A Merciful High Priest (Hebrews 2:16-18)

Kootenai Church

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You turn to Hebrews chapter 2, please Hebrews chapter 2 and before we begin let's Ask the

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Lord's blessing on this time I father one of the greatest joys and delights that you can give to your people those who are called by your name is that We would be able to see you the

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Lord Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit in the pages of Scripture We thank you that you have revealed the truth to us.

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You have put it down in language that we can understand Given it to us in a written form so that it may not be altered or edited

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You have passed it down to us and preserved it for us so that we might be here this day with your word opening in Our laps before you to learn from you and to be taught by the

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Spirit of God That is what we pray would happen here today Use this time and bless your word the preaching of it our hearing together our worship together and our meditation upon these truths to the

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End that we may present obedient hearts before you and to you and that you would be glorified through us and through our

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Understanding grant us that we ask in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen Hebrews chapter 2 we're going to read together

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Beginning at verse 10 and we'll read through the end of the chapter Hebrews chapter 2 verse 10 for it was fitting for him for Whom are all things and through whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory?

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To perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings for both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified

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Are all from one father for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren saying I will proclaim your name to my brethren

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In the midst of the congregation. I will sing your praise and again I will put my trust in him and again behold

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I and the children whom God has given me Therefore since the children share in flesh and blood he himself likewise

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Also partook of the same that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death that is the devil and might free those

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Who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives? For assuredly, he does not give help to angels, but he gives help to the descendant of Abraham therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and Faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people

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For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted

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Last week together we looked at two effects of the death of Christ that he has destroyed him who had the power of death

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That is the devil. He has removed that power from him and destroyed his works and then second we saw that he has freed

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Us who were subject to slavery all of our lives He has freed us from that fear of death fear of death, which was over us and kept us in bondage all of our lives

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We've been set free from that and we talked about some of the implications of that and today we're moving on to yet two more effects or consequences results of the death of Christ and I it's not an overstatement to say that There is nearly

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I can't think of anything in reality That is not tied back to in some way the life the death the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ I can't think of any doctrine of scripture that is not connected to that central event so if I were given the the rest of my life to preach on Just the death of Christ and the implications of it and the effects of it and what it accomplished

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I don't even think that even after a lifetime of preaching on such a subject that you could even say that I Would have touched the hem of his garment as it were or even come close to expounding upon all of it

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It's just it's so rich There's so much to do with it and there's so much about the death of Christ that is even explained in the book of Hebrews And today we're just looking at yet two more effects of the death of Christ For his people and things that he accomplished in that death and we're gonna see today that in the death of Christ he has propitiated

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Satisfied the wrath of God on behalf of his people and he has become a merciful and faithful high priest so he may come to our

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Aid so before we jump into the passage We're gonna be looking today verses 16 through 18 and we are gonna finish up chapter 2 today

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I want you to notice something of the structure of the passage in verse 16 It says that he gives help not to angels but to the descendants or the seed of Abraham We look at a moment and what that means the descendants or the seed of Abraham But this help that Christ offers to us his people comes in two forms first in verse 17 he has become a merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people and Then in verse 18 to come to the aid of those who are tempted

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So he makes propitiation for his people and he comes to the aid of those who are tempted both of these things

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Have to do or pertain to what is accomplished in the death of Christ and what he has done and both of them have to Do with our sin in one case he's taken our sin out of the way and another case

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He has come to help us in fighting sin and resisting sin for those who are tempted So that's verses 16 through 18 a little bit of the structure

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You'll notice in verse 16 the reference to angels for assuredly. He does not give help to angels This is the last reference to angels until we get to chapter 12

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Some of you will be dead buried and speaking to angels face to face before we ever get to the next reference to angels but these first two chapters have all been bet on been about that first comparison

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Jesus being greater than the angels and And the book of Hebrews is a list of such comparisons.

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He's greater than the angels. Remember next chapter chapter 3 He's greater than Moses and we get in chapter 4 and 5.

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He's greater than Aaron. It's great in the Old Testament priesthood It's greater than sacrifices There is this series of comparisons between Jesus and these different elements of the

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Old Covenant The first one was the angels who were mediators of the Old Covenant and now we come to the very last mention of angels as we are rounding up chapter 2 the reference here to angels is to Remind us that angels are not provided for in the atonement that Christ offered

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In in the redemptive plan of God angels are not in view At least in terms of what has been provided to redeem those who are fallen

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It is only a fallen humanity that is provided for and redeemed in the death of Christ No provision at all has been made for the angels

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The fallen angels are damned. Their damnation is fixed. Their damnation is certain.

