← Back to sermon library

Hebrews 7, beginning in verse 
20. And inasmuch as he was not made priest without an oath, 
for they have become priests without an oath, but he with 
an oath by him who said to him, the Lord is sworn and will not 
relent. You are a priest forever according 
to the order of Melchizedek. By so much more, Jesus has become 
a surety of a better covenant. Also, there were many priests 
because they were prevented by death from continuing. But he, 
because he continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore, he is also able to 
save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since 
he always lives to make intercession for them. For such a high priest 
was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate 
from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens. who 
does not need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices, 
first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he 
did once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints 
as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the 
oath which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been 
perfected forever. Now this is the main point of 
the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who 
is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in 
the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle 
which the Lord erected and not man. For every high priest is 
appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, it 
is necessary that this one also have something to offer. For 
if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there 
are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve 
the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely 
instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For he 
said, see that you make all things according to the pattern shown 
you on the mountain. But now He has obtained a more 
excellent ministry inasmuch as He is also mediator of a better 
covenant which was established on better promises. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank You for the Scripture and we pray for the Spirit to guide 
us now. We pray that Jesus would be exalted 
in our thinking. and that, Father in Heaven, You 
would just give us the grace to shine as lights in a crooked 
and perverse generation, holding forth the Word of Truth, serving 
effectively as Your witnesses of the glorious Gospel of free 
and sovereign grace. How we thank You for so great 
a salvation. How we thank You that You brought 
us nigh through the blood of the Lamb of God. How we thank 
You for that pardon of sins that is full, that is perfect. How we thank You for the imputation 
of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And how we praise You, 
God Most High, that salvation is of the Lord. For if it were 
in our hands, we would be damned to hell forever. But because 
You are our Champion, because You are our Savior, we have everlasting 
life. And in this we rejoice, Lord 
God. And we pray in Jesus' most holy name, Amen. Well, in Hebrews 
chapter 7, it's part of a larger whole. The section begins in 
chapter 5 at verse 1 and continues to chapter 10 verse 18. The entirety 
of those several chapters deal with the priestly office of our 
Lord Jesus. A priest was to go to God on 
behalf of the people. The prophet comes on behalf of 
God to declare His Word to the people, and of course, a king 
rules over his people. Jesus is prophet, He is priest, 
and He is king. And all those names are mingled 
in this section, but the primary emphasis in chapters 5 to 10 
is on the priestly office. And in chapters 5 to 7 specifically, 
it focuses on Christ as our Great High Priest. And then chapters 
8, 9, and 10, or at least half of 10, deal more so with His 
offering. Because a priest without an offering 
isn't a priest. If you notice here in verse 3 
of chapter 8, it says, every high priest is appointed to offer 
both gifts and sacrifices. That's his function. That's his 
task. That's his job. The priest doesn't 
come to make us holy. The priest comes to act. on our 
behalf. He is our representative. He 
engages in sacrifice in order that God will declare us holy, 
in order that God will justify us by His grace and for His glory. Well, this morning I want to 
just consider several observations on the priestly office of Christ. 
Again, some of this will be review for those who have attended the 
Wednesday night studies. But if you're like me, you can't 
get enough of these things. If you're like me, these things 
thrill you each and every time you are reminded. of them, because 
our salvation hinges upon the conduct, the sacrifice, the offering, 
and the practice of this beloved High Priest of the New Covenant. And the first observation that 
I want us to notice is that Christ executes the office of High Priest 
by divine oath. That may not seem significant, 
but I hope that you'll appreciate it in the few minutes that we 
spend making this observation, that Christ serves or functions 
as High Priest by a divine oath. That is the thrust of verses 
20 to 22. It says, Inasmuch as he was not 
made priest without an oath, For they have become priests 
without an oath." He's speaking about the former priesthood. 
