Hebrews 7 and Job Interviews

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2 verse 5 where the

Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour ,� so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the

Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and it is Saturday and it is,

I don�t know, it�s February already. That�s amazing. If you are on Facebook Live, you�re in the

NoCo group, I think you have to have a special approval, special papal dispensation.

You can get on and I don�t know, I don�t know if you want to watch anything, but you can.

What we try to do on the radio show is to talk a lot about the Lord Jesus and His life and particularly these days,

His intercessory work as high priest. I also like to talk about just kind of current events and stuff like that, things that are on my mind.

One of the reasons why I do No Compromise Radio is that if I jam all my theological concerns about evangelicalism into every sermon, it�s not really a sermon.

So this is my outlet and this is my time of kind of just to have a little fun.

I have a little article here about what a narthex is. There are all these words that we have about, you know, is it an auditorium, is it a sanctuary, is it a platform, is it a stage, is it a table for communion, is it an altar?

There�s a lot of words in evangelicalism. You have to know what you�re doing. And so I found out what narthex is.

Do you know what the word narthex is? I remember that word back in my Lutheran days, narthex,

N -A -R -T -H -E -X, nar -thex. And here�s what the internet says it is, an architectural element typical of early

Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area.

So you walk in and the lobby is called a narthex. I don�t know if that makes me feel better. Maybe it makes me think of the band

Nazareth. Maybe it makes me think of the city Nazareth. It does go on to say that I find this fascinating.

I love etymology stuff, especially with salsa. It's really good. It has to be hot salsa, kind of a cilantro,

Indian type, super spicy. What's that Indian word? Jhakta, maybe. Maybe that's it.

The word comes from narthex, okay? That seems very insightful.

I'm glad I have the internet for that. Narthex comes from the word narthex, medieval

Latin from classical Greek, narthex, which means giant fennel,

F -E -N -N -E -L, giant fennel. And now here's the interesting part, listeners.

It also means scourge, okay? So how does this all work?

You go to the front of the church, probably Roman Catholic type, and the front, you've got the scourge area.

Ah, see, now I get it. Now I see the difference, and was a place for penitents.

In modern Greek, narthex no longer has this meaning, either of a porch or church, or the brace of a sprained wrist or sling of a broken arm.

It's now the porch outside the church, usually at the west end. Anyway, why did

I think of west end girls in the pet shop, boys, I have no idea. The purpose of the narthex was to allow those not eligible for admittance into the general congregation to hear and partake in the service.

The narthex would often include a baptismal font, so infants or adults could be baptized there before entering the nave.

Is that naive? The nave. And to remember other believers of their baptisms as they gathered to worship.

So anyway, here on North Carolina Radio, the narthex, you've got to cleanse yourself.

And so here's the great news for Christians, for real Bible believers, is that you're already cleansed, and you are legally good with God because of the work of the

Son, and you cannot improve your performance to the degree that you can change your status and make yourself more lovable or more in Christ or more justified or more called or more predestined or more foreordained or more loved, for that matter, because of what the

Lord has done. You are in Christ, and God loves you. Remember what Paul said in Galatians chapter 2, life

I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who what? Who loves me, you know, or who loved me and gave his life for me.

The love's present tense is found in Hebrews chapter, excuse me, Revelation chapter 1. Well, I think that's fascinating.

What I like to do when I go to churches and they've got a little water deal there for the holy water, I'm tempted to touch the water because, you know,

I'm not a Catholic, so maybe that would somehow sully the water. I would never think that. I would never do that.

Well, on No Compromise Radio today, we're going to talk a little bit about Jesus, the high priest.

I've been preaching through Hebrews chapter 7 here, and what I like to do is, and I've told you,

I just try to be honest with the listeners and those people who are watching now. I try to use you as a guinea pig on Friday nights or Saturdays or Saturday nights because I need to review my message, and I like to hear myself talk about my sermon.

Well, that sounds stupid, but I like to hear what I'm saying, then I can say to myself, that didn't come across very well.

It sounds like I don't know what I'm doing. It sounds like I better do something else.

Instead of radio, I should be in the telegraph business. Anyway, it's just one more way for me to combine the hobby, i .e.

noco, into the ministry. So, that's what we do. You don't have to watch. You don't have to recommend.

You can do the thumbs down. You can tag friends. You can...I don't even know what all these things are here for.

There's a...it looks like on the bottom of my Facebook deal, it's got tag friends. It's got a plus. It's got some kind of witch symbol, like, you know, magic symbol, a reversal of the camera, something else, and I don't know what else.

