The Superiority of Jesus (Hebrews 7:11-19)

hebrews 7 we'll pick up in verse 11 to verse 19. and remember as we left we left with the strange character melchizedek and so now we pick up on why he was so important to this narrative that we find in the remainder of these verses down to verse 19 because for the jewish people they had essentially worshipped church they had worshiped a way of worshiping if you want to look at it that way they had begun to worship judaism itself instead of the god who had given them the law the god who had spoken that truth to them and it began with the decalogue the ten commandments as the people were barred at the base of the mountain as moses alone went to receive those commands the people really never had open and free access to god and so beginning with moses then passed on to aaron there was always an intermediary someone had to go for you and that someone going was no different than you that someone who went was also a human being also failed also flawed and so now we see this incredible superiority of the new covenant over the old and why the old covenant has been replaced therefore verse 11 if perfection were through the levitical priesthood for under it the people received the law that's simply stating the case the truth what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of melchizedek and not be called according to the order of error in other words if the old testament law and the old testament ceremonial law that was given to express it was sufficient to actually forgive your sin then jesus would not be necessary you could have received that same blessing by simply being a good jew and by the way this may be the first time in my life that the pope and i have actually agreed on something all in the same week he got in trouble for saying this very thing this week the fact of the matter is the jewish law never saved anyone the jewish law never forgave a single sin it didn't erase anybody's debt it simply put those debts away to be dealt with later and so there is a radical difference between being a faithful jew though it pointed to the real one and true god and two messiah it never got you all the way home for the priesthood being changed of necessity there is also a change of the law now be careful because many people have ended up with really poor theology from not understanding this passage and we're going to highlight that specific thing this morning for he of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe from which no man is officiated at the altar and so here it comes there is only one tribe from which all high priests came that's the tribe of levi for it is evident that our lord arose from judah of which tribe moses spoke nothing concerning the priesthood why because no priest came from the tribe of judah the kings came from the tribe of judah so who was melchizedek both priest and king and it is yet far more evident that if in the likeness of melchizedek there arises another priest who has come not according to the law of fleshly commandment but according to the power of endless life for he testifies you are a priest forever according to the order of melchizedek human priests lived exactly a normal lifespan human priests were flawed failed in fact if you read the old testament very carefully you're going to find there are absolutely zero here what i said zero spiritual requirements to be a high priest there are physical requirements about a hundred of them in rabbinical judaism and you had to be from the tribe of levi that's it you and in fact we have a record of high priests who are actually evil you could be a high priest and be a complete heathen you just simply needed to be from the tribe of levi and meet some physical characteristics what makes jesus different for on the other hand if there is a knowing of the former commandment because of the weakness and unprofitableness of it for the law here it is made nothing perfect but on the other hand there is the bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to god you see that's the problem that's the key to this passage the whole of christianity if you want to break it down this way is to draw you near to god it's to get you closer and closer and closer and closer and one day you will literally be in his presence the high priest could never do that no person except for the high priest was ever even allowed into the holy of holies much less into the full presence of god and so why is jesus superior why do we focus on the superiority of jesus why is it that we don't wear yarmulkas and talits why is it that we're not going to celebrate passover and every other jewish feast day as beautiful as they are as representative they as they are of the gospel and of the truth of christ they are beautiful in that way we have been freed from all of that you don't need to wear a yarmulke you don't need to put your talus on when you come into church why because what the high priest could never do jesus actually did amen so you are no longer under the weight of all of that religion you've been set free indeed you you now have open access to god the father through christ the son so what were these jewish christians worrying about they were worrying about making sure they kept all of the former tenants of the jewish faith they were judaizers is what we would call them that's the reason the apostle paul addresses this in the book of galatians because the church had become infiltrated with people that said well you need to be a jew and a christian you need to celebrate all of the feast days you need to offer up all of the offerings you need to make sure you don't miss any of the sacrifices all of these religious things which could never draw you all the way