Hebrews 5:1-10, The Qualifications Of The High Priest

welcome we're gonna continue our study in the book of Hebrews we find ourselves in Chapter five and I was wondering if I was going to do the whole chapter and realize there's no way I can do that we're gonna be looking at verses 1 through 10 in a message that I'm entitling the qualifications of the high priest and when we read the passage I know that some of you are gonna go I have no idea what I just read and so part of the challenge is going to try to take some of these difficult things and understand them and then apply them to our life let's pray Heavenly Father we're so grateful for Jesus that because of Jesus Lord we have access to you that Lord we can gather even as we've gathered now that we can pray to you and expect not only that you hear us but that you will respond to our prayers and Heavenly Father we pray that by your Holy Spirit you would draw us to yourself we pray that you would cleanse us by the sacrifice of Jesus and Lord we offer to you our lives and our future and Heavenly Father I pray for that person who finds himself or herself in a place desperately desiring to access you Lord we know that you've cleared the way so that we could pray this prayer but lord I pray for that person who so desperately want to speak to you want and then want to hear from you in honest communication to experience cleansing and wholeness and wellness and so Lord we commit this time to you and we pray these things in Jesus name Amen hebrews chapter 5 in verse 1 it says for every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins he can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray since he himself is also subject to weakness because of this he is required as for the people so also for himself to offer sacrifices for sins and no man takes this honor to himself but he who is called by God just as Aaron was so also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest but it was he who said to him you are my son today I have begotten you and he also says in another place you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his godly fear though he was a son yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered and having been perfected he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him called by God as high priest according to the order of Melchizedek the writer is calling on the reader to consider Jesus as superior in every way remember in chapter 4 when Paul says let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need there were those who almost certainly didn't believe that they could actually go to the throne and find grace and mercy in time of need remember part of the passage and the context remember the letters emphasis is to Jewish believers who are contemplating leaving Judaism and the writer is arguing that it doesn't make sense to go back to Judaism and go back to Moses and go back to angels and prophets Jesus is superior in his person in chapters 1 through 9 superior in his life in chapters 10 through 13 Jesus is superior to the prophets in Chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 angels chapter 1 verses 4 through 14 superior to Moses in chapter 3 superior in his office in verses 1 through 3 in chapter 3 superior in his ministry in chapter 3 verses 3 through 6 superior in their in the rest that he provides chapter 3 verses 7 through 19 and then the writer declares that Jesus is not only superior to angels and prophets and Moses Jesus is also superior to Aaron and the Levitical priesthood and that Jesus is our high priest we have a divine priest a redeemer priest and an apostle priest and eat an eternal priest and if you didn't grow up in a religious tradition where you have priests then maybe some of this kind of talk is foreign to you maybe you grew up in a world where you thought that you could pray to God for any reason and every reason maybe your mother and your father said guess what there's a God in heaven and there's a Jesus who loves you and guess what if you know and love Jesus you can have access to this God in heaven but imagine if you're growing up in a world where the only way that you can have access to God as you have to go through the religious rigmarole for all those reasons the writer is pointing out that for those who have a right relationship with God in Christ they can access God that you believe in the Lord you can believe in his promises for everyone who believes in the Lord and believes in his promises who endures hardship and continues and love you have access to God and for the person who wants to abandon Jesus for religious ritual who wants to abandon Jesus for Moses who wants to abandon Jesus for the priesthood the writer is arguing why are you giving up what's the best for that which is clearly not the best how is Jesus superior to Aaron well in at least three ways the Lord Jesus has a greater ordination from God Aaron was taken from among men and elevated to the office of high priest in the religious culture in the Jewish culture the honor was passed in the Levitical priesthood to the brother of Moses Aaron and then to Aaron's oldest son Aaron like Moses belonged to the tribe of Levi but the Lord Jesus his priesthood is greater but the knowledgeable Jew is gonna go wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute Jesus is from the tribe of Judah there aren't priests from the tribe of Judah only the priests can come from the tribe of Levi and then not every member of the tribe of Levi gets to be a priest only those who are direct descendants of Aaron and then Aaron's oldest son and so the rider is basically going to make the argument God who created the Aaronic priesthood that means