"The Glory of God" Sermon: John 11:1-44

Due to the power outage, I preached from notes, and there is no manuscript for this sermon.

I argued that the Glory of God is seen in revealing Who Jesus is -- the Resurrection.  And I encouraged us to look forward to the resurrection of our whole selves -- body and soul -- rising on the last day.

November Sermons

D.V., I will preach:

11/4/12 All Saints'

   John 11:1-44  "The Glory of God"                    

11/11/12 Stewardship

  Mark 12:41-44  “Her Two Cents”

11/18/12 Thanksgiving

  I Samuel 2:1-10  “Hannah’s Thanksgiving”

11/25/12 Christ the King 

 Daniel 7:9-14  “The Son of Man”

"Our Father" Sermon: Jeremiah 31:7-9

“Our Father”

[Jeremiah 31:7-9]

October 28, 2012 Second Reformed Church

            Today is Reformation Sunday – the first holiday of the season – the Sunday in which we remember what is considered the official separation of the Protestant Church from the Roman Catholic Church – the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, which is dated at October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the church door of Wittenberg for debate on the subject of indulgences. The end result of that act was the declaration that salvation is by faith alone and that our doctrine is to be founded on the Word of God alone.

            This morning, we're looking at a passage from prophecy of Jeremiah. Jeremiah began prophesying during the reign of the good king, Josiah, in about 627 B.C. and preached until the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. when the Babylonian armies destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and carried off the last of the people of Judah – except for the very poorest of the poor – into captivity in Babylon.

            Our Scripture takes place close to the fall of Jerusalem, after Jeremiah had prophesied to the remnant of Israel, condemning them for their whoring with idols – being an unfaithful bride to God Almighty – and for having no shame in their sin. Not only did they claim to worship God while they fooled around with idols, but they did so proudly, openly, in the sunlight, before all nations – without shame and without repentance.

            The nation of Judah was not exempt: she followed the example of her sister – and despite the fact that the Assyrians had come and taken Israel into captivity – despite the fact that the Babylonians had already come once and taken the upper class of Judah into captivity – they still had the audacity to turn their backs on God and worship false gods.

            Jeremiah went through the land contradicting the hundreds of false prophets – giving terrible and dire prophecies of what God was going to do if they did not repent and turn back to God – and the result was that Jeremiah was persecuted for telling the truth. He was thrown in stocks, he was beaten, he was thrown in a cistern, he was threatened with death – and he cried out in anguish to God and asked not to be the one who would give these prophecies. Jeremiah was sick of the abuse, sick of the people of Judah turning their backs on God, sick of crying and weeping and mourning with no one caring – Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet for good reason – but God told Jeremiah to continue to prophesy, to continue to denounce Judah, to continue to warn Judah, and Jeremiah found himself compelled to tell the truth – to speak the Word of God in a hostile land.

            Shortly before this morning's text, Jeremiah told the people of Judah that Babylon was coming again, and they would conquer Judah and destroy Jerusalem and the Temple, and they would be in captivity for 70 years. Jeremiah even sent a letter to the captives who are already there in Babylon and told them not to think about coming home, but to buy houses and start businesses and have families and be faithful to God in the foreign land, because they were not going to come home.

            The false prophets responded by sending their own letters – and by telling the people that Jeremiah was lying, and that they would not be in Babylon for long but God would bring them back quickly. And Jeremiah responded by telling the false prophets that God would take His vengeance against them – that the Word of God stood – the captivity would be 70 years and Jerusalem and the Temple would fall.

            However, as we reach Chapter 31 of Jeremiah, God assures the people of Israel and Judah that although they had sinned and sinned proudly against God – breaking the Covenant – God had not forgotten the Covenant that He made with Abraham swearing by His Own Self – by His Own Existence – that God would make Abraham's seed – a blessing to all nations. God reminded them that God will never break His Promises and that God will always bring His Plan to the end for which He has intended it – and God intended to use descendent of Abraham to bless all nations of the world. So the day would come – some 70 years later – that God would rescue a remnant from Babylon and bring them back to the land and carry out the plan, just as He intended – Israel and Judah would suffer for their sin, but God in His Faithfulness, would bless the world and bring the Savior through Abraham.

            “For thus says the LORD:”

            Again and again, Jeremiah and the true prophets of the Lord began speaking the Word of the Lord by saying, “thus says the Lord.” Jeremiah wanted to make it absolutely clear that he was speaking what God told him to speak – this was not wishful thinking on Jeremiah's part – this was not false prophecy – but this was the Word of the Almighty God – this was God's Intention – what God was going to do.  Jeremiah, put his life on the line in speaking this way – by directly asserting that this is the Word of the Lord – for the Law says that a person who prophesies falsely is to be put to death.

            Similarly, James warns those who are going into the Ordained Ministry of Word and Sacrament – he warns the preachers – it is a very serious thing to stand up before people and say, “thus says the Lord”– to preach. James wrote, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1, ESV). It is expected that the person who speaks in the Name of the Lord will only speak the Word of the Lord – it should not be an easy thing to speak in the Name of the Lord – and there are many people, and many pulpits, and many churches who will find themselves terrified at the return of our Lord, because they have spoken what He did not say and said, “thus says the Lord.”

            Jeremiah was a true prophet – and he spoke the Word of the Lord – and after some 70 years, a remnant of the people did return. And Jeremiah spoke about the time when those people would return – when they who truly believed in God and His Word would return:

 “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’”

Jeremiah called on the people in captivity to sing with gladness and raise shouts of joy – giving praise to their God while they were in captivity and before Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed – calling out to God for salvation.

How could they do that?

There's only one way that you can be in captivity and know things are going to get worse and know that's it will be many years before your set free, and still hold on to the hope and the promise of salvation – and that is by recognizing this salvation is God's Work – salvation is by faith alone.

There was nothing that the people of Israel and Judah could do to get out of the Babylonian captivity. God had sent them word to stay there, to have families, to build houses, to start businesses, and to wait on the Faithfulness of God. Only a believer could go through such prolonged captivity – such prolonged waiting – and believe that God will save. Only a believer could get word that Jerusalem – the holy city – was destroyed, and the people have resorted to cannibalism, and the Temple had been profaned and torn down – and believe that God will save. Only a believer could mourn the loss of everything and still rejoice in hope and prayer, trusting that God will save.

That's not to say that trusting is easy – that rejoicing is easy – that prayer is easy – as you’re carried off from everything you’ve ever known and everything you’ve ever loved – all the places and people you put your hope in. It's not easy to suffer – it's not easy to reap what grows from sin. But surely, if we're honest with ourselves, we know that the answer isn't just to try harder – the answer is the answer that we see the captives in Babylon – the believers – doing: they tore their clothes, they repented of their sin, they cried and mourned and wailed – and then they said, “But God is faithful, and God doesn't change. And God doesn't lie, so I believe Him.”

That's exactly the difference we see between the unbelievers and the believers during the Reformation. The unbelievers were putting their faith in purely human rules – and they had minimized the horror and the affront that sin is to God. They thought that if they did enough good works, they bought enough indulgences, they thought that there was a way that they could earn forgiveness – and surely the preachers of the day were the most to blame for teaching these lies. Just as the ministers in our day are guilty of teaching lies – God wants everyone to be healthy and wealthy, but God doesn't care how we worship so long as we are “faithful,” or that we can pick and choose what we want to believe in the Bible because “it's not what we do, it's what we believe” – or some other such nonsense.

