Perfectly Suited

Our Old Testament Scripture reading is Leviticus 16, verses 11 through 19. Please stand for the reading of the word.

Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house.

He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the

Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil, and put the incense on the fire before the

Lord, and the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.

And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat, and on the east side, in the front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat, and in front of the mercy seat.

Thus he shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel, and because of their transgressions, all of their sins.

And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanness. No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the holy place, until he comes out and has made atonement for himself, and for his house, and for the assembly of Israel.

Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord, and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull, and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around.

And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleanness of the people of Israel.

The New Testament reading today comes from the first chapter of the book of John. I'll begin reading in verse 29.

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.

I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came, baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.

And John bore witness. I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.

I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me,

He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the

Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the

Son of God. Please remain standing. Take your

Bibles this morning and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7.

You follow as I read this chapter.

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him.

And to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.

He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the

Son of God, he continues a priest forever. See how great this man was to whom

Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils. And those descendants of Levi who received the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though those also are descended from Abraham.

But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.

It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case by one of whom it is testified that he lives.

One might even say that Levi himself who receives tithes paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when

Melchizedek met him. Now if perfection had been attainable through the

Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek rather than the one named after the order of Aaron?

For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.

For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe from which no one has ever served at the altar.

For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe

Moses said nothing about priests. This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek who has become a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent but by the power of an indestructible life.

For it is witnessed of him, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness, for the law made nothing perfect.

But on the other hand, a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to God.

And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him, the

Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever. This makes

Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.

But he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever, consequently he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

He has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.

Let's pray. Father, open your word to us now, not just that we get a better understanding of the text, but that we understand the text in relation to us, and that we find, again, displayed before us the hope we have in Jesus.

So open our hearts, excite our faith, that we on the basis of your word would embrace

Jesus even today. We pray this in his name.

Way, way back in 1979, I was 24 then, I felt a twinge of pain on the left side in my back, and I didn't think much of it, but it seemed to get worse as the day went on, and by the next day it was excruciating.

So finally I went to the doctor, and he said, you need to go to the hospital right now, because my appendix was in pretty bad shape.

Well, I got to the hospital and started going through the procedures, and suddenly I felt fine.

I didn't have any pain. Well, that was simply because my appendix had burst. At that moment,

I did not want to talk to a nutritionist. I didn't want to talk to the cardiologist.

I certainly didn't want to talk to a podiatrist. What I needed was a surgeon.

I needed a surgeon. I needed someone who knew how to take the scalpel and use it in such a way that he could get to the affected area.

I needed someone who could slice and not kill me at the same time, right?

I needed to get to a surgeon because he was perfectly suited for the job.

Now what you find in the text before you, in verses 26 through 28, is the description of a high priest who is perfectly suited to meet your need.

Now, remember that our pastor writer seeks to convince you that Jesus surpasses the old covenant priests so that you hold fast to him, so that you do not abandon your hope in him.

Now, as we've read the chapter, he does this. He says that superiority rests in the fact that he is the long -awaited, promised priest king after the order of Melchizedek.

God had promised a priest king who would be different than all the others.

And then, in the rest of the chapter, verses 1 through 10, he tells us this, but in the rest of the chapter, he lists the reasons why a priest after the order of Melchizedek holds such a superior position.

In verses 11 through 14, he says, Jesus brings a better order, an order that brings perfection.

Guys, you can look at me. You know what's going on, okay? All right.

Verses 11 through 14, Jesus brings a better order, an order that produces perfection.

Verses 15 through 17, Jesus has a better qualification for priests, which is an indestructible life.

Verses 18 through 19, Jesus offers a better hope, a hope such that you can draw near to God with confidence.

In verses 20 through 22, Jesus' priesthood has a better oath, the oath that God himself took that guarantees a better covenant.

Verses 23 through 25, Jesus offers better intercession. That is, he always intercedes for you, producing then a full and final salvation.

All these reasons he's listed in order to convince you that Jesus is superior to the old way.