the Levitical priesthood also predated that priesthood with a king who is also a priest who came from nowhere and then disappeared into the future so he's going to argue that Aaron had a temporary priesthood and Jesus has an eternal priesthood he's going to say were the priests of Aaron's supposed to exercise sympathy and compassion of course they were but Jesus is superior in his sympathy and compassion and Jesus will offer a greater sacrifice and so the argument that he's going to make is one is temporary the other is eternal Jesus is superior in his sympathy and verses two and three and verses 7 and 8 and then Jesus is superior in his sacrifice in verse 3 and then in verses 9 through 14 so why in the world did the Jews need priests and why in the world would Christians need priests every Jewish person knew that you couldn't approach God on the basis of your own righteousness and because of the presence of your own sin and so if you were going to approach God you had to approach God not on your terms but on God's terms and so the Jewish reader might be skeptical whether or not they could actually come to God on the basis of what Jesus is done can Jesus really be the high priest in order to be the high priest you have to have the right credentials and so the writer is going to argue that Jesus does have the right credentials and that his ordination comes from God and so look at verse 1 the human qualifications for the position of the high priests he says for every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in the things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins what I'm going to do is read down to verse 4 he can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray since he himself is also subject to weakness because of this he is required as for the people so also for himself to offer sacrifices for sins and no man takes this honor to himself but he who is called by God just as Aaron was he's making four different well actually five different reasons concerning the qualifications of a high priest what's interesting is he's going to list those reasons and then when we get down further in the chapter he's going to reverse those reasons so let's see if I can make this make sense to you number one the high priest was appointed by God to represent men before God and also God before men so the high priest or the priest served in this function and the elements are very important the priest had to be appointed by God not anyone could be a priest you couldn't be a self-appointed priest not every Jew could be a priest only those born in the tribe of Levi to Aaron and his offspring so if a if a person in the tribe of juda or a person in the tribe of Benjamin if a person in the tribe of Naphtali or if a person and any other tribe wanted to be a priest could they the answer is no in oh and number two they had to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin offering their possessions or lives the other thing that they needed was a predisposition to sensitivity sympathy and compassion towards those who sinned ignorant ly or willfully and number four the high priest must offer sacrifice for his own sin before he can offer the sacrifice for his people and number five the high priest again could never know never know never be self-appointed the reason why all of this is going to become so very very important in our discussion and what it means that we have access to God through Jesus Christ is particular for the person who is going to make the argument I can go to God for any reason or no reason at all it's the idea that people all over the earth no matter where they are no matter who they are that God is going to have that they're gonna have access to God and God is going to have access to them and part of the argument that is made in the New Testament and the book of Hebrews is there's no access there's no no access to God apart from Jesus apart from His grace apart from his sacrifice there's no access to God just on the basis of a person says well I want to get to God well how do you want to get to God well on my own on my own good deeds aren't on my own sensitivities and sympathies on my own curiosity so again just very quickly look at this appointed by God it says for every High Priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God it may not make a whole lot of sense to you but I want to draw your attention Aaron was appointed the the Greek word is very interesting it's caught this stem mean it literally meant to set down or bring down to a place the word itself in the Greek language is an important word in the Greek culture because it was it was a word that meant an authoritative appointment by a government official or a government to a particular office it's nowhere else used in the Greek New Testament other than in this particular place so the word in this context means an authoritative appointment by a lawful sovereignty again the implication being not everyone could be the high priest Aaron was appointed you have to like I said be in the right tribe the right family but you also have to be called by God God's call was limited to Aaron and his descendants and I can't stress this enough because the writer of Hebrews is going to take the argument that the Jewish people are making in order to walk away from God and walk away from Jesus and return to the religious tradition that they grew up and and turn it on its head and he's not he's not debating the reality that in order to be a lawful high priest you had to be from the right family you had to be taken from among men that means to be a human being the point that the writer is making is who established the Aaronic priesthood God did God was the