If we would come to God, we must
have a lamb of sacrifice God will accept. We must have an altar by which
to sacrifice that lamb unto the Lord God. We must take the blood
of the lamb to God on the mercy seat to make atonement for our
sins. and we must have a priest to
make the sacrifice and sprinkle the blood. Jesus Christ is our
Passover sacrificed for us. He alone is the altar by which
we come to God with the sacrifice. Christ alone is the mercy seat
where the blood atonement has been sprinkled and justice has
been satisfied. And Christ alone is that great
high priest who entered once into the holy place with his
own blood, having obtained eternal redemption for us. If you would
come to God, you must know Christ. If you would worship God, You
must worship God through Christ our Passover by the merits of
his sacrifice offered upon the altar of his own divinity. by the work of his own hand as
our high priest, by the satisfaction he made with the atonement of
his own blood in putting away our sins. There is no other way
to God but Jesus Christ, our great high priest. That's my
subject this morning. Christ, our great high priest. In the book of Hebrews, we see
the superiority of our Lord Jesus Christ over angels and over Moses
and over Joshua, over all who came before him. But the primary
purpose, the primary purpose of the book of Hebrews is to
show us the excellence, the superiority, and the perfection of the Lord
Jesus Christ as our great high priest. In the first chapter,
God the Holy Ghost describes him as our great, sin-atoning,
almighty, effectual high priest by whom God reveals himself and
speaks to men, that one who with his own blood put away our sins
and entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. In the second chapter, the writer
tells us that our dear Savior, that God who has redeemed and
saved us is a real man. He came here in our humanity,
not taking hold on all Adam's seed, But he came here as a real
man, not by natural generation as Adam's sons are born, but
by the miraculous power of God the Holy Spirit. He came here
as a real man through the virgin's womb, taking hold on the seed
of Abraham. He came here to save Abraham's
seed, that is, the Israel of God, God's elect, his covenant
people. And the only way he could do
that is by becoming a man like us. The only way he could do
that is by becoming a man like us. Hear the testimony of scripture. God who cannot lie, cannot save
sinners, except in a way that honors his own holiness, righteousness,
justice, and truth. God cannot forgive sin as you
and I do. He can't do that. You and I cannot
absolutely forgive sin. We only can forgive sin as mortals
in the sense that we say, well, okay, I won't punish you for
that. You won't have to suffer the
consequences of that. You can be free of that problem. You don't have to worry about
me ever inflicting any punishment on you because of your offense
of me. In that way, we sort of forgive sin. God cannot, God
cannot forgive sin without punishing sin. Read what he says to Moses. I will by no means clear the
guilty. I will by no means clear the
guilty. And yet he says, I forgive iniquity,
transgression, and sin. How can that be? Only by God
the Son coming into the world in our flesh, God in our nature,
so that he as our great high priest, our mediator, and our
representative may bear in his own body our sins. and may bear in his flesh all
the fury of God's holy indignation against sin, and by one great
sacrifice satisfy the justice of God and forever put away our
sins. You see, God forgives sin by
putting it away. God forgives it by taking it
away. And the only way he does that
is through the sacrifice of his darling son. So Christ is greater
than all who came before him. This one came in human flesh. Our Lord Jesus Christ, we're
told in chapter three, is greater than Moses. Moses, by whom he
gave the law, was but a servant in his house. Christ, however,
is the son over his house. He is the one who gave the law
by Moses, and he's greater than Moses, for he did what Moses
could not do. He satisfied all the demands
of the law. And then we're told that our
Savior is greater than Joshua, that one who succeeded Moses
and brought Israel into the land of Canaan. Christ is greater
than he, for Joshua was only a typical deliverer. He really
did deliver Israel into the land of Canaan, but he was only a
typical deliverer. Our Lord Jesus is a real deliverer. He, by his work of obedience,
earned to death as our substitute. Delivered his people into everlasting
glory for we were raised together with him When he was raised up
from the dead and we sat down With him on the right hand of
the majesty on high when he sat down as our mediator and substitute
now in chapter 4 beginning at verse 14 we see our Lord Jesus
described as our great high priest and The object of the Holy Spirit
in this portion of scripture throughout the book of Hebrews
is to show us the great superiority of our Lord Jesus Christ and
to by that encourage our perseverance in the faith of the gospel. to
encourage us to continue in the faith. Throughout the book, the
Apostle writes to us and he's telling us to run with patience
the race that's set before us. Looking to Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down in
the heavens. Now, you also must persevere. You must continue in the faith. We must continue in the faith
and let nothing turn us away from Christ. Let nothing turn
you away from Christ. Hear me, my brother. Hear me,
my sister. Young and old, let nothing turn
you away from Christ. Let's read our text together.
Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14. Seeing then, we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the son of
God. In the light of this, let us
hold fast. Let us hold fast. Hold with a
death grip. Hold with tenacity. Hold with
firmness, hold fast our profession. And here's the reason. 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
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need. Now don't miss the argument.
How are we urged to persevere in the faith? How are we urged
to continue believing on the son of God? How are we urged
to continue our hope confidently before God? Jesus Christ is our
great high priest. Understand the argument and you
will find no greater inspiration for persevering in the face Let
us hold fast our profession. Now. This is what it's talking
about you and I Who profess faith in the Lord Jesus? have by our
avowed profession by the confession of our lips to God and to men
And by our public baptism, buried with Christ in the waters of
baptism, raised with Christ from the watery grave to walk with
Christ in the newness of life. That's what we professed. When
Christ died, I died. When he arose, I arose. And now I live in him in the
resurrection power of the life of the spirit of God by the son
of God. I live in him. Christ is my only
hope. That's what we professed now.
The Apostle says don't be moved away from that hold fast our
profession The doctrine of faith that we believe hold it fast
We're going to the Lord willing have another conference beginning
Friday next Friday Saturday and Sunday You will hear the gospel
of God's grace preached. What a great privilege one reason
for the conference one reason for the conference is Is for
your benefit and the benefit of all that god is pleased to
gather So that you might be encouraged in the faith of the gospel The
gospel of god's free grace in this day in this age You are
constantly bombarded with religious tomfoolery It is all around you
It is all around you every last one of us here have family members
whose lives are engaged in religious tomfoolery. And as soon as a
crack is opened anywhere, as soon as a crack is opened anywhere,
Satan will creep in and seek to turn you away from the doctrine
of the gospel. Let it not happen with you. Let
it not happen with you. It is my responsibility as your
pastor to teach you the gospel of God's free grace relentlessly. God, give me grace. I hope never
to let up, not for a second. Every time I see any hint of
weakness, any hint of wavering, you will hear me declare with
boldness and with confidence that which is God's truth. hoping
to keep you from the error of the wicked one. Hoping to keep
you from being turned aside from the gospel of God's grace to
free will works religion of any form. In this place, in this
place, as long as I have breath and God gives me grace and an
understanding mind, for as long as I stand in this place, There
will be no tolerance for the religious tomfoolery and heresy
of this age. We believe and preach what is
commonly denominated as Calvinism. I don't care for the term, but
I won't back up. Total depravity, unconditional
election. limited atonement, irresistible
grace, and the perseverance, preservation of every chosen
redeemed sinner called by the grace of God unto life everlasting. But we have brethren who differ
with us about that. Hear what I'm telling you. Hear
what I'm telling you. No, we do not have brethren who
differ with us about those things. We do not have brethren who differ
with us about those things. Many years ago, I was asked to
go down to Brazil and preach in a Bible conference with some
missionaries down there. Of course, I'm flying down at
my own expense. I'm glad to go, as I go anywhere. I'm happy to
go. And I didn't know the fellow. I didn't know anything about
the situation. And he asked me what I could do to make me comfortable.
