Such A High Priest! - [Hebrews 7:26-28]

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.�

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the

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Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

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Over the years, I�ve tried to help many of you young men, especially, with job interviews and how to go about a job interview and what to do and how to approach the situation and to get there early and to look nice and to check your tie in the mirror and to be nice to the receptionist and shake the hand firmly of the interviewer and to not sit on the chair until you�re asked to sit and sit on the edge of the chair and to be eager in your answers.

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And then I usually try to prepare the person who�s going to go in for the interview. Make sure you can answer the dreaded interview question.

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When they ask you that question, that dreaded question, make sure you have an answer. And that question is not, �How long are you in the state pen ?�

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That�s not the question. The question is, �What are your weaknesses ?�

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What are your weaknesses? And it�s very interesting when people ask that question. Do they really want an answer or are they looking to see if you�re a person who has made progress, is a person who is working on their weaknesses, is a person who is self -aware knowing that they have weaknesses?

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Are these people honest? That�s really what they�re looking for. One online report said, �Giving advice on this question, how to answer, what are your weaknesses?

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You are not confessing your sins or discussing childhood traumas with a therapist. So don�t talk about your greatest weakness of all time and then wait for mercy.�

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And then they give an illustration of what not to do. Do not say, �I hate animals, that�s my weakness.

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I hate animals so much that I yell at my sister�s dog when she isn�t around to hear it. I don�t know why I hate animals so much.�

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And the list goes on. I�ve never been the same since. I don�t know what to do about it. And the author online said, �You need a job, not a therapy referral.�

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Now to go from interviewee to interviewer, if you had to interview someone to be your high priest, what questions would you ask him?

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You have to stand before a thrice holy God and of course every one of us will have to stand before God on that day, that great day, judgment day.

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Luther said, �I have two days in my calendar, today and that day.� So on that great day you stand before God and you�re going to need an intercessor, you�re going to need a mediator, you�ll need an advocate.

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And let�s say theoretically, hypothetically, you could interview someone to be that person for you to stand before you and God.

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What questions would you ask them? And would you be satisfied if they gave you answers of turning negatives into positives, talking about skills in which they�ve improved or discussing non -essential skills?

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If you had to ask five questions of someone who would stand before you and God on that great day, these should be the questions you ask.

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Are you holy? Are you innocent? Are you unstained?

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Are you separated from sinners and are you exalted in the heavens? And those are the five things that are about the

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Lord Jesus Christ in our text today. Turn to Hebrews chapter 7 with me, please. Jesus is all these things.

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He is the perfect high priest. Of course his work did not end when he died. He was raised from the dead and he continues to make intercession for us.

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And the good news is we would have picked the wrong priest if we interviewed people. But God the

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Father has picked the perfect priest to fit our situation. Everything we need, he is.

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Because on that great day when you stand before God, you have a mediator Christian. You have an advocate

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Christian and you are guaranteed to get to heaven. That�s good news. In spite of what you�ve done this week, in spite of what you�ve done in the last month, in spite of what you�ve done since you were a

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Christian or before a Christian. Since you have a high priest, you�re forgiven. And he will make intercession and he guarantees that you get to heaven.

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That is so good for people who are guilt -ridden. And they�re insecure in their relationship with God and they�re wondering, �Does

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God still like me? Does he still love me ?� Christian friend, you are accepted by God not on the basis of what you�ve done or what you haven�t done, acts of righteousness or acts of sin.

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You stand before God on the basis of his perfection and his righteousness that he�s given to you by his

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Son, who now has not only done that, but he�s the mediator between you and the

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Father. If I want to put this negatively, Jesus has never been unholy. He has no blame.

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He�s not impure. He�s not sinful. And he�s not still in the grave. If you could pick any mediator, this is the right mediator.

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And God the Father has picked him for you. I love the book of Hebrews because it is an all -out assault, making sure that every

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Christian, in spite of trials, remember, the recipients of this letter were on the run, their properties being plundered, they haven�t died yet for their faith, but they�re about to.

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And this writer wants to make sure, listen, don�t forget about Jesus Christ. Don�t forget about the good news.

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The good news isn�t just a thing. He is a person. Don�t take your eyes off the

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Lord Jesus. And you ought to walk by faith in the object Christ and not by sight.

