Jesus: The Royal High Priest

Who will go before God on behalf of you and come to you on behalf of God? We're going to study that together in Hebrews chapter 5 today. Open with us and follow along. Amen.

Alright, while you're standing, would you open your Bibles with me to the book of Hebrews? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. Hebrews is near the end of your Bible, right after the books of 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. Then comes Hebrews, a big book, just before the book of James. Hebrews chapter 5 is where we are going to be.

A couple of weeks ago, on Palm Sunday, I had a message prepared from Hebrews chapter 5. I taught the first service, but I lost my voice during that service. So, Jason came in and taught the second and third services. He taught the first service this morning so I could teach here.

In Hebrews chapter 5, verse 1, we read: "For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this, he is required for the people, also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was."

So also, Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest, but it was He who said to him, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you." He also says in another place, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."

In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, He was heard because of His godly fear. Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, of whom we have much to say and hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing.

Father, I pray that none of us would be guilty of being dull of hearing this morning, and that You would open our ears and our hearts.

And that we would receive Your word as given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, we pray, God, that You would also give interpretation and application by Your Holy Spirit this morning, and that You would continue to transform us by the renewing of our minds. In the coming week, may we be able to display in our lives what is Your good and perfect will. So continue to work in us so that You might work through us. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, Amen. You may be seated.

As long as I can remember, my family attended church. However, when I was a younger child, until I was about eight or nine years old, we attended an Episcopal church. It was still a Bible church, but it was not a Bible-teaching non-denominational church. If you've ever gone to an Episcopal church, you know that they are a little bit more like the Catholic Church in the traditional liturgy of the service. In fact, if you attend an Episcopal church for a period of time, you learn all the right places to stand up, sit down, kneel down, and say, "And also with you," just as you would at a Catholic church.

As far back as I can remember attending that church, I was amazed by the whole setting and everything that was going on. I was particularly impressed by the work of the clergy, especially the priest there. As a young kid, I looked up to Father Bob. I was so amazed by him that when I was about seven or eight years old, I actually started training to be an altar boy. It may come as no surprise to some of you here, or to those who knew me when I was eight years old, that I would be standing up here on a Sunday morning almost 30 years later.

I trained to do the whole procession in and the recession out, to light the candles, and everything before the service started. The big deal was to help the priest with communion, the Eucharist, as we would partake of that every single week when we gathered together. I was truly amazed by the whole concept of the priesthood. In my mind, the priesthood was a really big deal. However, we don't necessarily have priests in the same fashion in a church like this, a non-denominational Bible-teaching church.

But we still have the office of the pastor, which is quite similar in many ways to the things that are done in the priesthood, though it is a little different. There was still that awe of the position of the priesthood when I was a young child.

The author of this letter, the book of Hebrews, and the recipients of this letter, those who received it 2,000 years ago, viewed the priesthood as a significant aspect of their faith. This letter was written to Christians who had come out of Judaism, where the priesthood was very important and highly esteemed, especially in the first century. There were three primary offices that held great significance for the Jewish people: the prophet, the king, and the priest.

By the time this letter was written in the first century, the prophets were long gone; the last prophet had prophesied about 400 years before. The king at that time was essentially a puppet of the Roman Empire, overseeing that region. Thus, both the prophet and the king were absent for the people. The last major institution that still existed in their culture was the priesthood, which was a really big deal.

In fact, one author writing on the priesthood stated that to be an Israelite or a Jew was to know and maintain a conscious and continuous relationship with the living God. This relationship was expressed outwardly in various contexts, including the covenant, the temple, worship, and every facet of daily life. Religion, understood as a relationship, had two perspectives: a relationship with God and a relationship with fellow human beings. It encompassed both a personal and a communal dimension. The priests were the guardians and servants of this life of relationship, which was at the heart of the Old Testament Jewish religion.

In other words, for the Jews reading this letter in the first century, the priesthood was central to their religious life and their lives in Judaism. It was a very important aspect of their faith. Now, these Jews were leaving Judaism to follow Jesus as the Messiah, to follow Jesus as Christ. They were abandoning all the temple practices, the feasts, the covenants, and, importantly, the priesthood. Leaving that behind would undoubtedly be a difficult transition for them, as the priesthood held the utmost importance in their lives.

And now they're kind of setting this aside. Well, it brings up to us, because we don't live under Judaism 2,000 years ago, and maybe you didn't come from a background where the priest was a big deal. It really brings up the question: what exactly is a priest? What's the whole purpose of this office?

