Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM - Jesus Our Great High Priest - Hebrews 5:1-10 - Pastor Ryan Nichols

Good morning. How are we doing? You can tell me. I do care. Thank you. I do care. Well, it's been a whole week since Daylight Savings. Are we still doing okay? Are we making it through? Better now. That's good. I'm still affected just as if it were last week, but let's all stand this morning. I'll pray and then we'll have some scripture to read. Father, thank you for this time. God, thank you for who you are, God, and who you've made us to

be. God, thank you for giving us breath to wake up this morning, Lord, and the ability to gather here together freely. Lord, as a family of believers, God, I pray that right now we just take a minute, Lord, just to honor you and glorify you and just sit at your presence this morning. Father, may we put you in the rightful place in our hearts, God. Father, may we just humble

ourselves before you this morning and worship you for what you do. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. And from Galatians 3, chapter 3, verse 13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, curse it is everyone who hangs on a tree, in order that Christ Jesus, that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

That never runs dry. Drink of the water. Come and thirst no more. Come find his mercy. Come to the table. He will satisfy. Taste of his goodness. Find what you're looking for. Addictions, come lay them down at the table. Jesus is waiting there with all of us. Whoever believes, you are close in his life.

Wayfarer, you are who you or your brother are. But God can Knew you would love us to rest in your chains after the tempest and thunder of death. Correct the perfect place to seek the Lord's blessing is thank him, name his name, your Savior. Thank you. And he loves you as he has loved you. I thank you for your true love. I thank you for soul, God, for love with you as I came to you in the world to be aqui

and toDaschau to. I thank you. I am so happy you have sent me. Thank you. today, Lord, and we listen to a message that you have given. Pastor Ryan, Lord, I pray that you just continue to speak to us this morning, Lord. Just make us aware of your presence in this place this morning, God, and speak to our hearts so clearly that there is no doubt, God, that it is

your voice speaking, Father. Again, we just love you and we praise you for who you are. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's turn and greet those worshiping around us. Good morning. If you could begin the process of locating your seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of in your bulletin. Over on the left-hand side are the things that go on. I've got to write something down. I wasn't going to forget it right now. Are the things that go on throughout the week. So find yourself a spot to get plugged into. Uh, some things in the middle section of your bulletin. So perhaps you've been thinking to

yourself, I wonder what I did with that jacket. I wonder where that sweatshirt went. You know, I wore a stocking cap to church one time and it never came home with me. I don't have my Bible. If that's you and you find yourself in this situation, I want to let you know it might be here. There's a lost and found table in the back that has been accumulating things for a year.

And so, if you want to go back there and check that out, it's back in the agape room back there. Listen, if you haven't left anything here and you just want to go back and see if there's anything that you want, head on back there. I just don't want it to stay here. Okay. I got ladies in the office telling me every single week, when are you going to get rid of all this stuff? And so

here we are getting rid of it. Whatever is left at the end of today, we'll go find a new home at Angels in the Attic. So again, if you'd like to go shopping, there's some stains on a few of the shirts, but quite frankly, there's some stains on us too, right? Maybe it's a little bit of a, a symbolic stance on who we are. Anyway, go check that out. March Madness is coming up this

Saturday, the 21st over at the Rec Center. Just a reminder that it's a fundraiser for, for missions and cash only. We don't have a way to take cards if you're wanting to make donations there. So cash only. And if you signed up to bring chili for the chili cook-off, make sure you grab one of those sheets on the orange table back there, because that tells you when you need to have

the food at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, at the Rec Center. So come join us for that five to eight this coming Saturday. Again, if you're interested in going to Guatemala at the end of the summer on the missions trip, you can contact Jana Lumbert. Her number's listed there in the bulletin. And also a reminder that it's about

that time of year to start mowing. And so we've got a lot of property here that, that we take care of and we staff all that within just volunteers within the church. So if you're interested in getting involved in that, signing up either as a family or on your own to, to help us take care of that. We have a mower and a weed eater. So we've got all the equipment.

We just need some volunteers. The signup sheet is going to be out there in the lobby by where you picked up your bulletin. So if you're interested in getting plugged in with that, that signup sheet is there. And then one thing that failed to make it into the bulletin is that men's breakfast is also this coming Saturday morning down at the other end of the hallway, eight o'clock Saturday. So fellas come out for some, some food and fellowship together.

So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for what's going to be a unison reading this morning, because my buddies are all out of town. We're going to be looking at Psalm 42, Psalm 42, look at the new American standard for this part. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 42, if you are able, please stand in the

honor of the reading of God's word. I will read. No, we're all going to read together. Sorry. Muscle memory. Kicked in there for the choir director, a mask school of the sons of Cora Psalm 42 as the deer pants for the water Brooks. So my soul pants for you. Oh God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and

night while they say to me all day long, where is your God? These things I remember and I pour out my soul for you. Oh God, where is your God? These things I remember and I pour out my soul for you. My soul within me, for I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you in

despair? Oh my soul. And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God for I shall again praise him for the help of his presence. Oh my God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore, I remember you from the land of Jordan and from the peaks of Hermon and from Mount Mazar. Deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterfalls. All your breakers and your waves have

rolled over me. The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and his song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? I will say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? I will say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As a shattering of my

bones, my adversaries revile me while they say to me all day long, where is your God? Why are you in despair? Oh my soul. And why have you become so disturbed within me? Hope in God for I shall yet praise him the help of my countenance and my God. And so father, we do come to you now and Lord, we do long. We do long to hear from you because we know that you are truly our only place of hope. And so

father, as we spend time in your word this morning, I ask that you would move by the power of your Holy Spirit through your word in our lives. Father, we need a word from you this morning because nothing else will do. And so speak because we're listening. In Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter five,

