Right There With You - Heb 5:1-10
Notes
Transcript
Welcome:
Announcements:
Prayer - Tuesday @ 7
Softball
RSVP for LNI - Hostesses needed
We will have a youth move night during the LNI (June 20)
CALL TO WORSHIP Isaiah 57:15
Pastor Austin Prince
We start the call to worship together
Congregation: For thus says the high and exalted one who lives forever, whose name is holy,
Minister: “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit.”
Congregation: We gather to worship you, O Lord. Come, dwell with us, work in us that you may work through us. Amen.
†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION
Glory be to thee, O Father everlasting, who didst send Thine only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Glory be to thee O Jesus Christ, who hast brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Glory be to thee O Holy Spirit, who quickens us together with Christ, and does shed abroad his love in our hearts. Come to us now thou Blessed Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Blessed be thy glorious name now and forevermore.
†OPENING HYMN OF PRAISE #224
“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”
†CONFESSION OF SIN AND ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Craig Hoffer, Elder
Minister: O King and Father, your son died and was raised up in power. Now enable us to die to our sin in repentance so we may rise to new life in him. We confess to you:
Congregation: Lord, though you should guide us, we inform ourselves; Though you should rule us, we control ourselves; Though you should fulfill us, we console ourselves. We think your truth too high, your will too hard, Your power too remote, your love too free.
But they are not, and without them, we are of all people most miserable. Heal our confused minds with your word, heal our divided wills with your law. Heal our troubled consciences with your love and our anxious hearts with your presence.
All for the sake of your son, who loved us
and gave himself for us. Amen.
CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE Numbers 20:1-13
THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
†PSALM OF PREPARATION #85
“You Were Pleased to Show Your Favor”
SERMON Hebrews 5:1-10 // “Right There With You”
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
Guide us, O God, by your word and Spirit, that in your light we may see light, in you truth find freedom, and in your will discover your peace through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Text Hebrews 5:1-10
1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; 6 as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” 7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
AFTER SCRIPTURE
The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Amen.
Introduction
Have you ever had a nurse or doctor try to place a shot or IV in your arm and miss the vein? Maybe they poke you a few times. Maybe they dig around, wiggling the needle back and forth. It's not just painful—it's frustrating. In that moment, what do you want? Someone with good bedside manner. Someone who gets it. Someone who understands your pain and approaches you with tenderness.
We expect that from our caretakers. Surely they know what this feels like, we think. Surely they should treat us more gently. A good doctor tells you what they're about to do and tries to lessen the pain. They factor in your weakness. They don’t ignore it. They say, “I’m right there with you. I understand. I’ll help you through it.”
As High Priest, that’s what Jesus is able to say. “I”m right there with you. I understand”.
There is a frequent temptation to fear that He isn’t going to be tender with us. There is a frequent assumption that God is only ever annoyed with our weakness. But this text would have us see otherwise, and it will call us to believe and see more of why Christ is so Great a High Priest.
The Hebrews, to whom this book is obviously written to, longed for a priest who could understand their struggles. For generations, they had priests they could see—someone offering sacrifices and standing in their place. Now they were told to look to Jesus, whom they could no longer see, as their High Priest. And very soon (70 A.D., they would loose the priesthood entirely).
Jesus as Prophet? That made sense, they could work with that. Messiah? They could accept that. Divine Son? They believed that, too. But priest? A priest had to be deeply human. How could God do that?
Hebrews 5 answers this question by showing that Jesus is perfectly fit to be our priest—not only meeting the qualifications but surpassing them. The text presents three qualifications for a priest, and Jesus fulfills and exceeds them all.
I. Jesus Is Fit to Be Our Priest
I. Jesus Is Fit to Be Our Priest
1. Humility: A Priest Is Appointed from Among Men
"For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins." (Hebrews 5:1)
The role of the priest was never about self-exaltation. It was a humble role of mediation. In contrast to a prophet, who brought God’s word to man, the priest brought man’s needs to God. A prophet needed to be close to God, a priest needed closeness to man. Priests stood among the people, clothed in the same weaknesses.
Jesus, the eternal Son, took on flesh. He became Emmanuel—God with us—not only to dwell with us, but to represent us. Fully human, Christ is perfectly positioned to stand in our place.
For you, Christ took on humility. He literally embodied what it means to identify with us. Such great lengths He has gone to love us and to save us. Don’t forget that!
2. Sympathy: A Priest Deals Gently with the Weak
"He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness." (Hebrews 5:2)
The priest could deal gently because he knew weakness himself. Jesus, though sinless, entered into the full weight of human frailty. When you cry out, “Don’t you know what this feels like?” Jesus doesn’t guess—He answers, “Yes, I do.”
But unlike anyone else, Jesus not only understands your weakness—He can deliver you from it. Sympathy without power can only sit beside you. But Jesus' sympathy comes with strength.
