Good morning to everyone. 

Bob, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to cut it short when I'm preaching on Melchizedek. I mean, that part wasn't in the script, by the way. I went down and saw Ralph, and he told me the only one that told him he could go home was the janitor. He said he told him he didn't care if he paid his bill either. Ralph's always in such good spirits. So good.

Brother, we're continuing our study in the book of Hebrews chapter 7, and we're really in the heart of the author's argument to the Jews—the case he's making that Jesus is better. He's a better high priest. He brings a better covenant, and it's built on better promises. What we find in our text today is security, my friends. Jesus in this new covenant is surety; he's promised, he's guarantee, and what that means to us is security. 

I was thinking about the lengths that we are willing to go to in order to have security in our world. One of my favorite examples of this—one of the things I like the least, I guess—is insurance. We're willing to spend a great deal of money in order to ensure our property, our cars, our life, and what this really means is security, peace of mind. To live without insurance is a tremendous risk in our world today. 

On our farm, we go through a lot of trouble and time and resources in order to have security. For example, we keep sows and a boar. They eat a lot of food, they require shelter, good shelter in the winter. They tend to destroy things and make messes. They sometimes get out; they get into all kinds of mischief and occasionally they get sick and require medical care. 

So why go to all the trouble of having them around and having to care for them? Security. They produce little baby bacon bits. That is security because we can't always buy feeder pigs. Sometimes the price is too high; sometimes you just can't get them. I always swore that I'd never buy haying equipment. A couple weeks ago, I bought a hay bine and a rake against my better judgment, but we had a hay shortage this year. You couldn't get it at any price. The weather's not cooperating in much of the Midwest this year; hay is scarce and very expensive. 

So I bought hay equipment. Why? Security. If I can make my own hay, I know I can feed my animals. So security is a big deal in our lives and in our world. People go to great lengths to be secure, to have enough, to be at peace knowing that they won't go without something they need or experience some great loss. 

We always say up in the UP that if your hay mow is full and your firewood's cut for the winter, then you're a rich man. Security.

But what is interesting to me is that most men have absolutely no security concerning their salvation. Most men are terrified of death and what comes after. They hope that they are saved; they hope that they will go to heaven. They believe that they are pretty good people, at least comparatively. They may go to church or give money to the needy or pray now and then; they do the best they can. But my friends, they have no security. 

And the worst place for this is religion. Religion brings no security, no guarantee, no promise, no confidence concerning eternity. This lack of assurance, this lack of peace of security manifests itself in all kinds of ways in the lives of lost men and women. 

The essence of our text this morning, written to these Hebrews, is that there is security in Christ—that there is surety in the new covenant by faith alone in Jesus alone, and this high priest of God, after the order of Melchizedek, because of his endless life, his forever high priestly work of intercession, because of his one-time, all-sufficient death in my place for my sins, brings security, brings surety for eternity. He is surety of a better covenant.

Let's look at our text in Hebrews 7:20-28. 

Hebrews 7:20-28 says, "And inasmuch as he was not made priest without an oath—for they have become priests without an oath—but he with an oath by him who said to him, 'The Lord has sworn and will not relent: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.' By so much more, Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. 

Also, there were many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing; but he, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 

Therefore, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens, who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once for all when he offered up himself. 

For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints the Son who has been perfected forever." 

I've given you four points on your outline: first, surety of a better covenant; second, an unchangeable priesthood; third, salvation to the uttermost; and fourth, once for all. 

Well, we've discussed recently in our messages the security of salvation in Jesus Christ for those who have believed Jesus, who have turned from religion and self-righteousness and from trusting in something other than Jesus to him alone— to his one-time sacrifice on the cross, his death, burial, and resurrection. For those whose hearts have turned to the Lord, there is security; there is secure salvation. If they believe Jesus, then they are saved forever. 

The central reason for this glorious truth is that our salvation in Christ is wholly dependent on God, His power, on His provision, and on His promise. 

What we see in the first few verses of our text this morning is that Jesus, unlike the priests of the Old Covenant—those after the order of Aaron—Jesus, the high priest of the new covenant, was made priest with an oath. You see, when God made Jesus the high priest of the new covenant, He not only declared it by His word, which should be enough, my friends, but God wanted to make sure that we know and understand the security that we have in Christ. 

He wanted to show the importance of this matter of Jesus' high priestly office and work, and so He not only made the promise, but it says that He further confirmed it by an oath. 

It says in Hebrews 6:13, "For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could not swear by anyone greater, He swore by Himself, saying, 'Surely, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.' And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 

For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus, God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. 

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil." 

The two immutable things are God's promise, or word, and His oath. Swearing by Himself, in other words, for those who have fled for refuge by faith in Jesus, to lay hold of the hope set before us—those who choose to believe Jesus in him alone, who determined to trust in what Christ did on the cross and that is all—these have an anchor. 

