To the Uttermost | Hebrews 7:11-28 | Once for All

Does the good news of the Gospel ever seem "too good to be true"? In our study of Hebrews 7:11–28, we confront the doubts we often have about our own salvation by looking to the indestructible life of Jesus Christ.

This passage details how the arrival of Jesus brought a new priesthood and a new Law, fulfilling the temporary "types and shadows" of the Old Testament. We explore why the earthly priests could never perfect God's people and why Jesus, our sinless and eternal High Priest, is able to save us to the uttermost.

Join us as we find encouragement to look beyond the temporary turmoil of this world and set our hope on the eternal victory secured by our Savior. Whether you are struggling with assurance or simply need to reaffirm your identity in Christ, this message is an invitation to walk in confidence, knowing that Jesus has done it all.

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No one likes to have things in doubt, do they? You don't wake up in the morning and hope that some important detail of your life will be in question. In fact, you hope the exact opposite, because living in a state of consistent doubt and uncertainty about important things might give some serious stomach problems, right? We like to know things and be confident about things.

Now, sports is one example of this. You probably like a good, close game. But when your team is playing, you feel much more comfortable when they are blowing their opponent out, right? Going into the bottom of the ninth with a one-run lead might be exciting. But if your team scores an insurance run or two in the top of the ninth, you feel a whole lot better about the chances that your team has. And we tend to be a bit fatalistic and doubtful about most everything as humans, right?

Now, lately, I've discovered some interesting classic television on the free streaming service Pluto TV. And my two favorite channels are of the game show variety. Now, one has a variety of game shows, but another channel has just 24 hours a day, seven days a week, reruns of The Price is Right from the early 80s. Now, I find them entertaining for many reasons, mostly the nostalgia in saying, I don't remember the packaging looking like that. But there's also another reason. You learn something about human nature as you watch it. This idea of doubt. Frequently you see an individual do well on the show and they win the big prize. And their initial reaction is one of doubt. And you've seen this before. I won? I won? They can't believe it. They're in doubt, even though they did well, even though the lights are flashing, the happy sound is dinging, and everybody's cheering for them. They can't believe that something so good is happening to them. They're in doubt. It's too good to be true. And in some ways, I think we express things in the same way in matters of faith. We hear the gospel, we believe it, but we often question our salvation. Am I sure I'm really saved? Is this good news that I'm saved by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of the work of Christ alone, really enough? It can't be. It's too good to be true.

So as we drop into this part of Hebrews, we are going to look at the truth that Jesus saves to the uttermost. It is not too good to be true. He saves absolutely. He saves without a doubt. The work of Jesus on our behalf lets us know that when we are in Christ, we are saved to the uttermost.

Now we were reminded last week about the purpose of the book of Hebrews. It's written to Hebrew Christians who are considering leaving their newfound Christian faith. They wanted to go back to the rites and the rituals of Judaism. And the argument being spelled out for us here in this book is letting these people know that Jesus is the fulfillment of all that stuff that they want to go back to. He is the fulfillment of the temple. The Passover was just a type and a shadow of what Jesus was going to do to save us. In other words, the point of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus is the real deal. Why would you go back to the stuff that was merely pointing forward to him?

So now, the natural question from thinking about this is why do we study it? We aren't first century Hebrews. We aren't even 21st century Hebrews. But the book of Hebrews is still very valuable to us because it teaches us so much about how to interpret and how to understand the Old Testament. And it shows us the depth and the breadth of this salvation that we have in the Lord Jesus.

So as we come to the passage for today, we're gonna divide it up into two primary ideas to help us see these important truths that are in it with the end goal of applying it to our lives today. And so, the first thing that we see in the passage is that there is a new priesthood and there's a new law. It isn't that the coming of Jesus has abolished our need for a priest who offers sacrifices for our sin. Instead, there's something new and it fulfills what it was in place in the past. And it does it once and for all.

Secondly, we are going to find that this new priesthood is better. While the old order of things was ordained by God, it was just a type. It was just a shadow of what we have in the new covenant. And because of who Jesus is, we can have full confidence that we've been saved by his work on our behalf.

And so as we start out, as we look at verse 11 here, we see a continuation of some of the ideas that we saw last week. Now that four-syllable name that is kind of hard to say comes up again. Like I mentioned last week, if you were to just read through your Bible, Melchizedek would probably be a character that you would forget about because he's just a blip on the biblical narrative. But we found here that the author of Hebrews finds this little blip in the story to be pretty important. Melchizedek is a different kind of priest. Now in the Old Testament, the priestly line was in the line of Jacob's son, Levi. And the author of Hebrews makes an important statement to start us off today. If perfection was attainable through the Levitical priesthood, then why would there be need for another priest? So if the priests in the Old Testament were enough, why weren't they able to give people access to God permanently, like we have in Jesus Christ? In other words, God instituted an upgrade. If everything was good in the old covenant system, why would he have done that? You don't upgrade unless there's a new feature or a better performance. I don't crack open my computer and put in a slower processor, do I? That would be silly. When you go through the effort to upgrade, you do it expecting to see better results.

