Hebrews chapter 4. The title of the message is Our
Great High Priest. Emphasis on great. We have a
great high priest. Now after the warning here in
Hebrews 4, an earlier part of the chapter, about the danger
of coming up short, the danger of unbelief, and not entering
into that rest which is the Lord Jesus Christ. That s a sobering
warning that we are given and the sobering reality found in
verses 12 and 13 that the Word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And
in verse 13, there's no creature hidden from Him, there's no heart,
HIDDEN FROM HIM. THERE'S NO MOTIVE HIDDEN FROM
HIM. EVERYTHING STANDS BEFORE GOD
NAKED AND OPEN. STANDS AS IT IS. GOD SEES INTO
EVERY CREVICE OF THE HEART. HE SEES EVERY THOUGHT. AND AFTER
THAT SOBERING WARNING, IT BECOMES CLEAR THAT WE NEED SOMEONE TO
REPRESENT US BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD. As Job said, A DAY'S
MAN, I wish there's a day's man betwixt us, a mediator, a high
priest. And the good news of the gospel
is this, God the Father has provided the one that we need. God has
provided and this thought THIS THOUGHT HAS BEEN ON MY MIND ALL
DAY. GOD HAS PROVIDED EVERYTHING I
NEED TO STAND IN HIS PRESENCE ACCEPTED. I PROVIDE NOTHING. I PROVIDE NOTHING. WE DO NOT
HAVE A POTLUCK SALVATION. I KNOW WE CALL THESE POTLUCK
DINNERS. I DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT WORD
CAME FROM. IF ANYBODY KNOWS, TELL ME. But you have this, we
call it a potluck dinner. That's everybody bring a dish
and then we'll all have something to eat. We bring nothing to the
table. The only thing we bring is our
sins to be forgiven and to be put away. That's the only thing
we bring is our sins. That's all we have. Salvation
is of the Lord. That's what I was told, I believe
it was Donnie, after he had preached, I said, it might have been Tim,
salvation is of the Lord. And that that statement is more
powerful to me as every day goes by. That my salvation, and this,
I really find joy in this now. I find real joy in this. That
all my salvation is of the Lord. I don't provide any of it. Well,
that's grace. That's what grace is. He did
it all. All to him I owe. He paid it
all. He did it all. All to him I owe. God the Father has provided the
very one we need who is always officiating for us. You know
that? The Lord Jesus Christ 24-7, as
far as time goes for us, is always officiating for us. You know
He's officiating this service tonight? Our Great High Priest
is officiating this service tonight or it would not be accepted.
There's enough sin in our thoughts before this service is over to
destroy this whole service. But our Lord is officiating and
He's making this worship service right here accepted of God. God accepts our worship, He accepts
our singing of praises because our Great High Priest is officiating
for us tonight. That's a good thought, isn't
it? That's a good thought, especially for me standing here preaching.
This whole service is not on my shoulders. It's not on my
shoulders, it's on His. It's on His. Now it's my responsibility
to study, and pray, and seek the Lord, and study, and pray,
and seek the Lord, and come out here and preach. But the end
result is in His hands, it's not my hands. He's the one who
gives power to the message, not me. Speaking loud doesn't give
power to the message. God gives power to the message.
He can take the softest voice in the world and make it the
most powerful voice in the world. When Elijah heard him, he wasn't
in the whirlwind or the fire, but he heard a still small voice
speaking to him. Now one objection I have no doubt
that some Jewish believers likely faced was the claim that in turning
to Christ They had no high priest. They knew that the service could
not be conducted without a high priest. And they are saying,
You have LEFT Judaism! You have LEFT all the ceremony,
you have LEFT all the priests, you have LEFT everything that
God established back in the Old Testament! They are not realizing
that Jesus Christ IS the High Priest and Jesus Christ FULFILLED
THE TYPES! Those who BELIEVED NOT didn't
realize that. So the writer of Hebrews here is assuring the
Hebrews and he's making it very clear we do have a high priest
and what we have is a great high priest greater than all that
existed before him we have a great high priest not just any priest but a great
high priest who has passed into the heavens. Now in verse 14 seeing then that
we have a great high priest that is passed and that's past tense
he's passed into the heavens jesus the son of god you notice
he didn't say the son of joseph or the son of mary he said the
son of god the son of god and that being so let us hold fast
our profession You see, the Hebrews understood the necessity of a
High Priest. They knew that God could not
be approached without the High Priest, the Sacrifice, and the
Blood. He CANNOT, He ABSOLUTELY CANNOT
be approached apart from these. The High Priest, the Sacrifice,
and the Blood. Now this High Priest that we
have is not found in the Temple made with hands. He's not found
in that temple over in Jerusalem. He's found in heaven itself.
