Christmas 2021 - The Reason for the Season #2 - The Gift of a Representative (Selected Scriptures)

Sermon series that we've entitled The Reason for the Season. If you need a Bible or a study guide, please feel free to pop your hand up. Eddie, the wonderful guy at the back, will pass one out to you.

If you have a Bible already, I invite you to turn to Hebrews chapter 9 with me. Hebrews and the ninth chapter. Hebrews chapter 9 is kind of, it's gonna more or less be our base camp for this message. We're gonna spend most of our time in the letter to the Hebrews, but we're gonna be in Hebrews chapter 9 for the majority of our time.

So Hebrews chapter 9, beginning in verse 1 and reading through to verse 14. We have a custom here at Redeemer, we read responsibly for our sermon text, and so I will read verse 1 and all the odd-numbered verses.

I'll invite you to read the even-numbered verses with me. Hebrews chapter 9 and verses 1 through 14. If you're able to do so, would you stand with me out of respect for God's Word as we read it? Hebrews chapter 9, beginning in verse 1.

Now the first covenant also had regulations for ministry in an earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was set up, and in the first room, which is called the Holy Place, were the lampstand, the table, and the presentation loaves.

Behind the second curtain was a tent called the Most Holy Place. It had the gold altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered with gold on all sides, in which was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.

The cherubim of glory were above the Ark, overshadowing the mercy seat. It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now. With these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry.

But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed, while the first tabernacle was still standing.

This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshippers conscience. They are physical regulations, and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.

But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, in the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation. He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls in the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works, so that we can serve the living God.

Once again, pray that God will bless that reading of his word and grant us understanding. I'll pray, ask for the Spirit's help, and we'll get to work in God's word this morning, afternoon. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this time.

We pray that as we open up the scriptures, and we think especially about your work on our behalf, your priesthood that is eternal, that is perpetual, that is perfect, that meets our every need, may we grow in our appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And Fathers, I pray that for us, I pray for Cornerstone Christian Church here in town, who's gonna have an evening service in just over an hour or so, pray that their time together as they open up God's word will be a blessing.

May they be strengthened, pray for Pastor Quentin and the elders there, thankful for their friendship in the gospel, and also pray for their Christmas Eve service this week, that it would be used by your Spirit to comfort your people and even bring those who don't know you to come to know you.

May the word be blessed as it's preached there, and we pray that that would be the case here now. We ask you in Jesus' name, for his sake, amen. Please be seated. Well, we are once again back to our sermon series that we've entitled The Reason for the Season.

We started it last week, and we said that what we're doing in this series is we're really looking at the three great aspects of Jesus' work for us. Remember from my introduction last week, I said that when you read the Old Testament, you see this set of three offices, I should say, the office of the prophet, the office of the priest, and the office of the king, and those were mediators who functioned in God's stead for his people.

And what we see is that the Old Testament points us to these three offices in preparation for the coming of Jesus. And so what we're doing in this series is we're asking the question, what is it that Jesus does for us as his people, and why is it as a result then that this season that we call Christmas really can be a season of good news?

Last week we talked about the gift of knowing God and the fact that Jesus, the Bible tells us, is God's great and final prophet. Yes, he is God, and yes, he is eternal man, but he is also a prophet. He is the one who reveals the will of God to us and then opens our minds to understand that will as it's revealed in the Word of God.

So that's what we looked at last week, and this afternoon we're going to pick up with that second office that Christ occupies for us as his people, his office as a priest. I've tagged our text or our message, I should say, this afternoon as the gift of a representative, the gift of a representative.

God gave us a priest. I had us read from Hebrews chapter 9 because the letter to the Hebrews has some of the most concentrated teaching anywhere when it comes to Christ and his priesthood. To give you some background to the letter to the Hebrews, it's a letter that is written to a undisclosed set of Christians by an undisclosed author.

There's some speculation as to who's the author and who's the audience. I don't think that really matters too much, but what's important is what he says in this letter. It's very apparent as you read the letter to the Hebrews that these Christians were tempted to turn their back on Jesus and to go back to Judaism.

It's clear that they were Hebrew Christians who were used to being under the law. Well, something has changed. Now they're Christians, but there's this temptation to kind of leave that behind and go back to Judaism.

