Pope Jesus
Hebrews 7:23-28
Intro: In the weeks leading up to Easter, the world it seems was pregnant with anticipation about who would become the next Pope. The existing pope was retiring and the college of cardinals in the Catholic Church were charged with electing a new cardinal to be elevated to the position of pope.
. The cardinals elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio as their new leader and he took the name Francis. Pope Francis is the name that he will go by from now on.
. I have been impressed with this man so far.
. He seems to be a man who understands what those who are called of God are to be.
. Servants.
. Last week as we looked at what a church leader should look like, if you remember we said that a leader must be a servant.
. Jesus said that in order to be a leader, you must be a servant.
. Look at Matthew 20:26-28
“…. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,
27and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave
.28For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others …”
. This man seems to fit the bill as they say.
. This man’s life has been a life of simplicity and service.
. One of the first things this man did was go to the prisons and wash the feet of the prisoners. Showing his humility and love for others.
. As I said, I have been impressed with this man.
. The thing I want us to understand this morning though is that he is just a man.
. I am not here this morning to Catholic bash.
. I don’t care what you call yourself this morning.
. If you have accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for your sins and have asked Him to forgive you of your sins. If you have been born again, as Jesus told Nicodemus, and have given your life to Jesus, you are guaranteed eternal life through Him
.
. There are some serious theological differences between Baptists and Catholics but the core of Jesus Christ being the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world is the same.
. While the pope is the chief priest of the Catholic church, the Bible tells us that we all have a chief priest .
. A high priest as they were known to the Jewish people.
. That High Priest is Jesus Christ.
. As Baptists we believe that we don’t need a chief or high priest here on earth because we already have someone who holds that position.
. Jesus holds that position.
. That’s what our scripture addresses this morning.
Just who is our high priest and why He is worthy of that title.
. The book of Hebrews was written to people who were steeped in tradition and who had always had priests and a high priest who had made sacrifices to God for them and had interpreted the scriptures in order to tell them how to live.
. In the 7th chapter of Hebrews the writer gives the readers a history lesson about the
conception and evolution of the priesthood in order to bring them to our scripture this morning.
. Hebrews 7: 23-28
. 23There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office.
24But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever
.25Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
26He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.
27Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.
28The law appointed high priests who were limited by human weakness. But after the law was given, God appointed his Son with an oath, and his Son has been made the perfect High Priest forever.
. The first thing we see here is that Jesus is our high priest because He is:
. Eternal
. Look at verse 23,24,25 again:
. 23There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office.
. 24But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever
.25Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
. The writer says that the old priests died and someone had to take their place.
. The priesthood was a rotating door. Priests were being replaced because of death.
. The writer says no more.
. No longer will your high priest die. The priest in the new system is eternal.
. He will live forever, therefore His priesthood is forever.
. It seems we have been talking a lot about eternity for the last few weeks.
.You see, we don’t understand eternity because we are temporal beings.
. Everything we do is in time isn’t it. We time everything.
. I have this small clock right here on the edge of the pulpit to let me know when I am running out of time.
. In another church I had a man who would remind me of the time if I ran over what he considered my allotted time
.
. He would raise his arm up in the air and start tapping his watch letting me know that my time was up.
. Even though we may not have a firm grasp on eternity, God does.
. God is from everlasting to everlasting. He is the eternal one.
. So is Jesus our high priest.
. We don’t have to worry that a new high priest is appointed because the old one died or retired.
. We don’t have to worry that the new high priest will interpret the scripture in a different way.
. We don’t have to worry about that because: Our high priest is the scripture.
. He is what it’s all about.
. John 1:1 say’s:
. 1In the beginning the Word already existed The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
. The Greek word logos where we get word from has an all encompassing meaning.
.From the beginning, Jesus was to be and is the all encompassing plan of God.
. In Him we find completeness and we need seek nothing else.
. We can be confident that what our high priest says is the way it is supposed to be.
. Do you know why church? Because our high priest is God.
. In the beginning was the word and the word was God.
. Our high priest is eternal and we need no one else to lead us.
. Jesus is our leader and our high priest because He is the eternal one.
. Guess what the eternal one is doing right now.
. Look again at verse 25:
. 25Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
. If you have come to God through faith in Jesus Christ, this high priest is praying to God for you.
. Who else in the whole of creation would you rather have praying for you, making intercession for you than the permanent high pries Jesus Christ.
. Jesus is the ultimate high priest because He is the eternal high priest.
. The next thing we see here is that Jesus is:
. Exceptional
. Jesus is our exceptional high priest.
. Look at verse 26 again:
. 26He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.
