There's Been A Change

The Old Testament Priesthood and the New Testament Reading

Excuse me, please stand for the reading of God's Word. The Old Testament reading today will be in Exodus 29, one through nine. Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests.

Take one bowl of the herd and two rams without blemish and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil and unleavened wafers smeared with oil. You shall make them of fine wheat flour. You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket and bring the bowl and the two rams.

You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. Then you shall take the garments and put on Aaron the coat and the robe of Ephod and Ephod and the breast piece and gird him with skillfully woven band and Ephod and you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban.

You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. Then you shall bring his sons and put coats on them and you shall gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and bind caps on them and the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever.

Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.

New Testament reading is 1 Timothy chapter two and page 991. First of all then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all people. For kings and all who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our savior who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all which is the testimony given at the proper time.

For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I'm telling the truth, I'm not lying. A teacher of the Gentiles in faith and in truth.

You can be seated.

Hebrews 7 and the Superiority of Melchizedek's Priesthood

Take your Bibles today and turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter seven. Let me just say that for several years we invested a lot of money in Dave and sending me and other people overseas to Romania. We ministered in the very countries that are now the center of all this stuff in Romania, in Ukraine, in Moldova.

Some of you probably have never heard of Moldova until this week. It's right on the border with Ukraine, a little Romanian-speaking country. And we spent all that money, invested in helping pastors grow, teaching them.

We saw a great change in the churches there, but whoever would've dreamed that all that would turn out to be a channel for us to bless another country. The guys that we're sending the money to, we know.

In the Baptist Union over there that's heading up this, a lot of this, we know probably over half of those pastors. And so these are friends of ours that we're sending all this to. And so I'm really thankful for that.

But whoever would've guessed that that would've been another thing that God had for us through that ministry. You never know how God's gonna work, do you? So it's great to see that. Well, let's look to Hebrews chapter seven, God's word today.

You follow along 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 these 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 on 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 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 legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.

For as 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 us 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.

Lord God, we have read your word. It speaks to us, tells us how we ought to understand life and our relationship to you. Would you now help us to understand this, Lord? Keep this from just being a study.

It gives us more information. Help this to be that which points us to Jesus and our only hope. Help this to be that which helps us to see him. And to ever put our trust in him. Thank you, we pray now in Jesus' name, amen.

Why Change in the Priesthood Means Change in the Law

Do you like change? Now I can tell you, there's a few members of my family who hate change. There are others who like it, embrace it. Some of you may be here who hate change. Some of you may embrace it.

Some of you may love it, love change, and you're committed to it wholeheartedly when it occurs. Well, as you look at the book of Hebrews, be reminded again that it is a book about change. When Jesus appears, he blasts apart the old system.

You find Jesus introducing a vastly superior way of knowing and relating to God. But some doubted this new way. They didn't like the change. They didn't see this new way as superior and so they were drawn back to the old ways.

Now recall the theme of this written sermon, Hebrews. We're like us, the recipients were tempted. In fact, they were dangerously close to abandoning Jesus because of persecution and quite possibly a weakening of their faith.

They would face less pressure if they went back to the old ways, to the familiar ways. Before they were changed, there would be less pressure if they went back to the old ways. Change always brings risk, doesn't it?

But our writer says, you can't go back. You must not, you cannot abandon Jesus because he is superior too and he's replaced the old ways. Right now in chapter seven, he tackles the whole issue of the priesthood and the temptation to go back to the old covenant, familiar Levitical priesthood.

God had established that priesthood as a means of relating to him. It was his plan. But the priesthood of Jesus surpasses that old priesthood and now in chapter seven, he makes the argument for Jesus' superiority.

He does this by showing the reasons for Jesus' superiority. Now the key, as hopefully you've picked up, the key to understanding all of that is to understand that Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

That's the key to understanding how Jesus changes that priesthood. Now we saw last week in verses one through 10 that Melchizedek is greater than Abraham and greater than Levi and so Jesus' priesthood is greater than that old priesthood.

It's always been greater. He's greater than Levi himself. Therefore, therefore his priesthood is greater than the priesthood of Levi. And now in these remaining verses, verses 11 through 28, he relates to you how Jesus changed that priesthood and he just ticks off all these reasons from 11 through 28, just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

He ticks off all these reasons how Jesus has changed that priesthood and therefore he is superior to the old ways that they were familiar with. And because he changed that old priesthood, you cannot put your hope in it any longer.

It's not sufficient to get the job done. You cannot abandon Jesus. You must put your hope in Christ. I want you to follow as I read 11 through 14, the text for today and see the first reason why Jesus is superior and why you ought to put your hope in 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 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 belong 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. Well, here's the first thing we need to understand. Hope in Jesus, put your hope in Jesus because he changed the law of the priesthood.

Put your hope in Jesus because he changed the law of the priesthood. Now what was that law? He mentions it in verse 12 where he says, for when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.

He mentions it in a parenthetical statement in verse 11. For under it the people received the law. What does he mean when he talks about the law? What he's doing there is talking about an entire covenant, the old covenant that God made with the people of Israel at Sinai.

