Saved To The Uttermost

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LNI - July 18 RSVP

Movie Night July 18 RSVP In GN

Hymn Sing - Next Sunday, July 20th @ 4:30pm (Will be dinner)

No prayer on 7/22

†CALL TO WORSHIP based on Hebrews 4:14-16

Pastor Austin Prince

Minister: We have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens: Jesus, the Son of God.

Congregation: We will hold fast our confession.

Minister: For he is not unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, he, in every respect, has been tempted as we are. Yet he lived without sin.

Congregation: Let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace! Here we will receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, as your unworthy servants, we give you most humble and heartfelt thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and to all people. We bless you for our creation, preservation and all the blessings of this life, but above all, for your precious love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.

And we pray that you would give us that due sense of all your mercies that our hearts may be sincerely thankful and that we may show forth your praise not only with our lips but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory world without end. Amen. Book of Common Prayer (1662)

†OPENING HYMN OF PRAISE #239

“Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven”

†CONFESSION OF SIN AND ASSURANCE OF PARDON

based on I Tim. 1:15; I Pet. 2:24

“let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7, ESV)

Let us confess our sins and ask God for a pure heart that comes only by faith in Christ and the imputation of His righteousness.

Minister: Man is humbled, and each one brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low. But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.

Congregation: Forgive us our sins, O Lord. Forgive us the sins of our youth and the sins of our age. Forgive the sins of our hearts and the sins of our hands. Forgive our secret and our whispering sins, and our presumptuous and our careless sins. Forgive the sins we have done to please ourselves, and the sins we have done to please others. Forgive us the sins that we know, and the sins that we know not. Forgive them, O Lord. Forgive them all, through the atoning work of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE Numbers 22:22-41

Paul Mulner, Elder

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†HYMN OF PREPARATION #444

“Come to the Waters”

SERMON Hebrews 7:11-28 // Saved To The Uttermost

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

O Lord, as we open now your word, we pray that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened, so that we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

TEXT Hebrews 7:11-28

Hebrews 7:11–28 ESV

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? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” 18 For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness 19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. 20 And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, 21 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.’ ” 22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. 23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 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. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 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. 28 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.

AFTER SCRIPTURE

Turn my heart toward your statures and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; renew my life according to your word.

INTRO

Would you take dieting advice from someone who was very overweight?

Would you take investment tips from a poor man?

Or would you take travel advice from someone who has never been where you are going?

There’s an obvious disqualification in these scenarios that would cause a real lack of trust in the one offering the advice.

At this point, the writer of Hebrews is asking these kinds of questions about the Levitical priesthood.

What was it that a priest was supposed to do, again? They were to help the people draw near to God, and they were to offer up a sacrifice for sins. But what are the wages of sin? We know from Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. So, in the Levitical system, you have priest after priest who offer sacrifices for sins, and yet they themselves are sinners and they keep on dying. And in doing so, there is an obvious disconnect between what they are trying to do and what they are actually capable of doing.

And when it comes to confidence with ultimate things—with the cleansing of your conscience and with what gives us hope—we should take a good look at who and what we trust to give us that assurance. What real power or qualifications do they have, after all?

Drawing out this obvious flaw in the system, the writer of Hebrews is again helping us to see how Jesus is better.

These Hebrews were sincerely tempted to abandon Jesus and go back to the rhythms and rituals of their Jewish upbringing. Jesus was a whole new way to live. Jesus was perhaps bringing them persecution and isolation. But they would have been turning back to a system that was completely without hope—a locked door that could only ever be opened by Christ. And in pointing out the frailty of the priesthood and the priests themselves, the rest of this text takes the opportunity to again compare it to Jesus’ greatness.

This morning we will look five facets of Jesus’ priesthood and see how Jesus is superior to the frailty of earthly hopes. And we will see how the superior priesthood of Jesus helps us to press on with endurance.

1. Jesus’ Priesthood Is A Perfect Priesthood (v.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?” (Hebrews 7:11, ESV)

When you hear the word perfection in context with the priesthood, one of the things that we think about is that the sacrifice was supposed to be perfect. If a lamb had a blemish or a falter of the feet, then it was considered unacceptable for sacrifice. But those that didn’t have these defects were considered “perfect.”

But this was just a symbol. It was just an exterior illustration of what the priesthood was unable to fully provide. Verses 18 and 23 attest to just how much this whole system falls short of what its illustration is trying to provide. In the words of the text, the system is “weak” and “useless” compared to Christ.

