I know we're going to read through it quickly,
so it's not going to be like
when you're sitting with an open Bible
and you're reading all by yourself
and you can actually stop and think.
But as we go through this,
try to make sense of this.
Try to follow the flow of thought.
Hebrews 13:7
"Remember your leaders,
those who spoke to you the Word of God.
Consider the outcome of their way of life
and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
and today, and forever.
Do not be led away by diverse
and strange teachings,
for it's good for the heart
to be strengthened by grace,
not by foods which have not benefitted
those devoted to them.
We have an altar from which those who
serve the tent have no right to eat.
For the bodies of those animals
whose blood is brought into the holy places
by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin
are burned outside the camp.
So Jesus also suffered outside the gate
in order to sanctify the people
through His own blood.
Therefore, let us go to Him outside the camp
and bear the reproach He endured.
For here we have no lasting city,
but we seek the city that is to come."
Now, in my opinion,
this is the most difficult portion
of the entire epistle to the Hebrews
as far as just figuring out how it all
fits together.
I mean, what's the flow of thought?
How does v. 7 fit with v. 8?
How does v. 8 fit with v. 9?
I was checking an online Hebrews commentary
the other day,
and one of the commentators -
PreceptAustin.org -
I recommend that to you for study
in any book.
It's a tremendous online resource.
But I was reading that,
and one of the commentators
had this to say about these very verses.
His name is Steven Cole.
Mr. Cole says this,
"I confess (I'm quoting him)
that the first twenty or so times
that I read our text,
it seemed to me to be a disjointed
random bunch of verses.
I could not see any unified theme."
This guy's a pastor.
He's a contemporary man.
He is alive today.
Twenty times through
it was just disjointed.
But, you have to hear in that,
after twenty times, he began to see something.
But you just look at the flow here.
I mean, think with me here.
What do we have?
V. 7: Remember your leaders.
These guys are speaking the Word of God.
Imitate their faith.
And then, bang, you get this abrupt
doctrinal expression.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
and today, and forever.
And then in v. 9, you get hit with this:
Diverse and strange doctrines.
Don't be led away by them.
Then you get this comparison,
this contrast of grace over against foods.
And then in v. 10,
you get an altar.
Those who serve the tent?
In v. 11, you get this idea about
outside the camp.
You get these sacrifices that are burned
outside the camp.
V. 12: Outside the gate.
V. 13: Outside the camp.
In v. 14, no lasting city.
I mean, you can see
that we have a lot of different thoughts here;
a lot of different ideas.
Now here's one thing that I want
you all to think about,
we're wrapping up Hebrews.
This is the last stretch
before you get some closing remarks.
One thing that's interesting
about the end
is that the author is assuming
that you've read the first 12 chapters.
Here's the problem.
We started - I looked back at my notes -
we started the first message in Hebrews
a little more than three years ago.
But the epistle of Hebrews was not
meant to be read in three years,
so that by the time you get to chapter 13,
you totally don't remember what's going on in chapter 1.
On Thursday, I sat down
and I said you know what,
these are difficult verses,
and I feel like I need to get a feel
for all of Hebrews again,
so I sat down,
I read Hebrews in about 32 1/2 minutes.
And that's how it's meant to be.
Not necessarily 32 1/2,
but typically you are going to read
chapter 1 and chapter 13
within approximately the same hour.
So you have an idea when you're reading 13
what went on in 1.
But when we preach through it at the rate
we've been preaching through it,
you tend to forget what's back there.
And so I think we're going to need to
bounce around.
Your faces are going to need to be
in your Bibles today.
We're going to spend the whole time
in the book of Hebrews,
but what I want to do this morning is this:
We can't cover all of this.
There's just too many thoughts here.
What I want to try to focus on
is v. 7,8 and 9.
Remember your leaders.
Those who spoke to you the Word of God.
Consider the outcome of their way of life
and imitate their faith.
And then it's right here where you get
the real abrupt change.
Because trying to figure out,
well, is there anything about
these leaders in teaching the Word of God
and outcome of their way of life
and imitating their faith
that would lead us into a statement
about Jesus Christ being the same
yesterday, and today, and forever?
I mean, where's the transition?
Or should there be?
Maybe when the guy who made up -
this is not inspired where verse divisions are
and where chapter divisions are.
Maybe there should be a chapter division there.
Maybe that's the end of a thought
and now you get something
totally new.
That's possible.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
and today, and forever.
And then, you get maybe not as much
of an abrupt change,
but do not be led away
by diverse and strange doctrines.
Ok, is Jesus Christ being the same
yesterday, and today, and forever
contrasted over against diverse
and strange teachings?
Perhaps.
But you don't see immediately
what that connection is necessarily.
And then he goes on not to say
because some believe that Jesus Christ
is changing, and you don't want to
fall into those.
He actually goes on to say,
it's good for the heart to be strengthened
by grace, not by foods.
It's like why?
You're telling us Jesus Christ
is the same, but then it seems like
the thing that is confronting grace
is food;
not the idea that Jesus can change.
It's good for the heart to be strengthened
by grace, but by foods,
which have not benefitted those
devoted to them.