The author of the book of Hebrews here in Hebrews 5, verse 1, hits on it in the very first verse. He says, simply put, a priest is a mediator. Another way of saying it is that a priest is a go-between. Point number one on your outline: a priest stands before God on behalf of the people. He stands before God as a mediator. A priest stands before God on behalf of the people and before the people on behalf of God.

Under classic or historic Judaism, it was the priest who would go before God on your behalf if you came to the temple to offer a sacrifice. Maybe it was just an offering that was a freewill sacrifice, a kind of worship and praise to God, or perhaps it was a different kind of sacrifice, a sin offering. If you had transgressed and gone against God's law under the old covenant, the way to deal with that was to go to the tabernacle, or later on the temple, and offer an animal sacrifice. The priest would oversee all of that and take it before God at the altar to mediate between you and God for your sins.

This was a really big deal for the people under Judaism 2,000 years ago. You can see that in the fact that the priest, or the priesthood, is mentioned quite a few times in this book, The Letter to the Hebrews—34 times, in fact. Almost in every single chapter of this book, there is some mention of the priest and the priesthood because that was at the center of Jewish life. These people were leaving their Judaism now to follow Jesus as Messiah and Christ, and that's a big deal. There's a significant cultural leap from that.

If the priesthood was at the center of your life as a Jewish individual, it represented the last major carryover of all your historic culture, especially since the king was not really much of an issue in their nation at this point in time.

The prophets haven't been around for a long time, and now all you really have is the priesthood. Leaving that would be a really difficult thing. So what do you do when you leave the faith of your fathers to trust in Jesus? You still need a priest, right? That would be the question. Don't I still need someone to go before God on my behalf and to come to me on behalf of God?

Of course, if you've been around the Bible for a while, or if you've been studying through the book of Hebrews with us over the last many weeks, then you might already know there's an answer to this question. Don't I still need a priest now that I'm following Jesus as the Christ? If you're new to this, we can see some of the answers to this question about who will be that go-between, that mediator for me with God.

If you would, turn to Hebrews chapter 5. Now, turn back to Hebrews chapter 2, just a few pages to the left. In Hebrews chapter 2, near the end of the chapter, verse 17, we read, "Therefore, in all things he, that's Jesus, had to be made like his brethren, like us, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation, that is, to deal with our sin for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted."

Now, look at chapter 3, verse 1. "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him, God, who appointed him, as Moses was faithful in all of his house."

The author of the book of Hebrews knows that this is going to be an issue for Christians who are coming out of Judaism. They might feel like they don't have an anchor any longer for their practice, their lives, their religious lives. We're leaving the priesthood. We're not going to go back to the temple. We're not going to go back to the sacrifices. What do we do now?

The author says we have a high priest. He goes on again to chapter 4, one page to the right. In Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14, we read, "Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens." Who is that great high priest? Jesus, the Son of God. "Let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace and help in our time of need.

Point number two on your outline: Jesus, the Son of God, is our merciful and faithful High Priest. This is a really important point, and there are four major things that we find in it. First, Jesus is the Son of God. This title speaks both of His deity and His humanity. The term "Son of God" is applied to Jesus to indicate that He is God come down to be here in human flesh. He possesses the very nature of God, which is why He is called the Son of God. Just as my children, my sons, have my human nature, Jesus, as the Son of God, is here in our realm, in human flesh, but He has the nature of God. This speaks of His deity and also of His humanity.

Hebrews 2, verse 17 states that He had to be made like us. He existed before He came to earth; He always existed in eternity past and will always exist in eternity future. He is referred to in another book of the Bible as the Alpha, which means the beginning, and the Omega, which means the end. He is the first and the last, the one who was and is and is to come. He will always be.

When He came down to earth and walked upon it 2,000 years ago, around the area of Galilee in Israel, particularly around Jerusalem in the county of Judea, He was here in human flesh. This was just His advent as the human Son of God. He had to be made like us for a reason.

This brings us to the second important aspect we find in point number two: Jesus, the Son of God, is merciful. How does becoming like us in human flesh make Jesus merciful? Perhaps you've had this conversation before. Someone quite a bit younger than you, maybe your own child, is upset and says, "You don't understand what I'm going through. You will never understand how hard it is for me." In your mind, you might be thinking, "Yes, I do. I get it."

I've been there. I'm human too. I'm a little bit older than you, and I've gone through this. Has anybody ever had that conversation before? You just don't get it. Maybe you were the one saying that once upon a time. Now you look back and remember saying, "Yeah, I remember saying that." You just don't understand what I'm going through.

