The Highest Priest // Pastor Bobby

We are still talking about the object of our faith.

And obviously all the book of Hebrews points us to Jesus.

And I'm excited about today's message because I love getting to the end

of something.

And now we're finally at the end of the introduction because you get to

the end of chapter seven and you finally finished essentially the case

that the writer of Hebrews is making to tell us to pay attention to

Jesus. All right.

And the reason we know that,

and I'm going to skip ahead next week.

You ready?

The beginning of chapter eight.

And I didn't give this to the booth,

so they just have to endure.

And I can't get the page to turn right.

It says this.

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

That's the first verse of chapter eight.

Don't you like that?

That just kind of says,

all right,

so everything leading up to this,

this is introduction,

because the main point of what we're talking about is this.

And we'll get to that next week.

But I really wanted to spend today kind of summarizing in a sense,

but really,

I think for me,

I do better when somebody gives me a 1234 step by step kind of process.

I'm going to give you a flow chart this morning.

Alrighty. So let's pray together before we read.

It's a long passage,

verses eleven through 28,

but we'll read it.

All right,

but let's pray first.

God, we praise you and thank you again that we get to hang out together

this morning.

We walk and talk with you and hang out with you all week long.

And then,

God, we get together on Sundays to hang out with family,

with the body.

And, God,

I give you praise for that.

And, God,

as we look into your word,

we want to hear from you.

God, it's your voice we need to hear.

And so,

God, I just pray that you'd speak to our hearts.

God, give us clarity of mind.

Let us understand what it is that you have done.

But, God,

let us understand what you're doing.

And God,

help us to join you in that and stay so close that we just don't miss it.

And we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.

So we're in Hebrews,

chapter seven.

I'm gonna start in verse eleven.

And here we go.

Now, if perfection came through the levitical priesthood,

for on the basis of it people received the law,

what further need was there for another priest to appear said to be

according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of

Aaron? For when there is a change of the priesthood.

There must be a change of the law as well.

For the one these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe,

and no one from it has ever served at the altar.

Now it's evident that our Lord came from Judah,

and Moses said nothing about that tribe concerning priests.

And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears who

did not become a priest based on illegal regulation about physical

dissent, but based on the power of an indestructible life.

For it has been testified,

you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

So the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable.

For the law perfected,

nothing but a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to

God. None of this happened without an oath,

for others became priests without an oath.

But he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him,

the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind,

you are a priest forever.

Because of this oath,

Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.

Now, many have become levitical priests since they are prevented by death

from remaining in office,

which, that's a very blunt statement,

y'all. But because he remains forever,

he holds his priesthood permanently.

Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through

him, since he always lives to intercede for them.

For this is the kind of high priest we need,

holy, innocent,

undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.

He doesn't need to offer sacrifices every day as high priests do,

first for their own sins,

then for those of the people.

He did this once for all time when he offered himself.

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

But the promise of the oath which came after the law appoints a son who

has been perfected forever.

So the whole point of this passage,

and indeed the first seven chapters of Hebrews,

is to point to Jesus as the once and for all time high priest.

Once and for all time high priest.

And so what we've seen,

the writer of Hebrews,

and indeed the book of Hebrews doing is going back all the way to the

point of just the statement of God and drawing us to this point of our

high priest,

which is Jesus,

because he kind of lays it all out.

So here's the flow chart.

You ready?

It starts with God,

perfect, holy,

righteous, creator of all things,

right? He is the he God.

That's what we see in the beginning,

God, right?

So when all of creation began,

God is the originator.

God is the catalyst of all these things.

Well, then he creates,

right? Adam.

And the Bible actually says,

and I did some reading this week on the case for the adamic priesthood.

Now we're going,

wait a minute.

Adam was a priest?

Well, listen to the,

listen to the evidence,

all right?

And you can decide,

I'm not going to sit here and build a whole case on this.

But Adam was created what perfect,

holy, righteous met with God in the garden.

And it actually says God placed him in the garden.

And in this sort of line of thought,

what they'll say is,

is that this was the garden of God's sanctuary.

So Adam becomes this representative,

right? Mankind meeting with God in the sanctuary of God's creation right

up to the fall,

and then he gets kicked out,

right?

