Jesus: Our High Priest - Part 2
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[00:00:00] God's word and hear this for what it is, the words of Almighty God, the words of a faithful covenant, keeping Lord written for our instruction written that we might live in a way pleasing to him. Hebrews chapter five, beginning in verse five. So also Christ did not glorify himself as to become a high priest, but he who said to him, thou art my son.
Today I've begotten you just as he says. Also in another passage, you are a priest forever. According to the order of Melek, 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 out of death. And he was heard because of his piety.
Though he was a son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered and having been made perfect. He became to [00:01:00] all those who obey him, the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of melek concerning him. We have much to say and it's hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the Oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness free as an infant, but solid food is for the mature who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil. May God bless the reading, the hearing, and the correct understanding of his word. Please be seated.
So up to this point in the, uh, the epistle, and this is kind of [00:02:00] important to remember as we go through it, but we have been reading and listening to and hearing a mixture of theology of who Christ is, what Christ has done, but a mixture of theology and exhortation. In fact at the, by the end of chapter four, there are no less than eight exhortations and we, we covered most of them last week by way of review.
I just wanna look at the one in verse 11. So chapter four, verse 11 says, let us be diligent to enter that rest. You see, Jesus has provided rest. Have you entered? Are you striving to enter? Because if you remember when we looked at that passage, there's a now and a, not yet. We enter that rest. Now by faith in Christ Jesus, we enter his future rest by perseverance.
Have you entered that rest? And then in verse 14 of chapter four, let us hold fast our confession. [00:03:00] You've professed faith in Christ Jesus. There was a time when, as we say it, in America, I accepted Christ. I asked Jesus into my heart. But that's not what saves. What saves us is a saving faith. You've professed faith in Christ Jesus.
Do you still believe in him today? Are you still following him today? Yes, does your faith persevere? And chapter four ends with an exhortation in chapter four, verse 16, an encouragement because our faith is in Christ, because we're striving to enter that rest. Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace.
And you see now, as I, as I mentioned last week, now, the author is going to intensify his message. He's going to get into the heart of the issue. He's going to appeal to both the Old Testament scriptures and the work of Messiah. Messiah, who is crucified, who died and rose again on the third day. [00:04:00] However, he stops.
Because he wants to make sure that his readers, he wants to make sure that his listeners are prepared for the message. So in verses five or chapter five, verses five to 14, the text that we'll look at today, he provides an introduction to the topic that he's gonna delve into, but he provides one more exhortation, one more bit of encouragement.
Are you able to hear the message? Are you able to respond the message or have you become dull of hearing? Are you ready to hear? You see, saving faith is transformational. And in the first four verses of chapter five, he addressed the Levitical priesthood. And in verse five, the the text that we're gonna begin looking at today, he's gonna talk about the high priesthood of Jesus.
So number one, on your outline and in your bulletin, there's a fill in the blank sermon outline as well as another handout for you. But number one on your [00:05:00] outline, A priest according to the order of melek. Jesus is a priest according to the order of Melek. So looking at verse five. 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've begotten you just as he says.
Also in another passage, you are a priest forever according to the order of Mel Ek. So a couple of things. Earlier in the chapter, he was talking about the onic high priest, and no high priest ever applied for the job. The high priest was appointed specifically by God, and in the Old Testament, not only was he appointed, but after that it was hereditary.
It had to be a son of Aaron, and it had to be from a specific family. And several times because of sin, God shifted which family the high priest would come from. And so too, Jesus did not glorify himself, but he too was appointed and the author does a couple of things here. Number one, [00:06:00] he appeals to Psalm two thou.
At my son today, I have begotten you, and you'll remember because we've looked at Psalm two before Psalm two speaks of the kingship of the Messiah. But not only does it speak of his kingship, his rule over the nation's rebellion that would take place judgment that would follow, but it also presents a divine.
Messiah. And remember I've told you several times, I haven't said it in the last couple weeks, but I will say it again and I'll probably say it repeatedly. Whenever a New Testament author refers to an Old Testament passage, we need to treat it as a hyperlink. And you all know what hyperlinks are. When you're reading something online and you come across the hyperlink, you click to it, it goes to an entirely different webpage, an entirely different article, and it gives you background information.