one who made the decision that Moses and his brother would be the people who would represent God to the people and the people to God so again in this sense God has the right if you will to establish a new priesthood or an everlasting priesthood in the past or in the present and in the future Jesus is a high priest he's going to argue after the order of Melchizedek and we're going to talk a lot about Melchizedek because in Chapter six and and particularly in Chapter seven the whole chapter is devoted to this mysterious figure who basically comes out of nowhere and then passes in the mists of time and we're going to talk about that when we get to that here the important point is Jesus like Aaron is human and as a human he can serve as a representative for human beings though this work as a priest is only available to believers by the way in other words Jesus as priest is unavailable to the unbeliever or even to the make believer Jesus is God because Jesus is a man he has access to human beings and because Jesus is God he has access to God and this is the argument that the writer is going to make particularly this becomes very very important for the person who denies the deity of Jesus or somehow compromises the humanity of Jesus and so the sinner in order to access God has to receive Jesus as Savior at the cross before he could have access to Jesus as intercessor on the throne in heaven and so in verse 1 for every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins this offering of gifts and sacrifices in the ancient world remember the priest is ordained by God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins people couldn't offer gifts and sacrifices by themselves in context the word gift seems to mean any offering that's presented to God any offering that's presented to God and sacrifices are those special offerings in which blood was shed for the atonement of sin and if you want to know more about that you can go back in the first 5 books of Moses and you can go to particularly to the section in in Leviticus where it will talk about the burnt offering and the grain offering and the peace offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering and the meaning of those offerings and the purposes of those offerings suffice it to say for now he's breaking it down into two different components gifts sacrifices he's able to do it in part for those who are ignorant that means unknowing of God's will and the whole fourth chapter of Leviticus is devoted to that subject the ignorant could come to the priest the ignorant could claim forgiveness on the basis of the blood of a sacrifice and so what the rider is basically saying is you have two kinds of people those who sin ignorant Lee and there's gifts and sacrifices for them and those who sin willfully and there's no sacrifice for them that should shock you that should surprise you that should annoy you what do you mean remember your sins fall into one of two categories those things that you did wrong and you had no idea you were it was that wrong and those that you knew you knew you knew in your heart you knew in your soul you knew in your mind you knew with every fabric in your being that it was wrong wrong wrong wrong and you did it anyway well then how how is a person gonna be saved who does things wrong willfully and deliberately Bell yin and disobedience well it's gonna take grace and it's gonna take a sacrifice and it's gonna take a perfect person well wait a minute I'm not a perfect person and I can't offer a perfect sacrifice and how do I access this grace again for those of you who are Christians you go oh thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus you mean because of Jesus because of grace and because of his sacrifice and and because of who he is and his perfection I can have access to God yes and I can have forgiveness by God yes so those going astray those who have gone their own way those who have fallen into sin those who have forfeited fellowship with God there's help for them yeah Jesus is that help so the priest had to be appointed by God had to offer gifts and sacrifices and now you can understand now you can understand why one priest the high priest on one day once a year by blood could go into this Holy of Holies and by the sacrifice remember remember the blood of bulls and goats won't take away anyone's in so what will it do it will cover the sin in what way it will cover the sin so that God will accept cleansing for sin and this becomes an important point in this discussion by this rider the the earthly high priest could cover sin but your heavenly high priest and Jesus can cleanse sin and so there's an appointment by god there's offering there's compassion for people look what it says in verse 2 he can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray since he himself is also subject to weakness and this becomes so very very important because the whole point for the high priest was to have compassion and compassion and this particular sense means to hold one's passions or emotions in restraint hence to bear gently it meant to feel it meant to feel a sensitivity towards people who are in pain and in bondage and in sin Paul wrote be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving each other just as Christ has forgiven you in Ephesians 4:22 in Colossians chapter 3 verse 12 we're told as God's chosen people clearly dearly beloved clothe yourself with compassion clothe yourself with kindness clothed yourself with gentleness and patience bear with each other forgive each other the grievances that you have with one another all of that is helpful but there's another scripture that's even more helpful it's James chapter 5 verse 