The Obedient Savior Who Saves Obedient Sinners

Introduction

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of not knowing where to go. Whether you’re at a specific place trying to figure out where you need to be or you feel lost and abandoned because of a situation you find yourself in, not knowing where to go is one of the loneliest places to be. Think of the reasons why we don’t always know where to go in life. Sometimes we’re presented with an opportunity or we have an appointment and we are given instructions and we assume that we know where we’re going only to discover down the line that we didn’t have it quite as figured out as we thought we did. We miss an appointment or we arrive late and the reason why is because we didn’t know where we were supposed to go and we are the one to blame. That never happens, right? There are other times, though, where something outside of our control happens.

If you’ve ever traveled to a large airport, you know that there could be upwards of tens of thousands of people wandering the hallways with you trying to find which terminal and gate they need to get to. That can provide some serious complications, especially for those who aren’t the tallest. There was a wife who told a story a few years ago about how she can’t see anything in a large crowd because she’s short and because of this, she doesn’t always know if she’s headed in the right direction… but her husband is 6’7 and he can always read and follow the signs. What she has learned in her years of marriage is that whenever they are at congested places like an airport or a football stadium, she follows her husband and holds onto his hand as they get to their intended location. This couple are followers of Jesus Christ and the wife made the comment that this is a picture of how we are to follow the Lord in every situation we find ourselves in, whether we think that we can see or not. We trust in His guidance and we walk after Him in obedience each step of the way.

Obedience can be hard in life for a whole lot of reasons, but we know deep down that obedience matters. If you’re a child, obeying your parents matters. If you’re an employee, obeying your boss matters. If you’re a student, obeying your teacher matters. For all of us, we are commanded to obey our God and follow through with what His Word instructs us to do. So many claim to believe in God and have faith in Him, but they don’t obey His Word. Tozer put it like this, “The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith. The two are at opposite sides of the same coin.”

Last week we were reminded of what our Lord and Savior did for us. How He came, lived a sinless life, and died for sinners like you and me. How He sympathizes with us in our suffering. It is a blessing to have that kind of great high priest! What do we do with Jesus, though? Hebrews 5:1-10 will dive further into Who Jesus is and what Jesus has done and the importance for us as sinners to obey our obedient Savior. Let’s dive into God’s Word together this morning.

Hebrews 5:1–10 CSB

1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God for the people, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also clothed with weakness. 3 Because of this, he must make an offering for his own sins as well as for the people. 4 No one takes this honor on himself; instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but God who said to him, You are my Son; today I have become your Father, 6 also says in another place, You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. 7 During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. 9 After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10 and he was declared by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

We serve a Savior who submitted Himself to the Father’s plan and suffered greatly in our place. Our responsibility today is found in verse 9, to obey Him. Is that true of you today? Are you one who strives to obey Jesus and what He says in His Word? Let’s pray that God would help us obey today.

Our High Priest Knows Great Sacrifice (1-6)

Last week we concluded Hebrews 4 by looking at our Great High Priest and this middle section in Hebrews is all about Jesus Christ being our great high priest who has won the victory for us! This is one of the central themes in this book: Jesus is greater. He provides a greater victory. He is a greater speaker. He is greater than the prophets. Greater than the angels. Greater than Moses and Aaron and Joshua. Now, in this middle section, the preacher of Hebrews is going to dive into why Jesus is a greater priest. How do you know that something is greater than something else? Think that through. A lot of times we’ll say that this thing is better than that one, but what is the standard that makes it automatically better? Sometimes it’s obvious. If you say that an iPhone 14 is better than the iPhone 4 because it has better picture quality and better battery life, you can use evidence and stats to back up that statement and I highly doubt anyone will disagree with you because I don’t know if the iPhone 4 still exists! But a lot of times we’ll make this type of claim that something is greater than something else and it’s completely based on feelings or opinions. This is especially true when it comes to sports as there are debates about who is the greatest of all time, or the GOAT? There are Chiefs fans who are arguing that if the Chiefs win the super bowl tonight then Patrick Mahomes will be the greatest of all time. By what standard is he the greatest of all time? What makes him greater? People have their opinions: He throws the ball better than anyone else, he has the most passing yards in a season… but what really makes him greater than someone else? It’s based on someone else’s opinion, right? There really isn’t an objective way to judge who is greater. You can have something that works smarter, faster, and more efficient, and cost less money and there would still be people who would say that it isn’t as great as something from 50 years ago because “back in my day...”

How do we KNOW that Jesus is greater? These Jewish Christians were familiar with the priestly system. How do they know that Jesus is a greater high priest? By what basis can we make that statement? This is what the preacher is unpacking in these opening verses and he does this by first outlining what the high priests did in the Old Testament. He gives us four principles associated with high priests and their works in the first 4 verses of chapter 5.

