The Superiority of Christ’s Priesthood

Transcript

GR 1693
06/09/2013
The Superiority of Christ's Priesthood
Hebrews 7:20-28
Gil Rugh

We're studying the book of Hebrews together and we're in chapter 7, so turn there in your Bibles. We are in a section talking about the high priestly ministry of Christ. And that supersedes the prior ministry of the Levitical priesthood. And as we have noted, implicit in what he is saying about the priesthood of Christ and it is superior to and replaces the Levitical priesthood, it would also be superior and replace and nullify any other priesthood because there have been only two orders of priesthood established by God and have a covenant associated with them. That was the Levitical priesthood which is the foundation and heart of the Mosaic Covenant, the Law, and the priesthood of Christ after the order of Melchizedek which is the foundation and heart of the New Covenant.

I have from time to time referred to Roman Catholicism and their view of the priesthood. Any priesthood established following the priesthood of Christ is a denial of the finished work of Christ. This little book is the catechism of the Roman Catholic church and it is under the imprimatur of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger who was destined to become the previous pope, recently replaced by Pope Francis. It makes the point, “outside the church there is no salvation.” This is often stated in the church fathers. We noted in a previous study the authority of the church fathers for the Roman Catholics and many others. They would reformulate this positively saying, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the head through the church which is His body. You'll note something has been placed between man and Christ—the church, consistently done through their catechism. Salvation comes from Christ through the church which means you cannot have salvation by direct access to Christ. You must secure salvation through the church and its hierarchy or magisterium.

They quote then, Christ Himself implicitly asserted the necessity of faith and baptism and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the church which men enter through baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ would refuse to enter it or refuse to remain in it. You see what they are saying—if you refuse to become part of the Roman Catholic church, you cannot be saved. And anyone in the Roman Catholic church who would choose not to remain in it would lose their salvation.

All discussion about getting together, Roman Catholics and evangelicals, means evangelicals must subjugate their convictions to Roman Catholic teaching because there is no salvation outside the Roman Catholic church.

The priesthood, we're talking about priesthood. The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the church. You see truth and error gets mixed together and it confuses people, even evangelicals. They talk about Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, but you'll note, the ordained priesthood guarantees that it is really Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the church. You have the ordained priesthood. Now we've established an order of priesthood that the book of Hebrews makes clear, there is no such order of priesthood since Christ has become the only priest after the order of Melchizedek. We are at the heart of what the gospel is. The ordained priesthood acts for the church and it is through them we know, as Roman Catholics, that it is Christ who is at work in the sacraments. You see now they will say Christ is the high priest, but His representatives, the pope is the representative of Christ on earth and under him the cardinals, the bishops and then the ordained priesthood. Be careful, they will talk about the priesthood of the believer and every believer is a priest. We'll get to that later in Hebrews. But they don't mean by that what we mean by it. Every believer is a priest but you don't have direct access to God, you must receive the power of Christ and His grace through the sacraments that can only be administered through the ordained priesthood.

You see now we have re-established, in fact in this catechism they indicate that one of the patterns to be followed is the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament that they think establishes the need for divinely appointed men to be our representatives between us and God. The very thing that the book of Hebrews is saying is done in Christ.

The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the church. The church is supreme and thus the magisterium of the church, as they make clear, has full authority.

It follows that the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient by the power of God. When the church through its holy orders designates a man as priest, he is a priest for life. Protestants sometimes wonder, how do the Roman Catholics have certain men who are guilty of serious moral, sinful behavior and they don't get removed from the priesthood? You can never be removed from the priesthood. You can have certain official responsibilities removed from you, but you are a priest until you die. That's the authority of the church.

The church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. That's the power of the church. If you can't partake of the sacraments through an ordained priest, you can't be saved. Now you see what we have done, we have established an order. Now they say, Christ is the high priest in heaven, His delegated representative is the pope and when he speaks authoritatively as Christ's representative, ex cathedra, from the chair, no one, no one—not a cardinal, not a bishop—no one can question what he says. All subsequent delegation of priestly activity comes from him. Now we have just reinstituted the Levitical system without even the foundation of the Levitical system which was established by God and required that it be a Jewish priesthood by Jewish priests. We have just taken and said, now we have established this. You understand there is nothing that would enable Bible believing Christians and Roman Catholics to get together except for repentance and conversion on the part of the Roman Catholics. The whole system is anti-Christ at its very heart and foundation.