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It�s so good. I talked to somebody this week online and they said, �Well, you know what? There�s too much talk about grace and too much talk about love.�

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And I thought, well, I don�t really like to argue online. I just asked them one question. I said, �Is there too much talk about Jesus in churches today ?�

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I like to win online. I�m just kidding. Can you talk too much about Jesus? And see, when you talk about Jesus, of course, we�re remembering that we were sinful because He�s our sin bearer.

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It�s not like we�re forgetting sin. No, God doesn�t even forget sin. It�s paid in full.

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Justice demands it to be paid in full. And Jesus assuages the wrath of God the

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Father because of that, because He loves us. The Spirit loves us. The Father loves us. And what this group of people needed was a good old -fashioned sermon about the person and work of Jesus.

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Now, just to give you a little review, in chapter 7, we�ve seen that Jesus is better than these old priests, better than the

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Levitical priests, better than the Aaronic priests, because the recipients of this letter were thinking, �You know what?

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I could go back to that temple right over there.� The marble, the gold, the incense, the smells, the trumpeters, the singers, that seems to be better than this invisible

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Jesus. And so He�s trying to remind them, �These Levitical priests aren�t the best priests for you, so don�t forget about Jesus, the great priest.�

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Who also, look at verse 22, with just a little reminder, �This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.�

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Everything in this section is, �Well, these priests were weak, but Jesus isn�t. These priests die, but Jesus doesn�t.

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These priests have to offer sacrifices for themselves, but Jesus doesn�t.�

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Jesus�s covenant is better. Jesus is better than Moses. Jesus is better than Sinai.

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And He gives you some of that illustration in verse 23, to remember the former priests were many in number. I mean, so many high priests, 80 high priests between Aaron and this time, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.

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But He, we�re talking about the Lord Jesus, the great high priest, He holds His priesthood permanently.

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Why? Because He continues forever. You can�t put an end to Jesus�s ministry.

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These other people, they just died. Death cannot prevent Jesus from carrying on His priestly work.

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Permanence. That word permanence in classical Greek was the constancy of the sun�s course through the sky.

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Jesus, friend, lives forever, forever offering help at every turn, in every situation.

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He�s always on the clock. In verse 25, remember just the greatest verse that we looked at last week, just praiseworthy unto the

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Lord Jesus because of what He does. Consequently, in conclusion, you could say,

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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.

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He, Christian, is going to get you to the uttermost. That means He�s going to get you to heaven. In spite of Satan, in spite of sin, in spite of persecution, in spite of anything and everyone,

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He�s going to get you there. It is good to know you are going to make it to heaven.

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People say, well, can you lose your salvation? My answer to them might be, could you please read 725?

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He has made you saved and you can�t undo what He�s done, especially if He�s the high priest that�s always interceding for you.

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He has to do it because we would lose our salvation. He absolutely saves. He forever saves.

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And then He intercedes. Everything that could go wrong on earth that would prevent you to get to heaven

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Jesus makes sure He intercedes for you. That�s the point of the passage. It�s not that He�s pleading

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His blood. God, please forgive them. He�s seated at the right hand. He�s purged our sins. It is finished,

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His atoning work. But there are other things that He does. He prays for us and He intercedes.

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He makes sure that when we�re tempted or we�re going to fall or anything else that might prevent us from getting to heaven, He lives to make intercession for us.

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Seated at this great right hand of the Father. Remember, we looked at Stephen when he was going to get killed in Acts 7.

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Even though Jesus is sitting at the right hand, His atoning work is done. He still mediates for His people.

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He still intercedes for His people. And it says in Acts 7, remember Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

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Stephen said, �Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing.� Why? Because He�s there to help

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His people. He�s there to stand. Matthew Henry said, Stephen sees

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Him standing there as one more ordinarily concerned at present for His suffering servant.

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He stood up to judge as judge to plead His cause against His persecutors. So now we move to chapter 7 verses 26, 27, and 28.

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Jesus is superior because He�s the perfect priest exactly suited to your need.

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Let me read verses 26, 27, and 28 and let�s see how far we get today. Code 4,

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I�m not going to make it all. And by the way, you wouldn�t want me to.

