The following is a sermon transcript from our Sunday Service at The Rock Church in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Each week, we gather to worship, learn from God’s Word, and grow together. This transcript is provided as a free resource to encourage and equip you in your walk with Christ. While you’re welcome to read and share this content for personal use, we kindly ask that it not be redistributed or published elsewhere without prior written consent from The Rock Church.
Introduction
For some time, I noticed a problem in the power at our house. The lights flicker sometimes. Oftentimes, the basement light will not come on. I discovered that banging on the electrical panel solves the problem. It suddenly works. Now, I’m not an electrician, but I’m fairly certain that is not a lasting solution.
And so at our leaders’ lunch after that last week, I mentioned the problem to Ron and Corey, and they volunteered to come over to take a look. They checked the connections in the panel, found that everything appears to be good. The problem seems to be the line from the street to the house. So that meant that the solution had to come from somewhere else. And so Corey graciously contacted PSE&G, still waiting, of course, for them to address the problem. And once they do, I am confident of this, that the lights will stop flickering and the basement light should come on without any banging on the panel.
That experience gives us a simple pattern. Something needed to change. A different solution was needed. And that solution, hopefully, will produce a better result.
You see, Hebrews 7:11-19 follows that basic line of reasoning, as the author explains why another priesthood is necessary — what makes Christ’s priesthood different, and then what his priesthood makes possible for sinners. Now, a priest is obviously someone appointed to represent the people before God, to offer sacrifices on their behalf. The great question in this passage is whether those priests could actually bring sinners all the way to a holy God.
And so the truth holding this passage together: Christ is our everlasting priest who gives weary sinners a better hope and brings us near to God. If you remember nothing else today, remember this — we cannot work our way to God, but Jesus can bring us all the way to him.
So we’ll follow the arguments of the author in these three parts. First, the former priesthood could not meet our deepest need, drawing near to God. Second, because Christ lives forever, weary sinners like you and me will never, ever be without a priest. And third, Christ brings helpless sinners near to God, as the law never could.
Point One: The Former Priesthood Could Not Meet Our Deepest Need
(Verses 11–12)
So let’s begin with why another priesthood was necessary as we read together verses 11 to 12.
Now if perfection had been attainable — don’t you wish perfection was 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? For when there is a change in the priesthood, remember, not individual, but the whole system, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.
Notice the question that the author asks in verse 11. If the Levitical priesthood could bring perfection, why would we need another priest? In other words, if the priesthood could have accomplished everything sinners needed, there’d be no reason to replace it. The promise of another priest showed that something in the system was lacking.
Now listen, the issue was not that the Levitical priesthood was bad. God is the one that established it. He designed it. He appointed the priest. He prescribed the sacrifices. He regulated the service. It accomplished a temporary purpose. God gave it. But it could never meet our deepest need. And so when the author speaks of perfection, we’re not talking about moral improvement. We’re talking about sinners being cleansed of all unrighteousness, brought near to God.
The sacrifices could be offered again and again and again. The priest could enter and leave the sanctuary, but the Levitical system itself could never bring worshippers complete and lasting access to God. That’s why another priest was necessary. God did not promise another priest because he needed one more Levite. He promised another priest because the Levitical priesthood system could never accomplish the final goal. Sinners still needed someone who could truly bring them near to God.
And verse 12 explains why a change in the priesthood involves something so much bigger. The priesthood and the Mosaic law formed one system. The law identified the priests, as I said, regulated their ministry, prescribed their sacrifices, and determined how they would approach God. You could not change the priesthood without changing the entire system of laws that govern it.
Think about an operating system on a computer. It’s not one program merely among many, it’s a system under which all the programs operate. Those programs are designed to work in a particular system. If you replace the operating system, everything connected to it will be affected. Some programs will no longer run because they belonged to the former system.
You see, the Levitical priesthood was woven into the whole structure of the law God gave Israel. The priesthood and the law belong together. Therefore, when the priesthood changed, the law governing that priesthood also had to change. The original audience could not keep the old priesthood while at the same time embracing the new priest.
