The Superior Priest

[0:00] Well, we'll continue our study of the epistle to the Hebrews.

[0:12] Tonight, we will finish the study of the seventh chapter of Hebrews, wherein we look at Jesus as the superior priest.

[0:29] In the Old Testament, there were approximately 90 high priests at any given time, over a 1600 year span, and then multiple thousands of priests from the tribe of Levi.

[0:48] In the New Testament, there is only one high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And today in the universe, there's only one high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[1:03] In this lesson, the Holy Spirit will reveal to us the three reasons why Jesus, was a superior priest to the thousands that came out of the Aaronic priesthood.

[1:20] These three reasons are Jesus is the guarantee of a better covenant, Jesus is the eternal Savior, and Jesus is holy and without sin.

[1:31] No other earthly priest or high priest could ever make those statements. So the first thing we will look at in this abbreviated lesson for the basketball game tonight is the fact that Jesus can guarantee a better covenant.

[1:52] Hebrews chapter 7, verse 20 to 22. 2. 2. 3. 3. 5. 5. 5.

[2:26] 6. 6. 7. 7. 7. 8.! 5.

[2:56] 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5.

[3:07] 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5. 5.

[3:18] but with Christ the Father did enter into an oath by which He swore that His Son's priesthood would be eternal.

[3:31] And He also swore that it would not come through Aaron or the tribe of Levi. That was disturbing because all the righteous Jews thought you had to be a Levite to be a priest.

[3:44] We've read this, I think, three weeks in a row now. Psalm 110.4 The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind.

[3:58] You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Now in the Bible, God swears many oaths.

[4:09] He does not do so to establish His truthfulness. We know He's truthful. He's true truth, as Dr. Schaeffer used to say.

[4:22] The fact that God is truthful has been well established throughout the universe. When God swears an oath, it serves to emphasize permanence.

[4:35] He swears it, and that means it will come to pass. There were two problems with the Levitical priests.

[4:48] Problem number one, they were mortal. They kept dying off. They would one day die, and they had great hope that they had a son, and He would replace them.

[5:05] But even more than the fact they all died eventually, the bigger problem was they were sinful. And that created a lot of problems.

[5:18] Before the high priest could offer any type of sacrifice for the people, they had to first offer a sacrifice for themselves.

[5:35] They had to be cleansed. And technically, if we want to be precise, they then had to sacrifice for their family to clean them up, and then they were ready to sacrifice for the people.

[5:48] And since these sacrifices were temporary, at best, we know that they had to do them over and over.

[6:03] And I've talked about this assembly line that they had going. And all that was in accord with God's plan. He did not intend the Levitical priesthood to be perfect or to be permanent.

[6:22] And that's why He did not establish it with an oath. God did establish a covenant with Abraham. And He swore it with an oath.

[6:35] That meant the Abrahamic covenant was unconditional and eternal. You can make the argument we're still under the Abrahamic covenant. And we're under the new covenant of Christ.

[6:46] And we covered that in Hebrews 6. God desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose interposed with an oath.

[7:08] You might even remember when God entered into a covenant with Abraham back in the Old Testament. And it was quite a ceremony.

[7:25] But it was permanent because it was through Abraham that the promised Messiah came. That is why the blessing was extended to everyone who would believe.

[7:40] And in heaven we will all experience the permanence of the Abrahamic covenant. I think the time of Christ's return is clear. You might want to study up in some of the Old Testament passages about Abraham and his covenant with the Lord.

[7:58] The priesthood of Christ is also based upon an oath of God. And therefore it is eternal and it is unchangeable. And that is why the Lord could say through Christ I am giving you a guarantee of a better covenant.

[8:19] The Old Covenant was temporary. The New Covenant through Christ is permanent. a better priest guarantees a better covenant.

[8:33] Now as I have said before the Old Covenant was not bad. It wasn't even wrong. But it was incomplete.

[8:45] It waited for the day when the New Covenant would come to both fulfill and improve upon the Old.

[8:57] The New is better in all respects. And Jesus of course makes it better because He is the mediator of the New Covenant.

[9:09] It is through this covenant that He has provided eternal life to those whom He has called. But He does more than mediate the covenant.

[9:21] He also guarantees it. He guarantees it. He is the surety. He is the surety for the promises of the New Covenant.

