Well, I invite you to turn this morning to the book of Hebrews as we continue and return to our study in this wonderful book. And as they say, we are now in the thick of it. Chapter 7 is a thick chapter and an important chapter. So we've already looked at Melchizedek last time in the first 10 verses. Today we will look at verses 11 through 19 and next week conclude chapter 7. And we're moving to an understanding of now contrasting the old covenant and the new covenant so that we would have a good understanding of those two covenants and that we would appreciate them as they were and understand the blessing of living in the new covenant. Think of what he said already in chapter 2. How should we neglect if we neglect so great a salvation? Well, you live in the best time ever. And I think we have to keep that in front of us and the times we live that are difficult. We live in the best time ever. And that's how all the authors of the New Testament see it. And we should appreciate that for what we see. So I'm going to read this morning verses 11 through 19. This is the word of the Lord, page 1191 in your Bibles, Hebrews chapter 7. Now, if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, What further need would there have been for another priest to rise after the order of Melchizedek rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belong to another tribe from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord has descended from Judah and in connection with that tribe moses said nothing about priests this becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of melchizedek who has become a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent but by the power of an indestructible life for it is witnessed of him you are a priest forever after the order of melchizedek for on the one hand a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness for the law made nothing perfect but on the other hand a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to god and there we'll stop on the reading of god's word well the challenge uh in preaching hebrews is that much of what the author is doing here in describing the priesthood for us is so far disconnected from us. It's just hard to appreciate its relevance in the 21st century. That's hard. Think about how much time has passed since this was written to first century Christians, Hebrew Christians, who understood so carefully and had a long history of appreciating these things that for us coming to Hebrews, and I've talked to more pastors that said, and I felt the same way for a long time. It's a book I wanted to do a little later in ministry after I've grown a while because it's not an easy book to preach for this very reason. And it takes thought and it takes effort. But for Hebrew Christians in the first century, understanding the priesthood and appreciating the priesthood was part and parcel to life. They knew this and they appreciated this. And I think it does function as a real test for us of our commitment to God's Word and loving the Word of God in the very things that God inspired by the Spirit to be for our spiritual benefit. It intrigues me that though, he said even in the first century, on this particular point, they were dull of hearing. They were disinterested. For some reason, it was much more attractive to them to not look to Jesus, but the old covenant priesthood. And the author of Hebrews sees that not just as a matter of choices but as a deep spiritual problem. And I don't think our problem is much different today in this regard. The modern ideas for us, the modern idea of a priesthood as we modern people are, that just seems completely archaic and unnecessary. But for every Christian, for many even in the church today, you think about it, the reason the subject is uninteresting is because we think we can just come to God without one. We don't even really appreciate why we need it. Sure, we say Jesus is a priest, but have we really understood it? And have we really understood the necessity of a priesthood? It was Charles Spurgeon who said years ago, We're told that we can come boldly to the throne of grace. the reality is that no longer means anything to anyone. Everyone comes boldly. So what does the priesthood mean? We just think God accepts us as we are. And if we look at answers today on what the gospel is, many people think that God will accept them because they're generally good and because the good has outweighed the bad and that their moral lives are generally good people. They're not like the bad people out there. that on that basis their own life is like the priesthood for which they think God will accept them. Our problem today is that, that we have to think through again the necessity and understand the importance of the priesthood. It's always been this way in history. It's built into us because of the fall, since God has put eternity into our hearts, that someone's not real happy. This is the basis upon which someone like the Aztecs had a priesthood. By nature, they understood they needed a priesthood. They did not have the written code. And they understood every year as they would take a young girl up there on the top of the pyramids and they would take an obsidian knife and they would cut out the beating heart and they would offer it to the sun god Ra and they would kick the body down the stairs for everyone to see. Built in. Somebody needs to be appeased. Whether it's Islam today that cherishes performance of acts to appease Allah. Whether it's the Hindus who say you have to wash away your corruption in the river. Millions get in there together. Well, never figured out how that really cleanses anyone, but But whether it's serving the earth today, we need to look at things a little bit differently. We're talking about stewardship, but whether it's saving the earth, whose prerogative is it to save the earth? It's God's. But they're sacrifices they're making. People are making sacrifices in these areas. These are built in religion. that's what's lived out in front of you a priesthood is lived out in front of you every day of people who are sacrificing their lives for causes well the problem for these early Christians was that the Christian religion seemed to offer a priesthood an invisible priesthood with a priesthood that was totally irrelevant for the problems that they were actually facing in life there's the power of this thing he's a sightless priest he's an invisible priest he's an absent priest and so they said we need to go back to what we can see