Hebrews chapter five. Well, chapter four ended, with a statement about the high priest. He introduces this idea of the high priest to us, which was nothing new to the Hebrew believers. They would have known it very well, but a little something new to a lot of us. If you don't have very much of an understanding of the old Testament. And so this is how chapter four ended. Chapter four ends with,

therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we don't have a high priest who cannot, sympathize with our weakness, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Well, as he introduces this aspect of the high priest, he now in chapter five begins to tell us about the superiority of the high priesthood of Jesus. And so I've simply entitled the message, Jesus, our great high priest. And so we pick up

one of chapter five, and this is what it says. For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men and things pertaining to God in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin. He can deal gently with the ignorant and the misguided since he himself also is beset with weakness. And because of it, he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sin as for the people.

So also, for himself. And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself so as to become a high priest, but he who said to him, you are my son. Today I have begotten you, just as he says also in another passage, you are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. In the

days of his flesh, he offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying, and tears to the one who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his piety. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things which he suffered. And having been made perfect, he became to all those who obey him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest, according to the order of Melchizedek. And so as he discusses

the high priesthood, there's two things I would like for us to notice here this morning. The first thing he's going to tell us about is just the high priest. But then he's going to tell us about Jesus as the high priest. And so there's four things in those first few verses, those first handful of verses, that he's going to tell us about the high priest. The first thing that he tells us

is that the high priest is appointed on behalf of man. The high priest is appointed on behalf of man. Verse one starts off like this. It says, for every high priest is taken from among men. Now that's a very important job. And we'll deal with what that job looks like in just a minute. But the job that he had was important. And for him to do that job, there needed to be a certain amount of

solidarity between the high priest and the people. So he needed to be somebody that they knew. He needed to be somebody that they could observe. He needed to be somebody who could understand who they were and understand the things that they were going through. So he chose someone from among their ranks, somebody who was of them, so that there would be that solidarity. So that when the

priest was doing his job, they didn't think, oh, this is not some, this is someone that we can never relate to, someone we can never understand because he doesn't live the life that we live. No, he chose someone who was from among them to be the high priest. But the second thing that it tells us about him being appointed is that he is appointed from among men or on behalf of men. He's appointed on behalf of men. And that means a couple of things. The job of the high priest was to be a representative.

First of all, the high priest was the representative of God to man. He showed them what God was supposed to look like because he was the one who would instruct them in the law. He was the one who would show them what holiness was supposed to look like. As a matter of fact, he wore a placard across the hat that he wore on his head that said, holy to the Lord, because he was that representative of God among the men. But he was also a representative of man to God. That was one of his

main roles. He was that liaison who would represent man to God. In other words, when men had requests, they would go through the high priest. When they made sacrifices, they would go through the high priest. And so he is appointed as this representative of not only God to man, but he is appointed as a representative of man to God. But not only was he appointed from among men and on

behalf of man to be a representative, but he also did something very significant. He bore the burden of the people. Now, in the margin of your Bible, you might write Exodus 28. Because in Exodus 28, it begins to describe the office of the high priest. In the first description, in the office of the high priest, is actually the description of the clothing that he would wear.

It's actually very specific, the clothing that he was to wear. So much of the clothing, so much of the high priestly garments spoke of Jesus. It's a whole fascinating stuff, but I would encourage you to go back and read over that. But there were two specific things that I want to point out to you. He wore these amulets on his shoulders. And he wore a breastplate on the front of his body. And there were two specific things I want

to point out to you about that. First of all, on the amulets of the shoulders, there was two stones. And on those stones was engraved something very interesting. On one side was engraved six of the tribes of the names of the tribes of the children of Israel. And on the other stone was engraved the other six names of the tribes of the children of Israel. And so he wore those on his shoulders.

But then on the breastplate that he wore, there were 12 stones that were on that breastplate that were fixed into that breastplate. And each of those stones had on it written one of the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. Now, this was very significant because the high priest bore the burden of the nation. And so first of all, he would bear them up on his shoulders because he was to be that strength as the representative of God to man.

He was to be that strength for the nation of Israel. So he bore the nation on his shoulders. But not only was he the strength of the nation of Israel, but there was great tenderness in the way that he was to act because not only did he bear them up on his shoulders, but he held the nation of Israel close to his heart. I think you can kind of see where we're going with our greater high priest, not to get ahead of myself, who understood even more because he was to bear that burden of the people because he was appointed on behalf of man. But not only was he appointed on behalf of

man because he was taken from among men. He was taken from among men because he was taken from among men and on behalf of men. But he had a specific purpose because he was appointed on behalf of man in things pertaining to God, offering both gifts and sacrifices for sins. His job was very specific. His position was very specific because everything that he did was in things pertaining

to God, whether it be, again, as the representative of the people to God or as the representative of God to the people. And a lot of what he did was in things pertaining to God. And a lot of what he did had to do with the sacrifices that he would offer. Because there was more than just sin sacrifices, although that was a big part of it. There was lots of sacrifices that were offered. There were