It is that covenant that constituted them as a nation. They entered into agreement with God, if you will, into a covenant in which God promised certain things to them if they would do certain things with regard to God and obedience.

It was that which ruled their entire life. It was the, if you will, the constitution of them as a nation, but it was more than that. It actually said something to every aspect of your life from what you could eat, right, what you could wear, how you ought to plow your fields to not serving other images, not making images, honoring your mother and your father, to all the intricate details of sacrifice and priestly duty, all of that is in that covenant.

And in verse 11 it says that the priests ministered the law to the people, that old covenant with all its regulations and commandments. It was the priests, right, they ministered to the people. It was the priests that would offer the sacrifices.

It was the priests who would declare what is clean and what is unclean. It was the priests who would teach the law, and they had all kinds of other duties. And the law and the priesthood are so intertwined that if you change one, the other has to change.

You can't separate the two. A change in the priesthood means a change in the law. That's what he says in verse 12. Where there's a change in the priesthood, there's necessarily a change in the law. There's been a change in the priesthood, and that changes the law.

Consider this, without that priesthood, you don't have someone declaring what's clean and unclean. Without that priesthood, you don't have the sacrifice of animals as atonement. Without the priesthood, you don't have all those things.

Therefore, if the priesthood changes, the law has changed. The covenant has changed. Change, Jesus brought about a change in the law that now governs the people of God. But the law also identified who could serve as priests.

And those who could serve as priests came from the tribe of Levi, and specifically from the family of Aaron. We saw that in our Old Testament reading. You heard that one little statement. As they go through this whole big ceremony of ordaining Aaron to be the high priest, at the very, there's one statement there that said that his family is the priesthood by statute, okay, by law, it was required.

No one else could serve as a priest. So therefore, a change in the law also means a change in the priesthood. Those two are intertwined. Change in the priesthood means change in the law. Change in the law means change in the priesthood.

Both of those are true. Now, how did Jesus cause that change? How did that change come about? Now, we've noticed that Melchizedek is central here, is center stage. By appearing on the scene as the prophesied priest after the order of Melchizedek, change inevitably followed.

There had to be a change. God had this priesthood, and all the way through here, our writer keeps quoting Psalm 110, right? You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And so David, in Psalm 110, keeps pointing forward and saying, there's another priest coming, and he's gonna be different from all the others.

He's gonna be after not of the family of, not of the tribe of Levi and the family of Aaron. He's gonna be after the order of Melchizedek. And when he comes, nothing will be the same. He's the ultimate priest, if you will.

And when he comes, everything changes, and that's how the change occurred. What exactly changed? Look at verses 13 and 14. Verses 13 and 14. 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.

Now, he's speaking about Jesus here. He says, for the one of whom these things are spoken. Clearly a reference to Jesus. And Jesus belonged to another tribe. He was not of the tribe of Levi. He was not of the family of Aaron.

He had no connection with them in terms of coming from that particular line. By the old law, he could then not serve as a priest. He couldn't serve as a priest. No one from any other tribe, only those from the tribe of Levi, could serve as priests.

They're the only ones who could serve at the altar. Now, you read the Old Testament, Levi had, the tribe of Levi had incredible responsibilities. They took care of everything that had to do with worship.

Okay?

They were set apart from the other tribes. They did not have to, they lived on the tithes that the other tribes paid. That was their income. One family, Aaron's family, was the priestly family, but all the rest of Levi had all these duties that surrounded the priesthood.

And you had to come from that tribe in order to serve at the altar. I mean, you had to come from that tribe even to clean up at the altar. No one else could do that. Only that tribe. There's no precedent or permission from God for other tribes to bring offerings or to offer sacrifices to God.

Only the tribe of Levi. So Jesus is a priest, but he's a priest from another order and sphere. Entirely different. Change. Gonna change. In fact, Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. And our writer says, nothing has ever been said about that tribe serving at the altar, leading in worship, doing all the things of sacrifice and so forth.

Now, God had promised that the rulers of his people would come from Judah. He had promised that kings would come from Judah. The very beginning, when you look back and you see Jacob leaning on his staff, about ready to die, supporting himself on his staff because he can barely stand up and he's blessing all the tribes.

He says to Judah that the star would rise from that tribe. The ruler would come from that tribe. So we see kings coming from Judah, but not priests. Not priests. Jesus' priesthood is not in accord with the law and its prescriptions.

Since he comes from the tribe of Judah. Again, that's an incredible change. That's incredible change. Now, does such a change make Jesus an illegitimate priest? Is he an illegitimate priest?

No.

By no means. Because God, through David, had said, this priest was coming. There was a forever priest coming, not like any of the other ones. Always keep that in mind. You see what's emphasized whenever he quotes it, is this, after the order of Melchizedek, he's a forever priest.

He's a forever priest. His priesthood will never end. And they were looking forward to that. So it's not illegitimate because God always intended on sending him. He always intended for him to come. He always intended for this change to happen.

And so you need to put your hope in Jesus because he has accomplished the change that God always intended. You need something better than the old covenant ways. And God knew that. God recognized that.

God planned it. And so your only hope is in Jesus.

He's it.

