"For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; 2 he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; 3 and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself. 4 And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was. I would again like to encourage all of you to please visit our Prayer Wall ,
as there have been a number of new prayer requests. Please add any prayers or concerns that you may have as well. We
are all called to pray with and for one another, in keeping with the
commands of our Lord. Have you ever admired someone and tried to imitate them? Maybe it was an athlete, musician or someone you know, who you look up too. On a number of occasions throughout the Bible the Apostle Paul tells us to "imitate me, as I imitate Christ." I believe that imitating Paul would be tough enough, let alone
trying to imitate Jesus. After all, I do not think that there are many of us who could have walked on water, or turned water into wine, let alone heal the sick, or bring the dead back to life. I believe that it is extremely daunting to even think about imitating Jesus. Yet, Scripture tells us we are to become more like Jesus.
I believe that one of the most critical truths we can learn is that growth in the Christian life requires gaining a clearer
understanding of Who God is and who we are, which should drive us in
desperation to the cross of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul gloried in the cross, he saw God as the one who dwells in unapproachable light, and he rightly he saw himself
as the chief of sinners, and he saw the cross as the place where he
found mercy.
Once He makes His point, stating that Jesus is the high priest, He then moves on to show how the priesthood really functions But first, He must show Jesus is fitting these qualifications.
5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him,
“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”;
6 just as He says also in another passage,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. 8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. 9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, 10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek."
Good morning my beloved,
Welcome to worship this Lord's Day!
We
are so very grateful for our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,
joining us today, we are so thankful that you are all are here with us. It's important, that get a true sense of the overwhelming majesty of the thrice holy God and simultaneously a true sense of our own sinfulness and unworthiness. The Old Testament is indispensable in understanding the New Testament, it provides us with a sense of the
sovereignty, majesty, and power of God, and on the other hand, it
confronts us with the reality of our human failures and needs. In the light
of these two points, the importance of sacrifices and priests readily
emerges.
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Heavenly Father,
Father, as always, we thank You for Your Word, for these great truths, that enrich our lives. Thank You for the wisdom and discernment, to help us understand what You're asking us to do. Lord, I pray
our study today would capture our hearts, and our emotions that we would be changed by what we learn and understand. Help us to set aside those things which tend to distract us, that we would. in faith. really embrace Christ. Father, we pray that You would touch the hearts of every hearer, that no one would leave without accepting Christ. For His sake and Your glory.
In Jesus' name
Amen
Today's Message: Sacred Spaces
I believe that we can never truly achieve a clear understanding of ourselves, unless we haves first
looked upon the face of God, and then rightly examine and scrutinize ourselves. We always think ourselves to be righteous, upright, wise and holy. This is the pride, that is innate in all of us. Unless we stand convinced of our own unrighteousness, filthiness,
folly, and impurity. Furthermore, we are not thoroughly convinced if we only look
to ourselves, and look not also to the Lord, who is the sole standard
by which judgment must be measured. None of us will seek God until we first become displeased with ourselves.
In order for us to have a clearer understanding of Who God is, His absolute holiness and majesty,
and for a deeper insight into our own sinfulness and uncleanness apart
from Christ, we must pray and ask Him to grant us deeper knowledge of Himself.We must also have a deeper appreciation of what Jesus did for us on the cross as the high priest
who entered the holy place, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but
with His very own blood. Pride is at the root of every relational conflict and just about any sin that we can name.
Open your Bibles with me to the book of Hebrews, as we begin to look at Chapter 5, we come to the heart of the book of Hebrews, the proclamation that Jesus Christ, is indeed a great high priest. This is the wonderful truth, by which everything else revolves. The superior, perfect priesthood of Jesus Christ.
I would like to invite you to follow along with me as I read our text, to get it settled in our minds, while we prepare our hearts for what the Lord has to teach us. Hebrews 5:1-10.
"For every
high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things
pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for
sins; 2 he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; 3 and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself. 4 And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.
5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him,
“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”;
6 just as He says also in another passage,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. 8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. 9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, 10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek."
The eternal, perfect priesthood of Jesus Chris, is the key to the supremacy of the New Testament to the Old testament. It's what sets Christianity apart from Judaism. Because, Jesus Christ, our high priest is so superior. He alone can do what all of the other priests, put together in the old economy, could not do.
God is holy, we must remember to keep our focus on that, which means that God by nature is separated from sinners.
Since God, from a human perspective, is unapproachable, mankind faces a real a dilemma. In the Old Testament, God chose specific men to intervene, to mediate between Him and man. These divinely chosen men, were trained and prepared and special requirements were made of them. They were required to sacrifice for their own sins, then having cleansed their own sin, they were permitted by God's grace to enter into His presence, to sacrifice for the sins of the people. Men could not enter into God's presence directly, so they needed a mediator, someone to bridge the gap. Priests made the sacrifices day out, day in, day out presenting the atoning blood to God.
