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Series A – Fifth Wednesday in Lent – Wednesday, March 22, 2023 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:22	A reading from
0:30	Second Chronicles chapter 26. and all the people of Judah took Uzziah
0:36	who was 16 years old and made him King instead of his father amaziah he built
0:41	aloth and restored it to Judah after the King slept with his fathers Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to Reign and
0:48	he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem his mother’s name was jackaliah of Jerusalem
0:53	and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father amaziah had done he set himself
0:59	to seek God in the days of Zechariah who instructed him in the fear of God and as
1:04	long as he sought Yahweh God made him prosper and his Fame spread far for he was
1:12	marvelously helped till he was strong but when he was strong he grew proud to
1:19	his own Destruction for he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the Temple of Yahweh to burn
1:25	incense on the altar of incense but Azariah the priest went in after him with 80 Priests of the Lord who were Men
1:33	of Valor and they withstood King Uzziah and they said to him it is not for you
1:38	Uzziah to burn incense to Yahweh but for the priests the sons of Aaron who are
1:44	consecrated to burn incense go out of the sanctuary for you have done wrong and it will bring you no honor from from
1:51	the Lord God then Uzziah was angry now he had a sensor in his hand to burn
1:57	incense and when he became angry with the priest leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests
2:03	in the house of Yahweh by the altar of incense and Azariah the chief priest and all the
2:09	priests looked at him and behold he was leprous his forehead on his forehead and they rushed him out quickly and he
2:16	himself hurried to go out because the Lord had struck him and King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death and
2:23	being a leper lived in a separate house for he was excluded from the house of Yahweh and jotham his son was over the
2:30	king’s household governing the people of the land now the rest of the acts of Uzziah from the first to the last Isaiah
2:37	the prophet the son of Amos wrote and uziah slept with his fathers and they buried him with his fathers in the
2:43	burial field that belonged to the Kings for they said he is a leper and jotham
2:48	his son reigned in his place O Lord have mercy on us in the name of
2:53	Jesus all right so when we read the Epistle of Jude Jesus is half brother yes Jesus had
3:01	half Brothers at whole semper Virgo thing as a sham but all that being said
3:06	uh Jude writes that there are kind of three major archetypes of Heretics all
3:12	right and let me explain what they are so you first have Cain Cain is your first archetype he’s the guy with
3:19	religious activity right but zero faith and then without faith it’s impossible
3:25	to please God and so people like to have this kind of religion at least some
3:30	people do the second is Balaam the prophet for prophet and you’ll note that
3:36	he was more of a soothsayer than anything he wasn’t really even really a prophet except that God did give him a
3:43	prophecy but prior to that he was very sketchy in his uh practices and after God had him prophesy to the people uh
3:50	you know to uh to the kings that wanted Kings of Moab who wanted the children of Israel cursed uh he went back to his old
3:57	ways and then the third is Cora a lot of people don’t pay attention to Cora but
4:03	you gotta pay attention to court now here’s why this is important because it says in scripture in second Timothy
4:10	chapter four that in the last days people will not endure sound Doctrine but they will gather to themselves
4:15	teachers who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear and so it’s important for us to understand that
4:21	these three archetypes of Heretics the reason why these Heretics are able to get an audience and to succeed and to
4:29	thrive is because we Sinners just love them that’s the problem and Cora’s
4:35	Rebellion here is is in play think of it this way King Uzziah he’s got a pretty
4:42	bad case of Korra going on right now at least this is how I diagnose him and if
4:47	you’re not sure how Cora’s Rebellion went down you go back into the into the Torah and we read about Cora he was a
4:55	Chieftain of one of the clans of Israel and he convinced the other Chieftains of
5:01	some of the other clans to basically Grumble and complain to against Aaron
5:08	and Moses and and here was their beef if you have to put it in its context
5:14	their beef was that God had established the levitical priesthood and Aaron the
5:20	high priest have you seen his uniform holy guacamole that thing is elaborate
5:27	it’s beautiful and it shines like the sun right and you know and so here’s the
5:32	thing is that in korra’s way of thinking what Aaron and Moses have done is they
5:39	have exalted themselves above the people and korra’s complaint was all the people
