This evening we read from Hebrews chapter 5, the first 10 verses, found on page 1,866 in the Pew Bible, page 1,866, the fifth chapter of Hebrews, and we will read together the first 10 verses. This is the inspired word of our Lord. Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the sins of the people. No one takes this honor upon himself. He must be called by God, just as Aaron was. So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, you are my son today. I have become your father. And he says in another place, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. And may the Lord bless the study of his word as we look at it together this evening. Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, Sometimes the whole idea of the priesthood seems far removed from Protestants like ourselves living in the 21st century. Perhaps you are reminded of the Roman Catholic conception of the priesthood when you happen to come across a Roman Catholic priest and you see his clerical garb and you consider that view of the priesthood. Or maybe you read a book like Leviticus with all the intricacies of the Old Testament law, and you begin to see what a great task and challenge it was for the Old Testament high priests as they went about their priestly duties. However, the author of Hebrews, as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives us many clear pictures of the importance not only of the Old Testament high priests, but of our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. chapter 5 begins, we are given a job description of a priest. Verse 1 tells us that he must be selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, and furthermore, the appointment of the high priest was not done by the people but by God. Verse 4, no one takes this honor upon himself, he must be called by God, just as Aaron was." As the high priest represented the people before God, he would offer sacrifices for their sins. For instance, on the Day of Atonement, which was observed one time per year, the high priest in the Old Testament was required to first offer a sacrifice for his own sin and for his household, and then he would offer a sacrifice on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant for the sins of the people of Israel. The Ark of the Covenant was kept in the most holy place of the tabernacle and the temple. It was almost four feet long and a little over two feet wide and a little over two feet high. The cover, known as the mercy seat, was overlaid with gold and had cherubim with outstretched wings that met together over the top of the mercy seat. And beneath the mercy seat were the tablets that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai, the tablets of the law, the Ten Commandments, along with Aaron's staff, which had budded, and a jar of manna, we read in Hebrews 9 verse 4. So the Lord as he symbolically dwelt between the outstretched wings of the cherubim, would look down at that mercy seat and he would know that under that mercy seat were the tablets of the law, and he would be reminded of how the people of Israel had broken every one of the commandments in the tablets of the law time and again. He would see the jar of manna and be reminded of all the times that the people complained against the gracious providence of God as he brought them out of the land of slavery and bondage to the promised land of Canaan. He would see the staff of Aaron and remember how Aaron formed the golden calf and credited it with deliverance of the people from Egypt instead of giving honor to the faithful God who had given power to Aaron in the staff. But when the high priest would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the mercy seat, the Lord wouldn't see all those things that would remind him of the sins of the people. Instead, he would see the blood of the sacrifice And his righteous and proper wrath against the sins of the people would be propitiated, would be appeased. Their sin was covered by the blood of the sacrifice. That imagery, which took place each year on the Day of Atonement, was looking ahead to the shed blood of Jesus Christ, which makes propitiation, which covers your sins and my sins if we are truly believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in Him alone for salvation. The Ark of the Covenant. was kept in that most holy place of the tabernacle and the temple, the holy of holies as some describe it. Only the high priest could enter into that most holy place and then only once per year on the day of atonement. And to represent the people before God was a daunting task. He had a whole number of regulations that he had to meet and things that he had to do. In addition to offering a sacrifice for his sins and the sins of his family and the people, he also would slaughter a bull and offer it as a sin offering. and he would have to put on sacred garments. They were so sacred that before putting those sacred garments on, we read in Leviticus 16 and other chapters of the Old Testament that he would have to carefully bathe himself thoroughly because he would be putting on the most sacred of garments to go into the most holy place to make this blood sacrifice that would point ahead to the Messiah, Christ Jesus, and his perfect sacrifice. He would then enter the most holy place, the Holy of Holies, through a thick curtain which separated it from the rest of the tabernacle and later the rest of the temple. He would enter with incense so that the smoke of the incense would cloud his vision of the Ark of the Covenant initially, and that would spare him from