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Introduction
We are concluding a very important portion of the book of Hebrews.
We opened up the book with a series of comparisons.
Jesus compared to the angels
Jesus compared to Moses
Jesus compared to us as human beings
Conclusion: Jesus is superior to any and everything in creation
This Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us
In becoming flesh, he opened a pathway to God the Father that only He could open.
The author then extends this by saying that Jesus Christ is a High Priest
He compares his High Priesthood to that of a guy named Melchizedek.
Today, we are going to look at the final segment in Jesus being appointed a high priest.
Next, we will get into his function as high priest.
This may not seem all that interesting or applicable to us.
Everything we have covered in this book is repeated elsewhere in the New Testament
We have seen the concepts of salvation by grace through faith
We have seen Jesus as the sacrifice and we will see more of that
We have seen the humanity of Jesus, then His exaltation to the right hand of God the Father.
The difference is that all of this uses OT references and Jewish custom to communicate these truths.
Gentiles like us wouldn’t be familiar with these references and customs.
But to this unique audience, it is an explosive text about Jesus, the gospel, and Christian living in difficult times.
Today, I hope to show you that in some ways, we don’t drift too far from the struggles of the Hebrews in their walk trying to follow Jesus.
Read Hebrews 7:11-28
Pray
Introduce the priesthood
To start off with, I need to tie a few of our last sermons together.
Those were building blocks for today’s primary point.
Jesus is being called this high priest.
But having a high priest is something that we are unfamiliar with.
Last week, we looked at the promise that God swore to Abraham.
A part of that promise was that the whole world would be blessed through his offspring.
A part of that blessing was fulfilled with the tribe of Levi.
The Levites became priests
They built the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and the Temple in the Promised Land
In the Tabernacle and Temple, God’s presence resided with the people.
Human beings were blessed with the presence of the Almighty God.
But it was more than this.
God didn’t just live there separated from them.
They had access to God through the priests
They had atonement for their sins through the priests and the sacrificial system
They had a means of worship, where they could sing, give, and serve all in the presence of God
The priests served as the intercessor or the go-between between the presence of God and man.
Access to God
Atonement for sin
Means of worship
Intercessor between them and God
Draw Near to God Graphic
The priests had some very important rules they had to follow.
God was holy.
They were sinful people.
They had to make sacrifices for their own sins as well as the sins of the people.
There were important steps they had to take to be pure before the eyes of God
If they touched any unclean thing (like a dead body or bacon), there was a process God established by which they could purify themselves before being in the presence of God.
This was a critical position.
Not anyone could do it.
Only those from the tribe of Levi were selected for this role.
Re-Introduce Melchizedek
Another guy we are going to bring up today is Melchizedek (Mele-kee-tsedek)
Melchizedek was a priest, but he was a different type of priest.
He was not a Levite.
He was a priest before Levi was born.
God had declared Melchizedek priest.
His priesthood was not based on tradition or lineage, rather on the appointment by God.
Melchizedek Graphic 2
Melchizedek also served some of the functions of what a priest would serve
Did he give access to God to Abraham?
Yes
Sin isn’t mentioned in this passage, so we don’t know about that
Did he provide a means of worship?
Yes, Abraham gave 10% as an act of worship
Did he act as an intercessor?
Yes, he went to God on behalf of Abraham, then went to Abraham with a blessing on behalf of God.
Bottom line of this whole intro:
God desires relationship with His people.
He made himself available to Abraham’s descendents.
He dwelt among them and gave them a means to be with Him and know Him.
This was through the priests.
Topic
Hebrews 7:11 (NIV)
If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood
To start off here, I want to talk about this word “Perfection”
It will be our critical word today.
If you have your Bible or notes in front of you, I want you to highlight this word.
You will connect it to a couple of other words in our text
We see “perfection” and we think, “absolutely perfect” That seems logical
Hebrews 2:10 says that our salvation is made perfect
The idea in the word “perfect” is completion.
Hebrews 5:9 says that Jesus was made perfect by what he had suffered.
Again, this does not mean that Jesus was imperfect, then suffered, and now somehow was made perfect.
It means that Jesus work was completed, made perfect, through the suffering he endured on the cross.
Now, here again we see the word “perfection”
I want you to interchange this with the idea of “completion”
When God’s will is complete, it is perfect
Perfection and completion go hand in hand.
If God’s perfect will could be completed through the Levitical priesthood, there would not be a need for a greater priesthood.
There would have been no need for Jesus.
But there are laws around the type of priest that we serve.
I want to highlight this.
One question that came up was that Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but rather, he came to fulfil it.
That statement is absolutely true.
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