Amen. Let's turn to the book of Hebrews this evening, the chapter 7, Hebrews chapter 7. This evening, we welcome you. Thank you for coming. We trust that the Lord will bless us around the word. Hebrews chapter 7, and we'll begin at the verse 19 of the chapter together. And so let's hear God's word. The word of God says, For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. by the which we draw nigh unto God. And insomuch as not without an oath he was made priest, for those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath by him that said unto him, the Lord swear and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament, And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and meet higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once when he offered up himself For the law maketh men high priests, which have infirmity. But the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the son who is consecrated forevermore. Amen, and we end our reading at the end of the chapter together. May the Lord bless the reading of his precious word. Before we get to our Easter rally in the next couple of weeks, just really two weeks from tonight, I want to tie up a few loose ends in relation to the series of messages that I commenced before our ministry meetings that really dealt with the Roman Catholic faith. Over the last number of weeks in that series of messages, we have already considered the history of the Roman Catholic Church. We thought about its authority. We thought about the papacy. Maryology with regard to the doctrine of Mary and we thought about the Mass. Tonight and next Wednesday night in the will of God we want to think about priesthood, purgatory, prayer and penance. We want to look at those matters in that order and want to see again if Rome's teachings on those matters correlate with the teaching of God's precious word. Tonight, we want to consider exclusively the matter of priesthood, the matter of priesthood. Now, you'll be aware that the Bible speaks much about priests and about the priesthood. The word priest in its various forms, whether singular, plural, or in its possessive forms, or the word priesthood appears some 960 times in the word of God. The first person who is mentioned as a priest is this man of whom we have been reading off here in Hebrews chapter 7. His name is Melchizedek. He is the king of Salem, the king of peace, and he is the one who meets Abraham having come from the slaughter of the king of Sodom. And he meets Abraham there in Genesis chapter 14, bringing with him bread and wine. Many believe that Mekezodak is a pre-incarnation appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. I would tend to agree with that, but I leave that with you and the Lord. But here we have this priest. This is the first priest. He is called the priest of the Most High God. This is how he is referred to in the book of Genesis. And then we find another priest. This isn't a priest of Jehovah, but this is an ungodly priest. He is known as a man who lived in Egypt. He was known as Potiphar. He was the priest in On, and his daughter Asenath married Joseph when he found himself in Egypt. And you can read about that priest in Genesis chapter 41. And so priesthood isn't exclusive to biblical Christianity or to Judaism. Priesthood really goes out into all world religions. Most world religions, let me say, have some form of priesthood. Whenever you move in then to the religious life of the Jewish nation, you'll find that God established a priestly order from the sons of Levi. There in Exodus chapter 28 in the verse number one, God directs Moses with these words, Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nabod, And so in ancient Israel we have priesthood, there were priests. serving God from the tribe of Levi and really those priests had three primary duties in the religious life of Israel and in the tabernacle and eventually the temple practices. First of all they ministered in the sanctuary before God and they did so by offering sacrifices to God, animal sacrifices, and also in prayer. They ministered also by teaching the law of God. The priests were involved in that. And they also inquired God concerning His will. Sacrifice, teaching and inquiring from God. These were the three duties of the Old Testament priesthood. Really the essential idea behind the priesthood in the Old Testament was that of a mediator between God and man. You see, man in his fallen sinful state is guilty before God, he is alienated from God, he is separated from God, and as a result sinful man has no right to approach on to holy God, nor does he have the ability or does he even have the desire to approach on to God. Instead he wants to flee from God, he wants to have nothing to do with God, and therefore man is helpless And therefore, he requires a representative, a mediator, to go in before God on his behalf. And that's what the priest was. He acted as a mediator for the children of Israel. He mediated on their behalf, taking the animal sacrifice, the blood sacrifice, and there presenting it before God. And as a result, and on the grounds of that blood sacrifice, He was able to mediate between God and sinful man. Now the question is, who is this priest that does this work for us now with regard to our approach unto God? You see, we believe in a priest. We believe in priesthood. Biblical Christianity affirms the need for a priest, but who is our priest? Is it the priest of the Roman Catholic Church? Is it the priest of Judaism? Is it the priest in Anglicanism? Is it the priest of the Eastern Orthodox Church? Is