Our Own Systems for Reaching God
We may not be tempted to return to the Levitical priests of our own, but the human heart is still creating their own systems to draw near to God. We are always creating our own ways of reaching perfection, cleansing, right with God.
Some pursue what we might call mystical enlightenment. They search for spiritual experience, secret knowledge, powerful emotion that makes them feel close to God. Others pursue what we might call, or has been called, sinless perfectionism. They believe if they obey well enough and they overcome every sin, then man, I can finally be accepted by God. One tries to reach God through experience, the other through performance. Both assume that something within us can cleanse us and bring us near to God.
These attempts appear in the Christian life. If I feel God more strongly, then I would know I am near him. If I could finally overcome this sin, then I could approach God without shame. If I become more disciplined, more knowledgeable, more spiritually mature, then God will receive me then. Each one places our hope in what is happening within us rather than what Christ has accomplished for us.
We do not merely need stronger emotions, better discipline, or another temporary priest. We need a completely different kind of priest. We need a priest who can do what no Levite and no human achievement could ever do. He must be able to bring sinners fully to God. And what makes Christ that kind of priest? The answer is not in his ancestry. The answer is in his indestructible life. And that’s what leads us to our next point.
Point Two: Because Christ Lives Forever, Weary Sinners Will Never Be Without a Priest
(Verses 13–17)
As we read verses 13 to 17 together:
For the one of whom these things are spoken, Jesus, belonged to another tribe, Judah, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah. And in connection with that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests. This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of legal requirement concerning bodily descent or ancestry, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Verse 13 makes it clear, the author is speaking about Jesus. He is speaking about him. He is the priest promised in Psalm 110, verse 4: The Lord has sworn, he will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
But Jesus came from an entirely different tribe than the Levitical priests. Jesus came from Judah. Under the law of Moses, priests came from the tribe of Levi and under the family of Aaron. No one from Judah ever served as a priest at the altar. Moses said nothing about the priests coming from Judah. Under the former arrangement, Jesus had no claim to the Levitical priesthood.
Yet the author calls Jesus our Lord. This priest is not merely another religious leader. He is the eternal Son of God who took on flesh. He died and rose again as the victorious God-man. He purchased a people for his own possession. He rules over the church that he redeemed. God was not placing Jesus into the Levitical priesthood. He was appointing him to an entirely different kind of priesthood. Jesus did not become priest because he could trace his ancestry to Aaron. His authority came from the Father, God himself. God had already declared it in Psalm 110 that the Messiah would be a priest forever.
An Indestructible Life
And this becomes even clearer, verses 15 to 16. Another priest has arisen in the likeness of Melchizedek. His priesthood does not rest upon a legal requirement concerning physical descent. It rests upon the power of an indestructible life. That means that death could not bring his life or his priesthood to an end. His resurrection, the resurrection of Christ, demonstrates and shows to us that he will never die again.
And that’s the contrast between ancestry and life. The Levites qualified by belonging to the right family. Christ qualifies because death could not hold him or bring his priesthood to an end.
Every Levitical priest eventually died. No matter how faithful he was, his ministry had an ending. Death removed him from the office. Another priest had to take his place. And so this former priesthood depended on a long, long succession of dying men.
But Christ truly died and rose again. Death could not hold him. His resurrection demonstrates the power of an indestructible life. He’ll never grow old. He’ll never die. He’ll never be replaced. His life continues forever. So his priesthood continues forever.
Verse 17 confirms this again from Psalm 110. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Christ is not one priest in a long line of replacements. He is the priest who remains forever. As Spurgeon said, once a priest, always a priest is true of Christ alone.
If the Lord does not return first, there will be a day when I’m no longer the pastor of this church. Every pastor retires, moves, or dies. Another man takes his place. Every shepherd is temporary. But no one will ever replace Jesus Christ. His people will never gather on a Sunday morning and discover, oh no, we need a new high priest. Not going to happen.
