Thank you. Let's take our Bibles down. We're going to turn first of all to Hebrews chapter 4, and then we will be concentrating on chapters 6 and 7. But Abraham, of course, when he came back from the victory over the kings, Shaddai, Amor, and the confederation of kings that he fought to rescue Lot, we know that he ran into A man whom the book of Hebrews identifies, or says his name, means the King of Righteousness. And the King of Righteousness, of course, there's no peace, saith my Lord, to the wicked. So before there can be peace, there must be righteousness. There must be alignment with God. Peace is not cessation from activity. Peace is things clicking the way they should. Whenever a car, we used to say back when we had points and condenser and you can do your own tuning and that car was all timed and ready to go, we'd say that thing's purring like a kitten. Why? It's because it's doing what it ought to do and everything is at peace with one another. The moving parts are doing what they should do. Someone has said a train can run off tracks for a while, but it runs a whole lot better when it's on tracks, does it not? And it's a whole lot safer when it's on track. And so when we're on track with God, then we can be doing a lot of things, and there could be a lot of things going on in our lives, but then that's when we experience those songs like, when peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my luck. Thou hast taught me to say it as well with my soul." So we see that the book of Hebrews, the Lord is talking, of course, to the Hebrews, and the writer is telling us that he wants these Jews, the Hebrews, to enter into this rest. Now, many of these people have been saved, but they are still having a difficult time coming out of their culture. Many of them had been, of course, the sacrifices had been given when they were born. They were confirmed and they went through their bar mitzvahs and all that. So they were steeped in Jewish culture. And one of the difficult things now was because the temple was still there, and as a result, of course, the whole custom was every year at least try to make it to Jerusalem, or you know somebody that would. And so, this was a whole lifestyle change for them to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and be among the Gentiles. And so we see now that in chapter 4 he starts talking about the priesthood though, and how do we enter into that rest or that peace with God. And we see that he says now about the priesthood, and which goes right on through chapter 8. But he says in verse chapter 4, We'll just pick up on verse 14. He says, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Don't go back to the old ways. I'll show you a better way. That's the phrase, that's the key phrase in Hebrews. There's a better way. And so he says, let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize or cannot be touched with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted, as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that throne of grace there is the same terminology as the mercy seat in the Old Testament, or that altar, where the cherubim were over it, but that altar, or that mercy seat, was barren. But who sits on that mercy seat now? the great high priest. When you see him in heaven now, he's on the throne, and those same cherubim have their wings over him. And so we see that, let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and grace in the time of need. So we see now that he is saying, you don't need the Old Testament priests. You don't need someone. Paul tells Timothy, there's only one mediator between God and man, and that's the man, Christ Jesus. So I don't want to be called a priest. Now, we all are priests because Peter tells us that we are a royal priesthood. That means a kingly priesthood. We come after the king. And so each one of us can make intercession for others because we are priests. Now that doesn't mean that we are elevated or whatever. It just means we believe in the priesthood of the believer. That's part of our Baptist heritage, and that is that we can go boldly before the throne of grace. Even Luther, who was not a Baptist or whatever, but he was a reformer, but he really started bringing that out. And he would say things such as the housewife, I'm using the modern vernacular, but he was saying the housewife in her kitchen praying to the Lord is just as holy as the priest at the altar. Now, for him to say that back in Roman Catholicism dominated Europe and Germany was phenomenal. And who would think that a lowly housewife could be as high as a high priest and so forth. And so he would make statements like that and of course that's one reason that again culture and people raised in that and baptized in the Catholic Church and everything they had a hard time grasping it. And so we see now that we have a high priest. and that we can come boldly before that throne, because that mercy seat is open to us. Now over to chapter 6, we will see that access that we have. As we begin, we're looking at this strange phenomenon of Abraham, as he dealt with a king named Melchizedek, and how the writer of Hebrews now brings us out that Jesus Christ was not after the order of Aaron. but after the order of Melchizedek. And one of the most interesting characters in all Scripture because he just appears and then he disappears. You never