1. "The law can guide us, but it can't empower us to obey it. For that, we need God's Spirit. So long as our religion is fundamentally our reaching up to God, it will never save us. We are not salvable by our own efforts. Even if they're religious."

2. "Friends, in that sense, the temple worship was like a prescription you get from your doctor. But it's not the medicine. You don't just need the prescription. You need to take the prescription and go get it filled and take the medicine. These people were thinking about trading in the medicine to go get a copy of the prescription again."

3. "The Levitical priests down the street weren't offering this to sinners. Jesus Christ gives us a better hope, with a better covenant, that he has enacted in his own death and resurrection."

4. "I would warn you, but I would also challenge you, if you want to be a good historian, see how the Christian church got started. Something has happened. And my non-Christian friend, with all deference and respect towards you, you don't understand that. You have no good answer."

5. "Note that the alternative to the religion that didn't work, which is the Levitical priests, was not no religion. And it wasn't self-religion. It's the right religion. The Levitical priests being unable to help didn't mean that no priest could help or that we could do it ourselves."

6. "He never vacates His office by death. His term is never up. He's able to save to the uttermost, to the last moment, all of us entirely, completely, and to keep doing this forever."

7. "Consider that even when you're not spending time praying yourself, Christ has been praying for you. He is faithful. He is interceding with our heavenly Father. That's so much more important than you're having your quiet time."

8. "Brothers and sisters, whatever temptations you're facing today, however dark your way may seem, you don't have to worry. Just keep holding on. Jesus will always make a way. The Lord knows what you need, and He has provided it supremely in Jesus."

9. "Family ties will secure no one a place in heaven. Physical descent from Abraham or from Levi or from a ten-generation line of pastors is not the point. Our being related to Christ by faith is the only way to a restored relationship with God."

10. "It's not your own obedience you must rely on, but His. It's not your own piety you must rely on, but His. Only through Him can we come near to God."

Observation Questions

1. According to Hebrews 7:11-12, what does the author say would have been unnecessary if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood, and what change does a new priesthood necessitate?

2. In Hebrews 7:13-14, from which tribe did Jesus descend, and what does the author note about Moses' teaching regarding priests from that tribe?

3. What does Hebrews 7:16 say is the basis of Jesus' priesthood, in contrast to the "legal requirement concerning bodily descent"?

4. According to Hebrews 7:20-22, what distinguishes the way Jesus was made a priest from the way former priests were appointed, and what does this make Jesus?

5. In Hebrews 7:24-25, why does Jesus hold His priesthood permanently, and what is He consequently able to do for those who draw near to God through Him?

6. How does Hebrews 7:26-27 describe the character of Jesus as High Priest, and how does His offering differ from that of the Levitical high priests?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does the author argue that the existence of a priest "after the order of Melchizedek" (rather than Aaron) demonstrates the insufficiency of the Levitical priesthood for bringing people to spiritual perfection?

2. What is the significance of Jesus having "an indestructible life" (v. 16) for understanding the nature and permanence of His priestly ministry compared to the priests who served at the temple?

3. The sermon emphasized that the law "made nothing perfect" (v. 19) but pointed forward to something better. How does this help us understand the purpose of the Old Testament sacrificial system and its relationship to Christ?

4. How does the divine oath in Psalm 110:4, quoted in Hebrews 7:21, strengthen the assurance believers can have in Jesus as the guarantor of a "better covenant"?

5. What does it mean that Jesus "always lives to make intercession" for His people (v. 25), and why is this ongoing ministry essential for those who draw near to God through Him?

Application Questions

1. The sermon asked, "What do you think will give you a right relationship with God?" What are you most tempted to rely on besides Christ alone—family heritage, moral effort, religious activity, or something else—and how can you actively redirect your trust to Jesus this week?

2. Knowing that Jesus is always interceding for you even when your own prayer life feels weak or inconsistent, how might this truth change the way you approach God in prayer and the confidence with which you live each day?

3. The passage warns against trading the "medicine" of Christ for the mere "prescription" of religious ritual. In what specific ways might you be tempted to substitute outward religious practices for genuine reliance on Christ, and what would it look like to repent of that?

4. The sermon highlighted that Christ's priesthood brings "a better hope through which we draw near to God." How can you encourage a fellow believer this week who may be struggling with doubt or discouragement by pointing them to the permanence and sufficiency of Jesus' priestly work?

5. If Jesus is the only way sinners can draw near to God, how does this shape the urgency and content of the conversations you have with non-Christians in your life about who Jesus is and what He has done?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Genesis 14:17-20 — This passage records the original appearance of Melchizedek, the king-priest who blessed Abraham and received a tithe from him, establishing the pattern that Hebrews uses to show Christ's superior priesthood.

2. Psalm 110:1-7 — This messianic psalm, quoted repeatedly in Hebrews, declares that the coming King would also be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, foundational to understanding Jesus' unique role.

3. Isaiah 53:1-12 — This prophecy describes the suffering servant who would bear the sins of many and make intercession for transgressors, fulfilled in Jesus' sacrificial and intercessory ministry.

4. Romans 8:31-39 — Paul affirms that Christ Jesus, who died and was raised, is at the right hand of God interceding for us, reinforcing the assurance that nothing can separate believers from God's love.

