Who is Jesus Christ? (Part 2) Jesus is Our Mediator

Introduction

Last week we began looking at what the Bible says regarding who Jesus Christ is. Over the years, people have said many things about Jesus Christ. The majority of Americans, even Millennials and Gen-Z, believe that Jesus was a real historical person. Much fewer Americans believe that Jesus is actually God - that’s about a 50/50 split. A growing number of people believe that Jesus Christ was not perfect and that He was just a man like you and me. People are divided as to who Jesus is and people are even more divided about what exactly Jesus did. Some share that He was a terrific teacher, heroic healer, compassionate counselor, wonderful wiseman, and loving leader. Now, Jesus did teach, heal, counsel, lead, and He certainly was wise. But none of those things make Him deserving of our worship. There must be something more to Jesus than just those things!

CS Lewis said years ago that Jesus is either a Liar, Lunatic, or Lord. See, Jesus claimed to be God - He said that if you’ve seen Him, you’ve seen the Father. He said that before Abraham was, I am - He drew a line in the sand and there is no room to simply say that He is a nice guy who taught some cool proverbs and we should be positive to Jesus but not worship Him as Lord. He didn’t leave that option available to us. Either He lied about being God. He was confused about being God. Or He was in fact God. And, if He is God, we’d better worship Him and follow Him as such. See, the Bible is crystal clear about who Jesus is. The Jesus of the Bible isn’t the Jesus of our culture. He’s not the Jesus propagated on social media. He’s not the “He Get’s Us” Jesus social justice warrior type. He’s not the genie in a lamp healer Jesus that Bethel believes Him to be. He’s so much more and, get this, He’s so much better than any of those things!

This morning as we continue looking at the book of Hebrews, we’re in Hebrews 7 and we’re going to see how Jesus Christ is in fact our Mediator. He is our great high priest. He does something for us that no one else could ever do! He saves us from our sins once and for all! This morning we’re going to point the spotlight to the One who alone deserves it. Let’s see what the Bible tells us about Jesus and let’s draw near to Him in faith.

Hebrews 7:11–28 CSB

11 Now if perfection came through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the law), what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must be a change of law as well. 13 For the one these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe. No one from it has served at the altar. 14 Now it is evident that our Lord came from Judah, and Moses said nothing about that tribe concerning priests. 15 And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears, 16 who did not become a priest based on a legal regulation about physical descent but based on the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it has been testified: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. 18 So the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable 19 (for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. 20 None of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath, 21 but he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him: The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever.” 22 Because of this oath, Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant. 23 Now many have become Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office. 24 But because he remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently. 25 Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them. 26 For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son, who has been perfected forever.

Even when we can’t see the whole picture, God has it all planned out to perfection! God made a promise to send a Savior and that’s exactly what He has done through Jesus Christ. Jesus is able to save sinners completely, faithfully, and perfectly. Today as we unpack His Word, look at your own life and ask yourself why do I need a Savior and is Jesus my Savior today?

What Does a Mediator Do? Atone for Sin (11-14)

Last Sunday we began Hebrews 7 and we saw how Melchizedek points us to Jesus Christ as he is this unique King-Priest whose name means the King of Righteousness and he rules over Salem, meaning that he’s also the King of Peace. These titles and this person clearly points us to Jesus - the King of Righteousness, the King of Peace, the God-Man who serves as both King and Priest as well. As we think about Jesus, it’s normal for us to immediately think of Jesus being Savior and Lord. It’s normal for us to think of Jesus being King. It’s normal for us to think of Jesus being the Suffering Servant. But what about our Mediator? What does a Mediator do? How does Jesus serve in this function?

The whole book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is greater - He’s greater than the priests, he’s greater than Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Abraham, David, the angels, and the list goes on! The reason why this is pointed out over and over in this book is so that we see that what Jesus gives us is also greater. He is a greater Mediator.