it the priest of the Episcopalian Church? Is it a priest from the religious system of Buddhism? And I could go on and on. As I said, most world religions have some priest, some go-between between the adherent, the follower, and God. Who is our priest? Well, it's certainly none of the ones that I have mentioned. The priest that mediates on our behalf, the priest that goes between us and God, that represents us before God, is the God-man, the man Christ Jesus. You see, the Word of God speaks about priesthood. I've said that. And really, it speaks about two kinds of priesthood. In the first place, it speaks about the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Now, the priesthood of Jesus Christ is dealt extensively within the book of Hebrews, and rightly so. We must not forget that this book was written to Jewish believers who had forsaken the outward trappings of Judaism. They had forsaken the temple, they had forsaken the altar, they had forsaken the sacrifices, the daily sacrifices, for they were now trusting in Jesus Christ, the one who had made that once and for all sacrifice for sins upon the cross of Calvary and so these are individuals and they have renounced the outer trappings of Judaism and there were those within Judaism that taunted these new believers saying that they had no priest. They had no priest and they had no sacrifice, and thereby they could never approach on to God. But the writer of this book, the book of Hebrews, this epistle, is reminding these Jewish believers that instead of them not having a priest, that they did have a priest. And that priest was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. But Christ was greater than Aaron, the great high priest or the high priest. That came first upon the scene. He was greater than Melchizedek, and this is taught throughout the book of Hebrews. Christ is superior to those priests. In Hebrews chapter 4, he speaks about this priest. Hebrews 4 verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession." You see, here were people and they were tottering. They were about to go back to Judaism. They were about to go back to the priests of the Judaism and the Hebrew religion. And yet here's Paul saying, no need for that, no need for you to go back to the outer ceremonial trappings of Judaism, for you've got a priest, and your priest isn't in some earthly tabernacle, but rather he has gone to heaven itself. And there he represents you. There he offers and produces the sacrifice that he has made for you upon the cross of Calvary. He presents that before the Father and as a result that he's in the heavens. Thank God you hold fast. Hold fast the profession of your faith. Don't relinquish your faith in Jesus Christ. You've got a priest. And His sacrifice is superior and infinitely greater than any animal sacrifice that could ever be offered upon the altar. And then in this chapter, Hebrews chapter 7, this writer, he unfolds a little about the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are a few distinctiveness. distinctives of Christ's priesthood that really does reveal and show the superiority of Christ's priesthood compared to any earthly priesthood. In the verses 22 through to 25, we see that Christ's priesthood is an unchangeable priesthood. It is an unchangeable priesthood. That's the very term that's used in the verse 24. But this man, speaking of Jesus Christ, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. In verse 25, We read here that not only is Christ's priesthood an unchangeable priesthood, it is an unending priesthood. He ever liveth. whilst the Old Testament priests had to relinquish their ministry because of death, and that's what already has been said within this chapter, and will be said as we go down here. These priests, they died, yet this priest never dies. He ever liveth. His is an unending priesthood. In verse 26, we read that his priesthood is an undefiled priesthood. We read that Christ is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. What priest on earth could you say that about? No earthly priest, but this priest, he has an undefiled priesthood. That's what makes his pleadings effectual before the Father. He's one without sin, and he takes our cause before the Father, and he pleads on our behalf in the verses 27, through to 28, Christ's priesthood is an unhindered priesthood. He continually offers up sacrifice. He has no sacrifice to offer for his own sins, but Christ has offered himself once. he offers has offered himself up to God and as a result his is an unhindered priesthood and then in the verse 27 again we see that his is an unrepeating priesthood he needeth not to offer up daily sacrifices for his sacrifice is a once and for all sacrifice you see when Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for sins that sacrifice ended all other sacrifices by that sacrifice he has obtained eternal redemption for us and thus the need for any earthly priesthood offering up inferior sacrifices was no longer required and thus it was abolished Through Christ's priesthood, the priesthood of Judaism was abolished. It was rendered unneedful, no longer required. The once and for all sacrifice for sins has been made. Therefore, no need for an earthly priesthood. One Christian writer wrote the abolition of the priestly caste. which through the old dispensation stood between God and man, was dramatically illustrated at the very moment that Christ died on the cross. When he cried, it is finished, a sound filled the temple as the veil that separated the sanctuary from