Martin Luther tried very hard to earn his way to heaven – to earn his way right with God, but s he looked at himself and realized his sin, he recognized that the greatness of his sin could never be covered through his works – that he could never do enough the right with God – and so as he searched the Scriptures, and taught in the University, he sought for some way of relief – and one day he found it:  “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (Romans 1:17, ESV).

Martin Luther's eyes were opened: becoming righteous before God is not a matter of doing good works; becoming righteous before God is a matter of faith alone. Understand, salvation is God's Work – and then we respond. Martin Luther understood that he could never do enough to be right with God – God had to make Martin Luther right with God in order for Martin Luther to do anything good.

It is wrong to say that we are saved by praying a prayer or by having faith – salvation is not through doing anything. God changes people – God saves whom He wills – and then we respond – then we live as the people that God has called us to be.

Jeremiah wanted the people in captivity and the people who were going into captivity to understand that there was absolutely nothing that they could do to be right with God – and nothing has changed – God will save when God wills – because God made a promise to Abraham, and God cannot lie.

“Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.”

And Jeremiah tells the people that God will one day – after the captivity is over – bring back a remnant from all over the earth – and God will not merely bring back the wealthy and the smart, as some might have expected. God would bring back the people that God chose to bring back – according to His Will and for His Reasons.

And the people that God will bring back will be – in part – surprising: the blind, the lame, and the pregnant women. God chose to save people who would not normally be admitted to the Temple. God chose to bring people for whom the travel over those thousands of miles would be extremely difficult. God chose to bring people who might give birth along the way. God's choice of the remnant to bring back would be surprising. As Moses wrote:  “If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you” (Deuteronomy 30:4, ESV).

God was doing something new – something unexpected – God was not bringing back all of the “right” people. The fact of the matter is that God continues to work in the same way:  “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31, ESV).

That's not to say that God doesn't save the wise and the noble – God does – God saves the people He always intended to save. The point is that we not be proud of why God saved us, because we don't know. We ought to be glad and rejoice and praise God and pray to Him in thanksgiving for His Salvation – for choosing us – certainly there are better people – more gifted people – prettier people – there are certainly better pastors.

“With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back,”

And the remnant who returns will come with weeping – they will come in repentance and joy which causes weeping. One of the Psalms about God's restoration has these lines: “He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6, ESV). I wonder if many of us have not had that experience of weeping for our sin and then rejoicing in God calling us back in forgiveness? Have you ever truly wept before God for your sin and then known His forgiveness, such that you rejoice? God has shown mercy to all those who believe in Him and He will not turn His back on His people – even as we continue to send – that He calls us to repentance – to true sorrow – and He is there in mercy with His Arms open, ready to receive His back in joy.

“I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble,”

God now speaks of His Providence for those returning out of captivity: as the lame and the blind and the pregnant women, and all the others that God has chosen in His Mercy to receive back, God provides them with water so they will not drop away and thirst as they make the long journey home.

The sons of Korah wrote about God's provision in their Psalm:  “As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools” (Psalm 84:6, ESV).

As they made their journey from the Euphrates River back to Israel through mountains and valleys, God gave them a straight path – almost as though there were a highway through the desert. And God's Character does not change:  we remember the prophecy of Isaiah:  “A voice cries:  ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God’” (Isaiah 40:3, ESV).

God will bring us to Himself without stumbling. It may seem like we’re stumbling all over the place, but God's Way is straight and narrow – and God will not lose one of His Own.

“for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

            Jeremiah tells the captives that God is their Father – the believers of this remnant are not merely part of the people, but they are His sons and daughters. God does not choose us to be mere servants, but to be His sons and daughters.

            As Paul explained, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him”           

(Romans 8:12-17, ESV).

            God called the returning exiles Israel – Ephraim – the firstborn – symbolically referring to any believers who returned, not merely those of the tribe of Ephraim or the nation of Israel. God expressed His Fatherly Love toward the remnant that He would save from Babylon.

In the same way, God is our Father – God is Father to each person who believes in Him by faith alone. God has chosen a remnant from throughout the world and He changes our hearts and makes us believe. And then we have faith to believe in Him and follow after Him and know that He is our loving Father – the God Who provides for all of our needs, including our greatest need – that of salvation from God.

So, all those who believed during the exile had that hope in knowing that they were not in Babylon merely according to the Wrath of the Almighty God, but due to the discipline of their loving Father – the Father who would not leave them forever, but when the time was right would bring them home again.

Where does your hope life? Does it lie in your ability? Or your money? Or your family? Or the good things you do? Where is your hope?

Is it that while you are in exile in this fallen world, the Father Who loves you and has called you to be His son or daughter has changed you and saved you and made you right with Him forever and will one day bring you back to a perfect, restored Creation in His Kingdom forevermore?

Let us pray:

Almighty God, and our Father, we thank You for showing the exiles that sin is serious and must be punished, and for also showing them that You are a loving and faithful Father Who makes His sons and daughters right with Him – not through anything that they do – but through what You do. We thank You for the fulfillment of prophecy in the sending of Your Son, Jesus, that all we who believe by Your Mercy and through Your Grace, have now been adopted as sons and daughters. Help us to live in trust in such a way that others will know Who our Father is. For to You is the praise and the glory forever and ever, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