5:46	are holy and you have exalted yourself above everybody else of course when Korah makes his complaint Cora is
5:54	basically acting on his own intuition and his improper understanding of what’s
5:59	really going on here remember God is the one who established the the levitical priesthood God is the one who chose the
6:07	uniforms and Aaron and Moses were not exalting themselves in fact if you remember when God commissioned Moses
6:14	Moses said please send somebody else all right and so you’ll know this was not
6:19	some kind of exaltation on his part but what happens is that human beings they look at well the Pastoral office or the
6:27	Priestly office and they take a look at what’s going on I I get this from time to time and they say well you you
6:33	pastors what is it with you exalting yourself above everybody in the congregation right why are you wearing
6:39	that stole and why are you wearing that white uniform it’s to draw attention to yourself isn’t it
6:45	[Music] right and as a result of it there is a a tendency within us sinful human beings
6:53	to Buck against the actual offices and the men who God has placed within those
7:00	offices within the church and that’s what Cora did so he and the other Chieftains a whole bunch of other
7:05	Chieftains made their complaint accused Moses and Aaron of exalting themselves of course Moses and Aaron they fell on
7:12	their faces I think they were trying to avoid getting hit by the lightning that they thought was going to be coming as a result of this and God said here so
7:19	let’s do this Cora you go ahead and present yourself with some sensors before me at the tent of meeting
7:26	tomorrow and we’ll see I’ll we’ll show you who’s who I have chosen and so Cora
7:32	and his buddies actually showed up and they had sensors actual incense sensors
7:39	in their hands as as an act of worship in obedience to Yahweh because after all
7:44	the whole people are holy and Korah and his buddies they died in kind of a way
7:50	that invokes if you would for us Indiana Jones and the uh and the lost you know
7:57	Raiders of the Lost Ark the reason being is at the end of it God showed up and their sensors kind of exploded in their
8:04	faces and they died a horrific death and afterwards God commanded that the
8:10	sensors because Holy Fire had gone out to consume them that the sensors themselves were now holy and had to be
8:17	gathered up what they do with their corpses they just chucked them in Graves and got rid of them but the senses were
8:23	holy they were not and so thus perished quora and so this here’s this idea is
8:30	that oftentimes we think we know how things are ought to operate in Christ’s
8:37	Church in God’s church and every time we think we understand how we can improve
8:43	upon it and stuff like this we are oftentimes guilty of sinning in much the
8:49	same way that Korah sinned in much the way that Uzziah sinned you’ll note that
8:54	in our text tonight Uzziah started off very well right it says about him that
9:01	he built aloth He restored to it to Judah the king and Uzziah was 16 years
9:07	old when he began to Reign I I guess that’s a good time to learn how to Reign Over a kingdom that’s when I learned how
9:13	to drive you know I got my driver’s license I might as well you know be a monarch at the same time when you’re 16
9:18	right and so he reigned for 52 years his mother’s name was Jack Jack alive of
9:24	Jerusalem he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father had done and he set himself to
9:31	seek God in the days of Zechariah all very good and Zechariah instructed him
9:37	in the fear of God and as long as he sought Yahweh God made him prosper
9:43	but here’s what happens when God makes you prosper sometimes you get the mistaken notion well the reason why I’m
9:49	prospering is because I’m so holy right and that is called pride and pride comes
9:56	before a fall scripture is very clear in this regard the one who exalts himself
10:01	will be humbled the one who humbles himself will be exalted it’s a great transition but we’re not quite to the
10:08	part where we can talk about Jesus yet if you haven’t figured it out all of these texts are about Jesus right just
10:13	want to make sure that we got that worked out okay so here’s what it says then that when that uzziah’s Fame spread
10:21	far he was marvelously helped until he was strong but when he was strong he
10:27	grew proud to his own destruction and what was it that he was going to do
10:33	well scripture describes it as something that was unfaithful to Yahweh his God
10:38	he decided that he was going to enter the Temple of Yahweh and burn incense on the altar of incense
10:45	that is not his prerogative and the reason being is is that you’ll note that
10:52	not just anybody can enter the Temple of the Lord in fact God made it very clear
10:58	that of the 12 tribes of Israel one was chosen specifically for the purpose of
11:05	serving in the Tabernacle then which would become the temple and each and every priest had to be consecrated and
11:13	have you looked at the rigmarole that was necessary to consecrate each and every one of these priests and they had