He's speaking about the Levitical priesthood. The sons of Aaron. They were not instituted by oath, 
they were instituted by gene. If they were of the tribe of 
Levi, if they were sons of Aaron, they would serve in the capacity 
of priest or high priest. Not so with Christ. It was divine 
oath. It was a divine foundation. It 
was the institution, not because of his tribe, but because of 
who he is in the person and work of our Lord Jesus. God Most High 
instituted him by divine oath. And he highlights Psalm 110 verse 
4. It says, The Lord has sworn and 
will not relent. It's a blessed statement there. 
God will not relent. We might suggest, or we might 
see it this way, God is relentless in the pursuit of His elect. 
God will not suffer any of His people whom He has chosen unto 
salvation to be finally lost. Our God has orchestrated the 
entirety of the cosmos for the salvation of our wretched, hell-deserving 
souls. Our God functions in such a capacity 
that when a sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, that salvation 
is rock-solid. It cannot be frustrated. It cannot 
be thwarted. It cannot be undone. Christ functions 
according to a divine oath. Jehovah has sworn. Jehovah will 
not relent. Jehovah has ordained Him a priest 
forever according to the order of Melchizedek. And then he says 
this in verse 22, By so much more, Jesus has become a surety 
of a better covenant. His priestly office is consistent 
with the better covenant, which is the new covenant. He will 
specify various things later in this section. He will call 
the new covenant the second covenant. He will call it the new, the 
better, and the eternal covenant. It's not like that which God 
had made with the fathers of old. But it has been effected 
and enacted by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is 
everlasting. And the word that he uses here, 
he is the surety of a better covenant. The idea means, or 
it's a legal term, which appears only here in the New Testament, 
but was commonly used in Hellenistic Greek of a surety who assumed 
responsibility for another person's debt if the latter could not 
meet it. Let me just read that again because 
it's full of blessing. He says, the word surety or guarantor 
is a legal term which appears only here in the New Testament, 
but it was commonly used in Hellenistic Greek, Greek outside, or extra-biblical 
Greek, that which is not necessarily contained in the Scripture, but 
in various commercial transactions or in legal documents, this word 
came up often. And it was used of one who assumed 
responsibility for another person's debt if the latter could not 
meet it. We were indebted to God. God 
is a holy God. God is a most pure spirit. God is most glorious and wise. He is righteous. No wickedness 
dwells in His presence. He is of too pure of an eye to 
behold evil. He doesn't look approvingly on 
it. He's not like us in that respect. And so we stood in His 
debt because we sinned against Him. We are completely contrary 
to God. We are full of sin, and full 
of depravity, and full of infirmity, and full of weakness, and full 
of wickedness. And yet Christ came as our surety 
of a better covenant. He fulfilled the legal obligations 
of the covenant. He obeyed His Father at every 
step. And then He died as a sacrifice 
at Calvary. And then He rose again. He is 
truly the surety of a better covenant. And I want to read 
from John Flavel. Again, a long quote, but one 
that really does capture this reality of Christ as a surety 
of a better covenant. John Flavel was a Puritan and 
he wrote this, speaking about what's called the covenant of 
redemption. The father making a pact with the son to save a 
people from their sins. And so what Flavel does is he 
assumes a conversation between the persons of the Holy Trinity. 
And so he says, my son, the father speaking to the son, my son, 
here is a company of poor, miserable souls that have utterly undone 
themselves. and now lie open to my justice." 
Let me just ask you as you hear this, as you enter into this 
sermon today, we're not just learning data about Jesus, we're 
learning about the Savior of our souls. We're hearing about 
the high priest, of the better covenant that by God's grace 
we are participants in. We come today to taste the bread 
and to drink the wine, to be reminded of our Savior's dying 
love, on our behalf. So, appropriate these things 
to yourself. Receive them as unto yourself. And listen to what Flavel says 
here. My son, here is a company of poor, miserable souls that 
have utterly undone themselves and now lie open to my justice. 
