I hope that I can do what I'm
trying to do. I don't know yet whether I can
or not, so that it's clear and plain. And in speaking of this great
high priest, I want to mention the fact that
God's purpose was called according to his purpose. And his purpose
is always connected to man By that I mean mankind God's purpose
is always connected in some way to mankind in verse 16 of Hebrews
2 and We read these words for verily
he took not on him the nature of angels But he took on him
the seed of Abraham Now let me just I'll just pause for a minute
Now now this remember that this Christ is the eternal son of
God he was before he was while here and he is now and And He
is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. He is God incarnate
in the flesh, and a man has entered into heaven, into the very presence
of God, which never happened in the history of man up until
then. He's there now. and he stands as our great high
priest. God did not take hold of angels, for verily he took
not on him the nature of angels. You'll notice the hymn, on hymn,
let me look here, I'll get my glasses focused. Hymn, The Nature
of Angels, is in italics. It's a different print than the
rest of it, meaning that it is not in that which Paul wrote. It was not included. Somebody
added it to make it read better, way back yonder somewhere. So
what it says is verily he took not on angels, in other words
upon himself as the son. He did not take upon himself
the nature of angels, but took on himself the seed of Abraham. Please note, it behooved him
in all things to be made like unto his brethren. He taketh hold of the seed of
Abraham. Now, not the seed of Adam, but
the seed of Abraham. There are a lot of people that
can't make that decision. They can't divide that properly,
but that division is there. He took upon himself the seed. Why make a point of that, Earl?
Well, do it this way. Because there is no promise in
the offspring of Adam except judgment and destruction. It's
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. So the promises were made to
whom? They were made to Christ. And
in this way, the seed of Abraham becomes as the sands of the sea
and as the stars of the heavens. not because they are all Jews,
but because of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. I want
you to look, or I'll just turn to it, I want to get it right,
to that familiar passage found in the ninth chapter of Romans, because it has a bearing on this.
Listen to this now. Paul said, And he's saying that
he could wish himself accursed for Israel's sake, his brethren's
sake. He says in verse 3 of chapter
9, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, Jews, who are Israelites. I hope some of these fellows
that are saying that God's done with the Jew would just tell
me what that means. Who are Israelites to whom pertaineth
the adoption in other words they got it first God chose Jews he
chose the Jewish nation and in Abraham he Accomplished a biological
miracle because he took Abraham when there was no Israel and
made Israel out of one man To them belong the adoption they
were adopted and and the glory they had the tabernacle in the
temple and the covenant God spoke with Moses and the giving of the law and
the service of God the priests and the promises they got everything whose are the fathers and of
whom as concerning the flesh Christ came God bless it forever amen now
listen to this not as though the word of God hath taken none
effect for they are not all Israel which are Israel neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called." Your offspring are going to be called in Isaac. Well, what had that to do with
what we're talking about? Because Isaac, and Isaac alone,
bore the potential for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ way,
way down the road. He was a progenitor. It's a good
five-syllable, $15 word. He was the progenitor of Christ. And the promises were made in
Isaac. Why? Because the birth of Isaac was a miracle. Yes,
sir. When Abraham and Sarah were 90
years old, Sarah conceived and bore a son. And this was by God's promise. Well, why was Ishmael rejected?
Because God didn't promise Ishmael. He promised Isaac. That's right.
You understand what I'm saying now? I mean, he promised Isaac
as an individual. He didn't promise to him individually. He promised him as an individual.
Yes, sir. Of the seed of Abraham. Okay,
now I can't dwell there very long. That is, they which are
the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God.
All Jews are not vis-a-vis, because they're Jews, the children of
God. That's what it says. But the
children of the promise are counted for the seed. You're a child
of promise. Why? Because you were born in
Jesus Christ. For this is the word of promise,
at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. See what
I'm saying now? That this is just as rock-bound
as can be. It's there in the word. Paul's brethren were the children
of promise, his brethren according to the flesh. But Christ became like us, likened
to His brethren. Whose brethren? His own. Christ
was a Jew. He became like His brethren. To be made like them, He took
part in flesh and blood. The life we read in God's Word
is in the blood. Well, He partook of the same.
