I invite your attention to Hebrews chapter 5 and verses 1 to 10. I'll read the text to you, but before I do, let me remind you that I was with you a month ago. I was preaching on Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 14, at least six words of that verse. We have a great high priest. And I remind you that I said that my text was six words, but it actually could be six chapters. because I said that this man having started in chapter four dealing with the question of the priesthood of Christ, it was such an important subject to him that he went on through chapter five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10. So you could have six chapters or the six words, and I did six words. I was making a selection. Well that only put the problem off to this month because again I've got to make a selection. You remember the terms that Gabriel gave me was that this needed to be a short series. But it's got to be a short series because I can't go on forever and so I can't go through verse by verse. I've got to miss things out. I've got to select. So it's us to make it a short series. And so I've chosen, I think it's right, to look at verses one to ten of chapter five. Now we're going to make a selection in those verses. I'm not going to say something on every part of it. The thing to do really is for yourself, you must read from that place in chapter four where he starts with the priesthood and go on to well into chapter 10 when he seems to come to the end of what he wants to say on the priesthood. Not that I think he has come to the end, even there, but if you read those chapters for yourself and read them aloud, you will find him expanding again and again on this great theme. Remember what this man is doing. He is taking the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant, given on Sinai to Israel, and only Israel, and he's taking every element, or shadow, or picture, or type, or illustration, whatever word you want to use, and he's taking all those shadows, Sabbath, temple, well tabernacle, the altar, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the land, Joshua, Moses, the angels, prophets and so on. He takes all the elements of the old covenant and what he does in every case, he labours What is he doing? He takes these elements and shows them that they're all fulfilled according to the will of God. God always planned it. Galatians 3, 19-25. Not in the King James Version. That's a bad translation. If you read it in a modern version, you will see the proper translation. Galatians 3, 19-25. God always intended that with the coming of the Messiah, he would fulfill that old covenant. For Philip, he would take all those elements and make them real, effective, actual. That's the point. Whether it's the Sabbath, whether it's the tabernacle, whether it's the sacrifices, whatever. But in this case, we're talking about the priesthood of Christ. That's the theme here, the priesthood. Those priests in the old covenant were just shadows. They were absolutely ineffective. I'm not saying that, this writer says it. God intended them to be ineffective. He meant them just to be signposts, pictures of something that was going to come, someone who was going to come. That someone is Christ. And he has come. And by his one offering, he has perfected forever all who trust him. This is what this writer is saying. Now, why is he doing that? Because these Jewish believers are in danger of going back to the old covenant. Now, I don't suppose there's anybody here who's Jewish, who's in danger of going back to the old covenant. But as I've said time and time again, and I'll say it again now, it's going on all around us. There's a many amount of law preaching. Since I've been here a month ago, I've heard I don't know how much on law preaching by gospel preachers in so-called gospel churches. What have I heard? The law, the law, the law. It's staggering to me. I wonder if these men have ever heard of Jesus Christ and the gospel. Of course they have. but they will take us back again and again to the shadows and the law. Well, this morning I'm not going to do that. I am going to go back to the shadows, I am going to go back to the law, but simply like this writer does, to bring us to Christ. I'm preaching again next week and I've been wondering what to preach on. I've decided I am to take up the apostles' words, I am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. See? Well, I'd like to say some of the preachers I've heard this last month, I should read 1 Corinthians 2 if I were you and see that. I am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Right. Well, that's next week. What have we got here then? Well, we have in this passage the shadow of the high priest. I keep saying it. He's going on with it for six chapters. There's so much here which is so vital to us. Why is it vital to us? Because in us, it's in our DNA. It's Romans 2, 12 to 15. God has written it into us. We know that we have to come to God. I told you last time I was here, I gave you an example of a classic atheist who died, and where did they take him when he was dead? But to the great church in Cambridge. Why? Why? Why did they have to do it? Because they know they need a priest. They know they have to come before God. In their books they deny he exists, but they know they have to face him. Romans 2 tells you they're all the time excusing themselves, arguing with themselves, their conscience bearing witness. That's why the Roman church is so powerful. Look at the great system of priesthood there. Anglicans, the same. And the free churches. Remember John Milton? 