The Only Priest We Need

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Transcript:

You know, I was raised Baptist, as some of you were as well, and so the concept of a priest has always been foreign to me. It was unfamiliar. And I remember when I was about eight years old, probably about eight, a Catholic family from up north moved into our neighborhood.

And what you might not realize about me is that I was an irritating child. I don’t think I grew out of it until I’ll let you know. But I think I drove them crazy asking so many questions about their church.

And one of the things that puzzled me was that they thought to be right with God, you needed a priest. You needed him to give you communion. You needed him to listen to your confession. You needed him to perform rituals when you were about to die.

That puzzled me because even then, I knew that there were passages in the Bible in the New Testament, like 1 Peter chapter 2, that teach that all believers are priests unto God. And so I knew that you didn’t need to have a priest in order to have a relationship with God. Over the years, however, I did learn that you do need a priest in your relationship with God, just not a human one.

We do need a priest, and there’s only one priest who can do the job, and that’s Jesus. And the book of Hebrews says a lot about priests in general, and it says a lot about the priesthood of Jesus in particular. And it hasn’t been my goal as we go through the book of Hebrews to preach through every verse, to cover every verse.

Instead, I want to cover some key passages that talk about the role that Jesus plays in the new covenant. And so we’ve looked together at some of the passages that talk about the priesthood of Jesus, and we’ve skipped some of those passages as well because I didn’t want to come in here and repeat every week. But today we are going to revisit the concept of Jesus being our priest because it is such a significant part of the book of Hebrews.

And the contrast between Jesus and the human priest that we’re going to see in this passage should remind us that nobody can do what Jesus can. And so let’s look together this morning at Hebrews chapter 7. We’re going to look at the last six verses of the chapter, starting in verse 23.

And it says, starting in verse 23, And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth forever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s. For this he did once, when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests, which hath infirmity.

But the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the son who is consecrated forevermore. Now, the main topic of this passage is the comparison between Jesus and the priests of the Old Covenant. And this comparison is meant to show us, again, the absolute supremacy of Jesus Christ over everyone and everything else that we might trust for our salvation.

Our good works can’t save us. Our church can’t save us. Sorry to tell you that.

And a human priest certainly can’t save us. And chapters 5, 6, and 7 of the book of Hebrews speak quite a bit about the priesthood of Jesus Christ. And they speak quite a bit about the priesthood under the old covenant. It was an institution that was almost 1,500 years old by the time the book of Hebrews was written, and there had been a lot of priests during that time.

And verse 23 says, and they truly were many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. Now, under the old covenant, there had been thousands of priests because they didn’t last forever. They just didn’t.

The priests didn’t last forever. Eventually they died and others took their place. Even worse, their work wasn’t effective forever.

Israel couldn’t do without a priest and just say, well, the last guy had us covered. He still got us covered. There was always more sin and there were always more priests needed because they offered a temporary fix.

They were short-lived priests, and they were offering a short-lived solution, and they were a little bit like the plumbers that I’ve had to deal with in the recent past. Not too long ago, I called one out to fix a leaky faucet, and he did it. It stayed fixed for a full four hours until we tried to use it again. So then we had to call someone else in, and he fixed it, and that time it stayed fixed for a whole week.

It was great. So now we’re running out of plumbers because we keep having to call another one. And the priests were similar to that.

They’d offer the sacrifices, but you’d always need another priest. More priests were always needed, more sacrifices were always needed, because they couldn’t keep the people right with God. They couldn’t do it. And so looking at this temporary fix, God always had something better in mind.

The priesthood was a temporary solution. Verse 24 says, but this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Unlike the human priest, we’re not going to wake up one morning and find that Jesus is suddenly dead and gone and we’re without a priest. He died once and death couldn’t keep him.

Death couldn’t keep him. Peter said in Acts 2. 24 that God raised Jesus up.

It says, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it. Now, unlike the priests in the old covenant, Jesus is alive and he is going to stay that way. He lives forever.

And then verse 24 also says that he hath an unchangeable priesthood. He returned to life and he returned to fulfill this priestly office forever. It never changes.

