... Our Great High Priest

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 37:20-40

Psalm 37:20–40 ESV

But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish—like smoke they vanish away. The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives; for those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing. Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever. For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever. The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice. The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip. The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death. The Lord will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial. Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off. I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree. But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found. Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace. But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off. The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

Advent Reading: ADVENT 3

LEADER: Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

CONGREGATION: Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

LEADER: Because he continues forever, he has an unchangeable priesthood.

Therefore he is also to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

CONGREGATION: For such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens.

LEADER: He does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins then for the people’s, for this he did once for all when he offered up Himself.

And every priest stands ministering daily, and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

CONGREGATION: But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

LEADER: For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Therefore brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God.

CONGREGATION: Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Sermon:

Good morning church. I was glad when they said to me, let us go and worship in the house of the lord.

This morning We are tackling a huge topic. Bigger in some sense, than what we covered the first week. If you remember back to the first week of advent, We talked about how jesus is greater than the angels. Why is jesus greater than the angels? Because, The angels are ministering spirits. Jesus is the very son of god. Because angels are sent to help, but no angel has ever been given the name above every other name. It is because because though angels are incredibly cool. Angels, do not uphold the universe, by the word of their power. Angels are not the image of the invisible. God, angels are not the exact imprint of the nature of god. Therefore, jesus, who is all of those things and more Is better.

And then we looked at moses, This was last week. And we said, jesus is far, far better than Moses. Though Moses was incredible and amazing, Moses was A servant of god, in a beautiful and powerful way, jesus is better. Because moses was a servant. Jesus is the son! Moses brought the law. Jesus is the divine lawgiver. Moses carried down, tablets written when the hand of god. That’s an important and amazing job, and Moses could say, THIS IS WHAT HOD HAS GIVEN TO YOU. jesus spoke with authority, truly with the authority of god. And so moses can say god has said thou shall not murder. But Jesus can say. You have heard it said “Thou shall not murder”, but i say to you if hate your brother there is murder in your heart. Jesus is far greater The moses.

And this week, we continue that thought, that Jesus is better.

Moses served as a sort of divine lawgiver and in what Moses gave were some very important thoughts. When we say that Moses gave the Law this is not just what we might classically think of as Law, because it included religion too. Lets just say in Moses Law there is absolutely NO separation of church and state.

He taught the people what it meant to serve and follow god. He laid out what would be required in terms of sacrifices, in terms of how do you approach God? who can do these things? How can you interact? How do we pray? How do we offer sacrifice? How do we a sinfully dirty people approach a Holy god?

Well god, laid out and Moses gave it to us in the law. And part of that is, there would be people who would serve in the temple and they were called priests Jesus, it turns out is our great high priest. And this is what we will be exploring this morning. Before we dive in, we'll be looking at mostly at hebrews chapter 8, though there's some thoughts in seven and even further that we need to deal with. Let's open with a word of prayer.

Dear lord. We thank you for today. We thank you for. Your goodness, your mercy, your kindness. Your faithfulness. Your generosity. For your love. We thank you for sending your son. The perfect sacrifice. Who offered up himself for us. Who now lives forever to intercede on our behalf. Thank you for jesus christ. Our lord and king. We thank you for the holy spirit at work within us shaping us and changing us. We pray that you would meet with us this morning. That you would speak to our hearts, that you would stir our affections, that you would open our eyes to see who you are and what you have done. Help us to see clearly. Your work of grace. Through the person of jesus, for its in his name that we pray. Amen. Amen.

As I mentioned mostly we will be in Hebrews Chapter 8. and as we open Hebrews chapter 8, verse 1 is the writer of hebrews has been developing a rather important but kind of technical argument. But here we can note, It's helpful When the writer of scripture tells you, “this is what i mean.” And this is what he says, chapter 8, verse 1.

Hebrews 8:1 (ESV)

Now the point in what we are saying is this:

So we just pause here, the writer of Hebrews is saying: What i've been saying before, what's come before and we'll kind of look at that here in a little bit. But what's come before.. This is the point… It is as if he is saying: let me give you my own spark notes of chapters 4-8… What is that spark notes? The verse continues:

Hebrews 8:1–2 ESV

Now the point in what we are 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, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

Here's the point in How I would say it: Jesus is the better. Priest.

