Jesus: Our Priest

[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help, turn back to the book of Hebrews, or the letter to the Hebrews, in chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7, and if we read again from verse 20.

[0:22] Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 20. And inasmuch as not without an oath, he was made a priest. For those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath, by him that said unto him, The Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.

[0:44] By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.

[0:55] But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth, to make intercession for them.

[1:18] If we were asked to give a list of some of the most important names and significant people from the Old Testament, I'm sure that we would be able to give a large list and produce this large list, whether it begins with Adam, who was the first man, Noah, who built the ark, Abraham, whom God promised the blessing of a nation, Moses, who led the children of Israel out of Egypt, Joshua, who led the children of Israel into the promised land, Samson, the strongest man, Ruth, the Moabite, who confessed her love for the Lord.

[2:05] Then you have David, the king of Israel, Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, Daniel, the servant of God, who survived the lion's den, Isaiah, the Lord's prophet, who spoke more about Jesus than any of the other prophets, and they are just to name a few.

[2:25] But, on our list of names of significant people from the Old Testament, I doubt that the mysterious king, who briefly appears in the book of Genesis, I doubt that the name Melchizedek would be one of the names of the significant people on our list.

[2:46] Not only because very little is written about him, and his name only appears briefly in three books of the Bible. The book of Genesis, Genesis 14, which we read.

[2:57] The book of Psalms, Psalm 110, which we just sung. And also here, in the letter to the Hebrews. And other than these brief glimpses of this mysterious character called Melchizedek, we know very little.

[3:15] But what we do know about him is that his office as a priest is likened and compared to the office of Jesus Christ.

[3:25] In which the writer to the Hebrews describes the priesthood of Jesus as one that is far superior to the priesthood of the Old Testament, the Old Covenant.

[3:38] Because that priesthood in the Old Testament was under the order of the tribe of Levi. But the superior priesthood of Jesus is said to be after the order of Melchizedek.

[3:52] And we'll try and unravel what all that means as we go through this passage. But as we said on numerous occasions, the writer to the Hebrews wrote his letter with the intention of encouraging and reassuring persecuted Christians of their faith in Jesus Christ.

[4:12] Because the recipients of this letter were Jewish Christians who had converted from Judaism and were now following Jesus. But they were being persecuted for following Jesus.

[4:24] And their persecution was causing them to lose sight of their faith and lose sight of who Jesus is and how wonderful Jesus is. And ultimately, because of that, they were falling away.

[4:39] Therefore, the sole purpose of this letter to the Hebrews was to remind these downcast disciples of Jesus that following Jesus is far better.

[4:50] far better than turning back to the old religion. And in order for all these Christians to see how wonderful their saviour really is, the writer of the Hebrews, he elevates Jesus and he heralds Jesus before them as one who is supremely better than all the other types and shadows of the Old Testament.

[5:13] For he says that Jesus is superior. Jesus is better. And the writer reminds his readers that Jesus is better than all the prophets, better than all the angels.

[5:27] He's better than Moses to lead his people. He provides a better Sabbath rest for his people. He's better than Aaron as the high priest because he is the great high priest.

[5:37] He provides a better covenant, a better sanctuary, a better place of worship, a better sacrifice than all the bulls and the goats. And to top it all, the writer to the Hebrews goes through all this host of men and women in the Old Testament who walked by faith and not by sight.

[5:56] And after giving his list of significant people in the Old Testament, the writer then says at the beginning, near the end of his letter, but at the beginning of chapter 12, he says, Wherefore, seeing we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and every sin that doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

[6:27] And how do we do it? Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising its shame and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

[6:44] Consider him, he says. Consider him. Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. Consider him, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.

[7:00] Consider him. Consider him. And that's what I want us to do this evening. I want us to consider Jesus our priest.

[7:13] Jesus our priest. Because according to this chapter, Jesus is a superior priest to all the other priests in the old covenant.

[7:28] And there are three things that I'd like us to look at as we look at this chapter. the position of the priest, the purpose of the priest and the permanence of the priest.

