Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

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We live in world that loves to rank “what” or “who” is the best or the greatest?

We make lists like “The Best Restaurant” in town.

What would be at the top of your list of the “best” place to eat in Scottsbluff?

(Share) As proven by our impromptu survey this morning, it’s subjective and based on personal opinion or preference.

Let’s try another one.

“Who” is the best actor in Hollywood?

Who is at the top of your list?

(Share).

Again, it’s subject to personal opinion.

A few weeks ago Pastor Jake preached a message from declaring that Jesus is the Greatest of All Time Emmanuel Eternal.

In that message he gave examples of people who are given the label “GOAT” which stands for “Greatest of All Time.”

GOAT’s are hotly debated in life.

“Who is the greatest NBA player of All Time?” (Chamberlin, Jordan, or Lebron).

“Who is the greatest composer of all time?

(Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi) Country Music Singer?

(George Strait, Reba McIntyre, Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn?)– who cares!

We argue about the greatest of all time and sometimes we just make lists of the top ten greatest things (vacation destinations), greatest teams, or greatest people.

A list we probably don’t think about often or at all is “Who are the greatest priests throughout history?”

Have you spent anytime at all thinking about who is considered to be one the greatest priests in history?

It’s probably subjective, depending on how we define greatness, is greatness related to the work they accomplished, their fame/popularity, or something else?

Who would be on your list?

· Moses’ brother - Aaron

· Marin Luther

· Thomas Aquinas

· Pope John Paul II

· J.I. Packer

· John Stott

· Pope Francis

Arguably, they are all great priests.

I doubt any of us have a list of the greatest priests in history.

The whole idea of “priesthood” might be foreign to many of you, it’s familiar to anyone that grew up in a church where there were priests not pastors.

I’m not sure what comes to your mind when you think of priests.

It certainly reminds me of my childhood.

I grew up attending a church with a priest.

I remember their robes and going to see them for confession.

Need

The ministry of the priesthood is recorded in the pages of Scripture.

The institution of the priesthood in the OT revealed the need for a priest to serve as a mediator between sinful humanity and a holy God—Today we return to our series in HEBREWS where we will discover that we have a great high priest, the greatest priest of all time, and consider the implications for our lives.

Preview

Take your Bible (I hope you do) and turn to Hebrews chapter 4. HEBREWS is drawing us to encounter and experience the greatness of Jesus.

Remember the letter of Hebrews was written to a group of Jewish Christians who were being tempted to return to Judaism, they had come to faith in Jesus and were facing intense persecution which tempted return to a life of Judaism instead of a life of following Jesus.

The book of Hebrews is an exhortation (a really long sermon), motivating them to persevere, because Jesus is greater than the Old Covenant.

As we’ve walked through the first four chapters of the book we’ve discovered that Jesus is greater than the OT prophets, greater than the angels, and even greater than Moses.

Today transition to another major section of Hebrews which declares that Jesus is greater than Aaron.

The superiority of Jesus to Aaron is without a question one of the most teachings of the book of Hebrews.

The penman spills a lot of ink unpacking that Jesus is greater than Aaron – it is the focus/emphasis from -Chapter 10 – over five chapters of the book of Hebrews is dedicated to proclaiming that Jesus is greater than Aaron.

The penman will proclaim Jesus to be the Great high priest (par excellence) and then highlight the greatness of His priestly ministry.

I pray the repeated emphasis on this great truth will sink deep into our souls and have a profound impact on our lives as well.

Well what’s the big deal?

Why is it so important to prove that Jesus is far greater than Aaron?

Aaron was the first of appointed high priest—and the entire foundation of Judaism under the Old Covenant rested on God’s institution of the priesthood—as the basis of Israel’s relationship with God.

Now priests have recently fallen into bad light—the subject of many jokes and stereo types—and yet most of them are good men who are striving to serve the Lord faithfully in their calling.

One might think the idea of priesthood is a part of man-made religion, the Bible actually speaks of God’s institution of the priesthood in the OT.

Now the Bible reveals the clear functions of the OT priests:

Representation: The priest served as a mediator between man & GodProvision: The priest would make sacrificial provisions for the sins of the people Access: The priest had the privilege of going into the presence of God for the people

And as we progress through this next major section of the letter, we’ll see very clearly that God’s institution of the priesthood in the OT serves as yet another foreshadowing of a greater priesthood that would be fulfilled by Jesus!

Therefore the message that Jesus is greater than Aaron was good news for them and remains good news for us.

