Hebrews 5 and Jesus the High Priest (Part 2)

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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.�

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We are in the book of Hebrews on Sunday mornings, and I am just taking my time because I am determined to talk about Jesus every time

I get up and speak. And so is the author of Hebrews. It is a perfect match.

We have the same philosophy of ministry, or at least I�m attempting to have such a great philosophy of ministry.

That�s my desire. That�s my goal. The writer of Hebrews, unsurprisingly, has a bunch of Bible quotes from his

Bible, that is, the Hebrew Scriptures, the Tanakh, the Law and the Prophets, the

Law, the Writings, the Prophets, from Genesis to 2

Chronicles, if you�re Jewish, or from Genesis to Malachi, if you�re speaking

English, and of course, the old joke, if you�re Italian, from Genesis to Malachi. It still sounds funny.

See, we have some listeners that have never heard that, you know? They�ve never heard the Hittites, the Canaanites, the

Cellulites, the Electrolytes, and the, I don�t know, what�s another �ite?

Uh, Gergashites. That might be, they might be real, though. I just went to Vasquez Rocks in Agua Dulce, California, and that�s where they film the

Gorn, James Kirk, Battle Royale, the

Gorn, and you can pull that up on YouTube if you like. Cool Rocks.

It�s pretty hot. I went there for Luke�s graduation. Luke, my son, graduated from the

Master�s University early in May, and my daughter, Haley, graduated from Quinsigamond College.

So, it�s exciting. Cost me a lot of money. Not the college, but the graduation.

Have to pay for their own college. I gave them a little bit of money each, not very much, and then they had to figure out how to go to college on their own.

But I did cosign the loans. The loans are theirs, but I did cosign. What�s you going to do?

I spent all my money on them when they were a private Christian King James Only fundamentalist morality brethren school for junior high and elementary school for indoctrination.

Education. Boy, that�s a hard one, isn�t it, when it comes to the education of your kids?

As a pastor, I just want to make sure that we don�t have any fissures with homeschool, public school, private school.

And oftentimes, it doesn�t always happen, but oftentimes the public school kids think the homeschool kids are weird and maybe ostracize them.

The homeschool kids and their families don�t want to be tainted by public school kids because of the crazy stuff they�re taught.

And churches can struggle. Private schooling, they usually are above the fray because they have more money.

Personally, we�ve done all three. And looking back, there�s something to be said for keeping children out of this massive indoctrination of feminism, liberalism, moralism,

LBGTQ stuff, abortion, reproductive rights.

Can you imagine they call it reproductive rights? I have a right, after I�ve already been reproductive, to kill my offspring, to kill my baby.

That�s crazy. When you see a little baby, everything in you, from gang members to Colombian warlords, they want to just hold that little baby and protect it.

And yet, for the sake of self, for the sake of sexual freedom, people, both men and women, kill that little baby.

Unbelievable. And whenever I think of that, I think of those who have had abortions and have been forgiven for that.

That just tells you how great the atonement is, how great Jesus�s death is, that even infanticide can be forgiven.

Even offering babies up to Molech can be forgiven. And we want to be kind to people and minister to them, but also warn people, this is serious.

Well, back to the school issue. It�s hard, because lots of times

I think, well, what if I�m not the best teacher with some of these subjects?

So how do I do the homeschooling, and what about that, and what about you have five other little kids, and so how much can a mom really teach the oldest kid when the five little ones need to have their diapers changed, et cetera?

But public schools are bad, and they�re only getting worse. It�s awful out there. And when

I say indoctrination, that�s exactly what it is. And you can see, this latest group of Christians that have grown up in the middle of all that, they have a hard time saying things about homosexuality or saying things about women�s proper roles in the

Bible. It�s very difficult for them, because they just live in this culture where what we are completely antithetical to what this world system would say.

Wild days, but God is in control. We�ve been talking about Hebrews, and Hebrews, if you want to think of two words that describe

Hebrews, high priest, that would probably be the best way to describe Hebrews. Yes, Jesus is better.

Jesus is superior. Jesus is better than prophets, angels,

Aaron, Moses, old covenant system, old covenant priests.

He, Jesus, the great high priest, was both a sacrifice for sins and makes intercession for sinners and secures eternal salvation.

High priest is what we�re going for. And it�s an odd book in the sense that it talks about high priestly work of Jesus more by far than other books.

You don�t run into that. I mean, you�ll see it in John 17. He�s functioning as high priest here in this, what we call, the high priestly prayer.

Yeah, that�s actually right. But over and over and over, priest, priest, priest.

And what we�re talking about today, picking up from last time, he�s a high priest forever, forever, forever, forever.

And therefore, your salvation is secure no matter what�s going on in your life, with trials, temptations, from the inside, from the outside.

And Jesus is forever the high priest for his people. And Psalm 2 has just been quoted, and Psalm 110.

Both psalms welded together for the point here that God�s high priest has to be designated by him,

God the Father. Typically when I say God, I mean God the Father. Not all the time, but most of the time.

And the other welded verse is from Psalm 110, both starting, at least with English, and they have the �you� in there in the original.