You get the sense as you read the letter to the Hebrews that there is a persecution that's happening that's trying to essentially force them back under Judaism. And so the writer to the Hebrews, who we don't know who the author is, but what he does is he takes chapter after chapter to, as it were, function as a coach on the sidelines, encouraging these Christians not to give up their faith in Jesus, but to keep following him because he is better than the Old Covenant.

And so through a number of comparisons, he's better than the angels, he's better than Moses, he's better than Joshua, he's better than all of these things under the Old Covenant. Through all these comparisons, the author to the Hebrews tries to orient the vision of his readers, and thus our vision, towards the Lord Jesus.

Hebrews Without Question is my favorite book in the New Testament. I love the book of Hebrews. But I have to admit that it's also one of the most complex books in your New Testament to get your head around.

If you've ever read the book of Hebrews, it requires a lot of work. And part of the reason why it requires so much work is it assumes a intimate working knowledge of the Old Testament. It assumes you've read everything that came before in the Old Testament.

And so it will mention things and kind of just, in fact, we even in our text. He starts talking about the tabernacle and says, listen, we don't have time to get into detail. He assumes that you know your Old Testament.

Now, for the benefit of those of us who don't, we'll actually fill in some of that work in a moment. But as we come to chapter 9, the author to the Hebrews seeks to help us by comparing the priesthood in the Old Covenant with Christ's priesthood in the New.

And as he compares the two, his point, in fact he says it explicitly, is that we have a better priesthood in Christ than the people under the Old Covenant did. The Old Covenant was good for what it did, but for those of us who are in Jesus, we have far better representation.

My big idea is, you know, every sermon I try to have a big idea that summarizes what we're doing. This week is not original to me. Last week I quoted the Westminster Larger Catechism and its definition of Christ as a prophet.

For those of you who don't know what that is, the Westminster Larger is just a question-and-answer set of explanations of key doctrines of the Christian faith. It's a great resource to have on hand.

And they talk about Christ's priesthood in there, and as I was putting this together this week, I found that I couldn't improve on what they said. So rather than reinvent the wheel, I'm just going to borrow it for this Sunday.

Here's what they said about Christ's priesthood. It's there in your study guide this morning, afternoon. Christ carries out the office of a priest in offering himself as a sacrifice to God, one time, without spot, to be the reconciliation for the sins of his people, and in making continual intercession for them.

Let me read that again. Christ carries out the office of a priest in offering himself as a sacrifice to God, one time, without spot, to be the reconciliation for the sins of his people, and in making continual intercession for them.

Well, that's the summary. That's kind of the big picture of what we're going to talk about. And now, as the late, great Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story. For the rest of our time, I want to kind of take that apart a little bit, and help us to orient ourselves around this idea of Jesus as our priest, as our representative before God.

Let's begin, first of all, just with the concept of priesthood. Let's start there. What do we mean when we talk about Christ as a priest? Let's just kind of figure that one out. Well, like I said, chapter 9 of Hebrews lays out a simple contrast between two different priesthoods.

In verses 1 -10, you have the priesthood as it existed under the old covenant. Some people call it the Levitical priesthood. Some people call it the old covenant priesthood. Whatever you call it, it's the priesthood that took place prior to the coming of Christ.

That priesthood begins in Exodus chapter 28. In Exodus chapter 28, God establishes this priestly line through Aaron and his sons. In fact, earlier in Hebrews, if you want to turn to Hebrews chapter 5, the writer of Hebrews explains what it is that a priest is supposed to do.

So Hebrews chapter 5, I'll give you verses 1 -4. Hebrews chapter 5 and verses 1 -4. He says, For every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God for the people. Okay, so that's what they do.

Now he's going to give us some specifics. To offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. So the priest's job was that he was the one who offered gifts for thanksgiving and sacrifices for when the people sinned.

Verse 2, he's able to deal gently and with those who are ignorant and are going astray since he is also clothed with weakness. So he's a human being. He has all the frailties of humanity as well. And so the hope is that he is somewhat sympathetic to the weaknesses of those he serves.

Verse 3, because of this, because he is clothed with weakness, he's human, he must make an offering for his own sins as well as for the people. Verse 4, no one takes his honor on himself. So you couldn't just appoint yourself a priest.

Instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was. So it's really simple. You had the priest. He offered gifts and sacrifices. He dealt gently with those who were ignorant and going astray. He could do this because he himself was weak.

