Heavenly Priest // Pastor Bobby

Alrighty, I like chapter eight,

Hebrews. Chapter eight.

The object of our worship.

We have been talking about the book of Hebrews since the first of the

year. And we've been making our way sort of verse by verse,

section by section.

All of God's word is about jesus.

And you can Find it all the Way back to Genesis,

chapter three.

And it just keeps Pointing us in the direction of jesus.

And so the book of Hebrews was sort of the outline title that I gave.

It was the object of our faith,

because the book of Hebrews kind of knits it all together for us.

It sort of puts it together in a fashion that explains kind of how and

what, and sort of the progression of what God was doing throughout the

Old Testament through the man,

Abraham, the family,

the people group,

the nation,

the temple,

the tabernacle,

the temple,

the sacrificial system,

all of it.

God sort of constructed it all for us to point to Jesus.

And so we get to the book of Hebrews,

and the book of Hebrews points to Jesus because it says that in these

last days God has spoken through his son,

Jesus. And Jesus is the son,

and he's the heir of all things,

and he is the creator of all things.

He's the sustainer of the universe,

he's the radiance of God's glory.

He's the exact expression of the essence of God.

Jesus said himself,

if you've seen me,

you've seen the father.

He said,

if you knew the father,

you'd know me.

And then Jesus also said,

I am the way.

Now, that's the cool thing about today's passage,

is that we're going to continue with this idea of what Jesus says.

I am the way.

Not a way.

Not many roads lead to God.

Jesus says,

I am the way.

Absolute article.

Okay, definite article.

That's it.

See, it's been a long time since I took English.

Hebrews, chapter eight,

one, six.

Here's how it reads.

Now, the main point of what is being said is this.

We have this kind of high priest who sat down at the right hand of the

throne of the majesty in the heavens,

a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by

the Lord and not man.

For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.

Therefore, it was necessary for this priest also to have something to

offer. Now,

if he were on earth,

he wouldn't be a priest.

Since there are those offering the gifts prescribed by the law.

These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.

As Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle.

For God said,

be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was

shown to you on the mountain.

But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry,

and to that degree,

he is the mediator of a better covenant which has been established on

better promises.

All right,

let's pray.

God, we thank you for your word.

And we thank you,

God, that your word always shines and points us to Jesus.

God, this morning,

we thank you that it's in this passage that we're given the main point.

So, God,

help us to pay attention,

as we've said all year long so far,

help us to pay attention to Jesus more.

God, I know that you loved us first.

God, help us to love you back.

Help us to love you not just in word,

but God with our hearts,

our minds.

Help us devote ourselves to you.

Help us to adore you.

God, I pray for each person in the room this morning that we would take

stock of our lives,

but God also to really evaluate how much we love you back.

So help us to pay attention to you this morning in Jesus name.

Amen. Amen.

I like this passage because any passage in the Bible that starts off with

these words,

now, the main point of what is being said is this,

man, you know,

when God,

by inspiration says,

right here,

guys, pay attention to this.

Don't miss this.

This is a big deal.

We have this kind of high priest.

What does it mean,

this kind of high priest?

Well, if you go back to chapter seven,

he's holy,

innocent, undefiled,

separated from sinners,

exalted above the veil.

He is not as the weak men who were appointed as priests,

but he is a son.

What does that mean?

He's the son of God.

He's the heir of all things.

That's what I just read through that whole list of what we've learned so

far in the first seven chapters of the book of Hebrews.

It's really interesting to me that God,

by inspiration,

through the writers of Hebrew,

has given us chapters to make the case,

to say.

Now, the main point is we've got a high priest.

We've got this kind of high priest.

He's perfect.

He's separated from sinners.

He's the son of God.

He's the heir of all things.

And that one line in there that says the exact expression of the essence

of God,

that's a deity statement,

folks. I mean,

there's no human being that is the exact expression of God,

except God.

So we have the birth of Jesus in a manger,

and we love that part of it,

don't we?

You know,

we got movies out there that point out the whole baby Jesus thing,

right? Because we like Jesus,

the baby.

You know,

it's funny,

I listened to one preacher,

he said,

yeah, we like the baby Jesus.

We like the Jesus with the free healthcare.

