Christ's Perfect Intercession

Let's ask the Lord to bless our time together. Once again, our gracious Heavenly Father, we plead for your Spirit's ministry amongst us. We confess that apart from Him, we can do nothing. So, we would ask that once again you would focus our attention upon your Word as we enter into truly holy ground in this text, that we would rejoice in the great salvation.

That is ours.

We pray in Christ's name. It is somewhat unusual for a Sunday evening service to be based upon a study from the book of Leviticus in the Sunday morning service, but that of course is what we are doing.

If you weren't with us this morning, we worked through the 16th chapter of the book of Leviticus as part of our Hebrew study. And we did so because that 16th chapter of Leviticus lays out for us the ministry of the High Priest, especially His ministry on the Day of Atonement.

And we considered what that text tells us. We recognize that it is in the very background. It is the assumption of the writer of Hebrews 7 that you know Leviticus 16, that you know what takes place, that you're fully aware of that particular text and what it teaches.

And so I felt it was necessary for us to look at it. And I hope as we enter into the very heart of this epistle of Hebrews, that it is helpful to you to have been reminded of just some of those background texts.

Specifically, as you may recall, the last time we were together, we had gotten down to and just barely mentioned the 22nd verse of Hebrews chapter 7, reminding us of the context once again. We have been talking about the Melchizedek priest.

We have had the Old Testament text cited from the book of Genesis, the discussion of Abraham's encounter with Melchizedek. And then the author has moved to the text in the Psalter. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.

The two places in Genesis and the Psalter where Melchizedek is mentioned in the Old Testament. And the author has been demonstrating the supremacy and superiority of the Melchizedek priesthood to that of the priesthood of Aaron.

Once again, I know you know this, but to remind you, the writer exhorting the Hebrew Christians to see the supremacy of Christ, the fulfillment of Old Testament texts, and the fact there is nothing to go back to.

There is no priesthood to go back to. There is no sacrifice to go back to. God has fulfilled these things in the person of Jesus Christ. And so we have the assertion made in verse 19, that the law made nothing perfect, that because of its weakness and uselessness, the former commandment had been set aside.

There's a bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God. That is, the ministry of Jesus Christ is a better hope than that which had been offered under the Old Covenant. And given that there was an oath given by God, again, the text from Psalm 110 cited here, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind.

You are a priest forever. Because of that, then we have the promise of verse 22. So much the more also, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. Now, we certainly see how it would be that it would be an argument on the writer's part that we are in possession of a better covenant, that we have one who has become a guarantee of a better covenant, and that this would be a great argument against someone going back to a lesser covenant.

But what does it mean when we talk about the fact that we have a better covenant and a guarantee of a better covenant in the person of Jesus Christ? It is not a statement that the Old Covenant was not divine in its origin.

It was given by God. It was his intention to give that covenant. But that covenant had a purpose and it had a time. And once that purpose and that time are fulfilled, to cling to that Old Covenant out of familiarity, out of tradition, for whatever purposes one might have, is to reject God's own revelation and God's own action in time.

And so the assertion is made that Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. Now, what is a guarantee? A guarantee. Well, the term that is used there, we think of a guarantee, and you buy something, you know, our toaster just broke.

I, you know, it's probably fixable, but what, you know, toasters, they're designed to break eventually. And I need to go get another toaster. And every time you buy something like that, you open up the box, and you've got all this packing material, and you've got all these things put in there that if any of you actually read those things, please don't tell me, because I think that's completely unnatural.

You know, there's all this stuff stuck in there, and advertisements and whatever else it might be. But there's normally some kind of guarantee or warranty in there. And, you know, I know people that collect all that stuff, and they have their special little place that they put it and all that.

I'm not one of those people. And generally, when we think of a guarantee, we think of, well, you know, as long as this lasts for 90 days,.

You're doing well,.

We're not gonna worry about it type of a thing. That is not anywhere near the meaning of the word as it appears here. It really, it's much more like what happened when I was all of 18 years of age. I decided that I was gonna ask a certain young lady to marry me.

