His Steadfast Heart

Turn to Hebrews 7. We'll be in that passage today. And let me pray for us. Oh God, I pray that you'd give this church faith in heaven, a proper fear of hell, and seeing of your son through which it all makes sense. And I pray you would calm our hearts. I pray this in Jesus’ name, amen. Amen.

Uncertainty is part of life, but it's hard to live with. You can experience uncertainty. For example, in the things around you, uncertainty about jobs or the economy or school schedules. You can experience uncertainty around you through the people around you. Do you really trust them? Can you trust them? Do you know them as well as you think you do? There's also uncertainty, not just around us, but you can experience uncertainty beneath you. This is when things like the tectonic plates of worldviews or aspects of morality and truth that have long held things together feel like they're shifting and the foundations are shaking.

But there's another type of uncertainty along with uncertainty around you or beneath you. There's uncertainty within you. This is where you have to wonder if you really know yourself. If you can trust yourself. Are you the person that you've always thought you were? Am I the man she thinks she's married? Am I the woman they think they've hired? Will I be the kid my parents want me to turn out to be? Because we are finite and fragile creatures, and because the people in the world around us are fragile and finite as well, uncertainty is part of life, but it is very hard to live with. And sometimes we can feel like the prophet Isaiah when he looks out at the world and he says the foundations of the earth, they do shake.

To any and all Who experienced the anxiety of uncertainty, whether it's within you or around you or beneath you today, I want to offer you a rock. Something that you can stand on that won't move. And it comes in the form of God's heart. As we continue our sermon series, where we're placing our hearts before God's heart, today we consider God's steadfast heart. His steadfastness. Will place our fickle, ever-changing, and uncertain hearts before his constant unchanging and steadfast heart. If images are helpful for you, you might imagine you're in a Lake in a boat. It's a little rowboat. And a storm comes along and fog sets in and you can't see in, and the boat is lurching all over. You're sick and you're scared. Everything is uncertain. And then suddenly you feel the boat, just touch a little bit of sand and press and slide up onto a beach. And you step out on solid ground. That's what this attribute of God's heart is meant to do for people. It's meant to move you off a sea of uncertainty onto absolute unmovable rock.

Why use the word steadfast? We could talk about God's heart in this aspect is maybe his faithfulness or the fact that he's loyal or we could say he's committed to his covenant. Why you steadfast? Well, this is simply a phrase or a term that's used often in the Bible itself. So for example, in the Old Testament, the people used to sing. Give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love endures forever.

This phrase steadfast love, maybe you're familiar with it, maybe you've heard it in the Bible. This phrase, steadfast love translates a single Hebrew word, hesed. But hesed is a word that we can't really render in English with any one term or idea. It's complex. Sometimes the term conveys a sense of kindness or mercy in God. Other times it conveys his freedom to forgive in grace. But often, and this is what I want to draw our attention to today. Often the word conveys a sense of God's absolutely commitment, his loyalty, his faithfulness. The fact that God is exactly who he says he is and will never change. Hesed often conveys that in a world of uncertainty, one thing can be certain, God. And to his people, he has committed, constant, unchanging, unswerving, unfailing, and faithful to the very end. His heart is steadfast.

To explore this today, I want to turn to the vivid expression of his steadfastness. And that comes in the form of his son, Jesus Christ. And we're going to follow along with what we did last week. To look at Jesus as an expression of God's heart, last week, if you remember, we turn to the book of Hebrews. And we saw that Jesus is a high priest, uniquely displays God's merciful heart. That was in Hebrews 4 and 5. This week in Hebrew 7, we're going to see that Jesus as a high priest manifests God's steadfast or permanent or loyal or committed heart.

Now, Hebrews 7 is tough. If you trying to pick a path through the woods, this would be the one that was all grown over and you'd have to get a machete out to hack your way through. And the reason it's tough is that it's talking about not just this priesthood idea that comes from the Old Testament and how people got appointed as priests and what their lineage was and how oats were made, but it talks about this guy named Melchizedek. So Hebrews 7:17, it says of Jesus. "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." So here's the challenge. If you want to get through the path to the throne of Jesus, you need to understand something about Melchizedek.

