 And let's begin reading together at verse 20. I'll read to verse 28 and we'll get into our study. Hebrews chapter seven beginning at verse 20, reading to the conclusion of the chapter. The writer writes, and as much 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. And there were many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing, but he because he continues forever has an unchangeable priesthood. And therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost, those who come to God through him, since he ever 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 peoples. 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. Now the writer here is continuing a thought that he had earlier begun. And he had spoken of the fact that there is a bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God. He had just made that statement. And so the point he's making is we have a better hope through Jesus Christ. And the reason we have a better hope through Jesus is because he's superior. He's superior or better than any human priest. He is what he's been referring to in this section. He is our high priest. And that means that we simply draw near to God through him. Now as he's looking at this passage, we need to remember that God never said that in the Aaronic or Levitical priesthood that that priesthood would be permanent. Nowhere is it found in the Old Testament that God ever said that that priesthood is permanent. But because it was ancient, undoubtedly many of the Jews considered it to be permanent or assumed it to be because it was so old. Now as understandable as that is, it has no basis in scripture. And therefore they had no legitimacy for believing that. He makes it very clear that in the ministry of Jesus Christ, there is a priesthood that was established with an oath. But in the priesthood of the Levites, there was no oath. God did not make a promise or an oath when he established that priesthood. When the priests were consecrated to his service, you don't see any indication in the Old Testament that God ever makes an oath concerning that. We're gonna look at this in detail in just a moment. But you see no oath made by God when he established the priesthood. Now you do see God having the priests anointed and consecrated, you see that in the Old Testament, Book of Exodus. If you take notes, it's found in Exodus chapter 28 verses 40 and 41. In that section it says Aaron's sons. For Aaron's sons, you shall make tunics and you shall make sashes for them and you shall make hats for them for glory and beauty. So you shall put them on Aaron, your brother and on his sons with him. You shall anoint them, consecrate them and sanctify them that they may minister to me as priests. So you make the hats and you make the garments. And the garments that they made, and I hadn't done, I wasn't gonna share on this, but it just hit me, I think I will. He had said you shall make hats for them for glory and beauty. When you read the description of the garments of the priests, especially when you look at the description of the high priest, the garments that he wore were brilliant white and absolutely beautiful in every way. And he had a breast plate with 12 gems on them, which represented the 12 tribes of Israel. And as they put the garments on the priest and they put the sash, the tunic they put on the hat and all of the garments that he had as he was standing there, as he has been now clothed with these garments so that he might go out and minister unto the Lord and before the people. They would next take oil and they would drench him with the oil. You know, when you get a picture of the anointing, sometimes you may be thinking that they took their thumb perhaps and simply did some small markings on him. Basically what they did is they drenched him from head to toe and so all of these glorious garments were now consecrated or anointed because there was nothing to take away. There was to be nothing to take away from the glory and the beauty of the Lord even though they were wearing beautiful garments. The garments were now soaked with oil so that they were a picture of man's frailty being consecrated and God's oil being that consecrating element. In other words, today you are consecrated by the Holy Spirit, drenched by the Spirit of God so that any beauty that you might have takes the second place to the anointing of the Spirit of God. And so when the high priest was anointed and his sons were anointed with this oil, it was a symbol of the consecration. It was a symbol of them being set apart in order that they might minister unto the Lord. Now, he anointed them, he had them anointed by oil but he never made an oath that their priesthood would be permanent. When it came to Jesus though, God swore an oath that his priesthood was permanent. You see that in verse 21 when it says 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. And so the Aaronic priesthood, the priest in the Old Testament who came from the lineage of Aaron, the brother of Moses did not receive an oath from God where God said to them your priesthood is permanent. But on the other hand, Jesus Christ, his priesthood has an oath, God has sworn an oath that his priesthood is forever. That's what he's saying here in verse 21 when he says you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. And so God made an oath. That word oath is a solemn formal declaration or promise to fulfill a pledge. So God established the priesthood of Christ with an oath in order that he might ensure its constant validity. Interestingly enough, as you look at verse 21, you'll notice that this is a scripture you've seen quoted more than once in the book of Hebrews. In verse 17, he had quoted the same scripture. As a matter of fact, he quotes this particular Psalm, it's Psalm 110 verse four, some four times in this letter. And so what he's