The Resurrected High Priest

Hebrews 7 -26 -8 -6 For this is the kind of high priest we need—holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

He doesn't need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do, first for their own sins, then for those of the people.

He did this once for all, once for all time, when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath which came after the law appoints a son who has been perfected forever.

The main point of what is being said is this. We have this kind of high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the

Lord and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.

Therefore, it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now, if he were on earth, he wouldn't be a priest, since there are those offering the gifts prescribed by the law.

These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle.

For God said, Be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.

But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry. And to that degree, he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we are ecstatic today to celebrate your resurrection.

Lord, you took the penalty that we all deserve, the penalty of death for sin, of alienating and disobeying a perfect father.

And you took that penalty. And Lord, you conquered you conquered sin in that moment.

But just a few days later, you conquered death by rising from the grave. And so, God, we are overjoyed to celebrate that today with fellow brothers and sisters.

Lord, bless Josh as he presents the message, the message of the resurrection and the promise of the new covenant that you've written about here.

Lord, may we be blessed, may we be encouraged, may we be strengthened and boldened by your message and by the power of your spirit that works in us to put sin to death and be sanctified every day to grow closer to you.

And Lord, give us the hope that we need to carry on, Lord, to live faithfully, to live righteously,

Lord, to live confessionally for your name. Amen. In coming to the sermon, it was, it's difficult to find what facet of the diamond to focus on.

And that's not talking of the crucifixion. We are talking of the outflow of the resurrection. There are so many ways you could go.

What of the ascendant kingship of Christ, who has been given all authority because he has conquered death?

Could it be that we talk about the prophetic ministry, how the resurrection was prophesied, how the disciples, when it was right under their noses, didn't get it, and yet this was what all of scripture talked to, this great prophet like Moses or Elijah, who would come into that office forever.

But I have chosen to take another look, and that is the look of the living high priest, the eternal high priest.

And I will confess that the reason for this is probably fairly selfish. And I think it is that I have found my way over the last year, really since last year's men's retreat,

I have found myself ensnared in Hebrews. I've been unable to escape it. I heard a man do a sermon where he quoted the entire book from memory.

It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, and it really drove home the beauty of the letter, the beauty of how

I do believe it was a sermon that was written down. And it is a vast well of intricacy, to the point that I would tell you this, if you want to understand the

Bible, understand Hebrews. If you understand Hebrews, then you get the story.

You understand the New Testament, and you understand the Old Testament. In many ways, it is an expository sermon on Exodus and Leviticus.

It's really an amazing thing. And so we will look this morning at the climax of the book of Hebrews.

And as way of introduction, I think I have to get this here, because we are flying in to the middle of a book that is a vastly complicated book, a complex book, and here's what it goes by.

I'm going to try to do this in a minute or two. So Hebrews starts by talking about how Jesus is greater than everyone and everything that has ever been.

He is preeminent above the angels. He is preeminent above Moses. He is preeminent above Joshua and above David.

In fact, all of them were types of the eternal things that Jesus would bring in.

Moses with the law, where Jesus would come the fulfillment of the law. David with the eternal kingship, where Jesus would become the eternal king of the line of David.

Joshua, the peace of the Sabbath that was brought in as Canaan was overtaken, where Jesus is

Sabbath rest himself, and he delivers it to his people. And interspersed in this talk in the beginning of the book, there are these warnings that seem to come out of nowhere.

Jesus is this, so you can't go back. If you go back, you will never re -enter the promise.

And that is because the book of Hebrews is written for a purpose, and that purpose is to keep people from leaving the church to go into the old way.

Because the Judaizer heresy was strong in the New Testament. Very strong.

It was the oldest heresy. It was the first heresy that plagued the church. If you look through the New Testament, there was tremendous strife within the church between the

Gentiles and the Jews, because the Jews would accept the Gentiles as long as the Gentiles would act like Jews.

And this was a problem. And so the New Testament is full of admonitions about how the shadows and the things that were before have been fulfilled in Christ, and so we don't have to live like nation -state

Israel from the old days. That's not that the law was abolished, it's that Christ fulfilled all of the things that separated that people from the pagan neighbors around them.

Don't go back. There was tremendous pressure in this time, because what would happen is, if you were a

Jew and you became a Christian, and you lived among the Gentiles, then you would be thrown out of the temple, and you would lose your way of life, and you would be a social pariah, an outcast.

Friends, I don't need to go very deep into this to say that this heresy has raged back in our day in a way that I can scarcely believe, where there are

Christians that over the past week have celebrated the Passover meal, who have cedar meals.