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There is no repair for them There's no redemption for them. There's no payment for their sin There's no provision of what

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Christ did for the angels and the fact that he Redeems men and not angels is evidence that he is not an angel

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Remember that's part of the point of what he has said so far in these first two chapters. Jesus is not an angel he's greater than the angels and In terms of his deity

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He is infinitely above the angels in terms of his humanity. He is made for a little while lower than the angels

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So as Jesus greater than or less than the angels he is greater than the angels But in terms of his status, you remember he has made for a little while lower than the angels now if the death of Christ were to Save the angelic hosts who are fallen the demons the evil spirits if the death of Christ were to save them

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Then it would be evidence that Jesus is an angel because he would be able to do something for angels

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But he has not done anything for angels, which is an evidence that he is not an angel that he was a man

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See, it was not an angel that I needed to live a perfect life and to obey the law in my stead angels

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Could never do that. No angel could ever obey the law on my behalf No angel could ever suffer the punishment that I deserve because he's an angel and not a man

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No angel could stand in the presence of God and represent me and offer a sacrifice Sufficient to pay the price for my sin

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No angel could ever do that And so therefore there is no provision for the angels in the atonement of Christ all the provision in the atonement of Christ is for Mankind it is for those amongst

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Adams followed race who will embrace and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ That is for whom the provision is made

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So the fact that there is no provision is not the angels that he helps as evidence that he is not an angel Whom does he help?

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He helps the descendants of Abraham So what I needed in my station for my salvation was somebody to stand in my stead and to obey the law in my place to represent me before God to represent

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God to me and then to pay that price that I owe and no angel could ever do That and this is why the deity and the humanity of the

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Lord Jesus are so essential and it is essential that we keep those two things together. They they must and always do go together

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We refer to it as the hypostatic union the union of two natures in one person He is both God and he is man.

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And here's why he had to be both God and man He had to be and so he could represent mankind

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What we needed was somebody in the human realm who was who was unfallen and sinless

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But yet a man to represent mankind because we are the ones who owe the debt and so we had to have somebody who would pay the debt on behalf of us you and I and In order to do that to pay the debt that you and I owe he had to be a man

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But the debt that you and I owe is too great and too infinite and too eternal and too

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Magnificent to be paid by a mere man. So he had to be God The debt that was owed was owed by man alone

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But the debt was so great that it could only be paid by God alone So we needed somebody who was of infinite value and worth to pay an infinite price that we as fallen and finite

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Humans owed before a holy God so that is why both the death and the Sorry, that is why both the humanity and the deity of the

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Lord Jesus Christ are essential to who he is and what we believe about him now What does he mean when he says he does not give help to angels?

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But gives help to the descendant as some translations say the descendants or the seed plural of Abraham What is the seed or the descendant of Abraham?

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Is he just referring here to physical Jews the word? That's translated descendant or seed is the word for offspring

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Spermatoz is the word it refers to descendants or offspring of Abraham And so is is the author here just referring to the physical descendants of Abraham in other words is what he did only good for the

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Jews and not for Gentiles alone is salvation only made available to those who are the physical descendants of Abraham or has

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Christ done something on behalf of all Jews and all Jews inclusively without doing anything for Gentiles and If if he's referring to the physical descendants of Abraham Then it seems that he would mean all of the physical descendants of Abraham and not just a few of them if he did this

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For the seed of Abraham then wouldn't it be all Jews included in that mix? That would be the recipients of these blessings in other words

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He has propitiated and he intercedes and he has offered a sacrifice on behalf of the Jews and the Jews alone but not the

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Gentiles or so it's either that option or The author here is referring to seed of Abraham in a very

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Pauline sense And Paul uses the term or the phrase seed of Abraham And this is one of the arguments that people use for saying that Paul was the author of Hebrews that this is a

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Pauline approach to this term Paul uses the term seed of Abraham to refer not just to the physical descendants of Abraham But to those who are his descendants spiritually speaking by virtue of faith in Christ So for instance in Galatians chapter 3

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Paul says even a and believed God That's faith and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

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Therefore be sure That it is those who are of faith who are the sons of Abraham and Paul's not limited.

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They're just the physical offspring He's saying it is those who are of faith who are the sons of Abraham Why because Abraham believed

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God and it was credited him for righteousness and you and I are commanded to do what believe God so that we? May have righteousness credited to us.

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So Abraham and you are saved on the same grounds faith If Abraham is credited righteousness by faith

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You can be credited righteousness by faith And if you are credited righteousness by faith in the Son or the one who is of the seed of Abraham That is the

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Lord Jesus Christ, then you are included in Abraham's covenant You're included in his promise and you are spiritually speaking a descendant or an offspring of Abraham Abraham becomes our father by faith

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Not by virtue of our physical descent from Abraham But by virtue of the fact that we like the father

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Abraham had believed in him So we inherit all of the blessings that are given to Abraham because of by virtue of our faith

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So Paul says in Galatians 3 the scripture for seeing the God would justify the Gentiles by faith preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying

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All the nations will be blessed in you. That's us all the nations bless you Abraham So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer

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Paul makes the same argument in Romans chapter 4 where he says that Abraham is the father of all who believe without being circumcised

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That righteousness might be credited to them. So who is our spiritual father? Spiritually speaking in this realm.

