The only reason a Christian is still a Christian
is because Christ is still praying for them.
That is an old quote that has been attributed
to several different preachers throughout the
years. And whether those exact words came from
one preacher or not, the truth behind them is
profound. Most Christians spend a great deal
of time thinking about what Jesus did for them.
And rightly so. We think about the cross. We
think about the empty tomb. We think about the
day we trusted Christ. But I wonder how often
we think about what Jesus is doing right now.
Right now, Jesus is not hanging on a cross. Right
now, Jesus is not lying in a tomb. Right now,
Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father
as our great High Priest. And according to Hebrews
chapter 7, he is doing something that has never
stopped for a single moment since he ascended
into heaven. He is living to make intercession.
Think about that. When you woke up this morning,
Christ was your High Priest. When you slept last
night and dreamt the dreams that you dreamed.
Christ was your High Priest. When you failed
this week, Christ was your High Priest. When
you doubted, Christ was your High Priest. When
you sinned, Christ was your High Priest. He has
never taken a day off. He has never been replaced.
He has never ceased representing His people to
the Father. And that is exactly what the writer
of Hebrews, what makes him be able to say one
of the most astonishing statements in all of
the book. Consequently, he is able to save to
the uttermost those who draw near to God through
him. Notice the writer doesn't merely tell us
that Jesus saves. He tells us why he saves to
the uttermost. and the answer isn't simply found
in Calvary, it is found in Christ's continuing
ministry as our great high priest. For nearly
three chapters now, the writer of Hebrews has
barely taken his eyes off of the priesthood of
Jesus. He has shown us what it means to that
Jesus belongs to a better order of priest than
Aaron. He possesses a better priesthood than
Levi He mediates a better covenant than Moses
and now in these verses that we're gonna look
at today verses 20 through 28 He tells us why
all of this matters and it matters because the
greatness of your salvation Depends entirely
on the greatness of your high priest So turn
with me, if you haven't already, to Hebrews chapter
7. We're going to finish this chapter out today,
verses 20 through 28, and then we'll walk through
them together. And it was not without an oath.
For those who formerly became priests were made
such without an oath. But this one, Jesus, was
made a priest with an oath by the one who said
to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change
his mind. You are a priest forever. This makes
Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The
former priests were many in number because they
were prevented by death from continuing in their
office. But he holds his priesthood permanently
because he continues forever Consequently he
is able to save to the uttermost those who draw
near to God through him Since he always lives
to make intercession for them For it was indeed
fitting that we should have such a high priest
holy innocent unstained separate from sinners
and exalted above the heavens He has no need
like those high priest to offer sacrifices daily
first for his own sins and then for those of
the people since he did this once for all when
he offered up himself for all for the law appoints
men in their weakness as high priest but the
word of the oath which came later later than
the law appoints a son who has been made a priest
forever the writer of hebrews has already shown
us that Jesus belongs to this better order of
priesthood in the order of Melchizedek, a better
priesthood than Aaron. And he's already explained
to us in different ways why this order of priesthood
is better, but here he gives us a very, very
powerful reason. Because this priesthood that
Jesus alone has, begins with something that no
Levitical priesthood ever received. Namely, an
oath from God himself. Notice it said, and it
was not without an oath. And then he says, for
those former high priests in the order of Aaron,
they didn't get this oath. That is a remarkable
contrast between the two. Because every priest
descended from Aunt Erin, entered into the priesthood
simply because he was born into the right family.
That's it. You were born in the right family,
so you get to be a part of this priesthood. There
was no oath. There was no divine declaration.
There was no covenant promise establishing their
ministry forever. The Levitical priesthood continued
because of genealogy, and we've talked about
that before. One priest died, another took their
place, and then another, and then another, and
then another. But Jesus did not become high priest
because of his ancestry. He became high priest
as we've already looked at because God appointed
him as high priest. And now we are told not only
did he appoint him, he confirms this appointment
by an oath. Now, I love to ask questions of scripture.
when I see something that makes me go, hmm, why?
