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Hebrews heralds the perfect Son, the Lord Jesus. He is holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. Sounds like He is the kind of priest you need!
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 ministry.
My name is Mike Abendroth. And as you know, many of you, that if you want to send me a letter, the worst junk mail name for me was Mike Hafferhorf. I suppose if I preached poorly, maybe you could call me that.
Before I give them the message today, I just saw on the Gospel Coalition website, and to be fair, I�ve read some good articles on that website. But there�s a lot of them that aren�t so good. And I think it�s almost like, you know, you read a book and you think you�re three quarters of the way through, and you think, �Ah, this is not capturing my attention anymore.
They�ve got some words to fill, and they�ve already said what they needed to say, and so they should have just had a little booklet. And many times, I think, with the Gospel Coalition, they�ve already said what they needed to say, and now they�re just trying to fill space.
And this article here happens to be one of those moments. �9 Movie Moments of Unmerited Grace, February 1, 2019. I printed this in viewer mode, so it doesn�t give me an author. It�s just gospelcoalition .org forward slash article forward slash 9 Movie Moments of Unmerited Grace.
You could pull it up. I don�t know who the author is. It doesn�t really matter. But what you do is you say, �Well, what are some movies that remind me of Jesus And he doesn�t mean, or she doesn�t mean, �The Robe.
Remember, some people think that�s the best movie about Jesus because you can�t see his face. They�re not talking about �The Passion of the Christ. They�re just talking about, well, you know, there needs to be a great story and a turn in the story and a problem in the story and a rescuer in the story and a savior in the story and everything ends up really good in the story and somebody wins out in the story, even though there�s tense moments, there�s tear moments, there�s scenes that, �Even if they don�t depict Jesus explicitly, often remind us of the beauty, the heroism, the unearned gift of our divine rescuer.
You know what this sounds like to me? This is just giving you permission to like movies. So why don�t you just say instead, you know, pretty much for any movie, there�s a protagonist, antagonist, et cetera, et cetera, and there is the great drama of redemption and often I think of the two going together and sometimes I just want to wedge out, or as my friends say, wedge out, and I just want to see a movie.
That�s all. I�d like to see a movie and I�m hoping it doesn�t have too many bad words. I checked the International Movie Database and it�s only got a few, so I�ll just watch it. Why don�t you just say that instead?
What are these scenes that don�t really depict Jesus explicitly, but remind me of his beauty, his heroism, and everything else? All is lost, I have not seen that, Robert Redford. Lost at sea thriller, it says.
Captain Phillips, Captain, you�re safe now. Oh, this also tells us in this article, all is lost and the key is a hand from above. Is that like, maney, maney, Tickle Farsi? Daniel. Captain Phillips, Captain, you�re safe now.
Children of men rescued by tomorrow. I don�t know about this children of men deal. Looks scary. Oh, Theo does sacrifice his life, his final word is Jesus. Dunkirk, the key is home. Home alone, come on, let�s get you home.
Lord of the Rings, two towers at dawn, look to the east. The pianist, don�t thank me, thank God. The road, found by a family. Saving private Ryan, it doesn�t make any sense. I�m going to have to do a whole show on those shows.
Anyway, what I�d rather talk about is who Jesus is, and I�m in the book of Hebrews. And to have a high priest, you need to have a high priest that�s not anything less than perfectly holy. You don�t want any blame, you don�t want any stain, you don�t want to have any sin affect that high priest because then that high priest is going to need a high priest for himself and he can�t be your high priest.
And the writer in chapter 7 is using these men days in the Greek, M-E-N-D-E. And so it�s essentially this, on one hand, but on the other hand. On the one hand, the Levitical priest, on the other hand, Jesus.
On the one hand, they died, on the other hand, Jesus has indestructible life. On one hand, repeated sacrifices, on the other hand, once for all. On the one hand, from Levite, just hereditary. On the other hand, Melchizedek and God�s oath, that type of thing.
And he says in chapter 7, this great high priest, he�s holy and he�s blameless and he�s unstained and he�s separated from sinners. And what people think when you think of separated from sinners, a lot of times they think spatially.
Oh yes, since he�s now ascended into heaven, he�s at the right hand of God, that he�s just, there�s no way sin can affect him forevermore now and he can be a great high priest forevermore. And that�s true.
But there�s also the sense that there�s no moral contamination when he�s around sinners. When he�s with sinners, that is when Jesus is with sinners and he says things like, �It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.
I have not come to call the righteous� people who think they�re righteous, self-righteous people �but sinners to repentance. He is not going to affirm their sin, he�s not going to celebrate their sin, he�s not going to applaud their sin.
Actually later, he�s going to die for their sins, those who would believe in him. And he is around sinners regularly, but unlike us, when we�re around sinners and we want to do what they do, and we�re influenced and we have a bad company corrupting us, that�s not the case with the Lord Jesus.
Remember, they were always after Jesus. We looked last time in Matthew chapter 9, there�s also Luke 7, �The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, �Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard and a friend of tax gatherers and sinners, yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.
You�re going to see how this works out, and you�re going to then see how wise I am and the Father and the Spirit, how wise we are. They didn�t like it that Jesus hung out with these people, and they thought birds of a feather flocked together, and they were always after Jesus.