I said, just find me a place where folks won't be upset when
they're smoking my pipe. I like to smoke my pipe when
I relax, when I'm studying. wrote me back, and very seriously,
he said, oh, Brother Don, we can't have that. It might offend
some of our Arminian brethren. And I said, I don't have any
Arminian brethren to offend. I'm not worried about them. You mean folks who believe in
will worship? Folks who believe that Christ
is a failure? Folks who believe that God tries
to save and can't save? Folks who believe a man may be
saved today and lost tomorrow? Those aren't our brethren. Why? Where did you get that notion?
Where did you get the idea they were? Where did you get the idea
they were? You may as well call a Buddhist
or a Papist your brother. Oh no, no, no. Hold fast the
doctrine of the faith. Let no one turn you aside. Hold
fast the hope you have before God, the hope of faith. What
is that? Christ. I read a Brief statement
by Brother Todd a while back, saw it just yesterday in someone's
bulletin. Brother Todd and I made this observation. He said, if
you look to Christ, you'll have assurance. If you look for assurance,
you'll have doubt. What a statement, what a statement.
Well, what's our hope? Our sanctification, not our righteousness,
not our holiness, not our obedience, not our steadfastness, not our
knowledge, not our understanding, not even our faith. Our hope
is Christ alone. Don't ever look anywhere else,
not at your hold of Christ, but at his hold of you. And hold
fast, persevere steadfastly in the path of faith. Faithfulness. Faithfulness. I had been praying every day
for 44 years throughout the day. God, make me faithful to you. Faithfulness. And I deliberately I deliberately,
purposefully, cringe at anything that I sense taking me away from
what I know I ought to be doing for the glory of God. I cringe
at it. I don't let anything interfere
with me worshiping God. It just doesn't happen. It just
doesn't happen. When this congregation meets
for public worship, I'm going to be here, but you're the pastor.
And I'll be here when I'm sick or I'm not. If I can get up and
get here, I'll be here. I'll be here. Well, I was so
tired and I've got to work tomorrow. I'd sooner find another job.
I promise you I would. I promise you I would. Well,
but you don't know what we go through. That's one reason I
think it's a good idea for a fellow not to be called to be a pastor
until he knows something about taking care of his family. I
do know what you're going through. I know what it is to work long
hours and work two jobs and work till the middle of the night
on Saturday night and get up and come to church on Sunday morning.
I know what it is to come be tired. I do know what that is,
but I cringe at any thought that would keep me from the house
of God and worshiping Him, for I fear that it may keep me away
forever. So hold fast with a death grip,
with a death grip. your profession of faith. This
admonition is given in such a way that it suggests both the great
value of our Lord Jesus Christ to our souls, unto you therefore
which believe he is precious, and it suggests the danger of
letting him slip through our fingers. The perseverance to which we
are admonished throughout the scriptures, is without question,
please understand this, the gift of God's free grace. It is that which God bestows
and that which God performs. And it is a matter of certainty
for every true believer. It is a matter of certainty for
every true believer. God's people not only must persevere,
they do persevere. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. Faithful is he that calleth you
who also will do it. God's people must persevere and
they do persevere because God has promised, I will give them
one heart and one way that they shall not depart from me. And
yet this perseverance is a matter of responsibility. It's something
we must do. This is what the Master says,
He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. Our Lord in John chapter 6 had
been preaching the gospel of his free grace and crowds were
all around him. Larry would have been hard for
him not to have gotten a pretty good crowd. He fed thousands
of people with a little small bag lunch. Thousands of them. Five little loaves and a few
fishes. He fed thousands of people. And
folks said, man, I want to get on this. There's something good
happening here. Man, this is something else. Can you imagine
how the word must have spread? And folks gathered wherever he
was. They just, they pressed upon him to hear him. Not because
they wanted to hear his words. That wasn't it at all. That wasn't
it at all. They wanted to get on the excitement. They wanted
to get on the excitement. Fell out in Texas, changed the
name of the Baptist church out there to the Fellowship of Excitement. That's good. Oh, yeah. Fellowship
of Excitement. Everybody wants to get on the
excitement. We'll call it that. No preaching done. No preaching
done. It's just a lot of excitement.