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Our spiritual father is Abraham So what is it that the author of Hebrews is saying? I think the author of Hebrews is saying this

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God has not made any provision or done anything to help angels. Why because Jesus is not an angel. He's greater than angels

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He's both God and man. She's not done anything on behalf of angels He has done something on behalf of those who are the seed the descendants of Abraham that would include

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Any who are physical descendants of Abraham who have faith in God and are credited with righteousness and that would include anybody who is among?

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The nations whom God promised to bless who also have faith in Abraham and are thus credited with righteousness We become the descendants of Abraham in that sense

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And we are the ones those who believed in him who are the seed of Abraham now Why does the author to the

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Hebrews? Use this phrase seed of Abraham and not just simply say that the the spiritual descendants or the spiritual seed

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Well, who are the who are the ones to whom he is writing? The Hebrews so all he is doing is using a phrase ology or terminology that would make it very personal to them

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Right. Remember that he has not given help to angels He has sent the one who is the descendant of Abraham the

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Lord Jesus Christ to give help and aid to those who are spiritually or Physically Abraham's descendants who like Abraham have faith in God so we have in verse 16 then this promise that or this this this contrast between the help that is given to Abraham and Abraham's descendants and the help that is given to angels.

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There's no help given to angels All that is provided for in the atonement is provided for those who are the seed or the offspring of Abraham That is us and notice again that it is a a narrow slice of people that he is describing here

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He doesn't say that God has offered or provided in the atonement of Christ for all the sons of Adam Be everybody who's ever lived but who?

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The provision of the atonement is for whom? It is for those who are the spiritual descendants of Abraham He is describing here a work that Christ has done on behalf of those who are in that covenant by faith the seed of Abraham So verse 17 there we have now the reference to three themes that are woven all the way through these first couple of chapters and particularly chapter 2 the theme of incarnation the theme of Identification and the theme of the death of Christ and I just want you to see these three themes

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He says in verse 17. Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things This is a statement of the incarnation

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Christ has been made like his brethren in all things notice the theme of his identification again, we have this familial term of Brethren and that is just like up in verse 12

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In verse 11 where he's not ashamed to call us brethren and he speaks of us as brethren in verse 12 in verse 13

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There are children whom God has given to us where the children are given to Christ We are the children mentioned in verse 14 so there's this familial language that is used in other words

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Christ became one and of one family with those whom he came to save and Then there is the theme of his death

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Which he speaks of in relation to propitiation of the sins of the people So that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God to make

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Propitiation for the sins of the people and then he mentions his suffering in verse 18 So these three themes the incarnation

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Christ becoming a man his identification with us as being of one brethren and of one family with those whom he came to save that identification with us is

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Necessary and then third the death of Christ and what that has accomplished in making propitiation for the sins of the people

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So let's look at this the language here of the incarnation Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things

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He had to be made like his brethren. And again, the the idea here is that in taking upon himself humanity

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He was made as humanity deity and humanity together remember but as humanity just like you and I in all things

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And this was necessary that he take upon himself a human nature Why would the author make so much of this?

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Do you notice how it's repeated all the way through chapter 2 or so much of chapter 2? You notice the repetition of it, right? He had to be verse 14 since the children share in flesh and blood he himself likewise also partook of the same

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It speaks of him being made lower than the angels in verse 9 of him being perfected through sufferings in verse 10

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It speaks of him being of one father in verse 11 It speaks of him being our brethren in verses 12 and 13 why the repetition of this emphasis on the humanity of the

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Lord Jesus Christ? And it's really simple is because of the emphasis of chapter 1 and what was the emphasis of chapter 1?

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Unequivocally and without compromise that Jesus Christ is fully divine. That was the emphasis of chapter 1 He is called

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God in chapter 1. We have the father calling him God in chapter 1 We have him worshiped by the angels as God in chapter 1 and so having having stated unequivocally and clearly and without Compromise or any confusion the full deity of the

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Lord Jesus Christ that he is fully God in chapter 2 He is emphasizing over and over again that this one who is called

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God is also our brethren our brother This one who was worshiped by angels is perfected through suffering this one

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Who is the exact radiance of God's glory? is at the very same time a partaker of flesh and blood like you and I are so there has to be this dual emphasis and anything that compromises in our theology or causes us to question in our theology either the full deity of the

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Lord Jesus Christ or His full and unblemished humanity anything that causes that is false doctrine

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We hold both of those to be true. He is fully God. He is fully man. That is Orthodox Christian teaching

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Now what he says that he is made like us or like his brethren and again, that is us in all things

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What does he mean by all things? well I'm a wicked hard -hearted rebellious sinner by nature

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Was Jesus made like me in that regard Was he also made a in made a wicked and rebellious and hard -hearted sinner by nature?

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All right. I struggle and have to mortify sinful desires on a daily basis. So do you? Was he made like you in that way so that he has sinful desires that he has to mortify and put to death as well

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Is he made like you in all things or just in some things? What does he mean by all things? Does by all things he really mean all things?