So I asked a question here. Why does God provide
an oath? I mean, think about it. Can God lie?
No. So when God says, you are a priest forever
in the order of Melchizedek, that should just
be it. There doesn't need to be an oath for God
to go, I'm really serious, guys. I'm gonna make
this oath so I never go back on it Right. I'm
gonna make this oath to remind myself that I
shouldn't lie about this God's Word is already
perfectly trustworthy. So he doesn't need to
strengthen it with a promise But the writer his
point here is not that God needs the oath to
keep it This oath is for us, not for God's sake.
Charles Spurgeon wonderfully observed, God's
oath was not for Christ's assurance. He wasn't
pledging this oath so that Jesus goes, okay,
Father, I was worried. If you didn't give me
that oath there at the end of this thing, I didn't
know if I could make sure and trust you that
I'm gonna be the priest forever. This wasn't
for Christ's sake. This wasn't for God's sake.
This is for our sake that the oath was given.
It was for our benefit. The Father wanted His
people to know that this priesthood of His Son
would never be altered, never be replaced, never
come to an end. Notice the language, the Lord
has sworn and will not change His mind. That
is covenant language. And of course we know what
covenant we're talking about here, don't we?
A new covenant. God is declaring, this is my
priest in this new covenant and it is settled
forever. There will never be another high priest.
There will never be another mediator. There will
never come another sacrifice. Everything necessary
for salvation is found in this son. Now, that
is why verse 22, says, and this is really where
these first three verses reach this glorious
conclusion, this makes Jesus the guarantor of
a better covenant. That word guarantor is one
of the richest words textually in this entire
chapter. It is someone who assumes full responsibility
for ensuring that an agreement is fulfilled.
So a guarantor is one who assumes all the responsibility
that an agreement is going to be fulfilled So
God the Father is saying I have set Jesus as
my high priest. I have sworn it with an oath
I have made everything necessary for salvation
found in Jesus and Jesus by virtue of this appointment
and by nature as we're gonna see in a minute
He becomes this high priest guaranteeing the
new covenant. Guaranteeing that everyone in the
new covenant will be saved. Jesus did not come
simply to announce a new covenant. He came to
guarantee it. He assumes full responsibility
for bringing every covenant promise to its completion.
Stephen Wellam writes that Christ is not merely
the messenger of a covenant, but its surety.
Every blessing secured by his blood will certainly
be accomplished because he himself guarantees
it. Church, don't miss the comfort of this. Your
salvation was never built upon your promise to
God. Your salvation is not built because one
day you said, God, I promise to follow you and
love you and serve you. That is not what your
salvation is built on. It was built on God's
promise concerning his son. Before you believed,
before you repented, before you ever cried out
for mercy, the father had already sworn that
his son would be the eternal high priest of his
covenant people. Christ did not become your High
Priest when you came to Him. You need to catch
that. He was your High Priest before you ever
came to Him. You, in fact, you were able to come
to God because He was your High Priest. It's
not the other way around. Please understand this,
it's not the other way around. You weren't over
here in some kind of weird free will state that
made you just go, you know what I'm gonna do
today? Today I'm gonna give my life to God. And
then you go to God and Jesus goes, now that you've
come to me, I'll be your high priest. No, that's
completely backwards. God the Father set Jesus
up as your High Priest and the reason you're
able to come to Him is because He was your High
Priest before you ever were born. That's the
reason, that's why you can come to Him. That's
the basis of your salvation. This is what makes
salvation certain for God's people. It is not
the strength of our faith. That assures us of
our salvation. Do you know the surest way to
make you doubt your salvation? Start examining
how much faith you have When I start looking
at how much faith I have in certain times in
my life you don't think I could start doubting
my salvation It's not your certainty of salvation
is not based upon how strong your faith is you
don't have faith in your faith church My goodness,
how scary would that be? The certainty of your
salvation is not with the strength of your faith,
but with the unchangeable oath of God. And because
our priest is guaranteed by the Father himself,
he is able to save to the uttermost. Man, we
could just stop right there. Point one, we're
done, let's pray, let's go home, let's live for
Jesus like we've never lived for him before.
