Welcome to our program. Now the
title of the message today is Our Great High Priest. And I'll be preaching from the
book of Hebrews chapter 4. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
our Great High Priest. He's the High Priest of God for
his people. He represents his people. He
stands in the place of his people as a substitute. He represents
God to men and men to God. And he's the one who offers the
sacrifice, just like the high priest in the Old Testament in
the tabernacle. He brought the blood of a lamb
before the mercy seat. Well, Christ is the high priest
who offers his own blood, the blood of the Lamb of God, unto
his Father on behalf of his people. And that bloodshedding, that
death, meant that law and justice was satisfied. You see, we're
sinners. And God who saves sinners must
be just when he saves sinners. And in order to do that, the
soul that sinneth must die. The penalty of sin is death.
And that penalty cannot be removed. Either you must die eternally
for your own sins, or you must have a proper, God-appointed,
able substitute to stand in your place. And Christ is our substitute. But he's also the high priest,
the one and only high priest, who offers himself without spot
unto God as a lamb, who brings his own blood into the mercy
seat. In fact, Christ is the mercy
seat. Now, the first mention in the book of Hebrews of Christ,
our great high priest, is back in Hebrews chapter 2. When it
speaks of, in all things, verse 17, it behooved him to be made
likened to his brethren, that he might be a merciful and a
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. We're going
to see that language again. To make reconciliation for the
sins of the people. To make peace between God and
sinners by the shedding of his own blood. And in doing so, Christ
brought forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value,
whereby God could be just and justify the ungodly. The only
ground and basis of the salvation of sinners is the blood and righteousness
of our great High Priest. Now, all of the old covenant
High Priest, all that priesthood of the tabernacle under the Law
of Moses, they were types and shadows and pictures of our one
great High Priest. In the New Testament, there's
a word that's repeated three times in the book of Romans,
the book of 1 John, and it's propitiation. And that word propitiation
is derived from an Old Testament word that means mercy seat. And what propitiation means,
Christ is the propitiation for our sins. The word propitiation
means peace between God and sinners based on law and justice satisfied,
based on an atonement. Now, the old preacher, John Bunyan,
the English preacher, you know he wrote The Pilgrim's Progress,
he made this statement in a sermon. He said, to have a proper propitiation,
three things were required. Number one is a high priest,
a proper high priest. Well, Christ is our high priest.
Number two is a sufficient sacrifice. Well, Christ is certainly a sufficient,
able sacrifice. He's the Lamb of God. His precious
blood is powerful enough to atone for all the sins of His sheep
and to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. And then
thirdly, you had to have an altar. The altar is what the sacrifice
was offered upon. It set it apart. Well, Christ
is our altar, and his altar was his deity. You see, it was his
deity. He's God and man in one person.
And it was his deity that gave excellency, sufficiency, and
power to his sacrifice. So he's our high priest, he's
our substitute, he's our sacrifice, and he is our altar. Put it all
together, Christ is our propitiation. Now, here in Hebrews chapter
4, The Apostle begins this section with verse 12 here that we're
going to start with. He speaks of the Word of God.
He talked about the gospel being preached, the good news of salvation,
eternal salvation, complete salvation through the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ finished His work and
then He rested. And we enter His rest when we
look to Him and Him alone. and his finished work for all
of our salvation. Salvation is not us working hard
and then resting from our works. Salvation is looking to Christ
who did all the work, who finished the work, who satisfied law and
justice, who paid the sin debt, who brought in everlasting righteousness,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Salvation is resting in Christ. and his finished work. Now we
do, when we're saved, we do cease from our labors. And what that
means is we stop trying to save ourselves or keep ourselves saved
by our works. But the Word of God, the Gospel,
the truth of how God saves sinners, is what he's talking about here.
