March 23, 2025 • 36 mins
In his final sermon as Senior Pastor, Pastor Damien Schitter preached from Hebrews 7, reflecting on our deep human longing for status, security, and significance—things we often seek in fragile, earthly pursuits like career, relationships, or achievements. He pointed us to Jesus, our true and better High Priest, who alone offers us a lasting status, unshakable security, and eternal significance.
Unlike the Levitical priests who were temporary and imperfect, Jesus is our permanent and perfect priest. He lives forever, always interceding for us, fully knowing us, and never forgetting us. Jesus not only saves us from our sin but saves us to the uttermost—reaching even the darkest places of our hearts with His redeeming love.
Pastor Damien reminded us that if our status, security, or significance rests on anything shakable, it will ultimately fail us. Only Jesus, the King of Righteousness and Peace, offers us a foundation that is truly unshakeable. In Him, we find rest, assurance, and the freedom to live knowing we are fully known, fully loved, and never forgotten.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello everyone, this is Pastor Damien.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Good morning.
(00:33):
Well, my name is Damian andwhile this morning won't be my
last words that I share assenior pastor, this will be my
last sermon as senior pastor ofNew City and I want to say how
grateful I am to have servedhere as a pastor for over 11
years and as the senior pastorfor eight of those 11 years, and
so, as I said, there will betime for me to share more words,
(00:54):
but this will be my last sermon.
I know those of you who havebeen around, if you remember,
toward the beginning, as we weremoving through this transition,
we had said that I would be inthis role, serving in some
capacity through March.
I'm actually going to becontinuing on until the end of
April just to keep helping us inthis transition, but then I
(01:14):
promise I'm out.
So that's just a little headsup of where we are, and this
morning I chose my favoritepassage to preach as my last
sermon.
And this morning I chose myfavorite passage to preach as my
last sermon Hebrews chapterseven.
I'll let you decide if that's ajoke or not, but one of the
things that's interesting aboutHebrews chapter seven is that we
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wouldn't know about thisconnection with Melchizedek if
it wouldn't be for this chapter.
In fact, we'll speak.
There's only two times he showsup in the Bible before Hebrews.
Once is Genesis 14, which iswhat chapter seven is talking
about, and then also in Psalm110, which is also quoted in our
passage.
But as we reflect on it, wemight miss something very
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relevant to us.
You see, all of us need status,we need security, we need
significance.
We've been made to experiencethese things and because we need
these things, we actually all,whether we know it or not, build
our lives around these desires.
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We don't just want a meaningfullife, we want a meaningful life
.
We want a meaningful life thatlasts.
This is where we get the ideaof legacy and how we might be
remembered.
These things are hardwired intous and in the ancient world,
people had high priests in orderto help them with these
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dynamics.
They had religious mediatorswho represented them before God
to give them, among other things, status before God, security
before God and significancebefore God and if you were with
us last fall, is this?
What is this?
This spring?
Yeah, last fall, the Jewishpeople had the Levitical
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priesthood, which we talkedabout preaching through
Leviticus, and, if you remember,that's a system designed to
make it possible for God todwell with his people, and a
high priest was the one who madeatonement, who offered
sacrifices, who stood betweenGod and the people.
And while that seems like abygone era, we have our versions
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today.
Now, we may not bringsacrifices to temple, but we
still look for someone, we stilllook for something to mediate
our status, to mediate oursecurity, to mediate our
significance.
We still have high priests, wejust don't call them that.
Instead of offering animalsacrifices, this is what we do
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we offer our time, our energyand our devotion to these modern
high priests, things that webelieve will give us status,
security and significance.
Maybe for you, like many of us,it's your career or your job.
More specifically, how do youknow?
Well, do you feel worthy onlywhen you succeed?
Or, to say it another way, doyou feel less worthy when you
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know?
Well, do you feel worthy onlywhen you succeed?
Or, to say it another way, doyou feel less worthy when you
fail.
What about?
For some of you, it's romanticlove.
Maybe you believe that if youjust found the right person, or
if your spouse would finallychange like you want them to,
then all of a sudden you'd besecure, then everything would be
(04:24):
okay.
For some of us, it's religion,or our moral performance.
If this is true, it could feellike this we believe that we're
acceptable to God and others aslong as we're doing everything
right, and when we do somethingwrong, guilt crushes us.
Maybe for you, it'sself-improvement.
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Maybe you believe that if youjust fix yourself, whether it be
through therapy or health ordiscipline, then you'd finally
have peace.
Well, maybe, finally, anothergreat high priest that we seek
in our culture that gives usstatus and security and
significance would be technologyand progress.
(05:06):
Maybe you look to science,medicine or wealth to solve the
deepest problems of your life.
Well, now, none of these thingsare bad.
So what is the problem?
Well, the problem is thateverything we typically build on
is fragile.
It can be lost, and if it'sfragile, you are fragile.
If you build your status andyour security and your
(05:30):
significance on anything thatcan be or will ultimately, at
death, be taken away, you arevery fragile.
This morning.
You see, the audience inHebrews was tempted to go back
to a system that had beenreplaced.
It wasn't that they wanted badthings, but they wanted security
in something too weak to holdthem.
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And that's what we have incommon with them this morning is
that we try to find our status,security and significance in
things that are too weak to holdus.
What we need is a status, asecurity and a significance that
can survive death.
And so Hebrews chapter 7 tellsus where we find this.
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So this morning I have threepoints.
The first one is a priest whogives us a better status.
The second is a priest thatgives us a better security and
finally, a priest that gives usa better significance.
So, first, a priest who givesus a better status.
If you listen to the scripturereading, you know that this is
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the part in the letter where we,as modern readers, start to
find it a little difficult.
This is an obscure characterwith an obscure type of argument
.
It's almost like you need acheat code to understand what in
the world he's talking about inthe sermon.
While that's true, we're notgoing to dig into it deeply.
I'm going to synthesize what Ithink the argument is, but it is
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important to know that theoriginal audience this wouldn't
have been as lost on them, right?
This is a sermon and thepreacher is preaching to a
people, and this would havelanded in a way that spoke to
their fears that they wereexperiencing.
And so for us where we need tostart to synthesize, it is just
a reminder that the entire pointof the Old Testament priesthood
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was to provide a way for God todwell with his people.
This is what God was after.
If you remember our explorationof Leviticus, god wanted to
dwell with his people, he wantedto be in relationship with them
.
And so, as we think about that,what's interesting in our text
today is that Melchizedek iscalled a priest of the most high
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God before the priesthood isinitiated, but not only that
he's a priest and a king, whichis a no-no.
You do not do that.
There's a separation of powersin Israel.
You do not have a priest king.
But all of a sudden, this crazyguy shows up in Genesis 14, as
we just read.
