We find ourselves in Hebrews chapter seven this morning. Hebrews chapter seven. This morning I'm going to preach part one of what will be a two-part message. Considering verses twenty through twenty-eight. Twenty through twenty-eight. This morning I will get Lord willing through verse twenty-four and next Lord's Day through verse twenty-eight. Hebrews chapter 7, we'll begin reading in verse 20. These are the words of God. And inasmuch as not without an oath, he was made 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. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood." The greatest problem that any individual has ever faced is summed up in this question. How can a sinful human being find acceptance in the presence of a holy God? This is the determinant question of the ages. This is the greatest problem facing any of us here today. Sinful man and holy God are like polarized magnets. They cannot come together. They cannot coexist. They repel one another. Many different solutions have been proposed to solve this great problem. Some have gone so far as to deny the realities of sin, to deny the realities of the holiness of God. They preach a God who is all love and all acceptance and no holiness and no justice. Therefore, God is okay with your sinful condition. Others have proposed a solution involving a system of works whereby man can earn the acceptance of God by performing certain acts and deeds. Let me say this to you, brothers and sisters, it would be easier for you to walk barefoot on the noonday sun than to find acceptance with God through your own polluted efforts. There is only one solution to this problem. There is only one way that any of us will ever find acceptance with a holy God. there must be someone else who can approach God on your behalf. You stand in need of a priest. But this someone, this priest, he must be just as human as we are, but he also must be as holy as God is, lest he too be repelled. The thesis of Hebrews 7 is that man cannot come to God on his own. He stands in great need of a mediator between him and God. But not just any mediator will do. See, in the Old Testament, God instituted the Levitical priesthood to illustrate this problem. an Israelite could not enter into the Holy of Holies, only the High Priest, and only on the Day of Atonement, and only for the explicit purpose of offering a bloody sacrifice to placate the wrath of God. But even with the Levitical priesthood in place, sinful man was still unable to enter into God's presence. The Levitical priesthood only demonstrated the problem, it did not provide a solution. The solution to man's problem would be found in another priesthood. It would be found in another priest. One that is much better. One that is far above. One that is eternally superior to the Levitical priesthood. Whereas the Levitical priest illustrated your problem, this priest came to solve your problem. I'm referring, of course, to none other than the high priesthood of Jesus Christ. As the high priest of his people, Jesus Christ accomplished what no Levitical priest could ever accomplish. Jesus Christ secured peace and atonement for his people before God and guaranteed a right standing before his presence. And as we look to this text here in Hebrews chapter 7, I want us to consider this week the nature of his priesthood, and next week to consider the execution of his priesthood. Beginning in verse 20, the first thing that I want you to see from this text this morning is the eternal consecration of his priesthood. The eternal consecration of his priesthood. The Bible says in verse 20, and inasmuch as not without an oath, he was made priest. Jesus was appointed to the office of high priest in a manner vastly different from the priests of the Old Testament. This verse is a double negative. Not without an oath means with an oath. Jesus was made a priest with an oath, whereas the Levitical priests were made priests without an oath. And it goes on to explain that in verse 21, for those priests, that is the Levitical priesthood, for those priests were made without an oath. The Levitical priesthood was not established with an oath underscoring its temporary nature. It was never meant to last. It was instituted only to serve as a shadow, as a picture, as a type of that better priesthood which was to come. The Levitical priesthood was instituted for a specific purpose at a specific place in time. Not to secure salvation, but to illustrate the need for salvation. Not to take away the wrath of God, but to placate it for a time. Not to remove the condemnation of sin, but to cover it for a season. The Levitical priesthood was insufficient by design. I don't want you to get the idea that God instituted the Levitical priesthood with all intentions that it would work out, but it just didn't get the job done. No, God designed it to fail. God designed it to not be able to fully satisfy the requirements of redemption. And these inherent failures were so put into this priesthood so that this priesthood would point to the requirement of another priesthood that would