The Same, Yet Superior

honor of God's Word. The Old Testament scripture reading is Psalm 110.

The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments.

From the womb of the morning the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind.

You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand.

He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses.

He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way.

Therefore he will lift up his head. New Testament reading is in John 17 verses 1 through 9.

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,

Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

And this is eternal life, that they know you and the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now,

Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had had with you before the world existed.

I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave to me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

And now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.

For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you.

And they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those who you have given me, for they are yours.

You may be seated. Let's take the scriptures this morning and turn to Hebrews, book of Hebrews chapter 4, and I'll be reading chapter 4 verse 14 to chapter 5 verse 10.

You follow? 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, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. We may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

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.

He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beset with weakness.

Because of this, he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people.

No one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

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. As he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

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.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Let's pray together. Father, now take this text, these words on the page, and remind us that these are living words.

Help us to hear the good news of the gospel found in this text, and we pray that you would give us hope.

Thank you now for your word in Jesus' name. You know that God requires that you go through a priest in order to approach him?

Yeah, some of you are thinking, wait a minute, Pastor Tim, you going Catholic on us now? Is this gonna be some kind of a revelation of a sermon that says you're becoming a

Catholic? No, no, not at all. But the reason is that God has established another priesthood that is vastly superior to any priesthood we could come up with, and even superior to the priesthood that he had once established under the old covenant.

We still need a priest, and that is described for us in our text. Now recall for a moment the theme of this epistle, this written sermon.

It's all about the superiority of Jesus, and you recall that our writer has asserted that Jesus is superior to the angels.

You recall as well that he has made the case that Jesus is superior to Moses and to Joshua. And now as we saw last week,

Jesus is superior to the priesthood of Aaron, even the priesthood that God established in the old covenant.

He is superior to that. And we saw last week in verses 14 through 16 of chapter 4, our writer begins this theme.

As he begins this theme, he doesn't give you a lot of theological abstractions. Rather, he tells you that because Jesus is a superior high priest, you can hold fast your confession.

You remember that this is part of the theme that weaves its way through this book.

Don't lose hold of your confession. Don't let Jesus go.

And here, last week, he said you can hold fast your confession because of what

Jesus is and what he does, because Jesus has been exalted to the presence of God, because he sympathizes with your weaknesses and temptations, and because he generously gives you mercy and grace, you can hold fast your confession.

Now as we proceed through the text, as he unwraps the idea that Jesus is superior in his priestly ministry, he tells you why you should hold fast.

He tells you why you ought to hold fast, because of the nature of the ministry of Jesus.

He does this by comparing and contrasting the priesthood of Jesus with that of the

Old Testament. In every way, in every way, it is like the priesthood of the

Old Testament, the priesthood of Aaron. Yet it is different in a way that is better and that is superior.

It is the same in terms of its representation. All priests, including

Jesus, must represent men to God through offerings and sacrifice.

His priesthood is the same in terms of its solidarity. All priests, including Jesus, are drawn from mankind.

They are no different than the rest. It is the same in terms of its appointment.

All priests, including Jesus, are appointed by God to the office of high priest.

And yet the priesthood of Jesus is different than that of the high priesthood of the Old Covenant, for it's superior in every respect.

It's in respect to its representation, in respect to its solidarity, in respect to its appointment.

It's superior in every one of those. So, why must you hold fast?

Because of the nature of Jesus' priesthood. That's why you hold fast, because of the superior nature of the priesthood of Jesus.

Now let's look at this text, okay? And essentially it's divided into two sections, verses 1 through 4 and verses 5 through 10.

And in verses 1 through 4, he says, know the nature of that Old Covenant priesthood.

Know the nature of priesthood, if you will. Verses 1 through 4. The first thing he says is, priests were selected from among men to represent them before God with gifts and offerings.

So we're talking about representation here. They essentially served as mediators between man and God.

Verse 1, 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.

They essentially served as mediators then. They presented gifts from God's people to God.

This includes the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, the fellowship offerings, the thank offerings, the gifts that you would bring to God to express gratitude or thanks, and things like that.

But they especially offered sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people.