And you didn't wake up thinking about Melchizedek. Who is he? He's a bit of a shadowy figure. It comes up in Genesis 14. He meets Abraham, the great patriarch of the people of Israel. He meets Abraham. And he's presented to us in the Bible simply as a priest of the Most High God. He reaches out his hand and he does what only a priest can do. He blesses Abraham. And then he seems to disappear until we read in Psalm 110 the Lord saying, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Now that's the phrase from Psalm 110, which is cited two times in Hebrew 7.

So what exactly is going on here? What do we need to see about Melchizedek? Well, here's what you need to see. Melchizedek shows up out of nowhere as a priest, hundreds of years before the institution of priesthood is even established. Moreover, the institution of priesthood hinges on biological lineage. The priest needs to be descended from Aaron. Well, Melchizedek is none of these things. He doesn't wait for the institution. He doesn't descend from Aaron. And yet he some figure that's called a priest forever and Jesus is being compared to him.

Here's what I think is going on in the passage. You might think of it like this. Think of all the pastors you've had in your life if you've had some. Earthly pastors, maybe you've had a couple. Think about the things you like about them. Then imagine if God said to you this idea of a pastor, it points past itself to this perfect pastor who's absolutely what you need in every way. And these other pastors, they're doing their best, but they're always meant to point pass to the great pastor. That's essentially what's happening with Melchizedek. Is the Bible is saying you have all these other priests through the line of Aaron, but there's this greater one named Melchizedek and he was supposed to point you towards this idea that one day God was just going to drop the real thing in your lap. And every other pastor you've had every other priests you wanted, all of a sudden, it looks like a mere shadow.

So that's what the writer's doing. He's talking to a bunch of people who know exactly who the high priests are, they know who Melchizedek does and he says, "one is here who is even greater." And all the things you love about the other priests and Melchizedek they're just like a signpost on a road saying, go that way. And Jesus is the real thing.

Now he sets Jesus up as the greater thing than the point of all the other priesthood, all the other pastors, he's the point. And then he focuses on one particular attribute of Jesus's greatness. You could talk about many, but there's one he focuses on in Hebrews 7. I'm going to draw our attention to it. And there's essentially this. It's Jesus's permanence. It's that he's unchanging. He's constant. I mean, as the passage says, you are a priest forever. So something about the greatness of Jesus is the fact that he is absolute and permanent.

So, are you with me? I told you it's going to be a thicket. We got to work through with Melchizedek. But we've arrived, we walked through the basic idea of the passage, Melchizedek is pointed at Jesus. Jesus is permanent. But in verses 24 and 25 of Hebrews 7, you might say the entire chapter is condensed into its simple point. Okay, I'm going to read these for you and then we'll draw the point out.

Picking up at verse 24, "[Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently." There's the permanence. "Because he continues forever." Verse 25, "Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." Here's the basic logic of this whole chapter. There's a fact stated. Jesus is a priest forever. He's permanent and unchanging. There is one implication or consequence drawn from that fact.

If you have an NIV translation, it may say therefore. If you have the King James it may say wherefore. If you have the ESV, it says consequently. Because Jesus is permanent, as a consequence, he is able to save to the uttermost. So here's the question we have to ask. What in the world does Jesus's permanents, his constancy have to do with you being saved to the uttermost? And I'm going to suggest that this is totally taking us into the steadfast heart of God. That Jesus is permanence as a high priest is a display of the steadfast heart of God and that this is necessary as this passage says if we're going to be saved to the uttermost.

You could boil the point down to this. Jesus's people are steadied by his steadfastness. Jesus's people are steadied by his steadfastness. Have you ever experienced this idea of being steadied by someone? Is there anybody in your life who's just a little more steady than you? Maybe your husband or wife. Maybe a friend. Maybe your mom or dad. Maybe you have a sibling. When I first started this job, this wonderful pastor in the area reached out to me and just kind of took me under his wing. He'd been pastoring for about 30 years. And he says, "I'm going to pray for you every morning." And he texts me every single morning by 6:30 what he has prayed for me that morning.

And as I've gotten to know this man, I've just come to see that he's unusually steady. He's just going to show up. He's going to love his people. He's going to pray for him. He's going to open the word form. Nothing too fancy, but he's not going anywhere. And so when I wake up feeling like I've been riding a rollercoaster all week, that text is a simple feel of steady now. Steady as she goes. It's okay. We're plotting right along. A person's steadiness will often steady us. And that is in fact what Jesus is set out to do for us.