Because he was weak and human, he needed to offer sacrifices for himself as well as those who came to him. Like we saw last week with the prophet, no priest took this role to themselves. Rather, it was God who appointed them.

Well, come back to Hebrews chapter 9 with me for a moment. And in Hebrews chapter 9, the author gives us a few more details about the priesthood. First of all, he gives us the location of that priesthood.

So in verses 1 through 5, he goes through this description of the tabernacle. If you're taking notes, Exodus chapter 25 all the way through to 40. Basically, the second half of Exodus is devoted to this place called the tabernacle.

Now, we often hear that and we think it's this very interesting structure. I mean, it was in a sense. But essentially, it was a tent. The rest, think about this. The rest of the nation who had left Egypt didn't live in permanent homes at this point.

They all lived in a tent. And God says, basically, I'm going to live in a tent too. My tent will be a little more elaborate than yours, but I'm going to live among my people. And so for 15 chapters, you have a bunch of explanations how everything is to be built.

In fact, God explicitly says multiple times, see that you built everything exactly according to the pattern that I showed you, Moses, on the mountain. And so the author gives us a brief description of the tabernacle.

You have this first section. Think of this kind of two-part tent, if you will. The first section of this tent, you had a lamp stand that had seven branches that looked more like a tree than a typical candlestick.

You had an altar that constantly burned incense, and you had a table with some consecrated bread. This section was called the holy place. You then had a second section. The second section was called the most holy place.

And really, there was one object in that place. There was the Ark of the Covenant. This unusual structure, basically a box, doesn't look all impressive in and of itself. Sure, it's overlaid with gold and what have you, but it's basically a box.

And it contains various items relating to Israel as God's covenant people. The Ark of the Covenant was basically God's throne. It was literally a seat, a visible seat of God, who was the shepherd king of his people.

But the author of St. Hebrews doesn't just tell us about the location of this priesthood. He also tells us about the central work that took place in it, in verses 6 -10. So the priest went into this first room, the holy place, all the time, because that's where the bulk of his work was done.

But this most holy place, this place where this Ark of the Covenant sat, this visible seat of God's presence among his people, he only went there once a year. In fact, if you're taking notes, Leviticus chapter 16, this interesting event called the Day of Atonement.

The one time a year where the priest could go in with a sacrifice and basically atone for the sins of the nation. In fact, the author of Hebrews tells us that he would atone for the sins that were done.

Do you see that there in verse 7? The sins the people had committed in ignorance. That background that he gives in verses 1 -10 is important for two reasons. First of all, it demonstrated that the way into God's presence was paved on the back of sacrifice.

The priest didn't just go into God's presence willy-nilly as it were. He went into God's presence for one reason, to offer sacrifices. But the author of Hebrews also tells us that the very setup of the tabernacle was designed to be temporary in its duration.

It wasn't supposed to last forever. It was temporary in its duration and it was limited in its power. That's why he had to go back after a year, do it again. After a year, do it again. After a year, do it again.

If that high priest died, well whoever was high priest had to go back and do it again. Just imagine being a high priest for a moment. Just go there with me, in your mind's eye. Imagine being a high priest for a moment, and it's your first day on the job.

And your job on your first day is to go into this most holy place. You have one job. It is to go and to offer the sacrifice, not just any sacrifice, the sacrifice that atones for the sin of the nation.

You get, as far as we know, you get one shot at this. Imagine how you had to feel for a moment. Imagine the weightiness of that. That you are basically offering a sacrifice that atones for the sins of the entire nation.

And that's what this high priest did. Year on year, high priest after high priest. You can just imagine, I heard this picture years ago. Imagine him going into that place and he can see his job was to go in, take the blood from the sacrifice and basically sprinkle it on this gold box.

But he can see the blood of previous years. Oh, Patrick might have seen it. He can see it. That visible reminder that when this blood is supplied, yes, God's anger against sin is atoned for. Our sins are dealt with.

Foul both of those away. The fact that the weighing to God's presence is paid on the back of sacrifice, that this was temporary in its time and limited in its power. Foul both of those away because we're going to come back to them in a moment.

The contention of verses 11 to 14 that we'll come back to in just a moment is that Christ's priesthood is way better. It trumps and it trounces that priesthood by far. Now before we come back to Hebrews 9, 11 to 14, I promise you we will, let's zoom out and fill in some of that detail that the author to the Hebrews assumes you already know.

