Jesus our high priest
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[00:00:00] Uh, if you open your Bibles to, uh, Hebrews chapter seven,
we're gonna start in the 11th verse, and we're gonna read through verse 22.
Hebrews chapter seven, beginning in verse 11. And if you would please stand for the reading of God's word.
Now, if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood. It for on the basis of it people received the law. What further need for another priest to arise according to the order of melek and not be designated according to the order of Aaron for when the priesthood, this change of necessity there takes place, a change of law also for the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe from which no one has officiated at the altar.
For it is evident that our Lord was [00:01:00] descendant from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke. Nothing concerning priests, and this is clear still. If another priest arises according to the likeness of Melek, who has become such, not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life, for it is attested of him, you, or a priest forever, according to the order of melek.
For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness for the law made nothing perfect. And on the other hand, there is a bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God. And in as much as it is, not without an oath for they indeed became priests without an oath.
But he with an oath, th the one who said to him, Yahweh has sworn and will not change his mind. You. Or a priest forever so much. The more [00:02:00] also, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. May God bless the reading, the hearing, and more importantly obedience to his word. Please be seated.
So there's a couple of things in the bulletin. You have, uh, fill in the blank. Uh, it's kind of a sermon outline and then you have another sheet, uh, with a table, some bible verses, some, some questions. On the fill in the blank. Number one on your outline, weakness of the old covenant, weakness of the old covenant, and the weakness was the priesthood, and that's what you wanna fill in.
The weakness was the priesthood, and that's how our author begins this morning. He writes in verse 11. Now, if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood for on the basis of it, the people received the law. What further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of melek and not designated according to the order of Aaron for when the priesthood is changed of [00:03:00] necessity, there takes place, a change of law also.
So the main point of the passage this morning, at least the first half of the main point of this passage, and this is important, the Levitical priesthood. The old covenant priesthood perfects nothing. It was never meant to perfect anything. It always had a flaw. And the writer of Hebrews ties it to the law, and we have to be careful because oftentimes the New Testament writers speak of the law, and we have to follow the context because they'll say things like, you're no longer under the law.
And I know Christians who will take that and they'll run with it and they'll say, we don't need to obey the 10 Commandments. We don't need to be concerned with those things. And yet contextually that is not what the author is speaking of. When Paul says, we're no longer under the law in the book of Romans, we're no longer under its curse.
We're no longer under its power. And we saw in weeks back that one of the [00:04:00] many reasons that God gave his law was to actually increase sin so that we would see our need for a savior. In the life of a Christian, the law no longer functions that way, but it is a guide to holiness. It is a guide as to how to please our father, how to live a life of gratitude.
So when the author here says that the Levitical priesthood was tied to the law, we need to understand that carefully. And if you look on your handout, there's a chart on it, and what I've done is I've broken down the law. And there are times in the New Testament when the writer refers to the entirety of the law.
And there are other times in the New Testament where the various writers will refer to a portion of the law. And Christian theologians have long held that you can look at the Old Testament law and you can break it up into three parts. And that's what I've tried to illustrate on the table. And I've given you some passages where you can see that there's the moral law that's found in the 10 Commandments.
There's the civil law. [00:05:00] That's found in Exodus chapter 21 through 23. Moses refers to it as the book of the law, sometimes the book of the Covenant. And then there's the ceremonial law. And it was the ceremonial law that was founded upon the priesthood because only the priests could conduct the ceremonies.
Only the priests could make the sacrifices. And it is this law that has changed. In verse 12, for when the priesthood is changed of necessity, there takes place a change of law. Also, you see what the writer of Hebrews is saying is something drastic needed to happen. So what was the problem with the Levitical priesthood?
Now, I asked it that way on purpose, but I don't know that I like the word problem. Because problem seems to hint that, you know, it was a surprise. So maybe a better way of asking it is what is the issue with the Levitical priesthood? And I think what the author of Hebrews is trying to bring out as we continue in the text is two [00:06:00] things.
The priests themselves were sinners. The very priests that offered sacrifice needed sacrifice for themselves. In fact, on that great day of atonement, once a year that we read about in Leviticus 16, the high priest, the first sacrifice he had to make was for himself, and he took that blood into the hol of Holies, and then he came back out.
He had to wash himself and make another sacrifice for the people. So the first issue with the Levitical or the ironic priesthood, was the priests were sinners. And they themselves were in need of atonement. The second issue or problem with the Levitical priesthood is the animals were unworthy sacrifices.