Justice demands satisfaction for them or will satisfy itself 
in the eternal ruin of them. What shall be done for these 
souls? And thus Christ returns. Oh, my Father, Such is My love 
to and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally, 
I will be responsible for them as their surety. Bring in all 
your bills, that I may see what they owe you. Lord, bring them 
all in, that there may be no after reckonings with them. At 
My hand shall you require it. I will rather choose to suffer 
Thy wrath than they should suffer it. Upon Me, My Father, upon 
Me be all their debt. But My Son, if you undertake 
for them, you must reckon to pay the last mite. Expect no 
abatements. If I spare them, I will not spare 
you." Content, Father, let it be so. Charge it all upon me. I am able to discharge it. And 
though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all 
my riches, empty all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake 
it." He is the surety of a better covenant. It's what the Apostle 
says to us to consider. Notice, secondly, Christ's priesthood 
is permanent. It is eternal. It is abiding. It is everlasting. This is the 
emphasis of verses 23 to 25. He says, also, there were many 
priests because they were prevented by death from continuing. We 
noted a comment from John Gill. John Gill says, death has a power 
to forbid a long continuance in this world. The best theologians 
and commentators are masters of the obvious, as far as I can 
tell. You hear what he says? Death 
has a power to forbid a long continuance in this world. And no man does continue long 
here. Death puts a stop to men's works 
and to the exercise of their several callings. No office, 
even the most sacred, exempts from it. No, not the office of 
high priests. These were but men, sinful men, 
and so died. And their discontinuance by reason 
of death shows the imperfection of their priesthood. Not so with 
Christ. He is eternal, and thus His priesthood 
is perfect. Christ is from everlasting to 
everlasting. When the Son of God went into 
the tomb, He rose up on the third day. The Father exalted Him and 
seated Him in His right hand. He gave Him the name which is 
above every name, both in this age and in the age to come. Christ 
has won victory on behalf of His people, and He has a permanent 
priesthood. We are not looking to the Levitical 
high priests. We're not looking to carnal men. 
We're not looking to fleshly men who may for a time appear 
and do good things, but then die and go to the grave. Our 
Savior lives. Our Savior reigns. Our Savior 
rules at the right hand of God Most High. He continues forever. He exercises an unchangeable 
priesthood. Notice in verse 24, but He, because 
He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. It's a beautiful statement. We 
need this kind of a Savior. In fact, that's what the Apostle 
is going to say in just a moment. For such a high priest is fitting 
for us. We are carnal. We are sinful. 
We go astray. One of the reasons I like to 
sing 400 is because I believe it captures something of the 
Christian life. Prone to wander, prone to leave 
the God I love. Those Levitical priests found 
themselves in the same position. Prone to wander, prone to leave 
the God they love. Not so with Christ. He never 
wandered. He never strayed. He always did 
the will of His Father. He says, my need is to do the 
will of My Father. He enters into the tomb, but 
because death has no dominion over Him, He rises again. He 
ascends on high. He has the power of an endless 
priesthood. This is our Savior. And notice the implication that 
the author draws from this statement. Verse 25, he says, therefore, 
Be thankful for therefores in your Bible. Theology has to be 
applied. Theology has to move us. Theology 
has to become implications to our lives. And that's what he 
does here. He's described the divine oath 
behind the priestly office of Christ. He's shown us the unchangeable 
priesthood that he exercises. And now he says in verse 25, 
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. You've got to see this. He is 
able to save to the uttermost. And brethren, sometimes we use 
that word ability, and it's not the way the author is using it 
here. I may be able to do something, but that doesn't necessarily 
mean I do it. You may be able to do something, 
but that doesn't necessarily mean that you go out and do it. 