But I figured it would be good to have one of those diamond things with me when I did that. Well, the problem is the jewelry store that wasn't very far away from where I worked out in Sun City at that time, you know, they weren't accustomed to having 18-year-olds come in at all, let alone young people that had almost zero credit to be buying a diamond ring.

And so to buy this ring and to make payments on it, as I had to do, because at 18, you don't have a whole lot of money, I had to have someone guarantee that loan. And that's normally a relative or someone like that.

And so that's, when someone co-signs or guarantees that loan, what they're basically saying is, well, if the original person fails to make the payments, then I will become responsible for this loan. That's what a guarantor was in the ancient world.

And that's how this particular term is used. It is used in financial transactions of someone saying, I guarantee that what this person is doing, if they default, I will take over. That is one aspect of it.

But there is more to it than that, because the term could be used in a much broader application you could actually have people who would take this role of a guarantee, even in the law court. So that's sort of like we have bail bondsmen, people that will put up money.

And if the person skips town, well, the money is forfeit, right? Well, what was very common in days past was you wouldn't so much put up money as you'd put up a person. You could actually have people who would take someone's place in prison during a trial process.

And if the guy didn't come back, well, the guy took your place, got to serve your sentence. This was really a much more personal aspect of guaranteeing than just merely providing a monetary guarantee.

And that's what Jesus is. He is the guarantee of a better covenant. Because he has been given an oath by God, an oath that does not come with the Aaronic priesthood, because the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever, so much the more Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

So his priesthood is superior to the Aaronic priesthood. And the covenant that he introduces and that he is the guarantee of and the seal of is a better covenant. Now, you may have noticed something about the writers of the Hebrews.

He will frequently raise a topic. He will raise an issue. He will make an assertion. And then he'll get around to expanding upon it and substantiating it a little bit later. Now, verse 22 is the first time in the book of Hebrews where we encounter the word covenant.

But that's gonna become central to the rest of the argumentation of the epistle. But this is the first place where we encounter it. And it's described as a better covenant. And that's going to come out then in chapter eight where he's going to go to that signal passage in Jeremiah chapter 31 and discuss the better covenant, the new covenant that God promised to the people of old but now has inaugurated in Jesus Christ.

That's gonna become extremely important for many reasons. One of which is that that's central in our own understanding as Reformed Baptists of the supremacy of what we have in Christ. And it also explains why we do certain things and don't do certain things.

But we'll talk about that when we get to that particular section. So Jesus is described to us here in verse 22 as the guarantee of a better covenant. Now don't slip into the trap of saying, well, that means that the old covenant was somehow evil.

It was somehow only inaugurated by men. No, God gave a covenant, but now that covenant pointed to a greater fulfillment. And so now we have a better covenant and it is inaugurated and brought into reality through the work of Jesus Christ.

So the writer goes on to say, the former priests on the one hand existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing. But Jesus on the other hand, because he continues forever, holds his priesthood permanently.

Therefore he is able also to save forever or to the uttermost or completely those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. I can guarantee you, we're not gonna get any farther than that.

Because as you hear these words, you have more of the great themes that are going to be developed, especially in the end of chapter nine, the beginning of chapter 10, first struck right here. And that is the contrast between the great number of priests under the old covenant and the fact that we have one priest, that is Jesus, under the new covenant.

And that because he continues forever, again, drawing directly out of Psalm 110 and the citation has just been given of it. Because he continues forever, he holds his priesthood permanently. Now, what is the contrast here?

Very simple. We recall that when Aaron was about to die, Moses took him up upon the mountain. He took off of him the priestly garments, placed them upon his son, and Aaron didn't even come down from the mountain.

He died there.

So here was a picture being presented of the fact that this priesthood was going to be passed down genealogically. But that the person who had stood in the very presence of God, the person who had offered the atonement, the offerings of atonement and sacrifices, was himself a sinner.

And he was still subject to the curse of death. That is just another way in which the very means by which these sacrifices and Old Testament shadows were created were meant to point away from themselves.

A point to a greater fulfillment. And so you had many high priests. Now, it's interesting. I happen to see in my study that Josephus had reckoned that there had been 83 high priests since Aaron. I started trying to do some figuring there, and that didn't seem quite right.