They just didn't do the job. If sacrificing a lamb could really cleanse someone of sin, it wouldn't need to be repeated. But you see, these things were pointers. They were pointing to something bigger. When God says the law changed, it's not as if God were. [00:07:00] Was surprised. It's not as if God set up the Levitical system and you know, a couple hundred years into it, he's like, you know, this ain't working.
I'm gonna have to try something different. No, it was always meant to be a pointer. A pointer to something greater. Look at verse 13. For the one coming, for the one concerning whom these things were spoken belongs to another tribe. He's speaking of Jesus. Now. Jesus is our new high priest. Jesus is the high priest that the Levitical system always pointed to.
For the one concerning whom these things were spoken belongs to another tribe from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident. Our Lord was descendant. From Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke. Nothing concerning priests and the wording's pretty straightforward. Jesus wasn't from the tribe of Levi, he was from the tribe of Judah.
Moses [00:08:00] didn't say anything about any Judite. Offering sacrifices, at least not in the law of Moses. But there's something interesting in this text and it's so easy to miss in English, and sometimes I wish translators would would try to capture some of this stuff. But when we read the words in verse 14, for it is evident that our Lord was descendant from Judah.
Now when we think about descendant, we typically think of downhill right to descend means to go downhill. Okay, it means to be born from, but the interesting thing it is, in the original Greek, it literally says the Lord sprung up from Judah. And that may not mean a whole lot to you and I, but to these Hebrews who were saturated in the Old Testament, it would've pointed, it would've been a hyperlink and it would've been pointing to all kinds of other passages in the Old Testament.
For instance, Isaiah chapter 11, verse one. Then a shoot will [00:09:00] spring up from the stem of Jesse. Jeremiah 23 verse five. Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord. When I will raise up from David a righteous branch. Zechariah chapter three, verse now. Nine. Now listen, Joshua, the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you, indeed they are men who are a symbol.
For behold, I am going to bring in my servant the branch, and this Hebrew word that we translate branch, and it means branch, but it also means to spring up. You see the original readers, the original Hebrews listening to this letter, read to them, would've recognized that again, the author is grounding everything he says about Jesus.
In the Old Testament scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures always predicted this, always pointed to Jesus always pointed to something better than the Levitical system. You [00:10:00] see, we are the lucky ones. We really are. As we'll see, hopefully by the end of this sermon, we have the perfect high priest. The high priest that is perfectly fitted for our needs, and this carries great significance and great ramifications.
We have a new high priest and we have a new sacrifice in one of the points that the author is making and it actually applies to us today. Is going back to the old system would be blasphemous. Why would you leave? What is perfect to go back to what can't make perfect? Going back to the old system, if, if these Hebrews would've gone back to the temple system and participated in temple sacrifices, it would've been blasphemous.
Every temple sacrifice after the death of Jesus Christ was an adulterous, idolatrous, blasphemous sacrifice.[00:11:00]
It is to return to something that is incomplete and imperfect. There is a trend and it breaks my heart, but there is a trend in reformed churches today, and typically it's young men that do this young married men that bring their families with them. But there is a trend in reformed churches today of young men leaving reformed churches and either going to the Catholic Church or to the Orthodox Church.
And to do that is to leave the perfect sacrifice of Christ because both churches teach less than what Scripture teaches. Concerning the atonement, it is so important, the atonement, understanding what the atonement does and what it means. I will be gone next week, as you all know it, but the week that I come back, the entire service will be devoted to explaining the atonement and how we understand the atonement, how I [00:12:00] believe scripture presents the atonement, a legal transaction between God and Christ, a substitutionary transaction between God in Christ, where God takes on our sin, all of it, and pays for it 100%.
There is nothing left out. He does what the Levitical priest could not do. And he pays that price perfectly, and it is proven by his resurrection. It is proven by his ascension, and he doesn't leave us. He sends his Holy Spirit in his spirit and dwells us in every day and every moment. Children, he intercedes on our behalf.
We are on his mind continually, and he stands before the father day and night. And he intercedes for us. Look at verse 15 and verse 15 is the second half of the main point. [00:13:00] You'll recall that the beginning of the main point was the Levitical priesthood made nothing perfect and it wasn't supposed to. It was meant to be a shadow in a type, but according to verse 15, this becomes even clearer still if another priest arises according to the likeness.
Mel Ek. Now think about it. You've got the Levitical priesthood and the Levi Levitical priesthood has been functioning for hundreds of years, and in the midst of that, king David writes a Psalm inspired by the Holy Spirit. And God tells David in this Psalm that he's gonna raise up a new priest. Not all Levitical priest, but a king priest.