hear from him except where under the inspiration of God, God tells us more about Melchizedek in Hebrews than he does in Genesis. And so we see now in chapter 6, And we see in verse 13, he says, when God made a promise. Now, there's several words here that I've just underlined in my Bible. When God made a promise to Abraham, and that promise was, I'm going to bless you more than the stars of heaven. And remember, God said that to Abraham before he ever had a child, before he could even think of a child. I mean, it was not that he was thinking of a child, but how can I have more offspring than the stars of heaven if I don't even have a kid? And so God made this, and Abraham was nearing 100 years old. And so God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. Now, the word swear, of course, we're not to be swearing and all that, but the idea of swearing is taking an oath, which you will explain later on. That is a legal matter. I can say to you that, make a statement, you know, that I know that the moon is green. Okay, everybody said, yeah, haha, whatever. Well, as a scientist, if I say I know that the moon is green and it's under oath, then all of a sudden that's entered into my record and can be used against me. And so, it is an official statement in a court of law that I have made a statement of truth. And that's why when you put your hand on the Bible and say, do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God, then you have that little stenographer off to the side, and they are recording everything you say, and it can be used for you or against you, because it's an official statement. And so we know that the Lord has his court in heaven, and when we were saved, he, from his judgment seat, or judge's seat in heaven, declared us righteous. Not because of anything we did, but because of the blood that was shed for us. And so that's called imputation. And again, Paul brings that out about Abraham in chapter four of the book of Romans. So Abraham is used over and over again for an example of faith and of justification and of righteousness. Of course, we know that the good thing about Abraham is that we see a lot of his foibles and a lot of his failures. In fact, he will fail after he meets Melchizedek. Yet God promised him something, and no matter what Abraham did, God was going to do it. Folks, when God makes an oath to you, well, let's just look and see what the Bible says about oaths and what God does. So we see that He swore by Himself, saying, surely I will bless you and multiply you and multiplying, I will multiply you. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Now, we know there were a couple of glitches in that waiting for the Lord. He had a problem, of course, with a guy named Abimelech, and he tried to give his wife off again. And then also, he had a problem with a lady named Hagar, that his wife palmed off on him and then got mad at him. And so there were several, and of course, we look at that today and say, oh, that was just old ways of doing things. No, folks, sin, no matter what century it happens, always brings great problems. And it was just as serious back then for Abraham to commit that moral problem as it would be today. And so we see that after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Why? Not because of Abraham and his perfection, but because God made a promise. Aren't you glad that no matter, I mean, I have done things since I have been saved, and I say, how in the world could God ever love me? But God promised me he'd love me forever, and he would never, ever, ever leave me, or what? Forsake me. Now that was an oath. Lo, I am with you always. And so that was an oath that God, that Jesus Christ, he turned around and made a promise to us, And God, so we see that it was obtained, the promise, for God indeed swore by, He couldn't swear by any greater. He couldn't say, so help me God, because He was God. So He couldn't swear by any other thing. So there's the word oath. He made an oath, and an oath. for confirmation is to the end. And so it says, like in the New King James, like it says, an oath for confirmation for them, an end of all dispute. In other words, God said it, it's over. There's no more arguing about it. God said it, and you could trust it. There's no dispute about what God says. And so now, remember, the chapter six opens with the first seven or eight verses that people have argued about whether you can lose your salvation. Well, if God says you're saved, now, if you're genuinely saved, then there is no way that God's going to get out of it. And so if you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, now He might beat you half to death, but you know, there again, whom the Lord loves, He chastens, but He knows those are His. But He says, this ends all dispute. You don't need to argue about it. