We're looking in Hebrews chapter
5. Hebrews chapter 5. Let me read
the last three verses of the fourth chapter that kind of gives
us a flow into the fifth chapter. It 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. 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. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. For every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God,
that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, 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, he aught as for the people, so also for
himself to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honor
unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So Christ glorified not himself
to be made an high priest, but he that said unto 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.
who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers
and supplications with strong cryings and tears unto him that
was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared.
Though he were a 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.
of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing
ye are dull of hearing. For the time ye ought to be teachers,
ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles
of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk
and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk
is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them who are of full age, even
those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern
both good and evil. Now, we have a high priest. That's really the chief message,
I guess, if you wanted to boil it down in the book of Hebrews.
that the Lord is sending through Paul to the Jews. We have a high
priest. Because the Jews, of course,
their confidence was in their high priest and the rigmarole
of the temple ordinances and offerings and whatnot. And so
it was to their high priest that they looked. Now there are indeed
various religions in the world today where men still look unto
earthly priests to either obtain some absolution or some blessing
or whatever. It is not in the hands of men
either to forgive sin or to offer blessings from God. Now we can
desire blessings upon one another and we can ask the Lord to give
blessings, but no man possesses the power to bless somebody.
That's not within the realm of men. We do have a high priest,
however, who can both and does both deliver from sin and bless
the people of God according to his good pleasure. And so it
is that it is this high priest of which we speak For every high
priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining
to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifice for sins."
That was received by them. They understood that. The Hebrews
understood this. that the Lord had ordained this
to be, who can have compassion on ignorant and on them that
are out of the way, for that he himself is compassed with
infirmity." So he says these earthly priests in Aaron, they
were men just like any other man and they could understand
the needs of men. The law, on the other hand, itself
did not lend to them any consideration of that, but as men, being men,
they knew the weaknesses of other men. And so that's what he's
getting at here. Those priests that were appointed
by God to carry out the works of the law. And by reason hereof,
He asked for the people, so also for himself to offer for sin. So every time that the high priest
went into the Holy of Holies, while he may have had some consideration
of the needs of all of the people, the primary consideration that
he had when he went into that holy place was his own sin, because
he had to offer up sin for himself. So you're, though it is, In the
religious man, he's far more aware of the sin of other people.
But see, the man who's awakened by the Spirit of God, he more
plainly can see his own sin than he can see the sin of others.
And so that is, you know, a mark of the work of the Spirit of
God in a man is how he looks upon his own sin. A religious
man looks at himself like the Pharisee did and he said, you
know, I thank you, Lord, I'm not like all these other people.
I mean, I go to church, I tithe, I do all these things, and I'm
not like these other folks. But when the Spirit of God comes
upon a man, he can't, he must, he is even as that publican who
wouldn't lift up so much as his eyes to heaven but smote upon
his breast, and he said, oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
See, I can't be concerned, I can't be trying to judge you and your
walk and what you're doing, because I see myself so far from what
I need to be. And so that's where the Lord,
you know, sets forth that this priest as he offers up these
sacrifices is, no man taketh this honor unto himself, but
he that is called of God as was Aaron. You can't be a priest
because you decide to. See, a man doesn't become a priest
because he decides to. Now, I know that in the culture
in which we live, it's quite often true that men do become
priests, or as some people might refer to them, and as many think
of themselves as having some sort of a priestly stature, those
who are preachers or pastors of churches. Quite often, pastors
get the high mind of their own value and they consider themselves
more highly than they ought to. What we ought to consider ourself
is the lowest of the low. That's what Paul said. He says,
I'm a chief of sinners. And so it's not, those who are
called of God to minister the word of God in a public fashion
are no, we've not called ourselves to this thing. Now I know that,
you know, that's not the thinking of today. Today it's kind of
like a career path. A man says, well, you know, I
think I, I like studying the Bible, I think I'll be a preacher.
And so he goes off to school and he learns how to be a preacher
and he comes back and he goes somewhere and he makes a bunch
of money preaching. And, you know, I mean to say,
for me to stand here and say that none of them have done any
good, that would be wrong. I don't know, you know, the Lord
uses men wherever he is pleased to put them, but I know this,
that a man can't make his self to be a pastor, a preacher, a
call of God man to declare the Word of God, nor can he be a
priest in the Aaronic fashion. A man had to be appointed by
God. He had to be set in that place
according to the purpose of God. So he says, and no man taketh
this honor to himself. And then he says this, this is
interesting. So also Christ glorified himself, glorified not himself,
to be made a high priest. And so what he's saying is Christ
didn't come into the world to gain fame. He didn't come into
the world beating on his chest and say, look at me. Just like
Brother Al talked about there a moment ago, when Pilate said,
are you a king? Now he was a king, he was the
king. But see, look at what he said
to Pilate. He said, you say that I'm a king.