Then, we come to the new covenant and the New Testament, the previous pattern of priesthood comes to a halt. Now, One stands alone as the great high priest. Jesus Christ, is the great high priest whose one great sacrifice of Himself, created an opening into God's presence, and at the same time, provided eternally for man. We see this graphically symbolized in the New Testament, the death of Jesus Christ. The veil that separated man from God's presence in the holy of holies, was ripped down, and the holy of holies is exposed to men, because Christ opened it by a new and living way. In one single act, Jesus accomplished what multitudes of priests failed to accomplish with thousands upon thousands of sacrifices. Jesus opened the way into God's presence permanently, so that any man, at any time by faith in Christ, could enter into the presence of God. All as a result of what Christ did!
As a footnote, there are no longer any sacrifices and the are no longer any priests! Jesus is the great high priest, there is no other priest needed! And to all of those in the Catholic faith, there is no other priest period. I realize those old patterns are hard to break, but Christ broke the pattern, once and for all. Through His one time sacrifice, He obliterated the need for any other priest.
In the first four verses of chapter 5, He gives the qualifications for a priest. By the way, these are the standard Jewish qualifications. He is reminding them of what the qualifications were for a priest. Then, in verses 5 through 9, He says, now let me show you how Jesus meets every one of them. This is significant, because in their minds, Jesus wouldn't have fit any of them. He wasn't born in the right family, He was from the wrong tribe. And, in their minds, He had not spent His entire life preparing for this. In verses 1 through 4, we see three qualifications selected by God from men, sympathetic with men, and sacrificing for men. Jesus Christ, having met everyone of those three qualifications, and as the proof is sufficient, makes it obvious Jesus Christ is qualified to be the high priest!
So let's look at verse 1, "For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins;" We'll start with the first part of the verse, "For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men."
Every high priest taken from men is appointed on behalf of men. He's taken by God from men. Now, to show you that He taken by God, let's look at verse 4. Verse 4 says And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God,.." And Aaron is a good illustration.
Every high priest taken from men is appointed on behalf of men. He's taken by God from men. Now, to show you that He taken by God, let's look at verse 4. Verse 4 says And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God,.." And Aaron is a good illustration.
So we see that a true high priest had to be taken from men, meaning he had to be a man. He also had to be a minister for men. He had to be chosen by God.Every one of the Old Testament priests were chose by God from among men. If you want to look up the specifics on this, go to Exodus chapter 28. We don't have time to go into all of that right now, but feel free to look it up on your own, I encourage you to do that. When God first began the priesthood, He selected His pattern for priesthood from men. You can also look in Ezekiel, I believe it's chapters 8 to 10.
So, God had to become man or He never could have been the great high priest of men. Unless He was able to feel what men feel, go through what men go through, He has no basis to operate as a high priest for men. So rather than for God to keep Himself separate from sinners, He entered into the world of men, feeling everything men would ever feel, so that He might be a sympathetic and merciful and faithful high priest. In other words, had God not become man, He could never have become a mediator and intercessor of men, He could never have been a high priest. He could never have offered the sacrifice for the sins of His people which divine justice required.justice required. So, incarnation was a necessity. It was not an option, if salvation was to be accomplished. He had to come down to where we are, in order to bring us back to Himself.
In verse 2, "he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness;" True priests had to be sympathetic.Which means to suffer with "the ignorant." In other words, to be compassionate because you feel it too. The high priest must come from men, He must be able to deal gently with men because He can feel their pain and suffering. He must know their highs and completely feel their lows.
Now, here is something I find interesting, the priest ministered in the behalf only of the one sinned unwittingly, in ignorance and went astray. In the Old Testament, there was absolutely no provision made for the deliberate, defiant law breaker! None what so ever. So in verse 3, it says essentially the same thing. "and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself." And there it is, "in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins;" Every high priest is appointed to offer gift and sacrifices. Sin estranges men from God. Now, as I mentioned earlier, sacrifices for sins could only atone for sins of ignorance. In the Old Testament, there were two kinds of sins, sins of presumption and sins of ignorance.
You will recall in Psalm 19, David said "Acquit me of hidden faults. also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;" There is no sacrifice for presumptuous sins! That mean defiantly breaking God's laws. Contrary to what many Christians believe, it's really no different today! A person who rejects the law in terms of the terms of the law as its revealed by faith in Jesus Christ, if he rejects God's provision for sin, he continues to openly sin, defying God's commands, there is no sacrifice for his sins. Meaning for the sins he willfully committed. That's really powerful stuff.
In verses 4 and 5, "And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You."
That's a wonderful though really, God calls His priests directly. The Jews know Psalm 2:7. Beloved, even today, God is still calling His leaders! Fruit of the Spirit is always a sigh that a man has been called. When a man is really called by God, spiritual fruit is always the result. Anyone who tries to usurp that office, will come under the judgement of God! Christ glorified not Himself, Jesus Christ was glorified by another! Look at the end of verse 5, "You are My Son, Today I have begotten You." Do you see it? God said that!