I realize it is not politically correct to talk like that. I received a note several months ago saying I make my living by bashing Catholics. The purpose is not to bash Catholics but one of the responsibilities given in the New Testament to pastors and elders is that they are to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict because there are many men teaching things that are harmful. And they must be silenced.

So I want you to understand something of the background in our present day. We're not talking about in Hebrews, well, we don't deal with the Levitical priesthood and it's not issues that we need to be familiar with. We do. Understanding the finality of the priesthood of Christ is the Gospel. Protestants don't understand, they think that by their works and keeping the Ten Commandments they can be acceptable to God. The high priestly ministry of Christ makes clear, no one ever achieved acceptance before God by keeping the Ten Commandments. The Law couldn't make anyone perfect. The Roman Catholics have instituted a whole system of priestly hierarchy and representation which is an attack of the high priestly ministry of Christ and its finality, a denial of it. And yet there is a mass movement.

All right, let's go to Hebrews 7. Verses 11-29, the section we have been in, emphasized the fulfillment of Psalm 110:4. “The Lord has sworn, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” That verse is quoted in Hebrews 7:17 and again in verse 21. This is in the context of focusing on the fact that the Levitical priesthood and the Mosaic Law could not provide perfection, that completeness that is required by God for us to be acceptable before Him. Hebrews 7:11, “now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood, there wouldn't have been need for another priest after the order of Melchizedek.” Verse 19 reminded us, “for the Law made nothing perfect.”

Isn't it strange? Some people think today they are going to be saved by keeping the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are part of the Law, they summarized the Law. Two thousand years ago God said, “the Law made nothing perfect” and there are people today staking their hope for eternity on the fact they are trying to keep the Ten Commandments. Where have they been? God has spoken on that subject.

But down at the end of verse 28, “the Son made perfect forever” is the solution. He is the perfect high priest who has offered a perfect sacrifice, who can thus bring perfection to those who come to God through Him.

Verses 11-19, which we considered in our previous study, showed the inadequacy of the Levitical priesthood—it couldn't do what man needed. Now we noted, people were saved in the Old Testament under the Mosaic Law and before the Mosaic Law, but particularly under the Mosaic Law is the focus here. But they weren't saved by keeping the Mosaic Law, they weren't saved by the activity of the Levitical priesthood. They were saved by believing God's Word. And as a result of the grace of God bestowed upon them by faith in what He promised, they were saved. The Levitical system portrayed, and they expressed their faith in obedience to God by carrying out these things, but that's not what saved them. Salvation was by faith. All the way back, as we've seen in Genesis 15:6, 500 years before the Law was given “Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness.”

In verses 20-28 where we're going to focus our attention we have an emphasis on the superiority of Christ's priesthood. So he talked about the inadequacy of the Levitical priesthood in verses 11-19, now he'll talk about the superiority of Christ's priesthood. And this section will be built around a development of Psalm 110:4. Verses 20-22 will talk about the first part of Psalm 110, in verse 21 you have that quoted, “the Lord has sworn and will not change His mind.” That will be focal point that will be emphasized in verses 20-22. Then in verses 23-25 the last statement will be emphasized, “you are a priest forever.” Then in verses 26-28 he'll pull together what he has said to this point.

Let's look at verse 20 and we'll read these first three verses, verses 20-22. “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 has said to Him, the Lord has sworn and will not change His mind. You are a priest forever. So much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.” The contrast here is between the establishing of the Levitical priesthood with a command by God and the establishing of the Levitical priesthood by God taking an oath which carries it to a greater level than the Levitical priesthood.

Come back to Exodus 28, and I must emphasize and this is clear in Hebrews, there are only two orders of priesthood established by God—the Levitical priesthood in connection with the Mosaic Covenant, the Mosaic Law in Israel and the Melchizedekian priesthood of Christ. And as we're studying in Hebrews the Melchizedekian priesthood of Christ is the culmination of priesthood. He fulfills all that activity. Now we are believer priests and the significance of that will be developed. There are not priests standing between Christ and us as believers. That's the whole argument. So any other priesthood established is established on the authority of man in defiance of God. And that becomes a very serious matter, it becomes a denial of the Gospel.

Exodus 28, God establishes the Levitical priesthood carried out in the line of Aaron. Verse 1, “then bring near to yourself Aaron your brother and his sons with him,” this is God speaking to Moses, “from among the sons of Israel to minister as priests to Me, “ Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar, Aaron's sons. “And you will make holy garments for them” and so on. That's the Levitical priesthood. The fact that we have a system today trying to mimic this, they are just denying the truth of the Gospel that God established the Aaronic priesthood. So we're not denying that.