The atonement for transgressions were especially important on the Day of Atonement, when the high priests offered atonement for sins committed for the entire year.

Always once a year there is this great day of atonement. You will know it if you heard it.

It's on your calendars. Every calendar you buy, you find it. Yom Kippur. When you get your calendar, look for it.

Yom Kippur. It's the Day of Atonement. That is the day in which sacrifices were offered.

Now these priests, he says, act on behalf of men. They acted on behalf of men.

Now imagine you become aware of a transgression. Let's say you're living back then under the Old Covenant, and you become aware of a transgression, and you need to offer a sacrifice to God to deal with it.

You can read about all those in the Torah, the first five books. Now you become aware, you know a sacrifice is required.

You can't just pick out a lamb and then slit its throat and cart it over to the temple or the tabernacle courtyard, go in, walk over to the altar, and offer it to God.

You can't do that. What do you have to do? You have to bring that lamb to the priest himself, and he will do everything that needs to be done from that point on.

He would then kill and sacrifice the animal on your behalf. Now that's especially true on the

Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement was the day in which the nation's transgressions were taken care of.

It was one time a year. It was that time of year, and you couldn't offer to God, you couldn't offer that to God on your own, neither could you choose representatives who would do that for you.

No, the high priest alone could do it, and he would enter the

Holy of Holies that one time in the year to offer that ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the entire nation of God's people.

So God required priests as representatives or mediators to stand between him and his people.

Priest, he says in verses 2 and 3, priests also stood in solidarity with these people.

They were selected from the people to offer these sacrifices.

Now, these priests did not belong to a different class of humanity. They weren't different from anybody else.

Of course, each priest acts on behalf of sinners to God. He represents the ignorant, those who through ignorance violate the commandments of God.

By the way, don't make any mistake about it. If you're unaware that you have broken the law of God, you've still sinned.

You've broken. You've transgressed. You have sinned, even if you're not aware of it.

And so he would offer sacrifices for the ignorant and the wayward, those who would wander away from the statutes of God.

And yet, our text tells us they could still relate to those whom they represented, because they too were wayward and ignorant.

They too had the same weakness. Now look at verse 2, since he himself, he can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.

That doesn't mean, in this context, it doesn't mean frailty necessarily, because in verse 3 it says, because of this, because of that weakness, right?

Because of that weakness, he's obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins. The weakness of sin.

They too had that weakness, and because of that, they could and they must restrain their anger and pride towards sinners who would come to them.

No anger. Boy, those, this guy, how many times have I seen him?

Boy, is he ever going to get his act together? And there's no judgmental, high horse, look down your nose kind of attitude.

They deal gently with those sinners. He says, too, he must say to himself,

I must deal gently with you, because I am a sinner too. Because he's obligated to offer sacrifices for himself as well.

He must make atonement for his own sin, just like he does for everyone else. This is especially true on the

Day of Atonement. I want you to look back at Leviticus 16. By the way, Leviticus 16 is like a

Red Star chapter in your Bibles. I mean, this is an important chapter in the

Old Testament because it describes for us the Day of Atonement. Now I'm not going to read through the whole chapter. I'm going to pick out certain parts so you can see what our writer, what our pastor who wrote

Hebrews, is talking about. Leviticus 16, verse 3.

I'm getting old. It's hard for me to see the numbers anymore. But in this way

Aaron shall come into the holy place with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarments on his body. And he shall tie the linen sash around his waist and wear the linen turban.

These are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

Okay, drop down to verse 11. Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house.

He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself and he shall take the censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the

Lord and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small and he shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the

Lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony so that he does not die and he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat thus he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions all their sins and so he shall do for the tent of meeting which dwells in them in the midst of their uncleanness no one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel drop down to verse 20 and when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting in the altar he shall present the live goat and Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness the goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area and he shall let the goat free in the wilderness so you see on the day of atonement he must make atonement for his sin for the sin of the priests and then he must make atonement for the sin of the people that's what our writer is referring to his own sin and the sin of the people and listen you cannot have any stronger

