The Priesthood of Christ, Part 2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Jesus entered into our experience so that by faith, his experience becomes ours. Because of Christ, we gain access to a relationship with the great and holy God. Jesus is our perfect high priest, one of us, but without the gruesome stain of sin, fully God and fully man, our great mediator. Today, Pastor Rich looks into Jesus's role as our high priest from Hebrews 5, 1-10. Let's listen to this message titled, The Priesthood of Christ. This is the second part of a sermon first preached on June 24th, 2012. Look at with me at 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 let's walk through this and bear with me.

All of these points are very important. Again, remember that the Lord is allowing you through the scriptures to peek behind the curtain of all that's going on in the intricacies of the outworking of salvation. Let's not take our salvation for granted. Let's understand what Jesus Christ endured. Let's understand who he is. Let's understand who we are in Christ.

And all of this is very important information to that. So when it says, in the days of his flesh, who in the days of his flesh, that's speaking of Jesus Christ, that's speaking of God incarnate, his earthly human ministry, his earthly walk. It is the idea where God sovereignly, willingly limited himself in the second person of the Trinity. God limited himself in order to directly interact with his creation, so that his creation could interact with him.

That's what we find in Philippians chapter 2, where it gives us the account that Christ, being equal with God, did not consider it robbery to hang on to that. And he shed it, and he came in the form of a man, in the form of a servant, and became obedient even to the point of death. God limited himself so that we, his creatures, could directly interact with him. That is a very, very important thing for us to understand. Now what else does it say about him in the days of his flesh when he offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears?

What is he talking about there? Well, do you remember when Jesus prayed, and he prayed earnestly, and he was crying out? Do you remember the Garden of Gethsemane when he was before his father, and he knew that his separation from the father was imminent?

He did not want to experience that. And he was asking his father, Father, if there's any other way that your creation can be reconciled to you, let's please consider that. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. Now that prayer plays directly into the text that we are looking at here, because it talks about him learning obedience. But not only was it in the Garden of Gethsemane, do you remember when he was on the cross? And when he was on the cross, at the very moment, the very hour that he was taking God's wrath upon himself in your place and mine, he absorbed God's wrath that you deserve and that I deserve. He cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

He was appealing the father's abandonment. Verse seven, prayers. It is believed that when Jesus was on the cross and he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That, by the way, is the first verse of Psalm 22. Now, all the scribes and the Pharisees and all the religious people that were standing around him, most of them had the Old Testament memorized. And they knew that when Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The whole of Psalm 22 came into mind. And they knew then that it was a messianic cry. And the Messiah in his humanness was crying out to his father and appealing his abandonment.

And here is his prayer right here in Psalm, in Psalm chapter 22, verses 19 to 21. But you, O Lord, do not be far from me. Oh, my strength hasten to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog.

Save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen. And then in the text of Psalm 22, there's a pause. And then it says, you have answered me.

What is that? That is resurrection. And that's exactly what Jesus was crying out for. And that's what says in the next line here in our text, to him who was able to save him from death. Very, very important word we need to look at here, the word from. Circle that word and then right above it, write the Greek words, EK, Ek.

Ek means out of. To him who is able to save him out of death. Jesus was earnestly praying for resurrection.

And what does it say? And was heard because of his godly fear. And was heard because of his godly fear. So it was at that point, one of the other statements that Jesus made on the cross was, Father, into your hands, what? I commit my spirit.

What is that? That is the prayer of surrendered trust. Father, all these savage beasts around me, the adversary of our souls is wanting to consume me. But Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.

A prayer of surrendered trust. And so he was praying for resurrection. And the text tells us here, as Psalm 22 does, and he was heard because of his godly fear. Psalm 22 21, you have answered me.

Resurrection happened. And God answered him and brought him back from the grave because of his godly fear. Now, in other words, very important for us to understand the word fear, because usually in the scripture, when it talks about us fearing God, it uses the word phobia, phobos, okay? We know what that word means, right?

That's not the word that it's using here. Because Jesus was one, the word is eulabeia, Jesus is, he revered his father, and it was his singular ambition to please his father. It was a singular desire to please his father, which is why it is said, I come to do your will. And so it is with everyone who then says to God, into your hands, I commit my spirit.

I come to do your will. And this was true of Jesus Christ. And so it says then, in verse eight, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience. What a fascinating statement.

Who is it we're talking about here? But God himself, the second person of the Trinity. Though he was a son, what is that telling us? He was a son, meaning he had divine nature. He was of the essence of God. He was equal to God, hence very God. And yet he learned obedience.

How on earth? How did Jesus learn obedience? That fact that he learned obedience was that he understood by experience and cost of doing what was required of him.

Now, think about this for a minute, okay? The Trinity is a perfect community, a perfect other focused community. Each one delights in pleasing the other.

And it has been that way for eternity. But this now was a new occasion where the son was required to do something that was not the natural outflow of his relationship with the father. What was he required to do? To experience separation. And the son being separated from the father was not the natural outflow of his relationship with the father, but it was the will of the father, and therefore the son was pleased to do it. The verse at the very beginning of the service today, Isaiah 53-11, probably one of the most profound passages of Scripture, written 700 years before Jesus Christ, but it says of the Messiah, he saw the travail of his soul and he was satisfied. It's a profound verse. And so even as the second person of the Trinity, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience. What does that take us to then? It takes us to his priesthood.

Look with me at verse 9. And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to those who obey him. Having been perfected, the word perfected is telios, means complete or accomplished. He was brought to the place, he was brought to the goal fixed by God. God established the goal and he says, this is what I'm going to accomplish. And the son did that perfectly, which is why he says, if you go back to verse 5, you are my son, today I have begotten you. That was a statement that was said to the Israeli kings back in the Old Testament, because he would consider to be a son of God. Having been perfected, now he is a perfect son, perfect in the name of God. He is a priest forever and he says, today I have begotten you. That is a message of the resurrection.

Romans chapter 1 verse 4 says that he was declared with power to be the son of God by the resurrection from the dead. We're a little bit ahead here. Back up here just a little bit. All right, here we go. All right, today I have begotten you. This is where Christ, another title for Christ is that he is the chosen one. We find that in Luke 23, we find that in Isaiah 42 and Isaiah 49. Isaiah 42 says my elect one in whom my soul delights, meaning that Jesus Christ was the one called and appointed by God to accomplish God's purpose, even as the second person of the Trinity. And then it says he is a priest forever because he is in God's presence.

Remember what it says? Look with me back at chapter 1 verse 3. Hebrews 1-3, look at that with me. At the second half of the verse, beginning with the word when. When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Because he is in God's presence, forever I can be too. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.