As we come now to the reading and preaching of God's holy word, let's seek his blessing over them. Blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you alone are the source of all goodness and truth. And so we ask that by the power of your Holy Spirit, You would write Your law on our hearts, that our thoughts might conform to Your thoughts, our ways to Your ways. Lord, we ask that You would pour down by Your Spirit and illuminate our minds and open the ears of our hearts. We pray that we might dwell in righteousness and live forever bathed in Your truth. Through Jesus Christ, we pray all of these things. Amen. Our scripture reading this evening comes from Hebrews chapter nine, beginning at verse 11. If you would turn with me in your copies of God's word. Hebrews 9, beginning at verse 11. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, Then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force, as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you. And in the same way, he sprinkled with blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ entered not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. The grass withers, the flower falls off, but the word of our God stands forever. Guilt is a universal experience of mankind. If you could survey every people group at every point in human history, you would discover that the feeling of guilt is common to all of mankind. And there is a simple explanation for why this is. The Bible teaches that the law of God is written on the heart of every person that's ever walked the face of this planet. That means that every man, every woman, every boy and girl ever conceived has an innate knowledge of right and wrong. And we have this knowledge by virtue of being human because to be human is to be made in God's image. And to be made in his image is to have his law written on our hearts. It's inescapable. To exist as a human being is to be endowed with a moral conscience. And every human that experiences guilt is naturally inclined to soothe and appease their guilty conscience. And so, some of us turn to doing good in the world, believing that somehow our acts of charity or goodwill can remove our guilt and shame, or at the very least, outweigh or offset all the bad things we've done. The truth is, every guilty human conscience searches for redemption, for atonement, for salvation. Because try as you like, there's no erasing the law of God from the human heart, from which arises the conviction of sin and a guilty conscience. But no human scheme can deal with the problem of our guilt. No act of humanitarian compassion, however well intended, can atone for even one sinful or disobedient thought. There is only one path of salvation, one solution to the problem of human guilt. And that is Christ Jesus. our mediator, who is himself the ladder to heaven. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can atone for our sins and absolve us of our guilt. Only the one who is himself both the great high priest and the Lamb of God can forgive our sins and remove our guilt. This evening we will focus on the priestly office of the Lord Jesus Christ and discover how it is He alone who can atone for the sins of all who call upon His name. Last Sunday evening, we briefly surveyed what it means that Christ has been anointed as the mediator between God and man as he perfectly fulfills and executes the offices of prophet, priest, and king. So if you are joining us for the first time in this study of his threefold office and you're looking for more of an introduction on his mediation, I would encourage you to listen to that sermon sometime this week. What we will do this evening is firstly consider the priestly office as instituted in the Old Testament Secondly, we'll consider the priestly office of Jesus Christ, our great high priest. And thirdly, we'll consider the priestly office of every believer through our union with him. So firstly, the priestly office as instituted in the Old Testament. It may surprise you to know that Adam was the first priest and the Garden of Eden the first sanctuary. Adam was tasked by God, in Genesis 2, verse 15, to work and to keep the garden, or as the Hebrew allows us to translate, to serve and to guard. We know from the book of Numbers that this is a priestly commission. When those tasks are combined in the book of Numbers, working and keeping or serving and guarding, there is a priestly connotation, that of the Levitical priesthood in the ministry of the tabernacle. So Adam's initial mandate was to serve in Yahweh's sanctuary as a priest and guard it from pollution. But sadly, we know how the story goes. Adam fails to guard the Lord's sanctuary. Rather than slay the dragon as his marching orders demanded, he passively stood by as an onlooker, watching as the serpent deceives his wife. And then Adam, as the first priest, becomes an active participant in the greatest desecration of sacred space that ever was, as he took and ate of the forbidden fruit. The sin of our first parents on that dark day plunged all of mankind into an estate of sin and misery. Adam and Eve's transgressions fractured and jeopardized human communion with God. Adam, the first priest, was banished from the first sanctuary. Human sin resulted in a chasm between God and man. But as we know, God's grace prevails even in the face of human rebellion. And the rest of the Old Testament is a story, the story of His grace. God graciously provides a way to bridge that chasm through the promise of the gospel. And this gracious promise of the gospel is displayed even in the subsequent institution of the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant and the Levitical priesthood. God did not leave his people to be forsaken in their misery for eternity. No, God covenanted to wage a holy war against the seed of the serpent and promised to one day trample him underfoot. And the sacrificial system and the Levitical priesthood were early glimmerings of that great promise. They were an assault against the devil's claim on ruined sinners. The priestly ministry, first in the tabernacle, then in the temple, consisted of making atonement for the sins of the people by the shedding of blood. which represents life had to be shed to satisfy the demands of the law. This priestly ministry was God's way of bridging the gap, of addressing the distance that sin created between us and a holy God. Now before we move on, It's important for us to remember that even under the sacrificial system, God's people were not justified, that is, made right with God through the instrument of the blood of bulls and goats. No, we're reminded in Psalm 51 verses 16 and 17 that God was never after mere rote ritual sacrifice, but