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No, he doesn't say this is an example in Scripture And there are lots of examples of this where all doesn't always mean all where universal language is used

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But it does not describe an actual universal condition We saw this up in verse 9 where says he tasted death for everyone and we asked what does it mean that he tasted death?

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for everyone He's talking about everyone who has ever lived or is he talking about everyone as defined by this context and everyone doesn't always mean everyone

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And all doesn't always mean all we use universal language to communicate non -universal truths or non -universal conditions all the time

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See, I just did it in that sentence I said all the time, but I didn't mean all the time because I've been doing this for all the message And I haven't used it that way.

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I just did sentence right there So we use the term all to not mean all a lot Not all the time and so the author is doing the same thing here

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He is saying he has made like us in all things But what does the all things pertain to it means in all of the aspects of humanity that are relevant to the discussion?

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He was a share with us in those things and he was made just like us Not that he was made a sinner because being sinful is not an essential element of humanity

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You can be human without being sinful Adam was for a period of time you and I will be at some point in the future fully human

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But without the taint of sin and without any inclination to sin. I'm looking forward to that No desire to sin no thought of sin.

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No, no propensity to sin. No weakness towards sin. No leaning towards sin in any way

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I'm looking forward to that state when we will be fully human But not have any of our sinfulness any of our sinful the remnants of our sinfulness at all

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So you can be a human without in any way being a sinner and in that way Jesus Christ was a share with us all

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Of the elements of humanity that are not tied or expressions of sinfulness.

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He shared in those things He doesn't need to be a sinner in order to sympathize with those who are sinners

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He just needs to be tempted to sin which in a moment You're gonna see he was tempted in all ways just as we are

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He doesn't need to be a sinner in order to sympathize with me in my sinfulness So and it says that he is a shared with us or became like us in all things

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It's not talking about sin talking about the aspects of humanity that you can partake of without being sinful

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It means that he had to learn how to walk It means that for a period of time he was dependent upon the breast of his mother for milk and daily sustenance

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It means he had to have his diaper changed. It means he had to learn to talk He had to learn to use proper grammar.

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He had to learn the law He had to learn the customs and the culture of his time. He had to learn proper grammar.

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I mentioned that he had to learn animal husbandry and about the natural world and who his relatives were and how he was related to those people he had to learn all

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Of those things just because you don't know that doesn't mean you're a sinner Just means that you don't know that and not only that but he experienced the things or Yeah experience the things that you and I would experience that are not necessarily tied to sin.

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He got angry he thirsted He hungered he got tired.

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He was perplexed Scripture says he was amazed at the unbelief of the people around him He knows what it means to be betrayed by a friend to abandon by his family to have his brothers and his sisters

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Mock him and jeer him and taunt him and not believe his claims. He knows what that is He knows what it means to to be a teenager and be under the authority of his parents

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Perfectly so and to obey them and to honor them in all things Typically teenagers think that they know melt more than their parents and they're better than their parents and they don't need to be in subjection

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To their parents. There's only one teenager ever who has ever lived who fits that description and it is not anybody in this room

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It was the Lord Jesus Christ and yet in that condition though He's the one man who actually did know better than his parents.

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He submitted to them in all things and honored them perfectly he honored and Respected and obeyed his sinful parents who needed him to atone for their sin.

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He knows all of that He knows what it means to stub his toe in the dark He knows what it means to cough to sneeze to have his eyeballs itch to get something in his eye that he can't get out

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To have a runny nose He knows that these experiences are So all of those things you and I can experience without being sinners

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He experienced all of those aspects of humanity that the the sore muscles getting sunburned

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Blistered fingers and hands sore feet Walking a long distance and being tired. What does it say in John chapter 4?

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He and his disciples were passing through Samaria and it was about the middle of the day and what happened He got tired and he was thirsty.

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And so he sat down to rest by the well That's full humanity. None of that is sinfulness.

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Even being angry is not sinful You can be angry in a non -sinful way and Jesus was angry in a non -sinful way

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So all of these expressions all of these experiences and these passions He experienced all of that and he was made like us in all of those aspects of humanity so he knows what it is to experience all of those things and this was necessary so that he might be sympathetic and Compassionate and so that he might represent us to the father and that he might represent the father to us this incarnation this identification and his experience and understanding and Living through all of humanity was necessary and it was a necessary part of it now why was it necessary so that he might make propitiation for the sins of the people and So that he might become a faithful merciful high priest and come to the aid of those who are so tempted

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That's the rest of verse 17 to 14 So after that long introduction We now come to the first thing that he does to help us the first of two points that he makes

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Propitiation for the sins of the people this is in verse 17 He had to be made like his brethren and all things that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God To make propitiation for the sins of the people in the verse 18 deals with the second one to come to the aid of those who

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Are tempted now both of these both of these things coming to the aid of those who are tempted and making propitiation

