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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-lavery/christ-the-apostle-and-high-priest/
Now I'd like you to turn with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3 and verse number 1. Wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and high priest of our profession Christ Jesus.
Now chapter 4 and verse 12. For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in a sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not an high priest which 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 unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Now chapter 4 please. I'll just break in at verse number 4. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and the tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain, and cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs, meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God. But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned.
Now just a couple more verses. Chapter 12 please. Verse 1. We're foreseeing we are all so compassed about, with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Now chapter 13, verse number 8.
Verse 6 first of all. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. And verse 8, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Verse number 5, I should have read that, I'm sorry.
Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Now I know that God will bless the reading of his precious word.
Now I hope you have all enjoyed the ministry that we have heard this afternoon. We have heard a lot about the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's always really the finest of the wheat. And if we read our Bibles, when brethren speak to us of Christ, I'm sure there's other little thoughts that come to your mind, and that's what I enjoy coming to a conference.
We heard about the Lord Jesus as a chief cornerstone. What a wonderful subject that is. But my mind, the way it works, is I thought of the day when the disciples, they looked at the stones in the temple, and they said to the Lord, have you not seen these beautiful stones in the temple?
But then the Lord goes on later, he says, the stone which the builders rejected, the same has made the head of the corner. And I was thinking, maybe I'm applying this in a wrong way, but I was thinking, you know, we're all living stones.
We're all in God's house. We're all in God's temple. But I wonder, are we looking at the stones in the temple rather than the Lord himself? We can look at each other and become discouraged, but we need to keep our eye on the Lord himself.
And I'm not going to go through everybody's message. You've all heard it, but it's really a wonderful thing. Joseph. Why don't you think of Joseph? Wonderful. Another thing of him was, of course, that he couldn't help an evil woman.
She had to, well, he had to run. We've already heard he left his coat, but not his character. But the Lord Jesus could help the evil woman. Wonderful. How the Lord could reveal himself to a poor, lost, guilty sinner.
This is what he has done to us. Well, now I want to think again about the Lord Jesus as the apostle and high priest of our calling. So when we read the book of Hebrews, it's showing the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I'm sure you will know that when we read chapter one of Hebrews, we see the Lord Jesus as the apostle. It talks about all the word that was spoken by prophets and so on. And then it tells us, hath in these last days spoken unto us in son or in his son.
So here's the one now that replaces the apostle. Moses was the apostle. I should have mentioned that. Likely you know that. He's the one that brought the word from God to the people. And then Aaron, he's the one that brought the people to God.
So you have these all in the Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter one, we have the Lord Jesus as the apostle. Chapter two, we have him as a high priest. And when chapter one is the eternal son of God, whom hath appointed her of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
And when I think of the scriptures, I like to look and see where the germ of some of these things is in the Gospels. For I think there's always a little germ in the Gospels. I thought of the amount of transfiguration.
And there's Moses and Elijah. And Moses represented the law. Elijah represented the the prophets. But here's the Lord Jesus. And he's saying now, where the bright cloud overshadowed them on the mount.
And what happened? They saw no one save Jesus only. And I think what they're saying is this now, the law and the prophets, they're finished. They're just the shadows. And the ones, especially the prophets, he's predicting of Christ.
They've all been fulfilled. And now you get your eye on him. So that's what we need to do. Get our eye on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the person that we get our eye on. He's the kinsman redeemer. And I was thinking about that when one of the brethren was speaking as well.
And you know, in the in the Gospels, he's a kinsman. We come into the epistles, he's a redeemer. When our brother was speaking about revelation, I was thinking, he's the avenger of blood. He's a judge, not only judging the world, but we need to remember that he's judging the people.
So we have the apostle and high priest of our calling. And we're told to consider him. If you remember Psalm 77, the last verse tells that God brought his people through the wilderness as a shepherd by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
So when I read the book of Hebrews, I can see in some ways that we're looking at a wilderness journey. And we've been reminded today and many occasions that we're still going through the wilderness. The product of the wilderness was the thorn bush.
And I'll tell you, there's lots of pain in the wilderness. Some have experienced more than others. But you know, we always have one that's with us. We're going through the wilderness, but we're not alone.
There's one who is leading it too here. But one, speaking of the one glorious person, the apostle that brings the word of God to us and the high priest that encourages us and brings us into the presence of God.
So we have the person. I didn't read, I don't think in chapter four in verse one, but it does say, let us therefore fear as a promise being left of us entering into his rest and that any of you should seem to come short of it.
Now, the Lord Jesus brought the children of Israel into the wilderness. And as you know, he didn't bring them in to wander. He actually brought them into worship. But because of their unbelief, they wandered in the wilderness.