We like the Jesus with the free buffet.

We like all that Jesus.

But the truth is we've got a high priest because we need a high priest.

Why do we need a high priest?

What is it that a high priest does?

Priests serve to represent mankind to God,

to bring the gifts and sacrifices for repentance and forgiveness.

And we've been told up to this point that the earthly representation of

priests and the sacrifice and the tabernacle and the temple and the

offerings and all of that sort of thing did not accomplish perfection.

So when we get to the end of this passage,

where it says a better covenant and better promises is the promise of the

perfection that only Jesus can accomplish in us.

Okay? Jesus is that high priest.

And so when I look at this thing,

I'm thinking,

wow, I like it.

We have this kind of high priest who sat down at the right hand of the

throne of majesty in the heavens,

a minister of the sanctuary.

What sanctuary?

That place where God dwells.

Right? You know,

you hear a lot of songs.

I know there's a song that we sang as a singing group back in the

seventies, Beulah land.

How many of y'all know that song?

You're probably old.

All right,

sorry. Beulah land,

how I'm longing for you.

Right? This idea of going to heaven,

going home,

going to this paradise,

this eternal dwelling place.

What makes it all that?

It's not simply that it's a place,

a construction of some sort,

though it is.

It is a place.

What makes it that place is.

It's where God is,

you see?

It's where we get to spend eternity with God,

right? And so when I look at this,

I'm thinking about all the nuance of this passage,

because it says,

a minister of the sanctuary,

the dwelling place of God,

and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord,

not by man.

Remember the tabernacle in the Old Testament?

Moses was the one who set that up.

And he had all the artisans and the specialists,

those people who,

who constructed the parts and the pieces and the tents and the drapes and

the poles and the,

and all the pretty stuff,

right? But that's all human,

earthly, man made,

put in place.

See, what this is referring to is that Christ,

when he had completed his work.

And many times in this,

you say when his work had been perfected.

When he had been perfected,

he passed through the heavens atmospheric veil into heaven,

the sanctuary,

the dwelling place of God,

and sat down at the right hand of majesty,

the throne of majesty in the heavens.

For in this verse three,

for every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.

So all the high priests throughout Israel's history were appointed

firstborn of the firstborn of the firstborn of the firstborn to be the

high priest,

to go into the tabernacle,

to pass through the inner curtain into the holiest place,

the most holy place.

But we've heard it for years as the holy of holies,

because the outer place was a holy place,

but the inner place was the holier place.

And so the priest would go in with what?

With blood from sacrifice first to offer sacrifice for his sin.

What does that mean?

That means he sprinkled that blood on the ark of the covenant so that God

didn't see the priest sin and strike him down at the moment of his

presence. Because the glory of God abiding in that place,

often referred to as,

like that Shekinah glory,

that burning glory of God.

And you walk in there with sin.

So what does he do?

He spreads the blood of the sacrifice on the ark of the covenant.

So God sees him through the blood,

right? So that's what the priest does.

He comes in and brings gifts and sacrifices.

It was necessary for this priest,

our priest,

our high priest,

to also have something to offer.

And this is what we're breaking down for the next.

We're in chapter eight,

nine and half of ten.

See, we spent seven chapters getting ready for these two and a half

chapters because now God's going to give us sort of the breakdown of the

high priesthood of Christ.

For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.

Therefore, it was necessary for this priest also to have something to

offer. Now,

if he were on earth,

he wouldn't be a priest.

Since there are those offering the gifts prescribed by the law.

We know that Jesus comes from the tribe of Judah.

And Judah never had the priesthood.

They had kings,

but they didn't have the priesthood.

Only priests came out of the tribe of Levi.

Levitical priesthood,

the ironic priesthood.

These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.

Now what does that mean there,

this copy,

shadow?

There's the ideas being that God showed Moses something.

What did God show Moses?

God showed Moses the tabernacle.

Now, you know,

and I listened to one preacher this week,

got real heavy in the whole idea that there is a spiritual unseen,

and there is.

We see that in scripture,

in a lot of places.

And that what God did was create an imperfect creation,

a shadow,

and a copy of his dwelling place.

And yet,

at creation,

what God did was create perfection.