He is not only able, but He does it. That's the point of verse 
1 in chapter 8. He says this is the main point 
of the things we are saying. We have such a high priest. Not only is he fitting for us, 
it would do us no good if he was fitting for us, but we didn't 
have him. It does us no good if we have 
a fitting thing that we can't use. But he not only is fitting, 
but he executes. He not only has the power, but 
He puts it into practice. That's the point here. Therefore, 
He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God 
through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for 
them. Jesus Christ is an able Savior. Jesus Christ doesn't save partially. Jesus Christ doesn't save a little 
bit. If you're here this morning and 
you're not a Christian, I want you to get this point. Jesus 
saves to the uttermost. He doesn't share the task. He 
doesn't ask you to give and then He'll provide some. It's not 
a give and take in the matter of salvation. He saves to the 
uttermost those who come to God through Him. That's what you 
need to hear. You need to give up your trying. 
You need to give up your reforming. You need to give up your, I've 
just got to get better. You need to give up all those 
things that you put stock and emphasis upon, and you need to 
bow to Jesus. You need to come to God through 
this high priest, through this mediator of a better covenant. 
You need to turn your back on the garbage and embrace the Savior 
who has given Himself for sin. That's what the Apostle is saying. 
Therefore, based on this divine oath, the fact that God is sworn 
and will not relent, the fact that all those Levitical priests, 
Josephus figured that there was about 83 high priests from the 
time of Aaron to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Those 
several high priests who continued only for a time, but were stopped 
because of death. They could not save you. They 
could not bleed for you and die for you and rise again for you. 
They could not fulfill the law on your behalf. But based on 
this One who has an unchangeable praise to Him, the fact is He 
saves. And He doesn't save partially. 
He saves to the uttermost. He saves completely. The idea 
here is uttermost, completely, or absolutely. He is not frustrated. There is never a time when someone 
will say, I believe the Gospel, and be disappointed. Isn't that 
one of the statements in Romans 10 that Paul quotes from the 
Old Testament? Whoever believes in Him shall not be disappointed. If somebody says, you know, I 
tried Jesus and it just didn't work. I tried Jesus and my life 
just didn't get better. You may have tried Jesus, but 
you didn't believe the Gospel. Because everyone who looks to 
live, everyone who believes that message of Jesus Christ and Him 
crucified and resurrected, never, ever says, boy, what a waste 
this has been. You find a saint on his dying 
bed and you ask him if he has any regrets that he came to Christ. 
He will never say, yes. It will only be, I should have 
come sooner. I should have believed more. 
I should have been more faithful. But, oh, that I have a surety 
who stood in the place for me. Some of you are playing games. Some of you want things to satisfy 
you. Some of you are looking to this 
world and this earth to speak to your deepest needs. But that's 
not going to happen. There is One. And there is only 
One who saves to the uttermost. All those who draw nigh unto 
God through Him. I love the language of our text. He is able to save to the uttermost. You come to God through Him. But it's not only for the unbeliever 
that this text has blessed application. It's for the believer. Do you ever feel like He doesn't 
save to the uttermost? Do you ever feel like your life's 
a mess You've got to this, or you've got to that, or maybe 
he's not going to accept me after all. I haven't been as good a 
Christian. I hear that sometimes. Hey, he's not that good of a 
Christian. What does that mean? You know what the defining reality 
of a Christian is? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. 
When we say he's not that good of a Christian, or I'm not that 
good of a Christian, what are we looking to? Our performance. 
Our doings. Our abilities. Our merits. I'm 
not that good of a Christian. Maybe Jesus won't accept me. 
No, you're not that good of a Christian. You're not that good of a human 
being. In fact, as the Scripture says, you're utterly worthless. 
You're despised. You are an enmity with the living 
God. But He, in His grace and in His 
mercy, has captivated your heart. He has saved you by precious 
blood. And Christian, you need to believe 
that He saves to the uttermost. I shared with the brethren on 
a Wednesday night, a pastor friend of mine had another pastor friend. He went into his office one day 
and he saw on the wall, And Today. You know, a lot of pastors, a 
lot of people like to put Scripture up in their offices, or put Scripture 
on their refrigerators, or put Scripture on their mirrors so 
that when they're shaving, you can remember the Scripture. This 
is Deuteronomy Christianity. You post that word all over the 
place. So the pastor, my pastor friend says, what's that? What's 
And Today? And he said, Hebrews 13, it says, 
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. He said, 
I don't really doubt Jesus Christ is all-powerful and sovereign 
and supreme in the past. I don't doubt the future glory 
and the power and the sovereignty of Jesus Christ in the future. 