And I'm just going to tell you right now, that is the first fruits of Judaizing. Don't do it.

There's no reason for that. The Passover was a shadow and a type of a greater symbol, which is communion.

We don't need to go back. That's like going into the store and asking Best Buy if they will conjure up a 19 -inch square box

CRT television that you have to tune in the channels. Are we going to put that in the living room and watch the game on it?

No, that's ridiculous. Just as much is it absurd to think that we should go practice ancient

Jewish customs in order to arrive at the fulfillment and glorious 96 -inch for $300 high -definition display that is the new covenant.

Better promises, better mediator. That's who he is. So the warnings are stern.

And over and over the author, as a good preacher will do, who I think it's Paul, one of the best preachers,

I think what he does is he will over and over say, yes, I'm going to tell you about this, but you're not ready.

You're still on the milk. In chapter 7 is when he has warned them enough, and he talks about this mysterious guy.

It's who he wanted to talk about for the whole letter, and it is this mysterious man named Melchizedek.

2 ,000 years before Christ, there was a king of Salem. A king of Salem, which was

Jerusalem. This was a Canaanite city. This man was not of the line of Abraham.

In fact, we don't know what line he was of. That's the whole point. And this Melchizedek comes to Abraham, and Abraham offers him a sacrifice.

Interesting, huh? The father of the entire faith offers

Melchizedek a sacrifice. And friends, don't miss it. This is a type in the Bible. Make sure that we don't miss it because 1 ,000 years later,

David would write in the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, in Psalm 110, he would write that you are a priest forever of the line of Melchizedek, speaking of the

Lord of my Lord, Jesus Christ. And so we know right away that there is this priest who comes on the scene, this king priest.

He is the king of Salem, and he is a priest. Abraham offers sacrifices to him, and the author of Hebrews gives us in clear detail how this is the priest that abolished the whole line of earthly priests because they were there for a purpose, and their whole purpose was to point to this ultimate priest, who is

Jesus, who would end all priests. And today we see it. They're gone. There are attempts to bring them back, and those are foolish attempts.

The red heifer stuff is some of the most foolish stuff I've ever heard in my life. Why would you want to sacrifice bulls and goats when you have

Jesus? There's no reason. So the author, he gives us this priest without lineage, and he starts to, at the end of chapter seven, make his ultimate point, which he brings through in chapter eight.

So chapter seven is going to tell us about this man, Melchizedek, who was a forerunner, and because he had no lineage, he is the line of Jesus, the priestly line.

See, Jesus was not of Levi. Jesus was of Judah because Judah was the line of kings, as long prophesied even back to the beginning in Genesis.

So Jesus is the line of kings, but he is also a priest, but he is not a priest of the line of Judah. He is a priest of the line of Melchizedek, who is without lineage, which speaks to the eternality of Christ's lineage, because he is the firstborn that Hebrews would tell us.

Not begotten in the sense that we have a firstborn, but firstborn in the sense that he is the preeminent son of God who inherits everything.

He is the firstborn of creation, not because he was born, but because he inherits everything.

He owns everything. The rights to everything are his. So as this rounds into shape, we start to see the form of a priest who has no lineage.

He has used Melchizedek to make this argument from the lesser to the greater, and he's going to continue to do this.

You're going to see we have such a high priest, which means a type of high priest. He's a different type than what was there before, and he is the type that we need today.

In fact, he is the only priest that can ever exist once he came on the scene.

You have to understand this. To look ahead a little, did you not see? If there's a priest that's of earth, that priest can't do anything for us.

That time is over. So chapter 7 verse 26 says, it was fitting for us.

It was fitting for us. It was good for us. It was right for us.

It was the right time, the right place, and the only way it could be. If you want to worship

God, you have to come into his presence, and the only way to come into his presence is through a mediator.

We cannot come into the presence of a thrice holy God with our sin, and so it was fitting for us to have such a high priest.

What kind of high priest? He is holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens, who does not need daily like those high priests to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because he did once for all when he offered up himself.

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 who has been made perfect forever.

So what is this such a high priest? The author gives us details. He is holy.

This high priest could have never come from the line of Levi, because we could look at every priest from the line of Levi and say, oh, that's his dad, and that's his grandpa, and this is where this guy came from.

No, and if you lived around the priest, I'm sure that they would be very pious. However, if you lived long enough around one of the

Levitical priests, you would see them sin. If you live long enough around me, you will see me sin.

I am not your priest. I'm not the mediator of your salvation. I am a herald of the message, and that's what we are about today.