You come over to Numbers 18:1-7, we won't go there, you talk about the Levitical tribe, the tribe of the Levites are those who would have responsibility for the tabernacle and all its services. But only one family out of the Levites, Aaron's family and his descendants, would be priests. So that's the contrast.

Now come back to Hebrews 7. Verse 20 says, “inasmuch as it was not without an oath.” And then you have what we have in our Bibles as a parenthesis, which gives you the sense. And then he explains, “for they indeed became priests without an oath,” the Levitical priests. All the Jews were aware of this. God didn't take an oath, He simply gave the instructions, the command. That was it.

“But He,” referring to the Son, His priesthood was established with 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. So much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.” The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind. The significance of the oath carries it to another level. We already had this back in Hebrews 6, turn back there a moment. Verse 13, talking about the covenant made with Abraham which was 500 years before the Mosaic Covenant. Hebrews 6:13, “for when God made the promise to Abraham since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself saying, surely I will bless you, I will surely multiply you.” Verse 16, “for men swear by one greater than themselves with an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In this way God desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose interposed with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie we might have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.” The two unchangeable things are God's Word and then God's Word confirmed by an oath taken by God.

So He does that with an oath to show this is unchangeable, unalterable. It's important. The Abrahamic Covenant can never be changed, keep that in mind. Some people think with the coming of Christ now we redo the Abrahamic Covenant. It can never be changed. Two unchangeable things established it—the promise of God and then the oath of God confirming the unchangeableness of it and the provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant. Now the Mosaic Law is going to be changed, that covenant. But the Mosaic Covenant is not part of the Abrahamic Covenant. There are certain covenants that come out of the Abrahamic Covenant—the Palestinian Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, the New Covenant. They are further elaborations of what is contained in the Abrahamic Covenant. The Mosaic Covenant was an add-on later for a time. It would come to an end. Now it was authoritative as long as it was in existence because God had established it, but don't get confused. It was established for a time. Our Psalm 110:4 is a reminder that that order would be superseded and thus brought to an end.

So come back to Hebrews 7. So when it says “the Lord has sworn and will not change His mind,” showing the superiority of the covenant associated with Christ's priesthood. This cannot be changed, not altered. God's authoritative instructions regarding the Levitical system and the Mosaic Covenant were in operation until He brought them to an end. But He will never bring to an end the priesthood of Christ after the order of Melchizedek. That will be the emphasis. It's based on the oath, that's its security.

So verse 22, “so much the more also Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant because His priesthood was established with an oath.” And His priesthood is the foundation of the covenant associated with His priesthood. He has become the guarantee of a better covenant, a superior covenant.

Back up to Hebrews 7:11, “now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood” (for on the basis of it, the Levitical priesthood, the people received the Law). Well, it was the Law, remember, that gave the instructions regarding the Levitical priesthood. But the foundation of the Law and the heart of the Mosaic Law, the Mosaic Covenant, is the Levitical priesthood. That's where provision is made for God's people to have access to Him, provision is made for their ongoing forgiveness and so on. Without the priesthood you have nothing, no provision made for access. So the Levitical priesthood was foundational to the Mosaic Law, the Mosaic Covenant.

So then verse 12 said, “for when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of Law also.” Do you know what that is saying? With the replacing of the Mosaic Covenant, the bringing of it to an end, it having fulfilled its purpose, the establishing of a new priesthood requires a new covenant. The Mosaic Law, same thing as the Mosaic Covenant, they are interchangeable terms. You talk about the Mosaic Law, you're talking about the Mosaic Covenant established by God with Israel through Moses, beginning in Exodus 19 and following. It's over. When you change the priesthood, the Levitical priesthood is no longer operative, the Mosaic Law is no longer operative. Doesn't mean there aren't things to be learned from it, but it's no longer in force. Its priestly system is no longer operative, the instructions and commandments associated with it are no longer in force. So we're going to have a new covenant, a better covenant.

Hebrews 7:22, “So much the more Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.” Back in verse 19 “we had a better hope.” Down in Hebrews 8:6, “we'll have again a better covenant enacted on better promises.” Remember that word better. We went through the book of Hebrews and noted all the times it is used. It means better, superior. And that's the theme of the book of Hebrews. Jesus Christ the Son of God is better, He is superior to everyone and everything in the Levitical system, in the Mosaic Law. He is the fulfillment and realization of all that was anticipated. He is the guarantee of a better covenant. Look down in Hebrews 8:7, “for if that first covenant had been faultless,” referring to the Mosaic Covenant, “there would have been no occasion sought for a second.” For finding fault with it he says, “behold days are coming, says the Lord, when I will effect a new covenant.”