I think maybe there was some gaps in there someplace. I'm really not certain. But there had been this continuation. And we know that for long periods of Israel's history, the priesthood was rather corrupt.

Very often, the priests were very much behind the persecution of the prophets themselves. Very often, the prophets had to bring words of strong condemnation of the false shepherds. The priesthood became very corrupt at periods of time during Israel's history.

And of course, there is a period of time where it basically ended in the sense of the temple worship in the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. We know it was a great concern to the people of Israel to find people who were truly of the lineage of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, after the Babylonian captivity, for example.

And so there had been many, many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing in their office. And so there was something that was... There was a lack of power. There was a lack of permanence because of the death of the priests.

But on the other hand, Jesus, because He continues forever, He has defeated death. He has been resurrected from the dead as still a Melchizedek priest. He holds His priesthood. And the term that is used here, it's the only place this term is used in the New Testament, is a term that can mean permanently, but when used of a priesthood, without successor.

There are no other Melchizedek priests. He holds His priesthood permanently. He does not have to, because of death, anoint someone else to take His place. Now, I mentioned before to you the fact that this sort of runs up against a number of abuses of this text.

Those young Mormon missionaries who are riding by your house on their bicycles at this time of year, not an easy thing to be doing, but they claim to be Melchizedek priests. And the Roman Catholic Church has in their literature, in their devotional literature, appropriated these terms and made application to their priesthood as well.

But the reality is there is only one Melchizedek priest, and he holds his priesthood permanently without successor. He does not share it with anyone else. Because to share this priesthood with someone else would be to violate the very words of Psalm 110 upon which it is based.

God made an oath to him and to him alone, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And so it is quite simply blasphemous and anti-biblical to expand this priesthood out to anyone other than the only one who can fulfill the requirements of it, and that is Jesus Christ.

But since he holds his priesthood without successor permanently, note the words of verse 25, therefore he is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

We need to look at every single word in this text. This will be as far as we get this evening. Therefore, also, to save unto the uttermost he is able. Here is an assertion of Christ's capacity and ability.

It is, once again, the very essence of human religion to emphasize the abilities and capacities of man at the expense of the abilities and freedom of God. Man in his sinfulness always desires to control God.

And man's religions, when you consider them, when you consider the religions of man, what are they but attempts on man's part to control the power and grace of God? If I do these things, then God is obligated to do these things.

True religion is the religion where God's abilities, capacities, and freedoms are first and foremost in our minds. Over and over, we have in Scripture the assertion of God's ability, Christ's ability to save.

And yet, even in that which calls itself Christianity, so often those passages are muted. They are watered down so that man can remain in control of his own salvation. Here we have the assertion that Jesus has a dunamis, a certain power, a certain ability.

He is able to do something.

To do what?

To save.

He has the ability to save. Now, I don't know any Christian, anywhere, who would deny that Jesus has the ability to save. I mean, why call him Savior if he does not have the ability to save? But I am so thankful for the three-word phrase between save and ability in the original language here.

Completely. To the uttermost. Utterly. Because, you see, we all know in this congregation, I would imagine, and if you don't, you're about to learn it. In fact, parents, if you have young people, quiz them on the way home about these words.

We all know the terms monergism and synergism. Synergism is the cooperation of two or more forces in the accomplishment of a goal. Soon, ergon. Ergon means to work. Soon, together. And so, multiple streams, multiple forces, working together to accomplish a goal.

Monergism, monos, one, ergon, one power accomplishing a goal. So, what does that have to do with this text? Well, it's rather simple. The great dividing line amongst so many today is this issue as to whether the gospel is synergistic or monergistic.

That is, can God accomplish what He desires to accomplish? Or is He dependent, even by His own will and His own choice, upon mankind? Well, look at the text again. What kind of ability does Jesus have?

He is able to save. The synergist says, yes, I can't be saved other than by Jesus. The synergist is to believe that Jesus is trying to save everybody. He's putting forth effort to save everybody. And it is my cooperation that determines whether His effort to save me will actually be successful.

That's the very definition of a synergist. Jesus is trying, and everybody except Pelagius, the old 4th century heretic, and all the people who follow in his train to this day, but everybody but Pelagius would say, oh, we need grace.