Chapter 8, paragraph 9 of the 1689 says: The office of mediator between God and man is proper only to Christ and may not be transferred from him to any other.
This Is Good News for Weary Sinners
This is good news for weary sinners because when our faith feels weak, our access to God does not depend upon the strength of our spiritual life. It rests upon the indestructible life of our priest.
When guilt comes — do you ever get guilt coming in your life? How about every day? Or maybe it’s just me — our sin may accuse us again. But Christ has not stopped representing us. When people fail or they leave us, Christ’s priestly care cannot be interrupted. When death frightens us, we remember that our priest has already passed through death and conquered it. When God feels distant, our feelings may change, but Christ’s place before the Father does not.
Question for you: is your hope resting on the steadiness of your faith, or on the indestructible life of your priest? Your faith may feel strong today. Feeling good, feeling buoyed up. And then tomorrow, it’s dark clouds, gloomy, anger, depression. Your awareness of God, it may rise or fall. Feel close, feel distant. Your battle with sin includes many victories, overcoming, but then many defeats, brought low. But Jesus Christ is the same living priest through it all.
And so weary sinners will never be without a high priest. An everlasting priest gives people lasting hope. Anybody need that in this room?
But what does this priesthood accomplish that the law never could? Well, this is the climax of this entire text. And that’s what the author explains.
Point Three: Christ Brings Helpless Sinners Near to God as the Law Never Could
(Verses 18–19)
As we consider Christ brings helpless sinners near to God as the law never could — 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.
Verse 18 tells us that the former commandment has been set aside. In the immediate context, what the author is telling us, he’s speaking about the law governing the Levitical priesthood. The former system, priestly system, is no longer in force. It’s fulfilled its temporary purpose that God had given it.
If you think about scaffolding around a building, scaffolding is useful and necessary while the building is being built. It gives the workers access to places where they could not reach otherwise. But once that building is complete, the scaffolding, of course, is taken down. It’s not removed because it was bad. It’s removed because it’s fulfilled its temporary purpose.
The former priesthood was God-given. It was useful, but it was temporary. It always was intended to point forward to Christ. Once Christ accomplished the work to which it pointed, the former arrangement was set aside. The scaffolding. And listen, you don’t keep clinging to scaffolding when the finished structure is already in plain sight.
The author gives two reasons for setting aside the former commandment. He speaks of its weakness and uselessness. We need to understand these words very carefully before we rush to conclusions. God’s law is very good, and the system that he created has no mistakes in it. Its weakness, listen, was its inability to perfect sinners and bring them permanently near to God.
So the former commandment was profitable for the purpose that God gave it. It revealed God’s holiness. It exposed our human sin. It regulated Israel’s worship. It taught the need for sacrifice and a priestly mediation. Pointed forward to Christ, but it was unprofitable as a means of saving and perfecting sinners. It appointed priests who eventually died. It relied upon animal sacrifices that could not remove our guilt. It regulated outward worship but could not cleanse the conscience. It commanded what was required but could not give sinners new hearts. Could point toward the answer, but it could never be the answer.
The Law Made Nothing Perfect
Verse 19 states the problem plainly: the law made nothing perfect.
Imagine baking a cake that comes out burned and collapsed and raw in the middle. And in all your abundant wisdom, you decide to take the recipe book and place it on top of it to wait for the cake to become perfect. The recipe can tell you what the cake should have been. It can also expose everything you did wrong. But putting the ruined cake under the recipe cannot remake it.
That’s what happens when sinners use the law as a means of salvation. The law shows us the perfection God requires. It exposes how far we have fallen short. But it cannot transform guilty sinners into what it commands. We do not need the instructions shouted at us more loudly. We need Christ to do what the law cannot.
This is where we gotta remember the difference between law and gospel. The law says do. The gospel says done. The law tells us what God requires. Love God perfectly. Obey Him completely. Be holy as He is holy. Fail, fail, fail. It exposes our failure but cannot cleanse our guilt. The gospel announces what Christ has accomplished. He obeyed where we failed. He bore the judgment that we deserve. He rose with an indestructible life. He opened the way for sinners to draw near.