I can't say that there is a an unbelievably strong bond of solidarity that that that the bomb then the bond there's there's an incredible bond of solitary solidarity between the priests and the people and it is this they're all sinners they're all sinners he is no different and so a solidarity existed between the people and the priests and then finally he tells us in in verse 4 the priests held their office by appointment the priests held their office by a poor and no one takes this honor for himself but only when

God when called by God just as Aaron was no one took the honor of the priesthood on himself the priesthood was not a democratic office

Moshe Cohen could not say I want to be a priest so I'm going to campaign for the position so he's meeting with his team one day and he says okay we need more posters in Judah's tribal encampment and then tomorrow afternoon

I got a meet and greet with the with the tribe of Asher right none of that happened why because it's not a democratic office

God appointed you to that office look over at Exodus 28 for a moment and you see that appointment you see that appointment in Exodus 28 verse 1 then bring near to you

Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the people of Israel to serve me as priests

Aaron and Aaron sons Nadab and Abihu Eleazar and Ithamar so there it is

Aaron and his descendants were appointed to the priesthood God had to appoint them so men occupied the office of priest by God's appointment all right so he's kind of outlined for us the basic idea of the priesthood under the

Old Covenant and now our writers a writer deals with the same characteristics of Jesus priesthood but in reverse order right for them he says represent representation solidarity appointment now he goes appointment solidarity representation so he picks up with appointment right away and moves up if you will on the those three characteristics and Jesus shares all of the characteristics of that old priesthood nevertheless his priesthood is superior so know the superior nature of Jesus priesthood verses 5 through 10 again all right the last thing you mentioned was appointment so that's where he picks it up Jesus occupies his priestly office by God's appointment by God's appointment verses 5 and 6 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 as he says also in another place you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek Jesus occupies his priestly office by God's appointment in some way it's the same as the old priesthood like the priests of old

Jesus did not exalt himself to the honor of high priests he did not take that honor for himself he did not do miracles and teach in a campaign to achieve the highest honor that's not why he did that he humbly did the will of his father never deviating from the ministry assigned to him by God he did not take that honor to himself rather God appointed him to his priesthood and yet in that appointment he shows that he is superior to the old in what way well look at what he says in verse 4 you are my son today

I have begotten you God appointed him as high priest because he is the very son of God he's the high priest because he's the son of God now here he quotes again

Psalm chapter 2 verse 7 he's quoting the Old Testament here and we've seen this quote before he quoted it in chapter 1 verse 5 to show that Jesus is superior to the angels why is he superior to the angels because he is the son of God that's why he's superior to the angels but this text says nothing about priests it says nothing about priests but instead it emphasizes kingship speaking of the promised

Davidic King who would inherit the nations and rule over them alright so why does he do that because Jesus is a particular kind of priest he is unlike all the others a kingly priest he serves not only as priest but as king and that is a superior priest that is a superior priest and then he confirms what he just is trying to prove in verse 6 where he quotes

Psalm 110 verse 4 you should have heard that very same verse today in the

Old Testament reading now if you look at Psalm 110 verse 4 if you listen carefully you notice how it starts out the

Lord has said to my Lord Yahuwah said to my

Lord so David is acknowledging that the promised one who was to come was his ruler he was higher than David David recognized the promised figure as his ruler whose reign if you listen would extend over the nations and over his enemies but he adds another dimension by saying that this king this promised

King is a what he's a forever priest he's a priest forever and so in Psalm 110

David says this is going to be my Lord and he's going to be a priest forever and so here's the promised ruler also serving as the promised priest now what's the point

Psalm 2 says Jesus is King and Psalm 110 says that King will also be a priest that's his argument

Jesus is King the promised King and by the way that promised

King is also going to be a priest and he's going to be a priest like Melchizedek now what is that all about some of your thinking going okay

I think I heard of that guy once before but I'm not sure Mel what's that name again because you only find him twice in scripture before this all right so I'm 110

Genesis 14 and by the way later on he's gonna make a big deal out of this guy so we got to know who he is so turn back to Genesis 14 for a moment

I think I preached on this probably 10 years ago is that when I was in Genesis Genesis chapter 14 since I preached on it 10 years ago you should all remember this all right

