I also want to give a quick thanks to Pastor Brian for letting me preach this morning. He is in Colorado at a wedding. Let's hope that he finds the right wedding, that he goes to the correct one. A couple weeks ago, whenever he made that confession, I was like, oh, I already know he's going to a wedding. I'm waiting for this. He teed this up for me. So hopefully he made it to the right one. This morning we're going to be in the book of Hebrews. We're going to be continuing our study as Pastor Brian's gone. I'm going to slowly kind of work through the book of Hebrews. And this morning there's a quite a little bit of a change, really an addition more than a change. We're going to be looking at two passages of scripture rather than just the one that's in your and your bulletin. As Pastor Terry said, I had strep earlier this week and thankfully antibiotics kicked in and I'm doing just fine. But I was not able to tell Zoe in time before the bulletins got printed that I made a quick adjustment. And so we're going to be looking in Hebrews 2 verses 14 through 18 and then also Hebrews 4 verses 14 through 16. So there's a little bit of a change. And so we're gonna start by reading the passage there in Hebrews 2, 14 and 18, and then jumping over to chapter four. They go together, they'll make sense as we read through them. So let's go ahead and read in Hebrews 2, 14 to 18. It says, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not the angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are also being tempted. Let's turn to chapter four, read 14 to 16. It says, Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Let's pray. Dearly Father, Lord, we thank you for this morning, the time to study your word. Lord, I pray that you be with us as we dive into your word and study of Jesus being the Great High Priest. Lord, we are thankful for the work of Christ, for we are broken sinners and we are in desperate need of someone that will intercede on our behalf. Lord, I pray that you'd be with us this morning. In your name I pray. Amen. Over the last week, I have been watching clips on Facebook videos or whatever it may be of a court case that's currently going on. It's kind of in a pause right now as they wait to give the guy his final sentencing and what his punishment's gonna be. but it's for a man that's been accused and now convicted of killing six people in Wisconsin. I don't know if any of you guys have been following this case, but basically, it's a horrible crime, and there were a multitude of witnesses, and they brought them all on stage, where a red SUV sped through the streets, and there was a ton of evidence. But as I was watching these videos and I was watching these clips of the ongoing case, there was something that became quite shocking to me. It was that a week before his trial, he decided to completely abandon all of his attorneys, to fire all of them, and he decided that he would represent himself. Now, it became quite evident as I was watching the case that he did not know the law. He was not an attorney. He did not know what was supposed to be done, and even got to the extent that he didn't even know how to conduct himself in a courtroom, let alone know the law. And so as I'm watching these clips, it became quite evident to just the average person that his lack of knowledge and the pile of evidence that's going against him, that he would eventually lose this case. Now, also at the same time, imagine yourself in a hypothetical courtroom situation. All of us in here would pick someone to represent us, that we would find the best attorney. Hopefully, we would not make the same horrible decision that this man made. There was even a point where they had to remove him from the courtroom, where he decided, for some reason, to take off his shirt, and it was just craziness. that we would be smart enough, wise enough to pick someone to represent us, someone that would speak to the judge on our behalf, someone that would know the law, that would know what would be the normal procedures in a courtroom. We know that it's a bad idea to represent ourselves. And honestly, most people would understand that. We want someone that knows the procedures, that knows what's going on. Someone who's going to pile up all the good evidence on our behalf, so that way we can be found not guilty. Yet, in God's courtroom, when we stand before our Almighty Creator, maybe this is not always the case. that sometimes we have no problem thinking that we can represent ourselves, that we can talk our way into heaven, that we can do it based off of our own merits, our own talents, our own abilities, our own ideas. Yet, as we see in Scripture, we need someone to represent us. We are very much like the person I mentioned earlier, are foolish, we're sinners, we have no idea what's going on, and that we need a high priest because we are a sinful people. This morning, we're going to be looking at multiple passages of Scripture, and so I will kind of jump around, you don't have to follow along with me. But we see this throughout Scripture, of being a sinful people, that we are sinful, there's a sinful nature. In Isaiah 59, 2-3, it says, that cannot save or is eardull, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that way he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your tongues mutter weakness. In Isaiah 64 6 it says, we have all become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. And then also in the New Testament, we see the same trend where it says, for you do not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived, neither the sexual immoral, nor the idolaters, or the adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality. nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor the drunkards, nor the rivalers, or the swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." So who are the unrighteous? Well, it becomes clear in Romans chapter 3. It says, there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God. And so we could continue on going through the Old and the New Testament of looking at passages of our sin and how that separates us from God. And so it becomes very clear the evidence is stacked up against us. We are without hope, we are sinful, that we are broken. And it is very clear that we need an intercessor, that we need a mediator