death, for he had impure eyes and he would be looking at the Ark and the outstretched wings of the cherubim where God symbolically dwelt. He would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The blood was from a bull and a goat that had been sacrificed. The high priest would cast lots over two different goats brought to him by the people. He would kill one of the goats as a sin offering for the Israelites and sprinkles blood in the most holy place. And then he would place his hands on the head of the live goat and confess the sins of the people. before God. Then he would send that live goat, known as the scapegoat, away into the wilderness. I'm so thankful that as a pastor I never had to go through all those regulations and all those rituals that the Old Testament high priests had to go through. But I'm even more thankful, far more thankful, that Jesus has entered the most holy place of heaven and he points to his perfect sacrifice on the cross. All those Old Testament ordinances and all those Old Testament sacrifices point to our crucified and risen Savior and Lord. And when our faith is placed in Him and His redeeming work, we have full assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins. We have full assurance that we will enter, by God's grace, into the most holy place of heaven itself, where we will live in perfect harmony with our triune God throughout all eternity, reigning over the new heavens and the new earth. In fact, God graciously assured us of our access into the most holy place when Jesus was crucified. You remember that at the moment of his crucifixion, the thick curtain in the temple was torn asunder from top to bottom, and it represents how the access into the most holy place, into the very presence of God, is now made through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the great high priest. Like the Old Testament high priests, Jesus was selected from among men and appointed by God to represent them in matters related to God. But instead of offering a sacrificial bull or goat, lamb, or some other sacrificial animal, he offered himself as the only acceptable sacrifice for sin. Instead of sending a scapegoat off into the wilderness, he became our scapegoat. He took our sins upon himself and he bore them outside the city gates of Jerusalem on Mount Calvary. He bore them all away. Although Jesus is like the Old Testament high priests in that he offered gifts and sacrifices, both terms meaning essentially the same thing. and offering for the sins of the people. He was unlike the Old Testament high priests in a number of ways. The most obvious and clear point of difference is that he is sinless. The Old Testament high priests had to offer sacrifices for their sins, but not Christ Jesus. He always has been and always will be sinless. But that doesn't mean that he isn't sympathetic to sinners. As we read this morning in verse 15 of the previous chapter, Jesus was tempted in every way just as we are, yet was without sin. And because he faced every temptation you and I have faced, he fully sympathizes with us when we face temptation. But in addition, in addition to the temptation that Jesus faced, He also lived in a human body just like your body and just like my body, a body of flesh and blood. He was just like you and just like me in that He knows what it's like to be tired. He knows what it's like to experience physical pain. to be hungry, to be thirsty. He knows what it's like to have a cold, to have a sore throat, to have a sore back, to have a stiff neck, all these minor irritations of life. He knows and he sympathizes with us as we go through those experiences. But he also knows not just the minor irritations of life, but the agony, the agony of death. He has experienced it all. because of the temptations he faced, and because he knows the experience of weakness and suffering, he is, as verse two notes, able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and going astray. He is the great shepherd who seeks out the wandering sheep. He may use his rod and his staff forcefully to bring those who wander back home into the flock to bring them back to their senses and to him. But then, then he deals gently, for he understands not only the power of temptation, but he also understands the fragility and the hardships and the pain of life here on earth. Another way that Jesus differs from the Old Testament high priests is that he has an eternal priesthood, not after Aaron, but after Melchizedek. The priests in the Old Testament were from the lineage of Aaron, but in both verse 6 and verse 10, you may have noticed that the author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is a high priest in the order of Melchizedek. Some of you may recognize Melchizedek as that unique figure in the early history of the world. We read briefly about him in Genesis 14. In verse 18 to 20, we read how when Abram returned from defeating the kings who had taken Abram's nephew Lot as a captive, then Melchizedek met Abram. We read in Genesis 14, 18-20, And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram, by God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Abram, we read, gave him a tenth of everything. The author of Hebrews tells us much more about Melchizedek in chapter 7, but in the context of these verses, the significance of Jesus being a great high priest in the order of Melchizedek is this. Melchizedek is unique in the pages of scripture, that he has no genealogy, he has no recorded beginning, and he has no recorded end. We read those lengthy genealogies of