The High Priest

Q: What does the Bible say about Jesus as our High Priest?

Jesus is our Great High Priest, representing us before God, having been tempted like us yet without sin. In Hebrews 4:14-16, we learn that Jesus is our Great High Priest, having ascended into heaven. He is uniquely equipped to represent us before God because, though He is divine, He was also fully human and experienced life as we do, facing temptations without sinning. This dual nature allows Him to empathize with human frailty and intercede for us effectively, making it possible for us to approach the throne of grace with confidence to seek mercy and help in our time of need.

Q: How do we know Jesus' priesthood is superior to the Old Testament priests?

Jesus' priesthood is superior because He offers a single perfect sacrifice, unlike the repeated sacrifices of the Old Testament priests. The superiority of Jesus' priesthood is emphasized in Hebrews 7, where it is stated that He is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Unlike Old Testament priests who had to offer sacrifices repeatedly for their sins and the sins of the people, Jesus offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice once for all, accomplishing what the blood of animals could not do. His eternal priesthood and the sufficiency of His sacrifice ensure that those who come to God through Him are saved to the uttermost, providing a perfect and lasting redemption.

Q: Why is the concept of Jesus' humanity important for Christians?

Jesus' humanity is essential because it allows Him to fully identify with our struggles and temptations. The importance of Jesus' humanity lies in His ability to understand and empathize with our human condition. Hebrews 5:1-2 explains that, as a high priest taken from among men, He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and out of the way because He Himself was tempted in every way, yet without sin. This means that He knows our sorrows, failures, and weaknesses firsthand, and as a result, we can approach Him not only as our Savior but as one who truly understands us. His experience in human flesh allows Him to intercede for us authentically and effectively.

Q: How does Jesus' death relate to His role as High Priest?

Jesus' death as our High Priest served as the ultimate sacrifice, reconciling us to God. In the role of our High Priest, Jesus' death on the cross is central to the doctrine of salvation. His sacrifice fulfills the requirements of God's justice by paying the penalty for sin once and for all, as articulated in Hebrews 10:12-14. Unlike the repeated sacrifices made by Old Testament priests, Jesus' offering of Himself was sufficient to atone for the sins of humanity. His role as the perfect High Priest who offered His own blood means that those who trust in Him can be sure they are forgiven and reconciled to God, possessing eternal life.