So, anyway, if you are a regular listener, if you are a regular follower of No Compromised Radio, thank you.

Thank you for covering my back. I...this last week, I don't think

I got in any trouble that I know of. I may have gotten in trouble, but not that I know of on social media or anything like that.

The way I'm going to start off the sermon tomorrow is I'm going to ask this question. So, I might as well ask it to you, the noco listener.

What's the worst question in a job interview? Can I see your criminal record? That would be a bad one.

But what's the dreaded...if you're an upstanding citizen, compared to others on the bell curve of life, what's the dreaded job interview question?

The one where you go, how am I going to answer that? I mean, if they ask you, when were you born? And are you from Nebraska? Do you have a

Midwestern work ethic? You know, they could ask you a lot of questions, and you might know the answer. It'd be very simple.

What did you make when you were at the widget factory? Oh, we made, you know, X, Y, and Z.

Well, what's the dreaded interview question? To me, the dreaded interview question is, okay, you tell me a little bit about your weaknesses.

You want me to tell you about something that I'm bad at? What's my greatest weaknesses?

Now, they tell you, if you get asked that question, you ought to respond carefully. Okay. Boy, that's the consultant firm approach.

They say that you don't want to cast any kind of doubt on, can you do the job or not?

And that sounds like that's wise advice. They're also making sure that, yeah, there you go.

Joseph, I mean, Stephen said, Stephen Joseph, Joseph Stephen. Anybody ever call you Joe? Hey, Joe. What are your faults?

Do you have any? I mean, how are you going to navigate that? And so what they say to do is they say, you know what?

You can mention skills that aren't critical for the job. So I'm really bad at such and such, and that has nothing to do with this job.

Or you can say, you know what? I've had a weakness in a certain area, and you say that weakness, and I'm working to improve by doing this, that, and the other.

I'm actively improving what I'm doing. And what they want you to do is they want you to be honest, and they want you to be self -aware.

That's really what they're after. They're not after, you know, oh, does it?

Well, well, self -improvement, honesty, and self -awareness. I did read, I probably won't use this in the sermon tomorrow, but when asked by a person, let's see, my weaknesses,

Andrew said, I work too hard, I care too much, and I spend too much time volunteering. So sometimes

I'm late for work. So anyway, the one that I thought was interesting online, you are not confessing your sins or discussing childhood traumas with a therapist, so don't talk about your greatest weakness of all time, and then wait for mercy.

Rin said, I was once asked, how humble are you? Yeah, that's a great question.

I actually, if I interview people, I'm going to start asking some of these questions, because I just want to see the people squirm, you know, some kind of Scientology E -meter, you know, and see if they've got any thetans left.

By the way, I'm watching that Leah Remini leaving Scientology deal. It's crazy.

Sign a billion -year contract. If you're going to go into the Sea Org, you're going to go a billion years.

How's that for you? Reminds me of Carl Sagan. Well, this was one of the ways not to respond on the internet here.

It said, I hate animals. I hate animals so much that I yell at my sister's dog when she isn't around to hear it.

I don't know why I hate animals so much. I suspect that it comes from the time when a seagull ate my taco.

On the internet. That bird swooped down and ate a taco out of my hand.

I've never been the same since, and I don't know what to do about it. And the internet said, you need a job, not a therapy referral.

All right, so here's my bridge. So when you're preaching, you have kind of an introduction. It could be anything. It could be nothing.

And then there's the bridge, right, to get to the message. So here's my bridge from those interview questions, you know, dreaded interview questions.

If you needed someone to represent you before God, a thrice holy God, and you do need someone because you're going to die one day sooner or later in your sleep or some kind of tragic accident, and you'll stand before God.

And since God is the creator and you're the creature, God has made you for certain things. And He's particularly made you, if you'd like to summarize it, so that you might love

Him with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and that you might love other people that He's made in His image as much as you love yourself.

Those are the two great commandments summarized, and you're going to need an advocate.

You're going to need a lawyer. You're going to need a go -between to represent you before God. So let's just say for theoretical purposes, you could interview people to be a high priest for you.

What questions would you ask them? If you had to ask them questions as an interviewer, and they were the interviewee, what would you look for in a high priest?

And that's really the question in Hebrews 7. I mean, the big picture is, why go back to the

Levitical priesthood when those people were sinful, those people were, yes, in the line of Aaron, and God had ordained that, but there was no oath given.

They didn't have to have moral lives. They just had to have the right last name, as it were.

