We Have a Priest (10/4)

Most of us have enough sense to recognize when something is kind of dangerous not to be real dumb. When you stand near the edge of something. I'm scared of heights. Oh, this is about the most that I like to get. You know, that since that overcomes you that that sense of I'm near the engine really bad things could happen and I don't like it and you feel like you need to hang on with Leslie and I go on a hike or something like that you get in here and Edge and it's funny just how sometimes even though. Your footing is Totally Secure you almost feel like you have to kind of hug because you don't want to get close to that edge. There's something in situations like that that that causes us to pay attention you you meet a dog in the wild in you immediately recognize that this creature has more power and its jaws and I do in my fist and if I'm on the wrong side of this this might not into well for me in unless you're a really special. Redneck when you see an electric fence. He don't think I let's touch it and see if it's on because you know that this doesn't end well. We tend to recognize fairly. Well when things are powerful when things are dangerous. I'm a little bit afraid that Christians have lost that ability when it comes to God. Is the thing scripture teaches that God is powerful this passage in Hebrews. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God is this line from Psalms 76 and I could have picked a dozen Psalms that you oh God you are to be feared. God is scary for lack of a better term 2nd Corinthians 5 call said that he was motivated knowing the fear of the Lord. We persuade men. There are there are others Loop 12, you know this line from Jesus where Jesus says don't be scared of the one who can this hurt your body fear Him who has power over body and soul. There's something about God that is to be feared. There's this line in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe Aslan is the Christ figure and they're getting so excited. The kids are so excited because they're going to get to meet Aslan and their guides nonchalantly mentioned that Aslan is a lion and all of the sudden Susan says,

Quite safe. I'm not sure about meeting a lion in the guy cuz I didn't say anything about safe. I said he's good and he's the king, but he's not safe. I think sometimes we've lost on this idea. So I want to take you this morning back to Sinai because Sinai in the Old Testament gives us a glimpse of the power and Terror of God. It's even hesitate before I use the word Terror because I don't want you to be terrified of God if I just spent a lot of time trying to keep you from that, but I'm afraid sometimes we spent so much time keeping you from being terrified of God. That you don't get who got is that you don't get his power. I'm not scared of heights in the sentence that I feel like heights are out to murder me, but when I am near the edge or when I'm on top of a ladder, I'm really cognizant of everything I'm doing because it occurs to me that if I do something dumb there's going to be real consequences growing up. Dad told me that you needed to respect tools cars and guns. He said none of them are dangerous, but they are if you don't respect them, do we respect God as a sort of power? So here's a story in the Old Testament Israel. It's Exodus 19 verse 9 cross the Red Sea where in the wilderness were coming to Mount Sinai and God said to Moses. I'm going to come and speak to you and I mean to speak to you in such a way that all the people here and when they hear you, they're going to believe in me. And this is going to be a significant moments. There is a lot of preparation that has to be done for Israel to be in the presence of God. God tells Moses to tell the people make sure they're ceremonially clean he tells him to wash she tells them to abstain from sexual relationships for 3 days. And on the third day. God will show up by the way on the third day. God shows Echo some new testament things, but that's a different sermon for a different day and it's a big big moment. the severity and I keep having trouble with words are the ferocity of God is so big that it has not to 12 and 13. God tells them basically set up a perimeter around that mountain and don't you let anyone crossed that perimeter and it's it's so explicit in the text. He says if someone animal or person crosses that perimeter here to kill him but your to kill him by stoning them or by shooting I assume that's what era was not an AK because you're not supposed to go out there and join them or else you two would have violated this Divine no trespass order. It's a big deal to finally that day comes and just just look at the text Moses brought the people out of the camp. They made their stand at the foot of the mountain and God shows up on that mountain Mount Sinai was wrapped in Smoke because the Lord had descended upon it in fire the smoke of it went up like a smoke of a kilm the whole Mountain Trimble greatly thunder lightning. It is a terrifying scene. You're not getting it. What would it be? Like if you saw this, what would it be? Like if if you looked out the window right now in all of sudden that Hillside were spontaneously on fire. There was a deafening trumpet coming from nowhere and everywhere. What would you do if the earth started shaking some of you have been in our building in our Wednesday Bible classes when the rock quarry over on Limekiln does blasting? It's funny to me. They've been doing it enough years that I don't hardly notice any more but I really love it when I teaching my Wednesday class and all the sudden because it's such an unsettling thing to feel the concrete of the building move. That's the image of the mountain where God is present. This is actually the text that our kids have been studying in the Bible class lately because it's what leads you up to the Ten Commandments. This is when Moses gets the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, but what a lot of people don't notice is what happens immediately after this right after Moses brings God's message down to MIT right after God shows up on this mountain how the people respond in Exodus 20 verse 18 When all the people saw the Thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet in the mountains smoking the people were afraid and it trembled and they stood far off you remember how the last chapter we were setting a perimeter to make sure they didn't get to close in this chapter. That's not a problem at all. There's a lot of space cuz I don't want to get close it off. They said far off and they said to Moses you speak we will listen, but we can't handle it is.