to jesus they were saying we need to do all this and have this jesus character as your savior church it's jesus and nothing else amen you are saved by grace through faith in christ alone there is no need for all of the ceremonial law that's why some of you right now are here in shorts your prayers count okay some of you are wearing wonderful what we used to call sunday go to meeting clothes when i grew up in church okay you put on your sunday go to meetings and you got there i i remember shining my you didn't go to church without shine shoes today the only thing that shines on me is my head my prayers are just as effective because of what christ did whether i've got a yarmulke on or a talis i don't need any of those things my prayers are effective because of the king of kings and of the lord of lords [Applause] that's why i have access to god the father god wants us to draw near to him that was the whole point of the old testament law it's like i want you to get near to me the problem is people had turned it into a way of religious thinking and so instead of drawing near to god they were checking boxes it's like i did this i did that i did that i made sure i got that on time god does not want that kind of relationship with you church god does not want you checking boxes god wants you coming in god wants you drawing near god wants to speak to you god wants to love on you god desires to be with you and you with him he does not want you to be religious he wants you to be relational that's the whole point part of our problem is we want to keep it religious if we do it this way then it's church but if we don't do it that way it's not why paul would write to the church at ephesus so that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that's the whole goal i want christ in me that's how i have hope i want christ near me that's how i have blessing i want christ so dwelling in me that the things of this world are passing away day by day and i'm growing in him so that i would know his love part of the problem that we have in the world today is that the church is confused about its role in the world we are to be bearers of the image of god we're to draw so close to god that people can see god in us because we are shining with the same glory that moses had on the mountain we got so close that god's glory shines out of us that's what the church is supposed to be but the church will never be that if we get caught up in this religious activity of trying to check boxes we've got to say the right things politically we got to say the right thing socially we got to say the right things these things are all good things by the way but they are not the main thing for the church the main thing for the church is for us to draw so near to god that we shine with that same love that's why jesus said you are the light of the world and so let your light shine before men that god god's people would see that the world would see that and they would go that could only be god that you were near sorry i'm a little preachy this morning and so in that we have shadows of things to come in the levitical priesthood there was a man that could draw near to god you see it that was the high priest he could draw near but who else got to draw near absolutely no one that's kind of a mess isn't it if you're trying to draw everyone near and you've got to go through a man that's why when we talk about a mediator who's a human being that's why it doesn't work because the mediator who's a human being has the same problems you have maybe not in the same measure maybe not in the same likeness but i guarantee you there's not another person on this earth that doesn't have problems just like you do no matter who you are you are not perfect you're not getting to heaven because you were good you're getting to heaven because christ died in your place amen we need to not be confused about this and so the levitical priesthood though was good it was ordained actually of god it was to draw israel into the place of reflecting the character of god but it never got them all the way there they never made it all the way to that place and so the old testament teaches that there would be another one coming because the priesthood had its weaknesses and when people lean on religion they pick up the same problem that the jewish people had in the old testament times of having a system whereby that system not being perfect can't get you all the way to god god wants you all the way there aaron's priests couldn't ever do that there was an imperfection in them and in fact if they had been perfect it would have actually worked but they weren't you can certainly see that who was it that actually put jesus if you want to look at it technically it was the high priest that was responsible for jesus's death wasn't it so think about that for a second here's this beautiful system which was ordained of god given to the jewish people to draw people close to god and what does it do it kills the king of kings and lord of lords that's because only the spirit gives life the law brings death the law brings death all it can do is tell you how bad off you are and tell you how far you've got to go it cannot get you near to god it just identifies the problem how many of you like having your faults pointed out that's all the law does the law points out your faults it says this is where you fall short this is what you're not doing and then the hope is is that you will change and without the holy spirit in you which comes through salvation in christ jesus you kind of have a tough deal trying to draw near to god when your flesh is opposing everything that god's word says and so there was another who had come in the likeness of this guy that we thought