11 James in chapter 5 verse 11 says this the Lord is full of compassion and mercy you might have a little compassion or limited compassion for people who are mess-ups people who make mistakes people who sin you might have a very high threshold when it comes to your own sin where you go yeah I'm gonna let that slide yeah I'm gonna let that slide yeah I'm gonna let that slide isn't it funny how we're easy on ourselves but yet we're kind of hard on other people the reason why all of this becomes so very very important is because the writer is arguing that God's intention with Aaron and his offspring were that these would be people who would exercise their function in their role with sensitivity with selflessness and compassion criticism is easy compassion is hard someone once wrote compassion means that if I see my friend and my enemy an equal need I shall help both equally justice demands that we seek and find the stranger the broken the prisoner and comfort them and offer them our help here lies the holy compassion of God in other words when you act with compassion and mercy towards each other looking at each other going no there's help for you know there's compassion for you know there's forgiveness there's grace and mercy for you there's hope compassion grace mercy available for you available for you available for you how do you know that because it's available for be God has dealt with compassion and grace and mercy towards me and he's willing to do the same for you they offer a personal sacrifice for sin in verse 3 but Aaron and the other priests couldn't intercede for others until they first had a sacrifice for themself look at verse 3 because of this he is required as for the people so also for himself to off sacrifices for sins the the writers pointing out look Aaron and his children before they could offer the sacrifice they had to offer a sacrifice for themselves why because they were imperfect Aaron could not take away sin why is this gonna be important for you because Jesus can take away sin so now we get to those important parts and no man takes this honor to himself but he who is called by God just as Aaron was because the rider is gonna argue for the Jew who's reading these words and following the argument there is going to be a Jewish person who's going to say hey wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute you can't just pretend you're the high priest you can't just all of a sudden wake up one morning and go hey I'm gonna be the high priest on what basis can you be the high priest in order to be the high priest God has to make you the high priest and so the writer is going to say ah ha ha you're right in verse 5 so also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest in other words he's not a self-appointed priest but it was he who said to him you are my son today I have begotten you the writer is arguing that God himself ordained his son as high priest remember he's now quoting Psalm chapter 2 verse 7 and as he's quoting Psalm chapter 2 verse 7 we're gonna find out more about this in just a moment in verse 6 as he also says in another place you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek who is a priest forever according to the order of melchizedek the brighter is saying that God is saying that the Messiah is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek how is it possible to be a priest forever you have to be able to live forever did Aaron live and die was he a temporary priest was his son a temporary priest was his son son a temporary priest and by the way when you go down the line down the line down the line and you finally get to the New Testament and you get to the high priest Caiaphas and you get to the price high priest anise are these guys good guys are they wicked and corrupt and self-serving in other words they have the genealogy and the right tribal affiliation but their heart their heart their heart is completely disconnected from what God has in mind and so the writer links Psalm chapter 2 verse 7 with Psalm chapter 110 verse 4 he links these two things together and applies it to Jesus the father ordains the son into any eternal priestly ministry in what sense the eternal priestly ministry of Jesus as it relates to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead how do we know that in Acts chapter 13 and I know this is going to get complicated but I need you to sort of understand in Acts chapter 13 I want you to just turn there very very briefly and we're going to just quickly I'm gonna read you something in Acts chapter 13 in Acts chapter twenty thirteen it's the first missionary journey Paul and Barnabas apart there's opposition from Satan they finally reach Antioch in Pisidia they're preaching and Paul is going to preach a sermon now imagine you get to go back in time and in space imagine if on my radio program I could have said Paul the Apostle is gonna be preaching at Calvary South Denver and the subject of his of his sermon he's going to be preaching a sermon at Calvary and you go the real Paul is going to preach a real sermon and I wonder what he's gonna have to say well in verses 23 through 37 he preaches and it says actually it's before that but I'm gonna pick up in verse 23 from this man's seed according to the promise God raised up for Israel a savior Jesus what I'm doing is I'm reading Luke's manuscript of the sermon he preached at Antioch in Pisidia verse 24 after John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to the people of Israel and as John was finishing his course he said who do you think I am I am NOT he but behold there comes one after me the Sandoval sandals of whose feet I'm not worthy to loose men and brethren sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God to you the word of this salvation has been sent for those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not know him nor even the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath have fulfilled them in condemning him and though they found no cause for death in him they asked Pilate that he should be put to death now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him they took him down from a tree and laid him in a tomb but God raised him from the dead he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are as witnesses to the people and we declare to you glad tidings that promise which was made to the father's goddess of a fulfilled this for us their children in that he has raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second Psalm you are my son today I have begotten you so when Paul in chapter 13 verse 33 quotes Psalm chapter 2 verse 7 and he says you are my son today I have begotten you it is in the context of a Jesus who has lived and died and come back to life why is this important and how can we connect the dots because this living Jesus who in chapter 4 a sins into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father who makes intercession for you he is an eternal priest you are a priest forever you're a priest forever you are a priest forever according to the milk to to to the order of Melchizedek in what way because you've come back to life and what way because you live forever in heaven I'm hoping you're understanding this the writer is basically saying God has fulfilled this for us they're children in that he raised up Jesus you are my son today I have begotten you when Paul cites the passage and the writer of Hebrews citing the passage both of them are making it clear that an eternal Jesus who lives forever is the real high priest the high priestly ministry of Jesus is related to his resurrection the priesthood of Melchizedek is going to be the main theme of what he's going to talk about because he understands that most Jews aren't going to be content with this explanation and so he's going to go to great lengths in Chapter 7 chapter 8 chapter 9 to explain it and we'll explain it when we get there by the way if you want just the briefest overview you should go to Genesis chapter 14 verses 17 through 20 where it talks about Melchizedek Melik kesab Beck is a priest who is a king who receives offering from Abraham and so he's going to later argue that Abraham was honoring Melchizedek and his priesthood and he's going to make the argument isn't Abraham the father of our people and of our faith yes well wasn't Isaac in Abraham honoring Melchizedek yes wasn't Jacob and Isaac in Abraham honoring Melchizedek yes wasn't Levi and Jacob and Isaac in Abraham honoring and this is the point that he's making it this isn't something that he's made up out of whole cloth in order to create a brand new priesthood and then he's going to argue in verse 7 who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and who was heard because of his godly fear though he was a son yet he learned obedience by the things that he suffered and having been perfected he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him we're gonna look all of this is important and and I don't have time to go into detail but let me just give you at least some way of thinking about what you just read in verse 9 when it says and having been perfect did he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him to be perfected in this particular context I think means to be whole to be holy to be clean the fact that we need an intercessor and a high priest speaks to our need does Jesus have to be made whole does Jesus have to be made holy does Jesus have to be made clean no well then what does it mean and having been perfected how do you perfect a person who's perfect and the writer of the book of Hebrews isn't suggesting that Jesus is imperfect but rather I think what he is making reference to is that the office of the priesthood was imperfect in what way because Jesus was in heaven prior to the Incarnation in what way Jesus would have to come to this planet earth and be born of a virgin and be and live a perfect life and be a human being and he was going to have to take that human journey and he was going to have to experience what it meant to be a human and he was going to have to fulfill the ministry that was entrusted to him and he was going to have to die on a cross and he was going to have to be risen from the dead in what way to perfect the ministry of being both the king and the priest and so in verse 9 when it says and having been perfected he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him in that single sentence we have this unlimited treasure trove when it says and having been perfected he became the author or the source of what eternal salvation and we could pause right here in chapter 5 verse 9 and talk about what does it mean to be the author of eternal salvation we could explore the beginnings of salvation in the heart of God before there ever was a world we could explore what it means that Jesus the eternal second person of the Trinity who loves the father and the spirit that the spirit who loves both the father and the son is orchestrating a plan of salvation in order to forgive your sin and reconcile you to God but I don't have time for all of that I could talk about how salvation is always by blood and always by grace and always by a sacrifice and take each point and then take it to the inte degree but I don't have time for that in verse 10 it says called by God as high priest according to the order of Melchizedek the same qualifications listed in verses one