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It�s so rich. �For it was indeed fitting ,� Hebrews 7, 26, �that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

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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

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He offered it 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.�

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Let me give you, if you�d like an outline, five reasons to keep trusting in Jesus, your great high priest.

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The Levitical priest failed. This Jesus isn�t going to fail. Five reasons to trust

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Jesus as high priest. Things that He either is or things that He has done. Before we get to that list though, take a look at verse 26.

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Do you see it? �It was indeed fitting.� Jesus� selection as high priest by the

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Father is a perfect fit for sinners. You can almost think of Ephesians 2.

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�We are rich in sins ,� verses 1, 2, and 3. Well, God is rich in mercy to make up for those sins.

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He has fitness, essential fitness, to do His work as high priest. Now, if I ask you, �Are you fit ?�

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What might you say? I learned the other day that there was a wrestler, somebody in our congregation actually, who was cutting weight for a big meet and then went to the

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Shepherd�s Conference and then the season was over and this particular young man gained 20 pounds in those five days.

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I won�t mention any names, Mr. Goddard. But he was still fit after 20 pounds!

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If I say, �Are you fit ?� You typically think, �Am I physically fit ?� Is Jesus fitting in a saving way to get you to heaven?

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That�s the idea. He�s suitable. Everything you need to get to heaven,

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Jesus is adequate for. He�s fit for. This is the language of Hebrews 2 .10. �For it was fitting that He� And then it goes on to describe

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Jesus, the founder of our salvation. I could ask you, �Is

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Jesus unfit for His work ?� I looked at some words that really made my eyes open.

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Words that are similar to unfit. Synonyms for unfit. Unprepared for.

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Not designed for. Ineligible for. Unworthy of.

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Incapable of. Incompetent at. Unable to do.

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Not up to. Not equal to. Not good enough. Unqualified for.

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Untrained for. Improper. Unbecoming. Not up to scratch.

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Is Jesus any of those when it comes to salvation? And if He is, you might as well go do anything but be here.

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But on the other hand, the text says He is suitable. He is capable. He is fit. And therefore, you can approach

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God. Therefore, God is good with you, Christian, even though you have sin. He is indeed, it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest.

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He is so superior to these other priests. No weaknesses. Look at the first reason, the first reason you should trust in Him, or the first characteristic or qualification of this high priest.

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He is holy. You're going to need this kind of priest to stand before God and live.

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He's holy. Boy, that's amazing. Jesus is the perfect high priest because He's holy.

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Now, there are two New Testament words for holy. The one you're thinking about now, hagios, hagiography, transcendent, separated, above.

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But that's not the word used here. It's not the regular word. It's a different word. It means that Jesus is like God in every respect.

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That Jesus wants to please God in every way. It describes a person who wants to do the right thing before God.

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It's not that He's separate, although He is. And it's not that He's transcendent, although He is. This is a word that describes the chief desire in a person's heart is to glorify

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God. Doesn't that sound like Jesus to you? My food is to do your work. This is an inner attitude of piety.

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This is personal piety with no pollution, no scars. Only appears eight times in the

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New Testament. And most of them portray either God or Christ.

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Let me give you a few of these illustrations of this word being used about pleasing to God or devout or pious.

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Revelation 15. It says, Who will not fear,

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O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. That's the word that was used here.

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Revelation 16. Just as You, O Holy One, who is and was, for You brought these judgments.

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It's used of Christ in Acts chapter 2. For You will not abandon my soul to Hades or let

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Your Holy One see corruption. He is the perfect priest.

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Practical holiness. He's upright in other words. And see, here's what's gonna happen. Think big picture.

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If you have to stand before God and your priest that you have as a mediator and as an intercessor and as an advocate is contaminated or anything less than perfectly holy, he's gonna need a mediator.

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He's gonna have to have somebody between him and God. Now think about this for a second.

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Jesus' sinless life, 33 years on earth, set that against our lives and our sin.

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I mean, that's amazing. He is completely holy. Never sinned. Job says, people are abominable and corrupt and they drink injustice like water.

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But not Jesus. Solomon said, there is not one who does not sin, 1 Kings 8, except Jesus.

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The Apostle John said, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and make Him a liar. And yet Jesus has no sin.