[7:40] The position of the priest, the purpose of the priest and the permanence of the priest. So we look firstly at the position of the priest. The position of the priest.

[7:52] If we look again at verse 14. Verse 14. He says, For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah. That's the tribe of Judah. Of which the tribe Moses spoke nothing about concerning his priesthood.

[8:07] And it's yet more, it's far more evident that after the similitude of Melchizedek there arises another priest who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment but after the power of an endless life.

[8:22] For he testifies, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Last Lord's Day we began to consider the three offices of our Redeemer Jesus Christ.

[8:39] The office of a prophet, the office of a priest and the office of a king. And as we pointed out last week this word office that we often use it's a Latin word which has derived its meaning from the Roman army.

[8:56] that when someone was given an office or put into an office they were entrusted or assigned with a special duty that was to be performed on behalf of others.

[9:10] It was always on behalf of others. And so we can see that we can see why we use the term office as that's been employed to describe what Jesus did by becoming man because he was set apart he was entrusted he was assigned the specific duty of being our redeemer.

[9:32] But what's interesting is that the term office is very closely linked with the title Christ. Because like the term office the title Christ implies being set apart to do a specific task on behalf of someone else.

[9:50] On behalf of someone else. And that's why the catechism uses the title Christ. Not that it's a shortened form of the name Jesus Christ. But it's to draw our attention to the office which Christ as our redeemer held and performed.

[10:07] Because the catechism says Christ as our redeemer executes the office of a prophet of a priest and of a king both in his humiliation and his exaltation.

[10:20] And so the name Christ not only distinguishes Jesus as our redeemer. But the name Christ also means anointed. He is anointed.

[10:31] It means that he's set apart for a specific role. And the role is a threefold office of prophet, priest, and king.

[10:44] Because as we said before, in the Old Testament the Israelites were all set apart. Some of them were assigned as prophets, priests, and kings. And when they were given that particular office or duty on behalf of the people of Israel, they were appointed.

[11:01] They were appointed and anointed. They were anointed. They were Christed. And with each office they were anointed with holy anointing oil.

[11:13] In which the holy anointing oil was poured on or smeared over a prophet, a priest, or a king when they were formally installed into their office.

[11:26] And so with the threefold office of Christ we're given this wonderful picture of his portion and his work. And as we quoted last week James Benjamin Green in his Harmony of the Westminster Standards, he pointed out that the threefold offices of Christ's ministry, prophet, priest, and king, the threefold office of his ministry was to combat the threefold misery of mankind.

[11:54] Because he said, as a prophet he meets the problem of man's ignorance, supplying him with knowledge. As a priest he meets the problem of man's guilt, supplying him with righteousness.

[12:08] As a king he meets the problem of man's weakness and dependence, supplying him with power and protection. And so the threefold offices of Christ's ministry, prophet, priest, and king, they're to combat the threefold misery of man's ignorance, guilt, and weakness.

[12:29] But of course this evening we are now looking at the second office, you could say, the office of a priest. And what's key to understanding the position of Christ as our priest is what the writer to the Hebrews points out to us.

[12:45] Because he says that the office which Jesus held as our priest was that it was an office of an unchangeable priesthood. But it was a priesthood which was after the order of Melchizedek.

[13:00] Which means that it was completely, it was a completely different priesthood to the priesthood of the Old Testament and under the Old Covenant. Completely different.

[13:11] Because the priesthood which functioned under the Old Testament, with all the different sacrifices and the different festivals and all the rituals, it was performed under the Levitical priesthood.

[13:24] The Levitical priesthood. It was after the order of the tribe of Levi. And you'll remember that there were twelve tribes in Israel according to the sons of Jacob.

[13:38] But out of the twelve tribes the Lord set apart, he consecrated, anointed, he set apart the tribe of Levi to hold the office of the priesthood.

[13:50] And they were to be the Levitical priesthood. And their office entailed the responsibility of carrying the Ark of the Covenant, that chest, the golden chest in which the two tablets of the law were kept and where the glory of God dwelt in the tabernacle.

[14:07] They were to carry all these items of the tabernacle. They were to stand before the Lord and mediate between God and his people. And they did this continuously by offering forms and kinds of sacrifices at the tabernacle.

