Hebrews 7:23-28

Sunday Morning Bible Study

January 21, 2001

Introduction

The need for a priest. The need for an intercessor.

Illustration

During the Revolutionary War a pastor named John P. Miller once learned that one of his greatest enemies was to be hanged for his crimes. Upon hearing this, Miller set out on foot sixty miles to visit General George Washington and intercede for the man’s life. The general, upon hearing the request, stated that he was sorry but he could not pardon Miller’s friend. “Friend!” said Miller, “that man is my worst enemy.” “Well then,” said Washington,” that puts matters in a whole new light.” Seeing the preacher’s forgiveness for his staunchest enemy, the general signed the pardon. Then Miller quickly carried it another fifteen miles to the execution site, arriving just as the condemned man was trudging toward the scaffold.

On This Day, by Dr. Carl D. Windsor (Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville, 1989) p.93

We often find ourselves in great trouble. But too often even our friends don’t seem to understand and are willing to pull the lever on the scaffold rather than help us.

We need a priest. We need an intercessor.

The writer had been talking about how Jesus can be a priest. He has been giving an exposition of Psalm 110:4

(Psa 110:1-4 KJV) A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. {2} The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. {3} Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. {4} The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

This is a Psalm about the Messiah, and one where the Messiah is described as a priest.

:23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:

many - pleion - greater in quantity; the more part, very many

suffered - koluo - to hinder, prevent, forbid

to continue - parameno - to remain beside, continue always near; to survive, remain alive

With the Levitical priests, there were many priests and many generations of priests because a human priest can only live for so long. And then they die.

:24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.

he continueth - meno - to remain, abide

Same word used in the quote of Psalm 110:4, “he abideth a priest forever”.

ever - aion - for ever, an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity. Here literally, He remains “unto eternity”.

unchangeable - aparabatos - unviolated, not to be violated, inviolable; unchangeable and therefore not liable to pass to a successor

The priesthood of Jesus, after the order of Melchizedek, isn’t going to change or be passed on from one person to the next because Jesus lives forever and will never give up His job. The Psalmist has made the point that He is a priest “forever”.

:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him,

to save - sozo - to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction

to the uttermost - panteles (“all” + “end”) - all complete, perfect; completely, perfectly, utterly

is able - dunamai - to be able, have power; to be capable, strong and powerful

that come unto - proserchomai - to come to, approach; draw near to

Lesson

A Secure Salvation

Jesus will make sure that He will save us to the very end, He will get us to our goal which is heaven.

Illustration

Depending on your car to get you there.

We often depend a great deal on our cars to get us where we’re going. When you get into your car in the morning, you expect it to start up. You expect it to roll out the driveway and take you to work.

But sometimes your car lets you down. One morning we were rushing to get the kids into the car and off to school when we discovered that our van had a flat tire. Every couple of years my car battery goes dead and when I go to start the car, it won’t do it. The other day my car started smoking from under the hood and I wondered if the whole car was going to burst into flames.

Jesus won’t quit on you before He gets you to heaven. He can save you to the uttermost.

Illustration

In the late 1800s, Charles Berry, an English preacher, became the pastor of the great Plymouth Church in Brooklyn. One day Berry described how earlier he had come to Jesus Christ.

There had been a time in Berry’s early ministry when he preached a very thin gospel-really no gospel at all. As did the Corinthians, he looked upon Jesus as merely a noble teacher but not as a divine redeemer.

Late one night during his first pastorate, as he sat in his cozy study, there came a knock. He opened the door and found a typical Lancashire girl with a shawl over her head and clogs on her feet.

“Are you a minister?” she asked. Getting an affirmative answer, she went on breathlessly. “You must come with me quickly. I want you to get my mother in.”

Thinking it was a case of some drunken mother out in the streets, Berry said, “You must go and get a policeman.”

“No,” said the girl, “My mother is dying, and you must come and get her into heaven.”

Berry got dressed and followed her for a mile and a half through lonely streets in the night. He knelt at the woman’s side, and he began telling her how good and kind Jesus was and how he’d come to show us how to live.

