Well, good evening, everyone. If you would, open your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 5. As you're turning, let me remind all of our members of the men persuasion that we're having a men's lunch tomorrow at noon at Pappy's in Flatwoods. I hope you all can make it.

Hebrews chapter 5, we'll read the first 10 verses. 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 ought, 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 also 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. And 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 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. 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."

We'll end our reading there. All right, Sean.

OK, if you would turn to song number 196, Blessed Be the Fountain.

196. Blessed be the fountain of blood to a world of sinners revealed.
Blessed be the dear son of God, only by his stripes we are healed.
Though I've wandered far from His fold,
Bringing to my heart pain and woe,
Wash me in the blood of the Lamb,
And I shall be whiter than snow,
Whiter than the snow.
Whiter than the snow.
Wash me in the blood of the Lamb, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Thorny was the crown that he wore,
and the cross his body o'ercame.
Grievous were the sorrows he bore,
but he suffered thus not in vain.
May I to that fountain be led,
made to cleanse my sins here below.
Wash me in the blood of the dead,
and I shall be whiter than snow,
whiter than the snow.
whiter than the snow.
Wash me in the blood of the Lamb, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Father, I have wandered from Thee.
Often has my heart gone astray.
Crimson do my sins seem to me.
Water cannot wash them away.
Jesus, to that fountain of thine,
leaning on thy promise I go.
Cleanse me by thy washing divine,
And I shall be whiter than snow
Whiter than the snow
Whiter than the snow
Wash me in the blood of the Lamb
And I shall be whiter than snow.

Okay, we would now turn the page to song number 199, Christ Receiveth Sinful Men.

Sinners Jesus will receive.
Sound this word of grace to all who the heavenly pathway leave.
All who linger, all who fall,
Sing it o'er and o'er again,
Christ receiveth sinful men.
Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiveth sinful men.
Come, and He will give you rest.
Trust Him, for His word is plain.
He will take the sinful lust.
Christ receiveth sinful men.
Sing it o'er and o'er again.
Christ, receive a sinful man.
Make the message clear and plain.
Christ, receive a sinful man.

Now my heart condemns me not,
pure before the law I stand.
He who cleansed me from all spot,
satisfied its last demand,
Sing it o'er and o'er again,
Christ receiveth sinful men.
Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiveth sinful men. Christ receive us sinful men, even me with all my sin. Purged from every spot and stain, heaven with Him I enter in. O'er and o'er again. Christ, receive us sinful men.

Make the message clear and plain. Christ, receive us sinful men.

Let's open our Bibles now to Exodus chapter 26. I'm sorry, Exodus 28. Exodus 28. We'll begin our reading in verse 4.

And these are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate and an ephod, and a robe and a broidered coat, a miter and a girdle, And they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother and his sons that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And they shall take gold and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet and fine twine linen with cunning work. And it shall have the two shoulder pieces thereof joined at the edges thereof. And so it shall be joined together. And the curious girl of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same according to the work thereof, even of gold and blue and purple and scarlet and fine twine linen. And thou shall take two onyx stones, engrave on them the names of the children of Israel, six of their names on one stone and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work of an engraver and stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel and thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold and thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the infant for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial.

And we'll end our reading there.

Let's bow before our Lord together. Our Father, we so carefully and reverently and thankfully bow in your presence this morning or this evening. Father, so thankful that we can come before a throne of grace. Oh, how thankful that we are that because of the sacrifice of Christ, our substitute, we never have to come before your throne of justice, but before a throne of grace that we can find grace and mercy to help. in times of trouble. And Father, how we thank you that Christ our Savior sits upon that throne, ruling and reigning in mercy and grace and love for his people. Father, how we thank you.

And Father, it's our earnest plea that tonight you would enable us by your spirit to worship you in spirit and in truth. Father, I pray that you would deliver us tonight and always from just going through the motions of religion. But Father, that we might come here seeking to see thy face, seeking to hear a word from thee, seeking to hear more of the glory of Christ our Savior. Father, that your word may continually remind us who and what we are and put us in the dust at the feet of Christ our Savior. At his feet where there's mercy, grace to be found for sinners.

