All right, let's open our Bibles
to Hebrews chapter five. We'll read the first 10 verses,
Hebrews chapter five. For every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men. and 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 a 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 crying and tears, unto him that
was able to save him from death, he 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. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our God and Father, Lord, we
bow in your presence this morning. We bow in reverence, fear and
trembling. coming into the presence of the
thrice holy God, knowing that we are but dust. And yet how
thankful we are that we can come boldly before the throne of grace
in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, how we thank you
for him. How we thank you for a savior
who saves. How we thank you for such a great
high priest who sacrificed for sin put away the sin of his people. He did what no other priest could
do. He put away the sin of his people. How we thank you for
his mercy, for his faithfulness to his people. Father, I pray
this morning that the name of Christ our Savior be extolled
and magnified. Father, I pray you'd cause his
name to go forth in power to instruct and comfort the hearts
of your people, that we might finds us joy and peace in such
a great high priest as we have. Father, we thank you for all
the blessings of this life that you've given us. You've blessed
us so abundantly, and we're thankful. We thank you for our homes, our
families, the jobs, the things that you've given to us, and
we thank you for our country. We thank you for the freedoms
that you've preserved and protected in this country, And we beg your
forgiveness, we beg your continued mercy and a hand of protection
and leadership upon our country. Just as we pray for ourselves
spiritually that you not leave us alone, how we beg that you
not leave our country to our own man's own devices. But Father,
protect us, protect the freedoms in this country, that it might
be a place where your gospels preached in freedom goes forth
in power to your people. As we take time this weekend
to remember those who have given their lives to protect the freedoms
that we've had. For over 240 years, men and women
have gone into harm's way to protect this country, the freedoms
that we have. Father, we are thankful. And
as we do remember them this weekend, Father, I pray that you'd cause
our hearts to be taken up every week, every day with the Lord
Jesus Christ who gave his life that his people might have life.
He gave his life to put away the sin of his people, make us
accepted in him. Oh, Father, how we thank you.
What great mercy, what great power, what great grace, what
wisdom you bestowed, showed to your people through the sacrifice
and the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we
pray that you'd be with those who are traveling this weekend,
that you'd give them traveling mercies, that you'd bring them
back home safe to us, that you'd give them a good time, a relaxing
time where they're at with friends and family. Father, we do pray
a blessing for those that are going through deep waters, difficult
times and under great pressure. Father, we pray for them. for
your hand of healing. We pray that you'd comfort their
hearts with your presence. We pray that you'd provide a
way out. We don't need much to happen to know how helpless we
are in this world. Father, we pray you'd help. You
said in your word that you'd succor, you'd relieve your people,
and we pray that you'd send relief. But Father, again bless us. Make
this hour an hour of true worship, we pray. It's in the name of,
for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray and give thanks. Amen. A debtor to mercy I am Of covenant mercy I sing, Of
faith in my Saviour the Lamb, My praises to God I must bring. God's mercy preceded my birth
and followed me all of my days. Though I have no merit nor worth,
my whole life His mercy displays. When lost in rebellion and sin,
God's mercy protected me then. And since I have been born again,
In all things His mercy is seen. My daily provisions, I know,
Come from God's bountiful hand. In happiness, here, or in woe,
My God will His mercy command. When sorrows and sins are no
more And I'm with my glorified King I will my God's mercy adore
Forever and ever I'll sing A vessel of mercy I am, I'm saved
by the mercy of God. Rich mercy through Jesus the
Lamb, Let's open our Bibles again to Hebrews
chapter 2. I titled the message this morning,
A Merciful and Faithful High Priest. In the Old Testament,
The high priest was one of the most important men in history. The prophet and the priest, without
question, were the two most important men in history. The prophet represented
God to the people. He brought God's message to the
people. And the priest represented the people to God. And the priest
did that through the sacrifice. The Lord, just then as today,
can only be worshiped through a blood sacrifice. In the days
of the Old Testament, the priests were the only ones who could
offer those sacrifices unto God. And on the day of atonement,
the high priest was the only one who could offer those sacrifices. And they were mighty important
because without them, God would have wiped Israel out. So the
people were very interested on that day of atonement. They're
very interested in what the high priest was doing. They're very
interested in those sacrifices. They were vitally interested
in knowing, is the Lord accepting those sacrifices for my sin?