So we've talked about the concept of priesthood. Well, let's talk about secondly, Christ and the office of priesthood. Let's start to fill some of this out. Thankfully, that big idea statement I borrowed from the Westminster Bible teachers gives us some helpful points as we think about Christ's work as a priest.

First of all, Christ offered himself as a sacrifice to God. Christ offered himself as a sacrifice to God. That's the heart of Jesus' work as our high priest. He doesn't just make a sacrifice like the priests of the old covenant did.

He actually offers himself on the cross on our behalf. Unfortunately in recent years, this doctrine has come under attack. I was talking with some of the guys this morning and I was lamenting the fact that so many people think they're theologians because they have a TikTok account.

YouTube has a habit of recommending these videos. I think it just wants to torment me half the time. Did you know that no Christian believed that Jesus died for people's sins before AD blah, blah, blah.

In fact, if you read, it's like, I'm in seminary, so I have to take church history classes. And I'm saying that as someone who takes very basic church history classes. I am not an expert in church history.

And I hear this stuff, I'm like, you have no earthly idea what you are talking about. Seriously, someone should take your phone away from you. You have no idea of what you speak. But this idea of Jesus offering himself as a sacrifice has come under such attack in our day and age.

Some people argue that it's just plainly unbiblical. The Bible never said this. Well, I'll show you in a moment, it actually does. Others will tell you that it just doesn't communicate in today's culture.

People just don't feel the kind of emotional tug that makes something like that necessary. Others will tell you that, well, if you believe in this doctrine, it provides you a cover for not dealing with issues of justice.

I mean, justice is kind of hot right now. Everyone wants to talk about that. So heaven forbid you should believe something that gives you a cover to not talk about it. Others yet have said that this doctrine, if you take it to its logical conclusion, provides a cover for child abuse and domestic abuse, because that's basically what God does to Jesus in your understanding, allegedly.

I think those are frankly nonsense. Because when you allow this Bible to speak free from bias and just speak for itself, it's very clear that the predominant way, not the only way, but the predominant way the Bible refers to Christ's sacrifice is as a sacrifice for other people.

And the language it uses primarily is the language of his blood, not the physical red liquid that was coursing through his veins. It's more a reference to the fact that he dies this violent death, his blood is shed for other people.

You don't have to tell me about it, I'll read these to you. So Romans chapter 3, verses 23 to 25, the author to the Romans, Paul says, excuse me, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented him as the mercy seat. Oh, pulling right from that language of the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the blood was applied and sins were atoned for.

But Paul says, Jesus didn't just offer a sacrifice on a mercy seat, he says no, God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint, God had passed over the sins previously committed.

Romans chapter 8 will tell us, Romans 5, excuse me, Romans 5, verse 9 will say, how much more than if Christ died for us while we were sinners, how much more than since we have been justified by his blood.

You, if you're sitting here today and you're a Christian, you've been declared righteous by God, not because you did something to merit righteousness, but because Jesus died and the merits of his death are applied to you by faith.

How much more than since you've been justified now by faith, by his blood, excuse me, will we be saved through him from wrath? In 1 Corinthians, we read it every time we have the Lord's table. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, in the same way also he took the cup after and said, quoting Matthew chapter 26, so this is Jesus' own words, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Jesus recognizes that his death that he was about to go to would open up this new covenant. Ephesians 1 .7, Paul says that we have redemption, we've been purchased out of slavery, through his blood. Ephesians 2 .13, it says, but now in Christ Jesus, far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

That language picks up on a theme that runs through the entirety of the Bible. So back in Genesis chapter 3, Adam and Eve sin, they're expelled from the garden, you read this narrative, it's one of those, I call them blink and you'll miss it moments.

This kind of happens in passing. The text tells us that God clothed them with the skins of an animal, but pause there for a second, if God skinned an animal to clothe them, what took place for an animal to be skinned?

It's inferred that the animal died to clothe them. The next chapter, chapter 4, Cain and Abel, we recognize that as the chapter with the first murder, but before you get to the first murder, remember what happens?

At the time that was appointed, it's interesting, they recognize there's a time where they're supposed to come and offer sacrifices to God. Cain brings the fruit of the ground to offer, Abel brings the best of the first born of his flock, and that's what God accepts.

Genesis chapter 8, you have Noah offering clean animals to God, and when he offers these clean animals to God, the text tells us that God is pleased when he smells the aroma. Genesis chapter 22, the story of Isaac, the ram that's caught in the bush.