I want to unpack this idea a little bit more. How the permanence or steadiness of Jesus steadies us. And to do that, I'm just going to draw our attention to three aspects of his steadfast heart or his permanence that unfold in this passage. Number one, his steadfastness is proven by blood. Number two, it's guaranteed by unchangeableness. And number three, it's applied to you and me through his constant care.

So first, what is steadfastness have to do with blood? Sometimes you learn about a person's real commitment to you when that commitment actually costs them something. It's one thing to be committed to a person. In good times, it's a very different thing to be committed to them when things are bad or costly.

In the ancient Greek in Latin world thinkers often spoke of virtues. They collect four. The four cardinal virtues. One of these, the third was fortitude. Fortitude often could be translated as forbearance or endurance. It spoke of how far was a person willing to go to stay committed to that which was right and good. The 20th-century philosopher, Josef Pieper, in his wonderful treatment of the four virtues says the following of fortitude. He says, "Fortitude that does not reach down into the depths of the willingness to die is spoiled at its root and devoid of effective power." That's an amazing sentence. He's using an extreme to make a point. Commitment typically knows its limitations. You know that, and I know that. There's a point when someone simply will give up on you, but true commitment, true fortitude, true forbearance it must reach down into this place of a willingness to bleed.

We see this in our passage. If we look again at verse 25. Now in verse 25, we read that "Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him." So the people he's saving, the people he's being committed to are drawing near to God through him. What exactly does that mean, to draw near to God through Jesus? Does it mean that Jesus just kind of opens a door for you that you walk through? What does that mean?

We can get an idea of what it means if we just were to flip over to Hebrews 10. I'll read this for you. Where in Hebrews 10:19, the writers encouraging the readers by saying, "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places..." Enter the Holy places: think draw near to God. We have the confidence to enter the holy places, not through Jesus, but he's more explicit. He says by the blood of Jesus. Let us draw near to God. Jesus is doing a lot more than opening a door. We draw near to God through Jesus through his blood. We enter into the Holy place where God dwells through Jesus's blood. The steadfastness of God's heart, therefore, the fact that he is utterly committed to his people is in part manifested by the depths to which he has gone to keep the commitment.

I think at a time this and in a town like ours. We are really seeing the roots of people's commitments. As soon as it might cost you leverage in your job, leverage in your career, as soon as it might cost you something of your reputation, you're going to bail on the person. This has been especially exposed in the tumult of the last year. There's a certain point and for many of us, we just won't go there. We will break our commitments. Not Jesus, no way. If you are wondering, he has already lost all leverage for his career for you. He has already born insult, been spit upon, abandoned, falsely accused. He has been falsely accused and he didn't give up on you through it. He has been publicly insulted, strip naked, flogged and beaten, and shamed. And then finally crucified. And this in all of it, he could have just called his angels to come down to remove him from the situation. But no, his commitment runs all the way down into a willingness to die for that which he is committed to.

So this is the first thing about the steadfastness of God's heart, the permanence and commitment of Jesus. In a world of uncertainty, you never have to be uncertain about the depths of God's commitment to his people. And you may think, "Man, it's going to take a whole lot for God not to give up on me." It's nothing for him. The depth of his commitment is absolute. That's the first thing we see. There's a second aspect. The second facet of the steadfastness of God's heart we can see shining through Jesus here. And that has to do with unchangeableness.

So another component of steadfastness that relates to permanence has to take us into this world of what exactly does it mean for something to be permanent? So go back to verse 24. It says, "Jesus holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever." Now, if a moment ago we asked, what pain will he endure for his commitment? You might think we're asking a question about the depth of his commitment. Permanence isn't about depth. It's about breadth. How long will he hang in there with you? Well, the permanence of Jesus, which can see for yourself in verse 24, his priesthood is permanent. He continues forever. The writer doesn't just state this as a fact. He has first supported it for two reasons. And these come earlier in the passage. I'm going to tell you what they are and show you where they are. He's saying that you can know Jesus is permanent for you because number one, he has an indestructible life, and number two because God has sworn an oath.

So verse 16, we read that "He, Jesus has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life." That's quite a phrase. I don't think it appears anywhere else in the Bible. An indestructible life. It means you can't kill him. It means he doesn't age. It means he doesn't get hurt. It means sin can have absolutely no sway over him. His life is indestructible as the resurrected Lord.

