaching that we were supposed to tithe. And it's hard
to get away from that. It's hard to get away from believing,
well, I must give 10%. You know, that's what the law
said. Well, that wasn't true to begin with. If you study the
law of tithing, you see that it called for more than 10%. Someone told me one time, who
was a member of our church. He's since gone to be with the
Lord, very fine brother. But he told me, he said, well,
I just believe that's a good place to start, 10%. And I said, well, I can't say
that from the pulpit. I can't say that from the pulpit.
Why? Because someone will take that as a law. We're not under the law. We've
been delivered from that Old Testament law. Under grace, give
as the Lord has prospered you. That's what the Apostle Paul
taught. And give cheerfully. Ah, I gotta give again this month.
And don't let me ever hear, and I never have thanked the Lord.
But don't let me ever hear anyone in this congregation say, well,
you've got to pay the preacher. That's an old saying that should
have been buried 100 years ago. You've got to pay the preacher. If you don't pay the preacher,
bad things are going to happen to you. That's not Christianity. That's legalism, isn't it? Sure
it is. Now, Christ was not made a high
priest a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless
life. And as I started saying, Melchizedek
was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in these two ways,
at least, I believe he was a type probably more so in these two
ways. But first of all, the fact that
we have no genealogy for Melchizedek. He just appears and then he disappears
from off the scene. We don't know anything about
his genealogy. And no doubt that is typical
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both the Alpha and Omega,
the first and the last picture of our Lord. We know his physical
genealogy, but as God, he is eternal. And another way that
Melchizedek was a type of Christ, he was a king also. He's not
only a priest, but he was a king as well. And the Lord willing,
we'll look at the Lord Jesus Christ in that office next time. He was a king, and he was king
of Salem, which means peace, doesn't it? Peace. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God. So here's
a second contrast. The high priest under the law
were temporary. You still have your Bibles open
there to Hebrews chapter 7, look in verses 23 and 24. And they truly were mini-priests.
Mini-priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason
of death. But this man, because he continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood." What a contrast there. There
was a long list. I've seen the list of the high
priest. I can't remember now how many
there were between Aaron and Ananias, or the destruction of
Jerusalem in A.D. 70. But death overtook every
one of them. They served as a high priest
for a while, but then they died like all men do, and someone
took their place. What a contrast here. Our great
high priest, he ever lives. He ever lives. If you look in
verse 25, this is one reason that he is able to save. Wherefore? He is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for us. A third contrast, the high priest
under the law, they offered gifts and sacrifices for sins. If you
notice in chapter five, Hebrews five verses one, verse one rather,
For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men
in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifices for sins. The high priest under the law
offered gifts and sacrifices for sins. The gifts and sacrifices
which they offered, we know, was the blood of animals. Sometimes
it was the blood of a lamb, sometimes it was the blood of a goat, sometimes
the blood of a bullet. But no matter which animal, the
blood of those animals, those high priests offered sacrifices
that could never take away sin. Never, never took away one sin,
the sacrifices which they offered. We find this in Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 4,
it says, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats
should take away sins. They, they offered sacrifices
for sins, but, but their sacrifices were only typical. They just
pictured his one sacrifice. Look, look down there in chapter
10 to verse 12, but this man, How great is this man? Think
about it. How great is this man who can
by one sacrifice, by one sacrifice, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
or right hand of God. One thing that the writers always
point out when you read through this chapter is the tabernacle
with all of its furniture, it never had a chair. There never
was a chair there. Why? Because their work was never
finished. It was never complete. They'd
be back again the next day if they were a regular priest of
the next year, if it was a day of atonement. They couldn't sit
down, but the Lord Jesus Christ, by His one sacrifice, He has
sat down on the right hand of God, showing to you and I and
testifying to all the world that when He cried from the cross,
it is finished. It is finished. It is finished. Look down at verse 14. For by
one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Those who are set apart by God
the Father in eternal election, those who are set apart by God
the Son in redemption, and those who are set apart, sanctified
by God the Holy Spirit in the new birth. He's perfected forever. Here's the fourth thing. The
high priest under the law entered the most holy place. They did. Remember how that tabernacle
was constructed? There was a holy place, and then
there was a veil, and then there was the most holy place. And
the high priest went in there one day every year, went in twice
on that day, on the great day of atonement. He went in there
first. He had some blood of a bullock. And what was he going to do?
