I want to turn your Bibles to
Hebrews chapter 5. I want to consider with you today
the subject that the book of Hebrews is primarily about, which
is the Lord Jesus Christ as our High Priest. He is truly the
appointed High Priest, appointed by God. the only high priest
that there is. Beginning today, we're going
to look specifically at the Lord Jesus Christ as our great high
priest, our compassionate high priest. And so that's what I
want to look at with you after we pray. Let's pray. Our gracious
Heavenly Father, we ask that you would enable us to see your
eternal purpose of grace and your work of grace in our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who you have made our great High Priest. Help us, dear Lord, to understand
the implications of what you've done and to see your greatness
in it and worship you for it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I want to ask you a question.
Where do you think in scripture it says that Jesus Christ is
God's appointed high priest? Where in scripture does it ever
say that the Lord Jesus Christ is the high priest, the great
high priest? If you think about it a little
while, you probably will realize that there's only one place in
scripture where it explicitly states this, and that is in the
book of Hebrews. And that's interesting. That makes this book especially
important to us, doesn't it? In Psalm 110, it clearly foretells
what God would do, but it's still in a hidden way. It's still in
a mysterious way, which we don't understand clearly. We couldn't
say it dogmatically unless it was revealed explicitly in the
New Testament. And that's why in the book of
Romans, in chapter 16, verses 25 and 26, as we have been studying
in our Bible study, it says that in these last days, God has given
a commandment to make known the gospel, and that this was something
that the gospel was hidden as a mystery from the foundation
of the world, but now is made known to us according to that
commandment of God the Father. And so think about the fact that
throughout the ages of history, this truth was hidden as a mystery
and only revealed in ways that made it difficult or impossible
to understand without God's revelation to certain individuals. But here
in the book of Hebrews, it's openly made known and is explicitly
set forth in an undeniable way. And in fact, it's proven from
scripture and from the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
importance of this is made clear to us here in Hebrews chapter,
well, in the entire book of Hebrews, but especially in Hebrews chapter
five. So I want you to consider this
with me this morning because it's very, very important. And
what Ramel read to us and commented from scripture earlier fits right
in with this, because this is the work of our High Priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read this together. I want
to begin in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14, where it says, seeing
then that we have a great Seeing then that we have a great high
priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession. Here it is very clear that God
calls Jesus our great high priest. It's interesting, the perversion
that religion has done throughout time, beginning in the garden,
Satan began to pervert the truth. But in the Roman Empire, they
had this phrase they would use to describe the position of the
religious and the political rulers in Rome. They called the ruler
of Rome, the emperor, eventually, they called him Pontifex or Pontifex
Maximus. And from that, the Catholic Church
used the word pontiff. We get the word pontificate from
that. And Maximus means the chief or the highest. And so the pope
in the Catholic Church calls himself the chief or the highest
high priest, the high priest. complete blasphemy, a complete
and open and shameless denial of the truth, an assault on Christ's
unique position as high priest. But this is not new in religion.
And so we see that men love to have the preeminence, and they
like to wield it over others and claim that salvation comes
through men. It does not. It comes through
one, and that one alone, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we
read this in Hebrews 4.14 that we have a great high priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And this one who is the great
high priest did not enter into an earthly tabernacle on earth.
He passed into the heavens. And who is he? He is Jesus. The
name Jesus means the one who would save his people from their
sins. Jehovah, who saves his people
from their sins. And he is the son of God. He
is God over all. This one who is both God and
man is the one and great high priest of his people. So we have
it here. And he says, because he is, then
let us hold fast our profession, our confession, We hold fast
to what God has said. That's our confession. The gospel
is our profession, isn't it? It's what we confess. We confess
it in our heart. We confess it in prayer. We take
God's word and bring it to God in our prayers. And we ask God
to treat, to deal with us according to his word in the gospel, with
us as sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ to receive us for the
sake of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, to cleanse us from our
sins by his precious blood, to set us apart and make us holy
by his offering of himself to God, and to receive us for Christ's
sake. and give us access. We pray according
to God's word. We ask the Lord to honor his
word as he'd given it to us. In our prayers, in our life,
we say to others, all my hope is in what God thinks of his
son because he provided him as my high priest to do for me what
I cannot do, to do for God all that God requires of me. And
so this is the significance of these words here. And so he says
in verse 15 of chapter four, for we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.