the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom. The ministering priests found themselves gazing at the torn veil with wondering eyes, for God's own hand had removed the curtain. And it opened up the way into the Holy of Holies, symbolizing by that act that no longer did man have to approach Him through the mediation of an earthly priest, but that the way of access to Him is now open to all. Thank God there is a new and living way, and we need no earthly mediators. to come between us and God. We have one in the glory, Christ himself, who mediates on our behalf. And thus, the Old Testament priests were made redundant when Christ offered himself for sin upon the cross. And so the Bible speaks about the priesthood of Jesus Christ. But the Bible also speaks about the priesthood of all believers. the priesthood of all believers this teaching of the priesthood of all believers sets forth the truth that every believer by virtue of the death of jesus christ and our union with him that every believer every believer i need to say it again for emphasis that every believer every believer has access into god's presence and to offer up to him sacrifices, not animal sacrifices, but the sacrifice of prayer and the sacrifice of praise. Every child of God has the high privilege of going directly to God in prayer without the mediation of an earthly priest and of interceding for themselves and for others. The priesthood of all believers consists in two things. Immediate access to God in prayer on behalf of oneself We read of that in Romans 5 verse 2, Ephesians 2, 18, 1 Peter 3 verse 18, and also the right and the duty of intercession on behalf of others. Timothy Martin Lindsay wrote a book called The Reformation, and he said this about the priesthood of all believers. He said, And it is the one great religious principle which lies at the basis of the whole Reformation movement, this truth of the priesthood of all believers. It was the rock on which all attempts at reunion with an unreformed Christendom was wrecked. It is the one outstanding difference between the followers of the reformed and the medieval religion. We believe in the priesthood of all believers. Why do we believe that? Because the reformers preached about it? Because Luther made it one of the keystones of the Reformation when he preached? No, we don't believe it because of that primarily, but simply we believe it because it's taught within Holy Scripture. We are taught in Scripture that we are made priests. unto God. Let me show that to you from the book of the Revelation. Just three references there. Revelation chapter 1 is the first reference. Revelation chapter 1. Let's read the second part of verse 5 and then into verse 6. It says, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. We're made priests by God, kings and priests unto God. That's who you are tonight. You're of royal pedigree. You're a king, you're a queen, and you're also a priest. You've been made a priest unto God. Turn there to chapter 5 of the same book, verse number 9. The second part of that verse, it says, Thou wert worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for Thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and has made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. There it is again, we're made kings and priests. We're made unto God, unto our God, we're made kings and priests. Revelation 20 verse 6. Revelation 20 in the verse 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, and such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. But John isn't the only one who speaks about the priesthood of all believers. Peter speaks about this in 1 Peter chapter 2 and the verse number 5. Because we read there, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. You know, these verses alone in Revelation and 1 Peter 2 contradict the pretentious claims of the Roman Catholic Church, which limits the priesthood to simply a few chosen men who have been set apart from the laity, from the congregation. This refutes the claim that priesthood is only for a certain chosen class of men. The teaching of Scripture is that all have been made priests unto God. The Protestant reformer John Calvin wrote about these two priesthood, the priesthood of Christ and our priesthood in his Institutes of Christian Religion. And he wrote this, Christ once for all offered a sacrifice of eternal expiation and reconciliation now having also entered the sanctuary of heaven he intercedes for us and him we are all praise he says but to offer praises and thanksgiving, in short, to offer ourselves and ours to God. It was his office alone to appease God and atone for sins by his offering. And so in that statement, we have the two priesthood, Christ and his priesthood. He offers up the sacrifice for our sins. but he also says that in him we are all priests and we offer up sacrifices of praises and thanksgiving to God. We offer up spiritual sacrifices. Roman Catholicism does not believe in the priesthood of all believers. The only people who are priests are those whom the church herself has trained, have been ordained, and have received something of the authority which comes from apostolic succession. The Roman Catholic Church, the priesthood, occupies so important a position in the whole system that no Catholic can hope to gain salvation, blessing, or divine help without a functioning priest to perform the rituals like the mass, prayers for the dead, absolution of sins, the seven sacraments, and even to interpret the Bible. The Catholic is lost without the priest. That's why the priest holds great sway, or he used to, at