A Better High Priest

Welcome Online & Visitors

We exist to help people far from God, draw near to Him. We do that through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and through us to build a house of ministry, prayer, worship and healing.

OFFERING

Youth Event and Spiritual Gifts Workshop at GCF on May 15th & 16th

Potluck Lunch - May 31st

TESTIMONY

Introduction

Anyone know what three things a fire needs?

I was probably 9 or 10 when a teacher in school taught us that. They made the comment that fire needs oxygen to survive. If you take away the oxygen, the fire dies. Stop, drop and roll, right?!

Well, I’ve never been someone to just believe anything I hear, so I went home to test this theory. I had a built in cabinet in my room with a door that seemed pretty air-proof (spoiler alert, it wasn’t). I grabbed my dad’s lighter and some construction paper and lit it up. After it got going, I shut the door to deprive the fire of oxygen. Well, that didn’t work. My heart is racing. I am feeling embarrassed and ashamed. I should get my dad right? Nope.

The door had too many leaks. So I grabbed a pillow and stuffed it on the door to try and stop it. That didn’t work. I’m really scared now, but can’t go to dad. I will get in trouble. I run grab my sister. She grabs her pillow. Still doesn’t work.

Finally, when every other means of fighting this fire to my knowledge was exhausted I called for help. My dad ran in with fire extinguisher in hand, it may have been the greatest moment of his life (let me know in the comments if you are watching dad) and he proceeded to put out the fire.

In the course of my life, this is how I have treated God. My sin is like a fire, I’ve tried to handle it, manage it, put it out, forget about it, everything in between, but it’s a raging fire and I need my Father’s help, but I could ask for it without fear of judgment or shame.

Here’s the deal, all of us want to be able to approach God without fear of judgment or shame. I’m using this mental picture because you may feel like this. Your sin might be a small little fire or a burning inferno, but you will not ask for His help, because you are scared of how He might respond.

Today I’m going to help you see that the Bible teaches us that because Jesus is our Great High Priest, we can come to him in spite of our sins.

We are continuing our series Jesus Is Better, a study in the book of Hebrews, in a very important passage that teaches us that because Jesus represents us as our Great High Priest, we can draw near to God with confidence. Mark did a great job last week didn’t he. He started us off in Chapter 4 and talked about how Jesus offers a Better Rest. Today, we are in Hebrews 4:14-16. So let’s read together this passage and see what his word says.

Main Text

Hebrews 4:14–16 NIV

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. 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. 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.

Big Idea: Because Jesus Represents Us As Our Great High Priest, We Can Draw Near To God With Confidence

This morning I want to give you a simple three step process, found in our passage today, that you need to know so that you can draw near to God and receive his grace and mercy in your time of need.

1. Recognize Jesus As Our Great High Priest

The first step in the process is to recognize that Jesus is our Great High Priest. Now, let’s clarify something right away — Great High Priest is not a term that existed prior to this point. In the Old Testament, there were priests and there was the high priest, who was the chief priest. The term Great High Priest is not an Old Testament term, this is a new term only applying to Jesus himself.

The High Priest Represented Mankind Before God. In the Old Testament, the High Priest was the highest ranking official in the temple. He had a dual purpose. He represented God to the people.

In other words, when the people looked at the High Priest, he was meant to symbolize God to the people. This was found in everything he did. Even in the outfit he wore, he had “Holy Unto The Lord (YHWH)” written on a golden plate across his forehead. The people saw God’s name written on the High Priests head, he represented God to the people.

How much more does Jesus, God in the flesh, help us to see and recognize God? When we look at the person and life of Jesus, we are seeing God. Hebrews 1 again says he is the exact imprint of God. When we see Jesus, we are looking at God.

The second purpose of the High Priest was to represent the people before God. When God looks at the high priest, he is the sole representative of all of God’s people. And this plays out in Israel’s history. If the High Priest was evil, you can bet the people were doing evil things as well. Think of the first high priest, Aaron. Aaron literally fashions the golden calf for the people to worship!

Why Is It Important To Recognize Jesus As Our Great High Priest?

He Ascended To Heaven - The text gives us one reason, at least in the mind of the author of Hebrews, He’s not in the grave, he’s in heaven and he is sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. Your version may say, He passed through the heavens, which is symbolic of passing through the curtain into the Holy Place and he offers his blood as an eternal atonement for our sins.

I also think there is a second reason that the author is getting ready to bring up in chapter 5…

Jesus Is A Better High Priest. This is another instance of Jesus Is Better. Why is he better? Because He did not sin (he mentions this in verse 15), and he offers his perfect, spotless blood as an atonement for us.

How Are We To Recognize Him As Our Great High Priest? By Holding Firm To The Faith We Profess.

Because He is our Great High Priest, because he is to represent us before God as a perfect man, sinless, let us hold fast to our confession. What confession is he talking about? The confession that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Romans 10:9 ESV

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

If we hold fast to that confession, we are recognizing that Jesus is our Great High Priest. He is standing before God on our behalf. And He is doing that eternally. There’s never a moment where he doesn’t represent us, those that trust in Him.

2. Rely On His Sympathetic Heart

Jesus Is Like Us - Because Jesus is our high priest, he represents us before God. That’s why Christmas is so important. Jesus, Son of God, becoming a man changes everything! As the perfect man, he now stands before God on our behalf. He is just like us, yet without sin. That’s so important.