5. Hebrews 10:1-18 — This passage further develops the contrast between the repeated, ineffective sacrifices of the old covenant and Christ's single, perfect sacrifice that perfects those who are being sanctified.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Opening Illustration and Introduction to the Question of Priesthood

II. Jesus Is Not the Old Kind of Priest—He Is of Judah, Not Levi (Hebrews 7:11-14)

III. Jesus Is a Different Kind of Priest—Like Melchizedek with an Indestructible Life (Hebrews 7:15-17)

IV. Jesus Is a Better Priest—Bringing Better Hope Through a Better Covenant (Hebrews 7:18-22)

V. Jesus Is a Permanent Priest Who Can Save Completely and Forever (Hebrews 7:23-28)

VI. Application: What Do You Think Will Give You a Right Relationship with God?

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Detailed Sermon Outline

The story is told of an Anglican minister who told an elderly parishioner that he would be leaving the parish soon, but he assured her, you,'ll probably get a better priest to follow me. Oh, not necessarily, she replied. That's what the last one said before he went.

What do you think of when you think of a priest? It really depends, doesn't it? I mean, you think of somebody preaching a sermon? Well, in Greece, in Greek Orthodox churches, it's usually only the bishops that preach sermons, not priests. Or maybe you're more old school.

You think of incense and sacrifices, like a calf that's been fatted up to be offered. Various groups have changed their rules for their priests. In Western Europe, many decided to follow the bishops of Rome and forbid priests to marry, while in the Eastern Mediterranean priests never did that. And the East priests have always and have always been free to marry and have married. Marriage is common among them.

Or maybe you think of priests from long ago who became famous by exchanging their Roman priesthood for being Bible preachers, like Ulrich Zwingli. In Zurich. With the rise of Christianity in first century Jerusalem, many changes happened among the priests who were in the great Jewish temple there. We read in Acts chapter 6 verse 7, and the Word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Imagine preaching every Sunday to a church filled with former Levitical priests who knew the Law and had for years and decades fulfilled the sacrificial commands.

The priesthood was a matter of both interest and confusion among so many of those early Jewish believers. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:9 to the Christians in general, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession. Peter was really following the teaching of Jesus there very carefully. Do you remember the text Jesus used for His first recorded sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth? It's from Isaiah 61, which is a prophecy of great goodness to come to God's people at the end of time, where the Spirit of the Lord taught the Israelites that in the future, I'm quoting from Isaiah 61, you shall be called the priests of the Lord.

They shall speak of you as the ministers of our God. So Isaiah was prophesying that the blessings would come and when they came, the Lord's favor and salvation would finally come upon all of his people. And that's the passage that Jesus had actually preached in the synagogue at Nazareth, saying, Today this is fulfilled in your hearing. So Peter had been alerted early on to the blessings that had come to God's people in Christ's coming. And Jesus had taught that his return to heaven would trigger then pouring out his own Spirit upon his followers.

And that happened. They would be transformed into a whole nation of priests. And what happened at Pentecost? But the Spirit was poured out, and the Christians became as a whole a royal priesthood. So Peter could write to the early Christians, he was instructing them, saying that they're all priests now.

And yet we can see from the warnings that are in this letter to the Hebrews that we've been studying in the New Testament that some were thinking about falling away from this Christian priesthood that all Christians share, and going back to the familiar ancient Levitical priests, Levitical meaning from Levi, the tribe of Levi, going back to the Levitical priests at the temple. And so the New Testament letter to the Hebrews was written, comparing Jesus to angels, even to Moses himself, and showing that Jesus is greater. And then in chapter 5 of Hebrews, he began to compare Jesus to the high priest in the temple to show that Jesus was greater, but he seemed to feel that he was getting ahead of himself when he remembered that that some people there seemed to understand so little of what Christ had done for sinners that they were thinking about going back to the temple priests as if that was equally as good or maybe even better. So our writer in Hebrews 5 verse 11 diverted and throughout the rest of chapter 5 and all of chapter 6 he warned them sternly and he showed them Jesus as their sure and steadfast anchor much more than any earthly high priest. And this is where our writer in chapter 6 verse 20 mentions Melchizedek.

Now we thought last week about Melchizedek, studying the first half of chapter 7. And Melchizedek, I don't know if you're here again, but one friend came up to me at the door and told me his name was, in fact, Melchizedek. So Melchizedek, if you're here again, you're very welcome here. We will talk about you some more today. This is the King-Priest Melchizedek, the one I'm talking about in the Bible.

Recorded appearance in history of God's people in Genesis 14:17-20. Basically Melchizedek was a king who was also a priest of the most high God. He comes out and he blesses Abraham in the name of God and Abraham paid tribute to God by paying Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils that he had just got rescuing his relative Lot in a military victory. So the author of the Hebrews follows Jesus' teaching in pointing out the crucial nature of King David's Psalm 110. In order to understand who Jesus is.

And that psalm also gives some inspired interpretation about Melchizedek, and Melchizedek's even more important heir. So our author, Holy Spirit-inspired Jesus modeled brilliance, has found the man in the Old Testament to whom Abraham paid religious tribute, thus implying the superiority of the priests in Melchizedek's order over any to come in Abraham's line, and that would include the Levites serving at the temple and the successors of Aaron, his high priest. So Melchizedek's priesthood, he argued in the first half of chapter 7 that we looked at last week, Melchizedek's priesthood is greater. Jesus' priesthood is in that order. It's not in the order of Aaron and the high priest down at the temple, but it's in the order of Melchizedek.

And the conclusion then, why he argues all this, is he's speaking to the people in the church there in Jerusalem. He's saying, why would you leave being under this priesthood, the priesthood of Jesus, to go back to that priesthood, the priesthood of Aaron? The whole point of which was to point to Jesus. Why would you do that? That's where we find ourselves this morning.