He says, what I struggle with is, and today. I need to be reminded 
that Jesus Christ is the same today. That He saves to the uttermost 
today. That He saves us completely today. That He is not going to leave 
you. That He is not going to forsake 
you. That this high priest, who has an unchangeable priesthood, 
doesn't save you for a time and then let you go. He doesn't save 
you for a time and then discard you. If you are in by His grace, 
you will stay in by His power. It cannot be otherwise. And this 
is what our author wants us to understand. Therefore, he says, 
he is also able to save to the uttermost. Whatever you commit 
to Him, He is faithful to keep unto that day. Paul says in 2 
Timothy 1.12. I am persuaded, he says. That's the conviction of a Christian. Thirdly, notice the character 
of this high priest. His sinlessness. Verse 26, For 
such a high priest was fitting for us. This makes sense only 
as we read the rest of the verse. For such a high priest was fitting 
for us. Yes, by divine oath. Yes, by 
the fact that he exercises an unchangeable priesthood. But 
by virtue of his person. He's holy. He's harmless. And he's undefiled. That is fitting 
for us as unholy and harmful and thoroughly defiled people. 
We are sinners who stand in need of this type of a Savior. We 
don't need a little help from on high. We don't need that slogan 
that is unbiblical to the core, God helps those who help themselves. God saves those who are utterly 
destitute of any power to save themselves. That's the scriptural 
truth. When people say Christianity 
is for losers, it's for mess-ups, it's for those who have total 
issues, they're right. They're absolutely spot on. Don't try to defend it. Don't 
try to put a ribbon on it. Don't say, well, no, He just 
kind of helps us do all that we can be. This isn't the Marines. That was the slogan in the Marine 
Corps in the United States, or the Army. Be all that you can 
be. That's not Christianity. Christianity is look to Him who 
did everything. and find hope, comfort, and salvation 
through His blood and resurrection. His fitness for service. He's holy. This speaks to His 
personal piety. His obedience to the Father. 
The accomplishment of the Father's will. Because contrary to Rome 
and contrary to modern aversions, or aberrations rather, of the 
Christian Gospel, we need a righteousness that avails with God. We need 
the imputation of Jesus' active obedience. And Christ avails 
that through His holiness, His obedience to His Father's will. 
He is harmless. This means free from all guile 
or innocence. And he is undefiled. This means 
pure, unstained. O'Brien says, taken together, 
the three adjectives forcibly describe the sinlessness of our 
High Priest. This is his character. This is 
what he looks like. We don't look to a son of Aaron 
who had to first atone for his sin, get himself right with God, 
and then go and perform sacrifice on behalf of Israel. Remember 
that Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16? That Yom Kippur? When that 
high priest went in there, he went with two animals. The first 
was for his own sin. Not so with our Redeemer. This 
is what our author says. He says in verse 27, because 
of the fact that He's holy, harmless and undefiled, because of the 
fact that He's separate from sinners and has become higher 
than the heavens, He does not need daily, as those high priests, 
to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for 
the people's. For this He did once for all 
when He offered up Himself. We don't need daily sacrifice. 
