The Perfect Priest

We have your Bibles with you today. Turn with me, if you would, to the fifth chapter of Hebrews. We're going to be looking at verses one through six. It takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. It's also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, You are my son. Today I have begotten you.

As he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Would you bow with me as we go to our Lord in prayer? Heavenly Father, we have many this morning who desperately need your healing touch. We pray for Betty West, who is going through a difficult time, Lord.

Her energy is completely sapped, and she just needs your strength. We pray for Dale Valen, who will have hip replacement surgery done this Tuesday. We pray for Bernie Lowes, who will soon be having a knee replacement. We pray for Jeremy Karriker and Jim Belk and Renda Torrance and Kim Udi, that you bring healing to their bodies. We pray for healing for Nicole Lowes with vertigo. Father, we pray for Lisa Menzel, who has surgery soon coming for a brain aneurysm.

We thank you for the progress, Lord, of Ray Maney's bone marrow transplant and pray that that will continue. We pray for little Mary Kennedy today, who will be attending her cousin's funeral, and she has asked us to pray that the Lord will use the service to get the gospel into her son's heart. We pray for wisdom for our nation's leaders right now.

We pray for wisdom, Lord, in the Israeli-Hamas War. Heavenly Father, today we take a look into the priesthood of Christ. We try to study Jesus' ministry to us as a prophet, and we are often reminded that Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but we don't focus near enough on Jesus being our High Priest. Lord, we need to cherish that priesthood. Help me to exalt Jesus today, help me to feed this congregation, keep my lips from error, for it is in the precious and holy name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. I appreciate the spiritual insight that we glean from the writings of C.S. Lewis, the imagery that we see in his book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the empathy we feel in his book, The Problem of Pain, the insight into the heart of God that we get when we read the book, The Weight of Glory.

Nobody would ever accuse C.S. Lewis of being lacking in spiritual insight, but he also was a man that had great humor. Someone asked him one day, said, C.S., if you were out on an island right in the middle of the ocean and you could only have one book, which book would you choose?

He said, I think I'd choose the book on how to build a boat. I like that. But I tell you, someone else that I like is R.C. Sproul. And someone asked R.C.

Sproul a very similar question one time. He said, R.C., if you were out on an island in the middle of the ocean and you could only have one book of the Bible, which book would you choose? And without any hesitation, he said, I would choose the epistle to the Hebrews. He said, I would choose that book because the book of Hebrews gives more single-minded attention to the person and work of Christ than any of the other apostles. I have great respect for R.C. Sproul and I believe that his assessment on the book of Hebrews is right.

I think it would be one of my very favorite, too. Folks, today we are looking in chapter 5. It is a chapter that hones in on the priesthood of Christ. And if you remember from last week, we were looking at verse 14, and verse 14 helps us to understand what chapter 5 is going to be like.

And what does he say in verse 14? He says that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Now, the question that is being asked there is how do we know that we are going to enter into God's rest? So what is God's rest? God's rest is our salvation. It is being saved for eternity. It is assurance that when we die, we are going to be with the Lord and we will be with Him forever and ever and ever. It is assurance to us that we are not going to hell, that we are going to spend forever with our great and glorious Lord.

Why? Because Jesus Christ, our high priest, has passed through the heavens. Now, what did the earthly priest pass through? The earthly priest passed through the veil in the temple or in the tabernacle. And in the temple and in the tabernacle, there were two rooms. The first room was called the holy place.

The second room was called the holy of holies. And he would have to go back behind the veil and he would pass through that veil. When and why did he go? He, who is the high priest and the high priest alone, would go one time a year and that time would be the day of atonement. And he would go and why? He would go to sprinkle blood, the goat's blood, on the top of the Ark of the Covenant, which is called the mercy seat.

And why would he do that? He would do that so that the people's sins for that particular year would be forgiven. Folks, how important was that? It was of the utmost importance because Hebrews chapter 9 verse 22 tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Now the Old Testament Levitical priest was a type and a picture and a symbol of who? He was a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ.

A type, a picture of him. And like the Aaronic high priest passed through the veil to get to the mercy seat, our Lord Jesus Christ passed through the heavens. For what purpose? That he might take his own blood and offer it before his father. Now the question is, did that really happen? Did Jesus ascend to heaven after the resurrection and take the blood with him to offer it as an atoning sacrifice to his father?

And the answer to that question is absolutely yes. Folks, it was not just his death that saved us. It was the blood of Christ that saved us.