Because our high priest was tempted in every way that we are tempted,
and because as the son of God he was strong, he did not fail. Therefore, as God and as man,
He can have both compassion on us and He can save us to the
uttermost. The two are joined in one, in
one person, both God and man. All that God is, He is in Christ. And all that God requires, He
has fulfilled in His Son. He laid the full requirements
to save His people upon Himself in His Son. and He is without
sin, though He was tempted in every way. Let us, therefore,
come boldly unto the throne of grace. This is His throne. It's
a throne of grace. That's the way alone by which
we can be saved, that we may obtain mercy. What is mercy? Mercy is God withholding from
us what we justly deserve. Mercy is God not bringing the
judgment upon us that our sins deserve. So we come at all times
to obtain mercy and to find grace. What is grace? Grace is God giving
us his blessings that Christ deserves, the reward for Christ's
obedience, far beyond anything we could ever think. Let us come boldly to the throne
of Christ, the throne of grace, where we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. To help. That's that sucker
that God spoke of in chapter two. Christ is able to sucker,
to run to the aid, to help those in any time of need because he's
our great high priest. And so here in these words we
see that the Lord Jesus Christ sits on the throne And we know
he's there because he accomplished the work. And as our high priest,
he can have compassion on us, not the compassion of a mere
man who feels pity but can't do anything, but the compassion
of a man who knows our experience and as God can fulfill it with
all the power and the authority according to the will of God.
And he has done so. Now, in chapter 5 it begins,
this is a book addressed to the Hebrews, those who grew up in
the Hebrew religion, who were given the law by Moses, who lived
under the priesthood. These who held to that and thought
in themselves that this was the only way they could be saved.
And they grew up this way for hundreds, literally over 1,500
years. Can you imagine being in a church
or religion like that for so long? Even God-given miracles
attended the revelation that was given to them. And yet, God
now comes with a new, a fulfilled work here and he proclaims it
to them. And these people were exhorted
to forsake their confidence in everything that they trusted
about that religion and lay hold on Christ alone. Abandon all
hope in your own works and all outward forms of religion and
see by faith alone that your salvation is in Christ alone.
And this exhortation is given here clearly with endearing,
convincing, persuading arguments, and it's also attended with warnings
of the most severe kind. And so we're exhorted here to
lay hold on Christ by faith, and to forsake everything else,
and hold to him alone, and have no other confidence but we have
in him, no other expectation from God but what we have in
Christ. And failure to do so is to find ourselves under the
judgment of God without a refuge, without a Savior. And so he tells
the Hebrews here, he's going to now open up this subject in
such a way that he's going to convince them from Scripture,
from the life and the work and the sufferings and the death
and the prayers of Christ, that Jesus Christ is the high priest,
the only high priest, the great high priest, God's appointed
high priest, the only one in whom we can be saved. And this
is the argument here. And he does this in a very calculated
way. In the beginning, he announces
the Lord Jesus Christ as our high priest when he says in verse
three, Having proved him to be the son of God, he says in verse
3, when he had by himself purged our sins, that was the work of
the high priest. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. That's the place of the high
priest having accomplished that work. He reigns as king over
all. And then in chapter 2, he opens
it up as well, speaking of our high priest in verse 9, when
he says, we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the
angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor,
that's the work of our high priest, having accomplished our reconciliation
to God in his own blood, he sat down, that he, by the grace of
God, should taste death for every man. And it goes on in verse
17 to say, wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be
made like to his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God, for this purpose, to
make reconciliation for the sins of the people. So there again
we have it, plain terms. He is our high priest. He's our
high priest by himself, he himself, in his own person, in his own
body, offered himself to God, and in that offering, He appeased
the wrath of God by satisfying the justice of God and removing
our sins from us as far as the east is from the west, washing
us from our sins in his own blood, making us holy by his one offering. And so in chapter 3, verse 1,
he says, Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him. So here the
Lord Jesus Christ is described again as our high priest who
was faithful, not as a servant, but as a son in his own household. And then here we just read it
in Hebrews 4, verses 14 through 16, he has passed through the
veil, he's passed into heaven itself, into the heavenly tabernacle,
and there he performs the service of a high priest as our intercessor,
our advocate, our mediator, with his own blood in heaven itself.