saying is God's oath provides additional confirmation to man. He does not need to do so, but he chooses to in order to show that Jesus' priesthood is permanent. So notice he says in verse 21, the Lord has sworn and will not relent. That word relent means he won't change his mind. He's made an eternal decision about Jesus' priesthood and that decision is that is forever. And so the oath demonstrates Jesus' superiority over Aaron. Aaron's priesthood is temporary, Jesus is permanent. He goes on in verse 22 to say, by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. Now when he says he's become a surety of a better covenant, that word better means that which is useful or advantageous. Those who look to Jesus find in him a guarantee that all of God's promises are met in him. And God's promises are better because they're unconditional and unconditional grace has been made in terms of promises that's been made to us so we can receive from Christ his unconditional grace and therefore his grace is permanent towards us. Moses was given orders by God to give commands to the nation of Israel. And when God was speaking to Moses, Moses brought promises to the children of Israel but the promises that he gave to the children of Israel as you study the Old Testament were what are called conditional promises. If you do this, then I will do this is how it goes in the Old Testament. If you keep my law, I will bless you. It's a conditional promise. You see it in Exodus in chapter 19 verses five and six where God says, if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites. In Deuteronomy 28, one he said, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all his commandments which I command you today that the Lord your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth then God says, I'll continue to minister into you. So if you do these things, then I will do that. Now under the new covenant, God now says that he's gonna fulfill the law's requirements for us. In the Old Testament, he says, do this and you shall live. In the New Testament, God says, you can't do that. Therefore, I will do it on your behalf and as a result of that, you shall receive grace promises from me. Paul points out that the law had a variety of reasons. When God gave the law to the nation of Israel it was to establish them in a relationship with him. And it had a variety of reasons and you can see numerous reasons why in the Old Testament. But when Paul was speaking concerning the law in the New Testament, there were other reasons that God gave the law. There's actually two reasons that I'll give to you very briefly. One reason was to awaken in us a reality of our need for salvation because we began to discover what was right and what was wrong by what God said is right and wrong. We have within us, in other words, an impulse towards sin, a basic instinct, if you will, towards doing that which is wrong. But we can do those things that we know are wrong or rather we can do those things without knowing they're wrong, we simply do them because they're natural for us to do. And so a child, for example, a child may steal something. We know that it's stealing because they're taking from somebody. But if you speak to the child and they're four or five years old and by that time probably have some sense of this isn't really a proper thing to do. But if you speak to them and you say, why did you take that, they'll look at you and it's like you're foolish. I mean, why did I take that? Because I wanted that. I mean, why are you asking me that? I can still remember my son, David, who was probably about three years old at the time. And he had those little pajamas with feet. You know, those little, he still does, but don't tell him I told you, but he had these pajamas with little feet. And we took him to a friend of mine's house to play with his son who was the same age. And we were there visiting and having coffee. It was one evening. And so we got David and Corrine and wrapped him up and put him in our car and drove on home and then I picked the babies up and I took them into the house. And as I was bringing David in, I remember noticing that one of his legs, one of the pant legs of the pajama legs was hanging a lot lower than the other one. And I thought, how interesting is this? And so I brought him in and I laid him down on his bed and when I laid him down on the bed, you know, he had one real long leg there. So I reached over and I started grabbing the little foot there and I felt something there. And so I ensnapped his pajamas and I shook them out and there were these little matchbox cars. And I knew that they weren't his, you know, they were his friend Adams. He had stolen these matchbox cars and I felt terrible. I really did. I said, oh my, my son is a thief. Now he was only three years old, you know, and I'm making a big deal out of it in my own mind because his mother was a thief and I was afraid. No, she stole my heart. But as I saw that, I thought, oh no, I've got a stealing son, you know. And so I called up Debbie, the mother of Adam and I called Debbie and I said, Debbie, I am so sorry. I said, my son, David stole some of Adams' cars and she starts to laugh and she says, don't care about it. Don't worry at all. She says, I've got several of David's cars over here. Adams had been stealing from David all along. They'd been stealing from one another. It's just natural for them to take what is not theirs simply because they want that. As they grow older though, and you begin to teach them, you teach them, you know, you ought to work for what you possess or receive it as a gift but never take it just because you want it. And yet they grow older and they begin to take things perhaps because they want it and they know at that point that they're stealing. At least they know that they've been told not to do that. Now, as a