He’s there forever. As a priest, he bridges this gap between the Father and us. He pleads our case before the Father, but he’ll never die or retire.

He never leaves the office behind. He’ll never pass the office along to another priest. His priesthood for us is eternal and it’s unchanging. And as we look at verse 25, it’ll explain that in greater detail.

It says, Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. What does it mean to come to God by him? It means that sinful man can only approach a holy God through a priest. And Jesus is it.

Jesus is the priest that we approach God through. In the old covenant, when you needed to get right with God, you didn’t just wander into the temple on your own and say, here I am, God, accept me. It didn’t work that way.

You had to go through a priest. And the priest came to God on the people’s behalf and they offered sacrifices for the people’s sins. And under the new covenant, Jesus is the only priest who can make atonement for your sin. So if you want to be right with God, you have to go through Jesus Christ. There’s no other way.

You have to go through Jesus Christ. That’s not my opinion that Jesus is the only way. That’s coming straight out of the book of Hebrews and other places as well. People who think it’s narrow-minded to say that Jesus is the only way and think that they can come to God any way they please are essentially wanting to just barge into the Holy of Holies and demand that God accept them just because they say so.

And based on everything I know about the holiness of God, it doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t work that way. We don’t come to God on our own terms. If we want forgiveness and salvation, if we want to be right with God, we have to trust Jesus as our one and only Savior and come to the Father through Him.

That’s the only way. And when we come to God through Him, verse 25 says that He is able to save them to the uttermost. Can Jesus save you? Absolutely.

You don’t know what I’ve done. It doesn’t matter. Can He save you?

He absolutely can. He’s able to save you completely. He doesn’t just forgive some of your sins.

he forgives all of them. He doesn’t just acquaint you with God. He brings you right into the family of God as a son or a daughter of the Most High.

He doesn’t just give you a chance at eternal life. He picks you up and he carries you all the way there. And he doesn’t just help you change some of your behavior.

He transforms your heart. And he doesn’t just hold you close until you make a mistake. He keeps you by his grace so that no man can pluck you out of his hand.

He can save you anywhere you are. He can save you from any sin. He can save you no matter how long you’ve been running from him.

Even if you’ve been running from him for years, he can save you and he can keep you saved. We don’t have a human priest who makes these temporary sacrifices, makes these temporary offerings that are going to have to be repeated. We have a heavenly priest. We have a heavenly priest who can save us to the uttermost when we come to God by him.

And verse 25 again says how Jesus fulfills priestly role for us forever. It says, he liveth ever, he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Our high priest is alive.

He’s alive. And this morning, he’s seated at the right hand of God, the Father, making intercession, begging the Father’s favor for us, for you. He’s making intercession for you this morning.

Now let’s move on to verse 26. It says, for such a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. When it says he became us, it’s not, that verse is not saying that he became a man, although he did.

The word become is being used a little bit differently here. Now, you’ve probably heard someone say that an outfit or a hairstyle was becoming. It’s not as common a phrase as it used to be, but it means that whatever it is suits the person who’s wearing it.

It fits. It’s suitable. And so Jesus, when it says he becomes us, it means he’s suitable for us.

He’s exactly the kind of high priest that you and I needed. He’s exactly, God provided exactly the high priest that we needed. Verse 26 says that he’s holy.

The priests were supposed to be holy, but the human priests couldn’t be sinless any more than any of the rest of us. The best that they could muster was sort of an outward adherence to the law and an inward desire to serve God, but they couldn’t escape the sin nature. And Jesus, in contrast, is absolutely holy by nature because he’s God.

And it says that he’s harmless. Some translations say innocent, and they mean virtually the same thing in this context. He’s not here to prey on the faithful.

He has no malicious intent. Unfortunately, some religious leaders abuse their positions because they want the wealth or the power or whatever. But Jesus didn’t come to harm anybody.

He didn’t come to victimize anybody. He said in Matthew 20, 28 and Mark 10, 45, that he came to minister. He came to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

He came to die for us. He came to serve and to die for us. And it says here that he’s undefiled.

He wasn’t plagued, isn’t plagued with that sin nature that the rest of us inherited from Adam. He’s pure and he always has been. And he says he’s separate from sinners.