They spent the day while the high priest was going about his
activities. They spent the day in their tents praying that the
Lord would accept those sacrifices. But Aaron and his sons, were
just pictures. That's all they were. They really,
they never accomplished anything. They were just pictures of the
Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, who would come to
offer the sacrifice of sacrifices. Christ, our great high priest
came to offer the sacrifices that ended all sacrifices. We
don't offer blood sacrifices here anymore, do we? There's
no need. Christ's sacrifice put an end
to that. His sacrifice put away the sin of his people forever.
There's no need for more blood. And Aaron and his sons, all they
could be were pictures of that. And often they weren't very good
ones, were they? Aaron and his sons were not always faithful
to the people. They weren't always kind to the
people. They weren't always a comfort to Israel. But Christ, our great
high priest, he is. He's faithful to his people. He's always kind to his people. He's always able to comfort the
hearts of his people. Simply his presence in the heart
comforts his people. And this morning, I want us to
look at five points about Christ, our high priest, that will comfort
the hearts of God's people and will draw us to him. Number one
is this. Christ, our high priest, is sovereign
in the salvation of his people. And this is what I mean by that.
Christ sovereignly elected a people to save, and then he came and
saved them, and he got the job done. There's no way any of them
can perish. They will be saved. His sovereignty
guarantees it. Now, the high priest of old,
he represented a certain people, didn't he? Aaron represented
Israel. Did Aaron ever do anything representing
the Philistines? Or the Amalekites or all the
other kites around? No, he didn't. He only represented
Israel. God chose the high priest, didn't
he? God said Aaron's the high priest.
They didn't vote. Aaron was the high priest. And God chose who
the high priest would represent. He'd represent Israel, not the
Philistines. And I have yet to find anybody
that has a problem with that. I've not found one person that
said that's not fair to the Philistines. In my entire lifetime, I've never
heard of it. Maybe if I've met a Philistine,
I would, but I have never found anybody that says that's not
fair. But you know, the exact same thing is true of Christ
our high priest. He represents his elect people, the people
that the father gave him to save. In verse 16 in our text, Hebrews
2 makes that crystal clear. Prevarily, he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Christ didn't take on him the nature of angels. Now, before
the world was created, a host of angels, we read from what
we understand, a third of the heavenly host rebelled against
God and were cast out of heaven. And there's no salvation for
any of those angels. There's no high priest representing
them. There's no high priest in their nature representing
them and offering sacrifices for their sin. There's no salvation
for the angels. That's the way God chose to do
it. That's election. I have yet to find a person who
says that's not fair to the angels. Not one. Now there are such a
thing as elect angels. Scripture calls those angels
who did not fall, Scripture calls them elect angels. And you know
why those elect angels didn't fall? Because of God's election. God kept them from falling because
he decided to do so. And the fallen angels fell because
God did not choose to keep them from falling. He passed them
by. Now that is the very definition of distinguishing grace. And
again, I've not found one person ever to say that's not fair,
ever. Aaron, the high priest, he's
a picture of Christ. He represented Israel to God. He offered sacrifices for the
sins of Israel. And you know why he could do
that? Because Aaron was a Jew. Aaron had the same nature as
all those people that he represented. Well, Christ, here's how he showed
us that he's sovereign in salvation. It's who he chose to represent.
He didn't choose to represent angels. He passed them by. He
did not take on him the nature of angels in order to redeem
them. He took on him the seed of Abraham. That's who he came
to save. This phrase took on, it means
to lay hold on, like you lay hold on a person who's trying
to run away from you and stop them. Christ laid hold upon his
people. They were in a mad dash to hell,
but he laid hold on them and he pulled them back from sin
and from death. He laid hold upon a certain people,
the seed of Abraham, and he never let them go. Notice here, Christ didn't take
on him the seed of Adam, did he? No, he didn't. He didn't
represent everybody. He didn't come to save all men
without exception. He took on him the seed of Abraham. Now that doesn't just mean natural
Jews. Well, who is the, if it's not
just the Jews, who is the natural seed of Abraham? Look back at
Galatians chapter three. The seed of Abraham is everybody
who has God given faith in Christ, just like Abraham had. Galatians chapter three, verse
seven. Know ye therefore, that they
which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. The only way you can know that
you're one of God's elect, there's just one way. It's do you have
faith in Christ? If you have faith in Christ,
you're one of God's elect. That's who Christ came to save.
