The Priestly Office of Christ

Tonight, we're on lesson number 11.

We've been in Christology looking here over the last week and going forward for the next four weeks at what we call the offices of Christ. If you remember last week, we looked at the prophetic office of Christ. Christ means Messiah, means anointed one. And in the Old Testament, there were three different offices: that of prophet, that of priest, and that of king. And all three of these offices were anointed offices. They were mediatorial offices between God and man. And they typified and pointed forward toward Christ. And Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of them. Tonight, we're going to be looking at the priestly office of Christ. We're only going to be looking at the office itself, though. Next week, we're going to look at the meaning of the atonement and how we understand that biblically. The following week, Ben's going to be leading us in the extent of the atonement. Who does the atonement apply to? And then in the fourth week, we're going to be looking at the intercession of Christ, which is part of His priestly function. So let's begin with Bible point number one.

The priest, like the prophet, was a mediator between God and man.

As prophets represented God to man — remember we talked about that last week, when the prophet spoke to man on behalf of God — the priest represented man to God. That's the first blank: man to God. They were mediators, and they represented man before God.

The priest was a person divinely appointed — that's the second blank, appointed — to transact with God on man's behalf. When we say transact with God, we mean to work on man's behalf, to offer sacrifice on man's behalf, to relate to God on man's behalf.

The priest fulfilled his office first by making sacrifice — that's the third blank — and secondly, by making intercession. Intercession is the fourth blank. Let me reread that. As prophets represented God to man, the priest represented man to God. The priest was a person divinely appointed to transact with God on man's behalf. The priest fulfilled his office by making sacrifice, and secondly, by making intercession. In both these respects, Christ is our high priest. He's the one who makes sacrifice for His people, and He's the one who intercedes for His people.

God chose Israel as a priestly nation. When you read throughout the Old Testament, you find that God's chosen people, Israel, was to be a priestly nation. Levi as a priestly tribe — out of the twelve tribes of Israel, only Levi was appointed for that — and Aaron as a priestly family.

Basically, under the old covenant economy, very few people could transact with God. Very few people — only the priests, those who were part of the Aaronic priesthood, who were part of the Levites — only they could go before God to offer up prayers on behalf of the people, to be in His temple, right? And they had to purify themselves for this task. So it was very few. If you remember back at Christmas, we read Luke chapter one, we talked about John the Baptist's father, Zacharias, and how he was a priest, and he was chosen to take part in the morning sacrifice by going in and offering an incense prayer to the Lord, and how you were lucky at that time if you got to do that just once in your whole life. So relating to God was strictly for the priest, in the sense of going into the temple, and it was very rare that you got to do that.

United to Christ, we — this is the fifth blank — we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.

God has chosen us as His own special people to glorify Him, right? To declare the excellencies of God's glory. And as Christians, we who are in the new covenant — every believer in Christ is united to Christ, and is therefore made to participate in relating to God. So we can offer prayers directly to God, because Christ is our high priest, and we are hidden in Christ, right? So Christ has opened the door wide open for every believer to be able to boldly approach the throne of grace, right? So we live under much better promises and a much better covenant than what Israel had in the old covenant. Hebrews 5:1 says, "For every priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." Here, the description of a priest's role is described by the writer of Hebrews. He says every priest had to be taken from among men — had to be a man. And of course, it is because Christ became flesh for us to be our high priest, to be our mediator.

And He's appointed to things pertaining to God. A priest received his anointing by appointment. He was chosen by God, and Christ was the elect Son, right? He was chosen to be the priest before the foundation of the world, right?

And in Christ, you too are chosen. You are a chosen people, right? A royal priesthood.

"That he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin." And that's exactly what Christ did. The Old Testament priests would offer gifts and sacrifices according to the Levitical law, and they had to continuously do it. They had to continuously cleanse themselves and continuously make these offerings, right? But Christ — He did it once, once and for all, right? He is the perfect sacrifice on our behalf. Flip over on the back.

Isaiah 53, which is the servant song, talking about the suffering servant, the Messiah.

