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[0:00] We're going to be in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 8. We're running a little bit long this morning and that's fine. I'm thankful you're patient and you've got all the time in the world and you'll rejoice in that I only have five verses.

[0:11] So Hebrews chapter 8 verses 1 through 5. And as my kids can probably tell you, history has shown the fewer verses Dad chooses, the more points he normally has. But that's not necessarily the case today.

[0:22] But it's such a rich text and I'm so excited to be in it as we just continue to make our way through the book of Hebrews. And if you remember, the theme throughout Hebrews is that Christ is greater.

[0:33] He is greater. It is the supremacy and the superiority of Christ. He is greater than anything else that we could ever trust in. He is greater than anything else that we will ever need. And He is greater than any other pursuit that man has ever chased after or is chasing after.

[0:48] In context, the author is writing to the Hebrew people who are kind of caught between two things. A total full-fledged commitment to Jesus Christ or going back to Judaism.

[0:59] And as we understand from the rest of Scripture, we cannot totter between the two. Christ says, I would rather you be hot or cold. Either you're all the way in or you're all the way out. And the author of the book of Hebrews is writing here so that those who had known the things of Christ, who had heard the things of Christ, would in fact go all the way in.

[1:18] It is a full-fledged jump and a plunge to go all in. And this is exactly what the author is pointing to. And he is fleshing it out and showing them He is much greater than anything you could ever find in Judaism.

[1:31] He is much greater than any hope you could ever find in the world. So what's holding you back from being fully committed to Him? And as we go through the book of Hebrews, we see these facts and these realities pointed out for us.

[1:44] And the overriding question should be, So what indeed is holding us back from a full total commitment to the great one who is Jesus Christ? We are in Hebrews chapter 8 this morning.

[1:56] For context, I'm going to back up to the 7th chapter and start in verse 26. And I'm going to read down to Hebrews 8 verse 5. If you are physically able and desire to do so, I'm going to ask if you'll join with me as we stand together and we read the word of God found in the book of Hebrews starting in chapter 7 verse 26 and reading down to chapter 8 verse 5.

[2:16] The author writes for us, And what has been said is this, We have such a high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister in a sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man.

[3:00] For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. So it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.

[3:19] Just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle for, see, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.

[3:30] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for your word. Lord, we thank you for the divine opportunity which we have to read it. Lord, we pray now as we have read your word, Lord, that we would have hearts opened and minds opened to hear it and to understand it.

[3:44] Lord, we pray that that understanding would be so much more than the collection of information, but Lord, that the understanding would lead to an alteration of our life. Lord, that it would change us and shape us and move us to become more like your glory.

[3:56] Lord, have a work in us by the power and presence of your spirit. And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I want you to see this morning from our text in Hebrews 8 verses 1 through 5.

[4:08] And as we get into the text, you will understand why we had to go back to Hebrews chapter 7. I want you to see the wonder of such a high priest. The wonder of such a high priest.

[4:20] For the last couple of chapters, as a matter of fact, we can go back to the end of Hebrews chapter 5. We see that the author is referring to the high priesthood of Jesus Christ. He introduces us to this very, sometimes mystical figure referred to as Melchizedek.

[4:36] Hebrews chapter 7 really fleshes out the reality that Jesus is a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. And namely, that he is the high priest which God has promised.

[4:47] He is not the high priest according to the law, that is, of Levitical descent, but he is a high priest, one who precedes the law, that is, of Melchizedek. And he is greater. We're not going to get into all of that again, but we understand the greatness of his position, the high priesthood that he holds.

[5:05] And now this morning, we stand and we stand in wonder, or really, we should probably fall on our faces in wonder, of such a high priest as we have. Now, many of us would say, well, I don't need a high priest.

[5:18] We do not live in the Jewish practice of the law and legalism, or I'm not a part of such and such denomination in which they believe in the priest. I do not have such a high priest because we, as the book says in 1 Peter, believe in the priesthood of the believers.

[5:33] But if you remember, and I know I'm speaking fast, so you'll have to gather your thoughts with me very quickly. Sometimes Braden looks at me and says, Daddy, why do you talk so fast? And most of the time, it's because I have so much information I want to give.

[5:44] And I'm just trying to get it out there. Other times, it's because I just get a little excited, so you'll have to overlook that. But we have found that the oldest book in Scripture, that is the book of Job, shows us that the heart cry of man would be that man would have an intercessor, one who could stand between him and a holy God.

[6:03] Job says, Oh, I wish that there were a man who could put his hand on me and his hand on God and could stand the wording. There is an umpire between the two of us that could be one who would make sure that I was in agreement with him and he was in agreement with me.

[6:19] The oldest book in all of Scripture says, Man needs an intercessor. Man needs someone to stand in the gap. As God called his people to himself, he appointed such men of the tribe of Levi.

