Let's open our Bibles, please, if you will, to the book of Hebrews, chapter 4. We want to begin reading with verse 14, and we'll read through chapter 5, verse 5. So right on down through chapter 4 and down to chapter 5, verse 5. Hebrews 4, verse 14. It says, Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in thanks pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, 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, as for the people, so also for himself. to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." Now look at 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." And he goes ahead and restores verse 6, "...and he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared." So we could read more and more about Jesus being a high priest, and a great high priest he has spoken of in verse fourteen of the fourth chapter. seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God." So we are going to talk about Him who has compassion and tenderness for us as our great high priest. In this passage we have seen that the priest himself was to be taken from among men, in verse 2 of the fifth, that he might have compassion on the ignorant. I want us to think this morning of the compassion, the kindness, the tenderness of Jesus. In fact, the message is entitled, The Tenderness of Jesus. Here we see that the tenderness as he is in heaven as our great high priest. We have seen and read in the Gospels of his tenderness toward men and toward us while he was upon this earth. In fact, the Bible says that he went about doing good. and healing all that were oppressed of the devil." That's in Acts 10, verse 38. We could refer to all of his miracles of mercy and his words of grace. And we might notice just a few this morning by way of introduction. If you remember the miracles that he did, and we point out the man with the withered hand, and Jesus told him to be whole and made that other hand, that withered hand, just whole as the other. We think of the woman who touched Jesus' garment, came and touched him, and she was made whole from that very hour. If you think of the man at the pool that had been paralyzed and laid there for many years, and Jesus said, Wilt thou be made whole? Remember, he was lying at the pool and he said, Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled. He's waiting for the moving of the water to get in. He says, I have no man and neither can I get in, but another steps in before me. And we find that in that instance, Jesus in grace healed that one man at the pool. And think of his tenderness with Mary and Martha. At the grave of Lazarus, you know, not only in sickness do we need the tenderness of Jesus and the kindness of Jesus, but when there's a death at the grave of Lazarus, Martha and Mary think of their sorrow. And yet Jesus dealt with them with kindness, with tenderness and with grace. We might think of his words of grace, the words of grace to the woman of Samaria. Think of what happened there. He says, if you drink of this water, you'll thirst again, whoever drinks of it. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, it shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life. And she went away into the city and said, Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? At his first sermon in Nazareth, and I'll read in Luke's Gospel, if you will, chapter four. Let me just read what took place. This is his first sermon. In verse 16, he says, And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. Now, what did he say? The place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." Now think of all these things that he states. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and gave it again to the minister and sat down, and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears, and all bear him witness and wonder at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth." They bear him witness to the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. He had said that this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. When it had to do with the preaching the gospel to the poor and healing the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, all through the New Testament we find the kindness of Jesus being known as well as being preached. He preached that that's what He would do. And he did what he preached. You know, it's a wonderful thing to find people doing as they say, instead of, I'll say and you do, but I will not have to do what I say. Think of his words of grace. His words that come to us as he took little children up in his arms and blessed them. His words to all that labor. He says, Come unto me, all ye that labor. and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." We could take a whole sermon on His words on the cross, when you think of Jesus on the cross being crucified. And what did He do? Did He think of Himself? No, the very first thing He said was what? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Can you imagine, even his death on the cross, what was he concerned about? Not himself. Father, forgive them. Then he said, Woman, behold thy son. He said, well really, he said before that to the repentant thief, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Then he said to his mother, Woman, behold thy son. He took care of her. Thoughtfulness of Jesus, even in death. And you and I are concerned about ourselves most of the time, aren't we? But Jesus was concerned about others. All of the things reveal His love and His kindness and His compassion and His tenderness while He was upon this earth. He is near kin to us because the Bible tells us that He became man. Look in the second chapter of Hebrews there in verse 16 through 18. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved him," now look at this, it was necessary, the word behooved means it was necessary, for him to be made like unto his brethren. Now why? That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted. Since he suffered, he is able to succor them that are tempted." See, Jesus is well qualified to be that great and merciful high priest that we're talking about, because he's gone through it. The Bible says in Isaiah 53, in the prophecy of Christ, that he is a man of sorrows and one acquainted with grief, and we find that It says in verse 8 and 9 of chapter 5, Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obeyed him. He was perfected through sufferings. He suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. We see his love, his kindness, his compassion. his tenderness while he was upon this earth. But now let's look at him in his heavenly office as our great high priest. He is no less loving and tender there than here. You say, well, I can look back on earth and see in the Gospels where Jesus was loving and kind and tender. But then, in heaven, is he still that way? The Bible teaches that he is. Now then, we have a high priest. I want us to analyze this text, rather. And you have Hebrews 4, and if you keep your place open there, let me read it again. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is fastened to the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." That means that if we have not one, that we have one that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Now, as we analyze this text, notice first of all, and we'll just take it a word or two at a time, it says we have a high priest. A high priest. All that Israel had under the law, we still have. But we have the substance whereof they had only the shadow. We have the real altar. We have an altar to partake of that they, which serve the tabernacle, cannot attain. And all back in the Old Testament, all the altars, all the sacrifices, we have the one true sacrifice, which is Jesus. And all the sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed to Jesus. So we have a high priest. greater than the one that they had in the Old Testament. And we have a mercy seat. The Bible says He is the propitiation. The Word has to do with being a mercy seat for us. Let me just give you this illustration. The high priest in the Old Testament would come into the tabernacle, first of all, and then later the temple, and go behind the veil and sprinkle the blood of the raised altar upon that mercy seat, upon the lid of that Ark of the Covenant. When he would do that, he was doing it and applying the blood for the remission of their sins. And also, since the lid was over that Ark, he was separated from the Law, because the Ark of the Covenant was in that Law. And the Bible tells us that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree. So we have a high priest who functions for us in a much greater way than the Old Testament high priest functioned for the children of Israel. Not only is there a high priest, but it says, but we have We're trying to analyze. Take the word high priest. That's what we've dealt with now. And we have take the words, but we have. It would be very low to know of such a blessing as a high priest to intercede. And a high priest to offer for our sins, a high priest to tell us, tell our problems to if we could not have personally possess such a blessing. But it says we have. So that means that he's in our possession. And then we also come to another word. Notice also that he is our great high priest. It's not said in the Old Testament that the high priest was great. But notice here, we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Think upon it a moment. The high priest that we have is great because he's not passed behind the veil on earth, but he's passed into the heavens. The Bible says now to appear in the presence of God for us. So he's there in the heavens. In fact, if you read in the ninth of Hebrews, you'll find that the Old Testament tabernacle and temple was only a picture of that which we have in Christ. It says in Hebrews 9, verse 22, And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission. Now, verse 23, It was therefore necessary that the patterns of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into holy places, that is, down upon this earth, made with hands." He's not entered into the tabernacle or the temple made with hands, but into heaven itself now to appear. The high priest in the Old Testament appeared upon earth behind the veil, but Christ is now to appear in the presence of God for us. So He's made His appearance in the presence of God for us. And it goes on to tell about his sacrifice, nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest entered the holy place every year with the blood of others. He doesn't do that. For then must he have often suffered since the foundation of the world. But it says, But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." That means he has already settled the question of sin and he will not have to appear to offer himself a sacrifice for sin when he appears the second time. So we find that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Notice it says, You have two things pointed out here. Jesus shows us his manhood, his humanity. Then it says the Son of God that shows us his deity. So we have a man that represents us that is not only capable because he's God and he was manifested in the flesh, but he was man and he could identify with us. Notice those two words. Two statements, Jesus is fastened to the heavens, but he's Jesus and he's the son of God. Therefore, we have a great high priest and therefore he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. No wonder he is our great high priest with tenderness because of the fact that he's experienced the things we've experienced. It says he was in all points. Verse 15, Hebrews 4, 15. but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. He did not yield to the temptation, and he overcame. And therefore, he could identify with us because he knew what it was like to be tempted. He knows what it is like to be tempted. Now then, let me give you some things. First of all, our Lord Jesus Christ has assumed a very tender office. A high priest is ordained for men. and was taken from among men to be a friend and to comfort those that he was called to serve. So Jesus has an office that's very tender. He's the one between God and man, not only as mediator, but one that's intercessor, one that's advocate. We have John saying we have an advocate with the Father. So he has all these offices. You might say he's the one and only mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Jesus said, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. So he's the only one that goes between. But he's also the only intercessor. I mean, Peter's up there, but he doesn't intercede for you. Neither does any angel or any so-called glorified saint. But I'll tell you who does, and that's Jesus. He's the one and only intercessor. for us on the right hand of God. So he has a very tender office, and he's ordained for men and was taken from among men to be a friend, to be a comfort, and he was called to serve. The high priest of God should commune with men. That requires a person of great tenderness. You know, sometimes you run across someone and say, for instance, in the governorship or in power, political power. But you say, that representative could help me. But they don't care about you. You find some that do. But I'm just saying, if you approach one that could do something for you, then you won't do it. Well, here you have Jesus as a person of great tenderness, and He can talk to us about our needs. We can talk to Him about our needs, and He doesn't push them aside and say, I don't have any