We're in Hebrews chapter 7 beginning at verse 11. If you're using the Bibles provided, that's on page 1,100. I would encourage you to take a Bible, even if you're not used to doing that. I think you'll be able to endure this next, let's call it vaguely a period of time, better. So if you'll just look down at the text, the large numbers are the chapter numbers, the small numbers are the verse numbers, and we're looking at chapter 7, which you'll see there on page 1004 in the Bible's provided, beginning at verse 11.

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 arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there's a change in the priesthood, there's necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it's evident that our Lord was 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 it was not without an oath, for those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever. This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. But he holds his priesthood permanently because He continues forever. Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a High Priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. He has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for the sins of those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, as high priests. But the word of the oath which came later than the law appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.

Friends, the life question that was driving people then and still does today is how can sinners like you and me draw near to God? What will give us a right relationship with God.

There's no way we can undo our sins. We can't make them vanish. We can't turn time back and have a redo.

We need someone to help us. We need a priest. But here's the question: what kind of priest? And for us, we especially want to know, what kind of priest is Jesus? I'll give you four answers in the text.

Number one, Jesus is not the old kind of priest, a Levite. He is of Judah. He's not the old kind of priest. This is verses 11 to 14.

Number two, Jesus is a different kind of priest, like Melchizedek. His life is indestructible. It's verses 15 to 17.

Number three, Jesus is a better priest. He's bringing a better hope through a better covenant. That's verses 18 to 22.

And fourth, Jesus is a permanent priest. Who can still save today. He can save us completely and forever. That's verses 23 to 28. I pray as we go through this section, your confidence in Christ will grow as you see Him as the one through whom you can draw near to our good God.

First, number one, Jesus is not the old kind of priest, a Levite, Jesus is of another tribe, the tribe of Judah. Look again at those first four verses. So starting at verse 11 in chapter 7, chapter 7 of Hebrews, verse 11.

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 arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there's a change in the priesthood, there's necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it's evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests. So the whole reason that King David in Psalm 110 had pointed out this other priesthood is because the Levitical priesthood that was serving in the tabernacles and then later in the temple, was insufficient for sinners.

Our author had started to get into this back in chapter 5. If you look back in chapter 5, verse 8, although he was a son, referring to Christ, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. But it's as if when he says Melchizedek, he remembers await in this church are all kinds of people who understand Jesus so poorly that they are thinking about trading him in for the temple priests. So they must not understand at all what Jesus has really done.

So I need to back up and explain some things. So he backs up in chapter 5:11 through 6, the end of chapter 6. He warns them and argues some basic things with them. And then at the end of chapter 6, he's back on this topic. You'll see, look at verse 19, 6:19.

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. It's as if he's saying, okay, if you really want to understand why Jesus is so great, why he is so much better than these priests in the line of Aaron, I've just got to explain Melchizedek to you. I know it's one of the deeper things of the faith, but here we go. And so he launched into what we got last week in the first half of chapter 7 and what he continues on and now. So this topic is pressing because of the failure of some of the church members in their faith as they're being tempted to go reinvest in their old positions spiritually.

There's no spiritual conclusion, no completion of spiritual maturing to be found under the ministrations of the Levitical priests of the temple, under the Levitical priesthood that's the sons of Levi, and particularly of Aaron who were ministering in the temple. Neither the people nor the priests were ever perfected. That priesthood and its laws were candles given by God to His people through the night until the sun of righteousness rose. Now Christ has risen, and the temple priests would have about as much use for these Christians as candles in broad daylight at high noon. Now, if you're here and you're not particularly religious, don't miss one simple fact in this portion of Scripture that we're reading.

Jesus' earthly origin from the tribe of Judah, that's a historical particularity about Jesus and his birth, that's significant in the argument that the author is making. So why do you care about that as a non-Christian? Well, because if you're curious about Jesus or Christianity at all, you see that Jesus is not just an idea. He's an historical personage. The Bible makes historical claims about Jesus.

So I, for one, was an agnostic when I was a young person. I was not religious. I was not certain there was a God. I was certainly not persuaded about Jesus. And one of the ways that I became a Christian, looking back on it, is by studying historically and looking particularly at the person of Jesus.

So I'm just telling you, if you want to understand Christianity more, you will not get very far looking at it as a philosophy. It's all centered around this historical person of Jesus. And arguments about Jesus and who he was actually in history, what he did, who he was born of, all of these things really matter. For understanding what Jesus himself did and what he claimed and taught. We see that here in this passage.

So you might want to think if you're looking into Christianity at all, what can I do to learn more about Jesus? And just a little piece of intellectual advice to you, pay particular attention to anything that surprises you, that doesn't fit in your worldview. So let's say you find out that you're convinced that Jesus really existed. There's just so much evidence. Okay, he existed.

That's fine. You're guessing he had two hands. That's great, okay? Nothing historically surprising about that. You probably don't need to spend a lot of time on that.

But if you find things about him that are claimed or that seem persuasive that are unusual, give more attention to that. Try to understand what those things would be and why. For all of the truths taught by the temple and the worship there, the holiness of God, his separation from sinners, the need for blood spilt, a substitutionary sacrifice for atonement, or the need for a mediator, a priest to bring us into his presence. We go on and on about lessons taught by the Levitical priesthood, by the temple. None of these needs were met by the temple worship.

Friends, in that sense, the temple worship was like a prescription you get from your doctor. But it's not the medicine. You don't just need the prescription. You need to take the prescription and go get it filled and take the medicine. These people were thinking about trading in the medicine to go get a copy of the prescription again.