So let's look at it chapterseven, rather verse one, for
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this guy, this king of Salem,priest of the most high God.
There it is met Abrahamreturning from the slaughter of
the kings and blessed him.
So here's the basic argument.
At first is that we all know hesays that those who are
superior bless those who areinferior.
And so here you have Abraham,who, by the way, is the goat.
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Until Jesus, moses has nothingon Abraham.
Moses is only who Moses isbecause he's a child of Abraham.
Even you and I, if you're inChrist, you are still not
children of Moses.
You're children of Abraham,though this is what Paul says in
Galatians, chapter three.
And so Abraham's a big deal.
And yet here you have Abraham asinferior, giving a tithe to
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Melchizedek.
And then not only that, notonly does he receive it, which
is scandalous, but then he hasthe audacity to bless the nation
, blesser himself.
That he the one who theblessing was supposed to come
through to all the nations, thatthis man blesses Abraham.
And so this is the basicargument that the author to the
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Hebrews is trying to make, andthe reason this is important is
because he wants to show thatthere is a better priesthood,
one that doesn't come by descent, in other words, you're not
born into it, but rather comesby divine appointment.
That's the argument that he'smaking, and the author then
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points out that this idea thatthe Aaronic priesthood, this
Levitical priesthood, was goingto go away, was always a part of
the plan.
And then he makes thisconvoluted to us.
Argument by showing how thishappened in Genesis 14,.
Argument by showing how thishappened in Genesis 14, how
David brings it up again inPsalm 110, and then how it is a
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type of Jesus.
And so what is interesting,then, about chapter seven is
that we wouldn't know any ofthis without this chapter, and
so it is a big deal, but we'regoing to move on.
So what he does show is thatMelchizedek is a type of Christ.
Now, do you know what I meanwhen I say he's a type of Christ
?
There's this thing, there'sthis way of understanding a text
in the Bible, in this case inbiblical theology, called
(10:19):
typology, and so in this case heis.
Melchizedek is a type of Christin that he's a real guy, this
is a real event in history, andthat, in God's sovereignty, he's
orchestrating this figure toforeshadow Jesus.
And anytime this happens whichit happens a lot from the Old
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Testament into the New Testamentis that that type resembles
Jesus in specific ways, but it'salways incomplete.
Ultimately, they always end upbeing flawed, it always falls
short, but the New Testamentauthors bring it to the surface
to show the final thing, whichis that Jesus is the true and
better fulfillment of this typeand that this type is pointing
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forward to them.
What this is, is this atheologically intentional way to
show the storyline of scriptureand to show that Jesus is the
center of the Bible.
Now, for our purposes today, Iwant to point out two things
that bring together Melchizedekas a type and Jesus as the
fulfillment.
The first one is this Hisstatus as a priest was not by
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descent or ascent, but by divinedeclaration.
Look with me.
In verse three he is withoutfather or mother or genealogy,
having neither beginnings ofdays nor end of life, but
resembling the son of God.
He continues a priest foreverIn Genesis 14,.
It doesn't say what verse threedoes, it just doesn't mention it
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.
It doesn't say he didn't havefather or mother, it just
doesn't mention that.
Well, why would this beimportant?
And it's because in the OldTestament, priesthood, your
status came by descent.
And in this case we don't knowhis descent.
And that's the whole point he'ssaying his status didn't come
by descent, it came by divinedeclaration.
Okay, well, when you thinkabout this, think about our life
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right.
What we're talking about here iswhat are his credentials?
What are his credentials?
What are Jesus's credentials?
What are Melchizedek'scredentials?
Well, in more traditionalcultures, your credentials came
from descent.
That is, who's your daddy,who's your mommy, where did you
come from, what's your last name, those types of things.
In more modern culture, wehaven't entirely lost that.
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Of course, it's not nothing,but the narrative has shifted
really to you making your owncredentials right From wherever
you started.
Have you ascended to a higherstatus?
So in a more traditionalculture, it's your status comes
by descent.
In our more modern culture,it's more ascent, but in this
case it's neither.
It's actually divinedeclaration.
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So for Melchizedek andultimately Jesus, god is doing
something different.
That's the first thing he wantsto show.
The second thing is that he isa king of righteousness and
peace.
You see, even the other priestsin the Levitical priesthood
needed to make sacrifice fortheir own sin before they could
sacrifice for the people.
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But here we see that in Jesus,ultimately, a king of
righteousness and peace does nothave the same need, and the
order always matters.
Things have to be made rightbefore there can be true peace.
We know this in our own life.
In fact, I was talking this week.
I reached out to some friendsand said hey, how does this show
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up in your life, this principlethat in order to have true
peace, you first need things tobe made right, you first need
righteousness?
And one of them sent back amessage to me and he was
describing how, in his workplacesometime in the recent past, he
saw this dynamic working and hetold the story about how there
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was this one team that wasunderperforming.
And when you investigated, thereality was is this team did not
trust their leader.
They didn't like their leader.
They didn't feel he was a goodleader and because of who he was
, he wasn't going anywhere.
There's no way that they weregonna find another leader.
And so what they did is theyjust made false peace.
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They just stopped engaging,they disengaged right, they were
evasive, they just ignored itas though it didn't happen.
So what suffered?
Well, among other things, theirproductivity suffered.
They begin to be a veryunderperforming team in the
organization and then, throughsome events, they actually that
leader moves on.
They bring in a new leader, aleader who was a good leader, a
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leader who built trust with theteam, who made things right
relationally again between them.
And then, guess what happened?
They started to flourish.
There was this idea of peace inthe team and then, from peace,
there was flourishing, and fromthis flourishing there was
teamwork, and this team now isone of the highest performing
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teams.
It's performing way higher thanit ever had before.
Right, you see, there wasnothing that that team could
have done to flourish more untilrelationships were made right.
This is how the principle alwaysgoes and, of course, biblically
speaking, you and I cannot havepeace with God until we are
made right.
This is how the principlealways goes and, of course,
biblically speaking, you and Icannot have peace with God until
we are made right with God.
That's the idea.
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He is king of righteousnessfirst and peace.
You see, we have a leader inJesus who is also our priest.
He is a king priest.
He secures our status ofrighteousness by giving his own
life on our behalf.
And so, before we move on, thequestion is where are you
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getting your status?
Is it by descent, is it byascent?
Is it by your achievements, oris it by God's divine
declaration, through faith inJesus?
Remember where we started.
If your status comes fromsomething that can be taken away
from you.
You are fragile, you willalways live in fear, you will
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never be able to rest.
But it's Jesus who gives us abetter status.
But status alone isn't enough.
It's not enough in the argument, it's not enough in your life.
Even if we know where we stand,we'll still wrestle with a
deeper question Is it secure?
Can I trust it?
Will it last?
You see, if the priests of theold were temporary, then our
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security in them was temporary.