least. over those of Roman Catholic faith and belief. Now, Rome wrongly exalts her priests. The Council of Trent says this. Listen to this statement. The priest is the man of God, the minister of God. He that despiseth the priest despiseth God. He that hears him hears God. The priest remits sins as God. What a statement. And that which he calls his body at the altar is adored as God by himself and by the congregation. It is clear that their function is such that none greater can be conceived. Wherefore, they are justly called not only angels, but also God. holding as they do among us the power and the authority of the immortal God. To call a sinful, finite man God is utter blasphemy, utter blasphemy. To ascribe God's power and God's authority to them is also blasphemy. To say that a priest can remit sins, that he himself can do that, he can sit as judge and jury, and he himself can absolve a man or woman's sins, is to take to himself something that is only given to God. The priest is an imposter. He sets himself against Christ. who alone can and does, thank God, forgive sins. There's much that we could think about when it comes to the matter of a priest, and I'm not going to extend tonight's message much further. But I want to look at two things with regard to the Roman Catholic priesthood. I want you to think, first of all, about confession or the confessional. Confession is a sacrament of the Roman Catholic faith. According to Roman Catholic teaching, a confession is telling of our sins to an authorized priest for the purpose of obtaining forgiveness. The sacrament of confession, also known as reconciliation, allows the Roman Catholic to renounce the sins that they have committed and to seek absolution for their sins. Canon law, that law that rules the Catholic Church, 876 says, in the confessional, the minister or the priest has the power to forgive all crimes committed after baptism. Instructions for Non-Catholics is a book that is used for those who want to join the Roman Catholic Church. And it says the following regarding the confession of sins and the priest's role in it. It says, the priest does not have to ask God to forgive your sins. The priest himself has the power to do so in Christ's name. Your sins are forgiven by the priest, the same as if you knelt before Jesus Christ and told them to Christ himself. It's terrible. What sayeth the scriptures to that claim? Well, the Scriptures tell me that confession of sin is not to be made to an authorized priest of the Church of Rome, but to God alone. 1 John 1 verse 9 teaches us the tremendous privilege that every penitent sinner has, whereby they are able to confess their sins directly to God and to God alone. If we confess our sins, He is faithful just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It is God alone who forgives sins. Now, the Roman Catholic, they'll say, well, what does it not say in James 5 verse 16? You see, in James 5 verse 16, it says, confess your faults one to another. and pray one for another that ye may be healed. Does that not give grounds then that we are to confess our sins to someone, a human being within the church? We are to confess our faults one to another. However, We need to note the context of those words because James is speaking about the healing of physical ailments. And really, this confession and this confession of faults is confined to those who are seeking to be healed physically. There's no mention in the verse, that I notice anyway, of a priest or a minister to whom this confession of the fault is to be made. Rather, the confession of the fault is to be made to those who we have injured by our faults. We are to take our confession to those that we have wronged, and we are to make confession to them. And also notice that there is no mention of absolution being granted either by a priest or by any other person, simply that the person would be healed, that ye may be healed. Not that you might be absolved or forgiven of your sins, that's something that only God can do, but that you might be healed, physically healed. The Bible reminds me that if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. John does not say that we have a priest to whom we go to and confess our sins to, and then we receive forgiveness from that. Christ, know our advocate is Jesus Christ, and to him confession of sin is made, for he hath alone the power on earth to forgive sins. Sins are only truly forgiven when people confess their sins to God, and thus it is blasphemy for any creature to undertake the pardoning of sin, because that is God's prerogative. What does God say? In the Old Testament, I, even I, I'm he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins. This is God's prerogative. And so the need to go into a confessional box to confess sins knows no basis in scripture whatsoever. Thank God we can go to God and confess our sins to him. Thank God he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. One ex-Roman Catholic talked about the confessional box as being a place where the priest had his finger on the pulse with regard to all that was happening, not only in the community but also in the marital home and even closer within the marital bond. Espionage, I think was the word he used. The confessional. And then the second matter connected with Rome's priesthood is that of celibacy. Celibacy is the abstaining from marriage. Now celibacy is not to be mixed up with the vow of chastity, which really involves those within Rome's religious orders abstaining from sexual relationships. regarding Rome's insistence on celibacy for