Hebrews 5 -- Jesus the High Priest (Part 4)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ. Based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said,.

�But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry.

My name is Mike Abendroth, and we have a little slogan, always biblical, always provocative, always in that order. It�s super simple, I just want you to think biblically, that�s all. I�d like you to be so full of the Bible that when you�re cut, as Spurgeon said of John Bunyan�s Pilgrim�s Progress, he bleeds Bible, he bleeds bibling, that�s all I�m after.

When I first started the show, I knew I needed a name and didn�t know what to do, so of course, what do you do? How do you get a name? Well, you ask your wife. She�s the brains behind the operation, and she said, �Well, why don�t you call it No Compromise Radio

I thought, �Honey, that is a great idea. That was eight years ago, and when I first started, I thought, you know, we�re not going to compromise, that�s the whole point. And that�s still a theme, but that�s like the third theme.

Christ, the Cross, and the High-Priestly Work of Jesus

Here�s the first theme. We�re going to turn this more Christ-centered. The first theme is, can you imagine Jesus never compromised? There is a person who lived on this earth, who fully obeyed the law, do this and live, and he did everything that God commanded.

Unlike Adam in the garden, unlike Israel in the wilderness, unlike David on a rooftop, unlike me, unlike you, he perfectly obeyed. No compromise. That�s the Lord Jesus Christ. When I think of no compromise, I like to think of Jesus.

Secondly, I like to think about the cross and how, at the cross, God�s love, God�s holiness, God�s wrath, God�s grace, all on display, along with his other attributes. None of them were compromised. He didn�t compromise his holiness, nor his justice, nor his love.

So two out of the three are the Christ-centered ones, and in light of that, I don�t want to compromise. I mean, who wants to compromise? No one does. So what we�re talking about today are three questions that you can ask yourself, are you maturing in Christ?

Right from Hebrews chapter 5, verses 11 and following. Here are the questions ahead of time. Can I teach others? Can I handle meat, or doctrine? And can I discern? Those are the three. Immature Christians can�t teach others, immature Christians can handle meat, and immature Christians can�t discern.

The writer of Hebrews is trying to proclaim the excellencies of Christ, how he�s better, how he�s superior, how he�s better than angels, better than prophets, better than Aaron, better than Moses. He�s just better all around, better sacrifice, better priest.

And you need that because you stand before God, and you need a mediator. If you�re not perfect, you need a mediator who is perfect. You know, the shame about people who think they need priests today, their priest better be perfect.

And of course, we live in a society where we�ve seen many priests and their sins, and their gross sins, and how can you have them stand between you and God when they, the priest, are sinful? I mean, you don�t want me as your priest, right?

Because God�s going to then judge me, and then how am I going to be your mediator? So we need Jesus who is not 100 God and man, not a fully God and man, but the language not of quantity, but quality, let�s use.

I understand what you mean when you say 100%, 100%, fully, fully. But if you think about it, by quality, Jesus is truly God and truly man. He is perfectly God and perfectly man. That would be the language of the confessions and creeds, and I think that�s the best language.

These are the three questions. Can I teach others? Can I handle meat? Can I discern? He says in verse 11, as we looked at last show, that seemed like a long time ago, didn�t it? �About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment, trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. So you�ve got the setting, and the setting is problem with hearing, problem with listening.

He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church, right? Ephesians chapter 2, sorry, no, Revelation chapter 2, to the church at Ephesus. Hearing is important, because when you hear the word, you�re going to hear about Jesus, and these people have been Christians, professing Christians at least, for long enough.

They should be mature, but they�re going backwards, it�s regression. I want to call it the Pilgrim�s Regress, but just between us, between us girls. C .S. Lewis wrote a book on that. Stephen just said this online, Luther, who said he had to preach the gospel over and over and over again, because his people would always forget.

That�s right, then it says, �See more. I don�t think Luther said the �see more. But the question we could all ask ourselves is, have we become dull? The language here in the text is even, you didn�t start off that way, �since you have become dull.

Remember when you first got saved, fired up, enthusiastic, praise God from whom all blessings flow, Jesus is Lord, telling people about it, turn or burn, thankful that God chose you, thankful that God, the Son, died for you, you were fired up.

It was just contagious. It was crazy love. But then things start happening. Life happens, and trials happen, temptations, persecution, and it becomes very difficult. And there was a process for these people, that they were going downhill, and they were becoming, frankly, lazy and numbed.