Open your Bibles again to Hebrews,
the fifth chapter. Now back in that scripture that
I read a moment ago at the beginning of the service, from chapter
4, just above our text, in verse 14, the Apostle says, have a great high priest. We
do have a high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus,
the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession,
for we have not a 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. So let us therefore, because
we have a high priest that's at the right hand of God, Jesus
Christ the righteous, let us therefore boldly, confidently
come unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and
grace, find grace to help us in time of need. Now the Apostle
Paul has here appointed us to our great High Priest, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and exhorted us to come before the throne of
grace, which is made a throne of grace by His presence there.
The throne of holiness and justice and glory is to us a throne of
grace. And we are to come with confidence
to God's throne of grace and obtain mercy. and grace to help
us. Now in chapter 5, he proceeds
to talk about the priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
importance of it, how it relates to the typical
priest of the Old Testament, and the fact that it is more
excellent than theirs and effectual. So let's begin at verse 1. This
is so very important. I pray that the Lord will give
me some liberty to deal with it, and you some understanding
thereof." It says in chapter 5, verse 1, now, every priest,
or every Old Testament priest, and this priesthood continued
for many, many years, many centuries. And every one of these great
high priests were taken from among men. They were men. They were taken from among men.
But don't lose sight of the fact that because they were men, don't
lose sight of the value and the power of that office simply because
it was conferred upon men, because it was necessary for it to be
so. Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men,
ordained by God for men to represent men to God and God to men. in
things pertaining to God. You see the importance of this
office? Even back in the days of Abram. Abram was just a man
and all the sons of Levi were but men. But they were men separated
and ordained of God to represent men and to function before God
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. And when these people
saw Abram was just a man. He was born among them. He lived
among them. He and Moses both. And these
other priests were but men. And they were tempted to lose
sight of the fact, of the office, because it was in the hands of
an ordinary man. Korah did that. Turn with me
to Numbers 16. Korah and his, the sons of Korah.
This is the very thing that troubled them and brought about their
destruction. God appointed Moses to be his
prophet and Aaron to be his priest. Moses to speak for God and Aaron
to offer sacrifice to God for men. And in chapter 16 of Numbers,
Korah and his people, verse 3, they gathered themselves together
against Moses, against Aaron, and they said to them, you take
too much upon yourselves. You take too much upon yourself.
Here was Moses speaking for God and commanding the people to
do what he told them God told them to do. And here was Aaron
acting as the priest, offering the sacrifices and coming into
the tabernacle, putting the blood on the mercy seat and people
all outside. And they said, now you're just
taking too much on yourself, seeing that all the congregation
are holy. Well, that's true. All of God's
people are holy in love. Every one of them. And the Lord
is among them. That's true. No question about
that. But here's the problem. Wherefore
then lift ye up yourselves? They didn't lift up themselves.
God did. You see, that's what it said
over here, that every high priest taken from among men is ordained
for men, ordained of God. That was their mistake. You lift
up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. This office, you
see, was holy. It was the office in things pertaining
to God. And this man who was a priest,
he represented God to the people, and the people to God. He offered
the atonement, and all men came to God through him. And God dealt
severely with those who erred on this question. For example,
King Uzziah. Isaiah told us about the many
good qualities of this man, King Uzziah. He was a great king,
loved of the people, one of the most beloved kings ever to reign
in Israel. But he went around the priest. He went down to the temple where
the tabernacle would sacrifice or make an offering. And God
destroyed him because he went around the priest. And the same
thing is true of King Saul. He was out there waiting to go
into battle, and Samuel hadn't come, and so he just... Saul
took some sheep and slew them and offered a sacrifice. And
Samuel came down shortly after that, and he said, what is this
that I sense or smell, or is there a sacrifice? And Saul said,
well, I offered it. Did you offer a sacrifice? Yeah,
I didn't want to go into battle without imploring God's blessings. He said, it's better to obey
than to sacrifice. Better to have no sacrifice at
all than the wrong sacrifice. And so God immediately took Saul's
kingdom away from him. And this represents Christ. Now you turn to 1 Timothy 2.