[14:26] But the writer to the Hebrews clearly indicates that the priesthood of Christ and the office which Christ held as a priest was far superior to that of the Levitical priesthood.

[14:41] Because he says in verse 11, If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order of Aaron?

[15:02] So what he's saying is that if the Levitical priesthood of the old covenant was sufficient to provide reconciliation and redemption, then there would have been no need of this other priesthood.

[15:16] If the priesthood which was after the order of Aaron, who was the first high priest, Moses' brother, if his priesthood was satisfactory in the eyes of God and able to make sinners perfect in the eyes of God by all their offerings and all their intercessions, then there would be no need of Christ.

[15:38] No need for Christ to appear as a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And the point he's making is that the Levitical priesthood was insufficient.

[15:50] It was inadequate. It didn't provide a full, unrepeatable redemption. Therefore, Jesus, our priest, had to appear after the order of Melchizedek.

[16:07] And the writer to the Hebrews emphasizes to us that the priesthood which was after the order of Melchizedek was appointed by God himself.

[16:19] It was appointed by God himself because he says in verse 20 that Christ was made a priest with an oath. but the other priesthood, the Levitical priesthood, was made without an oath.

[16:35] Christ was made a priest with an oath, a covenant, a promise. He was made a priest by the covenant of grace. But listen to what he says in verse 21.

[16:48] For those priests were made, they were put in office without an oath. But this priest was put in office with an oath, by him that said unto him.

[17:03] By him that said unto him. Can you see what he's doing there? He's quoting the opening lines of Psalm 110 where God the Father is speaking and entering into the covenant of grace with God the Son where he says the Lord did say unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thy foes a stool where on thy feet may stand.

[17:26] And then the writer to the Hebrews goes on to quote verse 4 of Psalm 110. The Lord swore and will not repent. The Lord made a covenant.

[17:37] He set you apart. He anointed you. He Christed you. He put you in office. And he will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

[17:52] And so Jesus has been appointed. He has been set apart to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And that's what's emphasized and re-emphasized every time the priesthood of Jesus is mentioned in the letter to the Hebrews.

[18:09] That his priesthood has been appointed after the order of Melchizedek. And so the question we need to ask is who is this mysterious Melchizedek?

[18:22] Melchizedek. Because no doubt he has caused a lot of debate and controversy and wonder and questions. The questions as to his identity.

[18:36] Because as we said he only appears briefly in Genesis 14. After the occasion when Abraham rescued Lot. And it was then that this unknown character appeared on the scene for a short time.

[18:52] Then he disappears. But even though we don't know much about him his office as a priest is compared and paralleled to that of Christ.

[19:04] And the debate is whether or not Melchizedek was an appearance of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament or was he this true historical figure.

[19:17] However what we do know about this interesting figure is that he was a king. A king called Melchizedek. The name means king of righteousness.

[19:31] And we also know that he was a king in Salem which was the name for Jerusalem. Jerusalem. The name prior to David taking over Jerusalem and appointing it as the capital city of Israel.

[19:45] And furthermore we know that Melchizedek was an appointed priest who served the most high God. He was a priest which bore the highest title of honour.

[19:57] A title which no other priest was ever given. And by all accounts it seems plausible to claim that Melchizedek was a real historical figure who lived and served during Abraham's generation.

[20:11] Christian. But whatever view we take on this figure we have to agree that he was a type of Christ. A type of Christ in the Old Testament.

[20:24] And when we mention a type of Christ we mean a historical character from the Old Testament which portrays traits and types you could say of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

[20:39] And there are types of Jesus Christ all over the Old Testament such as Adam right at the beginning. The first Adam Jesus, the last Adam. Moses who brought redemption, Jesus who brings redemption.

[20:51] David who was king, Jesus who was king. Joseph who endured unjust affliction, sold for 30 pieces of silver, Jesus unjust affliction, sold for 30 pieces of silver.

[21:05] silver. We can see traits of Christ in each and every one of them. And that's what we see here with Melchizedek. That's what we see with him. We can see Christ in him.

