of the book of Hebrews. By way of review, we have been considering the high priestly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the primary theme of this book. The author would like us to know that the Lord Jesus is superior to angels. And he does that in a brief treatment in chapters one and two. And he would like us to know that the Lord Jesus is superior to Moses. And he does that in six verses in chapter three. He would like us to know most of all that the Lord Jesus Christ is superior to Aaron and the Aaronic system. And that is his primary thrust. We have seen in the opening section in those seven statements concerning the Lord Jesus that two of them relate to priesthood having made purgation for sin. He sat down. at the right hand of God. At the end of chapter two, in which the author is demonstrating that not to angels did he give that privilege of ruling in that age to come, but to man, to Jesus, we see that he is a perfect human being identified with us, and likewise that one who will rule on the earth. He suffered all things so that he could be a fitting high priest for us. In first verse of chapter three, he is that one who is appointed the apostle and high priest of our confession. At the end of chapter four, he is that high priest who can be touched with the feelings of all of our infirmities, one of which is the struggle of obedience. And in chapter five, the first ten verses we saw that he meets the qualifications of priesthood, being both called and human. so human that he struggled in learning obedience. Though he were a son, through fear he learned obedience to God in chapter five. In chapters seven, eight, nine, and ten, we have the heart of the development of this subject of priesthood. And Brother Jamie has mentioned... Native outlines, isn't that what you called it? You gave it another title, too. Natural or... The outlines that are right in the book itself. It's good to get that outline because you know you have the right one net. I remember Mr. McDonald saying one time that one of the preachers stayed up all night in travail, bringing forth alliteration, and he brought forth a net. And frequently that is the case when we spend their entire time trying to make an outline that's not there. It's not very helpful. But when we find the author's outline and the way he's handling it, we have a distinct advantage. I have three favorite son-in-laws. One of them, Stefan. Another one, Art Manning lives up in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Works for three M's. He's a computer. What's the word on what? Genius or freak? One of the two. One time when he was visiting, he took it upon himself to clean up my workbench. Now, there was nothing wrong with my workbench. All the tools were strewn there just as I wanted them. How many have workbenches like that? That means you're busy. That's what that means. And you know where they are. Well, Arthur thought, this is not very orderly. It's not computer-like. Okay. So he arranged them for me. And he put them in boxes. And I couldn't find anything. And it was hidden in the box. And when I'd go down to do a little job that my wife has on her ever-growing list of things to do. How many of you have lists like that, guys? Isn't that pathetic? It gets longer and longer. I couldn't find the tools. And I start open the boxes and I have an aha experience. In one box were all things like screwdrivers that you twist like that. In another box were things that had jaws that go like this. In another box were the things you hit with like hammers. In another box wrenches that you did this one. I said, oh, I see what he's done. He's organized it according to function. And then I could find everything. See, I got into his brain. About the only time I ever had. But I got into his brain. I understood how he was going at it. And once you have that key, the native outline, you got it. Now I want to give you a little key to chapter seven, eight, nine, and ten. The author of Hebrews is going to prove the superiority of Christ in the Aaronic system, first of all, by showing that the Lord Jesus Christ comes from a better line of priests. Chapter seven. Chapter eight that he administers a better covenant. And chapters nine and ten that he offers a better sacrifice. Now this is how he goes at it. He is trying to refute some professing Jews, probably second generation Jewish Christians. who had made a profession of Christianity, probably went off the Galilee Bible camp. The lightning hit the tree right next to the cabin where they were all living. And the whole cabin was converted that night. That happened at Twin Lakes. John Giacom, are you still here? John was here yesterday. You remember that? Yeah, it was his cabin. And boom, boom, it hit that tree. And the boy says, yes, Jesus. That's that. Now, I'm not sure they were all saved. I doubt they were. That can sure get your attention, I want to tell you. Sometimes people make a profession and it's not real. And when push comes to shove, as it was in the early church, when you cut yourself off from everything, if you may have made a profession of Christianity, some of those second generation people thought, I'm going back to Judaism. I like the liturgical process. structure. I like the high priest. I like the synagogue system. I like all the beauty of Judaism. This meaning in somebody's home and just having any old person speak, it just doesn't cut it. And the author of Hebrews is saying, you're going back to something inferior when you do that. And having made a willful decision to tread underfoot the blood of Christ and insult the Holy Spirit of God and count the blood of the covenant an unimportant, vile thing. Once you have decided that, in that turning from this bright revelation of Christianity, there's no hope that you will ever again be able to make a verbal statement of repentance. It's all over. That's all you wrote. And he's trying to convince