[6:32] And he was picturing for the men what it would look like to have someone stand in the gap. And that picture was there to show us the fulfillment of that picture that we find in Hebrews chapter 7 and 8.

[6:44] So to answer your question, we do all need a high priest. And now, we stand in wonder of such a high priest as we have.

[6:57] Because the heart cry of Job, in the midst of his tragedy, in the midst of his suffering, in the midst of his despair, was, Oh, I wish I had one.

[7:07] And the answer, ringing out from the throne of heaven is, You have such a one as this. And behold, such a high priest as we have.

[7:22] And we rejoice in who he is. And we stand amazed at who he is. And we stand in wonder of all that he is. Number one, first of all, we notice his posture.

[7:35] We notice his posture. Now, the reason I read verse 26 is this. For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest.

[7:46] It was fitting. That means it was necessary. We needed it. The author in Hebrews says, Now the main point in what has been said, don't you love it when the Bible tells you why it told you what it told you?

[7:59] I love that. The word of God is not confusing. Difficult? Sure. Needing the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? Absolutely. Confusing? No.

[8:11] Sometimes, we just want to split too many frog hairs to try to make it say what it's not saying so that we can try to make it be what we want it to be. But I love it when the Bible says, Now the reason I've told you this is this.

[8:22] And at those moments, I'm always like, Thank you, Lord, for giving me, and it always does, and I don't know if you've ever done this, one of the hardest books in all the Old Testament to even understand is the book of Ecclesiastes.

[8:33] Other than Song of Solomon, which if we get to there on Sunday nights, we'll probably have to say, Well, kids are not allowed in Song of Solomon. If you've never read it, you're like, Why is he saying that? You'll understand. It's a love story, right? But the book of Ecclesiastes is where it just kind of makes you scratch your head.

[8:46] And I love, after such a difficult book, the author of the book of Ecclesiastes says, The main point is this. Love that, right? To love the Lord your God and to fear Him and obey His commands. The reason I've said all this is so you would do that.

[8:58] I love that. Chapter 7 in Hebrews is a very hard chapter. Chapter 6 is an extremely hard chapter. And now we come to this. Now the main point. The whole reason I've said this is this.

[9:09] Now the main point in what has been said is this. Chapter 7, verse 26 says, It was fitting for us to have one. Chapter 8, verse 1 says, We have such a high priest.

[9:21] What was necessary for us to have, now we have. It was fitting for us to have an intercessor, now we have one. And we notice his posture.

[9:32] Look at what it says. We have such a high priest who has taken his seat. He is in the sitting posture.

[9:43] You say, Well, what difference does that matter? All the difference in the world. He has taken his seat. We stand amazed at the posture of Jesus in heaven.

[9:55] And the reason it is so amazing, and I've told you this before, but it is never unnecessary to repeat it. I believe it was S.M. Lockridge, one of my favorite all-time pastors in all of history, S.M. Lockridge.

[10:07] He would preach sermons over and over and over again. And someone asked S.M. Lockridge, by the way, one of the greatest pastor names I've ever heard. His name was literally Shadrach Meshach Lockridge. Okay? That's pretty amazing, right?

[10:17] S.M. Lockridge would preach so many messages and he would repeat them every now and then. That's my king. That would probably be my favorite message he ever preached. And he preached it all across the country. And somebody said, S.M., I've heard you preach that before.

[10:30] And S.M. Lockridge looked at him and said, if it was good enough to preach once, it's good enough to preach again. And I'll preach it again and I'll preach it again. So if we say it once and it was a fact then, it's a fact now. We know when we go back into the Old Testament and we see the appointment of the Levitical priesthood and we see the description of what the tabernacle and even the temple was to look like.

[10:50] We understand there is one article of furniture which was never included in the tabernacle or the temple and that was a chair. Because the priest was to never sit down.

[11:02] The priest's work was never finished. The priest's work was constantly moving. There was always somebody else bringing a sacrifice to the temple door. There was always somebody else coming to the curtain of the tabernacle.

[11:14] There was always another bull, another goat, another lamb, another pigeon. There was always something else to be done. As a matter of fact, the only priest we have recorded in Scripture sitting down other than Jesus is Eli and he fell off his stool and died.

[11:29] He was sitting at the doorway of the tabernacle when he heard his sons were killed in battle and the Ark of the Covenant was carried away and Eli fell off his stool backwards and died and the Scripture says because he was a heavy man.

[11:43] So he was eating the sacrificial food probably to the point of gluttony, not probably, absolutely to the point of gluttony and was sitting down on the job and his sons didn't get in the condition they were in because Eli had done a bad job is because he had not done his job, right?

[11:58] He had been sitting down on the job. But what is amazing about the high priest we have, friend, listen to me, Jesus sat down. He is seated because his work is finished.