Now, in chapter 5, he's going to prove that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the High Priest of God. Now, these people, these
Hebrews to whom he is writing, held to one priesthood. It was
the priesthood of Aaron in the Old Testament. There was only
one. In fact, the sons of Aaron, Nadab
and Abihu, they tried to offer strange fire to God and God immediately
killed them in Leviticus chapter 10. So it proved then that they
could not just perform the functions of a priest or a high priest
in any way. They had to do it precisely according
to God's rules. And then later on in Numbers
chapter 16, there was a couple of people, Korah and Abiram,
Dathan and Abiram, and they asserted themselves to try to perform
the functions of a high priest like Aaron. And the earth opened
up and swallowed them. And everything they had, everything
that had to do with them was swallowed up. And it was to show
that God alone approves and appoints the high priest that He will
accept. And so Aaron, throughout the hundreds of years of Israel's
history in the Old Covenant, was the only family out of which
God would allow there to be a high priest. And God told Moses to
anoint Aaron as the high priest. And so this has seen the importance
of the fact that this is the only priesthood God accepted.
But then, in history, along comes the fulfillment of all that pointed
to in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what he's going to
open up to us here. It's unusual. It's not just unusual, it's unbelievable,
really. that God would do all that for
hundreds of years and it would only be a picture of the true,
not the reality of it. It would only be an image, if
you will, of the true and the reality. But in Hebrews 5, verse
1, he opens up this way, who can have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself
also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof, because
he is compassed with infirmity, he ought, as for the people,
so also for himself to offer for sins. And no man taketh his
honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron,
so also Christ, glorified not himself to be made an high priest,
but he that said to him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten
thee, as he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for
ever after the order of Melchizedek. who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
crying and tears unto him, that was able to save him from death,
and was heard, and that he feared, though he were son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him, called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Verse one of Hebrews chapter
five gives us the outline of what a high priest is and the
qualifications for the high priest. And then the book of Hebrews
does this under the inspiration of the spirit of God in order
to prove and argue from scripture and from the life of Christ that
Jesus Christ is our high priest. The first thing that he says
here is that a high priest must be taken from among men. He's
not going to be an angel. God alone, as God, cannot be
a high priest. He has to be taken from among
men. In chapter 2, we just read in
verse 17, in all things it behooved him, Christ, to be made like
to his brethren. He had to be made like his brethren.
In chapter 10, I'm sorry, chapter 2, verse 10, it says, it became
him, it pleased God, it seemed good to God, for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory,
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
be a man. A man could suffer. God can't
suffer. A man could be made like his
brethren. God was not like his brethren. And so the Lord Jesus
Christ, as the Son of God, had to be made the Son of Man. He
had to take on our nature. He had to become incarnate, enfleshed. He had to be clothed in flesh. In John 1, verse 14, it says,
the word, the eternal word of God was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He was born of a virgin. He was
born of a woman. In every way he was made like
us. In Romans chapter 8 verses 1-4
he says, he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He took upon
him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.
Philippians chapter 2. In all these cases we see Christ
was born. He became a man. Jesus told Nicodemus
in John 3, No man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came
down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. And so, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to be our High Priest, the Son of God, had to become the Son
of Man. And He was appointed to this
from eternity. And so here He says in chapter
5, verse 1, every High Priest taken from among men. In order
for Jesus Christ to be our High Priest, He had to first be a
man. And so he had to be taken from
among men. And then it says, every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men. In other words, he had to be
ordained by God for men. You see the prepositions here?