And Stephen said, �But to convict you here�s a convicting one, I think I tweeted this a while ago, �Most people this is what Spurgeon said, �treat the Bible very politely. They have a small pocket volume, neatly bound, they put a white pocket handkerchief around it and carry it to their places of worship.

When they get home, they lay it up in a drawer till next Sunday morning. Then it comes out again for a little bit of a treat and goes away to chapel. That is all the poor Bible gets in the way of an airing.

That is your style of entertaining this heavenly messenger? There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write �Damnation� with your fingers. There are some of you who have not turned over your Bibles for a long, long while.

And what think you? Remember when we think about the Word of God, Philippians chapter 2, it�s called the Word of Life. Remember Psalm chapter 1 verse 1, �How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.

That�s Psalm 32, but here, Psalm 1, �How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.

That should be our response to the Word of God. So now let�s come up to those questions. By the way, last show I did something with a message, and of course, now that I read Psalm 1 to you, since this is radio, here�s Psalm 1 for the message, the message moment.

I�m supposed to record for Wretched Radio this Monday, two shows, for Monday�s show and Tuesday�s show, which is what, the 3rd, July 2nd, 3rd, yeah, July 2nd and 3rd. Maybe I could read Psalm 1. By the way, when you�re reading one psalm, don�t call it psalms.

You know, songs 1, no, song 1, so Psalm 1. Spencer just said the puppy Bible. Well, this is probably worse than the puppy Bible, but here we go. You be the judge. Psalm 1, yeah, or Revelations. Don�t ever say Revelations 1.

I mean, new Christians, that�d be a good one. How can you test your maturity? Well, number 1, do you say Psalms 1? Number 2, do you say Revelations? How well God must like you, you don�t hang out at Sin Saloon, you don�t slink along Dead End Road, and you don�t go to smart mouth college.

Now, it�s been some time since I�ve had my Hebrew refresher class. I�ve taken quite a few Hebrew classes, but I didn�t really know the word in Hebrew for college, smart mouth college. Oh, brother. Question 1, can I teach others?

Verse 12, for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. These people who have heard the word, it�s not that they should have the gift of teaching.

It�s not that, I mean, that�s a sovereign gift of the Spirit of God. He gives that sovereignly. It�s not as if they need to all be teachers at their church. But they know enough about who Jesus is. They�ve been Christians long enough.

They could teach a class if they needed to. I mean, someone�s walking down the hallway, and the kid�s Sunday school teacher didn�t show up to teach Revelations and Psalms 2. And what if the pastor said to you, by the way, could you fill in today?

Oh, sorry. I�ve been a Christian for 20 years. I don�t think I had anything. I don�t have anything to add. Michael Matthews just said, what�s the Greek word for heno? Heno. I would call grandma, and I would say, grandma, you just said heno.

I did not, she said. Her name was Nona Anderson. And I said, grandma, you said heno. And she said, no, I didn�t. I said, hello. I said, well, you understand how to say the word hello, because you just said hello, but when you pick up the phone, when I call you, 553 -3836, that was 402.

I don�t know who owns that number now, 875 -309. The number to call is BR -549. You say heno. So I�d say, I�ll call you right back. Okay, call me back, Mike. And I call her back. Heno. These people had been Christians long enough.

I ask you the question, have you been Christians for long enough that you ought to be teaching? I mean, the point here is time. Some of these people that are receiving the letter, the book of Hebrews, when you go to chapter 10, you say to yourself, they might have professed faith for 10, 20, some commentators say 30 years.

Vernon McGee said, quote, some of them want a DD degree, Doctor of Divinity, but they don�t even know their ABCs. You know what DD means? Yeah, Doctor of Divinity, but it�s an unearned, it means didn�t do it, DD.

That�s true. You should qualify as teachers, but you need someone to teach you. You�re regressing. You�ve got to go back to kindergarten. I mean, that was a big deal when I was growing up. Probably doesn�t happen much today because they need to move the kids along for self-esteem, but to be held back, you�re in second grade and they�ve got to hold you back.

I mean, how many mental problems and learning problems and difficulties do you have to not go on? You know, maybe some of you, maybe some of you were held back. That was a big deal. You know, you take a lot of pounding, verbal pounding if that happened to you.