We don't need the day of atonement. We don't need that representative 
high priest to take off the regalia, put on the linen, and go into 
that Holy of Holies one time a year to offer up sacrifice, 
to exit from the holy place, and then to lay his hand upon 
the scapegoat and drive it out into the wilderness. We don't 
need that anymore. Those were copies. Those were 
shadows. Those were types. The substance has come. And our 
author is saying, our high priest is such that he does not need 
daily to go and sacrifice for himself. He's not morally impure. He's not morally defiled. He 
is not deficient. He is the best. You know, when 
God came to sacrifice, He wasn't like us. God had to specify in 
the law that when you sacrifice, you don't take the worst from 
your flock. God knows us, doesn't He? What's our temptation? It's time to sacrifice. What's 
going to cost me the least? What's going to hurt me the less? 
What's going to affect me without my really feeling it or knowing 
it? There's not a one of us who goes out to the flock and finds 
the best, the choices, the most dignified, and says, that one 
for God. We see it in Israel's history. 
Malachi's day, they were stealing sacrifices to take to the temple. 
I don't know how you get that degenerate. Actually, I do know. 
Unfortunately, sons of Adam, we never stop devising ways of 
sinning against God. Can you imagine that? You're 
going to go sacrifice? Hey, honey, I forgot the sacrifice. 
Oh, steal one from the Joneses. They won't miss it. Grab one 
of their best. Grab their best. Did they ever 
doubt on them? But we're stealing a sacrifice. Has it ceased to be a sacrifice? Not so, our God. When it came 
to deal with His sinful people, He sends the best. He sends the 
champion. He sends the Savior. He sends 
David's greater Son. He sends David's Lord. And our 
Author tells us He does not need daily, as those high priests, 
to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for 
the people's. For this He did once for all 
when He offered up Himself. When we eat this bread and we 
drink this wine, we are not ingesting the physical body of Jesus. We 
are not taking corporally the real body and blood of Jesus. 
That is what Roman Catholicism teaches. They teach that the 
priest pronounces words and changes those elements from the bread 
and wine to the body and blood of Jesus. And what they do in 
their sacrifice of the Mass is re-crucify the Lord of Glory. 
There is not a memorial service. Theirs is an atoning sacrifice, 
an unbloody atoning sacrifice. Why? Jesus did it once for all. Never to be duplicated. Never 
to be engaged in again. Never to be replicated. Christ's 
sacrifice is back glorious. When you take the best, and you 
pour your wrath upon Him, and you accept Him, then sinful men 
don't have to go through some external system of unbloody sacrifice 
anymore. I love what O'Brien says with 
reference to this sacrifice that Jesus engaged in. He says, by 
contrast with the Levitical priests, Christ offered the definitive 
and ultimate sacrifice of Himself once for all. Now listen, He 
did not make an offering for Himself, but of Himself for the 
sake of others. That's good theology right there. 
He did not make a sacrifice for Himself like these Levites, but 
He made a sacrifice of Himself for the sake of sinners. Substitutionary, 
wrath-bearing, curse-bearing on the part of our great High 
Priest. You see why the author says, 
so much so, we have a surety of a better covenant. Fourthly, 
quickly, notice He is the minister of the true tabernacle. Verses 
1 and 2. I love this. Now this is the main point of 
the things we are saying. Hebrews for dummies, right here. 
I don't mean to be cheeky, but this is what he's doing. You 
ever see those books? I remember the first one I saw, 
DOS for dummies. Now they probably have Windows 
for dummies. They might have C++ for dummies. They have dog 
training for dummies. I'm not trying to be... You go 
to any bookstore, you see these books. How to be a housewife 
for dummies. How to do philosophy for dummies. 
Everything for dummies. That's Hebrews 31. In case you missed 
everything, I want to just summarize and encapsulate. This is the 
main point of what we've been saying. This is what I want you 
to get. This take-home message. When 
you eat this bread and you drink this wine, you praise God Almighty 
for the fact that Jesus died for you and rose again. Here's 
what you need to remember. We have such a high priest. This 
is not a fictional man. This is not a figment of the 
imagination. This isn't a cunningly devised 
fable. This isn't something developed in a drug-induced state. This wasn't mass hysteria. Jesus 
of Nazareth was a real man who really did all that we have specified. 