He says, because you're thinking of a king like you're thinking
about it. He said, this is the reason that I came into the world,
to bear witness of the truth. See, that was the purpose for
which Christ came into the world was to magnify his father in
the declaration of the truth. His whole purpose in coming into
the world was to do his father's will. That's what he said he
came to do. And so he glorified himself not to be a high priest.
He didn't say, man, I got this position. I'm this great high
priest. No, he just came and he did what
the father sent him to do. And so it is that any man who's
called of God to declare the Word of God, that's what he needs
to do, is declare the Word of God. He doesn't have to make
a fanfare out of it. He doesn't have to put his name
on a poster, and he doesn't have to try to be famous. He just
needs to be faithful to do that which God called him to do. And
Christ, as our example is indeed, such in one is that. So Christ
glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he that said
unto him, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Now,
men often go afoul of truth because they take one or two scriptures
out of its context and they make something out of it that it's
not. And there are those that try to make Christ to be somehow
or other lesser than the Father, and they try to make Him as being
some kind of second-in-command type person. That's not at all
what Scripture speaks about. I mean, when you look at the
totality of the Scripture, now the Lord would give us insights
into the truth so that we might understand in our feeble minds
how the Lord came to redeem us. But Jesus Christ, as we read
when we first began this book, God who at sundry times in divers
manner spake in time past, hath in these last days spoken unto
us by his Son. There's no other spokesman for
God. There's no other way you can ever know God except through
the one whom He has sent. And He declared that. And so
He said, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee. Now it
would be foolish for us to try to completely understand what
it is to speak about the Son being begotten of the Father.
I can't explain that to you. I can tell you that's what the
scripture says, that he is the only begotten son of God. And
what that means insofar as men being able to completely understand
it, I can't tell you. But I can bow down before what
the scripture says, that he was begotten. of God. He said, 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
Lord appointed him. He came into the world appointed
by God because he is God. He's not lesser than God. He's
not some secondary person in the Godhead. He is God. And so he came as that one who
is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now Melchizedek
is an interesting character who met Abraham as he came back from
the slaughter of the kings. And he met him and he gave him
bread and wine. Gave that to Abraham. He met
his need. I believe that Melchizedek in
the Old Testament is a pre-incarnate appearing of Christ. In other
words, he is Christ. And so when we read about Christ
coming as a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, that's
far removed from the priests that came after the order of
Aaron, because Aaronic priesthood ceased. There is no longer an
Aaronic priesthood. It's been done away with. It's
of no use. Because when that which is perfect
is come, that which is in part is done away. And all that the
Aaronic priesthood was for was to point men to this priest who
would come. And so he is a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. Now we read, I believe it's in
the seventh chapter, a little bit more about this Melchizedek,
said he had neither beginning of days nor ending of life. I mean, when you look in the
scripture, Melchizedek's just there. That's all you know about
him. We don't know where he came from or whatever. Boy, I believe
we do know who he is. And he had neither beginning
of days nor ending of life. He is eternal. And so it is that
the Lord Jesus Christ came as an eternal priest. He didn't
come temporarily. He didn't come in the nick of
time, but he came at the appointed time. The Lord said, you are
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, who in the days
of his flesh, when he walked among men, when he had offered
up prayers, supplications with strong crying and tears unto
him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that
he feared. Now that's a, this is an amazing
passage of scripture here. Because what? Paul writing to
the Hebrews is pointing out to them is that this one who is
the spokesman of God, this one who is the high priest of God,
this one who is that high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,
he also was man, is man. And that's what it says right
here, who in the days of his flesh, He took upon Himself the
likeness of our sinful flesh. He walked among men. Now, you
know, there's two errors that men fall into. One is that some
men believe Christ was God, but they don't believe He was actually
a man. And then there are those that believe He was a man, but
He wasn't really God. I mean, you know, He was like
the Son of God. I mean, He was like You know,
he did some good stuff and everything, but he wasn't really just absolute
God. But Paul would point out in scriptures
here, as throughout the whole word of God, that he is both
man and God. Now how that union can be, I
have no full comprehension. Except I believe it to be true.
