Please turn with me in the scriptures to the book of Hebrews, chapter 7, taking up our reading at verse 11. You can find that in most of the Pew Bibles on page 1165. Hebrews, chapter 7, beginning our reading at verse 11 and reading down through chapter 8, verse 2. Hebrews 7, beginning at verse 11, let us hear God's own word. If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood, for on the basis of it the law was given to the people, why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law. He of whom these things are said belong to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests. And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry, but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. for it is declared you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless, for the law made nothing perfect. And a better hope is introduced by which we draw near to God. And it is not without an oath. Others became priests without any oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him, The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever. Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. Now, there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing in office. But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need. One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the oath which came after the law appointed the Son who has been made perfect forever. The point of what we are saying is this. We do have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man. So far the reading of God's Word. In this text of Scripture, which may at first glance seem a little confusing, it's a very tight and technical argument that Hebrews is making in chapter 7. In the midst of this technical argument, there is a wonderful statement about our Lord Jesus Christ. That He is a priest forever, On the basis of the power of an indestructible life. The power of an indestructible life. That's part of what we celebrate today on this Resurrection Sunday. The power of His indestructible life. You know, the Scripture testifies to that in a variety of ways. Peter, in his Pentecost sermon, said, God raised Jesus up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by death. Death could not hold him. Jesus himself had testified to that as it's recorded in John chapter 10. Jesus said, I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down. and I have authority to take it up again. In Jesus Christ was the power of an indestructible life. And that's what we celebrate today. He lives. He's a living Savior. And His resurrection establishes, validates, and vindicates all the work that He did throughout His life. His resurrection validates His kingship over us. That may be the most frequent reference in Scripture relative to His resurrection. He is raised as Lord. He is raised in authority and in power. In Revelation chapter 1, we read that He is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth. In His resurrection life, we see His kingship. But in His resurrection, we also see the validation, the establishment of His work as prophet. This morning we read from Matthew's account of the resurrection, and I'm always struck that the angel says he is not here. He is risen, just as he said. His resurrection proves that he is the faithful prophet, that he is the one who speaks faithfully, reliably for God. His resurrection validates all of his teaching. But here in Hebrews chapter 7, and in this wonderful phrase of the power of an indestructible life, it's his work as priest that is being highlighted. Jesus is our king, Jesus is our prophet, but his resurrection establishes and vindicates also the priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Old Testament in particular was dedicated to impressing upon us the importance, indeed the necessity, of God's people having a priest. Because a priest was a go-between. The priest was a mediator. The priest was one who stood between the holy God and a sinful people. And it was absolutely essential that sinners have a priest who would be able to go to God on their behalf with sacrifices that symbolized the covering of their sin that they would have a priest who would not only sacrifice for them but also pray for them. And all of that preparation of the necessity of the priesthood in the Old Testament was given so that we might understand the work of our Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. And Hebrews chapter 7 then is providing a reflection for us how the resurrection of Jesus Christ shows us his priesthood and guarantees for us that he is the priest of a better covenant. Now Hebrews is written apparently to Christians of Jewish origin who had begun to wonder whether they had done the right thing in becoming Christians. It appears that this letter is primarily addressed to some who had begun to think perhaps we had it better in the Old Covenant. After all, in the Old Covenant, we had a magnificent temple. In the Old Covenant, we had priests with gorgeous apparel. In the Old Covenant, we had very visible sacrifices offered for us. Now, in the new covenant, everything can seem kind of plain, kind of simple, not very glorious, not very impressive, not very visible, not very tangible. Maybe we had it better in the old days, when we had a place we could go that was visibly glorious, where we had rituals performed that we could see and appreciate. is Jesus really better? Is His covenant really better? Is His sacrifice really better? Is His priesthood really better? Those are the questions that Hebrews chapter 7 is written to answer, and the answer to every question is, yes, Jesus is better. His covenant is better. His sacrifice is better. His priesthood is better. And why are they better? They are better because they rest on the power of an indestructible life. That's what Hebrews 7 is saying. And so tonight I want to consider the two ways in which this power of an indestructible life is developed in Hebrews chapter 7. First of all, looking at how the power of his indestructible life guarantees the success of his priesthood. And secondly, looking at how the power of his indestructible life guarantees the salvation of his people. So we want to look at the success of his priesthood and at the salvation of his people. Now in relation to the priesthood of Jesus Christ, this chapter makes several points. And the first is that the power of that indestructible life can be seen in his purity. Jesus was a priest who was pure and righteous and