But this high priest, the one that we had to have, he is holy. Holy. Do you understand what that means?

Holy does not merely mean separated. Holy means that he was of a completely different type than you.

He is God. His nature is transcendent. You can't understand his nature.

The only understanding we have of God comes through the manifestation of his Son as a man, where he became the light that was shown to men.

In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word became flesh.

Why? So that we could see the Father, and the only way we could see the Father was through his perfect likeness, which is the

Son. Amazing. He is separated. We don't dwell on his holiness often enough, friends.

He is not like us. Not in his priestly role, not in his kingship, not in his nature.

He is God. He created you. The Father had a will, and the

Son created you. And you are alive today because he thinks about you.

And this church exists today because he thinks about her, and he doesn't randomly think about her.

She is his bride, so he sustains and nourishes her. Friends, he is not like us.

Not today. He sits in glory at the right hand of the

Ancient of Days, and he appeals on our behalf on the basis of his righteousness, not our righteousness.

That is imputed. See, we move to the next thing. He is innocent. He is, in the

Greek, the exact opposite of an evildoer. He is one who has no guile.

He is not stained in any way whatsoever by the world. He walked through the world, and he was tempted in every way as we are yet without sin.

Does that not alone show you that he's not like you? He is like you in the sense that he took the form of a man, but he's not like you in the sense that he never once gave in to temptation.

And you, my friends, you know how temptation works, don't you? It doesn't go away. It escalates. You get a thought in your head, and that thought becomes a temptation, and that temptation becomes obsession until you give in to the temptation.

Isn't that the way it works? You can nod your head. I know it's true. I'm a man, and I've lived that.

It goes on. It goes on and goes on until you try to scratch the itch to make the temptation go away, and it becomes full -blown sin, and that sin leads to death, as James writes.

But Jesus did not. Can you imagine the extent of his temptation as he walked in this world and was tempted, and he never once gave in to the temptation.

He never once thought about giving in to the temptation, and it reached the fullest level to the extent that if you will just do what

I say, I will give you the whole world. And Jesus says, no, no, no, no.

He lived in the world around women, around other men. He talked to other men. He ate food.

He drank wine. He walked. He worked. He smashed his finger with hammers when he was carpentering, and he did all of that without sin.

He is not stained in any way. The author goes on. He is undefiled. Undefiled.

How I long to be undefiled. He is pure. He is unspoiled. He is unmarred, and very importantly for our purposes this morning, he is without blemish.

He is the perfect lamb. The perfect husbandry. Not one spoiled mark.

Not one speckle. Purely white without blemish. That's him. But see, in contrast, this is the high priest of Christ.

But in contrast, the law, which is the covenant with Moses and what God gave in condescension so that we could understand his character, the law appointed weak men of a weak lineage.

We know they were weak men because they were sinners, and they had to wash themselves to go into the temple.

We also know that it was a weak lineage because it's gone. Did you know it's gone?

All records destroyed in AD 70, and they ultimately this line was weak because it gave way to the stronger inevitability of the line of the great high priest who, make no mistake,

Jesus Christ abolished this line. The line of Levi is over. Abolished by Jesus Christ because he will suffer no rivals.

There will not be confusion about who the priest is. The priest is the resurrected Lord. Nothing less than that.

And see, we understand where it becomes important. These priests, they would wash themselves. In fact, they would have mirror -bottomed basins of water so that they could see every crevice of their body when they were washing with soap.

And the reason why is because if they did not completely ceremonially wash and they would enter into the

Holy of Holies, they would die. That Holy of Holies was made with cherubim woven into the curtain.

The cherubim had the flaming sword, which was guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden. Remember it?

Adam and Eve, when they were expunged from the Garden, expunged from God's presence, the flaming sword of the cherubim was there.

It meant if you enter into this place, you will die. Blood is required to come into this place.

And that was the Holy of Holies with the curtain barring the way. And the priest would wash every crevice of their body, make atonement for themselves with the sacrificial lambs and goats.

And then they would, if they dared, they would walk into this place where the presence of God was in a tent erected by human hands, but to the exact specifics of God's plan.

And there they would make atonement for the sins of all the people. But what if one can enter into a tent that is in heaven and never make a sacrifice again and not have to wash himself at all because he is pure without blemish?

See, that priesthood, that lineage is strong and eternal like the line of Melchizedek. It would never go away because it never started.

You understand? The line of Jesus never began because he's God. He is beginning and end. There is no time that existed where Jesus did not exist.

He is forever. He's not like us. He's not like us.