Because of His faithfulness to God, he says, "Therefore I will divide Him," speaking of the Messiah, "a portion with the great," speaking of His exaltation, "and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with transgressors. He bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." You see how Christ was our high priest? He poured out His life into death. He was the propitiation for the sins of many, and He interceded for them, even when He was being nailed to the cross. What did He say? "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Ken: How many — was it five or six hundred years — was it written before the events actually occurred?

Actually, it's longer than that. It's around 700 plus, almost 800 years, depending on how you date it. So yes, this was written 700 years before the Messiah was born.

The application for number one is this: How is a father a priest? That's the blank. Priest to his family. How is a father a priest to his family? Pastor Casey just preached on Ephesians chapter five, right? You know, a great example of this is actually in the Old Testament — Job. We think of Job as a man who suffered immensely, and he did. But before he suffered immensely, we get to see a little dynamic of how he was the priest for his family. Let me read that to you. It's found in Job chapter one, verses four through five. They would have their birthdays or celebrations, as many kids as he was blessed with. He had seven sons and three daughters.

Verse four says, "And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day." This is basically what we think of as a birthday celebration. Each son had his special appointed day for this celebration. "And would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them." They got together as a family, right? Had a party, let loose, so to speak.

Verse five: "So it was when the days of feasting had run their course that Job would send and sanctify them. And he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, 'It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.' Thus Job did regularly." We believe this was before the institution of the Mosaic Law. Job was one of the oldest books in the Bible. And we see here a man who was so concerned about his kids that in their levity and in their feasting and in their parting, they may forget God. They may take His name in vain. They may curse Him, right? And so he would sanctify them by making offerings and interceding on their behalf, right?

Isn't that what fathers are to do for their family?

We may not be able to make sacrifices, but we can point them to the one sacrifice, Jesus Christ, right? And we can intercede for our families, always pointing them to the merits and works of Christ. We tell our children and our wives, look to the cross. Look to the cross. Christ paid for your sins. There you find redemption. There you find cleansing.

Bible point number two. As our high priest, Christ's foremost task was to offer a perfect — that's the first blank — a perfect sacrifice for the sins of His people.

Humanity was shut out from God by its sin. In Adam, we all died and we all were alienated from God. God requires us to be holy as He is. That's the second blank: we're to be holy as God is. Adam could not have walked in the coolness of the day and fellowshipped with God in the garden if he had had an unrighteous heart, right? God demands holiness, and we must be holy to be able to stand before God. Who shall stand before His holy hill, right? Who has clean hands and a pure heart, is what the Psalm says. Although God's justice must condemn sin, His love provides the remedy to sin's penalty.

Scripture teaches that Christ willingly obeyed and suffered in our stead, to satisfy God's holiness and thus provide pardon — pardon is the third blank — and restoration — restoration is the fourth blank — for guilty humanity. So the first blank is perfect, second blank is holy, third blank is pardon, and fourth blank is restoration. He was our perfect sacrifice to reconcile us to God, to pardon us, to take away our guilt, and then to restore us to the favor of God that Adam originally had in the garden.

Romans 5:6–8 speaks of this. "For when we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love to us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Verse eight should be very familiar to you as we have memorized that verse, right? God demonstrates His own love to us in that while we were still sinners — while we were still weak, right? When we were still alienated from God, shaking our fists in rebellion toward Him — that Christ died for us. That's to provide our pardon and our restoration.

Flip over on the back. This is continued in verses nine through eleven. This is reference number two on the back. "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." We no longer face the wrath that we deserve because of Christ's pardon. "For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation." Not only have we received pardon in Christ by His atoning work, but we've received reconciliation. We can have joy in God. He's restored a right spirit within us. He has created in us a clean heart and made a right spirit within us.

The application for number two: Is God's love based on our feelings? That's the first blank. Or His action? Action is the second blank. Look at verse eight to answer that question, from Romans 5:8. Is God's love based on our feelings or His action?

His action. God demonstrates His love to us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We often see ourselves as sinners — which we are apart from Christ, right? — and we think, how can God love me? I'm not worthy. You're not worthy, right? I have been an enemy against God. I have been alienated from Him.

How can He love me?