11:19	to be put into that office and they had duties they had rotations and there was
11:25	very much there was a lot of work that had to be done and it had to be done exactly the way Yahweh commanded it and
11:33	you’ll note that the very first two levitical priests after Aaron was established as the high priest nadab and
11:40	abihu they perished in a similar way to Cora when they off offered Strange Fire
11:47	before God now I want you to think this out because today’s people will think like this well I have faith I believe in
11:54	Jesus I so and I’m holy so I can do whatever I want and I can I can praise
12:00	God if I want to with a kazoo I can praise God with twirling ribbons and
12:05	things like this and we can do a chancell prince and all this kind of stuff right and
12:11	you’ll note that here’s the idea is is that this isn’t your church to just make
12:17	it to do whatever it is that you feel like you can do and oftentimes those
12:22	decisions get people in a lot of trouble let me give something a little bit more practical when you see standing In a
12:30	Pulpit inside of a Christian Church a woman wearing an ALB and a stall and a
12:37	clerical collar and preaching a sermon she is engaging in korra’s Rebellion she
12:44	is suffering from the same disease that Uzziah suffered from before he had leprosy this belief that we can just do
12:51	whatever we want I mean after all we’re all holy we’re all Christians and because before God there’s neither male
12:58	nor female there’s neither Jew nor Greek that means we can just do whatever we want and just forget what the commands
13:04	are regarding who is qualified to hold the Pastoral office and who isn’t
13:09	and so here you’ll note that only the Levites were allowed to do this and
13:15	people from issachar were not allowed to do this people from The Tribe of Benjamin were not allowed to serve in the temple people from the tribe of
13:22	Judah were not permitted to serve in the temple so Azariah the priest when he saw that
13:30	Uzziah had entered the temple with an incense uh with a with an incense censor
13:36	for the purpose of offering incense up to God he scripture describes him and
13:42	all 80 priests who oppose the king as men of valor which you got to think
13:47	about this takes guts we’re going to oppose the king throughout human history men who oppose the king usually become
13:54	shorter by about this much right that’s that’s usually how this goes down so
14:00	scripture absolutely commends these fellow and calls them Men of Valor for standing up to you Zaya and said it is
14:07	not for you uziah to burn incense to Yahweh but for the priests the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn
14:13	incense go out of the sanctuary for you have done wrong and it will bring you no
14:18	honor from Yahweh Elohim and Uzziah was angry
14:24	right I’m holy I believe in God I’ve been seeking after him God has caused me
14:30	to prosper how dare you tell me I can’t come in here and offer My Worship to God
14:37	by burning incense on the incense altar you could just hear his tirade right
14:43	but you get a note here this thinking comes from sin this does not come from
14:49	True Holiness or sanctification scripture is clear that Uzziah was
14:54	unfaithful to God because he was a directly opposing contradicting and
15:01	disobeying very clear commands written in Scripture that he should have known
15:08	and followed and observed so he was angry he had a sensor in his hand to burn
15:14	incense and when he became angry the priest with the priest leprosy then broke out on his forehead God wasted no
15:21	time he blurts out in anger and next thing you know they’re all looking at his
15:26	forehead and he’s got a big case of leprosy and it’s getting bigger and it’s growing and what did they do with him
15:33	they rushed him out of the temple and the scripture said the scripture said
15:39	that God struck him down
15:45	the one who exalts himself will be humbled and that’s exactly what God did
15:50	for uzziah’s sake he struck him he gave him leprosy they hurried him out and
15:57	uziah was a leper to the day of his death and note here that by him becoming a leper that legitimately on that day
16:06	brought an end to his Reign brought an end to his ability to worship God in
16:11	public it brought an end legitimately to his marriages that he had and he then has to get
16:19	business done through other people and jotham his son effectively becomes the guy who is the who’s the reigning King
16:26	even though Uzziah is still alive God indeed humbled him struck him in
16:34	order to teach him a lesson but also to maintain the purity of the levitical
16:40	priesthood God has chosen that only the Levites are to serve in the temple and kings of
16:46	Judah even if they’re good Kings even if they’re faithful believing Kings they are not permitted there are no
16:53	exceptions God is to be obeyed so the rest of the acts of Uzziah From
16:58	First to Last Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos wrote and then Uzziah slept with his fathers they buried him with his
