Draw Near To God Through Jesus
CLOSER • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 3 viewsDraw near to God through Jesus the high priest who lives forever to save you completely!
Notes
Transcript
Image:
Tension: People think they can approach God their own way on their own terms. "God I’ll worship you but I’ll do it my way.”
Question: are you religious?
Answer: “I’m not religious, but I’m a spiritual person. I relate to God in my own way.”
Image: Chipotle - build your own
Image: customize your own vehicle online
Image: Build a bear
“Create your own spirituality”
I’ve had several people try to tell me they serve God like me, just in a way that doesn’t involve the beliefs or practices of Christianity.
This is why there are so many different religions. People feel free to customize their own religion and their own way of relating to God that makes them comfortable. We try to tell God how we want to relate to him and worship him rather than submitting to God’s way.
In the OT, things go bad when people try to create their own spirituality:
Examples:
Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.
He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.” Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the Lord had struck him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king’s household, governing the people of the land.
Question: How can you draw near to a God so pure and holy?
Answer: through Jesus the perfect high priest who died for you and lives forever to intercede for you.
The Bible teaches us that we must draw near to God, but God is the one who tells us how we must draw near. In the OT there were priests who offered sacrifices for their own sins and the sins of the people. The priests kept dying and the sacrifices never really removed the guilt of their sins. The OT law and the priesthood never permanently or fixed anything. It never removed sin. It was like over the counter cold medicine. It just covered up the problem, but didn’t get to the source. It was like a bandaid, it was just a cover that never actually healed the wound. The law and the priesthood and the sacrifices never made anyone perfect. It was a constant reminder of sin, death, and the need for a new covenant and a new way of relating to God that actually could make us right with God.
So as sinners we need a priest, we need someone to bring us to God, and we need a sacrifice for sin. Sin requires death. We need a mediator, we need someone to represent us before God because we are too sinful to represent ourselves. We can’t stroll into God’s presence and live. And whoever that priest is, must offer a sacrifice that takes away my sins for real.
TEXT: Hebrews 7:11-28
BODY
A priest with an indestructible life:
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 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 belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is 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.
Perfection was impossible through Levi and the law
A new priest like melchizedek was needed to make us perfect
the law was weak and made nothing perfect
Image: new vacuum. the old was weak and ineffective. We got a new one and now I vacuum for pleasure. it’s that one chore that is a hobby.
a better hope is here through which we draw near to God - a priest with neither beginning of days nor end of life. a priest who is a priest by virtue of an indestructible life.
Image: water bears, tardigrade, microscopic organism that can go 30 years without food, live in volcanos, and survive space without a suit.
Image: list of things that people consider indestructible with photos (last one is nokia brick cell phone).
A priest appointed by divine oath:
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 never appointed by an oath, they were appointed by bodily descent, making it temporary due to death
Jesus was appointed by an eternal oath making it permanent. God cannot lie or change his mind. He always does what he says. Jesus is therefore trustworthy as a priest and superior to any and all former priests. He is the new and only priest forever.
He is the guarantor of a better covenant. he will be a faithful and eternal mediator
Image: we just had a bathtub refinished and it came with 5 year warranty. That’s an oath of promise and guarantee.
Image: some products come without a warranty or come with no returns, while some come with a lifetime guarantee or a lifetime warranty (is like an eternal oath. It will go on forever) or a product guarantee. They stand by their product.
A priest who can save you completely:
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 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 former priests were many because they died
Jesus’ priesthood is permanent because he continues forever
therefore, he is able to save you completely and permanently and eternally if you draw near to God through him.
he can do this because he always lives to intercede for you. He forever lives to be your mediator with his own precious blood that he shed on the cross.
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
It was fitting for us to have a holy high priest. he doesn’t need to offer sacrifices daily for himself or for others because he is sinless and he offered up himself on the cross once and for all.
The law appoints priests in their weakness, therefore it cannot save.
God appointed his Son Jesus with an oath. He is able to save because he offered himself once and for all and he lives forever to save those who go to God through him.
Image: cold medicine doesn’t heal you, it just conceals the symptoms. It can’t heal you completely.
Image: bandaid just covers the wound but doesn’t cure it.
Application: Draw near to God through Jesus Christ the high priest who who can save you completely because he shed his blood and always lives to intercede for you.