Priests and Ministers | Pastor Raph | Oct. 06, 2024

Priests and Ministers

Hebrews 10:11-12“ And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.”

God made all his atoned and redeemed children priests. You are a minister called to be in God's presence.

You are a priest representing yourself first before God. But also, you represent others when you pray for their salvation. Or when you pray for a divine intervention. You are a priest.

Revelation 1:5-6 (ESV): ”…To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Forgiveness is Complete through the Blood of Christ

The most referred and central element in the priestly work of the Old Testament is sacrifice—particularly the blood sacrifice for atonement. This is seen as the heart of the priestly function, and it carries deep spiritual realities. 

Blood is the way for sinful people to approach a holy God. The blood maintains the holiness of the people. Blood sanctities of the temple. The blood sacrifice—is the most central element in the priestly work.

We have reached a critical point where long-held beliefs and practices will challenged. Some struggle to accept that Jesus died only once and that forgiveness is permanent. I want to take this revelation further by emphasizing that forgiveness of sins and justification are God’s solutions to our spiritual and emotional problems.

Forgiveness of sins is not achieved through our works, emotional expressions, or even repetitive confession but solely by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

(Hebrews 9:22) “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

Jesus offered one perfect sacrifice, and there is no need for further offerings for sin. His work is finished.

There is no way to complete what is finished.

Forgiveness is Once and for All

Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross covers all sins—past, present, and future. Forgiveness is not given in installments; it is complete and final.

“Hebrews 7:27 (ESV) He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

The idea of repeatedly seeking forgiveness for every sin misunderstands the completeness of Christ’s work on the Cross.

There is no problem in confessing your sins; have contrition and remorse. But if you are using that deep regret as a way to bring a "better sacrifice" for your sins, that will not be accepted before God.

Most of us project over our relationship with God the same emotional exchange we have with people. However, God's basis for our is different from the one we use with one another.

It is important to use " emotional currency " in our families, work contexts, and churches. However, God values something else.

God’s Currency is Blood, Not Our Emotions

We often try to use “emotional currency” (tears, regret, apologies) to seek forgiveness, but God’s currency for sin is blood.

Ephesians 1:7 (ESV) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

Our forgiveness is based on the blood of Jesus, not on how deeply we feel remorse or sorrow for our sins.

If you want to express that to God, do it. As a pastor and person, I commend you for that expressive attitude before God. But don't think that you would be justified before God because of that exterior expression. It is always because of the finished work of the Cross.

Rest in the Finished Work of Christ

We are priests; we are ministers. We serve in the presence of God. But never like the Old Testament standards. We serve in the rest. What does that even mean? It means we are working as one that works in a garden.

Planting and tending a garden requires a lot of work. However, there is a world of difference between working in a garden and a field, between a garden and an assembly line. As ministers, we work but in delight and rest. Confident of the finished, completed work of Jesus.

We are called to rest in the total forgiveness provided by Christ. Just as Jesus sat down at the right hand of God, we are to cease striving and rest in His completed work.

“After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:3)

Believers need to stop striving for forgiveness through their own efforts and trust that Christ’s sacrifice was enough.

Just as Jesus is seated in a position of rest and authority, so are we spiritually seated with Him, resting in His completed work.

Rest in the knowledge that you are totally forgiven. You are not forgiven progressively or partially but entirely through the blood of Christ. No matter how you feel or what you have done, the work of Jesus on the Cross is complete. There is nothing you can do to add to it or take away from it. Your sins have been dealt with once and for all.

Key Verse to Remember:

“For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14, ESV)

Jesus is already seated at the right hand of God, signifying that His work is finished. Likewise, let us rest in Him and cease striving for what He has already provided—total forgiveness.

Ephesians 2:4-7 (ESV) 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

“But God… made us alive together with Christ… and raised us up with Him (Ephesians 2:5-6) and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Our striving now is to rest in Him.

Hebrews 4:11 (ESV) Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

True peace comes when believers understand that they are completely forgiven. When guilt is removed, they can rest in God’s grace.

Colossians 2:13-14 (ESV) And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Believers can no longer be burdened by guilt but can live in the freedom and joy of knowing they are fully forgiven.

Confession is Not the Condition for Forgiveness

While confessing sins may help us maintain a healthy relationship with God, it is not the condition for receiving forgiveness. Forgiveness was given once and for all on the Cross.

Hebrews 10:10 (ESV) And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10:14 “For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

The forgiveness we receive from God depends not on daily confession but on Christ’s finished work.

a. It is not about our confession

Confession is for the unsaved, the becoming Christian one. It is not for us anymore as a condition for salvation.

1 John 1:9 (ESV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 5:16 (ESV) Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

b. It is not about our memory

Forgiveness is not just for the sins we remember. The most widespread teaching in Christian circles is that, on the day you were born again, Jesus forgave all your past sins, but from that moment on, you need to confess each sin in order for them to be forgiven.

What would happen if you died with thousands of unconfessed sins? Do you think any man enters heaven having just part of his sins forgiven?

Hebrews 9:25-26 (ESV) Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

God's forgiveness cannot depend on our daily confessions or memories of sins. Forgiveness is bestowed because of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross.

The right currency was presented during the transaction, and the debt was fully paid.

Priests and Ministers

Isaiah 61:1-3 (ESV) The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.

Isaiah 61:5-7 (ESV) Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; 6 but you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast. 7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (ESV): “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”