So when he cites. A line from a Psalm, his readers would've been familiar with that Psalm and as, as readers in the 21st century, we're not as familiar. So we need to go back and not [00:07:00] just read that one verse, but read the entirety of the Psalm. And by the end of the Psalm, the people are commanded to kiss the Son to worship the Messiah, the one who will rule the nations.
It says in this verse that Christ did not glorify himself, but it was the father. Who glorified him. In John chapter eight, verse 54, Jesus is responding to the crowds, and he says this, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me. And we need to remember this, especially in our day and age.
We're going over a series on evangelism and how do we typically share our faith? How do you typically hear others share their faith? You need to accept Jesus and you need to accept him as your savior. And that is true, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, how often when we evangelize do we present Jesus as king?
You see the [00:08:00] author is very clear here. Jesus. Jesus' priesthood. The fact that Jesus saves the fact that Jesus secure salvation for his people. Embraced by faith. It cannot be separated from his kingship. It cannot be separated from bowing the knee, and if we're just honest with each other, there's not a lot of knee bowing.
In today's church,
he presents Jesus' king and then he appeals to Psalm one 10. And Psalm one 10 is interesting. There's only seven verses in Psalm one 10 and the fir first three verses of Psalm one 10. And please go home and read it this week. We have kind of covered it before because he appealed to it in chapter one as well.
But in Psalm one 10, the first three verses refer to Jesus's kingship. He will be king, he will rule his scepter, will rule the nations and people will serve [00:09:00] him. And the last three verses speak of his kingship. The Messiah will rule. He will judge people who don't bow the knee, and because the Messiah is king, because he is ruler, he will be blessed.
But it's the very middle verse, verse four, which is what our author appeals to. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever according to the order of melek. So not only is Christ King, but he's also priest. And this should have been expected because it's spoken of multiple times in the Old Testament.
It's spoken of here in Psalm one 10. It's spoken of in Zacharia six. And again, I would encourage you go home this week and read Zacharias six. But in Zacharia six, it begins with God commands Zachariah to make a crown and he's to put this crown on Joshua, the high priest. And then in the very next verse, he's to do this because it's a picture [00:10:00] of this coming one known as the branch.
And then in verse 13, he says this of the branch, he will build the temple of the Lord. So many of us are expecting this future temporal to be built, and we miss the sight of the fact that it's being built and it's you. And Jesus is the builder, the branch is the builder, and every time someone comes to faith, a new stone is added, and that's the temple we're to look for.
He will build the temple of Yahweh and he will bear the honor and sit and rule on his throne. He will be a priest. Upon his throne and the Council of Peace will be between the two offices. So Jesus was going to be priest and Jesus was going to be king. Verse seven and verse seven begins to talk about the qualifications of this priest.
You see, Jesus was obedient. Jesus lived [00:11:00] a life of piety, of godliness and Jesus. Persevered. And if you get one thing out of today's sermon, that's what I want you to get. Jesus persevered. Like Adam didn't. Jesus persevered. And so he expects us to persevere in our faith and Kids Chapter, chapter five, verse seven.
It's, it's on your outline it, you need to fill in the blanks, so pay attention to this passage. It says, in the days of his flesh, speaking of Jesus, he offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying. In tears to the one able to save him out of death. And he was heard because of his piety so much to talk about here.
First of all, this is in reference to the days of his flesh, and what he's referring to is his incarnation on earth or the days of his humiliation. And notice I said incarnation on earth because Jesus is still incarnate. Jesus for eternity will always [00:12:00] be the God man. But now he's in heaven. Now he's in glory, but, but upon the earth, he was in his, what theologians call his humiliation.
And during those days he offered up both prayers and supplication. And if you're familiar with the gospel, you know that Jesus prayed a lot, but, but these words are a lot more intense. He offered up prayers. This is, it's, it's this. This word is used multiple times in the New Testament, but it's not the common word for prayer.
This word brings with it a sense of intensity, of urgent prayer, of having an urgent need, and this need needs to be met. So there's an urgency in the prayer, both prayers and supplications. And this word here is only used once in the New Testament here. And again, it speaks of urgency. It speaks of an urgent request, a plea for help, and then it's described with loud crying in tears.
