Jesus: Our High Priest - Part 1
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Hebrews chapter four. We're gonna begin reading in verse 11, and we will read through chapter five, verse four. So again, if you're able, please stand for the reading of God's word
beginning in chapter four, verse 11. The author writes, therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall. Through following the same example of disobedience for the word of God is living active sharper than any two-edged sword piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow.
Able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and there's no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Therefore, since we have a great high [00:01:00] priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast.
Our confession for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who's been tested in all things as we are yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may have mercy and find grace to help in time of need. For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men and things pertaining to God in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin.
He, the high priest, can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weaknesses, and because of it, he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins for the people. So also for himself, and no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was, may God add a blessing to the [00:02:00] reading, the hearing, and the correct understanding of his word.
Please be seated.
So we're going through the book of Hebrews. And we're just at the end of chapter four. But what I wanted to do very briefly is I just wanted to be do a, a quick review of the first four chapters. And I wanna warn you, this is important. And the reason this is important is chapters one through four is just the prelim.
If I were to use sports term, it's the pregame. You see the meat, the bulk of the argument begins now, and it will go through the end of the book. And. In chapters one through four, he's just laid the foundations. He's mentioned things that he's now gonna come back to in detail and explain in more detail.
So a couple of things in the first four chapters, number one, the book opens and it presents Jesus as God creator and redeemer. Jesus is presented [00:03:00] as Yahweh Almighty God. He shares in the nature of the Father. He is the promised seed of David. He's incarnate. And he's that promised offspring of David, the one who would come and rule forever, and he's the high priest of the new covenant.
You see, he's superior to angels. Jesus took on flesh to fulfill what Adam failed to do, and so Jesus fulfilled Psalm eight. Jesus is a worthy sacrifice because he is both God and man. He has made propitiation for the sins of the people redeeming those whom the father gave him. And what's important here and what the author will cover again and again is his work is complete.
Jesus accomplished something on the cross. If we take these words serious, Jesus didn't make something possible. He accomplished it for the people he died for. Thus rendering the devil powerless. [00:04:00] Jesus has provided the promised rest and we'll have more to say about the promised rest again today. And that's an in a nutshell, and believe me, it's hard to summarize even a chapter of Hebrews, but in a nutshell, that's chapters one through four, but there's something else we see along the way, sprinkled along the way multiple times, and that is warnings and exhortations.
And we need to understand these warnings and these exhortations properly because they're given to the church. They're given to covenant members, those who would profess Christ. These warnings are yours and they're reminders. So in chapter two, we must pay much closer attention so that we don't drift. You see, we're prone to drift, and so we're to pay closer attention.
In chapter three, consider and, and the idea there is think hard work at this. Literally dig into Jesus is what the author's saying. Consider [00:05:00] Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession. Again, in chapter three. You want, we must hold fast our confidence. You see, becoming a Christian is not a prayer.
And oftentimes we talk about that, we're talking about evangelism. And there's nothing wrong with a prayer. There's nothing wrong with if somebody puts their faith in Christ and you lead them in a, in a prayer, but that's not what saves them. What saves them is ongoing, active, saving faith, and it's a life well lived today.
If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts three times. He gives that warning in chapters three and four. Take care brethren, that there be not in any one of you, an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. Therefore, let us fear the entirety of the Old Testament over and over again.
Fear Yahweh for the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. For the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge and [00:06:00] it that same message is in the new Let us fear. While a promise remains of entering his rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. Now, keep in mind, I'm not saying there's ano, that there's not another side to the coin.
There is, in fact, we're gonna get to it in just a minute, but we're to fear God and it means more than respect and honor. It means to recognize who he is. Let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall away. So we have this sprinkling of exhortations and warnings, but there's also encouragement throughout the first four chapters.
The author consistently calls his audience brethren. He treats them as faithful covenant members. You're in covenant with Christ brethren, take heed, pay attention. And I've said this before, but pay attention to the pronouns. They're so important, and throughout the first four chapters in most of these warnings, he says something like, let us [00:07:00] strive in chapter four, verse 11.
Let us be diligent. That's the way the New American standard translates it, but he includes himself in these warnings. So number one on your outline. The first exhortation be diligent. The first exhortation be diligent. And if you're visiting, or even if you've been here for a while, there's a couple of things in your bulletin.