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died, and that He what? Died for me. And so it ends all dispute. Thus God determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of this promise, to show, of course, to these Hebrews, I'm going to show you this, he's saying, the immutability, that word immutable, or the unchangeableness. God says, I'm the same God who made these promises to Abraham, and now I'm making these promises to you. but I've changed a couple of things, and I want you to know about it. He says, by the immutability of his counsel, confirmed by an oath that by two immutable things, first of all, it's impossible for God to lie, that we may have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. So first of all, it's impossible for God to lie, and that God has promised us something, and you can bank on it. The word hope in the Bible is not the idea of, oh, I hope, I hope, I hope it's going to come. I hope she loves me, she loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not. I hope it does. No, the word hope is the idea of expectation. I expect it because they said it, because God said it. I like it when a person has a reputation. Well, if they tell you the check is in the mail, then you can go ahead and plan all your business because you know it's not only going to be in the mail, but it's going to arrive and you could make your plans before you cash it because you know it's going to be good. And so when I could read my title clear to heavenly mansions in the sky. And so I can't read it right now because it's kind of blurred to me, but God's got it. Amen? Those mansions over the hilltop, one of them's mine. And so we see that he says that he fled for strong consolation, and that's who we can hide in. Hiding in thee. We sing all kinds of songs about this hope and about these things. He says, it's impossible for God to lie that we may have strong assurance or consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. We sing that song again, how from a foundation ye saints of the Lord who have fled for refuge in his word. So we see this hope, now he explains this in verse 19, we have as an anchor of the soul, that's the one thing that should, I mean, everything else we could depend on. When you think of an anchor of the soul, what are you thinking of? Security, steadfast, it cannot be moved. It's the one thing that will hold you together when everything else is falling apart. It's the anchor that holds fast and sure, even though the storms are coming and pushing you toward the rocks, you know you're not going to crash because God is there. And sometimes the best thing you can do in life is the world thinks you're crass, but absent from the body, guess who you're with? You're with the person who called you in the first place. And so we see that he's the anchor of the soul, not of the body, but of the soul. And so no matter what happens in life, we see that we have faith in Him, and that we can have trust in Him, because He will never, ever, ever leave us or forsake us, and we can stand on the promises of Christ our King through eternal ages, let His praises ring. All the songs that we have, notice how many are wrapped up in that. Think of the songs that are wrapped up in the idea that God has made us a promise, and He will never break it, and that we can trust Him. Trusting Jesus day by day, day by day, with each passing moment, strength I find. and all these songs that we sing. So he said that where the forerunner has entered for us, okay, let's go back to this, the hope, the anchor of the soul, verse 19, both sure and steadfast, in which enters into the presence behind the veil. Now, again, these Hebrews knew exactly what he was talking there, what was behind the veil. That's where that priest went once a year, and remember they would have a little cord tied to his ankle, and if he didn't meet God's requirements, those little bells that were on the bottom of that rope would quit ringing, and they would drag him out because he was killed before the presence of God. And that was behind the veil. Only one person could go. Remember David had Uzzah who was carrying that altar and he looked inside and he was killed immediately because he was not authorized to do it. But when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, what happened to that veil? It was ripped from top to bottom. And that veil would weigh, I mean, if you know anything about curtains, whenever you go to a big auditorium and they have these curtains that will go up on one side and all that, those things weigh tons. In fact, several actors, there was one of this, what's the one, the old Phantom of the Opera. Several people nearly got killed by curtains that would fall because they had to raise them up and lower down because those things when they hit, when they come down from four or five Well, you know, downtown you have that, what is it called, the Apollo Theater? Well, the whole reason they have that back part that is so much higher than the other is because that's where they raise and lower the curtains. And so how many stories up is that? And then you have something that weighs, you know, a ton and it's dropping, you can imagine. But then try to tear one of those things with your hands. You're not going to do it. Especially the opaque ones where nothing is supposed to shine through or whatever. Well, this was an opaque ornate curtain with all kinds of tapestry, remember, that was made. And it hung from at least two stories down. And the Lord, when He died, He ripped it from not bottom to top, but from top to bottom. So that means that only one person can do that, and that was God. And so we see that this hope, which was the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which enters into the presence, of course, the idea there is into the very throne of God, behind the veil, which was a forerunner, has entered it for us. Even Jesus, having