And see, this great high priest, we understand if you want to argue, well, the salvation, the priesthood, it always came,

God appointed it. And that is true. God appointed it. But God had put into promise this eternal line before all of those instructions were even given.

See, this line of Melchizedek, it predated the Levitical line. And the author of Hebrews says that while Levi was yet in the loins of his father,

Melchizedek was here. Right? Jesus is before the tribes of Judah. Jesus is before Israel.

And in many ways, as I was telling someone this week, Jesus is Israel. Do you understand?

Israel was set apart to look like Christ, to be a blessing to all the nations.

But when the fullness comes in, why are you looking at the shadow anymore? Jesus is the vine. He is the true

Israel. And if you want to be connected to God, you have to be connected to him. John 15 says, abide in me.

You have to be part of the vine. If you're not glued to him, if you're not grafted to him, then you have no life.

So this great high priest, he was promised pre -law and post -law.

See, pre -law, he was promised through Adam. Do you understand that Adam was in the garden working and this was the temple?

Eden was the sanctuary. He was to go take dominion over the rest of the world, while Eden was where you would go to worship

God in paradise. He was the priest of Eden. But it didn't last.

And so this eternal line comes up. Remember, Romans 5 tells us that Jesus is the better Adam.

This all fits together. Jesus is the true man, the true

Adam, the one who never sinned, the one who is the hope of all mankind, because we are made in his image.

The oath that was given that Hebrews talks about is the oath that David wrote down in Psalms. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind.

You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. See, this oath was given after all of the instructions to the

Levitical line and to what was going on in Exodus and Leviticus. And so without such a priest, we understand this, right?

You've all sinned. Your sin damns you to death. And there is no way, no way that you can make that right with God.

And we have a hard time understanding this, because our default operating system as human beings is that we think we walk around and that our intentions are good and that we're pretty good people and that God will accept us.

I lie a little bit every once in a while. Every once in a while when I get real mad,

I'll say something that's kind of rough. You know, I gossip just a little, but everybody does.

It's not that big a deal. So I looked at this image. Big deal. Everybody does it.

I'm not as bad as them. Understand that's not the standard, because you're not sinning against your buddy, okay?

You didn't lie to your friend. You didn't even lie to a judge, which we know will put you in jail for perjury.

Understand what you did. The creator of everything who has complete rights over you, you looked at him and said, you know what?

I don't like what you say. I think I'll try it my own way. And then in my blasphemy, I'm going to take my own actions and I'm going to hand them up to you,

God, who created me and say, you owe me eternal life. What is

God going to do with that when he has presented this better way? Hebrews tells us that that is trampling the blood of his son underfoot.

And for such people, there will be no hope. Don't let that be you this morning, my dear friend.

Don't let that be you. Understand, understand that Hebrews is telling us that this priest is different, because with the weak

Levitical priests, the blood had to be shed continuously. The place would have smelled like death.

Continuous bloodshed. And many people want to reenact that today. Can you imagine?

But even us, we laugh at other people, but even us, we want to reenact the sacrifice by thinking that if we, in our futile minds, if we can just put enough distance between our sin, maybe

God will forgive it. Without us repenting. Friends, he doesn't care if you're just sorry about your sin.

He cares about you not sinning. It's very important. We have no chance without Jesus because the wages of sin are death.

We deserve death. And this high priest is perfect. He has been made perfect, and I spent forever in this section, but them's the breaks, right?

This priest is perfect. That means he's complete forever, and so is his work. Let's move on.

So if that was a long -winded treatise on the priest who has no lineage, then let's talk about the residence of this high priest.

Very important. It's so important that it's going to be mentioned a couple of times. Where he is. We wouldn't think that, would we?

Because we spend so much time thinking about who he is, right? We think about who he is, but the author of Hebrews gives us something here.

It's more important where he is, because where he is tells us with clarity who he is.

Now the main point in what is being said is this. We have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the

Lord pitched, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices.

So it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Isn't that curious?

The main point. The main point of Melchizedek. The main point of Hebrews.

You wouldn't think so, would you? That's why the author has to tell us. Now this is the main point. Usually you don't have people write that in writing, do they?

Now the main point of this paragraph is, that's kind of how first graders write, but this sermon and this book is so dense and so complicated that he throws us a bone here because he is dogmatic that we don't miss the main point.

And the main point is this, is that Jesus is not here. He was put in a grave, but it didn't seal him.

And he rose from the dead and he was seen by hundreds of witnesses and he ate fish. He was truly alive.

He was not an ethereal spirit floating around. Flesh and blood. Historicity. It happened.