The author of Hebrews also lets us know that there is a change in the law as well, in Jesus. Things have been changed, and we see that the big change was that Jesus wasn't of the tribe of Levi, and yet Hebrews is telling us that Jesus is our great, eternal high priest. And it tells us right here, Jesus is of the tribe of Judah. People of Judah aren't priests. But just as it had always been prophesied, there would be a Messiah from the line of Judah. But now, he's not only a Messiah, we have the book of Hebrews telling us that he is an eternal high priest. Now before, it was only the Levites who had done the priesthood, and when Moses wrote down the law, he didn't allow for just anyone to be a priest. As I said last week, Not just anyone could walk up to the priestly seminary, that isn't really a thing, but just an illustration to give you an idea, and say, I would like to be a priest. I'd like to offer sacrifices to God. They wouldn't say, yeah, come on in, anybody can do this. No, you had to be of the line and lineage of Levi. And as we move on to verse 15, we see that this was important, and it becomes clear when Jesus is declared a priest that resembles Melchizedek. He's a priest, but he's not of the line of Levi. Like I've said, this doesn't mean much for us, because you and I wouldn't have probably thought about this. We would have heard the author of Hebrews say, Jesus is our high priest, great, that's good, let's move on. But for his original audience, this would have been very confusing. He can't be a priest. He's of the line of Judah. It just doesn't make sense. It doesn't work that way. The law requires that he be a Levite. It wasn't just a really strong suggestion that the priests be Levites. It was the law, and not just the law, the law of God.

And so we see here that Jesus is part of a different, a new priesthood and a new law. He does have the authority that's bestowed upon him and he receives it by the power of an indestructible life. It's his death and resurrection that creates this new state of affairs. He is the resurrected Lord. And so he is the one with authority. He is a priest that will not fade. He is the one who delivers a new covenant.

And so to help us understand this, the author of Hebrews goes to another place that we read about Melchizedek. In Psalm 110, the only other place other than Genesis that we hear about Melchizedek, we read a declaration that the Messiah will be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. This lets us know that the previous commandment about the priests being Levites is set aside. And then a bold statement is made here. It was set aside because of its weakness and uselessness. Now that's a harsh statement. And can you imagine the reaction that was given by those who were raised in the Hebrew faith for the author of Hebrews to say that the law is weak? That the law is useless? That would have been a scandalous statement. Yet the author of Hebrews states it boldly, and we see his argument. The law didn't make anything perfect. It couldn't bring the fullness of redemption to pass. It was something that was in place until what the better hope would be would arrive. And again, this would have likely been difficult for these people to hear.

But let's stop for a moment and think about what's being said. The priesthood was a very bloody thing. I've mentioned this before. We imagine the temple being similar to our space here, where people would come in, sit down, and worship God, but that's not what happened there. The temple, the tabernacle, was not a public worship space. It was a place of sacrifice, and they were offered daily, day after day, for the sins of the people. The people were sinners, and so the priests came in and blood flowed for their sins. Now this was a system that the people would have known, but they would have also had to understand that nothing was perfected through that system. If it was perfect, they would not have needed to continually bring a sacrifice, and the blood would not have had to continually flow day after day. They had to have understood a little bit what the author of Hebrews is saying here. Yeah, I can understand. I have to go to the temple continually with the sacrifice, and I hear the bleeding of sheep paying the price for my sin. They would have understood that the law didn't perfect anything. The continuous sacrifice, the flow of blood would have helped them to understand that.

And so as we've seen in our first point, there is a new priesthood. And now we'll see as we move on to verse 19, why there is a better priesthood and a better hope. And when you think about that sacrificial system, you can see why it says here that this is a better hope that's being introduced. A better way to draw near to God. In the old covenant system, The people ultimately didn't really draw that near to God. Yes, they brought a sacrifice, but they were outside the tabernacle. They were outside the temple. They brought a sacrifice to the priest, and that priest went into the presence of God. The people, as I said, were on the outside. And this is why what we have now in the new covenant, what the author of Hebrews is talking about now, is so much better. It isn't just a priest in here, by himself, worshiping for you, offering a sacrifice for you in the presence of God. Through Jesus, each one of us comes into worship and we're able to go into the presence of God because we have a great high priest. You're no different than I am here. We're all together worshiping in the presence of God, praising him for his holiness, confessing our sins, hearing and believing. because we have a better high priest who is eternal and provided a better way.