We have an anchor of the soul. Have you thought about that? The soul is up and down, isn't it? I mean, our emotions, the soul—the feelings, the emotions—it's hard to maintain. How do you maintain that? Hold fast to Jesus; believe what God says. We have an anchor. When the ups and downs of life come, we have an anchor that holds sure and steadfast. 

It says He's entered the presence behind the veil—it's secure in heaven, kept by the power of God. You see, our salvation, our security, is not dependent on anything that we do or have done. 

But our trust, our faith, is in Jesus and what He has already accomplished. Our security is based on who God is and the promise He has given in Christ, and the oath that God has sworn that Jesus' priesthood will never end, that He remains forever to intercede for us, to keep us by His power. 

Turn over to 1 Peter 1 with me, please. We looked at this a few weeks ago, but it's such an encouraging, tremendous text. 1 Peter 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. 

Though now you do not see Him, yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls." 

You know, in the Scriptures, in the New Testament, there are a whole list of doctrines and reasons why we can know that we have eternal life. The Scriptures are replete with teaching and explanation, explaining our salvation and its fullness in Christ—from justification to sanctification, regeneration, from the hope and the promises of eternity to glorification. 

But at the very center of our security, my brothers and sisters, is the Word of God, and this is girded up by His very character and nature—who He is and the truth that He cannot lie. And He has promised that when we hear His word, the gospel truth about the complete and sufficient one-time sacrifice of Christ, and having heard, we believe, at that moment we pass from death unto life, we are made new men, given new hearts, quickened in our spirit, and God Himself comes to live in us. 

The Holy Spirit is given to us as an earnest, a guarantee of our inheritance. This is all based not on law, not on works, not on ceremony or ritual, but on promise. And the promise is backed up by the word, the oath, the very essence of who God is. 

Turn over to Galatians 3 with me, please. Galatians 3:11. Paul makes some abundantly clear statements here in Galatians 3:11. It says, "But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them." 

Look what Paul says here: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.' For the very purpose that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, and to your seed, who is Christ. 

And this I say, that the law, which was 430 years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise." 

Jesus is surety of a better covenant because Jesus is God's promise to us in all the fullness of the gospel, the good news message of His death, burial, and resurrection and His endless life as our Advocate, as our intercessor, our great high priest. 

In verse 22, it says, "By so much more, Jesus has become surety of a better covenant." What a great truth for us to take hold of for ourselves. 

Next, we see in our text that we have security in Christ for eternity because He has an unchangeable priesthood. Verse 23 says, "Also, there were many priests in the Old Covenant because they were prevented by death from continuing; but He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood." 

One of the great limitations of the Old Covenant priesthood was that each of those priests died. They were prevented by death from continuing their high priestly work. So you had a high priest that you went to again and again, and you built a relationship with him, and maybe he was really compassionate and understanding and knew you well. You loved your high priest. He made intercession for you and was essential to your relationship with God under that Old Covenant system. 

And then one day, he died. This must have been a blow to the people in the Old Covenant who were sincere and true worshipers of God. It must have been sad, and it must have been a little disconcerting, not really knowing what the next high priest would be like. And there were certainly some bad ones when we look through the Old Testament record—corrupt men, because they were men, and they were sinners. 

The author's point here is that there was a lack of security in the Old Covenant priest because he could not continue. He was prevented by death. And when he died—and they all did—they could no longer be a priest or a mediator. 

But Jesus continues forever. And He's the perfect, merciful, and faithful high priest. There's no doubt, no concern about His priesthood ending because God has sworn and will not relent that you are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. Jesus has an unchangeable priesthood. He ever lives to make intercession for us. 

I was thinking about this: if I had to go to court, if I was arrested and needed a lawyer like Fritz, I'd be frightened to go into that courtroom by myself. But if Fritz was there, not a problem, alright? He's my advocate. I just let him take care of business there. Jesus is our forever high priest. He's our perfect high priest. He's our advocate. He stands in our place. He makes intercession for us. 

This is such a glorious, affirming, securing truth concerning our salvation in Him. 

Next, we see that based on these truths—because of His unchangeable priesthood, which continues forever, and because of His sufficient propitiatory sacrifice—it says that He is able. Don't you love those words? He is able! I'm not able; you're not able—He is able! 

Able to do what? He's able to save us to the uttermost. Verse 25 says, "Therefore, He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." 

Notice those words of verse 25: He is able to save to the uttermost. Isn’t that a good promise? When you think about eternity, when you think about your salvation, what's the best thing you could hope for? Someone who could save me all the way—save me all the way to the uttermost, bring me all the way to heaven. 

