The Letter to the Hebrews
Why Everyone Needs Jesus,The Perfect High Priest
Hebrews 7:25 – 8:5
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then the purpose of your life is to help people come to trust Jesus Christ so they can be forgiven and enter into the joy of knowing God. That’s your purpose -- helping people come to trust Jesus Christ.
But do you ever look at people around you and think – is it really true that everyone needs Jesus? You look at all the people at your workplace, in your neighborhood, at the mall – and you can wonder – who am I to say that they need Jesus Christ? How can I know that everyone needs Christ?
That question is powerfully answered in the next section of the book of Hebrews. So let’s turn to Hebrews chapter 7. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Hebrews 7 is on page 1005 in the Bibles we are passing out.
In this passage we are going to see why all your neighbors need Jesus Christ, all your work associates need Jesus Christ, all your friends need Jesus Christ – and of course why you need Jesus Christ.
So let’s start with this first question – What does everyone need? And the author tells us in v.25 --
25 Consequently, he [Jesus Christ] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him [stop there].
So what does everyone need? Underline that word “save.” We all need to be saved from sin. What is sin? It’s that in great love and amazing goodness, God created us and gave us life and this beautiful earth so we could have the joy of knowing Him. And we’ve all rebelled against Him, disobeyed Him, turned our backs on Him.
That’s sin. And sin makes us guilty of a massive blasphemy, a horrifying sacrilege. And so because God is perfectly just, He must punish sin. So everyone on planet earth is guilty before God and will be punished forever by God – unless they are saved from their sin.
So how can we be saved from our sins? The answer we have read about in Hebrews and see right here in v.25 is that we can be saved from our sins by Jesus the perfect high priest. See, because of our sinfulness, we can’t make ourselves good enough to come to God. We can’t meditate enough to be accepted by God. We can’t commune with nature enough to connect with God. The only way any human being can come to God is through Jesus our perfect high priest.
And God has shown this to all of humanity through the nation of Israel. Have you ever wondered why God had Old Testament Israel have the priests and the sacrifices and the temple? It was to teach all of humanity that the only way we can come to God is through a perfect priest who has a sacrifice that can pay for our sins.
See, in the Old Testament when you sinned what you did was take a lamb from your flock and go to the priest. Then you would confess your sin to the priest, and tell the priest you wanted to be forgiven by God.
Then the priest would tell you to put your hand on the lamb’s head, as a picture of your guilt passing from you to the lamb. And the priest would hand you a knife -- and you would kill the lamb. Then the priest would take the lamb’s body and blood and go to the altar of God and offer it as a sacrifice for your sin.
Now the Old Testament priests were not perfect. And their sacrifices did not pay for anyone’s sin. But they pictured what we needed in order to be accepted by God. And they pointed ahead to Jesus the perfect high priest whose own death would pay for sin.
So God placed Israel in the center of ancient civilization and had her priests offer thousands of sacrifices to teach all of humanity that we cannot come to God on our own – we need a perfect high priest with a sacrifice that would pay for our sins.
So your neighbor can’t come to God on his own. He needs a perfect priest with a sacrifice that pays for his sins.
Your manager can’t go out into nature and think she can connect with God on her own. She needs a perfect priest with a sacrifice.
Your friend can’t meditate and expect to meet God – he needs a perfect priest with a sacrifice that pays for his sins.
And YOU can’t go directly to God – YOU need a perfect priest with a sacrifice that pays for your sins.
So who is this perfect priest? It’s Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the perfect high priest whose death was the sacrifice that completely pays for our sins. And what do you need to do to be saved by Him? Read v.25 again –
25 Consequently, he [Jesus Christ] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him [stop there].
What we need to do is draw near to God through Jesus. Not believe some facts – not go to church – not try to be good -- but draw near to God through Jesus Christ. Which means we want God more than anything – and we come to God through Jesus – trusting Jesus’ death on the Cross to pay for all our sins.
So– what does everyone need? We all need to be saved from our sins by a perfect priest whose sacrifice pays for our sins. And that happens as we draw near to God through Jesus Christ.
But this raises another question -- the verb “drawing near” in v.25 is in the present tense. So those who are saved are not those who drew near to God through Jesus once. It’s those who continue to draw near to God through Jesus. So the question is -- what if I stop drawing near?
What if we get dull of hearing and stop seeking God in His Word? What if we get lukewarm and stop seeking His face in prayer? What if we stop drawing near? The author addresses that at the end of v.25 – read the whole verse –
25 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.
Jesus died to pay for our sins. Then He rose from the dead never to die again, and ascended into heaven where He is at the right hand of God the Father. And along with bringing you to the Father through His death which paid for your sins -- there’s something else He does for all who trust Him – He makes intercession for us.