Our author then gives us a second reason. This has to do with something that God has said. So in verses 20 through 21, we hear about an oath. "This" Jesus is permanent high priesthood verse 20, "was confirmed with an oath. For others who became priests, took their office without an oath. But this one became a priest with an oath because of the one who said to him: "The Lord has sworn and he will not change his mind. You are a priest forever."

In other words, for Jesus to change, to change out of his role of being your priest. For him to change two impossible things would have to happen. Number one, he would have to become once again, vulnerable to die and vulnerable to sin. But the passage says his life is indestructible. This can't happen. But for him to change, he would have to be able to die again. The second reason or impossible thing that would have to happen for Jesus to change is God would have to be proved a liar. But it says right here, the Lord has sworn that you will be a priest forever and he will not change his mind.

So our writer, he's writing to these first hears who are clearly, if you really know the book of Hebrews, they are struggling with uncertainty. And he's trying to put this rock in front of them. And he said, Jesus, isn't going anywhere. And he's not going anywhere because he has an indestructible life. And because God almighty has said so.

So there's this cluster of phrases and terms, permanently, continues forever, indestructible life, an oath made by God. God will never change his mind. If we tried to gather them all up, I think that they're essentially making this point that Jesus's permanence or his steadfastness is rooted in the fact that he's unchangeable. He's unchanging. And this is important because the fact is things change, circumstances change, people change, you change, the person you married changes, your kids change. Everything changes.

I remember about two years ago, I'm hearing the story of a well-known pastor and Christian author who had announced over social media their "de-conversion". They no longer believed anymore, but thousands of people had been helped by their books. Thousands of people had learned how to follow Jesus through their ministry. Many, many people subtly were leaning on this person in order to learn and lean on Jesus. Just like that they just changed. What a person believes when they're young, it can change. Commitments you make in your 20s can change because you change. Things feel different, circumstances are different, experiences happen. And all of a sudden you wake up and think, "I don't know why I committed to that career." "I don't know why I majored in that." Things have changed. That is a cause for great anxiety.

What this passage is telling us is that in a world shaken by uncertainty caused by change, God wants you to be certain that he never changes. Never. He's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. If you came to know Christ 20 years ago, he is exactly the same today as he was back then. Back then he knew all this stuff about you. He knew exactly how your life was going to go. He knew exactly what he was getting into and he hasn't changed at all. If you strayed away from him for a long time and you wonder, well, things must be different. He hasn't moved at all. If anything, he's only moved towards you. Jesus's priesthood is set before us as permanent because we have to know that there is at least one thing that will never change. And it's the son of God.

So what have we seen so far? The steadfast heart of God is displayed through his son who shows us how deep his commitment goes through blood. He shows us how broad it stretches by the fact that he simply is never going to change. And third, I want to now ask a little more specifically, how is this steadfastness of God, how is this permanent priesthood, how does it come find us? How does it touch you and impact you?

And the reason I want to ask this is simply that if you're like me, there's another question that maybe comes up in your head at this point and you might think, well, it's all well and good to talk about how constant and permanent and unchanging committed God is. But it takes two people to be in a relationship. So what happens if I do change and I walk away? What happens if I just decide, I don't want to be with him anymore? What happens if I'm the one who's faithless? What do I do then? In other words, what I'm asking now is how does the steadfast heart of God actually foster a steadfastness in you? So he's not just controlling you like a robot, but you are truly going to choose him for the rest of eternity.

To see how this works, we're going to be back again in verse 25. So in verse 25, we read, "Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him." Now listen. He's going to give a reason one way he does this. This is quite shocking. It's not what I would've thought they would say. "He's able to save those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them." Jesus is going to keep you from walking away from him, by praying for you all the time. That a surprising answer.

Christians, we often focus on what Jesus has done for us in the past. And it's so important. There's a historical date, 33AD God died for you. Put it on your calendar. It's not going anywhere. And that death on that cross secures the forgiveness of sins. It secures concretely how much God loves us. And we draw everything from that. But Christians often forget then to think about not just what Jesus did for them in the past, but what he does for you every day. And that's what's interesting about this passage in Hebrews. It doesn't simply say he's able to save you to the uttermost because he died for you. That's what I would think it was going to say. Wouldn't you? Instead, it says he's going to save you to the uttermost by praying for you every single day. And you think good night, how does that make sense?