. Jesus is the exceptional high priest because He is blameless and unstained by sin.
. You see men who are looked upon as priests or pastors or church leaders are just that.
. We are men and we are fallible. We are sinners who have been saved by the grace of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
. We are just like the priests that we see in scripture. Before they could make a sacrifice for the forgiveness of the people’s sins, they had to make a sacrifice to cleanse themselves of their own sin.
. John Philips portrays an imaginative scene in which an unbelieving pagan (Moabite) is observing the annual Day of Atonement in Jerusalem.
The man sees the high priest in his distinctive garments and asks who he was. He then notices the large crowd of onlookers and asks if it was a special day. He is told that, yes, it is the Day of Atonement, on which animals that have specially prepared are sacrificed for the sins of the people.
The man looks around and says, “I see some animals tethered over there. …. There is a bullock and a couple of goats, as well as some rams. I suppose that they are going to be sacrificed.” His informant tells him that he is correct and points to the Tabernacle and points out the pillar of cloud above it that indicates the presence of God.
He says, “The high priest will go over there. Then he will come out and he will take those two goats. He will slay one of them and then he will go back into the Holy of Holies with the blood, which he will sprinkle on the mercy seat. Then he will come back out again and take the remaining goat. He will confess all our sins over the head of that goat. Then he will be given into the hands of ritually clean man who will lead it out into the desert, bearing our sins, there to be abandoned and alone. Thus our sins are cleansed and carried away of another year.
That’s very interesting, says the man, but what’s that big bullock for? He seems like a fine animal. It’s the biggest bullock I have ever seen.‘Oh, I forgot to tell you about that. That bullock is for the priest. Before He can do anything about our sin, he has to do something about his own. That’s what the bullock is for.’
The visitor “looked astonished, ‘Two small goats take care of all the sins of the vast crowd…and a great bullock for the sins of the priest! Why is that?’
‘Well, you see,’ says his friend, ‘sin in us is bad enough but sin in him is far more serious. His sin looms larger in God’s sight than all of ours!”
. All other priests, pastors teachers, evangelists, preachers are sinners and in need of their sins being forgiven.
. Our high priest, Jesus Christ is blameless and without sin. Faultless. He was and is the one who can make the sacrifice for our sins.
. Jesus is our perfect high priest because He is the one, the only, the exceptional high priest.
.Thirdly we see that Jesus is our high priest because He is the:
.Exact Sacrifice Needed
. Look at verse 27 again:
. 27Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins.
. The priests would offer sacrifices for themselves and then for the people.
. The writer is telling us that this practice for the forgiveness of sin is no more.
. Jesus made one sacrifice. Once a nd for all when He offered himself to the Father as the sacrifice for all of man’s sin.
. Jesus was the exact sacrifice needed to stop the shedding of blood for the remission or forgiveness of sin.
. Without our high priest being the exact sacrifice needed, we would still be offering sacrifices to God for the remission of our sin.
. There is finality in this offering by our high priest.
. The writer writes: “… Jesus did this once for all …”
. It’s final, it’s done.
.The finale is over. The sacrifice is complete.
. In 1 John 1:7, the apostle writes:
. “ … the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.”
. I want to close with a story this morning.
. Years ago in Chicago, there was a great gathering of the world’s religions. Practically every known religion known to man was represented, and many speeches and sermons were delivered attempting to prove that “all faiths led to Heaven…” declaring that “All religions were saying the same thing.”
During one session, Dr. Joseph Cook of Boston suddenly rose and said: "Gentlemen, I beg to introduce to you a woman with great sorrow. Bloodstains are on her hands, and nothing will remove them. The blood is that of murder, and nothing will take away the stain. She has been driven to desperation in her distress. Is there anything in your religion that will remove her sin and give her peace?"
A hush fell upon the gathering as the speaker turned from one to another for an answer. Not one of the company replied.
Raising his eyes to heaven, Dr. Cook then cried out, "I will ask another the question…
…John, can you tell this woman how to get rid of her awful sin?"
The great preacher waited as if listening for a reply.
Suddenly he cried, "Listen, John speaks "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleans us from all sin (I John 1:7)."
. You see, only Jesus can cleanse you of your sin.
. No other person in the world has ever claimed to be able to do this. Only Jesus.
. Why, because He is the only one who has made the sacrifice necessary for you and I.
. Jesus our high priest is the only high priest that gave the exact sacrifice needed to forgive sin and He is the eternal, exceptional high priest.
. Do you know him today?
. Is He your high priest?
. Is he the one you look to for the forgiveness of sin?
.Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
The Only Priest, Jeff Strite; sermon central
He Is Able, John Hamby; sermon central