A mediator can have a negative connotation in some respects as we think of possibly of a problem taking place between 2 people and rather than talk things out themselves, they have to go and see a mediator who helps them get to the root of the problem and solve the problem. In this sense, a counselor, pastor, parent, teacher, or coach has probably served as a mediator for you at some point in your life. Person 1 tells the mediator what happened in their mind then person 2 does the same thing and the mediator tries to help the 2 people move on and create an open door for respectful dialogue. Sometimes, being a mediator is hard work because people are upset and angry! Other times, being a mediator is one of the most rewarding things in the world as you get to see redemption and reconciliation and forgiveness win. As we look at Scripture, we see in the Old Testament that God set up the priests to essentially serve as mediators for the people of Israel. Let’s think through that for a minute. If the priest is a mediator of sorts, who are the 2 parties? God and man. What is the problem between God and man? The problem is sin. Sin separates us as people from God because God is holy! The fault is not God’s whatsoever - the problem is with us. Our only way to come to the Father is through this type of mediator who would offer a sacrifice to cover our sins and make things better… but this priest in the Old Testament couldn’t make things perfect.

Why?

Hebrews 10:4 CSB

4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

The priests in the Old Testament would offer sacrifices that would cover the sins of the people - but they couldn’t forgive or take away their sins. They couldn’t make the people perfect before God because they themselves were sinners too. If you’re going to be the mediator, you kind of need to be a good person, or at least be redeemed and know what God’s Word says and stand on it.

There are several problems with these human mediators:

They change

These Old Testament priests changed over time. We read in Numbers 8 that they served as a priest for 25 years (from 25 until 50). This meant that after you turned 51, you could no longer serve as a priest and there was a change with the mediator. Maybe this doesn’t seem like a big problem, but if you have an eternal problem, you need an eternal solution, and these mediators come and go every 25 years… this presents a problem, but not as big as the next problem.

They are corrupt

The priests failed to do what God called them to do. They were called to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people, but often they took advantage of the people. Some were not burdened by the sins of the people. Others abused people. They stole money and food. Their position changed them because they were corrupt.

They can’t save

The biggest problem of all with the Levitical priesthood is that they couldn’t save anyone. They couldn’t save themselves and they definitely couldn’t save other people. They aren’t perfect and they can’t help you and I get there…

One of the biggest reasons that people don’t fully understand how amazing Jesus is is because they don’t understand how desperately in need of Jesus they truly are. If your back hurts some of you are tougher than others and you just kind of deal with it, but other people when your body hurts you’ll take some medicine, maybe a Tylenol or ibuprofen because you’re hurting and medicine helps. Let’s go up the spectrum a bit. If you’re seriously sick, like heart problem type sick, you know that you can’t help yourself with some medicine from your house or the store, so you go to the hospital and the doctor can make you better if you just show up. This is often how we treat our sin. Maybe we have a little, tiny, annoying sin that we do every now and then and we just need to treat it like a cold - take some medicine, read a Bible verse, go to church, and we’ll start feeling better. Maybe it’s a little worse, maybe we’ve done something bad and we’re in trouble, so we need to go to a friend or pastor and have them do some poking and prodding on us because we’re kind of sick. Whenever we treat sin like a sickness, we mistakenly think that either ourselves or other people can help us out with our problem. The fact of the matter is that sin is infinitely more serious than we could ever imagine because sin separates us from the presence of God. Therefore, we need God’s help because only God can help us from this situation.

This is exactly what we see God do - we see that there is a change in the priesthood from Levi to Melchizedek. We see that there is a change in the law as there is a new priest from a different tribe. How do we get a change in the law? Did God change His mind? Does His law change? Can God break His own law? No to all of the above. Look with me at Matthew 5:17

Matthew 5:17 CSB

17 “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

Are you ready for some good news? You and I are not perfect and never could keep God’s law perfectly! But what the law does is it drive us and points us to Jesus - the One who fulfilled it perfectly. We still observe God’s moral law as we see in the 10 commandments as Jesus outlines in the Sermon on the Mount - but whenever someone tells you that you’re breaking God’s Word for wearing certain clothes because of their fabrics, you can tell them honestly that you’re not under that law - it’s been fulfilled. Jesus Christ came and lived a perfect life and in so doing, He changes things because He serves as a better mediator.