So you've got this picture of humanity,

a human being meeting with God.

Now, what we know about the priest is the priests represent mankind

before God.

And the high priest,

as we've been looking at through Hebrews,

is they offer a sacrifice for their own sin first,

before they can bring the sacrifice for the people's sins to meet in the,

what, once a year the holy of holies in that place behind the veil before

the fiery presence of God,

right? And then we read last week that this was,

this tabernacle,

this holy of holies,

was merely a shadow,

you see?

So when we start to look at this thing,

we say,

all right,

so this goes all the way back to the,

in the beginning,

God and God's creation and God's creation of mankind and the fall.

And it was at the fall that the need for a priest,

you see,

if Adam was a priest in his own right,

and I don't know any reason to object to that,

God began to establish priests that would meet with him.

Wherein lies Melchizedek before Aaron and Moses and Levi and any of the

lepidical priesthood or the law even comes to existence because it says

Melchizedek was a priest.

And the order of Melchizedek is a priesthood whereby God calls people to

meet with him.

See, so I'm looking at this thing,

I'm like,

wow. All right.

Melchizedek was obviously appointed by most high God because the

description we dealt with last week was,

is that Melchizedek is,

his name means king of righteousness.

He is the king of Salem,

which also means king of peace.

And he is a high priest.

He is a priest of most high God,

all right?

And then what we do is,

as we go through the whole,

the whole hebrew,

the people,

the nation,

the relationship God sought to establish with them,

right?

And he brings them out of Egypt and he takes them through the water.

And I've heard preachers preach,

that's baptism.

You know,

when they passed through the Red Sea,

he baptized the whole nation.

I was like,

ooh, okay.

They didn't get wet,

though, but they were underwater.

Right. You see?

And so you've got this nation image whereby the first covenant is,

I will make of you a people,

a name and a land,

right? But out of you,

all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

And so you've got these,

these twelve tribes.

One of those tribes is identified as the tribe of Levi,

the Levites,

which develops the levitical priesthood,

which lays out the 613 some odd laws of the Old Testament.

Law, right?

So as we start reading through this,

we start seeing,

whoo, wait a minute.

Now we're getting some,

you know,

we don't like,

talk bad about other people,

do we?

But I want you to understand that.

I mean,

we're going to get to that place where this is all described as the

priesthood of the Old Testament is actually referred to as an inferior

priesthood. Did we just say that?

Did we just point to what God had done for hundreds and even thousands of

years in his people under Abraham and a chosen nation and the development

and all of that of the hebrew people,

the jewish nation?

Now, and this is what it says.

Now, if perfection came through the levitical priesthood,

for on the basis of it,

people received the law,

what further need was there for another priest to appear said to be

according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of

Aaron?

You see?

So what he's pointing to is the aaronic priesthood,

the levitical priesthood,

the delivery of the law and saying that the law never,

and we saw this last week,

the law never perfected anything.

As a matter of fact,

Paul even says,

if it weren't for the law,

I wouldn't know how bad I am.

Right? So the law didn't perfect anything.

So there must be a perfecting point through a new priesthood which

actually says,

for when there is a change of the priesthood,

there must be a change of law as well.

So God is establishing beyond what was the Old Testament,

the old covenant.

He is establishing a priesthood that not,

didn't just come to be with Jesus,

but it's after the order of what it meant to meet with God in the garden

of Eden.

If I can point back to that.

All right,

and then you get this need for priests to represent mankind before the

throne of God in psalm 110,

verse four is where it establishes that you are a priest after the order

of Melchizedek.

And psalm 110 is this davidic,

prophetic language that sets up ultimately David's eternal kingdom,

meaning that there would always be one of the lineage of David on the

throne of God's people,

but also that you are,

that king,

is also priest.

But we know from levitical law that man cannot be both king and priest.

It's against the law,

all right?

That's why Saul got the kingdom ripped from him and he died,

because he tried to be both,

right? Samuel shows up and goes,

what have you done?

But after the order of Melchizedek,

because Melchizedek was a king and what priest of most high God.

So the order there is is that it's by God's decree,

by God's oath.

For the one these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe.

No one from it has served at the altar.

