Our High Priest Forever (Part B)

When I say Levitical, you know what I'm talking about.

When I mention the Aaronic line, you know the line of Aaron that could be in the priesthood. Others of you may say, huh, I don't have it. But you get enough of it. And another thing you may get out of it is you may have to study someone. Paul said to Timothy, be diligent.

Study to show yourself approved. The worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Well, Timothy was a pastor, but those words are for all Christians, not just for the pastor. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Hebrews.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick will bring part two of his study called Our High Priest Forever in Hebrews chapter five. Paul put it this way.

All scripture is breathed by God and is profitable for doctrine that is right thinking. For reproof, that is the correction of wrong thinking. For the instruction in righteousness, that is how to not get in trouble, to stay out of trouble. For correction, for those who have gone into trouble. For reproof, oh, I forgot that one. That is going up to the one that you know is wrong and saying, hey, this has got to be dealt with. It will not be excused.

I'm willing to work with you, but you've got to fix it. And then he goes on to say that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped who wants to not be ready, who wants to not have the right gear, or then just be negligent. Well, this was happening to these Christians.

They'd been Christians a long time. I should add that. We're going to come to that. If I ever get off the second verse, we'll come to it. He says, since he himself is also subject to weakness, everyone who is a sinner has reason to be gentle with another one who is a sinner. And that is where he is going with that, that he is to have compassion since he too has this weakness of the flesh called sin. Verse 3, because of this he is required as for the people so also for himself to offer sacrifices for sins.

So the writer is just bringing everything into view in front of his audience. He is saying we're sinners. We have spiritual leaders to deal with this sin for the leaders and ourselves.

Never trivialize that. It's amazing as much attention as scripture gives to dealing with sin. How many churches give energy into ignoring it?

Thank God. Thank you, Lord, that it's not nearly, I don't know how many there are, but I know there are many that do the right thing. But I also know there's an ever increasing number of churches and people who call themselves Christians that just don't want to hear it, don't want to deal with it. But that's contrary to scripture and that's why we're going through it, to expose us to as much of the scripture as we can be exposed to.

And so again, verse 3, because of this he is required as for the people so also for himself – he is not above sin – to offer sacrifices for sins. No approach to God without dealing with sin. If you are in sin and you're just not even going to deal with it, not going to bring it up to God, do you expect he's going to listen to you? That has to be dealt with.

I'm not saying it's going to be defeated, but I am saying it has to be dealt with. In this life, whatever you struggle with in the way of sin is a good possibility. We'll take you, we'll go with you all the way to your grave, but you'll be fighting it every step of the way in your heart, in your spirit, and that's what separates the saints from the aint's. Verse 4, and no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God just as Aaron was. Well, it's the honor of dealing with the sin on behalf of the people. No man takes this honor of being the high priest or a spiritual leader as the case may be today on themselves.

This is a God appointed position. Verse 5, so also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest, but it was he who said to him, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Well, Aaron's appointment to high priest was by God, so is Christ. If the son of God subjects himself to this system, then we better do it too, which is part of the message. We have this pattern where he says, today I have begotten you. He's quoting Psalm 2. This is the second time he's quoted this verse in Hebrews 1. He also quotes Psalm 2, verse 7. Now, it does have to do, the only begotten son means the deity become taking on humanity.

The son of God being born of a virgin and walking amongst us and going through this life with us. This Psalm 2, verse 7 has that meaning in it, but it goes further than that. It goes all the way to the resurrection. And we know that because in the book of Acts, the apostles apply it that way. In Acts 13, verse 33 and 34, he has raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second Psalm, you are my son, today I begotten you. And that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption.

Jesus will not suffer and die again. We'll get a lot of that at the end of Hebrews, which is contrary to some that behave as though it's not in the Scripture. Well anyway, that's verse 5, that Christ submitted to the processes of the Godhead, verse 6. And he who says, he also says in another place, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Well now it's heating up. Now he's quoting Psalm 110. And you know, Jesus, there were three, four witnesses to Christ being the Messiah. There was John the Baptist, there was the Scripture, the Old Testament Scripture. I mean that he fulfilled the prophecies pointing to him as the son of David and entering in this ministry. There were the miracles that he did accompanied by the teachings, his teachings.