Genesis 14 now here we find the story you remember of Abram Abram strapped on his sword and going to war against these five kings and he utterly defeats them and then we read this beginning in verse 17 after his return from the defeat of of Teterlamor and the kings who were with him the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Sheba that is the

Kings Valley and Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine he was a priest of God of the

God of God most high and he blessed him and said blessed be Abram by God most high possessor of heaven and earth and blessed be

God most high who has delivered your enemies into your hand and Abram gave him a tenth of everything what do we find here we find here that Jesus is just like Melchizedek he is

Melchizedek was a priest and Melchizedek was a king both of those are true

Melchizedek only mentioned there was a priest of God the true

God is that amazing somehow he was a priest of the true

God and he was the king of Salem and so Jesus is just like Melchizedek who was a king and a priest so Jesus did not take this office to himself but God appointed him to it not in the line of Abraham but in the likeness of Melchizedek and so his priesthood is superior now verses 7 and 8 just like just like the old covenant priests

Jesus stands in solidarity with his people in that sense his priesthood resembles the old priesthood

Jesus is not now Jesus is not one with us in our sin we saw that last week he made that point very clear

Jesus is not one with us in our sin but he has shared the anguish of the human experience he does know the anguish and our text talks about in the days of his flesh so verses 7 and 8 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 although he was a son he learned obedience through what he suffered our text talks about the days of his flesh the days he shared in our flesh and blood he knows the frailty and weakness the heartache and the sorrow of human experience and like us in our weakness and frailty he was absolutely dependent on God just like you he was absolutely dependent on God like you like us he pleaded with God tearfully and loudly desperately asking for deliverance now this may sound like the

Garden of Eden I'm sorry the Garden of Gethsemane but the text says this happened in the days of his flesh pointing to his life not just one incident sorrows and tears were a regular occurrence for Jesus in his entire life and God heard him because of his reverence because of his fear of God he gave himself completely to doing the will of God he never deviated from that never now some of you might be saying what do you mean

God heard Jesus died yeah but did

God deliver him yes he did through the resurrection okay footnote not in my notes and not as part of this text it's this isn't the purpose of the text but it does tell me something when you say

I asked God to do so -and -so and he didn't do it he may have done it but in a way that you don't recognize did

God save Jesus yeah he delivered him from death itself through the resurrection just like he's going to do for you all right but the point is the point is that here is

Jesus in solidarity with us suffering and tearfully loudly crying out to God for deliverance now remember these folks are facing persecution threats of death the sorrow of ostracism they were probably praying the same thing

God deliver us from this right is not what you do when things get difficult what do you do

God deliver me from this and yet here is their glorious new priest who is experienced all that they have experienced and praise like they pray he's one with us folks he knows what it's like to be in desperate circumstances and crying out to God your

Savior knows what that's like because he's done it and so this high priest like the old covenant high priest stands in solidarity with us he's one of us and yet this new priesthood is superior and more glorious how so well his priesthood is superior because he learned obedience in his suffering although he had a unique relationship with God as the

Son of God nevertheless he learned obedience in his suffering now the process of learning here does not imply that Jesus moved from the posture of disobedience to obedience it's not what it means when we say that Jesus became as we've seen earlier

Jesus was a merciful and faithful high priest does that then mean that does that imply that he was formerly callous and unfaithful no no it doesn't mean that listen to Thomas Schreiner as he describes this

I love this this verse emphasizes Jesus humanity he learned how to obey in the anvil of human experience as he experienced life day by day in particular he learned obedience in his suffering when suffering strikes human beings are inclined to do whatever it takes to avoid it to find another path where there is joy and refreshment

Jesus however learned how to trust God and do his will in the midst of suffering his first name was not his own pleasure and comfort but the will of God isn't that amazing what do you do when you're suffering when you suffer right boy

I tell you when I'm in pain or I'm suffering but again I've said this before my universe ends right here at the tip of my nose this is it this is my entire universe

I want to be out of it not Jesus he never deviated from trusting and doing the will of God even in the midst of suffering as the rest of us do so although he is the son he learned obedience he did not fail he did not bail out he remained faithful to God and so established a superior priesthood and then verses 9 and 10 just like the