This is also why he is able to sympathize with us, He became man, just like us, so he knows what we are going through. This idea is incredible. God became man, so therefore he knows what its like to be like us.

This means He…

Sympathizes With Our Weaknesses - In other words, Jesus became weak like us. The all powerful God of the Universe, creator of heaven and earth, wrapped himself up in flesh and weakness. He put aside his godly attributes…

Suffered As A Man. We feel sympathy when we see others suffer the same way we did. Jesus suffered things like hunger and thirst. He dealt with being tired. He was rejected. He was betrayed. He was beaten and killed.

Tempted Like Us - Jesus was tempted in every way as us. This does not mean exact temptations, but the underlying roots of the temptations are the same. Jesus was tempted to seek his own way rather than God’s. Jesus was tempted to respond with jealousy or envy or lust. Remember temptations are not sin, giving into them is sin. Some of you are struggling with the fact that I said Jesus was tempted to lust, listen, I’m sure there were beautiful women back then. Jesus had eyes. He was full of testosterone. He was tempted in every way that we are, YET HE DID NOT SIN.

What does this tell us?

It’s possible for us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to overcome temptation. Paul says as much in 1 Corinthians 10:13

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. That’s a huge promise. So anytime you are feeling tempted, that means you have been given a means of escape. You don’t have to give in to that temptation anymore. Run to Jesus! Run to his throne of grace! He’s not waiting to beat you! He is waiting with arms wide open!

You can overcome.

Jesus Helps Us With Our Temptation. This also tells us that Jesus will help us in our temptation. He’s not just going to sit idly by if we come to Him. He is able to help those that are being tempted!

Hebrews 2:17–18 ESV

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

We Can Draw Near Because He Helps Us. This was one of the roles of the High Priest of Israel, they helped people draw near to God by offering sacrifices on behalf of the people. One way you can define a sacrifice is how you draw near to God. In the OT, they drew near to God through animal sacrifices. We draw near to God through Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice!

We Can Draw Near Because His Heart Isn’t Hard - One way to look at this word sympathize is to think of it as a tender heart. His heart is not calloused towards us. He’s not indifferent. He’s not angry. His heart is tender towards us because he knows what it’s like to be tempted! He’s been there. He knows what it’s like, so you are able to draw near to him because he has a soft heart towards you.

PERSONAL EXAMPLE - For me personally, I have responded in one of two ways we I have sinned. The most common response is the Adam and Eve response. I hide. Just like Adam and Eve trying to cover their nakedness in fig leaves, this does nothing. There is no where I can hide from God. But I run and I try to hide. I certainly don’t draw near to Him.

The second way I have responded in the past is called, false repentance. I feel bad, I get mad at myself. I might say I’m sorry, but I come up with excuses, and in the end, I don’t really repent. I just keep on sinning.

Neither of these will help you. The only good response to sin is to draw near to the one who can actually help you overcome it!

3. Respond With Confidence

“Let Us Then…” Because of everything that’s been said about Jesus being our Great High Priest and Him sympathizing with us in our weakness, LET US THEN draw near to God. This is the final step, we can respond to the calling of Jesus because of what He has done for us.

We Can Now Draw Near To Him - His death, his atonement for our sins, we can draw near to Him! In his crucifixion, his blood was shed for us. It gives us the opportunity to pass through the veil into the holy place, just like the High Priest would, because we are now Holy Unto The Lord.

He has cleaned us up! He has washed all the dirt off of us and no matter how hard we try to sully ourselves up again, his grace is sufficient to cover all of our sins, we only need to hold on to our confession, that He is our Great High Priest. He is Lord. He died for our sins. Don’t let go of that confession!

We Can Draw Near Without Fear Of Judgment! Because of what he has done, we don’t need to fear judgment or condemnation. We were once condemned, but now we are saved. We were once under the wrath of God, now His love is poured out on us!

It’s A Throne Of Grace - The author of Hebrews calls it a throne of grace. Think about that. He says his throne, the place where he rules from, is called grace. He doesn’t rule from a place of wrath or judgment. He sits on a throne called grace and he gives grace to all that draw near to Him through his blood.

How is it that we should “approach boldly”? Because now it is a throne of Grace, not a throne of Judgment. - John Chrysostom

We Receive His Mercy And His Grace - Notice what we receive if we choose to draw near to Him. Notice what happens if we boldly approach his throne of grace!

What Do We Receive If We Draw Near To Him?

We don’t receive judgment

We don’t receive shame or finger wagging.

We don’t receive a message of disappointment

We don’t get the silent treatment.

We don’t get what we deserve…

We get MERCY AND GRACE!

In Our Time Of Need - Some of us want to wait. We try to ignore our mess, our filthiness. We try to forget about it. But this verse tells us something important. Don’t put it off. Come to Jesus today! If you need Him today, He’s here. Don’t wait. Today is your time of need. If you are here today, you need Him. Don’t wait. Don’t put it off. The hour is at hand.

Decision

If you will follow this 3 step process - Recognize your Great High Priest and hold fast to that confession, Rely on the sympathetic heart of Jesus and RESPOND to Him with confidence, I believe you will be able to draw near to God without fear, finding grace and mercy in your time of need. If you don’t, you will stay stuck in a cycle of sin and shame.

What will you do? Will you respond?

I don’t know what you are going through. I don’t know about your secret sins. The things you are scared to bring into the light. I don’t know where you feel weak or where you have struggled, but Jesus does. He is waiting for you today. The altar is open. Come as you are.