3. Authority: A Priest Must Be Appointed by God
"No one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was." (Hebrews 5:4)
A true priest doesn’t appoint himself. He is called by God. Jesus was not from the priestly tribe of Levi but from Judah, which raised serious questions for Jewish believers. How could He be priest?
Hebrews answers with Scripture. From Psalm 2: "You are my Son; today I have begotten you."
Think about the work of a priest — a mediator before the throne. A son is above a priest. A son has the ear and the heart of His father.
And from Psalm 110: "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."
Melchizedek, a priest-king in Genesis 14, blessed Abraham and received a tithe from him. He was greater than Abraham. His priesthood was not based on lineage but divine appointment. Jesus belongs to that priesthood—eternal, royal, superior.
This isn’t theological trivia—it matters. It locks Jesus into the role of priest with divine legitimacy and everlasting authority. We'll learn more about Melchizedek in ch. 7.
Jesus not only fulfilled the role of High Priest, but He lived it out to the full. That’s what v.7-10 displays:
II. Jesus Worked as Our High Priest
II. Jesus Worked as Our High Priest
1. His Suffering Was Real and Prayerful
"In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears..." (Hebrews 5:7)
When we think of Jesus praying, we often think of that famous painting where he is kneeling serenely. There is a single beam of light that is coming down upon his folded hands and perfectly combed hair. But that is not the scene that this text would have us see.
When Jesus prayed, it was with loud cries and tears!
It was the prayer of Jesus who knows our humanity. It is the prayer as one who is being tempted. It is the prayer of a man who has been betrayed by his friends and slandered by his enemies. It is the prayer of someone who is being tempted to throw in the towel. To distrust God and find another way out. It’s the prayer of Jesus’ priesthood, the one who knows the pressure that we are under. But instead of caving and giving in, instead of finding relief in disobedience or giving up, Jesus holds the line. Where we eventually say “no” to God, Jesus says “yes”.
It’s the agony, not just of death, but of the pressure of sin. The pressure to forsake obedience, that was a blood curdling weight that Christ bore.
The text says that God heard Him because of His reverence.
But what does it mean that God heard Him? He wasn’t delivered from death? What did God hear? What was the good fruit of this prayer? It was Jesus’ endurance. It was Jesus’ perfect obedience and His leaning on God’s support when we all have fallen short. It was when Jesus said, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done”.
To get us back to the garden of Eden, Jesus went through the garden of Gethsemane.
We should remember Jesus’ posture of prayer. He knows what it feels like to rage against the flesh and overcome it. He didn’t use some special God-card or God-muscle to endure without trial, strain, or pain. He was fully human, and the glory of that is His perfect fitness to be our help.
This is no detached Savior. This is a High Priest who knows your struggle, stood where you stand, and didn’t escape suffering with divine shortcuts. He overcame in full humanity, so He could help us in ours.
2. He Learned Obedience Through Suffering
"Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered." (Hebrews 5:8)
Again, to draw our sight to Jesus’ humanity, we are told that he learned obedience. Now, this doesn’t mean that Jesus was disobedient before this point. It means that until Jesus went through the trials of humanity, he wasn’t qualified to be our representative. The cross didn’t come to Jesus as a baby, or even as a child, but to a man who, as Isaiah says,
“grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:2–5, ESV)
Jesus had to persevere and endure where we failed. We have been called again and again to hear God’s voice and to strive to enter God’s rest in Hebrews, and here we are to see that Jesus did that. He endured. He accomplished the obedience that we fall short of.
And in that way, as our High Priest, His obedience is given to us.
His perfect obedience wasn’t just for admiration—it was for imputation. As our High Priest, He gives that record to us.
Make no mistake here, when you hear of Jesus’ accomplishment and you hear of Jesus enduring, there can be this temptation to flee further from Him. That Jesus is perfect and obviously you are not. That Jesus succeeded and you didn’t feels like a judgement. But we were just told what the atmosphere of the throne was last week. When we come to Jesus, it’s not a throne of comparison, or a throne of criticism; it is a throne of grace. It is the throne of Jesus who accomplished what we could not and give it away to us freely.
Application: You may think, I’m not coming to Jesus because what I feel is judgement. What looking at his priesthood would have you say is, I am coming to Jesus because I feel His grace.
3. He Is the Source of Eternal Salvation
"And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him." (Hebrews 5:9)
The thing about the High Priest is that there was only one of them. There was a solitary individual who could stand in that office. Jesus is that solitary way, and He stands in that office eternally. Salvation is offered to all who obey Him.
Here’s another major factor with sympathy. There are many things that will promise you sympathy in your struggles and trials in life. Some of them are great and helpful, like the support of a friend, someone who knows your struggle and can minister to you. And there are some things and people who serve as priests to us that are wicked, like the promise of understanding and sympathy from a bottle, an addiction, or someone who uses your sin to justify their own. Someone who would promise understanding but only keep you down with them.