The assurance that the priest could give to the people was a weak one. The lambs must be provided again and again and again. And their holiness was only superficial and skin deep.

But as our High Priest, Christ gives a far greater assurance. The atonement for our sins was not paid by the image of perfection but by the very definition of it. Jesus was not superficially perfect or only externally perfect, but morally holy, holy, holy.

Bottom Line Application: Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect. And for you, there is perfection in Christ. When we look at earthly hopes we see their obvious flaws, but what do you see when you look to Christ? You should see this perfection for you.

2. Jesus’ Priesthood Changes The Law - (v.12)

“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.”” (Hebrews 7:12–17, ESV)

The author of Hebrews is binding the law and the priesthood together. Since the priests were supposed to come through Aaron’s line and be limited to only the Levites, Jesus breaks that mold. And if there is a change of the priesthood, then it’s equivalent to a change in the law. Jesus was not a Levite but from the tribe of Judah. He’s not a priest by default–by bloodline. He is a priest by the power of an indestructible life. His priestly work is authoritative in a different way.

And for those Hebrews who are trying to fit Jesus into their system—for those who might try to find some loophole in a genealogy to tie Jesus back to the Levites—the writer stops them in their tracks. Jesus is a whole different priest.

The OT text is still authoritative, but it all must be read in light of Christ. There are new implications because of Jesus. The law (mainly looking at the priesthood) is changed and given to Christ exclusively. Christ fulfills the law and the priesthood.

You can’t blend Him in with your old system. He isn’t a partial priest who does some of the work in conjunction with the other Levitical priests. Jesus stands alone. He is outside of your system.

Bottom Line Application: The law made nothing perfect. It can reveal weakness, but it can’t make you whole. But do you see that Jesus, this one who stands with the authority of the resurrection, can?

3. Jesus’ Priesthood Brings Us Closer To God

“(for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” (Hebrews 7:19, ESV)

When a priest was to make a sacrifice, the word for sacrifice means to draw near. But, again, with the priesthood that they had, there was an obvious disconnect.

The priest was at his work everyday. There would be priests who would offer a sacrifice on a bronze altar in the outer courts of the temple, and there would be a High Priest who would be in an inner court, where you couldn’t see him or join him, and there he would offer incense and a pleasing aroma at the same time as the blood was being shed outside the walls.

In doing this work, they would offer their sacrifices on your behalf and you would hope that that would draw you near to God. But you probably felt by observing this day after day that you weren’t very near to God. It probably left you feeling quite far from Him, actually.

But Jesus is a much better hope. He was the blood that was sacrificed outside the camp once and for all. And in His ascension, just like the pleasing aroma that accompanies that sacrifice, as High Priest, Jesus pleases the Father on our behalf perpetually before the throne. We aren’t limited by surrogates and representatives, but now the veil is torn down and we are brought to the Father by the Son. In other words, we can’t get any closer to God than through the Son.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, ESV)

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:2, ESV)

Bottom Line Application: Jesus draws you close to God. He is our reconciliation. Do you know that God is pleased with you, in Christ. Do you know that you are near and allowed to come near through Him?

4. Jesus’ Priesthood Was Made With An Oath (v.20)

“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.” (Hebrews 7:20–24, ESV)

Former priests were assigned to their role without an oath. They were given the role by a requirement of bloodline. But, quoting Psalm 110, God promises that Jesus will be priest forever.

And in Christ’s victory over the grave, He ever lives and pleads for us.

He is the guarantor of a better covenant. That word means guarantee. Your hope in a priest would be shaken and quite low. These men that they were turning to for help with sin and death had their own sins and kept on dying. But Jesus came up from the grave. Jesus lives. Our hope in Jesus is alive. We look at Him and see the guarantee of our hope, and we can see that guarantee day after day after day.

Bottom Line Application: There are promises to us for hope and life and resurrection, and in Jesus, all of those promises are fulfilled. He is the hope we were given and He is not a weak hope. He is our guarantor and sponsor of all the promises of God. He has taken the responsibility to see them all through on our behalf.

Do you see what you will be one day, and do you see what you are in Him right now?

5. Jesus’ Priesthood Is Complete — Fitting & Uttermost (vv.22-27)

“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.” (Hebrews 7:25–27, ESV)

Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost.

“When Jesus saves, there is nothing left to be done”

There is the application of that salvation to our lives by the Holy Spirit, but no sacrifice for sin remains. All is done and settled. We have a great salvation, and we have such a great high priest who is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens, and eternal.