Again, you have this idea of a sacrifice that's offered as a substitute for Isaac. Isaac was about to die, God stops him and says, no, Abraham, I see that you're a righteous person, but then there's this ram that's caught in the thicket, and God provides a substitute.

Fast forward to Exodus chapter 12, you have the final plague and the sacrifice, oh, it's the sacrifice of a lamb whose blood is applied to the homes. Remember Exodus 12, 13, the blood will be for you for a token on the houses where you live, and it will come to pass that if I see the blood, I will pass over you.

Leviticus chapter 1 through 7, you have seven chapters of Leviticus where people's Bible reading plans go to die. Leviticus 1 through 7, all these sacrifices, lots of, as one of my friends back home used to say, blood, guts, and the holiness of God.

Seven chapters. But what is God doing in Leviticus 1 through 7? He's teaching his people, because he says it multiple times. If you read it, I encourage you to read it, persevere through it, I'm sure, but read it.

God says multiple times, do this so that you may be accepted before Yahweh, you may be accepted before the Lord. The sacrificial system was how a holy God could live with a not-so-holy people. We already talked about Leviticus 16 and the Day of Atonement, that's referenced in Hebrews 9.

And so all through the Old Testament, it's almost as though there are these pictures that are building up, they're pointing us to something while we cross over into the New Testament. And Hebrews chapter 1 tells us that Jesus is the ultimate one who makes purification for sins.

The cross was not a plan B in the mind of God. It's not as though, okay, this thing has gotten really out of hand now. Do we have a contingency plan? Oh yes, the contingency plan is Jesus has to go die.

No, from the beginning of redemptive history, the Bible's been pointing us in that direction. And so as you read the Bible as a whole, it's very clear that Christ offers himself as a sacrifice to God.

But not only does he offer himself as a sacrifice to God, secondly, he offers himself as a perfect, sufficient sacrifice. So whereas under the Old Covenant, you have to constantly be offering sacrifices, Jesus' sacrifice is a once-for-all sacrifice.

It's perfect and it's sufficient. Turn me to Hebrews 1. I want to point something out to you. Hebrews chapter 1. This you may want to see in your own Bible. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3. Hebrews 1, 3.

The author to the Hebrews says, the Son, Jesus, is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purifications for sin, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Now that phrase, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty of high, after making purification for sin, that might mean nothing to you. But to a first century Jew, what you just read is mind-blowing.

This is grabbing your attention right out the gate. I wish I'd put a diagram of the tabernacle up on screen so you could see it. You look at the tabernacle, you have all kinds of furniture in there. You've got altars, you've got a massive labor where people wash themselves prior to offering their sacrifices or wash their animals.

You had all kinds of things. You know the one thing that's missing in the tabernacle in the New Testament? A chair. You don't see a seat anywhere. The only person who sits is God. He has a mercy seat.

Why? Because a priest's work was never done. The author to the Hebrews says that Jesus makes purifications for sin. He does it and once he does it, he sits down, he's done. Priests never sat because priests were never done.

But this priest offers the sacrifice one time and is able to sit down and be done. That's why you don't need to turn now, I'll read it to you. Hebrews 7 .27 says that he, referring to Jesus, 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 and for all time when he offered himself. He did it and he was done. Hebrews 9 .25 and 26, he did not do this to offer himself many times as the priests enter the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another.

Otherwise he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time at the end of the ages for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. So not only does Christ offer himself as a sacrifice to God, he offers himself as a perfect sufficient sacrifice.

But thirdly, he also intercedes for us before the Father. Not only does he offer himself as a sacrifice, but just like a priest did, where he has to deal with the ignorant and those who are going astray, well Jesus intercedes for us before the Father.

Have you ever wondered, have you ever asked yourself the question, what is Jesus doing in heaven right now? I was like 11 when I first asked myself that question. Okay, I grew up in a tradition where they were always talking about which he is coming back.

But no one could ever tell you what he was doing up there. I mean he's been gone a while. You keep saying he's coming back and that the tradition I grew up in is that he can come back at any moment. Okay, but what was he doing all this time?

Well as you read the lessons of the Hebrews, the author to the Hebrews is very clear in saying that among many things Jesus is doing, one thing he's doing is that he's interceding for us. One of my favorite writers, John Owen, the Puritan pastor and scholar said that the actual intercession of Christ in heaven is a fundamental article of our faith.