A priest who will be king and priest according to the order of Mel Ek, the only other king priest mentioned in all of the Old Testament. And I will raise up this priest because my priests or shadow A type, [00:14:00] my priest, point to something greater. Think of the day you live in. We live under this new priest.
We are blessed by everything this new priest has brought about,
and this is clear still. Verse 15 again, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Mel Ek, and the language of type is still being used according to the likeness of Melek. As I said a week ago when we talked about who this melek is. Okay. One of the, the chief theories on whom Melek is, and we talked about it, was the pre-incarnate Christ.
And I told you I don't hold to that theory. I believe that Melek was a man. He wasn't an angelic being. He was simply a man and he was a priest and he was a king. And the author of Hebrews basically takes how he's presented in the Bible. And Melek is presented in the Bible without genealogy, without mention of his birth, without mention of his death, without mention of his [00:15:00] mother or father.
And as such, he's a type of Jesus Christ. And that's the language that the author of Hebrews keeps using. He's similar to. He's like Christ. He points to something greater than himself. Still. Speaking of Jesus in verse 16, who has become such, become our new high priest, not on the basis. Of a law of physical requirement, but according to an indestructible life.
And he cites the quotation or the, the oath in verse 17 for it is attested of him. You are a priest forever. Literally, you are a priest into eternity. You are a priest into perpetuity according to the order of milk Quida.
See, Jesus has an indestructible life. Yes, he laid it down momentarily, but it was indestructible because as Jesus says, I lay [00:16:00] it down and I take it up again. But not only that, listen to the words of Acts 13. In Acts 13. In Acts 13 is quoting Psalm 16. So even this was found in the Old Testament. Acts 13 verse 35.
Therefore, he, speaking of the Holy Spirit, also says in another Psalm, you will not allow your holy one to undergo decay. And it seems to me, as you read through this passage and other passages, it seems to me that there's a sense in which God even protected the dead body of Christ while in the tomb, because the text is pretty clear, you will not undergo decay, and the word means rot, destruction, corruption.
And I don't wanna spend too much time here for the sake of the younger ones, but if you've ever seen a deceased person, there are visible signs and, and you all know I used to work for fire service and stuff, so it [00:17:00] was often that we would respond and, and, and people would be deceased. And the thing that I will never be able to get outta my mind is, is the gray color.
The skin color, and if it was a number of days, it would be even worse. You'll remember what Lazarus's sisters said when Jesus had opened the tomb. He's been dead for three days. It'll stink. And yet that never happened to Christ because the father preserved him. He did not undergo decay because he has an indestructible life, and he laid it down for a reason.
Paul writes in Romans chapter six, verse nine, knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead is never to die again. Death is no longer master over him. And in one Corinthians 15, verse 20, but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep because we are the coming fruits.[00:18:00]
Verse 18. In verses 18 and 19, the author seems to simply be, be, uh, repeating himself for the sake of emphasis. For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness. Literally, its ineffectualness. In uselessness, it is of no advantage, is what the original means.
There's a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and usefulness for the law made nothing perfect, and that's the same word used in verse 11. The Levitical system perfected nothing. And what this means, literally what it means is the Levitical system didn't bring anything to its goal.
God had a goal with the sacrificial system, and it was ultimately to forgive man of his sin. Those for whom Christ died, that sacrifice would take away their sin [00:19:00] completely out of the picture. It no longer comes into the equation, but the Levitical system, it couldn't do that. The system that was founded under the law of Moses, the ceremonial laws could make nothing perfect, but on the other hand.
Speaking again of Jesus. There is the bringing in of a better hope with which we draw near to God and kids. I know, I think I skipped the first question that you had, but there's another question on your outline, and the question is this, how do we draw near to God? How do we draw near to God and kids? The question is simple by faith in Jesus, because as the author says,
a better hope. We know as Christians, our hope is a person. Our hope is a person, the person of Jesus Christ, and we must [00:20:00] draw near. And this idea will come up again momentarily in this drawing near Beloved. This drawing near is continuous. If you think that because you prayed a prayer at some point in your life.
You've got your insurance and you're safe. You are not. Nowhere does the Bible teach that drawing near is continuous. Faith in Christ is ongoing. It is an everyday thing and it is something if you are a real believer, you will struggle with
either that or I'm the only one that does.