We hear that and we who believe, believe it. And he says in verse
12, for 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." Now think about this,
the Word of God, all the living Word of God, it's quick. Now
that doesn't mean it's fast, it means it's alive. The Word
of God is a living Word. The Word of God, think about
this, and I've said this on this program before, when you think
of the Word of God, think first of Christ Himself, the Living
Word. In the beginning, John wrote
in John 1.1, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. That's Christ Himself, the second
person of the Trinity. He is the Word of God. He is the embodiment of the Word
of God. And then think of the incarnate
Word. Now that's Christ, the Son of
God, who took on to Himself the likeness of sinful flesh. The
Word, John 1, 14, became flesh and dwelt among us. So that He
is both God and man in one person. You see those two natures in
the one person of Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? He is God. and he is man, man and God in
one person, united but not mixed, two separate natures in one person. Now that's difficult and what's
impossible for our little puny minds to understand, but it's
so. This is why he's such a great high priest, because of who he
is. And that's why he's able to save
sinners to the uttermost that come unto God by him. And then
think about the written word, these scriptures, From Genesis
to Revelation is the written word of God. And then you think
about the preached word. That's the preacher uttering,
proclaiming, declaring, like a herald, the word of God. How
do they all go together? Well, the preached word, the
uttered word, is based on the written Word, which leads us
to the living Word, who is Christ and Him crucified. Now, this
Word of God is quick. It is living. It is life-giving.
Peter, one time, when our Lord was standing, and many of those
who followed Him because of the miracles began to leave Him,
and he turned to the disciples, and he said, Well, you go away
also. And Peter said to him, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. The word of God is quick. This
is the living word because it directs our attention and our
look and our hearts to a living Savior. He is alive. The gospel
is the proclamation of an empty tomb, not a shrine, not just
an example, but one who died, was buried, and rose again the
third day for the salvation of his people. And the Word of God
is powerful. The Bible says the gospel is
the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believes it.
And then he says, it's sharper than any two-edged sword, it
cuts both ways, you see. There's no dull edge to the word
of God, to the gospel. It cuts, he says, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. In other words, this
message of grace, this word of God, separates those who are
in the flesh, in unbelief, without Christ, and those who are in
the spirit, who are in Christ. You see, are you looking to Christ
and Him alone for all of your salvation? That's the point.
Do you have any other righteousness than His? Any other holiness
than His? Is salvation totally by grace?
Well, the Word of God pierces asunder, dividing asunder of
soul and spirit. And He says, "...and of the joints
and the marrow," that's the very innermost part, the heart, And
it's a discerner. It's a judge, in other words,
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Word of God is
not just a bar of soap that cleans the outside. The Word of God
is one that reaches the heart. It reaches to the thoughts. It
not only declares and exposes and reveals what I am on the
outside, but what I think. And intentions there, that's
the motives. You see, Christ taught that in
the Sermon on the Mount when he taught them about the law.
Here was a group of people who had been led by their religious
leaders to seek salvation before God based upon their law keeping. And Christ came along and he
said, now listen, the law requires holiness and a righteousness
that you cannot produce. The law of God not only deals
with the outward man, what we do, what we see, but the law
of God deals with the thoughts, the intents, the heart, the mind,
the affections, the will. And therefore he went on to say
this, he said, it's not only a sin to commit murder, but it's
a sin to be angry. It's not only a sin to commit
adultery, but it's a sin to lust. It's not only a sin to steal,
but it's a sin to covet. Therefore, there is no justification
of a sinner before God based upon their law keeping. All the
law can do is condemn us based upon our best works. The only
way that we can be justified before God And meet up to the
standard of the law is not by our law-keeping, but by looking
to Christ, the law-giver and the law-keeper. Looking to His
righteousness alone. And that's what the Word of God
does. Now, verse 13 speaks of the omniscience of God. Now,
what that means is simply God knows everything. Now, you can
hide your thoughts and your intentions. You know, a lot of people, we
talk about hypocrites. A hypocrite is somebody who says
one thing, but in reality he means another thing. He's one
who does one thing, but in his heart he's not sincere and dedicated. Well, he can hide it from me,
I can hide it from you, but you can't hide it from God. Therefore,
we need the Word of God to understand who we are and what we need.
He says in verse 13, "...neither is there any creature that is
not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open
unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." God knows us. God knows us better than we know
ourselves, and that's the key. Jeremiah said it this way, he
said, the heart, the heart of man, fallen man, is deceitful,
desperately wicked. Who can know it? But God knows
it, and He sees it. Now, what does that mean? When
I understand that God knows me better than I know myself, He
not only sees what I do, He knows what I am by nature, sin. Well, what does that mean? Well,
that tells me this, I need mercy. I need grace. I don't need to
come before God bragging and boasting about what I've done
for Him. I don't need to come to God bragging about my free
will. I don't need to come to God in
any other way but as a sinner seeking mercy. God be merciful
to me, the sinner. I need Christ. I need a great
high priest. I can't go to God on my own.
