The Great High Priest, Part 2

Turn with me if you would please in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter five Hebrews chapter five And as we prepare for the Lord's table this morning, we are able to see that Jesus Christ is that great high priest The priesthood was designed to bridge the gap between a sinful man and a holy God And Jesus Christ is that great high priest that grants us access into the presence of Almighty God He is great because not only does He give us access into that presence, but because of that we are now called a kingdom of priests And this theme began in chapter 1, verse number 3

When it talked about Jesus Christ, who is the exact representation of the Father, He is the one, it says in Hebrews 1, verse number 3, these words Who having made purification of sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high And so the write of Hebrews begins His book by introducing to us this great high priest who made purifications for sins

And then in chapter 2, verse number 17, he's called, Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation or satisfaction for the sins of the people So once again, he embarks on the story or the study of Jesus Christ as that great high priest And then in chapter 3, verse number 1, he says, Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession He wants you to think deeply about this He wants you to grasp this

You need to understand this great apostle, this high priest of our confession So much so that he will embark on it in chapter 4 again when he says in chapter 4, verses that Tim read earlier, in verse number 14: Therefore, since we have a great high priest, Who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God? Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses But one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin

Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need So he concludes that second warning passage in Hebrews with an invitation to come boldly to that throne because of our great high priest And now, when you come to chapter 5, all the way through the end of chapter 10, the great theme will be the sufficiency and supremacy of Christ As it relates to the great bridge build, the one who is able to get us into the pres of his Father And so he will spend the next five chapters dealing with this great high priest

And so he introduces it to us in chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, and now in chapter 5, he wants you to understand The importance of Christ as our high priest So we told you last week that we looked at, number one, the requirements of the earthly priests And then we're going to look at today the fulfillment of the eternal priest To be a priest, there were three requirements And he tells them to us in verses 1 to 4 He says, For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins

He can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weaknesses And because of it, he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins. as for the people, so also for himself And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was So he says there are three primary qualifications Number one, there needs to be a divine selection That is, you're taken from among men Chosen by God or appointed by God God is the one who appoints the priesthood So there's this divine selection Number two, there is this gen compassion

That is, there is a comp that truly is sympathetic toward man And so, because he's taken from among men, and because he's beset with the same weaknesses as men, he can gently deal with man And that was a qualification for our high priest And then there was this sublime obligation, and that was to offer sacrifices on behalf of men in order that he might receive the forgiveness of sins And so that was the qu for the earthly priests All right, so those are their requirements Now come the eternal priests Fulfillment

If Jesus Christ is going to be the great high priest, if he is going to be the supreme and sufficient high priest, and the whole book of Hebrews talks about the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ As Son of God, as Son of Man, as the great judge of all the earth, as the great priest him, then he has to be greater than Aaron, he has to be the sufficient high priest And so, therefore, he portrays to us the three qualifications that he had, and he fulfills them all perfectly All right, first of all, there is this divine selection

If Jesus Christ is the great high priest and going to be your high priest and mine, he has to be chosen from among men And chosen by God Okay, so he says in verse number five So also Christ In the same way, so is Christ. D not glorify him Now he could, but he didn't He couldn 't lift himself up as the Son of God He could walk about and say, Hey, you should glorify me, but he did not glorify himself In fact, it says over in John chapter 8, verse number 54, these words Jesus said, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God

Okay, so Jesus Christ didn't come to glorify him, although he receives all the glory He came to glorify his father He came to put on display his father in heaven So the right of Hebrews says these words, so also Christ did not glorify Himself As he says in verse number four, and no one takes the honor to himself, no one sets himself up as priest He is divinely selected by God Although Christ could honor himself, he could glorify himself because he is the perfect son of God He did not do that Because he had to fulfill all righteousness