You will argue with God, you will wrestle with God, you will plead with God, you will cry out to God. Why? Why do you do these things? My plan seems so much better, and we know it's not, [00:21:00] but it is ongoing. You'll continue to confess your sin. You will continue to fall to your knees. You will continue to repent and God will continue to forgive you.
Not in the sense that your sin needs forgiven 'cause it was already dealt with. But in the sense of restoration of fellowship, in the sense of clearing our consciences, in the sense of reminding us, I took that sin to the cross. Now walk with me. I took that sin to the cross. Now trust me. I took that sin to the cross.
I know what I'm doing, beloved. And I love you more than you love yourself. I love you more than you love your children. I love you more than you can comprehend. Trust me, and walk with me and live a life of Thanksgiving. Verse 19 says, the law made nothing perfect, but keep in mind, the author of Hebrews is going to make clear the deficiency was not in the law.
The law was designed [00:22:00] to increase sin. The law was designed to reveal our sin to us. The law was designed to push us in the direction of sacrifice and the repeated sacrifice, sacrifices. They were designed to show us this isn't working. You see, the seed of the woman hasn't come. The seed of Abraham hasn't come.
The seed of David hasn't come. The child who is born to us hasn't come. The one who will be called Emmanuel hasn't come. In all of this points to something greater. The deficiency was not in the law, it was in man. And the writer of Hebrews says that in chapter eight, verse eight, when he speaks of the new covenant.
In chapter eight, verse eight, the writer of Hebrew says, for finding fault with them, it's not the law in the context here is not the Levitical priesthood, but the people. For finding fault with them. He says, behold days are coming, says Yahweh. When I, when I will affect a new [00:23:00] covenant with the House of Israel and with the house of Judah for this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel.
After those days declares Yahweh, I will put my laws on their hearts. The decalogue has been rewritten on our hearts and it gives us the ability to obey. The desire to repent when we fall. It is the same moral law, but the ceremonial law was always a shadow. Paul, in Romans chapter seven, beginning in the 12th verse, this is how he describes the moral law.
So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good, because the moral law is simply a transcript of God's character. It is who God is, and it is how God expects us to live holy lives. You see, the problem has always been with [00:24:00] man. The law is holy. The commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
And we jump down to Romans seven 14 and Paul tells us the problem. We know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly. I'm carnal. Sold into bondage to sin.
Christ breaks that ba bondage verse 20. And in as much as it was without, it was not without an oath for they, the Levitical priesthood indeed became priests without an oath. But he Jesus with an oath through the one who said to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You or a priest forever.
Kids. Here's another fill in the blank on your outline. Verse 22. So much the more. Also, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant, and we've seen in our series that [00:25:00] covenants come with continuity and discontinuity and the distinction between the old covenant, and that's taking all those covenants, Adam, through Moses, through David.
It, the distinction between the old covenant and the new is we have a better guarantee. We have what all those covenants have been pointing to in this, this word, uh, translated guarantee. It, it, it means a surety, it means assurance. It was a legal term used of promissory notes. So it's like if you went to the bank with somebody and, and you did what Proverbs say you shouldn't do, and you co-signed on a loan.
And you're guaranteeing that loan, that's what this word means. We have a better co-signer. We have one who can pay the bill. In fact, we have one that not only co-signs, he moves us out of the way and he just pays the price. He's a, he's a guarantee of a better covenant and will look at the new covenant in weeks to come.[00:26:00]
Number two on your outline, Jesus, our once for all high priests. Jesus, our ones for all high priests kids. This is on your outlines, but moms and dads, this is important. What do priests do? We've looked at it in the past, but what do priests do so that we keep this in the back of our minds as we look at this?
Number one, they offer sacrifice kids, and that's one of those fill in the blanks. They offer sacrifice, and then there's a sub-question in their kids. What did Jesus offer as a sacrifice himself? You see, Jesus is the Lamb of God that John the Baptist spoke of. Jesus is the true lamb, the Passover lamb that was spoken of in the Old Testament.
He is the real sacrifice. What do priests do? They offer sacrifices, and number two, they pray to God for the people. Priests pray to God on behalf of the people. Look at verse 23. For the former priests, on [00:27:00] 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, literally, he re, he remains into eternity, holds his priesthood permanently and literally, this word permanently means that it's perpetual, but it also comes with the meaning that it can't pass to another.
There's no baton to hand off to. It is a non-transferrable priesthood because it doesn't need to be transferred.