people, but not of Melchizedek. He is unique in that there is no record of his beginning and no record of his end. In that way, he is a portrayal of Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega. Our great High Priest is not like those in the lineage of Aaron who lived to be 123 years of age, and after that he died he could no longer represent the people. Rather, Christ eternally represents us. He is always there at the Father's throne of grace to represent weak sinners who come to him in humble repentance and saving faith. Like Melchizedek, the eternal Christ, the Alpha and the Omega has no genealogy, even though his human genealogy is traced back to Abram. Yet he is, in a concept beyond our ability to grasp, eternally begotten of the Father. Thus, the Father can say, you are my Son, today I become your Father. And yet from all eternity, the Son has been one with the Father and the eternal, ever-living God Himself, with the Father and the Spirit. In Hebrews 7, verse 24, the Holy Spirit drives that truth home. We read there, because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. And then in Hebrews 7, verse 25, we read just how crucial that permanent priesthood of Jesus really is. It says, He is able to save those completely who come to God through Him because He ever lives to intercede on their behalf. Because our salvation is based on the eternal priesthood of our Lord and Savior, we are filled with hope and encouragement. He ever lives to intercede on our behalf. He will always be our intercessor eternally. Hebrews 6, verse 19 and 20 declare, we have this hope as an anchor for our soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. because Jesus is that eternal great high priest in the order of Melchizedek. He is already in the glory of heaven waiting to draw us to himself as we too will go through the curtain as it were into the most holy place, the presence of our triune God and live and reign with Christ forever over the new heavens and the new earth. And that is indeed an anchor for the soul of every believer, firm and secure through all the turbulent storms and violent breakers of this life. The passage before us also teaches us that Jesus is our perfect high priest, not only in his sacrifice and not only in his intercession, but also in his sympathy. For instance, he knows what it's like to pray with tears, and he has experienced the closed door, the closed door in prayer. Verse 7 describes how during the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death. and he was heard because of his reverent submission. That verse covers the prayer life of Jesus throughout his entire time on earth, but it zeroes in on his heart-wrenching prayer there in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he prayed, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but your will be done. The cup of which he spoke was the cup of God's righteous and proper wrath at your sin and mine. That cup was not removed. Jesus had prayed with fervent cries and with tears, yet he experienced the closed door. He experienced the so-called unanswered prayer. I'm sure that you have experienced the closed door in prayer. Perhaps you pray for healing, but the healing doesn't come. Or perhaps you pray for resolution and a relationship full of jagged edges, a relationship that just doesn't fit together the way it should, yet attitudes aren't changed as you pray that they would be. Or perhaps you've experienced a time of unemployment or some other hardship in your life, and all the prayers that you and your loved ones pray seem to go unanswered, you have the closed door. We call those prayers unanswered prayers, even though they are clearly answered by God, and His answer is no. At least for this time in our life, the Lord is telling us the answer is no. And we understand that His answer of no is for our good. But when you and I are in that situation, we can be sure that our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, is sympathetic. He knows what it's like to pray with tears, and He knows what it's like to have the so-called unanswered prayer. That is part of how He was made perfect. In the words of verse 9, It is not as though Jesus Christ was ever imperfect. He has always been perfect and ever will be. But his experience of suffering here on earth, by that experience, he was perfected in understanding our human experience of suffering. He is perfect in every way, including that he understands what it is like to be a human being of flesh and blood in a fallen, sinful world, facing disappointments of every kind, even the seemingly unanswered prayer? Though some point out that ultimately that prayer of Jesus was answered through the resurrection, when the Father gave his full approval to all the work of the Son, and the Son was no longer under the wrath of the Father, but reigns in glory. with the Father and the Spirit forever. Another way that Jesus is perfect as our great High Priest is that He understands that it's not always easy to submit to our Father's will. In His prayer in Gethsemane, after praying that the cup of wrath would be taken from Him, He added, yet not my will, but your will be done. That is another way in which Jesus is our perfect, sympathetic High Priest. He suffered not only in the afflictions brought on by sinful people around him, but he suffered in the sense of his submission to the task, the will of his Heavenly Father. He knew that his Father's will is always, in the words of Romans 12, verse 3, good, pleasing, and perfect. But submitting to that will, as I'm sure you