Hebrews 7:11-28
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Attending a game with a Big Donor at Clemson-
Attending a game with a Big Donor at Clemson-
You all know I’m a Clemson fan. Have been all my life. Been to several games. I normally get tickets by buying them off the street there in Clemson. Occasionally, someone will offer me a ticket. In college, I went a football game with a friend of mine who went to Clemson. And my friends family just happened to be big donors at Clemson. They had box seats, a gate with their name on it. Tickets on the lowest level on the 50 yard line. Parking place right at the stadium. They were treated like royalty probably for good reason. Money. Anyways That friend called me and told me they had an extra ticket if I wanted to go and they told me to meet them at their gate at a specific time. When I got there, it was early, there was a lot of people there already and they were waiting for the gates to open.
At that point. I was just one in the middle of the crowd waiting for the gates to open. I didn’t even have a ticket at this point. When I met my friend’s family, they handed me my ticket and told me to follow them. They walked right past every one in the crowd and got to the gate that had their name on it, and the security guard who stood their keeping every one else out , upon seeing him, opened the gate, and he looked at the security guard and said “He’s with me” and the security guard let me go in early before anyone else.
Now, just thirty minutes before, I was just like every one else. in fact I was worse, cause I didn’t even have a ticket. I would have to wait until the gates open and I better have a ticket. But being with him made all the difference. They didn’t even check my ticket. All he had to say was he’s with me.
I was hopeless to go in by myself. But with him, I was treated as a member of his family. I was able to enjoy every perk he had for free, because I was with him. We will come back to that.
For now, I want to remind you The last time we were in Hebrews we dealt with the person of Melchizedek.
We talked about how Christ is a priest, “according to the order of Melchizedek.”
And that we need him to be a better priest.
But the question arises for us and it had to arise in the minds of this Jewish audience:
Why do we need a better priest? Why do we need Christ to be the better priest?
This morning we are going to answer that question: This passages outlines several deficiencies in the OT priesthood.
And we are going to see those things in this passage, but we will also see where the OT Priesthood was deficient, Jesus Christ is sufficient.
Read with me here beginning in verse 11.
Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?
Essentially, the author of Hebrews is asking the question that would have been on the mind of the Jewish people.
It is the question that we are seeking to answer today.
Why do we need another high priest?
Why were the OT priest not good enough?
We already have the Levitical priesthood, Why do we need a priest after the order of Melchizedek?
And you should see the answer actually is assumed in the question. Listen to how he words verse 11.
He says IF perfection was through the Levitical priesthood. And the undeniable implication is that perfection does not come through the Levitical priesthood
The author of Hebrews is setting up the answer with the question:
And the answer, Is that Jesus is the better high priest through who perfection does come.
But if Jesus is going to be better, he’s also going to be different.
There is going to be some changes for the better.
Look what he goes on to say.
For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also. For the one concerning whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.
So don’t get lost there. I’m going to summarize it for you.
Essentially, what he is saying is this.
Jesus would have not been a priest in Israel, according to the Law’s requirements
Solely based upon the fact that he descended from Judah and not Levi.
In the OT Law Levites were priest, and in the Law, Moses never mentioned a priest coming from the tribe of Judah.
Thats how he summarizes it all in verse 14.
For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.
So again, Jesus would not be a priest according to the order of the Levite.
But again, Jesus’s priesthood is different.
We’ve already discussed this: His priesthood is after the order of Melchizedek.
And thats what qualifies him to be a priest.
Every OT Jew would have remembered Melchizedek and the fact that he was called a priest, so the priesthood of Jesus has a precedent. To which the author of Hebrews can point and say, “Jesus is like him.” Melchizedek was a foreshadowing of Christ.
Look at verse 15-16
And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.
In other words, Jesus’s qualifications are not based upon his bloodline or any external qualification
Levites were priest based upon their bloodline and external qualifications. You say what do you mean?
They had to be Levites.
Their father had to be from the tribe of Levi.
They had to be from a God ordained biblically designed family.
Both in their parents
And in their own lives.
Which meant, one man and one woman.
They had to have a public character associated with holiness.
They could have no physical deformity.
In other words, everything was judged on externals.
Jesus is a priest based upon externals.
Jesus’s ability to be priest is His ability to Resurrect from the dead and live forever. look at verse 16
who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life.
For it is attested of Him, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”
And because his priesthood is better, the author of hebrews says the Old Priesthood is set aside.
Look what it says here in verse 18 and the beginning of verse 19
For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
The former commandment- referencing the Old Priesthood is described in several ways:
Its set aside
Meaning something better has come. There is now no longer a need for that kind of priesthood anymore.
It was a place holder and a picture until the true and better priest arrived.
It was weak.
It was imperfect.
And it was weak because the men who filled the position of Levitical priest were weak. How so?
The men who filled those positions were sinful.
Nadab and Abihu. Leviticus 10
Are struck down by God for sinning against God inside the Holy Place.
Jeremiah 23:11
“For both prophet and priest are polluted; Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the Lord.
They were polluted. As such they are weak. The priesthood was weak, because the priest were weak.
It was useless, for saving anyone. The Old Testament priesthood couldn’t do what they needed.
They needed to have a perfect priest, not an imperfect.
He goes on to say in verse 19 “for the Law made nothing perfect.”
It couldn’t make it perfect. These imperfect priest couldn’t make the people perfect.
The author of Hebrews has just dropped the bomb.
Their priests were weak. Their priesthood and their law keeping was useless.
Because they were imperfect.
Pause.