If I do, I'm dead. You cannot approach God. You
know, in today's religion, there's this over-familiarity with God. He's the man upstairs. He's the
big guy, you know, all that. That's irreverence. You cannot
go to God casually on your own. If you do, all you'll do is seal
your eternal condemnation. I need a high priest. I need
a substitute. I need a mediator. I need one
to stand in my place and take my punishment. one to bring forth
a righteousness for me that's good enough to meet up to God's
standard for him to be just and justifier. There's one mediator,
there's one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus. So, every sinner who has fled
to Christ for refuge has a great high priest. Now, if that's your
case, and I hope and pray that it is, in my case, If we fled
to Christ, here's what he says. Now look at this. He says in
verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest, oh,
he's the only high priest. We don't need to look to a man
who's wearing a funny collar. We don't need to look to a man
who's wearing a funny... We have one high priest, Christ, Jesus,
the Lord. Any other priest is a fake. He's
our high priest. He's our mediator. He's the one
through whom we go to God. And there's none other name given
among men, whereby we must be saved." He said, I am the way,
I am the truth, I am the life, no man cometh unto the Father
but by me. He's the one and only High Priest. He's the Great High Priest. Great
because of who he is. The God-man mediator. He's the
Savior of his people. Great because of what he has
done. He's accomplished redemption for his people. Great because
of why He did it, for the glory of His Father and the good of
His people. Great because of where He is
now. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father. Having purged our sins, He sat
down, making intercession for us. So seeing then, or since
we have a great high priest, And this great high priest that
is passed into the heavens, literally that's saying passed through
to the heavens, he went to God, you see. You can't go to God
on your own, but you must have one to go for you, who's appointed
of God, who's able to save you. Christ passed through. He made
it by his efforts, not by ours. We can't make it by our efforts.
But Christ made it through his efforts. And he's passed through
into the heavens, into the very presence of the holiness of his
Father for his people. And who is this great high priest
who passed through into the heavens? Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus,
the Savior of his people. The Son of God, the second person
of the Trinity, the God-man. Now seeing that we have this
great high priest who's passed through into the heavens for
us, let us hold fast our profession. That's our confession. Now, a
profession. We talk about professions of
faith. Or we talk about confessions.
You know, a lot of people when they talk about confession, they
talk about going into a booth and confessing their sins to
a man who calls himself a priest. That's not what he's talking
about here. He's talking about our confession of Christ. Our hope. You know, Peter said,
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. and be ready to give
an answer to them who ask you for a reason, for your hope. What is my hope of salvation? I profess to you, or I confess
to you, that my hope of salvation is nothing more, nothing less,
than Christ, Christ and Him crucified. My great high priest, I have
no other hope, I have no other plea, but Christ died for me. I have no other claim upon any
of the blessings of God but that I am blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Jesus Christ my Lord. I have
no reason to lay hold of the promises of God in salvation
except this, all the promises of God in Christ are in Him,
yea, and in Him, amen, sure and certain. I confess to you that
I am a sinner, that if God were to judge me right now, based
on my best efforts to keep the law, that I would be damned forever. The Bible says in Psalm 130,
verse 3, Lord, O Lord, if thou shouldest mark iniquities, who
would stand? Oh, I tell you what, when we
see Christ, and we see the value of His blood, the value of His
righteousness, we know that he's able to save sinners. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. God doesn't charge
me with my sin. Thank God. Somebody said, how
many sins does it take to put a sinner in hell? Doesn't matter
how many. One sin is enough. To offend
in one point is to offend in them all. We're sinners, and
our only hope of salvation is Christ and Him crucified. Now,
that's my profession. That's my hope. That's my plea.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness,
and I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand." So seeing then that we have a
great high priest. You see, our salvation is not
based upon our greatness or our work. It's based upon His greatness,
His work, who He is, what He did, and where he is now. Now
look at verse 15. Here he speaks of the humanity
of Christ. And we're going to see next week
in Hebrews 5 that the high priest, in order to properly represent
man, he had to be man himself. And he says here in verse 15,
For we have not an 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." Now that speaks of the humanity
of Christ. Our great high priest is God,
but he's also man. And in his humanity, and this
is something, I want you to see this. In his humanity, he was
touched all the way through with the feeling of our infirmities,
our weaknesses, our sorrows, our rejections, all the things
that bring us pain, all the things that afflict us in human nature. Now Christ experienced those
things. He experienced pain and sorrow and tears. He was a man
of sorrows, Isaiah 53 says. He was acquainted with grief.