There's a sermon outline, fill in the blank. There's a table on the onic priesthood, and then there's another sheet with some other tables and questions on it, and we'll refer to them at various times throughout the sermon. Yeah. And kids. This is important. Kids. This is on your fill in the blank. This is on your sheet and it's chapter four, verse 11, and you're supposed to fill in this Bible passage, but kids and all you kids, look at me, all the kids, I want you to look at me because this is important, okay?
And your moms and dads, they're constantly talking to you about Jesus, okay? They're constantly talking to you about God [00:08:00] because he is real. And many of you kids, you're being homeschooled. Why? Because your parents understand that you can't understand the world apart from Jesus. You can't even understand mathematics apart from Jesus.
And so listen to this verse, and if you can write, fill in the blanks on this verse. Therefore, be diligent. And kids, this word diligent means work hard. Work really hard at this. Be eager. Kids, I want you to think of this. Okay, it's your birthday and you wake up the morning of your birthday and you know it's gonna be a special day.
You have a hard time sleeping the night before and you're thinking about maybe I'm gonna get that gift I asked for. Maybe. Maybe. I'm gonna get that. Whatever it is, and you're excited and sometimes it's hard to sleep the day before your birthday. That's what this word means. Be diligent, love Jesus that much, seek him that much.
[00:09:00] Strive to enter God's rest, strive to enter God's rest so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience, and I've said over and over again, faith and obedience go together. We are saved by faith alone, but faith doesn't come alone. If you are saved, you're a new creature, you have a new heart, you have a new mind, you have a new outlook.
And so the author of Hebrews has no problem juxtaposing faith and disobedience, or faith and and obedience. And so he does so here, but he talks about striving to enter God's rest. And we talked about that in weeks before, and I just wanna review it because there's at least four things that this rest refers to, and we have to be really careful because sometimes it refers to all four.
Sometimes one of them, you know, kind of comes to the forefront. But we need to understand it that when the author of Hebrews talks about rest, oftentimes he's talking about God's [00:10:00] creation, rest or God's Sabbath rest. And we explored this a little bit and we, we saw that in scripture, and I'm gonna use the fancy words.
Eschatology comes before soteriology. Eschatology rest comes before salvation. You see, salvation wasn't needed until the fall. And the whole point of this Christian life, the whole point of the work of Jesus Christ is a return to the garden is a return to God's creation. Rest. So sometimes when the author talks about rest, he's talking about God's Sabbath rest.
Sometimes he's talking about the promised land. There's a sense that when Joshua brought the people into the promised land, he gave them rest. They were to rest from all their enemies. Now. They didn't fulfill all that, and it falls way short and the author makes sure that we understand that the promised land was nothing more than a picture of what was to come.
It's also salvation Rest. You see, there's a [00:11:00] sense if you know Jesus Christ, you have entered that rest, and yet the author continues to exhort us to strive at entering it. It. So there's this now and not yet idea. There's salvation, rest, faith in Christ. But there's also that final eschatological rest, that final state of glory when you enter the very presence of God and you're glorified and you're free from sin.
And you see our life is to be spent striving to enter that rest, striving to be faithful, striving to believe the promises of God and live them out. And if you are in Christ Jesus, you are capable. Of doing that because you are a new creature. Look at verse 12. We're just strived to enter that rest because the word of God is living and the word of God is living because the word of God is simply a reflection of who God is.
And yes, in terms of covenant documents and the Bible, God addresses situations in life, but it's always a [00:12:00] reflection of his holiness. It's always a reflection of who he is. And so the second person in the Trinity comes to be known as the word. The word became flesh and DeWalt among us because the word of God cannot be separated from the very character of God and the very being of God.
So God's word, the gospel message, what the author of Hebrews has been talking about is alive. It's powerful. It's active. And the Greek word translated active. And I wanna be careful because we don't wanna get too carried away on. Some of these words, but it's the same word that comes into our language as energy.
You see the word of God has energy. It's active, it's sharper than any two edged sword. And this, this word for two edged sword, it's a probably a better translation, one that would communicate to us a little better. It's sharper than any human scalpel, and there's pretty much nothing sharper, there's no cutting instrument [00:13:00] sharper than a A surgeon's scalpel.
But the word of God is sharper than even that able to pierce Pierce piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, both joints and marrow, able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And I wanna start with the second part. Able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And literally in the Greek, a good translation would be the word of God is a judge.