Why Do We Need a Better Mediator? To Give us a Better Hope (15-21)

The purpose of the law was to point our our sin and to point us to our Savior. To some people, this seems counter-intuitive to giving people hope. To some, hope would be saying that if you just try harder and harder then you can save yourself. If you do these good things, then you’ll earn your own ticket. Do, do, do. Do you see how this puts a weight on us that we simply cannot bear ourselves? The law in one word says, “Do” while the Gospel, fundamentally, says “Done”

So Jesus, as the better mediator, comes from a different tribe (Judah rather than Levi) and He assumes the position of high priest not because of his last name but because of something significantly deeper! We see that it is based on the priesthood that Jesus is apart of. Not that of Aaron, He’s greater than Aaron. Jesus is uniquely qualified to serve as God’s High Priest because of His permanence. Death succeeded against every other high priest in Israel’s history. The priests would work and then they would die… Death reigned as Romans 5:14 tells us

Romans 5:14 CSB

14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a type of the Coming One.

Death reigned… but death had no claim on Jesus, as we’ll celebrate on Easter Sunday that yes, Friday is dark… but Sunday is coming! Jesus rose from the grave. Jesus has an indestructible life and He serves as a priest forever! Can you wrap your brain around the word forever? We’ve been studying some church history on Wednesday nights the last 2 months and we’ve looked back at Christians from the last 2000 years and it’s hard to wrap our minds around the world just a few hundred years ago because that’s such a long time! Can you imagine eternity? It’s impossible for our finite minds to comprehend the infinite. We can sing it, we can read it, we can talk about it, but we can’t fully wrap our minds around it… but we see in God’s Word that this is Jesus. Our priest FOREVER. This is some good news for weary souls. Sinclair Ferguson, “My security does not reside in the strength of my faith but in the indestructibility of my Savior!”

How is this good news? It’s good news because it provides us, verse 19, with a better hope. In the midst of our suffering, sorrow, and doubting in this life, we can have hope why? Because through it all, Jesus remains on our side as Christians. There are times in this life where I do not feel hopeful. I don’t feel hopeful about a financial situation. I don’t feel hopeful about a health situation. I don’t feel hopeful about a grade in a class. I don’t feel hopeful about a relationship. You might not feel hopeful about a situation right now, but understand this: Our hope in Jesus is not a feeling. It’s a fact! It’s not based in what I think Jesus will do based on my performance, our hope in Jesus is based on God’s character as revealed to us in His Word. Now, that’s some good news, because even if I don’t feel hopeful or good about something, I can always have hope because of how faithful and good Jesus truly is! He is better. He gives us a better hope that is not based on our performance but His. He gives us a better covenant (Hebrews 7:22) that is not based on our faithfulness but His. He gives us a better promise (Hebrews 8:6) that is not based on our goodness but His. He offers a better sacrifice (Hebrews 9:23) as He sacrifices Himself in our place. He gives His followers the hope of a better home (Hebrews 11:16) as He is preparing a place for all who repent and believe in Christ as Lord!

Why do we need this Jesus? Because Jesus alone satisfies and provides our souls with hope.

What Is Jesus Alone Able to Provide? Eternal Salvation (22-28)

As we think of all the amazing things that Jesus provides, we know that best thing is our salvation. Think about a crown that a king would wear in ancient days. It would be large and gold and have some valuable jewels as well. As we read the Bible, we see the crown in our text. Each text of Scripture, each passage, each chapter, is a crown of sorts with jewels to mine out as they help us better see and understand Jesus and ourselves and our need for Him. Sometimes passages have lots of jewels and other times its just a few - but what we can’t miss is the crown jewel, the main idea, the central focus of the text and of Scripture in general. This is why we are called to exposit or mine or reveal the truth of Scripture for all to see in preaching and teaching and in studying God’s Word. We focus on the central idea of the text - what is the crown jewel of Scripture? We would say that it is clearly the Gospel. There are lots of other amazing things in Scripture that we read about. There are many jewels… but what is the crown jewel? It’s Jesus and what Jesus alone does for sinful humanity like you and me!

