Welcome to Through the Bible. Dr. J. Vernon McGee begins our study with another introduction on dispensations that will help us understand how God works and what He’s communicating in Hebrews. Let’s get to it.
SPEAKER 01 :
I’ve been taking time out here in Hebrews to talk to you about dispensations. and a word that I have used very little in our study, but it’s an important word. It’s a Bible word, and today I want to state the thing that we’ve said before, that there are three dispensations that are brought before us in the New Testament, and a failure to make a proper distinction between and division leads to a hopeless and confused interpretation of Scripture. God, you see, is the one who runs the dispensary. And a dispensary is where dispensations are dispensed with. And he’s given certain systems, certain administrations, certain economies to man down here upon this earth. Now, these three that we’ve been concerned with, the first one was the dispensation of law. It began with Moses, and it ended with the Lord Jesus. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That’s the way John puts it in his gospel. And that is so clear, it seems to me, that even any seminary professor thinks Ought to be able to get that. And we today find in many churches the so-called Lord’s Prayer used. There’s no sin in using it, but I feel like it’s a sort of a useless procedure. It’s just a ritual to go through. The Lord gave it to his disciples to teach them to pray. And in it, it says, “‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'” Now, obviously, the kingdom has not arrived yet if we are to pray this prayer, because we are to pray for it to come. And I find today that the liberal, the amillennialists, and the paranoid premillennialists are the ones who think that we ought to pray this prayer today. I believe that the Lord’s brought us up to a little higher ground than that prayer, by the way. Now we have seen that there are these three dispensations, are three distributions, are three economies, are three administrations. Any way that you want to term it, one is the law, and that is past. One is grace, and that is for the present. You and I live today in the dispensation of the grace of God. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s the most wonderful dispensation to live in of all of them. Then there’s the future, the kingdom, and that has not yet come. Now, these three different administrations have rules and regulations that are different. They have three standards of conduct. And we’ve heard so much today about love. Why not look at these three dispensations and how love is used? Now, under the Mosaic Law, Moses said, “…love thy neighbor as thyself.” That was the law. And by the way, he said, “…hate your enemies.” And we go to the kingdom and we are told, and you will find that in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 43. He says, “…ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.” But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be children of your Father which is in heaven. Well, may I say to you that that’s a higher standard than the Mosaic law. But under grace, it’s even higher than that. The Lord Jesus said, a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. And he made that very clear. If you go over to 1 John, you will find there that he had a great deal to say. about this, and he put it in no mistakeable terms. You can’t miss it at all. And having discussed a great deal about love there, we find in 1 John 3, 16, and I’d like to turn and just read that. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. My friend, that’s a much higher standard than you have, you see, under the Mosaic system or even for the kingdom. The standard is, on the basis, the way Christ loved us so much that he gave himself for us. And that is the standard of love today. Now, how are you and I going to come up to that standard? I know there are a great many folks in right now. I can’t come up to it. And I’ll let you in on something. I can’t either. I can’t come up to that high standard. Now, under grace, what provision has God made for us? Well, you stay with us, and I’m going to come back to this again, maybe time after next, I’m not sure. But I want to lead you through this very wonderful, wonderful age in which we’re living.
SPEAKER 02 :
Let’s pray. Lord, help us to apply these truths to our lives. And would you give us opportunities to share this good news with whoever will listen? In Jesus’ name, amen. Here’s Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Hebrews 7 on Through the Bible.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now today, friends, we come back to the 20th verse of the 7th chapter of Hebrews. And we’re talking here… Actually, very simply about the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ being compared to the priesthood of Melchizedek. And we have seen that the Lord Jesus Christ is a perpetual priest. Melchizedek represents that. He’s the type, you see. And God gave it to us that way. And he is a perfect priest. The Aaronic priesthood couldn’t fulfill all the bill. Now we have a perfect priest, and that one is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he’s made a contrast in this section that we closed out with last time. There’s a contrast of two priesthoods. One is a priesthood based on law. The other’s one based on power. Law restrains and power enables. And then the Aaronic priesthood was a priesthood built on commandments. It was external. It rubbed religion on the outside. Now we have a priesthood that gives us life. And that’s internal, not external. The priesthood of Aaron was a carnal priesthood. It had to do with the things of the flesh. Now we have an endless priesthood, gives eternal life. And one was changing. The one we have is unchanging. There was a weakness, an unprofitableness in the other. But that’s versus now. We have brought nigh to God. Nothing was perfect in the other. Now we have a better hope. Let me read now verse 20. And inasmuch as not without an oath, he was made priest. For those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath that said unto him, The Lord swear and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And by the