He knew grief much more than you and I know grief. He suffered
it to the maximum. We have times of grief in our
lives, some more than others. But let me tell you something,
no one has experienced grief like the Lord of Glory experienced
grief. When he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Bible says
he sweat great clots or drops of blood right through his pores
because of his sorrow and his grief. His tears, they overflow. And he was in all points tempted,
like as we are, with one exception. without sin. Now you know when
we are tempted, I've heard preachers say it's not a sin to be tempted,
it's a sin to give in. Now hold on. With us, when we're
tempted, it is sinful. And I'll tell you why. Because
even if we don't give in physically and do the deed, we have a sinful
nature that has already done it in our hearts. Now that's
right. Somebody told me one time, said,
well, if that's true, then we might as well go ahead and do
it. Oh, no. You don't ever add sin upon sin. Believers are to
be sorry for their sin. I'm not only sorry when I do
things that are wrong, I ought to be sorry when I even think
things, when I plan things, when I dream things that are wrong.
That's just as sinful. But you see, it's like I told
a man one time, they can put you in jail and put you to death
for murder, but they can't put you in jail and put you to death
for the thought of murder. Well, Christ, when he was tempted,
he was tempted like we are, but without sin. Now, how do you
mean that? Well, think about him up on the mount when the
devil came up to tempt him. He'd been up there 40 days and
40 nights without food. How hungry would you be after
40 days and nights without food? You'd be hungry. Well, he was
just as hungry as you would be The difference is there's no
sinful nature within him that would cause him to even think
about compromising the glory and the goodness of his father
in order to relieve that hunger. But he was hungry, and he was
tempted, but without sin. He was the sinless son of God.
Then verse 16, now here's what he says. Now this has to do with
prayer and communion with God. Because we have a great high
priest, he says, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of
grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. Now, he says, let us. Now, who
are the us there? All who have Christ as their
great high priest. Do you believe in him? Now, what
are they to do? They are to come to a throne
of grace. Where? To a throne of grace, not a throne
of works. Not a throne of legalism, but
grace, God's grace. that they may obtain mercy. That's
what we need, mercy. We don't need what we deserve
by our works. That's death. We need mercy.
And find grace to help in time of need. When are we to come
to this throne? When we need it. I don't know
about you, but for me, that's just about all the time. I need
it all the time. Now, how are we to come? Come
boldly. Now, boldly means confidently.
We don't come timidly. We don't come in fear of not
being accepted. We don't come with doubts. We
don't come with misgivings. We come boldly, confidently,
freely to the throne of grace. Now, how can we who are sinners
come boldly to this throne? Well, it's because we have a
great high priest. You hear that? It's not because
we've had a good day. I've heard people say, well,
I've just had a good day. I feel like I'm worthy to pray. No. That's not the ground of
prayer. If you come boldly because you've
had a good day or you've done some good deeds, you're not coming
to a throne of grace. You're not coming to find mercy.
You're not coming in need. You see what I'm saying? You
come at your best times and your worst times to this throne of
grace to find mercy, a sinner seeking mercy at my worst and
at my best because I'm needy. And my basis for coming My whole
hope in coming, my confidence in coming is because I have a
great high priest. I'm a sinner. I have no right,
I have no confidence to come unto the throne of God through
anything that I've done. It's all because I have a great
high priest. It's all because of who Christ
is. It's not because of who I am.
You say, well, you know who I am? Well, God knows who I am. He
knows who you are. That Word of God is quick and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. And all this, there's
nothing that's not manifest in His sight. He knows exactly who
you are. And I'll tell you something,
as much as you may think of yourself If God ever exposed you, who
you really are, to yourself, you would sink away in shame.
You'd say, I'm a sinner. I need a throne of grace. I need
mercy. I'm needy. I need a great high
priest. That's my only hope. That's your
only hope. Our great high priest. Don't continue for another second
seeking salvation from God based on anything but this great high
priest. the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior
of sinners.