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That is to say that his current ministry on our behalf as well as what he did on the cross

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These two things become the subject matter of the rest of the book of Hebrews So at this point,

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I'm not going to dive too deeply into Propitiation and what was accomplished through the death of Christ on the cross and I'm not going to jump too deeply into his aid to those who are tempted and what it meant for him to be tempted because we're gonna deal with both of those elements

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As we get in further into the book of Hebrews if this were the only mention of these two things in all the rest Of the book I would you know how

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I rule I would stop right here I would pause and I would say we're gonna next five weeks on Propitiation and then we're gonna spend five more weeks on that after the temptation of Christ, but we're not gonna do that here because Chapters five six seven eight nine and ten all deal with those subjects as those two themes are woven together

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And you're gonna get sick of hearing me talk about it before we're done with the book of Hebrews In fact, some of you will be dead and buried and talking to the angels face to face

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About the time that the rest of us sick of hearing about what about the death and the priestly benefits of Christ's work

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So we have lots to go through in those next five chapters today We're just going to deal with these in a very general fashion as they're mentioned here in the passage.

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All right, so These two characteristics first he makes are these two ways of helping us first.

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He makes propitiation for the sins of his people When we talk about a high priest today

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This is something that would have been common to a first century Jew But you and I are probably not as familiar with as a first century

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Jew would be with the idea of what a high priest is The chances are good that most of us here have never met a

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Jew to a high priest of Judaism So we have served in that capacity that chances are a hundred percent that you have never met a high priest of the

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Judaistic religion So you you would not understand what that means like a first century Jew would understand that it means Here's what a high priest did

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The role of a high priest was twofold. He was to He was to represent

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God to men and he was to represent men to God depending on what he was doing at the time

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So once a year the high priest would first make an atonement for his own sins then he would offer the sins and Make a sacrifice for the sins of the people and then he would go behind the veil into the

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Holy of Holy and over the mercy Seat he would he would sprinkle that blood to make atonement or provision for the sins of his people and he would make that offering

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For the covenant people of the nation of Israel and in so doing he did something on behalf of men on behalf of the people

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He offered a sacrifice before God that was to appease or satisfy the wrath of God against them for their sin

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And he was also to do something on behalf of men. That is to provide that sacrifice Godward And so he would he would offer that to God and then on behalf of God He would represent

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God to the people and in doing so he was to display The character and the grace of God in all of his doings and he was to represent that that mediator between man and God that was his role to represent

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God to men and men to God and Now the Old Testament priests They were sinners and so they were sinners representing sinners and the

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Old Testament priest because he was a sinner he could understand the foibles and the failings and the sinfulness and the Propensity of the people and so when he prayed to God on behalf of the people and they interceded for them as their representative

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He could sympathize with them He was compassionate Somebody came to him and said look I'm struggling with this a priest because he has struggled or would have struggled with the same thing

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He could be compassionate and sympathetic to that individual High priest in those days knew what it meant to to lose somebody close to them and to deal with disease and to watch somebody

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Suffer, he understood those things. He understood human suffering. Well Christ is a high priest who is even greater Because he is not a sinner representing sinners

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Christ is a sinless son who represents sinners so he can sympathize with us in our weaknesses he can sympathize with us in our experiences, but rather than having first to offer a

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Sacrifice for his own sins and then to go in and offer a sacrifice on behalf of the people this one the

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Lord Jesus Christ offers one perfect sacrifice that forever Finally and perfectly accomplishes all that it was intended to accomplish

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It is a perfect work and he does this on behalf of his people as a representative of the people toward God And he does it as he represents

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God to us. So that's the idea of a high priest now There's two characteristics were typical of high priests they were supposed to be merciful and faithful high priest that is that they were merciful and They were merciful in the sense that they could sympathize with the people and they were faithful and they're calling in their duty before God Christ is both of those things he is merciful in that he understands us and he can sympathize with us and he was faithful to God even in the midst of his suffering and Faithfully and perfectly fulfilled what the father sent him to do and so in those two

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Elements being merciful and faithful in things pertaining to God Christ has made propitiation for the sins of the people now

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What in the world is propitiation? That's a big word Chances are good that you have not used that word in the last seven days

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Right unless your talk around the water cooler has to do with substitutionary Atonement of the death of Christ and its connection to the

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Old Testament priesthood if that's your typical everyday Conversation in your house that you may have dropped the word propitiation once or twice in the last seven days but chances are good that you probably have not so what is a propitiation a

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Propitiation is something that is offered in order to propitiate God so that he might be propitious.