Christian family, you're going through the Bible. You teach them things, principles of scripture and one day you're reading Exodus 20 and the scripture there in God's speaking says, thou shalt not steal. And so you explain to the children, you know, when you take an object that doesn't belong to you without permission, that's called stealing and it's wrong. Well, the apostle Paul said that the law awakened in him the reality of the knowledge of what covenessness is simply because God said, thou shalt not do that. And when God said, thou shalt not do that, it awakened in him the reality of the fact that that's what he does naturally. He does take things, we'll say, or he does have a covetous heart, a desire for things that don't belong to him or whatever it may be. So Paul said, the law served the purpose of awakening within us the reality of our imperfection. Not only that, but when he spoke to the Galatians, he said, the law is our school master intended by God to bring us to Jesus Christ. The law was intended for us to be awakened to the reality of our sin so that we would come to Christ who is the one who gives to us unconditional grace. And so in the Old Testament, you have God saying, if you do this, you will live. In the New Testament, God says, you can't do those things and therefore I did those things on your behalf in my son, Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter eight, verses three and four, Paul said, what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the spirit. Jesus Christ came perfectly fulfilled the will of his father and gives to us what we didn't have before, his righteousness. Jesus is the only person that we've ever seen in recorded history who could look at somebody, as a matter of fact, could look at a large crowd which would include his mother and his brothers and sisters and he could say, which of you can convict me of sin and not a single one of those people could say I can, not a single one could because he every always did those things that pleased his father. And so he was the one who fulfilled all of God's righteous commands. Now, in the Old Testament, people would be obedient because they were fearful of punishment. Hebrews chapter two verse two said, the message spoken by angels was binding and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment. And so there was a motivation by fear because they would receive punishment. But under Jesus, we are moved by love. We're moved by love through a willing heart and a willing mind. And it's God who gives to us a willing heart and it is God who gives to us a willing mind. If you take notes, Ezekiel gives us a wonderful promise. Ezekiel 36 verses 26 and 27. God said, a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them. Many times as an unbeliever, I had come to the point where I realized that I was helpless and hopeless and I can still remember just before I got saved. As a matter of fact, I can't help but believe that the Lord was moving me towards salvation when all of this was taking place. But I could still remember crying to the Lord in a physical way, crying out to God, saying to him, I'm tired of this life that I'm living. I'm tired of the way that I am. I'm tired of hurting people. I'm tired of hurting my mom and my dad. I'm just tired of the way that I am and I need help, God, and I don't know what to do. I've shared this with you before, but it was coming to a pinnacle in August of 1970. I had turned 20 years old and I had another friend of mine who was turning 19 and another friend who was turning like 21. And we all celebrated our birthdays at the same time because our birthdays were within like two or three days of one another. I had been drafted to go into the military and I was supposed to report for active duty August 25th. My birthday was August 24th, rather August 23rd, but on August 24th we gathered together for a party. And we stayed up pretty much until about three o'clock in the morning. I remember some of that fairly well. I do remember drinking and smoking pot and dropping some drugs and things like that. I remember that. I remember walking home and climbing into my car that was parked on the side of the house because we were partying only about three or four blocks away from where I lived. And I do remember being inside of my car with a couple of friends smoking marijuana. I remember that. And my mom had left the kitchen light on there at the side of the house and I could see my mom looking out the window in the direction that she thought I'd be walking home. And I remember as I was smoking pot, seeing my mom looking out the window to see what her son would come home. And I waited until she turned the light off there in the kitchen. And I waited until about three in the morning. And so I said goodbye to my friends and walked into the house and quietly walked into my room. And I remember laying down on the bed and getting up about 5.30 in the morning. So two and a half hours of sleep or so. I went into the kitchen where my dad and my two sisters and my mom were there in their kitchen. And my mom looked at me. Her eyes were swollen with tears. My dad was very upset. He had his arms folded. He was leaning against the sink. And my two sisters were crying. And my mom looked at me and she said, why couldn't you come home one night? Because I hadn't been home. I'd go out and party and I'd come home all hours. And then I'd been doing that for a year. Why couldn't you come home at your last night here? You're going to leave today. You're leaving right now to go into the military. We won't see you for two years. And your brother, when he went into the military, actually was so sad that he was leaving us, that he climbed in the bed between your father and me and cried and slept next to us because it was his last night with the family. But you didn't even come home. And