Father, never let us graduate beyond that first need that you taught us that we felt, that desperate need of Christ our Savior to be everything to us. Father, bless us as we look into your word. Be with your servant as I attempt to preach your gospel. Father, that you would enable me in the power of thy spirit preach Christ, to point out Christ in the scripture. Give your people a seeing eye, a hearing ear, a believing heart. Father, that we not hear the words of a man, but that our hearts would burn within us as your word is open to us. If you would be so pleased as to apply your word to our hearts. Father, I thank you for this place. I thank you for a place that We can come together, meet in love and peace and unity with one heart, with one accord. Father, seeking your glory, seeking the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we pray you continue to bless it, that you bless it, Father, for our good, for our learning, for our salvation, for our edification, for the calling out of your people. And Father, especially that you might bless it for your glory. Father, in this dark, dark day, in this dark time, and in this dark place, how we beg of you that you'd be pleased to show us your glory. And Father, all these things we ask, and we give thanks, we praise your precious name. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, for his sake and his glory, we pray. Amen.

It's not unusual that I come here with a message I'm kind of excited about, but I'll tell you, I'm excited about this. And I pray that the Lord will bless it and enable us to see Christ. I've titled the message, Christ, the beautiful high priest, the beautiful high priest. I don't want us to just see facts and figures and even a picture of Christ, our high priest. I want us to see his beauty. I pray that the Lord will let us see his beauty tonight.

Now, we started looking at the priest last week, and I told you that there are three offices in Israel. There's the prophet, there's the priest, and the king. And salvation requires that Christ be all three of those offices to us. He must be our prophet. The prophet's job is to tell the people, this is what God says. And you and I will never know what God says, how God saves sinners, what his purpose is, and what his glory is, until Christ comes and reveals it to us. And we need Christ to be our king, the king who rules over us, the king that will ensure our salvation, the king to whom we bow. He has a kingdom, and if we're gonna be subjects in his kingdom, we're gonna bow to him. He must be our king. And then we must have a priest, a priest to offer sacrifices for sin. And our priest, our great high priest, must be our Lord Jesus Christ. We can't have a priest after the order of Aaron. They only offered animal sacrifices, which can never take away sins. So it's a must that Christ be our great high priest, to offer the sacrifice that will put away the sin of his people.

And Lord gives us a picture here of the garments that the high priest wore. And he must wear these things, the Lord says, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. These garments that they made for the high priest give us pictures of the beauty of Christ, our great high priest. And in the past, I've covered these, all these garments, all these pieces of garments in one sitting. And as I began looking at it again this time, I don't know how I did that. I must have shortchanged something. We're going to look at these things piece by piece kind of slowly over the next couple of weeks. And the first piece is the ephod. And that's what we just read about here, the ephod that they would make for the high priest to wear. And there are several things about this ephod that show us the beauty of Christ, that show us what a wonderful high priest that he is. And the first thing I see here about this ephod is it tells us who Christ came to save. Now, the ephod was an outer garment. It was a sleeveless tunic. It came down below the waist. And it was two pieces, and they buttoned those pieces together with these onyx stone buttons that were on the shoulders of the ephod of the high priest. And those buttons had the names of the 12 tribes of Israel inscribed on them. Six on one shoulder on stone, six on the other one, and they were by birth order.

Well, you know the 12 tribes of Israel, they're pictures of all believers. And all believers are in Christ, They're in Christ by birth, by the new birth. Scripture talks about us being adopted into the family of God. But no matter how you look at it, all of God's people are on the shoulders of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't care what area you live in. I don't care if it's in the Old Testament or the early church or these latter times. Whatever time it is, If you belong to Christ, you have always been on his shoulders. You've always been kept safe on his shoulders.

And those names that were on the stones that the Lord tell us here, these are the people that Aaron, the high priest, represents. As he goes about his priestly office, offering the sacrifices and all these different things that he does, it tells us the people that he's representing. Aaron only ever represented the 12 tribes of Israel. He never once was the representative of a Malachite or a Philistine or any of the other iths that lived around them. It was only the 12 tribes of Israel.

