Hebrews 5 -- Jesus the High Priest (Part 2)

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.

How many could I think of? I�m running out of them. Come on. Some people, what�s

Martin Luther�s middle name? I need that. His initials, I know, are ML, but what�s his middle name?

See, I don�t know Bavick�s middle name. RL? Although, he is,

I�m sure, not politically correct anymore. So let�s go to some. Vitsios.

What�s Vitsios�s middle name? Is it you, or is it me, or is it both of us? When I hear somebody say

Wittenberg, don�t we all know by now it�s Wittenberg, the W in German?

It�s like a V. Wittenberg. I mean, you don�t know what you don�t know, of course, but with all the 1517 action going on, the 500 -year anniversary and Luther movies, don�t we know

Wittenberg by now? There are two Wittenbergs in Germany, but there�s only one where Luther was.

Witten. Now, of course, if you�re German, you�re like, it�s Wittenbeg, however you say it.

Burgermeister, Meisterburger. I�m still trying to think of other theologians that have initials.

Okay, still thinking. HL, but he was an atheist.

I�ll ask you a question. What�s HL? What�s HL? What�s HL? Well, I know there�s an AB, but I think he was an Arminian, AB Simpson, so we can�t do that.

I�m trying to think of Princetonians, trying to think of Westminster folks. Hmm, I don�t know.

What if it just goes by the first letter of your first name? You just know it as like R. Scott.

What about that? Then you�re a good theologian, allegedly. Okay, No Compromise Radio.

We�re talking about the end of Hebrews chapter 5. What I like to do is I like to talk about this subject, because it�s who

Jesus is, but I have a sermon to preach tomorrow from this text, and then I come to the studio.

I usually do this on Fridays, but I come to the studio today on a Saturday night because I was busy today.

I got so wet on the bicycle today, just pouring. It wasn�t supposed to pour till later. I had lunch with somebody.

I wanted to get a ride in before lunch, and I met with this young man, and he hasn�t been to church lately.

We talked about the importance of local church and worship and preaching and one another�s and not forsaking the assembly.

He took my exhortation very well, and at the end he said, �I�ll see you tomorrow.� I come to practice.

You are my guinea pig. But what the writer�s doing in Hebrews 5, he�s telling them, �Listen.�

5 .11. I should read it because I just read it a moment ago, but that was last show yesterday. �About this we have much to say.�

Jesus or Melchizedek or Jesus as the Melchizedekian high priest.

�We have much to say, and it�s hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing.�

What I was saying at the end of last show, probably yesterday�s show, is that when people can�t hear a message about Jesus as professing

Christians, well, what are your options? Option 1, I change my message.

But here the problem is not the message. The problem is not the preacher. The problem is not that you got a dull pastor.

The problem is with the listener. They become dull, listless, sluggish, molasses -y.

I know that�s a new word. I like it though. Molasses -y. Ever met somebody whose swimming pool is shaped like a gun?

I have. Speaking of guns, I went to New Hampshire and shot an

Uzi the other day. Fully automatic, 32 rounds. This happened to be a 9mm.

I just wanted to start off with something that would be easy to control. 32 round mag Uzi. If you look up Uzi, it�s the late 40s, 1940s, and there was a guy named

Uziel, something Uzi, Israeli. He developed the gun.

Named it after himself. It should have been U -something for the theologian.

And initials. Still looking over there. My eyes are so bad,

I can�t see far enough away to figure out other theologians. If somebody wants to do that, send me a list.

D .L. Moody. Send me a list of better theologians that have initials.

They�re known by their first two initials instead of their first name and middle name. Carl Henry.

He wasn�t a Calvinist. Well, maybe he was. You never know. Oh, I�m starting to think.

A .W. There you go. There�s two A .W .s. One�s a little more

Calvinistic than the other. One maybe went a little overboard on his Calvinism. Who else? Come on.

Give me something. How about any modern -day people that are known by their initials, their first two initials?

I can�t think of any theologians. By the way, it�s hard these days because so many people have bought into the whole social gospel and everything else that my list of modern -day preachers that I want to listen to has shrunken.

It�s shrunk. It has shrunk. It�s continuing to shrink. Sad. This should have not been a blindside to anybody.

D .M. David Martin Lloyd -Jones. This should have been seen.

Why? Because once continuationists get into the mix, this kind of stuff happens.

I think it�s directly related. That�s a different sermon. You don�t change the sermon or blame the preacher.

I mean, if the guy�s not preaching the Word, he�s not preaching Christ, okay, fine. But this preacher was. Do you think the author of Hebrews was?

The answer is yes. So who�s got the problem? Is it God�s Word, God�s messenger, probably apostolic messenger?

It could be Paul or somebody closely related to the apostles. Or was it their problem, the listeners?

Immaturity is fine if you�re a new Christian. If you�re not a new Christian, you should be mature.

And the text goes on to say, in verses 12, 13, and 14, that you should be so mature that you could teach others, that you can handle meat, and that you can discern.