If you look into it, if you investigate the primary sources, if you want to try to prove or disprove what happened, you will be convinced of the reality of the resurrection.

It happened. It can't be faked. And that leaves us with something, does it not? Because if this man died and rose again, what are you going to do with that?

You have to do something with that. Are you going to look at that and say, yeah, I mean, that's pretty nice. It's a good story.

I imagine he was a pretty good teacher. No, God demands that you worship this man who rose again.

He is the God of all creation. We don't get to make up our own way to him and that's another reason why the location is so important.

See, these truths in Hebrews, understand this, and the truth of the resurrection, it's not primarily about us.

Did you know that? In fact, the Bible is not primarily about us. The Bible is a mirror to us.

It shows us how horrible we are. It shows us how deceitful our hearts are. But the primary purpose of the

Bible and the primary purpose of the resurrection is the glory of God. The ultimate good in all of the universe is the glory of God.

If you want to be good, then you glorify God. If you want to know what good is, seek the glory of God.

And there is not a better place, I think, in Scripture than Hebrews to see the glory of God. It's hard to contain.

See, these truths, they're not about us, but understand this, that we are beneficiaries of a glorious truth.

Glory to God for what he has done. Because what happens is Jesus occupies today a position of finality and eternity.

He is forever enthroned in heaven. He is a mediator who does not have to wash himself, who does not have to worry about if he got every crevice, he doesn't have to worry about if he confessed every single sin before he goes into the presence of a holy

God. He is a mediator who sits in a position of power next to the Father who will eventually be given the entire kingdom, right?

The Son is going to get the entire kingdom from the Father, and you know what he's going to do with it?

He's going to give it right back to his Father. Is this beyond you?

Are you scared of Iran today? Are you scared of midterm elections?

Are you afraid of the world going to hell in a handbasket? Friends, I hear this and I'm tempted in the same ways, but let me tell you something that is unshakably, undeniably true, is that Jesus is ruling amidst his enemies.

They are a footstool. He has them under his feet like a footstool. He's resting. Jesus is not afraid.

He's resting today, sitting down, and he will be given this entire kingdom, and every knee will bow.

Every knee. Imagine that. Every knee will bow. Every single one of them.

Can you think of that in your mind? See, it's easy, once again, because of our intentions. It's easy for us to think, well, yeah, of course

I will bow. No, I want you to think about all the people who will be bowing. All of them.

And they will confess that Jesus is Lord. What a picture.

Why will they confess? Because they will be compelled to confess, and it will be so obvious that no one could do otherwise.

And then Jesus is going to deliver that entire kingdom back to his Father. Such it is.

He came to do the Father's will. He is the perfect son.

All of us as sons, we would love to be that kind of son, and we would love to have that kind of father.

And the more we emulate that kind of father and that kind of son, the better our families are going to be. See, the tabernacle where Jesus dwells, it wasn't pitched by man, but by God himself.

And if you read through Exodus, I want to tell you something very curious. Exodus spends huge amounts of the book talking about the specifications of this tabernacle, and of what the priest will wear, and how they will wash.

Have you read it? Intricate detail. And you might think to yourself, if you back off a little bit, you might think to yourself, why is

God going into so much detail about this? What about the law? What about morality?

What about getting the promised land? Don't you think he would spend more time telling Moses how all of these things are going to happen?

But he spends so much time, and he gives Moses the blueprint on Sinai for how they're going to build this tabernacle.

Why? Because it's the most important thing. It's the most important thing. Mankind is of no value whatsoever if God does not dwell with us, and he is our

God, and we are his people. Because if that does not happen, then we are only vessels of wrath.

Clay pots smashed. That's all that we're worth. But see, this tabernacle that Christ inhabits, that one that was in glorious detail, that took tremendous amounts of riches, tremendous amount of artisans, time, tapestries, gold, all of this stuff to build this tabernacle, all of it, it was just a shadow, like a vague picture of the real thing.

And that real thing, we know from Revelation, descends to be among us. That is the eternal state of the temple.

That's where Christ is. See, the king, this Jesus who sits at the right hand in this tabernacle that was not made by human hands, but was made by God himself, he sits there and he administers the law because he is both king and priest.

And the king and the priest always should have acted hand in glove, right? Because the king takes the law and administers it.

He executes it. But the priest makes one right with God who is a lawbreaker. He mediates.

He helps the sins of the nation. What about when the king and the priest are one and the same? That's what

Jesus has done. See, Jesus is able to rule with an iron scepter while clearing the sins of all those who are his.