Of your intentions and your heart, your thoughts, your desires, what do you desire? Do you try to train your desires to deflect the word of God? Do you desire reading the scriptures or is it, is it a chore? Train yourself. Go to God in prayer. Find somebody to hold you accountable. Come to the ladies' Bible reading.
Get help. Find a good plan. Train your desires because God knows them. [00:14:00] God sees them and God will judge them. Your intentions, your mental processing, that's what that word means. How do you think, how do you think about the world? How do you think about your neighbors, your friends, the lost? How do you think about your political opponents?
You see so often we see our political opponents. We see our neighbor that we have a dispute with. We see the guy that cuts us off on the road as an enemy, and we get angry and we don't see them the way God sees them. We don't see a lost soul. We don't see ourselves had it not been for the work of Christ Jesus and the spirit of God in our lives.
Now what about the piercing of soul and spirit of joints and morrow? And we have to be careful here, and I'm not gonna go into a whole lot of detail, but a lot of people ask the wrong question here, and I'm, I'm gonna entertain it and we're gonna talk about it ever so briefly. But he's not giving an anthropology lesson to summarize what the, what the apostle, the [00:15:00] writer is saying here is God's word can cut through things that we can't.
Yeah. God's word can discern things that we can't, God's word can make a finer cut than a a surgeon's scalpel. That's all he's saying. But we kinda get hung up on this idea of soul and spirit. Do we have a soul and a spirit? Do we have a body, soul, and spirit? I mean, what do we have? And again, I think this verse helps answer some of those questions, but it's not the intent.
So on your, uh, in your bulletin, there's a, a table in there with soul and spirit. And I just wanna give you the options and then we're gonna move on. But basically there have been three options held by the church, held by good Christian people, okay? And regardless of which one you hold, if you believe in Jesus, you're still getting to heaven.
All right? But one option is what's called a a di Dichotomist view, and that is the view that the human being is made up of body and soul. And they're two separate things that are [00:16:00] joined together. Okay. You have a body, it's physical, and then you have this spiritual substance that indwells the body. It's inseparable from the body, but then when you die, the spirit goes to heaven.
And in the dichotomy view or the two-sided view, soul and spirit are synonyms. They basically mean the same thing. Okay? Then there's the Trichotomy view. It's based on verses like one Thessalonians 5 23. Now, may the god of peace himself sanctify you entirely. And may your spirit and soul and body be preserved completely without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's a view that says you have a physical body, but you also have a soul, and you also have a spirit. And the soul is usually understood as the life force that which makes you alive and the spirit, your connection with God. And that's another view I will tell you that is. A, a lesser view in the church.
Most people in the history of Christianity have held to the Dichotomist view. You have a body and soul, but then there's a third view. And just to [00:17:00] be upfront, this is the view that I hold to and if you'd like to talk about it, I'd love to talk about it. Um, I wrote a paper on brain death and what it means, and it forced me literally and the study of scripture to come to this view.
'cause it made the most sense to me. But it's called Substi monism, and that is you are a living soul. Soul and spirit are synonymous. You're a living spirit. Your living soul, and your soul has a body. And what I mean by that is you're one and the same. Your body is part of your soul. Your soul is your mind, your soul is your emotions, your soul.
You are a living soul now. Again, just to help you work through this, to help you think about it, there are five different words in the Greek New Testament that can be translated body, but nobody goes to those five different words. And concludes that we have five different bodies. It's just a different perspective on how to describe a body.
Okay? And the chart that I referred to, it's in your, your bulletin, soul and [00:18:00] Spirit. And I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but look at Luke just in the chart. Look at Luke chapter one, verse 46. And I, if you're interested, I have a paper I can email you and it will take you all week to get through the verses 'cause it is that packed with Bible verses demonstrating this stuff.
But if you look at Luke chapter one, verse 46, Mary said, my soul exalts the Lord my soul exalts the Lord, and understood properly what she's saying is all of me exalts the Lord. But look at the very next verse. And my spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior. She uses those two terms synonymously. And if you study the scriptures, I've only given you a few.
You'll see that those two words are used synonymously throughout the Bible. Food for thought. Here's my point. This is not meant to be an uh, an anthropology lesson. The point is [00:19:00] God's word penetrates, and so he continues it. In verse 13, there is no creature hidden from his sight. Literally that word is, there is no creature unexposed, and you are unexposed to God from the inside out.