holy altogether. Look at verse 26 of our text. Such a high priest, namely Jesus, meets our need. One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. One of the liabilities of the old priesthood, we are reminded in the book of Hebrews, is that those priests were all sinners. Those priests all had to offer sacrifice for themselves as well as for others. But Jesus came as a priest who did not need to offer sacrifice for himself. He came in the purity of his life, in the holiness of his life, in the goodness of his character, in his separation from all that was sinful and all that was wicked. There was a power of life in Jesus Christ that was a power of purity and of holiness and of goodness. He was pure through and through. And what a glorious priest that makes Him. A priest in whom there is no sin, in whom there is no failure, in whom there is no shadow of turning away from the will and ways of God. But a priest who can go before us and stand in God's presence for us because He is like God in holiness. He has fulfilled the law. He is pure. He has the power of an indestructible life because sin could not destroy Him. Sin had no claim on Him. Sin had no effect to separate Him from God. The power of an indestructible life is seen in the purity of Jesus. Secondly, we can see that the power of that indestructible life in Jesus is seen in the propitiation, in the sacrifice that he offers. The old priests offered sacrifice after sacrifice, many sacrifices every day, Sacrifices too numerous to count as the months and the years and the centuries had gone by. One can't even begin to calculate, I suspect, the amount of blood that had been spilled and poured out on the altar of burnt sacrifice in the temple in Jerusalem. But no matter how many sacrifices had been offered, no matter how much blood had been spilled, the next day there was need of more sacrifice. Because again, as the book of Hebrews tells us, the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. It was a symbol. It represented the problem of sin, but was not the true solution of sin. And so there may have been a kind of glory to be able to go up to the temple in Jerusalem and see the sacrifices being offered, but those sacrifices were ultimately ineffectual. They could not take away sin. But Jesus, we are told, offers up Himself. His own pure life. Once for all. In His death on the cross, all the sins of His people are paid for. All the wrath of God against the sin of His people is turned away. No further sacrifice is necessary indeed. No further sacrifice could be imagined. What would supplement the sacrifice of the Son of God, the pure Son of God? He offered Himself for sinners on the cross once for all. That's a statement repeated in the book of Hebrews. Once for all, that one sacrifice finishes all the need of sacrifice for His people. What a priest! no priest in all the history of mankind could come close to fulfilling what our Jesus did once for all He offered Himself on the cross and it was all done it was all paid for and by the power of that indestructible life He offered Himself up to God on the cross and death could not hold Him death could not destroy Him but the power of that indestructible life meant that even after that sacrifice was offered, He lived again for us, for our salvation. Death could not hold Him. Death could not conquer Him. But the power of an indestructible life, the sacrifice having been offered, raised Him up again. And then the power of that indestructible life in His priesthood is to be seen in His permanence as priest for us. That's the point perhaps most stressed here in chapter 7. He's a priest forever. He's a priest who never dies. One of the weaknesses of the old priesthood is that as the years went by, the priest died. Sort of what's true of ministers, isn't it? They get old and sort of tired out and retire, leave you. I'm beginning to feel that way. I've been here 24 years. I was young. I look at some of the young men in the congregation, I think, I looked like that once. And like most people my age, when I get up in the morning, if I don't put on the glasses, I still think I look pretty good. Then you put on the glasses and it's sort of a shock. It's the human condition, isn't it? We age. We grow older. We die. And the place where we lived remembers us no more, Psalm 103 says. I can remember when I was a kid driving around my hometown, Northern California, Alameda, my grandmother. We'd pass house after house. She'd say, that's Major Tilden's house. This would have been in the 50s, you know. I said, oh, how is Major Tilden? Well, he's been dead about 40 years. So that had been about 1910 when Major Tilden died. But that was always Major Tilden's house. Today, I drive by that house. I still think of Major Tilden. I don't think anybody else in town still thinks about Major Tilden. When I'm gone, so will Major Tilden be. But Hebrews 7 is saying there is a permanence to Jesus Christ. He's not a priest who dies. He's not a minister who retires. He is a priest forever. And in being a priest forever, he is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Psalm 110, verse 4. God had said, there will come a day when I will raise up for you my people a priest, a priest after the order of Melchizedek. I've often wondered what the Old Testament saints made of that. I suspect they scratched their heads and they weren't really very sure. Melchizedek was a Gentile. Melchizedek doesn't feature very prominently except a few verses in the book of Genesis. What can the Lord have had in mind when it says that He would raise up a priest after the order of Melchizedek? Well, Hebrews helps us to see. It's a priest who isn't descended from Levi and from Aaron, but it's a king priest descended from Judah. Our Lord Jesus Christ, because Psalm 110, as you know, begins with the words, The Lord has said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand. Sit as my king. God is promising a priest king in Psalm 110. A priest king who will reign and serve forever. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The old priests all died. Only one priest, only one priest, by the power of an indestructible life, lives forever. Our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he's the only priest after the order of Melchizedek. He's the only sacrifice we need. He's the only priest we need. And Hebrews 7 wonderfully highlights the fact he lives forever to intercede for us. He lives forever to pray for us, to care for us, to watch over us, to provide for us. you know, the old priests, they prayed when they went to the temple for the people. And the people could rejoice in that sense of the priest being in the temple praying for the people. But when they left the temple, that intercession came to an end. And what Hebrews 7 is saying is, in the endless life of our Lord, In the power of His indestructible life, He ever lives to intercede for us. We're told here He has gone into the Holy of Holies in the heavenly temple and He has been seated there as the king priest at the right hand of God and that means He is ever there in the presence of God. And His wounds are there pleading for us. There is never a moment when His wounds don't plead for us in the presence of God. There is never a moment when he is not knowing and concerned about our needs as his people. Do you sometimes feel that maybe the Lord has forgotten you? Or the Lord has neglected you? I saw Matthew DeYoung walk into church this morning. Maybe he's asleep by now, so he won't feel picked on. And there he was with his two arms in casts, and I thought to myself, how hasn't that family had enough to deal with? Maybe they wonder if the Lord has forgotten them. Maybe we all wonder, is the Lord caring for us? Does the Lord have so much important work to do in running the universe? But occasionally we get a little overlooked, just our little lives. And what Hebrews 7 is saying, no, the Lord never forgets. The Lord never overlooks. Our Lord Jesus Christ lives forever as a priest in the presence of God in the heavenly temple where he cares for us, where he knows for us, where he prays for us. So what are you struggling with? The Lord bears that up. Jesus bears that up in the power of his indestructible life before God. My great-grandmother lived to be 91, very pious Methodist. She didn't have a good doctrine of providence, though. She used to rock in her rocking chair and say, the Lord's forgotten to call me. I've lived too long. The Lord doesn't forget. He doesn't call too soon. He doesn't call too late. He doesn't give us more than we can bear because Christ is interceding for us. He ever lives. Time could not destroy Him. Sin could not destroy His purity. Death could not hold His life. Time cannot remove Him as our intercessor. He ever lives in the power of His indestructible life. And because that power guarantees the success of His priesthood, we know it also guarantees the salvation of His people. That power of his life means that we are a perfected people. Now, what can that mean? That's what Hebrews 7 says at several points. We are a perfect people. Now, the trouble is, I've been here 24 years, and you know me, and I know you, and we know that's not true morally, right? We are a people who every week, every day, have to confess our sins. So what does perfection mean in this context? What is it that Christ has done for our salvation that enables Him to say we are a perfect people? It means we are a completed people. All that needs to be done for our salvation has been done in our Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing you need to add. There is nothing you need to contribute. There is nothing left undone that you must add to what will save us. in Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25, we read, Therefore He is able to save completely, or as the old translation put it, He is able to save to the uttermost, fully completed. He has fully completed our salvation. He has done it all. and so not only is his priesthood a success but his people are saved it's guaranteed he's the guarantor of a new covenant and what a blessing that is that salvation is complete in Christ and because it is complete over and over again the book of Hebrews says so draw near draw near don't stand far off don't feel far away from God draw near and that expression is particularly powerful and particularly telling because all of the sons of Israel no matter how pious they were could not draw near into the holy place could not draw near into the most holy place in the temple They had to stand afar off. And Hebrews 7 is saying to all of us, we have a better covenant. We have a better priest who says to us, draw near. Draw near to your God. You're not far from God. You're near to God. Chapter 10, verses 19 and following of Hebrews says, we by faith enter the most holy place. that's the privilege that's ours in the new covenant we can come into the heavenly temple to the very presence of God as Jesus is there for us he invites us to come and be there with him that's our hope that's our confidence the word hope resonates through this passage we don't have to be fearful we don't have to be doubtful we don't have to be separated we don't have to be wondering but filled with hope we may draw near to God in our Lord Jesus Christ to be there fellowshipping with Him what a privilege what a privilege is ours and so the whole book of Hebrews echoes with the reminder not to neglect the privilege that is ours in Jesus Christ. I jotted down some of the contrast that Hebrews draws throughout the book. Listen, don't neglect. Hold fast, don't fall away. Believe, don't disbelieve. Obey, don't disobey. Endure, don't shrink back. Be earnest, don't be sluggish. Be mature, don't be childish. draw near don't drift away and that's the privilege that is ours that we can listen that we can hold fast that we can believe that we can obey that we can endure that we can be earnest and mature above all that we can draw near in hope to Jesus Christ because of the power of his indestructible life. He never sleeps. He never forgets. He never neglects. Think how long his prayer list is. But he prays for each one by name. That's the power of an indestructible life. That's the power, the resurrection power of our Lord Jesus Christ and because of that we can confess with Hebrews 10 15 therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance as his life is never ending so will ours be in him that's the success of his priesthood that's the salvation of his people may God grant that it is the faith of each one of us Amen let us pray O Lord our God how we do thank you for the resurrection life of our Lord Jesus Christ a life that is indestructible indestructible in the priesthood that he fulfilled for us indestructible in the salvation that he has provided for us O Lord help us to draw near help us to be filled with hope in believing help us to rest in Christ and his finished work hear us for we pray in his name Amen