Yet Jesus, he needs to be a friend of sinners, and Jesus needs to be perfectly human. Of course, he�s perfectly divine as well, but he has to be a human, and he, to use the Reformed confessions and creeds, �perfectly human�, �truly human�, I had always said for years, �fully�, or �100 human�, and those are words more of quantity, not quality, so I�m trying to use qualitative words, �perfectly, truly, very God, a very God, very man, a very man.
Is there a very man, a very man? Is that in the Nicene Creed? I�m not sure if it is or not. Jesus hangs out with sinners because he loves them, and he�s going to preach to them, and he�s going to call them to repentance, and they didn�t like it that he was always around these sinners.
Remember the woman in the city who was a sinner, and when she had learned that he was reclining at a table in the Pharisee�s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind him, this is Luke 7, at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and kept wiping, so she�s weeping, wiping them with her hair of her head and kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume.
Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, �If this man were a prophet, he wouldn�t know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.
Remember, he just thought that. But Jesus answered his mental thoughts and said to him, �Simon, I have something to say to you. �Uh-oh. And he replied, �Say it, teacher. A certain moneylender had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii, that�s a year and a half wages, and the other 50, two months.
When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. Which of them, therefore, will love him more? Simon answered and said, �Hmmm, I suppose the one who forgave, he forgave more. And he said to him, �You�ve judged correctly.
And turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, �Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn�t even do what you�re supposed to do.
If I come over, you�re supposed to wash my feet. That�s an insult that you didn�t. You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume.
For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven. For she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. And he said to her, �Your sins have been forgiven. And those who were reclining at the table with him began to say to themselves, �Who is this man who even forgives sins
And he said to the woman, �Your faith is saved. You go in peace. How great is that? What a great reminder about the heart of our Savior for sinful people. Yet he�s the one affecting people. He touches the leper, but he doesn�t get leprosy.
He doesn�t become undefiled. It goes the other way. And when you think about Jesus separated from sinners, it does not mean he doesn�t have contact with them. I guess if your view is only he�s spatially separated, then that�s true.
But both views would underline the fact that Jesus, when he was on earth, he didn�t act like a monk. He didn�t go to a monastery. He didn�t go up away from people. And he didn�t try to avoid people. You know, there�s a market, and I have to veer around the market.
No, he intentionally said, �I�ve got to go through Samaria. And things like that. The Levitical priest, they�d want to keep themselves away from those who might defile them ritually. And what if there�s an issue of the woman with blood, or like I said, with the leper, or Gentiles?
How about ritually unclean, like dead? Let�s not touch the dead people. We�re going to become unclean. And Jesus touches dead people. He purifies them. And he doesn�t become impure. It goes the other direction.
He is separated. Perfect tense. Abiding separation. Permanent separation. All the publicans and sinners were drawn near unto him to hear him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, Luke 15, �This man receives sinners and eats with them.
And then this last section here talks about Jesus is exalted above the heavens. Why is Jesus the perfect priest? Why is he a wonderful intercessor? Because he has been exalted above the heavens. He has ascended.
And if you think about the ascension, ask yourself the question, is the ascension of Jesus assumed? Is the ascension of Jesus overlooked? Is the ascension of Jesus important? How important is it? Michael Horton says, �We typically treat the ascension as little more than a dazzling exclamation point for the resurrection, rather than as a new event in its own right.
Now the author has said in the book of Hebrews that Jesus is at the right hand of the majesty on high or in heaven. He has been raised to greater heights than the heavens. He has been ascended higher than all the heavens, Paul would say in Ephesians chapter 4.
He's up there. No higher place could he, Jesus, be. He used to be in heaven, the eternal son, and then he adds humanity. He's on earth, and then now he goes back up to heaven. He's exalted above the heavens, far above.
We're not talking about angel level. We're talking about he is the great savior, the great mediator, the great priest who's exalted above the heavens. Hebrews 4 .14 says he's passed through the heavens, and he's seated at the right hand of God the Father with glory and honor and power and dominion.
He is, in other words, exalted. That word exalted just means to be elevated, to be lifted up, to be lofty, and literally he's having become higher than the heavens. You need to be thinking about Jesus, the high priest.
He lived. He died. He was raised. He ascended, and that is our high priest in this great sanctuary, as it were, above, making intercession for us. Ephesians 1 says it this way, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1 .20 -23. The ascension of Jesus who's passed through the heavens.
Machen, in his book Christianity and Liberalism, called Christianity an event-centered religion. An event-centered religion. And what he basically meant by that was Christianity is a historical religion.
It's based on real history. It's based on real events, something that happened in real history, in real time, in real places, with real dust, with real crosses, with real spit, with real fists. And one of those events in our thinking should be the resurrection of Jesus.
If Jesus isn't raised, what did Paul say? We're to be pitied among all men, above all men. And rightfully so. The resurrection is so key, so central, so important, yet I think sometimes we forget about the ascension.
How often do we talk about the ascension? We talk about death, burial, resurrection regularly, and if you don't preach the resurrection, of course you don't preach the gospel, and I've always been on the guys here that I trained.