Bottom Line Application: In Christ, our salvation is thorough, complete, and finished. Jesus saves to the uttermost. Every nook and cranny, every small and tiny crag in the cavern of our souls has been flooded with light and cleansed. Jesus didn’t miss a spot. Our salvation is a great salvation.

Do you know that there is not work left to be done? God is applying that work to you in this life, but you wait for nothing more to make you secure and whole.

Transition to application

I want to take a minute to focus our attention on what this perfect priesthood means for us. If you remember, one of the main images and metaphors of the book of Hebrews has been that of the wilderness generation from the Exodus. Many of them as they crossed those deserts wanted to turn back and grumble and give up hope, and Hebrews has picked up on that historic image and is encouraging, and sometimes warning us, not to turn back either. Some of the warnings not to turn back have been quite severe—to not harden our hearts lest we fail to enter God’s rest.

But in painting the picture of Jesus our Great High Priest, the author isn’t just concerned about us turning backwards, but is showing what will pull us forward. For life in the wilderness, seeing our High Priest is what is to compel us to keep on going. Christ is the lighthouse on the horizon, the aroma of fresh bread in the next room, the oasis of relief right before us.

This priesthood is not just neat. It’s not just good for Jesus that He is all of these things that we just mentioned. It’s good for you. This priesthood is for you.

Look at the way scripture speaks about the resurrection and Jesus’ eternal life

1 Corinthians 2:7–10 “But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him””

Jesus’ Priesthood and the power of the resurrection is for our glory. It is for hope and life and help in this time. It is our encouragement in fighting sin and running the race with endurance.

Discouragement comes when we have lost sight of our identity in Christ. When we lose sight of this perfection and promise that we have in Christ and don’t see the big picture.

When we seek glory and hope here, just like the priesthood of man, we are left short and empty and weak. When we seek glory in ourselves or in the things of earth, we are left with a scrambling to make ourselves whole.

And you can see this misplaced glory seeking pretty acutely when you think about the ways that we sometimes talk to ourselves over the years. You can see where we have placed a lot of our identity and hope.

You can think,

“I always thought I would have been married by now”

or

“I envisioned being more successful and having more security by now”

“I’m really skilled and did well in school — I saw myself at a different place in my career”

or

“I thought I would have more children”

or

“I never thought I would be a widow or lose a child”

“I was supposed to have a great Christian marriage with romance. I didn’t think I was ever going to need counseling after decades of marriage.”

“I never thought I would have a wayward child. That wasn’t supposed to be me.”

“I never thought I would have these health issues”

And we live with these real gaps in what we see as our identity and hope and rest. And like looking around at the priests, you see that earthly security is weak and disappointing.

But what we have in these days of doubt and discouragement is a Great High Priest who compels us to look forward to what lies ahead for us.

In Christ, we are whole—the things that we ‘thought’ we would be that gave us hope were never where our hope truly was. Our earthly disappointments are not ultimate. This world will have tribulation, but Christ has overcome the world.

In Christ, we are near to God

In Christ, there is salvation to the uttermost

This helps us to run in our trials. It compels us forward in the fight.

C.S. Lewis’s famous moon reflecting the Sun illustration

We are like the moon. It has no light in itself. In fact, it’s barren, pitted and scarred on its own. And if it’s not facing the direction of the Sun, it is completely blacked out.

But if it faces the right way, it is radiant. It is bathed in glory.

When we seek glory in ourselves there is no light. But when we turn to face the High Priest, our whole lives light up with beauty. The beauty of our redemption. The beauty of our hope. The beauty of our resurrection. The beauty of God’s sovereignty and purpose to take all of our pock-marked lives and give us glory. The beauty of taking our frailty and our disappointment and our sin and making good on it in atonement and resurrection.

This is a great High Priest, indeed!

We look at what we have been and can not see redemption.

We look at what we are and what we have now and see hope and usefulness.

We look at what we will be and see perfection and restoration. That God will turn it all to good.

This is what it is like to look around and not see an obvious disconnect between a promise claimed and a promise kept. When we see Christ, we see living proof, and we walk forward, compelled by a living hope.

See the benediction of Hebrews 13 and 1 Cor 15 ending on how Jesus’ resurrection compels us to good work in hope.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20–21, ESV)

We are given this hope to do his will in this life.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58, ESV)

Conclusion:

… labor not in vain.

Why? We do see futility, but we hold on to hope. It will be raised in Him.