fully accomplish all of these things. The Levitical priesthood was limited in its duration. This priesthood came to pass in time and it passed away in time. But the priesthood of Christ was established before time and will continue long after the end of time. In Christ, we have the sum. In Christ, we have the substance. In Christ, we have the reality. We have the culmination and the fulfillment of what the Levitical priesthood pointed towards. In Christ, we have our perfect, all-sufficient, all-accomplishing, great high priest. Notice it goes on to say, verse 21, but this, that is the priesthood of Christ, but this, with an oath, The Levites were priests by the dictates of temporal law of the old covenant, but Christ, having fulfilled the law, is a priest by the decree of an eternal oath. I want to underscore the importance of this oath for you this morning. This oath is essential to the redeeming work of Christ and his priestly office. Without this oath, our salvation and our security would have no stability or assurance. But because of this oath, we have a steadfast and immovable rock upon which to rest our souls. Notice what the Bible goes on to say in verse 21 concerning this oath. Here is the oath. The Lord swear and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. This is a covenant that God is making in this verse. He says the Lord swear and will not repent. Here we see the contracting parties of this oath. This oath was made by God the Father to God the Son. This is an inter-Trinitarian oath. This is a covenant made within the Godhead, between two persons of the Godhead. The Father promised, pledged, and gave his word to the Son. And God will never repent of this oath. He will not change his mind about this oath. There is no plan B just in case this oath doesn't work out. To put it bluntly for you, God is not an Indian giver. God is not making a promise here that he will one day recant on. Because God is immutable, because God changes not, so too is the essence of this oath. Notice the infinite degree of this oath. It is between the Father and the Son. This oath was made within the Godhead, having nothing higher by which to swear, God swore by Himself. God swore this oath upon His own name. It is as if God is saying to us today, may I cease to be God. If there is not a perfect fulfillment of this promise that I am making, I swear by my own name, I am not going to change my mind, I'm not going to recant, I will not repent about this oath. How vastly different are man's oaths and God's oaths. We make vows, we make oaths, but we do not have the power to perfectly keep them. external hindrances beyond our control prevent us from performing what we have promised. We might have all of the good intentions, but we don't have the sovereignty to always bring to pass our promises. We might promise to be at such and such a place at such and such a time, but the flat tire that we got prevented us from being there when we said we would. But it is not so with God. Because God is sovereign, he who makes the oath has all the power to ordain all of the circumstance so that his oath will come to pass. He possesses all the power to faithfully carry out whatsoever he's promised to do. What God swears always come to pass exactly how it was promised. When God makes an oath, you can mark it down in bold black ink. It will come to pass. It will take place. It will happen just as God said it would. This oath can never be altered. This oath can never be undone. This oath can never be revoked. This oath can never be rescinded. This oath can never be violated in any way because it was sworn by the name of God himself. Let it be far removed from your thinking that there has ever been a day or ever will be a day when Jesus Christ is not the high priest of his people. God has promised it to be so. Jesus has never had to say, someday I will be the priest of my people. I sure would like to be the priest of my people. Maybe I'll get around to becoming the priest of my people. This oath comes with the divine certainty that Jesus is and ever shall be the priest, the high priest of his people. The Lord has sworn this to be so and he will not repent. It's the nature of this oath. It's important for that to be consecrated in your mind because your feelings will mislead you. Your temptations will cause you to doubt. your conscience will cause you to think that God looks upon me with condemnation in heaven, and you must remember that you have a high priest, and he is your high priest forever, at all times, forevermore. He will never be removed from his office, because he was placed there by a sovereign oath. The details of this oath, the particulars of this promise, come to us, thou art a priest. This is the father declaring to the son. This oath is intimately connected with the redemption of those given to the son by the father. In this oath, the father promised to the son that he would be given a people, and that he would live a perfect life on their behalf, and that he would then go to the cross and shed his blood for their redemption. and