But God's purpose was to bring them into the promised land. There's an inheritance. Now the inheritance, if you, sometimes we look at it as in heaven. There's an inheritance reserved in heaven for us, Peter says, who are kept by his power.
But there's also a way that we can enjoy the inheritance now. Remember the grapes of Eskel were brought out into the wilderness so that the children of Israel could be encouraged. He said, there's a, there's a, there's an inheritance you're going into.
It's a wonderful place. It's a place of joy. And that joy is depicted in the great big bunch of grapes so big they had to carry it on a, on a staff. And they brought those grapes out into the wilderness and they brought the pomegranates and they brought the figs.
And if you and I had been there, we likely would at least have wanted one of the grapes or some of the figs. That was to encourage them. And God would encourage our hearts. The spies went into the land.
They remained there for a rest for the people of God. God was bringing them into a rest there for their rest. It was Canaan rest. We have a greater rest than that. But you know, he sent in the spies. I was reading the other day somewhere and they were saying that, well, that was unbelief.
Well, I'm not sure if it was unbelief or not. The, the spy out the land. I, I, it's good to look at things in a positive way. And I thought, well, maybe it's to encourage them. And they sent in the spies that they might come out with a good report and tell them it's a wonderful place that we're going into.
That's true of heaven. But for us, of course, the inheritance that we enjoy, we can enjoy it right now. Inheritance the children of Israel has not heaven or fighting in heaven. Thank God there's going to be none of that bickering or fighting in heaven.
But we can enjoy the things of God now and the spies that have gone out into the land. You know who I'd liken them to today? These brethren have been preaching. It's not that we're spying on you or anything, but we go into the inheritance and we try to bring something out that will encourage you to get into the inheritance and enjoy the things that God has given us in his word.
This is a great inheritance that we have in our own language. We don't need to know the Greek or the Hebrew. It's good to be able to look up a word, but just keep things in their context and enjoy these things.
And I'll tell you, it's a wonderful thing to be a lover of the word. I've told often when my father passed away, one of the brethren spoke a little word at the funeral along with others. And he read two words, salut filio logos.
And I thought, what's he going to say about that? Well, filio is love and logos is the word. And he said, this man's a lover of the word. Do you really love the word? Do we get into the word? To find out more about Jesus' word, I know we can all sing it, but do we really want to know it?
It takes time. And we need to give time to get into his presence. We were talking about the word and the manna in the golden pot in the sanctuary. That's where we get the word today. While we're in the wilderness, we get into the presence of God.
That's where the word is, the hidden manna. And we need to get into where we're hidden with God to enjoy the things of God. So the spies go into the land, they come out and we try to whet each other's appetite.
That's what I like to, brethren, to make me think and make me get into the word of God. It's not finished when the conference is over. It's maybe only starting. And I do check up on my brethren and I check up on myself too.
Sometimes you wonder, was that just right? And it's good to be able to do that. But the purpose was to bring them into, from Cadi into the land and so that they might enjoy the things of the land. But then in chapter four in verse 12, we read of the provision that God has given us in the wilderness.
And there are three things. And there's the word of God. Is living, quick, means living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword. And then we have a high priest. It's put in a sort of a negative way, but it means we have a high priest who can sympathize with his inner weakness.
And when I think of the word of God, you say, well, we read the word of God to build us up and and we're going, well, that's right. And but, you know, sometimes we need to bring us down. Good thing to be deflated, isn't it?
We shouldn't really need to be deflated because we have nothing to be inflated about. But I think it's the word of God. It's more maybe like the law that was given. They had the the word was given and it goes right into the innermost parts.
And, you know, if we're going to get through the wilderness, good thing to know we're going through it in weakness. That's what the manor was all about. The food that God gave them. It was speaks of Christ and humility, a small round thing, round speaks of his eternity, maybe his deity, small of his humility.
They stoop down to get it. And the only way we're going to get through the wilderness unscathed, if that's possible, is to go humbly in obedience to God. We have heard about obedience. That's so important, isn't it?
That's what humility is. Just not my will, but thine be done. I want to be obedient to God. It's not what I want. So, the word of God brings me down. But thank God when I'm down, I don't stay down. I have a high priest, great high priest.
And I can lean on him. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness? Solomon said, leaning upon his beloved. May I tell you, we can lean upon the Lord Jesus. We might not be able to lean upon too many of our brothers or sisters even, but we can lean on the Lord Jesus coming up from the wilderness.
And where does the Lord Jesus take us to strengthen us? To the throne of grace, where we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Or Mr. Newberry, I think, or Darby gives it, for seasonable help.