That's not what they needed. The whole point of that was so they would take the medicine. Friends, the law can guide us, but it can't empower us to obey it. For that, we need God's Spirit. So long as our religion is fundamentally our reaching up to God, it will never save us.

We are not salvable by our own efforts. Even if they're religious. Thus this whole priesthood at the temple had always had another reason for being, to teach and to prepare the way by inculcating and illustrating the basic ideas of good and bad holiness and unholiness, sin and sacrifice and atonement by blood. One thing that their mediation, the first half of chapter, or their meditation rather, in the first half of chapter 7 would have shown was that there was now evidently a new priesthood, a new law, a new covenant. Just like the Mosaic Law had rested on the Levitical priesthood, Moses had taught these people, he called them out, he told them they had a special responsibility to teach the people the Law, so now this new covenant would be built on the priestly work of Jesus Christ.

The Torah had been transformed. Galatians 3:24 speaks of this change. The Law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. And Christ came, we're reminded in verse 13, from Judah's tribe.

And there's nothing in Moses' law about a priest coming from Judah's tribe. Now about Levi, one of the other tribes, Moses said, They shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law. And Exodus and Numbers recount God setting aside the tribe of Levi for priestly work. It was Levi's descendants who were to serve all the other tribes in teaching them God's law and leading them in their offerings and sacrifices, and particularly in Levi's Aaron and his sons had the high priestly line established and given to them, and it went down to the present day of the time this letter was written. Thus the author's clear statement about Jesus' lineage not being from Levi, but from Judah.

Because it seemed clear and indisputable that Jesus was acting in some ways as a priest, but yet he didn't fit into the Levitical priesthood. So they had to go looking. What could this be? A priest, but is not of Levi's lineage. See that there in verse 14.

So because Jesus is of the tribe of Judah, about which Moses said nothing priestly, and yet Jesus has clearly been made a priest, conclusion must be, there's another priesthood. Now I need to go find it. Where is it? And Jesus is shown to match the pattern of the priest Melchizedek, laid out in Genesis 14, as we thought of last week, and Psalm 110:4. Jesus is not the same kind of priest as those who were serving in the temple.

Their service by itself was bringing no one to God. That's the first thing to understand about the kind of priest that Jesus is. He is not another priest like the priest in the temple. He's not even in their line. All right, that's the first thing to understand about Jesus as a priest.

Let's go on to our second point, number two. Jesus is a different kind of priest. Similar to my first point, but not exactly the same. The first point is making clear he's not that. And now I'm going to positively say what he is, all right?

He's a priest like Melchizedek. His life is indestructible. That's the sign of that. Look there, verses 15 to 17. Chapter 7, verses 15 to 17.

This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest not on the basis of 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. So here, the author doesn't simply negate Jesus' identity saying that he's not a Levitical priest. But he's positively saying what kind of priest Jesus is. And he's drawing on the argument that he made last week in the first half of chapter 7.

He says here in verse 15, it wasn't just by his birth, but also by his death that Jesus marked out as a different kind of priest. You see in verse 15, he says, another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek. Maybe that's an allusion to the resurrection. Arises. The author has learned this, I'm guessing, from Jesus.

It was King David in Psalm 110 who really taught God's people about the significance of Melchizedek. Melchizedek as a pattern is not something this writer to the Hebrews made up. He's getting it from King David in Psalm 110:4. So we see in verse 16 that Jesus became a priest not on the basis of the normal descent from Levi as the law required, but Jesus became a priest by virtue of His heavenly descent, of having been incarnated killed at the cross, and then the Father having resurrected Him. And this is why His life there in verse 16 is said to be indestructible.

Going forward from the point of the resurrection on, His life is indestructible. And it's this that will allow for His ministry to always continue making intercession for His people. We'll think of more down in verse 25. So just as in Romans 1:4 Paul tells us that at Jesus' resurrection, God was declaring Jesus to be his Son. So we learn at Jesus' resurrection, God was perfecting and qualifying Jesus to serve as our great eternal High Priest.

We're not used to thinking of this dynamic nature of Jesus' ministry. We tend to flatten it all. But I think it's worthwhile just doing a quick road trip through Hebrews, okay? I'm gonna try to keep this very brief. I'm gonna refer to about seven different places.

But if you turn through with me and note it down. I think it'll help you, maybe this afternoon, if you look back through these verses. And some of these, most of these, we've already commented on. But just to remind you, go back to chapter 1 and look at verses 3 and 4. This is how he begins describing Christ.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Okay, what's weird to us in there is become and inherited. We think become, but he's always been better than the angels and inherited, but hasn't he always had this?

Yes and no. I mean, yes, Jesus is the eternal Son of God, Christ, the second person of the Trinity, existing forever, but he has has become incarnate. And he could not have fulfilled the prophecies to David about the great son who would be the king without becoming man. So the eternal Son of God could never fulfill those prophecies if he were not incarnated and became truly man. So he became a man.

And in that he then went through his ministry of identification with us fully, even to the point of death death on the cross. And then God raised him from the dead. And then the image that's used in Hebrews is he appears before his heavenly Father in the ascension bringing, as it were, his offering, the purification he's made. Then he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to the angels in this ministry of his. So ontologically, to speak philosophically, he's always been superior to the angels.

But in his ministry, he's now at this point when he comes in the ascension and presents the offering of himself to his heavenly Father, he's become superior. The angels don't do anything like that. The angels just fly around giving messages. That's all they do. Great messages, cool beings.