We're looking at ourselves, right? We're looking at how we feel about ourselves. But what we should look to is the objective work of Christ, at what He has done for us. Look to the cross. There we see His love. That's the declaration of His love. You know He loves you because He died for you, right? So it puts it right there in the open for us to see and to grasp. Don't look inwardly. Don't look at your feelings. Look at what Christ did for you. That's how you know that Christ loves you.

Bible point number three. As our high priest, Christ always — he could also write "forever" if he wanted to: always or forever — makes intercession for His people. His intercession is not just His divine petitions on our behalf. So besides Christ making atonement for our sins, which is what Bible point number two is about, Bible point number three is about Christ making intercession for us. And it's not just about Him making petitions on our behalf. We think of Christ's intercessory work as Him before the Father pleading our case and praying for us, and also through sending His Holy Spirit to make intercession within our hearts. And that's part of His intercessory work, but not the whole of it.

The intercession of Christ is a special activity of Christ in securing, upon the ground of His sacrifice — that's the second blank, sacrifice — whatever blessings come to men, both temporal and spiritual. Spiritual is the third blank.

All blessings that we have in this life, whether fleeting, temporary blessings — like having a good plate of barbecue or being with friends for an evening, that's great — guess where that comes from? It comes from Christ because of what He did on the cross for us. All blessings, whether temporal or spiritual, only come to us via Christ. You say, well, hang on now, don't good things happen to everybody in this world? It's what we call God's common providence, right? His common care for all people. We would say that because of the atoning work of Christ, there's been a delay in judgment. There's a space for repentance. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So we're able to experience the good things of this life. And it's the goodness of God that draws men to what? Draws men to repentance, right? So all good things, all blessings, both temporal and spiritual, come from Christ. He is the fount of every blessing. Don't we sing that? "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," right?

There is no spiritual blessing outside of union with Christ. That's the fourth blank. No spiritual blessing outside of union with Christ.

People look for blessings in all the wrong places, right?

They look for blessings in the hedonism of Las Vegas, right?

They look for blessings to come from maybe their job, or maybe from a friend or family member, which God gives us friends and family members, but ultimately all blessing comes from God. And it comes through union with Christ. All spiritual blessing is only found in union with Christ. People who do not know Christ can experience temporal blessings, but spiritual blessings only come through union with Christ. And that's true for Israel, my friends. Israel in the Old Testament was God's people. But until they put their trust in Christ, they have no spiritual blessing. All spiritual blessing only comes through union with Christ, through being united with the Savior, the one who blesses His people. So we're to pray for Israel, and we're to evangelize Israel, right? Sometimes people look at Israel as a special class, you know — well, they're God's people, they're going to be all right. They need Christ if they are to ever experience true spiritual blessing.

Let's look at Hebrews 7:25. "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." Speaking of Christ, Christ lives to make intercession for His people, and He's able to save you to the uttermost — meaning a salvation from all iniquity, to save your whole person, body and soul. And isn't that what happens in the resurrection, right? Right now we experience so many of the spiritual blessings, and we tend to think of our union with Christ as just that. But in the resurrection, will not our bodies be made whole? Will not sickness be banished? Will not death and Hades be cast into the lake of fire to afflict us no more? Yes. Flip over on the back.

Look at the high priestly blessing that God instructed Moses to give to Aaron. "The Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to Aaron" — Aaron being the high priest — "and his sons, those who would follow after him, saying, this is the way he shall bless the children of Israel. And he will say to them: 'The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.'"

Do you catch that? God wants to give you His peace. And the only way you can have peace is through Jesus Christ, our great high priest. And it's in Christ that He puts His name, His very character, on you, because you are said to be in Christ and He is said to be in you.

Look at Ephesians 1:3. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." It doesn't say every spiritual blessing is in your political party that you're affiliated with. It doesn't say you're blessed with every spiritual blessing in having the blessing of a family — which that's a great thing. It's truly a great blessing to have a family and friends, but we're truly blessed only in Christ Jesus. All spiritual blessing comes from Him.

The application for number three: Do you look for blessings outside of Christ? That's the blank — outside of Christ. Ask yourself, where do you seek fulfillment?