From men, for men. Ordained by God. And then he
says here, he was ordained for men, by God, in things pertaining
to God. From men, for men, in things
pertaining to God. And then it says that he may
offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Now here's the summary
of all that God has designed for a high priest. He serves
as a mediator, a go-between, a bridge, the one who joins all
that God requires in order to be at peace with sinful men and
to bless them and to commune with them and to have them in
his presence at peace with him. in one in our high priest. He
does all God requires in order to bring sinful men to God into
his presence. And he does all men who are sinners
need to be brought as holy and blameless and accepted by God
in his sight. Only one does that, the high
priest. God has to ordain him. Who thought
of this anyway? God did. We didn't come up with
the idea of a high priest. We never thought of a mediator.
We might have thought of needing a mediator, but it never entered
our heart. God himself did this. God designed,
God appointed, God provided, God made Christ our high priest,
and then God accepted him as our high priest. This is the
only way the high priest has access to God, is that God designed
that one should stand for sinful men and bring to God what God
requires. So he's taken from men, ordained
by God for men, in order that he, on behalf of men, might bring
to God what God requires in order to have sinful men, and that
is sacrifices and gifts. That's what the high priest does.
In verse two it says, who can have compassion on the ignorant
and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself also
is compassed with infirmity. So what is it, first of all,
that God says here that Jesus Christ, that qualifies, that
proves that Jesus Christ is our high priest? Because the Hebrews
would have been convinced that there was no other priest or
high priest but that of Aaron. But he says, first of all, the
first thing is he must perform. the duties of that role of high
priest, the role he just described. He has to be taken from among
men. He has to be ordained for men by God. And he has to bring
to God what God requires and things pertaining to God. And
he has to do it for the sins of men that he might bring men
to God. And so he says, first of all,
this is what Christ does. He fulfills the role. He performs
the duty. He fits the profile of what a
high priest is. He serves God in these things
as our mediator. This is a huge thing. If we didn't
have a mediator, we would have no hope. We can't come to God. God can't look up on sin. God
is just, like Rommel was saying earlier. He can't just sweep
our sins under the carpet. He cannot overlook our sins. He will not pervert judgment.
That's the accusation God brings against men. He that justifieth
the wicked and he that condemns the just are both alike an abomination
to God, Proverbs 17, 15. It can't happen. And so God has
to appoint a mediator, an advocate, an intercessor. One who brings
all that men must bring in order to be accepted by God and makes
men acceptable. And that's why in Ephesians chapter
1 verse 4 it says that God has chosen us in Christ that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. In Jude chapter
1 verse 24 it says that now unto him who is able to keep you from
falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy." This is amazing. Not only is the high
priest appointed for us, but he accomplishes the work to make
us, to make it so that God and us can be at one. That's what
atonement means. We can enter into God's presence
without any barrier. Our sins are removed. We are
made holy, blameless, by our high priest. So he fulfills the
role of high priest. He doesn't serve on earth. He
entered into heaven itself. He doesn't serve with an earthly
and animal sacrifice. He offered himself. He doesn't
serve with the vessels of ministry on earth or an earthly altar. He himself is the altar. He doesn't
offer anything but himself. And in offering himself, he offers
all that God requires, all that pleases God. His priesthood is not like the
priesthood on earth that was temporal. His priesthood is an
everlasting priesthood. His priesthood had no beginning.
His priesthood has no end. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And if the lamb was slain, there
had to be a priest to offer himself. And that was our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so this is the only way. And all of this about our high
priest is in a covenant that's called the New Testament in his
blood. and it supersedes and fulfills
and therefore replaces. It obviates the need for the
Old Testament. Now all these things are being
built up here in the book of Hebrews, so that the priesthood
and the covenant are joined hand in hand. And when the priesthood
is fulfilled in Christ, that new covenant is fulfilled in
Christ, and the old then has lost its purpose. Its purpose
has been fulfilled. We are no longer under the law.