these people, it's time for you to get saved. Now don't go back. If you go back, you're dead in the water forever. You need to get saved. But then he says, some of you others, and I can't tell who you are. Some of the others of you, by now you should be teachers of the Word and you're still babes. You need to go on to spiritual maturity. And in all the warning passages, there is a double approach. Now, in convincing and showing both to the ones who are turning from Christianity and to those of us who need to go on in the Christian life, he is going to demonstrate that we have the best thing possible. in our Savior. And he is the best of priests, better than the Old Testament priests because he comes from a better line, better than the Old Testament priests because he administers a better covenant, better than the Old Testament priests because he offers a better sacrifice. In each of those segments, he will pick out a key verse from the Old Testament that proves that. He is taking Old Testament scripture itself and using it against the Jewish folk who are saying Judaism is better than Christianity. If you can demonstrate from the Old Testament that that system is temporary, you have proven what you need to prove. It's only until a better system comes, to a better priest from a better line of priests administering a better covenant, offering a better sacrifice. And the author of Hebrews roams through the Old Testament to find those verses that demonstrate that that is a temporary period of time, the Old Testament economy, Judaism. And he does that by finding three verses, three quotations in the Old Testament. Chapter seven is built around a quotation from Psalm a hundred and ten, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Chapter eight is built around a quotation from Jeremiah thirty-one, an extended quotation describing the new covenant. Chapters nine and ten are built around a quotation from Psalm forty. Sacrifice and offerings thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared me. I delight to do thy will, oh my God. Each of those has the same principle of operation. If you read in the Old Testament that there's going to be another line of priests, it demonstrates that the line of priests in force is going to come to an end. If you read in the Old Testament that there's a new covenant, it demonstrates that the other covenant is going to be the old covenant. If you read in the Old Testament that there is a better sacrifice and these sacrifices and offerings God doesn't want any longer, it does an end to that other system. The key thing he is doing is taking Old Testament Scripture and proving from the Old Testament Scripture that that is a temporary rule of life until the coming of the better priest. Who comes from a better line of priests, Psalm-a-hundred-tenth? Who administers a better covenant, the new covenant, Jeremiah thirty-one? Who will offer a better sacrifice himself? A quotation from Psalm forty. Do you get into the head of the author? That's the way he's thinking. And once you got that, you got his logic. I'll prove to you. Now, it's amazing the way he does this. Chapter seven, the one we'll look at this hour, chapter seven has, at the beginning, in the first ten verses, a recounting of what we would consider a minor story out of the Old Testament. And as you go back and read in Genesis fourteen, you understand that there's war going on and There's a southern confederacy and a northern confederacy. Hey, that sounds kind of familiar. There's a southern confederacy and northern confederacy. They're fighting against one another. And Lot gets involved in that, and the kings of the north come and raid the town where Lot is living, carry him off captive and spoil his city. And goes all the way up to Damascus. And Abraham hears about this. And he takes his hired soldiers and servants and goes and pursues and gains a victory and he is coming back. And as he's coming back, he meets another king. There are lots of kings around here. And this king is named Melchizedek. He is not only a king, he is a priest. And Abraham and Melchizedek meet after Abraham has this victory. And something happens. Abraham pays tithes of all the spoils of war to Melchizedek. And Melchizedek blesses Abraham. Now that's the story. If there would not be one other verse in the Bible, that story would have no significance in relationship to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. But as the author of Hebrews is reading through and roaming through the Old Testament, He comes on this isolated verse in Psalm, that makes reference to this historical event. And it says, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And the author says, Wait a minute. If that's the way it is, if there's going to be another priesthood, then this Priesthood out of Judaism must come to an end. And he goes back to this section in Genesis fourteen and studies that in great detail. And he makes some conclusions. As he writes chapter seven, he says, Melchizedek has no beginning or end. Do you know what he's doing? He is building all of chapter seven and the logic of chapter seven on what the Bible doesn't say. Now that's amazing. Our view of inspiration should be this careful that every word is inspired of God. Arguments are built on the plural and singular. Do you know why? Galatians. Not seeds many, but seeds one. Not a plural, a singular. Here the author of Hebrews looks at Melchizedek, and he doesn't know anything about the beginning of Melchizedek. As far as the record goes, there is no birth, no beginning. As far as the record goes, there is no end. Melchizedek, I am convinced, was a king just like all the other kings. He was a patriarchal priest who had come to be king over his city, Salem. King of peace, king of righteousness. Perhaps Jerusalem eventually. He was like Noah, who offered up sacrifices for his children. Like Job, who was the clan priest. of his group. He