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Paul calls himself the chief of sinners, yet Jesus has no sin. For three decades on earth plus,

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Jesus never gossiped. He never slandered. He never lied.

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He never lusted. He never stole. And positively, He always loved God and He always loved

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His neighbor. 33 years. If I wanted to get in old style preaching mode, I could ask you this.

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How about going a day, congregation, without one of those things? And I'm right there with you.

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2 Corinthians 5 .21, He knew no sin. The angel said at His birth, the

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Holy One is born. Demon said, the Holy One of God, speaking of Jesus.

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1 Peter 1, Lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. And maybe the wildest verse in all the

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Bible talking about Jesus is adequate and fitted and appropriate to be your high priest. Jesus said, and He who sent me is with me,

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John 8 .29. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.

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That's the essence of that word holy. I always do the things pleasing to Him. Can you imagine? It's one thing to say it, it's another thing to do it.

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I don't know how you operate, but here's how I operate. I mean, I could probably say to God, I sometimes do the things that are pleasing.

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Once in a while, I do the things pleasing to God. If I get enough rest,

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I do things pleasing to God. If I don't have that migraine, I do things pleasing to God.

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Every other day, I do things pleasing to God. Payday, I do things pleasing to God.

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I mean, the list goes on and on and on. I always do the things pleasing to God. That's why

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He can always be the great intercessor. He can always stand between you and the Father, and you Christians are always accepted.

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It was Luther who said, if I look at my own self, I don't know how I can be saved. But if I look at my intercessor, if I look at the

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Holy One who stands and pleads for me and makes intercession for me, I don't know how I can be what? Lost.

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1 Peter 3, the just for the unjust. He's the just one. We're the unjust one. Even Judas knew it.

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I have betrayed what? Innocent blood. In the 1930s, there was a

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Presbyterian church in Wales, Australia, a man named Professor Samuel Angus.

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Here it calls him the Reverend Professor, but in my mind, he's just a professor. Always be aware of people who want to be called

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Reverend Doctor Professors. Scott Farah, when

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I first met him, he's like, well, what do I call you? You're the new pastor. What do I call you? They voted me in.

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I think it was 40 votes for, zero votes against, two abstentions. By the way, the cranes did the abstentions.

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I had the writing decoded. They were the only ones with brains though. We don't even know this guy.

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He puts on a good show for two days. He says, well, let's hire him. Scott said, what do I call you?

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And I said, well, you call me what I've deserved and I'm to be called

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High Holy Father. There's nothing to be revered in me.

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That's a word used of the Lord, Reverend. Well, this guy, he was a liberal, 1934, and he said, quote, the man of Nazareth was conscience of his own shortcomings from his own high ideals.

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Jesus knew he was, he was a faker. He added, quote, it is not the sinlessness of Jesus, but the supreme glory of his moral character and moral conquest that make him

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Lord to me. That is total liberalism. That is when people, you know, want to make

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Jesus not really human because if they make him human, then he has to be perfectly human and so let's make him some kind of abstract comment, a concept rather.

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Another man, Sebastian Moore, who's also not a reverend, said Jesus, quote, is a puppet in a theological, theologian's puppet show because he doesn't only have humanity except the text says he was fully, perfectly human and he is

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God himself. Now here's the wildest thing when you think about Jesus as your holy high priest.

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Most of the time, you'll see that when people get closer to God, what happens to them?

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They recognize their sin more, right? Peter's in the boat.

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Jesus does a supernatural thing and Peter says, depart from me, I'm a sinful man. Isaiah sees who

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Jesus is and he says, woe is me. The closer you get to God, the closer you know your sin because you're closer to him, the holy one, except, think about the

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Lord Jesus. Could he be closer? Could he have closer fellowship with the

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Father? And yet he still sees no sin in himself because he is sinless. That's amazing today.

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You know, there's a prayer in the Bible that Jesus never, ever prayed nor will he. What's the prayer that Jesus will never pray?

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We call it sadly, the Lord's Prayer, but it can't be the Lord's Prayer because the Lord could never and will never pray this prayer and if he does, you're on your way to hell.

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Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us this day our daily bread and what? Forgive us our debts.