But Jesus is not only a priestwho gives us a better status,
he's a priest who gives us alasting security.
Let's look in verse 20.
And it was not without an oath,for those who formerly became
priests were made such withoutan oath.
But this one was made a priestwith an oath by the one who said
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to him the Lord has sworn andwill not change his mind.
You are a priest forever.
This makes Jesus the guarantorof a better covenant.
The former priests were many innumber because they were
prevented by death fromcontinuing in office, but he
holds his priesthood permanentlybecause he continues forever.
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You know, security in a worldwhere everything changes is by
nature fragile.
And this verse I keptreflecting on.
I'll say it my own way verse723.
My translation is and thepriest kept dying, they just
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kept dying.
Then a new one came in and theydied.
And then another one, and theydied.
They kept dying.
So we have to slow down for asecond.
Well, you see, what we need iswe need not only a status, but
we need a security that outlastsdeath, or it's not secure,
right?
No matter how well we executeour roles in life, no matter how
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well those priests, thatLevitical priesthood, executed
their role, they just kept dying, and so will you, and so will I
.
You ever thought about that?
If you put your status and yoursignificance any way in your
performance, even your legacy,it doesn't matter ultimately,
because you die and, as the oldBaptist preacher said, after
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they bury you, they're all gonnago back and have a potluck.
This is the way it happens,this is reality, and on this
point, I just kept thinking thisweekend about someone in all of
our lifetime most of ourlifetime, I guess, if you're
alive, the last three years,this would count for you that
seemed like they lasted foreverand it seemed like they executed
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their role so well, and it wasQueen Elizabeth II.
She served through 15 primeministers, 14 US presidents and
seven popes.
Think about that.
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She visited more than 126nations.
And get this, as one authorsaid, in 1953, on a single royal
tour, she traveled 40,000 miles, many of which were by boat.
40,000 miles, many of whichwere by boat.
She shook 13,000 hands andreceived tens of thousands of
bows and curtsies.
She gave and listened to over400 speeches, and this was just
one of more than a hundred ofthese royal tours during her
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reign.
In all, she traveled more than1 million nautical miles by sea
and many more by air.
She met more than 4 millionpeople personally and had more
than 2 million over for tea.
She gave more than 100,000awards and, perhaps most
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impressive out of hundreds ofthousands of engagements, events
, appearances and meals, whichwere often preceded by long
distance travel and time zonechanges, she fell asleep in
public only a single time, andit was at a lecture about the
use of magnets in biology andmedicine.
And, by the way, by the way,she was 78 years old.
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So which one of you is going tohave that type of status?
Which one of you is going tohave that type of security?
Which one of you is going tohave that type of significance?
I'll wait.
Answer no one, none of you, notme.
And yet she died.
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They didn't sing or say foreverlive the queen.
They said long live the queen.
And guess what they say now?
Long live the king.
You will die.
And they died.
They kept dying.
They kept dying.
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We need a security thatoutlasts death.
How can a priest remember tointercede for us when he's dead?
What about the next one?
Well, he's gonna.
What about the next one?
Well, he's going to die too.
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Jesus is a permanent priest.
The author to the Hebrews issaying because he's alive
forever, he's always intercedingfor us.
More on that in the final point.
Here's one more illustration inthis point, just to sort of
bring this home what this lookslike.
I know that you've all had thisexperience so recently.
This happens in any customerservice experience, but this
happened to be with a healthinsurance company which shall
remain nameless, even though oh,I wanna say it so bad.
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But basically, any customerservice reality.
You call in because you havesomething that you need to
report and you call in.
A lot of people aren't helpful,not because they're not helpful
, they just don't know how tohelp you.
And then, all of a sudden, youget someone who goes the extra
mile, as we know, and they're sohelpful.
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And you're on the phone for along time and you finally feel
like you're getting traction andthen all of a sudden you get to
that dreadful time, which isokay, I've done everything I can
do for you.
Now you have to.
And you're just like no, don'tsay it.
Just you finish this and theygive you the assignment.
And then you know you got tohang up the phone now and this
is why you're worried, becauseyou don't know who you'll get
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next time when you call back.
So then I've, I've, I've beenthrough this.
I'm sure you do the same thing.
So then I say is everything wetalked about in my file
connected to this claim number?
Yes, sir, yes, sir, mr Sheeter,although that's not what they
say.
But yes, sir, mr Sheeter, it is, it's in, it is in.
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Sorry, sorry to you guys overthere, it is in your file, it's
there.
And I say, with very littleconfidence thank you.
And guess what?
What I do doesn't work.
I had their email address.
No email back.
I had their personal extension.
Yeah, that doesn't exist.
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So then I finally get a hold ofthe next person and then I say
to them well, can't you see itin my file and they say, yes,
but because I wasn't the one whosaid that, I can't do anything
about it.
It's like, yeah, that makesperfect sense to me.
Okay, what, why?
Why do I belabor this?
Well, we know that feeling right, but with Jesus, we don't even
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we don't need to start over.
We have a permanent advocatewho always pleads our case
before the Father.
We don't have to worry.
Well, is that going to beforgotten?
What about that?
Is that in my file?
No, jesus is our permanentadvocate who always pleads our
case before the Father.
We can trust him for security.
What are we trusting in A bankaccount, an email address, a
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phone number, a relationship, ajob?
Jesus gives us a security thatcan survive death.
But security alone also isn'tenough.
We have a status.
That's not enough.
We have a status and security.
That's not enough.
It's possible to be safe butstill be unloved, unseen,
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unknown.
We wonder, does anyone trulyknow me?
Does anyone love me completely,even in my worst moments?
You see no.
Priests, the priest of old.
The problem wasn't just thatthey kept dying, it was that
they couldn't offer that kind ofintimacy.
But Jesus does.
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He's not only a permanentpriest, he's a personal one.
He saves us not just to theminimum but to the uttermost,
and that's our final point todaya priest who gives us a better
significance.
Why?
Because he saves us to theuttermost.
Look with me in verse 25.
Consequently, I love that word.
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I love when people say it inactual conversation.
I know some people that way.
They'll say and they'll sayconsequently, I'm like yes,
that's awesome.
Consequently, he is able tosave to the uttermost.
I got a little footnote here inmy ESV.
I'm gonna go down to the bottom.
Uttermost, that is completelyor at all times, those who draw
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near to God through him, sincehe always lives to make
intercession for them.
Now, many of us aren't reallyafraid of losing status because
you feel really good in yourstatus.
You're not afraid of losingsecurity because you feel really
secure.
But what you are afraid of isbeing forgotten.
You're afraid of not beingknown.
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Who knows me?
Will I be forgotten?
You see, the priest of oldlived and died and were
forgotten.
But Jesus, on the other hand,he lives forever and he saves to
the utter most.