He's found at the right hand of God. From starting in chapter 5 through
chapter 10, the priesthood of Christ is dealt with. We'll be
dealing with the priesthood of Christ through these chapters,
and here's where He's starting to do it. But it was MENTIONED,
it was MENTIONED, you see He says, SEEING THEN THAT WE HAVE
A GREAT HIGH PRIEST, that was MENTIONED in chapter 3 verse
1 and also in chapter 2 verse 17. The priesthood of Christ
was MENTIONED. So SEEING, UNDERSTANDING that
we DO have a HIGH PRIEST, we have one. and we can approach
unto God through Him, by Him, because of Him, we can come into
God's presence. In heaven, in heaven, you know
that when we pray, I just prayed, you know I entered heaven? I did, when I prayed. My prayer, accepted of God, THROUGH
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ENTERED INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES. IT DID! IT DIDN'T ENTER INTO THE TEMPLE
OVER IN JERUSALEM. IT DIDN'T GO OVER THERE. IT WENT
INTO HEAVEN. WHEREVER THAT IS. WHEREVER JESUS
CHRIST IS, IS HEAVEN. AND IT ENTERED THERE. THESE ARE
THINGS THAT HAVE JUST BECOME MORE AND MORE OF A REALITY TO
ME. I study the Word of God this
becomes more and more real to me. He's entered into Heaven
and listen, Our High Priest is the Word of God made flesh. Our High Priest is God Incarnate. That's who He is. Aaron could
not make that claim. No other priest from Aaron on,
no other priest could make that claim. But the Lord Jesus Christ
is God, He's the Word of God, He's the Word of God made flesh.
That's the One who knows our hearts, and that's the One who
intercedes for them. Over in John 17, He said, Father,
I pray for THEM. Think about that! He said, I pray for THEM, I pray
NOT for the world. I pray for THEM. He prayed for me. and he prays
for me he intercedes for me I was thinking as I prayed here Carl
told me about Brenda fainting in the yard and she's at the
emergency room right now I forgot that I was going to pray I was
going to mention her in my prayer and I forgot it I sat down there
and I thought you stupid you forgot that See, I can call myself
stupid and not get offended. And I forgot it. But you know what? He didn't.
He never forgets. And he feels her infirmity, her
pain, whatever. He feels our infirmities. He
feels what... He feels her pain, her infirmity.
I don't feel it. I mean, I feel FOR her. But I
don't... I can't feel what she's feeling.
I can't feel what you're feeling right now. He feels every one
of us. I used to have a guy work for
me and I'd say something and sometimes it'd really get him.
He said, Oh, I feel you, man. He said, I feel you. The Lord
Jesus Christ really does feel us. That's the truth. It's the
truth. When I get to that, I'll say
more about it, but I'm getting ahead of myself. But we have
this great high priest. The Son of God is who He is,
the Son of God, the One in whom we find rest. Now, why is He
called a Great High Priest? Aaron was called a High Priest,
but our Lord is called a Great High Priest. Well, He s great
because of the uniqueness of His PERSON. Remember when He
stood up in that boat and He spoke to the wind and the rain,
and He said, Peace, be still! And it was a calm, a dead calm.
And they said, What manner of man is this, that even the wind
and the sea obey Him? They saw other miracles before
that, but whenever He spoke to the wind, which nobody can control
that. I mean, we're talking wind and waves and a storm, And He
just stands up and He says, Peace, be still. And it was just as
calm as it could be. And they just, what manner of
man is this? What manner of man? Here it is,
Jesus, the Son of God, equal with the Father, eternal as the Father. But Jesus,
they use the word Jesus. You see, He's truly a man. He can't be a priest. Now He
cannot be a high priest and represent us and not be a man because in
chapter 5 it tells us that He's ordained from among men. That a high priest has to be
ordained from among men. So He can identify with us. This
is why. but he is truly a man. Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And yet he is truly God, God
the Son, and this makes his priesthood superior to all others." Aaron
was not the Son of God in the sense that Jesus Christ is the
Eternal Son without generation. And then he's great because he's
made an atonement for our sins. No other high priest could offer
a sacrifice that removed sin. They offered those ghosts, the
blood of goats, the blood of bulls and goats, year after year,
day after day, year after year. I mean, you know how much blood
was shed? And you know why they kept doing that? because those
it says the comers their sins were never put away if they had
been put away there'd be no more consciousness of sin there'd
be no more need to offer for a sacrifice for their sins but he's great he's great because
he's made atonement for sin and and he has removed it jesus christ
has removed our sins ONLY A GUILTY PERSON CAN APPRECIATE THAT, ONLY
A GUILTY PERSON CAN APPRECIATE YOUR SINS BEING REMOVED, BLOTTED
OUT, BLOTTED OUT. In Hebrews 10 and 4, listen to
this, FOR IT IS NOT POSSIBLE THAT THE BLOOD OF BULLS AND GOATS
SHOULD TAKE AWAY SINS. You see, it has to be this It
has to be the same nature that sin that makes satisfaction for
sins. It's got to be the same nature.