The high priest came from the people (1)

First we see in verse 1 that the high priest was taken from among the people. The literal Greek word there is the word chosen and is similar to the word called that is found in verse 4. You couldn’t have a high priest who was an angel or a foreigner - he had to be from among God’s people. The way that God did this historically was through the line of Aaron, the first high priest as Exodus 28 tells us as God told Moses,

Exodus 28:1 CSB

1 “Have your brother Aaron, with his sons, come to you from the Israelites to serve me as priest—Aaron, his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

The high priest represented the people (2-3)

We also see that the high priest is appointed in matters between God and his people. The high priest has the responsibility to not only lead the people of God in worship but also in making sacrifices to God on behalf of the sins of the people. Specifically, the high priest does this on the Day of Atonement as he offers a blood sacrifice that would cover God’s people for one year

The high priest deals gently with the people (2-3)

The high priests in the Old Testament were sinners just as the rest of God’s people were (just as pastors and Sunday school teachers are sinners as well in our church today). Because of this, they could relate with the people because they had their own weaknesses. They had their own sins. This meant that the high priests, before offering a sacrifice for the sins of the people, must offer a sacrifice for their own sins. Because of this, the high priest deals with sin seriously but sinners patiently.

The high priest is called by God, not the people (4)

The high priests in the Old Testament were called by God - not voted on by humans or elected by a group. God revealed who the high priest was to be and that person would be the high priest. God had the authority - not humans.

These are the 4 qualifications for the high priests in the Old Testament. Now, just because these high priests were called by God and did these tasks, it doesn’t mean that they were perfect. Think about the first high priest in the Old Testament, Aaron. Whenever the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and Moses went up on Mt. Sinai to get the 10 Commandments, what did Aaron do with the people below?

Exodus 32:4 CSB

4 He took the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, “Israel, these are your gods, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”

Aaron led the people to worship a golden, Chic-fil-a cow. This man and his sons led the people of Israel in making sacrifices to God, but there’s a fundamental problem with their sacrifices because of their sin. The best person, pastor, principle, or parent you can think of has this same problem because we’re all sinners. We all have weaknesses. We all drop the ball. The biggest problem with our sin is that our sin not only impacts us today relationally with other people horizontally, but our sin impacts our relationship with God vertically as well! Sin separates us from God - even the high priest’s sin did this! So what do we need? We need a Great High Priest. We need One who can sympathize with us in our weaknesses but One who doesn’t give into temptation and sin. We need One who knows what we’re going through, but One who overcomes what we’re going through. This is what Jesus does! Look in verses 5 and 6 of our text.

Jesus is a high priest just like those in the Old Testament. He meets those qualifications of coming from God’s people, representing God’s people, dealing gently with God’s people, and being called by God, but Jesus goes above and beyond. How? Jesus does all of His priestly work not only as a priest, but as a Son and as a King. Think of a sacrifice that you’ve had to make in recent days. For some of you maybe that was not eating something you wanted and instead eating something that is healthy for you - that can be a sacrifice. For others maybe there’s a situation going on in your life that you’re having to make a decision to not do something that you’d normally like to do in order to do something different instead and you’re having to make a sacrifice with your time or your finances. We’re familiar with sacrifices to an extent… but can you and I even begin to imagine the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made whenever He humbled Himself and left the splendor of heaven for the splinters of a manger? That’s sacrifice!

This Jesus who came to be our Lord and Savior as the Son of God, is also said to be our great high priest. He does the work of a high priest of old but He is superior as John 3:16 tells us that Jesus is God’s only begotten Son, but He’s also superior because of verse 6. He is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. He’s not a temporary priest. He’s a priest forever. He’s not a priest according to Aaron, but of Melchizedek.

Who exactly is this Melchizedek guy? He is mentioned 2x in the Old Testament and most significantly in Genesis 14:18-20

Genesis 14:18–20 CSB

18 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest to God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said: Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 20 and blessed be God Most High who has handed over your enemies to you. And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Who is this guy that Abraham, God’s chosen servant, would pay a tithe to? He’s a king - the King of righteousness - the king of Jerusalem… but he’s also a priest as our text quotes from Psalm 110:4 that says that Jesus is a priest according to Melchizedek. What does all of this mean and why is it important?