[12:12] He said it on the cross, right? It is finished. It is done. It is over to the point that when he got done he went and sat down.

[12:22] Now I don't know what it's like at your house but at my house there's always a long list of stuff to do. I know the rest of you you never have anything to do at home, right? All your honeydew lists are real short. I know men, your wives never come up with anything for you to do and you never find anything to do but around my house the list never stops.

[12:39] There's one time in the day where my wife gets excited and I asked her, I said, what's the day, what's the time when you know it's over? She said, when you go to the bedroom and you clean your pockets out.

[12:50] I know it seems odd but when I take my keys out of my pockets, I take my knife out of my pocket, I take my wallet, that means I'm not going back outside. That means I'm done. I'm going to sit down. At that point, I usually take my hat off my head and I hang it on my hat rack.

[13:04] Until that point, as long as something's in my pockets, my day is still going on. Now I have candy in my pocket right now if you're wondering. I still have something in my pocket but if I take everything out then I'm done for the day.

[13:15] Listen, Jesus sat down because he was through. He's finished. Now I don't know if that excites you the way it should but we have a high priest who doesn't have to do anything else.

[13:28] There's nothing else he needs to do to atone for our sins. There's nothing else he needs to do to atone for the sin of the world.

[13:39] We don't have to go back to the doorway of the temple. We don't have to go back to the doorway of the tabernacle. We don't have to go back to the hill called Calvary. We don't have to go back to the tomb in the garden of Gethsemane.

[13:51] We don't have to go back anywhere Because he's already sat down and we stand amazed at the posture he holds. He's done. He's finished. And we praise the Lord.

[14:03] He took a seat. So not only do we stand in wonder of his posture, we stand in wonder even more so of his position. That is exactly where he sat down. Because where you sit down matters.

[14:15] Right? Where your seat is at the table plays a very critical role in the order of the family. Where your seat is in the church sometimes matters to more people than it should.

[14:28] We understand that. But where you sit down, where the position of your seat in all of history matters. Because look at what it says. Who has taken his seat at the right hand. At the right hand always a place of authority.

[14:41] Always a place of supremacy. But not only at the right hand. But look, he has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. He has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of not just a majesty.

[14:57] The majesty in the heavens. Jesus sat down at the right hand of God Almighty. And that is where I want my priests to be.

[15:09] I don't want my priests walking into a curtain in the Holy of Holies where the Shekinah glory may be shining. And I might not know even if it's not shining there. We can go to the book of Zechariah and see that because the glory has departed.

[15:21] We don't know what's going on in the inside. I'd rather have a priest who is sitting at the right hand of the majesty on high. Because when it all is over with and said and done, it is the one on the throne that I got to answer to.

[15:36] And the priest that I have is sitting at his right hand. He is at the place of prominence. He is at the place of power. He is at the place of intercession. You know when the Sanhedrin would meet.

[15:48] Now the author of the book of Hebrews is writing to the Jewish people, right? It's the Jewish people. Now the Jewish people would understand the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin literally means the 70. It was the 70, the gathering of the 70 leaders of the nation of Israel who would judge a person based upon their legal system.

[16:05] It was before the Sanhedrin, at least a partial portion of the Sanhedrin because Nicodemus wasn't there, that Jesus stood before his crucifixion. And then when the Sanhedrin gathered together, the ruling high priest who would be the head of the Sanhedrin, he would kind of be like the judge.

[16:21] He would be right in the center and then it would be kind of a semicircle and whoever was on trial would be in the middle. Now to the left of the judge, stay with me, to the left of the judge was the recorder who would write the judgment of condemnation.

[16:36] To the right hand of the judge was the recorder who would write the order of pardon. And when Jesus sat down at the right hand, he was not only in a place of power and prominence, he was in a place of pardon.

[16:51] He didn't sit down at the left hand position of judgment. He sat down at the right hand position of pardon and forgiveness. He took his seat there. When my priest stopped working, he sat down in a place of forgiveness, not a place of judgment.

[17:05] Isn't that amazing? Jesus didn't go sit down to judge you. He sat down to pardon you. And that is amazing. He's not sitting up there with his arms crossed, casting judgment, because he said, I'll tell you the very thing that would judge you, the very words that I speak would judge you.

[17:25] But the very life that he lived and the death that he died and the seat that he took is the very thing that will pardon you. And we stand amazed and wonder at the position he took.

[17:39] Now, while he is seated at the right hand, we also have a time in Scripture where he stood up. And we stood up. Remember when Stephen was being stoned?

[17:50] And they were casting those stones. And Stephen says, I see into the heavens, I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Okay? Because he's ministering in that position.

[18:00] And while he is sat down completing his work, he stands up for his people. And that's amazing because that shows us the place where he's at. We see his place.