You are, you are, designated by God, and they have to be, he, the high priest rather, has to be human.

As also he says in another place, Hebrews 5 .6, you are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, directly called by God to be the perfect high priest, because he has been the perfect son.

That�s what�s been going on earlier, chapter 1 to about 4 .16, he�s the eternal son.

And remember, what�s going on here, there are a variety of different priests in the Bible, and these

Jews that this writer is writing to have probably forgotten that there�s a different kind of priesthood that�s not found in Mosaic law.

That�s Melchizedekian. Jesus is not from Levi, he�s not Aaronic, and that�s what

God said in Moses� Pentateuch, the five books of the law, he has to be.

But there is one who�s different, and Jesus is of that order of priesthood, the

Melchizedekian order, and we will talk more about that in chapter 7 of Hebrews.

One writer said, �It is enough to point out here that Melchizedek was recognized as a priest of the

Most High God centuries before the Levitical priesthood came into existence. The Levitical priesthood and the legal covenant with which it was connected had their place until the

Son, who was to fulfill the Melchizedekian type, should come.� There is a universal priesthood, even if you want to say a non -Jewish priesthood, although Jesus, of course, was

Jewish. �The immediate purpose of these two quotations given here from the

Psalms is to corroborate the doctrine that Christ� high priestly office was not from himself but from God ,� one commentator said.

Well, how does that fit into the book? Here�s how it fits in. Yeah, Jesus comes sauntering along and then he just makes himself the big shot.

Hey, these Aaronic priests, try being a priest without having the right lineage, and you�re going to get leprosy is what you�re going to get.

You�re going to die is what you�re going to get. You see how important all this is. Well, it�s old news by now, but you cannot read the book of Hebrews without seeing the links to the

Old Testament. And so here�s what happens. What if you don�t like some of the stringent laws of the

Old Testament? What if that Old Testament God, har har, makes you uncomfortable?

What if some of the stories of the Old Testament make you uncomfortable, whether it�s Phinehas, whether it is

Miriam, whether it is laws of sodomy or laws of, you know, what happened to Korah, what happened to children?

What if you just, you know, you think that turns people off? Of course, we know there�s only one

God, and He�s the same in the Old Testament and New Testament, one unchanging eternal

God. But if you want to try to play to people who don�t like the Old Testament and you�re trying to evangelize them, then you might do what

Andy Stanley does. At the end of a sermon he said not long ago, the gospel of Jesus, quote, �is completely detached from everything that came before.�

What�s the gospel, Andy? Quote, �God has done something through the Jews for the world, but the �through the

Jews� part of the story is over, and now something new and better and inclusive has come.�

Want some more quotes? �Church leaders unhitch the church from the worldview, value system, and regulations of the

Jewish Scriptures.� Peter James Paul elected to unhitch the

Christian faith from their Jewish Scriptures, and my friends, we must as well. Yeah, you know, the

Old Testament�s got so much stuff, people are turning away from the faith because of that Old Testament, therefore we better ditch it or unhitch it.

Here�s a quote from Stanley. �Jesus� new covenant, His covenant with the nations,

His covenant with you, His covenant with us, can stand on its own two nail -scarred resurrection feet.

It does not need propping up by the Jewish Scriptures.� I mean, just think about the book of Hebrews for a second.

This is crazy. This is the GORN, is what this is. This is the GORN principle. It�s liberating for people who need and understand grace, who need and understand forgiveness, and it�s liberating for people who find it virtually impossible to embrace a dynamic, the worldview, and the value system depicted in the story of ancient

Israel. There was a typo here. I don�t know if he said it wrongly, or it was just written wrongly. But that�s the wrong concept.

Let�s at least acknowledge that. Quote, �If you were raised on a version of Christianity that relied on the

Bible as the foundation of faith, a version that was eventually dismantled by academia or the realities of life.�

Ooh, like modern stuff. �Maybe it�s time for you to change your mind about Jesus.�

And I guess I give one last quote. Somebody said, �This is my new piñata ,�

Andy Stanley�s sermon. Piñata. Nope, we�re off to the next thing. �Maybe it�s time for you to consider the version of Christianity that relies on the event of the resurrection of Jesus as its foundation.

If you gave up your faith because of something about or in the Bible, maybe you gave up unnecessarily.�

Well, what do I have to say to that besides rubbish? What did

Paul do? 1 Corinthians chapter 1. He knew people wanted signs, the Jews did. He knew people, the

Greeks, wanted wisdom. And he said, �Well, I�m going to give you the opposite. I really don�t care what you want because I�m an ambassador, and I�m a steward, and I�m a herald, and I have news for you.�

Actually, it�s good news. In spite of your rationale with the Old Testament, or you don�t like this, that, or the other about God, or all

Christians are hypocrites, whatever you�ve made up in your mind to somehow buffet you against the claims of God in Scripture, I�ve got good news for you.

I�m going to give you the truth because God saves people through the offense of the cross. And if you�re going to gut the

Old Testament from the cross, you�re pretty much trying to gut the Old Testament even if you raise people up, cursed if you�re nailed to a tree.