And the author of Hebrews shows us that this new way of doing things was also sworn with an oath as the priest did, but this oath was sworn by the Lord himself and it's once and for all, it is Jesus himself who guarantees that the new covenant is better. Now centuries of following the old covenant and unmeasurable bloodshed had shown the people that the system was not perfect. The system went on and on. No priest was perfect because they themselves would die. They were offering sacrifices for themselves and the people. But look what the author of Hebrews says here. Jesus, because he is the priest who is resurrected and ascended He continues in this office of priest forever. And the point is that Jesus is the priest who finally gets it right and he will last forever. Now we live in a temporary world. We don't expect anything to last forever because we know that is just the nature of things, right? You buy a light bulb knowing it will break or burn out. You go spend hundreds of dollars on new tires for your car knowing you'll have to get them again. We live in a temporary world. Even when you buy the best quality of clothes, you spend the extra money, you know they're gonna wear out. That's just the way we operate as finite beings in a world that is fading. But Jesus has defeated death and hell and is eternally a priest And this is why Jesus is able to save to the uttermost. He is the Savior without a doubt. He's better than a five-run lead heading into the ninth. He's better than the field goal kicker putting the football through the uprights to put your team up by three possessions just after the two-minute warning. The victory that Jesus offers is even more certain than a hockey puck sliding into an empty net to put your team up by two goals with only 30 seconds left. It is absolute. Jesus saves without a doubt. His salvation is sure. His salvation is certain. The priests of old offered uncountable sacrifices by an uncountable number of priests. Jesus saves to the uttermost because he brought the perfect sacrifice of himself and he eternally makes intercession for his people. The priests couldn't do this because they were like us, sinful. They were destined to perish. They were temporary. But Jesus brings the better covenant because he can do what the earthly priests could not.

So as we look at the final two verses in 26 and 28, we see that the author of Hebrews says that it was fitting, it was fitting that we should have a high priest who is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. In other words, this is what we were waiting for all along. The old system was meant to point to this better system. The earthly priests were unholy and stained sinners themselves. There was no way they could forever take away the sins of the people. And as we read, Jesus has no need to offer a daily sacrifice. The priests of old offered them for their own sins and for the sins of the people, but Jesus was able to offer a once and for all sacrifice because he was without sin and he offered himself.

And you can see throughout what we read today, the importance of the doctrines that we cling to so tightly as Christians. The sinlessness of Jesus might not seem that important when we think about things. In fact, some slick talking false teacher might be able to make you think, ah, the sinlessness of Jesus isn't that important. Does it really matter? What are the chances that somebody living on this earth like Jesus did could possibly be sinless? What difference does it really make? But the book of Hebrews lets us know it's absolutely imperative. Absolutely imperative. Why? Because if Jesus is not without sin, his sacrifice would not have been for you and I, but for his own sins. He would not be the one who can save to the uttermost. But he is. He's not like the high priests of old. And we see this in the last sentence of our passage today. The word of the oath came later than the law. In other words, when Psalm 110 said that the Messiah would be a high priest in the order of Melchizedek, that happened after the law about the priests being Levites was uttered. And so clearly, the Son of God is the one who will come and perfect the means of salvation and he's gonna do it forever because he is able to save to the uttermost.

And so as we step away from the details of this passage and look to apply it to our lives, I want us to dwell on two specific things this week. The first thing is that we need to remember that Jesus saves without a doubt. I shared last week, I believe, that I've had conversations with people who were struggling with assurance of salvation. And you know how it goes. If a few people are mentioning it, there are probably a whole lot of people thinking it. But we, we can all be plagued with doubt. Doubt whether we are really saved. Doubt on whether the salvation that we have through faith is really enough. Doubt of all kinds can so easily invade our minds and become the obsession of our thoughts. And as we read in this passage, and the book of Hebrews as a whole, there's a theme that keeps coming through in the text. Jesus did it all, and he did it for you. He saves to the uttermost. He saves beyond a doubt. We saw today all of the things that Jesus did to secure salvation for his people, and this salvation we have is not something that can be taken away from us on a whim. It is absolute, and this does more than take away the questions that we have. This isn't just an intellectual exercise. It enables us to live in peace and in boldness. We can step out boldly every day knowing that we are secure in our salvation because it is bought and paid for and secured for us by our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And this allows you to be confident in your day life because on the one hand, you don't walk around trying to earn points, hoping that you're getting your holy credit score up high enough that God accepts you. You can walk around in confidence knowing that your great high priest did it all for you. And on the other hand, you don't walk around worried that somehow you're going to mess up your salvation, that you're gonna do some sin that God's gonna say, that's it, I've had enough with Mark, he's done. No, that's not how it works. We can walk in confidence knowing that we're saved because Jesus did it all. It is about him and his work for us. And so this lets us live in boldness and in peace. It lets us love others to the glory of God.

And secondly, I believe this passage reminds us to think beyond the temporary. As I mentioned earlier, as temporal creatures, we struggle to grasp that which doesn't fade. But we read here about the eternal nature of Christ's work for us. He is forever. And in a world that is fading, in a world that is rife with turmoil, we can look to what God in Christ has done for us. And we can look to that which is eternal. Jesus is eternally a priest on your behalf. And that promise goes beyond the present. It is good into eternity. As we read, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. And so as we are discouraged by the things of this temporary world, may we find comfort in the hope that what we do now matters for the glory of God's eternal kingdom. And may our lives bring glory to our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in light of these great truths, may we depart from here to serve God in confidence, resting in a sure hope that he saves to the uttermost. And may we never forget that that is our eternal hope. Amen.

View the full series: Hebrews: Once for All

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