Well, Christ our great high priest came and he came representing a specific people. He didn't come to try to offer a sacrifice to save as many people as you might decide to accept him. He didn't know who they were or how many. He came representing an exact people. He came representing the elect, that the Father chose and gave to him to save. And everything that Christ did, he did with his people on his shoulders, representing those people. Everything he was doing was for those people.

Now listen, this is not just some fine point of doctrine. This is not theoretical doctrine that we like to talk about that, yes, it's in God's word and it separates us from all these other false religions out there. This is for the assurance and the joy of God's people. If the Lord Jesus Christ died for you, he died for you. He died for you on purpose. Shawn, he died for you with your name on his shoulders on purpose. Rick, for you. On purpose he did this. Everything he did, he did for his people in love and pity and mercy and grace for those people, for them on purpose.

Now try to let that sink in for a minute. I mean, you talk about saying, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for doing something for me I do not deserve. That just makes me want to fall down and worship him. Why me? Why me? I mean, I can tell you this, the reason I'm found in me, it has to be found in God, doesn't it? And since everything, these names, all the people of God are on the shoulders of Christ, everything about our salvation, about our security, about our righteousness, about our preservation, all depends upon Christ. It's on his shoulders to do the work for his people.

You know, you hear people say, put your shoulder to it. That means, you know, put some effort in this thing. Again, just think about this for a second. The son of God became flesh. He came to save his people from their sin. He came to do everything that the father sent him to do, and he put his shoulder to it. He did it with everything that he had. Now, I ask you, can he fail? Can that salvation fail? Not one bit. Everybody whose names is on his shoulders must be saved, because they're all on the shoulders of Christ. So it all depends upon him. It doesn't depend on me finishing what Christ didn't do, because he finished the work. He completed it. It's not, well, now Christ did everything, but I got to do this a little bit, or I got to take the first step. It all depends upon him.

Christ, our great high priest, is carrying his lost sheep home on his shoulders. He came, he worked out a perfect righteousness for them. He sacrificed himself to put away their sin. But now we're still in this world, born lost in Adam, aren't we? And we're wandering far away from him. Is he gonna let one wander so far away? He said, you know, that's too far. I'm just, that one, it's so little, it's insignificant, it don't matter, I'm not going after it. No, sir. He cares. It's on his shoulders. And he's going to go get it. He's going to go get every one of those lost sheep. There's not one of them that's so insignificant he's going to let go. And he's going to carry them home on his shoulders. He's not going to lead them home.

That poem you read about someone looking back over their life and saying, well, I see two sets of footprints. And sometimes I see one set of footprints. And Lord, why did you leave me alone in times of trouble? The Lord says, oh, I didn't leave you alone in those times of trouble. That's when I was carrying you. That's why there's only one set of footprints there, because I was carrying you.

Hogwash. Our Savior is carrying us on his shoulders the whole way home. And if one step depends on me, I'll perish. But it all depends on him, doesn't it? It's all on his shoulders.

Isaiah said, in Isaiah 9, speaking of this Savior who's coming, he said, the government of the world is on his shoulder. singular, his shoulder. Now, I believe our Savior is plenty powerful enough to carry all of his people home on his shoulders if he can handle the government of the world on just one shoulder. Does that make sense? If we're on the shoulders of Christ, we cannot perish. What a glorious thought, just what a soul-thrilling thought. All of those people that are on Christ's shoulders, they must appear with glory in Him, with Him, they must. Because Christ put their sin away. There's no reason left for them to perish.

Peter said we're kept. We're not kept by our faithfulness. We're not kept by the power of our faith. We're not kept by our knowledge of the scriptures. We're not kept by our sight of the Savior. We're kept by the power of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the power of God. He's the power of God unto salvation. That's why Paul said, I know he's able. I'm persuaded of this. I'm confident of this. He's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. I'm confident because of his mighty shoulders.