This is what this is saying, 1 Timothy 2. Notice this word,
man. Every high priest taken from
among men is ordained for men. He's a man. I Timothy 2, verse
5. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, and that's the man, Christ Jesus. He was
a man. And while we, this time of year,
talk about the infant, the babe in the manger, And the man who
walked the Galilean road, the Judean hillside, died on the
cross of Calvary, that is a man taken from among men, born of
a woman under the law. But don't think for one moment
that he's less than God. He's the God man. But he had
to be a man to offer sacrifices for men. All right, here's the
second verse now. And he's a man who hath who can
have compassion on the ignorant. He's a man who can have compassion
on them that are out of the way. Out of the way, yeah, that are
out of the way of truth and life and light and God. And that's
all of us. We've sinned and come short of
the glory of God. Out of the way. For that he himself
also is compassed with iniquity, with infirmity. In other words,
this man, infirmity, this man, Chosen from men was not only
a man, but he was a common man. He wasn't necessarily the purest
man they could find or the holiest man they could find because there's
none holy and none righteous, no, not one. He was a common
man. He was a sinner. He had infirmities. So he didn't
look down upon the people and upbraid the people. He didn't
hold himself in high esteem above the people. He pitied the people.
And he sympathized with the people, and he understood the people.
That's what it says here. He could have compassion on the
people, understand their failures, understand their weariness and
their tiredness, and understand their carelessness, and understand
their slips and falls. He understood because he is a
man. Well, back here in chapter 4,
verse 15, the same thing is true of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though
he had no sin, though he knew no sin, he had infirmities. He
thirsted. He grew weary. He wept. He sat down on a well one time
so tired he couldn't go another step and sent his disciples to
go get food for him. He was weary, weary with his
journey, infirmity. And that's what verse 15 says,
We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with a feeling
of our infirmities. But was an old poet tempted,
just like we are, yet without sin. Yet without sin. But our Lord Jesus Christ knows
our weariness and our weakness. He knows our disappointments.
And you know, when Avon, when the people stood around on the
Day of Atonement, and this man, some men were older than he,
Some men were a great deal younger than he, but all of them just
like Abel. And he was just like them. They
weren't afraid of him. They esteemed him and honored
him, those who knew God did. But when he offered the sacrifice,
they were looking at him, knowing that he was one of them. And
this sacrifice was not only for their sins, but for his. And
they entered into his himself and his thoughts, and he entered
into theirs. And when he went into the Holy of Holies, he was
one of them going in there. One of them. And when God received
him, he received them. They had this thought, well,
if he can look on, if anyone can go into the presence of God,
and anyone was born of a mother just like I was, and anyone has
his Eccentricities and infirmities and weaknesses and sins, just
like I do. And A-1's one of them. A-1's
bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Why can't I go in there?
And I can. Because my A-1 is Christ. And
He's tempted in every part as I am. Every part. Without sin. That's right. He had no sin. See that? He had no sin. And
this is the only thing that worries me about this, and I ran into
it again with some of our preachers down in Bible Conference recently, about
the impeccability and so forth, whether Christ could have sinned
or could not have sinned and all this. And you get into this
kind of area, this kind of controversy, and you're prone to lose sight
of the fact that He was a man. Now, you've got to see that.
That's what Baal gave these Israelites consolation and comfort here
in verse 2, that a man, an ordinary common man, bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh, is in that Holy of Holies with the atonement,
and he came out with God's approval. And Jesus Christ is a man. I
know God, deity, eternal God, brightness of His glory. And
that's who intercedes at the right hand of God, the man, a
perfect man, a holy man who knew no sin, yet without sin. All
right, look at the third verse. And by reason hereof, he ought
as far the people also for himself to offer for sins. And Aaron
and these sons of Levi, the high priest went into the Holy of
Holies and made an atonement. They did it as a man, common
man. And that atonement was for their
sins and the sins of the people. But that's the reason they had
to keep doing it over and over again. It never put away sin.
But this man, Jesus Christ, when He went into the Holy of Holies,
He had no sin. Turn to Hebrews 7. Now, there's
so many ways in which these men, these priests, are pictures of
Christ. There's so many ways in which they're not. But watch
this. Hebrews 7. But this man, because he continueth
ever hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able to save