And he came to save only those people. Back in our text, verse
17, wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren. This is who Christ came to save.
He came to save his brethren. That's the people he represented.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the son of God. Well, if God's going
to represent those people, if God's going to represent and
save those people, he's got to become a man, doesn't he? because
they're men. Only a man can represent another
man. Christ had to be made a man so he'd have something to offer.
He had to have blood to offer. Well, who are Christ's brethren?
Look back in chapter 2, verse 11. There's three things here
about Christ's brethren. Number one, Christ's brethren
are the people he came to save. Hebrews 2, verse 11. For both
he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of
one, for which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. The people who are sanctified,
that's the people Christ sanctified. He didn't try to sanctify them.
He did sanctify them. That's his brethren. You know,
I thought I was sitting up here about Memorial Day, thinking
about those soldiers who died in battle. And I've talked to
several veterans from World War II and from Vietnam. And they
tell me when they are under such severe fire, They don't really
think about fighting. They're not fighting for their
country that's half a world away. They're thinking about surviving.
They're thinking about fighting for the guy next to them. And
I'm just confident that many of them who died a half a world
away, they just didn't know. Is this going to be worth it? Is this sacrifice going to keep
my family safe? Is this sacrifice going to keep
my country safe that I love? Christ, our Savior, didn't die
that way. No, he died knowing I've sanctified my people. I've made them holy. They're
my brethren that I love. The band of brothers, how I love
that word, the band of brothers. They're fighting for each other,
brothers. That's exactly who Christ came to save. A great
band of brethren, my brothers. and he died knowing I sanctified
him. Second, Christ's brethren are
the people to whom he reveals himself. Verse 12, Hebrews 2,
saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst
of the church will I sing praise unto thee. Christ's brethren
are the people who know God. Do you know God? Then you're
a brother of Christ because he's revealed himself to you. And
thirdly, Christ's brethren are all the people that God gave
him. Verse 13. And again, I will put my trust
in him. And again, behold I and the children which God hath given
me. The children that God gave to
Christ, the people he reveals himself to, the people he sanctified,
they're all the same. That's the brethren that Christ
came to save. And he did it. He got the job
done. Now, when the angels rebelled
against God, They rebelled against God's authority. Satan said,
it's not right you sit on the throne. I'm going to sit on the
throne. They were all cast out of heaven, weren't they? Jude
tells us they were cast out of heaven and reserved in everlasting
chains and in utter darkness until the day of judgment. All
right, that's just, that's fair, wasn't it? God did that. God
created a perfect world, created a perfect garden. He put man
in it. And Adam did the exact same thing
that Satan did. Exactly! Why didn't God wipe
him out? Why didn't God put him in chains
in utter darkness until the Day of Judgment? There's one reason. Because before there was a sinner,
there was a Savior. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Before Adam fell, a high priest
already stood. He's merciful. He's faithful. He already stood to represent
some of Adam's fallen race. Adam couldn't be wiped out because
there's people coming from his loins who are also going to be
the seed of Abraham. That's election. God did not
wipe Adam out because he had chosen a people to save. Adam
wasn't wiped out because a merciful and a faithful high priest already
stood. He was already representing his
people to God. And that mercy is reserved for
all those people he represents. Thank God for sovereign mercy. If it weren't for sovereign mercy,
Adam would have been wiped out and you and I never would have
been born. I love God's sovereignty. The
only God I can bow to is a sovereign. The only God I will beg is a
sovereign. I love God's sovereign, electing
mercy. Because the only way any sinner
like you and me can ever have a hope of salvation is if Christ
came to save a specific, exact people. He didn't come to try
to save anybody. He didn't come to save as many
as might decide to accept Him. If that was so, there's no sure
salvation for any sinner. Because I can promise you, we
won't choose Him. Any salvation that's left up
to the sinful will of man will fail every single time because
a dead nature cannot choose life. Can't do it. A sinful nature
cannot and will not choose holiness. A nature that is enmity against
God will never choose to love Christ. But absolute sovereignty,
the sovereign power of Christ makes him able to save. And you know what else? It makes
him the one we should trust. He got the power to say. All
right, number two, Christ, our high priest, is merciful to his
people. Isn't this just the opposite
of being any man that gets absolute power? For long, he not only
merciful. No, he's gonna be cruel and wicked
to people just to, you know, make himself rich and comfortable.