And 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 18, the scripture says that we were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold, but we were redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus. You remember after Jesus was resurrected from the dead? He met Mary Magdalene at his empty tomb and she thought at first that he was the gardener. And then Jesus said to her one word, Mary.

She realized who he was and she fell at his feet to worship him. And Jesus spoke to Mary and said, Mary, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my father. Now why was he telling her that?

I think for two reasons. I think first of all, he was telling her that to let her know that their relationship was going to be different, that he was getting ready to go. He was going to be in heaven and she was not going to have that personal relationship where he could physically be with her and speak to her. But he was sending in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit who would bring her comfort, who would bring her joy, who would bring her wisdom. But I don't think that's all that was going on. I think that's just part of it.

There may be something else going on here that I think is important. Perhaps it was at this time that Jesus was going to send into heaven to be with his heavenly father and to offer unto his heavenly father his own precious blood. And I think he said, don't cling to me, Mary, or don't touch me, Mary, because human hands should not touch him before this blood was offered to his father. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse 2, the scripture says that he, Jesus, is our propitiation. And what's the word propitiation mean? It's the Greek word heliostereon, and it actually means the mercy seat. This mercy seat is where the blood was sprinkled. Propitiation means appeasing the wrath of God through the justifying work of shedding innocent blood. Folks, don't ever be nonchalant about the blood of Jesus Christ.

Don't ever be nonchalant about it. A few weeks ago in Sunday school, we watched my brother's video. It was called The Crimson Stain, and it was a great video that he did on the importance of the blood of Jesus Christ. If you haven't seen it yet, it's 32 minutes. We've got the link that you can watch it.

I would encourage you to watch it. He is letting us know that there is power, power, power in the blood of Christ. I want you to listen to these comments that John Calvin made about Jesus taking the blood to his father, and also what Charles Spurgeon had to say. First of all, Calvin, he said, The blood of Christ, which is subject to no corruption, but flows ever as a pure strain, is sufficient for us even to the end of the world, because the blood of Christ is always in a manner distilling before the presence of the Father in order to irrigate heaven and earth.

Spurgeon said it this way. When we climb into heaven itself, we shall not have gone beyond the influence of the blood of sprinkling. Nay, we shall see it there more truly present than in any other place. What, you say, the blood of Jesus in heaven? Yes, let those who talk lightly of the precious blood correct their view ere they be guilty of blasphemy. For me, there is nothing worth thinking of or preaching about, but this grand theme, the blood of Christ, is the life of the gospel. I say to you very definitely and dogmatically that I believe his blood is even now in heaven, and throughout endless ages it will be there to remind us of the awful price Christ paid to redeem us.

Matthew Henry and Matthew Poole agreed with both Calvin and Spurgeon on that. So let's just stop a minute and think how precious the blood of Jesus Christ really is. Folks, the blood of Jesus Christ does not just open up the potential to wash away sins. The blood of Jesus Christ washes away sins. It removes our sins from us as far as the east is from the west, and it allows us that we might enter into the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit and be with him forever and ever in glory. I wonder how the blood of Jesus Christ will be displayed in heaven.

I don't know for sure. I wonder if it might be just a beautiful fountain that's right there beside the throne that every time we look at Jesus and look into his eyes and see his glory, we'll be reminded of what he did for us on the cross of Calvary. Revelation 1 5 says, So at the end of chapter 4, the writer of Hebrews is establishing the priesthood of Christ. As we get into chapter 5, he is showing us or making a comparison between the Aaronic priesthood and the priesthood of Jesus.

I got two points I want to share with you today, and my point one has five sub points. So let's look at point one, and that is the Aaronic priesthood. Let's look at verses one through four. So this verse tells us there are several very important things about the Aaronic priesthood. Now who was Aaron? Aaron was the brother of Moses.

He was the first Levitical priest. So my sub point one is the Aaronic priesthood must be taken from men. The Aaronic priest had to have a human nature. In other words, the Aaronic priest could not have been an angel.

Why not? Well, an angel has not experienced pain and temptation and frustration and suffering like we do. So an angel could not understand what we're going through, and he could not just understand the heartache and the pain, the frustration, the temptations that we have to endure.

Folks, this is why people who have a particular type of going through a trauma or going through a type of suffering, why they can sit down and they can talk with someone who has gone through that, and that person will help them immensely. I remember about two decades ago, it might be a little bit longer than that, Jerry Schurig went to the hospital. He had prostate cancer.