Who really died as a substitute at Calvary and who really rose 
again. Who did not offer sacrifice for himself, but of himself for 
the sake of others. This is the main point of what 
we've been saying. You need to understand this. 
Remember back in verse 26, for such a high priest was fitting 
for us. You may feel your need. You may understand that you are 
deficient before a thrice holy God. You may see Him as holy 
and yourself as miserable and sinful. I understand this is 
the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a 
high priest. He's there. He's in session. In this first century context, 
the author is writing to Jewish Christians who are being tempted 
to go back to the temple. who are being tempted to go out 
into their barn and grab an animal, and go to the temple, and cut 
its throat, lay their hand on its head, and turn it over to 
the priest so that he can offer it up to Jehovah. They're being 
tempted to do this. It's one of the thrusts of the 
book of Hebrews. The sacrificial system was an 
abomination, but it was still in practice. That's what he alludes 
to in verse 13 of chapter 8. In that he says a new covenant, 
he has made the first obsolete. He did this at the cross by his 
dying at Calvary. Now it says, now what is becoming 
obsolete? This system that was still in 
play before A.D. 70. What is becoming obsolete 
and growing old is ready to vanish away. When would that happen? 
When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation 
is near. But for the present time, there 
were Jewish Christians tempted to go back to the sacrificial 
system. And he says, don't do it. We 
have such a high priest. We have this Jesus. He saves 
to the uttermost. He exercises an unchangeable 
priesthood. He's been instituted by divine 
oath. Don't go backwards. Don't leave 
off. Keep going. The glory of plotting. The glory of perseverance. The 
glory of keeping on. The glory of looking to Jesus. 
The glory of not taking your eyes off of Him. You could hear 
the pressure the unbelieving Jews would put upon that. What's 
up with you? You don't have any sacrificial 
system. You don't have any high priest. You don't have any ceremony. 
You don't have any pomp. You don't have any show. You 
don't have any external glory. You don't have any splendor. 
You don't have any temple. So the author takes pen to paper 
and says, oh, we've got all that. that you carnal wretches know 
nothing of. We have such a high priest, he 
says, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty 
in the heavens. A minister of the sanctuary. 
We could read this sentence this way. A minister of the sanctuary. That is the true tabernacle which 
the Lord erected and not man. He's not talking about two items. 
He's talking about the true tabernacle which is heaven itself. Isn't 
it interesting? This king-priest reigns not from 
a palace, but in a sanctuary. When God made Adam and Eve, He 
made Eden as a sanctuary. He institutes the tabernacle 
and the temple, pointing the way forward to this true tabernacle, 
to this true sanctuary, to this true new heavens and a new earth. 
So that when John in Revelation 21 sees New Jerusalem descending 
out of heaven like a bride adorned for her husband, he describes 
a temple. Life is about worship. The eschaton 
is about worship. It's about the service of our 
triune God. It's about being priests to Him. That's why when we find the redeemed 
in heaven in Revelation 22, it's all priestly terminology. He's 
made us a kingdom of priests unto our God and unto His Christ. That's what Jesus is all about. Hughes says, it is described 
as the true tabernacle because in contrast to the perishable 
tent or tabernacle which accompanied the Israelites in their wilderness 
wanderings, the heavenly reality in which the Ascended Lord has 
entered is the genuine sanctuary, the imperishable holy of holies. This is our movement. This is 
where we're headed. This is what the trajectory of 
history is all about. going forward to be that place 
where God is all in all and His people worship Him. Fifth, we could spend several 
hours here, just so you all know. You're probably going, oh man, 
we're getting lots of Wednesday night poured into wine. Come 
out to Wednesday night, lots to say about the book of Hebrews. 
Notice fifthly, quickly, the function of the high priest. 
We've already touched on this. Every high priest is appointed 
to offer both gifts and sacrifices. One of the things we pointed 
out this past Wednesday night is the priestly office in connection 
with justification by faith alone. The priest doesn't make us holy. 