"The Sinless Priest" Sermon: Hebrews 7:26-28

“The Sinless Priest” [Hebrews 7:26-28] October 21, 2012 Second Reformed Church We began chapter seven of Hebrews with an assumption: we are all born sinners and we cannot approach God – we cannot be right with God – without a high priest intervening. We began our discussion of chapter seven, with the assumption that we have sinned and broken the Covenant with God and that we cannot be right with God unless there is a high priest who mediates between us by offering up a blood sacrifice which is acceptable to God. Last week, we looked at the oath that God took in making Jesus, God the Son Incarnate, a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and we noted that, by God swearing by Himself – He was swearing that He would effectively self-destruct if He did not keep His Promise, but knowing God's Character – that God cannot lie and cannot change – the fact that God took an oath is an assurance and comfort to us. In knowing that God has taken this promise so seriously, we can be assured that heaven and earth will pass away, but not the Promise of God. We have a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek in the Person of Jesus, God the Son. And we saw the Jesus intercedes for us always, and we saw that He saves us to the outermost. Jesus, as Holy High Priest, merited salvation under the Law, and in offering up himself to be the Holy Sacrifice, He paid the debt for all of the sins of all of the people who would ever believe in Him Alone for salvation, and He credited us with that perfect keeping of the Law. He stands between us and God – even now – bringing our prayers to God, providing for our needs, sanctifying us, conforming us to His Image, sending God to indwell each one of us who believes, and so forth. “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.” “Because, so, therefore, it makes sense, it is logical, that we should have such a high priest”– in order for Jesus to save us to the uttermost and to intercede for us constantly, it was necessary that the personal qualifications of the High Priest – that His State and Condition – should be holy, innocent, unstained, not a sinner, glorified – all of the Levitical priests were unqualified to make us right with God. There are many purposes of the Law, and much good that the high priests did, but the Law was never intended to save anyone – and it cannot save anyone – salvation is through faith alone. As Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV) The author of Hebrews uses a number of words to describe the Purity and Sinlessness of Jesus: Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, is Holy – that is, He is utterly separate from sin – His Inherent Nature is one of Purity – He is Divine. He is Innocent – He is One Who has never done any evil. He is Unstained – He is Morally Pure. He is separated from sinners – He lived a life that opposes sinful living. He is exalted above the heavens – He dwells in perfect humility in the highest state of exultation. And we may ask, “Aren't all human beings born with a sin nature?” “Would Jesus really have been human if He was not a sinner?” The answer is found as we look back to the Creation: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Genesis 1:27-31, ESV). The fact of the matter is that sin – original sin – having a sin nature – is not essential to being human. Adam and Eve were created good – without sin – and they were human – and we will be re-created – resurrected – without sin – and we will still be human. Sin is not necessary to be a human. In fact, sin is against how God created and what God is making us through Jesus. God in His Providence incarnated through the Virgin, born in the person of Jesus, but without original sin – without a sin nature – was created in His humanity as our first parents had been created. Jesus was – and always remains – a real, complete, sinless human being – just as we will be after the resurrection. And He is exactly what we needed, because the Levitical priests and Levitical Law were a failure as far as salvation is concerned. There is no hope of salvation through the Levitical Law. We can never do enough good to be right with God. And so my friend, who wrote on her Facebook page that she doesn't need Jesus because she has Yom Kippur, does not understand the depth and the horror and the affront to God that sin is. She also holds too highly the ability of sinful humans to offer up the sacrifice that would be acceptable to God. Not to mention the fact that they had offered up animals, not humans – so the system is utterly hopeless for salvation. I know so many people – and I'm sure you do to – who say in the end, God will judge us on our faithfulness, God will judge us on the good works that we have done – but how faithful have we really been? How many good works have we done? How pure is our motivation? Peter wrote, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:13-16, ESV). Is anyone of us such a fool as to say we are holy in all that we do and say and think? Therefore, “it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens” because we are sinners and we cannot make things right with God on our own or through the Levitical Law or through the Levitical high priests – we are still left sinners. Therefore, we needed a high priest who had no sin nature and who is morally without sin or evil. Otherwise, there is no hope. The author of Hebrews continues: “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” The Levitical priests had offered daily sacrifices for themselves and their family – so they were not always available or able to minister to the needs of the people – they were sinners and had to offer up sacrifices for their sins and for their families sins – so it was not possible for the Levitical priests to bring us to salvation to the uttermost and to intercede for us always. The Levitical Law even calls for a second high priest be at the ready, in case the high priest of the day could not serve because of his sin. What does this indicate, except that there must be a better high priest? If you and I are relying on our good works, we are doomed. With the Better High Priest, Jesus, we have the offering up of the One Sacrifice which covers all of the sins of all of His people throughout time and space. And there is no need for sacrifice ever to be offered again. Jesus, as our Sinless High Priest offered up Himself once, for everyone who would ever believe, and that Sacrificed paid for all sin because it is holy and the High Priest Who offered it is Holy. Jesus is the Only One Who is sinless and could offer up Himself to save us to the uttermost and make intercession for us always. Since the sacrifice He offered is Holy, it need not be repeated – God is satisfied with His Sacrifice – our debt has been paid, and we have been credited with His Righteousness, so we are now seen – through Jesus – as holy keepers of the Law. The Levitical sacrifices had to be repeated because they were never enough; Jesus's Sacrifice is once and for all, complete and finished. The final sentence of chapter seven is a summary of his argument: “For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.” The Levitical Law appointed sinners to be priests, so their service as high priest and the offerings that they offered up were never enough. But God appointed Jesus – God the Son Incarnate – to be a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek – and God gave an oath against His Own Life – His Own Existence – that God the Son would be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Levitical priests could do nothing except offer what was given, and that was only animals, and that was never enough. On the other hand, Jesus, as High Priest after the order of Melchizedek forever – Holy and Sinless – could function as the Priest and give Himself up as the Sacrifice for the sins of everyone who would ever believe, and it would be enough – it would be the Final, Perfect Sacrifice for all those who would ever believe – the Only Way of salvation. And so we have salvation through Jesus Alone – turning back to the Levitical sacrifices in the face of persecution is not an option, because they cannot save. But through Jesus, all we who believe throughout time and space, are saved eternally – to the uttermost – and He is interceding for us now and always that we might become like Him and that the Father might be glorified. And so Jesus is an example of how we should be – innocent, sinless, holy. That is what we are to strive for, by the working of the Holy Spirit in us. As Paul wrote, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13, ESV). Salvation is given to us by God the Son Incarnate in the Person of Jesus Christ, the One Holy High Priest after the order of Melchizedek forever. And now we are called to fight and strive, to work the power of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us, to become like Him. Let us not give up, until we find ourselves made into the Image of Jesus Christ. And let us not despair, but hold to the promise Paul reminds us of: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6, ESV). Let us pray: Almighty God, we thank You that You made it clear that we are unable to save ourselves. You set the Levitical Law the Levitical priests before us to show us that we are sinners and unable to be right with you except through Jesus Christ Alone. Help us to understand that He is our High Priest – our Mediator – the One Sacrifice that makes us right with You. Change us by the Holy Spirit Who indwells us, that we might be Your sons and daughters and become like that Sinless Priest Who suffered and died for our sake. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

The Community Lunch

Thank you to everyone who was involved in our Community Lunch. We plan to hold the next one on Staurday, November 17th. Please reserve time to help cook, serve, and clean up. Your help is greatly appreciated as we seek to minister to our neighbors. And spread the word!

Community Lunch

Tomorrow, D.V., we will have a first community lunch of the year from 12 to 1 PM. If you are in need of a meal, please feel free to join us, no questions asked, no strings attached. Come to the downstairs Florence Ave. entrance and enjoy a homecooked lunch with us. See you then!

Consistorial Dinner

We plan to have our Consistorial dinner tonight at the Appian Way in Orange. We will be honoring Carol Lesko for her service. Please join us at 6:30 PM at the restaurant. This year we are ording dutch off the menu.

"The Apostle's Creed" Study

We continued our study of the Apostle's Creed last night, looking at the Son and His titles in the creed and the relationship among the Persons of the Trinity. Join us in two weeks,D.V., when we resume to begin discussing the Virgin Birth. 7:30 PM, Tuesday, October 30th.