And then we get to verse 25, and before we look at verse 25, I want to ask you three questions. And I want you to think of these questions as we look at this verse. Are you in Christ? Are you in Christ? How do you know that? How do you know that you are in Christ? Do you have [00:28:00] assurance today? I know this is maybe old school, maybe you've heard this, but if someone were to ask you today, would you go to heaven?
How would you answer? And I heard something the other day. If your answer begins with the word I, it's the wrong answer. How do you know if you died today, you would go to heaven? And if your answer begins with the word I, it's the wrong answer.
Are you in Christ? How do you know and how does he accomplish this? How does God, how does Jesus, how does God in Jesus provide us this assurance? And verse 25 answers those questions. Therefore, he is able also to save for those who draw near to God through him. Since he always lives to make intercession for them, number one, he is able to save forever.
Literally, he is able to save into [00:29:00] completeness, into perfection. You see, it is the sovereignty of God writ large. We've talked about this multiple times and and Christians, they want to ask. Foolish questions, can we lose our salvation? Think of who your savior is, who could tear you from the hands of Jesus Christ?
Think of all those passages in Isaiah. I am God I know of no other. I am Savior. I know of no other, and he's not saying I am potential Savior. Those for whom Christ died are saved, period. But how do you know if you're in Christ? The verse goes on to answer it. Those who draw near to God through him. And again, this is continuous.
So we have the sovereignty of God who is a perfect savior, and then we have the responsibility of [00:30:00] man, do you draw near to Christ every day? It. Do you love Christ? Do you draw near? Do you depend on him? Do you repro profess your faith? Do you wake up in the morning? Thank you Christ Jesus, that I am in you and I depend on you, and my life is centered on you.
Again, this is continuous. How can you know today that if you died, you'd go to heaven? And the answer begins with he, he accomplished it. He saves forevermore and through the power of his Holy Spirit, he continues daily to draw me to himself so I can know without doubt, without fear.
And how does he accomplish this? How do we know that it's not gonna fail? Because he lives to make [00:31:00] intercession, he lives to pray for us. And this word for intercession brings with it an urgency and an intensity. If it were used of another human being, it would mean to plead or to beg or to petition. And I don't think that's what Christ is doing.
And we're gonna get into this in a couple of weeks, but Christ is of such value. Christ, and, and this goes into how we should understand the atonement, because if you don't understand the value of Christ, you will water down the atonement. Christ is of such a value. He merely needs to sit by his father, and intercession is made.
The father is reminded, my precious son, my son of value that cannot be calculated. Took your sin to the cross and I am reminded of it. God the father is reminded of it on a moment by moment basis as Jesus sits at his [00:32:00] right hand as Jesus rules all of mankind in me. We may question his rule, but he is sovereign and he knows things we don't and he knows how to save.
The most and the greatest number of people. And so we can have confidence, we can have what theologians call eternal security. Paul writes in a flip, Philippians chapter one, verse six, for I am confident, I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will perfect it. The the same word that the author of Hebrews is using, it comes from the same root.
He will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. And again, Paul writes in Romans chapter eight, beginning in verse 37, but in all these things we, we overwhelmingly conquer how 'cause we work hard. No. Through him, [00:33:00] he is the one that conquers and we do it because we're riding his coattails. Because we draw near on a daily basis because we draw near on a moment by moment basis, we ride his coattails, and because we ride his coattails, we are more than conquerors for.
I'm convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers nor hike, nor depth, nor any other created thing would be able to separate us from the love of God. Which is found in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Verse 26, for it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, and I need to say something about that word,
because that word can be misconstrued. You could read this word in the sense it was fitting for us in the sense [00:34:00] that somehow we deserved it. And that's not what the word means. This word translated, it was fitting for us. It means that our high priest perfectly matched our problem and our problem is that we have offended a holy God and we have eternally offended him.
For the wages of sin is death, and there's no animal sacrifice that can fix it. There's no Levitical priest that can intercede enough for us. We needed a priest with an indestructible life. We needed a priest who was one eternally. We needed a priest who never died. We needed a priest who was sovereign over life and death, and so it was fitting.
It fit perfectly. It is exactly what we needed. Jesus, holy, innocent, undefiled. Separated from sinners, [00:35:00] exalted above the heavens. And these, these words are interesting because this description of Jesus as holy, it's not the normal Greek word for holy, but it's a word literally. It means without fault. And it can also mean pleasing to God.
So Jesus is holy in his connection with God the Father. He is innocent with his connection to you and I. And again, this, this word for innocent is a unique word in the Greek. It literally means, it literally breaks down, is he is without evil. There is nothing evil about him. There is nothing morally suspect about him.