through five for the earthly high priest in that passage is now applied to Jesus in reverse order so instead of one two three four five it's one two three four five in reverse order not self-appointed verses five and six self-sacrificing in verse seven a willing sacrifice in verse eight the source of salvation in verse nine the perfect high priest in verse ten and so in verses 5 through 6 not self-appointed so also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest but it was he who said to him you're my son God made Jesus the high priest I was talking to a person on my radio program today about the cult the the Korean missionary cult of this cultic person who's from Korea who thinks that he is the Holy Spirit or at least he thought that and then he died and then he said his wife was the Jerusalem that came down from heaven and that he is father God and that she is mother God and all kinds of crazy weird stuff and you can imagine that there have been people throughout time and space and history who self-appointed priests and self-appointed prophets and self-appointed people who claim that they listened to God and that they hear from God and that they have a message from God and all of this kind of nonsense the writer of Hebrews is saying no Jesus isn't self-appointed he's appointed by God and in verse seven who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with a vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his godly fear he's talking about this sinless Jesus praying sobbing crying we're in the New Testament do we find Jesus praying sobbing crying in the Garden of Gethsemane you remember the stories it's recorded in Matthew also in Luke and John in John's Gospel chapter 12 we read Jesus saying save me from this hour but for this cause I came into the world what what did Jesus say save me from this hour but for this cause I came into the world what what what does Jesus praying this is Jesus praying to be delivered from from a painful death as is he praying to God to spare him that that he wouldn't have to die I'm gonna suggest to you that he's praying exactly the opposite he's praying saved me from this hour what hour the idea isn't saved me from death but saved me through death in other words Jesus is praying a prayer that he knew that God was going to answer that the reality is he is coming going to come he is going to die he is going to rise from the dead but imagine in your humanity every molecule in your body doesn't want to die and every molecule in your body and the is whispering as loudly as he can in in your ear that when you're dead you're dead and when you're dead you're dead and when you're dead you're dead and dead people don't come back to life and dead people don't come back to life but Jesus is going to come back to life because the father is going to hear him and because the father has ordained his mission and because everything that Jesus is said about himself is true he's coming back to life he's going to rise from the dead because he is obedient in his suffering and so the writer is basically making the claim who could possibly be more compassionate than Jesus who could possibly know more than Jesus when it comes to fear and terror and pain and difficulty I read a story this week and I'm gonna have James put up a picture of a rabid dog and you might be wondering why in the world would Gino put up a picture of a rabid dog especially for you dog lovers this is not painting a dog in the best light possible but I read a story this week about a rabid dog that went into a village and it started pursuing the men and women and children in this village threatening to bite the people in this village and as you know rabid dogs have rabies and the story was told of this blacksmith who comes to their rescue in the blacksmith with his hammer basically charges the dog and begins fighting the dog and he begins fighting back the dog giving the people the opportunity to escape the women and the children and the other people could flee the village but as he's fighting and beating and fighting and beating he himself has bit several times by the dog but he manages to kill the dog and then once he is finished killing the dog he makes his way back to his blacksmith shop and he forges a chain and he forges a chain and he and he changed himself to the anvil because he knows he knows he knows that he is going to get rabies he knows that he is going to have to suffer the consequences of this particular disease and he doesn't want to be a pain and a problem and a danger to anyone else and in a very real sense this is what Jesus does he comes to the planet he fights and we can get rid of the rabid dog he addresses the problem and he will defeat the problem he will be a willing sacrifice in verse eight though he was a son yet he learned obedience by the things that he suffered in what way experientially this is the mystery of the Incarnation God becomes a man to die for men he learns obedience and as the son he is always subject to his father's will and in verse 9 and having been perfected he becomes the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him remember what I said that perfection in this particular instance is perfected in his office as the high priest and he is the IT of the cause of salvation he is the one who initiates salvation and completes salvation Jesus is born he experiences death he comes back to life so how are we to think about this how are we to think about and having been perfected he becomes the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him particularly when we know that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and there is no contradiction because the New Testament speaks