"The Eternal Priest" Sermon: Hebrews 7:20-25

“The Eternal Priest” [Hebrews 7:20-25] October 14, 2012 Second Reformed Church As we continue to consider chapter seven of the book of Hebrews, let us remember that God ordained two different priesthoods: the priesthood of Levi and the priesthood of Melchizedek. The priesthood of Levi was imperfect, partial, and temporary. Its priests came in succession from father to son. The priesthood of Melchizedek is perfect, complete, and eternal. Its priests were appointed individually by God Himself. And so we saw that the order of the priesthood of Melchizedek is greater than the order of the priesthood of Levi. We also noted that a priest must be human in order to stand between God and humans. Jesus, though He is human, is also God, so Jesus is the greatest of all high priests, being the Final High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. In today's Scripture, the author of Hebrews considers the oath given regarding Jesus’ High Priesthood and the eternality of Jesus’ High Priesthood. He begins, “And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: ‘The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever.”’” Again, the author of Hebrews looks at Psalm 110, which we reviewed last week – the Psalm in which David reveals that his descendant – Who would be the Savior – is both human and God and that He reigns victorious over all, and one day all of His enemies will be put under His Feet. We also saw in this Psalm that David reveals that the Savior would be a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. In this morning’s Scripture, David emphasizes the fact that God swore – God made an oath – that the Savior would be a priest after the order of Melchizedek forever. The author of Hebrews notes that there was no requirement that an oath be taken relative to the office of the high priest. There were ceremonies to go through and clothes to wear, but there was no requirement that an oath be taken by the high priest, or anyone else. And the Levitical System was a simple succession from father to son. There was also no requirement for an oath in the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek – to hold the office. Here we have God swearing by Himself – because there is nothing and no one higher that God could swear by – that Jesus, the Savior. is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek forever. Some weeks ago, we looked at God swearing by Himself as He walked through the pieces of bisected animals in swearing His Oath to Abram. We noted that that symbolically said that if God broke His Oath, God would be torn in half – God would self-destruct – but we know it is impossible for God to lie, so there was no possibility of that impossibility occurring. And we might wonder when God swore that Jesus would be a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek – and the answer is, we are not told, but we can make a reasonable guess. Again and again in the Scripture, we see that God had a plan from before the creation and that plan is being carried out exactly as He always intended it to be carried out. When Pilate asked Jesus if He didn't understand what serious trouble He was in, “Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin’ (John 19:11, ESV). What Jesus tells Pilate is that everything has been predestined – God has sovereignly planned out all of created history, and that is exactly what is occurring. How does that help us? It helps us as we understand that God sovereignly planned out and predestined everything that would be throughout time and space and the created order before He created. So, God swore to God the Son, Who is incarnate in the person of Jesus, that He would be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek – and God swore this before the creation. And, in the Providence of God it pleased God to reveal this fact as David wrote what we call Psalm 110. Now that we have thought about the when, the question becomes, why did God make an oath about Jesus being a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek? Why did God swear by His Own Self – by His Very Being – that Jesus is forever High Priest after the order of Melchizedek? The answer has to do with the Character of God: Moses records, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19, ESV). And James wrote, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17, ESV). Do you remember the bumper sticker – or at least my mentioning the bumper sticker –“God said it. I believe it. That settles it.”? Do you remember I said that there is one proposition too many in this bumper sticker? The “I believe it.” is unnecessary. The witness of the Scripture is that if God has said something, it will happen. If God has made a promise, it will come to pass. If God has said something is true, it cannot be a lie. In other words: “God said it. That settles it.” If the God who cannot change and cannot lie and cannot make a mistake swears something by Himself – because there is no one and nothing greater that He could possibly swear by, then we know, in God's Time, it cannot but come to pass. So if God has sworn that Jesus is a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, then Jesus is High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek and absolutely nothing can possibly change that. Paul, writing about the confidence that we should have in prayer, writes, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5, ESV). And we have this promise that when we don't know how we should pray in any given situation: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:26-28, ESV). God swore an oath that Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek so we would be assured that it is true that Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He swore an oath that we would be comforted in knowing that what God has said, He will do, and there can be no change. He swore as an added confirmation of His Call on Jesus – that we would know without question that this Jesus is God the Son, the Savior that was promised from the beginning. He swore an oath that we would be encouraged and find security and consolation in the faith. God swore an oath that Jesus is a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek for our sake – that knowing God's Character, we can hear His Words and believe them and have a secure hope in them. “This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.” What is the “guarantor” something? A “guarantor” is someone who is bound by a promise to do something. So Jesus is bound by a promise to do something. Jesus is bound by the Oath of God that He is a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek to provide a better covenant – a better treaty – a better agreement – between God and we who believe. And we might wonder for a moment if this was fair for God to make Jesus the Guarantor of God's Promise. But we have to remember Jesus is not merely a human being but He is also God – the same God who swore to uphold Jesus’ Priesthood. So there was nothing wrong with God making Jesus the Guarantor for God's Promise about Jesus because Jesus and God are the same One God. It's almost comical to call it a better covenant: under the Levitical Law, it was not possible that a person could become right with God – the Only Way to become right with God prior to the Incarnation was to believe and have faith and hope in the Savior that God would send. After the Incarnation – after Jesus was revealed to be the Savior – we now know that the Only Way to be right with God is through believing in Jesus Christ Alone for salvation. And as we saw that belief is not merely an intellectual assent that the facts of history are true, but it is a heart belief that makes one love Jesus as God the Son and Savior. So, yes, it is better, it's better in the sense that it is the Only Way to be right with God – it is the Only Way that God has made salvation – it is the Only Way that we can be forgiven for all of our sins and credited with having lived a righteous life under God's Law. Better? Yes, far better indeed – our only hope. “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.” Is Jesus the Only Way? Could there not arise another priest after the order of Melchizedek? The priests of the order of Levi were many because they died and had to be replaced. That is not the case with the priests after the order of Melchizedek. All of the