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Does that help? No, not at all To be propitious is to favorable or favorably inclined disposed to favors or disposed to forgive

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So let's let's back up. It's the back the definition and work our way up to propitiation

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What is it that makes God propitious is God? Naturally inclined to show favor to sinners

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In other words our sinners deserving of the kindness and the grace and the mercy of God in any way No, we're not

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Ephesians 2 says we're children of wrath. We are under the wrath of God That is our natural state our natural condition

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God is angry with the wicked all day long the Psalms say We have heaped up a debt before God that that nobody but a perfect sacrifice could possibly pay

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It is an infinite and eternal debt and we deserve death for our sin. That is the natural state of things

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So God is in no way Inclined to be propitious or gracious or favorable toward the sinner.

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So something must happen God must be propitiated before he can be propitious toward the sinner.

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How is it that God is propitiated? He has propitiated or that is he has made favorable When he has been satisfied

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Propitiated concerning the sins of those people to whom he is going to show favor and that's what propitiated means

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It means to satisfy or to make somebody propitious What has to happen in order for God to be favorably disposed toward sinners?

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In other words, if God is going to be propitious, he must be propitiated. He must be satisfied What has to happen for God to be satisfied a propitiation must be given

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Something to make God favorable toward the sinner What is it that God has done or someone has done?

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To Create a condition in which God can look at me a rebellious sinner and welcome me as a son into his family with all of the right being heir to his kingdom and Not treat me as the rebellious wicked hard -hearted justly condemned sinner that I am what has happened a

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Propitiation a satisfaction on behalf of my sin has been offered So that in what has been offered

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God is satisfied Concerning my sin debt It is finished, right?

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It's paid The atonement has been made the price has been paid. The wrath has been satiated

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Reconciliation has taken place so that now I can be at peace with God Why because somebody has made on my behalf my peace with God God has been satisfied

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He has been propitiated so now he can be favorably disposed to me and forgive me not again because of anything

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I have done because of what Christ has Done and what is Christ done? He has made satisfaction for the sins of the people now for whom

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Upon whom does the favor of God rest? Who for whom has

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Christ made that satisfaction and I'm not saying possible For whom has

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Christ made that satisfaction? is it the sins of all people or has he satisfied the wrath of God on behalf of a

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Specific people he has satisfied the wrath of God on behalf of his brethren verse 10 those who are sons

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Sorry, those sons who are destined for glory whom he is bringing to glory. It is his brethren in verse 11 and 12

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It is the children whom God has given to him in verse 13. It is the children mentioned in verse 14

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It is those who have been freed from the fear of death It is those for whom Christ has destroyed the works of the devil

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It is a small group of people that is in view here for whom has the wrath of God been completely satisfied if the wrath of God follow this carefully if the wrath of God has been completely satisfied for Everyone who has ever lived then the wrath of God has no claim upon anyone

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Because it has been satisfied on behalf of everyone That is to say that if Christ has turned away the wrath of the father from all of mankind

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Then explain to me why it is that the mass of humanity is suffering in eternal hell and why they will suffer in eternal hell

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Are you telling me that God is at the same time completely appeased concerning their sin? But he is at the same time pouring out his wrath upon them for their sin

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Not possible He has made propitiation why the sins of the people Which people the people described in this entire passage it is those for whom he has died

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He has paid a price not just to make salvation possible. He has secured the price

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He has secured the salvation of his people by actually satisfying the wrath of God on their behalf in his death

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He's done this for us. So therefore if you are in Christ Because he has made propitiation for you.

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There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus You have been crucified with him you are identified with him and he will raise you up That is his promise and you will be with him why because he has promised your redemption

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He has paid for that redemption not just made it possible and left it up to you He has secured that salvation in his death.

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This is why I've said before you cannot have a universal Atonement and a substitutionary atonement if he died in your place

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It's not universal if it is universal, then he doesn't die for anybody specifically Right the death of Christ did and accomplished exactly what he came to accomplish and said he would do

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And he did this by a sacrifice the second thing he does is to assist us in our trials and our temptations verse 18 for since he himself was tempted and that Which he has suffered he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted oftentimes we think of the

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Temptation of Christ and we just think in terms of those three offers that he had in the wilderness after 40 days of hunger remember that Matthew chapter 4

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Luke chapter 4 and Sometimes we read through those temptations and we think okay, he was hungry and the devil tempted him to turn rocks into bread

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How is that supposed to be like anything I've never been hungry enough to look at a rock and think man that looks good I've never been hungry enough to do that.

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I've never been hungry enough to be tempted to do that How is how is that temptation similar to any temptation? I finished

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I faced the devil has never tempted me to to throw myself down off of a cliff and test the test the grace

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Of God in his in his provision. I've never been tempted to do that I've never been tempted to sit down to fall down and worship

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Satan in hopes of gaining the entire kingdom in what way do the Temptations have anything to do with me those temptations specifically have to do with Temptations that were geared toward Christ in his unique need and his unique messianic office

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So in his need he was hungry and he had the ability unlike me He had the ability to turn rocks into bread

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He could have done that that wasn't the father's will and he wasn't going to step out of that Out of the father's will to do something that might satiate his own need.