Where does food come in?
What's food go to do
with diverse and strange teachings?
And so these are the things
I want to try to unpack this morning.
First, let's check out v. 7.
You see there at the beginning,
remember your leaders.
Now, if you let your eyeball sort of drift
down the page to v. 17,
you find the same word again.
Obey your leaders
and submit to them.
Now, we're going to deal with that text later.
Obviously, the leaders in the church
don't have authority outside
of the Word of God.
Our authority has been handed us
by He Who has authority over us,
and that authority comes through
the Word of God.
It's not for us to make up our own rules
as far as the church goes.
Obey your leaders.
And then you see this word again
down in v. 24.
Greet all your leaders.
Now, I think that's probably obvious to everybody
that the leaders spoken of in v. 17
and those spoken of again in v. 24,
they're living leaders, right?
I mean, if you need to be submitting to them;
if they're keeping watch over your souls,
they're alive to do that.
If you're going to greet them,
they're alive.
It's not walking out to their tombstone
and saying something to them.
These are living leaders.
But, it's not so obvious that the leaders
spoken of in v. 7 are living.
And I think if we look at the text,
we can see that.
Do you see in v. 7 where it says,
"outcome?"
Some of your Bibles may say "the end,"
or "the result."
The NAS says result.
The King James says the end of their conversation.
Conversation doesn't mean what they speak
with their mouth.
It's their whole life.
The ESV says, "Consider the outcome
of their way of life."
It's the outcome.
It's the end.
It's the completion of the way of life
of these leader-teachers
that we're called upon to consider.
Now, listen to this.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon -
it's just a Greek dictionary -
says this about this word for completion
or end:
Thayer says, "it is used of the end of life,
and it's not merely just the end
of their physical life,
but it has that idea of the manner
in which they closed their life.
The manner of which they closed
a well-spent life
as exhibited by their spirit in dying.
And you know, obviously,
if we're called to imitate them,
the author is assuming what
about the outcome of their life?
That it was good!
Not that it was bad.
He's not wanting us to imitate
bad examples.
He's calling us to imitate that which is good.
Our author is assuming that the outcome
of these guys' lives was victorious,
it was successful.
The idea is that they held firm
to the faith until the end.
Now, look, that is not a new idea
in Hebrews.
Right?
Remember with me.
Here's where I want you to do
a quick survey.
Go back to Hebrews 3.
This is not a new idea.
The idea that we should look at somebody
and consider the outcome
of a whole life.
This idea of looking at those
who made it to the end.
Well, the idea of Hebrews of making it
to the end - firm to the end.
Holding our confidence to the end.
Being one who endures
all the way.
One that makes it.
That is a theme.
Running well, but running all the way
to the finish line.
That is an emphasis in Hebrews
that just hits us again and again.
And I'm just going to hit on a few of these.
Hebrews 3:6
Christ is faithful over God's house
as a Son, and we are His house
if what?
We are His house.
A house is a place you live.
We are the dwelling place of God.
If what?
If we hold fast our confidence
and our boasting in hope.
Our hope is in Him.
We boast in Him.
Our confidence in Him.
We have to hold fast to it
all the way to the end.
How about Hebrews 3:14?
Hebrews 3:14 says we have come to share in Christ.
Sharing in Christ means
we share in what He did.
The salvation He wrought.
The death He died.
We share in the victory that Christ has.
We share in His salvation
only if what?
We hold our original confidence.
Just for a week?
Firm to the end.
That's what this book is about.
Remember how it starts?
That we need to pay much closer attention
to the things we have heard,
lest what?
Lest what?
Lest we drift from them.
Drifting from Christ is perilous.
That is the danger that these Hebrews were in.
Drifting from Christ
for anything else.
That's why food shows up there.
Food has to do with false religion.
Food has to do with religions
that are just lists of rules.
What you eat; what you don't;
what you celebrate;
the liturgy - everything that's just mechanical.
You do this and you don't do that.
It's a set of rules.
That's not what true religion is all about.
True religion is found in Christ,
and hope in Christ,
and hoping in what He has done.
And that's got to be firm to the end.
You don't want to let go of that.
And as we see,
if there's ever a book in the New Testament
that is full of warning,
that if you let go of Christ,
it will end most miserably.
Fearful destruction.
Fearful fury of God.
Beware, Hebrews says.
Our God is a consuming fire.
God and in His hands is the safest place to be
if you're trusting Christ,
but His hands are terrible
if you are outside of Christ
and you put your hope in anything else.
Look again at Hebrews 4:14.
Since then, we have a great high priest
Who has passed through the heavens.
Oh, don't you love that imagery?
Can you see Him?
A great high priest.
He is victorious!
Passing through the heavens.
That is a picture of Him ascending
up to the right hand of Majesty on High.
Can you see Him?
I mean, He goes forth triumphant;
scepter in hand to sit down,
after having made purification for sins,
at the right hand of the Majesty on High.
That's the picture.
Passing through the heavens.
He's ascending to take His throne.
He's victorious.
He has conquered sin.
He has conquered death.
But here's the thing,
we have a great high priest
Who has passed through the heavens -
Jesus, the Son of God.