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It's not the Lord's Prayer. Oh, if you say he's teaching it, yes, then okay. The Lord's Prayer is

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John 17 and he never confesses sin there. This is the Lord teaching the disciples. This is the disciples' prayer.

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There's a prayer Jesus never prayed, forgive us our debts because he's never sinned. Therefore, you can trust this priest,

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Christian. You say, well, I've been burned by pastors. I've been burned by churches. I've been burned by priests.

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I've been burned by churches and hurt and... Well, may I, friends, point you to the one who will never burn you who's holy?

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Can I remind you who Jesus is? And he's going to never let you down? Will pastors let you down?

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Yes. Churches let you down? Yes. I was even reading this week, there's an article on the internet, pastors are less trusted today.

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There's probably some validity in that with their moral failure and their ethical failures or relationship failures, financial failures.

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MacArthur said regarding some of these, there are some sins that irreparably shatter a man's reputation and disqualify him from a ministry of leadership forever.

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And if I ever commit adultery or I ever do something like that, my ministry is shattered. But friends, if the

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Lord Jesus sinned one sin, not even one of those gross sins that we think about, but even a sin that wasn't that we think is smaller on the level, one single solitary sin, you have no mediator, he'd be disqualified.

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How pure must a pastor be? That's a good question. But how pure must a high priest be?

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He must be holy. Number two, the second great reason you should trust in this high priest.

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He's not only holy, but he's innocent or blameless.

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Just think about how blameworthy those old priests were. Think about how blameworthy even pastors are.

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But Jesus is not bad. It's got the idea of this word of wicked or evil.

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He has no evil influence in his life. If you think yeast is kind of this idea of sin, in the

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Old Testament he has no yeast in his life. He is guileless.

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The Greek word is from the word a. It's got an alpha privative up front. And k.

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A. K. O. S. is the word and it means constitutionally bad. And so he is without guile.

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He is free from malice. He doesn't bring a sin offering for himself. Therefore he can bring it for you.

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There's no duplicity in Jesus. He is morally pure. There's no deceit in Jesus.

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He's not tricking you. Hey, follow me. I'll get you to heaven. I've been watching this Scientology stuff at night just because it's interesting.

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They get people to sign billion year contracts to be in the C organization. Billion years.

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Can you imagine billion year contracts? It's just a crazy thing they do.

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And you know what? That church is full of guile and deceit and the closer you get to the top the more you see it.

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The closer you get to the top i .e. heaven and see the Lord Jesus you won't see any of it because it's not there.

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Guileless. Not even an evil thought. Turn with me please to Luke 23 and I want you to see the guilelessness of Jesus through the eyes of other people even.

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It's one thing for Paul to say it the writer of Hebrews to say it but here I want you to see other people who knew that Jesus had no guile that he was innocent.

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And again, everything is predicated on if your Jesus is some kind of really good teacher really good example and he's not the thrice holy

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God who's the eternal son who's added humanity who lived a real life who died on the cross was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven and is going to come back.

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You've got the wrong Jesus. And when people say to me, well my Jesus is a Jesus of such and such.

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Well that's just a Jesus of your imagination. This is the only Jesus that we can know about. You can't trust yourself.

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I know you've been influenced by Disney movies and so have I but the answer is not in here. Right? Don't trust yourself.

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So I have to have an external source that's why you have the Bible. Even these people knew Jesus was blameless and you've got to have a blameless high priest to stand before the blameless one if you're blameful.

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Luke 23 verse 1 Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate and they began to accuse him saying we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is

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Christ a king. Pilate asked him are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him you have said so.

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Then Pilate said to the chief priest and the crowds I find no guilt in this man.

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Wow. Verse 13 going on to verse 13 Pilate then called together the chief priest and the rulers and the people and said to them you brought me this man who this man as one who was misleading the people after examining him before you behold

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I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him neither did Herod for he sent him back to us look nothing deserving death has been done by him

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I will therefore punish and release him. Verse 18 they all cried together away with this man and released to us

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Barabbas a man who had been thrown into prison somebody who isn't holy was Barabbas somebody who wasn't blameless

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Barabbas somebody who was just like them Barabbas he started an insurrection in the city and for murder

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Pilate addressed them once more desiring to release Jesus but they kept on shouting crucify crucify him and the third time he said to them why what evil has he done