Do you ever get mad at God, because I'll admit to it. There have been times in my life and I, I I, I wish I never, you know, never would in the future. But if my past is any sign of what the future, I, I get mad at God sometimes, to be honest with you. And I, I try to model my prayers after the psalmist because if you read the Psalms, there are times when it looks like the psalmist is angry at God.
God, why? How long? Oh, Lord, do you not hear my prayer? And some of us, we don't wanna pray that way because I don't wanna make God, he already knows your heart. And I'm not saying pray with disrespect. I'm saying be honest. [00:20:00] Be like the father that came to Jesus with a sick daughter. Jesus. Can you heal my daughter, help my faith.
I, I'm struggling with you. Having the ability to heal my daughter, help my faith, cry out to God, help my faith. Forgive me for my anger. It is a sin to be angry with God. I believe that wholeheartedly. Ask for forgiveness, but don't hide it. He already knows you are unexposed to God from his sight. All things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him whom we have to do.
And in that short verse, we have God's omnipotence. He's all powerful, his omnipresence, he's infinite, he's everywhere. His omniscience, he knows all things and he will be judge. I used to do interviews for the fire department, I would, would interview people for the fire department. And oftentimes we would ask them certain questions like strengths and weaknesses, what are your strengths and weaknesses?
And there was this pat [00:21:00] answer that almost every candidate would give. And they would say, well, I have integrity. I I, I have integrity. And so we would ask, well, what does integrity mean? And there again, the pat answer, and this is a good answer. It's an honest, it's, it's just too many people used it. But the, the answer was.
Integrity is how you behave when no one is watching. Integrity is how you behave when no one is watching. And I would always chuckle, I, they, they wouldn't know that I was chuckling, but I'd always chuckle because there's never a time kids, there's never a time when no one's watching. Kids, moms, dads, grandma, grandpas friends, brothers, sister.
There is never a time. When no one's watching, there is never a time when you will get away with anything. When you stand before God, all will be revealed. He is always watching. He's always looking over your shoulder. You may watch something on TV late at night 'cause the [00:22:00] kids are in bed. Jesus is sitting right there next to you on the couch.
Number two on your outline. Second exhortation. Second exhortation beginning in verse 14. Since we have a great high priest, think of everything we talked about in the review. Jesus is our great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. So think of everything that we've already talked about.
Jesus is our great high priest. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. Why? Because he accomplished his task. And as we'll see in a few moments, and as we'll see in later chapters of the book, the high priest in Israel never sat down year after year, day after day. Sacrifices were being made. The temple, the tabernacle [00:23:00] poured out blood on a regular basis.
We'll, we'll look at that in a little bit more detail in a minute, but it was a, it was a, it was bloody day after day after day, and once a year because. The writer here is hinting at the Day of Atonement, and if you wanna read about the Day of Atonement, it's Leviticus chapter 16, and the author is making reference to it.
And when we get, I believe it's chapter eight or nine, but when we get there, he's gonna specifically reference it and he's gonna compare the work of Christ with the work of the high priest on the Day of Atonement. And one day out of the year, the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies, but he couldn't stay long.
Had to get in, he had to get out, he had to do his job. He never sat down year after year, after year. It was ongoing and it was bloody, but Jesus work is done. He is our great high priest. He has made propitiation as the text has told us already, as it will spell out again in future chapters. If [00:24:00] Jesus Christ took your sin to the cross, it has been paid for.
Whatever sin Jesus died. I want you to think about this because, we'll, we're gonna talk about the atonement in the future. We're gonna dig into it in more detail, but whatever sin Jesus died for is gone in terms of the anger and the justice of God the father. If Jesus took your sin to the cross, the Father has been satisfied.
He has been propitiated, your sin has been atoned for it has been covered. Sacrifice has been made. Jesus passed through the heavens. So the exhortation let us hold fast. Our confession and this idea of holding fast and it's continuous, it is let us be strongly committed to let us, if you flesh this out, our confession is Jesus', God.
Our confession is Jesus went to the [00:25:00] cross. He died for my sins. But is that all you know? Or can you expand on that? That's the idea of holding fast. I'm digging day after day into the word of God to understand that better, to have more confidence in what Christ says because I wanna hold fast because as the author says, I'm prone to falling.
I'm prone to sin, even saved, even renewed. And in verses 15 and 16, the author for the most part, re repeats himself for We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize. With our weaknesses. And literally that word is a high priest who doesn't share passions with us, who doesn't care. And our weaknesses literally are sickness.