Because that's true,
let us hold fast our confession.
There it is again.
Hold fast. Hold fast. Hold fast.
How about turn over to Hebrews 6:11?
Hebrews 6:11 - you jump in right there.
"Show the same earnestness
to have the full assurance of hope
until the end."
There you have it again.
Until the end.
Before in Hebrews 3:14,
firm to the end.
You have this "hold fast our confidence."
Hold our original confidence
firm to the end.
Let us hold fast our confession.
We are to have the same earnestness,
to have the full assurance of hope
until the end.
How about Hebrews 10:23?
Again, you get this idea again
about holding, holding, holding fast;
let us hold fast.
Hebrews 10:23, Let us hold fast
the confession of our hope
without wavering;
for He Who promised is faithful.
I'll give you one more.
Hebrews 12:1
Right there towards the end of the verse.
"Let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us."
Here the word is endurance.
But that's the same thing:
hold fast, keep enduring,
keep going.
So when it comes to those
who taught us the Word -
here's what the author of Hebrews is doing.
He's saying those who taught us
the Word of God -
think about what the Word of God is.
The Word of God is the Gospel.
This is the message that Christ is set forth in.
The very message of Christ.
The message that we are to continue
holding on to by faith
until the end.
We ask ourselves,
how did those who taught us run?
Did they hold fast?
Did they continue themselves?
Convinced of what they taught?
Did they hold their original confidence firm to the end?
You see, this is a picture of those
who have gone before us.
Now, we're a young church.
You guys don't have elders who
aren't here anymore.
But there are people -
you sit under the teaching of Spurgeon,
many of you.
Yeah, he died over a hundred years ago,
but you sat under him.
Read his autobiography.
Read what was said about him.
Read how he died.
I just this morning and yesterday,
I pulled up that message.
It wasn't long ago when Bob Jennings
stood right here and gave the last message
to our church that he would ever give.
And I went back and I listened
to his preaching.
You know what the problem is with those
who are living?
What's the problem with those who are living?
They haven't made it all the way to the end yet.
You don't know if they're going to fall out.
David mentioned Bill Gothard.
How about Doug Phillips?
I mean, we see guys fall out of the race.
We see guys fall into sin.
We see guys that don't make it to the end
all the time.
And sometimes they have big names.
Sometimes they're at the high end
of circles where you think the doctrine is good
and it looks orthodox.
And these guys make shipwreck.
It happens.
You know what?
There are lots of things you can imitate
in those who are living.
But there's something that those
who made it successfully to the end
have that the living don't have.
They have a testimony all the way to the end.
They made it.
They did well.
They got through.
The thing about men like Bob Jennings,
they shined right to the end.
Was he perfect? No.
But his hope was in Christ.
I pulled up that message.
As he was closing the message,
do you know what Bob was saying?
This was just two months before he died.
He says, "I'm going to keep on with Christ.
I'm going to stay away from sin.
I'm going to abhor the world.
I'm going to live for Christ
and for eternity.
I'm putting my eggs in one basket.
I want to do all for Him.
I want to finish well.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
That's it. That's the ultimate."
Here's a man. He's at the end.
He's run his race.
And that's his testimony.
He believed what he taught all those years.
And that's what we're being told to imitate.
Now, here's the thing that we need
to understand about making it to the end;
persevering; keeping on in the race.
The perseverance itself is not what saves us.
It's not like we're being told
persevere because persevering saves you.
Jesus said that if you make it to the end;
you persevere to the end;
you keep going to the end,
you'll be saved.
But the merit in our salvation
is never in the perseverance.
It's never there.
The warrant for our salvation
is found in Christ alone.
The perseverance doesn't earn salvation for us.
It doesn't earn forgiveness for our sins.
Christ alone saves.
But listen,
those He saves,
He saves well.
And He pours His grace
that their faith might maintain to the end.
The proof that you have truly been saved
by this God Who saves well
is that you make it to the end.
The fact is that if you fall out,
you're showing that your salvation
is not of God's making.
It's something of man's making.
It's some religion that you've dreamt up.
God puts power in His people
that their faith might make it to the end.
He saves people.
And you know what?
Perseverance proves that the saving power of God
is behind a person's being a Christian
so that they finish well.
That's the question.
That's the question on the table.
The one who endures to the end will be saved.
And look, this isn't the first time
this idea of imitating those -
just jump back to Hebrews 6 very quickly.
V. 11 - you see this sort of language
found there as well.
This idea about imitating.
Hebrews 6:11
"We desire each one of you
to show the same earnestness,
to have the same assurance of hope until the end."
Now, I know we just looked at that a few moments ago,
but keep reading.
We need to have full assurance
of hope until the end,
so that you may not be sluggish,
but imitators of those who
through faith and patience
inherit the promises.
So here's that idea again.
Imitate. You have faith.
Until the end.
That's the idea.
Until the end.
Imitiate those who through faith
gain the fulfillment of the promises.
They make it.
So that's the idea there in 13:7.
Now, let's transition.
Go back to chapter 13.
Look at v. 8.
This just seems abrupt.