They were going to do a major operation on him, and they were going to give him some very tough radiation treatments. So I took with me Ed Bracefield. And Ed Bracefield and I went up and we met with Jerry in his room before the operation took place. And Ed was able to sit down with him. Let me tell you something, Ed gave Jerry hope. And Ed answered all his questions.

How? Because Ed, just six months before that, had been through the exact operation that Jerry was getting ready to go through. Folks, in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 4, Paul says sometimes the Lord allows us to go through a time of suffering in order that we might be able to comfort others who are going through that exact same type of suffering.

I remember when I first went in the ministry, I was 29 years old. We had a man in our church who'd been married for 55 years. His wife had a heart attack and she died. I really wanted to try to comfort this man. And I put my arm around his shoulder and I said, I'm so sorry for what you're going through. I said, I know how you feel. He turned around and looked at me and he said, no you don't. He said, you're going home to your wife and three kids. He said, I will never do that again. You don't know how I feel.

Let me tell you, that was a lesson for me to be very careful when I tell somebody that I know how they feel. But you know, an angel could never work as a high priest because angels don't know how we feel. This is one of the primary reasons that the second person of the Trinity, he was fully God, but he also had to be fully man. And if he hadn't been fully man, he could not have been our high priest because he could never really understood how we feel and what's going on down inside of us.

Because Jesus was fully man, he could fully understand. Listen to what Job said about this. Job's going through his hard suffering, tribulation, terrible, terrible time. And Job cries out and he says, I need God. I need God who is fully God who can help me, who can get me out of this, who can heal me, who can deal with my suffering.

But I need God who is fully man who can understand me. You know what he was doing? He was praying for Jesus.

He just didn't know Jesus' name yet. Listen to what Job said. He's crying out for a mediator here. Job's words, verses 32 through 35 in chapter 9. For he is not a man as I am that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter or mediator between us who might lay his hand on both. Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me.

Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself. You should listen to what John Calvin said about this. It is the Son of God had never become man. He could never have been officiated as a priest.

He could never have offered that sacrifice to the sins of his people, which divine justice required. The divine incarnation was an imperative necessity if salvation was to be secured for God's elect. It was necessary for Christ to become a real man. For as we are very far from God, we stand in a manner before him in the person of our priest, which could not be were he not one of us. Hence that the Son of God has a nature in common with us, does not diminish his dignity, but commends it the more to us, for he is fitted to reconcile us to God, because he is man.

My subpoint too. The Aaronic priest was a mediator. The Aaronic priest was ordained or appointed by God that he might act on the people's behalf. The presence of the Aaronic priest shouted out to the people, God is holy, that man is sinful and man needs a mediator.

This is what Job was praying for. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God put an angel there to guard the tree of life so that Adam and Eve could not eat of that tree of life. And when that happened, Adam and Eve realized just how horrible their sin really was, that it alienated them from the presence of God.

I think back in Moses' time when Moses was getting ready to receive the Ten Commandments and the Lord was on the summit of the mountain and the Lord would not allow any person, even an animal, to get up on that mountain. They were at the foot of the mountain, the Lord was at the summit of the mountain, and what that shows us is that sin separates us from a holy God. Then God called Moses to construct the tabernacle to have two rooms in that tabernacle.

The first room, the holy place, and there was a veil, and then the high priest had to go back behind the veil into the Holy of Holies. He would take the blood of the goat with him. He would take his branch of hyssop, dip it down into that bowl of blood, and then he would sprinkle it on the mercy seat. What was he doing? He was being a mediator for us.

He was being a go-between. Thirdly, the Aaronic priest could not come empty-handed before God. He had to bring gifts and sacrifices for sin.

The priest stood in man's place and he offered sacrifices to God. He took the holy blood into the tabernacle in order that he might sprinkle it on the Day of Atonement. And on the day of Passover, what did he do? He killed the Passover lamb. This is an amazing thing about what happened on the cross because Jesus was not only the priest who offered sacrifices to God, but he was also the sacrifice. He was not only the one who killed the Passover lamb, but he was the Passover lamb. Folks, Jesus was the high priest who was doing the slaying of that lamb. That's what Jesus meant when he said in John chapter 10 and verse 18, No one takes my life from me.