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Well, I can sympathize with that Can't I I mean I I know that God has put me in situations where I could easily get out of the situation if I were

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Just to sin And so the temptation is the same to step out of God's will to do something to alleviate a physical need

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The other two temptations have to do uniquely with his messianic office and his calling He could get all the kingdoms

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He could short -circuit or go around the cross and get all the kingdoms of the world if he were worship Satan All right so that has to do with his messianic claims his messianic office likewise with with proving that he was the

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Messiah by throwing himself down and Attempting death before the time only to have God lift him up and bear him up with angels and keep him from dying that would have

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Proved him to be the Messiah, but that incident Matthew chapter 4 and Luke chapter 4 is not the only time the

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Lord Jesus was tempted. I Would I would venture to say and this is sanctified speculation that he was tempted or had opportunity to disobey his parents

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To not honor his parents when he was younger he had opportunity and was tempted to treat Judas differently knowing that Judas was going to betray him in the end and yet Jesus didn't

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Treat him any differently than he did the other disciples He had opportunity particularly in his sufferings and this is what the author is

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Describing for see since he himself was tempted in that which he suffered in other words The author of Hebrews here is describing particular temptations

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Unique to and specific to the suffering of Jesus He would have been tempted to do things on the cross that you and I could never imagine and his

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Temptation would have been greater than any temptation we have ever faced. What would he have been tempted to do on the cross?

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He could have been tempted to call legions of angels to his assistance and to stop the suffering like that He could have been tempted to to not forgive those who were reviling him

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He could have been tempted to revile in return He could have been tempted to short -circuit everything and even to Alleviate the suffering by mixing them drinking the mixed drink that was offered to him.

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He could have been tempted to to Circumvent all of that and to not go to the cross at all These are all temptations that he would have faced in his suffering now those type of temptations you and I can you and I can relate to We in our affliction or in our suffering we can be tempted to question the goodness of God the grace of God the wisdom

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Of God the mercy of God the knowledge of God Whether or not he really loves us whether or not this is the best thing for us whether or not he is actually good in This because I'm suffering we tend to think that that is some reflection on the nature and character of God That is a very real temptation

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How about the temptation to alleviate our suffering by sinning to get out of our affliction or suffering?

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There are times when we are in circumstance We think you know if I were to just compromise if I were to just lie if I were to just do this one thing all of my suffering would end in a moment all

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I have to do is disobey the Lord in this one thing and Life would be so much easier for me

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That's the temptation we face even in the midst of suffering and I want you to notice a few things about temptation that we learn

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Here real quickly first to be tempted is not in itself a sin And you remember that because we're tempted does not mean that the temptation itself is not a sin

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To desire to give in to the temptation is a sin a sinful desire Currently right now in the

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Christian Church. There is this debate going on and it is an attempt to to redefine God's moral standards the debate going on is whether or not homosexual desire is actually a sinful desire

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And there's a group of people mostly of mostly liberal Christians and liberal denominations whose intent is to argue

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That it is not sinful to have Homosexual inclinations in other words, I could strongly desire homosexual

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Relationships and not be sinful. It's only if I give in to them Are you telling me that it's not possible for me to have any sinful desires that our desires are not sinful?

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It's only when we give in to them. No, that's not true That's not true at all We have we have desires all the time all of us do that when we when we desire things covet them or lust after them

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They're sinful desires, it's the desire itself that has to be crucified has to be mortified It is not sin to have the temptation or the allurement put before me

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It is sin to desire to give in to it and it is sin to give in to it But having it set before me is not in itself sin to look at something and say yeah, that's a temptation

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That's an opportunity just because that is there does not mean that I am in sin because I recognize that a temptation is present

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Second the fact that you're tempted does not show God's displeasure toward you in any way Sometimes we think this man.

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I'm really really struggling with this. I'm really really tempted with this. Am I really saved? That this temptation is here and this temptation keeps coming back.

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God must not be pleased with me He must be in some way Showing his disfavor to me and that he keeps allowing this temptation to come into my life and to set itself before me

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Was Jesus in any way? It was the father in any way displays displeased with Jesus No He was tempted in all things just as we are and yet This was the son of the father's love in whom there was no variation or shadow of turning and the father loved him and the father

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Was not displeased with him in any way This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased the presence of temptation should not cause you to question your salvation

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It should not cause you to think that God is displeased with you and the presence of temptation should not cause you to question the goodness of God third

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You must always expect to be tempted Jesus was tempted even in his suffering the very end of his life

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I think you and I it would be reasonable for you and I to say that we ought to expect that we will be Lying on our deathbed fighting temptation on our deathbed in our sickness in our suffering that we will be struggle against temptation for the rest of our lives and we should never think that if just if we could just get to a certain

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Station in life or a certain circumstance in life that the temptation will go away Right if I could just get married then

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I would no longer be tempted to lust If I could just get out of death Then I would no longer be tempted to be so greedy and stingy if I could just get a different job

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I wouldn't be tempted to be discontent. You're lying to yourself If you think that because your station in life can change

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The temptation is going to follow you no matter how your circumstances change. The temptation will just change with it

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We need to recognize that we will be tempted all of our lives for the rest of our lives expect it a deathbed fighting temptation and having to mortify sin and Jesus is able to sympathize with us because in his suffering he himself was tempted

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He himself was tempted in that which he suffered while on the cross temptation presented itself all the way up until his dying breath and Because he suffered and was tempted in that suffering look at verse 18.