There are many promises to us for sympathy. This week you will hear some of those. You will hear the whisper of temptation that you have needs that just need to be met. Physical needs that God isn’t answering. You have emotional needs that you must get help for through bad friendships, or an inappropriate relationship with another person. You will find sympathy in the form of gossip, online communities from the latest teen trend to reformed, patriarchal twitter that rally together for sympathy in grievances, and weight, and strain.
But in Christ, you not only find sympathy, you have help. Other people may understand our frailty, but only Christ has victory beyond it. Only Christ has both been there and can pull you beyond.
Our text says that He is the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
Now, can you obey Him perfectly? Does that discourage you? Well your priest has taken that into account. V. 2 reminded us that He deals gently with the ignorant and wayward.
What has been that call of obedience so far in Hebrews, anyway? To hear His voice and not harden your heart. To hear Him and come to Him.
As I said last week, when we look at our faith, we are unsteady, nervous, and unsure. Looking at our faith makes the christian life quite confusing, each day and trial we are trying to sort ourselves out. What we are supposed to do is look with our faith. That is a simple dynamic of keeping our focus on the object of Christ. The text would pull our eyes there, to see Him as our Great High Priest, the one who knows how to deal with us tenderly, because he is right there with us in the trials of humanity. And yet he is the Great High Priest, who alone has learned obedience and offers to us a perfectly fulfilled record.
How might this effect your prayer life this week? How did Jesus pray? With loud cries and tears. You may think that when you come before God in weakness and in desperation that it reflects poorly upon you, that you are doing something wrong. But that's not the case. Even Jesus prays with great passion as he felt the pressure of temptation.
But in that prayer, Jesus was heard but not spared death. He was supported and given endurance to walk through trial and the grave. When we arens’t given the relief that we think we are hoping for, or the removal of a trial that we ask for, we still need to cling to God in prayer that even when the cup isn't removed that we can drink it faithfully. We can walk through that trial with help.
What should we think if we pray with great passion and pressure but we eventually cave and fall short? Our prayer turns to our priest, who gives to us His record or perfect obedience where ours fails.
Maybe this text will lead you to come a little sooner this week. To remember Jesus’ ‘bedside’ manner? Don’t you know this hurst? Yes, He does. He will deal with you tenderly — don’t neglect to come. Don’t be afraid. Come confidently before the throne of grace.
Does seeing Christ as your great High priest help you to hold on longer? Maybe you give in and give up but the more you look to Christ, the more encouraged you are about the help that seems so far off at times. You can pray like Christ , clinging for help. It will come. What if you fail? He is there with sympathy and gracious help.
Conclusion
Let Jesus’ humanity minister to you today. He is the good physician with just the right bedside manner — He’s right here with us, knows our needs, and is the only source of our hope and salvation.
†HYMN OF RESPONSE #277
“Before the Throne of God Above”
†CONFESSION OF FAITH p. 852
The Nicene Creed
Membership of
Leah Marcus
Zach Moore
Membership Remarks
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:12–13, ESV)
We learn in 1 Corinthians that God is displayed in the world though the body of Christ, the church, made up of individuals that He has drawn to Himself and saved by His grace. He takes those individuals and unites them in a body with other believers, that their gifts serve and compound the impact when they work together. Over and over again the language is about building and building well, not favoring one gift over another (an eye better than a ear, or a hand better than an eye…). Each member is graced by God to serve in their way, and we are either the stronger or weaker with how we honor those gifts and members or not.
At Covenant of Grace, we have seen a large increase in our gifting and strength, as God has blessed us with more members. There is an abundance of work, (teaching, discipling, serving others, hospital visits, babies being born, sickness, doubt, fear, marriages and weddings, graduating teens and growing children, evangelism, hospitality and breaking bread, setting tables, late-night phone calls, words of encouragement, words of rebuke, gleaning from our elders, and investing in our juniors, etc.), and there are more hands to the plow. To all of our new members, we are grateful to God for you and we need you. To all of us, we have been given a greater stewardship — a promotion of strength and impact and gifting as a church. The welcome comes with a call for our new members to join the work, and a reminder to all members to let the new members join the work. Encourage them and fold them in and ask for help. God has graced us with unique and just the right gifts to accomplish His purposes.
MEMBERSHIP VOWS
Church membership matters. It’s not just a formal step or a name on a roll—it’s a covenant. To treat it casually is to blur the witness we bear. If we welcome all without regard to belief or ignore behavior that denies Christ’s call, we end up misrepresenting him. Membership is a weighty joy because it puts our lives in the light.
The first three vows declare the foundation of your faith: that apart from Christ, you are lost in sin and need rescue; that Jesus alone is your hope; and that God’s word is your rule for life and truth. These vows don’t create your salvation—they confirm it.