We are under grace. We are under this everlasting
covenant because we're in Christ. And so this is all together true
of our high priest. He has fulfilled this role. And
this is the first thing, the first argument that Jesus is
our high priest is that he has performed and now continues to
perform the duties of a high priest. And what is it that he
did? He offered himself to God. Remember, his name shall be called
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And his
offering to God was accepted. He's a sweet-smelling savor.
He offered himself to God. Ephesians chapter 5, I want to
read this to you because it's such a precious scripture. In Ephesians chapter 5, and actually
in chapter 4, verse 32, Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God For Christ's sake has forgiven
you. Why did God forgive us? Because
he has a high priest who offered himself. Look at chapter 5 verse
1. Be therefore followers of God
as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet smelling savor. That means when God looks upon
and contemplates the work of his son in our redemption, he
is completely and totally satisfied. He is well pleased. So the Lord
Jesus Christ has fulfilled the role of high priest, and this
is the first argument. The second one is given here
too. He says in Hebrews chapter five, In verse
4, and no man taketh his honor to himself, but he that is called
of God as was Aaron, so also Christ glorified not himself
to be made high priest. But he that said to him, thou
art my son, today have I begotten thee, as he saith also in another
place, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
The second argument made here by the Spirit of God, because
the scriptures always start with something. We call that an axiom,
something unprovable but stated as the first point. And on that,
scriptures build an argument. The first point that's made here
is that we need a high priest. We're sinners. God is just. And God has therefore designed
the role of high priest. But the scripture is brought
to bear and arguments are made here that Jesus Christ is our
high priest. And so the second argument made
here is not only that he fulfills the role of high priest, performing
the function of sacrificing and obtaining favor from God for
sinners and bringing sinners to God as holy in his sight. The second thing is here is that
he was appointed and ordained by God. He didn't appoint himself. Christ did not assert himself
to be being high priest. God chose him to this. God ordained
him to it. God appointed him to it. In the
Old Testament, God told Moses to anoint Aaron and make him
and his sons high priest. Only Aaron's sons. But God never
spoke directly to Aaron. God spoke directly to his son. In Psalm 110, verse 4, he says,
thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. God
the Father, he himself, not only appointed and ordained Christ
to be our mediator, our high priest, but he swore by an oath
to make him so. And so this is the second thing.
He qualified him by his call. God appointed His Son. It was
not an indirect call. God swore, as He says in Scripture
in Psalm 110, verse 4. And so this is the second thing.
Because the Father, God the Father, appointed Him. Therefore, we
have confidence in several ways. First of all, God is inclined. God designed. God had a purpose
and a will from eternity to reconcile us to himself. And he made this
work of reconciling sinners to himself and blessing them, making
them his sons by Jesus Christ. He made this work his chief work. Now think about that. We have
some priorities in our lives. We set about to do our business.
There are certain things that are most important to us. What
was the most important thing for God? It was to bring glory
to himself, to honor his name by honoring his son in the salvation
of sinners, making him our high priest and then glorifying him
for having fulfilled that work. That's why he sits on the throne
of glory. And so the Father, in doing that, has made it evident
to us that God is interested in, God has designed a way, God
has provided and God has accepted us in our high priest. And therefore God has honored
him and God is glorified in this. Jesus prayed in John 17, He said,
Father, I have finished the work which you have given me to do.
And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with
the glory which I had with thee before the world was. He prays
on the basis of finishing this work as a high priest that God
would glorify him. And this is what we have here.
This was God's doing. He ordained him. And because
God ordained him, we know the character of God. God is gracious
and merciful, just and holy, righteous and true, faithful
and all-wise, and all-powerful to reconcile sinners on the basis
of justice, and then lavish His grace upon them abundantly, and
give them eternal life and eternal blessings in Christ, because
He made Christ our Mediator and High Priest. That's the second
argument here. Because he appointed Christ to
this, therefore Christ has legitimate warrant and access to God to
stand in the place and on the behalf of sinners. And because
God has appointed him and given him that access by his will,
therefore whatever Christ brings is in accord with that will and
God has accepted him and therefore we know with confidence God did
this in Christ. We therefore come on the basis
of what God has ordained from eternity and provided in time
and accepted at the cross. And because He reigns and sits
on the throne of glory, we know God has accepted Him and accepted
His people with Him. This is very important. There
is only one name under heaven whereby we must be saved. It
is Christ's name. He is the way, the truth, and
the life. No one comes to the Father but
by Him. You see? And so in Romans 5,
it says, being now justified by his blood, we have peace with
God. And we have access to God through
him, through the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith, we have access to God.