between us and God. That that relationship is severed, it is destroyed, not because of anything that God has done, but because of our sin, because of our brokenness. And so before we dive into our passage, I think it's good for us to look at the Old Testament high priest. In the passages we read a second ago, it referred to Jesus being our high priest. Well, what is a high priest? In Leviticus chapter 16, it says it talks of the Day of Atonement, and it talks of the sprinkling of blood that is made on the mercy seat. One of the passages, I'm not going to read it this morning, but in Isaiah 16, verses 14 through 18, it talks about how the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies. They would do this once a year. First, they would make a sacrifice for themselves, that they would cleanse themselves, that they would clean themselves, that they would make atonement for their own sins, for themselves and for their family. But then they would go in, they would also make a sacrifice for all the other people. So the high priest was the one that would go before God and make a sacrifice, would intercede for the rest of Israel. that they would make atonement in the high holy place. It's even said, it's not in scripture, but there's other texts that will share of how they would tie a rope to the high priest, that as they entered into the Holy of Holies, if they didn't clean themselves enough, if they didn't cleanse themselves enough, if they didn't atone for their own sins, that they would die in the presence of the Lord, or presence of God, and that they would be able to pull him back out, because he was the only one that was allowed to go in. And so the high priest was responsible for offering sacrifices to God on behalf of the people, that he would go to God before on behalf of the people. But what we know is that these high priests would come and go. They would make sacrifices every year. They would have other types of grain sacrifices and other things that they would do. But on this Day of Atonement, this happened once a year, and that they would make this sacrifice for the people, and that these high priests would come and go. They would serve for a certain period of time, they would die, and then the next Levite would come up. And they would serve for a period of time, and they would die, and then the next Levite would come up. So there was this continual change of who the high priest was. And also at the same time, the job wasn't really getting done. They were offering these sacrifices to show the depth of their sin, but the job wasn't getting done. That this was ultimately a shadow of what was to come. I don't know if you guys can see my hand here on stage, the shadow. But shadows give us a picture of something, but don't show us exactly what it is. If I hold my hand up here, you can see my hand in person, you can see I have a wedding ring on, but the shadow doesn't show it. It's a picture of what's to come. And so we have that exactly here, that the author of Hebrews is drawing this out, that this old sacrificial system, this Old Testament system, is a shadow of what's to come. It's a picture of Christ. It's a type of Christ. It shows us who Christ is. If you remember the last couple of times I've preached, there's a theme to the book of Hebrews. or a theme that I've given, is that Jesus is better. Jesus is better. And just as we saw with Moses and we saw with the Sabbath rest, is often the case, is the same the case here with our high priest. That Jesus is better. And so these verses ultimately are showing us that Jesus is our great high priest, that Jesus is better, that we have an even better high priest in Christ, a better intercessor. And so this morning we're going to see four things. We're going to see four things in these verses about Jesus being our Great High Priest. The first two are going to deal with how Jesus is our Great High Priest, whereas the second two are going to deal with what it means for us. What does it mean for us that Jesus is our Great High Priest? And so our first thing that we see in our two texts this morning is that Jesus, our great high priest, had to be a real human. That he had to be fully man, 100% man. If we go back to our text in Hebrews 2, in verse 17, it says, therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect. so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." These verses confirm the incarnation of Christ, that Jesus took on flesh and became an actual human being. that Jesus was real flesh and blood human. Jesus couldn't save us if he wasn't God, but that he also couldn't save us if he wasn't man. There's a lot of heresies, and one of the heresies, I think it's mysticism, that talks of Jesus not being an actual man, that he was a spirit or a being, that he was just kind of there. And so when we look at this text, this is important for us to understand our salvation. You know, there are those that believe Jesus, and we see this in other religions, that Jesus was a good human being, but he wasn't really God. But there are also those that believe that Jesus was God, but not really human. That he simply looked human, but he really wasn't. Maybe the best way of thinking of this is Superman. All right? Superman, if you guys know who that is, probably one of the most popular superheroes. Jesus is not Superman. Superman looks human, but he's not. He's a Kryptonian. He just simply looks like he's human. Even goes even further, probably with one of the worst disguises of Clark Kent, you just put on a pair of glasses and people don't realize that you're Superman. Jesus is not Superman in the sense that he didn't just merely look human. That Jesus bled just how we bleed, that he suffered just how we suffer, that he was 100% man. And so you might be asking, well, yes, I know that. That is something that I've been taught as a little kid. But there's a significance to that. There's an importance to that. That as human, that since Jesus was an actual man, That he could represent us. That since he was a human, since he was man, that Jesus could take on the role of high priest. And that he could represent us before God. And it goes even further than that, that since Jesus now represents us as our high priest, it allows him to die on our behalf. We see in Hebrews 2 here, it also talks of, he says, death