Now, when you think that the son of God put his shoulder to the work of your redemption, And he didn't just put his shoulder, he put his whole self into it, didn't he? He made himself an offering for the sin of his people. If he did that for me, if he did that for you, we can't perish. Now that's a beautiful high priest. He's beautiful in his strength, his power to save. And he's beautiful in who he came to save, isn't it? He came to save sinners. He came to save people can't contribute one thing to their salvation. And he came to save them, and he washed them white as snow so that they must appear in the presence of God with him. Then second, the beauty of Christ the God-man. Now this ephod was a beautiful garment. In one place it's called a curious garment, and in another place it's called a cunning garment. And just generally speaking, those words mean this is an ingenious work. This is a work that somebody did because God gave them special skill to be able to do it.

Tell you how they made this equipment. They beat gold into long, very thin plates, and then they cut those plates into thin wires, almost like threads. And then they took the fine twine linen, and the purple threads, and the blue threads, and the scarlet threads, and the white threads, and right along with that gold, they wove all this together to make this ephod.

This ephod had gold in it, which is, we've looked at all these colors before, they're pictures of the deity of Christ. It had linen threads in it, which is a white linen, a picture of the sinless humanity of Christ. It had blue threads in it, blue the color of heaven. This high priest who's coming, he's actually gonna offer a sacrifice for sin that puts away the sin of his people. He's coming from heaven. He's not coming from Aaron's loins. He's not gonna descend from Aaron. He's coming from heaven. But he's also gonna be a man. There's scarlet threads in there, the color of man, the color of blood. And there's purple in there. This is something Aaron, could never lay claim to, purple, the color of royalty. The king could never be the priest. There's no king priest except Christ our Savior. This one who's coming is the king priest. And you put all these colors together, all these different pictures of Christ, these different pictures of different characteristics of our Savior, but it's all one garment. It's all woven together so that it's one garment.

And this ephod was a curious garment. It was cunning, cunning creation. God gave somebody a special gift to be able to make this ephod. Just like the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, he's a cunning work. A body has thou prepared me, he said. The father was the only one with the wisdom and the skill to create this body in the womb of the virgin who would be born The God-man. He's 100% God and 100% man at the same time. Two natures, one man, all woven together.

And when the priest was wearing this ephod, here's what, this is so curiously, wondrously made. He turned one way, depending how he turned and how your angle was and the light was hitting him, he looked like he was wearing a garment made of pure gold. He turned another way. and it would look like it's a garment of pure white or pure blue or pure red or purple. He turned the other way, you might see two colors or three colors. You see, it was just so curious. There's no other garment made like this, but it was still all one garment, even though you'd see all these different colors.

That's our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me see if I can show you how this picture is fulfilled in the New Testament. Remember, you could look at that garment, and one time you think it's all gold. Another time you think it's all blue, or it's blue and red or something. Well, you look at our Lord Jesus Christ. He's sitting there on Jacob's well. It's noon. It's hot. Everybody else is gone. Nobody's coming out that time of day. He sent his disciples into town to get some meat, and he stayed there. Now, I know he needs to go through Samaria. He's going to meet this woman. But he's also sitting there because he tired. He's been walking a long way, he's tired, he's thirsty, and here comes this sinful Samaritan woman. And this tired man, sitting there on that well, asks this sinful woman to draw him something to drink. It's a man, isn't it? He didn't work a miracle for himself, you just see a man who's thirsty there asking a woman for a drink. And then they start talking, and a little bit he tells her all things ever she did. When he did that, all you see is God, isn't it? You see Christ.

He's been preaching all day. He's been healing people all day. He's been with people all day. He's been probably up through the night praying the night before that. And now him and his disciples get in the boat and he is so tired, he falls fast asleep. And a big storm comes up. I mean, it's a big storm. It's rocking that boat every which way. The disciples who've been on this sea many, many times, they grew up on this sea. They thought, this storm's taking us down, this is not normal. And there's our Lord, that storm's not waking him up. He's so tired. Oh, he sees a man, isn't it? And then the disciples wake the Lord up, and he comes up on that boat, and he looks at that storm, and he says, peace be still. And the wind and the waves stop instantly. All you see is God.