We come into the presence of God by him. And then the third
argument God makes here is that he is a diligent and a faithful
high priest in performing the functions that God gave him to
do, the work God gave him to do. Look at Hebrews chapter 5.
Not only does he say, I, that God himself has appointed him,
his son, to be our high priest after the order of Melchizedek,
which we will get into in chapter 7, but he says in verse 7 how
the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the office God gave to him faithfully
and diligently. Look at it, verse 7. Who in the
days of his flesh, Christ, in the days of his flesh, when he
had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears
unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard,
and that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience
by the things which he suffered." Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the only one who actually fulfilled the work of our high priest. Aaron didn't. Turn over to Hebrews
chapter 7 and verse 11. Aaron didn't. It says here in
Hebrews 7.11, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood,
for under it the people received the law, what further need was
there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek
and not be called after the order of Aaron? There was no more,
all of the priests in all the time of the Old Testament, none
of them ever made anything perfect. Look at verse 19, chapter 7,
verse 19. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw
nigh to God. And that better hope is the new
covenant in Christ's blood. So he's the only one who actually
fulfilled this work and finished it, the work God gave him to
do. He himself alone made satisfaction for our sins. He took away the
wrath of God. He is our propitiation. And he
established the ground for God's mercy and grace to be poured
out in abundance on us as undeserving sinners. That's why the publican
prayed in Luke 18.13, God be merciful. to me the sinner. He asked God
to look upon the propitiating sacrifice of Christ and receive
him though he was a sinner and God did. God fulfilled that prayer. God looked upon him and Jesus
said he went down to his house justified. Christ is the only
one worthy. He's the only one who could bear
all the responsibilities God laid on Him. He said, as I mentioned
already, I have finished the work. And so therefore He fulfilled
God's eternal will and so fulfilled the law of God. He glorified
God and God glorified Him. He saved His people from their
sins. And God records all of this in verse 7 of Hebrews chapter
5 when He says, How he did it, how he did this work. Look, again,
who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers
and supplications with strong crying and tears. When was this? When did the Lord Jesus Christ
ever offer up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears?
Well, it happened in Matthew. It happened before he went to
the cross. It happened when he was in the garden of Gethsemane.
Remember? Before any soldier laid a hand
on him. What did he do? Well, let me
read it to you in Matthew chapter 26. Right after he told his disciples
when they ate the Lord's Supper. In Matthew 26, in verse 36, right
after that it says, He said that this cup was the New Testament
in his blood. Verse 36, he says, Then cometh Jesus with them to
a place called Gethsemane with his disciples. And he said to
his disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray. Yonder. The Lord
Jesus Christ by himself goes to pray, verse 37, and he took
with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, which would have
been James and John, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Why was he sorrowful and very
heavy? No one was bothering him. He was afflicted in his soul,
that's why. He was about to bear the sins of his people as his
own sins before God in all the guilt of them, in all the shame
of them. and to bear the consequences
owed to us according to God's strict justice, and bear the
judgment that justice required, the curse of God's law in himself,
in his own soul. And he would be forsaken by God
under that curse. And he would feel it too. And
he would pray that way. And so he says, he comes to Gethsemane.
He took these James, John, Peter, James, and John, and he began
to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then he said to them, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful. And he didn't exaggerate, did
he? He always told the truth, is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Before anyone drove nails
in his hands, he had the sorrow of death in his soul. Because
his soul, according to Isaiah 53 verse 10, his soul was made
an offering for sin. And so he says, tarry ye here
and watch with me. Verse 39. He went a little further
and fell on his face, and he prayed, saying, O my father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not
as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh to his disciples,
he findeth them asleep, and said to Peter, What? Could you not
watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you enter
not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. And he went again, he went away
again the second time and prayed, saying, O my father, if the cup
may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done.