to the uttermost them that come to God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them. For such a high priest
became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners
and made higher than the heavens, who need it not daily as those
priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sin and then
for the people. For this he did once when he
offered up himself." See what he's saying? Perfect. He was perfect. And one thing
you always want to remember, that what he did and what he does now, And where
he is now and the efficacy of his sacrifice and atonement totally
depends and is determined by who he is. That's it. That's the reason when that Ethiopian
eunuch I preached about on television this morning, when he said, here's
water, what would hinder me from being baptized? And Philip came
at the one question. He said, if you believe with
all your heart, you may. if you believe. And that man
knew immediately what the issue was and what Timothy, what Philip
put his finger on. He said, how do you answer? I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who He is. That's
exactly, there's the answer. What He did and what He does
now and where He is now and the efficacy of His sacrifice totally
depends on who He is. A high priest who's holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sin, and yet one with us. But that's
what makes His sacrifice effectual. It's not, and I say this so often,
I know, you know it almost before I say it, the foundation of this whole
thing is the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, who He is. That
makes it effectual. That's just it. It's who Christ
is. That's the reason Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. It's not I know what, it's not
I know when, it's I know whom. I know Him. I'll tell you something. You listen to me a minute. Brother
Breedlove, Henry Breedlove, I was down there preaching a couple
weeks ago. And Henry's had heart surgery,
and there's a bowel that they replaced, but it got infected
and it didn't work. It's been leaking for six, seven
years, and it's been keeping the blood from his brain. And
his memory is bad. He's not the same person. I went
to see him, spent a couple of hours in his home, and he's in
a wheelchair much of the time, and he doesn't know people. He
looked at Carter Brown and said, do you ever been to Ashton to
hear that fellow preach? And Carter said, Henry, he doesn't
even know me. Let me tell you something. They brought him to
church and sat him down over here on my right. Doris sat right
behind him by his wife. And I started preaching this
gospel. He came alive. His eyes brightened. She can
tell you about it. He got those hands up in the
air. And when I'd quote scripture,
he'd quote every bit of it along with me. I'd make a statement
about Christ and His blood, he'd finish the statement. It was
amazing. It was just almost day and night
from that man sitting there scarcely knowing hardly who was around
him, and the gospel was preached, and I know who he is. I haven't
forgotten that message. It was remarkable, wasn't it?
She was just astounded. She said he was a different...
Once she started preaching the gospel, He came alive. It went back to the time he was
40 years old. And he had that vivacious response
to the gospel. And that's, it's who he is. And
I told some of those men that studied tonight, one great thing
here in this congregation, under this gospel, many things impressed
me about you people, about the people who have gone on from
us. How they live, how they give,
how they love. But I'll tell you something that's
impressed me in a great measure, how they die. How our people
die. They die victoriously. I've watched
them. I've watched them. I've visited
with them. I've watched them in the last days and hours of
their lives. And they die victoriously. They
live victoriously. But they die victoriously. And
that's a person that does that. That's Christ that does that.
That's the strength. I told a man tonight, I said,
your righteousness will make a hard pillar when you come to
die. But His love and righteousness and grace will make that pillar,
like a downy pillar, soft. Soft. That's right. That's right. In verse 4, watch
this, no man takes this honor unto himself. No, my friends,
this office, this work, is of the highest, most holy nature.
This great high priest and his work is on behalf of people to
God. It has to be of God. No man takes
this honor unto himself, but he that's called of God, as was
Aaron. The high priest back then, this
is Korah. You just missed it, son. You just missed it. I know the people of God are
all holy, they're all loved, they're all blessed, they're
all sons. But this man, Avon, is a type of Christ. There's
the key. This is the office. It's not
the man, it's the office. Christ is the man. Avon occupies
an office. Christ is that office. You see
the difference? Avon is a man who represents
the man. But behold, THE man is Christ
Jesus. The one mediator between God
and man is THE man. He's THE high priest. That's
the name of this message, THE high priest. You see, we've got to come to
God on His terms. And young people hear this now.
And I know in our day, if you're watching your television some, This thing of religion is getting
out of hand. It's just getting out of hand.