Sin violates God’s standard therefore we are opposed to God because of our sin. In order for you and I to have our sins forgiven, a sacrifice must be made. Only a priest can make this type of sacrifice for sins. The sacrifices for sins that used to be offered (bulls and goats) couldn’t take away sins… they could only delay God’s judgment. What are all of the Old Testament sacrifices pointing to? A greater priest who will offer a greater sacrifice. Enter Jesus. Priests offer sacrifices for sins and Jesus is no exception - except that His sacrifice was Himself. Not only is Jesus our Savior. Not only is He the King of Kings… Jesus is also our Great High Priest who represents us before the Father. When did He become a priest? After His sacrifice on the cross. The cross is crucial for us to be saved and to understand Jesus’ ministry - again, thank you Jesus for the blood!

But the cross wasn’t where Jesus’ suffering started… look at what follows in verses 7-8

Our High Priest Knows Great Suffering (7-8)

Last week we looked at Hebrews 4:15 and saw that Jesus can sympathize with us in our weaknesses because He was tempted. Jesus knows what it’s like to suffer and go through hard times of great sorrow! Be experienced grief and heartache. No place is this more clearly seen than in the Garden of Gethsemane. Have you read this recently? Let’s look back to Luke 22 for just a little bit to see just what was happening with Jesus before His sacrifice.

Luke 22:42–44 CSB

42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. 44 Being in anguish, he prayed more fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Drops of blood flowing from His forehead to the ground? That’s an insane level of intensity and stress that Jesus was under here as He awaited the Father’s plan. Jesus knew what was coming. He knew what God’s plan was because in the beginning there was Jesus. This was His plan. The same God who created all things and sustains all things is also the One who came to the earth to die for the sinners He made on the tree that He created. This Jesus knows great suffering and during His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed to His Father, “Not my will… but Yours be done.” What was Jesus praying for?

Some have speculated that Jesus was praying that He wouldn’t have to die on the cross - perhaps… Jesus called His shot in John 12, though. He told others that the Son of Man came to give His life as a ransom for many. He knew He would die. What’s going on here? Rather than simply praying for the cup of God’s wrath to pass from Him, many argue that Jesus is praying that God would save Him from the grave… Knowing that His suffering would only get more and more intense, Jesus stops in the Garden and prays to His Father ready to submit to His will, regardless of the pain or price.

So many times we put limits on where we will and won’t follow God. We will follow Him up until a certain point. I’ll follow God until it starts costing me my friends. I’ll follow God until it starts costing me my time. I’ll follow God until it starts costing me my money… You get the point. We put limits on what we will and won’t do for God. Aren’t you thankful that Jesus didn’t put a limit on His submission to God’s plan? Here’s our problem often times, church.

We want to walk with God in the Garden of Eden (“God bless my life! Let me know you.”), never having entered the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet the two gardens are a package tour with a specific itinerary. We often wish for the presence of God without trusting in the plan of God. We want the satisfaction that God brings without the suffering that following God brings. Remember 2 Timothy 3:12 from last Sunday?

2 Timothy 3:12 CSB

12 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Jesus didn’t save us to Himself to live a sufferingless life - there will be hard times and there will be persecution and suffering. He Himself suffered… Yet, God heard His cry and answered His prayer. Suffering didn’t get the last laugh with Jesus and suffering doesn’t get the last laugh for all who are in Christ Jesus as well because of the promise of Romans 8:1

Romans 8:1 CSB

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,

Church, this is good news! Because Jesus humbled Himself and submitted to suffering for sinners like you and me, we can get through times of suffering as well. Not because it doesn’t hurt - it does! But because suffering isn’t the end. It doesn’t win. Our high priest saw to that! He “learned obedience” through suffering - not that Jesus wasn’t already obedient or sinless, He was both… but during His suffering, Jesus didn’t take the easy way out. He didn’t avoid it. He embraced it. He learned to trust and obey in the Father’s will whenever suffering struck.

We don’t like being told “no” from anyone… but being told “no” from God is hard! Whenever you don’t study for a test and you ask God to help you get an A this one time and that you promise to always study hard for every test from now on and God just says that you’re going to lie in the bed you made and He’s not going to intervene in your brain, that can be hard to understand. What about whenever tragedy strikes in your family, and God says no? That’s hard! What about whenever someone else gets the miracle and you don’t? That’s hard. Some would say that the problem is with you - that’s not necessarily true! Sometimes, God says no. Ask Jesus about it. He suffered. He received the most significant “no” in the history of the universe. And you know what He did? He kept on trusting in His Father. Michael Kruger shares this, “The school of suffering is not an easy one. But it can teach us, train us, and shape us like no other school, making us more effective ministers to others. It can help to make us more sympathetic and compassionate.”