I remember looking at my mom and my dad and I said, so what? So what? I'll be gone for two years. You'll have nothing to worry about. You won't see me. No more pressure. Sure. So what? I had not a single sense of a heart, no single sense of concern. My mom was crying. My dad was upset. My dad drives me to Los Angeles to the induction center there in LA, gives to me $10, and just looks at me and says, well, good luck, son. And I said, yeah. And I remember climbing out and not even turning around to say goodbye to my father. I just walked into the induction center. And as I went in there and sat down, I was just all bummed out. I was totally hungover. I remember that. And I didn't care about anything. I didn't care about anyone. I had a friend of mine. His name was Gary. And Gary was seated there next to me. We both got rejected that day from the military. He for something he had done and me for something that they hadn't cleared from my record. And I remember coming home after spending my dad's $10. I called a friend of mine and he said, come and pick us up. And I had $10. And my friend Gary had some marijuana. We smoked some pot, went and got some breakfast. And I came home loaded. And I came walking into the house. I was 20 years old. Just a couple of days past my 20th birthday. And I came walking into that house. And as I walked into the house, my dad looked at me. As I walked past him, he said, what are you doing here? And I said, even the army doesn't want me. And I laughed. And I walked into my room. And I continued going down further and further and further until I finally hit rock bottom. I was in Monterey. It was in September. I was there for the Monterey Pop Festival and dropping psilocybin, absolutely loaded for three or four days, drunk, everything. And I finally got to the bottom of my life. And I finally realized, unless something happens in me, I'm not going to make it. Unless something happens in me, my life is going nowhere. There's just nothing I can do. And I began at that point to start crying out to God, saying to him, you've got to do something. There's got to be something done to change my life because I'm driving my parents crazy. I'm hurting everybody that loves me. I don't know what to do. And it was shortly thereafter that the Lord broke into my life. And what he did is he didn't tell me try harder. He didn't give me more rules and regulations, more ordinances and things that I have to do to become acceptable to him. What he did is he pointed me to Jesus Christ to fulfill his righteous requirements on my behalf and pointed me to grace, to the grace of God that transforms people's lives. The promise that God gave in Ezekiel, I will give you a new heart, I'll give you a new spirit. I'll write my law on the tablet of your heart and from within you'll have a desire to do those things that are pleasing to me. Philippians 2.13 says it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. And so God has done what we could not do. He did it on our behalf. He gave to us a high priest, Jesus Christ, who ever lives to make intercession for us, who ministers to us at all times whenever we have need. Jesus has become our guarantee. He's the one who assumed responsibility that the oath is kept. Jesus is the one assuring us that we have eternal life because it comes through him. He had said in John 6.47, I say unto you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. So Jesus is that one that we turn to. He has become a surety of a better covenant, a covenant of grace. In verse 23, there were many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing. There was a succession because a priest would ultimately either retire or he would die. And so there was a succession of priests. They needed to have a new priest all along. And so an order of succession had to be established because of that. The priesthood was a dying priesthood. But he says in verse 24, but he, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. So this points to the superiority of Jesus' priesthood. He never dies. He continues as a priest forever. So in Aaron, replacement was necessary because of retirement or death, but not so with Jesus. Notice verse 24 says his priesthood is unchangeable. That word unchangeable simply means that it doesn't pass onto a successor. It's non-transferable. God has placed Christ in this priesthood. No one else can step into it. And as that priest for us, verse 25, therefore, he is also, now notice this, he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him since he ever lives to make intercession for them. He is able to save. One that gives to me the insight that I don't save myself. He is able to save is what he says. So one, remember that you have a savior and that savior's name is Jesus Christ. He is the one who saves you. And secondly, I want you to notice that the scripture says here, he is able to save to the uttermost. He is able to save completely. He is able to save perfectly. He is able to save eternally because there is no greater sacrifice that can be given. Jesus Christ has done a work for you that can give to you tonight a sense of relationship with him on a permanent basis. I don't want to and never wanted to have a relationship with God that was based on my works and my efforts to remain close to him alone. I can have a sense of assurance that God has done the work on my behalf. And that assurance of salvation that comes to that realization that Jesus Christ did the work causes me to realize that even in my moments of weakness or the times that I may fail, which are natural for me to do because I can do that through thought or word or deed and I do that in one form or another every day. Every day there's not a single day that comes that I don't fail in one way or another just like you. But I don't fear that I'm losing my relationship with God