But Jesus is performing a much higher role, superior role, these angels. Okay, look in chapter 2, verse 10.

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. So again, this is talking about Jesus being made perfect through suffering. And it's not that he was a liar and a cheater and a thief, but then he suffered and he stopped doing those things, so he was made perfect. No, no, no. He was made perfect through suffering in the sense that through the suffering that he endured, he was completed in his incarnation and in his identification with us, in his humiliation.

And so therefore he could have the ministry of substitution that he had for us. And representation of us before His heavenly Father. And then over in chapter 4, verse 14, Since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Then that beloved verse 15, For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

So that throne of grace is that place we've seen in chapter 1, verses 3 and 4, where the Son is now seated, performing, as it were, before God eternally, this ministry of intercession for his people. And then over in chapter 5, verse 10, when he refers to Christ as being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, he's designated in this way when God raises him from the dead. That's when he takes on this resemblance to Melchizedek. And then, in verses we haven't gotten to yet, just two of them, chapter 8, verse 1, which we'll come to next time, chapter 8, verse 1. Now the point in what we're saying is this, ah, that's always a good thing to get.

So if you've been reading chapter 7, you're wondering, what is the point to all this? Ah, he tells you. If you'll just read the next sentence, he tells you. Now the point in what we're saying is this, we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven. So there he is, that's the one he's pointing us to.

And one last verse to point out, in chapter 10 is verse 12. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. So you see this, you have this idea of him offering the sacrifice on the cross, him being raised, and then in another sense, when he's ascended, he offers the sacrifice and that he presents it. To his heavenly Father, and that's when he begins to assume the messianic throne and fulfill all those promises of the one who would rule and reign. So it's in that flow then that we're to look at verses like chapter 7, verse 17, back in our passage.

For it is witnessed of him, you, are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now, he's after the order of Melchizedek because God has raised him from the dead, and he now has this indestructible life. A few implications of this. One, if the resurrection is so important, you're going to have to take time, Christian, to understand it yourself and to explain it. And that means you need to be willing to spend time talking to others about it.

And for you, if you're here and you're not a Christian, I can just tell you the last thing in the world you may want to be is a Christian, but should you be curious, could you ever be one? The way I found the door in, which I kind of wasn't even looking for, was by studying the resurrection. And I eventually became convinced that it really happened, and that completely threw up my worldview and made me rethink everything. So I would just tell you, I would warn you, but I would also challenge you, if you want to be a good historian, see how the Christian church got started. Jesus and the disciples, no problem.

Got that. Could happen in history. It doesn't upset my materialist worldview. If I forget all the miracles. If I really like Thomas Jefferson.

But then I have a real problem how the Christian church gets started. Because why a few weeks later, to these people who are all so terrified when Jesus is arrested, and they all scatter and deny him, why are they all back together? Why are they all telling the same strange story about their rabbi getting up from the dead? A story they clearly did not understand why he was alive because they keep misunderstanding him throughout the gospel. What has gone on between the crucifixion and the Christian church getting started?

Something has happened. And my non-Christian friend, with all deference and respect towards you, you don't understand that. You have no good answer. You have none. You're walking around not understanding one of the most important facts in human history.

How did the largest religion on the planet get started? Well, there's something about Jesus. Okay, that's good. But you can say something about Muhammad, something about Buddha, you can say a lot of things like that. But more specifically, how did Christianity get started?

Because I think you can explain how Islam and Buddhism got started and Confucianism, and it doesn't upset your materialist worldview at all. But I don't think you can explain Christianity. That's my little thump in the chest to you, lovingly given as an intellectual gift. I hope you go away and use it well. All right.

Number two, a little quick implication to this. Note that the alternative to the religion that didn't work, which is the Levitical priests, was not no religion. And it wasn't self-religion. It's the right religion. The Levitical priests being unable to help didn't mean that no priest could help or that we could do it ourselves.

There was another priest that all of their ministries had been pointing to. Number three, just take comfort in the indestructibility of the life of Jesus. This is the Lamb of God. He's the one who appears in the book of Revelation as the Lamb who was slain, but who now reigns. He was slain for us.

He reigns for us. So much more we could say there, but Jesus is a different kind of priest. That's number two. Let's move on, number three. So Jesus is not the old kind of priest.

They didn't work. Jesus is a different kind of priest, number two, like Melchizedek. Our third point, Jesus is a better priest, bringing us hope that's better through a covenant that's better. Look again in verses 18 to 22, chapter 7, verses 18 to 22.

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 it was not without an oath, for those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by the One who said to Him, the Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: 'You are a priest forever.' this makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. Okay, so in verse 18, the writer is clear that the old priesthood has been set aside because it was ineffective.

He says, the former commandment is weak and useless. Not that it could do nothing. No, later in chapter 10 he's going to point out that the way the priests offered sacrifices regularly actually reminded the people of their sins. It provided a very useful function, the function it was intended for. But it didn't fix them in any sense.

And this was particularly demonstrated by the priests themselves who were themselves sinful and therefore kept dying and kept needing to be replaced with more priests. And the same thing was happening to all the people they served. They kept being sinful and they kept dying. So neither the ceremonial law nor the Levitical priesthood it was built upon could remove the curse of sin. Nor could they sanctify inwardly.

So the ceremonial law and the Levitical priesthood that it was based upon has now been put away. The Levitical priesthood at the temple was a spiritual image from a past day, and the writer was warning people here not to be misled by it like some kind of mirage in the desert. The law made nothing perfect. And by perfect, it means morally complete, that which is required. He'll say it again in chapter 10.