meal sacrifices. There were fellowship offerings. There was much more than just the dealing with of sin. It was the entire relationship that they had with God that the high priest helped to be the liaison for for the children of Israel. So the first thing that we read about the high priest is that he is appointed on behalf of man. And that's what we read about the high priest. And that's what

we read about the man. But the second thing that we read about the high priest here in verse two is that he was gentle with the people. Notice what it says. He can deal gently with the ignorant and the misguided since he himself is also beset with weakness. I'm going to take those in reverse order. The high priest who was appointed from among men had the same weaknesses that all of

the people around him had. And that was an important thing for the people to know. Because it did make him understanding of the people and them understanding of him. It allowed him the opportunity to be patient with the people that he was ministering to because he understood the weaknesses that they had. It allowed him to be gracious with the people that he was ministering to even though sometimes they could be ignorant and misguided as

it said. Because he understood what that was like. He had the same nature as they did. He had the same weaknesses that they did. And it caused him to be gentle with the people that were around him. At least it should have caused him to be gentle with the people that were around him. Because when you can understand what people are going through, you find yourself to be a lot more

patient with the things that they struggle with. So he can be patient with the strugglings of the people because he was beset with his own weaknesses. And if I may draw a quick personal application to this for us. This should be true of believers in the church today. Believers in the church today should be some of the most patient and understanding people in the world.

Because we have our own weaknesses that we struggle with. We have our own sins that we struggle with in our lives. And we should not become those who look down on the people around us because their weaknesses look different than ours. There's something fascinating that happens to us after we get saved. Right after you come to know Jesus, you're just thrilled that God

would love you. You're just thrilled that God would save you. You're just thrilled that that sacrifice of Jesus took care of your sin. And you're so understanding in those first few years of when you're born again. But then something starts to happen to us as believers. And it's because we still are wrapped in this flesh. Something begins to happen to us. We start

to gain a little bit of knowledge. We start to be set free from sin. And pretty soon, rather than being understanding of the world who struggles with the sins that we used to struggle with, rather than being understanding of other people in the body of Christ who have the same weaknesses that we have, we instead begin to look down on them. Because we begin to be lifted up with pride and think, you know, I've kind of come pretty far in this walk.

Look at what I've done. Look at all the things I've overcome. Look at how much knowledge I have. And pretty soon, we start looking down on the people that are around us. I can't believe you would struggle with that kind of sin. How has God not set you free from that now? I don't understand. Why don't you just stop? I don't understand. Why are you acting the way that you're acting right

now? And in that process, we forget, I used to be the exact same way. And on the right day, I am exactly the same way. And we do that in the church, and we also do that to the world. The problem is, the rest of the world looks at the church and says, I don't want to go there because that's a bunch of hypocrites. Because they act just like I do, but then they condemn

me for acting that way. And you know what? They're right. It's the unfortunate truth we have to deal with as believers in Jesus Christ, is that we should be gentle with the people that are around us, because we still have all the same struggles. See, I think one of the greatest compliments we could ever receive as a church is, those people love me no matter what.

That church loves me no matter what. Because God can deal with all of the garbage. My job is to love them. God can change their heart. It's not to say we don't hold people accountable. It's not to say we don't stand strong on truth. I think you know me well enough to know that I absolutely mean that. But we still have to love people, and we still have to be patient with them. Because

quite frankly, at the end of the day, we are just a bunch of hypocrites. I actually think it's one of the greatest things that we can embrace, is that the church, when the church gathers, we are a bunch of recovering hypocrites. We'll call ourselves hypocrites anonymous. We'll just shorten it to, ha, right? That's who we are. Because we're all trying to get past putting

on the right face in front of everybody. We're all just trying to get past trying to put on the mask, right? One of the beautiful things about being a believer in Jesus Christ is that we start to take the mask off, because it sets us free to be transparent. It sets us free to be honest. It sets us free to be in touch and self-aware of the weaknesses that I have. And then no longer do I look at you as a patient in the hospital, and I'm the doctor.

I look at you as a patient in the hospital who's in the same room with me. And we're just learning together, because we're supposed to be gentle with each other. Because we all have the same weaknesses. We all have to be understanding. And I think if we could become that kind of church, a church that stands on truth, but does so with all of the love and patience in the world, that's how you see a community change for Jesus Christ. That's how

you see people begin to overcome the world. That's how you see people begin to overcome the world. That's how you see people begin to overcome the sins in their life, and begin to understand that they were made for more than the garbage of this world. And they begin to be changed. But it won't come unless there's love mixed with truth. Amen? And so he says, they're able to be gentle with

the people, because they are beset with their own weaknesses. The third thing I took note of about the high priest is that the high priest offers sacrifices. Notice what it says. And because of it, he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, for the people, so also for himself. Listen, the high priest had one main job as a representative. The main job that he had was to deal with sin. And sin was dealt with with sacrifice.