was perhaps the last of these, one of them. God was never without witness on this earth. And Melchizedek was an old, exalted clan leader whose clan had developed into a city-state. And he was a priest and a king of God who followed close after God, a king of righteousness and peace, who offered up sacrifices. He was a priest. But we don't know anything about Him. He's without beginning and without end. And the author of Hebrews will build this whole chapter on that concept. Our Lord Jesus Christ comes from a different line of priests. So let's look at chapter seven. Now, the other two arguments are done in the same way. He will seize on that word new in new covenant. And that will demonstrate that the Mosaic covenant, the Ten Commandments, the six under thirteen commandments are going to pass away. And when he sees that great section dealing with the sacrifice of the Messiah, he says that will bring an end to all sacrifices. It is the superior sacrifice. Now let's look at chapter seven. He is going to demonstrate that the Lord Jesus Christ did not come from the tribe having to do with priests, not from the tribe of Levi, but from the tribe of Judah, which had to do with reigning. And hence, there must be a change of the law if the Lord Jesus is going to be the priest. The Psalm, a hundred, ten argument argues for that change, that there is going to be a priest other than from the tribe of Levi, a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And he will demonstrate because of the fact that we only see that priest living, that the priesthood of Melchizedek is a superior priesthood. And I'd like to look at those superiority because of the new priestly line from which Jesus comes. It begins in verse twenty of chapter seven. 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, here's the quote, The Lord has sworn and will not repent. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. By so much more, Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. The first point the author makes in demonstrating that this is a better line of priests is that it was made with an oath. Now, remember yesterday I said this is interactive Bible study in this passage. The author expects us to be able to say, oh, I understand what you mean by that quote. Now, how does it demonstrate a superior kind of a priest? A priest made by a nose. How is that better than becoming a priest by birth? That's what we have to answer. They were made priests by birth. Jesus was made priests by a nose. Why is that better? Can anybody give me some help? Interactive Bible study. If the other reader is doing it, I suppose I should. Why is it better? Gotcha, didn't it? It's better. because it is a deliberative act. It is an act of the will and of the intellect. I choose this person to be a priest rather than passive birth. A deliberate act on the part of God that his son would be a priest, not just be born into it. That is true of our priesthood. We are not born into our priesthood. We are chosen to be priests. It's part of God's elective purposes in our lives as well. It's not because you happen to come from a certain family that you're a priest of God. You're a priest of God by the deliberate act of God, just like his son was. And there's intellectual will involved in that, not just, well, whoever's born. There's more direct activity on the part of God. in that kind of a choice. It's a selection. It's just not a product of natural birth. He chose him to be priest. He's appointed to that. The second point that we see is found in verse twenty three and following. Also, there were many priests because they were prevented by death. from continuing. But he became, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. The Old Testament priests died if you had a good priest, and that was exceptional. He would only live for a short period of time, relatively speaking. And then another priest would come on the scene. And the quality of priestly ministry would vary. Suppose our priest would stop interceding for us. Suppose he would die again. But that's a suppose we don't have to suppose. because He conquered death once for all, and He ever lives to make intercession for us. In that moment of time, when we do not take advantage of His priesthood, of the Word of God, of the Holy Spirit, of the prayers of the saints, of my own capability of living a life that's glorifying to God through the Holy Spirit, when I sin, when you sin, our priest goes to work for us. He ever lives to make intercession for us. It's an automatic function on His part. When we fall into sin, He pleads the blood of the atonement, and the Father sees a perfect person clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Our priest intercedes on our behalf. He intercedes until we come to Him, confessing our sin and fellowship is reestablished. If any of us have sinned, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus the righteous. He makes intercession on our behalf. It's His job. He's our high priest making intercession for us. As we go through life still sinning on occasion, He makes intercession on our behalf. and the blood of the atonement goes on cleansing us from all sin. He ever lives to make intercession. Because he is our high priest and we come rushing to him to find mercy and grace to help at the appropriate time of need, we have victory over sin because he dispenses that grace and mercy to us. He is our high priest ever living to help us live a Christian life that's honoring to God. And He can save us to the uttermost. Do any of you have habits of sin? Do any of us have habits of sin that are hard to break? He can deliver us. He can save us to the uttermost. Rescue us from those kind of sins in our lives. Are we falling short? Are we Not just falling prey to sins of commission, but not doing what we should do. There's a whole new world of Christian living for us. The sins of omission. Are we able to go on to