priests – except Jesus – died in the flesh and stayed dead, but their office is held eternally. In the one case of Jesus, we have a high priest Who did die in the flesh, but then rose again from the dead in His flesh – and so He continues forever. There is no need for another high priest – He is the One and Only. As Jesus himself said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, ESV). Jesus makes it quite clear: there is no other way to be right with the Father except through Jesus Alone. There is no other complete truth except for the Truth, which is from God, Who is Jesus. There is no life – and life eternal – with God and in His Kingdom, except through Jesus Alone. No one – and no one does not mean a few people – no one means no one, not even one person – no one can be right with God except through salvation in Jesus Alone. There is no ambiguity in what Jesus is said – He is the Savior, no one else is the Savior, there is no other way to be saved except through Him – and we have the Oath from God swearing that Jesus will be High Priest after the order of Melchizedek forever – so God's Plan of Redemption – the Way that we may be saved – has never changed and will never change. And that means two things that continue to make Jesus a better hope: “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him,” First, Jesus saves us to the uttermost. What does it mean that He saves us to the “uttermost”? There are two things in mind in this context: first, Jesus saves us completely. Jesus has done absolutely everything necessary to save us from the Wrath of God and Jesus has done absolutely everything necessary to save us by making us righteous in the Eyes of God. Those are the two things which much must be done to save us – we must be forgiven for all of our sins -- those we've committed in the past, those we've committed today, and those that we will commit before we die – the debt for all of those sins must be forgiven – they must be paid for – and Christ paid for them by suffering in His Life, and especially through His Death on the cross. Paul wrote, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,” (Colossians 1:19-22, ESV). Also, through living in sinless, perfect, righteous, and holy life, Jesus alone was able to keep all of God's Law and now He graciously credits each one who believes in Him with the perfect keeping of the Law – so now we are seen as righteousness, even though the righteousness that we have is not our own. Paul speaking of his own life, talks about this imputing of righteousness to him – this crediting of his account with the Righteous of Christ, “and be found in [Jesus], not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—“ (Philippians 3:9, ESV). It also means, secondly, the Jesus saves us eternally. Because Jesus is a perfect and holy human being and at the same time the One Holy God, and because God has sworn that Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek forever – it is not possible we should be lost. As Paul tells us, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4, ESV). Jesus is also a better hope because, secondly, “since he always lives to make intercession for them.” Jesus did not just do something back then. He did something immensely important: He paid the debt for all the sins of everyone would ever believe and He lived a righteous life, which He credits to everyone who will ever believe so we can be saved and live eternally with Him. But Jesus did not just do that and then go take a nap for the last 2000 years. Jesus, the Son of God, our Savior, is actively interceding for us now. What does that mean? It means a number of things, but here are a few: First, it means that Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, so God Himself now lives in every Christian to help us to remember and understand all that Jesus said and to live as God has called us to live. Jesus is with the Father right now and one of the ways in which He intercedes for us is that He asked the Father, and They sent God the Holy Spirit to live in everyone who believes in Jesus Alone for salvation. As Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26, ESV). Second, it means that Jesus reigns over the Church. Jesus intercedes for us by being the Sovereign King over His Church. We are His responsibility. He answers on behalf of His people, and we answer to him. Paul explained, “And [Jesus] is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent” (Colossians 1:18, ESV). Third, Jesus is working for the good of the Church. Paul wrote, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, ESV). The mistake we make in thinking about Jesus working for the good of the Church, interceding with the Father, for the good of the Church – is that we think that means that we will be healthy, wealthy, and wise – that we will have no difficulties or pain. No, what it means is that in the end, this is the best way, and we are being brought to the best – being brought into His Kingdom in all its fullness. This same Paul talking about the persecution by the Romans and the Jews of the Christians endured suffering and even ended in a horrific death, saying, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,” (2 Corinthians 4:17, ESV). We are not promised an easy life, but with Jesus interceding for us, we are promised that the glory that we are entering into all make the worst of anything anyone ever experiences as a Christian for Christ “light and momentary.” Fourth, Jesus, through His intercession, perfects all we who believe in Jesus Alone for salvation. Paul wrote about how Jesus continues to intercede on our behalf that we would be perfected according to all those things that God wills for us: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV). We are Jesus’, His workmanship. We were created in Jesus for good works. Those good works were planned from before the creation – they were predestined. And we will do them, by the Grace of God, through the intercession of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit working in us and through us to the Glory of God. Fifth, Jesus through His intercession shows His Mercy, Compassion, Love, and Tenderness towards us. We see this in His acting as High Priest between us and God that we might be able to live, through the laying down of His Life that we could be forgiven, and now as He stands before the Father, He speaks on our behalf, telling the Father that we – and all those who believe – are His. Consider this one image of Jesus acting as our High Priest and interceding for us: one commentator wrote, “For all the prayers of the Church from the first to the last are lodged in the hands of the same high priest, who abides forever; and he returns the prayers of one generation onto another” (John Owen, Hebrews, volume 5, 521.) Consider what he is saying: Jesus is human, so he understands and has experienced every type of thing we ever go through. Jesus is God, so He is Sovereign over all, and He cannot endure sin. God remedied our fallen situation through coming to Earth in the person of Jesus – a high priest forever after the order Melchizedek. Because Jesus is human and God and cannot die, He remains the Greatest and Eternal High Priest for His people. So as the High Priest, Jesus continues to stand between us and the Father bringing our prayers to Him – and this is not overwhelming for Him. As a human, He understands: as God, He will carry out His Good and Perfect Will. All of the prayers of all of the Christians throughout time and space have been handled by Jesus as our High Priest – as the Intermediary between us and God, and the prayers of our ancestors for them and for us, for our children and their children and the children after them, are not in vain, because Jesus hears them and brings them before the Father and They answer them, in time, according to God's Will. Let us pray: Almighty God, we thank You for revealing another reason for us to be assured of our salvation in Jesus: the God Who cannot lie and does not change has taken an oath for it. And we thank You for giving us hope and comfort in knowing that whatever we endure for your sake, and for whatever temptations we struggle with in this life, we have Jesus, as High Priest Who stands up on our behalf and saves us to Your Glory. Fill us with awe, and help us to walk in confidence and hope, and in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Prayer Meeting