He's the ultimate. But he really makes this point by telling us that you need to put your hope in Jesus because he changed the law of the priesthood for something better. He didn't just change the law of the priesthood.

He changed the law of the priesthood for something better. Verse 11, 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 one named after the order of Aaron?

Jesus changed the law of the priesthood for something better. He brought, first of all, he brought an end to an obsolete system. He brought an end to an obsolete system. If the old covenant with all its sacrifices and duties could accomplish what we truly need, then we wouldn't need this other priest.

There would continue to be priests from the family of Aaron. If that old covenant way could achieve perfection, we wouldn't need this priest. You would have had a continual succession of priests from Aaron's family.

But by promising that unique priest, God indicates that the first class of priests had a set purpose and a set time, but it would eventually be obsolete. Now, if you go down Riley Road, and if you're from around here, you know where Riley Road is, that little road that goes out there, out that way.

If you go out Riley Road and you come to the corner of Riley Road and my road, you'll see this great big giant thing that looks like a goalpost, all right? It's made out of gigantic, looks like telephone poles, but it looks like this great big goalpost, a great big H, okay, on the corner.

Now, why is it there? Why is that there? Because if you're down my road and go down Riley Road, you know they're running all these new wires. They're putting up these great big steel poles, and they're gonna be running a whole new system of wires from the brand new substation down there up to the substation up my road.

Why is that thing there? It's there so that they can take the wires over that so the wires don't lay on the road, okay? The wires don't lay on the road. When they run those wires, which I hear is gonna be on the 14th and a helicopter's gonna be involved, so we're all waiting, but they've got that great big goalpost there in order to keep the wires from laying across the road.

Now, that's gonna prove obsolete after they run those wires and get them hooked up to the steel posts, right? It's not gonna be necessary anymore. It won't be needed any longer, and so it was with the old priesthood.

It served its purpose, but now it's obsolete with the coming of Jesus as this unique priest, you see? Don't need it anymore, don't need it anymore, but that doesn't mean either that the old priesthood is bad.

Like that gigantic H on Riley Road, it's necessary and it's even good for the purpose it was given. It's not meant to carry the new wires permanently. It's only meant to hold them up temporarily until everything's strung, and then it's coming down, you see?

So it's not bad, it's necessary, it's even good, but it's temporary. So that old priesthood had a purpose, but it wasn't the ultimate solution, all right? That's what we have to understand. It had its purpose, but now that the Melchizedekian priest has come, it's not necessary.

Its purpose is over. Now, that's the first thing. Jesus ended an obsolete system, but here's the second thing. This is the second better thing that he's accomplished. With the coming of this unique priest, Jesus' perfection is now attainable.

Now, it doesn't mean that you immediately become perfect. Because of Jesus, you now are not gonna struggle ever again against sin, all right? But what he is saying is Jesus will bring us to perfection through that priestly work.

He will bring us to perfection through that priestly work. He begins that work by what? Offering an atonement for the forgiveness of our sins. That's first necessary. He begins that work with transforming our hearts and making us new creatures.

He gives us the ability to obey what he commands. He's begun the work of restoring us to the place of ruling over creation righteously, which will eventually happen on the new earth when we will finally rule over creation in the way that God always intended us to, but that can only happen because one has gone before us.

The old covenant priesthood could never have accomplished any of that. But you say to me, pastor, I gotta be honest with you. I've never been tempted to go to someone from Aaron's family if I could figure that out and have him offer a sacrifice for me.

That's just not a temptation for me, right? So have I just wasted my breath? Absolutely not. You know why? Because none of that changes the fact that Jesus is the only one who can attain perfection for you and you cannot abandon him.

You too must put all your hope in Jesus because he's the ultimate. He's the only one who can attain perfection for you. So Jesus is not only superior to the Levitical priesthood, he is superior to everything else in accomplishing what you need, which is perfection.

He's the only way. You see, Jesus is the only one who can make you right with God. You can't do it. Nothing else will make you right with God. He's the only one who can. Jesus is the only one who can turn away the wrath of God from you because you can't do it.

He's the only one who could quiet your accusing conscience since no amount of therapy will ever accomplish that. He is the only one who can transform you into a new person who loves and desires to obey God and sees his commandments not as a burden, but as a way of life.

And they're a joy to you, you see? There is nothing or anyone who can ever accomplish that for you. You gotta put your hope in Jesus. He's the only one. He's the only one. He brought something better.

Now look, whether you love change or whether you hate change, you ought to love this change. This is the kind of change you can be wholly committed to. And you can be wholly committed to it because you recognize it's your only hope.

There is nothing superior to Jesus when it comes to giving you what you really need. He's the only one that attains perfection for you. Put your hope in Jesus. Don't leave it. Don't look elsewhere. You camp on it.

He's your only hope. Father, thank you once more for your word which penetrates our hearts, gives us truth that produces joy, gives us warnings that sends us in the right direction. Father, I pray that this congregation, even though it may not know all the ins and outs of the Levitical priesthood, help them to understand that Jesus is our only hope.

That he is superior, vastly superior to whatever else entices us. God, help us to remain true, to constantly put our hope in Jesus. Pray this in his name.