Now, [00:13:00] when did Jesus pray this way? Because we know he prayed often, but when did he pray with this kind of intensity in the garden? He prayed this way in the garden. Remember the authors beginning to talk about the high priesthood of Jesus and his priestly function, and he prayed this way in the garden.
So turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 14. Keep your finger in Hebrews. We'll be back. But if we're gonna understand what the author is saying here, then when he makes reference to scripture, we gotta treat that like a hyperlink. And so we have to go to Mark chapter 14. We're gonna start in 32. And I'm just gonna pull out a few things from this passage.
It goes from verses 32 to 42. And again, I would encourage you to read that later. But in verse 32, we read that they, Jesus and 11 of his apostles, they came to a place named Gethsemane. It was an olive grove. And he said to his disciples, sit here until I have prayed. [00:14:00] And then he takes with him, Peter, and James and John, and he began to be very distressed and troubled.
And we need to understand Jesus was human and he had real human emotions, and both of these words translated distressed and trouble. They're two different words in the Greek, but they both point to an intense anxiety. Jesus was agitated. He describes his agitation. In verse 34, he said to them, my soul is deeply grieved.
To the point of death, remain here and keep watch. Now, this word soul, he's referring to the entirety of himself. Souls don't die, and yet he says, my soul is at the point of death. I am deeply grieved, physically, emotionally, mentally, and literally. This word translated deeply grieved. It literally means I am surrounded by pain [00:15:00] to the point of death.
And in order to understand what is meant by this phrase to the point of death, you know, when you're, you're traveling and you're, you're entering a new town. Let's say you're coming to Bonner's Ferry for the first time, and somewhere on the freeway there's a sign that says, now entering Bonner's Ferry.
Now here, it usually says something like, don't blink, you'll miss it. But now entering Bonner's Ferry, okay, if you were to stop with your front bumper, millimeters away from that sign. That's the description you have here. You see if it weren't, Luke speaks of angels coming to the garden and ministering to Jesus, and I firmly believe that if it wasn't for that, Jesus may very well have died in the garden because that's what he means when he was at the point of death.
I am deeply grieved and I'm ready to die here. I'm gonna go over there and pray. Stay awake, pray for me. [00:16:00] And he goes a little beyond them and he fell upon the ground and he began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass him by. And he was saying, Abba, father, and I think we should stop there and, and.
Grammarians will argue about it, but honestly, this word, Abba, it's equivalent to our word daddy. It's equivalent to whatever your child would call you when they're in distress. If you're a father and your child is in distress and he cries out, daddy, dad, papa paw you, you recognize that word, and it's a term of endearment, and Jesus cries out in great distress.
And he addresses his father as father, but he first addresses him as Abba and I. I only stress then I only say that because again, we need to get into the mind of Jesus. We need to understand the stress that he was under the human Jesus. [00:17:00] And what does He pray? Father, all things are possible for you. You can.
How many times have you prayed that God, you can do anything, do this. And then when God doesn't do it, we get angry. Jesus doesn't get angry. Amen. Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. And we'll look at the cup in just a minute, but Jesus was saying, I don't want to go through this.
I don't want to experience the hell that I'm about to experience. You can do all things Father Abba, remove it. Please don't make me do this. And he goes back and he finds the apostles sleeping three times. He goes and he prays the same prayer three times. He comes back and he finds the apostles sleeping, and finally he's had enough and he says, get up.
Let's be going. Verse 42. Behold, the one who betrays me [00:18:00] is at hand, and I think the best way to summarize this is I'm just gonna read a quote from one commentator. And he describes Gethsemane this way. Yes. He says The agony of Christ at Gethsemane was occasioned by something other and deeper than fear of physical death.
You see, we watch movies about Jesus, the passion of the Christ. Mel Gibson and Mel Gibson does a phenomenal job showing the horror of crucifixion, but that wasn't the horror that Jesus wanted to get out of. Something other. And deeper than fear of physical death for what he faced was not simply a painful death, but judgment.
The judgment of a holy God against sin, our sin not his own. He was gonna face judgment for our sin, which is also called the second death in scripture at Gethsemane. In Calvary, we see him enduring our [00:19:00] hell. So that we might be set free to enter his heaven. And this was the crying. This was the loud crying in tears of Christ Jesus.