Jesus never forgets you.
He intercedes for youpersonally before the Father.
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And this is where we're goingto slow down for the last few
minutes we have together.
What does it mean?
What does verse 25 mean?
That he's able to save to theuttermost, since he always lives
to make intercession for them.
Listen to the uttermost meanscompletely, comprehensively,
exhaustively.
Jesus doesn't save halfway.
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He doesn't lose interesthalfway, like me and you.
He doesn't grow cold like meand you.
He doesn't forget you halfway.
Think about you.
Know, jesus, some of us arelike this.
It was his joy and his love foryou that took him to the cross
and he completed it.
But it's not like he's lostthat zeal now in the ascension,
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at the right hand of the father,that somehow he's cooled on you
.
He doesn't think of you withthe same love and intimacy.
Jesus doesn't merely help you,he saves you.
He's a very particular kind ofsavior.
So what does it look like rightnow?
Well, to answer that phrase,like Ben last week mentioned
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Dane Ortlund's book, there's achapter in Dane Ortlund's book,
gentle and Lowly, where heexpounds upon this verse,
following John Bunyan, who wrotea whole book on this verse, and
so some of these things I'mabout to say are me synthesizing
what Dane said.
Okay, he always lives to makeintercession for them.
Listen, this is not Jesustrying to change the father's
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mind.
As Ortland says, intercessionapplies what the atonement
accomplished.
In other words, jesus isn'twringing his hands hoping the
father will listen.
No, he's the beloved son.
The father loves to listen tothe son.
I think sometimes when we thinkof intercession Jesus is praying
for you it feels reallyabstract.
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But this is personal.
Jesus is interceding for youright now.
Dane Ortlund has this verysimple question, this little
illustration.
In that chapter he says imagineif you and I, right now, were in
a room and in the next room wecould hear Jesus praying to the
father for us.
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What if you heard Jesus prayingto the father for you, because
he is?
What if you heard what he wassaying?
Listen, this happened to me onetime.
I was in a room and someone Icared about deeply was in
another room and they didn'tknow that I was in that room and
they were praying for me and Iheard them praying for me and it
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was so powerful.
What if we could hear Jesuspraying for you because he is
praying for you?
Wouldn't that fear begin tomelt, whatever it is?
Wouldn't that burden that feelsunbearable begin to be lighter?
Jesus is pleading on your behalf, and here's the thing he
doesn't stop why?
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Because you and I continue tofail and he continues to
intercede.
Jesus doesn't stop.
You're never forgotten.
Your name is never dropped.
You don't get transferred toanother representative.
You have a permanent priest, apersonal advocate, a perfect
savior.
This is the argument of Hebrews,chapter seven, and it's not
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just that, your sins that drawhim in to you, it's also your
shame, it's your darkest partsthat Jesus is praying to.
He's speaking to To theuttermost means God's redeeming
touch reaches down into thedarkest crevices of our souls,
dane Ortlund says those placeswhere we are most ashamed, most
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defeated, and he loves us there.
If that's true and it is itmeans that your life matters,
you have significance.
Your life, your cause, yourstatus, your security.
Your name is on the lips ofJesus right now as he's praying
for you.
You remembered in the placethat matters most, in the throne
(30:21):
room of heaven.
And so here's the question Doyou believe that Jesus' love for
you extends into that one partof you that still feels too dark
, too messy, too intractable?
Dane Orland says it this way Hisheart is most strongly drawn to
those crevices, end quote.
(30:41):
Listen, he knows you to theuttermost, he says you to the
uttermost.
So what would that look likethis week?
Not just to say yeah, I believethat, like I believe that it's
true.
Maybe for you, what would it belike to believe it for yourself
?
Maybe believing it this weeklooks like going to someone in
your circle or community andsaying something out loud that
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you need to to confess, and allI mean by that is just tell the
truth.
Hey, I feel really locked up infear because, hey, I've been
hiding this, because, hey, Ineed encouragement and prayer
here.
Because what does that looklike for you?
Maybe it's as simple as sittingstill with this truth this
afternoon that Jesus is notdisappointed with you.
(31:26):
He is advocating for you and sooften your mind and heart
thinks he's disappointed.
He's waiting for you to comeback and actually what he's
doing is he's busy advocatingfor you, praying for you,
interceding for you right now.
And so Hebrews 7 forces us toask what are we trusting in for
status, security andsignificance?
(31:48):
If we're putting our hope inanything shakable, it will
ultimately fail us.
But Jesus is not shakable, heis indestructible verse 16.
Permanent verse 24.
A guarantee verse 22.
Forever verse 17,.
Eternal verse 25, and perfectverse 11, verse 19, verse 28.
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You need a status.
You need a status, you needsecurity, you need significance.
You are made for these things,but you need a status, security
and significance that canoutlast death, and there's only
one person who's outlasted death, who can give that to you, and
(32:32):
it's Jesus Christ, the King ofrighteousness, the King of peace
and the great high priest whichwe'll get into in the further
weeks and so Jesus alone canoffer you these things.
This is good news.
You can rest in that.
(32:54):
Let's pray, father, we aregrateful and we also know that,
as true as these things are,they don't always feel true, and
(33:14):
so, right now, we choose torejoice that, while we
experience ourselves and arefickle, you are not Lord Jesus.
You are permanent forever.
You always live to intercedefor us.
You saved us to the uttermost,and so, in just a moment, as we
go into this short time ofreflection, I ask that you would
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, holy Spirit, quickly bringthings to mind to both confess
and to rejoice in.
And it's in Jesus' name we prayamen.
The Lord's called us here andhe's formed us here by word and
sacrament, and now he sends uswith his spirit and also with
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our names forever on his lips ashe intercedes for us.
Go now receive the blessingfrom our Lord.
May the Lord bless you and keepyou.
May the Lord make his faceshine upon you and be gracious
to you.
May the Lord lift up hiscountenance upon you and give
you his peace.
Go now in that peace.
With that peace, in the name ofthe Father and the Son and the
(34:26):
Holy Spirit, you are sent.
Thank you, hold on a second.
(35:25):
Hold on a second.
For the first time in my life, Ifeel like a baseball player
wondering.
I was gonna say it.
I was gonna say it.
For the first time in my life.
I feel like a baseball playerwondering do I step out of the
dugout now or do I not step outof the dugout?
But thank you, thank you all, Ilove you and I you know
(35:47):
thinking about this.
This role is not the role that'smade me feel like I had status,
thinking about this sermon orsecurity or significance, but it
was significant because it wasa serious role that I always
loved and was so grateful for toserve you all in this capacity,
and I'm so grateful.
Leah and I will continue to bea part of this church as members
(36:13):
and I'll be a part of thefuture, and I'm so grateful,
which is why my language isalways.
