Christ our High Priest
Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 13 viewsNotes
Transcript
Prayer
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. 1 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” 6 And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” 7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Chris Tomlin has many good songs out there that often come to my mind throughout the week.
Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God, You are higher than any other
Our God is healer, awesome in power
Our God, our God
Our High Priest is Greater
Our High Priest is Greater
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
Our High Priest is Sinless
Our High Priest is Sinless
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
Our High Priest was Appointed to Offer Sacrifices
Our High Priest was Appointed to Offer Sacrifices
1 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” 6 And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
Appointed….Ordained…Set Apart by God.
to Offer Sacrifices
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Our High Priest Submitted to God’s Perfect Will
Our High Priest Submitted to God’s Perfect Will
7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Jesus’ ministry as priest on earth can be seen as you open up almost every gospel story. He was interceded for people all the time, listening to the Father’s voice…obeying him.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
Jesus also prayed for you and I while he was in his earthly tent…
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
But this point is perhaps illustrated best to us about Jesus’ perfect submission to the Father’s will the night he was betrayed and arrested. While he was in the garden of Gethsemate…
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” 39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Lukes account says that Luke 22:44
44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” 43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing. 45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”
Not only did Jesus not sin, but he lived his life in perfect submission and obedience…an obedience that would soon be tested through his betrayal, arrest, beating, and eventual death on the cross..
Our High Priest is the Source of Eternal Salvation
Our High Priest is the Source of Eternal Salvation
8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
It doesn’t say that Jesus learned “to obey” as if to suggest he was formerly disobedient. All throughout Scripture it is repeated that Jesus lived a sinless life. Hebrews 4:15- he did not sin.
22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Rather he entered into a personal and experiential understanding of what obedience is and what obedience entails by actually obeying.
As John Piper has explained, “This does not mean that he was once disobedient and then became obedient. It means that Jesus moved from untested obedience into suffering and then through suffering into tested and proven obedience. And this proving himself obedient through suffering was his ‘being perfected”.
And once we believe in his message. Once we profess faith in Jesus Christ..that through his death we are forgiven. We are made right with God because of His perfect sacrifice and believe in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead…that in his new life he conquered the grave and we too will live again after death because we are new creations in Christ. Then we are eternally secure. Eternally safe from separation from God…
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So what, now what?
So what, now what?
Well the author gives us two points of Application of Christ being our Great High Priest…
Because He is -Greater, Sinless, Appointed to offer Sacrifices, Submitted to God’s Perfect Will, Because he is the Source of Eternal Salvation…then we are to…
Hold firmly to the faith we profess.
Hold firmly to the faith we profess.
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
Hold firmly to the faith…
When Paul was writing to his son in the faith, Timothy to encourage him he finishes his first letter with this same concept… he writes
12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Profess the faith…
To profess something is to openly declare it. When we use the term profession of faith, we usually refer to a person’s public declaration of his or her intent to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Romans 10:9–10 shows the value of a profession of faith in Christ: “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Faith in the heart is accompanied by a profession of the mouth. Those who are saved will speak of their salvation—even when that profession could lead to death, as was the case for the Christians in Rome to whom Paul was writing.
Yes we are saved by grace through faith…it is a gift of God…
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
But we should not stop there. This gift of God is too good to hold onto and keep to ourselves..we should memorize verse 10 of Ephesians 2 as well
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
And those good works are to hold fast to the faith that we profess…
We should be professing Christians…Christian’s who herald the gospel, who profess their salvation to a lost and dying world.
We hold fast
Approach God’s throne of grace with confidence.
Approach God’s throne of grace with confidence.
16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,
Church, what a friend we have in Jesus, our Great and High Priest. Who was the perfect sinless, spotless lamb, who offered himself up as our sacrifice, once and for all who would take him in simple faith…faith like that of a child, that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead then we will be saved. Then we can hold fast to our great salvation that we profess. And now, as Jesus our Great High Priest has ascended through the Heavensr and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of Grace, we can boldly approach God in Heaven because he is our mediator…fighting our cause.
Jesus represents those who have placed their trust in Him before God’s throne of grace. He mediates for us, much as a defense attorney mediates for his client, telling the judge, “Your honor, my client is innocent of all charges against him.” That is true for us also. Some day we will face God, but we will do so as totally forgiven sinners because of Jesus’ death on our behalf. The “Defense Attorney” took the penalty for us!
15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