There's nothing wrong with having worldly enjoyments, right? It's nice to be able to go walk in a park and see the beauty of God's creation. It's nice to fill in on a line and go fish. As a Texan, I'll say it's really nice to smell gunpowder at the gun range, right? I get a kick out of that. It's nice to go play golf, right? It's nice to have get-togethers with our families. Those are all great things, but where do you find your fulfillment? Where do you seek your blessing? It's only in Christ, right? Can you not be deprived of all those good things and still be truly blessed in Christ? Have not many of the saints of old been in the darkest dungeons? And yet they sang for joy because who was in the dungeon with them? Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So seek your spiritual blessings only inside of Christ, not outside of Him.

Bible point number four. Christ's priesthood is superior to the priesthoods of the old covenant. Melchizedek and Aaron's priesthoods merely typified — that's the first blank, typified. It's like the word "type," but with "-fied" on the end of it: typified. When we say something is a type, we mean that it was a picture that pointed to a future blessing, something that was good that was coming, right? And the Melchizedek and Aaron's priesthoods merely typified and foreshadowed Christ. Christ's high priesthood is the substance — that's the third blank — and reality — reality is the fourth blank — to which the shadows pointed. Let me reread that. Christ's priesthood is superior to the priesthoods of the old covenant. Melchizedek and Aaron's priesthoods merely typified and foreshadowed Christ. Christ's high priesthood is the substance and reality to which the shadows pointed.

Hebrews chapter 10 — you'll be reading a lot in Hebrews tonight.

By the way, I've spoken with many Christians who will say Hebrews is a book that you either like or you don't like. And a lot of folks will say, it just has so much Old Testament stuff in there. You know, let me tell you the key to understanding the book of Hebrews.

Psalm 110, which is a Messianic Psalm — it's the Psalm where Christ is crowned, and He is also by the oath of God made to be a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, right?

The book of Hebrews is basically an exposition of that. It's a sermon based on Psalm 110. Read through it in that light, and you'll understand it so much better. It's basically extolling and praising Christ who was the superior prophet, priest, and king. He is the one who fulfills all the Old Testament types. Hebrews 10:1 says, "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come." Who was the good thing to come?

Christ, right? So the law was a shadow of Christ, and not the very image of the things, right? It wasn't the good things themselves, but it pointed to the good thing, the good thing being Christ, right? Flip over on the back. Hebrews 7:11–14:

"Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not be called according to the order of Aaron?"

The Levitical priesthood gave us the law, and Aaron and his family were the Aaronic priestly line, but there was another line in the Old Testament. And we find this in the book of Genesis. Remember Abraham goes before a man named Melchizedek, who is a priest and also a king. He's the king of Salem — the prince of peace, actually. That is a mysterious man. When Moses describes him, he doesn't give his origins, doesn't give his genealogy. He appears as if he has no genealogy, he has no beginning and he has no end. He almost seems like a type of Christ, right? We know he was a real person because both the Old Testament and the New Testament compare Christ to him, so we don't confuse the two. But he was a different line of priest than Aaron. And what the writer of Hebrews is saying is that if perfection was possible through Aaron's line, then why would we need another priest who was ordered after the order of Melchizedek and not be called according to the order of Aaron? "For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law." Now let me explain that.

With Moses and Aaron and the Levitical priesthood, Christ would not have been eligible to be a priest.

Because was He of the tribe of Levi?

Who was He of the tribe of? Judah, right? He was of the Judaic line by both Mary and Joseph. There is a change of priesthood. It says, "For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law." The Aaronic priesthood, the Levitical priesthood, gave us the law. We see that in the old covenant. We see that in Exodus: the Ten Commandments followed by the six-hundred-some-odd ordinances.

Christ has come, and in Christ He is the fulfillment of the law. Pastor Casey hinted earlier that we're now under the law of Christ, the royal law: love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. We still look to the law. We talk about the threefold uses of the law, as we are not under the Old Testament law as a covenant law the way Moses and the Israelites were — where they were under the curses of the law if they didn't obey it. Christ has paid for those curses. But we're under the Scripture. Isn't that what Paul tells Timothy? All Scripture is profitable. By it, we know what pleases God. By it, the Scripture drives us to Christ, right? It gives us a rule for our lives and for society.