Now it is evident that our Lord came from Judah,

and Moses said nothing about that tribe concerning priests.

So only Levites could be priests after the aaronic priesthood,

after that order.

So now we've got one from the tribe of Judah being proclaimed king and

priest. That didn't happen according to the law.

And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears.

Now, understand?

It says like Melchizedek.

So people that want Melchizedek to be Jesus.

Okay, like I said,

I'm gonna wait to get to heaven to hear that one explained.

And Melchizedek did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about

physical descent,

but based on the power of an indestructible life.

So Melchizedek somehow was declared,

decreed by oath to be a priest before my most high God.

But the one who comes after the order of Melchizedek prophetically from

psalm 110 says,

for it has been testified,

you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

So the previous command is annulled.

Listen to this.

I didn't say this.

Don't hear me saying this.

Hear God saying this through the writer of Hebrews.

So the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable,

the Old Testament law,

the levitical priesthood,

you see,

for the law perfected,

nothing but a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to

God. So what was the role of the priest all the way back?

Was to give us entrance to the presence of God so that we might draw near

to God,

not to be held apart from God.

Priests are not there to say look,

we're the only ones that can draw near to God.

No, the role of the priest was to draw the people near to God,

you see?

And so we look at this.

Well, okay.

Wow. None of this happened without an oath,

for others became priests without an oath.

So in the levitical priesthood,

you became high priests just because you were the firstborn of the

firstborn of the firstborn of the firstborn.

And some priests were great and some priests were terrible.

Matter of fact,

I was listening to one preacher this week.

He said,

yeah, there's a priest at the end of judges that cut his wife into twelve

pieces. I didn't actually,

you know,

I didn't go back and look that up,

but I was like,

oh, really?

Oh my.

See, there were some horrible priests,

horrible high priests.

But this one right here,

this oath that was made,

listen to what it says.

It says,

none of this happened without an oath,

for others became priests without an oath.

But he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him,

the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind,

you are a priest forever.

So this is all pointing to.

Remember I said,

this is what this is all about,

y'all. This all points us to Jesus.

Seven chapters of the book of Hebrews points us to Jesus.

Pay attention to Jesus.

Don't look left or right from Jesus,

always look to Jesus.

Because Jesus is that king and Jesus is that high priest.

Because of this oath,

Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.

Boy, that's offensive,

isn't it?

You mean that first covenant is weak?

Mean that first covenant didn't accomplish anything?

Why? Because we looked at it.

Because God's people disobeyed.

They didn't keep the covenant.

So the new covenant is not based.

Remember I said this before and I said this weeks ago and I had people

object. It's fine.

The new covenant,

our salvation,

our redemption,

is not based on us.

It's based on God.

And it's based on God accomplishing our perfection,

not us accomplishing our perfection.

Now, many have become levitical priests since they are prevented from

death, by death,

from remaining.

This just basically says,

one priest follows another one because one dies,

priest dies,

get a new high priest,

that one dies,

get a new high priest.

That's all,

that's, that's just a tough sentence right there.

Many, there have been many levitical priests because guess what?

They die.

That's all it means.

But because he,

meaning Christ,

remains forever,

he holds his priesthood permanently.

Therefore, and I love this sentence,

therefore, he is able to save completely completely those who come to God

through him,

since he always lives to intercede for them.

Now, let me walk back just a minute and summarize.

You ready?

We learned in Hebrews so far that God speaks in these last days.

His superior communication is Jesus,

okay? Jesus is son,

son of God.

I believe all of this little line in Jesus identification is pointing to

Jesus God the son,

okay?

His son.

He is heir of all things,

means everything that God created throughout the universe.

Jesus is the heir.

It all belongs to him,

okay? He is creator.

Because Hebrews reemphasizes the fact that Jesus was at creation,

the word,

right? And so Jesus is creator.

He is the sustainer.

Through him,

by him,

forth him,

all things exist.

So Jesus sustains it all.

He is the radiance of God's glory.

So in scripture,

when you see this light,

this bright shining light of God's glory,

Jesus is that radiance.

Jesus is the exact expression of the essence,

the very nature of God.

That's a statement of Jesus deity,

God father,

son, spirit.