Then the desperate woman cut him off. “Mister,” she cried, “that’s no use for the likes of me. I’m a sinner. I’ve lived my life. Can’t you tell me of someone who can have mercy upon me and save my poor soul?”

“I stood there in the presence of a dying woman,” said Berry, “and I realized I had nothing to tell her. In the midst of sin and death, I had no message. In order to bring something to that dying woman, I leaped back to my mother’s knee, to my cradle faith, and I told her the story of the Cross and of a Christ who is able to save to the uttermost.” The tears began to run down the woman’s cheeks.

“Now you’re getting it,” she said. “Now you’re helping me.”

Berry concluded the story by saying, “I got her in, and blessed be God, I got in myself.”

-- Gordon MacDonald, "The Centerpiece of the Gospel," Preaching Today, Tape No. 137.

He is able to save us

How is He able?

Because He has the complete antidote for all your sins.

He offered the perfect sacrifice to pay for all of your sins. He gave up His own eternal, immortal life by bleeding on the cross for you.

You may feel like you've really done the worse thing that could ever be done.

Yet Jesus is able to save you.

1Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

You don't have to be afraid of ever being separated from God again.

Illustration

Steve Winger from Lubbock, Texas, writes about his last college test, a final in a logic class known for its difficult exams: To help us on our test, the professor told us we could bring as much information to the exam as we could fit on a piece of notebook paper. Most students crammed as many facts as possible on their 8-1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper. But one student walked into class, put a piece of notebook paper on the floor, and had an advanced logic student stand on the paper.

The advanced logic student told him everything he needed to know. He was the only student to receive an "A." The ultimate final exam will come when we stand before God and he asks, "Why should I let you in?" On our own we cannot pass that exam. Our creative attempts to earn eternal life fall far short. But we have Someone who will stand in for us.

-- Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 4.

:25 seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

ever - pantote - at all times, always, ever

He “ever liveth” because in the context, He is the “priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”

to make intercession - entugchano - to light upon a person or a thing; to go to or meet a person, esp. for the purpose of conversation, consultation, or supplication; to pray, entreat; make intercession for any one

The ordinary Levitical priests weren’t eternal like Jesus is. Because Jesus is a priest “for ever”, because He lives forever, He is able to act as our priest forever and make sure that our relationship with God is secure.

Lesson

Eternal Advocate

1Jo 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

Marriage counseling - it's hard not to take sides. When one person tells you their side of the story, they sure sound convincing. But it's kind of hard to tell which side is the correct one. I’ve dealt with couples where one person has come to talk to me and has convinced me that their partner is totally horrible. But after I get the two of them together and talk, sometimes the one who came to me first was the one that was having the biggest problems. It’s hard to tell who to believe.

Satan is constantly accusing you before the Father. But before you can get to the Father to explain your side of things, the Son steps in for you to talk to the Father. Jesus is always taking your side with the Father. The Father always pays attention to the Son.

Illustration

There was a soldier in the Union army, a young man who had lost his older brother and his father in the war. He went to Washington, D.C., to see President Lincoln to ask for an exemption from military service so he could go back and help his sister and mother with the spring planting on the farm. When he arrived in Washington, after having received a furlough from the military to go and plead his case, he went to the White House, approached the doors, and asked to see the president. However, he was told, “You can’t see the president! Don’t you know there’s a war on? The president’s a very busy man. Now go away, son! Get back out there and fight the Rebs like you’re supposed to.” So he left, very disheartened, and was sitting on a little park bench not far from the White House when a little boy came up to him. The lad said, “Soldier, you look unhappy. What’s wrong?” The soldier looked at this young boy and began to spill his heart out to this young lad about his situation, about his father and his brother having died in the war, and how he was the only male left in the family and was needed desperately back at the farm for the Spring planting.

The little boy took the soldier by the hand and led him around to the back of the White House. They went through the back door, past the guards, past all the generals and the high ranking government officials until they got to the president’s office itself. The little boy didn’t even knock on the door but just opened it and walked in. There was President Lincoln with his secretary of state, looking over battle plans on the desk. President Lincoln looked up and said, “What can I do for you, Todd?”