He took flesh upon Him, He took blood in His veins, and everything
else is like man, He was, physically. And He was through the Creator,
that is God the Father, made a little lower than the angels.
being perfected through suffering. This is what it says. I got to
go back now to where I started. And it says, for as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. Deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. You know we're in Many times we find ourselves in subjection
to that bondage even now The fear of death if not for ourselves
that doesn't matter too much, but for others I Have been all
of my life. I'll put it on tape. I have been
all of my life a chronic worrier Now, right, wrong, or indifferent,
you just might as well try to quit worrying as quit breathing. And that was when anybody was
on the road and they were supposed to be home at a certain time
and weren't, I could think the worst things. Or when someone
was sick, I could think of the worst things that possibly could
happen. And they never did. You know what thought came to
my mind just now, but they might yet You see this is a part and who
through death were all their lives in bondage If not in one instance in the
other But Christ was made a little
lower than the angels that he might destroy this very bondage
and What's this saying? That death itself is no longer
a, quote, bad, unquote thing. Although we make it so. We make it so. It's in God's
hands. More about that later on, not now. He was made a little lower than
the angels, being perfected, this says, through suffering,
even death. He suffered death under the rod
of God. You see, when they talk about
the Jews crucifying Christ, which they did, despite what everybody's
saying now, and the Romans crucified Christ, no matter what anyone
says, That's true even now And we crucified Christ Because
he bore our sins in his own body on the tree He died for his people The scripture says he hath put
him to grief that he might make propitiation, that he might pay
the price for the sins of the people, being a merciful and
faithful, what? High priest. In the things pertaining
to God, being both high priest, this is me now, that was a quote,
being made high priest and also the sacrifice. Now in the judgment hall at one
time, and I'm not trying to evoke sympathy for Christ. Because words come to mind that
I don't know whether they should be said or not, but most of the
time I say them. But when you come right down to the bottom
line, he was committed by God to the task. And he said, I'll
do it. I'll go. So all of this argument is nothing
anyway. Because God sent him. He said
that the Father sent him. He was on a mission. OK. Now,
as I said, I'm not trying to evoke sympathy. But in the final
hours of that day, He was taken to a judgment hall,
I think two. Naked at one time, at least,
because he was stripped and was scourged. He was beaten. He was scorned, spit upon. slapped, ridiculed, if thou be the Christ prophesy,
and slapped him upside the face. Even then he was high priest.
That's right. Then he was high priest, as well
as later. He was high priest staggering
up that road to the cross. He was high priest when he was
nailed on it. He was high priest when he was raised. He was high
priest when he was taken down, and certainly was high priest
when he was resurrected. And he went into his place, into
heaven, bearing with him evidence of the sacrifice. Both priest and sacrifice. And he said, as he hung there,
it is finished. You've heard me speak about that
before. The chosen of God are redeemed. Jew or Gentile, whoever,
they're redeemed through the shed blood of Christ. All that are given to Christ
by the Father are redeemed, not one. will ever be lost, not one,
despite the fact that we think so. If they are one of Christ, by
election and by ordination, they will never perish, if they are. The Lord Jehovah, this is Christ
speaking now, 700 years before He came, through
Isaiah. The Lord Jehovah hath opened
my ear. Well, we read that and we think,
well that means he could hear what God said. No, it doesn't
mean that. It means God had put his, this
is allegory, this is a story, something typical, something
to refer to. In those days, If you were a
slave and you gained your freedom from Jews, that is, in seven
years, the year of Jubilee, the slaves were let go. There were
slaves that didn't want to go, so they went to the master and
said, we don't want to go. They got a mark. They stood to
the post, and a hole was punched through their ear, marking them
a slave forever. So Jesus Christ was marked by
God as offering and as high priest. That's what he says of Isaiah.
