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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/bruce-rodgers/high-priestly-ministry-of-lord-jesus/
Let's look together this morning, please, in Hebrews chapter 1, Hebrews chapter 1. Now what I'm interested in taking up with you this morning is the high priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus, and so I'm just going to give a few of the some background verses at the beginning.
Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1, God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by or in his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory in the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, being made, or having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they, for unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
Now there's a reference at the end of the chapter to those, this is verse 14, those who shall be heirs of salvation. Now chapter 2, we have a contrast made now not so much between the Son of God and the angels, but between man and the angels.
And verse 5 says, for unto angels has he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak. And then there's reference made to Psalm 8, what is man that thou art mindful of him. Down to verse 9, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren.
In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee, and again I will put my trust in him. Then there's further description of the children being partakers of flesh and blood and him also taking part of it.
And then it says in verse 17, wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
Chapter 3 and verse 1 says, wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession or our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
Now the subject of priesthood is emphasized again at the last part of chapter 4, and we'll just notice verse 14 says, seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, or really our confession, for we have not an high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now chapter 5 begins an explanation, and that's really where we're going to start in looking at the subject.
In chapter 5 it says, for every high priest taken from among men is ordained or appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity, and by reason hereof he ought as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. Now from verse 5 down it begins to speak directly about Christ. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee, as he saith also in another place, thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Now I don't know about you, but I would have to admit that personally appreciating the priesthood of Christ and the necessity of a priest in my relationship to God was not an immediate or instinctive thing when I got saved.
And it may be partly because not having grown up in a system where a priest was prominent in relation to God. If you happen to have had a Catholic background, you would know that a priest was extremely significant in the faith, and almost every family thought a tremendous honor to have someone related in the family connection who was in the priesthood.
And of course this book to the Hebrews is written to a people who have been very familiar with the necessity of a priest. And so maybe we need to first of all just gain a little bit of appreciation as to the need.
So I want to take up first of all the need, the qualifications, and the calling of a priest, of a high priest. Now it says in verse one of chapter five, for every high priest taken from among men is ordained or appointed for men in things pertaining to God.
The first thing I want to emphasize is that this is God's idea. While it's true that in human religion almost invariably there is a priestly system of some kind, it seems to be a universal human recognition that we need help in our relationship to God.
But what I want to point out from this passage is that God himself is taking the initiative in providing someone between himself and us, because he knows we need help. Now when you blow it, when you fail, it's not too hard to understand that you need help in your relationship to God.
But do you recognize that the saintliest Christian in the audience here today, and any of us in our best moments, our very best moments in our spiritual life, still need the high priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus, or we could not be acceptable to God.
What is it about God that makes it essential for us to have someone taking care of our relationship with himself? Well, if you go back to the Old Testament, you get a glimpse of God's holiness, don't you?
And God's wrath. And there is a lot of emphasis upon the severity of God. And we don't see as much emphasis of that in the New Testament, and so we tend to think that, you know, somehow when the Old Testament turned into the New Testament, God sort of softened up a little bit, and he became a little different than he used to be.
He had to be very careful when you came near to God, and now, well, you can just come as you want, doesn't matter. Is it true? Let me just remind you of one verse over in chapter 12 of this book. It says, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
He's not saying our God was a consuming fire back in the Old Testament, but he's just gentle and compassionate and sympathetic. Our God is a consuming fire. Now, what does that really mean? Does that mean he's angry all the time?
Is it someone who is on low boil, as we say, about some personalities? And you have to watch how you move around that person because they're just going to explode? Is that what that's saying about God?
No. What does it mean? It's really emphasizing holiness and the implication of his holiness, but I think we need to grasp what holiness really means in relation to God. Not only does it mean that he is distinct from all else that exists, but when the seraphim in his presence continually say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, they are really expressing the infinite perfection of every quality and every virtue that is God's.
Holiness is the perfection of character, the absolute perfection. He is absolutely just. He is infinitely loving, but that loving is a love that is holy, absolutely pure. And so we, in our fallen condition, are not suited to his presence in ourselves.