There's one particular day that was really important to the nation of Israel. That one particular day is called the Day of Atonement. But it's interesting, because it tells us that he not only had to make sacrifices for people, but he also had to make sacrifices for himself. And if you were to go into the book of Leviticus chapter 16, you would read about the Day of Atonement. Because on the Day of Atonement, the first thing that the high priest would

do is he would take a bull, and he would sacrifice it. And that would be the sacrifice for his own sins. It's a matter of fact, if he did not deal with his own sins, and he went into the Most Holy Place where the Ark of the Covenant was, with the blood of the sacrifice for the people, God would off him in there, because he was not holy, to be able to present sacrifices for the people. So the first thing he did is he dealt with his own business. He dealt

with his own stuff, and then he was fit to be able to make sacrifice for the people. But at the end of the day, sin was the issue that needed dealt with, and sacrifice was the way that it was dealt with. I love asking people questions. It's just, it's a whole lot of what I do in life. When I have couples come in for premarital counseling, I'm like, listen, I'm going to probably talk to you

some, but mainly I'm going to ask you an incredible number of awkward questions, and we're going to have a lot of fun answering them together. Because I just like hearing what people have to say. Well, I always like to ask this question. What do you think the biggest problem in the world is today? And I love listening to these answers. I've had people tell me that the biggest problem in the

world today is violence. I've had people tell me the biggest problem in the world today is guns. I've had them tell me that the biggest problem is money, corporations, that it's poverty, that the biggest problem is judgmentalism, that the biggest problem is pride. I hear all of these things, and I say, yeah, those are all really big problems, but they all miss the main point, because they all continue to be the same. And I say, yeah, those are all really big problems,

but they all continue to be the same. And I say, yeah, those are all really big problems, but they all continue to be the same. And I say, yeah, those are all really big problems, encapsulated in one three-letter word called sin, because that's the biggest problem that faces the world today, is that every single person is innately sinful. And because we are innately sinful, we take part in all of those other symptoms that you just mentioned. Those

are symptoms of the greater problem. Well, there's only one solution for the greater problem of sin, and that's through a sacrifice. God was always pointing to a perfect sacrifice, and he did so through the high priest offering, animals as sacrifices for the people. And so this was the job of the high priest. Every day, and then especially that one day a year on the Day of Atonement,

when he would first make a sacrifice for himself, and then he would make a sacrifice for the people. His job was to make sacrifices for sins. But there was a problem with the sacrifice that he made. The problem with the sacrifice that he made is that it had to be made over and over and over again, because while it could atone, that word is kofar, it means to cover. While it could cover sins,

it could not do away with sin. And so even though it satisfied God's anger in the moment, it did not satisfy God's anger completely, because the blood of bulls and goats would never be enough to completely satisfy sin. This is what's going to make Jesus a superior high priest to the high priesthood of the book of Leviticus. So he offers sacrifices for sins. But then the last thing, the fourth thing I took note of about

the high priest, is that he is called by God. Notice what it says in verse 4, Aaron was the first of the high priests, and you see that mentioned in Exodus chapter 28, like I mentioned earlier. Aaron was the one who was called to be the high priest, there were other priests, it was the Levitical tribe that Aaron was a part of, there were other priests, but there was just one high priest, and that was Aaron. And then there was the Aaronic line that all of the oldest sons from him on would receive that blessing of being the high priest.

But listen, he did not take that on himself, God gave it to him. That was a calling that was given to him by God, a special anointing that was given to him by God, that was signified by Moses, pouring the oil on his head so that the oil would run down, which was symbolic of the Holy Spirit coming upon him. But it was a calling that was given to him by God, because no man can give the calling of God to a person. In a lesser sense, this is absolutely true today, not of the high priesthood, but of those who would minister for the Lord. The world today loves to put their titles

on people, and we have so sanitized Christianity in the Western culture that we say, if you go to the right school, and you've taken the right classes, and you've passed the right test, we are going to give you this honor of being called a pastor. We're going to call you a certified minister. Listen, even though you're not called by God. And there are men filling pulpits today, and women filling pulpits today, that are not called by God, and they are not pastors, they are not leaders, because there is no calling on their life, and it's evident by the way that they teach. Because they get up, and they give you a fun little life hack to hopefully get

you through the week, tell you some fun stories, and their biggest goal is to make sure that you show up the next week. Listen, I want you all to show up the next week, but all I really want you to do is know Jesus, because that's the calling on my life. And if God's calling is there, it doesn't take the right degree to do it. It doesn't take the right school to do it. No man can give you a

certificate that says, you're called by God. Only God can do that. Which is why we recognize people who are called by God, to step into the right positions, to be used by God. Which is why we God uses morons like me. Because I didn't take it on myself. Trust me, I tried to run as far and as fast as I could from it. But God kept chasing me. And then he tripped me, knocked me down,

and put me up here. No man takes his calling on himself. And so, so he describes the high priesthood, what we call the Aaronic line of the priesthood. But now he switches over and begins to tell us about Jesus. About the, about Jesus, the high priest. Notice what it says, in verse 5. So also Christ did not glorify himself so as to become a high priest. But he who said to him,

you are my son, today I have begotten you. Just as he also says in another passage, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. So he says, but Jesus, number one, was appointed by God. Just like the high priest in the Old Testament, Jesus was appointed by God. He did not glorify himself. There's actually two, at least two specific times I can think of where God

directly put his seal of approval on Jesus. The first time was when Jesus was baptized. If you remember in the book of John, when Jesus was baptized, it says that, that when Jesus came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven of the Father that said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. That was the calling of God on the life of Jesus.