We need Jesus. We can't do it on our own. But you see, the real dividing line is, but can Jesus do it on His own? And the vast majority today say, no.

He tries.

We give Him credit for trying. But this text introduces us to one who has the ability to save forever to the uttermost completely. Is that the Jesus that we believe in? That's the question I would ask anyone who is a synergist.

Do you have a Savior who can actually save in and of Himself? If you're looking at the text, you might go, oh, but there might be an escape valve here for the synergist. Because it makes reference to a specific group.

Who does it make reference to? Those who draw near through Him to God. Oh, there's the synergism. See, He can only save those who put forth the effort to draw near to God through Him, you see.

That's my part.

There's the synergistic part. Here's where, once again, I hope you've, and I know you have been, I commend all of you. I know this is not the easiest study we've ever done. But I see that you are putting forth effort to listen and to follow.

And I've already emphasized this. We already saw it this morning as well. Now you have the Old Testament background to understand why the synergist is completely wrong here in this text. And you can explain it to them.

What do I mean?

What is the phrase, those who draw near through Him to God? What's the background of that? What would the original audience have immediately understood it to mean? Would the original audience for a second have thought that their action of drawing near was necessary for Jesus to be able to save them?

See, you already know what the background is. You already know that when the high priest entered in, for whom was he interceding? For whom was he making atonement? For the people of God who had drawn near to worship.

Not for the Greeks or the Romans or the Babylonians or the Assyrians or the Amorites. Not even for the unbelieving Jews. It was for those people who were standing outside the temple knowing what was going on, but they had come to the commandment of God.

They're there outside the temple. There's a specific group. Now no Jewish person could have ever read those Old Testament texts and said, well, I'm glad God's provided that atonement there and the sacrifices, but it's all up to me to do the drawing near.

As if that was some addition. Those who drew near to worship were who? Those that knew they needed atonement. Christ's work doesn't save the person who is self-righteous, the person who has no consciousness of sin, but to the one who draws near to God.

That specific group. Christ has full power and ability. It's not dependent upon their actions, their additions, their faithfulness, their goodness or anything else. In fact, those who came to the temple recognized their sinfulness.

That's what the whole point of Yom Kippur was about. Well, the rich Jewish person living in Jerusalem, who has no sense of God's presence or God's holiness, he doesn't care about what's going on in the temple.

In fact, he's upset that on the day of Yom Kippur he can't do business because all the shops are closed down. That offering isn't for him. He is able to save perfectly, completely and forever those who draw nigh unto God through him.

Not those who try to draw nigh unto God through every possible way man has imagined. We live in a day when we have pluralists all around us. They will tell us, Oh, it's fine to believe in Jesus. I believe in Jesus too.

But I believe there are many other ways as well. They're offended by texts like this. Because every time the perfect work of Christ is mentioned in the Bible, it is placed in language that can only mean that he is the only way.

Do you remember from this morning someone who tried to draw near to God in a way other than he had commanded? Aaron's sons. What happened to them? They did not find God to be gracious to those who seek to find ways outside of that which he has provided to enter into his presence.

Pluralists today will not find God to be gracious toward their rejection of his way of salvation either.

But why?

Why is he able to save a particular people, that true people of God in the Old Covenant, later prophets called the remnant, those identified as the elect in the New Covenant, why is he able to save them to the uttermost?

Well, remember a similar text? There are so many texts that touch upon this that maybe next time we'll have to pick back up here and look at some of them. But remember in John chapter 6, when Jesus likewise himself teaches his ability to save perfectly, remember, of all the Father gives me I lose none of them, but raise them up on the last day.

Why is that? Because it's the Father's will for him. I haven't come down from heaven to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. What's the will of him who sent me? That of all he's given me I lose none of them, but raise them up on the last day.

The perfect unity of the Father and the Son becomes the foundation upon which Jesus can say, I'm a perfect Savior. And here he has something very similar. Why is he able to save forever to the uttermost, completely God's true people?

Because he always lives to make intercession for them. Because he always lives to make intercession for them. Now, this is going to be opened up even further at a later point. But we dare not, even for time's sake, rush that phrase.