A lot of stirring, that's all. And everybody wants to get on
the excitement. And when he began to preach the message, and they
heard what he was saying, well, no excitement here. And
they began to leave. One, two, a dozen, a hundred,
just walk away. Finally, nobody left but his
own disciples. And the master said to them,
will you also go away? I say to you, will you go away? David, you've been around long
enough to see a lot of folks go away, will you? Will you also go away? Will you
abandon the gospel? Will you forsake the Redeemer?
Will you forsake the worship of God? Will you forsake your
profession? Will you? And Peter said, Lord,
you have the words of eternal life. To whom shall we go? We got nothing but you. We got
nothing but you. You've you're all we have. Hold
that fast. Hold that fast. Hold this profession
without wavering. And the motive behind it all
is this fact. Christ is our great high priest. Now hold your Bibles open here
at Hebrews chapter four, verses 14, 15, and 16. And let me show
you seven things very quickly by which our souls ought to be
inspired to continue looking to Christ, to continue trusting
Christ, to continue following Christ, First, we read here that
our Lord Jesus, whom we trust, is a great high priest. He is not just a priest. He's
not just the high priest. He is the only one ever described
in this book as the great high priest. He is a great high priest
that speaks of his solitariness. He alone is a priest and mediator
between God and man. He alone is our access to God. He alone opens the way to God. He alone is that one by whom
we draw near to God. He is the one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He is a great high priest when
we consider his sacrifice. The old priest came and offered
blood every morning and every evening. Every morning and every
evening. Every morning and every evening.
And when the priest got old and they had to have somebody to
help him hold the lamb while he did it, he still offered blood
every morning, every evening. And when he got to a place he
couldn't function anymore and he finally died, they'd raise up
another priest fulfilling his place and he'd offer blood every
morning and every evening, every morning, every evening. How come? Because the sacrifice they offered
could never put away sin. But this man, this priest, with
one sacrifice, with one sacrifice, fully satisfied the holy law
and the furious justice of God Almighty and put away our sins. He is the great high priest. He makes intercession for us.
He says, Father, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, that they may be one as I
am one with you. I pray not for these alone, but
for them also, which shall believe on me through their word. My
little children, these things write I unto you, John said,
that you sin not. Don't sin. But if any man sin,
well, it's all over for you. No, no, no. If any man sin, we
have an advocate with the father. An advocate whom the father must
and will hear. People sometimes speak of our
Lord's advocacy and they speak about it like you talk about
a crooked court. And you say, well, I'm not concerned
because I've got a friend in the court. That means the judge
is crooked and you got somebody willing to bribe him. That's
not what our Lord's advocacy is. Oh, no, no. I have an advocate
with the Father. I have a counselor, a paraclete,
one to call by my side who speaks for me with the Father, who speaks
on my behalf with the Father. And this is my advocate, Jesus,
the Savior. Christ, God's anointed one, the
righteous, that one who brought an everlasting righteousness,
which God must accept. And he is the propitiation, the
justice, satisfying sacrifice for our sin. He's our advocate. Arise, my soul, arise, shake
off thy guilty fears, the bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears. Before the throne my surety stands,
my name is written on his hands. He ever lives above for me to
intercede, his all-redeeming love, his precious blood to plead. His blood atoned for all his
race and sprinkles now the throne of grace. Five bleeding wounds
he bears, received on Calvary. They pour effectual prayers. They strongly plead for me. Forgive him, O forgive, they
cry. Don't let that ransom sinner
die. The father hears him pray. His
dear anointed one, he cannot turn away the presence of his
son. His spirit answers to the blood
and tells me I am born of God. What's that saying about the
intercession of Christ? He stands before God as our perpetual plea
for acceptance. His presence in the heavens says,
Father, don't charge sin to Don Fortner. Father, don't ever impute
sin to Don Fortner. Father, don't ever punish him
for sin. See here? See here? And the Father hears him pray.