Christ, our high priest, who has all power, is merciful to
his people. Verse 17, wherefore in all things
it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, so that he
might be a merciful and faithful high priest. You read through
the Old Testament and those priests frequently were not merciful
to Israel at all. Often they are cruel and heartless. Sons of Sam, They took more than
their portion of the sacrifices. They put greater burdens on the
people than the law allowed. You know, the Levites, they had
no inheritance. They had no land given to them.
They had nothing. All they had was that 10% tax
on Israel. That's all they had. Yet the
Levites, the priests, became rich, rich men. How did that
happen? They didn't do good investing.
They took more than what belonged to them. They weren't merciful
to God's people at all. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the
son of God, our great high priest, is merciful to his people. And he showed it, first of all,
by who did he become. He passed by the angels, didn't
he? So that he could redeem sinful
men. Now angels, higher created beings than a human being is.
And Christ wouldn't have to sink so low if he just became an angel,
would he? No, but he sunk much further
than that. He went down as far as he could go. The longest journey ever made
was when Christ became flesh. He sunk as low as he could go.
so he could redeem sinful men. He became a man because he's
merciful in saving sinners. He made himself poor so that
his people might be made rich. God is sovereign in salvation
and choosing who he will save, he's sovereign. He's got the
absolute sovereign right to choose who he will and pass by who he
will. Salvation must be in sovereign election, but it also must be
and soften mercy. Mercy. In order for a sinner
to be saved, there's got to be mercy, doesn't there? God's got
to not give that sinner the death and the punishment his sin deserves.
There's got to be mercy. Now, suppose God just ignored
sin. He said, all right, I've chosen
these people, and I'm just going to choose to ignore their sin.
I'm not going to ignore the sin of these people, but I'm going
to ignore the sin of these people. That would be one kind of mercy,
wouldn't it? It wouldn't be holy mercy. That can't be mercy from
God. It wouldn't be holy mercy. It
wouldn't be just mercy. So the highest, the best, most
pure form of mercy there is, is for God to be merciful to
sinners and not give them what they deserve. Because he gave
Christ our substitute, the punishment and the death that all of our
sin deserves. That's mercy done in justice.
That's the highest form of mercy that there is. We sing, oh, how
merciful. I loved it. That's all how merciful. Oh, how merciful. Christ, our
great high priest is. He passed by the angels, sunk
lower than them, sunk all the way down to become a man so that
he could redeem his people. Aaron and his sons, they offered
animal sacrifices. Sacrifices that could never take
away sin. And you know what? It was no
skin off their nose, was it? Somebody brought them a ram,
they sacrificed it. Somebody brought them a bullet,
they sacrificed it. No skin off their nose. They didn't have
to buy it. They didn't raise it from a calf and feed it and
raise it and take care of it and then at great expense to
themselves go slaughter it. Somebody brought it to them.
Somebody else paid for it. Christ our high priest. is so
great a high priest. He's so merciful to his people. He offered what cost him. He
offered himself. He offered his whole self. He offered all that he is. He
offered his body to be beat, to be bruised, to be abused,
to be mocked, to make fun of. He offered his body. He offered
his soul. He made a soul, an offering for
sin. He offered what cost him everything. It cost him. For a while, the
glory didn't. He had to give up his glory.
Oh, the glory of the Son of God. We read in heaven, there's no
need of sun. For the Lamb's the light of it.
Oh, what glory. He gave it all up to become a
man. just weak and pitiful, just like we are. He didn't look any
different. He wasn't six foot four and had this beautiful hair
and, you know, just this glow about him and huge shoulders
that would just stand out in the crowd. He was probably the
shortest, bent over, pocked skin, just, you know, no beauty about
him we desire. He gave up his glory. He gave
up his oneness with his father. My God, my God, why has thou
forsaken me? He gave up the place of preeminence
to die as the greatest criminal who ever lived. He gave all that
up. He gave up life, died so that
his people would be set free from their sin. Oh, how merciful. And God's sovereign mercy, brethren,
can not fail. He'll get his man every time.