"But for the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. For He," speaking of Christ, "of whom these things are spoken, belongs to another tribe from which no man has officiated at the altar. No man from the tribe of Judah had ever officiated at the altar, except for Christ. For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses speaks nothing concerning priesthood." So we have a total change of priesthood, a total change of law, because Christ is superior to the Old Testament, the old covenant priesthood.

Flip back over on the front.

The application is: don't be drawn to rituals and days.

The reference there is Galatians 4:9–11. Let me read that to you. Paul writes to this church, to whom he had delivered the promises of Christ, and he fears for them that they are falling back into keeping the old covenant rituals, the priestly offerings, and observing days and observing seasons — things that were required under the Levitical law. He says, "But now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, which you desire again to be in bondage?" He's saying, "You're becoming a slave to these poor, wretched things that cannot benefit you." He says, "You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain." All those Old Testament ceremonies and laws and stipulations regarding sacrifices and observing days — those are all fulfilled in Christ. So don't be drawn to rituals and days. Be drawn to the substance, which is Christ, not the mere shadows.

Bible point number five. Christ's priesthood is superior as to the person. That's the first blank: person.

The Levitical priests were mere men from the tribe of Levi.

Christ is the lion — that's the second blank — the lion of the tribe of Judah, the very Son of God. The Levitical priests were sinners who had to purify themselves. Christ is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate — that's the third blank, separate from sinners. Remember Caleb's sermon? Separate, separate, separate. Holy, holy, holy. Christ was separate from sinners, unlike the Levitical priests who had to cleanse themselves before they did their duties. The Levitical priests needed animals to sacrifice. Christ is both the high priest and the sacrificial lamb of God.

The Levitical priesthood was many and successive. In other words, Aaron, then Aaron's sons, and the sons after him — they had many. By the time of Christ, they had tremendous numbers of priests who were officiating because they kept on growing larger with each and every generation.

Not so with Christ. Christ alone perfectly stands before God. They had to have successors because they would die. They were merely men. Christ died once and rose again, never to die again.

And His sacrifice doesn't need to be made continually.

So Christ's priesthood is superior as to the person. John 1:29 — John, when he's baptizing by the Jordan, he sees Jesus approaching. And what does he say? "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

Could that be said of a mere Levitical priest, a mere man? No, but Christ is the high priest and the Lamb of God, right? Flip over on the back.

Hebrews 7:27, reference number five: "Who," speaking of Christ, "does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's. For this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." Because He was wholly perfect, undefiled, separate from sinners, He didn't need to offer up a sacrifice for Himself. He just laid down His life once and for all for us. Flip back over on the front.

Now, the application is: be in awe of the lion and the lamb. The first blank is lion, the second blank is lamb.

In the book of Revelation chapter five, we have a picture of the throne room of God.

And John is looking upon this activity, and no one can open up the seals of God's judgment, and he begins to weep, right?

And he's told not to weep, because there is one who is worthy of opening up the seals, and it's the lion of the tribe of Judah, right?

Back in Genesis 49, we have Israel — Jacob — who blesses his children. And of Judah he says, "A scepter shall not depart from you. You shall rule." And he says that you are crouching, ferocious. Well, we see that picture in Revelation. He's about to open up the seals of God's judgment, and it's the lion of the tribe of Judah who is declared to be worthy to open up the seals. The power of His judgment comes from the fact that He is worthy. He's the spotless Lamb of God, perfectly conforming to God's holy character. The one who judges us judges us by His own standard. And in Revelation five, you go back and forth between Christ being described as the lion of the tribe of Judah and also as being called the Lamb of God, right?

And that's amazing to see the worship that goes on.

Verse nine says, "And they sang a new song, saying, 'You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain'" — that's what a sacrifice is, a sacrifice — "'and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth.'"

Christ is not just a priest, but He's a kingly priest, right?

And in Christ, we too are kingly priests. He's made us priests and kings to His God forever.