[21:18] But I believe that we actually see more than that. I believe that Melchizedek is not only a type but the type. He is an appearance of a pre-incarnate before he was born.

[21:33] Pre-incarnate Christ. I believe that Melchizedek is what is often referred to as bear with me with all these titles, a Christophany. A Christophany.

[21:45] Not a theophany which is an appearance of God in the Old Testament such as the burning bush. But a Christophany. An appearance of Jesus Christ.

[21:57] The second person in the Trinity where he appears as a person. And there are many places where this happens in the Bible. When we sang in Psalm 34, David said that the angel of the Lord encamps round about us.

[22:15] He's talking about the presence of Christ being with them. Or when in the book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they're in the furnace.

[22:27] And there's a fourth person in the furnace. The fourth person is Christ. And that's who I think Melchizedek is. He's a Christophany. And I say that because of the description we are given often in verse 3.

[22:42] Because the description says he is without father, without mother, without descendant, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually.

[22:57] You can see the parallel between the eternal Son of God. You can see the parallel. But when it says like unto the Son of God, it's not implying similarity, but certainty.

[23:12] That Melchizedek was so like him that it had to be Christ. But one further evidence that makes me think Melchizedek is a Christophany is because as the priest of the Most High God, a title which no other was given, we are told that Melchizedek blessed Abraham who had received the promise.

[23:36] Abraham had been blessed by God only two chapters earlier in Genesis 12. And now God is acting out that blessing towards Abraham through the priest of the covenant of grace, Jesus Christ.

[23:51] He's appearing and blessing him in person. And so what we see is that the position of the priest is that Christ was appointed to the office by God after the order of Melchizedek.

[24:08] But secondly, we see the purpose of the priest. The purpose of the priest. If we look again at verse 26. Verse 26.

[24:20] The purpose of the priest. He says, And so in the words of James Benjamin Green, Christ's office as a priest is to meet the problem of our guilt by supplying us with righteousness.

[24:58] Therefore, as our priest, his purpose is to reconcile us to God. It's to bring peace between us and God. That's his purpose. But what I want us to see is that Christ's office as a priest is twofold.

[25:13] It's twofold. Because as a priest, his role is not only to offer a sacrifice, but he's also to provide supplication.

[25:24] His office was twofold. Sacrifice and supplication. He's to pray for us. And so we'll look at his role of offering sacrifice first.

[25:36] And as our divinely appointed priest, if Melchizedek is Jesus Christ, which I believe he is, then he is the only priest in this priesthood, which is after the order of Melchizedek.

[25:52] Therefore, as the only priest in the priesthood, he will hold the office of high priest. In fact, the writer to the Hebrews back in chapter 4 refers to Jesus as the great high priest.

[26:06] But as the great high priest, Christ's function and role is described to us by the description of Melchizedek. Because we're told in verses 1 and 2, he says, For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by an interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace.

[26:38] So we're told that Melchizedek was the priest of the most high God, and his name is translated king of righteousness. And as king of Salem, or Jerusalem, Salem, that description was also translated king of peace.

[26:57] And what we're to take from this description is that Melchizedek was not only a high priest, but he was a king. He possessed a royal priesthood.

[27:08] And from his royal priesthood came righteousness and peace. Righteousness and peace. And my friend, that's the New Testament description which we are given of Jesus Christ, where he is our righteousness, he is our peace, and both righteousness and peace are the blessings of the new covenant.

[27:34] And so what we have way back in Genesis 14 with this Christophany of Melchizedek, we have the blessings of the new covenant being bestowed upon Abraham and all his seed.

[27:48] And it's a beautiful picture of what Jesus Christ would do at Calvary for all the covenant people of God. That's what we were singing about in Psalm 85.

[28:00] Those wonderful words in verse 10 that describe what took place at Calvary, where truth met with mercy, righteousness and peace they kissed mutually.

[28:15] And what our Melchizedek, our royal priest, came to accomplish, that's what he came to accomplish. He came to impute righteousness and to bring peace.