And who did he cry to? Back in Hebrews verse seven, to the one able to save him out of death. And he was heard because of his piety. And most translations, I will admit, will translate it from death, but Jesus dies. And yet the verse implies that he was heard and he was answered. God answered him. So it's not from death, but it's out of death.
And that's what the Greek actually says. Jesus knew he was gonna die, but he rose triumphantly. On the third day, he resurrected in Acts 2 31. Speaking of the Christ, David writes, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ. Here are David's words. He was neither abandoned to Hades, to the grave to shield in the Old [00:20:00] Testament, nor did his flesh suffer decay.
And why did that happen? And kids, this is on your outline because of his piety. And this word piety, and I think it's important for all of us. This word piety, literally means the fear of God. You see, even the God man, Jesus feared his father because the God man, the human Jesus understood who this God was, and he feared to go under the wrath of God, and yet he persevered and he went under the wrath of God for our sakes.
He knew God could save him out of death, and he bowed to the authority of his father. Verse eight. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered, the things which he endured from his. Here's that Greek word again. Passion. The passion that he went through. [00:21:00] And it's not as if Jesus didn't know right from wrong.
It's not as if Jesus didn't understand what it meant to obey, but he experienced the intensity of obedience. He experienced it as a human being. You see, obedience is costly, and if you're writing anything down, right, that down obedience is costly. We give up our rights, we give up our autonomy. We give up a certain amount of self-control.
And Jesus felt this giving up like no other human being. He felt the cost like you and I don't feel it. First of all, we don't give it up. We fight. We struggle to hang onto it, but he let it go and he let it go. And he let people whom he maintains their very existence, their very life, and he allowed them to torture him and beat him and mock him and spit at him and nail him to a tree.
And then while he was hanging on that tree to experience [00:22:00] hell, and because he was God, he could experience an eternity of hell in three hours. And you can't depict that in a movie, and you can barely depict that in words
verse nine, and having been made perfect. He became, to all those who obey him, the source of eternal salvation in this expression having been made perfect. It means he died. Jesus was already perfect and we, this, this Greek word is different than we use it in English. It literally means goal or end. He reached his goal, he reached his end, he endured the cross and he died.
And that's the sense in which Jesus was made. Perfect. The, the Greek word, and I'm just gonna share it with you 'cause I, it's gonna come up a couple different places. It, it comes from the Greek word, tell us and or goal, and just to demonstrate [00:23:00] that it clearly refers to his death. Think of John 19, verse 30, and it's a verse you'll all recognize because it's a verse that it's preached almost every Easter in almost every Easter.
The, the minister or the pastor I know I do it, will, will use the actual Greek. In John chapter 19, verse 30 in kids, this is on your outline as well to fill in the blank. Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, so he's at the, the very last moment of his life and he, he takes some sour wine so he can clear his throat and so he can quote the psalms and he cries out and one of the gospel says in a loud voice, John just says, he said It is finished tei.
And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. And that word esai it is finished, comes from the same Greek word Teah. He was made perfect. He reached his end. He reached his goal, the salvation of his people, and having been made perfect, he [00:24:00] became to all those who obey him, the source of eternal salvation.
You are saved by faith alone. And it is faith alone because it is by Christ alone. He is the only savior. Yes, he is the only one that can pay for our sins. All the good works you do, do nothing to remove your sin. They are proof of saving faith. They don't earn you anything. They don't remove anything.
And it's interesting because the author says he became to all those who obey. And the author does something here that he's done throughout the book and he'll continue to do, and that is he juxtaposes faith and obedience. You are saved by faith alone, but faith never comes alone. If you have true saving faith, you have been transformed.
You are a new creation. You're a new creature. You have new desires, new wants, new goals, and your life will demonstrate it. You will perform good works because Christ or God the [00:25:00] Father, has prepared them in advance for you. Ephesians chapter two.
And this is also, I wanna bring this up. This is also covenant language. This would've reminded the readers of Adam's failure. You see, God entered into a covenant with Adam and Adam failed. Adam was not tainted by sin. Adam was free from sin just like Christ, but Adam failed. Jesus persevered. And we see this as the book develops.
In chapter seven, will the, the author will talk about Jesus's better high priesthood in chapter eight. He has a better ministry. His sacrifice is better, even better than the Day of Atonement 'cause it doesn't need to be repeated. And in chapter nine, he's the head of a better covenant. All of this goes back to covenant language.