Now look, I don't think -
you tell me.
If I was talking to you and I told you
that you were to imitate
the outcome of the life.
You were to look and study and remember
the outcome of men's life
and imitate their faith -
men who made it to the end.
For me to go right in to what that faith is,
wouldn't be unusual.
There'd be a connection.
There'd be a flow there.
Because faith isn't just some obscure thing.
Faith is my eyes set on Jesus Christ
and my full hope is set right there.
So to have something about the object
of our faith to follow immediately after
is not strange.
To me, what's strange about it
is not that something is said about Christ.
It's what is said about Christ.
Christ is the same
yesterday and today and forever.
How does that fit?
What does the sameness of Christ
have to do with what he just said?
Perhaps these guys have died;
these leaders, these guys that have
taught you the Word of God,
they've died. Jesus doesn't die.
Perhaps that's the connection.
Let's look at it.
As far as flow goes,
if you look at the next verse - v. 9,
it starts out with not being led away
by diverse and strange teachings.
It doesn't seem strange to me either
that you would get the author
giving us that which is not strange,
and then constrasting it
with that which is.
But again, what's unusual to me
is what is said about Christ.
Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday and today and forever.
I mean think about this.
The author is really wanting
to encourage us to hold fast to Christ
the way that our teachers held fast to Christ.
But how does this statement help us do that?
I mean, when you hear that,
does that really...
Oh yeah, that makes me
really want to trust Him more!
He's the same.
How does knowing that Christ is the same
help me not be led away
by diverse and strange teachings?
I mean, think about this,
was there a prevalent error?
Anywhere in the New Testament,
do you come across a prevalent error
in that day in the early church
that said that Jesus Christ changes?
I mean how does that statement help us?
Where is that statement coming from?
Jesus Christ is the same.
Well, the same as what?
What is He the same as?
I mean, clear, the text tells us
He's the same today as He was yesterday,
and He's the same yesterday
as He is today,
and that the way He was yesterday
and the way He is today
is the way He's going to be
through all the ages.
It literally reads:
Jesus Christ yesterday and today the same
and through the ages.
That's literally how it reads.
But how is it applicable
to imitating the faith of our teachers?
How is it applicable to not being
led away by diverse and strange teachings?
Do we know of any error
that said that Jesus Christ changes?
When we're told that Jesus Christ
is the same - the same as what?
I know He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever,
but what does the sameness apply to?
Sameness.
(Incomplete thought)
In an of itself, if you think about it,
if you tell me that something is the same,
it isn't necessarily good news to me.
I mean, you think about it.
The devil was the devil yesterday.
And the devil is the devil today.
And the devil is going to be the devil forever.
Just because there's an aspect
about somebody that doesn't change,
doesn't necessarily make it good news to us.
What is it in this book of Hebrews
that is really prompting the author
to want to go here as he's
shutting down this letter?
And you know what the thing is?
I can actually think of ways
that Jesus Christ has changed.
I mean, let's be honest about it.
Yes, if we're talking about His deity,
He doesn't change.
He's the eternal Word of God.
In the beginning, He was with God.
In the beginning, He was God.
That's how He was in the beginning.
We know that as God,
He has equality with the Father.
We know that as divine,
He doesn't change.
But the truth is,
there are a lot of things about Jesus that do change.
Right?
The Word became flesh.
Think about that word "became."
He became something
that He wasn't before.
That's what became means.
He became flesh.
He took on Himself
the likeness of sinful flesh.
He didn't have that before.
I mean, that's one of the things
in Hebrews that we find out about Christ
is that for Him to become
the perfect high priest,
He had to become like His brethren
in every respect.
He had to become something
He wasn't before,
in order to become that perfect high priest.
There was a time before which
He rose from the dead.
There was a time before which
He made atonement for sin.
There was a time before which
He ascended to His Father.
You see, there is a work Christ did
that at one time wasn't done.
A change took place
in that it was accomplished.
He became man when He was not man.
He took upon Himself humanity
and He will be humanity forever more.
You understand this.
His nature as man at one time
did not exist.
Now, I know in the mind of God,
God might count certain things
true about Him before they happened,
but the truth is, in time,
many things happened.
And one of them is
He took upon Himself
the nature of mankind.
That's a change.
I mean, we're not being honest
with ourselves if we say it isn't.
It is.
And Scripture everywhere tells us
He became something He wasn't before.
He became...
The Word became flesh.
I'm just wanting to be honest with Scripture.
These are questions we have.
When we come across:
Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today, and forever,
we need to be thinking about
what this really means.
Well, let me tell you what I believe this means.
I think this has everything to do
with what he's been talking about
in the book of Hebrews.
I'll tell you this right off.
When it says the same yesterday,
today and forever,
a lot of people like to reach in
and pull it out.
They give you no context in Hebrews.
They just pull it out.
And they typically apply it to His deity.
And I don't believe that's right.
I don't believe that yesterday
means eternity past.
I don't believe that.
Because I don't believe that's a message
we've been getting in Hebrews,
and I want to show you this.
Listen.
Hebrews is all about what changes
and what does not change.
And I want to show you this.
Go back to chapter 7.