Jesus guarantees God’s faithfulness and that proves to us that God will fulfill His promise of forgiving the sins of His people.

3 key things that Jesus has that enable Him to be this superior Priest:

Jesus has a Permanent Priesthood (24)

Jesus’s Power is Limitless (25)

Jesus makes Perfect Intercession (27)

Go back with me to verse 25. What is so unique about Jesus Christ? Look at the text. He is able to save - what does it mean to save? You and I face problems that Jesus is uniquely qualified to meet. The sin that separates us from God, Jesus is uniquely qualified to forgive - not to cover, not to make an excuse for, He completely forgives. Think about the stain of our sin and the significance of our Savior. Jesus not only saves us from the punishment of our sin, but Jesus saves us from the power of sin in our lives today, and He will save us from the presence of sin in eternity to come! As a Christian, you still have a fallen nature and you still will sin and you still will struggle with what to do - but you are no longer a slave to sin… You have the Holy Spirit inside of you leading you and guiding you and it’s all because of Jesus Christ! He is able to save completely…

But what about the word, able in this verse? - in this world, I’m reminded often of the things that I’m not able to do. I’m not able to be 2 places at once, much less a dozen, even if I really want to be. I’m not able. I’m not able to fly, even though I thought that would be the coolest thing in the world as a kid. I’m not able. I’m willing to do it - but I’m not able to do it. I want to do it - but I can’t do it. That’s not being close minded or a Debbie-downer, that’s being honest. I heard a pastor once say that whenever people are struggling spiritually that he wishes that he could write a prescription for the problem just like a doctor does for physical problems and that the prescription would immediately solve the problem. But it doesn’t work that way. I so wish it would! I’m willing to help - but I’m not able to help in that way because I’m not powerful enough. I wish it worked the same way physically… So many in our church family are struggling with so many different things right now. Your staff prays for those things and so many others in our church lift those requests up in prayer regularly and I wish that I could do something and fix all of those things - I’m willing, but I am not able. None of us are - because we are not God and our words do not have creative power. This is not the case with Jesus, church. Jesus Christ is willing to save sinners but not only is He willing… He is able! The Greek word for able is the word dunamis, Wednesday night Bible study attenders, we looked at that word a few nights ago. What English word do we get from the word dunamis? Dynamite! This is the same Greek word that is found here in Hebrews 7:25. This is our King. This is our Mediator. He has all power to save and He is willing to do so even though you and I have dropped the ball so many times. He provides for us eternal salvation.

Who are those that He saves completely? Those who draw near to God through Him. Do you want to get honest this morning? There is only 1 way for you and I to be saved and that is by grace through faith in Christ

Acts 4:12 CSB

12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

1 Timothy 2:5 CSB

5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,

Are you coming to God through the Son because you know that you are in need of Jesus for salvation, or are you coming to God today for what you think that Jesus can give you? Jesus can do lots of things - after all, He’s the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! But the unique thing that only Jesus is qualified to do, is save sinners from their sin in the courtroom of a holy and Sovereign God. Only Jesus can do that.

Only the blood of Jesus can wash away those sins.

Only the sacrifice of the Son can satisfy God’s wrath against sin.

Only the atoning work of Jesus can adopt us into God’s forever family.

Only through Jesus can we have assurance of our salvation.