Here's the awesome thing: God became a man, Jesus, the Son of God, and He experienced life like we experience it. He can be merciful because He can sympathize with us. He knows the temptation, the difficulty, and the hardship. Jesus is the perfect mediator, the perfect priest, the go-between for us. As the Son of God, it's God becoming man, and as the Son of Man, He is fully human. He experienced the things that we experience—suffering, temptation, difficulty, all those things. Jesus suffered, and He was tempted. In that suffering and in that temptation, He can be merciful to us because He can sympathize with us.

But even more than that, we come to the third thing we find in point number two: Jesus is faithful. Jesus, the Son of God, is merciful, but He is also faithful. What's that all about? Well, He can sympathize with us because He was tempted like we are tempted. He suffered like we suffer. Yet, as He faced temptation, there's something different about Jesus compared to us. We find it previously in another passage in Hebrews where we read this: He was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. He never sinned. He never failed when temptation came against Him. He never succumbed to the temptation. He was faithful.

Who was He faithful to? Not just a faithful priest to us, but He was faithful to God, who appointed Him as priest. So, Jesus, the Son of God, God become man, is merciful. He can sympathize with us because He was tempted like we are. He suffered those things that we suffer, but He remained faithful in all of it. This cannot be said about earthly priests. They might be faithful, or they might be merciful, but they are not entirely faithful. They fail. They sin. They are not perfect.

One of the dangers is when a priest begins to think that he is perfect and that he has never sinned. Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall.

And certainly, there have been people in clergy positions, priests who have fallen. Even under the old covenant, under Judaism, those priests had to offer sacrifices for themselves. We just saw that previously in Hebrews chapter 5, verse 3. We'll see it again in Hebrews chapter 9, verse 7, that the priest had to offer sacrifices for themselves, but not Jesus. He was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin.

This brings us to the fourth important thing we find about Jesus here in point number 2. Jesus, the Son of God, was merciful, faithful, and He is the high priest. What is the difference between a priest and the high priest? Under the Old Testament, under the old covenant, Judaism, there were many priests. There were twelve different tribes of people in the nation of Israel, and one entire tribe, called the tribe of Levi, was set apart to be the priests of the nation. Specifically, the men, the firstborn of all the households of the Levites, were designated to do the work of the temple, going before God on behalf of the people and before the people on behalf of God, dealing with all of those sacrifices.

That was the work of the priest, but there was one high priest. The high priest was over all of that work of the temple and had a very special responsibility on one day a year, the day that we call Yom Kippur. How many of you have heard of Yom Kippur before? Every September, we have Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

On that Day of Atonement, the high priest, one day a year, would first offer a sacrifice for his own sins to ensure that he was not going to appear before God in his own sin. He would offer a sacrifice for himself, and then he would offer a sacrifice for all of the people. He would take the blood of that sacrifice, and while it may seem kind of gory to us, it was normal to them. He would go into the deepest part of the tabernacle or the temple, a place called the Holy of Holies.

The Holy of Holies was completely sealed off to everyone except for that one high priest, one day a year. Inside this small square room called the Holy of Holies was a small box made out of wood, overlaid with gold, called the Ark of the Covenant. On top of it was a lid with two angels with outstretched wings. I know you're all thinking of Harrison Ford here, you know, Raiders of the Lost Ark, kind of that whole thing. The high priest would go in there, take that blood, and sprinkle it on top of that lid.

The Mercy Seat, also known as the Throne of Mercy, was a significant aspect of atonement for the sins of the nation. It was an awesome and amazing event that occurred only once a year, on the Day of Yom Kippur, when the high priest would enter this sacred space. The gravity of this moment was profound, as the high priest was coming before the very presence of God, which carried a certain danger.

To mitigate this risk, it became tradition for the high priest to wear robes adorned with little bells at the bottom. These bells were meant to jingle continuously while he was inside, signaling to those outside that he was still alive. If the bells stopped ringing, it would indicate a dire situation; no one wanted to enter and find that the high priest had died, especially since he was the one designated to perform this critical role. To address this potential tragedy, they began to tie a rope around the high priest's ankle. If he died, they could simply drag him out without having to enter the holy space themselves.

The Jewish historian Josephus recounts instances where this very scenario occurred. A high priest entered the Holy of Holies, perhaps without adequately addressing his own sins, and tragically died. This illustrates the heavy responsibility placed on the high priest. While all priests held significant roles in Jewish life, the high priest was of utmost importance.