[28:28] Impute righteousness to those who are unrighteous, to bring peace to those who are at enmity with God. And my friend, he is a royal priesthood.

[28:40] And those of our number, who were once not a people but are now the people of God, we were brought in to experience the covenant blessings under his royal priesthood.

[28:56] We're described as Peter says, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. Why? That we might show forth the praises of him who hath called us from darkness unto his marvelous light.

[29:13] But how? How does this take place? How are we brought to receive the blessings of righteousness and peace through the new covenant? How did our great high priest bring reconciliation?

[29:27] Well, the writer to the Hebrews tells us that the priest became a sacrifice. The priest became the sacrifice. The great high priest with a royal priesthood offered up himself as a sacrifice in order to meet the righteous standard which God required.

[29:50] And that's what made this priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, that's what made it so unlike the Levitical priesthood. because this priesthood and this high priest who was to present a righteous sacrifice, he was, as we are told, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and higher, exalted, higher than the heavens.

[30:19] And he was so unlike the Levitical priesthood because these priests from the tribe of Levi, they had to first offer up a sacrifice for their own sins before they could offer up a sacrifice on behalf of the people.

[30:35] The priests themselves had to experience righteousness and peace before they could mediate on behalf of the people. And they had to repeat these sacrifices every year because they only provided a temporary forgiveness.

[30:52] But not for this priest. Not for this priest. No, he did it once when he offered up himself. And we're told in chapter 9, only a couple of chapters later, that Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.

[31:12] My friend, the act of offering up himself as a sacrifice took place once and only once. And it's never to be repeated again.

[31:23] Because in that one-time act of Calvary, our great high priest offered up himself as a sacrifice on our behalf.

[31:35] On our behalf. That's the office he held. An office that was on our behalf. So that he would offer himself on our behalf, in our place, as our substitute.

[31:50] And in doing so, he would satisfy divine justice. We often term John 17 as Christ's high priestly prayer.

[32:05] And if that is the case, then we ought to think of the well-known words of Isaiah 53 as Christ's high priestly purpose. His high priestly purpose.

[32:15] Because as our priest, our great high priest, in that beautiful chapter, he's portrayed to us as one who bore our griefs, carried our sorrows, stricken and smitten of God and afflicted, wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.

[32:38] The chastisement of our peace was upon him. Through his stripes, we are healed. He was led as the lamb to the slaughter.

[32:50] He was cut out of the land of the living. His soul was made an offering for our sin. The holy, harmless, undefiled, free from sin, priest of the most high God offered up himself as a burnt offering on the altar of Calvary so that he would endure our hell on our behalf.

[33:19] On our behalf. On our behalf. My friend, he offered himself in order to meet the righteous requirements of God's law.

[33:33] And he did it all through perfect obedience. Perfect obedience. obedience. He executed his office as a priest in his estate of humiliation by being obedient unto death, even the death of a cross.

[33:58] And this is key, this is key. Because without the perfect obedience of Christ, from the womb to the tomb, without that perfect obedience, there would be no reconciliation.

[34:13] And it was John Calvin who said, if someone ever asks, how has Christ abolished sin? And if they ask, how has he banished the separation between us and God?

[34:24] And how has he acquired the righteousness in order to render God favourable and kind towards us? This is how we must reply, that he has achieved this for us by his entire life of obedience.

[34:43] And the marvel of this great high priest is that he did it all on our behalf. He did it all on our behalf.

[34:54] Because as our high priest, he brought reconciliation. He pronounces forgiveness. He provided a sacrifice. He acted as our substitute.

[35:06] He imputed his righteousness to us. He restored peace with God. He covers our sin. He takes away the wrath of God. He brought atonement.

[35:17] And my friend, he did it all. He did it all on behalf of sinners like you and me. But why?

[35:33] Why? Why would he do that for us? Why would Jesus Christ do such a thing for us? As John Stott who said, God does not love us because Christ died for us.

[35:51] Christ died for us because God loves us. I'll read it again. God does not love us because Christ died for us.

[36:04] Christ died for us because God loves us. My dear friend, does the love of God for sinners like you and me, does it not melt your hardened heart?