That means He is praying for us before the Father. And what is He praying? Just like He prays for Peter in Luke 22, and like He prays for all of us in John 17, Jesus is always praying that we would keep drawing near to God. And the Father always says Yes to Jesus’ prayers.
So this last week when you were tempted to sleep in but instead got up and drew near to God through Jesus – it’s because Jesus was pleading with the Father – “Father, cause him to wake up. Cause her to want you more than sleep.” And the Father heard Jesus’ prayer and smiled – and caused you to get up and seek Him.
So it’s true that we must keep drawing near to God through Jesus to enter heaven – but because Jesus is praying for us – we will keep drawing near to God through Jesus. Every one of God’s redeemed, every one of God’s chosen ones will keep drawing near to Him through Jesus until we reach heaven.
So v.25 is crucial. We learn that every human being needs Jesus their perfect high priest whose sacrifice pays for our sins – and that everyone who comes to God through Jesus will be prayed for by Jesus and will keep coming to God through Jesus and never fall away.
But this raises another question – How can we be sure Jesus is our perfect high priest? The Old Testament is the Word of God – and it appointed mortal men to be priests. So how can we be sure Jesus is our perfect high priest? The author answers this in vv.26-28 – with four main points –
First, it’s because Jesus is without sin. Think about it. If sinners can’t come to God on their own, but must have a priest representing them, then that priest has to be without sin – or he’s going to need someone to represent him. That’s why Jesus is the perfect high priest – because he’s without sin – as you can see in the first half of v.26 --
26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners…
All the Levitical priests in the Old Testament were sinful. But Jesus is without sin.
Second, because Jesus is exalted above the heavens. That’s at the end of v.26 --
26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
Jesus has been exalted above the heavens – above the sky – and is right there at the throne of God. And so we can come to God through Jesus because He’s right there. The Old Testament priests were never at the actual throne of God, but Jesus is – which makes him the perfect high priest.
Third, because Jesus’ sacrifice was once for all. That’s in v.27 --
27 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.
If today’s sin needs a sacrifice, and tomorrow’s sin needs another sacrifice, that shows that none of those sacrifices cover all our sin. But notice that phrase “once for all.” Jesus died for the sins of his redeemed once for all. So that one sacrifice paid for all our sins past, present, and future. Which makes Jesus the perfect high priest.
And fourth, because the Old Testament itself said we need a different, perfect priest. Here’s the question. Didn’t the Old Testament Law command God’s people to rely on mortal, merely human priests to represent us before God? And since that was God’s Word – shouldn’t we keep relying on those Old Testament priests? To answer that, turn to Psalm 110:4 (p.509) – which is a prophecy about the Messiah --
The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
Last week Ian showed us from earlier in chapter 7 how Melchizedek pictured a priest of an entirely different order than the Levitical priesthood. And here in Psalm 110 we read in the same Old Testament that God swears to the Messiah – You will be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. I am going to make You the perfect high priest and you will serve forever.
So the Old Testament itself says the Levitical priests would not last forever. So with that in mind – let’s turn back to Heb 7 and read v.28 --
28 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 the Old Testament itself said we need a different, perfect priest.
But that raises one last question – what was the point of the Old Testament priesthood? Look at what the author says in vv.1-5 of ch.8 --
1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.
4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.
5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain."
So what was the point of the Old Testament priesthood? It’s right there at the beginning of v.5 – “they serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” This is huge.
The Old Testament priesthood and sacrifices and temple was just a copy – a shadow of the reality in heaven.
See, from eternity past God had decided to have Jesus His Son be our perfect high priest whose death would pay for our sins so all peoples could come to God through Him. That’s reality.
But then to help all of humanity see this God created a copy – a shadow of what is true in heaven. And this copy, this shadow, was the Old Testament priests and their sacrifices and their temple.
So the point of the Old Testament priesthood and sacrifices and temple was to be a copy, a shadow of what was true in heaven – so all humanity could understand that the only way to come to God is through a perfect priest with a perfect sacrifice.
Which means that the only way any human being can be forgiven by God and come to God and be reconciled to God is through Jesus Christ – because all alone He has been the perfect priest with a perfect sacrifice.
Questions???
What does this mean for us?
First, draw near to God through Jesus. Don’t settle with going to church or trying to be good or trying to feel spiritual. No. We are only saved as we come to God through Jesus. Take time every day where you meet the living God in the Word and prayer through Jesus Christ your perfect high priest.
And second, tell everyone about Jesus. Everyone you know, everyone you meet, can only be saved from their sins if they come to God through Jesus. This isn’t just your truth. This is the truth that God has established from eternity past, and has taught us through the Old Testament priests, and has displayed on the Cross 2,000 years ago. So tell everyone.