And then finally there was the father, this is my beloved son, hear him. And so all of this Christianity that we embrace is mapped out for us by God. We haven't stumbled into it. It is not something that we are chiseling to perfection. It is something that is handed to us through God's word. And so he's quoting the Old Testament pointing the Jews back to their authority, which they would, you would think, submit to.

You would think they would say, oh that's right. This is in Scripture and we obey Scripture and you've pointed it out and there is no way to refute what you've said. We're going to stop this nonsense of trying to go back to Judaism or blend it with Christianity to somehow make Christianity better. We're going to abandon that and we're going to build up in the faith.

Well maybe they did come to that conclusion. The writer doesn't know at what point they will or will not, but he is not going to take any chances and so he is going to slaughter any thoughts against Christ throughout this Hebrew letter slash theses. He says, you are a priest forever. That cannot be said about any other, certainly none in the Levitical line. Now as I've been speaking, some of you who are very familiar with the word, you're up on that.

When I say Levitical, you know what I'm talking about. When I mention the Aaronic line, you know the line of Aaron that could be in the priesthood. Others of you may say, huh, I don't have it. But you get enough of it and another thing you may get out of it is you may have to study some more. Paul said to Timothy, be diligent.

Study to show yourself approved. A worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Timothy was a pastor, but that those words are for all Christians, not just for the pastor. Well, you are a priest forever.

Again, a distinction that is forever significant. It singles out Christ. It makes him exclusive, superior to everyone else. No one is a priest forever except Christ. Even we, we're part of a royal priesthood. We serve a priest who is a king, Jesus Christ. But our priesthood ends when we leave this world. But he represents us forever. Now he mentions this order of Melchizedek.

This is the first, well, let me go do it this way. The priesthood gets its first mention in the scripture, not on the Levitical line, the line of Aaron and his descendants, according to the Mosaic law, but Melchizedek, a Gentile. He is the first one that is associated with the priesthood, directly so, as priest, this order of Melchizedek. And he is introduced to us in scripture in Genesis 14. This sudden mention of this Melchizedek illuminates the argument in the whole letter. He's bringing him in and he is saying, hey, there's more to God and faith than Judaism. There has been an approach to God that has been ordained by God before Aaron showed up, before Moses came along. He just really injects the name at this point.

But he's going to get back to it. But at this point, he gets them to sort of pause at the name, at the point he just made. It's a salah. It's, you know, let the music play while you meditate on what I just said or sung in the Psalms. But what makes this Melchizedek a type of Christ? In other words, you look at the life of Melchizedek in this short little section of scripture. You look at his life and you say, we see in that, from what we know about Jesus, we see Jesus in that. Why?

Well, let's examine some of them and maybe you can see it for yourself. Then I won't have to try to be clever. His name, Melchizedek, means the king of righteousness. That's Jesus.

I can see that. He is the king of a place called Salem. That is Jerusalem, the city of peace. That's Christ.

He is the king of peace, the prince of peace. And so right there in Melchizedek, the king of Salem, as he is presented to us in Genesis 14, we see Christ. Jesus is the only one that is held up as king-priest in scripture. Oh, David has a moment of dancing before the ark with the ephod, but he really is not entering into the priesthood. He is just appropriating worship for the people as king, setting the example.

We'll cover that, maybe, as we go through Chronicles on Wednesdays. But back to the scripture, what the scripture says about Messiah. Zechariah 6 13. Yes, he shall build the temple of Yahweh.

This is the millennial temple. He shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule on his throne, so he shall be a priest on his throne. And the council of peace shall be between them both. And so Zechariah is saying, our Messiah is going to fulfill the ministry of the priest as the writer to Hebrews calls him, our great high priest.