Bible point number six. Christ's priesthood is superior as to its institution. When we say its institution, meaning its appointment or its ordination. Christ's priesthood is superior as to its institution. The Levitical priesthood was established without an oath from God, but by a fleshly commandment, which is what Scripture calls a carnal commandment. In other words, it dealt with the externals — that is what the Levitical priesthood did, right? It says you need to offer up some grain sacrifice, do a wave offering, you need to offer up animals. These were external things. And could those external things circumcise the heart?

Could they cut sin out from the heart and cleanse the heart? No.

Christ's priesthood was established by an oath — that's the second blank, an oath from God — by the power of an endless life — that's the third blank — and as a guarantee of a better covenant.

You'll find this in, of course, the book of Hebrews all throughout.

And he's quoting, of course, also from Psalm 110, that God has said to Christ — He says, "Today I have begotten You." And what does He say? He says, "You are a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek," by the very oath of God. Remember when God made His promise to Abraham? The book of Hebrews says that He swore by Himself because He could swear by none greater, right? So instead of being established like the Levitical law as a carnal thing, as an outward thing that dealt with our outward issues — Christ is the priest who deals with our inward issues by the very oath of God and by the very life of God, and as a guarantee of a better covenant, right? Because His life is imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. And are we not sealed by the Holy Spirit as a guarantee, as a down payment, that what God has started in us, He will indeed finish, right?

Let's look at Hebrews 7:16: "Who has come," speaking of Christ, "according to the power of an endless life."

All the priests of the old covenant — they all died, and they're all dead. Not a single one of them remains, right? But Christ has the power of an endless life.

What He effects as priest is unstoppable and indestructible. Flip over on the back.

Hebrews 10:1–10 — I'm going to read this to you quickly. This is a great summary of what we're talking about here, of Christ being made our high priest, of being instituted on better things than that of Moses's law. "For the law, having a shadow of the things to come and not the very image of things, can never with the same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins." But in the old covenant, that didn't happen, right? They would have to go, and their sins would be remembered time and time again. They would have to make confession, they would have to make propitiation by the high priest. Verse three: "But in those sacrifices there was a reminder of sins every year." Always reminded you that you weren't good enough, that you didn't measure up, and that your sins were separating you from God.

Verse four: "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world," speaking of Christ, He said, "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. And burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure." These were the things that the old covenant law was established on, according to a carnal commandment, speaking of fleshly, outward things. But He says, "Sacrifice and offering You don't desire."

Verse seven: "Then I said, 'Behold, I have come — in the volume of the book it is written of Me — to do Your will, O God.'" He's quoting a Messianic passage from the Psalms. Christ's sacrifice was in perfectly obeying the Father.

"In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me, to do Your will, O God.' Previously saying, 'Sacrifice and burnt offerings and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them,'" — those offered according to the law — "Then He said, 'Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.'" He takes away the first — takes away the necessity of those old covenant sacrifices, essentially taking away the Levitical law — that He may establish the second, the new and better promises which Christ represents. "By that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

Let's flip back over on the front. The application for number six is this: praise God for better promises in Christ. Praise God for better promises in Christ. He is the fulfillment of all those shadows and types that the old covenant pointed to, right?

Bible point number seven. Christ's priesthood is superior as to its efficacy. Now that's a big word. If you look about the third line down, you'll see "efficacy" if you want to see how that's spelled properly.

When we speak of Christ's priesthood being superior as to the person — that was Bible point five — Bible point six is institution, meaning its ordination or its appointment. And seven, we see that it's superior in its efficacy. Efficacy — what does that word mean? Does anyone ever use that word? I know it's an odd word.

Effective.

Effective. It's effective for doing what it was intended to do, right? The old covenant sacrifices weren't effective in that they could not remove our sins, right? They had to be repeated. They were just a constant reminder of our sin. They were there to drive us to Christ, our true sacrifice. Christ's priesthood is superior as to its efficacy.

The Levitical priesthood was weak and worthless. You'll find these two words actually in Galatians 4:9, describing what Paul says he's afraid the church in Galatia was going to be slipping back into — weak and worthless things. It was weak and worthless in regards to efficacy because the Levitical priest could offer their sacrifices all day long, but they could never remove your sins.

Having by itself no power to remove sins, the Levitical priesthood could make nothing — that's the third or fourth blank — nothing perfect.