I think you'll get a feel for this.
If you want to interpret Scripture,
we interpret Scripture with Scripture.
And if you want to interpret Scripture,
the best way to interpret it
is to look at the same author
in other places
and preferably in the same book.
Listen, Hebrews is a package.
Hebrews has a message.
Hebrews flows.
The author starts somewhere
and he's going somewhere.
It's not just disjointed.
It's not just random.
There is a cohesiveness about Hebrews.
And so when we get to a statement like this
at the end of a book,
you really want to go back and look
throughout the book to see
is there anything that leads us
to be able to determine and define,
to discern where this is coming from.
So if you go back to Hebrews 7.
Look at this.
V. 11
I'm going to tell you,
I don't believe this statement has to do with Christ's deity.
I believe it has to do
with His priesthood,
and with His sacrifice,
and what was accomplished by it.
The high priestly capacity
of our Lord Jesus Christ
is certainly a prominent message
throughout Hebrews.
Here we are right in the heart of it.
But, watch this, Hebrews 7:11.
"Now, if perfection had been attainable
through the Levitical priesthood..."
Now think about that.
The Levitical priesthood was the priesthood
you found in the Old Testament.
Was perfection available through it?
Was anybody perfected through that priesthood?
No.
And because of it,
it was changeable.
It needed to be replaced.
It changed.
"For under it, the people received the law."
The whole idea here
is if under that priesthood
people would have been made perfect,
what further need would there have been
for another priest - that's Christ -
to arise after the order of Melchizedek?
Who's Melchizedek?
Well, he's this really mystical,
strange guy that shows up,
just fleeting.
Has this run-in with Abraham.
But the thing about him
that our author of Hebrews is gleaning
is you never even know where he comes from.
And he comes and he goes.
And there's no indication of genealogy.
There's no indication of who he's related to.
There's no indication that he ever died.
And the author of Hebrews picks up on that.
In fact, God brought him
into the biblical record,
and took him out on purpose,
so that later he could say
about His own Son:
You are a priest forever.
Forever!
Not after the order of Levi,
but after the order of Melchizedek.
And what was it about Melchizedek?
There's no record of a death.
He lives forever.
And that's where he's headed here.
"What further need would there have been for another priest to arise
after the order of Melchizedek,
rather than one named after
the order of Aaron?"
And by the way, Aaron and Levi -
they're the same family.
Aaron was the high priest.
The Levites were the underling priests.
They were priests - they were not the high priest.
They could not enter the holy of holies.
Now watch this,
"when there is a change..."
now think with me there.
Jesus Christ is the same.
Here there is a change.
We don't have time to do this,
but if you meticulously walk through Hebrews
and look for every place
where change over against
what's being said about Christ.
He doesn't change.
His ministry is permanent.
His sacrifice is once for all.
His priesthood is forever.
But there's a change.
"Where there is a change in the priesthood,
there is necessarily a change in the law."
And you remember,
there was a change in the old covenant.
It was weak.
It was imperfect.
It's replaced.
But what's the New Testament called
in Hebrews 13?
We haven't gotten to it yet,
but what's it called?
It's an eternal covenant.
You find in Hebrews eternal salvation,
eternal redemption.
But here, you see things being replaced.
"For the one of whom these things are spoken,
(Christ)
belong to another tribe
from which no one ever served at the altar.
Not under Moses.
They were all from the Levitical line.
Never from the line of Judah.
"For it is evident that our Lord
was descended from Judah,
and in connection with that tribe,
Moses said nothing about priests."
In other words,
Jesus Christ does not have
His authority to be a priest
coming from Moses.
It came directly from God Himself
Who pronounced Him a priest
after the order of Melchizedek.
And we'll see that.
V. 15 "This becomes even more evident
when another priest arises
in the likeness of Melchizedek."
And what was Melchizedek like?
Well, we see it earlier in Hebrews 7.
No genealogy.
No death.
V. 16 "Who has become a priest,
not on the basis of a legal requirement
concerning bodily descent."
He's not a priest because He was descended from Levi.
"But by the power of an indestructible life."
Do you see that?
The other priesthood changes.
It's law changes.
It's covenant changes.
But here, it doesn't change.
Why? Because it's built
on an indestructible life.
Was the old priesthood built
on an indestructible life?
No.
They died all the time.
You'll see that.
V. 17 "For it's witnessed of Him,
'You're a priest forever.'"
When you think of Jesus Christ
the same yesterday, and today, and forever,
think here.
He is a priest forever
after the order of Melichizedek.
"For on the one hand,
a former commandment is set aside."
Again, change.
That which was former is set aside.
"Because of its weakness and uselessness.
For the law made nothing perfect.
But on the other hand,
a better hope."
Wow.
Why is it better?
Because it's based on an indestructible life.
Because it's forever. He doesn't change.
He's the same.
When it says yesterday,
I believe what he means
is not necessarily looking into eternity past.
I think he means yesterday
in the days that those who have gone
before us that taught you the Word of God;
the One they put their trust in.
They put their trust in Christ
and yesterday that was good enough for them,
and today, He is no different.
And right out into eternity,
He is going to be the same.