Jesus is the better PRIEST

Starting in Hebrews chapter 4, the writer of Hebrews has been talking about this idea that we have a great high priest

Hebrews 4:14 ESV

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

So We have a priest. His name is jesus. We have a HIGH priest. His name is jesus. we have a GREAT HIGH PRIEST. and his name is Jesus. He is our priest. And so we hold fast to the confession, we hold fast to god's promises because he's better.

How is he better? In many ways. and we will talk about that in Chapter 8. but there is another important way the writer of Hebrews gets too first.

Hebrews 7 deals with this sort of strange guy who exists in the Old Testament. His name is Melchizedek. And Jesus is a better priest in the same ways HE was a better priest. Here's the point of comparing jesus to Melchizedek.

Last week we spent a lot of time talking about what moses did and why moses was important. ultimately, Moses is important because god gave the law through Moses. But There's another guy who's very important, his name is Abraham,

Abraham is of critical importance because god came down and he made a promise To Abraham. In fact, God made some rather bold and sweeping promises. If you grew up in Sunday school, right? One of them, is that he would have many sons. And many sons has father, Abraham... God promised, you will have children. They will outnumber the stars in the sky. In the sands on this on the beach. You you will have so many descendants… The beauty here is God promised this to a man who had NONE at the time...

In fact, god promised, your descendants will become a great nation. That nation will then become a blessing to the whole world. That nation god promised will inherit certain land. Have certain promises tied certain places. They will be, god promised, my people Those promises, god made to Abraham.

And so, Though when god made those promises, Abraham had no sons. God eventually gave Abraham a son. Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. Jacob had his name changed to Israel? And he had 12 sons, which became the 12 tribes. Of Israel. Why is this important? One of those 12 tribes descended from Levi. And if you were part of the levite tribe, you were able to be a priest to god.

Outlined in the law was that you could be the one who would offer sacrifices, who would lead the people before God. That was your duty as a son of Levi, son of Israel, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. So there's a hierarchy here where the father is greater than the sun, the father's greater than the sun. No, levite is better than Abraham because Abraham is their father.

But what if there is a priest who is better than Abraham? Wouldnt that priest be better than the levitical priest hood?

It turns out, There was. He was Melchizedek. And while we get into a lot of the details and who he is. Here's my answer, very quickly as to why Melkezidek was greater

Hebrews 7:21 (ESV)

“The Lord has sworn

and will not change his mind,

‘You are a priest forever.’ ”

Why is jesus a better priest? Because he is a priest... Forever. Of the order of melkhezadek, he will stand forever. There will be no time when you need to come before God, that you do not have an eternal priest named jesus who will intercede for you.

He made sacrifice... actually, let's continue through Hebrews chapter 8. Let's remember what we said already. We have a high priest, a greater an eternal, a forever high priest.

Hebrews 8:1–2 ESV

Now the point in what we are 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, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

Not, some tabernacle... not some building... This was made by god in heaven. THATS where jesus ministers. He's a better priest. Verse 3,

Hebrews 8:3 ESV

For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

Every priest has to offer Sacrifices. But then ultimately, that means the priests have something outside himself. He has to go outside himself, find a sacrifice, bring it to the altar, slit its throat, spill its blood, do the sacrifice stuff. Every priest has to do this… Every priest but Jesus that is.

Hebrews 8:4 ESV

Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

according to what moses gave, they offered sacrifices According to the moses way, the way that made them all subject to something HIGHER… And verse 5 this is important.

Hebrews 8:5–6 (ESV)

They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old

So here is the point about YOUR great high priest. Jesus ministry isn't patterned, it's not shadows. Jesus ministry is in heaven where he offers sacrifice for his people. That sacrifice was himself, offered once for all time. He didn't have to go outside himself, he didn't have to go find a cow, a sheep, a lamb, a dove some grain, he didn't have to find any of these things. Because he's a better priest. And where the writer of Hebrews goes and this is where we can't miss this, he's a better priest of a better covenant

… of a better COVENANT

verse 6

Hebrews 8:6 ESV

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

This is the point of why jesus as our priest is so important. Its better promises, it is a better covenant. This is a huge topic. I have litterally taken an entire class on this one point… but lets get to the meat.