[36:23] Does it not melt it? does it not constrain you and compel you to respond to this love by becoming a follower and a disciple of Jesus?

[36:36] Does it not? The position of the priest, the purpose of the priest, and lastly we see the permanence of the priest, the permanence of the priest.

[36:52] We look again at verse 24. But this man, that is Jesus, because he continues forever, hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives, to make intercession for them.

[37:15] We read there that our priest, Jesus Christ, has an unchangeable priesthood, a priesthood which was after the order of Melchizedek, after the order of Melchizedek, and it was unchangeable because the priesthood of Melchizedek was continual, it was without end, it was unchangeable, therefore our Melchizedek provides the blessings of the new covenant of righteousness, the blessings of righteousness and peace, not only because he's offered himself as a sacrifice, but also because he lives forever.

[37:55] And this is one of the greatest contrasts between the priests under the Levitical priesthood and the royal priesthood of our Melchizedek, because it says in verse 23, verse 23, that the priests under the Levitical priesthood, and it says that they were not able to continue because of death.

[38:19] They weren't able to continue in their office because their office was terminated at death. Their role as priests under the old covenant came to an end when their life ended, but not so for the great high priest, because even though the priest offered himself as a sacrifice, even though he was obedient unto death, death was not his end.

[38:44] Death was only the means to further his role in that office. Death didn't terminate his office. My friend, it only enhanced it.

[38:56] It only enhanced his office. For as the writer to the Hebrews tells us, this Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, because of the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despite its shame.

[39:10] He's now set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Christ executes his office of a priest as much in his state of exaltation as in his state of humiliation.

[39:26] Because this great high priest, he ever lives. He has been resurrected. And that's key. He lives. He lives to make intercession for us.

[39:40] He ever lives to be our priest. He ever lives to be our advocate with the Father. He ever lives to be our mediator between God and man. He ever lives to plead on our behalf.

[39:54] And the fact he lives proves that the sacrifice was accepted. He lives because he satisfied divine justice. He lives because through his death, the veil into the presence of God was torn in two.

[40:10] He opened up that new and that living way for us to approach God. And because he lives, we have this hope, which is the anchor of our soul.

[40:24] That's what we're told in the last verses of chapter 6. That in Jesus Christ we have an anchor for our soul, both sure and steadfast. Because as our great high priest Jesus entered within the veil, into the throne room of God, into the most holy place.

[40:43] And it's there that he ever lives to make intercession for us after the order of Melchizedek. And this is what was promised in the prophecy of the high priestly purpose in Isaiah 55.

[41:00] It was promised that the priest of God most high would make intercession for the transgressors. As we said, Christ's office was twofold.

[41:14] Not only sacrifice on behalf of his people, but also supplication on behalf of his people. Therefore, he is, as the book of Revelation depicts it, he is the lamb in the midst of the throne.

[41:34] He is the lamb slain at the right hand of the throne of God. And as our great high priest having satisfied divine justice through his sacrifice, his duty today and forever is to pray for his people.

[41:56] His work at Calvary may have finished, but his work at the right hand, it's ongoing, continual, it's perpetual, it's permanent, it's unchangeable like his priesthood.

[42:12] And the wonder of this priest is that he is continually praying to his father, continually petitioning his father on our behalf, on our behalf.

[42:25] He's praying for his church. as we read in John 17, the high priestly prayer. Jesus prays for those whom the father gave to him, those whom he has redeemed with his blood.

[42:42] He prays for their protection. He prays that they would be kept. He prays that their joy may be fulfilled in him. He's praying that they would be kept from the evil one.

[42:54] He's praying that they would be sanctified through the truth. He's praying that the church would be one, even as he and his father are one. He's praying that they would be made perfect as he is perfect.

[43:06] He's praying that they would know his love for them. And he's praying that one day that they will be with him where he is and that they will be able to behold his glory.

[43:19] Oh my friend, the prayers of this priest are all sufficient and all encompassing. But what is more is that he's praying for those who are strangers to him.

[43:36] Praying for those who are strangers to him, that they would come to know him and believe in him. That he was sent because God so loved this world.