we want to go back to the levitical priesthood we think that's a better answer to our hardship so so i think you see that that no matter where we are moderns or not everyone understands the necessity for a priesthood it's built in The question is what you're serving and who you're looking to as a priest. Well, the author has one great point today, that the priesthood now, the Levitical priesthood, is totally invalid and they are now to appreciate the priesthood of Christ and if they turn away from it, that would mean they're turning away from everything the Levitical priesthood was a shadow of. So that's the heart of what we're considering today, looking carefully at the better priesthood of Jesus and as he is the better priest and that he gives us a better hope. There's your three points. If you wanted me to be creative, I think I accomplished it. Better priesthood, a better priest, and a better hope. That's what the author is doing here. So with those basic points, we're looking at the priesthood of Jesus that we would live in hope and confidence of what it means for us in this present age. It does have application for this present age. It's important for this present age. It's as relevant as can be for the present age. And that's what I hope by God's grace to show you. You remember last time this figure was introduced, Melchizedek, into this discussion, introducing the priesthood of Christ. And the author has been working and continues to work from Psalm 110 to say that it was always the case, even before the Levitical priesthood was established, that God had put in place that a priest would come of an entirely different order. Entirely different order. And this figure taught us about that. It taught us about him. It showed us Jesus. He was the king of Salem, of Jerusalem, a priest of righteousness, and unique in every way. We don't know where he came from. He was never entered into the record. He had no beginning of days or end of life. That's totally uncharacteristic of how a priest was ever recorded in the Old Testament. There was no family lineage of this guy. He just popped into the scene of history and he popped out and the author said, that's how I want you to understand the eternality of the true priesthood of Jesus, That he's eternal. He is like. He was represented in the record of Genesis in this way to show us Jesus, to make to resemble Jesus. And the whole point was to say up front, the priesthood of Jesus is absolutely unique throughout history. All these priesthoods, all these sacrifice and offering. And if you ever want to go study the history of sacrifice and offering, It is something of what people did to construct a priesthood in all cultures at all times. Well, that's where he begins in verse 11 to tie all this together to say with this problem that they're having, if perfection had been attainable, notice this, through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek rather than one named after the order of Aaron obviously the crucial word in this discussion the crucial word in this passage is perfection and he's working with a theme one great theme to help you to hold on to it's the theme of that is captured at the end of verse 19 we have a better hope through which we draw near to god there's the what we call motif that hebrews's work how do we draw near to god and if you connect that with that word up front he's simply saying something very important that perfection was not achieved in drawing near to God. That's what he's saying to us in the Old Covenant. And he's working with that. Did the people actually draw near to God in the Old Testament? Well, yes and no. By faith, yes. But it depended. He mentions that under the Levitical priesthood, people receive the law and then in verse 12 he says that since the priesthood is changed there's a change of law that's an interesting statement makes a lot of people very nervous today especially theonomists because it just doesn't work for their system by the way he ties the levitical priesthood to the administration of the law. Why? The whole exodus coming to Sinai administration. I think it's a very simple point that he's making. One that I tried to capture for you in the reading of the law today. Did the law ever accomplish salvation? And how much problem throughout Jewish history was there with regard to the law? Well, this was Jesus' whole battle in his earthly ministry, wasn't it? And the principle of the law was very clear. The man who does these things shall live by them. So if you want to attain heaven, if you have perfection and you keep the commandments of the Lord, do this and you'll live. That's the standard. But there was a great problem. They never understood the intention of the law. So Paul says in Romans chapter 9, they tried to establish their own righteousness through the law. And the law was given for what great purpose? Well, this is what Jesus was running up against all the time. You put your trust in Moses. You guys look to Moses, but you don't look to the example of Abraham. Sure, they trusted, they loved Abraham, but it was Moses where they found their righteousness. It's a huge problem today. It's the same problem today that many think that on that day, think of how important of an issue this is, beloved. We're talking about eternal issues here. We're talking about us soon to stand before the God of heaven and earth who's holy and righteous. And there are still many to this day who think in the church that their standing before God has to do with conformity to the law. How well they've done. They still think that. You know how hard that is to pull that out of us? Think of the older brother last week in the parable of the prodigal son. It was a really interesting thing which Jesus did. What did the older brother in the house say to the father? How dare you give grace? I've always kept your commandments. Well, there's the problem. They missed the purpose of the law. So what the law was intended to do, and there were people who understood this, was awaken the people to a need for a sacrifice for sins. Right? They needed to be awakened to the need for a sacrifice. So the whole priesthood was attached through the giving of the law to help them understand this. The priesthood served that administration of the law. In other words, you're an Old Testament saint. You've rightly heard the law. Let's assume for a minute you've rightly heard the law and you did what David said, God be merciful to me, a sinner, and you've realized God is dangerous. I