We serve an obedient Savior and this Savior provides something for us today

Our High Priest Provides God’s Salvation (9-10)

Sometimes when we talk about salvation, we talk exclusively about what we are saved from. We are saved from the punishment that we deserve because of our sins… but we can fail to talk about what we are saved for. What are you and I saved to go and do? Well, we are saved to follow Jesus Christ daily in this thing called life. We are saved to obey. Why do we obey God? Why should we do that whenever we live in a world that seems to do the opposite on a regular basis?

The basis for our obedience is in Jesus’ obedience. Jesus obeyed the Father through suffering and in His sacrifice in our place on the cross, and in doing so, verse 9 tells us that Jesus was perfected. Usually whenever we hear that word we’d think that there was an imperfection that was removed and then the person or thing is declared perfect. Is that what happened with Jesus? We have to tread carefully here or else we’ll drift into heresy real quickly. Jesus never sinned. Never once. He wasn’t imperfect. So how was He perfected? What is this passage all about? His priestly work.

Let’s work through this together because the implications are important! How was Jesus considered a priest? Through His sacrifice and priestly work. What did Jesus sacrifice? Himself. So, how was Jesus’ priestly work considered perfect? ONLY through His death and resurrection and ascension. If Jesus didn’t die, you and I would have no hope of salvation. If Jesus didn’t suffer in our place and become our curse, we could never come before God’s throne with boldness. Yet, this is what Jesus did. Jesus’ humiliation leads to His exaltation.

What does this mean for us? It means that if we are going to be positively impacted by Jesus Christ and His sacrifice and priestly work, we’d better get ready to humble ourselves and obey Him exclusively. What is preventing you from obeying God’s plan for your life today?

So often the problem that we have is the person staring at us each morning in the mirror. The problem that we usually have with obeying Jesus isn’t someone else. It isn’t the enemy. It isn’t our job or the people we work with. It isn’t our limited time. It is the fact that deep down, we have a fundamental human problem obeying someone not named ourselves. Have you experienced this to be true? This is why Scripture tells us that we must follow Jesus not just on Sunday morning. Not just a one time thing as we raise a hand or say some words… No, we have to be born again. We must be a new creation. We must be given a new heart. This means that our old self must be no more as Paul shares in Galatians 2:20

Galatians 2:20 CSB

20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Whenever Christ lives in you and your heart is brand new, you walk in a brand new light. See, Jesus didn’t die on the cross to get millions of people filling pews and raising hands and checking a box to make us feel better. No, Jesus died on the cross to save His followers and to change everything about them from the inside out. We can’t say that we have faith in Jesus and never obey what Jesus commands of us… it doesn’t work that way! Spurgeon put it like this, “Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God, trusts God; and he that trusts God, obeys God.”

Would you say that you are someone who not only trusts in God but you are actively obeying God? We’ll mess up, sure! But is that your heart? In the last 2 chapters there has been warning after warning about the danger of not obeying and unbelief. Those will only pick up in chapters 5 and 6! There is a temptation to believe that we can know about Jesus and call it good without actually changing for Jesus. That’s certainly not the Gospel. A Gospel that affirms you but doesn’t change you isn’t Jesus’ Gospel at all. Jesus loves you too much to leave you where you’re at. So what does He do? He changes you. Those who are saved are those who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ and those who have faith in Christ will obey Christ. We will keep His commands - not perfect - but we will trust and obey because of His work inside of us

John 14:21 CSB

21 The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

Are you keeping His commands today? Are you following obediently after your obedient Savior?

Application

The question that we all have to ask of ourselves at the conclusion of this passage of Scripture is short, but significant: Do I have this eternal salvation? You and I will spend eternity somewhere! But Scripture is clear that whenever it comes to salvation and spending eternity in glory, that not everyone sadly will have that to look forward to. So many people believe in some version of Universalism which states that everyone goes to heaven and everyone wins - but this is not New Testament language. Only those who have saving faith in Jesus are saved! Hebrews focuses so much on obedience and the preacher argues that it is impossible to have faith without obedience and it is impossible to please God without faith! Look at Hebrews 11:8

Hebrews 11:8 CSB

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going.

Abraham was called by God and he obeyed… How did he obey? He had faith in the Lord. He wasn’t perfect. He didn’t obey perfectly either. He was a sinner. But by God’s grace, he had faith in the Lord. What about you? Have you obeyed God? Are you walking in obedience after Him today? If your answer is no and you’re trying to figure out how to have this eternal salvation and how to obey, look back with me in this book. We are called to hold fast to our hope in Jesus and to draw near to Him for help. We are all called to repent of our sins and instead of placing our hope in ourselves, place our hope in the promises of our Sovereign Savior who serves as the source of salvation to all who trust and obey. Obedience is the fruit, faith is the root. Place your faith in Jesus Christ. Trust and obey Him, today!