17:04	fathers and you get a note in Isaiah chapter 6 we get that great passage in the year that King Uzziah died right I
17:11	saw the Lord high and lifted up and the Train the robe of his trade and filled this Temple right and he heard the
17:17	kadosh kadosh kadosh the triple holy holy holy holy is the Lord of Sabbath
17:23	right so here he dies they buried him in a field although it’s a king’s burial
17:30	plot he was not buried with the rest of the Kings and they basically gave him
17:35	his Epitaph and it is he’s a leper now the question is in the types and
17:42	shadows then how then does this relate to Christ because you’ll note scripture
17:48	is not about you not about me these are ultimately about Jesus and I think by contrast here we can kind of see how
17:55	some of these themes work out now Jesus Christ according to scripture is God in
18:01	human flesh he’s the second person of the Trinity God the son in human flesh and it says of Christ in the book of
18:09	Philippians chapter 2 that we are to have the same mind as Christ that though
18:16	he was by Nature God he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped instead he emptied himself by taking on
18:23	the form of a servant and being in the likeness of men and being found in human
18:28	form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross and you’ll note that
18:36	unlike Uzziah Christ did not act in Pride in in fact Christ from the time that he left heaven and was incarnate by
18:44	the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary he humbled himself and during Christ’s
18:50	Earthly Reign do we ever have a single account of Christ King of Kings Lord of
18:55	lords God of God light of light very God of very God entering into the temple and
19:01	saying to the Levites move over I’m here not even once
19:07	that would have been absolute faithlessness and Disobedience
19:13	to the commands of God that God gave to Moses instead Jesus never once entered
19:19	the temple never assumed or presupposed or you know anything that was not there
19:25	in scripture for him to follow and as a result of it he was the sinless Spotless Lamb of God who takes away the
19:32	sin of the world and so Christ succeeds where Uzziah fails the one who
19:39	exalts himself will be humbled but note the other end of that the one who humbles himself will be exalted
19:45	therefore because of Christ’s humbling of himself and being obedient even to the point of death death on the cross
19:51	God has exalted the father has exalted Christ and bestowed on him the name that
19:57	is above every name including the name of Uzziah so that at the name of Jesus
20:02	every knee should bow in heaven on Earth and under the Earth and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to
20:07	the glory of God the father but then this kind of leads to the next big picture idea if you would and that is is
20:16	that you sit there and go but wait Pastor isn’t it true that Jesus is Prophet priest and King yes absolutely
20:26	true Jesus is all three of those but we’re going to note then that when we
20:32	look at the book of Hebrews which by the way is the best commentary on the Old
20:39	Testament ever written if you want to learn how to read the Old Testament
20:44	study and read out the book of Hebrews by doing so it’ll give you the
20:50	interpretive key to unlocking what’s going on in the Old Testament so that
20:55	being said you’ll note that Hebrews speaks extensively about Christ’s
21:02	priesthood and makes a very important point that Christ truly is our great
21:09	high priest and not only is our he our high priest he is our high priest forever
21:16	but he’s not a priest in the order of Levi he is not a levitical priest in
21:24	fact if you were to search through scripture right do a little bit of research on priests you kind of have
21:31	three types you have the levitical priests which we’ve been talking about
21:36	and only the Levites can serve in that you have Pagan priests which are well
21:42	they’re idolaters but then you got this one standout and his name is Melchizedek
21:50	very interesting fellow if you know your Old Testament there in the Book of
21:56	Genesis kind of early on you have the account of well the these these Ten
22:02	Kings who go to war with these other kings and just so happens the Kings they go to war with will include the king of
22:07	Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and if you remember and Abram had a nephew named lot and where was his tent set up
22:15	near Sodom and gomor Aura which doesn’t make any sense that’s like trying to live in San Francisco it’s not going to
22:20	be a good idea right so taxes are high immorality high it’s just you don’t want
22:25	to be there but he was there and he got swept up in all of this and he was well
22:32	taken off with his family as booty as you know as stuff that you get as a
22:37	result of war and Abram heard about it that he had been taken captive and he
22:43	took 300 of his men made a nighttime March attacked the northern Kings and they didn’t expect it defeated them and