In this context, Jesus, the Son of God, is described as our merciful and faithful high priest—not just any priest, but the high priest. However, it is important to note that most of us here today are not Jewish, and even those with Jewish backgrounds may not have practiced Judaism. For first-century Jews, hearing the author of this book proclaim that Jesus is our high priest would have raised objections. They would have had a problem with this claim because Jesus was not a Levite, and only Levites could serve as priests. Jesus came from the tribe of Judah, which disqualified him from the priestly role according to their traditions.

Jesus is our High Priest, but the Jewish reader would say, "Hold on a second. I know a little bit about this Jesus you've been talking about, and he's not from the tribe of Levi. He cannot be a priest. Not to mention, he definitely cannot be the High Priest, because only the High Priest had to come from the line of Aaron."

Now you may ask, "Who on earth is Aaron?" If you go all the way back to the Book of Leviticus, which I happen to be reading through right now in my devotions, you will find that Aaron was the older brother of Moses. Maybe that name rings a bell. Moses went to Pharaoh and said, "Let my people go." They came out of Egypt on their way to the Promised Land. God instituted the priesthood in the Books of Exodus and Numbers, and specifically in the Book of Leviticus. There in Leviticus, only Aaron and his sons, his lineage, could be the High Priest.

So, the Jewish reader of this book 2,000 years ago would think, "Wait a minute. How can Jesus be the High Priest? He's not a Levite, and he's not of the line of Aaron. He's of the line of Judah." But not only that, not only is he not of the line of Aaron and the line of Levi, but Jesus is called a king coming from the line of David. In the Jewish mind, you can't be both a priest and a king. There's a separation of powers, if you will. A king could prophesy, and that happened. A priest could prophesy, but in this order—prophet, priest, and king—there was a separation between the work of the religious life of Jews in the temple and the leadership of the nation as king. They couldn't be both.

And so here you've got Jesus. You're saying he's of the line of David. He is of a royal line; he's a king. And now you're saying he's the High Priest? That seems to be an issue. How do we reconcile this?

Well, look at what the author says in Hebrews 5, verse 2. Speaking about the High Priest, he says, "The High Priest can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness." So the High Priest in the nation can sympathize with you and me and our weaknesses. Because of this, he is required, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices. No man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was, going all the way back to the Old Testament. And so also, Christ did not glorify himself to become High Priest; he didn't set himself in this position.

He didn't appoint himself to this. It was God who said to him, "Jesus, you are my son. Today I have begotten you." He also says in another place, "You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek."

Under the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, to be a priest, you had to be of the line of Levi. To be a high priest, you had to be a descendant of Aaron, who was of the tribe of Levi. Jesus wasn't that. Instead, he is not of the priesthood of Aaron. Here, the author of the book of Hebrews says that God has appointed Jesus to be a priest according to the priesthood of Melchizedek.

What in the world is the priesthood of Melchizedek? Well, it's better than the priesthood of Aaron. Point number three: Jesus is the high priest after a better priesthood than that of Aaron.

What is the Melchizedek priesthood? It takes us back to the Old Testament, specifically the book of Genesis. You can turn there if you'd like; it's the very first book of the Bible. It's nice when we go to Genesis; you can look like a real authority on the Bible. Just turn there to Genesis chapter 14, the first book of the Bible, 14th chapter.

There's a very curious story in Genesis chapter 14. The father of the nation of Israel is a man by the name of Abram, or Abraham. In this chapter, Abraham's nephew, Lot, gets into some trouble, and Abraham has to deal with this. He has to address his nephew's problems. Maybe you had a nephew like that too.

Abraham had to go deal with this situation. His nephew, Lot, was taken as a captive, a prisoner of war, in this battle. Abraham gathers together all the men of his household and goes down to confront this problem. Now, as he is on his way back home, he stops in a place called Salem, which we know as Jerusalem. As he stops outside the city of Jerusalem, an individual comes out to meet him. This is recorded in Genesis chapter 14, verse 18.

Genesis 14:18 states, "Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of the Most High God." This is interesting because there is a king of Jerusalem named Melchizedek, who comes out to meet Abraham and brings bread and wine. If you've been around the church for a while, this connection resonates with something in the New Testament. Melchizedek is both a priest and the king of Jerusalem, which is noteworthy. He blessed Abraham and said to him, "Now, what is this all about?"

Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God and the king of Salem, brings out bread and wine to meet with Abraham, who receives tithes from him. We will explore Melchizedek in greater detail in Hebrews chapter 7. If you are really interested in Melchizedek, in about three weeks, we will be in Hebrews chapter 7, where we will discuss him further.

Before we delve into that, it is important to note that Jesus is under the priesthood of Melchizedek, according to Psalm 110:4. The author of the book of Hebrews quotes this when he mentions in verse 6 that the priesthood of Melchizedek predates the priesthood of Aaron. Remember, the Levites are priests, and Aaron's descendants are the high priests. They came during the time of Moses, as recorded in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, which was 400 years after Melchizedek in Genesis chapter 14.

Thus, Melchizedek was a king and a priest 400 years before the priesthood of Aaron. The author of Hebrews asserts that Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, which comes before the priesthood of Aaron. Therefore, the Melchizedekian priesthood is superior to the priesthood of Aaron because it predates it, and Melchizedek serves as both a king and a priest simultaneously.

Why is this important? What does it mean? It is important because it means that Jesus, the Son of God, can be a priest even though He is not of the lineage of the Levites or a descendant of Aaron. He has a better priesthood, a priesthood that is forever. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He can offer sacrifices as a priest for us, and He can be merciful because He was tempted like we are, yet He never sinned. He was faithful.

When was Jesus tempted? When did He pray these prayers that the author of the book of Hebrews is speaking about in Hebrews chapter 5? When did He do this? Well, look at Hebrews chapter 5 again. Fast forward back to the book of Hebrews. It says this in Hebrews chapter 5, verse 7: "And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, of whom we have much to say and hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing."

How and when did Jesus, our High Priest, offer prayers and supplications, this kind of prayer, with tears and vehement cries to God? When did that take place? It happened during the time that we just celebrated, just a couple of weeks ago, during that period of time between Palm Sunday, two Sundays ago, and Easter. During that period, we see in the gospel account that Jesus, on the night that He was betrayed, sat down with His disciples, and they partook of the Passover meal.

During that Passover meal, Jesus did something interesting as a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "Take, eat, this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Then, right after that, He took a cup of wine and said, "Drink this, all of you; this is My blood of the new covenant; do this in remembrance of Me." From that place where Jesus partook of the bread and the wine, this great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek...

From that room where they partook of the bread and the wine, Jesus, with his disciples, left and went to a garden called the Garden of Gethsemane. While he was there, he said to his disciples—only eleven of them were present because one had left, his name was Judas—"Pray with me; I’m exceedingly anxious. Pray with me."

He took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, and they went a little further into the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus fell down and began to pray. Three times he prayed and wept. He cried vehemently to God in heaven, saying, "Father, if there is any other way, let this cup pass from me." What was he talking about? Jesus knew what was about to happen to him; he was going to the cross to offer a sacrifice. This great high priest, after the order of Melchizedek, was going to offer his body—remember the bread—and his blood—remember the cup. He was going to offer a sacrifice, but it would require his death and his separation from God for a time.

He cried out with vehement cries, as we see in Hebrews chapter 5, saying, "If there is any other way, let this cup pass from me." This thing that he was about to go through weighed heavily on him. Three times he called out to the Father, asking that the cup pass from him, because he knew that God was able to deliver him from death. Even though, in that moment, he was filled with godly fear about what was to come.

We read something interesting in Hebrews chapter 5, verse 8. It says, "Though he was a son, though he had this unity with the Father, connection with the Father in heaven, yet he learned obedience through the things that he suffered." Some people have a hard time with the idea that Jesus learned obedience because they think that to learn obedience, one must pass from disobedience to obedience. However, what is being said here is that Jesus, to learn and experience this complete yielding of his will to the Father's will, had to go through it.

You only fully learn something when you have experienced it. In that moment, he experienced total submission to the Father's will as he said, "Not my will, but your will be done." Jesus, in his humanity, did not want to go to the cross, but he ultimately submitted, saying, "Not my will, but your will be done." In doing so, he experienced this area of obedience to the Father. God stepped down into our realm.

Jesus, the Son of God, became the merciful and faithful high priest for us so that He could offer a sacrifice, the sacrifice once for all. The amazing thing about the high priests under the Old Covenant is that they had to offer sacrifices continually. Every single week, every single morning, and every single year, Yom Kippur would come around, and they would offer these sacrifices repeatedly. In those sacrifices, there was a constant remembrance of our failure; we never live up to the perfect righteous standard of God.