Because His priesthood is indestructible.
But remember, His priesthood
was not from eternity past.
His priesthood is based on the fact
that He had to become like His brethren
in every respect - and He had to suffer -
in order to be this merciful
and faithful high priest.
He had to become like us in every respect.
And He had to suffer like us.
That's what the teaching of Hebrews says.
Go back to the text.
V. 19 Again, "(for the law
made nothing perfect,)
but on the other hand
a better hope."
Oh, brethren, have you ever
thought about Hebrews here too?
Christ is better than the prophets.
Christ is superior to the angels.
Christ is beyond His companions.
Christ is worthy of more glory than Moses.
He's greater than Levi.
He's greater than Aaron.
His altar is greater
than the one that those guys eat from.
His blood is greater - it's superior
to the blood of Abel.
It's a greater sacrifice.
It's a greater covenant.
Is He not the guarantor of a better covenant?
It's built on better promises.
He has a ministry that's better.
All throughout this book:
better, better, better.
Here it is: a better hope.
Why?
Why is it a better hope?
Because it's based on an indestructible life.
And you'll see it.
"Through which we draw near to God.
And it was not without an oath."
God made an oath.
"For those who formerly became priests
were made such without an oath."
They were made priests according to
bodily descent.
They were descended from Levi.
Not with an oath.
But this one was made a priest with an oath,
by the One, His Father,
Who said to Him,
'The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind.
You are a priest forever.'
This makes Jesus the gaurantor
of a better covenant.
The former priests were many in number.
Here's the thing,
their's was changeable.
Why?
Because those high priests were many in number.
Why? Because they were
prevented by death.
There's change again.
They came. They went.
There was a high priest.
Yeah, but he was only going to live so long
and then he died.
He was prevented from continuing in office.
But, He (Christ) holds His priesthood permanently.
Because He continues forever.
You see, here is the sameness of Hebrews.
Here is that upon which
the author of Hebrews wants our minds
locked in.
Can you imagine?
Remember when the Hebrews lived.
They're living at a time
when the Passover's going away.
They're living at a time when
the Day of Atonement is going away.
They're living at a time
when the temple is going to go away.
All the Old Testament system -
they're living at a time
when there's all this change,
change, change...
Well, how do we know if that's all changing?
The Jews put their confidence
in that Old Testament system.
And now, you're telling us
it's going away?
I mean, what if this thing with Christ
is going away?
We put our trust there that one day
and our forefathers did?
And you're telling us it's gone?
You're telling us it's obsolete?
You're telling us that it's incomplete?
You're telling us that there's some weakness about it?
Something isn't good?
It's useless?
You're telling us that?
Well, what makes us think
that this priesthood of Christ is any better?
Because you yourselves know
that that Levitcal priesthood -
they couldn't continue in office because they were dying all the time.
And if you remember your Bibles,
you know about who Melchizedek was.
And he didn't have an end of days.
And you know that the psalm says
that God swore to His Son,
to the Messiah,
that He was going to be a priest.
What do we need a priest for?
One Who is going to bring an offering
to His Father on our behalf.
That offering was one sacrifice.
He is the priest
and He is the Lamb.
He is in His own hands.
He offers Himself on that cross.
Once for all.
And the thing about the permanence here
is it's done.
It's complete.
Who He is - victorious,
passing through the heavens
to the right hand of the Father,
triumphant.
It's done.
And He doesn't change.
This priesthood is solid.
It's indestructible.
It's there.
And watch.
You'll see where he's going with this.
You are a priest forever.
V. 22
This makes Jesus the guarantor
of a better covenant.
Why? Because it's sealed in His blood
and it's never going to change.
The former priests, many in number,
they were prevented by death
from continuing in office.
He holds His priesthood permanently.
Because He continues forever.
Consquently, here's why it is so glorious.
Look, if you were reading this book
straight through,
you would have read this fifteen minutes
before you got to chapter 13.
This is what he wants our faith
to lock into:
The sameness of Christ.
Consequently, He is able to save.
Why?
Consequently. Consequent on what?
That He is a priest forever.
Because He is a priest forever.
And because His priesthood is permanent.
And because it continues forever.
And it's based on this:
Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost.
You see, whatever the Old Testament priests did,
they couldn't save you to the uttermost
because their time came to an end.
Whatever they could do, it ran out.
But "He is able to save to the uttermost
those who draw near to God through Him
since..."
This is so important.
I don't think we grasp this.
"Since He always lives to make intercession."
This is why.
This is why it's so important that He doesn't change.
You know why?
If He once sets His love on you...
Remember what happened right before this?
In Hebrews 13?
"I will never leave you or forsake you."
Therefore, we can confidently say,
"the Lord is my helper."
You see, once He sets His love on you,
it's rock solid.
It's permanent.
It doesn't change.
The basis of His priesthood - it's forever.
And because priests intercede
and He doesn't ever die,
He lives to make intercession for them.
"For it was indeed fitting
that we should have such a high priest -
holy, innocent, unstained,
separated from sinners,
exalted above the heavens."
He has no need like those high priests
of old under Moses
to offer sacrifices daily.