And he came again and found them sleeping again, and their eyes
were heavy. And he left them and went away
again and prayed the third time, saying the same words." You see?
That's when he was praying, with strong crying and tears. Why
was he praying this way? Well, look at Hebrews chapter
five. And it says here in verse seven,
who in the days of his flesh when he offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and tears to him that was able
to save him from death and he was heard in that he feared. So his prayer was answered. Well,
what was his prayer? Was it to be delivered from the
cross? Was it to be delivered from bearing the sins of his
people as their substitute, as their sin-atoning savior and
sacrifice, as the surety to answer with himself? Was that his prayer,
to be delivered from that? But his prayer was heard. So
it couldn't have been his prayer to be delivered from death. His
prayer was the intercession of the high priest who offered himself
to God. His prayer was for the eternal
salvation of his people. That prayer was heard. And in
his prayer for us, his people, that God would accept him in
his offering of himself, in his answer to God for us, Then in
his prayer was that God would release us. By the payment of
the ransom of himself, he would redeem us from the curse of his
law, Christ himself bearing that curse for us. He was praying
as our high priest with the blood of his own self for our redemption. He himself was delivered up to
the curse that we might be freed from the curse. And he was heard. And that's the office of the
high priest, to offer sins to God for our redemption, in order
that we might be delivered from our sin and all the consequences,
and having washed us from our sins, brought to God. He died
the just for the unjust, 1 Peter 3, 18, that he might bring us
to God. And his prayer was heard. So
his sufferings were for us. And this is the third argument.
He fulfilled diligently and faithfully the office of the high priest.
He brought us to God. He interceded for us with his
own self. And he obtained eternal redemption. He made full remission for our
sins. He reconciled us to God. He established
our everlasting righteousness. He perfected us forever with
His one offering. This is what Scripture says.
These are all quotations from Scripture. God made Him to be
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5.21. Over and over again, scripture
teaches that we stand before God in Christ, our high priest,
our mediator, and God accepts us as he accepted his son. And he has compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way. Therefore, we
come to him at all times. Jesus said, him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. Come unto me all you who labor
and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. He's the compassionate
high priest in himself as God and man, as God he can give all
the grace we need to save us from our sins and as man can
have compassion and offer himself to God, a perfect sacrifice,
an accepted sacrifice to God. He gave his all. and had the
virtue of God and the sufferings of himself as man, bearing our
sins. He died the just for the unjust,
and therefore we died in him and we live by him. And so we see this is the third
argument here God makes. In the Lord Jesus Christ, in
his life, in his prayers, his sufferings, in his death, he
performed and fulfilled the office of the high priest. And the fourth and final argument
here is given in verse 9. In verse 8 it says, Though he
were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
Now think about this. All of his lifetime he suffered.
He was tempted in ways we'll never be able to comprehend.
He who could not sin because he was holy and harmless and
undefiled was assaulted with the greatest possible temptations
by the fiend of hell, according to the will of God, and he did
no sin. He knew no sin. In him was no
sin. He never failed one time in all
that he did. to serve his father out of love
and his people. Our self-sacrificial love. A woman named Ann Cousin wrote
a hymn. One of the verses of the hymn
says, death and the curse were in our cup. Oh Christ, it was
full for thee. But thou hast drained the last
dark drop, it's empty now for me. That bitter cup, love drank
it up, and now blessings cup is for me. You see the substitution
here? Though he were a son, all of
his life built up to this climactic obedience of offering himself,
this pinnacle of his obedience in suffering as our substitute,
bearing our sins, the guilt and shame and the curse our sins
deserve. And this was the greatest soul
suffering. We can never enter into this.
Eternity will never enable us to understand what Christ suffered.
But that led to his obedience as the son of God and the son
of man, our high priest. In verse 9, here's the fourth
argument and the final argument why Christ is our high priest.