Sin is a sickness. It's more than a sickness, but it is a sickness, and we still have residual infection for, we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in all things as we are yet without sin. [00:26:00] And most of you probably notice that I translated tempted by tested.
And the reason I do that, and I will continue to do that, is that's actually what the word means. It means to be tested. It's the same word that would be used of of boiling gold or silver to get all the impurities out. It is a test. It is to prove you. It is to make pure. And Jesus was tested. As we are tested, we often fail the test and we sin.
Jesus never sinned and yet he is still even without sin. Now, think about this. Jesus was tested. He passes the test. He could have the attitude while I did it. Why can't you? But that's not his attitude. His attitude is sympathy. His attitude is kindness. I have a little emoji on the bottom of my page. It's head and the skull is exploding.
Because that's what your brain should be doing right now.
[00:27:00] Jesus passed the test. Jesus didn't sin, and yet he has compassion and mercy on us, and I sometimes think I could not live this Christian life if I didn't believe that I could. I fall so often, my thought life, my driving. So often I fall into sin, and if I didn't believe that Jesus was compassion, if I didn't believe that Jesus loves me infinitely more than I love my children and my grandchildren.
And that's what I want you to think about. Think about the person in this world that you love the most, and then multiply it by infinity, and that is Christ's love for you. And if we don't believe that, I don't know how you could make it through a day. Because I would feel like an utter failure all the time.
I would be afraid to confess my sin. Why confess it? I'm just gonna do it again tomorrow. [00:28:00] But we confess, we repent, we seek help in the church, and we move on. Verse 16. So he reminds us again. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence. And this word translated confidence literally means fearlessness. But we need to understand the picture that the author is painting, therefore, to let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we might receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
And I want you to understand the picture, the Throne of grace, and we've, we've touched on this a little bit, but the throne of grace that the author is referring to is the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. You see, again, we have to go back to the Old Testament once a year. The high priest could go into the Holy of Holies, but he had to do a few things.
He had to tie bells on his garments so the people could actually hear him moving around. And if you [00:29:00] look up, uh, Exodus 28, verses 33 to 35, you can read those later. Exodus 28, 33 to 35, you'll see the very last line that Yahweh says is he ties these bells on his garment so that he will not die. You see, even the high priest when he went into the presence of God, he had to warn God, Hey, I'm coming.
You've given me permission to come in here and the picture is God would hear the bells and God would not strike him dead when he entered his presence. But that's not all the high priests had to do. The high priest also had to take special incense and he would take special incense and he would put it in the fire pan, and the fire pan goes in first and the Holy of Holies would fill with smoke and it would guard and shield the high priest from God's presence.
You see, the high priest once a year would enter the holy of Holies with great fear if he knew what he was doing. Think about Exodus 19 when the people went to Mount Sinai and [00:30:00] God wanted to meet with the people. But what did God say? Don't even touch the mountain. And there was fire and earthquake and smoke, and the people were afraid and he told the people, you have three days to take a bath.
That's basically what he said. You have three days to wash your clothes, wash yourself, 'cause you're to be pure when you come into my presence. But don't get too close or I will consume you. And now after Jesus goes to the cross and after Jesus perpetuates the Father, after Jesus makes sacrifice of his own perfect body, we are now commanded to go into the holy of Holies, to approach the very throne of grace, the throne that Isaiah approached.
Remember Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah approaches the throne. What does he say? Wo is me. I'm a dead man, and an angel takes some coal and touches his lips, a picture of the work of Christ. And now because Christ has gone to the cross now because our sins have been taken out of the [00:31:00] way, approach with boldness, approach with confidence, the throne of grace.
In the old Covenant, there's a, there's a chart in your bulletin. It's just a very short, simple chart. But in the old covenant, only the high priest could draw near once a year. On the day of Atonement in the new covenant, let us draw near with confidence to the very presence of Christ. Number three, on your outline, our high priest and introduction, our high priest, an introduction.
And I'm just gonna read the first four verses of chapter five. Few comments along the way, and then I wanna take a step back. Yeah, because I wanna look at the ironic priesthood. We need to understand what Jesus did based on the picture of what Jesus did. So look at chapter five, beginning in verse one.
For every, every high priest taken from among men is appointed. On behalf of men and things pertaining to God. So clearly the [00:32:00] context here is we're talking about the human high priest, but keep in mind the human high priest was a picture, a type of Christ. So it pointed to the greater high priest, so like the human high priest and kids, this is on your outline.