1600s he said old, new presbyter, that's the new long word that these Presbyterians use, presbyter, he said he's only old priest writ large. It's the same thing. We haven't given up priesthood. Today he would say these pastors, these ministers, these men ordained and set apart from others, they are just the old priesthood because the fathers went back to the old covenant. That's why I feel so strongly about it. We need to come into the new covenant and what's the priest in the new covenant? Christ. So if you've never come to Christ, you need a priest. Remember the book of Job? Oh, there was somebody in between us, between me and God. You get it in Galatians chapter 3 as well. There is a mediator, somebody in between. Who is that mediator? The priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. strand in this book, as I remind you, is that if we don't come to Christ, it's eternally damnable for us. And if we have come to Christ and we give him up and we go back from him, that is also the same. Now, what is my text today? Well, let me read it to you. Hebrews chapter 5, verses 1 to 10. For every high priest, remember, we have a great high priest. Now he's going back to the shadows. He's going back and he's explaining to these people, actually he's reminding them, they know this like the back of their hand, because they're Jews. But he's reminding them, 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 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 he ought, 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 Aram. So also Christ. There you are, that's what he's saying. That's the old covenant. So also Christ, glorified not himself to be made a high priest, But he that said unto him, that is his father, and we read it in Psalm 110, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place in that same Psalm, that's Psalm 110, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. I think the first one came from Psalm 2. 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, 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 that obey him, called of God, and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Of whom we have many things to say and so on. But verses 1 to 10. Now what is the subject this morning? Last time was, we have a great high priest. This morning it is, we have a perfect high priest. I get that from verse 9. A perfect priest. perfect, complete, fit for purpose, posh word today, robust. He does the job. There's nothing wanting. This is what the writer is saying, in the Lord Jesus Christ, There is absolute perfection. That doesn't mean in this case he's absolutely sinless. He always was absolutely sinless. That is not the point he is making here. He's saying he is absolutely fitted for the job. He fits the bill. He does it. It's what it says on the tin. I don't know if you ever read the reviews you get on Amazon. You know, you might want to buy a toner for your printer or something. A cartridge or something. And there's two or three you can buy. And you look at the reviews. I remember reading reviews like this. Five stars, that's the top. And somebody very briefly said, it does the job. It does the job. It's not very flattering, really, but it does the job. You're not wasting your money. It works. You want some socks? They're elastic or something. It does the job. I remember reading things like that. And I approve of that. That tells me all I need to know. It does the job. Perfect. What is this writer getting at? Well, let's just look at what he says. Verse one and so on. The job of a high priest, the job of any priest, he says, is going back to the old covenant. The job of any priest, first of all, He's got to have certain qualifications. Now, let's see what these qualifications are. First of all, he's got to be a man. Well, that's obvious. Why? Well, it's no good having a donkey or a monkey. He's got to be a man. He's got to know me. He's got to understand me. When I go to a GP, I never do these days. I don't see GPs. I don't know if you do, but I don't. They never see me. But never mind. In those old days, I used to go to a GP. And what I liked about a GP, that he would talk to me as a man-to-man. He knew what I was talking about. I had a GP. 20 odd years ago now, I'm afraid, but there it is. I've told you this story before, this man had a wife who was very seriously afflicted with depression, very seriously. And every now and again, this GP, his wife would have to be taken into hospital. It was a very serious case. And I've thought about that doctor, he's dead now, but I've thought about that doctor many, many times. I wonder how many times he was sitting in his surgery And he would always go out to welcome his patient in. Come in. Now, what can I do for you? Well, sir, I'm afraid I've got depression. And I wonder how many times he heard that. And he thought, you've got depression. You come home with me and see what real depression is. I wonder how often. I've got backache. Yeah, so have I. Do you remember the... Tony Hancock comedy show when he had a cold, and he went to the doctor, and the doctor was suffering with the cold. That's daft, all right. But the point is, if I go to a priest, I want to know that priest understands me. Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God. He can have compassion. Why? Because he's a man himself. He knows what I'm talking about. I was a school teacher for many years. I wasn't brilliant at mathematics. I wasn't really a mathematician, but I taught mathematics. There are many, many people, there are many, many people, more people, really brilliant in maths. But I'll tell you this, they'd be useless as a school teacher. Useless. Why? Because they couldn't come down to the level where the average pupil was. They couldn't sympathise with them. I had to teach people who couldn't add up. As well as university entrance people. How to teach people, they would always take the smaller number from the bigger. Wherever it was in the sum, they would always take the smaller number from the bigger. Some of these professors of mathematics wouldn't understand that at all. We need somebody who is a school teacher who can sympathize with us, who can feel for us, and he knows how to help us. This is what this writer is saying. In the old covenant, all the priests met that. They were all men. Aram was. His sons were. Annas was. Caiaphas was. They were all men. Good job. They knew what you were talking about. They could be sympathetic. But there's a catch. There's a flaw. Have you spotted it? I'll read it to you. This priest, he can sympathise with me. In the Old Covenant, I'm talking in the Old Covenant, I go to the priest and I tell him I've got this issue, this sin, this conscience strikes me. Now this man knows what I'm talking about. Great. But there's a problem. The problem is this, if you read verses 1, 2, and 3, and so on, the problem is this. He can sympathize with me, but if he tells me the truth, this is what he'll say to me, like that GP I just told you. He'll look at me and he'll say, you've got this sin, have you? Let's take one, pride. I'm smitten with the same, he says. I get proud too. The problem with the old covenant was, although the priest was a man, and therefore could sympathize, the poor fellow was a sinner like me. This is what he says. He is compass, verse two, with infirmity. Oh good, that means he can sympathize me. Ah, yeah. But he's useless. Let's pick this with the GP again. I go to the GP with my backache. And he says, well, I've got it too. If you can find the solution, come back and tell me. In other words, he's no good to me, is he? He has to sympathise with me. But somehow or another, he has to be able to deal with it. But he can't deal with it for himself. And the writer says, he has to offer for himself first of all. He's offering sacrifices on my behalf. But really, before he does that, he has to offer on his own sins. Verse three. Can you see the bind here? The nonsense? The ineffectiveness of it? Well, let me illustrate it. The fathers, as I've said, went back to this old covenant and they brought it into the new. And you can see it in the Church of Rome, you can see it in the Church of England, you can see it in the Baptist churches, you can see it everywhere. This clerical idea, this priestly idea. Now let me illustrate it. I've done so before from this pulpit, but here it is again. If you're a Roman Catholic, and you're the lowest of the low at the bottom of the pile, what do you do? I'm not, I've never been in this position. But I understand that they go to a little box in a church and they speak through a grill and they tell the man on the other side, they tell him their sins. It's called the confessional. And they confess their sins to this priest. And the priest talks back through the grill, and he tells them what to do. Stand on your legs three times a day, and it'll be all right. And they go out happy as a sandboy. They stand on their legs, one leg, three times a day, and apparently their sins are forgiven. It's a load of nonsense, but there it is. But it's worse than that. You see, the confession of my sin to that man actually puts my sin into his mind. You've all heard of the nonsense, the sin, I won't call it nonsense, the sin, the corruption going on in the Roman church. You've all heard of it. You know what I'm talking about. Well, if one man says, I've got this problem, whatever you want to call it, he's passing it on. What does that priest do with his own sin and that man's sin? Well, he goes to his priest. And where does he go? Well, he goes to his archpriest, and then he goes to his bishop, and then he goes to the cardinal, then he goes to the Pope. Did you know the Pope's got a confessor? He confesses his sins to a priest. And where does he go? To a priest. Can you see the circular motion? It's a load of nonsense. They're all confessing to one another. It doesn't work. I want something better than that. Well this writer tells me. But there's another issue. This priest also, he has to know my case but he has to know God as well because he's the one in between us both. Now there's a real problem. Aaron, he may be able to sympathize with the Israelites, yeah, very good, but he was a sinner too. He made the golden calf for a start. Can you see the problem? I need someone who is both man and can sympathise with me, but is sinless so that he doesn't have to offer any sacrifice for himself, but he has to be at the same time God so that he can represent me to God and he can represent God to me. Well, who's going to fit this bill? Who's going to be both God and man, and sinless, but able to have compassion on me? To be a real man. Well, that's why Joseph hearts him. A man there is, a real man. There is one, a man, with wounds still gaping wide. And he says this, there's no wild fancy of our brains, no metaphor we speak. There is a real man who is both man and God. He can sympathise with me, but he's perfect. Who's going to fit this bill? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Emmanuel, God with us. God manifest in the flesh. A real man, born of a woman, but conceived without man. Why is that? So that he has no sin, and yet he's a real man. He knows what it is to be tired. He knows what it is to be weary. He knows what it is to be hungry. He knows what it is to be in pain. He knows all about me, yet without sin. But he is God. That's what this man is saying. This is the perfect high priest, he said, because he fits the bill. He is both God and man. He is sinless, but he really feels for our distress. Tempted in all points, like as we are. He has much, much more to say. I'm being selective. He's taken from among men. He's ordained for men. Who ordained this priest? Not Aaron, not Moses. Who ordained him? God did, his father. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Now that's very important. We'll come to that in chapter seven. Our Lord Jesus Christ could not have been a priest under the old covenant. Why not? He belonged to the wrong tribe. He was born of Judah. But to be a priest in the Old Covenant, you had to be born of Levi. But he wasn't a priest in the Old Covenant. He was a priest of the New Covenant. He is the priest of the New Covenant. The perfect high priest. This is what this man is saying. He was called of God by his Father. What is more, he labors it in verse 7 and on. When he was here upon earth, he didn't just come straight to the cross. He wasn't born a man of 33. He lived from the year Dot, when he was born, all the way up to the time when he was crucified. What's going on in that life? What's going on in that life? There's a mystery here. Well, this man explains it. Verse seven, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications and so on, verse eight, though he were a son yet learned the obedience by the things that he suffered. All through his life, in the judgment hall, at Gethsemane, on the cross, what was he learning? Sufferings. He's experiencing it. And so the crowning point is this, And verse 9, I'm being made perfect. That doesn't mean made sinless, as I said earlier on. He is absolutely perfect and sinless before he came, but he's now learned by experience. By living amongst men, by going into the judgment hall, by going to the cross, he has experienced everything that is necessary to make him the complete fulfillment of the old covenant, the absolutely, as I keep saying, perfect high priest. And the point is in verse 9, and becoming perfect, being made perfect, being made the complete high priest, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. All who obeyed him, obeyed his gospel. Come unto me, he says. Have you come to him? I'll say that again. Here is his writer. If you want eternal salvation, here is the perfect high priest, the great high priest. He is the author of salvation to all who obey him. Come on to me, he says, come on to me. Have you come? If you have, Lord save me. Be my high priest. Represent me. I trust you as the perfect high priest. I trust your blood. I trust your righteousness. I trust your prayers. It's in my prayers I heard a preacher not long ago, in that month I've been telling you about, and he finished like this. He said, it's Christ and law. He said that not 50 miles from here, Christ and law. Rubbish, it's Christ. It's not rubbish, it's diabolical nonsense. It is Christ. Colossians 3.11, Christ is all. But these people, although they had come to Christ, were now in danger of going back. That's not only folly, it's eternally leading to eternal damnation. I've used an illustration before to you. Remember the illustration I used? When I was at university, I used to take a photograph with me of a young lady. And I am not ashamed to admit it, you can laugh at me if you like, but I would kiss that photograph. But when I came back to where we lived, where I lived, And she was standing next to me, very close to me. I didn't kiss the photograph. I didn't even think about the photograph. I had other business in mind. I wasn't interested in the photograph. I was thinking this week how I could illustrate this. I used to go walking in the peaks in the Dales. Let me be in the Dales, Yorkshire Dales. And I'm going to Hubberholm. I'm standing here, I'm in a village somewhere, and there's three paths. Which one do I take? Fortunately, there's a signpost to Hubberholm. And I take that path, and I trudge four miles across the moor, and I end up at Hubberholm, where I've got a bed for the night. Great. What I do not do is retrace my steps and sit down by this broken signpost. It's done its job, it's pointed me to her home, but I've reached my goal and I'm not going to leave it. Have you reached Jesus yet? Have you reached him yet? All the signs are pointing to him. the priesthood of the old covenant, the sacrifices, the tabernacle, Moses, Joshua, the prophets, they're all saying, look, he's coming. Now I'm standing here and say, he has come and he's among us by his spirit. And he's saying to us, come unto me, come unto me and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. I am the perfect high priest. Don't trust in man, don't trust in self, don't trust in anything or anyone but Jesus. I didn't ask if you come to chapel, some of you have been coming to chapel for 40, 50 years, whatever it is, 60 years, I don't know how it goes. No, my friend, have you come to Christ? Why? Because of all the many benefits you'll get, you will have this, he is the perfect high priest. Can you go home and say, we have a great high priest? I have a great high priest. Can you go home and say, I have a perfect high priest? You can. The question is, will you? Will you? May the Lord bless his word to us and bring us all to know Christ as the perfect High Priest.