He rules even as he advocates for his true subjects. I heard it on Friday night at the

Good Friday. Jake read it and it was just a blip and it really stuck in my ear with Joseph of Arimathea where it said,

Joseph, that he looked forward to the kingdom of God. Isn't that it?

Isn't that what it is to be a Christian? Look forward to the kingdom of God. It is not a thing we're afraid of.

It's a thing that we long for. Why? Why? Because we know that we can enter in this place on the basis of his own blood.

See, Christ forever established this throne. And we get curiously at the end of this section an admonition that a priest needs gifts and sacrifices to offer.

Gifts and sacrifices. What kind of gifts and sacrifices is Jesus offering?

Well, let's look in Hebrews. In chapter 2 verse 17, it says, Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of his people.

So what did Jesus offer? Well, here's what he offered as gifts. He offered his perfect submission and obedience to the

Father. He did everything his Father said. He followed the law exactly.

He also condescended to humanity. He became flesh, the one who dwelt in eternal glory, in light, with all of the angels, being worshiped by the angels all the time.

He came into the form of a man and he got tired. And he didn't only get tired, he worked.

And he didn't only work, he was betrayed. And not only was he betrayed, he was murdered. He condescended.

And while he was condescending in the form of a man, almost unbelievably, he never once broke the law in any way.

He never got close to breaking the law. Incredible. And so what happens? He also offered this in finality.

He offered the kingdom, the worship, and the glory to the Father because this kingdom that is Christ, he will give to his

Father. That's the gift that the great high priest offers to the Father, the Ancient of Days. What did he sacrifice?

Well, we know this, do we not? He sacrificed his own life. His own life.

His blood was not like ours. His blood was perfect. His life was perfect.

Because he is God, he is worth much more than us. Do you understand that?

Much, much more than us. And so his blood is able to cover a multitude of sins because of the nature of who he is.

And how do we imitate this? What do we do in the face of this? We pour out our lives as an offering through the

Holy Spirit. Now let's do the last thing, and this is why the sermon was titled the way it is, The Resurrected High Priest.

This is the reality of resurrection. Let me read it. Now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle.

For see, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.

I want to begin with the end there. Why is it a better covenant? I think many times many Christians don't understand the new covenant.

It's hard to understand, to be fair. And we have all these arguments about baptism, and all these arguments about means of grace, but here very simply is this.

What makes the new covenant better? It's because it's not a shadow, it's the substance.

Why is the new covenant a better covenant? Because it is fully instituted, and it will never end.

It's an eternal covenant. Why is it a better covenant? Because it went backwards and forwards.

Why is it a better covenant? Because it was enacted on better promises, and those promises were that God would be our

God, that he would come to live among us, that he would be Emmanuel, that he would be numbered among transgressors, crushed by the

Father, but yet that he would live, he would be the suffering servant, that he would bring all nations to the mountain of Zion, which is himself, and that they would marvel at his law and his rulership.

That's why it's a better covenant. See, the older covenants, they were pointing at it. All of them were. In their own shadowy ways, we can take it and see how is the covenant with Moses pointing us to Christ.

Well, that's very obvious because the New Testament is quoting the covenant of Moses over and over and over again. In many ways, it lays the groundwork, and then

Jesus shows us what it's really about in the Sermon on the Mount, where it's really about being circumcised in your heart.

It's about being one of his people, and that happens spiritually. Now, beginning with the beginning here, the beginning of the end, the great high priest could never really be in office that was served on earth.

Do you understand the Levitical lines were always shadows? They were always lesser covenants with lesser promises, and the reason for that was a priest could never be on earth because God is not on earth.

His holy places are not on earth, and therefore, if you want to mediate with God, you have to go to God, and that's why the great high priest could not be here.

He has to be there, and that's where he is. See, the place of offering is that heavenly tabernacle, not the one that was a shadow here.

All of Leviticus, all of Exodus, they are showing us a picture, a murky picture then, but brought into clarity today.

They're showing us what he does today. Do you understand that? He has made us separate. He has made us different.

Why? He's put his mark on us. That mark in that time was circumcision. We know emphatically that is not the mark today.

The mark today is the mark of the Holy Spirit, and you say, oh Josh, you're just being super spiritual. No, you are marked by the

Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit produces fruits in you that you cannot produce yourself, and if you don't see the fruit, you don't have the

Holy Spirit. It's really that simple. When an apple tree is in full bloom, does anyone go around and go, what kind of tree is that?

No, nobody does that, but if the tree has no fruit, you have to have some knowledge to know what kind of tree that is.

See, a Christian is obvious by their fruits, and we don't have to guess at what those are.