Then you look at Christ. He comes, finally he comes to Lazarus' house, and Lazarus has died. And he goes to Lazarus' tomb. Where have you laid him? He said. And he goes to Lazarus' tomb. And there's all the people there. They're mourning and weeping. And scripture says Jesus wept. I look and look and look and look at that scripture. Reckon why our Lord wept. I know he wept because he had real emotions. This was not some crocodile tears. He wasn't making a show for somebody. Maybe he wept because he's the high priest who's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And he sees these people weeping and he weeps with them. He's broken hearted for them. I always think part of it is he loves Lazarus. And he knows what he's getting ready to do. He's gonna bring Lazarus back to this world. And he weeps. He weeps for Lazarus. But for whatever reason, with real emotions, our Lord wept at the tomb of Lazarus. That's a man. You look, that's a man, isn't it? With real emotions. And then he says, roll away the stone. Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. Now all I see is God.

Then look at Christ on the cross in bloody agony. His flesh is torn. He's got blood just gushing out from all these wounds and these holes and all the pain that he's in. And finally, he gives up the ghost and he dies. A lifeless body. is hanging on that tree. And they took a lifeless body down from the tree, wrapped it up, and put it in a rich man's tomb. That's a man. All I see is a man. A man who suffered and died. God can't die. That has to be a man.

But then I see him as he's suffering. The sun refuses to shine. I see him hanging there in that bloody agony, forgiving sin, telling a dying guilty man who is so vile, who has committed so many crimes, even men say, we've got to get rid of him. And I see the Lord saying, today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. He dies and the earth quaked and the rocks rent. That's God. All I see is God there. That's what the centurion saw, isn't it? He said, surely this man is the son of God. The dying thief saw it. He saw God in that bloody sacrifice being offered to his left or right, I don't know, but on that middle cross.

And he said, Lord, would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? He saw God. Depending on which way he turns, you see God or you see man, but together, He's the God-man, isn't he? And that's beautiful. That's beautiful to me because the only way sinners like you and me can be saved is if the God-man offers himself as a sacrifice for our sin. God who's got the power to save, the right to save, the righteousness and holiness to save, and a man who can be our representative. And the Son of God became that curious work. that cunning, beautiful work in order to save the likes of you and me. That's beautiful. It's awe-inspiring, isn't it?

And then the third thing I see here is Christ, the eternal high priest. Now, God gave specific instruction that this ephod was never to be torn. Now, I'll tell you why he said that. It's because you cannot separate the humanity and the deity of Christ our Savior. You cannot separate the person of Christ. He's the God-man and he can never be separated. And if he is, we have no hope of salvation.

If you separate him and tear him so that he's only a man, he's a false prophet. He said he's God. He said he's the son of God. If he's not God, He's a false prophet, isn't he? And he can't be the sacrifice for sin because he's a martyr. The best he can be is a martyr, but he can't be the sacrifice for sin if he's only a man. How can another sinful man who's descended from Adam put your sin away or my sin away? He can't do it. If you tear him so that he's only a man, you take away his power to save, his holiness and righteousness to save.

But if he's only God, you tear him so that he's only God, well he's got the power, he's got the holiness, he's got the righteousness, but he can't be the representative of other sinful men, can he? He's got to be a man. He's got to be both the God-man. But if you put them together, the God-man, now you've got the savior of sinners. Now you've got the high priest who has something to offer to put away sin, and at the same time, The high priest who's touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

Our high priest is God. God in human flesh. And to think that he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Whatever it is his people are going through, he's touched by it. He knows what it feels like because he went through it first. That's our high priest. So don't you ever tear that ephod. Because if you do, that's a picture of Christ. Now you've torn our salvation so that there is no salvation.