He will say the objects of God's mercy every time because he's
a sovereign and a merciful high priest. And here's the third
thing. Christ, our high priest, is faithful. He's a merciful and he's a faithful
high priest. I read this this week, it was
very interesting to me, that before Christ died, the Ark of
the Covenant had been lost and the second temple When it was
rebuilt, the ark was gone. It wasn't there. And when Christ
died and that veil was rent in two from top to bottom, you know
what scared the priest most of all? Everybody can see. There's no mercy seat. There's
no ark in there. For 400 years that I praised
him and going behind that veil, telling the people I sprinkled
the blood on the mercy seat. God's passed over you. God's
accepted you for another year. He was just making a religious
charade, playing a game of charades with the blood of the sacrifice. I'm telling you, that's exactly
what men are doing today. Preaching a false gospel. They're
making a charade. There's no blood. There's no
mercy seat. It's not being offered before God. Blood's being offered
before men that we might accept it. It's not blood offered to
God, is it? Oh, they're making a charade of this thing. They
just went, maybe they sprinkled blood. They might as their speculation,
they sprinkled blood where the mercy seat should have been,
where the ark should have been. But there was no mercy seat there.
They were not being faithful to the people to apply the blood.
It was never offered before the Lord. Blood was shed, but it
was never offered before the Lord as propitiation for sin
on the mercy seat. And I want to ask you, what can
be more unfaithful than that? What can be more unfaithful to
the people? What can be more unfaithful to God? Well, Christ
is the high priest of his people. And if he's your high priest,
you never have to worry about that. He's faithful. He is faithful
to his father and to his people. He is faithful to his father
to fully obey the law for his people. He satisfied God's holiness
by making his people righteous, by taking their sin away from
them and his own body on the tree. in training his people,
his righteousness, making them righteousness. He was faithful
to go to the cross. He went and prayed, Father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, but thy will be done. He was faithful to go suffer
and die to satisfy God's justice by paying the sin debt of his
people. He is faithful to take that precious blood and go behind
the veil into heaven itself, into the holiest of all to offer
his blood as a sweet smelling safer to the father. He's faithful
to satisfy everything his father required that his people might
be saved. And he's also faithful to his people. He didn't play
act in any of this. No, sir. He didn't pretend to
be made sin. He didn't pretend to be made
sin so he could say, I'm sympathizing with my people. The only way
he could sympathize with the sin of his people is to be made
sin for his people. He didn't pretend like he was
suffering. He suffered. He didn't pretend like he died.
He died. He didn't pretend like the payment
was made. He didn't pretend like the great transaction was done.
When he said it's finished, he was faithful to make sure it's
finished before he said so. He's faithful to do everything it
takes to save his people from their sin. What a high priest. That means because he's faithful,
we can confidently cast our soul upon him. The word faithful here
means trustworthy. He's worthy of our trust. Cast your soul on him. He's always
faithful to be merciful to his people. He's faithful to show
mercy. You need it? You need mercy?
Call out and ask God for it. He's faithful. He's faithful
in his love. He's faithful to comfort the
hearts of his people. Is your heart broken? Are you
in great distress? The word temptation often means
like you're squeezed in a narrow place. Do you need comfort? Call out to God. He's faithful
to give it. He said he would. He will because he's faithful. Do you know you need His keeping
power? Do you know you'll leave Him
in a heartbeat if He takes His finger off of you? Not just His
hand. If He just takes His finger off
of you. Then call out to Him. Ask Him to keep you. Be faithful
to do it. He'll never fail and He'll never
take His mercy back. What joy and comfort there is
in having such a faithful high priest. This salvation in Christ
is sure because Christ is faithful. So let's quit. Let's just quit
everything else. Everything but Christ. Let's
just quit it. Let's quit trying to offer something to God that
we think will make God happy with us and just rest in Christ.
He's already faithful to do everything God requires of His people. Then
let's just rest in Him. He's produced the perfect righteousness
for His people. Then let's just quit trying to
establish our own and rest in Him. He's already offered the
perfect sacrifice for sin. Now let's just rest in him. You
can trust him because he's faithful. Isn't that rest for your soul? He's faithful. I'm not, but he
is. That's our confidence. Then fourthly,
Christ, our high priest, has put away the sin of his people
by his sacrifice. 17, wherefore, in all things
it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. That
word reconciliation means to make propitiation, is to make
a covering for sin. That's what the mercy seed, the
blood on the mercy seed was a propitiation, a covering. Christ our high priest,
I said this a minute ago, but you can't repeat this often.