22:50	rescued everybody then he takes all the loot puts it in a big pile gives and
22:56	then disguise shows up out of nowhere Melchizedek what a name by the well
23:02	Melky King zadek righteousness Melchizedek the king of righteousness
23:09	what a name right king of righteousness and he comes out of nowhere and what is
23:15	he carrying with him Bread and Wine
23:20	huh I’m detecting a theophany here a
23:25	pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ the son of God right this is what is
23:31	going down here and what does Abram do he offers to him 10 a tithe of all the
23:38	booty from the from the battle he gives it to melk he’s a deck and Melchizedek blesses
23:44	Abram and of course Melchizedek is described as priest of God most high
23:52	and do we ever hear from him again until we get to our Psalm from tonight
24:00	you wrote I strategically chose this Psalm because it worked really well with
24:05	what we were doing listen to the words of our song Psalm 110 verse 4 the Lord has sworn and
24:14	he will not change his mind you are a priest Forever After the order of
24:21	Melchizedek who who who is swearing and who’s going
24:27	to be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek Jesus and that’s the point
24:32	that the author of Hebrews is making so in Hebrews chapter 6 starting at verse 19 love these words we have this as a
24:41	sure and steadfast anchor of the Soul now I just have to comment on this great
24:48	description here you’ll note that false Doctrine is described as wins and waves
24:55	that blow people this way in that way right whereas the true gospel and sound
25:01	Biblical teaching anchors the soul and makes it sure and steadfast it’s like oh
25:09	Christ is this anchor so we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the Soul a hope that enters into the inner place
25:16	behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf having
25:23	become a high priest Forever After the order of Melchizedek
25:30	Jesus is not a levitical priest he is a priest just like that guy who
25:35	showed up out of nowhere a Melchizedek and then it goes on for this Melchizedek king of Salem
25:41	priest of of the most high god king of Salem melchiz Shalom right by the way
25:49	um think think of the name of Jerusalem properly here yerushalayim right you
25:54	hear the word shalom in the word Jerusalem you see Jerusalem is the city
26:00	of peace this is probably where he’s king of hinting at his eschatological Reign when
26:07	he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead so for this Melchizedek king of Salem priest of the most high
26:13	God he met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the Kings and he blessed him and to him Abraham a portioned a
26:19	tenth of everything he is first Melchizedek is first by a translation of his name king of righteousness and then
26:27	he is also king of Salem king of Shalom of peace that is the king of peace he is
26:35	without father or mother or genealogy having neither beginning of days nor end
26:41	of life but resembling the Son of God he continues as a priest forever
26:47	hmm we now know kizedek is that was is
26:53	see how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils and those descendants of Levi
27:01	who received the Priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes
27:06	from the people that is from their brothers though these also are descended
27:12	from Abraham but this man Melchizedek who does not
27:17	have his dissent from them receive tithes from Abraham and he blessed him
27:23	who had the promises so it is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by
27:28	the Superior in the one case ties are received by mortal men but in the other
27:34	Case by one of whom it is testified that he lives one might even say that Levi
27:41	himself who receives tithes paid tithes to Abraham for he was still in the loins
27:47	of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him hmm it’s an interesting way of looking
27:54	at things our ancestors our predecessors are now inside of us in our loins gird
27:59	up your loins man whether this is how Humanity unfolds now if Perfection had
28:05	been attainable through the levitical priesthood for under it the people received the law what further need would
28:12	there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek rather than one named after the order of
28:20	Aaron now you’re going to note right now um how many Levites are currently
28:25	serving in the temple as priests zero God brought that Enterprise to an end in
28:33	70 A.D and you’ll note that the Jews to this day still hope to be able to have
28:39	another temple built in Jerusalem and they hope to be able to fire up
28:44	the the levitical priesthood and so they’ve kept track of who the Levites are
28:49	they’ve kept track and the big indicator is something actually quite simple if
28:55	you know any Jewish people with the last name of Cohen they are Levites
29:00	Cohen is the Hebrew word for priest kind of interesting right but note here
29:07	the author of Hebrews is making a very different point and not regarding the