destroys Satan, who has power over death. That might seem like a weird phrase that Satan has power over death. And we know that that Satan doesn't have the ultimate power. But what we know is that he influences the thing that causes death. Which is sin. And so to beat death. The penalty and the punishment of sin needs to be defeated. And so Christ, as our high priest, and as the sacrifice for our sins, as the spotless lamb, that he took on the penalty of sin, that he took on the punishment of sin, that he took on death. And as he rose from the grave three days later, that he defeated death, and that we no longer have to fear death. that Jesus' death fully satisfies the wrath of God. It says to make a propitiation for the sins of the people. What does that mean? Another way of thinking of it is that it's averting the wrath of God by offering a gift. When you avert something, you change its direction. Its direction is changed. And so our sins have been averted on Christ who died for them on the cross. That not only is he our high priest, but he is the sacrifice to which our sins are laid on. In Hebrews 10.4, it talks of the importance of the blood sacrifice. It says, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. And then in 12 through 14, it says, But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made like a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering, he is perfected for all those who are being sanctified. See, by the blood of the cross or by the blood on the cross, that Christ takes away our sin and fully satisfies the wrath of God. That Jesus bore it all. It's not that it was kind of satisfied or we're waiting to see if it's satisfied. But it takes away our sin and fully satisfies the wrath of God. The second thing that we see is that Jesus, our great high priest, completely understands us. We see this actually in both of the texts, in chapter two and chapter four, that it talks of Jesus' sufferings and our sufferings and makes the connection there between the two, that because Jesus experienced what we have experienced, that he experienced the actual real human life, That he was made like his brothers in every respect. That he can relate. That Jesus has suffered as we have suffered. That Jesus experienced suffering and weakness like us. That we do not have a high priest. That we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize. That Jesus experienced a dark and fallen world just as we do. How has Jesus suffered? Well, the list could go on. He died on the cross. He faced rejection and isolation and grief and betrayal. You would imagine there were also money issues of wondering, you know, stuff going on, that he dealt with the things that we have to deal with. But yet he experienced temptation like us. He was tempted as we are, but he did not sin. that he endured severe temptation during his earthly life. And so he shows compassion towards us as we also face our own temptations, as we deal with our own sufferings. We don't have to prove to other people our need for sympathy as we go through trials and sufferings and temptations. that no matter what we are going through, whether it's family issues, or marriage problems, or issues with our young children, or issues with our grown children, or health issues, or dealing with aging parents, or sins and temptations that we seem to keep falling back into, or problems at work, no matter whatever we're going through, no matter whatever temptations that we're struggling with, we can humbly come to the cross. and that we can lay them at the feet of Jesus, because he is our great high priest, that he sympathizes us in our weakness as we deal with these things, that we can turn to Christ, our great high priest, who is understanding and sympathetic to our suffering and temptations. We sang a song just before I came up here of Christ will hold me fast. And what better song to sing when thinking of that, that Christ will hold me fast in the midst of all of what I'm going through. What it doesn't mean is that everything's going to work out for my good. That because I have Christ in my life, there's going to be a bountiful blessing of whatever I want. No, that's not what is being said here, but rather Christ is our blessing. Christ is our gift. And that we can find rest in knowing that he will hold me fast in whatever I'm going through. And so since Christ is our great high priest, what does that mean for me? What does that mean for you? What does that mean for us? So the third thing we see is that Jesus, our high priest, intercedes for us. You think back on that courtroom of whether it's ourselves or somebody else. We need a lawyer that's going to intercede on our behalf. Someone's going to talk to the judge. We think of what it means to intercede as somebody that's gonna step in our place, that takes our place, that speaks for us. And so we see with Christ that he intercedes on our behalf in two ways. He intercedes directly and he intercedes eternally. He intercedes directly in the presence of God. See, the high priest in the Old Testament would have to, it actually was kind of interesting, as they went into the Holy of Holies, they would do the opposite of what they normally would do. Normally, they would put on tons of beautiful clothes, right? They would look absolutely stunning, gold, you would imagine, you know, kind of think of kind of medieval time period, kind of think of the garb and stuff that they would wear, but even before that, of course, that they would put on all these beautiful things as they did their duties. But on the Day of Atonement, they actually did the opposite of that. They actually would put on very plain clothing. And they would have to go in to this place to make a sacrifice and the Holy of Holies. And so when you think of it, that they would go into this place, and as we know, the tabernacle and the place it could move, the tent could move, that they would just enter into the Holy of Holies on behalf. They would enter into this place. But what we know with Jesus is that he intercedes directly in God's presence. He is at the right hand of the Father. He intercedes directly for us with God. There's no room that he has to go into that he's there with the Father. And then he also intercedes eternally for us. So you remember with the high priest, they were limited