He doesn't have to come back and do it.
We don't need an offering over and over.
We do not need to offer Christ up
over and over and over and over.
We don't have to.
He's been offered once.
But you see,
we observe the Lord's Supper, right?
But Jesus said, "do this in remembrance of Me."
We remember His death.
But in many religious circles,
it is believed that the bread
actually become His flesh
and the wine actually becomes His blood,
and He's offered afresh again.
And you know why that's necessary oftentimes
in the mindset,
is because salvation is not complete
and resting on Christ.
More needs to be done.
And it comes back to the whole food thing
that gets compared to grace in 13:9.
Why the thing about food?
Well, because we have to keep doing things.
There's always something incomplete.
We have this sin and we just have this sense
that we have to keep doing something.
We have to keep doing something. More and more and more is needed.
Why? Because we're never sure if it's just right.
We're never sure if enough has been done.
They were never certain under that old covenant system.
Why?
Because they kept having to bring these, having to bring these.
When you get to Hebrews 10,
he says the very proof that
it didn't accomplish anything
was the fact that it had to be brought
again and again and again...
because if an offering was ever made
that truly washed away sin,
it would never have to be made again.
And that's why with Christ, it's done.
It's done.
(Incomplete thought)
What we have to do,
is all the way to the end,
we just hold on to Him.
Firm to the end.
We hold on to Him.
Why? Because all the merit is there.
He shed His blood. He lived His life.
He is that high priest.
Not just a priest - He's a King.
He is the Priest-King.
He came from the lineage of David.
Melchizedek was a king and a priest.
And He is of the order of Melchizedek.
And He sits there triumphant.
He made purification.
Did you hear that?
In Hebrews 1, He made -
having made purification for sins.
He sat down.
The priests in the Old Testament
never were allowed to sit down
while they were at work.
They had no chairs in the temple.
They had no chairs in the tent.
They had no chairs in the tabernacle.
Why?
Because their work was never done.
But what the author of Hebrews says
is Christ offered Himself and sat down.
Done.
It's finished.
The work is complete.
And it doesn't change.
He is forevermore the same.
The victorious Priest-King.
His work is done.
But you can see the changes with everything else.
The old priesthood - it just changes.
Everything changes.
Even at the beginning of this book,
it's like the heaven and the earth
are going to change.
They're going to be rolled up.
But You - You don't change.
There's so much change.
Change throughout this book.
Their leaders in 13:7 - there was change.
They used to preach to us and they're gone now.
Bob stood in this pulpit before,
and he's gone now.
Men come and they go
and circumstances change.
But what we have is this rock solid confidence.
"I will never leave you or forsake you."
It's unchangeable.
We have a priest Who has a priesthood
and He always lives
to make intercession for them.
And it goes on to say,
v. 28 "The law appoints men
in their weakness as high priest,
but the word of the oath
which came later than the law
appoints a Son Who has been made perfect
forever.
Forever.
What this is saying
is He is the same, perfect Savior
yesterday,
and He is the same perfect Savior today,
and He will be forevermore.
And I know that before He actually came
and poured out His blood
and poured out His life,
God looked forward
and applied that work backward
to men like Samuel and Moses
and Abel. I know that.
But Jesus Christ had to come
and be made like His brethren in time
to become this perfect high priest
that He might be superior -
Oh, His covenant is superior.
His covenant.
What a glorious better covenant it is!
Why? Because it's not based on performance.
It's not based on whether I eat the bread
or don't eat the bread.
It's not based on what festivals I observe
or holy days I observe.
It's not based on that.
It's based on the merits;
it's based on Him.
It's superior.
You know that old covenant
said if you do this,
then I will treat you accordingly.
If you do good, I will treat you well.
If you do bad, I will treat you bad.
That's the old covenant.
You know how much of the world lives on the old covenant still today?
That covenant is death.
You know why?
Because none of us has kept it perfectly
and that's what that covenant demanded.
If you don't keep everything written in the book of the law and do it,
you are under a curse.
And yet, people come along and they say,
oh, well, I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying to be good.
Yeah, but that law said,
do me and live; break me and die.
The wage of sin is death.
That doesn't mean ten.
It's like Ray Comfort says.
It's not like you tell a hundred lies
and a bell goes off.
Bing!
One sin and Adam and Eve fell.
One sin destroyed mankind.
One sin will put you in hell.
One unforgiven sin.
Jesus Christ came with a superior covenant
that's guaranteed by His blood.
And you see, it's a promise not made
between us and God;
it's a promise made
between the Father and the Son.
Where the Son says I will die for them.
I will pour out my blood
to unleash the power of the Spirit of God
into their life and to allow them to be forgiven
for the sins that they've committed
against God.
And Christ says, I will come.
I will be their sin-bearer.
I will be their priest.
I will be their sacrifice.
I will purchase for them redemption.
I will purchase eternal life.
I will be crushed under the wrath of God.
I will drink the cup of punishment
that they deserve to drink.
I will take it on Myself.
And I will come under the law.
And I will keep that law in their place
so that they can be blameless
when their sin is charged to Me
and I suffer under it
and My righteous law-keeping
is given to them,
so that they might be counted righteous
in the courtroom of God.