And yes, there's overlap. Verse 10. Being designated by God is a high priest according to the Order of Milk ek. So [00:26:00] now he comes back to where he started. If you remember, in verses five and six, he cites Psalm two and he cites Psalm one 10. You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melek. And he, he lands there again, he's a priest according to the order of milk ek, but he stops again.
You see, he doesn't start explaining this till chapter seven, and he'll say it one more time. In Hebrews chapter six, verse 20, the very last verse of chapter six, he will again refer to Jesus being a priest after the order of Melek, but he stops and he does something else, and then he stops and he does something else.
And he's been doing this throughout the book, so we need to pay attention when he stops. And what he's doing here is he wants to make sure the people are ready. So number two, on your outline, and I've, I've worded it as a question and I want you to ask yourself this question, and I want you to be honest and serious and [00:27:00] hard on yourself.
Are you immature? Are you immature?
And contextually, this speaks of what we believe. Is our theology? Is my theology immature? Have I learned a few things and I learned it 20 years ago and I've hung onto it, but I haven't tried to learn anything else. I've just stayed where I've been. Are you immature? Are you living a Christian life? Are you willing to sacrifice?
Do you sacrifice on a daily basis? Do you not do things that maybe you wanna do, but you know they wouldn't be pleasing to Christ? Are you immature? Are you a baby in your beliefs? Are you a baby in how you live, or are you a mature believer? And that's really what he does In the next several verses, are you ready to hear the meat of this message?
Verse 11, concerning him, Jesus, a priest forever according to the order of Mil Eck, according [00:28:00] concerning him. Concerning all of this, we have so much to say, but it's hard to explain. Since you become, since you have become dull of hearing, and this word for dull literally means lazy, sluggish, or careless.
You see it is a culpable dullness. He's speaking of culpability. It's hard to explain. Literally in the Greek, it's hard to exe, it's, it's hard to explain these things. Alright, but if we pay attention to context, it's not hard to explain the issue per se. It's not hard to teach what's going on here. It's not even hard to understand.
He tells us why. It's hard to explain. It's hard to explain because you've made yourself dumb. He's addressing his readers. Now remember who his readers are. We've talked about this. His readers are a group of Hebrew Christians. They have [00:29:00] professed Christ as savior. They've entered into covenant with Jesus Christ.
They're believing Hebrew Christians, and they're thinking about going to the old system. They're thinking about going back to the old Covenant. I've also made the argument that I think when you really study this book in the detail that he goes into, it is likely that a large number of his readers were former priests and they used to serve in the temple, and they're wanting to go back and renew their service in the temple.
So these folks. Weren't theological dummies, and yet they've dolled their own hearing and they would've been reminded of their past. In Ezekiel chapter 12, verse two, speaking to Ezekiel, son of man, you live in the midst of the rebellious house in Jeremiah, chapter six, verse 10, to whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear, behold their ears are closed and they cannot listen.
It Zacharia chapter seven, [00:30:00] beginning in verse 11, but they refused to pay attention and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. They made their hearts like Flint, so they could not hear the law. This was a culpable dullness. Have you made yourself dull? Are you excited to come to church?
Do you learn. You know, probably the most frustrating thing about being a pastor. I don't know what you're learning. I know what I'm saying, but I don't always know if it's getting through and there's ways to rectify it. I, I need to get out and talk to you a little bit more, and I'm, I'm working on that, but have you dolled your own senses?
Are you excited about church? Are you excited about reading the Bible? Do you have one or two podcasts that you're excited about listening to? He goes on verse 12, for though, by this time [00:31:00] you ought to be teachers. And he does. He doesn't mean by that that we should all be teaching or have this official title of teacher, okay?
We should all be teachers. We should be teaching someone, we should be discipling someone. We should be teaching our ourself. We should be teaching our children. We should be teaching one another. The fact is, you should understand this enough to communicate it though by this time you ought to be teachers.
You have need again for someone to teach you. And then he gets really down and dirty. These are former Hebrews former priests, and he says, not only do you have need of teaching, but somebody needs to teach you the elemental, the elementary principles of the Oracles of God. You need to go back and somebody needs to teach you the beginning.