And then he says, he's a priest on a throne, which means he's a king. And then he adds, his business is going to be about peace, which we don't really have in this life at all. We have moments of peace, but that's not peace because we always know it's not going to last. Something's going to interrupt it.

Even peace of mind is going to be interrupted at some point. Only Christ and pre-law Melchizedek are presented as a priest and king. As I mentioned, when Uzziah tried to be, Uzziah was king of Israel, when he tried to function as priest, he was smitten with leprosy, Saul lost his kingdom. The two do not mix in this life.

There's to be that separation to ensure that the power does not be abused and people oppressed. So this mystery of Melchizedek broadens a little bit more and the writer of Hebrews is going to pick it up. It makes him an apt symbol of Christ. Hebrews 7, speaking of Melchizedek, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. And so Melchizedek has no beginning of days and no end. He just comes on the scene like that and the writer of the Hebrews says, Jesus has no beginning of days. He has no starting point.

He's always been. He's God eternal. He's God the Son, every bit of God. He also, Melchizedek, he stood on the Godward side of Abraham. In other words, Abraham received blessings from Melchizedek as opposed to giving them to Melchizedek, which is marking for us the spiritual superiority in Melchizedek's position over Abraham. And so Abraham comes to Melchizedek. Melchizedek brings out, we're told in Genesis, I'll read it. I have it here. Look at that.

Even my errors are correct. Genesis 14, 18, then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of God Most High.

The priest of El Elyon, God Most High. And here he brings out bread and wine. Every Christian knows what that symbolizes.

The bread and the blood, the body, the body and the blood, the bread and the wine, the bread and the cup. And so Melchizedek was acting as priest and Abraham subjected himself to that. And what does Abraham do in return? He gives an offering, a tenth to Melchizedek for the Lord. And so there's this beautiful picture in Melchizedek of a symbol, a type of Jesus Christ. And Christ has fulfilled these. And so the writer to Leviticus is saying Christ is superior in his priesthood over the Aaronic line. Now again, for those of you who have not been following, the whole letter of Hebrews is saying to the Hebrews, do not mix Christianity with Judaism. And it says to the church, don't mix it with anything. You don't paint gold. That which is already perfect needs no improvement.

And to try to do so is to ruin it. And so this, we continue. Verse 7, who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his godly fear. Now he's talking directly about Jesus Christ in Gethsemane. His humanity faced it all. The humanity of Jesus Christ did not cry out to his personal deity and say, you know what, I'm God the Son.

I don't have to go through this and excuse himself. Well, he did not do that. He knew who he was. And he knew what he was going to go through in his humanity, in the flesh, while he walked on earth. So he subjected himself to the betrayal, which probably hurt just as much as the lashes from the scourge, the horror of the cross. Three times in scripture do we see Jesus Christ in his humanity weeping on earth.

Each one is a classroom. Each one is a lesson for us, or many lessons. First there was his weeping at the grave of a friend, Lazarus. And Jesus wept, the Bible told us, as everybody else was boo-hooing because they lost this young man.

They weren't ready to let him go. And Jesus brought him back. He wept at the sight of a doomed city, the doomed city Jerusalem. There the Greek word for his crying was heaving, his chest was heaving as he was bawling away this full-blown cry out for the city and the doom that awaited them because they rejected him. And then in the garden, where it's not explicitly stated in the gospels, it's implied in his sorrow, but it is explicit here in verse 7 that with vehement cries and tears, he is facing sin for us.

He is bringing before us the severity of God's judgment and the wonder of his pardon for all those who would take it and what he had to go through. See, this is the problem with anyone who says, yeah, I think Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and also you can come in by. No, you can't. There's one way. And to make the suggestion that there are other ways of salvation is to mock the cross, is to mock Christ, is to say, well, if he was dumb enough to do it, then that's his business, but you could have come in this way. There is no other way. And this vehement cries is the scripture of the Holy Spirit saying, you see, there is no other way. This is serious.