about last time which was melchizedek so the shadow of things would be replaced by the real light of the world that's why john's gospel opens that way the light of the world comes the very thing that isaiah prophesied and here comes jesus can you imagine when he stood on the steps of the temple the great menorah is lit i am the light of the world and he who lives in me shall not walk in darkness any longer but you'll have the light of life why because the light now is in you it's not shining on you it's literally in you indwelling by the power of the holy spirit the law never made anything perfect it just identified the fact that it was imperfect in that sense there's a meaning to the word perfection that's used in scripture and it's often used in the sense of maturity it can be full-grown that type of thing but here it's used for the actual aim of your relationship with god perfect perfection it can't come through the levitical order or all of the feast days and all those things as beautiful as they are i am sometimes amazed at the level at which well-intentioned i believe saved christians people who love the lord get involved in trying to also be jewish if you're jewish celebrate your jewish your hebrew history it's a marvelous thing sometimes i think we as christians because our savior was guess what jewish so we have some history in judaism we have our beginnings in judaism but judaism as a religion failed it didn't get you there as beautiful as the pictures and the similes and the typologies are in old testament judaism they did not get the job done what's the job to perfect you in christ to draw you right near to god so close that one day you're going to get to be in his presence literally that's a whole lot different than what the old testament high priest could do amen he couldn't even stay in himself for very long and it didn't provide forgiveness for his sins so guess what happened if that high priest didn't die in faith waiting for messiah he perished he could have interceded for other people and perished himself and we have a record of faithless high priests in the bible who literally were after it because of its position the power the authority the money that came with it sounds kind of familiar to some pastors i i often wonder are you actually in it for the ministry are you in it for the money the goals of the aaronic priesthood the mosaic law were to bring men to god but they were imperfect at doing that very thing and in fact the end goal as i've shared with you previously was to get to the day of atonement and have your sins put away but they were never forgiven they just got stored up so you got a basket of sins that were atoned for and you got some new ones that you're adding to the basket it's like you think you're going to have any peace thinking about your eternal state imagine the jewish person for a moment who's waiting for the day of atonement they realize they've sinned throughout the year and they haven't even been atoned for much less forgiven you think you got peace with god at that point i don't it's just like the person who knows about jesus but never believed on his name you you may understand that there could be forgiveness of your sin but your sins are not forgiven for the wages of sin is death that's what was hanging over their head god wants you perfected and so he sends another and that another is our great high priest jesus he's the whole package now we have permanent forgiveness now now we have everything that was promised in essence through the old testament law what was shadowed in the old testament what you could actually see you could see what god's goal was you could see that moses actually from being in the presence of god was glowing but the average person goes there's no hope for me and church without christ there would be no hope for any of us if it weren't the grace of god being poured on me as a wretched sinner there would be no hope for jeff i would be eternally lost damned dead still in my trespasses and sins but he hath made me alive amen religion didn't make me alive church attendance didn't make me alive christ has made me alive amen that's why the church can't get confused about what we're about we're about preaching the gospel the good news of jesus christ we are not about all these other things we do those other things so that we have the opportunity to preach the gospel we send shoeboxes so we can preach the gospel we do picnics so we can invite people who wouldn't come to church so we can preach the gospel we go to the mission field so we can preach the gospel we go to the hospital so we can preach the gospel we go and do everything we do for the sole purpose of preaching the good news of the gospel of jesus christ that through him you can be saved that's what the church is about the rest of the stuff has its place it may be a part of what we do but what we do is tell them about the one true king the high priest of heaven the one who can bring us all the way there the one who can actually perfect us it's not temporary jeremiah knew this clearly predicting this new covenant and it says there in jeremiah 31 verse 31 part of it's being quoted here in the in the book of hebrews behold the days are coming declares lord this is jeremiah some nearly 700 years before christ when i will make a new covenant with the house of israel is that plain enough for you i will make a new covenant with the house of israel with the house of notice this judah why doesn't it say levi because the levitical priesthood was going to be eliminated done away with put aside no longer has a place that priesthood is dead not like the covenant which i made with the fathers in the day i took them by the hand to bring them out