Hebrews 7: 23-28

Some time ago the United States postal service came out with the forever stamp, one that would hold its value no matter whether the price of postage increased or not.  While we may see this as a chance to save a few cents the postal service saw this as an opportunity to save millions and it gave them the ability to raise postage rates without much advance notice.

In the same way God began this whole creation process with the idea that man would see and understand the value of a relationship with Him, but sin intervened and no matter what God did man continued to turn and walk away refusing to accept His offer of eternal life.

If you look at scripture as one complete picture you will see many changes take place in God’s approach to man.  Such were the changes that one might think that God is inclined to change His mind in order to pacify man and entice him to choose eternal life over eternal damnation but I would challenge that idea and instead suggest that God’s plan for man is a work in progress but always with the same goal in mind, that all have an opportunity to be redeemed.

We teach our children the hymn Jesus Loves Me with the idea that God’s love outweighs all other options but in doing this we may well be also teaching the fact that we don’t have to choose Him in the end.  This tends to lead us down the pathway of universalism and the hope of many that no matter what happens, God’s love is such that He will not allow us to be lost.  In fact if you don’t read the Old Testament along with the New and don’t read the New Testament very carefully you will fail to understand why God went about His plan of redemption in the manner in which He did.

In the beginning God created but within that creation He also allowed other choice options to come before us.  Eve and then Adam choose to walk away enticed by the pleasures of the eye to experience options that would bring about their self destruction.

Noah, as scriptures teach, was a righteous man and so God sought to begin again through him and his sons but even this attempt didn’t work for later God sought Abraham to begin again.

Now the interesting thing you will find is that with each new beginning God narrowed the scope of who He dealt with directly.  In the beginning it was all of creation, then He began again with Noah, and then as he choose Abraham God narrowed the focus to a specific group, the nation of Israel, and He cultivated it from one union, that of Abraham and Sarah, nurturing it until it grew into a great nation of 12 tribes and millions of people.

Now if you follow the progression you will find that as it grew it wandered away from God and so He allow it to be pared down from 12 tribes to 2 tribes, that of Benjamin and Judah, and from these two tribes He again pared it down to one tribe and one city.  The tribe of Judah was chosen to provide the final king and the city of Jerusalem in the land of Benjamin, the city of Zion.

This then brings us to our text for this morning as the writer in Hebrews picks up on the paring down idea indicating in verse 24 that Jesus, unlike all the priests before Him, overcame the punishment of Adam and Eve’s sin, death, to become our high priest forever. The purpose of this was then to reverse all that had happened before hand and offer to man a permanent plan of salvation and eternal life in the kingdom.

I don’t know about you but I get all excited when I think about the fact that God’s love is so great that He went through all of this just to provide me with eternal life, but if we don’t think in eternal terms then this isn’t very important to us and this is one of the problems that we are faced with today in our world. 

It seems that we are far more concerned about our personal pleasures than we are about our personal salvation and the salvation of our neighbors.  In a recent article Christianity Today reports that 25% of those who attend church in the United States on a regular basis give nothing to God’s work and that at best we typically only give back to God about 2% of what He has blessed us with. 

While the church treasury is one way to judge connectedness a more accurate way is our willingness to give of our time in service to others.  While dollars are important to keep the lights on it will serve no purpose if we don’t have people in the pews for when the pews are empty it would seem that we have lost our concern for others.

My friends, as I read this text the Good News that it contains is of such value that it should be the very first thing we would want to share.  The idea that we have the hope of eternal life through Christ, not because of anything that we do but rather because of God’s love for us.  Look to verse 25, “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

You want hope, this is it, that God loved you enough to send His Son for your salvation.  That God devised a plan that would offer redemption by faith rather than by condition.  That God, who cannot look upon sin, would grant us mercy through the sacrifice of His one and only Son.  That John 3:16 isn’t just a verse to be remembered but rather a verse that is filled with hope beyond this life that we live today, and that hope is that one day we shall find in the kingdom the peace that will last a life time.

While we are called upon to labor in the fields to care for our personal needs, we need to understand that the labor of our hands is never to outweigh the labor of our hearts. 

If you turn back to the Sermon on the Mount Matthew 6, verse 7 Jesus makes it plain that our treasures in life will follow the desires of our heart and if the desires of our heart are not focused on our spiritual needs then we shall become spiritually depraved rather than blessed as our Lord has granted.

If you will turn to the book of Malachi with me to chapter 3, it seems that Israel had become apathetic in their service to God, and so they were challenged by God to test Him.  Malachi 3:10 says, “test me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” 

If I understand this correctly it just seems that God has said to Israel and to each of us, I dare you to try Me.

Now while we are taught not to test the patience of God I think we are challenged to test the promises that He makes to us. And in order to do this we need to reach beyond our comfort zones, to stretch our faith, to seek to know for ourselves in a renewed and personal way this Jesus who stands at the right hand of the Father waiting to intercede for us.

When Christ opened the gates of paradise and called forth the faithful to join Him in the kingdom He also opened the doors of the kingdom for each of us and just as He called them forth, He calls us to come forth and to proclaim the good news through our lives each day.

So how do we respond?  First through our acceptance of Him as our personal Lord and savior, and secondly through the application of His promises within our daily life.

If you are here this morning and wondering what it is that God wants from you, open your heart and allow Him to renew you with the excitement of the faith as only He can grant.

I would pray that no one leaves here this morning without the hope of eternal life in your heart, because of His work on the cross it has been given and all you need to do is take it.