Now I want you to look with me at Matthew chapter 26. I guess for centuries, that ephod was never torn. I'm assuming that that's so. But finally, one day it was torn. Matthew chapter 26. Verse 62, and the high priest, now here he is, that high priest, one of the things he's wearing is that ephod. The high priest arose and said unto him, answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said. Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall you see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes saying he has spoken blasphemy. What further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard his blasphemy. This high priest was so angry. He's so incensed at this man saying he's God. he ran his clothes, he tore that ephod. And when he did that, the moment he did that, the earthly priesthood is over. The picture is over. Now there's only Christ, our great high priest. And I'm thankful that this is recorded, that this ephod was torn, so that we know the earthly priesthood is over. You don't have to go to a man to find forgiveness of your sins. You don't have to go to a man to find a sacrifice for your sins.

This high priest, he, it was like an elected office at this time. It wasn't just the, you know, the descendants of Aaron and the oldest son, you know, became, it was an elected thing, a political thing. They politicized it and And they had different high priest every year. Let's spread the wealth around so we can collect bribes from a lot of different people. Oh, you'll bribe to be the priest this year? Okay. You'll bribe to be the priest next year? Okay. He's a sham. He's a sham. And that's what happens every single time you put a man in the flesh in any kind of position like this. You don't have to go to a man like that. Go straight to Christ. our great high priest, our eternal high priest. He has an eternal priesthood.

Then look here back in our text, along with the ephod, there was the girdle of the ephod. Verse, get in the right chapter here, verse eight of Exodus 28. And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same according to the work thereof, even of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine twine linen. So they had the ephod, but then they also had this girdle, like a sash or a belt that went around his waist and kind of holds everything together. Well, this girdle is a picture of Christ the servant. When someone would get ready to go do work at that time, they'd gird themselves. They'd tuck their robes up in this girdle so that their feet wouldn't get all tangled up, you know, and they could do the work. It's a picture of Christ the servant of God. Our high priest is the servant of God who came to do everything that the Father required of him to save his people from their sins. And I tell you how serious our Savior was about being the servant of the Father. The very first recorded words we have of our Savior is, wish ye not, I must be about my Father's business. That's something a faithful servant would say, isn't it?

So this ephod, the girdle of the ephod, was made from the same materials as the ephod was. Those gold bands and the white threads and the blue threads, the scarlet threads, the purple threads. So that sometimes, when you looked at the girdle, it's just like the ephod. Sometimes it looks like all gold. Sometimes it looks like all blue or all white or all red. Sometimes it looks like a combination of two or three of those colors. Sometimes, when you look at the Lord Jesus, All you see is a servant. But sometimes, when you look at him, all you see is God, isn't it?

Christ came as a servant. First, as the servant of his father. Now, if any sinner's gonna be saved, the father must be satisfied. It has to be, because all of our sin is against the Father. There is no sense trying to talk sinners into making a profession for Jesus. The Father's the one that's got to be satisfied. But no man can satisfy Him. We're all fallen in Adam, so the only thing we can do is sin. If the Father's going to be satisfied, He's going to have to send a servant who can satisfy Him, isn't He?

chose the only one in the whole universe who's able to satisfy him, his own son. And the son, the Prince of Glory, agreed to become his father's servant, to honor his father, to satisfy his father, so that all of the universe could see the glory of his father in his electing, redeeming love for his people.

The father told us all about it and prophesied in Isaiah 42. He said, behold my servant, whom I uphold. This servant is coming and the father is upholding him. He's got the power of God. He's going to be able to do everything that the father gave him to do.

Philippians two verse seven said, our Lord made himself of no reputation. You think of him as, The light of glory, the glory of glory. I mean, how else can you say it? I mean, heaven's not heaven without him. And he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. He came as a man. He made himself flesh, and he didn't even make himself flesh that other flesh would respect. He made himself flesh that other flesh looked down their nose on him. He made himself in the form of a servant so he could do what the Father required him to do. And it was his delight to do it. It wasn't like he's forced to do it. It was his delight.

In John 4, verse 34, he said unto his disciples, my mean is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. I'm come to finish his work. He said in John 6, 38, I came down from heaven. Not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. That's what a servant says, isn't it? And right before he went to the cross, you know what he said? Father, I finished the work that you gave me to do. He finished it completely.

Now all that's left for him to do, if you can say it that way, all that's left for him to do, now he's gonna go offer the sacrifice that puts away the sin of his people. It's done. The servant did everything it took to please his father so that his people could be saved from their sin.