If you look over chapter 10, verse 1, For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? Suffered since the worshipers having once been cleansed would no longer have any consciousness of sins. So the law and the priests down at the temple didn't do this, but through Jesus we have a better hope through which we draw near to God. And this drawing near to God, this is our perfection.

This is our completion of our spiritual hopes and goals. Do you remember Jesus said to the disciples, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me. The law has had an important role to play. As Paul says in Romans 3:20, Through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The law exposes our sin. But the law gave us no hope of overcoming our sin and giving us a way to God through obeying it. And yet there was still this older promise to Abraham which God had ratified by an oath. We looked at that back in chapter 6. And that very promise of blessing is the one being fulfilled now, not by the Levitical priests, but by the Messiah that their administrations pointed to, Jesus Christ.

And this has been certified by divine oath. We see this in verses 20 and 21. So God sets this hope before us with an oath. Jesus is the guarantor, the security that we've been given to know that we have a better covenant. He'll say a lot more about this covenant in the coming chapters 8 and 9 and 10.

In fact, the word covenant appears seventeen times in the book of Hebrews and sixteen times in the other twenty-six books of the New Testament put together. So if you want to know about covenant, Hebrews is your book. Guarantor is what Jesus is called here. That means Jesus is the one who guarantees the fulfillment of the New Covenant's promises. Brothers and sisters, I want to say just very practically here, we should trust God.

Specifically, we should trust Jesus. We should trust what He's said, what He's sworn. He will not change His mind, it says. Now, side note here, I know there are some of you who go, Isn't there a place in Genesis or a place in Jonah where He says He relents or repents or something? He changes His mind?

Well, yes, but that's where God is anthropomorphically, that is spoken of like a person, is said to change His mind or repent. That's not changing His established purposes. Like here in this passage, that's changing a particular course of action he has said would happen unless people did a certain thing. So he sort of threatens in response to the way mankind was sinful in Genesis 6 or repentant in Jonah 3. God's deeper purposes don't change, even if sometimes he relents of a certain course of action he had set out which were dependent upon human responses.

These covenant promises are exactly the purposes. That God has in creating and redeeming a people for himself. And friends, Jesus' whole ministry was a lesson in the trustworthiness of God and his promises. I mean, notice that Jesus prophesied, he predicted that he would be killed and that he would rise again, neither of which his disciples believed, but which happened. So his whole ministry, he was teaching them, I'm gonna tell you outlandish things, You will not believe Me.

They will happen, then you will believe Me. That's what He did. Go back and study the gospel, seeing how Jesus shows Himself to be a completely reliable guide. We should trust Him. The most important promise is the promise that He makes of forgiving our sins and of adopting us as His own children.

See, the great gospel promise is not merely the announcement that your sins have been atoned for, so I says God have nothing nothing more against you. You may go. The bill is paid. That's not the gospel announcement. No, rather the call to the sinner to confess his sins and repent of them and then trust in Christ for salvation and for the Lord to say to you, you, sins have been forgiven.

I have nothing more against you. So come, give me your hand. Let me take you as my own dearly loved adopted child in Christ. Christ. Let me have you with me forever.

That's what God gives us in Christ. The Levitical priests down the street weren't offering this to sinners. Jesus Christ gives us a better hope, with a better covenant, that he has enacted in his own death and resurrection. So, friend, if you're here today and you know that you have done that which is wrong before God, you know that God will judge you because God is He's gooder than you are. And you know that.

This is your hope. This is the hope that He's given to you. Believe in Jesus Christ. Trust Him as the one who has died on the cross specifically for people like you. Trust Him and pray that He will give you this new life in Christ.

If you want to know more about what that would mean for you, just talk to any of us at the doors on the way out. We would love to talk to you about that. Everything we do here as a church is based upon our believing that we have this better hope in Jesus better than everything else competing with it in this life, in this world, in our own hearts, any career advancement we could have, just none of that matters compared to this. That's why we get up together every Sunday morning. That's why we come together like this.

And we spend these hours together. We remind each other of our sins. That's what makes this message so important, of the suffering which we all experience in many different ways. We covenant to help to bear one another's burdens and sorrows. We teach the truth about suffering in this life.

We're not one of those fake-o churches that promises if you just send me $50 and pray this prayer, you'll have no trouble. That's a lie. That's just not true. We don't do that. And we present the hope that we have, and we reinforce it in our Bible readings and in our sermons and in our prayers.

And in our singing. How about the encouragement we get as we sing, There is a happy land, or Hark, I hear the harps eternal, or Where shall I be? or Glory land? or When we sing what a foretaste of deliverance, how unwavering our hope, Christ in power resurrected, as we will be when he comes. Friends, Jesus is a better priest.

Don't try to trade him in for something else. Last point, finally, number four, Jesus is a permanent priest who can still save us today. He can save us completely and forever. That's what we see in the last two verses, 23 to 28. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing office.

But he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a High Priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. He has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily, first for His own sins, then for those of the people, since He did this once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the Law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.

The ancient Jewish historian Josephus added up the years and calculated that there had been 83 high priests up to the time of the destruction of the temple. So from the time of Aaron down to 70 A.D. when Roman forces destroyed the temple of Jerusalem, Josephus, writing a few decades after that, says there had been 83 high priests, and all of those priests died. Every single one of them. You can read about Aaron's death if you go back to Numbers 20 and everyone after Aaron. And the Levitical priests kept needing to be replaced because they all kept dying.