Jesus was appointed by God, and that's what we'll read about when we get a little bit further in Hebrews chapter five, six, and seven. Okay. Jesus didn't take this on himself. He was appointed by God the father. For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men and things pertaining to God.
In order to offer both sacrifice, I'm sorry, offer both gifts and sacrifice for sin. So over and over and over, the high priest yearly would offer sacrifice for sin, first for himself and then for the people. But because he was beset with these weaknesses, verse two, he can deal gently. With the ignorant and the misguided, since he himself also is beset with weaknesses.
And it's important that we understand these two words, ignorant and misguided, because these two [00:33:00] words capture two kinds of sins, and the Bible talks about two kinds of sins. It talks about sins of ignorance. And these are sins that sometimes we commit in ignorance. That's why we're to examine our lives.
Sometimes we just do things without any thought, and it's sinful and it is a sin. And when it comes to our attention, we need to confess it. But it also speaks of the habit type sins, the habitual sins, the sins that I'm struggling with, that I'm on my knees crying. God, take this. Help me stop doing this.
Why do I keep doing this? These are sins of ignorance. These are sins of of habit. They're not sins that we're doing with an evil heart per se. But then there's also the high handed sin, and you can read about high handed sins in numbers 15. In numbers 15. You can read about sins of ignorance in Leviticus four, but the author here mentions sins of ignorance.
Literally sins done without knowledge. And again, we gotta be careful. We gotta take everything The Bible says. We never [00:34:00] sin completely without knowledge. But again, sometimes they're not intentional 'cause we're just prone to sin. We still need to confess it. We still need to own up to it. We still need to recognize it.
But then there's those who are misguided and literally this word is self diluted. So it's not like you're misguided 'cause you don't know something, but you've diluted yourself in the Greek, the grammar, it's, it's, I love the Greek language 'cause it can actually express that you're not just diluted, you are self diluted.
You are rationalizing what you're doing. And these would fall under high handed sins, verse three. And because of it, he, the human high priest, is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins for the people, so also for himself. But you see, Jesus didn't have to do that. In chapter four, verse 15, we read that Jesus was tested yet without sin.
In Hebrews chapter seven, verse 26, [00:35:00] for it was fitting to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted. Above the heavens. You see, Jesus is superior to the onic priesthood. Jesus is superior to the high priest of the Old Testament. That's the argument that the author is opening up here.
Jesus is a superior high priest, verse four, and no one takes the honor to himself but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron did. And this concept of Jesus being the high priest will be expanded in the next several chapters. But look at your bulletins and grab that chart that's titled The Onic Priesthood.
And I, I don't want to go into too much detail here, but I think it's important to understand the priesthood. If we're gonna understand the argument that the writer of Hebrews is gonna make about Jesus being our high priest, then we have to understand something about the priesthood. And I think there are some interesting things in the priesthood.[00:36:00]
So we begin, before Moses and before Moses, it would've been the head of the household. When you read your Old Testament, you see Cain and Abel making sacrifices. They were the heads of their household. You see, Noah, I didn't include as Genesis chapter eight, but Noah makes sacrifices as the head of his family job does the same thing.
His kids would have these parties and they weren't the way we use the term they, they were godly get togethers, but Job would offer sacrifices just in case they sinned. So he would offer sacrifice for sin. We see it in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But after Moses, we see the law now regulating the priesthood, and the priesthood was appointed.
It was chosen the tribe of Levi, and then it was narrowed down to the family of Aaron, and after that it was by her heredity. Aaron's sons would be high priests and priests after that. The priests would be anointed. We see that in the chart. And here's the interesting thing. The Hebrew word for anointed [00:37:00] comes from the same root as the Hebrew word, and you'll recognize this mess.
Messiah. Messiah means anointed one and the Levitical priests and the Levitical high priest, they were all types and shadows and pictures of Jesus, so they were anointed. To perform their functions, but they were also atone for every priest would have a ceremony when he became a priest and there would be sacrifice for sin on his behalf.
Again, Jesus didn't need that. They were set apart. They were to be holy. They were to wear ornate dress. They were supported by the tithe because they served and worked for God. But then what were their duties? What were their regulations? They were to minister before God. They were to offer sacrifice and here we're back to just the blood that would pour out of the temple daily sacrifices to every day, extra sacrifices on the Sabbath, extra sacrifices on festivals.