He cannot turn away the presence of His Son. What does this advocate,
this high priest tell us? My God is reconciled. His pardoning voice I hear. He
holds me for his child. I can no longer fear. So with
confidence I now draw nigh, and Father, Abba Father cry. Go back in our text. Here's the
second thing. Not only is our Lord Jesus Christ
the great high priest, he's ours. Seeing then we have a great high
priest. What great, great, great magnitude
there is in those two words, we have. Yonder in heaven sets thee great high
priest who alone, who alone God must and will and always does
and always has accepted. Yonder is. Yonder in heaven sets
the only sacrifice, the only gift with which God is and must
be well pleased. yonder in heaven sets the only
atonement for sin yonder in heaven sets a priest who's accomplished
eternal redemption for me and he's mine he's my property he's
my property what a blessed declaration this is the Lord is my shepherd
I want no more And the Lord is my priest. How can you say he's
yours? He's mine because the Father
gave him to me before the world was. He's mine because he assumed
my nature and assumed all responsibility for me when he stood forth as
my surety before the world began. He took up my cause and he's
mine. because I've taken him as mine
by personal faith. I rest my soul on him. Here's
the third thing. Our great high priest has passed
into the heavens. Turn over to Hebrews 10. Hebrews
10. If you go into the holy place,
in the tabernacle, in the temple, You'd see a table of showbread,
and you'd see a golden candlestick, and you'd see that thick veil,
and you'd pass by those things and go behind the thick veil
into the Holy of Holies. And there's only one piece of
furniture in there. There's no chair, there's no
tables, there's no sofas, no beds, just one piece of furniture.
An ark. An ark of the covenant. Where
the mercy seat is, that's all. And the scripture tells us that
the Lord Jesus entered into the holy place, the holy of holies,
and sat down. Do you know why there was no
seat there for any priest to sit in, in the physical temple
and tabernacle? Because the priest work was never
done. Now watch this, Hebrews 10 verse
9. Then said I, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first. We read about it in Hebrews chapter
6, a disannulling of the law, a disannulling of the commandment.
He taketh away the first, the old covenant, that he may establish
the second, the new covenant, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ one time. That's what the words once for
all means. Not by the which will we sanctify ourselves. No, no. By the which will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ one time. By one sacrifice at one time,
we who are his are sanctified, made holy. Read on. And every
priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Never take away sins. I want to do something to obtain
redemption. Forget it. Forget it. You hear talk by these
brilliant fellows on television, talk about, well, I believe in
redemption. If a fellow does, starts to do
good, he can redeem himself. Brilliant fellows talk so ignorant
when they start talking religion. They talk like fools. They talk
like fools. What are you going to do to redeem
yourself before God? Before God? What are you going
to offer to redeem yourself before God? Oh, no. Even the sacrifices
required by God's law in the Old Testament offered every morning
and every evening for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of
years could never take away one sin. And every man who brought
a sacrifice to the altar To the priest at the door of the tabernacle
at the door of the temple New that come evening. You gotta
bring another one Every time they came to offer the Passover
lamb every time they brought one day they went home and said
we gotta offer another sacrifice Until at last the Passover was
sacrificed for us and now we don't have to offer any more
sacrifice No, I don't have to bring God anything Can't bring
God anything. I don't have to do anything.
I can't do anything This man this man. What's what it says
here? After he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever Sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth
expecting Till his enemies be made his footstool Why did he
sit down? For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. The very same ones you talk about
in verse 10. By the which will we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ one time. Now what does
that tell you? It tells you that his sacrifice
is perfectly, completely, absolutely acceptable. His sacrifice is
perfectly, completely, absolutely accepted. God accepted the sacrifice. It tells you that He, by His
sacrifice, put away sin. It's done. It's finished. It's
an effectual sacrifice. And it tells you it was for specific
people. Those for whom He died were sanctified
by His blood. Those for whom he died were made
perfect by his obedience, so that every sinner for whom Christ
died has his sin put away and he stands before God made holy
in the substitute. Wow, that's a high priest. He's
entered into the heavens. Now, look at the third thing,
or the fourth thing. He who is our great high priest
is himself Jesus, the son of God. The Son of God. Oh, look at chapter 7. We read
it earlier. Verse 24. This man, because he
continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, he is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. This
one is able to save because he is a man. He's a man. He must be a man, but this man
is God. This man is the omnipotent, infinite,
holy God. Jesus, our Savior, is God. I'm not calling for you to trust
your soul to just a man. I'm not calling you to trust
your immortal soul to a good man. I'm not calling on you to
follow a great man. I'm calling you to trust your
soul. to follow forever, to cling to forever, a man who is God
in the heavens. A man who's God forever, able
to save your soul to the uttermost because this man is God. Look
at the fifth thing. This God-man, this man who is
God, our great high priest, is touched with the feeling of our
infirmities because he's a man who endured all that men endure,
because his heart is ever toward us. Our dear Savior, that God
who rules the world, is touched with everything that touches
us. I want to compare that to a father
or a mother touched with everything that
touches that baby, that child, the object of his love, her love, but that's a poor comparison.