Thou hast opened mine ear and I was not rebellious. Neither turned I away backward. I gave my back to the smiters,
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting, because they spit on him." Now this was written by Isaiah
of course, Isaiah 50 verses 5 and 6 if you're interested. And he
offered up himself. He laid down his life. We read
in John 10 verses 17 and 18, he said, no man taketh it from
me. That's right. I lay it down of myself. You can't kill life unless something
else happens. That's right. Life must consent
before death can overtake. You know that happens to us. That's right. There'll come a
time when God will give you, in Christ, dying grace. And you'll lay it down with will, and with joy, and with happiness. He said, I don't believe that,
or you better believe it, because that will happen. That will happen. He became, well, I'm gonna give
you this. He emptied himself of everything
that pertained to God visibly. And he became the merciful and
faithful high priest. Mercy. And we often think of
God, when we think of God at all, we think of God as just. J-U-S-T. And we think of God
with judgment in mind. I used to say this years ago,
back before the days of some of you that are here this morning.
Well, maybe more than usual, but some of you here can remember
Little Abner. Some of you can. Did you never
read the funny paper? Well, my kids did, and they remember
Little Abner, I'm sure. And there was a character in
the Little Abner strip called Hairless Joe. And he had a beard
clear down to here and hair clear down his back. And I don't know
what his role was, but he evidently a caveman of some kind. Went
around barefooted and carried a club which was much larger
than a shillelagh. It was a great long club and
it was about this big around at one end and tapered down to
the bottom. He carried that club, had a nail
driven through it. And he went around using that
on people's heads. And I used to say it constantly,
often, not constantly, often. That's the picture people have
of God. He's going to get you. That's what they think. They
don't think of Him as a God of mercy and as the God of all grace. They think of Him as judgment. God's hiding behind a cloud somewhere. And you remember, there was a
song out several years back. God's going to get you for that. No. If you're not in Christ, God's
not paying any attention to you. That's it. What do you say? He'll
judge the righteous and the unrighteous, preacher. That's right. He'll judge and seeking righteousness
among the world in the world and he'll not find it Sure, but you know something
you're already been judged in Christ The judgment is there
in him now. I've got to hurry on I get sidetracked
we and over in in what is a chapter 4 Look at this I am going somewhere
with this. Chapter 4 says, 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. And that's not
the word. The word is confession, not profession. Let us hold fast
our confession. What confession? That Jesus Christ
is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That Jesus Christ is the
only begotten Son of God. That God sent him to redeem a
chosen people. And that that chosen people will
be with him where he is, because he said so. And they are Committed
to the service of Christ whether you're preacher or not Committed
to the service of Christ in the best of your ability while you're
here occupying till he comes or until he calls Yeah now Let's
let us hold fast that confession For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities."
Now, let's put that in a positive sense. We have a high priest
which can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
I just don't feel well today. Well, cheer up, because the older
you get, the fewer days you're going to have that you feel great. No, I'm
being facetious. But the fact is that he is touched
with how you feel. He knows. He is touched with the feelings
of our infirmities, and was, in all points, tempted." Now,
that's not a good word. You say, well, I don't like you
doing that. Well, I'm just telling you the truth. That's what makes
for a lot of error. People take words that had one
meaning one time and put the meaning on them today, and you've
got problems. Tempted. Tested is the word you
want there. Do you think Jesus Christ was
ever tempted to an immoral act? I don't think so. He was apart
from sin. He was tested at all points as
we are. But the impeccable Christ was
tested apart from sin. He was not tested as you are
and as I am or have been. Not at all. He wasn't tempted
to take the widow's mite out of the offering box and keep
it for himself. He was never tempted to immorality. That's right. Well, was he ever angry? Yeah. Uh-huh. Yes, sir. Yeah, he was angry. He plaited
himself. You know what plaited is. Braided. And he braided a whip. And he drove those money changers
out of the temple with a whip. And these fellas come along in
these commentaries and say, well, he wasn't angry in the sense
that we get angry. Will you tell me what that was?
You got a whip, frailing somebody with it. You've got an attitude. You're not happy with that individual. No. He was in all points tested
like as we are, yet without sin, apart from sin. There was no sin in him,
nor was it possible for him to sin. Now the reason I changed
the word and say that the word meant one thing back in King
James time, and it is and it does now, because being tested is far different than being tempted.