Now the final reason in this chapter, he's given us this whole list, right? He's given us five reasons.

Here's the last and the sixth reason why Jesus far surpasses anyone and anything else in helping you.

He is a perfectly suited high priest. Verses 26 through 28, for it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.

So he says, for indeed it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, or it could also be translated this way, for indeed such a high priest was suited to us, okay?

He's fitting, he is suited to us. Who is most suitable to help hopeless, guilty, imperfect people?

Who is most suited to help that kind of a human being? It's Jesus, and you must hold fast to Jesus because he is perfectly suited to you and to your need.

How so? Well, let's look at it. Hold fast to Jesus because of his suitable qualities.

Verse 26, look at the qualities listed. That makes him superior to anyone or anything that is supposed to help you.

Look at these qualities. Jesus is holy. He is inherently pure.

He perfectly fulfills all that God is and all that God requires.

Here is a high priest that is absolutely holy when he approaches God. Jesus is innocent.

What does that mean? Well, you know how it is when you look at your friend with suspicion, right?

And they go, what? What? I'm innocent. What's he saying? Don't look at me like that.

I haven't done anything wrong. That's exactly what's being stated here. No one could charge

Jesus with any wrongdoing since he's never done anything wrong. He is innocent of anything.

Here is a high priest who is absolutely blameless in every way.

No charge can be lodged against him. Jesus is unstained.

That is, he is unstained. He is uncontaminated by sin. How many of you have ever worked for Greg Field?

Yeah, there's a bunch of us here. It's a rite of passage here. By the way, if most of you who have kids don't know yet, when they get to middle school age, they work for Greg.

Okay, that's part of your membership deal here. Now, my boys worked for Greg.

And they had to take their clothes off outside before they came in the house to take their bath or their shower, whatever it was.

Why? Because it's just the smell stuck to them. All right? The environment of sin has a way of touching and contaminating all that enter its environment.

Listen, Jesus came into a sinful world. He ministered to sinners. He ate with sinners.

He was the friend of sinners. And yet, he remained untainted by sin.

Never touched him. Jesus approaches God for you without the smallest stain of sin clinging to him.

He is unstained. He is separated from sinners.

Now, someone might say, okay, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Now, as you say to the writer, haven't you told us that since children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity?

Why are you saying he's separate from sinners? Well, all that is true. But even though he shares our humanity, and even though he shared in our temptations, and even though he can be sympathetic to us, yet he does not participate in our sin.

In one sense, Jesus is not like you when he approaches God. And for that, we can be thankful.

Aren't you glad you have someone who's like you? But in other senses, is not like you approaching

God? Isn't that a good thing? Absolutely. Absolutely. And then the last,

Jesus is exalted above the heavens. He has conquered sin, and he has been exalted to the right hand of God.

He is no longer earthbound, but sits with his father in glory.

He is not prohibited from coming into his presence. But once a year, he is there always, always with the father.

And Jesus is always with God when he intercedes for you. And so Jesus is perfectly suited for you and your need because of these qualities.

So hold fast to him. He is your only hope. Here's the second thing that we notice about Jesus and what we need to do.

You need to hold fast to Jesus because of his suitable sacrifice. Verse 27.

Now look at the sacrifices of the old system. There were daily sacrifices for sin.

Look over at Exodus 29 real quickly. Turn back to Exodus chapter 29.

Exodus 29 verse 38. This is

God speaking. Now this is what you shall offer on the altar. Two lambs a year old, day by day, regularly.

One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.

And with the first lamb, a tenth siah, a fine flower mingled with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering.

The other lamb you shall offer at twilight and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the

Lord. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the

Lord where I shall meet with you to speak to you there. Notice there are daily sacrifices two times a day.

Two times a day. Now what does that do? For one, it shows the seriousness of sin.

It shows the seriousness of sin before this God who dwelt amongst his people. Sin is a serious thing.

But it also says this, that those sacrifices could never ultimately finally deal with the sin problem.