But the right of Hebrews isn't done. Because
he hasn't even got to the main point of this
section yet. He's building to the middle point
of this section. And here's where it's at in
verses 23 through 25. Having established, that
Christ's priesthood is guaranteed, the writer
now explains why it matters. It matters because
unlike every priest that came before him, Jesus
never dies. The former priests, there was a lot
of them. Why? Because they kept dying. It's not
like church, it's not like the old covenant needed
multiple priests. The problem was that the priest
kept dying. And then another priest would have
to come. And then another priest would have to
come. Death constantly interrupted their ministry.
Just as one priest gained the experience to maybe
do the job well, he dies. Just as one... Just
as the people became familiar with one priest
and begin to trust this priest he died So no
priests got to finish what they started because
they kept dying But death has no power over Jesus
Our high priests conquered the grave rose from
the dead ascended to the right hand of the father
and Now the writer says he holds his priesthood
permanently because he continues forever. Do
you see the contrast? He can't contrast it anymore
richly. Here's these priests that kept living
doing the ministry and dying. And here's one
who conquered death. That word permanently literally
means carrying the idea of something that cannot
pass to another. Because he has the ministry
permanently, He cannot pass it to another. Jesus
has no successor and he has no replacement. Spurgeon
says again, he has no predecessor and he will
have no successor. His priesthood is eternal
because his life is eternal. Now we get to verse
25. You see the word in the text, consequently.
Look at it, you see that? Consequently. Now we
could just start backing up into verse 22 Everything
he said in verse 22 consequently 21 20 in fact
we could just back up everything that he has
said up to this point about who Jesus is and
his priestly role all of that is Wrapped up in
him saying consequently because of all of this
that we've talked about Consequently, he is able
to save to the uttermost. What a glorious statement.
Notice the writer doesn't simply say Jesus saves,
he says he saves to the uttermost. Completely,
perfectly, forever. He saves every sinner who
comes to him from the guilt of sin, the power
of sin, and one day from the presence. of sin.
And he doesn't merely begin salvation. He completes
salvation. He finishes salvation. He doesn't
merely forgive. He preserves. He doesn't merely
rescue. He brings you safely home. Why? Because
he always lives to intercede for you. Always.
Right now, at this very moment, Jesus Christ
is exercising his high priestly office. He's
not waiting to become your high priest. He already
is. He's not waiting for your next failure before
deciding whether or not he will represent you.
He continually represents His covenant people
before the Father always and forever. His ministry
is not interrupted. It is unceasing. His love
doesn't fluctuate. It is everlasting. This means
that our salvation is not resting on our ability
to hang on to Jesus. It is resting upon Jesus
continually ministering on your behalf. A question
was once asked. And it goes along with the statement
I read at the beginning. What is the guarantee
that tomorrow morning you wake up, you love Jesus?
If you answer any other way but Jesus, you're
thinking wrong. What is the guarantee that tomorrow
morning you wake up and start your day and you
love Jesus Christ? The answer is Jesus Christ.
because of who he is and what he has done and
what he is doing. He says he always lives to
make intercession for them. Who is the them?
Who is the them that he saves to the uttermost?
Well, it's the same people who draw near to God
through him. It's the same people whom he serves
as the guarantor of a better covenant. His sacrifice
and his intercession, please catch this, his
sacrifice, His presenting of the sacrifice and
His intercession. These are not two distinct
roles. It's all wrapped up into the priestly
role. Who made the sacrifice in the Old Testament?
Who killed the animal? Jesus did. The high priest
did. Who brought the blood into the Holy of Holies?
The high priest did. Who prayed for the people?
The high priest did. So we cannot divide up or
disconnect these ministries from one another,
they are perfectly linked together. I'll tell
you why that's important. Because the priest
who offered himself for his people is the same
priest who is now continually interceding for
his people. Church, think about what this means.