I lay down my life for the sheep. Fourthly, the Aaronic high priest was not exempt from weakness. He had to offer sacrifice for his own sins. This is one of the great differences between the Aaronic priesthood and the priesthood of Christ. Jesus never had to offer sacrifice for himself.

Why? Because he was perfectly righteous and he was perfectly without sin. Then fifthly, the Aaronic priest did not presumptuously rush into the office and take that office to himself. He had to be chosen and appointed by God. Now, there were some who tried to do that.

It didn't work out very well for them, did it? You remember Korah in Numbers chapter 16? He said to Moses, Aaron's the high priest. I don't like that. I want to be the high priest.

I'm going to take it from him. And the scripture says that the earth opened up into Korah's feet and he went alive down into Sheol and the earth closed back up over him. And then there was Saul, King Saul, who got aggravated because Samuel didn't get to the battlefield as quickly as he hoped. And so he said, I'll just offer the sacrifice myself. And God removed the throne from Saul. He said, no longer will you be king and took the kingship. And then there was King Uzziah. And King Uzziah wanted to offer sacrifices himself. So he went in the temple to offer the sacrifice and the Lord struck him with leprosy. So the priest had to be chosen and they had to be approved by God.

Second point that I want to share with you is this. The question, how can Jesus be a priest when he's not from the tribe of Levi, but he's from the tribe of Judah? Look with me at verses 4 through 6 again. And it says this, And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son, today I have begotten you.

As he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus being a high priest was a great problem for the Jewish people. The priestly tribe in Israel was the tribe of Levi. If you were going to be a priest, you had to have the blood of Levi flowing through your veins. You had to be a descendant of Levi.

You remember John the Baptist? His dad was Zacharias. He was a Levitical priest. How was he a priest? Because he came from the tribe of Levi.

So here's the problem. Jesus did not come from the tribe of Levi. Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. Now that was important too, because Judah was the kingly tribe. If you were going to be a king in Israel, you had to, or Judah, you had to be from the tribe of Judah. You had to have Judah's blood coursing through your veins. Also you had to be in the bloodline not only of Judah but also of David, and Jesus was also a descendant of Judah and also in the bloodline of David. So here was the dilemma. How could Jesus be a king and a priest? When the kingly tribe and the priestly tribe were two different tribes, how could that happen?

That's the dilemma, and here's the answer. We can see it in the baptism of Jesus Christ. I want to share with you from Matthew chapter 3 verse 13 through 17.

Matthew chapter 3 verse 13 through 17. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?

But Jesus answered him, let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented, and when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water. Behold, the heavens were open to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.

And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son with whom I'm well pleased. Jesus went down to the Jordan River, and he asked John to baptize him. Now, what kind of baptism was John doing? John was doing a baptism called a baptism of repentance. It was a purification rite. Jesus comes down, he asked John to baptize him, and how did John respond to that?

John recalled that. He said, no, no, I can't do that. You are Jesus. You are the Lamb, the perfect Lamb, the sinless Lamb. I shouldn't be baptizing you.

You have no sin. This is a baptism of repentance. I shouldn't be baptizing you. You ought to be baptizing me. And Jesus said three things to John, and this is what he said. I must be baptized by you at this time in order to fulfill all righteousness.

Folks, the baptism of Jesus Christ is not a baptism of repentance. It is part of a ceremonial ordination into the priesthood. So there were three requirements to that ordination. First of all, John had to do it. Now, why did John have to do it? Because it had to be done by a priest, and John was a priest. Secondly, it was done, the scripture says, at a certain time. Jesus said, I must be baptized by you at this time.

What time was that? In Luke chapter 3 and verse 23, the scripture says that Jesus had just reached age 30. Now, why is that important? I want to read you some of the requirements of being a priest from Numbers chapter 4 verses 1 through 3. It says this, The Lord spoke to Moses in Aaron, saying, Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi by their clans and their fathers' houses. From 30 years old up to 50 years old, all who can come on duty to do the work in the tent of meeting. The priests were ordained into the priesthood at age 30.

They could serve for 20 years, and they could not go past age 50. Jesus had just reached his 30th birthday. All right, that takes us to the third thing that Jesus said, and that was this, I must be baptized by you at this time in order to fulfill all righteousness.

Now, what is that? Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 25 tells us that to fulfill all righteousness is to keep the ceremonial and the moral law. Part of the ceremonial law was that the priest had to go through a ceremonial ordination. How could they go through the ceremonial ordination?