He was tested as to who he was by Satan himself. Forty days and forty nights wrestled
with him. Let us, therefore, come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. A question comes to my mind. Have I done this? You know, we had some renegades
last night come through our yard on ATVs. I don't know whether they're
singular or plural. I don't know. Rid says it's plural. I didn't wake up. But they came
around firing guns and roaring ATVs. And we had a chance of not making
it this morning at all, because they were moving that blue house
out of the field in back of us. And they went out and sawed it
down the ridge and down the ends, Roy, and across the floor, and
braced it up, picked it up with the crane, set it on two flatbeds,
and took it out. And I talked to him yesterday
and said, how long is it going to take you to get that out of
there? An hour and a half, two hours. But we'll start at six
o'clock in the morning. We'll have it out before you
go to church. Well, I said, I hope so, because there's no way we
can get out with that blocked. This morning, I got up about
6.15, I guess, 6.30. looked out the window toward
the place, they were still sitting there. At 8 o'clock, the trucks
came in with the drivers to move the house. At 8.30, they had
them up as far as my radio shack, and a man was pecking on my door,
saying, when are you going to leave? I said, at 9 o'clock. Oh, we'll have them out. Let me clue you, they didn't.
they pulled over in the field and let us by. I'm grateful for
that. But you see, what I told you that for is that I can get
all upset about something like that. I mean, upset. Because they lied. They didn't
do what they said they were going to do. And I was worried that
I, I was concerned in that, no worried, in that I called Joe
and told him to tell you all that if I didn't get here right
on time, that I would be there, but what was going on? But oh,
let me tell you that, and there's no sense in that. See, I know
that. I'm aware of that. But you might as well go chasing
after rainbows. Or plant a light a penny candle
from a star. It happens. And that's not an
excuse. I'm just saying it happens. But
you know, there's one thing about it. It can happen less and less. I don't know as it'll ever not
happen. ever, you know, but you got to tell the truth. And it was as high priest that
he passed into heaven. He offered himself up. He laid
down his life. No man took it from him. It was as high priest that he
passed into heaven. In emptying himself of God's
glory and power and wisdom, he was unrecognized. That's right. But he became the merciful and
faithful high priest. You know, I worry about kids. I worried about my own, and I
worried about my grandchildren, still do. Now I'm worrying about
yours. This is not an easy place for
a child of God to be. It's not easy. And on every hand
they are being fed lies by the basketful. And mom and dad, and especially
preachers, old preachers, and certainly old preachers, are
just again everything. Yeah. for the most part. Well,
you can't live that way. Well, I don't know. But you know
something? Joe was speaking this morning,
and I thought of something, and I don't know the connection to
it now. Oh, dress. And Paul talks about dress. And
James talks about dress. But you know it's not so much
dress that we have to fear today as undress And I've made this statement
I'll stand by it ever since God made clothes for Adam and Eve
They've been trying to get out of them, and they're doing a
better job every day Now that's just the truth And I think I'll tell you what
I think and I think God thinks the same thing that it's an abomination Well everybody else I don't care
about everybody else. I'm talking about a little group
of people that belong to God And the scriptures very clear
and I'll not go into it the scriptures very clear that we are to adorn
ourselves in modest apparel And when you're 99 and 99.1%
naked, that's not modest. So I just said it. But he's merciful, but he's also
faithful. For he, in that he himself hath
suffered being tempted, he is able to suck or have pity on
those that are tempted. He's able to make you strong.