So also Christ did not glorify him so as to become high priest, but he Who said to him, You are my son, today I have begotten you, which is a quotation from Psalm 2, verse number 7 And then says, just as he also, or says also in another passage, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek So, what the Rite of Hebrews does is say, look, Jesus was chosen from among men based on Psalm 2, verse number 7 He was selected by God as priest based on Psalm 110 Verse number four

Now, why is that important? Now, remember, the writer of Hebrews never gives you the Old Testament verse, he just quotes The scriptures Because he knows that they're Jewish people, they're well versed in Old Testament prophecy, and every Jew lived in anticipation of the arrival of the Messiah Every Jew believed and knew that Psalm II was totally messianic Everything about Psalm II revolved around the coming of the Messiah You are my son Today I have begotten you. A phrase used of Christ when it comes to his incarnation, his humiliation, as well as his crucifixion

But because he was God's son, he was chosen by God to be God's high priest for the people of God And he chooses Psalm 110, verse number 4, to quote, because Psalm 110 is completely messianic And every Jew knows this, you see And so the question comes: who is this Melchizedek guy? There's a lot of debate whether or not Melchizedek in Genesis 14 Is the pre-incarnate Christ, or he actually was a king and a priest? There was a time where I preached one Sunday that Melchizedek was the pre-incarnate Christ and convinced everybody in the audience that he was the pre-incarnate Christ

Came back the following week and preached, no, he wasn't the pre-incarnate Christ He was just a type of Christ, but he was an Old Testament king priest, and convinced everybody that same thing the next week The question is: What is he? Is he the pre-incarnate Christ in Genesis 14 that Abraham paid tithes to, or is he actually a king-priest? You're going to have to wait until Hebrews chapter 7 for me to explain that to you But what he does do is he quotes from Psalm 110, verse number 4 Which is very important because every Jew knows about the importance of Psalm 110

Psalm 110 is the most frequently quoted Psalm in the New Testament Did you know that? Now, aren't you glad you came today? Now you know It is the most frequently quoted psalm in the New Testament It is the psalm that Jesus quoted When he asked the last question on earth to the Pharisees They had asked him many questions the last days of his life They had come and bombarded him with questions, and he answered them all But after he had answered the last question that they had given and no one dared ask him any more questions, he decides to ask them a question

And he asked them a question based on Psalm 110, verse number 1, because it was messianic And Jesus, because he is the Messiah and He is the complete fulfillment of all that the Old Testament taught about the arrival of the Messiah, takes them to the most famous of all Psalms Portraying the Messiah of Israel And so Christ asked them this question in Matthew chapter 22, verse number 41 Now, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question Okay? They'd asked him questions, now he's going to ask them a question

Now, when Jesus asks a question, he never asks for information purposes He doesn't need you to inform him about anything He knows everything So he's asking for your understanding and your clarification So it says While the Pharisees were gathered together, Matthew 22:4, Jesus asked them a question: What do you think about the Christ? What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he? Well, they all know the answer So they bark these words They said to him, The son of David, they couldn't get it out fast enough They couldn't say it quick enough Almost like they patted themselves on the back

That's not a name Good job You did a good job, man Great job You guys got the answer right But their answer was def, not su Because it is true he is the son of David But he's also the son of God He's also the son of man He's also the Messiah of Israel So their answer was deficient So Jesus says These words, verse 4 Then, how does David, in the Spirit, that is, under the inspiration of the Spirit, call him Lord? If the Messiah is the son of David and David calls him Lord, how can that possibly be? And he quotes Psalm 1 verse number 1 He says, The Lord said to my Lord, whoa

The Lord God of Israel said to my Lord, the Messiah, Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet If David then calls him Lord, how is it he can be his son? That's the question Greatest of all questions And Jesus asked it And it says, no one was able to answer him. A wor How can Messiah be al at the time of David and yet in the future be the son of David? That's the question And they had no answer because the Messiah is the eternal Son of God See? And it's in that same chapter in Psalm 110, which is only a few verses long, is the quotation of the book of Hebrews