29:12	the re-firing up of the levitical priesthood but instead pointing to a completely different priesthood
29:19	altogether the one that Jesus holds okay for when there is a change in the
29:24	priesthood there is necessarily A change in the law as well for the one whom these things are spoken belong to
29:30	another tribe from which no one has ever served at the altar listen to those words from verse 13. from which no one
29:35	has ever served at the altar that wouldn’t have been true if Uzziah had
29:41	been permitted to burn his incense in the temple but God wanted this fact to remain and
29:49	he protected his priesthood so that he can make this very clear that only the
29:54	Levites and no one from Judah has ever served at the altar for it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah
30:01	and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests except for
30:07	they can’t be right so this becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of
30:14	Melchizedek who has become a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement
30:19	concerning bodily descent but by the power of an indestructible life for it
30:26	is witnessed of him Psalm 110 you are a priest Forever After the order of
30:32	Melchizedek for on the one hand a former commandment then is set aside because of its weakness and its uselessness for the
30:39	law made nothing perfect and by the way the law continues to make
30:44	nothing perfect that’s not the purpose of the law purpose of the law is to show you your sin the law made nothing
30:52	perfect but on the other hand a better hope is introduced through which we draw
30:57	nearer to God and it was not without an oath for those who formerly became
31:03	priests were made such without an oath but this one was made a priest with an
31:08	oath by the one who said to him the Lord has sworn and he will not change his mind you are a priest forever so this
31:17	makes Jesus the guarantor of a better Covenant
31:22	but those words sink in Jesus is the guarantor of a better
31:29	Covenant a better Covenant than the Mosaic Covenant because the Mosaic Covenant made nothing perfect the former
31:36	priest by the way were many in number because they were prevented by Death from continuing in office
31:43	and by the way that’s also true of pastors have you noticed that pastors are kind of a dime a dozen yeah I I’m
31:49	I’m not really a part of an exclusive small group there’s been a lot of pastors and you know why because we die
31:56	right and we you get the idea we’re a weak lot and we cannot continue in
32:03	office for very long because our bodies don’t continue on for very long so you’ll know pastors still have the same
32:10	problem but he Christ holds his priesthood permanently
32:17	because he continues forever consequently Jesus is able to save to
32:24	the uttermost those who draw near to God through him oh let those words sink in
32:30	sometimes I have the lamentable job of having to speak to somebody who is
32:36	wavering in their faith they’ll say things like Pastor if you knew what I had done you would realize that if I
32:42	could potentially even be saved it’s going to be by the skin of my teeth balogna that’s not how this works it
32:50	says this he Christ is able to save you to the uttermost I love that phrase
32:57	uttermost you’re not barely getting in right he’s saved you top to bottom Head
33:03	to Toes everything in between all the way down to the molecular cellular level
33:08	you get the whole point he saved you to the uttermost all who draw near him to
33:13	nearer to God through him are saved in this same way and since he always lives
33:19	to make intercession for them do not fear brothers and sisters even if
33:24	I were to never pray for you here at the altar Christ prays for you daily
33:29	hourly minute by minute if necessary that’s what high priests do and so
33:35	you’ll note here it talks about Christ’s great intercessory work as a high priest
33:41	in the order of Melchizedek this isn’t just some kind of honorary title and Jesus holds the priesthood of
33:47	Melchizedek right yeah and he holds the land of northumbria in things like this is not an honorary title this is an
33:54	actual office that he fills and fulfills the duties of for us daily
33:59	see it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest holy innocent
34:06	unstained separated from Sinners exalted above the heavens he has no need like
34:12	those High priests to offer sacrifices daily first for his own sins and then
34:17	for those of the people since he did this once for all when he offered up himself ah there’s the other bit here so
34:25	Jesus is the temple we’ve talked about that Jesus is our high priest he’s also
34:30	the sacrifice and Jesus’s Altar for the sacrifice of your sins and mine is the
34:36	cross itself um good stuff the law appoints men and
34:42	their weaknesses as high priest but the word of the oath which came later the word of oath we heard in Psalm 110 that
34:48	it came later than the law it appoints a son who has been made perfect forever now the point that we are saying is this