Christ, our high priest, didn't try to make reconciliation for
the sins of his people. The writer here says he did it. He did make reconciliation for
the sins of his people. All those millions of sacrifices
offered by Aaron's sons never covered one sin. They put one
sin away, but the blood of Christ made propitiation. And it didn't
just cover up the sin of his people so it's still there. It
blotted it out, made it so it doesn't exist anymore. When Christ
died, he put away the sin of his people and he made his people
righteous. He made them justified, made
them without any sin. Let's go back to our first point
from here. Christ was made a real man so that he could be the representative
of his people. The Lord Jesus is a real man,
not was, he is. He is a real man right now, sitting
on the throne of glory. He's a real man. He has real
body. He has real emotions. He got
tired and hungry and thirsty just like we do. And he has a
real human soul. The only difference between him
and us is he has no sin and all we are is sin. That's the only
difference. He was a real man just like us in every other way.
And he was made a real man so that he could be made sin for
his people. God can't bear the sins of his
people, a man must. A man must be our substitute.
So Christ became a man and he took all the sin of God's elect
and he made it his. And he suffered and he died to
satisfy God's justice. And when he did that, he made
his people righteous. That's what 2 Corinthians 5.21
is all about. He had made him sinless, who
knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God. Christ was actually, literally
made sin so that his people could actually, literally be made righteous.
He made his people what God loves. He made them righteous. He made
them holy. And Christ reconciled his people. He brought them back to God so
they're not enemies anymore. Adam declared war on God and
we became enemies of God when he did. The car of mine is enmity
against God, hatred against God. But Christ reconciled his people. He's merciful. He's faithful
to make reconciliation. And that word reconciliation
has to do with mercy. The root word of that word taken
from that word in the Greek has to do with mercy. Reconciliation
between God and his people is done in great mercy. Look at
Luke chapter 18. This reconciliation is done in
mercy. Not because we deserve it, but
because of God's mercy. I tell you, come to Christ. Right
now, right where you sit, you come to Christ. You come pleading
His mercy. Because anybody who pleads mercy
in the blood of Christ, anybody, is justified. I can make good
on that. Look here, Luke 18, verse 10.
That's a big statement, isn't it? Anybody that comes pleading
mercy in the blood of Christ is justified. I wouldn't say
that if I couldn't back it up. Here it is. Luke 18, verse 10. Two men went up into the temple
to pray. The one a Pharisee, the other
a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.
God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in
the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much
as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And that word merciful, be merciful
to me, is the same root word as the writer of the Hebrews
uses in make reconciliation. This covering for sin has to
do with mercy in the blood of Christ. Anybody who pleads for
mercy in the blood of Christ is justified. Look what our Lord
says, verse 14. I tell you, this man who wouldn't
even look up to God but pleaded, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
This man went down to his house justified. Justified. Rather than the other, for everyone
that exalted himself should be amazed. But he that humbled himself
and begged for mercy for Christ's sake should be exalted. Anybody
who pleads for mercy in the blood of Christ is justified. What a high priest. who by one
sacrifice for sin justifies his people, made them without sin. You have no sin, but you got
to be afraid of it. All right, lastly, Christ our
high priest comforts the hearts of his people. Verse 18, for
in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted. Now this word succor means relief. It's more than just comfort.
It's relieved the hearts of his people. Aaron's sons, I don't
reckon ever wanted to do it and they certainly couldn't do it.
But Christ our high priest relieves his people. He is deeply moved
with compassion when his people suffer. How can that be? How can God
being deeply moved with compassion that somebody like us suffers.
It's because he suffered everything his people already suffered.
You cannot have real compassion for somebody until you've walked
in their shoes and suffered what they're suffering. Our high priest
did. What is it you're suffering?
He suffered at first. He suffered the temptation to
sin like we do. The word tempted here means tested. He was tested. We fail every
test to sin. Don't give me a test, see if
I'm a sinner or not, because I'll fail it. Christ our high priest
did. He was tempted, wasn't he? He
was tested by Satan. At his weakest moment, when he
hadn't eaten or drank for 40 days and 40 nights, he was tested.