That's what happened.
And Jesus said, I will give Myself.
A body You have prepared for Me.
And I need to become a man.
And though I am equal with God,
I count it not robbery at all
being counted equal with Him,
but He set His glory aside
and He came down
and He came down as a servant
and down as a man,
and He poured out His life
all the way to that obedience to the cross
and God crushed Him there.
And thereby He is a high priest now
that has done a work.
And we rest.
And we can rest.
Because this covenant says
that by faith in Him -
just Lord,
I trust that You have kept the law for me.
And You have paid what my sins deserve.
And I trust that You will give me Your Spirit;
You will transform me;
You will give me a new heart.
My trust is all in Him
and what His blood has done.
And you see, I can rest on that.
And that's where this is coming from.
And I'll tell you this,
when our author moves into v. 9,
and he says you don't be taken away;
you don't be carried away.
You remember back in the beginning of this verse,
we need to pay much closer attention
to these things, lest we drift.
You know why people drift?
Because other things attract them.
This whole book is about the glory of Christ.
You know why people walk away?
They stop seeing Christ as beautiful.
They stop seeing Him as precious.
They see the Spurs are better;
my money's better;
the world's better; food is better.
Yeah, I'll have my religion,
but they begin to drift away from Christ.
And it says don't be carried away
by diverse and strange teachings.
It's good for the heart to be strengthened by grace
rather than foods.
The food doesn't profit.
Grace profits. What's grace?
It means all that Christ has done,
I receive as a gift.
That's grace.
I don't deserve it.
I'm not being good enough to get to heaven.
See, that's not grace.
That's falling in with the food.
Well, I'm trying to do the right things.
What about this food?
Yeah, it comes up all over the place.
Colossians: Therefore let no one pass judgment on you
in questions of food and drink.
Why? Food is one of the basic elements
of this world that people get hung up on
and think they have to do certain things
with food in order to merit
some kind of look from God.
It's just one of the basic things.
It works out a thousand different ways
and other than food.
It's just things we've got to do
that we think that God's going to be happy with,
and somehow it's going to get us
a good place.
It's going to get us acceptance in the end.
But it's all grace.
Look, any other way -
do you notice what he says?
It doesn't profit them.
Which means what?
It doesn't save them.
It doesn't profit.
It doesn't bring any advantage to them
at all whatsoever.
None.
I mean, you don't want to trade
being saved by this Christ
freely by grace as a gift
for doing things that you think
are going to make you good
or clean you up.
That's the basic mentality
with the religions of this world.
I've got to do this little thing,
you know, to clean up.
I kind of lived out of control
last weekend,
and now I go to church
and it's going to set me right.
No.
No, the true religion of the Scriptures
is we have a high priest
and He doesn't change.
And He made an offering once
and it satisfied His Father.
Oh, it satisfied Him.
We'll just end by looking at this.
You look at Hebrews 2.
Hebrews 2:14
"Since therefore, the children share
in flesh and blood..."
He's talking about the children of God.
He's talking about Christians here.
"Since therefore, the children share in flesh and blood..."
That means we're men; we're women.
We're sons and daughters of Adam.
We're human.
Since we're that, He Himself (Christ)
likewise partook of the same things.
He had to.
That through death,
He had to become man,
so that He could die as a man,
and in so doing, destroy the one
who has the power of death,
that is the devil,
and deliver us -
all those who through fear of death
and we do fear death by nature.
We were subject to lifelong slavery.
For surely it's not angels that He helps.
He helps the offspring of Abraham.
Therefore, He had to be made like
His brothers in every respect,
so that He might become
a merciful and faithful high priest
in the service of God.
Why?
To make propitiation.
That's the removal of wrath.
He removes the wrath for the sins
of the people.
Because He Himself has suffered when tempted,
He is able to help those
who are being tempted.
And He doesn't change.
He is a help to those
who are being tempted.
And He is victorious.
He can help.
He's laid down His life.
He has help for the sinner.
You can be ever so vile,
ever so filthy,
have commited ever so grave of sin,
so many of them that you can't count
and they're heaped up on your shoulders,
and they're going to drop you into the lowest parts of hell,
but this work that this high priest has done
has made propitiation.
That means total removal of wrath.
It's all wiped away.
That's what forgiveness is all about.
All of it. All your sins.
Past, present, and future
are forgiven in their entirety.
Propitiation has been made.
But He had to become a man.
But having become a man,
His priesthood doesn't change forever.
You think about this.
He is going to wear His humanity forever.
He saves those who come to God
through Him to the uttermost
because He as a man
and as a victorious high priest
being made like us in every respect -
He's like that forevermore.
He has taken the nature of humanity upon Him
forever.
That He might be a high priest forever.
To make intercession for us forever.
We'll we're going to press on
through those verses next week.
Father, we pray that You would
just help us to see the glories of Christ
in all of this as we wrap up
these last verses in Hebrews.
May we leave it going out
reminded of how this book
so exalts the supremacy of Christ;
the preeminence of Him
Who bought us with His blood.
Thank You.
Amen.