Christ our High Priest

Hebrews 9:11-14

Why do I need a priest?

We teach that Jesus our redeemer fulfills the offices of Prophet, Priest and King. Yet through this week, my mind kept coming to the question, “Do we need a priest?”

We’ve convinced ourselves we have no need of a priest…

Self-Idolatry: We have put ourselves at the center of things, the arbitrator of right and wrong. If there is a god I’ll come to him on my own terms… he has some things to answer for.

But take ten seconds to look at the world, or even at yourself - honestly - and you see just how wrecked the world is, and our own lives are, because of this.

We are broken, miserable, and helpless. We cannot stand on our own strength, let alone stand before a righteous judge. We desperately need someone to show us the way to God, and to make that way open, to make peace with us and God so we can come before him. No one can approach God without a mediator.

We walk with God, but stumble and fall…

Our hearts are easily divided; We quickly forget who we are, and slide back into old ways of thinking, old ways of living - we lose our confidence.

We’ve lost the heart of worship…

We grow tired, fall into routines, and fall out of genuine worship. We employ worldly methods to achieve heavenly goals, and wonder why we fail to grow the church. Our message to the world is barely spoken, and hardly makes a difference in the world.

We desperately need a priest: To make us right with God, to give us assurance of salvation, and to lead us in worship.

My premise last week: the summary of Hebrew is that Jesus is greater. Hebrews shows that Jesus is the great high priest.

How does Christ fulfill the office of priest: making full atonement with God, assuring us daily of salvation, and leading us in service before God.

Christ Obtains Eternal Redemption.

Christ’s Work to Atone.

He appeared as a high priest of the good things to come.

Not land, not an earthly kingdom, but genuine Sabbath rest, peace with God and a restoration to the way things were meant to be.

He entered a better and more perfect tent (tabernacle).

Not a tent made with hands: the OT Tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and even the temple in all its glory were shadows of the heavenly reality:

Heb 8:5. These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.

He has entered the eternal throne room of heaven

Heb 8:1-2 Jesus is at the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set us, not man.

He now represents us before God.

He entered once for all.

The OT sacrifices had to be repeated year after year, because the blood of animals could never suffice for the sins of man.

But Jesus gave of his own blood, a sacrifice to end all others.

His blood - not magical - but signifies Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection to redeem us.

The once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus’ finished work at Calvary accomplishes this for the people of God. The blood shed at the cross is the blood by which God forgives and passes over the sin of His people. By virtue of Christ’s priestly work, believers no longer have any consciousness of sin. The guilt of sin has been dealt with in the death of the Great High Priest.

He is in every way a better priest.

He didn’t have to atone for his own sins, and didn’t serve for a short period, but was without blemish, and has an eternal spirit.

How do we receive this redemption Christ has obtained?

Repent and believe -

Acknowledge you need forgiveness, that you have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, that you have made an wreck of your life, that apart of God’s grace, you have no hope, no right, to come before him.

Believe the Gospel: that Jesus has paid the price in full, that your sins have been laid upon Him, and that you are forgiven, justified, & redeemed in the Lord of Salvation.

Christ purifies the conscience

Hebrews makes another contrast:

If the blood of goats, bulls, and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer can purify the defiled, sanctifying for the purification of the flesh

The OT rituals, the sacrifice, dealt with externals - what’s on the outside - but could never cleanse within

Had to be repeated to renew the sanctifying work.

Jesus, in offering himself, is able to cleanse the conscience from dead works

Building empires that will fall, buying things that do not satisfy or last, serving ambitions that are destined for the grave. Humanity was fashioned for God and his pleasure. To neglect God, to refuse his service, to deny his presence and rule is to shrink into the dust. It is to be ruled by the flesh, as beasts rather than as the men and women God made in his image.

This is the continual, ongoing, mediating and intercessory work of Christ for us.

If your conscience convicts you…

“When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look, and see Him there, who made an end of all my sin.” All your sins were cast upon Christ - he has paid for everyone of them.

1 John 3:20 Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything…

Our conscience tells us what we must think of ourselves, but the blood of Christ tells us what God thinks of us in Christ. Jesus stands there with basin and towel in hand and says, “You are clean” (John 13:10).

Then, as our heavenly high priest, he sends his Holy Spirit to work within us, his blood having procured the resources of heaven, so that we are “being transformed into [Christ’s] image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18).

Christ equips us for service

There is a purpose in our redemption - that we may glorify God, serving the living God.

A.W. Pink - The “living God” cannot be served by those who are dead in sins, and therefore alienated from Him. But Christ's Spirit renews and equips the saint for acceptable worship.

Rev 1:5-6 He has made us to be a kingdom of priests

1 Peter 2:9 - He has made us a royal priesthood

Rev 7:15 - those washed in the blood serve him day and night

How did the priests who worked the temple serve God?

Leading the people in worship

Worship is not for us, but we serve the living God. We bring Him a sacrifice of praise, thanksgiving because the perfect sacrifice has atoned for our sinful souls.

We talk about making worship dynamic. If we really stopped to consider how much God has done for us in Christ, if we, for a second, saw our worship with spiritual eyes, with Christ leading us in worship and praise before the throne of God, triumphant over sin, filled with glory and honor, we wouldn’t need instruments, bands, screens, hymnals, we would pour out our hearts ablaze with joy before him.

If you have been redeemed in Christ, you will look forward to worship at every opportunity.

Burning incense: Fragrances that signified prayers, drifting up as a pleasing aroma before God

Interceding for the people - praying for one another - making prayers that are pleasing to God.

We can intercede, not in our own merit, but pleading the merit of Christ, who is continually praying for us.

Why are our prayer meetings sparsely attended? Have we forgotten, neglected, our work as a royal priesthood?

Lighting the Candelabras.

Living as a witness, light bearers, to the world

The church is the lamp stand, with a witness - have you hidden your light under the basket?

Having Such a High Priest

Believe in him for your salvation

Rest in him for your assurance

Follow him in serving the living God