I'll read them to you a little bit later. The earthly temple was always a picture, and the substance and power of this new covenant that is real, that is fulfilled, it is that we have a great high priest who does not need to cleanse himself.

He is in the true presence of God in the real temple. He was tempted with every temptation and yet did not sin.

Therefore, he has sympathy for his people. He understands how hard it is to walk in this life and be undefiled.

He understands that. He understands that better than anyone because he never gave in to the temptation, so it kept escalating.

He has written God's laws and desires on our hearts. You know, Christian, you bear fruit because you love

God's law. This is not a mystery. It's a mystery how it happens, but it's not a mystery what happens.

See, God's people always loved his law. It's not a thing that we chafe against. It's not a thing that we dislike.

It's not a thing that we're embarrassed of when we read scripture. See, God's law is good to his people, and he has really, truly, and finally made his people holy such that God has come to dwell among his people.

Understand, friends, that the author of Hebrews is relying on a historical knowledge here because, remember, he's trying to convince

Jews to not go back, and we might be tempted to go back, but this new promise is not a new promise.

Instead, it's the fulfillment of an old promise. Let me walk you through stuff. I'm going to try to provide very little commentary here, a lot of scripture reading.

I hope that this is very powerful as it was for me this week. Understand that what he has promised here is not new.

Leviticus 26, 3 through 12 says this, if you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments so as to do them, then

I shall give you rains in their season so that the land will give forth its produce and the trees of the field will give forth their fruit.

Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time.

You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land. I shall also give you peace in the land so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble.

I shall also eliminate wild beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land, but you will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword.

And five of you will pursue one hundred, and one hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword.

So I will turn towards you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm my covenant with you, and you will eat the old supply and clear out the old because of the new.

Moreover, I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul will not loathe you.

I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people.

The people of Israel, inasmuch as they obeyed God's commands, they lived this life.

The height, the zenith of it was the rule of David, a man after God's own heart, where they had surety on their borders.

Every nation was afraid of them. Five would chase a thousand. They had prosperity because David loved

God's law. So goes the king, so goes the kingdom. When the king rebels, the people were scattered.

Famine struck the land. This is not a prosperity gospel. This is the way it works. And friends, I want to tell you something.

It angers me when I see this, and we look at this, and we go, oh yeah, that was great for them.

See how the people of Israel had everything God promised? And then Hebrews tells us that we have a better covenant, enacted on better promises, and we act like it's weaker today.

We act like five of us should run away from ten thousand of them. Friends, why is the church perishing?

It's because we're breaking God's law. We're out of covenant with him.

And there's always a way back, and the way back is repentance. See, these promises right here, they were shadows, and the substances of today make those shadows look weak compared to what we have today.

The church is instituted on better promises. Is there famine in the land?

Repent. Is there evil in the land? Repent. Are Christians afraid and running away from evildoers?

Repent. We have nothing to fear. Nothing. It's incredible.

And then in the old covenant, if they would obey God's law, he would live among them. And what did that mean? That meant that he was in the holy of holies.

Friends, he's here today. The curtain was torn. We read that on Friday night.

There is access to the holy places because the great high priest has made you holy. And today we sit here with the holy spirit alive among us, with the full substance of this promise enacted, and we act like maybe he's here, maybe he's not.

Hope he will be. Friends, it should not be so. It should not be so.

See, that old promise, it was kept. Not only was it kept for the people of Israel when they obeyed, we see it, right?

When they loved God's law, when a king would tear down the high places, they would have prosperity and freedom from their enemies.

And then when they would erect the high places again and worship idols, they would be taken over by the sword and they would be afraid.

We read it in 1 Samuel, did we not? They were afraid over and over and over again because they were wicked.

See, the old promise was kept, not only then, but it is blown out beyond our imagination now.

Revelation 21 too, often taken out of context. Let's put it in context. This is the promise to God's people.

I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband, in verse 22, and I saw no sanctuary in it.

For the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its sanctuary. The Lord God, the

Almighty, and the Lamb are its sanctuary. That means that there is no dividing wall between God and his people.

If you want more detail on that, if you think, oh Josh, that sounds pretty fantastical, let me read 1

Peter 2. And coming to him as to a living stone, which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

John 15, 3 and 4. You are already clean because of the word which

I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.

If you abide in Christ, you are in his very presence. There is no separation between you and him, and your body is the temple.

Do you realize what that means? The priests of the Levites would have looked at you like you were crazy.

The people of the old covenant would have been gobsmacked by this reality, and the reason why is because they saw the shadows and we see the substance.