that he would then ascend to heaven and continue to intercede for them before the throne of God. Consequently, this oath ensures glory given to the Son of God. In this oath, the Father says, Son, I will give you this peculiar people and you will redeem them and they will love and worship you and honor you and sit around your throne forever. Herein lies an important truth that is essential to understanding your own salvation. Your salvation did not begin with God's love for you. Your salvation began first and foremost with the Father's love for the Son. Because the Father loved the Son, he gave him a people. before you and I were ever created, before this world ever existed, before time itself, the Father and the Son fellowshiped in a perfect love. And because the Father loved the Son, He created the world and He gave His Son a love gift. It was not enough for the heavens to declare the glory of God, it was not enough merely for the rocks to cry out, but God the Father so loved the Son that He created a people that would eternally sing the praises of Jesus Christ. And by his work as high priest, the father has promised to the son that there would be a host of saints throughout eternity into the ceaseless ages that bring glory unto him. And even now in heaven, there are cries around the throne that cease not day and night. Hallelujah, hallelujah. You must understand redemption is not about us. Redemption is about him. the promise of salvation, the oath of the priesthood, they were made by the Father to the Son. And we, believers, we are the blessed benefactors of this divine transaction. We are the inheritors of what took place within the Godhead. We have been engrafted into this Trinitarian love. We have entered in to the communion that took place between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. How glorious is it to think of yourself like this? Think of yourself as a love gift from the Father to the Son. On days when you struggle to find your worth, on days when you struggle to find your value, turn off the secular motivational speakers that say nothing but empty and vain words, and think that God, the Father, loved His Son so much that He gave you to Him. Imagine the Father saying to Jesus, Son, I love you so much, and because I love you, I'm going to give you Alan Rooney. I'm going to give you Isora Bond. I'm going to give you Jackson Lawley. I'm going to give these people to you, and they will be yours, and you will redeem them, and they will worship you forever. And because of this love, you will go. I will not have to force you to go. I will not have to make you go. You will go willingly. You will want to go. And you will redeem them. You will shed your blood for them on the cross. You will die for them, willingly, because you love them, because I love you. And they will worship you and praise you forever and ever. Brothers and sisters, we bring nothing to the table. We have nothing to offer God. We do nothing to work out our own salvation. Christ did not die for us because of how good we were. He died for us as an outpouring of the love of God, which is now bestowed upon us who are in Christ. We come to the Father through the Son on the basis of what God has already worked out in himself for his people. And for this reason, If nothing, we're in to boast. We have no credit to claim for ourselves. May our boast be forevermore in the cross of Christ, in the divine plan of God. If you are redeemed, the only reason you have to give for your salvation is this, because the Father loved the Son, He gave your soul to Jesus, and the love of God upon the Son has extended to you in Christ, and that divine love compelled your Savior to enter into this world, to die for you on a cross, to make you a personal partaker of His love, and your testimony is, I love Him because He first loved me, and the Son loved me because the Father first loved the Son. Now, this raises an important question. When was this oath made? At what point did the father say to the son, thou art a priest forever? At what point did the father give a people to Christ? At what point did the elect of God become Jesus's love gift? And though some men indeed hate this truth, it does not change the fact that it is true. You were not given to Christ when you first believed. You were not given to Christ when you were born. You were not given to Christ when Jesus died on the cross. You were not given to Christ when the world was created. Before one slab of dirt was ever laid upon the earth, before one star ever hung in heaven, you already belonged to Jesus Christ. He already loved you. He had already purposed to come into the world and save you. Because God, in His eternal love, formulated redemption before the foundations of the world, so too did He give you to Christ before the foundations of the world. Now, I could quote it for you, but I want you to see it for yourself. Hold your place in Hebrews 7 and turn to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1 and begin reading at verse 3. Notice what the Bible says. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. And those who would be lifted up in pride, who would think that they were really worth something, would look at a text like this and would say, God, you're so unfair. You're so unfair. Why would you choose those who would become Christians and be in Christ? But the real question that we should be asking ourselves this morning is why would he choose anyone? Why would he save anyone? No one is deserving. All of us by nature are worthy of death. If you were to go down to the orphanage this morning, and you were to adopt some of the children there, no one would call you unjust because you did not adopt all of the children. God has adopted His people in Christ. He has given them to the Son, and the Son has loved them, and has died for them, and will eternally secure them. That is not to say that you were born justified. You were born blind. You were born depraved. You were born a child of wrath. But Christ died for you while you were yet a sinner. And because of the eternal purposes of God, He did not stumble upon you and haphazardly save you. If you were converted in 1985 or in 2022, it's not because God by chance just decided that day He was going to save you, but it was because He had ordained it from before the foundation of the world and your salvation was the eternal purposes of God coming to pass in time. Salvation is much bigger than you or me. It is much bigger than an emotional decision. It is much bigger than just walking an aisle, or praying a prayer, or getting submerged in water. It's much bigger than that. It involves the counsel of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And before the foundation of the world, the Father made an oath to the Son, thou art a priest forever. the order of Melchizedek. What do we make of this reference to Melchizedek? This tells us that the duration of Christ's priesthood is clearly stated in this oath. Notice this is a quote from Psalm 110 in verse 4. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Well, who is Melchizedek? Melchizedek was a type of Christ in the Old Testament. He was a picture of Jesus Christ before his incarnation. Melchizedek was the priest that came to Abraham in Genesis 14. He was a priest before the giving of the law, before the Levitical priesthood. No one preceded him. No one came after him. His priesthood was not passed down by a fleshly lineage. He shared his priesthood with no one. Go back to Hebrews 7 and look at verse 3. This is speaking of Melchizedek. Hebrews 7 in verse 3 says, Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually. That is the priesthood of Jesus Christ. That is the type of ministry that Christ has entered into. This oath spans across the halls of eternity. This oath is an everlasting covenant of redemption. This oath was made, as we've seen before, the beginnings of the world. That is the eternal consecration of Christ's priesthood. But I want you to see, secondly, the exceptional covenant of His priesthood. The exceptional covenant of His priesthood. Look at verse 22. the bible says by so much was jesus made a surety of a better testament and i want you to notice that the translators of the King James Bible put verse 21 in parentheses, and rightly so. Verse 21 was given to explain verse 20, but the parentheses are to show us that verse 22 is immediately connected to verse 20. So you could read it as verse 20, and inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest, verse 22, by so much was Jesus made the surety of a better testament. In other words, Jesus is the surety of a better testament because he was made a priest by this divine oath. The word testament is synonymous with the word covenant. Jesus Christ is the surety of a better covenant, a better promise of God, a better administration of this everlasting covenant of redemption. The better covenant, of course, is the new covenant. The new covenant which was ratified by the Lord Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection. And he was made the surety of this covenant by the divine appointment of the Father's oath. Let me point out to you that we serve a covenantal God. We do not serve a God that can't make up his mind. We do not serve a God that thinks one thing one day and one thing another day. We do not serve a God that has flimsy emotions that dictate a flimsy will. We serve a God who is unchanging, who decrees his purposes and keeps his word. And God administers the singular promise of salvation throughout the entire Bible through divine covenants. Immediately after the fall of man, God issued a promise to Adam that he would send a redeemer. And this promise runs throughout the Bible like a scarlet thread as God makes covenants with his people. Each of these covenants restipulates and reaffirms this promise. And with each of these covenants, we learn more and more about the Redeemer. Abraham knew more about Christ than Noah did. And Moses knew more about Christ than Abraham did. And David knew more about Christ than Abraham and Moses and Noah did. And so on and so forth. But the