mean, this is what happened when the law was given. They said, don't even let him speak. He's dangerous. And it was announced what God requires. God required a perfect lamb without spot to be offered on the altar. A burnt offering that God required. But there was a problem with this setup. It's really simple. It was not perfect. That's what he says up front. If perfection could be attained through this, it couldn't. What does that mean? Something very simple. Were the people to trust an animal? Were the people to put their confidence in a bull? Were the people to think that God's wrath was satisfied by bull's blood? Well, that's what the law commanded. You see? That's what the law commanded. So there's a problem. If you go back to that priesthood, you go back to that law, and that administration never saved that way. Did an earthly priest ever accomplish salvation for the people in that administration? You see, it's not hard. When God at the beginning killed an animal in the Garden of Eden, and he shed blood and he covered, Adam tried to cover himself with fig leaves, and God shed blood and he covered him with animal skins. You see the problem. Was it all good there? Did that accomplish it? Well, if they want to go back to that, you're looking to an administration that can't actually bring in perfection and bring you into favor with God. This is all it's saying to us. The blood of bulls and goats was insufficient to forgive sins. That's what he's going to say in chapter 9. Further, they didn't get all that close to God in that administration. In the tabernacle, you remember, you had the holy place, and then you had this huge six-inch thick veil that sealed off the most holy place, and then you had a front veil, and then you had a series of things. Only the high priest could enter the most holy place once a year, and they say, going backward. Well, did that bring in perfection? The Old Testament saints were involved in a priesthood, to say this very carefully, beloved, that was a shadow of better things to come. It was not fulfilled, it was not complete, it was not perfect. If it could actually have achieved the forgiveness of sins, why in the world are we talking about another priesthood, says the author, that did not belong to Aaron. Notice Melchizedek, all of it was temporary. temporary imperfect designed to teach us of something better the whole administration the entire administration of the law was intended to do what teach us the need for jesus the priesthood was temporary to tell people to look forward to jesus by faith and that's what the author is saying he's a better priest he's the best priest he's the only true priest in all this history of sacrifice and offering. And the Jews had the written code. That was the one that told the truth of the priesthood. But in all this history of sacrifice and offering, here's the one. And what it means is there's a better priesthood and a change of law. That's what he says here. All that is very clear in studying Israel that they failed and the former principle of keeping the law as a way of salvation, in other words, if they thought they could, this all made it clear that they failed. And it did not bring it in. What he's saying is something very clear. The Mosaic administration is over as a way of drawing near people to God because it couldn't accomplish it. That's all. That's why we should look to Abraham and what he saw when he looked at Melchizedek. And that takes us to Jesus. He says there's a change of priesthood and law. He's saying not that the moral law is over. Let me make that very clear. He's not saying that. What he's saying is, is that the old covenant priesthood regulated by the Mosaic law as a way of drawing near to God was insufficient, not complete, couldn't accomplish the forgiveness of sins that looked to Jesus. So Jesus is the better priest. That's what Hebrews is saying. Better than the old covenant. it's evident, he says, that our Lord descended from where? The tribe of Judah. And in connection with that tribe, Moses didn't give any instruction in the law. And that becomes more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, which we just studied, who has become a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent. That was strict laws for priests in the law. Bodily descent. Melchizedek didn't have that, remember? but this one came by the power of an indestructible life. Whoa. An indestructible life. Remember when the temple, when Jesus said it's finished, remember what happened? The finger of God touched the top of that veil, which no man could rip and it went and the thing opened right up and everyone was exposed announcing that nearness to god had actually been accomplished through the death of jesus and that's what he's making the point that's the priesthood you need if you walked up to a priest in the old testament and said how do I get to draw near to God? They would say, well, here's the commandments. Here's a series of rituals, incense burning, stuff. By the way, it's no different from the Roman Catholic system of the altar. Same thing. If you talk to people today, How do you draw near to whoever you think is God? You've got to lay down your life. You've got to do these causes. God had always planned that from the beginning, Jesus would come from a tribe the law never commanded, from Judah, that his priesthood would be like Melchizedek's, a priesthood the law never commanded as a priest outside of Levi. You get to come near to God, beloved. Now listen to me. See what Jesus was running up against? Hand washings. Hands have to be clean. You get to come to God, not by all these rules. You come to God because the priest through which you are coming is the one who has the power of an indestructible life. He actually died as the Lamb of God. And he rose victorious. And his life is indestructible. And it's not regulated by the old covenant, which was temporary. He defeated mortality. And he has life in himself. And you draw near to God, who actually forgives your sins. You see? He actually does it. He actually accomplishes it. It's perfection. Now, do you see the blessing of all this? the author is challenging them to appreciate a better hope what would be the consequences of that that's how he ends today where he says in verse 19 a better hope is introduced why would you ever look to that let me spend a few moments then to close on the practical implications of this here's the reason worship is so special that we have fought the great battle within the church because we haven't liked worshiping in spirit and in truth. We want to see. We want something more powerful. But to engage in spirit and truth worship is just not as exciting for us. But listen to what the New Testament is saying to us. Therefore, brothers, put it together now. Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, where are you right now? You have passed from the outer court to the Gentiles. You've walked right in. You've passed the altar of incense. You have come into the holy place. You've eaten the show bread. You've been given light, lampstand, and now you are right into the most holy place. Right now, in worship. That's what he's saying to you. Did they do that in the Old Covenant? Since, therefore, you have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way, not the old law, the new and living way, which he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh. Since we have a great priest over the house of God, what do we do? Your whole attitude to worship has to change. It's just got to change. You need to draw near with a true heart. in full assurance of faith isn't that amazing that god wants you to live in full assurance of faith with your hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience i want that gone that's what's been done for you you no longer have that conscience that fear of dread it's gone it's it's washed i've sprinkled your hearts when we sprinkle baptism it's a symbol of the sprinkling of hearts by the Holy Spirit of the blood of Christ that washes away all your sins. Because you're washed with pure water. See, it's actual. It's perfect. What does He want from you? Faith. Confidence in Him. You're coming right into the presence of God. All the angels are here right now. Do you know that? The angels are here. God is here. It's this chilling thought. You're into the presence of the holy place. The veil has been torn in two. You're before the face of God. What is that face like to you? How am I going to end this service today? The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you. What? The Lord turn his smiling face upon you in this life. Because you're right before it. Not me. In spirit and in truth. It's a smiling face. Are there any here who struggle with assurance? This is what the author is saying. You can be assured. I'm for you. Your bodies. Think about this. You are now kings and priests to your God. You're all coming. You're all brought in. You have purified conscience. Are you torn by sin, by doubt, by struggles, by troubles? He has sprinkled you clean. There's no condemnation. When Satan came to accuse Joshua the high priest, God says, look at him, I've clothed him. What are you doing? Get out of here. Second, you have boldness in this life because he's your priest's king. Think of what Hebrews says. He ever lives to make intercession for you. And this world is full of problems right now. You know, Dr. Clark gave a good sermon the other night on what's coming. I just saw this week, Al Mohler had a report this week of a school out east, a Christian school. And he said, the hour is coming where we're going to know where every Christian college stands, what every Christian school teaches, and whether these institutions will take a stand for biblical truth or collapse into the monoblog of progressive ideologies. What happened? A teacher taught on the basic biblical norms of creation and human sexuality, and someone from in the school went and told the LGBT plus community, and it blew up on them. Mueller says the greatest enemies today in Christian education are not secular powers, but the spineless agents of surrender within. What do we need? in this age more than ever right now? Boldness. Remember when Stephen was being stoned? Behold, stones are hitting him. I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. I could have never imagined that this would be possible, but it's very possible in our times that this could be coming. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they were stoning Stephen. He called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. You know what the imagery is? Jesus, who is seated, got up to receive him into heaven. What's the worst thing they could do? Jesus is saying to us, don't be fearful in this age of the truth. Don't be afraid of these fools. Your high priest awaits the appointed time for you to enter into glory. So come with boldness and live with boldness. And finally, I close with this. Your future is certain. he wants you to live knowing the oldest past and the new has come since he has life in himself eternal life is given to you nothing can take that from you that that means if you die you go to be with him and you're in his presence and you have the absolute hope of the resurrection of the body to come in a glorified body in a new heavens and a new earth it's a certain hope it's an anchor for the soul. His blood has taken away your sins. This is light and life and hope to fulfill your callings in this life and to stop all the fear. There's nothing you have to be afraid of. He's ordering everything. He's standing in control. He is your high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. And that means you need nothing more to be right with god so enjoy your lives listen to me i know it's hard but enjoy your lives under this gracious priest king this is true hope in this life you don't have to work anymore to have pleasure with god in other words for god to be pleased with you it's done you are accepted on the basis of his indestructible life. That's why you're justified by faith. So believe in him and trust in him. For he himself, as we're about to come to, has spoken. What has he said? I promise, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for a wonderful text today that encourages us and that helps us to understand something that in the history of the scriptures and life has been difficult for people to grasp but i pray that it would be clear that your spirit would make it clear to your people today and that we would understand this better priesthood and better priest and better hope that we enjoy in this life and we would have absolute confidence to know that we have peace with god through the blood of christ and have come directly into the most holy place thank you for salvation encourage your sheep and bless them with strength and boldness in this life as they fulfill their callings and help us when we sin for we sin regularly and lift us back up and set us on the rock who is christ in jesus name we pray amen