And so it says here that when he had offered up prayers and
supplication with strong cryings and tears to him who was able
to save him from death. See, death loomed upon the Lord
Jesus Christ just as much as it did the immortal man. Now
the difference is that his concern over death was the sin of his
people being laid upon him See, that's the death that it brought
fear to him. I mean, the concept of dying
in the flesh was not the thing for his own personal consideration,
but as he as a perfect man without sin and taking up the place of
his people. See, every fear that you had
became his. Every trouble that you had was
His. And He was touched with the feeling
of your infirmities as He prayed for His people. And with prayers
and supplication with strong crying and tears unto Him who
was able to save Him from death. See, He understood perfectly. He understood that his heavenly
father was that one in whose hands was the keys of heaven
and hell. He understood that he was the
one who kill and makes alive. See, he didn't have any doubts
about that. And with strong cries and tears,
he cried out to him and was heard in that he feared. Isn't that
an amazing thing? The Son of God in all of his
father, the son of God, fearing God, and yet he is God. I just, it blows my mind to think
about that. You can't understand that, so
don't, you know, when I say don't try, I'm not saying don't think
about it or don't look at it and don't wonder at it. I'm just
saying don't be amazed if you can't come up with an answer.
See, this is where men go astray is they think they gotta come
up with an answer for everything. There's not an answer for everything.
And this right here, you can't come up with a complete, full
answer that you just say, well, okay, I'm satisfied with that.
I won't ever think about that again. No. Every time I read
this, I'm struck with wonder and amazement, trying to grasp
how it is. Though he were a son, listen
to this. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered. He perfectly obeyed the Father,
did he not? He was without sin. But yet the
scripture says he learned obedience. That is, he experienced it. He
became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross.
Who'd he do that for? He did it for us. See he was
united to his people. He was one with his people. He
was that high priest who had no concern for his own sin because
he had no sin of his own, but the sin that he had was the sin
of his people. By the things which he suffered
and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that obey him. Being made perfect. Now we think
of that word perfect a little different than the scripture
usually uses it. The word in the scripture generally
means complete. In other words, he became our
savior. I mean, when he was born of a
virgin and wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in a manger,
he was no less our savior. He came into the world, that's
what the angel told Joseph. He said, thou shalt call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. But
he was not the complete Savior that he became, was he? He was
not that one who grew up in favor and stature, in favor with men,
who at 12 years old reasoned with the Pharisees in the temple.
who went to that wedding feast at Cana and turned the water
into wine, and he healed the lepers and all of these things
that he did in the course of his life, as he learned obedience
by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, that
is, being what he came to be. He is what he came to be. He's
the high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He
came and became the author of eternal salvation. Now, who knew
that? Pharisees didn't know it. His
own disciples didn't know it, did they? How could they know
it? They couldn't know it until it
took place. See, you couldn't know that Jesus
Christ would die for sinners on the cross until what? Till
he died for sinners on the cross. And so that's what he's speaking
about here. It says he was made perfect. That is, he became what
he came to be. See, there was a point in time,
there was an actual moment in time when Jesus Christ breathed
his last breath. When he poured out his blood
and his heart ceased to beat. There was a moment in time he
became perfect. Because that's what he was sent
to do. That's what he would do. And being made perfect, that
is, being everything that he needed to be. What did we need? Well, we needed
some fashion in which we could come into the presence of the
Father or be cast away. I mean, you know, men think that
The Lord is satisfied that they did their best. I mean, isn't
that kind of what people think? Well, I did my best. I'm just
gonna tell the Lord that I did my best. Well, your best is not
good enough. Your best won't help you. See,
that's the thing. Now, people don't like this.
I'm telling you, you don't like this. Our natural man doesn't
like that idea that there's not one thing that you can perform
in your flesh that will get you one inch closer to the Lord. Not one thing. Not a thing. Won't do you any good because
God demands perfection. And Christ became perfect. He is that which we needed. You
see, what we needed was perfect obedience. That's the only thing. Who shall come into the presence
of the Lord? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. Well, I'm telling you what, that
just cuts me out altogether. I mean, if that's the basis on
which I've heard men say, oh, well, you know, that's what I've
tried to do. Well, it doesn't say who tried
to do it. It said he that hath clean hands,
not partially clean hands, but he that hath clean hands. Now,
I was working on my car yesterday and messing with some Bondo,
and I should have put some gloves on, but I didn't. I got some
of this stuff all ingrained in my skin here. And my hands are
clean. I mean, they're clean enough
for me. You know, I don't have any problem doing whatever I'm
gonna do. I'll pick up a piece of bread and eat it. It won't
bother me a bit. But if you saw my hand, you'd say, man, I don't
know nothing he touched. Because why? It's not clean.
See, my hands are not perfectly clean. They're clean enough for
me, and I'm happy with it. And that's the way people think
about themselves in their natural state. It's okay. I mean, you know, come on. God
knows your heart. We talk about that a lot. Yeah,
God knows your heart. He knows just how wicked your
heart is. Oh, Christ became perfect. See, He became exactly what we
needed. He came into the world to be
what we needed. and he became what we needed.