And why would you pick that old priesthood when you've got the new priesthood? Why would you do that?

And so the writer of Hebrews is trying to get you to think there's only one high priest that can adequately, sufficiently, once for all time,

Lee, get the job done. So, if you had to ask questions… Stephen said you're not squeamish around blood, are you?

Well, certainly if you were in the Old Testament, Aaronic, Levitical economy, that would exactly be right, because it was going to be slaying animals one after another, after another, after another.

Well, these would be the five questions in light of Hebrews 7 that I would think you should ask this high priest, and they come right from the text.

Number one, are you perfectly holy? Number two, are you perfectly innocent, completely innocent?

Number three, are you unstained? Is there any pollution in you in any way, any corruption?

Are you separated from sinners? You're around them, but it doesn't rub off on you.

And number five, are you exalted above the heavens? In one sense, have you died and have you been raised?

Those are the questions that you should ask. And of course, that lends itself to the passage because the high priest that God has given, the

Father has given to all those who would put their faith in Christ, and He's… Well, He's given the

Son of Mankind, that's true, but His saving work is for those who will believe. But the

Son is holy, He's innocent, He's unstained, He's separated from sinners, and He's exalted above the heavens.

I guess I could put the interview question in a negative way. Have you ever been, high priest, unholy?

Because then you would be out. Because then you, priest, would have to have a priest to stand between you and the thrice holy

God. Have you, priest, ever been blamed for anything and it's stuck, right? With elders that are above reproach, what's that mean?

Something really bad said about them? No. Something bad said about them and it sticks, right?

If something just were to be said about an elder that was bad and then they were out, nobody could ever be one because it'd be easier to get rid of them.

But above reproach means, in the context for sinful men who have been redeemed and want to be elders, this doesn't stick.

This accusation has no legs to it. But here, have you ever been unholy? Have you ever had any blame that sticks?

Have you been impure? Thoughts included. Have you ever sinned? You know, you're around other people and they kind of rub off on you.

And are you going to die and have no hope of raising yourself from the dead? And if they, the high priest, use any of those tricky internet interviewing questions, well,

I'm just going to discuss a non -essential skill. That's one of the ways to get around that question, do you have weaknesses? I'm going to mention areas that I've improved upon.

That's one of those tricky ways that you can get around that question. And I'm going to turn a negative into a positive.

If any of those are done by this theoretical potential high priest, they're out, because you need a perfect high priest.

You need a priest who's not just better than the Levitical priest, but who is not better only.

Of course, he is better, but he is perfect. So, this whole thing in Hebrews is getting these people to think about who

Jesus is. They're on the run. They're getting persecuted. And what do you think they need to be advised of?

I think they already know. They're working through questions like, should we pull our kids from school? Should we run?

Should we sell the house? They know that. But now let me remind you who Jesus is.

So, those who are listening, those fantastic eight people right now, you go through problems, you go through trials.

What am I going to do? How do I respond? How do I think through this? What are the next steps? What about the flow chart?

What about the if -thens? Just make sure. Okay. Probably one of the good things to do is to just read

Hebrews a few chapters early on to make sure I'm thinking properly about who

I need to honor and who's in charge and what's the worst that can happen. Those kind of things.

So, you can think through it properly. Regularly, when I would give people counsel and they need to make a decision on,

I don't know, marriage, job, whatever it could be, I would say, well, I'd like you to read 1 Kings. And they're like, why would

I? Wait, okay, why would I read 1 Kings in order to make a decision? And the main reason

I would direct them to 1 Kings is because, number one, I want them to go 1 Kings. And then number two, which is more important,

I have them read 1 Kings because here you have history from a theological perspective.

The purpose of the writer of the book of Kings was to get you to think theologically about history.

And is that not what we all need when it comes to everyday life? Not even with trials, but wonderful blessings and everything else.

What about America? What about the direction America is going? What about G8 summit conferences?

What about G3 down in Atlanta? I mean, whatever you want to think about, I like to think about it from a theological perspective.

Yes, historical, Christianity's, as Machen would say, certainly historical, but from a proper perspective.

And what's happening in the book of Hebrews, he is trying to get these people to just sit, let it sink in, that they might rest and trust in who the

Lord is and not freak out essentially. Right? And he gives these greater to the lesser.

In the Greek, there's two words, m -e -n is how we would transliterate it, and then another word, day.

On one hand, on the other hand. When these men days are used, hey, on one hand, the Levitical priests, there was lots of them.