You know we have progressive revelation and God has progressively revealed more of His will. He revealed the Levitical priesthood and His purposes for it. That came about 1500 B.C., if I can round it off. Then 500 years later He gave a prophecy with an oath that His Son would become a priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. That later revelation gives further insight and understanding. There will come a time when the Levitical system, the Levitical priesthood will no longer be operative. So God gave the Mosaic Covenant about 1500, 1445 B.C., around there. We round it off to 1500 B.C. Then a thousand years later through Jeremiah and also the prophet Ezekiel, but Jeremiah is quoted in Hebrews 8, He promised a New Covenant. Do you know what that meant? The New Covenant would replace the Old Covenant. And that goes hand-in-hand with the new priesthood of a new order. We'll have a new covenant. There is continuity and clarity as we take the Scripture in its normal, historical, grammatical way
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So we now have a new covenant and Christ is the guarantee. Verse 22, “Jesus has become the guarantee,” you have the assurance here. God not only spoke, He swore with an oath, “you are a priest forever.” He won't change His mind, that's the significance of the oath. So this priesthood will never be replaced, will never change. Christ has become the guarantee, the guarantor, the surety, the security. His very person and work as high priest is the security. He is Himself the guarantor, the perfect high priest who offered the perfect sacrifice of the new covenant. It will do what the old covenant could not do, it will bring perfection as we'll see by the time we get to the end of verse 28
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So the oath and the significance of the oath, the unchangeableness of the priesthood of Christ. What audacity that man would establish a priesthood. What terrible theology that has been paraded around and this is our priest, I go to the priest. There are forms of Protestantism that maintain the same thing. There is only one priesthood in that sense, one priest that represent man before God.

So we pick up here in verse 23 and he's going to emphasize now that he is a priest forever, it's a permanent priesthood. He is a priest forever. Verse 23, “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.” So you see the contrast. Verse 23, “the former priests on one hand, the Levitical priests, they had a great number of them, both the high priest and those who served as priests under them because death prevented them from continuing.” Josephus, the first century Jewish historian says that there were 83 high priests from Aaron down to the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. This meant the Jews kept records. And then there were all the other priests from the family of Aaron who didn't function as the high priest but functioned carrying out the priestly ministry. There were a number of them. Why? Provision had to be made for succession because this priest would die, he had to be followed by another priest, by another priest. So those of the Levitical priesthood on one hand existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing. Aaron's priesthood came to an end, he was succeeded by a son, who was succeeded when he died. And on it goes.

“But Jesus on the other hand, because he continues forever, holds His high priesthood permanently.” Christ came, He suffered, He died, He was raised from the dead and exalted to the presence of God's glory, seated at His right hand never to die again. Death has no power over Him. He is the one and only high priest. All who will believe come to God directly through Him, there are no other intermediaries, not on earth and not in heaven. There are no earthly priests, we talk about the priesthood of the believer but that is not that we serve as go-betweens between other less significant, important appointed people. As we talked about, I am not your priest, I am your pastor. You have just as much direct access to the very throne of God in heaven if you are a believer in Jesus Christ as I do, as any other believer on earth does. There are no saints in heaven we pray to, we do not go to the blessed virgin mother of Christ and ask, intercede for us with your Son.

“He holds His priesthood permanently.” What does that mean? Verse 25, “therefore He is able. He is able, He has the power also to save forever. He continues forever so He can save forever those who draw near to God through Him. Those who draw near to God through Christ become the recipients of an eternal salvation.” It is not conditioned upon going to a human, earthly priest who now conveys through a certain sacrament the power of Christ to operate in your life. “He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him.”

Back up to Hebrews 4:14, “therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted or tested in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” I don't receive grace through the activity of some man appointed by other men, I receive grace directly from the God of grace through the intercessory ministry of His Son. And no one else. That's the point. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.” That's it. Eternal salvation comes to those who come to God through Christ.

