Introduction:

Kenneth Lee Lay was an American businessman. He played a leading role in the corruption scandal that led to the downfall of the Enron Corporation. Lay was the CEO and chairman of Enron from 1985 until his resignation in 2002. On July 7, 2004, Lay was indicted by a grand jury on 11 counts of securities fraud and he was found guilty on May 25, 2006, of 10 counts against him. Legal experts said Lay could have faced 20 to 30 years in prison. However, he never served one day. No, he died while vacationing about three and a half months before his scheduled October 23 sentencing. Kenneth Lee Lay was guilty of crimes but the law had no claim on him; why? He was dead to the law. It is an axiom.
It’s a self-evident truth, the Law doesn’t apply to dead people it applies only to living people. We know that the Law is intended for the benefit of earthly man and binds only the living. Likewise, the believer who dies with Christ is also dead to the law, so that it has no claims on him. That’s why Hebrews 10:10 says, “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” In that one offering when He took the full fury of the law for us, we were delivered from the law as a source of condemnation.

I Jesus is our Permanent Priest (7:11-19).

1. Now, the writer asks if perfection, or righteousness, can be achieved through the priesthood of Levi. If so, why did God establish a different priesthood with a priest in the order of Melchisedec, instead of the order of Aaron (7:11)? God never intended the Levitical priesthood to last forever.

God has set aside Judaism, brought in a new priesthood, not something just out of the blue, but patterned after Melchizedek’s; and you’ll remember that Melchizedek was very important, because Abraham actually paid tithes to Melchizedek; and Abraham, in a sense, was acting for the whole nation of Israel. So Melchizedek is greater than Aaron, and since Jesus Christ is a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, He is greater than Aaron. There is a better priest then and a better covenant and Judaism has thus been set aside.

2. Note verse 18, the word disannulling, ä-the’-tā-sēs (a-fay-ti-ses), has to do with the doing away of something that is established. It is used, for example of annulling a treaty, of annulling a promise, a law, a regulation, of erasing a man’s name from something. It has to do with removing what is established. The whole ceremonial system is wiped out. It is annulled. It is done away with. God wipes it out; and He wiped it out for good in 70 AD when He destroyed the temple. The old system could reveal sin. It could cover sin. It could give a relative measure of drawing near to God, but not full perfection.

3. The Law instituted the Levitical priesthood, but perfection, or being right¬eous before God, could not be achieved through it. This is because the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God (7:19). The Levitical priesthood was just a picture of a better priesthood to come-Jesus Christ. Therefore, when the priesthood is changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law (7:12). The law does not give you a better hope. The law does not draw you near to God the way God’s grace given in Jesus does. Yet many Christians live a legal relationship with God instead of a grace relationship with Him.

Jesus never needs to be replaced nor does he need any help with his priestly ministry. Praise God he has it all under control and there is no way man can mess up this ministry of the Lord.

II Jesus Saves Completely (7:20-25).

1. This new system that has been established is not without an oath, while those priests were made without an oath (7:20-21 a). It is not necessary for God to give an oath because He cannot lie, but He does so to add emphasis to this special promise. In verse 21b, the writer of Hebrews states that Je¬sus was made a priest with an oath. Then, he quotes a reference to the Messiah in Psalm 110:4, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever. This means Jesus is our eternal High Priest. Because of this oath, Jesus is the surety-the One who guarantees the better testament with God (7:22).

2. Each Levitical priest had an unavoidable term limit-death (7:23). But because Jesus lives forever, he has an unchangeable priesthood (7:24). He is a superior High Priest because He will never need a successor. This truth should bring peace to your heart. Now we come to one of the great¬est verses in the Bible, which tells us Jesus is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him (7:25a-b). This means Jesus saves completely and eternally. Then, Hebrews 7:25 declares— Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

III Jesus (7:26-28).

1. The verb translated intercession is present tense, which means Jesus is continually interceding for us and asking God the Father to act graciously on our behalf. Every time I confess a sin, Jesus says to the Father, “I’m Tony’s High Priest and I have already made the sacrifice for that sin; so you can be gracious to him and forgive the poor guy.”

2. Jesus, our high priest, is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. 27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the peo¬ple’s- for this he did once, when he offered up himself (7:26-27). Because Jesus is not after the order of the Levitical priesthood, but is after the or¬der of Melchisedec and appointed by God, you can relax. You can be at peace because Jesus saves completely once for all and continually makes intercession for you…

3. “If the priesthood is to be defunct, then there must be a changing of all of the ceremonial laws.” Certainly, there’s not a doing away of God’s moral law. It’s not all of a sudden right for us to say, “Well, we’re under the new covenant. We may now commit adultery, steal, lie, covet, etc., etc., take the Lord…Lord’s name in vain.” No, God does not set aside His moral law. Paul says in Romans 7, “The law is holy, just, and good.” But the ceremonial law, the Mosaic system of sacrifices has been set aside. That’s what He’s saying.

You don’t have to worry about offering a sacrifice-Jesus did that once ¬and-for-all. (Eph. 2:8).

4. The believer has been liberated from the Law’s penalty because Christ met its demands of death on the cross. Paul expresses this truth by saying, Know ye not brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? (7:1). The law only has authority over living people. If a person is shot and killed while attempt¬ing to rob a bank, you won’t see a policeman handcuffing him and taking him to jail or like the example of Kenneth Lee Lay; they are dead and the law has no claim on them. You can’t be convicted and executed for murder if you are already dead – you can’t be sued to libel if you are dead – and etc. Likewise, the believer who dies with Christ is also dead to the law, so that it has no claims on him.

Conclusion:

The responsibility of sin falls on the person who has willingly submitted to selfish desires rather than to God’s holy Law. The design of the Law was to reveal that we have a choice between right and wrong–heaven and hell. The law is a condemning power.
It is not to say that you no longer have any interest or obligation in the law as a moral responsibility, but as a condemning power it has no authority over you. Christ took your condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1

That why we come to the communion table to remember His sacrifice…

When we feel that no one understands or can help us, we are reminded that Jesus gave us Himself, and He knows exactly who we are and what we are facing today.

Jesus was made like us, “fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God”