This is a tremendous promise, an amazing, assuring truth. But did you also notice that it's not for everyone? There's a very important qualifier in that verse. 

Sometimes you'll hear people say things like, "We are all God's children," or, "God is too loving to send anyone to hell." I remember last summer I was fishing with my brother and the subject of the Muslim religion came up. He said, "Well, we are all God's children." 

I wrote in my notes that I gently reminded him—but it wasn't really gentle. I reminded him that Jesus said that the Pharisees were the sons of Satan and that His works they wished to do. 

Jesus is able to save to the uttermost. He saves completely, and He keeps men by His power, and He continually makes intercession for them and brings them all the way to glorification—final salvation, waiting to be revealed in the last time. He is able to save to the uttermost, but only those who come to God through Him. 

There's no other way, my friend. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Peter said in Acts 4:12, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." 

You cannot be saved through Muhammad. You cannot be saved through Buddha. Nor can you be saved in the false Christian denominations if you are trusting in what they teach as a way of salvation: Jesus plus works, plus sacraments, plus works or rituals. 

You can only be saved by coming to God through faith alone in Jesus alone, in what He has accomplished on the cross. He said, "It is finished." And my friend, this is what He meant—and this is true. He finished the work. He accomplished our salvation. He paid the debt for my sins and for yours, satisfied the wrath of God in my place. 

Now what God requires is that we come to Him on His terms, that we come to Him through Jesus and only through faith in Him. If we come to Him this way, then we have this promise, that He will place our sins on Christ and impute His righteousness to us. 

And Jesus will become our own personal Savior, our high priest, who ever lives to make intercession for us, securing our salvation forever. And we will see Him produce amazing fruit through our lives, my friends, because He's changed us. 

As we abide in Him one day at a time through faith, walking by faith, walking in the Spirit, He will produce fruit in our lives for His glory. 

Turn over to Romans 4. I want you to look at a clear passage about this truth. 

Romans 4:2 says, "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt." 

Verse 5 is such a clear, clear verse: "But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." 

Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin." 

What an amazing truth, what a promise. 

John 5:24, Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death unto life." 

1 John 5:13 says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." 

You know, it's a funny kind of eternal life that you can lose in five years or ten years. That's a ten-year life. What's an eternal life? I have eternal life because I believe Jesus—present possession. 

John 10:26 records Jesus saying, "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. As I said to you, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand." 

There is security available to every man. Jesus Christ died for every man. But that assurance, that security can only come when a man comes to God through faith in Jesus and Jesus alone. 

Hebrews 7:26 says, "For such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens, who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the people's." 

"For this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints the Son who has been perfected forever." 

I want you to pay close attention to those words, "once for all." This is a great theme in the book of Hebrews, and the reason is because this speaks of consummation; it speaks of completion, perfection. 

Remember, the main issue here was that there was pressure being applied to this fellowship of Jews to turn back to the law, to the old covenant, to turn away from Jesus, from the confession of faith in Him, to add works to faith, to add ritual to Christ for salvation. 

It is the lie that still persists in religion in our world today. And at the heart of this whole system was the priesthood and the sacrifices. 

Now the nature of this was that man needed a mediator, an interceding priesthood of men to offer sacrifices on behalf of the sinners. We've talked at some length about this. But this was at the heart of the whole Jewish system, and it was prescribed; it was given by God, but not as the essence, not as the substance, not as the fulfillment, but only as a picture, a type, a foreshadowing of Christ and the fulfillment, the completion, the perfection that would come in Him. 

So when we look at these truths that the author's been teaching us, how much better Jesus is, how He is the very promise and plan of God fulfilled, the reality of all the law predicted and pointed to, when we consider the greatness of this high priest and the new covenant which He brings in His blood, when we see Him as the fullness and fulfillment and consider the security and the salvation that He brings, the idea of going back to the old would be utterly irrational, completely insane. 

And this is all wrapped up in this one truth: that His sacrifice was sufficient, that it was complete, that the very work He came to do—the hour for which He came—was fulfilled. He died once for all, accomplishing salvation and fully satisfying God. 

God showed this to be true, according to Romans 1:4, by raising Him from the dead and sitting Him at the right hand where He ever lives to make intercession for us. 

Do you see, my friends, what a blasphemy it is to try to go back to the old, to the picture? Do you see what an absolute insult it is to the spirit of grace to try to go back to those animal sacrifices when the sacrifice of Christ is complete? 

I remember when Bobby was pregnant, we went for one of those ultrasounds. Now, 25 years ago, when we went for the first time with Caitlin, they gave us a picture—a picture of Caitlin there in Bobby's belly. It was a picture, not really a very good picture back in those days. I couldn't really see a baby in there, but they told me there was one there. 