rather after contrite hearts of faith. It was through faith in the coming Messiah that Old Testament saints were saved. As we know from Hebrews chapter 11, it was through faith in the coming Lamb of God, the one to whom every old covenant sacrifice pointed, that God's people found salvation. Well, secondly this evening, we'll now consider the priestly office of Jesus Christ, our great high priest. It was necessary for Christ to perfectly fulfill and execute the office of priest if he was to be the anointed mediator between God and man. Think about how this is self-evident in creation, fall, and redemption. Adam, the first priest, was created with righteousness, which is a priestly feature. Sin's entry into the world meant that all of mankind is now tainted by sin. This is a priestly deficiency. And so, to redeem a sinful race, a true mediator must therefore be sinless, which is a priestly perfection. Jesus Christ, The last Adam was therefore anointed by God as the sinless one to save sinners. Jesus, our high priest, was anointed by God as the righteous one to save the unrighteous. Jesus, our high priest, was anointed by God as the blameless one to bear the blame of his people. Now there are essentially two stages, if you will, to Christ's priestly ministry. That of His humiliation, which took place during His first advent here on earth, and that of His exaltation, which began at the time of His ascension and will continue for all eternity. And his priestly ministry during his humiliation is wonderfully captured for us in Hebrews chapter 9, which we read earlier. If you look with me there at verse 11, we read this. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. In other words, in His death on the cross, which is described in verse 12, Jesus Christ was not only the High Priest entering into the Holy of Holies to offer sacrifices to atone for our sins, but He Himself was the sacrifice. By means of His own blood, our High Priest secured for us an eternal redemption. Verse 12. And His sacrifice was once and for all, as we read in chapter 9 and again in the next chapter of Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 10. Imagine for a moment life in ancient Israel. Priests would shed blood day in, and day out to atone for the sins of God's people. It would have been exhausting, exasperating even. The reality we're confronted with in the holy scriptures this evening is that the once for all sacrifice of Christ means that every one of your sins has been paid for on the cross if you put your trust in him. There is nothing left for you to do. There is nothing that remains for you in order to be reconciled to God. All your sins, past, present, and future, have been paid for by the precious blood of the Lamb, if you have put your hope and trust in Him. And brothers and sisters, the wonderful blessing of the Christian life is that Jesus, our High Priest, not only interceded for you and for me by bearing the wrath of God in our place on the cross, but He continues to intercede even now for you and for me as He sits at the right hand of God the Father. This is what we read in Hebrews chapter nine at the end of verse 24. Look with me there. Christ entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Child of God, if you are here this evening, and your soul is heavy with the burdens and anxieties of life under the sun, take comfort in this great truth. Christ ever lives to intercede for you and me. Christ ever lives to intercede for you and for me. His heavenly mission at this very moment is to minister as your advocate before the Father. What a wonderful thought. Our Savior, who bled and died for you and me, His love is not limited to His sacrifice on the cross for us 2,000 years ago. No, His love is ever-present, unshakable, and ongoing. His love for us continues in His heavenly intercession for us at this very moment, even now. Well, thirdly, and finally, let's consider the priestly office of every believer through our union with Him. Last Sunday, we explored how the Heidelberg Catechism helpfully captures the way in which every believer is united to Christ and thus shares in His anointing as prophet, priest, and king. And particularly with regard to the priestly office, the Heidelberg Catechism, question and answer 32, says that we are called Christians because we are members of Christ by faith and thus share in his anointing so that as a priest, we can present ourselves as a living sacrifice of thankfulness to him. Have you ever considered this before? Have you ever considered what it means when the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says in Romans chapter 12 that we are to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God, which is our spiritual worship? Have you ever considered the implications of this? It means that our entire Christian existence has a priestly dimension. Jesus, as our high priest, offered himself as a sacrifice for many. We are called to be imitators of him, to have the mind of Christ. Philippians 2, the mind of self-sacrifice. The entirety of the Christian life is nothing more than a response of worshipful thankfulness for what God has done for us in Christ. It's the entirety of the Christian life, a response of thankfulness for what God has done towards us in Christ. Do you consider that all that you have and all that you are and do you freely and willingly offer it to him? Consider what this season is really all about. Christmas is not some nostalgic or sentimental season that comes and goes every year. No, Christmas is the time of year where we consider that the Son of God came into the world in the likeness of men to become a bloody sacrifice on the cross for us and our salvation. It's the greatest Christmas gift that has ever been given. We were once enemies of God. We were once hell bound. We were once on death row. And Christ voluntarily took our sentence upon Himself. He died in our place. He died the death we deserved to give us the life we now live in Him. The only rational response for so great, for so rich a salvation, is to live our lives transformed, to live our lives with the profound sense of indebtedness to Him and to freely offer to Him all that we are and all that we have to the praise of His glory. Amen. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you that in our place condemned he stood, the Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We are so undeserving of your great love and your tender mercies displayed in Christ Jesus, and so all we can do is respond with thankful hearts and praise and glorify your name, knowing that Jesus lives, he ever lives to intercede for us before the throne of grace. We pray these things in his sweet and precious name. Amen.