My goodness, you had to do it twice a day, every day. And that's without taking into account all the other sacrifices that you would bring on your own volition as an offering to God.

And then there was the sacrifice for the sin of the high priest and again for the people on the day of atonement.

We heard that in our Old Testament reading this morning, how sacrifice had to be made for the high priest himself.

First with the bullock and then the goat offered for the people. Despite the reputation and holiness of the high priest, he was required to offer a sacrifice for himself.

There needed to be an atonement for his sin. And those high priests, as you can see then, were not holy, blameless, unstained, or separated from sinners.

Therefore, they needed atonement as well. Generation after generation, day after day, sacrifices were offered in order to keep judgment for sin at bay.

Right? Can you see that? Every day, twice a day, and then other sacrifices in the day of atonement.

Why? To keep judgment for sin at bay had to continually be offered.

But here you find Jesus perfectly suited for you. He has no need to offer a sacrifice for himself because he is sinless.

He is different than all the other high priests. There is no sin in him.

There is no need for a sacrifice on his behalf. Does that not give you confidence as you approach

God through this high priest? Does that not give you confidence? He's sinless.

And not only is he a sinless high priest, but he offers himself as the sacrifice.

Even though it's wonderful that our high priest is sinless, there's the fact here that the sacrifice he offered is sufficient for all sins, all of his people, for all time.

Sometimes we don't let that sink in deep enough. His sacrifice is sufficient.

His sacrifice is sufficient for all sins, for all his people, and for all time.

There is no sin that you have committed and there is no sin that you will yet commit that is not covered by that atonement.

If you have entrusted yourself to this high priest, there is none.

So many today seek to find escape from guilt and shame by other means. They offer sacrifices of sorrow.

I'm going to show God how sorry I am. They offer sacrifices of philanthropy. Surely God must look a favor on me.

I saved 10 African children from starvation and provided an education for them through my donations to UNICEF.

All of you know people who say those things. Others put their hope in therapy.

There must be some kind of therapy I must go through in order for me to feel without shame, in order to deal with the burden of guilt that I feel.

Right? Still others look to saviors that always disappoint.

Now, my boys back in their, let's call it artistic days, and no doubt they still do this, but they used to listen to one of the groups they listened to that always attracted my attention was a group called

Bright Eyes. Now, I know what I'm going to tell you is dated, and my boys will tell you right now,

Dad, that is so old school. It's not old school to me. Bright Eyes with Conor Obrist, okay?

I want to read you something that he wrote. It's a song called Wasted Paint, and it's not the whole song.

The whole song would take too long. I'm just going to read you a part, and I want you to listen carefully. I want you to listen carefully to how he describes his position, the way he feels, where he looks for hope, okay?

So, I've been hanging out by the train depot. No, I don't ride. I just sit and watch the people there, and they remind me of wind -up cars in motion, the way they spin and turn and jockey for position.

I want to scream out that it all is nonsense. All our lives are one track. Can't you see it's pointless?

But just then, my knees give under me. My head feels weak, and suddenly it's clear to see it's not them, but me who's lost my self -identity.

As I hide behind these books I read, while scribbling poetry like art could save a wretch like me with some ideal ideology that no one could hope to achieve.

And I am never real. It's just a sketch in me, and everything I made is trite and cheap and a waste of paint, of tape, of time.

Now, do you see where he places his hope? In his art. And he finds that it can't do anything, as if art could save a wretch like me with an ideal ideology that no one can achieve.

And he despairs. Right? I'm nothing but trite and cheap and a waste of paint, of time, and tape.

People look to other saviors all the time. But Jesus is perfectly suited for you because of his sacrifice.

Here's the last thing that God tells us in this text. Hold fast to Jesus because of his suitable perfection.

Now, remember, he says that the law of the old priesthood appointed men from the tribe of Levi, verse 28, for the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests.

And so since they appointed men, they appointed men in their weakness as high priests.

That is to say, they struggled with sin. He's already told us that in verse 27.