It's my last sermon in thisrole and so, lord willing,
sometime in the distant future Iwill be up here again and
preach, but I don't know whatelse to say except thank you,
(36:33):
thank you, and you really aresent this time.
Hello everyone, this is Pastor Damien.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Good morning.
(00:33):
Well, my name is Damian andwhile this morning won't be my
last words that I share assenior pastor, this will be my
last sermon as senior pastor ofNew City and I want to say how
grateful I am to have servedhere as a pastor for over 11
years and as the senior pastorfor eight of those 11 years, and
so, as I said, there will betime for me to share more words,
(00:54):
but this will be my last sermon.
I know those of you who havebeen around, if you remember,
toward the beginning, as we weremoving through this transition,
we had said that I would be inthis role, serving in some
capacity through March.
I'm actually going to becontinuing on until the end of
April just to keep helping us inthis transition, but then I
(01:14):
promise I'm out.
So that's just a little headsup of where we are, and this
morning I chose my favoritepassage to preach as my last
sermon.
And this morning I chose myfavorite passage to preach as my
last sermon Hebrews chapterseven.
I'll let you decide if that's ajoke or not, but one of the
things that's interesting aboutHebrews chapter seven is that we
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wouldn't know about thisconnection with Melchizedek if
it wouldn't be for this chapter.
In fact, we'll speak.
There's only two times he showsup in the Bible before Hebrews.
Once is Genesis 14, which iswhat chapter seven is talking
about, and then also in Psalm110, which is also quoted in our
passage.
But as we reflect on it, wemight miss something very
(01:58):
relevant to us.
You see, all of us need status,we need security, we need
significance.
We've been made to experiencethese things and because we need
these things, we actually all,whether we know it or not, build
our lives around these desires.
(02:19):
We don't just want a meaningfullife, we want a meaningful life
.
We want a meaningful life thatlasts.
This is where we get the ideaof legacy and how we might be
remembered.
These things are hardwired intous and in the ancient world,
people had high priests in orderto help them with these
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dynamics.
They had religious mediatorswho represented them before God
to give them, among other things, status before God, security
before God and significancebefore God and if you were with
us last fall, is this?
What is this?
This spring?
Yeah, last fall, the Jewishpeople had the Levitical
(02:59):
priesthood, which we talkedabout preaching through
Leviticus, and, if you remember,that's a system designed to
make it possible for God todwell with his people, and a
high priest was the one who madeatonement, who offered
sacrifices, who stood betweenGod and the people.
And while that seems like abygone era, we have our versions
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today.
Now, we may not bringsacrifices to temple, but we
still look for someone, we stilllook for something to mediate
our status, to mediate oursecurity, to mediate our
significance.
We still have high priests, wejust don't call them that.
Instead of offering animalsacrifices, this is what we do
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we offer our time, our energyand our devotion to these modern
high priests, things that webelieve will give us status,
security and significance.
Maybe for you, like many of us,it's your career or your job.
More specifically, how do youknow?
Well, do you feel worthy onlywhen you succeed?
Or, to say it another way, doyou feel less worthy when you
(04:03):
know?
Well, do you feel worthy onlywhen you succeed?
Or, to say it another way, doyou feel less worthy when you
fail.
What about?
For some of you, it's romanticlove.
Maybe you believe that if youjust found the right person, or
if your spouse would finallychange like you want them to,
then all of a sudden you'd besecure, then everything would be
(04:24):
okay.
For some of us, it's religion,or our moral performance.
If this is true, it could feellike this we believe that we're
acceptable to God and others aslong as we're doing everything
right, and when we do somethingwrong, guilt crushes us.
Maybe for you, it'sself-improvement.
(04:45):
Maybe you believe that if youjust fix yourself, whether it be
through therapy or health ordiscipline, then you'd finally
have peace.
Well, maybe, finally, anothergreat high priest that we seek
in our culture that gives usstatus and security and
significance would be technologyand progress.
(05:06):
Maybe you look to science,medicine or wealth to solve the
deepest problems of your life.
Well, now, none of these thingsare bad.
So what is the problem?
Well, the problem is thateverything we typically build on
is fragile.
It can be lost, and if it'sfragile, you are fragile.
If you build your status andyour security and your
(05:30):
significance on anything thatcan be or will ultimately, at
death, be taken away, you arevery fragile.
This morning.
You see, the audience inHebrews was tempted to go back
to a system that had beenreplaced.
It wasn't that they wanted badthings, but they wanted security
in something too weak to holdthem.
(05:51):
And that's what we have incommon with them this morning is
that we try to find our status,security and significance in
things that are too weak to holdus.
What we need is a status, asecurity and a significance that
can survive death.
And so Hebrews chapter 7 tellsus where we find this.
(06:14):
So this morning I have threepoints.
The first one is a priest whogives us a better status.
The second is a priest thatgives us a better security and
finally, a priest that gives usa better significance.
So, first, a priest who givesus a better status.
If you listen to the scripturereading, you know that this is
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the part in the letter where we,as modern readers, start to
find it a little difficult.
This is an obscure characterwith an obscure type of argument
.
It's almost like you need acheat code to understand what in
the world he's talking about inthe sermon.
While that's true, we're notgoing to dig into it deeply.
I'm going to synthesize what Ithink the argument is, but it is
(06:58):
important to know that theoriginal audience this wouldn't
have been as lost on them, right?
This is a sermon and thepreacher is preaching to a
people, and this would havelanded in a way that spoke to
their fears that they wereexperiencing.
And so for us where we need tostart to synthesize, it is just
a reminder that the entire pointof the Old Testament priesthood
(07:20):
was to provide a way for God todwell with his people.
This is what God was after.
If you remember our explorationof Leviticus, god wanted to
dwell with his people, he wantedto be in relationship with them
.
And so, as we think about that,what's interesting in our text
today is that Melchizedek iscalled a priest of the most high
(07:42):
God before the priesthood isinitiated, but not only that
he's a priest and a king, whichis a no-no.
You do not do that.
There's a separation of powersin Israel.
You do not have a priest king.
But all of a sudden, this crazyguy shows up in Genesis 14, as
we just read.
So let's look at it chapterseven, rather verse one, for
(08:05):
this guy, this king of Salem,priest of the most high God.
There it is met Abrahamreturning from the slaughter of
the kings and blessed him.
So here's the basic argument.
At first is that we all know hesays that those who are
superior bless those who areinferior.
And so here you have Abraham,who, by the way, is the goat.
(08:26):
Until Jesus, moses has nothingon Abraham.
Moses is only who Moses isbecause he's a child of Abraham.
Even you and I, if you're inChrist, you are still not
children of Moses.
You're children of Abraham,though this is what Paul says in
Galatians, chapter three.
And so Abraham's a big deal.