He said,

it is good.

It is very good.

You see?

Guess what?

And God hung out in that garden,

that sanctuary of creation.

So creation,

by God's hand,

by God's word,

was perfect sin.

Sin is what caused the fall.

And we know that from romans that even creation groans under the effects

of the fall and is waiting to be redeemed.

So when we see this,

it's not like,

you know,

there's.

Heaven is where God is.

And God showed Moses a tabernacle to construct.

And he says,

for God said,

be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was

shown to you on the mountain.

So Moses was warned about how to construct the tabernacle,

because what God was doing was preparing all of mankind,

all of humanity,

for entrance into the sanctuary,

the heavenly tabernacle.

God said,

be careful.

And then he says this.

But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry,

and to that degree,

he is the mediator of a better covenant,

which has been established on better promises.

So Jesus,

the priest of heaven,

okay? The priest,

the highest priest,

the perfect priest,

the now forever priest,

sitting at the right hand of the majesty.

A tabernacle that God pitched.

A tabernacle that God constructed.

The sanctuary of God,

the place of God's presence.

Right? You know,

it's interesting to me that we revere these buildings.

We sit in like this,

right? We make them tall,

we make them pointed.

You know,

we decorate them up and do all kind of stuff to them.

And then we call them church.

But it's not.

See, church is people.

Church is not building.

Okay? The building is.

I.

Every time I say this,

somebody gets mad at me.

But the truth is,

this is just bricks,

mortar and sheetrock,

okay? You know what makes it special is that you're here and God meets us

here. That's what makes the place special.

So what makes the sanctuary of heaven special?

God is there.

What gives us entrance into the sanctuary,

heaven. It's the high priest of heaven,

which is Jesus himself.

See, Jesus would not,

could not be a priest on earth.

The priests of earth were weak.

That's what this text even says.

Oh, well,

no, let me go back.

Here you go.

Listen to verse 28 of chapter seven.

For the law appoints as high priest men who are weak.

But the promise of the oath,

which came after the law,

appoints a son who has been perfected forever.

This work of God that Jesus did is this perfecting of God sin through his

own sacrifice.

See, the earth's sacrificial system was but a shadow because of the sin

that pervaded it.

And so sin separated the sanctuary of God on earth and the sanctuary of

God in heaven.

So I started thinking,

wow, I used to wonder when I was a kid,

and I'll be honest about this,

and this is going to point badly on me,

but I'm going to do it anyway.

I heard my preacher get up one Sunday and say,

this is what heaven's going to be like.

And I remember sitting there going,

oh, my,

I'm going to be bored.

I remember thinking that,

you know,

a little twelve year old kid sitting at Cali self Memorial Baptist church

thinking, oh,

no, man,

I really,

really, really hope heaven's better than this.

Well, that's what this text promises us,

the earthly sanctuary.

And a lot of people call it worship center,

a sanctuary.

A lot of people call it that around here.

You know,

a lot of people call this,

oh, yeah,

this is what it's got.

No, folks,

we can't even find a multiplier that would give us any idea of what the

difference of being in the presence of God is going to be like when we

enter the sanctuary of heaven.

You know,

I came in,

I was pumped up this morning coming in.

Think the problem was,

I started drinking coffee last night,

but I walked in the door this morning there Lee was here and a couple

others, and I walked in the door and I went,

whoa. Right?

I mean,

I'm excited to gather and worship.

I'm excited to be in the room with you guys.

I'm excited to open the word.

I'm excited to tell you what God's been speaking to me out of the word

this morning.

But I want to guarantee you one thing.

This.

When we walk into the presence of God in heaven,

it's not going to be this,

you see.

It's going to be,

whoo.

Right? More excellent Jesus ministry is.

The more excellent ministry,

the better covenant,

the better promises.

Everything about it is better than anything we can possibly know.

This place,

folks, if we can't get excited about that,

we got a problem or we're not taking it seriously,

okay?

See, God has given us promises of his abiding presence.

Yes, here,

but there in person.

Then we shall see face to face,

and we shall know as we have been known,

man. I mean,

Paul even says at one time,

in vision or whatever it was,

he says,

I can't even describe the glories of what I've seen,

folks. That's the main point of what is being said,

is that our high priest has made this possible.