It's gone to where everything is decided on emotionalism and
what people think. And they're getting to be a great
abundance of lady preachers, and I listen to them a little
bit, and they're thinking with their emotions and not Scripture. They're motions and not Scripture.
We're going to come to God. If you and I as sinners are going
to approach a holy God, we're going to have to come on His
terms. We're not going to dictate the terms. Well, I think God
will do it. There's a way that seemeth right unto men and it's
death. Your thoughts are not my thoughts.
No man takes this honor to himself. But he that's called of God,
the selection of the person, The time of the approach, the
method of approach, and the sacrifice offered is God's decision, not
ours. If He says a mercy seat, it must
be. If He says it's a mercy seat
covering a broken law, it must be. If He says a high priest
of His selection is the one to come, then it must be. on a certain
month, then it must be at a certain time, in a certain way, with
the incense and the blood sprinkled with hyssop, it must be. And
if Christ comes at a certain time, born of a certain woman
under the law, who suffers in the fullness of time, and He's
the Way, the Truth and the Light, no man cometh to the Father,
but by Me, it must be. That's just it. Well, I don't
think, that's no place for us to think. It just must be. But that's old-fashioned. It
doesn't matter how old it is. But it's not fair. If God says
it's fair, it's fair. It's right, it's right. God is
right. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Boy, we're poor. We have poor
criteria for right or wrong, aren't we? I've seen that through
my life and through the ministry. We don't think with righteous
thoughts, we think from the vantage point of self. That's the way
we think. It's, let God be true and have a man alive, me and
you. No man takes this office upon
himself, but he is called of God. Verse 5, So also, Christ glorified not
Himself to be made a high priest. He didn't take this honor upon
Himself. But He that said to Him, Thou
art My Son, today have I begotten Thee. He made Him our high priest. The Father did. He didn't take this office of
Himself. He didn't get it from men. He didn't come through the
line of Levi. He came from another tribe, Judah. He's the king priest. Oh, what confidence we ought
to have in our great high priest. You know, these men had confidence
in Aaron. The wise ones did. How much more
confidence should we have in Christ? And then verse 6, I'll
move along here. And he saith also in another
place, not only is he a king priest, unlike these men, Not
only is he from the tribe of Judah, they from Levi. But in
another place he saith, I ought to priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek. Now, let me ask you a couple
of questions. In what ways are these men a
good type of Christ? Well, in these ways. First, they're
men of flesh who understood men. He's a man of flesh. who has
compassion on our infirmities. Secondly, they were chosen of
God to be the priest, appointed, anointed, ordained. So was he. They were intercessors for men
to God and spokesmen from God to men. And they offered a blood
atonement, which during their reign and their lifetime was
sufficient awaiting the coming of Christ. But there are so many
ways in which these priests of the Old Testament are unlike
Christ. They're not even good types of Christ. That's the reason
God raised up Melchizedek. And Melchizedek is Christ. And
I see that more and more, and I've pointed out the different
proofs that he is a pre-incarnation appearance of Christ on this
earth, is that he was a priest of God And he brought bread and
wine. He didn't bring a lamb. The only
one who offered bread and wine at the Passover was Christ. But
secondly, I thought of this the other day, where did this priest
come from? He's before Levi. There wasn't
any priesthood. There was no earthly priesthood
ordained until Aaron came. That's when the priesthood started,
when Aaron came. This man is long before Aaron.
When Levi was in the lords of Abraham, here's a priest. Why? He's a priest forever. He's always
been the high priest. He was the high priest in the
councils of eternity and he's always the high priest. And this
little time segment in here when Aaron and his sons and the sons
of Levi functioned were just pictures for these people of
Israel. And here are the ways in which
they're not like him. They were many. He's one. Their
priesthood was limited to their lifetime. His is eternal. Their
priesthood was on earth in a tabernacle made with hands. His is in heaven
before the throne of God. They offered many sacrifices.
He offered one. They offered the blood of animals.
He offered His own blood. Their sacrifices could never
put away sin. His one sacrifice put away sin. They never sat down because their
work was never done. He sat down, having offered one
sacrifice forever, He sat down at the right hand of God. They
died. One day they laid down and died.
He ever lives. Oh my! Our high priest is a priest forever. Alright, verse 7, I'll move quickly.
"...who in the days of His flesh offered up prayers and supplications,
with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death, and was heard in that he feared." What is this? These were the days in which