And yet here you have Abraham asinferior, giving a tithe to
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Melchizedek.
And then not only that, notonly does he receive it, which
is scandalous, but then he hasthe audacity to bless the nation
, blesser himself.
That he the one who theblessing was supposed to come
through to all the nations, thatthis man blesses Abraham.
And so this is the basicargument that the author to the
(09:09):
Hebrews is trying to make, andthe reason this is important is
because he wants to show thatthere is a better priesthood,
one that doesn't come by descent, in other words, you're not
born into it, but rather comesby divine appointment.
That's the argument that he'smaking, and the author then
(09:30):
points out that this idea thatthe Aaronic priesthood, this
Levitical priesthood, was goingto go away, was always a part of
the plan.
And then he makes thisconvoluted to us.
Argument by showing how thishappened in Genesis 14,.
Argument by showing how thishappened in Genesis 14, how
David brings it up again inPsalm 110, and then how it is a
(09:56):
type of Jesus.
And so what is interesting,then, about chapter seven is
that we wouldn't know any ofthis without this chapter, and
so it is a big deal, but we'regoing to move on.
So what he does show is thatMelchizedek is a type of Christ.
Now, do you know what I meanwhen I say he's a type of Christ
?
There's this thing, there'sthis way of understanding a text
in the Bible, in this case inbiblical theology, called
(10:19):
typology, and so in this case heis.
Melchizedek is a type of Christin that he's a real guy, this
is a real event in history, andthat, in God's sovereignty, he's
orchestrating this figure toforeshadow Jesus.
And anytime this happens whichit happens a lot from the Old
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Testament into the New Testamentis that that type resembles
Jesus in specific ways, but it'salways incomplete.
Ultimately, they always end upbeing flawed, it always falls
short, but the New Testamentauthors bring it to the surface
to show the final thing, whichis that Jesus is the true and
better fulfillment of this typeand that this type is pointing
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forward to them.
What this is, is this atheologically intentional way to
show the storyline of scriptureand to show that Jesus is the
center of the Bible.
Now, for our purposes today, Iwant to point out two things
that bring together Melchizedekas a type and Jesus as the
fulfillment.
The first one is this Hisstatus as a priest was not by
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descent or ascent, but by divinedeclaration.
Look with me.
In verse three he is withoutfather or mother or genealogy,
having neither beginnings ofdays nor end of life, but
resembling the son of God.
He continues a priest foreverIn Genesis 14,.
It doesn't say what verse threedoes, it just doesn't mention it
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.
It doesn't say he didn't havefather or mother, it just
doesn't mention that.
Well, why would this beimportant?
And it's because in the OldTestament, priesthood, your
status came by descent.
And in this case we don't knowhis descent.
And that's the whole point he'ssaying his status didn't come
by descent, it came by divinedeclaration.
Okay, well, when you thinkabout this, think about our life
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right.
What we're talking about here iswhat are his credentials?
What are his credentials?
What are Jesus's credentials?
What are Melchizedek'scredentials?
Well, in more traditionalcultures, your credentials came
from descent.
That is, who's your daddy,who's your mommy, where did you
come from, what's your last name, those types of things.
In more modern culture, wehaven't entirely lost that.
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Of course, it's not nothing,but the narrative has shifted
really to you making your owncredentials right From wherever
you started.
Have you ascended to a higherstatus?
So in a more traditionalculture, it's your status comes
by descent.
In our more modern culture,it's more ascent, but in this
case it's neither.
It's actually divinedeclaration.
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So for Melchizedek andultimately Jesus, god is doing
something different.
That's the first thing he wantsto show.
The second thing is that he isa king of righteousness and
peace.
You see, even the other priestsin the Levitical priesthood
needed to make sacrifice fortheir own sin before they could
sacrifice for the people.
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But here we see that in Jesus,ultimately, a king of
righteousness and peace does nothave the same need, and the
order always matters.
Things have to be made rightbefore there can be true peace.
We know this in our own life.
In fact, I was talking this week.
I reached out to some friendsand said hey, how does this show
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up in your life, this principlethat in order to have true
peace, you first need things tobe made right, you first need
righteousness?
And one of them sent back amessage to me and he was
describing how, in his workplacesometime in the recent past, he
saw this dynamic working and hetold the story about how there
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was this one team that wasunderperforming.
And when you investigated, thereality was is this team did not
trust their leader.
They didn't like their leader.
They didn't feel he was a goodleader and because of who he was
, he wasn't going anywhere.
There's no way that they weregonna find another leader.
And so what they did is theyjust made false peace.
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They just stopped engaging,they disengaged right, they were
evasive, they just ignored itas though it didn't happen.
So what suffered?
Well, among other things, theirproductivity suffered.
They begin to be a veryunderperforming team in the
organization and then, throughsome events, they actually that
leader moves on.
They bring in a new leader, aleader who was a good leader, a
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leader who built trust with theteam, who made things right
relationally again between them.
And then, guess what happened?
They started to flourish.
There was this idea of peace inthe team and then, from peace,
there was flourishing, and fromthis flourishing there was
teamwork, and this team now isone of the highest performing
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teams.
It's performing way higher thanit ever had before.
Right, you see, there wasnothing that that team could
have done to flourish more untilrelationships were made right.
This is how the principle alwaysgoes and, of course, biblically
speaking, you and I cannot havepeace with God until we are
made right.
This is how the principlealways goes and, of course,
biblically speaking, you and Icannot have peace with God until
we are made right with God.
That's the idea.
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He is king of righteousnessfirst and peace.
You see, we have a leader inJesus who is also our priest.
He is a king priest.
He secures our status ofrighteousness by giving his own
life on our behalf.
And so, before we move on, thequestion is where are you
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getting your status?
Is it by descent, is it byascent?
Is it by your achievements, oris it by God's divine
declaration, through faith inJesus?
Remember where we started.
If your status comes fromsomething that can be taken away
from you.
You are fragile, you willalways live in fear, you will
(16:11):
never be able to rest.
But it's Jesus who gives us abetter status.
But status alone isn't enough.
It's not enough in the argument, it's not enough in your life.
Even if we know where we stand,we'll still wrestle with a
deeper question Is it secure?
Can I trust it?
Will it last?
You see, if the priests of theold were temporary, then our
(16:35):
security in them was temporary.
But Jesus is not only a priestwho gives us a better status,
he's a priest who gives us alasting security.
Let's look in verse 20.
And it was not without an oath,for those who formerly became
priests were made such withoutan oath.
But this one was made a priestwith an oath by the one who said
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to him the Lord has sworn andwill not change his mind.
You are a priest forever.
This makes Jesus the guarantorof a better covenant.
The former priests were many innumber because they were
prevented by death fromcontinuing in office, but he
holds his priesthood permanentlybecause he continues forever.