Three self -tests. Am I a mature Christian? Can I teach others?

Can I enjoy?

Can I accept meat, the meat of the Word? And can

I discern right from wrong? Do I discern rightly or wrongly?

I don�t know. The writer is trying to motivate. The writer is trying to wake up, get up.

This is attention -getting. A you listener, if you�re immature, he�s saying, you�ve become immature by choice, by your own volition, by negligence.

This is easy to do, right? You get married, you�re all fired up, you do all kinds of things together for each other, and then after a while you just forget, and then things become difficult.

Instead of investing that spiritual capital, that marriage capital, into the relationship. You ask me why

I take ballroom dance lessons with my wife, K .D.

Kimberly. She never had a middle name, so that�s her last name. That�s her maiden name.

I�m investing marriage capital. That�s what I�m trying to do. You know what? Let�s see what this says here in the

Message Bible. This is riveting radio, I know. But you know what?

I want to do this, and you get what you pay for, pretty much, right? Okay. Go to Patreon and help us.

I�m thankful for that. I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get across since you�ve picked up this bad habit of not listening.

You know, some of this application isn�t bad. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here

I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again.

That�s bad. Starting from square one, baby�s milk. When you should have been on solid food long ago, milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God�s ways.

Solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong. So come on, let�s leave the preschool finger painting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art.

Come on, that�s worth it, finger painting. I�ve seen it and heard it all now.

Is that toxic? Is that Crayola? I listened to an NPR show the other day on, I don�t know,

This American Life or, no, it�s How Stuff Works, I think. Crayons, crazy.

Hearing is important. It�s vital when it comes to the Word of God. He said in chapter 2, verse 1, �Pay much closer attention to what we have� what?

�heard.� Chapter 3, verse 7, �Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, �Today, if you hear

His voice�� Chapter 3, verse 15, �As it is said, �Today, if you hear

His voice�� Chapter 3, verse 16, �For who were those who heard and yet rebelled?

Was it not all those who left Egypt, led by Moses ?� Now, the good news is, you can repent today.

You can change that all today. You can start fresh today, confess it to God, and just move forward.

I don�t think the writer is saying, �You�re just in such a trench, you can�t get out of it.�

And I think that�s something that goes for every type of sin. There are marriages in this congregation that need help.

You are not forever in the marriage abyss. If you�re listening today, the same goes for you.

See, I�m thinking today at the show how I�m preaching this to the congregation. There�s hope for people, right?

There�s hope. You get in a rut, and you are negligent and lazy and dull and listless and molasses -like in your spiritual walk, so time to wake up, move on to maturity.

And if they did, the writer would be happy, the Lord would be pleased. It�s the same thing with anything else.

Marriages become difficult, and both couples, both of the people in the relationship, each of the couple, how does that work?

Each person, each member of the marriage, the couple, individually, needs to get a move on.

The writer has said in chapter 13, �I�ve got a lot to talk about, and I don�t have much time to do it.�

So don�t you be the problem. You�re dull. We�ve got a lot to say.

Concerning him, we have much to say. He�s going to pick that up in chapter 7 again, but right now he�s saying, �Come on, listen up.

We�ve learned enough about Jesus. I need some practical steps.� Melchizedek who?

This whole king thing, priest thing, and old people who are taking me to the Old Testament all the time, �I need some milk.

I would like to have three easy things I could do and everything would be turned around with me.�

Really? I wonder if I even gave them to you, you�d do them. That�s not the point.

Every kid, every culture I�ve seen across the world, there�s some type of growing bean, some type of measuring device that you measure kids, and you write it down on the side of the door.

Four foot two, 67 centimeters, whatever it is. What if you started getting smaller?

I�m shrinking, personally I�m shrinking. I used to be almost six foot two, now I�m probably six foot. Well, why is that?

Because of my hair? No, although that probably helped when I had it kind of up like that James Dean deal.

I�m just getting older, right? I�m almost 60. Here, you got to be growing or something�s wrong.

There�s been a deterioration. You don�t just fall out of a tree, you�ve got to climb up at first.

You have a responsibility to hear God�s Word and then to do it, because you�re a

Christian and what God has done for you and what he�s achieved for you. You don�t want to be here only just deceiving yourself.

That�s James chapter 1 verse 22, right? You need to spiritually apprehend truths about Jesus so that you can grow instead of hardening and withering, shriveling away.

I�m sure that what was going on here in the original context, persecution is happening and, you know, kind of makes you doubt a little bit.

You want to go back. You�ve got something going on in your life with a spouse and they�re not on board with you and you�re like, �Yeah,

I think I might want to go backwards a little bit.� Don�t do it. Thomas Brooks said, �A lazy

Christian will always lack four things� comfort, contentment, confidence, and assurance.

Adding an idle life with a holy heart are a contradiction. Slow -moving, does that describe you spiritually?

Dull, forgetful, kind of like a numbed limb.