[9:37] Christ guarantees all of God's promises to us. And He even pays in full the sin debt we owe.

[9:48] or we would never be able to enter into a covenant with the Father. That from the human perspective is an amount we could never pay.

[10:01] If we get to glory one day and you suddenly discover you've got unforgiven sin God help you.

[10:12] because if we have unforgiven sin that's not under the atonement we have to pay for that and it takes eternity to pay for that debt.

[10:24] But under the atonement of Christ all our sins are atoned for. Well second Jesus was a superior priest because He alone is the eternal Savior.

[10:40] Listen to this passage again the 7th chapter verses 23 to 25 The former priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing but Jesus on the other hand because He continues forever holds His priesthood permanently therefore He is also able to save how long forever those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them.

[11:27] No Levitical priest could ever serve forever because of the approach of death. A priest would die and another would take his place. that is what sustained the Levitical priesthood.

[11:42] We have a tremendous demonstration of the temporary nature of the priesthood named after Aaron that is found in the book of Numbers chapter 20 many of you I'm sure have it memorized beginning in verse 23 then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor that's H-O-R by the way by the border of the land of Edom saying Aaron boy listen to this this is God talking Aaron and he's standing there Aaron will be gathered to his people wow my heart would start racing Aaron will be gathered to his people for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel because you rebelled against my command at the waters of

[12:47] Meribah take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring it up to the Mount Or and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar now remember he couldn't do it for Nadab or Abihu his other sons because they had already been killed because they got drunk and offered strange fire to the Lord in the Ark of the Covenant so Aaron will be gathered to his people and will die there so Moses did just as the Lord had commanded and he went up to the mountain in the sight of all the congregation and after Moses had stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar Aaron died there on the mountaintop then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain and when all the congregation saw that

[13:52] Aaron had died all the house of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty days there we have a graphic demonstration of the impermanence of the Arianic Levitical priesthood it was a dying priesthood and here the first priest high priest dies neither could this priesthood bring people to the promised land couldn't do it neither the law represented by Moses nor the sacrifices represented by Aaron could deliver people from the wilderness of sin and into the land of salvation Jesus we know is eternal he abides forever and therefore his priesthood is permanent that word in the

[14:57] Greek language means something that is unchangeable and unalterable it cannot be changed it cannot be superseded it cannot be weakened his priesthood is not capable of anything but permanence he is the last high priest and will serve in that capacity forever forever and then we come to one of the great passages in the word of God Hebrews 7 25 hence also he that's Jesus he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them remember when you wake up at three and say what's

[16:02] Jesus doing he's interceding here we learn that Jesus is alive and he is making intercession for those for whom he died and that is the very essence of the gospel this verse starts out with the word hence that is a form of saying that since the priesthood of Christ is permanent he can save his children forever he exists forever his ministry exists forever and his children exist forever and we also learn that he is able that speaks to the power of his salvation human priests were not able to save anyone I remember Larry

[17:03] King of all people he's dead now he had Dr. Billy Graham on Dr. Graham has passed on they may be in different places probably are and he said Billy I've been wanting to ask you a question how many people do you know for certain have been saved under your ministry now there's Dr.

[17:24] Graham preached to millions right he said one and probably two I know I'm saved and I'm pretty confident Ruth is too that's his wife I would say put her first but he said beyond that I don't know that's up to God I can't save anybody well neither could the priests the earthly priests they had no power to save anyone they couldn't do it permanently and they couldn't do it temporarily they did not possess the power to make anyone clean but our high priest that's with a capital H and a capital P is both willing and able to save he is the only one who can save a lost sinner there is no other to look for and I have people tell me that I've had people actually well I'm looking for something more

[18:26] I believe in God I just don't believe in Jesus and my only answer is no you don't you don't believe in God if you don't have God you don't have Jesus if you don't have Jesus you don't have God Jesus saves us by bringing us near to God read about that in John chapter 6 it's a great chapter he delivers us from sin he makes us clean he makes us able to draw near to the father he delivers us from sins that are past present and future and let's face it when when we were born all our sins were future right in that respect we can say that we have been saved we are being saved and we shall be saved in the future just who are the objects of his salvation well the objects are those who draw near to