become the high priest forever after the order of, there he is, Melchizedek. Okay, what he is saying is, we're going to change the priesthood, no longer after the order of Aaron, but now God has changed the priesthood, and it's no longer Aaron's priesthood, but it's Christ's priesthood. And as a result of that, now all of chapter 7 deals with this strange man called Melchizedek. So he says, for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, which means peace, king of peace, priest of the Most High God, remember he's El Elyon, the Most High God, when he met Abraham. whom Abraham met returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, to whom also Abraham, by this time his name was still Abram, but the writer of Hebrews goes ahead and calls him Abraham because of his heritage. He says, in whom also Abraham gave a tenth part. So one of the first times that we see a tenth given in the Bible was Abraham worshiping God through the priest, And so he gave a tenth. A tithe means tenth. And so he gave a tenth of everything that he owned, or everything that he claimed that he owned. And he says that for the tenth part of all, for being translated, okay, this Melchizedek, his very name being translated is King of Righteousness. But notice the order. He's the King of Righteousness, then also King of Salem. So he's the King of Righteousness, but where does peace dwell? with righteousness. And you can't have peace without righteousness. Oh, Lord, bless me. Well, if you want wonderful peace, let Lord Jesus come in your heart. You long for sweet peace and for faith to increase and are earnestly prayed, but what does it take? All on the altar is late. When we are right with God, that's when God brings this peace. Righteousness with God is where we get the Prince of Peace reigning in our hearts. He was the King of Salem, and he was also the King of Peace. Now this makes a lot of people think, we call this, whenever the Old Testament gives you something that is so obvious that it's a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ, they call it a type, a type of Christ. For instance, the lamb, without spot, without wrinkle, no bones broken, that is a type of Christ. Well, here you have Melchizedek was a type of Christ. Many people think that maybe he was also Jesus Christ pre-incarnate. Because we don't see him come or we don't see him go. And so there are several people, and there again, I'm not going to argue it, because, you know, as long as you believe it's the Bible, you know, that's all that matters. But we see that, and then he came as king, and so he was translated king of righteousness and the king of Salem, meaning the king of peace, without father or mother. So the Bible now doesn't mean he didn't have father or mother. It just means that nothing is recorded about him. Now, of course, others would say, that's what the Bible is literally saying, that he wasn't born on earth. So that means that it was Jesus Christ pre-incarnate. Okay, whichever way you want to take it, doesn't matter. We'll find out in heaven. Amen. So those are, but we see that he was without father or mother, without genealogy. We don't see anything about that. He had neither a beginning of days nor end of life. He just came and went. We would think that if he was close to Jerusalem, which was Salem, then before the Jebusites or whatever the Jebusites took it over later, it looks like Abraham would have known him. Because, after all, Abraham, every place he went, he built an altar, didn't he? Just to make sure that everybody else around him knew that he worshipped the God of heaven and not their gods, the Canaanites and so forth. And yet, here we have, very close to Abraham, And Abraham's wanderings and living in tents and building his altars, right there in the middle of him is a king that meets him as he's coming back from battle, and everybody around recognizes him. I mean, we don't see them bowing down to him, but Abraham knew who he was. And so, that's one of the most intriguing scenes in all the Bible, of this man who comes and Abraham worships before him, and gives tithes and then disappears. Just amazing. But then we see, you know, about 2,000 years later, or about 1,500, 2,000 years later, we have the writer of Hebrews explaining it to us through the inspiration of God. And so we see without father, without mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or the end of life, but made like the Son of God. remains a priest continually. Continually means always. Continuously means there's breaks in it. So he's the priest ever since. If it's continuous, then he's a priest one day, and maybe not the next, but he is continually the priest. And so, now consider how great this man was. Okay, let's look at him. To even the patriarch, and oh, everybody, every Jew looked up to Abraham as their father. And so Patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of his spoils. And indeed those who are the sons of Levi, okay, from which tribe did the priesthood come from? Levi. And so even the sons of Levi, who received the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law. So that was something that the priesthood had been set up by Moses later on. That is, that from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham, about he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. In other words, this man wasn't a priest