her priests. It seems ironic that she would teach such. She teaches that marriage is a sacrament, that it's something that's regarded as sacred and as holy, and yet, on the other hand, she denies marriage to her priests and to her monks and to her nuns, who are supposed to be the holiest of people. Yet she denies them this sacrament or this opportunity to marry. Did you know that such a teaching did start to appear even in Scripture? Paul would write about that in 1 Timothy chapter 4. He spoke about those who were preaching the doctrines of devils. And what was part of the doctrine they were teaching? Forbidding to marry. That was part of the doctrine of devils that Paul mentions in 1 Timothy chapter 4. And yet, in the Council of Trent, in relation to marriage, this is what the papacy says, So Paul teaches that the teaching that forbids marrying is a doctrine of devils, Rome states that it is more blessed to remain in virginity or celibacy than to be joined in marriage. So the question is, which of these two statements do we believe? How can these two statements ever be reconciled? Paul says that it was a doctrine of devils to say that you were to forbid to marry. And now Rome says that her priests and her nuns and her monks are not to marry. How can you reconcile them? Well, you can't reconcile them. And so the question is, who do you believe? The scriptures or Rome? I know which I would rather believe. Now it is true that Jesus Christ never married, but yet he never imposed a rule against marriage for Christian ministers, nor did any of his apostles. In fact, Peter, the supposed first Roman pontiff, didn't believe in celibacy. You know that Peter was a married man. That's recorded for us on two separate occasions. Matthew 8, 14, and when Jesus was coming to Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid and sick of a fever. Peter had a wife. He had a mother-in-law as well. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 5, have we not the power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as the other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas, now we know who Cephas is from John 1 verse 42, Cephas is Peter, another name for Peter, Christ said that his name would be Cephas, and here we have this thought about leading about a wife as the other apostles. So the other apostles, they were all married. And the brethren of the Lord, the Savior's half-brothers, they were married. And so was Cephas. Peter was married. And then in Paul's letter to Timothy, his first letter to Timothy, he speaks about those within church government. And he speaks about a bishop or minister. And he says about that man that he is to be the husband of one wife. And so Paul does not place celibacy on the minister of the gospel, the New Testament minister. He says that the man should be the husband of one wife, and then Titus 1, We read about the elders, they're again, they're to be the husbands of one wife. The deacons, 1 Timothy 3 verse 12, each teach that they are to be the husband of one wife, ruling their children in their own house as well. And so we have Paul, we have Christ, we have the example of the apostles. These men all find themselves in a married state. So why then does Rome teach that her priests are not to be married? I don't know. They certainly have no biblical basis for it. Charles Hodge said about this doctrine or this teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, he says that it is strongly anti-Christian. That's what he said, strongly anti-Christian. Sadly, many of the things that have happened in the Roman Catholic Church with regard to all of her abusing can be traced back to this particular teaching, where men are forced to remain in an unmarried state. It really goes against the teaching of holy scripture. God said, who so findeth a wife, findeth a good thing, that it is not good for a man to be alone. And so we find Rome, entangled with scandal after scandal, abuse after abuse, all, I believe, can be traced back to this anti-biblical teaching. I need to end, but let me just say, let nobody tell you that biblical Christianity doesn't believe in a priesthood. It does. Biblical Christianity believes in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, And as a consequence of the death of Christ and our union with Christ, it also believes in the priesthood of all believers. And as priests unto God, tonight we have a privilege and a right to exercise before God in prayer. Let us then exercise that privilege and right. Let's go to God in prayer. Let's pray for ourselves and the need of others. May God bless the word of God to our hearts and our souls this evening for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, bless thy word, Lord. We thank thee for the priesthood of Christ, our great high priest, the one who has entered heaven for us, who has finished the work has brought an end to all earthly priesthoods and all the need for earthly priests. He's within the veil and he there lives on our behalf, the perfect, sinless, holy priest of his people. We rejoice that we believe in the priest with the nail-scarred hands, the one who has made himself the sacrifice for sins. Oh, deliver our countrymen from priestcraft. Deliver them, Lord, from this fear that they have. Oh, God of leaving the Roman Catholic Church. They'll no longer have a priest to pray for them, to offer up sacrifices for them. May they find in Christ a suitable priest who has done all that is needed to reconcile us to God and them to God. For we pray these, our prayers in Jesus' precious name. Amen and amen.