So I hope we grasp this to start with, that in and of ourselves, our best moments of worship could not be accepted in his presence. And so God, in recognition of our frailty, our infirmity, and it speaks here, the ignorant, who can have compassion on the ignorant.
Now, would you consider yourself an ignorant Christian? You might be looking at some older believers and just being amazed at how much they know of God. Well, that's a wonderful reality, but there is this recognition that probably none of us know God as we ought to.
And it's very possible that we could, moment by moment through our day, be being offensive to God. Something sinful can come through our mind and we can just let it go and then be praying to God. We can maybe be angry at somebody, criticizing.
Have you ever heard somebody criticize the Christians all the way to meeting? Usually it's all the way back. And then we pray to God and we've forgotten, do we recognize just how abhorrent that could be in his presence?
And yet this passage is drawing attention to the reality that God, in recognition that we are often ignorant, and often offensive to his presence, he has graciously provided someone who can know us and be sympathetic and compassionate to us in our need, and yet be perfectly suited to his presence to make our approach to God acceptable.
And so that is the need of a high priest. But in these verses in chapter 5, the emphasis, first of all, is upon the fact that these men who wear called of God, just like Aaron, they were men who also wear compassed with infirmity.
And that literally is chained, fettered with infirmity. And so even those high priests who had a recognition of the need of the people and could represent them in God's presence, they themselves needed to offer sacrifices for sin even for themselves equally as for the people.
Now, have you ever asked yourself, why did God choose Aaron and not Moses? If you know the history of the nation of Israel and the coming out of Egypt, you'll know that Moses was the better man. Moses was more faithful to God.
Moses was the better man spiritually, and yet God chose Aaron. And the answer simply goes back this qualification for priesthood, that the man who is going to be a priest for the people must have experienced what the people experienced.
Moses grew up in a palace, insulated from the harshness, the poverty, the cruelty of slavery. When he was 40 and he went out to visit his brethren, and he saw what they were going through, he was so overwhelmed by what he saw that he killed somebody over it.
You see, he wasn't fitted at that point to be able to be a sympathetic, caring high priest. But Aaron was among the people. Aaron suffered with them. He felt the lash. He saw the injustice. And he knew what it was to be able to sustain his fellow Israelites in his ministry in relation to God.
And that is what the emphasis that is given here in things pertaining to God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way, because he also is himself compassed with infirmity.
Now that in itself would almost seem to disqualify the Lord Jesus, because when we think of the Lord Jesus, we think of him so much in his deity that we have difficulty appreciating how close he has come to us in his humanity and how perfectly, how absolutely perfectly he is suited to our need today.
And so I want to try to emphasize that. And there's really two basic questions that we need to be able to answer in appreciating that the Lord Jesus is there for us in every moment of our faith journey and perfectly suited to our need.
There's two questions that are very relevant, and one is, how close has he come to us? And how much is he able to sympathize with us in our need? Now, just thinking for a moment back in chapter one and chapter two, chapter one presents us with the Lord Jesus as the eternal son, as the one who is the sovereign, the creator, the one who is at one with God, sharing deity, sharing the majesty, the glory.
And he is above all of his creation, far above the angels. So he has a perfect connection with God. There's no question about that. There can be absolutely no question of his qualification to be able to stand in the presence of God and be perfectly suited to the holy, eternal sovereign, because that's who he is himself.
But the chapter also teaches us that in coming into manhood, there is a relationship of his sonship that is added to that eternal sonship of Christ. And I think this is where often, at least I haven't heard it too much in recent years, but there's sometimes been a debate about whether his sonship begins just in his humanity or whether he is eternally the son of God.
Well, Hebrews would teach us quite clearly that his sonship is eternal, but also that coming into humanity, there is a new pattern relationship to God established for God's people. The son has come into humanity, and so you get this expression, thou art my son.
Today have I begotten thee. That is in his humanity. And then in chapter two, we are then introduced to this concept, not just of the son of God, far above the angels, the heir of everything, the one who possesses the supremacy over all things, but we see now that he is the captain of our salvation.
And if we look at verse 10 down, where it says, for it became him, and that is really looking at God, for it was suitable for God, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings, for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.