We're always in need, but thank God we always have the great provisions for the wilderness to strengthen us. Now, we come to chapter six. And you read a few commentaries in chapter six, and you read different things about it.
And were these people saved or unsaved? Well, I'm not too interested in it personally. I can't see someone going back into Judaism that was saved. How could you? To leave the once for all sacrifice to go into offering sacrifices for sin.
But I thought, you know, the people that he's speaking to, some don't want to know whether they saved people or unsaved, or is it a mixture or what it is. Well, I think there's always been a mixture among God's people.
And now I'm thinking, maybe more, I'm not trying to say there's a mixture in God's assemblies. There could be. Hopefully there's not. But in Christendom today, you have so many that profess to know Christ.
And they've been under the sound of the word of God. But they haven't made any progress. So, what I was thinking about this passage for us is, are we making any progress going through the wilderness? God has given us everything that we need.
We need a high priest. There were some in the wilderness that thought they didn't need a high priest. Who do you think you are? He said to Moses in there, we don't need a meat eater. We're just as good as you are.
But they fell in the wilderness. Most of them fell. Many of them have been reminded about the skeletons and bones that were all, no wonder he told them keep away from these bones. They were all in the sand everywhere, all around.
But you see, I ask myself, you ask yourself, are you making any progress in the things of God? No, no, there's none of us could boast. I don't believe I couldn't boast anyhow about progress. But I try to make a little bit of progress each day if I could.
I'd be glad if I could just learn a little more and become more like the Lord Jesus. But here they are and God's speaking to them and he said, you know, some of you can, where are we? Chapter six. He said in chapter six, some were occupied with the law.
Now, I could apply that. And there are believers that are occupied with the law. Man, I'd like to lay down the law and tell you what to do and what not to do. And well, but it doesn't usually work. If you're like some of us, you may rebel a little bit.
But people trying to tell you, I need to teach you and give you a heart for the thing. That's what we've been reminded of. And he said, you want to leave these fundamental things. Some of us maybe don't get much farther than Calvary.
It's a great thing to get to Calvary. Great thing to get through the Red Sea. Did we ever get through the Jordan? We've been reminded of those scriptures by our brother Crawford that I've died with Christ.
God couldn't mend me, but he ended me. He finished with me. And yet you say, well, I'm still around. Well, you know, we professed it in our baptism, didn't we? I have died with Christ. Raised to walk in newness of life.
But some, maybe that's as far as I get. Just, I know I'm saved. God's judgment. Christ died for me. That would be the Red Sea, wouldn't it? But I have died with Christ. That's what we need to learn. And if we're going to make progress, we need to, as we're through the wilderness, well, what does it say about these people here?
Well, it said they were once enlightened. There are lots of people are enlightened. They get a little bit of light. But that's about as far as they go. And I'm talking about unsaved people right now. They get a little bit of light.
They have it in Christendom today. They know some things. And they get a little light. And they have tasted, it says, of the heavenly gift. Now, you say, how do you look at this going through the wilderness?
Well, I thought they were enlightened by Moses. We're in the land of Egypt and Moses, he came from God and came from the great I am. Imagine he said, you know, God, God, God's going to bring you out of this place.
He's going to bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey. And they had learned that much. They were enlightened. And as far as the heavenly gift is concerned, I thought, well, maybe they, they tasted the manna.
Well, there's some taste of manna today, but they don't swallow it. I would think that they don't receive it. They reject it. A lot of people like that in Christendom today, they've learned a little bit and enjoy a little bit about the Lord in some ways, but they really reject the real manna of God.
And then partakers of the, have tasted, no, partakers, made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Well, I thought there were many in the wilderness, you know, they, they, they drank from the smitten rock. Does that mean they were saved?
Many of them perished in the way they never made it. I would think there was a mixed multitude and so on. They didn't make it, but they, they, they, they learned about the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit dealt with them.
And they tasted the good word of God. God had given them the, the law and it speaks about the powers to come. None of the diseases of Egypt would fall on them. And they saw the miracles and, and so on.
No, but, but you see, they fell far short. Now, I'm not interested so much in these people, but I'm interested in ourselves. I'm not saying if you're like this, you're not saved, but I'm just saying, are we making progress?
What about us? Have we been enlightened? We certainly have. The eyes of their understanding being enlightened, Paul says, that you may know, and you know, while he's speaking to believers, that's true of unsaved too.
God enlightened you, he enlightened me. We never would have been saved if God hadn't taken the initiative. By faith, Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, prepared an ark for the saving of his house.