What the Levitical priesthood could not accomplish, Christ did accomplish. That's the last blank: Christ did accomplish. So He is the one whose sacrifice is efficacious. It accomplishes what we see as its intended purpose: to remove our sins from us so that God remembers them no more.

Hebrews 10:4 says, "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away our sins." We just read that on the back. Physically impossible — just blood, that's all it is. But Christ's blood isn't just blood. It's the blood of the Holy One of God made flesh, right? The perfect Lamb of God. The application is this: trust in Christ's holiness — that's the first blank — and look to the cross.

There is no sacrifice that you can do, no acts of penance that you can do to remove your sins. We Christians profess that we are justified by faith in Christ alone, but in practice, do we not try to atone for our sins sometimes? At least it's the way we think. "I really messed up, I better be really good this next week to make up for it. Better make sure I'm at church on Wednesday and Sunday morning" — as if that could earn us favor with God.

David: One thing I'm wondering, when you say that, some other religions that we're familiar with — anyone that's talking about the Catholic background — if you understand, when you go to the priest, he may say, "Hail Mary," and do all these certain things for your sins to be forgiven.

That's a false gospel, isn't it? What a shame, right? People are looking for hope, they're looking for absolution, and the priest says, "Do better." Try harder.

Exactly. But the answer simply, as we say here in the Bible application, is trust Christ's holiness, look to the cross. Look to the Holy One of God who was crucified on your behalf. There's your forgiveness right there. Nothing you can do — it's freely offered to whoever will believe in Him.

Bible point number eight. Christ's priesthood is superior as to its perfection. When we say perfection, we can mean its worth and its value. The Levitical priesthood was inefficacious, which means it didn't ever accomplish what it was intended to. It pointed to Christ, but it could not do what only Christ could do. It was thus imperfect, as the same sacrifices had to be continually repeated every day and every year. So day is the second blank, year is the third blank. Christ's priesthood is efficacious and thus perfect, with infinite value — value is the fourth blank. Everything that Christ did, He did as the God-Man. It was His body that was sacrificed, but it is His divinity that makes the value of that sacrifice infinite.

So it's enough to cover my sins. It's enough to even cover Shawn's sins. It's enough to cover all of our sins — of every man, every woman, every boy and every girl.

The value of what Christ did on the cross is infinite. His sacrifice was made once, never needing to be repeated.

Hebrews 10:11–12 says, "And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God." His redemptive work was accomplished. So He sat down. Praise God. Flip over on the back.

Hebrews 10:14 says, "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." By one offering, He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

You can't fall out of the good graces of God when you're in Jesus Christ. He's perfected you forever. You may say, "I've got a long way to go in my sanctification. I am so far from perfect. I'm not ready for heaven right now." That's — yeah, we're a work in progress. We like to think of ourselves as a brand new, turnkey-ready mansion, so to speak. But we're a dilapidated old shack with busted-out windows and a cracked foundation, needing everything — new AC, everything. But we know that we are perfected forever in Jesus Christ. And He's going to get us home to heaven. And when we stand before Him, we'll have His robes, radiant and white — the righteousness of Christ.

Flip back over on the front. The application is: rest in the completed work of Christ. The application for number eight is rest in the completed work of Christ. Quit scurrying around trying to earn favor with God. You obey God and you do good works out of love and gratitude, not out of trying to get in His good graces or to justify your sins. Because it's a fool's errand to try to do so.

Bible point number nine. Christ's priesthood is superior as to its duration.

The Levitical priesthood — every one of those priests is dead. And the Levitical priesthood is no more, right? Christ was the final high priest. When He was crucified, what happened to the veil? The veil was rent, right? The Holy of Holies was seen there, vacant and empty, right? Because Christ has brought us into the Holy of Holies.

And then we know historically that in AD 70, Jerusalem was wiped out totally. No more Levitical priesthood, no more Pharisees, no more Sadducees. It was literally wiped off the map. Every now and then you'll hear stories about — oh, I think I read something where they're trying to revive the Levitical priesthood and they're trying to find the ashes of the red heifer and this and that and the other. It's impossible.