[18:11] We see that he is seated in the position of the right hand in a very specific place. Look at what it says. He has been made a minister, which means his work of atonement is finished.

[18:23] But his ongoing ministry of intercession is forever going. He is ministering in a sanctuary. He is a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man.

[18:38] You won't find him in any church. You won't find him in any temple. You won't find him in any tabernacle. You won't find him in any tent. You won't find him in any curtain. Because the place of his ministry is in the true tabernacle, which God pitched.

[18:52] And that's where my priest is at. I'm so thankful and I stand in such wonder. That while I rejoice in the brothers and sisters that Christ has put around me to encourage me in my daily walk, that I rejoice in the people that he's put around me to spur me on as I draw closer to him, I'm thankful the one who labors and ministers for me more than any other doesn't minister in a location in this world.

[19:20] He's ministering in the tabernacle made without hands. The true tabernacle. The true tabernacle erected by the Lord.

[19:30] That's his place. That's where our minister serves for us. Think about that just for a moment. He's not anything man could ever construct. He's not anything that man could ever imagine.

[19:42] He doesn't minister in the things that are a shadow of things to come. He ministers in the thing that is a reality of what will be and what already is. The church today is a magnificent thing.

[19:53] And I love the church. And I love the growth that comes from the church. I'll just go ahead and tell you that what we see here in the local assembly of God's people, which we call the ecclesia or the church, this is just a mere shadow of what it's going to be like in all of eternity.

[20:06] Right? And just to prove my point, you could go with me this afternoon if you wanted to. I'm going to be gathering with about 20,000 other Southern Baptists. We're going to be at the Southern Baptist Convention in the next couple of days.

[20:16] And I can almost guarantee you among those 20,000 Southern Baptists, there's going to be some mad people. There's going to be some heated arguments. There's going to be some upset things. And in glory, those things don't happen. Because I'm just thankful that when I gather, it's just going to be a mere shadow of what it's going to be like in glory.

[20:34] Because when we're gathered around his throne, all those petty arguments won't matter anymore. All those things won't matter. When we're standing in the wonder of his glory, and we're standing in the real and no longer in the shadow, all those things we thought were big deals are no longer big deals at all.

[20:49] Because the big deal is a person. And that person is the priest who's in the right place. And that is Jesus Christ. Fourth and finally, we not only see his posture, his position, his place, probably the greatest of them all, we stand in wonder of his presented offering.

[21:06] Look at what the author says. He says, for every high priest, for every high priest is appointed for one thing, right? For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices.

[21:18] So, it is necessary that this high priest, who is Jesus Christ, also have something to offer. He had to offer a gift.

[21:29] He had to offer a sacrifice. Now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer gifts according to the law. He wouldn't have any legal rights on earth. But he doesn't serve on earth.

[21:39] And it says, who serve a copy of the shadow of the heavenly things. Just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle for sea, he says, that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.

[21:51] Jesus does not have a legal right to offer any sacrifice, any offering, in the shadow of things. He takes his offering into the real thing. And what is the offering that he presents?

[22:03] It says it back in Hebrews chapter 7. It says in verse 27, who does not need daily, like those high priests, who offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people.

[22:15] Look at this. Because he did this once for all. Then he sat down. He did this once for all when he offered up himself.

[22:27] We stand and wonder at the presented offering of the high priest which we have. He didn't go with the blood of bulls or goats or lambs. He didn't go with pigeons with their necks rung off.

[22:39] He didn't go with any of these sacrificial animals that we see throughout scripture. When Jesus entered into that true place, he went with his own blood. He presented his own body.

[22:50] He said, Lord, they're forgiven. They're redeemed. And here's the proof. He presented himself. Now, I know of no other people in all of history other than the church that is God's people who have a high priest who gave himself for them.

[23:12] And we stand and wonder that our high priest looks upon us with such love and such compassion and such concern that he understands, just as Job cried out, man needs someone to stand in the gap.

[23:28] And to bridge that gap, there is a required offering. And our high priest said, I will be that man and I will be that offering. And he presented himself.

[23:41] And God says, okay. Sit down, son. That's it. Stand and wonder such a high priest.

[23:53] As this. And then may we ask ourselves, so why would we not go all the way? If that's who he is and what he has done, then why would we hold back from all that he's called us to be?

[24:13] Let's pray. Lord, I thank you. Lord, I thank you for the amazing truths we see in scripture. Lord, I thank you for the reality of them. Lord, I thank you that by the power and presence of your spirit, Lord, you're going to mold and shape our lives for your glory.

[24:29] So Lord, here we are. Have your way, oh Lord. Do your work. Be glorified and honored. And move in the ways that only you can. And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

[24:40] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[24:53] Thank you.

[25:53] Thank you.

[26:23] Thank you.