Matthew. Chapter 26. We've read this a few times recently. Matthew 26 starting in verse 26.

Matthew 26:26–28 ESV

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

What were the promises given to Abraham and his sons? Descendants? land? a nation? What are the promises given through jesus? forgiveness of sin and life eternal? The promises in the new covenant are better promises. And jesus is the priest, Hebrews 7:22 says that he is The guarantor of this better covenant. In other words, it is through jesus that we FIND these promises located. And it is through jesus that we find the better promises of god, ENACTED. And jesus, does this as he ministers in heaven as our great and perfect high priest.

But what exactly is This better covenant? What does is it include?

WHICH INCLUDES:

But we can't just come and say, “well jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant.” we need to understand and grapple with What makes this covenant so much better? What's included In the better, covenant. Well, i'm glad you asked the writer of hebrews thought you would too. The first covenant turns out there were some faults or some problems.

One of the biggest problems... and here lets be careful what you hear when I am saying this... There are no problems with any promises when we look at God. Rather, all the problems in the first covenant have everything to do with us. For a bunch of reasons… We could never hope to meet the standard god laid out in that promise. For all have sinned.

WE HAVE all broken, the promise, the commands of god, we've all not been able to live up to it. That's really the problem. And so the issue was, we couldn't follow it. We had no hope to ever be able to attain the promises because we couldn't meet the standards that god had required. So we look not to the first covenant, but to the second one. WE look to the one we find in jesus This is what it includes:

the writer of Hebrews quotes from Jeremiah. Picking up in verse 8

Hebrews 8:8–9 ESV

For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.

God saved his people, delivered his people, cared for and loved his people, covenanted with his people… and the people thew that off. They began to play the harlot with their affections, worshipping false gods throwing off God’s rule to look and live and be like the people all around them. that was a problem. So again, the “problems” with the old one come from us, not God… But then God continues, and describes what will be in the NEW convenat. picking up in verse 10:

Hebrews 8:10–12 ESV

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

This covenant includes some wonderful promises. But lets start here: It includes the law.

LAW

Sometimes, I think, that We like to think… at a minimum we like to say.. There WAS the law and now we live fully apart from the law. Well that is actually NOT what God promised.

And in fact, by saying we don't have law. We don't have anything. We follow we don't have anything like that by saying that you are cheapening The promises of god.

Hebrews 8:10 (ESV)

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my laws into their minds,

and write them on their hearts,

The law we have is far better.

For in the old law, in the old covenant, it was law external law given by moses. Law, that sort of existed that we had to follow. And it was: we had to do this, and you had to do that; and you couldn't do this, and you couldn't do that. But now in the new covenant, God has promised that he will teach us... The law will not be something external, but rather written on our hearts will be how we serve and please, and know and show our love and devotion to God.

Note that we are IN the covenant already when he gives us his law. You can't earn your way into it, but once you are in god teaches you how to live for him, he writes it on your heart. So that the law we have is not something external thing, but rather it is within us as we follow in service to God.

We are not those who would say, we just abolish all moral laws rather we say the standard we have as much higher... For you are left with no excuse... the laws written on your heart. You can't say, i don't know It... it's in your heart, it's part of your mind. God put it there.

So, part of following in this new covenant is following the commands of god. He will teach us to do that. How?

Hebrews 8:10 ESV

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

the second thing that is included in this greater promise, the greater covenant of god is God's presence.

PRESENCE

I will be their God. They shall be My people.

In fact, This thought is actually included in every covenant of god. It's what covenant theologians call the “Emmanuel principle”. Emmanuel Meaning god with us.

It's not that God just gives us his law. Stands far away and says well now you got to follow that. He's promised to be with us. To be near.

So he's giving us his law. Teaching us how to follow him and then walking with us as we serve him. He is close. He is near. How do we know? we have a great high priest whose name is jesus. He's near. He's close. Jesus is the guarantor of this better promise. How do we know god will be close? God entered into creation to redeem us. Does that not show us how close he will be to us?