full discovery, the ultimate fulfillment of the promise of salvation came in the new covenant with the person and work of Jesus Christ. Because God is a covenantal God, there is no such thing as a hypothetical salvation. There is no such thing as a maybe, sorta, kinda, almost salvation. Because God's covenants are sure, there is only actual salvation. Certain salvation. Definite salvation. Because redemption is not dependent upon man's performance, nor upon his ability to meet any prerequisites. Salvation is promised in God's gracious covenant. And it is guaranteed by the surety of that covenant, Jesus Christ. The plan of redemption has been so ordained of God that no power of hell and no scheme of man could ever thwart His purposes. The New Covenant is a better administration. Why is the New Covenant better than the Davidic? Better than the Mosaic? Better than the Abrahamic? Better than the Noahic? It is better because it has a better surety. A surety? What is a surety? If you're reading another version, you might see the word guarantee. And that's what a surety is. A surety is one who pledges his name and his worth to guarantee the obligations of another. And some of you may remember purchasing your first vehicle. And you were young, you had very little money, you had very little income, you had no credit. And the dealership would not sell you the vehicle on your own. You could not buy it by yourself. So your father came down to the dealership and he co-signed for you. And as the co-signer, your father was the surety of the agreement between you and the dealership. As the surety, he agreed that if at any time you were unable to fulfill your obligation, he would take responsibility for the debt that you owed. So he assured the dealership that the debt would be paid in full, and he assured you that you would have this new vehicle. In the new covenant, that is what Jesus Christ has done for us. You, the creature, are under the obligations of your creator. You are obligated to keep God's law, to be as holy as he is holy, but you have miserably failed to meet the obligations. And the wages of sin, the debt that you have incurred, is the death of your body and your soul. Your sins have surmounted a debt that you cannot pay. You are in over your head. You are like that 17 year old boy that bought the F-150 and now he is unable to pay for that truck because he's lost his job at the car wash. You are wholly incapable of paying God what you owe him. You cannot secure your own salvation. Your works have failed you. Your own efforts have accomplished nothing. The harder you try to pay your own debt, the more indebted you become. It's compound interest in the other direction. In and of yourself, you are damned, hopeless for all eternity. You need someone who will stand in your place before God and will fulfill the obligations that you cannot fulfill. You need someone who will do on your behalf what you could never do on your own. You need someone who will not only pay your debt, but will also give you his worth so that you never go into debt again. And such a person is found only in Jesus Christ, the great high priest of his people, the surety of a better covenant. If you are one of His, this is what He has done for you as your surety. On the cross, Jesus signed the dotted line for you. On the cross, He pledged Himself for you. Christ has guaranteed that your obligations to God will be met. Christ has guaranteed that the justice of God will be satisfied. He has taken your sin debt. He has assumed it as His own. He went to Calvary's cross. He bore that sin on his own back. He paid the debt with his own precious blood. On Calvary, the Lord Jesus declared forever about your sin debt, paid in full. Every sin you ever have committed, every sin you ever will commit, by the once offering of himself, he paid your debt. The sins which separated you from God, Jesus has taken them away. And in place of your sin, not only did he pay your debt, but he has clothed you in his own holiness. He has given you his perfect righteousness. See, if all that you have is your debt erased, you're at zero. You still cannot enter into the presence of God, because to enter into the presence of God, you must be as holy as God is, positively righteous. Your debt is erased, you're at zero, but you don't need to be at zero, you need to be at a hundred. And that is what Jesus has done when he has given you his righteousness and made you accepted and beloved of God. On the cross, Jesus stood in your place so that when God looked upon Jesus, he saw you, so that now he can look upon you and see Jesus. He left the splendors of heaven. He came into this world that had been cursed with sin to fulfill our obligations, to pay our debt, to suffer and die for us so that we might be made right with God. Everything you weren't before God, He was and more. And now in Him, you are pleasing in the eyes of God. God no longer looks at you and sees your sin. God no longer looks at you and sees your filth. God looks at you and sees Jesus. That is the gospel. That is the