Turn over to 1 Timothy 2, and we'll pick up with verse 3 for the sentence. “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Note, “for there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Could it be any clearer? God the Father, God the Son, man. One God, one mediator. What lie from hell establishes the idea that you come to other men who mediate between the one mediator? There is only one mediator, it's not Mary, it's not the saints, it's not the pope, not the cardinals, not the bishops, not the priests. It's Christ. He is the One who “gave Himself,” verse 6, “as a ransom for all.” That's it. All the priestly ministry pictured in all the sacrifices of the Old Testament Levitical system find their realization in the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, never to be repeated. That's the blasphemy of the mass—the repeated unbloody sacrifice of Christ.

I was going to read the mass to you but I didn't want to take the time. When the priest with the authority he has from the magisterium of the church consecrates that host, a real change takes place. It is now in all parts the body of Christ. And it can never stop being that. That's why if the priest eats it and throws it up, he has to get it out. It's the body of Christ. That's why it has to be put in a special tabernacle on the altar and then you come in and you bow before it. That is Christ. That's why it is right, they say, to carry it in processions so that everybody can bow and adore it because that is Christ. No. Christ is in heaven seated at the right hand of the Father. What blasphemies that somehow we can talk about evangelicals and Catholics working together. We have nothing in common. We are enemies because of the Gospel. They deny the truth of the purity of the Gospel of Christ.

An aside, but Paul wrote to the Galatians and the Judaizers didn't deny that Christ was the Messiah, they didn't deny He was the Son of God, they didn't deny the virgin birth, they didn't deny His death, they didn't deny His resurrection, they didn't deny that He ascended to heaven. They just said, “that's not all there is, there is more. You must also keep the Old Covenant.” Do you know what Paul said when Christians at Galatia were being deluded by this? He said, “I am surprised that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you to pursue another gospel, another of a different kind, which is not another gospel like the one I preach, in effect.” Isn't it amazing? We look at Roman Catholics and say, we have so much in common. We believe all these things—the virgin birth, the death of Christ, the resurrection. Do you know what? You mix a little bit of poison in a large lump of dough, you don't have a large, good lump of dough with a little bit of poison, you have a poisoned lump of dough. That's what Paul is saying. It's not the Gospel, it's not even connected to the Gospel I preach, it's not a variation of my Gospel. It's a totally different kind of message and it condemns people to an eternal hell. Anyone proclaiming it and believing it is anathema. We need to keep that in mind as we see these truths here. We give up the heart of the Gospel thinking we are being gracious and kind and we don't want to be disagreeable and we don't want to seem unloving. We have to be faithful to the truth. There is only one way to God and that is through Christ.

Come back to Hebrews 7. Verse 25, “He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him.” Not through the church, not through some order. Through Him. Not through their good works. Through Him. Since He always lives. He holds His priesthood permanently. “He always lives to make intercession for them.” This is foundational to our security as believers. I know that I am forgiven for time and eternity. Don't tell me that I would lose my salvation because I don't continue to receive the sacraments from men. I am secure for eternity not because of what men can pass on to me, but because of what Christ has done for me and what He continues to do for me by being my representative in the presence of the God of glory in heaven. That's the Gospel, that's the truth of God's salvation. It is the goal of the devil to dismantle it, to counterfeit it, to corrupt it so the people are like those that follow Jewish teachers. And when you do he is twice the convert of hell as he was before you got to him. Serious, serious business that we are dealing with.

He ever lives to make intercession. We have to go to Romans 8. There is only one other time that Christ is called the intercessor on our behalf and it's Romans 8. Verse 33, and again it's talking about our security and it's going on in the presence of God in glory. He is not encompassed down here in a wafer or something like that, He is in heaven at the right hand of the Father. Verse 33, “Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the One who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He Who died, yes rather Who was raised, Who is at the right hand of God Who intercedes for us.” That's our security. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Not anything, not anyone can separate us, he goes on to say. He intercedes for us, He is there. We've drawn near to God through Him. His person is the perfect high priest, His sacrifice is the perfect sacrifice. He is now my security, He is there to intercede for me—My death has covered that, My service as high priest covers that.

1 John 2:1-2, we won't turn there for time, “if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father.” The word advocate different than the word intercessor, but the similar idea. He is acting on our behalf as our representative. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One. And He is the propitiation, satisfaction, satisfies the wrath of God directed toward sinful men. That's the provision. I am not a perfect man but I have a perfect Savior who has provided a perfect sacrifice. And I have found perfection in Him, and that provision is permanent and eternal because I have claimed Him as my high priest, as everyone of you who have placed your faith in Him have done. That's our security. He is the guarantor of a better covenant.