When you think, ‘How will this be good or how can God use what I am and what I am becoming?’

Remember that He is the High Priest forever. He is the Lord of resurrection. He saves to the uttermost. His perfection is ours. And in the end, when our days are done, we can rest assured that He will turn all things for our good and His glory. Look forward and keep going—you will be pleased with what he does with your life.

†PSALM OF RESPONSE #110B

“The Lord Has Spoken to My Lord”

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Leader: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

CONFESSION OF FAITH -

The Apostles’ Creed (p.851)

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

Beloved in the Lord Jesus, the meal which we are about to celebrate is a feast of remembrance, communion, and hope.

We come to remember that Jesus was sent into the world to assume our flesh and blood, to become God with us, that we might be redeemed. We come to have communion with this same Christ who has promised to be with us even to the end of the world.

We come in hope, believing that this bread and this cup are a pledge and a foretaste of a new heaven and a new earth, where we shall behold God.

In his earthly ministry Jesus praised those who provided for him, saying, I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink. Now here, for us, is the bread of life given; let all who hunger come and eat. Here is the fruit of the vine, poured out for us. It is for all who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his church. Let all who thirst come and drink.

Let’s pray this prayer together:

PRAYER

Congregation: Most righteous God, we remember in this meal the perfect sacrifice offered once on the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ for the sin of the whole world. United with Christ in his suffering, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, trusting in the power of God to triumph over evil, we wait in joyful hope for the fullness of God’s reign. Send your Holy Spirit upon us, we pray, that the bread which we break and the cup which we bless may be to us the communion of the body and blood of Christ.

Grant that, being joined together in him, we may attain to the unity of the faith and grow up in all things into Christ our Lord. And as this grain has been gathered from many fields into one loaf, and these grapes from many hills into one cup, grant, O Lord, that your whole Church may soon be gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Amen.

Congregation is seated.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND SHARING OF THE SUPPER

“Eat and drink.”

Mark 14:22-25

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

†OUR RESPONSE #567

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise him, all creatures here below;

Praise him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Grace Notes Reflection

Hebrews 7:11-28 points out the obvious disconnect between what the Levitical priests were tasked to do and their ability to actually accomplish it. In light of Christ as High Priest, the earthly and merely human priesthood must be seen for what it is - “weak” and “useless” (vv.18, 23).

In five key ways, we see from this text how Jesus’ priesthood exceeds the old.

5 ways

1. Jesus’ Priesthood Is A Perfect Priesthood (v.11)

Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect. And for you, there is perfection in Christ.

2. Jesus’ Priesthood Changes The Law - (v.12)

The law made nothing perfect. It can reveal weakness, but it can’t make you whole. But do you see that Jesus, this one who stands with the authority of the resurrection, can? He fulfills the law.

3. Jesus’ Priesthood Brings Us Closer To God

The priests worked relentlessly to do a job that they couldn’t quite do. But Jesus’ work is finished. He is our reconciliation, and has brought us past the veil, to the very throne of grace. Do you know that God is pleased with you, in Christ. Do you know that you are allowed to come near through Him?

4. Jesus’ Priesthood Was Made With An Oath (v.20)

There are promises to us for hope and life and resurrection. In Jesus, all of those promises are fulfilled. He is our guarantor and sponsor of all the promises of God. He has taken the responsibility to see them all through on our behalf.

Do you see what you will be one day, and do you see what you are in Him right now? Do those promises compel you with hope?

5. Jesus’ Priesthood Is Complete — Fitting & Uttermost (vv.22-27)

In Christ, our salvation is thorough, complete, and finished. Jesus saves to the uttermost. He didn’t “miss a spot”. Our salvation is truly a great salvation.

Do you know that there is not work left to be done? God is applying that finished work to you in this life, but you wait for nothing more to make you secure and whole.

Like a lighthouse, the High Priesthood of Christ beckons us in the task of endurance to keep going, knowing that hope and life are in His direction.

Lewis example

Application of turning to him and seeing His sovereignty and glory in our lives.

As C.S. Lewis’s moon illustration helpfully describes, our lives are meant to become beautiful and radiant in the light of Christ. On its own, the moon has no light and is barren, but when it faces the right way, its rough landscape and empty nature are made glorious. To turn back from Christ would leave us in isolation with only our pock-marked and lightless selves. But seeing the hope of the resurrected Christ at His work as our High Priest covers the length of our days with radiance, making even the disappointments bearable as we look forward to the inheritance of our perfection and nearness in Christ.