There was another, instance in the gospels where Jesus declares, Father, glorify your name. And he says, I have both glorified my son and my name. Because that calling was not taken upon Jesus in his humanity. That calling was given to him in his humanity by the Father. Which is what he goes on to say when he says, but he who said to him, which is a quotation out of Psalm chapter two,

verse seven, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And if you remember from our study in chapter one, begotten does not speak of birth. Begotten speaks of authority that is bestowed. He was begotten of God when he was raised from the dead. Because we read that he was declared to be the son of God with power when God raised him from the dead. That's a part of his calling in his humanity. But then he goes on to give one

very mysterious verse. It's out of Psalm 110. And it says this, just as he also says in another passage, you are a priest forever. According to the order of Melchizedek. I hope your first thought there is, that's a super fun name. Because that's a super fun name. Later, just say it to yourself a few times. It's just fun to say. Not right now, later. But I bet you're asking yourself, many of you right

now, who's Melchizedek? It's a great name, but I have no idea who that guy is. I'm not going to go into a great deal of depth about who this guy is right now. You're going to have to come back for that one. That's going to be in chapter seven. But let me give you a brief summary of who Melchizedek was, because I want to get to the point of why he lists this. So if you were to go back to Genesis

chapter 16, you would find that Abraham and his 120, I think, trained warriors had to go and help out his nephew Lot, who had been captured by an enemy raiding army. And so he goes to war, and he defeats this enemy. And Abraham comes back. And all of a sudden, this random guy appears. It says, and then came Melchizedek, king of Salem, an eternal king and a priest. And he brought with him bread and wine, and Abraham gave to him a

tenth of all of the spoils of war. Well, those all seem like really interesting, familiar things, don't they? The king of Salem, which, by the way, what does Jerusalem have at the end of it? What's the Salem? Jerusalem. The king of Salem, a king and a priest, who brought with him bread and wine, kind of sounds like communion to me, and then Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, gives him a tithe of everything that had

come in from the spoils of war. We'll find out more later. But what I want to point out to you is this. There's something fantastic about Melchizedek, because how can Jesus be the high priest if he's not of the line of Aaron? If that's not the line that he's of, how could he be the high priest? Well, it's answered right here when it says that you are a priest forever,

according to the order of Melchizedek. So what you need to know from this is that Jesus didn't take it on himself, but he is an eternal high priest of a completely different nature than Aaron. So Jesus, as the high priest, was appointed by God. Then we come to the second thing it says about Jesus as the high priest, that he was gentle with humanity. Notice,

what it says. Verse 7.

There's two things he tells us about Jesus being gentle with humanity that we want to look at here. The first thing he talks about is Jesus's prayer life. The second thing that he talks about is his obedience life. Let's talk about the prayer life of Jesus for just a minute. Before we get to the direct context of this, I think it's important for us to take note of the fact that in his humanity, Jesus prayed a lot.

Matter of fact, if you're ever reading through the Gospels, you should just make sure and note every time it discusses the prayer life of Jesus, because you'll find that Jesus was so, in his humanity, dependent upon the Father, and his prayer life showed that. Before Jesus made big decisions, he would pray. Matter of fact, one of the biggest decisions that Jesus made was who his 12 disciples were going to be, who the 12 apostles were going to be. And do you know that we read in the Gospel accounts that before Jesus made that decision, that he spent all night in prayer before choosing those 12 guys, which is fascinating because he chose 12 of the biggest losers known to man. I think the entire night he was like, are you sure

about this one? Right? This guy doesn't make any sense to me. This guy's as flaky as I've ever seen in my life. This guy is a tax collector. He absolutely hates the nation of Israel, and everybody in the nation of Israel hates him. Why would I choose this guy? These guys have anger problems. They want to call down fire on every city that we come across. They're called the sons of thunder, at least

that's what I'm going to call them. How would I choose these guys? My favorite thing is that he chose the most liberal guy in the world, which was Matthew, and he chose the most conservative guy in the world, which was Simon the Zealot. That would be like making Donald Trump and Joe Biden apostles of Jesus Christ at the same time. Everybody's just like, whoa, how are you going to make that work? Exactly. How did he choose these guys?

He spent all night praying about it. Do you have a big decision to make? See, Jesus understands what it's like to have to make a big, life-altering, life-changing decision, and he made that decision. He made that decision. He made that decision. He made that decision. He made that decision through prayer. You know, Jesus kept an incredibly intense schedule. If you ever read

the way that Jesus lived his life, you're like, dude, that guy rolled all the time. Like, he was always going, and he went from sunup to sundown, going hard the entire day in ministry. And in order for him to do that, he had to be completely dependent upon the Lord in prayer. You know how I know that? Because there's this story in the gospel accounts where his disciples get up real

early because they've got another town that they've got to get to, only they can't find Jesus, anywhere. They're like, I don't know where he is. I never saw him leave this morning. Hopefully he's around here somewhere. Finally, Jesus comes rolling in. They're like, Jesus, we got places to go and things to do. He said, no, but I needed to spend time in prayer first. He got up before dawn and

spent that time in prayer because he knew that if he was going to keep up with the demands of his job, he knew that if he was going to keep up with the demands of his life, the intense demands that he had to meet in everything that he did, he couldn't do it in the strength of a human. In his humanity, he needed to be dependent upon the strength of God. He needed to be dependent upon the strength of God. The father, so he spent time in prayer. Do you have a demanding schedule? Jesus understands what

that's like. Do you have intense pressure in your life? Jesus understands what that's like. And so when you go to him, he's understanding of that because he already dealt with these things in prayer himself. And then, of course, one of the greatest prayers, which is what I think he actually is talking about here in this verse. Let me read it to you again. He says,

in the days of his flesh, he offered up both prayers and supplication with loud crying to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his piety. When did Jesus offer up loud crying to the Lord? None other than the garden of Gethsemane itself. Before Jesus was crucified, when he was there in the garden, as he was under such immense stress. As a matter of fact, I was telling some kids this the other day.