Now, I want to say this very carefully. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. He's God. He's God. We're to reverence Him. We're to worship Him. We're to take His name to our lips carefully and reverently at all times. He is God. He's king of kings and he's lord of lords. He's my master. I mean, he's our master. He's our savior. He's the one who put away our sin. But he also came for a time to be the servant of his people, to do for them what they could not do for themselves.

Now you talk about him humbling himself and making himself of no reputation. When our Savior came as a servant, he came to serve his people in this sense, to do for them everything they could not do for themselves. And he gave us a picture of that. One day he gathered his disciples together, and as they were eating, he got up and he girt himself with a towel. Now everybody there knew what this is. This is the way the lowest slave dressed in a rich man's house, just guard with a towel. He filled a basin with water and the Lord of glory got down on his knees and took the feet of his disciples and washed them in that water and dried them with that towel.

Now Peter knew, I mean they all knew, Peter knew, Peter's just the one with the big mouth. When he got to Peter, he said, Lord, you're not washing my feet. I know what this is. You're saying you're a servant. No, you're not washing my feet. I'm the one that's supposed to be at your feet. Peter knew what this was. And Lord said, Peter, if I don't wash you, you have no part with me. He came to wash his people. I've often thought, This was a common thing in that time because they lived in a hot and dusty place and they wore sandals and so forth and their feet are hot and they're dusty and you come in the house and you get your feet washed. The disciples had never before or never after had their feet washed like this. This was the master. The Lord said, you call me Lord and Master and you say right for so I am, yet I just was dressed as a servant in front of you and washed and dried your feet. Their feet never felt so refreshed and so good and so clean in all their lives.

And that's a picture of Christ washing his people, washing them white as snow. Oh, you've never been washed till you've been washed in the blood of Christ. When he sends his spirit and takes that precious, precious blood that he shed on Calvary's tree and washes you white as snow. Oh, your soul is cleansed from sin. Your conscience is clear. My sin's been paid for. The Father's not angry with me anymore because I've been washed.

And you don't think of Him as your servant, even though He came as a servant to do for His people what they could not do for themselves. We think of Him as our Lord and Master, don't we? Oh, how we worship him for doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. And to think how he humbled himself to do it. It just can't get over it. I can't get over it.

But you know, when our Lord was done washing his disciples' feet, you know what he told them? I've left you an example of what you should do for one another. Now we think of our beautiful, glorious high priest, humbling himself to serve us in that way. And he says, I've left you an example. Now you serve one another this way. Am I going to get up on my high horse and be so high and proud and, you know, that I can't get right down where you are and serve you and help you and wash your feet to refresh you? I better not. I sure hope not. I sure hope not.

If I see Christ, who's both God and man, both the master and the servant, who did all the work of salvation to save my sorry, sinful soul, how can I not do anything that's possible for me to do to help you, to refresh you, to encourage you along the way? This is, after I got done with these notes, I've been looking at them for a couple days, and I thought this is my advice to myself. You take it to yourself if you think it's helpful. What will keep my attitude right in all things, in all things, particularly in wanting to serve you and help you and show my love for you, is if I quit looking at myself and start looking at Christ, our beautiful High Priest. It just sets everything in order, doesn't it?

All right, I hope that'll be a blessing to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you for your word that reveals this glorious, beautiful High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. Father, there's not human language that's sufficient to say thank you. But father, from the heart, from the from the heart that you've given father, thank you. Thank you for him. Father, I pray that you would show us that you would reveal to us not just in an intellectual exercise, but father, that you would reveal this beautiful high priest to our hearts that we might find Such joy, such comfort in trusting him and him alone. Fathers, for his sake and his glory we pray, amen.

All right, Sean. Okay, please turn in your hymnal to song number 187. Stand as we sing, blessed be the tie that binds.

187. Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above. Before our father's throne, we pour our ardent prayers. Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one. Our comforts and our cares. We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear, and often for each flows the sympathizing tear. When we asunder part, It gives us inward pain, but we shall still be joined in heart and hope to meet again.