way, that’s in Psalm 110. And this is the prophecy of the fact that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, would be in the line of Melchizedek as a priest. And we are told here with this language now that the writer to the Hebrews is referring to. Verse 4 of Psalm 110, “…the Lord hath sworn, will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Well, that is the thing that makes the priesthood of Christ superior for the very simple reason that that the priesthood of Christ rests upon not only the Word of God, but the oath of God. Well, all you have in the Old Testament is that the tribe of Levi was taken, no oath given. They were just set aside for this particular function. And now will you notice, verse 22, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament, that is, of a better covenant, so that we have now not only a better priesthood in Melchizedek, but it’s by a better covenant. And we’re going to be coming to that in chapter 8. And that’ll take us all the way through chapter 10, that Christ, as our high priest, he ministers in a superior sanctuary by a better covenant built upon better promises so that the Lord Jesus’ priesthood is superior in every department. Now, he says that so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant. And the word testament there should be that, by the way. Now, verse 23, and we’re going to look at Christ, and his person is a perpetual and perfect priest. Will you listen to this? And they truly were many priests, that is, in the Levitical order, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. In other words, that the priesthood that you have in the Old Testament always ended by death. Aaron died. just as Moses did. And I’ve always felt that the death of Aaron, if it wasn’t greater, was just as great a loss to Israel as the death of Moses, for the simple reason they’ve lost their high priest, the one who went with them through the wilderness, who knew them and understood them. Now they have to have a new one. And you and I don’t need to have a change in priesthood. In fact, it doesn’t change, verse 24, but this man… Because he continueth ever at an unchangeable priesthood. The Lord Jesus Christ won’t be dying anymore. He died once for sins, but never again will he die. And he’s there all the time for you. I read this letter from the man down in Puerto Rico that late at night for him, as he comes home from working this oil refinery, He listens to the Word of God, and the Spirit of God ministers the Word of God to him down there late at night. And he spoke about the Lord Jesus Christ. And I thought at the time, the Lord Jesus knew all about that man long before I got a letter and knew about him. And I didn’t know that late at night down there he was listening. The Lord Jesus knew he was because he has an unchangeable priesthood. And that means that he’s on duty 24 hours a day. That means 1130 at night down there. He knows this man. He understands this man. He ministers the word of God to this man. And if he doesn’t do it, it won’t be done. I can assure you that. And very frankly, friends, I just rejoice in the privilege of giving out the Word today because God administered that. The Lord Jesus is a great high priest. And when that fellow heard it down there, up here, I was really in bed. I wasn’t speaking. I just made a tape as I’m making one right now. And so while I’m sleeping, there’s a high priest up yonder, and he’s going to make the word effective, friends. How wonderful it is. Let’s give him all the praise and glory. And if you have any criticism, give that to me because I’m to blame. But let’s praise him. Let’s give him the glory. Now he comes to this tremendous verse here. And in one way, I suppose this is the key verse to this section. And it’s the very center of the gospel. And let me read it. Verse 25. Wherefore, here we go again with another one of these hinges on the door of time. This little hinge swings a big door back to what’s gone before and swings on into what’s coming in the future. Wherefore. He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever live it, to make intercession for them. Now, this is quite a wonderful verse. It says, first of all, here, that Christ is not dead, but he’s living. right now, this very moment. He’s alive. He’s out there to make intercession for us. And we have the emphasis upon the death and resurrection of Christ But we ought to go on from there, you see. And we ought to have to do today with the living Christ. We know him no longer after the flesh. We know him today as our great high priest at God’s right hand. And friends, that’s what we need to go on to today. That’s where we need to put the emphasis today. He died down here to save us, but he lives up there to keep us saved. He’s able to keep on saving us too, by the way. And he saves to the uttermost. Now, that means all the way through. That means he’s able to save us completely and perfectly. When he undertakes a job, well, he is the great shepherd that up to right this moment has never lost a sheep. And you want to know something? He’s never going to lose one. And if you were one of his sheep, you may feel like you’re going to be lost. But if you’re his sheep, he’s up there for you. And he’s watching over you. And now we are told here that he makes intercession. That actually means intervention. He intervenes for us. We shall be saved by his life, Paul says in Romans 5, 10. Because John wrote, he says, my little born ones… These things write I unto you that you sin not. Well, John, you’re not talking to me because you are really talking to a saint that sins. I do a lot of things that are wrong. Now, John, do you have a word for me? Well, my little born one, these things write unto you that you sin not. But if any man sin, now you’re getting somewhere. We have an advocate. We have a paraclete. We have a comforter. We have somebody to stand at our side. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And everything he does is right up there. Everything he does is righteous. And may I say, we shall be saved by his life. And how wonderful to know that we have a living Christ today. You’re not alone, friend. You see, this is all baby stuff to sit down today and cry, oh, I’m having this problem and I’m so alone. There’s nobody to help me. To whom shall I go? My friend, what do you think he’s doing up there? Aren’t you conscious of him? Why don’t you turn to him? I remember I took the mother of a man that was running away with another woman and was leaving his wife, and I took her to talk to the other woman. The other woman hadn’t changed her mind. She was going with him, and she went with him. And this poor mother, when I took her home, she just got down in the bottom of the car, right down on the floorboard. As I drove along and began to cry out, oh God, why have you forsaken me? But by the time that we got to her home, she was more composed and she apologized. And she says, I’m sorry that I said that God has forsaken me. I don’t believe that he has. And I said, no, you can be sure one thing that he ever lives is to make intercession for you. And though we are faithless, he’s always faithful to us. And it’s wonderful to know that he’s up there for us, friends. Now, will you notice, as I read on, verse 26 says, For such a high priest became us, who’s holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Now, there’s several wonderful things right here. He became us. Actually, he became us means that he’s just right to meet our need. Christ is just what we needed, you know. He is the one that fits the bill. He’s just right for us. He couldn’t have anyone better than he is. Now, notice it says here that he’s holy, and that’s in his relationship to God. May I say to you, he is the holy one. And he’s harmless. That means he’s free from any malice or craftiness or cleverness. When he gets you off when you sin, it’s not because he’s a clever lawyer. It’s because he is absolutely one who paid the penalty for you. And the penalty has been paid. And he’s undefiled. That means that he’s free from any moral impurity. And my friend, may I say that this is God’s answer to Jesus Christ Superstar. I don’t care what you think about that blasphemous piece of literature, but there’s one thing for sure. The Bible makes it clear. that the Lord Jesus was free from moral impurity. And not only that, he was separate from sinners. He’s like us, yet he’s unlike us. He could mix and mingle with sinners. And they didn’t feel uncomfortable in his presence, but he wasn’t one of them. They accused him of that, you know, that he was with publicans and sinners. He sure was, but he wasn’t one of them. separate from sinners. Now, let us keep on moving here. Verse 27, “…who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins,” see, he needed none for his own, “…and then for the people’s. For this he did once when he offered himself.” The Lord Jesus, if it was necessary to come back and die for you again, he’d be back, friends. He’d be back today. But he won’t be back today to die for you because he died once. All of the continual sacrificing, I’m of the opinion in the Old Testament, it got pretty old, got very tiresome. I’m sure that many a time that the priests would meet there at the laver to wash their hands and feet. And I think one of them would turn to the other and say, say, how many times have you been here today? And he said, well, I don’t know. I’m sure I’ve been here a dozen times. And the other one says, well, man, I’ve been here 15 times. He says, I’ve washed my hands here so many times that I got dishpan hands. And look at my feet. They look like I’ve been standing in water all day. And I’m so tired of going to that altar and offering that sacrifice again and again and again, going through the rituals. And I want to tell you, it was pretty wearisome. I think if Aaron had overheard them, been standing back of them there probably, he would have said, I want to say that I too agree with you about how tiresome and wearisome this ritual gets. But you know what God’s trying to tell us? He’s trying to tell us that sin is an awful thing and that it requires the shedding of blood. But he’s got one that’s coming someday and he’s going to die on a cross for us. And when he does, there’s going to be no more shed in the blood for sin. He will have paid the penalty. What a picture that we have here. Now, verse 28, for the law maketh man high priests which have infirmity. And after all, the high priest in that day, he had to offer something for himself. The Lord Jesus never did. But the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh a son who is consecrated forevermore. We have a high priest. who can be touched today, can be reached today. He’s there to help, and he understands. But he’s holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Now, that brings us to the eighth chapter. And we come now to a section here in which I’ve labeled it, Christ as our high priest ministers in a superior sanctuary by better covenant. Built upon better promises. Now, chapter 8, and notice verse 1, because we’re going to look now at the true tabernacle in the first five verses. And we’ll have to get there tomorrow, but let’s get our foot in the door today. That is next time, I should say. Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. Now he’s going to add up everything that he’s had to say. We have such an high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. And probably a near literal translation, I should say, of this would be like this. In consideration of the things which are spoken, this is the focal point. We have such a high priest. who sat down in the heavens on the right hand of the majesty. And this, my friend, is the high water mark in the epistle to the Hebrews right here. We have such a high priest who, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens, but is sitting under at God’s right hand. Now, he’s a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man. Now, somebody’s going to say, you mean that tabernacle in the wilderness. I do not. The true tabernacle is in heaven. The tabernacle in the wilderness was merely a pattern, and it’s long since disappeared. But there’s one in heaven. I’m going to talk about that next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 02 :
Through the Bible is a five-year study of God’s entire word, and together we discover God’s purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?