Do you realize that the word that's used for Jesus is stress, and the gospel accounts as the strongest word for depression used in the Bible? It's the strongest word for depression in the Greek language because he was dealing with such intensity of what he knew he was going to have to do with the cross. And so what did he do? He prayed. Only he didn't just kind of pray. That dude went to war in prayer, right? Like that was battle as

he was sweating those great drops of blood. And he says, Lord, if, Father, if there's, if there's any way for this to pass for me, if there's any way for this cup to pass, Lord, if there's a plan B, let's go with that one because that sounds way better right now. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. Have you ever fought with a temptation in your life? You ever fought with what your flesh wants to do, but what you know God's telling you

to do, and you're fighting it with every fiber of your being, and then finally you have to say, I just got to surrender to the Lord. Jesus knows what that's like. You see, Jesus can be gentle with humanity because he dealt with all of these things in the most intense prayer possible. So when you go to God and pray, you're going to be able to do it. You're going to be able to do it. You're

going to be able to do it. And you say, Lord, I have a super huge decision to make, and I don't know what the right thing to do is. And you agonize in prayer. He understands because he's been there. When you have the pressures of your life that you're dealing with, the pressures of your job, the pressures of the demands that you have, and you go to Jesus and you say, Lord, I have demands

that are so intense on me right now. He goes, I totally get you, man. You should have seen my schedule. I get it. Let's do this thing together. When you're facing the greatest temptations of your life, where you want to walk away from what you know to be the greatest temptation of your life, to be right, because you'd rather do what you know to be easy, Jesus doesn't get that too.

I get where you're coming from. But I'm here to tell you right now, surrender is always the better way. God will give you everything that you need if you follow the path of surrender. So you can be gentle with humanity. But not only do we look at what Jesus did in the offering up of prayers and supplications, but Jesus is gentle with humanity because notice what it says in verse 9, or excuse

me, verse 8. He learned obedience from the things which he suffered. Although Jesus was a son, and I love the way the Amplified Bible puts this. It says, although he was a son who was never disobedient, he didn't have the sin nature that we do. He never gave in to the sins that we do. Even though he was a son, he still had to learn in his humanity obedience through the things

which he suffered. Again, I'll just tell you, I think we discount the sufferings that Jesus went through. We always remember the sufferings he went through on the cross. I think that's ultimately where he gets to here. But Jesus dealt with a lot of things in his life, a lot of things that you and I probably deal with, right? Like, have you ever thought about what it was like

for Jesus growing up and how much garbage he took from everybody for being perfect all the time, right? Like, you ever been the person that when the teacher assigns homework and you're like, when was it due? And everybody's like, oh, why did you ask that? They were going to forget the due date, right? Well, because it's the right thing to do. You're the one that does the right

thing and everybody else excoriates you. Jesus dealt with that in his life. Like, he dealt with that suffering of dealing with those things. Jesus dealt with the fact that everybody hated him, right? Like, everybody hated Jesus. There were some people that loved him, don't get me wrong, but for the most part, everybody hated him, right? Like, Jesus shows up on the block and

all of a sudden, everybody quit going to the Pharisees' Bible studies, right? He ain't coming to my Torah study anymore that Jesus started teaching and now everybody goes to see him. I hate that guy, right? It's everybody just hates Jesus. Listen, I have a job where sometimes I make people angry and I have a job where sometimes people hate me because I have to tell them the

truth or things along those lines and I don't handle that very well. I am a people pleaser by nature and I like everybody to be happy with me all the time. And so when I make people upset, it bothers me. But I hold on to the fact that Jesus understands what that's like because he knew what it was to suffer with that. You ever thought about the fact that Jesus

grew up being told that he was an illegitimate child? He dealt with rumors being told about him over and over and over again. He grew up with his mom being called bad names. He grew up with him being called bad names. That even stretched into his adult life because there was one time when he was debating the Pharisees where the Pharisees said, we know who our dads are. And if I'm Jesus

in that moment, I'm like, now's the time I'm going to call down the legions of angels. Who's your daddy now, right? Like, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to call down the legions of angels. That's what I want to do in that moment. But Jesus didn't do that. He just, he endured the suffering and he learned obedience through the suffering. And of course, the greatest aspect

of suffering that he went through was the cross and there was still obedience. And so when you go through all of those hard times, when the suffering comes into your life, he understands what that's like. Remember the time when he was with his disciples and he goes away with them. John the Baptist, his cousin, who I think he was probably really close to, John the Baptist gets my Herod, and he just wants to get away with his disciples for a little bit. I think he had some

things he had to process, right? Like, we don't think about Jesus being that way, but I think he was processing some grief. I think he was processing some pressure. And he's like, guys, let's just, let's just get away for a little while. And he tries to get away with his disciples and he can't because 5,000 dudes that brought their families showed up and they want to be taught. And the

disciples are like, Lord, make them go home. And he's like, nah, let's minister to them. And so he ministers to them in that moment. He ministers to them, he feeds them. And then he took time to pray. Jesus understands the pressures that we go through, and he's gentle with us. Because as gentle as a high priest can be who understands your weakness because he's failed in the way that you do, it's even better

to have a high priest who understands your weakness, but he never failed and can walk you through how to do it right. Jesus, as our high priest, is gentle with humanity. The last thing that I see about Jesus as the high priest is that he is the source of eternal salvation. It says this in verse 9.