Now there was never any doubt that he was going to do exactly
what he did because he knows him from the beginning, does
he not? And you which have by wicked hands hath committed,
can't think of the scripture, but the scripture says that the
Lord ordained the death of Christ, but he did so through the hands
of wicked men. Now it was in the death of Christ
that salvation was purchased for us. But it had to occur,
did it not? He became perfect. He became
that which we needed. And being made perfect, He became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him. That is, those that come to Him,
that seek Him. He is their obedience. See, you'll
never obey Him completely. I've heard men say, oh, well,
you got to obey. Well, I want you to obey. I exhort you to obey. The scripture
exhorts you to obey. Trust and obey, for there's no
other way. I mean, that's what we're called
upon to be. But brethren, if you look at
yourself and you say, well, my obedience is gonna make me a
child of God, then you're wrong. But we obey because of the mercy
of God causing us to see where our obedience is. See, those
that obey Him are those that fall down before Him and say,
Lord, save us or we perish. Because if you're obedient to
Christ, you know you don't have any obedience. Oh, that we might
be a people that would be spoken of here. He's the author of eternal
salvation to all them that obey him. He's called of God a high
priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now listen, he says, of whom
we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing ye
are dull of hearing. That's what I said, wasn't it?
You can't get it. That describes us. We are dull
of hearing, dear brother. We know nothing as we ought to
know. He's able to teach us what we
need to know. See, you don't need to know everything. See, a lot of times men, they
say, well, you know, I'm gonna study the Bible and I'm gonna
get at this, all this down pat. I'm gonna figure it out. You'll
never do it. But I'll tell you this, by the grace of God, as
the Lord leads you to study the scripture, he'll give you exactly
what you stand in need of. He'll teach you the things you
need to know. I mean, you don't necessarily need to know a lot
of stuff, but he'll teach you the stuff that you do need to
know. And so we have many things to say, he says, concerning this
Order of Melchizedek. He said these are deep things.
He says, for when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have
need that one teach you again, which be the first principles
of the oracles of God, and become such as have need of milk, and
not of strong meat. So there is, he's saying, you
know, you need to know some stuff. But you can't know some stuff
until you've unlearned some stuff. See, men think they know something. That's man's biggest problem
in approaching unto the Lord, is that they think they know
something. Every man's got his own idea, doesn't he? You know, every man. You can
ask, I guarantee you, you ask anybody, you know, how can you
approach unto God? And they've got a way. They got
something. They might not have it planned out completely, but
they got some idea about how God is, how they think he is,
and how they'll come to him. But they don't know. For when
for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you
again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God. For every
one that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness,
for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to
them that are of full age. Those who by reason of use have
their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Now hopefully,
by the grace of God, we'll talk a little bit more about those
verses in connection with the first part of chapter six when
we get there. But I did want to say something
about verse 14, but strong meat belongeth to them that are of
full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil. Now that's the Lord working in
his people. And we have our senses exercised. If we're not being exercised
by the Spirit of God, then we have no reason to think that
we know the Lord. I mean, if the Lord's not teaching
us what we are by nature primarily, and the glories of Christ, then
we're in an infant state for sure. We're still back here at
square one. Because the spirit of God is
bringing his people where he wants them to be. And how does
he do it? By reason of use. See, he applies
the truth to your heart. See, you don't, you know, you
look at someone and say, well, he needs to, this fellow over
here, he needs to get in church. He needs to get his life straightened
out. No, you don't need to be worried
about him. What you need to be, what we're
looking at, Lord, work in us. I mean, make us what we need
to be. See, that's the place. Don't be worried about it. I'm
not saying don't be concerned about people. We're concerned.
I pray for my children every day. I'm concerned for them. But I can't be worried. I mean, that can't be the complete
thought of my heart and mind because I'm looking at myself.
I mean, I'm so far off from being what I need to be. And the only thing that gives
me comfort is knowing that I am what I need to be in Christ. See, that's by reason of use. We have our senses exercised
to discern both good and evil. What's good? Good is when a man
recognizes that Christ is his righteousness. Evil is when he
thinks he's righteous. See, that's the difference. That's
the sense is exercised to discern good and evil. When you thinking
I'm doing pretty good, you're not doing good. Oh, that the
Lord might teach us. May the Lord help us and cause
us to grow and to be perfected. Some people have accused me of
not believing that the Spirit of God works in God's people
to cause them to grow. Well, that's what the Scripture
says that He does. Now the growth is not necessarily
what you look at. See, you might look at a man
and say, well, he ain't, he's just as weak as he ever was.
He's not growing. You know nothing as you ought
to know. See, the Lord is working in his people. And he's not working
according to your timetable. He's not teaching them what you
think he ought to be teaching them. But if they belong to Him,
He's got them right where He wants them. And He's leading
them. He's perfecting them. He's ranking
them in the image of Christ, according to His good pleasure.
Oh, that He might mold us in that fashion as well.