have found out in your life, as I have in mine, is not always easy. And Jesus understands that. When the door is closed in answer to your prayers, when God's will is not to remove the thorn from your flesh, but instead to give you sufficient grace to deal with the pain and the suffering of the thorn, Jesus understands. Your great high priest knows how you feel. He has been in the same situation. Verse 8 describes how Jesus learned obedience from what He suffered. Jesus was obedient in every way. He was obedient to Joseph and Mary, obedient to His parents. He was obedient in His conduct with others. He was obedient to the tablets of the law, keeping every jot and tittle, every iota of the law with perfection. But His greatest act of obedience was his willingness to suffer and to die with unspeakable pain and sorrow in his crucifixion. As Philippians 2 explains in verse 8 and 9, Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing Taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient, even obedient, to death on a cross. Because Jesus was obedient even to death on the cross, we who believe in him are saved from our sin Our great High Priest represents us perfectly. His obedience also reflects his perfection as the second Adam. The first Adam plunged all humanity into sin. The first Adam disobeyed God when he was in the Garden of Eden in Paradise. The second Adam, Christ, in the Garden of Gethsemane, obeyed God even to the point of obedience to death on the cross? In every way that Adam failed to be obedient, and in every way that you and I, as descendants of Adam, have failed to be obedient, Christ has perfectly obeyed and credits his perfection to the life of everyone who, by His grace, has saving faith in Him alone. Romans 5, verse 19, sums up the difference this way. It says, for just as through the disobedience of the one man, Adam, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man, Christ Jesus, the many will be made righteous. Verse 9 gives us another application, as it teaches that Jesus became the source of eternal salvation. He is the only source of salvation. As Peter declared in Acts 4, verse 12, there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Or as Jesus said in that famous statement in John 14, verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me," Jesus declared. How are we to respond? To such a great high priest, to the sinless one who gave himself as a complete atonement for all of our sins, how do we respond to the one who has fully experienced life in a fallen world in order to become perfect as our sympathetic great high priest? Our response is obedience that flows from faith. If we truly have saving faith in Christ, then that will be reflected by the obedience that flows from faith. Did you notice in verse 9 how it says, he became the source of salvation for all who obey him? Wherever there is true saving faith, there is obedience. It's not perfect obedience. In fact, it's far from perfect obedience, but it is a growing obedience, a growing desire to live according to the words of God who saved us from our sin. Romans 1 verse 5 describes that as the obedience that comes from faith. The Heidelberg Catechism also addresses the obedience that comes from faith. After teaching us the meaning of each one of the Ten Commandments, the Catechism asks, can those who are converted to God keep these commandments perfectly? And the answer is no. In this life, even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God's commandments. Does that describe you? And does that describe me? Do you and I truly have saving faith in Christ alone? If so, than out of gratitude for what Christ has done, is doing even now, and will do throughout all eternity, do we eagerly and joyfully strive to live in obedience to him. And it's the knowledge of his love and his obedience even to death on the cross, an anchor for your soul and my soul in all the troubles and trials of our lives. Sometimes the whole idea of the priesthood seems sort of alien and strange, perhaps, to those of us who are Protestants. Maybe you see a Roman Catholic priest in his clerical garb and are reminded of their view of the priesthood. And when you take the challenge to read Leviticus, you might be reminded of the intricacies that the high priests had to go through as they observed every nuance of the Old Testament law, all those sacrifices pointing ahead to the sacrifice of Christ. But how thankful you and I should always be for the work of our great high priest, Jesus Christ. He is perfect in every way. sympathetic to every temptation and trial that we face. He is always willing to intercede on our behalf, even offering himself as the perfect sacrifice for sinners, so that one day all those who truly believe in him alone for salvation will enter the most holy place, the most holy place of heaven itself. by God's grace and the redeeming work of His Son, our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, amen. Again, O Lord, we thank you for the high priesthood of your son, that he offered himself as the perfect sacrifice, and that he is that high priest in the order of Melchizedek, that he eternally represents us, and that even in the glory of heaven, he will yet always be our great high priest, the one to whom we look with adoration and praise, even as we raise our praise and glory to you. Lord, we pray that in our lives, as your spirit sanctifies us through the word, that we would become increasingly obedient to express our gratitude to you for the gift of your son. For we do pray in his name. Amen.