Source of eternal salvation. Being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Remember what we said about the high priest? keep making the same sacrifices over and over again, because they would only cover over sin for one year. That's why the Day of Atonement was a yearly thing that took place. The Day of Atonement was something that happened over and over again. But with Jesus, it didn't have to keep taking

place over and over again, because that one sacrifice was enough to settle sin for eternity. And so when you come to Jesus with your sin, He doesn't just cover over it so that you don't have to think about it again for another year. He covers over it so that you don't have to think about it again ever, because it is eternal salvation that He purchases for us. And I would ask you again, do you understand that you are saved eternally? Do you understand that that

salvation is not some temporary thing that's brought into your life? Do you understand that you're now going to have to keep redoing over and over again? Or do you understand that it has been dealt with once for all? That you never have to think about those sins again, that as far as the east is from the west, that's how far your sin is cast from you. And you can now live in that

kind of freedom, because it is eternal salvation. But who is this eternal salvation for? Those who obey Him. Ryan, that sounds like works. Ah, unless you understand what obedience is. John chapter 6, okay? Jesus is there, and He's teaching, and He had just fed the 5,000. Story I was just telling you about. He had just fed the 5,000, and they all show up the next day because they want more bread. They're

like, that was great. Jesus, fantastic miracle. It was awesome to watch. Which, by the way, I still want to see this in DVR someday. Awesome to watch, but we'll never have to work again. This dude can just keep feeding us. He'll be like the golden goose, right? We'll just keep him around, and he'll keep taking care of us. So they show up again, and Jesus says, you guys don't want me,

you want bread. They're like, Moses gave us bread. He goes, I am the bread of life. They said, what do we need to do to work the works of God? He said, to work the works of God, you need to believe on Him whom He has sent. So what is obedience? Obedience is faith. Now, that faith will eventually lead to works, because your life will reflect the things that you believe, but that's how you take in. That's how you appropriate

salvation, is through faith. He said, it is an eternal salvation, not something that has to be done over and over again. Jesus is not still on the cross. Jesus is off of the cross. He's been raised from the dead, and now He sits at the right hand of the Father to make intercession for us, which is the rest that we have, which is why it's important that He's a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek, because He's now an eternal priest

who's granted us eternal salvation, and now is always our intercessor before the Father. So here's the question. What does this mean for me? I'm not going to go on and finish the rest of the chapter, so there's too much in that last part that we need to dig into, but what does it mean for me? The book of Hebrews has taken a much different direction than I thought that it was going to take, because I've noticed that in every chapter, every commentator

that I read, and in everything that God is ministering to me, all falls into the same vein of thought. I want to remind you who the writer to the Hebrews is writing to right now. He's writing to Hebrew believers. Who are facing intense persecution, and who are being tempted to drift away, fall away, or walk away from their faith, to go either back into a system of works, or to just abandon the faith altogether, because those seem easier than standing firm where they are right now. And so

all of the messages that he's giving about the fact that Jesus is better than the angels, that Jesus is better than Moses, that Jesus is better than the high priesthood, that Jesus is better than the church, that Jesus is better than the church, that Jesus is better than the church, is the same message that God is giving to us. And so we need to remind them of one thing, to hold on to Jesus. Hold on to Jesus, because that's what we have to keep doing in this world that we live in today. Listen, why was he telling them to hold on to Jesus? Well, because he is an

eternal high priest for them. He's not temporary. He's not someone that they can see, but he's also not temporary. He's something that is eternal. So hold on to Jesus, that eternal high priest. Hold on to Jesus, because he is gentle, and he understands. He even understands the pressure that they're going through to want to walk in the spirit of Jesus. He's not temporary. He's not temporary.

walk away, because that was his pressure that he dealt with the day before he went to the cross. Hold on to Jesus because he's the gentle and faithful high priest who understands everything that you're going through. Hold on to Jesus because he is the only source of eternal salvation. I'll remind you of the words of Peter that also took place in John chapter 6.

After Jesus taught us, as many began to depart, and Jesus looked at his disciples and he said, what about you guys? Are you guys going to stick around? And Peter said, where else are we going to go? Only you have the words of eternal life. He said, where else are we going to go? Isn't it hard sometimes? Is it joyful all the time? But there's nowhere else you can go,

because that's the only place of eternal life. So lock in. Hold on to Jesus. And as you are facing the pressures of this world, because I know that there's pressures in the world right now. Listen, I get the phone calls from everybody, and I'm glad to do it. I get the phone calls from everybody. I know what y'all are going through. I know the medical diagnoses that

we're going through right now, the people that just keep getting the reports of cancer. I feel like every day I get a new phone call about somebody that's dealing with cancer. Matter of fact, I talked to a good friend of mine that's a doctor yesterday. I said, bro, is this just me because of the job that I'm in, or is this like we're dealing with more of it? He goes,

or a lot of it. Sure seems like the numbers just keep increasing. And as we deal with these intense things with the health diagnosis that people keep going through, I would tell you, hold on to Jesus. As we look at the world around us, that we don't know from one day to the next what things are going to be like, because of things taking place in the Middle East that may end up finding their way to the Midwest. You go, Lord, what do we do with all of this pressure?