Don't miss it.

Don't miss what God's done.

See, this morning,

if you know Jesus,

that's the promise God made you,

right? You've seen the videos and the stuff.

I used to do a little thing with 6th graders where it was career day.

And yes,

public school system invited the youth pastor to come and share on career

day. Here's how it worked.

I'd go in there and do a thing on choices,

making right choices,

and I'd have sealed envelopes.

One was decorated and one was not.

And I'd have 6th graders pick an envelope.

They'd always pick the decorated one,

and it always had the worst stuff in it.

So then the second time around,

I'd fool them and I'd put the good stuff in the decorated one,

and they'd come up and go,

okay, the last person picked a decorated one and it was bad.

So I'm gonna pick the undecorated one and it'd be bad,

right? I'm tricking them.

God's not trying to trick us.

God is telling us what the good stuff is.

God is explaining to us how we are to not simply pay attention to Jesus,

but we're to.

We're to focus our hearts,

our lives,

our minds,

our identities on the person and work of Jesus Christ,

who has provided for us a perfection that we can't earn.

We can't get there on our own.

It's dependent on him.

And it requires our devotion,

it requires our surrender.

You see,

in this part of what the outlines of Hebrews say is that he is our

superior king.

He is our superior high priest.

See, Israel had known kings,

the hebrew people.

And for the most part,

the book of Hebrews is written to hebrew Christians who are fighting with

the idea of going back.

I've known some Christians who kind of get a little acquainted with Jesus

and go,

ah, it didn't work for me.

I go,

ah, you just didn't get there,

did you?

See? And hebrew people were fighting with going back to the law.

So the writer of Hebrews makes this case for why would you choose the

inferior over the superior?

Why would you choose an earthly king over a heavenly king?

Why would you choose a weak high priest over a perfect high priest?

That's the whole question that we're gonna get into for the next two and

a half chapters.

You're gonna hear this a lot.

And I,

you know,

I mean,

I'm looking at it going,

all right,

you know what?

I'm gonna preach what it says.

Cause we're gonna get into some Jeremiah and a little bit of Joel.

Gonna get into some of the prophetic things that says,

this is what I'm promising you.

This is what I'm making a way for.

This is what I'm handing you.

Don't miss it.

Don't miss it.

I was reminded this week of a video.

It just reminds me of what God's done for us.

See, if you don't know Jesus this morning,

you need Jesus.

And I love it that you're here.

I love it that maybe you're here.

Cause somebody invited you.

Yay. You know,

that's the greatest compliment that the gathering can get,

is that somebody invited somebody.

Yay. Thank you.

It's funny that right before Easter,

Kyle said,

do you think we should do a postcard mailing for Easter to invite people

to come to worship?

I was like,

you think we need more people?

I mean,

in the next hour,

there won't be a seat in the room.

See, y'all got space.

Be grateful.

But here's the point.

We want folks to know Jesus.

We want folks to hear about Jesus.

If you don't know Jesus this morning,

we want to introduce you.

So I'm going to encourage you to know Jesus.

I'll be right here.

We're going to sing one more song.

If you don't know Jesus,

come on down,

we'll introduce you.

We got folks down here on the front row tell you who Jesus is,

tell you about the gospel.

Maybe you know him,

but the distractions of the world,

the sin that's out there is just way overwhelming to you.

That's a conversation between you and Jesus.

Maybe you want to join the gathering.

That's a thing,

too. You can come down.

As long as you love Jesus,

and you've been buried,

you're baptized,

meaning you've been under the water.

Then you can be a member of the gathering.

But it's really more about what God's doing here.

So I'm going to invite you to pray with me,

and then we're going to sing.

Father, thank you for today and what you're doing.

Thank you that you've accomplished much.

And so,

God, we want to give back.

We want to surrender ourselves to you.

We want to give you ourselves.

Hear our hearts this morning,

God. And if there's even one here this morning that doesn't know you,

God, we want to introduce him to Jesus.

Thank you for loving us.

Thank you for loving us first.

Now, God,

I pray that you would.

God, just help us to love you back every day,

all day.

God, we praise you and we thank you in Jesus name,

amen.