because he is able to save to the uttermost completely and forever it's been said from the guttermost to the uttermost from the lowest to the highest the Lord can work in your life. And Jesus gave a tremendous promise in John's gospel chapter five verse 24. He said most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life shall not come into judgment but has passed from death unto life. He who hears my word and believes on him who sent me has eternal life. It's a present tense experience. It's not something you're working to gain. It's not something that if I try hard enough for long enough he ultimately will grant me an entrance into the kingdom of God because I tried so hard for so long. God doesn't grade on the curve and God doesn't grade concerning my efforts for him. What God requires as I find in scripture is simple faith in him, trust in him, belief in him, holding fast to him, regarding him and clinging to him in a complete fashion. And yes I can fail and yes you can too but he can save to the uttermost. And somebody perhaps needs to hear that tonight. He can save you completely. He can save you forever. Now when he saves you your life changes. I've met too many people who try to have heaven and hell at the same time. You can't have both. You can't serve God and you can't serve the world simultaneously. You can't have two masters. What Jesus said is you simply need to make a choice but you need to understand that if you're not serving me, if you're not on my side, then you are in opposition to me. There's no middle ground. And so he can save me to the uttermost because he has given himself completely for me. But what I do is I embrace him through complete faith and trust in him and no longer am I busy trying to make myself good enough for God. I remember a friend of mine, his name is Nick. Nicky and I grew up together, lived down the street from me. And he knew me very well. And as we grew up, you know, we'd known each other since we were in elementary school and went through high school together and became young adults together. And I came to visit my friend Nick with Marie and I believe my daughter Corinne. And we'd known each other for a long time even at that point. And so as friends are, and he and I were close enough to do this, we were talking and I said, Nicky, Nicky, when are you going to give your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ? And he looks at me and he says, I'm going to do that when I'm better, David. I'm going to do that when I can make myself into a better person. And I looked at him and I said, you know, Nicky, you know what you are? He said, what? I said, you're an idolater. And he looked and he didn't like that. He was a close friend so he didn't beat me up. He looked at me and he says, what do you mean? I said, you know, that's a big problem, Nick. You can't make yourself good enough for Jesus Christ. The Bible doesn't teach us that we have to make ourselves good enough for him. You never can. I said, don't you understand that God's standard of relationship with him is perfection and you're never going to be perfect, Nick. You'll never be so good that God will finally say, well, I owe him fellowship with me. I said, it doesn't work that way. Do you know that God is simply saying to you, come to me as you are, repent from your sin and come to me in faith and I can transform you. But Nicky, if you try to make yourself into something good, if you try to make yourself into something better, then you will never come to Christ because you'll never be good enough. You see, one of the things that we've come to understand simply as this is that Jesus Christ is good enough and I'm not. And he is able to save. He is able to save anybody to the uttermost. And that's what he's teaching us here in verse 25. He is also able to save to the uttermost, those who come to God through him since he ever lives to make intercession for them. So the unending life of Jesus guarantees a complete and permanent access to God. And as our high priest, he functions in this office in heaven before the throne of God. And he can save forever because he lives forever and he ministers forever. Now notice again, it says here that he's able to save. So it's not based on our efforts to obey. One of the scriptures that I think is beautiful that speaks of this is Matthew chapter one, verse 21, when Gabriel was speaking to Joseph and he said concerning Jesus and Mary and especially Mary, he said, she will bring forth the son, you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. So the Lord Jesus Christ has been sent to save us and he's the only one who can cleanse completely from sin and he's the one who presents us to God. As our high priest, we need no other intercessor, human or otherwise. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the father, but by me. In 1st Timothy chapter two, verse five, there is one God and one mediator between God and men and that is the man Christ Jesus. In Acts 412, the Bible said salvation is found in no one else. There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. So it's the Lord Jesus Christ in faith in his name that causes us to be able to walk in a whole fashion. And so Jesus Christ is able, he makes intercession for us. You see, when I was a little boy, my mom was trying to teach me to pray so she taught me what she had been taught. So she gave to me a personal saint. I had a saint named, I think it was Saint Anthony. Saint Anthony, there's several Saint Anthony's. And this one was the saint who helps you find lost objects. And so she used to say, this is what you pray. Saint Anthony, please come around for there is something that cannot be found. And then I'd have to name whatever it was that I was missing. So it's normally as I got older it was my keys. I couldn't find my keys ever, you know. And so I would say, please