culmination of God's gracious promise. He has redeemed his people. He has kept his covenant. If you're unsure of your own salvation, if you are unsure, when you think about God looking at you and you say, well, I don't know what he sees. Do not look to yourself. Do not trust anything that you have done. Do not rely on any works that you have performed. You must look to Christ. You must flee to him. You must come to the great high priest and you must say, I am the chief of sinners. Do you have any salvation for me? And he receives all those who come to him through faith. Notice he's not the possibility of a better covenant. And nor is he the prospect of a better covenant. He is the surety of a better covenant. He has already done it. He has already accomplished it. What are you waiting on? He has done all that needs to be done for sinners to be made right with God. He has performed all of the obligations. He has kept all of God's law. He has already offered himself. And now he stands there with arms open wide, calling to sinners, come unto me, come unto me. I will represent you before God. I will take your sins from you. I will give you my righteousness. I will stand before him on your behalf. I will guarantee your acceptance with God. Why would you still try to do it yourself? Why would you say, well, just give me another week. Let's give me another day to work harder to better myself to pull myself up by the bootstraps Don't Terry Don't wait Come to him come to Christ And thirdly we see in this text the endless continuation of his priesthood Throughout this passage, we've been considering the supremacy of Christ's priesthood. His priesthood is supreme because it was ordained by divine oath. His priesthood is supreme because it executes a better covenant that guarantees a definite salvation. But as we come to verses 23 and 24, we see that his priesthood is supreme because it has an endless continuation. Notice what the Bible says in verse 23, and they truly were many priests. This is referring to the priests of the Old Testament, the Levitical priests. Historical records indicate that there were 83 priests from the institution of the priesthood until the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. 83 priests. Why so many? Well, because of verse 23. because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. The Old Testament priests meant the ultimate disqualifier for the ministry, death. And nothing will more quickly get a man out of the pastorate than death. One by one, they came, they ministered, and they died. And when they died, another would be given their office. And the death of the Old Testament priest stresses the insufficiency of that priesthood. Hold your place in Hebrews 7. Turn with me back to the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 20, the beginning of your Bibles. Aaron was the first of the Levitical priests. And just like a church that calls a new pastor, when Aaron became the priest, Israel faced the temptation of thinking, well, finally, we've got our man. Finally, we have this priest, and he will solve all of our spiritual problems. They faced the temptation of placing a misguided trust and confidence in Aaron and in the priesthood. And so look at Numbers 20 verses 25 through 29. Look at what God did so that Israel would not commit that sin. God said to Israel, Numbers 20 verse 25, take Aaron and Eleazar, his son, bring them up onto Mount Hor. and strip Aaron of his garments and put them upon Eliezer his son. And Aaron shall be gathered unto his people and shall die there. And Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them upon Eliezer his son. And Aaron died there in the top of the mount. And Moses and Eliezer came down from the mount. When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel. That is not a priesthood for you to trust your eternity in. At the end of his ministry, God summoned Aaron to the top of Mount Hor. He stripped him of his priestly garments. He took away his office, and Aaron died in the presence of all those he ministered unto. And after Aaron, all 82 priests, they would likewise die. Why did God make the death of Aaron such a public event? Because he was showing his people very clearly that this priesthood was utterly incapable of saving their souls. A dead priest can save no one. I pray that this church never places so much misguided confidence in me that God sees fit to call us all down to the square and kills me in downtown Paris. God is pointing out to his people that a mere mortal man, though he is the priest, he cannot bring you to God. He cannot wash your sins away. He cannot remove your guilt and condemnation. He cannot give you a positive righteousness. These Old Testament priests could not save sinners. They could not even save themselves. Turn back to Hebrews 7. And notice verse 24. The Old Testament priests were not suffered to continue by reason of death, but... This is one of those great buts of the Bible. But this man... and not 83 men, and not a lineage of priests, and not a plurality of elders, this one man, this