And then there was the offerings the people would bring to the temple. Just [00:38:00] over and over blood coming from the temple. Coming from the altar. Most of you know that last week my son was in town. Uh, they, my son lives in Hawaii. He brought some friends with him. They got outta state tags and all that. We went deer hunting.
We spent the whole week deer hunting. They each got a deer, okay. At the end of the week. They wanted to go out one more day so I could get one, but I was so tired of processing deer that I didn't even wanna go out. That's a typical Tuesday at the temple. Blood after blood, after blood, after blood,
they would mediate for the people. They would stand in the gap between God and man. That's why the high priest was the only one that could go into the Holy of Holies. The only one that could actually go into the presence of God. They would teach and judge the day of Atonement was the high day for the high priest.
But here's one I wanna camp out on for just a minute, the dead, and this is the passage we read at the beginning of our service. You see the regular priests, not the high [00:39:00] priest. So you have your regular priests that did the day-to-day stuff, and then you had the high priest that did Holy days, and especially the Day of Atonement, the regular priest was not allowed to touch or mourn a dead person except for family members.
Now, this is interesting and I'm, I wonder if this is an exception, but I wasn't able to find it. It mentions mother, father, brother, sister, child, never mentions the wife. One would assume that she's included. But it never mentions the wife. I just found that interesting. But he's not allowed to touch a dead person except for those exceptions, except for close family.
If his best friend died, he couldn't go to the funeral. He wasn't to be around a dead body, but it was even stricter for the high priest. He couldn't even go if it was his son. Do you remember Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abba? Who? Aaron's sons. They go, and I'm just gonna give you, go back and read the story. I'm just gonna give you the short version, but you're gonna have to read it to understand it.
They [00:40:00] go to work drunk. If you read the entire chapter, they were drinking, they go to work drunk, they offer the wrong kind of incense, and God immediately strikes them dead with fire. And Moses tells Aaron, do not mourn, don't rip your garments. Don't cover your head. You stay here and your relatives will tend to your children.
Can you imagine that? I can't even imagine not being able to mourn my children and hopefully I will never have to mourn my children. They can mourn me, but I, I just, I can't even imagine that. And there were no exceptions. The only exception, and she's not mentioned is I wonder the wife, 'cause the wife is never mentioned and the Bible sees this as one flesh.
So I would think that the wife would be an exception, but I don't know. 'cause the, the Bible doesn't seem to talk about it. Why? Why was the priest not allowed to touch a dead person? Why was a priest not supposed to be in the presence of a dead people? Because he [00:41:00] represented life because he was a picture of life, because he was a picture of Jesus.
Think about number 17. You can go back and you can read that, uh, later this week. But in number 17, the the 12 tribes are rebelling again. They're angry at Moses. They're angry at Aaron. Why does he get to be high priest? You know, one of us could be the priests. All this. So what does Moses do? Based on God's command, he gets 12 rods.
12 sticks from every tribe. 12 tribes of Israel, 12 sticks. Now, what is a rod? 'cause it's important to the story. A rod is a dead stick. And that's important. That's all. A rod is. A wooden cane is a dead piece of wood. A rod is a dead stick, and Moses gathers 12 rods, including Levi's and Moses puts 'em in the tabernacle.
And what happens the next day? He goes into the tabernacle, he brings the 12 rods out, and one dead stick is growing [00:42:00] flowers. And it's Aaron's rod because the high priest is a picture of life. Think about the cities of refuge in numbers 35, and I don't know if you remember the story, but basically there were six cities of refuge in Israel, and what the city of Refuge was for was if you accidentally killed somebody, a family member of the dead person could murder you, could kill you.
It was legal. You accidentally killed my brother. Now I have the right to kill you unless you fled to a city of refuge. And if you fled to a city of refuge, you would be tried. And if they determined that it was an accidental killing, then you would be allowed to Le Live. And the Manslayer, and that's the word scripture uses.
The Manslayer could not touch you, but you were not allowed to leave the city of refuge. If you left the city of refuge, you could then be put to death. Until the high priest died. Think of the picture. [00:43:00] You accidentally kill somebody. You've caused death. You go to the city of refuge, you're protected. And when the high priest dies, you're free to go.
You've got your life back. The death of the high priest granted life back to sinners. Who does that sound like? You see, the high priest wasn't to touch or associate with dead bodies because he was a picture of life just like Jesus. And when the high priest died, a sinner was released and got his life back.