ABCs of God's word. That's what that. Word means we need to break it down to you. You may understand the sacrificial system and you may [00:32:00] know what day to do this and what day to do this, and what animal to sacrifice, but you don't understand what it pointed to because if you did, you didn't embrace Christ.
And so I need to start over with you. I'd rather talk about Jesus. I'd rather talk about milk Eck, but you need the ABCs. You've come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone. Verse 13, for everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. And this, this phrase, the word of righteousness is important to understand because it refers to sound, doctrine and sound living.
That's what the context demands. That's what he's gonna expand upon. The word of righteousness, the gospel, and living out the gospel. Verse 14, but solid food is for the mature, and there's that word again, tell us. It's for the mature. It's for the one who's growing. It's for [00:33:00] the one who's expanding. It's for the one who's seeking the goal.
But solid food is for the mature who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil. And there's a, there's a lot here. This word practice, it has to do with maturity and proficiency. What is your Christian practice like? And you may have heard the phrase before, practice makes perfect.
We, we say that in the sports world, you know, practice makes perfect. That's a lie. Practice makes permanent and it matters how we practice. And that's what he's getting into. How do you practice? How do you practice your faith? How do you train your senses? And I love this Greek word, I just like saying it.
Guzo gymnasium. Okay. He's speaking of an athlete and he's speaking of training. So I [00:34:00] started thinking who has won the most gold medals in the history of the the Olympics? And how did this person train? So I looked it up, and I don't necessarily recommend this person as a role model or anything like that, but, uh, Michael Phelps, nobody comes close.
Michael Phelps has won 23 gold medals, a total of 28 medals, 23 of them gold. The closest person in history is a gymnast named La Larson, latonya, and she won nine gold medals. But I want you to listen to a day in the life of Michael Phelps. He would wake up at 6:00 AM from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM He would swim, he'd be in the pool for two hours, swimming from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM He'd be in the gym lifting weights, doing stretching, doing ice baths, things like that.
From 10 to 12, he'd eat. He'd take a nap after that, and then at four o'clock, he's back in the pool swimming again. [00:35:00] He was interviewed once. I just wanna read you the interview because again, the comparison that the writer of Hebrews is making is the same comparison that Paul makes in the book of Corinthians.
Do you train like an athlete? Do you train as a Christian, like an athlete would train? Are you dedicated to your training? Are you dedicated to your practice or are you a child? Phelps says, for five or six years, I went every single day without missing a single day. I was in the water on Christmas, birthdays, holidays, everything.
It didn't matter. When you have a goal that's important enough to you, nothing will stand in your way. I swam for over 20 years, and I can guarantee you there was probably a hundred days where I didn't want to do anything. I wanted to stay in bed and not get out. But those were the days where you have to, you have to get up [00:36:00] and do something because I think that's really what separates the good from the great.
The greats do things when they don't always want to do them.
How often do we put aside daily Bible reading? 'cause something else comes up? Because I'm at Leviticus now in my Bible reading, and I don't wanna read through Leviticus again.
Because they get an opportunity to do something else.
And what are we practicing? What are we training for to discern good and evil? And again, the good and evil here is both doctrine and practice.
So how do we train ourselves? How do you train yourselves in the Christian life? Are you in a training regimen? Do you even think about training yourself? Turning your Bibles to first Peter, chapter [00:37:00] one. That's the passage we opened the service with. And I'm just gonna pull a few nuggets. So again, I encourage you this week, go home and read the book of one Peter, but pay special attention to one Peter chapter one.
And I'm just gonna start in verse three. So as you're turning there, Peter writes in verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. From the dead, but begins with this word, blessed or praise be to God the Father.
So number one, in terms of, I wanna try to be helpful here. How do we train ourselves in the Christian life? Number one, do you praise and worship God? Does your day start off with prayer? Prayer of thanksgiving, prayer of praise, and worship? It's the very thing Jesus said. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed.
Be your name, holy be your name. Jesus teaches when you [00:38:00] begin to pray, you worship God. But you see worshiping God is not just, oh God. Thank you. Oh God, you're awesome. Oh no, it's actually applying scripture to your prayer. I worship you because of the mercy that you've poured out on me. Do you understand mercy?