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that obey him. And he concludes it, called of
God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Why is
he our high priest? Because unlike all the priests
in the Old Testament who never did anything to take away one
sin, Christ has by himself purged our sins. All of them, all of
them are taken away. I'm going to read again what
Ramel read to us from Isaiah 43. You want to look at that
scripture one more time. Isaiah chapter 43. These blessed
words, often preachers will refer to the book of Isaiah as the
gospel according to Isaiah. Here it is. Realize that the
build-up to this is an indictment against us for our sins. Thou
hast not called, verse 22, Thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob.
Thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the
small cattle of thy burnt offerings, neither hast thou honored me
with thy sacrifices. All the sacrifices never satisfied
God. I have not caused thee to serve
with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast
brought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled
me with the fat of thy sacrifices, but thou hast made me to serve
with thy sins. Thou hast wearied me with thy
iniquities. This is what we've done. That's
the context. Now listen to what God said. I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake. for God's holy namesake,
for his reputation, to make known the glory of his person and his
will and his work. And I will not remember thy sins. And then look at verse 26. Put
me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare
thou that thou mayest be justified. What do we say? Lord, do what
you have said. It's true we're sinners. It's
true we've done everything wrong to exclude ourselves. But for
your holy name's sake, in the Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator,
you have blotted out our transgressions. And he has been perfected as
the author of eternal salvation. And now we come holding fast
the profession of our faith, the gospel of our salvation that
you've declared and given commandment to make known now in these last
days that Christ is our high priest. And we come by him and
say, Lord, take away all my sins and receive us graciously for
Christ's sake. And we put him in remembrance
of his own will and work. Does God need to be reminded?
Of course not. This is on his heart from eternity.
He can never change. His will is always done. He never
forgets. But he did put away our sins
from eternity in his son, and he's reminded of that daily. in the intercession of our Savior
at the right hand of God, who is He that condemneth? It is
Christ that died, who is even, who rather has risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. He intercedes with His own blood
before the throne of God in order to obtain for us this salvation. He's obtained it And now he's
going to give it to us. And in giving it to us, he puts
us in remembrance. He causes us to remember, and
then he causes us to come with the gospel in our hand, asking
God to reflect upon, recollect, to consider, to contemplate,
and receive that good work Christ did, which he's pronounced to
be a sweet-smelling savor to himself. That's amazing. There was a quotation in the
bulletin, and I wanted to read this to you. It was by Thomas
Hooker who said this, that the holy Lord God should find an
enemy and not slay him. That God who is holy would find
an enemy and not kill him, that's amazing. But he says, no, this
is what's really amazing, that he should give his beloved son
out of his own bosom to save him. That is a love not to be
excelled. Oh, the height of this mercy
beyond all desire and all thought. Isn't that amazing? We have such
a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the
majesty in the heavens. He's put away our sins. They're
all gone. He blotted them out. And if God
blotted them out, you can bet they're gone. He confessed them
over his own head and he sent that goat, typically, out into
the wilderness because Christ was buried and our sins are remembered
no more. They're left in the tomb, left
in the grave and God raised him from the dead because he received
all from him. He laid upon him to do and now
we're saved with an eternal salvation. This is why he exhorts us, hold
fast. the profession of our faith.
Forsake all others. There's only one high priest
and he is a great one. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that
you would receive us for Christ's sake alone. We forsake all other
hope, have no other confidence but him. And yet you've told
us from your word we are to come into your presence openly, not
concealing anything, and to come confidently. Because we have
Christ as the one who stands for us and is received for us,
who offered for us and has been blessed for us. And in him we
have all blessings and salvation itself. Thank you for his righteousness
that's made ours, for the remission of sins that he obtained with
his own blood, our redemption, our freedom from the curse and
from sin and from death and from the devil in this world. and
freedom to serve you and to come to your presence without a barrier,
without any inhibitions, because you receive us all in Christ.
Help us now, Lord, to worship you for your greatness in doing
all this without any contribution from us in spite of our sins.
For Jesus' sake we pray, amen.