The pictures got clearer with Ashley and then with Sarah, and now I'm sure with 3D ultrasound and all of this, the images are very clear, and you can see that baby there, all the fingers and toes and the little face. And that's nice. It's neat to hang it on the fridge and look at it and anticipate the coming of that little one into your home. 

But it's a picture. It's something that points us to the fulfillment. We eagerly wait for that baby that will come, like the Jews were eagerly waiting for their Messiah. 

Now can you imagine that if after we went to the hospital and experienced the birth and received that great gift of life—a newborn baby into our arms—and then we took her home and had everything ready and set up. We brought that child into our home, and we put her in her crib. Can you imagine if I said to Bobby, "Oh, let's sit and look at that grainy black blob in the ultrasound picture"? 

I’d take all my free time and look forward to coming home from work and sitting with my picture, that cloudy image, and just place all my attention and affection on that picture on my fridge while the baby's laying in her crib. 

And I could even maybe on the weekend set up a little shrine with some candles and put that picture on the wall and just look to it and think about the baby pictured in that ultrasound image. 

Now you'd probably want to seek some help from me. I'd be considered mentally ill—unstable. There'd be something seriously wrong with that situation. 

And yet, that is what the Hebrews were in danger of doing—just going back to the pictures, the images of Christ, when Christ had come, when the sacrifice was complete, when He had died once for all. They were thinking about just turning from Him, forsaking Him, and going back to those pictures. 

My brothers and sisters, we have the same thing today in religion. We even have a so-called Christian religion that has a mediating priesthood, who wear the priestly robes and sometimes even the hat, and they offer sacrifices continually—what their doctrine calls a true and real sacrifice on an altar. 

But it's worse than the Jewish Old Covenant sacrifices of animals. Now they sacrifice Christ over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Why? Because they do not believe that the work is finished. 

There is more to be accomplished. And how do we accomplish it? That’s the key phrase: we accomplish it. How? Through ceremony, through rites and rituals and sacraments and our own good works. 

This is a strange, bizarre mixing of the old with the new. But I assure you, it is a blasphemy against God and His promise because it is a complete and utter denial and rejection of this very truth that Jesus died once for all. This is an essential, vital truth. It's the very essence of the gospel, my friends, the very essence of our faith. 

It is finished. The work is complete. Salvation has been accomplished in Christ, in His one-time death on the cross, His burial and resurrection on the third day, and now we can come to God through Him, through faith alone, in Christ alone, in what He has done. 

We met with a banker the other day, and he had this necklace on—with a big crucifix. I said, "Jesus isn't on the cross anymore. He's risen. He's alive. He sits at the right hand of God. He ever lives to make intercession for us. He's our high priest. He's our living Savior. He's our living hope. We have assurance." 

Hebrews 10:1 says, "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with these same sacrifices which they offer continually, make those who approach perfect. For then would they have not ceased to be offered." 

Well, that's just what he's saying—cease offering the sacrifices. He died once for all. It's over. It's finished. 

Verse 11 says, "Every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God." 

Why did He sit down? Because the work is finished. "From that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified." 

Jesus died once. And in that one-time death, He fulfilled the old covenant law—the pictures, the shadows. He fulfilled the promise of God, and in Him, we have salvation. We are secure, but only in Him. 

And my friends, we must be clear. Believers must be clear about these truths. Because if we are confused, if we do not bring a clear message about these things, if we lend credibility to false systems and false messages of salvation, then how will men be saved? 

This is the essence of why we are here—to be witnesses, to preach the gospel in the natural course of our lives so that the world may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that any man who will come to Him in simple faith, turn to Him and trust His one-time sacrifice and their place for their sins will be saved, will experience security and peace and assurance. 

This is the message of our text this morning, my brothers and sisters—security in Christ because Jesus is surety of a better covenant. 

Because God has given us His word, His promise, His oath. And Jesus has an unchangeable priesthood. He ever lives to make intercession for us. 

And He is able, He is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through Him because He died once for all, completing the work of salvation for every man who will believe and trust in Him alone. 

If you believe Jesus, if you're trusting in Him alone and what He did, know that you have passed from death unto life and know that you have eternal life and that you are secure forever in Him. 

And then, my friend, go and live for Him in thankfulness. Live in holiness according to who you are because of what He has done. 

And be a witness for Him to the world. We have a good news message, and we're here to bring that good news to lost men for their salvation and for God's glory. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for these truths that we can know and that You want us to know—that You have made complete the sacrifice needed for our salvation. That Jesus has paid for our sins. Jesus paid it all. And that now, Father, we can have assurance. We can have peace. We can take our eyes off of ourselves and our works and look to You and trust You and believe You and know that You'll produce fruit through us as a witness to this world of the transforming power of the gospel and as a means of glorifying You. Thank You that You've promised to do that work and that we can trust You and believe You. 

In Jesus' name, Amen.