The priest functions before God to declare us holy. Charles Hodge 
says it this way, Christ saves us as a priest, but a priest 
does not save by making those who come to Him good. You didn't 
wander into the temple to have the priest give you an example. 
You didn't wander into the temple to have the priest make you holy 
or good. You went to the temple so that 
a declaration could be made, so that a judgment could be adjudicated, 
so that there would be peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
Christ, having been justified by faith. He says, He does not 
work in them, but for them. Christ saves us by a sacrifice, 
but a sacrifice is effectual, not because of its subjective 
effect upon the offerer, but as an expiation or satisfaction 
to justice. Christ is our Redeemer. He gave 
Himself as a ransom for many, but a ransom does not infuse 
righteousness. It is the payment of a price. 
It is the satisfaction of the claims of the captor upon the 
captive. And notice what our beloved author 
says in verse 6, which brings us to our sixth and final observation. This is a more excellent ministry. But now he has obtained a more 
excellent ministry inasmuch as he is also mediator of a better 
covenant which was established on better promises." Those better 
promises are spelled out in the following verses. Those better 
promises are taken right out of Jeremiah 31, 31-34. Remember the Old Covenant? Within 
that one covenant community you had all who were circumcised 
and entered in, but you had saved and you had unsaved. God through 
Jeremiah says in the New Covenant, that's not the case. In the New 
Covenant, all shall know the Lord, from the least of them 
to the greatest of them. They will know Me. They will 
receive the forgiveness of sins. That's what the author does in 
verses 7 to 13. He says that this new covenant 
is superior. This new covenant is supreme. 
This new covenant has taken the place of the old, and it is the 
only one that's left. Hebrews 13.20 calls it the eternal 
covenant. It is not going to falter. It is not going to fail. It is 
not going to go away. So, brethren, this morning, consider 
the fact that you are participants, by the grace of God, in a better 
covenant. You are participants in a better 
covenant founded upon divine oath and effected by a glorious 
priest. If that doesn't make you happy, 
you all need to repent. It just doesn't get any better. 
Now, I'm not saying that Hebrews 7 is the bestest place in the 
Bible. It's one of many vistas in the Bible. It's one of many 
summits in the Bible. Because what it does is it takes 
Jesus Christ and it sets Him before us in all of His glory 
as the great High Priest of this New Covenant. And if you are 
not a Christian this morning, there's one way to become a Christian. 
It's not to become good. It's not to go out and read your 
Bible. It's not to make sure you're at the evening service. 
It's not to buy a leather confession. It's not to be here on Wednesday 
night. It's to look to Jesus Christ. To believe the gospel. To realize that God is a holy 
God. That you are a sinful man, a 
sinful boy, a sinful woman, or a sinful girl. and that Jesus 
alone is the Savior. The Scripture says when you believe 
on Him, He will forgive you. He will impute righteousness 
to you. He will make you fit to stand 
before the Father everlastingly. There's no greater news in this 
world. There's no greater blessing in this world. There's no greater 
joy in this world than to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in Heaven, we thank You so much for Hebrews 7 and 8. We thank 
You so much for the entirety of Hebrews, the entirety of the 
canon, both Old and New Testaments, because their consistent message 
is God saving sinners by Jesus Christ for the glory of His own 
Most Holy Name. And we just pray, Father, that 
as this Gospel is proclaimed today, sinners in this place 
and throughout the earth would look and live. And I pray that 
You would strengthen Your people, strengthen believers, help us 
to reflect upon the fact that this Jesus saves to the uttermost. 
That when we come by grace to Him, He doesn't partially save. He doesn't make us save a bull, 
but He completely and thoroughly saves us. And Father, may this 
be an encouragement to us. And may You grant us grace now 
as we consider His death in a special way and just cause us to reflect 
upon these truths. We ask through Christ our Lord. 
Amen.