And see,

I believe that when you go all the way back to the creation account,

you get this picture of this God who is so much more than we can

understand now.

This is his word.

So I believe that the Bible is God revealing himself to us.

So when we read about God and we see him as God the father,

and then we understand who Jesus is in all of these descriptors,

we've got God the son,

and then we've got Jesus saying,

I will send the spirit.

And I love preaching that acts passage where it said,

the ruach hachodesh,

the spirit of the holy one,

right? So God has revealed himself as this creator God,

this present God,

this all powerful,

all knowing,

all of those things,

and he reveals himself to us.

So we're to get to know God,

and Jesus prays it.

He said,

this is eternal life,

that they may know you,

the one true God in Jesus Christ,

whom you have sent.

You see?

So getting to know God is the key.

And so when I walk out this little flow chart,

I'm like,

all right,

we've got God and we've got Adam,

and we've got Melchizedek,

and we've got David,

a righteous king by God's own decree.

And he wasn't righteous in his own.

We know David.

He tells us his sin,

right? But God made him righteous and made him king forever or in his

lineage. Therefore,

we have Jesus,

king and priest.

And it's interesting that one of the little notes I read that even in

jewish theology before Christianity,

ever came into existence.

The Jews pointed to Melchizedek as the potential messiah who would

return. I thought,

wow. So then you see the case being made.

Jesus then is our king and our high priest by God's own decree.

Listen to this last part,

for this is the kind of high priest we need.

Holy, innocent,

undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.

Has to be.

Those things can't be just somebody that God picked out.

Melchizedek wasn't perfect.

Melchizedek was a man.

I mean,

if you,

unless you believe it was Jesus,

and I'm not going to argue with you about that.

The king and priest,

the savior,

the redeemer,

had to be holy,

innocent, undefiled,

separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.

He doesn't need to offer sacrifices every day as high priests do,

first for their own sins,

then for those of the people.

He did this once for all time when he offered himself for the law,

appoints as high priests men who are weak.

But the promise of the oath,

the oath meaning God said it,

and God does not and cannot lie.

You are a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

That oath came after the law and appoints the Son.

See, David is the one who writes down that prophetic message in psalm

110, and it came after the levitical law,

but it appoints a son who has been perfected forever.

Thus you've got a John the Baptist possibly standing up to his knees in

the Jordan river and says,

behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

See, everything about these first seven books points to the high

priesthood of Jesus,

the Christ,

the anointed one of God who came.

And remember,

I said this when we went through Hebrews toward the end of the year last

year. I said,

you know,

Jesus is the high priest who didn't just bring blood,

he brought his blood for the sacrifice.

We just can't miss that.

Y'all can't miss that.

It's the work that God has done on our behalf.

High king,

high priest,

by God's own decree,

it's all about Jesus.

And then I just love it because once you,

once you pull all that down to a point and it says,

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

and I'll finish at this time.

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.

Boy.

Seven chapters drawn down into two verses.

And it's all about Jesus,

man. That should make Jesus important to us,

y'all. I'm gonna ask it like I did last week.

When you wake up in the morning,

do you consider Jesus?

Go to bed at night,

do you consider Jesus every choice,

action and attitude of your day,

do you consider Jesus?

Cause that's how important Jesus is.

Pray with me.

Father, thank you for today,

for your love for us,

for the way that you loved us,

particularly in this message that we see in Hebrews,

God, that you planned it by your own will and design to direct all of

creation to the very point of paying attention to Jesus.

God, there might be somebody here this morning doesn't know Jesus.

Might be somebody here this morning that gets caught up in distractions

and sin,

the world and Satan and all of the obstacles to surrendering ourselves

and devoting ourselves.

And like romans twelve says,

sacrificing ourselves.

Father, if somebody needs to know Jesus this morning,

we want to introduce them.

There are christians here this morning struggling with paying attention

to Jesus.

We just want to spend some time with you.

God, if there are folks that want to be a part of the membership of what

you're doing here at the gathering,

God, my prayer would be that they just jump in the deep water and let's

enjoy what you're doing.

God, as we sing,

move our hearts closer to you,

let us draw near to you like this text says,

we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.