Come back to Hebrews 7. Verses 26-28 pull this together. These truths, and I was going to take several studies to work through chapter 7, but we will come back to it because as he does through Hebrews, he addresses these. Then when we get to chapters 9 and 10 he is going to unfold more of the details and the importance of this high priestly activity. We ought to have such a hold on this we cannot be shaken or deluded or led astray.

So verses 26-28 give a summary. “For it was fitting” for us, it was appropriate. He is exactly the high priest we need. The Levitical high priest could only give a taste of what was needed, but they couldn't bring perfection. “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest.” And He is perfect, He is holy, He is innocent, He is undefiled. We won't take time to look at the slightly different meaning in each of these words, but the summary of them denotes He is without sin, He is perfect, He has no defilement, nothing that could be said against Him. “Holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens.” Separated from sinners could mean He is without sin as He just talked about or it could mean He was separated by being exalted to heaven. Both are true and we decide what we think fits here. Separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens are two participial phrases and I think they may go together. The indication is He is without sin and then He was removed from this sinful earth where He had come to carry out His sacrificial ministry and exalted above the heavens. That's where He serves, that's where He carries on His ministry. How sad people go into a physical building and supposedly because of the action of a man who has claimed for himself priesthood without any authority from God but in denial of God, and says, here we have Christ Himself. I mean, how pagan can we get. Any reason for the church to be confused?

Verse 27, He “does not need daily like those high priests,” the Levitical ones, “to offer up sacrifices first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people because He did this once for all.” He didn't have any sins of His own, we've already been through that. In verse 26 he says, He is holy, innocent, undefiled and the previous verses that we've looked at. “He didn't need, like them, to offer sacrifices for His own sin so He offered one sacrifice for all when He offered up Himself.” He didn't need to make a sacrifice for Himself, He didn't come to this earth to be ransomed for Himself. He came to be a ransom for us who were consumed and condemned in our sin, without hope in the world. He came to bring hope that only He could.

He did once for all that sacrifice for sin. Once for all. There is no repetition, it is never to be repeated. That is the final sacrifice for sins. Now all there is, is the response to that work of Christ. Those who draw near to God through Him experience His eternal salvation, those who do not experience His eternal condemnation. There is no other answer, there is no other way.

Verse 28, “for the law appoints men as high priest who are weak.” And the Law does by the authority of God. But they were weak, they were besot by their own sin. And their priesthood would be limited by their own death. And they offered sacrifices for their own sins and for the sins of the people. The law appoints men as high priest who are weak but the word of the oath. The only priesthood established with an oath by God, showing its eternal, unchanging nature, which came after the Law appoints a Son made perfect. We had that progressive revelation. The progressive revelation here, the oath in Psalm 110:4 came after the Law 500 years. It is superior revelation. The progressive revelation makes more clear the unfolding plan. It doesn't mean what God revealed before wasn't true, but now Psalm 110 made clear there would be a priest whose priesthood could never end or ever be changed. And God establishes that priesthood on the basis of an oath to show its superiority and finality. And the subject of that priesthood, the One appointed is a Son. We started out Hebrews by talking about the superiority of the Son to everyone and everything else in Revelation. It's the Son, the very Son of God who is the priest made perfect, made perfect forever. That encompasses His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, His exaltation to the right hand of the Father. He came to this earth, He lived His life here without sin. He gave His life as a ransom to be a sacrifice, to pay the penalty for our sin. He was raised from the dead and ascended to enter the very presence of God in heaven. He is made perfect forever. That encompasses, then, His person and His work, which means now this priest can bring perfection to those who come to God through Him.

Just go back to Hebrews 2, we'll read a few verses and we're done. Hebrews 2:9, “but we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him for whom are all things, through whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering.” Come down to verse 17, “therefore He had to be made like His brethren in all things that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Hebrews 5:8, “although He was a Son He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.”

Not just Roman Catholicism, it's apostate Protestantism and all the other religions of the world. They all live in a state of rebellion against the living God. They are all structures and systems established by the god of this world, Satan, for the worship of himself and the rejection of the one and only way of salvation established by the gracious and loving and only God, the provision of His Son to be high priest, the perfect high priest who offered a perfect sacrifice so He could provide a perfect salvation to all who would come to God through Him, recognize their sin, recognize their unworthiness, place their faith in the finished work of Christ and be made perfect in Him.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your grace, the greatness of Your mercy. Thank You for Your Son, our High Priest, our sacrifice, our Savior. Thank you for the privilege of being made perfect in the One who alone is perfection. We pray in His name, amen.