of egypt but in this covenant i will make with the house of israel in those days declares the lord i will put my law within them there's the problem it was external before it's now internal and on their heart i will write it and i will be their god they shall be my people and they shall not teach again each man his neighbor and each man is brother saying know the lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them declares the lord for i will forgive their iniquity and their sin i will remember no more you see they knew what they were looking for the problem is they kept going back to the old way they kept going back to religion they kept going back to judaism it's like well we'll just go back to the temple we'll go back to the sacrifices we'll go back to the feast days we'll go back to the 10 days of awe we'll go back to every single one of the things that moses gave us and will somehow be better and yet the bible says that that this covenant has been changed matthew it took the place one thing was that thing no longer is and something new has now taken its place is the intent of changed why is that important well because some people would say that the law has been completely done away with the short answer to that is yes it has but only and how we relate to it you see mankind used to relate to the law through those sacrifices through those feast days through those celebrations through those holidays through the high holy days that's how man related now we relate by grace through faith in jesus christ but the righteous standard of the law you see the word the law can mean many things has several means it can mean the whole old testament it can mean the decalogue or the ten commandments deca meaning ten those ten commands that moses got on the mountain can mean that it can mean all the ceremonial things that the book of leviticus contains that part of the law 613 individual commands that were given to the jewish people these are the things you must do clearly spelled out in the old testament it can mean that but in this case it means something much deeper than that because there was a law that still hung over their head that was never taken care of by keeping that law and that was the law of sin and death salvation relationship with god and so that judaic system as beautiful as it was it was the only thing that expressed a true directional change towards the lord for a people group but it always fell short and so what does god mean that the laws what does he mean that the law has been done away with it means that the system of judaism was done away with why is that true because god changes not he is the same yesterday today and forever and so what god condemned in the old testament is still a sin today that's why lying is still a sin that's why murder is still a sin that's why homosexuality is still a sin that's why fornication is still a sin that's why greed is still a sin that's why bitterness and anger and hatred are still sins because god changes not so what was attached to his character remains what was attached to the jewish people via a system of religion that's what's been replaced we no longer relate to god that way but we do relate to his holiness but we now relate to it by grace through faith so i actually have a way to meet the standard that could not be met through judaism judaism had no capacity to forgive my sin now if i confess my sin he is faithful and just to forgive my sin and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness so now i can draw near to god amen before you couldn't do that you just put it away and the next year you put away some more and the next year you put away some more and you kept putting stuff away and then god would sit there and go well you're still in trouble that's why jeremiah said your sins would one day be forgiven by whom by christ jesus your lord that's why we don't wear keep us now if you are jewish and you want to wear a prayer shawl a talus and you want to wear a kippah praise the lord hallelujah if you relate culturally and that goes for every culture if you want to wear your cultural clothing here in this church please in jesus name feel free to wear any and all of it unless your culture is nude that we can't do that but you have to wear some clothes when you but you understand what i'm saying you got to preach it this is something we got to talk about church because we get all jacked up in our heads like well did you see what that guy was wearing you know it's like i true story i grew up very conservative baptist okay i mean we didn't let men and women swim in the same pool something would happen pastor knew that i will never forget i was a baseball player i'm wearing a baseball i have to go to a game i had my baseball cap on i was kicked out of my own church for wearing a baseball cap i came back later because i was a child of the 60s and 70s i had hair down to about here i know it's hard to imagine there are photos i adhere down to about here my salvation was questioned based on the length of my hair i was literally told i could not sit in the sanctuary of my own church that i had gone to for years because i came back for with if that's what trips your switch we need to talk doesn't mean we should be unholy it doesn't mean we should be unrighteous it means we should care about the right things that's right so i'm not going to wear a keeper i'm not jewish it might cover keep me from getting a sunburn on the back of my head i'm not going to wear a prayer shawl i'm not jewish i have one in my office i'm very grateful for it i'm grateful for the history that we have as coming out of judaism if you will but i'm not going to require you to bring sheep to church we're we're not going to be