He’s different from us. You realize that? Jesus is different from us.

He’s sinless. I’m not. I’m not even sinless this morning.

Not only was he born without a sin nature, but he experienced all the trials and all the temptations of what it means to be a human being, but he did it without ever committing a single sin. He’s different from us, and he’s able to enter into the Father’s presence with a pure heart and a clear conscience in a way that we never could. And it says he’s higher than the heavens.

He’s not some lowly man ministering on our behalf. He’s the only begotten Son of God, and he’s the only begotten Son of God at whose feet everyone will one day bow. He’s the King of kings.

He’s the Lord of lords. And folks, even the angels have to bow down before him. He’s higher than the heavens.

And when we see all these characteristics and all these qualifications, we have to realize that there is no priest on earth who could ever do what Jesus can do. And we can see in verse 27 that in one sacrifice, Jesus accomplished what all the other priests and all their offerings could not accomplish. Verse 27 says, who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people’s, for this he did once when he offered up himself.

With Jesus, there’s no longer need for all these sacrifices. Leviticus 16. 6 explains how all of this worked, all these sacrifices in the old covenant.

It says, and Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself and for his house. So before they could offer sacrifices for the people, the priests would have to go and offer sacrifices for themselves and for their own sins. And verse 27 says that Jesus doesn’t need to make any offerings for his own sins.

You know why? Because there are none. There are none.

1 John 3. 5 says in him is no sin. 2 Corinthians 5.

21 says he knew no sin. 1 Peter 2. 22 says he did no sin.

And Hebrews 4. 15 says he was tempted, he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Jesus is absolutely sinless, the Bible makes it clear.

So instead of offering a sacrifice for himself, he was able to offer himself for us. And in offering himself, he made atonement for us once for all. Once and for all.

Unlike human priests who went and offered these bulls and goats, he doesn’t need to offer daily sacrifices. He doesn’t need to make sacrifices over and over and over and over and over again. Once was enough.

He doesn’t need to offer animals in the temple. Folks, he doesn’t need to offer his own body every day on the altar of the mass. Once was enough.

And verse 27 finishes by driving that point home that once was enough. It says, for he did once when he offered up himself. For this he did once, excuse me, when he offered up himself.

Now, within the next few weeks, I plan for us to come back and look in more detail at what the book of Hebrews says about Jesus being the sacrifice in the new covenant. But for this morning, I need to point out that when he offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins, it was the greatest sacrifice offered by anybody ever. He was the only perfect sacrifice, excuse me, and he accomplished in this one act what all the others combined were unable to.

He actually took away our sins. He didn’t make a temporary peace between us and God. He actually took away our sins.

Excuse me. And now Hebrews 10, verses 11 through 12, it says, And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this one man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.

It only took him one time. Unlike all the other priests and all the other offerings throughout history, his sacrifice was enough. And there’s now no need for any further offering.

Now let’s look at verse 28. It says, For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity, but the word of the oath which was since the law maketh the Son who is consecrated forevermore. Under the law, God’s people were provided with these human priests.

And these sufferings, these priests suffered from the same shortcomings and the same failings that we all have. They were no better than us. So you had these, they were plagued by sin nature too.

So you had these ordinary human priests. And how is an ordinary man supposed to stand between sinful men and a holy God? How is an ordinary man supposed to make peace with God about your sins when he has sins of his own to deal with?

These priests were far too weak and they were far too human to make any lasting peace between man and God. They just couldn’t do it. And yes, this system was set up by God and he appointed these priests, but it was just a temporary arrangement.

Well, God prepared something better. And this verse tells us that we receive these human priests by the law, but by God’s promise, we receive something even better. By God’s promise, we’re given a much better priest, an eternal priest, whose offering atones for our sins forever.

In Psalm 110, verse 4, the father made a promise that his son would be an eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek. It says, the Lord hath sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was an early priest in the book of Genesis who wasn’t subject to the limitations of the later priesthood under the law.