In Deuteronomy 21, I believe, maybe 23. Is it Deuteronomy 21, 23? That�s good to find out.

Matter of fact, since it�s my show, we are going to actually look it up here on the radio live.

This is live radio. Well, it can�t be 21, 23. Yeah. If a man has committed a crime punishable by death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.

You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God has given you for an inheritance. Deuteronomy 21, 22, and 23.

That is chapter 21, verses 22 and 23. That�s an easy way to remember it, by the way. In year 2525, if man is still alive.

Now, how do we do this? 21, 22, 23. Deuteronomy 21, verses 22 and 23.

There you have it. If you actually go to Andy Stanley�s �church ,� you�ve got problems, in my opinion.

Psalm 110 is quoted in Hebrews chapter 5, and it�s about Jesus the high priest, not of Levi, but of Melchizedek.

Most people don�t know Psalm 118 very well, and therefore when it�s Passover time, you teach that.

When it�s, you know, the triumphal entry, you teach that. I just go to Psalm 118 and teach it, because I�m trying to figure out every possible way

I can to get to the Old Testament. And in the book of Hebrews, what do you have? Psalm 2,

Psalm 110, Psalm 102, Psalm 8, Psalm 45.

I�m just going off the top of my head, let alone other scriptures. They�re just there, because there�s this link for the

Jews. Psalm 110, it was their go -to. You know, maybe like Psalm 23, ours was, you know, �The

Lord is my shepherd ,� which is fine, I love the psalm. For the Jews, Psalm 110, it�s like a national anthem.

It�s the psalm. Some people have called it like their pledge of allegiance, like our pledge of allegiance.

And when you got a new king, you sang this song. Matter of fact, I just found a great song from Psalm 110, you know, psalmody, and it�s sung to the tune of �My faith has found a resting place.�

If you go to Twitter, you can find that. This is the passage,

Psalm 110, that�s very often quoted in the

New Testament. And if you don�t understand this, then you�re going to have a hard time understanding those places it�s quoted.

Oh, if we could have a great king like the king of Psalm 110, the celebration of this great king.

And as S .O. Johnson says, the entire book of Hebrews revolves around an explication, an exposition, a teaching around the book of, around the chapter

Psalm 110. This is his theme text. This is the text of the whole epistle.

Another commentator said, �It is the text of the epistle of the Hebrews.� That�s why we want to sing it, and that�s why we want to get to know it.

If this is fundamental to Hebrews, this is fundamental to our understanding of Jesus as prophet, king, and here, priest.

I would go so far to say that if you understand Psalm 110, you can understand the entire Bible. And even thinking through the idea of priesthood, you don�t need a priest if you�re sinless, but you need a go -between, since God is so holy and you are so sinful along with me.

I�m sure I�m more sinful than you are, but we have Adam�s sin imputed to us, and we have our own sin. Consequently, from Adam�s sin, we have a sin nature, and we sin because we�re sinners.

There was an immediate imputation of Adam�s sin to our account, and consequently, we are sinful people.

How can you stand in God�s holy presence as a sinful man or woman or child? This is the issue of all time.

Salvation is needed, and you need a priest. You don�t need to have your marriage fixed or your low self -esteem boosted or your menial life given direction.

You need to be saved from God Himself and His wrath, and here is a celebration psalm about the king, priest, who could do that very thing.

The celebration of God and His promises for such a king. Once you read

Psalm 110, you�re going to realize it can�t just be of David. This is looking forward to the

Messiah and how great the Messiah is in this royal messianic psalm.

Answering the question, how can Jesus be a priest? He�s from Judah. He�s from that tribe.

There is a priest who�s not Levitical, and when you think about the father choosing the son, that�s the main thing about the priest.

You need the priest that�s God�s chosen one. Of course, we�re chosen in Christ, but Jesus is the chosen one, and remember, that�s what was said of Jesus at the transfiguration.

�My chosen one ,� going back to Isaiah and the suffering servant passages there.

I�m going to give you a little outline so you can understand Psalm 110, but that�s going to be for next week, when we understand

Psalm 110. I�m just getting ramped up. I haven�t even got to Psalm 110 yet, but I want to whet your whistle because this is the psalm that will get you through the night.

This is the psalm that will make you think, �Oh, I don�t have to work for my salvation.

I�m just going to trust in Jesus.� There could be nobody as great as Jesus in this psalm.

Nobody is perfect. Nobody is wonderful. Nobody could do this, be the offering and the intercessor.

He didn�t have to intercede for his own sins because he�s sinless. We are sinful.

He is sinless. We are weak. He is powerful. We are selfish. He loves self -sacrificially, and it�s all the plan of a triune

God, Yahweh the Father, Yahweh the Son, and Yahweh the Spirit, with this great plan of salvation designed to rescue sinners like us through the mediatorial work of Jesus, the

High Priest, who�s better. He�s better than everything. He�s better than life. And in heaven, he will be the centerpiece, as people will be saying, �Worthy is the

Lamb who was slain.� So my name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. You can write me, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

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