That�s kind of the background of the word. So what�s the opposite? Diligence to get plugged in, to have a relenting, no, an unrelenting desire, to just know who

Jesus is, be diligent. You think about that language from 2 Timothy chapter 1, and the context is about Jesus.

Let me give you some takeaways. Number one, if this is you, the immature, don�t blame other people.

Don�t blame the Bible, don�t blame your teachers, don�t blame your wife, your spouse, your husband.

If you�re listless, it�s on you. The dullness is yours to own. So take ownership and then accept it, confess, and repent, and God is very, very gracious.

For whatever reason you think, �I�ve had enough learning about Jesus and it�s not so exciting anymore,

I�ve got other things that have crept in.� Okay, I understand.

Now it�s time to grow up. It�s time to reset. It�s time to reboot. He�s the one that will help you mature so you can handle these situations better.

Colossians chapter 1 talks about that. He is the one, Hebrews is saying, he is the one,

Ephesians is saying. That�s why the goal for you is to think about who

Jesus is and be satisfied in him. What does Colossians 128 say?

�Him we proclaim.� We�re talking about Jesus. And does it help warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ?

There you go. That�s where the maturity comes from, and the preacher to the

Hebrews knew it, and so did Paul, or to be the New England, so didn�t Paul. They say the opposite.

We�re not talking about preaching to everyone, like St. Francis of Assisi preaching to birds.

Preach to every man. What does that mean? Every kind, every type.

Jew and Gentile, male and female, old and young. Not the special ones, not the behind the closed doors ones.

Not just the elite, like the Colossian church was into. Every man, every man, every man.

You want them to be complete, that is perfect, full -grown. When you study this idea in the

Old Testament, �telios ,� it means what? It means somebody�s heart that�s turned toward God, holy, fully.

I�m binding myself to you, God. That�s what we�re after. We�re after who is

Jesus? How can he be praised in the middle of all this?

Well, you listen to him through his word, and you�re going to have the answer very soon. This whole idea, �Well, you know what?

I�m going to find a religion to fit me, and I want preaching that I like.� Friends, if you�re saying that, you�re immature, and you�re not going to become mature by that.

You�re going to be mature by Christ -centered preaching. �Well, I don�t really like this church because, you know,

I don�t like the music.� Really? �I don�t really feel good here.

The pastor doesn�t make me feel good. I feel guilty.� Well, you need to grow up. That�s what you need.

Life isn�t easy. Trials aren�t easy. Temptations aren�t easy.

You need to know more about Jesus so you can rest in him more, that you can grow because you�re united with Christ.

This is for you. You want to grow, don�t you? Isn�t that your goal?

What�s the goal here for the church, to proclaim Christ and grow? I don�t mean by numbers. I mean, if the goal is numbers, then we know how to do it.

There�s lots of ways to do that. Lots of churches. It seems like the churches that really know how to grow just have kind of one word, and collide, and cause, and elevate, and exacerbate.

Jesus is the key. He�s the one. David Wells, �The problem of Christ missing as the focal point in church today is not like the abduction of a child who is happily playing at home one minute and is no longer to be found the next.

No one has abducted Christ in this sense. The disappearance is closer to what happens in homes where children are ignored and to all intents and purposes abandoned.

They remain in the home, but they have no place in the family. So it is with Christ in the church.

He remains on the edges of evangelical life, but has been dislodged from its center. We�re to speak the truth in love and to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even

Christ, Ephesians 4, 15. �Him we proclaim.�

That could be the theme of Hebrews. Colossians 128, �Him we proclaim.�

It�s a present tense. We just keep on declaring, keep on preaching, keep on saying, �He�s the mediator, he�s the

Messiah, he�s the advocate, he�s the captain of your salvation.� Preaching Christ, announcing

Christ. Luther said, �We always preach him, the true God and man. This may seem like a limited and monotonous subject, likely to very soon be exhausted, but we are never at the end of it.�

What else would Christians, Christians, want to hear about? Jesus, and some

TED Talks, 2

Corinthians 4, 5, �For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus� sake.�

�He ,� Colossians says, �is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him ,�

Colossians says, �all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

All things were created through him and by him. And he ,� Colossians 117 says, �is before all things, and in him all things hold together.�

Colossians 118, �And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.�

I�d like to hear about that Jesus, who cancels the record of death that stood against me, with all its legal demands.

I�d like to hear about that. I�d like to hear about what Jesus has done as my representative.

I�d like to hear about what Jesus has done and how he�s made me an heir of God and how he has made me, who is poor, rich, me who is weak, strong, me who is a fool, wise, me who is a sinner, justified.

That�s what I�d like to hear about, wouldn�t you? And that�s the book of Hebrews. True faith wants to know about the object of faith.

Spurgeon said, �When I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin. But when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion,

I smote my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against one who loved me so and sought my good.�

My name is Mike Abendroth, this is No Compromise Radio Ministry. You want to write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.