maturity? Are we able to wrestle with the word? There's that same fly trying to open my mouth. Are we able to go on for God? He is the one who will give us the strength to do that. He ever lives. to make intercession so we can be saved to the uttermost. He breaks the power of canceled sin. He sets the prisoner free. He sets us free to be God's kind of person. He can save us to the uttermost. What is his goal? Conformity to himself. And through the empowering work of Our high priest, we can come closer and closer to conformity to Jesus Christ. We'll all be conformed one day. I'm not concerned about that. I am concerned about conformity now to a greater extent. And it's the priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ that brings us closer and closer to that goal. He's able to save us to the uttermost. Our spiritual growth depends on the high priestly work of Jesus Christ. He's able to save us to the othermost. He never gets tired. Never sleep. Never tunes us out. He is always there. He ever lives to make intercession so that we don't sin. To make intercession when we do sin. To make intercession and give us help when we cry out to Him for mercy and grace to help. in the time of need. He ever lives to make intercession for us. Not without an oath. No death. He always lives. Our high priest is a better priest because, brother read this verse earlier this morning, no sin. No sin. For such a high priest was fitting for us who is holy. harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens. Our high priest has no sin. No other priest on earth of Judaism or any other kind of priest, ourselves as priests, can say we have no sin. But our priest is the superior priest. He has no sin. Well, you'll say that he doesn't know about sin then. He doesn't know my struggle. Brother asked me a question yesterday, and I knew it was out there someplace after dealing with the temptation of Christ. Do you think Jesus could have sinned? Well, no, he couldn't sin. He was not able to sin. He was also able not to sin. Positions held for many years by evangelical student. He could not sin. And between you and me and the Friends Post, we don't want a priest who can sin. Being able to sin doesn't prove I know something about temptation. If I sin, I don't know a lot about temptation. I know a lot about sin, and I know a lot about yielding to temptation. The Lord Jesus Christ knew everything about temptation. Hundred percent. The needle got stuck on a hundred percent temptation, and he never sinned. There is no sin. He knows all about temptation. He knows nothing about sinning. Big difference. That's the kind of high priest we have. We can go to him, and we know that he knows how hard it is to obey God. That's what we saw yesterday. But he never yielded to sin. Could not, would not. Never yield it. Consequently, he knows temptation a hundred percent. And I can go to that kind of priest and say, in time of temptation and struggle, do you know? Yes, I know. And we all care because he has experienced all forms, every category of temptation, and has been victorious in it. He's a perfectly sinless high priest. That's the best kind of high priest because he can help us. in whatever struggle we are having with any sin at any time because he was victorious. He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin. And you can take it to the bank. Isn't he a great priest? There he is. One more. Who does not need daily, verse twenty-seven, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the people. For this he did once for all, when he offered up himself. For the law appoints his high priest men who have weakness. But the word of the oath, the oath priest, which came after the law, appoints the son who has been perfected forever. Our great high priest, number one, does not have to offer up a sacrifice for sin for himself because he was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin. And when this infinite God who became man offered up himself once for all for the sin of the people, it was finished. No additional sacrifice for sin necessary. When Jesus said it is finished, he stated a wonderful statement that should echo down through history to our hearts this very day. It is finished. Once for all paid. Are you glad for that? Done forever. No need to offer another sacrifice. There are some churches where with every gathering there is a re-sacrificing in theory of Jesus Christ, signifying that it is not a finished work. Thank God we come and look on bread and wine in memory of a work that was finished. It is finished. Our priests offered of one sacrifice forever. He's a better priest. He's a priest by oath. He's a priest that doesn't die. He's a priest that is separate from sin. He is a priest who offers one sacrifice. That is Melchizedek in priesthood. That is not the priesthood of the Old Testament. And more important to you and me, that is our great high priest. Whoever lives to make intercession. And by him we who have been saved from the penalty of sin and are being saved from the power of sin will finally be saved from the very presence of sin. He ever lives to make intercession and consequently he will save us to the uttermost. We have a great high priest. Let's thank him for his priestly ministry. Lord Jesus, we are thankful that even now you intercede, you're interceding for us. Less than the time between our conversion and our final phase of salvation, we not come to glorification. You save us to the uttermost. We're thankful that we walk through that priestly pallor. that we find strength to overcome sin through your priestly power, that you intercede when we do sin through your priestly office, that you are always available, that you have offered one sacrifice forever as our great priest. We thank you for so functioning and so enabling us to live for your glory. And we pray for each one of us gathered together this weekend that we may tap into the resources