Don't forget about the resurrection. It's not good news if Jesus is still in the grave. He, if he's still in the grave, is paying for his own sins, wasn't the eternal son, didn't do what he said, can't raise himself up.
There's all kinds of implications if Jesus is still in the grave, and essentially it wipes out all Christianity. And therefore we have to talk about the resurrection. They thought Paul preached two gods, Jesus, masculine, the resurrection, feminine, two gods, a god and a goddess, a god and a female consort.
The resurrection is important, and we've talked about that on the show many times. And the ascension is very important as well. Think about the Nicene Creed. For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven.
He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the scriptures.
He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end. And the Apostles Creed, seated at the right hand of God the Father, all mighty.
Jesus triumphs over sin and death and hell via the resurrection, and now he's seated at the throne of David for the ascension. And when you read Luke 24 and Acts chapter 1, you'll say to yourself, this is very, very important, the ascension.
And he led them out as far as Bethany, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God.
That's at the end of Luke. Resurrection is key. And some call that the climax of Christian history. And the ascension is also key. They call that the crowning of the king. Therefore, when it comes to Hebrews chapter 7, your high priest, there's no deficiencies in him.
He's completely fit for everything you need, and that is salvation and a holy life. He has a holy life, a blameless life, an unstained life, a separated life, and an exalted life. That's what Jesus has.
And then there's a further description of his character and his nature and his ministry in verse 27. He has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
There are all kinds of contrasts in this section. The Levitical priest, Jesus. And it might be many in number, one. This is from the ESV study Bible, temporary, permanent, and eternal. Sacrifice for their own sins, holy, innocent, offer sacrifices only for others.
Sacrifice daily, sacrifice once for all. Sacrificed animals, offered up himself. Entered holy places through a man-made tent, entered the holy place of the presence of God by means of the blood of bulls and goats and calves, by means of his own blood.
Jesus is superior to all other high priests. And the realm here is the day of atonement, but there are probably some carryovers and other thinking when it comes through here. But he doesn't have a need like these other priests to offer sacrifices in any way, shape, or form in a daily manner, on a repeated manner, on a monthly manner, on a yearly manner.
He just has the one sacrifice for sins. One writer said, our Lord was perfect and sinless and did not need to offer sacrifices for himself, but instead he offered himself as the sacrifice for our sins once for all.
And if you'd like to read Leviticus 4, you can see how these priests in the Aaronic priesthood had to sacrifice for themselves. First they've got to sacrifice for themselves and then for the sins of the people.
So if you read Leviticus 4, that's your homework for today. For themselves first, then for the people. But that's not what Jesus does. He doesn't offer sacrifice for himself. The emphasis is day after day after day after day after day after day.
You could just sum up the economy of the Old Testament sacrificial system as daily. Yes, I know on the Day of Atonement he's mainly focusing on, but the language here, I think he's just like, well, those guys day after day after day, and Jesus once and for all.
A definitive sacrifice, a final sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice. He did this once for all when he offered up himself. And I know that people say, well, what's this whole Day of Atonement and was it every day or is it Day of Atonement?
I think the author, and you'd agree with me, I think the author knew his Old Testament. I think the author knew hymns in Leviticus. And I think he knew the difference between annual sacrifices in the Day of Atonement and the daily sacrifices of a regular priest.
So, he could be, the author, generalizing things, kind of fusing these sacrifices together. It could be for the sake of argument, the way we talk, Jesus is once and done, all the other day after day after day, putting them together, focusing on the contrast.
Some people think that the two lambs of the first year, day by day, continually were offered Exodus 29, 38. You offer one lamb in the morning, you offer the other lamb at twilight. Or maybe you just say, the best explanation is Jesus is the one who doesn't have to daily offer up sins and have the modifier daily for Jesus.
The main point is simple. Christ's death is once for all, final, definitive, and therefore better, right? No priest first dies for his own sins and then for his sins of others because he'd have to die for his own sins.
That's it. Jesus had no sins, therefore he could die for the sins of others. He himself, first Peter, bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
And therefore, when you think about your Roman Catholic friends, you ought to be thinking about this first because they are enslaved into a system. Not a once for all system. Not a sacrifice once for all system.
Not even a sacrifice that's once a year, Yom Kippur system. This one system here that got rid of Levitical system should be getting rid of the Roman system as well. Once for all, unrepeatable. Other systems therefore are inadequate.
Levitical system, inadequate. This system, inadequate. Christ gave himself, Titus 2 .14, for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.
No Levitical priest had to offer up himself. He offered some sacrifices for himself. But here the Lord Jesus. So you have a great high priest and he makes intercession and he as appease the wrath that you earned and has given you the righteousness that you didn't earn and you have this great high priest.
And then it says in verse 28, for the law appoints men and their weakness is high priest. Kind of a nice summary concluding statement. But the word of the oath which came later than the law appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.
My name is Mike Avendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. You can always write us, info at nocompromiseradio .com or you can write me directly, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. If you've got questions, some of the 2200, 2300 shows, they're on the website, nocompromiseradio .com.
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See you next time. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Avendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.
Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.