Now we don't have a dress standard here and we don't expect to have
one and won't have one. But let me tell you, if somebody
comes in the house of God looking like some of these people I see,
they're gonna go out again and I'll be right on their behind. And that's just the truth. I'm not mad at you or anyone
else right now. Seeing that we have a great high
priest which can be touched he knows these problems But it calls
for dependence It calls do I dare use the word it calls for some
effort It calls for some bravery Not after the flesh now, but
it comes from a it comes by a by an attitude of, this is far enough. Here's the line. No more. You'll cross it, no more. I've said it so many times, he
actually walked where we walk. I'm going to quit. Let me repeat myself. I'm going
into this area of our relationship to Christ,
the great high priest, in this world that we live in. That's what I want to do, and
I will get there. There are many people that feel,
and I think everything in the gospel is based and the foundation
has a foundation of the sovereignty of God. Everything, everything
in life is based upon what He wills. For our Lord Jesus Christ is
not only Savior and High Priest, He is Sovereign Lord of all. And he is our forerunner. What was it that that fellow
said up at Scott's that time? He said, he's going to enter
in, and he's going to say, there's a whole bunch coming after me.
He's our forerunner. He got there first. But you're
going to be there. More of that later on. Now the
priests of the Old Testament repeated their sacrifices over
and over and over again. And when they died, they got
another priest. That's right. Not this one. He ever liveth.
Amen. To make intercession for us.
Yes, sir. And he did not offer the blood of bulls and of goats
and of pigeons and whatnot. He offered his own blood. And let me tell you something.
I've come to this conclusion over the years. And I'm going to be misunderstood. That there's more to being a child
of God than just being saved. I know that that can be misunderstood.
These people stand up. Well the Lord saved me, and I
went forward 25 years ago, and I can tell you the time and I
can tell you the place I can't I Heard a man this morning calling
about people to repeat the sinner's prayer, and then he told him
what the sinner's prayer was It didn't come out of here But we're called upon to stand
for Christ. However weak and however trouble
ridden and however under trial or whatever happens, we're called
upon to stand for Christ. And that's in the little things. Didn't I say it last Sunday?
No great big things are going to happen to any of us. It's
highly unlikely. And certainly not with most of
us. We've just about gone far enough. That's not pessimistic at all. But you can feel like old Caleb
fell. When God told Caleb, Joshua's buddy, he said, look, I'm going
to retire you. And Caleb said, well, that's
all right. Now, Caleb didn't really say this, but it's in
the book. This is what it means. Caleb said, all right, you can
retire me, and I'll retire. But before you do, let me take
my troops and conquer this mountain. He always wanted another mountain. There are still conquerings to
be done. Yes, sir. There are still battles to win. Let me tell you that two hours
in church on Sunday morning is not going to win them. It's not going to do it. I'm
talking about personal victories, and I don't like that word, but
I'll use it in lieu of something else. I think gathering here is vital.
It's important. But what I am saying, it's not
the whole plate. It's not the whole plate. The
thing that we desire, and Walter does too, I know, is that when
somebody says, when Paul writes, you read your Bible and you read,
pray without ceasing. You know what that means, because
you experience it. That's what we're after. When
it says, walk in love, even as Christ also loved us. We want
folks to understand what that means. And not just fluff it
off. And in God's sovereignty, a man,
God forbid, loses his job. And he sits down and he says,
well, God is sovereign, that was meant to be. And he doesn't
get up. That that that that's not what
this book teaches Not at all so what I'm saying
is We're going into this thing I want to talk to you next Sunday. God willing. I want to talk to
you about God's providence as related to his sovereignty I'll
give you one just just a line or so If You know, if you, let me put
it another way, if you lose your job and you have an opportunity
to get a better one, and I trust that that's true for everybody,
you get a better one and you say, you see, that was God's
providence. I lost that one and I got a better
one. Well, I'm not gonna argue with
you about that. But what if you get in a car
wreck and are paralyzed from the waist down? And you're a child of God. What
then? And I'm saying to you, or will say, that that's also
the providence of God. That's also God's providence.
There's not a thing that happens that God does not do it or permit
it. And that's true of his people
as well. You say, Earl, that means some hard times might be
ahead. Yeah, at least we think so. At the time, eternity will
reveal it. Our Father, we're grateful this
morning for your blessing and mercy for the gospel of Christ
and pray that we might with a whole lot of inability be able to speak
the truth in love and not lie. that Christ may be glorified
and that the Holy Spirit may work in our hearts to direct
our way. For we pray it in his name, amen.