There is nothing more serious. To see God the Son agonize over the salvation of those who don't deserve salvation is fraught with instruction, with invitation, with power, with something that we can't, you know how we lose sight of this? Self-pity. It's been said that self-pity and faith can't stay in the same room together.

I don't know, I'm still testing that one out. Because sometimes in my self-pity, I actually feel justified. I know my place. I know God is right always without exception, but I still have to process that. And in my prayers I say, God, I know you're right, but I'm not seeing it. I don't feel it. I don't like it. And here are my protests, subject to you. Well, I'm not going to stand before God and lie to him and say, oh, this is good, I'm fine with it. Go ahead, take another limb. I don't care.

That would be insane. I have to be honest with him. There are things that I don't like, that he allows or disallows, that he gives or withholds.

Sometimes it just irritates me that someone who doesn't deserve it gets more than I should be getting. Well, that's not really my problem, but I know some of you are struggling with it. This is what I mean when we take our sin to the Lord, we don't sweep it under the rug so someone can trip over it. We tell him right out, he's not going to gossip. God said, go tell your enemy. You know what he just asked me for? It will develop your prayer life.

It will keep you balanced in your walk. Jesus faced the cross. He never, never thought to escape it, but he lays out the drama of it for us as I just said I try to do in my prayer life and I'm sure some of you do too. You have to lay out the drama of life before God. Jesus said in John's Gospel 1227, now my soul is troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose, I came to this hour.

This is what it's all about. I hate what's going to happen to me in just a little while, but I'm going to take this and the martyrs have done so through the centuries, many of them burning at the stake singing hymns to the Lord. And so this verse 7 is about Christ in the garden, highlighting for us what he went through for us. He says here, to him who was able to save him from death, now catch this part, he was not asking the Father to save him from dying. He was bringing to the front that this crucifixion and resurrection is all about being saved from eternal damnation and separation from God. So his death, death without salvation is eternal separation. For the righteous, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. But for those outside of Christ, there is no salvation.

The serious business is Christianity and that's why the world under the influence of Satan, as though they were under the influence of some narcotic or drug, the world does not understand. And they hate the system of Christ and they don't even know why. If you say, why do you hate the Christ?

Why do you mock his servants? Why do you think it's so strange that God should be able to talk to people? Then you would be peeling back the layers of influence of Satan.

Some are too far gone for us to do anything with, others are not. We just don't know who they are until that moment comes. But this is what is happening to him who was able to save him from death. This is submission to the processes that God is absolute and submission to him from Christ was absolute. Matthew 26 53, or do you not think I cannot pray to my father and he will provide me with more than 12 legions of angels? So he could reject any time, but he faced it.

He faced it for me. Remember that the next time you're going through something miserable and you think God's forgotten you, remember that he faced for you and me something that we really have to wait till after life to truly enter into. And so we can, and was heard through his godly fear and that is the resurrection. And of course without that his Hebrew audience at any time could say, well we are going to change religions. Christianity is not good enough, but he doesn't let them go. He keeps this in front of them as any good child of God would keep in front of anyone who might be losing sight of it. Verse 8, though he was a son yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. Well he went to the cross without excusing himself. He was not shielded from suffering nor obedience simply because he was the son of God, but he laid down the example. Now this learned again, God cannot learn. He is perfect in every way. He cannot be improved.

If he can be improved, then he is disqualified from our God. You've been listening to Cross Reference Radio, the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Yastin of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. As we mentioned at the beginning of today's broadcast, today's teaching is available free of charge at our website. Simply log on to crossreferenceradio.com. That's crossreferenceradio.com. We'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to the Cross Reference Radio podcast. Subscribing ensures that you stay current with all the latest teachings from Pastor Rick. You can subscribe at crossreferenceradio.com or simply search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app. Tune in next time as Pastor Rick continues teaching through the book of Hebrews right here on Cross Reference Radio.