There are no genealogies. They've been removed from the map by the purpose of Christ. We see this alluded to in Luke 24, actually. This is — you're going to see this happen. "People standing here will see this happen."

Did you say duration?

In duration, yes. I'm not familiar with that.

D-U-R-A-T-I-O-N, duration, which means length or term. We say the duration of the presidency is four years, for example. It's "duration," not "deration." I'm from Texas, so I put a drawl on everything. Sorry, brother.

Christ's priesthood is superior as to its duration. The Levitical priesthood and Levitical law — everything — it was designed to be a temporary shadow to prefigure Christ. The Levitical priesthood, sacrifices, law, and ceremonies were abolished in the new covenant as they found their fulfillment in Christ.

Christ's priesthood is an unchangeable priesthood that endures forever. So the first blank is duration, second blank is shadow, third blank is abolished, fourth blank is forever. You can read about this in Hebrews chapter eight, right? We gave a sermon on that last time we did communion, how Christ and the new covenant is established on better promises, newer and better promises, and the old covenant is obsolete, right?

Christ's duration as priest is forever.

Last week when we talked about His prophetic work, we talked about how Christ's prophetic office extended before man was created, right? He was the Word of God. He was the revelation of God to Himself and to all creation before He even created man. And then we talked about how in His earthly ministry, in His incarnation, Christ continued to be our prophetic Word. He was the Word of God made flesh. He spoke as God and gave us the Word of God, the promises of God. We also spoke about how in His heavenly session and His ascension, Christ as prophet continues His ministry, His prophetic ministry, through His Word — having sent His Holy Spirit to inspire men — and through the proclamation of the Word through the church, right? And the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our hearts and leading us and guiding us into all truth. And we also talked about how even in the new heavens and the new earth, when God makes all things new, He's going to continue to be the revelation of God, continue to be the prophetic person of God. As we read in Revelation, He's the lamp of God, a lamp being something that you see by, something that reveals, right? In the same way, Christ's priestly office is eternal.

Before man was created, was not Christ called the Lamb of God slain before what? Before the foundation of the world. That was always God's purpose. Before anything was created, God had given Christ a people to redeem and to save, to reveal God's love to, right? And then we see that of course in Christ's ministry and His incarnation — He was the Lamb of God, who was our sacrifice and who made intercession for us. We see that now in His heavenly session, as Christ sits at the right hand of God. Does He not make intercession for His saints? Even though His work of atonement was done, He makes intercession and applies the work of atonement to our hearts through the Holy Spirit. When we study pneumatology, we'll learn that the work of the Holy Spirit is applying the finished work of Christ to His bride, right? That's part of sanctification — continuing to transform us and make us into His very image.

And His priestly work will continue forever, even in the new heavens and in the new earth.

The Holy Spirit will still be actually united to us in the new heavens and the new earth, right?

In the new heavens and the new earth, Christ as priest will be spending all of eternity in His intercession, pouring out blessings upon us. So as we talked about earlier, His intercession is not just His praying for us, but His giving us every blessing that was secured in His atoning work, pouring that out on the church. For all eternity, that's what Christ our high priest will do for us, His people.

Look at Hebrews 7:24: "But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood."

His priesthood doesn't change. He continues forever. Flip over on the back. Ephesians 2:4–7: "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" — by grace you have been saved — "and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." He'll be continually pouring out His grace, His blessings, revealing Himself to us in the person of Christ Jesus.

The application for number nine is: live in perfect standing — that's the blank — standing with God, but in perfect standing with God.

Because believers are united to Christ, we have perfect standing with God, and we're to enjoy that fellowship and enjoy those blessings now. Not just wait for the future — "Oh, in heaven I will enjoy the revelation of Christ, of God being poured out to me in Christ for all eternity." Do so now. Look at Revelation 1:4–6. Let me read these. "John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: grace to you and peace from Him." How do we receive grace? From Him. Do you want peace in your life? Look to Christ. "From Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood" — that's what a priest does — "and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

Christ, by His atoning work, has made us kings and priests to His Father. We can enjoy that fellowship. We can transact with God. We can relate to God now, through His Son Jesus Christ. Don't wait for heaven to do that. Enjoy His fellowship now.