Because the Messiah would not just be David's son, the Messiah Would be the priest of Israel Remember, we told you last week that the Messiah would be the king priest? Based on Zach 6:12 and 13, Jeremiah 23, 5 and 6, not only is he the Son of Man who is the priest, he is the Lord of righteousness who is the king and the priest And so Psalm 110 emphasizes the exact same thing He is son of David, so he is the rightful heir to the throne He is going to be the king of Israel He is the Lord of the universe

But at the same time, in Psalm 110, verse 11 Verse number four, in which the writer of Hebrews quotes: he says, You are a priest forever according to the order of Mechizedek Wow So now you are a king-priest So now he is saying that Jesus, the Son of God, is divinely selected by God because he's selected from among men as the Son of God, as Son of men Man to be the king, the priest over Israel. A divine sele The question comes, well, who is this Melchizedek guy? What Genesis 14 tells us That Abraham came to pay tithes to Melchizedek In fact, it says in Hebrews 7

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all Spoils, which is very important, very important because when we get here, we'll explain to you something very significant People always ask you, How much money are you supposed to give to the Lord? You ever been asked that question? Everybody gets asked that question And everybody wants a number They want a percentage How much do I give to the Lord? And some will say we should give a tenth

Give a tithe, right? And others come back and, well, you can't do that because that was the Old Testament taxation, and that's not the requirement for today, because today you're to give under the age of grace Whatever you desire to give to the Lord, okay? And so there really isn't an exact number But yet we forget that before the law was ever given, there was Abraham Who gave a tenth of his spoils to Melchizedek, the king of Salem? Because in Abraham's mind, This was what was given to a king that would signify his devotion and commitment to the Lord God of Israel. A tent

When I was growing up, my parents always made me give a tent And I would say, why? And they said, because of Melchizedek And I would say, who's that? I can't even spell his name, let alone pronounce his name Who is Melchizedek? And they would always take me back to the Old Testament before the law to show how Abraham, the father of our faith, right? Would demonstrate the genuineness of his faith by giving a tenth of what he had To Melchizedek, whose name means the king of righteousness, who ruled in Salem, which is ancient Jerusalem, which is a city of peace

So, the king of righteousness, who truly was the king of Salem, the king of peace, was a type of Christ, or maybe he's the pre-incarnate Christ We'll tell you that when we get to Hebrews 7 That he is the king of righteousness and the king of peace And when Abraham gave to him, out of the spoils that he received from the slaughters of the kings who had taken his nephew Lot He gave a tenth of what he had because he believed that that was a sacrificial kind of giving And of course, people say, well, you don't really expect us to give a tenth of our income to the Lord, do you? I mean, come on

What is there in the New Testament that will give me some kind of guideline? Well, the New Testament's better because you have Zacchaeus He gave 50% of what he had to the Lord So that's a little too much. 50% Okay, let's go then to the widow's might because she gave everything she had to the Lord She gave 100% So there are three numbers in Scripture There is 10% with Abraham to Melchizedek There is 50% of Zacchaeus, of what he gave to the Lord, and then there is 100% of the widow's might You choose. 10, 50, or 100 If you want a number, those are your three numbers Take a choice

All right? But those are your three numbers If you want a number, those are the three that the Bible gives you So the choice is up to you All that to say is that Melchizedek was a king of Salem His name means king of righteousness And Abraham gave a Tenth of his spoils to him, but Jesus is in the order of Melchizedek, not the order of Aaron Because Aaron was a priest, but never a king Melchizedek was the king priest of Salem Therefore, Jesus Is in the order of Melchizedek because he is a king priest because he is the Messiah who is prophesied to be the king priest of Israel

You follow me so far? So he was divinely selected by God from man To be a priest in Israel because he's in the order of Melchizedek Say, well, Pastor, I'm just confused Well, when we get to chapter 7, we'll spell it all out for you in great detail, and you will no longer be confused So, you to wait till we get there Okay? So, number one, he is divinely selected Number two, he is Genu compass All right So the Bible says these words: in the days of his flesh, that is an incredible statement