The final three vows speak to how that salvation bears fruit. You commit, by the Spirit’s help, to walk in obedience. You promise to offer your time, your resources, and your care to the life of this church. And you willingly place yourself under the shepherding of Christ’s appointed leaders, trusting that submission to them is part of your deeper submission to him.
We rejoice this morning in Zach and Leah’s desire to join the fellowship of this body and to help us paint that truthful picture of Christ’s kingdom for all the world to see. Zach and Leah, you can join me up here now.
I will present these vows to Zach and Leah this morning and I also present them to each of you who are already a member of this body (they are printed on the back of your bulletin).
That’s why we all do well, reminded what we have vowed to do, to participate. While you remain seated, I’d encourage you to listen carefully to each as they are read and to join your voice with Zach and Leah by also saying, “We do.”
MEMBERSHIP VOWS
1. Do you confess that you are a sinner in the sight of God; that you deserve His punishment; that you are unable to save yourself; and that you are without hope of salvation except for God's love and mercy?
2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of sinners; and do you receive and trust in Him alone for your salvation?
3. Do you accept the Bible, comprised of the Old and New Testaments, as the written Word of God; and that it is the only perfect rule of faith and how to live?
4. Do you promise to trust in the guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit so that you can live all of life as a Christian, following the example set by Jesus Christ?
5. Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and work to the best of your ability?
6. In loving obedience, do you submit yourself to the government and discipline of this church, promising to seek the peace, purity, and prosperity of this congregation as long as you are a member of it?
Please take a moment today after the service or at the lunchtime to welcome Zach and Leah.
Please stand:
†THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
Minister: Lift up your hearts!
Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.
Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!
INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE
***Comment about breaking the bread???
Application to The Lord’s Supper - a body broken for us. Spiritual presence, but not physical. Priestly work done in the body once for all. A real body, united to us, but raised and seated in the heavens.
This table welcomes all who confess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and who have the hope of salvation brought forth by his life, death, and resurrection. It is for all who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his Church.
This meal cannot make you righteous; no human action can. But this meal can covey the grace of God to you and unite you, by faith, in the one who is righteous. By the power of the Spirit, who meets with God’s people here; we, though still sinners, can endeavor by that same Spirit to live holy lives before God. Come, you who desire to be followers of God – taste and see that the Lord is good.
THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION 1 Corinthians 11:23–26
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Congregation is seated
DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS
SHARING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
The body of the Lord, broken for you, take and eat.
The blood of the Lord, shed for the forgiveness of sins. Take and drink.
PRAYER
†OUR RESPONSE #567
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE
Christians, go in hope and His peace. “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24–25, ESV)
GRACE NOTES REFLECTION
Hebrews 5:1–10 invites us to behold Jesus as our fully qualified High Priest. He meets every divine requirement: **humility**, **sympathy**, and **authority**.
**Humility** – Like every priest, Jesus had to be close to humanity. He didn’t serve from a distance but entered fully into our condition. He is Emmanuel — God with us — not aloof, but lowly and human, able to represent us because He became one of us (Phil. 2).
**Sympathy** – Jesus deals with us tenderly because He knows our weakness from the inside. Like a good doctor, He understands the pain and treats us gently. He isn’t untouched by suffering. In Gethsemane, He prayed with loud cries and tears, not out of fear alone, but because He faced the full weight of betrayal, temptation, and death — yet obeyed perfectly through it all.
**Authority** – Jesus didn’t appoint Himself. He was sent by the Father, not as a Levitical priest but after the eternal order of Melchizedek — divinely chosen, eternally qualified.
But we must also consider **where we go for sympathy** in our own struggles. There are good sources — trusted friends, fellow believers — and destructive ones — addictions, sinful relationships, or online echo chambers that feed resentment. Many offer false comfort that leaves us unchanged or worse off.
This week, temptations will whisper that you deserve relief, that you have unmet needs, and that God is too slow. In those moments, remember how Jesus prayed. Not calmly, but with passion — tears, cries, and honesty. If that’s how Jesus prayed, then your desperation doesn’t disqualify you; it brings you near to the One who truly understands.
And when you pray but don't get immediate relief — when the cup isn’t taken from you — you’re not forsaken. Like Jesus, you may not be spared the trial, but you will be strengthened to endure it.
And if you fall? Your hope is not in your ability to pray perfectly or endure flawlessly, but in **Christ’s perfect obedience**, credited to you.
So come sooner. Come honestly. Jesus is not harsh. He deals gently with the ignorant and the wayward — He knows this hurts. Don’t stay away. Come boldly to the throne of grace.
Does seeing Jesus this way help you to hold on longer? It should. Even if help seems far off, it will come. And if you fail, your High Priest is already there — not to shame you, but to lift you, cleanse you, and help you again.