he was clothed in human flesh, his days of humiliation. And
this shows the actual weight of our sins that were upon him,
the sorrow of sin, the curse of sin. This shows His real human
nature. This shows His real identification
with us. Christ offered up sacrifice,
offered up prayers and supplication with tears. With tears. And this was confined to His
days of the flesh. I wish we could enter into that
prayer in Gethsemane when He cried, Father, if it be Thy will,
let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, I
will be done. He was truly a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief. Boy, our sins. Boy, our sins. And it says here, he was heard
in that he feared. He cried unto the Father who
was able to save him, that the Father was able to comfort him
and sustain him and give him strength to finish the work and
to raise him from the dead. I don't know how to say this,
but when he became a man, There's a sense in which Christ limited
Himself. He depended on the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit descended upon Him and filled Him without measure. And He was a man, in such a sense,
a man of sorrows, acquainted with real sorrows and real grief.
This wasn't a make-believe show. It was real. And his tears and
supplications and strong crying was from the heart and soul and
emotions of a person under a real sorrow and judgment and curse. He bore our sins in his body. And he had to have help. Don't
ask me to explain that. I cannot do it, but I know it's
so. He cried unto the Father who was able to save him from
death. Death in the garden when His
blood came out the pores of His skin. Death before He got to
the cross. Saving. He cried to the Father.
And I'll tell you why He was heard. And also to save Him from
the grave, to raise Him. I'll tell you why He was heard.
The word feared. He was heard in that He feared.
In that He, for His piety, His obedience, He honored God. He was heard because of who He
is and what He did. It was a perfect obedience. He
was heard for the holiness and righteousness of His life. He
was heard on a basis for which we could never be heard. We're
heard for His sake. He's heard for His sake. That's
right. That's a perfect high priest.
He was heard for His sake. He was heard strictly on the
basis that His work was perfect. The Father could not deny perfection. You keep the law, you live. He
kept it and he did. We do too. That's right. And
listen, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience for
the things he suffered. Now two meanings here. If he's
to redeem a people, he's not exempt from suffering. No sir,
he spared not his own son. If he bears sin, sin's got to
be punished. Where God finds sin, sin's going
to be punished. If God finds sin in you and me,
it's going to be punished. But our sins are laid on Christ,
and in Christ there is no sin. But when sin was found on Him,
even imputed sin, He's punished. Though He's a Son, He spared
not His own Son. But here's the second thing.
If He's to redeem a people, He must suffer, and He must suffer
perfectly. His sin offering cannot be lacking. His obedience cannot be lacking,
though He's a son. Yet He still got to procure and
He's got to secure a righteousness by perfect obedience. He learned
obedience by the things He suffered. He accomplished obedience by
the things He suffered. He perfected obedience. His righteousness
is earned. It's earned. It's a real debt
paid. The righteousness we have is
a righteousness earned by Him. And a debt totally paid. Alright, verse 9. And being made
perfect, perfect in His obedience, perfect in His love, perfect
in His submission, perfect in His death, perfect in every way. And being made perfect, He became
the author, the giver, of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey Him." Eternal salvation. He became the cause of eternal
salvation to everyone who believes Him, everyone who rests in Him,
trusts in Him. You don't have to impress me
or anybody else. I'm not impressed by people who
try to impress. You don't have to walk up and
down this aisle and wave your hands and do all sorts of emotional
things. Tell you one thing you must do
though, look to Him. Believe on Christ. In here. Lord I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. I don't come to you on my righteousness, I come to
you on His. I don't present myself before
you as without sin, I'm a chief of sinners. that I present myself
before you on the basis of the blood of Jesus Christ who loved
me and gave Himself for me. He put away my sin. And I believe. And I believe. Because He was
made perfect because of who He is and what He did and why He
did it and where He is now. That's my comfort and consolation
and confidence and my hope is Jesus Christ. Is that yours? Is He yours? And I'll tell you
why all of this. He's called of God. He's called
of God. He's selected of God. He's anointed
of God. He's ordained of God. A high
priest after the order of Melchizedek. Old Abraham met Melchizedek and
he blessed him. And I'll tell you this, through
the preaching of the Word, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit,
Through the opening of eyes and hearts and ears, you and I have
met Melchizedek, Jesus Christ. He's my high priest. He's my
center. He's my foundation. He's my hope.
He's all things. That's it. And when the time