God takes the initiative. And then it says, tasted of the word of God. You're really going, going in for knowing the word of God and for being obedient to it, not knowing it theoretically. We'd all like to know more of it theoretically.
And sometimes you think, I look back years ago, I wasn't that long saved. And they said, now you're going to take the Bible class. And there were two elders that took the ministry meeting every Sunday.
And when one of them was gone, if there were no visitors that could help, they asked me to open the meeting. And I didn't mind that because there was somebody backing me up. But then the one day they both went away and I was left all alone for 50 minutes.
You could only sing one hymn. You didn't want to disturb the Sunday school. And there was a brother in the meeting. I can tell you his name because he's home in heaven. Name was Mr. Parskey. He was a friend from the copper country in Michigan.
And I knew he was good for a 15 minute prayer. So I asked him to open in prayer. It might not have been very spiritual, but it worked. It got me a little bit off the hook. I don't know why preachers always think they're going to run out.
We never run out. We keep running on sometimes like Tennyson's broke on forever. But are we really going in for the word of God? Is the Bible reading an important meeting in your assembly? I love Bible readings because you want to help others and you want others to help you and make it a good conversational Bible reading.
Don't have to take the whole thing. My wife says sometimes I do that, but sometimes it's hard not to when you're in a place where nobody wants to say anything. I don't know why they're afraid. Don't need to be afraid of me for sure.
Because I asked some foolish questions when I was first saved, but I hope I learned a little bit. So then what about the Holy Spirit, the smitten rock? Do we realize we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit? Our brother was reminding us that where we go and can we take the Holy Spirit with us?
Would he be comfortable sitting in the ballgame or in the movie theater or whatever it is? You know, you know, sometimes we don't think about these things, but we need to remember we're, we're the temple of the Holy Spirit.
And, and, and, uh, God has preserved us in many ways that we go through the wilderness. Now, maybe that's all I need to say about that, uh, uh, part. So there is a great, uh, provision and God says, I want you to make progress.
Progress. Now he has given us some tremendous, uh, helps to bring us through the wilderness. Number one, chapter seven, we have a new priest. Not a wonderful thing. You know, when you were coming through the wilderness and were reminded as well in the days of Malachi, the, the, the priest slips, uh, taught them truth.
He didn't know all her Bibles, you know, and, uh, uh, those days, but the, the priest, uh, taught him. And, uh, if you had sinned, you could go to the priest and ask him what kind of a sacrifice am I going to bring?
What, what's, what's, uh, what's prescribed for me. Uh, and he would tell me, and you get to know the priest very well. And yeah, he's maybe your favorite priest. Maybe you shouldn't have favorite priest or favorite preachers, but, uh, we sometimes do, but then you go one day and you look for him and he's not there.
Where's my priest? Where's Isaac or Jacob or whatever? Oh, did you not know he died? Then you have to find another priest that knows you, gets to know you and understand you. But we have a new priest, one that lives in the power of an endless life.
I tell you, that's a tremendous thing. He knows each one of us. Wonder, do we keep that in mind as well? The Lord knows us. We want to know him, but I'll tell you, he knows all about us and he has given us a priest that's in the power of an endless life.
Going to bring us safely through. That's what we have at the end of the book of Hebrews. He's a great priest. And you know, you've heard me likely say this, if he's a great priest, there's another priest that's a contrast with him.
And I think it was Moses. Moses could bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, but he couldn't bring them into the land. Took a Joshua, but we have a great high priest. Isn't that marvelous? In spite of us, he's going to bring us safely through.
We can depend upon it. Absolutely certain. We have a new priest. Chapter eight, just to get another P, I made it a new principle. And what I mean by that, you'd never guess, but what I mean by that is, you know, there's a new covenant.
We come in under that new covenant. I'll be sure of that. What's the difference between that and the old covenant? Well, the new covenant is made with Israel really. And there's going to be, I'm going to do a work in their heart.
And that's what God has done with us. Isn't that marvelous? That God has done a work in our hearts so that our hearts might be touched. And we have a priest that we can draw near to. So there's a new principle.
There's a new place in chapter nine, a new sanctuary. While every assembly is a little sanctuary, you know, a little holy of holies. I was thinking as well, the access that we have into the heavenly sanctuary.
Wonder do we appreciate that, that when we worship, I know many times we worship like we are way down here and God's a way up there. We're a way up there with him. We're right in his presence. Imagine they couldn't do that in the wilderness.
We talk about the labor in Washington, the labor that was only for the priests. What about the people? There's no labor in the book of numbers, but there's a red heifer. God has still made provision for cleansing as we go through the wilderness, but I didn't really mean to bring that in.