What did that blood do? Actually, that blood upon the
altar had made an atonement for his sins, Aaron's sins, the high
priest's sins, because he was a man just like all of us. Then he would go into the holy,
and he'd sprinkle some blood before the mercy seat and on
the mercy seat, come back out. He had entered a second time
with the blood of that goat, and do the same thing with that
blood. He entered into the most holy
place. But you know, when he came back
out, that veil, I guess he pulled that veil up and it went underneath,
it went in there somehow, and when he came out, that veil came
back. It never did open up, did it?
Every year, the high priest went in there, did what he was required
by law to do, came out, the veil stood. When the Lord Jesus Christ
died upon the cross, you remember what took place? That veil was
rent from the top to the bottom. You see that most holy place
the high priest went into. Our high priest went in there
and he has opened the way. Now, the writer of Hebrews tells
us that those were patterns of the things in the heavens, the
tabernacle. They're just patterns, that's
all they were. But Christ has entered into the most holy place
in the presence of God for us, and he's opened the way. The
veil is rent, and now you and I, we have the privilege to come
in and to fellowship in prayer and worship with God. Look down to verse 18, no, chapter
10, Hebrews 10. Now, where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say his flesh, and having an high priest over
the house of God, let's not stand outside. Let's don't stand outside,
no, let us draw near. Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith that
the sin debt has been paid, that the atonement has been offered
and accepted. Let us draw near with a true
heart and full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and and our bodies washed with pure water. There's the fifth thing. The
high priest under the law interceded typically with incense. I was
reading again before I came over this afternoon, Leviticus chapter
16, and I've always wondered how that high priest could handle
that. He took some live coals off the altar. He'd have that
in a censer. he'd have incense and somehow
he had to get under that curtain, right? And put that incense on
the coals so that the smoke would overshadow and cover the mercy
seat. That's what he had to do. It's
very, very well laid out there in Leviticus chapter 16 if you
want to read it. That incense was typical also. What was it a type of? Of our
Lord's intercession. Of our Lord's intercession. He
intercedes for us. I don't know if we really understand
this or appreciate it. I'm sure we don't appreciate
it as much as we should, but he is always there interceding
for us. Always. There's never an hour,
there's never a minute, there's never a day when he's not there
interceding for us, for you and me. That we might come to God,
that our prayers might come to God, that our praises might come
to God. He's always there interceding
for us. The sacrifice and intercession
of our great high priest, They're necessary, both. We could not
be saved without a sacrifice that propitiated God, and we
cannot be saved without His intercession, His continual intercession. His sacrifice was offered once
and forever at the cross. His intercession is ongoing.
As long as we are in this world, He's interceding for us. I want
you to turn to one last place. I want you to go to Romans chapter
5. Romans chapter 5, this is such
a beautiful passage, these few scriptures here, verses 8 through
10. But God commendeth his love toward
us, Romans 5 in verse 8, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. Isn't that amazing? Christ, God's
son, died for us. Amen. Much more then, and notice what
he's accomplished by his sacrifice. Much more than being justified
by His blood. We've been justified. What does
that mean? We've been declared before God
Almighty not guilty. Declared as if, just as if, justified,
just as if we had never sinned legally before God. We are justified
by His blood. Notice this third thing, we are
saved from the wrath of God through his sacrifice. So Christ died
for us much more than being now justified by his blood. We shall
be saved from wrath through him. It doesn't say we may be saved.
Perhaps we will be saved. Oh no. We shall be saved from
wrath through him. God is going to pour His wrath
out upon all unbelievers. But we shall, and we shall be
saved from wrath. And all because of His sacrifice. Because Christ died for us when
we were yet sinners. Notice another thing there, we're
reconciled to God by His sacrifice. For if when we were enemies,
We were reconciled to God by the death of his son. So we've
got justification, we've got being saved from wrath, and we've
got being reconciled all because Christ died for us. Reconciled,
that is we have peace with God. He's made peace through the blood
of his cross. And the last thing, notice it
says, We shall be saved by his life. Now what does that mean,
we shall be saved? That's his life at the Father's
right hand, making intercession for us. We shall be saved by
his life of intercession. I'm so thankful tonight to know
that Christ died for our sins and through his blood, they're
put away. They're put away. And that he ever lives to make
intercession for all, the scripture says, all who come unto God by
him. We'll sing a verse of it.