On the other hand, Jesus, there's just the one high priest. On one hand, these high priests, Levitical priests, they were prevented by death.

On the other hand, Jesus holds that priesthood permanently. On one hand, they had to sacrifice for their own sins. On the other hand, so why go back?

Why go back to killing bulls and goats and making all these offerings when

Jesus has done this once for all? And so that's what we're after today. And of course, the passage that we looked at last week, making intercession for us.

He's going to make sure you get to heaven. Well, on No Compromise Radio, I'm just trying to fast forward this.

Just a side note here in ADD Radio, Pope Francis made news this week on Twitter when he named

Mary, what do you think he named her? He named Mary the

Influencer of God. You know, a lot of people have a lot of influence on social media.

I mean, I think on No Compromise Radio, Twitter, we must have 500 ,000. I don't know why I don't have a blue check at 500 ,000 followers.

It's like my wife said. She said, honey, you'll never be the pastor of a megachurch. And so she could have just said to me, honey, with your personality, you'll never get a blue checkmark.

Anyway, Pope Francis, it said, with her, yes,

Mary became the most influential woman in history. Without social networks, she became the first influencer, colon, the

Influencer of God. I guess that's why you pray prayers like this if you're a

Roman Catholic. Hail, holy queen, mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.

Turn then, now listen, turn then, most gracious advocate. Thine eyes of mercy toward us.

And after this, our exile, show us unto the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

So we can think about it this way. You've probably got some dear Roman Catholic friends here in New England. 80 % of the people who say, when asked the question, do you have a religious background or affiliation?

Yes, Roman Catholic. Now, most of them don't go except on Easter and Christmas and funeral masses, that type of thing.

But that's what they're believing. So if I've got to ask Mary some questions, are you holy?

Are you blameless? Or are you innocent? She couldn't answer those questions with, you know what, yes,

I'm intrinsically good. I'm always good. I've never done anything bad.

I actually don't even have Adam's first sin credited to my account. That just skipped over everybody.

It didn't skip over anybody until it got to me. So even when we're thinking about this, what kind of intercessor do you want?

When asked, of course, the prayer that Roman Catholics, at least according to one study, pray more often than our father, the paternoster, hail

Mary, listen, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,

Jesus. That's the one that I hear most on the radio. But then the next stanza, holy

Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners.

Be a mediator because you're holy, blameless, innocent, separated from sinners, and ascended into the heavens.

Now in the hour of our death, Stephen just said, Chick -fil -A will even serve fish on Fridays for Lent. There you go.

Seriously, can you get a fish sandwich on Friday? Mary elbows the

Holy Spirit, Barbara said, out of the way, ignores the Father. You got that right. Here's the morning consecration to Mary.

My queen, my mother, I offer myself entirely to thee, and to show my devotion to thee,

I offer thee this daily, my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my whole being without reserve.

Wherefore, good mother, capital M, as I am thine own, keep me, guard me as thy property and possession.

Friends, if you need a mediator, and you do, don't settle for anything less than the perfect advocate, the high priest, the

Lord Jesus. He's enough for you. Everything you need to get you to heaven, He is able to save to the—what does the text say in 725?

To the uttermost. Why would you have someone else who isn't able? And actually, 726 says, for it was indeed fitting.

So we're rich in sins, Ephesians 2, 1 -3, and God is rich in mercy, chapter 2, verse 4, and following.

So it's the perfect fit. You're going to need to have a great, great, great, great Savior for great, great, great sinners.

I mean, if your sin isn't too bad, maybe you just need some therapy. You need some—I don't know what you need. You need some

Prozac or something else. But if you need to be washed from all your sins and cleansed and forgiven, the text says it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest.

And here's what Hebrew says, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

If you're going to interview for a high priest, that's what you would need. And of course, we are so dead in trespasses and sins, we would never interview.

We would always pick the wrong thing. We would choose wrongly. We would choose poorly.

But someone has chosen for us. Isn't that wonderful? When you think about the triune God, the

Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and we have one God, three persons, and how they treat us and how they act as persons and how

God Himself acts, you just think, oh, this is amazing that God would choose the mediator we need because it's fitting.

It's the perfect. It's adequate. It's not—Jesus isn't unfitting. Really, for what we need,

He's the perfect advocate. So that's why you ought to trust in Him and rest in Him and believe on Him, because He's the only sin bearer.

So what we're going to do, we're going to shut this off now, and in about 30 seconds, show two on Facebook Live and on No Compromise Radio.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible -teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.