because they would eventually die. And then another high priest would come and they would represent the people. But we know with Jesus that he, as the Son of God, intercedes on our behalf eternally, that he always lives to make intercession for us. John Piper says this, he says, Christ's deity and his resurrection from the dead secure his indestructible priesthood for us. Indestructible, there is nothing that can tear that down, that he is eternally our high priest, that Christ is the only effective intercessor between man and God. And so we're reminded in Hebrews 4 that we need to hold fast to our confession of who Jesus is, that we need to hold fast to our confession. that we need to hold fast to our understanding of the gospel, to hold fast onto our belief that Jesus is our high priest, that he is the only way for salvation. And so the fourth thing that we see is that Jesus, our great high priest, he purifies us. The Old Testament high priests could not really take away sin. They couldn't really take away sin. The animals could not really take away the sins because animals can't represent humans. We saw that in Hebrews 10.4 just a little bit ago. And then we also think of Old Testament priests. They themselves could not offer themselves a sacrifice, even if they chose to do so. that they couldn't take away sins because they themselves were also sinners. And we even talked just briefly of how he had to make himself clean before going in to the Holy of Holies. and that we know that death is the only appropriate payment for sin. Hebrews 9.22 says, Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. That even though we can't purify ourselves, there are other ways, there are ways that we still try to do so. Whether through more quiet times, or going to church more, or trying harder and doing better the American way, or trying to be a nicer person. But what we know is that this doesn't work in taking away sin. That we, just like the other high priests, that we are also sinners. That unlike the Old Testament priests, Jesus could really cleanse us because he was not a sinner. that he lived a perfect life, that he lived in perfect obedience to the Lord, allowing himself to be a pure sacrifice in our place, that his perfect obedience allows his righteousness to be credited to our accounts. You think of it as the great exchange of that our sin, has been laid on Christ on the cross and that we have received the righteousness of Christ. The only thing that we bring to the table in our salvation is our need for it. That is it. We only need to be saved. There is nothing that we can do. And so because of his perfect obedience, that we have been credited the righteousness of Christ. That we have been made clean because of the work of Jesus. Through his perfect obedience, through his death on the cross, and through his resurrection. because of this, that we are covered in Christ's righteousness and no longer have to fear judgment and death. And so, as we're reminded that we have a confidence because of the work of our perfect High Priest. And so, what does this mean for us? First, for those that don't know Jesus, for those that don't have a relationship with Christ. I think for us, for those that don't know Jesus, that it could be that the Lord is working in your heart, that you will see your need to be rescued, that you will see your need for a Savior, that you will see the depth of your sin, but you will also see the love of your Father. That he sent his one and only Son to die for your sins, so that way you could have a relationship with him, that you would repent and believe in the gospel, that it is only through the work of Christ that you can be saved from the punishment and the power of sin. And for the Christian, for the believer, that you can find rest in the assurance of your salvation. One of my, I had to write a paper on him. His name is Richard Sibbes. I think there's some books out there, actually a biography about Richard Sibbes. It's great. You should read it. One of the things that he constantly preached on was the assurance of salvation. That we should constantly find rest in the assurance of our salvation. For we have a great high priest that directly and eternally intercedes on our behalf. That we can find rest in knowing that Christ died on the cross, that we may receive his righteousness. That we can find rest in knowing that the work of Christ is finished. That the debt has been paid. That the relationship between us and God has been restored. And that we should daily rejoice in the work of our great high priest. That we're reminded daily that we are not defined by our past, but solely by the work of Christ. As I was thinking this morning, an image kind of came to me as you read verse 16, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. I think every night, it's 730 or so, after we've eaten dinner, I'm sitting on the couch and boys will just climb up in our laps. There's no asking, hey dad, can I come up and sit next to you? Can I come up there and sit next to you? They just, they know. They know the love that Elisha and I have for them. And so, and I was thinking of that, and thinking of this verse, that I think because of the work of Christ, because Christ has restored our relationship with him, that just like how my boys have this confidence that they can just crawl right up into the lap of their father, that we, in the same sense, but maybe different, that we can have confidence to come before our heavenly father. That whenever the Lord looks on us, that he sees the righteousness of Christ. that we can have that same peace and that same rest in knowing that our Father loves us, that we can draw near. There is no fear, because we can draw near to our Almighty Creator. And so let us, with confidence, draw near because of the finished work of Christ. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this passage. A reminder of the work of Christ, that he is our great high priest. And yet, at the same time, that he is the sacrifice, that he is the spotless lamb, that he lived in perfect obedience, that he was willing to die. So that way, our relationship with you can be restored. Lord, I pray that you daily let us rejoice in that fact, that we can with confidence draw near to you because of the work of Christ. In your name I pray, amen.