He didn't fail. And he relieves the temptation,
the testing of his people by praying for them. Let their faith
fail not. Oh, what comfort there is in
knowing this high priest is praying for his people. Peter, Satan
has desired you. He's gonna test you. I pray for you. Let your faith
fail not. Poor old Peter failed the test,
didn't he? Just like we did. But his faith didn't fail. Because
Christ, our high priest, prayed for him. Our high priest has
suffered the effects of sin. So his heart is deeply moved,
but his people suffer the same thing. Now, Lord Jesus Christ
never, never sinned. He didn't do sin, he didn't think
sin, he didn't say sin, there's no sin in him, but he was made
sin. He was truly made sin for his
people so that he felt the effect of sin. He felt the guilt of
sin because he was guilty. He said, my iniquity, makes me
not able to look up. I'm so guilty. You felt the effect.
You know, when you're guilty, you can't look somebody in the
eye, can you? He couldn't look up. He felt the guilt of sin. And he relieves his people by
taking the guilt of their sin away. So they have no reason
to feel guilty. Just look to him. There's no
reason to feel guilty. Our high priest felt the shame of sin. He suffered naked before God
and men. And I promise you this, he knows shame better than we
do. And we say, you know, we're ashamed of ourselves. I'm ashamed
of myself. But you know what? We really don't have another
point of reference. Because all we are is sin. I've
never known anything but saying stupid stuff. So I'm, you know,
I say I'm ashamed, but whatever. I don't have any other point
of reference. Christ is holy. He has a different point of reference.
His point of reference is pure holiness. So when he was made
sin, he felt ashamed of it more than we ever will. And you know,
if he was just suffering for somebody else's sin, he didn't
do anything wrong, but he's paying for somebody else's sin. He doesn't
have to be shamed up with it. Matter of fact, that had been
an honor. This week, weekend, we honor
those men who gave their life for our country. They're not
ashamed. Their family's not ashamed. They're
brokenhearted, but they're not ashamed. It's an honor. Christ suffered in shame because
that sin was his sin, made sin for his people. And he relieves
the shame of his people by covering them in his righteousness. So
let nothing be shamed of. Christ, our high priest, suffered
loneliness. At Calvary, he suffered alone
like nobody else has ever been alone. He knows loneliness better
than we do. Sometimes we think we're lonely.
He knows loneliness better than we do. And he relieves the suffering
of his people by giving us his presence in our life so that
we're not alone. Our high priest suffered pain
and sorrow more than we ever will. And when his people are
in pain, and they're brokenhearted in sorrow. This high priest,
his compassion is deeply moved for his people. And he personally
comes to his people to relieve them as only he can. And then our high priest suffered
death for sin. And when his people come to die,
his heart is deeply moved. He's already relieved his people
from the fear of death, hasn't he? He took the sting out of
it. Death will never harm you if
you believe Christ. Christ took the sting of it away.
He died the just for the unjust that he would bring to God. And that's exactly what happens
when the body of a believer dies. They're brought to God. Now,
I know we're still apprehensive about it. I talked about this
last week in the fear of death. We're apprehensive about death.
If we're honest, I mean, there's at least a little bit of apprehension
about this thing. We've never done it before. We've
never talked to anybody who's done it before. But there's no fear
for the believer in death. And the heart of our high priest
is deeply moved. One of our loved ones dies. A friend of our loved ones dies. Our heart is deeply moved. It's
moved in sorrow. Our high priest, his heart is
moved in joy. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. The very first thing a dying
saint sees when he closes his eyes in this world and opens
them in that one is the smiling face of Christ the Savior who
stood to receive him. In that moment, will have everything
he purchased for us. He will have removed everything
that causes pain and sorrow and tears. There'll be no more of
that there because we have a merciful and a faithful high priest. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for this precious portion of your Word. It gives us such a
picture of Christ, our high priest, comfort our hearts, to give us
assurance of salvation in him, to draw us to him. Father, I
pray you'd take the faltering words of this message and that
you'd bless your word, that you'd bless it to bring much glory
to your name, that you'd bless it to the hearts of your people,
to call your people out of their darkness, out of their rebellion,
out of their false religion, out of their false sense of hope,
and call them to Christ, our high priest, who's offered such
a sacrifice, who's merciful, faithful to his people. Father,
call your people who are in such straits in this life
where we need your comfort, we need your direction, we need
your keeping power, Oh, how helpless we are, how we need you every
hour. Father, use this message to comfort
the hearts of your people in seeing we have such a great high
priest. Father, bless us, we pray. Bless
us. See us only in Christ, our great
high priest. It is in his precious name we
pray and give thanks.