What's interesting is, rather than just saying, he prays for you, the writer uses this somewhat clumsy phrase, he always lives to make intercession for them. Do you notice how he's continuing to emphasize permanence? He always lifts. He's almost saying this is why he exists. This is what fuels him to pray for you. The word we translate intercession could also mean advocate for you. He goes before you to the father and he talks to the father about you. He shares with the father his desires for you and the father, nothing pleases the father more than answering the prayers of his son. And nothing pleases the son more than presenting back to the father, the people the father loves.

So I want to try to dig into this briefly and give us a real-life example of how Jesus through his steadfast praying for you. He's prayed for you every day of your life. He's prayed for you this morning, prayed for you all nights, praying for you right now. I want to ask how does this prayer keeping you from walking away from him? And what exactly does he pray for when he prays for you? We have a wonderful test case with a man named Peter. Some people know him as Saint Peter. Now you know, if you know anything about Peter, that he has a topsy turvy relation with steadfastness and faith. You know this story. He promises Jesus he will never leave him. And then in the blink of an eye, he denies Jesus three times and walks essentially away from him. So this is an interesting test case because Peter doesn't look very steadfast.

What's interesting is that prior to all this unfolding really the day before, did you know that Jesus prays for Peter? We can get a window into an actual prayer of Jesus. Here's what he says in Luke 22, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." So here's, if you're wondering, what does Jesus pray when he prays for you? He might be praying that your faith doesn't fail just like this.

Now what's devastating as he praised this in Luke 22 and by Luke 23, it looks like the prayer was not efficacious. It looks like it didn't work. Why? Because in Luke 23, Peter denied Jesus three times. So you would think it looks like you would expect Jesus's prayer to work a little better than this. "Peter don't lose your faith." Peter immediately seems to lose his faith. But that's not the end of the story. And here's where we begin to get a window into this profound fact that Jesus participates in answering his very own prayers. So Jesus has prayed that Peter wouldn't lose his faith. Peter seems to have done that.

Then at the end of the story of the gospel, we can see this in John 21. You may know this story. Peter seems dejected, desolate. Has gone back to his old job of fishing. Jesus appears. He's raised from the dead now. He appears on the shore calls, Peter. Peter hops out of the boat. He swims to the shore. Now we have Jesus and Peter face-to-face again. The last time they were face-to-face like this, Jesus remembers he was praying for Peter. "Satan's going to come after you, Peter, but I'm praying for you."

Now, here they are again. Now Jesus enters into this amazing back and forth with Peter. He asks him this question times, "Simon, son of John, do you love me? Simon son of John, do you love me?" Again, Jesus asked, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter is so overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord. And by the depths of the question, he can simply reply, "Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you." And at that moment, Jesus's prayer was answered. Do you know what he did? He prayed that Peter's faith would not fail. And he saw to it that he would come and find Peter and essentially blow on that little flicker of faith that Jesus knew had never gone out.

So what does Jesus pray for you? I couldn't possibly answer that question comprehensively, but I think I can say with confidence at the very least, he prays for you every hour that your faith would not fail. Especially when he knows you're going to be in a season of testing. And after praying this prayer, and this is what I hope you can see from Peter's life. He makes sure it's answered not by controlling you, but by wooing you. And he shows back up in your life subtly, maybe through a him that you're singing. When suddenly your heart's been cold for weeks, you feel so dead and suddenly in the middle of the hymn, it's like the little flicker begins to go again. And Jesus just came and he's been blowing on it. He's been blowing on it. Or maybe he shows up through a friend and you feel so dejected and so over it with God. And somehow that friend's word they just remind you of something of the sweetness of God and something of the terribleness of life without him. And you know, the flicker hasn't gone out.

What Jesus will do with you to keep you through these prayers steadfastly again, and again is show up in your life and ask you this question, "Sam, you're mad, you're confused, yet you're upset. Yes. To all that. Maybe you're mad at me. Yes, to all that. But you and I both know you love me." And we just break down. [inaudible 00:35:03] Despite it all, underneath everything, the flicker has never gone out. That's how he keeps you steadfast. And he will never stop praying that. And he will never stop answering that prayer because none of his father's sheep will be snatched out of his hands. That is the steadfast heart of our God lean on it, live upon it as you would a rock.

Lord, thank you for your steadfastness to us. Lord, we have no idea. What's ahead. Individually, as a church, we do know Lord that you will never change. And the rock we find under our feet now of your son's death for us, of his prayers for us, of his utter commitment to us, we know that will never change. Amen.