The sun is 93 million miles away from here. Give or take I didn't do the math myself pretty good ways. Without the Sun Life on this planet would not be possible. If we were just a few percentage points further away from the sun we would freeze if we are whole lot closer. We would be like some of the other planets that are too hot to sustain life. How close can you get to the Sun? The answer is not very what happens to you if you approach the sun while I mean, let's assume that the vacuum of space doesn't kill you first Cosmic radiation will do a pretty good number on you the closer you get to it and then we haven't even started to talk about the heat the sun is good, but it's too powerful for you. It's too powerful for you to approach. The other thing is if the sun kills you it doesn't even notice. It doesn't matter. You're a you're a bug on its windshield. These are weird analogies to use for God, but it's the best I have the god of the Bible. Is so great and so powerful so mighty and that all of these words are just the word for Holy. He's so other he's so unique you so different so special that we can approach him because he is so great. We just we can't In This Moment In the book of Exodus is real realize this truth. They realize that God was great and that they were not and they realize that they desperately needed someone to stand in the gap between them and God. Now the texture in Exodus doesn't use the word priest but that's the role that Moses is fulfilling. He looked at my notes, by the way. I'm on page four of my notes about Hebrews 5 and I haven't even mentioned mentioned Hebrews 5 yet, but the idea and Hebrews chapter 4 and 5 is that Jesus is a great high priest the problem that I have when I preached the sermon to you is that you don't have any reaction to the word priest or if you do it's not a great reaction. You think about somebody a long time ago who wears funny clothes or you think about somebody now who wears funny clothes? This is a group of protestant. So the word priest doesn't mean a whole lot to you. If you look up priest in Google News the top two results are going to be stories of abuse and cover-ups. He don't have warm fuzzy feelings about the word priest and if you read your new testament, you don't have warm fuzzy feelings about the word priest because you remember how Jesus did before the high priest and how they're the ones who gave the blessing to his execution. You don't think positive things about priests, but if you were Israel, Begging Moses to go to God on your behalf and come to you on God's behalf to save your life. You would have thought entirely differently about priests. Are you following me? God is great in God is mighty.