34:56	we have currently now such a high priest one who is seated
35:02	at the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in heaven a minister in the holy places in the true tent that the Lord
35:09	set up not man and here’s where it’s important for us to recognize this I
35:15	don’t know why people are so keen on this idea of rebuilding a temple in Jerusalem because the temple that was
35:21	there was never the real one anyway the Tabernacle that was built in the
35:27	wilderness it was a copy of the one that was in heaven and Jesus our high priest in the order
35:34	of Melchizedek he serves in the real Temple itself not the copy that was made
35:40	by men and that’s the point that the author of Hebrews is getting at here so he is seated at the right hand of the
35:46	Throne of the Majesty in heaven he’s a minister in the holy places in the true tent that the Lord set up not man for
35:54	every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices thus it’s necessary for this priest to also have something
36:01	to offer now if there were if he were on Earth he would not be a priest at all since there are priests who offer gifts
36:08	according to the law they serve a copy and a shadow
36:14	of the Heavenly things for when Moses was about to erect the tent he was
36:19	instructed by God saying saying see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the
36:26	mountain but as it is Christ has obtained a Ministry that is as much more excellent than the
36:33	old as the Covenant that he mediates is better since it is enacted on better
36:39	promises for if that first Covenant the Mosaic Covenant had been faultless there
36:44	would have been no occasion to look for a second for he finds fault with them when Yahweh says behold the days are
36:51	coming declares Yahweh when I will establish a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah
36:57	and he goes on and says that this new covenant will have these promises for I will be merciful toward their iniquities
37:04	I will remember their sins no more and that’s the promise of the New Covenant
37:10	that we have in Christ so in speaking of a New Covenant then he makes the first one the Mosaic Covenant obsolete the
37:18	official theological term for the status of the Mosaic Covenant right now by the way is kaput that is the official status
37:25	of it okay it has been made Obsolete and what is becoming obsolete is growing old
37:31	and it’s ready to vanish away and in fact it has already vanished but all of
37:36	that being said then but when Christ appeared as high priest of the good things that have come then through the
37:44	greater and more perfect tent the one that is not made with hands that is not
37:49	of this creation Christ himself entered once and for all into the holy places
37:55	not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood
38:01	thus securing an eternal Redemption for if the blood of goats and Bulls and
38:07	the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh how much more
38:14	will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God purify our conscience
38:21	from dead Works to serve the Living God therefore he is the mediator of a New
38:27	Covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised Eternal heritance since the death has occurred
38:33	that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first Covenant
38:39	um I kind of think of a more gospel Rich section of scripture that it lays out
38:46	for us what Christ was about and we recognize then that King Jesus yes he is
38:51	the rightful king of Judah he is the rightful heir to the throne of David and he will sit on the throne of David
38:57	forever but unlike Uzziah who was forbidden from serving as a
39:03	priest Christ has been made our high priest forever not in the order of the
39:09	Levites but in the order of Melchizedek he now serves to to intercede for us and
39:16	his shed Blood on the cross has freed us from all guilt and stain of sin and is
39:23	purified us and our consciences from dead works so that now we can serve the
39:29	Living God in him Jesus the one who was humble all the way to the point of death
39:34	even death on the cross we have forgiveness pardon and peace with God and unlike Uzziah Jesus is both a king
39:42	and a priest and there is no sin in him being this and you’ll note then that
39:48	there is a similarity between then Uzziah in Christ and that is this that
39:54	God himself struck down Isaiah in a similar way God struck down Christ
40:02	he it was the will of God to crush Jesus he was pierced for our transgressions
40:08	bruised for our iniquities the chastisement the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his stripes
40:15	his bleeding suffering and Death on the cross we have been healed of our sin
40:20	sickness including all the ways in which we have participated in the rebellion of
40:26	Korah like King Uzziah so let us praise God that Jesus isn’t like Uzziah he’s humble and he’s truly
40:34	our great high priest forever in the name of Jesus Amen

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