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I have found in him no guilt deserving death I will therefore punish and release him but they were urgent demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified and their voices prevailed so Pilate decided that their demand should be granted he released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder for whom they asked and he delivered

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Jesus over to their will and even on the cross verse 35 people knew

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Jesus was blameless Luke 23 35 do you see it and the people stood by watching but the ruler scoffed at him saying he saved others let him save himself if he is the

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Christ of God his chosen one the soldiers also mocked him coming up and offering him sour wine and kept saying if you are the king of the

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Jews save yourself there was also an inscription over him this is king of the Jews and one of the criminals verse 39 who were hanged railed at him saying are you not the

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Christ save yourself and us but the other rebuked him saying do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation and we indeed justly for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds but this man mark it has done nothing wrong and then even after Jesus died verse 44 of the same chapter it was now about the sixth hour and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour so from noon to three

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God is judging the sun while the sun's light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn in two then

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Jesus calling out with a loud voice said father into your hands I commit my spirit and having said this he breathed his last don't miss it verse 47 now when the centurion saw what had taken place he praised

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God saying certainly this man was innocent friends your high priest he's holy and he's innocent let's go back to Hebrews chapter 3 and see the third reason you should praise this high priest he's not just holy he's not just innocent the text goes on it says he's unstained back to Hebrews 7 he is unstained when

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I was a kid I remember making tie -dye shirts with my mom Carla in Nebraska we would buy some cheap kind of whatever is cheaper than Fruit of the

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Loom t -shirt and she would get this dye remember what that dye was called? what was the brand name?

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Rit dye dye of champions and we would wad up those shirts and do all that kind of stuff and if you didn't tie the knot in the church in the church

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I officiated a wedding yesterday where two people tied the knot in the church if you don't tie the knot in the shirt tight enough the stain the dye leaks in doesn't it?

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and it's not a cool tie -dye hippie thing Haight -Ashbury this is the word that when there's evil if it can find any little crevice any little way to get in it does except for Jesus he's not stained he's what?

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unstained that's amazing he's not stained by sin he's morally pure no stain on the inside no stain coming from the outside we hang out with people and bad company does what?

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it corrupts good morals when Jesus hangs out with every kind of sinner what happens?

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does any of that influence get into his character? obviously no this is the same word used regarding the marital bed the sexual marital bed

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Hebrews 13 .4 let marriage be held in honor among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous sexual sin outside of marriage is exactly that sin but in marriage there's no stain it's not unholy it's not wrong it's not dirty it's pure this word is also used sometimes of sacrificial animals and you've got to get the right animal and you can't bring an animal to get slain in the

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Old Testament that only had one ear or three legs they would be defiled you've got to get the right one and so this word here means that evil is not in Jesus and evil doesn't attach itself to Jesus he's free from this evil he's unstained how many of us could say we're unstained and unaffected by this evil world system

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I know the world system affects me because I can't even watch a commercial for a

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Ruth Chris Steakhouse without wanting a steak do they have

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Ruth Chris around here? they have them in Boston ok, 111

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Shop House did you just say Applebee's? now that's some defiled thinking right there we have some probably manager from Applebee's here so you think, how am

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I going to just get into the presence of God? how am I going to make it? you can't make it because you're sinful even as a

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Christian you sin so you've got to have somebody who's a mediator who's an advocate, who's an intercessor who's going to get you there who's going to bridge the gap between thrice holy

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God and you and he is perfectly human so he can represent you and he's ultimately and infinitely and always

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God so he can be on God's side and he can be in the middle and yet he has no sin that he has to say well father by the way, before I mediate for this person

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I've done some things wrong too he the writer wants you to just say I can trust in my advocate

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I can't trust in myself and I know I'm not holy I know I'm blameful, I know

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I'm defiled but I'm trusting in the one who isn't there is no hope for anyone to get to heaven without such a situation because it would have to be then to get to heaven and then just do good except God requires perfection you can't do good enough you need to have somebody who's going to stand before you who's unsullied you're going to have to have somebody to stand before you who's perfectly live a life and has so much righteousness an infinite amount that he can just give it to you and then you're covered as well and it's like an asbestos sin blanket covering you because he's earned it to give to you it's called imputation of Christ's righteousness