But here, these people, this is worse. You should be in high school, and you�ve got to go back to kindergarten. Now, here�s kind of a practical application from pastoral standard, pastoral situation. I have to pick some level of preaching.

That is to say, some grade of preaching. I can preach at fourth grade. I could preach at eighth grade. I could preach at twelfth grade. I could preach at college level, seminary level. I have to pick something.

You know, you can probably pick a variety of different things, but what do I pick? If you were a pastor, what would you pick? Now, when you�re a new Christian, you�re thinking the pastor just said propitiation, he said sacerdotal, he said smart mouth college, he said finger painting.

But you�ve got to pick something. And it�s like you�ve been a Christian for 20 years, and the pastor, he�s now preaching at 11th grade, right? So that means the people at fourth grade have to grow into the 11th grade, and the people who are in college level Christianity, they can still appreciate 11th grade lecture.

You know, it�s something new. You say to yourself, wait a second, I�ve been a Christian for 20 years, and I want the pastor to go easier. No monosyllabic words entertained. I mean, only monosyllabic words entertained here.

When at work, you have to learn all kinds of new lingo. I bet you Stephen at Chick-fil-A, he�s got to learn all kinds of special lingo. Like, Stephen, tell me something you�ve got to learn. Give me a word.

Is there a special word for the fryer or something? Is there a special word for, I don�t know, some employee that�s doing the wrong thing? You�ve got to learn new words. You�ve got to learn big words.

I mean, engineers have to learn them and whatever, you know, all kinds of acronyms. You�re in the military, but you go, I can�t learn anything when it comes to Christianity. This is a challenge to these listeners.

He wants them to be sharpened. It�s an ironic thing. You should be teaching, but you need to be taught. And you say, well, yeah, but once I learn justification, it�s not like I ever have unlearned it, but I�m struggling spiritually.

So here�s what he�s saying. You�re struggling spiritually with how the high priesthood of Jesus applies to you and your marriage and your job and your anxiety and your MRI. That�s what he�s saying. He�s not saying, listen, you learned justification 20 years ago and you forgot about justification or here in the book.

Cherie just said, how can I apply this as a woman? Are you being funny about it? Well, you know, speaking of which, women teach all the time. Women teach their children. Women teach other teachers. I learn tons from my wife.

It�s not a formal, you know, sit down, I�m going to give you a lecture. But if you�re a woman or a man, you�ve learned enough about Christianity that given the opportunity, you should be teaching. You know enough that if you could teach, you should be teaching.

We�re not talking about pulpit ministry or Sunday morning or anything like that. I hope, Cherie, that makes sense. But here, back to what�s going on here. These people are saying to themselves, you know, I know about Jesus as high priest, but I�m not really applying it to the situations I�m in.

And particularly here, it was persecution. Let�s see what Stephen�s saying. You get the lecture when you didn�t place the dishes properly in the dishwasher. Is that at Chick-fil-A? Is that one of the things there?

Okay, so they�re getting persecuted. They�re on the run. They haven�t died yet, but probably some of them will soon. I need something more practical, like how to run, where to take my kids, versus sitting and thinking through, okay, what happens if I die of this persecution?

What�s going to go on with Jesus as my high priest? Does the high priest, since he has loved me enough to die for me, does he love me less now that I�m suffering and persecuted? Does he care? That�s what the writer�s talking about.

Do I have to go back and tell you again that Jesus loves you? That Jesus loved you as sinner? Jesus loved you while an enemy? Jesus loved you while you were unable to save yourself, while you were ungodly?

And if Jesus, this high priest, loves you then, do you think he loves you less now because you struggle with a sin, or you�re tempted, or you�re backsliding? You ought to have been teachers. It says in Hebrews 10, verse 32,.

�But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated, for you had compassion on those in prison.

Remember that back in the old days? You said to yourselves, Jesus is a high priest. How does that apply to my current situation? Here�s how it applies. I�m going to suffer. I�m going to go through hard public reproach, and yet I�m going to still go help people who are in prison and go serve other Christians, and not sit there and think, �Woe is me.

That�s what he�s talking about. They�re regressing, and they�re slow to learn. They�re saying, �You know what? Not that I�ve forgotten justification by faith alone, but how does this apply to my life

So that�s what�s going on here. My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. I think we�re down to, let�s see, �My wife taught me this word says Mark. �She�s studying to be a med tech.