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It says he is able to come to our aid What does it mean that he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted who are those who are tempted?

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It's you and I he's tempted in every way as we are and so since he is able to sympathize with us He knows what it is like to be in that circumstance.

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He knows what it is like to experience those things he knows what it is like to face that temptation and he knows what it is like to resist it and Because he is able to resist it and he has resisted it

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He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted So what he did in propitiations to take our sins out of the way that's past tense.

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What is he doing right now? He's coming to the aid of those who are tempted Jesus is willing to do this

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Jesus is able to do this. This is what Jesus does currently for his people He doesn't he doesn't come to the aid of those who are tempted who are not his people who are often rebellion and warring against him

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They're not fighting temptation. They dive into temptation. They love temptation. They can't even see temptation It's just a sinful lifestyle to them.

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They don't struggle against sin at all We struggle against him because we struggle against sin He comes to our aid and he is able to aid us and to comfort us in the midst of that temptation, which we face

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This would have been this would have been particularly beautiful reminder for the original audience of this letter

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Think of it this way, but what were they struggling with in the first century the Hebrews to whom this letter was written? What was their big temptation were they going through suffering?

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Yeah, we find later out We found out later on in the book in chapter 10 that some of them had suffered the hardship of having all of their earthly Possessions seized from them.

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They had lost their possessions. They had been kicked out of their community Some of them had lost their jobs for being

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Christians They were facing soft persecution and they had every expectation to be facing real

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Persecution that would end up shedding their blood which is why the author says later on you haven't resisted Temptation to the point of shedding blood not yet It's coming a point when you're going to suffer and you ought to look forward to shedding your blood and then you're going to be

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Resisting temptation. This should be helpful to us, by the way When there's fighting temptation we had to say if I shed blood yet in my resisting of temptation look around me

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Nope, I look good. No blood shed yet. That means I can keep going All right You haven't shed blood yet in your resistance of sin in your resisting temptation

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And so you can keep doing that now He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted and for these early Christians in the book of Hebrews This would have been very powerful reminder to them that you might be tempted to just deny

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Christ and All of your suffering and affliction would go away like that. That's what they could have done

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You know what temptation looked like for them? It looked like this. Hey If you just deny that Jesus is the

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Messiah We'll let you live Let your kids live We'll let you keep your job so you can provide for your family

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We'll stop slandering you in the community You'd be welcomed and embraced just like it was before you came to Jesus and got all religious and right more righteous than doubt

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Honest, that's what it looked like for them. No temptation looks like for us Should I sit back in my easy chair and watch something inappropriate on Netflix?

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What if there comes a day when temptation for you is you deny Christ You stop with your proclamation of the gospel and we will let you and your family live

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That's real temptation Jesus knows what it is like in the midst of suffering to have that opportunity to stop the suffering presented to him and he

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Resisted that all the way until death and now the author is saying to the Hebrews He is able to come to your aid when you are suffering and he is able to assist you

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And so what does this mean for us this means we look to Christ and never forget that we have a faithful and merciful and Sympathetic high priest who even right now sits at the right hand of God and is praying and interceding for you and I He's praying for us even right now and he knows whatever our temptation is

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Whatever our allurement to sin is he knows exactly what it is. He knows our hearts.

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He knows our weaknesses He can sympathize with them and he can come to the aid of those who are tempted We must mortify the sin and put it to death and run from the temptation and resist it even to the point of bloodshed

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Knowing that we have a faithful high priest who can help us in that So that God may be glorified in and through his church.

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Let's pray together Father you are merciful and kind Knowing our weaknesses you have provided for us not only a an atonement that is

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Satisfied your wrath against all of our past sins and all of our future sins But you have provided for us a high priest who is able to come to our aid

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We thank you Lord Jesus that you know, the weaknesses and the failings of your people

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You know that we are but dust and yet you love us Anyway, you are committed to save us anyway

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And even though we deserved only your wrath you came and offered a sacrifice for our sin and bore that wrath on our behalf

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We thank you for that and even if we had a thousand tongues to sing your praise for that great act of grace

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We would never exhaust What we need to praise you for and the depth of what our worship ought to be for that great sacrifice

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Thank you for your love for us. Thank you that you have atoned for us. Thank you that you intercede for us even now

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We pray that you give us grace and open our eyes to ways in which we may come to Christ and look upon Christ Who is our sympathetic and high priest even in the midst of our temptation?

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Grandfather that even in the midst of suffering that we may not give in to the temptations and allurements to sin