I need someone to stand between me and him the priest stood in no man's land in the space between the holy and the common in the place between the greatness of God and the pollution of awful Humanity Moses was a literal Lifesaver for Israel because he stood in that Gap. You know, you don't appreciate priest too terribly much. But if you read your Bible you start to find out that they occupy a really significant role. I'm not going to read all of these verses to put them on the screen for you because if you look up each one of the verses I've shown you they are verses that talk about how the priests risked their lives to stand between God and the people the priest lives were in grave danger each one of these vs. Instructor play the priest to do something so that they would not die the priests have a risky job standing between you and God bless. You don't even know what priests do priests were the ones who taught the people the word of God priests were the ones who purified things. They take the common things and and Sanctified them are consecrated and they made them ceremonially clean boundary markers. They were the ones who stood in the space between man and God they are the Divine spokesman. They they reveal the will of God to the people. They were judges and not even sometimes the Appellate judges. They heard the hard case. Is that today? They dealt with the problems of the people. They were the decision-maker. Sometimes they carry their own room and thummim. If you remember that where they cast lots to find what God thought they were not the mall cop say where the temple cops what's commentator even use the phrase that they were the Bodyguards of God's holiness. I kind of like that phrase the Bodyguards of God's holiness. Not that God needed it. But by keeping people from entering and he kept the people alive. They were the ones who saw to it that the temple would say they were the ones who kept in manage the tides in the collections. They participated in War II participated in it. It was the priest who when Israel went to conquer the promised land. They're the ones who went first. I want you to appreciate that. There are at least three preachers in the room. I think James and Glenn. I don't know what I've watched a lot of World War II documentaries, but I've never seen one on the D-Day invasion where they say it. Let's put Matthew James and Glenn on the front line and send them in first, but that was Play the priest stood in the Israelite World. They led the way into battle they participate in war and I haven't even talked about all of their duties as offering these incredibly important sacrifices in dealing with all of his Holiness issues priests were so important. When Hebrews tells you and me that Jesus is the great high priest. We don't get it. Don't get it because two problems we have problem one is we don't understand why we need to go between between us and. Problem to as we don't understand what benefit a go-between is. But look at all this stuff teachers purifier stippled Ops leaders of War. This is what priests did the New Testament tells us that Jesus is our great high priest. Here's our verse Hebrews 4:14 since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. We have a high priest. None of the high priest. We have a great high priest. We have a high priest who is done something that no other priests could do if he stand in the gap between us and God I want to show you in this chapter in Hebrews chapter 4 Hebrews chapter 5. I want to show you seven things that make Jesus and incredible high priest and I hope these 7 things will help you appreciate. His ministry in your life even more last week we talked about how he is the living and active word of God this week. You're going to see a little more about what that means. They number one. Chapter 4 verse 14 says that we have a high priest who passed through the heavens. I told first service that I don't really like preaching about heaven and hell because I always sort of feel like a two-bit travel agent a tour guide. He's trying to sell you on a place. He's never been always feel like I don't know enough to tell you that story but Jesus is a high priest who has passed through the heavens. He has been in the throne room of God and he has passed through the grave. We have a high priest who understand everything about the world. I'm a preacher some people say that if I try to tell you about what I know from scripture about God Jesus is the one who has been there and he stands between you and God that's a powerful idea number to he was tempted like us it's a powerful thing to think that the one who stands between you and God understands fully and completely what it was like to be tempted. Jesus was tempted just like you That's hard for us to grasp because we have a high christology. That means we think a lot of Jesus Jesus is really God to us. It's hard for us to imagine that he was really tempted. Sometimes I even think I've actually done what he was tempted. He was tempted just like us what somebody says Jesus lived a long time ago. So he doesn't have the same Temptations He doesn't have an iPhone. He doesn't have all of these other things. How could this possibly be? Well, let me tell you who Jesus experience every emotion. You can ever experience in while the situations might look different one person said imagine a piano list piano might not have played every song that could ever be played but it can play every sound that can be played. Jesus has experienced everything that you and I experienced. He was tempted just like us doesn't it feel good to know that you have an advocate who understands what it's like to want something. He should not want to not want to do something. He does not want to do isn't it? Good to know that. It's nice to have a doctor who gets what you're going through. We have an advocate with God who has that thing number 3 Not only was he tempted like us unlike us he was Victorious. He was sinless. He was perfect. Who do you want coaching your team the winningest coach in football or the one who's lost the most use your guy to be the one who knows how to win in our priests