doing those kinds of things why because that old system's been done away with it's meaningless it's completely meaningless to a new testament believer thank you lord amen so focus on the things that mean something church the old testament gave us this picture and it was truly beautiful in in that sense but it was also truly deficient because it could never accomplish the end goal how does this passage end that we might draw near to god that's what god wants god doesn't want you being religious so there is a perfection that we have to get near and so we have a replacement there there's something that's transpired there's something that's happened in the greek language there are two words for another so if you look at it here there would be another priest there in verse 15 that arises according to the legends of melchizedek we have one word for another the greeks had two and this is super important now some of you know i drive a toyota tundra don't judge me it gets terrible gas mileage i love my truck i'm confessing to you greenhouse gases come from my tailpipe i have a tundra if i were to buy a say a ford f-150 i would be buying another truck of the same type of truck it's a truck that would be olos another another of the same kind if i were to buy another vehicle like a prius that would be heteros that's another of a different kind the word here is heteros there would be one of a different kind that would replace the one that was previous a new high priest that isn't anything like you see a tundra and a prius are not the same vehicle thank god if you have a prius praise the lord i will ride with you when we have to drive very far you could ride with me if we have to tow a boat okay do you understand what i'm saying here so jesus is a new type of high priest of a completely different order he is not the tundra well i can't make him a prius all right he's a prius for today so jesus here's a truck here's a hybrid car jesus is so much different that he is heteros of a different order so important because the old order couldn't get you near to god the old high priest had no capacity to do that the new high priest can get you snuggled up right next to jesus amen perfect in all of his ways everything about jesus is perfect so there's not just a quantitative there's a qualitative difference there's something jesus is that no high priest ever was what is it he's god god incarnate in human flesh died in your place very different than a high priest who couldn't even die for his own sin would have done the high priest no good to die for his own sin he would still die to sinner and still perished eternally because he had no perfection in him as much as he wanted to be he was incapable of it it took christ the perfect one dying in our place and church that is the perfection of the new priesthood and so what's the climax of this passage the old testament the old covenant was set aside this is anti teos doing away with put away don't need it anymore it's gone any of you that have ever broken a bone specifically an ankle or a leg you know when you get crutches and you're you're crutching along you know when you get to that place where it finally heals and you can put the crutches away why do you put the crutches away because they're no longer needed something better has happened that bone has healed you now can walk on it again and in the same way christ took the crutch of judaism and put it away and said i'm gonna heal you instead i'm gonna actually deal with the problems so you're going to be well and that wellness is eternal it's not temporal you aren't going to need to go to another service to get saved he whom the son is set free is free indeed he who has life has eternal life and so in that sense what was imperfect in the old is now in a moment of climax in this passage now we can actually draw near to god before i had no chance it was an impossibility it's something that couldn't occur but now because of christ i can draw near to the lord that is how superior jesus is as a high priest amen would you stand with me and we'll close in prayer we are running a little late because of all the other things we had going on and i want to just encourage you if you don't know jesus if you've not believed on the only begotten son of god there is no other way to get to heaven it's not by church attendance it is by you personally inviting christ into your life you need to do that today and i'm going to encourage you to go to the prayer room and say what do i need to do to know jesus personally and we have a prayer team in there that will pray with you and answer questions for you for the rest of us walk in who you are you are bearing the image [Applause] of the perfect one of heaven so that the world can see what it means to truly be saved father thank you that that is true that in every way jesus you are superior to the old testament law and you have set us free from that bondage of sin and death the penalty that used to be on our heads you took on your own life you bore our sins on the cross and you have made us free and so lord we believe these things we believe that if we are born into that new life that that new life is eternal and cannot be snatched from us and so thank you lord for the permanence of our position in heaven thank you for letting us draw near through you jesus strengthen your church we pray in jesus name

Channel: Calvary Chapel South Bay

Views: 174

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, Calvary Chapel South Bay, God, Jeff Gill, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Lord, Pastor Jeff Gill, Scriptures, South Bay, ccsb, ccsouthbay

Id: RmR7hEhBdV4

Length: 39min 13sec (2353 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021