Speaking of his incarnation, in the days of his flesh, he offered up both prayers and supplic with loud crying and tears to the one able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his piety Although he was a son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered Now, he is genuinely compassionate because he's chosen from among men by God And the reason you were chosen from among men is so that you could sympathize with man You can deal gently with man And there isn't anybody who deals more gently with man than the God-man, Christ Himself

In the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers Now think about that In the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers Signifying to us that in the days that we live, we are to go to God in prayer because we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses Jesus Christ offered up prayers and supplications He did them with loud crying and tears What was that reference to? Gethsemane Where he would sweat great drops of blood Remember that? And the Bible says these words in Hebrews: he says, to the one who was able to save him from death

Well, what was Jesus praying that he wouldn't die? No Jesus never prayed that he wouldn't die He came to die, right? He was praying that God would save him out of death He was praying for the resurrection He was praying for Psalm 16:8 to 11 to be fulfilled He was praying scripture That's why he was heard by his Father in heaven because he always prayed righteously He always prayed perfectly because he prayed in line with what the Word of the Lord says And so God heard him, answered his prayer, saved him out of death, resurrected his life

That's why on the cross he said, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit Why did he say that? Because the night before, he prayed with Loud crying and tears, the anguish of his soul, bearing the sins of the world Knowing that for three hours on the cross, he would be separated from his father for the first time ever, and never after that again, he would lose that communion, that sweet fellowship he'd had from eternity past To bear your sin in mind, that he might bec the perfect sacrifice for your sins and mind

And so he offered up prayers with loud crying, deep anguish because of the p of bearing your sin In my sin The pain of being separated from his Father in heaven, that sweet fellowship That's why he would cry on the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The only time he did not refer to his father as father, but to God Because it was at that time he was bearing the sins Of the world And so you need to understand that he is very sympathetic because through his suffering, he learned obedience Right, what he knew omnisciently, the Bible says, he knows now experientially

He would come and in his flesh, in the days of his flesh He would experience the suffering that you and I went through So you could never say, Well, you don't know God, you don't know Lord How can you understand my situation? Have you ever experienced rejection? Nobody in the room has been as rejected as Jesus Jesus Christ was rejected Have you ever been betrayed? No one in the room has ever been betrayed as Christ has been betrayed Have you ever been isolated? Been left alone No one in the room has ever been as isolated or left alone as Christ was

Have you ever suffered physically? None of us has suffered as physically as Christ him has suffered physically None of us has gone through what Christ Himself went through, but He did it in the days of His flesh that He might be that sympathetic high priest, merciful and faithful, so that when you come to Him in your prayer, He says, I know. I know your pain. I know your agony. I know your loneliness. I know your suffering. I know exactly what you are experiencing You come to me You come to me You see, nobody in the room outside of you knows what you go through Except Christ Nobody knows

You see, it's almost, you know, we protect our children, right? We protect our children from falling into the pool or to the ocean and drowning If there's a fire, we don't want our kids to fall into the fire and be burned, right? We want to protect our children from harm God the Father didn't do that with God the Son He threw his son into the fire, he threw his son into the water In other words, Isaiah 53 says, It pleased the Lord to crush his son He put him in that situation And Christ in his humiliation, because it says in the book of Hebrews, it says, and he was heard because of his piety

That's a word that means devout submission He com submitted himself to the Father That's the way he lived his life It was in his humiliation That's why it says that God has highly exalted him Given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, because in his humiliation he submitted him To the glory of the Father That's why he is the perfect high priest, the perfect bridge builder, the perfect mediator between a sinful man And a holy God He was genuinely compassionate