[19:33] God through him we draw near through the faith that we have been given to believe Ephesians 2 8 for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves it is the gift of God we draw near through the faith that we have been given those who come to him will never be cast out all who believe will be saved and that is why we urge people to trust in Christ as Lord and Savior people say well no wait what about Judas Judas wasn't a man of faith never was a man of faith he was a thief he wanted to be the treasurer well is our salvation secure just how secure is our salvation Jesus always lives to make intercession for us and

[20:39] I have some great fun with my dear friends at the VOM board I'm on the board directors there a lot of those guys are Wesleyan and we have a lively time and I love those guys and they're devout guys but I say has Jesus ever prayed a prayer that the father didn't answer oh no no he would never do!

[20:58] well he's interceding for you and then they changed the subject we are secure because Jesus is perpetually interceding for us we cannot get ourselves saved nor can we keep ourselves saved but Jesus has both the power to save and to keep us saved eternally he is always present with the father reminding him that we belong to Jesus I remember hearing a guy one time if I could just get to heaven and close the door behind me and I said that won't do you any good a third of the angels fell from heaven and I suspect the door was probably closed and God opened up and a third of them fell but he has that power to save and to keep us saved he is always present with the father and he reminds the father that we belong to him especially in those times when we sin

[22:08] I know that's a disconnect for a lot of you it's not for me but how comforting that Jesus says to the father he's one of mine third Jesus is a superior priest because he is holy and sinless Hebrews chapter 7 verse 26 to 28 for it was fitting for us to have such a high priest holy innocent undefiled!

[22:41] separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens who does not need daily like those earthly high priests to offer up sacrifices first of all for his own sins and then for the sins of the people because this he did once for all when he offered up himself and he didn't have to make an offering for his own sins he was sinless for the law appoints men as high priests who are weak but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a son made perfect forever our present and eternal high priest has never once had to atone for his own sin he is holy he is innocent he is undefiled separate from sinners he is exalted above the heavens for those reasons he never had to make sacrifice for himself before offering sacrifice for his people the heavenly high priest must be sinless and perfect and

[24:04] Jesus is when we become a part of him through faith we too are set aside by God as holy you may say well I don't feel very holy well leave that up to Jesus but strive for it for now we are holy in the person of Christ positionally we are with him in the heavenlies someday we shall be with him and all sin will be done away and you know that's really the attractiveness of heaven I'm going to be fascinated for about 20 minutes for gold streets and pearly gates and after about 20 minutes I'm just going to be kind of okay I've seen that the fascinating thing is to be in a place of no sin and I used to think about that and I said you know

[25:08] Mike Dursham over here he's going to have all kinds of rewards and I'm going to have very few and how am I going to feel and then I wrote there's no lust and I'm going to lust after any of y'all's rewards there's no lust it's a sin it's one of the Ten Commandments when we become part of him through faith we are set aside by God as holy in the person of Christ and right now we're with him in the heavenlies our citizenship isn't even here it's in the heavenlies and someday we should be with him and all sin will be done away and that's the attractiveness of heaven Jesus walked on this earth for 33 years and remained undefiled there was not a single moral or spiritual blemish he walked among sinners without the slightest taint of sin had he been sinful he would never have been the redeemer but he is the perfect redeemer because he himself is perfect he was separated from sinners

[26:32] Jesus is in a class all by himself he came into contact with sinners every day of his sojourn on earth but he remains separate by his sinless nature and now the scriptures tell us he is exalted above the heavens he is totally unlike the priest that ministered before him he offered one sacrifice for all time he offered it not for himself but for others and I've told you before and then he sat down because it only took one sacrifice and he could sit down there were no chairs on the earthly temple or tabernacle there was always another sin to atone for not so with Jesus the earthly priests were weak but Jesus our high priest is eternally strong now the earthly high priest wore garments symbolic of the twelve tribes of

[27:42] Israel when he entered the holy of holies the tribes symbolically were with him our high priest Jesus carries our names on his heart as he ministers daily in the presence of the father he even gives us a new name which nobody knows but him and the person I once heard Dr.

[28:13] MacArthur said I've never preached on that passage that someone didn't come up and say what is that name and he says I don't know it says we don't know Jesus perfectly loves us and he perfectly saves us because he is able to be saved