(17:21):
You know, security in a worldwhere everything changes is by
nature fragile.
And this verse I keptreflecting on.
I'll say it my own way verse723.
My translation is and thepriest kept dying, they just
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kept dying.
Then a new one came in and theydied.
And then another one, and theydied.
They kept dying.
So we have to slow down for asecond.
Well, you see, what we need iswe need not only a status, but
we need a security that outlastsdeath, or it's not secure,
right?
No matter how well we executeour roles in life, no matter how
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well those priests, thatLevitical priesthood, executed
their role, they just kept dying, and so will you, and so will I
.
You ever thought about that?
If you put your status and yoursignificance any way in your
performance, even your legacy,it doesn't matter ultimately,
because you die and, as the oldBaptist preacher said, after
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they bury you, they're all gonnago back and have a potluck.
This is the way it happens,this is reality, and on this
point, I just kept thinking thisweekend about someone in all of
our lifetime most of ourlifetime, I guess, if you're
alive, the last three years,this would count for you that
seemed like they lasted foreverand it seemed like they executed
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their role so well, and it wasQueen Elizabeth II.
She served through 15 primeministers, 14 US presidents and
seven popes.
Think about that.
(19:12):
She visited more than 126nations.
And get this, as one authorsaid, in 1953, on a single royal
tour, she traveled 40,000 miles, many of which were by boat.
40,000 miles, many of whichwere by boat.
She shook 13,000 hands andreceived tens of thousands of
bows and curtsies.
She gave and listened to over400 speeches, and this was just
one of more than a hundred ofthese royal tours during her
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reign.
In all, she traveled more than1 million nautical miles by sea
and many more by air.
She met more than 4 millionpeople personally and had more
than 2 million over for tea.
She gave more than 100,000awards and, perhaps most
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impressive out of hundreds ofthousands of engagements, events
, appearances and meals, whichwere often preceded by long
distance travel and time zonechanges, she fell asleep in
public only a single time, andit was at a lecture about the
use of magnets in biology andmedicine.
And, by the way, by the way,she was 78 years old.
(20:24):
So which one of you is going tohave that type of status?
Which one of you is going tohave that type of security?
Which one of you is going tohave that type of significance?
I'll wait.
Answer no one, none of you, notme.
And yet she died.
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They didn't sing or say foreverlive the queen.
They said long live the queen.
And guess what they say now?
Long live the king.
You will die.
And they died.
They kept dying.
They kept dying.
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We need a security thatoutlasts death.
How can a priest remember tointercede for us when he's dead?
What about the next one?
Well, he's gonna.
What about the next one?
Well, he's going to die too.
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Jesus is a permanent priest.
The author to the Hebrews issaying because he's alive
forever, he's always intercedingfor us.
More on that in the final point.
Here's one more illustration inthis point, just to sort of
bring this home what this lookslike.
I know that you've all had thisexperience so recently.
This happens in any customerservice experience, but this
happened to be with a healthinsurance company which shall
remain nameless, even though oh,I wanna say it so bad.
(21:51):
But basically, any customerservice reality.
You call in because you havesomething that you need to
report and you call in.
A lot of people aren't helpful,not because they're not helpful
, they just don't know how tohelp you.
And then, all of a sudden, youget someone who goes the extra
mile, as we know, and they're sohelpful.
(22:13):
And you're on the phone for along time and you finally feel
like you're getting traction andthen all of a sudden you get to
that dreadful time, which isokay, I've done everything I can
do for you.
Now you have to.
And you're just like no, don'tsay it.
Just you finish this and theygive you the assignment.
And then you know you got tohang up the phone now and this
is why you're worried, becauseyou don't know who you'll get
(22:35):
next time when you call back.
So then I've, I've, I've beenthrough this.
I'm sure you do the same thing.
So then I say is everything wetalked about in my file
connected to this claim number?
Yes, sir, yes, sir, mr Sheeter,although that's not what they
say.
But yes, sir, mr Sheeter, it is, it's in, it is in.
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Sorry, sorry to you guys overthere, it is in your file, it's
there.
And I say, with very littleconfidence thank you.
And guess what?
What I do doesn't work.
I had their email address.
No email back.
I had their personal extension.
Yeah, that doesn't exist.
(23:20):
So then I finally get a hold ofthe next person and then I say
to them well, can't you see itin my file and they say, yes,
but because I wasn't the one whosaid that, I can't do anything
about it.
It's like, yeah, that makesperfect sense to me.
Okay, what, why?
Why do I belabor this?
Well, we know that feeling right, but with Jesus, we don't even
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we don't need to start over.
We have a permanent advocatewho always pleads our case
before the Father.
We don't have to worry.
Well, is that going to beforgotten?
What about that?
Is that in my file?
No, jesus is our permanentadvocate who always pleads our
case before the Father.
We can trust him for security.
What are we trusting in A bankaccount, an email address, a
(24:05):
phone number, a relationship, ajob?
Jesus gives us a security thatcan survive death.
But security alone also isn'tenough.
We have a status.
That's not enough.
We have a status and security.
That's not enough.
It's possible to be safe butstill be unloved, unseen,
(24:28):
unknown.
We wonder, does anyone trulyknow me?
Does anyone love me completely,even in my worst moments?
You see no.
Priests, the priest of old.
The problem wasn't just thatthey kept dying, it was that
they couldn't offer that kind ofintimacy.
But Jesus does.
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He's not only a permanentpriest, he's a personal one.
He saves us not just to theminimum but to the uttermost,
and that's our final point todaya priest who gives us a better
significance.
Why?
Because he saves us to theuttermost.
Look with me in verse 25.
Consequently, I love that word.
(25:12):
I love when people say it inactual conversation.
I know some people that way.
They'll say and they'll sayconsequently, I'm like yes,
that's awesome.
Consequently, he is able tosave to the uttermost.
I got a little footnote here inmy ESV.
I'm gonna go down to the bottom.
Uttermost, that is completelyor at all times, those who draw
(25:34):
near to God through him, sincehe always lives to make
intercession for them.
Now, many of us aren't reallyafraid of losing status because
you feel really good in yourstatus.
You're not afraid of losingsecurity because you feel really
secure.
But what you are afraid of isbeing forgotten.
You're afraid of not beingknown.
(25:55):
Who knows me?
Will I be forgotten?
You see, the priest of oldlived and died and were
forgotten.
But Jesus, on the other hand,he lives forever and he saves to
the utter most.
Jesus never forgets you.
He intercedes for youpersonally before the Father.
(26:19):
And this is where we're goingto slow down for the last few
minutes we have together.
What does it mean?
What does verse 25 mean?
That he's able to save to theuttermost, since he always lives
to make intercession for them.
Listen to the uttermost meanscompletely, comprehensively,
exhaustively.