after the order of Aaron. And in fact, he was a priest before Aaron, because Levi hadn't even been born yet. And so this was something that God had set up before that Moses or anybody had come along to write the law down. And by the way, God changed things several times in the Old Testament. We know that Adam and Eve, or especially Cain and Abel, offered directly their offerings to the Lord, did they not? We know in Midian that Jethro, who was Moses' father-in-law, was a priest of the Most High God. And so even Midianites could be a priest until the Lord wrote it down, codified it, that year that the children of Israel spent at Mount Sinai, where God was not only setting up the law, but he was setting up a nation. And he was giving the laws of a nation, as well as the laws of worship. But that was all in the future. That was at least 430 years in the future, or longer. And so we see that Abraham didn't even know that he's going to have a son, let alone a grandson. Excuse me, I got to get used to this and I hope that wasn't too bad. So all this was future, all this was things. Think about it, Abraham didn't know any of this. And yet he was trusting God. And yet, we see that after it was set up, if God can change it to make Abram the one person who's going to bring on the priesthood, and then he's going to single it down to one tribe, and then to one person, Aaron, that's going to come through, then can God change it to something else? If he changes it once, he can change it again. Now, God does not... You say, well, wait a minute, God is immutable. Yes. That's when he makes a promise, but he didn't promise the priesthood to Abraham or, excuse me, to Levi forever. He just said, this is what you're gonna do. And so that priesthood was not set up to be eternal, like it is today through the Son of God. And so we see that God can change things, but when God makes a promise, it can't be changed. And so we see that Levi, who would receive the priesthood, had a commandment to receive tithes and offerings from the people. That's how they were supported. and the temple was built and the tabernacles and so forth, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham, for he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes and offerings from Abraham. So, hey listen, God had done this before Abraham, and if he did it before Abraham, can he do it after Abraham? Yes, he changed it with Abraham or with Moses, so he could change it again, because that wasn't the thing that was immutable. His promises are what are the immutable things. And the promise to Abraham is, I'm going to bless you forever, and I'm going to multiply you. He didn't say anything about the priesthood coming through a certain son. So, he was talking that we've got to keep the immutable things separate from the things that can be changed. And so we see that now he is saying, now beyond all contradictions, the lesser is blessed by the better. And so, of course, he was saying that Melchizedek was superior to Abraham. So there again, people say, aha, see, that must have been Jesus Christ. Okay, it sounds pretty much. What do I believe? I'll tell you in about 50 years. I mean, you look at it one time and it looks like, oh my, that had to be Jesus Christ pre-incarnate, we say. And then other times you're like, well, it's just a type of Christ, which I mean, it's so obvious. But either way, as long as you believe it, you know, there are certain things that are open-ended and we won't know until we get to heaven. But it certainly was something that Abraham saw and it was real to the people around him too. And so he says, here mortal men receive tithes But there he receives them, at whom it is witnessed that he lives, even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes, through Abraham, so to speak. So even the priests had to pay tithes. So again, as they worship, so to speak. For he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. So there again, God had promised Abraham offspring, and yet Abraham was still not a father. And so this was something that, we can go into the biology of all that, but we won't. But there again, Abraham was going to have a child. Then notice he says, therefore, okay, let's change, he said all that to say this. Therefore, if perfection, there's another key word, how are we going to be perfect before Christ? How are we going to be complete before God? If perfection were through the Levitical priesthood, the people received the law, so can the law bring perfection? Can the priesthood bring perfection? Obviously not. He says, perfection is not going to come through the law. What further need, but if it could, what further need was there that another priest should arise according to the order of Melchizedek? If the law could save you, then wouldn't Jesus Christ be a fool to come and die on the cross for us? If your works can save you, wouldn't Christ have been a fool? I mean, that would have been the dumbest thing to do. Hey, listen, if you get to heaven any other way, And that's why today you hear this word inclusivism. Well, there's a lot of, there was some poll done, and I don't know how to believe about these polls, but 50% of Americans believe that there are several different ways outside of Christ and you get to heaven. Well, it doesn't, 50% of the people that took that poll are going to hell if they believe any other