Remember the hymn? Five bleeding wounds he bears, received on Calvary's tree. They pour effectual prayers. They always plead for me. How can that be? Because Jesus has entered into the holy place, but not with blood that's not his own.

With his own. And he's entered in. He's opened the way. He is the Offerer and the Offering. And he intercedes, huper altone, in their place. He intercedes for them. Intercession. In the very presence of God, by the sinless, perfect sacrifice for a specific people, is laid out here as the very foundation of the assertion that Jesus is a perfect Savior.

He doesn't ever die. He always lives. And he always lives as an interceding high priest. What is the essence of this intercession? Well, it's going to be expanded upon later on. But for now, for now what we need to see is that it is an intercession that is in behalf of a specific people that results in their complete salvation.

And given the parallels that have been drawn here, we clearly have the old covenant priest brings the offerings before God for a specific people. Now the new covenant priest, one time, not back forth, back forth,.

Every year,.

One time enters into the holy place. He offers himself as the spotless sacrifice to which all the old covenant sacrifices had pointed. He offers himself, and it is that completed work that is the essence of the intercession.

The intercession is not some separate thing. It is the fact that the sacrifice is perfect that provides the intercession. We dare not think that what is happening here is that Jesus enters before the presence of a wrathful father who doesn't want to save.

He just wants his wrath to break forth. And what Jesus is doing is trying to convince the father to be a nice guy. That would be a gross misunderstanding. Many people have that idea. There are many evangelicals that see Jesus as the nice guy and the father as the mean guy.

And Jesus is trying to convince the father to be nice to us. That's not the case. He intercedes in behalf of them because he has completed the father's will for him. He has become the perfect sacrifice.

He has fulfilled all aspects of the father's will for him. The perfect high priest, the perfect sacrifice,.

Prophet,.

Priest, king,.

Everything that the father willed for Jesus to be and to do, he has fulfilled. And so he enters into the very presence of God. And as the book of Revelation presents him, a lamb standing as if slain. The marks of the blood upon his neck he presents in the holiest place.

The once for all finished. And it is that which intercedes. And it brings about perfect salvation for them.

A specific people.

The people. When man inserts his own traditions, when man, because of the way he's been trained or taught or whatever, is unwilling to accept the biblical truth of the atonement and tries to turn the atonement into a mere effort on God's part to save every single human being, they are absolutely undercutting the plain words of Scripture.

And you're left with a Savior who does not save the uttermost. A specific people. Because his finished work intercedes for them perfectly. But you're left with a Savior who makes us savable rather than who actually saves.

Theology matters. Because the word of God matters. I don't know about you, but I look at this text. I hear these words. Because he always lives to make intercession for them. And my heart's response is, thank you God, because if it was up to me, I could never have assurance.

I could never have joy.

I know my heart.

I know the foolishness that fills my mind. The lack of discipline. And so to think that the real foundation of assurance is not found in me, it's found in the finished work of Christ and the fact that he always lives to make intercession for me, that must mean that that intercession, that offering of that finished sacrifice is enough in and of itself to save.

And that is my only hope.

My only hope is the promise of the word of God that he is able to save to the uttermost. What a tremendous promise. If you struggle with assurance, if you struggle with faith, look away from yourself.

Look to him who has entered into the very presence of the Father. His sacrifice accepted. That's what the resurrection proves. His sacrifice accepted. A priest forever after the order of Melchizedek opened the way through the veil by his own flesh, interceding for you.

That is a foundation for assurance, a foundation for truth. Oh, our Heavenly Father, how can it be anything other than we would live our lives to your honor and to your glory simply because you have done this for us?

Heavenly Father, how could it be that anyone could ever wonder what we will spend eternity doing except worshiping and thanking you for there is not enough time in eternity itself to thank you for what you have done?

The condescension of the Creator himself in the person of his Son to enter into creation itself, to give himself for someone such as I. How amazing. Oh, Father, by your Spirit, rekindle in our hearts that wonder we first had when we truly came to understand and realize what you have done for us and that there is nothing in it of our addition, nothing in it that we can glory in other than our Lord Jesus Christ.

Truly cause our hearts to be filled with thanksgiving and rejoicing as we consider the glorious Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For it is in his name that we pray.