is the one who knows how to overcome Temptation. That's something else for us to hear. He was chosen by God read chapter 5 verse 5, he wasn't a priest it was that was chosen by lot. He wasn't a priest you just happened into it. He was the priest selected by God. Think about this don't you like the idea that the judge? Chose his son to represent you as you have an advocate the judge chose his son to represent. You isn't that a nice thought. I mean if I get arrested sometime and I can get the judge's son to be my attorney. You think that's going to help my case any at all. How is that going to work in the idea of scripture? But the Son of God is your Advocate what an idea his path wasn't easy chapter 5 verse 7 to text says that through trials and suffering and supplications. He cried out to God even I hope this doesn't sound terrible, but I'm grateful that his path wasn't easy. It means that he understands when my path wasn't easy. There's some people I know that I have a hard time relating to. Are you thinking of me people watching online? I'm about to get a whole lot of trouble. I know some people. You are so good. They don't almost seem human. Do you know what I mean? There's some people who are just

Jesus walked the same path we walk and it wasn't easy. And the fact that it wasn't easy for him. He understands when it's not easy for me that's important. Chapter 5 verse 8 is another strange idea that he learned obedience as a son now. It's weird to me to think about God being tempted it and God being tired and God Being Human that that's hard for me. That's weird for me to think about. The God learning that seems weird but it went right up with Luke 2:52, he grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man something about the life of Jesus. He had to obey just like I have to obey Jesus did not have a get out of normal life free card from being God's Philippian said he took on the form of a servant he emptied himself. He made himself nothing on our behalf. He knows what it's like to be a nobody like you in me the last one number 7 Is the strangest one in two weeks or even come back to this one and hopefully by 2 weeks from now, I will figure it out a priest Forever After the order of Melchizedek. The thing that's hard about Hebrews is so many of these things are Old Testament references that if you don't get you don't you don't get what you need to get so this morning you don't get how exciting it is to have a priest because you don't understand the need for a price. That's what I'm trying to tell you the good of a price this morning. This is Melchizedek thing. It's a strange text, but I know this much about it because chapter 5 verse 10 and chapter 6 verse 20 chapter 7 verse 1 all say the same thing. It says that Jesus is a priest forever. James Hinkle told me to find a doctor who was younger than me. That way he would outlive me and I wouldn't have to change doctors. That's pretty decent advice. Jesus is a priest forever. You'll never need another priest. I'll never get old. He'll never get irrelevant. He'll never get to a stage where he's unable to do his duties anymore. He'll never lose his Edge. He is a forever priest. It's pretty cool idea who is chosen by God who is sinless who has suffered who was tempted? That's our Jesus. If you read all of this stuff yours the idea from the Day sermon, Jesus is the perfect one to Sam between me and God. Sometimes we have a hard conversation with another person. We like to get a third party involved it. Sometimes that's helpful for us. We know we're doing something really important. We want to bring somebody else in what scripture demonstrates is that Jesus is that perfect one to stand in the gap? He risks no. No, he doesn't risk Keith actually laid down his life to stand in that job so that I don't come to God alone so that I don't approach that fear on my own feet. But on his Jesus himself said I am the way the truth the life no one comes to the father except through me. Now you're still not getting it Hebrews spells out why this is so helpful. Okay, Hebrew says because we have a high priest because because because Jesus is in our Corner hang on to him. Don't let go of him. There's an x 1/16 because of Jesus weekend, we can approach god with with confidence. We can speak freely to God we can find Mercy because we have Jesus because we have Jesus we can approach God this way verse 2 of chapter 5 because Jesus is in the role that he is he can deal gently with us when we have lost our way and have lost our minds first night. He is perfect and because he is in this role. He becomes to us the source of Eternal salvation. It is really good news. Jesus is the perfect one to stand between me and. Here is the question. When you stand in front of the power of God. Do you want to stand by yourself? Or do you want to stand with a son? I know the answer to that question. Too many times. We have not fully respected the power and the might in the Holiness of God. We have not realize it there is something to be feared when we're standing on that edge that Edge of Glory that edge of greatness. But with Jesus we have the perfect one to stand between us and God. That's why we can approach god without Terror. We approach him with reverence. Yes, but we approach him with his son are friends. And that changes everything about our relationship with God. I'm not scared of Judgement Day. I don't think that's stupid and I hope you're not either. I'm not scared of Judgement Day because I think I have accumulated the right number of Heaven points. I'm not scared of Judgement Day because I think that I have been 72 days send free and categories b c and d I'm not scared of Judgement Day not because I have anything at offer to God. I'm not scared of Judgement Day because I know that I say and what she says and he stands for me. If you want that confidence, it doesn't come from acting like me that's funny thing come from doing anything. Like I have done it comes from trusting in the one that I trust and he calls you today exactly like you are and he will change you if he needs you to be standing sing this invitation song.

Call dog.