thing besides the Lord Jesus Christ. Because there's only one way through and there's no other name given under heaven, given among men, whereby men must be saved. And that's the name of whom? The Lord Jesus. So if there's any other way, if the priesthood could save you, if I could absolve your sins because you came and did something, And I still take exception with that. Man, he's not a Catholic, but he will say, by the authority of God, I absolve your sins this morning after we're going through this ritual. Well, I can't absolve your sin. I could pray for you. But the only person who could absolve your sins is the Lord that you pray to, and I hope I can point you to. Amen? That's all. So he says, if there's any other way, if the priesthood could save you, then Christ wouldn't have had to come. And so he's telling these, remember he's talking to people trying to pull them out of their old ways and out of their cultures. And he said that there would be another priest to rise after the order of Melchizedek, not after the order of Aaron, and not called according to the order of Aaron, for the priesthood being changed of necessity. There again, God can change what he wants to change, unless he makes an oath. then he cannot change because the oath is binding, because God, it is impossible for him to what? To lie. He will not lie and he will not change where he had made an oath forever. And so he says, for the priesthood being changed of necessity, there is also a change in the law. And so God can change the law because the law was not perpetual. It was set up for the time and place of the Israelites, and it was looking forward to the great lawgiver, the Lord Jesus, coming and dying on the cross for our sins. For he of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe. The priest that we're talking about belongs not to Levi, for which no man has officiated at the altar. And so no person from this particular tribe has ever officiated at the altar. And what tribe was that? What tribe did the Lord Jesus come from? The tribe of Judah. And so he came from the kingly tribe. He was the son of David. And so, of course, Jesus Christ was prophet, priest, and king, where there's nobody else in the Bible that was ever, a lot of them that were two out of three, but no, three out of three, just the Lord Jesus. And so in verse 14, for it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the priesthood. Moses didn't know about that. That was progressive revelation that came later on through David and the Davidic covenant. And it is yet far more evident in the likeness of the King of Peace, Melchizedek, there arises another priest. So this priest is not after Aaron, but after Melchizedek, who has come, not according to the law of the fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. So this priest came not according to the law, but by the power of an endless life. And who is the endless life? Who is the giver of life? God. And so he says, for he testifies, you are forever. You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. And that even comes from the book of Psalms. So this was prophesied. And if you have a reference Bible, it will tell you that that reference in verse 18 is from, excuse me, Psalm 110 verse 4. 110 verse 4. There are several psalms, over a dozen psalms, in the Old Testament that we call messianic psalms, which means they point to Jesus Christ being the king, or a king out of Judah. Of course, if you look at Psalm 22, it talks about there would be no bones broken, and, my Lord, my Lord, why hast thou forsaken me? All that is in the book of Psalms before the Lord Jesus ever said it. And so we call those Messianic Psalms. Now in verse 18, he says, for the one hand, there is an annulling of the former commandment. So God, if he makes a commandment that's not forever, he can change it. And so he says, it was a nulling of a commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, and for the law made nothing perfect. There's another good phrase, the law cannot make anything perfect. Paul tells us that in chapter seven, where he says, oh, I try to keep the law, it's our schoolmaster, chapter seven of Romans, and the things that I do, I do not want to do, and the things that I do want to do, I don't do, and oh, wretched man that I am. Who can deliver me from this? Of course, so the closer he got to the law, the more he realized he was breaking it. As he says, for the law made nothing perfect, and on the other hand, there is a bringing into, bringing in of better things, there's that key word, better. Better hope, through which we draw near to God. So I want to show you something better, better. I want to show you someone better. He says, and so the greatness, now he's going to describe this great high priest. Inasmuch as he was not made priest without an oath, So, okay, there's got to be an oath. For they have become priests without an oath, but he with an oath, by him who said, the Lord has sworn and will not relent, and you are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. And there's that strange term again, again, pointing back to Psalm 110. So he is verifying what God was going to say about the Lord Jesus coming through the loins of David. And you can go to other Psalms, especially right now, we'll just stick with Psalm 110 if you want to reference verse 4. And so in verse 22 he says, but