And it says in Hebrews chapter 5, verse number 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered Verse 9, and having been made per Having been made complete, was there something imperfect about his life? No Was there something incomplete about his life? No Not at all But he perfectly accomplished everything to be the great high priest He perfectly accomplished, he completed everything to be your high priest and mine That's why, when the veil was torn in two at the crucifixion, there was complete access to the Father through the Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord

So divine selection, gen comp And sub obligation And that is, as the earthly priest, because he is obligated, verse 3, to offer sacrifice for sins Jesus would offer him as a sacrifice for your sins and mine He was And is the perfect one sacrifice What all the other priests could not accomplish through all the sacrifices that they offered Jesus accomplished through one sacrifice And what is it that he could accomplish that they couldn't accomplish? It says, verse 9: he became to all those who obey him. the source of eternal salvation

All the other priests who had ever lived and all the sacrifices they offered could not accomplish eternal Salvation They could give temporary forgiveness, but not eternal salvation Only Jesus Christ through His sacrifice, His perfect sacrifice Could give to you eternal sal Now it says it comes to all those who obey him Well, what does that mean? Does that mean I got to keep a bunch of rules and laws to follow through that I might accomplish eternal salvation? No, not at all It's simply the obedience of faith

It's spoken of in the book of Romans, the first chapter, where it says in verse number five: through him we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of Faith The obedience of faith It says in chapter 2, verse number 8 To those who are selfishly ambitious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there is wrath and indignation So there is an obedience of faith because faith is trusting obedience, right? Faith is trusting what God has said, so much so that now I obey what God has said You can't say you trust what God says and then live in disobedience to God

If you trust in what God says, that is, you have faith believing that what He said is true, therefore I live a righteous life, I live in obedience to God What he's already said That's what Hebrews 11 is all about All these people who died in faith, believing in what God said, even though they didn't receive a promise, they lived in obedience to God because they lived the life of faith Faith is trusting Obedience You trust and you obey That's why it says these words in John's Gospel, the sixth chapter This is the true work of God that you believe in him in whom he has s

You believe in him whom he has sent That is, the work of God is to believe the one true God, the Messiah of Israel, the one that has been sent by God Because 2 Thessalonians 1:8 says that when Jesus Christ returns, He will return and deal out retribution to all those who do not obey the gospel You see, the gospel demands obedience That is, obedient faith The gospel demands that what Jesus said is true And that because it's true, I will believe what he says. I will trust what he says And then I will live a life of obedience to all that he says. I will follow him

That's why Jesus gave the invitation Come, follow me That was his invitation Come, follow me Why? Because to follow Christ means to submit yourself to him and obey him You believe him enough to follow him no matter where he goes, trusting obedience So he becomes a source of eternal salvation to all those who obey him Listen, he doesn't become the source of eternal salvation to all those who disobey him Right? In Titus chapter 1, verse number 16, there are false teachers who profess to know Christ, but in deeds deny Christ Okay, so they obey him

In other words, they say they believe in him, but their lives live contrary to what they say they believe Those are anti-Christ Those are false teachers Those are not true believers Doesn't mean you live a life of perfection Doesn't mean that you never sin No, you have a high priest who intercedes on your behalf, who is your advocate, who stands in your defense when Satan accuses you You need a high priest who does that And Jesus Christ is that great high priest who intercedes on our behalf But

He becomes a source of eternal salvation to all those who believe the gospel, to all those who obey the gospel, to all those who obey in faith, trusting what He has said and following through on what He has said How about you? Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the great high priest, who is chosen from among men and divinely selected by God Himself? Because he can genuinely sympathize with your weaknesses and your situations And by his sacrifice, Open the door for you to enter into the presence of the living God Let's pray to God Father, we thank you for today

What a great joy it is for us to look into the scriptures and to realize the beauty of all that you have said Our prayer, Lord, is that you go before us this day That we live in the light of your priesthood, knowing that you intercede for us, that you are faithful and merciful to us And for that, we are grateful in Jesus' name Amen.