concern for them. When you talk to the Lord about your needs, He's concerned about them. And by the way, you can go day or night, can't you? Any time of the day, any time that you want to. and anywhere you may be. And He has communion with God as to bring the things of God down to man and cause them to understand. He brings the things of God to us and He takes our things and presents them to God. Jesus has revealed the Father to us. The Bible says that the Son hath revealed Him. No man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son has come down and He has revealed Him. Remember, he said in John 14, Have I been so long with you, and yet thou hast not known me? He that has seen me has seen the Father. He that has seen me has seen the Father. The high priest was to communicate with God from men. That's what Jesus does for us in the presence of God. A broken heart, a seeking sinner, a troubled heart in life can come, and Jesus will listen to it. had to deal with sin and judgment for the people. Let me give you some things from Exodus chapter 28, if you will. Exodus chapter 28. Notice verse 29. It says, And Aaron, he's a priest, shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth into the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually. Breastplate of judgment. And then back in 28 verse 9, Thou shalt take two onyx stones, engrave on them the names of the children of Israel, six of their names on the one stone, the other six names on the other stone, according to their birth. Now, these were onyx stones that were on the shoulders of the priest. Six names and six names were engraven with the work of an engraver in the stone, like the engravers of a signet. Shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel. Thou shalt make them to be set in houches of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for the stones of memorial unto the children of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his shoulders for memorial." So all of God's earthly chosen people in that day were identified and born on the shoulders of the priest. the high priest. And then we find that in verse 29, well, let's read on down about the breastplate. We read in verse 29, and Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart. But if you'll notice on this breastplate were stones beginning with verse 17, it says, and now shall set in In it, the settings of stones, even four rows of stones. The first row shall be a sardis, a topaz, and a carbuncle. This shall be the first row. The second shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. The third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold in their enclosing. Now, verse 21, it says, And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel. Twelve. There were twelve stones, and each one of them had the name of one of the children. Twelve according to their names, like the engraving of a signet. Every one with its name shall be according to the twelve tribes. So on the two onyx stones, you had six on either side, on the shoulders. On the breastplate of judgment, you had three rows of four, which would be twelve. And you had individual names of all the tribes of the children of Israel. And the breastplate was upon the heart, the onyx stones were upon the shoulders. And so Jesus has borne, we have a high priest who bears all of our names upon his shoulders to carry us throughout the day, and as we need strength. We have him bearing all those names upon the breastplate of judgment, upon his heart, so that anything that touches us, the feeling of our infirmities, is before the Lord all during the day. He bears all of our pleadings for forgiveness with great understanding and tenderness. All the children of Israel were carried symbolically upon the heart and upon the shoulders. And this heart speaks of love. The shoulders speak of strength for His people. And Jesus is born all for us so that we can rest upon his shoulders and have the strength that we need, and also that our names are close to his heart. Remember, there's a scripture that says, he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. The high priest was approached that he might console the sorrowful in the Old Testament. What a great relief for the children of Israel, each one to approach and go into the sanctuary and sit at the feet of the high priest, a man of God, and let them share all the sorrows of their hearts. Jesus is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And there's not a time, day or night, there's not any instance in which we're not able to go before the Lord. with our grief. I don't know how many of you have had to do that, but personally I have to go quite often with all my grief and sorrow. And when you have it, sickness, troubles, problems, trials, and you go and the Lord is the only one that, you know, you can tell Him things you can't tell someone else. And we find that He's the one that we need to go to. The high priest would also hear the desires and wishes of the people. Bring your desires before the Lord, because He is our great high priest. Remember back in the Old Testament when Hannah was barren, she had no child, and she wanted a son, and she was provoked day by day by her adversary, and she prayed, and Eli thought she was drunken, because she didn't pray out loud, only her lips moved when she was praying for a son. Because God, if you'll give me a son, I'll return him to you all the days of his life. I'll dedicate him to you. And Samuel, by the way, means asked of God. It was in answer to her prayer that God gave her that son, Samuel. But anyway, she prayed. What I'm saying, she had a great sorrow of heart, and she prayed even from the heart, and yet only her lips moved and she didn't pray out loud. And Eli mistaken her and thought who had too much to drink, and she said, I'm just a woman of a sorrowful spirit. Well, if you think that Eli could look upon her after he knew the truth and bless her, pronounce his blessing upon her after she had come in such a way, think of how much more Jesus. Jesus means Savior, His humanity. The Son of God means He has power to do it. Think of how much more he is able to hear the wishes of his people. You may have a very personal problem. And if you do, where do you go? You say, well, I go to mother, father. I go to brother, sister. I go to family. Well, that's good. They can help you some. But there are some things that you have to go directly to the Lord with. There are some things that are private. There are some things that are peculiar just to your situation. Desire. That's the spiritual things we need to go. Not only to God of all of our needs, and He needs to know about our needs, and we need to make them before Him. God knows about them to start with. It was the high