But Jesus offers a sacrifice once as a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Having gone through this for us, He becomes the perfect author and finisher of our eternal salvation.

Point number four on your outline: the bread and cup of communion are a continual reminder of our high priest's faithfulness until the end. Just a couple of weeks ago on Palm Sunday, we partook of the bread and the cup. In just five weeks from today, we'll partake of the bread and the cup again. Every seven weeks here at Cross Connection, we partake of the bread and the cup. The bread and the cup of communion serve as a continual reminder of our high priest, Jesus, and His faithfulness until the very end. When we partake of the bread and the cup, we acknowledge that He is the perfect author of our eternal salvation. He offered the greatest sacrifice once for all.

Under the Old Covenant, the sacrifices were a continual reminder of sin's sinfulness. The priests would offer sacrifices constantly, which showed us how sinful we are and how we can never pay the debt. However, under the New Covenant, communion is a continual reminder of our Savior's sufficient sacrifice. What were Jesus' last words on the cross, if you know them? "It is finished." Done. No more sacrifices. Since there are no more sacrifices, we don't need a priesthood continuing to offer sacrifices for us.

For the Hebrew Christians leaving Judaism, who would constantly go to the temple and to the priests to offer their sacrifices every single month and every single year, they no longer need to do that because Jesus, our great high priest, says, "It is finished."

It's done. It's accomplished for us. That is why, 2,000 years before Jesus, we have this amazing picture of a king from Jerusalem named Melchizedek, who was a priest of the Most High God. He came to the father of our faith, Abraham, and brought out bread and wine that pointed 2,000 years into the future to Jesus. Jesus would take that bread and that wine and give it to his disciples. More than that, the next day, he would take his body, which the bread represents, and pour out his blood, which the wine represents, as a sacrifice for us.

Now, 2,000 years after Jesus, the church globally still gathers together regularly to partake of the bread and the cup. Why? To be continually reminded of our high priest who said, "It is finished." That, my friends, is good news. Amen?

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Jesus, we thank you. I thank you that you came to the earth and you can sympathize with me and with all of us in this room today about the suffering of temptation and the difficulty of the human condition in a fallen world. When you were in heaven before you came down to the earth, it was, in a sense, a foreign concept because you could see it. But then you stepped down into this darkness and into this place of brokenness, and you did it for us. Therefore, you can sympathize with us, but you remain faithful.

Because you remain faithful, and because you gave your body and your blood for us, you can say, "Come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace in our time of need." That which once was behind a veil, that which only one person on one day a year could go into to deal with our sin, you took care of it so much that we can come at any time we have a need and say, "God, we need your grace and we need your mercy."

I think that every single one of us standing here today, God, we need your grace and your mercy today just as much as yesterday, and we will need it tomorrow even more. We thank you that there will never be a time when we so use your grace and mercy that it's gone.

It's a renewable, constant resource. We thank You, Jesus. We thank You for Your sacrifice for us and that You are our High Priest forever because You rose from the dead and You will live forever. So we don't need an earthly priest to go before our Father in heaven. You go on our behalf. You intercede on our behalf, and we are thankful for that.

It may be that as we're standing here right now, you've been trying in your own effort to deal with your sin. You've been trying to mediate your own way to God in heaven. I want to encourage you: Jesus did that for you. You could never do it. I could never do it. It's like eternally paying the minimum payment on a billion-dollar debt, kind of like what we're doing in our nation. You'll never be able to pay it, but Jesus paid it all. He said, "It is finished."

If you'd like to receive His gift of grace, His gift of salvation, He said to come before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace in your time of need. If you recognize that this is your time of need and you want to receive that grace, I want to lead you in a prayer to put your trust in Jesus today. Leave behind the old things that you've been trying to deal with, your sin under your own strength and power. Let that go and put your trust in Jesus, who did it for you.

If you'd like to receive His grace, would you just lift up your hand? Anyone here this morning? God bless you. I see you over here in the middle. Anyone else? Praise the Lord. If you want to put your trust in Jesus today and receive His forgiving grace, just lift up your hand where I can see you. God bless you in the back. I see you.

If that's you, would you just pray with me out loud where you're at?

Dear Jesus, I know I need You. I've been trying to deal with my own sin. I can't do it. I thank You that You died for me in my place. I pray that You come into my life, that You forgive me of my sin, and that You'd help me to follow You for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name, amen.

Praise the Lord. God is good.

Amen. Let's sing praise to our High Priest.