And when Jesus dies, his people are released and we get our life back. There's marriage laws, there's no drinking laws. They had to be physically perfect. That one's bothered me all the time too because I couldn't be a high priest. I don't have good eyes. I have bad vision, and when I take my contacts and my glasses out, my left eye turns to my nose.
So I would not be allowed to serve [00:44:00] as as a priest. And that always bothered me until again, it's a picture, a type of Christ. And Christ was the spotless lamb of God, the perfect lamb of God, perfect, physically perfect, spiritually, the perfect sacrifice, the God man that went to the cross. So I just wanna summarize and end today's sermon with just going back over the detail of Jesus.
And again, your minds should simply be exploding. Your heart should be rejoicing again, as I said, starting here, starting next week. The real argument begins in this book, a detailed, beautiful argument explaining the work of Christ. He's, he's a, a better priest. He represents and sacrifice himself for a better covenant.
In chapter two, verse 17, we read that he's a merciful and faithful high priest. And again, if you're gonna take any notes today, if you're gonna go home and think of anything, think of that Jesus is [00:45:00] merciful and faithful. And because he's merciful and because he's faithful, he is made propitiation for the sins that he died for.
He has paid the price. God cannot use those sins against anyone. He has been satisfied.
His work is finished. He has passed through the heavens. Unlike Aaron who went into the holy place, had to walk back out and then do it again the next year. Jesus went straight through, only He did it in the heavenly temple and he offered his sacrifice. He propitiated the father. He had toned for our sins.
He covered them. He did away with them. And then he went and he took his place on the throne of David and he sat down at the right hand of the Father. To still make intercession for us that's coming in the book, but also to rule and to reign and to carry out his plan and to conquer the nations. But he's seated, he's rested, and he can sympathize with our weaknesses.
Chapter four verse 15. And [00:46:00] again, that's the part that I want you to take home with you. You're going to sin, you're going to fail, you're going to fall. And if you're having trouble recognizing your sin, come see me. I won't be rude, but I can help you. We're all sinners. We all fall, and we have a merciful and a faithful high priest who can empathize with our weaknesses.
Jesus was appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Only. Jesus did it once for all, and we need to understand those words. They're used four times in the book of Hebrews, chapter six, verse 10, chapter seven, verse 27, 9 12, and 10 10. Once for all. These words, aren't they? They have nothing to do with extent.
They're not saying that Jesus died for every single man, woman, and child. They're time words. Jesus died once only unlike the high priest who had to go into the Holy of Holies over and over and over who? Jesus died [00:47:00] once and completely eradicated the sins for whom he died.
We will go on to read in the next several chapters that Jesus holds a unique priesthood. His priesthood is in the order of melek. And there's a lot of questions when we get to Melek, but here's my point, and then we'll close in prayer. Jesus' priesthood was prophesied from and planned from eternity past, God intended from all eternity.
To save a people for himself. And if your faith is in Christ Jesus, you are part of that group of people. Rejoice today. Go home and celebrate. That's what the Sabbath is all about. It is to be reminded of the work of Christ Jesus and to go home and to have fun with the day, to celebrate, to play, to rejoice, to get with friends and people.
Why? Because Jesus took my sin away. Because even when I fall tomorrow, that sins been taken away. And I [00:48:00] can rejoice and I can have confidence. And unlike the high priest, I can march in to the Holy of Holies, the throne of grace, and offer worship and praise to my God because he is a faithful and merciful high priest.
Let's pray. Father in heaven, please make these truths real to us. Please help us to understand these things and please, father, help us to understand these things in light of the warnings. We are not to be overconfident. We are not to be arrogant, we're not to make presumptions, but we are to work hard. We are to live lives of gratitude.
Yes, we can approach your throne with boldness and father, we can be sent out with boldness and we can be sent out with confidence and we can do the work that you've called us to do. So Father, help us understand. Help us see both sides to that coin. Help us fear you [00:49:00] on the one hand and help us fall into your arms and fall into your promises and rely on your goodness.
On the other hand, father, break our hearts. If we need encouragement today, spirit of God, encourage us if we need to be exhorted today, if we need a kick in the pants, spirit of God, kick draw your people to yourself. May these warnings and these exhortations be real to us. And in light of those may we have the boldness and the confidence that you call for, because we believe your promises to approach your throne, to be in your presence, to love you, to love others, to share our faith.
Father, thank you so much. I could go on forever. Thank you for all of this. For we ask it in Christ's name, and all of God's people said Amen.