You see, we've talked a lot during our Old Testament series on that Hebrew word, Hassed, covenant love, covenant loyalty, covenant, mercy. Do you understand that? Do you understand that Jesus loves you so much that he was heartbroken and near death in the garden
and yet he was the man and with the help of angels and with the help of his father and with. A will like Flint, he persevered and he went to the cross. Do you understand that mercy? Do you study that mercy? Have you ever done a concordance study of mercy in the Bible and read the context around those verses?
What does mercy [00:39:00] mean? I mean, even before the sermon, I was thinking about this and I'm reminding myself, you need to live this sermon. Would our lives not be transformed? If we started every day in true worship, if we slid out of bed onto our knees, and thank God for life, for spiritual life, for mercy, do you truly understand what it means to be born again?
Do you understand how lost you were? Do you understand the sinfulness of your sin? The depths from which God has lifted you up?
Do you understand that you're a new creation? You see, sometimes you just gotta do the right thing. I I, I shared this the other other day, not knowing it was gonna come up here, but I've, I've shared with you before that my son was diagnosed with cancer when he was 12, and we went through about six months of treatment and follow up and another year of more testing.
[00:40:00] He's fine today. You've, you've met him. He's very healthy. But it was after all the treatment was over, I got so angry with God. I just didn't understand that. I'll be honest, I still struggle with the problem of evil. I can give you the theological answer. I can give you the logical answer, but I still struggle with it.
Why God? And that time period that I was struggling. One of the things that I, that I did, and I would suggest it to you today if you're, if you're struggling with something. Is I just made myself do the things that God told me to do. I made myself go to church. I didn't want to. I made myself pray. I didn't want to.
I practiced it. I made myself confess my sins. I continued to read the scriptures, though it made me angry. Number one, begin with praise and worship. Number two, do you study the gospel? Do you work hard at [00:41:00] knowing and understanding and communicating doctrine? Here's a good test. If you think you understand the Trinity, explain it to a 3-year-old, because if you can explain it to a 3-year-old, you understand the doctrine.
Do you work hard at understanding the Bible? How often do you read? Are you on a reading plan? And let's just say you hate reading. The Bible is written in a way that it's actually meant to be heard. So it's okay to use an audible form of Bible study. For some of us it doesn't work. I can't do it that way.
I gotta have the book in front of me. I gotta be able to turn pages and I just gotta feel it 'cause it feels good. But do you read the Bible? And I'm not saying it's a sin to miss a day, but do you have a plan? If you miss a day, do you make up for it the next day? Do you take notes kids, show your moms and dads this picture?
It's a little boy, [00:42:00] and notice the Bible's in front of him, so he is reading something else. I don't know what it would be. He's taking notes. He's got another notebook. Do you take notes? Do you outline the the passage when you're studying it? Do you have a journal? My daughter bought me these journals for Christmas.
She's done it two years in a row. It is the best thing I ever started doing, and I never thought I would journal, but I just do it when I read the scriptures. And trust me, this is not about me or how I do things, kids, this is a question on your handout. Why do we learn the catechisms? Why do we have catechisms in our service?
Because it is a tool to learn the word of God. It's simply a tool, so we utilize them and kids, there's another question, and I don't wanna skip over it. What does it mean to discern good and evil? And you need to fill in the blanks. Ultimately, it means to think correctly about the world, to think in a way that honors God, to think doctrinally in a way that it [00:43:00] honors God, to think morally in a way that it honors the God to think financially in a way.
That it honors God to think about marriage and my spouse in a way that honors God. But you can't know those things if we're not in the word. Do you guard what else you take in because there's, you can be in the word, you can start your day in the word, and then you fill the rest of your day with garbage, and it robs you of everything you've read, everything you've tried to put upon your heart.
Do you guard the other things that you bring into your life? What do you watch? What do you read? Who do you spend the majority of your time with? That's another way to steal the word of God. Do you spend the majority of your time with other believers? Do you spend the majority of your time with somebody who's willing to pour their life into yours?
Somebody that you can ask questions to. How often do you confess your sins? Are you in an accountability relationship? Is there [00:44:00] somebody in your life that you can call any given moment? That can say anything that needs to be said. Do you read books? Do you listen to podcasts? What about Christian biographies?