I want to draw attention to this because I think this is tremendously significant for us in our Christian life. What is God's plan? Now, Hebrews is a wonderful book. It is drawing attention to the reality that what God is doing now is part of God's final plan, his final program, not something he's going to set aside and introduce some new other covenant sometime in the future.
We have come into what is the everlasting covenant. We are coming into the final purposes of God being fulfilled, and that purpose expressed in Hebrews 2 is this, in bringing many sons to glory. So we have now this condition.
We have the Lord Jesus who is now at this moment the only man who is where God wants him to be in all the perfection and finality and completeness of who he is. He is the Son of God in the presence of God in glorified manhood, but that's where we are going.
That's what he is bringing us towards, and so when we are going to appreciate the capacity of the Lord Jesus as our High Priest, it's no wonder that no ordinary man could ever be God's final High Priest, because this requires someone who can take us into the eternal kingdom, someone who can bring us to absolute perfection, who can deliver us entirely from sin and its effects.
And so we have the Son of God who has by one sacrifice purged sin forever, and he's not there in God's presence still trying to take away sin. That's an accomplished eternal reality, and so we have come into a new relationship that has eternal promises in it, eternal covenant promise.
But here we are, just as we are. We're still in our infirmity, in our incompleteness, and this is so touching to me to see this, for the Lord Jesus to be able to be my sympathetic High Priest. It was essential for him to be brought into human experience, to share the commonality of human existence, and to go through all the circumstances of life that we must go through, from birth to death, so that there will not be a moment of your human experience that you will have to cry out to God and say, nobody understands or nobody cares what I'm going through.
It says it became him, it was suited for him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. It's important for us to recognize that in these repeated expressions where it talks about Christ being made perfect, it's not talking about any personal deficiency, but it is talking about him being completely equipped for this work, for this service, for our need.
And so it says the captain of their salvation. I don't know if you like team sports or not, but if you're on a team, you want to have a good captain, someone who is the leader of the group, someone who carries the weight on his shoulders.
And that's what our Lord Jesus has taken up in the cause of God concerning us, to bring us to eternal glory. He's the captain of our salvation. So let's take this encouragement to start with. God has not left you to live your Christian life on your own.
He has appointed someone to be your captain, to lead you, to carry you through on the journey. And that fitness to be that leader is through sufferings. But there's one more important point that I want to just emphasize in this little section, and that is this.
He has sanctified us, he has set us apart for God's purposes and glory, and he has brought us into a relationship with himself in the family of God. What is that relationship? Nothing less than brothers in the same family.
Notice what it says, both he who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one. What does that mean? Now, this is not talking about common brotherhood in the human race. That's not the brotherhood that we've been brought into in relation with Christ.
This is in his family. He is the son of the father. And when it says we are all of one, that is all of one father or all of one family. For which cause? He is not ashamed to call us brothers. Now, I was privileged to have two older brothers.
I was the kid brother in the family. And I remember one day back in public school days, my next brother and myself had a persecutor at school, someone who hated us, despised us for being Christians, who took every opportunity he could to mock us, to make fun of us.
And he happened to be related to us. He was a cousin whose parents also went to the gospel hall, if you can figure that one out. But he was bitter for some reason. He wasn't saved. And he liked to take pleasure in ridiculing us.
And one day at school, I had actually helped his younger brother out of a mudslug. And in doing so, I got stuck in it myself and I couldn't get out. And this older cousin, he had to come and yank me out of the mud.
And you can imagine he did not appreciate very much having to do this for me. And on the bus on the way home, he was making a lot of noise about it, cursing and making all kinds of statements. And my oldest brother was in high school at the time, just a couple years older, and he finally had enough.
And on the bus that night, he settled him down. And he never treated us that way again. Now, you can imagine it did cause some problems in the family connections. But I learned that day what it was to have an older brother who was not ashamed to call a younger brother who was being ridiculed.
He was not ashamed to associate with him and to defend him. And what I want you to grasp this morning is that the Lord Jesus, in all the power and majesty and glory of his present being and condition in heaven, he is looking upon us in all our infirmity.