Saint Anthony, please come around for there is something that cannot be found. I can't find my keys or I can't find whatever, you know. My mom had taught me to do that. My mom had taught me also, listen, if you need to pray, go through the Virgin Mary. My mom taught me that too. She said, you speak to the mother of Jesus. And I said, why is that? And she said, well, you know how your dad sometimes is busy and you can't get to him because he's at work or he's not around. He's doing something else. I said, yes. Well, how do you get your request to your father? I said, well, I talked to you. She says, if you talk to me, what do I do? Well, you take those requests to my dad. She said, that's how it works with the Virgin Mary. And therefore, she said, just ask his mother and he'll take it to him. You know, it made sense to me. I was only six, seven, eight years old. I still remember those lessons. But sadly, they were wrong. And my mother would be the very first person to tell you that now, but they were wrong because I was being taught to go to men or I was being taught to go to a woman when in reality I could go to Jesus Christ. And that's what it says here. He ever lives to make intercession for us. Jesus Christ is my high priest. He's the one that I go to who brings my request to the father. And so I can go to him because he ever lives. He doesn't die. He's alive forever. And thus my request can be taken to God at any given time, anytime I ask. And so he ever lives to make intercession for them. And verse 26, 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 peoples for this he did once for all when he offered up himself. For the law points 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. And so he speaks of the high priest Jesus Christ in this way. The Levitical high priests were insufficient. So Jesus is the right replacement. Notice how he's described. He is holy. That word holy means he has no hint of pollution. This is one for us who is with no pollution whatsoever. He's holy and he's harmless and he's higher than the heavens. He doesn't notice verse 27, he doesn't need daily as those high priests offer up sacrifices. Why? Because there's no hint of pollution within him. He's able to bring us completely to God because he's righteous and eternally holy. High priests were taken from among men and therefore had to give offerings for themselves because they were sinners. Not so with Jesus because Jesus is without sin. Not only is he holy, notice he is harmless. That word harmless speaks of that which is innocent. It has no malice or evil at all. In other words, he injures no man. He lives to serve his father and he serves us because as the great servant he ministered to man. Third, he is undefiled. That means that he's free from any spiritual or moral blemish. He was never tainted by sin in any way and evil could never attach itself to him. And fourth, he is separate from sinners meaning he was never contaminated with sin by nature or action. Though Jesus ate, drank and spent time with sinners he never sinned. He's one who could be around people who are sinful because that's who he came to seek and to save. He would spend time with them but was never attracted to those things that they were in bondage to. That's why he could say concerning Satan that he came but he found nothing in me. There's nothing Jesus said that is within me that in any way is gonna answer to the temptations that he presents to me. He was beyond that. Jesus Christ was very capable of living a sinless and perfect life and that's what he did. He was separate from sinners not that he didn't have fellowship with them because there were times that he was actually accused of being a glutton and a wine-biver because he would spend time with people like that. But that's what he had come to do. He had come to save people and so he wasn't separate from them in the sense of not having anything to do with them. He was separate from them in the sense that he had no sin nature and was not attracted to the things that polluted them. Jesus was an incredible person to have around because there was nothing about me that was sinful that was attractive to him. He was the kind of guy that if you say hey, check that gal out over there, Jesus wasn't gonna do that. He wasn't the kind of person that you could say here you don't wanna drink or you wanna smoke some of this or you wanna do that. He was not attracted to anything like that. He was separate and being separate, he was in a different class. He was just a different person. So he's harmless, he's holy, he's undefiled, he's separate and he has become higher than the heavens. Didn't need to offer sacrifice on a daily basis but he did offer a sacrifice for us. He said and he did this once for all when he offered up himself. Jesus Christ died on the cross one time for all time. His offer of himself was perfect. The one time was sufficient for all time. He doesn't have to come a second time and die again. You'll see this later on as we continue through Hebrews. He makes it very clear that Jesus Christ one time for all time died on the cross for us. And so he doesn't have to die a second time. It was sufficient for all time. And so what we do as believers is we simply cling to him. As believers what we do is we just yield to him. As believers we simply say, God we're gonna trust in you. You see in verse 28 it says the law points 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 is one time for all time offering is sufficient for all man for all time. And that's why I'm saved now but I got saved almost 36 years ago and I don't have to continue coming saying to him I need to be born again again. I need to be saved again. I was saved by him because he is sufficient to save me for all time. And if you're born again today he's capable of doing that and he did that for you.