Jesus doesn't save halfway.
(26:40):
He doesn't lose interesthalfway, like me and you.
He doesn't grow cold like meand you.
He doesn't forget you halfway.
Think about you.
Know, jesus, some of us arelike this.
It was his joy and his love foryou that took him to the cross
and he completed it.
But it's not like he's lostthat zeal now in the ascension,
(27:02):
at the right hand of the father,that somehow he's cooled on you
.
He doesn't think of you withthe same love and intimacy.
Jesus doesn't merely help you,he saves you.
He's a very particular kind ofsavior.
So what does it look like rightnow?
Well, to answer that phrase,like Ben last week mentioned
(27:27):
Dane Ortlund's book, there's achapter in Dane Ortlund's book,
gentle and Lowly, where heexpounds upon this verse,
following John Bunyan, who wrotea whole book on this verse, and
so some of these things I'mabout to say are me synthesizing
what Dane said.
Okay, he always lives to makeintercession for them.
Listen, this is not Jesustrying to change the father's
(27:50):
mind.
As Ortland says, intercessionapplies what the atonement
accomplished.
In other words, jesus isn'twringing his hands hoping the
father will listen.
No, he's the beloved son.
The father loves to listen tothe son.
I think sometimes when we thinkof intercession Jesus is praying
for you it feels reallyabstract.
(28:11):
But this is personal.
Jesus is interceding for youright now.
Dane Ortlund has this verysimple question, this little
illustration.
In that chapter he says imagineif you and I, right now, were in
a room and in the next room wecould hear Jesus praying to the
father for us.
(28:32):
What if you heard Jesus prayingto the father for you, because
he is?
What if you heard what he wassaying?
Listen, this happened to me onetime.
I was in a room and someone Icared about deeply was in
another room and they didn'tknow that I was in that room and
they were praying for me and Iheard them praying for me and it
(28:54):
was so powerful.
What if we could hear Jesuspraying for you because he is
praying for you?
Wouldn't that fear begin tomelt, whatever it is?
Wouldn't that burden that feelsunbearable begin to be lighter?
Jesus is pleading on your behalf, and here's the thing he
doesn't stop why?
(29:15):
Because you and I continue tofail and he continues to
intercede.
Jesus doesn't stop.
You're never forgotten.
Your name is never dropped.
You don't get transferred toanother representative.
You have a permanent priest, apersonal advocate, a perfect
savior.
This is the argument of Hebrews,chapter seven, and it's not
(29:36):
just that, your sins that drawhim in to you, it's also your
shame, it's your darkest partsthat Jesus is praying to.
He's speaking to To theuttermost means God's redeeming
touch reaches down into thedarkest crevices of our souls,
dane Ortlund says those placeswhere we are most ashamed, most
(29:56):
defeated, and he loves us there.
If that's true and it is itmeans that your life matters,
you have significance.
Your life, your cause, yourstatus, your security.
Your name is on the lips ofJesus right now as he's praying
for you.
You remembered in the placethat matters most, in the throne
(30:21):
room of heaven.
And so here's the question Doyou believe that Jesus' love for
you extends into that one partof you that still feels too dark
, too messy, too intractable?
Dane Orland says it this way Hisheart is most strongly drawn to
those crevices, end quote.
(30:41):
Listen, he knows you to theuttermost, he says you to the
uttermost.
So what would that look likethis week?
Not just to say yeah, I believethat, like I believe that it's
true.
Maybe for you, what would it belike to believe it for yourself
?
Maybe believing it this weeklooks like going to someone in
your circle or community andsaying something out loud that
(31:04):
you need to to confess, and allI mean by that is just tell the
truth.
Hey, I feel really locked up infear because, hey, I've been
hiding this, because, hey, Ineed encouragement and prayer
here.
Because what does that looklike for you?
Maybe it's as simple as sittingstill with this truth this
afternoon that Jesus is notdisappointed with you.
(31:26):
He is advocating for you and sooften your mind and heart
thinks he's disappointed.
He's waiting for you to comeback and actually what he's
doing is he's busy advocatingfor you, praying for you,
interceding for you right now.
And so Hebrews 7 forces us toask what are we trusting in for
status, security andsignificance?
(31:48):
If we're putting our hope inanything shakable, it will
ultimately fail us.
But Jesus is not shakable, heis indestructible verse 16.
Permanent verse 24.
A guarantee verse 22.
Forever verse 17,.
Eternal verse 25, and perfectverse 11, verse 19, verse 28.
(32:11):
You need a status.
You need a status, you needsecurity, you need significance.
You are made for these things,but you need a status, security
and significance that canoutlast death, and there's only
one person who's outlasted death, who can give that to you, and
(32:32):
it's Jesus Christ, the King ofrighteousness, the King of peace
and the great high priest whichwe'll get into in the further
weeks and so Jesus alone canoffer you these things.
This is good news.
You can rest in that.
(32:54):
Let's pray, father, we aregrateful and we also know that,
as true as these things are,they don't always feel true, and
(33:14):
so, right now, we choose torejoice that, while we
experience ourselves and arefickle, you are not Lord Jesus.
You are permanent forever.
You always live to intercedefor us.
You saved us to the uttermost,and so, in just a moment, as we
go into this short time ofreflection, I ask that you would
(33:38):
, holy Spirit, quickly bringthings to mind to both confess
and to rejoice in.
And it's in Jesus' name we prayamen.
The Lord's called us here andhe's formed us here by word and
sacrament, and now he sends uswith his spirit and also with
(34:02):
our names forever on his lips ashe intercedes for us.
Go now receive the blessingfrom our Lord.
May the Lord bless you and keepyou.
May the Lord make his faceshine upon you and be gracious
to you.
May the Lord lift up hiscountenance upon you and give
you his peace.
Go now in that peace.
With that peace, in the name ofthe Father and the Son and the
(34:26):
Holy Spirit, you are sent.
Thank you, hold on a second.
(35:25):
Hold on a second.
For the first time in my life, Ifeel like a baseball player
wondering.
I was gonna say it.
I was gonna say it.
For the first time in my life.
I feel like a baseball playerwondering do I step out of the
dugout now or do I not step outof the dugout?
But thank you, thank you all, Ilove you and I you know
(35:47):
thinking about this.
This role is not the role that'smade me feel like I had status,
thinking about this sermon orsecurity or significance, but it
was significant because it wasa serious role that I always
loved and was so grateful for toserve you all in this capacity,
and I'm so grateful.
Leah and I will continue to bea part of this church as members
(36:13):
and I'll be a part of thefuture, and I'm so grateful,
which is why my language isalways.
It's my last sermon in thisrole and so, lord willing,
sometime in the distant future Iwill be up here again and
preach, but I don't know whatelse to say except thank you,
(36:33):
thank you, and you really aresent this time.
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