Hebrews 4:15–16 ESV

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.

He will be with us. God's presence is included in these promises. He will write his law upon our hearts and minds. Another layer to this that we find is that this means we just, by naturally living, will follow god's law. It's part of who WE are because he's with us, teaching us shaping us. And, We will know him.

KNOWLEDGE

Verse 11. If we just take the first half, this sounds weird.

To preface this: What are we doing right now? Well My my goal is to teach you to know the lord. So what does the writer of Hebrews say here?

They shall not teach each other...

They shall not...

Did David read that wrong? TRhat happens often… so Let's read it again.

Hebrews 8:11 ESV

And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

What this is NOT saying is that i shouldn't stand up here and say you need to know the lord. Rather, this is a promise. That you can know him... And that you will know him.... God is. Infinitely high above. Ultimately, he is Unknowable. Unsearchable. Unfathomable. He is the infinitely Powerful omniscient omnipotent Creator of all things. He is almighty all holy all knowing.

What hope do we have of ever knowing such a God? The hope and promise is that god reveals himself to us. This is the hope that we will know God.

this is what Paul is getting at in the book of Ephesians, Chapter 3.

Lets pick up in verse 14

Ephesians 3:14–19 (ESV)

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength

LISTEN TO WHAT PAUL SAYS HERE… THAT YOU WOULD HAVE THE STRENGTH

to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

We can work through all of this, for Paul and the writer of Hebrews are hitting all the same points here.

Being strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, that's the law being written on your heart and your mind.

That Chrsit may dwell in your hearts through faith… that's the presence of God

And he prays that yopu would know the love of Chrsit, that surpasses knowledge, thats the whole “they will know me” part of Hebrews too. Its all right here. for us.

And this is all tied together. By the most important thing we find in this new covenant that god gives us which is forgiveness.

FORGIVENESS

We all know him everyone in the land will know him. The law of god written on our hearts and minds the presence of god, we he will be our god, we will be his people, we will know him. But here is the pay off...Verse 12 of hebrews chapter 8

Hebrews 8:12 ESV

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

We get in this new covenant, the unsearchable depth of forgiveness that god gives To us. And this available Only Through jesus.

Jesus is the better priest of a better, covenant, but if you are not in this covenant, you have no access to the promises of the covenant. So to anyone who thinks? Well, i'll just, i'll be good enough... apart from jesus You can't do it.

The only way you get to this promise, the one that god Will remember your sins No more... is through jesus.

You don't get to pick and choose how to come to god. You have a high priest named jesus. That is the only way to come before Him.

You don't get to choose which laws and rules of god to follow and say, well, this one fits my lifestyle but this one does not. God is the divine lawgiver andHe will write his law upon your heart and mind but you must come through your great, high priest.

God has promised his presence that is available only through jesus. He has promised knowledge of who he is. What he's done. What god's doing. What his love feels like, he's promised us this knowledge. But once again, It comes only through jesus.

Jesus. Is greater. This is The big payoff, i would say of the book of Hebrews.

All of the “he is better, leads us to see the work of Jesus in saving and redeeming and loving us, his people.

There's more to get to in this book, and there's more, we will get to

But heres the point here this advent Sunday. We come to god through our great high priest. His name is jesus. The one who came... Born of the Virgin, Mary. Who lived A humble life. Who taught, who walked, who performed miracles, who healed, but who ultimately suffered and died on the cross. That's our high priest.

On the cross he offered once for all time, a sacrifice to cleanse All who would come to him. Now, having completed his work of sacrifice, he lives forever to intercede on our behalf. He's our great high priest.

You think of anything, some priest claims to do... jesus, does it better. Any priest who says Well, you have to come Talk to me... No, you do not, I plead of you, go straight to jesus.

Anyone who claims to be a mediator between you and god... They are not... you have a great high priest, his name is jesus.

If anyone dares tell you, you're not good enough to come to god without them. They are lying. You are only able to come to god through jesus. He's our great high priest. May we come to him? In faith.

Let's pray.