It's a principal foundation of the church's comfort. What do we mean when we say that, there we go, what do we mean when we say that Jesus is interceding for us? Well once again we need to take a quick trip back into the Old Testament.

In Exodus chapter 28, when God establishes the priesthood, he commands that every high priest is supposed to wear an interesting piece of jewelry. It was called a breastplate. That's literally what it was.

It was a plate that sat over the chest and in this breastplate he had all 12 tribes. The tribes of Israel, all 12, each had their own stone with their name on it and he wore that over his chest. On his shoulders this breastplate had six tribes on one shoulder, on another stone, six on the other.

As one writer explains it, with these names on him all times when leading worship, the high priest carried with him symbolically in prayer and total ministry all of his people. But here's the thing, what the high priest did for Israel in a physical sense, Jesus does for his people spiritually.

Matthew Henry says that the high priest had the names of the tribes both on his shoulders and on his breast, intimating both the power and the love with which our Lord Jesus Christ intercedes for those that are his.

He not only bears them upon his heart, as the expression here is, but he carries them in his bosom with the most tender affection. The priest in the old covenant went in and out with his intercession but Jesus intercedes for us before the Father perpetually.

He's right at the Father's right hand. That's why Paul could say in Romans 8 .34 that nobody can condemn the Christian because Jesus sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. 1 John chapter 2, I quote it often, my little children I'm writing to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin and it's if anyone does sin and they will, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.

Because he's a man, his intercession is intelligent. He knows exactly what it is to be a man and to struggle like men do. That's why Hebrews 4 .15 can say that we don't have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.

Because he's a man, his intercession is intelligent, but because he's God, his intercession is eternal. It lasts forever. Every Christmas we celebrate the fact that the eternal Son of God, united to his divine nature, a human nature, he entered into our creation.

I mean, usually we think about that at Easter as well. That's kind of time we focus on the cross and rightfully so, but the Bible doesn't end with the cross. You see, in answering that question, what is Jesus doing now?

Simply put, he's representing us before the Father. So Christ is a priest because he offers himself as a sacrifice to God. He offers up a perfect and sufficient sacrifice and he intercedes for us before the Father.

Well, I promised you I'd get back to Hebrews 9, didn't I? Let's go ahead and do that, Hebrews 9, and let's think about the glory of Christ's priesthood, the glory of Christ's priesthood. So come back to Hebrews chapter 9, I'm going to finish off, look at those last four verses, because as you migrate back there, may I point out to you four ways in which Christ's priesthood is more glorious than the old covenant priesthood?

Four ways. First of all, the author to the Hebrews makes us to understand that Christ's priesthood is a priesthood in heaven, not on earth. It's a priesthood in heaven, not on earth. So look at verse 11 with me, but Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come and the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation.

The priests of the old covenant served on earth, but Christ's work as priest is not conducted on earth. Yes, he died on earth, but his intercession happens in heaven. If you're here today and you're a believer, you have a representative before the Father right now.

Right now in glory, there is a man. He sits at the right hand of the Father, and he doesn't just sit at the right hand of the Father doing nothing. He sits at the right hand of the Father pleading your case.

Can I put it to you there? Every time you think as a Christian, oh, I failed, oh, you actually did. Every time you think you've messed up, or actually did. Every time you think you've blown it, and you did, that there is a man named Jesus who is advocating on your behalf.

I mean, we read it in 1 John 2, Christian, you're going to sin. But isn't it good to know that when we sin, heaven already has it in hand? That heaven isn't sitting there thinking, oh, seriously, we were just here.

Can we do, like, cleared up on aisle three, can we do something about this here? No, heaven's not sitting there thinking, oh, for Pete's sake. No, heaven already has it in hand. We confess it. Confession simply means we say the same thing that God says about it.

We repent. We change our mind about our sins into a desire to change our actions. We believe in God's promise of a Savior, and we rest in that promise. That's why Christ needs to be preached to saints and sinners alike.

For the sinner, there is the promise of full and free salvation from the penalty power, and one day even the very presence of sin. For the saints, there is ongoing grace provision for when we fail, as well as power to keep pursuing holiness.

All of that flows from Jesus as our mediator in heaven. But not only do we have a priesthood in heaven, not on earth. Secondly, it's a priesthood that is based on a perfect sacrifice, not temporary ones.