He was a different kind of priest. And this teaches that Jesus, like the early example Melchizedek, holds a higher order of priesthood than those who simply inherited their offices under the law. Jesus is not just some mere human priest. Finally, verse 28 talks about the Son who is consecrated forevermore. Jesus has been set apart for this priesthood.

He’s the perfect fit for the role of our high priest. And the Father has confirmed Jesus in that role. He says that Jesus is our priest. This verse says that he holds that priesthood forever, that he serves as our priest forever. So as I read this, the question that naturally comes to mind with the idea that he’s our priest forever, but he’s already accomplished all the work, all the offerings.

What’s he doing? What’s he doing as our high priest if there’s no more need for the sacrifices? Because he’s already paid for your sins in full.

Why do we still need a priest? Verse 25 told us that he’s there interceding for us with the Father even today. So yes, he’s accomplished all the work of your salvation, but he didn’t just leave you and abandon you there.

He’s still ministering on your behalf. The New Testament tells us that after Jesus’ resurrection, he appeared to his disciples for 40 days at various times, And then he ascended into heaven and where he sits at the right hand of God, the Father. But folks, we need to understand he didn’t go back to heaven for some time off, right?

He deserved it after everything he’d been through on the cross and dealing with people for all those years. He deserved some time off, but that’s not what he went back for. He’s at the Father’s right hand pleading your cause this morning.

When you trust Christ as your Savior, your sins are forgiven because Jesus paid for them in full on the cross. So Jesus is not in heaven arguing for our salvation. That’s already a done deal. He’s not up there trying to get us more saved.

If you’re saved, you’re saved. That’s a done deal. What he’s doing is advocating for us. Just like this, when Satan comes and accuses us like he did with Job, when he points out our sins and says to God, look at them.

How can you love them? How could you let them into your heaven? When Satan tries to accuse us before the Father, Jesus shuts him down and reminds him that our sins are covered and forgiven under his blood that was shed as that once-for-all sacrifice.

And from the Father’s right hand, Jesus watches over us. He sees our struggles. Folks, he sees your struggles.

He sees our needs. And he constantly asks the Father to bless us and intervene in our circumstances for our good and for his glory. Now, keep in mind that when Jesus advocates for our good, that doesn’t necessarily coincide with what we think is good for us.

When Romans 8. 28 says, We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. We often assume that that verse means God is working in our circumstances to make us happy.

Not necessarily. And we think that our good means our happiness. What we forget is the next verse, verse 29, which explains what our good is.

It says, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. And don’t be scared of that word predestination. Now there’s a lot of debate about it, but it’s a biblical concept.

And I know that there are some people out there who are far smarter than I will ever be, who read that and they believe predestination means God predestinated some towards salvation and predestinated some for damnation, meaning he chose some to be saved and some to be lost. And with all due respect to those people who are smarter than me, some of them are even fellow Baptists, that’s not what I see in the scripture. That’s not what I understand that to mean. As I read this passage, I don’t see it as meaning he’s predestined some to salvation.

I see it as telling us that he has predestined believers to sanctification. That it’s been his plan all along that believers should be more like Jesus Christ. If you’re saved, God’s eternal plan for you is that you would grow to be more like Jesus Christ. That’s your good. So what does it mean that everything works together for your good?

It means our spiritual good. And it means that God is working circumstances out so that you’ll have the opportunity to grow to be more like Jesus Christ. Does that always coincide with what we think is going to be good? Sometimes it’s been the worst experiences of my life where God stretched me and grew me more than anything else.

I don’t know why it works that way, why he can’t grow us in a time of comfort. But our spiritual good is that we would grow to be more like Jesus Christ. And that’s what he’s always working on us to make us more like Jesus. And then coming back here to Hebrews, as Jesus advocates for you with the Father, he sees every need you have.

He sees every sin and shortcoming you struggle with. And he’s pleading with the Father moment by moment. Moment by moment, even now, he’s pleading with the Father to give you the grace you need to make it through and to live like the blood-bought, spirit-filled child of the King that you are.

He’s up there pleading your cause with the Father. Is there anyone, is there anyone else that can do for you what Jesus can? That’s the question that I come back so many times as I study the book of Hebrews.