[43:52] But you know what I find so beautiful about our Melchizedek? is that whenever you may feel low, Jesus is praying for you.

[44:04] Whenever you are heartbroken, Jesus is praying for you. Whenever you are downcast, Jesus is praying for you. Whenever you are distressed, Jesus is praying for you.

[44:16] Whenever you are confused about the future, Jesus is praying for you. When you can't even bring yourself to pray, Jesus is praying for you. Before you even attempt to pray, Jesus is praying for you.

[44:30] Oh my friend, this Jesus ever lives. Ever lives to make intercession for us. He lives to make intercession for us.

[44:44] To pray for us. Therefore, what should our response be to all of this? What should be our response? Well, the writer to the Hebrews tells us, and you know, the more I read this letter to the Hebrews, I can see how effective it is in its purpose to present the beauty of Jesus Christ.

[45:11] Because he's making me fall in love with Jesus more and more. Because the writer to the Hebrews says to us about our Melchizedek. In chapter 4 he says, seeing then, seeing then that we have a great high priest who was passed through the heavens.

[45:30] Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast to our confession. And he is a high priest that is able to sympathize with all our weaknesses. He was in all points tempted as we are yet, without sin.

[45:44] Therefore, therefore, let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

[45:57] My friend, we are able to come boldly to the throne of grace because he ever lives to make intercession for us. But more than that.

[46:09] More than that. Because he ever lives. Because he ever lives. He is able to save to the uttermost.

[46:19] He is able to save to the uttermost. He is able to save to the uttermost.

[46:31] Which means that there is no one who is out of his reach. There is no one who is too sinful for whom this Jesus can be a saviour.

[46:42] There is no one who is beyond hope. There is no one who is beyond his redemption. There is no one who is beyond his grasp. There is no one.

[46:53] No one. No one. Because he is able to save to the uttermost. To the uttermost. But he is only able to save if you come to God by him.

[47:11] He is only able to save if you come to God by him. My friend, will you not come? Will you not come to this priest who has done everything for you?

[47:24] He has done everything on your behalf. And he is still doing everything on your behalf. There is nothing you can do. There is nothing you need to do. He has done everything.

[47:35] He has done everything. And because he has done everything for you, he is able to save you. He is able to reach you if you are even at the uttermost. He is willing to save you.

[47:47] He is wanting to save you. But he can only save you if you come to God by him. He can only save you if you come to God by him.

[48:05] So will you not come and discover how wonderful this Jesus really is. Amen. May the Lord bless these thoughts. Let us pray.

[48:16] O Lord, our gracious God, we are truly indebted to thee, to a God who has provided for us, a wonderful priest, a great high priest.

[48:33] And Lord, help us, we pray, all to bow down before him in worship and realize that he is one who is altogether lovely. Bless us, we plead.

[48:45] Bless thy word to our souls that we would see ourselves as those who are still able to be saved, that whilst we are still on mercy's ground, we are still within the grasp of a great Savior.

[48:58] O Lord, help us to seek thee, to find thee, to fall in love with thee, to walk with each and every day. Bless us, Lord, we ask, and do us good.

[49:10] For Jesus' sake. Amen. We shall conclude by singing in Psalm 103.

[49:26] Psalm 103, the Scottish Psalter, page 370. Singing from verse 11 down to the verse marked 13. Psalm 103 from verse 11.

[49:43] For as the heaven in its height, the earth surmounteth far, so great to those that do him fear his tender mercies are. As far as east is distant from the west, so far hath he from us removed in his love all our iniquity.

[50:00] Such pity as a father hath, and to his children dear, like pity shows the Lord to such as worship him in fear. These verses to God's praise.

[50:11] Amen. Amen. Amen. For as the heaven in its height, the earth surmounted far, so great to those that do him fear, His tenderly blood As far as he stills distant From the land so far out of me From a sweet fruit in his blood

[51:13] All our iniquity What pity on the Father Unto his children dear Thy pity shows the Lord To such as worship them in fear The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ The love of God the Father And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Be with you all now and forevermore Amen