single man, Jesus Christ, but this man, because he continueth ever. Because Christ and his office and his ministry are eternal and everlasting. Because he has defeated death on the cross. Because he has triumphed over the grave. At the death of the Old Testament, priests put an end to their priesthood. But the death of Christ secures his priesthood. Because he is the immortal one. He is the only priest that ever rose from the grave and continued his priestly ministry throughout all eternity. Because he continueth ever, he hath an unchangeable priesthood. Because of the Father's oath, because of the surety of this better covenant, because he continueth ever, his priesthood is absolutely immutable, unalterable, and unchangeable. Jesus never takes a break from being our high priest. Jesus never rests from being our high priest. Jesus never goes on vacation. He doesn't have a sabbatical. He never yields his office to another. He never retires from the ministry. He is the perpetual and eternal high priest. And you must cling to this truth as tightly as you can, because your eternal salvation is dependent upon Christ's eternal priesthood. It is not only Jesus who saved you, it is Jesus who keeps you saved. As he intercedes for you, at the right hand of God, before the throne of God. Because his priesthood is unchangeable, so too is your salvation. If you could lose it, you would. But Christ will not let your soul be lost. He's a perfect priest. He has perfectly represented every sinner who's ever come to him. Pastors will fail you. Churches will fail you. People will fail you. Jesus Christ will never fail you. What did we sing this morning? That soul that on Jesus leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, never, never forsake. He is guaranteed. He is the surety of your salvation before God. He is your great High Priest. And it is upon the perpetuity of his priesthood that the hope of his people rests. And so I must ask you this morning, is Jesus your High Priest? I don't believe I have to prove to you that you are a sinner, that you have transgressed the law of God, that you have incurred a sin debt before Him. How are your sins being dealt with? What will happen to you on that last day? Are you trusting in Christ to represent you before God? Do you have the confidence and assurance of knowing that no matter how deep in sin you got, Christ has fully pulled you out and paid for all of them? Can you confess with full assurance that you were pardoned on Calvary's cross? If you were to stand before God today, what would you have to say to Him when He were to ask you about your sins? If he were to say to you, well, what about this? Well, what about that? Well, what about, could you, would you look at him and say, well, Lord, I've been trying really hard. If you'll just give me some more time, I've really been working on this. I'm trying to do better. What will you be able to say? Oh, those sins? Jesus died for those sins. Has Jesus interceded for you? Has he given his life for yours? Your only hope in life and death is that God would look upon you and see Jesus. Is Jesus your high priest or are you still trying to stand before God on your own? Let me tell you as plainly as I know how, God will never accept you apart from Christ. There's one God, one mediator between God and man. There is no other name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved. You will never be good enough to earn the love and favor of God. Your own efforts will avail nothing. Christ alone saves sinners. And God is fully pleased with all that Christ has done and he is fully pleased with all those and only those in Christ. And if you are to have a steadfast and sure hope of eternal life, you must forsake your own works, and you must place complete confidence in the high priestly work of Jesus Christ. And this man, who continueth ever, who is the surety of a better covenant, who gave his own life for his people, he will grant you a salvation that lasts throughout the ceaseless ages. Come unto him, and trust in Jesus Christ, the great high priest. Let us pray. We thank you this morning once again for the word of God that has come unto us. We thank you for the perfection of Jesus Christ by which he has performed this priestly ministry, the nature of his priesthood. The only confidence we have this morning, the reason why we can so boldly approach your throne, even in prayer, is because we know, Lord, that Jesus Christ intercedes for us, makes us accepted before you on account of his perfect life and his sinless death. And I pray, Lord, if there's one here that is struggling with their assurance, that is struggling with their standing before you, that their conscience is screaming to them that they are guilty and they are condemned, would you, by the gospel of Christ, pierce their impenitent hearts, introduce them to this great high priest. May they cast themselves at the mercy of Christ, and I know that he will save them through faith, all those who come unto him. Father, we glorify you and we bless you. In Jesus' name, amen.