As this book just overwhelms us with examples of how Jesus far surpasses everyone and everything in our world, we should ask ourselves that question. Is there anyone who can do for you what Jesus can? And I submit to you that the answer is no. There is no other priest out there who can make any kind of sacrifice or any kind of offering that is going to bring you lasting peace with God.

No other priest can forgive your sins through a once for all offering, a perfect offering of himself. Nobody. No other priest out there is immune to death and lives forever to minister for you and to you.

No other priest has the right of access that would allow him to walk right into the presence of the Father and sit down at his right hand in this place of highest honor and to begin to plead your case before him. No other priest can listen to every hideous accusation that can be made about you and the sins that you’ve committed, past, present, and future, and then with confidence tell Satan to drop dead because he’s got it covered under the blood. No other priest can do that.

No other priest sees every struggle you have, sees every secret sin, hears every thought, and is well acquainted with every need you have, even before you know that you have that need yourself, and can voice to the Father exactly what needs to be done. There’s no other priest who can do that. You and I have a perfect priest. He’s uniquely qualified to make peace between sinful men and a holy God.

He’s not bound by all the limitations that plague any would-be earthly priest or mediator. For all the changes, for all the changes that have taken place under the new covenant, some things have actually stayed the same. God is still holy, and his standard for us is still absolute sinless perfection.

That hasn’t changed, okay? You and I still fall short of that standard. We’ve sinned.

We’ve all sinned. We’re sinners. We’ve disobeyed God in our words, our thoughts, our attitudes, and our actions.

The Bible teaches that we’re all guilty. That hasn’t changed either. Have you ever told, you may be thinking, not me.

Have you ever told a lie? guilty. Some of you lied just right now.

Said you didn’t lie. Have you ever taken something that didn’t belong to you even if it was small? Guilty.

Have you ever been angry with someone for the wrong reasons? Guilty. These are just a few examples of sin.

And the bottom line is we’re all guilty. That hasn’t changed. And sinful men cannot be at peace with a holy God.

We cannot have a relationship with a holy God. We can’t be forgiven by a holy God. Folks, we can’t even stand in the presence of a holy God without the ministry of a priest. That hasn’t changed either.

What has changed is that we are no longer stuck. We’re no longer stuck with the ministry of imperfect priests who come to God in their own weaknesses and have to deal with their own sin before they can ever get to ours. We’re no longer stuck with the ministry of priests who can bring animal sacrifices and can bring us some sort of temporary atonement, but leave us right back in the same predicament just a short time later.

What has changed is that we have a perfect priest. He can bring us a lasting peace with God. He has no sin of his own, so he can focus on atoning for ours. And he paid for our sins with one all-sufficient sacrifice when he died on the cross for us.

And he never, ever stops pleading our case before the Father. And so the sacrifice has been made. The offer of forgiveness has been extended to all those who will come to God through him.

And if you realize that you’ve sinned, if you understand that you can’t have peace with God through your own effort, and you believe that Jesus Christ is your priest who offered himself on the cross as a perfect sacrifice to pay for your sins in full, then this morning you can be forgiven. God can forgive you. You can have peace with God.

if you believe that he died to pay for the price of your sins in full simply ask God this morning to save you and to forgive you because of what Jesus Christ did if you ask this believing in Jesus as your one and only Savior then God will forgive you he’ll save you he’ll welcome you into his family and he’ll begin to transform you and we’re going to stand in just a moment and sing a hymn together to close the service and when we do if you have questions or you’d like to talk with somebody about what Jesus has done for you, you’re welcome to come forward or come talk to me or you’re welcome to find somebody nearby and you’re welcome to pull them aside. We’d love to help you understand what Jesus has done for you on the cross.

But also you need to know that right where you are this morning, if you know that you need to trust Christ and ask God’s forgiveness, you can do it right where you are. You can do it right where you’re sitting this morning. Jesus is ready.

Folks, Jesus is ready to be your high priest. He’s ready to bring you peace with the Father. He’s ready to apply that once and for all sacrifice to your sins so that he can put you at peace with the Father and that he’s ready to advocate for you from the Father’s right hand.

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