Oh, that�s got the rhino in there. �Otorhinolaryngology. No, I should know that. I�ve had a rhinoplasty, and it didn�t work. Still crooked, still not right. Otorhinolaryngology, something like that.

I think that�s what the Hebrews were suffering from. I think that�s the problem. What else? What else is happening here? This is, I think, William Barclay calls this the kind of Peter Pan version of Christianity, where it�s just great to be young.

Instead of teaching people, you ought to be going backwards. No, not at all. So, question number two. This is what I wanted to get up to today, and I�m going slowly. Can I handle meat? It says in verse 12, �You need milk.

Or as we say in Nebraska, �Milk, not solid food for everyone who lives on milk, is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. How do you know you�re immature? You know what? I want it watered down.

I want it simple. I don�t want to be pushed. I don�t want to be stretched. I need baby food. Kind of strained, that would be nice. I don�t want to have any kind of meat. Of course, those of you who have had children, it was always fun to first start giving your children food, right?

Solid food. I mean, it wasn�t fun. The after part wasn�t fun. But it was fun giving them food, and they�re spitting out the peas, but they like the carrots, and they like the bananas. Of course, today it�s probably all organic and everything else.

I remember the first couple times I gave my children ice cream and just the facial expressions of the children having ice cream. It�s amazing. You�ve got these Christians, professing Christians, maybe five years, 10, 20, 30, depending on the commentators, and now instead of doctrine, i .e., Jesus is a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Can I kind of go back to some of the intro stuff? God made the world. Jesus is God. Resurrection. I mean, those are great truths. Don�t get me wrong. But there are some other doctrines that you need, and he is using this milk solid food illustration because he wants you to grow up, right?

He wants you to learn and grow so that you can say no to temptation as a mature person, so that you cannot be a spiritual infant, so that you�re not regressing. I always remember that little illustration.

The psychologists always do. They�ve got a kid in the room, and he�s probably some five-year-old crew cut boy, and he�s got some M &Ms, and they�re like, �Okay, you can eat the M &Ms now, but if you wait five minutes until I come back, I�ll give you double the M &Ms.

And the kid�s like, �What am I going to do You know, you can hear the Jeopardy music as the kid kind of works through it. The maturity that comes from having meat helps you for lots of reasons, physically, of course, and spiritually.

The milk meat imagery is talking about maturity. And, you know, since this is NOCO, I can say it. We live in a dumbed-down age. I just put a list here together. Purpose-driven prayer of Jabez. Simply just look at the CBD bestsellers.

Promise Keepers, Jesus Calling, T .D. Jakes, Crazy Love. If that�s your diet, you�re immature. Sorry to say that. I�m not saying you�re not a Christian, but you�re immature. And the writer wants you to act your spiritual age.

Well, you know, that�s just too deep. I�ve had people actually leave the church, and they�ve met with me, and they�ve said to me, �We�re looking for something deeper. We�re not getting fed. I�m thinking, I�m preaching through Hebrews.

You know, you want me to spoon-feed you? You know, there have been times, I�m sorry to say, but you�ve done it too, probably, if you�re a parent. I have maybe something that�s really crunchy, or it�s got sharp edges, and I�ll chew it up a little bit and make sure it�s not sharp and it�s going to hurt the kid, and then I�ll give it to them.

Why? Because I guess I could put it in a blender or something, but, you know, I take a bite of make one smash and then give it to the kid, you know, the end of the ice cream cone. I don�t know, kind of like a bird or something.

I�ve done it. I�m a dad. I�ll admit it. I haven�t done it the other way around, though. Kid needs good germs from his dad. And, you know, there�s nothing wrong with me from the pulpit saying, in other words, or here�s a good explanation, or if you�re new to the faith, this is what this means.

That�s not the point. The point is, these people are on the run. They�re struggling. So say to yourself, I�m going through a trial and it�s a job or health or anything else. And I try to encourage you with doctrine because, as Plummer said, if you�ve got weak doctrine, big temptations are going to bulldoze you over.

You�re going to need solid doctrine. I could put it this way. What do you think of when they call you and say you�ve got cancer? What do you think of when your spouse has cancer? What do you think of when they say you�re fired?

What do you think of when, you know, whatever that phone call is? You�ve got to have a doctrine of the sovereignty of God and providence and a God who doesn�t love based on, you know, the thermometer, etc.

All right, No Compromise Radio. I have to stop this right here.

I�ll see you next time.