priest's duty to instruct and reprove the people. Instruction is pleasant, but reproval is sometimes very difficult. Remember, Paul told Timothy, he says, Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season. He says, Reprove, rebuke with all longsuffering and doctrine. So reproving, rebuking, but he says, with all longsuffering and doctrine. So Jesus knows how to correct us when we need correction. We need to realize that he does tell us are false, but he does it in a very loving way. He is gracious in correcting us. He says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. What? Say, well, I'm chastened. Well, but he loves you. He said, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. And then we think again, not only does Jesus have a tender office, but he has a tender feeling. He's touched with a feeling of our infirmities. He's not touched with our strength, but he's touched with our infirmities. I mean, it wouldn't be anything for for him to be touched about our strength and the positive side of us and everything that we've got going for us and we feel self-secure, but when we're weak. He's touched with the feeling of our weakness, of our infirmities. Many may be touched with the sorrows of another, and we should have. Many have a feeling of the infirmities, but not a feeling as one who's really understood. But Jesus understands our infirmities because he's having gone through the same trials and sufferings. He does understand. You know, you find people who say, well, I feel sorry for so-and-so. Well, that's good. But have you been there? Have you ever been in their same situation? Do you know what their experience is? Do you know what their problem, their trial really is? And sometimes we try to show compassion to other people, and we're a little bit rash or harsh in showing that. We'll say, I'll do this for you, but we don't really want to. We'll do it because we know it's the right thing to do. But Jesus does for us what He knows is right to do for us, but He does it with compassion and with tenderness. It says, our infirmities, yours and mine. Notice the word our. Jesus is touched with the feeling of your infirmities, of my infirmities. When there's sickness, when there's sorrow, sometimes we are so far removed from it, but when there's a new made grave, when there's a loss of a son or daughter, a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, we try to express our feelings of sorrow and compassion. But at that kind of time, only Jesus really knows all about it. Not just sorrows, but infirmities, our weakness. The reason for this is that Jesus has a tender nature. There are some men who are sympathetic. Jesus says, I am meek and lowly in heart. None like Jesus. There are some men who are not sympathetic and never will be. Some people do not care. Some people wish you bad. The Bible tells us that love rejoiceth not in iniquity. In 1 Corinthians 13, I believe it is. But anyway, whatever the chapter is of love, it says rejoiceth not in iniquity. That means not to rejoice over someone's misfortune. And some people have a tendency to be very compassionate. toward other people, which we should be. And then too many people are wrapped up in their own grief to be sympathetic to others. When you have your own problem, you say, well, yeah, you've got a problem, but you know, look at me. And we concentrate on whose problem, ours or theirs. Do we have anything to say about their needs? If we're going to follow Jesus, we'll be compassionate toward the other person as well, not just wrapped up in our own. They're too busy being occupied with their own grief than to be sympathetic. Beware lest we be wrapped up in our own glories, too. Sometimes we feel like, well, you know, God's good to me and everything's going fine. You know, but I care about this fellow that's having a problem in life. We need to get to the place in our lives that we can handle the blessings that God has given us, but we can weep with others who weep and identify with those who have who are much less fortunate in so many ways than ourselves. Jesus is a servant among us. He said, which is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or him that serveth? They said, well, the one that sits at meat is the greater. He said, but I am among you is the one that serves. I'm the one that's a servant toward you. Jesus had proper training and experience to be perfected through sufferings. He was tried bodily. Remember, he said, I thirst. He was tried mentally when he was forsaken by all. Remember the Garden of Gethsemane? And he asked Peter, James, and John to share with him the burden for just an hour. What could thou not watch with me one hour? And they went to sleep on the job, didn't they? But Jesus was very tender with them. He said, sleep on. When He came back the third time, He says, sleep on now and take your rest. Instead of rebuking them, He says, sleep on now. He said, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. You can't always do what you want to do. But He says, finally, sleep on now and take your rest. He could have said, you know, it got really on their case, but He didn't do that. He was bodily in training. I thirst, mentally forsaken by all of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, in the garden. And he was in spiritual distress. And he had to bear this alone. My God, he says, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? As he hung on the cross. He was tempted and tried in all points like as we are, and yet he overcame. Yet without sin. And we're to come. boldly to the throne of grace, it tells us that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need because of the character and the nature and the person of Jesus. In closing remarks, let's remember our Lord Jesus Christ was so loving, tender, and sympathetic. And let us be so to the brethren and to our fellow man. He not only was, but is. He was that way upon earth. He's that way in heaven. Ephesians 4, verse 32 says this, And be ye, listen, could we put this into practice in our lives? And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. And I want to read another scripture in 2 Corinthians chapter Now I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ." He speaks of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. So we could be kind one to another. Loving, forgiving one another. Even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. I'd like to promote more of that for myself. I'd like to promote that in your heart in life. In all of our lives. But remember that when we have a problem, We have a great and merciful high priest. And therefore, he says, let us come what? Boldly. He's approachable. He says, let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I'd like for us to stand.