Today we’re going to discover that Jesus is Our Great High Priest—greater than Aaron—and then consider the right response in light of this great truth.

Let’s dig in.

Hebrew 4:14-5:10.

I) JESUS IS OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST (4:14-5:10)

unashamedly declares that Jesus is our great high priest.

The penman wanted to drive home that Jesus’ priesthood is superior to Aaron’s priesthood so they would not return to their old life under Judaism.

Let’s consider that Jesus Position, Provision, and Perfection as our great high priest.

A) Jesus’ Position as Our Great High Priest (4:14-15)

We begin with “Jesus’ Position as our Great High Priest” – Jesus’ Position as Our Great High Priest (4:14-15).

Jesus is far greater than Aaron because of His unprecedented Position.

Jesus has a better “Position” to serve as our High Priest.

We see two aspects of Jesus’ position as our High priest.

1) Exalted at the Right Hand of God – Heavenly Tabernacle (4:14)

First, Jesus is in a better position to serve as our great high priest.

Jesus is the exalted Son of God—”since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God” (4:14)—Jesus is not merely a servant of God He is the exalted Son of God.

During Jesus’ ascensions he literally “passed through the heavens” which reveals transcendence, He transcends time and space, and He is “exalted high above the heavens” (), and he entered into a heavenly sanctuary.

Quite the contrast to Aaron who had the privilege to pass through the inner veil of the earthly tabernacle and into the presence of the holy of holies once a year on for and on behalf of the people as their priest.

Jesus ascended “through the heavens” and was give the position of highest honor at the right hand of the Father.

Jesus currently serves as mediator and intercessor before the Father in a way that Aaron never could during his priesthood.

Jesus’ exaltation to serve as our great high priest will be emphasized in greater detail in the weeks to come (, , ).

Aaron’s access to God as the high priest was limited to once a year—every year he was allowed to enter the inner sanctuary to make atonement for the sins of the people in the very presence of God—but Jesus made a sacrificial provision for sin once and for all through His death and now continually lives in the presence of God who mediates and intercedes as our great high priest.

Jesus is in a better position to serve as our great high priest – He is the exalted Son of God positioned at the right hand of the Father.

2) His Ability to Offer Sympathy (4:15)

Secondly, Jesus is in a better position to offer sympathy as our great high priest—" 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.”

Jesus is in a better position than Aaron to sympathize with sinful humanity.

One of the essential aspects of a priest’s ministry was being able to sympathize with the weakness’ of frail humanity.

If Jesus is serving as our great high priest from an exalted position one might question His ability to sympathize with our struggle.

Jesus is a high priest who can sympathize with sinful humanity because He became a man.

Jesus was “make like His brothers” ().

Jesus’ exaltation (“passing through the heavens”) was preceded by Jesus’ humiliation (leaving the heavens)—before Jesus ascended heaven He descended to earth—Jesus’ humanity enables Him to be our great high priest who can “sympathize with our weakness” because He was “tempted in every way and yet without sin.”

We have in heaven a great high priest with an unequaled capacity to sympathize with us in our weakness—Jesus understands/knows how we feel in the face of human weakness (limitations and incapacity) because He experienced human weakness—Jesus was hungry, tired, lonely, and felt pain.

Jesus knew the frailty of human weakness and encountered human temptation—He was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet did not sin”—Jesus was tempted by Satan but remained sinless.

Jesus experienced temptation like we do but was never guilty of committing sin.

Jesus was “tempted in everything”—this doesn’t mean that He faced every possible temptation that a human could encounter in life—it means that He endured “the full force or measure” of temptations during His earthly ministry but never yielded to sin.

(How can he have been tempted if God cannot be tempted?)

Hurricane/Tree C.S. Lewis - “A man who gives in to temptation after 5 minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later…(Jesus)was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means.”

Jesus did what we could never do—He bore the full force of temptation and did not sin—Jesus stood victorious under the full weight of human temptation, never yielded, and remained sinless.

Jesus didn’t have to give into temptation to truly be able to sympathize with us, He just had to experience the same kinds of temptations we faced, and not give in to sin.

Since Jesus experienced the full force of temptation and yet did not sin He is uniquely positioned to sympathize with our weakness as our great high priest.

The primary “temptation” at the forefront of the penman’s mind and most relevant to the Jewish Christians would be the “temptation” to turn back to Judaism due to their persecution & pain and to learn from Jesus’ example.

Jesus’ exaltation (“passing through the heavens”) to the right hand of the Father and His ability to sympathize with our weakness uniquely positions Him to be our great high priest.