There is nothing less than perfection found in Jesus, none of which as I started the sermon, none of which was found in the Levitical priesthood. But Jesus is without evil. The last word is undefiled, and it was a, a word that would've been, would've been used [00:36:00] of the sacrifices. He's unstained. He's unsoiled, and that qualifies him to be our mediator, to be our sacrifice, to stand before the throne of God and pray for us.
For Jesus is separated from sinners in the sense that he was made like us in every way except for sin.
And hopefully you'll remember in chapter four, Hebrews chapter four, verse 14. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast. Our confession, a continuous act for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in all things yet without sin.
He is holy before God. He is innocent before God, before man, and he is undefiled as our mediator and our sacrifice for He is separated from sinners [00:37:00] in verse 27, who does not need daily like those high priests to offer sacrifices first for his own sin, then for the sin of his people because he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
And the idea there is, it is the idea of time once and never again. It, it doesn't have to do with the extent. It's not saying that Jesus died once for everybody. You'll have to find that somewhere else. What it's saying is he did this once for all time, never needing to be repeated. One sacrifice, one perfect lamb slain for the sins of his people, and it worked.
His sacrifice brought to perfection. And this idea is repeated multiple times throughout the book of Hebrews. And so the author ends the chapter this way for the law, appoints men as high priests who are weak. But the word of the oath, which comes after the law, [00:38:00] the appoints, a son made perfect forever, ever.
The son is perfect, and so he can perfect those for whom he's died. So how do I wrap this up? How do I. Illustrate this. I don't, I don't know if this will work for you, but hopefully it, it, it will. I, I was trying to think, and I don't know about you and, and moms. I think you might have a drawer in the kitchen.
I don't know, but dads, it's usually something in the garage. But if you're like me, you have somewhere in your garage a bucket, and most people would, would refer to this bucket as a bucket of junk. But for you, it's a treasure trove. It is got nuts and bolts and washers and plastic things and screws and things you don't even know.
I, I've got drawers of stuff. I don't even know what they are, but I might need them someday. So I keep them. But every once in a while I'll be [00:39:00] working on a project and I'll need a spacer or this perfect screw, and I'll go to my, my treasure trove and I'll dump it out and I'll sift through it. And every once in a while I will find the perfect item that I need.
And it completes the, the project. It fits just perfect. All illustrations fall short. But this is what the author of Hebrews is trying to say. This is the crux of the passage. Don't go back to the weak and worthless things. Jesus is the exact fit. Jesus is the exact person that we need. He doesn't come from a bucket of junk.
He comes from a treasure trove of love. He comes from God's faithfulness, his hassad, which is a word we've talked about, his covenant faithfulness, his covenant mercy, his covenant love, his covenant grace, and he is the exact fit. He is the savior you need, and if your faith [00:40:00] is in Jesus, stop worrying about your salvation.
It is complete. And I am not trying to tell anyone, you know, live how you wanna live. Don't worry about it. I've already said draw near every day, and if you draw near every day, then be confident that's what he wants. He wouldn't be pouring this forth if that's what he, if we're scared we won't serve him.
But if we're confident. That he is a good and awesome, a complete, a perfect savior, then I am free to serve without fear. You see, nothing else can or ever will fit or fill the requirement. Nothing else can solve our problem. Save our new high priest. According to the order of milk, EK for, it was fitting.[00:41:00]
For us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Let's pray. Father in heaven, what can we say?
Father, I don't have the words for it. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you that he is a perfect high priest. Thank you. That even though I didn't live in the days of the Levitical priesthood, I can read those stories, I can read those passages and I can see the same truth that you were teaching those people.
And as they looked forward to that promised seed, we look back, father, and all we can do is say thank you. But father, in reality, we can do more by your grace, by your sovereignty. [00:42:00] We can have the kind of confidence that you want us to have because we can believe you. We say We trust you, Lord. Put us to the test.
And if we trust you, Lord, and if we strive to follow you, then give us confidence. Take away the fear that we were, we're often hampered with. So that we can go out into this world this week, Lord, and share our faith, talk about Jesus, not be afraid. We may not know all the answers that the unbeliever wants to throw our way, doesn't matter because those answers don't change hearts.
Father, only your spirit does. So Father, give us the faith that you speak of here. Help us draw near every day and believe in you and remove that fear. That we would serve you and we would proclaim your name. Thank you for the confidence that you expect us to have. For we ask [00:43:00] this in the name of Christ Jesus.
And all of God's people said, amen. Amen.