And he is watching over us and caring for us. And he will never be ashamed of us, never be ashamed of us. He will never disassociate himself from us. He has taken us to himself. He acknowledges our origin as of his father.
He's not ashamed. And he will not let us go until we stand with him in the glory, and he stands among us as the firstborn among many brethren. This is one of the first and important things that appeals to me in appreciating the high priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus to us in our present relationship to God, that he is doing it in the intimacy of being brothers in the same family.
And that's a tremendous, wonderful reality. Now, there's so much more to emphasize. I want to just take you to a few verses at the end, or in chapter 5 again, verse 7 to verse 10. This brings us to the extremity of experience.
How close has he come to us? He has entered into the same humanity, apart from the corruption of evil. He has been born in a poor family. He grew up, we would expect just from the story of the, that is related to his life, that Joseph probably died when he was young.
And he is the firstborn in that family, became responsible to provide for the family in a very poverty-stricken condition. So he knows about hardship. Psalm 69 emphasizes reproach. He knew what it was to become alienated even among his own brothers because he was faithful to God.
So I want you to think of it in this way. He is in connection to us as a believer. The youngest child here that is saved can relate to the Lord Jesus because he was the son of God in the midst of a fallen humanity right from birth.
And so his connection to us is primarily as a child of God in the varied experiences of life, of growing up, of being true to God, of being obedient to God. So we get this expression in these verses. Verse 8 says, Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
Now there's a couple of things that should strike your mind as you read a verse like this. Aren't sons supposed to be obedient? Why does he say, Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience? Well, this is drawing attention to his exalted eternal sonship.
Son of God though he was, yet he entered into a humble condition where he learned by experience the cost of being obedient to God in a wicked society. That's where you are. That's where I am, seeking to be obedient to God, surrounded by corrupt life.
And he learned the cost of that loyalty and faithfulness to God. But then I want to drop back to verse 7 and I would suggest this takes us to Gethsemane where we find him drawing near to the greatest challenge that faces any human being of facing death or the loss of death of a loved one that we may go through.
And it says, Who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared. Now again, some of these verses, these expressions require some thinking.
If he was praying to be saved from death, well, he died, didn't he? What does this mean? The expression literally is to be saved out of death. And it may suggest the idea that he knew he recognized that he was going to be brought into the experience of death, but his faith was reaching out to God to bring him through that into resurrection beyond death.
But I want to just relate a little bit of personal experience that has made me appreciate this more. And that is when my own mother was dying of pancreatic cancer in the last couple of days when she was in the hospital.
And I was sitting there with my father watching her. Now, she had been sick for about a year, and dad had prayed many times through that year that if God would be gracious and spare her life. This is one of the challenges of faith that we are praying to a God that we know could change the circumstance.
We are praying to a God who has the capacity to heal, a God who has the power to relieve from distress. And yet we watch a loved one or we ourselves enter into weakened conditions of sickness, and he doesn't seem to be answering or changing the circumstance.
And so this, again, is an important recognition of how close he has come to us and the experiences that God permitted him to go through in order that we might have this confidence that in whatever extremity we are brought into, he knows not just because he is God, but because in his humanity he has passed through those exact experiences of trial of faith.
And in the Garden of Gethsemane, on his face before God, sweating, crying out to God, and I would just ask you, have you ever prayed? Have you ever been so burdened with need, with distress, that you are in such a state before God?
We are permitted to glimpse that weakness, that extremity, in order that we might know that when we cry, he hears, he knows, he sympathizes, and his purpose today is to sustain us in our faith in whatever God is allowing us to be brought through.
Now remember when mom passed away and it wasn't an easy time, and I kept thinking to myself, there's no glory here. But you know, after she passed away, one of the nurses who turned out to be a Christian made this interesting comment.
She said, I thought she must be a Christian by the way she was submissive and her demeanor, even as she was dying. So what I grasped, which I didn't notice and didn't see from my own perception, was that although there was no visible glory there, no wonderful deathbed sites of glory, but the grace of God was there.
And that's all we can really ask for, that his grace would be there with us, sufficient to go through the experience into the glory of his presence. And the Lord Jesus has, in all his aspects of experience permitted in his life, to fit him to be our faithful and merciful high priest.