They had to make atonement for their sin. They struggled with sin. And they were subject to death. They were no different.

They were subject to death. They were weak because of the sin, the suffering, and the death.

And thus, they could never achieve perfection for anyone. They and their sacrifices could never ultimately, fully, finally deliver men from condemnation.

The sacrifices could never ultimately, finally, fully deliver men from condemnation.

Nor could they provide the power of transformation. None of that could happen under the old system with these priests in their weaknesses.

But now, he says, you have a high priest noted not for his weakness, but for his perfection.

This is where he's different. He is not weak. He is perfect. He's not subject to death.

He's not under the rule of sin. He is perfect. He is not weak. Now, remember, he's been installed by God by an oath.

He says, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are priests forever after the order of Melchizedek.

So God had promised that another kind of priesthood would come. And notice, he notes here, it's superior to the law.

It came after the law, which shows that the law was temporary. That a priesthood that would replace the old priesthood was superior to that old one.

God promised that with an oath. The old cannot perfect, but the new can.

God promised it with an oath. And not only that, but the oath appoints whom. And it's interesting here.

It doesn't say that the oath was directed to a king, to a priest. It says, to my son.

Okay. The Lord has sworn and will not change. Who did he swear this to? His son.

Now, why does the writer say his son here? Because he's already told us, right? You remember going back to the first chapter.

When we're talking about this person, he's the son of God, which makes him vastly superior to everything.

You see, that is perfection. And then that son has been perfected.

Now, that cannot mean that Jesus was sinful before he was perfected. If you're going to think that, then you must think this guy can't remember what he just wrote a second ago.

What did he just tell us? What did he just tell us? He's just asserted in verse 26 and verse 27 that Jesus is sinless.

So he can't mean that he was sinful before he was perfected. All right. He's already asserted that in chapter four.

We have a high priest who can sympathize with us because he has experienced all of the same trials and temptations that we have, but yet what?

Without sin. He's made it clear all the time. This high priest is sinless.

So what could he possibly mean by perfecting him? It means simply this, as we've noted before.

Jesus, on the anvil of human experience, always trusted and obeyed

God. Nothing swayed him from that. He demonstrated that he was the perfect sacrifice for sins.

He demonstrated that. It's not just that someone says Jesus is sinless. It's that in the anvil of human experience, as he was pounded on that anvil by the temptations and trials and the suffering of humanity, he never failed to trust or obey

God. This is the whole process by which

Jesus was personally prepared and vocationally qualified for his continuing ministry in the presence of God.

No other priest was tested like him and came through. He was perfected in the sense that he was qualified.

He showed himself qualified for this ministry. And so Jesus is perfectly suited to you because he has been perfected.

He has been qualified for the ministry that he has. Who is most suitable to help hopeless, guilty, imperfect people?

A perfect high priest. He is suitable.

He is perfectly suitable. Listen, he is not only superior to that priesthood of long ages ago, he is superior to anyone and anything else that you can come up with.

He is more suited than anything the world offers and make no mistake about it.

The world offers you constantly and consistently false saviors of philosophy or people who they say will deliver you from your burdens and none can do it.

He is more suitable than anything you can devise. The human heart can devise many, many, many ways of making the person, making you pleasing to God in some other way.

But there is no other way because whatever way you come up with is not suited for you.

But Jesus is. Why? He possesses the exact qualities. He offers a sufficient sacrifice and he has achieved the perfection that every one of us need.

Hold fast to your hope in Jesus. There is no other hope than him.

Father, thank you for your word. Once more, we stand in awe of your majesty as it expresses itself in the salvation that you have provided in this priest.

Oh God, how could we possibly look to other saviors, but we do. Oh God, remind us of this one who is perfectly suited for us and our need.

There is nothing and no one else who can meet the need that we have.

And so, Father, I pray that you would keep us thinking on this high priest.

Remind us of him. Help us, we pray, so that we do not abandon him, but we hold fast.

For because of his suitableness, he is our only hope. Thank you for our high priest in his name, amen.