Can you imagine the hopelessness of this moment for them if they are trusting in their priests?
But he doesn’t leave them with their hopeless priests.
He points them to a better one.
(for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
ON THE OTHER HAND....
There is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
Don’t miss the significance of that statement.
We draw near to God Through this hope he is about to describe.
The people never got close to the presence of God in the Old Testament tabernacle/ temple system.
There were divisions and curtains everywhere.
The High Priest could go in to the Holy of Holies (seen as the localized presence of God) but no common man could.
This is why it is so significant that when Jesus died the curtain that separated the holy place from the most Holy place ripped from top to bottom.
He was telling us, he torn the curtain and where we could not go, he has brought it to us.
We now have what the OT could only dream about. Drawing near to the presence of God.
This is why Jesus is said to be the “better hope” here.
Why is he better?
Why is he better?
Verses 20-25-
First, he is the promised priest to come.
First, he is the promised priest to come.
look in verse 20-21
And inasmuch as it was not without an oath (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him, “The Lord has sworn And will not change His mind, ‘You are a priest forever’ ”);
The Levites became priest because as Levites that was their job. On the basis of their family.
Jesus becomes the great high priest, on the basis of the promise of God.
And the promise of God establishes his priesthood forever.
He will not give his priestly position to someone else.
He will not die out of it like the priest of the OT. He will die into it and raise up his life to live forever as our high priest.
So the first reason he is better, is because He is the promised priest to come.
He is the one who will bring about the new and better covenant.
so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
We no longer live under the Old Covenant, but the New.
And the New Covenant is established and upheld in Jesus Christ.
Why else is he better?
Second, he is the priest who lives forever.
Second, he is the priest who lives forever.
The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.
So this is a simple argument right?
There were countless Old Testament priests in the Levitical system.
There was a succession of priests, and it had to be that way.
Because those priest could not live forever. They would serve for a while and but eventually they would die.
Another man would have to be chosen to serve as a priest.
They are quite literally prevented by death from continuing.
But Jesus, on the other hand, when he died, when he was crucified, he didn’t stay that way. He rose again and will never die. So now, we do not have a priest who will die on us.
Rather we have a priest who forever lives, and he holds he priesthood permanently.
And that makes all the difference.
Its because he is different than every other priest that he actually is able to do what they could not.
Those priest could not save. They needed a Savior.
Those priests died. Our priest lives.
Look what he says here.
Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
What those priest could not do, Jesus does because he has defeated death.
And it says he does two things for us.
He saves us.
From sin.
From God’s wrath.
And he saves us forever.
We are eternally secure in Christ if he is our High Priest! But only if we draw near through him.
IF we draw near to God THROUGH HIM.
You cannot draw near to God through your good works. They aren’t good enough.
You cannot draw near to God through another religion.
There is one name that can saved.
You cannot draw near on the basis of the faith of your family.
EVERY other means that we seek to draw us near to God fails.
But Christ is good enough and he can save. Trust in him.
The second thing he does for us: He always lives to make intercession.
Meaning he forever pleads his case for us. He doesn’t plead based upon my righteousness, but his.
And he never stops. Those who place their faith in him always have an advocate EVEN when we fail.
1 John 2:1
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
Part of Jesus’ job as priest is to forever plead my case.
Whenever I doubt.
Whenever I sin
Whenever I succomb to the temptation.
Whenever I am unfaithful, he remains faithful.
And he is righteous.
Church, if you are a believer today, I want you to see that Jesus is everything we are not, and its through his sufficiency that we are made sufficient.
Look at how sufficient he is and look at what he has done:
For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.
Jesus is holy. He is innocent. He is separated from sin and sinners. He is undefiled. He is exalted above the heavens.
As such, He doesn’t need to make a sacrifice for sin, he doesn’t have any.
Those priest were weak, sinful, and they died .
Our priest is strong, sinless, and he lives forever.
Church do you see the magnitude of this passage now?
For thousands of years, the people of God had imperfect priests who in and of themselves could not save.
In the coming of Christ, we have a priest, one who has offered up his own perfect spotless life as our sacrifice.
He has paid what we owed, and has given us what we don’t deserve.
Do you believe this?
It is so important that you do.
You cannot stand before God on your own and be acceptable.
Your sin will incite his holy wrath if you seek to stand on your own.
Illustration: A young boyWandered in to a Primitive Methodist church headed somewhere else during a cold snowy Sunday morning, just to get warm. the real pastor wasn’t even able to get there because of the blizzard had snowed him in. But one of the men of the church didn’t let that stop the Word of God from being shared. He preached one verse Isaiah 45:22
“Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
That Sunday morning Charles Haddon Spurgeon, looked to Jesus and was saved. God then used him as one of the greatest preacher of the Gospel who has ever lived.
The message wasn’t elaborate. It was look to Jesus. He is your only hope. The message is the same this morning.
If you will just look to Jesus, he is able to save.
Believer, if you have looked to Jesus, then you are saved.
On your own, you will not draw near. You’re just like me at the gate at Clemson. You have no ticket, and on your own, you are not getting in.
But all it takes is for the one who has paid it all, to stand with you as your priest and say, He’s with me.
It’s through Christ we are given access to God.
And now we are able to enjoy the nearness of his presence forever. He has done all that is necessary to bring us near. To bring us in.
Now we get to enjoy HIM and all the blessing he has purchased not on the basis of anything we done, but solely based upon his invitation to us and his claim on us. He’s with me.
Believers let us draw near to God. Enjoy his presence and serve him well.