of saving faith as the kind of faith that results in the change of mind and the change of heart and the change of life so that you do obey Him obey Him in what way remember in the New Testament one of the religious leaders is going to ask him what must we do to work the work of God and Jesus has believed in him whom God has sent it's obedience to the command to believe that God sent Jesus again on my radio program this earlier this week somebody called me debate wanting to debate whether or not freewill was even possible I said of course freewill is possible think of every single passage in the New Testament where Jesus says believe me the very fact that he says believe me means you can you can choose to believe him or not believe him and so in verse 10 called by God as high priest according to the order of Melchizedek it's sort of an exclamation point he's an eternal priest he is a forever priest think about what the author has done to try to convince the reader Jesus is superior in his name seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into heaven Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession here's what the writer is arguing jesus' our priest great he has a greater name he is near chapter 4 verses 14 through 16 he knows our nature he knows our needs so the writer is basically saying this here are your choices for high priest the offspring of Aaron in Jerusalem in the temple or Jesus would you rather have an eternal priest or a temporary priest which would you prefer I know you're thinking I'm it's tough enough finding a church and then the pastor gets old and he dies and I have to find a whole new church what a drag is that so what would you rather have a priest who covers your sins or a priest who cleanses your sins which would you rather have a priest who can go before God only once a year and then only after he's made a sacrifice for himself or would you rather have a priest who's ever lives and ever is before God at every moment of every day interceding for you thinking about you praying for you which would you rather have now we could easily get sidetracked or lost in our Bible study but let me try and help you understand what it is that you've read the whole point of even talking about the superiority of Jesus to angels to the prophets to Moses to Aaron is because of the people the people the people who desperately wanted to return to a religious tradition that didn't offer him victorious life there were two kinds of people living under the Jewish law those who understood that the law was to bring them to the real Savior and those who thought that the law would really help them have a right relationship with God Paul isn't simply content to be saved to die and go to heaven Paul wants to live a victorious Christian life in Philippians 3:12 Paul writes not as though I have already attained either we're already perfect but I follow but I follow after if that I may apprehend that means lay hold of that for which I am apprehended of Christ and Paul is basically saying I don't want to just be saved and die and go to heaven I want to live my life in the here and the now for Jesus every moment of every day fulfilling the plan that he has for my life that's the big picture now we'll finish the chapter and then as you know after we finished the chapter it's gonna be Christmas Eve and I'm not gonna teach in Hebrews on Christmas Eve I know oh I know you're thinking but you know you know what can you imagine people are gonna come and they are they're gonna want to hear about Jesus by the way in our study in the book of Hebrews do you get to hear about Jesus every single study isn't that wonderful I love that I love being able to talk about Jesus Paul is gonna make every effort in his writings to urge us to live a life of grace and mercy and victory and I just want you to think about this not only today but in the days ahead in the weeks ahead because every once in a while you're gonna cry out to God and you're gonna say Lord how can I get to you from here Lord how can I access you Lord how can I have entry into your presence into your grace into your mercy Lord how can I get to you and the answer Hebrews chapter 1 Jesus Hebrews chapter 2 Jesus Hebrews chapter 3 Jesus Hebrews chapter 4 Jesus I'll let you guess who you get access to in Hebrews chapter 5 this is a book called Babji let's pray Heavenly Father were so grateful for this book and for our Savior and Lord for that person who's wondering about their own religious upbringing maybe it was a world filled with law and a world filled with prophets and a world filled with angels and filled with rituals filled with priests and Lord we sometimes misunderstood how we could get to you how we could know you how we could access you and Heavenly Father we thank you for the revelation of Jesus that in Jesus we have life and Jesus we have hope in Jesus we have access in Jesus we have grace and Jesus we have salvation we have everything everything everything that we need in Christ and Lord during this busy time and difficult time lord I pray that we would pause and it sounds so cliche but I do pray that we would be reminded that Jesus really is the reason for the season and that in those quiet moments we could reflect on how to get to you Lord through that simple loving relationship and fellowship that we have through Christ in Jesus name Amen let's stand you

Channel: Calvary South Denver

Views: 13,477

Rating: 4.6666665 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Gino Geraci, Christianity, Bible Study, Epistle To The Hebrews (Religious Text), High Priest

Id: QH2QddTIpkY

Length: 59min 17sec (3557 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 12 2014