The pastor is away today, so there will not be a prayer meetng at the church. Please pray together in groups, and we will plan to join together next Saturday at the church.

"A Better Hope" Sermon: Hebrews 7:15-19

“A Better Hope” [Hebrews 7:15-19] October 7, 2012 Second Reformed Church How can a person be right with God? That is the most important question a person will ever find an answer to. Last week we saw that the Levitical Sacrifices cannot save a person – it is not possible for a person to keep the Law to be right with God. The reason that this is so is due to the fact that the Levitical Law is temporary and partial – it is imperfect for the work of making a person eternally right with God – because it does not deal with all of the sin of a person's life, nor does it make a person righteous. The Hebrew Christians in the day of the author of Hebrews were facing persecution and wondering if it would make sense to go back to Levitical Law and Sacrifices – even if it meant that would become apostate to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We remember that that means that they would turn away from where they stood – in other words, they would deny the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – which would leave them in a hopeless state. We began to see that there is a better hope found in a priest of the higher order of Melchizedek. The order of Melchizedek is one to which priests are called directly by God, it is an eternal priesthood, and it is a complete priesthood – so those who seek their salvation through it will find eternal salvation. We ended last week, noting that the high priest – the Final High Priest – Who was called according to the order of Melchizedek is none other than the Son of the tribe of Judah, our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we saw that Jesus, as a priest of the order of Melchizedek is higher and more perfect in His Work than the priests of the line of Abram, Aaron, and Levi and the Levites – and in changing from the Levitical priesthood to the priesthood of Melchizedek there is also a change in the law. Those who believe in Jesus Alone for salvation are not required to keep all of the Levitical Law – we are required to keep the Moral Law, but not for our salvation. The Ceremonial and Judicial Law – and especially the Levitical Sacrifices – have been done away with – they have passed away into the shadows in the light of the coming of Jesus. And so the author continues, “This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek,” – the superiority of the order of Melchizedek is even more obvious when we look at the Priest Who was called after the order of Melchizedek – that is, Jesus. “who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’” Jesus did not become a priest based on the legal requirement of succession from father to son, but He was called by God Himself and appointed by God Himself to be a high priest after the order of Melchizedek for all the people He came to save. Jesus became High Priest not according to the tradition of the Levites, and not merely through being appointed to the office, but because He Himself is indestructible. We might ask why the author says that He is indestructible? Isn't it true that Jesus suffered and died – that in His flesh He was destroyed and killed and buried? The focus here is not that Jesus' physical body could not be killed – the note is that Jesus, the Incarnate God, is God Himself, so He can never die. We have said before that the priests of the order of Melchizedek had an eternal office, even though they died. Jesus is the First and Only High Priest of Melchizedek, Who not only holds an office eternally, but He Himself can never die, because He is Divine – He is God in all His Fullness taken on human flesh. And so we see a new dimension of the greatness of the order of Melchizedek. Not only is the order of Melchizedek greater and higher than the order of the Levites, because it is eternal and complete in that the office goes on eternally, but in Jesus Christ, we have, for the first and only time, a high priest Who is Himself God – the Eternal God – raising the position to the highest of heights. “For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” The author of Hebrews justifies this argument by quoting the Scripture – by turning to Psalm 110. Listen to the whole of the words of this Psalm of exultation: “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’ The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head” (Psalm 110, ESV). David begins his Psalm with that quotation which so confused the Pharisees in the days of Jesus: “Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?’ And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions” (Matthew 22:41-46, ESV). Jesus confronted the Pharisees about the Christ – the Savior – the Messiah – and asked them a question which effectively asked, “Will the Savior merely be a human being or will He be someone more? The Pharisees answered – rightly according to the Scripture – the Savior would be the son of David – He would come from the line of David. It is true the Savior is and must be a human – if He is to take our place and be the Savior of humans. However, Jesus then asks how it is that David could call one of his descendants, his Lord? A father – an ancestor – would not call his son or his descendent, Lord. The respect of the title of Lord only goes to someone who is greater – and a father or an ancestor is greater than a child or a descendent. So Jesus asked them how to explain this. And they couldn't – because they were unwilling to believe that the Savior would not merely be a human being, but that He would also be completely God. And so Psalm 110 begins with David acknowledging that one of his descendants would be the Messiah – the Savior – but He would also be his Lord, He would be God in the Flesh. And, as God in the Flesh, the Savior that God would send would rule almighty over all the kingdoms of the world – He is Sovereign right now and forever and that sovereignty will be seen in all its fullness on that final day. David goes on to explain that the people of God would come to their Savior and that the Savior would make salvation for His people through being a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. The Savior that God promised to send would be human and He would be God – two natures in One Person – and He would assume that role by the call of God and the appointment of God to be High Priest after the order of Melchizedek for His people and to offer up Himself as the Sacrifice for His people – so that all we who believe would eternally and perfectly and completely be His forever. This Psalm ends with the vision of the end when God crushes the enemies of the Savior and brings about His full Sabbath Rest. And so we see that since the Savior fulfills the prophecy of a priest, not just of eternal law – or an eternal order of priesthood, but because He is an eternal person – He is God Himself – the Levitical Ceremonies are no longer to be kept. I hope this is making sense: the author of Hebrews began his letter by explaining that Jesus is not just one of the prophets, but He is God, the Son, Himself. Jesus is both a real human being and the Almighty God. So, when we compare the two lines of priesthood, we see the Levitical Priesthood and the priesthood of Melchizedek, and we see that the line of Melchizedek is of a higher order of priesthood because it has been ordained directly by God. Jesus is a perfect human being Who also is God Incarnate, and He was appointed by God to be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So we do not merely have a new priest of the order of Melchizedek, but we have God Himself Incarnate in the Person of Jesus as the New Priest of the order of Melchizedek. Not only is the priesthood a higher priesthood than the order of the Levites – which is the Old Testament Law – but we have the highest possible Person acting in the role of Priest – God Himself, having become a real human being. And this is why it makes more sense to remain with Jesus – the Savior that God promised to come – Who is God Himself in the flesh – occupying the role of High Priest of the higher of the two orders of priesthood ordained by God – rather than to turn away from Him in the face persecution and turn back to the Levitical Law. But there is an issue yet to address: “For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect);” because a new priest has arrived of the order of Melchizedek – which is the higher of the two orders – and because the Priest who has arrived is not a mere man, but God Himself, in human flesh – the Levitical Law is set aside. How can that be? We understand that the Levitical Law was imperfect, partial, and temporary – and it was not possible for a person to be eternally right with God through the Levitical Law. However, how can it be that the Levitical Law has been set aside? How can it be that the Law that God gave is done away with? Doesn't that contradict with Jesus Himself said? Didn't Jesus say, after giving the Beatitudes, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20, ESV). How do we reconcile the fact that the author of Hebrews says that the Levitical Law is set aside and Jesus saying that the Law and the Prophets are not abolished? Don't we have a contradiction between these two? There are two reasons why a law is done away with: a law can be done away with because it is bad or illegitimate. That cannot be the case here, because God gave the Law, and God cannot do what is bad or illegitimate – God cannot go against His Own Character – the Law that God gave through the Levites and the Levitical System of the Old Testament is good and legitimate. There is a second reason why a law is done away with: a law can be done away with because its obligation has ceased – the purpose for which it was created has ceased. For example: in the state of New Jersey, and unless there is a sign to the contrary, it is legal to turn right on red. Barring a sign that says otherwise, the law says that we are allowed to turn right when there is a red light and it is safe. That was not always the case: it used to be, if the light was red, it was the law that you were not allowed to turn left or right. That was a good and legitimate law. However, in the course of time, the purpose for which that law was created ceased, and lawmakers deemed it right – in a large number of cases – that it be legal to turn right on red when it is safe. So, it was not that the law about not turning right on red was bad or illegal, but that the reason for which it was created ceased – something happened which caused it to no longer be necessary that the law state that turning right on red is illegal. Does that make sense? What about what Jesus said then? The Levitical Law has not been done away with because it was bad or illegal – the Levitical Law has been set aside in two senses: first, the Levitical Law with its ceremonies and judicial rulings were given for the nation of Ancient Israel – which no longer exists – and effectively no longer existed once the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. Second, the Levitical Law with its ceremonies and judicial rulings were given to point to Jesus – they were given, so we would understand that there is no way for us to become right with God – to be righteous – to be justified – except through the Savior that God would send – and so that we would recognize Him when He came. And these laws were given to show us the type of Savior that God would send. In other words, Jesus fulfills the Levitical Ceremonial and Judicial Laws in His Person – in Who He is as Savior – as High Priest and Sacrifice for the elect of God. As the author of Hebrews writes, “but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” Through the Levitical Law, the priests drew near to God – and only on the day of Yom Kippur. But now, through Jesus, all Christians may draw near to God through Jesus. As the author of Hebrews wrote, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16, ESV). Christ has removed the impediment which kept us from coming before God and through His Work as High Priest of the order of Melchizedek and through His Sacrifice of Himself – the Holy God-Man, you and I can now come before God boldly. Through Jesus we are not merely the people of God, but we are the sons and daughters of God, and we are now invited to know and call God our Father. And so we see that the order of Melchizedek is a higher priesthood than that of the Levites. And Jesus has been called as another – and the Final – High Priest Who arises according to the order of Melchizedek. And Jesus is not merely another priest – another human being according to the order of Melchizedek, but He is God Himself in the flesh Who now stands as our High Priest between us and God. Since this is true, the Levitical System is set aside. That does not mean that we can forget the Old Testament, because the Law shows us what sin is, it shows us that we are unable to become right with God except through the Savior that God would send, and as Christians we are called to live according to the Moral Law of the Levitical System – which we are able to do by the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, Whom Jesus and the Father has given us. And so we have a better hope: we do not have the hope of possibly keeping the Law – which is impossible. We do not have the hope of participating in enough sacrifices and somehow shedding enough blood that it will be worthy of a human soul – which is impossible. But we have the hope that God Himself took it upon Himself to come to earth in human flesh – in the real person of Jesus – that He might live under that Law – and do so perfectly – that He would live a holy life and be counted as righteous – that He, as a priest of the order of Melchizedek, could stand between us and God and offer up the Sacrifice of Himself that all the sins of everyone who would ever believe would be forgiven. And so He could credit us with His Holy Life. We celebrate this hope each week as we receive the Lord's Supper. We remember that we were condemned in our sins under the Law of Levi – the Law of God. We remember that God came to earth in the person of Jesus and lived under that Law and did so without sin. We remember that Jesus willingly offered up Himself for the people that God gave Him – and suffered and died and was buried. And we remember that on the third day He rose from the dead in His physical body and walked out of that grave because death could not hold Him. Because Jesus is Holy – man and God – we know that He is here with us in worship – and our worship has replaced the Levitical Ceremonies and Sacrifices. So now as we receive the bread and the cup – though we do not receive real blood and real flash – and it does not become real blood and real flesh – we have something more true – something greater – in that Jesus Himself spiritually communes with us and gives us His Grace that we would be able to live according to all of the Moral Law of God – by the Gift of God the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. And we look forward to that day – to that hope – to that promise – that we also will be raised in our physical bodies – perfect and holy – to be received into the Glorious Kingdom that Jesus is bringing even now. And we, with the Hebrew Christians of the first century, can look at the slight inconveniences and pains that we face in this world – and if God is well-pleased, we can even look at that horrific persecutions around the world, and even experience them ourselves – facing death, knowing that death is dead – and our hope is forever, because we have been saved by God Himself – a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek – a better hope than the Law. Let us pray: Almighty God, we are so easily caught up in proving ourselves – and showing ourselves to be better – and we have lost the awe in the Hope this is found through You, our High Priest. Forgive us for our sins – forgive us, especially in this very easy place to live that we would turn to our works and try to earn our way to You through the Law. Stir the fires of hope within us that we would trust not in ourselves, nor in our works, nor in the System of Law that You gave to Ancient Israel, but in You, and in Your Son, for it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen

Flea Market

Thank you to everyone who helped with the flea market in many ways. The money will not be counted before worship tomorrow, but I am almost positive we earned enough money to keep the church open for another day.

Flea Market

Saturday, October 6th, we are planning to have our Flea MArket from 10 AM to 2 PM, join us and help support the church through your purchases. I am planning to stay afterwards and have a prayer meeting for any would would like to join. See you then!

"The Imperfection of Levi" Sermon: Hebrews 7:11-14

“The Imperfection of Levi” [Hebrews 7:11-14] September 30, 2012 Second Reformed Church A friend of mine who is practicing Judaism these days posted on her Facebook that she didn't need Jesus, because she has Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. The message was a short but important one: if we can do something to make ourselves right with God, do we need Jesus? This past Tuesday evening began the twenty-five hour holiday of Yom Kippur in the Jewish tradition. Yom Kippur is “the Day of Atonement” which God commanded believers in Ancient Israel to keep every year. We have a description of what is to be done on the day of Yom Kippur in Leviticus 16. Let me summarize it for us: God commanded Aaron, who was the high priest at that time, not to go into the Holy of Holies or he would die. But on one day a year, on Yom Kippur, the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies after the following was done: the high priest was to take a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering for himself. Then he was to bathe and put on the priestly garments that God had given to the high priest. Then he was to take two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering for the people. Then he would take the two goats chosen for the people and cast lots – one goat would be given to God and one goat would be given to the devil. Then he would slaughter the animals that he chose for himself to make atonement for his sins and his family’s sins. Then he would take a censor full of coals and placed two handfuls of incense on them and slide the incense into the Holy of Holies between the veils. Then he would take blood from the sacrifice and sprinkle it on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant – that box which contained the Ten Commandments among other things. Then he would kill the goat of the sin offering for the people and bring the blood from the goat into the Holy of Holies and spread it on the Mercy Seat to make atonement for the people of God – to make the people of God right with God – that God would forgive their sins. Then he would come out and lay his hands on the live goat – which was called “the scapegoat”– and symbolically transferred all the sins of the people of Israel onto the goat, which they then released into the wilderness to the devil to die. After all this, the high priest and those helping him with the animals would bathe themselves and their clothes and burn the remaining parts of the animals. This was the Levitical Ceremonial Law for becoming right with God. As you might imagine, this does not happen in modern-day Judaism. Why not? For a number of reasons: there is no more Temple, there is no more Holy of Holies, there is no more Ark of Covenant, and there is no longer an offering of animals as blood sacrifices in Jewish worship. So what do modern Jews do for Yom Kippur? You may be aware that there are different traditions in Judaism today, but generally speaking, on the day of Yom Kippur, modern Jews do not work, they fast, and they attend services at synagogue. Their understanding is that in doing this, all of the sins they committed against God during the previous year are forgiven. (In checking the current Jewish understanding, one author noted that Yom Kippur has no effect as far as sins between you and another person – the celebration of Yom Kippur is only for the forgiveness of your sins against God.) [http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday4.htm, accessed 9/29/12]. That being said, we might question how they came to the conclusion that this was an acceptable substitute to what God has instituted. Nevertheless, we are faced with the question of whether or not there is another way to become right with God other than through Jesus Alone – we might also ask if the Levitical Ceremonial Law, which was instituted by the God we confess we believe in, is just as good as, or even preferable, to faith in Jesus Alone. (You may have heard – I have certainly heard – people say that there are two ways of salvation – keeping the Law for the Jews, and faith in Jesus Alone for everyone else.) That question is at the heart of what the Hebrew Christians were wondering: under persecution, they were asking themselves whether it was wise to continue in their confession of faith in Jesus Alone for salvation, or did it make more sense to turn back to what they knew to be God's way of becoming right with God – which Israel had observed for thousands of years – through the Levitical Ceremonies – including Yom Kippur. We saw that the author of Hebrews argues in chapter seven that it is foolish to return to Levitical laws. The author of Hebrews explains that there are two priesthoods that have been ordained by God: the priesthood, which began with Abram and ran through Aaron and Levi and the Levites, and the priesthood of Melchizedek. We saw the author of Hebrews argue that the priesthood of Melchizedek is of a higher order than the priesthood of Levi – and thus is to be preferred. He argues this is so for a number of reasons: when Abram and Melchizedek met after the slaughter of the kings, Melchizedek blessed Abram, Abram gave the tithe to Melchizedek, the priesthood of Abram through the Levites is one of succession, whereas the priesthood of Melchizedek is one of direct appointment by God, and thus the priesthood of the Levites ends, whereas the priesthood of Melchizedek is eternal, and all of these things show that the priesthood of Melchizedek is greater than the priesthood of Levi. The problem for humans is and always was and will always be, how can a person become right with God? In this morning’s Scripture, the author of Hebrews argues that perfection is not attainable through the Levitical Law – through the Levitical Sacrifices. What does God require to be right with God? Holiness. Perfection. Sinlessness. “Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?” The problem is sin. How can sinners become right with God? God provided a way through the Levitical priesthood to become right with God in a relative sort of way through the sacrifices on the Day of Atonement. The reason we say it is in a relative sort of way is twofold: First, this sacrifice did not pay for the sins between people – it only made an individual right with God. Second, the blood that was shed to pay for the sins of the people was the blood of an animal – and an animal cannot rightly, fully, wholly take the place of a human being. For example: a number of people in this congregation have had children. Would there have been any problem, if, after the rigors of delivery, the doctor brought you a bull? Or ram? Would your expectation have been upset if you did not receive a human baby? Would you believe that a bull or ram is just as good – just as appropriate – just as fulfilling as a human child? Now, some of us have pets – and some of us like me who have pets have never had children, but as much as I love my pet, I know she is not really a human being. There is something lacking in my relationship with her that would be there in a relationship with a human child. Similarly, the author of Hebrews tells us that perfection was not attainable through the Levitical priesthood. It is not possible to become sinless and righteous through the keeping of the Levitical Law. It is not possible that a partial, temporary, being made right with God would be enough to make us truly right with Him on the Day of Judgment. In other words, let's say the animal sacrifice showed a person's willingness to repent, and then God had mercy upon the person, despite the fact that human blood was not shed for a human. Yet, in order for the atonement sacrifice to be complete and eternal, the blood that was shed had to be from a human who had never sinned, and who had perfectly kept all of God's Law. Do you see the problem? The author of Hebrews explains that God gave Israel the Levitical priesthood and the Levitical Law, but at the right time, God raised up another priest of the order of Melchizedek. The fact that God raised up another priest of the higher order of Melchizedek shows that the Levitical priesthood and the Levitical Law could not – and in fact was never intended – to truly, eternally make a person right with God. For example: If you have a desk lamp and you put a fifteen watt light bulb in it, and you realize that a fifteen watt light bulb will not give you enough light to do your work, it doesn't matter how long you use the fifteen