But then in verse chapter ten, rather, there's new worshipers. And that's a great thing. And that just ties in with what I have said. Access into the very presence of God. Well, worship, do you ever worship?
What is worship? Well, someone has said maybe one way to look at it is worthship. To tell God the worth of the Lord Jesus. What does he mean to you? What does he mean to me? When we gather together to remember the Lord, I know we call it a worship meeting.
It's a remembrance meeting, but there'll be something wrong if our hearts didn't well up in worship. And again, you think of Joseph. Tell my father of all my glories in Egypt. Something to offer. Consecration is having hands full.
Oh, I know sometimes a gospel meeting we sing, nothing in my hands I bring, but that's not the remembrance meeting. That's coming to be saved. But we need to come with our hands, new worshipers with no more conscience of sin.
Not having to come every year in the day of atonement. When Aaron left his tent and went to the labor and went to the altar and went to the holiest of all and came back and so on and went through all the, you know, the Lord came from the sanctuary and he came right to the altar.
Didn't need any labor. Perfect in every way. And he came and he made a great sacrifice for sin. And he went back again into the holiest of all. I tell you, it's great to study these things. We're only paddling on the surface.
But get into it. Don't be afraid to get into these things and and try and learn a little bit. So, there's new worshipers. And then when we come to the new people is what I had for worshipers. That was when then we have new pilgrims.
Pilgrims and strangers. Pilgrims away from home and strangers going home. Isn't that marvelous? We're on the way home. And as I mentioned, we're going to come safely home. I don't know but we read chapter twelve.
We have a perfect example. I tell you, that's the one to get our eye on. You know, when the Lord appeared in the midst of his people after the resurrection, he showed them his hands and his feet. You say, what were they occupied with there in that upper room?
They were occupied with him. There was nothing else. You know, he could have said, now, Peter, how about the time when you denied me? And they'd all have been looking at Peter. Or he could have said, remember Judas who betrayed me.
And you all forsook me and fled. They'd have been looking at each other. And that's what we do sometimes. And looking at each other isn't going to help us. Looking at ourselves may be even worse. Get your eye on him.
He's the one that we need to get our eye on. He's a perfect example of the author and finisher of faith. Perfect example of faith as seen in the Lord Jesus. Wouldn't you like to be like him? I would like to be like the Lord Jesus.
That's why he saved me. And I'm going to be like him in the future. I'd like to be making a little bit of progress as I go along. And if you're talking about progress, most of us would like to hang our head in shame.
But you know, and I'll finish. A perfect example, but then there's a promise. I suppose you could call it a perfect promise, but he said, I'll never leave you or forsake you. What do you think when you, when you read that?
Do you think, well, the Lord's with me at all times? Well, that's good to think that. Do you know what I think? I look at things backwards or upside down or whatever. I think, will I ever leave him or forsake him?
How about it? People have forsaken him and have gone into places where they've made absolutely no progress. When the children of Israel are in captivity, there was no worship, no sacrifices ascending.
When you go away from God's assembly, or if you go to any other place, you'll not be able to function as a priest, as you do in the local assembly. Maybe you've heard this. Some of us knew a young man lived in North Vancouver and he went to a more open type meeting there.
And they kind of went in with the Billy Graham campaign in Vancouver. And he was a counselor and he met Mr. Graham. And Mr. Graham says, well, where do you, where do you fellowship? Oh, he said, I'm in a local assembly.
And Mr. Graham said, when a person has been in a local assembly, they're spoiled for every other place. What do you think of that? Mr. Graham is a good man. I'm not going to say anything about him. He's lived a good, upright life in many ways.
So I'm not, I'm not here to bring him down at all. But I know he compromised. If he really knew what was right, are we going to compromise? Are we going to leave him? The Lord says, I'll always be with you.
Not great. The elders in the assembly might die. They have helped us and many of them helped us well along the way. And some of the preachers or other people that have helped us, now they're gone. But here's the Lord, the same.
Isn't that one of the subjects here in the Hebrews? Shall all wax holders of the garment, the vesture, he shall pull them up, but thou art the same. Thy years shall not fail. That's Hebrews one. And here is the same.
We'll come to the end. The same yesterday and today and forever. And in the middle of the book, he's a priest in purity. That means he sat down forever. The work is finished and he's going to bring us safely through.
So I hope this will add a little bit to what we have heard already today and get us occupied with a man in the glory. I tell you, imagine never leave you or forsake you. And I would just like to end with asking myself the question.
And I'd like to say, God forbid that I would ever leave him, forsake the place of his name and get away from God.