But with Christ's priesthood, no other priest will be needed. Just like after his sacrifice, no more sacrifices are needed. The dying, Levitical, passing priests only taught. They didn't deal with the sin of the people. They didn't deal with their own sins.

But we see in verse 24 that Jesus continues forever, and so never needs to be replaced as priest. Praise the Lord. I mean, this unending continuation is part of the perfection that has come with Jesus' ministry to us in his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. See, the Levitical priest told us that God would make a way. Jesus is the way.

God has made a way for us sinners to draw near to him. In Jesus, the full priestly ministry of mediation and intercession that we need in order to bring us near to God is completed. This is the better covenant that will last eternally. And that's why Jesus, as it says here in one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible, verse 25, is always able to save. He never vacates His office by death.

His term is never up. He's able to save to the uttermost, to the last moment, all of us entirely, completely, and to keep doing this forever. And notice who it says here in verse 25, He saves those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. You know, this is exactly what was prophesied the Messiah would do. If you go back to Isaiah 53, that extraordinary chapter, again, if you're here and you're not a believer, there's all kinds of things.

If you look at the Bible seriously, it will suggest to you that there is in fact some way of knowing the future. In Isaiah 53 you have this extraordinary presentation of what Jesus centuries later is and becomes and things that he could not as an individual just decide to make occur. But anyway, one of the prophecies is the very last line in Isaiah 53 reads, Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. Makes intercession for the transgressors. And why does he do this?

Well, notice what he says in our passage. He always lives to do this, verse 25. He so desires our good. This is why why he's doing it. The work he began on the cross he follows through with in his intercession for us.

We read in Romans 8:34, Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Brothers and sisters, dwell on this. Think about this. Consider that even when you're not spending time praying yourself, Christ has been praying for you. He is faithful.

He is interceding with our heavenly Father. That's so much more important than you're having your quiet time. I hope you have your quiet time. It's good for you to spend time in prayer, but you know what is so much more important? That Christ is spending time interceding for you.

As Richard Sibbes said, what a comfort it is now in our daily approach to God to minister boldness to us in all our suits, that we go to God in the name of one that he loves. In whom his soul delights, that we have a friend in court, a friend in heaven for us, that is at the right hand of God and interposes himself there for us in all our suits that makes us acceptable, that perfumes our prayers and makes them acceptable. God looks upon us lovely in him and delights in us as we are members of him, Jesus. So, do you lack confidence in your prayers? Have your prayers been kind of wobbling as they get near the ceiling lately?

Friends, consider what it means that Christ is interceding, that He has His everlasting, forever ministry of intercession. Another minister up in Scotland, Thomas Boston, once characterized it personally like this: Christ leads every believer by the hand, as it were, unto the gracious presence of God, bespeaking acceptance for them after this manner: Father, here is a poor creature that was born in sin, and hath lived in rebellion all his days. He hath broken all thy laws, deserves all thy wrath, yet he is one of that number that thou gavest me before the world began. And I have made full payment to thy justice by my blood for all his and now I have opened His eyes to see the sinfulness and misery of His condition. I have broken His heart for His rebellions against you and bowed His will into obedience to the offer of your grace.

I have united Him to Me by faith as a living member of My mystical body and now since He is Mine by regeneration, let Him also become Thine by a special acceptance. Since Thy justice is satisfied for His sins, let Thine anger also be turned away and receive Him graciously. Essentially into favor. Friends, that's what Jesus does for us. This Jesus, this priest who is holy, innocent, unstained, undefiled, uncorrupted, morally pure, and separated from sinners, exalted above heaven.

Now he is exalted, seated at the right hand of God, interceding for us. That's why with Jesus we don't need repeated priests, and we don't need repeated offerings. See there at the end of verse 27 it says that he offered up himself. There are two ways we can understand this. We can think of this as him offering himself more broadly in the way I've been describing where he comes up at the end of his ministry, the whole sort of cycle of it.

He's been crucified, he's been raised. He comes and he presents offering in that sense. Or because of our association of that word offering off with sacrifice, we can think of it specifically as offering up himself on the cross, which is theologically through, regardless of that specifically in mind here, would be included in what he has in mind here. Certainly if we take it the former way, it would include his work on the cross. Either way, Christ has given what we didn't have and what we must have.

He's given himself so that we could be saved. All the priests before him had to make offerings for themselves.

Christ gave Himself as an offering for us. And so in verse 28 we find that this Son has been made perfect forever. And we can tell that by the forever-ness of His ministry. The author continues on showing us that this later one has replaced the earlier. This one has replaced all of these many priests.

This permanent priest has done away with forever the need for the passing priests. So why should these people in this church ever leave here and go down the street to the temple? Why should any of them ever turn from his ministry to those of the priests who are still offering more sacrifices because the last ones didn't work. There's not one good reason to do it. Who could Jesus not save?

Only those who would not draw near to God through him, but who would return to the old passing priests whose ministries were merely to point to him. Jesus is the perfect priest, whose ministry has been perfected and who can actually perfect his people. None of which is true of the temple priests and those who worship with them. Brothers and sisters, whatever temptations you're facing today, however dark your way may seem, you don't have to worry. Just keep holding on.

Jesus will always make a way. The Lord knows what you need, and He has provided it supremely in Jesus. We don't need to live in a state of constant religious worry. We can rest in Christ, and we can pray for others as we do. Through Jesus we are confident of being welcome in God's presence.