And Todd said, “Daddy, this soldier needs to talk to you.” And right then and there the soldier had a chance to plead his case to President Lincoln, and he was exempted from military service due to the hardship he was under.

Such is the case with our ascended Lord. We have access to the Father through the Son. It is the Son who brings us to the Father’s throne and says, “Daddy, here is someone who wants to talk to You.”

:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

became - prepo - to stand out, to be conspicuous, to be eminent; to be becoming, seemly, fit

“it was fitting” (NAS); “meets our need” (NIV); “he is the kind of high priest we need” (NLT)

holy - hosios - undefiled by sin, free from wickedness, religiously observing every moral obligation, pure, holy, pious

harmless - akakos (“not” + “bad”) - without guile or fraud, harmless, free from guilt

I like the idea of harmless. You don't have to be afraid when you're around Jesus. He's not going to hurt you.

undefiled - amiantos - not defiled, unsoiled

It’s a difficult thing when you are trusting in a person, following a person’s lead, and they let you down.

A lot of people felt betrayed when we found out about President Clinton’s moral failures.

Kids have a horrible time when they find out that one of their parents was unfaithful towards the other.

Jesus was tempted in all things like we are, but He didn’t sin. He’s one person whose integrity you can count on.

separate - chorizo - to separate, part, to separate one’s self from, to depart. Jesus was separate from sinners in the sense that He didn’t take part in their sins. But this doesn’t mean He didn’t spend time with sinners. He was also known as the “friend of sinners”.

higher - hupselos - high, lofty; exalted on high

Could this refer to Jesus being greater than angels (which was the point of the first chapter)?

Lesson

Jesus won’t let you down.

Some people have grown up in abusive situations. They have grown to mistrust people, expecting to eventually be ripped off by them.

Illustration

Joan Bradshall tells a story in Reader’s Digest about a woman named Elizabeth who discovered a truth during a guided descent by mule into the Grand Canyon. As she and her fellow riders descended the narrow trail, Elizabeth remained stoic, ignoring the pebbles and small rocks that were loosened by her mule’s hoofs and plummeted to the valley floor. But her courage disappeared when she overheard one trail guide remark to the other, while nodding at her mule, “I thought they’d retired old Stumblefoot.”

If we had been in the saddle at that moment, we would probably have concluded with Elizabeth that putting faith in “old Stumblefoot” was a waste of time! Thankfully, as believers in Jesus Christ, we can be sure that our faith in Him is well placed.

You don’t have to worry about finding out some kind of secret fault in Jesus. When we look to people to be our priests and not to Jesus, we’re going to be disappointed because we’re going to eventually find faults and sin in their lives.

Not so with Jesus.

We need a priest that is good. We need a priest that is pure. We need a priest that won’t let us down. His name is Jesus.

:27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

needeth - anagke - necessity, imposed either by the circumstances, or by law. Here it is literally, “who does not have according to the day a need”.

offer up - anaphero - to carry or bring up, to lead up; to put upon the altar, to bring to the altar

once - ephapax - once, at once; all at once; once for all

(Heb 7:27 NASB) …because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

The Levitical priests had to offer up sacrifices for their own sins first, then for the sins of the people. They needed to do this every day because they were sinners.

Jesus, because He is without sin, did not need to offer up a sacrifice for Himself. All He needed was to offer up a sacrifice for the people.

He only needed a single sacrifice for the sins of the people because His own life was enough to pay for all the sins of the world.

:28 For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.

maketh

infirmity - astheneia - want of strength, weakness, infirmity

the word of the oath – referring to God’s oath in Psalm 110:4

(Psa 110:4 KJV) The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

oath

since - meta - with, after, behind. David wrote Psalm 110 four hundred years after the Law of Moses.

for evermore - aion - for ever, an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity

who is consecrated - teleioo - to make perfect, complete; to carry through completely, to accomplish, finish, bring to an end; to complete (perfect)

(Heb 7:28 NASB) For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.