What took place? God said, first of all, he had to be at age 30. We know that Jesus had just reached age 30.

That requirement was met. And then secondly, he had to have his body shaved and then be ceremoniously sprinkled or washed. And we see this in Numbers chapter 8 verses 5 through 7. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them.

Sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor all over their body, wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves. Folks, you had to be called by God. And this is what the writer of Hebrews is proving here. Hebrews chapter 5 verses 4 through 6 says, And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. Also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him, who said to him, You are my son, today I have begotten you. So he says in another place, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus was not called by God to be a Levitical priest. He was not called by God to be an Aaronic priest. He was called by God to be a priest of a higher, superior order. That order was the priesthood of Melchizedek.

We'll get into that next week. Look what happened with Jesus and that baptism. Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, met all the qualifications for being a priest, and the only thing lacking was for Jesus to be ceremonially washed, and that's exactly what John did as John baptized Jesus. Now, did John's attitude change when he understood what Jesus was asking for?

Boy, did it ever. When he thought Jesus was talking about a baptism of repentance, he recoiled it and said, No, I can't do that. And then when he found out what Jesus was asking, that this was a part of the ceremonial ordination into the priesthood, he got it.

And why was that? Well, John and Jesus were cousins. And six months before this, John's six months older, John went through this exact same process that Jesus is going through now. So John knew exactly what Jesus was saying. Jesus said, I must be baptized by you at this time to fulfill all righteousness. And John says, Oh, I get it.

I would be more than glad to do that. And he baptized Jesus by sprinkling. Then at that point, the Holy Spirit descended from heaven like a dove, anointing Jesus for the ministry. It's very interesting that up to this point in time, Jesus has not done any miracle. After the anointing, after he began his public ministry, there's just one miracle after another, after another, after another.

God the Father spoke from heaven, affirming his priesthood, affirming the sonship of Jesus, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Then Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness. Forty days he fasted and he prayed. He was attacked by Satan with temptations and defeated every single temptation. Then he left the wilderness and he went out in great power, empowered by the Holy Spirit of God.

And we see one miracle after another, after another. Now in Matthew chapter 21, verse 23 through 27, Jesus had an encounter with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were furious with Jesus because Jesus had cleansed the temple. They did not like it. Jesus had taken a whip. He drove the money changers out of the temple.

He had gone over to the cages where the animals and the birds were and he let them all out. He took the tables where their money was and flipped them all over and money was rolling through the streets. They didn't like it. Now why did they not like it?

They didn't like it because they knew that Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, that they also knew that only the priests were responsible for cleansing the temple. And they were saying, You're not a Levitical priest. You can't do this. You don't have the right to do this. You don't have the right to cleanse this temple like this. You're not a priest. You know what Jesus did? He pointed them right back to the baptism of John. I want to read you Matthew chapter 21, verse 23 through 27. And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching and said, By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority? Jesus answered them, I also will ask you one question.

And if you tell me the answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John. Where did it come from? From heaven or from man? They discussed it among themselves saying, If you say from heaven, he will say to us, Why then do you not believe him? But if we say from man, we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, We don't know. And he said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. And Jesus was saying, You want to know what legal and ecclesiastical right I had to cleanse that temple? And all you have to do is look at my baptism by John, and you will see. My baptism by John was a ceremonial ordination, or at least part of it, into the priesthood. Jesus was saying, I'm not just a Levitical priest. I'm not just an Aaronic priest. I'm not just a high priest. I am the high priest. I am a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

So Jesus' baptism is a proof text for what the writer of Hebrews is trying to get across and help us to understand who Jesus really is. Where is Jesus now? He is acting as our high priest right at this moment. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, and he's interceding for a sinner like me that does not deserve his intercession.

But why can he do that? Because he shed his blood for me and died for me and gave an atoning sacrifice of his own life that I might have life and that I might have it abundantly. And right now, he is interceding for me and for you in heaven, and he will do that until he returns to this earth.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we get excited about what Jesus did for us on the cross 2,000 years ago. We think about his suffering, the loss of blood, the death that he went through.

Our hearts feel that, and our hearts get stuck in our throat. But we seldom consider that Jesus is our priest. Jesus was the lamb who was slain, but he's not just that lamb. He's also the priest who took his own blood to heaven and offered it to his Father as the perfect sacrifice. Lord, help me never to forget that. May the priesthood of Christ wow us as much as the cross does. It is in Jesus' name I pray, amen.