And so all we do here, we do in His name. Because Jesus is a permanent priest who can still save today. So, to summarize, Jesus is the priest we need. He's not the old kind of priest. He's a different kind of priest.

He's a better priest. And he's a permanent priest who can always save. Now, a few here this morning, my guess, are probably imagining that you're in a right relationship with God because you're descended from Abraham. Abraham. Many of us may be, but that's probably not the source of hope that we cherish for our relationship with God.

But many might think of right religion as really consisting of having the right heritage. I was brought up in this church. My family have always been Christians. My mother prayed for me every day of my life. We went to church a lot when I was little.

But friends, Benjamin, I hope you see from our passage this morning that the relationship with God that our parents or grandparents may have had is no guarantee of our relationship with God. So family ties will secure no one a place in heaven.

Physical descent from Abraham or from Levi or from a 10-generation line of pastors is not the point. Our being related to Christ by faith is the only way to a restored relationship with God.

So what do you think will give you a right relationship with God?

Many others might think of the right way as just living right. Probably that would have been on the minds of some of the people who first heard this letter. They knew that if they studied the law of Moses and tried to keep it scrupulously avoiding that, carefully doing this other thing, that perhaps with God's favor that would be all they needed. Perhaps their own efforts. To be clean and to be holy were really all that was necessary.

Maybe they were feeling the pull of obedience toward the law of God.

Having said that though, the writer is pretty clear here that no one was really able to live a sufficiently holy life. Even the high priests sinned and they died because they sinned. They obviously had no final power over sin and death. They were still dominated by disobedience, by its fruits and under its penalties. So for us today, perhaps some here have come putting their hopes in morality, thinking that if somehow they can reform this or that area of their lives, they'll be rightly related to God, whatever He is.

We may begin doing moral math in our heads, conceiving of forgoing this vice or that sin is making up for this other lapse or that slip. We may feel that mending our ways requires God to forgive us. We may feel somehow that we oblige God by our obedience, that we require Him to accept us by our hard-worked virtue.

But friends, the Bible is clear that even our righteousness is like filthy rags to God, so shot through with sin. He is not indifferent to our lives, but neither is He satisfied by them. We need another satisfaction provided by one who has been truly holy and blameless and pure.

Sure. Yesterday at the AppGriD lunch, we're talking to, at one point, three of the waitresses about Christ. First waitress, when I said, I always give them copies of the text I'm preaching on so they get to read it and they come back with any questions. So I said, okay, have you, how do you draw near to God? She said, well, talk to him like in prayer, listen to gospel music.

I said, okay. I said, let me tell you something, you don't need Jesus for either of those things. You can pray and listen to gospel music and get happy without Jesus, right? She didn't really know how to answer that. So I said, why do you need Jesus?

What do you need Jesus for? Friends, that's the question that's being pressed here by our text. What do you need Jesus for? What do you think will give you a right relationship with God? The people that he was writing to were reconsidering their own religious ritual, the temple worship, the sacrifices, the offerings, the elaborately robed priests, the ancient prescribed rituals.

Maybe they were looking at the simplicity of Christian worship. I mean, no special building, no pomp, no pageantry, just people assembled looking at each other, singing in praise, praying, scripture being read and taught. Maybe they were comparing that to the majesty of the worship in the temple and they were feeling a little destitute, having a little worship envy. Was Jesus really worth separating oneself from this rich and ancient ritual? Was He really the way?

Friends, some of you may have come to church this morning placing your hopes in the fact that you've come to church this morning on a three-day weekend. That must rack up a few extra points with the Lord, you know? And plus, it's a Baptist church. It could be long. Perhaps you've come placing your hope deep down on the fact that you've given more, or you've prayed more, or you've come more, or you've gotten more involved in church this year than ever before.

And perhaps you're thinking that that is what will put you in a right relationship with God.

If so, I hope that you've noticed this chapter's focus is on Jesus. It is Jesus and His sacrifice for sins once, His offering up Himself, that is your only hope. It's not your own obedience you must rely on, but His. It's not your own piety you must rely on, but His. Only through Him can we come near to God.

We may not outwardly have the same struggles in following Christ that these people did. They seem to be weighing just reimmersing themselves in their native Judaism. But when you start to look at it more carefully and consider it, you find that our struggles are not that dissimilar. We weigh the options. Consider what we think we know about God, and then go forward trusting in something.

What these verses this morning teach us is that we get a right relationship with God not fundamentally by our family or our morality or even our piety, but only by our reliance on Christ's righteousness.

We want peace with God. For that we need righteousness and we don't have it. The Lord Jesus Christ does. He is the true King of Peace. He is the true King of Righteousness.

His righteousness is ours by faith. Let's pray.

Listen to the words of this simple 18th century prayer. I wonder if it could be your own prayer today. Gracious Lord, incline thine ear, my complaint vouchsafe to hear. Sore distressed with guilt am I. Give me Christ, or else I die.

Wealth and honor I disdain. Earthly comforts all are vain. They can never satisfy. Give me Christ, or else I die. Lord, deny me what thou wilt, only take away my guilt.

Mourning at thy feet I lie. Give me Christ, or else I die. All unholy and unclean, I am sinful, vile, and mean.

But to thee for mercy fly, Give me Christ, or else I die. Thou dost freely save the lost, In thy grace alone I trust. Unto thee I lift my cry, Give me Christ, or else I die. O my God, what shall I say? Oh, take my sins away.

Jesus' blood to me apply. Give me Christ or else I die. O God, we pray that you would make this our prayer today, in Jesus' name. Amen.