And friends, as the author of Hebrews will repeatedly tell us, we have no excuse. We have been given this light.

What are you going to do with it? The power and inevitability of God's promises and his purposes goes on.

Revelation 22, 11. Let the one who does unrighteousness still do unrighteousness, and the one who is filthy still be filthy, and let the one who is righteous still do righteousness, and the one who is holy still keep himself holy.

There are vessels of wrath and there are vessels of blessing and mercy. Friends, you have to be a vessel of mercy.

If you love unrighteousness, keep doing it. No, that's not our message, is it?

No. If you love unrighteousness, cry out to God, hate your sin, repent, and as John the

Baptist said, keep fruit in bearing with repentance, or bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

He said the axe is laid to the root of the tree. That means the judgment of God is imminent and it is on you.

Repent. What do we do now? I think we act like this whole religion is a mystery sometimes.

The bodily resurrection of Christ, the bodily ascension of Christ, the promises of him as a priest, the coming promise of him as a king who will take everything by his authority, and we look at this and we go, yeah, but I see what's going on right now and I may not even believe that.

I may say that I believe it, but I don't live like I believe it. Friends, that should not be you. There are claims on us.

Let me go to Galatians and this is where we will end today. Galatians 5, verse 16.

Paul says, but I say walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Are you carrying out the desire of the flesh today, Christian? If you are carrying out the desire of the flesh today, it's because you are definitionally not walking by the

Spirit. This is not ethereal, mystical stuff. How do you walk by the

Spirit? The Spirit, everything that proceeds from his mouth is of Christ and Christ is the

Word of God. If you want to walk by the Spirit, you obey scripture, love scripture.

It's not woo -woo stuff where I feel in my heart that I'm gonna do what the Spirit says. No, it's not the bread you ate this morning that's giving you gut feelings.

It's what the law of God says and if you don't follow the law of God, you are walking according to the lust of the flesh.

Stop it. He goes on in verse 18, but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

It's the greatest exchange that people had such a hard time with. Do you understand this? That if you are led by the

Spirit and you love God's law, then it's not so much about the oppressive letter of the law that you're fighting against.

In fact, you have submitted fully under the law and you become wise under the law.

You become like a judge on your own soul because God gives you wisdom.

That's why James says, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask for it. Because what is wisdom for if not to discern what

God has told you? And he will give it to you freely. And then, lest we think it's even a little bit mystical, let me end with the hammering here.

These are often read as like feel -good verses. So many times that's done.

The fruit of the Spirit is this, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

Against such things there is no law. The bad news is this, if that list does not characterize you, then you are walking according to the flesh.

That is a very dangerous place to be. The good news is, is that through Christ, through Christ, we can be characterized by this list.

And so I ask you this morning and I tell you, in the light of a risen king, he is alive.

Believe it, he's alive. And he rules today. And he makes intercession for his people.

And so what we should do is this, we should examine ourselves. We should look at the fruit in our lives.

And don't stop there. Don't do the navel -gazing thing where you look a little bit and go, yeah, I'm good. I'm very joyful.

And everyone around you is going, I don't know about that. Are you very patient?

I'm very patient. Here's what you do. Don't trust yourself.

Your heart is deceitfully wicked. Pray for conviction, but also do this, ask other people what fruit they see in your life.

And let's not make up unbiblical fruit. Let's look at the fruits of the spirit and ask your friends, ask somebody who's going to tell you the truth and say, do you see these things in my life?

And if the answer is no, fear, tremble. If the answer is yes, thank them and pray for more because I promise you, he will surely give you more.

He surely will because that's what he does for his people. Let's pray.

Father, it seems the time is too short and the scripture too vast.

It's such a hard thing to communicate the greatness of what you've done, the facets of what you've done.

But Lord, what I can say is this, is we are so thankful to have such a high priest or that your lineage is eternal, that your power is total, that your purity is unimaginable to us.

The perfect lamb of God slain once, forever, for all.

The curtain torn so that access to the holy of holies is given to your people who are a royal priesthood, living stones who are congregated around the chief cornerstone.

Lord, help us to not be counted among those who saw the chief cornerstone and rejected you, but instead to be those who look forward to the coming of the kingdom of God.

Lord, help us in this church to not walk according to the flesh, but to walk according to the spirit.

And Lord, give us wisdom and discernment to understand what that means. That we would not obey the desires of our flesh, but instead that we would love your law, that we would look at it as a light unto our feet.

Lord, that it would pave the way that we go. Lord, that we would pray daily for conviction.

I pray that we would have friends who would help us in that journey, that would help to examine us.