so much more Jesus has become, there's another key word, surety of a better covenant. So here I'm setting up a new covenant. And the surety, remember in the Old Testament, you would seal things with blood, and the lamb would be offered. And that would be the surety. But what was the lamb pointing to? The blood of the Lord Jesus. And now we see that we have this promise of God, and we have righteousness through God, through a surety. And what is our surety? Who shed blood was the one who sealed it? The Lord Jesus. And so He is our surety, not some lamb out there today, or whatever. But the Lord Jesus, and if it was a lamb, we'd have to keep doing it every year and every other time. But we have a surety that was, we love that song, what? Once and for all. that the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, died for us. So we see that he is our surety, and he says that many have preached before that it continues forever. Therefore, he is also to save us to the uttermost. Now, a lot of people like to say, oh, that means he saves everybody from the uttermost to the goddermost. That's not what that word means. It means he saves you so completely there's nothing left out. Utterly, when you're saved, it's all done. Complete. And so there's no hint of anything breaking out. I mean, you can't lose it. You're saved to the uttermost, completely, totally, done, over and out, you're saved. And so you're saying you're saved He's trying to make it very graphic. Can he do it any more than that, you know? So he's saying that you're saved to the uttermost, those who come to God through him. those who come to God through whom the Lord Jesus are saved totally, completely, and wholly through the Lord Jesus Christ, since he always lives to make intercession for them. So now who's the high priest? The Lord Jesus, and he is making intercession for us. He's our mediator. He's our intercessor. He talks to the Father about us. And so we can come through Him and to Him, because He's our great Counselor, He's the King of Peace, He's God, He's everything we need to the uttermost. This is pretty deep, isn't it? But He is trying to make it so so concrete that there's no way to think otherwise. Either God is who he says he is, or he isn't. Either we can rest totally on the Lord, or let's go out and have a party, eat, drink, and be merry, because tomorrow we're gonna die. And so, can we put our anchor, he's the anchor of our soul, can we trust him totally? And if we could trust him totally, then what in life can really change that relationship? Nothing. And what's the best thing, really, if you really think about it, the best thing that ever happened is the devil destroys you very quickly, guess where you're going to be anyway? And yet the one thing that God puts into us to keep us from thinking that is a preservation instinct. That's the one instinct that all of us have, is if I swing at you, you put your arm up because nobody wants to get hit, right? Well, that's preservation. But if I'm about ready to shoot at you, you usually duck too, don't you? Why? Because that's preservation. And so that's the one reason that people get saved. Man alive, let's go out and commit suicide. No, no, no. God puts that into you because he's got a reason for you to be here, and that's to tell other people about the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see now, he says, in verse 26, and we'll sum it up, he says, for such a high priest, Jesus, was fitting, or designed for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens. Well, no human priest could be that. Who does not need daily, as the priest did. Those priests had to have a tithe, but the Lord says, if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you. And because that's one of the terms or one of the names of God is Adonai, which is the all-sufficient one. We talked about logistics this morning. If you move an army from one place to the next, you better know where the food and water and ammunition and shoes and clothes and everything else are, if you're going to maintain that army. Well, the Lord can move throughout the heavens. He doesn't need anything. He doesn't need air. He doesn't need water. Why? Because He's God. Now, there's going to be a day I'm going to be like that. I won't need water. I won't need anything else because He's going to give me an eternal body. The one thing that I will do is eat for convenience. He says that we can go and eat in that tree of life. I don't know why I'll need to do it, but I'm going to do it. There again, but I won't have to, because I have eternal life. But we see that this priest that we have doesn't slumber or sleep, he doesn't eat food. Why? Because he's the eternal God who loves us and gave himself for us. And so we see who does not need daily food, or as a high priest, or to offer sacrifices. We offer sacrifices, or excuse me, our body is a living sacrifice. We give tithes, not for him to be sustained, but for his work to go forward. And there's a big difference there. And so he doesn't need to swoop down on the altar and pick up anything we need. No, he just takes what we give and he uses it for his glory. And so we see that of his own sins, excuse me, for the high priest to offer up sacrifices, first of all for his own sins and then for the people, the Lord doesn't have to do this. For this he did once, once and for