Hebrews chapter 5. How many of you have read Leviticus chapter 16 and Numbers chapter 17 about the high priest this week? In Leviticus chapter 16, if you had read that, you would have found out the processes that the high priest went through on the Day of Atonement in the robes that he wore and what all he had to do before he would ever come and lay the knife to the neck of that lamb or of that bull for the sins of the people. What you would have read is that before the high priest ever offered the first sacrifice for the sins of the people, he had to first offer a sacrifice for the sins of himself and his family. Okay, now that's with the law. And every year at the Day of Atonement, it was the exact same thing, that before a drop of blood could be offered for the sins of the people, the person that was ordained by God to offer that sacrifice had to first offer blood for His sacrifice. Because no man, and this is the way that God made it, that no one could bring a blood sacrifice to Him for sin unless they were pure. Okay, so a sinful man, now this is symbolic, but a sinful man could not bring blood before God and say, this is the blood to atone for the people. That man had to, as God looked at him, be sinless. Does everybody understand that? Okay, that's Leviticus chapter 16. If you had read Numbers chapter 17, you would have read about a man named Korah. who came to Moses and said, you take too much on yourself. And he was jealous of Moses. He looked at Moses and said, Moses, you're not any more holy than anybody else in this camp. We all are holy. And so we think that we can do the exact same things that you and Aaron do. At this point in time, God was speaking to Moses and Aaron was the high priest after the law was instituted. And so God told Moses, I tell you what, you get them sorry suckers in one place and I'll show you. I'll show you who I want to be, the high priest." And so he got them all together. He had each tribe of Israel take a rod and put the name of that tribe on it. He had Aaron take his rod and put his rod. And they put it in the tabernacle. They shut it off and they came back the next morning. And when they looked, all the rods were the same except for Aaron's. And Aaron's rod budded. And that was to show that God had ordained Aaron as the high priest. Does everybody follow that? I think we've all heard about Aaron's rod. Aaron's rod was actually one of the three items that was carried around in the Ark of the Covenant. So why are we talking about that? Because in Hebrews chapter 5, we're gonna see that Paul... is talking to the Jews and he's going to tell them, hey, you no longer have a high priest that is sinful. We no longer have a high priest that has to offer up sins for himself before he offers sins up for us. And not only do we have a high priest that is sinless, but we have a high priest that is ordained or was ordained by God to be our high priest. and wasn't just ordained by God to be our High Priest when He was born, but thousands of years, hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was ever born, ever walked a foot on this earth, God ordained Jesus Christ to be our High Priest. Okay? So, we'll read through verses 1 through 4 real quick, but really, If you get a chance, try to read Leviticus 16 and Numbers 17. One of the biggest blessings that God has given me recently was when I read in Leviticus and saw what the high priest had to go through on the Day of Atonement. And when you look at that high priest, and then you look and see that that high priest is a foreshadowing to Jesus Christ, it blessed me. I hope it blesses you the same that it did me. We'll be in chapter 5, verse 1. For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin, who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof, he ought as for the people, so also for himself to offer sin. Now that's what we're talking about, the high priest having to go, before he offered blood for the sins of the people, he had to go and offer for himself first. And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. That's very important, because in order for someone to be a high priest for us, that person has to be called by God. And Paul is telling the Jews here, hey, Jesus did not take this honor on Himself. Jesus didn't come and say, hey, I want to be the high priest! I want to be the high priest! Jesus came because God ordained Him. And because Jesus' sole mission here when He came to this earth was to do the will of God. And what was God's will? that He die for our sin, that we would not have to die, be lost in our sins, and go to the devil's hell. That's God's will. Okay? So if you want some more clarity on that right there, read Leviticus 16 and Numbers chapter 17. Verse 5. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an high priest, but He that said unto Him, Thou art My Son, today have I begotten Thee. That's the first sign of God ordaining Jesus. Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee. That is referenced back, if you want to turn and look at it real quick, to Psalms chapter 2. And if you've been here for this study, I hope that you realize that Paul uses the Old Testament to verify and to back up what he says in the New Testament. And a lot of this comes out of Psalms. But if you look at Psalms 2 and verse 6, it says, "...Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." I will declare the decree, the Lord has said unto me, Thou art my son this day, have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." That is a prophecy that clearly speaks that God has ordained Jesus Christ. Turn back to Hebrews chapter 5. As he saith also in another place, this is verse 6. As he saith also in another place, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Anybody know who Melchizedek is? Anybody ever heard of Melchizedek? I'm going to save getting into Melchizedek in depth until we get to chapter 7. Melchizedek is a very important individual when we start looking at Jesus Christ as our High Priest. But if you want to do a little reading about Melchizedek, if you turn back to Genesis chapter 14, We all have heard about Abraham and Lot. And if you've read about Abraham and Lot, then you know that Lot chose to go and pitch his tent towards Sodom and Gomorrah. And in between the time that Lot pitched his tent in Sodom and Gomorrah and the time that he actually moved inside the city, there was a war. And there was a confederation of five kings and they came to Sodom and Gomorrah and they started a war. And they defeated the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and they took Lot and his family Prisoner. They captured him. So somebody came and tells Abraham, hey, your nephew, he just got captured. He's a POW. That's what he is. And so Abraham gets a group of soldiers and they go and Abraham utterly destroys these five kings and their army. And it was very common practice at this time that when you were in a battle and you defeated that army, then whatever they had, whatever you wanted to take, that was yours. You took it. Whether or not it be gold, silver, bronze, breastplates, jewels, whatever it was, that was yours to take and that's what Abraham did. And so Abraham is on his way back home and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah come out to meet him. Alright, so now if you'll look in Genesis chapter 14 and verse 17, this is where, and like I said, I'm just going to introduce Melchizedek to you tonight, and then when we get into chapter 7, we'll get into Melchizedek in a little bit more depth. Genesis chapter 14 and verse 17, And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chidurimar, and of the kings that were with him at the valley of Shaveh, which is the Kingsdale. And Melchizedek, king of Salem. If you're taking notes, write his names down. Number one, write down Melchizedek. And it says that he was the king of Salem. brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God. And I'll stop right there and give you a chance to write that down. Here's a little something for you to study out. What does the name Melchizedek mean? And what does Salem mean? Okay? Now, dig your own taters. And he brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the Most High God." Now here's the thing that I want you to see right now, that this man who Abraham runs into holds two offices. He holds the office of king, and he holds the office of priest. Okay? And he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram, of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand. And he gave him tithes of all." And we'll stop there. That's Melchizedek. But Melchizedek was a priest. and he was a king. And so what Paul is saying here when he says that God declared Jesus Christ that you are a priest after the order of Melchizedek, in the similitude, in the likeness, Now, like I say, there's a lot of different people that think Melchizedek is a lot of different people. Some of them say that he was Noah's oldest son, Shem. Some people think that it was Jesus Christ. Some people think that it was the Holy Ghost incarnate. Some people think that he was actually God. There's all kinds of things. We'll get into it a little bit later on. But after the... Thou art a priest, back in Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 7, says, As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Okay? Now, we'll leave that right there, and I want you to turn real quick to Psalms, the 110th chapter of Psalms. Now, if you remember, I told you that God ordained Jesus Christ as our High Priest long before He ever stepped foot on this earth. Okay? Now, we're reading Psalms here, so we know that it's at least six to seven hundred years before Christ was born that this was written, at least. six or seven hundred years before Christ was born. It might have been a thousand years. It might have been fifteen hundred years. Okay? I don't know. But look what it says. Well, we'll just start with Psalms 110 in the first verse. The Lord said unto my Lord, Set thou my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. And thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning. Thou hast the due of thy youth. And look at verse 4. This is what we're looking to. The Lord hath sworn. Did you all know that it's a big deal to swear? Now, we don't think so now. And I'm guilty of that. You know, I walk in the house and my youngest daughter, I'd love her, I'd kill for her. She's the biggest mess maker in three counties. Maybe four. I mean, I walked in the kitchen today, and there is literally 11 baby dolls laying in the kitchen floor. We got a playroom upstairs. She's got her own room. But they got to be right in the floor, right in front of the refrigerator. That's what happens when you get old, you forget where you're going. Swear. Thank you. That's what happens when you're not too old, you can still be brought back pretty easy. But I walk into kids like, man, I swear. You know, it's a big deal to swear, and when we get farther over in Hebrews, it'll say that God, because He could swear by no greater, swear by Himself. So we need to make sure that when we say, I swear, that we remember who we're swearing in front of. That's free. Verse 4, The Lord has sworn, He swore, and will not repent. That means He will not change His mind. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." So we find in Psalms God ordaining Jesus Christ as High Priest. And that's very important because if God didn't ordain Jesus Christ as our High Priest, then everything we're here for is a lie. Everything that we believe is a lie. Everything that we put our faith and trust in is a lie if God did not ordain Jesus Christ as our High Priest. Okay? Now, he goes further than that. Turn back to Hebrews, please. Verse 6, As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh, this is verse 7, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard, and that he feared. So, the first thing that I want to try to show you here is God's proclamation of Jesus. God's audible ordaining of Jesus Christ. Did you know that God audibly to this world ordained Jesus Christ? Turn to Matthew chapter 3. We're going to look at three different places. Matthew chapter 3. I don't know if you know this or not, but while Jesus Christ was on this earth, as far as what we read in the Bible, while Jesus Christ was on this earth, God spoke audibly to the world three times. Three times. Here's the first one. Look at Matthew 3 and verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him." Have you ever wondered why we tell people when they come and they give their heart to the Lord that they need to be baptized? Because number one, it's a commandment of God to be baptized. And what Jesus told John right here, if there was ever a man that walked the face of the earth that had no need to actually be baptized in water, it was Jesus Christ. But that was Jesus' act of obedience. And we'll go on to read that Jesus learned obedience. Now, that's hard for me to wrap my mind around, that the Son of God actually had to learn to be obedient. Now, does that mean at any point in time that Jesus was disobedient? No, that's not what that means at all. But just like we have to learn obedience, Jesus Christ had to learn obedience. And the first act, when Jesus came to John, John said, You don't need me to baptize you. I need you to baptize me. But Jesus said, Suffer it to be so, for it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. So that's why we tell people when they come and they give their heart to the Lord that they need to be baptized. Does that baptism save them? Absolutely not. But it's an act of obedience to God. Amen? Suffered to be so, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And, lo, a voice from heaven sang, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. First proclamation of God to the world of Jesus Christ is right here. Now, he started his ministry. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Okay? Now, does anybody know how the truth was known back in this time? Does anybody know what the Bible says about that? How was the truth verified? What? Witness. How many? Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established. Okay? So we have number one. This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Turn to Matthew chapter 17. And we'll start in verse 1. Matthew chapter 17 and verse 1. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If Thou wilt, let us make Here are three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. And while he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. But then he adds something else, Hear ye Him. What were the Jews told of the high priest? You better listen to what that man says. He is schooled in the law. He knows exactly what you're supposed to do. He knows exactly how you're supposed to be living. He knows when you're supposed to show up to give a sacrifice. He knows what sacrifice you're supposed to give. He knows if you don't give that sacrifice. So you better listen to him. That's what the high priest was for. But now look, this is the second proclamation that God gives about Jesus. This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. Second time, God audibly ordains Jesus as high priest. John chapter 12, this will be the last time. or this will be the third time that God speaks audibly. John chapter 12 and verse 26. Now what this is, is this is Palm Sunday when Jesus is coming into Jerusalem. They laid the palms on the ground. Jesus makes His triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem, and everybody is laying palm leaves down on the ground, and they're crying, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest, that Jesus is the King of Jews, the Son of David. and all this stuff. So he comes into the city of Jerusalem, and then there's a group of Greeks, a group of Gentiles, who comes to Andrew and says, hey, we want to see Jesus. I'll have to get back to you, man. I've got to go ask another fellow about this. So then he goes to Philip and says, hey, there's this group of Greeks here. They want to see Jesus. And so then they go and tell Jesus this. And then Jesus starts talking about, I'm going to die. We'll just pick it up in verse 23. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I, unto this hour. And then the last thing that Jesus says right there, Father, glorify thy name. Dad, I want you to be dignified out of this. Dad, I want you to be honored in all this. And then look what it says in verse 28. Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. That's God. How is God going to glorify His name? By and through Jesus Christ. So we see three separate times, out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established. Three different times in the Gospels that God audibly speaks and people hear. We are not talking about the still small voice that God speaks to us in now. We're talking about an audible voice that people could hear. Some of them even thought it was thunder. Of God ordaining Jesus Christ as High Priest. That's very, very important. And I hope that you get that. Okay, let's turn back to Hebrews and we'll move on here for a little bit. Hebrews 5, verse 7, Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared. Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered. And what this makes reference to is Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. after they ate the last Passover, and He took the disciples into the garden of Gethsemane, and then He brought Peter, James, and John on further into the garden with Him, and then the Bible says that He went a stone's cast further than they did, and said that He began to pray. Anybody know what Jesus prayed? Let this cup pass from me. That's what He said. Father, let this cup pass from me." Now, I'm not quoting that. Don't get the idea that it was easy for Jesus to do this. I mean, because how many of you in here, raise your hand, how many of you have ever said, I would die for my kids? Would it bother you any if you ever got to that point and they offered you another way out? Wouldn't bother me. I mean, if I'm sitting here getting ready to take a bullet to the head for my kids, and, hey, you know what? There's a door. There's a second door over here. We don't have to shoot you in the head. I'll take that door. Right? But just like we talked about that he learned obedience, Jesus knew there wasn't any other way. They said, Father, if it's Your will, can You make it to where I don't have to do this? But Lord, if it's not, Dad, if it's not, I want Your will to be done. And then you can read to where that he prayed and that his sweat became as if they were great drops of blood. And if you do some research on that, I don't know what it's called, but there actually is a scenario in the medical field where because of strain and stress and anguish and anxiety, that you can actually sweat blood. But that was Jesus learning obedience. You mean He learned obedience all the way up until they came and got Him? Yeah, He did. And it doesn't matter how long we've been Christians, we still have to learn obedience. I mean, Brother Harry, you're 96? 96? 97, sorry. You're probably still learning to be obedient to God, right? Brother Forrest, you're probably still learning to be obedient to God, right? We all still have to learn that. Because we're all still faced with things in life that, man, should I stay obedient to this? Because if I do, this might happen. Well, yeah, it might. But you know what? That's why we stay obedient so we can talk, just like Taylor said, to where we can hear, welcome home. That's why we stay obedient. And that's why Jesus stayed obedient, because if you look farther over in Hebrews, looking under Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith, for the joy that was set before Him, that's why Jesus stayed obedient was because He wanted to do what God wanted Him to do, and He knew that the joy that He would experience by seeing millions and millions and millions and millions of souls come. to God through His blood. That's the joy, and that's why He stayed obedient. Anybody have any questions? Anybody have any comments? Okay. Verse 9. We'll make it down to verse 10, and then we'll call it up. Verse 9. And being made perfect. And what that word perfect means is complete or accomplished. Okay? complete or accomplished. After being made complete, after being made accomplished, He became the Author. Author means that which causes something. Now if you break this down, it makes it a lot easier to understand. Author means that which causes something. Okay? So, the Author of eternal salvation. That which causes, and what is salvation? Salvation is deliverance from wrath. That's the definition of salvation. And when we talk about salvation, for those of you keeping note, you might want to write that down, because if a lost person would happen to come to you and say, Hey, what's this salvation stuff you are talking about? I'd want to be able to tell them what it is. That which causes the deliverance from wrath forever. That's what the author of eternal salvation is. And Jesus was made that. Through Jesus Christ, we can have the deliverance of the wrath of God towards sin for eternity. And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him. See, there's a stipulation there. Called of God, and this is Paul just reiterating what he said before. Called of God, a high priest, after the order of Melchizedek. And like I say, we'll get into Melchizedek a little bit later.