Lord, how do we handle this? We just got to keep holding on to Jesus because he's the only one that's got a plan. He's the only one that's got eternal life, and he's the only one that can sustain you through everything that's going on in this crazy world that we're living in. And as you live your intense life, whatever that is, I would tell you, just keep holding on to Jesus because he's the one that will sustain you through all the things that you're going through right now. Not just sustain you, but bring you joy.

In the midst of the journey, bring you joy in the midst of all the things that are going on. You can take all of those things to the Lord and know that he hears and that he understands. I'm going to close with this, I promise. I think I said in first service it would take me two minutes and 25 seconds. I think it took me two minutes and 45 seconds, but that's neither here nor there.

In Psalm 40, one of my favorite psalms, Psalmist David says this, and I've quoted this a lot of times because it's become so near and dear to my heart. He says, I'm going to close with this, because it's become so near and dear to my heart. I'm going to close with this, because it's become so near and dear to my heart. patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and he heard my cry. And he brought me up

out of the miry pit, and he set my feet upon a rock. He put a new song in my mouth, praise to our God. There's two words in there I want to point out to you. The first word is the word inclined. It says, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me. That word's really graphic in the Greek, or in the Hebrew. It actually speaks of stooping low in order to hear. That's

what that word inclined means. Picture this. Church is over. You go pick up your kid. They were a little bit sad, and they want to tell you how sad they were, but they can't, because they're doing one of those things. You know what I'm talking about. And so they can't really get the words out, and you're trying to hear, like, buddy, I can't hear what you're saying. And so you, what was that?

And you kneel down so that you can hear what they have to say. That's what it says God does with us when we're going through the hardest times of our life. But then it says something else. It says not only does he incline to us, but he hears us. Again, a very fascinating word in the Hebrew, because the word to hear there means not only to hear what is said, but to hear what is not said. It's to hear the words and the intent

behind the words. In other words, Jesus hears the words that we say, but he also hears the words that we don't know how to say. He hears the things that we say, but he also hears the heart behind the words that we say. Have you ever been in a situation where you're trying to describe something to someone, and you're like, you know, it was kind of like, and then, oh man, I can't kind of come up with the right words. Well, the great thing is, when you do that with Jesus, he's like,

I get it. I've been there. Because he understands. And so he hears what you say, and then even hears what you don't know how to say. And then he always acts. So brothers and sisters, as you handle the pressures of this life, as you handle the pressures of this world, I want you to know that you have a great high priest who understands everything that you've been through, and has strong enough

shoulders to hold you up, and a heart that's strong enough to hold you up, and a heart that's strong enough to care about everything that goes on in your life. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me.

Father, you're so good to us. And Lord, sometimes we fail to see how good you are, because sometimes the situation is too close. But Lord, as we step back and regain perspective, we see that you are, you're better to us than we could have ever imagined. So Lord, I lift up every person that is in this room this morning. I lift up every person that's watching

online. And Lord, I even lift up the people that are going to watch later. And I just ask, God, that you would minister to their hearts. Father, that they would know and understand their great high priest. Father, that as they know and understand that you are a high priest that understands that that is eternal and offers eternal salvation, that they would simply surrender. Lord, there are some

in here that need to surrender their life to you for the very first time. They've been running as far and as fast as they can. And Lord, I just ask that you would minister to their hearts. Somebody drug them to church this morning, or somebody made them show up, or maybe they were just a little bit curious. And they didn't realize that today was the day that their life was going

to begin, because today would be the day that they would surrender their life to you. And so Lord, I lift up whoever that is, and I pray that in the quietness of their heart, they would just surrender, that they would just simply pray something like, Father, I need you. So come into my life and make me new. And I know and understand and believe that in that moment, you will do exactly that because salvation isn't about the words that we say. It's about the heart

with which we trust. And Lord, I want to pray for those that are here this morning that do know you, but are holding on to things in their life. They're holding on to temptations that they've not surrendered to you. They're holding on to fears and anxieties that they haven't surrendered to you. They're holding on to parts of their life that they haven't surrendered, that you want to

heal, but they won't let go of. And so, Lord, I pray that as Jesus prayed in the garden, not my will, but your will be done. I ask that that would become the prayer of their heart. So, Lord, keep us strong in you. Keep us close to you and do the work that only your Holy Spirit can do in us. In Jesus' name. Amen. I love you all. Lord, you are holy, holy, holy. God,

you are all deserving of all of our praise. Lord, as we put you at the rightful place, in our hearts and in our lives, God, as we seek you first and yield our will for yours, God, as we honor and choose to walk in belief of who you are and what you've done, in the faith of who you are and what you've done, God, will you just continue to go before us, sustain us, just overflow us with your spirit this week. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. God bless. Have a great week.