You can't take an animal and sacrifice an animal for the sins
of my soul. You can't. And make satisfaction
to God's divine law. It doesn't work that way. It
doesn't work that way. You can't even take a goat and
kill it down at the courthouse and put away the sins of those
in jail. That doesn't work on earth either, does it? Well,
it's sure not going to work in heaven. It's got to be the same
nature. That sin has got to be that same
nature that makes satisfaction for sins. It has to be the same. And only Christ offered a perfect,
once-for-all sacrifice. And the Scripture said it must
be perfect to be accepted. And then it's great because He's
passed into the heavens. He's passed into the heavens.
EARTHLY PRIESTS ENTERED THE HOLY OF HOLIES AND THE TABERNACLE.
WHEN THEY BUILT THE TEMPLE, THEY WOULD GO THROUGH THE OUTER COURT
INTO THE INNER SANCTUARY AND THEN THEY'D GO INTO THE HOLY
OF HOLIES. JESUS CHRIST DIDN'T DO THAT. HE WENT THROUGH THE
HEAVENS. THE ANGELS AND THE DISCIPLES
WERE STANDING THERE WATCHING HIM GO AWAY. AND HE SAID, WHY
ARE YOU STANDING HERE FOR? THE ANGEL SAID, He's gonna come
in like manner, He's gonna come back just like you see, going
away. But they watched Him, they watched the Lord Jesus Christ
lift up off the ground, and they watched Him go out of sight.
Into the clouds and out of sight. And where did He go? Into the
third heaven. Into the third heaven where God's
throne is. I mean, we can't comprehend that.
I struggle to find the words to even talk about it. But that's
where He's at, seated at God's right hand. Our High Priest,
whose God is seated at the right hand of God, and He's interceding
for us, even while we sit here right now, attempting to worship Him, attempting
to preach the Gospel, and He's seated there making this accepted. That's our high priest constantly
officiating for us. He has passed into the heavens.
His priesthood is eternal and it's heavenly. It's before the
very throne of God. And because of this, because
we have such a high priest, we have such a great high priest,
let us hold fast our profession. We don't really no congrats the
pressure they were under by the Judaizers to give it up and come
back. They suffered, they suffered
for believing the gospel. I cannot say I have suffered
for believing the gospel, not in comparison to what they've
suffered, not in comparison. We didn't dare compare any of
my suffering to theirs. But let us hold fast our profession. Since we have such a great high
priest, we are urged, we are urged to hold fast to our faith
in Christ, to our confession of faith in Christ, to continue to fight the good
fight of faith. You know there is such a thing
as a good fight? There's such a thing as a good fight. It's
called a good fight of faith. Contending for the faith once
delivered to the saints. And this hold fast is a military
term. It says an army holds ground,
it is gained. Don't you give it up! Don't you
go back! Don't you go back! Don't you
turn back! You have nothing to turn back
to! And if you turn back, Boy, you're doomed, you're in
trouble. You leave the gospel for another gospel, you're in
deep, deep trouble. The call here is to perseverance
in the faith and to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold
of eternal life. Continue on, no matter how hard
it gets, no matter how difficult the road is. And I'm saying that,
and I know I've never gone down that real, real difficult road,
but some have been burned at the stake. They've died for the
gospel. John Bunyan was locked up in
prison for 12 years. All he had to do was deny Christ,
deny the gospel. All he had to do was deny it.