Look at verse 13 of one Peter chapter one. Peter writes, and this is a command. Prepare your minds for action. Literally gerd your minds for action. And the picture there is, is the, the people in biblical times war tunics and men would wear tunics that would hang to their knees. And when it was time to to work on the farm or run or enter into battle, they'd reach and they'd grab the back of their tunic and they'd pull it up between their legs and tuck it in their belt.
And now they were free to move around. And Peter is using that picture to gird up your minds to keep sober. And this idea of keeping sober, yes, it would imply don't get drunk on wine and things like that. But basically it means to avoid all forms of bad influence. Go home today, [00:45:00] make a list. What are some things I need to get rid of?
Maybe it's Facebook, maybe it's Instagram, maybe it's your cell phone. Avoid all bad influences, whether it be spiritual, physical, or mental. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought you at the revelation of Christ Jesus. And interestingly enough, basically what he's saying is you need to be future oriented to live in the now.
Do you hope in the resurrection? Do you hope in going to heaven? Do you hope in entering that eschatological rest? You see, even Jesus did it in Hebrews chapter 12, verse two, for the joy set before him. He went to the cross for the joy of obeying his father for the joy of being perfect. He got, he went to the cross for the joy of saving a people for himself.
Are you future oriented? Do you think about grace and [00:46:00] everything that means that Jesus freely saved you? I really do want to take your question, but I, I, I won't
as obedient children. Verse 14, do not be conformed to the former lusts, which were yours and ignorance. Does your life look different? And again, sometimes it just takes practice. Sometimes it takes a while for something in your head to make it to your heart, and sometimes you just have to do the right things and get in the habit of doing the right things, and all of a sudden you'll like it.
When I was a young man, and I hate telling stories about myself, but when I was a young man, I really got into weightlifting. I was really into powerlifting, and I would come home after work and I would barely say hello to Stacey. It's like, Hey, hi. Right down to the basement, start lifting weights. And I had a really good friend get in my face and tell me that [00:47:00] that was wrong and that was a sin.
And so I started making a habit of, all right, I'm gonna come home, I'm gonna put myself down, I'm gonna go upstairs and Stacey and I are gonna have this conversation. And I didn't like it at first, I'll be honest. 'cause I'm just thinking of the gym. And she was very patient and long suffering with me. But after a while I started liking it.
I started doing the right thing and after the while I started liking it. That's the Christian life. Start doing the right thing. Like the holy one who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior because it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. You should be different. Do some of your acquaintances, do some of your friends think you're weird?
Because they should. Because in terms of the world's morality, in terms of the world's belief system, we're weird. But I would rather be weird because of the hope set before me. And then fit in and go to hell.[00:48:00]
Are you immature? Are you working on your immaturity? How do you practice? How do you train? How do you exercise your spiritual muscles? How much time do you spend in the spiritual gymnasium? I pray that you will take these questions seriously and that you will meditate upon them this week because. We're gonna get into the bulk of the argument, and it's wonderful.
Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for this book. Thank you that the author is not afraid to warn each and every one of us. Thank you that he continues to exhort us. And father, forgive us and don't let us fall into the trap that I've got it all down. I've got it all right. I've got no work left to do for Lord.
We all have work left to do. So spirit of God, I ask that you would reveal to our hearts this week, [00:49:00] and what places in my life do I need to do a cleanup job, and what places in my life do I need to do some reconstruction? What do I need to get rid of? Spirit of God? What do I need to remove? What do I need to add?
God, give me a love for your word. Father, I pray that I would lose sleep if I haven't been in your word any given day. I pray that I would be agitated and frustrated if I haven't spent time in your word. I, I pray, father, that you would give us all a high, like a, like a runner's high. Father, that we would get this, this high because we're in your word, because we're reading scripture.
Father, help us love one another. Help our love for you and your love for us flow out from us so that we love one another, that we seek Christian relationships, that we seek accountability, that we seek somebody that'll get in our face and tell us when we're in sin. [00:50:00] Father, help us train. Help us practice, but help us do it in a way that is honoring to you.
Transform us, Lord, for that is your promise. May we bow the knee. And may you have your way with us. May we not be hardhearted like the people of old. May we not be hardhearted like so many people around us. May we yield our hearts, our minds, our souls, our strength to you and Father, do something that blows our mind for we ask this in Christ Jesus, and all of God's people said, amen.