Throughout the book of Hebrews, the Holy Spirit continues to quote the Old Testament, He does this because He's writing to the Jews. He wants to put it in context. In verse 6, He is quoting Psalm 110:4, which says "The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, "You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek." The Psalmist is kind of prophesying the coming of Messiah. He uses Melchizedek as an example, because was more than the average priest. Notice He says " You are a priest forever," was Aaron a priest forever? No. The interesting thing about Melchizedek, is he had a type of eternal priesthood. There is no time of his birth given in Scripture, there is no time of his death ever given, there is no indication of who his parents were. It is as though he continually existed.
According to the order of Melchizedek." The Psalmist is kind of prophesying the coming of Messiah. He uses Melchizedek as an example, because was more than the average priest. Notice He says " You are a priest forever," was Aaron a priest forever? No. The interesting thing about Melchizedek, is he had a type of eternal priesthood. There is no time of his birth given in Scripture, there is no time of his death ever given, there is no indication of who his parents were. It is as though he continually existed.
So Jesus is after the order of Melchizedek.
Verse 7 says, "In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety."
Jesus could have been a fully sympathetic high priest if He hadn't spent the days of His flesh feeling what we feel. He cried agonizing tears, strong prayers and supplications. The greatest climax of His suffering was in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He began to bear the sins of the world. He prayed, He agonized, crying out to the Father. His heart was grieving and broken, He felt temptation and the power of sin. He felt everything that we feel, the difference is we succumb long before we reach the climax of temptation. Jesus never succumbed, He took the worst that Satan had to offer, and He did it all the way to the cross!
There is something I believe is important here, a theological footnote, notice it says He prayed "the One able to save Him from death."
In the English Bible it says "save Him from death." However, in the Greek that's the word ekt, it means out from within. Jesus wasn't saying God don't let me die. He was saying "for this hour came I into the world." and when its over, get me out of here. He was praying for the resurrection! Not that He wouldn't get to the cross as many have misinterpreted. The Messiah prayed to be saved out of the power of death.
Notice in verse 8, "Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered."
Even though He was God's Son, even though He was God in human flesh, He was called to suffer. He learned the full
meaning of obedience all the way to death in the things in which He suffered Sympathy comes from experience and Jesus learned
obedience as a child, much like our children learn obedience from experience. Though I don't believe that we teach our
children to be obedient by making them suffer. At least I hope you don't do that. We tell them not touch something because it's hot and they'll get burnt. However, more often than not, they learn from the experience of touching it anyway. I know my son did. He had to learn by suffering. And Jesus was not given an exemption from suffering, so God made Him the great high priest.
Let me tell you something, the next time your on you're knees before God and you're pouring your heart out to Him, telling Him "this is what's breaking my heart." What a tremendous feeling to know His loving arms are wrapped around you, saying "I know!" I don't know about you, but I want a God Who knows what I am going through and feels what I feel.
In verse 9, "And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." Jesus went through everything He had to go through so He could be made perfect, He was made complete. He perfectly was qualified. His nature didn't change, His person didn't change. He was the complete perfect high priest. So that He could, look at the end of verse 9, "He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating, the key to eternal salvation is obedience to Christ. Jesus became the originator of eternal salvation. No other priest was able to do that, they could could forgive sin, only momentarily, through more and more sacrifice. But Jesus, in one offering, one sacrifice, perfected forever them that are His. He perfected forever salvation for them that are His. What a beautiful truth!
In Romans 2:7-8, Paul says " to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation."
And in Romans chapter 6 verse 17-18, it says the same thing, " But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."
Having heard the gospel, you've committed yourself to it, that's the obedience of faith.
He says in verse 10, "being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek."
Melchizedek, he was a priest in the Old Testament, he was a pretty important man, who happened to have an encounter with Abram. In Genesis 14, he was introduced as the King of Salem, he was introduced as a priest of the Most High God. He brings out bread and wine and then blesses Abram and El Elyon, which is translated as "Most High God." So all the throughout the book of Hebrews, the heart of the book really, priest character of the Jesus Christ. The author wants to illustrate the type of priest Jesus is by using Melchizedek. He wants to show the people that Jesus is a priest like Melchizedek was. This is very important about the priesthood of Christ. Christ was a priest after the same order as Melchizedek.
"For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin."
In Closing...
God became one of us so that we could become one with God. The barrier that once stood between humanity and God has been removed by Jesus Christ. No longer will our willful
disobedience, our rebellion, our selfishness, our greed, our pride and,
our sin condemn us, we were forgiven, we were cleansed, our sins were washed away,
once and for all, because of Jesus.
Today, there is nothing standing between you and God, won't you receive His Son Jesus Christ into your life, make Him the Lord and Savior over all things. You have heard the gospel here today, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Come from out of the darkness of sin, and move into the light of the coming Christ.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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