You and I could never deserve Who Jesus is or what Jesus has done - yet, He did it. He is perfect. Innocent. Undefiled. Exalted. You and I do not worship a Jesus who saves temporarily and whose healing and salvation eventually wears off - get this, once you are saved of your sins, you’re saved. You’re in the palm of His hand. No power or hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck you from your Savior’s hand! That’s good news! How do we know it? Because Jesus accomplishes His mission. Jesus is sitting down. His sacrifice is done. Friends, it’s always been and will always be about Jesus Christ. God has made a promise - He didn’t send a messenger, healer, government official, warrior, angel, teacher, or counselor… He sent His own Son.

Have you ever seen a picture of the Grand Canyon? At the widest point, it is 18 miles across. That’s a massive gap and it’s impossible for any person to jump from one side to the next. Think of that chasm and that gap in relation to our separation from God with the understanding that we cannot fly over it and we cannot walk across and climb up the other side. We’re standing on this side and 18 miles across is God. What a hopeless feeling! This can be what the law feels like. We read in God’s Word that we’re supposed to do this or that and we quickly realize that we don’t succeed. We fail and we fall short. Yet, without the law, we wouldn’t understand the amazing grace of our God as Jesus cries out, “It is Finished.”

See, the law reveals to us our sin. The Old Covenant fulfilled its purpose - see, God didn’t make a mistake. He didn’t have to go back to the drawing board in Genesis 3. The law didn’t fail. The Old Covenant couldn’t make people perfect and it was never intended to… if it could, there would’ve been no need for a New Covenant at all. See, the God of the Bible had a plan from the beginning and that plan was for His Son to come and be the once for all sacrifice for sins as Revelation 13:8 tells us

Revelation 13:8 NLT

8 And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.

This was God’s plan A - not B. The Old Testament is a neon arrow pointing us to God’s promised, perfect, and powerful Son who came to reverse the Garden’s Curse. This is what Jesus does. He succeeds in saving sinners. He succeeds in rescuing prodigals. He succeeds in bringing us across that vast chasm. This is what He alone can do.

Application

So, has Jesus done this in your life? Those who draw near to God through Jesus are assured throughout Hebrews that they are in fact saved forever because of Jesus.

One of the themes in Hebrews is the theme of rest. Not rest in terms of taking a nap… but rest in the sense of Psalm 46:10 rest as we cease striving and we simply are still and trust in our God. Trusting in someone can be difficult because we’ve had our trust broken in the past. Whenever we look at our spiritual condition and our separation from God, we have to trust in something. Many people will trust in their inner goodness and works. Some will trust in another person, perhaps a grandparent, parent, or pastor. Some will trust in luck or chance. Get this today: There is a better hope available to us as humans. There is hope that serves as an anchor for our souls and hope has a name: His name is Jesus. You and I can rest comfortably tonight whenever our head hits the pillow not because of our greatness, but because of the greatness and power and faithfulness and love and mercy and endurance and promise of our King. You can trust in your mediator. He’s never lost a case and He won’t start with you!

You and I can rest with confidence in God’s Word

The same God who promises an oath and sent His Son is the same God who promises to sustain His children today. You can have confidence in what Scripture says because it is inspired by God. You can rest with confidence that God has a plan and a purpose for you and you can uncover what that is as you dive into His Word.

You and I can rest with confidence in God’s Son

Jesus Christ saves sinners. Those 4 words are the best 4 words in the whole universe! He brings about a new covenant, a better covenant. One where the debt has been paid and we are saved from the penalty we owe and one where the Holy Spirit abides in our heart each step we take… But you must know the Son. Jesus does you and I no good if we simply give Him lip service. Jesus does you and I no good if we think that He’s simply “a” way to God but not “the” way to Him. Jesus does you and I no good if we think that He can save us without changing us. The Jesus who saves faithfully is the Jesus who saves completely - Has Jesus saved you today? Have you repented of your sins and placed your faith in Christ as Lord? Look at God’s Word. Look at God’s Son. Trust in Jesus. He maintains our salvation - we could never do this. He is interceding on our behalf today as our Great High Priest. He is our mediator before the Father.