But he stayed in that prison for 12, and it was not like the
luxury prisons we got. It was a dungeon. And his wife and his daughter,
I think she was blind, his blind daughter, they were home. Now here's what really comes
in when he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. I've
tried to get a hold of this today and I've tried and tried to just
sit back and meditate and think upon him being touched with the
feeling. You know, we often say, we said,
feelings come, feelings go, feelings not worth believing. But now
we are real, we are alive and we have feelings. And when it
hurts, it hurts. You stump your toe, it hurts,
doesn't it? When your loved one dies, it hurts. It hurts. God, people hurt. You know, we
can say, Well, it's of the Lord, and it is, but it still hurts. It still makes you cry. Which brings me to the third
point here. Our high priest understands our weakness. He understands our weakness.
You got a weakness? You have an area you're weak
in? He understands our weakness.
Have you ever felt like just no one understands what
you're going through? Have you ever felt that? Have
you ever just felt like no one understands what you're going
through? I have, I've felt that. Now listen, for we have not in
High Priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, BUT WAS IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED LIKE AS WE ARE, YET WITHOUT
SEEN." What an astounding verse of scripture. Christ, fully human, fully human,
knows our trials. He knows our trials. He was tempted
in every way. That's what it says, tempted
in every point. We can't go there. It's like
when Lonnie was talking about Christ being made sin. That's
just beyond our comprehension. That's beyond our comprehension. And here, He was tried, He was
tempted, it says, in all points. But not, but not, no. I'm not
even going to try to explain it. I'm not in the explaining
business, I'm in the proclaiming business. He's tempted in all
points. So whatever I'm dealing with,
the Lord can sympathize with me. He can sympathize and empathize
with me in all points. And yet He remains sinless. You see, we've been tempted and
we fall. We tempted, we fall. Our Lord
never fell. When He was in the wilderness,
He was tempted with hunger. Satan said, make those stones
into bread. You're the Son of God, turn those
stones into bread. He had 40 days, 40 nights. He
was severely hungry. He felt that hunger. Now He felt
that you go 40 days, 40 nights without eating and see how hungry
you are. He felt that. He felt just as
hungry as you feel. Then he was tempted to cast himself down
to prove he's the Son of God. Then he was taken up on the high
mountain and Satan showed him the kingdom of the world and
he said, I'll give all these to you. I can see the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It was
all right there. And he never sinned. Every time
he answered him, he said, it is written. And if you and I
ever want to answer a temptation, answer it with the scriptures.
It is written. He did every time. That's how
he defeated Satan. It is written with the word of
God. It is written. The High Priest had to be a man,
not an angel, in order to identify with those He represented, in
order to have sympathy with us, and not just be a cold, dead
service to Him. It's not a cold, ceremonial service
to the Lord Jesus Christ, it's heartfelt service. love to the
ones he's representing love to the father the ones he the one
he's representing us to he's got to be a man not an angel
that he can identify with us and here's that thought again
he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities he wept at
lazarus grave mary martha was so heartbroken he felt that he
felt their pain He felt their pain. And here's the best example
I can give you and it just struck me as I was right before coming
out here because I've been bawling over this all day. He is TOUCHED! He's TOUCHED! With the FEELING! The HURT! THAT OUR INFIRMITIES
BRING US, HE FEELS IT. LISTEN, AS THE HEAD FEELS THE
PAIN OF THE BODY. BOY THAT STRUCK ME, I THOUGHT
THAT'S IT. I BET IF I STEP ON YOUR TOE, YOUR WHOLE BODY AND
HEAD GONNA FEEL IT, AREN'T YOU? I MEAN, THAT'S HOW CONNECTED
WE ARE TO JESUS CHRIST. THIS IS THE UNION WE HAVE WITH
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. IF THE FOOT HURTS, HE FEELS IT! Paul, he said, why are you kicking
against the pricks? Why are you causing so much pain
to my body? It's not like he doesn't feel
what we're going through, he feels it. The best example I can give you
is your one body, your head and your body is all together and
you feel it. You feel it and that's how he feels it. He feels
it. He says he feels the INFIRMITIES. He calls them INFIRMITIES. Listen, we have this priest who
can be touched with the feeling of our INFIRMITIES in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He understands every struggle,
every sorrow, every pain. You go to a doctor, and this
has happened to me a lot more lately, they say, what's your
pain level from 1 to 10? You know why they ask you what
your pain level from 1 to 10 is? Because they can't identify
with all your pain. There's a whole lot of pain you
and I've had they have never had. And so they put you on a
scale. What's your pain level? Our Lord doesn't ask us what
our pain level is, He KNOWS what it is. He KNOWS what it is. Hebrews 2.18 For in that He Himself
has suffered being tempted, He is able to succor, help, run
to help them that are tempted. Being tempted, He sympathizes
with us. BEING SINLESS, HE INTERCEDES
FOR US, AND THOUGH IN HEAVEN, HE STILL FEELS US. Don't think
that that distance, don't think that distance keeps Him from
feeling us, our pain. There's a real, real, real union
between us and Christ. We are the BODY. We need to understand,
we are His BODY, we are part of His BODY. And it says, "...YET WITHOUT
SIN..." What a powerful statement! Here's our HOPE! "...HE WAS TEMPTED,
YET NEVER SINNED, IN THOUGHT OR DEED, HE REMAINED HOLY, THEREFORE
HE CAN REPRESENT US." You see, Aaron, it says, had to offer
a sacrifice for himself as well as the people because he was
just sinful like they were. But here he's tempted and he
never sinned, yet without sin. And then we have a place and
a person to come to. Our high priest is not found
in Jerusalem and he's sure not found over
there in Rome. You see that mess going on right
now. I told Vic, I said, I'm telling you one devil dies and
another one takes his place. Our High Priest is in Heaven.