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Jesus is holy, innocent and blameless he's not like us but he represents us no sins ever committed by Jesus of omission of commission of thought, of word, of deed no mortal sins no venial sins if they exist no seven deadly sins he always obeyed, always honored always, always, always which is wild to me because I just read the

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Bible and I look at certain priests that are in the Bible and I go there's a lot of priests in the

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Bible that aren't anywhere close to this do you remember the story? now the sons of Eli were worthless men they did not know the

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Lord the custom of the priest with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice the priest's servant would come while the meat was boiling with a three -pronged fork in his hand and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot and all the fork brought up the priest would take for himself this is what they did at Shiloh to all the

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Israelites who came there moreover, before the fat was burned the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing give meat for the priest to roast and he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw and if the man said to him let them burn the fat first and then take as much as you wish he would say no you must give it now and if not

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I will take it by force you say what's all that about in 1 Samuel thus the sin of the young men those priests were very great in the sight of the

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Lord for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt now

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Eli was very old and he kept hearing all that his sons the priests were doing to all Israel and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance of the tent of meeting he said to them why do you do such things for I hear of your evil dealings from all the people no my sons it is not good it is not good report that I hear the people of the

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Lord spreading abroad if some man sins against man God will mediate for him but if someone sins against the

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Lord who can intercede for him but they would not listen to the voice of their father for it was the will of the

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Lord to put them to death what's my point there are wicked priests everywhere but not the

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Lord Jesus so today here's what

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I want you to do I want you to think to yourself is there a better priest in the world who could represent me if I had to pick my own priest what kind of priest would

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I pick is there somebody that has more power in the world who could help me out better than Jesus I wish

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Jesus wasn't my priest I know there's somebody more powerful than he is I'd pick him you know

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I know Jesus is pretty wise but I know there's a wiser priest than Jesus I'd like to have him there's got to be a priest who would love me more than Jesus would and so I think

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I'd like him I think there's somebody who obeyed the law more than Jesus did and honored

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God with his life more than Jesus did it was more sacrificial than Jesus was I think I'd like to pick him for that day do you see how crazy this is it's crazy so what we ought to be doing is what the psalmist does oh

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Lord our Lord how excellent is your name in all the earth this is the

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Savior he's the Lord Jesus and if you're a sinner this is the Savior for you and I say if that's third class conditional you are we are

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I mean if you think about difficult questions what are your weaknesses that's pretty easy to answer really in an interview but how about that day when you stand before God and God will judge everything you've done and you will stand at the bar of justice and how will you enter

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God's holy heaven on your own or with a different mediator besides Jesus and the answer is you won't because there's one

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God and there's only one mediator and he stands between you and God and he's the one the

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Bible says that you ought to trust him that's why it's so wrong to think let's see how am

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I going to get to heaven I'll go to church how am I going to get to heaven I'll get baptized how do I go to church

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I mean get to heaven I think I'll get catechized I think I'll get circumcised I think I'll do good things I think

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I won't do bad things friends that's a perfect heaven and God requires perfection or if you get there as an imperfect person that heaven's not going to be perfect anymore because you are going to be there so you need to have somebody who can declare you perfect and stand before you perfectly in front of a thrice holy

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God and by the way when these people got this message I'm positive for at least 45 minutes they didn't go and by the way they're going to take my house by the way they're plundering my possessions by the way

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I have to go to work tomorrow by the way what am I going to do if my favorite team loses a game

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I mean really we had some visitors last year they're still at the church and they said we came to church on Super Bowl Sunday we wanted to hear if you're going to talk about the game at all because we didn't really want you to talk about the game so now that they're hearing members

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I guess that's my talk about the game no wonder the psalmist says praise

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God from whom all blessings flow you get to go to heaven based on the work of another and he's holy and he's innocent and he's blameless and he's separated from sinners and he's exalted in the heavens let's pray thank you father for this time thank you that we can rejoice in what you've given us we would pick the wrong person

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I think about young people and dating lots of times they pick the wrong person they make a mistake they can't see everything and father when it comes to picking our priest we would do the exact same thing but you picked him for us

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I thank you for that I thank you that our guilt is gone Jesus paid for it I thank you that we're accepted