comes that you feel led of God to Follow Him in baptism, confess
Him, confess Christ. You know, Paul wrote in Romans,
if thou shalt confess with our mouth Jesus to be Lord, to be
High Priest, to be Sacrificed, to be Substitute, to be your
Redeemer. And you believe in your heart, God did raise Him
from the dead. God did, in fact, you know, this
raising from the dead is when He comes out of the Holy of Holies,
having made the sacrifice. You see, what God told us in
the resurrection is this. Jesus Christ came down here as
High Priest, Sacrifice, Savior. And they crucified Him. He bore
our sins on the cross and He was buried. Now God says, God
has appointed a day in which He's going to judge the world
by that man, Christ Jesus. And He gave this assurance and
this confidence to all men in that He raised Him from the dead.
You see, that's what His resurrection says is that what He came to
do was done and God accepted it. See, when the high priest
went into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood on the
mercy seat, if he came out, then that's a declaration that God
accepted it. If he died in there, they had
to go in and drag him out by the heels, you know. But when he came out, that means
God accepted. When Christ rose from the grave,
that says God has accepted the work of our priest once for all,
our great high priest. We accepted the beloved. Now,
when you come to that place where you say, that's my belief, that's
my confidence, that's my hope, and I'll confess with my mouth
that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart God raised Him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. But we're not saved by confessing,
we're saved then we confess. You may be sitting there right
now with all kind of doubts and and troubles and so forth and
wonder. But if you believe that Christ
is the Son of God, if that's been settled in your heart, God
saved you. You're a child of God. And I
know a lot of things that people put a lot of problems up before,
folks about baptism, confession. Well, I don't want to show off
and I don't want to just show my religion and all of that.
That's not it. That's not it at all. God has done for you. Let it
be known. Identify with God's people. Cast
your lot with God's people. What it does, it brings you more
assurance. I've had people say to me, well,
I've thought about this thing of baptism for a while, preaching
for a while, and then finally I was baptized. And it's such
a joy. It's such a... This thing's settled
now. I've confessed Christ. That's
what I should have done, been meaning to do, and ought to have
done some time ago. And I say that to you, some of
you young people. Some of you here have never followed
Christ in baptism. You haven't done it. And why
you haven't done it, I don't know. I can't understand. You're active
in church and you're active in singing and teaching and doing
other things, but you haven't made a confession of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I believe you believe, don't you? I believe you believe. Do you
hope to go to heaven by what you do? No, brother of mine.
Do you hope to be received of God because of who your mom and
dad are? No. Do you hope to die and go to
heaven because you've been in church all your life? No. Well,
what is your hope? Christ is my hope. Why don't
you confess it? Well, I'll just wait on what?
He's not going to say any more than he's already said. He's
not going to do any more than he's already done. You're not
going to hear any more than you've already heard. Well, I don't know whether I'll
be holed out down the road. That's not your business. That's
His business. That's His business. I know you won't, but He'll have
to hold you. He's brought you safe thus far, and He'll lead
you on. But you need to confess Christ. He doesn't have any secret
disciples. You need to let people know where
you stand. And that's just so. Just go ahead
and do it. Go ahead and do it. Because that's what He's commanded
us to do, is confess Him before men. If He said, if you don't
confess Me, I won't confess you. And I know you want to. I imagine
sitting right here, there's somebody sitting there listening to me
saying, I want to do exactly what He's saying. Then I saw
a sign the other day in a gymnasium saying, just do it. Just do it. If your daddy told you to get
up and walk out that door right now, you'd do it. You'd just
do it, wouldn't you? Well, your Heavenly Father says, obey me. He's the high priest, author
of salvation. Everybody obeys Him. That's right. Everybody obeys Him. Alright. Okay, Mr. Mike, come and give
us a hymn.

The High Priest

What does the Bible say about Jesus as our High Priest?

How do we know Jesus' priesthood is superior to the Old Testament priests?

Why is the concept of Jesus' humanity important for Christians?

How does Jesus' death relate to His role as High Priest?

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The High Priest

What does the Bible say about Jesus as our High Priest?

How do we know Jesus' priesthood is superior to the Old Testament priests?

Why is the concept of Jesus' humanity important for Christians?

How does Jesus' death relate to His role as High Priest?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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