I talked about this a couple weeks ago. Before
you ever believed in Jesus, Christ had already
been enthroned as your High Priest. Before you
ever prayed your first prayer, He was already
serving for you. Before you ever knew His name,
He had already entered into the heavenly sanctuary
with His own blood on your behalf. He did not
ascend into heaven and wait for sinners to find
Him. What sinners would ever find him? That's
not the way this works. That's not that's not
what the writer is talking about here. He's saying
listen He died he took his blood into the Holy
of Holies not made by human hands He brought
that blood to the father and he began interceding
right that moment for those he died for That
sacrifice he now prays that those he died for
will in fact be saved inside of time before you
existed, before you prayed, before you even knew
his name. That is the guarantee that every one
of God's people will be brought safely home.
That's why the old hymn says from heaven he came
and sought her. Our salvation begins not with
your pursuit of Christ. It begins with Christ's
priestly pursuit of you. You see the flip -flop
that we can so easily do? We get this idea that
Jesus dies on the cross, takes the blood, goes
into the Holy of Holies. says, Father, here's
the sacrifice that I made. I hope we can save
as many as possible. Holy Spirit, go do your
best. Oh, there's one. That one will believe.
Let's go do some work in that one. Oh, that one
will believe. Let's go do... You see how this
is flip -flop from what Hebrews is saying? Hebrews
is saying this. Jesus Christ dies on the cross.
Right? Jesus says in John chapter 10, shepherd
lays his life down for his sheep. Takes the blood
of the covenant now, the new covenant. Takes
that blood into the holy of holies, into the
heavenly places, into what we're gonna read in
a minute. He is exalted above the heavens. Why?
Because he's doing his work in the throne of
God, not in an earthly. temple or sanctuary or
tent. And he takes the blood of the sacrifice
to the Father and that very moment he begins
praying and interceding for everyone the Father
has come to save. That's why he can say he's
the guarantor of the salvation. How is he a guarantor
if he doesn't even know the people that he died
for are gonna get saved? That doesn't even make
any sense. So he dies and then he goes to the
father and just says, I know that you said I
was the guarantor of the new covenant and everybody
in the new covenant and I've come to save those
and all the father gives me will come to me and
I won't cast out and he'll never cast out any
that comes to me and I lay my life down for my
sheep but I don't know if we'll get those sheep.
Does that sound like the God of the Bible? Or
is this is what is being presented here? is an
oath that is made to Jesus that the surety of
His work is going to be accomplished. So when
He goes into the Holy of Holies and He presents
the blood of that sacrifice, He begins praying
for you, Christian, before you even existed.
Those He foreknew, He also predestined to be
in the image of His Son. Those that He predestined,
He also called inside of time. Those He called,
He justified. Those He justified, He glorifies,
or He glorified. Meaning that's a done deal.
Why why when you read Romans 8 28 and 29 And
let's just talk about that verse for a minute
Romans 8 28 and 29 For all things work together
for them who are called according to his purpose
who love God according to his purpose Okay, why
cannot why is everything gonna work out for their
good? Why is everything gonna work out for the
good through those who were called and according
because those that he foreknew? Those that he
set his love upon that's what that word means
those that he set his love upon before they ever
Existed were predestined to be in the image of
his son Those that were predestined to be in
the image of his son he called Those he called
he justified those he justified. What does it
say he glorified? I'm not glorified yet Are you
glorified yet, but Paul said glorified Past tense.
How is that possible? Because Paul knows something
that we need to get through our brains. Jesus
Christ will accomplish everything the Father
gave him to do. He is the guarantor of you with
all of it being completed, that you will be glorified,
that you will be brought safely home. Jesus is
guaranteeing that. So when he goes into the Holy
of Holies with the blood, and he takes it to
the Father, that very moment he begins interceding
for you, guaranteeing, at that very moment he
guaranteed that one day you will be with him
on a resurrected earth, in a resurrected body.