all. And that word, once, is a very powerful word. There are several words in the Bible that are strong words, like once and for all, sinner, believe it. That word, once, is a term which means one time, it can never happen, it never has happened before, it will never happen again, once. It's kind of like never. We sing that song, he will never, no never, no never forsake. Well, the Lord says, I will never forsake you, But in the Greek, that is a very firm, never forsake you. So we sing that song, never, no, never, no, never forsake. And so, because God cannot forsake us, and that He has also died once. And so that's why he goes back in chapter 6 and says, if you start trying to offer these offerings again, you're just trying to rekindle, you know, the whole need for salvation and you're crucifying the Lord afresh. He says, you don't want to do that. That's silly. You can't do it. And so he says, he says he did once for all when he offered up himself for the law appoints as high priests, men who have weaknesses. But the word of the oath, which God promised, which came after the law, appoints the son who has been perfected forever. So Jesus Christ came after the law, and he's superior to the law, and we could have perfection forever through him. And notice in chapter 8, we won't go any further other than to say, now this is the main point. That's what he's trying to come across. The whole time he spent from chapter 4 to chapter 7 going through this. And that we have a high priest that we can go to and pray to. He doesn't have iron firmities, but we can come boldly before the throne of grace. And he's explaining this again to these people. He said, this is the main point. of things which we are saying. For we have a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesties in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord erected and not man. So where is the throne of grace today? It's in heaven. And where's the tabernacle? Or the temple is an oven. Now what does God do through the Holy Spirit? He makes us the temple because temples are where God dwells. And so what? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you are bought with a price. And what's that price? The blood of Jesus Christ. And where is that temple? If he's in your heart, he will never leave. And that's why someone has said, well, I think you can lose your salvation. Well, no, we believe once saved, always saved because of these promises, especially right here in the book of Hebrews. But once saved, always changed. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things become new. And you can know them by their fruits and all these other verses. And so there's a lot of There's a lot of human activity that goes on, sometimes in the name of religion, and sometimes because we don't know a person's heart, only God can know that, we have trouble picking out who is saved and who isn't. But the Lord says, I know them that are mine. And if I am his and he is mine, then that's all that matters. Now, how can you know that you are his? If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to come and to, faithful and just to forgive, and to, okay. Okay, let's go. How many times do I quote that verse and all of a sudden I got a Biden moment, I guess. But let's see, what is, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There it is. And so, there again, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. And the Lord loves those that are His. And whom the Lord loves, He chastens. And so, with the Holy Spirit, He comforts as well as convicts. He blesses as well as spanks. And if God is in your heart, then He's there forever. And so we can trust in Him. You say, well, how do you know that? Well, because God said that, whosoever comes unto me, I will in what? There's another one of those key phrases, I will in. Absolutely no wise cast out. There's no way I can ever cast you out if you come unto me. So have you come unto the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you accepted Him as your personal Savior? Then He will never, no never, no never, no never forsake. You're His and He is yours. So the great thing about it, we are blessed with Him. But unfortunately, he's stuck with us. And sometimes he has to say, oh man, those people in Calvary, I don't know how in the world. No, I'm so glad that he loves me in spite of some of the things we do. Amen. He's a good God who's made promises. And if he could promise a man like Abraham who failed him repeatedly, I'm so glad that he could bless me in the same way. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your blessings upon us. We thank you for this key man in Scripture who pointed to you and to the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the promises that we can have, that we have eternal life. For whosoever comes, for you so loved the world that you gave your only begotten Son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It's not that we will have it, but it's that we do have it. So Lord, we thank you for that, that we will never die. These old bodies might rot away, but one day we're gonna be with you forever, and we're gonna have a new body. I bet you, whenever you've done the things you're gonna do and the promises that you have, then Lord, we're looking forward to living with you together forever. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.