The law remains God’s good guide forever for those he has redeemed. But it is never the ground of our assurance or acceptance. We obey because Christ has brought us near, not so that he will bring us near.
A Better Hope
And then comes this glorious turn, verse 19. On the other hand, a better hope is introduced. The law could not perfect us. But God did not leave us without hope. He introduced something better.
Our better hope rests in the finished work and everlasting priesthood of Jesus Christ. This is not some kind of wishful thinking. It’s not saying I hope God might accept me. It’s a confident expectation grounded in Christ. Because Christ is my priest, I may draw near to God.
Our hope is better because Christ is better. It’s living because Christ lives. It is sure because Christ’s priesthood cannot end. It is eternal because the life he gives cannot be taken away.
The foundation of this hope is outside of us. Our feelings change. Our obedience remains imperfect. Our spiritual strength rises and falls. But Christ’s finished work does not change. His everlasting priesthood does not end. And through this better hope, we draw near to God.
What It Means to Draw Near
To draw near to God is to approach our holy, perfect, pure, righteous God as an accepted worshiper through Christ. It certainly includes turning our thoughts toward God, knowing Him personally, but I believe it’s more than just thinking about God and becoming acquainted with Him. It means that Christ has actually opened the way into God’s presence.
Hebrews has already explained what drawing near includes. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16 calls us to do what? Draw near to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace in our time of need. Hebrews 10:19-22 connects drawing near with entering God’s presence through the blood of Jesus.
We come with our guilt removed. We come as a people welcomed into God’s presence. We approach him in prayer and worship. We enjoy fellowship with him. We come with confidence rather than fear of condemnation.
This is a better hope for the guilty. Guilt tells you to run and hide until you improve yourself. Stop. Better hope tells us to confess our sin and come through Christ. The question is not, have I done enough to make myself presentable? No. The question is, is Christ a sufficient priest for sinners?
You don’t need a good week before you pray. You pray until you pray. You don’t need several days of victory hanging out on the mountaintop. Now you’re closer to God. Stop. You come to God with your guilt because you have a high priest who deals gently with you. He doesn’t want you to go run and hide. He doesn’t want you to wait until your feelings are in order, until your life’s in order.
This is a better hope for the spiritually weary. Some Christians believe God welcomes them more warmly when they feel more spiritually alive. Please. After a good morning of prayer, they approach Him confidently. After a cold and distant, sin-stained week, they remain distant. But our access to God does not rise and fall with our spiritual temperature. A cold and struggling heart needs Christ just as much as a warm and joyful one does. A changing spiritual condition does not change the sufficiency of our priest.
This is a better hope in suffering. Suffering often makes God feel distant. We all agree. Prayers we pray seem like they’re unanswered. The circumstances just do not change. God’s fatherly care and love for us becomes a little more difficult to see. But the better hope does not promise immediate relief — I’m sorry — it promises continued access. The suffering Christian has not been locked outside God’s presence. Christ still brings him near.
The Danger of Confusing Law and Gospel
But if we confuse the law and the gospel, it’ll produce either pride or despair. Pride when we think, man, look how well I have obeyed, so much better than those guys. Despair when we see that we have not. It’s an unstable assurance because our confidence is always rising and falling with our performance. It’s distance from God because we wait until we get things in order before we can improve ourselves.
False hope says, improve yourself, then come. False hope says, defeat that sin and then come. It says, understand everything and then come. It also says, become worthy and then come.
But better hope says something very different. It says, Christ is worthy, so come. Christ has finished the work, so come. Christ lives forever, so come. Christ is your priest, so draw near.
This does not mean that we abandon self-examination. Healthy self-examination helps us see our sin and repent. But self-examination becomes dangerous when we begin looking at ourselves for assurance rather than that which can only be found in Christ.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne — anybody know that name? Raise your hand. Good. He practiced serious confession and examination of the heart. But his warning was against becoming trapped there. There are many that are trapped there. It’s a prison. He said, learn much from Jesus, from our Lord Jesus. For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ.