You will be glorified. That was guaranteed the
moment Jesus ascended to the right hand of the
Father. This idea that God's just up in heaven,
hoping to get His will done? Where does that
nonsense even come from? That is not what the
writer of Hebrews is trying to get across. Our
pursuit, our salvation does not begin with our
pursuit of Christ. It begins with His pursuit
of us. We love because He first loved us. He
is the author and finisher of our faith He who
began a good work in you will be faithful to
complete it all of these verses that The reason
why this is so important is because this is like
the central hub that all of those verses are
anchoring into You can start making sense of
all of this. I love because he first loved me
Oh, right. He's my high priest. He entered. He
died. He took the blood. He entered into the
Holy of Holies. He's been praying for me. He's
been loving me before I ever existed. Yes, I
love him because he loved me. My salvation is
going to be complete because he started it and
he's going to complete it. He's the author of
my faith. He's the finisher. All of a sudden
now these verses that are just kind of floating
out there, now we grab ahold of them and we increment
of this truth. And we're like, oh, OK. This makes
sense now. I get it. He always lived, He always
intercedes, and because He always intercedes,
He saves to the utter most. Now, after explaining
this pivotal section, the writer is going to
explain why Christ is the only one that can do
this. Verse 26 begins, that we should have such
a high priest. That word fitting there doesn't
mean simply appropriate. It means perfectly suited,
perfectly qualified, exactly what was needed.
In other words, the writer is saying if sinners
were going to be saved to the uttermost, this
is exactly the kind of high priest it would require.
A perfect one. Then he gives five... Descriptions
of Jesus. He says he's holy More than likely
this speaks of Christ's relationship to the father
Everything about Jesus is perfectly devoted to
God every thought every desire every action.
He has never loved anything more than the glory
of the father and unlike every other priest Jesus
never needed to grow in his holiness Second says
he is innocent this speaks of Christ's relationship
to humanity Jesus never committed a single sinful
act. No deceit, no injustice, no selfish ambition,
no sinful motive. Every word he spoke, every
action he performed was perfectly righteous.
Three, he is unstained. This continues to speak
of Christ's relationship to sin. Jesus lived
in a fallen world, yet never was marked by sin
himself. Every priest in the old covenant was
stained by the sin. That's why they had to offer
a sacrifice for themselves first. Though Jesus
was tempted in every respect as we are, yet He
was without sin, Peter says. Four, He is separated
from sinners. Now this doesn't mean that Jesus
doesn't like being around sinners. What was He
called? A friend of sinners. He loved sinners.
In fact, that's what He was known for. That's
not what this means. It means rather that he
is completely separated from the guilt and corruption
and curse that we experience Having accomplished
redemption. He is exalted beyond the now beyond
the reach of sin forever and ever and unlike
the earthly priest He never needs redemption.
And then lastly it says he is exalted above the
heavens I mentioned this earlier the Levitical
priest served in an earthly tabernacle or an
earthly temple. Jesus does His work in the full
presence of God. His ministry is not earthly,
it is heavenly. Now does it have earthly consequences?
I would say so. I would say so. But His work
is being done right now in the full presence
of God. The one who intercedes for you is sitting
right now at the right hand of God the Father.
And if those five descriptions weren't enough,
He's gonna give us two other things. First he
says Jesus has no need like other priests to
offer sacrifices daily first for his own sins
and then for the people Every year when the day
of atonement rolled around in the Old Testament
the high priests would first have to deal with
their own sin They could never I mean imagine
that they could never represent the people until
they dealt with their own sin The one representing
the people needed a sacrifice himself not Jesus
He had no sins to confess, no guilt to remove,
no sacrifices that needed to be offered for himself.
In fact, he offered himself as the sacrifice
and he did this once for all. When you see that
phrase in the book of Hebrews, you need to make
sure you're thinking about time. He did this
once for all time when he offered up himself.
We don't need multiple days of atonement. We
don't need sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice.