Because Mark Henson, much as you dearly love your children,
not everything that touches them touches you. Not everything. Not everything. A lot of it you'll never know
about. And even some of those things
that touch them, you kind of smile and say, well, he'll get
over that. He'll get over that. You see your boy playing ball,
and he gets embarrassed because he goofs up. Second or third
grader gets just all red-faced and embarrassed and real upset
with it. Well, he'll get over that. That's
not too bad. That's not too bad. Poor comparison. Rex Bartley, the son of God,
is touched with everything that touches you. Pain. Persecution. Disease. Bereavement, hunger,
thirst, weariness, sickness, disease, infirmity. If it touches you, it touches
him. Saul, Saul, what are you doing
persecuting my people? Don't you know I love them? That's
not what he said. Why persecutest thou me? So real is our union with our
priest, the son of God, our mediator, that nothing touches me that
doesn't reach him. Nothing is felt by me that's
not felt by him. Look at the next slide. He was our great high priest,
was in all points tempted like as we are. He was driven into the wilderness
to be tempted of the devil. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eye, the pride of life. Somebody said, well, those temptations
weren't real. I beg your pardon. I'd talk to the Son of God about
that. He was tempted. He was tempted. As really tempted
with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride
of life as I have ever been tempted with anything. And then he goes
on to Gethsemane to meet Satan. And there he's tempted. pressed
sore, sore amazed. And he bows and says, Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass for me. And he cries again,
if it be possible, let this cup pass for me. And a third time,
he fell down with his face on the ground, and his heart breaks
within him. And he sweat great drops of blood
in anticipation of being made sin for us. And he cries, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But he learned
obedience by the things that he suffered. And he said, Father,
not my will, thy will be done. And he went on to Calvary. And
there he took the cup of woe, our sins, to be his own. And he cries, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? And he's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He knows what you are doing. He feels what you feel. He's being where you go. And
so he's able to succor them that are tempted. He's able to help
you with the feeling of love in the midst of trial. Oh, what
a great high priest. But all of that would be meaningless
without this last thing. Yet, without sin. He who is our great high priest
is and must be altogether holy. Holy and reverend is his name. He who was made sin is yonder without sin. He who was made That horrible,
evil thing called sin. Made sin. He hath made him sin
for us who knew no sin. He who was made sin. Yonder he
sits without sin. You may say, well, he wasn't
really made sin. Then you may as well say he's
not really there without sin. I keep trying to tell you God
doesn't play pretend. He was made sin, and He knows
what it is to hang cursed of God, bearing the wrath of God
because of sin. He knows better than any of you
can ever know what it is to be sinned before God. He knows better
than I can ever know what it is to be sinned before God. He
was made sin, and by His blood put away sin, and yonder is without
sin. And to them that look for Him,
He's coming the second time without sin under salvation. So let us
hold fast the profession of our faith. Persevering because of
this great high priest. Perhaps you're thinking, well,
pastor, I'm so weak and sinful. My temptations are so strong.
Where can I find strength to heed this admonition? Look at
verse six to eight. Look at verse six to eight. And this is the context in which
the 16th verse is found. Here we are, weak, sinful, tempted, fallen, sinners with no hope before God
but Christ. Let us therefore, Let us therefore, let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Amen.