Healthy self-examination asks, where have I sinned? Where do I need to repent? This is important stuff. It also says, how does the sufficiency of Christ answer what I see in myself? And that is key. Morbid introspection keeps asking, have I examined myself enough? Is my repentance sincere enough? Have I found enough evidence to approach God confidently? It looks within for something that can only be found in Christ.
Chapter 8 — we’re doing another confession quote, you love it — chapter 8, paragraph 10 of the 1689: In respect of our alienation, separation from God, and imperfection of the best of our services, we need a high priestly office to reconcile us.
Sin leaves us guilty, estranged from God, unable to return by ourselves. Even our prayers, worship, repentance, and obedience, all of it remains imperfect. Therefore, we need Christ’s priestly office, not merely when we feel we’ve failed badly, but even when we’ve done our best. Our best service still needs Christ. Our best prayers need Christ. Our sincerest worship needs Christ. Our deepest repentance, we need Christ. He does not merely improve our service. He presents us, imperfect worshipers, as acceptable to God through His own perfect work.
The better hope is not merely something Christians possess. It’s the open way by which weary sinners come home to God. You do not need to remain at a distance. You do not need another priest. You do not need to make yourself worthy.
Closing
And so as we close, we come back to the problem with the power at my house. Ugh. Banging on the electrical panel may get the light to come on for a moment, but it cannot provide a lasting solution. Something beyond my ability had to be done.
And this is also true of our greatest spiritual need. We cannot bring ourselves near to God. We can try harder, become more disciplined, search for a powerful experience, or examine ourselves until we are absolutely exhausted. Stop. Please. None of these things can cleanse our guilt or open the way into God’s presence.
The former priesthood could not bring sinners all the way to God. A different kind of priest was needed, and God has given us that priest. Jesus Christ did not become our priest because he came from the right family. He became our priest by the power of his indestructible life. He died for sinners. He rose from the grave. He now lives forever. That means weary sinners will never be without a priest.
The law says do. The gospel says done. The law says do this and live. The gospel announces Christ has done what you could never do.
So stop trying to make yourself worthy to come. Stop waiting for your feelings to be stronger, your hearts to feel warmer, or your life to be more impressive. We’re weary sinners. Your hope is not found in what is happening within you. Your hope is found in the living Christ who stands for you.
If you are guilty with sin — sin this week, this morning, last night, yesterday, every day — draw near. If you’re weary, if you’re tired, if you’re exhausted from all of your introspection and morbid death, draw near. If your faith feels really weak, the world’s coming in, looks real attractive — draw near to God through Christ.
Christ is alive. Christ is sufficient. Christ has opened the door. Through him, weary sinners may come near to God and never be turned away. Because Christ has opened the door, we do not need to hide our sins anymore, or pretend that we have somehow made ourselves worthy. We may confess our sins honestly to God and to one another, knowing that our hope rests in this everlasting priest who sees all of us completely known.
Closing Prayer
I want us to pray. I want us to pray together now. Would you bow with me as we do so?
Holy and merciful God, you have invited us to draw near through Jesus Christ. Yet we have often tried to make ourselves worthy to come. We have trusted in our obedience, in our knowledge, in our feelings, in all of our spiritual efforts. We’ve looked within ourselves for hope instead of looking to Christ. When our faith has felt weak, we’ve doubted your love. When our guilt has accused us, we’ve forgotten what Christ has done. When you felt distant, we’ve trusted our feelings more than your promises.
Forgive us, Lord. We know that we’re forgiven in Christ, but we confess and ask that you hear our cries for mercy for trying to do what only Christ can do. Forgive us for avoiding your presence when you’ve opened the way. Cleanse us, oh God, from all of our sins. Turn our eyes away from ourselves. Fix them on Jesus, our risen and everlasting priest. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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