This was done once and for all time. Not bringing
the blood of another, but bringing his own blood.
Perfectly sufficient. And then it says in verse
28. This is how he ends this section. For the
law appointed men in their weakness as high priests,
but the word of the oath, which came later than
the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect
forever. He's not saying that Jesus became morally
perfect. We've talked about this, I believe,
in chapter two. Jesus has always been morally
perfect. He means that Christ now has been perfectly
installed and forever qualified as our high priest
by his obedient life, sacrificial death, resurrection,
and exaltation. Everything necessary for our
salvation has been accomplished. It does not
rest upon repeated sacrifices upon weak and sinful
men. It rests upon the perfect Son of God. So
I want you to think about the progression of
this passage. The father swears an oath. The
son lives forever. The priest is perfect. Nothing
in that chain can fail. The father pledges an
oath. The son lives forever. The priest is perfect.
Which means nothing about your salvation can
fail. This is exactly the point of Hebrews 7.
Our hope is built upon the perfection of our
high priest. Because our high priest is perfect,
because the sacrifice is perfect, because the
intercession is perfect, he is able to save to
the uttermost. I want to end by reiterating something
that we have already touched on. The writer never
once tells you to admire yourself. Do you think
The writer of Hebrews wrote chapter 7 so you
could look at yourself and say, wow, look at
my faith. That doesn't even make any sense, does
it? Based on chapter 7. Doesn't even make any
sense at all. He never says, look how tightly
you're hanging on to Jesus. What he says over
and over and over again is, Look at your priest.
Look at your priest. Look at your priest. Look
at your priest. Look at the oath the Father made.
Look at the life he now lives. Look at the perfection
of his character. Look at the sufficiency of
his sacrifice. Look at his continual intercession.
Church, your salvation has never rested on you.
It rests upon the priest who can never fail.
No successor will ever replace him. No sacrifice.
will ever need to be repeated. No accusation
will ever silence His intercession. No weakness
on your part will ever diminish His power. No
passage of time will ever lessen His love. And
because all of that is true, He is going to save
you to the uttermost. From the beginning to the
end. Not almost, not mostly, not until your next
failure, not until your faith is weak, to the
uttermost. He saves completely, continually,
and eternally. And if you have come to God through
Jesus Christ, there will never be a moment he
stops representing you. Ever. What about those
times where I don't even know if I have any faith?
He knew that when he started praying for you
the moment he was exalted to the right hand of
the Father. You think it's taking him by surprise
that you have moments in your life where you
struggle? Where all of a sudden God goes, well
I never would have been praying for that guy
if I would have known how bad he was going to
struggle in his life. He knows and he never stops.
He loves us so much he will never stop. There'll
never be a moment when His sacrifice becomes
insufficient, where the Father forgets His oath,
where Christ ceases to intercede. Which means,
there'll never be a moment your salvation begins
to fail. Ever. And because He lives forever,
He saves forever, and I don't want you to leave
here today going, wow, that was a great doctrine
of the priesthood of Christ we talked about.
Is it a great doctrine? Yeah. One of the most
important doctrines when it comes to the new
covenant. But if all we do is leave here and
go, I learned some things in my brain today that
I didn't know before. I've gathered up some information
about a doctrine. If that's what we leave with,
it's probably just going to puff you up. The
writer doesn't write this to just give information.
He writes this to invoke worship. We need to
leave here today going, my Jesus saves to the
uttermost. And we are overflowing with worship
because of that reality. What I hope has happened
is that God has poured in us from Hebrews 7,
poured in us truth, and our cup overflows. And
as it begins to overflow, it begins getting splashed
on everybody else. And other people go, who are
these people? Everywhere they go, they're full
of love and mercy and grace. and kindness. Who
are these people? And we'll say, we're people
who have a perfect Savior. And so we're just
overflowing with the joy of the Lord and with
worship. That's how we need to leave here this
morning. Amen, church? That's how we need to
leave here.