That being so, let us therefore, that's what that therefore is,
seeing what we've already read here about our High Priest. Let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. That's
called a throne, for grace reigns there. It's called a throne of
grace because that's where it reigns. It reigns there through
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace reigns on
us through His righteousness. Or we'd be goners, we wouldn't
be able to partake of God's grace. But grace keeps pouring down
on us, it keeps raining down on us, and it keeps doing so
through the righteousness of that man Jesus Christ. Not because
you and I are good little boys and girls, because we're not.
Even though we're not what we used to be, we're sure not what
we still ought to be. Not yet. Listen, to come boldly means
to come confidently, knowing it's a throne of grace and sinners
are welcome there. Welcome sinners, welcome! Now how do we come? And I'm going
to close. How do we come to the throne of grace? Johnny read over in John 14,
Christ talked about going to the Father. He said, Thomas said,
Well, we don't know where you're going. We don't know how to get
there. Christ said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man
comes to the Father but by me. But here's how we go to the throne
of grace. First, by prayer. I told you
then when I prayed, I went to the throne of grace while I go.
I went into heaven itself. My prayer being presented by Christ went
into the Holy of Holies where God is, where God is. Do you
believe that? That puts a new light on prayer,
doesn't it? you realize where you're going
and whose presence you are instead of just calling upon the name
God, you're entering into the presence of God. We come through PRAYER, we come
HUMBLY, we come REVERENTLY, and we come HONESTLY, HIDING NOTHING,
HIDING NOTHING, because we know He sees everything. And we come,
now listen, and this is important, expectantly, expectantly. I've told you this story, but
I know there's some people watching that's never heard it, but I
heard this story. This man was getting ready to
go to a special prayer meeting that was going to pray for rain.
It hadn't rained for a long time. And so they was going to gather
and pray for rain. And the little girl, the little girl asked her
daddy if she could go with him. And he said, yes, yes, you can. And she got the umbrella and
just took off, went with him. And he said, what's the umbrella
for? She said, you're praying for rain. Would you bring an
umbrella tonight if we prayed for rain? Expect what you pray for. COME
EXPECTING GOD TO ANSWER. Listen to Hebrews 11 and 6, He
that cometh to God must believe that He is, now listen, and that
He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. He is a
rewarder, He will answer your prayer. William Jay put it this way,
When God ENACTS LAWS, He is on a THRONE OF LEGISLATION. When
He ADMINISTERS THEM, He is on a THRONE OF GOVERNMENT. When
He JUDGES, He is on a THRONE OF JUDGEMENT. But when He RECEIVES
PETITIONS AND DISPENSES FAVOR, He is on a THRONE OF GRACE. And last of all, THE PURPOSE
FOR COMING. What's the purpose for coming? THAT WE MAY OBTAIN MERCY AND
FIND GRACE TO HELP IN TIME OF NEED. THAT WE MAY FIND MERCY
FOR OUR PAST FAILINGS AND SINS. THAT WE MAY FIND GRACE FOR OUR
PRESENT AND FUTURE NEEDS. MAKE MUCH OF THE THRONE OF GRACE
IT IS THERE FOR YOU, ESPECIALLY IN YOUR TIME OF NEED. THROUGH
CHRIST'S BLOOD we have a blood-bought right to be there. We have a GREAT HIGH PRIEST.