Old Covenant priest he represents you to God he represents you to God in one sense this representation is like the other priests verse 10

God designated him high priest God appointed him as high priest he was designated by God for the office and God called him to represent his people just like all the other priests now it's unique and that he's a representative in the same way that Melchizedek was but nevertheless just like the

Old Covenant priests he represents us to God he was designated he was appointed by God to that very thing and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek so in one sense this representation is like all the others before but in another sense

Jesus work of representing you is different and vastly superior to the old priesthood how so Jesus experienced superior equipping to enter his office to enter the task of representing you now remember in the book of Hebrews when you see that word perfect it's talking about he is perfectly equipped he has been perfectly fitted to occupy the office when you say again when you look at a man and say

Joe is the perfect man for the job are you asserting that Joe has no moral imperfections no what you mean is he has the right personality and the proper vocational skills to do the job same with Jesus Jesus was fitted for his priesthood by his suffering and his obedience in the midst of suffering the process he experienced was vastly superior to all other preparation for the priesthood vastly superior to the equipping of other priests again listen to this writer

Jesus obedience was an abstraction until he obeyed

God in the concrete realities and travails of everyday human experience his suffering and death equipped and qualified him equipped and qualified him to serve as a priest he learned what it was to please

God as a child a teenager an adult Jesus perfecting and obedience had to be worked out in everyday life and at every stage of his life

Jesus suffering was not merely moral it is also vacate vocational fitting him for his role as high priest you see his preparation is vastly superior why because he suffered and never sinned he is perfectly qualified to represent us because his equipping produced obedience his suffering produced obedience his priesthood is superior by virtue of his preparation and that suffering produced obedience and so what this high priest does not need to offer sacrifices for his own sin in the midst of the crucible of human suffering he never sinned he always did the will of God and because of that equipping process he has proved himself a perfect high priest perfect now in the sense of I'm using the word no moral failure at all he does not need to offer a sacrifice anymore now because of that Jesus has a superior ministry as high priest because he offers so much more as your representative he is what he is the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him now very quickly remember that although faith and obedience are distinguishable faith and obedience are not the same thing but even though they're distinguishable they're inseparable keep that in mind as you read through this book they're distinguishable but inseparable faith and obedience are not the same thing but you can't have faith without obedience following this is perfectly summed up in chapter 11

I want you to Abraham's known as the man of wise the man of faith right well watch what

Hebrews 11 8 says this think this tells us very clearly how they're distinguishable and yet inseparable by faith

Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance there it is

God said Abraham I'm gonna give you this land and Abraham believed

Abraham Abraham believed him so what did he do he obeyed and went now here's the point that our writer is making could any of the former priests offer the people eternal salvation no we're gonna see that much clearer much more clearly in chapters 9 and 10 all right but this priest is indeed superior because that is exactly what he offers rescue from the wrath of God he is the source of your eternal salvation this is the word superior doesn't even do justice to it now does it this is unbelievable this high priest can offer you eternal salvation and so he presents you to God as a friend as a child of the father since he is the source of your eternal salvation

Jesus priesthood is superior by virtue of what he offers now do you see the difference between the old priesthood and the new the question is does it make a difference to you does it make a difference to you can't you see the glorious thing that Jesus has achieved we will always need a priest to come to God but we have a priest who is far superior to anything in the old covenant or even anything we come up with today why would you abandon this

Jesus since his priesthood is so much superior to anything else

Jesus bestows eternal salvation because he is the priest who reigns at the right hand of God he's a priest who rules the world

God appointed him as priest like Melchizedek because his suffering in his suffering and anguish he obeyed

God even unto death you have a high priest who like all the others identifies with you but who unlike all the others has the ability to save and deliver you this is what

Jesus has accomplished this is what he is God help us to flee to him in our sin and to find refuge in that high priest father thank you for our high priest the

Lord Jesus thank you Lord God for him father

I confess that I don't know how glorious this is I'm afraid we're we're jaded and we cannot taste the goodness of all of this like we should oh

God help us help us to see Jesus as this superior glorious high priest and Lord let us hold fast our confession because this is what we have