watt light bulb, it will never be enough. It will always be imperfect for that job. But if you take a sixty watt light bulb and put it in the desk lamp and the light shines brightly and you can do the work that you need to do – that is proof that the fifteen watt light bulb was not enough. It was imperfect for the job, and it proves that the sixty watt light bulb was of a higher order. It was greater than the fifteen watt light bulb in being able to do the job required. Similarly, the author of Hebrews says, if the Levitical priesthood and its Law had been enough – if it had been perfect for what the Hebrews needed – for what the people of God needed, then God would not have sent another priest after the order of Melchizedek. But since God did send another priest after the order of Melchizedek, it is proof that the Levitical priesthood and its Law was not enough to make the people right with God – it was not enough to make atonement. Does that make sense? The author of Hebrews continues by considering what the consequences are that a new priest of the order of Melchizedek would arise rather than a new priest from the order of Levi – a son of Aaron. And he says: “For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.” The two priesthoods have different laws. The laws of the Levitical priesthood were partial and temporary in their effect, whereas the laws of Melchizedek's priesthood are complete and eternal in their effect. With the rising up of a new priest after the order of Melchizedek – a priest of the higher order of Melchizedek – he takes preeminence over the Ceremonial Law. Why? Because as we have said the order of Melchizedek is a greater order of priesthood than the order of Levi. If we have a priest of the order of Levi and a new priest after the order of Melchizedek and the order of Melchizedek is greater than the order of Levi, so the priest of Melchizedek is greater than the priest of Levi. So, if there has been a change in the priesthood, then there is a change in the law, and the old law is no longer valid. The old law was an imperfect shadow of the new law, which is perfect and real. Are you with me? During the election – such as we are coming up upon – one candidate promises to do this and another candidate promises to do that and we believe that the candidate who promises to do this will do this if he is elected and the candidate who does promises to do that will do that if he is elected. If the one who currently holds the office does not continue in his position, the expectation is that the person who takes his office will do things differently. In a similar way, we see the two priesthoods: the Levitical priesthood, which does things in one way, and the priesthood of Melchizedek, which does things in another way – and we are told in the Scripture that the priesthood of Melchizedek – as the author of Hebrews is arguing throughout this chapter – is of greater order of priesthood – it is a more perfect, a more whole, a more complete priesthood. “For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.” Not only is there a change in the priesthood, the author of Hebrews explains, but the priest now comes from a tribe where a priest has never come before. From the earliest days of the nation of Israel, God said the priest shall come from the tribe of Levi, but the priest who arose after the order of Melchizedek did not come from the tribe of Levi. This would have been revolutionary: you don't just take a priest from any tribe – God said the priest shall come from the tribe of Levi, but not so with the priest of the order of Melchizedek. It's like saying that the governor of New Jersey has always been a New Jersey resident, and suddenly the person who is elected governor of New Jersey is someone who lives in Missouri. A change has occurred. As far as the priest who arose after the order of Melchizedek, the change was to fulfill the prophecies made from the beginning of the Savior Who God would send to make all of His people eternally right with Him. “For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.” Jesus, the Incarnate God, was born into the tribe of Judah, not the tribe of Levi, and He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. Christ's Priesthood – after the order of Melchizedek – replaces the Levitical priesthood – He does not continue to serve under the Levitical priesthood, but He does away with it by faith. And here we have another difference between the two priesthoods: the priesthood of Levi was effectively a priesthood of works – works that no mere human being, born after Adam, could ever perform completely and sinlessly. The Priesthood of Jesus Christ – after the order of Melchizedek – is a priesthood of faith – of faith in Jesus Alone, in His Works, in His Sinless Life, in His keeping of all of God's Law on our behalf. So again the author of Hebrews is turning to his brothers and sisters in the faith who are suffering persecution and saying to them, “Look, the priesthood of Levi is imperfect; it could never completely and eternally make atonement with God – no one could ever be right with God for eternity through the keeping of the Levitical Law. But through Jesus, who is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek – of the tribe of Judah and not of the tribe of Levi – He came to earth, God Himself in human flesh, to live sinlessly under God's Law, to die for the sins of everyone who would ever believe in Him, that we might have atonement with God through Him, that we might be made right with God eternally through Him. That's why it doesn't make sense to turn back to the Levitical Law – that's why it doesn't make sense to try to work your way to heaven – it cannot be done. At the very best, through the Levitical Law, a person is partially, temporarily made right with God, and that is not enough. Paul wrote, “Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for [the Jews] is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:1-4, ESV). And again Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians, “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:2-11, ESV). Then what's the point of the Law today? What is the point of the Levitical sacrifices? Does it mean we can throw out the Old Testament? Is it all a waste of paper, since we know Jesus has come? No. The Old Testament Law still has a number of purposes – one of which Paul describes while denying that we can be saved through the Levitical Law: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in [God’s] sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20, ESV). Well, why didn't God just stick with Melchizedek’s priesthood from the beginning? Why did God give the Levitical priesthood to Abram? Why did God confuse the issue of how to become right with Him? He didn't. God's promise from the beginning was that salvation would come through God the Savior, not our works – even Abram knew that: “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith” (Romans 4:13, ESV). The author of Hebrews continues to argue his point that Jesus, high priest of the order of Melchizedek, is a greater high priest than Abram and Aaron and Levi and all of the Levitical priests. The point he is making to the Hebrews and all of us who read this is that no matter what happens to us for the sake of Christ, believing and following and obeying Him, is the greater path and our only sure hope. God promised from the Garden that He would send the Savior, and the prophets recorded that the Savior would come from the tribe of Judah. The prophets also told that the Savior would come as a high priest of the order of Melchizedek. And we continue to see that the order of the high priesthood of Melchizedek is higher than the order of Levi. Today we saw that the priesthood of Levi is imperfect because it is temporary and partial, whereas the priesthood of Melchizedek is complete and eternal. And since Jesus came from a different tribe and a different priesthood, we are now under a different law, so it is foolish and useless to return to the Levitical Law in search of salvation. And some ask, “Well, who would do that?” I told you, my friend on Facebook said that she doesn’t need Jesus, because she has Yom Kippur. I’m sure many of us have friends who say they don’t need Jesus because they are better than most people – they are good people, they don’t need a Savior. In one way or another, everyone who denies Jesus to be God the Savior is saying that they believe they can make it on their own. It’s a fool’s wager. God requires holiness. Let us pray: Almighty God, we thank You for Jesus, High Priest after the order of Melchizedek for His people. We thank You that You took the work of salvation upon Yourself and did not leave us in our sin. Help us to understand that You are the Holy God Who cannot tolerate sin in Your Presence. And help us to understand the depths of the wickedness of sin. And spur us on to let others know that there is salvation, but only through Jesus. For it is in His Name we pray, Amen.